The Scent of Blood

Jessica and Mia set up camp, bringing Jack to sleep with them for the first time despite Emma asking otherwise. It was a pretty peaceful sleep even though there was a bit weighing on their minds. After all, it was both safe and quiet.

And soon enough, Jack woke up. Jessica and Mia also did soon after and started to explain the situation to him. They wanted to quickly set up a situation so that he would be inclined to decline Emma's invitation. However, before they could even get a word out, Emma opened up the flap of the tent, peeking inside with a smile.

"Hello there! Hope you had a good rest."

Jack rubbed his eye before letting out a yawn.

"Ah, is it you?"

Emma let out a small laugh before extending out a hand.

"I've come here to fulfill the promise I made earlier, to join you on a little adventure. Are you fine if I come along?"

Jack's eyes widened excitedly.

"Yeah! Let's go!"

Jessica and Mia had slightly bitter expressions. In the end, it didn't seem like there was much to do at this point. Emma let out a giggle, quite amused by it all. However, she didn't jump on the train immediately.

"We should take a bit of a break first. After all, your friends here are quite hurt and need some time to heal and rest."

She brought out a medical kit, handing it out to them.

"This should help you. If you still don't have enough, you can use a full set of 4's to get one. It's not listed, but that's what it'll give you."

After that, she left the tent without another word. Jessica and Mia felt a tad bit awkward, receiving her kindness. Mia slowly opened up the medical kit, wondering if it was perhaps a prank of some kind.

However, there truly were supplies that you would find in a standard medical kit, and even a splint. Mia blinked a few times before sucking in a cold breath.

"...Well, I guess it was quite considerate of her to do such a thing. We can't really ignore these kinds of injuries."

After taking the cloak back, Jack tilted his head to the side with a bit of confusion.

"This is the thing you need when you get hurt? It doesn't really look like the things that my Dad uses."

Jessica let out a weak chuckle before patting his head.

"This is the kind of thing that people traditionally use to patch up their wounds. It won't save someone on the verge of death, but it's otherwise pretty effective."

Jack put a finger on his chin before letting out a hum. He muttered to himself.

"Ah, alright. I guess my Dad got the ones for death."

Jessica and Mia didn't really hear what he was talking about, instead focusing on treating their wounds. In the end, Mia put a splint on her wrist to help keep it still so that it could heal properly.

As for Jessica, she had many different scrapes and bumps of varying severity. She left the minor ones alone and worked on healing the rest. Jack watched all of this happen with curiosity. Eventually, he spoke up.

"So are you done healing now?"

Jessica smiled bitterly. While rubbing one of her bandages.

"We have finished treating the wounds, but we are unable to heal as fast as you do. These will probably only heal after a while."

Jack pursed his lips sadly.

"Does that mean we can't go together anymore?"

Jessica quickly shook her head, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"We will be injured, but that doesn't mean it's impossible to continue participating. It will just be... a little harder for us. After resting for maybe a day, we'll be good to go."

Mia let out a small sigh. As she looked at Jack, covered only by his black cloak.

"Though we still need to find some proper clothes for you."

Jack blinked a few times before pointing to himself.

"Me? Is there a problem with how I look?"

Mia cleared her throat, while averting her gaze.

"It's not necessarily wrong, but for most people, it would be considered a shameful thing. At least for that sake, it would be best for you to get something."

Though before Jack could even respond, Emma had opened the tent flap once more, and with a fresh pair of clothes too. It wasn't brand new and looked a bit used. However, all things considered, it was pretty good.

"If you need a spare set of clothes, then I have some here you can take."

As for how she got them, she didn't clarify any further.

With a smile, Jack thanked her and got it on. It fit surprisingly well, though he didn't think that it was anything strange. Jessica and Mia decided it was more trouble than it was worth to question it.

Mia let out a sigh while pulling out her Gameboy.

"I'm going to ask about those weird bats from earlier."

"Oh, bats? The term that most people have decided on was Blinding Nightmares."

Emma spoke up, sharing her own knowledge with a smile. Mia froze up and looked at her awkwardly.

"You know about them?"

Jessica furrowed her brows.

"I can't imagine that many people do know about them..."

Emma held out one hand and unraveled her fingers one after another.

"You'd be surprised by how many truly know. Since you're curious, then I can explain them in a bit more detail. Not many people are actually sure of their actual appearance since they blend themselves into the darkness. Together in a swarm, they can completely get rid of all light in an area, blanketing it in complete darkness."

She put a finger on her chin and let out a small chuckle.

"Most people that encounter them actually usually end up living. Generally speaking, they are quite cowardly creatures and will only chirp rather loudly to try and warn anybody that comes close to them to go away."

Mia's eyelid twitched.

"So... they were warning us the entire time."

Emma waved slowly and gracefully.

"Yes, and if anything comes too close, then they will start to call others to ambush and kill anybody that ignores the warning. The only kinds of people that were known to survive those kinds of things were the ones that were ill at the time, whether it was just a common cold or a viral infection. That's because they will immediately flee if they see anything of the like."

Jessica let out a small gasp while listening closely.

"So that's what happened..."

Emma gave a small nod before raising a finger.

"At least, that's what the commonly agreed upon definition is."

Jack scratched the side of his head in confusion.

"Eh? So then what's the real one?"

Jessica and Mia also looked rather flabbergasted, unable to say anything in response. Emma let out a laugh before gesturing towards them with one hand, then placing the tip of her finger on her chin.

"In truth, while they are cowardly, like most monsters they are attracted to the scent of blood. Most people would tell you to walk in the opposite direction or take a detour if you hear any chirping, but in reality, you should begin running, as they are gathering their kin to launch an ambush. They need to eat something, after all."

Jack tilted his head to the side and muttered to himself.

"The scent of blood?..."

Mia's eyes widened.

"Ah, we should take a shower then!"

Emma giggled after hearing that and hurriedly waved her hand.

"No, no. Not like that, I should've phrased it better. What I mean, is the amount of people that you've killed, especially if it was during a game. Well, injuring other people also counts, but generally speaking the effect is far smaller than actually taking lives. There's a certain scent to it, at least in this place."

Jessica and Mia fell silent for a little while. As for Jack, he thought for a bit before raising a finger into the air.

"Ah! I remember... I won at this game, and because I won... the other person..."

He trailed off. Though right when everyone thought he wasn't going to say anything, his lips parted ever so slightly.

"Died."

He was in a slight shock after saying those words, almost like he couldn't believe that it was actually him that did such a thing. In the end, Mia was the one who spoke up.

"...Why are you telling us all of this?"

Emma let out a giggle before shooting a glance at Jack.

"Because I like this one here. And since the two of you are with him anyway, then there's no point in hiding it from you."

Jessica gave a small nod.

"Alright then... thank you, assuming you are telling the truth."

Emma wasn't offended by that, only waving back lacklusterly.

"Believe what you wish to believe."

With that, they were separated once more. It came back to resting. Although they initially intended to stay awake, Jessica and Mia ended up falling asleep fairly quickly, finding it too hard to stay awake with the injuries that they had.

Leaving Emma and Jack as the only two awake in the Hub.