Chapter 2: Worsening
Tina and June approached the plant while the others stayed behind to watch the food containers. They looked at the plant, and there didn't seem to be anyone there. "Shall we go in?" Tina asked.
"I think the plan was that we do," June answered. She pulled on the door…and nothing happened. She pulled harder, and still nothing happened.
"What is it?"
"It's locked."
"Great. Now how're we supposed to get in?"
"I have one idea," Youngdramon said. "Dragon Bomb!" The glass door shattered.
"Youngdramon, are you crazy?!"
"We needed to get in. Now we can."
"But we're trying to make a good impression on anyone who is here in the building. Blowing up their door doesn't exactly do that."
Youngdramon snarled. "Okay, you win this argument."
"What's gotten into you, Youngdramon?"
"I don't know…I've been in a sour mood ever since I found my duct tape collection---destroyed when the nuke plant collapsed."
"That explains it. Don't worry, there will be other rolls of duct tape."
June shouted into the power plant, "Hello?? Anybody here?" There was no answer.
"Man…creepy," Tina said.
"No kidding. Let's get in and out of here fast."
They hadn't walked far before Tina screamed and pointed to a dead, but undecayed body, wearing a labcoat and holding a pen in his hand. She yelled to June, "We need to get out of here right now!"
"Why?"
"This plant is swimming with radiation! That guy died of radiation burns; if we don't leave soon, we'll end up just like him."
They ran away from the plant and back to the others. "We won't be living inside the plant; there's radiation in there that killed someone!"
"Who?"
"Nobody we know…I hope. We didn't stick around to find out who it was."
"Smart choice," Ken thought aloud. "But we can't just sit around here; we need to find some place to sleep tonight. We'll probably be safe enough from the radiation at this distance from the plant, assuming the plant didn't melt down."
"I don't think they did. If it had melted down, that guy we found wouldn't have stuck around, either. I think the radiation is just inside the plant," Tina answered.
"Good. Then, with this many buildings between the plant and us, we'll be safe. Let's just pick a building and go inside."
They groped around in the dusty, dark interior of one of the shops. "What was this place?" Tina asked.
"Looks like it used to be a bank," Ash answered.
"Think there'll be good places to hide if that guy shows up and takes the menace machines inside the 500 meter perimeter?"
"Good question," Ken answered. "But he'd have to make killing us a priority if he wanted to do that. As far as we know, there's only one of him, and he can only be in one place at one time, so it's a hassle for him to come and attack. And I don't think he even knows we're back, so we'll probably be okay…unless we miscalculated how close we are to the power plant."
"Speaking of priorities, how're we supposed to find the others?" Ash asked.
"I don't know, yet," Ken answered. "If I were them and alive, I'd be trying to find everyone else, too…maybe try to find another nuke plant to hide out in."
"But…" Tina was almost afraid to ask this question. "What about…all the refugees we saved…?"
Ken sighed. "It's a safe bet that the others tried to save them. But we didn't find much human remains at the plant. Maybe they got away."
"You think so?" Tina asked. (She was fumbling for hope.)
"…What else could the reason for us not finding them be?"
Tina sighed as she went over the list of possibilities in her mind. She began using whatever she could to sweep dust away from one spot so she could lay down her bedroll there and sleep.
It quickly turned out that she was fortunate to have her bedroll along: the other had to make do for bedmaking. Rain ponchos had to be substituted for blankets, and backpacks for pillows. This wasn't very warm, especially for Rika, as she was the youngest that was with them. Tina could hear her shivering, even though Renamon was holding her and trying to keep her warm with her fur. Tina sighed. She nudged Youngdramon. "We're moving."
"How far, how long?" Youngdramon groggily asked.
"About four meters; it'll take about ten seconds to get there." Tina picked up her bedroll and tiptoed over to Rika. "You're cold?"
"…A little…"
Tina unzipped her sleeping bag and spread it over Rika and Renamon. She crawled in, too, and rested her head on her pillow. Hoping to find a friend to talk to in this disaster-movie-come-true, Tina asked, "One question…how're you holding up?"
"Besides the dust, and freezing to death, and---"
"I don't mean physically."
"…You know I hate mushy stuff," Rika spat.
"Rika…" Tina had never felt more alone before in her life: her mother had disappeared, and---even though Tina had hated her mother's over-protectiveness---she now missed her in a way that cut her heart in two. And then there was Ingrid…Tina had practically been Ingrid's mother, and the thought of having been away for weeks---or even years---and leaving Ingrid alone was as much torture as the thought of losing her mother. Tina couldn't hold her tears in any longer. She started sobbing. At first, Rika didn't know she was crying, but then she began to hear it.
Rika was silent for a while, then said, with a wavering voice, "Hey, quit it…you're going to get me started…"
Tina didn't answer. Rika didn't push her away like she wanted to. She felt Renamon lean forward to lick the teardrops off Tina's cheeks. Rika didn't know why, but she almost felt like crying, too…everything that was familiar to her was gone. That nuke plant was their safety, and---even though Rika had tried to be careful not to make friends or become attached to anything, she had failed in her attempts and felt the loss of the building weighing on her heart and squeezing the tears out of her eyes. She tried not to make a sound and to breathe normally, but she couldn't. Renamon felt Rika's quick breathing, and began licking tears off her face, too.
"Keep your tongue to yourself," Rika spat. She shouldn't have spoken: Tina could tell from Rika's voice that she was crying, too, and Rika soon after felt Tina's warm hands wrap around her back and embrace her to give her a shoulder to cry on. "No…stop it…please," Rika mewed. She was helpless. She didn't want to face her emotion, but she didn't want to fight Tina, either. She was caught between a rock and a hard place, and the rock was crushing her. "Please," she whispered.
"Rika…I don't know much about you, but I can tell you've been keeping your emotions at arm's length. That's going to kill you faster than any menace machine."
"Tina, I don't want to do this. I'm not going to cry."
"You'll snap if you don't."
"I'd rather snap," Rika shot back darkly.
"You've been snapping your whole life, Rika, and that's why you're so messed up. That's why you feel rotten all the time. If you don't cry, you'll only make it harder for yourself."
"I like hard."
"How can you?! Those menace machines out there are hard. Isn't there enough suffering on this planet without you snapping?"
Tina felt a punch on her arm. "Quit touching me. Now."
Renamon held Rika back so that she wouldn't be able to punch Tina again, but Tina turned away and let go. "Someday, you're going to wish you cried, Rika," Tina angrily shot back. "That's all I know."
As if! Rika thought to herself.
******
"Sora, hang on!" Birdramon shouted. She began flying in all kinds of strange maneuvers, trying to outfly the underbirds and lose them---not to mention avoid their shots. But it just wasn't working; they were catching up and they were scoring more and more hits.
"Birdramon!" Sora moaned as she saw her take shot after shot. Finally, Birdramon could fly no longer, and she collapsed to the ground. Birdramon covered Sora with her wing the way a mother bird covers her baby from a thunderstorm, and there was plenty to protect Sora from. Sora could her the shots strike, and it wrenched her heart to see Birdramon continuously get hit.
Her digivice glowed. "What…?!" There was a red, glowing insignia on her digivice, one that looked like a heart. "But…that means…Birdramon, digivolve!!!"
"Birdramon, digivolve to…Demiphoenixmon!"
Sora stood wide-eyed as Birdramon became another, fiery bird. Demiphoenixmon had a pair of metallic claws jutting out of her wings, and her flames were bright, cherry red. "You…digivolved a second time?!" Sora asked.
"Phoenix Claw!" Demiphoenixmon yelled as she sliced through the underbirds with her clawed, metal arms. She blew a stream of flame out her mouth to finish off the rest: "Wing Blade!" She looked around, and that was the last of the underbirds. She yelled down to Sora, "I'm as surprised at this as you are. You must have your crest back."
"That crest of love program that Tai told me about?"
"It must have switched on when you couldn't stand my getting hit."
"Speaking of, how are you doing?"
"Don't worry; the damage was repaired the minute I digivolved, exactly like the time when I first digivolved to ultimate in the Digiworld. Listen, we need to get out of here before I go back down to Biyomon."
"But…where to?"
"I don't know. That's the problem; we need to find someplace where the underbirds won't find us…"
They heard a scraping noise. They saw Cody's head peek out of a manhole in an alley. "Quick!" he shouted. "In here!"
"You think this is a trick?" Sora asked.
"I don't know; it's just the thing one of those enemies would try---whoever they are."
"Pika!" Pikachu shouted.
"You…have an idea?" Sora asked.
"Pi-ka-chu!" Pikachu ran up to Cody and sniffed him all over to make sure he was a human being. He looked down into the manhole, and saw that there wasn't a hoard of menace machines waiting to attack. He gave Sora a thumbs up and climbed onto Cody's shoulders.
Sora sighed. "Either this'll get us killed, or we'll find the others. I'm starting not to care which---"
"Don't even think like that, Sora!" Demiphoenixmon insisted as she regressed back to Biyomon.
Sora let out a melancholy sigh. She knew Biyomon was right. She ran towards the manhole and climbed after Cody. "Cody…wouldn't the underbirds find us in this place?"
"No; for some reason the concrete and the underground pipes around here confuse their sonar."
"Good to know some place is safe." She stepped off the ladder and picked Biyomon up. She turned around with Biyomon still in her arms, and saw a sight that made her gasp. There were forty or so refugees living in the storm sewers, and they were mostly in broken families---or scrambled families, where the parents and children had switched ages. It made a tear peek out her eye.
"I wish I didn't have to show you this, but there's no other way in."
"H-how do you keep them fed?"
"There are two ways: catch rats, or get Submarimon and Zudomon to go out on another fishing trip."
Sora's head spun and she began to feel faint as the thought of her having to eat rats swam through her mind. The thought of dozens of other people eating rats was no more reassuring.
"I know; I didn't like the idea, either."
Biyomon wiped a tear off Sora's face. "We're still alive Sora…and that's a good thing."
Sora squeezed back. "Alive," she sighed.
"Alive."