by Tristan Vick
Gen glanced at Maya to see if she knew what this might be about, but she merely shrugged as if to say she had no clue. Spinning in a circle, Gen flung his hands into the air, and growled, “Can somebody tell me the meaning of this?”
The bus slowed to a stop and then a girl wearing a high school uniform stepped out.
Gen looked at her, then Tamagawa, and then the admiral, and realized they all knew who she was. “Someone you were expecting?” Gen asked, putting his gun under Tamagawa’s chin and forcing him to look him in the eyes.
“Nobody who concerns you,” he said.
“Leave the old man alone,” Saeko demanded. Without an ounce of fear, she boldly made her way toward Gen.
Ijin Gen looked up at the young girl advancing on him fast and then aimed his gun at her. “Or you’ll do what, exactly?”
Saeko stopped and stared at him long and hard, then drew out her sword. “Cut off your head,” she replied with a smile.
“Ah-Hahaha!” bellowed Gen, unable to hold back the laughter. He wiped the corner of his eye with his bandaged hand, and said, “Ooh, that’s funny.” Turning back toward the crowd, he announced to everyone, “I like this girl. Really, I do.”
Then without warning Gen raised his gun and shot Admiral Sakaguchi in the chest. Panic broke out; women screamed, men hollered, and children wailed. But Gen was just getting warmed up.
Wild eyes peering out from behind the bandages of his wrapped up face, Gen placed the end of his gun firmly to Mr. Tamagawa’s forehead. Gazing coldly down at the old man, he said, “Let’s consider this a down payment.”
“Go to Hell,” Tamagawa growled bitterly under his breath.
“Hell?” Gen echoed. Looking back over his shoulder, Ijin Gen’s cold gaze locked onto Saeko and he smiled. “I’ve already been there,” he said, without breaking his gaze. Then suddenly, his head swung back around and his cruel eyes, cold and black as obsidian, locked onto Mr. Tamagawa. Gen’s manic smile stretched thin behind the bandages that concealed his hideous disfigurement. “And now,” he snarled viciously, pressing down on the trigger. “I bring Hell to you.”
The gunshot rang out and old Mr. Tamagawa toppled over backward—the back of his head blown clean out—a mess of bloody gray matter mottled the grass he lay on.
“Nooo!” Saeko screamed out in horror as she witnessed the grisly execution from a distance. But there wasn’t anything she could do. Mr. Tamagawa had been brutally slain.
52
The Impossible Girl
Alcatraz Island, San Francisco Bay, U.S.A.
“Nothing is impossible, Alyssa Briggs,” said the blond. The woman’s dazzling blue eyes glistened like sapphires in the shafts of sunlight that bled in from the outside. A crooked smile formed on her thin red lips...a smile Alyssa recognized all too well.
Raising her arms, the beautiful blond clapped her hands and the throng of zombies slowly turned and moped back to their cells. Once all the undead were securely inside, an amazing feat that Alyssa was still having a hard time believing, a buzzer sounded and the bars slid shut and sealed them in.
Longstaff lowered both guns and felt a twinge of nervousness as the woman eyed him up and down and gazed at him from behind her crystal clear blue eyes.
“I beg your pardon,” Longstaff said, glancing at Alyssa then back at the blue-eyed blond, “but do we know you?”
“Do you know me? You honestly don’t remember? Four years ago you saved me and my friends from a lion attack in downtown Newcastle,” the woman answered, turning her sparkling blue eyes toward him.
“Ah yes, the blond who was with the Marines.”
“The name is Jennifer Hurley,” she said, batting her long eyelashes at Longstaff and flirting with him. Holding out her hand for him to take, as if she were royalty, she waited for him to take it and impress a kiss upon the back. Instead he just shook it like the rugged cowboy he was. This amused her, and she gawked at him even more.
“You killed a lion?” Alyssa asked, turning her attention toward Longstaff, conveniently changing the topic and strategically interrupting Hurley’s barefaced act of seduction.
Frank looked up and barked, as if to say don’t forget about me.
“A mountain lion. It’s a long story,” Longstaff said.
“It was a long time ago,” Jennifer added.
“How, though?” Alyssa asked, looking at Jen, “How on earth did you survive everything?”
Without warning, Jennifer burst out laughing. Then she raised her finger as if to hush herself. Turning back toward Alyssa, she smiled, put her hand on her hip, and threw her other arm into the air. “That’s funny, I was going to ask the same thing about you, Ms. Briggs. As I recall, you had been bitten. Yet here you are, standing before me, right as rain.”
“It’s a long story,” Alyssa replied.
“Well,” Jen said, taking Alyssa’s hands in hers and holding them gently, as if they were best friends. “Let’s share stories over dinner!”
“Dinner?” Longstaff repeated.
“You’ll be my guests, of course. I won’t take no for an answer. We have so much catching up to do!”
“That’s sounds fine by me,” Longstaff said, holstering his guns. “Eatin’ a home cooked meal beats getting eaten, if you ask me.” Alyssa shot him a timid glance, as if to say that this wasn’t a good idea.
Seeing her stern face, Jennifer Hurley laughed and asked, “What’s the matter, Ms. Briggs? It’s okay, you can tell me.”
“It’s just that I don’t entirely trust you. No offense, Jen, but the last time we crossed paths you went on the war path, killed three people in cold blood, and tried to kill me and my friends. That’s just not something you get over.”
Jen laughed. “Well, it’s true. I’m as insane as they come, I’m afraid. But as you can clearly see,” she said motioning toward all the monsters in their cages staring out at them from behind thick metal bars with vacant, white eyes and moaning softly. “The world has become quite insane!”
53
A Villain’s Ball
Aokigahara Village, Near Mt. Fuji, Japan
Numb from shock, Saeko stood frozen in place. A trail of tears stained her glistening cheeks as she ran up to Mr. Tamagawa’s lifeless body. Dropping to her knees, she placed her sword down next to her and took the old man in her arms. “I’m so sorry,” she said amid her sobs. “If only I would have gotten here sooner.”
Saeko bent over him and pressed her left cheek against his forehead. She ignored the freshly planted bullet wound in his skull as she rocked him gently in her arms and wept. After a long, painful moment, she fought back her sobs and composed herself the best she could. Shaking with rage, Saeko looked up at Gen and snarled under her breath, “I’ll kill you for this. If it’s the last thing I do…I swear to the gods…I’ll make you pay.”
“You know something,” Gen said pitilessly, smiling down at her with a ruthless grin through his blood-stained bandages. “I really do enjoy your tenacity.”
Saeko looked up at him with her fierce eyes, hard as tempered steel, and growled, “Go to hell.”
“That’s funny. That’s exactly what the old man said,” Gen laughed callously. “Right before I killed him. Oh, well.” With that Gen turned back around and winked at Saeko, as if to spite her and add insult to injury.
When she didn’t respond to his taunts, he shrugged then turned in a circle and scanned the downcast faces of the despondent crowd, admiring the torment he’d caused them. Looking at Maya, he said, “Make sure no one leaves this place alive.” Then, as if it were just business as usual, he sauntered up to the black Toyota 4Runner that was waiting for him and got in. As the vehicle pulled away, its headlights flashed the crowd of onlookers and momentarily blinded them.
Saeko watched the vehicle drive off. She gently laid Mr. Tamagawa onto his back then tenderly closed his eyelids with her hand. There was no way in hell she was going to let Ijin Gen’s whore execute the only people left in the world she considered family
. She promptly fetched her sword then turned to face Maya Nishimori, who stood between her and Ijin Gen—the monster she swore she’d kill before the night was through.
“Get out of my way,” Saeko said as coldly as she could.
“Please. Your pathetic threats are rich coming from a worthless brat like you.”
“Funny,” Saeko said. “I was about to say the same thing to you, bitch.”
“Really?” Maya said with a chuckle. “You’re resorting to insults?” She laughed and brushed Saeko’s slight aside as if it were meaningless to her.
Saeko’s eyes glistened, they were just as hard and cold as Maya’s, and she stared her down. “It’s your last chance. Step aside or I’ll cut you down where you stand.”
“Ooh, you’re downright vicious, aren’t you, little one? If I didn’t know any better, I might mistake you for being one of us.” This solicited a round of laughter from the twenty or so Yakuza that had her back.
“One of you?!” Saeko balked. “I’d rather die than ever join you.”
“That could be arranged,” Maya threatened.
“So could me reaching up your slimy, disease infested cunt and ripping out your goddamned spine,” Saeko retorted.
Upset by Saeko’s crude remarks, Maya quickly whipped out her gun and aimed it at Saeko’s head. “You disappoint me, girl. You lack discipline, not to mention respect. But I’d be lying if I didn’t say you show some promise as a ruthless killer. Who knows? Maybe someday you’ll be every bit as good as me. But until then it’s about time someone taught you some manners,” Maya growled. Her icy bitch façade melted away to reveal a fiery-eyed beast underneath.
Ignoring Maya’s words Saeko took a step forward.
“Nah-ah-ahhh…!” Maya warned, holding the gun steady. She pulled back the hammer with her thumb and cocked it. “I wouldn’t recommend it.”
Saeko drew her blade so fast that the only thing Maya saw was flashes of light reflecting off the blade as it flashed all around her. Then before she could figure out what had happened, the tip of her gun slid off and fell to the ground.
Saeko calmly walked passed her and headed after Ijin Gen. She took great pleasure in the look of confusion on Maya’s face as she tried to play back what had happened in her mind.
“Wait!” Maya called out. She raised her hands and snapped her fingers and her small army of Yakuza foot soldiers drew their guns and trained them on Saeko.
Honk! Honk-honk! Honk!
Outraged, Gen stared out the windshield at the foreign woman in the gothic clothing who stood before them, in the middle of the road, blocking his escape route. Leaning his head out the window he shouted, “You’re in the way, you stupid cunt. Move it, or we’ll run you over.”
Rachael Ramirez brushed a strand of sable hair away from her eyes and then checked her nails, as if she had nothing better to do than kill a bit of time.
Perturbed, Gen slammed his fist down on the dashboard and barked “Run her over!”
“But…” his driver said hesitantly.
Not waiting for his excuse, Gen slid his foot over and stepped down hard on the accelerator. Suddenly the Toyota 4Runner’s engine roared to life and the black SUV tore down the road toward Rachael Ramirez.
Nonchalantly, Rachael drew out her longsword as the black 4Runner barreled toward her. She raised it high into the sky, counting the seconds before the vehicle would impact. Waiting until the SUV was just meters away from her, she brought her massive sword straight down and slammed it into the pavement of the road. The sword sparked and screamed as it cut into the asphalt and sunk into the ground. Then, bracing herself against it, like a buttress of a Gothic cathedral, she dug her heels in, made sure her boot’s footing was solid, then leaned into it.
With a horrendous crash, the 4Runner impacted at forty-five miles per hour then, unexpectedly, flipped up into the air and flew over Rachael’s head. Almost as quickly as the truck had launched into the air, Rachael tore her sword back out of the asphalt and turned in time to watch as the SUV crashed back down to the ground. Landing upside down on its roof, the upturned 4Runner scraped to a halt and then all was quiet.
“Holy shit,” Endo said, as he watched the scene unfold. “Did you see that?” he asked.
Saeko, standing about twenty feet away, answered, “Oh, I saw it. The only question is, how can I learn to do that?”
Unfazed by the collision, Rachael held her blade at her side. The blade, which showed surprisingly little signs of damage, glowed hot from all the fiction and the LED headlights of the 4Runner highlighted and reflected off it. As the glowing bade cooled in the evening air, Rachael walked toward the toppled over vehicle, her sword out at her side, her hips swaying enticingly as she went.
Shaken up, Ijin Gen climbed out of the broken passenger side window and tumbled to the ground. Looking up, he saw the woman in black fast approaching. Panicking, Gen rolled onto his back and scurried on his hands and knees as fast as he could to try and get away. But his endeavor to escape was futile. The woman, this Dark Angel of a creature, was already standing over him.
“Who…who are you?” Gen stuttered.
“I’m the girl that gets mad when you mess with her friends,” she said in an uncompromising voice.
Three hundred yards off, Maya shouted out, “Now!”
Rachael spun around to see what was so urgent. Just as she caught sight of the intense standoff occurring across the battlefield, a flurry of muzzle flashes and the sporadic crackle and pop of fully automatic gun fire erupted. Helpless to do anything about it, she watched in gut churning panic as Saeko got mowed down by a volley of gunfire.
Saeko’s body flopped and twitched as if she were being electrocuted. The friction of the gunfire kept her standing upright as the bullets chewed her up and cut her to ribbons.
Saeko used her sword to deflect as many shots as possible, but the rain of bullets came down hard, and she was overwhelmed.
Once the gunfire died down, Saeko dropped her sword and, tottering on the raw bloody sticks that were her legs, she fell to her knees and looked up at Maya with an expression of deep shock.
Blood trickled out of the corner of her mouth as well as the forty other fresh bullet wounds she’d sustained. Even though it hurt like a son of a bitch, Saeko counted herself lucky since she hadn’t received a single head shot. She knew there was no waking up from what everyone referred to as the long kiss goodnight.
After a brief pause, gazing out in shock as life drained out of every single one of her gaping holes, she mustered up all the strength she had left and, keeping her gaze fixed on Maya, muttered, “Bitch,” and then fell flat onto her face.
“Saeko!” Rachael screamed out. She was about to tear across the field and give the Yakuza hell but before she could even take one step she suddenly felt the hot sting of a blade pierce her from behind.
Rachael looked down to see the tip of a long katana protruding from her abdomen. Feeling weak, she dropped her hefty sword to the ground. The Claymore impacted with a loud clank and then rattled about for a moment before growing silent.
Suddenly Ijin Gen’s mummy wrapped face was pressed to her ear and, through the slit where his grinning bloody lips were pulled tight with morbid gratification, he whispered to her. “You should never underestimate the resolve of your enemies. After all, your enemy’s enemy is never your friend.”
With great pleasure, Ijin Gen slowly slid his blade back out from Rachael’s torso, reveling in the agonizing pain it brought her. Once the blade was removed, he nudged her forward with a petty shove. Rachael stumbled forward and then reached down and touched her abdomen. Bringing her hand back up, she inspected the wet red glaze that glistened on her fingertips in the moonlight.
Planning to strike her down where she stood, Gen raised his blade high above his head. “I think I’ll enjoy raping your dead corpse before it gets cold. Who knows, maybe you’ll hang on to consciousness long enough to feel me tear into you.”
Correcting her posture, Ra
chael dropped the façade of a helpless wounded animal and stood upright. Rachael smiled at him as if to say she’d like nothing better than for him to try it.
Lunging forward, she threw out her arms with double fists clenched tight. Her blow struck Ijin Gen right in his chest with a force so powerful that it picked his feet up off the ground and threw him back an unprecedented twelve feet.
Gen’s body slammed into the side of the Toyota 4Runner with a resounding thud, knocking his breath completely out of him. The force of the impact crumpled the side of the vehicle and caused Gen to rebound off and tumble to the ground.
Coughing up blood, he looked up at Rachael who picked up her sword, tossed it into the air, spinning it like a pinwheel, and then effortlessly caught it by the handle and sheathed it in one fluid motion.
Admiring the dumbfounded shock plastered on Gen’s face as he gazed back up at her, Rachael popped her knuckles in an intimidating fashion. A quaint little warning about what was headed his way if he persisted on antagonizing her any further.
“Lay another finger on him and I execute the villagers,” Maya warned, staring right at Rachael with eyes like daggers. Gen was her man, and Maya wasn’t about to let some supernatural freak tear him down in his prime. She loved him too much to let anyone take him from her. After all he was the twisted Dr. Jekyll to her equally depraved Mrs. Hyde.
Ignoring Maya’s rude interruption, Rachael reached down, gripped Gen by his throat like one would hold an animal by the scruff of its neck, and picked him up of the ground. Gen choked and wriggled, but was unable to pry himself free.
“Fine, have it your way,” Maya said, turning back toward the villagers. “Kill them. All of them.”
“Wait!” Rachael shouted, releasing her grip of Gen’s throat, who spilled to the ground hacking and gagging. “There doesn’t need to be any further bloodshed.”
“Oh, I think there does,” Maya snarled, still bent out of shape about having the tables turned on her like this. “I think I’ve been patient enough. And I’m fresh out of fucks to give. Sorry. Kill them, now!”