Chapter 2 - Alpha’s support (1/2)

Looking for Proofreader

After he got away from the monsters, Akira let out a sigh of relief. Then Alpha laughed proudly as she said.

“How was that? I gave good support, didn’t I?”

“Y-Yeah, I was saved because of that. Thanks.”

As he tried to calm himself down, Akira thought of everything that just happened. The leftover thrill and adrenaline rush from the monsters’ attack, his screaming lungs as he was short of breath since he was running around like crazy; the wariness toward the unknown girl, and the feeling of grat.i.tude after he was saved by her. All of these feelings and sensations pooled into one as he made a mixed expression.

As for Alpha, she was just standing there, staring at him and trying to read deeper into his heart while giving off a wonderful smile that made Akira less cautious of her.

“You are very welcome. Now that you just got a taste of how great I am, I want to talk about what I want to ask of you. Is that alright?”

“Yeah”

Alpha kept staring at Akira’s eyes and gave off a nod as if she was about to bring a very serious talk.

“I’ll need you explore a certain ruin. But it’s not here, it’s in some other ruin, and it’s a very dangerous ruin. To be honest, It’s impossible for the current you to explore that place. Forget exploring the place, it’s impossible even for you to go there, you’ll surely be dead midway even with my amazing support. That’s why, before going there, I want you to prepare enough equipment and skill to explore that ruin, And that will be our main aim for the time being…”

Feeling that it would be a long talk, Akira hesitantly opened up his mouth and said.

“Uhmm, may I say something?”

“What is it? Just ask away if there’s any part that you don’t understand.”

“That’s not what I meant. So uhh, I understand that it’s an important subject, but can we save that for later? To be honest, I want to talk about how can I get back safely from here first if possible”

Alpha stopped talking and gave Akira a meaningful smile as she kept staring at him. The silence made Akira shrunk a bit and his expression stiffened.

[…Oh c.r.a.p, did I make her angry? Maybe I shouldn’t have cut her talk there]

The weapon dogs were still roaming around the building, so he couldn’t stay there forever. he had to do something to get out from this sticky situation, otherwise, he would definitely get killed sooner or later. This is the reason why he cut Alpha’s talk short, but then, he realized that if he angered Alpha there, then it’s the same as cutting off his own lifeline.

Akira’s panic and nervousness started leaking off from his expression. Looking at that, Alpha just giggled without showing any worry.

“I understand. I also want to ask you about a lot of things once we’re in a better situation. So let’s get out from this place and go back to Kugamayama city first, then we can continue our talk after that, ok?”

“Yes, please”

Akira let out a sigh of relief as his survivability just shot up as he knew that he didn’t anger her.

But suddenly, Alpha gave another order to him while smiling as if she intentionally wanted to erase that relief off him.

“In that case then go down right now”

Akira immediately gasped and choked. Then after he recovered, he stood up with a dumbfounded look.

Alpha didn’t seem to be bothered by Akira’s reaction. She just lightly walked off while waving at Akira as if she was trying to lead Akira who just stood still there.

“What’s wrong? Let’s go”

Which to that, Akira protested while panicking.

“No, well, I just came out from down there, right!? So why are we returning back to that place again!? There are still monsters roaming below, you know?!”

“I don’t mind explaining it to you but… I’ll do that while we move slowly. But well, if you can’t trust my support, then there’s nothing I can do about it. I won’t force you or anything”

After saying that, Alpha kept walking deeper into the building, leaving Akira behind.

The fear of returning back to the death zone stopped Akira from moving his legs. But after seeing Alpha disappearing into the building, he just gritted his teeth and followed her.

Akira had no confidence if he could return back to the city safely on his own, not to mention that it’s thanks to Alpha’s support that he was able to survive the monsters’ attack from before. That’s why, he understood well that although it looked like a crazy idea to him, he had the best survival chance if he just followed her order. So, he decided to put his bet on her and rushed into that unknown girl.

Once he entered the building again, he saw Alpha was standing near the entrance waiting for him with a smile. Looking at her, Akira felt a mix of embarra.s.sment and a slight strange sense of defeat. Then Alpha started walking down the stairs with Akira following behind her.

He walked down the stairs relatively slowly compared to when he climbed the stairs as fast as he could a few moments ago. Following Alpha’s orders, he stopped, hid himself, and started walking again for a few times during his way down the stairs.

“…So, why are we returning below? Isn’t it dangerous down there?”

“It’s really dangerous down there, you know”

Akira was shocked and taken aback by Alpha’s prompt answer. But then he hurriedly asked Alpha again.

“Wait for a sec!! It’s dangerous, right?”

“There are monsters roaming down there, you know? So that place is far away from being safe. Did you come to this ruin without even knowing that? Do you think that it was purely because of your bad luck that you were attacked back there?”

“O-Of course I know that… But that’s not what I was asking. Just explain it to me already, you did say that you will do that while we’re moving, right?”

“In order for you to get back safely to Kugamayama City from this Kuzusuhara city ruin, you have to get out from this building. But I don’t think you have the ability to jump down from the rooftop and land safely, that’s why we’re taking the stairs-“

Akira didn’t even wait for Alpha who was trying to explain everything in detail to Akira. He interrupted her explanation with a strong tone while giving a look at Alpha that showed his distrust and dissatisfaction.

“Alright, alright. But tell me one thing, if I obey everything you say, then I’ll be able to return back safely, right?”

Alpha answered with a serious look.

“At least, I think you’ll have a better survivability compared to if you do this on your own. I did say this before, I won’t force you or anything. If you don’t trust my support, then I won’t give you any support since it would be a waste.”

Then Alpha kept looking at Akira as she was waiting for an answer. Depending on his answer, their relations.h.i.+p might end right there.

After a pause, Akira hung her head in self-loathing while saying.

“…Sorry, that was my fault. I’ll obey you, so please help me”

Alpha smiled back as if she regained her mood.

“Okay, so once again, I’ll be in your care”

Although he felt relieved, he’s still feeling uneasy. and so Akira carefully asked again.

“…And also. If it’s possible, can you explain to me the reason for your previous order in a way that is easy for me to understand so that I won’t feel uneasy? It’s okay even if you just explain to me the important main points.”

“There are individual differences in the behavioral pattern between each weapon dog. Whether they chase their target until the very end or they stay in one area. Whether they keep searching or return back to their base when they lose sight of their target. After observing their individual differences, I predicted that at this time, the chance you’ll encounter any monsters if you go back should be very low. The black powder that they use for their weapons is produced by a particular organ inside them. And this organ can only stock up limited amount of black powder. So once they used all of their available black powder, it’ll take some times for them to replenish it. Thus, if you encounter one of them during that period, then there’s a very small chance that you will get shot from behind when you run away from it. Of course they’ll come at you trying to kill you and eat you, but if you keep your distance so that they can’t bite you, then I’m sure you can kill them even with that weak handgun. After considering that big factor and so many other factors, I decided to give you that order. I’ve more or less summarized everything there but, should I explain it in more detail to you?”

“…Nope, that’s good enough… You could’ve explained that when we’re on the rooftop, you know?”

Looking at still unsatisfied Akira. Alpha smiled as if she was trying to cheer up a small kid and said to him.

“There will be a lot of instances where I don’t have the leeway of explaining things to you. So, if I have to explain each and every single thing to you all the time, then you’ll get killed one of these days. For an example, in case if a bullet will pierce your head in 3 seconds and I have to explain to you why you should get down on the floor as fast as you can, then you’ll get killed in the middle of my explanation. The same thing will happen if I tell you to get down on the floor and then you ask me why. After all, I can’t touch you, so it’s not like I can’t force you to get down. So there you have it, if you can’t follow my order without asking me the reason, then you’ll just end up dead. The same thing is happening right now, the reason why I can give you a long explanation here is because I know we’re pretty much safe right now, you know?”

“…I understand.”

Although he’s convinced by Alpha’s explanation, he also felt that the more he asked, the more he looked stupid. Therefore, he just hung his head and nodded.

After arriving on the first floor, His expression turned grim as he glanced at the aftermath of the attack that almost got him killed. He immediately looked around to make sure that there are no monsters left there. Once he confirmed it, he let out a sigh of relief and his expression relaxed for a bit. But all of those were erased when Alpha started giving him orders again with a serious look.

“Akira, listen closely to my orders and try your best to follow them. Every time you make a move outside of my order, it’ll increase the chance of you getting killed, you understand that?”

“I-I understand”

“30 seconds from now, run as fast as you can to exit the building and then go left. Just keep running following the road without looking back no matter what. And when I give you the sign, turn back, put your gun in front of you, and empty it. You understand?”

“…O-Okay.”

Akira already understood well that he would run out of time if he asked Akira for the reason. And so he just answered Alpha’s question with a firm nod while making a mixed expression of nervousness and fear.

Alpha slid aside as if she’s making a way for Akira, and then she pointed her finger to the exit while staring at Akira.

Akira anxiously took a peek outside the building, he could see the leftovers of the weapon dogs’ attack that was also there. It’s the scene of a death zone. He prepared himself to dash as fast as he could. As he leaned forward to take off and run away from that place with all his strength, his feet planted firmly on the ground. He hesitated. Executing and understanding are two different things. He understood it well, but he didn’t have enough resolve to execute it.

Alpha started counting down.

“5… 4…. 3…”

Akira imagined for a fraction of a second what would happen to him if the time ran out. And so he resolved himself and went off.

He blazed through the gaps between the half destroyed high buildings with all he had. He quickly ran out of breath, but he kept running. His heart started screaming in pain, but he kept running. The sole of his feet started feeling the pain from kicking the paved hard road, but he kept running. He gritted his teeth and kept running. He didn’t see any monsters around and he didn’t hear any sound of a fight either. So he started questioning why he kept running like that.

The silence around him was telling him that he’s all alone in that ruin. His lungs, his heart, and his legs were screaming in pain begging for a rest, but he ignored those screams as he kept running.

He saw nothing in front of him and he heard nothing from behind. He started to think that he’s already safe. But as he started to calm down, all the pains and tiredness from the running crashed down on him.

[I should be safe now, right?]

Akira stopped running and took a rest. But then he looked back to confirm his safety despite all the warnings from Alpha.

Akira was petrified. He saw a big monster not too far from where he was standing. Although it’s all alone, it’s more dangerous than the group of monsters that attacked him.

At a glance, that monster looked like the weapon dog that he just encountered from before with a big cannon growing on its back. But unlike them, it had such a distorted body as if it’s trying to break the norm with its 8 asymmetric legs.

What’s so weird about its dog-like head was how it had 2 eyes on its right side and 1 eye on its left side, it’s even dubious whether it could see clearly or not with those 3 asymmetric sized eyes. But, there’s no doubt at all that those 3 eyes were locked on Akira.

The monster opened its mouth and let out a loud roar. At the same time, the cannon on its back raised and shot a round. The explosive round landed not too far from Akira as it exploded and sent rubble flying. But thanks to all the rubble that scattered around, the damage that it caused around the area was reduced. In the end, Akira just felt a weak wind blowing on its direction and ended up just fine from the explosion.

The monster once again raised up its cannon as if it’s going to shoot another round. But nothing happened, it had ran out of ammo. Letting out another loud roar, its eyes once again, locked into Akira and started running toward him.

Since the moment he looked back, Akira stood still there surprised of what he saw. And even when the monster started running toward him, he wa.s.still frozen in place.

“Run!!”

Although he couldn’t see Alpha at all, he could clearly hear her voice shouted at him. He immediately snapped back into reality thanks to it and started running as fast as he could. But the monster had closed most of the distance between them, he would have standing further away from the monster had he kept running without looking back at all. It’s as Alpha warned him, his chance of getting killed skyrocketed every time he doesn’t do as Alpha instructed.

His whole body was screaming in pain, but Akira ignored it as he kept running. He could hear the stomping sound behind him getting louder and louder. But thanks to its malformed body, its running speed was relatively slow, thus Akira could keep his distance from it. But still, the earth rumbled and let out a thunderous sound every time its huge legs kicked the ground, it reminded Akira just how scary its huge body and legs.

Every time Akira felt the vibration and heard the sound of the monster’s steps echoed from the distance, it shaved off Akira’s sanity. There’s no mistaking it, he would be turned into minced meat if one of those huge legs fell down on him.

Suddenly, Alpha appeared beside Akira as he kept running. She was fleeting right beside him as if she’s floating and sliding above the ground. Akira could see clearly her mixed expression of seriousness and a bit of disappointment.

“Geez, I’ve warned you so many times not to look back, haven’t I? Try to follow my order exactly as I tell you next time. I’ll give you a sign when you’ll have to turn and shoot back, so try your best to follow it, okay?”

“Shoot back!? Are you telling me to fight that huge thing with this handgun?!”

“I’ve been telling you this again and again, I won’t force you to follow my orders”

“I’ll be in your care!”