Crow sighed, looking out at the city from his rooftop. He watched as the sun rose above the wall that encircled it. He lived in the part of town that was in bad condition- around the edges of the city closest to the walls. All the nicer buildings were closer to the middle. He looked at his old watch, and climbed down from the roof. Suddenly, the sirens went off. Something had gotten in the city. He ducked into the house, hiding under the table in the kitchen. The sirens continued to blare for about five minutes- but the scariest part was the distant screams he could hear despite the loud noise. He covered his mouth and held his breath as the sirens stopped. The danger wasn't over yet.
Some of the screams died down, but as they went quieter, a different sound picked up. The bellowing of some unknown creature, and a response... from something much closer. A shadow passed over the house, the light once coming from the window blocked out. The creature made several jarringly loud clicking noises, and slowly moved past the house as it searched for victims. Crow remained silent until the clicking became distant. After that, he breathed slowly, trying to remain calm. He picked up a picture frame, fingers shaky, and pressed it closer to his chest. The photo was of him and his aunt, Judy. She was a plump, orange circle, which was quite the contrast to the tall, lanky, dark grey figure Crow was.
An hour passed, and he stayed under the table- until a broadcast saying it was safe to come out of hiding played on the intercom. He slid out from under the table, and went outside. There was carnage. Blood spilled on the concrete but no bodies to be found. The creatures that came through the city were the Warnters. Large six-legged, eyeless monstrosities with an insatiable appetite for anything smaller than them. Crow made his way to the place he knew that his aunt was working at the time the sirens went off, to make sure she was fine. His heart pounded as he passed blood spattered across the floor, only getting worse as he continued. He avoided looking at it as much as possible- but that was hard to do with the carnage in front of him.
Eventually he made it to the little flower shop that Judy worked at, and knocked on the door. The owner, an elderly lady, was someone he didn't really know all that well. She was who answered the door, albeit cautiously.
"Ah... you must be Crow. Judy's fine... come on in." She sighed.
Crow walked over to the door to the back of the little building, peering in to find Aunt Judy sitting on a chair. He walked over, and she smiled, standing up to hug him tightly.
"Oh, thank goodness you're alright." She relaxed her grip on his shoulders a little. "I was worried... How bad was it this time?"
"Pretty bad... I'd suggest not walking home until the cleaners come by." He sighed. "Should I go check on my friends?"
"Yeah... yeah go do that. I'll stay here for a bit. Go check up on your uncle Anni as well. If it's bad enough you can stay there with him."
"...Alright. Stay safe, okay?" He forced a smile.
"I will. Now be off!" She smiled.
He nodded, and walked out the door, making his way to the mechanics shop that his friends Bonbon and Melody worked at. He peered in, seeing them lift up a large water tank that had been toppled over.
"Oof- it's a good thing this water tank was empty- losing that much water could have been a disaster!" Melody sighed as they set it upright with a clang.
Bonbon was a sturdy light blue cube, a permanent tear stain on his right eye, and an undercut. Melody was a bright orange triangle with one eye and crazy unkempt hair. They got along quite well- and were Crow's closest friends. They waved as soon as they saw him come in.
"Hey Crow! Doin alright?" Melody asked, wiping sweat from her brow.
"Yeah... just checking up on everyone." He said, relieved that they were alright. "Aunt Judy's good, and I'm gonna check up on Anni. The uh... the carnage was pretty bad near my house. I'm gonna stay at Anni's if he's alright with it."
"I mean, if he's still alive!" Melody joked.
"There's no way that crazy old man isn't still alive, Mel." Crow chuckled.
Melody giggled. "Well, I still have a few hours on my shift. Better head over to Anni's."
Crow nodded. "Stay safe."
Soon, the silhouette of the mechanics shop slid behind the buildings as he walked away, making his way to the part of town still under shadow. In fact, that bit of town was labeled the shadowlands because the sun never reaches it. Anni's house was right on the edge of this, the roof just barely being illuminated by the sun. After a few minutes, Crow made it to Anni's house. It was an old concrete building which had a big tree growing in the middle of the broken parking lot, so the muddy black truck he owned had to be parked on the side of the road. On top of the roof smoking was a lanky pink circle, who had darker hair streaked with grey. He had lots of horns, and aged wrinkles under his eyes.
Crow climbed up on top of the roof with him, scowling at the cigarette in his hand.
"You're smoking again, Anni." Crow said.
"Ah..." He replied. "Yeah. Sorry." He smothered out the burning end on the asphalt shingles of the roof, and threw it into a large trash bin sitting by the side of the house.
"Can I stay with you today? It's... bad near my house."
"Sure. I wouldn't mind." He smiled.
Crow smiled back, thanking him, and sat down next to him on the roof. He laid down, closing his eyes. He sat there for a while, feeling the light breeze flowing through this hair. Eventually, a question came to mind. He turned to face Anni, who had his eyes closed as well.
"Hey Anni?"
"Yeah kid?" He replied, opening one of his eyes.
"How exactly are you related to me?" Crow questioned.
"Well... let's see..." He though for a few minutes, mumbling things as he did so. "...as simple as it gets, I'm your great uncle, I think."
"Oooh! That makes sense, I think... would that make you my... Gruncle Anni?" He grinned.
"Please. Don't ever call me that." He cringed at the thought.
"Haha, alright." Crow grinned wider, rolling back to face the sky. "...Gruncle Anni"
He groaned. "I will literally disown you."
Crow giggled. "You don't have the guts to, old man."
He raised a finger to protest, but sighed and covered his face. "You're right... I could never." He chuckled.
They talked for a few hours on that roof, chuckling and throwing jokes around. Eventually, it was Midday.
"What do ya want for lunch? I think I still have some instant ramen stored somewhere in my basement. Might be a but stale though, haha." Anni offered.
"You do!?!? Heck yeah!" Crow said, sitting up.
Anni chuckled. "Let's go make some then!" He hopped off the roof and opened the door.
Anni rummaged through a box in his basement. It was hard because the only light they had was an old flashlight. But, he managed to find the box of instant ramen packages. Crow put some water on the stove to boil.
Some time after they had finished lunch, Bonbon and Melody showed up.
"Heyyy dude!" Melody greeted. Crow was sitting in the branches of the old tree in the parking lot. Bonbon waved at him as he approached as well.
"Hey!" Crow waved. Melody and Bonbon climbed into the tree with him- onto a wooden platform nailed into the branches to offer more support. These three have been meeting in this tree since they were small. The platform was high enough to be out of the wall's looming shadow.
"So! You're birthday is tomorrow." Melody said to Crow, grinning. "What are you planning on doing? I mean, you're turning eighteen! You'll be an adult!"
"I dunno, I was just kinda planning on hanging out with you guys- like we do every year." He sighed.
Bonbon and Melody looked at each other. "Well.... We were thinking." Bonbon said quietly. "...That- m-maybe we could go and see the world- from the top of the wall. I mean, with you being an adult, you'll be allowed up there! We've been waiting for you to be old enough to join us up there."
"Wait- We can do that?" Crow said, wide-eyed.
"Yeah! You didn't know?" Melody snickered. "Damn, you live under a rock!"
"Yeah..." He chuckled, thinking. He'd always wanted to see the outside world! And he finally could tomorrow.
"You're making that face again, haha!" Melody commented.
"Oh- Hahahh." He laughed. "I guess I was."
"When do you want to head over there?" Melody asked.
"Early. I want to see the sun rise on the horizon- not just watching it come over the wall every day." He said.
"Awesome!" Melody exclaimed. "It's settled. Let's meet up at the old church they don't use anymore."
Bonbon nodded, and Crow gave her a thumbs up. The three talked for a long time, even until the sun disappeared behind the wall. Then, they said their goodbyes and headed home. When Crow got to his house, the street had been cleaned, and Aunt Judy was home, preparing dinner. He ate his food, said goodnight to Judy, and went to bed. He sighed, content, and drifted off into sleep.