Amy drives her fist through a Husk skull before pulling it out, leaving her arm and fist a bloody mess of ruin's blood.
She looks across the brown tile path along the treeline of crowded trees decorated in ruins, blood, and corpses of husks and joggers.
She eyed Rex approaching Jack's rifle, shining a spotlight at a headless jogger along the path.
"We should report to the commander." Rex grabs the rifle's barrel before pulling the magazine from it and glancing inside.
"We survived this far. Let's push forward." Amy walks over to Rex, watching him clip the mag along his hip. "Are you damaged?"
Rex turns to the amu. The right side of his visor is chipped. Along his blackish-grey, chiseled chin and curves up along his flat nose, revealing a bright blue line that stares at Amy's green eyes.
"My visor has been compromised by a ruin, and all my bodily functions remained unaffected."
"Are you sure?" Amy grabs Rex's scarred arm and runs her eyes along it and over his body.
"It remained a fact."
"Good." Amy runs her eyes along her body. "What about me?"
"Scanning." Rex ran his eyes along her body.
Amy's breath hitched, eyeing the small scar along her outer forearm highlighted with the blood of the ruin.
"You are unaffected. Is there an issue?" Rex leans down a few inches to gaze at her arm.
Amy's fingers trembled along the scar before looking at the hunched Rex.
"Let's process." Amy's green eyes look into Rex, her lip biting.
"Let's." Rex turns down the path from the corpses before processing.
Amy looked back at her arm before following Rex.
Their weighted steps and cone lights followed along the path before they stood at a checkpoint that bridged between the walking path, a line of trees, and a large dirt path to the left.
A checkpoint booth with a traffic barrier remained at the center of both parties, preventing anyone from entering the area where tents and motorhomes occupied by military personnel were located.
Rex lifts the traffic barrier over its head with one hand, causing it to tilt to the far right with the stationary stone.
Amy walked through Rex's generosity as the ranger lowered the barrier, which rattled and remained above ground.
The amu surveyed the grounds, observing snippets of tree stumps and patches of dirt amid the crowded area. Six rows of tents allowed multiple entries, with enough room for mobile vehicles to pass through while the mobile homes remained at the far end.
"Stay alert." Amy tested her grip on her righteous defender while Rex raised his aim.
The amu and the ranger entered the center of the lanes. Eyeing the green door flaps, which kept the privacy of any tent they roamed past. They aimed their lights down the path, seeing the light of the moon and the stars gracing their presence at the two bots.
Amy ran her eyes into the open tent on her right. She saw a poster of Sodapop Dan along the tent's wall, followed by two action figures on a green footlocker at the front of the military cot bed.
A toy figurine of Sodapop Dan with his left hand on his brown cowboy hat and a golden yellow wheat straw pitch between the corner of his teeth, with him looking up at Amy.
Another figurine beside him was a pink bottle opener with a metal opening above the head. She had alluring eyelashes and eyes, with her white-gloved hand resting on her hip.
Beside the Cot bed are five grown pink flowers.
The amu and ranger made their way to the end of the rows of tents, towards the motorhomes of two trucks with a military theme, and another checkpoint booth at the end.
The two bots stood at the five wide aluminum steps at the back of the large military truck, eyeing a metal door with a small window.
"Wait here." Amy takes the steps up to the door.
"Understood." Rex stood inches from the steps.
Amy stared through the window, which was blocked by sheets of white paper.
"Commander Haruki?" Amy knocks, releasing hollow thuds. "This is Amy, Amu four hundred twenty-one. Sent by my commander. Commander Yussei. We've seen your distress signal." Amy knocks once more. "Commander?"
Amy grabs onto the yellow handle before pulling down from the hitch.
"I'm coming in. Don't shoot." Amy peeks her head through the door.
Her eyes followed the white and grey marble floor. At the right of the space is a queen-size bed with a green silk blanket. To the left of the space is a tan kitchen counter with a metal sink and a portable cooking stove.
The amu steps inside with her submachine gun at her hip, her eyes roaming the barely lit space. She eyed the light switch on the wall on the left of her shoulder before flipping it on.
Letting out a golden glow from the bulb hanging over the bed. And the fifty-inch TV on the caramel walls at the foot of the bed.
"Commander?" Amy traversed past the kitchen counter and the bed of a barely tight room towards a small hall with a side door.
She knocks on the side door. Eyeing the end of the hall with a bolted-down solid wide desk with different color binders and a computer monitor. Resting above it.
"Commander," Amy slowly opens the door, staring at a white toilet in the small space to the right, a corner shower on the left, closest to the door, and a sink against the wall between the two. "Haruki?"
Amy stood in the last part of the room, eyeing the wide window closed with blinds.
"Sister? Is everything secure?" Rex's voice came down the hall to Amy, looking down at him.
"It's clear. Your courtesy provides me with a second wind." Amy smirks at Rex, who nods and faces his back at the open door.
Amy drops her smirk and stands before the desk. She brushes her hand along the binders, sliding them aside before opening them.
The red binder consists of fifty military personnel, and forty have been crossed out of fifty.
The blue binder consists of the last arrival of the supply and the confiscating chopper, which arrived two days apart.
Amy opens the last green binder, eyeing the contents written in cursive inside.
I don't believe what I saw among the many we have faced. We were approached by a group of women. Their hair was made of greenery and lifelike vines, their skin was made of bark, and their eyes glowed and burned with a mystic longing.
A few of my cadets would call them dyads, but our visitors called themselves the sisters of Eden. They demanded that we pause our expansion of self-efficacy. I say, among all odds, this is ludicrous.
Amy looked at the computer before moving the mouse to turn it on. The screen flashed on, revealing the desktop. Her eyes roamed to the folder icon with the caption "Play Me." She clicks on it.
"I just placed a distress signal." A growling sound and a crowd of thuds filled the audio. "Hopefully, Yuusei gets this," Commander Haruki sighs. "Five of the sisters attack us out of nowhere. A few of my cadets say they poisoned one of my privates. Pre-attack. If they want a war, they have one. If anyone hears this, it's safe to say I'm still fighting the good fight. I'm proud to be a shield for Hamihero."
The audio cuts off as Amy rises from the screen to Rex's back. She approaches the ranger, touching his back to get his attention.
"We're off to Masaki."
"Very well." Rex climbed down the steps, followed by the amu.
The two paced across the clearing to another motorhome. Amy climbed the aluminum steps, peeking through another window blocked by a sheet of blank paper.
"Lieutenant Masaki." Amy knocks. "This is Amy. Amu four twenty-one. I've been assigned to check in on the distressed signal being broadcast. I came on Yuusei's account." She knocks once more. "Lieutenant?"
"Come in." A voice breaks behind the heavy-duty door.
"Of course." Amy aimed her weapon at the cracks of the door. Slowly opening the crack that turns into a gap.
The door bounces open, revealing a soldier in a dark green jumpsuit and a white tactical vest lunging at Amy, who leans out of his grasp before tripping him with her ankle, forcing the soldier to roll down the wide set of stairs.
The soldier rolls onto his back, releasing a growl before slowly sitting up and looking up to Rex, who puts a bullet into its face.
"Is it him?" Amy snapped her wide eyes at the open doorframe and down towards Rex, who kneeled at the corpse. "Take your time." She rushed into the motorhome with her firearm raised.
The soldier's white vest carried a Yellow letter emblem, I.C.C. He wears a dark green helmet, and a bullet hole resides at the right of his nose. Rex's glowing eyes blink.
His blinking eyes became solid before looking up at Amy, who was coming out of the motorhome.
"K.I.A."
Amy climbed down the steps, kneeling at the right of the body. Looking down on the lieutenant with closed eyes. Her white finger and thumb pressed against Masaki's eyelids before opening them.
Presenting his purple pupils. Amy slid up his sleeves before raising his pant leg to his knee.
"There's no trauma. Not a single entry." Amy pressed her hands against Masaki's chest. "There's no seed unless it pre-dosed."
"There's a dry substance along the corner of the lieutenant's lip." Rex's blue line eye blinks.
Amy's green eyes stare at the destination, seeing a dry sky-blue coloration of dry liquid down from the left corner of his lip and down his chin.
The amu scoops her finger along the substance before pressing her fingers together and pulling them apart.
"Recent. But, I think I know what it is."
Jack's eyes snapped open to a wooden hand carrying a bright blue and black pepper mush at the center of her palm. Jack slaps the hand, spilling the condiment along the grass before rocketing from the ground.
Facing the sister with pink eyes who sat on her ankles, and her gaze on her moist hand that stretched at arm's length from her.
Jack's eyes snapped about the grass field with raised fists, feeling a sticky substance on his lips.
"What did you do?" Jack lasered his eyes on the sister. "Tell me now!!"
"I'm giving you a chance." Her glowing pink eyes looked up at Jack, who lowered his brows before pacing about, taking in her eyes and the open environment. "You got a taste of what they'll do."
"You're supposed to be dead." He winced, holding his bandaged gut wound. "You're not supposed to be alive!"
"I saw the display." The sister of Eden rises to her feet, brushing her lap. "But, now they know you're here. Best leave now or never."
"What does that supposed to mean? You saw?" Jack looks at his arms, eyeing his healthy skin without a scratch. His eyes widen.
"That wound there would've been sealed if you didn't waste our fruit."
"What fruit?" Jack raised his voice.
"I saved your life, and I'm willing to do it now. I'll escort you from their premises." The sister opened her hand out to him.
"Where's my things?"
A sound of creaking and cracking forced his eyes over the sister of Eden's left shoulder.
He watched a tree inches from the sister of nature open up, revealing his backpack with a large hole, the size of a fist, on its face. His tactical hatchet lay at the shoulder of the bag within the wooden compartment of the tree.
Jack slowly makes his way to the tree, his silver eyes burning into her pink and white. He grabs his pack, slinging it on.
"We must hurry." The sister spoke.
"You're right." He stuffed his vendetta in his holster. "Lead the way."
The sister makes her way into the darkness, which is shrouded by a dense forest of trees and unkempt grass. Fireflies emerged from the trees above, forming a line behind the sister of Eden, lighting the shallow grass and the tree's bark with a warm light.
Jack with a cocked head and his hand balling into a fist on the handle of the hatchet followed along. At each step, he watched the fireflies reform the line of guidance that only grew shorter in seconds, to remain behind the sister who was leading.
"Why?" Jack kept pace behind the sister of Eden.
"Consider this mercy." The sister kept her gaze away from Mr.Walker.
"And consider this. I'd like to return to the main path."
"You'll die."
"And what of it? You're going to turn me into one of your children?"
The sister of Eden looks over her shoulder at him.
"They're not children."
"Of course." Jack eyed her up and down.
"I want to avoid it, but you keep fighting me. There's no choice in the matter."
"Right."
The sister looks ahead.
"We're almost to the clearing. There will be no resistance if you go. And when that happened. I won't help."
"I'm not asking."
The duo makes it to the treeline, eyeing the scattered pools of purple blood along the park's path. The sound of cracking and creaking made Jack snap his attention to the sister of Eden walking into an open tree.
"Our territory is on your right. My sisters are more than willing to guide you without hesitation. Do with your choice in this matter." The tree swallowed the sister, returning to its natural posture.
Jack breathed out, taking the left of the path, stepping on a puddle of ruins' blood.
Within the darker shade of green of the mess tent, Ajay remained seated alone, scooping a grain cracker into a tub of jalapeno cheese spread before stuffing it into his mouth. He washed it down with water from a plastic bottle.
He looks around the tent, staring across from his table at another one that stretches down four tables to his right, towards a single white table with an amu with sky-blue eyes, chopping up carrots and throwing them into a silver pot.
"Hey." Nimona sat across from Ajay, who twisted his face.
"Can't you see I'm eating?" He looks down at his snack, scooping another.
"You okay?"
"I'm fine. Go bother someone else."
"Did the commander speak with you?"
Ajay furrowed his brows, chewing on his food.
"No. What is this? Some teacher conference?"
"I'm just worried." Nimona interlocked her fingers before resting her arms along the table.
"How about you don't? Have you ever thought of that?" He lowered his eyes to his food.
"We both have a common enemy. We shouldn't be fighting one another." Nimona sighs. "In this case, it's not a surprise." Ajay remained quiet. "You think what the commander did was right? Letting those people go?"
"Good. Fewer mouths to feed." Ajay comments.
"This only means there will be leaks, but those people don't know what's out there."
"But, you do?" Ajay looks up at her. His orange eyes connected to her purple eyes. "You haven't seen a lick out there. Better yet, you haven't come close. You're sitting up on your little tower, taking in the scenery while the rest of us have a job to do."
"Why don't you tell me?" Nimona requested. "Why don't you tell me what's out there?"
Ajay stood from his seat, holding his meal in his hand, before pacing out to the exit, where the warm lights of the tent welcomed him.
Nimona sighs, resting her head on her arms.
"This was a surprise." Dallas paced in front of the TV in Amanda's Living room. "But, this doesn't change anything." He bounced his eyes from Jean leaning on the spine of the couch just above Nami, where she sat to the right of the sofa. Amanda, on the left, is grasping her hands, while Jiro stands by the kitchen with his arms crossed and his eyes bouncing between the three and their leader. "In fact, while we're here. Can any of you control this?" Dallas raised his hand flat.
"No." Jean bites his lip. "I don't know the first."
"It's alright. I'll help." Dallas voiced, getting Jean's attention.
"You're willing to help?" Amanda looks up to Dallas.
Dallas breathed out, resting his hands along his hips.
"If that is what it takes. I have a few places in mind."
"Thank you! Thank you." Ms.Yugi bows, clapping her hands together.
"Don't. Mention it." Dallas smirked, watching Nami roll her eyes. " Jean, I'll take you to the gym. What can you do?"
"I don't know." Nami shrugs.
"We'll figure something out. Jean, I'm going to need you. I'm calling a meeting."
Jean rose from the couch.
"Of course."
"You're telling everyone?" Yugi questioned.
"Of course. Those people will eventually find out." Nami squinted her eyes.
"Those people?" Jiro cocked his head. "Please clarify."
"You've seen how they acted with our visitors. Imagine what our neighbors would say if they found out about this." Nami pointed her finger at the floor before leaning back onto the couch. "There won't be any pixels and daisies."
"You were one of those people. You even agree that the girl was a threat."
"I still do. Get to the point."
"My point is you're a hypocrite."
"And you're a prick."
"Alright! Alright." Dallas stood between their sights. "I have the residents to worry about, and I don't need two more. Understood?" Dallas looks between Nami and Jiro. "This goes to both of you."
"Alright." Nami raised her hands while Jean planted a hand on her shoulder.
"I'm fine with whatever." Jiro folds his arms. "Just remembered who helped get this place back."
"Good." Dallas glanced at Jiro and Nami before clapping. "Meeting adjourned."
Nami rose from the couch, heading out to the door, followed by Jean.
"Sorry." Jean bows to Jiro.
"You have nothing to do with it," Jiro said. "It's her that needs to watch her mouth."
The door slams while Jean follows after.
"Sorry, Ms.Yugi." Jean exits the apartment following Nami along the open hall. "Nami."
"What? Not like I'm wrong." Nami swings her arms as she speeds up to her door.
"Look, I know. Jiro has the right to be scared." Jean caught up with Nami before she swung her door open, heading inside, followed by Jean closing it behind. "You can't fault him or anyone for that."
"Fear is normal." Nami turns to Jean, leaning on the spine of their couch. "It's usually the people you should worry about."
"He won't hurt us."
"He doesn't have to." Nami raised her brow to Jean, who only crossed his arms.
"Wh-what is all this? I don't understand. You want us to leave?"
"We can find a better place."
"And that place is what? It's dangerous out there."
"And also, here."
"No. No. No." Jean raised his hand ahead of himself. "This place is a community. It's going to have merits, but I'm not letting this go because of a minor issue. We're on the main road. Shaun and Alice found their way here. My parents may follow after. And besides. Dallas wants to help us."
"Maybe so, but at what cost?"
"Nami." Jean bites his lip. "Thanks for worrying about me, but all I want now is to master, or at least get a better understanding of myself." He looks down on her. "I do that. I have a chance. Not just to survive, but to see what the next day brings. Hope is all I have, I don't want to break that."
Jean hugs Nami, who didn't return the favor.
"Do you want noodles smothered with eggs?"
"Sure." Nami bit the corner of her lip, watching Jean return to the kitchen.
At the poolside, Shaun continued looking up at the blue sky from the queen-size mattress, covered with thick white sheets and a white pillow on his neck, with another scattered along the mattress.
Alice walks up to Shaun, looking down on him, furrowing her brows.
"I'm bored."
"And who got two arms and no crazy healing factor?" Shaun furrowed his brows. Alice puffed her cheeks. "Besides, how does someone your age have so much energy?"
"I'm eight." Alice looks out at the main pool before rushing into the shed.
"H-Hey!" Shaun looks at the shed door that was left open. "What are you doing?" Alice doesn't answer. "AL?!"
Alice reemerged from the door in a black one-piece swimsuit with a series of rounded edges along the neckline. She wore pool orange floaties at her elbows before rushing towards the stairs of the pool.
"What are you doing?!" Shaun cried out, watching Alice crawl on her hands along the crystal-clear waters of the 2-foot-deep right side of the pool closest to the shed.
"I'm swimming, dummy." Alice rose to her feet, throwing the water above her head, letting out a giggle.
"I see that!" Shaun raced to the edge of the pool. "Get out, now!" A splash of water rushed towards him. "Motherfucker!"
"Oh, I'm telling." Alice points with a toothy grin.
"Understand this." Shaun wipes his face with his hand before throwing the water aside. "You doing this is not helping anyone! You want to find your brother?"
"Yes."
"Then get out!" Shuan whispered under his breath.
Alice frowned, kicking water about while heading for the stairs. Shaun rubbed the bridge of his nose, listening to the water drip onto the cement.
The fox girl shakes, wagging her tail and hair, forcing Shaun to shield himself.
"Ah." He clicks his tongue while Alice is combing her fingers through her fuzzy hair.
"So, you'll help?" She looks up at him with her tail curled.
"What do you think, sunshine?"
Alice squealed before rushing to Shaun.
"Wait. Wait!" Alice tackles him for a hug, dampening his white dress shirt and formal black dress pants. "Ugh. Of course." Shuan glared down at Alice, wagging her tail.
The worker pats Alice's head, watching her amber tail flick and curl, earning a smirk from Shaun.
"Alright. Alright, get off." Shaun separates the fox girl with his hands on her arms. "Lucky you, they have a shower head. Come on."
Shaun paced from the pool to the side of the pool shed with Alice at his heel, dripping wet.
"Shaun?" Alice looks up at the back of his head.
"What is it?" Shaun tilts his head, his eyes following along the long wall.
"You lived here?"
"No."
"How come you know they have a shower head?"
"Have you had a chance to think? Maybe I'm asking too many questions?" Shaun points along the wall at the back of the shed, presenting three shower stations. "Wash off."
"It was only two."
"Exactly, now go." Shaun snaps his fingers.
"Fine," Alice grumbled twisting the knob. "Ah! It's cold!"
"Stop being overdramatic." Shaun hovered his hand under the ice-cold beams of water. "See, just give it a minute." He flicks the water from his hand.
"What's that?" Alice squinted her eyes while her slit pupils stared daggers at Shaun raising a brow.
"What?"
"Overdamanic?"
"Huh? Ah! Overdramatic. It's like you making something minor into something bigger than it should be."
"What's minor?"
Shuan closes his eyes, sighing.
"Small. Like someone like you. What else are you going to ask? What's grand? Or hugemongous?"
"No. I'm not stupid." Alice turns to the steaming water, placing her hand underneath. At the same time, Shaun hovers his tense hands behind Alice's neck, his teeth clenched as his eyes widen.
Before drawing his hands back, he watched Alice step under the shower head with her bathing suit. Combing her fingers through her hair, scrubbing her face with her palms.
"Don't forget your tail thingy." Shuan points at the tail that swung around from her back before settling within her arms.
"I know." Alice puffed out her cheeks. "Where's your Mom and Dad?"
"Where's your's?"
"I don't know. You haven't answered my question."
"I don't know, alright? Just hurry up." Shaun looks away, folding his arms.
"Since you're finding my brother. I can also help find yours." She whipped her hair back, turning off the water.
"Don't bother."
"Why?"
"Do I need to keep tallies on how many questions you can ask in a day?" Shaun glared while Alice only stared. "Now, hurry up and get changed before you catch a cold."
"Alright. Meanie." Alice said under her breath, walking along the shed wall, followed by Shaun.
Mei exited from her white door, rubbing her eyes and releasing a yawn. She paced down the slim caramel hall, listening to the sound of gunfire.
"Throwing frag!" A voice shouts from the living room.
Mei turned to Kota, who was sitting on the brown couch to the right of the living room, with a white gaming controller in hand. The flat screen TV presents a soldier running through an abandoned bowling alley littered with trash, explosion marks, and bullet shells.
"Ko." Mei stood behind the couch, looking down on Kota, focusing on the game. "Ko!" She pulled on his ear.
"Ah! Ah! Okay! Okay." Mei lets go while Kota looks up and over his shoulder at her. "What's the big deal?"
"Dad. Is he here?"
"No. Dad said he's going to feed our guest. And he also said to take the day off. Whatever does that mean?"
"What was that?" Mei raised her fist.
"Hey! Hey." Kota flinched. "You're a little punchy lately."
"Maybe because you know how to get under my skin."
"I'm only showing you how much I love you. Even when you don't have a job." This earned a punch to his shoulder. "Ow!" He cracks a smirk, watching Mei head into the kitchen.
Kota returned to his game while Mei opened a kitchen cabinet filled with five cereal boxes. She grabs one, sitting it on the kitchen counter.
The cover of the Sugar Buds box features a tan, seed-like appearance within a white bowl filled with milk. And a cereal piece falls from the corner of the cover towards the bowl. A slogan underneath the bowl states, "What's sweet on your tongue when you open your mouth?"
Mei pours milk into the bowl of cereal before digging in.
"So when will I get to meet him?" Kota starts off getting a raised brow from Mei with her mouth full.
"Who?"
"You know who. You're little partner of the night."
Mei blushed, keeping her eyes on the bowl.
"It's nothing."
"Look. If you want to go out with Jean. Be my guest, but give it a few more weeks. And bring him on over, I would like to meet him."
"Why are you so pushy?"
"Me?" Kota chuckled, his eyes on the TV. "The dude took out an eight-foot acid-spilling spider with nothing but a makeshift spear. Why do you think? Whoever taught him that, I like to get in on some of that."
"He's a gamer."
Kota cracks a smile.
"Say less. Oh!" Kota snaps his fingers. "What surprised me was Jiro. I never knew that old man still got it."
"Neither did I. And he's put in charge of the food." Mei shakes her head, digging into her bowl. "I know I'm fat, but that takes the cake."
"Oh, hey. I'm staying over at a friend's apartment tonight. I just want to put it out there."
Mei raised a brow.
"What for?"
"Seriously?" Kota looks to her sister with a frown. "What do I have to do to get some privacy around here?"
"That was before you tried to get into mines." Mei points her metal spoon. "And besides, you have to be careful."
"Yeah. Yeah. I know. The world came to an end." Kota waved her off. "I always got my telescope baton." He gripped his baton clipped within his belt loop.
"Of course." Mei rolled her eyes with a huff.
"I'm sorry for barging in like this." Dallas stood at the door of Amanda's apartment, staring at the teacher keeping it open.
"It's fine." Ms.Yugi smiled. "I hoped all would come to pass."
"I do too." Dallas rested his hands on his hip. "I'm going to need you down this late afternoon. For our meeting. It's best for the group if you show up."
"I-I don't know."
"We truly need you. I need you here with us, because I cannot bear the thought of anything happening to you or anyone else. This meeting is vital; it can demonstrate just how essential your life is, just as much as anyone else's. I want you to stay, and I want everyone to stand together."
"Well, I-." Amanda breaks eye contact with Dallas before combing her hair behind her ear. "I'll come. I'll be there. Where will it be?"
" At the break room by the reception. Thank you." Dallas smirked while Amanda only nodded.
"Bye, see you then," Amanda said softly, opening her hand before closing the door.
Dallas wiped his face with his hand, eyeing Jiro, who was folding his arms down the hall of lined doors.
Dallas breathed out, approaching him.
"What are you going to do?" Jiro questioned.
"They're going to stay." He walked past him, heading towards the gate.
"What?" Jiro followed behind Dallas.
"This is a trip, and I would like it if you gave me some space."
"They're going to stay?! Do you have any idea what this will bring?" Jiro said under his breath. Dallas remained quiet. "I loved these people, but what will the others think? We have two within the pool area, and now we have more next door, and to top it off. We are also unaware of others who have these freaky contraptions. This will only spell disaster."
Dallas looks over his shoulder. His green eyes burned into Jiro who studied his slit eyebrow before avoiding his eyes looking to the ground.
"They're not going anywhere." Dallas heads through the gate before slamming it behind him.