The White Angel's Prayer

07. The Byproduct

The reception was dark and largely abandoned. It had been converted into a makeshift check-in area with additional handheld infection scanners and a collection of strewn papers to manually record the flow of individuals. Nothing appeared to be out of place; there was no evidence of a scuffle or an attack. Everything had been left in its rightful position as if, randomly one day, FEDRA decided to just up and leave.

Beyond the reception desk was a plastic sheet — evidently, quarantine tents had been set up to create a decontamination area before entering the facility. There was a distinct sense of doom that clung to Lucy's body like several leeches, sucking out the last of her fortitude tokens before bleeding her dry. It was as if her subconscious knew or sensed something before her conscious did.

The infected viciously banged on the doors behind them, rattling the barricade they'd clumsily thrown together, but their strength wasn't enough to dislodge the furniture. Their hair-raising gurgles and screams were muffled by the bulletproof glass, and the raw skin of their fungus-infested faces could be seen through small gaps in the barricade.

"What's wrong?" Bhu'ja asked, noting the drop in her face immediately. He hated to admit it invoked an uneasy feeling. Something not dissimilar to the sensation of unwanted insects crawling up and down his body, trying but failing to pierce his thick hide to access his bloodstream. While a Yautja's hide was tougher and thicker than a human's, it was still just as sensitive to touch, and he'd always hated when insects and all their little legs landed on him.

"I think we made a mistake," Lucy said quietly. She looked around at the clutter that no one had cleaned up in the final days of occupation. There was mould growing up the walls and over the ceiling, and there was a particular dank stench that made it unpleasant to breathe.

"Explain," Bhu'ja said. He couldn't see anything immediately concerning. The fact he had no access to his mask's visibility options in such unfamiliar situations made him extremely uncomfortable. Otherwise, he would have been able to see the horde before they'd arrived. And he would have been able to see G'kuhto, too. Because Bhu'ja firmly believed that the Elder had lured the infected towards them. It was the only explanation that made sense in his mind.

It wasn't uncommon for a hunter to use such a technique. There were a variety of reasons, namely, to flush out their prey or to scrutinise a prey's capabilities before devising a strategy of confrontation. An Elder would be no stranger to these methods. Bhu'ja wondered how long it had taken for G'kuhto to find one and lead them.

"Because this is a holding centre, Bhu'ja. For infected," Lucy emphasised. Her patience was running thin after she'd been pulled so suddenly out of sleep. While she was wide awake and her body partially rested, the close call had scared her more than she cared to admit. She couldn't think of any worse way to die than getting infected with the Cordyceps. Because, well, they never really died. People just took a back seat in their own minds while the fungus took control.

There was a fate worse than death. And it was that.

"This is bad?" Bhu'ja asked. He was inspecting the entrance. There were two separate bathroom doors on the far left, but they were blocked off and marked with the FEDRA logo.

"Yes," Lucy gritted through her teeth. She then took a mental step back and inhaled deeply. "There are, just... there's going to be a lot in here. But we can't just exit where we feel like it because G'kuhto would probably anticipate that, anyway."

Bhu'ja agreed. They could wait it out, but he was willing to bet that G'kuhto could exercise far more patience than them. Their other best bet was to leave and take what was given to them. While Bhu'ja wasn't certain about the Elder's plan earlier, he had a feeling there was a reason the male had revealed himself so suddenly. There was the potential that, perhaps, he had been trying to weaken the two. Maybe it was less about hunting and more about torturing.