All of the World

The Church

The car was completely silent on the inside, although the engines muttered noisily. It was a grim silence, that of repressed fear. Kinomoto sat to the left, exuding a feeling of doom. Her lips were stretched in a thin line, almost white with rage, and her eyes seemed to glow a feral yellow—a sharp contrast to their normal dark green.

The car screeched to a halt. She tugged at the door and pushed abruptly, stepping out before the car fully stopped. With one motion she pulled her gun, cocked it, and fired. Around, the Chinese screamed, covering their heads as if that would shield them from the bullets.

She would like to shoot at every one of them at the moment, but there are only so many bullets on them, and their main target were the running Communist fiends. The men in the car with her and the cars behind her assembled around her, taking their positions.

" Come out come out, Mr. Li." Kinomoto smirked, her fair features distorting into something terrible to look at. " You have nowhere to hide. I promise, if you come with us nicely, we'll leave the rest of your pathetic kind in this building alone. Otherwise," She tilted her head to the sergeant next to her, who waved at his men, " We will blast this entire building into the rubble that it is."

The church was completely empty, which was unusual, for in such times when unrest coils the air and every coming day brings news of loss and despair, most people tend to turn to the only thing they still had faith in. The Christians in this land were few, but those that were attend mass diligently, and often, on days like today, several could be found, praying to whatever higher force there was that they be rescued from this torment. The fact that no one was here boded well—Li wondered where the priest was though, or minister, or whatever handled this particular building—there did not seem to be any sign of life in the empty hall.

" That bitch." He whispered, tearing a piece of his cuff off. " Here, let me look at that."

" Get off, you!" His comrade, Wang, scowled at him. " It's nothing!"

" You're bleeding like hell, you dumbass!" Li spat back. " Now cooperate or else I'll have to cut this damn thing off!"

" I'll count to three, Mr. Li," Kinomoto called from outside. It was such a nice day, she reflected. She was eager, actually, to see dust in the air, but the Chinese can have such an abominable sense of honor, she was willing to bet these communist rats would surrender just to save their poor, pitiful civilian-fellows. " If you do not count by then," She turned and smiled. The rocket was ready. " This building will be the new test subject."

" Shit!" Feng hissed, turning to the two. " They have a rocket!"

Li cursed as well.

" We'll never make it out in time!"

" One!" Kinomoto's voice echoed outside.

" Here, give me a hand," Li ordered, and Feng lifted Wang's wounded arm. Wang bit his lip, his forehead dotted with sweat, at the pain jarring his arm.

" What the hell are you doing?" Feng asked as Li grabbed his gun.

" It's called decoy. You go take him back to headquarters while I distract them."

" What, are you fucking kidding me? They'll kill you!"

" Two!"

" Yeah, well, no reason for you to go down with me."

" But sir!"

" God damn it, you son of a bitch, take Wang and go!" And with that, Li burst out from the side.

" Shit!" Feng hissed, but he pulled at Wang, who gasped in agony. " Hurry up! Damn it!"

Li saw the rocket. It was easy to spot, of portable size. The men were actually still assembling it, so when Kinomoto shouted " Three!" they did not fire it. He cocked his gun and shot six times in such quick succession they barely had time to realize where the sound was coming from before he took out the two men assembling the rocket, the two men flanking Kinomoto, another random soldier—who cares who they were, a dead Jap was a good Jap—and Kinomoto's hat. Unfortunately he only ruined her hat, apparently missing her head. He ducked back against the wall as the rain of bullets fired past where he had been.

Fucking Japanese, He thought with hatred, though he did not allow himself to dwell on it. He was cornered. He could hear them bursting into the church from the front entrance, which meant he could not go back inside to check to make sure Feng and Wang made it out with the documents. He could only hope they did.

He checked his options. The church was on a block, with a high wall encircling the sides and the back separating it from other houses. There was no real way for him to scale the walls—they were all too high. By this time, he imagined, the Japanese soldiers would have had the place surrounded. He was only kept safe, for the moment, because of the strange shape of the wall, which made it difficult for the Japanese to shoot him, but made it easy for him to snipe them. The odds, though, were not in his favor. He ducked out, shot again, bringing down three men, before ducking back again. A bullet whizzed by his ear—a very close call, but not one he was stranger to.

He looked up. Soldiers have a tendency to never look above their heads, something the Chinese militia took advantage of. There was a ledge, sure enough, but he could not see what was above it. Sensing that they thought he was giving, he darted out and shot a few more shots, just to keep them back and earn himself some extra precious seconds. He got one in the head, with some satisfaction—the said soldier instantly collapsed, blood exploding from his head like a fountain. A dead Jap was a good Jap.

Kinomoto swore, eyes blazing. She aimed her gun, but the Li scoundrel had gone out of range yet again. Oh she had heard stories of this rascal alright, it was said that he had the eyes of a hawk and his shot was as true as the Chinese were filth. His earlier bullet had nearly taken her head off—she supposed she only had the gods to thank for that.

" I want his head!" She cried, her wrath unfolding like a tidal wave. " I want him—oh I want him screaming!"

" Hai!" The men cried.

He could scale the wall to the ledge, Li decided, as he looked up. He could scale the distance to the ledge, whatever it led to. He just hoped it was not a window, if it was the people inside could see his silhouette and all hell will break loose. Well, he was probably going to die anyway, so what did he have to lose? He jumped and climbed up. He came face to face with a statue of an angel.

" Fucking whites," He exclaimed, because he had been startled. He thought that the statue was another one of those soldiers. " Crazy bastards!"

He glanced up. There was another ledge, a smaller one, on top, upon which sat a statue of yet another angel. He could get up there too. Wasting no time, he climbed, swinging his body over. He sensed movement below. The Japanese were checking his hideout, now that he stopped shooting. He was losing time. He glanced up again. Window.

Crap. He cursed mentally. He was stuck here. They did not have a good shot at him from below, but if they do decide to release that rocket, he had no chance.

Wait—the rocket.

Idiots. Li thought with some relish when he looked over to note that the ignorant soldiers had left the rocket completely unattended. And their cars, too! What luck—this bunch was not that smart after all. He could see the soldiers through the glass—they were hoping he was still in there. Well, their downfall.

With a jump, Li landed on the ground and rolled to relieve the shock of the impact on his body. He darted to the rocket. It was already assembled nicely for him. He flicked the switch, pulled the lever, and then darted to the car as the rocket sailed through the air, hissing as it went. The keys were still in ignition. He did not bother closing the doors. As the explosion sounded behind him, he slammed his feet on the gas pedal. With a screech, the tires spun so dust collected around the vehicle, and with a zoom! Li was on the road as the church burst into flames and crumbled into debris.

About ten minutes later, a dust-covered Kinomoto rose from the rubble with the help of her men. Her nose was broken and her uniform was torn and bloody. Blind rage fought to expel from her chest, but she swallowed it—like a proper Japanese woman, not like those whiny Chinese whores who think people actually felt sorry for them. One of the men offered to patch her nose. She allowed this without comment, and it was done promptly. Once her nose was realigned, she waved at the sergeant.

" Have some of your men stationed here." She said. Oh, if that Li bastard thinks he is going to get away with this, he has another thing coming. " The Communist Party never learns—teach them the consequences of their rebellion. I want every of these Chinese rats within seeing-distance from this church shot until nightfall. Report to me when this is done.

She walked calmly to the cars, and did not react much when it was obvious her own car was missing. Instead, she slid into the seat of another car and drove off, as the echoed with the screams of young Chinese couples, groans of elderly Chinese men, and gurgling young Chinese infants while blood began pooling the streets.

Yoshi…

The Chinese are only good for shooting at.