The Last Survivor

8: Hidden threat

The night moves slowly for the rest of us. We all settled in a corner of the building, right on the first floor because it was completely dark, and it helped us take refuge from whatever might be out there. We stayed close to each other, as if we were trying to cover each other's backs. Hanna was the first of us to fall asleep the fastest. Then she was followed by Jason, and then Jackson.

For my part, I stared at the wall on my side. As much as I tried to want to sleep, it was impossible for me to do so. I close my eyes, tried to clear my mind of thoughts that are irrelevant, and still, I can't sleep as I expected.

Why could it be that he couldn't fall asleep as easily as the others did? I didn't know. I couldn't find a sure answer for it.

In the midst of the silence that accompanied us that night, there was the occasional creak that the structure of the battered building would soon be about to collapse, I only hoped that soon would not be now while we are here, taking refuge inside it. 

Again, the robotic voice in my head made a brief appearance to remind me of the skills I had acquired thanks to this: “Situation Scanner.” Yes, I invoked it with an innocent thought that came to my head while I was trying to sleep. This function of my system was activated, and with it, I was able to observe how my vision intensified and improved for this occasion; I was able to detect subtle vibrations in the structure of the building, identify possible escape routes and perceive the unexpected presence of any entity close to our refuge area.

I take advantage of the moment when everyone is asleep, and when Sara is very attentive to her work, to sit in my position and observe the surroundings. I am witnessing small creatures that cannot be seen with the naked eye because when we arrived at this place, they were not present. Furthermore, I deduced that they were probably rodents seeking shelter, as these creatures moved quickly in the shadows without being clearly visible. However, my system seems to have missed signs of imminent threat with these creatures so that others would have to wake up and be alert in any attack situation.

Quietly, I lay down on the ground again, closing my eyes again, because to me the creatures had given no sign that they were going to be dangerous or want to attack us. I allowed the others to continue sleeping, and Sara to remain in her position. So that I also prepare myself to want to rest.

Soon, two hours passed, and Sara had finished her shift guarding her. Everything had gone great, the strategy had been very good for us, and then, the time had come for the next person on the list to stop resting to cover Sara's shift.

Now, it was Jason's turn, he was prepared to cover for Sara. He has slept enough to be standing, watching everything around her with calmness and concentration, while the rest of us continued to rest. After Jason, it was Hanna's turn, after her, it was my turn, and finally, it would be Jackson's turn to be the watchman until it was about to dawn, and we would all finally wake up so we could continue on our way for the day. 

The earth shook again, and this time, just when I was about to go into the deepest sleep of my rest, I felt a small splash of earth combined with debris fall on my face. That's what woke me up, and when I opened my eyes, I realized that the roof of the building is starting to collapse above us. I had to get up quickly and wake up the boys to tell them what was happening.

"Guys! Wake up! Is trembling! This building is going to fall from above us, we have to get out, now!” I shouted insensibly.

The others woke up suddenly, quickly standing up, and when they confirmed that what I told them was true, they listened to me and ran to my side to find a way out of this place before it ended up collapsing.

With the boys, we have left the building, little by little, we have seen how it has been destroyed. The building vanished before our eyes. The dust got into our noses, causing us all to sneeze, some more controlled than others. It made me cough a lot, but it was something I was able to control instantly.

“I think that for tonight, it is better to get shelter on a street, in a park that does not have trees, or any other place, but we should not go inside buildings or houses. These tremors are dangerous, and we don't know when an earthquake could occur,” Sara suggested while she tried to stop coughing.

I nodded, since I agreed with her, the tremors were phenomena that were very unpredictable at this moment. None of us were born with the superpower of how to perceive them. The best thing we could do on this day while we looked for more people would be to seek shelter in an open place and not in a building, since we would never be sure of knowing when a building would fall on top of us.

“I agree with Sara. Today let's continue with our mission to look for more survivors, and when it's night, we will seek refuge in an open place, it will be better for us. So guys, are you ready to continue?” I said, trying to speak to them in an animated voice so that the shock of what had happened would have gone away quickly, and they would maintain the sanity and courage with which they had come from the beginning of the story mission.

"Yeah. We will do it this way, let's go!", everyone responded in unison as if we were a very well-led army for this type of situation.

I smiled. The truth is, I was proud to have met these people along the way. We have gotten along very well, and if things continue like this for us, everything will be better when I take them with me to the new world. At least I know that they are people worthy of deserving this new destiny.

So, the boys and I continued on our way. We were silent, but it was not an uncomfortable silence for us, rather, it was a pleasant silence for everyone that allowed us to keep our ears alert before anything could happen that would take us by surprise.

We continued walking, until soon, I perceived a strange sensation; someone was watching us. From where? Perhaps they were watching us in the sense of someone hiding in the buildings, or perhaps it could be someone who was not visible to our eyes so easily.

“Are you hearing the same thing as me?” Jason asked, preparing to grab the kitchen knife he'd been carrying with him since we found him. He had managed to take that knife out of the house when it all started. He thought it would come in handy at any time, and this seemed to be that perfect time to have it ready in his hands in case anything happened.

“Yes, we are listening to it. "What is that?" Hanna responded. I could see how she got nervous, because she didn't have any defense weapons with her, and it was normal for her to feel terrified that the unknown would approach her and want to attack her without her knowing how to defend herself.

“Let me check it with my system,” I said.

I made the decision to activate my “Situation Scanner” once again, trying to rely on it to identify the source of this strange feeling that was harassing us. This new ability of my system allowed me to detect a strange movement in the surrounding periphery in time. They were shadows, or well, they looked like shadows of unknown figures that seemed to move among the rubble and the darkness of the night.