I thought my panic attack would last a few hours, but instead, I passed out from exhaustion.

But I woke up in the morning, and it was somewhat cold.

Luna was next to me after falling asleep on the cold tile floor, and… well, I had been crying since I discovered tear stains on my cheeks.

I rubbed the tear stains away and gently shook Luna awake, who looked up at me before standing up and gently wagging her tail before licking my cheek.

I chuckled a little as Luna was licking my cheek, petting her as her tail wagged more as I kneeled.

After patting Luna for a few minutes, I gingerly stood up before wincing a little, remembering I had to step on gravel since it was the path to Ulfstead Castle.

So I sat back down and looked at my feet after removing my dirty, semi-pink socks, checking their state.

They felt a little sore whenever I gently pushed my fingers into them, but they did not hurt that much or have any injuries.

I could cover my feet with bandages to keep them from getting cut or even replace my socks with better ones.

After checking on my feet, I placed my socks back on and felt my neck, wondering about the injuries around my neck.

I stood on the ground and headed to the bathroom, entering and placing my satchel on the floor.

I looked into the mirror and checked on my injuries, perking up when I noticed faint, light blue lines coming from them.

The lines felt like they were underneath my skin, underneath my fingers, but I could barely feel them whenever I applied pressure against them.

Is it some poison, or did I get myself probed by that attack?

A bad feeling sank in my stomach after looking at the mirror, not wanting anyone to see my neck, and saying I got myself probed.

So I exited the bathroom and looked around the store, deciding what I needed that would be useful and how to keep myself protected.

I found a rack of bandannas and picked one up, feeling the bandanna with my hands before nodding, deciding that this one would be good for covering the injuries on the sides of my neck.

I didn't have to find another one because my long hair protects the back of my neck, so a bandanna would be fine.

Flipping my hair over my shoulder, I folded the red bandanna in half before putting it around my neck, tying it in the back before flipping it back.

Once I had a bandanna around my neck, I continued exploring the store, looking at the remaining items on the shelves that were good for survival and seeing that there were food items too.

However, I have a satchel with me, and taking all these useful items would be heavy for me to carry and escape from the Searchers, including those giants.

I silently shuddered after remembering that giant, but I paused after thinking about the giant, thinking more about why he rescued me.

He must've discovered the vehishifter attacking and charged forward, grabbing it and killing it.

Yet again, I am a small person compared to other people, and he was a giant, so he didn't see me when he tackled the vehishifter.

Maybe I am lucky not to get myself hurt by the attack and manage to escape from both the vehishifter and the Searcher.

But what if I had stayed there, staring at that giant?

Would he attack me or capture me?

I shuddered again and forced my thoughts away from my mind, clearing it to think of something else-

I paused after hearing my stomach growl and touched it, knowing I hadn't eaten anything since I was running around the city looking for Briar and survivors.

Remembering the next mission I was doing, I silently nodded before walking around the store to look for food.

Some of it looked scarce since people were in a panic from the alien invasion, but it managed as I gathered food that was easy to cook after discovering there was a gas stove I could use.

I started the gas stove and cooked the food as I cautiously looked through the window from the back to see if something was lurking outside.

I finished cooking eggs, bread, and some slices of ham, which were great to make into sandwiches.

Half of me wished to take the gas stove with me, but I silently reminded myself that I didn't have a backpack and would be too heavy to carry and run, so I left it in the store.

With the rest of the egg and ham sandwiches, I placed them into ziplock bags and put them into my satchel before closing them.

I stepped outside cautiously, and Luna followed behind.

The sunlight partially blinded me as I raised my hand to cover them, but as I lowered it after my eyes adjusted to the light.

I pushed my sleeve up from my arm and looked at the device around my arm, tapping the screen as it lit up, showing the scan of the city.

Several red dots were around, including some dark red dots, but no green dots.

It looks good, so I can walk around the city without having to dodge anything that would be attacking.

I began my walk through the city center while looking at the device around my arm, keeping careful track of where I was going and what would still be roaming.

I reached the city's edge and was about to walk further when my head suddenly smacked against something invisible.

I almost toppled over after my face smacked against something, feeling my nose bridge with a hand as I looked up at what was blocking my path.

Confused, I felt what was in front of me, and it felt like a wall, vibrating a little when I placed both hands on it and tried to push forward.

It was stuck whenever I attempted to push against it with my hands, and it went up high in the sky as I followed the vibration.

It even reaches the mothership hovering over the city, which means it is covered with a dome from the mothership.

And whoever is outside is stuck outside too.

I sighed after noticing the dome before looking at my device around my arm and seeing no green dots on the radar.

Using the barrier, I followed it as I stared down at the device around my arm, keeping an eye on it while looking up a few times.

I soon entered the forest and continued walking forward, my hand trailing the barrier while I stared at the device around my arm.

The walking lasted a few minutes before I came across a patch of what looked like yellow dots on the radar.

I looked confused after seeing the patch of moving yellow dots and looked back up, seeing smoke in the sky.

I gingerly stepped closer to the area where there was smoke and moved a bush's branches, seeing a massive campsite.

There were giants creating houses out of stone, with others polishing trees to build roofs while others were carrying empty bottles.

Needing a closer look, I looked at the tree I was standing next to and started to climb on it, getting at one of the branches before carefully scooting forward, watching the group of giants.

They ranged around thirty or forty giants, and they were discussing with each other, and some were looking at the glass bottles before nodding.

What would they be doing with those bottles?

A bad feeling twists in my stomach as I watch the roaming giants talk to each other while building the area with the remaining rocks into a wall.

Are they preparing themselves for something?

A bad feeling twists in my stomach at the thought of it before perking up when I see the same familiar giant, flinching after seeing him before hiding in the bundle of leaves.

He was talking to a doctor over his height who had his hands covered with oil, looking at them nervously before continuing talking.

I couldn't hear what they were talking about, but judging from how perky the doctor was, he must've experimented on the vehishifter the other had killed.

Even the sheriff's face perked after the doctor mentioned something, and the doctor kept mentioning something in his hands, either a heart or an engine.

I wanted to listen to the conversation about what they were talking about, but I didn't want to wander into the small fort and get caught in those bottles of theirs.

So I decided it was time to leave and started to descend from the tree I was spying on, carefully climbing down while looking up at the giants.

They all had those invisible lines around their joints, and I stopped a little from where I was, getting to around what looked like eye level for them.

I noticed that some of them looked different from the rest, all having different appearances, clothing styles, and-wait.

I perked up when I noticed that one of the people's legs was replaced with wheels and was showing it off to one of their friends, looking excited before running off and skating while doing tricks.

They looked almost like wheels.

I watched the person move around excitedly with the wheels for feet before skidding to a stop, looking excited before looking up at the sky.

I looked over and watched an airplane soar over our heads, and I flinched, ducking a little but watching carefully.

The airplane hovered over a platform while some people in blue uniforms guided it.

Suddenly, the airplane started to transform, with the body slowly forming into a human's body with the airplane wings before landing squarely on its feet.

The airplane wings folded behind their back after landing on their feet, and they were carrying the same bottles in their arms, talking to the others before stepping off the platform.

…Was that another form of vehishifter?

A shudder went down my spine after realizing that the giants were vehishifters, and I started to feel panicked, even confused about why I didn't panic after seeing that sheriff eye to eye.

My fingers suddenly slipped, and I gave a small shriek, falling back towards the ground before landing squarely on my back, knocking the wind out of my lungs.

After landing on my back, I gingerly started to push myself back up from the ground before pausing when I noticed the ground was slightly vibrating.

I peeked slightly over the bushes and saw that one of the humanoid vehishifters was heading towards where I was.

Panicking, I instantly scrambled to my feet as Luna ran ahead of me, running away from the campsite before heading towards the city.

As soon as I entered the city, I slowed down to a stop and panted for a minute, looking behind me at where I had exited the forest before looking at the device around my arm.

No yellow dots followed where I was running, nor any red or dark red dots either.

I sighed in relief as I placed a hand against my chest, feeling my heart beating against it as I gently patted it to calm it down.

Luna barked, and I flinched, glancing over at Luna with a confused expression before watching her run off.

"Luna?" I called, looking confused after Luna ran off before I started to chase after her. "Luna, where are you going?"

I was conversing with Dr. Ludwig about his discovery, having experimented with the octopus-like car and discovered many things about it.

He told me that the wires and the metal felt like veins and flesh to the touch and even bled whenever he tore the metal apart.

It made me queasy at how he was so calmly talking about it, as I was slightly grimacing while listening to him.

But some of his mentions of the similarities between us and the parasite-like car somewhat grossed me out, although they were important.

He said that the car's engine had the same pulse as ours after hooking it up with some other organs he had collected from his search around the city.

Even the same blood samples he had taken.

So, in other words, to put it into my own words, the parasite-like car's blood is almost the same as ours but different from ours.

Strange… but gross.

He went back to experimenting with the parasite-like car as I wandered off, thinking more about what I had discovered before, mostly plans for what to collect for us to survive.

I watched as one of Blueguard's airplanes appeared and transformed, carrying several crates and other items to help build homes and create weapons.

A quiet shriek suddenly caught my attention, and I glanced over at what had caused that shriek, looking around with confusion before walking toward it.

It wasn't loud or too quiet; it sounded almost near where I was, but it was somewhat distant.

I approached the area while moving my hand to one of my pistols and keeping a sharp eye out, not wanting to be surprised or attacked by something.

Something blue flashed from the corner of my eye, and I perked up, glancing over at what was that blue and seeing the same blue-haired human.

I stopped walking after seeing the same blue-haired human and removed my hand from my pistol, but I didn't chase after her.

Was she spying on us?

Why was she spying on us?

More questions racked my mind at the thought of what she was doing, half of me wanting to chase after her and have a conversation with her… but what was I thinking?!

I can't just grab her like some giant from a fairytale and have a normal conversation with her!

…Maybe I could have a conversation with her when I get a chance to talk to her and settle some questions.

If I could find a way to talk to her.

"Colt?" After hearing my name, I perked up and glanced over my shoulder, seeing Shelly looking confused. "What are you doing over there?"

"Oh, just relaxing," I lied, leaning my arm against the tree next to me.

Shelly looked confused after I lied before responding with a shrug of her shoulders, "Okay. But we're going to need your help to find some rocks in the forest. Since those things are roaming around, we will need someone to protect us."

"Don't worry," I smirked coyly as I mentioned myself with a thumb. "I've got your back."

Shelly rolled her eyes with a slightly amused expression before heading to the forest with Primo, Bull, and Sam following her.

I paused a little from following them as I looked back in the direction where I saw the blue-haired human run.

Would she be alright wandering all by herself?

I pushed that thought to the side before following after the others, returning to what I was doing as we headed further into the forest.

Maybe lifting rocks would help distract me a little too.