Garrat stared at his blood-soaked hands, unable to believe what he had just done. Around him, a crowd of workers began to gather. At first they were silent. Then shouts rose, someone started chanting, others joined in. But the noise was quickly drowned out by the hum of engines.

  Drones hovered above the industrial zone. Seconds later, soldiers were already running toward the scene. They shoved the crowd aside roughly and pushed their way to Garrat.

  “On the ground!”

  He was thrown down and pinned. Garrat tried to break free, stunned and disoriented, but one of the soldiers smashed the butt of a rifle into his face.

  The crowd exploded in response. Workers rushed at the soldiers, trying to pull them away from Garrat. A crush began - shouting, blows, chaos. The drones descended lower, flashes of electric bursts flickering above their heads. The situation was spiraling out of control.

  Someone yanked Garrat to his feet.

  “Run! While you still can, run!”

  He stood there, swaying. The world swam around him: screams, strikes, gunshots, flashes from the drones. He barely understood what was happening. Suddenly, someone pressed the red glove - the one he had dropped earlier against his chest. Garrat looked down and saw Urzil standing before him. His face was battered, lip split, but his gaze was firm.

  “Go, run, Garrat!” the old man rasped. “We’ll hold them off as best we can. You don’t have much time!”

  Garrat froze for a second. The old man shoved him in the shoulder.

  “Run already!”

  Snapping back to himself, Garrat clenched the glove and ran from the industrial zone, amid the crowd’s shouts and the sound of gunfire.

  He ran wherever his eyes led him, deeper and deeper into Sector 13. Despite the heavy population, the narrow streets and filthy alleys were perfect for disappearing from sight.

  He couldn’t go home, they would search there first. He no longer had a roof, or food, or a job. Now he was a criminal, wanted.

  “What the hell… What came over me? I don’t even remember what happened…” he thought as he ran. “I remember seeing Urzil on the ground. Then the next second it’s like I blinked, and I’m standing in the middle of a crowd, my hands shaking… I don’t even know how much time passed.”

  He could hear his own heartbeat pounding in his ears, drowning out the sounds of police sweeping through the sector. Garrat ran as fast and as far as he could. He didn’t think about why or where—he only knew one thing: he had to run.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  All the news channels were already reporting about a deranged outsider who had attacked and killed a soldier and an administrative officer. Both were pureblood humans. There was no mention of the cause of the incident not a single word about the soldier beating an old worker in front of a crowd.

  However, the outsiders living in Sector 13 understood exactly why it had happened. Rumors of a four-armed giant who had saved an old man spread quickly through the sector, especially through the slums.

  Time passed. As if by ill luck, heavy rain began to pour during the search. The operations continued, but neither Garrat himself nor any trace of him could be found.

  Garrat hid in an unfinished building. He sat there, doing nothing.

  “This is it… My life is over. I’ll rot in prison for the rest of my days if they don’t shoot me first… And what am I even hiding for? To wander my whole life looking for food?”

  Suddenly, memories of his childhood flashed before him - dark, terrifying, and hopeless.

  “No… I won’t go down that path again.” He jumped to his feet and made up his mind to surrender.

  Garrat stepped out into the alley, turned toward the nearest lit street, and headed that way. He was limping from running all day. Exhausted, weak, and hungry, he felt so indifferent to his own fate that he simply walked to surrender.

  Ahead, on the wide street, he saw a couple of police officers patrolling an intersection. He started walking toward them.

  Suddenly, someone grabbed him by the shoulder.

  “Finally, we found you, Garrat…” a voice said from behind.

  He turned.

  Two figures stood there one large, even bigger than him, the other smaller. Both were cloaked in gray, their faces hidden.

  “Who are you?” he asked.

  “Come with us, Garrat. With us, you can help make this world a better place,” said the smaller figure.

  “With us, you’ll have food and a home,” added the larger one.

  Garrat looked at them suspiciously, but he realized he had almost no choice. He glanced at the police again, then back at the two figures.

  The larger figure noticed.

  “You planning to surrender to the authorities? After everything you’ve done?”

  Garrat met his gaze.

  “I had no choice. I can’t survive here alone.”

  “But now we’ve found you. That means you do have a choice,” the smaller one said energetically. “You can surrender later. Come with us.”

  Garrat just nodded silently.

  He followed them. They moved carefully, almost unseen, through the sector. Searches for Garrat were still ongoing. He trailed behind them quietly.

  “Hey, Garrat,” the smaller figure said.

  He looked at her.

  “What?”

  “You worked for humans?”

  “Yes. As a miner.”

  “And that old man you saved, he’s a miner too?”

  “Yes. We worked together.”

  “I see, so you wanted to save your friend. That’s... so cool.”

  “Neyna, don’t get distracted. Watch the surroundings we’re not at the base yet,” said the larger one.

  “Oh, sorry…”

  “Her name is Neyna,” Garrat thought.

  “What base?” he asked.

  The larger figure turned his head, and Garrat saw part of his face. It looked as if it were covered in stone.

  “You’ll see when we get there,” he said shortly.

  Garrat stayed silent.

  Neyna spoke again:

  “Don’t think he’s mean. He talks to everyone that way. Gauda may look scary and fierce, but inside, he’s soft, like marshmallow.”

  “Neyna, don’t get distracted.”

  “Sorry, sorry.”

  After a while, they reached a massive building. It glowed brightly, and at the top, large letters read: “Reverentia.”

  “Well, welcome to our base, Garrat. Come inside, meet the others!” Neyna said.

  Garrat stood there in shock. He clearly hadn’t expected the “base” to turn out to be a massive business center.