I'd been up here on the roof staring at the sea and daydreaming (about Nanako mostly) for some time, when I heard Nanako's front door open and followed by several voices talking politely. Unable to resist the temptation to see who'd been to her place this evening, I inched over to the side of the roof and sneaked a peek down into the street.
A family dressed in formal attire had come out of Nanako's house – an older man in a gray suit, a similarly aged woman in a colourful kimono, and a young man not much older than me. I did a double take when I realised the young man was actually Ken Abe, Councillor Okada's nephew. I was immediately struck by an avalanche of thoughts and strong emotions – what was he doing there, and with his family, what’s more? Was there some kind of relationship between Ken and Nanako that I wasn’t aware of? I mean, I know he was always staring at her, but I thought she didn’t give a hoot about him.
I watched as Nanako and her mother saw their guests to their car, bowing and apologising profusely, until Ken's parents got in the car and drove off.
Ken and Nanako remained outside, looking uncomfortable, if not downright embarrassed. I knew I should have backed off and given them some privacy, but my curiosity was piqued, and besides, I could hear every word they were saying.
"Why on earth did you ask me to marry you, Ken? Please don’t tell me you’re in love with me," Nanako said bluntly.
Ken asked her to marry him? My heart skipped a beat upon the realisation that if Nanako had answered yes, my growing friendship with her, which had come to mean everything to me, was over. But how could Nanako care about Ken, when she and I had been inseparable since I came here five weeks ago?
"Well, you know how it is," Ken replied somewhat awkwardly.
"No, I don't," she snapped.
"It seemed like the right thing to do."
"Stop dancing around the question and just come out and answer it – do you love me?" Nanako pressed, clearly irritated.
I held my breath while waiting for Ken’s answer. The suspense was killing me – had she accepted his proposal or not? I couldn’t bear the thought of her marrying Ken – or anyone else – for that matter.
"No, no I don't," he replied reluctantly.
"I didn’t think so," she said.
"Is that why you turned me down?" he asked, an edge to his tone.
A massive sense of relief flooded my being – she’d turned him down!
"I'll marry for love and love alone, and besides, I wouldn't marry you if you were the last person on earth."
"Is that right? Well, I'll have you know that by rejecting my marriage proposal you've passed up your only chance to get married," he snapped angrily.
"And how do you figure that?"
"No one else'll ever want you, not with your mental problems and all."
Now Nanako sounded hurt – deeply so. "If you think I've got so many mental problems, why'd you ask me to marry you then?"
"Because I feel sorry for you, and because I know that if I don't marry you, no one else will," he said, trying to act all gallant and noble.
"So you wanna marry me 'cause you pity me?"
"That's pretty much it. Besides," and I could see the slimy smile on his face as he said this, "you're a fabulous cook, and you've got a great body. So come on, why don't you just say yes? We'll have a good enough life together."
"Wow, Ken, if you think you can convince me to marry you with a speech like that, you're even dumber than you look."
"Oh, come off your high horse, Nanako, you'll never get a chance like this. Just say yes, will you? Life's not some stupid fairytale where you get to marry a prince and ride off into the sunset. I'm your one and only chance for marriage, and if you can't see that, you're blinder than a bat."
"I said no, Ken, and I meant it," Nanako said, and turned to go back inside.
But Ken reached out and grabbed her arm. "You're making a big mistake, Nanako."
"Let go of me!"
"No, I won't, not until you come to your senses," he snapped.
Without making a sound, I made a quick descent down the back of the house, darted around to the front yard, hopped over the fence, and crept up on Ken and stopped a couple of feet behind him. He’d let go of Nanako now, but was still trying to convince her that he was her only chance at marriage.
Nanako noticed me approaching and fell instantly silent. Ken hesitated, and then in noticing she was looking at something behind him, spun around and just about jumped out of his skin when he saw me standing so close to him.
"Where the blazes did you come from?" he practically shouted.
"I heard every word you said," I replied in my ever-improving Japanese. I’d only been learning it for five weeks, but I was like a sponge, absorbing and remembering everything I heard. Nanako said it was spooky how quickly I was picking it up.
Ken was not impressed. "Just nick off, you stupid gaijin – and stop spying on people."
"I think you’ll find that you’re the one who’s gonna leave," I replied, refusing to budge an inch.
Ken blustered at my refusal to comply and took a step forward with menacing intent. "I’m warning you, I’ve got a black belt in karate."
"This is where I get scared, right?" I asked simply, keeping my hands at my sides. Regardless of what Ken did, I would not fight him. He wasn’t my enemy – the Skel were.
"Ken, just…just go, okay?" Nanako said wearily.
"Fine, whatever!" Ken snarled, and then stalked off to his car, well, the car he chauffeured around for Councillor Okada, that big black 4WD.
After he’d gone, Nanako looked up at me from beneath her long black fringe. "You heard every word?"
"I did, yeah. Look, I’m sorry, but I just happened to be nearby – I wasn’t spying or anything, honest," I said, scared she’d think I was spying on her when she’d told me to stay away tonight.
Her shoulders slumped and she reached out and touched my wrist. "That's okay, you’ve got nothing to apologise for. Honestly, I’m glad you came along when you did."
I sighed in relief. I did not want to get in Nanako’s bad books: getting to know her over the past five weeks had been like a dream. "He was trying pretty hard to get you to marry him, eh?"
Nanako ran her hands down her face. "I’ve been so dreading today, I really have. Ken’s parents approached my mother last week and arranged this meeting towards the possibility of us getting married. It was all very formal, but oh, I wish he’d spoken to me first, since we both looked like absolute idiots when he popped the question after dinner and I turned him down. I’ve never been so embarrassed in all my life. It’s bad enough that he stares at me all the time, but this was just the pits."
"When was he hoping you’d marry him?"
"He wanted to draw up a marriage contract stating we'd get married when I turned eighteen."
"In two years, huh?" I asked, as a host of thoughts thrust themselves into my mind as I considered the ramifications of what she said. Marriage contracts could be drawn up for a couple to get married two years in the future? That was similar to Newhome, except it was never more than two months there.
"Yeah," Nanako replied as she turned and headed back to her place. She paused when she realised I hadn’t moved and turned back to face me. "Well, are you coming in for a cuppa or you just gonna stand there? I could use some cheering up after that disaster."
I didn’t need to be asked twice...
...I jerked awake, initially disorientated by the after-effects of the vivid dream, and then breathed a massive sign of relief when I felt Nanako lying on top of me. I stroked her beautiful hair, okay, it was seriously in need of a wash, and reflected on this new piece of the jigsaw puzzle of my missing memories.
I wondered why Nanako had never told me Ken had asked her to marry him – that was a pretty significant life event, surely. Then again, she’d been so embarrassed by the whole thing, so I guess that’s not the sort of thing she’d want to share. If it’d been me, I wouldn’t have brought it up again either. Some d
ogs are best left asleep.
The event in the dream had taken place five weeks after I’d gone to Hamamachi, so it must have been around mid-February. Nanako and I were obviously very close by that state, but what had happened between then and when we got married in late Feb? Nanako said I was the one who’d popped the question, so I must have moved pretty quickly.
Man, but I wish I could retrieve all my memories rather than have to wait for them to return piece by annoying piece at random intervals like this.
Chapter Eighteen
Late the next morning, we gathered in the lounge room to scoff a cold breakfast of last night’s leftovers and what little stores we had left of the bush tucker we’d brought from St. Kilda. Nanako and I lounged on a decrepit old two-seater sofa; Shorty sat cross-legged on a TV cabinet – there was no sign of the TV – and David was leaning back against the wall besides Shorty. Leigh sat on a large chunk of plaster that had fallen from the ceiling, and Madison was sitting on the lower steps of the stairs.
"Now that we are here, and have had a good look around, how about we give the Skel a taste of their own medicine," Madison said between bites of roasted carrot.
"And what does that mean, exactly?" David asked.
"Blow up their factories and warehouses, destroy their phone chargers, sabotage their trucks, do to them what they've been doing to Newhome."
"No way, that'll stir up the Skel like a hornets’ nest and alert them to us being here," David replied a little too strongly, almost like he’d been offended by the suggestion. He really didn’t like Madison.
"Actually, I like the idea, if we can pull it off," I replied, glancing at Nanako to see her reaction. Which, going by the horrified way she was staring back at me, wasn’t a particularly good one.
"We’re supposed to be lying low, remember, Jones?" Leigh asked, concerned.
"I say we go out tonight and blow their munitions warehouse sky high," Madison said, staring at me meaningfully. "Think of how much safer the world will be when the Skel can’t make booby-trapped bombs anymore."
"As much as I’d like to see that, it’s not an option, not with the slaves living next door," I said.
"Then we kick them out and then blow the place," Madison said as she stood and stepped off the stairs, her pale face alive with emotion. "This is an opportunity too good to pass up – you can see that, right?"
"It’s not gonna work," I replied, shaking my head. "What do you reckon the first thing the Skel will do when they see the slaves have survived? They’re gonna ask ‘em who let ‘em out, and then the Skel will be out in force, looking for us."
"But Jones," Madison protested.
"Not happening," I replied firmly.
"We have to do something; we can’t just sit here, waiting for the Rangers to turn up," she pressed.
"Yes, we can," Leigh said, his eyes darting worriedly between Madison and me.
"Hey, I’ve got an idea – why don't we torch their still?" Shorty asked. "That’ll cramp their style."
"That's gonna make 'em even angrier than the previously mentioned hornets' nest," David declared.
I looked at Shorty, then David, and Madison. "That may be the case, but I reckon it'll never occur to them that the perpetrators of the crimes are staying right here in their midst. They'll put out more patrols and set more guards, but they won't think of looking under their noses."
"You can’t seriously be contemplating this, Jones," Leigh whined.
"Oh come on," Shorty said with a broad smile, and looked to Madison – for support? To back her up? "It’ll be fun. Just think of their dumb ol’ expressions the next time they try to have one of them parties, and, ‘Oh no, we ain’t got no liquor no more.'"
"Shorty’s on-board with the idea, who else?"Madison asked keenly.
"You’re okay with blowing their still?" I asked, amazed.
"It is a start," she said. "Come on, let us do it. Tonight."
"Okay, tonight it is then."
"Wait, what if we get spotted?" Nanako asked, touching me on the wrist.
"We were able to walk freely in their midst last night, and they were none the wiser. Besides, I’m keen to give them a taste of their own medicine,” I said.
"I’ll go ahead with this foolhardy plan, but on one condition," Nanako continued.
"Yeah?"
"That we abort unless we are sure that every single Skel in that intersection is stoned or asleep."
"Agreed."
"I can’t believe you’re gonna do this," Leigh complained.
"Don’t worry, we’ll be careful," I promised him.
"You know what, Jones?" Leigh said angrily, "One of these days your 'We’ll be careful' phrase is gonna come back and bite you in the butt."
"And ours at the same time," David added.
"How are we going to blow the still, any ideas?" Madison asked, ignoring David and Leigh’s protestations.
"David?" I prompted.
"Let’s drop past the munitions warehouse on the way and I’ll grab a detonator and one of the Skel bombs," he answered reluctantly.
"And while we’re at it, we can get more food from the stores warehouse and deliver it to Jack, Beth and the others next door," Nanako suggested.
"Sounds like a plan," I agreed, happy to help the slaves in any way we could, although in the long run, I knew it wouldn’t amount to anything. If only the Rangers weren’t corrupt and allied to the Skel: they were the only pseudo-military organisation who had the ability to rescue the slaves.
* * *
We set out not long after midnight and followed the same route we took last night, making a quick visit to the munitions warehouse. And just as planned, while David picked out a bomb and a detonator, the rest of us broke into the warehouse with the food, ate our fill, and then delivered more to the slaves next door. Some, like Jack, were appreciative, but the others begged us nonstop to get them out of there. Having to turn them down – again – broke my heart. I wish they’d see that there was nothing we could do apart from making their plight known to the Hamamachi and Inverloch councils.
Bomb and detonator selected, we locked up the warehouses and then slipped quietly up Princes Highway, having to go to ground only once to avoid a Skel patrol. The night was mostly cloudless and the moonlight strong, so the others could see relatively well. As we grew closer to the three-road intersection, we could not see any Skel activity: hopefully, they were all asleep or stoned by now. The bonfire that dominated the middle of the intersection had died down somewhat, and the smaller campfires had burnt themselves out.
We passed behind the ruined fast-food joint we'd hidden in front of yesterday, darted over Police Road, and made our way quickly to a house situated on the intersection's north-eastern corner. We crept into the house's bush overgrown front yard, and were glad to see that it gave us a commanding view of the intersection and the Skel revellers who filled it.
And there, set some way back from the road, was the still, the clumsily built yet functional apparatus that the Skel used to brew their potent liquor. In fact, we could smell the fumes from here. Several dozen iron-strip reinforced liquor barrels were stacked around the still, probably their store of excess brewed liquor.
As I considered what we were about to do – creep out into full view of any Skel who may be awake – my heart began to hammer mercilessly and I questioned the wisdom of this mission.
"We really gonna do this?" David asked as he carefully removed his backpack with the Skel bomb and detonator.
"Yes, we are," Madison replied emphatically.
"I'll come out with you," I replied, trying to sound braver than I felt. "The rest of you have your bows and arrows ready, but don't show yourselves unless you absolutely must."
"I'm coming out too," Nanako said, daring me to disagree.
"Okay," I replied as I met her fierce gaze.
"Can you see anyone moving?" David asked.
"Not a soul," I replied, for apart from the flames licking the bonfire's timber and t
he deep snores of many Skel, there was no sound or movement in the intersection. In fact, as I used flash sonar to study the scores of Skel sprawled in ungainly poses throughout the place, I got the impression there'd been a massive battle and the Skel were all dead. If only that were true.
"Okay, let's go," I said, tapping David on the shoulder.
Almost as one, David, Nanako and I rose and stole quietly from our hiding place and padded across the open, grassy area that led to the still. I echolocated like crazy as we went, checking on every prone Skel I could see. Nanako had her bow out and an arrow fitted to the string, but my bow was still on my back, as I was sure I wouldn't need it.
None of them moved or reacted to our presence, so David removed his pack and quickly set up the bomb and the detonator. The speed with which he handed the explosives sent my heart fluttering – I wish he'd handle them with a touch more respect. But, he knew what he was doing.
"Done," he said after he'd set the timer to 90 seconds.
"Hey! Slaves – what do you think you're doing?" bellowed a coarse voice.
I turned and saw that a Skel to our left had lifted his head and was watching us with stunned disbelief.
"Run!" I whispered, and we sprinted back towards the others with all haste.
"Come back here, you bleedin' varmints!" the Skel shouted as he leaped to his feet and came barrelling after us.
And oh my, could this guy run, now that he wasn't wearing his suit of armour. A quick glance behind showed he'd catch up to us long before we reached the others. I could run faster, but only at the cost of leaving Nanako behind.
So I did the only thing I could, I turned around and charged him, whipping out my combat knife as I did.
"Ethan, no!" Nanako cried out in alarm
Just before we slammed into each other, I jumped to the left and lashed out with the knife. But to my surprise, the obese Skel twisted aside so that my blade sailed through thin air, and then he jumped forward and delivered a left cross straight at my jaw.
Forager - the Complete Six Book Series (A Post Apocalyptic/Dystopian Series) Page 60
