Crawling In The Skin

prologue part 2

"Your needed in their meeting room, asap." Someone says, harshly, letting aoi just grumble and walk in, spotting the main leaders all sitting around and watching her walk in. Nobody says a word, before she sits down, still preferring to stand up, not liking how the chairs feel, knowing it'll mess her body up even more than it already is.

"Disobeying orders again?" One asks, shaking their head before leaning back, smirking at the report, whilst the others just stay quiet, not finding it funny at all, before looking away, waiting in almost deathly silence, just making aoi uncomfortable, before standing up and walking away, not being asked to listen to their personal decisions.

"Excuse me you wasn't excused!" The one outside says, rushing down the hallway, as aoi turns around and shrugs, showing no emotion whatsoever.

"I dismissed myself." She repiles, walking around the corner, before leaving their sight. Ignoring the looks of the other workers, followed by their whispering as she walks around, she makes her way back to the dormitories, and almost slams her door open, before closing it, standing there for a moment before sighing. Glancing around, she finds it untouched like normal, still cramped and small, but safer than being outside. Sitting or more falling down, aoi carefully takes her jacket off, looking at her hands as she takes the gloves off, still spotting the replacement she needed. Hating the sight of it, she tosses her arm down, followed by her jacket and gloves, and sits there in silence.

The only noises she can hear are the outside of the room, before she lays down, just staring at the ceiling before jolting and punching the wall again, cursing to herself, before remaining almost out of breath, and shaking her head, sitting back up, leaning down against her legs that stay on the ground. Fucking formal assholes. She mutters, standing up and pacing around, still annoyed for being limited to what's she's allowed, due to her disobeying orders. If they want people dead be my guest, but I'm not getting more dead people blamed on me. She adds, looking at the window, in her room, still covered by the metal bars, with no glass. Stepping towards it she only sees the rest of the base, with workers and soldiers walking around doing their own thing. Aoi sighs, and watches them carefully, finding nothing else much to do.

"I knew I'd find you here." Someone says, as aoi turns around, knowing instantly who it is. "Always the same with you." They add, closing the door as aoi shrugs, watching megami stand there and look at you with concern. "Keep disobeying what they say you'll be next on their chopping board." Megami sighs, knowing why aoi does it, but also knows their orders are stupid compared to how most people would suggest.

"If I keep obeying their rules people die." Aoi spits back, "every single time I'm sent out the others die." She adds, leaning against the windowsill, whilst megami nods, and looks around, before sighing, and looking at the ground.

"Its been what, 2 years now are you still going to go by that rule?" Megami asks, making aoi pause and look back outside, knowing exactly what's she's talking about. "Listen, it took a lot of us back, but she won't want you to sit there grieving." Megami adds, walking closer before pausing, and waiting, knowing aoi refuses to move on. "Having this agenda to find the killer is.... we can't find them if there's no leads." Megami says, making aoi faulter and grab the bars, before turning back around.

"Its been two years and we have no lead. What does that say? I follow rules and obey orders, but I'm not stupid, I refuse to work and play their shit game to die." Aoi sighs, "she's dead, I'm aware, it still sits on my mind everytime I take one of those freaks down." Aoi adds. She just sighs again, and refuses to say anything else, turning back around as megami stands there, knowing she's not going to get anything else from her regarding that issue.

"How is the effects treating you? You haven't been to the hospital for a while." Megami asks, worried, as aoi says nothing. "It could have mutated, we don't know. I know you don't care about hospitals." Megami adds, trying to hide the anxiety in her tone, but fails.

And this is why I don't say anything. Aoi wonders, refusing to even turn around, knowing she's making her worry each day, only hating herself more. I should have been the one to die, don't have anything to live for do I? She adds, hearing megami walk away, knowing she needs space.

"I'll be in my room if you need me." Megami mumbles, slowly closing the door as aoi pauses and grabs the closest thing to her, and tosses it to the wall, smashing it into pieces, before grumbling to herself, wishing she could just scream, but doesn't, knowing it'll make the others worry from outside. So she just slumps against the wall and sighs, falling down.

"Fuck sake, why did it have to happen, this is why we don't be a daredevil tiger." Aoi mutters.

2-3 years before

"Keep away from it, it could be dangerous." Kuroko orders, keeping students away, as megami walks forwards, passing through the crowd as akane and aoi keep the growing crowd away. Megami walks to the site, and leans down, covering her mouth at the smell of what she can assume to be a dead animal. "torayoshi found it earlier, came and told a teacher." Kuroko explains. "That is until she rushed away, saying she found something, hasn't come back since." Kuroko adds, letting megami nod and stand up, looking around as akane starts to take the crowd away, with the help of aoi, both of them leading the group back indoors.

"Any idea to what it is?" Megami asks, watching as kuroko shakes her head, not having a slightest idea. "It looks like a animal, but the fact there's a possible acidic like substance, we can't tell." Megami adds, spotting a strange yellow liquid over the possible carcass, making her gag at the sight, still being able to smell now rancid it is. Kuroko keeps her composure, making sure nobody else comes near it.

What they won't expect however, is a loud hissing noise to resonate from it, making them both turn around and step back, unsure of the noise. The mysterious substance starts to make hissing noises, steaming whilst moving into the carcass. Kuroko takes another step back, whilst megami stays alert, watching it. The carcass suddenly jolts, taking them both aback, whilst it shivers and seems to have a seizure, convuslsing around before jumping up, alerting them both to step back.

The body moves, it's skin dripping away as the liquid forms into its eyes, making it growl and try to jump megami, who moves out of the way, kicking it's face she thinks, knocking it down as kuroko glances around and remains unsure of what to do. "Go get ryugoku!" Megami yells, as kuroko nods, collecting herself and rushing away, still shaken by the shock. Megami on the other hand watches as the creature clambers back up, and turns around looking at megami, but not attacking, making her not like it's sudden intelligence.

It growls and steps around, before leaping again, causing megami to block the attack with her arm, only getting bitten, but tossing the creature down and stepping into its side, grabbing her wounded arm, but thinking nothing of it for now, focused on keeping the creature down, as it struggles to move.

Kuroko turns the corner, spotting megami, as aoi catches up with ease glancing at the creature and megamis arm, putting it together. "Kill it." Megami says, as kuroko glances at aoi who walks over and steps on it, crushing the skull before the head explodes, covering them all in the mixture of blood and the yellow liquid. Kuroko freezes up and wipes it away, whilst aoi walks to megami, and gestures to her arm. "I'll go see the nurse in a moment, for now we need to clean up and the mess needs to go." Megami says, knowing aoi is worried, but doesn't show any hint of fear of possible infections. Kuroko walks away, to go and clean, whilst aoi looks at the body, spotting it still bleeding, but remains dead, with no sign of the yellow liquid on it anymore.

"Toriyasu can clean it, go get that checked." Aoi says, as megami pauses, but nods, walking away whilst aoi keeps an eye on area to make sure nobody comes and spots this.