Note: Hello, all. Here is the next chapter. This was another fun one to write. This year is almost over and we're going into a new decade. Scary how time just flies on by. It'll be 2030 before we even know it.
Chapter 15
"What a plane you have here," Francisco said for the fifth time as he pushed a small wooden crate to the side with his foot.
It was only him and the pilot aboard a very packed cargo plane. The boxes that were scattered about had labels with names of various countries. Francisco just couldn't find Japan's label anywhere. It's as if every country on Earth was labeled here somewhere expect Japan. It's safe to say that some of them have never seen sunlight. The cramped aircraft was smaller than a cargo pilot would like. The walls were made of different sheets of metal of various colors. Kind of like making a shirt with different pieces of cloth of different styles. The craft had only one dim bulb that flickered often. Other than the horrid interior, what made Francisco nervous was that the cargo plane was constantly shaking and it sounded like it was going to fall apart.
"Thanks! She's my pride and joy," said the jolly pilot as he walked out of the cockpit. Mohammed was a man who loved his job. He looked to be in his early 40s. He wore a white t-shirt with an unbuttoned plaid shirt over it. His white shirt had a large sweat stain around the collar. There was also the presence of dried oil stains spread throughout. His dark pants seemed to be the cleanest thing he had on.
"Aren't you supposed to be piloting this thing?" Francisco asked.
"It's all right, son. It's on autopilot. The old folks never said you had glowing red eyes. They look cool!" The pilot commented.
Shit!, Francisco thought as he quickly looked away. The pill seemed to have lasted a very long time. From the time he exited the prison up until now it seems. Or maybe earlier. The damn thing doesn't have a mirror. They were on the aircraft for a few hours now.
"I was born this way. I get that a lot," Francisco said. The pilot looked like he didn't have any knowledge on what viruses were. He'd have to do a lot more explaining if he told the man he harbored the Omni virus.
"Makes sense to me," replied Mohammed after giving it some thought.
"So where are you landing this thing?"
"Landing?" The pilot asked as he raised an eyebrow in confusion. To him it sounded like the word was said in a foreign language.
"Yes… Lan-ding." Francisco repeated it again hoping the pilot understood this time.
"We're not landing, son. I'm going low enough so you can jump. I got parachutes," Mohammed said. He went over to a shelf and pulled out a parachute from the unorganized pile. The sudden pull caused other parachutes to fall to the floor.
"You gotta be fucking kidding me."
"Nope. Here," Mohammed hit Francisco's chest with the parachute.
"Speaking of which, we're already here. Get ready now!" The pilot said as he quickly made his way back into the cockpit.
The aircraft slowly started to descend until it got low enough. Francisco's heart was beating fast as he waited for the pilot to tell him to jump. He stood near the door, weapons in hand, and had the parachute on his back. This is the first time he's ever had to jump out of an airplane.
"Go!" yelled the other man.
Francisco took a deep breath, opened the door, and jumped out.
"You know what? Fuck that guy," Francisco said as he took off his parachute. He finally landed in Japan and who knows how long it would take him to find MacArthur? He hopes he would run into someone who would know of his whereabouts. Any information would be useful. He walked over to where his shotgun landed because it slipped out of his hand meters before he landed.
"Time to get going. I'll just have to look for him now. I don't care how lo-," Francisco stopped mid sentence when he heard a roar. A roar he was not familiar with.
A black and orange quadrupedal beast came out of some bushes nearby. It looked like a dinosaur. A Triceratops to be more accurate.
"What the actual fuck is that?" Francisco quietly said as he slowly readied the shotgun.
The monster rushed over to him and Francisco jumped out of the way. It crashed into a tree with a loud boom. He pointed the shotgun at it and fired a shell. The bullets seemed to do no damage to the monster. The monster turned around and again rushed over to him.
"I can do this all day you bastard!" He said as he put the shotgun away and readied the Grim Reaper. He fired several bullets and again they did no damage.
"What is this shit made of?"
The beast stomped around and went to him at an even faster speed than before. Francisco braced himself for the worst. He formed an "X" with his arms in front of his face and clenched his fists. He made himself heavy so he can lessen the impact. At least he hoped it was possible.
The monster slammed him into a tree and he fell on his stomach. He felt a stinging pain from a few places. His back and the spaces between his knuckles. He slowly looked up and saw the beast just standing around. He looked to where his hands were hurting and opened his eyes wide. Claws. White bony ones. This has to be an effect of the virus. He got up and was prepared to fight it until he heard voices coming from a distance.
"Over here, Kaoru!"
Soon after, he saw a blonde girl run in with a katana in her hand to deliver a strike to the monster. Another girl then came running behind her. A short girl with pink twintails with a sword way longer than she was. They were both glowing. She slammed the creature with her katana, slicing it in half. The impact left a large crack on the floor. It's as if they were made for this. Francisco quickly learned how to retract the claws and was impressed by how easily they got the job done. Maybe those monsters can only be defeated with swords.
"Good job, Ellen. Although this aradama was large, it was easy," said the girl with pink hair. She looked around and saw Francisco standing idly by. "Who are you?"
The short one doesn't have much of a personality, does she? Whatever. Ellen's the blonde and Kaoru's the one with pink hair. Got it. Francisco made a mental note to himself. The second half of it will most likely be useful later.
"Are you lost?" asked Ellen.
Both girls stopped dead in their tracks when they got a good look at Francisco's eyes. Red and glowing brightly. Ellen and Kaoru both drew their swords again and braced for combat.
"Get your okatana ready, Kaoru." Ellen somewhat ordered.
"What is with you two? Looks like you know who I am. I'm not here to fight you," Francisco said with his hands raised half-way in the air.
"You can't trick us! You have a virus," spat Kaoru.
"How do you know about this? I won't deny it. I do," responded Francisco.
"What's your name?" Ellen asked. She was gripping her okatana tightly out of fear. This was it. They were going to fight someone who has a virus.
"Name's Francisco-" Francisco stopped as he saw Ellen disappear and reappear over him, ready to strike.
He dodged her attack by jumping out of the way. He then jumped out of the way again when the larger okatana came crashing down.
"I told you. I'm not here to fight you." It didn't look like the two were going to listen because they both tried to strike him down again. Francisco clenched his fists and his claws came out. He wouldn't use his shotgun against them. He didn't even want to hurt them.
"Y-you have claws…?" Ellen said with a terrified expression.
"I do. I'm not fucking around, alright? I need to know where the hell MacArthur is."
"You're one of the six who are a part of Project Douglas, right?" Kaoru asked.
"You two know too much. How do you know about that?" Francisco let out a defeated sigh and sat down on a nearby tree stump. "I was a part of Project Douglas. That man sent me on a mission in Germany to retrieve a sample of the Omni virus that was stolen from him. I found it and bolted out of that lab. In making my escape, I got severely injured and was on the edge of death. I injected myself with the Omni virus to survive. I was in a prison in Egypt when I heard about MacArthur's trip to this country and that's why I came here. He's going to put you through so much shit. I have to end him."
"My grandpa told me this. Not many of us know about him. We're trying to keep information under control," Ellen responded.
"So you're not on his side then. It looks like you've been through a lot in order to get here. I heard that injecting yourself with a virus is reckless," Kaoru said.
"It is. There's no going back. This is my life now. Anyways, what was that thing you brought down and why do you glow?"
"That was an aradama. We're Toji who are selected by okatana to destroy them. The state we were in allows us to take any kind of damage in exchange for mental fatigue," Ellen said with her usual cheerful demeanor.
"Bullets don't really have any effect on aradama," Kaoru commented as she stared at Francisco's weapons.
"Then I hope these claws do something. Where have I landed?"
"In Okayama prefecture. Very close to our school!" Ellen said with a wide smile.
"You should speak to our director. She has knowledge on all of this. You'll need to take it slow. She's old."
"If it'll get me closer to my objective, then sure."
"We're all honestly freaked out by the whole thing. There are six of us Toji who are the most knowledgeable. We were talking about how we hoped he would just leave after his work was done. You know? Without any casualties."
"Ellen? Was it? Yeah… no," Francisco said shaking his head. "He won't leave without a fight. I was basically raised by him. I know how he is. If he wants a fight, then I'm giving it to him."
Ellen remembered what Friedman said about the members, or former member, of Project Douglas' past. She knows Francisco does not remember his previous family. She didn't think it was a good idea to bring up the fact that he was bought and raised to be a killer. It is safe to say that MacArthur was a father to him. Maybe he'd learn when the time came.
"Ellen. Hurry up. Let's not waste any more time. Let's go visit that old lady."
"Right!"
MacArthur. You're getting what's coming to you you son of a bitch.
Note: Francisco finally made it to Japan. He was properly introduced in Chapter 2 and here we are 13 chapters later. I noticed in the anime how gunfire from the soldiers never really did any damage to aradama. I figured Francisco's weapons aren't any better than what the Riot Squad had so they won't really do much against aradama.