Corpse March

Chapter 32

Haru heaves Kannibal onto her shoulder and walks out of the cockpit. 

“Excuse me. Excuse me.”

She walks past the Elites sitting down in their seats. As she passes, she calmly, but firmly, tells them to get ready. 

“You, come with me.”

Haru grabs one of the more stout Elites and drags her by the elbow towards the end of the train. Once she reaches her destination, she peers out of the back window into the darkness, searching for some kind of hint, some kind of sign that someone might be on their tail. 

“You see anything?”

“No–”

She doesn’t get to finish her sentence. A headlight suddenly pierces through the dark night. Then two, then three. Somebody yells. 

“TAKE COVER! THEY’RE HERE!”

A smattering of bullets slams against the train’s rear, shattering the windows. There’s no time to dodge. Haru grabs one of the Elites next to her and uses her as a meatshield. Bullets tear through her flesh while Haru pulls out her handgun and cocks it with her teeth. The instant the barrage shows even a hint of letting up, she lets go of the Elite and ducks underneath the window. She starts blindfiring back at the Deathless. The Elite she used as a meatshield collapses, clutching her chest before lying limp on the floor, dead. But Haru pays it no mind and just keeps shooting.

Haru relies on her keen hearing to guide her shots. Then, she hears a thud on the roof. Without hesitating, Haru lifts up KANNIBAL and stabs through the ceiling. There’s the grating sound of metal grinding against metal as she retracts her ax. She doesn’t stop. Again and again, she cuts through the flickering electric lights, trying to get even a single hit onto whoever’s on top of the train car. 

“Out of the way!”

With three rapid-fire slashes, she opens a triangle shaped hole in the roof and jumps out into the open air. If she can’t get at her from below, she’ll take the fight right to her. Wind stings her eyes as she lands. She tries to steady herself but immediately, she’s greeted by the sound of overwhelming gunfire. 

Guard.

Just in time, she conjures a shield wall in between her and the barrage of bullets. Muzzle flashes cut through the darkness, illuminating a pair of dead eyes, long hair and blank lips. Kuroko. She sticks her off-hand out around the side and starts shooting back. Her bullets deflect harmlessly off of Kuroko’s faith shield, and Kuroko’s bullets deflect harmlessly off of her guard. Click, she’s out. Click, Kuroko’s out too. Haru smirks as she drops her guard and starts advancing on Kuroko. Kuroko only adjusts her tie as she does the same. Overwhelming bloodlust meets callous ruthlessness as their eyes lock. As she walks, Kuroko conjures a riding crop made of her strings. Interesting. It seems that the decoy worked better than expected. The only time Kuroko ever resorts to melee combat is when she’s exhausted. Haru’s grin widens, knowing that the ball is in her court. 

“Heyyyyy, Kuroko. I just can’t seem to get rid of you, can I?”

“I’m here to arrest you, Haru.”

“You can try.”

Suddenly, swiftly, but expectedly, their fateful battle begins. Haru makes the first move. Her body lurches forwards in a kind of drunken lunge, KANNIBAL flutters wildly behind her. Kuroko lowers herself in preparation. In a fraction of a second, faster than the blink of an eye, KANNIBAL goes from lounging in the wind to striking viciously at Kuroko’s riding crop. Again and again, their weapons clash at breakneck speeds, to a rhythm that makes sparks dance in the night. They stay deadlocked, their strengths evenly matched.

Then, something changes. Kuroko ducks. Suddenly, there’s nothing to protect Haru’s eyes from the stinging winds. Instinct forces her eyes shut. Realizing her mistake, she quickly forces her eyes open but it’s too late. All that she sees is Kuroko’s face as she drives her fist upwards into her stomach. The wind leaves her lungs. She stumbles backwards, giving Kuroko enough space to launch a kick right into her solar plexus. But she’s already recovered. She catches Kuroko’s leg with both hands and pulls. Hard. Kuroko stumbles forwards and Haru catches her with a brutal Lariat right to the throat. She goes down. Her riding crop falls from her limp hand and Haru kicks it away. That’ll be enough of that.

“Ha… Ha…”

Haru takes a second to gather herself and just breathe, letting herself recover for the incantation. She forms her fingers into a gun and points downwards, right at Kuroko’s head. 

“Flame Bolt.”

Kuroko suddenly rolls herself into a ball before kicking upwards, hard. Haru’s arm is knocked off course and she ends up burning up a section of the roof a small distance away. With that, Kuroko’s back on her feet.  Slippery bastard. They stand there for a moment, both parties trying to figure out their next move. Haru is the first to act. She raises KANNIBAL high above her head before bringing it down directly on top of Kuroko. What comes next ends up surprising her, however. 

Instead of backing away, Kuroko comes straight to her, closing the gap. And instead of dodging, she opts to counterattack. A lightning-quick strike directly to Haru’s wrist. By all means, Haru shouldn’t even feel it, but somehow, it’s as though Kuroko injected pure electricity into her arm. Her hand goes numb, and KANNIBAL drops to the floor. A near perfect nerve strike. Where’d she learn that? 

One moment, Haru’s on her feet, the next, she’s staring up at Kuroko’s face. She tries to stand back up but it’s no use, Kuroko’s got her pinned. She raises a fist, and brings it down onto Haru’s face. The shock that travels through her skull numbs the pain of the succeeding blows. Again and again, Haru feels the metal under her head dent more and more as Kuroko continues to brutalize her. 

An idea comes to Haru. She counters. Not by striking back, but by slamming her head down even further into the roof. Kuroko only has a split-second to realize what’s happening before the entire segment of ceiling that they were fighting on collapses. As they fall, Haru grabs Kuroko by the neck and slams her onto the floor. The Elites all around them take a step back. They all know better than to interfere.

Haru slams Kuroko into the ground over and over and over and over. Little by little, she feels Kuroko’s skull give way to cracks, to fragility. Like an egg. Over and over. Someone’s laughing. She’s laughing. It takes her a second to realize it. It’s not a joyful laugh, no, it’s like she’s vomiting it out. Like it was a parasite inside of her chest and only now is it finally spreading its wings. Cerebrospinal fluid begins to leak out of Kuroko’s nose. Finally, she’s getting close to the yolk. Nothing can survive direct damage to the brain. Not even top-of-the-line physical enhancements can. But right before she’s on the verge of dealing the killing blow, the train suddenly jolts. Everyone and everything goes flying. Then, it all comes crashing down.