Adrian hovered over Alex, hands trembling as dust curled around them like smoke from a dying fire.

  “Come on… come on,” he muttered, pressing two fingers to Alex’s neck.

  There was a pulse.

  The pressure in his chest eased.

  His shoulders dropped, the tension draining from his body all at once. Alex was alive. Hurt, but alive. For now, that was enough.

  He looked over Alex’s body, searching for anything serious. Dozens of small cuts covered his arms and face. Glass shards. A few were still embedded, glinting in the dusty light like cruel little needles.

  But that didn’t matter now. He started shaking him gently, then harder. He thought about yelling, but with the ringing in his ears, he figured Alex wouldn’t hear him anyway.

  Alex stirred.

  A groan. Movement.

  Adrian leaned closer, shaking him again as the dust lingered in the air like smoke.

  “Alex!” Adrian’s throat tore. “Stay with me!”

  Alex’s eyes opened slightly, blinking like he was underwater.

  Alex blinked, lips barely moving. “What…?”

  Adrian leaned in, trying to read his lips. He couldn’t hear anything, not really. Just the high-pitched ringing, like pressure in his skull that wouldn’t let go.

  Adrian leaned close, shouting into the ringing. “You’re hit. Doesn’t matter. We move.”

  Alex tried to sit up, flinched, and hissed through his teeth.

  Adrian crouched beside him, helping, careful of the glass. He winced as Alex’s weight shifted; he was conscious but dazed.

  Adrian pointed in the direction of the park and made a sweeping motion with his hand. Move. Now.

  Alex blinked, then nodded weakly.

  Another distant thud echoed across the city. A plume of smoke rose from behind a building.

  Adrian gritted his teeth and hauled Alex up, one arm slung over his shoulders. Together, they stumbled into the chaos, moving towards the park, towards the underground.

  The air outside was worse.

  Smoke curled through the streets, thick and bitter, turning the world into shades of grey and orange. The ringing in his ears had started to fade, just enough for him to make out the chaos around them: sirens, shouting, the distant thud of collapsing stone.

  Adrian didn't look back.

  He couldn’t afford to. Not with Alex limping beside him, half-dragged, half-carried. Every few steps, he stumbled, and Adrian had to catch him. He was doing better with each step, but he still couldn’t walk on his own.

  His only focus was getting to the park, then the underground. Nothing else mattered right now. His mind wasn’t in the right place to think, let alone make new decisions. The last choice they made was to head for the park, so that’s where he kept going, step by step.

  A group of people ran past them, faces streaked with soot, panic visible on their faces. One of them glanced at Alex, then at Adrian, but said nothing; he just kept running. They were probably just stuck at home before everything happened.

  The park was close, a street or two away. He remembered the way; there was a small market on the street before the park, then a few statues, and they would be there.

  The park wasn’t far, just a street or two away. Adrian remembered the path clearly: a small market on the corner before the park, then a few statues, and beyond that, the entrance. They were close.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  He just had to keep moving.

  An explosion lit up the sky, followed by a second, then a third. Like dominoes falling in fire. Each one felt closer, louder. The city was unraveling, block by block.

  Adrian’s grip on Alex tightened. They had to move faster.

  In front of them, thick, large black smoke was coming from the last street that they were headed to.

  Then, when they crossed over to the next street, Adrian saw it.

  A collapsed building, or what was left of it, lay in flames across the road. Half its upper floors had folded in on themselves like a broken spine. Smoke poured from shattered windows. The street was choked with debris: twisted metal, crumbled stone, splintered glass.

  Then, when they crossed over to the next street, Adrian saw it. A collapsed building, on fire. Debris covered most of the street, and the buildings around it had visible damage.

  The buildings around it hadn’t escaped either. Cracks veined their walls. Shutters hung loose. One storefront had its entire sign torn off, exposing a flickering blue light inside. The air shimmered with heat, thick with the stench of burning.

  Adrian stopped.

  The park was just beyond this mess. He could see the edge of the statues through the haze. Maybe fifty, sixty meters ahead.

  But the street was nearly impassable. Too much rubble. And worse, the fire was still spreading. The building groaned, and a steel beam crashed down with a sound like thunder.

  Alex coughed beside him, the smoke already getting into their lungs.

  Adrian’s mind raced. Left led into a side alley. Maybe it curved around the wreckage. Maybe not. The smoke was too thick to tell.

  Straight ahead was faster. But also suicide.

  The right side ran alongside the collapsed building, and there was no way through there.

  Another distant thud. Another cloud of dust.

  He didn’t have time to think.

  He looked at Alex.

  “Stay. Here. I’ll check it.”

  Adrian peeled off his jacket, then tugged his shirt over his head. From the bag, he pulled out a knife and sliced the shirt cleanly in two. He grabbed his water bottle and poured water over the torn fabric, the wet cloth darkening instantly.

  He tied one piece of the soaked shirt around his head, hoping it would help him breathe through the smoke or at least do some good. Then he fastened the other around Alex’s face, securing it tightly.

  Carefully, he helped Alex down onto the ground, moving him away from anything that could cause more harm. Alex was improving, maybe soon he’d be able to walk on his own. But they didn’t have time to wait.

  Adrian shrugged his jacket back on, then poured the last of his water over his body. This should help with the heat, he hoped.

  Then he started moving toward the alley on the left. The path was clear, but the closer he got, the thicker the smoke became. He took a deep breath, steeling himself before stepping into the haze.

  It was hard to see, even harder to breathe. His throat was burning, his eyes were stinging, but he pushed forward. The only sounds were the wailing alarms, the crackle of fire, and the persistent buzzing in his ears. The heat was becoming unbearable, but he forced himself to push through it.

  As he moved deeper into the alley, a shape on the ground caught his eye.

  A body.

  Getting deeper, he saw a body on the ground. Next to the entrance of the building, lying on his stomach, a brick or something similar lay next to the body, its edge covered in crimson. A pool of crimson around its head.

  Adrian stumbled backward, legs shaking beneath him. His breath caught in his throat as the sight settled in, raw, sudden, real. The buzzing in his ears grew louder, swallowing everything else.

  A lump rose in his throat. He swallowed hard, forcing it down.

  For a long moment, Adrian stood frozen, the silence around the body pressing in.

  His breath shallow, He crouched down, heart hammering, and reached out. No pulse. Clutched in the palm was a crumpled photo. Two kids stared up at him, no older than ten, a boy and a girl.

  He pressed the photo into his pocket, his fingers trembling. There was a lump in his throat that wouldn’t go down, a silent ache that settled deep in his chest.

  For a moment, the world around him faded, the smoke, the heat, the alarms. All muted by the weight of what he’d just found.

  Then, slowly, he straightened his shoulders. He had to keep moving. Alex was waiting.

  With one last, lingering look at the fallen figure, Adrian stepped forward into the smoke, swallowing the pain and the fear.

  The alley had a small opening that led into the park. Adrian moved through it slowly, scanning the path ahead. He was going to lead Alex here. There was no room for surprises.

  The path was clear, free of obstacles. Satisfied, he turned back to get Alex. Passing the body on his way back, Adrian didn’t look at it. He just kept moving.

  Alex was still where Adrian had left him. His face had more color now, and he looked better.

  Adrian crouched beside Alex, brushing soot from his brow.

  Adrian brushed soot from Alex’s brow. “Better?”

  Alex blinked. “Little.”

  “Good enough. Park’s ahead.”

  Alex tried to sit up, winced. “Help me… rest of the way?”

  Adrian gritted his teeth. “Yeah. Come on.”

  They soaked their masks and clothes with the last of Alex’s water, hoping it would help filter the smoke and heat. Carefully, they moved along the path Adrian had chosen.

  When they passed the body, Adrian tried to cover his eyes with his body, but he wasn’t sure if he succeeded.

  Alex didn’t react. He kept his gaze steady, face pale but silent.

  On the way to the underground entrance, there were no obstacles. The sound was the same, and the ringing in his ears got better. There were a few more explosions, but they were far away.

  Adrian uncovered the entrance to the underground. Then they slipped inside. They collapsed onto the cold ground, letting the silence wash over them, a sharp, almost sacred contrast to the chaos outside.

  For the first time in what felt like an eternity, they breathed.