There was no tomorrow

The billies have already arrived.

Abandoning our plan, we grab our weapons and get out of our hiding spots as quick as we can.

There is no time to put on armour, or  yield extra weapons. Time to fight.

Remember when i said that we need a minimum of 5 people to kill a billie?

There are only four of us left

We hear the billies before we can see them.

THUD THUD 

The first one is approaching

THUD THUD THUD THUD THUD

And it's here

Sword in my hand, 

i charge and try to climb a billie. Using their fur as footings, i reach its back

I aim for their stupid, pluffy eyes, their only weak spot. 

The billie tries to throw me, but its already done.    

I stab it's eyes, taking in a long look. These eyes have caused the destruction of our land, our culture, our livelihood. 

  I take no remorse in watching it twitch helplessly on the ground.

but obviously, this stupid little billie was the first of a whole army.

And this new set of billies are definitely well equipped. Armed with swords, daggers and armour made of tin, they look ready to fight. 

And it reminds me again that i have no armour on, and we don't stand a chance against them without proper weapons. 

"FALL BACK" manie yells, and i realise shes at my shoulder.   Seb and raymond are already reeling, shields up

With Raymond to cover for us, Seb, Manie and I run towards our former bunker, and grab all the things we can find. Hastily, i pull on my thick leather armour vest and combat pants, hands shaking. As I search around for other gear, i notice the black rubber soled shoes used for my first ever mission. These shoes remind me of Kevin, and kevin reminds me of cressida, and cressida reminds me of all our fallen people, wiped out due to the billies. The sound of a flare gun, a sharp crack in the air,  brings me back to reality. It's a signal for help, issued by Raymond. He needs our help. Not wanting to lose another person, i wear the nostalgic shoes and run outside.

And I arrived in the brink of time. Raymond alone fights an army of billies desperately trying to keep them off his skin, and from biting of his flesh.  He's scarred and bleeding  badly. I quickly run to cover him, shielding him from the agonizing hits from the billies, wondering how he spent all this time without any gear, as even with full armour on, fighting off billies is still as traumatizing as ever.

Seb and Manie take a bit more time to arrive, but come fully equipped. Together we kill most of the billies, but reinforcements keep on coming and coming, out numbering us and making us too tired to even breathe. I see billies crowding  everywhere, ready to kill us

This is probably just a stunt to easily defeat us.  

    And it will take seconds to kill us

Then i remember...

Seb designed a tiny bomb made of billi dust, and the billi dust is contained in the armour shell, the trigger capsule and charge block. 

   Billi dust is made from the fur of real billies and can easily kill billies, but is as rare as a buried star This means that using this bomb is a one time pleasure and, i have to be very sure that the situation is at it's worst to use it, and i'm pretty sure it is.    

I let the bomb fall  and a pink gas, the same color as billie fur, starts to surround us.  I hear  very loud bangs and smacks everywhere, and am forced to cover my ears,  and billies drop to the ground like fleas.

At that same time, Raymond arrives, all geared up and ready and the four of us decide to run before  more billies come back. The four of us move as one creature, with sharp senses on the lookout for more billies.  We ran and ran and ran until the mist was a memory and the trees swallowed us whole. My lungs burned and every breath was fire. We couldn't risk stopping, and had to force our bodies to keep on moving.

Seb pulls out a map, and its an map showing possible hidedeouts from billies. I stare at it and ponder where he might have gotten it from, as if he read of my thoughts, he explains "It's a highly confidential map, and it wasn't my story to tell, but now... There's no point. It shows a few new possible locations for the billies, and our job is to eradicate all of them. It's will be challenging, but would put an end to the billie population.  After covering maximum distance, we reach a wasteland and find a place to set up camp

The good part is, we now have a plan. The bad part, all of us may dieeeee.

 " X marks our spot. The pink shows possible locations of the billies, and we have 3 more places to go. Our biggest challenge lies at the end of world, at the edge." Seb points out this information.

I cross out the X spot, as all bilies have been removed

3 more to go

Manie drops her pack, determined to rest and voices out the obvious. "We should have really saved  a bit the Billi dust, for the final location"

I guess we now make our own, the same way we now mold our future.

At the crack of dawn, we break camp and set out for the second location. Seb leads the way, and uses a object called a compass to find the way. I honestly have no idea what that is, and neither do the others. Seb is a lot more brainer than us when it comes to science and technology, but suffers in combat. I guess everyone has their flaws. For the first time, we enjoy the walk, and joke and laugh.

Huh, during this walk i get to know Raymond and Manie better. Raymond's a bit elder than me, and remembers what life was like before billies.  Raymond's been training in combat all his life, which explains why he so good at it. He can also knows the names of all weapons that exist and also knows the uses for it.  Manie's really funny, and has some really good jokes. She originally helped develop weapons, but switched to combat when the war became serious. She's also the same age as me. For the first time, i feel happy.

After hours of walking, we reached our second location, which looked quite small on the map. The place is empty as of now, but billies will soon emerge. Seb and Manie are one side, scanning the area and me and Raymond stand in the center, looking for possible threats.

 Then , The first billie pops out, then a second, then a third and fourth. In a few minutes, the whole army assembles. Raymond slashes a few with his sword, and on the other side i can see Manie killing bilies left and right

I also take a few, and the whole army is lying dead on the floor. We wait, looking for any other bilies that could appear, but nothing comes out.

 Our job here is done. 

Almost.

I walk towards the nearest billie, and grab a handful of it's pink ugly fur. Seb's trying to recreate the formula for a billi bomb.

We decide to celebrate our victory with a small feast. I look for wild potatoes and onion stems, while Raymond looks for wood as Manie decides to make some soup.

Later, we all gather back at camp and have some soup. Seb comes out of the tent, tired from trying to make billi bombs.

We spilt our last ration of moldy bread and dip it in the soup. It may seem unappetizing, but right now it's a meal fit for a king

We make a small campfire and share stories and songs around it. 

I have more to worry about tomorrow...

The third location was harder. We got lost a couple of times, but Seb finally managed to find the path. 

I also lost my trusty sword after poking it into some billie's eye.  Manie was injured by a stampede of these monsters trampling over her and lost most of our gear. The billies had outnumbered us again and this time without a bomb to eradicate it, we had to fight, and fight hard.

We manged to kill every single billie in that area, but it took at lot of effort and determination. My gear got damaged and Raymond's gun lost all it's bullets. Seb lost all his sample billi bombs, which were also ineffective, as  he tried to fight a billie. By the end of this gruesome battle, Raymond and I were the only ones standing, but then we too dropped from being worn out. I guess we layed like that the entire night, because that's how i found myself in the morning. Everyone lost something that day, Time for the fourth location

We moved slowly at first, our feet dragging through scorched grass and broken trees. Every step was a reminder: yesterday had cost us. My arms ached from holding nothing but the air; Raymond’s shoulders were raw from carrying gear that had barely survived the last fight. But determination burned brighter than exhaustion. We had to finish this.

The path narrowed as we approached cliffs that fell away into fog. Below, shadows twisted and moved — or maybe it was just the wind playing tricks.

The final location is definitely the furthest, and there was a lot of distance to cover. With our broken bodies and scarred minds, i wonder if we'll be able to fight.

Manie limps behind me, her foot wrapped in a bandage made of leaves and stuffed with herbs. This is the best of materials we have.  I ask Seb "How would the end of the world look like?"  He simply tells me "Destruction" Huh, i ponder upon why he looks so grim, and then realise extremity  of our situation. Now I look grim

Each step toward the edge felt like wading through lead. My legs were numb, my arms trembled, The cliffs ahead seemed impossibly far, a line dissolving into gray mist.

Manie limped behind, her hand gripping my shoulder for support. The herbal bandage on her foot had soaked through with blood and sweat, but she refused to complain. I could hear her shallow, uneven breaths and the faint rasp of pain with every step.

Seb was ahead, his eyes scanning the  ground and  trees. He moved silently, but his  his jaw was clenched. I could see the tension in every line of his body,  he seemed to be extremely tired  

I glanced at Raymond,  His shadow stretched long across the rocks, his face grim

“How much further?” Manie whispered, her voice barely audible over the whistling wind.

“Not long,” I lied, even to myself.

The truth was, I didn't have a clue

Seb showed us his new and improved samples of billie bombs, and handed them out to each of us. He didn't know if it would work, but it was still worth a chance. Every had restocked weapons and a few scraps of food in their pocket.  

We were getting closer and closer to our location, and tried our best to stock up for it.

I sewed my leather jacket, and it looked as good as new. I made seb a new vest by sewing together the leather  and cloth, torn from the pack. If this was the final battle, we wouldn't need it.

Raymond made himself a decent bow and arrow, by using bamboo shoots. The tip of the arrow was sharp and pointed, and could decently injure some one, if used. However, we would only use this if we were out of weapons,  as a last resort. 

As we got closer, Manie reminded my to keep my senses sharp, and to look out for trouble. we made a quick pit stop, to change her bandage and replace it with new leaves and herbs. 

From the distance, I saw blue eyes emerging.

The billies were already prepared.