Chara and Flowey had been walking for over a month.
There was nothing on the road.
No flowers, no grass, not even a single tree with leaves.
Both sides of the road were full of freaking dead branches and withered trees.
The ground was made of cracked mud blocks that crumbled directly into powder when stepped on.
When the wind blew, it blew right into her face, making her choke.
Cough, cough.
Flowey huddled on her shoulder, his petals closed tight to minimize his exposure to the wind.
He hadn’t spoken for a long time.
Occasionally, he would ask how much further it was, or if there was any water.
Water was getting harder and harder to find.
Sometimes they would come across a small puddle, but the surface was covered in grayish-white scum.
She would use the tip of her knife to part the scum, cup the water, and take a sip.
It tasted freaking awful!!
After walking for so long, she didn’t even know what she was looking for herself.
That afternoon, she climbed a small slope and stopped.
In the distance was the silhouette of a city, but the top halves of those pillars were gone, tilted or cracked.
She stood on top of the slope and looked for a while before walking down.
Only when she got closer did she realize it had been sliced by something.
Some buildings were sliced diagonally, the top halves sliding down and leaning against the adjacent buildings.
The angles were crooked, looking like they could collapse at any moment.
The streets were covered in debris: concrete blocks, steel rebars, broken glass, and bricks.
It was piled all over the streets.
In some places, the piles were even taller than her, forcing her to go around.
The roads were full of potholes, and rusty pipes were exposed in the cracked crevices.
Water dripped from the broken ends of the pipes.
Almost every house had holes inside and out.
Big holes, small holes, round, square, or irregular.
Some holes started from the windows and expanded into massive gashes, revealing the overturned furniture and peeling wallpaper inside.
Some even started from the base of the walls, causing the entire wall to collapse and fully exposing the rooms inside to the outside.
Flowey lifted his head from her shoulder and looked around.
“A week ago.”
“Judging from the extent of the damage, this probably happened about a week ago.
The cross-sections of the concrete haven’t been weathered yet, and the rust on the rebars isn’t deep either.
A week ago, or even more recent?”
…
Occasionally, there was blood on the road.
Small puddles had turned dark brown, embedded in the crevices between the concrete debris.
She squatted down to look at one spot.
The shape of the bloodstain was quite irregular.
It looked like it had dripped from a high place, or maybe it was left behind when someone was dragged away???
The city was huge, but completely empty and dilapidated.
All the people were gone, and even the birds in the sky were nowhere to be seen?
● Broken roads and tall buildings, vanished people and creatures.
You have no idea what could have done this to this place a week ago?? Get faster updates on g.com.
…
Chara casually walked into a supermarket.
She turned sideways to squeeze through the entrance and stood at the door to let her eyes adjust to the light.
Most of the shelves had collapsed, and the merchandise was scattered all over the floor.
She kicked a bag of potato chips near her foot.
The packaging was already torn, and the contents were spilled out, feeling sticky when stepped on.
Walking further in…
she saw a puddle of black liquid on the ground.
She couldn’t tell what it was.
It was dark in color and had a pungent smell.
It smelled just like the bug she killed over a month ago.
The shelves against the wall were still standing, with a few items scattered on them: canned food, ration bars, and mineral water.
She took a few cans and stuffed them into her coat.
Then she took two packs of ration bars, tore open one, broke off a piece, and stuffed it into her mouth.
Dry, hard, tasteless, but edible.
She also took the water and stuffed it into her coat pocket.
After rummaging for a while, hey!
She found a piece of chocolate?
She quickly unwrapped it, broke off a small piece, and handed it to Flowey.
Flowey used a vine to snatch it away and tucked it into his petals.
“Thanks.”
…
The next building looked like an office building?
The floor was covered with fallen ceiling tiles and broken glass.
The reception desk was overturned, and there was a massive hole in the wall behind it, allowing a clear view through to the back of the building.
She walked in and went up the stairs.
The second floor was also missing a huge chunk, exposing the steel rebars crisscrossing there.
She went around it and entered an office.
It was overturned.
Drawers were on the floor, and documents were scattered everywhere.
There were a few scratch marks on the wall.
She reached out and touched the edges of the scratches.
It felt like some creature had exploded?
There were deeper scratch marks on the wall, parallel and intersecting, crisscrossing and covering the entire wall.
In the corner of the wall, there was a dark stain, its shape roughly similar to the bloodstains she had seen on the road earlier.
…
She walked through many buildings, each one pretty much the same.
The walls were full of holes and scratch marks, things were overturned on the floor, furniture was broken, glass was shattered, and occasionally there was some blood.
But there was much more blood inside the buildings.
There were splatters on the walls, drag marks on the floor, and drops on the stairs.
Oh my god…
So many buildings, so many rooms, and there wasn’t a single living person??
…
When it got dark, she found a relatively intact room on the second floor of a building and sat down.
She swept the area with her hand, clearing a clean spot, and sat down.
She took a can out of her pocket, pulled the tab.
It was beans soaked in sauce.
Flowey slid down from her shoulder, his vines wrapping around her arm, his flower head resting on her knee with his eyes closed.
“Are you tired?” Chara asked.
“A little.”
“Me too.”
She finished the last few beans, threw away the empty can, and took out the pack of chocolate from her pocket again.
She unwrapped it, broke off a small piece, and put it in her mouth.
The sweet taste melted in her mouth.
She chewed the chocolate, looking at the massive hole in the wall.
The sky outside was completely dark.
“What do you think happened here?”
Flowey was silent for a moment.
“I don’t know, but I have a bad feeling.
It feels like we’re the only ones left in the whole world.”
She put the chocolate away, placed her knife within reach, and leaned against the wall, closing her eyes.
…
The next morning.
She passed through deeper blocks, passing more dilapidated buildings and even more cars.
Overturned, sliced open, burned into hollow shells…
none of them were in good condition.
She stopped in front of a building.
This one had exploded from the inside.
The second-floor walls bulged outward and cracked into several pieces.
Charred black marks were visible inside.
When she walked in, the floor was covered in thick ash.
The moment she stepped on it, it choked her, making her cough twice.
There was a door at the end.
She pushed hard, but the door didn’t open.
She turned sideways and squeezed through the gap between the door and the wall.
Inside was a very dark room.
Light seeped in through the gap she squeezed through.
After her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she saw something.
Papers were scattered on the floor.
Some were burned, their edges curled up, crumbling to the touch.
She squatted down and picked up a piece of paper that wasn’t completely burned.
It had some writing on it, but more than half of it was torn off, leaving only a few words.
Because she was uneducated, she couldn’t recognize all the characters.
Even putting those words together, she couldn’t piece together the general meaning.
Pissed off, she just threw it away.
Then she turned around and squeezed back out through the gap in a huff.
When she walked out, the sunlight shone directly on her face, making her squint.
She raised her hand to block the light and looked into the distance.
There were still many areas she hadn’t walked through.
There was something she didn’t know, but she had to go over and take a look.
● You don’t know what unknown things lie ahead, but you are filled with DETERMINATION.