Arknights: When Hunters Meet (A Tacet x Projekt Red novel)

Chapter 17 - Northern Expedition Part 2 - Projekt Red Route

---Projekt Red's perspective---

Suddenly she awoke. She found herself in a place she could not recognise.

-''Tacet?'' Red whispered, but no response came.

She touched her head and felt a sharp pain. However it was not the worst she had ever experienced, and it was bandaged as well. She looked around and noticed the water and rations near the little lamp like heater. She pulled a knife from under her jacket and used it to open the makeshift tent in utter silence. Outside was a deathly cold.

-Tacet?

Silence reigned, but she could smell Tacet's scent. Her eyes instantly adjusted to the dark, and she silently left the shelter. She noticed the door barricaded with the desk, and then the shape sitting on the couch. Standing guard with his rifle tight in his hands. A sentinel against potential intruders. Frost covered him heavily.

-Tacet.

No response came from him at all. She came besides him, touching his shoulder, but he didn't move. Projekt Red then pulled his beanie and face mask off. She noticed the blood having spread all over his head from the wound gotten earlier in the fight today. She came to realise a difference, he took the time to tend to her wound, she had not. As she touched his face she felt him so cold. Her heart rate picked up. The thought of her partner being dead entered her mind and made her uncomfortable in a way she hadn't felt before. She pulled his attire open further and had slipped her hand on his neck. There she felt it, a pulse. But so weak and so rare, it shouldn't have been possible to still be alive. She realised he was on the brink of death, and in an instant she decided to act. She picked up his rifle, setting it besides the couch, then immediately threw off the frozen blankets off of him.

She grabbed him tightly, taking him inside the tent. Laying him on the still warm spot that she awoke from. She took off his jacket as it was itself too frozen, throwing it outside the tent, leaving him only in his long sleeved shirt. Yet it wasn't enough. His body temperature was too low and Red knew there was only one way that she could save him. Closing the tent behind her, she unzipped her own jacket. Then, she laid against his chest, enveloping him with her warm body, covering them both with her jacket. With her fluffy ear against his chest she could hear his heartbeats better. So rare, so weak. She willed her fear away as she kept him close for dear life.

She looked up at him and saw the dried blood on his head. She felt a pang of guilt, and she quickly pulled some sterile wipes from her pockets without raising herself from his cold body. Dampening it with some of the warm water she carefully cleaned his head, the wound on his head looked worse than she remembered. She applied some disinfectant upon a sterile wipe and stitched it upon his wound with a medical tape. It would be the best she can do for now. She laid her head back on his chest and closed her eyes. But not to rest, she had enough of that. She would now stand guard in turn. Her senses remained sharply focused while she held a knife in her hand at the ready. Nothing would sneak upon them.

It was later into the night that a blackest shadow seemed to engulf the darkness of the corridor outside the room. An ancient existence that exuded a foul malevolence. It was blind yet it had many eyes. And it sensed the living creatures beyond the door. Slithers of the shadow slowly crept inside through every crevice. Red'd ears picked something up, she sensed it coming. But she had already chosen, she would not abandon him. She tightened her grasp on her knife, she would battle until death to protect him if need be. But Red was no ordinary lupo. She was a Fang. And as the ancient darkness continued to creep closer the other entity present decided to intervene.

Grandma was here.

It suddenly gained shape and a large paw stepped upon the creeping shadow, obliterating its tendril. It was a large wolf beast form befitting its kind and its face radiated pure intent of murder towards that which threatened its charge, its chosen disciple. The darkness crept back behind the door into the hallway. As ancient and malevolent as it was it would not risk provoking the wrath of the entire Signori dei Lupi. The entire wilderness would descend to battle the darkness less their Great Game was disrupted or their brethren or chosen touched. Unbeknownst to Red, far out from the outpost, ancient wolves were also watching intently.