Nathan Pedde - Tokyo Tempest

Darren followed Yuki’s lead and bowed.

“A Gaijin.” Hana said to Yuki, “My English is no good. You’ll have to translate for me.”

“No need to translate.” Darren said, “My Japanese is getting very good.”

“Very good.” Hana said, “Now. You two look a wreck. Come sit and tell me what happened.”

Darren and Yuki sat on plastic chairs and told Hana about the run-in with the Japanese Defense Force and what happened to Sakiko.

“Poor girl.” Hana said, “You didn’t know about the curfew?”

“No,” Darren said, “We had hidden in a storage building after we got attacked by some color gangs.”

“The color gangs are what started the curfew.” Hana said, “Those bastards ran all over town stealing anything in sight. The police and JDF did nothing to stop it. Then a few days in, the authorities appeared and built a wall blocking off the ways out of Tokyo.”

“We saw it.” Darren said, “Built out of wrecked cars.”

Hana nodded.

“They allow no one out, and nothing gets in.” Hana said, “They claim that the gangs are the cause.”

“May we rest here for a few hours?” Yuki asked.

“Yes.” Hana said, “But you’re filthy.”

“I’ll sleep on the floor by my bike,” Yuki said.

Hana nodded as Yuki leaned against a wall and fell asleep.

“Let me get you a cloth.” Hana said, “You’re covered in blood.”

Darren cleaned himself up as best he could. He didn’t use any water on the cloth. It was too precious to use to clean himself.

“You can keep the cloth.” Hana said, “Its not like I can clean it anyway.”

After five minutes, Darren scanned the apartment.

“Didn’t you have a grandson or something?” Darren asked.

“Yes.” Hana said, “Now that you mention it, where did he go?”

Darren watched Hana walk around the apartment as she hunted for Toru, her grandson. After a few minutes, Hana came back to where Darren waited.

“That child has gone across to Toboto’s.” Hana said.

“Who?” Darren asked.

“That man with the ax that offered you a place to rest before I did.” Hana said, “We have to go and get him.”

“The curfew.” Darren said.

“This is my grandson.” Hana said, “I need your help.”

“Okay.” Darren said, “But I want to leave Yuki here. Let her rest.”

“That’s fine.”

Darren wrote a note on a scrap piece of paper and left it on the child carrier for Yuki.

He followed Hana out of the apartment and onto the street. They waited and listened to the city. Darren listened to the telltale sound of the engines from the soldier’s trucks.

With no sign of the JDF anywhere near, Darren made his move.

Darren walked across the street with Hana following close behind. Across the street was a townhouse style building made up of tiny buildings built in rows that stretched down the road. Next, to Toboto’s townhouse, a small alleyway headed around into the back of the buildings.

Hana didn’t head towards the front door, but she headed down the alley. Behind the house was a small yard. It was a real luxury in Tokyo to have one.

Darren struggled to keep up with the old lady. There was a fire to her step that Darren hadn’t seen in many people.

With a swift kick, Hana kicked the gate open and entered the backyard. She walked towards the shed and opened it.

She screamed.

Darren craned his neck to see around Hana. Laying in the dirt on the floor was the small boy. Darren moved past Hana and into the shed.

An ax was embedded in the boy’s back. Hanging from the rafters of the shed were two more dead bodies. These bodies looked older and female, but it was hard to tell as they had been mutilated.

“He shouldn’t have come snooping in here.” A deep male voice said from behind him.

Darren turned to see Toroto standing in the doorway to the shed. He couldn’t see what Toroto had in his hands, but Darren knew it had to be a weapon of some kind.

A loud blast echoed from Toroto and Hana went down in a heap of blood and bone. Darren reached for his handgun.

“Don’t do it.” Toroto said.

In Toroto’s hands was a hunting style rifle. Darren wasn’t sure what type, or if it was bolt action or a semi-auto, but that was the least concern at the moment.

Darren held his hands out.

“It looks like I got you.” Toroto said.

“Do you now.” A familiar voice said from behind Toroto.

Toroto collapsed to his knees and fell to the ground. Standing behind him was Yuki. She had a baseball bat in her hands. She raised it up once more.

“Wait.” Darren said, “Do you want to kill him?”

Yuki pointed at the many dead bodies in the shed.

“You have a point.” Darren said.

Yuki brought the bat down. The force of the blow cracked on the man’s head. Darren saw the cranial cavity cave in and squish flat. Yuki raised the bat once more and the bat sunk deeper into Toroto’s head.

“I thought I was about to die.” Darren said.

Yuki wrapped her arms around Darren.

“I thought I was going to lose you too and be left alone in this world.” Yuki said.

Darren grabbed the rifle. It was a bolt action rifle.

“That bastard was bluffing.” Darren said.

“What?”

Darren aimed the rifle at the wall and pulled the trigger. The rifle went click. He operated the action of the rifle, and a spent brass casing flew out.

He loaded up a fresh one from the chamber. Yuki quickly checked Hana to see if she was alive, and seeing that she wasn’t, Yuki said a small prayer over her.

Darren grabbed a small box of shells from a bench as well as a few that were in Toroto’s pockets. Darren wondered if the old man was crazy or if he had snapped due to being quarantined in the city.

“Let’s get out of here,” Yuki said.

Darren nodded.

They walked back across the road and into the apartment. The home was quiet now that Hana wasn’t there. Darren had no intention of staying in the apartment for too long.

“Grab what you can,” Darren said.

Yuki nodded.

“Sounds good.”

Hana’s cupboards were surprisingly empty of food. In a cabinet was a machete tapped to a broom handle. Darren took the machete off the broom handle and took it.

“What?” Darren said, “We need weapons.”

Yuki picked up the hunting rifle. Darren couldn’t see what the caliber of the rifle was. He would check that later, when he had time.

After an hour, a loud horn sounded.

“Time to go.” Darren said.

Yuki nodded.

They carried the bikes back down the stairs and out into the city once more. The ash still fell in thick globs from the sky.

Darren and Yuki rode slowly down the street. The city seemed to come to life. Darren held his fedora down over his eyes and his scarf over his face. The ash-fall fell steadily from the sky. As they rode their bikes, he saw many people huddled by small burn barrels. People looked at them nervously as they rode past, but no one thought to try and stop them.

The people all looked tired. Like there was a party they had gone to that they were recovering from. But Darren knew that there was no party. It was too many days huddled scared in the dark, while they watched their food supply dwindle by the day. A couple stores had their doors open. Hand painted signs adorned the building. “No Food.” “No Water.” “Cash Only.”

It looked like merchants were still trying to stay open, but with no trucks coming in with new merchandise to sell, Darren wondered how long they were going to be open.

They rode their bikes past an alley, and a foul stench reached out from the lane. It smelled like it was a bathroom in there.