The gunshot echoed long after Belle wiped the last of Gilbert's blood off her rifle.
"Come on, let's go," she said, briskly walking away from the corpse without checking to see if anyone was following. After a moment two pairs of footsteps hurried after her.
"Belle?" Arthur started tentatively.
"I'm fine."
"Not that I question your judgment, but, um, shouldn't we be going the other way?"
At that, she finally came to a halt. Her hand automatically went to her pocket for the compass, but she stopped herself when she caught sight of the old wheelie bin up ahead. Her spent cartridge from earlier was undoubtedly in its bowels.
"Y-yeah, sorry." Exhaling, she turned around, sidestepped the boys, and resumed her quick pace.
"Belle—" Arthur, grateful for his new shoes, caught up with her and dared to put a hand on her shoulder. She jerked, and he pulled away stammering.
"Don't worry, just a reflex. You're fine." She paused, though her legs continued forward full-throttle. "Are you fine?" A sideways look at him confirmed the cut had stopped bleeding, although his grey shirt was now significantly darker below his collarbone.
"Um, yes. I don't believe he broke anything," Arthur said quickly, rolling his right shoulder back with a wince. "But how are you?"
"Fine." Belle shrugged, watching the road ahead. "He didn't even hit me."
"I don't mean physically."
When Belle's gaze hit his, Arthur looked down at the raccoon carcass hanging from his hand.
"If you, um, don't want to talk about it, you don't, uh, have to..." He reached to scratch his head but cringed enough to cut the effort short.
Belle sighed, watching her feet displace bits of broken asphalt. "Maybe later. It's more important to keep moving."
Arthur stayed beside her for a moment before his line of sight fell to the makeshift bag of meat. Lifting it in front of Belle, he offered, "We'll have to stop for lunch eventually, and, um, now's as good a time as any. If you're hungry. Kiku, how about you? Hungry?"
Kiku looked at Arthur, then Belle. "I can eat whenever it would be convenient."
"That means he's hungry," Arthur said, looking back at Belle with a nervous grin.
Belle swallowed, looking ahead just in time to sidestep a thoroughly-dented pink car. With one hand, she pushed herself off the side of the the trunk and kept walking. Taking a deep breath, she said, "Once we get to the lake, okay?"
Nodding eagerly, Arthur lowered his catch and stayed in line with her as they walked. Kiku kept up the same pace, although he seemed content to stay a few feet behind them.
They came up to the golf course sooner than Belle expected, and in another minute they were slowing down to avoid walking straight into the water. The three came to a stop at the edge of the asphalt and hesitated, both men throwing glances at Belle to see what she wanted to do next.
After blankly watching the water, Belle turned and took a step to the side. "I'll gather some firewood," she said, voice drained. "Stay here and... pull out the bones, or whatever we're doing."
She walked stiffly towards the trees, a speechless Arthur staring after her. Kiku gently took the raccoon without meeting resistance and unwrapped the meat. After another moment of watching Belle pick up branches, Arthur sat down by Kiku to help with the meal.
"Have you already gutted this?" Kiku started, pulling at the meat to check for himself.
"Yes. We just need to skewer it or pull it apart or something." Chewing on the inside of his cheek, Arthur reached for the raccoon with the wrong arm and immediately put it down with a sharp swear.
Kiku's eyes flashed up to meet his. "I don't have that many painkillers, but—"
"No, no," Arthur said quickly, gingerly rubbing where his neck met his shoulder. "Save them for something more serious. Or at least until tomorrow. If I'm not back to shooting by then, it could be more of an issue." He turned his head with a wince to check on Belle. "Although I doubt she's in much of a shooting mood right now."
Kiku pulled a stray piece of fur off the meat. "I can take the lead if you'd rather me fend off the infecteds for a while."
"That sounds like a good idea."
The clatter of wood accompanied Belle's pile of firewood falling to the ground beside the men. Arthur quickly scooted over to arrange it as she unloaded her baggage. Kiku skewered the raccoon meat without meeting her eye.
"If you'd be more comfortable talking to Arthur alone," he started, "I can go elsewhere for a moment. Seeing as I've only just met you, I wouldn't expect to be included in such a personal conversation."
Belle swept some stray chips of wood off her arms. "No, it's fine. To be honest, I tend to forget you're there, anyway." Her short laugh was strained.
Kiku nodded. "All right."
An earthy-smelling smoke signaled Arthur's success with the fire, and Kiku scooted over to put the raccoon in place. Dragging her bags behind her, Belle took her place around the campfire. The faint crackling went on uninterrupted for a span.
"So," Arthur started eventually, crossing his legs. He opened his mouth to say something else but thought better of it and turned towards Belle.
"So." Belle leaned forward a bit, her chest touching her bent knees. The growing warmth of the fire was a nice feeling, despite the lack of any chill today. "I shot Gilbert."
Arthur watched the flames writhe. "He deserved it."
Belle let out a short sigh, wrapping her arms around her legs. "Maybe. But I wasn't exactly in a lucid state of mind when I passed judgment, and even now I..." Shaking her head, she sucked in a shuddering breath, and Arthur suddenly thought he might be about to see her cry for the first time. He pulled himself a bit closer to the fire.
"That was entirely his fault," Arthur said. "And his attempt to tear your mind apart only shows more of his depravity. I promise you were justified in shooting him." His arms trembled enough he chose to fold them.
The roasted scent of meat was starting to diffuse now, but Belle was looking too far back to delight in the meal ahead. "Yeah," she managed, reaching for the skewer to turn the meat a bit.
After a while of nothing but the fire spitting and a few birds chirping, Kiku exhaled softly. "But what he said about your brother hurts just as much?"
Belle pulled her arm back and rested it over her other one. "Yeah... I just like to think of Claus as safe, you know? Even though I might not actually find him. Even though all of the odds are against it. Even though Ludwig was worlds stronger, and he got killed, and there must be so many others, and i-it just doesn't seem like there's really a chance, between the infecteds a-and the psychos and even just someone p-passing through, a-and that's not even worrying a-about normal accidents, or what c-could happen to his m-mind, o-o-or..." She finally stopped, crying too hard to keep talking.
Unable to swallow the surge of panic, Arthur couldn't for the life of him determine what he was supposed to do about this. Half of his brain was still in shock at her actually sitting there sobbing, and the remainder was not adept enough to do much of anything by itself. After another moment of vacillating, he shuffled over to her, touching his left shoulder and foot to her right. The contact made it so easy to feel her trembling he almost backed away right then. Instead he glued himself to the spot, although he did abandon all thought of putting an arm around her shoulders.
"He's fine," he started, unable to keep his voice from shaking.
Belle laughed, in a horrible, gasping way that allowed her to keep crying. "Y-you don't believe that at all, do you?"
"I d—I—I don't know!" He looked off to the side, gritting his teeth at the twinge in his neck. "I don't know him, I don't know who was with him, I don't know how things have been in Hunt, I don't know how they're going to be, and I don't know what we'll see when we get there. All I—all I know is that you two share blood, and you're tough as all get-out, so he must have some chance."
Gasping for breath a few more times, Belle pressed her forehead to her knees. "Yeah? Because I'm sure s-scared out of my m-mind right now."
"But not for yourself." He shifted, closing his eyes for a moment. "I... I'd care to bet he's scared for you, too. And he has nothing to worry about, now, does he?"
Belle sniffed loudly, giving no other response. Arthur kept his mouth shut just as tightly, while Kiku rotated the meat.
By the time Kiku quietly announced that the meal was ready, Belle had calmed down considerably, although her breaths shook and clean stripes gleamed down her cheeks. She watched Kiku move the meat off the fire without making eye contact and accepted her share with a nearly silent thanks. Arthur muttered a thank-you as well, carefully reaching for his portion with his right arm so he wouldn't have to break contact with Belle. No one ate until Belle took her first bite.
"Do you often eat raccoon?" Kiku eventually started.
Arthur looked up at him. "Yes, I suppose. It's not my favorite type of meat by any means, but it's available."
He took another bite of his food before realizing Kiku was still looking at him, nodding his head towards Belle.
"Um, and you?" Arthur started. "Belle?"
She exhaled. "Not particularly. I'm sure I've had some before this, though." She chewed a bit more and swallowed. "Probably on Mystery Meat Day at the Nourriture qui Sauve."
Arthur raised his eyebrows. "At the what?"
Belle turned the critter leg in her hand to get to the last of the meat. "The restaurant I work for."
"Oh, that. Okay." Arthur took his time chewing his next mouthful, but Belle exhaled, starting to slump over her meal a bit more. Jittering, Arthur swallowed before he should have and hacked.
"But, um—" he swallowed again—"if they already serve zombies, is it, er, really a marketing risk to tell the customers exactly what else they're eating?"
"Ha." Belle picked a bone clean and hurled it into the trees behind her. "Maybe it's just a guessing game to liven things up. We do get a cow's worth of beef every once in a while, but most of the menu isn't meat known for its savor." She exhaled. "Maybe we'd just rather pretend we're eating intolerable school cafeteria food. So life seems a little more normal."
"Makes sense." Arthur polished a bone but couldn't presently move either arm enough to throw it. He just dropped it by his side for the moment. Only then did he realize Kiku had stopped chewing.
"A restaurant that serves…" the swordsman started, not lifting the raccoon in his hands for another bite.
Belle smiled, more ironically than amusedly. "Yes, infected meat. I guess it sounds inherently disgusting to anyone who hasn't worked and eaten there for a year." She sat up a little, although her elbows still hooked around her knees. "It's the cure, though. Or maybe more of a vaccine. We don't know any details since most people aren't ready to risk being bitten without it, but a good strip of jerky keeps away infection for a day or so."
Kiku blinked evenly, carefully taking another bite of meat. After swallowing, he said, "Really?"
Belle nodded, rolling a clean raccoon rib between her thumb and forefinger. "We still don't like to be reckless about running around with infecteds, but it worked for the woman who figured it out, and it's worked for others, too."
"How interesting," Kiku murmured, taking a sip of water.
Belle's worn smile showed again. "You're allowed to say weird."
"No, no, I really mean interesting." Chewing quickly, he swallowed the last of his meat. "I haven't heard of or considered something like that before."
"Please tell me you're not going to start eating zombie, too," Arthur grumbled, rubbing his forehead.
Kiku scooped the remains of his meal into a neat pile. "I may, if the situation comes to warrant it. Am I to assume you haven't tried any?"
Arthur gagged. "Goodness, no. I'd like to keep my sense of taste intact."
Kiku only looked perplexed for a moment before wiping his face clean of expression. "All right."
Belle picked her last bone clean. "You do realize you're already eating raccoon."
"With altogether negligible amounts of decay," Arthur added, shaking a roasted leg at her. "Bit of a difference."
A smile, still tired but not as strained, graced her face for a moment. "I'll give you that." Slowly, she got back to her feet, flung the rest of her bones into the brush, and picked up the first bag to go over her shoulder. Kiku followed suit, while Arthur hurried to finish off his ration. Dropping the leg bones before all of the meat was completely inside his mouth, he picked up his bucket and straightened out his arrows.
"Ready to go, I assume?" he started, helping Belle with her second bag.
"Yeah." She adjusted the shoulder strap and stomped out the fire. Wiping her face—or at least smudging it so the tear tracks weren't visible—she looked to Arthur and smiled. "Thanks."