The Girl With The Crimson Eyes

75: Hollow

Remnya

The Netomics in Remnya's blood caused an anesthetic effect, putting her into a deep sleep. Nightmares stopped, replaced by the void of her mind. Every muscle and bone regenerated while that tragic night faded away.

As a new day arose on the horizon, warm sun rays caressed Remnya's skin. She opened her eyes, and for a brief moment, she believed everything had just been a horrible dream. However, the reek of burnt flesh, carbonized vegetation, and ashes covering the ground reminded her of what she had lost.

Tears threatened her eyes, but Remnya vowed never to let them flow again. It was futile. They would never come back.

Never.

Remnya moved her fingers first and then her arms, realizing there was no more pain. She lifted her torso, pushed away the blanket covering her body, and looked at herself. Dried blood and ashes extended over her skin, and her torn clothes barely hid her naked body.

A Karx uniform lay beside her, so she tore apart the remnants of her clothes and wore the new ones.

She scanned her surroundings, witnessing the devastation. Nature was gone, replaced by black trunks falling apart, smoke, and a thick mattress of ashes. Nonetheless, the corpses had disappeared.

Even though the pain was gone, her body felt numb and weak, and her legs trembled like a newborn when she stood up. It took her several attempts to walk, but her bones seemed to have recovered. Yet, deep scars covered her whole body.

She limped across the place, trying to find signs of life in the desolation where not even birds chirped anymore.

Eerie silence.

Remnya sat on the remnants of molten rock and contemplated her solitude, wondering if saving Zeo was doable for a failure like herself.

The roar of an engine interrupted her thoughts, and she saw an old truck stopping nearby, blood and ashes imprinted on its tires.

Debrin craned his neck out the driver's window and shouted, "How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine," she said and coughed, feeling her throat as dry as sandpaper.

"Do you want to return to the camp?"

His question sent shivers down her spine.

Remnya lowered her gaze, clenched her fists, and pondered her choices. Seeing the place where Brisa had been happy for the last time would tear her soul apart. However, if she didn't face reality, she would never get over her pathetic self. The scared, weak child who failed had to die once and for all.

"I'll come," she said firmly and stood up.

Debrin nodded and drove next to her. She hopped in the truck and slammed the door shut.

The truck roared as its tires spun on the slippery terrain, leaving a gray cloud of ashes behind them. Remnya stretched her arm out the open window, trying to feel the morning breeze, but the atmosphere had changed. Unlike the usual fresh aroma of the forest, a burnt wood smell lingered everywhere, mixed with a faint reek of rotten flesh.

Charred trunks erected crookedly across kilometers of craters and desolation, along with the crushed metal skeletons of the trucks that never made it. Remnya wondered how Debrin removed hundreds of corpses in a single night.

A familiar façade emerged on the horizon like a distant memory.

The camp.

What had once been vigorous fields of citrus trees and vegetables had become a graveyard. The house had collapsed, and all their belongings lay buried under tons of rubble.