Bloodstained Rose

Chapter 13

Megumi had slowly become accustomed to living inside of the Mobile Carrier. The day had started off early as usual—five hours of sleep had felt light a long night at this point. It was still nothing compared to life back in the L-District, but she knew that after a few more months she would be back home. With the massacre that had taken place, she wondered how it would affect her relationships with the few back home. However, there was not much waiting for her. There were no strong relationships with any of the people back in Kashmir.

Right now, she had started to yearn for the cozy life of working back in Melora’s lab—where she could find peace in her life. She continued to try and make her utility uniform look as presentable as possible. Looking back at herself through the mirror in the dressing room had felt slightly more bearable than in the days prior. After helping Tetsu and Tomo, she had felt some levity and found herself able to smile at herself. A sense of genuine happiness was a rarity.

It had only taken a few days outside of the city to really get a grasp of the horrific reality she had been exposed to. She shrugged off the thoughts again to try and keep herself from spiraling into self-loathing—even worse something that would affect her position in the command. Once she had gotten her faded red blouse on over her undershirt, she smiled after noticing that it had felt looser than usual.

“Looking good.” she said quietly after taking a moment to turn and get another glance at her torso.

After giving the blouse another tug, she bent down to the small bench to the right of the mirror to grab her flak jacket and helmet. It had hardly taken her a minute to get the equipment fastened to her body. She took another step back from the mirror only to see her frame appear bulkier with the thick jacket around her chest. The smile on her face faded as she scrunched her face and puffed out her cheeks humorously to herself. After showing her teeth and making a few faces in the mirror, she had stopped to look over her shoulder.

What was that about? She thought before looking back at herself in the mirror. The lack of sleep was starting to form dark rings around her eyes. On top of that, she thought that her bearing was starting to take a hit—feeling less like a soldier while regressing to her civilian habits. Nonetheless, she gave the flak jack a tug and began to walk through the dwellings of the vehicle. A glad of light in the drab corridor had moved closer as she started to enter the squad bay.

Nomad and Rowan had been sprawled out across from each in their own beds. The inside of the squad bay was hardly a few meters wide and fitted with a few small lockers. Nomad had been passed out for most of the morning to make up for the extended shifts. He started to turn over to his side, finally deep asleep. Rowan’s mouth had remained agape while droll started to roll down her cheek. Megumi was hesitant to wake the two, but the call to meet up with a patrol passing through the area soon had already been sent out.

She very loudly spoke, “Drop your cocks and grab your socks.”

The sudden command had caused Nomad to jolt to life, revealing his bloodshot eyes. He cocked his head towards her and lifted his hands from his side.

“Can you bring it down just a little?” Nomad mumbled to her.

“The Guard Chief is making a few rounds and I need an A-Driver, don’t make me miss my morning route.”

“Alright, count me in,” he started to make his way back up to his feet to get ready for the ride. As he started to reach for his Kevlar, he turned over to Rowan to see her still fast asleep. He kicked his foot into the side of her bed frame, causing a loud metallic clang to ring through the room. “You got a shift, too.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Rowan muttered back, barely fazed from the quick strike.

“Get your flak and meet me out front, cool guy.” Megumi said before giving him a nudge, followed by a flirtatious grin.

Before Nomad could respond, she made her way out of the Mobile Carrier and around back towards the UAZ. The vehicle had been covered with a small layer of frost from resting in the shade. After observing it, she ran her fingers across the windshield, removing some of the rime. With a small stroke, she had been able to see the inside of the vehicle through a small dot in the frost.

She felt the spark of curiosity ignite and began to make another one just a few inches away. As she ran her fingers across the ice, she found herself starting to feel levity once more. With a few strokes, she had made a smiley face in the frost complete with scribbles over the top to resemble hair—or what she could come up with on the fly.

“Somebody’s having fun.” Nomad spoke calmly. His voice had made her heart jump, reminded her of the days at the academy.

“I was just cleaning off the windshield,” she said before brushing her sleeves against the glass. “I don’t remember it being this frosty in Kasmir.”

Nomad walked towards the UAZ and started to walk around to the other side of the vehicle. He kept his head low while slowly turning focus to her. Megumi could feel his cold stare starting to cut through her, causing her to shift her eyes away. Nomad reached down towards the windshield with his hand, pressing his finger into the ice.

“You know,” he said while starting to run his fingers through the frost covered glass, causing the surface to squeak as he began to trace out his thoughts. “I’m starting to put two and two together. I think your exuberance is what got you sent here. I know the higher ups don’t really like levity, because God forbid the thought of morale in this hellscape.”

Megumi stared down to see him draw rather horrid looking angry face on the passenger side of the windshield. She softly chuckled before pulling her hand towards her mouth to hide the display. Nomad quickly smiled and started to walk around to the passenger side.

“Let’s get moving,” he said finally before getting inside of the vehicle. “Take the bumpy route, I need to wake up.”

“Or rock yourself to sleep, lazy bones.” Megumi replied with a smile while following suit.

Genji had been so close to getting Tetsu that night. It had felt as if every moment since had been spent thinking of the near miss with his blade.

Just a few inches more, he thought to himself as he started to walk towards the woods. Following the arrival of Liberation, he and several of the villagers had been left with no choice but to take what help they could get. Lord Nojuro had turned his back on them and instead had bowed to the G.E.I.

The first thing they had seized was the mines—a place Genji had worked for years. Soon after, they had managed to blockade the ports which had only continued to add fuel to the fire. The rations at home were slowly starting to run dry. The few villagers lucky enough to be drafted by Paxton and his crew were eager to join in on the fight. Despite Paxton being an outsider, he offered them the only viable way out of their suffering. Genji continued into the woods and past a few G.E.I. troops that had been patrolling the outskirts of the town.

For the day, he had worn a cloak to conceal the rifle and the earpiece. The Liberation forces had equipped many the townsfolk with the same equipment. The ones who had taken up arms were armed with a different assortment of rifles, whether it be a traditional magazine-fed weapon or a pulse. He had been given the latter—a pulse.

The inside of the chamber had contained an assembly of coils to press a ball of molten metal down the barrel, propelled by a pocket of super-heated air that was dozens of times faster than a traditional bullet. In his ear, he could hear Paxton and a few others going back and forth in codes for the upcoming attack. Within a few minutes, the forces all over Nojiri and the outskirts lay in wait for one big strike. When that moment arrived, he was going to try and take a shot at Tetsu.

“Do we have eyes on Ninja-Boy?” Paxton’s voice drawled through the tiny earpiece.

Genji had kept low as he moved through the tall grass, making sure not to be detected by the patrol on the outskirts. As he started to move into the tree line, the forest seemed to beckon to him. Its depths had concealed Tetsu’s escape as shafts of sunlight filtered through the leaves. The orders to be ready to attack the patrol tugged at him. Up ahead he heard the rustling of leaves and faint echoes of Tetsu’s footsteps, only fueling his determination.

“I’ve got eyes on him.” Genji said as quietly as possible into the receiver.

The tension in the air only continued to heighten as he pulled away from his objective. With his heart beating, he could barely make out Paxton’s orders in his ears. The struggle inside had played out on his stoic face. In the fleeting moment, he abandoned the troops and felt the world around him fade away, leaving only the sound of the forest echoing in his ears.

The weight of letting Tetsu and his family run the town for decades had finally torn him away from his duty. At that moment, he pulled the rifle from under his cloak and pointed it ahead towards the woods. Once he had caught a glimpse of Tetsu’s black ninja yoroi in the trees, he took off into the woods in a sprint.

Slow and steady squeeze, he could hear Mezrich’s voice repeating the fundamentals in his head.

The last few days had been spent inside of the library learning how to dry fire for this mission. His finger had itched for the trigger while his eyes stayed focused on the target ahead. After a few minutes, he had found himself already passing through the thick brush and towards a large slope. The side of the small hill was no more than a spiderweb of roots leading towards a small stream at the base.

He could see Tetsu as clear as day on the opposite side beginning to move the brush aside. The area ahead was where the forest had turned into the jungle. The maple trees with their leave-less branches had seemingly come to an end. While Tetsu started to clear a path in the vines, Genji tried to keep focused on his earpiece. As bad as he was wanting to finally end this, he did not want to risk causing something to give away his position. The future of the town was riding on the success of this mission.

While the tension continued to rise, he finally heard Paxton’s voice buzzing through the receiver, “Alright Brown Fox, jump the Lazy Dog.”

That’s the signal. Genji finally slapped the butt of the rifle into the pocket of his shoulder, taking a moment to remember his fundamentals. His right hand had firmly clenched onto the pistol grip while he rested his face near the sights. For just a moment, he could see Tetsu’s outline in the aperture. He slid his finger into the trigger guard and slowly began to squeeze.

“The safety.” Genji hissed once he felt the trigger resist the pull.

He pulled away and looked down to see the safety still locked in place. After a swipe of his thumb, the rifle let out a click that reverberated through the lower receiver. With the weapon set to fire, he sighted in once more only to see Tetsu had already moved into the brush.

Within seconds of Paxton giving the command, the town had already erupted into chaos. The first targets were the drones doing their constant patrols, causing most of the townsfolk to flee indoors to escape the destruction. Immediately following that were a few isolated firefights that had turned into executions. Paxton stared back through the trees as he and a few of the townsfolk started to make their way deeper into the woods.

From here, he could see a few plumes of smoke rising from in between some of the houses following as the drones fell from the sky. The operation had been smooth sailing, continuing to bring joy to his face while he listened to the sound of gunfire starting to ring out. After a few minutes, his earpiece had started to buzz with the voices of his troops. First, they had informed him that the market had been cleared, then the outskirts. The few villagers beside him had seemed off-put by the chaos, but he continued leading them into the woods.

“You hear that,” Paxton spoke aloud, immediately causing them to focus on him. “That’s the sound of freedom. It’s earned, not given.”

The men by his side were silent while they continued to the trek into the forest. Before Paxton could continue, he had already taken notice of a small dirt trail up ahead. After raising his fist, the men behind him had stopped in place.

“Spread out.” Paxton commanded as he stepped forward, waving his arms outward.

The handful of troops started to make their way towards the edge of the dirt road, keeping vantage points across the passageway. Paxton rushed over to a massive bush, kneeling down as he sighted in. As soon as his knee touched the ground, it started to sink into the cold mud, giving him a quick chill. He shrugged off the feeling, perturbed by the thought of getting his utilities dirty before the fight.

Much further down the dirt path, he could barely make out the UAZ in the distance on a steady approach. It was several hundred meters away and from the first glance, he could tell it was moving alone. By the time he had gotten his rifle at the ready, the other men around him had been several steps ahead. Each one was as eager as him to finally get to pull the trigger.

“Nobody shoot until I do,” Paxton barked to them. He then reached up towards the receiver tucked in his ear and pressed his finger against the switch. The device started to hiss in his ears, opening the communications with his team. “Status report.”

“Fox One reporting, several troops still in a firefight near the port, over.” The first voice relayed to him.

“Fox Two reporting,” Brian’s voice had come through the channel this time. He continued, “We just took out a patrol in the forest, about ten troops, over.”

This had made Paxton light up. It had only meant less troops to encounter ahead. Much to his enjoyment, he knew that once he engaged with the UAZ he knew there would be no reinforcements. He started to sight in on the vehicle, keeping silent while the other troops on the radio continued to report in.

Nomad had not heard so much as a chirp during the drive—no warnings from the patrol he was expected to meet up with or from the Mobile Carrier. The constant sound of branches striking against the body of the UAZ had masked the sounds of gunfire in the distance. At this point, he had tried to keep his eyes open while he found himself bouncing around in the seat. The silence of the radio was not too uncommon, but the silence from Megumi had started to put him on edge.

He had felt himself gaining so much ground in the last day. Seeing her go from skittish to chatty was invigorating. With the two not saying a word in the short drive, he started to feel unsettled. Aside from being stuck in the same unit, he had not really known much about her. After taking a moment to look over to her, he took a deep breath and tried to form his thoughts into words.

“So, have you been driving long?” He asked.

The quick comment caused her to quickly turn to him. Her eyebrows had perked up, causing the atmosphere inside of the vehicle to shift.

“Excuse me?” Megumi replied, appearing offended as she winced at the comment.

“I think your driving is great,” the panic had forced out a quick response. Some sweat began to form on his forehead as he scrambled to think of something else to say. “Your driving is good, honest.”

“Wow, ok,” she laughed before looking back towards the dirt path ahead. “How about we start again? I’ll go first—how long have you been a dork?”

“Come on,” he smiled back at her, letting the words bounce off him. “Not everybody gets to drive. It’s cool, you know?”

“Didn’t you drive the Mobile Carrier here?”

“Yeah, I did.” Nomad said, feeling his spirits sink for a moment. He tried to hide his embarrassment while Megumi continued to tease him.

“You’ve gotta tell me what that’s like.”

The windshield had let out a high-pitched crack as a bullet pushed its way through. Dozens of tiny cracks had quickly run across it, sending a small cloud of glass flying towards them. The two had clenched their eyes shut, lifting their arms to shield themselves from the oncoming volley of bullets and molten metal. Megumi instantly jerked the wheel to the right, sending the vehicle off the road and away from the incoming projectiles. The seat rocked them as they sped over the treks of small trees and exposed root systems.

“This is Varsity Four, we’re taking fire, over!” Nomad shouted in a panic, grabbing onto the receiver as the back side of the vehicle rattled with metal.

Megumi struggled keeping the UAZ steady given the rugged terrain. After a few turns, she managed to navigate past a few large boulders, finally steering the UAZ back onto the dirt path. The side of the road seemed to light up as several muzzles inside the brush fired in unison.

“I’m about to go off road again!” Megumi shouted upon realizing that they were still receiving fire.

The sturdy exterior and thick plates of glass had resisted much of the punishment from Liberation’s barrage. She forced them out of the way of the gunfire, finally making a sharp turn to head back towards the Mobile Carrier. Nomad listened in on the receiver, hearing nothing but an eerie droning coming from inside. He could hear the bullets continuing to rattle the back of the vehicle. The old design of the UAZ had thankfully kept them unscathed, but he had still been tilted by the sudden attack. His imagination wandered. It was not clear what had happened to the patrol they were supposed to meet, but he tried to keep his head together. The vehicle continued to rock as the firing came to a halt.

“Are you ok?” Nomad asked after brushing the glass from his chest.

“Yeah, I think,” Megumi replied. She glanced to her left and towards the side mirror before letting out a bout of nervous laughter. “That was pretty scary, I’m not going to lie.”

“What do we do now?”

“We need to get back to base, just hold on to your butt.”

The men with Paxton had varying reactions to finally experiencing the firepower of their newly issued rifles. From shock to itchy trigger fingers, the volleys continued, every now and then striking the enemy UAZ.

“Hold your fire,” Paxton shouted as he lifted an open palm above, repeating the command visually. The sound of exploding muzzles came to a halt, causing his face to crack a smile. He stared down to the men, continuing, “I told you it would be fun as fuck! You guys ready to pop some skulls?”

“For Liberty, and Justice!” One of the men from the back screamed.

A subtle, triumphant smile played on Paxton’s lips as he watched new soldiers become animated. The air buzzed with the energy that he had strategically cultivated through his carefully orchestrated campaign. As he surveyed the scene, he couldn’t help but feel satisfaction seeing the seeds of influence had already taken root.

“For Freedom, and Democracy! Let’s get to freein’ you got-dang rebels!” Paxton screamed, causing his voice to crack. With a burst of passion and their newly discovered unity, they charged ahead quickly to track down Nomad and Megumi. Victory was now in reach.