I was regaining consciousness. I was slowly opening my eyes, unable to see anything in the darkness.

  The movements shook me all over, making me feel even worse.

  Raven was carrying me over his shoulder as if I were a sack of potatoes.

  I still had pain in my stomach, but the pain in my chest was worse.

  Lily…

  The bastard hit me insanely strongly to make me go unconscious.

  I had no idea how long I had been like this.

  Lily might already…

  “Put me down,” I demanded with a cold tone.

  “For what?” he replied, his voice colder than mine.

  “For what else but to help Lily!?” I screamed.

  “In that case, I will not let you.”

  “Why?”

  “What can you do?”

  “I can…”

  Against such a monstrosity, the best I could attempt was to distract it, but…

  “Exactly. You can do nothing about it. You cannot escape my grasp, let alone fighting a Tank.”

  “…”

  I knew trying to get free from him was impossible.

  “Will they all die?” I asked, my fierce temper replaced with grief and sadness.

  “… Probably.”

  I began to sob yet again, having no will for anything, having no strength to shake off my kidnapper.

  “Could you have saved them?” I asked him, through tears.

  “…”

  He didn’t answer.

  Lily…

  What was Lily for me? I hated her existence. Yet, why, when I think about the possibility of never meeting her again… Why does my heart hurt so much? Wasn’t she a toy to me?

  I was crying for a while, trying to accept the loss of all my friends.

  The only sounds were Raven’s steps and my quiet sobbing.

  He continued running and I couldn’t calm down for a while.

  Raven stopped moving and spoke.

  “We arrived at the exit. Get over it, even if for a while. I fear that exiting with you in my arms would be harder.”

  I began wiping my tears.

  I cannot… I cannot let everything be for nought! Even if I were to break after this… I cannot let their death be in vain!

  Raven put me down.

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  I somehow managed to hold the desire to continue crying. My survival took precedence.

  We had caught up to the soldiers. I saw two of them – a grunt and Olivier.

  “You are back?” Olivier spoke.

  He could have tried to sound less surprised about it. I considered killing them on the spot.

  I saw that Olivier continued to carry one of the backpacks with provisions. We lost one of them when…

  “How is it?” Raven asked before I really thought of shooting at them.

  “The way up is worse than when we came in. The acid must have damaged it. We can only climb one at a time. One of us just climbed up and the second one is attempting.”

  While we were dying like flies, you were all safe and sound. Such nonsense.

  I looked at the “exit”. It was like a large hole in the cave’s ceiling. It was steeply angled and had a height of 20 feet. It was a challenge to climb it.

  From it, there was a clear sign towards the sky.

  It was already daytime and the acid rain had stopped.

  The girl with a bandage on her forehead was in the middle of her climb.

  Raven leaned on one of the walls.

  I went next to him. He was the only one I could rely on, despite his untrustworthiness.

  “Climb faster,” Raven sounded threatening.

  “It’s too dangerous. If the one above slips and falls, those below would also fall.”

  “Would you rather climb or…” Raven didn’t finish his sentence as he turned to look at the darkness we came from.

  “Glow sticks.”

  “We have no more.”

  They all shone on the pathway and prepared for combat.

  The Stalkers had found us and madly ran.

  The men began shooting. I joined soon after.

  We had to fight yet again.

  When the Stalkers stepped into the area where the sun shone, something happened to them.

  For a moment, they became stunned, but continued to run afterwards. Their movements were slower than before and their senses dulled. They didn’t even try to dodge, running headfirst into our gunfire.

  Olivier started climbing at some point during the fight, leaving the three of us to fend them off.

  The longer the fight continued, the more they got accustomed to the light.

  “Go! I’ll hold them up for a while!” Raven told me.

  Reluctantly, I started to climb.

  It was hard. With every one of my steps, little rocks were falling.

  Even a small mistake would have made me fall to the ground.

  An explosion was heard from below.

  The vibration shook even me, but I kept a strong grip and foothold.

  I was nearly to the surface.

  I saw a small figure from above. Due to the sun, its features were dark.

  A hand was stretched towards me. It was the little girl. I accepted her help.

  I thought she wanted to pull me up. It was what I hoped she wanted to do.

  I felt how her arms pushed me.

  Her disturbance forced me to lose my shaky balance and begin falling.

  I was speechless.

  Raven warned me once about humans. I wish I had listened to him more.

  Is this the end for me?

  As I was descending into doom, I saw my life before my eyes.

  My mother and father… friends… everything.

  Dreams I have forgotten…

  By the time I was about to hit the ground, Raven realised my predicament and managed to catch me in the last moment.

  Even with his help, I had the taste of blood in my mouth. I coughed violently.

  After recovering a bit, I saw that the soldier was on the ground, bleeding out.

  The pathway was blocked by rubble.

  Did the explosion a while ago do it?

  The rubble was being attacked from the other side and it was a matter of time before the undead got to us.

  “Let’s climb up,” I said and tried to stay on two feet.

  If the entrance is blocked, we have some time before they come and the two of us can escape.

  When I stepped on my left foot, I felt excruciating pain.

  If Raven hadn’t been holding me at that moment, I would have stumbled on the ground.

  I looked at my leg. I had blood on my hem.

  Raven helped me to sit and I inspected my wound.

  My leg was swollen and blue, bleeding slowly. When I touch it, I feel pain.

  I can barely move my leg…

  Without relying on the wall or Raven, I cannot even get up.

  I… dammit all!

  I looked at Raven.

  He was unmoving, making an expression that made me fear him.

  Was he fearing? It was the first time I saw him like this. Was he thinking that our situation is hopeless? Or was he considering leaving me and escaping?

  I wouldn’t blame him if he did so. I couldn’t be saved now.

  Dying here, where all my dear friends died… It wasn’t so bad. They met their end because of me. The least I could do to atone was to stay with them in the same place, isn’t that correct?

  Now, when I cannot escape, what other choice do I have but to rest eternally with them?

  Sorry and thank you.

  However … I don’t want to die yet…

  Not before I finish my mission! Not when the mission that costed the lives of all my compatriots was successful! Not before…

  I looked Raven in the eyes.

  His expression was dark.

  It was all futile… There was nothing I could do alone…

  I used the wall to lean on and got up. I looked at the sky.

  “Go…” I whispered and a few tears wet my cheeks.

  There was no need for Raven to die with me.

  I felt a sudden sharp pain in the left side of my back where my heart was.

  I slowly turned my head around. Raven was expressionless. His left arm… piercing my body.