Where Darkness Falls

Where Darkness Falls






Where Darkness Falls

 

Chapter 4 – Alicia

 

Misato wandered through the streets of Silent Hill,
avoiding the winged monsters to the best of her ability – more in an attempt to
conserve ammo than any real fear of the creatures.

 

It is
amazing, she thought as she ducked in an alleyway, waiting for one
of the things to swoop lazily past, what
a human can get accustomed to. nbspnbsp;

Eventually she reached the train station, blinking in
surprise as she rounded the corner just in time to spot someone walking through
the front door. In the heavy,
concealing fog she could not quite see who it was, and her curiosity
temporarily overrode her burning desire to find her wayward charge.

 

Could it be Commander Ikari? she mused, cautiously drawing her pistol (just to be
safe) and slowly approaching the station.
Ritsuko, Fletcher…Amber?

 

She resolved to check it out, stealing carefully up to the
door of the station and peeking around the corner. Finding the barriers open, she made her way in, placing her feet
carefully so as not to step on any of the newspapers that littered the
floor. The train station was eerily
silent, but Misato tried not to let it tot to her, reminding herself as she
peered round another corner that silence was better than the clicking of
heavily-nailed footsteps or the flapping of leathery wings.

 

“Hello there.”

 

Misato let out an involuntary yelp as she found an
American woman sitting casually near the base of a short staircase, smiling at
her with open amusement in her emerald green eyes. At a guess, Misato would have said that the woman was about her
own age, with long dark hair in a queue down to her waist. Her skin was clear and unblemished, and she
was dressed quite elegantly in a flowing, dark blue dress.

 

“I said, hello there,” the woman repeated calmly, her face
lighting in a soothing smile, “I’m not going to bite,” she said coolly, “so…
would you mind pointing your elseelsewhere?”

 

Misato blinked, realizing that she had levelled her pistol
at the woman, and lowered it to the side.
“Sorry about that,” she murmured, impressed by the woman’s nerve.

 

“Quite alright,” the woman nodded, acknowledging the
apology. She studied Misato for a
moment, then extended her right hand. “My name is Alicia… it’s nice to meet
you.”

 

“Misato Katsuragi.”

 

There was a moment of silence as the two women shook,
sizing each other up, and in that time, a thought occurred to Misato.

 

I didn’t
even notice it because I was so surprise to see her, but we’ve been speaking
Japanese this whole time.

 

This thought led to another, and without any further
preamble, Misato blurted, “I’m looking for a Japanese boy – he goes by the name
of Shinji Takeuchi… have you ummm, have you seen him?”

 

God what a
stupid question, she berated herself critically, I didn’t even ask if she needed any help or anything – I must be losing
it. She eyed the woman
closely. Though it doesn’t LOOK like she needs any help… she doesn’t really seem
like the damsel in distress type.

 “The“The name doesn’t sound familiar,” Alicia said politely.

 

Misato nodded, reaching into her flight jacket and pulling
out a battered picture of the boy.
“This is him.”

 

Alicia took the picture, studying it closely and giving
Misato a few seconds to reflect on the day the picture was snapped. He was
happy that day, she thought sadly, right
after beating the dancing angels… getting used to having Asuka live with us…
things seemed ok then – hell, he was even smiling when I pulled out my
camera. What happened to us…? When did it all get so fu-

 

“Sorry,” Alicia shook her head apologetically, handing the
photo back. As Misato’s fingers closed
over the picture, Alicia whispered, “He’s very handsome, though a bit young… is
he your lover?”

 

“N-no,” Misato stammered, her ears going pink, “why… why
would you think that?”

 

Alicia shrugged.
“You seem too young to have children,” she observed, resting her elbows
on her knees and cradling her chin in her palms, “but he is clearly very
important to you.” She tilted her head
to the side, resting it fully on her left hand. “If not a lover, and not a child… why is he so important to you?”

 

Misato was taken aback – this was the second time in less
than 24 hours she had been asked this question. “When he moved to my city, I
promised that I would take care of him,” she said uneasily.

 

“Interesting…” Alicia said thoughtfully, “Now, pardon my
boldness, but based on your dialect and uniform, I have to ask… are you from
NERV, perhaps?”

 

Misato, taken completely off guard, replied, “Yes, I’m the
operations director at NERV.”

 

Alicia smiled soothingly.
“Then, would that mean that Shinji is one of the world-famous Evangelion
pilots?”

 

A much longer pause followed as Misato stared into the
woman’s bright green eyes. Everyone in the world knows who the Children
are, she told herself, feeling a vague sense of unreality wash over her, and she identified my uniform… maybe she’s
from the new NERV branch herself? That
would make sense, I guess – sure would explain why she’s so damn calm about
everything. Hell, maybe she’s THEIR
operations director.

 

Finally, she nodded.
“He is,” she confirmed, “and… I have reason to believe he may be near
the lake – so I’m headed in that direction.”

 

Alicia immediate shook her head. “You can’t get to the lake by any of the streets,” she pointed
out, slowly rising to her feet and stepping past Misato. “The streets are all dominated by crevasses
several metres wide, but if you go out that door,” she pointed to the south end
of the building, “and make your way through the Ridgeview clinic, the basement
fire exit will let you out right near the lake.”

 

Misato nodded gratefully.
“Thanks.”

 

“By the way, Miss Katsuragi…”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“I don’t mean to pry,” the woman said apologetically,
“but…why would Shinji run away from you?”
She tilted her head to the side once more, assessing the operations
director for a moment. “…is it because
of Kaworu?”

 

Misato was stunned.
How does she know about Kaworu?
she thought, averting her eyes from the woman’s intense gaze. She
HAS to be from NERV – has to! There’s
no other way to explain… damn it, who IS this woman!?

 

She blinked as she realized that Alicia was no longer
standing in front of her. “Wait!” she
called, finding the woman heading for the door on the opposite side of the
train station.

 

Ignoring her call, Alicia reached the door and pushed it open,
glancing back over her shoulder and murmuring, “Before you go through that
door, Miss Katsuragi, ask yourself this: what do I really feel for Shinji?
Until you answer that question – even if you find him physically… his
true self will forever elude you.”

 

Misato’s jaw dropped open as the woman stepped out. “Hey!” she called, dashing over to the door
and flinging it open. “What do you know
about Shinji? How do you know about
Kaworu? Who are y-”

 

She cut herself off as she realized that the street outside
was empty.

“What the…”

 

Misato bit her tongue.
Get a grip! she told
herself. I don’t know why THIS
bothers you so much when everything else around here changes at the drop of a
hat. She let the door swing shut
before its enticing openness could draw some ill-willed and hungry creature,
and made her way over to the door Alicia had indicated. Ritsuko said something about a crevasse across Bachman, she thought
grimly, And since the road to Munson
Street is out, I guess I have to
believe Alicia…

 

Misato consulted her map, feeling relief wash over her as
she found the Ridgeview clinic to be less than three blocks away. She pushed the door , ke, keeping her gun at
the ready, and started down the street… but as she passed one of the myriad
benches outside the train station, a flash of colour caught her eye.

 

Frowning, she made her way over to it, her mouth going dry
as she spotted a small, red envelope bearing the initials K.M.

 

Taking a quick look around, she picked the envelope up and
tore it open, shaking out a small key with the number 32 on it, a black and
white photograph of a lighthouse, and a brief note, which read:

 

Dear Miss Katsuragi,

 

Just a
small gift to help you on your way. Be
sure to drop by the gym on Sandford Street when you get a moment, I think
you’ll like what you find there. Best
of luck to you.

 

-A

 

Perplexed, Misato slipped the key into her pocket and took
a closer look at the picture, her eyes widening as she spotted a small,
dark-haired figure standing at the base of the lighthouse and looking up. While the figure’s back was to the camera,
it could very easily have been Shinji… though there really was no way to be one
hundred percent certain.

 

Ridgeview, she
thought, shaking her head and studying the picture one more time before sending
it to join the mysterious key, I guess
that clinches it.

 

**

 

Three blocks, one shotgun shell, and five handgun rounds
later, Misato found herself outside the Ridgeview clinic, gazing at the huge
gap in the road just past the entrance. Guess Alicia was right about
that, she thought, walking around to the front of the building, hope she was right about everything else.

 

The front door swung open with a faint creak, setting
Misato’s teeth on edge, but as with the other buildings she had come across so
far, the clinic was as empty of life as a graveyard. “Bad analogy,” Misato whispered, noting with some gratitude that
there was a map on the wall and quickly locating the basement fire exit. “Next I’ll be saying things like, ‘It’s dead
quiet here,’ or, ‘it’s as silent as a tomb.’
God, I just want to make some noise to keep from going insane, I mean-”

 

She cut herself off, realizing that making noise to keep
from going insane was exactly what
she was doing.

 

As quick as she could, she made her way through the ground
floor, pausing at the only open door to peek in. The office of the chief surgeon (according to the plaque on the
door) was in chaos, with papers and personal trappings scattered everywhere. Bringing her pistol up to bear, she slipped
into the room, feeling that since this was the first sign she had seen that
others were alivee she should check it out.

 

Damn, she
thought, looking around at the carnage, someone
went to town on this place! Must have
been looking for something awfully valua- wait! Is that blood?!

 

She crouched near a small red puddle on the far side of
the chief’s chair, letting out a thankful sigh as she found it several shades
too light, and far too thin to be blood.
“Thank God,” she murmured, beginning to rise… but pausing as she took
note of the fact that the puddle was surrounded by broken glass – as if someone
had smashed a small vial. “Probably
wanted to destroy it,” she reasoned, heading back out of the office and continuing
towards the stairs. “Guess it doesn’t
really matter right now.”

 

After a rather short, completely uneventful walk, Misato
found herself in front of the door leading to the basement stairs… but as she
pushed on it, she found that it would not give more than a few inches, a soft
rattling issuing from the other side.

 

“Oh come on!” she hissed, entirely frustrated. “Come ON!”

 

She threw herself against the door, but only succeeded in
giving herself a nasty bruise on the shoulder.
Damn it…

 

Misato headed back through the main floor, impulsively
checking the rooms for other survivors.
She found no one, but in the kitchen she spotted several empty squirt
bottles, lined up in neat rows against the sink. Entirely on impulse, she grabbed one and headed back to the chief
surgeon’s office, squeezing the bottle and allowing it to suck up the small
pool of red liquid.

 

Someone
tried pretty hard to get rid of this stuff, she thought reasonably, it’s gotta be important – hell, maybe it’s
part of that drug case the cops are working on. When I – IF I see Fletcher again, I’ll give it to him… who knows,
maybe it’ll help him out.

 

With the bottle safely stowed in her jacket, Misato headed
back to the lobby, first reviewing, then simply taking the map off the
wall. “Now,” she said, feeling
marginally better after this little act of thievery, “only one door to the
basement – of course… but if I can get to one of the windows on the upper
floors, it looks like this fire escape lets out right by the fire exit. Perfect.”

 

She rolled up the map and tucked it into pockpocket,
starting off towards the other stairway and finding it (thankfully) unblocked.

 

As she reached the second floor, however, a shudder ran
through her, making her reflexively close her eyes… and as darkness filled her
vision, the same, piercing scream that she had heard in the school tore through
her senses, leaving her breathless and shaking.

 

Not again!!

 

Misato found it very hard to stifle her own scream as she
opened her eyes and found herself once again surrounded by the same dirt and
decay that had been so pervasive in the school and Amber’s house. The sight of the world shifting into madness
was not what made her feel like screaming, though… it was the gruesome figure
slouching its way down the hallway towards her that excited terror in Misato’s
stomach.

 

It wore a nurse’s uniform, but it was hunchbacked and
shrivelled, its stunted limbs seemingly ill-designed for moving its mass
around. Where its face should have
been, there was only rubbery brown tissue, devoid of any intelligence or recognizable
features. Misato hesitated for a moment
in spite of the knife in the thing’s right hand, as an errant thought flitted
through her mind.

 

That looks
like it used to be human…

 

Former human or not, Misato was forced to bring her weapon
up and fire, the instinct for self-preservation far outweighing the desire to
help ndernderstand. Three rounds
ensured that the ‘nurse’ was free of any burden she might have felt.

 

“Gotta get out of here,” Misato whispered, glancing around
the now-dim hallway with trepidation, “it’s too confined… nowhere to run if
things get real sticky.”

 

Another
great pun, she thought distantly, pushing open a door marked,
‘holding,’ and stepping through.

 

“Aww!” she gasped, coming up short as she found the room
full of gurneys, all covered from head to foot in white, blood-stained
sheets. “God,” she breathed, trying not
to gag, “it’s like a slaughterhouse.”

 

She pulled her shirt up and glanced around, swallowihardhard as she took in the shape under the closest sheet.

What the hell is underneath there? she thought, reaching out as if mesmerized and nearly
touching one of the oddly deformed shapes before pulling her hand back and
shaking her head. Wait… I don’t
think I want to know…

 

She surveyed the room, hoping to find
something useful. The room was largely
empty apart from the bloodstained gurneys, but there was a cabinet with some
blood bags in it, leaning rather drunkenly against the far wall. Most of the bags looked torn and drained –
as if some creature had gorged itself on their contents – but there was one
that looked full and intact.

 

Hmmmm, Misato
mused, some animals are attracted to blood… better take one of these – just
in case I meet up with whatever did this.

 

Swallowing her distaste, she pocketed
the blood bag and started towards the door opposite the one she entered, but
before she could reach it, it burst in, a howling figure rushing through the
gap – straight Mis Misato. Training
took over, and the operations director rolled to the left, her eyes catching
the telltale flash of a knife as it sailed past, inches from her spine. Continuing her pirouette, Misato reached
over her shoulder and whipped the shotgun around, unloading a shell into the
thing’s back before she had even finished getting the strap off her shoulder.

 

She pumped another shell into the
chamber and pulled the trigger, ensuring that the figure would not rise
again. Sticky like that? she
thought, wondering why she was not drooling in a corner by this point.

 

With a heavy sigh, Misato turned on
her heel and strode from the room. She
did not bother turning the thing over to see if its face was as featureless as
that of the other ‘nurse,’ because she was afraid that she would find it all
too human.

 

DEFINITELY time to go…

 

**

 

She managed to find her way to the
door leading to the next floor (all the paths to the fire exit seemed to be
blocked on this one) and pushed it open, but she was forced to duck as she
found the way blocked by a series of barbed chains, swinging aimlessly in the
space just above the stairway. Standing
in the narrow doorway, she frowned, absently moving left or right depending on
how the chains swung and trying to figure out how she could get through without
getting her hair or clothes snagged.

 

It happened so fast that Misato barely
had time to react, her instincts again saving her.

 

“Ahh!!” she fell back and to the left
as one of the chains suddenly shot at her, no longer waving randomly back and
forth but moving with deadly accuracy.
Now prone, Misato rolled back from the door as three more chains
rocketed towards her, splintering the wood as they drove into the floor space
she had just vacated.

 

Scrambling to her feet, Misato dashed
down the hallway and burst through the last door, throwing it closed behind her
and dropping to the floor as three of the chains smashed through it. Oh man! she thought, her breath
coming in short pant the the chains slowly pulled back, you’ve gotta be
kidding me!

 

She could see the fire escape, that
was one good sign anyway, but her initial hope that the chains had reached the
limit of their extension was dashed as she realized she was not alone in the
room, and they had most likely retreated to leave her to this creature’s
disposal.

 

That window’s not on the map! she thought tiredly, trying very hard to keep her mind
from focusing on the writhing mass of leech-like tentacles protruding from a
hole in the base of the wall.

 

Rising carefully to her feet, and
trying to give the door a wide birth in case the chains were just playing
possum, Misato levelled her shotgun at the mass of tentacles. “What the hell,” she shrugged, “might as
well give it a go.”

 

The shotgun boomed and several of the
tentacles dropped lifelessly to the floor, but no sooner had they stopped
twitching than theye ime immediately replaced by even more of the unclean
looking things, three of which fell on their dead progenitors and began pulling
them apart.

 

Dog eat dog, huh? Misato
thought grimly. Well if you like
that, boys… how about something a little more human?

 

Praying that her ploy would work,
Misato reached into her pocket and pulled out the blood bag, tearing it open.

 

Instantly, the mass of tentacles
froze, every one of them pointit tht the bag as if straining to reach it from
the confines of their hole. “Bon
apatite,” Misato muttered, tossing the bag as far from the window as she could
and rushing towards the fire escape.

 

The tentacles paid her no mind,
seemingly content to go after the easy prey, and Misato made it to the fire
escape without so much as a scratch. Now
then, she thought with the slightest bit of smugness, just head down the
fire escape, and we- Oh God DAMN IT!!

 

The fire escape, it seemed, ended
somewhere in the middle of the first story… and the ground underneath was
simply gone – leaving a deep, black void where the ground should have been.

 

“Figures,” she groaned, “guess we go
up… check the map… and – hell, something!
There has to be SOME way out of here!”

 

She climbed the fire escape to the
third floor and shimmied through the window, freezing as she heard the rattle
and scrape of metal on metal just outside of the room she had crawled
into. Chains, she thought, her
stomach falling, the… whatever it is must be just through there. Great.
She consulted her map, but it was of little use. I know what’s on two and one, she
thought reasonably, this might be my only way out of this shit hole.

 

With this thought firmly in mind,
Misato carefully reached into her pocket and pulled out more shotgun shells,
feeding them into the breach as quietly as she could and tiptoeing closer to
the door. With a short cry, she kicked
the door open and stepped through, blinking as she found it unexpectedly
bright.

 

Waiting for her on the other side was
another flesh and metal monstrosity.
This time, its skin was tinged blue – as if it bee been out in the cold
too long as was now suffering from hypothermia… but where its legs should have
been was a patchwork of metal plates, bolts, and chains.

 

Misato pulled the trigger
immediately, throwing herself the rest of the way into the corridor as the
monster lashed out, raking the hallway with its lly lly barbed chains. The first shot scattered harmlessly off the
creature’s lower body as Misato slammed through a door marked ‘nurse’s station,’
pumping the shotgun as she went and narrowly avoiding a barrage of angrily
questing chains.

 

“You missed me!” Misato howled madly,
backpeddling through the room and firing again as the creature’s body blotted
out the light from the hall. “That’s
right! You missed!! Come GET ME!!”

 

She hurled herself through another
door he mhe monster let out a keening, angry cry.

 

Crazy, Misato
thought, pumping the shotgun again and dashing through another narrow hallway, I’ve
gone entirely crazy – that’s it. Just
snapped like a twig, whoo hoo, gone.

 

She crashed through another door,
whirling around and bringing the shotgun up to bear, determined to continue
this pattern of hit and run until the damn thing just gave up and died… but the
creature was nowhere to be seen. Wiping
sweat from her brow, Misato inched closer to the door. “Where are you?” she muttered, frowning as a
soft ‘clink’ came from somewhere down the hall. “Come… on!”

 

Muscles tense, she risked a glimpse
around the doorframe… but again, she was presented with quiet, the faintest,
echoing ‘clink’ the only indication that she was not alone.

 

Where the hell is it??

 

Slowly, Misato lowered her shotgun,
wondering if she could double back around to the window she had come through
and head up to the fourth floor – forget the monster, just get out… but the
choice was taken from her as the floor directly in front of her erupted in a
shower of wood and metal, two of the waving chains whipping past Misato’s face
and making her hair flutter.

 

MOVE!!!

 

Misato obeyed the mental command,
only instead of fleeing, she threw herself forward, jamming the end of the
shotgun against the thing’s dome-shaped head.

 

“Bang, motherfucker!!”

 

The blast of the shotgun was
deafening in the small room, but the results were satisfying. A large, irregular hole appeared in the
monster’s blueish skin, accompanied by another of its harsh, raucous
cries. Misato reached out and pumped
another shell in… then another, then another, screaming at the top of her lungs
as the thing tried to pull back through the floor and get away from the brutal
punishment she was dishing out.

 

On the sixth shell, the world filled
with light, blinding Misato with its brilliance.

 

When it had faded… only the empty
hallway could be seen, only there was no hole in it, no decay, and no
screaming, chain-bearing monster. I
hope you like Hell, Misato thought, panting harshly as she swept the empty
hallway – just to be sure. Convinced
that she was alonesatosato started back towards the window, hoping that the
fourth floor might have some more appealing options, but as she took a step, a
glint of silver caught her eye.

 

“Another one…?” she whispered,
kneeling on the floor and carefully picking up the small, silver crucifix
laying exactly in the spot the monster had come through. “Guess that makes five.”

 

Pocketing the cross with a thoughtful
expression, Misato slowly made her way back to the fire escape, unable to
escape the idea that there was far more going on here than she had even
guessed.

 

**

 

As it turned out, the return to the
‘real’ world, as Misato was starting to think of it, had somehow repaired the
fire escape, allowing her to climb all the way down and put her feet once more
on solid ground.

 

And there’s the lake,
she thought, nodding to herself as she found herself a stone’s throw from a
small, lakeside resort – clearly the tourist-driven extension to the small
town. Consulting her map, Misato found
that she could either continue along Munson, as Amber had described, or cut
through Rosewater park – a far more appealing option, she decided, as she
thought she could hear the rough cries of several of the beak-bearing monsters,
and getting into another fight was just about the last item on her to-do list.

 

Slipping through the gates with as
much stealth as she could muster, Misato found herself in a quiet, almost
desolate park. It was well tended, she
saw, with an assortment of flowers scattered here and there and several large
shade trees… but there was a sense of emptiness and sorrow that pervaded the
place, as if something sad had occurred there a long time ago.

 

Walking slowly through the park,
Misato nearly jumped out of her skin as a calm voice said, “Hello, Miss
Katsuragi… I see you found your way through the clinic.”

 

“Good lord!” Misato cried,
covering her heart as she looked wildly around, finally spotting Alicia smiling
coolly at her from a park bench, “Do NOT ever do that again! I could have shot you by accident!”

 

“My apologies,” Alicia said
unconcernedly. “Now… could you point
that elsewhere?”

 

Misato blinked, then lowered the
shotgun as she found it still pointed at the woman. “Sorry.”

 

“Forgiven.”

 

They regarded each other for a long
moment. “So,” Misato said, finally
regaining her breath, “I take it you’re the one that left me that envelope.”

 

“Naturally,” Alicia nodded, “and I
take it you are still looking for your Shinji?”

 

“Of course.”

 

“Well now,” Alicia said thoughtfully,
“just curious here, but in all the months you’ve known Shinji… were you all
that open. What I mean is, were you
ever more than just a housemate to him?
Were you… open with how you felt?”

 

“What do you mean by that?” Misato asked tersely, annoyed
that this woman would not speak plainly.

 

Man, she
thought, forcing herself to be calm, compared
to her, Commander Ikari is like a picture book!

 

“How did you feel about him?” Alicia pressed gently, “Was
it only the feelings of a guardian… or was it more then that?”

 

“That’s hardly any of your business,” Misato grumbled,
taking a calming breath as she realized just how worked up she was getting over
what was really a very innocuous line of questioning.

 

“Was whatever you were doing more important than Shinji?”
Alicia whispered, smiling softly, “Did you include him in what you were doing…
or did you just leave him alone – like his father?”

 

Misato frowned.
“How do you know about Shinji?” she asked levelly, itching to bring the
shotgun back up and make the woman
talk. “Who are you that you know all of this?
Is that Shinji in that picture?
Do you know him?”

 

Alicia ignored the questions, rising slowly to her feet
and gazing out over the lake. “I think
you would be most pleased if you investigated the lighthouse on the far side of
the lake,” she said casually, “Come… walk with me.”

 

With no other choice but to follow, Misato began walking,
finding herself engaged in the most run of the mill conversation she had ever
participated in. They talked about
Shinji’s hobbies and music, Misato showing Alicia Shinji’s SDAT – completely
forgotten in her pocket since she had snatched it up as a weapon in Ritsuko’s
apartment. They talked a bit about the
town, and how the tourist bess ess usually thrived earlier in the year. They talked about plants, and men, and
everything under the sun.

 

…everything except how Alicia knew about Shinji, or who,
exactly, she was – then the topic was always brought back around to something
mundane.

 

Passing by Pete’s Bowl-O-Rama, Misato was about to bring
the subject up once more, more than happy to interrupt Alicia’s casual
dissertation on the growing habits of a local flower she called ‘Lady Dark,’ when
the distinct sound of gunfire reached their ears, coming from somewhere inside
the bowling alley.

 

“You wait here,” Misato said quickly, reluctant to leave
the woman but unwilling to let someone else die if she could do something about
it. “I’ll check it out.”

 

Without waiting for a reply, ran ran up to the front doors
of Pete’s and flung the doors open, sweeping the alley with her shotgun. Even from the front doors, she easily
spotted a row of fresh bullet holes in the wall, as if someone had been tracking
a moving target as they fired… but there was no sign of either the shooter, or
the intended victim. Moving quickly,
Misato made her way to the back of the bowling alley, finding the door swinging
back and forth on its hinges… but looking out into the night, she could not see
any trace of another living being.

 

Whatever happened here, it looks like I missed it! she decided, keeping her shotgun at the ready and jogging
quickly back to where she had left Alicia, only to find the woman, “Gone. Damn it!”
Misato kicked angrily at an empty beer can, sending it end over end down
the street. “‘Oh come walk with me why
don’t you?’” she muttered darkly, glancing around at the empty street.

 

With a heavy sigh, she pulled out the photograph, glancing
at it in the flashlight’s beam.

 

“The lighthouse, huh?”

 

With a final shake of her head, Misato started off towards
the lighthouse, praying that if the elegantly clad woman was insane… that she at least had it together enough to help her
find Shinji.

 

TBC