Ito Ai: A New Dawn

The next day Mai, Seiji, and Ai all prepared to go out in search of more weapons and other resources. "Dad, can you carry this duffle bag as well?"

"Ai, what's the duffle bag for?" Seiji looked at the duffle bag confused.

"It's for larger weapons. Just in case we come across something like a shotgun or machine gun. I want to be able to put them away out of sight. Our backpacks will be for storing any small things while the duffle bag will store large things. Right now everyone is in a panic so it is a good opportunity to scope out each area and see what we can grab." Ai was excited this was her first outing with her family and would be good training for them.

They snuck out of the bunker early in the am when the sun was just barely peeking over the horizon. They used a large lawn hedge as cover in order to not be seen by others. Seiji noticed a weird-looking device hanging from Ai's waist that swayed back and forth as she walked. "Ai, I know I have asked a lot of questions this morning but what is that on your waist?"

Ai looked down at her waist looking at the few things she had strapped to her belt. The only thing she could think of that her father would be talking about would be the yellow-colored device. "This is a geiger counter. Remember the bombs went off a day ago. If it rains, we want to be careful that we do not ingest anything with radioactive materials in it. You can let it hit your skin but if it gets in your body it will cause you to become sick and eventually die."

Seiji had a sudden realization after listening to his daughter. If it was not for her they would be dead before the month was out. Smiling with self-ridicule as to how bad of a father he was that he had to rely on his daughter to think of everything he looked over at Ai and said: "Ai, you really know how to prepare."

"Dad it's not that I know how to prepare, it is that I have lived through it once already. Because of this, I already know what to expect and learned what needs to be done. Safety is very important as well as protecting oneself. Say you have not been able to drink a drop of water for three days. If you drink any old pool of water you could end up sentencing yourself to death. But if you carefully check to see if it is free of radioactive materials, you can store it and boil it later to kill any unsafe bacteria that might be in it. You can also use dirt, sand, and rocks to filter it by using a large bottle of some kind." Ai began explaining about things that can be used to survive later on. From water filters to starting a fire she went over the ins and outs of each and told them a few different ways for each thing.

After walking three streets Ai and her group came up to a small grocery store. No one was around at this hour so it was a perfect chance to break in. This store was still standing strong even after the earthquake but it did seem the owner had come and boarded up the windows. "That's our first target today. If I am right the owner here has a gun he uses for protection hidden away in his back office. If a cop comes while we are in there all the better since he will be bringing us gifts."

"Ai, are you sure about this? If we get caught and everything you have said so far does not come true we will go to jail." Seiji had to ask. He wanted to believe in everything his daughter says but he still had many misgivings about certain things and robbing a grocery store was one of them.

"Dad, just believe in me. There will be no way anyone will find out we were in there and if they do we can just silence them. You do not have to do anything if things go badly you can just leave me behind." Ai said seriously. She knew everything she said so far was straight out of a science fiction movie but she had no choice. She knew hardships were to come. She knew that maybe even some of them will die or end up seriously injured but there was nothing she could do about it. She could only deal with those things when the time comes.

"Alright Ai, I will believe but we have to be careful. As for leaving you behind, I won't do that to my daughter, we are in this together." Seiji let out a sigh and finally agreed. He knew that right now since the nuclear bombs went off plus the earthquakes there was no telling when life will get back on track. Luckily Japan was doing okay for now. But the news they watched last night did show tsunamis had hit Japan hard flooding the lower valleys in some areas.

Ai, Mai, and her father quickly made their way over to the store. They did not go through the front but around to the back where the delivery door was located. Ai took out two crowbars and handed one to her father and took the other one for herself. Mai was watching their back with a pistol in her hand. This was Mai's first time holding the pistol with its safety off. She was very nervous but did her best not to show it.

"They only boarded up this window. Help me pry this off and we can smash it out and make it easier to get inside." Ai said as she stabbed her crowbar between the brick and the wood. Her father followed suit and did the same.

After a little bit of work, they were able to get the board off the door to reveal a small broken window, just big enough for a small child to fit through. "Dad, lift me up I will slip through it."

"Just be careful." Seiji said as he grabbed his daughter's legs and lifted her into the air.

Ai cleaned up the glass shards that were sticking out making sure the whole frame was clear of glass before putting her head through the door shining a flashlight down inside. She looked down and saw that the door was one of those auto-locking doors. She frowned knowing she would not have an easy time. She looked around a little more to see what she could see in the dark but her eyes paused when she saw a small opening in the cement floor that looked like it had just been dug out. It wasn't too big, only about two meters in diameter. Ai suddenly had a bad premonition about this but she quickly shook it off since she knew the time was too soon.

"Alright, I'm going in." Ai shoved her arm through, then her head before carefully squeezing her other arm in. She had to contort her body into a weird angle until she finally squeezed the upper half of her body through the small window. Ai gave a sigh of relief thanking the fact that she was a little under weight at this time. She reached up to the top of the door frame, gripped on to it, and finally pulled the legs through.

Dropping down inside, she looked at the door and placed her hand on the doorknob. "Let's hope this is one of those doors that open from the inside or we will have some issues..."

Pressing down the door handle a 'Kacha' sound was heard causing Ai's lips to turn upwards as she pulled the door open. "Quickly come in and take out your flashlights. We will need to keep this door closed."

"Where to first, Ai?" Mai asked.

"For now just follow me. There is something that has been bothering me since I entered this place... " Ai replied. She still couldn't shake that hole in the ground.

"What, what's wrong?" Seiji asked in a worried tone.

"I am not sure but see this hole?" Ai asked, getting a nod in confirmation from her father and Mai. "Well, this hole is the same kind of holes the first type machina used to make when they were entering sealed buildings. They would run through the sewers and then dig upwards into buildings surprising the people inside. This hole is also freshly made. So we need to be alert and very careful."

"Are you saying those killing machine things are already out on the streets?" Mai's face paled. She was not ready to come face to face with a robot that is out to kill her.

"That is just it, they shouldn't be so I am confused as to what could create this hole. This floor is cement and at least five centimeters to a meter thick but look here. See these claw marks? This is what has me nervous..." Ai was very nervous, they only had a single gun with them and two crowbars. It would be hard to fend off a first type machina with her father and Mai since they do not have much experience fighting them yet.

"Come, the office should be over there. We need to do this fast." Ai said as she moved forward very cautiously. She gripped her crowbar and swept the area with her flashlight making sure to not leave any corner unchecked.

*Bang!*

A loud sound came from behind her causing Ai to jump. She quickly turned around and shined her flashlight in the area the sound came from only to see Seiji blushing and scratching his head. "Sorry bumped into a box."

"Dad! Please be careful. If you do that in the future there is no telling who might shoot you thinking you are an enemy." Ai scolded. She was very glad she did not have a gun or she would have shot first and asked questions later. Many people had been shot and killed because of doing something like that. Luckily Mai was not like her and only turned and pointed the pistol in the direction of the noise.

Taking a deep breath and slowly letting it out, Ai turned back around and made her way to the office. She turned the knob to the door and frowned when she found it to be locked. "Give me a minute I will get it open."

She took a bobby pin out of her hair and bent it into a weird shape before stuffing it into the keyhole. After a few seconds of fiddling around, she heard the sound of the lock popping open. Ai twisted the knob and opened the door. She quickly scanned the area with her flashlight and her eyes lit up when she spotted a shotgun leaning against the wall. "We got a shotgun here!" Ai said happily. She quickly went in and picked it up. She could tell that it was in good working order. It was a double-barrel shotgun that took two shells at a time. As she was checking to see if it was loaded another loud sound came from behind her.

*Bang!*

She quickly turned around and shined the flashlight on her father. "That was not me."

"Wasn't me either." Mai quickly said.

Ai scanned the outside door with her flashlight. She could faintly hear something off in the distance. "Don't talk." Ai said her face slightly pale. She quickly checked the shotgun in her hand to see if it was loaded before raising it up and pointing it out into the darkness just beyond the door. The faint sound she was hearing became louder and louder.

*Clink, clink!* *Clink, clink!* *Clink, clink!*

The sound of metal on cement could be heard getting louder and louder. Ai heart sank as she yelled: "Both of you get behind me now!"