Leaving the relative safety of the 24/7 Mart felt like a deep-sea diver abandoning his cage. The night air was cold, and the darkness outside the small bubble of the angkot's headlights was absolute.
They moved as a unit. Budi, a walking wall of muscle, took point, his stop sign club held at the ready. Rina followed, her bow in hand, her head constantly swiveling, scanning rooftops and alleyways. Kael and Adi, laden with bags of supplies, hurried behind them, their destination the waiting, beat-up minibus.
The process of loading the angkot was a masterclass in tense silence. Every clink of a can, every rustle of a bag felt amplified in the dead quiet of the street. Kael's heart hammered against his ribs, expecting a screech or a roar at any moment.
"Everyone in. Now," Rina ordered once the last bag was thrown inside.
They piled in, the doors groaning shut. The interior smelled of stale sweat, oil, and fear. Budi took the driver's seat. Rina sat shotgun, her eyes still scanning the darkness. Kael and Adi squeezed in the back amidst the supplies.
"Give it a try, Adi," Budi grunted.
Adi, in the passenger seat behind Budi, leaned forward and connected two frayed wires beneath the steering column. He touched them together. A spark flew, but the engine only gave a weak, sputtering cough before dying.
"Come on, come on," Adi muttered, his hands trembling slightly as he tried again.
Outside, a low moan echoed from a distant street. Every head in the angkot snapped towards the sound.
"Adi," Rina said, her voice dropping an octave. "Now."
Adi closed his eyes, took a breath, and touched the wires together again. The engine coughed, sputtered, caught, and then roared to life with a defiant rumble. A collective sigh of relief filled the small space. Budi slammed the vehicle into gear, and with a lurch, the angkot pulled away from the curb, its headlights cutting a path through the ruins.
As they navigated the debris-strewn streets, Kael felt brave enough to ask. "The UI campus... why there?"
"Thick walls, for one," Rina explained without taking her eyes off the road ahead. "The old campus grounds are surrounded by high, stone and brick walls from the colonial era. Limited entry points. Easy to defend. Plus, it has its own deep wells for water and large, open fields we're converting into farmland."
"There are hundreds of us there now," Adi added from the front, turning to look at Kael. "We have a council, patrols, a workshop... it's a real town. My [Tinkerer] class is actually useful there. Your [Lamplighter] class will be, too! Especially for night patrols or clearing dark buildings."
Kael just nodded, his mind reeling. Hundreds of people. A town. It was more than he had imagined. "Is it... safe?"
A grim chuckle escaped Rina. "Nowhere is safe. It's just safer than being out here. We have to fight for it every day."
As if to punctuate her point, Budi suddenly slowed the angkot. "Rin, look."
He pointed. Up ahead, at a large intersection, something was moving. It was massive. At least thirty feet tall, it resembled a nightmarish turtle, with a shell made of what looked like fused cars and scrap metal. It dragged itself forward on six thick, pillar-like legs, its huge head swinging slowly from side to side. Kael's perception skill flared, and he wished it hadn't.
// Entity: Junk Golem // Int: Level=25 // Status: Territorial, Dormant
"Do not make a sound," Rina whispered, her voice tight with tension. "Budi, back up. Slow. Find another way."
Budi expertly guided the angkot in reverse, his knuckles white on the steering wheel. He turned down a dark side street, the engine noise seeming deafeningly loud. Kael watched the behemoth until it was out of sight, a cold sweat trickling down his back. This world had monsters that could crush their angkot like a tin can without even noticing.
His thoughts swirled. He was heading to a fortress, a sanctuary. But the closer he got, the more a different kind of fear began to grow, overshadowing the fear of monsters. Hope. He was terrified of the hope blooming in his chest. What if he got to the UI campus, searched every corner, asked every person, and Lily's name was nowhere to be found? What if he was journeying toward a confirmation of his worst fears?
"We're almost there," Rina announced, shaking him from his dark thoughts.
Through the windshield, Kael could see it. In the distance, a long, high wall. And above it, the faint, flickering lights of campfires and a few electrically-powered floodlights. A bastion of light and life in the dead, dark city.
The angkot slowed as it approached a massive gate made from welded steel scaffolding and reinforced buses. Figures stood atop the barricade, armed with spears and bows. A powerful spotlight hit them.
A voice, amplified by a megaphone, boomed out.
"Halt! State your names and your purpose!"
Budi killed the engine. Rina leaned out the window. "It's Pathfinder Rina, with Brawler Budi and Tinkerer Adi. We're back from a supply run."
There was a pause. "We see four heat signatures. Who is the fourth?"
Rina glanced back at Kael. "A survivor we picked up. A non-combatant. His name is Kael."
Kael looked out at the guarded gate, the entrance to his sanctuary, his destination, and maybe, just maybe, the end of his search. He was no longer a lone man hiding in a store. He was part of a group, approaching a community. A new, far more complicated chapter of his survival was about to begin.