Tatters stopped the trike when she had a visual on the first zombified civilian. She knew it would be around the next corner, considering they all announced themselves with the black threads that connected them to the sky. Since the group left the hot springs, the number of threads had increased drastically, and Tatters already moved on from the idea that any of them could be saved. Even if she cut the thread, the original person was still dead and could not be brought back. The best way to save people was to cut the main host's thread as fast as possible, to prevent more casualties.
The word "zombie" put a different picture in her mind when she first heard it. This thing in front of her didn't look like that at all. Most of its clothes were gone because its limbs had gotten all deformed and turned into sharp weapons. The arms didn't look like they were still in their original positions. It was easy to see how people might have trouble cutting its thread.
The zombie had noticed her by now and ran at her surprisingly fast, causing a gasp from Plural, who was sitting behind her. It shrieked while it ran. A terrifying sound, yet still the kind a human would be able to make. It sounded like the thing was suffering.
Tatters grabbed her dagger and threw it up to the right of the creature, then tightened her retractor device while pulling it to the left, causing the wire to come back to her in an arc and cut the black thread. The zombie collapsed mid-sprint and fell with its face in the snow. Tatters looked up at the sky to see where the next threads were, and if they were alarmed by the sounds the other one made.
She was reminded of the others on the saddle behind her by Plural's arms around her waist.
"We walk from here," she told the others and dismounted first.
When she looked back, they looked scared. This plan was not waterproof, and their attitudes didn't give her confidence. Still, she wanted to protect them and even preferred having them by her side. It was a strange thing. Before the sun last went down, she considered these people to be her enemies. So much happened so quickly after that, it was hard to believe she'd come to feel attached to them now. They were all the same age, they treated her better than anyone in her hometown did, and she even entered the hot springs with them.
When she joined her fist with the others, Plural referred to their team name. Silly as it was, it sounded like it was centered around Jenny, and all of them looked like they were friends. Was she also part of the group now? She couldn't imagine they actually liked her. She was never likeable, her power was just useful. The thing that brought them together was their shared goal, nothing more. She reprimanded herself in her head for having stupid thoughts.
"This is way worse than I thought," Circus said as she studied the dead monster.
The others didn't have as strong a stomach as her. Plural didn't even look at all.
"Let's hurry," she said, looking at Tatters.
Tatters jogged ahead of the group while swinging her wire like a whip with a counterweight at the end. The counterweight was one of her daggers, but it could've been any other object. She looked around for anything more suitable, so she wouldn't accidentally harm her… allies. As they ran, the chaos in the city was audible. Screams from people and from monsters. Gunshots. Their destination was the tall building Dark Jenny was perched on, and hopefully they'd find suitable guns along the way.
The next set of threads in their path were clustered together, and Tatters grappled onto an oncoming rooftop to get a better view. Five of them in total, all looking disgustingly deformed in their own unique way. One couldn't even use its legs anymore and crawled around.
Tatters moved to the closest rooftop and repeated the same trick with the wire she used before, just wider this time. Once again, the monsters collapsed when their threads were cut, and Tatters couldn't help but feel like this was too easy. Why only six of them up until now? Since they left the trike, they'd covered considerable distance into the city, and it was densely populated. She looked up at the threads in the sky again to find an enormous number of them, as expected, just not that close. Were they staying away on purpose?
She jumped down and told Plural via radio it was safe to come. According to their plan, she would eventually separate from the rest of the group, so Saturn gave her his headset to communicate.
The five monsters lay collapsed in front of a bar. It didn't look like there was anybody inside, but something caught Tatters' eye anyway.
"This'll do," Circus said behind her. Referring to the shotgun on the ground that was probably used to blow the legs off the crawling monster. Tatters didn't want the shotgun, but the long spear that was on display behind the bar counter. She jumped on top of the front counter, then on the rear counter behind it to get close enough. It was a well-kept display model, but it wasn't sharp. Luckily, that was no problem. It was long enough to be able to cut the threads at range.
"'scuse me, coming through," Circus said, trying not to get stabbed as she joined Tatters behind the bar counter to look for additional shells. Tatters inquisitively followed Circus with her eyes, looking at the way she moved. She wondered what the girl's background was. She was the one who was covered in blood when they first met at the old bunker. It would've been a suitable time to ask, but she didn't. Instead, she hopped back to the front counter and returned to the others at the bar entrance with her new spear.
"She looks reliable," she said, looking at the weapon.
"Give her a name yet?" Saturn asked, admiring the spear.
Tatters looked up at him in confusion. His eyes went back to the spear, then back at her.
"I meant the girl," Tatters said.
Saturn looked at her without saying anything, eyebrows raised.
"Ci-" Plural couldn't finish before Saturn pressed his finger to her mouth, still looking at Tatters.
"What girl?" he asked Tatters.
She looked at him with a panicked look. Then back at Circus, who was standing behind her holding a box of shells, filling the pockets in her coat.
"It's okay, not everyone's good with names," she said.
This gave Tatters a frustrated look, and she looked at the ceiling, trying to recall.
"She did introduce herself," Plural recalled, looking somewhat amused.
"S-Sur-" she stuttered while holding her index finger to her chin, not looking confident.
Saturn grinned, and Plural looked at her like she was watching a cute dog.
"I thought you didn't care what things are called!" she yelled and walked out.
"It's Circus…" the person in question said, following Tatters in confusion.
The streets were eerily empty. But the city wasn't quiet, and they could still hear screams and gunshots in the distance. None of them close. They were able to make their way back to the old town center without running into a single monster. To their relief, they did find an old man standing in front of a hotel, holding a shotgun. At first, he aimed at the group, prompting Tatters to shield them with her cape, but he was able to tell they weren't turned, and lowered his weapon.
"You kids okay?" he asked.
Tatters lowered her cape and looked bitter.
"We're fine!" Plural responded and approached the man, prompting the others to join her.
"You got good protection. Heh," he said, pointing the stock of his rifle in Tatters' direction. She wasn't amused.
Looking around the square, there were only a handful of dead monsters lying around. They all had shrapnel wounds on them. Apparently a shotgun could do the job.
"What about you? Where is every… thing?" Circus asked him.
"They all went…" he said as he pointed in the direction they were heading.
"…that way. I'm not complaining though."
They looked in the direction of the tall building. Their plan was already looking less feasible.
"You kids should get inside. Safer there," he said, pointing behind him.
Tatters inspected the man, then set her eyes on a wound on his arm.
"You're hurt. You won't last. Nobody's safe," she said as she walked away.
The others hesitated to follow. Plural looked at the man like she didn't want to leave him to die. Circus eventually put her hands on Saturn and Plural's shoulders and addressed the old man.
"We're saving the world tonight, including you," she told him with a smile.
He didn't look like he believed her.
"Wish us luck!" she said as she pushed her friends to follow Tatters.
They hurried to catch up to her.
"You're smarter than you look," Saturn said to Circus.
She returned a smile and a thumbs up.
♦
"I don't like this," Plural said, looking around the parking lot.
Every direction they looked, there were black threads in the distance, but not here. They knew they were being surrounded.
"Nothing's changed," Tatters said dismissively.
She looked over at Saturn, who grabbed his phone and checked the tracker's position one last time. He looked up at the building.
"Still there."
Tatters examined everybody's faces.
"You know what to do?"
Saturn took the emerald out of his pocket. Circus took the safety off her shotgun.
"I'll keep one in reserve," she said as she looked at the gem, cocking the weapon.
Tatters nodded, gave the others one last look and then stepped back, looking up at her target again. She reached for her utility belt and grabbed her grappling hook, then walked towards the building.
She was stopped by Plural taking her hand, just like last time. Plural looked at her worriedly.
"This is it, you know?" she said.
Tatters frowned.
"We might not see each other again."
Tatters looked at the others, who'd joined the two.
"Not likely, anyway," Saturn said as he looked at the threads that surrounded them.
"Who are we kidding? We're definitely not gonna see each other again," Plural said with a melancholic look.
Tatters recalled Plural saying she didn't want to go back to her old life. She understood now. She didn't want to go back either. Whether she was gonna die or not, she was happy to be here with them. She was finally doing something that mattered, and she wasn't doing it alone.
The sense of dread that came with the impossible task she had on her plate, together with the fact that she'd found people who truly accepted her for the first time in her life, all made her feel alive again. It made her kind of scared she'd wake up in the next second to the sight of her stupid ceiling. To find none of this really happened, and these people didn't really exist. Things like that had happened before, but none of those dreams were as real as this one.
"I think we will," she replied to Plural's comment.
Plural was still holding her hand. Tatters took the other one too.
"I just think the universe doesn't want me to die tonight," she said, looking Plural in the eyes.
"Believe me, I've tried…"
She backed away towards the building, still holding Plural's hands, stretching her arms with each step until she had to let go. Tatters was leaning forward a little by then, making it look like she was bowing to Plural.
Tatters turned around and grabbed her grappling hook again. She shot it at the side of the building as high as she could, using her power on the hook to allow it to penetrate the wall, before disabling it and pulling it tight.
She took a deep breath, then pulled herself up. The others watched her dig her blade into the wall when she reached the hook. She took the hook out, then repeated the process. Her power made it easy, and she climbed the building quickly. Circus looked back at the threads in the sky as the other two nervously awaited the moment Tatters reached the top.
"Think it's watching?" Circus asked nervously.
"Probably, why?" Saturn replied, still looking up.
"They're definitely getting closer now," Circus said.
Saturn and Plural turned to look and saw that the threads were moving again. It was the same in each direction. They were officially on a timer now, and it wasn't even in their own hands anymore. All they could do was wait patiently for Tatters to succeed and deliver Jenny's body. But the more they thought about it, the more unlikely it seemed that she'd pull it off. And if she failed, they'd be eaten alive.
"This is how you know you're still alive!" Circus said as she jumped in place. High on adrenaline.
Plural looked up again to see Tatters maybe halfway up the building now. She closed her eyes and grabbed the sides of her head with both hands.
"I'm alive… I'm alive… I'm alive… I'm so lucky to experience this… I feel everything," she rambled to herself.
"How many shells did you find?" Saturn asked Circus.
"Ten!" Circus said enthusiastically, still jumping.
Saturn didn't know why he even asked.
"…minus one for the emerald," she added.
Circus had a worried smile on her face, clearly not trying to think bad thoughts.
"Oh, oh!" Circus turned around, still jumping in place.
"If Jenny falls on my head, just take the gun and pull the trigger like this," she said, holding up the gun and wiggling her index finger at the trigger.
The other two looked at her like they at least knew where to find the trigger.
"Will do, babe…" Plural said.
Saturn looked back at the emerald in his hand. His heart felt like it couldn't beat any faster. He understood exactly what the others were feeling in this moment. Plural walked over to stand by his side, then joined him staring at the emerald. Circus was in front of the two, facing the incoming horde.
"Did you guys know I'm in love with Jenny?" Saturn said with a resigned look.
"It's pretty obvious," Plural said.
"I thought you guys were a thing already…" Circus said, still jumping.
Saturn looked up at Tatters again. Almost there…
♦
Tatters got more nervous the closer she got to the rooftop. She could feel her heart beating in her throat. This might've been the most dangerous opponent she'd ever faced, but that wasn't what made her nervous. It was the stakes that were higher than ever before. The people on the ground relied on her. She stopped when she reached her anchor again and looked down at them one last time, but she was shocked to see the black threads had almost reached the parking lot. There was no time to be sentimental. She hurried to get to the top.
Last time she faced Dark Jenny, she walked into a trap under the ice. That wasn't going to happen again. When she reached the final floor underneath the rooftop, she broke the window and jumped inside. Running across the interior to the other side, checking for traps. At the center of the ceiling, she placed an explosive of her own and set it to go off on a three-second timer. She didn't know for sure where exactly Dark Jenny would be located. She looked at her new spear while she ran to the opposite window. If Jenny's body wasn't a concern, this would've been a lot easier.
She jumped through the window on the other side and turned around to grapple onto the railing on the rooftop. The explosive device went off at the same time, and she used the distraction to climb onto the roof. The floor shook from the explosion but didn't collapse. Dark Jenny wasn't exactly distracted either and was already facing Tatters when she made her entrance. As expected, it was holding Jenny's body with one tendril on the left, and the zombie with the black thread with another one on the right.
Tatters' powers were an excellent counter to the dark limbs. They couldn't pierce her defenses, but she could cut them like paper, and they all had to come from Dark Jenny's main body. The only threat the dark limbs posed to her were the fact that they could grab her and throw her around, and they were quite powerful. Her power couldn't protect her against that. They appeared to be expendable too, allowing Dark Jenny to just grow new ones whenever it lost them.
The biggest mistake she'd made last time was taking her sweet time and allowing her opponent to make the first move. Not this time. She infused her spear with the blue effect and jumped at her opponent, positioning the spear such that there wasn't much of an opening to attack her back. Her cape protected her from the rear.
Both tendrils were valid targets. If she could cut the thread on the zombie, her allies on the ground would be safe. If she could free Jenny's body and kick her off the rooftop, they'd still make it in time to bring her back. Tatters knew Dark Jenny couldn't possibly know about the emerald, but it was clearly protective of its prize and wouldn't just let her take it away. In comparison, it didn't treat the zombie with much care at all.
Tatters swung her spear so that it would hit both Dark Jenny and the zombie on the right tendril. As expected, neither target took the hit when Dark Jenny widened the gap between it and the zombie it was holding, ducking the tendril down across the ground to avoid the spear.
When Tatters landed on the other side, despite missing both targets with her spear, she got what she wanted. When she first landed on the roof, she'd stuck one of her daggers into the ground, connected by wire to her belt. That wire was now running over the tendril that held the zombie. Without hesitation, she activated her blue power on the wire, and it melted the tendril and the roof like they weren't even there. The severed tendril was already starting to fade away, and the zombie was dropped to the ground, giving her a clear shot at the black thread.
Tatters turned her back to her opponent, eliminating any hope for it to save one of its two precious assets. She leapt at the thread and cut it with a single jab before the thing could even get to its feet.
Dark Jenny clapped cheerfully, surprising Tatters. Did it not mind at all? To confirm her suspicions, she looked back at the sky to see nothing had changed. The black threads of the scourge still approached the building. She didn't cut down the main host, but a decoy. The real one must still be hiding somewhere out there, and Dark Jenny was laughing at her again in her head. Tatters looked back to see it growing two new dark limbs from its back that took the shape of giant wings.
Dark Jenny transferred Jenny's body to its own arm and used the now-free tendril to launch itself into the air. Then, when it came back down, it used the downward momentum and the completed wings to fly towards Tatters, prompting her to point her spear at it in defense. But she had to undo her power as quickly as she applied it when it raised Jenny's body as a shield. Was it trying to run? Or throw her off the building? With no time to think, Tatters improvised and prepared to latch on to Jenny's body. If she was going to be knocked off, she'd fall with her prize.
Before it got close enough for Tatters to grab, Dark Jenny let go of Jenny's body and dropped it on the ground. With Tatters' defenses lowered, it took her ankle using the free tendril and flew over her head, taking her along. Tatters could almost touch Jenny as her body fell and slid towards her, but she lost her balance as the tendril pulled her away. To make things worse, she accidentally let go of her spear to protect her head when she hit the rooftop's railing.
She was now flying through the air upside down, being carried like prey by Dark Jenny, who was gliding away from the building. She looked down to see the undead creatures storming the parking lot. She could see more of the city from this height, and everywhere she looked, the streets were swarming with undead. From the way it looked from up here, the entire city had been consumed at this point.
She noticed the threads were all heading towards her three allies. They looked up at her, and Tatters looked back. Their time was up. She pressed her radio button to tell them to get to the rooftop themselves but remembered just how intelligent the creature inside of Dark Jenny was. Any chance of success hinged on the fact that it didn't know about the emerald.
"What happened!? Where's Jenny?" Plural asked over the radio.
Tatters clenched her teeth in anger as she resisted the urge to tell them anything that might give the plan away. She pointed at the rooftop instead, hoping they'd get the hint. She grabbed the headset and threw it away.