When The World Burned

Chapter 8

1 Week Earlier...

Benjamin looked over the many faces staring at him for a long moment, calculating what to do at a rapid pace. Feet moving before his mind could decide, he was running for the door across the room. Hearing them more than seeing, the strange people roared and ran at him. At the door, he turned in time to shoot one of them in the gut.

He went flying to the floor as blood splashed across Ben's face.

Shoving through the door, the blue-eyed male followed the hallway and realized the place he was in must have once been a hospital. The cannibals followed, all yelling and throwing things at him – weapons, mostly spears. Dodging, he turned down a hall covered in sand and old bloodstains that would never fade. At another door, he cursed at the chains around it and turned to face his pursuers.

They were running up, shouting in that language he did not understand. What did they want from him? Food? They seemed to have plenty of that from what he had seen in that meat room. Lifting the shotgun, he aimed it at them.

"Fuck off!" He yelled at them. They all stopped and stared at him, shocked into silence at his outburst.

It was like that for a long moment until one of them rushed at Benjamin. Jerking the shotgun toward him, he pulled the trigger. Blood splattered and the man went to the floor with a guttural yell. They all began to scream and shout, pointing at Benjamin with rage. He dropped the shotgun since both bullets were used and pulled out the pistol, aiming it at them.

A ringing sounded down the hall before he could spit out a threat or demand. Instead of rushing at him, they separated into two groups and turned back to see an individual standing at the end of the hall. Coated in crimson garb with a skull mask over their face, a feathery headdress billowing behind them, the individual walked forward. Two swords were strapped to their hips and from the way they walked, the way they held up their stance, Benjamin knew this was a woman.

"Step down." Her voice was strong, full of authority as she passed the group of people. Most of them backed off, slowly disappearing back down the hall as ordered. Some lingered with curiosity, but when her head turned to each of them, they all left. She did, however, make at least three of them stay and turned to gaze at the man.

Benjamin kept silent, blue eyes on her as his brown curls fell over his eyes. Scratching at his beard with one hand, he kept the pistol aimed at her.

Stopping a few feet from him, the woman settled a hand on one of her swords. "You're a troublesome one, aren't you?" She inquired with a tilt of her covered head. "I see you are determined to leave after invading our territory. The only one I know brave enough to pull this kind of stunt is Kage, but he can kill us all with the sweep of an arm. What do you intend to do?"

Pressing back against the door, he gripped the pistol tighter. "All I want is to find my sister!" He snapped. "I'm not here to cause trouble."

"Sister?" Tapping her finger against the handle of her sword, she chuckled. "Did she, by chance, have brown curls like you?"

"What do you know?!" He yelled.

"Kage had her."

"Who is Kage?!"

Another chuckle. "A beast that kidnaps many up here and takes them to some vault. Your sister is a lost cause because no one comes back from there, except Kage."

Narrowing his eyes, the brunette grimaced and kept an eye on her hand. "I can't...she's my sister." The thought of Rue being unreachable was not something he could handle. If he had to kill everyone on the damned planet to find and protect her, he would. She was his reason for living, his purpose for continuing to exist. Before her, before the entire world went down in bombs and fires, he had been living a lonely life doing surgeries and handing over medications to people that would go out and ruin themselves all over again.

No, he could not give up on Rue.

"I can take you to the vault, but you have to find someone for me first." She offered and paced before him. "Have you ever traveled across the scorched section of the planet?"

"No," He answered with an arched brow, following her with his eyes. "Why?"

"That's where you'll need to go to find my someone. She is my twin. Though, she looks nothing like me now, I'm sure." Lifting her hand, she grabbed the skull mask and pulled it off to reveal feminine beauty. Dark hair tied up in a braided bun with locks down to frame her oval face, she had cat-like green eyes and soft tan lips. Her nose was angled perfectly, adding to the cat-like features she had on her olive skin.

It bothered Benjamin how attractive she was. "So, if you two don't look alike, how am I supposed to find her?"

She chuckled yet again and stepped to the side, leaning against the wall. "She's a mutant. The radiation did it to her." Tapping the mask against the wall, she smiled. "Well, the radiation added to her, I should say. Anyway, will you do it? I can't let you leave without an answer."

Looking to the floor, blue eyes spotting the dead man he had shot, he contemplated just running for it. Could he really trust these people? They were violent cannibals and did not hesitate to attack first. He had learned that firsthand. But did he have a choice? They had him trapped against a chained door.

"Well?" The woman persisted.

Sighing heavily, his gaze returned to her. "Fine," He answered with a frown. "I need a gas mask, though. Can't exactly breath the shit out there."

"We'll provide those," She chimed and pushed from the wall. Lifting her hand from the swords, fingers twitched toward the three men that had been ordered to stay behind. They all looked to her silently, waiting to see what would happen.

And then her sword was out of its sheath, his right arm gone from halfway down the upper arm. Blood shot from the wound as he choked out a cry and grabbed at where his arm used to be. Falling to the side, he glared up through blurry vision at the dark-haired woman. "You...you bitch..." He groaned out in pain, feeling the blood soak through his layers of shirts.

"Grab him." She told the three men. "I want to fix him before we let him leave."

Before they could reach him, Benjamin attempted to grab at the pistol he had just lost that was still gripped in the cut off hand. Rough hands grabbed at him, kicked the weapon away and lifted him up. Fatigue was quickly taking over his body as the blood loss began to settle, his heart pounding in his head. The blurriness was growing darker and darker as the woman stepped in front of him.

Grabbing his chin, she smiled again. "Don't worry, Benjamin." She cooed. "We'll have you ready by the end of the week."

"Fuck...you..." It was the last thing he said before the darkness stole him.