Chapter 1. Night

“How do you define a human?” The question that used to be so obvious was now blurry. Ritsu’s sister asked the question. Her big brother looked away, and answered “Someone, who is self-aware”. It was nighttime, Ritsu sat at a hill, gazing at the stars. Not far from him his little sister, Iroha, lied.
They saw how the stars beautifully reflected themselves in the lake next to the hill. Ritsu rose up and walked up to the top of the hill, looking back to the inferno they used to call home. The entire city was ablaze, and no one could stop it. Iroha followed her brother up to the hill, even though she knew what awaited her behind the hill she preceded. She couldn’t help but to generate a tear from her left eye. She was eleven years old, four years younger than Ritsu. On the north side of the hill, the one facing towards the ablaze town, another person rested. He had escaped the fire just as Ritsu and Iroha had. He wore a dark blue piece of cloth that covered his eyes. Aside from the rag that he seemed to literally always wear he was pretty normal. Most people, Ritsu included, just assumed that he was blind. He was the same age as Ritsu, they had attended the same high school but they were never really friends. In fact, they barely knew about the others existence.

Ritsu thought back to when the fire started, how his girlfriend, Scara, entered a building after knocking him back. She locked the door to the house filled with people and pulled out a matchbox. After a minute the entire building was lit ablaze.

Ritsu was unable to understand what had happened. The recent news about the so called “Hollowed”, mindless beings in human shape. It was said that the first “Hollowed” appeared out of the blue. People that had gone missing returned as a soulless being, sometimes just returning to their life before being hollowed but unable to make anything social.  Sometime the Hollowed would just stand still starring at something in the distance, or in the worst case they returned as a total psychopath. Only one thing was for sure about the Hollowed, if you encounter one, destroy it without hesitation. Scara hadn’t been missing, so for her to have turned Hollow seemed impossible, but for a normally calm and peaceful girl to suddenly incinerate a town seemed unreal.
“Ritsu, what will we do?” Iroha asked.
“I don’t know, don’t worry, we’ll figure something out”, Ritsu answered, hoping to sound confident enough for his sister to believe him. He knew very well that they were in a critical situation and that he had no idea how to make everything good, but he couldn’t just tell his sister that they might starve.
The boy with the cloth cowering his eyes rose up and headed towards the top of the hill were Ritsu and Iroha gazed out at the aglow debris of the town.
“What will you do from now on, Ritsu?” the boy asked.
“None of your business, don’t you have yourself to worry about?”
“I was wondering, if we can work together?” The boy’s name was Kaylen.
Ritsu accepted the offer, Kaylen was a nice guy and Ritsu didn’t mind him.

There weren’t many wooden towns anymore, but Ritsu happened to live in one of them. The town used to be what he called home, he had lived there his entire life, so had his father, and his father before him. But no more, for the once marry town was now but a field of ember that soon would turn into charcoal.
“We should get going” Ritsu said to his sister and Kaylen.

Heading towards the road they left the green hill behind. Quietly they walked along the path of hardened mud, into the forest, towards the next village in hope for food and water. The moon provided the little light they got which wasn’t much, but enough.

The little food Ritsu had stuffed into his backpack wasn’t going to last for long, two days, maybe three. His sister carried a pot and matches in her bag which allowed them to cook food if they would find anything edible. He could not recall how he had gotten time to pack his bag before evacuating. Most of his memories from the evacuation had already disappeared, he could not even remember how he got to the hill with his sister. He asked Iroha if she knew remembered but she had been is such a chock that every last piece of memory had vanished. How Kaylen had found his way to the hill was something Ritsu didn’t even want to know.
“I’m tired” Iroha said. It was no surprise, she had never been the type that stays awake the entire night, and Ritsu’s clock showed 01:32.
“Let’s make camp as soon as we find a good spot, okay?” Ritsu’s sister agreed and kept walking. The trees blocked out most of the pale moonshine, dimming out the forest.
“Are the Hollow real?” Iroha asked. Ritsu found it hard to answer the question.
“I… I don’t know” It was hard for him to give such an answer but he had no choice, he had no knowledge about that matter.
“They are, and the news illustrate them correctly.” Kaylen joined the conversation.
“How do you know?” Ritsu asked.
“I’ve encountered one, I didn’t kill him, I spared him. My friend one day went missing, A few days later he appeared out of no were and just lived on like nothing would have happened, except communication with him was impossible. He didn’t respond like a human, he just lived on. Later he was taken away by the government, most likely killed.”
The group was quiet for a minute, they didn’t speak before reaching a spot of grass that would work as their lair. Too tired to eat they lied down at the grass to slumber.

“Brother, are you still awake?”
“Yes, what is it?”
“If I become hollowed, kill me” Ritsu was chocked, was she serous? He tried to reply but girl had already fallen asleep. Ritsu turned to lying on his back before closing his eyes to sleep.

2: Conclusion

Chapter 2. Conclusion
When Ritsu woke up it was already morning, the sun had risen over the treetops and illuminated the grass surface. The woods weren’t as dark and cold as before, it seemed like a perfect morning, too perfect for Ritsu. It was said that the Hollowed appear during nice weather, however, it was nothing but a rumor. However Ritsu didn’t disregard the possibility. He stacked a few stones into a circle to work as a stand for the pot, he was just about to lite a fire when Iroha noticed that they were out of water.
“Should we keep going then?” Ritsu asked.
“How should I know?” his sister replied.
“We should keep moving, were there’s one Hollowed, there’s often more” Kaylen said. Both Ritsu and Iroha agreed and began walking forward along the path.
“Do you think anyone but us survived? The fire?” Ritsu thought for a while at the question by Iroha.
“Well, we can’t have been the only ones, we’ll probably meet someone at the next town” he answered.
“Most likely, in fact it is really probable, Kaylen said who somehow managed to follow the path “however, they will likely be Hollowed”.

Ritsu nor Iroha understood Kaylen’s odd attitude when it came to the Hollowed. Yes most people disliked them but Kaylen seemed to think that there’s no stopping them.
“Do you know much about the hollowed, Kaylen?” Iroha asked.
“Not really, all I know is that they’re everywhere and you don’t detect them before it’s too late”. Ritsu tried to change the topic by asking if anyone knew how long it was to the next town, however, as he had predicted no one had even the slightest idea.

Dry leaves decorated the cold ground, it was early autumn. The winter would be dangerous if they wouldn’t find shelter before, however the three months left gave them lots of time. Rays of sunlight penetrated the forest, the temperature was rising.

Eventually Ritsu, Iroha and Kaylen reached a crossroad forcing them to choose a path.
“Shouldn’t there be a sign here somewhere?” Iroha asked.
“Yes, that pole over there” Ritsu responded while pointing at a short pole in the ground “don’t you think it looks like the foot of a sign, it seems to have been destroyed. By the looks of it, it seems intentional”.
“You’re jumping to conclusions” Kaylen said. Ritsu agreed and looked around for evidence to support his theory but found none, what he found instead was a weak, wounded girl lying unconscious in a bush on the side of the road. He poked her, hoping to wake her up, since it failed he shook her a few times without results.
“Iroha, come over here, I need help” Ritsu called out for his sister. She arrived hastily and together they lifted out the damaged girl from the bush.
“What should we do?” Ritsu thought for a while and tried his best to answer his sister’s questions.
“We don’t have any water, do we?” As he had predicted the answer was “No”.
“Should we wait here for her to recover or just leave her?” Ritsu asked. Iroha couldn’t even think of leaving the girl behind however Kaylen saw helping her as pure madness.
“We’ll wait one hour, if she doesn’t recover, we’ll leave her. Any complains?” Ritsu tried to get to an agreement to prevent the group from disbanding.
“If something goes wrong, don’t blame me” Kaylen said whilst unwillingly agreeing to Ritsu’s plan. Iroha saw it as somewhat cruel to leave the girl behind but this was at least better that just walking away instantly. Ritsu, who had confirmed that the wounded girl was breathing, was chosen to take care of the girl.
“I’ll go look for water, ok?” Iroha said, Ritsu didn’t see any harm in it and Kaylen didn’t seem to care too much. Since no one minded Iroha ran off into the forest.
With her gone it became quiet. Kaylen spent the time sleeping making Ritsu quite lonely. The wounded girl coughed, she opened her brown eyes and looked around. After blinking a few times her vision was no longer blurry, she looked rather confused.
“What’s… going on?” She asked. Ritsu thought for a second, he needed to come up with a good answer to not confuse the girl more. If she had no memory of the accident then telling her that they had found her half-dead in a bush wouldn’t be a good idea, if she would remember the disaster and was told that she was just found unconscious she might think we’re all cray. Ritsu suddenly noticed that he had been quiet for some time and if he didn’t answer quickly the girl might think she’s deaf.
“We found you unconscious and decided to at least try to help you”. The girl looked around some more when she noticed the scars on her body. For a split second she seemed stunned, almost like she was consumed in fears. Her facial expression changed to somewhat calmer.
“Thank… you” she said. Ritsu told Kaylen that the girl had awaken but didn’t get much of a response.
“What’s your name? I’m Ritsu by the way”
“Mei, my name is Mei” Ritsu hadn’t really planned for her to wake up, he just assumed that it would just work out somehow which didn’t seem to be the case. Luckily Iroha returned earlier than Ritsu had expected, when she stepped down at the road she noticed the brown haired wounded girl who looked pretty much alive, in fact, she seemed to be awake.
“She’s awake?” Iroha asked filled with hope.
“Yes, her name’s Mei” Ritsu replied. Kaylen rose up from the ground and told the company that since she now was awake it was time to depart. Ritsu tried to stop Kaylen since Mei was still wounded but was interrupted by the girl herself.
“I don’t want to slow you down, don’t worry about me” Ritsu gave in to Mei and lifted up his backpack.
“By the way, I didn’t find any water” Iroha said sounding a little depressed. Ritsu hadn’t really expected much else and Kaylen didn’t care as usual.

After an hour of walking Ritsu couldn’t hold back and asked Mei what had happened to her.
“I don’t really remember, all I can recall was someone trying to shoot me dead, but I escaped deeper into the forest. Eventually they stopped tracking me but I was wounded, from there on my memory is blank”.
“Who was shooting at you” Kaylen asked who seemed for once, interested in something. Mei answered that she didn’t remember but Kaylen insisted in trying to get out as much information as possible.
“I told you, all I remember was that they reminded of a well-equipped army”
“So, you know nothing more?”
“Stop it already!” Ritsu said to Kaylen, “she doesn’t know!”
“Don’t you find it odd, hollowed people aren’t that rare, but they are always killed as soon as possible. The ones killing the hollowed has a good army.”
“You aren’t saying that you think… she’s…”
“Yes, I think she’s hollowed”

3: Mei

“NO, that’s just jumping to conclusions, you don’t have nearly enough evidence to back that up with” Ritsu yelled.

“It’s nothing but a theory, however, I’d say that the likelihood is about fifty percent” Kaylen answered as calmly as always. Ritsu looked at Mei who looked confused again, she looked to normal to be hollowed.

“The hollowed don’t have souls, they just stand there, they don’t communicate!” Ritsu tried his best to defend Mei.

“How about Scara? She seemed sane enough, and just one day she enters a building and ignites it. You’re forgetting that some of the hollowed are even worse than psychopaths!” This was the first time Ritsu had heard Kaylen angry, it felt extremely unpleasant to be yelled at by a blind person.

“STOP IT!” Iroha screamed, “Stop fighting, you won’t get anything out of it”. Ritsu agreed and Kaylen accepted it however he wasn’t as pleased with the sudden stop as Ritsu was.

Mei looked down into the ground and said with a soft voice “I don’t want to be a burden, if you’re better off without me, just leave me behind”

“It’s not like that” Ritsu said trying to cheer her up, he was quickly backed up by Iroha. Even Kaylen tried, mumbling something like “If I don’t help the group might split”.

“Shouldn’t we keep moving” Iroha asked after they successfully convinced Mei that she wasn’t a burden.

“That would be best” Ritsu answered and the group headed forward. This was when they noticed that they were still in a crossroad and had no idea of where to go.

Luckily Mei said “I’m from a nearby village, it’s this way”.

The four children took the path to the right as recommended by Mei.

As the forest thicken around them the path slowly loosed width. Iroha looked up to the dense roof of leaves, the look on her face indicated that she didn’t enjoy the lack of sunlight. Ritsu was impressed over how Kaylen navigated through the forest even without seeing the trees.

“Is it still far?” Iroha asked impatiently.

“We should arrive tomorrow, quite early” Mei answered.

“Maybe we should just have waited for help” Iroha was rather tired of not knowing if everything would turn out good.

“Maybe, but what is done is done, there’s no going back now I think” Her brother answered.

Ritsu looked at his clock, 15:42. They had still a lot of time to walk, but the dried food they had eaten so far wasn’t much and even though no one said it, they all seemed to think it’s time for a change. He looked around for water, but there was no surprise, he didn’t find anything.

Three hours passed by with just walking and gazing into the dark green forest, never was water seen, the water reserve was emptied by Iroha who hadn’t drunken anything since the morning. Ritsu had completely sunken into daydreams when a new sound was heard, he couldn’t believe it, other people. Iroha was too into her daydreams to notice it and Ritsu didn’t want to interfere, not because he didn’t want to ruin her thoughts, mainly because he didn’t want her to get overly excited only to learn that the footsteps were from just another group of lost children who had escaped the city. Or even worse, maybe it was a psychopathic hollowed person with a gun. Ritsu had a bad habit of always thinking about the worst-case scenario.

He tried to calm himself down because he noticed that when trying to prevent his sister from getting disappointed he forget to do the same to himself. “Wait, wait, wait. Maybe I should alert Iroha, if it is a psychopathic hollowed then she’s better of knowing it beforehand” he thought.

“A small group incoming” Kaylen said “I’d say it’s about three to four people”

Iroha awoken from her daydreams and looked at Kaylen who obviously didn’t notice it.

This statement sent Ritsu into even deeper thoughts “Good, it’s a group. That eliminates a psychopathic hollowed, Ritsu thought “AS IN ONE, maybe it’s many of them. Wait, they don’t co-operate, does they? No, they can’t do that, what if they do? No I’ve got to stay strong, Iroha is looking up to me, I can’t fail her” Iroha had currently the lead making her the first to see two armed soldiers approach.

“I can see them, they look like soldiers” she said.

Mei ran past Kaylen and Ritsu to see the soldiers for herself. When she had confirmed the soldiers’ existence she leaped away from the road and hide.

Ritsu didn’t know how to react and thought that it was best if he just ignored the girl who now hided in a bush next to the road.

The armed men approached slowly, when they were separated by only about five hundred meters the soldiers’ noticed Ritsu and his small fellowship.

Ritsu just looked straight forward and kept walking, Kaylen did the same thing but Iroha seemed a bit confused. Part of her wanted to ask the soldiers for help while the other part wanted to avoid them to not endanger Mei.

They were only one hundred meters away, fifty, twenty-five.

The soldiers were only five meters away when they asked if Ritsu and his company had some time. Ritsu felt unable to turn them down and answered “yes”.

“”Good, we’re only wondering if you’ve seen a hollowed person here?” One of the soldiers asked while the other searched his pockets for something

“I don’t think so” Iroha answered.

“Here it is” the other soldier said and showed a picture to Ritsu, Iroha and Kaylen who was unable to see it.

“She looks like this, she’s only a kid but she’s a nightmare, known to have killed seven and injured eighteen”

Ritsu looked at the picture of the young girl with dark hair. There was no doubt, it was Mei.

“NO, that’s just jumping to conclusions, you don’t have nearly enough evidence to back that up with” Ritsu yelled.

“It’s nothing but a theory, however, I’d say that the likelihood is about fifty percent” Kaylen answered as calmly as always. Ritsu looked at Mei who looked confused again, she looked to normal to be hollowed.

“The hollowed don’t have souls, they just stand there, they don’t communicate!” Ritsu tried his best to defend Mei.

“How about Scara? She seemed sane enough, and just one day she enters a building and ignites it. You’re forgetting that some of the hollowed are even worse than psychopaths!” This was the first time Ritsu had heard Kaylen angry, it felt extremely unpleasant to be yelled at by a blind person.

“STOP IT!” Iroha screamed, “Stop fighting, you won’t get anything out of it”. Ritsu agreed and Kaylen accepted it however he wasn’t as pleased with the sudden stop as Ritsu was.

Mei looked down into the ground and said with a soft voice “I don’t want to be a burden, if you’re better off without me, just leave me behind”

“It’s not like that” Ritsu said trying to cheer her up, he was quickly backed up by Iroha. Even Kaylen tried, mumbling something like “If I don’t help the group might split”.

“Shouldn’t we keep moving” Iroha asked after they successfully convinced Mei that she wasn’t a burden.

“That would be best” Ritsu answered and the group headed forward. This was when they noticed that they were still in a crossroad and had no idea of where to go.

Luckily Mei said “I’m from a nearby village, it’s this way”.

The four children took the path to the right as recommended by Mei.

As the forest thicken around them the path slowly loosed width. Iroha looked up to the dense roof of leaves, the look on her face indicated that she didn’t enjoy the lack of sunlight. Ritsu was impressed over how Kaylen navigated through the forest even without seeing the trees.

“Is it still far?” Iroha asked impatiently.

“We should arrive tomorrow, quite early” Mei answered.

“Maybe we should just have waited for help” Iroha was rather tired of not knowing if everything would turn out good.

“Maybe, but what is done is done, there’s no going back now I think” Her brother answered.

Ritsu looked at his clock, 15:42. They had still a lot of time to walk, but the dried food they had eaten so far wasn’t much and even though no one said it, they all seemed to think it’s time for a change. He looked around for water, but there was no surprise, he didn’t find anything.

Three hours passed by with just walking and gazing into the dark green forest, never was water seen, the water reserve was emptied by Iroha who hadn’t drunken anything since the morning. Ritsu had completely sunken into daydreams when a new sound was heard, he couldn’t believe it, other people. Iroha was too into her daydreams to notice it and Ritsu didn’t want to interfere, not because he didn’t want to ruin her thoughts, mainly because he didn’t want her to get overly excited only to learn that the footsteps were from just another group of lost children who had escaped the city. Or even worse, maybe it was a psychopathic hollowed person with a gun. Ritsu had a bad habit of always thinking about the worst-case scenario.

He tried to calm himself down because he noticed that when trying to prevent his sister from getting disappointed he forget to do the same to himself. “Wait, wait, wait. Maybe I should alert Iroha, if it is a psychopathic hollowed then she’s better of knowing it beforehand” he thought.

“A small group incoming” Kaylen said “I’d say it’s about three to four people”

Iroha awoken from her daydreams and looked at Kaylen who obviously didn’t notice it.

This statement sent Ritsu into even deeper thoughts “Good, it’s a group. That eliminates a psychopathic hollowed, Ritsu thought “AS IN ONE, maybe it’s many of them. Wait, they don’t co-operate, does they? No, they can’t do that, what if they do? No I’ve got to stay strong, Iroha is looking up to me, I can’t fail her” Iroha had currently the lead making her the first to see two armed soldiers approach.

“I can see them, they look like soldiers” she said.

Mei ran past Kaylen and Ritsu to see the soldiers for herself. When she had confirmed the soldiers’ existence she leaped away from the road and hide.

Ritsu didn’t know how to react and thought that it was best if he just ignored the girl who now hided in a bush next to the road.

The armed men approached slowly, when they were separated by only about five hundred meters the soldiers’ noticed Ritsu and his small fellowship.

Ritsu just looked straight forward and kept walking, Kaylen did the same thing but Iroha seemed a bit confused. Part of her wanted to ask the soldiers for help while the other part wanted to avoid them to not endanger Mei.

They were only one hundred meters away, fifty, twenty-five.

The soldiers were only five meters away when they asked if Ritsu and his company had some time. Ritsu felt unable to turn them down and answered “yes”.

“”Good, we’re only wondering if you’ve seen a hollowed person here?” One of the soldiers asked while the other searched his pockets for something

“I don’t think so” Iroha answered.

“Here it is” the other soldier said and showed a picture to Ritsu, Iroha and Kaylen who was unable to see it.

“She looks like this, she’s only a kid but she’s a nightmare, known to have killed seven and injured eighteen”

Ritsu looked at the picture of the young girl with dark hair. There was no doubt, it was Mei.

4: Destroy

Chapter 4. Destroy

“No, we haven’t seen her” Iroha had answered the question.

“Oh, well, have a good day” one of the soldiers replied “just remember, if you see her, kill her at once! She’s known to act friendly until she earns your trust, then she kills you”.

“We will” Ritsu answered “By the way, is it far to the next town?”

“This way? Yes, at least the way you’re walking, I’d say about 75 kilometers. You must have picked the wrong path at the crossroad somewhere behind you”

“The wrong path? She didn’t do it intentionally, right?” Ritsu thought. “Maybe, she just tried to lure us deeper into the forest, to kill us!”

“Can you describe the girl, like her height and personality traits?” Kaylen asked.

“Sure” One of the soldiers answered, “Well, she’s around twelve, pretty average length, she’s known to be really friendly and hates being a burden. She’s often quiet and, now that she’s hollowed she seems to not only want to kill, she wants to make people die in fear, knowing that they are nothing compared to her. She seems to be willing to take to any methods to crush someone. I didn’t tell you her name did I? It’s Mei”

“We’ve seen her, she was with us just a while ago”

“She just said that you haven’t seen her” the soldier said looking at Iroha.

“She doesn’t understand the seriousness of the hollowed”

“That aside where’s Mei now?”

“I don’t know, she kind of just disappeared”

“She should be hiding in the forest, we saw her last about ten minutes ago” Ritsu said, knowing that the situation was serious and Mei’s death would be for the greater good.

“I’m glad that you’ve came to your senses, Ritsu” Kaylen said. Iroha still didn’t agree on killing Mei and was struck by a wave of depression when Ritsu joined the kill-Mei side.

“Iroha, you must understand. She’s dangerous! She’ll kill us!” Ritsu said trying to convert his sister.

“Intentional protection of any hollowed human being is a violation of the Anti-Hollow agreement. The punishment is determined by the way the hollowed human was protected, for how long and most importantly, what crimes the hollowed have committed. We’re talking about a serial killer, that you, little girl, has tried to protect. This crime is punishable with death” the soldier said and lifted his rifle. He aimed at Iroha.

“You aren’t serious, are you?” the other soldier said “she’s but a little girl”

“If we don’t do it, we’ll be breaking the law as well. It’s our duty to stop crimes, if we don’t do that, we’ll both get executed” he turned his face towards Iroha who was terrified “I’m sorry”

A loud bang was heard when the other soldier collapsed, a second later both soldiers were dead. Iroha who had forced her eyes shut wasn’t sure if she was dead or alive. Carefully she opened her eyes to see the dead soldier in front of her, were the other soldier just stood was a new person, Mei.

“I’m sorry I’ve caused you so much trouble” she said holding a gun in her right hand.

“I told you she’s on our side!” Iroha screamed happily and hugged Mei.

“Just remember, if you see her, kill her at once! She’s known to act friendly until she earns your trust, then she kills you”. Ritsu remembered one of the soldiers quotes, “She’s known to act friendly until she earns your trust, then she kills you”.

“IROHA GET BACK!” Ritsu screamed and leaped towards her, knocking her away from Mei. He turned towards Mei who looked rather confused.

“Drop the gun!” He commanded the young girl. She didn’t answer, she only looked back as if she didn’t understand what he meant.

“Put down the gun now, if you trust us, you shouldn’t have a problem with it! Surprisingly Mei did as she was told and put down the gun on the ground.

“Kick it over to me!” Ritsu continued.

“Why, don’t you trust me?”

“No, I don’t, I hope that you’re not the one they said you are. Prove that you’re not just a hollowed psychopath”

“Ritsu, you can’t base your trust on that” Kaylen said “she’s hollowed, we should kill her.

“If she’s truly hollowed, why don’t she kill me right now? A true psychopathic hollowed human would never give away its weapons. If she’s willing to give me her weapon, then I can trust her”

Mei kicked the gun to Ritsu “So you trust me now? Look, my memories are kind of blurry, I’m sorry for making you take the wrong path, it was an acci”

Mei fell back after having her head split open by a bullet. Ritsu lowered the gun “Like I’ll ever trust you, you MONSTER! He was furious, he dashed to the corpse of the child and fired a few extra bullets to ensure that the girl was dead.

Iroha rose up and starred at the corpse “Why, why, YOU SAID YOU TRUSTED HER! HOW COULD YOU!”

“Iroha, calm down. She was hollowed, it was only a matter of time when she would betray us!” Ritsu said to his sister.

“Why did you have to change opinion like that, I saw it in you, you were on her side!”

“No, it was all an act, I’m sorry”

“Ritsu, I must say that I didn’t expect that. But I think you made the right choice, to think that I thought that you we’re actually joining her. To conclude, you’re a great liar” Kaylen said.

Iroha kept crying for ten minutes straight, she refused to listen to Ritsu nor Kaylen. When she finally stopped she was so dehydrated that the lack of water crisis got a lot more important.

“Let’s take everything we can from the soldiers, weapons might prove useful, and if we’re lucky they might have some water” Ritsu commanded.

The soldiers both had one assault rifle each, bullets, a lunch and most importantly, bottled water. The team drank some water but decided to save as much as possible in case of they wouldn’t find a stream of water on the way.

“We should get going, before reinforcements arrive” Kaylen said “since both the soldiers died they might think we’re responsible thus want to take our heads”

5: Last rays of lights

“If we turn back, we might get to a village faster” Kaylen said. Both Iroha and Ritsu agreed.

The thick leaf roof thinned as they approached the crossroad, the sun was slowly sinking towards the horizon however due to the dense forest the time of nocturnal darkness would begin earlier.

“Ritsu, the path we’re taking isn’t going to be safe, the Hollowed is already a problem but if the army decides to turn against us we won’t stand a chance” Kaylen said with a low voice to keep Iroha outside of the conversation.

“You mean that if we’re unlucky we might have to fight?”

“No, if we’re lucky we’ll have to fight. If the army turns against us we’ll be cornered. I’m talking about a sure-death scenario”

“Don’t you think we can flee?”

“If we run into the wilderness we won’t survive the winter, if we hide in cities the army will find us and if we try to stay low in the suburbs the hollowed is bound to kill us”

“You speak as if the hollowed would stop at nothing to kill us”

“Not us specific, but a war might be dawning. No human is safe”

Surprised Ritsu looked at Kaylen “a war?” he thought. He turned towards Iroha who wasn’t even aware of the conversation.

“Let’s not worry too much about the future, we have enough problems as it is” Ritsu said trying to get his and hopefully Kaylens minds on other things.

“You’ll just wait and see how it turns out? I can understand that, it’s a common decision” Ritsu was glad Kaylen agreed “but foolish, going straight into the flames will only lead to your doom. You must understand, the army can predict all of our moves, if you don’t have even the slightest plan they’ll ambush you and kill you”

“Then we’ll fight! We’ll fight our way to freedom”

“We’re outmanned, this isn’t a joke. No matter how much you try you can’t deny the difference in military power!”

“So you suggest that we just die!”

“No, I don’t suggest anything. If the army becomes our enemy we’ve lost, if not, we’ve… There isn’t even a way for us to win, Ritsu you must ask yourself, what do you desire?”

“I want to survive, yes, that’s it, survival is my highest priority!”

“For how long? Will you just keep running forever?”

“I won’t stop, I’ll find a place where neither the army nor the hollowed can find me”

“There is none, even if, which is against all probability, if you were somehow would find a place where the army can’t track you and the hollowed won’t find there is still one final enemy, your friends!”

Terrified Ritsu backed away, Kaylen was right.

“Ritsu, your friends might turn hollow, YOU might turn hollow. No one is safe, you can’t win”

To accept the somber truth was hard, but it had to be done, Ritsu was confronted with reality, no one is safe, a great war was dawning.

“It’s time to side with the army then”

“So, you’ll walk straight into the enemy in hope for an alliance?”

“They’re not my, no our enemy yet, maybe we’ll get help”

Kaylen didn’t like Ritsus way of thinking but knowing that the best they could hope for was to die quickly and painlessly he agreed.

Iroha who hadn’t been listening (nor was she supposed to do so) asked what they would do next, Ritsu answered by telling her that they would first try to get to the nearest village and decide more there. She wasn’t pleased by the answer but decided not to mention it.

Ritsu didn’t want to resurrect the dead conversation about the hopeless situation so he mentioned the slowly approaching night.

“Let’s make camp as soon as we find a nice place” Iroha suggested. Ritsu nor Kaylen found a problem with it and thus it was decided.

No flat areas was found before they reached the crossroad, when they arrived the final rays of sunlight penetrated the forest. The trees casted long shadows on the ground and the temperature decreased as nightfall grew even closer. The meal the soldiers had been carrying got eaten quickly, when it was gone the team lied down to rest.

“It’s beautiful in a way, the forest” Ritsu said, his sister agreed.

“Look” she whispered and pointed up to the heavens were thousands upon thousands of stars covered the dark skies.

Ritsu couldn’t help to feel sorry for Kaylen who was unable to see the beauty of the night but it couldn’t be helped.

 

Ritsu turned around, he had awaken in the middle of the night, it wasn’t the hard ground that prevented him from sleeping, nor was it the cold air, it was something else, paranoia? He felt the presence of something, silently he reached for the rife next to him, he picked it up and turned around to see nothing but darkness.

“Anyone there?” He asked in a low voice, he was both scared and didn’t want to wake up Iroha and Kaylen. “No, there’s no one there, I’m just imagining stuff” he thought and lied down to sleep. He turned around trying to find a comfortable position but was unable to fulfill his desire. After an hour of turning and trying to not think about anything he fell asleep and was awaken a few hours later by Iroha who looked somewhat scared.

“What is it?” Ritsu asked the scared girl

“Look” she answered.

Ritsu rose up his head and looked, the sun had just dawned and the world was once again bright. When he looked around some more he noticed that a man stood behind him and looked down at him. Even though the man looked peaceful Ritsus first reaction was to dash back and pick up the rifle he moved, nimbly he raised the pipe towards the man who didn’t show much emotion.

“Who are you?” Ritsu said, trying to sound hostile.

“Pull the trigger, and you’ll regret it” he answered. Ritsu begun putting down the rifle but it only took a second for him decide to reactivate the paranoia and instantly he rose the gun towards the man.

“I asked, who are you?”

“I don’t like talking when I have a gun to my chest” he replied.

“Bear with it!”

“I’d rather not”. Before Ritsu even got time to react the man had leaped forward, and grabbed the barrel of the gun, he pointed the gun upwards and in a quarter second preceded to knock Ritsu down to the ground.

“I’m Krain, I hope our meeting will be a pleasant one”

6: Alliance

Chapter 6. Alliance

Ritsu reached for the assault rifle on the ground to the left of him, however Krain detected the motion and picked up the gun himself.

“These weapons you’re carrying, aren’t exactly old, are they?” he asked.

Ritsu didn’t know what to answer, the wrong answer could be devastating.

“No… I… no, they’re not”

“Tell me, where did you get your hands on the firearms you and your team are carrying?”

“Why does it matter? I just wanted to be protected from the hollowed”

“Yes, I understand that. Gun sales has risen dramatically during the past week, however, this gun” Krain said holding the assault rifle in his hands “it hasn’t been released on the open market yet, tell me how you got it”

“What intentions do I have to listen to you?” Ritsu asked.

“Intentions? INTENTIONS? Isn’t this rifle enough?” He asked pointing the gun at Ritsus face.

“Fine, I’ll tell you. A hollowed girl attacked us and two soldiers who we met on the road, they both died so we took their weapons.

“Yes, yes indeed. That’s the right answer, you see, there’s a slight problem. The problem is, your team was protecting the hollowed girl”

“WE KILLED HER!”                           

Iroha knocked down Krain from Ritsu, this gave Ritsu time to rise up to his feet and grab the assault rifle Krain had taken from him.

“Now who’s cornered?” Ritsu asked, pointing the gun at Krain, Iroha also pointed her gun at the surrounded man.

“Fine, we’ll do it your way, I’m with the army” Krain said “so doing this is a serious crime, if you let me go, I’ll forget about it”

Ritsu gladly accepted the offer and put down the rifle in his hands, Iroha as well put down her gun.

Kaylen had awoken due to the high sound levels and was surprised when Ritsu explained that Krain was here and who he was.

“I’ve came to ask you something in fact” Krain said “the army will hunt you down and kill you, but, maybe you can be useful”

“What do you have in mind?” Ritsu asked.

“Simply, you’ll work for us. Oh yeah, if you don’t obey the army, we’ll kill you all”

“I don’t think we have any other options than accepting”

“So you won’t keep running Ritsu?” Kaylen asked.

“No, we might have a chance to survive like this” Iroha agreed as well.

The team accepted the deal and was escorted to a small truck parked on the road.

They were all seated under the dark green cloth roof suspended over the back of the vehicle. When they were inside the engine was activated and the truck slowly begun moving.

Even though the sun had risen it was dark under the suspended cloth. Iroha looked out through the opening in the back of the truck. The air ventilation wasn’t anything extra-ordinary, Ritsu was quite sure that it didn’t even exist.

Iroha spoke in a low voice, almost whispering. With the weak voice she mentioned the burned down city they soon would pass by, the same city that a few days ago still was considered “home”.

The green hill was on the right side of the truck, and the ruined town to the left. A cloud of dirt sprayed from the wheels defiled the view, as the truck suddenly accelerated the cloud gained in size.

Krain informed Ritsu, Iroha and Kaylen that the ride would still take about an hour or so before arriving at a military base where they would get instructions on their first mission. Ritsu wasn’t sure what to think about the upcoming task, Iroha didn’t seem to be too eager to begin with it and Kaylen seemed to think something like “if this fails its Ritsus fault, I’ll blame him”.

Trying to start a discussion Iroha asked Krain if he knew of any other survivors from the wildfire in their hometown. Krain answered “I’m afraid all information about the case is top secret, thus I cannot give you any information regarding the case”

Iroha sighed and turned her head to look out at the road behind them.

Ritsu started thinking about what happened the last night, why he felt so… observed. Was it Krain? Maybe, no, it couldn’t be. Why would a military commander creep around their lair, it could of course have been a surveillance team. Not finding enough facts to base his theory on he ignored the mystery and decided to focus on something else only to find himself bored five minutes later.

The dirt road changed into asphalt, the new material allowed the truck to accelerate, decreasing the time until arrival at the base. The asphalt road didn’t only allow the acceleration, it also wasn’t made out of dust removing the cloud that followed them when the road still was made out of dirt. A third new feature was the flatness, the random bouncing of the truck had finally disappeared which pleased Ritsu.

Suddenly the truck turned into a forest, Ritsu assumed that they were approaching the base.

The truck braked as it approached an iron fence, a guard checked a few things before the gate was opened and the trucked rolled into the base.

“We’re here” Krain said, commanding Ritsu, Iroha and Kaylen to raise up.

They were escorted into a large hall, the floor was filled with desks and people either sitting next to the tables or running around. Some of the desks had a map on them while other had a computer, a few exceptions excited of course like piles of paper but it was mainly a computer or a map.

“This way” Krain said, leading the team deeper into the building. They reached a steel door protected by a lock. Krain pulled out a keycard and let the machine scan the code on the piece of plastic. When it was done a green light shined from the card reader and the door was unlocked. Krain opened the door and walked forward, followed by Iroha, Ritsu and Kaylen who god knows how didn’t have a problem finding the door opening.

“Sit down” Krain commanded the team while pointing at three chairs next to a desk. Krain himself sat down at the other side of the table and pulled out a sheet of paper.

When he unfolded the paper it turned out to be a map.

“We think there’s a camp of hollowed people here” he said, pointing his finger at a spot on the map. After looking a bit more carefully Ritsu identified the area, it was a small factory building shut down years ago just outside their old town, and the place he first met Scara.

7: Whispers between the gears

Chapter 7. Whispers between the gears

“Your objective is simple, get there and report all humanoid creatures you find. I don’t want anyone dead but since it’s the hollowed we’re talking about, you all have permission to kill, don’t abuse the rights dough or we will kill you, is it clear?”

Ritsu and Kaylen answered “Yes” while Iroha wasn’t really sure if she understood everything but she decided not to mention it.

Before anyone got time to hesitate they were escorted to a truck that would take them to the closed factory. Ritsu didn’t like the fact that they had to travel for one hour under another suspended piece of cloth.

“Ritsu, I have a feeling that we might get betrayed” Kaylen whispered.

“Wouldn’t be surprising, we don’t even have solid proof they are the army” Ritsu answered.

“What are you talking about?” Iroha asked.

“Nothing really” Ritsu answered, trying to keep the girl from learning about the possible betrayal.

“Kaylen, I’ve been planning for a while. During the trip to the base I mentally went through most possible outcomes, just do as I tell you to” Kaylen didn’t really trust Ritsus planning but he decided to give it a shot anyways.

The truck turned into the charred town where the team used to live. Passing through the decimated ruins Ritsu remembered some streets, the scene was terrifying. Not only the crushed home, but the skeletons decorated in ashes. A few stone buildings still stood but most had been devoured by the scourging flames.

The sun was still high but rapidly sinking towards the horizon, if they wanted to complete the mission before dusk they had to make haste.

“We’re here” the driver said after breaking before entering the factory yard “go on” he said.

The team left the vehicle and headed towards the building. To not make too much sound they climbed over the wall to the yard instead of opening the rusted gate. When they all were inside they sneaked over the lawn towards the factory itself.

It was no surprise the factory was shut down, it didn’t fulfill all safety requirements and thus loose workers leading to the final disbanding of the small company.

Two years ago Ritsu was hanging out with his friends, they had decided to infiltrate the closed factory, it was indeed illegal and the building was claimed to be haunted but this didn’t stop the eager boys. The only thing in their way was a “do not enter” sign which was easily passed.

Inside of the building the curious young boys dared each other to pull a switch or push a button. After a few switches was pulled Ritsu thought it was safe and pulled a large lever next to a conveyor belt. Not knowing what really happened he found himself left alone in the house after a few gears felt down from the old machines.

“Ritsu? Are you there?” Iroha asked after noticing that her brother had been spacing out for some time.

“Yes, sorry, I was just remembering some things from this place”

“Don’t lose focus” Kaylen commanded.

Some light was escaping through the door to the machine room. Ritsu took this as a definitive proof that the building currently hosted someone. Sneaking to the window they saw an electric lantern shining in the room.

“It might be a trap” Ritsu said commanding the team to stay cautious.

“What’s the best way to counter it?” Kaylen asked who of course couldn’t see anything of the situation.

After explaining the situation to Kaylen and exchanging some solutions Iroha suggested shooting down the light source from range to possibly ruin the trap.

Irohas plan was chosen and Ritsu raised his rifle, carefully aiming at the core of the lantern. “Steady” he thought.

With a bang a bullet left the barrel, penetrated the glass window and destroyed the lantern.

“Let’s move” Ritsu commanded running to the door.

After commanding the team to stay low he kicked the door opened and fled, quickly followed by Iroha and Kaylen.

From a corner of the yard Ritsu guarded the door until he deemed the situation safe. The team moved towards the window and checked if the place still was empty.

“We’re moving in” Ritsu said and kicked the door open, waiting a second and finally rolling in.

Surprisingly the building was empty, Ritsu didn’t see anyone other than Kaylen and Iroha.

“We might have fallen into the trap anyways” he said.

The windows let in some sunlight but the factory was still dark, activating flashlights they were able to look around.

The door was jammed shut behind them, they turned around and saw two persons both holding guns.

“So, we meet again, Ritsu” a soft voice said from deep within the machinery.

“Who are you?” Ritsu asked but got no answer “what do you want from us” he continued but this time speaking to the two men behind him. Again he didn’t get an answer. Frustrated over the silence he turned around to face the armed men who didn’t even show a single emotion.

“What do you want from us?” Ritsu asked. Since he didn’t get a reply he preceded to aim his rifle against one of them but they just stood there, with no expressions on their faces they both fell to the ground after Ritsu shooting them.

“What are you doing?” Kaylen said who had reacted on the noise of the gunshots.

“I killed them, let’s move”

The team walked deeper into the factory when the soft voice spoke again

“So, you saw through that one, however I’m not impressed”

When they reached the conveyor belt a bright lamp was activated, blinding them for a brief time.

“Remember when the town burned, and you fled? Of course you do, it was two days ago” the soft voice said “Ritsu, I have no intention of harming you, this goes for you too Iroha”

“KAYLEN GET DOWN!” Ritsu screamed, a bullet hit the wall behind them just after Kaylen dived down to the floor to not get shot.

In response Ritsu rose his rifle firing a series of bullets towards where the bullet came from.

“You will not escape, just try” the voice said, still as calm as before.

Before Ritsu had time to react they were surrounded.

“Time for plan B” Ritsu whispered.

He and Iroha forced their eyes shut as Kaylen activated a flash grenade in hope of blinding the enemy. Since it succeeded Ritsu, Kaylen and, Iroha ran away to a window which they shot open and leaped out. They escaped at full speed towards the gate.

The gate was kicked open, they dashed into the forests when a gunshot was heard and Kaylen collapsed next to Iroha and Ritsu.

Furious Ritsu grabbed Kaylen and carried him out into the forest while Iroha tried to keep the enemy away by firing a series of bullets towards the factory.

After ten minutes of running Ritsu was exhausted. To save Kaylen Iroha alerted the military base and Ritsu tried to stop the bleeding.

“He’s losing consciousness” Ritsu said.

“Can he be saved?” Iroha asked while trying to help her brother”

“I don’t know, I guess we’ll see”

8: Force

Chapter 8. Force

It didn't take long for a first-aid team to arrive. Kaylen was quickly transported away and Ritsu and Iroha was commanded to return to the base.

Yet again they were forced to travel back to the military base, the one hour ride was as boring as always.

It was late and the moon was shining through a thin layer of clouds, the lunar illumination wasn't enough to fight the darkness of the night. Luckily the lamp posts next to the road and the trucks headlights beamed enough light to keep driving safe. How Kaylen was transported remained a mystery since Ritsu nor Iroha wanted to think too much about it.

Not much was heard except the sound of the engine, none spoke inside of the vehicle, Ritsu and Iroha just sat there in silence.

They arrived at the base sometime around midnight, they were escorted to a small building where they got food and was supposed to spend the night.

The old beds was a lot more comfortable than the moss they had slept on the last two nights so Ritsu fell asleep almost instantly.

Seven am they were awakened and some food was served. A small group of people joined the breakfast which quickly started some conversations. During the meal they learned that Kaylen was alive but seriously wounded. Ritsu and Iroha were both relieved over the joyous news.

"How bad is the damage, regarding Kaylen?" Ritsu asked.

"He'll recover eventually but it will take some time, that's for sure" someone answered.

The door was opened by someone who threaded in and told Ritsu and Iroha that Krain wanted to see them as soon as they had eaten.

To not keep Krain waiting they finished the meal quickly and headed for the bosses room.

Hoping that he nor Iroha was going to be executed Ritsu knocked on the iron door to Krains room.

With a buzz the electrical lock was unlocked and Ritsu pulled the handle of the door.

"Sit down" Krain said who stood next to his desk.

Both Ritsu and Iroha sat down on two wooden chairs next to the desk that was decorated by a pile of paper, a monitor, a keyboard and a map.

"I am going to send you back in but there will be some changes. To begin with, you two won't go alone, you will also be better armed and most importantly. This is only regarding the hollowed, kill on site!" Krain ended the order by asking if everything was clear to with both Ritsu and Iroha responded "Yes"

"You'll be leaving in ten minutes, so prepare yourselves. You will meet with your team outside of the base"

Ritsu and Iroha left the room and headed for the yard where a truck was waiting for them, two other soldiers stood there, both armed with assault rifles.

"Here" one of them said and threw a rifle to Iroha.

"It's a sniper rifle, according to the higher ups it should suit you" she continued "the scope has a night vision feature, infra-red and a aiming laser"

Ritsu was given an assault rifle, it was a lot smaller than the previous and thus much lighter.

When the ten minutes had passed they were all loaded into the vehicle. A third soldier had arrived increasing the squad's size to five.

"Let's move out" a soldier yelled and the engine was started, the truck rolled down the road, passed the iron fence and through the forest to the highway.

"Do we have a plan?" Ritsu asked.

"Somewhat, you two are the only ones who know how it looks inside of the factory so we're hoping that you can help us perfect the plan. By the way, my name is Well, Thaun Well"

"I'm Ritsu Stream"

"Iroha Stream"

"Yinre Helix"

"Houl Core". When everyone had introduced themselves to each other Well begun telling the plan to the rest of the team.

"Please correct me if my plan is impossible which it might be since I have no idea of what awaits us inside. We begin with throwing in a few gas grenades to blind and poison the enemy, it should force them to evacuate giving us a great opportunity to take them out"

Since neither Ritsu nor Iroha complained the plan became their official plan.

"We should have a lot of equipment that might be useful" Helix said who was responsible for the tools and other stuff they would need. She had taken her duty quite seriously and packed a lot of items that by all odds would be utterly useless like a food supply for a week.

The truck stopped a bit away from the factory to not get noticed. Ritsu stepped out of the vehicle and set foot on the cracked ground covered in a fine layer of charcoal. It was the remaining of a road in Ritsus hometown, the charred buildings all around him made him want to run away to a place where his life didn't take an enormous step for the worse.

Iroha however didn't take it with just some repulsive feelings, she hated being back in the ruins of her "previous" life. When she learned that they would likely stay there for the night she seemed like she was about to burst.

"What's with her?" Well asked.

"Oh, you don't know do you? As you probably know this town was burned to the grounds recently, well, we're from here" Ritsu explained.

"That explains it" Well replied and called the team together.

Five minutes later Iroha found herself on a scouting mission with Well. She had no idea of why she was chosen but she didn't want to complain so she quietly followed Well and did what he said.

With a binocular she detected a few surveillance cameras on the factory walls, she instantly reported the information to Well who transmitted it to their camp where Ritsu, Helix and Core was building up a lair.

The radio signal had some interference noise but the message was still understandable.

Core was constantly updating an electronic map of the area as more information was transmitted to the lair. With the help of Ritsus memories they made a complete map of both the factory's inside architecture and the area around it.

"We've scanned the surroundings of the building, we're returning" Wells voice was somewhat robotic but still fully understandable.

"We'll strike in a few hours I think" Helix said but all their plans was changed when a new transmission was received.

"They've seen us, we're returning right away. We're at the northwest side"

9: Hollowed front

Chapter 9. Hollowed front

Splinters of bark flew of an oak as a bullet hit it, Well and Iroha ran at full speed towards the camp. The heavy rifle on Iroha’s back slowed her down, preventing her from reaching full speed.

The terrain was difficult enough without being chased but this was just a pure nightmare.

“Well to base, they’re shooting at us, we need an immediate backup” he yelled into the radio.

“Ritsu and Helix are on their ways to help you” Core answered.

Iroha tripped over a root and fell down to the muddy ground, she turned around and saw a hollowed approaching fast. Knowing that she didn’t have time to escape she took her rifle from her back and aimed. “There’s no time” she thought, aimed for a second before pressing the trigger.

The bullet missed its target and hit a tree, “it’s over” Iroha thought as the hollowed leaped towards her with a dagger in its hand. She had gotten time to reload her rifle but was forced to dodge the knife instead of shooting.

The hollowed was within a three meters range, missing wasn’t allowed. She raised the sniper and aimed at the sprinting shadow of a person. When the hollowed was within a one meter radius she pressed the trigger and the target fell backwards and landed lifeless on the ground.

Well was occupied with fighting another hollowed who had a gun.

Every time either Well or the Hollowed raised up from their cover to kill, the other one was faster. This led to a battle of quick sprints followed up with a barrage of bullets.

Iroha who no longer had an opponent took aim against the enemy of Well.

Using a root as a stand she was able to aim precisely. When the hollowed hide behind a tree to avoid fire from Well he was an open target.

She carefully aimed at the head of the hollowed and pulled the trigger, hitting the target and killing it.

Well looked surprised at Iroha who had successfully annihilated her target.

“Good job” he said “but we’re not free yet, let’s keep moving”

Iroha followed his command and ran towards their base. A few gunshots were heard and Iroha looked around to see what it was.

The factory was built in a valley so they ran over a slope. This gave them an advantage since the hollowed from the factory had to run uphill to catch them.

A few more gunshots was heard, but this time Iroha saw from where.

Behind a larger root Helix lied with her assault rifle pointing down hills. Not far from there Ritsu ran, shooting at the hollowed who searched for an opening in Ritsu’s and Helix’s defense.

“Good, you’re here” Ritsu said and the team begun moving out.

“Core, we’re soon there, is the lair clear?”

“Uhm, there might be a problem” Core answered “I’m under attack”

Well ordered the team to take out the enemy from as long range as possible. After the team ensured that they understood Well gave order to attack.

That Core was alive was a miracle, the entire camp had been sprayed with bullets. Iroha detected the enemy line with her scope and gave the information to Well who shared it further.

“I’ll cover you!” Helix said to Ritsu and begun firing a stream of bullets towards the opponents. Ritsu used this distraction to run in a curve towards the hollowed.

When he got an opening to shoot Iroha had already shot down one. Releasing a barrage of bullets Ritsu killed three of the five remaining enemies.

Hiding behind a table that Core reloaded his rifle and rolled forward to shoot down a sixth hollowed who had sneaked into the lair. The quick reflexes of the hollowed allowed her to dodge the stream of iron before it hit her.

She took cover behind a tent which of course didn’t provide any bullet resistance but it prevented Core from seeing her. She fired a few bullets through the tent that missed Core who responded by leaping to the other side of the tent, revealing the hollowed girl’s position. As he landed he fired two bullets, one missing and the other one hitting her leg as she fled.

Well helped Ritsu by attacking the hollowed front from the left side. The surprise attack was successful and they both fell down dead.

While Helix was occupied scouting for more approaching foes Iroha aimed at the hollowed girl who Core failed to kill. Since she wasn’t under heavy press she got time to focus. Pushing the trigger she killed the armed girl.

After securing that the hollowed attack was discontinued the squad assembled at the camp. The scene was a mess, the computer was crashed into the ground, the radio seemed to me malfunctioning and the tent was filled with holes.

“I don’t think we can stay here for long, what do you say? Let’s go and annihilate them!” Well said furiously.

Most agreed with Well’s careless plan.

“We’d be better off waiting” Ritsu said “by all odds, whoever is planning this is smart, I believe this is his or her plan”

“And why do you think that?” Well asked trying to defend his authority.

“The last time we tried we fell straight into a trap by rushing in. I suggest we wait until we’ve recovered somewhat and then go as originally plan”

“I must agree with Ritsu” Core said “were all exhausted, we’ll only get ourselves killed”.

 The leaves in the trees were yellowed due to the autumn, some withered leaves let go from the twigs and gently floated to the ground. The sun was still shining but some dark clouds dawned in the western horizon. Like the shadows of the night it crawled over the sky, expanding and darkening.

“Seems like rain” Iroha commented on the weather.

The mild breeze increased to a wind strong enough to set leaves flying. The flying yellow and brown organic sheets was blown around like in a wild dance.

“It’s here soon, we’d better make hast” Helix said, gazing into the curtain of rain slowly approaching from the west.