“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.
Chapter 41
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.
“And what is that?” Michio asked.
“Either I will kill you, or you will ride back to where ever you came from,” Darren said.
“I think not.” Michio said, “I think that it will be you handing over your guns and come peacefully or you’ll be dragged there.”
Darren looked at Michio. He could pull the trigger and take him out, but the five gang members might fight on. That would be a problem.
“Darren,” Yuki said.
“Yes,” Darren said.
“What do we do?” Yuki said.
“Keep your gun pointed at the closest gang member,” Darren said.
Yuki nodded.
Darren knew that he wasn’t getting out of this without a fight.
“Now what?” Michio said, “What are you going to do now? I dare you. Pull that trigger. Start the fight.”
Darren ignored him, and after ten minutes, his arms had gotten tired.
Then a color gang member close to Yuki made a move. He swung his bat at Yuki’s gun. The bat hit the slide with the gun, and it went off. The pistol fell from her hands as the bullet slammed into the leg of a different gang member.
Darren was distracted by the sudden movement, Michio fired a shot at Darren. The bullet hissed by his ear to slam into a tree behind him.
Darren pointed his gun back at Michio and pulled the trigger. His bullet missed, and Michio ducked down low.
Yuki grappled with a gang member. She held onto his wrists as he tried to hit her. Darren looked closer and saw that the gang member was a girl about Yuki’s age.
Michio aimed another shot and the gun jammed. Michio pulled at the gun’s slider frantically.
Darren took aim at Michio and pulled the trigger. The bullet hit him in the side. Michio fell to the ground limp.
“Get him.” A color gang member yelled.
The three gang members moved in before Darren could bring his handgun up to aim at the gang member.
A baseball bat hit him in the gut and Darren collapsed to the ground in pain.
Another gang member lifted his bat up, with full intent on bringing it down on Darren’s head.
Darren aimed his gun at the gang member and fired a shot, the gang member crumpled to the ground. A second gunshot echoed from behind him. Then two more shots echoed in the distance. Another gang member that stood over Darren fell to the ground.
“Run.” A gang member yelled.
Darren watched Michio and the remaining gang members got on their bikes and rode off down the hill into the distance. Standing with her handgun in her hand was Yuki. Her face had blood dribbling down it, and she was breathing hard.