FALTER

CHAPTER 35: Tales after the scorched town (1)

Yarane looked through the window. The green tint of the fluorescent light obscured the view a little but she could see enough inside. A man in a protective full-body white suit was deeply examining the corpse of the black haired little-girl. He had a backpack with two robotic arms, both of which were extended and hovering above him, scanning the body.

The speaker above the window crackled to life.

"She looks about as healthy as can be. I can't check anymore without cutting her o-"

Yarane jammed her thumb on the button to open the microphone. "Don't."

"Alright."

The man's robotic arms whirred, covering the girl with the white sheet before contracting back into the sides of his backpack as he walked towards the door, opened it and walked out of the autopsy room.

As he took off his protective helmet, a rotund face came into view. The smile that adorned his face had been replaced with a regretful scowl, and the twinkle in his eyes was barely visible as he shot a glance at his friend. He had light stubble on his face and a rather old fashioned way of styling his auburn hair. As he took his gloves off, his metal fingers reached out to lay a hand on Yarane's shoulder. "Now, will you tell me why you had me single her out to check?"

"Because she was in a building surrounded by fires that were a thousand kelvin each. She should be less than ashes.... but she's healthier than she was when she was alive. It doesn't make sense. When I hugged her, I could feel her heart beating through her ribs. She couldn't have weighed more than... I don't know. But she didn't look like that. And I just-"

The man sighed. "You said you found that- that Drive thing on top of her. That must've been what healed her and-"

Yarane had been biting her lips to stop the tears but she choked up. The dam burst and she hugged her friend and started sobbing into his chest. She used to call him a teddy bear affectionately, because of his ability to comfort anybody about anything. She had never thought she'd be the one hugging him like this one day.

"Then why-" She screamed. "Why didn't it go the whole way?! Why is she laying there- she- I lost-" Words could no longer be audible through her shaking sobs. Her friend patted her on the back and they stood there until she could move. Afterwards, the man escorted her out, to comfort her in a less dreary place, leaving the door to the morgue open behind him.

Somebody walked out.

Ren was sitting in the cold metal chair. The singular light bulb illuminating the interrogation room buzzed loudly in his ears. He could also hear the whisper of the people all around him, but the boy wasn't hearing any of it. He didn't even blink. All that was on his mind were flashes of the previous night. The fight, the explosion, the... Drive. It lay in front of him on the table, the position of the light above it ensuring there was no shadow casted. Everybody was avoiding making eye contact with the eerie thing but Ren stared at it. He had seen what it could do. The shiny black yet chipped body, the embossing done in an eye-catching purple and the giant X surrounding the middle. The compartment was closed now, but during the explosion it had opened and Ren had seen the terrible light inside. It was only for less than one hundredths of the second but the instant his eyes had perceived it, it felt as if everything had changed.