Nathan Pedde - Tokyo Tempest

“It was probably different units,” Darren said.

“What?” Yuki said.

“They had different armbands on.” Darren said, “They were from a different military unit than the officer was. With communications down, I doubt they’re communicating very well with each other. I bet you they’ll react to the deaths of the soldiers, but it will take time for them to get the word out to investigate.”

“That harpy will probably rat us out,” Yuki said.

“Most likely.” Darren said, “But we didn’t say where we were going.”

“We did to the officer.” Yuki said, “I told him that we were going to Sano.”

“You didn’t tell him where in Sano right?” Darren said.

“No. I didn’t.” Yuki said.

“Good. You said that the hiding place was north of Sano in the mountains, right?”

“Yes,” Yuki said.

“Do you know a route that skirts around Sano?” Darren said, “It can be a long way around.”

“We can go up through Ashikaga, but there are no routes around that city,” Yuki said.

“So if we go through Sano, we can skirt around the main parts of the city. But we risk those soldiers. If we go through Ashikaga, then we risk the city.” Darren said.

“The city could be held by soldiers,” Yuki said.

“Are there any other ways to your place?” Darren asked, “One that skirts around those cities?”

“No. No matter which way we go, there are cities and towns everywhere.” Yuki said.

“So we face risk no matter which way we go,” Darren said.

“Exactly.” Yuki said, “The question is which way.”

Darren pondered it for a bit.

“How long do we have before we have to decide which way we must go?” Darren asked.

“If we ride all day,” Yuki said, “We will get to the outskirts of Ashikaga by then. At that point, we go right, and we go to Sano, we go left, and we go to Ashikaga.”

“I say we ponder it and decide later,” Darren said.

“Let’s go,” Yuki said.

Darren and Yuki rode down the farmer’s road. They turned left and right as they followed the road, keeping to the smaller back roads. They skirted around parts that were built up.

Darren saw more people out walking along the major roads. Carts were dragged along. Darren also saw a car speed along the road. It barely dodged people walking along the road. Panicked looks spread across faces as it sped along the back roads.

In the distance, was the color gang bike rider once more. He was riding the bike along a ridge of a hill away from them. The tires spewing out dirt and dust.

After a few hours, they came to the first people walking in the opposite direction.

The group was made up of eight people walking together. They wore mish-mashed clothing and carried large packs on their backs. They ranged from little kids, riding in a plastic child’s pull wagon, to older men using walking staffs as support.

“Nothing that way but death.” An older gentleman said.

“Same with that way,” Darren said. “Are you from Ashikaga?”

“Maybe.” The older man said, “Why?”

“We’ve run into soldiers back our way that demanded bribes and other things to get past them. I’m wondering what we’re facing.”

The older gentleman stared at Darren for a moment.

“I tell you something, then you tell me something. Agreed?”

“Agreed.” Darren said, “Keep away from main roads and Tokyo. Soldiers patrol them and seem to be keeping people away from the city.”

“Ashikaga suffered bad damage, and most of the survivors have headed towards Sano and the coast. The Word is that the mountains have many survivors walking into it as well.” The older gentleman said.

“Beware the gangs.” Darren said, “They get bad the closer you get to Tokyo. I would stay out of towns and cities as much as you can.”

“Ashikaga had no gangs when we left. But stay indoors at night.”

“Why’s that?”

“Cause some crazy bastard is going around hunting people with a sword when it gets dark. He only attacks you if you’re on the streets. Not if you’re in a camp and sleeping.”

“I don’t have much else.” Darren said, “Good luck to you.”

The gentleman and the group of refugees walked along the road and out of sight.

“We should have asked them what the situation is like in Sano,” Yuki said.

“Too late now,” Darren said.

Darren and Yuki continued down the road along the farmer’s fields. The fields spread out before them, and they weaved their way along the dirt roads. Darren noticed that the dirt roads were in an irregular checkerboard pattern. The dirt roads were around groups of fields between the different towns and cities.

In the early part of the morning, they came to another built-up area in front of a bridge next to a river. Darren wasn’t sure which river it was, or what town it was and he didn’t care.

The town was in a poor state of repair. Most of the buildings were damaged in some form from the earthquakes, others were destroyed by vandalism and fires.

People hung around the main streets of the small town. They stared at Darren as he rode past. In amongst the crowd were police officers who seemed to be keeping the peace.

Yuki led him through some side streets away from the crowds of people. They were soon in front of the bridge, in the middle of the bridge were army vehicles.

“There are a bunch of different bridges along the river,” Yuki said.

They kept riding along the side streets and were soon out of the town.

Throughout the day, Darren, and Yuki traveled along the back roads around most of the crowds. They stopped periodically to eat something from their supplies.

Darren noticed something in a nearby ditch. A naked woman lay face down in the muddy ditch. A massive slash ran down her back from her neck to the small of her back.

“We should move on,” Darren said.

“Oh dear…” Yuki said, “I’m never going to get used to all the death.”

Darren turned his back to the ditch.

“I don’t think you should get used it.” Darren said, “I think if you get used to seeing dead people, then you have a problem.”

Darren and Yuki mounted their bikes and rode away from the dead body. They were sullen after seeing the dead naked woman.

In the distance was a small bridge across a river. The bridge was connected to a small two-lane highway, unlike the six-lane monstrosity of the other bridges they had road by.

On the other side of the river, in the distance was a city. What Darren could see of the town, showed that the city didn’t have a large number of tall buildings.

“What city is that?” Darren asked, “Please say that it’s Ashikaga?”

“That is Ashikaga,” Yuki said.

“Finally,” Darren said. “What’s the plan?”

“If we go through the city, we need to ride into the mountains and then through a couple mountain passes, and then we’ll be in Sano.”

“So do we risk going through the city or trying to skirt around Sano?” Darren said.

“I don’t know,” Yuki said.

“I’m the Gaijin remember. I don’t know the two cities. You do.” Darren said. “You decide which way to go. I’ll protect you the best I can either way.”

“First I think we should press on tonight and see how far we can get,” Yuki said.

“I agree with that,” Darren said.

“But I have two minds about how,” Yuki said, “It’s thirty kilometers the Sano way, and forty kilometers the Askikawa way. If we try the Sano way, it’s shorter, and we might get lucky enough to dodge any soldiers. But I’m nervous about the soldiers. What if we get stopped again? We won’t get lucky again. Then there’s that unknown killer that’s slicing people up with a bloody sword? If we ride through the night and we get stopped by him. And I have yet to see signs of that gang. What do you think?”