Chapter 57 - 56: Following
{Arilion}
{Alexander}
Alexander did not look back when he walked away from the hotel.
The decision had already been made the moment he turned his back. Whatever came after was not his responsibility. Not his problem. Not something he could afford to get involved in. The world was collapsing too quickly for hesitation to matter.
Behind him, the hotel faded into noise and distant chaos, swallowed by the fractured rhythm of a city that no longer behaved like a city.
He adjusted his grip on the strap of his bag he had scavenged and kept moving.
Home was still somewhere ahead.
If the roads remained passable, he could still reach the city before nightfall. Every minute spent elsewhere was another minute farther from his family.
The streets ahead were uneven with abandoned vehicles, some angled sharply as if abandoned mid turn, others burned out entirely. Glass crunched under his boots with each step, but his pace did not change. Pain still lingered faintly at his temple from the earlier impact, a dull reminder that his body had already taken more than it should have.
Still, he walked.
Several seconds passed before he noticed it.
Footsteps.
Soft. Uneven. Slightly hesitant, but consistent enough to be deliberate. They were not random. Not the drifting movements of a survivor trying to find direction. They matched his pace.
Alexander slowed slightly without turning his head.
The footsteps slowed too.
He stopped completely.
The sound behind him stopped a moment later.
For a brief second, there was only silence. Not peace. The kind of silence that existed right before something became inconvenient.
Alexander exhaled slowly and turned.
The woman from the hotel stood several meters behind him.
She looked exhausted. Her breathing was uneven, and one hand rested protectively against her stomach. The strain in her posture was obvious even from several meters away.
But she was watching him.
Not afraid. Not defiant.
Just there.
Alexander stared at her for a moment without speaking. His expression did not change, but his eyes moved once, scanning her condition. The slight tremor in her stance. The uneven breathing. The obvious strain of her body, especially in her lower abdomen.
Civilian.
Pregnant civilian.
Liability.
He disliked that the second detail changed the assessment.
"Why are you following me?" he asked finally.
His voice was flat. Controlled. Not hostile, but carrying the weight of someone who did not want complications.
The woman blinked once, then glanced briefly to her left, where the empty road stretched toward nothing useful. Then to the right. Then back to him.
There was nowhere else. The answer was obvious even before she spoke.
She scratched lightly at the side of her head, a small gesture that felt almost out of place in the ruins of the world around them.
"I have nowhere else to go," she said.
It was not an answer to his question. Not really. But it was honest.
Alexander did not respond immediately. His gaze shifted slightly past her, scanning the street beyond. Movement patterns. Possible threats. Exit routes. His mind worked faster than the moment required.
Nothing close. No immediate danger. That didn’t mean much. Survival rarely ended because of a single mistake. It was usually the accumulation of many.
He looked back at her. "You will slow me down," he said.
The woman nodded once.
It was immediate. Simple. No argument. No emotional reaction. Just acceptance of the statement as if she had already considered it herself.
That made it more annoying than if she had protested.
Alexander turned slightly away, as if already dismissing the conversation. He resumed walking.
Behind him, the pregnant woman hesitated for half a second.
Then she followed.
The footsteps returned, light and careful as the woman kept her distance behind him. Alexander didn’t bother turning around again and simply continued walking.
Minutes passed in silence.
The city around them was still breaking apart, but in a quieter way now. Distant crashes echoed through the streets, occasional shouts faded before they could be traced, and smoke rose somewhere far off into the pale sky.
Alexander’s pace remained steady, but his attention was split. He was aware of her presence behind him in a way that irritated him more than he wanted to admit. Not because she was dangerous, but because she was an unknown variable.
Unknown variables slowed movement.
Every delay mattered.
He still didn’t know whether Iris and the rest of his family had survived. The uncertainty sat heavier than the lingering ache in his temple.
He exhaled through his nose and adjusted his route slightly, avoiding a collapsed section of road where a small cluster of figures moved erratically near a parked bus.
The pregnant woman almost followed the wrong path before correcting herself and following his adjustment without question.
That alone told him she was observant enough to survive longer than expected.
Still a liability, but not a useless one.
They continued like that until the distance between them stabilized into something unspoken. Alexander leading. The woman trailing. Not close enough to be mistaken for together. Not far enough to lose track.
A few more minutes passed before he heard her voice again. "Do you always walk this fast?"
Alexander did not answer.
She tried again after a moment, slightly louder this time.
"Are you military?" Still nothing.
A pause.
"Were you always this tall or did it happen recently?"
That one almost pulled a reaction out of him. Almost.
He ignored it completely.
The woman let out a small breath, somewhere between frustration and acceptance, then stopped speaking.
For a while, only footsteps remained.
The street gradually narrowed as they moved deeper into a less maintained district. Fewer intact buildings. More debris. More signs of panic that had already passed through and left nothing useful behind.
Alexander’s hand drifted once toward his boot, confirming the presence of the blade there. He did it without thinking. Habit more than intention.
That was when he sensed movement ahead.
He slowed slightly.
She slowed immediately behind him.
Three shapes emerged from between two abandoned cars further down the street.
They moved wrong.
Not coordinated. Not aware. Their steps were uneven, bodies twitching in small unnatural motions, like strings pulling in the wrong directions.
Alexander exhaled once. So it had started spreading further out. He shifted his stance slightly.
"Stay back," he said without turning.
She froze where she was.
The three figures noticed him.
Or at least reacted to his presence.
The first one broke into a staggered run.
Alexander moved forward without hesitation.
The distance closed in seconds. The first impact came fast, controlled. A step to the side, a pivot, and the blade came up cleanly. The body dropped almost immediately, collapsing without resistance.
The second reached him a second later.
He twisted, redirected its momentum, and drove the blade into a precise point that ended its movement before it fully developed.
The third hesitated for a fraction of a second.
That was enough.
Alexander finished it without waste.
Three bodies fell to the ground, then went still and turns to ash moments later.
No dramatic aftermath. No pause. Just silence returning to the street as if nothing had happened.
He wiped the blade once and returned it to his boot.
Behind him, the woman had not moved.
She was watching. Not in shock. Not in fear.
Just observing, as if recalibrating something in her understanding of him.
Alexander did not acknowledge it.
He already knew what she was thinking.
Safer than the alternatives.
That was enough for most people to make bad decisions.
He turned and walked again.
She followed.
This time, she stayed a little closer.
The sun had shifted slightly in the sky by the time they found shelter. A small structure set slightly off the main road, partially hidden behind overgrown fencing. It looked like an old storage building or maintenance outpost, long abandoned before the current chaos.
Alexander checked the perimeter quickly, then pushed the door open.
No immediate threat.
They stepped inside.
The air was stale but intact. Dust covered most surfaces. Broken shelves leaned against walls. It was not safe, but it was defensible enough for temporary rest.
Alexander moved to the corner, scanning exits and sightlines.
She remained near the entrance for a moment before slowly stepping further in.
Neither of them spoke.
Minutes passed.
The silence settled into something heavy but not hostile.
Alexander finally broke it without looking at her.
"When we find a safe place," he said, "you will separate."
It was not a suggestion. It was a plan.
The woman nodded again. "Yes," she said.
Simple agreement.
Too simple.
Alexander narrowed his eyes slightly but said nothing more.
He had heard enough survivors say what they thought was necessary in the moment. Plans changed quickly when reality became inconvenient.
He turned his attention back to the outside through a cracked window.
The world was still unstable. Still shifting.
That was when the woman spoke again, quieter this time. "What’s your name?"
Alexander paused, not because he was uncertain, but because it did not matter enough to prioritize.
"Alexander," he said finally.
Then he returned to scanning the surroundings.
The woman repeated it softly under her breath, as if testing it. "Alexander..."
For the first time, something in her expression softened slightly. Not relief exactly. Something simpler. Anchoring. Names made people feel less like they were standing next to strangers in a collapsing world.
She hesitated, then spoke again. "I’m Cassandra."
Alexander did not respond.
He heard it.
He registered it.
That was all.
Cassandra waited a moment, as if expecting something more. When nothing came, she simply adjusted her position and sat down carefully near the wall.
Alexander remained standing.
Outside, the wind moved through broken structures, carrying distant echoes of a world still collapsing out of sight.
For a while, neither of them spoke again.
The arrangement was temporary.
Find shelter.
Reach the city.
Separate.
That was the plan.
Across the room, Cassandra settled carefully against the wall.
Alexander returned his attention to the cracked window.
Outside, the world continued falling apart.