Chapter 10: A Capture Viewed
"Woah!" I awoke, amazed by a wonderful sunrise. "Hey, Ro! Look!"
"Mmmm...five more minutes...." he was still half asleep. I pushed him off my stomach.
"Hey!" Ro said as I got up and stretched. He stood up groggily.
"Look at the sunrise!" I said again. He looked.
"Kinda pretty." he admitted.
The sun was rising from the hills past the far side of Tokyo. The city looked much better in the sun's vibrant rays. Still wrecked, but better.
"We should eat!" I happily said. The sun had put me in good spirits.
"Wat can we eat?" Ro pointed out.
"We have some jerky." I said, grabbing the backpack. I fished inside until I found two pieces. I pulled them out.
"Catch." I said, throwing one to Ro. He caught it in his mouth.
"Yummmm…." he mumbled as he chewed it up. I took my first bite of my piece. Delicious!
Once we polished off our sticks, I closed up the backpack and put it on. But Ro looked at me with a confused look on his face.
"What?" I asked.
"Dat's it?" Ro said.
"Well, we need to conserve our food. We each had a piece this morning, and if we each eat one for lunch and for dinner, we'll have…….."
"Okay! Okay! Fine!" Ro interrupted. "Let's just go!"
I shrugged. "Okay, let's go into Tokyo and figure out what happened."
We walked down the hill and followed a highway into Tokyo. The highway was in shambles; cars were crashed everywhere. Collided with trees, each other, the side railing, or just off the road. We saw dead bodies in some of the cars, which we tried to ignore. It made me feel sick.
Downtown Tokyo. That's where we arrived about an hour and a half later. We knew it was downtown because there were those cheap convenience stores and fast food joints. And apartments. There were a whole ton of apartments, all red brick. Many had five stories, some had three, some seven. Besides their size, they all looked the same.
"Dis is not wight." Ro suddenly stated. "No one is here..."
"Huh. Actually, we haven't seen one person, unlike last night." I recalled. "Why?"
It was then I realized that this scene was exactly like the setting in my dream. Exactly the place. Exactly the time. If this was the place, then I knew we would hear a loud sound soon.
"Ro.....if we hear a loud racket, sort of like a collision, we-"
"CRASH!" the sound! The exact sound!
"C'mon!" I yelled, and hid in an alleyway. Ro ran next to me.
"What's-" Ro started.
"Shhh!" I ordered, and turned to the direction of the sound.
The noise was made across the street, at one of the apartments, through an open front door. I heard people yelling, but couldn't make out what was being said.
"Ro." I quietly said. "Can you understand what they're saying?"
He perked up his ears and inched closer, making sure to stay in the alleyway. "Dey are talking about...hummm..." he inched closer. "....something like....do not fight.....like your friend....come.......quietly?.....Something like dat." Ro crept back.
"So basically, don't resist, or you'll end up like your friend. Just come quietly." I summed up. Ro wagged.
Then several creatures moved quickly outside through the door. The first two were holding guns, and were geared up like soldiers. They was followed by seventeen other creatures, who were obviously the captives.
Two of the seventeen looked like cats, except with strange gloves on and a ring on their tails. One of the felines was holding a creature that looked like a light-pink ball with two stringy ears and some brown hair.
The next duo looked like cute plants, with red flowers on their heads. The next two somewhat resembled oversized chickadees, both pink. Following them were two small brown and white creatures that resembled gerbels, save the way oversized ears. The two after them looked, in the words of my sister, adorable. They appeared to be seals, with interesting mohawk-like hair.
Then came out two creatures with tiger-like fur, a dinosaur-like tail, and a horn on their foreheads. They had two normal arms, and then two other arms. These alternate arms seemed like they were simply fur. One of the 'tigers' seemed a little...different...somehow.
Following them were two bug-like creatures, that simply looked like ladybugs gone bad. Looks can be decieving, though. These insects seemed to be the most frightened of the captives.
The next prisoner was a lone dinosaur-like creature. He was orange, and seemed to bear a small resemblance to the tiger beasts. He was holding a little cat-like creature, with long ears and tail. But it didn't seem to have any arms.
The last prisoner was being held in a soldiers' hands. He seemed to be knocked out. He was blue, and looked like...well, he didn't really look like anything I'd ever seen before. He also had a V-shaped symbol on his forehead.
"Dey don't look happy." Ro whispered.
"Of course they're not happy, dummy. They're prisoners." I whispered back.
"Weally?" Ro was surprised, for some reason.
"Yeah, what did you think, Ro? That they were being yelled at and held at gunpoint for kicks?"
"Well, I dunno..." Ro responded.
"Ah, never mind. Look!" I directed.
Several more soldiers came out. One looked like a tall monkey with sunglasses. The other looked kind of like the creature with a V on its forehead, except much taller and with some nifty armor on. He pressed some buttons on a weird device.
"Alright, let's get these civilians outta here." said one of the soldiers. At that point, the crowd went out of view.
"What should we do....?" I pondered.
"We follow dem quietly and see wat's up." Ro suggested.
"Hey, good idea, Ro. Let's go-quietly."
We snuck around the corner, and used a broken-down car to conseal ourselves. We watched as the prisoners were forced into the back of a truck. The vehicle obviously wasn't originally made for prisoners. It seemed that a steel fence was placed into the flatbed to make a cage. There was barbed wire wrapped around each bar so no creature could leave the cage. There were many other trucks, in rows of about five, next to the one the prisoners were loaded into.
"I'm guessing we need to get on that truck." I pointed at the one with the captives we had watched. It was the closest to our location.
"Um, where?" Ro asked simply. He was right. There was nowhere to be on the truck without being seen....except....
"We'll need to hold on the bottom." I said slowly.
"Wat? I can't hold on with deese!" Ro presented me his paws as proof.
"Fine, I'll hold you." I admitted.
"Kay! But how do we get over dere without being seen?"
"Well, mayb-" I started.
"DAD!" suddenly, one of the creatures called out.
"Wat's up?" Ro said, confused.
We watched as the tiger creature looked over at the truck beside him, looking quite frantic. The guards were beginning to notice the incident.
"Time to go. C'mon!" I told Ro.
We dashed over to another car, several feet from the truck. There was a guard maintaining his post, even with all the commotion, only a few feet away from us.
"What now?" Ro said quietly.
"Watch." I picked up a small rock and carefully looked over to the left side of the car, which was behind the guard. I surveyed the area and spotted a garbage can.
"Perfect." I snickered, and threw the rock at the garbage can. It hit the garbage can, making the guard turn his head. I must have thrown the rock very hard, as it bounced off the trash can and landed squarely on the guard's forehead. He fell back, knocked out.
"Man, you good!" Ro praised me.
"Uh, yeah...I meant to just distract him, though....oh well, go with what works."
We slunk under the truck. As I tied the backpack around a vehicle part, the commotion got louder. It sounded as though there was fighting going on in the bed above us, as someone had cried out in pain.
"The engine's going!" Ro said. He was right. I finished my tight knot, put Ro on my belly, and got a good foot and hand hold on the truck.
As we sped off, we heard someone crying in the bed above. I then wondered what would happen next....
"Woah!" I awoke, amazed by a wonderful sunrise. "Hey, Ro! Look!"
"Mmmm...five more minutes...." he was still half asleep. I pushed him off my stomach.
"Hey!" Ro said as I got up and stretched. He stood up groggily.
"Look at the sunrise!" I said again. He looked.
"Kinda pretty." he admitted.
The sun was rising from the hills past the far side of Tokyo. The city looked much better in the sun's vibrant rays. Still wrecked, but better.
"We should eat!" I happily said. The sun had put me in good spirits.
"Wat can we eat?" Ro pointed out.
"We have some jerky." I said, grabbing the backpack. I fished inside until I found two pieces. I pulled them out.
"Catch." I said, throwing one to Ro. He caught it in his mouth.
"Yummmm…." he mumbled as he chewed it up. I took my first bite of my piece. Delicious!
Once we polished off our sticks, I closed up the backpack and put it on. But Ro looked at me with a confused look on his face.
"What?" I asked.
"Dat's it?" Ro said.
"Well, we need to conserve our food. We each had a piece this morning, and if we each eat one for lunch and for dinner, we'll have…….."
"Okay! Okay! Fine!" Ro interrupted. "Let's just go!"
I shrugged. "Okay, let's go into Tokyo and figure out what happened."
We walked down the hill and followed a highway into Tokyo. The highway was in shambles; cars were crashed everywhere. Collided with trees, each other, the side railing, or just off the road. We saw dead bodies in some of the cars, which we tried to ignore. It made me feel sick.
Downtown Tokyo. That's where we arrived about an hour and a half later. We knew it was downtown because there were those cheap convenience stores and fast food joints. And apartments. There were a whole ton of apartments, all red brick. Many had five stories, some had three, some seven. Besides their size, they all looked the same.
"Dis is not wight." Ro suddenly stated. "No one is here..."
"Huh. Actually, we haven't seen one person, unlike last night." I recalled. "Why?"
It was then I realized that this scene was exactly like the setting in my dream. Exactly the place. Exactly the time. If this was the place, then I knew we would hear a loud sound soon.
"Ro.....if we hear a loud racket, sort of like a collision, we-"
"CRASH!" the sound! The exact sound!
"C'mon!" I yelled, and hid in an alleyway. Ro ran next to me.
"What's-" Ro started.
"Shhh!" I ordered, and turned to the direction of the sound.
The noise was made across the street, at one of the apartments, through an open front door. I heard people yelling, but couldn't make out what was being said.
"Ro." I quietly said. "Can you understand what they're saying?"
He perked up his ears and inched closer, making sure to stay in the alleyway. "Dey are talking about...hummm..." he inched closer. "....something like....do not fight.....like your friend....come.......quietly?.....Something like dat." Ro crept back.
"So basically, don't resist, or you'll end up like your friend. Just come quietly." I summed up. Ro wagged.
Then several creatures moved quickly outside through the door. The first two were holding guns, and were geared up like soldiers. They was followed by seventeen other creatures, who were obviously the captives.
Two of the seventeen looked like cats, except with strange gloves on and a ring on their tails. One of the felines was holding a creature that looked like a light-pink ball with two stringy ears and some brown hair.
The next duo looked like cute plants, with red flowers on their heads. The next two somewhat resembled oversized chickadees, both pink. Following them were two small brown and white creatures that resembled gerbels, save the way oversized ears. The two after them looked, in the words of my sister, adorable. They appeared to be seals, with interesting mohawk-like hair.
Then came out two creatures with tiger-like fur, a dinosaur-like tail, and a horn on their foreheads. They had two normal arms, and then two other arms. These alternate arms seemed like they were simply fur. One of the 'tigers' seemed a little...different...somehow.
Following them were two bug-like creatures, that simply looked like ladybugs gone bad. Looks can be decieving, though. These insects seemed to be the most frightened of the captives.
The next prisoner was a lone dinosaur-like creature. He was orange, and seemed to bear a small resemblance to the tiger beasts. He was holding a little cat-like creature, with long ears and tail. But it didn't seem to have any arms.
The last prisoner was being held in a soldiers' hands. He seemed to be knocked out. He was blue, and looked like...well, he didn't really look like anything I'd ever seen before. He also had a V-shaped symbol on his forehead.
"Dey don't look happy." Ro whispered.
"Of course they're not happy, dummy. They're prisoners." I whispered back.
"Weally?" Ro was surprised, for some reason.
"Yeah, what did you think, Ro? That they were being yelled at and held at gunpoint for kicks?"
"Well, I dunno..." Ro responded.
"Ah, never mind. Look!" I directed.
Several more soldiers came out. One looked like a tall monkey with sunglasses. The other looked kind of like the creature with a V on its forehead, except much taller and with some nifty armor on. He pressed some buttons on a weird device.
"Alright, let's get these civilians outta here." said one of the soldiers. At that point, the crowd went out of view.
"What should we do....?" I pondered.
"We follow dem quietly and see wat's up." Ro suggested.
"Hey, good idea, Ro. Let's go-quietly."
We snuck around the corner, and used a broken-down car to conseal ourselves. We watched as the prisoners were forced into the back of a truck. The vehicle obviously wasn't originally made for prisoners. It seemed that a steel fence was placed into the flatbed to make a cage. There was barbed wire wrapped around each bar so no creature could leave the cage. There were many other trucks, in rows of about five, next to the one the prisoners were loaded into.
"I'm guessing we need to get on that truck." I pointed at the one with the captives we had watched. It was the closest to our location.
"Um, where?" Ro asked simply. He was right. There was nowhere to be on the truck without being seen....except....
"We'll need to hold on the bottom." I said slowly.
"Wat? I can't hold on with deese!" Ro presented me his paws as proof.
"Fine, I'll hold you." I admitted.
"Kay! But how do we get over dere without being seen?"
"Well, mayb-" I started.
"DAD!" suddenly, one of the creatures called out.
"Wat's up?" Ro said, confused.
We watched as the tiger creature looked over at the truck beside him, looking quite frantic. The guards were beginning to notice the incident.
"Time to go. C'mon!" I told Ro.
We dashed over to another car, several feet from the truck. There was a guard maintaining his post, even with all the commotion, only a few feet away from us.
"What now?" Ro said quietly.
"Watch." I picked up a small rock and carefully looked over to the left side of the car, which was behind the guard. I surveyed the area and spotted a garbage can.
"Perfect." I snickered, and threw the rock at the garbage can. It hit the garbage can, making the guard turn his head. I must have thrown the rock very hard, as it bounced off the trash can and landed squarely on the guard's forehead. He fell back, knocked out.
"Man, you good!" Ro praised me.
"Uh, yeah...I meant to just distract him, though....oh well, go with what works."
We slunk under the truck. As I tied the backpack around a vehicle part, the commotion got louder. It sounded as though there was fighting going on in the bed above us, as someone had cried out in pain.
"The engine's going!" Ro said. He was right. I finished my tight knot, put Ro on my belly, and got a good foot and hand hold on the truck.
As we sped off, we heard someone crying in the bed above. I then wondered what would happen next....