Chapter Three: Calm before the Storm

Hidden behind a plain expression was one of desperation as Akira and Hideki walked up the empty driveway of his home. Akira swallowed passed the growing anxiety he felt building in his chest as he unlocked the front door he had previously locked that morning. As before, the house was stock still.

Akira tossed his satchel on the sofa and swiped the television remote from the glass table top. Hideki followed behind, closing the door behind him as he took a few quick glances around the room.

"Your dads still not home?" Hideki asked as he took a seat on the recliner closest to the front door. Akira just shook his head causing Hideki to watch him closely as the television filled the room with necessary sound. "Maybe you should call?" Hideki suggested, as he glanced towards the television. He stared at the screen longingly as his mind went somewhere else.

Akira, nodding absently, dug his phone from his coat and looked down at the black screen. He took a deep breath as he unlocked his phone to redial his fathers number, "I didn't want to bother him earlier, but now-" Akira muttered as he raised the phone to his ear.

They both waited, the cheerful voice of a news anchor snuffed the silence. Akira stood in the middle of the room while Hideki sat on the edge of his seat, resting his arm on his knees. The call went straight to voicemail. Hideki sighed audibly as he heard the muffled voice of the answering machine through the phone. Akira lowered his phone to stare at the screen in disgruntled confusion, a deep frown darkened his features before sliding the phone back into his pocket.

"Nothing." Akira whispered, attempting to rid the disappointment from his words. He wanted to shake the unease this situation was causing, but all he could think about was how difficult it's making it to stay calm.

Hideki had pulled his attention to the channel 8 news, originally turned on for background noise. Akira looked over his shoulder at Hideki, but his fixed attention on the broadcast had Akira taking a glance at the screen as well. Turning to face the television himself as he too focused on the broadcast. He hoped it was something to take his mind away from his father.

There were two men that sat in front of a live audience. Channel 8 was a station held in Turkonian. However, they still gave the best unbiased news between the two countries and Akira found it the best source of information he could find between the other channels. The host was interviewing a doctor, he being one that worked solely on ghoul research and ways to easily dispatch them biologically. His work has greatly impacted the way the military power faced these monster, since they have been proven to be a formidable foe. One whose own blood could easily kill another human. This doctor was currently attempting to figure out why the two blood samples, one from a ghoul and one from a human, reacted so harshly when mixed.

The situation surrounding it caused issues for soldiers traversing through close quarters such as the cities in each sector. Ghouls relied on close combat, blood covered many whether it be their own, someone from their squad or a ghoul. Fire teams could easily be wiped if simple mistakes were made.

"The more time I spend studying these creatures, the more interesting I find them. We all are aware of their diet, yes." The guest, Dr. Zion asked the audience, and show host David Creed.

David nodded towards Dr. Zion, who sat across from him, "Well of course, us being the main meal on their menus." The host said causing murmurs in the crowd, stating something they were all aware of by now.

Akira backed into the sofa as he too took a seat to watch the broadcast. Doctor Zion nodded at the calm whispers throughout the televised set. He simply sat back into the arm chair, resting his glasses higher up on the bridge of his nose.

"Well yes," he said, "but its because they find our food to be nearly inedible. Eating something like beef or vegetables would have a taste so foul they'd have no desire to continue to eat it, regardless of hunger." He motioned with his hand as he continued, "If they could consume our food though, and get it down, their stomach would attempt to rid itself of the substance. If kept long enough to digest, the compound would act almost toxically, killing the ghoul eventually. You see, our every day food would sit like a stone in the pit of their stomachs, over time causing blockage until removed."

"Are you trying to defend their reasons to murder, to prey on us like animals?" The host asked, the room they sat in grew silent. The sound of shuffling bodies as they all watched on in curiosity.

The doctor laughed, "Of course not, but let me ask you, any of you watching now, what would you do in their situation? Say one day the food you all enjoyed began to taste rotten and foul, you no longer gained anything from it, wouldn't you search for something edible?"

Hideki chewed his cheek before he commented, "You know, I don't think I could do it, let alone stay sane enough to kill something that looked and acted so similar to myself. It would just feel so wrong. Against my moral code in every way." Hideki said as he glanced at Akira who nodded with understanding.

"Yeah, I couldn't imagine living like that. Think I'd just let the GTA take me out."

"A bit over the edge, but it's not like we've lived this life as a ghoul. I'm sure you just learn to accept it as a kid. Now, a ghoul our age would just naturally commit these acts as if you or I were killing animals for food."

"Livestock, thats all we are to a ghoul." Akira muttered. Pulling his eyes from the screen, he began to retrieve a university admission form from his satchel, glancing at the television every so often. "What if a ghoul consumes another ghoul then?" Akira asked suddenly, Hideki didn't respond though instead he shrugged and kept his eyes on the television, his thoughts impassive as he continued to listen to the broadcast. Soon after noticing Akira's action, grabbed for his admission form as well, brushing off the broadcast casually.

"Couldn't tell yah. Why do you think a ghouls blood is so toxic to our own? I don't know how that makes sense." Hideki asked, he sat back in the recliner, waiting for Akira to give his own idea.

"They went over it last week with this same guy." Akira nodded at the doctor on the television, "Something about the enzymes in ghoul blood that try too quickly to combat the foreign blood,"

Looking at the television in thought, Hideki chewed at his cheek. A habit he had formed when thinking too deeply on a topic. "So like a defense?" He asked.

Akira shrugged, "That makes sense, your body naturally does this all the time. Fighting foreign viruses and bacteria keeps us healthy. A ghouls anatomy is just far more superior, the antibodies in their blood stream fight foreign invaders regardless of location. To a human who's not so adapt would easily find their blood freezing in their veins as the same active function attempts to rid itself of the foreign body. We just can't keep up."

Hideki smiled briefly over Akira's words for only a second before he brushed off the topic and focused back onto his administration forms. He was never too interested in this topic, and would soon divert to another. Never gave much away on how he felt about it all. Akira had picked up a lot about his friend, but never could understand his distance from the conflict.

"Got a pen?" Hideki asked, Akira nodded, tossing him the one he was currently using. They were silent for a moment, Akira looking through his bag for another pen, Hideki printing his name on the first block of his paper. Then he spoke again, "What would you do if I were actually a ghoul?"

Akira looked up to see Hideki smiling at him, just as he pulled the spare pen from the bag, "And I just found out now?" Hideki nodded in response. "Honestly, I don't know. I don't think I'd be able to come to terms that a ghoul has been my friend for these passed three years and I'm now just finding out. I think I'd be a little disappointed it took you so long to tell me."

Hideki shrugged, a cheeky smile playing at his lips, "Your dad is apart of GTA. If he even suspected I was, I'd soon be a chalk outline. Anyway, so you wouldn't be like terrified of me?"

Akira grinned slightly, a shadow of a grin that caught Hideki's eye, "Right, but knowing you as I do now, you come off as a minor pacifist. If you made it this far as a ghoul, it was by some other means, so no. I'd be-"

Wailing alarms sound from outside. They wavered from something so distant before growing in volume to repeat once again. Causing an immediate stiff realization that struck both young men, anxiety sparking uneasiness. The sound most commonly heard for a tornado warning had the atmosphere growing stiff as the sirens lowered a veil of suspense. They left Akira and Hideki staring at each other in confusion as the television broadcast was shut out by the Emergency Alert System.

The television began to wail in sync with the alarm through out the city. The rapid and digitized alert immediately overtook the room. Akira's phone buzzed frantically in unison with the EAS causing him to pull it from his pocket. The same action was taken by Hideki as the automated message began on the television. On the screen,

A primary entry point system has issued an

***EMERGENCY ACTION NOTIFICATION***

Over the sound of the alarm, the scripted message spoke calmly and with clear robotic confidence, "The following response has been transmitted at the request of the Turkonian government and the national defense administration. This is not a test, repeat, this is not a test. This is a national emergency. This is an urgent message regarding the immediate evacuation of sector one and sector two. All personnel are to remain in doors and record the times of your districts evacuation instructions for August, 1st  2019-"

Akira watched the screen as certain personnel by occupation were listed, then listed the groups that would follow in an attempt to maintain an orderly evacuation early in the morning to late afternoon. He being apart of the first group, his fathers occupation getting him the first bus out of the country. Akira looked at Hideki, he would be on the fourth bus to leave. The Alert finished after recommending to stay in doors until order of movement. Then, just as suddenly, the same broadcast with Dr. Zion and the show host continued as if nothing had happened.

Hideki sighed, "Upperclass leaves first, bright and early." An unreadable expression shrouded Hideki's face as he took in the quickly distributed message. He then looked down at his phone to scroll through all the times and locations of the departing busses that would ship them to Turkonian via automated text. "You think they waited this long so they wouldn't see a spike in the population?" He asked calmly, looking up at Akira then.

"It sounds like something they'd do." Turkonian being conceited, thinking they could protect the country so easily by building a towering wall. He assumed once all the busses made it through tomorrow evening that they'd shut the tunnels down and post sentries. "I guess we should start packing," Akira muttered as he looked down at his half filled out form, "doubt Rose will be opening its doors anytime soon."

"Yeah I don't see that happening either." Hideki stood, gathered his things before he turned to face Akira. Akira followed him before they stopped at the front door. Hideki smiled, a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "Guess I should get going then."

"I'll find you tomorrow when we're there," Akira said as they met in a subtle side hug, Hideki being the one who initiated it, broke away and made for the front door.

"Right, I'm sure my parents are worried I haven't called today. Try to get some sleep, you look like a zombie." Hideki said as he went to shut the front door behind him, pausing for a moment, Hideki looked over his shoulder, "Give your dad another call, for me." Gaining a nod from Akira, "see ya!" Was the last thing he managed before fully closing the door behind him, leaving Akira to an empty house.