Crash Land on Kurai – Chapter 20

I wait in my room for the signal.

Kazuo has been gone for an hour, and I’m dressed and ready to go. I memorized the route to the kitchen and the tunnel beyond. I packed extra painkillers into the pockets of my suit, my knife on my belt. I have no idea why they didn’t take it, but I remember how I told Rin no one was to touch my knife but me. Did he let me keep it? I leave the native tablet on the bed, but I carry my own tablet in the pouch on my back.

While I wait, I think about the conversation I had with Rin at dinner. He seemed normal, almost friendly. His answers to my questions were to the point and gracious, not condescending or threatening in any way. When he wasn’t holding a knife to my throat, I felt like we were allies, two people with a possible shared history. We could have been friends, not strangers, but now I’m sure that’s over. Once we leave, I doubt I’ll ever see him again.

I close my eyes and picture him how he was the other day, watching me speak to Tamura for the first time, before the test. He seemed interested in us, ready to make a move on our behalf. Even when Tamura was yelling at me after the test, I felt Rin’s need to protect us. Does that come from his corporation? Yellow mountain. Kiiroi Yama. Will they pursue us, ally with us, or destroy us?

I groan and hold my head in my hands. Kazuo wants us to move on, to find more from Orihimé. He wants autonomy, always has. And now I’m questioning what to do. Both courses of action, staying or leaving, are equal parts right and wrong. Both could get me killed. Both could start a war. Both could be dangerous for everyone involved.

So much for making Rin my obsession. But if I have to choose, I choose to go on my own.

A soft double knock at the door followed by one knock brings me to my feet. I count slowly to five and open the door. The corridor is empty. No one around.

I’m set to go.

Following the path Kazuo laid out for me, I circle around to the front of the temple and step into the ladies’ restroom. I use the bathroom, count to ten, and exit in the opposite direction, walking and looking out the windows like I’m biding my time. The whole point of this is to make it seem as though I’m doing normal, everyday activities. I’m not with Kazuo. I’m just using the bathroom and going for a stroll.

But I’m not.

I follow a parallel corridor and stop at an empty prayer room. Here, I pray and wait until footsteps pass by and fade into the temple’s other hallways. Exiting the prayer room, I’m careful to look left and right before continuing to the kitchen. My heart is so loud, I can hear the swift beat in my ears, and my feet sweat, soaking my socks.

I pull open the kitchen door slowly, and a large man lies on the floor, his eyes closed and peaceful. Kazuo stands near him, our shoes in his hands. Relief sweeps over his face when he sees me.

“No problems?” he asks, handing me my shoes. I take them, keeping an eye on the passed out man.

“No problems. A few people passed the prayer room, but they didn’t come in.” I slip my shoes on and tighten them up, making sure they’re as ready to go as I am. “Did you…?” I point to the man on the floor.

“No. He was like that when I came in.” Kazuo points to the cup of tea next to the chopping board. The man had been prepping for the evening meal while sipping tea. “I guess those barbiturates were pretty strong.”

I feel bad for the man, but there’s nothing I can do. We have to keep moving. Someone is bound to come back and figure out what happened.

While I’m adjusting my pants to fall over my shoes, Kazuo drags his hand across the opposite wall until he finds what he’s looking for.

“Aha!” With a soft click, a pocket door swings open. He sticks his head in and looks down the corridor as I walk up behind him.

“It seems too easy.” Kazuo folds his arms over his chest. “Did they really think we wouldn’t try to escape? Or even look at the maps?”

My stomach cramps, nervous birds inside me trying to break free. “What should we do? It does feel like a trap. But why would they try to trap us? If they wanted to keep us here, they would’ve left a bigger guard and never given us the tablets.”

“They may be testing us. Maybe, if we try to escape, then we’re worthless. They can do away with us and not worry about it should our rescue mission show up. But if we stay and we’re loyal, maybe we’re worth something.”

Oh no. I hadn’t thought of that. Tamura seems to be a cunning man, and it’s the kind of thing he would think of. But maybe we’re being too paranoid. It’s hard to tell. I don’t know these people well enough to make guesses, and I don’t understand their hierarchy of ethics. It could be they value money more than life.

I glance back at the man sleeping on the floor. “It’s too late now. We’ve already set things in motion. We should finish it.” I push past him and walk down the basement tunnel. The door clicks closed, and Kazuo’s footfalls creep up on me. I’ve forced his hand, even though he was the one that dealt it.

The floor slopes down for a dozen meters before evening out and stretching ahead of us for a dozen more. It makes sense that there are no stairs. This makes it easier to move pallets of goods in and out of the temple.

After ten minutes of walking, I remember something from my earlier conversation with Kazuo. “How long did you spend with Rin while I was out with the migraine?” I whisper, keeping my pace swift.

“An hour or two,” Kazuo whispers back, shrugging his shoulders.

“And?”

“And what, Yumi? Ask questions. That’s your job.” His voice is neutral, but he’s irritated and tense.

I stop him, my hand on his chest. “I’m trying to decide if there’s any cause to trust him. What did you learn?”

Kazuo glances behind us. “Nothing personal. He asked about your brother and the other people on the ship, and I did most of the talking. I reiterated your desire to find your brother, how it was important we find him, and he said he’d see what he could do.”

“That was it?” The cold air of the tunnel slicks my skin with clammy sweat.

“He came with me to find more meds for you at the infirmary, and then he left.” He shrugs his shoulders again. “They didn’t seem in any hurry to help us, so I stole the sedatives when he turned his back on me.”

I imagine Rin’s keen eyes boring into me during the test like he could see right through me. My scalp prickles and goosebumps wash down my back. I have a bad feeling about this.

“Come on. I don’t like delaying here,” Kazuo says, urging me forward.

I strain my ears to hear ahead of me, wondering if a new shipment for the temple’s kitchen will show up right as we’re trying to get away, but the tunnel stays silent. Lights at regular intervals keep the darkness away, but the space is otherwise drab and utilitarian.

After twenty minutes of walking, the floor slopes upward again, and another dozen meters later, we come to a door. I figure we walked at least two kilometers, give or take, which would put us out of the sunshade territory or right on the edge. I pause as I’m overcome with the feeling that, once again, this was too easy. Way too easy.

Kazuo sets his hand on my shoulder. “I’m not sure what’s on the other side of the door. It could be a room or the outdoors. So let’s go slowly and stick together.” He looks for another hidden latch like the one in the kitchen and finds it in the same place it was on the other door.

The door swings open, and we’re greeted with daylight slanting in through windows of a tiny storehouse. Thick metal shields the ceiling and walls, and the door to the outside looks to be at least ten centimeters thick. They must use this area as a dropping off point before they bring supplies into the temple.

Kazuo and I wrap up, pulling the hoods over our heads and wrapping our faces as well. I unsheathe my knife and stand ready as he opens the door. Outside, the forest is quiet, the sun dipping in the late afternoon sky. Once the moon is clear of the shadow of the planet, it has regular day and night intervals.

Kazuo scans the surrounding area, nodding his head. “Great. Let’s go.” I follow him away from the storehouse, but glancing over my shoulder, I try to assess where the storehouse is, should we need to return.

We’re on the other side of the mountain I could see from my room in the temple, away from the sunshades. The storehouse is built into the mountain, the rear of the building heading straight into the rocky side. I stare at it hard as we walk away, and a flit of movement captures my attention.

Fading out of the shadows of the mountainside and creeping across the top of the storehouse, Rin crouches down and prepares to jump. His movements are feline and deadly, and all my earlier thoughts of him being an ally fly from my head.

“Run!” Adrenaline pumps through me, putting those nervous birds to death and jolting my system. Kazuo and I pick up speed, leaping over downed trees and ducking under low branches. I pump my arms and legs fast, not letting the rugged terrain slow me down. I have no idea where we’re going or how we’re going to get away, but I can’t let Rin catch me. I want to trust him, but if he’s running after me, I don’t trust him. I don’t trust any of these people. And now I know we stepped into a trap of our own making. They were looking for a reason to get rid of us, and we gave it to them.

How stupid do I have to be on this mission to get myself killed? I’m amazed I’m still alive.

Kazuo grabs my hand, forcing me to the right, around a hill sitting in our way. I lose a precious few steps, so I look over my shoulder to see how close Rin is to us.

“I don’t see him!”

We leap over an embankment, skidding down the side of a gully, and coming to a stop in a valley of rocks. Kazuo and I flatten our backs to the side of the embankment.

Kazuo’s breathing is fast and ragged, his chest rising and falling at a fast clip. He didn’t sustain any real injuries on the ship or in the life pod, so I’m sure he’s better off than me, but he still has gravity to contend with. Personally, I feel like I’m going to die.

“He could be anywhere.” I pull away from the side of the embankment and scan the area we just came from. “He has that… flying thing. What did he call it?”

“A sorabō. We were running too fast to hear it.”

A burst of leaves across the gully, not but three meters away, startles me, and I scream. Rin pops out of the underbrush and comes sprinting towards us.

Kazuo pushes me to the left. “Run that way!”

I sprint off, confident Kazuo knows what he’s doing, but the sound of swords clashing brings me up short. Kazuo and Rin fight in a blur of motion. Kazuo is amazing with a long knife, the one we kept from our life pod, but Rin matches him at every swing. Kenryōshi — Rin’s job is fighting with the sword. He’s too good for Kazuo. Kazuo fights regularly, but the months in space have slowed him down. Worry creeps up my throat. I can’t lose Kazuo now.

“Hey!” I scream at them. Kazuo takes the moment’s hesitation from Rin to slash him across the arm. I wince as Rin cries out. Kazuo runs in the opposite direction, and I take off.

Pebbles fly out from underneath my feet as I try to gain purchase on the uneven ground and run along the gully. It probably wasn’t the smartest thing to split up, but now Rin must choose one of us.

A new surge of energy electrifies me as the crunch of gravel gets louder and louder behind me.

Move faster, Yumi!

“Yumi, stop!” Rin’s voice is full of malice and anger, and fear shrieks in my brain to keep moving. If I thought I could trust him, I was wrong.

“No!” I leap over the rocks in the gully and crawl on all fours back up the embankment where the slope is not as steep.

I’m going too slow! It was a mistake to give up my forward momentum. Rin uses his mounting speed to leap over me and come down in my path. Dirt sprays my face, and I reel away from his dancing feet.

“Stop!” Rin lunges for me, but I tuck and roll down the hill. My back collides with a boulder, and my head hits the stones at the bottom of the gully, knocking me so hard I see stars.

Get up!

Calling on every last bit of reserve energy I have left, I come to stand and pull out my knife. I hold it in a defensive position, blade edge pointing out. Have I forgotten that I’m a horrible fighter? And this is Rin’s job?

Rin leaps from the embankment, arcing through the air like gravity is some myth only children believe in. I stumble backwards to get out of the way and just miss his sword. The rush of air from his blade hits me in the face.

I shift my knife to my left hand, jump to the balls of my feet, pivot, and roundhouse kick him in the gut, slicing back with my left and missing his face by half an arm’s length.

He laughs. He actually laughs at me.

Rage overtakes fear, and I push him backwards with two punch feints and then another kick at his legs. He stays on his feet with hardly any effort.

“Stop, Yumi,” he says, wheezing and laughing. “This isn’t fair.”

“Fair?” I drop my knife and lunge forward, aiming to choke him. But I’m not fast enough. He deflects me, sweeps my legs out, and I come crashing to the ground, knocking my head and face on the gravel.

I pull myself to stand and try to keep running. I can’t remember where I am. What direction was I going in? The world spins around me, and my knees give way.

Rin stands over me, his face sad and resigned.

“Just let me go. Please.” My eyes fill with tears, tears I hate. “I have to find my brother. He’s all I have left.”

This is it, Yumi. Stand up and fight or run away. If I don’t do anything to save myself, I’m as good as dead.

I choose to live.

I struggle to roll over, to get away, but Rin’s foot comes down on my chest.

“You ran away from Buichi Tamura,” he says, shaking his head. “Abandoning your contract could cost you your life.”

“Fuck you! Get off of me!” I wheeze trying to breathe through the pressure of his foot on my chest. “I don’t owe anyone anything except for my brother.”

“Fine,” he growls through gritted teeth. “I’ll figure out some way to placate Tamura and make up for this. But now you have a job to do. Aoi Uma is out of control, and your people are suffering. I can’t get in, so you’ll have to do it for me. Time for you to do some damage. Sorry about this,” Rin says, jamming a hard object into my side. Pain ricochets through my chest, and the world goes black.