A/N: well, long time no write *nervous laugh* to everyone who read the story and was or still is waiting for updates, im halfway back in business. after the “short hiatus” @zeroin-kun and I announced, we honestly didnt expect us to fall into a slump. life and personal issues arouse and we werent able to update anything, at all. but i hope that ill be able to get back into the one month update rhythm like before and that you readers will be able to continue to enjoy it :)
but enough talk heres the chapter
It was alright, she thought to herself. After all what can mere sounds do to her? Apparently a lot more than she wanted to and it left her paranoid.
The clanking sounds weren’t coming closer. It was more like as if they stayed at a certain distant to her. Emi was glad that it stayed at a comfortable distance to her, but on the other hand she wasn’t.
Just what was it intentions? Why only stay at a distance rather than confronting her directly? Maybe it was a human? A ghost? Emi hoped it wasn’t those annoying legs that liked to kick her.
As long as the sounds didn’t get closer, she was safe. At least that’s what she hoped.
Whenever she went out, her knife was ready to be used. She didn’t want to take any risks. Two days passed way too slowly. It was probably her paranoia that caused it. Everything seemed so slow, as if it was in slow motion. Emi was swinging her legs back and forth on the swing she occupied. The day was young and the other surviving humans won’t run away. Maybe.
She was feeling better. Better than the time she cried her eyes out. The device remained broken for several days. Emi had no clue how to repair it. It would take some more time to fix it, it would seem.
Another clank echoed throughout the empty street. Emi who had become accustomed to it, ignored it as best as she could. That was until something thin and hard knocked on her head.
Emi screamed out in pain, the knife which had been in her hand, cluttered to the ground. She clutched the spot where she had been hit. She could feel a small cutting wound on the back of her head and a bump was already forming.
She quickly realized that she had dropped her knife and clumsily gathered it up into one hand. She whipped around from where she assumed the object had flown from, but all she saw was an empty street.
Stumped, she glanced at the projectile that targeted her head. It was a small tin can. It was empty and probably emptied years ago judging from the dried up contents and the dirt and dust gathered in the inside.
In anger she kicked the can. Emi watched it fly up into the air then rapidly drop to the ground where it was tinkering on the hard asphalt. She huffed, feeling hurt both emotionally and physically. Emotionally because someone actually threw an empty tin can at her for whatever reason. Physically because that projectile fulfilled its purpose of hurting her head.
Crash! Clank!
Emi flinched and whipped around. A lone plastic bottle rolled along the pavement on to the street. Another set of disturbing sounds filled the silence reigning on the street and yet again something made its way to the asphalt. This time it was a small pot.
Emi nervously shifted her weight from one foot to the other. It didn’t seem like that anything would jump out considering the accurate throw at her head. Moreover there were just random clanking noises inside the house, but nothing that would harm her.
Feeling a little bit brave, the auburn-haired girl approached the dinky house, peeking inside. She didn’t see anything from where she was looking in, but the noises continued to ring out.
With a swift movement, she slipped inside the house without a noise. She had entered a small hallway that connected to three rooms. The noises she was hearing were coming from the room that was located the furthest away from her.
Uncertain, she thought what she should do. She could first search through the other rooms and scavenge what she could find and then look for the thing responsible for the noises. After all she had been running low on supplies for a while and it would be nice to fill it up again.
The downside was that she would be distracted with resupplying that her guard would be down and she didn’t like the thought of being in a pinch again like she had been inside the school. Emi shuddered at the thought.
In the end she decided that it was better to find the source of the noises instead of making a detour. One, she was too scared to meet the consequences of her carelessness, not that finding out what it is that is making the noise was safe either. Two, she really wanted to know what it is that has been chasing her for the past few days. If it was a hostile ghost, she thought bitterly, she might cry at her stupidity. Three, there were plenty of other houses which she could scavenge.
Emi took a deep breath and slowly opened the door at the end of the hallway. She entered after looking right and left. The room was gigantic in her opinion. The single room could have been one of those small houses she had been in. It was definitely too spacious for a mere person.
Sadly, just like any other thing, everything was dusty and full of dirt. Also it seemed that other people had been here before her or maybe it were the owners. Almost half of the furniture had been damaged or destroyed and small things like books or tea cups were lying on the ground. Forgotten and left behind.
The curtains were drawn closed, a few sun rays shone through the tears inside them into the room. The room itself was only dimly lit, but it was enough for Emi to see everything. She noticed that the right side of the room was blocked by wooden planks.
Emi strode over to the right side of the room and inspected the handiwork.
The planks seemed to be hastily nailed to the wall. A few peek holes were there, but even if she looked through them, it was pitch black. Emi turned around and saw that the other walls had windows, but none of them were covered or touched for that matter.
Curious why a person would block of a single wall, she tried to pry the blanks away with her bare hands. She gave a plank that was standing out a bit than the others a hard thug. A small but high pitched screeching sound came from the wood.
Emi cringed at the sound, but she could endure a few horrible sounds for the reason of this strange barricade.
“What are you doing!?” Emi jumped in her skin, instantly letting go of the wooden plank. She turned on her heels, eyes searching for the voice that had yelled at her.
Her eyes met a small boy, just around the age of 10. His face was scrunched up in fear, like he had witnessed someone dying. His pale blonde hair was unkempt and fell into his face. Other than that he was dressed normally with a white shirt, brown shorts and a pair of leather shoes.
“I was asking what you are doing!” He shouted again with a little more force behind it. Emi got the message and hastily answered.
“I was curious what was behind the-“ She was quickly cut off during her explanation. She shrank back when she was thoroughly given a scolding.
“Don’t you ever do that again! There’s a reason behind a barricade! A barricade is there to keep things away that might harm you. This barricade-“ The boy pointed at the wall covered in planks “it keeps a hostile creature away from entering this house. And you were almost going to let it enter because of your curiosity!”
The boy stomped on the ground. It seemed almost comically if it weren’t for the dreadful fact that Emi had almost let something so dangerous loose.
“You were lucky that I was around. If not, you might have been as good as dead!” The boy huffed. Emi just stared at him with dumbfounded look, almost as if he had grown a second head.
“Whatever now. As long as you now know to keep away from it, everything is going to just fine”
The boy had just turned around when a low but deep growling sound rumbled through the air. Emi’s heart skipped a beat. That growling noise sounded close, too close for comfort and it meant trouble.
The growls kept coming. Louder, deeper and more threatening. It ran shivers down her spine and it seemed that she wasn’t the only one cowering by those noises.
“We need to get of here” Emi stood still “Now!”
Before she knew what was going on, the boy had scampered through the door and left Emi behind. Still flabbergasted, but in a bewildered panic, she made a quick exit, following the boy.
In one swift moment, she was out of the house and slowed down.
“Keep running!” The boy who was a few houses away yelled out. She started picking up her pace again to catch up to the boy.
“But it should be safe with the barricade still u-“ Emi wasn’t able finish her sentence when the door a few meters behind her was blasted away. Her breath hitched. Emi took off in a full sprint after the boy.
The growls she had heard moments before in the house were now directly behind her. She prayed that whatever had bolted out of the house wasn’t chasing her down at the very moment. She didn’t even glance back for an instant, fearing that the monster would immediately catch up with her.
The boy with the long coat made sharp left turn at the next crossing and she ran after him towards the crossing. Emi followed the boy suit in the sharp turn, but slipped when she twisted her body to the left.
Her feet slid across the paved ground with her upper body falling back. Instinctively her hands tried to push her upper body back up, but due to the force of her running speed they were only able to prevent her torso from scraping down. And instead her hands took the damage.
She hissed when the uneven ground cut itself into her hands and part of her arms.
When her body came to a halt, she scrambled up, ignoring her new open wounds. She made a few limping steps before something crashed behind her. Out of reflex she whipped her head around.
An enormous mess of black fur latched to the ground where seconds ago she had been lying on. Emi saw a glimpse of a massive jaw with white teeth. Between the fangs was a piece of asphalt that was partly pierced by the sharp teeth.
That one image was enough for Emi to run for her dear life. She didn’t care if her wounds ached, she didn’t care if the headwind was whipping against her, she didn’t care if her limping legs were giving away. The only thing she cared about in that instant was to get away as fast as possible.
kinda wanted to draw the fragile dreams beta designs so here they are!! i am absolutely in love with them, i mean seto has kitty ears and a tail too….
((the beta designs/concept art can be found somewhere in the menu after you beat the game, i believe))
germansingergirl
janainaart
origamiaround
discoholicmusic
annaxmalina
kianamaiart
