Maria was beyond surprised that Sojo didn't try to stop her at the gate. Half of the reason she had ran so fast was to avoid being caught by him entirely. But when she saw that he was merely following here, and saying that he would help her, Maria merely nodded. Holding her rifle in one hand, Maria took off down the street. She knew her way around this city better than anyone else she knew, and dodged back and forth between buildings to avoid demons and fires.<br/><br/>She kept her eyes ahead of her, not caring about what she passed or how fast she was running. She just needed to get to the source of the second explosion...Maria knew where it had gone off, and she was afraid of what she may find...or might not find after what happened.<br/>Catching a wave of sulfur, Maria was nearly sick. She held back from vomiting, swinging her rifle to her side and shooting at the demon in front of her. It wreathed in pain, bellowing in surprise, but by the time it knew where to look, Maria was already far gone down an alley way and back on track.<br/><br/>It looked almost natural, and to Maria, in a weird sense, it was. Running was always something Maria had done, so it came easily to her and it took her a while to get exhausted. The shooting and killing though, however natural it might look coming from Maria, she didn't enjoy it. She would be glad that the demons would be gone or out of the picture for a while, what was worse was when humans were helping the demons. Like the person Maria came toe to toe with now.<br/><br/>"You bastard!" Maria yelled, instantly enraged at the sight of someone she would have called her friend yesterday. But after watching him help a demon off the floor, there wasn't a doubt in her mind which side his loyalty lied. She punched him clean across the face, and was about to hit him again. He recovered faster and managed to land a blow to Maria's head.<br/>Dizzy, she staggered back. The world was spinning and Maria went with the feeling in her gut, moving out of the way of another punch. The boy fell forward and Maria kicked him in the ass, sending him stumbling into a nearby fire.<br/><br/>Maria swallowed hard, blocking out the screaming as she turned and walked away. Her head was pounding as she jogged down a street. Heat wave after heat wave was coming towards her, and Maria couldn't tell if it was from a massive amount of demons in the street, or the three burning buildings. The fire was spreading fast, and little was being done to stop it. People were pretty much just grabbing what they could and running for their lives.<br/><br/>Looking around frantically, Maria winced as a window blew out. She covered her head as the glass rained down and she bit her lip.<br/>"Angie!" Maria yelled, glancing over her shoulder for him. She frowned, looking around furiously. Her head was throbbing now, and her quick movements weren't helping. "Ah..." Maria winced softly, holding her head again. Blinking a few times, Maria waited for the world to come back into focus before looking back up at the buildings.<br/>"Angeli..." Maria called again. "Can you put out the fires?" Maria asked when she caught sight of him again. Had he always been standing next to her? Maybe she got hit harder than she thought. Another window blow out, this time a ground floor, and close to where she was standing. She was caught off guard, and shards of glass flew at her, followed by a cloud of smoke.<br/><br/>Maria covered her mouth, coughing violently as she stumbled across the street, farther away from the fires. Eyes burning from the smoke and the heat, Maria looked up at the burning buildings.<br/>How could this have happened? Why now? Everything had been going fine...<br/>Maria's back fell against a wall. Why was she so winded? Holding her head, and with the wall at her back, Maria slid to the ash and gravel covered ground. She groaned, leaning over and tossing up what little dinner she had eaten.