29
Chapter 11: Somehow
November 2nd, 6:57 pm, Pacific Standard Time
In a secluded medical tent behind the main relief site, Akane lay tucked in multiple grey bed sheets in a medical bed, still unconscious. Erika sat at a desk adjacent to the medical bed reviewing the accumulated data from both teams while keeping watch over her. An occasional set of thudding, fast moving footsteps could be heard outside the tent door.
The tent Erika sat with Akane made her feel and sense an uncomfortable, distilled, subtle chemical bleach smell that wafted in the somewhat cold circulating air.
She looked at an old thermometer hooked on the angled fabric wall, then at the digital climate control. Both showed twenty-four degrees Celsius, about room temperature. The tent still felt cold to Erika though, emotionally cold and void of any warmth or security it was supposed to instill. The drab dark-green colors arguably did nothing to help.
Erika paused for a moment to look at Akane's face. Besides some bandaged cuts, minor bruises and her unconscious state, she survived an experience that killed Corporal Hendrix and was supposed to be her and Ishiro's death.
She brushed her hand in Akane's hair.
"I'm so sorry Akane. I should have never agreed to this, "she whispered gingerly.
The tent door opened up slowly. Shinzo began gradually inching his way into the room. Erika nodded to his presence.
"Erika," he said quietly, "we've...prepped the object for analysis. If you need more time, just say the word, and I'll have them delay the analysis."
"Thank you Shinzo. I shouldn't keep them waiting any longer. I'll head to the lab now," she said, getting up to walk towards him, giving him a small hug.
"I'm always here if you need to talk, or just need a shoulder."
"I truly appreciate it Shinzo. Thank you for listening to me earlier."
"Think nothing of it. I complain non-stop. It's the least I could do for you. If…if you do have concerns about her, just remember she's surrounded by medical personnel popping in and out, all having mobile life support monitors."
Erika turned back and looked at Akane for a few moments. Several tears dripped down her cheek.
"She'll be fine Erika."
Erika walked over and kissed her forehead, whispering to the unconscious, bandaged form,
"I'll be back as soon as I can."
She grabbed her report off the desk, prepped some supplies and a backpack for Akane in the unlikely case she woke up before her return.
"And here I thought you never warmed up to your half-sister. You two have come a long way recently, and it seems like you've been getting along pretty well lately?"
"
"I've always loved her Shinzo. I wouldn't blame her if she'd never forgive me though. Taking my anger and rage I felt for our father's misgivings, the way I treated her… abandoning her, my sister in that hellish unfit situation..."
"Half-sister."
"No Shinzo, she's my SISTER, blood and technicality be damned!"
"At any rate, if these recent horrific phenomena have had one good effect, it's strengthening your sisterly bonds."
"Maybe...I hope so. I don't know if she's been holding back or just feigning ignorance of our past."
"You know I'm not typically an optimist Erika, but in this rare occurrence, I say these feelings and experiences will eventually work themselves out," he said, giving a warm smile to her.
"Why is regret such a horrible nagging punishment Shinzo?"
"Maybe you should have some of that tea you buy Professor Sato all the time. That should lessen your tension."
"Hopefully. Shinzo?"
"Yes?"
"This object in the preliminary reports you wrote about...it really came from the surrounding damage of the oil tanker?"
"In the destroyed church wreckage, yes. Why?"
"I've never seen organic chemistry-like reactions with heavy metal concentrations and…and these radiation spikes, like this before, especially in something supposedly of biological origin."
"What does that mean exactly?"
"The irregular tissues on this object-."
"Jagged hide, I think that is what the report is terming it," Shinzo interjected.
"Okay...jagged hide, scale, whatever term we're operating with, is operating on a vastly different kind of biological chemistry….maybe even biophysics."
"You think this hide, and this unusual heavy metal chemistry has anything to do with the high levels of radioactivity around the ship and the shoreline?"
"I'm convinced of it. Moreover I saw Professor Sato's map he brought. He circled several south Pacific islands. A particularly large circle was drawn around the Marshall Islands."
"The Marshalls Erika? Wait…the islands that underwent-."
"American nuclear weapons tests," Erika interjected.
The door closed behind them as they exited the tent room. Distilled air floated from a vent circulator around the edges of the room. A dry and artificial breeze fluttered around Akane's face, disturbing some of her loose hair in her bandages onto her nose.
She began waking up, eyes still locked close, yet sensing her hair tickling the tip and sides of her nose. Rubbing her eyes she began focusing her vision on the covers.
"Hm...Eh….grey sheets. Where am I?" she said, instinctively and unintentionally scratching her bandaged head before wincing in pain.
"OUCH...MY DAMN HEAD. Feels like I got hit by a van! I must have been knocked out cold," she complained, rubbing the right side of her head, the most bandaged area.
Under the bandage she felt a big bump protruding from her left temple.
Akane's vision became less blurred. She could make out the angles of the hard plastic medical tent.
"I'm…I must be back at the campsite."
She gradually threw the covers and sheets off her body. She took a moment to survey the damage.
"Cuts and bruises, and a really big bump on my head, but I'm still alive."
She looked at the desk on her left. Her laptop and bag of personal items, and wedged between the flip-open screens of her phone was a folded note.
She grabbed it and read to herself.
Akane, I left you your bags and laptop, and an orange juice pack with some Ibuprofen pills. Use the control on your right bedside to call for a medical assistant if you need anything.
Love,
Your sister Erika.
PS, if you're well enough, head down the hall. Emiko and Hideo are there.
Akane starred at the note for a moment. A sense of unease gripped her body, more so than almost being killed hours ago.
"That's the first time she's called me her sister in a long time. Not since..."
She slowly got out of bed.
"AH! This floor's freezing!" she shouted in her head, instantly pulling her feet off the gelid floor, falling back onto the bed. The note flew out from the top covers onto her arm. She noticed it had more writing on the back.
"P.P.S., the floor's really cold. I left you a good pair of shoes and socks."
"Why couldn't you write that on the front?" she mumbled grudgingly. She slipped her socks and shoes on, and then drank the orange juice container in one gulp with all the Ibuprofen pills. She then grabbed her watch.
"7:07 PM? I must have been really knocked out cold. By what though?"
She thought for several moments, replaying her last memories of the day's events.
"Let's see…we're in Trinidad California, so… the oil, the footprints, the footage, the marines; there was also lost footage, the tanker ship, the-," she paused, circulating the last set of experiences she remembered. Then last memory finally played in her head, hitting her instantly with precipitous anguish and shock.
"That American soldier…Hendrix, Corporal Hendrix; He pushed Professor Sato and I out of the way of the falling beam, then… the last thing I saw was…" she thought, then froze, gasping for a few moments, realizing what the last moments of consciousness granted her before being knocked out.
"The beam…it smashed his head…inwards. Shit, I'm..," she gurgled, holding her stomach, putting her hand over her mouth, trying to halt her gag reflex.
"Keep it together Akane. Acidic juice coming back out will only burn…wait…what's that buzzing?"
Buzzing noises, minute and cyclical, but definitely a buzzing noise, much like the vibration setting of a cell phone. She checked her jean pockets. It wasn't hers. She checked the medical controls to see if an incoming call was coming from the others. Nothing.
Then a small thud came from the far right side of the tent, twenty meters away in the distant, dark corner that was closed off.
"Someone else is in here," she thought nervously. "A local resident?"
She began walking quietly through the dark green, lowly-light tent. Now the beeping sound of a voice message system echoed on speaker. Then she heard it. A quiet voice, belonging to a young man, probably a teenager, sounding strained and low, a somber timber in his pace and rhythm.
Her English may not have been entirely strong, but his vocal inclinations momentarily sideswiped Akane off. It sounded as though he may have been crying moments ago.
"-the fiftieth or so time I've called you. Please…please pick up. We're alive. I don't know what's wrong, but please pick up and call."
Akane was now behind the next curtain separating her and these people.
"These survivors, I wonder if I could talk to them. It might be breaking protocol, but…the information they could provide," she thought, leaning on a chair before the wheels at the base lost their friction, moving out from under her arms, causing her to fall right out of the curtains onto the floor in front of this young man and unconscious older man.
"WHOA…are, you okay Miss?"
Akane cursed at the fumble, lying on her side, forgetting she was speaking Japanese still.
The young man got up to his feet and ran over to help Akane up. Slowly pulling her up, they both stood motionless, intensely observing over one another.
"Please, take mine," the young man said. "I've already accidently fell out of that chair twice."
Akane sat in his chair. He ran for another near another empty bed. Akane noticed that for such a modestly large, advanced medical tent, the only occupants were her, and these two men, no other survivors.
"I…I take it you're a survivor too?" The young man said with great caution in his words.
Akane kept silent for a moment, just staring at this young man, this very young man, and this older man, who looked of Japanese descent.
"That's okay if you don't want to talk. I notice you speak Japanese. Am I correct?"
"Yes," she replied back in English.
"Then, if you want, I could communicate with you in Japanese, if that's easier, maybe?"
She thought for a moment, then replied back in her native tongue, "Yes, I…I would very much appreciate that. Thank you very much."
"No problem," he replied back in Japanese.
They kept silent for a moment, still looking over one another. Akane noted he had large amounts of bandages around the left side of his head. He noted she had large amounts of bandages on her right. She then focused her eyes just long enough to get a good look at the old man laying tucked in the covers of the medical bed. He was of Japanese descent. She wondered why a young American teenager of obvious European background was with him, and…not his parents or family that remotely looks like him. Akane decided to break the silence ever so delicately and probe this curiosity.
"Is that your grandfather," she said uncertainly. He sheepishly smiled at her.
"He's my uncle actually."
Silence permeated the room for a moment again before Akane got the courage to ask another question.
"So, are you biologically related, or...?"
"No, not really. He's a family friend…the only other family I have. I consider him to be my uncle at this point, but no, not a biological relative."
"Okay. I'm sorry for prodding."
"It's alright. I'm actually feeling a bit better now that I'm…talking to someone else who's conscious."
He looked over worryingly at his unconscious uncle, still breathing slowly, his body patched with dozens of bandages. He rubbed his bandaged head, wrapped in several layers of medical tape. Parts of his hair stuck out erratically in the back and around his ears, causing him to scratch at it. Akane understood the feeling; her hair was much longer, still getting stuck around the fabric openings and annoyingly hitting the most sensitive parts of her scalp.
She reflected on her last thoughts, the most immediately trying surging full force, inadvertently making her say, "That tanker almost killed us."
"What was that?"
"OH...um, nothing."
"Hm, okay. My uncle and I almost got killed to," he said, correctly picking up on the words she unintelligibly muttered. "I know the feeling…seeing that kind of carnage around you. Just shell-shocked…trapped, literally trapped in your mind and body, yet not even being conscious or aware of when you're just trying to survive. You're just in survival mode for yourself and your family and friends."
He paused with a momentarily confused face, and then asked, "What…what was that about a tanker?"
"Tanker?"
"Yes. Did a tanker cause whatever happened?
"What happened? Didn't you see what happened?"
He rubbed his bandages then awkwardly continued.
"I got knocked out at some point during all this. I'm only alive because of my uncle."
She considered whether she should explain to the young man that the tanker wasn't the only reason for the disaster. Then she realized a substantial fact about this interaction; she did not know their names.
"I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Akane, Akane Yashiro. I'm a biology student from Japan working for the government."
"My name's Lance Northwest. This here is my uncle."
They did subtly small bows in respect. Lance looked at his uncle for a moment, and then turned back to Akane.
"This disaster Akane, do you know what happened here?"
"I don't think I can really tell you. You may not even believe what really happened. You see, I'm part of an investigation that's tracking down these strange occurrences. This is the most recent and horrific one yet."
"Recent? This happened before?"
"Apparently yes. I don't fully know all the specifics, but something like this happened before over fifty years ago. It seems to be happening again, hence why we're…Lance, would you mind if I ask a personal question?"
He looked over with an expression that looked as though he was a rogue animal caught in the headlights of an oncoming car.
"I…uh…okay. Sure. What is it?"
"Can you tell me everything you remember that happened up to the point you got knocked out?"
He looked at her point blank.
"Sure, but can you do the same for me? Before I thought you were another surviving resident. I want to know what happened."
Akane decided to tell Lance what she experienced when she and the team investigated the tanker, leaving out the parts beforehand. Lance was taken back pointed over to her laptop by her bed.
"I…I could show you some footage."
"I, uh…sure. What's that?"
"Tell me everything you know and saw; I'll need to record this."
"I can do that, but promise you'll tell me. You're keeping these events very mysterious and locked up."
"I'll…tell you what I can."
"If that's as close to the answer I can get, I'll take it. I need to make another phone call first though. Will you excuse me for a moment?"
"Yes Lance."
Akane walked back to her bed, waiting for Lance to finish his phone call, presumably to his parents. Then she heard the very low buzzing noises, like a vibrating phone. It wasn't hers.
A minute passed before Lance returned to Akane's side. She prepped her laptop on and set the video.
"This is uploaded video footage that's no longer online. I was lucky to find it before it got taken down and probably classified."
"How'd you find it?"
"YouTube."
"Well…that totally makes sense when you think about it," Lance trailed off. "All kinds of video get taken down, but mostly due to copyright."
"So Lance, are you ready?"
"Yes."
Akane started the footage. Lance watched the first few minutes, noting and briefly huffing reserved laughs for the two young men's commentary and antics, only breaking his focus for his uncle. As the events escalated and became more mysterious, the sights of an all-too familiar neighborhood being cast in fog and ominous happenings necessitated intense focus. He managed several minutes of footage, up to the point where the fire truck's light flipped in the foggy distance, the two men shouting out the horrors and the skidding tires of a vehicle in the distance.
Then a low hoarse coughed popped out in the background from their sides.
"Uncle?"
Both Lance and Akane quickly turned towards Lance's uncle, missing the still playing sequence of the grey/black pathfinder skidding down the street while simultaneously the Okeanos Explorer pulverized the lighthouse, which subsequently flattened the pathfinder, roaring it off the cliff.
"Ohhh, what…time and day…La...Lance. LANCE!"
"UNCLE!" Lance happily shouted, turning around lightening speed and hugging him. He hugged in kind, smiling greatly at his nephew, then quickly glancing at Akane. She froze, looking uncomfortably towards her fingers on the laptop keyboard before realizing she should pause the footage, now at the part where the video zoomed in on the marooned Okeanos Explorer.
"Oh Lance, it's good to see you. I'm…I'm so sorry you went through that…that horror."
"I don't care about that Uncle. I'm glad you're awake. I thought you got hurt badly and entered into a coma due to a bad fall. "
"I fell?"
"At some point. The marines said they found you lying on the grass in the backyard. You closed the bunker with me in it. Thank you for saving me."
"Never thank me for that Lance. You mean too much for that."
But still, why didn't you go into the bunker too?"
He paused momentarily, looking at Lance blankly.
"I'm still a bit weak Lance. I can explain later. Some orange juice might do the trick. Lance…Lance, who is this young lady," Lance's uncle said, looking gently at Akane. She returned the acknowledgment with a subtle nod of recognition.
"Uncle, this is Akane Yashiro. She's from Japan. She got hurt too."
"Hello Mr…uh, oh, I'm sorry…Uncle?"
"You can call my Akira if you like."
"Thank you. I'm a biology student from Japan. I was injured during an investigation hours ago and had to be taken in to recover."
"I'm sorry you were hurt during…did you say you're part of an investigation?" Lance's uncle asked, his mood changing from calm to concerned curiosity.
"Indeed. I do not want to cause alarm, but I think you and your nephew Lance have valuable information necessary to understand what happened here."
"Well, she's to the point, isn't she," he whispered to Lance. Lance weakly smiled and nudged his uncle back.
"I was just showing Lance some footage recovered. I promised him information if I could record his experience. Would…would you be willing to tell me also?"
Lance left his uncle's side to fetch an orange juice box, while Akane and Lance's uncle stared into each other, trying to figure who'd come out on top. Akira broke the electric silence.
"Ms. Yashiro. Would you mind if I see my home…whatever is left?"
"I think I can pull up a map. If you can show me were in town I should be able to access the site photos."
"It was a modest home, brown in color, close to the coast. It's 901 Van Wycke St."
"Uhh, Akira?"
"Yes Ms. Yashiro?"
"You may call me Akane if you like…anyways, I'm afraid the team I was with stopped by the intersection next to your residence. I recall the spot because Lance said you were lying in the backyard lawn adjacent to a closed bunker. I'm sorry to say the only thing I saw left of your home was half a charred, slightly inclined wall saturated in oil and smoke residue."
Lance's uncle sat silently in his bed, breathing very slowly and looking at the tent ceiling.
"Homes can be rebuilt. What about survivors? I knew a lot of people in town."
"I've heard not many survived. At minimum a hundred locals were killed, fifty missing…I'm so sorry for your loss."
The old man placed his hand on Akane's.
"It warms my heart to know honest and good people are still around after this. At the very least, I'm thankful he survived this."
"Lance told me you saved his life."
"He got knocked out by falling boat debris in the harbor parking lot. I had to drag him up the hill before…before it all happened."
"So, you saw what happened?"
Lance's uncle paused again, the calm inside him suddenly bubbled with tense worry and fright.
"I did."
"What was it like?"
"It was like last time."
"Did you say…last time?"
Suddenly the tent door opened up. It was Ishiro, holding a briefcase, looking almost comically befuddled and perplexed, awkwardly scouring the interior, trying to focus on Akane's bed.
"Not here? I checked with Emiko and Hideo. Maybe she joined with…OH, there she is," he said jubilantly, seeing her next to the other old Japanese man in the medical bed. He slowly walked over with a gentle smile on his face.
"I hoped you hadn't wandered off. I wanted to make sure you're feeling well and content after…well, it seems you're doing much better," he said, pulling a small bag of items and giving them to Akane.
"Here are some tea packets I gave you back on the ferry."
"Thank you Ishiro."
Lance walked over with the orange juice cartons, giving one to Akira and offering one to Akane. He then offered one to Ishiro. He replied in English, "thank you very much."
"You're welcome. Please let me know if I can get anything else. If you're wondering, I do speak Japanese, as well as my uncle here" Lance replied back in Japanese, somewhat surprising Ishiro, his head jarring back at this young man's understanding of another language.
"I need to reframe from thinking America's youth as uneducated," Ishiro internally said, checking his bias.
"Now, if I may ask, what is going on here?" Ishiro asked, looking indirectly at the huddling these three were engaging around this other old man's bed.
"Ehm…Professor Sato, these are two survivors of the event."
"Well, what manners on this one," Ishiro said jubilantly towards Lance in Japanese, getting the hint he could converse in his native tongue. "A survivor offering me service? I suspected as much based on the bandages, but young man, you should be in bed resting to recover your strength. It looks as though you've been through quite a bit."
"I have, and my uncle more so Mr…I mean…Professor Sato, that is?"
"Yes, but you can call me Ishiro. Judging by the semi-shut laptop, I suspect you've been showing the footage Akane," Ishiro said, giving a reserved, questioning look to her.
"Yes Ishiro. Before continuing, this is Lance Northwest. This is his uncle."
Ishiro squinted towards him, comparing the characteristics of Lance and him.
"He's a non-biological uncle," Akane lowly mumbled.
Ishiro looked over to them and smiled softly.
"It's a pleasure to meet you both. I'm truly sorry for what you've had to endure the last few days."
"We count ourselves to be among the lucky few that lived or weren't maimed," Lance's uncle said, finally speaking to Ishiro and nodding in return to Ishiro's sentiments.
"I understand that feeling. In fact, I can sympathize with your situation completely. In fact, I suspect all three of us...I mean, four of us," Ishiro corrected, nodding to Akane and recollecting his episode on Odo, "have gone through a traumatic experience of some magnitude."
"What makes you think you experienced anything close to the magnitude Lance and I went through, the horror, Mr...what was it again?"
Ishiro smiled softly and pulled a chair from the side to sit down, putting his briefcase on the ground to his left, then quickly pulling back to his lap, tightly coiling his fingers around the corners.
"I don't think I properly introduced myself. I'm Dr Sato. I'm a biophysics professor from Japan working on understanding this unusual phenomenon throughout the Pacific Rim. Akane here is one of my students helping our team to investigate. Now, if my inference is correct, Akane," Ishiro said, now turning slightly to her, "you've been showing footage of the event to these two in exchange for a record of their experiences?"
"Only Lance. I came to about ten minutes ago, "Lance's uncle croaked out. He paused, then continued on.
"I'm still entirely uncertain if you can even fathom what Lance and I, or anyone here in Trinidad went though."
Ishiro pulled himself in the chair closer to the medical bed. He repositioned his briefcase on his lap, ready to open and pull something out. He stayed silent for a moment, his thoughts collecting, his gentle smile fading away to a blank expression of emptiness.
"There was a time when I felt I lost hope. Hope for survival, hope for escape, and hope for the only family I had left. When you feel like you've been pushed that low by forces beyond your control or understanding...," Ishiro continued, looking now at Lance's uncle eye to eye.
"It tears apart any will you had left to live," the bed-ridden mad said in response. "I lost everything then and almost everything now. I know my fortune of having Lance here still, but I still don't think you fully understand the magnitude and, just...how personal this event was to me. Professor, I've been through this kind of thing before."
"You...you have?" Ishiro asked surprised, mortified curiosity slowly sinking in.
"When I was still a child in the mid-fifties."
"Would you be surprised, "Ishiro responded, leaning over to him, "if I told you I went through a similar experience like you? I suspect a giant creature from the sea attacked your town? I think?"
Akane was taken aback at how frank and honest Ishiro was being. She became a bit fearful he might be violating the orders of the American agent and team protocol, not that she wasn't doing that with Lance prior.
"Yes...yes. How do you know this?"
"That why I'm here, why I'm part of a team from Japan investigating this resurgent phenomenon. It's also partly the reason for my career choice. In fact," Ishiro paused, flipping the locks of his small case on his lap, looking away towards the tent entrance in the far distance.
"I promised on day I would find out what destroyed my life and everyone else's, and destroy it. Decimate its very existence. I knew when I lost my fellow villagers, my grandmother," Ishiro paused again, fumbling through the white cloth in the flipped open case, until finally pulling out the komabue, "...when I lost my best friend, I promised I would avenge them in whatever way I could...and annihilate that monster."
Ishiro reacquired his spatial awareness after his monologue. He turned towards Akane and Lance, both sitting with concerned looks on their faces, but not towards Ishiro. Ishiro turned his head to their direction, back to Lance's uncle; he was staring wide-eyed at the komabue, looking shell-shocked.
"Oh...this? My best friend's. He played this…all the time, usually at the worst possible moments," Ishiro chuckled. "It was a present his grandfather gave him before he passed away. He loved this thing. Most of the music he played wasn't really good, but one melody he made, just before the attack, still sticks with me. Would, would you like to look at it?"
Ishiro put it back in the case, fluffing the white cloth along the sides to keep it protected.
"Please do be careful," Ishiro said tactfully. "While you look at it, I'm going to take these two for a second. Excuse me."
Ishiro ushered Lance and Akane to the far corner of the tent for a moment.
"Mr. Northwest. How much of the footage did you get to?"
"Up to around the part where the white ship began rolling over our lighthouse. Uncle started waking up around then, so I missed what happened next."
"In a few minutes, would you be able to finish viewing the rest of the footage? And, would it be possible for your uncle to view it too?"
"I'm not so certain, "Lance said with trepidation. "He still seems really shaken up still. The way he just reacted to a flute of all things…I…I think he needs more time."
"Absolutely understandable Mr. Northwest."
"You can call me Lance if you'd like."
"Alright. If, and when, you are able to finish the footage Lance, could you encourage him to view it when you and your uncle both feel you're re-."
"Ishiro?" Akane interrupted loudly, pulling at his sleeve.
"Yes Akane?"
Akane motioned Ishiro to turn around. There was Lance's uncle, holding the komabue in a playing position, blowing a couple wispy shrill notes.
"Wait. WAIT. HOLD ON!" Ishiro said loudly and firmly, turning full blast towards him from the other side of the large tent.
"PLEASE DON"T! IT'S ONE OF MY MOST TREASURED ITEMS! PUT IT DOW-."
Ishiro got halfway to Lance's uncle before he started playing a soft melody with his eyes closed to his surroundings, as if he was giving every ounce of energy and focus in playing this tune.
Ishiro's pace suddenly slowed. Every note and rhythmic progression stunted his ferocity to take the komabue away. The melody began melding into a memory. Ishiro, now slowed to a snail's pace, his psyche surged by gridlock and shocked from the melodious familiarity, stood as though he say a ghost through the tune. It lasted twenty-two seconds.
"That melody…" Ishiro croaked out quietly. Akane and Lance ran up behind him. Lance's uncle opened his eyes again. With the most delicate care humanly possible, he wrapped it in the white cloth, and then placed it back in the black case. Ishiro watched this all transpire with his mouth agape.
Ishiro stammered his words, before finally finding his vocal foundations to understand what just happened.
"How…where did you hear that? Please. Tell me where, who you heard that from," Ishiro begged, hopeful concern and tension filling his veins.
.
"I…I didn't hear it from anyone. I made it, a long time ago. I played that melody for my best friend before a horrific creature terrorized us and destroyed our island home. We swam to shore and split up to look for our families. When I went looking for my mother, I gave this to my sister to give to him, in case I didn't make it."
"Your sister…you…you mean, Masako," Ishiro said quietly.
Lance's uncle roughed up and threw the covers off him, slowly pulling his frame out of the medical bed. Lance ran over to help him, but he ushered Lance to stand aside. He got to his legs, and suddenly seemed to have an intense power of will to remain standing. He slowly, but with what appeared to be revitalized energy and spirit, walked over to Ishiro.
The two old Japanese men stood there scanning one other, noting all the physical details face to face; both old, Ishiro slightly taller with black-lined circular glasses and leaner looking, Lance's uncle more physically built for his age, their similar grayish-black hair color. Both tried to recall to the greatest detail possible their best friend's facial features and add sixty years to it. The silent mutual scans persisted for seconds, before the electric silence finally ended.
"Akira?"
"Ishiro?"
Mr. Dough, Yamane, Shinzo, Erika, Hideo and Emiko furiously walked through the cavalcade of tents toward the fringe medical tent, all with worry plastered on their faces.
"This is its direction?" Yamane asked.
"We haven't been able to properly track its trajectory, but generally a west, southwest direction."
"Where does that put it right now?" Erika asked.
"Probably off the northern Hawaiian islands."
"That far already? In almost two days?" Shinzo asked in an exacerbated tone.
"To be honest, it's our best guest. It's probably travelling along the oceanic bed, making it extremely difficult to track with nearby research vessels. It's got the sonar signature of a rock. Either way, at its current rate, it'll be in the southwest portions of the Pacific in four…maybe five days."
"It makes sense," Shinzo lazily announced. "We've only mapped the entire ocean floor to a resolution of five kilometers. Our most detailed maps at one hundred meters only cover around thirteen percent of the ocean. This thing's physical dimensions are below that range, so it's more than likely we missed it at some point. Either way, this is turning into such an international crisis," Shinzo complained. "This is not good, this is not good."
"It's been one Shinzo," Erika said. "Mr. Dough, are maritime authorities taking any action to warn or bring in sea traffic?"
"Right now only the U.S. and Japan are quietly implementing an order for all federal and private vessels to stay near shore. We're advising all countries along the Pacific Rim to do the same…it's extremely unlikely they'll comply based on just taking our word without an explanation."
"So people have to die before any other actions or warnings are taken?"
"Again, I don't have to like it Professor Shiragami, but it's out of my hands."
"Not properly warning other countries? That's low. Is it any wonder why the rest of the world doesn't trust the United States anymore?"Shinzo coyly whispered to Erika.
"I'm not getting into geopolitics again with you Shinzo."
"Fine. How about something more relevant?"
"What's that?"
"Where your sister is stationed, aren't there more injured survivors?"
"Only two I've heard. They weren't bodily harmed, just unconscious. Now that you mention it though, it's strange why they're isolated from the rest of the survivors. Either way, Akane is safe, and putting her there was just, I think."
"Ishiro said he was heading to see Akane a while ago. I'm wondering something…" Shinzo said, trailing off in thought.
"Knowing you, you're wondering about more possible conspiracies and secrets…again."
Shinzo put on a huge smirk. "Was I not justified Erika? After all, I was right about this investigation, wasn't I?"
"Well…that part I'll grant you, but…what are you on to now?"
"Do you think Akane, if she woke up, or even Ishiro, would intentionally start talking to surviving residents about what happened or what's going on…and I mean, what's really going on?"
"That's only somewhat legitimate Shinzo. Ishiro knows the protocol…I mean he asked us to follow it ourselves for goodness sakes, and he's not about to jeopardize his role in this thing."
"Again, are my suspicions not warranted, after all the secrecy, the bomb-shell after bomb-shell of discoveries? He's been hypocritical as of late, you have to admit."
"You're postulating the behaviors of two people we know, one of whom I know quite well to know not to push her luck with the authorities any more than she has. And Professor Sato?"
"Ishiro withheld critical, need-to-know information about our purpose on Odo Island, but who am I to point out that fact," Shinzo gloated as Erika pouted her face in response, knowing he got her.
"Ah, we're here, I think" Mr. Dough announced, reconfirming via a quick glance at the tagged tent number in the outside hallway.
"Yep, this is it."
He and Yamane peeped through a small glass window with half the shade drawn down; only the floor and lower parts of beds could be seen.
"I see…something, but it's shrouded in the back corner. Hardly any lights on makes it extremely difficult. You are sure Ishiro went to check on Akane Professor Yamane?"
"I'm certain…look, there's something going on in the back. We'd better check it out."
"Indeed," he replied back quickly, quietly opening the door, everyone else following except the trailing Erika and Shinzo who continued on their conversation. They made it to the entrance, pausing for a moment outside.
"Alright, on Akane, fair point Shinzo, but Ishiro, really? I know he's withheld quite a bit, but it's not likely to think he's going break the protocol, or nigh impossible to find someone here in Trinidad he knows from his past. What would be the odds of-"
As Erika and Shinzo were walking through, they bumped into Emiko and Hideo. Erika and Shinzo looked at them, then at Mr. Dough and Yamane, all with startled gazes.
"What's wrong?" Erika asked, before Shinzo's face suddenly cocked a surprised expression looking in the back corner. She turned, looking in the back, and saw Ishiro and another older man with their arms wrapped around each other crying.
The group rushed back, and within seconds, saw up-close the huge warm smiles and tears on their faces, with Lance and Akane gaping at the event along the onlookers.
"I have so many, thousands of questions," Ishiro choked out loudly.
"I do too my friend," Akira responded in a delighted choke, "but…I see we now have guests."
Akira pointed over to the tent entrance, glancing over only for a moment, then turning away immediately, wiping away his tears. Ishiro looked, still hosting a giant smile that he was trying to regain control of, now beginning to wipe the tears on his cheeks and cool down his red, watery eyes.
"What are we walking into?" Shinzo asked quietly to Hideo, Emiko and Erika.
"EVERYONE! Everyone, this is him, my best friend from Odo Island, Akira Tanaka."
Every mouth at the tent entrance dropped, their expressions looked like surprised statues frozen in time. Emiko slowly pulled her cellphone up and took a picture. Her grandfather slowly pulled her arm down to prevent her from taking any more pictures.
"You…you are certain of this?" Yamane croaked out, looking at both men now.
"Absolutely Yamane! No one else knows of this melody. He played it the same way the day, before…well, you know."
"I know for a fact that this is the same Ishiro Sato I grew up with on Odo. That was my Komabue," Akira said to Yamane with a grittier, more convinced tone.
"I saw it in that case and…the slight scratch along the side from when it fell in our boat when the whales splashed us. I had to play it. I thought I'd never see it again after giving it to…" Akira trailed off for a moment.
"Ishiro, my sister. Is she still alive? You sister Megumi! Tell me she's around too!"
"More than just alive Akira. Both are alive. You may not believe this, but, Masako and I are married. You have a huge extended family back in Japan. Akira, you and I are brother-in-laws!"Ishiro happily announced. Akira bear-hugged Ishiro.
"MASAKO AND MEGUMI! MY SISTER, YOUR SISTER. They…you… made it…you all made it. I have a family I didn't even know about, after all this time!" Akira cried out in joy.
"So much has happened since then, for both of us Akira."
Akira suddenly waived Lance over.
"Lance, I never told you this, but this man and I, we were the best of friends when we were children. This is one of the greatest men you will ever meet."
"The same about your uncle," Ishiro responded to both Lance and Akira.
"What were you saying Erika? What would be the odds?" Shinzo said to her and the others. Erika shouldered him in the groin.
"Almost…literally…well, approaching zero. Am I seeing this happening," Hideo muttered quietly.
"Almost literally approaching zero is happening right now in front of us," Emiko responded.
Yamane and Mr. Dough quickly walked over to the older bonding gentlemen.
"Ishiro, I can't imagine how jovial and beautiful an event of near impossibility and coincidence is making you feel right now…it literally is like a miracle taking place," he said warmly and encouragingly.
"However," Mr. Dough interjected, "we have several…unfortunate developments occurring right now that demand your immediate attention. Mr. Tanaka is it?"
"Since late 1954 it's been Mr. Ifukube. You can call me that, Tanaka, or Akira; it really doesn't matter to me."
"Akira then, sir. I assume since you are the famous Akira from Ishiro's unofficial memoirs that you know exactly what transpired here?"
Akira looked blankly at Mr. Dough.
"Besides the fact that it's resurfaced, more than you'll ever know."
"Akira, I want to express my sincere condolences for you. Going through such an unusual horror not once, but twice…you are a tough man."
"Hairs of hope for anything are all I had to go on. I had more this time around," Akira said solemnly, looking over towards Lance.
"This guy's starting to suck the life out of this room," Akane whispered over to Lance while Mr. Dough turned to Ishiro.
"Your best friend agreed to articulate his experiences on Odo in 1954. Would you be willing to do the same for now and then, along with your…" Mr. Dough paused, looking over Lance and noticing the obvious ethnic differences between the both of them.
"My nephew sir, unofficially, but informally my nephew, and as I understand it, this investigator here, "Akira motioned towards Akane, " was in the process of letting Lance view footage of the event that happened here to further jog his memory, or some such details. He has a right to know what's happened now…and then."
"Mr. Tanaka," Mr. Dough said with a lesser degree of tact, "Surely you understand the nature of this investigation, the need for secrecy anywhere at all possible-"
"Like I said, if Lance can't know anything, you won't get to know my side," Akira said with surprising sternness and anger, shocking Ishiro and everyone else. Mr. Dough sighed.
"Alright, if this is what will convince you, I'll permit it. I'd like Lance to first finish the video footage," He stopped, cocking a furled brow towards Akane, "but I'd like to insist upon the top-secret nature of this footage and all affiliated information; nothing gets in or out without my approval here in the states. Public release of any information without military approval will constitute as gross negligence and," he turned towards Akane with an annoyed furled brow, "possible treasonous whistleblowing."
"I'm still under Japan's confidentiality laws you ass," she shouted in her head towards Dough.
Lance walked over to the still jovial Akira, who wrapped his arm around Ishiro's shoulder.
"Uncle, are you sure you're well enough for this?"
"More well than ever Lance. It's time the universe give me a break for a change, and what a break. Besides, I'll finally get to tell my story after so long…and someone will believe me. What trifles me is that your parents don't seem to be here at all. Where are they?"
"I don't know. I've called fifty or more times and no response. I'm thinking a cell tower may have been knocked down."
"Actually, the connection is," Shinzo began before Dough interrupted.
"Down, yes, the tower got destroyed too. Connections have been extremely bad, and only military lines are operable in Trinidad."
"What did her say?"Emiko asked Hideo. We called each other just fine earlier."
"Something tells me this Dough guy doesn't want Lance knowing the connections are just fine."
"Mr. Dough, can you get someone to find out where Lance's parents are located and contact them? They must be worried sick. They're Scott and Linda Northwest, both professors at the San Francisco University. If you need, Lance can provide you their phone number."
"We'll attempt to contact them Mr. Tanaka," Mr. Dough said with a monotone tenor. "Lance, while I attempt this, would you come over here and view the footage in peace? Ms. Yashiro, it's permissible for him to finish up the footage?"
"Without question, he does," Akane said, sharply emphasizing on the word he, Mr. Dough sensing her slight combativeness and brushing it off.
"While you're getting ready, I have some things to tell this group. Our colleagues on Odo have uncovered some old parchments under the landslide. They reveal the history of the sea monster legend. They found a name given to it by the elders and priests. I know you don't know Ishiro, but Akira, do you know it?"
"I do," he huffed out lowly. "Before my grandfather died, he told me to be wary of a legendary sea monster, a god-like being that ravages little islands like ours. He said it was like an enormous serpent, as big as our hills, which could walk on two huge legs. I didn't take him seriously…"
"Akira, what did the elders call it?" Ishiro asked.
"It loosely translates to gorilla-whale. They called it…Godzilla."
Everyone stood silently.
"Yes…that's, exactly what the team discovered," Mr. Dough replied.
"Hey Ishiro? In a way, that crazy old man was right? What a way to be vilified."
"Yes indeed," Ishiro replied. "Unfortunately when we diverged, I saw him get crushed under an upturned boat by its…Godzilla's tail. Wow. The name, it certainly captures what this creature is and feels like to me."
As the group continued on discussing this new revelation, Lance loosely overheard them talking, but became focused on watching the footage in the corner. Before playing the footage where he left off, he decided to call his parents on his own one more time. As he waited, he could hear a buzzing noise, coming from the huddled group. Lance turned and observed the group. They continued discoursing. Mr. Dough however, put his hands in his pocket, his right forcibly and somewhat awkwardly.
"Well…what the hell was that about?" Lance thought to himself. He called again. Dough's hands still stayed in his coat pockets. He saw him turn his head slightly in Lance's direction before turning back to the group. Suddenly he overheard him saying he was about to leave for a moment. Lance quickly got his orange juice box and splattered it all over the slippery floor near him. Before he could hide the juice box, Mr. Dough turned around and headed for the tent entrance door. Several steps he erratically slipped and fell to his knee, before regaining his feet back. Lance saw a cellphone slip towards his right foot. He quickly yet softly placed his foot over it. Mr. Dough looked around, everyone towards the back glancing over towards him.
"These floors…they need to make them less slippery," Dough awkwardly announced before semi-limping out. Lance curled his toes and pulled the cellphone further out of site towards him under his seat.
While doing this he was slightly distracted from the footage, until he saw the scene of the two men running down the hill along the trail by the destroyed Trinidad Lighthouse. As he watched, he quickly decided to try for his parents again. As he dialed, he saw Dan and Steve running along the beach towards some twisted metal.
Then his toes began to vibrate. Lance quickly grabbed the phone and scrolled the screen.
"The screen's cracked, but the number on screen…that's me. This, this is my dad's cellphone," he uttered in silently. "Where did he...how did he…where are hell are they?"
Seconds later he saw the footage zoom towards the mangled, flattened pathfinder.
"It can't," he mumbled.
Seconds later the footage zoomed in. Lance's stomach convulsed as he saw the twisted, gored bodies of his parents. He slammed the laptop shut.
He involuntarily vomited all over the ground and curtains to his side, emptying any at all orange juice or stomach acid in his system. His eyes puffed red, burning acid soaked his taste buds, his face flushed and his whole body gridlocked under severe simultaneous panic attack and adrenaline rush.
"No! NO! GODDAMN IT NO!"Lance croaked, quickly grabbing his hoody and flip flops, then ran straight out the tent door at full speed.
"Did you hear something?" Ishiro asked, looking towards the corner Lance was at.
"Akira, isn't your nephew suppose to be viewing the footage?" Yamane asked him.
"Yeah, over in the corner. I think that secret official guy had him over there for privacy reasons. Why?"
"I don't see him," Yamane continued, "but the tent door just flapped in and out a couple of times."
"You know," Shinzo chimed in, "I don't see him anywhere in here at all."
Akane jumped to her feet and power-walked over to the semi-shrouded area.
"I don't see...OH MY GOD!"
"What is it Akane," Ishiro briskly yelled out.
"There's an enormous amount of vomit, all over the neighboring bed covers and curtain."
She looked over to her laptop and saw the cracked cellphone on the keyboard. Everyone assembled around her.
"Wow. This kid really let loose," Shinzo jokingly commented.
"Akira, is this Lance's cellphone?"
"No. His is some shade of blue. This looks," Akira paused, observing for a moment. "This...this is Scott's," he said in with restrained surprise.
"Scott?" Ishiro asked.
"Scott Northwest. He's Lance's father. I've known him and his mother Linda since they were undergraduates in college. I don't know why Lance has his cellphone, and I definitely don't get why it's cracked. He's usually attentive to these th-"
Mr. Dough suddenly barged in the tent doors, surprising everyone.
"IS LANCE IN HERE?"
"Well, no actually," Shinzo responded. "We were wondering the same thing."
"What the hell did he-" Dough froze, looking at the cracked yet still functional cellphone in Akane's hand.
"Where did you get that?" He sternly asked Akane.
"I saw it lying on my keyboard. Probably Lance's."
Mr. Dough paused, looking towards the tent door.
"Lance was the last one on it, I presume?" he said in a reserved huff.
"Yes. Why?"
Mr. Dough took a black pen from his pocket and pried open the vomit-stained bed sheets. Under them was an empty, partly inward-crushed orange juice box. He then turned to the floor where he slipped minutes ago; sporadically sprayed droplets of orange juice coated the still slippery floor.
"Well…that explains earlier. He must have suspected…"
"Suspected? What do you mean?" Akane asked.
"What's going on? Where's my nephew?" Akira demanded.
Mr. Dough's color slowly drained from his face. He gave a solemn look to Akira.
"Mr. Tanaka…I think Lance saw his parents."
"What? How the hell is that possible? He's been with us the entire time," Shinzo said back.
"That's right. No one besides us has been in and out of the tent," Erika concurred.
"Shit… this…this is what I mean, right here," Mr. Dough replied. He turned the power back on the laptop's sleep-mode, then motioned for Akane to log on. As she did, the screen popped on to the paused part of the recovered footage, the warped pathfinder and mangled bodies of the man and woman.
Erika, Shinzo, Yamane, Akane and Hideo huddled around Mr. Dough on the paused spot, Ishiro and Emiko behind them, with Akira farthest, unable to see. The front row gasped, while Yamane asked soberly "Mr. Dough, are you implying that this unfortunate couple, they're-"
"His parents…Akira's family friends," he replied equally soberly.
"And that cellphone in the footage, right…here," Yamane pointed on screen, "that's what Akane is holding, their cellphone? Does it say "Son" on it?"
Akane scrolled onto the last set of calls on the cellphone. "Son" popped on. It was the only caller for two days.
"How did you get this," Akane asked before Mr. Dough plucked the phone from her hand.
"What did he say? Unfortunate couple? Let me see that computer screen," Akira barked.
"Akira, I don't think-"
"Let me through Ishiro."
"Please! I don't think-"
"I said LET ME THROUGH," he ferociously roared towards his best friend, stunting Ishiro for a moment. Akira then flighted past Ishiro, barging through the group within seconds, holding off Mr. Dough's attempts to stop him from see the screen. Akira mustered up untold strength to completely shove him, Shinzo and Akane to the floor. Within seconds he saw the screen. He recognized the vehicle. He recognized the dead passengers.
"Oh…oh no. Linda…Scott…my god. No...it can't, not them."
"Akira," Ishiro said delicately, "I'm, I-"
Akira suddenly flew into pure rage, running towards the neighboring beds, flipping and picking them up, throwing several towards several monitors, just about destroying them. He punched a hole in a large piece of medical equipment, and then threw it against the wall, causing to smash in dozens of pieces. He then fell against the same wall with a defeated expression, an expression of near-hopelessness. The group watched the whole incident with empathetic horror. Ishiro briskly walked over to Akira, getting on one knee and directly facing him.
"Akira…I know. The both of us, only we knew, and now, Lance knows. We-"
"Lance," he weakly muttered. "I need to get to Lance. If I did this, God knows what he'll do. Scott, Linda…" Akira choked, trying to hold back tears welling in his eyes. Then he suddenly looked passively over to Mr. Dough, and then towards the cellphone he was holding. He recognized it as Lance's dad's cellphone. In a split second the defeated expression morphed into the pure rage seconds ago, and he began running towards him.
"WHERE DID YOU GET SCOTT'S CELLPHONE?!"
Mr. Dough backed into the wall into a non-defensive position, letting Akira grab his neck with both hands. Dough's face gradually ballooned red.
"AKIRA STOP!" Ishiro shouted, him, Akane and Shinzo trying to pull him off Dough, who seemed to not fight back at all and let Akira at him, not flinching while this transpired.
"PLEASE MR. TANAKA, THIS ISN'T HOW TO GO ABOUT THIS!" Shinzo yelled.
"ANSWER ME! WHERE!?"
"LET HIM GO! NOW AKIRA," Ishiro furiously roared to Akira with all his vocal might.
Akira slowly released Mr. Dough's neck out of his hands, pulling his arms back suddenly and stood there, looking at his arms, his body shaking, until he started falling over. Ishiro's motioned backwards to help cushion his fall. Akira looked up to Mr. Dough with regretful eyes.
"I'm, I'm sorry Mr. Dough. I lost control, I almost…please accept my eternal apologizes," Akira pleaded to him.
"I understand…and accept your apology Mr. Tanaka. We've all lost control at one point. To the…Scott's cellphone, I found it next to the pathfinder when a small team and I were doing a coastal sweep of the unaffected Trinidad coastline earlier this morning. We were hoping to find survivors. Unfortunately we only found Scott and Linda in their present conditions. When I found it, the last hundred or so calls were from a contact called "Son," presumably their son. I didn't want to call back to report their loss until things settled down and we had a better handle of the situation. Unfortunately I didn't bother to further investigate who "Son" was, until my suspicions were confirmed when I kept getting non-stop calls for the last few hours. Maybe a half-hour ago when I walked by the hallway, it went off while I looked in to see how Akane was doing."
"That probably explains that vibrating buzzing noise I heard," Akane interjected.
"Yes, well…when I saw a young man in the back by what I thought was his grandfather making call after call, I thought it was only coincidence. That is, until he made those calls. I still can't believe I didn't put the damn thing on silent mode…anyways, when I twiddled with it, and the way I sheepishly glanced at him, Lance may have thought that I had his parent's cellphone. I don't know how or why, but somehow he was right. It didn't help any when he got a hold of the phone."
Emiko walked over to the group and spoke up.
"All that doesn't really matter, what's more important is finding him?"
Suddenly several military personnel barged in the tent doors.
"Agent Dough. We've got a report of a resident holding up one of the toxicologists at gunpoint. He just took his pruis away!"
"When did this happen?" Mr. Dough loudly said.
"Only moments ago, like forty seconds. We saw it from a video feed of the parked cars out front. Sir, he looked like he was just a kid."
"Holy shit," Mr. Dough muttered.
"That's got to be him," Hideo said.
"Is there GPS on that Prius?"
"Yes. He stopped suddenly in front of the remains of the Trinidad Lighthouse. The car hasn't moved since then."
"HE'S HEADING FOR HIS PARENTS!" Akira cried out. He ran for the tent door and began dashing down the hall. Everyone else followed.
"Sir, we're sending a team right now to intercept right now. They'll be there in a matter of seconds."
"NO! No private, call them off. Tell them to wait on top of the hill, and to NOT go after him."
The military official huffed, "Yes…yes sir."
All of them piled into one military hummer. Mr. Dough ordered the driving soldier to get to the destroyed lighthouse as soon as possible. Within a minute of aggressive, precision driving along the dark non-lit streets within a smoke-mist saturated, abandoned ghostly town, they parked along the sidewalk by the Trinidad Lighthouse remains.
7:51 PM
Everyone piled out of the hummer. Looking to their right, they saw the lime-green prius Lance stole at gunpoint, the front end smashed into the already wrecked Lexus of Dan and Steve's from the footage. Akira immediately ran for the trail, with Ishiro, Akane and the rest of the group hot on his trail.
"Jesus that kid needs a driving lesson," the driving soldier said.
The three other soldiers on the hill ran to the group, centering on Mr. Dough. He stayed back to talk to the soldiers.
"Boys, stay here. We'll take care of this situation."
"But that kid just stole a car at gunpoint sir."
"I said we'll take care of it, and get that toxicologist on the line, NOW!"
The soldier dialed his phone up, then handed it over to Mr. Dough
"Dr. Wenchell, I apologize for this incident. Rest assured it will be dealt with swiftly and promptly. Yes…yes, we will Doctor, you can be assured security will be raised and that will happen. Again my-"
The other end hung up on Dough suddenly.
"Asshole. He's lucky I'm not going to make it so he'll only teach at a community college level."
He gave the phone back to the soldier.
"Thank you Barker. Sorry for jumping you like that. It's been…and it's going to get shittier from here on out."
"Don't worry about it. What shall we do now sir?"
"I suggest you forget this ever happened and head back. Have the head of security footage report to me personally in one hour."
"Yes sir," the main soldier said. The others walked back to their vehicles, but Barker stood behind to talk to Dough for a moment.
"So, what was up with that kid anyway? How'd he get a gun? How'd he get out of the camp?"
"I guess the head of security can explain me that one."
"Then why's he down here sir?"
"Because mangled corpses of his parents are down there Barker. Keep that to yourself and head back."
As he left, Mr. Dough paced towards the trail. He forcefully placed his hands in his pockets and trekked down the dark trail, dreading what he was about to see.
"I need a transfer after this."
He could already hear yells of a young man in the far distance.
7:54 PM
"His footprints…that's him," Akira shouted towards Ishiro and Akane, looking at the soil-laden patches of the wooden steps towards. They were now nearing the end of the trail. Suddenly a sharp, tortured yell echoed towards them.
"Lance," Akira muttered, feeling his heart and insides torn apart by Lance's cry. He staggered for a moment, Akane pulling him from a sudden dip, an indentation along the trail, the pathfinder's front bumper orthogonally twisted in multiple angles.
The wooden steps changed to sand. Glass pieces and other car parts littered the surrounding area. Fifteen meters in front of them, nestled inside the confines of a gently flowing seepage spring with more vehicle parts strewn about, the figure of Lance could be seen, facing the upturned vehicle of his parents. On his knees, his back was faced to them, the growing moonlight reflected off his shaking body.
"God no," Akane silently said, her voice trembled.
"Stay here, and keep everyone back. I need to be with him," Akira said. Ishiro nodded. He momentarily turned his head, seeing the rest of the group building up behind them. Ishiro ushered them to wait by the steps. Quick snivels could be heard from Emiko. She held Hideo and grabbed her grandfather Yamane's hand. Erika and Shinzo stood together by a small fallen tree. He could see Mr. Dough just making his way towards the end of the trail, hanging back far enough to not be involved but close enough to see and hear the commotion. Akira turned and saw Akane's eyes watering, Ishiro holding her in a grasp. He looked over to Akira with a gentle, sad look on his face, a tear running down his face for his best friend. He walked over to Akira and gave a big hug.
"I'm sorry Akira. I'm sorry you have to go through this again."
"At least I have my best friend and family- most of it. I have to be thankful."
"If you need anything-"
"I know Ishiro."
Ishiro walked back, Akira walked forward slowly. Getting closer he saw Lance's shaking frame. His right flip flop was completely torn. It looked like a piece of metal was sticking out of his right foot, but Akira suspected that wasn't fazing Lance. As Akira walked next to Lance, he looked to the pathfinder and saw his parent's corpses. The dark, the metal and the lack of moonlight didn't take from Akira's immediate feeling of being punched in the stomach.
"Uncle," Lance quietly muttered. Akira got to Lance's side, bending down next to him. Akira peered toward his face. It was vacant, marred with tear streak after tear streak.
"They're gone uncle. I'm…I'm never going to be with them again. I'll never hear them again."
"Lance. Your parents-"
"THEY'RE GONE! GOD F*CKING DAMN IT!" Lance screamed, launching towards the pathfinder and lashing out with all his might, punching and kicking the metal sides of the mangled vehicle, causing multiple cuts and lacerations on his hands and legs. Akira tried to grab onto him. Lance shook out of his grip, ripped off the already hanging passenger door, ran to the side and threw it out onto the shoreline. Lance began running into the still surf, roaring in job-like lamentations. Akira jumped forward and brought the struggling young man down in a low wave. He pulled out ankle-deep until he hobbled over and slowly gave up.
"I've got you Lance…let it all out" Akira warmly said, embracing Lance in a constricting hug. A wave broke around them as Lance began breaking down in Akira's shoulder. He didn't move, he just Lance let go.
"I promise you Lance. I'll get back at it. For your parents…for everyone," Akira paused, slurries of memories popping up from when he was a child going through the same emotional torment Lance was in. He began tearing up, holding Lance in a tighter hug.
"It's going to pay. Godzilla will pay. We'll destroy it, somehow."
