Summer walked over and pulled Mensha to his feet. Breathlessly he stumbled as she led them away, in the direction of the closest angelic spear. A forgotten knot of anxiety rewound in her chest as they departed and new dread shuddered through her.
“Why weren’t we worried?” she said voice numb, disbelief trumping fear. “We could have we could have made a pan we could have -“
“Summer,” Mensha wheezed between deep breaths. He collected himself and found his stride. “It affected us, and we might have been under its sway before we saw it.”
“Carefree and joyful,” she chuckled and it sicked her. “We were lucky Mensha, one hit, and” she trailed off.
“Ya,” he said then pulled himself out of her arms. “Well, at least we learned some things.”
“Like,” she muttered.
“Their aura can very much affect our decision-making, they have something against the shades and they can sense us when we’re near.” He said his eyes scanning the crowd with new intensity.
“You forgot to say they’re not very smart.” She added.
“All in all, I think that ended well.” He said genuinely pleased.
“Really?” she shot a disproving glare at his light smile.
“As I’ve said, not dying is a success in my mind.” He quirked a brow, “So, yes?”
She sighed and turned her attention to the crowd. She milled the fight’s bitter taste. Next time, she’d better. She ran through what if’s in search of improvements as they entered the spear’s light. Summer held her nose against the rot leaking from its pinned corpse. She glanced at Mensha and a different thought crystallized.
She stared intently at his features, “Yes Summer?” he said and sat facing her.
“You can change yourself,” she drawled.
“Yes,” he said and tilted his head, his gaze seasonally flickering to look behind her.
“Can you do the same to your senses?” She hesitated. “Like smell”
He blinked bringing his full focus onto her. “Yes, well theoretically yes I haven’t tried.” A smile bloomed on his face. “Is this about our hunt”
She nodded.
“It might work, good thought Summer,” his eyes grew distant.
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“How long will it take you,” she said a frown on her face to match the light in his eyes.
He snapped to attention. “I don’t know several hours maybe a day.”
Her face spoke volumes. An amused smile lit his features. “Isn’t it just adding a few cells,” her voice teetered.
“If by few you mean several thousand, including the nerves, that need to be added and hooked into my brain.” He leaned forwards and tilted his head up positively aglow with sarcasm. “As well as figuring out how to do all of this with no experience.”
“You’ve been practicing.” She thrust an accusing finger at him.
He fell back on his arms a suppressed chuckle in his throat. She cringed at the sound. He stopped the humor leaking out of him. “On my muscles, Summer, this and that are two completely different things. ”is there any risk of, you know?” her gaze darted between him and anything else. The shads shuffled around them unseen save for silent feet.
“No, hence the several hours today,” she nodded, “I can’t exactly walk while we do this so we should find somewhere to hold up.” He said and stood in a surprisingly smooth motion.
“I could carry you,”
“Where?”
“Never mind,” she said and turned into the crowd.
She bumped into something, she looked down at the silhouette splayed on its ass. It stared back at her. it scrambled away like a cockroach under her light. She rubbed a hand over her heart that had jolted but not quite managed to race.
Mensha walked beside her, curiosity eventide. “I bumped into a shade.”
He blinked then his features stilled to placidity, “Details please.”
“I bumped it and it ran away,” uncertainty edged her words.
“Strange, how didn’t it notice you?” His gaze swept the small bubble her light forced. A hand on his lips the other on his knife. “Should we try finding it?”
She squinted and tried to peer into the dark, “No, it can find us if it wants and the faster we hole up, the faster we can continue our search.”
“Okay,” he said and slipped his hand into her. She gently squeezed the limb and started walking to buildings surrounding the thoroughfare.
“Wait, I need some samples to test if my changes work.” He pulled her in the truck’s direction.”
“You have the shoe.”
“Yes, but more won’t hurt.”
She sighed and followed. They walked to the pink monster, and Summer got to watch Mensha, half wipe half scrap, what was probably a child’s blood into the spare article of clothing. “Wonders of the new world,” she mused a chuckle on her lip. She jolted and walked as far away from the creature as she could without exposing Mensha to the shadow.
Mensha finished and after a moment of staring at the dark stain in the stolen wrapped it into a ball and walked to her. They set off to the nearest buildings, Summer walked into a side street and walked into the first accessible door she found.
Her light shone on the glass automatic door of a towering building. She glanced at her partner. “Do you want me to do it?” She frowned and shook her head.
“No,” she said and pulled her bat from her pack, she glanced at the battered object and struck the glass. She winced as it shattered and she as the sound echoed in the city’s relative silence.
She carefully stepped through the shattered aperture and looked a the reception her light illuminated. It was ruined with papers and random items strewn about the floor. A computer was crumpled in the room’s corner.
Like a great wind had swept through. She shuddered and glanced behind her. At the empty streets. “How many, how,” she took a shuddering breath, Mensha’s firm grip found her shoulder. His sad eyes met her and slowly, he shook his head.
She took a breath and turned away, her vacant gaze found the staircase’s entrance. She walked forward and tried not to be crushed by the weight of a hundred empty floors.