“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.”
Chapter 35
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.”
“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.”