Silence enveloped them aster Maria's last words as they continued their way through the ruined streets. Every now and then a blood-curdling howl pierced the quiet, before they were silenced as swiftly as they came.
With her rescue still in shock Maria maintained her distance, avoiding eye contact. The exhaustion of her body continued to spread and reach her mind, her eyes fluttering shut until the voice of the woman caused her to return to her senses.
"Why did you save me, lady Maria?" The honorific had her blush, though it was not all that made it hard for Maria to answer the question. "I, I don't know. There was just so much death, and when I heard you scream my body just."
She looked down at her hands, even with all her willpower she could not stop them from shaking. "I felt that I couldn't just let more happen. This is my, it is my fault." Tension left her body along with the truth, she could not bear to look up, and face the consequence.
"You, caused this?" Maria could not bring herself to speak, she only nodded in agreement, the feeling of dread slowly spreading and gripping her chest. "Lady Maria, I," Maria could not listen to it. she could not take it. "I didn't mean for it! It is not, I didn't order it, my servant, who I did not even know, she went amok here, and I don't know why, but she is mine, so it is my fault!"
Finally she was able to look up, but all she could see were the bodies, the flames, the devastation. "I didn't, I didn't mean to, I didn't want it, I didn't want it to be this way!"
The gentle touch of a hand on her shoulder finally caused her to return to reality, to the woman who was now right in front of her. And she finally saw her. The dirty, ruined clothes, the unkempt black hair, the scars across her arms and neck, the pain in her eyes that was just barely contained. "Thank you, Lady Maria. You, brought hell to them. To all of them."
Her grip tightened around Maria's shoulder. "And you pulled me out of mine. I owe you, everything." Quietly she lowered her head in deference, folding her hands behind her back. "I am Melanie. Please let me repay you."
Before Maria could answer her the van stopped, and the sound of yelling, human yelling, filled the air. Maria leapt to her feet, quickly regretting it as her legs refused to carry her. Her fall was softened by Melanie quickly reaching out and catching her. It was like this, with Maria laying in her rescues arms, that Sin found them as she opened the door.
Both of them looked at her in a mixture of surprise and embarrassment, but incapable of parting. "I am glad your adoptee is proving useful. It would seem that we found a group of survivors." Her calm demeanour was not diminished as she leaned her head to the side to dodge a bullet.
"Do you see yourself capable of negotiations yourself, or" for a moment she closed her eyes, raising her hand, another bullet striking her palm and bouncing off her scales. "Would you wish me to take care of them?"
"No!" Without a moments hesitation Maria began to struggle getting on her feet, which she eventually managed with Melanie's help. "I'll, I'll deal with it. No, matter what, don't attack ANYONE, unless I allow you to, understood?" Sin bowed deeply as another bullet trailed through the air just where her head had been. "As you wish, my master. I have told Elaine to keep guard, in case other unwanted visitors arrive."
Maria leaned on Melanie for support as she exited the van, struggling with the step down onto the ground, Sin had to pick her up and carry her down, which did not help with her master's feeling of confidence.
They were in a ruined parking lot, just in front of a large shopping mall. The only other cars were reduced to burning wrecks, corpses of other bestial creatures littering the ground. The shooting had stopped as they made their way across towards the mall, Sin walking a few steps in front of her master with a spring in her step as she was fully in her element.
Only a few lights were visible in the higher floors of the building, with the lower ones barricaded shoddily, only two figures visible behind at the entrance. The shock and worry was more than visible, though they continued to aim their rifles at Sin.
"Stop, don't come closer alright, we don't want trouble but this is our place, we don't got room for more." The man on the right tried in vain to sound intimidating, his efforts made Sin smile even more. "You wish not trouble, yet shoot at an unarmed woman without as much as a warning?"
Before she could continue her tirade however, Maria interrupted. "Please, cut it out, Sin. I just want to talk to them." The two slowly lowered their weapons as they saw Maria more clearly, with the man on the left taking a step back. "Fuck man, come on, open the door."
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His companion looked at him in disbelief. "That woman just dodged our bullets, man, didn't you see that? they're not normal no matter how beat up those two look. We can't just let them in."
"Yeah, I saw it, man. So why on earth do you think our little fence here is going to stop them from coming in if they really wanted to? Open the damn gate." Under a few curses his companion did as asked, letting them inside. It was less desolate than in the city itself, for sure, but not much better.
Trash littered the ground, claw marks and bullet holes in the walls and ceiling told of what had been going on here before. The two guards had put on whatever they could find, a rag-tag combination of padded clothes and makeshift metal pieces strapped on top for extra protection.
"Thank you, very much. We don't aim to stay long, uhm." Maria looked to Sin, who was now standing a single step behind them, hands folded behind her back. She did her best to appear harmless, though just the attempt filled Maria with a sense of worry. "Can you tell them who or, well, what we are looking for?"
Sin took a step forward, bowing her head. "Why of course, my master. You two." Her tone shifted from soft to sharp in such an instant that the two guards tensed up to attention, themselves surprised as visible from their shocked expressions. "We're looking for someone. Tall, wears all black, sometimes a ridiculous tiger coat, stupidly long hair, makes you think of a fashion model with no sense of reality, seen someone like that?"
They stared at each other, then at Sin and Maria, in growing disbelief. "We haven't seen anyone that doesn't look like a monster, well." They stared at Sin's scaled arms, but were wise enough not to say anything. "If they're still alive and not torn to pieces they're probably at the city hall, they're the only ones who've been able to radio out to people. Is that uh, all?"
The tension of being this close to Sin was taking their toll on them, and it only got slightly better when Sin was no longer glaring at them and instead turned to her master. "My master, do you intend to keep your adoptee around?"
The question caught Maria off-guard, though she did not even need to glance at Melanie before answering. "Yes. I, I think she could be very helpful and she doesn't have a place to go and." She managed to end her rambling and just nodded her head. This was enough for Sin, who turned to face the guards once more, who froze at her gaze.
"I'm sure you've got ears functional enough to hear her. This place is the only one we have found so far not a complete ruin, so I'm sure most of the stores are kind of intact? As atonement for your aggression you will go and get two complete sets of clothing for my master's new pet.
Nothing too extraordinaire, nothing shabby." She clapped her hands, and before she could even yell "Go" they hurried off and up the stairs. With them gone Sin bowed deeply to Maria, who shook her head. "You really can't be nice to anyone, can you Sin."
Maria could not see her servants face, but she could hear the smile on her lips through her words. "Oh this is nothing, my master. Had we another guard I would have followed and, appropriated us more. But alas, our numbers are limited for now, until that foolish Menagerie returns to her place."
They stared out across the parking lot, only the sounds of fires keeping them company. "Menagerie, that's the one who, did all of this, right?" Maria's voice quivered as she spoke. "What's she like, and how could she, how could she do all of this?"
They could hear howling in the distance, not too far away. "Menagerie is about what you could expect from someone who took the label of beast to heart. She was always very difficult to tame, but I cannot imagine what has caused her to be this reckless, for her spawn to the this volatile. They should not be able to dare attack the heiress or another beast. I will need to have some very, very stern words with her."
Even Maria, her master could not help but shiver at the ice cold anger in her words. The howls grew louder as they could hear frantic steps coming down the stairs as the guards returned, each with a heavy bag. "There, clothes, foods, money, everything please just, please just leave us alone now, alright? You got what you came here for, yeah?"
Sin shouldered the bags with ease and a low grin. "Quite. You are very perceptive, maybe you will survive this little mess after all. My master, we should leave." The lingering tone of urgency had Maria agree immediately. She tried her best to smile at the guards, though it did not seem to ease them at all. "Thank you for your help and, contribution. It wont be forgotten!"
Sin put up a brisk pace which Maria and Melanie did their best to follow, spurred on by the howls growing closer and closer. When they reached the van Maria could already hear the scraping of claws and thundering of hooves.
Sin threw the bags of spoils into the back of the van, helped her master inside and shut the door behind them before racing to the drivers seat. The engine roared up as Maria sat down in a corner of the van, Melanie close by her side. "Please hold on tightly, my master!" Sin yelled back to them before putting the pedal to the metal, driving off into the night.
Maria was thankful that the back of the van had no windows. She leaned into Melanie, keeping her eyes shut and hummed to herself as loud as she could, trying to block out the guttural howls, the gunfire and the desparate screams they left behind.