Anas took his first steps outside the house. A cold breeze struck his face, announcing the beginning of caution and carrying with it the scent of death and danger, sending a shiver down his spine.
But for some reason… it made him smile.
That shiver was an amazing sensation to him.
Strange, but… he liked it?
Anas smiled and began walking away from his home, his coat fluttering behind him like a black shadow, while Naivy followed with steady steps, staring at his back.
She smiled as well. His admission of weakness had affected her… more positively than negatively.
After a few steps, Anas stopped and scanned the area around him, making use of what he had trained himself to do.
Debris and rubble filled the place. There were quick movements in the shadows, as well as the movements of some packs of monsters and a few solitary ones.
Naivy stopped as well, watching what Anas was doing with confusion—or perhaps it was simply an attempt to understand.
After several seconds, Anas had already calculated some probabilities and mapped out zones of danger and safety in his mind.
"Naivy, follow me and stay close no matter what happens."
His voice was low, but enough for her to hear.
"Um… can you tell me the plan? P–please?"
Anas tilted his head, staring at the girl for a moment, but quickly decided to ignore the way she spoke.
He knew how difficult it was…
"We're leaving the settlement."
He raised his head, looking behind them. Naivy followed his gaze.
"There are three routes." (He raised his hand and began counting.) "The first is the sewers, but we have to rule it out. It's dangerous now because of the collapse. It's like a cage—you can't escape or hide from danger there. Direct confrontation is inevitable."
He grabbed her hand and pulled her beneath nearby rubble.
The girl kept up with his movements in a… distinctive way, reacting well to the sudden change in situation.
The two of them remained as if they didn't exist. Naivy even hid herself without needing to look at Anas at all.
After a few moments of silence, many footsteps passed through the place they were in, then gradually faded. Anas raised two fingers and continued.
"The second route is the gate leading to the Brickrise settlement. But it's on the other side of the wall. That's too far from our current location—we might die before reaching it. And nothing guarantees that the gate is open. Most refugees were evacuated, so we're considered dead in their eyes. No one waits for the dead."
Naivy wasn't very affected by hearing that they had been abandoned. Instead, a familiar feeling rose within her, mixed this time with something strange… as if she was happy. If she hadn't been abandoned, she wouldn't have met Anas. She even felt grateful to her family for the first time in her life.
She had gone so far as to see this hellish situation they were in as… a kind of paradise.
But she still wanted to leave this place. The idea of dying, being eaten and ending her story here, did not please her.
"Then how do we escape? What's the third route you told me about?"
Anas fell silent for a moment, then looked toward the wall surrounding the settlement.
"We'll walk on top of the walls."
Naivy stared at him, then at the towering walls encircling the place like a sheep pen. She frowned slightly, faint lines forming between her brows.
"Um… how are we going to climb such high walls? I'm not good at climbing. Maybe I can climb trees a little, but I don't think our arms will hold out to the end."
Her frown deepened, as if recalling an unpleasant memory, then she continued,
"This seems more exhausting than climbing trees or normal buildings."
Naivy spoke honestly—seriously—about climbing the settlement walls, which made Anas smile. But this time it wasn't a gentle smile. The corners of his mouth lifted slightly, his teeth showing as he stared into the distance, then at the tall walls, then at the surrounding ruins.
"Naivy, do you think I'm stupid enough not to realize that these abominations couldn't even enter or breach these walls in any way? To be honest, I just thought of it now. How could something that protected us all this time from everything outside suddenly collapse and be breached so easily? As if… damn it. It seems more complicated than we imagine…"
When Anas fell silent, he realized a strange smile had been distorting his face, though he didn't know why.
'But this is becoming… more interesting. Wait, why am I drifting off again? Wasn't I just thinking of a way to escape?'
He tried to figure out how to stop this habit, only to realize he was about to drift into another thought. Even getting out of distraction was another thought…
Enough nonsense.
He turned his gaze back to the girl, whose eyes were wide as she stared at his face, which kept changing with each passing thought. But he had no time to explain anything—and he didn't want to explain something he wasn't sure of yet.
"There's a path the guards used to take to reach the top of the walls, to monitor what's outside and who enters and leaves the settlement."
He began drawing a large arc inside a bigger rectangle on the ground.
"It's near the main gate. We can climb from there."
Then he added lines and dots at some distance from the drawing representing the wall and its gate.
"These dots are what we need to avoid. These lines are areas that are still intact or ruins we can hide in. Under normal conditions, we'd reach it in about half an hour. But with caution and avoiding danger zones, it will take at least an hour. So we need to move quickly while the sun is still at its peak."
He paused to let the information settle in her mind, then stood and scanned the area. Once he confirmed it was safe for the moment, he dashed forward at a steady pace.
When he noticed that Naivy could keep up, he began to increase his speed. His eyes seemed almost dim, but he had already activated his enhanced vision, changing direction suddenly at intervals. Naivy kept pace with him as if she could read his movements before he made them. They turned and hid at the slightest sign of movement, then resumed running immediately once the danger passed.
Despite their intense focus causing occasional stumbles, they quickly recovered. Their breathing remained slow despite its heaviness, to avoid revealing themselves to the ears of something hungry.
What made their pace relatively effective was their ability to adapt quickly to anything happening around them. Though they nearly had to confront some foolish monsters due to minor mistakes—like stepping where they shouldn't or failing to notice something—the real danger had not yet begun.
It was only a matter of time before exhaustion would catch up to them. The entire plan depended on their ability to maintain this pace. Even their sweat would eventually turn against them.
So they had to hurry…