The Day of Reckoning (Prototype)

Chapter 18: Finding Alfie

Sup guys its Writer Cat
So ya boi got sick, but I can still post eps. they might come out a little slowly so just bear with me. thank you for allowing me to take a break, and enjoy the rest of the story.

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I wake up to see Rory sleeping next to me. The sun shines onto his face, giving me a clear view of it. His eyes have deep, dark circles around them. A small, old scar is visible on his forehead, and his right eyebrow has a slit in it. Weird that I'd never noticed that before. His nose is slightly crooked, like he'd broken it at some point before. It's crazy how much you could notice in a person when you look hard enough. His head rests on a couch pillow, with a small drop of drool leaking from his mouth.

Ew. I think to myself. I try to get up before realizing his arm is resting over my shoulder. I gently remove his arm from my body and place his hand in front of his face. I climb over his body and change into my regular outfit; a green coat with black and blue sweatpants and red boots. I spot the cats and kittens cuddling together, with Ken and Lauryn doing the same next to them. Even though they're just cousins, they act a lot like siblings.

I see Rory moving around in the corner of my eye. He groans and rubs his eyes, scratching under his shirt. He sits up and sees me quietly filling the cat's food bowls. He waves to keep from making noise. "Hey." I mouth, trying not to wake up Lauryn and Ken. He gets up and walks around the house, sliding his boots on. He changes into his dragon shirt and grabs my toolkit belt, which just barely fits on his hip. He slips a few smokescreens into empty pouches, as well as glass shards, for some reason.

He mouths to me "Should we wake these two up?" I think about it. He did say we'd all look for Alfie in the morning, but they still look really peaceful. I decide that we should wake them up. Rory violently shakes Ken awake as I gently shake Lauryn's shoulder. They get up and grab their things, quickly getting ready to go. We decide to split up, with Ken and Lauryn checking everywhere I went the night before. Rory decides to stay with me, both to help me find Alfie and keep me from hurting myself again.

He walks behind me with his arms hanging over my shoulder, close to my neck so that I don't scratch at it. We walk into a few houses, practically turning everything over to find Alfie. We check about 17 houses, all with no results. I begin to get nervous, triggering the itch. As my hands begin to lift, Rory's arms quickly surround my neck. My nails end up digging into his skin, but he doesn't flinch at all. I look up at his face and see his eye subtly twitch, but there's no other reaction.

My nails dig deeper and deeper into his forearm, to the point where beads of blood begin to come from the entry points. "Sorry..!" I say, trying to move my hands. But I can't. My body is determined to scratch at my neck, and Rory's arms aren't stopping them. He says "Its alright," and places one of his hands on my neck, rubbing it. The itch goes away, and my hands return to the side of my body. He wipes away the dots of blood and puts his arms back over my shoulders, his hands hovering above my chest.

We check a few more houses, but we still never manage to find anything. This isn't good. I grab our radio off my belt and call Ken and Lauryn.

"Sorry, Ramil, but we're coming up blank, too." Lauryn says.

"Maybe Alfie is hiding somewhere farther away?" Ken suggests. "Laurie and I can check the surrounding area if you want."

"Yeah, go ahead." I say quietly. "Good luck."

"Thanks, you too!" Lauryn says before turning her radio off. I slip mine's back onto my belt. My eyes start clouding up, and I grab and squeeze Rory's forearms. "Breathe. He's okay." Rory starts. But I'm seriously tired of hearing him say that.

"YOU DON'T KNOW THAT!!" My grip tightens. "STOP SAYING THAT! IT IS NOT HELPING AT ALL!!! AND ITS NOT WHAT I NEED TO HEAR IN THE SLIGHTEST!!!"

"Quiet down! An Eldritch is gonna--"

"I DON'T FUCKIN' CARE AT THIS POINT!! I'D RATHER THAT OVER LOOKING FOR SOMEONE'S WHO'S PROBABLY DEAD!!!!" I rip my hands from Rory's arms, my nails slicing them open. I hadn't even realized my nails were so deep in his skin. I run, focused on nothing but getting away from him. "Dammit, Ramil!!" I hear him yell. I ignore it and continue running, scratching so hard I'm surprised I haven't hit a bone yet! I end up running until my legs feel like jell-o. I enter a random house and sit on the floor.

My lungs sting and water pours from my eyes. I might be being dramatic, but Alfie is literally my only surviving family member left. Thinking about him being dead, let alone missing, is scary and painful. I cry and I cry and I cry, wondering if Alfie's looking for me right now. I hear something move around, entering the house. It sniffs my hair and growls. I can smell its breath, and I already know it's an Eldritch.

"Eat me, bitch." I say. I'm staring at my legs, not bothering to look up at it. "I don't care. Hurry up." It opens its mouth and gets closer, ready to bite my head off. I squeeze my eyes and wait for the pain, but it never comes. Instead, I hear Rory grunt, followed by a screech and the sound of the Eldritch slamming into the wall. It screeches, but gets cut off by what I assume to be Rory beating the living shit out of it. The sound of it being mutilated echoes through the house, prompting me to look up.

I see Rory covered in Eldritch blood, standing over the body. He places his hammer between his bag straps and exhales. He turns around and crouches down. "Ugh, this is getting tiring." He says. "Are you okay?" I meet him with silence. "Please don't start this."

"I.." I can't finish the thought. I look up and see the cuts I caused, realizing just how deep they really are. "Your arms.." I say. "I'm sorry.." He looks at them and wipes away the streams of blood. "Its alright. Just, please, don't run off again. You're hella fast." I nod slowly and he stands up. He reaches his hand out and I grab it, letting him pull me up. "Cool. Come on, let's go find Alfie. I bet we're close."

We walk out of the house together, continuing our search for Alfie. We walk through the street, going into a few houses with no success. We end up walking out of the neighborhood, hoping that maybe, Alfie is walking down the road, trying to find his way home. We walk for a few minutes before feeling the ground shake. "Goddammit." Rory groans. "We seriously cannot catch a break." It gets closer and we run, trying to stay out of sight.

It finally sees us, giving chase. We continue running, struggling to get away. I look back and see it staring at me with angry, hungry eyes. My foot gets caught on a large part of rubble and makes me stumble. I hit the road hard, scraping my chin. "Dammit! Why, universe!?" I yell, trying to get back onto my feet.

It screeches and gets closer. And closer. And closer. At this point, even if I could get up, I'd be crushed under its foot. I keep trying to get up, pushing myself up off the ground. But just as the giant is about to smush me, Rory yanks me off the ground and onto my feet. He pulls me along as we run, leading me through cars, bodies, and other kinds of obstacles. Soon enough, we both begin to get tired. He spots a city bus just up ahead of us and picks up speed, dead-set on getting us to it.

We jump inside, but before we can do anything else, the Eldritch runs into the bus, sending it upwards. As we tumble through the air, Rory grabs me by my arm and pulls me into his chest, wrapping his arm around me and holding my head to protect it. I hold onto him tightly as the bus hits the road, rolling and spinning without stopping at all. His grip tightens, pushing my head farther into his chest. "Uhh, could you loosen your gri--" I begin to say, but I don't finish my sentence before my head hits a bus seat and I black out.