The New Ajin

Chapter Seven

"Who are they?" I ask as we run down the stairs.

"I don't know but they can't be friends, they broke my door!" he shouts back. He then doubles over and his hand hovers over his bandage. I lift his shirt and see blood seeping into the bandage.

"N-Naoki?" I look at him.

"I'm fine, babe," he tries to smile. We hear pounding feet behind us. I grab Noaki's hand and continue running down the stairs.

"What are we going to do?" he asks me.

"I-I don't know!" I do like making plans before I fight but this is different. Really, really different. Naoki does not have a car we can drive off into the sunset with. Out running them will be impossible with Naoki in the condition that he is in.

With me being an ajin, I could possibly fight them. But I don't even understand what being an ajin is. Was that black ghost on my side? In a way, was I controlling it? It did copy my speech and fight patterns.

"We're going to have to fight," I tell Naoki. We reach the end of the stairs. The streets of Tokyo are already filled with people.

"Or maybe not..." I mumble. I drag Naoki into a crowd of people.

"Just act normal," I whisper.

"How are we supposed to blend in when I have a blood soaked shirt with a hole in it, and you look like you dragged yourself through a mile of dirt. We look like bloody hobos," he whispers back.

"There's a lot of weird fashion here, look at that girl, she is wearing a bright red bag as a dress," I whisper back.

Naoki chuckles, "I think it looks good."

I roll my eyes, "what ever."

"Should we look around and see if they have followed us?" Naoki asks.

"No, it will look suspicious if we look paranoid," I say back.

"But I am paranoid," he says.

"Just trust me, Naoki," I say.

"Of coarse I trust you, it's just that, I don't know. There is a lot of people here, what if fighting breaks out? I don't want anybody getting hurt because of us," Naoki says.

Naoki has always had a soft heart.

"They won't attack when we are in a crowd," I reply.

"You say that as if you are certain," he snaps back, "what, are we just going to wonder in the crowd for the rest of our lives?"

"I have a plan," I lie.

"Oh yeah, what is it?" he puts me on the spot.

"My foster mother," I find myself saying.

He raises an eyebrow, "What about her?"

"I think she would help us," I say.

"You think? Eri, she is fifty/fifty. She might give us shelter or she might call the police for the reward," Naoki says.

"I know, I know, but she's the only person who I can think of. Tony only did what he did because he owed you. Ren would have been the only other person I would run to, but we saw his true colors last night. Hell, I don't even know if he's still alive," I look down at the dirty sidewalk.

"Eri, just forget about that scumbag," Naoki spits, "he's the one who probably sent the men after us."

"I don't know, I didn't recognize them," I say, "when I caught a fast glimpse of them, they didn't even look Japanese."

"What did they look like?" he asks.

"American, maybe?" I shrug.

"I heard there's an underground black market for ajins," Naoki says.

"You didn't think of mentioning that sooner?" I want to shout but an angry whisper comes out instead.

"How did they find me so fast?" I ask.

"This is so f*^!ed up," Naoki shakes his head.

"You're telling me," I sigh.

"We're going to have to take the next right to go to my Foster's house but I see the crowd lessening," I say, "are you prepared to fight?"

"Yeah, I had Tony reload my gun at his house," Naoki says.

When we turn the corner, there was five men dressed in all black waiting for us. There was nobody else on the street.

"We work with the United States Research of Ajin. Please come with us quietly," the one at the head says.

Naoki pulls me behind him," don't listen to them. I heard that by 'research' they mean killing the Ajin over and over again."

I remember my headache from hell the last time I died. I can not imagine being killed like that, feeling like that, for the rest of my life. It's time to test my black ghost theory. Maybe it will give us enough time to flee. 

"C'mon black ghost, I need you right now," I whisper under my breath. I see black swirls gathering in front of me. The swirls come together and the same ghost appears with the cone like head.

"Attack!" I shout. The black ghost charges at the five me. They take fire on the ghost but the bullets fly off. I grab Naoki's hand and drag him over to a gap in between two towering buildings. 

"I told you to use the tranquilizers!" the man shouts.

For a split second, I close my eyes. But I do not see the darkness behind my eyelids. Instead I see another image. When I close my eyes, I see what the black ghost must be seeing. "Right hook. Uppercut," I think. Just as I think this, the ghost does as I suggest. 

"Woah. Break through," I think. I keep my eyes closed and focus on fighting the men who are trying to take me. "Attack the one on the right. Double leg take down. Good. Pound at the face. Move on to the one on your left . Push him against the room. Right hook.  Go to the last man. Take no mercy."

I open my eyes and hear a loud blood filled scream. Naoki and I rush out to find four passed out men slumped on the ground. The black ghost who stands in front of the last man slowly starts to disappear. I look at the clock on my phone, it's been five minutes. 

When the black ghost is gone, I see the man laying on the ground. Deep gashes are in his chest. His eyes are open but appear to be...lifeless. Blood gushes out of his deep wounds and pools around him.

"D-did I kill him?"