She shifts her gaze to where Natsuhiko is lying.
“Did you think I attacked Natsuhiko? That’s a big misunderstanding if you do! I was trying to carry him to a safe place!”
She sadly narrows her eyes. “Stop telling thinly veiled lies even I can see through,” she whispers and moves her right hand as fast as lightning.
“UGH!” She pokes both my eyes, temporarily blinding me. I can feel her body slipping out from underneath me.
Crap! If she gets away now, I won’t be able to dodge her next slash!
I blindly reach into the darkness. My left hand makes contact with something. It feels like cloth. I latch on to it and concentrate on yanking it toward me.
“Let go of me!”
Through my closed off vision, I can tell she’s struggling against me. But she’ll very likely kill me if I let go of her now. Knowing I’ll die if I don’t take her out here, I wrap my hands around her fragile neck and squeeze.
I hear her coughing, and then her body falls limp in my hands.
My vision returns soon after. I blink a few times until I see her unconscious in my arms.
I-I almost died there! This girl seriously tried to kill me…!
My head, gut, and skin are aching like crazy still. The convulsions haven’t stopped either. Every instinct in my body is screaming that it’s too dangerous to stay here.
Right now, I need to focus on getting these kids out of here. That newfound purpose gives me the strength to throw both Natsuhiko and Salyu over my shoulders. I stagger out of Area N with them.
I fumble my way out of the connecting passageway.
“Captain!” Tachibana abruptly calls.
I torque my neck with a start and see her standing in the middle of the corridor. She sprints over with a look of absolute relief.
“Oh, thank God. I’m so glad to see you alive…”
“Tachibana…what are you…doing here?” I rasp.
“I was watching the surveillance cameras out of worry for you, when I spotted you walking in here…” She stops when she sees Natsuhiko and Salyu dangling from my shoulders. “What in the world is going on here, Captain?”
“This is Natsuhiko and Salyu. I found them in Area N.”
Tachibana furrows her brow. “Did you say Area N? Isn’t that where the melted reactor is burning?!”
“Well, I’m not really sure what’s going on here, either, but…there was no reactor or fire in Area N.”
“What?!” Tachibana is speechless.
Determining she probably won’t believe a word I say, I hand her the Level N security card. “You’ll believe it if you see it. Check with your own eyes.”
She gives a skeptical nod as she accepts the card and runs to Area N. She comes back within thirty seconds with a look of absolute disbelief. “Th-There really wasn’t a fire or a melting reactor…! I can’t believe this is happening…!”
“Me either…”
“But, Captain, if there’s no fire in Area N, why did the lockdown happen?!”
“…I don’t know. I don’t know anything anymore…” I take the Level N card back from Tachibana and move things along. “Let’s save the explanations and debates for later. Natsuhiko won’t last much longer if we don’t give him first aid, ASAP.”
“He has lost a lot of blood… I believe he needs a transfusion to survive.”
“Then let’s head straight to the infirmary. There are blood packs and transfusion kits there.”
“I agree. Let me carry one of them.”
“Can you do it with that injured leg?”
“I have recovered a lot since then. I’ll make do.” Tachibana carries Salyu despite her badly injured leg. She quietly warns me on our walk to the infirmary, “Captain, we need to be very alert on the way there.”
“Something happen?”
“Moribe and Mr. Ukita stormed out of the surveillance room before I left. They are both acting extremely unusual. You will be in danger if you run into them now.”
I don’t know the full picture, but her tense voice and expression are more than persuasive enough for me.
“…Got it. Let’s proceed carefully from here.”
We advance through the connecting passageway wary of everything around us.