Battle Royale

by Koushun Takami

  "Are you all right, Noriko?" Shuya asked.

  In between Shuya and Shogo, Noriko tilted her face, covered in red, and nodded. "Yes." But her body was still tense. She still held onto the Browning. Shuya put the Uzi in his right hand between his thighs, pulled out a bandanna from his pocket, and wiped her face. Blood came pouring out of the wound, and her pink flesh showed underneath. A simple operation wasn't enough to remove the scar from this wound. To do this to a girl…

  "Damn it," Shuya looked over at Shogo, who steered the wheel. "He already knew where we were a while ago. That's how he knew about our escape route."

  But Shogo shook his head, saying, "No." As he quickly shifted gears to weave his way through the winding road, he said, "He couldn't have known for sure. He only figured it out at the very end. Otherwise, he would have shown up before Sakamochi's announcement. We would have come out welcoming him, thinking it was Hiroki, and then he would have easily finished us off. He didn't know where we were, so during the breaks between the bird calls he planted that wire to bide his time. He probably planted that wire in other spots too."

  Shuya then thought, I see. That might have been true. To bide his time. But that was what ended up severely injuring Noriko. He said, "Noriko, show me your right hand." Noriko then finally let go of her gun (its grip was also covered in blood) and gave Shuya her hand. It seemed small and frail, but there was a sharp tear running down between her middle and ring finger. The palm of her hand was covered with a web of blood in the pattern of the textured pistol grip. He surmised, the wire must have cut her face first and then as she fell, it must have torn through her hand she put forward as she fell. The wound might have been much more severe if the gun hadn't been in her hand. Shuya wanted to wrap a bandanna, but realized he couldn't use his left hand. Noriko said, "I'm okay. I'll do it." She took the bandanna from Shuya, flapped it, and spread it out, and then wrapped it around her right hand. She folded the edges and tied it up. Then she held the Browning again.

  Beyond the bullet-ridden front windshield the view suddenly opened up. The truck was descending the mountain. Under the sunset, the flat field widened between the mountainous woods. Shuya realized something urgent and said, "Shogo. We're heading into a forbidden zone—"

  "Don't worry. I know what I'm doing." Shogo answered as he looked ahead. "Did you hear? The forbidden zones are B=9 after 7 p.m., E=10 after 9 p.m., and F=4 after 11 p.m. Add those to the map." Shuya remembered too. He pulled out the worn out map from his pocket, spread it out on his thighs, and marked off the areas while the truck shook.

  The truck descended and passed by houses. It entered a road equally wide, but paved this time. The southern mountain was visible beyond the row of fields. On the right was a low hill. On the left approximately two hundred meters away was a residential house (it seemed to be in a forbidden zone). There were two more ahead slightly to its left. And then beyond were scattered houses leading up to the residential area on the island's eastern shore. In front of that region there was the field, now hidden in the shade of the low hill, where they first encountered Kazuo . One more hill over was the school, which was also hidden from view.

  Shogo slowed the truck down and continued forward. And now the wide longitudinal road crossing the island was right there in front of them.

  They passed through the fields and came onto the road. Shogo turned the wheel and turned it again. He stopped the truck in the middle of the road, its engine idling. Shogo then lunged at the cracked front windshield with his fist and knocked the entire window out onto the front of the truck. The glass made a shattering sound.

  "Check the map," Shogo said, his hand back on the steering wheel. Shuya picked up the map again.

  "According to my memory we should still be able to take this road all the way east. Am I right?" Shuya checked the map with Noriko. "Yeah, that's right. But F=4 ahead is going to be shut off at 11

  p.m."

  "That won't matter," Shogo said, his eyes glaring ahead. The black, rain-drenched asphalt stretched out in a straight line. "So this road should be okay right up to the eastern residential area?"

  "That's right. We're fine up to the front of the curve."

  Shogo nodded in response.

  Shuya poked his head out of the window again and looked back. "What about Kazuo?" Shogo looked at Shuya. "He'll be coming. How could he not? Take a close—" he said when an old, worn out, light-olive minivan suddenly appeared after turning the curve of the mountain road they'd just descended. Shuya immediately realized it was the vehicle parked by the house they had just passed by. Shogo adjusted the rearview mirror, looked at it, and said, "See?" It quickly closed in on them, and the moment Shuya confirmed Kazuo was sitting in the driver's seat, a burst of shots came exploding out. Shuya tucked his head back in. The bullets hit the truck with a clanging sound. Shogo shifted gears, and the truck moved out onto the wide road, heading east. As Shuya leaned out of the window looking back, Kazuo's minivan also got on the same road. Shuya fired his Uzi. Following Kazuo's reflexes, the minivan smoothly moved to the right and dodged the shots.

  "Aim good, Shuya."

  By then Kazuo's minivan had sped up and caught up to them.

  "Shogo! Can't you drive faster!?"

  "Calm down," Shogo said and steered the wheel slowly from left to right—probably so Kazuo couldn't aim at the tires. Kazuo began shooting again, and Shuya tucked his head in. It seemed Kazuo had also smashed his windshield so he could have better control of his gun. Shuya leaned out again and fired away at Kazuo's torso. Kazuo steered away and dodged the gunfire. He hardly ducked. The row of shells popping out of the ejection port suddenly stopped, and the Uzi trigger mechanism made a locking sound. Shuya realized he was out of bullets.

  Shogo leaned over Noriko and gave him another magazine. Before Shuya could take it, Kazuo's minivan suddenly came up to them. Shuya pulled out his CZ75 and fired away. Undeterred, Kazuo came at them.

  "Damn," Shogo said. His profile broke into a slight grin. "You're dead wrong if you think you can beat me driving."

  Shogo suddenly made a sharp turn. He simultaneously pulled on the side brake with his left hand. Shuya was thrust to his side. The truck spun around the entire road like a car in a chase scene. While the truck spun around, Kazuo's minivan came racing at them. The familiar rattling sound burst at them from the driver's seat. The rearview mirror shattered above Noriko's head.

  "Duck!" Shogo yelled. But Shuya was busy firing away at Kazuo with his CZ75. It was a miracle Kazuo's machine gun bullets missed Shuya. But Shuya's shots also ended up missing Kazuo too. As the truck's front bumper skimmed by the minivan's left frontside, Shuya got a close up view of the eternally frigid eyes of Kazuo Kiriyama.

  The tires screeched against the wet surface. The spinning finally halted. By the time it stopped, the hunter and the hunted were reversed. Shogo had managed to dodge the front of Kazuo's minivan, completing a full spin. Kazuo's minivan was in front. Shogo immediately accelerated forward. The engine whirred away with a sudden surge of power, and the pickup lunged forward towards the back of the minivan. Kazuo was turning around.

  "Fire away, Shuya! Everything you got!" Shogo yelled.

  He didn't have to be told. Shuya squeezed the trigger of his reloaded Uzi with all his might and fired away with the gun on full auto. He knew the scorching, empty shells were bursting out at Noriko, but he couldn't be concerned about that. The minivan's rear windshield burst apart. Along with a popping sound, the rear hatch opened up. Then the right tire was blown out with a popping sound. Shuya was out of bullets, but the minivan was now tottering over to the edge of the road. Shogo stepped on the gas. He pulled up to the left side of the minivan, swerved the wheel, and smashed the right side of the truck against the minivan.

  The blow was hard on them, but it was nothing compared to the damage it did to Kazuo's minivan. At first, it lost control, then it slid to the right side of the road, and flew over its edge. The next moment it landed into the lower field and nosedived to t
he ground. Cabbage leaves flew up into the air. Suddenly, it was still.

  Shogo stopped the car parallel to the minivan and stepped on the emergency brake. He looked over its roof.

  "Give me the gun, Shuya," Shogo said. Shuya gave him the Uzi. Shogo changed the magazine, extended his arm out of the window, pointed the gun at the minivan, and pulled the trigger. Shogo's hand shook vertically. Even from the front passenger's seat Shuya could tell the minivan was getting pummeled with bullets.

  Shogo reloaded another magazine and fired away. He inserted another magazine and emptied that one as well. Meanwhile, Noriko was inserting spare bullets into the emptied out magazine with her wounded hand. After she was done, Shogo took that too and fired away. Noriko loaded more magazines. Slightly bent over, Shuya looked at Noriko's hands, then at Shogo's, and finally at the minivan. They went through this round once, then twice. Because the Uzi was a 9mm weapon, they ended up using the bullets from the same caliber CZ75 and Noriko's Browning too.

  The Uzi trigger device indicated the magazine was empty with a locking sound. It was out of bullets. Blue smoke drifted up from the short muzzled Uzi. The narrow cabin was filled with the odor of gunsmoke. How many bullets had Shogo fired? The Uzi Shuya had taken from Yukie's group came with five extra magazines and plenty of spare bullets, but if they were to include the bullets from the CZ75 and the Browning wouldn't the number go up to two hundred and fifty? Or three hundred?

  With its left-side front passenger's seat and roof facing them, the minivan was honeycombed. It looked more like a strange beehive in the shape of a car.

  The sky was orange now. Shuya couldn't bother to look at it, but judging from the light, he assumed there was a nice sunset in the western sky.

  "Did you get him?" Shuya asked. Shogo was about to reply when—

  The minivan proceeded to move. It was backing up. It cut across the edge of the field and backed up to the shoulder of the road. Once again, towards the back of their truck.

  Shuya was speechless. Not only was the van's engine still functioning, Kazuo was still alive and operating the vehicle. Shogo had wagered everything by emptying their entire bullet supply and yet…Kazuo was still alive!

  Beyond the bullet-ridden vehicle, Kazuo's upper body sprung up like a jack-in-the-box. With a machine gun. With the rattling sound, the small window above Noriko's head shattered. Two holes were punctured into the steel board next to it. The truck was a domestic model made of flimsy steel, so Shuya was surprised it had actually remained unscathed this long. This also might have been thanks to the washer and refrigerator lying on the rack. Or maybe, Shogo had loaded them, anticipating this situation.

  "Damn it!" Shogo shifted gears and moved the car out. "Shoot, Shuya! Back me up!" Shuya fired his CZ75 at Kazuo's minivan. Kazuo fired back, the bullets landing right next to Shuya's face as sparks flew from the steel frame of the truck.

  Shuya immediately emptied his gun. He changed the magazine and fired. Then he realized, once I shoot this round, I'm out of bullets. We'll only have Noriko's Browning and her extra magazine. That's it. While he hesitated, Kazuo fired. He heard the rattle. A zinging sound. More sparks this time from the refrigerator on the rack. The small door on the freezer swung open and fell out.

  "Shogo! I'm out of bullets!"

  Shogo calmly steered the wheel. "His machine gun will be useless too. He doesn't have time to reload it." Just as Shogo said, single shots came at them now. BLAM, POP. The seat by Noriko's shoulder exploded.

  "Noriko! Get down!" Shuya yelled, stuck his arm out of the window, pointed at Kazuo, who now held a gun in one hand, and fired. He was out of bullets. He took the Browning from Noriko's hand. He fired again.

  To the left of the pickup, between the houses and the field, was a warehouse burnt to the ground. That must have been what Shogo had been referring to, the building that went up in flames in the late night explosion. Now they had less than two hundred meters before hitting the curve that led to the residential area on the eastern side of the island.

  "Hey, Shogo, that's—"

  Shogo replied, "I know," and swerved the wheel to the left. The left side of the truck under Shuya's body floated up. But once it regained its balance, the truck leaped onto the unpaved road. It was another road twisting through the fields, heading back up to the northern mountain. Kazuo followed after them in the minivan.

  Shuya aimed and fired. Kazuo ducked and fired away. This time the steel board right next to Shogo's head was punctured.

  "Shuya! Just keep on shooting until you're out! Don't let him shoot!" Shogo yelled, hunched over the wheel. Shuya noticed the left shoulder of his school coat was torn and bleeding. He'd been hit by Kazuo. Shuya was about to protest, but he leaned out of the window and fired. Shogo might plan on escaping into the mountain again. If so, then the thing was to make sure Kazuo couldn't shoot. Or by some stroke of luck, maybe I'll end up hitting him—

  He fired.

  And now the Browning was emptied out, the breechblock held open. He was out of bullets. They were approaching the mountain. A familiar sight. Strangely enough, there was a farmhouse surrounded by a concrete wall. And a field. A tractor.

  Shuya realized this was where they first fought against Kazuo. But now they were on the opposite side.

  "Shogo, I'm out of bullets! Are we escaping into the mountain!?" Shuya could make out Shogo's profile breaking into a slight grin. He replied, "Oh, we still got bullets." Shuya knit his brows, puzzled.

  The truck ran off the entrance road that led to the farmhouse and dashed onto the ridge road. He passed by the side of the tractor. The road ahead became too narrow for the truck. Shogo didn't seem to care and drove the truck straight ahead. Kazuo came after them, maintaining the same distance behind—only twenty meters. He fired from the driver's seat. The truck dove into the farm and stopped. The side of the front passenger's seat where Shuya sat now faced Kazuo. Shogo kicked open the door and yelled, "Get out, this way!" He jumped out of the car. Shuya nudged Noriko, crouched down and followed them. He glanced back. Kazuo's minivan was coming right at them!

  There was a blast.

  The left front tire of Kazuo's minivan was blown off. It was only ten meters in front of them. The minivan tottered…and slid along the ridge of the elevated field on the left, and its front went up in the air like a surfboard taking on a large wave. The next moment it rolled over on its roof into the field. Right before or after the minivan came to a complete halt, a black shadow leaped out. By the time it somersaulted and came to a kneeling position, Shuya could see it was Kazuo. Sparks flew out from his hands with a continuous popping noise. Then there was another blast.

  Shuya was still inside the truck as he saw it through the window of the passenger's seat: the sight of Kazuo Kiriyama's body being blown back like an arrow.

  Kazuo landed on the field with a thud. He was completely still.

  Shuya suddenly recalled the way Kyoichi Motobuchi had died. His sausage-factory trash-bin stomach. Kazuo was too far away to check the condition of his stomach. Still, given how he was pummeled with shotgun pellets, there was no way he could have been alive.

  Then Shuya finally emerged from the truck. He saw Shogo holding that shotgun—the one Shuya had tossed into the field when he was running away from Kazuo—as he rose from behind the truck rack.

  "Oh, we still got bullets." Shogo had picked up the shotgun Shuya tossed away yesterday, loaded the shotgun cartridges he still had (he must have only been able to load two shots in that span of time), and fired away…and shot down Kazuo.

  "Right at the beginning…" Shogo said slowly, "…he missed us with his surprise attack. So he lost. Because then he had to take on all three of us."

  He took a deep breath, put down the shotgun which thumped against the refrigerator on the truck rack, and took out a pack of Wild Sevens from his pocket. He took one out and lit it.

  "You're bleeding, Shogo," Noriko said, pointing at his left shoulder.

  "Yeah." Shogo glanced at his wound an
d then grinned. "It's nothing." He exhaled. Bang. Shogo's body bent over. The Wild Seven cigarette fell from his mouth, leaving a trace of smoke in the air. The stubbly face contorted. His eyes gazed down at Shuya's feet. Shuya saw Kazuo's raised torso on the lower field, holding a gun in his right hand. He was still alive! But his stomach had been pummeled by the shotgun blast!

  Shogo's body slowly caved in. Kazuo quickly pointed his gun at Shuya. Shuya realized that he was, along with Shogo, no longer behind the truck. He had no gun in his hand. No, he had no bullets. It was too late for him to reload the shotgun on the truck rack. It was way too late.

  The small muzzle of Kazuo's gun a good ten meters away looked like a giant tunnel. A black hole engulfing everything.

  Bang. Shuya instantly closed his eyes. He felt a piercing sensation run through his chest and thought, oh, man, I'm dying.

  He opened his eyes.

  He wasn't dead.

  There was Kazuo in the diagonal orange light of the setting sun, a red dot punctured by his nose. The gun fell from his hand. He immediately fell back and crashed onto the ground. Shuya slowly turned his head to his left. Noriko was standing, holding the Smith & Wesson .38 caliber revolver with both of her hands.

  Wow. So that's what it was. While Shogo loaded the shotgun, Noriko had also loaded the revolver Shuya had tossed aside yesterday with her remaining .38 Special bullets. Noriko's hands were trembling with the gun.