{Arilion}
{Alexander}
Alexander did not look back when he walked away from the hotel.
The decision had already been made the moment he turned his back. Whatever came after was not his responsibility. Not his problem. Not something he could afford to get involved in. The world was collapsing too quickly for hesitation to matter.
Behind him, the hotel faded into noise and distant chaos, swallowed by the fractured rhythm of a city that no longer behaved like a city.
He adjusted his grip on the strap of his bag he had scavenged and kept moving.
Home was still somewhere ahead.
If the roads remained passable, he could still reach the city before nightfall. Every minute spent elsewhere was another minute farther from his family.
