Nathan Pedde - Tokyo Tempest

“That’s sad.”

“A year after my dad left, I overheard my mom talk about him to her sister.” Darren said, “The things she called him were vile and completely uncalled for. A week later I learned that they split up cause he couldn’t stand her vile evilness any longer. I begged my dad to take me with him, but the courts said no. My dad was moving to Japan, and the courts wouldn’t give him full custody. My mom wouldn’t give me permission to go.”

“That makes my parents sound nice.”

“Yeh. I took Japanese lessons hoping that I could impress my dad enough to take me. I obsessed over it for a while.” Darren said.

“Do you think your mom’s alive?” Yuki said.

“Probably not,” Darren said.

“Why?”

“Cause she was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. Was given a year to live. That’s the only reason she let me move here. Her sister could only take one of us. My younger brother was supposed to go.”

“Well. I’m glad you’re here with me.” Yuki said, “It makes me happy to have you as a friend.”

Darren nodded.

“Darren.”

“Yes, Yuki.”

“What type of relationship do we have?” Yuki said.

“What do you mean?” Darren asked.

“Well,” Yuki said, “we’re traveling together. And we’ve done it a bunch of times. And when Sakiko died, I was hurting for a bit. I still am, anyways… you said that you loved me. Do you?”

“I do.” Darren said, “I’m a guy, and it takes us a while to get things like that. If the quake didn’t hit, we would be dating at some point. Our parents were pushing us together.”

“And now?” Yuki said.

“Now I’m living day to day with the smartest, prettiest girl in the world during the worst time in human history,” Darren said.

“And the relationship we have?” Yuki said.

“If you want it, we can call this a relationship. I can be your boyfriend.” Darren said.

“That would be nice,” Yuki said.

Yuki curled up against him.

“I know that normally a couple would do it about now.” Yuki said, “But I don’t think it’s a good idea in this place.”

“That’s fine,” Darren said.

“You get some more sleep.” Yuki said, “I’ll take first watch.”

Darren leaned up against the wall and closed his eyes.

Yuki turned off the oil lamp. She leaned in and kissed him on the lips.

“Sleep well,” Yuki said.

Darren winced in pain.

“Take it easy on yourself.” Yuki said, “I need you to get healed up.”

“Yes dear,” Darren said.

Darren curled up and slept.

Hours passed. Another one of Darren’s weird dreams rolled by. This one was of him being chased by an angry dog. The dog was as big as a horse and had dark red eyes.

“Darren.” The dog sounded like Yuki, “Wake up.”

Darren opened his eyes.

“What’s wrong?” Darren said with a start.

“Nothings wrong.” Yuki said, “It looks like the storm has passed. I thought we should leave now and get a few hours in before we have to ride in the daylight.”

“That sounds like a good idea,” Darren said.

“That’s what it thought too,” Yuki said.

“Is there a way that when the sun comes up that we can avoid towns and travel along rural fields?” Darren asked.

“Kinda.” Yuki said, “If I remember correctly, there are some areas that we’ll have no choice but to travel through urban areas.”

“Let’s pack…” Darren said.

Darren looked around. The blanket and all of the gear that they had unpacked was put away.

“I fiddled with my handgun.” Yuki said, “But after I had loaded and unloaded it a couple times, I got bored. So when I got bored, I packed up.”

“Is that the holster?” Darren asked.

“Yes,” Yuki said.

“Crap,” Darren said.

“At least I have one?”

“Yes,” Darren said, “But that’s not concealable.”

Yuki took the holster off and pulled the handgun out. She put it in the inside pocket to her jacket.

“That doesn’t feel safe,” Yuki said.

“I know.” Darren said, “But it’ll have to do for now.”

Darren pried himself off the cold concrete floor. He moved the piles of boxes away from the door.

The two of them mounted their bikes, and they rode out of the ruined building.

The storm had passed, taking most of the clouds with them. The stars danced in the moonlight as they rode down the alleyway. It was a much different situation than they were in earlier when they couldn’t see two feet in front of their faces.

Darren kept one eye on the shadows as he left the alley and went into the street. The street was initially a commercial area where shops lined both sides of the road. It was once the place the neighborhood gathered to do their shopping. Now, most of the buildings were either burnt out husks or piles of rubble. The many earthquakes had shaken the structures off of their foundations.

Darren thought they would follow the main street, but Yuki didn’t go that route. She crossed the street and rode up a small side street. Soon they found themselves riding up a small residential area. The ruins of small one-story houses were dotted along the grid-like streets.

Darren and Yuki dodged around debris, rotting corpses, and abandoned cars. The rain had washed away the smell of burnt ashes and decomposing bodies for a while. Darren could smell the freshness that you could only smell right after a rainstorm.

Soon they passed out from the buildings and into some farmland. Fields spread over the land for a bit between the different towns and cities.

In the distance, Darren saw the lights from houses and small fires. He also saw the lights of vehicles moving around. Cresting a hill and riding hard, Darren thought he saw a man on a motorbike. The same one that had followed them by the boat they had scavenged.

Darren blinked and rubbed his eyes. The bike rider was gone.

A couple hours went by as they passed the farmer’s fields and rode back into an urban town. The sun was still on the horizon, and that meant that the streets were still deserted and empty. There were no signs of life around the area. Darren heard the howls and barks of dogs in the distance.

“Do you think dogs would have gone feral by now?” Yuki asked.

“What do you mean feral?” Darren said.

“Wild.”

“I know what feral means, I was meaning what you were talking about.”

“There are stories of abandoned pets going feral. With no owners to feed them they turned back into feral beasts and attacked anything that moved,” Yuki said.

“I doubt it,” Darren said.

Darren and Yuki rode down the street in silence. Buildings passed by and eventually they were out of the town they were passing through. They now rode down the small farming roads.

The roads were made of packed gravel and giant puddles spread out throughout the street. Being dark still and not being able to see how deep that the pools were, they dodged the puddles as best they could. Darren did not want to get stuck in a puddle.

With the sun cresting over the horizon, Darren, and Yuki stopped for a small break.

They pulled a can of peaches out of the child carrier and opened it up to share.

“What’s bothering me is why didn’t that army officer question us about those soldiers?” Yuki asked.

“I was wondering the same thing. Why weren’t they questioning everyone about what happened there?” Darren asked.

“Maybe they knew that they were doing something wrong,” Yuki said, “and swept it under the rug.”

“Hide the evidence that there soldiers tried to rape a high school girl?”

“I’m not sure about that.” Yuki said, “I doubt the army would care that they were raping girls. I think they should be reacting to the deaths of three soldiers. That they should be hunting for the ones that did it.”