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.”
Chapter 36
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?”
“I think the choice puts us in a rock and a hard place.” Darren said, “As much as the soldiers scare me. We have no evidence that they’re even there.”
“Alright.” Yuki said, “We go up towards Sano. We keep our eyes and our ears open. The first sign of trouble and we hide.”
“Luckily soldiers will have bright lights and loud trucks to give themselves away,” Darren said.
Darren and Yuki mounted their bikes and rode off towards the bridge. The road was clear of debris and abandoned vehicles. The area was also clear of people.
Darren saw dozens of lights flash on in the distance. The lights flickered and danced to the slight breeze that ran down the mountains towards the sea. Darren thought the lights must be small cook fires as it must be around dinner time.
The sun slowly set in the west as they glided silently across the bridge.
Darren stopped at the end of the bridge. Yuki stopped beside him.
“Until we stop for the night, I don’t think we should be talking much,” Darren said.
“Good idea.” Yuki said, “Stealth like a ninja.”
“You and your anime,” Darren said.
“You like anime too,” Yuki said.
“Not that show.” Darren said, “I can’t stand his voice.”
Darren gave Yuki a look.
“Right.” Yuki said, “Silent. Silent as night.”
Yuki smirked.
“Ninja,” Yuki whispered.
Darren rolled his eyes.
Darren and Yuki set out down the road and onto the other side of the river. Darren knew that there was going to be no more essential river crossings until they got to the mountains.
The two of them rode silently down the small highway and turned onto a back road. They rode slowly as their eyes adapted to the changing light. Their world shrank in as they glided along the road.
Darren could see lights in the distance. A couple cars drove down the road away from them. Darren saw that man on the motorbike again. The color gang member seemed to be the same distance away from them and riding fast. The city appeared in the distance. Darren knew that the city was there because he could see a cluster of lights from candles and flashlights in the distance.
The sky darkened up, and the stars and moon appeared out of the darkness. The familiar sight of the night engulfed Darren.
With their eyes fully adapted, they slid down the road. They made multiple turns onto different roads but heading in the same direction.
Darren saw in the distance that the cook fires ran up into the dark sky. After a few kilometers, Darren realized that it was the mountains that made the campfires spread up the sky.
In the distance was an armored army vehicle. It was riding slowly down the road. It had a big searchlight on the top that was scanning the ditches and fields.
“Crap.” Darren said, “You see that.”
“This way,” Yuki said.
They turned down a different road heading in the opposite direction that they needed to go.
“They’re looking for someone,” Yuki said.
“Could be us.” Darren said, “Lets ride.”