章節 42: The Westerner's Perspective
Before the siege, Chris went for her wounded friends. They were placed in a tall hut with twenty-steps stairs. It is spacious inside, filled with six beds and the doctor's desk and their shelves on the right. The room is cooled by the surrounding big windows and due to its height, winds often blow inside, preventing any heat issues. Around it is a balcony, along a flat roof which was purposely designed for a lookout, it gives off an image of a tower more than an infirmary. The place is a personal infirmary of Saiju's popular doctor. The Infirmary is located on the south-east of the village.
Chris ran up and checked on them and they were still unconscious. Worries enveloped her as time already has passed and they were still laying on the bed, but she fought it off and climbed up the roof. The roof is accessible with the ladder on the balcony on the right, just behind on where the doctor's desk is. She carefully climbed up and saw a guard standing up on the roof. He was facing the direction of the battlefield. "It's them..." The guard said to her without facing back. "Prohorovka is on us, now that Mark is held captive..." Listening closely, Chris heard fears in his voice. "Have you heard? Mark was the one leading them before. Everyone called him different insults because of how he didn't take his job seriously, and we were led to believe that they are gonna stay that way and that we can hold them off somehow. But we just recently realized that that's not how the Prohorovka was during the Tsuchiya, no..." Chris walked towards him and stood side by side with him, looking ahead, listening to the noises. "I had a lot of friends back in Tsuchiya, some of them survived and they told me how their village falls to their hands..." The guard sighed heavily. Chris glanced at him and saw his pained expression. "It's crazy. I heard a lot of things that I haven't actually heard at all. Fast flying creature dropping an explosive? Noisy and flashing weapons? Being killed by something else other than arrows? People slowly descending from the skies coming from a bigger flying creature? Big, noisy moving things made out of steel? Large fucking cannon? I barely even processed their whole story. They were like kids telling monster stories they learned from books..." The guard finally looked at her.
"You came from the West, right? Along with your comrades... What is your true purpose here?" He asked. "We came to sabotage them..." Chris replied. "And something happened and you ended up here?" He asked. Chris couldn't answer. "Looking at the way you are dressed up, you don't suit for such an important operation..." He looked at her from head to toe and gave her a confused look. "Ever heard of Hell's Fury?" She looked up to him and asked. "THAT gang? You're one of them?" His eyes widen, then quickly moved to look at her back. "Hell's fucking Fury. You pretend that you want business but you just came here to squeeze us dry. It's a good thing the Tsuchiya leader halted our connections with you before you took another step forward" The guard quickly expressed his disgust on her gang. "Then now you were recruited by your own government on such dangerous acts? Do you know how that sounds from us? It's literally hilarious, your country sounded so poor they desperately cling on assholes like you" He was starting to get onto Chris but she understood and let him say what he wanted. "They were trying to save their officials" She said, getting his attention.
"What do you mean by that...?" He asked. Chris looked down and clenched her fists, she was suppressing her anger which the guard noticed. "It's what it sounds, they are saving their officials later. They gave us a mission. We will go here and fake to negotiate with them and in exchange, We will get rid of our tension with the government and help us become 'legit'..." She explained. "Go legit after all of what you did? Please..." The guard chuckled. "Yeah, except we weren't actually planning to go legit. That means we're going to halt our illegal businesses and connections which runs the whole gang. Trust me, we can earn much profit than most of the workers. And We don't trust them that much and we especially don't want to become one of their dogs..." She said. "Our president wanted to take advantage of going 'legit' and sniff around the government for any opportunities, like finding a place to steal and rob or illegally change and run a place, or more gangs or groups that we haven't get touched with yet, something like those" She said. "And it was fine to tell me that? I can rat you out, you know" He smiled at her.
"And you'll be the worse scum in the world. Either way, they can't do something about it now. Their safety and secrets lie on us. If we knew that they are fucking us up now, we might change our minds" She said. "That goes the same with you. We can stir up troubles between our countries and you will be the reason" Chris giggled. The guard glanced at her with a troubled look. As she was happily able to threaten the guard, she saw a bright blue trace up the skies. "Look!" Chris pointed as an explosion happened ahead. "What was that?!" The guard looked up the skies and shouted. Someone had already flown ahead and destroyed one of the incoming planes. "I saw those as well before! Maybe one of Chiho's friends?!" The guard said. Every plane that comes in sight gets hit by the blue traces. After watching a while, a burning plane came falling down towards the center of the village. It dropped its bomb to the village before crashing itself somewhere in the Center. "Shit! One of them managed to bomb us!" The guard shouted. Then suddenly, they saw three figures flying ahead. "Chiho!" Chris recognized Chiho by her hair. "They've gone ahead!" She said.
The two watches from the roof. They've become more anxious when they saw the eastern wall got holed. Due to the hut's height, they can slightly see the pouring enemies. "They got inside!" The guard loses his composure and began looking pale. "W-What should we do?!" He asked without turning to Chris. "I don't know, why would you ask me?" Chris replied, making him look. "I'm obviously going to stay here and watch my friends" She said. The guard stared at her in a train of thoughts. He then took a deep breath. "Right. I'm currently assigned to guard here, I suppose I should stay here as ordered..." He said. "Fucking people sneaking here at the doctor's place to finish the job..." He muttered to himself. The gunfires have become louder the more enemies come through, the planes are continuously getting destroyed before they reach the village, there are some Saijun soldiers who are fending off the invaders. The two share the same fear of being invaded and completely surrender under their enemies' hands. Such an event would make you think of all horrible possibilities and one can die at any time. However, hope was still there. Takumi and her allies are from Prohorovka itself, and Chiho and hers possess powers that even modern technology wouldn't be able to handle. After all, Chiho's power's what brought the people the fighting spirit they have, to take back what they have lost. As long as Chiho and her friends are alive, there is no inferior side.
"Kgh...!" Chris was looking uneasy. "I feel like I should be helping them, but..." She looked down. She has to wait for her friends to wake up and make sure no harm comes until they do. "Our garrison is definitely arming up by now. You don't have to worry about going out there. Besides, Chiho is out there. I'm sure they can hold out until our soldiers can move" The guard turned to Chris. "They're your friends down there? They look pretty beat up when they arrived here" He asked. "Yes. They spied on us and found out our real motives. We realized that when we went out there to reunite with them. They surprised us" Chris shook her head as she thinks back. "Chiho came in a nick of time. We were about to be decapitated by that Mark guy. Though, she came in aggressively" Chris chuckled. "She shot the tanks near us and they all exploded. That's what happened, I was lucky to be able to wake up out there and not in one of those beds"
A moment ago, they saw enemy soldiers dying on the streets. "Hey, you see that?!" The guard pointed. "Someone's fending them off!" Chris looked where he was pointing. "You're right!" Chris looked closely. The enemies were taking cover and firing in their opposite direction. Chris then moved to where they were shooting at, but the view was blocked by a series of houses. "Whoever is that, they're surely delaying one of their advances on the east" The guard smiles. Later, more enemies poured in. The people holding off the enemies before must have been overrun. "D-Damn! They're here!" Along with his shivering voice, the sounds of the enemies charging towards them rages. They can hear shouts of foreign language over there and there. Then right after they realized the noises to their right, one of the enemy soldiers fired at them, sending them down to their feet. "Shit! To our right! When did they...?!" The guard was as surprised as Chris. "We need to go down, NOW!" Chris shouted to the guard and they crawled away from the roof.
The side where the ladder is located can be seen by the enemies, they had to either jump down or carefully climb down to the balcony. "No need to hurt your legs! Let's climb down carefully but quick!" Chris told the guard. They both carefully brought themselves down. Hanging on the roof, they looked down and readies themselves. "It's pretty high, isn't it?" The guard said. "Doesn't matter, let's go!" Chris gathered her courage and let go of the roof with strength. She landed just right, and so the guard. Without wasting any more time, they hid inside. They saw the doctor with a dagger in his right hand, watching the door. They calmed him down and they closed the door and the windows. However, they were fired at when attempting to close the windows facing the direction of the enemies. The windows got holed. Despite the noises, her friends were still unconscious.
"Anne...?!" To make sure, Chris worryingly checked on Anne. Ignoring the chaos outside, she placed her right ear on the left side of Anne's chest. Chris gave a sigh of relief. "Must have been a lot of explosions back then, did they hit their heads?! they're hard to be awakened!" The guard shouted. "But you better find some cover now!" As she raised her head away from Anne, she saw a ball-shaped figure fly towards them. Her eyes widen in terror as the first thought came. A grenade. Chris' instinct came and perfectly catches the grenade and immediately throws it out and closed the windows. There were holes, but at least no grenades can easily fly in. One can only pray that no one's betting. Chris was gasping for air as she controls her body from shivering, still holding the window with two of her hands.
"Get away from there quick!" The guard gestured her to come beside him, but Chris only looked back. "What?!" The guard was confused. Chris was worried about her friends, who were lying on the beds just near the windows. With the two of them processing their thoughts, the door got kicked open. "Cкажи свои молитвы!" The enemy soldier from the doorway quickly pointed his gun at Chris. "Take this!" The guard wasn't noticed by the soldier and he took the opportunity to kill him. He shoved his sword at his side, driving his gun away from Chris. Not wasting any time, he closed the door and dragged the soldier down. He grabbed a dagger from his waist and dug its blade deep in the side of the soldier's neck. Choking on his own blood, the two watched him slowly perish.
There were lots of barging footsteps outside, and beside them, there were voices on the balcony, audibly upset. "Grab his gun! You can use them better than me!" The guard used his left foot to kick away the gun to Chris. It was an SVT-40. Chris quickly ran to the gun and aimed it at the door. "There are lots of them out there... Whoever the fuck comes in, you fire, you get me?!" The guard angrily whispered. Chris couldn't give a response, even a slight nod. She has her eyes fixed on the door and to her iron sights. They listened closely to the noises outside. It sounded like the hut is being ignored by the enemies, the footsteps kept going away. The two calmed a little, then suddenly.
"Graaah!!!" The window behind Chris blew open with a loud scream. "Shit!" The guard saw Chris get pinned down by the soldier that jumped on the window. He stood up, going to try to help her, but the door got kicked open by another soldier and quickly pointed her gun at his head. With quick reaction, he was able to slap the gun away from his gun before the soldier was able to press the trigger. Her gun fired near his left ear, deafening him. "Die, you CUNT!!!" The soldier pinning Chris angrily shouted. He turned Chris around and tightened his grips on her neck. In the soldier's surprise, Chris looked enraged more than surprised. "You feel my hands?! I will snap your small fucking ne-!" Chris quickly punched his neck, making him retch and also loosening his grips. She quickly followed up with a right punch, the soldier falls to the ground with a grunt. Chris stood up and kicked his face before picking up the SVT-40.
She pointed the gun at his head, ready to shoot. But another soldier jumped on the window and caught her. They both fell together. The soldier punched her in the face, and she hit back. She stood up a bit and hit the soldier's nose with her right elbow. He hit the back of his head on the floor when he fell back. Chris saw him holding his bleeding nose. While he is dazed, she took the SVT-40 once again but the soldier was able to react quickly and held the gun. They both fought for the gun, pulling with all their might. Chris tried to put him off balance by kicking his knees. But the soldier was able to react quickly and raised his knee away. Using the same knee, he kicked hers. Chris lost her strength and her grip on the gun. The soldier then used the SVT-40 to push her away, hitting her in the face. At the same time, she was able to land a left punch. Both of them were thrown away from each other.
"What's going o... AHH!!!" The soldier landed on Anne's bed who just woke up. "Anne!" Chris shouted, getting her attention. The soldier looked up and saw Anne. He raised his left arm and his blade goes out loudly. Though, he was unable to move quickly due to his bleeding nose. Anne was able to realize the situation before the soldier attacked. "Grrr...!!!" The soldier's eyes widen as he jumps on Anne with his blade pointed at her neck. "Get away from me!!!" Anne kicked him away on fear. The soldier fell to the ground. Picking up the SVT-40, Chris quickly finished him off with a shot in the head. She quickly looked back to the guard. Both him and the doctor is occupied. But the doctor was in a dire situation, he was pinned down and he's holding back a soldier's blade from his neck. Chris shot off the soldier, freeing him from danger. The guard punched the soldier he was facing. His punch got the soldier spin around and stumbles to Chris. Chris then swung the stock of her gun to his face, turning him towards the guard again. The guard once again punched him. This time, he fell on his knees.
Chris then held the gun with only her right hand and slammed the muzzle to his mouth. Bloods splattered on the gun and his face. She fired the gun and his head was blown to pieces. "Ah, fuck! You didn't have to do that!" The guard, as well as the doctor, was splattered with blood. Chris turned around and saw Anne finally conscious. "Anne!!!" She dropped the gun and ran to hug her. "Hey, Chris..." Anne embraced her as well. "The hell's going on though?" Anne slightly pushed her away. "The Prohorovkans... They're invading this place right now, the Saiju..." Chris said. "Fuck..." Anne looked around. "These bike dudes are still dead, wow..." She said as she rubbed her face. "Are you sure they're still breathing? or perhaps they are waiting for their coffins..." Chris saw a slight smile on her face. "Geez, even just waking up from an explosion..." Chris sighed in relief. "I'm sure they are. Otherwise, they wouldn't be lying in these beds if they weren't" She said. "Hah, yeah... With those faces, the Saijuns would definitely bury them quick" Anne laughed. Chris gave a slight giggle. "Hey, Gabriel is kinda cute you know..." They both looked at her on the opposite side.
"You never know. She might have killed a lot of people behind that cute face" Anne said. The guard approached them, looking very upset. "Why are you two casually conversating like there's no fucking invasion happening around you?!" He angrily whispered. Bringing the two back on track, they heard shouts outside. "That big house! The top floor! Большой дом! Туда, хорошо!" They heard a certain male voice who spoke half of Japanese. "Big house?!" The guard was curious about what he had heard. He moved to the window facing the direction towards the Center. "T-there's someone firing from the Akuzawa!" He said worryingly. "They're actually taking down a number of enemies!" He watched the big and tall house's top floor firing on the street and shooting down a good amount of enemies.
"Looks like their attention is being dragged away from here. Appreciation to whoever's firing guns from the Akuzawa" He sounded very relieved. "Don't let your guards down, though. There might be some stray soldiers" He said. Chris went to the window as well and watched the situation. Later, some planes are being able to pass through their defenses and managed to drop their bombs on the village. "Shit, that ain't good! Some of them are slipping through!" The guard looked uneasy. "They bombed the Center! How did they manage to get through?!" He asked. "Hey, just to remind you, you only have Chiho and her friends with powers defending the whole village. That ain't enough to fight off a battalion or more. Whoever is that one that is so fast must have been tired. They're the fastest one to take down multiple planes" Chris said. A moment later, they noticed the fast-moving person disappear from the skies. "Hey, hey! Did they die or something?!" The guard asked. Chris and Anne were silent. Then suddenly, they saw a plane diving towards the ground just outside the walls where the enemies are. It dropped its bomb and flew away.
"Hey, that's not ours, right? That plane just bombed the enemies outside!" The guard said, pointing slightly to the plane. "That's... I'm not sure" Chris didn't remember any friendly planes. Right after gaining altitude, the plane turned back to the ground. This time, the pilot bailed out, leaving the plane on full throttle towards the ground just outside the wall. "What the hell's going on?" The guard was so confused. "Whatever happened, the enemies outside got reduced. The plane's explosion was big" Anne said. As they were watching ahead, a group of four soldiers came by. One of them saw them peeking through the window. The soldier quickly pointed at the window and shouted. "Внутри есть кто-то!" Her feminine voice alarmed the group and quickly looked at where she was pointing. The guard was able to silently close the window just in time, making the group doubt the female soldier a bit. "Я видел их!" She argued with her group. Then they walked towards the hut.
Anne took an SVT-40 from a dead soldier and aimed at the door with Chris. The guard and the doctor waits beside the door with their sword and dagger ready. The footsteps came near the door. Then suddenly, the door got kicked open again. This time it gave out, it loudly fell to the ground. Once the soldiers are visible on the doorway, the two opened fire. Killing the soldier who kicked down the door and another one behind him. "Who the fuck stands behind a door piled up like that?! I thought you came from the future you fucking cunts?!" Anne angrily taunts the soldiers outside. "I'll kill you!" The same female soldier shouted back. "Come here then! I'll crush your skull, bitch!" Anne then fired on the wall where she was hiding to. "Hey, for fuck's sake! We're here!" The guard shouted.
Hearing the guard arguing with Anne, the female soldier blinds fire. She hits the window just above Anne and Chris. Anne grunts as she fires her hand. Accurately, her right hand was hit and screamed in pain. The female soldier got thrown to the ground in front of the doorway, exposing herself to Anne and Chris. "Fucking...!" Anne ran towards the doorway. "Anne?!" Chris called her. The female soldier saw her coming and panicked. She looked up. "Help me!" She pleaded to someone next to her. Anne quickly noticed it and fired as soon as she saw the soldier she was talking to. "No!!!" The female soldier was on the verge of crying. Anne quickly dropped her gun and dragged the female soldier inside. "No! Get away from me!!!" She pleaded with great fear on her voice. As she was getting dragged inside, Chris saw her missing her right hand and her bleeding wrist.
Anne dragged her near the wall and mounted the girl. Then she started punching her face. "Anne!" Chris tried to scold her but she saw the look on her face and she got terrified. She kept on hitting the girl's face. Frozen in fear, she just looked at the girl. She has a light blonde hair with nothing holding them up, running down until her shoulder. Her eyes are light blue. "Ahh...!" She saw the girl crying as her nose and mouth bleed from Anne's punches. "Anne, stop! She had enough!" Chris shouted. "Hey, shut the fuck up!" The guard shushes her. "She had enough?! She took enough lives to burn in hell!" Anne got angered more and her punches became more powerful. "Goddamn it, Anne!" Chris stomps in anger. No matter what she says, Anne just kept bashing the girl's face. "Shit, looks like we attracted some attention" The guard slightly opened the window and saw some enemy soldiers heading their way.
"Help me shoot! Or we will be overwhelmed!" The guard shouts as he takes a Ppsh-41 from a dead soldier in the doorway. "Anne, you gotta help NOW!" Chris shouted before helping the guard defend. Anne gave a final punch and stood up lacking balance. "Not so tough without your boys, eh?" She said. She took her PPS-43 and took cover on the windows. Both sides exchanged fires, and with the hut giving the advantage of cover. However, the walls are starting to get thinned out as it gets shot. They kept on holding and firing at the soldiers until they heard one soldier shout a grenade. Anne quickly picked up the door and pushed it outside, successfully blocking the grenade.
With their gunfires, they got more attention. and more soldiers are engaging the hut. "Goddamn it, they're just increasing!" Anne shouted. "We must hold! Or your friends will never wake up!" The guard kept shooting at the window. Just as they are about to be desperate, they heard horses and gunfires from ahead of the street. They saw their enemies turn their attention away from them. "That's our horses!" The guard was finally relieved. They continued to shoot from the hut to support the incoming friendlies until the street is secured. They went out and greet their allies. "It's a good thing you arrived, we were about to be overwhelmed. There are patients inside" The guard explained their situation to one of the horsemen.
As the horsemen are securing their area, a very loud sound came from the skies. They all looked up the skies and saw a long yellow trace piercing through numbers of black clouds that seemed to be explosions. "What the hell was that?!" Anne shouted. Chris listened to the other horsemen and she kept hearing Chiho's name. "Must be Chiho..." She said to Anne. "What?!" Anne looked at her, cannot believe it. "Look, we need to advance further. We are reinforcing the Center, I will ask the others to guard these areas" The leading horseman said before taking off with his men. The three came back to the hut, watching the area. In their surprise, the enemies focused on the middle. There was less activity in their area than in the middle of the village. Later on, another group of horsemen arrived to garrison themselves around the hut.
"We are safe now..." The guard said as he led the two outside. As they step on the street again, they heard screams coming from the Akuzawa. "Hey, hey! Someone's waving their hands on the Akuzawa!" The guard gets the horsemen's attention. "Go there and help them!" He said. A good number of horsemen then went towards the big house. "Looks like a soldier managed to hold off the enemies from the Akuzawa, great fucking job!" He compliments the soldier who was shouting for help.
The counts of enemy planes starting to reduce until there were none at all. With them gone, they saw the people in the skies return to the ground. "I don't know why, but they are focusing only on that area" The guard said. "The village is huge, they can take on all sides and overwhelm us" He added. "Probably they're coming from the outpost up there?" Anne said. "Or perhaps the commanding person was as stupid as Mark?" The guard joked and they laughed a bit. The battle went on for a while. More horses and carriages passing through the hut, relieving them in every pass. "I can no longer hear gunfires near the Center. The enemies must have been pushed back outside" The guard said.
Later, the village suddenly got filled with cheers from the soldier. Overwhelming joy filled the three as they hear the cue of their victory. "W-Wow! They did it!" Anne laughed. "I can't believe it!" She said. "Well, good for us" Chris watched the other horsemen go along with the cheer. Later on, the village moves to reorganize themselves, fix up defenses, and try to rebuild the wall. The three stayed on the hut, still watching over Gabriel and Riko who weren't able to wake up during the whole siege.
"They must have been taking on heavy drugs, the fucking shakes and explosions were just merely sweet dreams to them" Anne complained. "Are you really sure they are still alive?" Anne darted around, looking for the doctor. She found him on his desk. "Hey, you might be preserving corpses there" She said to the doctor, who was clueless about what she said. "Anne, they're alive. The doctor knew what he was doing" Chris sighed. "Are you self-taught? No way a person would still be lying down in their bed when shit goes crazy" She kept talking to the doctor in English, in exchange the doctor would look at her uncomfortably. "Stop it, Anne. The doctor has stressed enough already. He can't understand you anyway" Chris stopped her. "No, he's a doctor. I know he can understand the emotions in my words" Anne said. "Yes, he's a doctor, not a goddamn psychologist" Chris said.
"What's the difference?" Anne looked at her and they exchange glare. Then all of the sudden, they felt their chest hurt. "What the fuck..." Anne holds her chest tightly. Then they all fell to the ground, screaming in pain, gripping their chest. None of them were able to speak. Just the sharp pain on every beat of their heart. It did not last long, however. Yet it still felt like hours to those affected. Once it stopped, Chris was the first one to recover. "What..." She was gasping for air as she slowly stood up, her hands still on her chest. "What in the..." She looked around. Anne was on the ground, still clinging to her chest. "Anne..." She didn't have the energy to even call her. She also saw the doctor and the guard on the ground. Even Gabriel and Riko on the bed are struggling. "What happened..." She slowly limps towards the doorway. All of the people as far as she can see are on the ground.
"What on earth has happened..." She slowly sat on the last step of the stair. She felt like she ran a long distance for the first time, her breathing can't just calm. "Chris..." Anne called out. "Run to... Chiho... This shit ain't normal, even the bikers are awakened..." She said. "I will... watch over th..." She couldn't finish her sentence and had to rest her head on the floor. "Got it..." Chris slowly stood up and carefully went down. Then she slowly limps away towards the Center. Her curiosity increases as she sees more people on the ground.
創作者的想法 
Keetrix
Keetrix It is I once again! I've been inactive, holy shit. But I've been working on these chapters and the other story since November, very SLOWLY! I just finished this one and ready to go.
每周推薦票狀態
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