Chapter 38

Leon didn't know what had happened. One second he's resting on a boulder looking out to the city and the next a bright flash of light blinds him before a shockwave of unnatural proportions and heat blasts him ten meters away from his position.

He felt like he had just been sucker punched in the lungs and his skin felt like it had been hit with a wave of heat similar to that of a preheated oven.

Rock fragments flew every which direction...but that's when he finally heard it.

{KA-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM}

The sound was so defining that he thought he would probably get permanent tinnitus. After that, there was a terrible ghastly silence.

Leon stayed on the ground for what felt like days but was only a few seconds. His eyes slowly fluttered open and his blurry vision started to come back to him. Looking around he saw that most of the plant life around him was still intact just pushed down a bit.

And the people who were also on the trail had fallen as well. Some were perfectly fine while others had some bruises from the rock fragments.

{BOOOOOM}

Another Explosion sounded of in the distance but luckily it didn't affect anyone on the hill, maybe besides giving them an additional fright.

Leon looked at the city and couldn't believe what he was seeing. The once beautiful Shin Lei City is now in almost complete ruin. The left side of the city looked to be still intact but...the right side.

Even from his position, he could hear the screams of the people calling for help. Leon's first thought was to call his mum immediately but when he tried he got no signal from his smart watch which frightened and confused him.

' What the hell is actually going on, did a terrorist attack or did a bomb accidentally go off.' He didn't know, he didn't know what could have caused all of this. But as long as he stayed there he should be safe...'But what about the people in the city...dammit Leon what about them, I'm sure the firefighters and police can handle it, even if you went to help what can you do..your just a kid.'

'This is my second life, there's no guarantee of a third one if you die a possible stupid heroic death..you will be leaving everyone you know and love in sadness because of one selfish thought...but is it selfish.'

Even now he could hear the cries for help, children screaming for their parents, mothers crying over the corpses of their dead spouses.

' I can't...I can't..' kept repeating in his head.

That's when he suddenly remembered the little girl he had met on his way here, if he was in her position wouldn't he have wanted someone to save him? Then he remembered his past life and how he had died trying to save two children from a fire.

'I can't...but I need to...I'm sorry mum I promise I'll be as safe as possible and come back in one piece.'

With newfound determination, Leon Stood up checked his body for any injuries, and started sprinting down the hill. Using his brain to calculating every possible shortcut to minimize his descent down without hurting himself in the process.

Because of the Explosion, a lot of the gravel had come loose so he slipped a couple of times but quickly managed to catch himself.

Explosions were sounding off in the distance and more screams could be heard from the city. A lot of people walking the trail just looked on in shock not knowing what to do or how to feel.

To some, this was just a nice place to visit but to others, this was their home.

Some even noticed Leon running down the hill, while some others were running to the top for safety.

Leon took 5 minutes to get to the bottom which was pretty fast but now there was a problem.

How was he going to get to the City fast enough without a mode of transportation? That's when he suddenly noticed a hoverbike on the side and it even had the keys in the ignition, it probably belonged to one of those hikers.

' I'm only borrowing it, don't worry ill return it to you after, whoever you are.' Leon without hesitation jumped onto the bike and revved it before shooting off.

{My bike!!!}

He didn't know if he heard right but it sounded like someone had called out to him.  Must have been his imagination.

' This is just a quick in and out rescue mission Leon. Find as many as you can and get out of there. You can't save everyone but you can at least try and save a few.'

As he was speeding into the city he noticed a certain shop and immediately pressed the brakes on the bike. He comes to a grinding halt before stopping.

" This...Will help a lot.' He saw some useful items in the shop and immediately went inside, he noticed no one was inside so they had probably run away.

' I'm just borrowing these things, ill return them after.'

//////////////////////

The streets were filled with heavy amounts of smoke, cinders from dead trees and buildings flew awary with the wind and rapid and hurried footsteps could be heard from all over.

"Cough, Cough, Cough." A child no more than ten years old coughed inhaling the toxic black smoke.

" Try not to breathe it in cover your mouth, everything is going to be ok." A woman who seemed to be the child's mother said as she held her child close to her chest. She was trying to find a way out of the smog but there was so much of it that she was struggling to know what was up or down.

She and her child were covered in dust and their white skin now looked brown from all the smoke and debris sticking to their skin.