Hitokiri Orange Road
Chapter 11. Life by Lead cont'd
The sky hemorrhaged as evening fell.
"Ayukawa! Tendo!" Kyosuke yelled down the darkening street.
A girl in a dark uniform spun around. She was neither. Fear was clearly written on her face. She squeezed off a poorly aimed shot, sending the boy diving to the ground. There was no reason for him to follow as she scampered between a pair of grim tenements.
The boy jogged farther down the two lane street. The front of his gakuren was open, to ventilate his sweaty undershirt. Halfway down the street, a convenience store stood gaping open. The front door was shattered. His water bottle was low, and the dryness scoured his throat. The boy licked his lips at the thought of cold tea and food. He shook away the thought, there might be someone or an entire group already inside.
Tendo seemed to be too straight-laced to break and enter, while Ayukawa would find a more graceful way in, so he reasoned that he would not find either girl inside.
Kyosuke doubled back up the street, occasionally checking behind him, then sidled down an alley. Near the far end of the darkened way, Kyosuke nearly stumbled over a classmate crouched over a rifle.
Kyosuke had forgotten the boy's name. He hid from the street behind a discarded washing machine. In place of his uniform were form-fitting black pullover and dark jeans . A black, yarn hat was firmly pulled over his head. Kyosuke lifted his pistol. The safety was already off.
Kyosuke briefly considered putting a bullet through the back of the boy's head, but he could not pull the trigger in cold blood. Instead, he planned to declare a stick-up, demand his weapons, then slip away. Just as Kyosuke opened his mouth to speak, someone emerged from the building across the street. It was a girl in a dark uniform. She had short hair. It could have been Tendo.
The rifleman took aim.
"Get down!" Kyosuke yelled.
The rifleman turned toward him. A shot echoed in the narrow alley. The pistol was already in position and went off faster. The rifleman stared at the wet chest growing on his chest. He then looked up dumbly at Kyosuke. Kyosuke pulled the trigger again, then a second, and a third time. The rifleman's body jerked with each shot until he fell spread-eagle to the pavement.
Kyosuke's ears rang in the ensuing silence. A youthful, fresh face, that could have easily been placed in a junior high, stared up glassily. Kyosuke looked out onto the street. The girl lay flat on cracked asphalt with a tall boy crouched over her. Kyosuke trained his gun on the boy.
"Tendo?" Kyosuke called out.
"Kasuga-kun?" Akane called from the ground. "Are you OK?"
"Yes, are you?"
"Yeah, I'm OK. This is Umao. Put the gun down! He's a friend," Akane projected.
Umao put away his gun, so Kyosuke followed suit.
"OK, one moment," Kyosuke said.
The boy turned his attention back to the corpse. He scooped up the rifle. He slipped his own pistol into a holster. With his teeth gritted, Kyosuke searched the body. The boy's unblinking eyes began to bother him, so Kyosuke shut them. Kyosuke's skin crawled as he touched the warm body, but he was able to work quickly. It was easier to take from the dead this time.
The quick search produced another standard issue pistol and two clips of ammo. He already had three knives, but he put the fourth in his sack in case Tendo could use it. A double bound plastic bag lay next to him. It was filled with instant food and bottled drinks. The rifleman had probably burgled the store that was nearby.
By the time he finished the inventory, Akane had reached the mouth of the alley. Her hands went to her mouth. One hand held a boxy pistol. Kyosuke went to wipe his face, but inadvertently smeared blood across his brow.
Akane took out a kerchief and wiped it off.
"Kyosuke, how could you?" Akane admonished in a subdued voice.
"Sorry," Kyosuke apologized, but he still held the bag and rifle as he stood.
"Tendo-san, it's the Program," the tall boy said. "We all must do things that we normally wouldn't do to survive.
"Thank you for your help," the stranger continued. "He probably would have picked us off if you hadn't warned us. My name is Umao."
Beneath the tall boy's arm was a heavy automatic handgun. Another weapon was holstered at leg. Beneath the holster was a neatly tied bandage.
"Kasuga Kyosuke," Kyosuke took his hand, but kept his other on the rifle.
"You wouldn't happen to have seen a girl, would you? She's about Tendo's height with shoulder-length wavy hair."
He looked crestfallen as Kyosuke shook his head.
"I'm looking for her," Umao said. "I told Tendo that I would team up until I found her."
"And then?" Kyosuke asked.
"Then we try to find a way out," Umao said. "For all of us. A way out one way or another."
Akane gave a quick nod, when Kyosuke looked her way.
Kyosuke held out his hand again. "Truce?"
Umao shook it firmly again. Kyosuke might not have trusted the athletic boy, but Akane seemed to trust him.
As the sun fell beneath the horizon, large shapes arose from between the buildings. They looked like monstrous eggs, shedding oblong shadows over the town. Four weather balloons rose over the city. The now-familiar screech echoed across the still streets.
"Hello there, everybody," the suit began in a dry voice. "We could address you by your collars, but the sound might give away your positions to each other, and that wouldn't be fair.
"In any case, I hope that you are all doing well. That is, everyone except for Kazushi, Hatta, Komatsu, Tanaka. There have been four participants eliminated so far. Surprisingly, three were eliminated by one person. There are 26 participants remaining. You've all been busy, please keep up the good work.
"Now for my other announcement. Daytime hours will end in one hour. While you are free to move within the field of play during night time hours, you can also stay put during these hours. After all, you're still growing and need your rest to become healthy adults."
The message dissolved into a shrill scream, leaving only the cold wind its wake.