User blog:Seieireppa/God Eater ∑0 chapter 3: Home

It had been three weeks since my Ogretail kill. I felt better than ever, but the predatory urges still remained. I needed to find something to hunt, and fast.

As I stalked the mountainside, I wondered for a moment why I felt no urge to hunt humans, despite being part Aragami. Perhaps it was due to interference from my own human nature? I guess it didn’t matter so long as I only went after Aragami in the first place…

I was snapped out of my thoughts by familiar sounds from down below, sounds I hadn’t heard in many a month. Through the trees about three hundred meters down the mountain, if my estimates were correct, I could hear the telltale signs of others like me — other humans who yet survived. How they had evaded detection by the Aragami, I did not know… but I did know that my questions would be answered shortly, as I made my way down the mountain to rendezvous with them.

“It’s good to know that we aren’t the only ones still alive.”

The woman who had just spoken set down a cup of tea across the table, where I sat.

“I thought we were the only ones alive for miles,” she continued. “Never thought we’d meet any survivors in the area, let alone a kid like you.”

She smiled at me. “My name’s Marie, by the way. Marie Edmondson.”

Marie here was the leader of a small group of survivors who had made their home in a local shopping mall in the next town over from my hometown. Many essential functions still worked, like plumbing and gas, and they still had electricity due to the mall’s emergency generator, so they had rallied together here to keep safe from the Aragami.

Marie herself was a slight woman, barely more than five feet tall, and yet, somehow, she commanded an imposing presence that gave no hint to her small stature. Her natural charisma, it seemed, was not to be underestimated, and it was this charisma that had enabled her to marshal these survivors under her watch.

“Anyway, kid, I never did get your name,” she continued.

I swallowed. “Me? I’m _____ ________. From the next town over.”

“_____, is it? Glad to welcome you aboard,” came Marie’s emphatic reply, along with an offered hand, which I returned.

“I do wonder how you managed to survive, though. I’d have thought that any survivors would have long since been eaten by the Aragami by now, honestly. They say there's huge colonies of survivors across the sea in Japan, Russia, and Scotland, but...”

“Oh, well, I, uh, hid in the basement of my house for a while, then snuck through the forest on the mountain in search of shelter and more food.”

Marie looked puzzled. “That’s weird… the forests should have been home to a crapton of Ogretails. How did you evade them?”

I looked away, nervously. No matter what happened, they couldn’t know that I was part Aragami. “Believe me, they aren’t very smart. I was able to evade detection pretty easy.”

“Hahahaha! This is very true!” came Marie’s reply, along with a hearty laugh. “At any rate, I’m glad you were able to make it here. Welcome to our little band!”

Marie slapped me on the back as if to say ‘you’re one of us now, kid.’  It was a warm feeling… one I hadn’t felt in ages, one I was more than grateful to be able to feel again…

…and one that would be swept out from beneath my feet before I knew it.

TO BE CONTINUED