Nathan Pedde - Tokyo Tempest

Yuki walked into the locker and found a dusty oil lamp and lit it. She hung it up from a hook on the ceiling.

“Is that it?” Darren asked, “Is that all of the supplies?”

“We should get in and get that door locked,” Yuki said.

Darren, Yuki, and Sakiko pulled their bikes into the locker, and Yuki shut the door.

“How can you lock it from the inside?” Darren asked.

“The lock works both ways,” Yuki said.

“Oh,” Darren said as he piled the bikes close to each other.

“Is that all the supplies?” Darren asked.

Yuki looked at the boxes. Darren was disappointed by the number of supplies in the locker.

“This does seem like not that much does it?” Yuki said.

“What happened to all of it?” Darren asked.

“I’m not sure.” Yuki said, “We were in here a month ago, and I swear we had put more stuff in here than this.”

“Maybe he moved it?” Darren said.

“Maybe.” Yuki said, “He doesn’t exactly tell me everything he’s planning.”

Darren looked at Yuki.

“Didn’t you have a place outside Tokyo we can go to?” Darren asked.

“Yes, I do.” Yuki said, “But we can’t get there yet.”

“Why not?”

“Three reasons,” Yuki said.

“First, where are our dads? Did they survive so far? Two, where’s Anthony? And three, my dad has the vehicle that we need to use to get there at the apartment.”

“Okay.” Darren said, “We can go get the vehicle.”

“Underground parking and my apartment was closer to the water than yours was. We didn’t take into account for earthquakes and tsunami’s that bad.”

“Oh.” Darren said, “Why didn’t you live farther out of town?”

“The company provided the apartment.” Yuki said, “Not many choices.”

“I always thought your dad was the boss,” Darren said.

“Boss yes. Owner no.”

“I see,” Darren said.

Darren, Yuki, and Sakiko made quick work of opening all of the boxes and totes. Darren looked through them and saw that while there were some useful items, they lacked some things.

Darren opened up a duffle bag and some rolled up clothes were tightly stuffed in.

“Sweet, clothes.” Sakiko said, “I’m soaked.”

Sakiko looked into the duffle bags and started to root through the items.

“We should change wet socks and take our shoes off so they can dry.” Darren said, “Do we have anything more waterproof?”

“There are no shoes in this bag,” Sakiko said.

“I have a single pair of rubber boots.” Yuki said as she pulled out a pair of pink rubber boots, “We never planned on having anyone else with us.”

“That means that I could share,” Sakiko said.

“Your feet are too big for these.” Yuki said, “Sorry.”

“Crap.” Sakiko said, “I can find a pair somewhere.”

“We do have a small stove,” Yuki said.

Yuki pulled out a small propane cook stove and a bundle of propane bottles.

“Who wants some tea? Or coffee?”

“I don’t think a propane cook stove is safe to use inside,” Darren said.

“There’s a vent shaft right there.” Yuki said pointing to a grate in the ceiling, “The vent will suck the fumes out to exchange the air.”

“There’s no power,” Darren said.

“That’s fine.” Yuki said, “The pressure in here is higher than outside. The air is sucked out through the vent shaft to make it safe. I mean, its not like its super sealed in here, to begin with.”

“As long as we vent the place after we cook to make sure, then I’m fine with it,” Darren said.

Darren sat down on the ground and put his head against the wall.

“I don’t know about you two, but I’m tired,” Darren said.

“Me too.” Yuki said, “Two long nights with little sleep.”

Sakiko plopped next to Darren.

“What time is it?” She asked Darren.

Darren looked at his phone. There was no service, but the clock still worked.

“Its a little after eleven in the morning,” Darren said.

“Is it just me or is this day lasting forever?” Sakiko asked as she rested her head on his shoulder.

“We’ve been moving since like two in the morning, if you don’t include that short hour nap in that park,” Yuki said.

Sakiko nodded.

“Well, I slept from about ten to the earthquake.” Sakiko said, “I’m less tired than you two. I’ll make tea, you two snuggle up and have a short nap.”

Sakiko stood up from the ground and walked across the storage unit to the small camp stove.

Yuki sat down next to Darren and leaned into him. She rested her head on his shoulder.

Darren wrapped his arm around her and quickly fell asleep. He was unsure how long he slept or what he dreamed about. But he did remember that he was scared and that he spent it running from things.

“Darren.” A voice called out in his dream, “Darren wake up.”

Darren woke up with a start. It took him a second to realize where he was. Darren sat in a small storage unit with Yuki and Sakiko. Yuki squatted by a small camp stove. A pot sat boiling on the stove.

Darren looked around the small locker. Sakiko had taken the lead in organizing the supplies into the different piles. She had the food stacked in one pile, and the other supplies were arranged by category. Sorted out, the number of supplies they had was worse than Darren originally thought.

“Sorry.” Darren said, “Was I snoring?”

“Not really.” Yuki said, “Its noon. You slept for two hours.”

“How long did you sleep for?” Darren asked.

“An hour.” Yuki said, “I should be good until tonight.”

Darren nodded and stretched. Sleeping on the cold hard ground was hard on his back.

“What’s the plan?” Darren said.

“Lunch,” Yuki said.

“After lunch?”

“Not sure.” Yuki said, “I’m tempted to stay here and shelter in place for a few days.”

“How many days worth of food do we have?” Darren asked.

“We have two more days from those MRI’s,” Yuki said, “And three more days worth of food after those are gone.”

“What type of food do we have?” Darren said.

“Ramen.” Sakiko said, “Ramen noodles and instant powders.”

“We do have liters and liters of bottled water though.”

“And a bathroom?” Darren said, “Cause I really have to use one at the moment.”

“Umm…” Yuki said, “I’m sure there’s one in the building, but I’m not sure if the toilet will flush.”

“With the age of this building,” Sakiko said, “I’m sure its one of those ancient floor models.”

“Floor?” Darren said.

“You’ll see if you come across one.” Sakiko said, “I personally hate them.”

Darren looked at the pile of supplies and other goods.

“You can shelter here for now.” Darren said, “I can go out and see if I can find my dad, your dad, and Anthony.”

“By yourself?” Yuki said.

“Yeh.” Darren said, “It won’t take me too long to get around if I’m by myself.”

“You’re serious,” Yuki said.

“I’m not one to sit around and not do anything.” Darren said, “I have to go out and do something.”

“That’s a bad idea,” Sakiko said.

“Why is that?” Darren asked.

“Because you’re a single Gaijin riding around Tokyo looking for a couple people out of millions.” Sakiko said, “Looking for a needle in a haystack is easier.”

“So?” Darren asked.

“Look.” Sakiko said, “Yuki and I had this talk when you were sleeping. If your dad was at work when the earthquake and tsunami hit, he’s probably dead.”

“You don’t know that,” Darren said.

“No,” Sakiko said, “but if he survived he’ll find his way back here.”