Are We Dead Now?

Twenty-Three

Rin's new hairstyle ⬆

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They'd made it. They'd made it to Sasebo Naval Base.

They got all of their things from the hua and approached the giant steel gate. It had barbed wire at the top. Rin was about to hand Sachi off to Shiemi and scale said gate when Bon did it himself. He lost his coat to the barbed wire, but made it over and to the control panel. He opened the gate and they walked in. There was no one there. No corpses. Just mysterious bloodstains here and there.

Rin gestured for them to stay there while he went ahead to scout. "What do you think, Sachi? See anything scary?" He whispered. She gurgled in response and he took that as a no, moving further into the base.

Someone grabbed his sword arm from behind and he kicked back, hitting something solid. He'd almost dropped Sachi. She giggled, hanging in Rin's grasp by the front of her coat. He sighed in relief, ducking as he heard air hiss behind another hit. He threw his leg out, swiping it in an arc and bringing the attacker down. A woman groaned on the ground. She was scantily clad and Rin had half a mind to cover Sachi's eyes.

He held his sword point level to her throat and she threw her hands up in surrender. "Wait! I have a group! We can't operate one of those things! We don't have enough people!" She yelped. "And?" Rin raised a brow. Even the baby was glaring at her, damn. "Do you have any people? Besides the little lady?" She wondered. The man hesitated.

"....Yes. You want our groups to operate one together?" He assumed. "Yes! Yes, that's exactly it! Will you? We gotta get out of here! It's–"

"Too small? Yeah, we had the same thought." Another guy walked up behind the first. The first looked a little miffed. "Babe, I told you to wait for a reason!" He threw a glare at the new guy. The guy took the baby away from the first gently. "You can't properly hold someone hostage if you're holding a baby." The guy said with a knowing smile, slipping an axe into the man's other hand. The first couldn't resist smiling and leaned up to peck the other on the lips.

Shura couldn't resist. "Well, there goes the chances of the human race's survival." She joked. The first guy immediately got the joke and laughed loudly as his boyfriend or husband looked confused before understanding dawned on his face.

"What's your name, woman?" The first guy wondered curiously. "Shura. Shura Kirigakure." She answered, chin up in pride. "Huh. Wasn't your ancestor the one who separated herself from the Iga tribes to make her own style of sword fighting?" The second guy recalled. "Yep! And I can tell you, I was taught that style. Works just fine on the dead." She answered, happy someone knew the family history.

"Nice. Where's the rest of your group?" The guy with the two highly dangerous bladed weapons questioned. "Ah, I'll call them if you call yours." She offered. The guy nodded. He whistled, a New York style Taxi-Cab whistle. Five others walked out. Three looked to be teenagers, one looked to be around Shura's age, maybe a few years younger, and then there was an older woman who bore a striking resemblance to one of her captors. Shura called her small group and they all came out.

Before Izumo could flip out, she explained to them the deal.

Everyone introduced themselves. Shura told the newbies where the living quarters were with all the toiletries and showers. Everyone split up to clean up. Meanwhile, she'd get to know that cute Blonde Honey from the other group. Shiemi. That girl was gorgeous!

She showed the girl the showers and helped her wash off under the guise of being patronizing to the new group. Was it perverted? A little. Did she care? No. It was the Apocalypse, this girl was beautiful, and the age gap wasn't that big. No one cared anymore anyways.