Bloodstained Rose

Chapter 14

Tetsu’s heart continued to beat along with his feet as he rushed onward, still unaware that he had constantly been coming into the sight of Genji’s rifle. He took a glance over his shoulder, catching the quick blurry image of a man-sized figure behind him. The sight caused him to panic and continue to gain more distance. It was clear that it was one of Paxton’s men and not one of the G.E.I. troops.

He had been conscious of the possibility of leading the Liberation forces to Nomad and the others, so the best he could do now was try to lure his pursuer further down into the vegetation. His feet began to sting from root covered terrain. The vines overhead would snag his black yoroi every now and then as he navigated the tangly labyrinth. The sound of rifles in the jungle was slowly starting to dissipate with each passing second.

Up ahead, the edge of the rugged path ahead dipped down, going deeper towards where a stream had once flowed through. The twisted and mangled trees beneath his feet crackled all the way down. They stretched down for several feet, flourishing into a weave of bark and moss. Tetsu had practically floated down the grade—skipping ahead multiple feet at a time.

“He’s up ahead.” Genji’s voice had barely been audible from behind him.

Tetsu continued scaling alongside the muddy path. The only thing immediately across was a two-hundred-yard gap of empty meadow, leading directly to more trees. He was getting further away from the forest and closer to the water. From here, he would hope to go down to another dirt path and to the Mobile Carrier.

All at once, the boulders along the bottom of the ravine had been chipped by a volley of rounds. Tetsu dived into them, quickly trying to channel the Deep while a hail of gunfire rang out from above. The terrain around him continued to explode from the impact of the projectiles. Near the top of the slope, Genji continued to move in while continuing to squeeze the trigger.

“You can’t shake me, I’ve been playing around in these woods longer than you,” Genji shouted, still enraged. He lowered the rifle, pointing it towards the boulders while he continued down. “Did you know us peasants live the same life as you?”

He looked down towards the rocks, squeezing the trigger as rapidly as possible. The rifle had been loaded with a very small cartridge containing thousands of small grains of metal. Upon firing, the chamber had ignited in a reaction of particles, stretching the deposits, and launching them forward. He had enough rounds to spare but could only hope that he could get Tetsu before more G.E.I. reinforcements could locate him. The rifle barked up a storm, causing his hearing to damper into a faint ringing sound.

“I don’t know who you are, please stop,” Tetsu shouted back as he tried to crawl ahead. The mud was starting to cake up on his clothes while pebbles continued to rain down on him. He shouted once more, “I’m just trying to help you!”

“By letting your father run everything into the ground?” Genji shouted before he squeezed the trigger again. The muzzle released another barrage of rounds the bounced wildly off the boulders below.

“I don’t know what that Pax guy told you, or why you hate me, but I’m not your enemy. I want to get us all out of this safely. If it were my choice to hand over the village, I would have fought like you,” Tetsu had realized the bullets ceased. He kept cautious and tried to think of how to escape this. It had been his first time seeing the rifles in action and the sudden exposure had made him struggle to channel the Deep. He continued once more, “That’s not what happened, and I’m sorry. If you and Paxton keep this up, there’s going to be a lot of bloodshed if the G.E.I. retaliates!”

“Fuck Paxton, and fuck the G.E.I.,” Genji screamed again. He had found a bed of rocks that had trailed down the edge of the hill and towards the rocks below. As he stepped down, he pulled the rifle back into his shoulder to take aim at Tetsu. “We had the muscle and the insight to do something before it came to this.”

“They would’ve massacred us. If you don’t stop, it’s over.”

“I don’t give a damn about what they’re going to do. I’m tired of being ruled. Liberation is going to put a better system in place. All that power your family tried so desperately to hold onto is about to get pulled out from under your feet whether you stop me or not,” Genji continued before taking another shot. The rocks over Tetsu’s head continued to erupt, filling the surrounding area with dust and chipped stone. He was running out of room to escape and did not want to kill Genji; much less be forced to battle his own people. “Once we get rid of these guys, I’ll make sure to put bullet into your dad's skull, and then your sister’s. I can do Junichi in and then the little runt; maybe do you last.”

The threat brought Tetsu to his feet, forcing him to engage. He faced Genji and swung his arm forward, throwing his kunai into the air and towards his upper torso. In a fraction of a second, Genji had pulled the rifle towards his face to try and shield himself. The blade had met the surface of the armored vest beneath his robe, letting out thud as it ricocheted off. Tetsu had quickly gone from excitement to bewilderment seeing the weapon collide with the unseen barrier. He tried for a moment to try and comprehend the failed attack while Genji had been fazed by the strike.

This is my chance, Tetsu started to phase into his shadow-form. As he started to sink towards the ground, his body started to creep across the surface while Genji closed in. By the time he had made it to the bottom of the hill, Tetsu had managed to give him the slip.

“How the hell did he do that?” Genji muttered to himself as his target escaped.

Before Genji could even get a chance to re-engage, Tetsu found himself past the meadow and into the jungle once more. The talks of Liberation enacting a new system on his town had been troubling. It didn’t make sense to him why these people would come here and offer help.

Nobody would try to help somebody without something in return. He pondered what kind of system would be put into place and what his family could do to try and prevent it. It seemed unlikely that Junichi, of all people, would be willing to throw away his birthright for the help of outsiders. None of this makes sense.

Kismet had furiously swiped at her tablet, finding herself playing another simple game of Bubblez. Each time she had struck one of the bubbles, a brick that had been balanced atop crashed to the bottom of the screen towards another stack of blocks just like it. They would appear randomly, but she had to keep the screen from filling up. Rowan had given into the urge and fallen deeper into slumber, unaware of the chaos unfolding outside. The panel near the cockpit up front had lit up. In front of it, another translucent cube had formed, revealing Control.

“I have just received a distress call from Lieutenant Nomad, please respond.” Control said in a panic—or at least as programmed. The warning lights continued to strobe, barely managing to pull Kismet away from her game.

“Rowan, get up.” she said to her sleeping comrade, instantly dropping her tablet to her side and shaking Rowan. Control had slowly started to phase out of view as the signal from the UAZ had come in.

“If there’s anybody there, we’re being attacked, over.” Nomad’s voice buzzed over the public address system.

“Rowan, get up!” Kismet repeated louder as she delivered a soft kick to Rowan’s thigh. Rowan’s eyes crept open as the P.A. system continued to blare.

“Please tell me you guys are still there.” Nomad’s voice buzzed once more, this time with panic on his breath.

Kismet rushed over to the panel, pressing down on the receiver, and saying, “Kismet here, I hear you.”

She paused for a few moments before delivering an “over”. Rowan wrestled herself back to lucidity, struggling to lift the rifle as she awakened.

“What the hell is happening?” Rowan asked, still disgruntled.

“We’re being attacked.” Kismet said calmly.

“What the hell do we do?”

“I’m about to pull up in a few minutes, just get inside.” Nomad finally said before his voice faded out. The particles inside of the cube started to collect into one, revealing Control once more.

“I have detected an intruder approaching outside. It appears to be neutral, please approach with caution.” Control delivered the suggestion softly to help keep the tension low. Kismet glanced over to one of the monitors, lighting up as she had taken notice of Tetsu. He appeared as panic-stricken as her, and was in a full sprint towards them.

“Looks like that kid from last night.” Kismet said. Rowan hastily turned away from the panel and started making a dash towards the door.

“I’ll go scare him off, watch the door,” she ordered before rushing outside. Upon exiting the carrier, she spotted Tetsu already rushing towards her, continuously looking over his shoulder and into the woods. She raised her rifle and shouted, “Don’t come any closer!”

“Will you stop,” Tetsu shouted back as he raised his hands, stopping short of the door. He puffed for air, trying to calm his heart before finally warning her. “There’s some guys called Liberation coming!”

“You scared the crap out of me,” Rowan sighed, slowly lowering the muzzle of the weapon to ground. “Well, what do you want us to do? You gotta get out of here.”

Tetsu quickly approached her, getting in arms reach before taking notice of Genji taking aim at them from the trees. His first reaction was a quick shove, pushing Rowan away from him as Genji’s rifle roared. He barely managed to utter a warning before feeling the bullet strike his shoulder. It had grazed the edge, causing an explosion of flesh and blood to splatter across Rowan’s face and the side of the hull. As Tetsu cried out, his wailing caused Rowan’s heart immediate pain.

Seeing the young man plummet to the ground in agony only fueled her to take aim towards Genji. She had barely sighted in. As she unleashed her own burst of rounds, Tetsu had pulled himself out of the spiraling state of misery to see her ready to take Genji’s life.

“Stop, don’t kill him!” Tetsu shouted to her with tears still in his eyes.

A few rounds had travelled down range. One of the lucky shots had struck Genji’s left elbow, instantly shattering the joint. The rest of the shots caused his upper arm to explode into a cloud of blood. He immediately dropped the weapon and howled back in pain as his legs buckled.

“You ok?” Rowan asked after making a quick scan of the area. Genji had been left on the ground, unable to fight back as he had been filled with agony.

“I’m so sorry, I was just trying to warn you.” Tetsu cried to her as the tears continued to roll down his face. After seeing Genji trying like crazy to cut him down, he could only assume the other in Liberation be coming for him soon. Defeated, he shuffled to his feet, cautious as to not put weight on his left arm. The hot metal had instantly cauterized the gaping hole in his shoulder, preventing any more blood loss.

“Damn it, kid,” she moved over to Tetsu and reached towards the wound, keeping her rifle pointed towards Genji. “You got a lot of guts, that’s for sure.”

“I didn’t mean to lead him here.”

“I’m not worried about him, the high command is going to send another wave in. You need to get out of here.”

“What about the town?” Tetsu asked. The pain that had been visible on his face, only turning to distress as he looked up to her.

“If Liberation turns it into a strong hold, they’ll level the entire thing.”

Tetsu’s hands had clenched into fists, his knuckles turning white as he grappled with the weight of the impending disaster. His mind raced, thoughts colliding in chaotic disarray. The familiar streets and the faces of his friends and neighbors were all at risk of being consumed by the forces about to descend on them.

“Just get the hell out of here already!” Rowan shouted to him as the trees nearby started to rustle. From the vegetation, a few silhouettes began to descend on the two. Tetsu’s throat tightened as he tried to swallow the lump of fear that had formed within him. He dashed past where Genji had stood, quickly retrieving his rifle before he could shoot back. The wounded man tried to swipe at him, but instead had struck the air as Tetsu started to move into the woods again.

“He’s got the weapon!” A loud voice shrilled before being followed by gunshots.

Tetsu could feel the bullets and molten metal flying past him. He tried to keep his grip on the rifle while running as fast as he could, and then faster. As he started to disappear into the trees, Brian and a squad of troops surrounded the Mobile Carrier. The show of force had brought Rowan to the realization that she would not be able to fight back.

“Whoa, whoa! Hold your fire!” Brian shouted while pointing his rifle at Rowan’s face. She did not have enough confidence to try and go for a quick draw against the hardened warrior.

“Nuh uh, don’t do it,” Paxton’s voice hollered from the distance. He had appeared from out of the trees with a few of the townsfolk still at his side. The area went silent as the man started to walk over towards her. The rifle in his hands stayed pointed towards Rowan’s face, keeping on guard as Paxton approached. He then shouted, “You’re outnumbered, give it up.”

“Don’t shoot me.” Rowan pleaded, trying to not let her emotions get the best of her.

“Drop the weapon,” Brian ordered swiftly. The other townsfolk had approached them, keeping their aim on Rowan and the surrounding area. Rowan threw her rifle to the ground and then raised her hands to him. “Is there anybody else in there?”

“Just one.” She said after some hesitation. Brian had closed in and grabbed a hold of one of her hands before jerking it behind her back.

“They must’ve been working you guys to death to leave this baby here carelessly,” Paxton spoke loudly as he started to inch his way over to her. The stench from his breath had made Rowan wince as he drew closer. “I think you might be lyin’ to me. How many people?”

“Just one, alright?”

Paxton sighed before continuing, “Well, get ‘em out here. No funny business, keep slow and steady. To whoever inside who thinks they want to get shot on me, ask yourself: are you faster than a bullet?”

After a few minutes, Kismet slowly started to exit the Mobile Carrier with her hands up. She and Rowan had submitted to the squad without contest. The two stood helpless while the forces started to make a final sweep of the area.

“There’s two more in a vehicle on the way here.” Rowan quickly spoke.

“Yeah, we know. They were tryna take the long way, but I was lucky enough to find a shortcut. I reckon they’ve been got already,” Paxton said. He cleared the way for his men to hold the two women up while the troops started to enter the Mobile Carrier. “You’re lucky I’m a softy. The kid asked me to be nice, so we’re gonna be nice.”