A Fire in Your Heart

Shion was furious to the point where she was literally seeing red. How dare these people do this to her father! As she grinded her teeth, she could feel trembling, but it wasn't from herself. When she looked up at Chizuru, Shion could see that the level-headed Chizuru was overcome with anger. Somehow seeing Chizuru seething with anger made Shion feel calmer. Maybe it was the sense of belonging or maybe it was the shared anger about atrocious research they had just unearthed. Whatever the reason, at that moment Chizuru and Shion became much closer.

The two looked at each intently for a moment. Chizuru spoke first, "Let's figure out who did this and get the fuckers."

Shion agreed, "Let's crush them".

The two agreed that they would identify and hunt down the researchers in the photo and find the connection between the Cult and Project Adam in the process. The thuds of branches and howling of wind could still be heard as the storm raged on outside the shelter.

As the excitement of their revealed identities and Project Adam died down, both girls could feel fatigue settling in. Shion was also starting to become hungry, and could feel her stomach starting to ache. She sat back on the bed, when her stomach let out a long growl. Chizuru laughed and grabbed some of the rations off the shelf and began opening them.

Chizuru gave Shion a small smile and said, "If you were hungry why didn't you say anything?"

Shion looked sadly to the floor, "I'm still not used to other people taking care of me. Thank you for doing it and having patience. I know I'm totally clueless when it comes to relationships. I feel like I haven't done anything for you while you do so much for me. You know if you hadn't walked in the bathroom after my promotion, I was going to blow my brains out. I was so lonely, and I feel like I'm starting to lose myself in this line of work.”

With tears in her eyes, Chizuru fed Shion who hungrily devoured the canned meal. Chizuru then fed herself and both girls began to feel sleepy. Shion laid down and Chizuru followed her.

Shion whispered in her fiance's ear, "Put my ring on."

Chizuru was genuinely surprised by the request and muttered, "But I thought..."

Shion interrupted, "I can't use my arms anyways. Plus. I WANT to wear it." Shion wiggled her left ring finger and Chizuru slipped on the ring.

She announced, "I'm going to sleep since we won't be able to leave anytime soon and I am exhausted and hurt." Chizuru nestled close to Shion on the twin sized mattress and quickly fell asleep.

The two awoke to the dinging of the neurolink emergency message system. It was like a blaring sound directly in your head that rattled your brain and prevented focus on anything else, the words themselves were silent as they flooded in all user's minds "All citizens remain indoors. City invaded by hostiles. This is not a drill. Lock your doors and windows."

Shion got up and quickly tested her arms. She could move them well, but there was little force behind them. The two hurredly replaced their equipment and Shion returned her ring to its case.

Before they left the bunker, Shion aggressively grabbed Chizuru and pressed their lips together in a passionate embrace. Shion grabbed her fiance's waist and whispered, "It's good to be able to use my arms again". Chizuru kissed Shion back before moving towards the hatch.

"Let's hurry back and see wtf if going on", Chizuru shouted over the creaking of the door as she turned the seal and lifted the lid.

The once pale, white trees were coated in a thick, tar-like film, hundreds of birds in the same sticky state laid dead on the forest floor, and the smog beetles had already begun to burrow out of their underground shelters and feast on the thick substance. One of the few useful inventions of the Nazi researchers, smog beetles were invented to help combat the accumulation of smog residue. Within hours, the Beatles would have the forest restored to pale glory.

For Chizuru, this was all fascinating as the atmospheric barrier of the upper cities prevented this type of storm from occurring, but for Shion who essentially grew up in the worst of slums, this was no special sight.

The two started running in the direction of the team when they left for the airship, but no one was present but the cold dead corpses of soldiers and tracks from transport leading back towards the base. At a breakneck pace, the two officers ran alongside the tracks hoping to encounter some sort of clue as to what triggered the emergency alert system.

There were no bodies of any kind on the way to the base, but when they were about 1/4 click from the doors, Shion could see the twisted remains of the transport vehicle.

The AI driver would never crash unless the guidance system was damaged so Shion began to scan high above the perimeter wall. She caught a glimpse of a glint of metal and grabbed Chizuru by the vest before flinging them both back just as a large caliber round dug into the earth where they were standing.

"Sniper!" Shion called out while leading Chizuru low to the ground to a large pile of debris.

Every time Shion poked her head up to look, bang, a shot rang out and struck the pile. "Shit, we're pinned down," yelled Shion.

Chizuru peaked around the pile, bang, another shot rang out. "If we both ran, the sniper would only be able to target one of us. How close would you have to be right now to strike him down?"

Shion scrunched up her face and squeezed her palms a few times, "I would need about 25 meters with how strong I am right now."

Chizuru blew some air at her nose, "Ok I'll draw the fire, you get as close as you can. We move on three. One, two, three."

The two took off in opposite directions at full speed. To draw the shooter's attention Chizuru began throwing knives in the direction of the shooter hitting the walls in front of and behind their perch.

As soon as the glint of the rifle disappeared, Shion increased her speed and closed the gap between her and the sniper. Once she got within range, Shion removed her shoulder guard and pressed the center button flattening it into a disk shape. Like a discus, the guard flew through the air with such tremendous speed the sound of the guard cutting through the air was heard by all on the field. The discus curved at the last second embedding itself in the sniper's neck.

With the threat neutralized, Shion and Chizuru headed to the remnants of the transport vehicle. No bodies. Several overlapping sets of footprints led towards the barrier wall and suddenly stopped all at once. Shion bent down and lifted up a trap door that led into a pitch black tunnel. After a nervous glance at Shion, Chizuru dropped down into the tunnel closely followed by Shion.

Chizuru reached out blindly in the darkness, unable to get her bearings, but Shion, who had experience with blindness, took her hand and skillfully led her fiance deeper into the tunnel. As the pair threaded through the dampness Shion got the uneasy feeling that they were being watched and beemed Chizuru.

"I think that we have company, pay attention".

Suddenly a quick splash could be heard as something ran quickly across the tunnel. The two continued to advance and the splashes became more and more frequent and closer to the pair. Suddenly hands covered Shion and Chizuru's mouths.

"SHHHHHH! They'll hear you."

"Sgt. Honda?" Chizuru whispered back.

"This way," Honda whispered, leading the two to a large janitorial closet.

Honda knocked on the door lightly three times then the door was opened by one of Shion's team. Of the 36 troops that were present when they shipped out about 18 remained. When the door shut behind them, Shion immediately asked what happened.

Honda explained, "After we took care of the soldiers in the forest, the smog storm rolled in and we all got on the transport vehicle. The steering was taken out when we were close to base and the transport crashed into the barrier, but somehow we all made it through. The trouble hit once we dropped into the tunnel. One by one something picked off soldiers. When we finally saw what happened all hell broke loose, these zombie things were killing our men while acting like they were tweaking on something. Finally we found this place by accident and have been trapped here since."

Shion asked "Does anyone have a light? Or maybe even some flash bombs? Or maybe some glow sticks?"

"No but we found some flares in the emergency kit down here. Why?"

"Me and Lt. Yamamoto will get rid of whatever those things are while the rest of you get to the surface. We need to go quickly so we don't have a lot of time to play around. Let's move out!"

Honda handed over half the flares to Shion who shook hands with Honda "Great going Sgt. You kept most of our guys alive."

The door was opened, Chizuru and Shion bolted out, making as much noise as possible and running in the opposite direction of the team.