Syzek

5 - Syzek: Storm

I slunk back into the gap that led under the library, watching the street from behind the barrels. Humans continued to mill about the town, some with children but most without. Gradually, though, less and less people passed through my view as the sky darkened to a middling gray. Most of the town was now illuminated by the lights from inside houses, practically growing brighter as the sun presumably approached the horizon.

I laid there, bored.

There was nothing I could do to prevent that man from catching Balto when he exited the vent system.

But then I heard a faint noise coming from the vent. I perked up my ears and waited. Tiny whimpers reverberated out of the entrance Balto used. Something was happening.

I looked to the sky. It was not quite dark enough to be sunset, but it might as well have been. The likelihood that I would be seen was non-existent now, as no humans passed my line of sight from the barrels in what seemed like whole minutes. Still, I made sure to be cautious.

The snowing intensified as I creeped out of the hole, silently trotting along the alleyway. A single building lined the left side, though it was obvious that it was split into two halves, as a long piece of wood helpfully demarcated where one color of paint started and the other ended. The same fence that blocked our direct entry into the town lined the other side of the alley. One of the planks that made up the fence had been detached, and was laying on the ground. It certainly underperformed at its job of keeping things on their respective sides, regardless. A couple barrels were neatly stacked in a way that could be used as stairs that led straight over the fence. Various tools were laid out in random places, most likely from someone who was trying to fix the fence. Or break it, only they knew.

Taking note of that, I crept around the back and peaked into the first half of the building from atop a barrel placed behind a window. I caught a glimpse of two men wearing thick clothing conversing with each other. Their words were beyond muffled to the point of unrecognizability, but that was irrelevant, anyway.

Without wasting any time, I dropped off the barrel and trotted to the next window a small ways down the alley. No barrels were conveniently situated under the window this time, so I leaned up against the wooden exterior with my front paws, standing up on my back legs to raise my head high enough to peer inside.

Knives, pots, cast iron skillets, and cutting boards were hanging neatly from the walls. The storage refrigerator was helpfully labeled "Storage Room." The place looked awfully average compared to the wide range of kitchen conditions in the plethora of places I raided in Newport.

There was also dried blood everywhere. Not enough to be a massive cause for alarm, but everywhere I looked there were trace amounts of maroon in the shapes of streaks and spots. Most of the knives were stored properly, but a few of them were strewn on the countertops, some still caked with what looked like fresh blood.

A tuft of fur waved near the bottom of what I could see into, brownish-gray.

I gasped audibly. "BALTO!" I yelled, scratching at the window in panic.

To my ease, his head suddenly jerked in my direction not a moment later. He was alive. The window was sealed shut, but not tightly. I got back down on all fours and located the tools from earlier, still scattered in completely random places.

One of the tools had a flat end, nearly straight from being severely deformed. That was actually beneficial for what I wanted to do. I ran over to the crowbar through the intensifying snow in overtaking darkness while slightly worried that I might collapse.

As I expected though, I stayed conscious, digging away some of the snow that covered parts of the rusted metal tool. I then used the remainder of my strength to dig my snout into the ground to pick up the bent crowbar in my mouth, lifting it up with more strain than I expected. With the crowbar bound between my jaws, I walked back to the second window, trying to move slowly as I was fetching a pretty heavy object, at least for me.