Yuki was laying on the ground again, blood trickled from her nose.
Yuki was twenty feet from him, but he couldn’t help her. Not with the other soldier armed. She struggled to her feet once more.
“Yuki,” Darren said.
Yuki looked at Darren, and he threw the blade first in the direction of Yuki. The sword stuck into the ground point first five feet from Yuki.
The soldier hidden behind the truck had his rifle to his shoulder and was looking for a clean shot at Yuki.
Darren ran into the open pointing his handgun at the armed soldier.
“Hey, ass fuck.” Darren yelled as he ran, “Die.”
Darren squeezed off a couple shots at the solider. He wasn’t sure if any of the bullets hit, but none came back at him.
A scream echoed in the night. Yuki managed to grab the sword from the ground and shoved the sword into the soldier’s gut. The sword pierced the soldier’s body armor as he doubled over. Yuki removed the sword from his abdomen and stabbed at his neck.
Darren looked at the armed soldier once more. The soldier wasn’t standing. He was laying in front of the army truck clutching his throat with his hands. Darren watched his legs kick and twitch as blood poured out between his fingers and out of his mouth.
“Fuck,” Darren said as nausea swept over him.
Darren swallowed it and mentally strengthened his stomach. He holstered the handgun.
Darren walked over to Yuki.
Yuki was pulling up her pants. Yuki’s eyes and face were starting to bruise up, and blood from her nose had stained her shirt.
Darren ran towards them.
“Are you okay?” Darren said.
“Yes,” Yuki said.
“Thank god.” Darren said, “We need to go. Before someone investigates all the noise.”
“Yuki.” Darren said, “Grab the bikes from the ditch. I’m going to grab some stuff from the truck.”
Yuki ran towards the ditch where the bikes lay.
Darren grabbed the three rifles from the ground and put them in a pile. He grabbed all the extra magazines he could find. They were on the bodies of the two dead soldiers.
The soldier that he had sliced open with his sword moaned and groaned from where he fell. Blood stained the ground around him. The slice through his chest pulsed blood.
Yuki came back with the two bikes and child carriers.
“He’ll probably die if we leave him be,” Yuki said.
“He might get saved and then we’ll have issues.” Darren said, “Better leave no survivors.”
Darren nodded and looked at Yuki. She looked like she was about to say something.
“I’ll do it,” Darren said.
Darren took the sword in his hands and walked up to the fallen soldier.
“Rape her will you?” Darren said, “Picking on the helpless. Tell that to whoever you believe in.”
Darren stabbed the soldier in the throat. The blade sank deep into the flesh and crunched into bone. Darren twisted the sword as he yanked it out of the bloody wound.
The soldier twitched uncontrollably, and Darren walked away. He cleaned the sword on a piece of torn cloth.
Without the need to say anything to each other, Darren and Yuki made quick work of scavenging the army truck of supplies. They only took the easy stuff like the rations, the weapons, and the bullets. They also took a jug of gasoline from the storage. There were two full jugs of gas.
“The rifles don’t fit in the carrier,” Yuki said.
“Then leave them,” Darren said, “Throw them in the vehicle.”
Yuki did so.
“There’s a handgun in here,” Yuki said.
“Take it,” Darren said.
“How do I put this on?”
“Put it in the carrier.” Darren said, “Before we get caught.”
Yuki had grabbed the rifle from where it lay. They hid the weapons, the bullets, and accessories from the handgun in the child carriers. Darren was amazed that it fit in the carrier, but the bulkier military grade ones didn’t.
Darren looked at his watch. From when he had regained consciousness up to the time of them packing up the scavenged materials, only ten minutes had passed.
“We should burn the truck.” Darren said, “Deny the army the vehicle.”
“It’ll be a beacon to the area,” Yuki said.
“I think that it’s worth the risk,” Darren said.
“So do I.” Yuki said, “I just wanted to make sure we knew the consequences of burning this thing.”
Darren poured gas from one of the jugs on the hood and on the inside of the truck. Darren took a lighter that he had pulled from the pocket of one of the soldiers. The lighter was one of the refillable kind that stayed lit real easily.
Darren and Yuki backed away from the truck and threw the lighter into the front seat of the truck. The truck lit up and burned brightly in the dark night.
Chapter 32
The two of them hopped on their bikes and rode down the road away from the burning truck. Darren couldn’t see much as he lit the truck up. His night vision was gone, and it was taking its time to fix itself.
After they had gotten about a kilometer away, Yuki pulled up and stopped.
Four people stood in the darkness in front of them. They held flashlights and held them at Darren, and Yuki. The light blinded Darren again and he covered his eyes.
“Dear lord, you two look a mess.” An older man said.
Darren couldn’t make out who was talking to them due to the bright flashlights.
“What happened?” The older man said.
Yuki blubbered a few words.
“Wait.” The older man said, “Yuki Tanamoro? Is that you?”
“Mr. Sugihara?” Yuki said.
“Oh my god girl.” Mr. Sugihara said, “What happened? It sounded like there was a war going on?”
“Three army soldiers,” Yuki began, “tried to rape me. My friend here managed to save us.”
“A Gaijin.” Mr. Sugihara said, he looked at Darren and then went back to Yuki, “Yuki, where’s your dad?”
“I don’t know.” Yuki said, “He was at work when the earthquake hit. I don’t know if he got out. He didn’t show at the first rendezvous, so we’re heading to the secondary rendezvous.”
“At night? It’s past curfew” Mr. Sugihara said, “Wait. Let’s get back inside before those soldiers investigate that car fire.”
Darren and Yuki followed Mr. Sugihara along the road to where they came to a small cluster of houses. They were all built close together with their backyards facing together in an irregular circle. The front of the homes had an attached garage to them.
Mr. Sugihara looked at a younger-looking man, “Go un-bar the garage door so that they can put the bikes in there to lock up.”
Darren and Yuki put the bikes in the garage, and they quickly found their way to the living room. Mr. Sugihara used a flashlight to see his way around the townhouse. Darren noticed that all of the windows were covered up with small dark blankets.
The living room was minimalist in design. A simple TV rested on a stand against one wall, a couch along the other wall. No posters or pictures adorned the walls. The floor was covered with air mattresses and makeshift beds.
The beds were covered with a young woman and some small children.
“That’s my daughter-in-law.” Mr. Sugihara said, “My son died in the tsunami. They fled and came here.”
“The three other young men?” Darren asked, “Who are they?”
“Two are neighbors and they went back to bed,” Mr. Sugihara said, “The last lad is my other son. He has gone back upstairs to crawl back in bed with his girlfriend.”
Darren took off his boots at the door. Yuki followed suit.
“Hanso.” An older woman said quietly from upstairs, “Who are you talking to?”
Mr. Sugihara winced.
“Crap. That woman has the ears of a fox.” Mr. Sugihara said, “You better come down.”