Episode One, Part 2:
New Life

The world began again covered in smoke and seething in agony. The pressure in Wynn's skull was what woke him.

Before he could string a thought together, Wynn tried to sit up, attempting to peel his eyes open, but the weight of his injuries held him down. There was a constant ringing in his ears, the taste of blood heavy on his tongue, and a girl sitting across from him, staring...

As he recalled what had happened, panic began to bubble inside of his chest as he looked back at the girl, wondering if she was the one who had saved him.

Where was everyone else? Had she saved his family, too? Was it all over?

Among all the questions raging in his mind, there was one Wynn knew he needed to find the answer to; one question infinitely more important than any of the others.

"Where's my family?" He croaked, fighting to get the words out of his burning throat. "M-my parents? Siblings? Everyone else? ...Where are they all?"

Instead of answering, the girl picked herself up from where she was sitting and moved over towards him, perhaps sensing that Wynn would take it upon himself to find out his answers on his own if she didn't take control. That, or she might have noticed something about Wynn that he wasn't aware of - like perhaps a trail of blood flowing down from his head, or one of his arms was missing...

Wynn looked down, checking either side. He still had both arms.

He turned his attention back to the girl, remembering her from the bus and when the Bunker door opened. Dried blood stained most of her face; everything else visible was either burn, bruises, or dirt, but she didn't seem bothered by any of it, as though it was a routine part of her appearance; something she had grown used to over time.

"I don't know where your family is," she confessed, now kneeling by his side out of wanting to make sure he stayed put. "They could have gotten hurt or they could be hiding somewhere."

She failed to make him feel any calmer, although Wynn wasn't sure it was even a priority of hers.

"I need to find them," he said, trying to peer around the cave and locate the exit. "They're probably wondering where I am-"

"They're probably dead-" she began to say, quickly finding the sense to stop herself before her words came out too blunt. She figured the boy in front of her deserved a little sensitivity. "Look... If like you, they weren't killed in that blood bath out there, then they were probably captured. The safest thing we can do is go back to Basilisk until I figure out everything."

"Basilisk?" He asked, not having the slightest understanding of half of the things she was saying to him. It was as though they were speaking two different languages. "What's Basilisk? And what do you mean they were captured? What happened out there?"

The girl sighed, struggling to make things as simple as possible so he could comprehend. "Basilisk," she confirmed. "It's our clan, our base camp; where we were taking you all before Blood Riders interfered."

"Blood Riders?"

She rolled her eyes, not enjoying his constant questioning. "You've got a lot to learn... Blood Riders are our rival clan. The enemy. They must have figured out what we were doing and had the same idea as me."

Wynn wanted to know what her idea was, and why it involved him, and his family, and invading their Bunker, but there were more pressing matters at stake. "Can you just worry about finding my family? I have a little sister; she's 14 and probably scared to death. I need to make sure she's okay. And my brothers-"

"We can't go anywhere at the moment," she cut him off, not expressing much regret even after she had heard the desperation in his voice.

"Why?" Wynn challenged. "We have to. They might be-"

The girl simply laughed, amused at how naive he was, shaking her head as she interrupted him again. "If we go out there uncovered, they'll kill us. Or worse, capture us."

Worse? Wynn thought to himself. How could being captured be worse than being killed? "Whatever," he said, not even bothering to ask. "I'm going out there whether you help me or not."

Before the girl even had a chance to argue, or tell him why he was an idiot for even trying to go against her, Wynn was pushing himself to his feet, seemingly unaware of the damage done to him until a wave of agony surged through his right leg, destroying his balance and sending him crashing back down to the ground.

"I don't think you're going anywhere for a while," the girl muttered, grabbing hold of him and doing her best to guide him to sit upright, only to earn an ungrateful shove from Wynn. If she wasn't going to help him find his family, then he wasn't going to accept her help at all.

"I can do it," he snapped, glad that she got the message to move away and give him some space.

"You're gonna get yourself killed."

"Look at me!"

The desperation in Wynn's voice captured her attention, but unlike all the other times before, she wasn't sure whether to be annoyed at him.

"Look at what's happened to me."

She glanced down at his leg, well aware of the gaping wound on his upper thigh as she had seen it when she dragged him inside the cave, but it was still uncomfortable to look at. Even more so when she realized he had probably never seen so much blood in his life, whereas she was more than less accustomed to it.

"I'm gonna die if I stay here much longer, right? You probably don't want to tell me that, but it's one of the few things I've figured out on my own. I need to find my family. I'm not ready to die. I'm not ready to die on my own!"

The girl let out a bereaved breath, not making it clear if she was hurt by what Wynn had said or if she was simply frustrated with their situation. She drifted over to the opening of the cave, cautiously looking out at the scene without offering a word to let Wynn know what she was thinking.

As he watched her, his thoughts began to wonder and it wasn't long before he came to the realization that she would have been the one to drag him into the cave after the explosion, and was the most likely answer as to how he was still alive.

He didn't want to have any reason to be grateful to her after being able to pin all of the horrifying experiences so far on her, but he couldn't help but soften a little at the realization that she had saved him and wondered why she had risked her own life to pull him inside.

"There's a radio," she announced, not tearing her eyes away from whatever was unfolding outside. There was something miraculous in her voice; a spark of hope against all odds; a light splitting through unimaginable darkness. Wynn tilted his head at her, waiting to see what it meant.

"If I can get to it, I can call for help. I can tell my people what's happened and they'll clear the area."

It almost seemed as though she was waiting for his agreement to her plan; wanting to know if she had his cooperation before she put her life on the line for him again.

"How many people do you have?" Wynn asked. "More than only the ones from earlier? As I'm guessing the reason I can't see any of them is because they're dead."

She chuckled. "There's over 300 of us at Basilisk. And all of them would come to my defense if I called, just so you know. The people that helped you out of your home aren't all dead. Some of them are, I'm sure, but here's your first life lesson for the ground: don't underestimate a Basilisk."

Wynn didn't know what else to say. "Do you think you can do it?"

She smiled, almost amused as she glanced between him and the radio, analyzing the time it would take her to reach it. "You have no idea who I am... Of course I can," she said as she turned around and crouched down next to him. Before Wynn could ask what she was planning, she had reached forward and grabbed onto his arm, carelessly ripping the material of his shirt until the sleeve was torn off.

Wynn watched on in confusion as she did the same to his other side, having half the mind to reprimand her for ruining his shirt, but he decided to wait until he knew what her intentions were.

She began tying the ends of both sleeves together until she was satisfied with it's hold, and then moved down to his wounded leg, carefully threading it above where the blood was coming from and fastening it into a makeshift tourniquet around him.

He was taken aback at her sudden gentleness, not knowing what to say in response to such a concealed act of kindness.

Noticing his stare on her, the girl mumbled a laugh, a little hesitant at how close she was to him. "What? I wasn't going to use my own clothes; they were just washed yesterday."

"Why did you do that?"

"I don't know... I didn't like your shirt, I guess."

"That's not what I'm talking about-"

"I know," she sighed. "It's so you don't bleed out and die whilst I'm gone," she said, wiping her bloodied hands on her jacket as she stood up, already preparing herself to leave the protection of the cave as she drifted over to its exit.

"You can call me Riverly, by the way," she said, finally offering a name - though, just short of her full name: Sol Riverly. She never let anyone call her that.  

"I-I'm Wynn," he stuttered, not very experienced in introductions. "Wynnlow Bell. I'm 19, and-"

"I don't need your whole life story. Just stay here and try not to bite the dust."

Before he could find the words to express his gratitude or redeem himself from his ill-received attempt at an introduction, Sol had already turned around and was heading out of the cave, possibly to her death, without even so much as a 'thank you' from Wynn for having saved his life. 

One // Part Two
They could kill us or worse, capture us.

11/08/22.