Demon's Children

Stranger Danger

June ran trough the woods as quickly as she could. Doing her best not to trip over any roots, her backpack full of stolen supplies banging against her back. Sweat was rolling down her face and neck, scared for her life as she ran further and further. She'd have to find a hiding place soon, she was nearly out of breath.

'I just need a breath of fresh air.'

Artyom still felt an alien in that TITAN world, even after all those years. The small rooms, curfews, and heavily processed food in their urban centers strangled him. He sought comfort in adhering to his old lifestyle - taking long walks in the forest, and sometimes even trying to catch some find food for a change. Normally the loneliness would be an issue, but hunting was one of the few activities that calmed his 'companion'.

And today had been a good day, too. He had been relaxing underneath a tree's shade for a while, when suddenly his ears picked up someone running towards him at full speed. Unsure if this was a foe or not, Arty just managed to get on his feet and quickly wipe his mouth on his shirt's sleeve before suddenly a girl ran blindly into him, making him stagger and fall on his ass.

"Ow! What the hell?!"

"Oh dammit, sorry!"

She said, her voice higher than was maybe expected. The purple girl quickly scrumbled to her feet, a weirdlooking pink flushed over her cheeks. She looked over her shoulder and then back at the boy in front of her. Without even stopping to think for second she grabbed him by his shoulders. Her hands were damp and warm.

"Quick, you gotta hide me!" Her tone was sort of hushed, half wisphering. The look in her purple eyes was desperate, really desperate.

Artyom normally would require a bit more than a desperate, pleading face but he did hear some boots in the distance coming to their general direction. He glanced down at the girl for a brief moment just to make sure she bore no weapons of any kind, then grabbed her by the wrist.

"Okay." He said, in a flat tone. Then suddenly he was pulling her deeper into the woods; if it were not for the girl to follow his steps, she'd likely have tripped on the roots hidden underneath the tall grass. The boy made a beeline to a burrow so small that to get inside it they had to crawl. Luckily, it was both vacant and quite well-concealed. Once the two were inside for a few moments, they'd hear some noises outside of people marching around the area.

"Okay, -why- are they looking for you?" He questioned as quietly as he could.

"I uhm-" The girl looked to her feet, ashamed it seemed."I'd rather no tell you that. You'd find me a coward..."

June was highly aware of the way she looked right now, way shabbier than she'd normally like. You could barely tell that the colour of her sneakers was supposed to be green, her hair was peaking in all directions and her light blue jeans were tore up from the thornbushes she blindly ran through. She looked up at the boy in front and he noticed again how her eyes were a quite strikingly colour of purple.

"Look, I don't like the locals much, but I just wanted to make sure you didn't, like... stab someone, or something. That's why I'm asking."

He explained, and since the girl was hesitant to give him answers, he instead looked for them. He took note of how messy and damaged her clothes were, as if she had been running through the forest for a good while. Her breathing was heavy, tired, and she seemed frightened.

"Is that- blood on your face?" June suddenly asked and unthinkingly her hand reached out and brushed against his cheek, where indeed some red blood was still seated. Arty almost jumped upon hearing those words, quickly wiping his face more throughly.