No regrets

Just taking a short break from the series cuz I thought this was a nice prompt

[WP] "Would you change any of it?" she asked, greying her head against his chest. "Not a single moment," he replied and held her close under the burning sky

Sirens resounded through the streets at an ungodly hour of 4 a.m. nobody was sure what was happening. Some people even thought it was another one of those emergency drills the government set up. Regardless, people flooded out of their homes and onto the streets, awaiting whatever stupid announcement was yet to be made.

An hour had passed since the first siren and at 5 a.m. the sounds stopped and were replaced with the voice of the town’s chief officer.

“I’m sorry for the sudden broadcast, folks. We just got news from the big city that there’s an invasion underway. We ain’t sure what it is but we need each and every one of you to flee the town before it’s too late. Wake up everyone that needs to be woken up and get everything that needs to be taken. We don’t know when the invaders could be coming but best be ready to go”

With those words, the broadcast was cut off and the sirens resounded a few more times before the sounds had completely died off.

The entire town was in panic, everyone rushed back into their homes, getting things packed. Some straight-up rushed off in their cars. After such an announcement, nobody wanted to stay in this town anymore and the only way to avoid the invasion was to head west since the city that gave the information to the town chief was due east from where the town was located.   

What was amusing in all of this was that amidst the chaos, there were people that remained in their peaceful slumber. The few heavy sleepers that had no family nor friends ever came for them. Such people like Miki. When Miki had finally woken up from his slumber, it was high noon. The time he would typically wake up.

Normally, he would wake up, enjoy a few minutes in bed while listening to his neighbor’s booming music but the silence was more of a surprise to him than anything. So instead of having breakfast, he went out of his apartment to check the oddities of that day.

Usually, he would at least one or two people on their floor, heading off to get lunch after a morning of working from home, but today was quite odd as nobody was even around. What was stranger was the fact that there was a bit of a mess along the hall. Probably some that got into a fight was what he thought. It didn’t stop his curiosity though, instead, it prompted him to look through the rooms on his floor. The doors that were all normally locked, some were left open.

It wasn’t enough and that was when Miki decided to get out of the apartment block. What greeted him… was empty streets and silence. The town that had the friendliest of people was now basically a ghost town. He called out as he wandered down the streets.

After an hour, maybe two of wandering the main street, he had hung out in the convenience stop he would frequent to buy soda and coffee from. Even that had been emptied, shelves wiped clean. It was as if he was the only one the town left behind when a panic went on.

He sighed in defeat and cradled his head in his palms. He had to figure out what he would do. Just as he was getting up, a figure emerged from the store’s entrance. It was the girl he saw in the elevator sometimes when he would go home. They never really talked before but at times, they would ride the elevator together.

“H-hey” He was greeted with a shy wave of her hand and a somewhat forced smile on her end.

“Hi. Do you maybe know what happened around town?” He was answered with a shake of her head; after a few moments, she walked further into the store and seated herself beside him

“Have no clue. I woke up with the town emptied. I thought… I was alone” She was in a daze at a closer glance, her eyes seemed as empty as the town and he couldn’t help but lean closer to her to assure her the he was there

“I thought so too. I guess we were just unlucky to be left behind. Miki, by the way,” He extended a hand to her, hoping she wouldn’t mind him being overly familiar.

“Lyra. I’ve seen you in the elevator a couple of times before” Her forced smile from earlier became more natural as she took hold of his hand and gave it a small shake “So what’s our plan for today?”

He shrugged slightly and sighed in defeat “I guess we could stay a few days here and check around town to see if anybody else is still around. I just checked the main streets, I’m sure you did too. We could start from the residential part and we could go house to house.”

“What if we don’t find anyone after checking all the houses?” She glanced up at him, the same empty glassy stare was what greeted him

“Then we’ll leave here and go to the neighboring town to see if we can get some help” He stood up and stretched a bit before offering his hand to her “For now… I still have cooking supplies at home. Maybe you’d like to have food with me then after that, we could start going through the rooms in the apartment?”

She took his hand and hoisted herself to a stand “That works for me. I haven’t eaten yet”

They both dusted themselves off and began walking back to the location of their apartment building. Their meal was a simple one that consisted of the leftover meat he had yet to cook and some tea to go with it. Afterward, they went down to the lobby to which they easily got access to all the keys in the apartment. It was agreed that they would explore together in case they could find someone or something that they could use for food.

The entire day, they spent their time together. To conclude their day, they had cooked up all the leftover meat they could find in the apartment rooms. With the electricity still running. They might have good food that would last them a month if their search would last that long.

“Tomorrow we’ll go to the furthest street and we’ll go house to house from there” Miki had muttered as he pointed the location over the map. Lyra just nodded and settled herself on the bed whilst Miki insisted on sleeping on the floor for her sake.

“You know… this is your bed and it’s big enough to fit the both of us” She was insisting but instead, he shook his head and settled himself into his camping bag

“I’ll be fine… I can sleep anywhere” He flashed her his most assuring smile and with that, he turned the lights off and bid her a good night.

The next day, they went through with their plans. And in a span of two days, they covered the entire east side of the town’s residential area. The number of items and foodstuff they managed to gather, they put all of those in an abandoned car they had found. It was fully functional and gas was the least of their worries when the gasoline station could still supply them with a few liters.

It seemed the town’s situation was not going to change no matter what kind of searching they did. What changed was the fact that they had found each other’s company much more comforting than they originally thought. On their third night together, Miki had finally accepted Lyra’s proposal to sleep in the same bed. And for the following nights, they did so. To the point of sharing the hints of secret attraction they’ve had even before the town had been emptied out.

If they were honest from the start, they both agreed that they were quite grateful to be left in town alone.

On their 6th day alone, they had completely scoured the town but as they were getting things ready to drive to the next town, the sky burned a burning red and in a matter of minutes, foreign vehicles came crashing through the buildings. If they thought being abandoned in a ghost town was bad, watching the downfall of it was far worse.

Strange creatures emerged from the vehicles and proceeded to burn down everything in sight. It was horrendous. Without much a thought, they both ran to the forest. Taking the car would just make them easier targets. They managed until the forests. And from a distance, they just watched their town burn.

With a heavy sigh, she rested her head over his chest, and he, in turn, wrapped his arms around her frame.

“We need to get out of here soon”

“Yeah… They might catch us at any moment”

“Would you change any of it? The plans we did… the scouting and everything?” she asked, greying head against his chest.

"Not a single moment. If I did, I wouldn’t be escaping that town with the only person I care about" he replied, and held her closer under the burning sky.