Shattering Humanity-Chapter 325: An Oath Between Brothers Part 3
"Joseph prayed, "My Lord! I would rather be in jail than do what they invite me to. And if You do not turn their cunning away from me, I might yield to them and fall into ignorance.
So his Lord responded to him, turning their cunning away from him. Surely He is the All-Hearing, All-Knowing.
And so it occurred to those in charge, despite seeing all the proofs ˹of his innocence˺, that he should be imprisoned for a while.
And two other servants went to jail with Joseph. One of them said, "I dreamt I was pressing wine." The other said, "I dreamt I was carrying ˹some˺ bread on my head, from which birds were eating." ˹Then both said,˺ "Tell us their interpretation, for we surely see you as one of the good-doers.
Joseph replied, ’I can even tell you what kind of meal you will be served before you receive it. This ˹knowledge˺ is from what my Lord has taught me. I have shunned the faith of a people who disbelieve in Allah and deny the Hereafter.’"- Surah Yusuf 12:33-37
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{Two Days After Leviathan’s Invasion}
The growlings of Icemen and two boys running for their lives can be heard.
[Arai & Maniae’s Abandoned School]
Maniae is the first to open one of the double doors to the school.
Maniae: "Come on Arai!
Hurry up!"
Arai: "Shut up I’m coming!"
10 yards away, the blonde boy has a bag full of video games and snacks as he is escaping two chasing Icemen that are about 20 yards away.
Arai runs through the door and Maniae closes it. The quick handed young man clicks the lock closed between two ends of the metal chain just before the scratching and clawing of the alien monsters sends shivers down both their spines.
Both of their hearts are beating, they are heavily breathing, and sweat drips from their faces.
Arai falls on his as at the entrance to the old school while he tries to catch his breath.
Arai: "Damn man....
You’re freaking fast..."
Maniae is also trying to catch his breath but is dumbfounded by his new friend’s focus on the situation.
Maniae: "Never mind that Dude!
What in the fuckin Hell were those things!?
We’ve been away from society for two days and all of a sudden those monsters just pop up out of no where?!
Where is everyone?!
Where is my Dad?!
What are we going to do?!"
Arai: "Hey! Hey, relax!
Everything is all good now-"
Maniae: "How is this ’all good’, Arai?"
The blonde scoundrel opens his bag and tosses a wrapped cake over towards his black haired, worrying pal.
Arai: "Cause now we’re actually ’free’."
The red eyed child snatches the treat out of the air and looks at it.
Maniae: "What do you mean?"
Arai: "It’s simple.
We’re our own men now.
We can do whatever, whenever.
As long as we stay away from those aliens, and keep them out of here, nobody’s going to mess with us.
Bullies, adults, cops, nothing.
We can even ..."
He digs and sifts through the physical copies of games and pulls out an all white video game console from the bottom of the bag.
The brightly smiling boy twists his wrist showing off the upgraded console compared to the one in the cafeteria.
Arai: "We can even play the best and unreleased games we never would have had the chance to play cause it would be considered ’robbing’.
But now that the world has ended, we can take whatever has been left behind.
This is awesome Bro!
We lucked out!"
Maniae takes a second to think about the situation and Arai gets back up to his feet with a sigh.
Arai(sighs): "Listen, you already told me you Mum and Big Bro are gone, and that your Pops was an abusive drunk.
From that alone, yea life is going to be more dangerous because of those monsters, but as long as we stick together, we’ll survive long enough to last a lifetime.
Plus, it’s almost like a survival game now, but in real life!"
The horrific scratching, gnashing Iceman struggles, coming from the other side of the bullet proof metal door subsides and there is only silence left in the entrance hall to the abandoned middle school.
Maniae’s solid red eyes are filling with tears as he looks at the ground until...
Arai: "Aye..."
The red eyes look up and see an outstretched fist.
Arai: "As an oath between brothers, we’ll get through this shit.
Together."
Maniae beams a smile, remembering his older brother and nods with a returning fist bump.
Arai picks up the bag with the new console inside and points his thumb behind him.
Arai: "Aight!
Let’s go set this up and game all night!
Then we can train tomorrow!"
Maniae finally matches his friend’s energy and pump a fist in the air.
Maniae: "Lets fuckin goooooooooo!"
The two over excited boys run down into the dark hallway.
...
[Sister Mountain Shuttle]
Maniae: "I’m bringing you back home Arai, whether you like it or not.
All you’ve done is run away, but now as an oath between brothers..."
He squares up with his "brother".
Maniae: "...As an oath between brothers, I will protect you from yourself."
Arai raises his fists and the two young men get ready to fight.
Maniae takes a step throws a fake left and whiffs with a right jab.
Off the dodge, Arai throws a landing gut shot, knocking back Maniae and the blonde leaves his feet to throw a spinning kick, but because of the movement of the shuttle, the kick whiffs and Arai slips on the floor.
Maniae recovers and goes to jump on top of his pal attempting to abandon their friendship.
Arai rolls away and Maniae accidentally hits his face on a seat.
Maniae: "Ahh fu-"
He quickly remembers the fight and sees a foot coming in to kick his face. He blocks it with his hand but the force from the blow still makes the back of his hand hit his temple.
He keeps the grip on Arai’s shoe, grabs the leg attached and pulls his friend to the floor. Now in a struggle the two roll away from each other and stand up.
From a few feet away Arai comes charging at his dark haired nuisance.
Maniae looks to his left and sees a red and yellow button covered with a hinged glass case.
He quickly raises the glass covering and presses the button, the shuttle comes to a quick stop.
The momentum of the cart stopping and Arai running, forces the young man off balance.
With his face leading the way, Arai’s face flies right into Maniae’s, connecting with a kiss...
But fortunately for the two boys, they both hit the front of the shuttle, disconnecting their lip lock, and they get knocked out before realizing the embarrassing accident to their epic showdown...
{Three Hours Later}
[Inside Nephilim’s Home]
Arai’s Blue pooled eyes flutter open and he stares at the ceiling to his room for a minute.
His eyes shift over to the spinning ceiling fan before he slowly starts to sit up.
Once he is sitting up, the awakening young man attempts to raise his right hand to his head, but the jingles of something prevent his arm from doing so.
He looks down at his wrist to see four sets of handcuffs, locked together. One end around his wrist and the other locked around his bed post with no ways of escaping.
Arai’s eyes narrow as he tugs a few times on the cuffs attached to the frame.
Suddenly, a voice comes over from the other side of the room.
Maniae: "Why are you being like this Arai?"
Arai turns his head and sitting on the his own bed is Maniae. The sad red eyes of the black haired boy and the angry blue eyes of the blonde haired boy lock.
Arai snickers and slowly shakes his head towards his "friend" across from him.
Arai: "So...
One month and these people have brain washed you to the point you think this..."
He raises up the cuffed hand as high as it can reach, making the cuffs scratch his wooden bed frame. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎
Arai: "...is acceptable.
To literally take away someone’s freedom, only for wanting freedom.
You’ve changed Maniae."
Sad immediately switches to angry as Maniae shoots up from his bed.
Maniae: "I’ve changed?!
What about you Arai?!
You’ve never been this much of an asshole when we were alone for the past three years, and now, you’re the one deciding to just up and leave this friendship behind?!"
Arai sticks his nose up in the air and locks away from the concerned and caring friend.
Arai: "So what now?
Are you going to keep me locked up in this room, strapped to this bed, until I finally conform towards playing home with you, General Douchebag, and his gross weird wives?"
Maniae: "They aren’t his wives Maniae!
If they’re his wives, what does that make us?"
Arai’s nose twitches while looking at his wall, trying to avoid any eye contact with the disputing colleague.
Maniae: "Our big sisters are just like you and me. Just because they are girls, doesn’t mean they’re any different than you or I.
They are people younger than Mr Nephilim, that fell on hard times, probably like he did! Now that he has worked himself out of the mud, he’s trying to prevent us from a life in the shitter."
