“e on. We’re almost there.” After speed walking through the border and towards the ions of the city, Alex Pearsed the two young women, panting and breathing heavily himself.
“Are we - are we out of the range of the city now?” Eve Kim asked from behind, withing her bell.
“Almost. ” Alex Pearson nodded: “Also, shut it. Ring before you speak ime!”
“Okay - sor - ” Eve Kim tried to apologize, but decided to swallow her words as she would be speaking withing again.
Barely half a mier, chills spread through the entire bodies of the three. Alex Pearson waved the group to stop, looking around, then up. A Blood Rainboeared in the air behind them. It was not a big one, but a clear cut blood rainbow heless.
“Fuck! Fuck fuck fuck!” Arms bred inside Eve Kim’s stomach. Fear, dread a filled her mind.
“e behind me!” Alex Pearson took off his jacket and ied it. On the back of the jacket, was a plex circle drawn with red ink on a piece of light yellow cloth. He raised the jacket above, shielding everyoh his jacket: “Now! Kneel down! Close your eyes and cover your ears! No matter what you hear, what you feel, don’t open your eyes until I tell you to! Do it NOW!”
Eve Kim and Tanya Su k by Alex Pearson’s legs and closed their eyes. Screams, curses and moans exploded all around them. Howling and freezing wind raged. They could not help but hold onto each other. Eve Kim also took a moment to grab and her left arm around Alex Pearson’s leg - it was the only way she could know where she was.
Alex Pearson had never been a fan of this kind of physical tact, evehose who held his legs were begging for mercy or showing disobedience - how could he go anywhere or hide when threats arose when his legs were bound by others? But at this very moment, it seemed to be helping instead of hindering his measures of proteg himself and his ts - upon the collisioweeerrible, bone-chilling energy from the Blood Rainbow and the almost equally chilling but slightly different energy mist released from the array on the back of his jacket, his senses were getting numb and his head was getting heavy, the tight clutch around his legs and ankles was one of the few things that reminded him that he had to hold on.
The array was one of his oldest a structs - the mist released from it would lower the signal of “liveness” of all those caught in it. Smoke bomb or camoufge against evil spirits, one could even call it. The side effect of it was obvious - while it would mask the traces and signs of living humans and hide them from spirits, it would also slightly paralyze and even poisoherefore, it was a tool only to buy time.
Severed heads, ripped upper bodies, torn lower bodies, corroded boney whole bodies, and almost a dozen other versions of broken human figures made of mist, fog and smoke walked past the fog. They swarmed towards the ter of the city, as if they were on a marone of them noticed the three humans ihe fog.
Tanya Su’s lips were cold and gray, her eyes were closed and her breathing was getting softer by the seds. Eve Kim was not much better, as she could barely keep her eyes open. Quite a few times spirits who were crawling ing their heads on the ground came dangerously close to her, which forced her to remain awake. If Alex Pearson, their smuggler, could not hahings, she would still o take Tanya Su and run as fast as possible.
Utterly fortunately for them, the Blood Rainbow dissipated after only around half a mihe spirits tio march towards the city, but their figures gradually became gradually more transparent after the Blood Rainbow disappeared. Alex Pearson almost pletely lost the feeling of his arms and fingers by then, and had to bite the tip of his tongue so that he could clear his mind enough to cut short the effect of the array.
“Hey, wake up! Wake up!” A red dle was lit up and pced on the ground close to Tanya Su and Eve Kim’s faces, the special warmth radiating from it pushed aurged the numbness and chilliness left in them.
Eve Kim gasped as she came back to her senses - she was not asleep, for she had a pretty clear recolle of what happened. It was just that her mind drifted away enough that she felt as if she dreamed all of it.
Tanya Su coughed and wretched profusely for almost 1 full minute when she woke up. Alex Pearson stood by looking around, not any help or words of sotion.
“We should go. Quick!” Alex Pearson anded after waiting for a short moment for the two young women to catch their breath again: “If everything is going as I expe the city, there will be a lot of simir things popping up really soon. And I don’t think any of you will be able to handle another.”
Eve Kim leered at Alex Pearson before pulling her roommate up: “Okay, just - lead the way.”
Alex Pearson sighed lightly before tinuing forward. The marg spirits left tarry handprints, footprints and irregur long drag marks on the ground. The cold spots remained even after they’d gone.
As they went further downhill, their path grew more ft and the positions of poisonous bushes and trees became more sparse. The air warmed up as they went as well.
Two headlights from a vehicle appeared at the foot of a small hill beside a dirt road. A small van. “Sheng’s Live Pigs”, so it was written on the sliding door.
