The White Angel's Prayer

03. Like Hounds to Blood

The dark of the night embraced the trio like a weighted blanket, but it did little to ease the tension that coiled like tight snakes in the back of Lucy's mind, for their silhouettes stuck out like sore thumbs against the sheet of snow. Every muscle in her body was pulled taut as she constantly surveyed the environment, her almost frantic dark blue eyes snapping back and forth across the structures lining the main road. The noises Attenborough made seemed to ring like church bells through her skull. They were loud; too loud.

Bhu'ja wasn't any less tense. With the absence of his mask, he felt much like a walking plank of wood — this was an unfamiliar territory with unfamiliar enemies, one of which being what was probably the most terrifying he'd, unfortunately, laid his eyes on. Ut'aih had referred to him as G'kuhto, perhaps even in the sense that they shared history. It did nothing to ease any bit of the tension, for Ut'aih had most likely perished at the hands of his old comrade, or whatever they may have been. It only made the situation a thousand times worse, especially when he recognised that he was wholeheartedly ill-equipped to fight a Bad Blooded Elder. Two sets of hands were better than one, but G'kuhto could crush them both in the palms of his hands with about the same energy as it took for Lucy to hunt a rabbit. The only comfort Bhu'ja could find was the fact that G'kuhto also couldn't use his technology for now, but even then, that brought very little of it.

"We have to get off this road," Lucy all but whispered. She hadn't spoken much since their short journey started. To be fair, she'd spent most of it lost in the act of keeping watch, but it was also because she didn't really know what to say anymore.

Bhu'ja didn't admit he could sense she was irritated, and he kept his mandibles shut lest an argument broke out at, what was likely, the worst time possible. Though, he couldn't deny the sense of relief that warmed his chest when she finally did speak. "Why?"

"This is their main travel route. And you can bet your ass they're hiding in these buildings," Lucy said.

It took a second for it to click in Bhu'ja's mind that she referred to the Hunters. He'd really only ever heard stories about them, but he couldn't imagine them being any worse than the Tennessee Annihilation Force. Surely, they couldn't be if Lucy still lived here, right?!

"Why would I bet my ass?" Bhu'ja eventually asked. But it seemed he'd asked the wrong question, even if it was supposed to be some relief from the tension, for he immediately sensed the surge of anger that oozed through Lucy's pores.

"It's just a fucking—"

But Lucy never ended up finishing that sentence. She felt the breeze of something whiz by her face, and she swore she felt the pumping of her heart cease, if only for a microsecond, right as that very something collided with a window from the Walgreens just behind them, completely obliterating the glass. A loud, booming gunshot followed only a second after that, almost spooking Lucy straight from her skin.

Attenborough startled almost immediately, and he bucked up, kicking his legs forward. The sudden action took Lucy by surprise, and she was flung straight off his back and onto the snow beneath him. She briefly registered Bhu'ja's roar of surprise, which quickly morphed into a booming, grumbling noise of fury, but in the second that each of these events occurred, it was probably the least of Lucy's concerns. The bow that she'd been holding had slipped from her grasp and now laid beside her, and as she reached to grab it, Attenborough attempted to gallop away for safety as an armed group of Hunters emerged from the building across the intersection, shouting indiscernible words to Lucy's ears.

Snow flicked all over her face as the horse trampled away, distressed and frightened. "Attenborough!" Lucy shouted as the damned thing tried to save his own ass, only to be pursued by two other Hunters that broke off from the main group. This fact wasn't allowed to ruminate through her mind for long, because Bhu'ja ended up grabbing her by the back of her jacket and hauling her to her feet.