Time seemed stagnant as we ran; we'd been too focused on escaping to tell otherwise. In fact, our only indication that any had passed at all was the prickling soreness within our flesh. My own fatigue wouldn't have been so bad if it wasn't for the fact that I'd swapped with Agawa and carried Sato, The Sleeper.
'Wake the hell up already!' Annoyed, I started shaking him on my back, hoping he'd wake, but I bumped him into the side of a wood-stone building.
pαпdα-ňᴏνê|·сóМ "Oops." I shrugged.
"Be careful!" Agawa loudly whispered.
Walking up to Sato, she reached for him. For a moment, though, she caught herself and grimaced like she'd been actively willing herself to continue. Quietly shaking her head, she made another attempt with renewed composure.
Like last time, a little jolt was all she needed to clear any hesitation. Gently, her hand fell against a newly formed mark that appeared on the back of his head. Though she still twitched with angst, she tenderly rubbed it with a look of mixed concern.
"Well, aren't you all 'motherly?'" I teased.
"Oh, shut up.' She said with a rosy tint appearing on her cheeks.
I was about to continue my assault of teasing when a stampede of iron on cobblestone echoed through the streets. In response, we all took positions in the darkest shadows of the alley and observed the platoon of soldiers.
They were definitely a cut above the guards we'd seen in the dungeons of the mansion. Rather than some cobbled-together leather armor, these ones sported reflective plate mail, smooth steel gauntlets and greaves. The kind that you'd get in the mid-game of some RPG.
Though I hated restrictive clothes, I wouldn't have minded getting my hands on some of those shiny gauntlets and boots. I guess you could say I'm more of a "gladiatorial" fighter when equipping myself. I liked to stay as loose and unencumbered as possible.
"Look there," Kamida whispered, pointing towards the outer wall's exit.
Following his request, we three peered out from the alleyway to the streets and observed the main gate. Now surrounding it was a wall of steel-clad guards, all wielding various binding ropes, truncheons, and sharp instruments.
In front of them paced who I'd assumed was their leader.
Setting him apart from the masses, he had a silvery gray chest piece garnished with numerous gold etchings and a billowing black-gold cape. Amongst the engravings was some kind of crest that consisted of a pair of fangs with two crossed swords and claw marks.
If that wasn't already "regal" enough, the tip of his helmet flared up in spikes around the edges upward, forming what looked like a silvery crown.
He stopped pacing and commanded the attention of his subordinates with a rallying cry. Though we were enemies, even I could feel some kind of fervor stirring within me from his overwhelming charisma. He was…imposing.
He drew his blade, a golden-rimmed longsword that devoured any ray of moonlight that made contact with it. He spoke, his booming voice seemingly echoing for miles as if he'd been challenging the heavens themselves.
"The time has come again to prove your loyalty to yourselves, your families, and Lady Vlad! Tonight, some ruffians, some 'heroes,' have escaped captivity. Like in years past, they're plotting to overthrow everything we've built together. Plotting to destroy everything that allows a peaceful coexistence.
Stopping briefly, he eyed the wall of fighters before him before almost throwing his sword up to the night sky. The moonlight slid down the blade's edge, freezing on it like a sheet of pale ice.
He inhaled deeply, the air audibly scraping against the mouthpiece of his helmet.
Exhaling, he shouted with a voice that induced tremors in the air. "I, Darius Harmon, will do everything to preserve the safety of my family! What of you lot?! Tell me…am I alone in my desire for peace?!"
The soldiers' response was utterly unanimous. With synchronized movements, they slammed their heels together, saluted, and matched their captain's intensity.
"NO, SIR!" Though they shouted in sync, not even their combined effort held a candle to the intimidation their leader exuded when he spoke.
"Good. Then take your posts and find them. Quell the rats that infest Lady Vlad's Garden." With a swipe of his hand, Harmon dismissed his subordinates. Following their commander's orders, they efficiently dispersed into multiple squadrons and scattered into the night.
"Isn't this bad?" Agawa whispered.
"I wouldn't call it good," Nakamura replied.
I clicked my tongue. 'You know, feel free to wake up whenever. We're only being hunted by trained warriors, is all…' I furiously nudged Sato.
Naturally, he didn't wake up, something that I'd expected anyway. Of course, I say that but expecting it did nothing to douse my frustration. How could the most capable of us be taking a damn nap through all this!
"What's our plan of action then?" Kamida asked.
It was a vexing question. Though we spent an hour planning back at the clinic, we didn't know what to do. How could we? We're two middle-aged workers, a high school girl and a delinquent. In my book, that didn't create a compelling narrative depicting "genius tacticians."
Sure, we should've expected them to barricade the gate. That much would be obvious to anyone, yet we stupidly overlooked the possibility. Now here we were, blindly stuck in this trashy situation.
'Ah! I wanna punch something!' My mind was aching for a release.
"Hey!" Agawa waved a hand in my face. "Earth to Takagi, what do you think?"
"I wanna punch something…." I griped, a tear of frustration forming in my eye.
"Huhhh." She only stared at me with a blank expression.
"Well, whatever we do, we shouldn't stay here," Nakamura said, then fixed a finger down the alley in the opposite direction to the gate. "Let's keep moving."
Running was something that we were barely capable of at this point. Although the alternative was being eaten; so we had a little motivation to push past our limits. We ran and ran, this time eluding even more squadrons of guards along the way.
Weren't we already struggling enough? 'Why the hell did someone have to turn on "hard mode"?!' I always hated those damn arcade games where the difficulty got endlessly more challenging.
Street to street, alley to alley, we dipped in and out of the open. We had no idea where we were going, just that we were desperate to find any clue on how to escape.
Grinding my teeth, I thought about how many lemmings had already escaped. They had been so hasty with running; they better not have gotten themselves caught so easily after abandoning us…
Thinking about enacting revenge on the ones who'd gotten away, I felt a second wind of energy pooling deep within my body.
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