This is pretty dead

Jay sighed and brought the paper nearer and inspected it. It detailed how several officials from different cities were planning on holding up inside one city and pooling their defenses there.

He thought it was a good idea if not for the fact that there was nothing that could hurt them apart from magic and from what he now knows is objects that are made from their bodies.

He started gathering the papers around him and formed it into a pile and brought the stack with him.

He went back to the entrance and called for Ayame. After seconds of silence, he called again.

When he heard nothing again he grew worried and started walking upstairs and started looking around. The second floor was the same as the first, messy and desolate.

He started searching the rooms and saw Ayame standing inside a room and holding something. He couldn't see it since she was facing away from him.

When he got closer to her, he saw what she was holding. A black purse that was torn and bloodied. He didn't know why she was so interested in this purse but soon found out when she opened it.

Inside the purse were several items from a cracked phone to sunglasses and a wallet. But what he was more shocked from was the picture inside the wallet. It showed two Japanese women laughing while hugging each other and they both looked pretty similar to Ayame.

That was when it hit him. What if they weren't trying to evacuate this place but instead this was where they evacuated to. That would explain the heavy security here and the large amounts of vehicles and soldiers that lay dead in front of the building.

And one of those evacuees was her mother or sister. He didn't say anything but placed a hand on her shoulder.

Ayame turned around to look at him and saw her face in tears. He nodded and left her alone in the room. But not after taking a glance back and seeing her clutch the bag hard.

He sighed and went back downstairs and started barricading the entrances and windows. After covering up the windows and barricading the doors he gathered the papers and stacked them in the middle of the room.

He lit it on fire and broke off the legs of chairs and tables that were made of wood and removed the cushions from the other chairs. He laid the cushions near the fire to serve as bedding.

He heard footsteps soon after and saw Ayame entering the room with a puffed nose and red eyes. Jay said nothing except pat the other cushion beside him which she gladly took.

The night grew quiet as Ayame had already fallen asleep and he stood guard as he kindled the fire whenever it was starting to die down.

He recalled their meeting with the Commander level Eden and thought on how could they possibly escape one of those. Not only was it faster and tougher than the rest but Commander level Eden and above had access to magic.

Or at least what he thinks was magic. It was mostly rumors that circled at this point and he had no idea what was real or not.

He slowly felt his eyes become heavier and slowly drift off to sleep.

~~~

He woke up and felt something to his side and saw Ayame clinging on to him.

Sure he blushed but it just seemed cliche, he grabbed her hand and slowly unfurled it off of his arm. He stood up and started packing his bed and any essentials while she was still asleep.

After packing everything and opening a can of soup, he sat by the doorway with his hand on his dagger. Slowly he heard rustling and guessed that Ayame must have woken up already.

He waited for a few minutes for her to leave the room. But when it reached 10 minutes and she still hasn't left he was starting to get annoyed.

Jay just stood up and walked in and saw Ayame sitting on the covers with tears on her face.

"What happened? Why are you crying?"

He was pretty sure that he didn't do anything to her or was anything in the room since he didn't hear any scream or anything.

Upon hearing his voice Ayame turned to him and her face lit up like a Christmas tree.

'Oi, what happened?' Jay was totally clueless about what just happened but I guess she thought he left her.

Jay just sighed and walked closer to her and kneeled.

"Look, I'm not leaving okay? So hurry up the longer we stay here the bigger the chance we're getting found out"

Ayame nodded and started packing up her bedding and anything that she left behind.

He touched her shoulder and gave her a can of soup that he opened. Ayame looked at it before eventually grabbing it.

"Eat up, we might not be able to find food in the next few days and we'll need to get to another city or town when we run out here"

She stared at it for a moment before slowly digging her spoon in and taking a bite.

Happy, Jay turned back to his own food until he heard a quiet sob. Tentatively he reached out a hand deciding whether to do it or not before he succumbed and wrapped a hand around her shoulder and pulled her closer.

Ayame's eyes widened as she blushed as she stared at his hand as he rubbed her shoulder.

'heh, payback'

Slowly Ayame stopped sobbing and they both ate in acceptable silence.

Soon they both stepped out of the building and took in the surroundings. The sun was relatively high but not quite reaching the apex yet so it was around 10 or 11 am something around that time.

They followed the path that they took yesterday and passed by where they saw the Eden before since he's sure that they wouldn't pass through the same street twice right? ...Right?

And thankfully enough he was right as they passed by the same street and it was exactly the same as they saw yesterday. Continuing on while keeping an eye out for the Eden since they knew that there were Eden in the city but now how many.

Ayame was slightly in front of him since she had better eyes than him apparently as she proved it when she saw a deer that was across two blocks on their way here.

'Stupid people with cheat skills...'

He looked behind him just to check if anyone or anything was following them when he heard a stifled gasp from in front of him.

Pulling out his dagger and quickly turning around he saw Ayame covering her mouth as she stared at something down the street to the left.

He ran towards the buildings wall in case something rushed towards Ayame and peeked around the corner.

Slowly he stepped out from where he was hiding as he stared in horror at what he saw in the street.

Groups of bodies both men, women, and children littered the street. The bodies of the men were treated more harshly than the others as they where either cut down horrendously or even splattered on the wall or pavement.

Beside where their bodies lay were bars of steel, hammers, pipes, and even some guns.

He heard vomiting behind him but continued looking at the scene.

'So this was why they were here yesterday...this was where they came from...'

"Hraaagh!" A loud sound rang out above them as he looked up and saw two no...three, four... why where there so many here.

His eyes widened in realization as he turned to the bodies.

'They knew people would look at the bodies...This was a trap from the beginning...'

"Ayame run!" He turned around quickly and grabbed Ayame's arm as he pulled them towards a building.

'Staying in the streets where its open is a suicide mission.'

They ran into an abandoned building on the opposite side of the street in what looked like a restaurant and pushed through looking for a backdoor of some sort.

Shards of glass flew by his face as the Edens broke through the front of the restaurant and he could hear the tables, chairs and ceiling break as they pushed through.

Spotting a door in the kitchen. He let go of Ayame's hand and ran towards it and pulled it open.

"Go, go!" He grabbed Ayame's hand again and pushed her through the door as he followed soon.

They were now in an alleyway and they started running towards the opening in the alley before an Eden blocked the way.

Clicking his tongue he turned around only for the Eden in the restaurant break through the wall and block the other path.

He started looking around the alleyway before he found a door as he pulled Ayame and pointed at the door.

Ayame nodded and they both started running. They reached the door and tried opening it only for it to stay locked.

Growling in anger he stepped back and kicked the door only for it to budge a little. He sent another kick, and another, and another until the door broke open and Ayame ran in.

He followed closely after and looking around the store they were in now it was a clothes shop. He turned to Ayame and grabbed her arm and pulled her to the counter and pushed her down.

"W-What are you doing?" She asked quietly as fear laced her voice.

"Stay here, don't move, don't do anything to be a hero. I'll be back" He grabbed clothes and piled them on to Ayame and ran out of the store making as much sound as he could.

Running down the street he turned back to see the four Edens on the roof.

'So I was right. They'd rather travel through the roof' Which was good since it meant they ignored Ayame but bad since they were faster now.

One of the Edens jumped off and he rolled forward as the Eden landed where he was previously.

He started running to the closest building there was and as soon as he stepped he cursed.

'Fuck!'

The building he was in was a Bank. Which meant no back exit. No other path except the front. And even the vault was closed so he couldn't hide in there either.

He turned around to run out of the Bank only to see the Edens already surrounding the front of the Bank.

"Never was a smoker. Might as well start now" He pulled out a cigarette from his pocket and lit it with magic as he pulled out his dagger.

"I'm taking one of you down with me you fuckers"