Sounds of gunfire echoed in the distance, an echo of skirmishes echoing and growing louder with
devastating explosions. The buildings, large, sprawling and in multiple sections were so badly
damaged that they left the old shelter looking spotless, fires engulfed parts of them as well as the
surrounding streets.
While they were not able to distinguish people perfectly, tiny details in the distance were evidence
enough that they were there, fighting for a reason more than known, their intentions totally
unknown.
Why are they fighting, against whom are they fighting, are they good, are they bad, are they evil?
Is this really all because of the news the Node gave?
Many questions with no apparent answer, by this point Isabella quickly got down from Marcus
getting serious as the situation warranted it.
They both turned to look at each other without saying a word, contemplating such a war scenario
that not even the action movies they liked could match, those were just action and fiction, this was reality, cruel reality, one that was about to get much worse, and without both of them asking
for the second time, they had already been dragged into this new problem.
Before either could suggest a new plan to get in or wait for the situation down there to relax, a
gunshot followed by an explosion close to where they were made them run for their lives, possibly
whoever is in the city is mistaking them for some security force or their enemies, this hypothesis
only gained more strength as more artillery explosions were given on the hill.
Marcus was running as fast as possible, Isabella was doing the same but crouched on all fours,
both were looking at each other fearful that something would happen to the other, all while they
kept running away from the projectile shots that were destroying the hill with their explosions, one
of them hit the same area where they were at the beginning, a sign that they had to continue and
not stop for anything at all.
The terror and adrenaline in both of them was at its peak, they had never before been in a
situation as dangerous as this one, their minds did not give for much besides a clear message,
not to die.
The explosions continued and the chants of conflict became louder and clearer as they
descended the hill and approached the city, only before entering it, the two took cover behind a
rock as a sculpture that had not been spared from collateral damage.
Already safe for the moment, they made sure that they had not received any shot or damage of
any kind for all the material that shot out with each impact, luckily nothing beyond light and
superficial damage to their clothes which calmed them slightly even in such a tense and critical
situation. Hurrying, fearing that another artillery shot would hit them, they took the black hoods
and put them on while leaving their backpacks in an out-of-sight place, marking the place with a
flower placed on top, so they would not lose sight of it.
They took advantage of the chaos of the moment and the grayish environment to go unnoticed,
or at least that's what they hoped. With Isabella it was easy as she only hid her voluptuous figure
but not her ears or bushy tail, on the contrary with Marcus who made efforts to hide his axolotl tail
as well as his gills and every inch of his white skin with pink patterns, being sufficiently prepared,
Marcus took his weapon and Isabella took out her claws, taking a brief breath they took courage
and ran as much as possible under cover, entering the war zone that was once considered a city.
A cloud of dust along with smoke from the fires throughout the area enveloped every street and
at medium to high altitudes of the buildings, no one will have an advantage in this place.
—Let's not make any noise, the last thing we need is for someone to know we're around here.—
He whispered directly into Isabella's ear, nervous in his tone of voice.
—Understood.—
Without being separated by more than a meter, the couple walked as close as possible to the
street, the facades of the buildings that at that moment they could not stop to admire. The
situation was stressing them more and more, the screams of both fight and terror around them
seemed to have no end, they did not know the context or who was doing it, and they preferred
not to know it, the continuous noise of gunshots, glass shattering, the continuous sound of the
gunshots, and the sound of the glass being destroyed, things impacting and more explosions
were leaving them deaf particularly affecting Isabella as she had a more developed and sensitive
ear, if she continued like this she would get a headache, she expressed her discomfort to Marcus
as low as she could, not knowing that by doing so she also lowered her guard and sense of
alertness, serious mistake.
A large figure rammed her hard straight into the wooden door behind her, Marcus was not able to
react in time to prevent that from happening, but he was able to avoid a blow that went straight to
his face by ducking and rolling on the ground far enough away from his attacker.
He quickly stood up and put himself in combat pose raising his fists, he carefully observed his
attacker who was a burly man of similar height to his own, more muscular and robust with animal
features reminiscent of a lion with a thick mane that surrounded his neck, orange iris eyes and fur
of orange and brown tones throughout his body. In his expression was marked a big smile mixed with anger, eager to hit and subdue his opponent in front of him, despite the movement,
Marcus still did not reveal himself looking more like an unknown and mysterious hooded man, his
face more serious and angry, invisible by the darkness of the hood gave him an advantage by not
allowing him to convey emotions to the enemy, he did not speak either.
Returning to Isabella things were not going so well for her, after being rammed and breaking the
door with that impact, she was carried several meters inside the building without being able to
avoid it, her aggressor, another orange blood like the one with Marcus sought to subdue her
taking advantage of his superior physical strength, underestimating what his victim was capable
of.
When he was about to grab her by the collar of her shirt and whip her against the floor, Isabella
took advantage of that moment and with her sharp claws she skewered them into a good part of
the forearm even despite the thick fur and skin, penetrating as if it were jelly thus obtaining a
scream of pain from the orange one, being just the beginning.
With all her possible strength, she lowered her claws through the whole forearm reaching the
wrist tearing it in 10 vertical lines, the bleeding was immediate, her attacker took a step back
observing the wound that now his body was suffering, however he would not give up so easily
and the pain provoked only made him angry giving a furious look to his red counterpart, ignoring
the bleeding preparing to attack again.
Isabella took a fighting stance showing her long and sharp orange painted claws, snorting at her
attacker showing him that she was not afraid of him, challenging him with her eyes to attack, and
the lion pounced again against her.