The group moved slowly through the ruined buildings, their weapons at the ready. Yuuya led the way, examining his surroundings with every few steps.
Yuka lifted her shotgun onto her shoulder and started picking at a corpse leaned against a door. "Looks like scavengers don't come here often. This poor bastard still has a few bullets on him."
"Few who enter these ruins return." Yuuya explained slowly. He turned to look at Yuka. "We should be more cautious, lest we share the fate of those lost here."
Satoshi was walking over to where Yuuya was standing when he suddenly felt his foot slip through a hole in the floorboards. However, when he righted himself and looked down, the floorboards looked perfectly safe.
"The spirits of the dead like to play tricks on the living." Yuuya noted. "Step where I step, or you may lose your way."
The three began to move through the old buildings. Yuuya stopped every few steps to check where the floor was safe to stand on. The wind blew through the gaps in the walls, creating an eerie whispering sound in the air.
While walking past an open door, Yuka saw something move out of the corner of her eye. She turned to see children playing with toys, giggling to each other.
"Kizami! There are others here!" Yuka pointed into the room, trying to get Yuuya's attention.
Yuuya replied without turning around. "Those children are not among the living. Do not approach them."
Confused, Yuka turned to look into the room again. This time, she saw little skeletons gathered around charred toys. The laughter continued.
"How much further?" Satoshi asked nervously, looking at his feet as if that would keep the floor from falling out from under him.
"We do not need to travel for much longer." Yuuya pointed at a staircase. "We'll take these stairs down to the ground floor. They were intact the last time I was here."
The group moved through the ruins carefully, eventually reaching the shattered entrance. Yuuya hefted his machine gun and pointed outside with it.
"The Perfect Life shelter is just over this hill outside, perhaps a hundred or so meters away. The entrance is gated, but it does not lock. We should be able to get inside without trouble." Yuuya looked at Satoshi. "Are you ready? The mutants may see us, so we must be ready for battle."
Satoshi nodded slowly. "As ready as I can be..."
Yuuya nodded and led the way into the wasteland, heading toward the hill. Satoshi and Yuka followed.
They had only run a few meters when the howls of watchmen were heard. Satoshi held up his gun and looked around. He saw a pack of the mutants charging right at them.
"From the left! Watch out!" Satoshi called out, firing a few shots into the pack.
Yuuya and Yuka turned as well, loosing a few shots at the watchmen as they ran up the hill. However, the horde did not seem to be fazed by the gunfire.
Upon reaching the top of the hill, the group was hit by the front of the pack. Satoshi had to fling a grenade out into the horde to distract them long enough to shoot the ones that had tried to jump him.
A watchman tried to sneak up from behind Yuka, but she heard it sniffing at the last second before it jumped and she spun around to face it. The watchman was flung back from the force of buckshot being blasted into its chest.
Yuuya seemed to have attracted the most attention, having several watchmen circling him at once. He was in the middle of shooting one when another slashed at his weapon, knocking it aside. Yuuya pulled out his survival knife and sliced open the watchman's throat in retaliation.
While holding off the watchmen, Satoshi looked down the hill to see the entrance to a shelter, a barred gate sealing it shut. "Let's hurry to the shelter! We can lock them out!"
Yuuya nodded and ran down the hill toward the shelter. Satoshi and Yuka followed, turning to shoot watchmen as they ran.
Just as Yuuya was reaching the gate, a shrill cry went through the air and the sound of flapping wings descended on the group. They all looked up just in time to see a demon swoop down and grab Yuuya off the ground.
"Kizami!" Yuka shouted, firing a few shots at the demon as it flew away. The demon cried out in pain and dropped Yuuya, who landed in a heap. Watchmen quickly ran over to Yuuya and began to claw at him.
"You go get Kizami, I'll open the gate!" Satoshi called out, putting down his gun so he could pull the gate with both hands.
Yuka ran over to where Yuuya had fallen and blasted a few watchmen off him. She grabbed Yuuya by the hand and dragged him to his feet, pulling him down to the shelter entrance.
Once everyone was behind the gate, Satoshi picked up his gun and fired a few warning shots into the watchmen pack while Yuka closed the gate. The watchmen growled from the other side of the gate, but quickly lost interest.
Satoshi and Yuka turned to Yuuya, who was sitting with his back to the wall. His gas mask was cracked and his was bleeding heavily, the red fluid already forming a pool under him.
Yuka sat next to Yuuya and pulled out her first-aid kit, but Yuuya placed his hand on Yuka's and shook his head.
"Save your shots. It's too late for me now." Yuuya let go of Yuka and opened up his coat to reveal terrible gashes that were pouring with blood.
"Oh my god..." Yuka shook her head. "That fucking demon!"
Yuuya pointed at his other hand, which seemed to be paralyzed. Satoshi looked to see that Yuuya held his bloody survival knife with that hand.
"Finish me off. I'd rather not wait to see if blood loss or suffocation gets me."
Satoshi felt sick from the sight of so much blood and what Yuuya was asking him to do. He was about to say something when he heard footsteps and saw a flashlight's glare on the wall. He spun around and held his gun up at the intruder. "Who's there?"
Standing in the darkness leading into the shelter was a woman with long, tangled black hair. She held up her hands to show that she was unarmed. "I am not your enemy."
Yuuya groaned and reached over to grab the knife from his paralyzed hand. He showed the knife to Yuka and handed it to her.
"Looks like you found a new guide. End it, alright?"
Yuka hesitated. Satoshi lowered his gun and looked at Yuuya. The woman with the flashlight walked closer and knelt next to Yuuya.
"Give me the knife. I know how to end his sufferring with the least pain."
Yuka reluctantly handed the woman Yuuya's knife. Yuuya nodded at the woman in gratitude before she slipped the knife through the gap in his chest. Despite the fact that Yuuya should have gasped in pain, he seemed almost peaceful when he closed his eyes.
"How the hell?..." Satoshi wondered aloud.
The woman stood up. "It is not something easily explained. It is best to simply accept that he died without any more pain." She turned to face Satoshi and Yuka. "Who might you be, and why have you come here?"
Yuka stood up and put away her first-aid kit. "We're Yuka and Satoshi Mochida, from the Tenjin shelter. We're here to find help stopping a mutant that's been giving us trouble."
"Help?..." The woman shook her head slowly. "Walk with me. We should stay in the shelter to save filters."
Satoshi and Yuka gave one last look at Yuuya's body before following the woman into the shelter. After they had removed their masks and turned on their flashlights, the woman began to speak again.
"My name is Aiko Niwa. But I'd appreciate it if you simply called me Aiko. Formalities are pointless in a place like this." She was quiet for a moment, then continued. "Are you here looking for the Perfect Life shelter?"
"Yeah." Satoshi pulled out his notepad. "We were told to come here to find help stopping a mutant we call 'the black-eyed girl'."
Aiko frowned and sighed. "I'm afraid you are a decade too late. The Perfect Life shelter began falling apart as soon as its first leader died over twelve years ago. I am the only survivor."
"What? What happened?" Yuka shook her head in disbelief.
"With the death of the leader, the inhabitents of the Perfect Life shelter were discouraged." Aiko crossed her arms. "Some continued to assist nearby shelters, but many of them died doing so. The rest simply left to find safer shelters once the scavengers started to dwindle." Aiko frowned at Satoshi. "I'm afraid you will find no help here."
Satoshi shook his head. "That can't be true. There has to be something..."
Aiko sighed and motioned for Satoshi and Yuka to follow. She led them through the passages of the shelter as she talked.
"There may be something useful to you in the old leader's quarters. She was what one may call... a genius, I suppose." Aiko sounded a bit bitter as she pronounced the description. "I'm sure that, had she not died all those years ago, we'd already be back on the surface by now." Aiko looked over her shoulder at the two. "But enough of that. Explain to me what this black-eyed girl is."
Yuka tapped her holstered shotgun nervously. "We call it the black-eyed girl because it looks kind of like a little girl in a black dress. But its skin is partially transparent, it has these pointed ears, and its eyes are entirely black."
"It wouldn't ordinarily be a problem, but we can't seem to kill it." Satoshi added. "We'd just leave it alone, but it keeps finding our scavengers and stalkers while they're out alone. The ones the black-eyed girl catches alone go insane, becoming almost childlike."
Aiko nodded slowly. "But it does not attack groups?"
"Not yet." Yuka noted. "But soon it won't matter, if we keep losing good people to that thing."
Stopping at a door with a nameplate on the front, Aiko nodded. "I see. Then I hope you find something useful in this room."
Satoshi looked at the faded marks on the nameplate and read the name "Kuon Niwa".
"Was the leader..." Satoshi began, not sure if he should continue. "...your mother?"
Aiko shook her head. "My sister. But it hardly matters now. Let us see if we have something that can kill your black-eyed girl."
Opening the door and walking in with a single motion, Aiko waved Yuka and Satoshi in. The three began exploring the room, which had clearly been ransacked at some point in the years since Kuon's death.
They searched the room for a long time, and Satoshi was about to give up hope of finding anything useful. But then he found a strange-looking knife tucked into a corner and showed it to Aiko.
"This knife is chemically and spiritually treated to sever the link supernatural powers have over some mutants." Aiko handed the knife back to Satoshi. "If this black-eyed girl of yours has psychic powers, this will end her life in a single strike."
"Just what we're looking for!" Yuka sighed with relief, throwing a box of bullet casings aside. "We'll finally be able to stop that monster from hurting our people!"
Satoshi nodded and turned to Aiko. "What will you do now, Aiko? Would you like to join us? There's room at Tenjin shelter."
Aiko looked around the room with what may have been a sorrowful expression. "I suppose there is no harm in joining you. This place brings back painful memories. I will not miss it." Aiko nodded. "Let's go."
After putting his combat knife into his pack and strapping the special knife to his belt, Satoshi led the others to the shelter entrance. They prepared their gas masks and readied themselves for the journey home.