After minutes waiting for his friend to come out of the house, Havel finally couldn't take it and barge into the house

"Havel!" screamed Jason as he hurriedly put on his jacket as the cold wind entered

"We're going to be late for school!" Havel screamed back

"School is only 1 and a half hours long anyway. There's nothing to learn," Jason pouted and shivers

Havel closed the door. "So why do you want me to wait outside in the cold?!" Being reminded again, he opened the door and closed it with a bang

! "Ey EY EY, stop being noisy they'll hear it!" Jason panic and grabs Havel's hand

"Sorry, ok?" pleaded Jason looking at Havel with puppy eyes

Havel sigh "they said if someone become top 1 in school, we'll have a chance to be free,"

"Are you sure they aren't just eaten by the end of the day?" Jason said as he sat on the ground

There's almost no furniture in the house. It looks abandoned for a very long time. The women chairs are either missing a leg, or if you sit on it, it'll immediately collapse

Havel smiled weakly and sat next to him. "One of the top 1 came back before, so they probably aren't lying. If they are, at least I wanted to try,"

"Your trying will kill you, you know." Havel ignored what he said and look at the book in his hand

"I just want-"

...*clank clank clank*...

heavy footsteps from faraway place began to walk to the house

Jason and Havel glance at each other before hurriedly find a place to find

Jason climbs to the ceiling and hide himself behind the woods supporting the house

Havel opened the door in the ground to a small hole

He jumped inside and cover the hole back up

Jason slowly drop hays and light stuff on top of the door

They have planned this for a long time and rehearse it till Jason hands bleeds from climbing up and Havel's feet got cuts from falling and scratching himself in the hole

The footsteps stop outside the door

......*bang*......

The door falls and came in a thin 7-foot creature with slimy and black skin, red eyes and wide smile

[I suck at digital art, but kinda like this or just leave it to your imagination]

Jason sigh 'thank God it's not a type that used smells, otherwise he would definitely smell our blood'

Jason and Havel aren't blood brothers, but their parents used to be friends, but one night a monster came with sensitive smell and killed both of their parents

Jason and Havel were covered with mud and perfume(smells like something normal in the place), causing them to be undetected

Since then, they survive on their own

everyday they were given ration food In the morning, that's the only time they wouldn't be hunt down

The one who gave them the food are armored people covered from head to toe, with a gun on their back

After they were given food, it's time for 1 and a half hour class, those in class won't be hunt down for 1 and a half hour

As for the one outside, they can be hunt down

One of the reason Jaron hate class is sometimes the monsters wait outside the class behind the trees and wait for the hours to end

and they have to run as fast as they can and hide

The monster looks around, it waves his hand and destroy the boxes in the corner of the house, is waved its hand again and again till most of the stack with things place and possible can hide behind items were destroyed.

It looks up the ceiling and saw nothing but the supports, it looks behind its back but still saw nothing, it looks at the forest outside and walk out the house into the forest

Even then, Jason and Havel stayed silent and didn't come out

After 30 minutes later, a head pop up on the corner of the door, it's the same monster

It scratches their head as if confused

Seemingly saying to itself 'I swear I see some movement here'

It retracts their head back and walks away slowly

footsteps can be heard getting father and father away

3 minutes later, an earth-shattering wail like cream sound and soon after a shout followed

Jason claimed to the small hole in the ceiling and look outside, he did it to every side of the house before dropping down and knocking 3 times on the door

Havel pop his head out and looks at Jason with teary eyes

He stretched out his hand as if asking for a hug

Jason smiles and lift him up before hugging him tight and patting his back

Havel hug Jason tightly with his head on Jason's shoulder

After a while, Havel let go and grab his book up

Havel looks around the house and look back at Jason

"Don't worry, we can build a new home again" Jason lightly smiled at him

"Alr" Havel looks up at the wood support and look back at Jason

Jason sat down and Havel climb on his back, Jason then climb to the support

Havel sat down and start to read the book

Jason goes to the small holes and looks outside, guarding for monsters

As the sun goes down, Havel close the book and look at Jason "I'm done"

Jason turns to look at him "do you want more books?"

Havel nod

"Alr, I'll go get more tomorrow"

Havel walks towards Jason and sat beside him,

he leaned his head on Jason's shoulder and closed his eyes

Jason looks at Havel's sleeping face then look back outside

Jason began to worry about Havel growing up in this environment, He knows It's too late to think about this, since Havel already turns 10 this year

But Jason still thinks it's maybe not too late to get Havel a better life, It might take time to change but still

Jason's look at the barrier separating this place from the outside world

This place is blocked by thick and high cement barrier, it continues underneath the ground

there are more monster near the barrier, so escape is harder

not long after their parents die, many people tried to escape, He watch in the distance while covering Havel's eyes as everyone dies

the next day

Havel woke up, Jason didn't sleep the entire night

Havel climbed back on Jason's back, and Jason climbed back down

It's time for food hand out, Jason and Havel wore their slippers they hid underneath the box of wood and run to the middle

They arrive in abandoned town and walk toward the town square. Many people are already in line

Havel got in the back of the line and waited for his turn

Jason looked around for the bookstore. He entered the bookstore and looked for what Havel might be interested in and is interested in

Books aren't important or anyone cared about the books, so most of the books are still in the bookstore but scattered around the place

Jason goes back to Havel with 5 books in his hand

Havel smiled at him and pinch the end of Jason's clothes

After they were given food, Havel tug Jason

Jason looks back at him and looks at where Havel is looking at

It's the school

Havel looks at Jason with pleading eyes

Jason sighed and looked around with his eyes

the place looks clean, much cleaner, weirdly clean. Jason frowned and looked back at Havel

Havel is still looking at Jason with puppy pleading eyes

Jason sighs "Alr I'll wait for you outside. Go to the front door minutes before the school ends, ok?"

Havel nods, and they walk towards the school, Jason gives Havel his food, and Havel enters the school

Jason didn't look away until Havel dissappear

Jason, with the book in his hand and food, took this opportunity to run back to the house and left the stuff in the ceiling, hiding the smell with a medicine made by him with grass and random stuff he found in the forest

He ran back in front of the school before the food hand out end

He hid in a building he used to hide on while waiting for Havel, He had never been caught here, nor did anyone once find this spot

Aka, he hid inside the walls of a building due to a mistake in construction, a gap as wide from shoulder to shoulder of an adult is created

He found this spot after falling from the ceiling. There's foam as a cover to hide the hole

Jason felt more and more uneasy, 30 minutes, a black car pulled up in front of the school

Jason body tense, He should have not agreed, he thought

He grits his teeth and watches them as a man and a boy walk out of the car

The man has white, healthy, smooth skin, with military white clothes on, a military cap covers his face from Jason's perspective, and the same goes for the boy

The man wore a white glove, and he adjusted the glove before he was escorted to the school

Jason knows the danger of secretly entering the school right now. He doesn't dare go in

If he did, he might be killed on the way, and Havel would lose the only one who would be there for him. That's what scared Jason the most

40 minutes later, Havel stands on the door of the school

Many people slowly came out from hiding to get their kids, family, and friends out of the school

Jason walks out cautiously 3 years ago, monster attacks suddenly when it's time for the student to come out

The moment Havel saw Jason, He ran towards him with a book and a bag of food on his hands

Jason pat Havel head and looks at what he has on his hands

"You didn't eat?" he frowns

Havel touches Jason's forehead and smiles. "I want to eat with you,"

Jason smiled and looked around. The car was still there, He grabbed Havel's hand and walked toward the forest

It's time to move and go home

Havel followed Jason

Jason runs with Havel, avoiding places where stepping on the ground is loud, like a place with many leaves, as the leaves will crunch as they run

Arriving back, Jason climbed back to the ceiling with Havel on his back

They eat their food together

"What did you learn today?"

"Mitosis and Deoxyribonucleic acid," said innocently by Havel

Jason, look at Havel with a confused and 'what' face

Havel laughs

"Did someone visit today?"

! Havel flinch and looks at Jason with dark eyes, but in the blink of an eye, Havel returns to a smiley face

"Mhmm! The top 1, 5 years ago, visits and plans to teach their from now on, and we got a new classmate, a boy named Damien, he's 9 years old, one year younger than I am" He happily shares

Jason hums and sighs a relief and ignores the change. In Havel, It happens a lot of times, and so he isn't shock "I thought you'll be in trouble,"

Havel, with his head, held up high and fist on his chest. He said, "There's no way I'll be in trouble"