Ito Ai: A New Dawn

Eiji gave a wry smile as he looked at Ai shadow boxing. She had no issues killing another human. "If you do please do it away from me. I don't want to get anything on me..."

"I won't! Well, I will try not to... So no promises." Ai said with a cheeky smile as she jumped up and grabbed a hold of the trailer. "Come on let's go!"

They finally turned off the highway and came on to a normal city street. Demolished houses and the scent of the dead was heavy in the air. "There is a building over there that seems to be still intact. Let's camp out there tonight. Just keep your eyes open. Who knows what we will find." 

"Alright." Eiji said as he readied his gun. Ai on the other hand began skipping down the road shoving cars out of the way as if they were nothing. With all the noise they were making, Eiji wondered if Ai was doing it on purpose. Even if she was, it probably wouldn't matter. 

But as they got to the building they had not seen a single person nor machina. It was not until they opened the doors did they actually hear something. But this noise made Eiji go bright red. "Hey, hey Eiji! Does it turn you on when you hear people having sex?" 

Of course, Ai would not miss this chance to tease Eiji. Eiji didn't dare say anything, his red face and the small bulge in his pants already said it all. Ai giggled and patted his shoulder saying: "Don't mind!" But her smiling face quickly changed when she rounded the corner to see that the subject of those noises was a girl only slightly older than her… She hated this sight more than anything but this was the way of this new world. Girls of all ages would sell their bodies just to get food or water. Around the girl beside the one doing her, was three other men. 

One of them noticed Ai and Eiji and a big smile formed on their faces. "Oh, what do we have here? Another girl, who wishes to get some food? As you can see the price of food is... " The man looked Ai up and down until his eyes finally landed on the Howa in her hands. Only then did his face go pale. 

Ai on the other hand could care less what was going on here anymore as she said: "Take your toy and leave! This place is mine now. If you wish to die then so be it." 

The three men wanted to say something but Ai fired off her howa officially scaring them. But the girl who had just been interrupted looked at Ai with anger in her eyes. "Why did you interrupt!? I haven't eaten in two days! All I had to do was serve them and they would feed me!"

"Service them elsewhere and just to let you know… These guys have no food so your fucking them for free. I mean look at how sunken in their cheeks are. If they had food would they look just as sickly as you?" Ai's words made the girl look at the guy and realize she was right. She grabbed her clothes and quickly put them on before running out the door with tears in her eyes. "You guys hurry up to. I do not want to repeat myself." 

"Yes!" These guys were not dumb. They knew Ai was not someone they could trick, unlike the last girl. As the men began walking out of the room one of them stopped and asked: "Do you have any..."

*Bang!* 

One bullet to the head and the man dropped dead. It was not Ai who fired either, it was Eiji. "I think she said to get the fuck out. So get the fuck out." 

The rest of the men no longer lingered and quickly ran out of the building. Eiji already disliked those guys for using a girl's hope for food as a means to do what they want with her but since the girl was willing he could really not say anything. Ai looked at Eiji and asked: "Upset?"

"Mmm..." Eiji answered. He felt the whole situation was wrong.

"Get used to it. This is our new world. This kind of shit happens day in and day out. Wait until you begin seeing the slave markets. Girls and boys younger than that get sold left and right. Where do you think Kuri and Ayase came from? The guys you saw locked up at the base were slave traffickers. And the sad thing is that people at this time will give up their own flesh and blood for a day's worth of food and water. It is a sad thing. Like that girl just now. Although she is not much older than us she willingly let those guys do that to her. All because of the promise of a bit of food. The reason I didn't do anything was because that girl's eyes showed no hint of reluctance." Ai said as she moved to the stairs leading to the second floor. This place was an old apartment building and had already been completely swept clean of anything edible. Ai was surprised that those men were doing such a thing on the first floor in the room right next to the entrance. She could only guess the whole group, the girl included, were not very smart. If a machina ever walked by they would all be mutilated right there.

"I see that now but it is still hard to accept." Eiji replied as he let out a sigh.

"You will get used to it eventually. " Ai said as she kicked open a door and walked inside. Eiji followed in after her and closed the door behind him. He was surprised she controlled her strength enough to not kick it off the hinges. He then went to the kitchen and pulled the fridge out and used it to block the door.

"Eiji come in here!" Ai called out. 

Eiji walked in to where Ai was to find her lying on a massive bed. "It is so comfortable! Many times that of the ones at the base! Try it out!"

***

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