Guns, Bullets & Bones [Tokyo Ghoul]

Ch. 15 ~ Ayako's Past

     A young girl, with silky hair the colour of swirling dark chocolate and deep-set doe eyes, clad in a non-descript school uniform was in a bustling school hallway. Students jostled past her in their rush towards the doors. The last bell for the day had rung, and Ayako, a few years younger than when Dylan met her, smiled shyly at a few people who gave her a few passing words as she fought against the crowd to get back to her locker.

      She changed her shoes, packed away everything she didn't need, and loaded her bag with the things she would be taking home. She lifted it onto her shoulder, tucked her hair behind her ear and tagged on the to tail-end of the crowd.

     It was a typical Friday, nothing was out of the norm. A handful of students made their way through the crowd towards the changing room for the after school softball practice, but most were filing towards the doors, their mind occupied with only the plans of their weekend and where they'd get their takeaway from tonight.

      However, something wasn't right. The crowd had come to standstill, and Ayako couldn't see why. She was a ways back from the door, and the hushed murmurings rolling back through the crowd of students in waves was making her anxious.

     She lifted herself onto her tiptoes and peered over the countless bobbing heads, eyes darting back and forth in the background, trying to see the disturbance. And see it, she did. She dropped back down flat onto her feet and swallowed thickly, trying not to gasp out loud.

      Manning the doors were ghoul investigators, she'd seen enough to be able to spot them a mile away. In their hands had been some kind of scanner devices, no doubt new technology they'd developed to detect ghouls, Oh, why couldn't they just leave them alone?

       She had to think of another way out. She had to. But the only problem was, the only doors leading to somewhere she could escape from were in front of her, manned by the doves. The other doors lead to dead ends or courtyards, giving her nowhere to run, and the last waves of the crowd were floating up behind her.

    Her heart began to pick up speed, hammering in her chest like a racehorse. There was nothing for it. She'd just have to push through and run.

     The crowd filtered through the investigators, each getting two high pitch beeps from the scanners before they were sent on their way. Only a few students left in front of her now.

      Ayako stepped up to the investigators and sucked in a breath as she held her arms out as all the other students before her had done. The investigator began to wave the scanner in front of her, and before it could even complete one length, it let out a long, ear-splitting ring and all the investigators jumped into action.

     The scanner dropped to the ground as the investigator dove for her, but she was quicker, ditching her bag at their feet and taking off out the doors, sprinting through the crowds who were more or less unaware of what had just happened.

      She slammed shoulders with students as she jostled through them, head whipping back to see where the investigators were, and she was horrified to see they weren't far behind. She tried to go faster, push harder, but all the bodies in her way made going tough work, and with all the weaving and twisting, her lung were begging to scream, her back aching and legs burning.

      However, a force collided with her from behind and she was barrelled over, landing face-first on the asphalt, bare palms and knees splitting open and blood began to pour, her face grazed down one side.

      The weight crushed down on her back, her chest squeezing against the ground, breathing coming in short, laboured gasps.

     "The serum, quick!" A voice from above her yelled, and just before her flaming wing-like Kagune could burst forth, the point of a needle jabbed into the soft flesh of her neck, and she felt the cold seeping into her blood stream, creeping through her veins. Her body became heavy and tired, like a dead weight to her mind which was quickly being wound tightly in thick cobwebs. She soon lost consciousness.