Prey

Between two targets, one running and one wounded, Bruno subconsciously couldn't help but move toward Ava. Feeling as if it wouldn't be too late to go back and catch Haley after clocking the little brat over the skull. Taking a few steps forward, Bruno once again went to grab at Ava, moving much slower this time, afraid that Ava would manage to escape his grasp again.

Seeing Bruno lean forward, Ava didn't continue running towards him, instead letting out a panicked expression before taking steps back and moving into a full-out sprint moving towards the lanky man who was currently collapsed on the floor wailing while covering his eye, oddly similar in position to how Haley had been earlier. Fumbling around in her shirt, Ava couldn't help but curse the fact that she had left her knife in the room. She had really grown soft over the last few weeks. Scanning the ground for anything useful, Ava's eyes lit up as she saw a small rusty knife lying on the ground not far from the lanky man. Thinking about it, he should have dropped it when he collapsed earlier.

Lunging for the knife, Ava picked it up with both hands and slowly pushed backward while on the ground, holding the knife in front of her with a terrified expression on her face.

With a disgusting grin, Bruno couldn't help but laugh at the pathetic display in front of him and step forward slowly, savoring the fear on Ava's face. One step, two steps, and he was now next to Haley. Seemingly focused on the target in front of him, Bruno passed Haley entirely before stepping towards Ava, who was shivering like a kitten on the ground. On the side, Haley couldn't help but let out a vicious look at Bruno's back and was prepared to give him a hit before running, but she couldn't help but catch Ava out of the corner of her eye, who, in her shivering motion was fairly obviously shaking her head back and forth.

To Bruno, it looked like Ava was simply denying her fate, but to Haley, she couldn't help but think about what Ava had told her earlier, and after a moment of hesitation relaxed her muscles and prepared to sprint after Bruno took another few steps forward.

Taking care not to leave any gaps under his arms, Bruno kept his body low to the ground, his two arms in front of him as he smirked at Ava, who continued to push backward toward the wall. Stepping past the lanky man, Bruno couldn't help but hesitate for a moment before ignoring his cries of pain. Although he could be considered the lanky man's lackey, that was only because he had coin and resources to offer. Now that the man was down on the ground, it wouldn't be too hard to take over, would it?

Sneering at the lanky man, Bruno gave him a glance before ignoring him and continuing to move toward Ava.

On the ground, Ava's eyes couldn't help but flicker for a second as Bruno approached. In the last few moments, she had time to analyze the knife she had picked up and couldn't help but curse in her heart. The knife could hardly be called a knife, as it was practically a butter knife or a fruit knife that had been partially sharpened. In all practicality, it was honestly worse than the shards of glass she had had back when she had ambushed the Rat.

In addition to the rust and lack of care, Ava could tell at a glance that the knife would be hard to stab or slash with, and its greatest lethality came from the fact that it would probably cause an infection if it managed to cut through the skin.

Looking at Bruno's large figure, Ava couldn't help but feel annoyed. Even if she had a proper blade, Bruno's large structure alone made it hard for her to come out victorious. Although she could stab into his heart or neck, without a long blade, she wouldn't be able to cause anything more than a surface wound to Bruno before the man could lumber over and grab her.

Watching Bruno get closer, Ava suddenly jerked her head and looked straight at Haley, understanding the message, Haley turned around and started running, letting out a short yelp as she exited the alleyway as the bruises across her leg and back let out spurts of pain.

Seeing Ava's motion and hearing the commotion behind him, Bruno couldn't help but frown and let out a ferocious growl as he turned around to see Haley's back step out of the alleyway.

The moment Bruno turned his back, Ava let out a fierce glint, and her presence entirely changed. Although Bruno's back was turned, Ava didn't take the chance to go for a lethal blow. In part because she wasn't entirely sure where the heart was looking from the back, and in part because Bruno was so tall that she would have to jump or get on her toes to reach anything important, and in the process, would lose most of her momentum in the process.

Instead, Ava slashed out with the knife towards Bruno's left ankle, which was cleanly revealed as Bruno didn't even have shoes, much less socks.

With a spurt of blood and a long gash, Bruno let out a cry as he started crumpling to the ground, but unwilling to let both of his prey escape, Bruno reached out to the left to grab Ava as he fell to the right, as his body was covering half of the alleyway and there was only one avenue for escape.

But to his surprise, Ava's figure didn't appear. Instead, as Bruno was collapsing, Ava took the chance to move to the right as well, shadowing behind Bruno's large stature as he fell, and seeing an opportunity, picked up a rock and bashed upward with all of her might, landing the stone straight on Bruno's ballsack.

Grabbing the air, Bruno was confused for a second before a piercing pain shot up through his entire body. After a moment of blanking, Bruno directly fainted for a few seconds as his body's natural defense mechanisms kicked in.

Not willing to let the opportunity go, Ava kicked forward on Bruno's back, causing him to land in a crumple on the ground. Then, taking another glance to confirm that the lanky man was still generally incapacitated, Ava ran past Bruno, who was collapsed on the ground, and made a small semicircle around the lanky man, who was curled up in a corner before sprinting out the alleyway to find Haley just around the corner looking concerned.