13. Trying to Survive

[ZACK'S POINT OF VIEW]

After going through quite a lot of events during the last three days, when I entered the fourth day, I realized something when I checked the whereabouts of ORION quite often through the window curtains near the front door, I did that solely to see if they were still around my house. Or not, because I'm also curious what ORION is like. However, after researching for a few days, I don't know if they had gone hunting at some other point, so my area was no longer guarded, or maybe I couldn't find them around my house.

I don't know which answer is correct, but what is certain is that I do realize that I haven't seen a single one of them since I stayed here for four days.

On the first and second days, I was more silent and didn't dare just to peek at the front window curtains. However, after I had enough courage on the third and fourth day, I could swear that I never saw any of them, whether it was just standing around the house or walking around where I was now.

I never found them.

I've only seen them twice. That too in a flash when I was looking at Tamara's doppelganger, and also a glimpse when my father rushed me home when I visited the city the other day. Besides, I never really saw them again, especially since being here.

Are they in district one or not, anyway? How could I absorb so much information about the ORION group if I had never seen them in person? And to get the answer, I have to prove it firsthand to see if they really exist to hunt down the kids in district one.

Yesterday, when talking to father, I forgot to tell my parents that I was starting to run out of food. I have also run out of drinking water, a significant energy source. The food they kept for me long ago in this house expired, and I couldn't eat it all.

Even though earlier I wanted to ask them about what I should do, after all, shouldn't I have to look for new food supplies for my trip later? That means I have to find a way to get new foods to bring to this house.

I, who was starting to be brave, devised a plan to leave the house and visit the next-door neighbors' houses to look for other foods. Who knows, I might also meet those hiding in their respective homes. Then another reason why I want to get out of this house is to prove whether those black-robed people are here or not.

I'm scared, but it doesn't matter. I can run or fight if I meet them later. The most important thing is that I have to complete my main goal to find enough food and water first because it's impossible if I have to drink raw water, right?

I'm waiting for the right time to be able to carry out my plan, I've chosen to leave at least after dusk disappears so that my presence will not be noticed because it is covered by the darkness of the night. I still don't know what special abilities the ORION people have, they could have sharp eyesight considering that yesterday my father told me not to stare at them for too long. But I also still can't confirm these abilities before seeing directly or witnessing how ORION will use the abilities they have.

However, I only have one hope. Hopefully, they don't have abilities that will trouble me later.

After waiting for quite a long time, it was finally getting dark. I saw that the sun had set through the window at the back of my house—the area behind my house was directly facing a large patch of grass so the sun could be seen. I started wearing my backpack and took the flashlight I had prepared, not forgetting a revolver I tucked in the back of my shirt just in case.

In slow motion, I started to open the door little by little, peeking around to see if there was anyone other than me. Still, until my door was completely opened, I couldn't find anyone around here. I started walking with eyes busy looking around, and I quickly moved towards my house next door to check the situation.

As soon as I opened the door, it turned out that the house was not locked.

"Hello?" called me in a low voice. I want to find the owner of this house, maybe he is hiding just like I did yesterday.

As far as I remember, the owner of this house has a son who is the same age as me, because I remember that when I was young, I had seen him several times. At first, we were close, but after many rumors circulated about me, this family finally kept their children away from me. I was no longer allowed to play with their children.

My life is unfortunate, isn't it? But that's what happened.

"Hello? Is anyone here?” I called again but did not get an answer.

Both my legs began to step to go deeper into this house. I carefully checked all the rooms on the first floor and tried to stay alert to my surroundings, but I found nothing. There was not a single human that I found in this large enough house, not with the homeowners or their children.

There's still a second floor that I haven't stepped on yet. However, I postponed checking and chose to turn towards the kitchen and carry out my primary plan to be able to find food and drinks in this place so I could take them away. Hopefully, this family keeps a large supply of food, so I don't have to go to another house because I can't lie to myself that there is still a part of me feeling scared right now.

I opened every cupboard in the kitchen, almost squealing with pleasure when I found a lot of food stored there and it was brand new, it looked like they hadn't bought all this food in a while. Finally, I started moving the food one by one into my backpack to bring it to my house later, along with some drinks that were still stored neatly in the refrigerator.

Bang!

Just as I was about to stand up after finishing my business in the kitchen, a sound like something falling was heard from upstairs with a loud bang. I immediately gasped and froze in my current place. Is anyone up there? I haven't checked upstairs, so I don't know what's up there.

Now, should I check what's really up there?

Part of me said 'yes' because it was driven by high curiosity. Still, the other part said 'no' and told me to leave this house immediately because there could be something terrible up there. What if one of ORION's people was up there?

I shook my head quickly, trying to eliminate all the feelings of fear that began to take dominance in me. Usually, I will act stupid when I'm scared. Therefore I have to be able to restrain myself so I don't do stupid things in this place. After feeling calm, I finally started walking again. I stopped when I reached the kitchen door—which forms the boundary between the living room and the kitchen in this house. Ahead, about two meters in front of me was a main staircase that would take me to the second floor.

Earlier, I had thought long enough, so now I've got my feet on the bottom step of the stairs. I took as deep a breath as I could to calm myself down. Just as I was about to step on the next step, I heard the sound of something falling from above again, and this time the sound sounded stronger.

My reflex immediately backed away and held my own chest, my heartbeat felt very strong because I was too shocked by what had just happened. Immediately I decided that I couldn't go up there. If I'm shocked by a sound like that, I'm already shocked half to death. What happens if I find something absurd up there? I might faint because of my fear.

I better leave now before it's too late. Anyway, I already got what I wanted.

In the end, I decided to leave the house. I left there on high alert and looked around to ensure no ORION was standing guard. After being sure, I stepped outside. When I was almost near my house, I accidentally looked at the opposite house, and I was reminded of the screams the other day. For a moment, a feeling inside me urged me to go to the house just to see if anyone was still there. Since I still hadn't found a single person in this area, that scream was all I could hear.

Because I had already left the house, I thought maybe I should check everything, including the home. Because since yesterday I'm still confused about the sound, about what happened to the person in the house so he had to scream. I really want to find out.

Finally, having gathered enough courage, I put my backpack right in front of the door and moved cautiously to the house opposite. With recklessness and high curiosity, I began to be brave—although, if I'm honest, I'm terrified now. But that fear can't stop all the reflex actions that just appear when I'm out of the house.

The opposite house is also not locked like the last house. I wondered why they all disappeared together with the door unlocked. At this time, a thief couldn't show up suddenly, but still... something felt off.

I have no purpose other than to look around and maybe look for the figure that screamed yesterday. I don't know. Let's see what I find here.

I explored every room in this house, unlike the previous home, which was quite spacious, this house is not that big because, as far as I remember, the owner was a woman and an old, middle-aged woman. I remembered my grandmother and the maid in her house for a moment. I scoured every corner for anyone else in this place, but I couldn't find anyone.

I almost gave up, maybe yesterday's screams were just my imagination, or it could also be that what happened yesterday was ORION's doing. But what I'm still asking right now is, where did everyone go? Didn't father just say that this hunt was reserved for us 20-year-olds, and others would only be killed if they interfered? Supposedly, plenty of them is still alive because I'm sure a human would choose to hide rather than fight when any danger approached them.

But the fact is, I couldn't find a single human in urban district one. Even the last time I came here, this place was still bustling, filled with many people who work as sellers or buyers. I still see them all, but now they've disappeared. I'm starting to think I'm the only one in this town.

Srrkk... srrkk...

My sense of hearing sharpened by itself. I listened to the sound of something from inside this house, it seemed I was not alone. I started moving quickly to get out of the house and ran to return to my house. I'm afraid it might just be ORION. I have to hurry before they catch me. I took back the backpack I had put beside the door and rushed into my house in a hurry, locked the door and immediately locked myself in my house.

I couldn't find any answers to the screams I heard the other day, not even to the presence of people in this first district. They disappeared and disappeared into thin air. Even though I didn't go to every house to see if there were still residents there, after seeing the two places just now, for some reason, I immediately became convinced that I was indeed the only one left in this area, not the others.

I returned to spend the fourth day quietly at home, studying the map my father gave me. And that's how my fourth-day survival mission ended.