Ito Ai: A New Dawn

Ai and Mai dared not move even the slightest bit. Ai could not get a good count on how many first type machina were out there but she knew it was at least over twenty. The two girls were stuck under the foul smelling corpses and could barely see what was around them. These machina, not only passed right by them but some even walked right over the corpses stabbing their legs into the flesh causing juices to flow from the body and down onto the girls. 

As time passed by the two girls waited patiently and finally the sounds of the machina could no longer be heard. Ai pushed the two bodies that were on top of her off before carefully removing the ones on top of Mai. "Mai are you okay?"

No answer came from under the corpses which made Ai panic, so she rushed to get the corpses off of her sister to find that her sister was fine except the corpse juice had drenched her face making it so Mai could not open her eyes or mouth. Without hesitation, Ai took three bottles of water from her backpack and used one full bottle to wash away the juice on Mai's face. Ai then stripped her shirt off leaving her with only her bra on and gently wiped away the excess juices as she used another bottle of water to rinse Mai's face clean.

Ai's heart softened seeing the tears rolling down Mai's face. "Mai, it's okay now. You are fine."

Those words alone were enough to cause Mai to burst out crying. Not only had she been scared that she was about to die, the fact that she could not even open her eyes or mouth during the whole thing also made it even worse. The juices had run behind her mask and many times she wanted nothing more than to puke but she knew if she did, not only her, but Ai would have died too. 

Ai hugged Mai and patted her back. The two of them were sticky and disgusting but one thing was for sure. They were alive. They had gotten past a big hurdle. Ai took this quiet time to help Mai get changed and used the dirty clothes to clean Mai off as much as possible before doing the same for herself. It took almost three hours for Mai to finally get a hold of herself. Ai also did not want to rush her since rushing someone who had been through a traumatic experience was not going to make them any stronger. They had to pull themselves together first and only then would they become a little stronger.

The experiences of life always held many factors that allowed humans to grow stronger as time passed on. Each and every experience was something that could make or break a human. If they were able to pull through and put that harshness of reality behind them and take it as a lesson for the next time, then they would have grown just a bit stronger than before. This was something all humans went through. If they were not able to put it behind them the experience would haunt them for the rest of their lives. Nothing would be learned and the experience would make them weaker instead of stronger. 

"Mai how are you feeling?" Ai asked as she took out her last bottle of water and a few scraps of dry food and gave it to Mai.

"Better… Although I do wish to never experience anything like that again, I am sure this will not be the last time." Mai said, forcing a smile. She knew if she had to she would still hide under the corpses, she just wished that it would never come to that.

"Sadly, I wish I could say that you won't need to but that is highly unlikely. There will be many times when corpses of the dead will be your best safe haven when stuck in a dangerous situation like this." Ai said as she took a bite of dry food looking up at the sky.

"Do you know how much further it will be to get to the military base?" Mai asked. She really just wanted to get this over and done with and go home.

"Mmm… About a half day, but we first need to find a place to rest or infiltrating the base, and getting our hands on any supplies and weapons will not happen. I have slept for maybe ten minutes..." Ai replied as she let out a big yawn. Mai smiled and nodded her head she was also very tired. But as she looked at Ai and then looked at the bottle of water in her hands and then glanced at Ai, a little confused.

"Ai where is your water…." As she was asking her question Mai realized that Ai had used water to wash her face earlier. Not only that she had even given her another bottle. "Ai how can you give me all your water!?" 

Mai quickly shifted her backpack to her front and dug out her water bottles shoving them into Ai's hands. "Don't do without water! It's so hot you will collapse of dehydration before we even find a place to rest."

Until Mai had said something, Ai did not realize that she had even done such a thing. She looked at the three bottles of water in her arms and only took one out and passed the other two to Mai. She looked at Mai with a smile and said: "I will just take the one. I am sure we can find more later. "

Mai reluctantly took the bottles back but decided in her heart that she would save one for Ai no matter what if they do not find more water. Even though they were the same age, Mai now looked up to Ai as a big sister and someone who had taken over the mother figure in her life. Ai really cared for her well being and whether Ai realized it or not, Ai had always put her first. Although she still missed her mother and father very much, she was glad that Ai was still by her side. 

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