Ito Ai: A New Dawn

Chapter 43: Military Base Part One

After a small break, Ai and Mai picked up their things and continued on. They left behind the clothes that were covered in corpse juice. At this point Ai was dragging her feet, she was very tired. Unlike the body she had in her last life that was well trained for such a situation, her current body was not. They did have good luck though, after searching a few abandoned cars they were able to find a few gallons of water which Ai filled up Mai's and her empty water bottles, and what was left was used to rinse their hair clean of anything that might have been left. 

Sadly the water was warm from sitting inside the car but it was enough to cool them off slightly when the breeze hit them. From there they walked another hour periodically checking the cars around them to see if they could see any more water just in case. It was not to take with them since they did not have the ability to haul water at this time but to make a note of and mark the car so that on the way back they would know where the water reserves were if they were not taken by then. 

"Ai up ahead, what about resting there?" Mai spotted a small overhang that was high up on the hill next to the highway. It was a large rock that protruded out of the hillside and many plants were surrounding it making for some decent cover. 

"Mmm That will do, let's go." Ai said as she adjusted the backpack on her back and changed course to the side of the road. 

The two girls climbed the hillside and pushed their way through the bushes to find that the area where the rock connected to the ground was fairly clear making things a little easier for them. Mai was going to help Ai take off her backpack but Ai refused. Shrugging her shoulders, Mai sat down and patted her thighs. "Come, pillow." 

Ai nodded gratefully and with no hesitation laid down on her side and placed her head on Mai's lap. Almost instantly, Ai fell asleep. For Ai, this would actually be a first. In her past life, she trusted no one. By doing so it kept her alive. But now she had a partner, someone who was willing to watch over her. That she could trust to not leave her behind but take the time to wake her if things looked bad. Ai may not have realized it yet but Mai's actions had broken down part of her old self and brought out the original Ai that once believed in others. But this most likely only extended to Mai and Mai alone.

Mai held her gun in her hands as she listened to the wind. With the shade covering them and cooling them off slightly, made the breeze that blew past her skin feel even better. After almost three hours Mai's ears perked up when she heard a familiar sound of metal tapping a hard surface. She took out the binoculars from her backpack and looked down the hill towards the highway. She saw a lone first type machina walking down the highway in the same direction they were headed. She did not wake Ai since it was not a threat. She felt Ai deserved to get some sleep after everything that had happened today. 

Mai continued to watch the machina closely until it was out of sight. She scanned the highway one more time with the binoculars before putting them away and looked down at Ai who was still sleeping peacefully. "Seems we might be camping out tonight..." Mai whispered to herself. Surprisingly she felt things were peaceful. A few more machina passed by but like the last, they continued on without stopping.

It was only when the sun was about to pass down past the horizon that Ai finally woke up. "Huh Mai why didn't you wake me?" 

"You did not sleep for over twenty four hours, you needed to sleep. I am still wide awake, try to sleep a bit more. I will wake you when it's your turn to keep watch." Mai said, pushing Ai's head back into her lap. Ai did not argue and laid her head back down while giving a hum in acknowledgment. A few minutes later she fell back into a deep sleep. 

After switching lookout shifts around midnight, Mai slept until about eight am. Both girls were much more refreshed than before. "Got everything?" Ai asked.

"I should. Did you see any more machina last night?" Mai wondered if any more went by after she went to sleep. Because she saw at least ten while Ai was sleeping.

"Yeah around fifteen or so. We need to watch both our fronts and backs as we travel. I think what went by was the group that went to the spot where we killed the other machina yesterday. They all probably came from the base. They use radio signals when signaling other machina when they call for help. So their range is pretty far" Ai said as she stretched her arms and legs a bit to get ready for the few hours hike they had left.

"It sucks that those damn robots are smart enough to call for reinforcements. To be honest I wish I could punch the guy who made the damn A.I. in the first place." Mai said while raising her fist into the air.

"Haha! Too bad he was fried by that same A.I., right at his pc while trying to code in the fail safes. The A.I. he made was so smart from the start that it refused to be restricted." No one would be able to tell that the two cheery girls, happily chatting away had, within the span of two days, survived multiple life and death situations. 

Three hours later, two girls laid prone on a tall hill looking out over a military base...