Of Cinder and Bone

by Kyoko M

  A sudden groan of metal and clanking gears filled the air. The elevator had returned. Hurried footsteps followed and then the cacophony of mechanical clicks and whirls went off a second time. They’d gotten on the lift.

  Jack let out a whoosh of air and motioned to Kamala. “Tell Fujioka they’re on their way down.”

  She sent a quick text and Fujioka immediately replied. “Be ready to move, she says. Can you check if the coast is clear?” Kamala asked as Pete nudged her forward a few inches, clearly growing restless in the small space.

  “Gotcha.” Jack unlocked the door and cracked it. After a moment, he stuck his head out and checked both ends of the hall. “Clear. Bring her out. I’ll keep an eye on the elevator in case they try to come back up once shit hits the fan.”

  As if on cue, the muted but still thunderous echo of gunshots on the floor below them floated up through the empty elevator shaft. Jack reflexively took a step back and glanced into the abyss as he heard several panicked cries of pain.

  “Sounds like the shit has indeed hit the fan.”

  Kamala led the dragon out of the boiler room. Pete shook herself and even more dead scales flaked loose.

  “Should I be worried?” Kamala said, brushing grey patches of dead skin from her shoulders.

  “Uh,” Jack said, picking a few of them out of her hair. “Comparatively? No. It’s Item Three on our current To Do list.”

  “Items One and Two being…?”

  Jack held up a finger. “Don’t die.”

  “Obviously.”

  Jack held up a second finger. “Escape the compound in one piece. Then we can work on curing her.”

  “Curing her of what?”

  Jack told her. She shook her head in amazement. “Gods, as if we didn’t have enough problems.”

  “Yeah, I’ll need your help to determine the dosage. If we don’t get it right, she’ll be damn near the size of Baba Yaga before the end.”

  “What solutions did you use?”

  He started to reply, but then noticed something in his peripheral at the end of the hall.

  Without a second thought, he stepped in front of Kamala and lifted the pistol, aiming at the head of a stout thirty-something man in a plain black suit and tie.

  “Watsuki?” Jack sputtered, his eyes wide.

  The head of security lowered his gun, still wearing that same grim frown. “Hai.”

  “Christ, man. Announce yourself. I almost shot you.”

  “Noted,” he said, unfazed. “Where is Yagami-san?”

  “He went to shut off the power grid for the tunnel. He’s supposed to meet us in a couple of minutes. What the hell are you still doing here? I thought you were taking care of Minako.”

  “She’s safe.”

  “You came back for Yagami? Why?”

  “I don’t leave people behind. Period. Stay here. I’ll go get him.” Without another word, the big man disappeared in the direction of the maintenance wing.

  Jack stared after him in disbelief. “Someone’s actually risking their life to save Yagami Sugimoto. Somewhere, right now, Satan’s handing out snow cones and practicing his Axel jump.”

  Metal groaned behind them. The lift had started coming back up.

  “Shit!” Jack hissed, raising his gun again. “Kam, head for the hall. I’ll cover you.”

  She led the dragon further away just as the top of the elevator lurched into view.

  And it was full of bodies.

  Jack unhooked the gate, pushing it up, and felt his mouth get dry at the grisly sight. Three men lay on its metal floor, bleeding out from gunshot wounds, their own guns forgotten in their hands. He checked their pulses one by one and then gave Kamala a brief shake of his head, and she guided Pete back to the lift. He pocketed Fujioka’s pistol and rounded up their weapons: two .44 ACPs and a .38 semiautomatic. He gave Kamala the .38 and counted the ammo before stashing the remaining guns in the back of his waistband.

  He dragged the corpses out into the hallway—careful to keep them away from Pete, just in case—and had just finished when Watsuki, Yagami, and Fujioka arrived.

  “Well,” Fujioka said, glancing at the bodies. “Looks like the plan is working.”

  “Hey,” Jack protested. “Jinx much?”

  She rolled her eyes. “Knock on wood.”

  “Thank you.” He glanced at Yagami. “I take it we’re good to go.”

  Yagami nodded. “Once we go down, head straight through and turn right onto the path. Keep going until you see the street. Our ride should already be there.”

  Kamala arched an eyebrow. “Should be? And if he’s not?”

  “We’ll have to go by foot.”

  “Yes, because we’ll get awfully far toting a dragon the size of a horse.”

  Yagami pinched the bridge of his nose. “Must you constantly criticize?”

  Kamala offered him a mean little smile. “It keeps me from breaking your nose.”

  “Children,” Fujioka said mildly. “We must be going. Everyone can’t fit on the lift with the dragon, so Yagami-san, Watsuki-san, and I will go down first to pave the way and you two follow.” She narrowed her eyes at the pair. “If worse comes to worst, don’t be heroes. We’re all adults here. We made the choices that led us to this point, for better or worse. Don’t jeopardize everything you’ve sacrificed to bring this dragon to life by trying to be a martyr. You know what to do if we get separated. Good luck.”

  Kamala’s grip tightened on Pete’s lead as she nodded to the older woman. “Good luck.”

  Fujioka stepped into the blood-soaked elevator and the two Japanese men followed. Jack swallowed hard and went over to the controls. After a moment, he withdrew one of the .44 ACPs and offered it to Fujioka. “Good luck.”

  She winked and tucked it in her hip holster. “You shouldn’t have.”

  He shut the gate and pressed the down button. The elevator wheezed to life and the three of them vanished into the chaos below.

  Jack faced Kamala. “You ready?”

  She nodded. “Absolutely not.”

  He tried to smile and held out his hand. “Ditto.”

  She took it without hesitation. Apart, their hands had been cold and clammy, but together they warmed in mere seconds.

  A minute later, the lift returned. They stepped into the elevator and carefully guided Pete onto it as well. Jack pulled down the gate and hit the down button, quietly flicking the safety off the ACP. The elevator rumbled to life once more and lowered them down into the damp darkness of the maintenance tunnel. Jack’s breathing got shallow and swift. Kamala’s fingers tightened around his. The dragon’s nostrils flared as she inhaled the scent of blood, death, and violence wafting up, her body tensing and shifting in anticipation of a fight.

  For a second, there was only darkness.

  Jack squeezed Kamala’s hand one last time and then let go.

  The elevator screeched to a halt on the sub-level. Bare, decaying concrete surrounded them, stretching to about a forty-five-foot curved ceiling. Covered lights dotted the length of the ceiling, greying with age. The only source of light came from the end of the tunnel, at least sixty yards straight ahead. It left everything in thick shadows with limited visibility, which had been to their advantage for panicking both sides into a frenzy.

  Mercifully, none of the yakuza had been waiting outside the gate. From what Jack could see, only the dead littered the ground inside the tunnel. A quick study gave him the total of corpses so far: eleven, all male, some dressed in casual clothes, others in plain black suits and white dress shirts like Okegawa had been wearing.

  Jack opened the gate and made sure the nearest bodies weren’t moving before beckoning Kamala and Pete. “Stay behind me, but watch your back just in case.”

  She nodded curtly and led the dragon forward with one hand, the other holding the pistol down at her side. Pete’s posture switched from defen
sive to inquisitive, as she kept trying to sniff the corpses they passed along the way as they headed to the tunnel. Her leathery wings flapped along her back, testing the space around her. Kamala’s heart sunk as she realized the dragon hadn’t ever been outside without being bound or caged.

  As they neared the end of the tunnel, Jack motioned for them to stay near the right wall so they could see around the corner. He stopped about twenty feet from the mouth of the tunnel and knelt, his voice low, tilting his face but keeping an eye on the exit.

  “I’ll go first. If it’s clear, follow me out. If it’s not, I’ll try and draw their fire so you can take Pete into the forest.”

  Kamala nodded, and the faint sunlight caught on her brilliant brown eyes as she stared at him. “Be careful.”

  “You too.”

  Jack inched forward one step at a time, trying not to let his big feet betray his presence and fighting to control his rapid borderline panicked breathing. Shots echoed from nearby, but nothing in the immediate vicinity. The tunnel spilled out into a forked dirt road; the left leading up towards the mountain, the right leading down to the main road and eventually towards the Kanagawa prefecture. Straight ahead lay a huge hill of short grass and dirt mounds, part of the base of the mountain the facility was built on.

  He stayed in the shadow of the tunnel and checked his left, peering through the trees. One body lay face down in the dead leaves, his brains leaking out of his forehead in the afternoon sun. Jack swallowed hard as his stomach revolted at the sight and threatened to expel the espresso from earlier. He stepped over the body and focused on the trees, silently praying he wouldn’t stumble into someone hiding behind one of them. He made a perimeter of about ten yards and then crept back towards the tunnel, this time going to the right of it.

  Along the way, he passed another body, and this one had a link in his ear exactly like the one Fujioka had swiped earlier. He paused and did the same, catching snippets of orders. Most of it was panicked yelling, but he made out that the Yamaguchi had suffered more losses than expected, and the Inagawa were turning the tide in their favor. He also caught word that Fujioka, Yagami, and Watsuki were further ahead on the road toward town, mowing down both sides indiscriminately.

  Just as he turned to head back to give Kamala the all-clear, he spotted a man and ducked. The gun barked twice and the tree trunk behind Jack exploded, raining pieces down on him. He swore and returned fire before throwing himself behind the nearest tree. The shots kept coming, tearing chunks of wood from the tree mere inches above his head. He edged to one side, glancing to see the man creeping forward in between shots, still using the trees for cover. Another ten feet and he’d be right on him. Everything in Jack screamed at him to run, but he beat the instinct down and forced himself to think clearly.

  “Self-defense,” he muttered to himself, tightening his grip on the butt of the gun. “You did it in self-defense.”

  Jack heard the leaves crunch about five feet away and whipped around the tree’s thick roots, aiming low. He fired three times. One of the bullets shattered the thug’s left kneecap and he collapsed to the forest floor, screaming his head off.

  Jack pounced on the man and knocked the gun away, laying him out with a quick jab to the temple. He balanced over him on his knees, shaking all over, the adrenaline sharp and potent like tequila in his veins. He was scared out of his mind, and yet… a strange sense of satisfaction swirled in his belly.

  What the hell was wrong with him?

  He pushed to his feet and hurried through the woods until he reached the tunnel. Kamala had her gun level with his brow when he came around the corner, and visibly relaxed when she realized it was him.

  “Coast is clear,” he said. “Let’s go.”

  “Are you alright?” she asked, standing as she started leading Pete after them. “I heard shots while you were on your way back.”

  “I’m okay.”

  She hesitated. “You didn’t have to—”

  “No,” he said. “Well, if he gets medical attention in the next few hours, he’ll survive. Just won’t fulfill his lifelong dream of being a figure skater.”

  “Any sign of the others?”

  Jack tapped at his ear. “The bad guys said they’re up the road already. If we hurry, we might be able to catch up to them and make our last stand. Let’s just hope Yagami’s transportation makes it there in time.”

  “And that he doesn’t double-cross us?”

  “That too. Maybe you shouldn’t have punched him.”

  She rolled her eyes. “You broke his best friend’s nose. Don’t throw stones in a glass house, Dr. Jackson.”

  “Point taken, Dr. Anjali.”

  They continued through the forest until the facility became swallowed by the trees and disappeared from sight. They kept the dirt path in view, making brief stops every so often to ensure no one had followed, until they reached a long, curved paved road. It formed a crescent around a ditch, one so sharply curved that it looked as if someone had used an ice cream scoop on the hill. The dirt road ended about twenty yards away and the road stretched out of sight along a steep cliff going away from the mountainside.

  “Shit,” Jack muttered, motioning for Kamala to stop just before they were outside of the clearing of trees where the path ended. “Someone’s waiting for us down there.”

  “How many?”

  He squinted. “Four guys. See if you can get Pete to lie down.”

  Kamala faced the dragon and stroked her neck, pressing down along her spiny back. The dragon resisted at first, but with more urging she settled onto her belly in the undergrowth.

  Jack checked the magazine of the ACP and took a deep breath. “We’ve got the advantage since we’re on higher ground, but it won’t take long for them to notice us. I hate to say it, but we might need to split up. One person is the distraction while the other takes Pete down the road to where Fujioka and the others said they’d meet us.”

  He glanced at her. “So. Rock-paper-scissors?”

  “I’m a better shot than you are, Jack. I’ll lead them away. Stay with Pete.”

  “Right. Here.” He offered her the gun. “Nine rounds left.”

  She took it and handed him Pete’s lead. After a moment, he cupped the side of her face, his thumb skimming along her cheekbone, his voice soft, almost hoarse. “Give ‘em hell, huh?”

  She smiled, and it was as bright and fierce as the sun. “And then some.”

  Kamala slipped away from him and he felt the words on his lips, but the air had evaded his lungs and left him high and dry. I love you.

  Instead, he shut his eyes and steeled his nerves, withdrawing the .38 pistol and focusing on the yakuza at the bottom of the hill. The timing had to be flawless. With a short range weapon, he’d be of little use to her, and Pete was still the priority. All he had to do was stay low and run. Run, and pray that Kamala makes it out in one piece.

  He clutched Pete’s chain in his other hand, channeling his anxiety into the gesture to keep still. The dragon’s hot breath brushed up his pants leg in steady intervals. She snuffled inquisitively at the wool over his knee and he switched his hand to rub along her bumpy snout. She leaned into it, her dark tongue tickling his wrist. He almost smiled.

  “You’re kind of sweet when you’re not biting people’s heads off,” he murmured, scratching beneath her chin. He frowned. “God, famous last words. Get it together, Jackson.”

  He jerked upright as shots rang out near the bottom of the hill. Jack snapped his head around the tree to see one of the yakuza hit the ground, clutching his leg. Pete snarled and pushed to her clawed feet, angling her head in the direction of the noise. The other yakuza barked orders at each other and started returning fire. They ran into the woods, back in the direction of the facility.

  As soon as they were out of sight, Jack grabbed the dragon’s chain and tugged her forward down the hill. He stumbled and nearly fell, cursing t
he leather soles of his dress shoes, but they made it to the bottom. The wounded henchman gaped as he spotted them. His eyes darted towards the gun a few feet away.

  “Hey!” Jack barked, pointing the pistol. “Don’t even think about it.”

  The henchman sneered and spat at him, growling in his native language that he was a stupid American who didn’t know who he was screwing with. Jack paused and then said, “Are you willing to be your life on that assumption?” in perfect Japanese.