Immunity Hunter

Chapter Ten - Sasame Kai

A silver-haired girl covered in blood wanders toward us, her crimson red irises staring blankly into the distance. I take a step back, gripping my sword tight.

"If she shows signs of mutating, I'm taking her down."

Lin Ming freezes. "No, she's not turning. That's not her blood." She steps closer to the girl. "Yuri, are you okay?"

Yuri stops walking shaking her head violently as if she's trying to focus on whoever is talking to her. "I'm fine, I think. My group was attacked and...wait, where's Rikku? We have to find Rikku!"

Yuri launches herself back in the direction she came from. Lin Ming grabs her arm, yanking her off her feet.

"No, Yuri, stop it. You can't look for Rikku by yourself!" She releases Yuri's arm and takes a breath.

June runs up to us. She glares at Lin Ming and me, then at Yuri. "What's going on? Why are you here?"

"W-we're on a mission," Yuri says, as she focuses her attention on June. She moves her long blood stained hair out of her face. "Where's Rikku? She was supposed to stay with me. I can't leave without her!"

"Whose blood is this, Yuri?" I ask. If she's been bitten, I'm ready to slice her head off.

"This is just Konadai blood. My team and I slaughtered a horde of them when we were attacked, but they kept coming. We were forced to split up."

I shake my head. She's either lying or very delusional. I tighten my grip on the hilt of my sword, ready to strike down this Yuri girl.

"Konadai blood isn't red, Yuri. Whose blood is this?" I stare at her uniform. It's similar to Lin Ming's. There aren't any rips or signs that she was attacked.

Yuri stares at us confused. She pushes away from Lin Ming and looks directly at me.

"We lost a girl, a new girl. I didn't even bother to learn her name. She was supposed to be training. This was only supposed to be a simple training mission, but these things attacked us. They ripped her apart before I could do anything. I'll never forget that look in her eyes," she says, breaking down in tears. "Where the hell is Rikku?"

I shake my head again. Something about her story doesn't add up—a few things don't add up, actually. I'm more concerned with why a training team would be sent on a suicide mission, maybe this is a cover squad for The Organization. That question has to be put on hold for the moment.

"Hey!" calls a female voice from behind us. All four of us turn around to see a blonde girl wearing infraoptics running toward us. The first thing that catches my eye is the two short-swords strapped to her back in an X. She's one of the only other swordswomen I've seen outside of The Organization. Both of her swords are covered in sticky black Konadai blood, as is most of her body.

"Rikku! I'm so glad you're alive," says Yuri. She runs over to the swordswoman and hugs her tightly. "Where are Carrie and Misa?"

Carrie? The name rings in my head. The girl from the roof?

"I'm not sure. I thought they were with you," Rikku says, pulling away from Yuri. She turns to June, Lin Ming, and me. "Where's the rest of your team?"

"I ordered them to stay behind that building," June says. She strolls toward the rest of our group and waves for us to follow her.

Yuri and Rikku follow close behind us. I make sure to keep my eye on Yuri.

"Yuri, Rikku, is that you?" Ashley asks. She begins to march over to the two girls but stops quickly when she sees the blood. "What happened to you two?"