He didn't understand why the military had detained those people, and he knew better than to ask why. It wasn't his place to question the authorities on matters he knew little about. It didn't feel right though, detaining civilians without reason. Something felt shady about the whole situation, off-putting.
Either way, he was now an accomplice to the acts being committed. He felt terrible about it but knew there was nothing he could do. He was just a bus driver; he wasn't made to deal with driving people around that were either criminals or wrongfully detained. That was what had him so worried.
The thing that scared him the most was when they aimed their guns at the man who tried to escape. He could see in their eyes that they would use them to shoot him if they had to. The soldiers weren't just threatening the man, so he would obey their commands, but telling him he had no choice. He had never seen such fierce commitment that the two soldiers had to make sure the man couldn't leave.
At first, he was so sure that the people being held were criminals. They had done something wrong and were now being sent away. But the more he thought about it, and scrutinized the situation; it didn't feel right at all. The people were of different lifestyles, clothing, and demeanor.
None of them looked like criminals, but he couldn't remember anyone claiming to bring up charges about them. Isamu recalled one person they had picked up was an old man who barely looked able to walk on his own. What crime could he have committed, that had the military take him away? The faces he had stolen glances at all looked afraid, not somber of those who charged with crimes.
His mind tried to work through any possible answer to his questions, but he found none. Isamu lay awake in his bed, staring at the window trying to fall asleep. Every hour that passed he could hear one of the military patrols drive by in their heavy diesel trucks. The loud rumbling truck passed by slowly, the light from the truck's headlights pierced into his bedroom every time it drove by. It was a reminder that he was still awake, and that tomorrow he would be driving soldiers around again.
He sat up from his bed and walked over to the window. To the hour with disturbing precision, the patrol came down his street again. The diesel engine roared through the empty, quiet streets. The truck slowed down as it approached the building across the street.
It came to a stop, and eight soldiers jumped out of the back, moving toward the building across from Isamu's. The soldiers looked about the building, and then spread out, three heading to the alleyway that ran between the building they were inspecting, and the one next to it. The alley was dark, but the soldiers used flashlights and began searching. Isamu watched through his blinds, wondering what they were looking for.
He immediately assumed it was one of the people they had detained that had escaped. The soldiers seemed adamant on finding whoever they were looking for. Isamu felt as if he was spying on the soldiers, but he wanted to find out what they were up to. The soldiers in the alleyway carefully searched, stopping at a dumpster. Isamu couldn't tell what they were saying, but he could tell they had found something.
A beam of light from one of the soldier's flashlights illuminated a man in a business suit, who stumbled out from behind the dumpster. The man stumbled towards the soldier closest to him, who was motioning for him to stay back. The soldiers backed up from the man, leading him into the streetlight. After a moment of the man not complying with the soldier's demand, the soldier raised his rifle. The man ignored even that and before Isamu's brain could process what occurred it was over.
The loud bang of a single high caliber round burst from the soldier's rifle faster than the eye could see. The bullet impacted the man, and he collapsed to the ground in an unmoving heap. Isamu stood in disbelief, the bang resonating in his mind. His legs felt weak, and he began to slowly back away from the window.
Maybe he was dreaming, and he was projecting his fears from today into his dream. He pinched himself only to find that it was real. His mind told him to look out of the window and that there wouldn't be soldiers and a dead man lying in the alleyway. Slowly peeking through his window, he saw that it was a reality.
The trucks, soldiers, and the dead man were all very real. He watched as two soldiers moved the dead man to a body bag and carried it to one of the trucks. Isamu could see the soldier light up a cigarette and climb into the truck casually. The vehicles drove off down the street, leaving a small pool of blood to signify there was once a man that existed.
Isamu now knew he wasn't just overreacting to the way the soldiers acted today. Something was going on, and the military was involved, and now, so was he. Guilty by association now had a whole new meaning to him. He stared out the window at the pool of blood, wondering if that would be him if tried to stop the soldiers.
Isamu tried to formulate a reasonable reason why the military had declared Martial Law and was now hunting down people and sending them to hospitals. It had now escalated to gunning down people in the night. He felt in danger, even though the military was sworn to protect the civilians within the city. He felt trapped, with no way out.
Chapter 10
Isamu groggily walked into the bus depot, reporting for his job. He dreaded showing up, knowing that he was helping the military made him feel sick. What choice did he have though, desert his post and have the possibility of the military being suspicious of him? It was clear something more was happening than riots, but to ask questions would put him under the military’s microscope. Before he could climb aboard his bus, his supervisor stopped him and the other drivers.
“I have new routes for you. You won't be resuming your old route. Instead, I need you all to report to the Adachi ward; it seems the military believes that heavy rioting will occur in that area and they want us to evacuate the people there. That's everyone’s new task,” the supervisor said before walking away.
Isamu felt instant relief come over him, and he felt his stomach unknot itself. The dread he had felt was gone, feeling much happier knowing that he was going to be helping instead of carting people off with questionable motives of the military. Perhaps he was overthinking that the military wasn't there to help them.
Even though he had seen them shoot a man, he could have even been wrong about the pretenses of that too. The man could have been rioting and hid from the military after committing a crime. The man had also been out after curfew and ignored their commands. Either way, he felt better about the situation because now it wasn't his problem. He enjoyed his drive north through the city, to his new route.
All the buses followed each other north in one giant convoy, twenty buses in all. After a reasonably relaxing drive, they arrived at Toneri park, where the military had set up a camp that was filled with people. The people were lined up ready to board the buses while others waited to be processed by several soldiers. The buses lined up and soldiers started to allow people to board the buses one at a time.
Isamu was the eighth bus in line, so he waited. As he got closer to his turn to load up, he noticed that a soldier had gotten on each bus that had left. Again, he felt the uneasiness settle into his stomach. These soldiers seemed friendlier at least, helping those who had suitcases with them onto the buses. He still didn't like the idea of having a soldier with him again after what happened yesterday and last night.
After a few more minutes of dread, it was his turn to load up. He pulled the bus forward, opening the door. The people quickly climbed into the bus and began finding seats. The soldier eventually jumped in the bus and had people move in until every place was taken.
“Ok, let's go!” Exclaimed the soldier.
Isamu took off going south, knowing that they were now going to the southern side of Tokyo, to a school. That was Isamu's plan for the day, to drop all these people off and do so until the military told him otherwise.
✽ ✽ ✽
Yuuto prepared for another exciting day of transporting people they suspected may be infected to the hospital. He just finished putting his boot on when Arata walked into the tent.
“We missed it
on the news!” Arata said with the excitement of telling someone something they didn't know.
“What did we miss?” Grumbled Yuuto.
“Apparently on the news some reporter showed a video of infected attacking soldiers. Naturally, the government is trying to cover it up, so everyone isn't panicking. They are beginning to evacuate the whole northern section of the metro in hopes to make a defensive line,” stated Arata.
“And somehow we get stuck driving people around...” said Yuuto unhappily, “At least now we are driving ourselves now. We don't have to be so secretive about transporting people to the hospitals.”
“Well, you can drive then. I don’t want to get lost. I'll take the back, and watch the civvies,” Arata said.
“Works for me,” Yuuto replied.
Yuuto was looking forward to driving and not dealing with the people in the back of the truck as much.
With that in mind, he left the tent, making his way towards the transport truck like the one they had arrived in the city on. Arata rode up front with him as they took off, heading towards the first checkpoint. There was surprisingly a decent amount of people around this morning. It was as if everyone had decided that it wasn't that horrible that they needed to stay home from work.
There was a small flow of traffic, mainly the people who owned cars heading to their jobs. For a few minutes, it seemed normal, people going about their day. Then the checkpoint came into view and made it all come to a screeching halt. The soldiers at the checkpoint stopped the traffic long enough for Yuuto to drive inside the checkpoint, stopping at the command tent.
Yuuto watched as Arata climbed out of the truck and walked into the tent. After a minute Arata came out from the tent, “Pull the back of the truck closer to the right side of the tent. They are moving the people around the backside.”
Yuuto backed up the truck, carefully parking it close to the right side of the tent, blocking the view from the rest of the checkpoint. He climbed out, walking towards the back, dropping the tailgate and lifting the cover over the backend. Arata and two other soldiers emerged from the backside of the tent and with them the detainees. Yuuto counted fifteen in total, a significant increase over yesterday.
Two men in the group stuck out amongst the rest to Yuuto. Both had bandaged wounds and looked deathly sick, while the others looked fine or mildly sick. Yuuto had a feeling both men had been attacked by infected and would separated at the hospital and disposed of. He hated using those words about innocent people, but he knew there was nothing he could do for either one.
Once they were all loaded into the back, Arata climbed in as well, rifle sitting in his lap, but held ready to use. Yuuto closed the flaps, lifting the tailgate back into place. They would have to stop at the hospital before heading to another checkpoint for more detainees. There was only enough room for a few more people in the truck.
The number of people they had just picked up was higher than yesterday, but Yuuto had been confident that none of the people they had grabbed yesterday were infected. The hospital wasn’t too far from where they were at least. Approaching the hospital, and the guards waved them in, and Yuuto drove towards the emergency entrance, stopping the truck there.
He climbed out and went to the back, “I’ll go find one of the doctors so that we can get them inside. You’ll be ok to watch them?”
“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” said Arata.
Yuuto walked up to the sliding doors, where a soldier stood guard, “One of the doctors should be nearby,” the guard pointed over his shoulder.
He entered the hospital waiting room area, looking around for a doctor, but didn’t see one. He walked up to the reception desk, looking down the two hallways that flanked it. Toward the end of the hall on the right, he could see a doctor standing at a door with a clipboard.
“Hey, I have some more…sick people…for you,” Yuuto called, stumbling to find the right word to call the people they had detained.
The doctor began to walk back to where Yuuto was. Even though the doctor wore a facemask, he could tell from his walk that he had been awake for too long. Yuuto knew the walk well from basic, when he had accidentally slept in one time for roll call, and his Sargent made him stay awake for two days.
“How many do you have?” The doctor asked with a dreariness that confirmed Yuuto's suspicions.
“Fifteen, for this trip...” started Yuuto.
The doctor interrupted Yuuto, “Fifteen...ok, I’ll go prep the rooms. I could use your help; we're a little short-staffed.”
The doctor didn’t wait for a reply from Yuuto, walking away, down the hallway on the left. Yuuto followed, and again he had the feeling of being a warden in prison as he walked by several locked doors, with people's pleading faces glued to the window. At the end of the hall, the doctor swiped a card to open a door leading into another wing. This one was wholly unoccupied but felt less like a prison.
“I need you to go through all the rooms on the right and make sure there was nothing left in them that could be used as a weapon,” stated the doctor.
“Why, have you had an incident with a weapon?” Asked Yuuto.
“Yeah, someone left a needle in one of the rooms, and some medicine. The other doctor that was on duty was taken by a room of people and injected so they could try to escape.”
“Oh, well, I'll make sure to check thoroughly then,” replied Yuuto.
He entered the first room which held four beds and a bathroom, all cabinets and drawers had been stripped in the place. Feeling satisfied with the room he exited, beginning the search of the next room until he and the doctor had checked all ten rooms.
“Now that's done, how many sick do you think are actually infected?” Asked the doctor, looking at his clipboard and paperwork.
“I believe two of them are infected, they looked like they had bite wounds,” answered Yuuto.
“Well, let's go bring them in, and separate them,” said the doctor walking back towards the entrance.
In the waiting room, another doctor with two soldiers stood having a conversation. They were talking and seemed concerned about something, as Yuuto and the doctor approached them.
“At this rate, we will be at one-hundred percent capacity by the end of tomorrow!” Exclaimed the doctor.
“I'm sorry sir, but we are being told by our CO to bring these people into custody. We were told to follow the guidelines that if we find anyone sick to bring them here,” stated the soldier apologetically.
The angry doctor started to walk off but turned around, “I'm going to get those guidelines changed! We can't hold this many people!”
Yuuto watched as the doctor stormed off, deciding it was time to return to Arata and drop off the civilians they had in the back of the truck. Arata had already gotten out of the truck, waiting for him to return.
“What took so long?” Asked Arata.
“I had to help get the rooms ready, sorry!” Yuuto exclaimed.
They marched the detained citizens into the hospital where the first doctor and Yuuto had met. The doctor led them to the ward they had prepared. Arata and Yuuto stood watch as the doctor quickly examined the people, sorting them into rooms, making sure to lock each door after separating them.
The doctor waited until they were alone with just the two men who looked like they had bites, “Can you help me escort these two men into an exam room with me?”
Yuuto nodded, following the doctor once more, who led them into a small room with only a couple of cots. He instructed both men to lay down on a bed and began to inspect them. The doctor examined the first man, a middle-aged man in a T-shirt and jeans. He carefully began to unwrap the man's bandage on his arm.
The smell hit them all at the same time, Yuuto and Arata both coughed, covering their noses. The doctor seemed unphased by the smell, looking closely at the man's wound. The wound itself was black and had visible marks that someone had taken a bite out of his arm. His veins nearby the injury had turned black, as the virus began to spread throughout
the man's body.
The doctor quickly wrapped up the wound again, disposing of his gloves, before grabbing a new pair from the box nearby. The second man had a bandage around his shoulder area, and the doctor didn't bother to unwrap his bandages. They could see the black veins spreading down his arm and up his neck. The doctor walked over to Arata and Yuuto, pulling them both close.
“It would seem they are both infected with the virus. We have a... disposal area downstairs. I need you two to escort me down there, the soldiers there will take care of the rest,” stated the doctor, “First I need to give both men some sedatives.”
Approaching the two men the doctor wore a happy demeanor while he injected both men, “You two are lucky, we can get you into surgery and feeling better in no time!”
Yuuto knew that was a lie, but he wasn't about to tell these two men they were infected with a deadly non-curable virus. The doctor helped the two men onto their feet, showing them to the door, the one with the shoulder bite looked like he was about to faint at any moment. They walked down the hallway until they came to an elevator that doctors used to move patients. Yuuto made sure to stand at the opposite side of the elevator when he got on.
The ding of the elevator door told them they were at the basement level. The doctor stepped out first, and they followed. The basement level was less inviting than the upper floors, but was still a hospital nonetheless. Two soldiers wearing paper face masks and gloves stood up from behind a desk at the end of the hallway. One soldier stayed, while the other one walked off.
As they approached the desk, the soldier behind the desk spoke, “Just these two?”
“Yes, just these two,” replied the doctor, “I have already given them something for the pain.”
Just then the second soldier reappeared with two gurneys, for the two infected men. “Here, lie down,” said the second soldier soothing the two men.
Both men clamored onto the gurneys, lying down and relaxing. Each soldier grabbed a gurney and began pushing them towards a set of doors.
What Remains (Book 2): Quarantine Page 10