Golden Wastelands

all is revealed with time

Bero and the two siblings got a safe distance away from the monster, it luckily hadn't caught wind of them. The group had made it to the mall, which was relatively secure. It seemed to have Bern fortified, with small entrances that only humans could fit through. The air reeked of humans, and Bero felt nauseous.
Elra must have noticed and spoke up. "Are you okay?"
Bero nodded. "I just feel a little sick after all that running." He held his hand over his nose. He wanted to leave here.
"Perhaps you should rest a bit." Jot suggested, stepping closer.
"No... I'm... I'm fine, I think... it's really stuffy in here." He stated, adjusting his hood.
"It is kinda stuffy..." Jot agreed, "maybe we should just rest a bit. This place seems pretty safe."
"I'll go find us something to eat!" Elra suggested standing up. "You boys just stay here and rest." She focused on Jot, the two sharing a look.
Bero wasn't sure what this meant, nor did he really care. He was honestly feeling rather dizzy and tired. "I don't need anything." He commented with a yawn, leaning against the wall.
"Alright, are you sure? I don't mind finding something for you too." Elra said with a smile.
"No its fine, if I get hungry later I'll go find something for myself." He said confidently, he really didn't feel hungry at all.
"Alright, if something happens just yell, or run and hide." He said, mostly speaking to her brother, before turning and walking away, dissapearing further into the mall.
The two boys mostly sat in silence for the next few minutes, until Jot let out a heavy sigh, pulling off his sweater. "It's pretty hot in here, aren't you uncomfortable?"
"Is it hot? I think it's pretty comfortable." Bero said, it wasn't a lie, he felt just fine. Though he had noticed the faintest smell of sweat.
"How, it's unbearable." Jot said using his hand as a fan.
This made bero laugh. "If you think this is bad, you wouldn't last in the summer." The springs here were hot, but the summers were scorching.
"Worse than this?" Jot jolted, his face going pale. He clearly hadn't lived in this area for very long.
Bero couldn't help but laugh. "Let me guess, you're from up north?" It wasn't obvious, but he and his sister had a slight northern accent.
"Yeah, actually, we moved here last year after..." Jot trailed off, his expression becoming sour.
"You don't have to say any more. I won't pry, especially if it's that fresh and painful." Bero knew better than force someone to speak about something painful. Judging from the expression, it was likely a loss of a loved one.
"Thanks." Jot said with a sad smile. "You know, you're actually a pretty nice guy."
"Thanks I guess?" Bero felt slightly offended.
"Oh no I didn't mean to offend you I just..." Jot said frantically, trying to find the words. "It's just, when we first met you were kinda..."
"Standoffish?" Bero sighed, resting his head on his hand. "I know I didn't mean to be rude I'm just... not very good with people."
Jot smiled and nodded "that's actually pretty understandable." He looked pretty happy. "I have trouble making friends myself. It's scary meeting new people. And now there are these monsters and beasts... so it's probably only going to get harder..."
"Definitely, though I'd just focus on surviving for now." Bero stated, "you can't make friends if you die."
"Hey do you think-" Jot was about to say something but was cut off by a scream, it sounded an awful lot like Elra. Not even thinking, he jumped up, and started running in the direction it came from.
Bero got up soon after running in the direction that Jot had gone. He didn't really understand why, he'd only known these people for a few hours, why was he so worried? He ended up running past Jot, who had slowed down for some reason. As he rounded the corner, he was hit by an overwhelming stench of blood. The metallic, sickly sweet copper scent made him want to vomit.
He intended to stop and survey the situation, make a plan. What he saw was a mess, several three guys and one woman were standing around Elra, who was bleeding. Two were armed, one of the men and the woman.
As he was thinking, Jot ran passed him. "Damn it." He reached out to try and grab Jot and pull him back, but something went wrong, suddenly he was falling forwards, he was hit with a wave of dizziness, and stumbled into the room. He looked up just as he heard a loud bang. Something was coming towards his eye, it almost seemed to move in slow motion for a moment, before a sharp pain ran through his head. He collapsed, clasping his eye and screaming, had he just been shot?
Everyone froze, stunned, the man who had shot him dropped the gun, it hit the floor and went off again, but it didn't hit anyone thus time, but instead shattered a window.
"Fuck you just shot someone." One of the guys said. "You weren't supposes to shoot anyone, just... shit man, is he dead?"
Bero held his eye, fighting unconsciousness, he couldn't let that happen, bit he couldn't think straight, he was in so much pain.
The sound of footsteps came closer, though he wasn't sure from which direction, the sounds all just kinda blurred together. Bero's head was killing him, and it felt like the bullet in his eye was... moving.
A hand reached out towards him, his vision was fuzzy and he didn't recognize the face. He felt someone grab his hood and pull, his own hand reaching up to smack it away. "Stay back!" He pushed the person away, but it was too little too late, his hood had fallen down. Not that he really cared at the moment, he had just been shot in the eye. "Don't touch me!"
"Oh my God, this guys a freak." Someone had stated. He wasn't sure from where, he couldn't really see, despite only having been shot in one eye.
"So, what's it to you." He tried desperately to look in the direction it came from, things were becoming a little clearer, he stood up. Something fell from his face and clattered to the ground. His vision slowly coming into focus, until it was practically normal. He could see the one who he'd pushed away was Jot, he looked terrified.
From the outside the scene was something straight out of a movie. Beros eye had started to reform, the tip of the bullet being pushed out, and the eye just healed, still bloody, but completely intact.
"He's a monster disguised as a human." One of the men said taking a step back.
"Says the one who fucking shot me!" Bero growled, he was breathing heavily, starting to panic. But more than anything, he was pissed. Everything had gone horrifyingly wrong. The day was a disaster from the start, and he felt foolish for thinking he'd be killed for how he looked. He was nearly killed and no one had even seen him yet.
"L-look we don't want any trouble." The guy who had been holding Elra said, raising his hands. He looked terrified, despite his group being the ones armed.
"But you shot me, why am I suddenly the Villain here?" This was why he hated people, they feared anything different.
He could see Elra crawling forwards, grabbing the dropped gun, then springing up, kicking one of the men's feet out from under him and holding the gun to his head, simultaneously unholstering her own and pointing it at the only woman with a gun. "Look, now, you all can just let us leave, and no one else has to get hurt." She slowly started moving, keeping her finger on the trigger of the gun aimed at the girl, who lowered her weapon.
Bero took his opportunity to slip out, this wasn't his mess, and his cover was blown. He wanted to just go home, he got the medicine, food and other supplies could wait. He didn't even bother looking back. He didn't really know those two well anyway, and he knew that they definitely wouldn't want anything to do with him now either. He picked up his bag and made his way towards the exit, this time using the back exit.
Bero felt an immense amount of rage, and also, despair. He wanted to cry, he wasn't really sure why, he knew people would be afraid of him, but it also hurt more than he thought it would. He stopped walking for a moment, and took a deep breath. Raising his hands to his eye, it still hurt. He rubbed it a bit, wiping away the blood that was irritating it.
The sound of a click came from behind him, followed but the sound of squeaking. He turned around to see Elra with Jot hanging on her shoulder. He seemed to be having trouble walking, his one leg looked stiff. She gave him a slight wave. "Hey wait up, you're not abandoning us are you?" Elra said as she trusted towards him. Why was she still following him?
He just frowned, looking her over, he wondered if this was some sort of trick.
She just continued walking until she was standing in front of him. "Look, just cause you're little secret is out, doesn't mean I'm suddenly gonna be scared of you. Though I have to admit it's a little creepy."
"Wow, I'm flattered, but I'm not staying where I'm not welcome." He said bitterly.
"Well then, can we come with you?" Jot asked, nervously, unlike his sister, he looked directly at Bero, he didn't look afraid, simply nervous.
Bero was stunned "why?"
"Because you're wierd and I like you. So why not." Elra said without hesitation.
Beros ears twitched, he wasn't really sure how to respond. He wasn't really sure if he was being complimented or insulted, he had a feeling it was likely both. Not to mention Jot kept staring at his ears, it was making him uncomfortable. "W-whatever. I don't have enough supplies to feed you guys so..." he stated, looking at the ground.
"Oh don't worry, I got plenty when looking around." She held out her bag, it was stuffed, and a pretty large bag at that. Jot was also wearing one, and it two looked pretty full. "And if it's just the three of us, I think it should be fine."
"Four." He stated "if you come with me it's four. And it's a really long trek so, keep up." He stated, he didn't think they were serious, expecting they would leave once they realized they would have to trek through the woods. So he just started to walk, he seriously just wanted to get home.