I See One Second Into The Future: Loner In The Apocalypse

Kairos continued to remain awkwardly still for so long. For whatever reason, he felt like he was being watched despite the lack of any presence nearby. Still, despite the logical move being to run away if he was supposedly being watched, the fear made him unable to move to act upon that.

He was irrationally afraid.

It came to the point that even with his numbed senses the somewhat sane part of him could notice it as well. Still, just because he noticed it didn't mean he could exactly do anything about it. His control was still wrestled away from him even if the controls weren't being used.

With nothing else to do, the only thing he was left with was his thoughts. And the wolf too, but it simply remained by his side silently.

Kairos then thought about his relationship with Nicole. And the more he thought about it, the more he realized that it wasn't one that should've even existed.

He was always a rather dismissive person, reluctant to go along with anything, even if it was what he wanted to do. As such, Kairos was never very appreciative of anything that Nicole had done.

Even if they truly were meaningful things to him.

Despite how enthusiastic she always was, he was in turn like a rock, stoic and uncaring. It was frankly a miracle that she was willing to stick with him despite all of that. Perhaps with the apocalypse happening now, there was reason for her to do so, but there were many years beforehand that she stayed through.

Dragging around a dead weight that was just barely willing to follow her half the time.

Even when they were out together, Kairos rarely talked. He was pretty much a robot that would have curt responses to any questions that ended the conversation. In other words, one of the worst kinds of people to talk with. Simply because you might as well just be talking to a brick wall.

Yet, Nicole never appeared bothered by it, still speaking up again and again to the brick wall like it was her job.

She neglected other people who wanted to be her friend and would've definitely been better friends to her as well. This wasn't something that Kairos just thought, but something he personally witnessed, as people he didn't recognize tried to approach her, yet were waved away just like that.

He wondered why that was never something he questioned before.

It was something he took to be obvious when in reality it was the other way around. At the end of the day, he was still just one of the people in a world with billions. That was nothing all that special about him, nor was there ever some sort of inherent value.

There was no real reason for Nicole to stay with him for so long, especially when she got nothing for it.

So why?

Why was she willing to stay in the first place, even when it was filled with years of painful monotony? It didn't make any logical sense to Kairos. Even if there were feelings from childhood, it wasn't as though those could just last forever.

In the first place, most of the time she did reach out, he would only respond after at least an hour.

Eventually, the only thing he could surmise was that the reason must've been pity. There was no other reason.

And the more Kairos thought about it, the more clear and obvious it became. The more he realized that he took so much for granted. What else was there that he simply neglected? Perhaps the biggest one was his ability which had saved his life countless times.

Then there was the fact that he was born into a family that could provide for him.

Then there was the ability to go to school.

Then it was the ability to move his limbs.

The ability to speak.

The fact he was born as a human.

That he even had a heart that could beat on its own.

The fact that he had lungs that could breathe.

As his thoughts continued to spiral, the writings on the wall rapidly became clearer. However, all the ones mentioning 'Save me' had disappeared, as did the possible ways to get him out of this situation.

They were instead replaced with other words.

"What an unsightly thing."

"How coldhearted."

"Such a pathetic person."

"Die. I need to die."

"Somebody, please kill me."

As though on cue, a faint, blurry flash appeared next to him. Despite not processing what it was, Kairos let out a terrified roar and tried to run away. But even if he was ten times faster, there wasn't a chance he would've gotten away.

A thundering boom resounded.

Kairos was blasted to the side, with his already cracked carapace shattering further, and even the fragments that remained on his body quickly decayed and fell off, revealing his dark red flesh with a big bruise on it.

But despite the bad injuries, he did everything he could to run away. Yet, right as he turned away, the blurry figure flashed to appear right in front of him, and with a wave of a hand, his entire head was blown off.

Somehow or another, Kairos on the inside was still fine, in terms of being alive. The room shook massively, but somehow held firm, not that he realized it. However, he was freaking out like no other. The wolf next to him had realized how bad his condition was, but before it could ever do anything, it was pulled out of the room, sinking into the walls.

On the outside, after his body collapsed to the floor, the figure of the person responsible became clear.

It was Nicole.

She then reached into the gaping wound she just made and reached inside.

Suddenly, a crack formed into the side of the wall, and rays of light poured in. Kairos was startled out of his frazzled mental state and looked towards it. After a bit of fumbling, a hand reached inside.

"Kairos! Take my hand."

Despite seeing salvation right in front of him, Kairos couldn't bring himself to reach out.

For some reason, whenever he felt his worst, Nicole would always be there to offer him a hand. He just didn't understand how she was always there like she was telepathic. But more than that, he didn't understand why she was willing to reach out in the first place.

"Why... Why are you always here, waiting for me? Even when I'm so... weak."

After some grunting, Nicole used both hands to pry the crack open further, brightly illuminating the whole room. She pushed herself in, and with the light against her back, she smiled brightly while reaching out with both her hands.

"What are you talking about? Of course, I will wait for you as long as you need. After all, you were the one that waited years for me first."

Nicole grabbed onto his waist and forcibly dragged him out of his monstrous body along with the sound of ripping flesh. His body consisted of a mass of writhing flesh that only vaguely resembled a humanoid shape.

The ends of his limbs only consisted of stubs that ended in a ripped tendril, almost appearing to be pieces of worn fabric.

All things considered, any normal person wouldn't consider that Kairos was a human. Perhaps the closest that an average person would accept was an oversized fetus that had something wrong with it.

Yet, despite such a grotesque figure, Nicole affectionately hugged him like he was a baby.

"Welcome back."

It was incredibly slow, but his body gradually melded back into its original human form, though large blue veins bulged all over his skin. Once the skin was removed from his eyes, he was able to see.

The light was bright, but it quickly adjusted to see Nicole.

She looked quite jaded, with dirt stains on her face and hair shorter than before. The look in her eyes was far more mature than her old self, and yet, it still felt the same as it had always been to Kairos.

Nicole held him in a princess carry and walked through the ruined city.

"So many things have changed! Not all of them were good, but I'm sure everyone is really excited to see you again. Tiana was particularly stressed out, but despite worrying so much she did a really good job at managing everything. Also, that scientist guy was really smart and made a bunch of cool things that I don't really understand."

She continued on excitedly, talking about all the things that happened. However, while Kairos heard it all, it went through one ear and out the other.

He was still rather confused by her earlier response, though his mouth was still covered in a layer of flesh, preventing him from speaking.

However he didn't have to sit there wondering for too long, as it eventually gave way. With a hoarse and weak voice, he spoke.

"What did you mean?"