Chapter 13: The First Blood Is Always the Slowest
It started with silence.
Not the peaceful kind—
The kind that arrives too suddenly.
Aria noticed it first.
Her fingers tightened around a bag of rice as she turned the corner.
The marketplace they'd passed just yesterday—
buzzing with arguments, batteries changing hands, voices full of panic and trade—
Now empty.
Fruit still sat in crates, only just starting to bruise.
A shopping cart lay tipped on its side.
One shoe.
And at the end of the street…
A man stood.
Still.
Back turned.
⸻
"Selene," Aria whispered. Her voice barely held shape. "He's not moving."
Selene didn't look.
She reached for her blade.
"Don't talk. Walk backward. Now."
"But what if he's hurt—"
"Aria."
The man turned.
His eyes were missing.
⸻
They ran.
Or—Aria ran.
Selene moved fast, but steady—eyes sharp, hand never leaving her blade.
Then it wasn't just one man.
It was three.
Then six.
Some stumbled.
Others sprinted.
And none of them groaned.
They snarled.
Like language had rotted first.
⸻
Aria tripped over an overturned crate.
One of them got close enough for her to smell—
not death, not yet.
Just rust.
And dirt.
And something off.
It lunged.
Her hand found a wrench.
She lifted it—
And froze.
She couldn't do it.
Couldn't move.
Couldn't—
The blow came from the side.
Selene's blade made no sound.
But the body hit the ground hard.
She was already pulling Aria up.
"You can't hesitate."
"I—I couldn't—"
"I know. But you will."
Aria looked down.
There had been a person.
There had been eyes, once.
A name. A life.
Now just blood.
⸻
They ducked into a bakery.
Selene blocked the door with a table, a chair, and the last of her composure.
Aria sat trembling.
"Why didn't you tell me it would be like this?"
Selene didn't answer right away.
She sat across from her, close.
Their knees nearly touched in the dust.
"I thought you'd have more time."
⸻
Outside, the snarling went on.
Selene glanced at the window like it was already broken.
Then turned back to Aria.
"You won't always have me to do the killing."
"I don't want to kill anyone."
Selene's voice turned soft.
"That's why you're still worth saving."
Aria looked up.
Their eyes met—
and for just a heartbeat too long,
it felt like they'd done this before.