Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! or Vampire Hunter D.
Life's been rough, but I'm sure you all know that. Can't really explain the massive delay as anything else. I hope everyone is doing well.
Fair warning, the next two chapters are not filled with rainbows, and that's part of the reason I struggled to revise them (they were written...just didn't have much time or mental oomph to get through it).
Thank you all for your patience. Enjoy!
Chapter Fifty-Five: Turn Four
The boy bit his lip as he watched his friends truck up the grated industrial steps, his mind like the sudden torrential rain that lashed at them. The great dark clouds loomed low as they dumped their contents, pushed along by battering winds. It had yet to reach the main fire in the city that had been set by mysterious means but left him and those he escaped with a brief reprieve from smoke inhalation. He clutched the straps of what he knew to be his bag and Claire's, his fingers eking out droplets from the soaked fabric. Seconds ticked by and their stamping ascent echoed in his ears. Another obvious sign of their passage. With a wave of bitter impatience, he wished for impossible options.
"Hurry!" The edge in his normally somber voice cut, about as useful as the blade that sat snug in its sheath on his back.
"We are!" came the agitated reply.
Claire dragged Amami along, the dark-haired girl gasping as she tried to manage her stuffed pack and the guitar she had unceremoniously taken from the bedroom. It had been the only noticeable "weapon" available to her and had proven its use twice in shunting the human populace away from their quick escape. She stumbled, and the instrument made a pathetic twang as it smacked against the railing; the only sound it could produce from here on out. The core of it had been crushed to pieces.
"We need to get inside," D said, pointing to the remnants of some now unused factory. Holes punctured many of the brick and metal walls, the material likely used for other projects. Even the rung of stairs they climbed looked like they had once been covered by some blue-ridged plating. Now their innards lay exposed to the elements. He could hear water accumulating in those uncovered crevices at a rapid pace.
"No shit, Sherlock," Claire roared back at him. She struggled to maintain pace for herself and the other girl, hefting the heavy backpack she had managed to snag a little higher on her shoulder. Her rifle, covered by her coat, remained useless in its haphazardly tied position. She shook with cold but refused to have her weapon damaged further than it already had been.
"Please, please stop fighting," Amami begged. Exhaustion dragged her words much like her feet in her feeble attempt not to trip on a stair.
"We're not," the other girl grumbled, finally reaching the point that D deemed safe enough. He pivoted and continued his ascent. As if trying to hide the sound—or sympathize with her frustration—the wind howled in fury just as Claire expelled a nasty curse toward his back. He heard Amami gasp, appalled by her word choice, but the phrases made D smile. She still had the energy to throw that at him. What a kind way to express she would continue to keep up.
As another gallon poured upon them, he reached a floor that leveled out to a door before the stairs continued up to their twisted end, the remainders of the untouched blue covering smashed and fused into them by some previous unknown destruction. D gripped the handle of a gate made of the same material and assessed if it could be opened. His testing lift felt like something held the shutter shut. He sighed, knowing he had little choice, and applied a calculated amount of pressure on the two handles. With a quiet set of hopeful words slipping from him, he wished for his actions not to break the "door" itself and leave their entrance exposed. A straining creak and splitting of something from inside provoked a tentative optimism within him. Wriggling his fingers in the minor crack he had created, he internally cheered as the gate allowed itself to be lifted with a smooth movement with one final protesting snap.
"In here!" he called back, holding the barrier up just shy of his head.
Amami practically fell in, clutching the neck of her weapon-instrument as she set to sobbing. Claire slid in with the grace of accumulative training, although in her weariness she did refrain from standing up even as she glared out into the storm. D ducked into the building and guided the gate down. He used his foot to completely seal the entrance; the handles and their respective lock had been pried off with the force he had exerted.
"They're coming," Claire said between gasps, eyes still focused on an outside she could not see. "We slowed them down, but we were lucky to get even this far."
"Don't say that!" Amami screamed and turned to hit the girl. D caught her fist, setting more tears to spill. She fell against him and cried. "My daddy's out there!" she bewailed. "Don't say that! What if they get him?!"
D and Claire exchanged looks. Such expressions were grim and far too old to be on the faces of those their age. 'Again, we must grow up before our time,' he thought. He boiled with rage at the unjust way their lives seemed to be going and felt that familiar pang that this moment was his fault. His friends did not deserve this stress and pain. They should be leading peaceful lives, making friends…keeping friends. Each day, each interaction with others only confirmed to D that it would be so much easier for them if he was not a part of the equation.
'I don't think that such a thing will ever be meant for me,' he lamented to himself. If Bakura had just escaped alone…He stopped himself before he began down the same worrying path that Amami was taking. Such thinking had to be reserved for later when their lives were not immediately at stake. He refocused on Claire with a calculating gaze.
"Water?" he asked.
"Got it," she replied, needing no further clarification. "Not touching my gun. Have to let it dry."
Hopefully, it will work in the future, he heard her hidden worry amidst the strain in her tone. He nodded. Pulling the chef's knife from its temporary storage in her pack, he handed the blade to her. She eyed it before giving the metal portion a few sprays from her previous gift.
"It's dull," she complained, but did not hand it back.
"Use force," D said with a shrug. She gave him a snarky grin.
"And you left the zipper open too much. My stuff is wet."
"Tough."
"I'll tough your journal into the river—"
"We have to keep moving," he interjected, pulling them from the distracted banter they were falling into. "We can rest here just long enough until we are ready to run again."
"But where are we running?" Amami asked, taking deep breaths to calm herself. "We're by the water…we're surrounded by water now. It's raining."
"It won't be for long," Claire said.
"How do you know?" the other girl asked.
"I just do."
Amami scrunched her nose at that and approached D with a pleading expression. "I didn't see a boat anywhere; I don't think we can run away like we did last time…" She shuddered at the memory of Domino. "And…what about everyone else?"
"That's not the plan," D said, readjusting the backpacks strapped to his back, pointedly zipping up Claire's bag the rest of the way. He received a raspberry as thanks.
"What is the plan?!"
"First, reconnaissance," he replied as if it were obvious. "We have to get to a window and try to reconfigure our understanding of the city. Once we do that, we run for the airport."
"Why the airport?"
"Because that's our real boat," Claire said. "Everyone's gonna go there. For one reason or another. Y'know, like they do. Then they'll start looking for us. It only makes sense if our place is attacked to go to our next safe area."
"But is it really safe? There were vampires that knew about us—"
"Fair," D acquiesced. "But they didn't know us well enough."
"Yeah," Claire guffawed. "They thought you were him. Probably saved our lives."
"Saved our lives?" Amami asked in disbelief. "They were going to attack!"
"They were going to attack me, probably. But you got them all confused with your little hair accessory," she pointed to the girl's soaked hair and the limp ribbon that hung from it. "So, thanks. You saved my life."
"You're…welcome," Amami said, flabbergasted by her words.
Claire gave her a sincere smile before returning her attention on the boy. "Maybe they came with us, maybe they didn't. Either way, we don't have much of a choice for where to go, do we?"
"No." Their eyes met, and D felt an unpleasant shiver run through his body. The girl blinked in confusion and made a move to offer a comforting hand on his shoulder, worry drawing lines on her face. Dodging her touch, he turned on a swift heel and began walking down the abandoned factory hall, his footprints hardly soaking the ground with their absence of sound. Claire and Amami followed after him, a silent understanding forming between them.
They converged before a large windowpane facing the city. Just behind them across the massive room lay another window staring into the stormy sky and the river rolling below. The other half of what was once a bustling place lay empty just beyond it.
"Do you have it?" Claire asked.
"Do you?" D returned in monotone.
Again, the girls shared a look between them, and Claire shook her head. "We don't have your eyes, dude."
D looked past the smearing curtain of rain and let himself smile a little. A hint of a fang peeked between his lips. Their candor left him with no other choice; it was hard to remain in one's own head bemoaning the curse of one's birth when presented with a fact so bluntly.
"Mark this," he began, "the front is too obvious, dangerous, and too complicated. We take the back way by the water, hop fences when necessary. When we hit the actual road, follow it straight past the tunnel—that little round building—take the curve…"
"By the park," Claire said, brightening. "I remember that!"
"Then you know where to go?"
"Sort of," Amami said while Claire bobbed her head vigorously. "If you're leading us though, why should we have to know?"
"In case we have to split up," D said. Amami gasped, her eyes beginning to water once more before Claire wrapped a protective arm around her. The girl leaned in, grateful for the togetherness that it created.
"We have to think of the worst," Claire explained, attempting to soothe her with their logic. "They might find us. There's three of them. While I don't want to, we might have to risk running by ourselves. If that's the case, at least one of us has to get there and explain what happened to the others."
"But—"
"None of this is certain," D added, still keeping his distance, but nodding at them in his calm way, the way he would when playing her hero in their Monster World campaign. "We aren't aiming to split up, either. That's our last-ditch effort; our Plan Z. If I have it my way, we'll all make it to the airport safe and together."
Amami sniffed and rubbed her eyes with a fist. "I'm sorry," she said. "This just keeps reminding me of—"
"I know," D said.
She gave him a sheepish smile, her face flushed red with her fears and the cold. Lifting the neck of the ruined guitar and gripping it with both hands, the girl gave a brave nod. "We're all going to make it."
"Right," Claire said, giving her a slap on the back.
"We're going to get through this."
"That's the plan."
"We've—" she looked to the boy; whose eyes softened before glancing back outside. She swallowed hard, then said, "We've done this before. It was awful. But we made it. We have to make it this time, too, even if we have to fight!"
D murmured in agreement as the rain beat against the roof in earnest. The final vestiges of the surprise storm would show themselves soon. None of this would truly slow their enemies—rain was not exactly "running" water—and too much time had passed for him to feel safe tucked away in the defunct factory. He had no idea where Bakura or the others were, either. He would have wondered if anyone had noticed something was amiss if it had not been for the blazing fire that come about with little warning. His expression darkened. Had it been intentional?
The boy wiped moisture from his forehead, rainwater mixed with the light tint of diluted blood—caked dry to his skin no more. The scent was an easy memory to pull up, and he knew if these vampires could hunt, the children had left enough mayhem behind them to follow. Tracks of a very human make. He sighed.
That sigh turned into a tight-lipped line as he fought down yet another urge bolstered by the stress of the situation. His own needs nagged at him like an incurable addiction, the withdrawal made worse by his blood loss and swift healing process. Problems compounded at inopportune times. He was beginning to accept this as just a fact of life. And what a routine to get used to.
A flicker in the downpour caught his attention. The boy straightened his posture. Motioning to the others, he guided their focus to just past the gate of their hiding place.
"They're coming."
Before the rain had begun, Yugi and Jounochi had managed to run into some familiar faces. Mokuba—with his ever-watchful older brother not far behind—had been innocently going about his day striking up deals with some of the individuals and families who had chosen to forgo normal accommodations, residing instead within the local library. Many inside had wished to preserve what knowledge remained in the ageing texts and add their own handwritten entries about their ever-changing history. Mokuba had just agreed to have a few of their own share their experiences abroad, and in return all of the newly installed people would not only receive full access to said library's works, but each household would be allowed to request one copied text of their choosing to keep in the home with them as well. Kaiba had been there to assess how well he was handling negotiations while also gauge the friendliness of that particular commune. The small, satisfied grin on his face showed that the youth had been successful in his venture as much as in impressing the businessman. Sure, it was a small win; but considering everyone left pleased and tensions had been eased with a nearby faction that played a greater part in what these people called a city…such was a win they could savor. When the fretting pair came upon them, the brothers had been in the middle of taking a leisurely stroll in a sort of victory lap.
Telling the practically beaming duo what they had heard in the face of this encouraging news had been no easy task.
"Not again," Kaiba growled, balling his fists against the news. Mokuba simply stared, shock bleeding the previous satisfaction from his face. "What did you do?!"
"Nothing!" Yugi defended. He knew the root of this accusation and refused to let anyone alone shoulder the blame or be pushed around—including himself. "Didn't you hear us? Not everyone is in their sights."
"We're just warning you guys since we passed you," Jounochi seethed through gritted teeth.
"This wouldn't have happened if you had just—"
"We didn't know that these people would be so…so…" Yugi spat a curse, low and incomprehensible. "Damn it, Kaiba-kun! We need to work together on this!"
"I thought we were," Kaiba near whispered, looking down his nose on Yugi even though the previous height difference of their youth had waned. "We have been making allies—'friends' as you would put it. But what have you managed to do?"
"Gathered information about people who might work against us," Yugi said, his mouth hardly moving. Their conversation had lost all its volume, both realizing that someone somewhere could be listening.
"You were the swing vote, weren't you?"
"No," He shook his head. "That had been Bakura. He wanted people to keep their eyes and ears open but wanted just 'us' to be the only ones to delve deeper—since the first time we had someone attempt ended up a bust…I told him we needed to put our faith in our other people. We can't do this alone."
"Then you're more foolish than I thought," Kaiba said. He paced a quick circle, rubbing at his face anxiously. A second ticked by and he was almost composed again. Only his eyes glowed with the discontent roiling within him.
"Hey!" Jounochi snapped. "The idea wasn't a bad one!"
Kaiba let out a derisive snort. "You forgot the simple fact that no one else here has dealt with subterfuge in the ways that we have had to. They will look guilty simply because they do not know how to fit their questions in their conversations naturally. We weren't just asking them to live their lives like before and we should have seen this result coming from the very example that was just brought up. Then again…I did. Yugi, this was a bad move on your part."
"As you told everyone when we all accepted the decision," Mokuba said, stepping in to throw an arm around Kaiba's shoulders. "Nii-sama, right now we could spend the rest of the evening arguing who was right and who was wrong, or we could be spreading this information around to those who need to hear it."
"I need to tell my mother, and pick up Etsu," Yugi said, agreeing with the younger brother's decision. "You guys could—"
"No one goes alone," Kaiba snapped. "But we also can't make this too obvious. Mokuba and I will tell those on our block. You two go get your mother and child. But Yugi—" he paused to grab the collar of the other's jacket, pulling him close. "Don't fuck this up. The last thing we need is for anyone to see us as enemies. Consider Otogi on his own for now."
"Otogi?" Yugi asked. He struggled against Kaiba's grip until the man released him. Shaking his jacket, he looked up at the man in disbelief. He could not be serious!
"We aren't ditching him!" Jounochi hissed.
"He's a liability and should be able to take care of himself anyway."
"He's our friend!"
Kaiba glared in the blonde's direction. "Fine. Get caught. Put all of this on our heads. Might as well make it worse than ever, right? Place all our cards on the table already?" He barked out a disdainful laugh and tugged at the collar of his turtleneck to make his point further.
"Kaiba-kun…" Yugi admonished, looking away from where the man forced their focus. While they had not seen the pinpricks as of late, it was difficult to forget the position the man was in. His averted eyes did not seem to trouble Kaiba in the slightest, who only semi-crossed his arms, extending a hand as if to demand something of them.
"Did they give a timeframe?"
"No, so—"
"So, nothing. The idiots running the show here are clearly unhinged if this is their next move. If you go running over there to warn him and get caught, what do you think that will look like?"
"We don't know exactly who they're—" Yugi protested.
"Maybe you don't, but I do."
Yugi and Jounochi stared at him as if he had grown an extra head. They both had heard the congregation speak, knew of how the general population acted, but rationally, how could Kaiba glean who they would be after? None of the new arrivals knew who amongst them had made this overzealous community question their loyalty so violently, just that someone's questions had struck too deep. Deeper than their initial assumption, apparently. How, then, would anyone know where to begin? How could the people of this land possibly assess who would bring them the greatest danger? The assumption that some unopened luggage contained doom would have been absurd in normal times, and to be able to pinpoint one of the three "people of concern" through a question—
Mokuba swore. "It's clear as day, isn't it? Their distrust started as soon as the very first question came out of our mouths. Probably even before that—we've been on ice just waiting to crack the second we moved to escape it. The moment we did not seem absolutely dedicated to their cause…we all became their enemy. The question is, have they actually put it together and realized who are the most vulnerable to attack?"
"Who knows," his brother stated with a shrug. "Maybe someone within their little 'round table' is smarter than they look and sniffed us out immediately. Or maybe they're just as we assumed from the beginning: an anxious bunch waiting for any reason to call us their enemy."
"If that's the case then, maybe we should come up with some solid precautionary measures," Yugi offered. Jounochi grunted in agreement.
Kaiba leveled a finger at the two. "You are not inciting another panic. Do you understand me?"
"If you had just listened to us before!" Jounochi raged, taking a threatening step towards him.
"Hm…that sounds familiar," Kaiba replied, his voice dangerously quiet. His lip curled upward at the spotted hypocrisy and his bared teeth countered the other's menacing attempt.
"Not now," Mokuba interrupted, surprising everyone, Kaiba especially. "There are things to do, and we don't need to assume the worst yet. Yugi, go to your mom. I'm sure she's looking forward to a break in babysitting."
Yugi gave him a hesitant grin, which was returned with easy grace. "Mokuba's right…It isn't like we have to run or anything."
"We're just being careful," Jounochi agreed. He nodded to Yugi, who nodded back. Forcing calm into his words, he stated cheerfully while they turned to their new purpose, "Well, good luck you guys!"
"Luck," Kaiba sniffed as Mokuba waved a quick goodbye to the retreating duo. "Like we need it."
Mokuba's smile dropped. "Dunno…I'm worried that they're so worried."
That earned the young man a raised brow. "Why?"
"You don't think that everyone in town is like that, do you?"
"Numbers are small here," Kaiba said, bowing his head in thought. "But I doubt everyone is on the exact same page. We didn't even go this far in—"
"You don't have to say it Nii-sama…"
"Either way, we have time," Kaiba said, grateful to shift discussion elsewhere. "Only absolute morons would begin an attack without doing a thorough investigation. The way these people have survived, there is a low chance of that. You have to plan, at least sometimes, to be able to hold together for this amount of time. So long as everyone remains calm, we'll have the upper hand."
"Hey!"
They both jolted from their discussion to see Wanatabe jogging up to them. It seemed that today was a busy day.
"Have you seen anyone running around strangely?" The former businessman huffed, looking behind him in the faded light. Night had come upon them and taken the brothers by surprise. A strong wind blew past to chill them to the bone, with the scent of rain heavy on its heels.
"Aside from you," Kaiba said. "No."
The man gave Kaiba an apologetic bow. "I'm sorry to say, then, that I just did. People screaming a bunch of street names to each other. And then more would take off and do the same down other streets. I've never seen anything like it. It almost sounded like some kind of code."
"Code?" Mokuba inquired.
"Yeah, it was almost like a pattern, but I couldn't tell you what any of it meant."
"Well, it could mean something, or it could mean nothing at all," Kaiba said. He scowled as he worked his jaw, deep in thought. "We don't have a choice, then. Can you tell this to the others in our respective headquarters?"
"Of course, Kaiba-sama!" Wanatabe said with a gusto only adrenaline could provide.
"Uh huh. Do you think you could remember more to relay?"
That earned him a sass he was unused to seeing from most people who worked under him. Instead of angering him, however, it gave Kaiba a bit of hope. Delegation was still an option.
"Remain calm as I explain this to you, and do not deviate from the explanation."
The man's eyes flew wide as he heard what he was to report. Kaiba kept his explanation brief—any more would receive unintentional embellishment via forgetfulness and lead to unneeded side-effects. He had thought himself satisfied with sending their messenger off until a distant crash rumbled across their side of the isle and their attention was forcibly drawn to a brightness a few streets down that had not existed before.
They watched, bewildered, as fire lit the sky. Low-hanging clouds that had bunched into existence were illuminated with splashes of bright orange highlights. This inferno seemed to grow and spread at an alarming rate, with no clarification provided as to how it began or why. They all looked to each other, putting the pieces of the night together with mounting unease.
"Go!" Kaiba commanded. "Quickly!"
Wanatabe hesitated only long enough to nod his head and he was off.
As the two watched Wanatabe run their message home, Kaiba let out an aggravated sigh. Mokuba glanced at his brother. Even with the chaos looming the younger graced the elder with a small, knowing smile. The man's cold blue gaze drifted towards the neighborhood his companions occupied, towards the blooming fire in the distance, and finally rested in the direction of the airport. Another sigh left him as he pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Let's go warn Otogi," he grumbled.
Mokuba clapped a hand on his shoulder before leading the way. Kaiba appreciated the gesture, especially when faced by their daunting task. It was time to come up with a game plan to save these people from themselves.
Little did they know what chaos they had to plan for.
Otogi let out a startled shout and dodged a blow that would have sliced him in half, his body bouncing off one of the bench-like amalgamations resting at a once closed departure gate. His pursuer leapt to crush his sternum with a forceful kick but only managed to slam her foot through the backing of one of the seats. Mid-fall, the image forced an appreciation in the power of her strike on Otogi. He hit the ground and summersaulted to escape yet another attack. While fighting for his life, he mentally thanked the circumstances he found himself in that Bakura was not around. Protecting himself was enough and this exchange was going rather poorly in his book.
"You don't have all the facts!" He shouted, crouching to avoid a swing to his head. Her claw-like nails would have taken his head clean off. This was an older vampire, he could feel it, higher ranking than himself, and this was a fight that would put all his skills to the test. Several more swipes punctuated his words; seconds had gone by since the seat had been demolished, but she had attempted at least ten blows in that time. He swallowed hard. There was a high possibility that she was just warming up.
"Which are irrelevant!" She spat back. Her teeth gnashed; her fangs two deadly little reminders. "You betrayer! Traitor!"
"The only one betraying anyone is a father who screwed over his kid's life!"
"And you DARE speak against HIM?! She would have you flayed!"
"I think she'd be more concerned as to how you are ruining her plans!" he retorted. "You're all planning on attacking innocent people!"
"We are saving those worthy!"
"Forcing them into servitude!" Otogi roared, feeling a personal connection to the issue. "That's not really saving someone, is it?!"
"It's better than backing one who steals children!"
Otogi barked laugher. "That's rich. I never asked for or wanted this, but at least I was brought forth by someone of higher standing than you! Do you think those innocent people will want to be little better than the thralls I could produce? You're far worse."
"You are ungrateful!"
"And you're an idiot! You all have misconstrued the conversations you overheard so badly…you're no better than the so-called 'hunters' here!"
He dodged again and managed to strike her with a flattened palm. She reeled back then snapped forward, ready to continue nigh instantly. Two blows hit him in the solar plexus and chin. He stumbled back. A powerful kick sent him flying through a wall—
Into the room with the iron cross.
He felt something akin to a painful negative force shove him away from the icon and cried out in pain when his eyes caught sight of the bent form. Otogi scuttled away from it just as the other vampire barreled through the hole she had created. Drawing on all his strength, he pushed against the unanswerable pressure to shove her into the construct. The vampire screamed, her skin lighting into flames as it touched the metal. He pressed harder, screaming with her. She writhed, managing to prize a piece of the haphazard cross off and ram it into his side. He cried out and released her.
The two crawled away from the injurious material. Otogi struggled, but finally managed to pull the metal bar out of his stomach and held it out as a weapon. What healing that he felt coming on was paced incredibly slow, if not entirely stunted. He could not fully explain why the bar in his hand hurt him so, just that it did. His opponent crouched low to attack, much like the angry and wounded predator that she was. Otogi eyed her with a mix of frustration and pity.
"You do understand you would be throwing away a very helpful person, a useful tool in your arsenal, right?"
"You aren't that important," she grumbled.
He shook his head. "No, I'm not talking about me. You discount my friends. They all could help her cause. Really, if we all could work together, we might stand a chance against—"
"I would rather die than work with traitorous filth like you!"
"You aren't listening," Otogi mouthed, shaking his head. "You're just like the others that she despises…"
"Like you'd know—"
"Who else has been at her beck and call like I have? In every sense of the phrase!" He growled, becoming aggressive in his panic. He was still not healing and would have to feed soon if he did not want to become easy prey. If another human came his way—an enemy—he could…
But what if it was friend that showed up, and not foe?
"And look how her trust has been rewarded!"
"She would be disgusted with you, Elena," he said. The woman dove at him and he flung his arm forward, hoping he had aimed true. She saw his plotting too late into her jump and found herself impaled on the bar. The pain slowed her just enough so that he could rip her head from her shoulders, her screams cut short by his timely offense.
"She wanted vampires and humans to work together," Otogi whispered with tears in his eyes. "And I know my friends would have worked with that. It might have been a tarnished gift for you, but their existence is a gift regardless. You and those with you may have ruined everything tonight. Compounded a mistake I made and worsened it past repair."
He staggered away from what he had done, testing the blood that the vampire had expelled. Letting out a weak groan, he pressed against a wall and slid to the floor, leaving his own bloody trail. Small gasps escaped him as he tried not to give into his fears. While not enough to produce a major change, the blood she had released tasted relatively fresh and should have quickened his healing process. It had not.
Otogi clutched at the side of his abdomen as his body spasmed in pain. His mouth formed a wordless cry while he curled into a fetal position. It had been too long since any discomfort had bothered him so. Time passed on, unending, as he willed his body to mend and it refused at every turn. Memory served to remind him that he had fed recently—he should have been more than ready to continue his mission or rescue Bakura from whatever sticky situation he probably found himself in. A whisper of a chuckle left him. Their little former high school group seemed to be a magnet for this kind of trouble.
When he heard a pair of voices a bit later still, he wondered if he should feign death. He was in a good position. The wound looked bad enough. Felt bad enough. Perhaps neither instances of blood passing his lips had been "fresh enough" or "pure enough" but that did not explain "his" own useless blood pooling around him, leaving him weak and thirsty. His mind spun with the possibilities of one of their enemies crouching down to check his pulse and how easy it would be just to latch on and take the sustenance he required. Regretfully, he felt he was low enough to ignore his usual compunction; primed to ignore giving the random humans who discovered him a chance. When the urge hit—it hit.
That was until he heard who was coming.
"Kaiba? Mokuba?" Otogi breathed. Their scent checked out, and the walking pattern, but he still refrained from hoping.
"Otogi?" Mokuba's voice called out. Otogi sighed, relaxing his body a little and exposing his wound to the air. The fact the hole remained bothered him greatly. The flashlight beam bounced along the corridor, signaling their approach. When they reached the room, Mokuba let out a gasp and added, "What the hell happened to you?!"
"He was attacked," Kaiba replied, looking around as if expecting something to emerge from the shadows. "Those hunter bastards were here already? And they let you live?"
"No," Otogi said weakly. "Not humans. Be careful. There were…others that snuck onboard with us."
Kaiba's face drained of color and he pressed his fingers against the marks he had received from D's father. "They found us out."
"Yes and no," Otogi replied. "I hate to be an asshole, but I'm really hurt here. You wouldn't happen to be able to—"
The two waited expectantly for Otogi to finish his sentence. When he did not, but rather cocked his head and faced the direction the brothers had come from, they did likewise. Soon—regardless of the pain—Otogi was standing, his face mirroring Kaiba's earlier expression.
"Shit. They found us."
"The vampires?" Mokuba asked, unable to help his voice from squeaking. He cleared his throat as a cover, but there was no need. No one would have made fun of him; the others were too intent on the direction where Otogi heard the sounds.
Otogi shook his head. "Humans."
"They didn't waste time, did they?" Kaiba noted. "Taking a nice stroll and burning their own city down was just not enough for them…"
His sarcasm went unappreciated.
"You don't seem to be as surprised by this as I would have thought," Kaiba said, recovering. "Care to elaborate?"
"Not the best time for this kind of discussion."
"Illuminate us while we still have time. I don't see a retreat in which we split up helping right now, nor would running to the problem save us."
Otogi sighed. "Bakura was here. He warned me that someone twisted what D said in a conversation at some point today, that Mai and Anzu found some 'body wall' in the tunnels, and to be on the lookout because they might come after us. Let's just say I already knew to be on high alert since I had just been attacked."
"That wound?"
"No, the initial attack was just a normal stab. You can't even see it now." He sighed again, facing forward with the glassy-eyed look of pain. "I would have assumed those people had already passed through here, though…Bakura was supposed to take care of them. Why are they coming back around? Is he leading them in a circle?"
"You're talking nonsense," Kaiba said. He pointed for Mokuba to take the metal bar out of the decayed corpse, who did as he was instructed. "If it was just a circle, we should have heard it or seen it before now. Especially you. My money is on a second wave."
"Great."
"Why aren't you healing?" Mokuba asked hurriedly, now hearing the commotion for himself. It sounded like people were arguing, and the advance seemed stuttered, like the group was repeatedly stopping for something. He bit his lip nervously.
"Well, I was stabbed by a piece of that cross thingy while I was dispatching one of our tag-alongs," he explained. "That bar you've got in your hand. That sort of thing can take a lot out of you, but as for why I haven't healed much at all…I'm going to throw out a guess the whole thing was blessed and/or is made of something my body can't handle. I don't know, there was a lot I learned and a lot I didn't about this 'new' me. There's a bit of science behind most of it. It's a real process."
"Damn."
"Yeah, and we don't have time for me to get better so hopefully we can talk them out of whatever crazy scheme they have cooked up."
Otogi then stepped forward and stretched his arms above his head to limber them up, doing his best to ignore the searing pain in his side. "Defense Strategy – Phase One, let's go!"
Kaiba rolled his eyes and took a basic fighting stance. Mokuba surveyed what little of the scene around them that he could see with their flashlight and wondered who in their right mind would assume that this would be a talking situation.
It surprised all of them when there was a slamming bang, and the first who came into view were none other than some of their own shaky allies, led by Graham. They appeared frantic, out of breath, and stunned to silence by what they saw before them.
"Well, shit. We're compromised here, too?" Graham asked and another loud bang issued from a distance.
"Who's after you?" Otogi asked.
Before anyone could cut in with a question as to who this new pale and injured person was, Graham answered, "Crazy-ass people. You?"
Otogi ran his tongue over his lips, reflecting on the strange outcome they all faced, and wondered how best to break the news without creating pandemonium around him. Unable to contrive another option, he answered honestly. "Vampire."
"Isn't this all backwards," the older man said, shaking his head. "Just the one?"
"More. The crates…"
"Fuck me sideways…"
"Let's bemoan our situation later. How willing to listen to reason are the people who are chasing you?" Kaiba asked.
"Not at all," Graham said. "It's what we were trying to do before they tried to kill us out there. I don't know how asking why the hell there's an unchecked fire going on riled them up like that, but I'm about ready to say I'll take another goddamn tornado than this bullshit."
"Don't jinx us," Mokuba said massaging his temples one-handedly.
"We can't let them in here," Otogi said. "They see what went on in here, and they're going to assume the worst. They'll attack everyone here without reason."
"I think they're already at that point, kid."
"If we can keep a good chunk of this building clear we can make this place a safe zone if more of our own make it here—or people with sense," Kaiba strategized.
"Those doors need to be barred then, somehow, and fast," Graham advised. "Then we've gotta get the sliding doors blocked, too."
Mokuba considered the man's words, and the bar in his possession. A start, and a way to give them time to find better blockades rested in his palm. He nodded to himself as the others continued their planning, those who had followed the older man now putting in their two cents after the initial bombshell had cleared them. A large rattle captured his attention and sent him into action. Any more damage to the entrance and there would be no time to implement anyone's strategy. They needed that time. Buy time. The words beat into his mind at a frantic pace, locking out his usual judgement to wait for his brother's command.
"I've got it!" Mokuba shouted behind him, tearing down the hallway Graham and the others had come from. Kaiba bellowed for his brother to wait, but Mokuba ignored his plea. He was envisioning the door, and if the obstruction in his hand would not do as a blockage, it should scare the offenders away with the potential harm it could do. Maybe even deter them for longer than intended.
He unfortunately did not consider how complete those people were in achieving their entrance, or how unafraid they were to drag out their assailant, bloodied or not by his stabs and swings. Mob mentality was in full force.
Those on his side had followed his sudden departure to provide aid, but not before he had been halfway pulled through a door he was trying to keep closed. Kaiba grabbed his arm and together the two siblings managed to shift the younger two-thirds of the way back in. The others who could reach tried to beat those back that were both widening the crack in the door and dragging Mokuba back out. Soon the situation devolved into a striking match of bad angles and misplaced slugging. The only constant was the straining ache in Mokuba's twisted knee, which took little more than a wrench from one on the outside to pop out of place.
The younger brother screamed in pain and kicked the door to close it, forgetting in his agony that his own leg was a part of the blockage. With a wild swing, he jammed the metal piece into the chest of one of his would-be killers and slammed the door again on his leg to keep the body from creating more of an obstacle. A crunching sound emanated the area; this and the scene of snarling faces through the crack in the door were the last things he registered before his hazy view became nothing more than a pinprick of light. His body went limp in his brother's arms, succumbing to unconsciousness as his system tried to lock out the terrible feeling.
When he regained consciousness, he clung to it. Although, while he knew he was awake, the scene he saw made no sense to him. There was dark blood pooling beneath him, and they were in some darkened room that he had no recollection of. Grief stained his brother's face, barely visible in the reflected light of the flashlight he was using, fussing with something on the youth's leg. Mokuba tried to speak, but Kaiba violently shook his head. So instead, he chose to continue the fight to stay alert.
Kaiba berated himself as he quickly tended to a hatefully aware Mokuba, binding the wound to the best of his ability. He cursed himself in silence. He should have been the one to try and shutter the door, not his brother. They had all been on edge and he had seen the desperation flicker on Mokuba's face. He should have been able to predict what he would do. Now there was a chance he would lose him. And if Mokuba died…
What was the point of trying?
Having stoppered the flow as best he could, he stood defensively in front of him, mustering every sense in his body as he had been instructed to do before by that ever obnoxious, pale-haired troublemaker. There were too many—the moment one of their short supply of defenders fell it would be all over. Thus, he had to utilize the one skill they had not implemented yet. His tongue buzzed and the inside of his mouth tasted slightly sour, as if electricity ran through his system.
But having what he wished for appear and having it do just as he desired were two separate things.
"We will not meet our end here," Kaiba growled. Demands of purification poured from behind the distant barrier that Mokuba had bought for them with too high a price, muffled and maddening. Everyone, save for Mokuba, stood at the ready, prepared for whatever they would have to face.
"'Was an honor to know you all if we do," Graham said, blood dripping from his nose. He let out a snort, spat a colorless glob into the dark, then added, "They always said work could kill you, but I figured it'd be in the damn plane, not in the building."
"No defeatist attitude here," Otogi replied weakly. He looked worse by the minute but still could muster up a massive amount of strength. Kaiba reflected on the fact that the man had practically torn the whole ceiling down to create enough of a mess to halt their enemy's advance. It was a pity he was not at his full capabilities. "But man, what I wouldn't give for us just to be putting our faith in the cards."
"Then do it," Kaiba snarled, his heart beating rapidly. The sound of intruders storming the hall from a different entrance filled his ears. Shortly, they would be at their secondary barred door. An inevitable conclusion: the trail Mokuba left was easy enough to follow. This place would not be as easily destroyed to create safety. His mind ticked off all the ways to apply his one shot and not possibly kill everyone in the process.
"Prove me wrong again…that there's more in our lives to put our faith in," he continued, directing his own hope to the creature that by all means should not exist, yet he was so willing to believe in. "Either way, they're coming. Get ready!"
Three solid hits battered the door before it finally came down, the faith of both sides in the battle for survival now put to the test.
"This is insane!" Anzu shouted, watching people scurry out of flaming buildings from her vantage point on the main road. Souls as dazed and confused as their observers bounced off parallel walls while their cries rose like the smoke around them to the thickened skies. In just the short amount of time it had taken for the three women to deviate from their previous plan, the dangers had escalated. Minutes, it felt like, just minutes they had paused to formulate a rendezvous point if something were to go wrong. Only a few moments to verify no one else had accessed the tunnel, and seconds to bicker about a better exit point. The arguments posed were moot, however. All knew there were no other "safer" means of leaving their little plot of land. People would have to just ignore their sensibilities to survive. Hopefully, they could follow instructions so as not to kill each other via trampling if said escape was necessary.
They had planned to share this information with everyone back at the inn once they returned, having told many of those that had followed them sky-bound already on their way to their current position, but as they neared where Yugi's mother was stationed it seemed that fate had other plans for them.
"Who did this?" Zoe asked, mouth agape.
"We figure it out as we go!" Mai ordered, smoothing her hair back, ready to take command. Her mind reeled with information, trying to reconcile the map of the city she was used to defending with the one before her now. "For now, get these people to safety!"
"Back towards where we came, then," Anzu offered, shaking herself out of her stupor. "It's upwind. We won't get hit as badly by the smoke."
They gestured to one another; the backs of their hands exposed as their fingers touched in an affirmation that they understood: they were in this mess together. Mimicked from an instance in Anzu's past, the move tied them all in this moment. Their friendship would guide them through.
The trio worked in tireless tandem for all the struggles they faced. Each took a point in their formation to corral the others, guiding the fearful and panicked bands of people out of the flames. Anzu pressed forward the hardest, leaving the other two to fall back into a staggered line of pointing reminders for where the fleeing needed to go, all silent in their awareness that her family was somewhere either just beyond or within this blaze. Mai observed her carefully, which was fortunate. She was forced to act as a barrier between the woman and an attempted shortcut between two close burning fires. She smacked down this zealous attempt with a jarring tug backwards. Anzu blinked and then glared at her in response, incensed by the act.
"It's not worth it if you can't move on," Mai chided, once again placed in a position where air was a precious commodity.
Anzu nodded. Having been shaken from her one-track trance, she relaxed her stride urging the masses toward the safer streets, requesting they form as best a line as they could. Safety would be in reach if they followed this simple procedure. However, no one could call back that the fire was spreading quickly, as if being goaded on. Not if they wanted this chance at salvation.
Soon, everyone still within the flames' grasp felt the effects of their dangerous inhalation. Coughing and pointing became the closest code of speech. What had once been a frigid day became baking heat, and Mai covered her face while she pushed the last few behind her, as much from the heat as from the smoke. Zoe shoved her forward in turn without warning, and the trio tripped over smoldering coals while the back end of the road caved in on itself. They all stared at the raging inferno that surrounded them, distraught by their immediate position.
"Now what?!" Zoe shouted, while the pair relived so many unpleasant moments as their minimal escape time ticked on.
"Under?"
"No! We're surrounded!"
Anzu turned on Zoe and snapped, "We are not dying here! We'll go up if we have to!"
"Up!?" Both her compatriots shouted with incredulity.
"Now how the hell do you plan on doing that?" Zoe cried.
Although Anzu had been speaking from her will rather than sense, help did arrive from above. With serendipitous force, rain barreled upon them from the sky, dousing them and everything in the surround. A shrill of startled screams filled the air—their own included. The blast cooled and brought on a new sensation of pain: each of them suffered minor burns from their proximity to the fire. Yet as their skin burned and cooled anew from a different source, the blaze around them began to falter. They all knelt low, coughing, hoping, waiting for the worst to be over. The rain seemed to settle on their position; light still filtered beyond its reach. The fire had moved on from them.
The sound of hurried footsteps brought on a wave of hope. Two bodies squeezed past broken beans and rubble to create a path back where they had come from, the act causing a minor slide to occur, allowing for yet another way to crouch and shuffle their way out on another side. This joy was dashed as quickly when they recognized one of the few they had left behind. Simon and Wanatabe came upon them much like the storm, and their expressions spoke of anything but good news.
"Did Bakura return?" Mai asked, confused by their arrival. Her question ran parallel to the others beside her.
"Where are the children?" Anzu inquired.
"What is going on?" Zoe demanded.
Faced with the triad of questions, both men hung their heads. Mai stared at them dubiously until she could bear their silence no longer. Ignoring her injuries in her rage, she pulled the others up even while the smoke wavered in its decision to remain or rise with the heated air. When their silence persisted, she refused to maintain it.
"Answer one of us!" she ordered. Her teeth grit against each other in her attempt to contain her temper. "Now!"
"We don't know," Wanatabe responded. Distraught, he gripped at the sides of his head. "It doesn't make sense! None of this makes sense!"
"We have another message, too…" Simon added. He paled, swallowed, and turned to Anzu. "Something that Yugi and Jounochi heard. It might make some of this insanity make more sense."
Zoe glared at him. "Don't make us wait. We have to get these people to safety."
"And find the kids, apparently," Mai grumbled.
"How did you manage to lose…" Anzu shook her head. The level of disgust on her face cowed the two men for its rarity. "Tell us what you know. We'll all think of a solution when we get a better picture."
The two relayed the inflamed conversation and questionable actions of the supposed leaders in their roundtable meeting and the strange behavior Wanatabe had noted before everything had gone up in literal flames. The women listened, horror mounting with their knowledge; knowledge Simon also held and had no doubt pieced together with what they had shared earlier that evening. Anzu covered her mouth as her eyes glazed in nauseous fear. Mai bit at her thumbnail—her mind computing possible solutions to their present dilemma. They turned to each other, the years of knowing one another decoding their glances. Zoe watched their interaction closely before eyeing her own long-time friend. While the world was crashing down on everyone, he appeared worse off than the rest. She had seen him react enough to know if his bravado had gone, something had shaken him to the core.
Unfortunately, they had little time to build each other back up. There were more pressing matters at hand.
"Now," Mai said, removing her hand just enough to raise her index finger at the group. "What happened to the children."
"I called Simon over," Wanatabe answered, "and I told him of what was going on. All of the sudden there were strange bangs and crashing sounds—"
"But it came from everywhere!" Simon interjected. "People were running past our street and fires started in the homes close to…there was someone I didn't recognize just starting the fucking things!"
"They kept screaming street names," Wanatabe moaned in his preemptive grief, "We figured those were the places they planned on hitting next…or they were alerting others to do so. It didn't feel safe to stay, so, we ran back to the inn—"
"And the whole thing was caved in!"
"Caved in?!" The women exclaimed.
"There should have been no way! They didn't say they would be circling around! If she's…I can't! I can't!" Wanatabe shrieked and Anzu moved over to give him a comforting hug. He held onto her as he steadied himself with whistling breaths.
"I should have…" Simon started, shaking his head. "No…I wouldn't have known why they were throwing things at me."
"Throwing things?" Mai asked, but Simon did not seem to hear her.
He continued. "We picked through everything as fast as we could but there wasn't anyone there. Just rubble and an open window. If anything, the kids' shit was missing and so was Bakura's and…and…"
"Blood," Wanatabe whispered. "There was blood everywhere."
Mai gripped Wanatabe's shoulder and gave him a bitter smile. "There's a chance that they were one step ahead. Our kids are a lot tougher, and quicker thinking, than we ever could have been at their age."
"God, I hope you guys are right," Simon muttered. "Nothing that these people are doing should have been able to tear a building down on itself."
"You don't think they've made—"
"No," Wanatabe negated, patting Mai's hand as a thanks for her gesture. "I mean, they might have made bombs for later, but I don't think that's what happened. That would have been obvious. There would have been fragments everywhere. The mess was all inside."
"These people are really scared, so scared they aren't thinking straight," Simon reflected. "…And maybe they're right to be. What else could have done that?"
Anzu raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean by that?"
He opened his mouth to say more when they heard a sharp cry pierce the air. Amidst the distant screams and shouts, it seemed to clear all background noise with its high pitch. Then, with the same suddenness as it had appeared, it was cut short with an abrupt, painful gasp. Everyone held their breath, a joined investigative effort to locate its source.
"There," Mai whispered, pointing to a gutted building. They cocked their ears in the direction, barely able to decipher a shifting sound from rain thudding on a pipe. She then gestured to Simon—who nodded and took the lead, inching closer to the sound. Without thinking, he caught some rainwater in the cupped palm of his right hand, muttering something low to himself. Mai shadowed him with caution but could not catch his words.
Simon paused in his advance and tilted his head again. Mai mimicked the action and had to stop herself from drawing in a quick breath. She noticed the same thing he had. Aside from the distant background garble and the pattering of rain, silence surrounded them.
Mai pinched his forearm to catch his eye and shifted her shoulder to offer to go on ahead. He shook his head, motioning for her to wait where she was as backup. Folding his glasses with the same free hand, he slid them into his collar even as he made a cross motion. While she was unsure of why he was gesticulating in religious form, she said nothing—only waited with a learned patience for the sound of another person to resume.
Though, it was not a sound that first caught her attention, but a movement from above. Mai had just enough time to let out a startled scream before the thing pounced upon her. Quick thinking had her rabbit kick the offender away, but she still ended up prone on the ground with the wind knocked out of her. The others behind her cried out and the pounding of their footsteps as they rushed to her aid thumped in her ears in tandem with her heart. Intuition warned her she had only briefly stunned her foe, and not well, but as it lunged for her a second time it was hooked around the neck by a muscular arm. A second reached forward, cupped hand smacking against the gaping maw. The creature gurgled in response, red foam spilling from between the man's fingers.
Not wasting another moment, Mai grabbed a discarded rake and snapped the wooden handle upon her leg. With an agility that once had helped to earn her a position on the Council, she spun it around in her hand like a flag twirler mid-march and pierced the creature's flesh. Fearful at first that she had hit Simon as well, Mai did not fully penetrate the vampire's heart, but the man helped her in her conviction, grabbing the smoothed end and pressing toward himself. As their assailant fell, Mai was relieved to see that while he had been spattered with stolen blood, Simon had been unharmed. The only discomfort he showed was a quick circling stretch of his shoulder.
Still their attacker writhed on the ground in its death throes. Yet, before it could stand to counter their efforts with one last burst of energy, the man used his full weight to throw them to the ground again. Having bought the time he needed, Simon proceeded to shout religious passages in a method Mai had only seen in horror movies. To finish the screeching figure off, he used the other end of the ruined rake to sever the head from its neck, not stopping his jagged hacking until it was fully removed. It was the only way to be sure.
Chest heaving, he sat there for a few moments as Mai and the others around her remained vigilant. The aftereffects of the attack proved their efforts to be the correct choice. A pungent miasma wafted upward from the undead creature's carcass—and the sound of stirring within the building began again.
"Don't go in there," Zoe said to Simon. He scoffed, flicked his glasses open and began cleaning the spatter with an unstained portion of his shirt. She glared at him, but then turned back to Wanatabe who seemed at a loss for what to do. Better to focus her efforts on someone who would see sense.
Meanwhile, Anzu looked Mai over as the other woman divided her attention on the dead before her and the sound before them. The older woman's thoughts drifted to the possibility that the others they had rescued from the fire might be attacked if there were more vampires in the vicinity. The thought that the underlying fears in the city had some valid proof for existing did surprise her, but also did not change her feelings—there had to be a better way to handle this situation. Her affected friends depended on it.
Simon seemed to have other ideas. "These are the bastards that have caused all of this hell. Someone's been changed in there. We all know it. Something needs to be done."
"It could make things worse," Mai warned. "What we did now was just self-defense and we need to take our next step carefully."
He continued as if he had not heard her. "I bet these vampires have been causing all this mayhem, scaring everyone to weaken them further. People like this don't just kill their own without a reason. And now…we're all easy prey because we're fighting against ourselves and them."
"Or the vampires were backed into a corner after these people killed the ones they were getting along with and are now fighting back," she pointed out in annoyance.
"We can't risk going in there," Zoe reasoned as she sidestepped the other argument. "It's just dangerous all the way around."
"You can't," he snapped. "Wait for me here. It's bad enough we know people who have been cursed by these assholes. After everything I've seen, if you are any product of a vampire's—doesn't matter how or why—you are fucked for life. And while we all have sympathy for said people, we can't allow this sort of thing to continue. What I plan to do will be a blessing for that unfortunate soul."
"What about the others that we know?" Anzu whispered, taken aback by his stance. "Would you say something like that to their faces?"
"Our guys aren't like these ones. If they did this, we'd have to put them down."
"I can't believe you'd say that—"
"Shush," Mai hurled at them and with the simple command they all silenced themselves. Their focus had been drawn away from what required their attention for too long. Whatever was creating the sound was coming closer based on the scuffling noises from within. There could have been just one, or maybe two, but there would be no talks of peace with whatever was there if they continued to argue so blatantly amongst themselves.
Wanatabe was the first to notice the shadow that manifested within the blown out first story window. He let out a gasp as he pointed to it before scrambling to find a nearby weapon. The form shuffled and stumbled its way out, standing unsteadily after climb like a baby still unsure of their steps. Dazed, the poor victim shuffled toward them and their words surprised even the most aggressive of their party.
"Kill me," the fledgling pleaded. "Oh Go—" They stopped, covering their mouth as they shook from an unseen pain within. Their gaze focused and unfocused before they forced their head to look skyward. D would have recognized this one as the youngest of the gossiping trio that he had come across when walking home, arms loaded with food.
"Please," they tried again after a few seconds. "Can't fight it. Can't think straight. Only hunger…where's the one who did this? Not fair. Not right. Help. Help me. Kill me."
Simon looked back to his allies and shrugged. "They're asking" those shoulders seemed to say. He took the long shard of glass that Wanatabe had managed to procure and the broken handle of the rake from the desiccated corpse. When he reached the victim, her head snapped down with red eyes trained on him, and she hissed. He readied himself.
Everyone watched the display at a loss for words.
When the second person had been downed, Mai walked forward, gently moving Simon aside. The victim's eyes had rolled back to only whites, but still she knelt and closed them for the other woman. She shook her head at the scene in front of her. She was not foolish enough to think their troubles were over. Where there was one vampire, there might be more. If they heard about this, they would not be happy—and no one was safe when it came to the zealots in town.
Mai faced her people with fire in her eyes. "We need to get those people across that river, now!"
A new set of sobs interrupted further commands. Everyone waited in silence as the wailing petered out only to begin again with renewed vigor. The cries froze most for an instant, but Mai had to leap and take hold of Anzu to stop her from taking off in its direction. Anzu tried to shrug her off, so Zoe added her grip to still her. Enraged, the woman struggled so violently that Simon and Wanatabe had to help restrain her.
"That's Etsu-chan! Let me go, let me go! That's my daughter!" Anzu barked, flailing hard enough that even the great amount of people trying to stop her were barely enough to hold her. She almost escaped when Mai released her restraint just enough that she would not injure the distressed mother.
"Calm down!" Zoe exclaimed, calm clearly absent from her own voice.
"You don't know that," Simon cautioned. "It could be someone else."
"You don't know where it came from! You could get hurt!" Mai justified, knowing that the words would not have worked on her.
"You have to…" Wanatabe began.
"Etsu!" Anzu shouted as loud as she could in her frustration, and the crying stopped abruptly. The effect the sudden silence had worked better than their attempt. They all remained in their positions, but Anzu did not attempt to pull away. She just whispered her daughter's name again and again while the others around her tried to make sense of what was going on.
A small voice called out in confusion, breaking everyone out of their current roles. The voice called again, closer this time, and the sounds of movement could be heard from just beyond their charred vantage point they faced.
"Anzu?" Another voice called out, and Anzu let out a sigh of relief as tears joined the rain on her cheeks.
"Yugi?" She inquired, although she would have recognized that voice anywhere.
"Thank goodness you're okay!" Yugi said from the other side of the ruined road. There were excited shouts from their daughter that they had found her mother, and another familiar voice tried to calm the girl down.
"Who is with you?" Mai questioned, releasing her hold on Anzu to flex her pained hands. With the adrenaline fading, she was becoming more aware of the injuries they had obtained prior. Red splotches colored the backs of them, and her palms felt like she had rubbed them raw.
"Jounochi, Etsu, and my mother…you?"
Mai sighed in relief before she shared out who was in her party. Zoe did not appear fully convinced that all was well. With all that was going wrong around them she could not accept this moment at face value and Simon's musings had colored her own cautions. The two that had been slain were also not far from her mind. Her arms remained folded as Anzu tearfully asked her child how she was, and her frown deepened as she remembered her release earlier that day. She waited in a patient but distrustful silence until they agreed to meet up on the main road before bringing up her concern.
"Before we have to start picking through all of this," Zoe began, causing everyone to turn back to the scorched rubble. "What happened to the other nurse and that injured woman?"
"Oh…" Kyoko uttered, exhaustion bleeding into her words. "She went home. I don't know where she is now…as for Kay…"
Zoe leaned in, squinting into a small hole that allowed her a tiny view of the other side. She saw the woman standing there, her pale fingers in the grip of the toddler's lively peach skin. A haunted look hung about her stern features. She could not see much of the others, but Yugi's arm clearly shifted as it tensed. That shift brought the other side of his mother temporarily into view, giving Zoe a glimpse of something she had not expected—a lower arm wrapped in a blood-soaked sheet, tied tightly at a point that she thought might be a tourniquet—and it brought her suspicions to a halt. Whatever had happened, she had faced similar misfortunes.
The woman's voice wavered as she spoke, and Zoe immediately regretted considering duplicity in the other's actions. "I'm sorry, but I was wrong. She didn't pull through."
Something about her words sent a chill through everyone's gut. The unsettling mystery that enveloped them seemed to be coming together with terrifying implications of what might have occurred at the inn, leaving some of their group even more empathetic to the panic that surrounded them. However, this did not stop their main forces from their intentions to mitigate the damage. Humanity could not survive if it imploded on itself.
Tasks were assigned to those able while the bulk returned to the road where over a hundred stood waiting for their next set of instructions. Prayers for safety floated in the air. They looked to those who came to them with compassion for that hope that everything would end well. Unfortunately, those that guided them with the very same wish in their hearts could have no idea as to how other events were unfolding, or how their own numbers were dwindling.