Author's Note: Hi fanfic readers! Sorry if I kept any of you readers waiting, summer school was a real hassle. I had originally planned to have this chapter be longer, but I thought it would just ramble. But in my personal opinion, this isn't my favorite chapter. If you disagree or agree with me let me know, I accept all reviews, flames or not.

Disclaimer: I do not own "Neon Genesis Evangelion" or it's creation studio GAINAX. I'm just a teen who likes to write on his free time.

Dawn was peering over the top of the mountains, glowing with an orange radiance. Shinji shifted around in the dirt until the light crept upon him, as his eyes squinted to block out the sun. He reluctantly sat up, his eyes, now open, could see the whole forest where he and Asuka were sleeping during the night. Asuka! He immediately thought. Where's Asuka? She wasn't where she was sleeping the night before and only her body left grooves in the dirt where it once was. He turned around to find small footprints in the dirt, leading into the forest. Shinji got up and followed after Asuka's footprints.

As Shinji pushed away the brushes which blocked his path, he remembered last night. Nothing really went on between Asuka and him; it was just that she was muttering in her sleep. Shinji knew that she did talk in her sleep, since he had slept in the same room. He never understood why she did this. She was so closed that wouldn't know by talking to her, and Shinji didn't have the guts to talk to her about it. Shinji sighed; he never understood girls. Girls like Asuka and….Ayanami. Ayanami, Rei Ayanami, that name brought back memories, not necessarily pleasant ones. But he understood her, Shinji didn't even know why he did, but there was just something about her. Maybe it was that he always found himself going to her when he was troubled, or maybe it ran deeper than that. Maybe it had something do with Shinji's father, Gendo. He could vaguely make out her monotone voice and quiet demeanor that Shinji had become accustomed to. But wasn't she just a….puppet? Shinji remembered how Ritsuko had showed him the Rei's. Their smiling faces bouncing off the glass tubs of LCL, and with the press of a button, and they all disintegrated back into the yellow water, their laughing still echoing. Shinji winced a little at the memory. Rei was a friend to him, one the only he had. But she died as well as the rest of his friends, except Asuka. Asuka! Shinji completely forgot about following her tracks. He looked around trying to find her footprints in the dirt, but to no avail. Shinji knew he needed to go back and look for her tracks.

"Shinji! Baka! You up yet?" Leave it to Asuka to do that thought Shinji. He was pretty sure he heard her from the north-west, close to where they slept the night before. Shinji ran toward the camp. Shinji ran back toward the camp shouting Asuka! Asuka! I'm over here.

Asuka heard Shinji's voice echoing through the forest. She bent down to pick up supplies that she found littered around the forest. She raided some JSSDF APC's that were left unattended and home to birds now. She found rations, enough to last a few days if not a week. Dehydrated fruit, dried meat, candy, powdered Gatorade, and some rice cakes. She placed it in two backpacks, one for her and Shinji. She reached deeper into her backpack, and felt a cold, heavy object. Asuka then pulled out a Desert Eagle, a handgun that could pack enough power to stop a man in one shot. Literally, a hand cannon. She chose the pistol because it was smaller than a rifle, therefore easier to handle and hide. The only problem with it though was the blowback. She remembered Newton's laws from school: A reaction must be met with an equal and opposite reaction. She knew the force that went into killing an enemy that would come back to her. She reached into her backpack even further and checked the two clips of ammunition she found in the APC. She also found a knife, which she placed in Shinji's backpack. She didn't trust him with it though. If Shinji came at her with the knife she would be ready with bullets. She double checked the contents and closed up the backpacks.

"Shinji," Asuka yelled "over here!"

"Oh there you are." Shinji said as he came out of the bushes. "Where were you this morning?"

"Looking for supplies," She said bluntly "I can't leave that job to an idiot like you. You'd probably fall off a cliff or something." Shinji rolled his eyes. Same old Asuka, he thought. "Here Shinji," Asuka tossed him his pack "It's your backpack, don't lose it. It's got our food." Shinji threw it on his back, not surprised. Leave it to Asuka to give me the heaviest load, he muttered. He adjusted the straps to his liking.

"Asuka, why don't we go back into the city today? We both need better clothing, my uniform doesn't keep me warm, and you're still using the slippers from your plug suit for shoes." Asuka gave him the look that Shinji knew immediately. It was the "I don't think so Shinji; because it's your idea it's terrible" look she always gave him. Shinji felt a little squeamish when she looked at him like that. It 90 percent of the time ended in "That's stupid Shinji, like you!" and the rare 10 percent "That might work." She finally looked away from him and said "That might work Shinji, even thought it's coming from you." Shinji breathed a sigh of relief.

As the two made their way down the mountain side, Asuka started to worry. Not about Shinji, but about Tokyo-3. It almost seemed too good to be true that only Shinji and she were the last humans on the earth. That couldn't be true, could it? It certainly wasn't like I am Legend or "28 Days Later" thank goodness, but no humans? She didn't want zombies, vampires, or anything else running around that wasn't human. But she wanted other people around. Just being alone with Shinji was weird. And why them? What did they do to survive Third Impact? Could have to do with them being EVA pilots? Besides that they really didn't do anything special. It had to do with them being EVA pilots, couldn't be anything else. That was the only possible way. Then why did she fell as if though something was waiting for them down in the valley?

Shinji and Asuka walked around the deserted streets of Tokyo-3. The only sound was the whistling of the wind through the concrete and glass. Asuka remembered where all the stores were since she went shopping the most of the time. Papers were strewn all over and mixed with warnings of bombings by the JSSDF or Angel Attacks and other miscellaneous things. An occasional toy left over from some toddler and cars neatly parked on the sides of the road. The deeper the two went into the city; Asuka felt that there had to be people, here somewhere. It can't just be a ghost town now can it?

"Hey Shinji, there's a store over there. Let's go check it out; I used to go over here all the time with Kaji." Shinji nodded as the both walked into the store. Glass and clothing were littered all over the store floor. Asuka raced over to the women's section three stories up, leaving Shinji on the first floor. He scanned the first floor, which had nothing useful to him, since it was mostly children's clothing. He saw that the men's section was only a story up. He could use a sweater and better pants, and maybe boots. His school uniform was weak and tore often up in the mountains, and his shoe's soles had no grip or protection left, leaving only a few millimeters of space before his socks. He soon heard Asuka humming on the next floor. At least he wouldn't have to deal with her for a while.

Shinji dropped his pack and ran his hand through the clothing. He soon found what he was looking for: A Gore-Tex jacket along with a pair of jeans. He stripped off his old clothes and put on the jacket and jeans. He found a pair of boots that fit him, and strapped them on. Shinji shifted around in his new clothes uncomfortably. He didn't like the fact that he didn't pay for the clothes. It just felt wrong to be ripping off the tags and the hangers from something he didn't pay for. It was stealing! Just the thought was…

"Shinji!" Asuka yelled, "Go be the lookout!"

"Wha…What? Asuka….why can't you be the lookout?" Shinji whined.

"Oh stop, your bitching and go!" Muttering, Shinji reluctantly dragged himself to a lookout point. The store was built that the second floor overlooked the first, and the third overlooked the second. As Shinji leaned over the railing, his stomach uttered a low grumble. Shinji was reminded that he only ate a light breakfast and had walked 10 miles. He reached into the backpack that Asuka gave him. He sorted through the rations to find a full canteen filled with water, dried seaweed, as well as some dried meat. Shinji tore upon the seaweed greedily, and finished it in seconds. Even the bitter taste of seaweed was heaven on his tongue. He then opened the canteen and tore open a powdered Gatorade packet. Shinji closed and shook it with his hands. As he was shaking the canteen, Shinji again peered over the railing to the lobby. Suddenly, he stopped shaking the canteen and screwed the cap back on in a hurry. He left his pack and ran to the third floor. As he ran up the stairs, he made sure he wasn't seeing things. He was sure he saw people, actual human beings, maybe he was dreaming, a way to fool himself, yes that was it. But he saw the figure again, a tall shadow with something sticking out from its side. Shinji soon arrived on the third floor, looking for Asuka, and soon he found her lone figure standing out from the clothing racks.

"Asuka! Asuka!" Shinji yelled to the girl, "There are people out there! People!" Asuka looked away at first not believing, going back to looking for a shirt. Shinji ran towards her still yelling "You gotta believe me Asuka! People are out there!" Asuka, now annoyed looked over at him.

"Okay, so what if you did see somebody there? Why didn't you say something to them?"

"Um…I didn't want to because I needed to make sure I wasn't dreaming."

"God, I can always count on you Shinji to be a brainless idiot who doesn't have any balls."

"But I swear I saw them." Shinji said looking back at the lobby. Just then, they came in one by one. Six men clutching their rifles close to their bodies walked in, trampling the clothing and debris. Up on the third floor, Asuka immediately sprang up from the balcony.

"Hey! We're up here! Hello!" she yelled. Shinji immediately grabbed her and pulled her back down.

"Can you stop that Asuka? We don't even know who these people are, and you're already letting them know where we are?" Asuka brushed off Shinji's grasp and reached into her pack.

"What are you…?" Before Shinji could finish Asuka hushed him up with a quick "Shh!" Shinji looked over the railing again, and saw that the soldiers were know on the second floor. As he looked back Asuka had pulled out a long, black handgun with two clips of ammunition. She had just finished loading the gun, when the men started yelling downstairs.

"We know you're up on the third floor so come down already!" Shinji was worried, but Asuka just coolly tucked the handgun into the back of her pants. She looked over the railing and yelled back

"We'll be down soon! Just give us a minute!" She reached into Shinji's pack and her hand reached for the knife she had earlier packed away in there.

"What are you doing Asuka?" Asuka, then pulled out the knife she had hidden away in there, and pushed the blade into Shinji's pocket. Asuka gave him a wink, and started to walk downstairs.