Nathan Pedde - Tokyo Tempest

“Nine… Ten… Eleven… Twelve…” Darren said to himself.

Thunder rolled across the sky.

“Storm is at least ten kilometers away,” Darren said.

Yuki nodded.

They rode along the side of the hill keeping away from the top. They didn’t want to be silhouettes riding at the top.

Weariness crept into Darren’s bones as they rode forward at a slower pace.

“You mentioned that you knew where we can stop next?” Darren asked.

“I do.” Yuki said, “It’s not far.”

“Is it better than the last one.”

“I didn’t choose the Sugihara’s.”

“I meant the Katana Club,” Darren said.

“Oh.”

“I hope it isn’t infested with cannibals,” Darren said.

“It’s a used bookstore.”

“Might have been looted for its books,” Darren said.

“People loot books?” Yuki said.

“Books burn,” Darren said.

“I doubt it.”

“Where is this bookstore?”

“We follow this dike to the next town. The dike disappears by some school. The bookstore is near there.” Yuki said.

Darren and Yuki rode across the school field. The school was empty of kids. No one was on the field to play sports. The school itself was a burnt husk of ruin. Fires had burnt through what the earthquakes hadn’t knocked down.

They stopped in front of the bookstore that Yuki had mentioned. The building was only half standing. The front parts of the building had toppled over. The back half, looked like it was built differently and it was still standing.

“So where do we go now?” Darren asked Yuki.

“I have no idea.” Yuki said, “As we rode into the place, I got a good look at the surrounding areas, it looks like fires burned up the entire neighborhood. There isn’t much standing left.”

“Probably where those refugees in that camp came from,” Darren said.

“Possibly.”

“Do we keep going?” Darren asked.

“We’re tired.” Yuki said, “We need to stop. Eat something and sleep for a few hours.”

“The question is where?” Darren asked.

“We’ll have to backtrack a bit and go around some of this destruction. Maybe find someplace over there.” Yuki said.

“Let’s rest here,” Darren said.

“Where?” Yuki asked.

“In the back half of the building.” Darren said, “It’s still standing. We sleep in shifts and rest until dark.”

“We can’t go on much farther,” Yuki said.

Darren and Yuki slowly crept into the broken building. Near the back door looked to be the rear storage room. Unopened boxes of books sat untouched from where they were delivered. Broken glass was scattered around the building from the windows being busted during one of the many earthquakes. The entire room was only thirty feet long. It looked to Darren that there was a significant steel beam that kept the back section of the building from falling over while the front collapsed.

There was a small broom off to one side. Darren grabbed it and cleared out a section of the hard concrete floor.

“We block the back door with books, and we make a small camp here,” Darren said.

“Let’s not unpack anything.” Yuki said, “I don’t want to be too comfy and not want to leave once it gets dark out.”

Darren and Yuki moved the pile of boxes to block the door. They also blocked the few broken windows with debris so that no one could look in.

They shared a can of cold curry and Darren took the first watch. Yuki closed her eyes and was soon fast asleep.

Darren took apart his handgun and cleaned it as he waited. He was careful not to take the safety off and to not to touch the trigger when it was loaded.

Sitting in a leather holster was the other handgun. Darren pulled the gun out and held it in his hand. It was a weapon that he had taken from the JDF that they had fought. He took the magazine out and fiddled with the gun. It looked like it was in good shape. He studied the bullets. They were the same that his handgun used. Unfortunately, he had only the one magazine for it, and it just carried eight bullets.

He put the weapons in the child carrier and re-hid them. He left the handgun out, sitting on top of the carrier.

After his watch was over, he woke Yuki to take the second part.

“I hate this sleeping in shifts,” Yuki said.

“I know. I do too.”

“What do you do during your shift?”

“I whittle, or I clean the guns,” Darren said. “I putter.”

Yuki grumbled.

Darren pointed to the handgun on the child carrier.

“You wanted a weapon before,” Darren said.

“Yes,” Yuki said.

“If you get scared.” Darren said, “Don’t be afraid to use it.”

Darren sat on the ground went to sleep very quickly.

In his dreams, he saw the face of his mother. She was laughing and smiling at him. She was saying something, but he couldn’t quite make it out.

It didn’t seem like he was asleep for long, but Darren was soon shaken awake.

“Darren wake up.” Yuki was shaking him awake.

Yuki had the holstered handgun strapped to her leg.

“What time is it?” Darren asked.

“It’s sundown,” Yuki said, “and it’s wet out there.”

“It’s wet in here.” Darren said, “I can hear the water pour through that debris.”

“Who knows how long this building will keep the water off us,” Yuki said.

Darren and Yuki moved the boxes away from the doorway and walked out into the cold rain. The dark clouds poured water down on them with a vengeance. They darkened up the night sky and made it very difficult to walk around.

“This is ridiculous.” Darren said, “I can’t even see you, and I’m standing next to you.”

“Do we go back into that death trap of a building or do we press on?” Yuki said.

“I’m tempted to say press on, but how do we keep from being separated?” Darren said.

“Flashlight?” Yuki said.

“And then we become a beacon,” Darren said.

“We wait,” Yuki said.

They pulled their bikes back into the damp ruined building. They piled the boxes back over the door to block the entrance. Darren took a blanket and a bit of rope. He hung the blanket to block off any escaping light that they might create. Yuki took out an oil lamp and lit it. Darren made sure that there was no excess light escaping from the blanket.

“This should be safe enough.” Darren said.

“We might be stuck here until morning,” Yuki said.

Yuki sat on the cold hard floor.

Darren sat down on the ground next to Yuki.

“What are your parents like?” Yuki asked.

“That’s a strange question,” Darren said.

“It’s just a question.” Yuki said, “And I’m just curious.”

“Well.” Darren said, “What are your parents like?”

“Strict. Reserved.” Yuki said, “My mom would hate knowing that I was spending time with boys.”

“And she let you join the Katana Club?”

“That was after the event years ago.” Yuki said, “I had a nanny who basically raised me. I got away with lots of stuff.”

“So then what was your nanny like?” Darren asked.

“She was nice and friendly. She always had a smile on her face and was always interested in what I was doing.” Yuki said.

“What happened to her?”

“I grew up.” Yuki said, “Then I didn’t need her to look after me, so she moved on. I’m curious how she’s making out in this disaster. But the other part of me doesn’t want to find out. That if I do, her fate will be horrible and sad. I just hope she’s alright.”

“There’s always hope,” Darren said.

“What were your parents like?” Yuki asked.

“My dad left when I was nine.” Darren said, “Parents divorced.”