West turned toward the direction of the scream.
His body moved before his mind fully decided.
"West—!" Aria grabbed his arm tightly, fingers digging into his sleeve. "Don’t."
He stopped, glancing back at her.
Her face was pale and her eyes were widened in fear. She shook her head repeatedly with her lips trembling as if she were trying to convince herself just as much as him.
"We don’t know what’s out there," she said urgently. "Please... don’t go."
Auntie Maribel stepped forward as well. Her usual warmth was replaced by hard pragmatism.
"She’s right," the older woman said firmly. "We don’t know what kind of creatures roam these places. Ruins don’t follow rules. We should stay together."
Several others nodded immediately.
Someone muttered, "We’re not heroes."
West wasn’t surprised.
When survival reared its head, kindness was usually the first thing people sacrificed. Panic stripped away pretense. People didn’t become evil... they became honest.
"I get it," West said calmly.
He looked around.
The ruined street they stood on was cracked and uneven, but there were no immediate threats. No movement. No strange sounds beyond the echo of settling debris far away. The air was stirring, yes, but not actively hostile.
His instincts which were sharpened by the system, told him this wasn’t a trap.
"Nothing’s nearby," he said. "Not yet."
Aria tightened her grip. "You can’t know that."
West gently pried her fingers from his arm and met her gaze.
"I don’t know why," he admitted, "but I’m sure."
It wasn’t arrogance...
It was certainty.
Maybe it was the system...
Maybe it was adrenaline...
Maybe it was something deeper but he felt calm.
"I won’t be long," he added. "If I don’t come back in five minutes, move without me."
Auntie Maribel stared at him, searching his face.
"...You’ve changed," she said quietly.
West smiled faintly. "Yeah."
Then he turned and walked toward the sound.
The scream grew louder as he navigated through the ruined street.
Collapsed buildings leaned into one another, creating narrow corridors of debris and shadow.
Spiky concrete slabs jutted out at odd angles with some hovering eerily in place as if the ruin hadn’t finished deciding what gravity meant yet.
Emitting from cracks in the ground were strange flickering glows which illuminated eerie markings etched into ground beneath layers of asphalt... markings that looked like symbols that didn’t belong to any known language.
West stepped carefully with his senses on full alert till he spotted the source of the scream.
A wreckage lay ahead which happened to be a section of building that had collapsed inward, forming a rough pile of rubble.
Beneath it, a man was pinned.
His lower body was completely buried under a massive slab of reinforced concrete and twisted steel.
Blood pooled beneath him.
A woman knelt beside him with reddened hands and tears streaming down her face as she screamed for help.
She was... stunning.
Even through dirt and panic, her beauty was undeniable. Her long dark hair was plastered to her face due to sweat. She had sharp features softened by fear and eyes brightened with desperation. Tears and snot streaked her cheeks, but they did nothing to diminish her presence.
West realized that this shouldn’t be his current focus and approached cautiously.
When she noticed someone approaching, her expression flickered with hope.
However, when she really saw who it was and her eyes swept over his lean frame, the hope died.
"What are you doing here?" she snapped.
West stopped a few steps away. "Need a hand?"
She scoffed bitterly. "What could a kid like you possibly do?"
Her voice was prickling, defensive and brittle... like fear dressed up as cruelty.
West didn’t take offense.
He simply stood there, watching.
The woman returned to the slab, bracing her hands against it and screaming as she tried to lift it. Her arms trembled violently but the slab didn’t budge.
The man beneath it groaned agonizingly.
"Please—" he gasped. "It hurts..."
She screamed again, trying harder. "Somebody Help!"
She failed to lift it up yet again while West waited.
"Do you need my help," he asked calmly, "or not?"
She glanced back at him and then she rolled her eyes dramatically.
"Fine," she snapped. "Whatever. Not like it’ll change anything."
Her tone made it clear she expected nothing.
West stepped forward, crouched beside the slab, examining it briefly.
There was no doubt that it was heavy... at least five times heavier than the sofa he lifted. However, he currently had up to fifteen points in strength unlike back when he had less than half of that.
He believed he could at least give it a try.
West wrapped his fingers beneath the edge of the concrete.
He inhaled slowly as his muscles tightened.
"On my signal," he said. "Pull him out."
She snorted. "Yeah, sure."
West grunted and pulled but the slab didn’t move...
"I knew you couldn’t—" she began—
However, before she could complete her statement, the concrete bulged.
A grinding sound echoed as steel rebars bent with a tortured screech.
The slab slowly rose causing the words to die in her throat.
Her eyes widened impossibly as she froze, staring at the impossible sight before her.
"Now," West growled. "Pull him out!"
She snapped back to reality.
"Oh—oh my God!"
She grabbed her fiancé’s arms and pulled with everything she had. He screamed as his legs came free, but the sound was relief mixed with pain.
Once he was clear, West let go.
The slab slammed back down with a thunderous crash.
West staggered a step back, breathing hard.
The woman rushed forward and threw her arms around him, hugging him tightly.
"Thank you—thank you—thank you!" she sobbed while clutching him. "You saved him—you saved him!"
West awkwardly patted her back. "Hey... you’re welcome."
In her mind, everything flipped.
She had judged him instantly...
Written him off...
And yet he had done what she couldn’t even imagine.
’How is he so strong? He doesn’t even look like he could lift an umbrella...’ she wondered.
She pulled back, staring at him with new eyes.
"Who... who are you?" she asked.
West smiled gently. "Someone who has a keen eye for beauty and wants to leave this place alive."
He glanced around, ignoring lingering gaze.
"Let’s go," he said. "We shouldn’t stay here."
The woman nodded immediately.
She supported her fiancé as they limped forward together, desperately.
They followed West through the ruins, back toward the others.
As they emerged, the group reacted with surprise.
"You actually went," someone muttered.
"And came back," another added.
Auntie Maribel’s eyes widened as she saw the rescued man.
"You saved them," she said quietly.
West didn’t boast or even explain. There was no time for any of that.
"Everyone ready?" he asked. "We’re moving."