Victor had a gun, a broken comms unit, and exactly zero patience left — a dangerous combination for everyone involved in the little group trudging across the frozen highway. According to what he had heard, the safehouse was in a rundown train station a few kilometres down south. The problem that popped up was he had five charges who didn't look like they'd be any help if a sudden emergency arose.

It had been a week since Earth had suddenly gone dark. The sun was shining down one afternoon, and the next second black veiled it all, plunging the planet into a power outage kind of darkness. The first day had been fine. People were coping, they all removed their woolens from their storage and others ran to nearby supermarkets, not having the time to be picky, their primary focus being warmth. In a few days however, the streets grew emptier until there was not a soul in sight. No one left their homes if they could help and those who did usually didn't return.

Victor had been on his day off when the sun disappeared and after careful planning, he decided to head for the nearest safehouse following the instructions of the radio transmissions. What he didn't expect was to pick up five stowaways with the same goal as him. All five of them looked battered with cuts and bruises and stray pieces of glass in their hair while a young man in a wheelchair among them, wrestled with its frozen mechanisms

Upon further questioning, Stacy and Jerry, a married couple by the looks of the matching rings they wore, explained that they had collectively decided to leave their building after all glass windows shattered due to sudden drop in temperature. The decision between stay and freeze or move to a nearby safehouse was an easy one to make.

He adjusted the rifle's position in his hand, the familiar weight providing him with comfort in the many gambles he was taking despite lack of clarity from the headquarters of Project AUREUM. Filing away the growing apprehension to the back of his head, his attention returned to the group behind him. 

The pregnant lady was starting to pant a little as she tried to keep up with the rest, causing Victor to slow down a few steps. The elderly man was panting as well, but then again, he had been complaining throughout the journey, so Victor took this as a sign of him still having plenty of energy remaining. 

"All this running away for what, huh? I cannot even see the steps I take. Back in my day we stood our ground and faced our problems like real men, not all this running around from city to city." 

Victor felt the shift in mood and noticed a sense of familiarity of getting scolded lift the mood. Usually, he would just ignore the comment since it needed no reaction but for the sake of keeping the audience entertained and moving, he decided to partake in banter.

"Back in your day I don't recall the sun pulling a disappearing act. Over time, challenges tend to escalate, and unnecessary confrontation gets troublesome." 

"Besides, back in your day you didn't have prehistoric bugs waiting to chomp your head off, Mr Simmons. You really shouldn't talk about facing off with them while your hair is the brightest shade of white in this group." A voice spoke with mirth, keeping their tone low but audible. Victor recognised him as the young man in the wheelchair, Lawrence,
 who despite having to struggle with his transport, somehow managed to maintain a cheerful air about him. 

"Can we please not talk about bugs?" The woman beside Victor shuddered, half in cold and half in disgust as she rubbed her stomach absentmindedly, the curve of her pregnancy barely hidden beneath her worn jacket. They were all dressed in as many layers as they could get their hands on since the air was frigid. "Where did they show up from anyway? I don't remember there being a species similar to this before the... Blackout." She turned to Victor as if he had some classified information, she was not privy to. Which he did so, fair.

"We don't have a lot of intel due to malfunction of comms, but they were first sighted by military personnel four days back." He didn't mention that four days back also happened to be the last time he connected with the squad in Elios which was when he had received orders to help citizens get to safehouses within close range. Since then, though, he had received nothing but radio silence.  "Still, it would do good to beware of any buzzing noises that might be a prelude to their appearance. I also think it's safe to move with the belief that they are attracted to noise and movement to be on the safer side."

"So, no more talking?" Lawrence asked, trying to lighten the heavy atmosphere, unsuccessfully so.  Victor didn't reply. The choices they made would be their own, and so would the outcome.

------------------------

The group unanimously decided to settle down at a deserted bus station for the night. Luna clutched her belly as she let go of the tensed position she had maintained throughout the day and finally relaxed on the seat. Mr Simmons snuggled deeper into his coat, pulling his scarf to cover his ears, clearly starting to feel the chill now that he wasn't burning fat. Jerry and Stacy cuddled amongst themselves in a corner, prompting Victor to immediately change his line of sight to Lawrence who was unusually quiet.

Victor watched as he silently flexed his hands and lightly rubbed his knees as if to get some blood running back in them after all the cold. He sighed and took out his scarf, tossing it to Lawrence who caught it in surprise before looking around to see who'd thrown it in his direction. 

"Use it as a blanket for the night. It's pretty big so it should fit." Victor murmured before stalking off without waiting for the other's reply.