Something needed to be done. Simply standing here solved nothing! What about all the people? Our friends, our families. They could all be in danger! Looking out the large window in Sakaki's front room at the quickly rising smoke some distance away I could almost guarentee someone we knew was in danger.
"We need to make sure everyone is ok!", I shouted to Sakaki who had been rummaging about, looking for her mother's cell phone.
I heard her let out a sigh so I turned to see her holding a gray cell phone that was apparently not working properly.
"Why isn't anything working?", she wondered aloud.
"Well, at least the electricity still...", I didn't even get to finish before all the lights in the house snapped off simultaniously.
Sakaki immediately pressed herself to the front window, of course, I was quick to follow. People were running from their houses in confusion and fear. Little did they know that a contingent of the maroon garbed soldiers had begun to march down the street in a modern fighting formation. The amplified voice of one of the soldiers spoke in English.
"Return to your homes and your will not be harmed"
The ones that understood quickly beat a hasty retreat to their home, yet the poor souls that did not speak English were immediately set upon by the soldiers, cuffed with a strange string-like object and led away under guard of one maroon man.
"This is...", Sakaki's words caught in her mouth. To be honest, I couldn't put my feelings into words either. Seeing this spectacle was already disturbing enough.
The man with the amplifying backpack stood in the center of the road only a few meters from the house we had taken refuge in.
"We come under orders of the Lord General Kimril. We recieved a distress call from a member of our force that came from this area. Soldiers will be sent to investigate each household, do not resist or you will be taken into custody. Repeating"
He repeated the statement numerous times as the soldiers fanned out and began to ransack homes. "Get back. Let's go upstairs.", Sakaki directed me up the banister stairs and into a room that was absolutely brimming with the most extreme display of cuteness I had ever seen! It must have been a room for Sakaki's younger sister, I swore on it!
"Who's room is this?", I asked in awe at the scene of animated kitties and piles of stuffed animals.
"Mine.", Sakaki said simply as she began to gather sheets off the bed.
"Yours!?", I said. Aghast at how such a beautifully quiet and collected girl could have a soft spot for the most sugary cuteness ever!
Sakaki gave a curt nod and handed me a pile of sheets.
"Tie them together, we're going out the window.", she said.
"B...but Sakaki-san! Shouldn't we wait for the men to look through the house first? If we go outside we'll be taken!", I exclaimed.
"Would you trust people that fell from the sky? I don't and I don't believe it would be safe if you did either.", she explained and began to tie her set of sheets together.
"Of course, Sakaki-san! I..I apologize.", I stammered.
"No need to.", Sakaki said as she handed me her end of the improvised climbing rope to be tied to my end.
Loud bangs were heard from the floor below as we tossed the end of the rope out the window. Sakaki tied it to her bedpost as the bangs became louder and more insistant.
"You go first, Kaorin.", Sakaki told me.
"B..but what if the men catch you!?", I exclaimed, my ahnds growing sweaty from worry.
"Don't worry. I'll be out as soon as you reach the bottom.", she smiled reassuringly at me.
"Well...ok.", I gingerly slipped past the window frame and began my descent down the ladder of kitty-pattered sheets. How strange it seemed to be escaping a life-or-death situation on a set of pink kitten bedsheets. Reaching the bottom, I waved to let Sakaki know that she could descend. With one look back as a massive shattering sound rang through the house she nearly vaulted out the window and was at the bottom in a matter of two seconds I believe. It was amazing! She was always such a good athlete, but this was simply something out of a spy movie!
"Come on, we have to go. Fast.", Sakaki directed me over a small stone boarder that divided her house from the neighbors. I followed Sakaki as she moved, silent as a ninja through the neighbor's yard and into the adjoining street.
"Where's your house, Kaorin?", she asked me after she made sure the street was safe to walk on.
"Um...o..over this way!", I said and led her through another yard until we came face-to-face with my backyard fence.
"Ah, the fence.", I cursed myself for not remembering how tall teh fence was. Stupid stupid me!
"Hold on, I'll boost you.", Sakaki said and held out her hands, fingers interlocked.
I hesitated but a moment before I placed my foot into the stirrup she had created. With a force beyond compare she boosted me high enough so that I was able to drop to the other side without trouble. "What about you?", I called back.
She need not answer because before I was even finished speaking she had already pulled herself over the fence and was on the other side. She never ceases to amaze me!
Looking back at my house I noticed that all the lights were out and the curtains drawn. Apparently the power was out here as well. I ran to the back door and swung it wide open. I couldn' help but shout for my parents.
"MOM! DAD! WHERE ARE YOU!?", I shouted as I ran through the house, which was royally ransacked. Vases, pictureframes and other decorations were shattered and torn. Tears welled in my eyes as I anticipated the worst. They were nowhere to be found.
"We'll find them. I swear it.", Sakaki said as she placed a strong hand on my shoulder. An invoulentary smile creased my face. I was beginning to feel the first pangs of hope. I was about to respond when footsteps were heard coming up my basement stairs. Hoping it was my mother and father I ran blindly to the basement door and was greeted by two men in maroon uniforms and black visors. They carried rifles and some sort of flat-panel device.
I screamed and ran immediately, barreling into Sakaki who caught me in a tight embrace.
"Do not move and you will not be harmed!", the taller man said as he sighted us in his rifle.
I shivered and cried in Sakaki's arms. Yet she was unmoving and simply stared at the men.
"What...do you..want?", Sakaki asked them in halting English.
The other man lifted his visor to expose purely European features. A thin nose, slightly tanned skin and light blue eyes as he keyed up something on the flat-screen device before holding it out to us.
"Do you recognize this man?", he asked slowly so we could understand.
On the screen was a man. Dressed in a white linen robe with short cut brown hair and friendly eyes. I knew the man and so did Sakaki. It was Mr. Prior. Yet, we shook our heads 'no.
"Never.", I said in simple English.
"No.", Sakaki agreed.
The man contorted his face into a grimace and said something to the other man that I could not understand. The taller man shook his head and then spoke to us.
"Ok, you're free to go girls.", he said and motioned for his companion to follow him out.
"W...where are my...parents!?", I said in slightly garbled English.
"Parents? Do you live here?", the taller man asked.
I nodded vigorously.
"Arrested. They resisted our investigation.", he said.
My blood simply boiled. How could they? How could they?
I screamed a few choice curses at him before Sakaki quieted me with a stiff hand over my mouth.
"They'll be released when we find our man. Good day, girls.", he nodded and both men exited through the front door.
I really and truly wanted to kill them. Then pull their organs through their mouths! How dare they imprison my parents! They were totally innocent!
"I...I should have let them take me..", I sniffled into Sakaki's shoulder.
She ran her fingers over my hair in a simple gesture that meant the world to me.
"They'll only let them go if they find Mr. Prior! He left weeks ago though!", I exclaimed. Yet I stood, eyes wide. I remembered what Yomi had told me. The deice Mr. Prior had thrown in the bushes. It must have been the distress beacon! He didn't realize it still worked!
"Sakaki-san...we need to find Yomi.", I said.
Sakaki nodded. "Mmm"
I knew where Yomi's house was, but knowing her, she would probably be stuck at the school at this time of day.
Silently, we creeped out the front door and gave paranoid looks in all directions. The group of soldiers had moved further down the street and had their backs turned to us. We took the oppertunity and bolted. Sakaki moved faster, but she slowed her pace to keep in line with me. We stuck to alleyways and shortcuts as we passed by other occupied blocks that were milling with soldiers. The ever present din of the repeating warning rang in my ears.
"We're...close.", I huffed and puffed. I was not used to s much physical exertion.
Sakaki hadn't even broken a sweat as we emerged from the alley and onto the street. The school was visable, but a short ways down the road. The problem wasn't the distance. The problem was the massive amount of soldiers and TANKS planted in the courtyard of the school. TANKS for God's sake! The things were simply massive. Their growling engines could be heard from where we stood. And from where we stood, we decided to observe.
A man had been pulled from the school. I recognized him as a science teacher. His name still escapes me. Four soldiers shoved him to his knees only moments before a sharp 'crack!' bit through the air.
A red beam had emerged from one of the rifles and has blown the top of the teacher's head clean to vapour! I had to cchoke back disgust and the feelings of nausea.
"We have to get in there.", Sakaki whispered with thinly veiled hate.
I nodded in assent.