Taro stumbled through the thinning mist, the girl slung across his back. Every step felt heavier, every breath sharp. The snow had turned to slush beneath his boots — a trail of red following him wherever he went.
"Come on… just a bit more," he muttered, half to himself, half to her.
"You'll be fine. You have to be."
Her weight was light, but the exhaustion made it unbearable. His arms trembled with strain as he pushed through another line of dead brush — and froze.
In the clearing ahead, pale light glinted off metal.
Two figures knelt beside a fallen log. One was Lira, her gloves soaked in blood as she bandaged someone's side. The other—
"Rin!"
Taro's voice cracked from relief and fatigue.
Rin looked up. His face was ghostly pale, streaked with dirt and dried blood. One of his arms was wrapped hastily, the fabric dark with crimson. But his eyes still burned with the same fierce light.
"Taro?"
"You look like hell," Rin rasped, managing a grin.
Lira turned, her eyes widening when she saw him. "He's carrying someone— get her here, now."
Taro knelt beside them, lowering the girl gently onto the snow. Lira immediately checked her pulse, then the faint rise and fall of her chest.
"She's alive," she murmured, surprised. "Barely. Deep lacerations, possible frostbite… but she'll hold."
Rin leaned forward, studying the bloodied insignia on the girl's sleeve. "Alpha Squad," he muttered. "One of the veterans."
"She was strung up in the trees," Taro said hoarsely. "I couldn't just leave her."
Lira gave him a quick, approving nod. "You did good, Taro."
He managed a faint smile, then slumped back against a tree, catching his breath. The air was heavy with the smell of blood and smoke — and something older, more feral.
"Where's Kael?" he asked finally.
Rin's smile vanished. "Still out there. He went deeper before the explosion."
"We need to find him," Taro said immediately.
Lira looked up from her med-kit. "Not yet. You're both half-dead, and she's barely holding on. We need to regroup first, maybe call for—"
Her words stopped.
The forest trembled.
At first it was subtle — the soft quiver of branches, the faint tremor under their boots. Then came the sound.
A howl.
Long. Low. Piercing through the night like something out of a nightmare.
It rolled across the woods, shaking snow from the trees. It wasn't the cry of an ordinary Wendigo — this one was layered, like many voices screaming in unison.
The three hunters froze. Even the dying fire beside them seemed to dim.
Rin clenched his teeth. "That's not… normal."
Lira slowly rose, her eyes scanning the darkness. "No. That came from the east."
The same direction Kael had gone.
Before anyone could move, the ground began to shake again — heavier this time.
From between the trees, dark shapes started moving. Dozens of them. Wendigos — lean, twisted, running on all fours, their eyes gleaming faintly in the dark.
"Weapons!" Rin barked, drawing his sword despite the pain.
They formed a loose defensive line — Rin in front, Lira kneeling beside the injured girl, Taro raising his blade with shaking arms.
But the creatures didn't slow. They surged closer— and then passed them, sprinting into the distance like a flood of shadows.
Snow scattered in their wake. The air reeked of cold and rot.
Not one of them even turned their head toward the hunters.
Taro blinked, stunned. "They… ignored us?"
Lira frowned, opening her wrist-mounted scanner. The screen flickered, trying to stabilize through the interference. When it cleared, her face paled.
"Every single one of them is moving toward the same point."
"Where?" Rin asked.
She hesitated. "…Kael's coordinates."
The silence that followed was heavier than any sound.
Rin's grip on his sword tightened until his knuckles went white.
"He's fighting something. Something big."
Lira bit her lip. "Then we need to move, now."
Taro looked down at the unconscious girl, then back toward the woods where the Wendigos had disappeared. "We can't carry her and fight."
Rin pushed himself upright, wincing but refusing to stay down. "We'll make it work."