damned_institute | Night 63: Road to/from Doyleton

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Night 63: Road to/from Doyleton

[From here.]

But being outside was probably just as dangerous, if not more dangerous, than it was being trapped inside the bus with that nurse.

Besides the many other deformed nurses that were roaming around here, Zero caught sight of numerous forms flying overhead, casting large shadows on the ground as they passed by. They looked like...eagles. But deformed and horrific-looking, just like the nurses. At first, they seemed content to simply circle overhead, screeching, like vultures swarming above a carcass. But then many of them suddenly swooped down and headed straight for some of the prisoners running in the street.

Kind of like the one flying at Zero right now.

"Kh--!" The once-Reploid barely managed to dodge the monster as it dived for him by falling to the ground and rolling back onto his feet. The bird flew upwards again, slowly flapping its wings, then circled around as if to try again, another eagle joining it. To avoid them, Zero quickly moved out of the open, where he was obviously a target, and circled around one of the buses, keeping his back to it for cover. But he knew he wasn't going to be safe here...not when there were nurses on the ground and so many eagles above.

Not since the night he had become temporarily stronger had there been so much visible chaos... And if that one prisoner hadn't started a riot, this wouldn't be happening right now...!

As he stood contemplating the best route for escape, Zero glanced around quickly, searching the fleeing prisoners for anyone familiar or anyone who might need help. He was defenseless, so protecting someone else would only get him so far (and he certainly didn't want a repeat of two nights ago), but they all might have a better chance of survival if they grouped up...

[Leanne, Lana, and Harvey, WHERE YOU AT.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[from here]

While part of him wanted to wait by the bus for the blond, just so he could deck him ~~and maybe leave him for the nurses they shouldn't have been dealing with~~, Kurogane kept his focus on the more important matter of getting away from the buses and out of the open. He stayed along the side of the most damaged bus until he caught sight of the one ahead of it through the dark and veered off to the roadside.

The most present danger were the monsters that had once been the nurses, and taking cover in the surrounding brush, or at least getting a weapon from a tree would serve better than tackling the things bare handed.

_{[from here]}

Another thing that had to go was the pink jacket. It was too eye-catching. Peeling it off, Tsubaki abandoned it under the bus, leaving her in the thin, dark blue t-shirt she’d been wearing underneath. With it gone, she pressed herself against the bus’ hulk and tried to get a glimpse of where Kurogane had gone. She got only a brief impression of him running along the side of the road before his receding figure was eclipsed by the bedlam around her.

A stray feather fell in front of her eyes; a leftover from one of the giant birds circling over the vehicle. She’d never encountered one of the creatures personally before, but they were obviously aggressive and dangerously high in number. Long years of practice allowed her to even out her breathing despite the tension thrumming under her skin.

Get ready, Tsubaki.

She had a weapon. She could help fight their way to safety. She wasn’t helpless.

Three… two… one…

Tsubaki timed her run and darted out on the heels of a passing bird, keeping to cover where she could find it. Cover, however, was scarce--the only nearby building that she was aware of was the hospital, and although the trees on either side of the road would deter flying foes, blundering around in strange territory only opened the door to monsters who might be hunting in the forest.

She had just started around the second bus when the hair on the back of her neck rose. Looking up, she saw a talon clip the edge of the bus, only a few inches short of where her head had been. Quick! Before she could get out from under it, the bird banked sharply; she heard the rustle of dirt and grass as it landed, wings flaring wide to try and strike her again. Although Tsubaki jumped away, a wing tip still clipped her shoulder with enough force to send her to the ground.

The kusarigama. Holding the image of her chain scythe in her mind, the girl crawled forward and rolled herself under the bus. Something hit the side of it with a shriek, but she was already squeezing herself out the other side and onto the road, a golden glow illuminating the end of her hair. By the time the Aquila charged around the corner, she had the handle of the chain scythe in her hand.

[From here.]

Sora landed on the dirt road, crouching to soften the impact. It hadn't been a long way to jump by any means, but when his body was so drained from his illness he had to be extra careful.

Unfortunately, it didn't look like things were any better out here. Sora glanced up and saw the same birds from the last time this had happened circling overhead, letting out bloodthirsty shrieks. Last time they had been close to the institute and had actually been able to get inside pretty quickly. This time it wasn't going to be so easy.

The good thing was, Sora didn't have to search for a weapon. All he had to do was put himself in some danger -- which wasn't going to be hard considering how many of those birds there were -- and he'd have the Keyblade back.

Sora moved away from the bus' exit, but he almost ran right into a mess. Tsubaki was there, holding a weapon of her own, but one of the monsters was headed right for her. "Whoa!" Sora cried out, darting forward and reaching out to grab Tsubaki's wrist and pull her out of the way of the aquila before it could do any damage.

The trees at the roadside weren't at all impressive from what he could see, but he wasn't looking to go carving a wooden sword from one just right then. A sturdy branch would do, and having anything would be better for him than attempting to use only his fists, even if only facing nurses. His body was just as bad as the night before, if not more so, and after how horribly he'd failed then he couldn't let the same happen again.

Not if he wanted to survive the night.

Screeches different from those of the nurses told him to hurry as he left the road and ducked into the brush. With his good arm ahead of him, he pushed back what bushes blocked his way and tested the trees he came across. While the first all but snapped in two the next one proved sturdy enough for its size with its branches near to what the ninja was looking for. He reached up just as the sounds of something ramming metal carried over to him. A pull, and then a second did not move the branch enough to snap and forced his injured hand up to help. Grasping the rough wood with his left only irritated the rash more, but he couldn't do anything more than ignore it as the branch finally snapped off.

"Finally!" he huffed before spinning back on the scene. Birds. Those monstrous ones that liked him for some reason. It had been some time since he'd even seen the things - his nightly outings had kept him mostly indoors - but he hadn't forgotten how one had torn his arm up all those nights ago. Now that one was slamming the bus he'd just been on with others swooping down, his mind came to one conclusion as he kicked off to get back, "Damn, that girl... Tsubaki!"

Like many of the hospital’s monsters, the birds weren’t acting like their normal animal counterparts--they were hunting in a far more intelligent manner than usual. The bird hadn’t been fooled by her trick; it was looking for her.

Some of you will have the opportunity to experience the thrill of the hunt… the very same behaviors native to our homegrown monsters.

Looking at the Aquila’s sharp eyes, the Head Doctor’s words came to mind for a brief moment before someone grabbed her and dragged her aside. “Ah!” Sora! He had been on the same bus as her, hadn’t he? “Look out, there’s more of them!” she said, keeping her shoulder in front of Sora before the bird that had originally attacked her could go after him, too. The chain connecting the scythe to the rest of her body hissed as she raised it, metal clinking against metal. As the Aquila bobbed forward on its claws, it jerked its head out to meet them and she urged them both backwards before its beak could make contact.

Sora had made it to Tsubaki just in time, managing to pull her out of the way before the aquila could actually harm her. It was only when he was that close that he realized the girl already had her weapon out, that weird scythe that was attached to her hair. He felt kind of silly for trying to play the hero when she clearly had things under some amount of control, but...

They would work better as a team, right? As soon as they got this one bird off their backs, maybe they could start to make a run for it and put some distance between them and the swarm. Sora realized he wouldn't be willing to take off until he was sure all the buses had emptied out, but right now he had more immediate problems.

"I need my Keyblade," he told her, as if that would explain anything having to do with his next move. Sora couldn't remember if he'd told Tsubaki about how this all worked, but she was going to have to trust him. He pushed out past her despite her efforts to guard him and ran straight for the aquila. He just needed it to swipe at him once and he was sure his weapon would appear to help him. "I know what I'm doing!" he called back over his shoulder, in case Tsubaki tried to stop him.

Returning to the road found him in the midst of more chaos than when he'd left. Patients were scrambling every direction while the dove at their selected prey left and right. He dodged along the road, avoiding more patients than monsters as he made his way back to the back of the damaged bus, finding the area cleared. A quick check inside only reminded him that there were more dangers than the birds there and turned his path back along the sides of the buses.

The girl should have known what to do in this situation - to get away and arm herself somehow - but that was only if she'd been trained as he had, which he knew wasn't the case. She'd stayed back where he'd gone, calling for other patients to get clear. That made them different, and it made chances high that she was still somewhere near the buses. He kept low as he ran along the side of the damaged bus and neared the second, wishing like hell that he'd had his proper gear and not an outfit offering little protection. Even if he found the girl, there wasn't much he could do outside of trying to fend off a bird with a tree branch.

He'd still try in any event.

The bus he was running along shook suddenly and rocked his way, bumping his arm and throwing his balance just enough to halt his pace. Something had hit from the other side, a bird no doubt. He swore at the disturbance and gave the bus a quick glare before stepping off again. When he halted next, it was at the sound of a familiar voice, and only for a moment. When Tsubaki's voice carried just over the sounds of the chaos from the other side of the bus, he paused only long enough to get his bearings before continuing on and rounding the bus at the front.

And here she was, somehow armed and with another patient. A kid with spiked hair was before her, charging, unarmed at a one of the birds. Someone else he recognized. He'd never seen Sora fight before, but didn't need that knowledge to know what would happen if the kid met the bird without a weapon.

"Watch out, kid!" he called, moving to take his only weapon at the bird from behind.

What the--

Tsubaki didn‘t know what charging at one of the monsters had to do with a Keyblade, or any other kind of blade, for that matter. Alarmed, she could only watched as the boy raced out from behind her, making a beeline directly for the bird. We should be running in the other direction! And not to mention Sora was already sick! What did he mean he knew what he was doing!?

Swallowing her cry, she moved to Sora’s right, instinctively positioning herself so as to support him from behind as one partner did for another. She wasn’t the only one backing Sora up, either. Kurogane was a blur of movement on the other side of the bird, having emerged from the darkness with a thick tree branch in hand. It didn’t much matter where he’d been, only that he was there.

Readjusting to account for Kurogane’s attack, she let fly her scythe at a rightward angle. If the bird tried to overwhelm Sora from that side, she would be able to scare it away before it got too close.

As Sora ran ahead, he wasn't surprised that the bird was flapping forward to meet him. It wasn't like someone his size running at anything was going to be intimidating unless he was armed, after all. He was basically presenting himself to be attacked, which he knew but which Tsubaki might not understand.

Right as the monster was clawing out with one of those silver talons, Sora heard someone calling for him to watch out. It disoriented him for a second because he knew he recognized that voice, but he wasn't sure where it was coming from.

The bird's talon reached him then, slicing shallowly through his chest, but right after that Tsubaki's weapon came forward, forcing the bird back. Before Sora was completely aware of what had happened, he felt his heart swell; there was a flash of light and then the Keyblade had appeared in his hand.

"Okay!" he said, ignoring the pain in his chest as he spun around to face Tsubaki. "Let's get out of here!" The man who had yelled out to him was around too, so Sora hoped he heard.

As quickly as he'd started for the bird, he wasn't able to reach before it got a hit in on the kid. Thankfully Tsubaki was able to keep her head about her better and kept Sora from getting ripped to pieces with the next moments. Whatever weapon she held proved enough to force the bird back Kurogane's way, closing the distance and granting him a much quicker attack than he'd anticipated.

Using Tsubaki's attack as a diversion, he reached the bird from behind and immediately swung the branch up, striking the sharp end through the base of its left wing and pulling back as hard as he was able. The Aquila shrieked at the strike and began flapping both wings furiously to remove the branch, all the while reaching its talons out to grasp Kurogane. The ninja dodged what he was able, letting the claws strike at the branch once or twice, but took some cuts in the process as he refused to let go.

So long as he held the branch caught in the Aquila's wing, there was time enough for the kids to get away, and what was more, he had the chance of grounding the thing if it thrashed enough to tear its wing apart. Both the kids' and his chances of escape were much higher without having an airborne adversary.

"Get going!" he ordered at the two, hearing Sora's own call to leave and hoping Tsubaki would follow suit. Kurogane knew he could keep this one from following after them for a least a few moments, long enough that they could take cover and maybe see to Sora's wound. He could handle himself afterwards.

Whoa! That’d been too close!

She didn’t know how bad the wound was, but it definitely seemed like the bird had made contact with Sora before he’d managed to arm himself. And now Kurogane was in the thick of things himself! As strong as the man was, she didn’t trust the injured monster not to get in one last shot--and she certainly didn’t trust either Sora or Kurogane to be fighting in their states.

Recalling her scythe, she gave a mental command for the chain to shorten so that it wouldn’t drag on the ground when she ran. And running was a high priority, no doubt about it. “You too, Kurogane-san! Let’s--” She broke off as a dark shape passed over her head, close enough that she was buffeted by the gust of wind it created. The smell of rotting flesh filled her nose, a stomach-turning reminder that there were more monsters waiting to take their downed companions’ places.

“Let’s go!” she finished, running for Sora. The woods to the side of the road was the closet hiding spot around, and it was the first place she thought to head to.

Sora got a good view of what the voice -- who he now realized was Kurogane, standing on the other side of the monster from them -- was doing, and he realized that the man was trying to give them an opening to run. Not about to throw that in Kurogane's face, Sora turned with Tsubaki and started to run for the woods. His chest was burning from the fresh cut and he placed his free hand to the wound as he ran.

It didn't take him long to reach the woods -- he was used to running around like this, after all -- and once Sora was pretty sure he was safe, he paused and leaned himself against the trunk of a tree, forcing himself to catch his breath.

"So much for our plans, huh?" he said between breaths as he glanced over at Tsubaki. At least they were both armed now, but he hoped that Kurogane was able to make his way over here too. If not, they were going to have to run out there and get him.

He had expected some protest from Tsubaki about him keeping up, but didn't have the ability to pay it any mind for having to deal with the beast. Whatever protests she had were short though as she and Sora left as ordered, running for the forest.

Once they were out of sight, he felt some relief for more than one reason. Not only were they safer from the birds, there wasn't any chance of either getting caught up in the cross fire. He could do as he needed now.

His feet dug hard into the group as he struggled to take more control over the branch and which way it went. For now he had the thing grounded, but he couldn't just let go and expect it wouldn't be able to fly again. If nothing else, he wanted at least one of them down for the night. With the bird's constant flailing, it wasn't until it raised its wings on an attempt to fly that Kurogane was able to do more than retain his footing.

"Like hell!" he snorted and, taking his chance, put all his weight into shoving the branch towards the bus. Balance lost under the shift, the Aquila's wings dropped back, claws scratching the ground for some friction. A talon dug into the concrete just before the rest of the hulking bird crashed against the bus side. Some windows shattered inwards as the bus itself rocked but didn't tip. And whether the bird was only stunned or worse didn't matter from then on. That was good enough.

Kurogane only needed a few moments to wretch the branch from the Aquila's wing and stake it through the feathers in both the middle and end. That was all he could manage before both wings started flapping again, and it was all he needed. One damaged wing would keep it from flying and away from them. He backed off quickly then, leaving the branch stuck in the tip of the Aquila's wing as he disappeared into the forest. He'd get another.

Tsubaki tried to keep an eye on all directions in case of more oncoming birds, an impossible task made that much harder when she kept shooting glances over her shoulder at Kurogane. Why wasn’t he coming yet? What was he planning to do now that he’d given the both of them time to escape?

Her heart was pounding. Gah! Why is this always happening!

Long stems of grass slapped at her legs as she pelted through the ditch and into the trees alongside Sora. The woods stood in dark and gloomy contrast to the moonlit road they’d left behind, but at least it was safe in the line of the trees they stopped in. She put her hand on a tree trunk, inhaled through her nose, and gave one last look behind her. Kurogane and the giant bird were out of sight now.

First priority, though, was the injured boy beside her. She stepped away from her tree and moved closer. Under normal circumstances, his comment deserved a smile, but it wasn’t an expression she could pull off with the cries of hunting birds filling the air. “At least we made it,” she said, eyes on his chest. “How bad is it? Let me see.”

At first, Sora had assumed that Kurogane was right on their heels, but it quickly became obvious that he hadn't followed them in the first place. He felt bad for leaving the man behind, but he'd wanted them to get to safety, hadn't he? Sora just hoped he was all right.

If he didn't show up in the next few minutes, then they'd run back out there in search for him. That was what Sora decided.

It wasn't much of surprise that Tsubaki was worrying over his wound, and Sora had to admit that it stung. At least it was distracting him from the fever, although Sora realized that wasn't exactly the best way to deal with his symptoms. He breathed heavily as he stared down at his chest. His shirt had been sliced through and now the blood was soaking into it. He was pretty sure some of it was dripping down toward his abdomen, too.

"It's not as bad as it looks," he insisted. "I didn't let it slice too deep." The problem was that the shallower cuts tended to bleed more. Sora held tight onto his Keyblade, crossing his fingers that it wouldn't vanish just because he was out of immediate danger.

In the darkness, the unfamiliar brush gave Kurogane more difficulty than he was accustomed to, if only for being out of practice. The Institute had little by way of thick trees save for the few out in the yards, and he'd been enclosed there for over a month now. He hadn't been able to practice navigating more than the same damn hallways over and over. Now he had to find the kids in an unfamiliar area with monster birds seeking them out while sliced up on most parts of his body.

For once, his night was starting to feel less like a chore and more like a challenge.

"Hell..." he huffed without finishing, knowing that he didn't have time or the ability to be thankful for the change-up. He'd wanted to break free from the monotony of never getting anything done at night, but not like this.

Out of practice though he was in the setting, he knew how to track and found the kids' path easily enough, stepping through the trampled grass and catching sight of some of the bent and snapped limbs from trees and bushes. Soon enough he spotted the two near a tree base.

"You all right?" he called up before reaching the two. He knew Sora had gotten clawed at, less so than himself, but he hadn't seen if Tsubaki had been hurt any. The night would be worse if all three of them were injured with what monsters would be catching the scent of their blood.

“We should try to stop the bleeding, anyway,” Tsubaki said. She wished she hadn’t ditched her jacket! The extra clothing would have come in handy when it came to making bandages; as it was, she only had her t-shirt and pants, and ripping those up wouldn’t exactly help.

Now would’ve been a perfect time to use the first aid kit she’d bought at the store--but that was gone. Gone along with the nurse who’d confiscated it in the first place.

“Do you have anything you could part with to make a bandage?” she continued, only turning her attention away from Sora’s wound long enough to ascertain the long-legged figure coming toward them through the brush to be Kurogane. Out of the three of them, Tsubaki expected Kurogane was the most capable of taking care of himself on his own, but she was still relieved to see he hadn’t let the monster get the best of him. “Fine!” she called. “Glad you made it.” The bruise she was going to have on her shoulder was minimal in comparison to the others’ injuries. “Now we should treat the worst of those cuts while we can.”

Something to make a bandage? Sora glanced down at himself, immediately taking note of his sweater which he'd tied around his waist some time ago. It had been too much to keep it on when he'd been in that packed bus with a fever, but that decision had turned out to be a good once, since it hadn't been sliced apart when the monster had attacked him.

Sora untied it and handed it over to Tsubaki, figuring that she could use that scythe to cut it into strips. At that point Kurogane showed up, and Sora immediately felt a weight off his shoulders when he saw him. The man looked like he'd taken a beating himself, which really didn't bode well for how the rest of the night would go.

"How about you?" he called back, moving a little closer to the man to try and get an idea of how injured he was. Kurogane was still standing, so it definitely could have been worse. Still, Sora knew that he'd gotten hurt trying to give them a clear part by which to run away, so he had to make it his business, even if he had his own injuries to think about.

If Tsubaki had gotten hurt, it wasn't anywhere visible, and with her claiming to be fine, there was no room to press her. She didn't sound to be lying, however. Sora didn't look too bad himself either, and Tsubaki was already seeing to his chest wound, so that was good.

Unfortunately that left Kurogane as the object of their concern.

He knew he'd taken most of the bird's attack, as the two could probably see, but he hadn't stopped to give himself a once over to know the damage. Pain was something he'd trained himself to ignore while in battle, but now that he was out of immediate danger, he knew at least one injury was going to hinder him. He had a gash to one shoulder, one on his leg and two shallow cuts at his side without counting any bruises that were undoubtedly forming, but the most pressing was the one he'd taken to his left arm. Shallow though it may have been, with his arm already inflamed from the rash, the added sting of torn flesh made ignoring the thing impossible.

"I'll survive," he eventually told the two as he worked himself to remove his jacket. Once off he took to wiping down what blood he could before pressing it over the arm wound. "We need to keep moving. One may not be able to fly any more, but that won't stop the rest from coming after us."

As much as she’d didn’t want to take away Sora’s outer layer, when he offered her his sweater she didn’t see much choice except to take it. “If you get cold later, tell me,” she said, crouching down and spreading the material over her knees. They would have to figure something out if either of their health started to take a turn. Since she was the only one who wasn’t sick, Tsubaki was the least concerned about herself, knowing the elements weren’t likely to affect her quite as much.

Somehow she’d also managed to come out relatively unscathed compared to the others, too. Sometimes she wished her luck would rub off on other people--Sora and Kurogane needed it more at the moment.

While Kurogane worked off his jacket, she started cutting the sweater into pieces, some long, some small. Once she had enough to fold into pads to cover the wounds and tie them in place, she gathered the cloth up and followed Sora over to where Kurogane stood. “Here, we’ll put this over the cut to help stop the bleeding and tie it off,” she said to Sora, handing him a square of what used to be his sweater. With practiced hands, she used a longer strip to fasten it under his shirt. “That should hold so long as you don’t do anything crazy…” Like run at any more bloodthirsty monsters.

Kurogane had the greater number of injuries, so she saved the rest of the makeshift bandages for him. “Now for you,” Tsubaki continued, rounding on the other man. “I’ll get your arm, and that cut on your leg.” And she hoped there would be no arguing about it. All the growing dark spots on his clothes--blood--told her he had more wounds than she had available bandages for, but she’d do the best she could.

That just left the obvious: getting out of the danger zone before the number of injuries increased.

“We should head toward the hospital. It’s the closest place we can go to.”

For some reason, Sora wasn't too surprised to find that Tsubaki made a good nurse. She took charge immediately, helping him with his chest wound first. He took the strip of cloth she offered him and pressed it against the wound, wincing as he added more force. He knew that as much as it hurt to push down, that pressure would stop the bleeding.

Once that was done, he lifted up his arms, giving Tsubaki the room she needed to tie the rest around him. It was a little bit awkward, but he wasn't in any position to complain about that. He felt his cheeks grow hotter as she drew close to him, and backed away as soon as she was done.

"Don't worry, I don't think I'm going to get cold," he said, shaking his head. Not with this fever that didn't seem to want to go away. The boy stood by as Tsubaki finished with Kurogane's wounds, and then raised an eyebrow when she suggested where they go next.

To the institute? It felt strange running back toward the very place they were trying to get away from, but Sora didn't have any plans for escape tonight. He couldn't go anywhere until he had Riku and Kairi at his side, after all. So after a moment of contemplation, he reluctantly agreed. "Okay. We should stick to the trees, though." If they got lucky, none of those birds would be able to get through to them.

If they'd been inside, in a room or even in a hallway where there were only so many directions danger could come from, the ninja would have shrugged off the offer of assistance in favor of moving onward. He knew how to handle his own injuries. Being outside however, and in an unfamiliar location had him choosing to let Tsubaki do what she would without any protest. She was stubborn, same as him, and getting frustrated at each other because he wouldn't let her help would only waste time and likely let the birds know their location.

With Tsubaki and Sora both agreeing to head back to the institute, Kurogane's thoughts went to what others were thinking. Most were probably thinking the same - that the institute offered some form of safety. And chances were that Landel was counting on that being the case.

"He set this up. That doctor," Kurogane stated through gritted teeth while Tsubaki did a better job than him of seeing to his injuries. His eyes wandering back towards the road as he added, "If we're heading for the Institute, be prepared for a trap. Both along the way and inside."

With everyone relatively patched up, Tsubaki felt a little less ill at ease. The first aid wasn’t much, but it was something. Some small piece of control.

“Yeah, staying under cover is safest,” she agreed. Kurogane was also right--or at least he wasn’t wrong. She didn’t want to start assigning blame for what had brought them to this moment, but the combination of the bus crash and the Head Doctor’s love of surprises had not worked in their favor. “He couldn’t have known one of the buses would crash like that, but…” A sigh left her. “Anyway, it seems like a lot of people have managed to get free of the buses. If they went for the trees like us, everyone should be all right to find their way back. We’re not too far away.”

She was speaking as someone who likely had the skills to navigate herself to shelter. All three of them were formidable in their own right, though not all groups were going to be so well-rounded as theirs.

“Let’s stick together, all right? With all these monsters around, we’re safer in numbers.”

It was true that they might be stumbling right into a trap, but from what Sora understood, there wasn't usually any way to avoid danger at Landel's. No matter what they did, they were going to get attacked or surprised in some way. It wasn't like the forest seemed much safer. Still, Kurogane seemed to have meant that as a warning rather than a protest, so their minds were all made up.

"Sticking together, right!" He nodded to Tsubaki, smiling at her as one more thanks before he started down through the brush toward the institute. While he didn't know if everyone had safely fled the buses, he hoped that was the case. He couldn't imagine how terrible it would be to get picked off while stuck out in the cold like this, and by one of those nasty birds no less.

He had wandered through forests and jungles in the past, so Sora was light on his feet as he wove through the trees. With the combination of the fever and his new injury, he had to admit that he was starting to feel woozy, but he tried his best not to focus on that. Every now and then he had to use his free hand to catch his balance on a tree trunk, but for the most part he was holding himself together.

Right, the crash hadn't been all Landel. Kurogane had been hoping to keep the idiotic oaf from mind and didn't comment on the matter again. They weren't heading back to the buses anyway.

He trusted what he'd seen of Tsubaki's skills enough to know that she could handle herself in the woods, however this was the first night he'd traveled with Sora. There was little he could go by on how the kid fought, but after that unarmed lunge at a bird, he couldn't say he wanted Sora leading their trek back. That smile against the threat of danger hadn't helped any either. "Take it east, kid," he warned, keeping pace easily for the length of his strides, "We'll get there."

And they probably wouldn't like the entrance any better. Since there was that strong possibility of a trap, Kurogane kept his eyes out for another branch that could become a decent enough weapon should things go bad.

Night 63: Road to/from Doyleton

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/shows off why she doesn't NPC monsters...

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