Chapter 4-How I Met A Genius
"How is Usagi?" Makoto asked as she passed Ami in the hallway. She leaned down and gave her girlfriend a quick kiss. "When are we letting her out? It has been a week."
Ami smiled and her eyes glinted. "Soon. Setsuna and I had been analyzing her blood and we are certain it has antibodies for the zombie virus. It is also two weeks since her bite and she hasn't turned yet. Anyway, I am gonna get these blood to Setsuna."
Makoto breathed a sigh of relief. "Well, I am on lunch duty today. Usagi said she hasn't have dumplings since the beginning, so I made her some."
"Aww...smells good." Ami's stomach growled. "Where is mine?"
"Already sitting on your desk, love. Anyway, I won't hold you up. Oh, don't forget, I am teaching you to fight later today..."
"I don't really need to, do I? When my girlfriend already has her black belt..." Ami teased slightly.
"Be there...or I will have to punish you." Makoto winked. The lovebirds said their goodbye and Mako continued down towards Usagi's room.
Mako chuckled to herself as she thought back to the day she met Ami. The day when the apocalypse turned into something survivable. She was about ready to give up when she encountered that blue hair girl...
"What do you have in that bag? Lower it slowly..." A middle-aged man raised his knife and stared down at the scared girl.
"It's just books, nothing else." Ami held up one hand, while the other slowly lowered the backpack.
After a quick search, the man tossed the bag down on the ground. "No food? That's impossible. Where is your camp?" The man made a quick whistle and two more men came out from the bushes.
One of them glanced at Ami and smiled. "We don't have any females in our group. How are we going to repopulate Earth if we don't have women? She looks young...and..."
Before the man could finish his sentence, a figure leapt down from the tree and a swift kick hurled the man a few feet away from where he stood.
Mako had been observing from the tree, reluctant to get involved until it was necessary. The other two lunged themselves at Mako, but the tall girl tossed them aside like garbage.
She turned back and saw Ami hugging her bag and trying to make herself seemed smaller. Her blue eyes stared back, sizing up Mako. Friend or foe? She seemed to ask.
Mako flashed her a friendly smile as she punched the last guy standing and then kick him again for good measure. "Women are not things, you little fucker. Get out of here..,before I change my mind..." She brought out her shiny new knife and waved it around. The man clutched his injured manhood and whimpered as he ran away...
Mako bent down and picked up the remaining books. "Mechanics? Cooking? Romance novel? Girl, you need to get your priority straight. Most people are hoarding food, but you are hoarding books?"
Ami took the books and blushed. "These are more valuable to me. I do have some canned food if you want payment for saving my life."
Mako raised her eyebrows and then let out a laugh. A laugh that surprised the both of them. "I don't want payment, but it would be an honor for me to escort you back...wherever you came from..."
Ami's face turned a darker shade of red. She glanced up quickly and then look down again. "I don't have anywhere to go. My apartment building was overran with crooks and zombies."
"That was fast...do you live in a rich area or something?"
Ami nodded. "Yeah...everyone seemed to have the same idea that we would have valuable things to steal...except that money and commodity meant nothing in this new world.. Where do you live?"
"In the park. I keep to myself. No one to trust but you strike me as a good person. Say, do you want to be apocalypse buddies?"
A faint smile was detected on Ami's face, then it quickly disappeared. "I am not much of a fighter, I might slow you down. Actually, I have never hit anything or anyone in my entire life..so I am an unnecessary baggage for you..." Before the small girl could finish, Mako took her hand and start dragging her along.
"Okay, smarty pants. I am not much of a thinker and you seemed smart. So there, my stupidity might slow you down too. Stop worrying so much, we might die tomorrow anyway. At least, we can keep each other company until then. Come, I know a restaurant off a beaten path and there might be food left..."
Usagi heard footsteps and scrambled out of bed. "Mako, is that you?"
"Hey Usagi, I have a surprise for you..." Mako opened the bottom half of the door and slid the tray in.
Usagi looked down at the precious food and let out a squeal. She could hear Mako chuckling on the other side.
"Oh, I love cooking for you. Your reactions are just the best, music to my ears..." Mako laughed again.
As Usagi proceed to stuff the dumplings into her mouth, she quickly got the update on Chibiusa, as well as Ami's research.
"Chibiusas is much better now. I am trying to cook a variety of things so that she can get her strength back. Ami said that Chibiusas was malnourished." Mako opened the rest of the door and plopped herself down at the doorway.
"Hey, you are not supposed to do that." Usagi walked a few steps back.
Mako waved her hand nonchalantly. "Don't worry. Ami is going to let you out soon. Plus, I hate talking to you through the door. So, want me to continue my storytelling?"
"Yes," Usagi said excitingly. It had been her only source of entertainment as of late, Mako telling her how everyone met.
"Okay, so where was I? Oh right...so after we decided to keep each other company, we drifted through the city. Being a homeless kid before the apocalypse came in handy. I knew all the places where I could scavenge for food and all the safe spots to rest."
"Mako," Usagi opened her mouth but decided not to ask the question. She had been wondering a while now why Mako was homeless. "Never mind, keep going."
Mako tilted her head and looked at Usagi. Then she smiled and nodded. "It's okay. You are wondering why I didn't have a home. Well, my parents died in a plane accident when I was little. I was bounced around the foster system until one day I ran away. I came to Tokyo because it was the city where I could just disappear into the crowds."
"Oh my gosh, I am so sorry." Tears welled up in Usagi's eyes. She knew now the loneliness that came with being an orphan, and to think Mako had to endure that for so many years before the apocalypse, Usagi felt her heart ached for her new friend.
The brunette waved her hand again as she smiled sadly. "It's okay. Anyway, so Ami and I stayed together for about a month before we ran into Rei and Minako."
"They scared me. What's their story?"
"Well, as you know, Ami wasn't much of a fighter. One day we ran into a group of zombies, about 10 to 15 of them." Mako's eyes grew dark as she remembered. "I was doing a pretty good job of taking them down while keeping Ami behind me. Neither of us noticed another zombie coming from behind. When she screamed...I knew one had gotten to her. I was battling four at the time still and I thought I had failed her."
"And I came along and put a bullet in that bastard's head." Minako appeared in the doorway. "Mako, why did you open the door?"
"Because I can so handle a zombie Usagi, if she turned. But, she won't turn anyway because Ami is almost done her research and Ami is certain Usagi is safe." Mako stood up and crossed her arms.
"Hi, Minako." Usagi waved timidly from where she stood.
The leader merely nodded and then walked away. "Mako, one of the solar panels stopped working. You might want to check it out later."
"I will." Mako then turned to Usagi. "Yeah, Rei and Minako are intense. They were already together when we met them. But, once you get to know them, you will find that they are not as scary as they looked. My gosh, Minako is literally the biggest goofball I've ever seen. You just have to earn their trust, that's all."
"Goofball? Really?"
"Yup, one time we went out for a supply run and she came back with a bag of porn. She proceeded to decorate Haruka and Michiru's bedroom with cover images of the DVDs. Or, that time she fed a ball of wasabi to Setsuna, telling her it was green tea ice cream. If she hadn't chosen police as a career, she might make it as a comedian or a clown..."
Usagi couldn't help but smile a little. "I am glad we found you guys...like you said, we all need to stick together in an apocalypse right?"
Mako nodded and patted Usagi on the head. "Anyway, I better go check out that panel, Minako keeps a pretty tight ship around here. Hang in there, Usagi."
Usagi smiled and waved goodbye to her new best buddy as the door swung close. When the lock clicked, her smile evaporated. Could they all make it through this apocalypse?
