Seven and his siblings walked in a line, with Father leading the way.
It was night, but there was no darkness, for a beautiful full moon illuminated the sky. Because of this, they walked without any lantern or light source.
They moved through the skeletons of dead trees, which once formed a dense forest. Amid these trunks, some small trees were beginning to gain strength, almost reaching the remains of the dead ones.
Seven remembered that, not long ago, this place was very different; it was a frightening place. There was no vegetation, only the twisted branches of dead trees and a faintly greenish mist that hovered close to the ground.
It's getting much prettier.
But now, slowly, larger vegetation was starting to recover, and ground cover plants and small shrubs were taking root, changing the appearance of a place that was once inhospitable.
In an environment that had once been silent, devoid of any life, the sounds of various insects and crickets now composed the ambient noise.
Seven, admiring the tops of the vegetation bathed in moonlight, caught sight of the tops of several buildings through the trees.
I wonder if the forests outside this city are very different…
Having never left the city, he wondered if the world beyond was much different from here.
Even surrounded by so much vegetation, it was still possible to see buildings in the distance. This was because that place was still within the city, as it had once been a large park.
Being nighttime, even though they were close to home, everyone moved cautiously through the young forest.
Father led the way, carrying a rifle with a scope, which he usually used for hunting, and a backpack on his back. Seven, placed at the end of the line, carried a bow.
As they advanced, Father suddenly raised one arm, signaling for them to stop, and began looking around, searching for something.
Peering through the vegetation, his attention soon fixed on a bush a few meters ahead, which, seconds later, began to move, causing everyone to crouch.
From it emerged an animal—a beast the size of a dog. It had a head resembling a boar's, with two exposed tusks, one on each side of its mouth.
Its body was robust, with muscular front legs that resembled those of a canid, unlike the hind legs, which looked like a boar's.
— Sniff Sniff —
Shortly after emerging from the vegetation, it began to sniff something.
It doesn't seem like it's trying to find us…
Confirming this, it lowered its nose to the ground, searching for something, and slowly moved toward the base of a tree, where it stopped and began to dig.
Taking advantage of its distraction, before it finished digging, Father picked upüle a stone from the ground and threw it far away.
As soon as it hit an obstacle, it made a noise that caught the beast's attention, startling it. The creature stopped digging and looked in the direction of the sound for a few seconds.
Frightened, it turned and ran back into the vegetation.
Standing up, Father went to where the animal had been digging and crouched down. With his hands, he dug a bit more until he found truffles—not many, but they were large.
After collecting them, he stored them, and they resumed their movement.
The walk through the vegetation didn't last long after that, as they soon reached a small paved trail, camouflaged by nature.
Following this path, they arrived at a large mansion with a fountain in front of it.
The structure was not intact; large parts of it were destroyed, such as some walls and several sections of the roof.
Even in ruins, it was still possible to perceive the grandeur and majesty of the place's architecture, which conveyed a historical air, distinct from anything else in the city.
But, like the buildings near the city center, vegetation grew over it, though with greater intensity, both outside and inside the structure. With such force, it was gradually merging the building with the young forest around it.
As they approached, it was noticeable that the ambient sound had changed. In addition to the insects, there were the sounds of some frogs, which stopped when they got closer to the fountain, where there was a lot of water.
Moving away from there, they headed toward the mansion's entrance, while the frogs slowly resumed their croaking.
At the entrance, they found two large double doors, closed.
Though they had a wood-like coloration, they were made of some other material that allowed them to remain almost perfect, even after so much time.
Carefully, Father slightly opened one, just enough to see inside.
This was the main entrance to the mansion, leading to the main hall, which was completely destroyed. Still, some traces remained, like pieces of a staircase that led to the second floor and a few corridors.
The walls and floor of the place, though hidden by time, bore some marks that seemed to have been caused by fire, as if something had exploded inside. This became more apparent when looking at the ceiling of that room, with a large hole, and a crater in the floor filled with rainwater.
After ensuring everything was safe, Father slowly opened one of the doors and signaled for everyone to enter.
Staying last, and after everyone had entered, he closed the door.
With everyone inside the mansion, Father resumed leading, heading into the interior through its corridors.
There wasn't much inside them, except for a few statues, most of which depicted only busts, but they were all well-preserved.
Their appearance conveyed an air of importance, wearing uniforms with epaulettes, suggesting they were people who, in the past, had been very significant.
Continuing through the corridors, they reached a point where there was a pile of debris, like parts of furniture and pieces of the structure, making the corridor a bit narrow.
Passing through there, they stopped near a cabinet leaning against the wall. It was damaged, heavily damaged, but surprisingly still standing.
Reaching it, they began to push it aside, revealing a steel door.
It had a color similar to the walls, with faded brown tones that once seemed to be white, and details of black mold—which camouflaged it well in the place. The only thing that drew attention to it was a small numeric keypad in the middle, glowing faintly.
Approaching it, Father began to type the password.
As soon as he finished, the sound of gears working started to come from it, stopping abruptly.
— ka-chunk —
When the door was finally unlocked.
Pushing with force, Father opened it slowly inward, due to its weight and thickness, indicating it was built to withstand large explosions.
As it was opened, it gradually revealed, in the space where some of the locks were, metal rods that fit into it, likely responsible for the last sound produced before it was unlocked.
Once fully opened, some lights in the place turned on in sequence, from the entrance to the interior, revealing another metal door ahead, but it was smaller, thinner, and already open, as well as a staircase leading to the basement.
Father, making space, ensured everyone quickly entered the bunker, with him being the last.
Before closing the passage, he checked the corridors one last time. Finding nothing wrong, he pulled the cabinet back, hid the door, and closed it.
As soon as the bunker was sealed, with the sounds of the gears, some of them became noticeably more relaxed. Isis let out a sigh of relief as she relaxed her shoulders, while Leon, Mia, and Victor ran down the stairs.
Seeing this, Isis called their attention.
"Be careful not to fall!"
"Yes!"
They responded, laughing.
Without delay, as soon as they reached the bottom of the stairs, they threw their backpacks aside and continued running.
"I'm going to tell big sister what happened first!"
Shouted Leon, leading the way, closely followed by Victor and Mia.
Still at the entrance, seeing this, Isis shook her head as she spoke.
"Honestly, what—"
When she noticed a blur passing by her, heading toward the stairs.
"—Seven?!"
Looking at the stairs, she saw him with the rabbit he had hunted in hand, shouting.
"It's going to be me who tells her!"
Isis, realizing this, went after him.
"Wait for me!"
Father, left at the door, watched everything with a slight smile on his face.
"We're home."
Upon reaching the bottom of the stairs, Seven entered one of the rooms in the place.
It was the main room, but it wasn't large nor did it have many things in it—just a table with six chairs, a stove next to a counter, some cabinets, and a large bookshelf, besides four other doors, not counting the entrance.
Passing through one of them, Seven headed to a room where the interior was noisy.
A faint light illuminated the small, plain interior with unpainted walls, showing all the imperfections of the concrete.
Inside, there were only three old metal bunk beds and two small pieces of furniture between them.
On one of these beds, on the lower bunk, a young woman had just sat up, awakened by her energetic younger siblings surrounding her, almost climbing onto the bed.
Standing out from her appearance, considering she was only sixteen, were her long white hair. Additionally, she had dark circles under her eyes, accentuated by her thin face and pale skin, which still carried some vigor.
"Seven and I found a—"
"We trapped big brother in a prank and—"
"We saw a giant lake!!"
Shouting among themselves, Leon, Mia, and Victor competed for their older sister's attention.
As they all spoke at once, she couldn't understand anything, yet she still listened with a gentle smile.
Arriving at the room's door, stopping there, Seven raised one arm and spoke proudly.
"Sister, I finally caught it!"
Looking at Seven, she was surprised to see the white rabbit and tried to say something, but was soon interrupted by Leon.
"I helped him hunt it!"
"I bet you didn't do anything."
Said Victor, soon complemented by Mia.
"You probably just got in the way of big brother…"
Annoyed by the accusations, he tried to defend himself.
"I chased it with Seven!"
"But in the end, wasn't it big brother who hit it with the arrow?"
"And it was him who had to grab it after it ran off, while you just watched."
"I did help! Right, Seven?"
Turning to his brother, he sought some support, but before they could continue debating, Isis arrived at the room.
Passing by Seven, she went to her three siblings, tapping their heads.
"Don't be so noisy near Yuliya!"
…
After a few minutes, with the room calmer and the three sitting on the floor away from the bed, Isis continued.
"You know she's recovering, so keep your voices down!"
Though she was scolding the three, she didn't seem to notice she was speaking loudly too. Everyone there noticed but said nothing.
"I know you're excited! But that doesn't mean you should act like this! You didn't even clean yourselves before entering the room! Let alone getting close to her!"
Isis's concern wasn't exaggerated; for the first time in a long while, Yuliya was showing significant improvements in her health.
"Look at Seven! Even as excited as you are, he didn't enter the room to avoid risking contaminating the place!"
Even if it wasn't related to her illness, they needed to take every precaution to avoid bringing anything to her.
"Understood!?"
"Yes…"
The three responded, heads down.
"Then apologize!"
Turning to their older sister, they spoke in unison.
"Sorry, sister Yuliya."
Accepting the apologies, she nodded.
"No problem."
Her voice was low and slightly hoarse, which would make it hard to understand if not for the effort she put in and the slow pace at which she spoke.
"I understand your excitement, but if you all talk at once, I won't understand anything, so speak one at a time."
As she finished, Father arrived at the room, causing everyone to fall silent.
"Feeling better today?"
"Yes, I only had a bit of discomfort breathing, but no fever or cough."
"That's good, but even if you're better, don't overdo it and don't forget to take all your medications."
Noticing his concern, Yuliya responded with a smile.
"Yes, Father."
"I brought some tea leaves and new medicinal herbs; I'll prepare them for you."
Turning, he started walking to the kitchen but stopped suddenly.
"Isis and Seven, come with me."
"Yes…"
Standing by the door, he waited for his children to pass before closing it, leaving Leon, Mia, and Victor talking to Yuliya, but this time in an organized manner and at a distance from her.
Upon closing the door, Father went to the small counter in the kitchen.
Taking off his backpack, he began emptying it, pulling out various plants and taking the rabbit from Seven's hands, doing all this in silence.
It lasted for some time, leaving Seven and Isis, who had sat down, a bit restless.
Once he finished organizing things, he started chopping the herbs, keeping his back to them.
"Why did you arrive so late? I know the place you went to is far from home, but you should have arrived much earlier, to the point I had to go out to look for you."
"It was my fault, Father. I went after the rabbit and ended up separating from Isis, which took much longer than it should have. Isis waited for me to return, so I ended up delaying her too…"
His hunt for the rabbit, though within a limit, used up all the time they had. But it wasn't the only reason they arrived so late.
Both the prank from his siblings and the trouble he had at some points in the underground passage, where he took a while to decide which path to take, also delayed their arrival home.
They're just consequences of me going after the rabbit…
He could try to use them to justify himself, but it wouldn't be right, as he knew it was better to tell the truth without beating around the bush.
Even if there was a punishment, it was always proportional to the mistake.
"I see."
With that, Father fell silent for a while.
"…Since you started going out into the city, you've never been late, so I see no reason to punish you."
Hearing this, Seven and Isis were relieved.
"But don't be late again. You know the city is dangerous at night, and even the passages aren't good places to stay after dark, not like your home. Sleeping in them should only be a last resort."
"Yes!"
They responded in unison.
"You can go back."
After that, the two stood to leave, but Father interrupted, addressing only one of them.
"Not you, Seven."
Returning to his seat, he waited in silence.
"…"
Leaving, Isis headed to the room where her siblings were, but before closing the door, she looked at Seven one last time.
As soon as the door was closed, Father began to speak.
"Son, as the group's leader, separating from your siblings and running off after a rabbit was an irresponsible decision. If a dangerous animal appeared while your sister was returning to the passage, how do you expect she would defend herself?"
Even though Isis was capable of leading her siblings, she had no defense against animals if she encountered one.
Seven knew this, so he listened to everything in silence.
"Your role isn't just to lead; it's also to protect them. You're the only one with a weapon and trained to handle it."
Father is angry…
He was still facing away, but in his voice, it was clear, as it carried a stern tone, one Seven had heard only a few times in his life.
Seven, regretful, lowered his head.
"Sorry…"
The room fell silent for a few moments, causing Father to look back, seeing him with his head down.
"…I understand why you chased the rabbit, after what it did to your sister, but even if it was a normally safe place during the day, the risk you put the others in by separating and taking so long to return—there's nothing that justifies it."
"…"
With that, letting out a sigh, he changed the subject.
"Since you caught the rabbit, I'll let you choose how you want it prepared."
Surprised, Seven lifted his head.
What?
His surprise came from believing he would be punished for leaving his siblings, but his father chose to let it go.
"So, how do you want it?"
Seven, with a slight smile, began to think.
He didn't have a preferred method; for him, just eating meat was good enough, and if he had to choose a preparation, it would be the quickest.
However, knowing what Leon and Yuliya liked and remembering what his brother went through with the prank, he made a decision.
"Stew."
"…I see. You can go back to the room. When it's ready, I'll call you."
Turning, he began preparing the utensils he would use, but stopped when he noticed Seven was still sitting.
Even though he had been dismissed, he remained seated in the chair.
"What's wrong?"
"…"
Looking at the room's door, Seven checked if it was closed before turning back.
"When I was chasing the rabbit…"
He wanted to tell about the humanoid, but he was afraid—not of being punished, as he knew it wasn't his fault.
But because he remembered that moment when he encountered it.
After escaping, he managed to keep the fear he felt under control, as he didn't want to show anything to his siblings, something that was a bit hard to manage when he fell into their prank.
But even after all that, and being far from there, that terror still lingered.
Noticing Seven's hand trembling as he looked down, Father understood something had happened.
"Son… what happened when you were after it?"
"…I came across a humanoid…"
"…"
Seven couldn't see his father's expression, but by the delay in responding, he realized he was surprised.
Hearing him approach, he felt one of his hands placed on his shoulder, causing him to lift his head.
He was close to him, with a more serious look than usual.
"Tell me exactly what happened."