Too Far To Die Now

[TheWordsOfTyr]

"Hurry up, this place is untouched for a reason." She frowned.

The woman sent a scowled glance at the ruins that surrounded them. She was tall and burly, yet had clear signs of malnourishment. Her umber cheeks were ever so slightly gaunt and her limbs were far thinner than they should be. On her hands were a set of claw-like, jagged blades that were built into her gloves and extended over her knuckles. In her hands, however, was a handmade wooden bow with a nocked, blunted arrow, waiting for a target. She had led the three to this place; the remains of a town that was once called Alleti. She was following a rumour that claimed those who once held this building had managed to scavenge a lot from the surrounding area before it got overrun. Letting her vigil end for a moment, she looked down at the mutt at her heel, mimicking her stalwart glare at the icy ruins around them. Dog was no longer a puppy, despite what Kara believed, having grown to about knee height and gained a lot more muscle mass than the starving mongrel he was rescued as. The gently falling snow rested on Dog's black, patchy fur like a Stompers pelt before melting from his body heat. Dog shook himself vigorously in an attempt to dry off, instead flicking plenty of that liquified snow onto the woman trying to pick the half frozen, half broken lock before her.

"Dog, I love you but if you do that again I'm gonna kill you!" She whispered through clenched teeth.

Another malnourished wretch, Red's pale fingers fiddled with the lock as she bit her lip in concentration. Beneath a scarf that covered the lower half of her face, she slowed her breathing to steady her shivering fingers. She quickly flicked her head to the side as some of her crimson locks broke free from their ponytail and dug into her eye. The sword on her back clacked restlessly against the inside of her wooden sheathe, kept in place by a tool bag that hung down at her lower back.

"Almost… Whatever's in here better be worth it. I got a real spooky feeling here." Red spouted, the howling silence of the surrounding winds making her break into a cold sweat.

"No talking." Kara whispered, scowling into the falling snow as if she could see the sound waves travelling.

"Yeah, yeah, I hear ya…" She muttered, trailing off as the lock finally obeyed. "I'm in."

She rose to her feet, turning to Kara and folding her arms with a pair of smug raised eyebrows.

"Can't believe I got to say that." She said proudly.

Kara looked away from the rest of the ruins to approach the door, using her thumb to keep the nocked arrow in place. She could feel her palms clam up with well-hidden fear as she got closer, becoming hyper-aware of the positions of the two quivers on her back and hip. Behind her sealed lips, her teeth pressed hard against each other, her own reaction stirring a self-directed anger that she found very hard to hide. After a last moment of hesitation, she withdrew her hand from the door.

"Open it." She readied herself to draw her bow.

"You got it." Red shrugged, not considering any of the million facial queues that Kara's visage betrayed her with.

With both hands she pressed against the heavy door, the rusted hinges creaking as the metal dragged across the floor.

Light reflected off of the blinding snow and poured into the formerly sealed building, revealing bits of old armour, and weapons close to the door. As the light crawled further in, torn pieces of clothing overtook the fragments of armour and finally, near the far wall in a macabre and rotting pile, were old bones. The flesh stripped and gnawed off the bone by small, inhuman teeth but still caked in coagulated, dry blood. While this was all revealed in an instant, so were the architects of this horrifying display. Vaguely humanoid in shape, the creatures rose up from where they lay in the darkness, lifting from their chests rather than pushing against the floor with their malformed limbs. With inconsistently sized bones pressing out against their cracked, flaking, charcoal black skin, they turned to face their visitors. Without eyes they looked at Kara, Dog and Red, most of them missing their head from the neck up, the top of the stump-like neck ending in a set of jaws that faced the sky, hundreds of pointed teeth on either side. One was different, larger and with bits of fabric clinging to some of its protruding bones. It had a head that was far too wide for its neck, but similarly was missing a face save for the mouth, whose jaws instead took up the entire front of its head. In the moment it took the two women to process what they were seeing, the horrifying creatures began their silent, grotesque charge, leaking a green, acidic ooze from their salivating mouths onto the floors.

By the time Kara had fully drawn the bowstring to fire, the mouthed creature had rammed into the unprepared Red, bodily tackling her to the ground. Having a millisecond to choose between the other charging abominations and Red, Kara fired the blunt arrow into the side of the monster's head. The arrow struck the hinge of its jaw, not digging into the tough, leathery hide but hitting with enough force to knock it off of her companion. Red pushed herself back along the icy ground with her two feet, sliding far enough away to allow her to grab her sword. Another creature barrelled out of the doorway as Kara reached for the quiver on her back, her fingers gripping at the fletching of one of her sharpened arrows. The thing was closing fast, planning to thrust its grotesque, misshapen spike-like fingers through her gut. As it lunged it's arm forward like a loaded spring, its limb was redirected as Dog's jaws latched around what would be a human's forearm on the monster, the force from the hounds jump pulling the abomination's arm with it off to the side. A sickening crack queued all in attendance to the fact that Dog's attack had not only broken at least one of the creature's bones but had popped its arm right out of its socket. Kara drew the arrow and loosed it into the wounded monster's chest in a frantic moment of concern for Dog's safety. Without time to reach for another arrow, Kara found herself bodily shoved by another beast with an unexpected amount of force. She fell backwards to the ground, rolling backwards with the momentum to end in a crouched position, spilling all of her arrows onto the ground in the process. Unable to tell which were the blunted ones anymore, Kara let her bow rest on the floor where she had dropped it and dodged back from a follow-up slash from her opponent. As the thing retracted its disjointed limb after the missed strike, Kara swung her leg forward, sweeping it across herself and kicked the monster's legs out from under it. Across the snow-covered courtyard Red thrusted her sword forwards, the blade piercing through the mangled mess of bone that made up one of the thing's ribcage as a charging monster impaled itself on her weapon. It slid forwards in several sickening movements as the creature continued with its momentum, getting close enough to grab Red by her shoulders. It dug its bladelike fingers into her biceps and drew blood. The woman cried out in pain before bringing her knee up between the two and forcing the monster back with a powerful kick. The sounds of more cracking brittle bones resonated through the air as the blade made its pass out of the abomination. No sooner had her weapon freed itself from the now grounded creature had another slammed itself into Red, crouching itself down during the charge to ram its neck into her chest. The terrifying teeth dug themselves into the flesh around her collar bone and ripping a bloody string of skin away. She clenched her teeth as a searing pain overtook her body, far greater than a normal wound of a similar size would bring. With her forearm, she redirected the creature's momentum to the side to allow her enough room to bring her blade down, the edge digging deep into the monster's shoulder, splitting its two overlapping shoulder blades and driving itself further as Red forced her weight down on the blade. Once she reefed the sword out of the beast, it staggered back but stood firm, more of the sickening green ooze spilling out of its wound. Her eyes darted to the side where the creature she had impaled was climbing back onto its feet. With haggard breath, she glanced behind herself to spy a large set of jaws making its way closer while the two headless abominations charged her in unison with the ambusher.

Kara thrusted her fist forwards for the fifth time, the blades above her knuckles coating themselves further in the creatures rapidly congealing blood. At last, it stopped moving. When she rose to her feet, a sudden whine immediately caught her attention. Dog bit down hard against the wounded monster's leg, pulling it out from under itself in an attempt to break another one of its bones. With an unbalanced swing, the abomination cut a nasty slash along the side of Dog's body, not the first it had done in this fight. With that hit, Dog released its leg and staggered back, too wounded to continue the battle. He collapsed onto the ground, still breathing, but too injured to support its own weight. Kara rushed forwards, throwing a leaping punch as she got close to bring her bladed fist crashing down onto the creature's chest. With all of her weight behind the swing, it was enough to send the thing reeling backwards. Not giving it a moment to rest, Kara brought her other fist forwards to dig another set of blades into its gut, ripping them out with a viscerally satisfying splatter of blood across the snow. It lashed out with a wild swing, which Kara ducked under. She quickly grabbed a sharpened arrow from the floor and, as she rose back up to her feet, stabbed it as deep as she could into the creature. With two arrows embedded into itself, several stab wounds and some serious bites, the beast finally collapsed onto the ground, dead. With room to breathe, Kara checked on her companions. Dog remained on the ground, his breath still visible against the cold air, Red on the other hand was overwhelmed. The swordswoman sent out a panicked swing around herself, cutting one of the creatures arm off before a well timed thrust of claws dug themselves into her gut. She gripped the thing's wrist as it attempted to force its hand deeper into her stomach. With the last of her strength, she brought her knee up to strike the monster in its elbow which, judging by the audible crack, she shattered. She collapsed back onto the ground, still weakly clutching her blade as the three loomed over her. Kara darted towards them, letting out a fearsome shout as she rammed her shoulder into the one armed creature's back, throwing it forwards onto the snow and giving her some time with only two opponents. The monstrosity with the broken arm attempted to swing it's unusable limb, seeming to not notice the injury and allowing Kara the opportunity to dig her blades into the creature's exposed ribs She ripped them out just as quickly and punched it in the neck with her other hand. As she brought her arm back to swing again, another beast's claws slashed up her back. Along with a string of expletives, Kara turned to face the creature with a head as it lurched its hands forward in an attempt to grab her, its leaking jaws gnashing just inches away from her face. She sent a quick kick forwards towards its straightened knee, pushing the limb back the wrong way and letting her shove the monster away from her. Just as she did, the one missing an arm swung a glancing slash across her hip, barely just breaking the skin. Kara turned with the creature as its momentum carried it passed her, sending a bladed fist into the base of its spine. As she ripped the blades out this time, the abomination fell forwards into the snow, unmoving, its spinal cord severed. The creature with a broken arm thrusted its usable arm forwards, going right for Kara's neck but being off by just enough of a margin for Kara to move out of its way and giving it the same treatment she had given the previous. Once more, the thing ceased to move.

Once was lucky, but twice meant she was onto something. She had found a weak spot.

"Their spines!" She blurted out.

Without much time to feel proud of her discovery, she found herself tackled by the creature with a head. The surprising amount of weight behind the shove sent her falling backwards, hitting the snow covered concrete. The monster attempted to fall on top of her, moving its drooling jaws as close to her as they would go, its grasping limps scraping at her arms as she attempted to keep the abomination away. It took all of her strength just to hold it back, turning her face away to look for something she could grab to strike the creature with. She spied Red's sword, left in the snow with the woman herself absent. She moved one hand off of the beast's chest to reach for the blade, the creature immediately pressing dangerously close to her. Kara couldn't even reach for the weapon, she had to immediately replace her hand to regain the space, though she knew her strength was beginning to fail her. Her panicked eyes kept darting towards the blade, so tantalisingly close, just out of reach. Just as her arms began to give out, an arm reached down to grasp the hilt of the sword, swinging it up with a valiant force, severing the creature's head from its neck and staining Kara's skin with its burning ooze. The thing staggered backwards, its movements fumbled and disoriented. As it staggered around to look for its prey with its hands, Red drove her blade through its back with a frustrated shout. It was forced into the snow, limp. Kara looked up at her companion, the woman clutching her stomach wound to apply pressure. She swayed listlessly as it took all of her energy to remain standing.

"Good call… on the spine." She spat a glob of blood onto the ground before collapsing once again, unconscious.

Kara weakly climbed to her feet, looking around to find herself the last one standing. She clumsily darted to the doorway of the building, spotting a bed within and running back to her companion. Taking her arm, she hoisted Red up over her shoulder and carried her inside, limping all the while.

The next hours consisted of Kara taking both of her companions indoors, along with their fallen equipment and performing frantic surgery on both of them as well as herself. She attempted to manage the immediate threats on the three of them at the same time. In the end, both Red and Dog would live, but all three of their wounds were at great risk of infection, even in the sub-zero temperatures. As night fell, Kara kept her gaze fixed at the door to the outside as she sorted her arrows back into their respective quivers.

"We will have to remain here." She muttered to herself. "The cold will kill them if they walk."

The old chair beneath her creaked as she leaned back in it, turning her attention to the fireplace she had been feeding fabric and broken pieces of furniture.

"Carrying them means leaving the loot here behind, then we're back to starving…" She attempted to convince herself, simply being in the den of these creatures sending an unnerved chill down her spine.

"You talk just like that in your sleep…" A weakened voice called over from an old bed.

Kara jumped up to her feet, dropping the quiver on her lap and spilling her arrows once more. She looked to the voices source, a freshly conscious Red laying on her side watching her with a gentle gaze. Kara attempted to respond, to refute her words with something but only tripped over her own and stammered indignantly.

"Why are you afraid to care?" Red asked. "Harsh practicality only gets you so far…"

"Laying like that is putting strain on your stitches. On your back." Kara ordered.

Complying with the good Doctor, Red adjusted her position, leaning her head back to keep her eyes on Kara.

"Did something happen to a previous group?" Red badgered again, refusing to be dissuaded.

"Why are you so curious? What do you seek to gain from it?" Kara barked, her lip hooking upwards in what was almost a snarl.

The sudden and visible rise in emotion from her normally stoic companion prompted Red to drop something for once, taking a few moments to consider her next words.

"Insight into who you are. To understand you. In the end, that sort of… camaraderie is practical, no?" She sent a confusingly neutral smile towards Kara.

With her own logic thrown at her, regardless of whether or not Red's argument was valid, Kara was forced to concede. Kara gathered her arrows in her fist and dragged her chair over to Red's bedside, taking a moment to look over the sleeping Dog and sitting down to continue her work.

"Ask away." She sighed, a final attempt to dodge her previous queries.

"What do you like to do?" Red responded quickly, allowing Kara to slip away this time.

"What do you mean?" The Doctor started sorting her arrows once more.

"What do you enjoy doing? You know, for fun? I'll go first if you want. I like… reading old-world magazines."

"... I don't."

"Don't like reading?"

"I don't do anything 'for fun'."

"Bullshit. C'mon."

"Live in a city and bow to a Clan if you want to do things 'just for fun'. People like us have more important things to do."

"Ugh, you're impossible!" Red rolled her eyes as hard as she could.

The wounded woman looked over her companion, mostly trailing along Kara's half hearted attempts to clean her clothing of the creature's blood. It made her look filthy and lazy but Red could see the truth. Around her wounds and her hands, she was spotless. Scrubbed squeaky clean with a special substance Kara kept on her at all times. Where it mattered, Kara gave no half measures. It was something Red admired in her ever since they began to travel together.

"Something easier for you then… find anything decent in here?" Red gestured to the room around them, looking back to Kara's imperfectly perfect brown eyes.

"Some usable sealed food, some functioning electronics that should sell well and a set of tools. Carpentry, I believe." Kara kept her focus on her sorting, unaware of the prying eyes of the wounded.

Red's focus shifted to her companions lips, watching how they moved as she spoke, burdened by an unexplainable tightening in her chest.

"Any more?" Kara asked. "Time will pass quicker if we are distracted."

A warmth grew in Red's cheeks, below where her mask would normally cover. Taking a silent moment to celebrate Kara coming as close as she had ever come before to admitting she wanted to do something with her.

"Got any family?"

Red knew it was a risky question, these days it was the best way to hear someone's sob story, yet nonetheless her curiosity forced her to hope.

"None I have seen in a long time. I left home years ago." Kara paused for a moment, her mind wandering to faces she could barely remember. "I didn't like them much. Big fans of the Proving Grounds. I'm sure you get why I disapprove."

Red nodded, always having found the Doctor's views perplexing but endearing. She wondered for a moment whether other members of the Daemon clan shared her quirks and practicality. After a brief crisis as she imagined a whole society of Karas, Red tried her luck with an even bigger gamble than her last.

"If you don't like doing anything… Do you like anyone? Is there anyone you… you know..?"

Red's eyes shifted to Kara's hands, watching them meticulously work, calloused and rough, yet gentle and kind. The hands with a nurse's gentle touch, but a brawler's brute strength.

"I… do not follow." Kara stopped, looking at Red for the first time.

"You don't seem to like anyone or anything… Do you even..? Have you ever…? What are you… y'know, into?" With a suggestive head bob, Red felt herself die on the inside.

"Ah. A lover. No interest. The throes of passion are extremely vulnerable times both in and out of cities. But… I will entertain the hypothetical." Kara sat back, looking to the roof to consider her ideal partner.

"Take your time." Red nestled further into the sheets that covered her, screaming internally.

"A strong back is a must. Able to carry supplies or myself if I were wounded. I would not want to be left behind. I would prefer someone who did not choose violence often, unnecessary fights lead to injuries and deaths that could have been avoided. Perhaps even-"



"I'm… just gonna say you can stop there." Red sighed, closing her eyes in despair.

"You are right, if my criteria expands much further they will rule out everyone in What Remains."

"Do… Oh, fuck it, this is torture. What about like… men or women? Do you have a… uh… preference?" Red asked, throwing a nuclear Hail Mary Kara's way.

"You... have lost me." Kara looked back to her companion with furrowed brows.

"D-... Did you not know some women prefer other..?" Red met Kara's look of confusion with one of her own.

"I… how do I say this… I was unaware that this was a factor. Should… should I have a preference?" Kara narrowed her eyes as if she were scrutinising each word that left her own mouth.

"Oh… boy, do I have a lot to explain to you… but…" Red turned onto her side, propping herself up on her elbow.

"Stitches." Kara reminded her.

"Right." Red lay right back down but continued her point with a kindling spark of hope.. "But… you don't have a preference then?"

"There are no advantages to choosing one over the other, so-"

"I'll take it!" Red smiled, squealing on the inside.

"Take? What are you taking?"

"This opportunity to end this conversation." Red sent a grin up at Kara.

With a sigh, Kara conceded and fell back into her comfortable silence, having finished her monotonous work. She picked up both quivers, fastening one around her hips and strapping the other over her shoulder.

"You confuse me, Red. I packed the new stuff into your bag." Kara added, turning away from the beds. "Rest. You must be fit to walk soon."

Kara took a few slow steps over towards a large pile of stacked furniture that clogged up a set of stairs to the roof. From the looks of things, those creatures were led inside and trapped by someone. To keep her hands busy, she began clearing it out. Back in the bed, Red watched her while drifting off to sleep, admiring the woman's physique with each heavy piece of furniture she lugged about. Within a short span of time, it was cleared out. However, Kara found it hard to find pride in her handy work as, at the top of the stairs, she spied an unsettling sight. A slumped figure sat against a door to the roof, just hidden in the light. Kara picked up her bow and nocked a sharp arrow, drawing it to half length before speaking.

"Hello?" She was loud and clear.

Kara waited for any form of reaction. None came. Kara drew the arrow to its full draw and loosed the shot, the arrow whizzing forwards and piercing the figure's chest. No reaction once more. She looked over to the bed, where Red was sleeping to check on her once more before approaching the corpse. It was little more than bones at this point, the flesh gone so long that the skeleton reeked with unbearable stench. With careful hands, Kara picked through the body's belongings and found a set of keys and a usable flask, though it was empty. Curious, Kara tried each key on the ring on the door to the upper floor, finding one of them fit the lock.

"So why'd you stay here..?" She muttered.

She looked at his clothes, moving the corpse as much as she was willing and finding a number of unnatural tears across its jacket.

"Cut to pieces. You bled out… your friends left you behind didn't they?" She frowned deeply. "I know the feeling."

Knowing what she had to do, Kara gathered the corpse up as best she could. She hauled the old bones back down the stairs towards the door, glad Red wasn't awake to demand an explanation. Outside, Kara laid the corpse to rest in the snow, as deep as she could set it. While it was unfortunately surrounded by those creatures, it was better than inside.

"May you find rest in another world, one which cares for you like this world never could. You deserved better." She bowed her head in respect.

The distant howl of some unknowable horror of the wasteland ushered her inside, Kara sending one last sorrowful glance towards the disturbed mound of snow before returning indoors. As she closed the door, another round of key testing occurred. The corpses would most likely attract other monsters after all. In the end, one worked on this door as well. With both entrances to their hideaway locked, Kara finally deemed the place safe enough for her. She removed her quivers, set them next to her bow on the floor, fed the fire once again and flipped an overturned couch. She lay down on its soft cushions in front of the crackling flames, watching the tongues of fire dance through the air until it put her to sleep.

"Mouthers?" She pondered. "Neck-jaws?... What the fuck do we call those things…"