The Scene

--Charlie's Perspective--

Leading the charge, I walked further toward what I believed to be Zealous.

"What the hell... Charlie, now that I'm looking at it, look at where we're walking!" Alex shouted out. He pointed to the ground in front of us. I didn't understand at first, but as we continued forward with pebbles falling near my feet, I looked up and understood.

We were walking on the inside of what used to be a mountain... a giant circular hole was shot through it, and the pebbles above us are what was left of above.

"Holy shit! Guys, let's turn around, we don't want this collapsing on us," I said.

Shike, Belle, and Boo were all limping, unable to use their abilities. I was one of the most physically capable people left, so I took Belle and Boo's arms over my shoulders and moved in the opposite direction.

"What the hell happened to it? Who could do something like that?" Charlotte asked, she looked up, taking in the scene with her mouth open.

Who could do something like that...?

"Sky... Alex, are you able to climb up on that ridge at all?" I asked him.

He nodded, but as soon as he started moving, we were all sent to our knees once more. I wasn't sure about everybody else, but I began to feel queasy and nauseous.

"I'm gonna puke!" Asoh muttered through her fingers covering her mouth.

"What is going on...? My head... this pressure..." I muttered, trying to lift my head up.

The stones on Boo's hands started to light up again as she knelt over while holding her mouth shut as well.

They were blinking, just like before...

After a surge of about ten seconds of pressure and nausea, we were able to stand once more and walk around the mountain.

"I've never felt anything like that before, I have no idea what's going on over there, but we should hurry!" I said, trying to get everybody to pick up the pace.

"No... Belle, that does feel familiar, doesn't it? Boo, do you remember the feeling?" Shike asked the two.

"That's right... I wonder if it's related at all... this feels much worse... let's continue," Boo said, adjusting her hands to see what the correct direction to move was.

"HEY! OVER HERE!" From the hole in the mountain placed, I could see a hallway clearly standing out after walking around, and a person waving toward us.

"Friendly?!" I shouted back. They nodded, saying that they were from Zealous. I looked at everybody, nodded, and then started to walk up the mountainside to the exposed hallway.

Once we got close enough, I started my onslaught of questions.

"Where is everybody? Is Sky okay? What do you know?" I asked them, helping Boo and Belle inside. I let Lily jump on my shoulders to get into the hallway, and everybody helped me in after I was the last one on the outside.

"I'm not sure... I haven't seen anything... we all got inside this bunker as soon as Quake arrived... but this mountain was hit with an attack and our food cache was blown out completely. People are hungry in here..." The young man muttered.

"I'm sorry to hear that... if there was anything I could do to help you, I would. I have to ask, do you know anybody by the name of 'Mandi' here? I'm looking for her," I told the man, but he only shook his head.

"Dammit... what about everybody else? Can I see Ruby?" I asked him.

"No..." His head sank and I felt my heart drop.

"Umbra...?" I muttered.

"No..." He replied.

"Where is everybody? I need to talk to somebody!" I screamed at him.

"Alexia?! Do you know anybody like that?!" Shike and Belle both simultaneously yelled at him as well.

"No..." He said.

I felt chills shoot up my spine and pushed him out of the way to get to wherever I could, learning anything I could.

As I was running through the monotone halls, I saw Shiro on my righthand side, and then the blue-haired girl named Hiyochi, with blood all over her hands and sweat dripping down her forehead.

"Hiyochi! Tell me, where's Ruby?! Alexia?! Mandi?! Sky?!" I yelled out, looking all around.

The room was covered in blood, ruined cloth... and barely-breathing bodies, all groaning in pain.

"We haven't found them... not yet..." She mumbled. She was hysteric, holding a scalpel over somebody's body while shaking.

"Lily, take over for Hiyochi, Asoh, get her some water," I yelled out, scanning the inside of the big room of the bunker.

From the corner of my eye, I spotted, David, holding his arm in pain.

"DAVID!" I screamed out, running over to him. Alex followed right behind with as Shike, Boo, and Charlotte followed closely.

"What happened? Tell me, what's been happening here?! Where is everybody?!" I asked him.

"You're... back...? Charlie is back... hey!" David shouted out. From around the corner, Aegis started to walk toward me.

I picked her up and let her sit in my arms as I walked around the corner to see what was going on.

Nobody was answering me... I couldn't get out of here...

I heard screaming, shouting, and arguing further into the bunker from where Aegis was running from. She wasn't old enough to explain anything to me, and with the pacifier in her mouth, I set her down and near David.

"There you are..." He muttered. He was distant as well, even more distant than Hiyochi was.

I ran down the hall with the arguing going on, with the others still following me.

One more corner turn and I saw an auditorium of people fighting. Somebody was trying to get their attention on stage... it was a little girl and what looked like her brother. They couldn't have been any older than Faith.

People were fighting, blood was flying, bones were breaking... what is going on?! How did this all happen in the time we were gone?!

"HEY!" I screamed out, but my voice was muffled by their loud tones.

The girl on stage recognized that I shouted, and motioned for me to get to her with her hands.

I climbed up on stage and she handed me the microphone on the stage, covering her brothers ears and keeping her head forward.

"HEY!" I let my voice rip, going as loud as possible, and the room finally felt quiet, with all eyes on me.