Nathan Pedde - Tokyo Tempest

About halfway down the hill, the road was suddenly filled with a sticky, mucky mess. The townhouses had disappeared and had turned into what Darren thought were small shops. The shops had been smashed apart and were filled to the brim with water. Piles of debris were piled in places where they got caught on something. More pieces of debris had piled up on top of each other creating small roadblocks. Piles of rubble were in piles everywhere. Piles of broken wood, cars on their sides, houses were simply gone. All that remained was a scattering of debris and kindling.

Darren, Yuki, and Sakiko slowed down to a snail pace. It took all the effort that Darren could muster not to fall off his bike. After about twenty feet, the muck dissipated but didn’t go away entirely. A thin layer of watery muck lined the streets.

Yuki and Sakiko weren’t as lucky. Sakiko didn’t make it through the muck and had to put a sneaker into the mess. Yuki made it through but then stopped to try and help Sakiko and put her foot in it. Darren stopped after a few more feet. He watched the two girls following him pushing their bikes.

“We have twenty more feet of this and then a pile of this stuff where the water crested on the other side of this valley,” Darren said.

“Not five minutes,” Sakiko said, “and my feet are already wet.”

“So are mine,” Yuki said.

Darren ignored the girl’s complaints.

“If we can get enough speed in this thin stuff, we can get through the thick stuff and be clear of this mess.” Darren said, “I’ll go first. Follow my tracks, and it’ll be easier for you two.”

Darren, Yuki, and Sakiko got on the bikes. Darren rode as fast as he could towards the upper side of the small valley.

Darren plowed through the small piles of muck. Wet gooey mess sprayed out from his tires. Muck splashed on his pants and up the back of his jacket. Darren plowed into the last pile and stopped flat. His front tire hit something in the muck and turned to the side. Darren’s bike toppled to the side throwing Darren into the muck.

Sakiko and Yuki broke into laughter behind him.

“Laugh it up,” Darren said.

Darren picked himself off of the ground. He lifted his pack up and rested it on his bike. Darren grabbed his hat from the muck and knocked the excess mess off it. He reached into the muck and pulled a pieced of debris out of the muck. It was a broken chunk of a tree trunk. The piece was a foot long and six inches thick. It looked like it exploded off of a tree from the force of the water.

Darren tossed the log off to one side.

“You could’ve asked to see if I was hurt,” Darren yelled as he grabbed his bag.

He picked up his bike from the ground and dragged it through the mud to the other side of the muck.

“Next,” Darren yelled towards the two laughing girls.

Yuki rode next.

Darren watched as she sped up. A spray of mud flew from her tires as she plowed through the muck. She followed in Darren’s tire treads and pushed through the final muck pile with ease.

Sakiko left a moment after Yuki had finished riding through the muck. Sakiko had no problems as both Darren and Yuki had plowed through the piles of muck.

“You’re a mess.” Yuki said to Darren, “You have mud all up your backside.”

Yuki kissed Darren on the lips with a grin.

“It’ll dry.” Darren said, “I’ll change later into the spare set of…”

“Spare set of what?” Yuki asked.

“I gave my spare set of clothes to Sakiko.” Darren said, “I guess we need to add that to the list of things we need to find.”

“We have a list?”

“If we don’t, we should,” Darren said.

Sakiko rode up to Darren and Yuki.

“What’s this about a list?” Sakiko asked, “I hate lists.”

“Its just dawning on me how bad this is?” Darren said. “It’s this level of destruction all around us.”

Darren pointed to the piles of debris scattered around the area.

Darren knew that only yesterday when they passed by this area, this neighborhood was filled with small homes. It was an area that was usually filled with rentals for students and young adults.

Now, the area was close to bare of standing buildings. The buildings that weren’t knocked over by the earthquakes and its aftershocks were swept away by the ensuing tsunami. The area was filled with plum trees, and yesterday the area was filled with acres of the white and pink flowers of the plum blossoms. Now, the area was covered in the pale brown of the muck that the wave had left behind.

Yuki looked at Darren and rubbed her eyes.

“I’ve been telling you.” Yuki said, “I have a storage unit that we need to get to. There are enough supplies there for us.”

“I know,” Darren said, “But we need to do that favor for that cop, and then we can go to the storage unit.”

Sakiko put her hands on Darren’s and Yuki’s shoulders.

“Maybe we should talk about this later,” Sakiko said.

“Right.” Yuki said, “Let’s get to the shelter, give the cop the message and then get away.”

Yuki hopped on the bike and rode ahead of them. Darren and Yuki chased to keep up with her.

The destruction from the tsunami was replaced by the devastation of the earthquake. Which was considerably less in comparison to the amount of damage from the tsunami.

The plum blossoms were in full bloom. It hid the destruction of the buildings from immediate view. A few buildings had collapsed, while others had suffered from a light amount of damaged. Some only had a few broken windows, while others had entire walls collapse.

They rode into a commercial district. There were no people in the area. Nobody walking in the early morning light heading to work Monday morning or to School. The streets were deserted by the regular people that dwelled there not a day before.

Rescuers dug into the wreckage and pulled people from the rubble. Most of the people looked tired and worn out. Darren saw a line of bodies covered with bedsheets and tarps. The corpses were a range of sizes ranging from the smallest of the small to the largest of large. Crying people wept by a few of them.

Tears welled up in Darren’s eyes as he looked away from the death and destruction. He couldn’t bear the sight of it.

They turned a corner and reached a small looking brick building. The building had a big sign in Japanese and in English. It said ‘Shelter here.’ Darren, Yuki, and Sakiko rode up to the entrance.

The entrance had a young looking adult guarding the door. The young guard seemed to be a little older than Darren. He wore a bright yellow safety vest, and a white hard hat overtop of his army fatigues. Darren noticed that he wasn’t armed with anything but a baton.

“Refugee’s are to go around the corner to the big doors to the side.” The young guard said.

“We’re not refugees,” Darren said in Japanese.

“The Gaijin speaks proper Japanese.” The young guard said, “You still need to go around to the side…”

“We have a message for Captain Yusako from Lt Harrito,” Yuki said.

The young guard peeked his head in the door and then came back out.

“Leave your bikes here and go in.” The young guard said.

Sakiko looked at the guard and then at Darren and Yuki.

“You two go.” Sakiko said, “I’ll keep our bikes from being commandeered.”

Darren and Yuki entered the building.

Before they had walked a step, Yuki tapped Darren on the arm.

“You do the talking,” Yuki said.

Darren nodded.

The building had a small foyer that had a single desk in it. Sitting at the desk was a short, skinny man with balding, greying hair in a Japanese Self-Defense Force uniform. The Captain looked at Darren and Yuki for a couple seconds.