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Note: Sentences in ' ' are being said in Japanese and sentences in " " are being said in English.
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Chapter 8: The Magnificent Seven
"I am Erika Phelps, United States of America Air Marshall. Max Samson you are under arrest for charges of rape, murder, and evading arrest. If you so much as move a muscle I will kill you."
With this declaration, the world seemed to stop for Sekai as she watched in horror as Erika pointed a gun directly at Max. Max looked directly at Erika, the pain of his wounds evident on his face. They all stood there in stunned silence for a minute until an angry Yuuki broke it.
'What the hell is going on?!' he yelled, not having understood Erika's English. 'Where the hell did you get that gun from?'
Erika didn't even look at him when she responded.
'Stay back, this man is a dangerous criminal from the United States. I'm the Air Marshall that was assigned to your flight which is why I have this gun. Now be quiet while I deal with him.' Her gaze never left Max, a finger floating just out of the trigger guard, but ready to fire at a moments notice.
Sekai's mind raced as she tried to figure out how she should respond. Max was too injured to even move, let alone deal with someone with a gun. She then remembered the knives at her waist and wondered if she should attempt to attack Erika, but one look at the gun and she threw that plan out the window. They would need to talk their way out of this one.
"So, are you going to surrender quietly or do I need to shoot?" asked Erika, her voice even.
Sekai glanced at Max and saw him just looking forward, not looking in the mood to be the one to talk first. She decided that now would be the time to speak up before things got worse.
"Erika, could you put the gun down and we'll talk about this calmly and peacefully," pleaded Sekai.
"I don't think you understand me Sekai. This man is a dangerous criminal. The crimes he's committed are the acts of a monster."
Sekai walked forward and placed herself between Max and the gun. She felt a shiver go down her spine as she stood in front of the gun, but stood tall none the less. Everyone else just looked at her surprised.
"I think you're the one confused. I know exactly what he's done. He has raped nine women, killed his own father, tied up two people and fled from the police."
Erika stared at Sekai in surprise, her weapon still aimed at them.
"You knew? And yet you've been traveling with him this whole time?"
Sekai didn't care about his past. He had saved her life, and for that, she would give him the benefit of the doubt. However, he had also hurt her deeply and she wondered if she should be standing up for him like this. No, she thought, I promised to give him another chance to prove himself. I can't do so if he's killed.
"I knew because he told me. Max saved my life on the first night when a classmate tried to rape me. He's taught me how to survive and fight. He's risked his life several times to save mine. I don't care what he did before I met him, only what he's done since."
Erika stared at her, stunned by this declaration. Ayumi moved forward slightly, peeking around the Air Marshal as if to get a better look at Sekai. Miho looked impressed while Yuuki just looked confused.
'What's going on? What'd she just say?' he asked Miho, not really expecting an answer. She looked at him and responded.
'I didn't understand all the words, but it seems she knew that man is a criminal and is standing up for him.' Her voice held admiration for her classmate who was holding her ground in front of someone with a gun. Yuuki just looked at his sister surprised.
'Wait, you can understand what they are saying?'
'Most of it; I'm more used to hearing English being sung in songs than actual conversation.' Miho then spoke up again. 'Phelps-san, can you put the gun down so we can talk about this peacefully. There might be a misunderstanding going on.'
'Erika-san, please listen to them.' Ayumi's voice was soft when she said this, but something about her voice caused it to carry throughout the cave. After a moment, Sekai saw Erika relax, and watched as she finally, and reluctantly, lowered the gun.
'Fine. I guess we can talk. But any suspicious movements and he won't last long.' She looked past Sekai at Max. "I'll give you a chance to convince me why I shouldn't just kill you now, but if you do anything I don't like, I'll kill you."
"Noted," deadpanned Max, his voice pained.
Sekai stared at Erika, and seeing that she didn't look like shooting at the moment, spoke up.
'Phelps-san, may I inspect his wounds? He was injured protecting me from a bear a few days ago and I haven't had time to minister to them.'
Erikia just grunted an affirmative, the gun still in hand and her eyes never leaving Max. Sekai turned around and started to inspect Max's wounds. She didn't really know what she could do to help him, but felt she needed to at least do something. Every time her hand brushed his skin she had to resist the urge to shiver. During the inspection flashes of the day before kept coming back to her, threatening to reduce her to tears. Max seemed to sense her distress.
"If it's troublesome then you don't have to do this, I can take care of my own wounds." He tried to sit up, but Sekai gently held him down, trying not to wince.
"If you could have done so, you would have earlier. Just let me help, moving hurts, right? It'll be easier if I do so anyways." Max didn't say a word but obeyed her order.
Clifford sat watching Sekai, forgotten in the confusion, but staying by his companions side anyways. When she needed him, he would be there, ever watchful and faithful.
Ayumi, Yuuki and Miho just watched the whole thing in fascination. Yuuki felt completely lost in the unfamiliar situation and not being able to understand half of what was being said. He just stared at his sister, he had never realized that she knew English or listened to English songs. As the stalemate had stretched on, he had found himself more and more lost. Yuuki hated being powerless, how could he be expected to protect Miho if he didn't know what was going on? He turned to the two girls.
'What's going on? Do you know what they're saying?' He expected Miho to answer, but was surprised when Ayumi was the one to speak up.
'Sekai is caring for the man, since he's injured,' she said, her voice as soft as ever.
Yuuki was surprised; he had never heard her talk this much before. They had both been in class 3-3 and he didn't think she had ever uttered a word. Even when traveling together for the past week she had never really said more than a word or two at a time, and only when someone had directly asked her a question.
'You understand what they're saying?' he asked.
'I read American comics,' she answered simply, looking away from him to back to Sekai and her patient. He thought her face had become slightly red when she had spoken, but she had turned away too quickly for him to be sure.
Yuuki just stood there for a second and thought to himself. You have got to be kidding me. Am I the only one who doesn't understand a word of English? He heard a gasping coming from both Miho and Ayumi. He turned to see what they were looking at and saw that Sekai had taken off Max's shirt and was taking off his pants.
'Sekai-san! What are you doing! That's indecent!' yelled Miho, turning red in embarrassment.
Sekai didn't even turn away from her work as she answered.
'I need to get these off to see all the wounds. Do any of you happen to have any medical supplies? I don't have any on me and that'll limit what I can really do. At this point all I can do is see what's injured and clean the cuts with water.'
Looking at her, Yuuki thought that he saw her shaking a bit. She looked like she wanted to be anywhere except undressing the man in front of her. He idly wondered why she was going to such lengths for a criminal.
Well, why do I risk my life for Miho's? He wondered to himself. He guessed that it was because she was his little sister and was defenseless without him. But Yuuki could see that this man was not defenseless. Yuuki had fought many of people, but this man had dangerous written all over him. He might be injured right now, but when he was better he'd cause trouble, Yuuki was sure of it.
While he had been busy thinking, Miho had riffled through her backpack and taken out their first aid kit. The kit itself was a large green bag with a white cross on its side. She walked forward and handed it to Sekai.
'Here you go. This should help. I keep it on me at all times in case Yuuki gets in a fight.'
'Thanks,' said Sekai, taking the kit and opening it up. Inside Yuuki knew were bandages of varying sizes, gauze, a pocket mask, antiseptic wipes, gloves, goggles, a surgical mask, a variety of medications, and several other items. There were even several packets of mustard from McDonalds, which were good for burns, as he had found out the hard way one night lighting a candle during a blackout.
Sekai stared at the contents of the bag in awe for a second, looking overwhelmed by the amount and variety of items. Miho seemed to catch onto her hesitation, and stepped in to help.
'How about I give you a hand?' she offered. 'I've taken several courses on first aid. Plus I've had to patch my brother up several times.'
Sekai seemed to hesitate for a few seconds, but Yuuki could see relief on her face. 'Sure,' she then turned to face the American man and said several sentences quickly in English. Yuuki didn't even manage to understand a single word of it.
Frustrated, he turned around as the two girls started to work on their patient. He was more than displeased with the situation. We should just leave him and move on, we don't need any dead weight, he thought to himself. Yuuki didn't like his sister touching an almost naked man, and a dangerous criminal at that, but nothing he said would stop her when she was like this. He had been in plenty of fights and she had always went and cared to both parties. It just wasn't in her nature to leave others alone.
Behind him he saw Erika looking on with displeasure at the situation. He was tempted to question her about hiding the gun, but decided for once to wait. He didn't want her firing that thing in the cave where she could hit Miho. Maybe he'd find a way to get her outside and away before questioning her, but before he could think of anything, she turned around and walked out of the cave.
'Where are you going?' he asked her. She paused, but didn't look back when she answered.
'Out, but I will be back soon.' Yuuki thought it sounded like a threat; one he suspected was aimed at the injured man.
Erika continued walking, and after a moment of indecision, Ayumi looked at Yuuki, worry on her face, and then followed the Air Marshall. Yuuki considered briefly following after them, but decided he'd rather not leave Miho there with people he didn't know. He wasn't sure yet he could trust Sekai, but he knew for certain he'd never trust the criminal with his sister. Never will I leave them alone together, who knows what he'd do to her? And with these thoughts Yuuki turned back to watch over his sister.
Erika Phelps hurried out of the cave and kept walking, trying to get her thoughts in some form of order. She had never expected to have to deal with a situation like this. Here was a dangerous criminal right before her, but what could she do? Arrest really wouldn't work. She didn't have a way off the island yet, so it's not like she could send him to jail. Keeping him around would just put everyone in danger, but the only sure way to make sure he wasn't a threat would be to kill him.
Then why didn't I just shoot him? It's not like he could fight back right now, she thought. Though, that's probably part of the reason. I'd be shooting a defenseless man in front of a bunch of children. Even if he's a dangerous criminal, they'd still see it as wrong.
Erika let out a sigh. "Father, what am I doing? I just left the kids alone with him, what if something happens?" she wondered aloud. While she had been a US Air Marshall for several years, she had never actually needed to kill anyone. She could use the gun well and had killed one of the monsters on the island during the first night, but humans were another matter. As she continued walking, lost deep in thought, a voice caught her attention.
'Erika-San, wait up,' came the soft voice of Ayumi. Erika stopped and turned around to see the girl, winded, rushing towards her. She stopped in front of the Air Marshall and tried to catch her breath. The girl wasn't very athletic and her stride was much shorter than Erika's. 'Where are you going?'
'I don't know,' she admitted to the girl. On the first night on the island, Ayumi had saved Erika's life, and had since kept her sane. The girl was soft spoken and had confidence issues, but something about her calmed Erika down. I will protect her; she is my light in this darkness, she thought to herself, never realizing that she was mirroring the sentiments of the same man she was considering killing.
'Come back. I know Nanasawa-San is a good person, and I feel her companion isn't a bad man,' pleaded Ayumi.
While they had traveled together before meeting up with the Hayasaka siblings, Ayumi had talked in detail about all of her classmates. While they might not have taken notice of her, she definitely had taken notice of them. Erika understood that Ayumi was shy, not anti-social. She just needed to be used to someone before she started talking.
Erika also understood that Ayumi needed companionship. On this island, the only reason she had kept her composure for the most part had been because she had been with others with self confidence. Erika sighed again before replying.
'I'll be honest, I trust you when you say Sekai-San isn't a bad person, but after reading Samson's file, I have a hard time trusting someone like that. You don't even know the half of what he's done. While I've heard suspicions that he isn't the real culprit of the rapes, he has clearly been cited as the culprit for several assault and battery cases. In addition, he's running from the law and AWOL from the military. One way or another, he's dangerous,' said Erika, venting aloud, her voice rising in frustration. Ayumi just stared at her quietly for a minute before responding.
'So is this island,' Erkia had never seen such a serious look on her face before, but Ayumi looked like she wasn't planning to budge. She felt a swell of pride for the girl for standing her ground, but still wasn't sure on what to do. Ayumi continued. 'I used to watch my classmates. While everyone else would run around enjoying themselves, Sekai would go to acting practice. She chases her dreams. She's been my inspiration when I've felt down. I feel that in return I should trust her.'
This seemed to be all Ayumi wanted to say on the subject. She stood and stared at Erika, waiting for the Air Marshall to make her decision. After several minutes of deep thought, spinning everything around in her mind, Erika finally reached a decision.
'Fine, I'll give him a chance,' she said. Ayumi's face lit up in joy at her words and Erika couldn't help but smile also. Together they turned and started to walk back to the cave to confront Max.
Guess I'll need to lay down some ground rules, make sure he knows who's in charge, just in case, thought Erika, feeling like an overprotective Father with a teenage daughter who was starting to date. She chuckled slightly at the thought.
Suddenly Erika felt an impact on the side of her head. Before she lost consciousness she heard Ayumi screaming her name.
After Erika had fallen, the assailant turned on Ayumi, hitting her in the head with a makeshift club. She fell to the ground in a heap next to her companion. The assailant looked at Erika and saw that when she had collapsed, her head had impacted a rock sticking out of the ground. Kneeling down, he checked and didn't feel a pulse.
One down, he thought. He looked at Ayumi and saw that she was still alive, but out cold. He decided to leave her; the creatures of the island would probably be there soon to get her anyways.
He noticed something on the older woman, and crouching down, saw the gun. He retrieved it and smiled.
Perfect, this is just what I need to have fun with the others. He thought.
Underneath his white hockey mask, Hades, self-proclaimed lord of the Island smiled. He left the two fallen females and headed towards the cave where his prey waited. Soon, their reckoning would be at hand, and everyone would know his dominance.
