--Shortly after noon at a familiar, unassuming building--
"You're certain you're pregnant?" Yomi dubiously asked Tomo.
"She's pregnant all right," Kaorin spoke up in Tomo's place, "She went through like a dozen pregnancy tests."
Yomi turned her gaze back to Tomo. "Who the hell would fu-"
"Yomi," Chihiro interrupted Yomi, "we need to talk to Chiyo, now!"
With that the color drained from Yomi's face as she realized the implications. While Kaorin noticed something was amiss almost instantly, even Tomo recognized something was very wrong after only a few seconds. Both Yomi and Chihiro were looking very somber.
"Yomi," Tomo started with worry clear in her voice, "what's wrong?"
Yomi shied away from Tomo's gaze and did her best to change the subject. "Come on," she said listlessly, "We need to get everything loaded up so we can get out of here."
As Yomi moved to help haul gear Tomo stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. "Yomi talk to me," Tomo begged.
Kaorin was just as alarmed. "You two know something that we don't, what is it?" she inquired.
Chihiro looked to a still unmoving Yomi, to Tomo, and finally to Kaorin before setting her gaze on Yomi once more. "You should tell her, Yomi," Chihiro informed her, "I will if you can't, but she should probably hear it from you."
The situation seemed to be getting worse and worse and still Tomo had no idea what they were talking about. "What is it?!" Tomo demanded as she started panicking, "What's going on?!"
"Tomo, sit down," Yomi ordered. Tomo started to protest but was cut off by Yomi, "Just sit down!" Tomo reluctantly followed Yomi's orders and sat down on a nearby box. Yomi struggled to find the words she needed to say. "Tomo, Chiyo says that…that…" Yomi trailed off still trying to find the right things to say. "Chiyo came here…to Japan to study the bugs. She thinks that it'll be easier to make a vaccine with information from the bugs," she explained to a now perplexed Tomo.
"What's that got to do with anything?" Tomo asked a still conflicted Yomi.
Yomi looked to the floor. "Chiyo says we need a vaccine because…" Yomi took a deep breath before looking back to Tomo. "Chiyo said that newborns contract the virus…and get sick…" Yomi was unable to complete her sentence, but it was clear that Tomo had gotten the message anyway. Tomo leaned forward as her shoulders slumped and her gaze met the ground.
"Tomo," Kaorin offered in a small whisper. Kaorin was about to get up and go to comfort Tomo but Chihiro held Kaorin back as she watched as to what Yomi was going to do.
To everyone's surprise it was the wildcat herself who made the first move. She wiped her forearm across her face and let out a sniffle before sitting up wearing a seemingly sincere smile. "Everything will be alright then, right?" Tomo asked, "Chiyo is a genius! If anyone can fix it, it's her, right?"
Yomi's face went through several emotions, but ended with a small, sad smile. "Yeah, everything's going to be just fine," Yomi assured Tomo, even if she didn't believe it herself.
Chihiro let out a sigh of both relief and disappointment. She was expecting an emotional explosion and it was barely a fizzle. Although it was probably for the best, considering now was not the time or the place for an emotional outburst. But it would come out eventually and Chihiro prayed it wasn't at an even worse time. "Come on," Chihiro called out in an annoyed tone, "Are you just going to sit on your asses or are you going to haul this shit so we can get out of here?!"
"Right," Yomi acknowledged with a nod and then offered her hand to help Tomo up. The duo then set out to help load the supplies.
"You go too," Chihiro said to Kaorin.
Kaorin looked to Chihiro. "I don't see you helping," she complained.
Chihiro pointed to her still swollen ankle. "It didn't magically heal," she said in a deadpan voice.
"Oh, right," Kaorin responded with a blush before getting up and going after Yomi and Tomo.
Left all alone Chihiro laid back and closed her eyes. It had been a long, long day for the woman, and it was barely noon. "After this," she mused aloud, "I don't think anything else could possibly happen." Little did she know that another horrible surprise was waiting just around the corner.
As Yomi and Tomo made their way to the back of the building they came across Sakaki and Kagura lifting more boxes. "Hey," Yomi called out to them, "do you two know where Chiyo is?"
Sakaki nodded as Kagura answered her, "She's out in the truck." Yomi turned and motioned for Tomo to follow, but Kagura stopped them. "If you're going out to the truck you should carry stuff too!" Kagura scolded the duo.
Yomi let out a frustrated sigh as she turned and once more had to drag Tomo after her. Yomi quickly led Tomo over to the supplies and went to lift a metal box, but underestimated its weight. "Give me a hand with this," Yomi ordered and was unexpectedly assisted by not Tomo, but Kaorin. Together the two women lifted the crate and followed after Kagura and Sakaki with Tomo trailing after.
--Just outside the building--
Once outside the girls offloaded their cargo into the truck bed. "Where's Chiyo?" Yomi restated her question toward Kagura and Sakaki.
Kagura thrust a thumb over her shoulder, "She's in the cab."
Sakaki and Kagura started to go back into the building, but were stopped by Yomi. "You two should come with me," the brunette informed the duo somberly. "Kaorin, you take Tomo and keep loading the truck, okay?" she asked Kaorin, who nodded in understanding. Tomo seemed to want to protest, but surprisingly she obediently followed Yomi's instructions and followed after Kaorin.
"What's this about?" Kagura asked Yomi as they stepped around the truck to the passenger side door.
Yomi ignored the question as she knocked on the window startling Chiyo and Osaka. "You surprised us!" Chiyo told Yomi as she rolled down the window. "Is something wrong?" Chiyo asked, suddenly alarmed at Yomi's serious expression.
"How quickly can you get a vaccine made?" Yomi aggressively demanded.
Chiyo was taken aback by Yomi's attitude, but tried to answer the question to the best of her ability anyway. "I'm not really sure, I haven't even gotten to properly examine an insect to see how the virus is related to them and-" Chiyo started but got cut off by Yomi.
"I don't care about that!" Yomi snapped at her, "Best case scenario how fast? Five months? Six?"
Chiyo shook her head. "I don't really think that's feasible," the genius explained, "It's possible, but incredibly unlikely." Yomi visibly deflated. "What's this all about?" Chiyo asked concernedly.
"Tomo is…" Yomi struggled to say, "Tomo is pregnant."
Chiyo visibly paled as she placed her hands over her mouth. "Oh no…" she whispered, "Are you sure?"
"Yeah," Kagura spoke up, "She went through like five different pregnancy tests."
At that Sakaki pushed Kagura out of the way and shoved Yomi away from the window. "Isn't there anything we can do?" the tall woman asked, worry evident in her voice.
"What's wrong?" Kagura demanded as she forced her way to the window beside Sakaki, "Is there something wrong with Tomo?"
Chiyo nodded. "Sort of…" the small genius mumbled.
"What is it?" Osaka asked from behind.
Chiyo looked over her shoulder to see Osaka who had at some point begun recording again and then back to a still-anxious Kagura. "When I was in America we learned that...without a vaccine…you see…" Chiyo fumbled over her words under the stares of her old friends.
"Babies die from the virus," Yomi bluntly stated, "If we don't get a vaccine soon Tomo's child will die too."
"N-No way," Kagura stammered.
"The only thing we can do for now is to get Chiyo someplace where she can start work on a vaccine," Yomi reasoned, "We should get this done, hurry up." With that Yomi turned on her heel and started off back into the building.
"Chiyo, there must be some way we can help Tomo!" Kagura insisted.
Chiyo shook her head. "I don't know," she admitted, "I'll try to think of something. Do any of you have any ideas?"
Sakaki and Kagura were both at a loss. "Come on," Sakaki insisted as she started back for the building, "The sooner we get done the better."
Kagura reluctantly followed after. "Is there really nothing else we can do?" Kagura wondered to herself.
--Inside the building--
Yomi walked angrily back into the building only to see the irritating sight of Kaorin and Tomo fumbling through the useless junk while Chihiro seemed to be watching them. "What are you two doing?" she asked rhetorically, "You're supposed to be carrying stuff to the truck so we can leave here ASAP."
"Kaorin found these crutches for me," Chihiro explained, "I thought we should look for other useful things. After all, it's not just guns and bullets that we need."
"Everything else can wait!" Yomi snapped, "We need to hurry up and get Chiyo to a lab!" Chihiro let out a sigh as she hobbled out of the building whilst Sakaki and Kagura were coming in. "Let's grab as much as we can and leave, now," Yomi insisted. Sakaki nodded in affirmation as she and Kagura walked past Yomi toward the back of the building. "You two as well," Yomi ordered Tomo and Kaorin. While Kaorin irately followed orders and made her way to the back of the building, however Tomo didn't make a move at all.
"You're upset," Tomo observed, still keeping her back to Yomi, "Sakaki and Kagura too. Was Chiyo's news that bad?"
Yomi silently cursed herself; she had forgotten that Tomo could be very aware when she wanted to be. "Tomo, we need to get Chiyo somewhere that she can work as soon as possible," she explained, "Things will be okay if we get on top of this quickly!"
"She's lying!" Tomo's mind screamed, "You know she's lying!" "S-Sure Yomi," Tomo lamented. "Let's go," Tomo said morosely as she followed off in the direction the others left in.
--Outside--
Back outside Chihiro made her way over to the truck on her crutches. "Chiyo," she greeted as she leaned inside the still-open window.
"Yomi's really upset," she pointed out the obvious, "I take it that the prognosis isn't good?"
Chiyo shook her head. "It's really upsetting," Chiyo admitted, "but I really don't think I'll be able to get anything put together in time."
"What about other options?" Chihiro inquired.
"Other options?" Chiyo asked. "Is there someplace we can go as a last resort?" Chihiro figured, "Some island the virus didn't reach, or something like that?"
Chiyo averted her gaze. "I don't really think so," the genius girl reasoned, "Birds and insects carried the disease, and who knows what else could have transmitted it. So finding an island that is virus free would be impossible and even if we did we'd probably bring the virus with us." Chihiro sighed as she thought of another idea.
"Ah!" Osaka exclaimed, "If we can't get Tomo away from tha virus then we jus' need ta get tha virus away from her!"
Chihiro just stared dumbly at her. "That logic doesn't make any sense!" Chihiro scolded.
"Yes it does!" Chiyo exclaimed. Chihiro looked at Chiyo skeptically as the genius girl translated Osaka's cryptic logic into something more easily understood. "Since we can't go somewhere that doesn't have the virus we have to take someplace that has the virus already and get rid of it!" Chiyo explained, "If we can't get a vaccine together in time we could keep Tomo's child in a sterile environment until we do find a vaccine."
"That's a really good idea," Chihiro admitted.
"What's a really good idea?" Kagura inquired as she hoisted cargo into the truck bed alongside Sakaki.
"Chiyo came up with an idea to protect Tomo's baby if we don't get a vaccine in time." Chihiro explained.
At that Chiyo popped her head out the window. "It was actually Osaka's idea!" the girl corrected.
"Osaka had an idea?" Kaorin asked dubiously as she approached the vehicle.
"Sort of," Chihiro admitted as Kaorin, with the help of Sakaki, loaded her supplies into the truck bed. Shortly after Yomi and Tomo also came out of the building.
"We have great news!" Chiyo shouted to them.
While skeptical as to the true meaning of those words, Yomi was unable to restrain herself and dropped the things she was carrying and quickly made her way over to Chiyo. Being given an excuse Tomo followed suit, also dropping everything she had been carrying before making her way over and next to Yomi. "What is it?" Yomi anxiously asked.
"Osaka came up with an idea," Chiyo informed them, "Even if Tomo gives birth before we can find a vaccine we can keep her child from getting sick by keeping it in a sterile environment. It would take a lot of effort to create and maintain, but it can defiantly be done long before Tomo's due."
Yomi breathed a sigh of relief as she felt her anxiety melt away. "That's good to hear," the bespectacled girl admitted, "You hear that Tomo? I told you everything would be okay."
"But you were lying," Tomo pointed out. Despite her brave face Tomo leaned over and hugged Yomi.
Yomi let out another sigh as she put her hands on Tomo's shoulders. "It's been a long day," she called out so all the girls could hear her loud and clear, "Let's get the hell outta here!"
After throwing the scooter into the truck bed, the girls all piled into the truck. Yomi took the driver's seat while Tomo sat next to her. Chiyo, Osaka, and Chihiro gathered into the backseat and the rest sat uncomfortably in the truck bed.
The truck was off in no time, headed towards the safety of the police station. "That way," Tomo said as she pointed to the left. Tomo was playing the role of navigator since Kaorin had opted to sit with Sakaki instead of driving back.
Meanwhile in the back seats Chiyo couldn't help but notice that Osaka was staring intently at her. "What is it, Osaka?" Chiyo nervously asked a little unnerved at the blank stare.
"What happened to tha other one?" Osaka cryptically asked, "Did ya lose it?"
Unsure of what Osaka was talking Chiyo checked herself, but was unable to find anything out of place. "What do you mean, Osaka?" Chiyo inquired.
Osaka didn't seem to register Chiyo's question as she continued to stare at the young genius. "I can't see it when she's lookin' at me," Osaka's mind wondered, "Is it tha left one or tha right one?" Giving up on understanding Osaka, Chiyo's attention wandered back to watching the road ahead. "It's bigger!" Osaka thought as she stared at Chiyo's ponytail, "Did it eat tha other one?"
"Look out!" Chiyo and Tomo shouted simultaneously as they pointed forward.
Sakaki, Kagura, and Kaorin were alarmed as the truck suddenly came to a screeching halt. "What the hell!?" Kagura shouted as she sprung to her feet, but was quickly thrown off balance as the entire truck lurched violently. As Kagura scrambled to get up again along with Sakaki and Kaorin the sounds of gunshots rang out. The trio was surprised at the sight before them as they crested the top of the truck cab. An oversized bug was up on the hood of the car and was trying to get its head through the now severely damaged windscreen to get at the women inside. Kagura quickly clambered on top of the truck cab before shooting down at the bug with her rifle. Sakaki, instead of climbing over the cab, jumped out of the truck bed and around to the side to shoot at the bug while Kaorin ducked behind the cab. Under the fire of not only Sakaki and Kagura, but also Tomo and Yomi, the bug quickly gave up the ghost.
Once the gunfire ceased everyone piled out of the truck, except for Kagura who stayed on top of the truck cab. "That thing is huge!" Kagura exclaimed in wonder. The bug was nearly twice the size of the ones the girls were familiar with.
"What the hell!?" Chihiro indignantly shouted, "Now they can be out in the daytime?!" With that it sunk in for Kagura and the rest that didn't immediately recognize the significance of this bug. Out in the midday sun this jumbo bug seemed to have been unaffected, unlike its brethren.
"It's not see-through," Osaka observed. It was true. While the insect's shell was the same sickly-white color it was proportionately bigger and thicker, making it opaque.
It took a while for the girls to recover from the shock before Sakaki broke the silence. "We should get it off the car," she suggested as she grabbed the bug and waited for the other women to help her shove it off of the hood. Yomi, Tomo, Kaorin, and, after climbing off of the roof, Kagura all helped Sakaki push the corpse off the truck. Now without a bug on the hood, dozens of bullet holes could be seen.
Kaorin glared daggers at Kagura. "You idiot!" she berated.
Kagura looked at the damaged hood, to her angry friends, and then to the ground. "I-I'm sorry!" she apologized, "I was just trying to kill the bug…I'm sorry!" Kaorin asked Yomi to open the hood so she could look to see the damage done to the engine. Kagura was on the verge of tears as she watched Kaorin examine the engine. "I really didn't mean to," she whimpered.
"It's trashed," Kaorin lamented before sending an angry glare at Kagura. "This is your fault!" she shouted as she pointed at Kagura. Enraged, Kaorin then drew her pistol and aimed at Kagura. Sakaki quickly sprung into action, placing herself between Kaorin and Kagura and protectively outstretching her arms. "Sa-Sakaki," Kaorin stammered. "Sakaki move aside," Kaorin said in a much more aggressive tone as she kept the gun pointed in Kagura's general direction, "She is dead weight!"
Sakaki shook her head as she slowly approached Kaorin. "Kagura is our friend," she assured Kaorin as she slowly walked up to her, eventually causing the muzzle of Kaorin's gun to poke into her torso. Kaorin stood completely stunned as she stared into Sakaki's determined eyes. The entire group watched in silence as Sakaki slowly reached for Kaorin's weapon, grabbed it, and pulled it from her limp grasp. Everyone watching breathed a sigh of relief now that Kaorin had been disarmed.
Using the truck as support Chihiro quickly hobbled her away over to a still stunned Kaorin. "What the hell were you thinking?!" Chihiro berated. Kaorin just shook her head. Sakaki handed Kaorin's pistol to Chihiro with a shaky hand, obviously more shaken up by the ordeal than she let on.
"Thanks, Sakaki," Kagura thanked Sakaki as she put a hand on her shoulder, "You're really amazing."
Chiyo anxiously stared at the sight before her. "Is this really okay?" she asked nervously as she remembered what Osaka had shown and told her about Kaorin and Tomo.
"No, it's not," Yomi told her as she went around to the truck bed, "but now's not the time to worry about it. We need to get to shelter before more bugs show up."
"Come on everyone!" Yomi shouted, "We need to get someplace safe!"
Tomo walked over and joined Yomi in grabbing up essentials. "Getting to the station before nightfall isn't going to be easy," she informed Yomi, "Especially with Chihiro and Chiyo."
Chihiro coaxed Kaorin over while Kagura and Sakaki also moved to try and get as much as they could carry on their backs. The group pulled the scooter out of the back for Chiyo and Chihiro to use and tried to load as much into it as possible.
"Are going to come back for the rest of this stuff tomorrow?" Tomo asked after they had everything together.
"We'll come back when we have a means of carrying all this stuff with us," Yomi informed her.
"We should cover it up, in case of rain," Sakaki mentioned as she stared at all the things they were being forced to leave behind.
"I think…" Kaorin sedately muttered, "I think there is a tarp in here somewhere." Kaorin slowly climbed into the truck's bed. An action that frightened a few of the girls, considering she was climbing into a plethora of deadly weapons. After retrieving the sought object she began to set it up and received help from a couple of the girls.
Everything in place, the group set out for the police station on foot, with the exception of the two gimpy girls who were on the scooter. Kaorin and Kagura both held their heads low in shame of their foolish actions.
"Chiyo!" Yomi shouted over the drone of the scooter's engine, "Why do you think that bug was out in the daylight?"
"I didn't get to really examine it, so I can't say for sure," Chiyo explained, "But it could be like Osaka said and the opaque shell allowed it be out in the sun."
Sakaki, as usual, also joined in the conversation. "Do you think it's a different species?" she asked, "Could they have evolved again?"
"I hope not," Yomi muttered, "It'd be really bad if they are evolving again already."
Chiyo thought about it for a moment before responding. "It could be them evolving," she reasoned, "But they would have to reproduce really quickly for them to change so much in so little time."
Chihiro shook her head. "Then how are they changing so much?" she inquired.
"Maybe they are dimorphic," Chiyo pondered.
"Dai-what?" Chihiro asked.
"It's a creature that has two distinct forms," Sakaki informed her, "but why haven't we seen the big one before, if they've always had two forms?"
"There was only one," Yomi pointed out, "Isn't it possible that it was just a fluke? A mutant or something?"
Their conversation was rudely interrupted by a certain wildcat. "Why can't I ride on the scooter?" Tomo butted in, "I'm pregnant!"
"You can walk!" Yomi retorted, "They can't!"
--Shortly before dusk the group arrives at the police station--
"This…This is where we're supposed to stay?!" Chihiro exclaimed indignantly after shutting off the scooter's engine. The run down structure had no remaining windows and even the doors were missing. "How are we supposed to be safe here?" Chihiro continued to rant, "Bugs can literally just walk right in!"
"Don't' ya mean crawl?" Osaka asked.
"It's safe," Kaorin assured her friend, "They can't break into the jail cells."
After checking her rifle Yomi looked around to the rest of the girls. "Sakaki, Kagura," the brunette called out, "You two come with me to make sure the building is clear. The rest of you wait here until its safe."
"I'm going too!" Tomo insisted, "It's my station!"
Yomi really didn't want to put Tomo into any danger in her condition, but at the same time 'safety' was a relative term anyway, especially now that there was the possibility of insects being out in the daytime. "Fine," Yomi relented, "everyone else be on guard, okay?" After getting affirmatives from the rest of the group Yomi led the charge into the building followed by Sakaki, Kagura, and Tomo bringing up the rear.
With half the group gone, most notably Kagura, Chihiro handed Kaorin's pistol back to her. "Point that at anything human and you're not getting it back again," Chihiro warned as Kaorin retrieved her gun.
"I'm sorry," Kaorin lamented as she checked the firearm over before replacing it in its holster.
"What the hell were you thinking?" Chihiro asked her.
"Kagura…It's just…" Kaorin fumbled over her words, "We don't get along."
"That's no excuse to try and kill her!" Chiyo scolded.
"I know it was stupid…" Kaorin admitted as she stared back at the angry glares coming from her friends, "I'm sorry."
--A short time later--
"It's all clear!" Tomo loudly announced as she came back out of the building. The other girls also emerged from the building to help carry the supplies and the injured to the cells.
--Inside the cells--
Sakaki, Chihiro, Kaorin, and Chiyo occupied the cell the girl's had usually stayed in while the rest took an adjacent cell. Now in a safe and stable location Sakaki proceeded to look over Chihiro's injury while Kaorin helped Chiyo in changing her bandages.
Chiyo was a little nervous in receiving aid from Kaorin. She knew Kaorin back in high school and she knew they were supposed to be friends, but still, Kaorin had tried to kill Kagura and, according to Osaka's tape, Tomo.
"Wow Chiyo," Kaorin marveled as she removed the old bandages, "How long ago did you get these?"
"Um…uhh…" Chiyo fumbled over her words as she tried to recall.
"It was about a month ago when Yomi and I found her," Sakaki informed Kaorin as she delicately checked over Chihiro's ankle.
While the wounds had mostly healed up there were terrible scars all over the girl's arms. "I don't think you need bandages," Kaorin observed, "The wounds look like they have completely closed up."
"I know," Chiyo admitted as she looked at her mangled arms, "but still, I just want to make sure it heals up okay."
"I'm sure it'll be fine," Kaorin assured her, "You shouldn't waste any more bandages." Chiyo didn't have the heart to contend Kaorin's judgment.
"Does this hurt?" Sakaki inquired as she contorted Chihiro's afflicted ankle which caused the poor girl to scream in affirmation.
"Be easy!" Chihiro begged.
Kaorin then helped Chiyo remove the bandages on her leg, to which the girl hissed and cried out at every little touch.
"Is everything all right over there?" Yomi yelled to the group from her cell, clearly worried about the yelling.
Both Chiyo and Chihiro assured that they were all right, even though they continued to whine as they were tended to. Unlike her arms, Chiyo's leg's wounds weren't totally healed and the mere sight of them nearly caused Kaorin to swoon. Kaorin did her best not to focus on it as she applied disinfectant and reapplied bandages to the festering wound.
"One week, maybe two," Sakaki mumbled, telling Chihiro how long until her injury would be fully healed.
"What are we going to do?" Chiyo asked.
"We're getting you to a lab!" Yomi responded from the adjacent cell.
"First we need a new vehicle," Chihiro reasoned, "After that we retrieve the stuff we abandoned. Then we can go find Chiyo someplace to work."
A thump was heard from Yomi's cell. "I'm sick of doing nothing!" Yomi shouted, "We need to get started working on this! I don't care if we don't have all the supplies or a real vehicle!"
"I agree with Yomi!" Tomo's voice rang out.
"We shouldn't take any unnecessary risks!" Kaorin shouted in Chihiro's defense.
"Let's take a vote!" Kagura joined in, "I say we find Chiyo a lab tomorrow!" Yomi, Tomo, and Osaka all voiced their agreement of Kagura's sentiments.
"We should play it safe!" Kaorin retorted and Chihiro agreed with her.
"I don't want anyone to be harmed," Chiyo announced, also agreeing with Kaorin.
The last to speak up, Sakaki pondered the situation for a moment before announcing her opinion. "We don't have much time left to keep playing it safe," Sakaki contended, "The bugs are changing each day and each day they are getting stronger. We have to do something."
"So we leave in the morning!" Yomi announced, "Be ready!"
Kaorin looked helplessly at Sakaki. For the first time in her life Kaorin resented the taller girl.
A/N: Not much action, but at least the story is moving along again. Once again the ideas I have in my head clash with what my fingers type. I had planned for them to make it to the police station with the truck (mostly) intact and of course that also meant no more anger between Kagura and Kaorin. Things didn't happen that way... On the bright side I do plan on making those two get along...eventually.