Nathan Pedde - Tokyo Tempest

Anthony nodded.

Darren and Yuki packed up their supply carriers. The Lieutenant watched them pack it up. Darren pulled out the six pack of beer.

“Is that beer?” Lt Harrito asked, “Like real beer?”

“It is.” Darren said, “Are you guys allowed beer in this camp?”

“Yes, but I shouldn’t.”

“Why not?”

“Cause I’m an alcoholic.” Lt Harrito said.

Darren put them back into the carrier.

“I don’t drink beer.” Darren said, “But I’ll find a good use for them somehow.”

A few minutes later, Anthony, Mika, Lt Harrito and Captain Yusako stood next to the gate of the camp. Darren pushed his bike up to the entrance with Yuki close behind.

“I wish you would change your mind.” Captain Yusako said.

“Maybe one day,” Darren said.

Anthony walked over to Darren and gave him a hug.

“Be safe out there,” Anthony said.

“Be safe here.” Darren said, “I still have to find dad.”

“I know.”

Darren and Yuki mounted the bikes and rode out of the temple compound.

The compound had been built on the top of a large hill. The hill looked like someone had cut a large sausage in half lengthwise. The hill stretched into the distance and ran into a mountain.

Yuki turned down a small street that led up the mountainside.

Darren followed Yuki up the hill. He started out riding his bike, but the hill quickly rose up. Darren was forced to change gears to make it easier. But that didn’t last, and Darren found himself pushing the heavy bike and trailer up the hill. Darren was walking up what looked like a long and wide curved valley that rose up between two small mountains.

Yuki grunted with effort.

“I didn’t think about this part.” Yuki said, “It always looked so easy to get to when you’re in a car.”

“It could be worse,” Darren said.

He looked up at the reddish glow from the sun.

“How can this get worse?”

“It could be ashing or raining,” Darren said.

“Oh.” Yuki said, “Ashing?”

“You know when ash falls from the sky,” Darren said.

“We have raining, and snowing.” Yuki said, “So why not ashing.”

In the distance, he heard the rumble of a motorbike. Darren looked around to see if he could spot the motorcycle.

“Do you think that’s Captain Yusako’s men?” Yuki asked.

“Probably not.” Darren said, “I didn’t see any motorbikes in the compound.”

Darren listened to the rumble. It was getting closer, and it wasn’t coming from the mountain valley.

“Keep going.” Darren said, “Hurry.”

Darren and Yuki pushed the bikes hard. Sweat poured down his face as he breathed hard. The rumble from the motorcycle stopped after a few minutes. But that didn’t stop Darren or Yuki. They kept pushing the bikes up the steep incline. After struggling with the bikes for fifteen minutes, the slope of the hill flattened out.

“That’s better.” Darren said, “Do you have any energy to ride?”

“I hope so,” Yuki said.

Darren looked at her and down the incline that they had walked up. In the distance was a single motorbike rider. He wore a red sash around his waist. In his hands was a pair of binoculars. The reddish sun reflected off of the glass from the binoculars.

“A scout,” Darren said.

Darren watched the bike rider turn on his engine once more and ride away down the hill.

“We need to hide,” Yuki said.

“Not here.” Darren said, “We need to keep going and try and lose them up the hill.”

Darren and Yuki followed the road into the valley.

The valley had suffered some damage resulting from the earthquake. Some of the houses had fallen down, but they were few in number. Most had windows boarded up.

To Darren it was like the craziness of Tokyo was a world away. The madness of the JDF’s martial law was just as far.

A couple people stood by their front steps. They looked at Darren and Yuki ride by. There was no anger in their faces or fear. Some people smiled. A couple even waved. Darren waved back as he rode by.

They reached a small community. It almost looked like a village. A couple dozen small buildings clustered around a couple intersections of road. Darren read some of the signs. There were butchers and a small bookstore. As well as a library. Most of the buildings were still closed, but people were out and about the village.

The street had been cleared of cars, people rode bikes around the village.

“It’s a nice village,” Darren said.

“It’s not a village.” Yuki said, “It’s actually part of the city of Suno.”

“But it’s so far away from the rest of it,” Darren said.

“It may have been a village once, but the expanding city engulfed it years ago,” Yuki said.

“I guess that it will be a village once more,” Darren said.

“Most likely,” Yuki said.

Standing against a building was a couple police officers. They had guns on their hips. They looked at Darren and Yuki as they passed.

The two police officers did nothing to stop Darren and Yuki as they rode by. No one raised the alarm or called them over.

The people in the village had clean appearances, which was a complete contrast to Darren’s and Yuki’s mess.

Darren’s face was covered in dirt and sweat, and his clothes felt sticky and clingy in all the wrong places. He knew that he needed a bath. If he could find enough water to have one.

After a few more minutes of walking, they stopped at another intersection at the edge of the village.

“How far away is your dad’s cabin?” Darren asked.

“Not too far.” Yuki said, “It’s just up that hill.”

“Not another hill,” Darren said.

“Yes, another hill.” Yuki said, “Again, the hill didn’t look too bad when you had to drive it.”

“Pushing a bike up it is another story,” Darren said.

Darren opened the carrier and pulled out a couple granola bars. He threw one at Yuki, who caught it.

“Let’s take five.” Darren said, “Then we can keep going.”

They ate their snack in silence as they watched the hill.

Then they heard the rumble of a motorbike. Then it was the rumble of a couple motorcycles.

Darren watched as the half dozen color gang members rode their bikes through the village. Screams echoed as Darren watched people run from the gang members. Darren looked to where the two police officers had stood a few moments before.

Darren couldn’t see the police officers. They had left and gone somewhere else.

In the distance, one of the color gang members pointed at Darren and Yuki.

“They’re headed this way.” Darren said, “Run.”

But before they could get twenty feet up the hill, the bike riders surrounded them.

Six color gang members sat around them on motorbikes. They had chains and bats in their hands. Michio Asahara rode out front, and he had a handgun. They got off their motorcycles and stood around them in a half circle.

“Do you know how long it took us to find you?” Michio said.

“I didn’t know you were looking for us,” Darren said.

“Shut up.” Michio said, “You two are coming with us.”

“Fat chance,” Darren said.

“And why not?”

“Cause of the ten soldiers walking towards you from the village,” Darren said as he pointed past the gang members.

There was no one there, but the gang members turned their heads.

In that brief moment, Darren had his handgun out and pointed at Michio’s head.

“Oh, crap,” Michio said as he saw Darren holding his gun.

Michio pointed his gun at Darren’s head. The handgun looked beat up and clunky.

“This is going to go one of two ways,” Darren said.