Chaos in Kadoma Ward – Chapter 29

“Move!”

I jump over a barking dog, trying to urge on his owner, and pump my legs as hard as I can. The concussion and the exhaustion from my earlier sprint on the butsu make gaining speed difficult. But I have a head start on Akikazé, and I don’t want him to catch me.

I very much want to live now.

Because Gen is wrong, and I’m right, and no, I don’t care if this society has its merits. They will not win.

I round a corner at full blast, not looking behind me. This place may not be familiar, but I have a good sense of direction, and I can tell I’m winding my way through Kadoma Ward towards Rin’s apartment. That’s my goal. I’ve been to and from there enough times to know I’ll be safe there.

Down an alleyway and left, I run straight into a fight. Two Kiiroi Yama kenryōshi, their swords flying, deal with androids terrorizing a schoolyard with torches and bats. Kids scream and cry, and either they run from the yard or huddle in corners with their teachers. Mara, the one woman on Rin’s team from Kurai who I saw only a few weeks ago, takes off the head of a female-analogous android. All of this I catch in two blinks of my eyes as I run past.

The story calls to me, the allure of breaking news trying to override my basic instinct to survive. If I didn’t have killers on my tail, I’d pull out my tablet and record history.

Don’t stop.

Footsteps get louder behind me, but I’m afraid to look back. Are they also people running from androids? Or are they my enemies?

Drones buzz overhead as I make my way down a busier street, and I wonder where Rin is. I don’t want to be selfish, but I could use his help right about now. The world is falling apart though. Each shop I pass is in flames or the shutters have been pulled down. Almost every business employs an android. They’re everywhere here. I’m sure Rin is out doing his job, but damn. I am close to losing my life. Wasn’t he supposed to protect me?

Don’t cry. I can’t cry right now. I try to make sense of the chaos as my feet pound the pavement. What if… What if the androids always had programming, deep inside of them, that would come to life if Aoi Uma needed them to be their army? But some androids tapped into those subroutines early and went crazy on their owners, causing Kiiroi Yama to step up their game and spread themselves thin. I saw Kiiroi Yama with my own eyes. Everyone there was overworked and tired. There’s no way they’ll handle a revolution of this size.

Androids were a mistake.

And now Aoi Uma has an army that can take over the world.

But for what purpose?

Pain rips up my side, all of my muscles seizing and trying to stop me from running. My energy stores are at zero, and my head is pounding right along with my feet.

I have to stop. I can’t run anymore.

Wait.

I slow down instead, whipping my head around to see past people fleeing or putting out fires or battling their androids with brooms and cooking pans. I recognize this area. I’m only about five blocks from K&G Noodles.

I won’t make it to Rin’s apartment building. I just won’t. My body will give out way before then. With the subways closed and the butsu shut down, I can’t get there without dying of exhaustion first.

But K&G is close. There are knives and pans and ingredients there for making weapons. If I rest for just ten seconds, I can call Rin or Kazuo or Shintaro. Hell, I’d even call Atsumi for help.

I chance to look behind me, and far off down the street, Akikazé and two of his men are still making their way in my direction. Looks like he lost someone along the way. Good. I need to get inside and take cover before he’s able to communicate with anyone about where I am and how to stop me. Being on the run has saved me so far.

Zigzagging through alleyways, I try to keep Akikazé out of direct eyeshot. Maybe if he loses me, I’ll be able to slow down. I think I’m almost clear and only two blocks from K&G when I pass the android repair shop.

Shit. Bad idea.

A male-analogous android, the side of his face dented in and bleeding, jumps at me from the broken storefront as I try to slip past. I spin out of the way, but it grabs my shirt and pulls me down with it. Air is knocked out of my lungs as we tumble along the pavement. My left arm erupts in pain shocking enough to make my head spin. I’m out of breath and depleted, and there’s a whole store’s worth of androids making their way down the block, terrorizing tourists, customers, and shop owners.

The android who took me down is slow to get to its feet. This model looks like it was made to run a store, not one of Narumi’s more malevolent soldiers. I reach into my bag and pull my bloodied knife again. The android jerks, but this time I’m ready for it.

I cut straight for its throat. Rin beheads these things, so that’s my motivation. I scream as I hold my arm straight and let the blade sink down into the fake flesh. The android’s head wobbles to one side, and it falls over.

It looks so real. But a snap and pop as the spine is cut tells me it’s not.

A sob bubbles up and tears flow down my cheeks as I look at its broken body. I’ve never killed a real person before, and though I know this is a machine, the experience feels real. Wrong, Yumi. It’s not real.

I encourage my shaking legs forward to K&G Noodles, just across the street. I’m not surprised to see the place shuttered up, though I was here only an hour or two ago.

Wiping my bloody hands on my pants, I sneak around to the side of the building and wave my hand over the door.

“Come on,” I urge it before it clicks open.

Inside, the kitchen is dark and empty. Where is everyone? Did they close up and run once the bombings started? I press my back to the door for a brief moment, then cross the room to my chair. I’m desperate to sit and rest, but my legs are so wobbly, I shake as I land in the chair, crying out at the pain in my arm and other places on my body that hurt.

My hands barely work as I zip open my bag and pull out my tablet. But turning it on doesn’t help me. The network is down, and I can’t access anything.

“Fuck.” I slam it back into my bag and wipe the rogue tears from my cheeks.

This is impossible. I can’t do this. I can’t run forever. I don’t know where I’m going or who I can trust. I can’t tell androids from people unless I’m killing them, and Aoi Uma is right on my ass.

“Rin,” I whisper, more tears streaming down my cheeks. “Rin, I need you. Where are you?”

Aoi Uma has gone off the deep end. Things are much worse than I suspected. I am screwed if I don’t get out of here.

Something falls over in the storeroom. An empty can, maybe, bounces across the floor and comes to a stop against something. I’ve lived here long enough to notice that there are never any rats in the streets or mice in the storeroom. Any animals on the planet came from a lab and were paid for at a high price.

So unless there was an earthquake I didn’t feel, someone must be in the back. My body, though, is having a hard time responding to my orders to get up and go look. Groaning, I get up from my chair, trying hard not to panic though my heart is beating way up in my throat.

I sneak up to the door and throw it open. Scanning under and around the shelves, a pair of feet come into view. Someone is lying on the floor in the back.

I round the corner, my knife in hand, when I see Kotashi and Gina bound and gagged, lying in the corner near the UPN drop. Kay stands over them, her posture slumped and her eyes vacant. Kotashi and Gina both try to scream through their gags, and Kay comes to life, her eyes blinking and shoulders straightening.

“Be quiet,” she barks at them. Then she sees me and lunges.

I don’t move in time. She barrels into me, and my knife flies from my hand, skittering across the floor under the shelves. Kay bounces off of me, falling into the refrigerator, so I roll over and pop back up.

“I knew there was something wrong about you,” I say, bringing my hands up into a defensive position, though I fear it’s useless.

Who knows how long this thing has been spying on us. She was watching me here. She probably followed me home some nights. She followed us to the club. Where else?

I go for the surprise gambit, yelling and diving for Kay’s legs. She jumps out of the way, and I tuck and roll, slamming into a shelf. Containers fly everywhere; a box of flour pops open and sends a cloud into the air. I hop to my feet and try to run, but I slip on a container of spices. Gina behind me screams through her gag. My legs fly out from underneath me, and I come crashing down to the floor.

Gasping for air, I inhale flour and cough as Kay’s hand grabs my shirt and pulls me up. She slams me against the refrigerator, once, twice. I go limp, feeling another of my ribs crack.

She dumps me on the floor as the door to K&G Noodles opens and shadows cross the floor.

“Looks like I should’ve taken my time getting here,” Akikazé says through labored breaths.

“What took you so long?” Kay yells at him. “She almost got me with her knife.”

He tries to calm her with his hands outstretched. “The neighborhood is a mess. I got here as quickly as I could.”

“Narumi, I know it’s you,” I croak out. Kay and Akikazé both turn to me. “You stupid bitch. What the hell are you thinking, slaying half the population?”

Kay blinks at me a few times. “I don’t have to explain myself to you. We have no use for you now.”

I was right. It is Narumi on the other end. Only she hates me this much.

“Sure you do. Do you honestly think you’re going to win this war without my help? Without the help of my people when they come? If this is the best you can do, androids that just kill indiscriminately, you’ll be crushed.” I laugh, though it hurts. “Where are your precious Fukusha Model Eights? This is a joke.”

I’m pulling at strings, thinking of anything that’ll keep me alive until Rin finds me. He will. I just have to hold out.

Kay kicks me in the stomach and blackness descends on me for a few moments as I gasp to gather air. I swear I’m going to deactivate her if I’m ever in the same room with her again.

“The Fukusha Model Eights are doing their jobs, whether you can see them or not. Aoi Uma will rule this world. We’ll build the utopia people have been asking for. And you know what? Having your help would be most appreciated.”

She signals to Akikazé, and he reaches down to pick me up. My legs flail as he carries me to a UPN box and drops me in it. I try to struggle, to free myself, but he holds me down.

“Bring me the chloroform.”

Kay rushes across the room for a bottle and handkerchief.

“I’ve changed my mind,” she says, approaching the box. “We need things from your people, and you’re going to give them to us.”

Akikazé takes out a device from his back pocket that he holds over my wrist, and after a quick zap that makes me jump, it beeps and displays, ‘Microchip Deactivated,’ on the screen. Great. I guess no one will find me now.

Except… I wonder about the one Rin put in my backside months ago.

“Be a good girl and listen closely,” Akikazé growls at me.

I try to hold my breath as he covers my mouth and nose with the handkerchief.

“You only have one way out now, Miss Minamoto. Make the right choice.”