Land of the Setting Sun
??/??/??? - ???
"James! Are you alright? Come back to me!"
It hurt to wrench my eyes open, I was having such a good dream. The sun penetrated my eyelids slightly, leaving a soft orange glow that I had no choice but to see. I was very, very tired, and just wanted to go back to sleep.
"Get up James! We don't have forever! They're going to catch up!" Some grabbed both of my shoulders and began shaking. My eyes flew open, and my hands wrapped around their throat, squeezing mercilessly. When I finally got adjusted to the light, I realized the person I was choking was Bo. He was struggling to get my hands off his throat, choking and gasping for air. I let him go immediately, feeling a bit bad about it. Glancing around, I realized we were in the middle of Miyazaki, surrounded by the towering rubble.
"I'm sorry about that Bo, the last thing I remember was getting captured by... the scavengers?" He grimaced.
"Yeah, it was them. I was just barely able to find you and pull you out of the shelter before... James, they absolutely exterminated everyone. It was a vicious ambush. But we can't stop now, I'm confident they saw us leave. We need to---".
A gunshot echoed around the rubble, and Bo's head erupted like a balloon, showering my body with blood and brain remnants. His body wobbled for a second, and then collapsed in a heap of rebar and small stones. For a moment, nothing happened. And then I screamed. Two more gunshots sounded off, coming from my right, and I hardly hesitated in turning that way, eager to end either their lives, or my own, whatever came first. The masked lone scavenger stood atop an outcrop on a nearby partially destroyed building, and I made a beeline towards him. He fired again, twice. The first bullet whizzed by me harmlessly, but the second flew through my shoulder. I felt nothing.
I practically launched up the side of the building, grabbing stone after stone to hoist myself up, and the scavenger stumbled back, surprised.
"You're going to pay for that one, motherfucker." I knocked his gun out of his hands, sending it flying into a nearby wall and laid a hand on his mask, tearing it off and throwing it off the side of the building. It revealed the face of a young Eastern European man, his face frozen in fear as my fingers hovered menacingly over his eyes. He struggled and I could sense his desperation, hands fumbling uselessly for his belt, where his machete sat.
My urge to plunge my fingers in his eyes and rip them out was palpable, but something stayed my hand. I'd sworn never to become an agent of violence, years ago, when I'd joined the newspaper. Could it be that a man's resolve to his beliefs was this malleable? I'd been angry ever since I'd seen Captain Li Qiang die to those pirates. Some men deserved to be avenged.
"James! Are you alright? Come back to me!"
It hurt to wrench my eyes open, I was having such a good dream. The sun penetrated my eyelids slightly, leaving a soft orange glow that I had no choice but to see. I was very, very tired, and just wanted to go back to sleep.
"Get up James! We don't have forever! They're going to catch up!" Some grabbed both of my shoulders and began shaking. My eyes flew open, and my hands wrapped around their throat, squeezing mercilessly. When I finally got adjusted to the light, I realized the person I was choking was Bo. He was struggling to get my hands off his throat, choking and gasping for air. I let him go immediately, feeling a bit bad about it. Glancing around, I realized we were in the middle of Miyazaki, surrounded by the towering rubble.
"I'm sorry about that Bo, the last thing I remember was getting captured by... the scavengers?" He grimaced.
"Yeah, it was them. I was just barely able to find you and pull you out of the shelter before... James, they absolutely exterminated everyone. It was a vicious ambush. But we can't stop now, I'm confident they saw us leave. We need to---".
A gunshot echoed around the rubble, and Bo's head erupted like a balloon, showering my body with blood and brain remnants. His body wobbled for a second, and then collapsed in a heap of rebar and small stones. For a moment, nothing happened. And then I screamed. Two more gunshots sounded off, coming from my right, and I hardly hesitated in turning that way, eager to end either their lives, or my own, whatever came first. The masked lone scavenger stood atop an outcrop on a nearby partially destroyed building, and I made a beeline towards him. He fired again, twice. The first bullet whizzed by me harmlessly, but the second flew through my shoulder. I felt nothing.
I practically launched up the side of the building, grabbing stone after stone to hoist myself up, and the scavenger stumbled back, surprised.
"You're going to pay for that one, motherfucker." I knocked his gun out of his hands, sending it flying into a nearby wall and laid a hand on his mask, tearing it off and throwing it off the side of the building. It revealed the face of a young Eastern European man, his face frozen in fear as my fingers hovered menacingly over his eyes. He struggled and I could sense his desperation, hands fumbling uselessly for his belt, where his machete sat.
My urge to plunge my fingers in his eyes and rip them out was palpable, but something stayed my hand. I'd sworn never to become an agent of violence, years ago, when I'd joined the newspaper. Could it be that a man's resolve to his beliefs was this malleable? I'd been angry ever since I'd seen Captain Li Qiang die to those pirates. Some men deserved to be avenged.