Destined To Die

Chapter 15 - The Regrets of Monsters

-15-

-The Regrets of Monsters-

Abigail led the way through the snow, Sabbath loping through in her footsteps with Akane and Maddy on his back. The snowfall had intensified, a storm blowing in from the north at their backs, but they were making good time. She looked over her shoulder, pressing on through the snow while keeping an eye on the winding path behind them. No sign of movement, no sounds apart from the howling of the wind, it didn't make her feel any safer.

Maddy kept Akane upright on the back of the giant black cat, blood dripping into the snow by the tips of his fingers. Maddy had done her best to stop the worst of the bleeding, but she was already running low and couldn't do much to help.

"How much further?" Maddy called, watching Akane's shallow breathing, "He's busted up pretty badly."

"There's a boat an hour south of here," Abigail called, "They won't be far behind once they dig themselves out, we need to take whatever ground we can get. Take what energy you can from Sabbath, we need to keep Akane alive."

Maddy nodded, reaching down and grabbing a handful of Sabbath's fur, feeling the familiar reaching out towards her a trickle of energy connecting them on a level she hadn't experienced before. With the energy came a deeper understanding of Sabbath, his mood, his thoughts, just how tired he was already. Maddy tried not to take too much, just enough to minimise Akane's bleeding and heal the worst of his wounds, leaning on her own low reserves of energy to finish the work. They were all running on empty at this point, but Akane's breathing rose sharply as his eyes flickered open.

"Are you okay?" Abigail asked as Sabbath loped forward, catching up with his witch.

She reached out a hand to steady Akane as he lurched forward, taking shallow, sharp breaths of frigid air while Maddy held his shoulders from behind.

"I'll live," Akane replied, his voice hoarse, "What happened?"

"Abigail brought the mountain down," Maddy replied, "Avalanche; buried both of those fuckers."

"I'm sorry," Abigail added quickly, keeping Akane from falling off Sabbath's back, "It was the only thing I could think of, we needed to get you out of there."

Akane glanced over at the witch, who averted her gaze to study the path ahead. He opened his mouth to say something but closed it just as quickly.

"We're heading south," Maddy told him, "It was my call. Abigail's right, Akane. We can't outrun these guys. If they find you again, they'll kill you."

"How long have I been out?" Akane asked, unsettled by the news but not commenting on it for now.

"Six hours or so," Abigail replied, "We've been making good progress, and it'll take time for those fuckers to dig themselves out of the snow, but I wouldn't count our lucky stars just yet. They still have helicopters."

"One helicopter," Akane said, clutching onto his ribcage with a wince, "I managed to take one down."

"Well, it's still one more than we have," Maddy commented dryly.

"Blizzard's blowing in," Abigail commented, eyes watching the skies, "It'd be suicide to fly when it hits. We've got half an hour at most before it hits. If we push through, we could make it."

"We need rest," Akane dismissed, pushing off Sabbath and standing unsteadily on his own two feet, "We need shelter. If we can't move through the storm, neither can they. If Kento was wrong, we're going to need all the energy we can get."

"So, you're on board with it?" Abigail asked, trying to keep the pitch of her voice steady but failing by a small degree.

"Kento was a bastard, not an idiot, but I don't trust a word he said. Maybe he lied to you too. Who knows?"