File #10 Merciless Storm

Writer's note: Yikes, no views since last chapter… what did I do wrong? TT_TT


(Correlation)

'Dang it, just how long this thunderstorm is going to last?' Akaito 's impatience finally got the better of him after they have waited about half an hour for the heavy rain to stop. 'This isn't in the weather forecasting this morning!'

'Aw, don't blame them; maybe they screwed up again!' Meiko tried comforting Akaito, although she knew it's not going to be of any use. 'I mean, the wind direction is shifting all the time on the radar; maybe the thunderstorm decided to come towards China instead of some other country?'

'God knows.' Finally, Akaito decided that he should sit down onto the couch so that he may calm himself down, at least a little. This sucks. He thought. And I was about to put the finishing touch on the apology letter I've been writing for hours, nii-san had to drag me out of the office and placed me in a cruddy guard station out in the slums. Authority abusing for the win!

'Sxxx, we didn't even close the blast gates on our way back inside...' Akaito quickly got up when he remembered that he was supposed to close the gates before getting inside the guard station to avoid the thunderstorm. Problem is… he forgot.

'Don't worry... nothing is going come near this place during a thunderstorm.'

'Let's hope so...' Even though Akaito disliked rainy weather, Meiko thought that this rain might just help to cool things down quite a bit. It rarely rained in these areas… naturally speaking. Back in the town, only artificial rain is made when the temperature inside the main city is a tad too hot for the citizens. Thunderstorms are an even rarer sight apart from the usual, blazing heat in the slums.

She pressed herself onto the windows to see if there is anything amidst the rain. Soon, Meiku quickly pushed the window away from her when she saw something flash through the blurry road.

'Oh my gosh!'

'Huh-What?' Akaito came stumbling towards Meiko's side after she yelped out of the blue. 'What is it?'

'N-nothing. That was just a bird?' Akaito couldn't bring himself to believe that it was just a bird that flew past the window. Virtually, no birds ever flew to this region in the first place because of the unforgiving sun… in this case, a powerful thunderstorm.


(Mato POV)

Oh man, why is this happening to me?

I swore that I would never ride again in a heavy thunderstorm. But here I am, speeding like a madman on a highway, trying to get an unconscious girl to the nearest hospital!

I had to tie Miku really tight with me to make sure that she doesn't fall off when I'm speeding at 140kmph... 160? I don't know, the speedometer's not working. But whatever it is, I'm damn sure that I'm going really, really fast.

I'm glad that this highway doesn't do any sharp curves except for the one that leads to the general hospital!

(Correlation)

Akaito POV

*ksh* 'This is Shion Kaito calling for Shion Akaito, please respond!'

Ugh, and I was about to fall asleep from boredom... nii-san sure knows how to call me at these times!

'Meiko! Where are you?' I had to call out for her whenever we receive transmission from the headquarters. If I don't, she'd be really pissed about me for not calling her for briefings; trust me, things are not going to be pretty after that.

Luckily she got out of the basement room and joined me after patting off some dust on her. 'Sorry! I had nothing to do so I decided to clean up-'

'Never mind about that.' No time for her story telling though. Alright, whatcha got brother? 'This is Shion Akaito responding to my dear brother... what is it now?'

'Glad you can pick up and answer the transmission this time... our sensors are detecting a vehicle that is speeding frantically towards the central city using the western connecting bridge; Meiko, did you left the gates open again?'

'Uh... sort of.' I had to say, Meiko is quite brave admitting things like these directly to the boss without worry or stress. 'It was raining very hard before we had a chance to do so!'

'I see... did you see what it was when it went through the security checkpoint?'

'That's a negative.' It was my turn to step in and help; besides, Meiko doesn't touch the surveillance system terminal as often as I do. 'We had to turn them off so that the thunder doesn't get into them.' It might have been me, but I believe I heard Kaito's muffled swearing after I told him that.

'Okay then. Right now, just make sure you contact HQ as soon as you see something again outside the windows, you got this message clear?'

'Yeah I gotcha.' Heh, as if anything can get through a storm this thick, I doubt a single living thing can even last long out there.

'There's nothing that can go through this storm; Kaito's just over-reacting again, I guess.'

'You can say that again!'

But I wish what we believed was true; when I was about to leave the seat next to the SST, I picked up some rather irritating noise above the ceiling of this building. I'm sure Meiko heard that one loud and clear.

'...Helicopters?'

'Yup, they're rotor noises all right...' Technically, as long as a person is wearing a pair of specially designed headphones, their hearing capabilities greatly surpasses a normal person's limits. 'They're helicopters, and I think... they're definitely not civilian models; rotors can't be 'that' loud now, can it...? Unless...'

Oh... crap.

'Shion Akaito calling for HQ, please respond!' Failed to connect to server. Double crap.

'What do we do now...?' Meiko asked me quietly. From her voice, I could tell she's getting scared as the noise grew louder and louder. I had my own share of fright when searchlights penetrated the windows, blinding the both of us inside this building.

'DUCK!' And the next thing happened was gunshots, tons of it.