Shudders: Reclamation Day

Chapter 51 - The Hunt

"Damn blizzard covered everything!" Brus cursed as he kicked a pile of snow out of his way. "How's we supposed to find them if we can't track anything?!"

"Maybe if you stopped looking for tracks and observed the rest of your surroundings?" Lamya mocked with a fake smile.

The brute huffed a large breath in anger, foggy air flying from his nostrils.

Lamya rolled her eyes and turned to look up into the trees where the manic demon was searching above the trees. "Peach! You see anything?"

"Nothing at all!" She growled. "They couldn't have gotten too far in the blizzard!"

Brus chuckled as he continued walking with Lamya behind him. "It's the two idiots we're talking about. I wouldn't be surprised if they could make it through a tornado."

Dolores quietly listened as she stood at a frozen creak up ahead. Her large coat was tightly around her body as she used her hearing to maneuver her surroundings, occasionally kicking a branch or a rock. She didn't want to be here but Zankoku forced all the remaining scouts besides Bodhi to track down Ki and Akai. She's never heard Zankoku so enraged before. He was betrayed and blindsided by those who were supposed to be loyal to him. Especially when they took away his main weapon for domination.

Upon learning that Bis was also among the ones who removed their holds and ran away, it caused Zankoku to lose some trust in the scouts. He started treating them differently, more harshly. All except Bodhi of course. He was basically the King's right hand. But he immediately ordered them to go out and look for the escapees and his weapon with no clear direction and planning. They were forced to go out blindly and come up with a plan as they go.

Dolores envied Bis. They were able to escape the hell that is the asylum. But she's still here... She felt betrayed by them knowing that she and Bis were considered friends. It was them plus Peach together throughout this entire time. They were from the same human village, they were all changed together, and joined Zankoku's kingdom together. But for a while now Bis had grown so distant from them. They stopped talking to her and Peach and became a loner of sorts. So much so that Bis started feeling like a stranger to Dolores.

If only the doctor could've removed her and Peach's holds as well. Peach may not agree to it due to her infatuation with the King but Dolores can't imagine being all alone without her. They were like sisters. But even Peach is started to stray away from her. She cares way more for Zankoku because he feeds into her murder and blood obsession, not to mention her extreme love for Ki. Someone who doesn't even acknowledge her existence. Dolores has tried to tell Peach how bad the two were for her but it only resulted in her 'sister' lashing out at her.

She lost Bis and now she was slowly losing Peach.

"Dolores!" Brus called, making her turn her head to his voice. "I think we found something."

She nodded and started heading over, becoming more nervous by the second. Brus was standing next to a large pile of vehicles stacked on top of each other. There was ivy and snow covering the tops of them, almost completely blending in to the forest around when looking from far away or above. But the vehicles were obviously blocking something. Why would any vehicle be this deep into the forest? Especially placed in such a way.

Brus directed her hand to the vehicle on top while he went for the bottom one. "We're going to lift these."

Dolores nodded and together they both grabbed onto the cars and moved them. Brus dragging the car at the bottom out the way while Dolores' muscles flexed as she lifted the car on top onto her shoulders before dumping it out the way. Once the vehicles were gone, a hatch in the ground was revealed.

Lamya approached the hatch as Peach appeared through a portal nearby. "Ooo what's this?"

"Some fucking hatch? You think they went through this?" He asked, looking at Lamya.

She waved her hand and broke the door open, causing the lock to fly up. Old stairs, similar to the asylum's led down into a tunnel that went back in the direction they came. Straight to the asylum. Peach jumped down inside while Dolores listened out for her.

Peach sniffed around and opened a portal to outside to bring some light in. But when she caught the faint smell of blood, her senses were intrigued. "I smell blood~."

"Do you see any?" Lamya called down. Peach was gonna say 'no' before her eyes did catch something.

On a wall further down the hall was smudged frozen blood covering the wall. It looked like the owner of it had leaned against the wall with their hand before pushing off. It was black in color and completely frozen. Peach went up to it and sniffed, taking in a familiar whiff of blood that made her crave for the owner. "Mmm... Ki~."

"You say something?" Brus called down.

Peach's finger traced over the blood as she stared at the wall lovingly. "They came through here alright!"

"Ok." Lamya turned to look out into the forest. "Now to figure out where exactly did they go."

Brus crossed his arms and paced around the hatch. There couldn't be many places they could run off to, especially in the forest. "The city would be way too far for them, especially in that blizzard. I don't care how resilient those idiots make themselves out to be."

"And they had the human in tow. If they're keeping her alive, they wouldn't force her through that." Lamya thought.

What other areas could they have gone to? If they were going for immediate shelter, staying in the forest wouldn't have been the best idea. They may be idiots but they weren't complete dumbasses.

Dolores not being able to chime in anyways stayed quiet. She simply stood and listened to her partners.

"What about the country?" Peach popped up from the hatch, her long black hair bouncing.

Dolores looked down at her friend's voice before looking back up once Brus started speaking. "Those farms out there? That's like miles away, there's no way to get there from here."

Peach smirked to him and tapped her head. "That's what they want you to think."

Lamya shook her head. "Why would you think they're that further away? I expect them to be on the move by now."

Peach pouted as she teleported out of the hatch and kicked the door shut once she reappeared. "Honestly, Lamya. I thought we were closer than that. You know how much I like Ki to not watch everything he does~."

"No wonder he doesn't like you-" Brus said under his breath as he walked away.

Peach's head shot towards him. "What was that?!"

Lamya waved Brus away and made Peach focus back on her. "So what? You heard him say something about the country?"

Peach flipped her hair and placed her hands on her hips. "It was a long while ago but I overheard him and Akai talking about some farms before one of Zankoku's meetings. It couldn't hurt to check them."

"Better than what we're doing now..." It's been almost two days and still nothing. Zankoku wasn't a patient man. He wanted that human now and any longer will result in their heads on sticks.

"Alright. We'll head to the farms and check those out. The lackeys should already be covering this area by now so if we don't find anything, they might." Lamya looked up to the sky. It was the middle of the day but would be dark soon.

"Allow me to take the lead." Peach hummed as she began walking. "I know Ki's scent~."

'Yea let's allow the crazy one to lead us! Surely nothing will happen!' Brus thought as he turned to Lamya. "We better have a back up plan."

"I'm thinking, I'm thinking." She excused.

Dolores felt Peach grab her hand to help her follow. She just wanted to stop this hunt. Only trouble was going to come from this, she can tell.