Odyssey || ArknightsXPunishing: Gray Raven (OLD BOOK)

Chapter 32: You Reap What You Sow

Abandoned building,
Outskirts of town

Ayla woke with a jolt as she sat upright. Her head throbbed a bit after the sudden shift of position. She squints her eyes as her vision slowly adjusted to the relative darkness of the room. Even though there wasn't enough sunlight going through the windows, she knew it was already daytime. She realizes that she slept in, seeing her watch display that it was already near noon.

Heaving herself up, she sneakily peaks on the broken window to check the situation outside. Her eyes darted towards their crashed airship, now covered in snow as it stayed there for eternity. She catches sight of military tents scattered on the northeastern part of the forest.

Among those tents were a mass of patrolling soldiers, all clad in thick winter gear. They were grouped in small squads as they made rounds around the town. She could see small pockets of men digging the Earth, staining the white snow with fresh soil.
Lines of soldiers were carrying crates, placing them beside tents and dugouts.

"Are those...tanks?" Ayla muttered as a bulky moving vehicle parked atop a small hill. It moved it's turret in a menacing way, akin to a predator scouring for unlucky prey. Soon, others of the same model joined it, parking the beasts at the plains surrounding the hill. She has read some files saying that these could yeet someone skyhigh with explosive rounds.

A column of armored cars and trucks are parked in two lines on the snow stricken Russian steppe. Soldiers mingled around in their vehicles, seemingly to kill time. Some were standing by makeshift campfires, while others threw snowballs with each other. One soldier collapsed, his body slumping to the ground as a rock hit his head.

Sensing the need to move, she immediately grabs the backpack and her scythe, before tiptoeing towards the stairs. She doesn't want to be seen by these hostiles, since she wasn't equiped for ranged combat. There was a plethora of choices, but escaping was the best one she could think of.

However, this begs the question.

"Where do I go now..?" She mutters as she stopped by the doorway. Her hand hovers over the doorknob as she thought for a route. City 070 was out of the question, since it's most likely overrun by these unknown organization. The mission was already abandoned and deemed a failure when their craft crashed.

The other thing was to search for surviving members of her team in this town, especially her friend, Narzissa. Douglas and Graham are probably, and most likely dead now. The resulting crash and that small skirmish from yesterday was already apparent that they're dead.

She only hopes that Conrad and the others have made it out alive, especially now that there are enemies lurking outside. Sighing to herself, Ayla decides to venture outside the safety of the house to search for the others. She cautiously treads the ankle deep snow of the road leading deeper into the heart of this town.

The silence around her was deafening, and she felt that a single snap of a twig would alert the soldiers. That's why while walking, she keeps her eyes open for anything that she might step on. She grips the weapon in her hands tighter as she goes into a frozen alleyway.

"Ratingen..? Ayla says as she reads a sign hanging on what seemed to be an old pub.

'So that's the name of this town...' she thoughts as she went past the snow covered structure. In the golden age of humanity, this area seems to be what was known as a plaza. Frozen shops and stalls lined the snow stricken road. She swipes her hand on a glass window and peers inside.

"W-Whoa...dresses!" She controlled her voice as to not scream. Her lady instincts kicked in as she saw hundreds of clothes hanging in drawers, all of them untouched for almost a century. Different types of clothing, pants, and others filled the shop to the brim. It must've been packed with customers before, given the sheer amount of choices.