Chapter 27: Hitting The Books Part Three

Mai stared blankly at Ai who was laying back down next to her to go back to sleep not sure what to say to that comment just now. Yasuhide and Kazumi both looked at the young man with eyes of pity before switching shifts with Seji and Shizune. "You two get some sleep we will take the next watch."

"Okay, just remember kill whoever comes..." Seji said, his and Shizune's clothes were now splattered with blood, the thought of killing another human was now numb to them. Seji found it funny since he had done it so easily, even though it was his first time.

"Don't worry, I know what to do. I heard a bit of what those bastards said since I was half asleep. No matter what I will protect those two from harm. You have my promise on that." Yasuhide gave a Seji a reassuring look. He thought of Ai as his own daughter as well, the same as Ai's parents thought of Mai as one of their own. Seji nodded his head and leaned up against a cement block letting Shizune sit in his lap and curl up into his chest.

The rest of the night was uneventful. Ai woke up around three AM, waking Mai up with her to take the final watch. "Aunty, Uncle, go get some sleep. We will take last watch."

"Alright be careful." Yasuhide said as he got up. Kazumi gave Ai a grateful look as she yawned. 

Ai and Mai walked over to the tied up young man. Mai looked at the dry pool of blood and asked: "Is he still alive?" 

"Yeah, he's fine. I made sure to not hit any vitals. He just lost a lot of blood so he fainted. See, his chest is slowly going up and down. When we get him back to the bunker, you can practice basic first aid on him. Try to keep his wounds from becoming infected. I will be pulling his eyes out at that time though so you will have plenty of things to practice on." Ai, knew this was human experimentation but right now she did not care. In her past life, she had tested her theories out on many animals but she never got the chance to inspect a human eye thoroughly. 

As morning sun peeked out from behind the horizon Ai and Mai had already begun searching for the books they needed. Once their parents were up, they also helped out. This continued for almost half a day when Kazumi shouted out that she had found medical books and not too much longer after that the books Ai needed were also found. "Let's fill our bags and head back. Dad, Uncle, we will rely on you to carry the books. Mai and I will handle the lab rat." 

"Ai, you and Mai should be on point. Kazumi, Shizune, and Seji can handle the books. I will deal with the little shit." Yasuhide did not want the girls to be too close to this man since they would need to carry him. Just the thought of the young man leaning his body on the girls pissed him off.

"Alright, that works too. If we run into any first type machina just drop the lab rat we can always find another one." Ai said before taking her gun out. Mai followed suit and took hers out as well. The family then walked back towards the house. They did not see a soul the entire time.

"It's too quiet..." Ai had a bad feeling. The day before it had been at least a bit noisy with people all around but today their street was so quiet it was unsettling. 

Everyone quickly went quiet as they slowly moved down the street. Three houses from their's, Ai's ears picked up on a metallic sound from the nearby house. She turned to her family and pressed her finger to her lips as she whispered: "Slowly but quick, don't make a sound… If worse comes to worst, use the lab rat as a shield."

Her eyes stayed on the direction the sound was coming from. Mai and the rest slowly yet quickly walked with Ai. Each step was very soft. The reason Ai did not run was because, if they ran they would be putting themselves at more of a disadvantage. If one of them tripped and fell in the process it would mean a critical injury or death. But if they were walking quickly but slowly without making too much noise they would have a better chance of survival since they would have a better chance of fighting it off. 

Unfortunately, this time their luck was not good because the lab rat they had brought with them chose this time to wake up and begin yelling out in pain. "Shit! Uncle, toss him towards that house and get into a circle formation! Move quick but slow. Remember careful of footing. If it is one or two we can deal with it easily. If it is more than that then move your ass as fast as possible." 

This was another thing about fighting machina. Slow but quick is a good way to deal with small numbers like one or two. But more than that it doesn't matter how careful you are you will end up seriously injured or dead. 

Ai's fears came true though with the lab rat yelling at the top of his lungs, five machina came out from the rubble of the house next to Ai's. Ai's face paled as she turned towards her family and yelled out: "Drop everything but weapons and run!" 

Seji, Shizune, and Kazumi quickly dropped the books to the ground and began running. Unfortunately, they were quickly split up. Mai was with Ai following as she ran towards the bunker but the machina also split up cutting off their parents. Ai's eyes turned red. She did not want to lose her parents again. She went through so much to save them and even trained them. She did not want to lose them like this! "Mai help me kill this one and then go to the bunker and get it open! I will try to help them!"