Turned World (On Hiatus)

16 - Breaking...

Soph slowly opened her eyes. Above her was a large piece of cloth. Confused, she turned her head to the side. On her left were some tattered, bloodstained rags. She frowned. On her right was a metal box and some destroyed plastic objects. From her angle, she could tell that she was laying on the ground. Still on her right, not far from her, was the entrance to the enclosure she was in, which she figured must be one of the tents they carried on the Labro.

There was some shuffling outside the entrance. Soph drew in her breath sharply, fearing the worst.

A hand poked through the seal, followed by an arm, then a head. The woman locked eyes with Soph and her tense face slowly changed with realization before lighting up with a relieved smile.

It was one of the women from the team. She quickly turns around and runs out in the open, shouting that Sophia had awakened.

Sinu made his way over to the tent and stepped through the entrance.

"Hey. How're you doing?"

"Alright?" Soph sat up, stretching a bit.

"Thank Amala for that. She spent the majority of her time healing you."

"I've been meaning to ask. She's a Special, right?"

"Who? Amala? Yeah, how else would she heal you?"

"T-thanks again..."

"Huh?"

"I know that she wouldn't willingly heal me, so I'm guessing that you made her do it."

Sinu slowly nods. "About the scavengers."

"Scavengers?" Soph looks at him, confused.

"Those guys that had attacked you. They are scavengers. They roam the land stealing whatever they feel like while killing for the fun of it."

"H-how do they breathe?"

"They most likely have stolen many Miniature Sanctuary Deployers which they can use to set up bases wherever they please."

"I see...I killed two of them..." Soph went silent as what she said sunk in. "I took someone's life..." she let out a slight chuckle.

"Sophia?" Sinu looked at her, concerned. "You ok?"

"Me? I'm fine...heh...I'm completely fine. I killed someone to save myself. There's nothing wrong with that right? If someone attacks me, I can just kill them...it's just self defence. It doesn't count as murder if it was just self defence, right?"

"You've never killed before, huh?"

"Killed?" Sopha looks up at him, like a scared animal, "I haven't killed anyone though. I simply defended myself." Soph laughs, unconvinced by her own words. "I'm innocent..."

Sinu looks at her pityingly. She wasn't mentaly prepared for the gruesome nature of the world outside the sanctuary.

"And the turned..." Soph continues, "They're just zombies right? They only look like people, they aren't people, so killing them doesn't count, right? I've done nothing wrong, right?"

"Yes, Sophia, you've done nothing wrong."

Soph looks up at him, a smile of unstable hope on her lips. It was obvious that her mind was breaking. She shakily got up and stood before him.

"The...the mission. How much longer until we're at Sanctuary B?"

"We've still got quite some ways to go before we get there." He grabs her hand and pulls her closer to him.

Startled, Soph managed to stop herself from just crashing into him. Sinu put a finger under her chin and raised her face to look up at his.

"Sophia, although you don't like me very much, I want you to know that regardless of what happens, I will always do everything in my power to protect you."

"E-eh?" Soph's face went red, as she wasn't sure how to respond.

Sinu quickly let her go and turned around sharply. He made his way to the entrance of the tent and paused.

"The others are outside, come greet them, it's been two days."

Soph slowly followed Sinu outside and squinted a bit as the outside was brighter than the inside of the tent.

"Hey, Glennor! What're you squinting for? The sun's not out!" Shama called out to her.

He was next to a tent, inspecting his plasma guns. Next to him was Drake and another of the girls. Soph laughed a bit.

She had some recollection when she was a child of what the sun was like when she was a little girl. She remembered stepping out of her house and the bright light in the sky shining down on her. She remembered how hot it had felt. She also remembered hearing people talking behind her. Talking to her. Calling her name.

"Huh...?"

Soph paused. She hadn't thought of her young childhood days much before now. But now, remembering this specific memory, she felt as if there was something missing.

'Who were those people there? Were they close to me?

Soph shook her head and smiled crookedly. Maybe they were just friends and nothing more.

"You feeling better?" Shama asks as she makes her way over to them.

"Yeah, a lot better." Soph nods.

Uri, who had just stepped out of her tent, saw Soph and winced. Soph turned around and saw her. The two locked eyes and everyone went quiet. Soph walked over to Uri, who had completely stepped out of the tent, and stood before her.

"What do you want?" Uri asks.

"Thanks."

"Huh?" Uri, steps back, dumbfounded.

"Thanks for healing me." Soph says, turning around and walking back to where the others were.

The tension in the atmosphere slowly lifted and Drake picked up a conversation again. Uri shot a glance at Sinu. He was smiling at Soph approvingly.

Uri was seething with anger now. No one was supposed to make Sinu smile but her. But that girl, Glennor, kept taking away all of Sinu's attention. That he would even force her to heal that girl, besides the fact that he knows that she doesn't like her at all.

The others started packing up their stuff.

"We're leaving now?" Soph asked, a bit surprised.

"Yeah, we've been in Sanctuary E's ruins for four days now." One of the backup girls answered. "Rein decided that we should move out as soon as you woke up."

"Ah, ok." Soph nodded, understanding.

"Rein!" Germain called out from his tent. "How much longer 'till we reach Sanctuary B?"

Sinu smiled as he activated the Labro's anti-weight mode and put his things on it. He looks over at Hamil, who sighs and shrugs, and shakes his head dejectedly.

"Who knows." Sinu responds, receiving a soul draining groan from the men.

"We should reach Sanctuary A in a few days, though, so settle with that." Hamil says as he tosses his stuff on to the Labro as well.

After quickly packing up everything, refilling the Oxygen tanks and then shutting off the Miniature Sanctuary Deployer, the team quickly made their way out of the ruins and back onto the original path.

While they walked, Soph could've sworn that she felt many eyes watching her. She began feeling scared, but that fear slowly . turned into anger. Soph didn't know why, but she could feel a definite anger boil within her, as if daring whomever it was that was watching her to come out and fight.

Soph halted abruptly.

'Hold on...' Soph thought to herself, ''When did I start thinking like this?'

Soph shook her head and hurriedly caught back up with the team.