"Don’t let our mother watch!"
The moment Rhayra read these words from her brother’s lips, she changed her running direction and headed toward her mother.
But no matter how fast she ran, it felt like everything was in slow motion. Everyone moved in slow motion all the time, and she was no exception... This had been happening ever since she awakened her first Universal Speed Force ability...
At her current pace, she wouldn’t reach her mother in time. And she would eventually see what was about to happen. Rhayra looked up at the sky and realized that the golden man’s grip on her brother’s neck was about to kill him. Tears slowly welled in her eyes, and as she bit her lip in fury, a cracking sound was heard inside her.
She finally managed to run. But it was different from how she thought it would be. With her speed of thought, she just seemed to run and move at a normal speed. But then she realized that it wasn’t that she was slow; she was so fast that the whole world seemed to be paralyzed.
Reaching her mother, Rhayra slowed down and hugged her with extreme care as she slowly turned her face away from the sky...
But despite preventing her mother from looking, she still watched. For everyone watching, Rick’s brutal death was only a matter of seconds, but for her, it felt like an eternity... An eternity watching her brother being hanged to death... An eternity until his neck was broken, and another eternity as that golden man’s arm pierced his chest and let him fall from the sky like a piece of something disposable...
In that eternal moment that seemed never to end, Rhayra stared furiously and memorized everything she could about the man... His height, his face, his mannerisms, his strange uniform, and even every medal and detail he had... It might not be today, but she would get revenge on him for what he did here and for all the dead...
She assured herself that she could never forget his face. She kept looking, she needed to keep looking so that she would never forget herself. revenge... But at that moment, after throwing her brother’s body to the ground, the golden man turned toward her and smiled distortedly.
Rhayra hugged her mother tightly and tried to flee using her newfound speed, but the man appeared in front of her and froze her in place with his strange ability... Or was it fear that froze her?
The golden man’s hand then slowly moved in the shape of a dagger, and he was about to pierce her and her mother simultaneously with a single blow...
"Pant" \n(o)v.e\l.com
Rhayra was breathing as if she’d run a marathon after waking from the nightmare. She glanced at her wrist at the watch her brother had given her. It was only 5 a.m., but since she rarely slept after this recurring nightmare, she decided to get up and start her day...
Walking down the stairs, she saw Maya also awake, making breakfast... After her brother’s death two weeks ago, Maya moved here to help the family, who were now experiencing several problems since Rick’s death.
The main problem that led Maya to move in with them was the fact that Rick’s mother had become extremely depressed after losing her son so cruelly, and she didn’t even want to eat anymore...
Her mother wasn’t the only one in town. That day, more than 30 people had died at Pineview Base, and now half of the remaining survivors, who had barely overcome the initial fear and trauma of the apocalypse, were struggling again with the loss that had come in the form of another disaster, living in panic with all the post-traumatic stress they now suffered, as they feared the return of the golden man. Everyone’s greatest fear was that something even worse would happen...
Today was supposed to be the winter festival her brother had so carefully prepared to keep the survivors’ spirits up and help them cope with the accumulated stress. But now, two weeks after the incident, everyone was still grieving, and no one wanted any kind of celebration.
So Ethan made a suggestion everyone agreed upon: to hold a memorial event in place of the festival, so everyone could gather and remember those they lost while honoring them one last time...
Rhayra ate her breakfast quickly, but with her newfound speed, she ate so quickly that few people would notice how much she ate. After she was satisfied, she spent a long time trying to get her mother to eat something, and only after succeeding did they finally leave the house. All three of them walked together along the base’s elevated platforms, away from the snow and hidden from potential aerial predators.
The meeting place was inside a huge basement that the many residents had worked together to dig.
The place was well lit, heated, and ventilated. Thanks to Ethan, who had designed everything, this giant basement also functioned as a shelter during emergencies. Both the ceiling and walls of the venue were constantly reinforced by Captain Gustav, who had obtained the Universal Power from the earth.
On the stage set up next to a small memorial, several people came up and spoke into the microphone. They carried photos or personal items of the people who died that day, and told funny, sad, and moving stories about them...
Soon, it was Joe who took the stage...
"I’ve known Rick since we were kids. He wasn’t just a friend, he was like my real brother... It might not seem like it since I was the bigger one between the two of us, but he was the one who always protected me during fights..."
The last sentence made everyone smile for a moment... Before Joe showed everyone a beautiful ring.
"Vanessa was an incredible woman, she always had this air about her that told everyone how fearless she was... She was an orphan since she was a child, and she was always very mature and independent. Last year, we attended the same firefighter training and slowly grew closer, but it wasn’t until the apocalypse began that we finally started dating... Losing her was like losing a piece of myself... Today, during the winter festival, I had promised to propose to her... She..."
Joe swallowed hard, struggling to continue speaking...
"She greatly respected you, the original residents of Pineview Village, and didn’t want to be seen as bad for having a superficial relationship with me... Unfortunately, she was taken from us along with many others that day... I won’t offer words of comfort to you about those we lost, but I promise I will become much stronger, and the next time something happens, I will be able to protect you..."
Captain Gustav patted Joe on the back after he finished his speech, and seeing that Rick’s family didn’t come on stage, he went next...
"I only knew Rick for less than a year, but despite that short time compared to you, who knew him since childhood, I knew very well who he was and what he wanted... Rick was an honest, honorable, and value-filled young adult. Values I believe he learned in his upbringing in this Village and the example all of you here present set...
...When I asked the question I ask all rookie firefighters about why they chose this profession, he said he wanted to become a firefighter so he could help even more people, and because he wanted to be like his father, who was remembered by many as someone who helped everyone without ever asking for anything in return... And since this apocalypse began, he proved this every day of his life, until the end..."
Rick’s mother couldn’t bear to listen any longer and decided to leave in tears. Rhayra followed her, knowing she couldn’t leave her alone...
Maya was the last person to remain at the memorial. She knew Rick well, knowing things no one else knew about him, but she couldn’t express her feelings in words, and at the moment she had too many things on her mind...
After leaving the memorial, Maya stopped at a warehouse and collected a huge piece of meat, then went to the cemetery where Rick was buried. Amid the white snow that now prevented even the weakest mutant humans from walking, she saw a giant wolf still lying in the same spot for almost 15 days... Despite his size, Fumen was still a pup, and probably hadn’t understood what had happened to his owner... He had remained near Rick’s grave since his death, never leaving. No matter what they did, he wouldn’t abandon his owner...
After leaving the huge piece of meat for the direwolf, Maya returned to the clinic, unaware that Fulmen had finally left the cemetery and was following her from afar...
Inside the clinic, she sat at her desk, completely lost in thought...
In the trash can next to her desk were four discarded pregnancy tests, all four of which were positive...
End of Volume 1 - Extermination List