<span style="color: #40BFFF">Liliana narrowed her eyes as the giant's strides took them ever farther from the remainder of their motley little group. She had lost sight of the Imp, but the sound of several more gunshots rang out and she could see the crew of hunters come to a stop. As they halted she turned her face to the ear of her living transportation, her voice clear and loud enough to be heard over the wind that still whistled around them. "Stop!" </span><br/><br/><br/><span style="color: #BF8000">But Rock Hammer did not. He could not hear Liliana over the voices. So many voices in his head, shouting at him, telling him what to do. He didn't know which one was Liliana's because there were many of Liliana's voices telling him to do something. So he just kept running. He jumped over logs and rocks, knocked bigger barriers out of the way with a swing of his fist, jumped over gaps. <span style="font-weight: bold">"Just keep running. Run until there is no threat."</span></span><br/><br/><br/><span style="color: #40BFFF">He wasn't stopping. He wasn't even slowing down, his eyes still fixed ahead of him. A flicker of apprehension tweaked her heartstrings; if he kept going at this pace, it wouldn't be long before they would be quite far away from everyone else, beyond sight and earshot. She could try shouting louder, but from the expression on his face it didn't seem like he couldn't hear her... it was more like she wasn't even present. Her mind raced to find a more forceful way of getting his attention, and she tried to ignore the growing distance between the three of them and the only people with functioning firearms. Her expressionless gaze broke for a fraction of a second as her brow tilted ever-so-slightly downward, a flash of stubborn resignation coloring the void. <br/><br/>She twisted the entire torso of her body, releasing the hand that held the furs closest to his thick neck and pushing herself closer to his face. Feeling significantly less stable and hoping that she could do this before the jolting rocked her straight to the ground, she flung her right arm over his eyes, crooking it enough to form a firm hold around the bridge of his nose, her other hand on his far-side ear. "Stop," she said again, and though her voice was a little quieter, it was no less clear, her mouth only an inch or so away from his ear.</span><br/><br/><span style="color: #BF8000">And suddenly Rock Hammer was blinded. The voices screamed, and Rock Hammer himself gave a shout in surprise. He stopped, stumbled, but managed to regain his footing. He shot his hand up and grabbed Liliana, for a moment forgetting that he was trying to save her and nearly crushed her head. But he managed to control himself and merely grab onto her back. His entire right hand was large enough that he could wrap his pinky and thumb around her sternum.</span><br/><br/><span style="color: #40BFFF">The massive hand came flying up from beneath her with a speed that widened her eyes for an eighth of a second, but it slowed down and only gripped her around her upper torso with a firmness that was not uncomfortable. She released a breath she didn't know she'd been holding and her face slipped back into emptiness. At the end of the day, he had come to a stop, so her risk hadn't been for nothing.</span><br/><br/><span style="color: #BF8000">Stopping for a moment, Rock Hammer finally took notice that he had gone quite a bit of ways away from the others. Their tiny silhouettes where the only thing that he could see. The voices continued to shout, but Rock Hammer was not able to block them out, just a little bit better. Things began to get quiet until he could only hear the winds blowing through the woods.<br/><br/>Rock Hammer put Liliana down. </span><br/><br/><span style="color: #40BFFF">As her entire weight settled once more on the crust of the earth, her knees buckled and she sank. <br/> <br/>Oh. Liliana supposed she must have been more nervous that she thought. She could feel small tremors still shooting from calf muscles, just little aftershocks of adrenaline, and for the next few breaths she sat there while the cold of slow-melting snow seeped through her loose pants. </span><br/><br/><span style="color: #BF8000"><span style="font-weight: bold">"Sorry."</span> He said mournfully. </span><br/><br/><span style="color: #40BFFF">The apology turned her face upward, and she shook her head twice before slowly standing again and brushing the remaining flakes from her coat. "Don't be," she said simply. She was well aware that she owed her life to his behemoth twice-over now, and she should probably count a third time since he had saved the Dziecko, who fell under the jurisdiction of her responsibility. </span><br/><br/><span style="color: #BF8000">He still carried the other, who was as dead as a doorknob, as far as he could tell. He didn't smell like a corpse yet, but Rock Hammer didn't know if he was alive or not. <span style="font-weight: bold">"Where to?"</span></span><br/><br/><span style="color: #40BFFF">With a sigh, she took a step forward and set two ungloved fingers against the neck of the unconscious man. Her face remained blank, but there was a snort of mirth in the depths of her gut. Some guys had all the luck. <br/><br/>She dropped her hand from his skin and flipped her hood up, her brassy-gold locks disappearing into it's shadow as she turned in the direction they had come. "Let's go back," she said quietly, and started walking without another glance to the giant and his half-dead cargo.</span><br/><br/><span style="color: #BF8000"><span style="font-weight: bold">"Okay."</span> Rock Hammer said blankly as he followed Liliana. He looked around for more of the demons, but he saw none. Did they die? Did they run? Neither one sounded good to him. Even if they had killed them, there may be more, and something might come to eat them. Something bigger than imps. And if they ran, than they could be back. Rock Hammer wasn't scared of imps. But the trouble they bring, it is annoying.</span>