Iron and Rain

The shadow let out a scream as the arrow flew through it. It disappeared into the fog as the arrow landed behind it. The small flame illuminated the faces of several large horrific creatures before going out. They were completely surrounded.

Finally, morning started to break and the inky blackness of the fog gave way to a thick gray mist. Ryoshi soon woke up and pulled out protein bar "You should eat we have a long way to go today and I don't plan to stop for anything. How was your-" before he could finish his sentence he spun around and looked into the fog. He grabbed his gun and pointed it "Get everything packed up right now!" He order and shot off a round.

From the fog dropped a twisted awful body, the grass under it turned black.

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Ryoshi fired again and there was a growl and another one hit the ground. "Don't let them touch you!"
 
Good thing she had gotten the sleep that she did because after seeing the bountiful grotesque faces, there was no hope for her mind to shut down for sleep again.

Which may have not been such a bad thing so that she didn't find herself falling asleep. She needed to keep a watchful eye on the fire, and would do so until sunrise in which the inky blackness faded away. Fog appeared once more, keeping the sunlight from reaching them. Tired looking eyes would look Ryoshi's way as he came to and she let out a soft breath. How did he ever travel this way on his own?

A yawn escaped her. "No worries. I already ate something-" Alarmed at his sudden movement, eyes flickered in the same direction, although her eyes would see nothing, until a body fell from the fog as his bullet made impact. "What the hell…" She couldn't question right now, but instead did as he said, which luckily there was not much to pack. She simple clasped her cloak around her, threw a couple things that had been out back into her bag and lugged the pack over her shoulder before grabbing her bow and knocking an arrow.

"Where… W-where did they all come from??" She asked, horrified as she began doing as he did, aiming bow and expertly shooting an arrow across the way, dropping one into the grass.
 
He fired off another shot, and it rang out in the air. Slowly more moans of the dead filled the air. "We just got unfucking lucky! We have to move!" He grabbed his stuff and ran into the fog, but made sure for Akane could follow.

More Dead Heads leaped out from the fog with snarl and a nashing of teeth. Ryoshi kept firing when on came out and grabbed hold of the hunter, aiming to take a chunk out of his neck. "Fuck!" Ryoshi pulled out a knife and plunged it into the zombies skull. A spout of black ooze gushed from hole and hit the ground. The grass and dirt started to sizzle and burn.

Ryoshi kicked the monster off of him and kept running. One of the Dead Heads leaped out and aimed to grab Akane.
 
Close on his heels, Akane hurried after him and aimed, only to fire arrow after pulling it back and hitting with surprisingly good accuracy. The range of the weapon was still nice, but the fact that she could not retrieve her arrows afterward was going to quickly become a problem...

"Ryoshi!" She gasped and knocked another arrow expertly, aiming to snipe the creature that had its hands on her companion. Yet, the man seemed to take care of the problem himself with a knife he had hidden amongst his robes. Just about to release the tension of the string, she heard a snarl close to her ear and she jumped, turning and releasing the string only to have arrow fling forward and embed itself into the creature's midsection. Although maybe not a lethal blow, it rocked the creature backward on its heels, giving her enough time to grab another arrow from quiver and run forward toward Ryoshi. She would have to spare as much ammo as possible... only use it when necessary.

"Where do we go??" They couldn't just keep... running from these things till they left the hills, right? They had only been traveling for a day... Ryoshi said it was a good few days trip. They couldn't keep this up forever! And sadly she did not have any advice to offer since she was completely new to this area!
 
Ryoshi took out a smoke bomb and lit it. He tossed it over his shoulder and it went off in a huge plume of gray black smoke. Any of the Dead Heads that were following let out a cry and backed away from the smoke. "Just.... Keep.... Running...." He panted. He lit another bomb and tossed it.

Finally after running for about ten minutes they growling and snarling started to get quieter and quieter. They got away from the group of zombies. Ryoshi ducked them behind a huge black rock and tried to catch his breath. "That could have been worse, are you okay?"
 
As much as she didn't like the things... those bombs were doing a hell of a job. She did as he said and could not waste breath to utter any words, continuing to keep up with the man in front of her, and by the end of it, she would have 5 arrows remaining in her quiver... better than none she supposed. She ducked behind the rock with him and sat her ass down to breathe, large breaths in and out. Her helmet clicked and whirred as it worked its hardest to let out some of the heat that had began to build up and fog her visor.

"Shit...y-yeah I think so. What about you...? I thought I saw one grab your cloak..."
 
Ryoshi showed Akane a cut on his neck "No it got me fairly well." He pressed on it and grimaced. The edges were blackened and the flesh around it gray. The sheath of his sword started to give off heat. While it was heating up he took out a small green herb from his pack. Akane would know this to be a Lack Herb, good for disinfecting.

He crushed it and shoved it into the cut "Fuck!" He grunted. He quickly took out his red hot sword and pressed the flat side against his flesh. It sizzled and burned as he grit his teeth. He sheathed his blade and slowly got up. "We need to keep.... Moving...." He panted.

As they kept moving there were more monsters calling out to them, using thier loved ones voice. Ryoshi kept darting around the voice, but was getting more and more agitated. "Fuck off!" The swordman's quiet calm demeanor started to break. His body was fighting the infection, sweat ran down from under his mask, and his steps were heavy.

At one point he stopped and turned to his left, and drew his sword "Shut up!" He reached out into the fog and pulled a small gray gremlin. He ran his sword through the monsters chest and tossed it to the ground. Then, like heavy piece of wood, he hit the ground and passed out.
 
Akane swallowed thickly as he revealed the wound in his neck. It.. certainly did not look good. "Here.. let me-" but before she could do anything to help, Ryoshi seemed to take control, hastily pressing a familiar herb against the cut, but also going as far as to cauterize it himself of which earned a strong grimace from her. "Dammit.." she gasped and hurried to his side to help him to his feet even if perhaps he didn't need it. He needed to stop acting so brashly…

"Okay… let me know if you need to rest." They probably didn't have the luxury, but in his state, they would have to make time. With a surprising amount of resolve, she kept moving with him and would ignore the voices as much as possible, whereas this time around they seemed to get on Ryoshi's nerves of which sent her gut flipping anxiously. "Easy, Ryoshi.." She warned for he seemed to be pushing himself too hard. He seemed close to a breaking point…

And yet he was still able to cut monsters down… she didn't know how he did it, honestly… although the thought would come to her mind a little too early for shortly after dispatching the monster, he fell like a sack of potatoes to the earth.

"Oh shit… oh shit… Ryoshi!" She hurried to him and eased a hand onto his neck, feeling his fluttering pulse through the slick of sweat trailing down his neck. She wished she could get his helmet off, to give him time to breathe, but she couldn't while they were in this valley… and as much as she wished to keep moving like he said they should… there was no way she would be able to lug that hefty body about… no way in hell. She wouldn't be able to take even two steps!

Camp… she would make camp… and watch over him while he rested. So she set to work, setting up a fire first since that is what seemed to be the most important to keeping these shadows at bay and then tended to Ryoshi as best she could, easing out medical supplies and wiping away at the sweat that rolled, easing herbs of soothing quality into a paste before spreading it onto the wound in his neck and covering it, all the while keeping a watchful eye out as well as a perked ear to make sure there were no intruders lurking about.
 
"Akane leave him to die!" A voice called out.

"Yes give him to us and you may go free!" Another called out from the fogs vail.

"Yes! You go free and he dies! Sounds fair to me!" A third joined in.

Just outside of the fires light a figure could be seen standing. It was tall with huge white eyes. To much terror it started to break past the fires warmth and it stood over Ryoshi, looking down at him. It looked at Akane "A bit of bad luck eh?" It's voice was human... "I can help for the right price. A speck of light in your otherwise horrible experience out here." It was a woman's voice. She sounded older.

Now in better light it would appear she was indeed human. Her tallness came from the stilts she was using, and the big eyes were simply goggles that were part of her mask.

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She really couldn't wait to get out of this place…

Not that the voices felt any more insistent than usual, so perhaps it was simply her patience beginning to run thin. To be held within the tension of this air for more than the couple days they would have to would surely drive anyone to insanity, right? For that is what she felt like.. insane… constantly hearing voices of which tried to deceive, waiting eagerly for her to make a mistake.

"Would you guys just give it a break…?" She muttered and remained beside Ryoshi, glancing over every once in awhile just to make sure that he was still breathing beside her. She eased her knees to her chest and hugged them as she stared into the depths of the fire, although in her peripherals, when there was a being standing well above them, she jumped to her feet and instantly drew her weapons, prepared to slash and fight for her and Ryoshi's life.

The being was oh so very lucky that Akane registered the voice that spoke as human, only being able to tell by what her body told her, tension easing within muscles, for the sound of another human's voice was like music to her ears. "Shit… you really shouldn't sneak up on people like that… and especially not here," She chastised and sheathed her blades with a sight to plop her rear back into the grass, the scare having nearly burst her heart.

"An introduction would be nice first. Who you are and what your doing here. And then, what can you do to help and for how much?" She wasn't willing to spend all of their money to have a stranger possibly help them… but she wasn't going to ward away help either when she could certainly use it. She still didn't know exactly how things worked here… just that the fire kept the beasts at bay. Anything else… she was heavily reliant on Ryoshi, who was still currently unconscious beside her, laying in the grass.
 
"I'm a hunter, just like you and your friend here." She laughed a little. "You may call me Esra. I'm out here looking for a bounty, but that's none of your concern." She went and looked over Ryoshi. "Well he's stayed the rot but his body is fighting the infection still. I can easy him into a much easier sleep, it will help the healing." She looked back at Akane. Then she looked and Ryoshis mask "I know this mask... Your friend is a very wanted man... But that's neither here nor there for now I can help him for... 30 credits." The lenses of her goggles narrowed looking as if she was squinting.


"Akane.... It's your mother.... Please just let him be and run." A voice called from the fog.


"The faster he wakes up the faster the voice stop yes?" Esra chuckled.
 
Another hunter... she probably could have guessed that since she was within the circle of the firelight, but it was also just good to hear that confirmed. Not that someone who wished to do them harm would have relayed that fact anyhow... Either way, she let herself be eased by this information and looked down to Ryoshi with a soft sigh. Was she one of the only people that did not know of his bad reputation? She supposed it only made sense, since she tended to stay away from people and lived in the wilderness, occasionally coming to towns when she needed to in order to restock supplies. She was not exactly... up to date in the ways of the world.

30 credits...? She could spare that. Especially if it would help Ryoshi. She didn't exactly know what that infection was inside of him, although it appeared the woman called Esra was not so unsettled by it. "Sure." She began to rifle around in her bag for payment, offering it over. "My name is Akane by the way... as you just heard from that... thing." Yes... she would really like to silence those voices as soon as possible.
 
The elder took the money and came down off her stilts "Nice to meet you Akane." Her voice sounded very friendly. She waddled over to Ryoshi and started to lift up his mask. At the point he jolted awake and clamped his hand down on the old ladies wrist, she left out a small yelp.

"Who the fuck.... Are you...." Ryoshi growled.

"Someone who can help you." Esra regained her composure. "I need to be able to feed you."

Ryoshi held her wrist for a second before his mouth cover retracted. His body went limp again after doing so. Esra rubbed her wrist and sighed "He's seen a lot of pian in his life." She looked over at Akane. "In my bag there is mortar, it looks like a stone bowl, grab it for me along with three of the red leafs next to it." She called to Akane.
 
"And to meet you, Esra." It was nice to see a friendly face in these hills after having seen so many undead ones or faces of her past meant to taunt her. She remained perched on the grass and watched, flinching as Ryoshi suddenly came to life to clutch at the woman's wrists.

"Ryoshi! It's okay," Akane urged and furrowed her brows slightly, rising as though him being able to see her might calm him down. Yet, in the next moment, he relented, either from her words or from Esra's she wouldn't know. She would nod at the request and hurry back, giving the older woman what she requested. She did not respond to her words. She was beginning to realize the same thing, just from what he had shared with her the singular night.

"What are these leaves? I do not recognize them.." which surprised her for this was something she was supposed to be knowledgeable of. Yet, if they had come from this area, then that would explain it.
 
She took the supplies and tossed the leaves in the bowl. She started to grind them up "They are called Crimsons Bain, and Im the one who grew them." She smiled. "Could you boil some water please?" She handed Akane a smaller silver tea pot.
 
"They are... exclusive to you? Or you found them and grow them here?" How interesting either way... She nodded and took the kettle from the older woman, searching through her bag to find her canteen and pouring some of the water into it before settling it over the fire. "So do you live here? Or you're just passing through like us?"
 
"Oh my dear child no one lives In Dead Mans Hills. No like you I'm passing through." She smiled. "As for my leafs I grow them, years of cross pollination culminated into my dear red leafs. They can wake you up, heal you, put you to sleep, or kill you. It all depends on hot you get the water." She smiled.

Esra eyed "Youre the one who survived the Kirioni's a wakening." She pointed. "Now that was a tragedy. I lost a few good friends when that happened."
 
Perhaps seeming a little bashful for not knowing such a thing, but Akane simply did not know better. She was very much like a fish out of water in these hills for she had never traveled to such a place. She liked to stick to environments she was accustomed to. Just to ensure her own survival... also why go to a place where it is harder to survive if there is no reason for it? "That is good. I would have had to wonder what kind of person you truly were if you had made these hills your home." She rose a brow slowly at her explanation of the leaves, finding them quite interesting, staying knelt beside the fire as the water heated up. "I see. That's quite the herb. To be able to have all those properties."

Akane furrowed her brow just slightly as she did not quite expect to hear such words from the older woman. She had been surprised enough when it was Ryoshi speaking of the Kirioni that burst forth from the mountain and killed her people... but this random stranger? The world did seem quite small at times... "How did you know?" Akane asked as she never really would have thought that someone would be able to recognize her... nothing to recognize really.

She had lost all of her friends in the incident.

Letting out a small breath to release that bitterness, she knew the woman meant nothing by it. Instead she only sought to nod her head. "It was a terrible tragedy," she agreed and would say nothing more about it.
 
"Your people have a way about them, I'm sorry for your loss." She said and grabbed the tea pot from the fire, and poured the tea into a cup to let it cool. "So your mission is one of revenge hm? What happens after you complete your mission? What then my friend?"
 
Akane gave a slow nod of head, acknowledging the words, but never knowing how to react to such a thing. It was kind though, and it painted the woman in a new sort of light in her eyes. "Eventually, yet. But... that is a good question. I haven't really thought that far. Entire villages have been wiped out by these sorts of Kirioni. I nearly expect that I won't be walking away from such a fight... but if I do, I'll give myself plenty of time to think about what is next for myself." She had never said it out loud, but a fight with a beast so monstrous... there was a good chance that she would simply die. No need to make plans when there was the possibility that she wouldn't be around to see them through.
 
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