Location: Okishima Island, Seto Inland Sea, Japan. The Republic of Greater East Asia.
Time: 03:09
Date: May 26 2013
Much to their surprise, the tide did not reach the inside of their cavern. They were still not very dry, but glad to not be even more uncomfortable
than they already were.
Kinji had fallen asleep on the hard ground, leaving Hudson to watch where she could. The sea, obviously.
The whole sea was not nearly as beautiful as it was by the lighthouse. The water was a bland, reddish gray, according to her flashlight. The red
was from the blood of the deceased who had jumped involuntarily off the cliffs the day before. The sky was covered with clouds and was overcast
that morning, she could tell because normally, the sunrise would have progressed much quicker by then.
Either that or she was a whole hour behind.
She had no cares for the schedule anymore. Just that the two of them would get out alive, that's what mattered to her.
The rifle at her side was ready to fired if any intruders were to be coming from any direction.
She didn't know they were too well hidden for that sort of thing. Unless they had to leave, they could stay in the cave for the rest of the game if
they wanted.
She was idling, alone, and shivering. There was so much to quell before, but now, she realized, there was nothing. They barely scraped past Ryo
Honda's slow, but steady killing spree.
She desperately, silently, thought of America. Her platitude that she took for granted. For eighteen years, seventeen full, she had not realized
how wonderful it was to have freedoms.
Freedom of speech, freedom of expression (for the most part) and freedom of choice.
She had the right to say what she wanted in America. It was okay to disagree with the state if she wanted to, which sometimes, she did.
There, it was alright to listen to whatever music she wanted. There were no limitations whatsoever.
Finally, it was perfectly fine in America for her to choose her lifestyle, her career, and her home. She could be whatever she wanted. She wasn't
really assigned anything in particular, nobody in America was.
There, where she was, by the Seto Inland Sea, was a different story.
The government restricts us in cages like rats. And there's no maze for us to go in, no cheese to look for on the other side. It's what they need
to succeed politically. They need to keep us behind bars so we don't rebel.
She took a sip of her water.
This country's a huge mess... And my empathies go toward those who have died here.. On this island.. They couldn't have succeeded in life
because the government stole it from them... Like Honda told me how I stole his best friend.
Under the ground, she swore she felt a small vibration. Then, she fell over on her side. The whole island shook violently back and forth as if it was a wave.
"Kinji!" She screamed, wondering if it was a illusion. She grabbed her companion, who became vigilant as a result of the earthquake.
She pulled him away from his sleeping spot, which collapsed and formed a pile of large rocks. The sounds of thrashing and crashing caused her
ears to sting. She could hear nothing but that and maybe, if she was lucky, her own frustration.
"This was too good to be true.. I knew it.." She tried to be quiet and hid herself behind him.
His goal, although it was being done tiredly, was to protect her from the falling rocks and debris.
"No, it's not. We're going to be fine.. You're taking this out of proportion. We have earthquakes all the time."
Kinji knew better than to panic. The quake stopped after the first of his copious lines about the normality of quakes. They were fine, and they
still have most of the cave inside and out, to use to their benefit.
An off-kilter announcement was the conclusion of the whole thing.
"I didn't see that coming, did you? Well, that always adds more excitement to the game, doesn't it? Well, I think so. I think I will give your a few
hours to recover, about three, before I give you more announcements. Takami, out!"
During the quake, many things happened. Things fell and toppled over; trees, rocks, and even a few houses. People, like Ryo and Hudson,
suffered subsidiary injuries. And finally, one person was very unwise. In her placement, in her mindset, in everything.
Shinji Hokkaido slid off her slippery, towering perch and landed in the shallow tidal waters. She broke one leg, one arm, and her neck during her
fatal plunge.
On the sand and in the saltwater, she laid hopelessly on her side. She was still breathing, but she couldn't move a single muscle.
The only way I'll be my own is if I die, isn't it? I had to be sitting up there at that exact moment, didn't I?
There was no reply to her thought. In her mind, she expected people to talk back.
No one could. They were too shocked by the event for any other mindset. As would any average group of people.
At the point, howbeit, not a single one of them even fit the bill for 'average.'
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