Chapter 21: What Lies Ahead

Seji spun the hummer around and swiftly headed back towards the house. "Ai, what happened, why are they here already? I thought you said they wouldn't show until the end of the month."

"In my past life, they didn't. I am not sure what the difference is unless… " Ai finally thought of something that might have been the cause of this.

"Unless what?" Seji asked.

"Unless me killing one of them caused this to happen..." Ai answered. She touched her eye with her hand and smiled bitterly. "I guess messing with the past will come and bite you in the ass."

As they turned the corner Seji's face paled seeing a swarm of at least twenty first type machinas blocking the road. "Dad, don't stop, just plow right through them!"

Gritting his teeth Seji stepped on the gas and charged on through. The sound of the hummer hitting metal rang through the air as the hummer smashed into and ran over the first type machinas. In the process, two of the tires were slashed and quickly deflated. Leaving them with only the rims to drive on. Seji looked up into the rearview mirror and was amazed to see that they did not turn to follow after them. "Ai, they are not following!"

"Yeah, their sensors are not as good as the second type machinas. These first types are pretty stupid. You can run them over and destroy them from within a vehicle and they won't attack you. But if you were to step out of said vehicle in front of them, they would instantly attack you. We should be fine from here, let's hurry home." Ai said feeling a bit regretful that they did not get to stock up on anything this trip.

They pulled up outside the house and quickly made their way into the bunker, making sure the hatch was completely sealed. Ai even pulled out a secondary door she installed and sealed that as well.

The others saw the three's panicked state and wondered what happened. Yasuhide was the first to speak up. "What's going on?"

"The timeline has changed. The first type machina have already invaded in the millions. We can not go out for a while." Ai said as she plopped herself down on the couch. "We will need to sleep in shifts. We must be alert at all times and watch all walls and the hatch for invasion. More than likely we will not be invaded through the walls but it is just to be on the safe side. Do not run any electronics. They will pick up on it. We are now in a state of lockdown."

"To think it is really happening..." Shizune who was laying on a futon said with a sigh.

"It was a good thing we didn't make it into the city. It has already been overrun." Ai was glad she was underground otherwise she would have to listen to the screams of the people being slaughtered one after the other again. This was something Ai did not want to listen to.

"Ai how did you live through this before?" Mai asked as she sat down next to Ai.

"Well, I guess you could say it was by luck. Once the first wave of machina was over only a few scattered machina remained afterward. While the rest continued forward until all of Japan had been overrun." Ai said. "The south and north had the least amount of deaths allowing for a few hundred thousand to be alive. While our area will end up particularly a dead zone. With maybe a few hundred tops alive. All I can say is that we are in a bad situation. But we will be safe here for now. But I suggest the next time you go out, you should get used to the smell."

"The smell?" Everyone looked at Ai confused.

"The smell of rotting flesh from the dead. Disease will run rampant so make sure you wear one of the masks I prepared already. We will be fine here but if we have to go out it is best to wear them. This is for at least the first two years. By then the dead bodies will be consumed by animals or rotted away to nothing but bones. This will also be the time when dealing with humans is the worst." Ai explained.

"So we will be in for it for the next two years then..." Seji let out a sigh. He just hoped they wouldn't all go crazy during this time.

"Well we can go out after a few days, but we will need to be extra careful and I would suggest not leaving the confines of the house. Try to stay out of sight as much as possible as well. If you hear a noise quickly make your way back down to the bunker." Ai hated this idea of hiding like this but it was the only way to deal with the current situation.

"Anyway I will take the first watch tonight, you all take a rest." Ai said as she stood up and stretched. She knew tonight was the night that would determine whether they lived or died.

As the night went on, Ai sat by the hatch with a shotgun in her lap, staring at the hatch. "Ai?"

"Hmm?" Ai looked over to see Mai walking over.

"We will be able to live until we are old and grey you think?" Mia asked.

"I am not sure… It would depend on our ability to survive I guess. But I do hope to live for more than ten years." Ai answered.

"That would be nice. Hopefully, we can."