[ the hands are just shadowy hands, on his end. there are two of them, first. three. four. five. small, large, from the tiniest child to adult sized, clawing out of the ground and grabbing onto anything they can. onto the shadowy figure. onto four. onto lu bixing. they're accompanied with voices. whimpering. crying.
just lay down and die already, the voice of four's sister tells her.
please help me, says the voice of a child. please, i just need water. a shadowy hand grabs onto lu bixing's calf and pulls, and he struggles against it, recognizing, moving a hand to try and force and manipulate the shadows somehow, someway, and they keep grabbing. the number of hands multiplies, the force of a population, grabbing onto four's ankles and her legs, onto the shadow's. another. another hand, onto the sleeve of bixing's jacket, tearing it off of his body, pulling him downwards like it's quicksand. vaccine. the voices start, in a chorus, low and rumbling, the voices of desperation, vvvvvvvaccineee. vaccine, do you have it, you have to have it, prime minister, prime minister, save me, save me, save me, the virus, you have the vaccine, we stopped it before, can't we stop it, we can stop it are we just animals to you?!
he grits his teeth as he's being pulled, down, dragged to his knees - trying to pilot the shadows and fight them off at the same time, as they claw him down to his feet. the hands grab for purchase onto four and touch flesh, spreading fingertips into anything that's showing, burning heat like a fever, and zero's sword swings -
- and he can't really dodge it, not like this (couldn't control the outbreak, it felt like) but it doesn't matter. another voice.
cool and familiar. lin jingheng. you're immune to the virus, aren't you?
he tries to grab for control of the shadows to force them to pull him down, and the sword that swings in a wide arc digs into his shoulder, instead of what should've taken off his head. lu bixing makes a choked off noise and leans into it, lets the metal rend through flesh, lets blood splatter the wall behind him, lets it dig and hurt and then jerks his body to yank himself free, lets the hands grab on tighter to four and to the shadowy sister and pulls. ]
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just lay down and die already, the voice of four's sister tells her.
please help me, says the voice of a child. please, i just need water. a shadowy hand grabs onto lu bixing's calf and pulls, and he struggles against it, recognizing, moving a hand to try and force and manipulate the shadows somehow, someway, and they keep grabbing. the number of hands multiplies, the force of a population, grabbing onto four's ankles and her legs, onto the shadow's. another. another hand, onto the sleeve of bixing's jacket, tearing it off of his body, pulling him downwards like it's quicksand. vaccine. the voices start, in a chorus, low and rumbling, the voices of desperation, vvvvvvvaccineee. vaccine, do you have it, you have to have it, prime minister, prime minister, save me, save me, save me, the virus, you have the vaccine, we stopped it before, can't we stop it, we can stop it are we just animals to you?!
he grits his teeth as he's being pulled, down, dragged to his knees - trying to pilot the shadows and fight them off at the same time, as they claw him down to his feet. the hands grab for purchase onto four and touch flesh, spreading fingertips into anything that's showing, burning heat like a fever, and zero's sword swings -
- and he can't really dodge it, not like this (couldn't control the outbreak, it felt like) but it doesn't matter. another voice.
cool and familiar. lin jingheng. you're immune to the virus, aren't you?
he tries to grab for control of the shadows to force them to pull him down, and the sword that swings in a wide arc digs into his shoulder, instead of what should've taken off his head. lu bixing makes a choked off noise and leans into it, lets the metal rend through flesh, lets blood splatter the wall behind him, lets it dig and hurt and then jerks his body to yank himself free, lets the hands grab on tighter to four and to the shadowy sister and pulls. ]