“Come on. We’re almost there.” After speed walking through the border and towards the outer regions of the city, Alex Pearson urged the two young women, panting and breathing heavily himself.


    “Are we - are we out of the range of the city now?” Eve Kim asked from behind, without ringing her bell.


    “Almost. ” Alex Pearson nodded: “Also, shut it. Ring before you speak next time!”


    “Okay - sor - ” Eve Kim tried to apologize, but decided to swallow her words as she would be speaking without ringing again.


    Barely half a minute later, chills spread through the entire bodies of the three. Alex Pearson waved the group to stop, looking around, then up. A Blood Rainbow appeared in the air behind them. It was not a big one, but a clear cut blood rainbow nonetheless.


    “Fuck! Fuck fuck fuck!” Alarms blared inside Eve Kim’s stomach. Fear, dread and regret filled her mind.


    “Come behind me!” Alex Pearson took off his jacket and inverted it. On the back of the jacket, was a complex circle drawn with red ink on a piece of light yellow cloth. He raised the jacket above, shielding everyone with his jacket: “Now! Kneel down! Close your eyes and cover your ears! No matter what you hear, what you feel, don’t open your eyes until I tell you to! Do it NOW!”


    Eve Kim and Tanya Su knelt by Alex Pearson’s legs and closed their eyes. Screams, curses and moans exploded all around them. Howling and freezing wind raged. They could not help but hold onto each other. Eve Kim also took a moment to grab and wrap her left arm around Alex Pearson’s leg - it was the only way she could know where she was.


    Alex Pearson had never been a fan of this kind of physical contact, even when those who held his legs were begging for mercy or showing disobedience - how could he go anywhere or hide when threats arose when his legs were bound by others? But at this very moment, it seemed to be helping instead of hindering his measures of protecting himself and his clients - upon the collision between the terrible, bone-chilling energy from the Blood Rainbow and the almost equally chilling but slightly different energy mist released from the array on the back of his jacket, his senses were getting numb and his head was getting heavy, the tight clutch around his legs and ankles was one of the few things that reminded him that he had to hold on.


    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    The array was one of his oldest and best constructs - the mist released from it would lower the signal of “liveness” of all those caught in it. Smoke bomb or camouflage against evil spirits, one could even call it. The side effect of it was obvious - while it would mask the traces and signs of living humans and hide them from spirits, it would also slightly paralyze and even poison them. Therefore, it was a tool only to buy time.


    Severed heads, ripped upper bodies, torn lower bodies, corroded boney whole bodies, and almost a dozen other versions of broken human figures made of mist, fog and smoke walked past the fog. They swarmed towards the center of the city, as if they were on a march. None of them noticed the three humans inside the fog.


    Tanya Su’s lips were cold and gray, her eyes were closed and her breathing was getting softer by the seconds. Eve Kim was not much better, as she could barely keep her eyes open. Quite a few times spirits who were crawling or dragging their heads on the ground came dangerously close to her, which forced her to remain awake. If Alex Pearson, their smuggler, could not handle things, she would still need to take Tanya Su and run as fast as possible.


    Utterly fortunately for them, the Blood Rainbow dissipated after only around half a minute. The spirits continued to march towards the city, but their figures gradually became gradually more transparent after the Blood Rainbow disappeared. Alex Pearson almost completely lost the feeling of his arms and fingers by then, and had to bite the tip of his tongue so that he could clear his mind enough to cut short the effect of the array.


    “Hey, wake up! Wake up!” A red candle was lit up and placed on the ground close to Tanya Su and Eve Kim’s faces, the special warmth radiating from it pushed away and purged the numbness and chilliness left in them.


    Eve Kim gasped as she came back to her senses - she was not asleep, for she had a pretty clear recollection of what happened. It was just that her mind drifted away enough that she felt as if she dreamed all of it.


    Tanya Su coughed and wretched profusely for almost 1 full minute when she woke up. Alex Pearson stood by looking around, not offering any help or words of consolation.


    “We should go. Quick!” Alex Pearson commanded after waiting for a short moment for the two young women to catch their breath again: “If everything is going as I expect in the city, there will be a lot of similar things popping up really soon. And I don’t think any of you will be able to handle another.”


    Eve Kim leered at Alex Pearson before pulling her roommate up: “Okay, just - lead the way.”


    Alex Pearson sighed lightly before continuing forward. The marching spirits left tarry handprints, footprints and irregular long drag marks on the ground. The cold spots remained even after they’d gone.


    As they went further downhill, their path grew more flat and the positions of poisonous bushes and trees became more sparse. The air warmed up as they went as well.


    Two headlights from a vehicle appeared at the foot of a small hill beside a dirt road. A small van. “Sheng’s Live Pigs”, so it was written on the sliding door.