Erick and Clara were siblings. Erick was the older one. He was mostly a closed off guy who never really let his emotions show on his face. It was a part of him that always seemed to creep Clara off when she was younger. And the age gap that separated them didn't do much to help that.
Erick was six years older than Clara and with his somewhat emotionless face, younger Clara always avoided him. However things changed the day their parents died, gunned down by a mugger down an alley. The part of town that Clara and Erick lived on wasn't really the good kind of neighborhood. In fact they were far closer to the slums of the Western Province of York Town.
The place was rife with gangs, thieves and rapists.
Their parents had just been some of the unfortunate ones on that day.
Clara remembered standing in that morgue. The air around the room was pale and murky. It was cold and twelve year old Clara may have been imagining it but the room...it smelled of death. It was scary and no place for a child and what was even scarier was seeing the cold pale bodies of her parents lying on the steel table infront of her.
They looked like they were sleeping with their eyes closed but Clara had heard the man in a police uniform and the man in white say they were dead.
Tears spilled down her cheeks and her lungs hurt as she sniffled. Her parents were dead, she would never see them again, never play with them again, she would never feel her mother's warm hands as they bathed her and worse she would never see them stand in the same room as them ever again.
For a twelve year old it really was the end. Her vision blurred so much due to tears that she could barely see however it was at that moment she felt two palms gently caress her cheek and then the pads of thumbs wipe away the tears in her eyes. When her vision cleared she saw for the first time in her life an expression of sadness, care and concern on Erick's face. Tears ran down his cheeks and his lips trembled even as he spoke:
"Don't worry Lil C. I'll make sure that nothing ever happens to you okay"
Tears spilled down harder and the two siblings who were left alone in the world embraced one another for the first time.
From then on Erick took care of her. He learnt to bathe her, cook for her, he even took her to school and always managed to make it for her big events. He basically took over the role of a parent and a breadwinner. Clara didn't know where and how but Erick always managed to pay off her school fees and the bills.
What she did notice was that every night Erick would leave and by morning he would be back home preparing her for the day, his knuckles however would be swollen and most times his face too.
When she asked he would always tell her not to worry about anything and focus on school.
And so time passed.
As Clara grew older she realized that Erick would still leave for the night but he no longer spotted bruises when he returned. More years passed until Clara was off college under a government scholarship. She was a bright student Afterall.
And then this summer break she returned home only to find that her brother had changed once more. He had been sitting on a single sofa in the living room with his shirt taken off. It was the first sight she saw when she returned home after being away for more than 7 months. When she saw Erick in that state she gasped and found herself turning pale.
He was more muscular than she remembered his muscles compact with strength that was gained through experiencing the real world- not through hitting the gym, a large black ink tattoo an down the left side of his neck and covered most of his chest. It took on the image of a black tiger with a fierce expression. It was well known to the inhabitants of the Western Province.
The Tiger Gang.
An organization that dominated most of the dark corners of their province. They were a ruthless gang that dealt with some of the shadiest things...at least that was what the rumors said.
However what really made Clara react the way she did however was the clear cut round wound on his right shoulder that was actively leaking crimson blood down her brother's arms.
"Erick!" she found herself shouting.
Erick froze then turned to look at her with a surprised expression on his face, the kind that you make when you have been caught doing something that you shouldn't have.
"H-heavy Lil C" he smiled nervously then he said. "You came early"
"Don't Lil C me" Clara stomped into the kitchen, snatched a towel and then came his side. Erick had a bottle of spirit and alcohol beside him together with some white wraps. He had obviously been trying to dress the wound but doing such a delicate task with his left hand while being right handed must have been extremely difficult.
Clara began to help him. She poured the spirit over the towel and began to clean the wound. The more she did so the more she could see that the hole in his shoulder wasn't just a normal injury.
"This is a bullet wound isn't it?" she said while biting her lower lip.
Erick didn't answer causing Clara to be frustrated.
"Erick you better answer me or else I'll let you bleed out in this goddamn couch" she pressed the towel a little bit harder eliciting a hiss from her brother.
"Okay! Okay... Yes its a bullet wound" he answered
"H-how did you get it?"
"On the job"
"What kind of job?"
Erick didn't answered.
"Erick what kind of job?" she asked again.
"I think you know what kind of job" he replied looking away from her as though he was ashamed.
Clara knew what he meant. For a long time Clara had been having suspicions about the kind of work Erick did and the clues that were right in front of her today were like the final nail placed in position on the coffin without being hammered down just yet.
"I want to hear it from you" she said.
Erick maintained his silence. Seconds ticked by with no one saying anything, for a moment the only sound that seemed to echoed in the living room was the sound of the wraps being woven over the wound.
Clara opened her mouth to say something but Erick's voice cut her off.
"I work for a gang" Erick turned his head to look her in the eye. "I work for the Tiger gang"
Clara abruptly stood up and stepped away from him as though he were made of fire. Both of her hands covered her mouth that was wide open as though she was about to scream.
She had expected it. Of course she had, the evidence that Erick was involved in something he shouldn't was right in front of her after all. But hearing Erick say it out loud, confirming it, it still sent her heart reeling.
"You have understand. It was the only way I could take care of us. After what happened to our parents I knew we needed money and protection but in this part of town good protection could only come from one place and one place alone" he explained.
"What about the police?" Clara asked
"What about them?" Erick scoffed. "You saw it too back then. How they treated our parents death as though it was just another Tuesday. No I couldn't trust them to protect us so I went to people who really could. The guys who really own the streets"
Clara's shoulders were trembling now. Her eyes becoming moist.
Seeing her like this Erick sighed helpless as he stood up from his feet and stepped towards her. Eventually he was standing directly in front of her, his large frame hovering over her. Clara's head could barely make it to his shoulder.
Erick wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a hug.
"Look. I know it wasn't a morally right decision to make but you have to understand... That was the only way we could survive here. The money for the house, the bills and your education- it all comes from my job" he whispered to her. "I'm not proud of the things I've done and the things I will possibly do but I promise you I wont ever let anything bad happen to you okay. I'll make sure to protect our family"
Clara found herself hugging him back and then crying softly into his chest.
Clara managed to come to peace with the fact that her brother was sacrificing far more for their sake. She didn't think that she had the right to stop him, after all everything that they had now was thanks to Erick's connection to the Tiger gang and even though Erick never didn't really tell her what he did exactly, she knew better than to ask.
They managed to return to a semblance of normalcy after that but a week after that the apocalypse descended.
With the sudden emergence of the Spirit Record humans were exposed to the enigmatic energy called mana. Those who could withstand the mana were granted access to the Spirit Record System that allowed the people to absorb the soul essence of the enemies they killed.
Those that failed to withstand the mana however became the mindless creatures known as ravids. Who consumed the flesh of humans to grow more powerful.
Humans weren't the only things affected though. Most animals became violent, bloodthirsty beasts and a few plants were mutated as well.
Chaos and death wrought through the town and with the escalating scale of danger Erick had no choice but to go to the safest place he knew... The Tiger gang.