novelraw Chapter 71: We Are Not Alone
Chapter 71: We Are Not Alone
The city didn’t look dead.
It looked... paused. Like a breath caught in the throat of a world still trying to decide whether to scream or carry on pretending like everything was normal.
Traffic lights still blinked on corners, useless and ignored for the most part. Some of the cars she could see on the street, still stopped at the red light, the habit so ingrained in them that they couldn’t possible not stop.
Storefronts stood intact—clothing mannequins frozen mid-step, advertising smiles turned eerie in the early gray light. Somewhere in the distance, an automatic billboard flashed a banking promotion as if interest rates were still anyone’s concern.
For a moment, Sera wondered if people were still going to go there to renew their mortgages or apply for a new credit card. She shook her head, dismissing those types of thoughts. People wanted to maintain their normal life as long as humanly possible.
Look at her, for an entire year, she pretended that she was nothing more than a normal person... that she didn’t have anything living inside of her.
Lachlan parked the Hummer half a block from a supermarket. The road was too narrow to get any closer with all the stuck cars that had been abandoned. Sera climbed out last, her boots crunching soft against the frost-slicked asphalt. The air was colder than it had been yesterday. A thin layer of snow clung to every edge—just enough to warn, not enough to bury.
Winter was almost there, and this one was going to be a bad one.
Zubair checked the rooftops. "Clear."
"Movement to the east," Elias murmured, squinting past the sun-reflecting windows. "Could be shadows. Could be something else."
"Doesn’t matter," Lachlan replied. "We sweep fast, collect food, stay tight. No splitting up."
"You know, we shouldn’t be thinking of just ourselves," grunted Noah, coming up beside Lachlan and putting his hand on the other man’s shoulder. "We represent the Government of Country N right now, we should help those who need it... like the civilians. Maybe this supply trip can include us..."
"Nyet," grunted Alexei, bumping into Noah so hard that the other man had to fight to keep his balance. "We look after ourselves and our people first. After all, if we all die, who is going to help your precious civilians then?"
Zubair didn’t speak at all. He simply adjusted the strap of his rifle and moved forward like a shadow slipping into the cold.
Sera didn’t look at the arguing pair. Her eyes were already on the building two blocks ahead—a six-story glass and steel structure tucked between a dental clinic and a fitness center. The kind of structure that could survive flooding, wind, maybe even the next stage.
Maybe.
Her foot caught on something soft. She looked down.
A mitten. Small. Blue. Just lying there in the snow. No blood. No prints. Just a child’s mitten on the sidewalk like it had been dropped during a regular walk to school.
The creature inside her shifted uncomfortably. It didn’t like children. Too soft. Too scared. Not enough fight in them. Not like soldiers or grown men. Not like prey that clawed back.
She stepped over it and kept moving.
"Store’s got a roll-up gate," Elias said, scanning the grocery entrance. "It’s down. Power’s still active in some places—might be locked electronically."
"I’ll get it," Lachlan said, already circling toward the delivery bay.
Noah leaned against the wall. "So this is what we do now? Raid places like we’re in a video game?"
"We’re not raiding," Zubair said quietly, checking the alleyway. "We’re claiming supplies in the name of the military. Didn’t you just say that we should do that?"
"I didn’t suggest that we steal from people," sneered Noah, adjusting his grip on his rifle. "You are all acting like this is the end of the world when it could be just a temporary pause. We are taking things that is part of this owners livelihood."
"You are really interested in saving the world, aren’t you?" asked Sera, cocking her head to the side. She used to be like that, and she almost wished that a part of her was still like that. But years of torture and experimentation cured that fast. "How about this, we can all assume that Country M is worse off then us. All information has been cut off. The border isn’t far from here. Why don’t we take you there and let you go to Country M to save all those people?"
Noah opened his mouth to answer, but Sera was already turned away, her back to him. She firmly believed that morals were only for those people who could afford them. And right now, not a single one of them could.
The men advanced on the store while she stayed near the back, her eyes darting from rooftop to alley to the skyline beyond. From here, she could see half the city’s downtown sprawl. Rows of condos, office towers, older apartment buildings. Steel bones rising into the sky like forgotten gods. Some would survive. Some wouldn’t.
They needed height. Reinforced concrete. Steel supports. Elevation. Space.
She made a mental list of potential candidates.
"Got it open," Lachlan called out. "Move in."
They filed through the side entrance—an old receiving bay with peeling linoleum and broken signage. Inside, the grocery store smelled like damp cardboard and detergent. The lights still worked, flickering dim and uneven above them. A line of carts stood obediently at the front.
Zubair rolled one forward. "Take what we can. Focus on shelf-stable goods. Don’t overfill—we’re hitting at least two more stops before heading back."
"I want coffee," Noah muttered.
"You want to shut up," Elias replied.
Sera moved to the back of the store and started checking the industrial shelves. Beans. Rice. Oil. A few dusty jars of peanut butter. She passed over the meat section without looking.
No more trying to blend in with humanity. Not in her food choices, anyway. The creature inside her had no patience for preservatives or spices. It wanted fresh. Bloody. Warm.
She tucked a few cans into her pack anyway. Appearance still mattered. The others didn’t know what she really was. Couldn’t know.
"Bread’s moldy," Lachlan reported, rifling through the bakery shelves. "Grab crackers instead."
"I found a cart full of toddler formula and diapers," Elias called from another aisle. "Might come in handy if the community center fills up."
Zubair reappeared, arms already heavy with boxed goods. "Keep it moving. We’ve been here too long."
A crash from the back. Not loud—but distinct. Metal on tile. Sera’s hand dropped to her sidearm.
Alexei’s voice came low and smooth. "We are not alone."