[ when the sunlight blooms — and it is sunlight, suddenly bright as the light of day in these dank tunnels — it blooms outward, an opaque divide like a hard barrier between dark and light that widens and stretches to keep him within it and the rats without it.
instead of blinding them, the bright light and the sudden barrier disorients the crowd. the rats drive themselves right up against a barrier. the two rats who'd been at the front are trampled by the rest, which tumble over them in a scurrying mess. panicked screeches follow. rats aren't predators — they do not meet the barrier with curiosity or aggression. they flounder, flailing uselessly at the edge there, as if they were trying to siege a great castle's wall.
bucky's shots land easily in the gathered pack. blood that doesn't look like blood spills in small bursts, the rifle bullets small and quick enough to bury deep and not wide.
the noise startles alina. so does the fire rate. but she keeps her hands up. if bucky's willing to risk being blinded, she can hold out without covering her ears. at least until the mound of teeth and claws and tentacles stops swelling with panicked breath, until the screeching dies down. ]
(tdm continuation — bucky)
[ when the sunlight blooms — and it is sunlight, suddenly bright as the light of day in these dank tunnels — it blooms outward, an opaque divide like a hard barrier between dark and light that widens and stretches to keep him within it and the rats without it.
instead of blinding them, the bright light and the sudden barrier disorients the crowd. the rats drive themselves right up against a barrier. the two rats who'd been at the front are trampled by the rest, which tumble over them in a scurrying mess. panicked screeches follow. rats aren't predators — they do not meet the barrier with curiosity or aggression. they flounder, flailing uselessly at the edge there, as if they were trying to siege a great castle's wall.
bucky's shots land easily in the gathered pack. blood that doesn't look like blood spills in small bursts, the rifle bullets small and quick enough to bury deep and not wide.
the noise startles alina. so does the fire rate. but she keeps her hands up. if bucky's willing to risk being blinded, she can hold out without covering her ears. at least until the mound of teeth and claws and tentacles stops swelling with panicked breath, until the screeching dies down. ]
Is that all of them? [ she's breathless. ]