I'll keep you in my pocket

Chapter 1

      The whole city is ruined,dead bodies, bones and flesh were scattered around the floor,a disaster had taken over,there were monsters  invading the the city, the people had no idea how.
         It used to be such a bustling and bright place,until a few months ago when they got attacked by monsters that supposedly regenerate if their whole body isn't eradicated completely.
     The people of the city has been in the same cycle for months, witnessing their loved ones die in their front and running around looking for a place to hide to keep their lives,some had taken their own lives due to the impact,while others struggled to survive.
   Among those struggling to survive was a girl named Ashley and her brother Jungwon,the two children were orphans they had lost both their parents to the disaster, leaving only the two of them alone in the scary and dangerous world.
    There was no escape also, they've been moving from place to place having countless sleepless nights as a result,their clothes were torn and worn out covered in dirt and blood of other people.
      The state of their body wasn't a concern,it was their struggle to survive,Ashley is the elder one she's 3 years older than her brother,the one she wants to protect even with her last breath.
     The boy was 17 years old,but he was small for his age and there was a decline in his mental health due to what happened a few months ago,their parents who had been part of the first set of victims led the boy into a state of melancholy.
   That day his parents had hid him carefully, telling him to cover his ears and eyes and shouldn't open no matter what but the child was curious,when he heard the screams coming out from the other side of where he was so he went against his parents.
    He witnessed his parents getting eaten alive by a huge and horrible looking monster,that sent an immediate shock through his brain and since then the once sparkling eyes lost it's shine.
    When Ashley figured out what happened to both her parents and brother during her absence,she was devastated but she couldn't afford be weak or emotional it was now her duty to shield the boy away from every danger in this world.

          She held her brother's hand tight as she held an iron steel in the other hand ready to swat at anything that comes their way ,but there wasn't any threat at least not one they could hear it was a bit quiet in their new hiding place.
   It was inside a cave hidden away in the deep of an abandoned mountain,not seeing any monsters around them made her more restless than seeing one,the sneaky ones were the most dangerous.
    Jungwon look at his sister worriedly, thankfully his sense of speech wasn't totally lost but he barely talks too and he could sense emotions and his surroundings,his voice has become a bit hoarse due to that making it contrast his adorable face.
   He placed an hand on his sister's hand in hope of comforting her,when Ashley felt the warmth hitting the back of her hand she immediately looked at him and she can't help the small tears that slip past her eyes when she saw the sparkles in his eyes once again.
           It was tiny almost ignorable,but not to Ashley she has seen how devoid of emotions those eyes had been for months so seeing him reaching out to her made her feel warm and happy,maybe there was hope for them both afterall.
      She smiled at him in reassurance that it will all be fine,she doesn't know if she's comforting herself or him but she justs really want freedom from the tyrant monsters tormenting them out of nowhere.
    No one knew where the creatures had erupted from ,they appeared out of nowhere and ruined their world,they were merciless human eating monsters that doesn't spare anyone they had laid their eyes on.
     The city used to have trained gunmen and fighters battling off these monsters before but they were all eradicated by those monsters, leaving each person to protect themselves completely.
    She doesn't remember the last time she saw good food or had a bath,all her family members have sure been killed by now,her cousins,aunts and uncles have gotten their homes destroyed.
      Lost in thought she didn't notice Jungwon tugging her sleeve,when she broke out of her trance she glanced at him to see what he wanted,seems the boy was thirsty it made her feel thirsty too,luckily for them there was a stream behind the cave.
     She held him up and they went towards the stream carefully, avoiding to make any noise,she removed her gourd from her clothes and gently dipped it inside the stream ,she handed it to her brother who collected it hurriedly and chugged the water down his throat.
     She signalled him to be careful with how he drinks the water and not choke,he nodded in reply and drank more carefully ,when she was sure he drank enough,she drank some too .
         she was putting her gourd back in it's place when she heard a bit of rustling from the nearby bush.
    Danger,was all her body could detect,it was what her mind screamed at that moment it was sure a monster so without thinking twice she grabbed jungwon's hand and ran together with him.
  They were back inside the cave in no time but she knew they were not safe yet ,the thing would have probably smelt them and is now looking for them ,it won't take long till they were found.
   She searched around the cave for an hiding spot ,or an escape route that didn't lead to the stream,she didn't need to search long because right above their head was an opening they could climb in and hide there for a while until the monster couldn't smell them anymore,or until it was gone.
    "Won-ah, I'll need you to climb up there yourself ,can you do it?" she asked her the boy who was also looking around the place his facial expression distorted.
    He nodded in reply,and proceeds to climb with his sister's guide,but he hesitates all of a suddenly making Ashley worried why he wasn't climbing up.
  "What's wrong won-ah, you have to hurry up that thing would find us anytime soon" she whispered gently to him even though her insides were the exact opposite,her heart was dipped in fear they have to stay alive no matter what if they were later than this the monster would find them.
      She finally got what he meant when he pointed to her,she realized he didn't trust her enough, the realization broke her heart more than it was already.
    Since their parents had died Jungwon had separation anxiety,so if she tells him to hide somewhere alone he would protest and refuse to hide unless she hides with him,it was one of the things the trauma had done to him .
   Just like right now she sees the hesitancy in his eyes,he wanted to make sure she would also come up or else he won't climb.
  "I promise to climb immediately you climb okay,I won't leave you here alone, just trust me and climb up okay?" She reassured him with a smile earning an understanding nod from him in return.
    When she saw he was was situated behind the space comfortably she gently climbed in too ,making sure to keep the both of them as hidden as possible,if the monsters sees a bit of them they are surely done for.
    It wasn't even hours after they had entered inside the space she could hear a scream just outside the cave, meaning someone else was around that cave too and they have been killed by the monster.
   Jungwon widened his eyes when he heard the noise but he was careful not make any noise,he couldn't get him and sister killed,so he placed his hands on his mouth to stop himself from whimpering.
   The footsteps that grew closer to them made her heartbeat 5x faster than normal she was beginning to pray to the heavens to forgive her of her sins , and to at least keep her brother alive.
   They both had their hands covering their mouths careful not to make any sound or even breathe because the monsters were sensitive to noise so it could get alerted if he heard them.
     The monster kept moving forward towards where they are,it sniffed around as if acertaining that there were surely humans in there,it looked around frustrated when it found nothing,it was starting to retreat its steps.
   Below Ashley's foot lay a tiny rock in attempt to move her leg that felt so numb ,the tiny rock nearly fell down but she caught it just in time, making a bit of her hand show from the hiding space.
    We are doomed ,she thought as she placed her hands carefully back inside the space the monster must have heard that or worst seen it.
  As if on cue it turned back and started walking towards that space,if she wasn't holding her breathe before she was surely doing that now,she gritted her teeth together trying to stay as calm as possible.
  Then she took a quick glance at her brother who also had his mouth covered his eyes displaying traces of fear ,she didn't like the look so she made a mental note to immediately sacrifice herself to the monster if they happened to be found,at least her brother would be saved then.
    Minutes passed and nothing happened,but she was sure the monster was still inside the cave, because she could here its footsteps it was definitely setting a trap for them and Ashley knew they were not to leave their hiding space until it was nighttime.
    Soon another violent scream was heard from faraway she shivered at how agonizing the scream had sounded.
       It was terrifying no matter how many times she hears or witness that scene she couldn't get used to it, nobody should have to get used to  such a life,where the people around you get eaten alive every passing minute.
   That seems to have successfully distracted the monster, because it ran out immediately to find the source of the voice,the cave floor shaking a bit due to the impact.
      When she was sure it was gone she let out the breath that laid stifled at the back of her throat,she signalled to Jungwon to tell him the monster was gone he removed his own hands from his mouth and let out a long sigh too.
      They were safe once again,for now at least they were safe she needs to prepare herself mentally and physically for the next dangerous situation they would witness,it was simply inevitable though she prayed it was the opposite.
    Closing her eyes she whispered a prayer to any God out there to save her brother,her and the whole of her city , hearing and witnessing innocent civilians get killed everyday wasn't exactly good for anybody.
     Maybe if the gods did hear her prayers they would sent a deity from heaven to save their city.