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How strange.
“Where to?” she repeats.
Oh, right. “I, erm, I have a map.” I hurry to pull it from my bag and show her what they gave me.
She takes it from me and scans it with a roll of her eyes before peering closer at it. “Fucking hell.”
“What?” I ask nervously. She glares at the map as if it offended her, and then her gaze rises, and the anger I see there almost makes me stumble back.
“That’s in the middle of the city.”
“That’s a problem?” I ask, concerned about the slight edge of nerves in her eyes. She ignores me for a moment, folding the map and shoving it in a pocket, which is fine by me. I don’t even know how to read it anyway.
“Only if you like being alive.” She groans. “I stay on the outskirts if I can. That deep in the city, there are too many big buildings and underground entrances, and too much darkness, which is where they like to lurk.”
“Oh.” It’s all I can muster. Fear pounds through me so hard, I’m debating on running back through the wall with my tail tucked between my legs.
Rolling her shoulders with a shrug, she pulls some shades down to cover her eyes and turns her head. “We better get moving.”
“We are still going?” I almost scream.
“I need the money, and you need…well, whatever you need, so yeah, we are going, but we are going to need to move fast. No breaks and no stopping if you want to get there and back before night-time.”
“What happens then?” I inquire, even though it’s a dumb question.
“When the sun goes down, the monsters come out to play.” She laughs and starts walking towards the monster infested city. Her steps are silent and purposeful, and she avoids everything as if she knows it’s there without looking.
I rush after her, not wanting to be left behind, but I have to keep looking between my feet and her, and it means I stumble and make a noise. I can tell it annoys her. “Wait, please,” I beg, needing her to slow down.
“Shh,” she hisses, turning and pointing at my feet. “Watch your steps and lower your voice.”
“Sorry,” I whisper, following her lead. “How—What do we do if we meet a monster?”
“Run like hell and hope for the best?” She laughs.
I shoot her looks, trying to understand and settle my mind, because curiosity is taking over, making me nosey. After all, a scientist’s job is to understand. I’ve always been curious, if not scared of what happened over the wall, and here’s a woman who knows something. If I didn’t take the time to ask, I would kick myself later, scared or not. Plus, talking will help me calm down as we venture farther into the city.
“You’ve never encountered one?”
“No one has and lived to tell the tale,” she reminds me. “We all know the lore, though, and how dangerous they are. They can kill a human before we can even scream. I don’t particularly want to be lunch, do you?”
I shake my head, watching her move around a lamppost with ease. I can’t move the way she does. Her movements are all slick and smooth, made for ground like this. I’m made for labs. “Good, then let’s hope we don’t meet one.”
I almost laugh again, even though I’m scared. “Let’s.”
FIVE
TALIA
Aria doesn’t talk much after that. I take the hint and follow her through the city, trying to keep up. Where she’s silent and sure, I’m clumsy and loud. It’s embarrassing, but I can’t help it, especially since my boots are killing me, yet I don’t complain. She already thinks the worst of me, and I really don’t want her to leave me here.
Instead, I focus on the city as we move deeper. The shops are either raided or destroyed. The buildings are partially demolished, and the roads are ruined. Debris and remnants of the city were left discarded here like carcasses. It’s almost sad, and I wonder who occupied the houses and shops. Where are they now?
Did they get out?
There’s also evidence of monsters. Footprints, claw marks, blood… That is enough to have me shivering in fear.
After what feels like hours, I’m exhausted, sweating, and wondering why the hell I took this job. With each heavy, painful step, I remind myself I was a fool for thinking I could do this. Without a word, she swerves towards a building and hurries up the stairs. I hesitate but hurry after her. The steps creak with our weight, and spiders scurry out of our way, nearly making me scream. She bounds out of a metal door, and I follow after her. Without a word, she hops onto a crumbling edge of the rooftop, swinging her legs like she’s having fun. “Sit and drink,” she orders as she looks out at the city.
