Arc 2 - Chapter 45: David vs Kenichi II

“There it is.”

Right in the middle of the northern district, was a lavished bunker bristled in gold and marble. Looking to survive bombs, terraquakes, tornados, and probably the apocalypse, it could probably survive hell too.

Parking the truck along the front, he turned the key to kill off the engine. Hissing from its pistons, all the oxygen and oil that circulated through the chambers swept down to the pavement.

Getting out from the driver side door was Briggs, who wielded a Desert Eagle pistol with his right hand.

‘Here goes nothing.’

And once he slammed the door, a barrage of soldiers barreled out from the back. All of them wearing camouflage, with rifles stacked onto their arms, helmets were given to every one of them.

Running straight behind Briggs, there were more than a dozen soldiers from all ages. From young to old, only a couple of women were within the ranks of the squad. But yet, they give their life to the cause.

With all of them in back of him, he walked straight toward the door to the shelter.

“Eyes up soldiers! Zompires could appear anywhere!”

Opening up the large metallic gates, they were cladded in black and gold titanium. Using his left hand, he pulled back a single door, and he didn’t even strain his shoulder muscles. Letting the cold air caress his face, he saw nothing but black, but he heard a rumble of gossip.

Thrusting his left hand into his pocket, he pulled out a simple flashlight. Despite being short, the beam was high enough for even the darkest of dark to reflect light. Swaying the beam all around the shelter, he saw a dozen men and women all clumped like sardines.

Honey-milk nightgowns and well-ironed pajamas sweltered in the air. Sweat plunging his nostrils, Briggs cleared his throat, and narrowed his eyes at the group of civilians.

“Citizens! We’ll be locating you to the military complex west of the city! Prepare to ready yourselves and your luggages!”

A collection of empty smiles radiated through the air. Nodding at the blonde agent’s words, everyone within the bunker softly walked toward him. With the soldiers all standing in between the truck and the bunker, Briggs kept on a cold front amidst his heroic deed.

But most importantly, he kept his eyes on the children, kids who snuggled against their parents shoulders. As he saw them walk forward, he had them all stationed in front of them. Turning his head around, he saw—

The back of his hair trickled up.

‘What…’

One unlucky soldier turned his head around, and noticed a blur of white speeding toward him. Like it was a large white bag, it harnessed the air around its edges, with the outline—

“Help us!”

“OH SHIT!!”

With little time to react, a couple of soldiers tried to fire. In back of the zompire, was around a dozen or so following the leader, their eyes honed in.

Pulling their triggers, their barrels burned hot for a split second. But this split second was all too fast. Because they noticed steam rising from their bodies, it wasn’t a pouncer…

‘Oh—’

“Get down!”

He barked those orders like he was commanding a dog. Forcing everyone down, Alexandra was right by his side, and she followed along with his order…

—Once she witnessed a huge flash of light.—

Burning her irises, she twisted her head away from the sudden flash. And if light was first, then came sound. Flung a couple of feet back, many civilians had already crashed to the floor, with their ears ringing from the sudden boom. Cradling their heads, balling their bodies, the only people that didn’t submit to fear were Briggs and Alexandra.

Falling on his side, Briggs immediately arched his head up to see the inferno of flames. Widening his eyes, the embers of the explosion soon faded, leaving behind a fog of smoke.

“Shit…”

Alexandra quivered her throat, once she realized the full extent of the blast. If all the soldiers were grouped, and the blast being big enough to knock everyone down, it meant only one thing…

—The soldiers didn’t make it.—

________________________________________________________________________

Another burst of air traveled toward him, leaving him to cover his body with the shield. This time, he had a stronger grip on the marble, as it only made him skid back a couple feet. Tinnitus ravaging his ears, and his shield quaking from the hardened impact, his irises shook back and forth.

‘He has a curse … it has to be.’

Pressing the trigger on his gun, he heard an empty clicking noise from the chamber. Widening his eyes, he didn’t need to glance down to know what that sound meant…

“Shit!”

With no way to pluck in more bullets, he still had his shield with him. Holstering his pistol back onto his waist, many more weapons were still enclosed in glass.

Ranging from swords and axes, he could fight him fair and square with them.

Meanwhile, Kenichi had already spread both of his feet far apart. The air being spread apart by his strength, it rippled and slashed without the usage of his chainsaws.

‘I need to get to those boxes!’

Using his shield as intended, he soared most of his strength into the vile of his legs. Feeling his toes burn like fire, he sprinted his way toward those glass prisons.

But Kenichi hammered down on him.

With the power of two, David gasped out saliva. Slamming into a wall, his back denting the lavished stone. No time to stall, he quickly got up, but his legs and knees wobbled from his tinnitus.

‘I need to get to them … I need to …’

He decided to leap left, while avoiding a collection of invisible fists. Honing only his instinct, even this wouldn’t be advisable, as he felt one or two fists graze his leather jacket. Unable to know where they’ll hit, he had his shield surround his body like a dome.

But just as he was 90 degrees to Kenichi’s right, he soon felt the shield shamble again; with two fists.

Sending him toward a wall, he felt his back crackle a bit from the impact. Sending out a small stream of blood from his nostrils, he felt his eyes flicker softly.

As he couldn’t stand up.

‘I … need …’

He raised the shield, and carried it with both of his hands rather than one. Gripping onto the strap for dear life, he narrowed his eyes.

Upon feeling blow after blow, it smacked and rumbled the metal bit by bit. Hearing crackles along its edges, and feeling his bones quaver, it was enough for him to shiver his eyeballs.

‘Need…’

Blow after blow, each fist was the equivalent to the slug of a shotgun. With the crackling beginning to go deeper and deeper, he breathed and panted through his mouth…

Until the shield split in half.

Snapping like a fortune cookie, David clutched both edges of the shield with strained hands. Feeling the sharp metal stab his palms, he narrowed his gaze…

‘Oh no…’

His eyes already widened, and his stare being at the barely visible fist, he could literally see the lining of air being pushed. His strength drained, and his will to defend severed, he felt his hair be stained on his drenched forehead. But it was all swept away—

He wasn’t punched.

Kenichi kept his glaring eyes on him, while the back of his hairs trickled ever so increasingly.

—“Why are you here?”—

He didn’t speak to David, but to the person in back of him. In a single gust of wind, one of his ghastly hands zipped through the air, and grabbed onto something warm.

It was a person, a person that was unveiled in the light. Looking to be a woman, she was in her young 30s, and had glasses and monolid—

Eyes.

“Why …”

Jenny struggled to breathe, as her legs dangled in the air.

David didn’t have the energy to get up from the floor, as he dropped the broken shield. One of her hands gripping the invisible hand, her other hand was low to her thigh. And on that hand, she gripped nothing more than a spiked frying pan.

“Why did you help me…”

Her eyes flickered repeatedly, as drool leaped out from the corners of her mouth. Kicking her feet, David slowly raised his body from the floor. His hands stationed on the wall, he felt the tips of his fingers smoothened over the rich and varnished stone.

And once was up, his knees barely held up his body. His vocals jumping repeatedly, he kept his quivering eyes on Jenny, who began to turn blue from the lack of oxygen.

“Let her go.”

“You’re not in charge, I am. You’re too weak to even walk.”

David took a step to the left, but he did it ever so quietly. The tension worsened, her feet wailed even further.

Noticing a sword that was enclosed, it looked to be inside a glass rectangular box. Using only his peripheral vision, he continued to keep his eyes on both Jenny and Kenichi, while sweat drenched his forehead.

“There is no reason for you to do this.”

His grip on Jenny loosened, leaving for a bit of air to plunge her throat. Even though she was being choked, Kenichi tilted his head down to the marbled floor.

“You don’t get it, do you…”

With sparks and embers increasing from his blades, the chainsaws that he wielded were low to his waists. Hearing her breathless wheezes, his eyes began to darken the more she heard her. Closing his eyes firmly, his hands trembled the more he stalled … until the grip on her throat ceased.

Dropping to the floor, she crashed onto her shoulder, and felt the cold marble shingle her.

“I don’t want to kill, but I’m forced to. I don’t want to fight, but orders are orders. Do you feel the same way?”

David took another silent step to the left, or rather two. Trying to make himself act like a mouse, his left hand reached ever so outward, his fingers and palm staining the stone. But he stopped, once he saw Kenichi raise his head …

“Yeah … that’s one thing that I 100% agree on.”

With the tips of his toes, he bursted the marble from his boots. Having his left hand already extended, it was balled, hardened, and pushed straight into the nearest direction…

Which was a glass box, prisoning an axe.

Stinging and pinching his knuckles, he felt his knuckles and fingers be scraped against. Pulling out a short metallic axe, he felt the air honing straight down his back. And turning the axe…

‘Please God, give me Luke’s luck just this once…’

Two chainsaws anviled down on him, and all he needed was to swing the axe. In slow motion … he sliced the two chainsaws that charged him. The rotating chains scraping the floor, it unleashed many embers that splattered the marble.

And just like that, Kenichi withdrew both of his invisible hands, as his breathing returned to normal. Losing his weapons, he took a step back with hands low to his sides.

‘I lost this round…’

Enclosing both of his hands, he pushed his heels off the floor. Escaping through a backdoor, he used his shoulder as a shield, leaving a chunk of wood to shatter to pieces. Seeing him gone, away from the mansion that both of them subsided with, David arched his head back as he saw the ceiling.

A strand of hair trickled against his eye. As for Jenny, she had her eyes focus on the garden that was to the right of the hallway.

‘Wow…’

She reflected the light from her scleras, a light that was red and brimming with pollen. Seeing her own memories, her own joy, all of that was within that single red rose she stared.

Even when ash and smoke fluttered right above it.

________________________________________________________________________

(Libertatem 1, 59 / 5:14AM)

“Pick your battles Jenny, you almost got killed.”

“But you were … you were—”

“I wasn’t. Why did you think I held back?”

Having both of their arms wrapping around each other, they walked. Grazing the asphalt with their boots, they smelt the reddish sky that still lingered above them.

“Honestly … I don’t think there’s any use trying to get him back …”

“But, he must have been brainwashed right? He would have never acted that way.”

“Yeah … he wouldn’t … let’s just find Briggs.”

He thought of the last of his memories, of when he was only a teen. The shells, the gunfire, the gunsmoke, even the stench of iron clouded his nostrils. Corpses being used as shields, as cover, he remembered the smell of trench feet. Bullet after bullet, charge after charge, what he feared most—

Headlights shone on his darkened face.

Breaking through the darkness, was a heavy military truck prowling through the streets. Feeling the asphalt rumble, they both ended their walk. As it came to a complete stop, steam hissed from the engine.

Walking toward the driver’s window, both Jenny and David saw the driver.

“Get in.”

David made his way toward the passenger door, while Jenny walked toward the back. Pressing both of her palms down onto the edge, she lifted herself up, and noticed the lack of—

—Soldiers.—

‘What happened…’

Replacing the soldiers was none other than civilians cladded in nightgowns and garnished pajamas. Looking like they were rich, many murmured and whispered once Jenny got on board. Passing through the crowd of wealthy civilians, who all stared at her, they kept to themselves.

Sitting at her usual spot, she stared at the woman clad in a tuxedo suit. Her eyes darkened, her hands resting on her knees, she was by no means talkative compared to before.

“Where’s the soldiers?”

Tightening her palms, Alexandra continued to look down onto the metallic flooring of the truck. Looking like she was well kept in emotion, Jenny widened her eyes at the sudden realization.

“Oh…”

Unwilling to pry into the details, she let Alexandra sulk in silence while she quietly gasped. Seeing her raise a single arm up, she swept one or two tears that tried to escape, but they were eaten by the sleeve.

“Two of my boyfriends were in that squad…”

Jenny perked her ears upward. Hearing her sniffle, her breathing began to turn heavy, while mucus ran down her nose.

“They were only recruits … young men that had long lives ahead of them …”

Jenny enclosed both of her hands, and sharpened her eyes at the floor beneath her. Hearing her sniffling, and hearing her voice on the edge of quaking, it pushed Jenny to finally, just for once…

To breathe out with widened nostrils.

—“All I did, and all I can be … is to be a pleaser … I didn’t choose to be one …”—

Jenny leaned her head onto the metal wall, and drew breath from her exhausted lungs. As she remembered what her life was like … before Boris had recruited her.

“They must have meant a lot to you, haven’t they?”

Two long tears streamed out from her eyes.

Inhaling in and out rapidly, all of her contained emotions began to wept down from her cheeks. Swiftly, quietly, she didn’t allow anyone to see her, except for the woman in front of her.

As the truck began to roll in motion, David had his hands free from the wheel. To the left of him, Briggs roared the engine to life, as the silence boomed within their eardrums.

“What happened to those soldiers?”

Pushing his dress shoe on the pedal, he led the truck to a southerly direction. Both men taking a small glimpse of the skyline, flames of the inferno monster ravaged the heavens above. Briggs, who let David’s question thunder his brain, didn’t tighten or strain the leather wheel.

As he spoke in a cold voice.

“What do you think?”

Small buzzing soon shook the two of them, with mostly David being the culprit. One of his walkie-talkies in his pant’s pocket, he quickly took it out, and opened the small lid of metal. Placing the speaker inches from his mouth, he cleared his throat, and straightened his back.

“Hello?”

“This is Benn. We located a group of civilians hiding in shelter. Where should we go?”

“Luke instructed that we take all civilians toward the military complex; west of the city.”

“Copy. Benn out.”

Hearing the transmission cut off, it left David and Briggs to be alone amidst the darkened houses and neighborhoods. Their eyes peering at the skyline, who still ravaged the industrial center of the city, he noticed the creature barely reaching downtown.

His walkie-talkie still imprisoned in his palm, he flicked the lid down.

‘Godspeed; Luke.’