Bloodstained Rose

Chapter 9

The port was just a few minutes by vehicle. Megumi carefully guided the vehicle through pedestrians and an alarming number of armed townsfolk for the past few minutes. In her ear, she started to become even more tense with Tetsu constantly uttering “bomb” over the airways.

“How much longer?” Judai asked again, this time starting to break out in sweat as he watched her start to panic.

“A few more minutes as long as that damn kid stops saying ‘bomb’ over the radio.” Megumi replied.

“You have to stop with the jokes,” Nomad said after sighing. “I’m not in the mood.”

“I’m not joking, he’s said it eight times already!” she raised her voice. Seeing that she was visibly frustrated, Nomad and Judai both groaned in unison.

“What the fuck was the Major thinking about sending such an amateur?” Judai added. Megumi called out for them to stop talking, immediately taking notice of a metal gate up ahead. The only thing separating them from the ship now was a few guards on duty and a few kilometers of open area. Contrary to the previous encounter, this checkpoint had been guarded by uniformed troops.

“Everybody, just be quiet for a moment and hope my access isn’t revoked.” she said while reaching into her breast pocket for her badge. The small plastic card contained some Cyrillic writing, a picture of her face, and series of blocks lined across the bottom like a grid. She finally put the UAZ in park just a few feet away from the guard booth, calmly awaiting the next move.

“This is so bad.” Nomad whispered as he glared over at the missing driver’s side door. The soldier on guard very cautiously approached, keeping his rifle pointed at the dirt path below.

“What the hell happened here?” the soldier asked. Megumi had gone through and given him the same story from before. As she continued, she lifted her badge up to him and tried to clench her teeth to form a smile.

“There’s a few wounded in Nojiri, and I have orders from the Guard Chief to deploy a dropship and do an evac.” She said calmly.

“Really,” he said while reaching for the scanner around his belt. Judai glanced over to him, making eye contact for a moment before turning away. “What’s his story?”

“Prisoner,” Nomad spoke up the very moment he saw Megumi pause. “We’re going to turn him over.”

The soldier bent down, getting at eye level with Megumi as he stared over towards Judai. After a quick grunt, he stood back up to finish scanning the badge.

“I haven’t gotten any orders about a ship deploying,” the soldier said to them, trailing off for a moment to read the results. After seeing her name flash across the display, he quickly chuckled and said, “Kawaguchi, huh?”

“What about it?” she replied.

“Like, the General? Vic Kawaguchi?”

Megumi’s face started to go pale. Her father had enough reach and weight in the ranks of the G.E.I. that it was likely there was a headhunt by now. The soldier shook his head before waving his hand at her. After giving a quick shout to the other troops behind the fence, there was a loud grinding sound from behind the barrier. The fence had started to slide open, finally putting the crew at ease.

“Looks good. There’s a ship up ahead, I’ll make sure to radio the Guard Chief.” The soldier said finally. Megumi smiled back at him once more, giving him a nod and immediately pressing into the gas.

“Thanks a lot, you’re saving lives today, soldier.” Megumi said warmly.

“Pfft,” he replied, waving his hand and blushing. “Get out of here already.”

Right before she could press her foot against the accelerator, another soldier started to rush over to them. Megumi started to graze her foot against the rubber pedal only to seize up.

“Megumi,” the other soldier shouted. The voice barely sounded familiar to her, but she had a somewhat high profile in Field Research and Development. The man finally approached the door with his mouth wide open. “There’s been search parties trying to find you, why the hell didn’t you radio us?”

“Well,” Megumi froze up as she turned away from him, too nervous to even keep eye contact. To her right, she could hear Nomad muttering something under his breath to her. “We’ve been holed up for an entire week.”

“Drive.” Nomad whispered, trying to his best to not alarm the guards. He began to scope out the surrounding area, taking quick notice of the fact that these two were the only thing nearby.

“My ass, what the hell is going on here?” he said again, this time raising his voice. As he started to raise his rifle, Megumi slammed her foot into the gas, causing the vehicle to screech forward. Judai immediately dropped to the seat, keeping a low profile as the two soldiers began to open fire. The sound of molten metal striking the side of the UAZ had sounded like explosions to the crew.

Smoke had followed the vehicle as the rubber from the tires started tearing into the few stones lined across the fresh asphalt of the runway. After a few more seconds, the sounds of fire started to multiply as the other G.E.I. forces were alarmed. Nomad could hear the window to his right starting to crack from the repeated gun fire.

Megumi could feel the vehicle lose traction as one of the rear wheels had been struck. The tire exploded into a cloud of dust and smoke while she fought at the wheel to keep it steady. There was a dropship still a quarter mile away and wide open for the taking. The steering wheel turned right, jerking from her grip for a moment. As she went to correct, there was the quick pain of what felt like a fist going through her back.

The dashboard had been decorated with a bloody mist while Megumi’s abdomen exploded from a stray projectile. Without even a scream or a sound, her arms started to lose control while the steering wheel jerked from her grip. Her mouth started to drip blood while her head drooped towards Nomad, who was beyond shock. The UAZ started to roll across the asphalt and towards a small hangar.

Nomad had been unable to gain control—the vehicle went headfirst towards a small ramp a few feet ahead. Just as it struck, Judai had been far ahead trying to get his focus to tap into the Deep. Right as he started to feel its presence, the UAZ had already launched itself up two wheels. In a fraction of a second, Judai had managed to push himself over the front of the seat in flight, only to make a breakneck maneuver. The Deep continued to flow while time around him started to grind to a halt.

After seeing Megumi’s blood covered face hovering in place, he reached out to pull her and Nomad close as the vehicle continued forward. The momentum from the turn sent it tumbling across the runway. With a quick series of movement, the top of the UAZ exploded into a swarm of shrapnel as Judai smashed through.

Nomad had felt as if everything had gotten blurry—one moment he watched the vehicle start to flip, and the next he had found himself falling a few feet from off the ground. He took a quick tumble and tried to recover. To his left, Judai had made a quick landing with Megumi cradled in his arms. At the same time, the UAZ had rolled on and finally smashed into the wall at the end of the inside of the hangar.

“How’d you do that?” Nomad gasped, still trying to process the events.

The crashing from the vehicle had rung over the gunshots heading their way. Before being able to catch his breath, he caught a glimpse of Megumi’s face and felt rage ignite in his chest. Judai quickly moved her over to cover so he could reach for his sidearm—a combat pistol. The small weapon was magazine fed with an offshoot of the standard pulse ammunition. The magazine had been fitted with around fifty dart-like projectiles. Much like a pulse rifle, it used electricity to launch metal at its target.

In the small time of the crash, the two troops at the gate had barely managed to close the distance between them. While they approached the front of the hangar, the first had been focused on the UAZ tipped over on its side. He lifted his rifle and gave the others a signal to follow him. While the two finally entered, Judai emerged from behind cover with Nomad to unload their weapons onto them. A combination of the pulse and dart had shredded both the men, causing them to drop instantly.

“Alright, put pressure on this while I radio the Major,” Judai shouted over to Nomad as he rushed over to the fallen troops. With a quick sweep, he had been able to check the runway for more troops and recover the fallen arms. “They’re going to have a shit-ton of troops on us in a moment, and there’s no way in hell we’re winning a firefight if I have this piece of shit.”

Judai quickly holstered the weapon before finally getting a grip on the G.E.I. issued rifle. He took a moment to look at it while moving over towards the others. Nomad pressed his right hand against the gaping hole in Megumi’s abdomen. The feeling of nausea started to mount as he felt an almost silky texture of what appeared to be entrails.

“I didn’t tell her.” Megumi barely got the words out, almost gargling as blood began to pour down her chin.

“Just save your strength,” Nomad’s voice trembled. He reached over towards her earpiece, trying to retrieve it while his hands trembled. “I’m not letting you die on me, damn it!”

Paxton’s face was as bright and red as a beautifully ripe cherry while he started paced the encampment. He had been going on with the other troops for a few minutes, locked into his rant.

“OPSEC, or Operational Security is fundamental for a successful mission,” Paxton said before turning to Rei and pointing to her, continuing with, “why do we use code words?”

“So the bad guys don’t know what to do?” Rei hesitantly spoke, shining with innocence. He had felt the boiling blood start to calm to a simmer at the response.

“You’re half right, but it’s so they don’t know what we’re doin’!”

Rowan spoke up, “He’s a kid, cut him some slack! I would bet money if you were in his shoes, you would have probably blown yourself up.”

Rei started to tune them out again. Just like before the battle of Nojiri, she had felt the presence from the Deep starting to clash with her onboard AI from her battle robe. The almost haunting sensation started to make her thoughts wander again—the constant thought of defeat. She had gotten revenge against Yulia and thought of Vic, but then thought of Jin, Hideo, and the others she could not save. Suddenly, she could feel something in the abyss.

The forest around her had started to fade to black. In the Deep, she had always found herself more often than not stuck in its grip.

It’s an endless river, flowing forward and backward through time. She heard Shugo’s voice again, with his vast knowledge—such that had been cut down and stubbed out before he could shine. Paxton’s voice started to ring out as she felt the presence of the endless river pulling her away.

“Megumi’s down,” Paxton called out. The words had sucked her straight from the void, bringing her back to the woods. Kismet and Rowan had sprung into action with the other troops. Paxton looked over the team and continued, “Rowan, you and Rei are with me. Kiss, you take the other team. We’re rushin’ in, you shoot anything with a rifle, and you stay close, do you maggots understand me?”

The team roared back and took position. Rowan and Kismet had taken no time getting loaded up while Paxton had continued to bark orders. Rei started to run over to the first UAZ as that haunting presence from the Deep had taken hold again. She grabbed onto the handle of the rear drivers-side door, just when a voice had started to hiss, “Reina.”

She felt a breeze press against her and towards the Alferov in the distance. The utterance of the name had taken her back to the many days of Shugo teasing her, nearly to tears. Once again, she had taken a quick breath out of panic, again feeling tears starting to bead up around her eyes.

“Reina.” The voice hissed again. She then turned away from the vehicle and began to take off towards the sound of the voice.

“Rei, where ya goin’?” Paxton shouted. In a blink, she had tapped into the Deep and used the momentum to launch herself up to the top of the trees. While he continued shouting for her, she continued to leap from branch to branch, gliding across the trees and towards the metallic prowess of the Alferov.

“Damn, now what?” Rowan asked him.

“Get the engines fired up,” Paxton said before walking over to the back of the UAZ. He gave the trunk a pull and opened it up to reveal the mechanical arms inside. The two metallic limbs were connected by a shoulder piece and were built to be draped over the user. He pulled the heavy machinery from the trunk and slid it over his head. After pressing a few switches, the arms let out a loud buzz before quickly hugging onto his forearms. “Let’s go pop some skulls.”