STRIKE GIRLS

Disclaimer: I own nothing in this story.

Chapter 2: Survival of the fittest... Not really.

I was a Miko...

Well, more precisely, I was Kagome Higurashi, the Miko from the manga "Inuyasha"... Almost complete since I didn't have her yellow backpack and bow accessories.

"Here you go, Kagome-chan."

I barely stopped myself groaning as Doctor Miyafuji gave me... a yellow backpack...

I "volunteered" to be one of those going outside our bunker for a supply run. It has been one week since the invasion by those sea monsters. The sporadic naval bombardment ceased after three days. Sporadic because it seemed those creatures targeted mainly military objectives. Or more exactly anything that could be or be used by the military.

At least I managed to help those wounded. Still, discovering that I could heal with my power (with white-pink special effect, no less) has been both a curse and a blessing. Blessing, because no one was going to die soon and a curse, because now, almost everybody was looking at me like I was... a kami.

And, oh yes, I was responding to Kagome Higurashi because I couldn't still remember any personal details and nobody identified me as the original Kagome Higurashi (even the anime one with the chocolate eyes).

Still, when the military people asked the civilians for help, I couldn't say no after seeing the eyes of a little girl silently asking for food and water. The problem was of numbers: On the 400-500 soldiers dispersed over the island, only 40-50 survived the slaughter so far. The small civilian population of 2000 managed to be evacuated by air and sea and only a hundred and so were left behind.

150 to 200 people trapped behind the enemy lines on an island surrounded by unknown monstrous creatures. What a recipe for disaster. And no possibility of surrender as any tentative of contact was ignored or fired upon. No communication with the external world either.

We had some advantages: The bunker of Nanpo was solid and its network of tunnels allowed us to go practically anywhere on Iwo Jima. The fact that military bases, even shelled by the enemy, existed ensured us a supply of durable rations, salvageable resources, and some functional equipment. The bunker itself was also a treasure trove of... outdated materials from WW2, but still usable.

Shirley approached and secured on my person one of our walkie-talkie and a Nambu type 14 pistol, one of the few but still functioning weapons we had available from the bunker stores. She also put a few other pieces of equipment in my backpack.

USAF Lieutenant Charlotte "Shirley" Yeager, JGSDF Lieutenant Ushio Hayato and JASDF Captain Mio Sakamoto as the remaining highest military ranks on the island were the reason why a teenager like me could give orders to the remaining soldiers. With the witnesses of the firefighter captain Hiroshi Ryu, Doctor Yoshika Miyafuji and the police superintendent Tetsuo Hijitaka, Mio Sakamoto temporarily inducted me into the JSDF and gave me a field brevet of sergeant (not even worthy of toilet paper of course)... 'yeah... totally not seeing the trolling of someone up there...'

I let the effective scouting of the enemy to the military, they were pro after all, while I focused on my "grocery" list. We didn't need to take a map of the tunnels with us because the whole network was visitor-friendly, complete with a little map at each entrance and signs at every junction. Still, I needed to experiment a little on my powers since I didn't want to make any damage to our shelter. At least, the healing and shielding went unnoticed by the enemy.

Speaking of my powers, Mio helped me to test its limit. I did have a sort of energy reserve or well of power deep inside me. It was replenished with time, meditation and, I guessed, with locations as I was almost sure I continually absorbed ambient spiritual energy.

A few thrown pebbles tested my shield and it was a 2-dimensional protective plane. I could form multiple shields and also extend them but those options were more draining than one single shield protecting my entire body length.

Along with Yoshika supervision, I quickly found that my healing power was the most draining capacity I had even if I could heal myself. It also generated internal heat that increased with the seriousness of the wound and how long I was exercising the power.

However, it was practically universal in its reach as we discovered that I could treat poisons, toxins, diseases and also regenerate missing flesh and bones of humans and animals to the joy of a little boy and his cat. The fact that it soothed pain was also welcomed by the patients or Yoshika would have run off of pain-killers sooner.

The exterior was... a battlefield. Some places were still burning and shell craters pocked the surface of the island. I looked a long time at the sky, searching for the enemy planes before risking myself out of cover. I felt like a WW2 or WW1 soldier advancing on a ground held by the enemy and knowing he could receive a bullet anytime. The fact that Iwo Jima was relatively flat didn't help any.

I gained the relative security of trees and extracted a field binocular to visually scout my objective: the buildings of the airport. According to our scouts, the enemy still focused on the shores of the island. No troops had landed so far but there were semi-regular Combat Air Patrols scouring the island. It was something puzzling for Shirley and Mio as the enemy seemed almost obsessed towards the sea and not the island.

One of the most puzzling facts was that during the bombardment, they also targeted Mount Suribachi. And there was nothing of interest there except the preserved command bunkers of Lieutenant General Tadamichi Kuribayashi. It was the highest point of the entire island but its position was too much exposed to artillery strikes. It would have made sense to put there detection equipment and/or artillery, but the enemy wasn't interested in landing troops... So far...

I reached the shelled buildings of the airport. Shirley already knew by our scouts that no planes remained intact, but Yoshika was more interested in the medical supplies of the airport. Mio simply asked me to take notes of everything interesting. I thought I played FPS games before my amnesia but it was another story to do it in real life... although there was a sentiment of "déja vu"... Maybe I did make a tour of duty in the military myself..?

There were, unfortunately, a few rotting corpses inside the buildings. The heat and humidity accelerated the decomposition so I had to improvise a filter and forced myself inside after a small prayer for their souls. The infirmary was almost intact and I pilfered everything I could stash in my backpack privileging antibiotics and pain-relievers. I probably had a medical formation in my past as I easily recognized everything. We were lucky to not have any diabetics in our group... or pregnant women.

The airport had a somewhat free line of sight on the ocean on the west side and as I exited the building, I saw for the first time one of the enemy unit sailing near the shore.

I could see a hull, black as sin streaked with splotches of dull gray. A warship, but... Something was wrong... Well, wronger than the cloud of dark miasma orbiting it... It was as if there was something both underneath and yet in plain sight...

As I focused more on the unsettling sight the warship hull was suddenly absent as if someone erased it like a bad drawing. Under it was a somewhat humanoid form mixed with a boat-hull, a little taller than the average adult and made of an unholy union of black steel gray flesh, wicked-looking guns, and a head more like half a human denture in dull steel...

It couldn't be... 'By all that is holy, is that...' "A Ho-class light cruiser..? A... A fucking... ABYSSAL..!?" 'From the game Kantai Collection..!?'

It didn't have any eyes, and yet its head turned towards the coast, towards me and...

I found myself down in a hole, trembling on my four limbs, drenched in sweat and throwing up the last MRE I ate. It was like a blindfold has been suddenly wrenched from my head. I could... not see them per Se, but sensed them... like a blip on a radar screen... Except that each blip was drenched in dark and glacial miasma.

I seized my head as impressions and words/whispers/screams reached my mind, my soul...

I don't want to die..!

Why did you abandon me..?

Cold... So cold...

Where I am..? Where are you..?

It hurts... It hurts..!

A curse on you...

I'll return... I'll have revenge..!

It's so dark... I can't see anything...

Who are you..? What do you want..? WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!

I returned to consciousness sobbing and curled upon myself. Those emotions... Were they the feelings, the memories of the Abyssals..?