The blinding white light was quickly gone, and just as quickly Voro`s body crushed into the ground with a quite painful tud. Transition from an old dump stone castle, filled with rotten wood and moss, straight into concrete dust and city smoke was a hard drop.
And the dust from the broken apartment complex rushed into his face, coughing it up was the only thing he could do with it.
Around him was an almost clear circle of a concrete floor with the black Tower in the middle and Voro next to it on the ground. Not exactly at the Tower, but still near it. And behind him - rubble.
Trash, garbage, broken bits and pieces of random households and concrete. A lot of concrete. A white science tent was on one of the sides, didn`t really look used at the moment, but outside were different "sci-fi" items.
"HEY I HEARD SOMETHING" A voice from a few meters away shouted out loud, making it clear even over a hum of generators and workers chatter.
'Shit' he didn`t think, he just reacted in a second, ran into the trash site and covered behind the biggest piece there. Of course, curios as he was, he peeked through a broken washing machine - 2 police officers were getting through the rubble and surveying the area.
"IF YOU CAN HERE ME, SHOUT SOMETHING" Both of them started to call out to him presumably, but of course Voro did not want this.
Since reasonably speaking - something destroyed a building and caused an earthquake. Sure, why not. And then he entered the Tower, which of course no one would believe and appeared, whatever time later in the secured site with a backpack full of knives and a few scars on him. That screams jail for him. Maybe with a good enough excuse...
'No, even with one, if there is security here, I`m not getting away easily' Voro calculated now in a bit of peace. He can`t be caught today. Maybe if they find him tomorrow...not now.
'Let`s see....' He ignored the police pair and looked around the other side - mostly rubble, but with paths of clear passage ways and the street he knew, with his butchery of course. 'Tsk taped' but that place was off limits, set by a clear yellow tape.
Bus stop was...gone sure.
Police were all around the place so not great either.
Steel observation tower, bright lamps...and government Men In Black.
Not good.
'Hmmmmm that .... is really a dumb idea'
Strangely, his body was shaking. Not cold-shaking, not dancing-shaky just....shaky. And it was ready to go.
Pinpointed the best elements to jump on to. check
Waited for the workers to move a giant rubble basket. check
Police officers were gone. check
Run.
Long steps and jumps quickly got him on the other side of the passage, and further.
Up. One side of the building was not fully destroyed and left a wall with a fragment of the roof sort-of intact. That`s the goal.
Fast jumps and climbs got him almost there.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING??"
Some guy pointed straight at him from the ground level
Tweeeeet--Tweeeeeeeet!!!!! "KID GET DOWN FROM THERE"
Police pair went back to him, now trying to climb to where he was.
But Voro was faster. much faster.
1st floor, 2nd floor and probably even up to the 5th one at this point.
Hard to tell since the stairs or numbers were gone, but still - high up.
And the ceiling.
Voro jumped off a piece of the wall and got to the top, which was now a piece maybe covering a bathroom. Not a lot.
Looking down, one of the men gave up on him, the other slowly getting higher. But the problem was others - a group of lightly armored security guards made it`s way to him too.
Some started to run on the clean street next to the site, others got their rifles aiming at him
There was little time. And a big gap in front of him.
From the tiny platform to the next roof.
Inhale
Two fast steps forward and jump. Just jump. No hesitation.
But just before he left the ground and used all the muscles he could to create the velocity forward.
[Skill : Dash lvl 1 has been activated]
A bolt of electricity ran through his thighs knees and toes, creating something akin to pain, but also not painful at all.
And when the movement ended and left him in the air, he was flying forward.
Over the edge and past it.
His feet not ready to hit the floor and arms prepared to climb the edge, caused him to fall over comedic and land on his face. And then roll and roll and roll on the roof.
"Ow ow ow" Voro exclaimed with each roll, but when he stopped and his head stopped spinning "What. Was. That"
And got up instantly. still there was no time to check what did he do.
Weeeee Woooo Weee Wooooo
Below him, the security team was almost at the base of the building and they started up the siren. He had to keep going forward.
Next roof and the same gap.
But now much more room - So he made a nice sprint forward and
[Skill : Dash lvl 1 has been activated]
He flew forward again. Now, a bit more prepared , landed with only 2 rolls.
And then again the next building.
[Skill : Dash lvl 1 has been activated]
Perfect land on both feet ...
and 1 roll.
At this point his feet started to feel the burn and kind of hurt, but the adrenaline in him was so high, it wasn`t an issue.
The guards were a bit behind at this point, and this place was already out of the crash zone.
So, there were no lights, yellow tape or police in here.
And of course, a small area behind the complex, filled with green and a small children playground.
'This works'
Voro found a ladder on the back and went down.
Hearing the guards searching for him still, he hurried and jumped of, landing on the sandbox.
That was a pain again, but adrenaline kept him going
Stfuu getting the sand out of his face and shake off it out of his clothes was the more annoying part.
Voro got to a door, that seemed like it went to the other street out and pushed it open slowly. And ... normal behavior now.
He blended it with a small crowd on the sidewalk and went to take the bus.
A police car took the corner, just as he went into the first bus that came to the stop....and he`s gone. Nothing suspicious here, the people on the inside did not notice anything out of the ordinary. Just another guy, maybe a biker based on the leather. But...normal.
Few stops later he got off and went to the bus line that actually got him home.
But on the way, he checked his phone and had to find out as much as possible.
First of all - the date. It was March 11th, 2 days after the Emergence.
Second - Presumed Deceased. Many articles made it seem like a huge thing, and well, it was. Since he was on it apparently. As soon as he found this out, he made a call to the authorities.
"Yes hello? Im calling about the.....presumed deceased and ...umm.... I`m on the list" Voro started with a gentle and a bit shaking voice.
"Oh, I see. Well, I`m happy to hear that, but I must warn you sir, that due to a number of prank calls and un-sure intel about the survivors, we cannot remove a person from the list without identification in person" Female operator on the other side started off really joyful, but after a short break went into a bit of a disappointment.
"I see, that is .....reasonable. How can I do that?"
"Just head over to the place of the Emergence that is the closest to your residence or place of work and clear it with them sir. It should not take long, just a formality. If you know other survivors that are mistakenly on there ,please bring them with you"
"Will do ma`m. Thank you for your help"
"Good bye sir" ends call
'They`re fast' Voro immidietly went back to his inner thoughts of dark and emotionless tone.
The government put way too much effort into this..
Which led to one conclusion
They know.