Nathan Pedde - Tokyo Tempest

“You were supposed to run away,” Darren said.

“Shut up you idiot.” Yuki said, then stopped to see the blood seeping through Darren’s fingers, “Hold on. I’ll get the medkit.”

“My carrier, front. Next to the rice.” Darren said.

Darren held onto the bloody wound and held it tight. Blood flowed from the wound.

“It’s not that bad.” Darren said, “I think that it barely scratched it.”

“Shut up.” Yuki said, “I got it.”

“I mean. It barely hurts.” Darren said.

A moment later, Yuki ran up to Darren.

“Oh fuck,” Yuki said.

“I don’t think it got the artery.” Darren said, “But it’s bleeding bad. I need a bandage.”

Yuki wrapped the bandage around Darren’s neck and held it tight.

Darren closed his eyes for a moment.

Yuki slapped his face.

“Don’t die.” Yuki said, “I’m not losing you too.”

“I won’t,” Darren said.

“Don’t try to sleep,” Yuki said.

The crunch of a pair of boots appeared behind them.

“I think I know you two.” The voice said.

Darren saw a Japanese man in a dirty army uniform.

Yuki raised her handgun from the ground.

“Don’t.” The man said, “I met you before. Gave you some tea and some rations.”

“Captain Yusako.” Yuki said, “Darren’s hit.”

The Captain walked up to Darren and looked at the wound.

“Keep it wrapped up.” The Captain said, “My medic will look at him. I think he’ll live.”

“See. I told you I’m fine.” Darren said.

A moment later, ten army men poured onto the road.

“Secure the area.” The Captain said, before turning to one man, “You are late Lt Harrito.”

“You’re in the wrong position.” Lt Harrito said, “We were supposed to ambush them up the road.”

“You are correct on that.” The Captain said, “These civilians got caught. But enough of that for now. Get their gear to base camp and clean up the area. I am going to have a walk with these two.”

A soldier came and looked at Darren’s neck. He cleaned the area and poured a white powder on it.

Yuki sat next to Darren.

“Can he walk?” The Captain asked.

“Yes, sir.” The medic said, “Flesh wound. He’ll be fine.”

“Walk with me to camp.” The Captain said.

“Our gear?” Yuki said.

“Your gear will be packed up and won’t be touched.” The Captain said.

“Our guns?” Darren said.

“Keep them.” The Captain said, “I trust you.”

Darren stood up. He used the door to pull himself up. He picked up his gun from the ground. With a couple quick motions, he cleared out the jammed bullet. He put the handgun away in his holster. He picked up his fedora where it had fallen.

“Where did you get the gun?” The Captain asked.

“The boss’s desk at the storage unit where we were hiding out at,” Darren said.

Darren pulled the sword out of the body of the kid soldier. He cleaned the sword with the soldier’s jacket and put it back in his sheath.

“I’m not going to ask you where you go the sword from, let alone know why you fight with it.” The Captain asked.

Darren and Yuki followed the Captain up the hill and the narrow road. Yuki put her handgun back in her jacket.

“It’s been a long time.” The Captain said, “I see you made it out of Tokyo.”

“Barely.” Darren said, “At least not right away. Things got ugly, and we went to ground.”

“And then.”

“And then things got uglier, and we were forced to fight our way out,” Darren said.

“How did you get this far on bikes with child carriers full of supplies?”

Darren told him a brief story of how they rode at night to get this far.

“Which route did you take?”

Yuki told him.

“How about you, Captain?” Darren asked, “Last time we saw you, you were running a shelter in the middle of Tokyo.”

“The government screwed us.” The Captain said, “You two got lucky to get out how you did.”

“What do you mean?” Darren asked.

“The government is using the army to quarantine the big cities like Tokyo and a few others.” The Captain said, “They’re letting them die and eat each other.”

“We saw that,” Darren said.

“I was a part of a group that was holding the perimeter.” The Captain said, “I held a roadblock checkpoint. By riding at night, and going the route that you did, you two escaped detection nicely. Considering you went through my abandoned roadblock.”

“You mutinied?” Darren asked.

“Such a harsh word.” The Captain said, “But yes. I couldn’t force my men to shoot unarmed civilians just for trying to find safety.”

“Many do.”

The captain paused for a moment.

“Wasn’t there a third riding with you?” The Captain said, “When I met you in the shelter, you two had a friend watching the bikes.”

“We ran into JDF on our way through the city.” Darren said, “Sakiko got shot in the head by some soldier.”

“Oh.” The Captain said, “You have my sympathies.”

“Are we prisoners?” Yuki asked.

“No.” The Captain said.

“Why did you save us?” Yuki asked.

“Cause I recognized your boyfriend here.” The Captain said.

“You recognized him after a ten-minute meeting weeks ago?” Yuki said.

“We’re almost at the camp,” The Captain said, “I have a question for you. Why did you bloody charge at the truck? You were fortunate not to die.”

“Lucky yes.” Darren said, “Stupid, probably. But I’m armed with a handgun, it’s not a very good handgun, and I don’t have a very good aim with it. I needed to get close to try and hit them.”

“Why the sword?” The Captain said.

“Cause it makes non-soldiers nervous when they see us.” Darren said, “They stay away, and they don’t bother us.”

“He thinks that it looks cool,” Yuki said.

“I knew that was the reason.” The Captain said, “Come, let’s enter the camp.”

Darren and Yuki entered the camp. The camp was a small shrine temple. Massive stone walls surrounded the temple with a makeshift gate covering the entrance. The temple was a traditional one made with a sloping clay tiled roof. The temple grounds were surrounded by tents and temporary buildings.

The camp was full of people. Some in army gear, some in regular clothes. There were old and young, women and children. The able-bodied men and women were around the perimeter armed with army rifles.

The Captain stood up on a box.

“It’s all clear people.” The Captain said, “Back to bed. The Lieutenant has the night shift and will keep us safe.”

Darren saw the people sling rifles on shoulders and walk back to their tents.

“Darren Cunningham.” A kids voice rang out of the night in English.

Darren turned to the source of the voice.

Standing in the middle of the crowd of people stood Anthony. Anthony had a rifle in his hands. His hair was cut short, and he was in a pair of shorts and a simple shirt.

“Anthony?” Darren said, and he switched to English, “Sweet Christmas. You’re alive.”

Darren ran up and gave Anthony a big hug.

“Where’s dad?” Anthony asked.

“I was about to ask you the same question.” Darren said, “We have a lot to talk about. Do you have some place we can talk?”

“Yes, I do,” Anthony said.

Darren turned to Yuki.

“Come along,” Darren said.

Anthony led them into the temple. Sitting at a desk was the Captain. An oil lamp lit his desk.

“We’re going to use the side room,” Anthony said in Japanese.

“Okay.” The Captain said, “I’ll join you in a few minutes. I need to check on Mika.”