Nathan Pedde - Tokyo Tempest

Seiji screamed.

“What happened to the others?” Darren asked.

Seiji still screamed.

Darren picked up Seiji’s knife.

“Stop screaming.” Darren said, “And answer my question.”

“Please don’t kill me.” Seiji said, “Please. Please.”

“Answer my question,” Darren said.

“We started out as twelve members.” Seiji said, “Then we lost people during scavenging missions. Then we got very hungry.”

“What happened to them?”

Seiji started to cry.

“I killed Jiara, and we ate her,” Seiji said.

Yuki gasped in shock.

“She was my friend,” Yuki screamed.

Yuki ran up to Seiji and kicked him in the face.

“Yuki,” Darren said as she pulled her back.

He took the gun from her as he walked up to Seiji.

Darren walked up to Seiji.

“What happened to the rest?” Darren asked.

“After I killed her, they fled.” Seiji said, “Only Ryoo and I stayed behind.”

In one quick motion, Darren pulled out the gun and pulled the trigger. The bullet smashed into Seiji’s skull. Blood sprayed on the ground.

Yuki grabbed hold of Darren and hugged him tightly. She cried and cried into his arms.

Darren put the gun back into its holster as he held Yuki. She wrapped her arms around the two of them and cried.

After ten minutes, Yuki regained her composure. Her eyes were red from crying, and Darren could see the hurt in them. Like the events from the last week had boiled into a single point.

“Now what do we do?” Yuki said.

“Its ten in the morning.” Darren said, “Let’s move away from these bodies. To the back of the clubhouse.”

“Are we going to sleep in this place?” Yuki said.

“We don’t have much of a choice. We need to rest up as much as we can.” Darren said.

Darren and Yuki walked to the back of the clubhouse. They collapsed in a heap. Darren took the first watch for a few hours and then switched with Yuki.

After he attempted to sleep for roughly eight hours, Yuki shook Darren awake.

“Its time to leave,” Yuki said.

Darren pulled himself off the cold concrete floor.

“I think I’m coming down with something,” Yuki said.

“Nauseous?” Darren asked.

“No.” Yuki said, “Just feel gross.”

“Probably not enough good sleep,” Darren said.

“I think with a full night of riding we can get to the mountains.”

“If we can get through.” Darren said, “Did you see those roadblocks?”

“Yeah, some of them were being manned by soldiers.”

“Shall we go?” Darren asked.

The two of them pushed the bikes towards the front of the clubhouse. The two dead bodies lay where they had fallen. Their eyes stared straight up at nothing.

Darren unlocked the door and opened it up a crack. He couldn’t see anyone out there. He crept it open and scanned the surroundings.

Darren and Yuki walked out of the clubhouse and into the parking lot.

Distant gunshots echoed from afar.

Darren mounted his bike, and the two of them rode out of the clubhouse. They left the door wide open.

The night was darker than it had been the night before. Clouds filled the sky and blocked out the moon and the stars. The darkness hid Darren, and Yuki entirely from sight. No one would see them ride by.

The darkness had the unfortunate side effect of making their surroundings harder to see, and that forced them to go slower then they did yesterday. Darren and Yuki were forced to push their bikes down the road and trust that they would see anything before they would run into it. Darren could make out shapes of the parked cars as they passed them, but he couldn’t make out any details of the vehicles.

They were lost in the maze of streets in the big city. Darren figured that after the second turn to go around a car crash, they got turned around. Without being able to see any street signs or any landmarks, even Yuki was lost.

Yuki traveled first, her figure a silhouette about five feet in front of him.

“Darren.” Yuki said, “You coming? I can barely see you.”

“I’m coming,” Darren said, “Wait up.”

“Again,” Yuki said.

Yuki stopped walking and waited for Darren.

“This is getting ridiculous.” Yuki said quietly, “Can’t we turn on a flashlight?”

“Then the whole neighborhood will know we’re here.” Darren said, “There’s a curfew on, remember.”

“Maybe the stars will come out.” Yuki said, “Or maybe it will rain.”

“Well,” Darren said, “Now that we’ve caught up again, let’s get a move on.”

Darren and Yuki started to push their bikes again. They were careful where they went, they avoided pieces of glass and other debris. Some of which Darren didn’t want to think about.

He grunted from the strain of pushing the bike. He figured that it would have been easier going if he could coast most of the way.

Just as Darren was going to call a break, the moon and the stars came out from behind the clouds. It looked like it was going to be a clear night for the rest of the night.

With the added light from the stars and the moon, the area lit up revealing the surrounding streets. Darren and Yuki were in the middle of what looked like a business district of some kind. Tall buildings with broken windows surrounded them. Parked cars were scattered across the street, but a distinct pathway wove its way through the mess. Garbage and junk lined the roads and in the corners around the cars. The parked cars were all missing different parts. Some were missing pieces of their bodywork like fenders. Some were missing tires, while others were missing seats.

Different tables or market stalls were set up along the sidewalks of the streets. Nothing was on the tables, but Darren assumed that the tables were to barter and trade for different items.

Out of the darkness walked a group of ten younger looking men and woman. Darren’s stomach dropped. They stood around on a street corner. They wore high school uniforms from different schools. Darren couldn’t tell the different colors of the uniforms, but they were of different styles.

The school-aged kids noticed the two of them in the middle of the road. They turned to face the two of them. Darren could see that they all carried weapons. A couple brandished different types of swords, while others carried bats and chains.

“Hey, you two.” One of the school-age kids yelled out, “Stop where you are. This is a toll.”

“Yeh.” Another one laughed, “A toll.”

Darren looked at Yuki.

“Time to leave,” Darren said.

Darren and Yuki jumped on their bikes, and the group of teenage thugs ran at them.

“Ride,” Darren yelled.

Darren rode forward, using his strong legs to propel himself forward ahead of Yuki.

A scream echoed from behind him.

Yuki was stopped. Two thugs had grabbed hold of her child carrier and were holding her back. A third charged at her with a sword held high. In the darkness, Darren didn’t recognize any of the people.

Darren screeched to a halt. He pulled out his handgun and aimed it at the charging thug. It was going to be a long shot. Darren steadied the gun with both hands. He squeezed the trigger. The gun bucked in his hand. He reorientated his aim and fired off a second shot.

The bullets flew through the air and missed the swordsman thug. The thug stopped and ducked to the ground.

A young looking teenage girl ran behind the swordsman. She held a tire iron in her hand. Blood spurted from her chest as the bullet slammed home. The girl dropped to the ground like a rock with a small little squeak of a screech.

The swordsman turned and ran toward the girl.

Darren could hear his yell and his sobs.