Глава 8

You even defeated the reinforcements? I shouldn't have expected less from you, Talulah!

What about all the other Infected?

They all made it in one piece. The backup safehouse we found really came in great use.

Have you done a headcount yet?

I did. Some of the kids were crying about how one of the older girls hasn't come back yet...

It's sad, but this happens fairly often these days. *Sigh*.

Talulah! We found the rest of the patrol unit. Looks like they've just been running away the whole time.

Which way did they go?

East. Makes me wonder if they'll come across the folks we exiled.

—Talulah?!

H-Hold on! Talulah, where are you going?

Running

Running.

Boots soaked in freezing, chilling water.

Legs sunk in white, blinding snow.

Forgot to use the sleigh.

Forgot to use the snowmobile.

Melting all the snow.

Dashing in the mud.

A long trail on the earth.

A long trail in the snow.

Cold boring into the lungs.

Pain piercing into the brain.

Running.Running.

An endless snow.

An endless winter.

An endless world.

A drop.

Talulah stopps in her tracks.

Another drop.

Tears drip down the corners of her eyes.

She does not notice the drops she shed.

Alina lies there on the ground.

She grips firmly onto the empty basket in her hand. Her clothes are dyed red with her own blood.

The grass and the mud around her body, once pale white, have been dyed a dark shade no less intense or florid.

The snow keeps falling, relentlessly.

No... A... A...

Talu...lah?

Alina...!!!

I didn't... want you to see me like this.

Don't talk. Alina, stop talking... Just don't talk!

We need to stop the bleeding...! Just hang on...!

I'm... not bleeding anymore... It's just...

In that case... Let's go! We need to get you to the medics right away for a blood transfusion!

It's okay... Don't worry... It's just... the things I traded for...

Don't worry about those... They aren't important... Let's head back... I'll take you there!

The Draco carries the Elafia on her back. Only now does she notice: this little deer looks so delicate and light, but her weight is so, so unbearably heavy on her back... As heavy as the weight of this whole world.

Stop...

I won't!

Who did it... Who did it... Who did this to you?!

Was it the Patrol Unit...?! The villagers?! Those bastards... Those bastards... I'll burn them all... I...

Wait, don't tell me... Was it the Infected we exiled...?!

Those ungrateful shitheads... No, no... If the Shieldguards gave them any rations...

Talulah...!

Alina... I'm listening... Just tell me!

I won't tell you...!

Why?! Why?! Are you not going to at least give me the chance to avenge you?!

You mustn't... Don't you remember what you said to me yourself?

You mustn't fight for revenge. You've already chosen, Talulah. You've already chosen a path to follow...

Giving up halfway... all because of me...? I won't have it...

Don't hold this against anybody... You mustn't.

What are you talking about?! What are you saying?! How can I not...? How am I supposed to not hold this against anyone?!!!

You told me yourself...! You said yourself that you can't harbor hatred against anyone... or you'd be... swallowed up... by that old man who placed that curse on you...

...Even if those Arts never existed in the first place... Wouldn't you still... be taken over... by all those things that represented who he was?

You told me that yourself.

Right... Right. But... But... Those people... Those...

...You know where they came from... and why they did that.

You said it yourself... Those people... aren't our enemies...

Stop... Alina... Don't speak...!

No... Talulah... Everything you said... I remember... so you must remember yourself...

These aren't the people... you need to crush... It's Ursus... That drove them into that corner...

It's Ursus... and... the world as it is...

It's okay... That's enough, Alina... I get it now!

Talulah... There is one thing you can detest... Everything they did, you can scorn.

But... never hate... anyone.

Do you agree with me...? Do you think what I said... is right? Are our lives... meaningful at all? Ugh... I don't know.

I'm not sure what it was... that we did wrong... but I know very well just what that curse... is all about.

Your rage... can burn down the entire plain... but you mustn't hate...

Alina...

I'm worried. Talulah, I'm so worried. If I'm not here anymore, you must have Yelena remind you... All this...

Alina, stop! Don't go on! I don't... I don't want you gone. All of you need to be here with me. You, Yelena, Sasha, Eno... All of you...

I don't want to lose any of you...!

Talulah... but all of us...

All of us met... so that we could part one day.

The white-haired Draco keeps trudging on in the cold, endless snowfield. On her back, the Elafia girl trembles away, pausing only to take in deep breaths now and then.

Snow drops down from the Elafia's horns. As Talulah slogs along, the snow-covered trees behind her begin to burn alight in silence. She has unknowingly begun to set her path ablaze.

The snowfields before her eyes are vast and endless. On her back, Alina is the only warmth she can feel.

Talulah feels each and every beat of Alina's heart through her back, and they grow weaker and weaker by the moment.

She wants to scream. She wants to cry. She wants to squeeze everything she feels out of her lungs, as though it could erase all this from her body.

But Talulah stays silent the entire time.

Talulah...

We'll be there soon, Alina... We're almost there!

Don't close your eyes... Don't close your eyes!

It's far...

You don't... need to lie.

The snowstorm is growing.

Talu...lah...?

I'm listening, Alina. Tell me. What's the matter?

...Snow... is warmer... than I ever imagined.

I'm sorry... I still don't... have all the things we talked about... written down.