The morning sky was dark, heavy with thick clouds that blanketed the forest in a cold, gray gloom.
The sun had risen somewhere behind those clouds, but its light could not pierce through, only a faint, diffuse glow that made the snow look dirty and the shadows look deeper.
The temperature had dropped further during the night, and the air was sharp and bitter, burning the lungs with every breath.
The Graduate Noven humans began firing.
The tranquilizer darts cut through the dim light, their silver tips glinting faintly as they flew through the air.
They embedded themselves in trees with soft thunks, in snowdrifts with soft hisses, in bushes with soft rustles.
They whistled past Yuuta's ears, close enough that he could feel the wind of their passage, close enough that he could smell the chemicals on their tips, sharp, acrid, sweet, like rotting flowers.
Yuuta held onto Sophia's leg tightly, his small fingers digging into her ragged pants, his nails tearing through the fabric.
