If there's anything Lu isn't afraid of, it's the dark.
Dynamo purrs comfortingly in her pocket, but she doesn't need it. A few well-placed swings of her stiletto blade, a well-timed pistol whip, and when worst comes to worst, a few bullets are what keeps her out of trouble. The few zombies in the fourth basement fall at her feet like a curtain of flesh. Dynamo offers an appreciative mewl.
"Thank you, thank you," she says offhand to the cat. Fortunately, cats don't really care for sarcasm, or at least Dynamo doesn't. She wipes the blood on her stiletto blade onto a felled zombie's rotting clothes and sticks it back into its space in her sleeve.
Except it nearly slips out again. Lu bites a swear under her breath as she remembers she's got a new jacket now. The sleeves don't have the little sheath that she made in her old jacket, unfortunately. The parka, as warm as it is, doesn't feel like home yet.
Another thing Lu envies about Dynamo: the ability to sleep literally everywhere. The cat has already made his home in her largest pocket, and has claimed it as his own. She shakes her head with a smile and turns back to the task at hand.
The fourth parking lot is structured a lot like the fifth, except it's significantly less empty. Unlike the fifth, which is barren save for their little corner, the fourth parking lot is occupied with a sparse few cars, most of which are parked slightly crooked. Lu squints at the nearest one with an ounce of doubt and sighs. She backs up for all of two metres before dashing at it at full speed and making full contact of her foot to the window.
Nothing happens. Dynamo shrieks in surprise and discomfort; Lu offers him a consolation pat, which he accepts begrudgingly. Cats, as she's discovered, are surprisingly easy to please. All they want is warm pockets and food and face scritches from kind owners, which she can provide easily.
Car windows, on the other hand, are a lot harder to break into. She doesn't know if the cars here are as well-equipped with anti-theft functions as the ones in Empyrean, but given that Altera has always been known as the technological capital of Elrios, it's safe to say she shouldn't be tampering with the locks. The windows are made from bulletproof glass, though, and if she shattered one, wouldn't that make it harder to defend their precious supplies?
Gritting her teeth, Lu moves away from this car and finds the next one. It, too, is locked. She pounds on the window, nearly breaks her fingers prying open the back trunk, and even tries to open the hood. Nothing works.
She glances around again. Even though it's dark, her eyes have adjusted well to the lack of light. She literally only needs one car to work for Elesis's crazy plan to work out, just one functioning car that she can hack and slash her way into. She takes a third sweep of the room, groans, and looks back at the one at hand.
It's an older car, judging by the keypad lock system. There's definitely no time to be scavenging for lost car keys since the others will be returning soon, so Lu kneels down, lets Dynamo out of her pocket to be her lookout, and starts prying the keypad off with her stiletto. She digs into the handle, lifting the brittle plastic, and wedges her fingers in before extracting her stiletto blade. "Here goes," she mutters, and slams the butt of her pistol into it.
The impact shatters the plastic easily, but leaves a chasm of blossoming pain over Lu's fingers where the worst of the force had been directed. She yelps, both plastic and pistol clattering to the ground as she curls up around her hand, whimpering. Dynamo bounds over and yowls at her in concern.
"It's alright, Dynamo," she whispers, her voice suddenly very, very small as she tries to pat his little head. "We got the lock off. I'll be okay."
Dynamo kneads her fingers helpfully. Every movement sends shockwaves of pain through her hand.
Damn it, Luciela, why couldn't you have thought things through before you acted? The voice that yells at her while pain blurs her vision sounds suspiciously like her mother. How are you supposed to act as a role model for your brother if you can't even act as a role model for your peers? What kind of leader do you want to be? What kind of leader can you be if you're incompetent? No daughter of mine should be as thoughtless as some common queen bee.
"Shut the fuck up, Mother," Lu growls. Dynamo yelps and scurries under the car, and the pain is immediately replaced by guilt. "Oh, Dynamo, you poor thing, come here."
She pats him down soothingly, apologetically, trying her best not to curl her fingers at all. If anything, the memories hurt more than her hand. She picks her pistol back up with her good hand—thankfully, her dominant right hand—and holsters it and her stiletto blade properly. She's only just getting started with the car, after all.
The rest is a lot simpler: she breaks the rest of the keypad off just by lifting it, exposing the wiring beneath. Alteran cars have long battery lives, and this one still has just enough juice for her to open it up and mess with some wires. While it's not easy with just one hand, she manages to work with it, pinching things with her relatively unhurt thumb and her swelling index finger. A few minutes later, with Dynamo still prowling around her feet like a little sentinel, the car lights flood the darkness, sending the cat scampering, and the telltale beepbeep of the car system tells her she's won.
"Suck on that, Mother," she says, and swings open the door.
The car probably belonged to a suburban family of about four; Lu spots a sports bag of ice skates when she opens the back trunk, along with a box full of emergency provisions like cans of soup that she can bring back. "We scored big on this one, Dynamo," she says excitedly, rifling through the trunk. Sure, the entire car smells like rotten eggs, but she can always get an air freshener for that, right? There's blankets in the back. A towel that she can use to mop Dynamo down, at long last. Spare batteries. She doesn't even need to use to the one from the Battering Ram!
Then the light blows out, and the car makes an audible whirring noise as its power source dies. "Whoops," Lu giggles, hefting the spare car battery out of the trunk. It's heavy, and she doesn't want to drop it on Dynamo in the darkness, so she puts it back in the trunk and bends down to put the cat in her hood first. "Alright, let's go."
Installing the new battery is also simple. She presses a mechanical button from the driver's seat, and the hood pops open for her to expose. There's more stuff stored in the front trunk, including a whole pallet of water, but she pushes it aside and opens the layer underneath. From there, she lifts out the old battery and lets the new one settle in.
The car rumbles to life again. Lu almost claps in glee before she winces from the pain.
"Now to start it up," she murmurs, slipping into the driver's seat and slamming the door shut. Just as Rose taught her, she reaches under the steering wheel and feels around until she finds the panel that opens when she presses it. The emergency startup button is just a click away after that.
Thank god Elrian technology is so user friendly.
Before she buckles herself in, though, she looks around one last time, and runs around back to the trunk. There's a roll of duct tape back there, and better yet, a pair of flat plastic shovels. She breaks off the handles with her good hand before using them and the duct tape to split her bad hand. It's messy work, and it's definitely not painless, but when she gets back into the driver's seat, she feels like she can grip the steering wheel a little less painfully.
"Alright," Lu says, exhaling. "Seatbelt." She reaches for the seatbelt; the strap crumbles in her grip. "Oh well. Check the seat." As Rose told her, there's a little slider at the side of her seat, which she messes around with until she can comfortably switch between the gas pedal and the brake pedal. Serves her right for being 4'8", she supposes.
She presses the ignition. The engine coughs and hacks its way to life, which is better than she'd expected, honestly. "Alrighty." She pushes the gear to Drive. "Let's go."
This is how Luciela Rowena Sourcream, age 17, manages to crash a car on her first attempt driving: she grossly underestimates how sensitive the gas pedal is, and fucking floors it, causing her rickety vehicle from fifteen years ago to lurch forwards at the speed of a rampaging cheetah and hit a nearby car with all the associated force.
The dust settles. Dynamo yowls in complaint. "Whoops," Lu says sheepishly, switching gears to Reverse and backing up gently. With a bit of gentle navigation and very delicate steering, she's able to drive all the way out of the parking lot, down the ramp, and to the door that leads to the fifth parking lot. It's not easy, but she does it.
Hah. Take that. She does a little happy dance, and pumps her fist in the air. Dynamo purrs his approval.
The door shifts, sending up a plume of dust, and Lu startles. "Are Elesis and Rose back already…?" she murmurs, one hand on Dynamo's back to calm the cat down. Sure enough, standing at the junction box by the door is Rose, thumb jammed into the button that manually raises the door. "Rose! You guys are back already!"
Rose nods wisely. "That, we are," she says, face lit up in ghostly pink and gold in the headlights. "Our mission was probably easier than everyone else's because our destination was a lot closer, and we knew where we were going." She smiles. "But hey, we found new backpacks."
As soon as the door rises all the way, Lu steps a little on the gas, causing the car to lurch forwards a bit more. Rose raises an eyebrow as the wheels drag the car body into the fifth parking lot. "Ahahaha," Lu manages, "I'm, uh, a new driver?"
"Your battery part won't last that long if you keep doing that," Rose says, exasperated.
"I'm not even using the battery part you gave me!"
Elesis greets them excitedly over by the pile of their existing supplies, which has grown since Lu climbed up the vent shaft. "Oh my god, what happened to your hand?" she asks, worry lining her face as Lu climbs out of the car. "Did a zombie do this?"
"No, I was just dumb." A flash of pain; she sets it aside and puts on a smile. "It's just a bruise. I'll recover soon enough."
They start to load things into the new car, which is a pitiful replacement for the Battering Ram and its maximized storage space. Rose grimaces at the layer of dust on it that now clouds their corner, but it's better than nothing.
Ara and Add return first, armed with new boots, fruit snacks, and a better mental map of the safe locations in the mall. They seem a lot more comfortable speaking to each other now, which is significantly better than last night. Lu wonders if it was just their experience with the runners in the food court that shook them, or if it was the incident that she overheard of while Add was talking to Rose. Either way, the basement floor gets a lot livelier. Ara shows off her new boots and thick socks, and promises to bring Lu to the store where she got them.
It takes a lot longer for Ciel and Ain to return, though. Lu finds herself looking back at the door to the mall upstairs, even though it remains dark. She occupies herself with bandaging her hand and helping Rose move things into the new car. She snags a bag of dried apples and pears, since someone seems to have taken her jerky and a handful of her trail mix. She pops a pear slice in her mouth while Dynamo nibbles a chunk from his nest in her pocket. "Verdict?"
The cat purrs happily. Lu smiles and gives him another one.
The doors open suddenly, and Ciel and Ain come running out, shutting the door swiftly behind them. Ciel scans the basement; Lu meets his gaze with a smile. "Oh, Lu, you're okay," he says, voice choked, as he runs to wrap her in a hug. Dynamo mewls defiantly as he gets lightly squished, but it's alright, it's alright, Ciel is here and he's alive and well.
"You didn't run into any zombies?" Ciel asks. He sounds almost fragile in the moment, on the verge of shattering. "Didn't get hurt?"
Lu manages a short laugh. "Well. I did run into zombies, but I killed them before they could get to me. And I did get hurt, but that was because I was a dumbass, not because of the zombies." She shows his her bandaged hand with only a single dramatic flounce. "It's a little bruised, but nothing that won't heal."
Ciel nods weakly.
"We ran into some really terrifying things." Ain is shaking where he's standing against the wall with his arms wrapped around his middle. "I don't know what it was, or if it was anything at all, but there was something prowling in the hallway outside." He shudders." It was like a mountain of flesh."
Elesis purses her lips. "Actually, now that you mention it," she says, "the Behemoth's body wasn't there when we passed by the sports store where you guys took it down. Do you think it could be still alive?"
"It would explain the shape," Ain agrees. "It was constantly rippling as it moved. We got back here because we speedwalked."
"Good choice," Ara mutters. "Things that run are meant to be chased."
Lu watches as Elesis and Rose exchange a look. "Anyone kill any other zombies on your way through the mall?" she asks. "Anything, even a kindergartener?"
Ciel goes tense before relaxing again, and Lu has to look up to face him. "Ciel?"
"It's nothing," he says. "I just remembered… The body of the Behemoth was gone when we saw it."
"Alright, so we may be dealing with the Behemoth part two," Elesis concludes, thumping her baseball bat on the ground. It rings hollowly, echoing through the parking lot. "So we'll just have to be extra, extra careful." She stares everyone in the eye. "If we go separately, we won't have the element of surprise on our side anymore. But we'll need to split into teams to maximize our coverage of the mall if we want to get out of here by today."
The risk hangs in the air. Whatever's out there, it's spooked the others. Ara and Add came out untouched; Ciel and Ain are visibly shaken. Elesis has her jaw set like she's going to beat something up, but there's fear in the way her fist trembles. Rose won't meet anyone's eyes.
But they can't stay here, not when something prowls outside. The faster they haul ass out of Altera, the better. Lu stands up straight in Ciel's arms and pumps her fist. "Come on, guys," she says, channeling all of her latent optimistic 17-year old energy that she keeps hidden for these moments. "We're gonna survive, alright? Even if the Behemoth is still alive and bumping, I killed it once and I'll kill it again."
It's not much, but it gets a smile onto Elesis's face. "Right," she says, folding her knees in and out to stretch. "Alright, lads, we all know what we're looking for. Let's get to it."
When Ciel finally lets go of Lu, he gives her a look, before moving over to where Ain is still shivering by the wall. As Lu watches, slightly mesmerized, they speak in quiet tones, likely a reassurance of some sort, before her brother pulls them into a hug. She thinks she hears a choked sob.
She turns away, not daring to watch any longer. It feels like she's intruding on a quiet moment that isn't meant for the eyes of an outsider.
They set out after Rose and Add deem the car strong enough to hold their things, though Rose looks at the wrinkled front of the car with disdain and a turned-up nose. Lu slips her stiletto into her sleeve and grips her pistol in her good hand before picking a new backpack out of the pile. This one is black and white with faded blue accents. She slips it over her parka and runs to get Ciel to adjust the straps for her.
"Is Ain okay?" she asks as Ciel kneels at her side, tugging on the backpack straps and fixing the velcro. "He looks kinda scared."
"He is," Ciel says, and looks like he wants to say something else. "Do you want to leave Dynamo here, just in case?"
"Nah." She reaches into her pocket with her bandaged hand; Dynamo's little head comes up, rumbling with his purrs, to meet it. "Can't slay the Behemoth without my trusted sidekick."
The team meets at the staircase a few minutes later, each carrying a new backpack to carry their new supplies. "Ready?" Elesis asks. "Let's all come back alive."
Oh, alive she can do. Lu is a survivor, after all.
(But maybe, just maybe, after seeing how haunted Ciel looks, she might be a little bit afraid of the dark.)
A/N: i am so sorry for the late update, guys. last week was hell with schoolwork, and this week being march break i lost track of time and forgot to upload because i drew pokespe characters for 6 hours straight.
but i suppose being fashionably late means i got to work a bit more on this chapter! it's always fun to integrate Lu lore into fics because she's got a very interesting background. in this fic, she'll be dealing with a lot of her past, and trying to put it behind her. not that it's gonna be easy, of course.
her fingers aren't broken, btw, just very bruised and swollen! the impact of the pistol butt + plastic hit her hand pretty hard, but she'll recover soon, i'm sure of it!
~Marg