Chapter 77: Mutation Part Two

After getting all the necessary equipment, Ai met Eiji at the closed shutter. Out of the small bag she brought with her she pulled out a geiger counter and passed it to Eiji. "Keep a close eye on the readings. We do not want to get radiation poison and die from overexposure." 

"How are we going to get the cells you want to get?" Eiji asked as he took the geiger counter and turned it on. 

"With this!" Ai pulled out a long metal rod with a knife tightly taped to it. She had prepared this at the last second so it was roughly done but would still do its job. "I also have some glass containers with lids as well."

"Seems we are all set then." Eiji replied with a smile. 

In the control room, Mai was looking at the camera watching Ai's interactions with Eiji, and mumbled to herself. "Those two get along pretty well..."

"Did you say something?" Shogo, who was standing behind her, asked.

Mai smiled faintly and shook her head. "No, just talking to myself." 

"Mai ready!" Ai said through the short wave radio.

Mai hit the button opening the shutter. She waited for Ai to tell her that everything was fine before closing it again. When she was done she turned around to see Shogo almost leaning over her causing her to jump back in her seat and kick Shogo in the shin. Shogo yelled out in pain as he asked: "What was that for!?"

"Too close!" Mai said before getting up and walking to the other side of the room, a smile creeping up on her face. She was happy that Ai was starting to trust others and was smiling again. She was worried that Ai would always have that dead look in her eye. She wanted Ai to have a good life this time around. She hoped nothing would keep Ai from losing her smile. As the only family member she had left, she hoped to help Ai live a long and fulfilling life in this new world.

Shogo watched as Mai went to the other side of the room and felt depressed. He wondered why he was always the one to be abused…

On the other side of the shutter, Ai and Eiji slowly walked towards the mutant corpse. "Is this thing still alive?" 

"Should be. Although, from the looks of it, you wouldn't be able to tell. How are the readings?" Ai asked.

"So far fairly low. Which is surprising seeing how radioactive this thing should be." Eiji replied.

"Then, let's get as close as possible." Ai hoped that if the radiation was low enough she could get a large chunk of the mutant to use for testing. The bigger the piece the better. 

The two edged closer and closer to the mutant but no matter how close they got the geiger counter readings still stayed in the safe zone. They were now standing right next to it no more than a few centimeters away. "Since we can get this close, check the body to see if it has a high reading. If not, I will just go ahead and cut a huge chunk of its flesh off." 

Eiji nodded and knelt down, to take the readings. "All good." 

"Okay, stand back just in case." Ai knelt down next to the mutant and began unstrapping the knife from the metal rod to make it easier to cut what she needed off. But since her gloves were so thick, she had to take them off to peel the tape off. "Ouch, fuck!"

Ai had accidentally sliced her finger on the knife. As the red blood oozed out of her finger, something on the mutant shook, and before Ai could even react a purple liquid shot out of the mutant and onto Ai's finger that was cut. The purple fluid was not a lot, just a few drops but it entered her cut and disappeared as if he was never there. Ai held her head feeling dizzy as the world began to spin around her. "What the hell..." was all she could force out before fainting.

"Ai!? Fucking shit!" Eiji Picked Ai up off the ground and rushed back to the closed shutter. "Open the shutter, something happened to Ai!"

Mai quickly ran over to the console and hit the button for the shutter to open. She looked in the camera to see Eiji carrying Ai who seemed to be lifeless in his arms. Seeing them pass the shutter she closed it and quickly ran out of the room. 

"What happened!?" Mai yelled as she met up with Eiji.

"I don't know. Ai took her gloves off to unwrap her knife. She seemed to have cut herself and the next thing I know she fell to the ground. Her whole body is on fire, I think she has a fever." Eiji tried to explain the best he could. He did not see the drops of purple fluid shoot out of the mutant. 

"Take her to the cleanest cell. I will set up a confinement area there. Eiji, you as well, will need to be confined." Mai's heart sank, she hoped nothing bad will happen to Ai.

"Okay, but let me stay with Ai. If anything I can at least take care of her." Eiji said looking down at the lifeless girl in his arms. His eyes, full of worry.

"That's fine, watch over her until I have prepared. Contact me if something happens." Mai said before running off to get ready. Now was no time to be messing around. 

Eiji went into the cleanest cell there was and closed the door behind him. He gently placed Ai down on the cot that was in the room and took off his shirt before kneeling down next to Ai and gently wiping the sweat on her brow with it. 

***

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