Masque: Endtime

Break

I really need to get down from here. They're breaking! Those demonic bastards! Those two are trying to break every door where families are. This "Cleanup" is truly far worse than 4 years ago.

Have the Twelve sniffed whale dung or some other shit? Why do they have this damn event?!

They started at the closest building; four doors away from home. I really need to get down from this roof! But how? I can't just let them kill everyone here and save my family. I can't just try to think of a way here either. I stand up and move to my left, only to step on a loose tile and slip down. I panic. I crashed to the brick roof. My body started to slide down the slope; this time, I was slower than before.

Everything was ticklish and... drainy. My blood and guts fall behind from my descend (Not in a literal way, alright?) Without a second thought, I reached out for anything to stop my fall. At the edge of a window close to the first floor, I held on for dear life with the cost of feeling the electricity of pain traveling to my spine resulting in blaring my voice to the "quiet" night. I held on the edge with both hands but abruptly let go from a sudden breaking of the concrete with a bullet. My soles came contact with the ground, the force bringing me down to my knees in agony. I believe I have broken my ankles.

Footsteps were fast approaching behind me. No wonder I couldn't hear the banging of doors lately. My heart beats harder not from them, but from the pain in me. A chain tapped as I hear their weapons point at the back of my head. This is my end, I guess. I chuckled at my pathetic self who tries to save the family he loved, yet couldn't save himself from harm. Auntie told me something about praying to the Ancients, something that has always been in my mind for years.

Know that they cannot give you the things you need like how the rich can give gifts to the poor right at our noses. They guide you to the correct path in times of hopelessness. They've always done that.

"They always do." I said the last words of her wisdom. The two men behind me talked with the white noise. A click came from the conemouth's gun. I looked up to the sky without any fear of death. Before I disappear in this cruel world, I pray my last.

Guide my beloved family. They're good people. They do not deserve this happening. I sighed, closed my eyes, and waited for my end.

A loud explosion of a bullet came to my ears. My body flinched at the sound, yet I did not feel any force at my back. Another bang; nothing. No bullet. No pain. No ... more men behind me. Just two bodies lying down on the cold street. Confusion came to my mind. Answer came after as I looked back at the door of home. Ain stood there with a gun angled down to the ground, deep breaths and shaking knees and shoulders with a bewildered look in his eyes. Behind him was Gil, with a new set of arms and another gun aiming at my direction, a blank expression on his eyes, with something familiar gripping on his left shoulder; the cograven a few minutes ago.

I was stuck on my position for a second, before I regained my senses from the shock and stood up immediately, only to crash back down to the ground. Ain dropped the rifle he held and ran to me, with Gil following behind. He knelt down to me while panting for air. He called out to me like I was unconscious. I responded to him with a flick in the forehead, telling him I just had a minor injury.

"Minor?" he nodded. "MINOR?! You were about to be killed by those men if it weren't for your foolish act of heroism. Slipping down the roof with a hole on your hand, what were you thinking? Now you have broken your own ankles." I saw tears forming on the corner of his eyes. He is very worried about me.

"Don't worry. I'm just fine -"

"The hell you're not! You really are an idiot sometimes. You should worry about yourself more than worrying about us all the time." He couldn't hold it back anymore. His cheeks were soaked along with his nose. I really can't help but be guilty of what I've done. Instead of saving them, I worried them with my irrational act.