First lesson of Scarlet's School of Survival and Cowardice:
"Never truly face a stronger enemy with resolve or determination. Those are just illusory words to lead to one's demise."
'I partially passed at that.'
Second lesson: "Run."
'He carried me like a dead body.'
Third lesson: "Cowards live longer. As long as you're weak and mind your business, no one will trample on you. You'll be too worthless to be someone's foe."
'I am getting a grasp of Scarlet's rules.'
And that is why she always had roller boots with her. She always acted as the bait, placing her life in the hands of her teacher. Blood Augmentation wasn't meant to fight, but it served as a source of bait. Though it had a weak potency to a greater life force that attracted Abominations... it was still something. And Scarlet delivered the blow before she got devoured by grotesque creatures.
Scarlet's augmentation… siege? Had always been on a whole other level. He was fit to be a soldier, but why wasn't he one?
Unfortunately, Mira had no time to ponder her teacher's absurd physique and life decisions. Their Bait and Kill plan had gone south because of a very stubborn dog.
Mira slowly pushed herself onto her knees. As she moved, agonizing pain washed over her through her cracked bones, which had been slowly healed by the nanobots, but the cold dread of the Abomination's proximity was a far more potent driver than her nanobots.
She saw the shadow of the Scuttler disappear through the hole in the second floor, chasing the scent of Scarlet. It had taken the bait.
'He baited himself.'
The realization hit her with absolute clarity. He didn't do it out of nobility but out of strategy. He had calculated that his scent or life force was the better lure, and he hadn't hesitated to use it to save their only chance of escape.
"That absolute, self-serving bastard!" she rasped, but the condemnation was laced with reluctant admiration.
She walked up to the building, or rather, dragged herself to the building and entered through the part where the wall was no more.
She looked up. Above her was the vast, dark gap in the ceiling. To her left was the ventilation shaft Scarlet had squeezed into, far too small for her to fit with her remaining gear.
Her eyes frantically scanned the wreckage. The roaring chainsaw was gone, discarded somewhere in the initial frenzy.
Trying to connect her sanity back, she recollected Scarlet's last words before disappearing into a ventilator.
"The Sparrow."
She crawled to the base of the shattered wall. Near the ventilation shaft entrance, a series of thick, exposed power conduits ran vertically up the side of the skyscraper, partially shielded by bent sheets of chrome paneling. It was a perilous makeshift ladder to the massive hangar entrance high above.
"Fine," she muttered, gripping a jagged piece of conduit. "You want a Sparrow, you arrogant, stupid vampire? I'll get you a bloody Sparrow."
'I think I should stop calling him a vampire. It really pisses him off. Tsk... Focus, Mira.'
Gritting her teeth against the protests of her injured body, Mira climbed. The metal was slippery, slick with that foul iridescent film, and the ascent was steep. She had to use the small remaining strength in her augmented legs and arms to haul herself up.
Every foot of vertical ascent was a risk. The island rumbling was becoming frequent, turning into a loud groan, and every time the metal foundation shifted beneath her, Mira had to hold her breath, praying the conduit wouldn't shear off the wall.
'Scarlet is buying me time.'
She focused on that thought, ignoring the dizzying height and the widening cracks appearing in the metal structure around her.
By now, she had already gotten to the fourth floor with the help of the conduit.
She had to move fast. She could still hear the furious barks of the Abomination echoing from inside the building, growing fainter as it pursued Scarlet upwards. The distraction wouldn't last forever.
She paused on a wide metal brace, her chest heaving as she fought the searing pain in her side. She looked out through a massive, jagged hole where a window had once been. The gap was ten feet wide, and she could look straight down at the collapsing street.
The view was disastrous. The entire floating island was tilting...
'Gods...'
She grimaced and looked up. The hangar level was still three stories above, marked by the massive, curved arch where the company's logo should have been.
She recommitted to the climb, moving faster now.
As she reached the seventh floor, the pursuit sounds changed. The frantic, high-pitched barks of the Scuttler were gone, replaced by a series of heavy, muffled impacts and a single, wet, tearing noise followed by a sudden, echoing silence.
She lost focus for a second, almost losing grip on the conduit.
"Pull yourself together, Mira."
Frankly speaking, she had mixed feelings about whether Scarlet would survive. One part of her didn't care… or maybe tried not to care about him. And there was this other part she really didn't want to talk about.
"It's just anxiety. Yes, anxiety."
Gritting her teeth and climbing further, her mind drifted to how she got to this island. She lived on the island flanking this one on the left and had only come here to...
'Teenage stuff... Fuck it! Who am I kidding? Why the heck did I run away from home? Once I get home, I'll ask for forgiveness. I hope other teenagers learn from me and don't run away because adolescence and maturity get the better of them. Ah, I miss my mom's cooking.'
Feeling somewhat renewed, she climbed faster.
She reached the final stretch of conduit, kicking off the wall and pulling herself inward, over the jagged lip of the destroyed hangar floor.
She was now inside — or maybe at the top of the building; it was hard to tell given how mangled the building looked — having successfully climbed from the foundation to the aerial vehicle bay.
The hangar was vast, with a roof of shattered glass and debris. Debris covered the three large red "S" on the ground.
And sitting silently on the roof, reflecting the faint ambient light of the black veil, were three perfectly preserved, matte-black Sparrow interceptors.
A bright smile appeared on Mira's face. Now they were just one step closer to leaving the forsaken island.
Suddenly, a tense expression replaced the happiness as she stood at the edge of the roof. She looked at the tilting island landscape, shook her head, and looked down at the building.
"Scarlet... Where are you?"
Her thoughts were interrupted when she felt the same dread from the darkness. Slowly turning her head to the dark veil, she saw something that made her eyes widen in horror.
The darkness shifted and groaned, then violently snapped back, tilting the island to its normal ground level. The whole island shook again, and from the dark veil, a bright silver light radiating with menacing lifeforce appeared and flew straight at the building at a frightening rate, like a bright hawk aiming at its prey.
The light crashed onto the floor of the building, making it groan and shudder... especially scaring the wits out of Mira. She scrambled backward and fell to the ground...
The impact ended as quickly as it started, and the next thing she heard was the dying howl of a familiar dog.
***
"Blood... I'm dying."
Scarlet whispered in a hoarse tone as he crawled along the ventilator rail. Glancing through the tiny holes in the rails, he saw the Scuttler searching for him, not willing to give up soon.
More cracks appeared on his body. The cracks appeared on his face, revealing bloodless bones that were slowly disappearing like dust.
He glanced down again; the Scuttler was still there. He had always attracted the hatred of Abominations except for Mira's blood on the day they first met, and since then, he had used her as bait while feeding her with stupid lessons of survival.
Crawling further, the metal rail groaned, gave out, and he fell through the broken metal only to land on a pile of debris, sending dust everywhere.
The rail fell on the Scuttler while Scarlet landed just a foot away, having no energy left to even groan in pain.
The Scuttler scrambled from underneath the rail and shook its head vigorously. Regaining its concentration, it turned its gaze to the dying vampire and licked its lips with three thin dark tongues, its hollow inhuman eyes filled with malice.
Suddenly, it lunged at Scarlet, who was lying back on the floor, gasping.
At that moment, the bright silver light crashed violently into the room above them, jolting the Scuttler off balance and sending Scarlet flying to the end of the room.
After that, things happened really fast..
It entered where Scarlet and the Scuttler were by breaking through the ground floor that served as their own ceiling. Debris flew and dust filled the air, confusing the Scuttler.
The light did not give the Scuttler time to decipher what was happening, and it immediately charged. Barely a second later, a dying howl echoed in the vast area, and the head of a grotesquely looking dog landed in front of the dying Scarlet, its eyes extinguished.
The Scuttler was... dead.