They stopped in front of many buildings, scanning their insides.
"No one."
"Not here, either."
They distanced themselves from each other to cover more ground, but not so much that they lost sight of each other. Varying amounts of worry and concern started to creep onto the party's faces. Suna heightened her vigilance, rapidly scanning her surroundings for movement, or clues to the fate of the villagers. She subconsciously reached for her knife… only to grab empty air. That's right. It's in James' bag. Her gaze swept to the building she had last seen him step into. She quickly made her way over. As she did, she paid attention to the buildings lining the street. They didn't look particularly advanced, just wooden lodges, some a couple of stories, varying in size. There were stores that still had their wares out for display, buildings with neat stacks of paperwork in their offices. She even saw a cell for prisoners. Of course, no one was in any of them…
The road seemed to be a well-traveled dirt road, so… Where are the footsteps? The wheel tracks? It's as if the road hasn't been touched for days. And most of the buildings are closed with no one in them, yet no signs of a hasty exit. What happened here? She couldn't stop her mind from hypothesizing. She felt that her ability to correctly deduce the answer to this question could determine whether she lived or died, prepared or unprepared to react to whatever force or entity could have displaced an entire town of people.
Reaching the doorway, she called out into the building. "James."
"Yeah?" James' voice was low, and soft. But clear. She didn't sense any fear or unease. Only a tangible seriousness, not unlike what she was feeling at the moment.
Suna hesitated, before asking. "My knife."
She heard no immediate response or movement, but eventually the sound of his footsteps approaching from the adjacent room reached her ears. James emerged from the open doorway, hand outstretched.
"Here. Watch yourself, I don't know what's going on here…"
She took it. "Thanks."
She emerged from the building, scanning for the other members of the group. Their belongings had been piled up in the center of the road, no thought given to their layout. It was a little bit down the road, where they came from. Her gaze, already happening to linger in that direction, picked up movement.
"Hide." Her voice was soft, almost a whisper. But in the quiet, very quiet town, where only the wind and the erratic footsteps and movements of the group could be heard, it easily carried through the tense atmosphere. Cyra and Krax, who were discussing something by the front of one of houses, quickly ducked into a nearby doorway. She didn't find Angie, who must've already been inside a building. She felt James, who already wasn't that far, quickly reach her side, observing the outside with her through the gap in the doorway.
It was an extremely faint whisper. "Did you see something?"
"Yeah. They're far down the road. People. Two or three. They're too far away to make out from here."
James fell into thought.
"It's important that we regroup and recover our belongings. The worst case scenario, they're Geth. I don't know why they'd be all the way out here, but we have to be prepared for the worst."
"They'd see us from where they are, they have a straight shot to our location."
"So, you think we should wait?"
Suna contemplated, before nodding.
"The others won't act rashly without a signal from me. As much as I'd like to say we have a good chance in a straight fight, we don't know if they have reinforcements close by. I'm going to look for another exit out of this building, keep watching. Try and listen for their voices. Geth don't talk when alone with each other."
James left her side, his footsteps light. The distant speck on the horizon became figures that she could make out. Normal people… She felt somewhat relieved. She, of course, didn't call out to them, not until she was absolutely certain they weren't a member of this mysterious 'Geth'. She regretted not getting the chance to inquire more about them, but all the members of the group never really brought up the topic.
A man and a woman walked toward the town, before finally entering through the open entrance of the wooden walls. Off the side of the road were winding paths, greenery, and open areas, but these people paid no heed to them as they moved straight forward, along the main road that bisected the whole town.
The pair ignored all of the buildings, heading straight through the town. When they got closer to the pile of belongings that sat in the street, however, they approached it.
Why are they not saying anything? The words James left her with rung in her mind. Her previous relief was quickly turning into anxiety.
One of them got real close, crouching down and looking through the bags. They looked at their partner, who didn't make a noise or expression. They resumed, sifting through the bags briefly. When they reached one of them, though, something fell to the ground.
That book! It had been sticking out of the entrance to the bag, which had already been filled to the brim. She remembered the care with which Angie treated it, of course she wouldn't have jammed it at the bottom of all of her belongings.
The man reached over and picked it up, examining it. Oddly, the way he flipped it every which way, letting the pages flip open and sway in the shallow wind, it was as if… as if he had never touched a book before.
Geth! This wasn't a normal person. They looked like one, but this was too abnormal. Her heart rate accelerated, now uncertain of the events that would soon follow.
It continued examining the book. Then, it took its hand, tearing a few pages out of it. Rip! The loud, sharp sound rung out through the silent town, followed by a fluttering, as the pages floated through the wind. Suna's hand clenched. Then, behind her, she heard a faint ringing sound. Alarmed, she whipped her head back, to see James looking at her. He seemed to be silently conveying something to her. She took a guess at what he wanted her to do. She immediately, silently, moved from the door and into the other room.
She couldn't see the pair outside anymore, but she could hear footsteps. One. One of them was approaching the front door. She unsheathed her knife.
Step. Step. It didn't take long for the creaking swing of the front door to reach her ears.
Step. Step. They made their way through the front area of the building, slowly, following the noise to its source. She followed the figure's presence, as they reached the doorway leading to the back of the building. Her heart rate quickened. Their hand touched the door. Then… the ringing stopped.
A vicious clang of metal on metal. And faintly, behind her outside, a sharp whistling sound.
She did not hesitate. She emerged, silently, from the doorway she was behind. Her eyes locked onto the man from before, his footing off balance after deflecting the surprise attack. With his back turned to her… kill.
The man was given no chance to react to the soundless attack, its full attention already devoted to the threat before it. He could do nothing as the knife pierced through his neck. She didn't know if the anatomy of a Geth was the same as a humans, so she didn't go for the heart, instead opting to lop off the entirety of its head. Part of her was rooted in a fear that her knife was completely useless, but her body paid her worries no heed as it tore through the flesh, even severing the man's spine cleanly. Plop. The head, with nothing to keep it attached to its body, fell to the ground, along with its body. Thud.
Confirming the kill, Suna rushed, silently, to the front door, to gauge the situation outside. Another corpse, a long arrow pierced through its head, slumped over onto the bags. Motionless. Suna allowed herself to breathe a sigh of relief, a much needed one to soothe her worried, beating heart.
James did not lag far behind her. "Group up." The clear command reached the surrounding buildings, and the party members wasted no time in assembling on top of their belongings. Angie beelined straight for her book, and then jerked her head back and forth, searching frantically up and down the street, between the buildings, worry on her face.
"I'm sorry Angie. We have no time, we don't know if there's reinforcements. Hurry, take only what is essential. Krax, were you able to find a wagon and a horse?"
Krax bore a solemn look on his face. "No, there's… nothing living in this town."
James bit his lip, frustrated. "Then we go on foot. We're going in the forest."
James didn't need to hurry the members, all of them already hurriedly sifting through their belongings, no hesitation as they picked out certain objects from their packs and bags. Suna, with nothing to do, kept her eyes peeled, up and down the road, exempting none of her surroundings. She wouldn't let the slightest hint of movement evade her.
"...Ready? Move out."
The party moved in a quick run, together. Suna followed closely, sticking by Angie. Of all the members, Angie seemed the most unfamiliar with the tense situation, unable to hide certain tells of her nervousness. Her body's shaking, her jaw slightly moving back and forth as she ground her teeth, her eyes flitting back and forth, as if in anticipation of some sort of attack. Suna's instinct was to distance herself from the volatile factor, who might act randomly in an unknown situation. But her heart… I'm stupid, aren't I… She was not going to let anything hurt her friend. Her only friend.