--Inside the police station just after the quake--
"Is everyone okay?!" Chiyo shouted after the ground stopped shaking.
"I'm fine," Chihiro dismissed.
"I'm…um…it's not…" Yomi stammered as she tried to find the right word.
"She's fine," Chihiro announced after checking Yomi over quickly.
"What about Tomo?" Yomi asked as she started to panic, "Tomo's not here!"
"Tomo left awhile ago," Chiyo explained, "She went to look for the others."
"She's out there?!" Yomi asked, "Tomo…she's…it's…we have to find her!"
"We aren't in any condition to do that," Chihiro explained, "I'm sure she's on her way back. She's gotta know that we're worried about her."
"Guys!" a familiar voice shouted. "Is everyone okay?!" Tomo asked as she dashed into the room and up to the cell.
"Tomo!" the trio shouted in unison.
"Tomo are you…did you…" "I'm fine," Tomo said, predicting what is was Yomi was trying to ask.
"We're all okay too," Chihiro announced as Tomo opened the cell and walked in before closing and locking the door behind her, "Did you find any signs of Kaorin and the others?"
Tomo shook her head. "They didn't say where they were going," Tomo admitted, "I have no clue where to look for them."
"What are we going…" Chiyo started to ask what they were going to do, but was cut off by a violent aftershock.
--At the bus depot--
The earthquake had leveled the entire servicing garage rendering to nothing more than a large pile of rubble. A small section of rubble slightly shifted before being pushed up and away revealing a dirty, but otherwise unhurt woman. After coughing and sputtering at the upturned dust, Kagura looked around for her friends. "Osaka! Sakaki! Kaorin!" Kagura desperately shouted when she found no signs of her friends. Picking a random location she began sifting through the rubble as she continued shouting in hopes of finding signs of life. After several seconds a bit of motion caught Kagura's eye. Kagura moved quickly to try and shift the rattling piece of rubble aside, but found it to be too heavy. "Wait here!" Kagura shouted in hopes that whoever it was could hear her as she searched for something to use as a lever. After grabbing a length of metal Kagura returned, but was unable to recall where to dig. "Hey!" she yelled as she looked about, "Where are you?! I don't see you!" In response to her voice she heard muffled sounds and saw movement again. She quickly darted over and used her newfound tool to force the rubble aside.
"Kaorin!" Kagura greeted as soon as the dust settled, "Are you okay?! Where are Osaka and Sakaki?!"
Kaorin didn't fare as well as Kagura. She was bleeding from an unseen wound on her head and various other scratches and bruises. "I don't know," Kaorin admitted once she had recovered from a coughing fit.
Kaorin's demeanor suddenly took a dramatic turn as she quickly drew her weapon and pointed it in Kagura's direction and began firing.
"What the hell?!" Kagura exclaimed as she covered her head. It took her a few seconds to realize that Kaorin wasn't shooting at her. She turned to see a giant insect barreling down upon them. Thanks to it being attached to her by its strap, Kagura still had her rifle. She drew said weapon, made certain the safety was off, and began assisting Kaorin. A seemingly futile effort as the giant insect easily closed the distance to the girls, but the bug suddenly stopped a few meters from the duo. It then turned on its heels and began to scurry away. "Yeah!" Kagura shouted, "We scared it off!"
Kaorin immediately forgot about the bug. "Sakaki!" Kaorin yelled desperately, "Sakaki, can you hear me?!" Both girls heard the unmistakable sound of muffled gunshots.
"Where?" Kagura questioned as she looked out across the rubble. Before they could locate the origin of the sound the ground once more shook violently and tossed both Kaorin and Kagura off their feet. Kaorin ended up landing on top of Kagura who took a nasty hit onto the unstable rubble.
As soon as the shaking stopped Kaorin opened her eyes to a terrible sight. Right next to her face was an unmistakable, bandaged hand sticking out of the debris. "Sakaki!" Kaorin cried out as she got off of Kagura and gingerly took the bandaged hand in her own. To Kaorin's delight she felt Sakaki flex her fingers at the touch. Kaorin quickly sprang into action as she tried to remove the heavy debris. "Help me with this Kagura!" Kaorin shouted, "Sakaki's under here!"
Kagura was sitting up, but had a significant problem of her own. In her fall she managed to get a deep cut across her left upper arm. "Give me a hand first," Kagura choked out through grit teeth as she sifted through her pack for gauze.
"Sakaki can patch you up when we get her out!" Kaorin protested as she continued to struggle to remove the rubble.
Kagura couldn't easily patch herself up and it was obvious Kaorin was not about to help. "Fine," Kagura said as she assisted Kaorin as best she could. After removing most of the smaller stuff only a single, large slab remained on top of their friend.
"Get us out!" Osaka's voice echoed up from underneath the same slab, "Sakaki's hurt!" Submitting to her panic Kaorin was somehow able to exert superhuman strength and, despite her terrible condition, moved the heavy slab aside.
With Kagura's help the duo was able to lift out Sakaki and then Osaka who turned out to be right underneath her. While Osaka only had a few scrapes and bruises Sakaki was in pretty bad shape. Her right forearm was very clearly broken and she was bleeding from many open wounds.
"What's wrong?" Kaorin worriedly coaxed.
"Kagura…your arm," Sakaki whispered, "Kaorin…you need to…suture it."
"Forget that!" Kaorin callously shouted, "You need help! What should we do?"
"There isn't anything…you can do for me," Sakaki explained, "But you can help…Kagura."
"Don't say that!" Kaorin desperately begged. Whilst Kaorin fawned over Sakaki, Osaka followed Sakaki's instructions and was tending to Kagura's wound. Kagura gave quite the fuss over the stitches and cried out more than once as Osaka carefully closed the wound. "Sakaki, please hold on," Kaorin begged as she began to treat the wounds she knew how to treat.
Sakaki meanwhile danced about the verge on unconsciousness. "Am I dying?" Sakaki's mind wandered as her vision faded to black.
Having had her wound fully treated Kagura joined Kaorin in helping Sakaki. After wrapping up the tall woman's open wounds Kagura and Kaorin did their best to set and splint Sakaki's mangled arm. "This is really bad," Kagura admitted, "We've got to get back to the others!"
"We can't carry her the whole way," Kaorin admitted as she quickly looked around. "Kagura, you make sure she's okay," Kaorin ordered, "I'm going to find one of these that'll run." And with that Kaorin took off to check out the different busses that had survived the quake.
Kagura didn't know what to do. Sakaki was the one that knew everything about being hurt and sick. "Osaka," Kagura called, but didn't receive a reply. Looking around she found Osaka in the pit she had been pulled out of and she was trying to pry something free. After giving a good tug Osaka fell back onto her backside with her prize in hand: her camcorder. "Osaka," Kagura called again, "Do you know what we should do?"
Osaka took a long look at Sakaki. "We could pray," Osaka offered. Having no other ideas she bowed her head and offered a silent prayer to the gods for her friend. When she opened her eyes Kagura found some good news as a bus came driving up to the edge of the rubble.
The door opened and Kaorin came out. "Let's get her in," Kaorin ordered as she bent down near Sakaki's shoulders, "You get her feet." Combining their strength the duo lifted the unconscious Sakaki and brought her onto the bus and set her down on a bench.
"Come on Osaka!" Kagura shouted to the oblivious woman, "We're going!" Following instructions Osaka climbed onto the bus and took a seat opposite Sakaki's. As soon as they were all in place Kaorin took off for the safety of the police station.
Thanks to the quake the streets were even more difficult to navigate. Many decrepit and unstable buildings were torn asunder by the violent quake causing rubble to fill the streets. Despite the bus's less than spectacular condition Kaorin forced the vehicle through small vehicles and clumps of debris. The reckless driving forced Kagura to stay at Sakaki's side to stabilize her through the rough ride. "Can't you take it easy?!" Kagura shouted as she tried to keep Sakaki's body from thrashing around too much.
"We're not going to get through if I slow down!" Kaorin shouted as she rammed another compact car out of their path.
"This thing is gonna break at this rate!" Kagura replied.
"It doesn't matter so long as it holds out until we get there!" Kaorin yelled back. The loud noise of the engine and overtly loud impacts as the bus tore through small vehicles and piles of rubble attracted unwanted attention. "Kagura! We have company!" Kaorin informed Kagura of the few trailing giant insects, "Osaka you hold Sakaki while Kagura takes care of them!"
After passing off Sakaki to Osaka, Kagura made her way slowly to the back of the bus. Once at the rear Kagura braced herself against one of the seats for support in the thrashing vehicle. She then drew her weapon and shot out the rear windows and moved the rest of the way to the back. Thanks to the tempered glass she was able to hold onto the shot out window frame for support whilst she held the gun out and opened fire on the pursuing insects. After emptying her first clip she was reminded of the grenades across her chest. After replacing the clip she let the gun swing freely from its strap whilst she grabbed one of her few remaining grenades. She pulled the pin out and dropped the grenade outside the window, but unfortunately it didn't explode until after the bugs had passed over it. Grabbing the next grenade Kagura decided to release the lever and cook it off for a couple of seconds before dropping it out the window. This time it managed to blow apart an insect and wounded a couple of others enough for them to abandon chasing the bus. Grabbing her last grenade, Kagura was about to pull the pin out when Kaorin impacted another obstruction. The sudden lurch caused Kagura to drop the unarmed ordnance out the back window where it fell harmlessly to the ground. Now out of grenades Kagura was forced to rely on her rifle to keep the pursuing insects at bay.
As Kagura exhausted her supply of ammo it was becoming apparent that for every bug she managed to deter another one took its place. "It's no good!" Kagura shouted, "They just keep coming!"
"Just keep them busy a little longer!" Kaorin yelled back, "We're almost there!"
Kagura looked at the bugs and then back to Kaorin. "You can't stop!" she yelled, "They'll overwhelm us!"
Kaorin was about to retort, but as the bus collided with a fairly large vehicle it finally reached its limit. No matter how much gas Kaorin applied the wheels received no power. The bus quickly lost momentum as the bugs began jumping on the bus and surrounding it. It ground to halt under the swarm less than a block from the station.
"What do we do?!" Kagura demanded as she shot at random insects as they tried to force themselves inside the bus.
"We fight!" Kaorin yelled as she drew her pistol and joined Kagura in trying to shoot the insects as they tried to enter. Luckily the bus had no openings large enough for the insects to enter aside from the door and windscreen and both of those were still intact. Even more fortunately things were turning into a free-for-all as many of the insects began to fight with each other.
After moving back to the front Kagura handed her pistol to Osaka. "Let's give them hell!" was Kagura's battle cry as Osaka also joined in shooting at the insects as they tore at the metal shielding the girls from their ravenous hunger.
--Inside the police station--
The sound was unmistakable. Tomo clearly heard gunshots, but none of the other girls seemed to hear them over the background noise of nearby insects. Tomo debated for a minute over whether or not to bring it up. If the others didn't hear anything then it could be her mind playing tricks on her again.
"It's…can't you hear it?" Yomi spoke up. "It sounds…it's…"
"Gunshots," Tomo finished Yomi's ramblings.
The other two sat in silence as they listened to the sounds carefully. "How didn't I notice that?!" Chihiro exclaimed, "Someone is out there!"
Tomo climbed to her feet and grabbed her shotgun. "I'll go see if I can help," she announced as she unlocked the cell door.
"You shouldn't go alone," Chihiro protested.
"If it's not far I can go with her," Chiyo offered as she struggled to her feet and used one of Chihiro's crutches as support for her lame leg.
"Take this too," Chihiro offered as she handed over one of her fully automatic pistols to Chiyo followed by a satchel with ammo for the weapon. Now armed, Chiyo left the cell alongside Tomo.
Tomo would have loved to run out and find out right away what was going on, but with Chiyo by her side she had to restrain her pace to a fast walk. The time it took for them to make it out of the station and to street level seemed excruciatingly long for both girls as the heard over and over the gunshots of people who obviously were in need of help. As they stepped out onto the street it was excruciatingly obvious where the commotion was coming from. A bus down the street was covered in at least a dozen insects that were both trying to tear into the vehicle and trying to tear each other apart.
"Let's go, Chiyo," Tomo announced as she started down the street at a pace faster than Chiyo could match. As Tomo ran towards the bus she brought her shotgun to bear and began firing at the insects. Tomo's march was cut short as a few of the insects took notice of the police girl and started after her. Quickly assessing the situation Tomo targeted the lead insect racing towards her as Chiyo came to her aid. Thanks to the fact that most of the insects were at the very least slightly injured it didn't take a whole lot to stop the giants before they could pose a threat.
The immediate threat neutralized, Chiyo and Tomo quickly moved to reload whilst carefully watching the remaining bugs scurrying about the bus. "They're still shooting," Chiyo observed, "That's a good sign."
"Time to be a hero!" Tomo announced as she brought her gun to bear once more. The duo then took pot shots at the insects in hopes that they wouldn't attract attention to themselves. Between the split forces of the women and the infighting it didn't take long for most of the giant bugs to collapse. Once most of the insects had ceased to be a threat Tomo and Chiyo slowly made their way toward the bus while firing at the remaining insects. By the time the duo reached the bus they had incapacitated all of the insects. Tomo proudly strolled up to the mangled door and forced it open. "Oi! We've come to save you!" Tomo announced as she stepped onto the bus. The first person to catch the wildcat's eye was none other than Kaorin. "Damn Kaorin," Tomo said with a huge grin on her face, "Just how many times do I have to save your butt?"
"Ah!" Chiyo exclaimed upon seeing the familiar faces, "I knew you guys were all right!"
"Hey Chiyo, Tomo," Osaka greeted.
"Uwaa!" Chiyo wailed, "Don't point that at me!"
"Huh?" Osaka wondered as she looked to the pistol in her hand. Somehow the spacey girl's lack of awareness caused her to inadvertently fire the weapon, barely missing Tomo and Chiyo.
"Give me that!" Kagura scolded as she took the gun from Osaka.
"That's why I don't usually let her have one," Kagura explained as she holstered the weapon.
Suddenly Kaorin remembered Sakaki's condition. "Tomo!" she excitedly announced, "Help me carry Sakaki! She is really hurt!"
Tomo and Chiyo rushed to see Sakaki and found her pale and wounded appearance more than a little disturbing. "Is she okay?!" Chiyo fretted as she checked Sakaki over.
"No," Kagura told her, "That's why we need to get her someplace safe right away!" Kagura helped Tomo and Kaorin get Sakaki up off of the seat and out the door. Chiyo refused to leave Sakaki's side as Kaorin and Tomo started to carry her toward the station.
"Kagura," Tomo ordered as she and Kaorin started slowly for the police station, "Go open the cell and make a place for her."
"Right," Kagura said as she dragged Osaka along.
--Back inside the station--
"Kagura! Osaka!" Chihiro exclaimed upon seeing her friends she was certain had died, "You're okay! Is Kaorin with you?!"
"She's coming," Kagura said dismissively, "Open the door."
Instead of moving to open the cell, Chihiro simply tossed the key to Kagura. "Is there something wrong?" Chihiro inquired, easily noticing Kagura's demeanor.
"Sakaki's hurt," Kagura informed them as she opened the cell before moving to the adjacent cell and opening it.
"Which cell are we putting her in?" Osaka inquired.
"I dunno," Kagura replied, "That's why I opened both." A few tense moments passed before Kaorin and Tomo showed up carrying Sakaki with Chiyo still at the tall woman's side.
"Move aside!" Kaorin ordered as she and Tomo put Sakaki in the empty cell. Kagura and Osaka eagerly followed them inside as Chiyo checked the tall woman over once more.
"Her breathing is shallow," Chiyo noted as she placed her head on Sakaki's chest.
"Is she going to be okay?" Kaorin anxiously inquired.
"I don't know," Chiyo admitted as she examined Sakaki's wounds, "How did this happen?"
"She was okay until tha second quake," Osaka informed her, "But when everything shook tha second time that big piece fell on her."
Upon receiving this new tidbit Chiyo quickly lifted up Sakaki's shirt to examine her torso. Sakaki's abdomen and chest sported terrible bruises. "This looks bad," Chiyo admitted, "She could be bleeding internally."
"Well fix it then!" Kagura insisted.
"If she is bleeding internally we…we can't do anything to help her," Chiyo informed them, "The only way to fix it is with surgery and we can't possibly do that here. It would be far more fatal than the bleeding."
"Then what do we do?" Kaorin begged.
Chiyo just shook her head. "There isn't anything we can do to really help her," she remorsefully informed everyone as she gingerly placed Sakaki's shirt into its proper position.
A heavy silence ensued as Chihiro and Yomi made their way to observe their friend. "I don't suppose there is any medicine in Sakaki's bag that could help her?" Chihiro suggested, "Maybe something that helps blood clot?"
"I don't know if that would be good or not," Chiyo admitted, "I'm not a doctor."
"So should we try it?" Kagura asked as she sifted through Sakaki's pack before retrieving a few bottles.
"I said I don't know," Chiyo insisted.
"You're the smartest," Kagura insisted, "So it's up to you."
"You can't expect me to make a decision like that!" Chiyo protested as she looked around to see that everyone did expect her to make a decision.
"You're tha only one that knows what to do," Osaka insisted.
"But I don't know!" Chiyo insisted.
"Then I'll decide!" Tomo announced as she looked thoughtful for a moment. "We should give her medicine!" Tomo insisted, "Medicine is always good."
"I don't think we should do that," Yomi countered.
"Why not?" Tomo queried.
"Because you came up with it," Yomi dryly informed the wildcat.
"Gotta side with Yomi on this one," Chihiro commented before Tomo could make a scene.
"What!?" Tomo demanded, "It can't be a bad idea just because I came up with it!"
"If she is still bleeding she will probably die soon," Chiyo interrupted, "I…I'm not sure, but I doubt giving her anything now would help."
"If the bleeding stopped would she be okay?" Kaorin anxiously asked.
Chiyo pondered the question for a minute before responding. "It depends on what caused the bleed," the little genius surmised, "If it was just a vessel or something I guess she would be okay if it stopped, but if the bleed was from an essential organ it could fail or if it's from her intestines she'll get sepsis."
"What's that?" Osaka inquired.
"Sepsis?" Chiyo asked and received a nod from Osaka. "Sepsis is when…" Chiyo started, but decided a real explanation wasn't necessary, "In this situation, sepsis is a death sentence."
"What can we do to stop that?" Kagura asked as she found the bottle she was looking for.
"We can't do anything!" Chiyo screamed as she reached her breaking point. "There is nothing we can do for her!" she continued to shout, "No matter what problem it is if she can't survive it on her own then she is as good as dead! So stop asking me to fix it!" As Chiyo finished her rant she slumped to knees and began to cry.
Osaka was the first to move to comfort her. "I'm sure she'll be fine," Osaka reassured as she approached Chiyo and knelt down by the little genius. "Sakaki's strong, really strong. If anyone is gonna survive it'll be her," the spacey girl assured as she hugged Chiyo.
A/N: I did not get around to several important points I had originally planned to make entirely due to the completely unplanned mortal injury Sakaki has recieved. Hopefully I will get around to these important tidbits in the next chapter and if I don't I will at the very least mention them in the author's notes. As I mentioned before I did not plan on Sakaki being injured (Yomi's injury was unplanned as well and even Chihiro's minor injury wasn't part of the original plan.) I promise after this there will be no unplanned serious injuries. Chapter 14 will take quite some time to put together mostly because now I have Sakaki to deal with. For an overview of the coming chapter for Encroaching Darkness I will write a summary in my profile and will continue to do so for each new chapter. This will occaisionally contain spoilers so if you don't want anything given away surely common sense tells you not to read it. This story is well over halfway done, but the ride still has a few exciting turns left. I look forward to your continued support.