Nathan Pedde - Tokyo Tempest

He put the handgun under his belt and grabbed the rifle. He loaded a single round into the chamber.

Darren crawled to the top of the ditch and ran forward in a low crawl. After he ran about fifteen feet, he stopped. Darren lay down in the uncut grass. He took up laying down firing position. Darren aimed the rifle at the soldier farthest away from Yuki.

He lined up his sight at the soldier’s center mass and aimed his shot.

“Please dear lord.” Darren whispered, saying a silent prayer, “Please forgive me for what I’m about to do.”

Darren squeezed the trigger to his handgun. Nothing happened. Darren looked at the side of the rifle. The safety was on. Darren shook his head and steadied his breathing once more. He released the safety and looked down across the field once more.

“Please.” Yuki pleaded from the truck, “Please stop.”

Darren lined his shot up once more, but the other soldiers were moving towards Yuki.

“She said to stop!” Darren yelled in Japanese.

The three soldiers stopped what they were doing and turned to face where Darren had yelled from.

Darren lined up his shot on one of the three soldiers and squeezed the trigger.

The gun jumped in his hand as it went off. The gunshot echoed in the silence of the cold dark night. The bullet curved slightly in flight and struck the soldier’s shoulder. The soldier dropped to the ground with a cry of pain.

The other drinking soldier dropped his beer bottle and ran for his rifle. The soldier that had tried to rape Yuki reached down to pull up his pants. Yuki kneed him in the balls.

The soldier curled over in pain momentarily. With a right-hand blow, the soldier struck Yuki’s face. Darren saw Yuki crumple to the ground.

Darren focused his rifle at the soldier who ran for his military gun. Darren aimed his weapon at the moving target, but he waited. The soldier paused when he grabbed the rifle from the hood of the armored vehicle. At that moment, Darren took his shot.

The gun jumped in his hand and slammed against his shoulder. The bullet struck the soldier in the middle of his chest. The soldier dropped his weapon and fell to his knees. Darren saw that the soldier’s body armor saved his life.

Darren got to his feet and dropped the rifle. He sprinted towards the dazed soldier. Darren knew that he had to get at him before he could recover.

The soldier stared at Darren in a daze. Darren drew his sword and his nine-millimeter handgun. He yelled at the top of his lungs and charged at the soldier. He froze momentarily as Darren closed in on him. A pistol in one hand, sword in the other, raised above his head. Darren swung the sword down at the soldier.

The soldier attempted to dodge out of the way, but the blade struck him in the chest. The edge cut through the kevlar body armor and sliced into the soldier’s chest. Blood flowed from the soldier’s wound as the blade cut to the rib cage. The soldier crumpled to the ground in pain.

Darren looked over at Yuki. Yuki had gotten off of the ground. Her pants still by her ankles. She screamed loudly as she punched the soldier in the face with her fists. Her screams echoed in the night. The soldier blocked her feeble swings.

Darren looked at the soldier that he had shot in the arm. He had gotten up off the ground and had his rifle in one hand by the handle.

Darren aimed his handgun at the soldier and squeezed off a shot. The bullet went wide, and the soldier ducked down as the round screamed by his head. The soldier took cover behind the front of the army truck. Darren re-aimed his gun at the soldier, but there was no clean shot.

Yuki was laying on the ground again, blood trickled from her nose.

Yuki was twenty feet from him, but he couldn’t help her. Not with the other soldier armed. She struggled to her feet once more.

“Yuki,” Darren said.

Yuki looked at Darren, and he threw the blade first in the direction of Yuki. The sword stuck into the ground point first five feet from Yuki.

The soldier hidden behind the truck had his rifle to his shoulder and was looking for a clean shot at Yuki.

Darren ran into the open pointing his handgun at the armed soldier.

“Hey, ass fuck.” Darren yelled as he ran, “Die.”

Darren squeezed off a couple shots at the solider. He wasn’t sure if any of the bullets hit, but none came back at him.

A scream echoed in the night. Yuki managed to grab the sword from the ground and shoved the sword into the soldier’s gut. The sword pierced the soldier’s body armor as he doubled over. Yuki removed the sword from his abdomen and stabbed at his neck.

Darren looked at the armed soldier once more. The soldier wasn’t standing. He was laying in front of the army truck clutching his throat with his hands. Darren watched his legs kick and twitch as blood poured out between his fingers and out of his mouth.

“Fuck,” Darren said as nausea swept over him.

Darren swallowed it and mentally strengthened his stomach. He holstered the handgun.

Darren walked over to Yuki.

Yuki was pulling up her pants. Yuki’s eyes and face were starting to bruise up, and blood from her nose had stained her shirt.

Darren ran towards them.

“Are you okay?” Darren said.

“Yes,” Yuki said.

“Thank god.” Darren said, “We need to go. Before someone investigates all the noise.”

“Yuki.” Darren said, “Grab the bikes from the ditch. I’m going to grab some stuff from the truck.”

Yuki ran towards the ditch where the bikes lay.

Darren grabbed the three rifles from the ground and put them in a pile. He grabbed all the extra magazines he could find. They were on the bodies of the two dead soldiers.

The soldier that he had sliced open with his sword moaned and groaned from where he fell. Blood stained the ground around him. The slice through his chest pulsed blood.

Yuki came back with the two bikes and child carriers.

“He’ll probably die if we leave him be,” Yuki said.

“He might get saved and then we’ll have issues.” Darren said, “Better leave no survivors.”

Darren nodded and looked at Yuki. She looked like she was about to say something.

“I’ll do it,” Darren said.

Darren took the sword in his hands and walked up to the fallen soldier.

“Rape her will you?” Darren said, “Picking on the helpless. Tell that to whoever you believe in.”

Darren stabbed the soldier in the throat. The blade sank deep into the flesh and crunched into bone. Darren twisted the sword as he yanked it out of the bloody wound.

The soldier twitched uncontrollably, and Darren walked away. He cleaned the sword on a piece of torn cloth.

Without the need to say anything to each other, Darren and Yuki made quick work of scavenging the army truck of supplies. They only took the easy stuff like the rations, the weapons, and the bullets. They also took a jug of gasoline from the storage. There were two full jugs of gas.

“The rifles don’t fit in the carrier,” Yuki said.

“Then leave them,” Darren said, “Throw them in the vehicle.”

Yuki did so.

“There’s a handgun in here,” Yuki said.

“Take it,” Darren said.

“How do I put this on?”

“Put it in the carrier.” Darren said, “Before we get caught.”

Yuki had grabbed the rifle from where it lay. They hid the weapons, the bullets, and accessories from the handgun in the child carriers. Darren was amazed that it fit in the carrier, but the bulkier military grade ones didn’t.

Darren looked at his watch. From when he had regained consciousness up to the time of them packing up the scavenged materials, only ten minutes had passed.

“We should burn the truck.” Darren said, “Deny the army the vehicle.”