Chapter 17: Night Raid Part Two

Sitting on a branch, her legs hanging over the side, staring down at a group of thugs trying to break the door to the drug store down, Ai sat calmly and watched the whole scene from above. In a bush nearby Yasuhide and Mai were waiting for her signal. Ai was just currently watching the bunch of idiots kick the door and try to use their crowbars to pry the door off but they were not having any luck.

Seeing how things were not going to let up any time soon. Ai stealthy hopped down from the tree before picking up a few pebbles off the ground. Using her thumb and index finger she quickly and skillfully flicked them at the thugs by the door while staying hidden in a bush by the tree.

"Ouch, what the fuck was that?" One of the thugs yelled out.

"What are you bitching about, hurry up and help us out over here!"

"Huh, Yeah I will be right there." The thug shouted in response before looking around one more time to see if he could find out what actually hit him. But right as he turned around he felt another stabbing pain in the back of the head. "What the fuck! Fuck! Who did that!?"

In the nearby Bush Ai was giggling away to herself finding the whole thing rather funny. Mai and Yasuhide could only shake their heads when they saw this. "Dad is it just me or does it look like Ai is having fun?"

"Oh, she is having fun that is for sure. But man those guys are idiots. She's got him screaming at the top of his lungs. I wonder if he is aware that he is actually trying to break into a building?" Yasuhide had to hand it to Ai with how she was messing with these guys, it was quite comical. But he could also tell that even though she was having fun her eyes never stopped inspecting the six thugs.

Seeing that the time was right Ai motioned with her hand making a few hand signs. This signaled Mai to come forward. When she did Ai did not hesitate to rip part of her shirt revealing her collarbone and a bit of her shoulder. She then rubbed some mud on Mai's face and ruffled her hair before doing the same thing to herself. Except she did not mess up her hair since she had to wear her hat to help protect her eye. "Just like we planned before, we will act as if we were attacked and almost raped, this will make them think lustful thoughts. Keep your gun hidden. Remember the hand to hand combat moves I taught you. This will be perfect practice for you. As soon as one reaches out to touch you beat the ever living shit out of them do you understand? Also, no need to hold back each of these guys can not leave here alive."

Mai clutched her crowbar and nodded her head. This was one of the plans they came up with on the way here if they had run into a situation like this. Ai was using the appeal of innocent girls who had just had a traumatic experience looking for help as a means to catch these thugs off guard. It was guaranteed as soon as they saw two beauties they would try to do something. It was during this time when their guard was the lowest that they would be able to take them all down. It was dubbed the honey trap plan. (Ai came up with the name.) With Ai's signal Mai and Ai, both ran out of the bush yelling for help. "Please help us there is a man trying to **** and kill us!"

Mai was the first to yell out, she was even able to squeeze tears out of her eyes. Her disheveled hair and her clothes torn and unkempt, made the whole act look more realistic. With some of her white smooth skin showing this instantly caught the eye of these thugs as they quickly stopped what they were doing to come over and "Check on the poor innocent girl...".

"Little lady, what is the problem? Someone is after you? Just stay with us and we brothers will protect you."

"Will… Will you protect my friend too?" Mai asked as she turned her watery eyes that gave off a desperate look at the tug that spoke.

"Your friend? Sure sure no problem we will protect the both of you!" This thug suddenly felt like he had hit the jackpot having two blossoming beauties come running over to him. He reached out to touch Mai's shoulder only to suddenly feel a sharp pain in the side of his head and a warm fluid running down his face. "Wha...?"

"Humph! Humph! Dare to try to touch me? Let's see if I don't beat you to death!" Mai suddenly said as she smacked the crowbar in her hand a few times off the thug's skull.

Ai looked at Mai's brutal actions and knew she would not have any issues in the future. "Leave him and attack the next one! Don't let them recover!"

Ai shot forward and swung her crowbar down on the closest thug's head sinking the arched tip right into his head. She then used her foot to pry it out of the thug's body before moving on to the next one. The two girls easily made short work of the group. It was only after her adrenaline had worn off that Mai realized what she had done. "Ai, are they?"

"Sadly they picked the wrong store to rob since this turned out to be my target. If they went elsewhere they could have lived. " Ai said nonchalantly while raising her hand making a hand sign calling Yasuhide over.

"This means they are dead?" Mia's face turned pale and suddenly felt sick to her stomach. This was her first time killing anyone so her reaction was to be expected.

"Dead as dead can be. But I must say Mai you are even more brutal than I thought you would be." Ai kicked one of the dead thugs on the ground to turn him over, his head was split open and blood continually flowed out. This thug had been brutally smashed in the head repeatedly with a crowbar.

"Urp!" Mai suddenly lost her stomach. Ai walked over and rubbed her back. This was a sight she would need to get used to. These thugs wouldn't have cared if it was them who had the upper hand.

"Ai, was it necessary to kill them?" Yasuhide asked. His complexion was not all that good.

"Well, we could have let them live to run back to find more people to overwhelm us, or we could deal with them early so this way we do not need to run into them in the future." Ai said. "This is also a form of training. In the future, you can not let people like this go. It will bring disaster upon you."

"I see... " Yasuhide answered, letting out a sigh. "I guess in a way this will toughen us up then..."

"It may seem cruel but you have to throw your old world thinking out and remember this is not the same peaceful world you are used to. I mean look how loud these guys were being for so long and not a single cop showed up. This is because there are not enough cops to care about stupid things like this. There also has been no ambulances or fire trucks running around. Our world is nothing more than a shell of its past now. Remember the law of the jungle is what allows one to survive now.

"This time around it was some petty thugs looking to break into a place to get a cheap high. But tomorrow it could be some armed group who have many guns or other weapons. You can't think kindly of these people. Because in the near future things like slave trafficking is a thing and done openly. One day you could see Mai, me, your wife, or even my mother, stripped naked chained by their hands and feet displayed as goods for sale. Uncle… Do not go into this new era with the old way of thinking or you will lose more than you think." Ai finished her words and turned and walked towards the boarded-up window and shoved her crowbar in easily pulling the board off. She then smashed the window out and climbed on through.

Yasuhide was stunned at how she easily entered while the thugs spent almost an hour at the door trying to gain access. He suddenly let out a laugh… "I guess she was correct that those guys were nothing but petty thugs." He paused and looked at his daughter who had finally stood up. "Mai you okay?"

"Yeah dad, it was just my first time killing someone. I heard everything that was said. Ai is right we need to get used to this new way of life." Mai forced a smile before lowering her head and walking towards the open window.

"I guess you are right..." Yasuhide looked down at the thug on the ground before bending down and checking their pockets. "I guess I should at least see if they got anything worthwhile."

Inside the pharmacy, Ai was ransacking the shelves left and right taking anything that could be used. Cold medicines, bandaids, gauze, painkillers anything that would be needed for everyday things. All items which were hard to get later on. "Ai what should I be taking?"

"Save your bag and just follow me for now. We will need your's and uncle's bag for the prescription drugs." Ai replied. Before thinking for a second and looking at Mai. "You okay?"

"Mhm… Just hard." Mai replied honestly.

"The first time is always hard. Just now you got caught up in the moment and went full force. Which is good. As long as you can do that from now on. It will help you survive until killing a human is the same as killing a spider for you. You do not even think about it, you just do it." Ai walked over and pulled Mai into a hug. "If you can't sleep tonight I will stay by your side. My first time killing someone was the same, I had nightmares every night until after about the third person I killed. Only after that did I become numb from it all. It was like something clicked in my brain."

"Thanks, Ai but I am okay. If I have issues I will wake you up." Mai said with a forced smile. She was having a little troubling dealing with it but the more she thought about it, there was nothing else she could do. She knew Ai lied to her father about needing to kill these thugs. There was no need to. If she flashed her gun and fired off a warning shot, they would have been sure to have run away without incident. But instead, she used them as training material. In Ai's mind, they were expendable objects used to train those close to her. Mai was not the only one who understood this fact, Yasuhide also did as well. But he kept quiet about it.

Ai looked at Mai questioningly. She saw her fists that were clenched and were slightly shaking along with her knees as well. She could tell Mai was trying to be strong. She decided not to call her out on it. "Just remember Mai, I am always here for you."

"I know..." Mai said her smile finally becoming genuine. "What are we looking for in prescription drugs?"

"Everything! Doesn't matter what it is, we will take it all. These things can be traded for food and water later on. You can even trade them for a cute boy if you want, Mai." Ai teased trying to lighten up the mood.

"Ai are you sure this is not what you are after?" Mai teased back.

"We can just buy one for the both of us and share him, how's that?" Ai suggested as she winked at Mai.

"Ai can you not teach my daughter bad things!?" Yasuhide suddenly shouted, causing both the girls to laugh.