Today was the day. The expedition team was leaving Shini.
Yuko could barely contain herself. She'd not wasted a breath the past months. She'd practiced, trained and observed, getting her ass handed to her repeatedly until she had been able to best the challenge. No one in the refugee camp knew what Yuko had been up to, just that she was moving with extreme motivation and purpose. The high concentration of people had at least made it much easier to find the people she could learn from. With her father still missing, she didn't have anyone to stop her or answer to, either. Well, at least she tried to look at it that way.
She'd hoarded every foodbar she'd gotten her hands on, done additional favors for a few more, and saved a handful of meals the last few days. Her tools were sharpened, stocked up and packed.
She'd gotten as much info as she could get her hand on, and prepared well ahead of time. The party would be leaving through the western tunnels, and she'd overheard that there would be a few hour test walks done to check the stability of the tunnels. Yuko didn't know the details on the why, just the what and how, and that without tons of people watching, it'd be a lot easier to get out of the city that way.
Hiding in the tunnel was also fairly easy, she was about an hour's walk in at this point. No feeling of the kegare yet. The next time anyone should pass her, it'd be the party. She found her way to a split, lanterns lighting one way while the other was dark. All she had to do was tail the group once they were around the next corner.
Yuko was half expecting not to be the only one trying something like this, but then again, even if there were people who'd have wanted to go and couldn't, not many would be so crazy as to try and go anyway. How many of them would've given away their intentions by revealing themselves to the city by signing up in the first place?
This expedition could end in a walk of nothing but tunnels and Yuko wouldn't care. Well, she'd be disappointed. But she'd have done it and really, that's all she cared about. Maybe there'd be a next time and she could join them too.
Soft murmurs started reaching her, lots of them, accompanied by the footsteps of a dozen people. Yuko grinned as she delved deeper into the dark tunnel. Just enough to be out of sight. The voices slowly became louder.
“We should be reaching the end of the lit path soon. Does everyone have their lanterns?”
A choir of agreeing sounds, as well as the rattling and clanking metal, slowly getting quieter again.
Time to get going.
A few quiet days passed navigating tunnels. Yuko had no idea what route they were taking. Maybe they were trying to keep to a certain direction? She had a vague feeling they were heading up, but that was about it. The stone of the tunnels was fascinating, changing from the paths holed out of the dirt to passages through rock and stone. Sometimes she'd walk on floors that had to have been stairs, once upon a time.
As she walked, Yuko allowed her mind to wander. She wondered who built these tunnels and why. Some of it looked like it was naturally formed, and she wondered if a stream passed through here once.
She noticed her backpack get lighter as she discarded containers of meals, and had it not been the stream they'd passed the previous day, she would've started to worry about water. It was easily the most cumbersome item to pack, considering its necessity and volume, and despite dedicating all of her spare space to it, she still underestimated how much she'd need.
Yuko wasn't sure if it was just nerves and excitement or if it was the kegare getting into her body, but she was starting to feel nauseous. Her hunger was basically gone, and instead her water had become all the tastier, but even that she had to force down in small sips. She wasn't alone though, based on the time she heard someone ahead of her hurl and the two instances of puke she'd found off the side of the path.
… Definitely kegare.
A few hours into the 4th day, they'd passed a large three way crossing. One up over a small wall, one down, and then one straight. The group had gone straight after lingering here for a while. Yuko couldn't help but investigate the wall. Noticing small cracks in the face, she gave one of the handles she found a good pull. It wasn't unstable. There should be plenty of spots to grab on to to get to the top. She wondered why they didn't take the way up, if she was right to guess that was the direction they were following.
Unfortunately she couldn't linger for too long, not wanting to get unwillingly left behind. Catching up didn't take very long, at least. It seemed the party had slowed down.
Yuko surveyed what she could of the tunnels. There were scrapes in the wall, and small ones on the floor, too. What made these?
A scream alerted Yuko back to the present. The sound of gunshots rang, nearly deafening her.
More panic and scuffle.
There was a moment of hesitation. There wasn't much Yuko could do without even knowing what the problem was.
Without a second thought, Yuko armed herself with her utility knife and sprinted around the corner.
There was blood everywhere.
Three bodies on the floor, unmoving, robbed of their helmets and visors. Multiple people aiming weapons further down the tunnel, and a monster in the back.
Yuko had never seen a creature like it before. It stood on two legs, its hands huge and clawed. They were stained red and were wet in the lights of the lanterns. Its head was round, with a stout muzzle under glowing, green beady eyes and two small round ears on top. It was taller than anyone in the group. Its hairless skin was a purplish black, and Yuko could see green veins pulse and glow underneath it.
It bellowed a roar. What it was trying to communicate with the noise was a mystery.
There was more gunfire. Bullets collided with the cavern behind the creature just as much as with it, and it was unconcerned with the metal hitting it.
It was cornered.
Suddenly the beast fell onto its hands and feet and charged, tackling another person to the ground.
A familiar, masculine voice spoke up. “Back away and stop shooting it!”
“So we're just leaving them, then?!” another protested.
“We have no choice!” a third one argued. This voice was also familiar, but feminine.
“Where do we even go?”
Yuko cut in this time. “Up! We scale the wall from a few minutes back!”
Everyone's attention turned to her for just a moment.
The familiar man spoke up. “You can find the way? Then lead us.”
Trying to back away from the monster was a tense endeavour. Yuko could feel her heart in her throat as they attempted to create distance in a way that wouldn't cause the creature to come after them.
It was almost out of sight when a man dropped to his knee and took aim again.
“What are you doing?!” Someone hissed.
The crouched person shushed them. “It's stopped. Let's kill it and try to save the others.”
Multiple people moved to stop him, but were too late.
As soon as they heard the sound, everyone fled for the wall while the monster came after its aggressor once more.
They were fortunate that it chose not to chase them down further.
Yuko managed to navigate the wall easily, and the remainder of the party followed her trail fairly quickly. She let herself drop on the ground, at first panting as she came down from the adrenaline rush, before laughing.
Her laughter was short lived though as she was suddenly snagged by the collar and lifted to face one of the visors.
“Yuko, what the hell were you thinking to follow us?!” the familiar voice cursed as he shook her.
She was finally able to place the voice. “Sir Satoru?”
There was a loud sigh as he let go of Yuko and lifted the visor to reveal himself. The teacher groaned as he rubbed his forehead. He then sat himself down against the wall.
“I, I saved your lives, you know?!” Yuko argued.
Another voice gagged, before turning around and hurling in the corner.
The familiar woman shuffled over to help. “Deep breaths. We need to hold on to our fluids.”
Shizumi…
Yuko sighed and looked around. Ten people made it. Most of them were staring down the tunnel.
There was light at the end of it.