Liam had just hit a brick wall. He didn't know how he would get out of this situation, not while carrying the little girl anyway. Her weight was now starting to become unbearable somewhat. It felt like if he carried her any longer his legs would give out.
That was when he heard a groan coming from his left side.
He turned to look only to find a man just standing up. His jacket was ragged, the shirt underneath was smeared in purple blood and his jeans were torn. His body leaned heavily towards the left, probably because his right leg was injured.
He looked like a man who had gone to hell and survived. And that man held up a gun to his chest. The moment he saw the gun everything changed. He looked down at the little girl in his arms and then at the man then the gun. Then he jogged over.
The man, who had been moving toward the cloud of dust where the hobgoblin was, froze when he saw Liam head in his direction.
"What the hell are you doing, kid? Get out of here!" the man said, frustration layered in his voice.
"I can't" Liam shook his head.
"The hell you_"
"She's too heavy. I can't run that well carrying her" Liam interrupted.
"Even more reason to_"
"You don't get it. I'm too weak to carry her and if I try to run with her I'm afraid I'd drop her on the way" Liam sighed. "And you're too injured to buy us time — how do you expect to fight that thing if you can barely move the way you want to."
"And you're just a kid! There's no way I'm letting a 16 year old take that thing on while I do nothing but run" the man argued back.
"I'm turning 18 next month" Liam shot back. "And we don't have time for this"
Without waiting for the man to do anything he pushed the girl into his chest and snatched the gun from him.
Norse stumbled back a step. He hadn't expected that. What he also didn't expect was for his gun to be snatched out of his hands. His gaze lingered on the girl held close to his chest, then at the gun in Liam's hand, then at Liam's sea green eyes.
Without any words he understood. Liam had made a point by taking the gun. He wasn't fit for battle, especially not against that monster.
The dust had long cleared and it revealed the hobgoblin struggling to pull its axe out of the ground. Either the monster wasn't used to its own strength, or the axe was just so heavy that such a blow would sink it too deep in the earth that pulling it out wouldn't be easy.
Whatever the case, they didn't have enough time.
"Officer Norse Virgil" Norse finally said.
"Liam Blaze, Bright Academy student"
"Thank you for your service, Liam" with those words and a hard face, Norse turned around and jogged away…or at least he tried. His right foot was impeding him tremendously.
Liam watched Officer Norse go for a moment before turning back to the monster before him.
"Well that's a shame" he whispered. "I would really like to get away from that monster too"
Liam felt the weight of the gun, feeling a small bit of reassurance. He took several steps forward.
Liam had never really held a gun before, he didn't know a single thing about stances or even accurate aim. What he did know was that the closer you were to the target the less of a chance there was to miss and given how large the hobgoblin's body was, missing certainly wouldn't be easy.
***
Norse didn't feel proud of his actions at the moment.
17 or not. He had just left the kid behind to die.
He could turn back right now if he wanted to. The only thing stopping him was the little girl he held to his chest. He had to make sure that she was safe and as far away from all this as possible. Every step he took away from the hobgoblin, every step away from the apparent chaos around the Zone collapse felt like a needle etched deeper and deeper into his heart.
And as he slipped between buildings trying his level best to avoid the smaller goblins that were around, a solemn feeling took hold of his heart. He was an officer of the law. It was his duty to serve and protect.
Yet all he could do was run and hide like a rat.
It felt dirty and dishonorable. He felt like a cheat and a fraud.
Every step sent a jolt of pain from the crushed foot held by his boot alone to the rest of his battered body. Every jolt of pain a reminder of what he was doing. What he needed to do.
After what felt like a long time he finally managed to reach a square that was relatively peaceful. It was still crowded with people however there was a line of police cars flashing reds and blues as well as ambulances right behind them.
Barricades were set up and men and women in uniform looked above at the smoke rising above the buildings from what must have been two or three streets from the square.
These officers were the first responders. It hadn't been a full ten minutes since the Zone collapsed and all hell broke loose so these responders must have arrived quite recently. Norse doubted they even knew what kind of enemy they were facing at this point.
"Hey!" Norse stepped towards them with a hop in his step. Hope reigniting in his heart.
A pair of officers, male and female, looked towards him in shock before they rushed towards him.
The female took the girl from his arms while the man lent him a shoulder to lean on.
"Jesus, Norse you look like shit. The hell is happening?" the male officer said.
"There's a Zone collapse. Multiple goblins and a possible D-Rank" Norse replied and the officer's face twisted into an ugly expression.
They led him to one of the nearest ambulances. Norse grimaced as he sat down on the open boot of the ambulance.
"I'll get the Hunters" the female disappeared as soon as she left the girl to the paramedics.
Norse could only nod as the paramedics got to work treating him. His gaze became vacant meanwhile the male officer had stepped back towards the line of officers at the barricades.
"Listen up, if you see anything that isn't remotely human shoot to kill!" Norse heard.
Zone collapses in general were disastrous, especially when they happened within the inner bounds of a city. Take this Zone collapse for instance, it was a fairly low level Zone that had collapsed for no more than ten minutes yet look at how much destruction it had caused.
That was why the government poured a lot of resources into Zone detection mechanisms as well as ensured that Hunters cleared all Zones that appeared within cities as fast as possible, which was why a Zone such as this one being left unattended for a while to the point that Zone collapse happened was a mystery in itself.
It shouldn't have happened in the first place, yet for whatever reason that was the situation today.
The Vulcan Guild would surely answer for today…after all, Bright City was their main jurisdiction.