His word took a second to sink in.
"Run."
The first time, it was almost like I'd heard it wrong, or like it was just one more word thrown into the middle of the chaos.
But it kept echoing, repeating, slipping through the cracks of my exhausted mind.
Run.
Such a short, simple word, and yet here it felt like a divine sentence.
It wasn't just advice or a request.
It was an order.
For a moment, I couldn't move.
I just stood there, frozen, hands locked around the notebook, like someone had hit pause on my body while reality kept flowing.
The Counselor was still standing, bluish sword in hand, his old, lined face and dark eyes fixed on me.
He looked… smaller than before.
But at the same time, more immense than any creature I'd seen out there.
Run.
I wanted to say no.
I wanted to say I could stay, that I could fight, that I wasn't just dead weight, but… the truth was I didn't even know how to hold a weapon properly.
Before I could react, Mei was already by my side.
She appeared like a lightning bolt, breathing too fast, her chest rising and falling under the torn vest, but her eyes were steady… steadier than they'd ever been since I met her.
There was no distant coldness anymore.
No tiredness mixed with the grief of saying goodbye. Her gaze held something different now.
Determination mixed with fear.
But the fear wasn't for her.
She put a hand on my shoulder and said, hoarse:
"Let's go…
Now."
Her voice sounded like it was hanging by threads, and there was no room for argument in it.
"But wh—"
I tried to start, my eyes flicking back toward the Counselor.
"Now, Noah," she repeated, cutting my sentence in half like a blade. "If you stand here doing nothing, everyone in this room dies for nothing."
Her hand shoved me forward, firmly steering me toward the secret door.
I stumbled, almost tripping, my mind trying to run faster than my legs.
The notebook felt like it weighed ten kilos.
Even so, I pressed it against my chest so hard my fingers began to ache.
I should say something.
I should ask what's going to happen to him.
I should understand what's going on.
I should… do anything…
I opened my mouth — nothing came out.
My throat felt full of sand. My thoughts were racing, but the words were too scared to leave.
Since I couldn't talk, I did the only thing left:
I obeyed.
I let her push guide me, while the sounds outside grew louder.
It wasn't just the noise of fighting or metal against metal anymore.
It was bones breaking.
You could hear the dry snap, the hollow crack, like thick branches snapping in half.
Metal twisting.
The scrape of structures giving way, iron bending, like something was trying to rip the city apart.
People screaming… screams cut in half, as if someone had stolen the air from their throats.
There was another sound I would recognize anywhere:
The sound of flesh being torn off and chewed.
A wet rip, followed by the thud of something heavy hitting the floor.
I could almost smell it just from the sound.
My stomach clenched.
I shouldn't just be walking away.
I shouldn't…
My chest tightened.
But if I stay, what do I do? Pick up a sword, pretend I know how to use it, and die in five seconds?
Raul was standing there, looking at the Counselor and at the group getting ready to fight.
He didn't look like the same mocking man who'd called me "church dog" every chance he got.
His face had hardened in a different way; it almost looked locked in place.
His fingers gripped his weapon so tightly his knuckles were white.
His eyes didn't blink.
For a second, I thought he would stay.
That he'd be part of that last human wall.
That he'd throw himself between the Counselor and whatever was coming, like that could pay for all the shit he'd said up to now.
Part of me…
Part of me respected him for a couple of seconds just for that.
But when Mei called, he ground his teeth, yanked the weapon up angrily, and turned without looking at anyone.
It was a small movement, but definitive.
You could almost hear the decision cracking something inside him.
"Move it, for fuck's sake!" he shouted, calling whoever was left. "If you've still got legs, use them!"
His voice was loaded with hate, but I knew the target wasn't just me, or Mei, or the Counselor.
It was the whole world.
Only one answered.
Josh.
The thin old man appeared, limping but determined, holding a crossbow in one hand and a tactical backpack in the other.
The hem of his pants was torn, his knee stained with dried blood, his breathing uneven — but he still wore that half-smile, only this time there was nothing happy in it.
"You really thought you were leaving without me?" he said, with a tired grin.
Raul snorted and growled, but there was a strange respect in his voice.
"Stubborn old man…"
"Someone's gotta stop you from doing anything stupid," Josh added, swinging the backpack onto his shoulder with more force. "And besides the captain, I don't trust any of you with that."
He shot me a quick look.
"And you, kid, hold on tight to that book. If you lose it, I'll crawl back from hell just to haunt you."
I almost said something — "I'll try," or "You don't even know my name properly," or any other stupid thing just to keep my panic from swallowing me whole — but my voice wouldn't come out.
And then… the strong woman, Sofia, didn't move.
She was still there, a little further back, looking at the Counselor.
Her hand gripped the axe tightly, arm muscles tense under skin stained with blood and soot, but her face was… calm.
Unfairly calm.
Mei frowned and called her name, tone warning:
"Sofia…"
Sofia didn't react. Not right away.
Raul snapped and yelled:
"Sofia! Move your ass! Have you lost it?!"
She didn't even turn her head.
She spun the axe once in her hand, like she was testing the weight.
The metal sliced the air with a low sound — almost elegant and completely out of place in that hell.
Then she took a few steps toward the Counselor and the rest of the soldiers.
Each step felt final.
I could almost hear her decision with every footfall.
She smiled.
It was a small, serene smile.
Almost… relieved.
The kind of smile I hadn't seen since…
Well… I don't remember since when, but I knew that type. A smile that didn't belong near blood, monstrous creatures, or that twisted world.
A smile that said:
This is it. I end here.
Raul took half a step toward her.
"Sofia, don't do this, fuck!" His voice cracked halfway through, and when he moved to run after her, Mei grabbed his arm.
"Let her," she said firmly.
He turned on the captain like she'd just stabbed him in the back.
"Are you crazy? She's gonna get eaten alive!" he spat, eyes wet and not even noticing.
Mei answered, tired:
"She chose… And you know I don't waste anyone's choice. Not hers, not yours. Move."
He shook, trembling for a moment, wanting to argue, to swear… to break something.
But he obeyed.
Not because he agreed, I think — but because deep down, he had to know this was exactly what she would have wanted.
The Counselor watched Sofia join the group and gave her a slight nod.
It was a tiny movement, almost discreet, but full of… recognition.
She nodded back, and she didn't look like someone heading toward death.
She looked like someone heading home.
She took her place beside him.
I knew.
Right then, I knew I wouldn't see either of them again.
That certainty didn't come like a suspicion. It hit like something I'd already lived through… or dreamed… or read somewhere.
They're not getting out of here.
My chest tightened so hard it hurt.
For a moment, I wanted to scream.
I wanted to turn to the Counselor and say:
"You said I could choose. Then I choose to stay."
"I choose to die with you."
But my legs kept moving toward the secret door. My fingers kept squeezing the notebook, and the only thing I could think was:
I can't. Not now.
I didn't know what I was in this story.
I didn't know if I was the protagonist, a background extra, a script error, or something else entirely.
But for reasons I'd never asked for, people were betting everything on me.
And as much as it hurt to admit it…
I ran.
Or at least, I started to run — pushed forward by the hands of those who'd decided to die in the place I was leaving behind.