Trapped Lady

Kazuichi's initial assumption of a successful hunt went down the drain as the rabbit continued screaming. There was nothing more disturbing than a scream of a rabbit in the middle of nowhere, especially when deafening silence filled the area.

The rabbit continued to bleed from its hind leg. It thumped its good leg in a poor attempt to stand up, but there was nothing it could do except a helpless struggle as it bled to death. As the once-silent forest was interrupted by a frightening scream, the hybrids and infected in the forest started converging on one place— right where the rabbit had attracted them.

"Are you for real?" Kazuichi deeply exhaled as he moved in without thinking. He jumped at the rabbit like a feral beast, grabbing it by the neck before snapping it. The rabbit, which had been shrieking this whole time, was finally silenced, and it fell limp in the hands of Kazuichi.

Stretch!

Kazuichi didn't have to turn around to notice that the lady by the top of a tree was aiming its arrow at him. She had already loaded her bow, and the pointy tip was aimed right at Kazuichi's neck, ready to fire at a moment's notice. "Put it down, that's my hunt." The lady called out with a serious tone in her voice, completely oblivious of the hybrids and infected who were gathering around them. Darkness had already befallen the entire forest, and this gave the lady limited visibility.

"You mean my hunt? You failed to kill it. I was the one who dealt the killing blow." Kazuichi shrugged it off as he stood up, He didn't even bother turning around and staring at the lady eye to eye. Instead, he went on his way, walking away from the location as if nothing happened.

"Take another step and I'll shoot!" The lady threatened her, pulling on the bowstring even further as she aimed at Kazuichi's nape.

While Kazuichi felt nervous since the lady could shoot at any given moment, he wasn't that panicked at all. With his innate abilities as a hybrid, he could easily dodge the arrow. And catching it in mid-air was even possible with the quick reflexes he'd honed for the past few days.

"You can shoot me all you want, miss, but you should probably save all your arrows for them. Don't waste it on me." Kazuichi calmly jerked his thumb behind him, prompting the girl to look around to see what he was talking about.

She immediately noticed the hybrids and infected who were carefully making their way to her location. She almost let out a wild scream, but she held it in as she cowered in fear by the tree branch where she was staying.

"All right, have a great day," Kazuichi greeted as he went on his way. Since the lady was more than ready to shoot him, he figured that she didn't want him near her.

Growl~

The low growls of the infected could be heard clearly now, and the snickers coming from the Hybrids who were circling the forest bounced off the trees. Frankly, Kazuichi knew that he was no match for the group so he quietly made his escape.

"Wait~! Are you just going to leave me here?" The lady hissed, her feet almost slipping from the branch where she was on top of. There was a pained expression on her face, indirectly speaking to Kazuichi that she wanted to be rescued.

Apparently, on her way through the city, she sprained her ankle. Fortunately, she managed to reach the forest without any additional incidents, and she figured that she could stay there indefinitely, hunting for game while waiting for her sprain to heal.

That didn't happen as expected though. Because at the moment, she was surrounded by infected who were clawing at the tree, trying to reach her but to no avail.

"Wait! I... you can have the rabbit, please save me." The lady tried to talk as quietly as possible. She watched in horror as Kazuichi continued walking away. Obviously, she knew that the rabbit was not hers, but right now that's her only ticket for a negotiation.

"You can just hop from tree to tree, right? Besides, you got plenty of arrows. I'm sure you can deal with all of them." Kazuichi casually pointed out, swinging the dead rabbit towards the lady before turning around a second time. The infected didn't pay attention to him since he was a hybrid.

Quite frankly, the lady wasn't worried about the infected. Just like what Kazuichi said, she could deal with them easily since they weren't that smart. It would've been a different case if there were Aberrants nearby, but fortunately, there were none.

What the lady was worried about, though, was the number of Hybrids that lingered around the area. They could easily target her and she would hardly put up a fight. After all, what could a regular human do against such superhumans?

"I can shoot arrows! I'm sure I'll be of use to you. Please help me, just this one time." The lady continued, on the verge of breaking down. She tried to suppress herself from crying but the tears were about to burst from her eyes.

Kazuichi heard a sniffle, and he sighed. For once, he considered retracing his footsteps and offering the lady a hand. "I get the rabbit, and you get to accompany me, deal?" Kazuichi asked.

"Deal," The lady had no reason to decline his offer since she too had no idea where to go next.

The reason why Kazuichi requested something absurd was not that he'd taken a liking to the lady, but because he could tell that the girl was proficient in terms of archery, and survival. Kazuichi could tell that the lady exuded the scent of a human, and he was fairly certain that regular humans shouldn't have survived this long without getting bitten one way or another.

'She'll be a great help. Hopefully, she doesn't take her words back.' Kazuichi said in his mind as he turned around, taking a leap towards one of the nearby branches and swinging towards the lady. "I'm Takemi Kazuichi, by the way. You?"

"Triciana. The name's Karuizawa Triciana, you can just call me Tris."