1: Everyday
"Good work today!" I shouted before walking out of the shop, sighing softly as my breath became a grey little cloud in front of me, causing me to pull my scarf up around my mouth. The crisp winter air was eating at my lungs, the empty sidewalks making the town seem a little eery. Accompanied by the high alert from the CCG around the 5th ward, the eeriness turned into fear and paranoia, it felt like someone was following me, breathing down my back and disappearing the instant I'd turn around. This feeling made me sick to my stomach, squeezing my bag tightly as I stared at the sidewalk. Just another block is all… You'll be in a busier area then. I needed constant reassurance to myself that I'd make it to my apartment alive every night as I left work.
I sighed softly, trying to shake away the chills I felt and keep myself focused on things besides the shadows that seemed to move. Another few steps. I was about to turn the corner before hearing squishing, accompanied by chewing in a nearby alleyway, my heart stopping as my body froze. The chewing stopped. It knew I was here. It knew I heard it. Shit. I could barely move my body as I tried to continue inching forward, hearing liquidy footsteps marching down the alley. I froze again, my breathing stopping this time as I knew I was done for.
In an instant, I regained control of my body, a rush of adrenaline suddenly bolting through my veins as I sped away, into what I thought would be a crowded part of the city at this time. I was wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong. I kept my feet moving, running past my apartment building in case it had been following me. I turned into a convenience store, panting hard as a worker rushed to my aid. "Sir, are you alright?" He prodded, grabbing my shoulder before I looked up.
"Ghoul…" That was the only thing I could mumble before fear was struck into the employee next, the man rushing behind the counter and grabbing the phone as I followed to the counter. "Lock the doors," I instructed, tapping my foot loudly from my nerves. The other employee gave me a crazy work before her coworker, who was currently on the phone trying to get a hold of the CCG, nodded at her, the girl rushing to the door and yanking out her keys. She nervously flipped through them, skipping the one she needed a few times before locking the sliding doors, quickly running to the other side of the store afterwards. The few customers in the store were all a little confused, the fear spreading to them as well as I took deep breaths, neither of the employees in a good place to give way as to what was going on.
As the man finally got a hold of someone who could come help us, a body slammed against the glass door, their eye's black with the red, piercing pupils in the center that blood vessels trailed from. The ghoul licked his lips as he darted his eyes around the store, staring at all the potential meals. Another ghoul suddenly followed, but luckily for us, the two were more concerned about territory privileges rather than food at the moment. "First correspondents in the area will be here soon," the employee stated, his voice shaking as I stared outside at the ghouls first arguing, then physically fighting with their kagunes. It was fascinating, but terrifying at the same time. Captivated by the way their kagunes moved and how they varied from one another, I didn't realize the two CCG agents suddenly coming up upon the ghouls. The ghouls were low rank, probably around a C, and didn't put up much of a two agents quickly took care of them, the ghoul's bodies splattered all over the side of the store. Police officers had arrived, but only to enclose the space with police tape. One of the agents signaled us to come out, everyone, including me, stepping out with shaky hands and legs and some seeming as if they were about to barf. It felt like life in Japan was become survival of the fittest since ghouls showed up.