Aeterna Dystopia [EN]

Chapter 2

Carefully, Alenia came closer with cautious steps and tensed bowstring, but the boy seemed to be fast asleep. He couldn't be much older than herself, she assumed silently and noticed, that his skin was as unnaturally pale as her own. The lack of real light made them all as white as paper, Alenia thought discontentedly as she slowly knelt down next to him.

If she thought about it that way, he was the first person of her age that she had encountered since her escape from home.

She couldn't exactly determine why she felt so strangely safe, but Alenia did not really sense any true danger from the young man, which is why she took her arrow down from the bowstring.

She discovered a flat bag, which was secured by two narrow leather straps around the boy's left thigh. On his other thigh was a belt as well, but this one was much wider and held the holster of a plain knife. However, much more interesting to her seemed to be the large, wooden bow, which was placed on the floor next to the slumbering boy. It looked professionally handcrafted and Alenia realized that there was a small inscription engraved above the handle. This weapon came, different than her own, definitely from the time before the total collapse of all known social structures.

She leaned forward a bit and noticed something shiny in the corner of her eye, which caught her attention. A golden object peeked out of the boy's jacket pocket, that immediately solicited Alenia's curiosity and led her to move a little bit closer to the redhead. In fact, she was so close to him by now that she was able to perceive the warmth of his body.

She calmly stretched out her hand and approached the object. Judging by its size it had to be some type of trinket, Alenia predicted eagerly. At last she felt the cold metal under her fingertips, as she was suddenly gently touched on her left shoulder.

"What are you doing?", asked a sleepy voice.

Alenia looked up and stared into the sleep-drunk, lime-green eyes of the exhausted boy who still didn't seem to quite understand the situation. He rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand and Alenia could see the sleep disappear from his gaze. His look of confusion turned into surprise and the girl finally managed to stand up hastily.

"That's my cue!", she barked and opened the circular window above his head with a powerful motion.

"Wait! Who are you?", the boy said irritated, but she already flitted over him, through the window and now balanced hurriedly over the ridge of the neighboring house. With two grips he grabbed his few belongings to follow her.

"No, don't run!", he shouted, after he walked on the moss-covered roof as well and watched as Alenia crouched and slid down the sloping end of the roof to land on the balcony of the opposite building. He did the same and glided down the red roofing tiles, landed safely on the balcony and hurried through the door into the house. Behind him he could hear some of the loose bricks slipping from their place and bursting on the ground of the alley between the houses, echoing through the eerie environment several times.

"Don't make such a noise!", the girl called while she had already entered the building and was about to reach the stairs at the end of the devastated room. Irritated, he raced after her. There wasn't a soul in this area that could hear them, he thought confused, as he crossed the room with big steps and followed the brown-haired young woman.

Arriving at the end of the staircase, he lost sight of her for a moment, but then heard the treacherous sound of shoe soles hitting shards to his left. He ran through the door frame and could barely just see a dark gray coat vanish through the window and onto the street.

Without hesitation he did the same and sprinted onto the storefront road. She disappeared through the open doors of a former boutique when he almost caught up to her, but last second, she grabbed a disfigured mannequin and knocked it over to the feet of her pursuer. Her plan worked and the boy tripped cursing, but was able to catch his step again quickly and follow her up a moldy staircase.