Koushun Takami - Battle Royale

“Run!” Shogo shouted, and they ran down the crevice. Shuya almost tripped over a dry branch lying on the ground, but he managed to regain his footing and followed after Noriko. Behind them, the two guns exchanged shots.

Suddenly Noriko stopped as if she were hit by something. She moaned and crouched over. Shuya, who was turned towards Shogo, quickly ran to Noriko. Did she trip over something?

No. She looked up at Shuya. A cut ran under her left eye and blood gushed down her cheek. Maybe her right hand was cut too then. It was also bloody. The Browning that had been in her hand was on the ground by her feet.

Shuya put his right hand on her shoulder, looked up, and found… a thin, twisted wire stretched out across the crevice, neck-high. It didn’t matter where Kazuo had found it (he’d probably unfastened the wire used to secure some object). Kazuo had already anticipated their escape by this route. At Shuya’s height the wire would have cut right into his neck. At least this didn’t happen to Noriko—but she could have lost her sight.

Shuya was furious. I don’t know what Kazuo’s about. Shogo had said, “He just chooses as he goes.” I don’t know if he’s abnormal or normal, or a kind of genius or madman, but hurting Noriko, that was just unforgivable. I’m going to kill that motherfucker!

He tucked his CZ75 in front to help Noriko up, picked up the Browning, and then held Noriko’s shoulder with the gun in his hand. Noriko staggered but managed to get up.

Shogo caught up as he fired away. He glanced back at the two of them and then—maybe he caught a glance of the wire—clenched his teeth. As he turned around again, Shuya saw beyond him Kazuo Kiriyama in his school coat jump into the crevice.

Shogo yelled, “Duck!” as he fired away. Holding his machine gun, Kazuo quickly ducked behind a curve in the crevice. Shogo’s shots tore at the rock along the curve. Dust flew up.

“Run!” Shogo repeated. Shuya held Noriko up and proceeded to run under the wire. He slowed down though, in case of any more wire traps.

Shuya was frustrated. If he could only use both of his arms he could pummel Kazuo with bullets while he held Noriko.

Shogo fired away as he stuck close to them from behind. Kazuo also returned gunfire as he approached them.

The crevice that continued for fifty or sixty meters came to an end. Shuya leaped up to the ground before Noriko. He took Noriko’s uninjured left hand and pulled her up. Noriko bravely stiffened her face to conceal her pain, but the left half of her face was now covered with blood.

“Don’t stop!” Shogo yelled over the gunfire. Shuya pulled Noriko’s hand and dashed into the bushes ahead.

Once they came out of the bushes, they found themselves in the front yard of a residential house built against the side of the mountain. It was an old single-story building. There was a white light truck right next to an entrance road in front of the house. For some reason there was a washer and refrigerator, both on their sides, loaded in the light truck. Were they being dumped?

“Get behind the truck!” Shogo’s shouted again. Shuya and Noriko stepped onto the rain-drenched soil. Holding each others hands, they made their way behind the truck.

By the time Shogo followed and slid in, Shuya had Noriko sit down, the Browning in his hand. He caught a glimpse of a figure moving in the shrubs. He shot several times at it. He felt a searing pain through his left shoulder, from the bullet lodged inside it. The pain sizzled, but he had to ignore it.

Shogo reloaded a magazine into his Uzi and handed it over to Shuya. He said, “Shoot away. Hold him back.”

Shuya put his Browning down by his feet, took the Uzi, and fired away at the area where Kazuo appeared again.

Kazuo didn’t shoot back. As Shuya peeked above the pickup truck rack, Noriko planted herself right next to him. In her hands was the Browning he had put down.

“Are you all right, Noriko?” he asked as he checked for Kazuo’s movements in the shrubs.

“I’m okay,” Noriko replied.

Shuya glanced beyond Noriko over at Shogo. Shogo opened the door, dove into the driver’s seat, and started working on something.

With the sudden revving sound, the truck Shuya and Noriko were leaning against began to vibrate. The revving became a low hum as the water drops on the truck body began trickling with the soft vibration.

Shogo poked his head out. “Come on! We’re getting out of here! Noriko, hurry!”

Shogo offered her his hand and helped her into the truck. “Shuya! The front passenger’s seat!”

Shogo shouted as he started backing up the truck. He steered the wheel, backed the truck towards Kazuo, and then turned it around. The passenger’s seat door was there for Shuya. Noriko opened the door.

The rattling exploded as Shuya reached out his right hand to get in. This time though, it was accompanied by a hammering sound. A hole formed in front in the trucks narrow cabin ceiling and the exiting bullet tore through the windshield from inside right in front of Shogo. Shuya leaned against the truck—he knew where Kazuo was now—pointed the Uzi upward and fired away. The shadow slipped away into the bushes surrounding the houses up in the side of the mountain. Kazuo had made his way up there.

Without a second to lose, Shuya leaped into the passenger’s seat. Shogo pulled the car out. The truck slid out onto the unpaved entrance road. The machine gun rattled, shredding the hose of the washer on the rack. It thrashed in the air like a snake, fell off the car, and vanished behind them.

The gunfire ceased.

“Are you all right, Noriko?” Shuya asked.

Noriko tilted her face, covered in red, and nodded. “Yes.” But her body was still tense. She still held onto the Browning. Shuya put the Uzi in his right hand between his thighs, pulled out a bandanna from his pocket, and wiped her face. Blood came pouring out of the wound, and her pink flesh showed underneath. A simple operation wasn’t enough to remove the scar from this wound. To do this to a girl…

“Damn it,” Shuya looked over at Shogo, who steered the wheel. “He already knew where we were a while ago. That’s how he knew about our escape route.”

But Shogo shook his head, saying, “No.” As he quickly shifted gears to weave his way through the winding road, he said, “He couldn’t have known for sure. He only figured it out at the very end. Otherwise, he would have shown up before Sakamochi’s announcement. We would have come out welcoming him, thinking it was Hiroki, and then he would have easily finished us off. He didn’t know where we were, so during the breaks between the bird calls he planted that wire to bide his time. He probably planted that wire in other spots too.”

Shuya then thought, I see. That might have been true. To bide his time. But that was what ended up severely injuring Noriko. He said, “Noriko, show me your right hand.”

Noriko then finally let go of her gun (its grip was also covered in blood) and gave Shuya her hand. It seemed small and frail, but there was a sharp tear running down between her middle and ring finger. The palm of her hand was covered with a web of blood in the pattern of the textured pistol grip. He surmised, the wire must have cut her face first and then as she fell, it must have torn through her hand she put forward as she fell. The wound might have been much more severe if the gun hadn’t been in her hand.

Shuya wanted to wrap his bandanna about Noriko’s palm, but realized he couldn’t use his left hand.

Noriko said, “I’m okay. I’ll do it.” She took the bandanna from Shuya, flapped it, and spread it out, and then wrapped it around her right hand. She folded the edges and tied it up. Then she held the Browning again.