Fire Fury Freedom

by Amanda Rose

  Drip, drip, drip… Little drops of freezing cold water fell onto Kato, and they slowly woke him from his memory of a dream. He looked around, but Nayu was not before him. He was in a tin can, as he had been before. Before when? Before the wave! He was no longer hot, he was freezing. He realised he couldn’t feel his hands of feet at all; His extremities had been completely numbed.

  It was the morning after the storm. They awoke to find themselves bumped, bruised and scrapped, but miraculously alive. The whole ship was resting on a downward slant. “Ugh… Where are we?” Mei groaned, placing her hand on an enormous bump on her head, “sss, ouch… oh man…” she said, pained. “I need some help ‘ere!” Kato called from behind Mei, in a bit of a struggled pant. He’d just noticed his injury, and Mei turned to see him with the large metal hatch resting over of his left leg. “Oh, shit! We gotta get this off of you!” she rushed to his side, and struggled to try and lift it without success.

  Vince opened his eyes and felt blinded by the light coming in from the cabin above. After his eyes adjusted he looked down to see Suako still safe within his arms. To his left Kairu lay with a large gash on his chest; he hadn’t yet awoken. Seresuto lay over one of the bolted legs of the mess hall table, and Adamu still was seated in the captain’s chair as he had been before; both of them were still unconscious from being tossed about like rag dolls.

  Creek! Down the corridor a bathroom door swung open, from which Jenko and Yu-Lee stumbled out. They were extremely disoriented. Vince gently placed Suako against the wall and climbed the steep slope over to help Mei with Kato. “Here, lift together…” Vince said, “one, two, three! Argh!” Clunk! The meal hatch hit the ground hard. “Oh, thank god it’s off,” Kato signed in relief. “Oh, Kato, look at your poor leg!” Mei looked down with teary eyes. His knee looked out of place, the skin had split open in several places under the weight of the door, and his calf was most definitely sprained. “I’ll be ok. Need a brace though...” he looked around.

  Jenko entered the distorted room slowly, trying to find his footing, and Yu-Lee followed close behind. He soon analysed the situation and noticed a stray piece of metal sticking out from behind Suako. “H…” he tried to speak but coughed. “Wah! Ahem, here, I found something we can use for Kato’s leg,” Jenko said pointing. Vince got up and helped him to get it. “I’ll go and get something to tie it around with,” Yu-Lee said turning to go back into the vessel’s barracks. Mei kneeled beside Kato and squeezed his hand. “We’ll fix you up,” She smiled at him. “Imma countin’ on it,” he smiled back.

  Jenko let Vince handle the rod, and made his way up and over to Adamu. He checked his pulse, “He’s alive! He’s pretty banged up here though. The glass from the window cut him up pretty badly… but he’ll live,” Jenko sighed. Then he tried to look out the front of the window, but the rock that had broken the window had wedged itself inside, and he couldn’t see anything past it except for a small piece of the sky. “Hey…” Sniff, “Hey, I can breathe well… like being in a dome?” Sniff, sniff! Jenko said breathing deeply. “You’re right... Wonder why?” Vince said, confused.

  Vince woke up Suako and she moved aside, stiff and groggy. After several minutes she started to get a grasp on reality. She inched her way up to Seresuto and slowly removed her off the table. Seresuto’s abdomen had a long deep purple bruise stretching across it, and when Suako moved her the muscles twitched.

  “Uh… What happened?” Kairu asked as he came to, looking at the ruins around him. “Don’t move Kairu. I’ll be there in a second,” Suako instructed as she placed Seresuto down. He looked at himself and noticed his chest wound. “What happened last night?” Kairu asked, trying to remember. “I saw a tidal wave. It came right down on us,” Vince replied. Yu-Lee came back holding strips of a blanket she’d pulled apart for Kato’s brace. “Yu-Lee can I have a piece of that? I need to wrap up this cut,” Suako said, kneeling beside Kairu. Yu-Lee nodded and threw her a piece, “There you go… here Vince let me help you,” she said slowly making her way up the floor to him and Kato.

  “Hey where’s Mack?” Suako suddenly asked, flinging her head up and looking around. No one answered, and they all looked about too. “Kairu finish tying that, I’ve gotta go find him,” Suako said and she got up and left him with the innovated bandage. She made her way as quickly as she could down the slanted floor and to the hallway. Suako checked every room along the way, until she arrived at the engine room. She looked all around, and noticed two legs sticking out from behind the power generator. “Mack! Shit!” she scuttled over to him and tried to pull him out.

  As she tugged him around he slowly came to. “Huh? Wha’…” he looked around. He’d been lying in a cold puddle of water that was gradually leaking into the ship. “Mack, you awake?” Suako asked. “Uh, yea… I uh, I can’t feel my legs,” he said, not entirely coherent. “It’s ok, we’ll warm you up. I’ll see if I can get a fire started in the other room,” she said, and rubbed his legs to start the circulatory flow in the mean time. “Is everyone ok?” He asked. “Seems so. There’s a few injuries, but otherwise everyone seems to be alright,” she told him. “Where are we?” he inquired. “We don’t know yet. After we get everyone conscious we should get outta here if we can. Right boss?” she said, “we have to find out what’s going on. This ship is gonna sink sooner or later. I don’t think we can fix it.”

  “Why were you down her anyway Mack?” Suako asked. His body shivered menacingly in her arms, “Before the black out I heard some clash, I came here to check it out. I think we hit some sort of rock or thick coral… anyway that’s what started this leak,” he explained. “Is he ok Suako?” Jenko called down the passageway. “He’s alive! Can you start the fire in the stove? He’s freezing back here!” she hollered back. “Sure thing! Then I’ll come help you carry ‘I’m out!” Jenko replied. “Thanks, Jenko!” Suako said.

  Several hours later everyone was awake and huddled around the stove. Seresuto was nearly immobile, her stomach kept her from being able to move too much. Adamu was practically a hundred percent all right, his mutilated skin aside. Kato could walk with help and Mack was warmed up just before the point of hypothermia. Luck was seemingly on their side for surviving such an event with such minor injuries.

  The ship echoed with creeks and cranking metal as it slowly filled with water. It was time to get everything and everyone out of the ship. Vince, Suako, Mei, Adamu, Yu-Lee, and Jenko went around and collected all the tangible goods that they could and got them all placed by the hatch. They made certain that they had all the food, artillery and tent equipment. Jenko climbed up to the hatch, twisted the porthole open, and extended the hatch up and over.

  Jenko poked his head up and looked around; to the rear of the ship was the wide-open sea, which had turbulently pushed them about. As he turned around he saw a city built above water rocks on the coastline, that stretched on quite far before he saw land. They had crashed near to shore, and he noticed a port not fifty yards away. No one stood post there, though there was a city situated behind it; it seemed eerie that no one was there, and that no boats were in the harbour either.

  There were more trees, though not many more, then there were on the Eastern Green Continent. A thick foot of snow coated the ground. It seemed like on gigantic air dome covered the continent, it was so easy to breathe. Tiny snowflakes fell on him from the white-grey sky above, and their falling made the far distance hazy. He looked back to the city and wondered if maybe there had been guards posted at the harbour that were coming to retrieve them from their crash. Whatever the explanation may be, he had a foreboding feeling about it.

  “Hey what do you see up there? We’re not stranded, are we?” Suako called up. “No, we’ve hit land. I think we’re at the Imperial Continent already,” Jenko called down. “What?” Adamu was shocked, “We were still a week away!” Yu-Lee walked up beside Adamu, “The sea helped us get here faster. Maybe it sees just how hard we’re trying to save it and the planet,” she smiled contentedly. “We’ll
let’s get the hell outta ‘ere then,” Kato called from the back.

  First the more able bodied of the group lowered the goods off of the ship and onto the ground. Next was the challenge of getting Kato and Mack from the ship when their legs were temporarily useless. They slowly helped get them up the ladder, onto the deck, and finally onto the snowy shore. Mack’s legs slowly were become more sensitised, tingling with a burn from within.

  They rested exhaustedly on the bank after escaping from the ship. They listened as the hull of the ship filled faster and faster with water; it screeched as it scratched its way down the rocky slope. Finally, it slipped beneath the rippling waves until only three feet stayed above the water. The bottom of the ship rested on the shallow rocks below it. The sun beat down on them, but it wasn’t brutal on them like in the plains of land in the East Green Continent neglecting air domes as cover. When the rays touched their skin, it did not burn them.

  “I guess we’re finding a different way back,” Adamu tried to make light of the situation with little success. “Sorry you lost your ship Adamu,” Mack tried to be a comfort to him. Adamu sighed and just starred out to his sunken ship, silently paying tribute to his sunken livelihood. After a moment of silence, he walked over to his wife who looked onward to the ship that she’d called her home so may times. The others looked at it two, each with the same two thoughts in their heads: It’s a shame they lost their home away from home. How are we going to get back?

  The wind started to become bitter and they knew they needed to make their way to the town quickly. They decided that they would pretend to be travellers from a city on the other side of the Imperial continent, seeking shelter within the city. Kato rested on Mei as he hobbled on his weak leg, and Vince and Suako helped Mack while his legs were slowly replenishing.

  When they got closer to the city they noticed it was much too quiet for its size; In fact, it was noiseless. They read a sign hanging just in from of the entrance onto main street, “Welcome to Kukotan”. The homes were tall and wide, made of some sort of dense clay. Dark wood sectioned off the homes, and was also used to make the roofs and window shutters. The town was vacant; recently abandoned they assumed. Knocked over fruit carts and other random items were scattered across the paved streets.

  After they’d searched the entire city, to find no one was there, they pirated it for food and supplies. They found a grand home, situated around the town square, with an outlay of flowerbeds in front, beneath a layer of soft fallen snow. When they entered the home, they were taken aback. The walls were in good condition, and the home was furnished with intact furniture. Lavish curtains hung over the windows, which stretched up the twelve-foot walls. This was something few of them had ever seen this close before. They knew that the C.D.F.P. on grid one had the good life, but they never knew exactly what the rich lived in, but now they could well imagine.

  Within the house, it took some time before they got over the shock of the lavish appeal. They were mystified when they found the remnants of a flame burning in the fireplace of the entrance hall. “How long ago could they have been here?” Mei asked as she sat down Kato on a sofa near the fireplace. “Couldn’t have been too long ago,” Vince said suspiciously, looking about. Vince went to search the upstairs of the house, and came back down shortly after to report that he’d only found a cat, which he carried downstairs to feed.

  They found a hardwood chair that would be suitable for feeding the fire. Jenko and Vince pulled it apart and threw it in, and within minutes the heat emitted by the newly rekindled fire became noticeable. Vince had also found a pipeline that run into the ground. He told them it was able to extract water from its source, and bring it directly into the house. They drew it into a cast iron pot they found and placed it over the fire to boil, in order to ensure it was sterile. Kairu cleaned and removed his bandage, and poured some of the water over his cut.

  They bantered about ideas trying to conclude the strange vacancy of the city, but they reached no such conclusion. Whatever had caused the evacuation they would have to discover later on. Meanwhile Seresuto, Kato and Mack rested by the fire, and Yu-Lee prepared warm soup in the pot for them with some potatoes, leeks, rutabaga and carrots that had been lying in the street. Having had scavenged the kitchen there were some unusual and rare spices available for them to try. The meal was much appreciated and warmed them from the inside out.

  Suako and Vince volunteered to stay up the first half of the night watch. With the oddity of the seemingly sudden leave of Kukotan’s residence, they could not be too careful. For the first time in weeks everyone slept soundly, while the two group guardians found it hard to keep their eyes open. They didn’t say much but sat and stared at each other for over an hour.

  “Suako?” Vince finally broke the silence. “Yes Vince?” Suako responded. “…What is it that you won’t tell me?” his voice was timid. He sounded nearly betrayed, yet not spiteful by it. Suako turned her head to look away. How could she possibly answer to such a needy plea? It took her a while to group her thoughts; she felt he deserved an explanation. She’d wanted to tell him for quite some time now about her shady past that haunted her in whole now. Before, she’d repressed her painful memories, until they had nearly fled from her mind. Though her soul would not allow her mind to forget for good, and when Yu-Lee had resurfaced her past, revisited it with her constantly. She knew it was time to open up to Vince about it.

  She let him hear it, all of it. He was horrified by what he heard, but it explained a lot of things that never added up to too much before. She felt rather numb afterward, tears streaming down her face. He rocked her in his arms and told her she was safe there. She was tired and gradually fell asleep shaking like a quivering arrow shot from a bow. He laid her down on the couch they’d been sitting on, and covered her with his coat. Then Vince got up, and quietly tip toed over to the window. He gazed out at the hazy clouds over the dark blue-black night sky. The moon, nearly at its peak, shone intermittently through the fleeting grey clouds of night. He couldn’t remove the images of Suako’s whimpering eyes from his mind.

  “So, she finally told you,” a voice from behind startled Vince. He gasped, spun around and just about fell over. Yu-Lee was standing a few feet away, and once he had a moment to realize, he took in a long breath and sighed, “Yea. She finally told me… I always knew something was there but I…” He looked to his feet. Yu-Lee walked up to him. “But you never expected this,” she nodded. Vince trembled as he took in his breath, “Yea. I thought I knew so much about the C.D.F.P. but this… they have no morals… and Suako...” Vince’s eyes welled up with tears. “She has been through hell, and back again. But now she’s released the chain around her tongue that contained the secret. Now she can begin to heal,” Yu-Lee said, comfortingly.

  “I shouldn’t have pushed her to tell me though…” Vince said, feeling guilty. Yu-Lee placed her hand firmly on his shoulder and looked him square in the eye, “Don’t you say that. She needed a reason to tell you, I think she’s waited to tell you for a long time. Don’t feel that you forced her to say it. She isn’t one to fold under pressure, and if she didn’t want to she wouldn’t have. Now get some rest, you have a lot for your mind to digest,” Yu-Lee instructed. “But the rest of the watch…” Vince began to object. “I’ll take over, just ease your mind for the night,” Yu-Lee smiled. “Thank you,” Vince said with gratitude. “Remember it is the will of the life energy, this is how we learn to better the whole of our existence. She suffered for all of us. You should be proud,” Her words were that of the wise. Vince nodded his head and found a spot on the couch next to Suako. He wrapped his arms around her waist. His mind had been working full tilt, but the night slowly carried him away.

  The past does not dictate your future- you are not your past- you are what you took with you from your past.

  Chapter 13: Civil War

  They were provoked to rise when morning came and a sweet scent encircled the room. The smell was warm and delicious. The air tasted lik
e confectionery goods; the scent was rare and hypnotising. Yu-Lee pranced into the main living room from the kitchen happily, “Mm, what’s the delightful smell?” Jenko asked as he was taken away by his stomach. “I found a book in their kitchen about ‘Baked Goods’. It seems to be a common thing on this continent. They had supplies of flour and other such things in a large; uh… oh what did my mother call it… Oh yes! It was the pantry. I haven’t seen one of those for years,” Yu-Lee said delighted.

  Seresuto blinked dumb, “What is a pantry?” she asked eyeing Yu-Lee questionably. Jenko and Mack laughed. “Seems only us old folks remember,” Mack chuckled. Seresuto only looked further confused. “Ha! Ha! Oh, it’s a room used to store long lasting foods. It’s just beside the kitchen,” Yu-Lee explained. It took a while to convince the others that is had no other purpose then to store food. They weren’t used to space being designated for the soul purpose of virtually only one use, especially when food was so scarce.

  They feasted that morning on delicious apple cinnamon bread and honey scones. They found that Seresuto’s preservatives that they’d salvaged from their ship were a divine addition upon the luxurious flavours that tortured them with pleasure. They stopped talking about strategy for the time being and simply enjoyed the moment. Jenko, Mack and Yu-Lee shared stories over breakfast about their childhood and of their parents; stories were heart-warming and helped them forget everything else.

  They sat, talked and laughed for the first time in over a month. These times were all there was to cherish, and it was these moments that gave them the drive to continue, that they fought so hard for. This was the life experience that wanted everyone to have. No more needless violence, ravaged earth, and imposed taxes, nor grieving over pointless deaths.