The rain was pouring down on the man, as he walked slowly back to the safe zone, his crossbow in his arms, held up in case an infected attacked him by surprise. It was hard to see through the darkness and the rain, the only source of light the man had was the occasional flash of lighting.
As a flash of lightning happened, the the sound of the thunder had passed after it, the man heard a sound coming from his left. He quickly spun around, his crossbow raised in the direction of the noise. "Who's there" he called out, as he always did when hearing something he didn't know.
There was silence for for a moment, until another flash of lighting struck, illuminating the old city streets. There, in front of him, in the alleyway, 5, or 6 figures stood, hiding behind the wall's and old dumpsters, starring at him.
They weren't infected, since the infected wouldn't be so quiet and still and just staring. Infected would be moving towards him when he spoke, and would be making groaning noises. These weren't people desperate for help, or else they would have came forth and asked for help. No, these guys didn't want to be seen. They wanted to ambush him.
Fear flared up in the man, as he quickly spun away and ran. He had heard of the rumors of bandits, raiders and violent groups, but he didn't think they would be so close, especially close to the safe zone.
As he ran, he heard a pair of footsteps behind him, that came closer and closer. Wanting to loose them, the man quickly took a turn into an alleyway. However, the quick action along with the wet ground, caused the man to slip, having him hit against a wall.
He hissed in pain the came to his back after hitting the hard surface, and his ankle which was probably twisted from turning quickly. He grasped at his ankle, hoping to ease the pain, even a little bit. Distracted by the pain, and the sound of the thundering rain, he hadn't even notice someone was standing before him.
He was reminded however, when something was shoved close to his throat, and he froze, looking up at his pursuer. Even in the dark, he could tell they were young by their size, but it was hard to see their face with their hood pulled up and blocking out the light from the lightning.
He felt his heart racing in his chest. Was this it? Was this how he was going to die? If they were going to kill him, they should at least aim for his head. He didn't want to come back as one of those, those things.
Moments pass, the the person didn't do anything, just staring at him. The man was preparing for the cold knife to end him, but it never came. Instead, he felt the knife being pulled back slowly, and the figure hesitantly standing back up, and took a step away from him.
He didn't know if they were letting him live, or planing to do something else with him, so he took the chance to get up, and limp away as quickly as he could make himself. He didn't hear them following him, which he was glad about.
He had to report this to the higher ups.
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"Callum! Callum look at this!".
Callum lifted his head up from his drawing book, and over towards the bedroom door, where his younger brother stood, holding something in his hands.
"What is it Ez?".
"Well, when I was out close to the stream, I found this just floating down towards me. Do you know what this could be?" Ezran asked his older brother, walking over to him, and held his hands towards him to show the object in his hand.
Callum set his drawing book down next to him on the bed and looked at whatever his brother was holding. It was small, and wet from being in the stream that was close to the safe zone wall's not to far away. It had a block like shape, and from what Callum could see even though it was covered in wet mud, it was made of plastic, and had paint on it.
Callum let out a small chuckle at the sight of the small item, before reaching out and taking it into his own hands, wiping away the mud with his gloved hand, already guessing what the small object may be. As the mud was wiped away, Callum looked down at it, and smiled.
"I haven't seen one of these in years".
"What is it? Tell meeeeeee!" Ezran asked Callum, sitting next to now and looking down at the item in his brothers hand.
"It's a logo person" Callum spoke, looking down at the familiar toy in his hand. It looked to have seen better days, some of the paint on it fading away and it was missing a arm, but it was clear that from what he can remember, it was that green ninja Lego toy, judging by the serious expression painted on to its face and the costume painted on it.
"Lego person?" Ezra asked, giving a confused look up towards Callum, not understanding what he meant.
"Yeah. When I was younger, I remember these use to be a very popular toy" Callum explained. "They were very small blocks, and you could build sets and vehicles out of them, and then you would have guys like these," Callum spoke, pointing down at the toy. "Would be the characters. There was a lot of different Lego sets. There were ones based on movies like batman and marvel, some based on shows and more".
"That sounds so cool. So who was this guy?" Ezran asked as he looked to the Lego person in his brothers hand. "I think it's a green ninja, but I never really got into watching the show" Callum replied as he gave Ezran the small figure back.
"That's cool I guess. So what do I do with it?".
"You play with it, let your imagination go wild. Create a story and play, like what we use to do when we were younger with the wooden figures Aunt Amaya made us" Callum told his brother, smiling at the memory of when he was younger and Ezran was only around 4 years old, playing with the small wooden animals his aunt made for them.
Ezran lit up at the thought, and began imagining a story. "I have one! Many years ago, the Green Ninja was a powerful ninja, until one day, a magical Hippo made of taffy came, and chomped off his arm, after the Green Ninja accidentally eat the hippos favorite jelly tart collection! Now, the ninja goes in search of the fatty hippo, along with his monkey Zoony who can fly, and his magical fire bird fefe!" Ezran explained with excitement, causing Callum to laugh.
It always amazed Callum how his younger brother had such an active imagination, and could think of the weirdest things off the top of his head.
"Great story Ez, now go and play" Callum told his brother as he watched him jump off the bed and make his way to the bedroom door, before turning back around to him. "Oh I almost forgot, on my way here, I ran into dad, and he said he wanted to see you" Ezran told Callum, before running out the door with his new toy in hand, and running off to who knows where.
Callum sighed. Whenever that man called him for something, it was usually something important, which was rarely good. On the odd occasion, it wasn't something important and he would just want to see how Callum was doing, but as said, it says on the odd occasion.
Callum got up off his bed and walked out of the old dormitories where many people slept, having their own rooms, but most having to be shared, like how Callum had to share a room with his brother. As he walked down the hallways towards the staircase, he glanced around. The old wallpaper on the walls had been peeling off for a few good years now, and the smell of mold sat in the air. It was musky but everyone was use to that by now from living in these conditions for years now.
Callum got to the staircase and walked down quickly, the wood creaking under his feet. Callum always had the fear of the old stairs breaking under his weight, so he always moved quickly, and was soon outside.
Once he opened the steel door's, the light hit his eye's, causing Callum to squint a bit to get use to the setting sun's light. After a moment, Callum quickly walked across the courtyard and towards the streets, towards the center square of the safe zone.
As Callum walked through the mostly empty street towards his destination, and looking up at the old brick building that were covered in vines and dirt from not having the best maintenance, Callum thought about the situation they all found themselves in.
For most of his life, Callum has been living in behind these wall's of the safe zone that was in the center of the city. A lot of people lived here, coming for safety, and not wanting to be left outside where it was dangerous, and where the infected where.
It was sometimes hard to remember what it was like before the outbreak. He remembered being around 6 years old when it all happened. That day was very clear to him. His mother ushering him out of his room late at night, telling him they had to go, and to pack things in a hurry. Most of that night was a blur to him since he was still tired, being awoken at 2 in the morning, but he remembered as his mother carried him out of their home, they saw as some people attacked others on the street, acting strangely and moved unnaturally, holding down their victims and biting into them violently.
Himself and his mother would have been victims of the same fate, if it wasn't for his mother's new husband Harrow who had arrived. Callum remember being so scared, and refused to sleep for long for day's after those events. All the events that happened after that first night were a blurry, and Callum guessed he suppressed those memories so much that he can no longer remember them.
The next thing he knew, he was here. For day's, he was quiet and scared, never leaving his room, and when he did, he would cling to his mother. He hated the days when his mother would go out to scavenge with a small group, and would have to leave for a few hours, which always felt like days to him. He remembered on the rare occasions when she would take him out herself, even against Harrow's protests.
And maybe they should have listened...
Callum suddenly felt two pair of hands grab on to his shoulders harshly, and he jumped, pulling away and turning around to see who his attacker was, only to see a familiar girl laughing.
"Hahahaha! You should have seen your face!" The girl laughed loudly, doubling over in her laughing fit.
"That wasn't funny Claudia!" Callum raised his voice, hating when his friend would scare him out of his skin like that. He should be use to it by now after all these year's, but it still got to him.
"S-sorry, I couldn't help it" Claudia apologized to Callum, wiping a tear out of her eye as she calmed down and stood up straight. "So where you heading off to?" Claudia questioned the younger boy.
"Harrow wants to see me".
"Uh oh, that's not good".
"That's true, whenever he wants to talk to me, it means it's something important".
"Well I better not hold you up any longer. Go talk to him, and later maybe you can swing by the med-bay?" Claudia asked him, as she took a few steps away from him in the direction she was heading off to. Callum nodded. "Yeah sure thing. See you later Claudia" Callum replied as he waved his hand goodbye to her. "Alright, later Callum!" Claudia called out as they parted ways and made their ways towards their destination.
Callum continued on his way towards where he suspected Harrow to be. Usually, he would be at the front gates, on top of the wall when there was something important to be discussed.
So, that's where Callum went, walking through the safe zone, towards the gates, and running into a few people, some of them going about their day, while some were on their to patrol the wall's like every other night.
Sure enough, when Callum got to the front gates, above them on the walkway, was Harrow, hands behind his back and looking out to whatever may be beyond the safe zone wall's.
The boy took in a breath. Calm down. He just wanted to talk. Whatever he wants to talk about, might not even be that bad. No reason to worry. No reason to panic.
Slowly, Callum climbed up the metal ladder, and soon made his way on to the walkway, only a few feet away from Harrow. Hearing that his step-son had arrived, Harrow turned around to the boy who was now standing by the leader, looking at him.
"Ah Callum, I see you have arrived. I was scared Ezran might have forgotten to tell you that I needed to speak to you" Harrow spoke joyfully, but even to Callum, the joys in his tone sounded wrong. That wasn't a good sign.
"Yeah he told me. Said you wanted to talk to me, which much mean it's important" Callum spoke, walking over to Harrow and standing next to his step-father. Harrow's smile dropped slowly and he looked away from Callum.
Okay, that's definitely not a good sign.
"What's wrong?" Callum asked with worry and concern in his tone. He watched as the man sighed.
"This morning, one of our scavengers caught sight of a group. They attacked him with the intent to kill, and we worry to believe that these people are raiders".
Callum froze. This wasn't the first time he heard about raiders. Multiple times when walking down an alleyway, he would over hear guards talking to one another about news of raiders.
"Did ya hear 'bout the camp close to da river a while 'way? Around 10 hours in car? Apparently it was ambushed by some raiders not to long 'go " He would hear them say not to long ago. He was away of small camps being attacked, but he wouldn't imagine them attacking a safe zone like this.
"Raiders? You don't think they could attack here, right? Raiders wouldn't have the strength to attack a safe zone like this. What reasons would they have to attack us?" Callum questioned the man. Before Harrow could get a word out, another voice joined in.
"It's because we have power and resources they want". Callum and Harrow turned their heads to see the second in command, Viren. Callum groaned. Uck, Viren. Callum didn't really like Harrow's friend. It was obvious he had the best intentions, but some of his choices over the years just didn't sit well with Callum.
"Raiders break in and destroy communities, take whatever they can, and leave nothing behind. Many of the people who come to us for help or shelter are those who come from those camps" Viren explained as he walked closer, and looked down at the street beyond the wall's.
"Then what should we do? If these raiders come and destroy our safe zone, many of us are going to be killed within a day of being out in the city" Callum questioned the two men. Harrow thought for a moment.
"Viren, I want you to gather all our guards and summon them to the center, where I'll explain our plan" Harrow ordered, which Viren bowed his head to, before turning and leaving.
"And Callum" Harrow spoke, catching the boys attention. Callum watched as Harrow gave him a serious look, which was rare, and quiet unsettling to see the man wear. When Harrow was serious, it must mean it was very very serious.
"I want you to go to my room, and under the bed, is a handgun, along with 5 packs of amo. I want you to take those, and go back to your room and pack yours and Ezran's things, along with some water and food. If anything happens, I want you and your brother to run".
Callum just stared at the man for a solid minute in disbelief. What was he talking about? Was the situation that bad? Why would he need a gun!? Callum has never handled a gun in his life!
"W-where would we run to?" Callum asked, his voice shaking a little bit.
"Remember the old escape pipe at the other side of the safe zone?" Harrow asked, which Callum nodded to. "I want you and Ezran to escape from there. I want you two to get out of the safe zone, and make your way towards the closest camp to here that's allied with us" Harrow explained seriously.
Callum couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"B-but what if there's something in our way that prevents us from getting to the escape pipe? W-what if there are infected in the pipes? W-what if me or Ez get bitten!? What will we do then!? What if we can't find the camp, or its destroyed? W-what if-".
"Callum!"
Callum stopped his panicked rambling and looked back at Harrow, who now had more of a saddened look across his face.
"What were the rules your mother would repeat to you".
Callum felt himself stiffen at those words. He remembered all the rules his mother ever thought and told him, how could he not?
"One, never go by yourself. Two, always have a weapon. Three, always have an escape plan if going into somewhere. Four, don't trust people to easily. Five..."
"Whats number five Callum".
"Five, if bitten, aim for the head".
"Good. Have you been telling Ezran those rules like you promised?".
"Every night, just as promised".
"Good. Now get going, no time to waste" Harrow spoke, patting Callum's shoulder, before turning away. Callum stood there for a moment, taking in all the information, before quickly turning away and going back down the ladder.
Once his feet hit the ground, Callum took off running, his eye's burning as tears treated to fall. He hated this. He didn't believe this situation would be this serious. It's just a bunch of raises. It isn't that serious, right?
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Wow over 3000 words on the first chapter, I'm on a role! I know there isn't much Rayllum yet, like, at all, but don't worry, we'll get to that soon when they first meeting in either chapter 2 or 3! ^^