Chereads / The Ageha-Human / Chapter 8 - Encounter

Chapter 8 - Encounter

Hiroki arrived at a big building with a 'Groceries' signboard in front of it. He stepped inside and saw five long queues. Hiroki glanced around and decided to queue on the rightmost one.

There were so many people inside the building. They all wore their type-bracelets; they were all Ageha-humans.

Because of the war between the Abegunia faction and the Cubel faction, the temperature kept rising, and it reached the point where normal humans couldn't step outside into the sunlight.

Scientists found out from the satellites that the stratosphere, which was already thin before the war, perforated. They declared that some part of the sunlight got unfiltered, and the UV radiation could harm humans' skin or even cause death.

Since then, Governments dug the ground and built underground structures for normal-humans to shelter from the sunlight. Governments also declared that only Ageha-humans were allowed to step out of the shelter.

The wide variety of animals couldn't survive, and one by one reached extinction. Even essential food, such as meat, was labeled luxury goods; vegetables were still easy to find, and they were grown and tended by Ageha-humans. Many jobs above-ground were replaced with Ageha-humans. They had a cooling-system, and their body was made with anti-radiation materials.

Hiroki reached the counter and placed his bracelet hand on a sensor on the table.

"Confirmed," said the man in front of Hiroki. He turned around and grabbed a brown paper bag with 'Groceries' written on it. "Room number #1309 received some meat, and these are this month's portion."

Hiroki took the bag from the man and said, "Thank you very much." He bowed and walked toward the exit door, which was located on the right side of the building. He stepped out of the building and spotted a man without a type-bracelet.

"Argh!" the man screamed in pain. His hands were on his head; he seemed to be attempting to pull out his hair. His skin suddenly turned from white to wooden brown before changing to ash black. He fell on the gray asphalt, struggled for a moment, and became motionless.

"This again?" said a voice behind Hiroki. The man who was at the counter ran toward the motionless man and dragged him to a small building not far from the exit door. He returned as if nothing happened.

"How many times is it today?" said a woman at the next counter beside the man.

"It's the 57th," answered the man reluctantly.

"Normal-humans should know they can't survive above-ground," said the woman as she turned to grab the brown grocery bag. "They should stay underground and don't cause any trouble for us." She handed the grocery bag to an Ageha-human in front of her.

"True," said the man in agreement.

Hiroki was so surprised by what he just saw. He ran to the small building, where the body of the normal-human man got dragged. He stood in front of the door and gasped unstoppably.

'What just happened?! Did the guy just die like that?' Hiroki couldn't stop his mind from wandering. 'Will Yuu become like that guy if she stepped out into the sunlight?' His fear swallowed him into deep darkness.

"You shouldn't try to probe on something you shouldn't," said a voice behind Hiroki. He patted Hiroki's shoulder. Hiroki turned around and saw the medic who came to their house the other day, Levi.

Hiroki collected himself and greeted, "Mr. Levi. Thank you for your help the other day." He deeply bowed at Levi.

Levi smirked and inched closer. He whispered, "You should know there are corpses inside. Maybe they gave you their meat inside your grocery bag."

Hiroki startled and rose. There was no one in front of him, and Mr. Levi was nowhere to be found.

'Am I dreaming?' Hiroki was confused. 'Mr. Levi is a human, right?' He scratched his head. 'Is what he said just now…' He tried to analyze what Mr. Levi told him. 'I should analyze the meat when I get home.' Finally, he decided to walk back home.