Chapter 10
Joey stared wide-eyed down the barrel. He was instantly quieted and couldn't move.
"Now mutt. I'm leaving. I don't know if Duke's coming with me but at this point I don't really care. If I stay here with you you're gonna get me killed." His eyes narrowed as he lowered his gun.
"Goodbye Wheeler." He turned around and started walking away. He then stopped in his tracks and his head dropped to look at the ground before it moved to look over his shoulder.
"And if you think of following me screaming like that I won't hesitate to shoot you." He kept walking down through the clearing. Joey sat in the dirt shocked. His tearstained face followed the CEO as he walked out of sight into the night. Duke stood at the corner of the building deliberating with himself. Joey was one of the people he came to save, so could he just leave him for dead? But if he stayed with Joey would he be killed? Whose life was more important? He hadn't even seen these people in years. Surely his own life should come before Joey's… He stood at the corner of the building completely still looking at the ground. Joey saw the conflict in his face and silent tears started flowing down his face into the pool of blood.
"I understand Duke. In a situation like this, you do have to make tough choices. And I choose my sister. Yugi made his own choice too." He stood up shaking, his knees threatening to give out beneath him. He slowly made his way over to Duke.
"Will you stay with me buddy?" He put a hand on his shoulder. Duke peered at it over his rimless glasses and smiled sadly. He took his opposite hand and placed it on Joey's and nodded.
"Good, then let's get going. And if I start screaming like that again…" He swallowed.
"Do what you have to do." There was a deep grimness in his voice. Duke accepted without saying a word, although he doubted he could kill one of the very people he came to save, he saw no point in arguing. Hopefully it wouldn't come to that.
"Should we just take shelter here?" Joey looked around at the building, many still had complete rooms that hadn't had walls destroyed.
"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. How about that one?" Duke pointed to a building that resembled all the others. Joey nodded and the two made their way in.
Kaiba climbed over a fallen stop light post. Being used to deprivation of sleep, he was easily adaptable and had gotten enough sleep back at Kame Game to last him. In fact, he decided he was better off on his own. He had always operated that way and it got him to CEO and multibillionaire as a child. Why should this mission be any different? He grunted as he thought of the others. They would have just slowed him down anyway. He had finally accepted working together with them for something and look what they did! Yugi falls asleep on his shift, nearly getting them killed, then runs off in the night and Joey starts screaming like he welcomes death. Who knows, maybe he did. But it didn't matter. Kaiba didn't. Kaiba scowled again. Why had he even thought teaming up with them was a good idea? Had he really changed that much over the years? He didn't think so: just a momentary error in judgment due to the situation. That must be it. He had reached another bad area of the city and it was difficult to get through it. But he would manage. He was sure he would manage.
Kaiba stood with his hands in his pockets and glared down at the murky water now running with blood and dust from the explosion on the bridge. His kicked a pebble into the murky depths and watched it disappear from sight immediately upon entry. He glared at where the pebble had disappeared and grunted. He slowly raised his head and looked back across to the satellite. He had to get there. He just had to. He couldn't let anything as stupid as a destroyed bridge stop him.
But he knew that air travel between the two regions was outlawed and same with water. But he also knew that there was a thriving underground business of transporting people and goods between the two regions illegally. He didn't mind the idea of breaking the law, it's not like he hadn't before. He just didn't like the idea of being around those type of people in that type of place. Being stuck in a smelly old moldy boat with a bunch of drug dealers or weapons dealers or whatever it might be in the middle of the night wasn't his ideal situation. But he had to get to the satellite, and contrary to his nature, he couldn't be flashy and would have to do it discreetly; even if it meant going on a black market boat.
He kicked another stone mindlessly into the water without looking down. Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad. He could probably find a boat that just transported family across the lake. Though not as prominent or frequent as the other business across the waters, it wasn't uncommon. The only problem with people boats were that when caught no one really bothered fighting. On a black market boat, there are always guns and even if the police catch you, you can usually get away by shooting or bribing. Police love bribes from a few illegals. But on a group boat, no bribes because there's too many people, and none aboard get violent for fear of hurting their loved ones. Maybe he should go on an arms boat afterall.
He squatted down on the ground and picked up a stone in his hand. He looked at the grey patchy texture and tossed it up and down in his hand, feeling its weight. He held it still and stared at it for a moment before letting it tumble out of his hand and back to the ground with a thud. He then surveyed the ground and found a flat rock which he flipped over a few times in his long skinny fingers and then skipped across the water. It looked like a stone just bouncing off a flat, brick brown sheet of plastic only distorting it behind it, like stretching saran wrap. It made a hollow light noise with each hop until it finally submerged itself far out and disappeared silently from sight. Kaiba eyes the spot where it disappeared and sighed, closing his eyes. He held them closed and stood. They then opened slowly and he turned around to go back to Kaiba Corporation headquarters.
The sun had begun to rise and Kaiba was sure he was almost at the mansion. He stumbled across the golden ruin scape and he couldn't help but think it looked Egyptian like the millennium items. The odd angles of everything and the confused ruins all golden in the rising sunlight. And though he had never been in the Pharaoh's soul room himself, Yugi had described it to him a while back. And looking around now, he was pretty sure it must have looked similar to this only darker. He glanced over at the fiery orb of light rising in the distance and the pink and orange clouds. He could only see it through some gaps in the destruction he was under but it was enough for him to see and for some reason in his mind it triggered his eyes to open wide and remember: he hadn't brought any water with him. He cursed himself in his mind and decided to immediately get to some clearing of any sort and find clean water to drink. If that failed he would simply make a make-shift filter from whatever he could find. He'd be fine. He knew he'd be fine.
As the sun rose Kaiba finally made it to a clearing and searched for anything that would hint at water. Finding nothing he decided to check buildings that weren't entirely destroyed. He looked for places where people would keep water and found none, until the last building he checked, where he found a refrigerator. Upon opening the door, a disgusting sent came out and he saw some questionable items, but there were a few bottles of water and juice boxes, which he took of course. He tried to ignore the scent of decomposing flesh as he left the home.
Around noon time, it was clear to Kaiba that he had reached his destination. He looked ahead to see the destroyed remains of the Kaiba mansion. It was easy to spot because of the large property being mostly trees and grass. He was pleased that he had arrived but also apprehensive. He began walking towards the crumbled remains of the place he had lived for 27 years; though he hadn't actually spent that much time there, he spent most of his time at the corporation and second to that going somewhere across the globe. But it was still the place that was his house. The place he didn't have to worry about being professional; well after Gozaburo died anyway, before that he had to remain professional there. But it was still eerie seeing it in pieces on the ground; surrounded by toppled trees and flooded muddy grass. Kaiba took a deep breath and began approaching the establishment.
He didn't know what he'd find inside. He knew he'd probably find some dead guards and security. Ideally he'd find Mokuba alive. Worst case scenario he'd find Mokuba_... He couldn't finish the thought. But he knew what probably would happen was he wouldn't find Mokuba at all. He didn't want to admit it, but even though Mokuba was in town visiting, he probably wasn't in the mansion at the time. He did have business to attend to after all. And Mokuba took a late lunch break when working, so he'd be at work instead of at the mansion eating lunch. But Mokuba also wasn't working in the headquarters building, so the mansion was his only chance.
Kaiba flicked his head to get some of his hair out of his face. He could probably use a haircut.
He arrived at the broken sidewalk outside the mansion before a crumbled wall of brick. He climbed the wall and reached the other end to be greeted by a swamp. He made his way along the bricks to the driveway, which, of course, still had the steel gate in front of it. He made his way onto the driveway, which was soaked with muddy water with a layer of almost-sand building at the bottom. He rolled up the bottom of his pants so they wouldn't get wet and he stepped into the murky water. As he took steps through it, his motion churned the dirt and he felt the muddy water soaking through his feet. He didn't care. He walked up the driveway as though it weren't flooded. His normal walk didn't cause splashes anyway. He stepped over some sections of what was once the entrance to the mansion. Parts of the building still stood, and those were where he had to look. It was his only hope of finding Mokuba.