Eater Blade: Grinding in Apocalypse-Chapter 52: BROTHERS IN THE CLIMB.

Johnquis and Savier fell right back into their old game, the same stupid races they’d pulled back in training, acting like boys for a moment, just catching up their own way.

"One!"

Water sprayed as Savier slid backward, searching for hold. His eyes wild like a hyena on the scent of fresh meat.

"Two!"

Johnquis loosened his shoulders, thumb tapping the release on his waist hook, chain glinting in the moonlight that streamed through the ragged roof. freewёbnoνel.com

"Three!"

They launched — Savier lunged straight for the rusted stairwell, pounding over twisted steel. He used the broken rail like monkey bars, swinging hand-over-hand across gaps where entire steps had rotted away. A moment later, he kicked off the beam like a springboard, grapple hook whining as he fired it up to the next level.

Johnquis didn’t bother with the stairs. He didn’t waste a single motion.

Left foot, right hand, his hook clipped free from the belt in one fluid movement. He sprinted straight for a toppled bus. His feet hit the hood, cape flaring out behind him as he used the bus roof for a running leap. Hook snapping up to a hanging maintenance girder.

His boots slammed the wall, knees bending just right to absorb the impact before he rebounded up. He cleared the busted concrete ledge in two strides, landing light on a half-collapsed walkway. Climbing like he’d done this a thousand times in his sleep.

Savier glanced down and swore. Johnquis was already ahead, silhouette slipping between rusted beams.

"Show-off!"

Savier shouted, hooking his line to a bent monorail brace. He swung himself outward, dangling over empty air. His cape snapped open, a batwing catching the wind just enough to glide him through a gap in the scaffold overhead. He rolled, boots skidding across slick steel.

Johnquis vaulted an exposed pipe, grabbed a dangling cable, and used it like a rope swing to slingshot onto the next pillar. He landed in a three-point crouch, eyes flicking back to see Savier cursing his way over the scaffold.

"Move your ass, Savier! Your breath’s sloppy, I can hear your lungs crying from here."

"Eat shit!" Savier barked back, smiling like a kid unleashed on a playground.

He clipped his hook again, line zipping tight as he swung under a monorail beam. Halfway across, he gave Johnquis a wicked grin, then kicked at a loose support pipe.

It snapped free, crashing down right in Johnquis’s path. Rust and sparks flying. Johnquis ducked under it, sliding. He used the momentum, pivoted, and fired his hook up to the next tier before Savier could blink.

"Cheap trick! Last time you tried that you dislocated your shoulder, remember?"

"Worth it! Gotta handicap your cheating ass!"

Savier shouted, using the same loose pipe like a balance beam. He dashed across it, arms windmilling for balance before he leapt for a ladder bolted to a shattered billboard frame.

Johnquis was already moving. He stepped off the side of the concrete ledge, dropped two meters freefall. Then snapped his cape wide to catch an updraft. He glided like a ragged bat through the open air, boots landing on a dangling catwalk. One boot slipped but he planted the hook into the mesh, pulling himself up.

Below, Savier misjudged his swing. His hook clipped the wrong girder, sending him spinning. He yelped, the wind whipping his coat like a flag as he slammed into a scaffold pole with a metal clang.

"Shit—!"

Johnquis glanced back, saw Savier dangling one-handed, legs flailing over open air. He fired his own hook without thinking — line hissing as it snagged the back harness on Savier’s coat.

The sudden yank pulled Savier upright, his feet scrabbling for purchase against the scaffold. He let out a wheezing laugh.

"Ah— damn it, Johnkiss! Still saving my sorry ass, huh?"

"Shut up and climb!"

Johnquis hauling him up by the back of his gear. He braced against the beam, muscles straining. The moment Savier’s feet found the scaffold, Johnquis gave him a hard shove up the last meter.

Savier flopped onto the top ledge, gasping. "You... always... did ruin my big finishes..."

Johnquis swung up beside him, smooth as ever, landing with a muted thud. He dusted rain off his shoulder, chain hook retracting with a metallic snap.

"Next time use your brain before your balls."

Savier wheezed out a ragged chuckle, propping himself up on an elbow. "What’s the point, huh? You’ll always be there to drag me back from the drop..."

Johnquis gave him a look — tired, but there was a flicker of an old smirk in it. "Don’t make it a habit."

Behind them, Dancer emerged from the shadows, perched on the steel crossbeam like she’d been there the whole time, claws flexing idly. She cocked her head, eyes glittering in the dark as if to say: pathetic.

Savier groaned. "Oh, don’t look at me like that, sweetheart. You try hauling this much charm up five stories."

Johnquis ignored him, looking out over the ruined cityscape. Up here, the air was thin and wet, but the open floor gave them a vantage clear enough to spot any creeping nightmares before they got too close.

He pulled Savier up to sit properly, then sat down himself, boots dangling over the ledge, chain hook coiled at his side.

"Same old you, huh?" Savier rasped, spitting blood out the side of his mouth. "Can’t outrun you. Can’t outclimb you. Damn, Johnkiss! Still the best in climb."

Johnquis just stared out, hair plastered to his forehead. "Yeah. And you’re still the idiot who tries, Snackzilla."

They both laughed, breath steaming in the cold.

Savier leaned over, bumped his forehead against Johnquis’s shoulder. "Damn good climb, brother. Didn’t think you still had it. Best five minutes of my life."

Johnquis nudged him back with a faint grin. "Next time? Try not to die halfway up."

Savier laugh. "Where’s the fun in that?"

They’d made it. Top floor — all the view, all the risk. Just like the old days, except now, the monsters waiting below weren’t part of the test. They were real. And they were always hungry.

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