Part 2

The next day I woke up surrounded by silence when the first ray of the morning sun revealed itself. When I looked out of the cave, I noticed that a crow was watching me, turning its head several times. The bird looked into my visor with his pitch-black eye before quickly flying out of sight.

I woke up the Dreg before going out of the cave to meet my Ghost, who was still watching the area.

We then quickly made ourselves ready and went back on the road to continue our journey. As the Dregs wound had gotten better overnight, he walked by himself even though he was still a bit slow.

Around an hour or two later, we came across a small clearing at the side of the road. In the clearing stood some strange red canisters with white signs painted on them.

Already a few minutes before, my Ghost had noticed that a lot of Crows were circling this area.

And then, the dead bodies lying around the clearing caught my eye. Four dead Fallen, a Vandal, and three Dregs were rotting on the ground, one of them already savaged by a crow. We were in shock, most of all the Dreg who had to realize that his previous companions died. It probably was traumatizing for him, no matter how disrespectful they were towards him. They were his people. He probably had a lot of "What ifs" going around his head like for example, "What if I went back with them?" or "What if they had not left me behind?"

I looked over to my Ghost and asked him what could have killed those Fallen. He then explained that the Fallen were not humanity's only enemy. That there were other alien races, such as the Hive. An alien species with even more destructive force than the Fallen, fighting those who are in their way.

We then inspected the battlefield and scared away the crows plucking one of the bodies to pieces. Amidst burnt spots and dark blue and green blood, the Dreg found something that could have been easily mistaken for a stone. The Dreg then drew the Ghost to the head-sized pointy object.

The Ghost scanned it and then explained that it was a broken-off part of a Hive Acolytes shell.

As there was no sign of Hive except for this piece, we concluded that the Hive had won this fight.

We then started to search the place for valuable resources. When I checked the corpses, I noticed that one of them had a leather shoulder bag. Inside I found an empty glass tube with metal ends.

But that was not the only thing inside the bag. In a small side pocket, I also found a slightly faded picture. It showed a young couple with a baby.

Seeing the picture paradoxically gave me a saddened feeling of hope.

On the one hand, it showed that there were humans around. On the other, it showed that they were probably dead.

I then threw the tube on the ground and put an alien pistol I found with one of the bodies inside the bag.

I noticed the Dreg coming closer.

He walked past me, took the glass tube, and went back to one of the canisters.

I was confused, so I asked my Ghost what the Dreg was doing. My Ghost explained that the Dreg was filling the tubes he had found with ether from the canisters. A substance that was like food to the fallen. It also made them grow taller when given in higher doses. Even cut-off limbs could grow back with sufficient dosages of ether.

I was so fascinated by the possibilities of this substance that I did not notice the Dreg having a hard time carrying the four tubes he had found. I wanted to help him, but my Ghost was faster.

Before I knew what was happening, I saw the tubes vanishing in the Dreg's arms. At the same time, I felt my bag suddenly becoming heavier.

The Dreg and I stood there in confusion. Then my Ghost giggled, and if he anatomically could, he would have probably winked.

I then looked into my bag and saw that the tubes were inside.

My Ghost then enlightened us about his ability to teleport things in a small radius. He then teleported himself into my bag and told us to find out where the Hive went as they usually did not go too far from their nests.

We further went down the road. Suddenly the sounds of a firing gun came from the forest not far away. We quickly followed the sound going down the road until a path of destruction branched into the woods.

As we followed it, the sounds came closer.

The Dreg suddenly stopped. As if grown on, the Dreg stood there with his eyes wide open as a bone-shattering noise drowned the area. I could never forget this intimidating sound that could make even the bravest fighter shiver in fear.

I began to realize that the Dreg was not the only one who could not move out of fear. It was like the noise had glued my feet to the ground.

Only the scream of an unknown man followed by multiple gunshots managed to get my feet off the ground.

"Retreat to the house! They are getting closer!" he screamed.

I took the Dreg by his arm and released him from his rigidity.

There was already light at the other end of the forest.

When we came out of the forest, everything was already going haywire.

Several hive corpses plastered the way into a clearing.

Two men and a woman seemed to be defending a house from the remaining Hive forces. They were so engrossed in the fight that we entered the clearing unnoticed by them.

Again as if grown on by fear, we just stood there and watched the fight.

Mere seconds later, one of the men was thrown on the ground by a small slim Hive fighter with long sharp claws on his hands.

I later found out that this kind of Hive fighter is called a thrall.

Upon being thrown on the ground, the man quickly rolled on his back and stopped the thrall's sharp claws with his rifle. He tried to turn the end of the barrel towards the thrall's head. Not being able to compete with its strength, the man let go of the weapon and rolled to the side to make the thrall fall. He quickly stood up, kicked the thrall to the side, picked up his rifle, and shot it in the head, spattering green blood around.

Meanwhile, distracted by other enemies, the woman defending the house alongside the two men came into a similar situation with a thrall. Unfortunately, she did not just get kicked to the ground. Instead, when the thrall jumped her from the side, the sharp claws landed on her face and throat, slicing her flesh like a hot knife going through butter.

She uttered a shrill scream of pain before falling completely silent, spitting out a last bit of blood before motionlessly bleeding to death.

I started running towards her, dropping my bag to run faster.

At the same time, the man who had just gotten out of his fight with the other thrall turned around, letting out a faint "oh no." The man's eyes widened, and in a hectic motion, he shot the thrall next to the woman's corpse and sprinted to her. "NO! Violet! No, no, no, no, no!" he screamed with the sound of his voice increasingly fading.

He kneeled in the green-red blood puddle, placing one hand on the woman's stomach and the other behind her head.

Realizing it was too late, he started crying and bent over the woman's body. His tears began mixing with the blood puddle.

In his grief, he didn't see a thrall getting closer.

I was still too far away to jump in between, the other man was still too deep into his fight, and the Dreg still did not move.

"Watch out!" I screamed while drawing my knife.

He looked at me. Then he looked at the thrall already opening his claws in front of him. While dodging the attack, the man fell to the ground and crawled to his rifle, covered in blood.

I realized that neither would the man get his weapon in time, nor would I get close enough to stab the thrall. For that reason, I covered my knife in fire and threw it at the thrall. At this moment, the man's life depended on whether the knife was going to hit or not.

Luckily the knife hit, lighting up the thrall instantly, leaving only an ash-covered dead body on the ground.

Almost instantly, the smell of burnt hair and rotten eggs filled the air.

The man, still on the ground in shock, vomited before standing up again.

I quickly went to the dead thrall to get my knife back to fight. Picking up the knife, I heard one last shot before the clearing got silent.

Only the reverberation of the last shot was now audible.

It turned out that the older one of the two men had killed the final enemy. With the fight seeming to be over, I put my knife back into the holster.

The older man looked at me with a scanning gaze. Then he looked around. Suddenly his head stopped.

He drew his rifle and aimed at something. It was the Dreg who still stood where I left him.

"Looks like a Dreg followed you, stranger," the man said, placing his finger on the rifle's trigger.

As I realized what was going to happen, I shouted. "Stop! Don't shoot!"

"And why shouldn't I. If I let that Dreg go, he'll call for reinforcements, and then we'll be overrun with Fallen in no time," the old man explained offendedly.

I quickly went in front of him and blocked the man's line of sight.

He lowered his rifle and looked at me with an irritated face.

"Don't shoot him. He won't hurt anyone. You have my word on that." I spoke with a strong undertone in my voice.

"And why should I trust you? Why should I trust a stranger who appeared here just a minute ago?" the old man asked aggressively.

I sighed deeply and lowered my head.

"Now get out of my way and let me shoot that thing," the man commanded with a rough voice while pushing me to the side unkindly.

I grabbed the barrel of his rifle and pressed it down. Then I placed myself in front of him and looked into his eyes. "Don't. Shoot. Him," I said with a clear, deep voice.

The man remained tense in his position and returned my gaze with a death glare.

We stared at each other for a few seconds until the man loosened his grip on the rifle. Then we backed off from each other.

"Why do you trust that thing?" the man asked.

"'Cause he's my ally," I replied.

"You must be pretty naive or tired of life to have a Dreg as your ally. And now you better move on before we get problems," the man responded in a slightly aggressive manner.

I gave up arguing and turned around, ready to go, when a loud "Wait!" came from the background.

It was the younger man who still kneeled in the blood puddle crying over the dead woman.

He continued, still slightly sobbing. "Hey Dad, that stranger saved me just a moment ago. We should at least return the favor. Maybe we can offer them a place to stay if they need one." He paused for a bit. "I know it's risky to have strangers here, but they could help us protect this place, or they could help us with our work in exchange for food and accommodation. Just like some people handled strangers back when we lived in the Settlement."

The older man sighed and slightly shook his head. "Well, I don't support the idea, but we really could give them a chance." He looked over at me. "You. Stranger. I will allow both you and the Dreg to stay for a bit if you want, but if you try to do anything bad, I will kill both of you without hesitation."

I nodded respectfully.

Then the older man continued pointing at the Dreg. "So now call your Dreg friend over here so I can try to communicate the rules of staying here to it."

I yelled over to the Dreg, telling him to come there, but he did not react to it even when I tried waving and signalizing with my hands that everything was fine. Only when the Ghost teleported out of the bag and flew right in front of his face yelling at him, the Dreg came back to consciousness.

When he started walking, I could see that the older man's hand tightened around the handle of his rifle. I could tell by his face that he wondered what was flying around the Dreg's head. Then the man asked. "What's that thing flying around that Dreg's head. It's too small for a shank, and it seemed like it even talked."

"Oh, that's my Ghost," I responded.

The two men suddenly looked at me with eyes wide open. "Wait. Are you a Risen?" the younger man asked with his head slowly going a bit forward.

"If that's what you call people who come back from the dead, then I guess yes. I guess I am a Risen then," I answered.

"Yeah, that's how we call them," the younger man responded.

I sunk into thought for a moment. But before I could ask the question that came up in my head, the Ghost and the Dreg arrived.

I then told them about the situation we were in and how we could probably stay for a bit if we are helpful. Both the Ghost and the Dreg seemed to understand.

I then proceeded to ask my question looking and the young man kneeling in the blood puddle. "You just said that it's how you call 'Them.' does that mean there are more Risen out there."

"Yes, there are some out there protecting what's left of humanity, but before we continue our conversation, could you please help me cover Violet with a cloth." While saying this, he looked down at the dead woman's body and his blood-covered clothes.

I went with him to get an old grey blanket out of a shed that stood in the clearing. Together we then covered the dead woman's body with the blanket we used as a shroud. The blanket immediately soaked up blood and turned dark red.

Before we covered her completely, though, the young man took a quick look at the face of the woman named Violet. Tears came to his eyes again, and the corners of his mouth twisted into a look of painful despair. He then immediately tried to shake it off.

Meanwhile, the older man watched the Dreg and the Ghost standing and floating around while waiting for us. The man's eyes were filled with a mixture of anger, fear, and disbelief as he looked at the Dreg. Still, whenever the Ghost floated between them, tiny sparks of wonder lit up in the mixture.

When we came back to the group, everyone waited for someone to stop the awkward silence.

"Well, I think we should look after Clara and the kids now," the older man told his son, breaking the silence. "I also think that it's more comfortable if we continue the conversation inside," he continued.

The young man went ahead with the rest following him into the house.

The big wooden house with a big front porch had a dirty white facade that was already peeling in some places. On the front porch stood two rocking chairs, which were relatively clean compared to the rest of the porch.

Before going inside, I looked back, seeing the older man standing in front of Violet's body. A single tear rolled down his face.

"Looks like he is not so cold after all," I thought.

The man turned back around and saw that I was watching him. Feeling busted, he gave me a warning glance, as if he was saying, "If you tell someone about this, you will face the consequences."

To not get problems with him, I quickly went inside.