The tension in the room felt unsettling, not even able to mutter a word until a man with red hair and deep crimson eyes just like Rory's walked towards me, towering over me, he spoke up.
"Why did you bring a stranger here? I thought we had an agreement to not bring any outsiders. Do you even know this little runt's name?"
He looked pissed at Rory, who brought me here, I shifted awkwardly at his very... confronting personality.
"My name is Milo uhh... sir."
He looked down at me with a glare that pierced me.
"Milo? Isn't that a cat's name? What kind of name is that even."
'Oh, he's now insulting me even more, what a jerk'
I was about to talk back before a soft voice in the midst of all of this chaos spoke up.
"Can you not be so mean to the little kid? He must have been through a lot."
I and the jerk looked over at the gentle voice coming from the kitchen. She had long silky blond hair, shining in the dim light of the shack that candles managed to light up.
She was really stunning. If Rory was the moon illuminating midnight, she was the sun shining on a warm summer day.
All of a sudden, she walked over to me, bending down and giving me a gentle smile.
"Let me introduce you to everyone here, the one you've already met is Rory. She usually keeps quiet and all to herself. She can be awkward sometimes..."
Yeah, I noticed that with the 2-hour walk, barely exchanging any conversation...
Rory seemed to shift a small bit and looked away, seemingly embarrassed getting called awkward.
"The big red-haired guy is Rory's brother, Klein. He might be a bit... brutish or insulting sometimes, but hes a good guy."
Klein looked over at the blond girl like he had something to say.
"Hey, I'm not brutish or insulting, I'm just putting this runt in his place!"
The blond girl took a big sigh continuing with her introduction.
"That guy over there with the green hair who hasn't said a single thing is Ryan, and then there's me. My name is Iris, nice to meet you Milo."
...
The awkward tension seemed to finally clear after a while, but the jerk Klein was still glaring at me even though so much time had passed.
Everyone sat down at the old wooden table, which seemed to be holding on barely. Iris finished making food over the fire, the smell of her food hit my nose, making me salivate.
She opened up the lid, showing meat roasted over the fire, seemingly being smothered with spices. Each of us digs in, the taste being just divine. It was the best thing I've ever eaten... this really felt like home.
As the food was finished, everyone went to sleep, except Rory, who seemed to be on night duty tonight to protect the shack from any creatures.
I climbed up on the roof of the old shack. The night was still just as beautiful as before, slowly becoming day. Rory sat up there, looking as lonely as ever. Her eyes had a glimpse of sadness.
I sat down next to her, feeling the cold breeze blow on me. I shivered a small bit before breaking the silence.
"So... a bit cold, isn't it?"
"It is... yes." She replied.
I looked at her closer, asking a question to her "Aren't you cold?"
"No, not really." she replied.
After her reply, a silence set in for a while, the only thing breaking the silence was the quiet rustling leaves.
She looked over at me, her eyes being as alluring as ever. We sat really close to each other, my heart raced until she opend her mouth
"Can I ask you a question?"
What's this about? She seems very serious...
"Of course, go on."
She looked at me, her expression unreadable, "are you one of us?"
"One of us? What is that supposed to mean." I replied looking at her cautiously. Are these one of those cults my father told me about?
She looked away, staring at the forest, "I saw you fight that creature. You got bit by the creature, yet... your wound healed instantly."
I looked away, taking a relieved sigh, "I really don't know what it was, there was this burning sensation and it just healed for some reason. The same thing with my arm happened."
She looked at me curiously, examining the torn-off arm, now just a stub, "how did you even lose your arm?"
I shifted uncomfortably, remembering the events of that night, "a creature tore it off, it was painful as hell... no, it was even worse than hell itself" I paused, looking over at her before asking, "You know... what did you mean by one of us? You sounded like some cult or something."
She looked hesitant to reply, yet it was only fair for her to explain, "We're not a cult no, we're runaways. We just ran away from the city for... reasons."
City? Does she mean Anothesa? I've heard it's a city that has rebuilt itself and even evolved to combat the creatures, yet they decided to run away from such a place?
"Why did you run awa-" I was asking the question before Rory stood up staring in the distance. Her gaze was sharp, overlooking the forest from the roof of the old shack.
"They're coming." She said with a hint of hurry in her voice. If she felt threatened by whatever is out there, it must be something really terrifying.
I looked into the thick forest, seeing the bushes rustle. The bushes parted ways as a creature stepped out... and then another one, and even more. I felt something telling me to run away. Something telling me that this was not a winnable fight.
There was a huge group of creatures approaching our old shack, about 20 of them, as much as I could see.
I gulped, the feeling of fear overtaking me. Rory in an instant ran down waking up everyone, are they seriously going to fight these creatures?
I look back into the distance seeing the group of creatures being only a few minutes away before reaching the shack.