The Wonders of Hopes and Dreams By: Solinel FeatherHeart

003

The glow of the moonlight is the first thing his eyes are met with. He feels his mind slowly waking itself up. "Incoming Call from: Rykis. Would you like to answer?" "Shit!" He shouts as he bolts upright. His eyes come into focus, he sees he's still in the old apartment. How long did I sleep? He asks himself. "Yes, answer." He finally says, as the ringing in his ear stops for a brief moment, then it starts again and the automated voice repeats its instilled command.

"Are you okay?! Me and Nomi have been worried sick! It's almost halfway through the night!" Lykas swings his feet around and plants them on the carpet. He leans his elbows on his knees as he listens to Rykis run down a worried tangent. "I'm okay. I just went out exploring, I found this old apartment building, and I accidentally fell asleep on the couch."

He explains once he hears his older brother running out of breath. "The ones outside the city?" Rykis asks after a long pause. "Yeah, one of those." "Lykas. Get out of there as fast as possible."

The tone of his brothers voice causes his heart to fall to his feet. "W-Whyyy?" He asks, the hairs of the back of his neck starting to rise in paranoia. "Just get out of there." Rykis says, "I'll stay on the line while you do. Ugh, you idiot." Lykas feels frozen to the couch, the sudden comfort he found in the apartment before now replaced with an intense fear.

He forces himself to his feet and he heads over to the window he came in through before. As he steps out onto the rusted ladder, he sees what Rykis meant. A swarm of monsters are gathered at his feet below. Isn't this wonderful. Lykas thinks to himself. He looks up towards the roof. He feels his anxiety loosen as he finds the ladder luckily leads up to the roof.

Lykas quietly climbs to the roof of the building. Once he's on top of it, he walks to the center and says into the Sound Chip. "There's a swarm gathered below me. I'm stuck on the roof, I didn't think to take a weapon." A long sigh thunders against his ears. "Hang on. Don't move from that roof. I'm coming to get you." Before Lykas could object, he hears his brother's line disconnect. "Damn it!" He aggressively whispers. His fists ball in anger. Don't get yourself killed. He thinks.

Lykas searches the roof in a low crouch. His eyes are peeled for anything that could be potentially used as a weapon. All he finds is a rusted pipe, protruding from the destroyed parts of the roof. Lykas carefully crawls over to the small cluster of them. He pulls and tugs at each one, trying to see which is the easiest to break off.

He finds one of the pipes more in the middle of the cluster bends easier than the rest. With most of his strength, he bends the pipe towards his chest. Halfway through the pipe snaps off. The force surprises him as he tumbles onto his back. He blindly catches himself, only to find the palm of his right hand slamming down on something else protruding from the roof.

Violent surges of agony ripple up his arm, he quickly bites down on his tongue to muffle a cry of misery. Black blood oozes from the wound, pooling around his palm and soaking the cement of the roof. He closes his eyes and takes a few deep breaths as a way to calm himself, and prepare himself for what he has to do.

Okay. 3. . . 2. . . 1. GO! He yanks his hand off of whatever impaled it. Just as he does, he tears the bottom half of his shirt off and he starts to wrap it around his palm. His body trembles violently as he does, but he forces his breathing steady. He then uses his teeth to help tie the shirt in place, then he rushes to apply pressure to the wound.

He knows it won't be long until those Monsters smell his blood. Lykas keeps the broken pipe close to him, he can now hear the dreaded scrapping of jagged claws propelling something up the side of the building.

He grips the pipe with both hands, not even caring about the pain anymore. I have to survive for them. He sees the top of the Monsters head peak over the ledge of the roof. It spots him, and before he can blink the Monster is throwing itself onto the roof and charging at Lykas at full speed.