Chapter 16.

"You smell like a bug." She comments as she kicks the man on the ground telling him to get up and fight the one with the axe. "You have a good sense of smell. Can you see in the dark as well?" Moth asked with the tilt of his head. "You're like me." She says. "What are you?" The lynx smirked, showing off her teeth. "I don't want to say." She darts at him, her claw out to strike his face. Moth ducks to the side to avoid the incoming attack but his eyes widen in surprise as the woman's claws land on their intended target, his cloak. She tugs it away from him, revealing his moth-like features. 

"A moth." She says in amusement as she lets the cloak fall to the ground. He stretches a wing over in his lie of sight to check it was damaged. "Thanks for getting it right. People usually guess butterfly on their first go." She grins at him, her pupils becoming slits. "It's been a while since I've had the chance to fight a humanoid."

"I'm not really inclined to fight." The lynx scoffs, shaking her head in disappointment. In an instant, she lunged at Moth as he jumped over her, his wings carried him as he moved through the air and he delicately landed on the ground behind her before going to kick her in the back only to be stopped by a sharp pain in his leg. He winced slightly and withdrew from his attack as he looked down at his wound, there were a few long slits in the lower half of his leg from a knife. He seemed startled by the wounds but looked up at the woman, she had a small dagger attached to her tail that dripped with his blood. "You know you are a lot weaker than most humanoids I know, little moth."

"Moths are delicate creatures." Moth commented with a shrug as he hobbled a little, picking up his knife on the ground. "You got lucky, being combined with a lynx." She shrugged, "I was already relatively strong, this just added to it." Moth nodded in agreement. There wasn't really any animosity between them as the lynx was just fighting out of curiosity at this point and even though Moth didn't want to indulge her but he had no choice. She lunged at him again and Moth ducked under her arm, releasing a short jab into her stomach before going to slash at her chest with a knife. The lynx jumped back, dodging the incoming knife and meeting it with the knife on her tail before dropping to the ground in a low sweep kicking Moth off his feet and sending him to the ground. She jumped on top of him pushing an elbow into his throat as she held him down, Moth struggled beneath her, trying to dig his hands into her arm and pull it away. The lynx grinned feeling as if she had won when a powder coated the air, getting in her eyes and disorientating her sense of smell with a thick peppermint scent. She moved back rubbing her eyes and covering her nose as she struggled to get her bearings. 

"What the hell was that?" She snapped as Moth sat up coughing slightly as he breathed. "Is that one of your abilities, moth? How annoying." Moth scrambled up and grabbed a dagger as he ran towards her. Her ears twitched as she heard him coming, she put a leg up and tried to kick him in the face but he ducked around it, grasping his dagger and cutting along the inside of her leg. She yelped a little and brought a claw forward grabbing Moth by his hair and pushing him face down into the snow. "Where did that powder come from? Was it your wings?" She traced a clawed finger down his wing, not cutting into it but moving along one of the patterns. Moth squirmed beneath her and shuddered as he felt her claw move along his wing. She smirks at his reaction, moving her claw back up and digging it into his wing, eliciting a muffled scream from the other person as she dragged her claw down his back, tearing a large slit into his wing. She grinned as his screaming quietened into painful groans before they both froze and the lynx's face fell. The screech of a walker echoed through the trees, startling everyone as the lynx's eyes flicked to the side, noticing something metallic coming towards her. She didn't have any time to react when the end of an axe moved up and hit her across the face, sending her flying backwards. She flinches as a handle is brought to her neck and she is pushed into the snow, strangling her. "Wait, Lane!" Moth called, his eyes welling with tears as he moved to the man's side and tried to pull him off her. "You can't kill her." 

"Why can't I?" Lane's lip was swollen from his fight with the bigger man. "It would be as simple as crushing her throat just a little more." Moth tugs at Lane's arm again trying to get him off. "This is just the way humanoids are, they are competitive. She wasn't going to kill me, I wasn't in danger." The lynx nods in agreement trying to speak. Lane's deadly eyes flicked over to his torn wing and cut leg. "I'll repay her for your wounds, I'll cut off her leg and one of her ears." The lynx's eyes get wide with fear and she shudders as her and Lane's eyes lock. She starts thrashing about wildly trying to get him off her while Moth pulls on his arm trying to do the same. "Lane please, I just want to go." 

"In a moment." He shoves Moth away causing him to fall into the snow and wince in pain. This seems to snap him out of his daze as he moves over to him, his eyes wide with fear and concern. "I'm so sorry, are you okay? I didn't mean to shove you so hard." He took off his cloak and wrapped it around him, pulling the hood over his head as he cradled him in his arms. "It doesn't hurt too much does it?" 

"Bring him here." Sol called as he brought out some medical supplies. Lane brings him over letting Sol clean and wrap his leg. "Who the hell are you?" The lynx asked as she got to her feet, glaring at Lane. Lane met her glare with one more chilling. "The Reaper. If you want to fight, I won't show you mercy." He gripped his axe, the bloodthirsty look lingered in his eyes.

Her eyes widened as she realized who she was facing and she put her hands up in surrender. "I know when I'm outmatched." She grumbled. "Clear off before I kill you. I'm not in the mood." She nodded before glancing at Moth. "You are a weird one." She commented before she spun on her heels and disappeared into the woods. 

Moth sat up with an annoyed expression, "I can't believe I got beaten by that lynx." He glanced down at his leg and winced as an ointment was applied. "What about you?" He asked, glancing up at Lane. "What about me?" Moth lifted a hand to Lane's face. "Your lip is swollen and your arm is dripping blood." 

"I'm fine, the sword barely grazed me." He said as he tore a piece of cloth off his shirt and tied it around his arm. "See, all good now." Sol finished cleaning and wrapping Moth's wounds but he left his wings alone, not really sure of how to treat them. "Now what?" He asked, looking down at the three unconscious bandits. Lane pulled out some rope and tied them all together. "Now, we will complete our journey and hand these three over to the authorities for a reward." 

Sol nodded, "Are you two still alright to defend me as we complete our journey?" Moth was about to speak but Lane cut him off. "He's not. But I am more than capable. There is also another thing to deal with." Sol looks at him in confusion as Lane continues. "What will you do now that Moth's true nature has been revealed? Are you going to turn him in? If that is the case I will exterminate-" He raised his axe in a threatening manner. "You don't have to worry about that," Sol says rather hurriedly. "I don't have any intention to reveal his secret. You two put your lives on the line for me and my wares, I'm willing to hide this. Also, you are very, very scary, I think you would hunt me down and kill me if I said anything."

"Good. Start driving, I'll keep an eye out." He replies as he puts his axe away. He climbed back into the cart and pulled Moth into his arms letting Moth rest his head on his chest. "Are you okay?" He asked him softly, his concerned eyes looking down at him. Moth groans as he leans into his touch. "My wing hurts and I feel tired." 

"Okay, then just sleep for now, I'll have a look at it once we get back." Rin grumbled his displeasure but closed his eyes and started to drift off to sleep. Sol glanced back at them in concern. "You said that you are The Reaper?" Lane looked up at him, pulling Moth closer to him and wrapping his cloak around him protectively. "I am but I'd appreciate it if you didn't spread that around."

"I've got no problem with that… So will you actually be taking out that category 2 walker?" Lane thought for a moment before he looked down at Moth who was now sleeping in his arms. "I will."