The Runaways In Tokyo

Chapter 13

Annabelle's story (2)

"Help! Help!" The sergeant yells as they get out of the Land Rover.

The sergeant and the rest of his team grab Annabelle from the back, put her on a stretcher, and start carrying her to the closest tent while the fiance follows behind.

"We have a female! Looks to be in her 40s! She got trapped under some dirt during the earthquake." The sergeant tells the doctors as he rushes her to the nearest bed.

"We have an available bed over here!" A female doctor shouts from across the tent.

"Okay, we're coming!" The sergeant screams.

The sergeant, his team, and the fiance run through the tent, passing dozens of injured people who were also brought here due to the bombing and earthquake.

"Place her gently on the bed!" The female doctor says.

"Right!" The sergeant and his team slowly place Annabelle on the bed.

"Wait!" The fiance suddenly shouts.

"Hey, why are you placing my wife on a bloody bed?!" The fiance asks while his body shakes, very panicky.

"Sir, do you think that your wife was the only person injured when the bomb dropped?" The female doctor says as she begins to treat Annabelle.

"Well, don't you think you should at least clean the bed, maybe?" The fiance says.

"Shut up!" Says the sergeant, starting to get agitated.

"Look, I know your wife is badly injured right now! But you are just sitting there and complaining, which isn't fixing anything! So stop pouting and sit down!"

"He's right; just sit down and pray that your wife will live another day." The female doctor puts on gloves and tries to save Annabelle's life.

The sergeant looks over at the fiance.

'Sigh.' Was I too hard on him? The sergeant thinks.

The sergeant walks over to the fiance and gets on one knee.

"Hey man, I might have been a little over the top there, but you have to remember you are not the only one who is stressed out. We all are."

"I have to leave now, but I want to know your name before I leave." The sergeant gives a calm smile.

"My…My…name is Yasu," Yasu says, crying.

"That's a good name, and my name is Ryosuke." The sergeant says as he gets up.

"I hope your wife can pull through." The sergeant walks out of the cramped space with his team.

"Thank you." Yasu cries.

"Yasu, I must ask you to step out. I don't think you'll want to watch this."

"Excuse me?" Yasu says.

"We are about to cut your wife open, and I'm suggesting you step out."

Yasu gets up from the floor and slowly walks out.

"Okay, team, let's try to save this guy's wife!" The female doctor shouts to the people entering the space.

Time passes… 30 minutes… 1 hour… 3 hours… 4 hours…

"Sir?" The female doctor steps out of the space, looking for the fiance.

"Oh, sorry, what did you say," Yasu says as he just woke up from a nap, rubbing his eyes.

The doctor gets down on one knee…

"I am about to ask you a seriously difficult question that no parent should have to answer…"

"Okay, I'm listening," Yasu says as he grips his hands together nervously.

"We ran into a complication, and now you have to choose who you want to save."

"Huh? What do you mean by complication? I have to choose who I have to save." Yasu's eyes open widely.

"Yes, you must choose between your wife and the baby."

"What! What do you mean I have to choose between my wife or the baby!" Yasu shouts.

"I understand that I am putting you in almost an impossible choice… but you must choose…"

"Or they will both die." The doctor bows her head.

Yasu drops to the floor in disbelief, tears running down his eyes.

I have to choose whether my wife lives or my future child… How can someone just choose something like that? Yasu thinks.

I mean, should I just choose my wife… If I do, we can always just go for another child. Yasu starts to smile.

"Hey, sir, are you okay? Why are you smiling?" The female doctor asks with a displeased face.

"Oh, sorry, please save my wife." Yasu wipes the tears from his face, gets up, and starts to head outside the tent.

In disbelief at what's happening, the doctor asks, "Sir? Are you sure that you want to do that?" The female doctor just stands there.

Yasu walks out of the tent.

"Okay, we have an answer. He wants us to save his wife." The female doctor says.

Another hour goes by…

The female doctor walks over to the tent's entrance to inform Yasu how the operation went.

"Sir… we finally finished. Sir?" The female doctor looks over at Yasu, who looks like he is just blankly staring into the sky.

"Sir?" The doctor asks again.

"Hmmm?" Yasu finally returns to his senses and asks, "Are you guys finally done?"

"Oh yes. The surgery went well for your wife, of course…"

"Ah…but the baby?"

"Yes it's gone." The female doctor says calmingly.

"Hey, don't say it like that…" Yasu's voice starts to break. "Don't treat my deceased son like that!" Tears begin to come down his face.

"You should've said something else!" Yasu starts to point at the doctor while his body shakes heavily.

"Apologies, sir. I will try not to make that mistake again." The doctor bows her head in respect.

"Would you like to see your wife now?"

"Yes! Yes… I would like to please see my wife now…" Yasu sobs.

"Okay, sir, follow me."

The doctor heads into the tent, leading the way to Annabelle's location, and Yasu follows.

"Here we are." The doctor says.

The doctor moves the curtains, blocking the view from everybody else inside the tent.

"Here she is."

"Oh… my darling…" Yasu falls to the floor, sobbing. Then he crawls over to her bed and lays his head on her chest.

"DaRliNg… just what did we do to deserve this?"

Yasu looks at his wife, blood covering her chest where the surgery happened, breathing tubes coming from her nose, a cast around her arm from the accident, and bandages covering both hands and bruises going up and down her body.

"She… is alive, right?" Yasu looks over at the doctor.

"Yes… she is…" The female doctor responds.

"Shall I leave you guys be for a while?"

"Yes, please, just let us be alone," Yasu says.

The doctor closes the curtain and walks away, leaving them alone.

A couple minutes pass…

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry…"

"WaAaAaAhhhh" Yasu starts crying hard, then calms down.

"If only I protected you and the baby better, none of this would have happened." Yasu holds his wife's hands.

"Chatter, Chatter, Chatter…"

"Ah, I guess there's still chaos out there, huh?"

"Of course, there is still chaos; people are still in need of help, and people are still dying."

Yasu's eyes start to get heavy as he keeps his head on his wife's lap.

Time passes…

"EVERYONE! WE MUST EVACUATE NOW!" A soldier suddenly charges through the tent.

"It is no longer safe here in Iceland!" The soldier walks past many injured and dead people, shouting the exact words.

"Uhhhh, what is all the racket?" Yasu says as he wakes from a deep sleep, rubbing his left eye.

"It is no longer safe in Iceland!" A soldier screams to everyone in the whole tent.

"WE MUST LEAVE THIS VERY INSTANCE!" The soldier continues to shout.

What the hell is happening? Yasu thinks. Yasu gets up and walks outside the small space he and Annabelle are in.

"Hey? What's happening?" Yasu shouts.

The soldier looks at the guy before him and says, "Iceland isn't safe! We must all leave!"

"What we can't just leave… don't you see how many injured there are, including my wife?"

"Also, where would we go?" Yasu looks up at the big, bald, muscular guy with weird tattoos covering him from head to toe.

"We would go on a ship." The soldier tells Yasu.

"Ah, a ship…" Yasu gets interrupted.

"And as for the injured… IF YOU CAN'T SURVIVE ON YOUR OWN, YOU ARE TO STAY HERE AND HOPE YOU DON'T DIE!" The soldier screams.

"You can't be serious…" Yasu says.

"Very serious, we are now fighting to survive, so if you want to survive, be outside the tent in 15 minutes."

The soldier continues to scream as he walks through the tent.

"You can't be fucking serious." A person says.

"Man fuck that… this guy seriously expects us to be able to make it to the ship?" Another person says.

"No... no, he doesn't expect us to; he is just giving us an option…" Yasu says as he stands up.

"An option, huh? Well, it's a pretty shitty option considering half of us won't even make it to the ship." The person says.

"Yeah, I would have to agree." Yasu looks over at Annabelle.

"PEOPLE!" The soldier shouts.

"I know this might be a tough decision, but don't think too hard about it! You must follow me to the ship if you wish to live."

"I'll give you guys 15 minutes to decide." The soldier walks out of the tent.

Damn, what can I do? Hah, what am I thinking? I will clearly stay here with my wife. I won't leave her again. Yasu thinks.

Yasu heads into the small space where his wife is still asleep, sits down with his legs crossed, and stares at her.

Five minutes pass…

"Chatter, Chatter, Chatter…"

"Hey what should we do?" A person whispers.

"I don't know, dude; I think we have no choice but to go on the ship, right? And I mean, we want to live, right?" The person whispers back.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." The person before whispers back.

Man, I guess people are starting to get rowdy. It makes sense; their time is running out to decide whether to board the ship.

Yasu looks over at Annabelle for the thousand time…

"Don't worry, darling me and you will get through this." Yasu holds his wife's hands again.

More time passes…

"Okay, I have decided I'm going on the ship." A man says.

"Really? I mean, we still have a little bit of time to decide…"

"TIMES UP!" The soldier says as he walks back into the tent.

"I hope you guys made your decisions."

"If you have decided to leave and go on ship, please follow me now."

"What? Is it already time?" A woman whispers.

"Yeah I guess so?" A man whispers back.

"Chatter, Chatter, Chatter"

Ah, It's so noisy again… Yasu thinks

Yasu walks out of the small space and into the chaotic scene of people rushing to leave.

Is it time already? Yasu thinks.

Yasu starts to panic, trying to figure out what to do.

"Yo? Are you going to the ship?" A man yells over to Yasu.

"Me? Oh no, I'm going to have to pass… I have a very injured wife, you see."

"Ah, well, best of luck." The man runs to the tent's exit.

What should I do with Annabelle? The soldier said we would die if we didn't go on the ship. 

Yasu starts pacing around while biting his nails.

"Hello, sir…" A strange voice appears out of nowhere.

What should I do… what should I do…. Yasu continues to pace.

"Sir!" The voice gets louder.

"Huh?" Yasu snaps out of his trance.

Yasu looked at the source of the voice and realized it was a shriveled boy in ragged clothes with black hair and brown eyes sitting on the ground.

"Hmm? Were you the one talking to me?" Asks Yasu.

"Yes I was." Says the boy.

"Why?" Yasu says, confused.

"I just wanted to say you should go on the ship." Says the boy.

"The ship? No, I can't. I have my wife, and I have to watch over." Says Yasu as he turns to go back to Annabelle.

"The soldier was right, you know. You will die if you stay. So you should go, and I watch over your wife for you."

Yasu turns back over to the kid…

"Yeah, right, like I would trust a skinny boy to watch over my wife."

"And I would rather die than leave her."

"Like I said, you will die." The boy says again.

"Do you really want your wife to wake up to you dead?" The boy says.

"If I die, then my wife would also be dead!" Yasu snaps.

"Unlikely; I think they would leave her be, seeing how she is already pretty much dead."

"You punk!" Yasu yells at the boy.

"And what about you, huh? Why aren't you going to the ship?"

"It's obvious, isn't it? I won't make it alive on that ship."

"Tchhh"

"Of course you wouldn't." Yasu puts his hands to his face.

"So, are you going to go to the ship?" The boy asks again.

"I— I don't know." Says Yasu.

"I think you should. Just in case your wife does wake up, she will have someone to look for instead of having to bury someone."

"Yeah, you're right, but I still don't know."

"Just go." Says the boy.

"Tchhh, OK, if I go, you must promise to protect her! You understand!"

"Yes, Yes, I do." The boy says.

"Also, before I leave, I would like your name."

"My name, huh? Sadly, I can't give you my name as for I don't have one."

"You don't have a name? I mean, didn't your parents name you?"

"I—I don't know." Says the boy.

"Huh, whatever. I should probably get leaving, though." Yasu glances one more time at Annabelle before he runs toward the exit.

Now, to protect this person, huh? The boy thinks.

Fuck I hope I make it to the ship in time! Yasu thinks.

"Last call for any refugees to board the shiiiiip!" A guy standing on the ramp to a big ship says.

Yes! I made it, Yasu thinks, bending over to catch his breath.

"Hey you! Get on board the ship!" The guy yells over to Yasu.

"Uhh, yes, I will!" Yasu runs over to the ship, bows to the guy, and runs up the ram, boarding the boat.

'TOOT! TOOT!'

"The ship leaves in one minute!" A person screams over the mike on the boat.

Dang, this boat is so cramped; so many people are trying to find room for each other, Yasu thinks.

"Move it, you punk!" One person screams.

"Fuck off!" Another person screams.

"Chatter, Chatter, Chatter…"

God, they are so annoying, Yasu thinks.

'TOOT! TOOT!'

"The ship is now leaving!" The person says through the mike.

Well, here we go, thinks Yasu.

The boat leaves the port and starts heading out.

Back over at the tent, the boy is still watching over Annabelle.

"Fuck how long are we gonna have to wait for help? It's been over an hour now, and I'm really starting to get hungry." The boy mumbles to himself while playing with a stick he found on the ground.

The boy stops playing with the stick, burying his head in his lap, and starts slowly drifting to sleep.

Three hours pass…

'Crunch, Crunch'

"Hmm?" The boy wakes up to the sound of sticks breaking outside.

"Is anyone still alive out there?" A soldier shouts from outside the tent.

The boy jumps up in desperation and shouts.

"Yes, over here!" The boy shouts.

"Hey, did you hear that?" A soldier whispers.

"Yeah, I did; it looked like it came from that tent over there." Another soldier says.

The soldiers head over to the tent, then head inside and realize…

That there is just a boy…

Meanwhile…

'BANG!'

What the hell is that noise? Yasu thinks.

The boat suddenly starts to sway to the right very aggressively.

Woahhhh— just what the hell happened?

"Hey! I think the ship got hit by something." A person says.

"You think so?" Another person responds.

"Hey! Look, the ship is on fire!" A woman shouts from the side railing.

"Woah, seriously?" Another person says.

All the people try to see what is happening.

Then suddenly, 'BANG! BANG!' two more explosions come from the ship.

Just what is happening? Thinks Yasu.

"Oh shit! I think we are sinking!" Says one guy.

"Shit, the boat is up in flames!"

"WE ARE UNDER ENEMY FIRE!" A person suddenly screams through the mike.

"Huh? Enemy fire?"

"Are we really under enemy fire?"

People start asking questions.

"AND YES, THE SHIP IS NOW SINKING, SO IF YOU WOULDN'T MIND, GO FIND THE LIFE BOATS AND GET ON THEM!"

"Oh shit, the lifeboats— where are the lifeboats!" The people start to panic.

Oh no, oh no! What do I do? I can't die here! Yasu thinks.

'RATATTATATATA' Gunfire starts to go off.

'BANG!' This time, the explosion comes from above the boat, and it ends up sending people overboard.

Ah fuck. I went overboard.

'Splash'

Yasu falls into the cold ocean water.

'AaAAaaaaAhhhh' Many people scream.

"Help!"

…

"Help me! Somebody!"

…

I can hear the screams of terror coming from the people above; if only I could swim back up, maybe I would be able to do something.

I'm sorry, darling. I made the wrong choice.

Yasu continues to sink to the bottom of the dark ocean.

Back at the tents…

"Hey boy, thanks for protecting this woman. She could have died without you." The soldier says to the boy

"No problem." Says the boy.

"Okay, we will take you to a refugee camp, and you will ride separately. Is that okay?"

"Yeah, that's fine; just let me give her something quickly." Says the boy.

The boy takes out a card with a joker's face and the words "Japan" on the back and places it on her stomach.

"Make sure she doesn't lose this." The boy says as he goes to a nearby car.

The soldier looks at him, confused, but he agrees.

"And that's where my story for you ends." Says Annabelle

Chapter 13 Done