The biggest difficulties we had as we hid in our car in the parking garage were the injuries we had suffered fighting the creatures, the pain and especially the cold. Even wrapped in our sleeping bags and snuggled together, we were still terribly cold. In addition, we were completely exhausted and tired.

Haikuan had also slept only a few hours before he woke up startled. He had a nightmare and told us about it. In this nightmare we had been captured again. But this time not by King Raha, but by a horde of these gray, hairless creatures. And they would have cut off a piece of us every day until only the torso and the head were left of us.

When I asked him how he came up with such a dream, he said that he had heard from others that they did that. I don't know if that's true, I've neither heard nor seen anything like that. And neither has Yibo. So it continues to be just rumors for us.

What concerned us was, where did the other flying creatures suddenly come from and where did they disappear to? We wondered if Bac sent them to us because he knew what had happened? And if so, why didn't Bac come himself? Since we can only speculate in this matter and it doesn't help us one bit, we quickly left the subject. Nevertheless, we asked ourselves again and again whether they helped us only by chance, or on order of king Bac. Whereby I also have to say that they didn't really listen to Bac's orders and rather joined him voluntarily, but always somehow did their own thing. At least that was our last state of knowledge.

Since we were already hours overdue, we assumed that the people from the bunker where we were going next were already worried and surely already assumed the worst. So we tried to contact them with our radios. But obviously we were still too far away. Because we heard nothing but rushing.

We decided to get back on the road by nightfall. We did not have to wait much longer. We just relieved our full bladders in the parking garage, then we were off again. This time Yibo drove the car, I sat in the passenger seat and Haikuan in the back seat where he tried to rest some more.

When we left the parking garage, we hoped that we would reach the other bunker that same night. Another night out in the cold or some abandoned house, we did not want to spend. But again, our progress was much slower than we had hoped. The snow made it difficult for us to move forward. And already at the next town, there was again a lot of junk hidden under the snow cover on the roads and slowed us down so much that we probably would have been even faster on foot. And to make matters worse, we were slowly running out of gas.

Before daybreak, our worst fears about our car came true and we ran out of gas. We had to take our backpacks from then on and keep walking. That was hard just because of the cold. But with our injuries and aching bodies, it was almost impossible. We actually just went to a police station where the work had already stopped a year ago.

Yibo and Haikuan used branches and twigs to cover our tracks in the snow on the way there, and it had also started snowing again, so our worry that the creatures might just follow our tracks lessened a bit. But it did not disappear completely, because we know that they have a very good sense of smell and could smell us.

Why did we seek shelter in a former police station? Well, certainly not because we hoped that we would find more weapons there, which we wouldn't be able to use anyway. But in a police station there are prison cells and they have not only beds, but also solid doors or bars. So we just needed the keys to them, if they haven't been converted to modern electrical technology.

So we went inside the police station, the door was wide open, and first looked around with our flashlights and prepared for anything. There was nothing to see except abandoned offices and here and there a few destroyed things and an empty room where the weapons had been stored before. The only room still locked was the evidence room in the basement of the building. But we didn't want to go in there anyway.

The cells were more important to us. We had to go to the right side in the basement. Since the door to the cells was open, we just went in there and saw that all the cell doors were open. One after the other we went through the cells and realized that we would probably not find any protection in them. As we had feared, the cells had already been converted to state-of-the-art locking technology. And that meant that the doors could only be opened or closed electronically.

But even if we had electricity, the three of us would probably not go into one of the cells and seek shelter and sleep there. Because one of us would have to stay outside to let us out of the cell later. Who would do that? And what if something happened to that one? Then the other two who were in the protection of the cell would not only have a guilty conscience, but would be trapped inside and would not be able to get out.

Unfortunately, we had no time to look for another alternative. It was already bright outside. Although it was snowing heavily, the snowfall would have been only a conditional protection. So we looked around the building again and finally Haikuan suggested that we look around for the key to the armory and then lock ourselves in there. "The door is solid and still has a normal lock that works on both sides." He said. But how were we going to find the key in the chaos that reigned in the office?

As mentioned before, there was some destruction and most of it was in the offices. Probably there was a fight between humans and creatures. At least, that's what I assume from the way it looked there.

Haikuan and I still searched for the key. Meanwhile, Yibo had taken another look around the building. Despite my protest that none of us should go anywhere alone! Fortunately, this time it went well and he came back with another alternative. For he found an entrance down in the basement to a kind of crawl space, if you can call it that. A basement underneath the basement that belongs to a building to a sewage system from the past.

So what did we do? We grabbed all our stuff and went back down to the basement. We ate something there first, made new bandages around our wounds, drank lots of water and took pain pills, and then went down to the crawl space.

The crawl space was very low and none of us could stand upright. Crouched and with our heavy backpacks on our backs, we walked forward piece by piece. More than once rats ran over our feet until we came to a kind of tunnel where there was a dried up old sewer.

No matter if to the right or to the left side, it was impossible to see what was at the end of this tunnel, even with our great flashlights. Or the tunnel? Well, after trying to get oriented, we decided to go to the right. We just assumed that this way would lead out of the city. We couldn't really get our orientation down there.

So we started walking, not knowing where to go or what to expect, seeing every now and then a passage that probably led to another old crawl space of some building, until there was just this tunnel and no more doors. I think we'd been walking for a full hour when Haikuan jokingly said, "I hope there's no rusty barred door at the end that we can't get open."

"Don't joke like that." Yibo reminded him angrily. We had been completely wiped out and the thought of having to go all the way back and look for another exit was just cruel.

Ten minutes later I was really fed up. I stopped and refused to go any further. "I want us to take a break here. We've been walking here for over an hour and haven't seen any people or creatures or signs of either here. Let's stop here and rest." I said, and also immediately dropped my backpack on the old stones below me.

Yibo sighed, but admitted that he couldn't make it either. Just like Haikuan. So we stayed and set up a small camp there. We took out our sleeping bags, built a small fire, and made traps with a few strings and empty cans. That way we would hear if anyone approached us, Haikuan said.

It didn't take long for exhaustion to fully take hold of us. We just fell asleep. And it was a heavy and very deep sleep. I guess if we had been attacked, I wouldn't have known. I guess I would have just been killed in my sleep. But it went well and nothing had changed when we woke up hours later. Only our fire had gone out.

Thanks to the sleep, we were a bit more rested. We lit a new fire, heated up three cans of ravioli, had drinks and stretched a bit before packing up and moving on. Our bodies ached from sore muscles from the exhausting fight against the creatures, but it was getting better and our wounds were clean and itchy, which was a sign that they were already starting to heal.

We also didn't have to go too far to reach the end of the long tunnel. And there was no barred door or lock of any kind either. The tunnel simply led out into the open. In the middle of a hill somewhere in the middle of nowhere. When we came out of the tunnel, we looked around and the city was only distantly visible. How long had the tunnel been?

Back outside, we set about trying to figure out where we were. We found a sign that showed us we had gone in the right direction. Now on foot and through the high snow and still in heavy snowfall, we had to keep going and hope to reach the bunker soon. And I must say, despite all the circumstances, we made better progress than by car.

Already one hour later we were standing in front of the bunker door. We had tried again and again to reach the people in the bunker from the road and at some point it worked. But by then we were only 500 meters away from the bunker.

A soldier, or someone who dressed like one, opened the door for us and said that they all thought we were already dead. Then he took us to the others. Among them was a doctor who immediately took another look at our wounds. He praised Haikuan for his wound care and the stitches on my wound. Nevertheless, the doctor opened the suture, cleaned my wound thoroughly once again and re-sutured it. "In this way, only a barely visible scar remains later." Had the doctor explained to me.

Although Yibo's wounds, his back was really scratched, were not very deep, the doctor had nevertheless opened one of the wounds again, cleaned it properly and sewed it up. He explained to Yibo that this wound was about to get infected and was already swollen red.

And only then did we see the wounds that Haikuan had received in the fight. He had a long cut on one thigh, which the doctor also had to stitch. Then a long cut on his back and another on his upper arm. They were all inflicted wounds from claws. He gave the doctor a lot of work with his wounds. Yibo and I were beyond amazed that he could even walk and help us.

After our wounds were taken care of and we had washed ourselves, because of the wounds we could not take showers as they have to stay dry, we were assigned three cots and were allowed to rest after we told them about our route to the bunker. They then informed the other bunkers and told people we were okay. It seemed that everyone was worried.

Despite the new feeling of safety, before we went to bed we discussed that we would not stay longer than three days. We need to finally get ahead. We want to finally find our parents. Something tells us that the four of them are still alive. And we have to find them! I miss my parents and Yibo misses his. It's time for the family to find each other again.