"To the right, to the left

We will fight to the death

To the Edge of the Earth

... from the last to the first..."

30 seconds to Mars: This is war

Chapter 28

In zone A3, near a six meters high electric fence that separated the second game field from the third one, something like a red light came in sight of the people went by. At the edge of the forest, on a glade, four youngsters were encamped and were sitting around a cheerfully burning campfire. The light of the fire was coloring their faces red, and their shadows danced around them together with the shadows of the trees and the other plants nearby.

Baku Baisotei (boys #1), Yamato Chiba (boys #2), Gouki Hayata (boys #4), and Rena Bando (girls #1) were these youngsters. Hayata and Rena ran to Baku and Yamato shortly after their successful escape from that madman Fukashi and were pleased to see that these two boys were unwilling to participate in this game. So they became a team with four members and during their time together, Rena found something good in Moskvin's insanity: Baku and Yamato got quite close together, they were not like half of the friends in these three years like they were now. Danger, however, could make people stick together.

Rena's good mood went up to the skies, she could even forget about their impossible struggle against the Russians and each other, as soon as she found out via the database of her watch: Dan was NOT on the death list. Dan WAS ALIVE. That 6 PM text message saved her from the craziness. Now she was only eager to hear the epic story of his escape. She did not doubt Dan's abilities, she just simply could not imagine how did that happen. Rena felt some kind of ecstasy, she could barely stand not to go blindly after her love. Fortunately, her team members disagreed and held her back.

Everyone came back to reality from their thoughts, as Yamato started to speak.

"It's almost thirty," he said and stopped staring at the display of his watch before looking up to the sky at the point where the plane with the Soviet crest started to scatter dozens of supply crates. All the others did the same. Except for Baku, who had searched for the drop zone and returned with a wooden crate, which had the size of a first aid box.

"Raincoat... lighters... some food and water," he said after opening the box. He didn't seem too happy, and neither did the others.

"They could have been a little more understanding." Baku continued complaining while looking at the reddening slices of bread over the fire.

"We're not here on vacation." Gouki agreed and put his portion of bread straight that had been stabbed on a sharp stick.

"The lighter is good, though." said Yamato "Too bad cigarette wasn't sent."

"Yes, would have been great."

Rena did not join the conversation. She was staring at the four shapeless pieces of food on their sticks in silence, without a knife they had no other choice just to tear it apart by hand.

Baku Baisotei must have had the same in mind because he poked his slice with the reddish bottom and said.

"I gave my knife to Fuyuki."

His classmates turned their eyes to him as one person.

"When did you meet him?" Yamato's voice sounded a bit like a jealous girl's.

Baku told them, that he had to go for the 'nature's call', and that was when he ran into Fuyuki. To be correct, it was Fuyuki who ran all the way there breathing like a fire-fan, and after he stopped, was able to speak a few minutes later to answer Baku's questions. Fuyuki did not say much, only that he was attacked by some of their classmates during the time he got there, and if he was not that superb athlete, he would not have been able to go away. He showed Baku the black circles under his eyes, as he did to Ayami, and in this case, he said it was an injury he got in the fight. Baku thought he and Fuyuki had a strong friendship, so he could not say no to the question 'Do you have any weapon to lend me?'. So he gave Fuyuki the commando knife, it was always in his pocket. Fuyuki also let him promise not to tell anyone about their meeting. Baku did not understand the reason, because if he is innocent, there was no need for such a thing. But so far he managed to keep the secret.

He finished his monologue in his usual 'bakuish' tone, which was dry and monotonous like he had been questioned about school-work by a teacher. He was rewarded with a lot of angry looks, but nobody said it out loud. They were rather angry because Baku had kept the information secret.

Yamato was the only one who opened his mouth:

"I knew you had a knife. You showed me at the beginning when we first met. I remembered it well."

Rena had not mentioned her plan of rescuing Dan for some time (for two hours perhaps), and no one else started a new topic. 'Cursing the soviets and Moskvin' was already depleted as the 'Why do we need this f*ckin' game!', 'Why us?' or 'Just let us end!' were also over long ago. What's more, they did the same with the leadership of their own country. They all thought that the Shogunate and the Imperial Leadership did not give a damn about their fate, they probably did not even notice that they had gone to England.

"It's late. What now? " Fortunately, Yamato asked something mentioned to discuss. Those tired faces became fresher in no time.

"We should sleep," Gouki answered. "And need a few to keep watch."

"Who's going to sleep?"

No one raised their hands. Either they don't dare to go, Yamato thought, or they don't want at all.

"We have to decide. We all need to sleep." Baku approved. He sat in the grass with his arms behind him and watched the more and more growing clouds in the sky. Now his look returned to the cross-legged sitting Yamato, to Gouki, who laid on his back, and Rena, who sat next to him on a tree trunk. She was hugging her knees.

"Let's see what we've got."

There was a small, extremely grassy area between Rena and him, the place, which was promoted as an armory. Baku pulled out a quite heavy, old-fashioned crossbow from the thick grass.

"We have this, and..."

"That weight ball or what is it." Yamato finished the sentence.

He took that sturdy iron ball into his own hands. It was just a bit bigger than his palms.

"This would rock on the bowling alley, but not here."

They started to discuss who should go to sleep first. Rena did not participate in the brainstorming, now and then she muttered something. Mostly she was staring into the enchanting flames of the campfire. The conversation ended without a result. The main reason was that they forgot about the food, their growling stomachs let them know that they still existed. So they went back to check the bread slices on the sticks.

"I think Rena should sleep in any case," Baku said after they started eating. "She's a girl, we can't expect her to do the hard job."

The mentioned one - although she felt that her eyes were glued together - pulled a huffy face. Her cheek had gone red, covering her normally sharp freckles.

"Just because I'm a girl, doesn't mean I can't be any use to you!" she burst out angrily, still, Baku found her pretty. "And I don't need your protection, I'm not a helpless jerk!"

Quite an argument broke out as a result. Baku backed down, while Rena did not stop to prove the theory of ignoring the woman rights ("Noticed? Naomi Shirada , for example, is the only woman in the high command!"), and said some examples from history, too. Then, Baku became pissed off and began to find reasons for the girl's accusations, and almost got to the point, where he listed the weaknesses of the opposite sex.

Fortunately, Yamato came to his senses and silenced those two with intense waves of arms. Gouki's behavior was unusual, as he remained out of the quarrel, anyone who knew him could say that he was going to be the one who does the 'political bullsh*t'.

"See? That's exactly the intention of those motherfu*ckers! They try to make us quarrel, so we can end up killing each other!" Yamato looked at the companions one by one. He felt a bit like their leader, and he thought it was his duty to protect at least these three from their misery. Baku, Rena, and Gouki listened to him with their heads hanged, and as a sign of apology and understanding, they nodded or mumbled something.

"Anyone who wants to sleep, they can, those who don't, are going to stay awake with the guards," he said out the final word.

He barely finished - he did not notice that he had raised his voice – something crackling and crunching could be heard from behind, from the direction of zone B3 (below A3).

"Quiet" as he raised his finger, everybody obeyed.

They were listening to those noises because they could not see beyond the circle of fire. Listening carefully was not necessary though, the crackling sound did not stop. It looked like the owner of those sounds was not aware of what he was doing. By the way, who's that lunatic who acts so carelessly in such darkness?

After the approaching noises were being the nearest, the bushes opened before the arrival one. Seeing Fukashi Murata (boys #7) Gouki got horrified as one person with Rena ("Hell, no!").

Fukashi looked terrible.

He was hollow-cheeked and his pale skin highlighted his ugly pimples and blackheads. His eyes were red, his greasy hair filled with branches of various plants, the whole looked like a bird's nest. He probably lost the coat of his uniform on his journey, as he wore only his shirt drenched in mud, blood, and sweat. The white parts left untouched turned badly yellow. His trousers were torn in several sides, the parts at his ankles waved like small flags as he was moving. The long and short of it, the boy was not someone whom people would watch all day. He held something like a club as a weapon like prehistoric people did millions of years ago.

Now, he raised his arms high and went on the attack.

"Growok won't run away! Growok won't give up! He's fighting against evil to the last breath!" he screamed in a satanic voice. It was like somebody else put words into his mouth. The insanity.

Yamato, Gouki, Baku, and Rena did not understand too much, but they did not have time to deal with it. They had only time to evade the lightning attack coming from Fukashi's staff. He missed, the blow struck into the middle of the campfire. Ember, soot, and a great number of ashes were stirred up from the blow, the sticks around the fire fell into the flames, one after the another.

Yamato and the others were up to get far away from that madman. Gouki and Yamato were separated from Rena and Baku. The first duo had found shelter in the surrounding bushes, the other two, headed in the opposite direction, into another thicket.

Halfway there, Rena stumbled across a fallen trunk. She fell into the stomach on the dry soil filled with dead weed and remained unmoving with arms and legs stretched out. Hearing that, Baku turned back without hesitation. By the time he had helped the grumpy girl to her feet, they have been spotted by the enemy. Fukashi rolled his tiny, bug-eyes restlessly, and gave out some kind of growling, which could be perfect for any of a rabietic dog. First, he was focusing on the much taller Baku, then took his glance onto Rena's scared-angry face. He seemed to be searching through memories. He found Baku, Yamato, and Gouki as strangers, but not Rena. The girl made him remember. Remember back into old times, into another world. His wild features softened.

Growok-Fukashi first lowered the club, then finally dropped it. His eyes laid only on Rena, on her face white as a sheet. He walked toward her with a stern and robotic move, quite stumblingly. Baku watched them for a while - gasping as if he'd been running miles before - Fukashi was barely two meters away.

Suddenly Baku threw himself to the ground, in front of Fukashi with a desperate decision. He got back on his feet immediately, so the others could see, why did he do that. He had the crossbow.

"Freeze!" he shouted, without lowering the bow. He aimed right at Fukashi's chest. On its string there sat an arrow made of steel shimmered like a fallen star in the weak light of the fire almost destroyed by Fukashi.

Fukashi slowly raised his head to examine Baku's long-range weapon. His glaze, penetrating gaze turned into a pair of eyes spinning in blood, which reflected barbarity again. So far, Rena has stared at her feet in shock, but as soon as Murata picked up the club, she came to her senses.

Meanwhile, Yamato and Gouki left the bushes and took a few steps closer to Fukashi, who turned his back on them.

Nobody could hear that, maybe Gouki, as he mumbled to himself:

"No sh*t, his clothes are all over with blood. How many people did he butcher?"

"No kidding," Gouki answered in amazement.

Rena suddenly cried out:

"Nichie! He killed her! I saw it!" she pointed at the killer and continued "I was with Nichie! She didn't want to fight either! We came from Kirika's hideout, and then he attacked us!"

"I witnessed it," said Gouki. He knuckled his hands. "I fought this bastard, that was when I met Rena."

He pointed at Fukashi with his chin, who skipped his look back and forth among the talkers. He listened carefully, but he could not comprehend much of it.

"He was always a sneaky, emotionless little dork!"

However, he seemed to understand the last sentence. He turned around with a speed of the wind, and he made his way to Gouki within a short time, with a loud battle cry. He swung his club ready to strike. His target, Gouki, was not fast enough from the sudden coming surprise, all he could do was to raise his arms defensively in front of him. Rena screamed but did nothing. Baku, for some reason, forgot about his miracle weapon, he held his finger taken off of the trigger for a long time. Yamato watched the attacking Fukashi also perplexedly at first, thinking, how can someone attack the people with whom he has lived for almost half a decade together.

Then, his common sense woke him up, woke up the leader in him, so Yamato did not delay to help Gouki out of trouble. He threw himself at Fukashi from behind and tried to twist the club out of his hands.

"Get him off!" Gouki screamed without a stop. He had already got a few black mice under his eyes, and the edge of his mouth was swollen by a punch.

Yamato's move encouraged Baku, the highest of the 3/e to join the fight and to aim at the smallest boy of the class for the second time.

"I'm not joking, Fukashi! Freeze or I'll shoot! Seriously!"

Rena threw a disgusted face at Baku as if everything were his fault.

"What are you waiting for? Shoot!" she shouted.

No answer came, Baku did not look at the girl on purpose. He was focusing on the fighting trio, waited for the right moment to fire. He swallowed once. Drops of sweat appeared on his forehead as shiny pearls.

"No, I... I can't..." he moaned.

"What do you mean you can't?"

Yamato, Gouki, and Fukashi were always positioned in a way that if one of them would be hit by the arrow, it would inevitably hurt a second person. So it was not certain that Fukashi would get what he deserved.

"I can't target Fukashi!" that was all Baku said, until Rena realized it. "They're in the way!"

Yamato Chiba could make great use of his long term gym training this time, not only in case of some disco fights. Based on his size of muscles on the arms he could be a bouncer, even though, he could win this fight after a long struggle. Despite the size and physique of Fukashi, the boy moved very fast and gave evidence about some skills in the field of strength and agility. Yamato grabbed Fukashi on the shoulder with both hands and turned him against Baku in one move. He got behind Fukashi, keeping him in check by holding his arms behind the back.

"Now you can shoot!" he screamed as loud as possible. He had a hard task to let Fukashi stay in one place.

Baku hesitated instead of taking action. His hand was shaking, trying to delay the moment when he will become a murderer himself. Yamato's palm began to sweat, and Fukashi did not give up throwing his arms about. Yamato knew he will be able to escape if they do not act quickly.

"WHAT'S UP BAISOTEI?!" Yamato roared. "DO IT!"

"I... can't... I'm sorry..." Baku stuttered.

Yamato heard a distant noise. As somebody slammed a cupboard into the ground, and its hundreds of plates and cups broke apart as a huge explosion. He was disappointed in Baku. They've been getting along so well for the last two days. Why? Why was he such a coward?

Suddenly, he felt a strong pain in his nose. Fukashi hit him in the face with his elbow. He yelled, and wanted to check if the nose was broken or not, that way he released Fukashi. Fukashi tried to run away.

But Gouki clawed at the end of his pants. Fukashi fell to the ground.

"Our lives are at stake for fu*ck's sake! There's no such thing as guilt here!" he yelled bitterly.

In the meantime, he had to make sure that he kept his head far enough from Fukashi's legs because he was intent on kicking Gouki at all costs.

"Fukashi wants us dead! It's not murder, it's self-defense!" Rena agreed with a tone as if Baku could not comprehend the multiplication table, no matter what.

Yamato grabbed Fukashi again, and kneeled on his back, trying to keep him tight on the ground. Their words echoed in Baku's ears for long. He raised the crossbow a bit higher but still hasn't shot. The delay had its consequences, Fukashi managed to bite into Yamato's hand. The members of the 3/e made fun often of him because he had big teeth and these teeth stuck out of his mouth. Now he used those hoe-shaped teeth. He did not feel pity for Yamato, who, screaming, pulled back his bleeding hand with anger. After that, Fukashi-Growok got rid of Gouki, too, in one of his unaware moments. He kicked back and successfully hit Gouki's jaw with the thick heels of his rapper-style shoes. They could hear Gouki's lower and upper jaws clashing, accompanied by great pain. And as a result, he was free.

While he was fleeing, he took a last glance at the remains of the campfire, and noted disappointedly, that all of the pieces of the bread slices had been burned which were left by the others. He was still far from the edge of the forest, he passed through a small area of weeds. Clear target, Rena thought, if they wanted to stop him, they had to act now.

Rena could not accept the fact, that their crazy 'friend' was able to run away that easily, unharmed. She took the crossbow from Baku and shot without hesitation. It was a mistake to let Fukashi alive. Sanctimonious feelings! I'm not going to let myself be killed! I'm going to fight, and I'm going to find you, Dan!

Her first attempt missed. Fukashi dodged the arrow, which ended up in a tree trunk. Rena reloaded the gun with her hands shaking. She was repeating almost screaming to convince herself: I will succeed! He can't escape! He can't win!

"I need help!" she screamed hysterically to the boys, who, having a no better idea, threw the soviets' water bottles after the enemy. Yamato also tried the weight ball, but he was not that strong to throw it as far as he wanted. The bottles landed with the typical knock of the plastic on the bare soil.

Fukashi's instincts forced him to stop and turn around. His four classmates stood in the way, so there was no way he could reach the bottles. He craved after the liquid in those bottles. He licked his dried mouth several times, by the time he decided to seize them. All of them.

Yes. Come.

Closer.

Closer.

Rena was a modest girl, but not this time. She pressed out everything from her mind, she was waiting tensely for the perfect moment. For the moment, when her finger with a silver ring can pull the trigger.

Her companions waited unwinkingly.

SWOOSH!

As Fukashi came back, the distance between him and Rena got lower, it was good for her. That's why she could have been expected to aim better.

Fukashi felt a sharp pain after the first shot. He did not know what was happening to him.

A clicking, then SWOOSH!

Another pin for the living flesh and blood pin cushion. Fukashi got the first hit into the stomach, while the second one went next to his left shoulder. They were both meant to arrive into his heart, but let's say in Rena's defense, she never fired a real gun, not even in computer games.

The third and final hit was fatal. It sliced Fukashi Murata's throat in half, the arrow drilled through his neck as a knife goes through butter. Fukashi grabbed his neck as his last move, rattling and moaning, but before he could remove anything from there, death pushed him to the ground and took him forever.

Rena stood straddled, aka in a shooting position for seconds long. She panted loudly.

"That was for Nichie! And for everyone you've killed!" she exhaled between two breaths.

Gouki whistled as a sign of appreciation. Baku closed his mouth, which he left open, and Yamato tried to hide his from-ear-to-ear grin. They were slightly astonished, that was true, it was about killing after all, but everybody knew they had no other choice, so it was not too hard to accept Fukashi's fate.

All four of them froze into their current position and retired into their thoughts. Slowly, Gouki broke the silence.

"I think, he was just hungry and thirsty." he paddled his injuries on the face with his white fingers."I saw him looking at the food-rest and the..."

"Everyone's seen it." Yamato interrupted him. "And water. He must have been fucking thirsty if he was able to turn back."

"He could have just come and asked nicely."

They agreed. And they still have not moved from their position. They could not pretend it did not happen. Deep inside their hearts, Fukashi's death touched them. Still, they ignored it. They let poor Fukashi Murata rest in peace, who may looked always harsh, but among normal circumstances, he wouldn't have harmed anyone.

Baku was sad because of another thing, too. He was ashamed of his cowardice. What if Murata escapes and kills more classmates? It would have been his fault. And I wanted to preach Rena how weak women are. He wanted to swallow his tongue so he could never speak again. He looked around but avoided the look of the others. This burden was lighter that way.

Nobody said anything about this, nor Rena's successful hunt. It was just the surface, deep inside such ambivalent feelings clashed together, which they have never felt before. Their fate will get them, too. It was inevitable.

That felt way too overwhelming. It was better to listen to the wind. Not far from them, there was Fukashi's body laying. Maybe it was better not to go there and close his eyes. The wind played with the water unpleasant smell coming with it.

But the wind shepherded something else into their direction, too. The starry sky vanished, huge, black clouds covered its surface like a supernatural tumor. A stronger gust of wind gathered some dead leaves from nearby and poured into the neck of the students. A bolt of bright lightning cut fearfully through the clouds.

Yamato Chiba, Rena Bando, Gouki Hayata, and Baku Baisotei looked up to the raw power of nature about to rage. At this moment, they were probably all thinking about the same thing.

But only one of them spat it out:

"Storm is coming."

[Number of students: 14]

Fukashi Murata eliminated