Chapter Text
Anna had so many scars.
Lisa had seen them before, but she was never able to sit so close to her like this and trace her fingertips along Anna's naked back. There were three that interested her and they seemed to form a path similar to claws. Something big had slashed Anna across her back and she'd walked out of it mostly unscathed.
Her hands couldn't help but caress the muscles of Anna's shoulders and back. They twitched somewhat at the contact and Anna seemed to like that; she was leaning into them, her belly clenching when Lisa's hands moved there to touch another cluster of scars.
Anna glanced back at her with a soft grunt, perhaps curious by the lingering touches to her skin.
Lisa looked up with a small laugh. "Sorry. You just have a lot of scars." she told her. "It's hard to imagine just all that you went through."
A small, thoughtful note from Anna and the taller woman seemed to agree. She looked down at Lisa's hand and Lisa took her time to run her hands across the larger one, marveling at every callus on her palms. Lisa remembered how those hands brought her so much pleasure and the thought made her blush deeply.
"You have a nice body, too." Lisa blushed with a little giggle.
The sight earned a smirk from Anna. She knew Lisa admired her and she took pride in that. It made Lisa laugh again. She rarely made such comments, but it was true; Anna's muscle, her healthy bit of body fat in places that mattered was nice.
Lisa pondered another matter; her friends, her life outside of the Entity's realm that led her here in Anna's bed, tracing her scars and just touching her like they were an old married couple. She still had a hard time wrapping her head around it.
A part of Lisa felt guilt for it; she was comfortable here with a Killer and her friends were out there in the realms, being killed over and over again. Lisa didn't want that to happen, but she didn't know what she could do.
"I wish I had my phone right now," she said, trying to distract her thoughts.
Anna wrinkled her brow. "Phone."
The word was lost to her and Lisa understood that. As far as she could tell, Anna had no experience with technology or anything like it. In a way, it was kind of interesting explaining it to her and seeing how she would react to it.
"It's something you use to talk to people when they're far away," Lisa explained, with gestures of her hands, "Even if they're not close to you, you still feel like they are?" She groaned, rolling her eyes. "Yeah, I really didn't explain that good."
Anna seemed to think about it. She wrinkled her brow, leaned over toward the edge of the bed and pulled out a wooden box. She held it out to Lisa and the woman found it odd, but opened the box and was surprised to find a corded phone. An old one used in the Cold War, it looked like. Anna must have picked it up from scavenging.
"Phone?" Anna questioned.
Lisa nodded with a laugh. "Yeah, an old phone," she said. "Sorry, I guess I didn't think you knew what a lot of stuff was. Living in the woods and all."
Anna thought about that, then smiled a little, shaking her head. "Anna smarter than Lisa thinks."
Lisa winced at the words. "I didn't mean..."
Anna shook her head, leaned down and kissed the skin beneath her ear. It seemed fine and the Killer didn't appear to be annoyed by the remark. That was nice. Lisa would have hated to ruin the mood because of it.
Then, Anna looked up sharply and Lisa was suddenly tense. The look of alert that came to her face suggested she was listening for something. Something that Lisa could not hear herself. But she definitely sensed a chill in the air, like a coldness with no name.
"What's wrong?" Lisa asked.
"Hunt." Anna explained, rising and preparing to dress herself. "Stay."
Lisa started to rise, but Anna shook her head and she felt the warmth return when the taller woman leaned down to kiss her cheek. It was such a chaste gesture and so gentle compared to the woman she'd used to be around her.
But what would Lisa have done otherwise? She was sitting here, comfortable amongst a Killer who went out to hunt her friends; they were going to die again and again while she was here in front of a warm fire, being fed, taught how to hunt and adored. She wouldn't deny a little bit of guilt there.
But Anna was gone before she could protest.
O
Anna didn't like the smells here.
There were old, wooden walls around her that reeked of rot and dust. Screeching birds perched on rooftops and upturned wagons conflicting with her senses. This place felt older than her own hunting grounds.
Then, she heard them. Her prey.
Four of them making their way into the building nearby. Anna crouched low, watching as they seemed to talk together, a bit restless by their arrival. There was a taller one who mentioned Lisa's name and that put Anna at attention. She was frustrated somewhat at their language barrier, even though Lisa had been trying to be understanding and teach her.
They didn't know where she was. They weren't sure where to look.
They were looking for her? Did this mean her prey had been friends with Lisa? They must have thought Anna had hunted her like others before.
But no. Anna would keep them away from Lisa. She belonged to her. She was not going to see her taken. Not by the Entity or by them.
She was safer with her.
O
David scanned the bar with a defeated noise. Every bottle was empty. The Entity had been a real prick taking away that much from him. He could have really used at least warm beer. He wouldn't complain.
Sniffing sounds drew his attention toward the entrance of the bar where Anna was standing, back hunched, axe clenched tightly in hand. A grin lit his lips when he saw her and he squared up his shoulders, raising his fists.
"Another round, eh?" he hissed, "Come on then, big girl. Show me what you got!"
Anna tilted her head at him and he rushed her with a roar.
Outside the bar, Dwight, Meg and Nea could make out the sounds of fighting. They were working at the generator, talking about David's attempt to fight Anna again.
"So...think he needs help?" Meg asked.
A loud crash and David was thrown through a window, tumbling head over heels across the dust. He staggered to his feet, bloodied from the glass and laughing loudly before jumping right back inside to resume his fight.
Dwight looked back, shook his head. "Nah, he has it covered."
"She might know where Lisa is." Nea hissed, looking at the other two. "Maybe she took her or something. She was giving weird goo-goo eyes at her during that trial."
Dwight laughed now. "Come on. Really?"
"Yeah, I saw it."
"Bullshit."
Nea rolled her eyes at Dwight's arguments. "Listen, you can believe me or not, I don't give a shit," she snapped. "I know what I saw and I know, for a fact, she took Lisa. She's probably keeping her in her cabin to use for like, a weird little sex pet or something. You never know with these freaks."
Meg made a face. "God..."
David's shouts of effort turned their attention to the bar. They could tell he was having a difficult time against her and collectively rose from the generator to help him.
Inside, Anna was stalking toward him from behind the bar and he was swaying, broken and bloody with his knuckles smashed in.
"That all you got, you Ruskie bitch?" he grunted, thickly.
Anna breathed with effort, taking another step forward before a chair was shattered against her back. She barely budged, but blinked with irritation and turned slowly, facing Dwight now. The smaller man blinked, eyes widening in horror.
"Oh, shit." he gasped, turning and running.
Anna rolled her shoulders, cracked her neck once and stalked after him. David was helped up by Nea and Meg and he yelled angrily after Dwight.
"I had it handled!" he spat.
"Yep, sure did." Nea said, dryly.
David glared at her. "Shut it." He winced sharply. "Damn, that bitch can hit like a freight train. But she didn't get me near that fucking hook."
"Nea thinks she has Lisa." Meg told him.
He stared at her, confused. "Huh? Why do you think that?"
"I saw how she looked at her." Nea explained. "During the trials. She didn't kill her, only looked at her. Like she was a piece of meat. You know, when a guy checks your ass out and follows you in a dark alley."
"Nice image..." David quipped. "We gotta find a way to get to her if she's being held up by this animal. Any ideas where she'd be?"
O
Lisa was asleep.
She heard whispers and it made her stir somewhat with distressed whimpers. Crows were perched at Anna's cabin windows, watching her with yellow, glowing eyes. One of them squawked loudly and it awoke her with a yelp and she fell right out of bed, onto the hardwood floor.
A groan. "Dammit, what the hell?"
Lisa sat up, rubbing her tender nose before looking at the two crows staring at her. It made her uncomfortable immediately; they were looking at her like they understood her, knew even everything that she was.
A hiss filled her heard, swathed her eyes in shadow and cold.
"Well, well, well..."
The voice was speaking in her head, all at once in various languages and tones. It was old, far older than anything. Lisa had no idea how she knew that, but that same voice had been in her dreams, lulled her into a chilly cold fog of despair and pain. It was the same as it had been in the basement where the Entity was closest to her. But also, it had been different; as if so many voices spoke at once, loud and clear for her to hear.
"Who's there?" she whispered, even though she knew.
The crows were still, eyes piercing into her head.
"Food for the worms."
"Little food pray. Little food sing. It makes no difference to us."
Lisa looked away from the crows. "You're talking to me like I'm scared. I'm not scared of you. I don't know what you are and what you want - "
"Death. Hunger. Always hunger."
"Scared. Scared. Scared."
It seemed stupid to try and challenge it. Lisa didn't want it to know she was terrified of it, but she knew it obviously sensed her terror and her anger. She knew that in the short time she'd spent in its realm, it fed from fear and hate like a starved beast.
The crows' eyes reflected a fire now and Lisa was lost in their gazes. She saw flashes in her head unbidden.
Wars fought.
The universe in its infancy.
The deaths of thousands of people who had offered themselves to it.
And Anna and Lisa were just its tools all the same.
"No friends. No love."
"Die. Now."
Lisa huffed tearfully, stalked toward a corner where a broom was and picked it up. She angrily swatted the crows from the window with a fierce shriek and the cold chill in her head was gone for now.
But the ache of agony and reality lingered in her mind and heart.
She dropped to her knees and stifled a small sob.
O
The rat was gone.
He had been twitching on the hook for some time, kicking at her, clawing at her sweater in a futile attempt to fight back. But Anna knew that she would savor this in this moment. She could only watch as he spent his final breath cursing her name and her people and everyone who had come before her. For something so small and frail, the animal had spirit like she'd never seen in bigger prey. She respected that.
The bigger one fought back hard. He'd shattered a part of her mask and that had angered her, spurred the fiery storm in her heart as she cleaved him in half with her axe. He had tired from his fighting, his struggles weakened from a broken leg. Most animals went down easily after something like that. She'd seen it when one had stepped into a bear trap.
The other two were at the gate, demanding to know where Lisa was. Anna understood that much, at least. But she wouldn't tell them, of course. She had no reason to speak to her prey and, unlike Lisa, they did not earn the right to hear her voice.
"We'll find it!" one of them spat. "We will find her, you fucking freak!"
Anna didn't deny that. They were fierce and knew how to use strategy to elude her. They were more cunning prey than what she was used to. But she could adapt and evolve to face them as she had many times before.
Lisa was hers. They would see that.
She would keep Lisa from them and the Entity.
They would see that, too.