Chapter 1: Sairi Kaneda
I was in the girl’s bathroom when it happened, so I didn’t see anything, but I certainly heard SOMEthing going on, and it wasn’t good. I was drying my hands by the sinks, that’s when I heard the screaming. I thought it was some kind of sick prank, so I didn’t think much of it. I turned to leave when I heard a small bang behind me. I turned to see one of the wall tiles had fallen onto the floor. The place was really starting to fall apart. I started to walk toward it, you know, to put it back in place, but before I got to it, someone grabbed my hand. I screamed, or started to, but whoever took my hand also covered my mouth.
“Quiet, or else they’ll find us.” a male voice whispered.
“What will?” I thought confused.
I found out exactly what he meant, cause I started hearing footsteps, and they were BIG, I swear, it was like whatever was coming, as it got closer, it was creating it’s own personal earthquake!
Then something came in front of me, and, let me tell you, I was freaking OUT! It looked like a six-foot tall man-like alligator, but apparently it was blind. How do I know this? Because, its eyes were nothing but gray. Is that even a way to tell if something/someone is blind?
Anyway, when I saw it my mind kept replaying scenes from EVERY gator and croc horror flick I’ve seen, and someone ALWAYS dies in some horrible, gut-churning way. Well, let’s just say that didn’t help me calm down ONE FRIKIN’ BIT!!! I felt tears of fear falling from my eyes. I didn’t want to die! The creature’s snout came right up in my face. I was more than freaking out; I was in full-on-panic mode.
The gator opened it’s large jaw, I counted thirty-seven teeth, razor sharp might I add. Well, that was a big mistake, why? Because, my single tears turned into two small versions of the biggest waterfall in America.
I started to move around, I wanted this man to release me so I could turn and run, but when I tried, he wrapped his arm around my waist. He wouldn’t let me go! Not to mention he tightened his grip, so tight it was suffocating me.
Now, I bet you’re wondering, “Why didn’t you stomp on his feet or kick him?” Well, I’m gonna tell you now…and it’s kind of pathetic. You see, I was soooo scared, my legs wouldn’t move one bit, so even if I did kick him or crush his foot, I wouldn’t even have the guts to make a break for the door. So, yeah, I was stuck.
Well, the gator was close to having a Sairi soufflé, but then there was a large BANG that came from the lobby. The gator shut his mouth and left. I gave a silent sigh of major relief. The man still didn’t let go, at least until the footsteps were out of our ear shots. When he did let go, I gasped for AIR. I felt like killing him for nearly making my lungs burst.
“Now that he’s gone, we have to-“
I slapped him across the face. He put his right hand on his right cheek, which was where I had made contact, and faced me.
“What was that for?” he asked calmly.
I was surprised on how he could be so calm and collected when he had been hit like that. I returned to my anger and got up in his face.
“What were you trying to do?! You almost killed me!” I was yelling really loudly, so loud, in fact, that I probably could’ve woken up the dead. Although, I did probably forget about the gator thingy, but I kept going. “I want you to give me at least THREE reasons why I shouldn’t rip your limbs off and feed you to that-that-that THING!”
I was about to get my answer. It was after I stopped yelling that I heard a terrible noise, a blood curdling scream of death. I stood terrified. I starred at nothing.
“He was killed, all because he made a loud noise.” Wait, I never could figure out how this man knew it was a male that screamed, it sounded more like a girl. Without thinking about it anymore I let him continue, this time I looked at him. “Apparently these creatures are blind and have no sense of smell so their hearing has become sensitive, SO sensitive, in fact, that any loud noise will alert them. Even speaking in a normal volume will call them here.”
‘Wow, he’s pretty smart.’ I thought, obviously impressed with this man’s intelligence. It sounded like he used to, or probably still does, work at a lab or something like that.
“Is that why you’re whispering?” I asked, quieting my own voice down.
He nodded. “Not only has their hearing increased, but their strength also seems to have begun to rise. They seem human-like though.”
How does he know about the strength? Had he seen them in action?
Well, I could only think of one reason for the human-likeliness of them. “Maybe they were…mutated.” But as I said that, I remembered one of the worse, most sick and twisted corporation in the whole universe, Akifumi Industries, otherwise known as AI.
“Akifumi…” I said, my voice trailing off.
I faced a mirror and looked at myself. I remembered what they did to me, and that they would do such a cruel thing, even though my mother, who used to work for AI, advised them not to.
“Excuse me?” the man said.
I put my right hand into a tight fist, rage building up inside me. Then…I snapped.
“Those…no good…dirty…sick…BASTARDS!!!!” I screamed, punching the mirror in front of me.
Big mistake. I hit it soo hard, it broke. My hand got cut all along the knuckles. Blood came oozing out like river flow.
I went to my knees, crying, not because of the pain of the injury on my hand, but because of the injury in my heart. My mom had researched human mutation, and said specifically that it was much too dangerous to do, but they never listened, and my mom was fired because of supposed treason.
The man came over to me, held my injured hand, got a handkerchief out of his pocket, turned my hand over so the palm was facing upward, and tied the handkerchief on. I wasn’t looking, but I could feel it.
I looked at him, and he was smiling. I started to blush a little. He was handsome with a smile that kind looking.
Oh shoot! I haven’t described the man yet have I? Sorry!
The man had short, light brown hair, and wore a red…outfit? I can’t really describe it, but it looked like something that Lu Xun wears in Dynasty Warriors 6. Just picture him like that.
Anyway, my tears kept going. I couldn’t stop it, but the man didn’t try to either.
“I’m sorry, sir. I don’t like crying in front of people, it makes me look weak.” I said, my voice a little whiny sounding,
He kept his handsome smile. “It’s alright. Sometimes, you NEED to be strong to show your sadness. It doesn’t mean you’re weak.”
He stood up and walked towards the door. I couldn’t believe it. He cared about me. ME! The only girl that everyone, except for two families, hated. My heart glowed. It was a WONDERFUL feeling. I closed my eyes and let that feeling overcome my sadness.
Then I heard someone gag. I opened my eyes and saw the man had the door opened, although he closed before I could even think the word “to infinity and beyond!”
He turned around, his mouth covering his mouth, and his eyes…
His eyes looked as if he had been shock by a thousand volts…alive.
I stood and ran to him. “What’s wrong?”
“That…that was the most horrible thing I’ve EVER seen in my life.” His voice was shaky. He didn’t even look at me while he said that, he just looked at the wall.
I went towards the door to see for myself, but he grabbed my hand. He didn’t turn around though.
“Please…don’t look. It’s not something you should see.” His voice had tone of horrible fear.
I gently yanked my hand out of his. “I appreciate your concern, but I want to see.” I said; my voice at a gentle, caring tone.
I opened the door and looked into the lobby. What I saw wasn’t like any R-rated horror film or a photo of the Cold War, or the Great Depression, or even the battle at Gettysburg, no, this was much worse.
The entire lobby was covered with blood, body parts strewn all over, some had stripped of meat, some half way, some not. There were six more of those creatures in there. Some of them were playing tug-of-war with the dismembered limbs.
I gagged myself and realized I needed to shut the door before I puked. I closed the door faster than the man did.
I was gasping, even though I was breathing perfectly. I started to feel dizzy.
I felt the man’s hand on my shoulder. He was right. I should not have seen that. I fell back and blacked out. I had fainted.
------
When I came around, I was lying on a white vinyl couch…at least, I think it was vinyl, but it was definitely white.
I looked around. I was in a office. In front of the couch was a wooden desk, to the right were windows, to the left was a pool table. Cool! A pool table!
I sat up and held my head, it was hurting like HELL. “What happened?”
“You fainted. Apparently you couldn’t quite handle the scene. I told you not to look.”
I looked to my right. Standing right there was the man from the restroom. He looked really handsome. I started to feel hot and my heart was beating faster by the second.
“I never really introduced myself, did I?” I shook my head.
He smiled. “Well then, I’m Lu Xun from Wu territory.”
Wu? Wasn’t that some sort of ancient reservation?
“How did you get here to Tokyo?” I couldn’t resist asking.
“I flew in from Hong Kong.”
Oh my god! He knew how to ride a plane? This proves that ancient warrior-kin are not idiots.
“What’s your name?” he asked.
“Sairi Kaneda, I’m from Osaka. I came here to Tokyo to graduate from Tokyo U, but I highly doubt THAT will happen anytime soon.”
Lu Xun kind of chuckled a bit, and then we both started laughing.
“I guess we should be lucky you were able to sneak by those things without a problem.” I said still laughing my ass off.
Our time of laughter didn’t last much longer. We heard a strange growling noise. I realized that some of those gator thingies found their way here. Big mistake for laughing.
Okay, saying that makes me wonder something. You see, I used to play in the manager’s office, which is where we were, and there are three hallways before hitting the office, and the doors a pretty thin width-wise. So, I wonder how the hell they were able to get through those doors…
Well, I was scared stiff, but I saw the windows and immediately, and without thought, “planned” my escape. I ran to the windows, opened one, and tried to climb out. I was half way out, but Xun pulled me back in. We were face to face when I re-entered.
“What do you think you’re doing?!” he asked in a panicked voice.
“Trying to get the hell out of here! Do you honestly think I want to stay here with those things right outside that door?! Well, I don’t think so! So, while I have MY limbs on MY body, I’m getting out of here, through that window, and getting as far away from those things as possible, maybe even all the way back to OSAKA!!!!” I screamed.
Lu Xun covered my mouth. “With the fact that those creatures are nearby, I don’t think it’s a good idea to be yelling at each other, okay?”
I nodded with a muffled agreement. He was right, if I had continued yelling, we probably would have ended up gator meat. What happened next REALLY got my heart pumping. Lu Xun stroked his right hand down my left cheek and SMILED!!!! Well, I got a little embarrassed and moved back three steps, with both of my hands on my left cheek.
“Whoa there, big guy. Let’s not get hasty. Besides, I’m taken.” I said my voice a little shaky.
Lu Xun looked confused. “Um…you have a scratch on your cheek. All I did was put a bandage on it.”
Now I was confused. Did he? I felt my cheek, and sure enough, there was a small band-aid on it. I became MAJORLY embarrassed. I started chuckling as if I was having a nervous breakdown.
“Oh. Well…then…would you…please forget everything I…uh…just said?”
“Okay…I guess.” He looked at me as if I was on the psycho side as he said that. Frankly, I didn’t blame him. Even I thought I was crazy, and I was the one who said all of that.
“Aww, nuts.” Xun suddenly said.
“WHAT?!” I said in a panicked tone.
“Your uniform got a little dirty.”
I slapped my forehead. The man-gators were right outside, and he suddenly got worried about my school uniform?! My uniform wasn’t even that special to worry about. I looked like Sailor Moon’s school outfit, although, I didn’t have her yellow hair, or pigtails. I had short light blue hair, nothing special. And when I mean short, I mean only half way down my ears type of short.
“Well, anyway, we should try to find a safer way to escape. Jumping out the window seems a LITtle too dangerous.” he said with a look that said, “you are one crazy bitch, you know that” right then and there.
“I was trying to CLIMB out, not jump. What do you think I am, a stunt woman?” I said sarcastically. “But, either way, you’re right. The question is, how? The front door’s definitely out the question. And with the gators outside this very room-“
I stopped when I saw Xun. He was sitting on the couch, with a “thinking look” on his face. Apparently his mind was elsewhere. I sat down too, just not too close.
A minute of total silence went by. I thought about getting up and checking to see if the gators that were there were even still outside the room. I didn’t even need to. I could still hear their growling, although, I couldn’t tell if it was them, or our stomachs! I haven’t eaten in FOUR WHOLE HOURS!!!! That’s not good for a girl like me!
Xun’s face lit up. He had an epiphany. I swear, I thought I could even see the light bulb right over his head.
Xun got up, walked toward the desk, grabbed something off of it, I think it was a paperweight, and threw it to his left. I thought he was CRAZY!!! Those creatures were right outside our door, and the noise that paperweight made hitting the wall THEN the FLOOR only brought them IN HERE WITH US!!!! I started to fuckin’ PANIC!!!!
Xun must have actually thought of a plan, ‘cause he grabbed my hand and, literally, DRAGGED me out of the room and into the blood-stained lobby.
There were still six in there, that meant that the four that were by the office just got in here. But, that wasn’t my only problem. When we got in there, I started to get weak again. I fell back, but Xun caught me, with a look of concern on his face. I stayed awake while we silently walked to the door. I started to go beyond panic as we passed by each gator. I was worried that if we made a single sound, we would both be stripped of our lives.
But, then again, I had Lu Xun with me. I felt safe with him around. I knew we would make it without a problem. In fact, I think I had fallen in LOVE with him!!!
