RISEN || The Keepers of Astraela #2

4.0 || EVA

|| CHAPTER 4.0 ||
|| EVA ||

NO ONE SLEPT.

After the explosion woke Eva from a dreamless sleep, neither she nor Bobbi had returned to bed. Whatever turned the sky to fire was something they hadn't experienced in Havenwood's months of turmoil.

Eva wanted to dig through her memories for anything from her books that may have caused it, but she couldn't. She was hardly functioning as it was without straining herself over lore from her once-fictional series—and while she tried to bury it beneath a smile and assurances of being fine, she wasn't.

Bobbi saw through it, too. It was clear from the way she'd watched Eva closer with every passing day.

It was more noticeable that morning, as they hovered by the check-out counter of the clothing store they'd squatted in, munching on stale pop tarts and sipping juice boxes. Bobbi sat at a stool behind the register, eyes trained out the display window for any sign of intruders, but Eva couldn't help but notice the worried glance her friend flicked in her direction every so often.

Meanwhile, Eva paced the length of the counter, forcing herself to take small, absent-minded bites of her untoasted pastry. "Where are we going next?"

Though she tried to maintain eye contact with Bobbi, her gaze slipped to the front window. She jumped at the sight of movement, but only too late did she realize it was a snow-laden awning dropping white fluff onto the ground.

She took a deep breath. Every movement, shadow, and noise was enough to set her nerves on alert, and a random explosion hadn't eased any worry.

It wasn't until Eva turned to face Bobbi's downtrodden expression that she realized tears had blurred her vision. She blinked them away stubbornly, but knew there would be no avoiding her friend's concern. Not when she could easily glimpse her own reflection in any of the non-shattered mirrors around the boutique. They had once been used for patrons to see if their new shirt would bring out the color of their eyes, or small children playing dress-up in the aisles. Now, the only thing staring back was her ghastly complexion and hollow eyes with enough bags to pack an entire family's vacation.

"I'm thinking we get out of the downtown area." Bobbi tossed her rolled-up wrapper into the trash can. "We'll see if the Corrupted are as bad in the residential areas. If they've thinned out there, it shouldn't be as hard to make it out of town all together."

It was their safest option. The smartest. But Eva had never left Havenwood in whatever life she had—not since the gods had "banished" her to Earth, filling her with false memories of a past and family.

She often wondered if there was life outside the city at all, or if the entire world was just a grand illusion.

"What do you think it's like out there?" asked Eva.

"The rest of the world? I guess we'll find out."

If there was anything left at all. They hadn't seen another human in well over a month. The convenience store clerk had been their one sign of hope until he'd morphed into a gooey mess.

While they hoped the Corruption had been confined to Havenwood, Eva knew its hunger would never be satisfied with just one town.

Besides, if it was only their city under attack, wouldn't reinforcements have been sent? Undead creatures weren't exactly normal enemies, but surely once the government got wind of explosions and mass murders, they would have called for military intervention. It would have been plastered across news outlets.

The lack of... well, anything, made her wonder what had happened outside the city.

Or had they been so cut off from the rest of the world that no one knew?