I had fun writing this chapter and I hope you like it. If you ever find grammar mistakes, please, forgive me. Let me know too, so I'll be able to correct it.

It's a bit too long, sorry for that, teehee.

---

Fahl opened his eyes wide and sat at the same time, panting. It was pitch black and at first he thought he was alone, but then he felt Salos' tiny arms around his chest, which made him get very relieved.
The weird thing is that he couldn't remember when he started to sleep, the only memories that were deep inside his confused head were the screams of his parents dying and the endless amount of tears rolling down his face. The only thing he could hear now was the constant and calm breath of his little brother. He didn't want to end the small moment of pleasure Salos was having, but they needed to leave that place. Fahl felt fortunate that the freezer they were inside wasn't working at all.
He shook his brother a bit and the small dragon was set free from his sleep without much effort.

"Brother...? Is that you...?"

"Yes, Salos... It's me." He replied with a sad smile, even knowing his brother couldn't see his face.

Salos produced a low whimper "It wasn't a nightmare... Right?"

"No, Salos... It wasn't. Our parents are dead..." Fahl hugged his brother very tightly, trying to comfort him. "But the same won't happen with us... I'll protect you no matter what."

"I believe in you, brother... I really believe in you."

"Heh, thanks, Salos. Thanks for counting on me... I love you a lot."

"I love you too."

"It's good to see you aren't crying... I need you to be strong now, Salos. Stronger more than ever." Fahl rubbed his jaw against his brother's head.

Fahl touched the floor around him until he found his backpack. He wore it and got up in a second, making Salos follow his move simultaneously. He started to look around, as if he could see. He would definitely need to use his fire now.

"Salos, pull back a bit."

"Y-yes..." The kid obeyed the order of his brother right away.

Fahl opened wide his right hand, making his palm face the ceiling of the room. He made his best to focus his energy, and soon, a vivid and bright red flame was brought to life, floating a bit above his hand. He could now see the place almost perfectly - brown blackboard boxes making huge piles near every wall; the white floor made of tiles and the metallic door in front of him. Fahl moved his hand, as if preparing to throw a ball and swiftly swung it forward, launching the fireball at the door. He got very surprised at the moment the ball made contact with the door, since it created an explosion with considerable size, and as a consequence, the door flew away and landed a few meters ahead, leaving dust and fine grains of concrete on the floor.

"Wow, this worked better than I planned." Said Fahl with considerable enthusiasm.

"Brother! How did you do that?!"

"I... Don't know. I just did. Anyway, Salos, hold my hand. We gotta move fast and hope all this noise didn't attract any attention..."

Both brothers left the freezer and slowed down their steps when they saw the floor covered in blood and gore; the unrecognizable bodies of their parents and what remained of their faces showed their eyes open wide, frozen in time and expressing fear and pain. The only source of light there was Kilina's flashlight, which was lying close to her lifeless corpse - it was producing a very weak light and it threatened to fail at any minute. The two brothers had their eyes getting full of tears again. Fahl closed his hand very tightly, his sadness slowly turning to anger, and then he felt empty - he would never, ever let someone he loved to die again... Never. He'd never feel that emptiness again, that terrible sensation that devoured his insides and made his blood flow with haste. At the very same moment, Salos started to whimper.

The older brother hugged the newer one and whispered "Calm down, Salos... Everything will be fine... I promise, okay? I need you to be strong. Let's just get what we need and move..."

Salos nodded, making his best to stop crying. Fahl separated himself from the hug and crouched, getting his mother's flashlight, so he could see what else he could get. After unzipping and diving his hands inside the backpacks his parents had and picked up all the ammo and food he could - all the rest had to be left behind, mostly because it was useless for him and Salos. Fahl also tried to make Thanos' flashlight work, but it seemed to be out of power. Surprisingly, the black swiss army knife his father had was still inside his pocket and Fahl felt that object would be useful in the future. At last, he got his father's shotgun - and it was much heavier than he thought - and reloaded it.
The brothers left the kitchen and made their way out of the restaurant and felt rather strange to not be followed by their parents. They were in the central part of the mall again and everything was dark - through the broken glass that covered a good amount of the ceiling, it was possible to see the midnight blue sky, covered by thousands, millions or maybe billions of stars, some shining slightly stronger than the others. Fahl felt something big, indescribable. He have never seen so many stars together before - maybe because the city was now out of power and there was no light pollution - the only thing he knew was that it was one of the most beautiful things he have ever seen.

"What you're looking at?" Said his brother, with still some trace of sadness in his voice.

"Just the sky. It's so beautiful today... Don't you think?"

"Woooow... You're right. The sky was always like that?"

"Yeah, I think we didn't pay attention like we're doing now... Anyway, this hole in the ceiling just gave me an idea. Follow me."

Fahl started to move rather fast and it was a bit difficult for Salos to keep up with him - the kid even had to jog a bit every few seconds.

"Heeey, where are we going?"

"We're in the middle of a place full of these monsters and I just remembered we can't get distracted. But the plan is: we get to the rooftop and then we'll fly out of this place - or at least as far as we can."

"But I can't fly!"

"And that's why I'll carry you."

"What about your backpack? And my weight?"

"Salos, it'll work, just trust me. I'll find a way."

Salos sighed. He seemed very worried about something, like if he knew something bad would happen.

"Why you're making that face?"

"No... It isn't anything important. I just miss our parents..." he looked down for a bit, as if thinking about something else to add. "Let's go, brother."

Fahl started to walk ahead, releasing his brother's hand. Each of their steps produced a crunching noise since they were now walking exactly below where the holes in the ceiling were. There were two pairs of escalators - that were static for obvious reasons - a few meters ahead and as soon as the duo got there, they made their way to the second floor. Fahl looked up as soon as they got there and counted how many floors more they needed to go up. One, two, three, four, five, totalizing 6, including the ground floor.

"Let's move faster, Salos. This place is really giving me the creeps..."

"You're right, brother... It's like we're the only people alive."

"I think we ARE the last guys alive - in this city, at least."

They eventually made their way to the 6th floor barely noticed, but they were almost running now, even though there was no reason to do that. Their eyes could barely see the names of the several shops they passed in front of, and their minds seemed to erase right away what kind of shop it was, filled with panic. It was like they were being watched from somewhere, by something shrouded in darkness with sharp and threatening eyes. And they were actually right.
Fahl's flashlight failed and both him and his brother were now covered by suffocating shadows again. Thus, the black dragon focused his energy on the palm of his left hand and created a fireball, with considerable struggle. The fire had an intense, red color and also had the capability to illuminate better than common fire. Both kids saw a black and red silhouette standing still in a corridor with a dead end, that probably led to restrooms. The creature was considerably tall, reaching the height of approximately 2 meters and a half, and it was hard to tell its color because the fire made it look black and red, but it seemed black. Plus, the monster had a unique, disproportional and strangely reflexive light grey eye in the middle of its face - that did not show any pupil or iris - and a big snout with a huge mouth, but that was lacking nostrils. A few black spikes were protruding from the top of its head and falling over its shoulders, the same way hair would do. It was also hard to tell, but the creature didn't have fur, feathers or scales, but a thick and dark gray hide, with some bone platings covering a few portions of its thin arms and legs.
Fahl almost lost control of his fire when he noticed what the thing he was looking at and Salos contained a shout of despair. Strangely, the mutant did not move a muscle, it just stood as still as a rock, like if the brothers were not there at all.

"Salos, we need to move." He pushed Salos backwards a bit with his elbow, standing in front of him. "On three. One, two... Three!"

As soon as Fahl finished his sentence, the monster produced a weird, grievous shriek and stepped into their direction, then slowly started to walk and then run. The black dragon grabbed one of the scarred hands of his brother and started to run, but not as fast as he could, otherwise Salos would trip on the floor and fall. Somehow, the fireball kept following him, a meter above his head.

"What do we doooo?"

"Hell if I knew, Salos, just keep running! We need to get to the rooftop!"

But that would be a goal hard to achieve. Thanks to Salos, the monster was slowly catching up with them.

"Brother, leave me behind!"

"What?! I won't lose you, shut up!"

"I'm slow... And you won't be able to fly carrying me, leave me behind!"

"I SAID SHUT UP!"

The creature was now just a few meters of distance from them. Fahl stopped running all out of sudden and pushed Salos with all his strength to the side, making him fall on the floor and successfully get out of the monster direction. The black dragon made a 180 degrees spin, pumped his shotgun and shot.

The recoil was much stronger than he thought - in fact, he had to give a step back after shooting -. Unfirtunately. the bullets made a minor damage in the hide of the monster and it slowed slightly, but eventually reached Fahl and gave a strong punch in the kids' side, near his chest, making him land a few meters away, shouting in pain. Salos was a bit far from them, but he definitely heard some ribs of his beloved brother breaking. The fireball that followed his head until now dissolved in the air, as if it never existed.

"FAHL! No!"

The monster approached Fahl very slowly, as a tiger that threats to attack its prey. The black dragon never experienced such pain before, but this definitely was not going to stop him. He got up with a lot of struggle, feeling his chest burn every time he took a breath and quickly gave a second shot at the monster. However, the result was similar as before. Fahl was held by the neck and was then lifted from the floor, with incredibly ease. He felt his neck being crushed slowly and experiencing all that pan, he soon convinced himself that would be the end of everything.

"HEY! YOU BUTTHEAD! WHY YOU DON'T ATTACK ME?!"

Fahl was about to tell his brother to run with his last might, but what happened next was a surprise. The monster looked a bit down, to the side, and Fahl heard a loud bang, then a big amount of dark liquid coming out of the monster's face, Fahl fell on the floor as he was released from the grasp of the creature and slowly got up, with the deafening cry of pain coming from the monster almost blowing his tympanums. He could now understand what happened. His brother used Kilina's pistol and made an accurate shot to the eye of the beast.
When the black dragon was about to ask why his brother didn't run, the child said:

"Brother, we aren't far from the exit... Let's go!"

"Argh... But I can barely... See...It's so dark now..."

Salos held one of Fahl's hands, very firmly.

"I know where we need to go. Let's hurry!"

Fahl was experiencing such a great pain that he didn't mind to ask how Salos knew where the exit was and how he could see that well in the dark. When they were a few meters away from the screaming monster, they noticed their enemy was again in their pursuit, probably orienting itself just using its hearing. The floor shook with each furious step the beast gave.

"Oh my god, brother, we need to go faster!"

"Agh, I know. It just hurts... So much...!"

"I know it does, but you can make it!"

Fahl held his shotgun more firmly and pointed to the black figure that approached them and pressed the trigger, his face becoming illuminated for a brief moment with the shot. The monster did not slow down its pace and seemed to get even more angered than before.

"Through here!" Yelled Salos, making a sharp turn to the left that Fahl wasn't expecting. They ran for a few meters more and stopped walking when everything got pitch black.

"It's here, we just need to get through the door. Open it, brother!"

"It's locked?"

"Yes, use your fire!"

Fahl released the hand of his brother and struggled to make a fireball - the pain hindered him a lot and made everything a thousand times more difficult, but he did manage to create a lemon-sized fireball. Now he could see everything clearly, even the dark blue door, that had a big yellow sign posted on it. "ROOFTOP ACCESS. FOR AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY."

"I'll have to... Show my authorization, then..." Said Fahl, having a hard time not to release the joke.

He pointed both his index and middle finger to the door and the fireball was released with incredible speed, creating an explosion big enough to make both brothers feel its heat and to open a hole on the door, as if a big hammer had hit it.
The duo was again engulfed by darkness and Fahl used all his willpower to create fire again -and eventually made it - bringing light to their surroundings. They could see now through the destructed door a white, concrete stairway leading up. Fahl approached the door and barely touched it, making it fall forward with a loud bang. And obviously, all that noise attracted the attention of the mutant, who was now at the other end of the hall they have just entered, in l
pursuit of them again.

"Now we'll definitely... Need to fly." Said Fahl, following Salos' steps - who had already started running up the stairs.

After climbing two more floors, they met another door, with the very same color of the one they have destroyed seconds ago, the big difference is that it had a steel bar in the middle of it, which could be pressed to open it. Fahl did not even care to see if the door was open or not, he threw his fireball at it, creating another big explosion and making the door land about 4 meters away. They got through the passage that was created and quickly noticed the few residential buildings surrounding the mall. They were all there, very well preserved as they always were, but still, different. Maybe because both brothers knew they were empty now. The horizon had an spectacular mix of blood-red and purple colors due to the rising sun. It was the beginning of a new day. A new day without parents, where death waited in every corner, but that still could show all the beauty and hope the world had.
They heard a loud bang coming from the stairways they just went up and noticed their lives were still in danger. Fahl approached the edge of the mall and looked down, now afraid he would fall like a stone instead of flying. There wasn't time to think about that, this was now the only way out. He had just one shot at this, no pressure.
He left his backpack and his shotgun on the floor and the black wings with red membranes came out from his back, tearing his t shirt and hoodie apart. He flapped his wings a few times, as if testing if they were working, and this movement caused his chest to ache a lot more than he expected. But he had to resist the pain. He kneeled on the floor, looked back and said:

"Salos, hold my neck and ride... Ride my back, quick!"

His brother followed his instructions and Fahl got up, with a lot of effort. He was not really sure if he could fly with Salos on bis back because of the weight, but be had no other choice. The black dragon jumped from the building, opening wide his wings.
He let the cold wind hit his body for a fraction of second and flapped his wings with enormous effort. For his surprise, he succeeded and managed to fly, fact that almost made him smile.

"You did it, brother! You did it!"

"Yes, Salos! I... I did it! Let's just hope everything will go okay now! Agh, god, it hurts..."

The monster that was left behind gave an ear-piercing screech, so loud that both brothers resisted the urge to cover their ears. Then another screech came, longer than the first and a third and final one, shorter than all the others.
Fahl looked back for a bit and showed his tongue for the monster, feeling triumphant. He noticed Salos pointed forward with one of his hands thanks to the corner of his eyes.

"Brother, look out!!"

The black dragon looked forward and barely had time to evade the yellow blur that just passed by him. And it was actually FLYING instead of falling, fast, way faster than he was. Then he noticed two similar figures falling from the skies about 100 meters in front of him and then lunging in his direction at full speed, forcing him to evade the direct strike by flying higher.
That time, he had a better chance to analyze his new enemies - they were a bit smaller than him and had a huge sword-shaped and sharp beak-like structure coming out from their faces. The decayed and putrid feathers that covered their bodies had a screaming yellow color, making them a bit hard to notice when they came from the same direction as the sunlight - which was actually what they were doing a few seconds ago. The winged creatures also had a pair of eagle-like feet with three gruesome and razor-sharp claws that were as big as his fingers.

"Salos, you think you can shoot them?! We need to get rid of these guys!"

"I can try..." The kid replied, getting the pistol that was a bit too big for his hands.

Fahl looked back and saw the beasts going up high, until the clouds covered them. A few seconds later, coming from the front, Fahl saw his enemies diving in their direction again.

"Hold tight, Salos!"

Salos gave a few shoots in their direction, but had no success. Fahl made a sharp turn to the left, expecting to evade the incoming attack, but the mutants revealed a second pair of wings that came close from the base of their tiny tails and changed their direction rater quick. Fahl managed to dodge two of them, but the third hit him on his left wing, tearing a big deal of the membrane between each bone.

"Argh, dammit...!"

"Brother, you alright?!"

"Yes... Just a scratch!"

Now, Fahl had to make an even harder effort to carry on flying, what seemed impossible to keep up for more than three minutes. His eyes met an area in the city were there wasn't any more tall buildings visible, just a few constructions that he did not know what they were. They seemed like a very rudimentary military post, probably where the soldiers that defended the city from minor invasions kept all the time. The three vehicles he could see there were flipped upside and had a small but dense black smoke coming out of them, as if they burned recently. A few corpses that had more bones than flesh exposed were there, frozen in time, some still holding their guns. Behind the battlefield it was possible to see a big and slightly open iron gate that led to a road on the other side of it.

"Goddammit..." He said, frustrated. If the soldiers didn't survive, what chance two kids would have? On the other hand, they survived much longer than the soldiers had and managed to reach the city's border... Maybe they actually had a chance.

"Fahl, look out! They're coming from behind!"

The black dragon looked back and almost got hit in his shoulders - in fact, his flight got a bit destabilized as if something had hit him, but he felt no pain. Still, he wondered how he wasn't hit. He felt Salos' grasp get a bit weaker for a second and when he was about to tell him to hold more firmly, both winged beasts attacked from behind, aiming his both wings.
Fahl dived down for a bit and again had a near miss. The only thing he knew was that he needed to land and fast - a combat up there was far from safe. Suddenly, he felt his body warm and curiously, especially on his back. It almost seemed wet. He landed in front of the open iron gate and asked his brother to get off his back - who attended his request, giving a small moan of pain. When Fahl was about to ask if Salos was okay, he noticed the coat his brother was using had a big hole in one of his shoulders and his clothes in the region near it were stained in red. He was losing a big amount of blood in a small amount of time. A major vein or artery was hit, that was for sure.

"SALOS! How...?"

"They hit me with their claws... It hurts so much, brother... I... Didn't want you to see that... You... Don't need to worry. Everything will be fine..."

"Cut the crap! You should've told me about it! Shit!" He tore off a big part of one of his sleeves with the help of his fangs and tried to wrap it around the wound of his younger brother. It wasn't as efficient as a bandage, but Fahl could only hope this would stop the bleeding.

"Keep pressing it strong, Salos... I know it hurts, but don't let it go... Please. I'm also hurt, but... Ack, you need to get well..."

His last phrase got mixed with the scream of the three creatures that were flying about 40 meters above their heads, in circles. Fahl got his revolver and also the pistol that was in one of the pockets of his brother.

"Salos... Here's the plan... Cross the gate and I'll kill these guys. If... if one of them goes after you, come back here, to my side. Understood?

"Okay..."

By the time he agreed and walked towards the gate, the monsters assumed a triangle conformation in the skies and dove in the black dragon's direction, spinning with their bodies like a drill would do. When they were about 15 meters away, he ran to the side as fast as his chest permitted and gave ten shots, five with each weapon he had in hands. For his surprise, he managed to kill one of his enemies - who fell like a stone on the floor after a loud shriek - and wound the other, who made a hard landing on the asphalt, falling after a few steps.
The creature that remained intact stopped to spin and extended its talons in Fahl's direction. For his lack of luck, the beast managed to hit his face, carving two big and deep cuts a bit under his left eye. He screamed, more in rage than in pain and waved both his arms, forcing the creature to keep distance, landing near its wounded friend. Fahl aimed at the wounded one with his pistol, but it had no bullets left. He shot with the last bullet he had in bis revolver and unfortunately missed it because of the recoil. Fahl put his pistol in his pocket, since it was now useless. When he remembered he still had ammo to reload his revolver, the unscathed monster flapped its wings and jumped on Fahl, talons extended again.
As if it was instinct, the black dragon clapped his hands quickly and opened wide his arms to the sides quickly - what happened next he could barely believe his eyes. A barrier of what seemed to be fire was in front of his body, but that was not the weirdest part - it was solid, as if the fire itself was frozen, but still burning very, very slowly, imperceptible for those who did not look closely enough.
Anyway, this seemed to efficiently stop the attack of his enemy - that made a sharp curve and evaded the barrier, while the other monster analyzed the situation and tried to flank the dragon. But it was useless, the barrier covered him almost his whole body.
Fahl noticed this ability quickly drained the few energy he had and thus, destroyed the barrier. For his surprise again, it did not dissipated into the air, but it became a cone of fire that exploded in tiny little fireballs, which successfully hit the beasts. They screeched, jumped and flapped their wings madly, now on fire. Their movements became slower every second passed and soon fell on the floor, completely silent, the smell of burning flesh impregnating the air.

Fahl looked at the gate and saw Salos there - he did not cross it, as the black dragon expected he wouldn't, but for his surprise, he was not standing and smiling. He was sat down on the ground, back lying on the massive gate, eyes more closed than open.

"SALOS!!" He yelled, jogging quickly at his brother's direction. "Salos, please, open your eyes!"

"I'm... Awake, brother..." His voice sounded pretty weak and hard to hear. He opened his eyes and stared at his brother, with a gentle and sad smile. His eyes seemed almost lifeless and expressed exhaustion.

"I'm thirsty..."

"I'll get you some water, Salos... Just please, don't sleep..."

"I'm sorry brother... But... I can't go with g...o with you anymore..."

Fahl's eyes got full of tears and his voice became full of sorrow. He kneeled down with big effort and landed his hands on his brother's good shoulder.

"You need to promise me you'll be good... Please... I need you... First our parents, than you... Stop saying bullshit... Please!!"

"Do you remember... I said... I had a nightmare... T-two years ago... and that we were... Alone? The place... It was exactly like that..."

"What are you saying?! Dreams are dreams, this is reality... These two things... Are totally different."

"No, brother..." Salos sighed and closed his eyes a bit, what made Fahl fear he would never open them again "You remember when I said... Daddy... Would arrive happy... From work... And he did arrive happy... That day, telling us...he got a raise...?"

"What's your point, Salos... Why you're saying all these things...?"

"I can see the fu...ture, brother. Sometimes I dreamed... About things... That always happened...

"You always said... You just felt good and bad things would happen..."

"Because you... Wouldn't believe me." Salos smiled again, with effort.

Fahl hugged Salos very tightly. His brother was actually right, Fahl wouldn't believe him.

"You're saying... This is a goodbye...?"

"Yes, brother... I'm sorry... If I weren't riding your back, you'd... Have hurt your... Shoulder instead and we'd die."

"But I don't wanna live alone... Please! You can't leave me... PLEASE...! I could do anything... Just please... Promise me you'll get good..."

"I can't prom...ise that, brother... But... We'll meet... Again someday... And it won't be... in Heaven...

"When it'll be?! Where?!"

"I don't know... The only... Thing I know... Is that you're powerful, brother... Don't let that power... Change you... And... Always be the person you are... Now... Because I love you a lot..." Salos closed his eyes and his head fell a bit to the side. "Pl...ease... Prom...-"

Tears bursted violently from the eyes of the black dragon and he hugged his brother as strong as he could. He whimpered several times and stroke the head of his brother, messing his white and thick hair.

"Salos... Please, talk to me... I don't wanna live alone... Please... Please, Salos, answer me... Saaaaaalos... Whyyyy?! Why all of you... Are leaving me...?! I don't wanna live without you... I can't live... Without a family!"

With these last words, Fahl's mind became a complete mess - he could not handle the loss of all his family in the same day, it was too much for him. He thought about committing suicide, but Salos said they would meet again... Maybe fate was actually possible to change? Or was his fate to kill himself there? The only thing he knew is that the more he thought about it, the sadder he felt. His face was also aching and his broken ribs were by far the worst part.
But even feeling all that pain and all that sorrow combined... What he could do now? Leave the city, then what? He was too young to live without parents... He remembered Kilina gave him a photo of his family in a very weird moment. Maybe she could see the future as well?
His hands searched for the photo into the pocket of his hoodie and as soon as he found it, he unfolded the photo. Sadly, folding the photo marked it forever, but the essence of the picture was still there - the whole family, all of them smiling towards the camera. They had no need to face merciless monsters or to make sacrifices in order to see the other live; Everybody was happy.
More tears fell from the black dragon's eyes and he lifted his head, folded the photo and put it into his pocket again. That was his most precious treasure, now. Memories. And he would fight now for these memories, make their sacrifice at least half worth.
Fahl got up, carrying Salos' dead body in one of his shoulders, the same way as soldiers would carry wounded comrades. He stepped to the exit of the city and went through the big gate that was ajar. The sky, commanded by the autumn, finally decided to drop the very first snowflakes that would be responsible to make the first of the many layers of snow in the region Fahl lived and knew so well. In front of him was a long, straight road that seemed endless. From both sides of the road, one or another dead tree was still there, none of them however had leaves and were capable to survive in the terrible soil the dying land out of the city offered. Not even grass seemed to survive there. A few poles that conducted electricity to the city followed the right side of the road.
Fahl wasn't in condition to fly and felt more than tired, the fire he used consumed the few energy he had and now that not even a trace of adrenaline was rushing through each vein and artery his body had, the pain inside his chest was much bigger than before. The slashes across his face also stung and every step took an herculean effort for his wounded body. His vision seemed a bit blurry when using his left eye, but Fahl concluded he was just tired.
He looked up and saw the light of the sun penetrating through a few dark clouds, but he was sure it was just a matter of time before the sun was completely covered by the dark clouds that were bringing snow.

****

He had walked for what seemed more than four hours. The corpse of his brother was starting to smell bad and the muscles in his legs could barely respond to his will to carry on walking. By that time, he noticed he was not being able to see with his left eye, but the fear of becoming blind did not reach his head. It was snowing considerably stronger than before, but it was still to early to call it a snowstorm. The temperature, however, was dramatically reduced. There were more trees in this region he was now, but no lighting poles, since he had passed by the power plant a few miles back. Now, the road had no asphalt, it became a trail in the earth, but clearly delimited, despite the snow.
Fahl suddenly fell on the ground, Salos' body still on his back. He tried to get up, but had no strength for it. He started to drag himself with his arms, despite the pain he felt each time he pulled his body; he kept doing that for about ten minutes, but then, he felt he could barely move. His felt a lot of cold and shook repeatedly, his lower jaw hitting his upper jaw incessantly. His eyes closed for a few seconds and then he opened them again, scared. He couldn't close his eyes! No, he couldn't... But they really wanted to close by themselves... In fact, he also wanted to close them... Maybe this was actually a good idea... Rest... A bit. Just a little bit. Or maybe a bit longer than that... Maybe............................

---

CHAPTER 5
END


Next chapter: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/14042392/
Previous chapter: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/13321897/


SPOILER ALERT






As you probably guessed, this ain't the end of the series. Fahl's still 11 there and the series ends when he reaches 23 more or less.

Anyway, I know how sad this chapter is. Personally, I cried while writing it Ç_Ç unfortunately, living in a world like that means rare good endings.

---