ROAD TRIP THROUGH THE APOCALYPSE

by Vincent Fields

  Tadashi Takamura had been raised in The Order from birth. His mother had been the daughter of Kenji Takamura; who was also Tak's grandfather. Tadashi's father was Hayato Takamura, who was the master trainer for The Order and was Tak's mother Chika’s slightly younger brother. Since their parents were siblings, Tadashi and Tak were cousins; although they had never met each other. Years ago when Tak's mother had fled from The Order she had hidden her destination and new identity from them. They only knew that she had vanished, and they had been looking for her ever since. Hayato had vowed to see his sister dead for her indiscretions.

  Tadashi’s shoulder-length black ponytail shifted with the day’s warm breeze. His narrow, ever darting eyes seemed to be constantly observing everything while trusting nothing. Within a few hours of shaving he'd already grown a dark shadow of stubble on his face that gave him a menacing and even cruel; which happened to be an accurate reflection of his soul. His lean, bronze body reflected a lifetime of rigorous outdoor training. He was built like an Olympic gymnast at five foot 10 and 180 pounds of shredded muscle. He didn’t however wear the wrinkles of a well-worn smile, for that was something he’d rarely done. His father raised him with strict discipline in his life of service to The Order. He had never known a loving, gentle touch that hadn’t been forced out of a victim, and his heart was cold as ice. He lived for The Order and had no time for anything else. He believed he was an instrument of the gods, dealing death righteously and without mercy. His very name, Tadashi, meant righteous in his native language, and he believed that be embodied that ideal; however he had to justify it.

  He had been training in the courtyard for an hour, which was something he took very seriously, like everything else in his life. He wore small, black, tight fitting shorts on this warm day. The only other thing that adorned his body was a small black leather strap around his left wrist, which he was never seen without. His compact, rippling muscles were covered in sweat as he mercilessly pushed himself. His hands, feet, shins and elbows were covered in callouses from the years of body hardening he had been subjected to. His entire body was a weapon; his father had made sure of that. He had been working a circuit of stations where he would do various intense exercises and drills before switching to the next. Five skilled servants assisted his training, at various times holding pads for him to strike at full impact or sparring with him in every range and aspect of combat. He gave them a slight beating but held back so not to cause serious injury… not that he cared about them, but simply because he didn’t want to lose any more good training partners. His father had made it clear that he had to stop breaking them because good training partners were expensive and hard to find.

  As his current round of kendo sparring with wooden swords ended he quickly moved to another station and picked up a traditional longbow. His breathing was a bit labored as he had been pushed as hard as the five men assisting him could push him for the last hour in order to try and get him tired, as per his father's instructions this day. Knowing that he was on a timer, he rapid fired one arrow after the other at a target on the far corner of the courtyard, almost 40 yards away. A servant held a timer and counted down the seconds. Tadashi never faltered as he fired arrows as fast as he could, keeping a pace of almost 1 arrow per second for an entire minute. The “golden standard” that The Order strived for was 60 arrows in target in 60 seconds; an almost impossible feat that only his father had accomplished several years ago. As the servant called "STOP!" at the end of a minute, always speaking in their native Japanese tongue, Tadashi lowered his bow and observed his target. The man sized paper silhouette had a thick cluster of arrows in a group directly over its heart. Most of the arrows had hit other arrows and split them down the center. As a voice over a loudspeaker called out “56 hits scored” Tadashi threw the bow to the ground in frustration. His resented the fact that he could never beat his father’s records.

  An assistant called for the next round to begin, "Pistol firing... GO!" This was a good test of his ability to call for and maintain his Hoshoku ability through inner discipline, and he wanted to beat his father’s standing record of six rounds on target after running 40 meters and assembling a pistol, all in under six seconds of real time; an impossible feat for someone without the Hoshoku ability. Tak sprinted across the courtyard as the timer began counting down. He cleared the 40 meters in a fraction over 4 seconds. He stopped at a table with a disassembled nine millimeter pistol laying on it in several parts, including a long sound suppresser. 20 brass-cased rounds lay next to an unfilled magazine next to it. For almost a second he stared at all the pieces on the table, memorizing their positions. Then his hands became an impossibly fast moving blur as he tapped into his ancient ability. His father smiled as he watched through a large wall mounted screen in the basement, now zoomed in on Tadashi's hands, knowing that he was doing what no normal human could ever do as he exercised his gift. In less than half a second his son completely assembled the silenced pistol, loaded the 20 rounds into a magazine, inserted the magazine, pulled the slide to the rear and released it - which chambered a round as he spun around to take aim at a target across the courtyard. Hayato focused hard and tapped into his own Hoshoku ability as he watched Tadashi with pride he’d never admitted to having. He wondered if his son could maintain focus long enough to get a few rounds on the targets before he could no longer maintain his state of extreme heightened senses. Time slowed around Hayato and everyone in the underground monitoring room seemed to almost completely stop moving while only his son seemed to move at normal speed on the monitor. He knew his son's mind would be straining to return to normal... but he was a strong one.

  A series of 10, three-inch circular black metal targets were positioned on the left side of vertical metal poles on the other side of the courtyard, about 35 meters away. When one was hit it would swing around behind the pole to stop on the right side, ready to swing back around to the left side the next time it was shot. The suppressed nine millimeter pistol quietly began to spit out balls of lead, the impact of the rounds making more noise than the firing pistol itself. "Ding-Ding-Ding", three rounds each hit their targets as Tadashi fired from left to right, causing the first three round metal plates to swing around to the right side. His father watched him on a screen that was now zoomed in on his son's face... he was obviously tapped into his gift as his black eyes were compressed into tight ebony rings, and he strained to maintain focus. Veins bulged on his neck and across his forehead as he intensified his efforts. He continued firing and shifting his aim to each new target to the right of the one he just shot. "Ding-Ding "… two more rounds hit their small black targets before his mind snapped time back to normal against his will. Tadashi felt himself lose focus even though he'd fought as hard as he ever had to hold it. To those watching, his pistol had seemed to fire in full auto mode as five of the 10 targets had been hit and spun from left to right before he stopped firing; all in less than a second.

  A stocky servant standing behind Tadashi blew a whistle as the stopwatch he held reached six seconds. Tadashi had accomplished an amazing feet, but he was one target short of his father’s record. He turned and slammed the pistol into the nearby servant’s face as he roared in anger. The stocky man's nose exploded with blood as it crunched awkwardly to the right side of his face before he fell to the ground. Several other servants rushed in and carried him away to go get medical attention. None of them dared to make eye contact with Tadashi.

  His father relaxed his focus and a bit of disappointment came over him. His son had always had problems controlling his anger. As hard as he pushed the boy, he never seemed to be able to eradicate that problem. Even though Tadashi had come a long way, he still wasn’t quite the best in the family. He was in the prime of his life physically and in his martial abilities, but he needed more self-control. Could he trust him in the most important task that he now considered sending his son on, or should be take matters into his own hands? He decided to proceed with test he’d prepared that would either prove he w
as ready, or it would kill him right here and now.

  CHAPTER 8: EXPLANATION

  A fter the incident with the bikers Tak yelled to some onlookers who had been near the front of the gas station to come and help Charro. They took him inside to tend to his wound as Tak left. He realized that Charro might make it and he might bleed out… but he didn’t care much either way. He’d seen the man’s true colors and wouldn’t lose any sleep on him. Long ago he’d learned that to show mercy to evil men was to only enable them, and the time for that in this society was gone. But still; Tak wasn’t a murdered, and as Charro posed no immediate threat to him, he’d let him be.

  Tak and his friends then moved the bikes and the dead bodies to the side so their RV could pull through and gas up. They took the biker’s firearms, magazines and ammo. After paying over five times the normal price for gas and filling up, they went back to the highway heading south. Amy sat in stunned silence the entire time. Nathan had been Tak’s lifelong friend and was one of very few people who knew about his gift. He was in Tak’s father’s dojo when they were six years old and Tak himself had first discovered that he had the gift. Amy was sitting back on the couch, petting Ringo’s head on her lap. Tak got up from the front passenger seat and went back to the recliner. Amy didn’t look up or say a word. Tak reached over and put his hand on hers, but she recoiled it back quickly. She looked up at him with tears in her eyes and spoke in a trembling whisper, “What are you?”

  Tak loved this woman and it hurt him to see her in turmoil. He had worked with her on the force for almost a decade and they were truly friends. He had always been attracted to her but he hadn’t been able to bring himself to make a move to advance their relationship to one of a romantic nature for fear that she didn’t feel the same way or that he might ruin things between them. She was the only woman he’d ever gotten tongue tied around. He had often told himself that he didn’t want to risk ruining the good relationship that they already had as friends. That had all changed with the events since the collapse when she had made it known to him that her feelings were mutual just a few days ago. Even through the horrible events of the last few days, he was ecstatic about his blossoming relationship with her.

  He took in a breath and considered his words. “I guess I have some explaining to do

  Amy. You certainly deserve that. I’m about to tell you a carefully guarded secret. Nathan already knows about it, he was there when I first learned about my abilities myself when I was six years ago.” Amy kept her head down, but was listening.

  While Tak continued speaking he retrieved a laptop computer from an overhead cabinet and typed in a password to open a protected file. Scanned pages of an ancient Japanese book filled the screen as he scrolled through them, allowing Amy to see. “Amy, the men in my family carry a unique gift. It’s in our DNA. It dates back to 1185 AD with my Japanese ancestor; Yukitaka Takamura. He was the first man to ever be bestowed the title of Samurai. Exactly how he obtained his ability is debatable, depending on who and what you believe. My father speculated that the gift was possibly the result of generations of my ancestors practicing a special meditation exercise that allows us to be centered in the moment, combined with extensive martial arts training. However he wasn’t sure of that and admitted that it didn’t explain everything about my gift as he passed on the story that my ancestors believed and carefully recorded.”

  Nathan turned the radio and CB down a bit as he drove along so Amy could clearly hear Tak’s words. He knew she needed to know the truth. Tak continued, “Yukitaka was the adopted son and personal bodyguard of a powerful Shogun; Shogun Yoritomo. After five long years of near daily battle in which Yukitaka saved Yoritomo’s life many times during the Genpei war, the Shogun held a blessing ceremony for Yukitaka when the war ended. The events of that ceremony were witnessed and verified by several sources. They were carefully recorded in a family history book that has been passed down to me. I keep the book hidden back on my property back in Marion, but I can show you this scanned copy for now.”

  As Tak scrolled through the first few pages he stopped at one that had a sketch of Yukitaka in the center of a beautiful golden palace’s large courtyard with a ray of light shining down from the sky and hitting him in the face. Hundreds of others at the ceremony were on their knees. “Now this next part might sound unbelievable, but it’s no more so than what you just saw with your own eyes. During the ceremony a light shone down from the heavens directly on Yukitaka’s face. While this happened an earthquake shook the entire Kamakura region, which is where the ceremony took place. As soon as the ground stopped shaking a small meteor fell from the sky and landed nearby. Yukitaka wrote down that when the light shone upon his face his mind filled with the voice of God and told him that he was now blessed and would forevermore be a force of good fighting the evil he encountered in the world. When he focused and accessed the gift he would become what my ancestors referred to as “Hoshoku.” That translates to “predator” or “one who preys upon…”. He recorded that he was ordained by God to prey upon the evil he encountered in the world. He could only access this gift with a focused mind, which he helped maintain through a special meditation exercise.”

  Naff continued driving in the stop and go traffic, not usually going faster than 20 miles per hour and ignoring hitchhikers along the way. He was well aware of Tak’s story and was actually enjoying the spectacle of Amy taking it in for the first time. She sat quietly and listened, not yet sure what to think of the unfolding tale. Her hurt looked was changing to one of curiosity as Tak continued. “Anyway, Yukitaka recorded that the gift would only be passed on to one male child per each generation.” He swallowed hard as he considered his next words. “This seems to be fulfilled by the fact that anytime a Takamura woman has a male child, she dies during childbirth. This happened with my mother. The instant her cord was cut she passed. My father told me that she considered it an honor to bear a Takamura child. She was convinced that it was her destiny higher purpose. She laid down her life for me to exist, as she said she knew that God had a special plan for her child.”

  Amy cocked her head sideways and finally spoke, “So what exactly is this gift of yours?” Tak nodded, “Well…specifically, I can greatly enhance my senses for a few moments at a time when I concentrate on doing that. Sometimes it helps if I focus on one particular thing, but I don’t have to. This enables me to move at what appears to others to be superhuman speed. For me, it actually seems like everything slows way down around me. It’s an amazing feeling really. Every time I do it I feel fuller of life and energy than at any other time. It’s hard to explain exactly how it feels, but it’s like I become one with the universe and everything in existence for that brief moment. It feels like I have a thousand eyes looking in all directions and I sense everything. It’s like for a few brief moments my entire brain supercharges and uses all of its capability; not just a few percent. When I tap into this gift, one second of real times seems like about 10 seconds to me. My senses of hearing, vision and smell get enhanced, allowing me to detect things I normally never would be able to. I can use this gift over and over, but I need time to rest my mind between uses. I’ve found that when I feel sharp pain or get a concussion I have a hard time focusing, which prevents me from using the gift.”

  Tak couldn’t read Amy’s face as she replied, “Well, that’s quite a tale, and if I hadn’t seen it myself it would seem unbelievable. So let me get this straight, you’re some modern day superhero good guy and when you give a woman your child… if it’s a boy… it’s a death sentence for her? Do I pretty much have that right?” Tak looked out the window and then back in her eyes, a bit flustered. “I didn’t ask for this Amy. I didn’t choose it. I was born into it. I’m not trying to be a super anything; I’m just myself. I certainly don’t want anyone to die because they have my child. I’ve struggled with that reality for as long as I’ve known about it, since I was 16 years old.” She could tell she’d struck a nerve and she reached out and touched his hand as he
r face softened. “I’m sorry, that came out a bit harsh. This is just a lot for me to take in.” Tak nodded his understanding and lowered his voice so Nathan couldn’t hear the next part as he leaned in towards Amy. “That’s why I haven’t been intimate with you Amy. Don’t think I haven’t wanted to; Lord knows I have. It was all I could do last night to roll over and pretend I was going to sleep. I’m not about to get anyone pregnant, so I’ve never taken that risk.”

  Amy was processing this new information and looking at Tak in a new light. The fear in her eyes had been replaced with a curious surprise. She exclaimed a bit too loudly, “You mean you’re a virgin?!” Nathan chuckled at hearing that part, knowing all about of the details of Tak’s “gift”. Tak nodded as he blushed, “This isn’t the sort of thing I normally discuss, Amy. Call me old fashioned, but I believe sex is something that should be saved for my future wife. Long ago my father told me that it’s is a gift from God to a married couple. He told me that if I gave it away too early that I’d always regret it, and I recognized the truth in his words. It’s hard for any guy to abstain, but given the fact that a woman will die if she ever gives birth to a male child of mine… well that probably makes it easier for me to resist than other guys. If you don’t want to have a romantic relationship with me after finding this out, I certainly won’t blame you. I just hope that we can remain friends and…” Amy grabbed his closest hand with both of hers. “Forget that “friends” nonsense. I love you Takamura Graves… you know that. I’ve always thought that someday I’d like to have kids, but I’m in no rush, especially given what’s going on around the world.” She gave a friendly laugh as she said the last part.