Duties had been put aside for today, for it was a resting day for everyone in the alliance. Sure, they always work hard, but if they worked everyday, exhaustion would eventually get the best of them and crumble their chances at the stabled and sheltered life they were living. So, every Wednesday was considered their day off. Each girl would catch up on their hobbies or sleep most of the day. Heck, even the leader's strong reputation would faze off during the relaxing day. The girls loved this day, it was the one time they could just forget about the outside problems and do what they used to do when they were all living in a healthy and monster free environment. They could just be ordinary girls again, and it was both a nostalgic and exciting thing for them.
Homura, however, had something else in mind for her plans today. Finishing up her breakfast, she rose from her seat and placed the plastic plate in the trashcan. "Where are you heading so early?" Mami inquired curiously. "I want to explore for a bit, see what I can find," responded flatly Homura. Putting on her gas mask on and sliding her arms through her dark purple backpack, the dark haired girl took a few steps forward and the door before her slid open automatically. "Well, just be sure to not get into trouble." The blonde smiled, rising from her own seat and walking towards Homura, she placed a warm white box in between the ebony's hands.
"Here."
"What is this?"
Giggling, Mami gave the girl a playful shove. "It's a bento dummy, I sorta figured you wouldn't stay put in our base. So I thought 'Hey, just in case, I better prepare her something. Who knows what her plans are.' Good thing I did so, right?" Her lips curving into a faint smile, Homura bowed thankfully before Mami.
"Thank you so much, Mami-san. I appreciate it."
"Ehehe, you're welcome. And see you later then." She waved at her.
"Yeah, see you."
As soon as she stepped out of the base, the door behind her closed immediately. The girl proceeded ahead, she knew where she was headed, there was this abandoned mall that had caught her attention about a week ago. It wasn't necessarily close to the headquarters either, which is why she planned to leave at this time a day. "I hope it isn't a waste going there…" Homura muttered beneath her gas mask.
Her heartbeat was speeding up so fast that it felt that it would burst at any given second. A small pink haired girl was running for her dear life, true terror was written all over her face. Not too far away were about three to four zombies behind her, madly chasing after the terrified girl. Making endless turns here and there, the girl hoped to lose the rabid creatures. But soon, all those thoughtless and quick decisions would bring the pinkette to a halt.
"No…" she whispered in between sobs. "It can't end like this, I can't die like this..!" she whimpered.
Scanning her surroundings, she quickly buried herself under dozens of old and lose cables that were lying on the floor. Positioning herself into the fetal position, the girl carefully slid her small trembling hands up to her mouth, clasping them shut in order to mute or muffle her heavy breathing. She lied on the floor, waiting, waiting for those dead people to pass her by, finally to leave her alone. It was quiet, no sign of those eerie like sounds were being picked up by her ears. It's been ten minutes since then, but it seemed like ten hours to the girl. Even so, her breathing was still producing a fast and heavy pace.
"M-maybe it's safe already." she thought. The thick mist was making it impossible for the girl to tell. "I can do this, I just have to quietly get up, and make a run for it." she whispered. "But where to? I don't have anywhere safe to go. What do I do?" her small pep talk turned into a negative one. "I'm a useless person, I don't know anything about how to survive such chaos like this… I'm scared." At this point, a squeaky sob escaped her lips, followed by streaming tears. "I-I don't have anyone else in this world, it's just me now. Wha- how do I get through this..?" her quivering lips let out a couple of heavy sobs.
She was here, Homura made it. The abandoned south east mall was standing before her, it's battered condition gave off a "this place is haunted, turn back while you still can" type of vibe. Wasting no time, the tall ebony threw a rock at one of the place's windows. With careful approach, she climbed the window, landing with a soft thud.
"Let's see what you have to offer." she sassed.
The first front shacks had nothing to offer but dust collected rotten foods and beverages. Every step of hers swept the small speckles of dirt from their stationary positions. The dust particles danced around, and alongside the girl. Still filled with curiosity with the place, Homura kept pacing herself forward, this place just had so much space too offer. A dimmed, but somewhat partially shiny object caught the girl's attention, bringing her to a halt. "I knew it…" her eyes fixing on the item, she began examining it from top to bottom.
"Just what I needed, but does it work?" She lightly shook the small object, hoping for it to produce a sound. The small electronic pot made a faint beeping sound. "You need some fixing, but you're perfect." Homura smiled. Sliding her backpack down her slender arms, she placed it on the ground, unzipping it in order to carefully place the small pot inside. "Now," with her backpack safely holding onto her arms again, she continued walking. A couple of lose bolts and screws picked up here and there, Homura made her final stop to an arcades shack. Without thinking twice, she headed inwards, amazed at just how much circuitry there was in here, her hands were everywhere. There was just so much to take and use to build new things. Sighing, the girl bit her lip and finally stayed still. "You can't take everything in one go, Homura." She mentally slapped herself.
"I'll have to come back another time." She was about to leave until a distant shuffling was heard. Homura unclipped her two guns from her belt, removing the safety clip, her feet slowly proceeded towards the sound.
After crying for five minutes straight, the pinkette quietly rose to her feet. She took the cables off of her, and then dusted herself off. Staggering a bit, the girl blinked her eyes twice, "Uhh, why do I feel so light headed all of a sudden?" she questioned.
"No… now's not the time to be focusing on how I'm feeling, I need to get out of here." The girl had only walked six steps before she immediately leaned against the wall, breathing short breaths. Homura was just around the corner from where she was. "I'm not alone…" The dark haired girl placed each of her index fingers on each trigger of her guns, ready to pierce whatever it was behind the wall. She rushed to the other side of the wall and pushed the unidentified creature to the floor, ready to shoot it then and there, but she quickly pulled back as soon as her brain processed what it was.
"A girl..?" She squinted her eyes, unable to see clearly, due to the heavy mist surrounding them. When she confirmed that it was just another human, she put her weapons aside. Clicking her tongue, Homura knelt down before the girl, wasting no time into examining her. The pinkette was half conscious, unable to tell what was going on, she just let Homura do as she pleased.
"The air that you're breathing here is toxic." Homura spoke, "You're lucky that I found you in the early state of the toxicity, it's not causing permanent damage yet."
She pulled out a small health kit, and opened it to reveal a couple of band aids, alcohol, and anesthetics. She took the anesthetic with a blue like liquid out. "Forgive me if this hurts a bit, but it'll only hurt for a second or two." She placed the girl's arm on her lap, cleaned it with a dipped alcohol cotton, and injected the blue liquid into the girl. The pinkette groaned for a bit before quieting down again. Homura checked her backpack for another gas mask, there wasn't a spare though. Sighing deeply, the dark haired girl placed both of her arms behind each ear, undoing the strap that was holding her mask together. She gave the pinkette a glance before looking back at the mask she was holding.
"You'll need to wear this in order to not fall ill to the toxics again."
"But what about you?" The girl finally spoke, "W-won't you fall ill to it too?"
Without responding to her question, Homura pulled the girl close to her, "Stay still." was all she said, before placing the gas mask onto the girl, she tied it tight, but not too tight, just enough so that it wouldn't fall off of the girl's face.
"What exactly were you doing here all by yourself, do you have a death wish or something?" Homura queried.
"I-I was running away from zombies!" The pinkette quaked.
"Where are your friends or guardians?"
"They… they're dead. It's just…." a knot squeezed at her throat and cut her off, her tears, threatening to race down her cheeks again.
Homura ruffled her dark hair, "I see… so it's just you." she looked down at the ground before looking back at the pinkette. "W-what's your name..?"
"M-Ma-doka Ka-name" the pinkette sniffled.
The ebony placed her hands on the girl's shoulders, trying to give her the most reassuring look. "I know you're upset right now, Kaname-san, but we need to get out of here. So I need you to come with me, okay?"
Madoka nodded, "Okay." she wiped her tears away and took a deep breath, "Sorry for being such a crybaby…" she timidly whispered.
"It's alright. You don't need to apologize for that. Sometimes fear just gets the best out of us. Now c'mon, follow me."
Madoka hurriedly walked beside Homura, "May I ask what your name is?" the pinkette asked. "It's Homura, Akemi Homura."
"Akemi-san…" Madoka spoke.
"Yeah?"
The small girl glanced at the taller girl, "Where are we going?"
"To a safe place."
It's been two hours, two long hours of nothing but pure walking. "I think it'd be best for us to take a small break." Homura announced, sitting on the nearest log. Madoka simply nodded and sat next to her. The two remained silent for a moment, not knowing what to talk about. Twiddling her fingers, the pink haired girl glanced at the girl next to her.
"U-um, thank you for saving me." Madoka interrupted the silence.
"Don't mention it." the dark haired girl's response was somewhat raspy. She leaned back, lying on the logs behind her. Madoka kept her gaze on Homura, as if she was expecting her to say more. "What?" Homura muttered, now shooting the girl a cold glare.
"Eh n-nothing." Madoka looked away, "I just thought that you might've had something else to say, but guess not."her face had dropped once again.
Siting upwards again, Homura reached for her backpack and unzipped it. Ruffling through it, she took out the bento that Mami had given her earlier. "You must be hungry, so here, eat up. "Oh, thank you." Madoka removed the gas mask and placed it in between her and the ebony. Each were eating a rice ball and a sandwich. The food was quite delicious, and the pinkette savored every last bit of it. "Wow! You sure know how to make delicious food!" she said in between bites.
"I didn't make these." Homura confessed, "It was someone else that did."
Curious as to who that might be, Madoka proceeded into asking her next question, "And who might that be?"
"A girl who's in the same alliance as I am." she replied.
"Ah, I see! She sure knows how to cook then!" she flashed Homura a warm smile.
This took her off guard, causing her to look away. One minute the pinkette was all sad and now she was all smiley like, it confused Homura a bit. Trying to focus on something else, she rose from her seat, and stared down at the gas mask. "When you're finished with your meal, put the gas mask back on." she spoke, while pointing at it.
"Why don't you put it on now?" Madoka replied, "I've worn it for a long time already, I think it's your t-"
"No." Homura cut Madoka off before she could finish. The pink haired girl fell silent. "We have a strict policy when it comes to this. You mustn't take off your gas mask for long periods of time. If you break these rules, you have to face the consequences head on." she finally turned to look at Madoka, her face, stoic as ever.
"I understand, Akemi-san. And if that's the case, then you need to wear it. I'll be fine without it," she smiled back at her, trying to be reassuring. "I don't want you to get in trouble because of me."
Before Homura could argue, a sharp pang in her head caused her to fall to her knees. "Akemi-san!" Madoka rushed to her side, "Are you okay?"
The dark haired girl couldn't respond though, and the pain inflicted itself even more. "Arggh..!" her breathing was heavy, and she was trembling like crazy. Madoka didn't know what to do, she was freaking out, "T-the… medical kit…. grab it, and ge-get the blue an-" she was cut off by another excruciating pang again. The pinkette ruffled through the bag, searching for the kit.
"Don't worry, you'll be okay, Akemi-san." She pulled out the kit and turned towards the girl behind her. Widening her eyes, her face dropped it's normal color and replaced it with a pale one. "N-no…" she piped. Homura wasn't moving, nor was she breathing. "No..! A-Akemi-san!" Madoka crawled over to the limp girl, carefully placing her on her lap. "D-don't do this to me, Homura!" she whimpered. "You can't die, you can't-" taking the anesthetic in between her trembling hands, and examining it before looking down at the girl, she bit at her lower lip for a moment in order to stop her sobbing. "You're my new hope... I won't let you go so easily. Not without a fight..!"
A/N: Phhew, I finally finished this long chapter. I can't feel my back and it is 5:58 am /)o v o(\ I need to go to sleep. Madoka is like waterworks here. But there's no need to fear, character development will happen either in the fourth chapter or so haha. Anyways, leave me a review and let me know what you think. Enjoy your day!
