City of Masks (Chapter 3)

It was late afternoon as we walk outside the city. Me and Renei were holding sacks of food. The mental image of the room back in the storehouse was still in my mind. It was a room full of dismembered human bodies. I saw a hanger with several arms and legs displayed. Jars of eyeballs, teeth and fingers were also present.

I almost hurled when I saw a few containers with foetuses in it.

“They’re cannibals” Renei explained. “That storehouse must be where they discovered their love for human flesh.”

“But why did they abandon it?”

“They moved. That means somewhere in this city, there’s a way bigger collection of all that gruesomeness.”

I gulped.

“We better hide soon. The masked people are violent at night.”

I felt uneasy. I’m surprised that Renei was able to face this reality alone.

At the corner of my eye, I saw someone lurking in the alley.

“Renei!”

We both looked. It was the bird-man.

“Run!” we chorused.

The bird-man was able to catch up to us. He grabbed my arm making me drop my sack of food.

“Let her go!” I heard Renei shout.

She whacked him with the heavy stock of food knocking him down. She proceeded to grab my arm and we both fled. I’m surprised that Renei was still able to hold on to her load.

“This way!” Renei lead.

The bird-man lost our trail. We found ourselves in what looked like an old fast food restaurant.

“This place looks familiar” I said.

“Mom and dad used to take us here” Renei replied.

“Really?”

Renei unpacked some of the food.

“We’ll hide in the kitchen” she said. “Night will arrive soon.”

“Um… Renei” I shyly spoke.

“Yeah?”

“Thanks for the save back there.”

“No problem. We’re sisters after all.”

“I can’t believe that you could do all that by yourself.”

Renei paused. She rubbed the sweat off her forehead with her arm.

“Not exactly” she said.

“What do you mean?”

“It was scary when I first found myself alone in the city. That feeling of being in a strange world that I didn’t recognize was overwhelming. To make things worse, I don’t recall anything besides my own name. Pieces of the past do come back to me but it only made things worse. My yearning to return home grew as isolation drove me to survive. I guess I only seem happier now that I have company, someone who’s in the same situation as I do. Someone who might understand me.”

I saw a tear drop from her eye.

“Renei” I calmly spoke. “I guess I’m lucky to meet you on my first day in the city.”

She rubbed the tears off her face. “We probably know each other already.”

“Let’s survive this madness together, okay?”

I lifted my right hand raising my pinky. Renei seemed familiar of it and did the same. We did a pinky swear.

“From this day onward” I said.

“We will stick together” Renei continued.

“No matter what!” we both finished.