The White Angel's Prayer

10. Corpses

Lucy didn't realise how cold it had gotten while they'd been inside. Even walking, and with Bhu'ja so close, she felt the chill down to her bone; an invasive disease that sought to consume her like a snake would its prey. She felt like that right now — hunted by a predator with far more advantages in a disadvantageous environment. She felt like the little mouse that knew something was wrong, but it couldn't figure out what, so all it could do was wait, wait, wait, wait, and hide.

Everything was white. The snow, the buildings, and the dead trees that were so thin, they were barely even there. It was like a cold, cruel, blinding sheen... it felt like the blankest of canvases on the cusp of receiving its first dose of acrylic, a swirling, beguiling pattern of eye-capturing crimson red and fluorescent green that seemed so out-of-place but poetically and perfectly right where it should be.

Lucy's back prickled. She looked over her shoulder, but she saw nothing; nothing but white, white, white, and more white. Her eyes snapped left and right before she spotted what seemed to be a multi-level carpark to their left. She deviated from the road to approach the old, rusted, and strangely curved chain-link gate that blocked the way forward.

"Lucy?" Bhu'ja asked. He didn't allow any more than three inches of space between them; Lucy's skin was perpetually hot from the warmth that Bhu'ja's body exuded.

"We can go in there," Lucy said, pointing up. "Maybe it leads to somewhere, and he'll lose our tracks."

Bhu'ja clicked his tusks. "We could try."

"What?" Lucy asked, looking him up and down. "You don't agree?"

"We won't lose him for long," Bhu'ja said matter-of-factly. "He'll find our tracks again within minutes."

Lucy shrugged. "A minute is a minute."

Bhu'ja sighed quietly. "That is true." He felt like a monkey jumping to and from the same branches, so his tail didn't catch him. But if it made Lucy feel safer, he'd do it.

The brunette narrowed her eyes at him. "You don't have to give me an attitude."

"I am not," Bhu'ja said quickly, flaring his mandibles at her accusation. He failed to see where in his body language or words that conveyed he was upset. And when he saw Lucy smile as she turned around, Bhu'ja huffed. "You goaded me."

Lucy hooked her bow over her shoulders so she could begin climbing over the gate. "Come on. Or do you need a boost?"

Bhu'ja clicked his mandibles in again. A boost. What was he? Five? He could just about see over the damn thing. "Careful, lest the fall breaks your legs."

"Uh-huh." Lucy landed comfortably on the other side and waited until Bhu'ja thumped right beside her. Her smile lasted for a fraction of a second before she led the way towards the multi-level carpark.

Lucy's steps were rushed. She felt as if there were eyes on her from every single direction, but when she turned to see if G'kuhto was right on their heels, all she ever saw was that stupid blanket of whiteness, as if the architects had been allergic to colour back in the Old World. It didn't soothe her when she thought about how much G'kuhto stood out in the snow, what with his hide of brilliant reds because she now knew how sneaky Yautja could be. Bhu'ja was a bulldozer, but G'kuhto had been on their trail the entire time leading up to the city, and she hadn't spotted hide nor hair for even a second during those hours.

The snow crunched beneath Lucy's shoes as she approached the wall that separated them from the carpark. She rubbed her numb hands together as she stared up at the looming structure, counting eight floors in the process. The height made her dizzy, and as she stared up into the darkness of each floor, she remembered the last time she was in a carpark such as this, right when she and Bhu'ja were still getting to know each other. At the thought of him, Lucy turned to see what he was doing.