Scheduled for Death
The light spilling through the window frame bled into a deep crimson.
In place of the sun that had been climbing only moments before, a moon that had no business rising at all now sat in its seat.
"Li… Lily… the sky looks weird…"
Elin, who until just now had been packing the backpack with me, seized my hand at the sight.
Of course, I was just as terrified.
It starts in broad daylight?
This was no ordinary phenomenon you could predict by watching for the moon.
The one mercy was that we'd already gathered most of what we needed.
The backpack was small, so we couldn't take much… but it was only for just-in-case, anyway.
The only reason I could keep my head in a situation that might cost me my life was that I already knew the spoiled prologue.
If the developers hadn't lied, as long as we didn't let go of each other's hands, we would live.
So first, I thought it through.
What was the right move for me here?
Two eight-year-olds… staying inside the house is the correct call, isn't it?
Children hide when they're frightened. Even I, trembling right beside her, could only cling tightly to her hand without once suggesting we go outside.
We could have gone out, but…
If we wander out for no reason and run into a magic beast, we just die faster. Better to wait for the adults to come looking for us.
Kyaaaaaaah───
Ugh, uwaaaaah───
Screams carried through the walls.
Not only human voices — the howls of magic beasts as well. Liquid splattering, something being crushed into pulp: nauseating sounds that made me flinch, sounds I didn't want to picture.
I wanted to clamp my hands over my ears, but one of them was locked tight in Elin's grip.
"Elin, cover your ears."
"H-huh? But my right hand…"
"Here — like this, okay?"
Still, better that I hear it than her.
I told Elin to cover her left ear, then sealed the other with my own hand. Her face eased at once.
I sat there covering her ears, holding her hand — and then, with a crack like splintering timber, the door burst open.
"Lily! Elin!"
"Dad──!"
Elin's father came crashing through. Blood streaked his clothes and the sword in his hand; he'd clearly cut his way through the beasts to reach us.
Yes. This is how it's supposed to go.
One of the fathers comes looking for the children. Whoever it was, he was the one who would pull both of us out alive — so we ran after him without hesitation.
Fortunately the magic beasts were still sparse, and we managed to rejoin the rest of the villagers fairly quickly.
"Haa… what the hell is this…"
My head throbbed at the simple fact that the prologue hadn't even started yet.
Honestly, I'd hoped that last evacuation had cleared the death flag.
But as if laughing at that wish, the words still hung in front of my eyes.
Do I die while running with the villagers?
I turned my head and surveyed the area. Gathered in one place were a fair number of villagers, along with two middle-aged figures — one with a sword, one with a staff. The adults seemed to be discussing something among themselves, but none of it reached my ears.
──────!
"…Everyone, evacuate now! We'll hold the magic beasts and catch up!"
At Elin's father's order, the village adults immediately began putting distance between themselves and the settlement. We were hardly exempt.
"Elin, Lily. Keep up, all right?"
"B-but Dad…!"
Elin tried to stay; a village woman took her by the hand and pulled her along, and since Elin still had hold of me, I was dragged after them in turn.
So Elin and I followed the adults into the forest. According to the woman, we were heading for the next village over.
The deeper woods were quiet, at least, and the others seemed to relax — everyone but me.
…Still dangerous.
The words remained.
I kept every nerve wound tight and squeezed Elin's hand harder.
"…Lily, are you okay?"
"Yeah. …Probably."
"You're holding Elin's hand tight, right? You got it?"
At Elin's attempt to reassure me, I almost laughed out loud. Being fretted over by an eight-year-old was ridiculous enough on its own — and her words lined up exactly with what I was thinking.
"Pfft── Okay."
"Why are you laughing…!"
I soothed her puffed-up cheeks and, keeping a careful edge of tension, started talking with her. There was no real topic; I'd only met Elin a day ago, so she carried most of the conversation.
"Why'd you put the backpack on the front?"
"Easier to pull things out this way."
Chatting about nothing in particular, I felt like I'd gotten a little closer to her.
…Has my mental age dropped too?
I turned that over seriously while gripping our joined hands even tighter.
We walked and talked for who knows how long.
"Ugh… I can't see anything…"
Looking back, the village was gone. Looking ahead, there were only trees and people. The woods on either side were dark enough that something leaping out would hardly have been a surprise.
Keong───!
A wolf?!
Sure enough, a wolf caked in blood burst from the forest on the left. The problem was that Elin was on my left. At this rate, the wolf would take her in its jaws in a single lunge.
My body moved before my thoughts did.
I twisted left and hauled Elin back. We'd never stopped holding hands, so it worked — and with the woman right behind us, Elin wouldn't be hurt.
That was as far as it went.
"Ugh── Lily…?! Lily!!"
The motion had been to save Elin, and that much succeeded. The problem was that the charging wolf was now baring its fangs at me instead.
"Ugh…"
Twisting to pull her free had left my right arm exposed. The fangs punched through flesh. Meat crushed; a nauseating scrape of teeth against bone tore a groan of pure pain out of my throat.
"Th-this hurts like hell…"
Tears flooded my vision. If the bite had been the end of it, I might have called myself lucky. Through the haze, though, what I saw was Elin's face falling rapidly away.
…I said I wouldn't let go of her hand no matter what.
Elin's darkening expression and the woman chasing after the wolf were the last things I registered. Then the trees closed over everything, and the people vanished completely.
This is bad…
Maybe because I'd half expected it, my mind went cold and clear. Or maybe that was just the blood loss talking.
"How… far are you going…"
The wolf that had me — a magic beast that had clearly chased us out of the village — was racing somewhere at full tilt with me locked in its jaws. It was running far too hard for a simple meal.
Does it have a destination? …Then why bite me?
I couldn't read its mind, so there was no way to know. But if the wolf reached wherever it was going, I was dead. I'd probably bleed out before that, though.
At least I still have the backpack. First — the fruit knife…
The only thing that counted as a weapon: a fruit knife. One side of the pack was already torn to shreds, and being dragged made it nearly impossible to get anything out properly, but with shaking hands I managed to force the flap open.
"Uwah── W-wait, damn it──"
My vision was already swimming, and the worsening jolt finally dumped the bag's contents. Luckily I'd been mid-draw, so the knife itself stayed put.
Everything spilled out…!
Wearing the bag in front had saved me; on my back, I wouldn't even have the knife. I took what comfort I could from that and forced my brain to work.
The wolf had no interest in finishing me off right this second, and I had a fruit knife in hand. But I wasn't left-handed. The arm I had free was trembling violently from blood loss, shredded raw from being dragged across the ground. On top of that, my legs had gone so weak during the haul that putting any real strength into them was nearly impossible.
Using my feet to hinder the wolf was out of the question. Briefly planting them on the ground, though — that might still be doable…
…Can I actually do this?
With an eight-year-old body that could barely hold itself together?
…If I didn't, I died.
I drew a breath. I forced focus into pupils clouding with blood loss and slowly raised my shaking left hand.
Looking at this arm, there won't be a second try…
I'd miss. Obviously. One chance only.
I watched for it. This was forest, not flat ground — rises and drops, stones and roots jutting from the earth. I waited for the perfect moment when my legs could push off.
The instant the wolf's head dipped and the dirt under my feet angled down.
Now──!
I twisted hard. A grinding crack tore through the right arm still locked in its teeth. Not enough. I drove my feet into the ground with everything I had — not to stop. My legs didn't have the strength to plant properly anyway. The contact rebounded; my body bounced up for a fraction of a second.
And there — the wolf's eye, and the blade reflected in it. Under normal circumstances the animal would have flinched the moment it saw steel, but with my arm still clamped in its jaws, the distance never changed.
With every scrap of force I could summon, I drove my left hand down from above. The fruit knife the wolf couldn't dodge sank into the soft eye.
Kyaeng───!
The wolf screamed and bolted deeper into the woods. There was no time to celebrate.
The instant I wrenched my right arm free, I forced my legs to move with the resolve to squeeze out every last drop of strength I had left.
There are bloodstains on the ground, so at least I can tell the direction…
How far had we come? Given how long the wolf had run without stopping, it wouldn't be a short walk. But I'd made it this far. Giving up wasn't an option.
My whole body was wrecked, but the worst of the bleeding was the right arm. I groped for the handkerchief in my pocket to bind it, however poorly—
"Did I… drop it…?"
Whether it had fallen while I was being dragged, the handkerchief was gone. In the end I pressed down on the wound with my violently shaking left hand and started following the trail of blood.
At least the wolf had fled; nothing was hunting me now.
My vision is… swaying pretty badly…
I was looking straight ahead, I was sure of it, but the ground seemed tilted to the left. Stay with it. Collapse here and I die on the spot. The words still floating in front of my eyes refused to vanish, so I clung to consciousness that much harder.
"Ugh… uuh…"
But holding onto my mind didn't mean my body would obey. Legs already past their limit gave out, and I went down. My field of vision dropped until I was scraping the dirt — but I hadn't blacked out yet.
No teeth? Use the gums.
"Hic…! Huuh… hooh…"
I planted the only arm that still worked against the ground. Strength wouldn't go into it properly; looking at the motion alone, it was closer to clawing at the earth. Still, I kept moving, however slowly.
My fingers became a ruin. Nails split. Fresh bloodstains bloomed beside the dried ones. Even that had a limit, though — dirt filled my vision, and no amount of dragging with my left arm could push my body forward anymore.
The burning in my fingertips faded into something almost familiar. The air leaving my lungs thinned until even the sound of my own breathing disappeared — and then.
"…ly!"
Elin…?
Not breathing. A human voice. Rustling. A child's tear-choked cry. Footsteps swelling louder. And then—
"Lily!!!"
…A small face, a wreck of tears and snot, filled my sight. Behind her, the shadows of adults who had come running at her shout closed in.
At last.
I… made it…
With the sentence dissolving into static as the last thing I saw, my consciousness slipped away into the dark.