STRANGULATE | Markicest

59 | RESISTANCE

TW/CW: Graphic descriptions, blood (It'll be like this for a while, but I thought I'd warn you!) Hope you enjoy <3

"Still no answer," said Voxe.

Ethan pulled at his hair. "W-what if she's in trouble?" he cried. "She—she needs our help."

"We have to stay here."

"What, and just—just leave her to die?"

Voxe's eyes narrowed. "I didn't say that."

"We can't do jack shit, anyway!" Ethan yelled, pointing at the static screen. "I-I'm no help here, either! Just let me find her—please."

"Ethan—"

"Just let him go!" Eyes yelled. "Voxe. Get Konray's location."

Voxe hesitated, and Eyes whirled on zem. The screen glitched.

"Now," she ordered.

Voxe grimaced, then obeyed. Ze tapped the screens—tabs and tabs and tabs—and a red dot blinked on a map. She zoomed in on the roads and houses.

"There," said Voxe, pointing. "She's in the village."

Voxe shot up a hand, and a door appeared in the room. She tossed a tracker towards Ethan, and he caught it. The red dot blinked.

"Be back soon," said Voxe, sending him a glance. Ze smiled in the slightest. "And Ethan? You are helpful here."

Ethan took a deep breath and nodded, clutched the device, and rushed off without a word.

———

The sirens were more haunting, now that the City was silent.

    Dark led the way with Xilef and Emery at his sides, scanning the wreckage. Cars were strewn off the road, lodged in buildings or piles of rubble. Smoke billowed from every corner of the City—from shattered engines, buildings, and fires.

    Their feet crunched over glass and wreckage.

    Dark took a deep breath, the scent of smoke, ash, and death flaring in his nostrils. When he gazed at one of the cars—hood curled in on itself, windows shattered, body strewn up on a stone ledge—he spotted an arm hanging out of the passenger's side. Limp, bloody. Lifeless. His stomach twisted with dread.

    In all his life, he'd never seen something so graphic. Even when he revealed the truth about corrupt rulers or callous organizations, they never ended in the wreckage he walked through now.

    A gust of wind tore through the City, riling up the smoke and ashes. Dark's cloak fluttered at his feet.

    "You give a man too much power," breathed Xilef, scanning the carnage, "and they drown in it."

    Dark gazed at him, uneasy. Xilef met his eyes with a cold stare.

    "I don't sense anything, Dark," he said quietly. "There's no life here. Not anymore."

    Horror bled through Dark, and he searched their surroundings, hoping for any ounce of life—hostile or not. Now that he focused, the dead bodies jumped out at him. A body under a car, a hand through rubble, feet lodged under metal beams.

    There wasn't as much blood as he'd expected.

    "This..." Dark looked up at the sky, up at the buildings reaching up into it. His heart ached, and his throat tightened. This was his mother's home, her hard work, her life... and now it was destroyed. "This can't be possible."