“Answer the question,” Yuki said.
“Either they didn’t show up here, or they died,” Ryoo said.
“Some went out to get supplies and didn’t return,” Seiji said. “Now its only the two of us.”
“Have you seen Taishi, Ayame or Sakiko?” Ryoo asked.
“I havn’t seen Taishi or Ayame.” Yuki said, “But Sakiko is dead.”
“What?” Ryoo said, “Is that how… I mean, how did she die?”
“She was killed by the JDF,” Yuki said.
“Oh… Can you spare some food?” Ryoo said, “We’ll go away, and you can have this clubhouse.”
“Ryoo!” Seiji said, “No begging.”
“Sorry Seiji. Its just that I’m very hungry.” Ryoo said, “Its hard to think sometimes.”
“You two stay there.” Yuki said, “I’m gonna talk to my companion. If you move, you’ll die.” Yuki aimed her light at the two.
Yuki joined Darren. She kept her light at the two teenagers, while Darren aimed his gun at them.
“What do we do?” Darren said quietly.
“What do you mean what do we do?” Yuki said, “They’re friends. We give them food and save them.”
“Something stinks like fish,” Darren said.
“What?” Yuki said.
“Something doesn’t smell right about their story,” Darren said.
“Like what?”
“How fast they gave up.” Darren said, “If they’re as starving and against begging as they make themselves out to be, they wouldn’t have given up. I might have been bluffing.”
“You think they’re acting?” Yuki said.
“Isn’t that what you used to do in this club?” Darren asked, “Act out different roles.”
“Well… Now that you put it that way…” Yuki muttered.
Yuki was silent for a few moments.
“We shove them out the door.” Yuki said, “Tell them that if we see them again, we kill them.”
“They’ve been hunting this area for two weeks.” Darren said, “We’re just passing through. They could hunt us down and attack us at any point.”
“What are you suggesting?” Yuki said.
“The right thing for us.” Darren said, “I’ve seen too many dead bodies to become one now.”
Darren noticed that while he was talking to Yuki, the two young teenagers were whispering to each other.
“Crap.” Darren said, “They noticed that we’re taking a long time to decide. We make a decision now.”
Yuki mouthed a silent prayer. She reached up and took Darren’s gun. She held a finger to her lips.
With one hand holding the gun behind her back, and the other holding a flashlight aimed at the young men, Yuki walked closer to them.
“Okay.” Yuki said louder, “We’ve decided. We’ll be leaving come nightfall. We’ll give you guys some food in exchange for a bit of sleep.
Darren palmed a flashlight and walked towards the two young teenagers.
“I want proof that the gun is away,” Seiji said.
Darren turned on his flashlight and pointed it at his other hand.
“See, it’s away,” Darren said.
“Now,” Ryoo said.
Seiji bolted to his feet, knife in hand, He started to run at Darren. Ryoo charged at Yuki, with a knife in his hand.
Yuki pulled out the handgun from behind her back and squeezed the trigger. The bullet slammed into Ryoo’s chest, and Ryoo crumpled to the ground.
Seiji ignored the gunshot and kept charging at Darren. Seiji reached at Darren’s face as he closed the distance.
Years of Judo training fled back into his physique. Darren grabbed Seiji’s wrist and using Seiji’s own bodyweight, he threw Seiji over his shoulder and onto the hard concrete floor. Seiji’s knife clattered to the ground at Darren’s feet. Darren heard bones snap as Seiji’s weak body crunched on the concrete.
Seiji cried out in the sudden onslaught of pain. Darren turned Seiji’s wrist over and stepped on Seiji’s elbow and pushed. The elbow crunched and snapped.
Seiji screamed.
“What happened to the others?” Darren asked.
Seiji still screamed.
Darren picked up Seiji’s knife.
“Stop screaming.” Darren said, “And answer my question.”
“Please don’t kill me.” Seiji said, “Please. Please.”
“Answer my question,” Darren said.
“We started out as twelve members.” Seiji said, “Then we lost people during scavenging missions. Then we got very hungry.”
“What happened to them?”
Seiji started to cry.
“I killed Jiara, and we ate her,” Seiji said.
Yuki gasped in shock.
“She was my friend,” Yuki screamed.
Yuki ran up to Seiji and kicked him in the face.
“Yuki,” Darren said as she pulled her back.
He took the gun from her as he walked up to Seiji.
Darren walked up to Seiji.
“What happened to the rest?” Darren asked.
“After I killed her, they fled.” Seiji said, “Only Ryoo and I stayed behind.”
In one quick motion, Darren pulled out the gun and pulled the trigger. The bullet smashed into Seiji’s skull. Blood sprayed on the ground.
Yuki grabbed hold of Darren and hugged him tightly. She cried and cried into his arms.
Darren put the gun back into its holster as he held Yuki. She wrapped her arms around the two of them and cried.
Chapter 28
After ten minutes, Yuki regained her composure. Her eyes were red from crying, and Darren could see the hurt in them. Like the events from the last week had boiled into a single point.
“Now what do we do?” Yuki said.
“Its ten in the morning.” Darren said, “Let’s move away from these bodies. To the back of the clubhouse.”
“Are we going to sleep in this place?” Yuki said.
“We don’t have much of a choice. We need to rest up as much as we can.” Darren said.
Darren and Yuki walked to the back of the clubhouse. They collapsed in a heap. Darren took the first watch for a few hours and then switched with Yuki.
After he attempted to sleep for roughly eight hours, Yuki shook Darren awake.
“Its time to leave,” Yuki said.
Darren pulled himself off the cold concrete floor.
“I think I’m coming down with something,” Yuki said.
“Nauseous?” Darren asked.
“No.” Yuki said, “Just feel gross.”
“Probably not enough good sleep,” Darren said.
“I think with a full night of riding we can get to the mountains.”
“If we can get through.” Darren said, “Did you see those roadblocks?”
“Yeah, some of them were being manned by soldiers.”
“Shall we go?” Darren asked.
The two of them pushed the bikes towards the front of the clubhouse. The two dead bodies lay where they had fallen. Their eyes stared straight up at nothing.
Darren unlocked the door and opened it up a crack. He couldn’t see anyone out there. He crept it open and scanned the surroundings.
Darren and Yuki walked out of the clubhouse and into the parking lot.
Distant gunshots echoed from afar.
Darren mounted his bike, and the two of them rode out of the clubhouse. They left the door wide open.
The night was darker than it had been the night before. Clouds filled the sky and blocked out the moon and the stars. The darkness hid Darren, and Yuki entirely from sight. No one would see them ride by.
The darkness had the unfortunate side effect of making their surroundings harder to see, and that forced them to go slower then they did yesterday. Darren and Yuki were forced to push their bikes down the road and trust that they would see anything before they would run into it. Darren could make out shapes of the parked cars as they passed them, but he couldn’t make out any details of the vehicles.