neinnotnine:

Now weighted with the responsibility of watching over Raz, Sasha became more alert, his eyes darting around behind his tinted lenses to watch for danger. Every noise became danger, every snap of a twig became an attack. The man hoped they could reach shelter soon, for being on such high alert at all times was beginning to exhaust him a bit. 

When Raz spoke, he followed where his finger was pointing, finding a piece of torn fabric, probably from a shirt of some kind. Signaling the boy to stay close to his side, Sasha diverted his path towards the fabric, examining it. It did seem to be fairly undamaged, aside from a light coating of dust. He turned to Rasputin, nodding in approval. 

“Good observation, Rasputin.” The man clutched the fabric in his gloved hand, seeming to notice something in his brief hesitation. “This seemed to be torn as someone was running by this shelter, going past it and snagging part of his or her shirt in the process.” He pointed to their right. “Most likely this way, since it seemed to be tilted partially in this direction.”

Also noting the sheer usefulness of the fabric in his current situation, Sasha yanked it from where it had stuck, examining it briefly. Then, the man attempted to move his injured arm up a bit to wrap around his wound, but winced, a persistant ache keeping him from moving it any further. Instead, he kneeled in front of Raz, handing him the fabric and gesturing to his injury.

“I need you to wrap this around my arm—not too tightly, please.”

Raz nodded as he listened to Sasha’s observations. They were minuscule details that the boy would normally look over. He felt a bit foolish, not noticing such important things.

A look of confusion crossed Raz’s face as Sasha snatched the piece of fabric from the rubble. However, as he noticed the injured man’s feeble attempts at wrapping his arm, Raz realized that he was attempting to dress his wound. He grimaced a bit as he watched his superior wince in pain. It was a slight movement, but Raz managed to notice it.

Raz nodded as Sasha knelt before him, requesting for him to dress the wound. He gently wrapped the fabric around his arm, cautious not to provoke his injury. He finally tied it, making sure that it wasn’t too tight to bother Sasha. It was obvious that the job was unprofessionally done, but the two had no choice at the moment. They would have to depend on each other if they were to survive in this apocalyptic terrain.

“There,” he said, taking a step back. “I’m not sure if it’ll work, but I don’t really think we have a choice.”

(Source: gogglicious)

neinnotnine:

In any other situation, Sasha would’ve indeed recognized the severity of his injury, how prone it was to infection due to the dog’s disease-infested claws. He also noticed that it was beginning to get numb, which was a relief compared to the pain he had felt from it before, but he also knew that this was a sign of further pain to come when it scabbed over and possibly got infected.

Medical attention would have to wait, though. Shoving it to the back of his mind for now, he let his gaze travel to where the now-broken shelter was, trying to pinpoint other buildings around it that could possibly be used as a temporary place to stay safe. Not finding any in his immediate field of vision, he turned his body towards the broken shelter, looking back towards Rasputin, peeling off his jacket in the process—it was ripped now anyways, and he planned to use it to wrap around his shoulder later.

“Come, Rasputin. Let us go look.” A quick glance around. “Stay on your guard, in case there are monsters that plan on ambushing us.”

Raz followed behind Sasha obediently, casting a swift wary look behind him. The streets were empty of life; it was difficult to believe that a fight had occurred only moments ago. The two were truly alone. If Raz screamed, no one would hear him, excluding the monsters that hid within the area. And when they did hear him, they would mercilessly tear him apart. It was a horrible prison, keeping a person alone and quiet, unless they would rather be shredded to bits than continue surviving.

Out of the corner of his, Raz spotted something unusual. Tucked in between the hunks of rubble that used to be the shelter was a torn piece of fabric. It looked fairly new, and was only slightly dirty. It must have only been here for a few days, a week at most. Excitement filled Raz; they were not quite alone as he had believed. The owner of this portion of fabric may be dead now, but they were here recently, and that was all that mattered.

“I think I found something,” Raz said in an enthusiastic voice, pointing to the fabric caught amongst the rubble. “There might be other people here.”

(Source: gogglicious)

neinnotnine:

Rasputin’s look of dread and realization prompted a similar feeling from the older man. It was beginning to sink in, now, that they were both truly stranded here, and would have to learn to survive for the time being, however long it may be. Subsequently, Sasha felt a brief pang of protectiveness wash over him, suddenly feeling entirely responsible for keeping young Rasputin safe. He was aware that the boy was fairly powerful and could fend for himself, but it didn’t diminish the feeling, however fleeting it was. Sasha shook away the feeling, as he had grown accustomed to doing, and turned his attention back to Rasputin.

“Ah, no. This is from a different monster. Don’t worry about it.” He looked away, towards where the monsters had fled. A look beneath his tinted lenses would reveal a grim expression. “There are much more pressing matters at hand.”

“Now, Rasputin,” He turned his attention back to the young psychonaut. “We must find a place to hide, for I fear that the monsters are in much greater numbers that we think.” A pause. “It would be best if we stayed together. In a situation like this, it is likely we will find strength in numbers.”

It was strange that Sasha had brushed off the mention of his injury so passively. The blood  of the wound was clotting, leaving a rust-colored residue on the torn portion of his jacket. It was obvious that it still needed medical attention,and soon. However, it was plain to see that there were no hospitals nearby. Even if there were, it would most likely be infested with monsters rather than doctors. If Sasha was insistent to ignore it, Raz decided to he would leave the wound be as well, for now.

The idea of venturing on alone made Raz apprehensive. He definitely would not argue against the idea of staying in the company of Sasha. The thick mist of the town was wrought with danger, ready to pounce upon prey at any moment. The combined power of the two psychonauts would be enough to fend off the creatures that inhabited this town, even with Sasha’s injury. If the two were to part, it would surely spell their demise. 

Raz glanced around, observing the buildings. Most of them were uninhabitable; the ceilings were collapsed, the entrance blocked, or they were simply the nest of monsters. It was difficult to decipher which buildings were safe and which were not. Suddenly, the boy recalled the shelter that he had seen earlier.

“Well, I did see a shelter over there,” he pointed in the direction of the wrecked dwelling. “I…uh, destroyed it by accident, but there might be more like it over there.”

(Source: gogglicious)

neinnotnine:

Sasha examined Rasputin’s figure as he floated gently down to him, relieved to find that he wasn’t hurt. As usual, his face gave away nothing, though he visibly relaxed his tense shoulders as the boy finally landed in front of him—as much as he could, anyways. He brought a hand up to rub at his injured shoulder, not voicing the pain that it incited, feeling there were more pressing matters at hand. The jacket was noticeably ripped in the spot where the dog had clawed him, but only if one was looking at him.

The man was suddenly glad of his own tinted lenses, for when Rasputin’s eyes clouded with emotion, he would’ve otherwise had to look away to conceal his own.

“I cannot answer that, Rasputin. I haven’t seen anyone else from the camp around this… place.” He said that with slight contempt, as if he couldn’t think of a worse place to be. “I can only hope that, if they indeed are here as well, they are capable of holding their own against the beasts in this area.”

A sinking feeling gathered within Raz as his suspicions were confirmed; the two were alone, with no clue on how to leave this horrendous town. At the very least, Raz had Sasha. It may not have been his preferred company, but it was someone just the same. Normally, the boy was somewhat intimidated by Sasha’s stoic appearance, but he realized that he would have to push that aside in order for the both of them to survive. 

Noticing Sasha kneading his shoulder, Raz saw that he had a gash that tore through his skin. Alarmed, he took a step forward, hand hovering slightly as if ready to apply pressure to the wound. It looked grim, and was obviously unattended. Raz had little knowledge of how to heal a person, but he knew that he could try.

“What happened?” he blurted out. He was obviously worried and—unlike Sasha—made no attempt to hide it. “I thought that they didn’t attack you.”

(Source: gogglicious)

neinnotnine:

Hearing monsters shuffling around him in this strange area, Sasha had stopped to hide behind a broken down shelter building with wooden roofs, the side of a wall providing him good cover for now so he could nurse his previously injured shoulder.

The man cursed under his breath—he heard something making its way towards the shelter. It sounded like a relatively small monster, but that didn’t minimize its threat. Sasha silently created a forcefield around him, a small and invisible protection should the thing moving outside his field of vision indeed be a monster. His suspicions appeared to be confirmed when he heard the sound of the wooden ceiling snap, the man flinching harshly and ducking behind a shattered piece of wall next to where he was standing, his forcefield toughening with the sign of imminent danger.

However… the psychonaut was slightly confused to find that the monster then seemed to jump out of the shelter, and though he heard the sound of more monsters following after it, they seemed to go around the building rather than into it. What was going on? Sasha peeked his head cautiously around the side of the building to see that the monsters had gathered at the base of a street lamp, appearing to claw upward. As his eyes travelled upward the pole they were scratching at, it occurred to him that someone must be in danger—

”!!!”

Sasha froze in place, immediately recognizing the small, goggle-wearing figure cowering at the top of the street lamp. That person in danger was none other than Rasputin.

The man’s sudden burst of realization aided him greatly in the quick manifestation of his powers, not hesitating to summon a few powerful psyblasts at the monsters from where he hid, cutting two of them straight through the head. The remaining three looked with terror at their suddenly defeated comrades, looking over to where the blast had come from, but even they didn’t get a chance to move beyond that, before they were swiftly engulfed in flames. Sasha noted proudly to himself that, even without much use as of late, his pyrokinesis skills have not grown dusty, as the screams of the monsters filled the destroyed landscape.

Once he was sure that none of the monsters remained alive, Sasha quickly darted out from the shelter and towards the lamp-post, looking up at the boy clinging above him. He called out to him, his voice more urgent and frightened than he fully intended it to be. 

“Rasputin!”

Raz was considering another plan of escape when a surge of blue light knocked the creatures over cutting through them like a deadly ribbon. It was unmistakable as to what weapon had dealt this damage: it had to be a psi-blast. There was another psychonaut nearby, someone who could help. Raz clung ot the top of the lamp post, watching as the monsters suddenly became victims of spontaneous combustion. He relaxed as the beasts dropped dead, one by one, or fled to the safer reaches of the town.

Suddenly, Raz heard his name being called, causing him to jerk his head to the source of the sound. The voice was familiar; the deep, masculine tone accented with a German dialect could belong to none other than Sasha. However, there was something different—almost chilling—about his voice. Sasha had a tone of fear.

Carefully, Raz hopped off the top of the streetlamp, using levitation to guide him safely to the ground. He made his way towards Sasha, who was not far from the base of the pole. Raz could not help but wonder what lurked behind the man’s glasses. He had just spoken in a fearful way moments ago, but his expression gave away very little. If not for the contortion of his lip, Raz would have guessed that Sasha felt nothing.

Raz glanced around the street, hoping to see his fellow psychonauts emerge from a building or turn around street corners. However, the streets remained empty, all signs of life frightened away by Sasha’s attack. Disbelief clouded his eyes; could everyone really be gone, or were they somewhere else, fighting their own monsters? The image of his fellow campers being torn to shreds by monsters flashed in his mind, but he shook it away quickly.

“Where is everyone? Milla, Coach Oleander, Lily…?” Raz asked, though somewhere inside of him, he knew the answer.

(Source: gogglicious)

There were only two places that Raz expected to wake up at: his snug bunk in the cabin at Whispering Rock, or his cot in the caravan that his parents traveled in. As Raz’s eyes blinked open, he realized that he was not at either of the two. A grey sky swathed in dark clouds churned above him. Beneath him was the concrete surface of a rooftop. Raz began to crawl to his feet, wincing as he strained sore muscles. Once he was on his feet, he began to stretch, just as he would do before a performance. As he did so, he managed to have a better glance at his surroundings.

Around the building that he stood upon were several more residences, expanding as far as he could see. The buildings were divided by streets, which were seeping with thick fog. As Raz approached the edge of the rooftop, he could see that creatures roamed the streets below. They were alike to humans, except for their beast-like behavior. The beasts lugged themselves around, occasionally sniffing heaps of rubble, hoping to find prey. It was unlike the boy had ever seen before; he had visited many demented minds before, but none could compare to the reality that lay before him.

Raz scanned the streets for a familiar face; he hoped to see the portly figure of Dogen, or the spindly physique of Sasha. More importantly, he hoped to see Lily, alive and well, scolding him for falling asleep on the roof. However, none of these people could be see. He would have to carry on alone, until he could find some form of assistance.

It was apparent that he could not stay in the same place. Though he did not know the full measure of the monsters’ intelligence, he would not put it past them to find a way onto the roof. The boy surveyed the streets below, formulating an escape from his rooftop prison. On the far side of the street was a shelter. Its walls were constructed of rubble, and had an overhang of wooden planks. If Raz could reach there, he would have some sort of shelter from the creatures.

With the grace that only an acrobat could obtain, Raz hopped onto a nearby clothesline. After quickly regaining his balance, he began to stealthily traverse across the wire, passing the unsuspecting creatures below him. Once he had crossed the clothesline, Raz pounced onto the nearest balcony. From there, he journeyed over a few more balconies, steadily coming closer to the shelter. Eventually, Raz reached a ruined balcony that hovered just above the shelter. He hoisted himself onto the rail, and dove feet first towards the dwelling.

What Raz had planned to do was land nimbly onto the wooden planks, then swiftly retreat into the cover of the shelter. However, Raz did not anticipate for the wooden planks to be brittle, and they immediately snapped under his weight. Raz let out a cry, landing clumsily into the collapsed shelter. Instantly, the surrounding creatures lifted their heads, their hungry eyes gleaming as they pinpointed Raz. With only a split second’s time, he hopped out of the shelter as the creatures swarmed behind him. Without thought, Raz sprinted, turning back once to see that the hoard of monsters were already on his heels.

Instinctively, Raz produced a glowing orange orb of psychic energy beneath him, using it to propel him to the top of a streetlamp. He landed agilely onto the street lamp, grimacing as he saw the creatures claw hungrily at the pole. Raz generated a Psi blast at the creatures, hoping to at least scare them off. However, they were only stunned temporarily, standing back up to rake mindlessly at the streetlamp.

“Great…” Raz muttered under his breath, “Just great.”

“Do I have to choose just one?”