VOXISTALE: Novel Edition

Chapter 91

She'd seen a lot of apocalypse movies in her time, with ruined streets, decaying buildings, empty, rusted cars . . . Voxis City now? It looked nothing like that. In fact, it looked relatively the same, aside from the occasional smoldering car, or heap of trash littering the street. They hadn't crossed any bodies, but that was this time. They'd seen a few before, and dust seemed to perpetually hang in the air. Both humans and monsters were suffering at the Messiah's whim, and to what end? What was their goal? Were they just racist and hated monsters for being different? Or did they just want power and used monsters as a scapegoat?

Even then that didn't make much sense considering the Messiah seemed to control everything. Bringing Fuku along was a risk, but they'd learned that most people followed Obaseki's advice. They stayed indoors, while gangs and groups of Messiah roamed the streets. Sometimes you could hear a shootout between them. Honestly, Sadie had zero clue about any of the gangs within Voxis. She hadn't even been aware that there were gangs before just a couple days ago.

It was still a little tough to believe that all those events . . . homecoming, the Messiah takeover . . . it had all only been three days ago. It felt like a LOT more time between now and then.

"It's good Terrence is feeling better," Fuku stated, her quiet voice almost drifting away in the breeze.

"Yeah," Sadie replied with a shrug. "He's either got the best luck or the shittiest. I didn't think he'd make it out of that alive, but still, his reward is going blind. Kind of a win-lose."

"Blindness isn't always an impairment," Fuku replied, looking toward Sadie. "Some people find ways around it. Did you ever watch that Stan Lee superhero documentary where they meet this blind guy who uses echolocation?"
"No. I don't really watch movies and stuff. I usually do it with Rian when he wants to watch one of his old detective movies, or "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken". That one's a favorite." When she concluded her sentence, they both fell silent for a few moments, until Fuku spoke again.

"I've actually been watching a few things he likes. Like Nancy Drew, or that Clint Eastwood guy."

"Yeah, he really likes all that old stuff," Sadie chuckled, "you watch them on your own? I thought he'd have made you watch them."

Fuku giggled lightheartedly. "No . . . he mostly just wants to do whatever I like."

"Ah," Sadie grinned, winking at Fuku, "that just means he's nervous. Doesn't want to scare you off with his golden oldies obsession. If you really want to see his favorite movie of all time, there's one called "Il Regalo Più Grande", this old Italian one that he's always quoting. Well, usually quoting one line, but he loves it to death."

"I hope we see him again," Fuku replied. Sadie paused, before closing her mouth, staring ahead, feeling her throat tighten.

"Yeah . . . me too . . ."

The walk continued in silence, the cold gusts of wind growing stronger, making Sadie thankful that they'd raided a clothing store yesterday and replaced their homecoming attire with jeans and coats. The only one still wearing their homecoming outfit was Terrence, but only because nobody was about to try to change him. They simply kept his new clothes in the back until he could change himself.

Hugging her faded blue jean-style coat closer to her body, they passed by a series of buildings with most of their windows shattered. Curtains fluttered outside of the windows like graceful spirits, waving at them as they passed. It was almost eerie when accompanied with the silent, empty street. "What do you think happened there?" Sadie asked, nodding to the building they were passing. Fuku stared at it for a moment, before looking away.

"Nothing good."

They could agree on that.

The deeper they moved, the more paranoid she grew. There were a few times she could swear there was somebody following them, seeing a figure darting between alleys they passed. She pointed this out to Fuku, who claimed to see nothing, but nonetheless, became more alert.