Destined To Die

Chapter 16 - Into the Dark

-16-

-Into the Dark-

The storm ended just as darkness began to fall over the icy mountains, the wind dying down slowly to a low whistling.

"They'll be in the air soon," Akane muttered, the warmth of the stone between them having long since faded, "We should move under cover of darkness, we'll be too easy to track through the snow in the light."

"Why not stay here?" Maddy asked, eyes flickering to the small hole at the top of the icy wall in front of them, "We could just live in this little crack from now on, carve out a bit of extra space to put an oven in, grow old and die."

Abigail smiled wryly at the comment as she pushed herself to her feet, stretching out her arms to either side. "They know we came this way, and they'll know we've gone to ground somewhere. Only a matter of time before they start combing through the pass if they can't find any tracks by dawn."

"And we don't want to be anywhere near here when they come through," Akane finished her sentence.

Maddy was hesitant. "Even if Kento did have some sort of secret weapon stashed away for you, are you really in any shape to go at them again? One day's rest isn't enough to get you back in fighting form."

"Don't have a while lot of choice," he shrugged, tightening the straps on his boots, "Either the old god was wrong and we die, they catch us and we die, or we find something that changes the game and we live. We've lost our chance to outrun them. Pack light, only take what we need, we're travelling fast."

Maddy and Abigail nodded, ditching out the contents of the duffel bags out onto the floor of the space and tossing out the clothes they wouldn't need.

"Keep the cash," Abigail said, seeing the vacuum sealed bags and emptying out her own pack, "We're gonna need to skip town once we're done here, if we live. Do you guys have a bank account?"

"Akane doesn't trust banks," Maddy said with a smile.

She began packing the vacuum sealed packages back into a single bag, including only the essentials, along with an extra length of rope, glow sticks, and some food from Abigail's bag just in case.

"Digital money is a stupid idea," Akane muttered, "It doesn't even exist. You take what you can carry with you, what you can defend with a sword. Someone comes to steal from you, you kill them."

Abigail broke into snorting laughter, Maddy just smiling wide. She'd heard this rant at least three times before. Akane gave a disapproving glance at their laughs, shaking his head before turning to the mouth of the cave.

"So, cash in hand only," Abigail said once she'd stopped laughing, "Harder to track, better that way anyway. I don't have much in the way of ingredients, my money ran out a while ago and well, you kind of totalled my car a few years back."

"Sorry about that," Maddy winced, remembering when she'd rammed the sports car straight into the Shinigami, leaving little more than a twisted chassis behind.

"I really miss that car," Abigail said, and while she did sound genuinely sad on some level, she was clearly playing it up for a laugh, "It cost so much."

"We'll get you another one," Maddy smiled, throwing her books and laptop into a single duffel bag, carrying that over her shoulder, now a considerably lighter load.

"We'll get something subtle," Akane commented, staring flatly at the witch, "Your tastes stand out."

"I like shiny things," Abigail shrugged, "Sue me. You need to learn to have fun."