This chapter is dedicated to the lovely Barrettachante, the 500th review for The Uke Flu. Sorry it's taken so long to get this out for you, Koi. I bow to your faithful reviewing despite my tardiness.
Days Without Sun
Chapter 28: Torches
Aikawa found herself propelled forcefully towards the shack by the guard at her arm. Bile had risen from her stomach along with her panic when she understood the guard's intentions and saw the glint in his eyes. Her stomach lurched when one of the man's hands dropped down and gave a groping slide that ended in a smart smack to one cheek of her ass.
Be strong, Eri.
Aikawa drew a deep breath, as her fear left her suddenly dizzy. Then, in the midst of her panic, a new thought came to her.
Maybe strong is the wrong approach.
A sickly grin twisted Aikawa's face at this thought.
Without a moment's hesitation she followed her intuition. Stumbling into the guard she grasped for his shirt. Two seconds later she opened her mouth and retched. The contents of her stomach boiled up and spewed onto her would be assailant's starched shirt.
"What the…!" The guard immediately relinquished his hold, shoving Aikawa back as her vomit hit him. That moment of confused disgust was all she needed. She quickly twisted away, her body still heaving and bolted into the lush vegetation lining the pathway.
The guard's face contorted into a grimace at the smell of the sick now coating him. His own stomach hitched involuntarily and he doubled over, his shoulders shuddering as he fought to keep from vomiting himself.
"Mother of God!" He spat in furious revulsion.
Dropping his gun, he tore out of his soiled shirt. "Fucking whore!"
Once stripped to his tee-shirt, he grabbed his gun back up and dashed into the bushes. Dark eyes scanned his surroundings, but he saw nothing in the dim green curtain enveloping him. Even with the nearby lights of the house, within the thick tangle of the bush it was nearly impossible to see anything.
"God damn it!"
In frustration he sprayed a volley of bullets into the vegetation. The bursts of light from the automatic weapon illuminated the falling leaves kicked up by the rounds.
Shouts came from the direction of the driveway as the men still there with the car heard the shots.
Lowering his gun, the guard listened. He heard nothing outside the concerned calls of his colleagues. Even the insects' incessant humming had stopped momentarily, stunned into quiet by the shooting. He spat on the ground again, his face a mask of rage.
"What happened?" The man who'd set off Aikawa's gaydar called, running up towards the origin of the shots. Seeing his colleague emerge from the foliage with his shirt off, his eyebrows rose.
"Bitch bolted!" The angry gunman stomped past. He rubbed a rough hand through his short cropped hair, dislodging a few small leaves in the process.
The new arrival clucked his tongue in reprimand. "You shouldn't have let yourself think with your cock, Guilherme." He ignored the dark looks his comment elicited.
"This had nothing to do with my cock, asshole! The fucking cunt puked on me!"
"Regardless, whatever the reason, you better get your ass out there and find her."
Aikawa's ex-captor gritted his teeth at the tone in his companion's voice. Rather than pick a fight however, he scanned the brush again. Even with their weapons, none of Korovin's men desired to be out in the dark with the estate's hounds on the loose.
"Fuck that, Miguel. I'm not going out there!" He gazed back and wanted to smash the disapproving look off of the other guard's face. "Don't worry. The bitch doesn't stand a chance against the dogs. They'll sniff her out before you know it."
Miguel considered this truth and some of his condemnation left him. However, he was still not willing to let his co-worker off so easily.
"You better fucking pray the dogs get her, Guilherme. Before the Doc finds out what happened... Or we'll all be dogfood." Before either sentry could say anything more, a shout came from the remaining man at the car.
"You guys better get your asses back here! There's someone else coming up the drive! How the hell are they getting through the gate?"
The two men looked at each other, a sudden reappraisal of their escapee occurring in each one's mind simultaneously. Their thoughts were cut short however, when a crash sounded in the direction of their companion.
"Fuck!" was cried out in unison and the men bolted towards the estate's driveway.
Aikawa tore through the brush as it tore at her. Black-fingered branches ripped her blouse. She felt more than one leafy hand grab at her bare legs. She cursed that she'd chosen to wear a skirt instead of slacks that day. The low flats she was wearing weren't helping her pace either.
As soon as she could, she kicked out of her shoes and hiked up her skirt. In her adrenaline-fueled flight, she was oblivious to the sharp stones that cut her bare feet. All she was conscious of now was her burning lungs and the loudness of the breaking branches and her heavy breathing.
She realized her bag was still slung over her shoulder when it caught on a thick limb as she was crashing blindly through the brush. Reacting on instinct, rather than just allowing it to slip off, she pulled harshly. The branch gave way with much less resistance than she'd anticipated and the sudden give sent her spinning.
Losing her balance, Aikawa tumbled forward. She was unaware of how close to the edge of this wooded barrier she'd become until, in her fall, the ground suddenly dropped out beneath her and she found herself flying down a low grassy embankment.
She landed with a hard "thump" at the bottom, sprawled out on the open lawn, her breath all but knocked out of her.
The things I do for my authors…
A harsh, breathless laugh welled in her throat and Aikawa could feel herself teetering on the edge of hysteria.
She lay for just a second, fighting this overwhelming emotion, struggling to keep her mind present as she did a quick mental check, seeking to ascertain if her fall had done any real damage. Feeling a dozen spots scratched and stretched but nothing that seemed to be broken or really severely strained, Aikawa began to raise herself up.
No sooner had she started to rise than the crack of rifle fire broke through the night. Aikawa hugged the ground again, her taxed heart pounding even harder. Behind her she heard bullet-harried branches break and fall.
Sweet Kami-sama… If I hadn't gone down.
After what seemed like an interminable amount of time, though less than a minute had actually passed, the shooting stopped. Aikawa lifted her head after a moment and listened. She heard soft shouts in the distance, but they didn't seem to be coming any closer. She dropped her head heavily after a moment pressing her forehead back into the cool wet grass. Her whole body tremored.
Aikawa knew she needed to get up and get moving again, but it seemed that all her strength had suddenly abandoned her. She lay there in the blessed quiet. Her shot-rattled ears strained to hear above her thundering heart and panting breath.
Just a minute, I just need to lie here another minute…
It seemed however, that Kami was through dealing favors for the night.
Aikawa raised her head at the sounds of heavy tread breaking through another part of the vegetation about fifty feet down from her. Here, in the openness of the lawn, the house lights lessened the night enough so that after a moment, Aikawa could make out where the rustling was.
She froze when leaves and vines parted and a huge dog dashed out onto the low turf before her.
The mastiff paused. His massive jaws were open as he panted; an enormous pink tongue lolled from his dripping jaw. Head held high, he pulled his tongue in and closed his fearsome maw as he lifted his nose and sniffed.
Aikawa's breath left her again, strangling the cry that had risen in her throat. Even so, reflective eyes flashed in the dim light and the dog suddenly snarled and began bounding towards her. Raising herself to her knees she began frantically searching around herself, looking for anything that she might possibly use as a weapon.
Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion now for Aikawa, with the exception of the hound whose hunting howls filled the air. Then looking to the side, the editor saw her bag. It had flown from her shoulder during her fall. Its contents lay scattered around on the ground.
Her eyes fell on two objects simultaneously and she lunged for them.
Her left hand clutched the small aerosol can of concentrated hairspray she'd been carrying with her to ward off the havoc the tropical climate had been wreaking on her hair. Her right hand grabbed for the lighter next to the package of expensive cigarettes she carried with her always, since so many of her writers tended to smoke.
Aikawa was suddenly thankful she'd never followed through on her resolution to entirely stop enabling her authors' bad habits.
It was all she could do not to close her eyes as the beast bore down on her. Her hands trembled so much the lighter fumbled in her fingers.
"Fuck!"
If the dog heard her curse he paid no heed. With a dangerous grace he coiled and launched himself off his powerful hindquarters straight at his prey.
Praying that what she'd read in one of her adventure author's works was factual, Aikawa steeled herself for the impact at the same time she flicked the lighter and depressed the trigger nozzle on the hairspray can. She jumped back at the burst of flame that erupted before her as the chemicals in the spray hit the flame. Despite the jarring, she held her makeshift flamethrower tight. The high pitched scream of the hound assailed her ears as the dog's head was submerged in fire.
Blinded and enraged with pain, the mastiff plunged forward; its jaws snapped wildly as it shook its burning head. Aikawa found her feet at last and jumped up, skittering to the side as the dog dashed forward and then began turning madly in circles. The demon dog dropped its head to the dewy ground and began snaking it through the grass, clawing frantically at its scorched muzzle, before, after one last agonized howl, it collapsed.
Aikawa did not wait to see if the dog was truly dead before she began running. She headed towards where she thought the entrance to Korovin's bunker was. She had no idea how many other dogs would be drawn by their fallen comrade's cries but had already determined that whatever hell she might find there could hardly prove worse than this.
Santo Justino had stepped into the entrance to Korovin's bunker and was surprised by the silence and the clean, modern looking interior. He noted the cameras' eyes on him the moment he moved on to the landing, but once again no alarm sounded.
Gun drawn, he peered down the stairs. Seeing nothing, he did another visual sweep of the entry. His keen eyes immediately noted the scraped patch of wall next to the door's currently offline key pad. Calloused fingers swept over the marks and he noticed the dark stains on the chalky plaster.
Someone tried to claw his way out here.
The P.I. dipped into the pocket of the jacket he wore and pulled a small black-light flashlight from it. For once he was glad of the arsenal of gadgets he kept in his pockets. Even if some of his subordinates teased him about it at times.
If there was blood here on the wall there might be more.
Santo Justino felt the knot in his throat tighten and his stomach clench when he flicked the surprisingly wide beam of light down the wall and onto the floor.
Though the tiles beneath him were clean to the naked eye, it was obvious from the glowing residue left behind that where he was standing had once been awash in blood. He followed the trail down the stairs to another place at their base where another pool of had obviously congealed.
Here he noted that someone must have been dragged while badly bleeding. A sudden wave of fear gripped Santo Justino. Perhaps this spill belonged to Usami; perhaps Korovin had not wished to play with the author after all, but had instead met the man at the door and dispatched him instantly.
But if that was the case, would Korovin have cleaned up already?
Maybe there's more than one person at work here. Maybe the good doctor has a partner.
Santo Justino's mind swirled with the possibilities. He'd known some of the human animals he'd tracked to hunt in pairs or packs. But in his mind Korovin seemed far more like a loner.
Even if this blood is old, it still might lead me to his lair.
He had little else to go on now. As he moved through the hall and stepped through another set of unlocked doors, Santo Justino could see hallways splitting and branching out in to more passages.
It's a god damn maze in here.
His eyes followed the trail set off by his black light. He was dizzied by the number of closed doors and passageways.
There is no way in hell I want to get lost in this place.
Looking over at the wall beside him, the detective freed one of his hands to once again dip into his pocket.
His fingers touched a cool metal cylinder and brought out a tube of lipstick. Eri had left it on the nightstand when she'd parted from him after their intimate night together. He'd meant to give it back to her, but in the day's drama it had stayed there forgotten amongst all his other paraphernalia.
A bitter smile twisted Santo Justino's handsome mouth. He had tempted fate too many times in his life to have a casual relationship with her any more: batteries went dead, tools and weapons could be dropped or knocked out of one's hands; the trail he was following could lead to a dead end.
He undid the cap and made a small bright pink cross on the wall, knowing that even in this he was still tempting the capricious entity of chance.
These marks may either guide me out of here eventually or lead others to where my body lies.
Dear Virgin protect me.
The prayer uttered in Santo Justino's mind fluttered there, never making it to his lips. The bitter smile dropped, pulled into a tight line as he capped Eri's lipstick and raised both his gun and his torch again.
The invisible trail of blood glowed ghostly silver beneath his light. It rolled like a river of death down the hall before him.
Now, I know that some of you will be sorely disappointed that this chapter only had Aikawa and an OC. But the chapter was getting too long so I decided to cut it off here. The next chapter will be forthcoming far sooner than my updates have of late. Hopefully it will make all you dear readers happy to know I have decided to write this story through to the end, since the climax is rapidly approaching. So I will be working on this and setting aside my revisions until this tale is done.
Thank you for hanging in here with me as I have been striving to get things back in order. Both personally and with my stories. I'd love to hear from you, if you're still out there.
Usagi-san, Korovin, and Jadir are next... *Shivers * It's going to be tense.
Thank you for the follows/favorites and of course you know my addiction to reviews.
Hope to hear from you.