Anomalies

Chapter 5: Flammes

Chapter 5: Flammes:

The path back to the refuge feels strange to Artur, something is wrong, he has already traversed this route multiple times, slowly starting to memorize the cracks on the round walls of tunnels, the rodents passing around as they notice his presence. The blobby sound of each step that he takes in the old water of the sewers, occasionally the sound of splashing puddles would break the heavy silence that filled these tunnels. He memorized those details to keep him distracted from the anxiety that he felt imagining what could lurk in each corner of these huge tunnel pipelines.

He did notice a difference during his way back, the odor had a slight scent of metal that he didn't notice before, he was used to the strong smell of rust, due to the strong humidity of this undergroung. But this was different, he tried to ignore it but he definitly couldn't ignore another change, the metallic scent was followed the one of blood. He thought it wasn't very surprising due to the many corpses of rodents lying around, serving as rations for the colletion of insects and vermines who survived for all this time.

The longer he walked, the more it bothered him. He decided to fasten his pace to finally go back to safety with Stell and the girls, already smiling lightly, holding closely the gift he had found for the girls.

Multiple days has passed since he arrived at the refuge, Stell saved his life on multiple accounts when they first met but Artur was never really able to repay her kindness during his stay. They were more than a few moments where he thought he was more of a burden that anything for her and the girls. That was also the reason why he was always playing with the girls, trying to make them happy as much as he could, to bring a little light to the gloom life that Stell and the sisters have went through. Him being finally able to explore the undercity, find food and water was making him feel more useful to the group, like the care that they were giving him wasn't simply out of pure pity but a reward from a difficult task. He knew that he won't be able to stay with them forever, he wished to explore the world and find out more about himself. Every night that Artur spent, he was trying to remember something, anything from before he woke up at that laboratory, trying to make sense out of the dreams he had about a white haired person and the moon. He needed the answers, about him and the world around him, but know, he had another wish, to help and protect the girls that helped him and saved his life. In this world, the life of anomalies is dangerous and unfair, the sisters were only children and already have lived through more pain that anyone should.

Thinking about it made Artur feel even more disgust to that organization, "SARCO", he has questionned Stell multiple times already, to learn more about the motives of this organization, and the reason of their cruelty agaisnt the anomalies. The war played a major part in it, the hate of humans never really stopped, and probably never will until the anomalies are completely extinct. That way of thinking really confirmed to Artur that people only see anomalies as beasts, without any control or reason. But from his side, the only anomalies he ever met were the small kind girls who took care, never at any point he felt in danger in their presence. Artur was certain that the uncontrolable fear of the majority was the unbreakable wall that stood between peace and the anomalies. In any case, he swore to himself to protect the girls, until they find a place where danger would never find them.

The long walk was finally coming to an end as Artur approached the door of the refuge, stocked with water bottles in the pockets of his jacket and in his hands, the toy wrapped in a thin towel, in a small attempt to make a wrapped present for Luna and Sunny. As he got closer, he gave a final glance behind himself, carefully shining the light, fearing that a too sudden movement would make cause for the monster hiding behing him to jump at him, but once again there was nothing, not a single living thing. Something is wrong, the smell of iron has grown thinner as well as the one of blood but he was still certain he could recognise it in the moist of the sewers. He stared for a moment at the dark path behind him, frozen in place, hesitating to look back at the door, he looked at the void in front of him as if something looked back at him, hesitating to come out of the neverending darkness past the light of Artur's flashlight. There was nothing, "Come on, don't be an idiot, there is nothing there" he thought to himself before finally reaching for the door, trying as hard as he could to ignore the uneasiness he felt. Something is wrong.