The air-vent that his dad had told him to stay in wasn’t very comfortable. The metal was cold and hard, and with the vent cover in place he couldn’t see out of it very well. Reaching under the left side of his denim jacket, Kenji felt the handle of the small knife that Dad had given him in case any bastard Zoanoids showed up. It was kind of comforting in a way, the fact that Dad trusted him enough to take care of himself if any of them tried to take him away.

It was the same way he trusted Dad to come back every time he had gone out to hunt those bastard Zoanoids in the first place. The two of them were all the other had, Kenji knew, so they had to trust each other. That was just the way things were.

Moving back farther into the vent, so that if any bastard Zoanoids did show up they would at least have a hard time finding him, Kenji tried to be as quiet as he could. Dad had told him that they had a very good sense of hearing, and he didn’t want to take the chance that any of them would be able to hear him. But then, Dad had also said that their sense of smell was really good, too, which was why he was trying to move as far back into the vent as he could without losing sight of the grate.

He was hoping that the smell of the metal would cover up his own smell if he got far enough, but the crash of something heavy falling startled him, and he went still farther inside the vent so he wouldn’t make any more noise than he had to. Kenji could hear people muttering, but the echoes inside the vent made it almost impossible for him to figure out what the muttering people were actually saying. All that he was really sure of was the fact that the people who had just come into the old hotel with him were all men, about the same age as his dad.

That wasn’t a good thing as far as Kenji was concerned, since Dad had told him that Chronos always went after people when they were about that age. Raising himself up onto his hands and knees while still trying to be as quiet as he could, Kenji started to move farther into the vent, away from the bastard Zoanoids that were coming into the room with him.

When the grate in front of him was suddenly ripped away, Kenji didn’t wait to see what was going to happen. Turning around with surprising speed, even in spite of the confining space inside the vent, Kenji moved away as fast as he could, from the Zoanoid that he knew was on the other side of the now destroyed grate. Moving on all fours wasn’t quite as easy as running, but Kenji managed it.

Right up until the large hand closed around his ankle. Turning around, Kenji bit the hand that held his ankle until the Zoanoid that had been attached to it let go. He Kenji could hear someone cursing violently, and some of the other Zoanoids that had come into the room seemed surprised—Dad had always said that they never expected anyone to fight back, especially anyone as small as him. That was his advantage.

Kenji continued to crawl, almost making it to the part of the vent that turned away from the part where he was. He couldn’t see just what was beyond the sharp right turn, but he hoped it was better than what was currently behind him. When he heard the roars of transforming Zoanoids coming from behind him, Kenji sped up. He could still feel the knife that dad had left him, but he knew that it wouldn’t be much of a defense against what sounded like – at the very least – four Zoanoids, unless he could get at their eyes. Unfortunately, he knew from long experience that something like that wasn’t likely to happen, but when the Zoanoid grabbed hold of the back of his jacket and started to pull him out of the vent, he thought that he might get his chance. Sure enough, when he had been pulled back almost to where he had started, he was able to turn and bury his knife almost up to the handle in the Zoanoid’s vulnerable left eye.

Not stopping to do anything but wipe the blood off the knife the way Dad had always taught him to, Kenji half-crawled half-ran back into the vent. Ducking around the sharp corner, he realized it also led upward. Hurrying, Kenji reached the part of the vent that went straight up…

As he put together another pipe bomb, Kenji looked over his right shoulder for a minute, thinking he’d heard something—something like soft footsteps coming toward him. Remembering what dad had said about some Zoanoids actually being able to be quiet while they were moving, Kenji carefully put down the newly completed bomb on the table and made himself scarce. Washing the chemicals off with a bit of bottled water, he ducked under the room’s only bed.

It wouldn’t provide that much cover, Kenji knew, but it was better than being out in the open where any Zoanoid couldn’t help but find him. As he hid under the bed, curling his small fingers around the handle of the knife, Kenji couldn’t help but feel that he’d forgotten to do something. He forgot all about things like that as the footsteps got louder and he heard the door opening. Someone was in the room with him now, and everything that Dad had told him let Kenji know that this person could be an enemy.

Working to control his breathing, Kenji saw the legs of the person who had come into the room with him, looking like what Dad had been wearing when he’d gone off to scout that new Chronos base that they had found out about. Kenji didn’t know quite what to think about the ACF, since they fought against Chronos like him and Dad but Dad had always seemed kind of sad when he talked about them.

Dad had always said that normal people who fought against Chronos, not including those who were protected, didn’t tend to live very long. Maybe these ACF people didn’t have the right kind of protection, and that was why Dad always seemed sad when he talked about them…