Nen (26 page)

“Okay, here’s what we shall do.” Howard instructed, “We will scour this room for any red objects that we can find. We’ll figure out how to hang those red objects on the iron door outside.” He waved his hand at Sarah, “Sarah, to do this, I’d need you and Paul to go with Johnny. He is the most important person now and all our lives depend on him. I will get Gupta here myself.”

Sarah nodded and without further ado, she started to ransack the command office room for anything red.

With Dr. Sarah tagging along, Johnny had gotten the assurance and confidence that he badly needed to accomplish his task.
Really not bad to have a medical doctor standing by, and she isn’t just any ordinary doctor, she’s a doctor whom the beast is fearful of! Kudos to Howard! This American guy is really something. The US marines and the FBI must have done things to him, maybe reprogrammed his brain or something.
Johnny thought and he wanted to smile but did not.

“Paul, you can take the flame thrower with you. It’s over there. Please watch out for the creature while Johnny worked his magic on the rocks.” Howard pointed to the flame thrower that was tucked under an office desk. He had hidden the weapon there for safety reasons.

“Alright!” Howard clapped his hands, everyone else will stay here. Nelson, since we need you to operate the radio system, please be in charge here and take care of the rest.”

“Aye, aye, Captain!” Nelson did a funny salute which made Pete and Pauline giggle. Mami-san broke into a smile as well. It had been a long time since that kind of laughter was heard among the tourists.

A few moments later, a bunch of unrelated objects were scattered on the cold cement floor in the middle of the command center office. There were a few wine bottles with red papers pasted around them, an axe with a blunt blade painted in red, a dirty Japanese flag depicting a red rising sun, some red strings and scraps of red fabric that were probably used as arm bands by the Japanese soldiers. John’s fire extinguisher was also one of the red items among the heap of junk.

“We have searched almost every corners and enclaves in this tiny place but we are unable to find much stuff in red, except these.” Mami-san pointed to the objects on the ground. Sarah was standing beside her with her arms folded. She looked at Howard and asked, “That’s all we got. Is it okay?”

“These are barely enough for the iron door. We need some splashes of red on ourselves too.” Howard seemed to be scanning Sarah from head to toe. “I guess we got to tear off part of your shirt. What do you think?”

Sarah looked down at her own red shirt and smiled, “Sure. Mami-san, can you help me?”

Mami-san nodded quickly.

CHAPTER 42

The battered iron door to the command center office was decorated with strange unrelated objects that had only one similarity – red color. A tattered Imperial Japanese flag with a red rising sun was loosely hung across the top portion of the iron door. Beneath it were scraps of red cloths that were arranged in no recognizable pattern. An axe with a red blade was fastened beside the rusty door knob by a web of red strings and a red fire extinguisher was secured tightly on three wooden brackets that protruded from the bottom half of the door. A few rodents scampered pass the door and one of them paused to admire the decoration. It was indeed a hilarious sight if the rodent had any sense of humor.

The door cracked open slowly and a muscular man stuck his head out. It was Howard. Around his neck was a piece of red cloth which previously formed part of Dr. Sarah’s red shirt. Without making any noise, Howard slid out of the door gap, holding a rifle close to his chest. He knew that the rifle would be useless against the creature but he still took it. After making sure that everything was safe and sound, he turned his head slightly and signaled to someone behind him. “It’s clear. Let’s go.” he whispered.

Howard moved quickly ahead with Paul at his heels. Johnny was right behind Paul and Sarah was the last to file out from the command center office. All four of them were wearing some red items as they stepped out. Paul wore a red scarf just like Howard. He tried to stay close behind Howard and was constantly tilting his flame thrower upright so that the pointed nozzle would not jab onto Howard’s back. Johnny had tied a head wrap over his scalp, turning himself into a pirate with a red turban. He held a rifle on one hand and a samurai sword on the other.

Sarah closed the iron door behind her and knuckled three soft knocks on it. The sound of clanking metals erupted and the iron door was instantly bolted from within. She then hurried across the expanse space to catch up with the rest. Under the dim light that filtered down from the catwalk above, Sarah resembled more of a warrior than a medical doctor. She was carrying a cross bow and her shirt was so tattered it could barely cover her body. In fact, Sarah’s exquisite red shirt had become a flimsy singlet, making her look like the Asian version of Xena, the warrior princess.

“Hurry up!” Johnny looked over his shoulder and whispered.

“Coming!” Sarah replied as she strutted forward.

Gupta sat bolt upright in the bunk bed. His eyes were wide and terrified. His whole body reeked of cold sweat. He had had a bad dream and in his dream he was running away from a group of blood lusting Zombies in Japanese military uniforms.

A faint roar echoed down the hallway outside his room. At first he thought he had heard wrongly but then a second roar arrived loud and clear. In a panic, he threw the covers back and ran for the door. Forgetting that his leg was injured, he lost his balance and smacked into the wall to the left of the door.

“Damn it.” Gupta hollered as his buttocks touched the ground. He managed to get on his feet again and swaggered out of the room. Alone in the hallway, he looked around wildly for a moment. There was nothing. Then he stretched out his left hand to feel the wall, using it as a support as he wobbled down the hallway with a nasty limp.

In less than five minutes, Gupta was standing beside a pile of rubble next to the Chan family’s living quarter.

“What in the world happened here?” Gupta muttered to himself, scratching his head, “Where’s everybody?”

He noticed the swaying door leading to Mr. Park’s room and without much consideration, he staggered himself forward. When he pushed the door open, he saw what was left of Madam Kim and his heart rose and was stuck in his throat. Gupta turned and ran. He couldn’t really run like a normal person so he just hopped and hopped on one leg.

“Help! Somebody is dead!” Gupta crowed as he hopped down the hallway and disappeared into the labyrinth of narrow corridors.

When Gupta finally came to a dilapidated staircase landing, he realized that he had completely lost his way.
Where the hell am I?
He thought. He looked around frantically with his hands clutching the staircase railings. His face was pale as a sheet. Suddenly, he felt a bit light-headed. The ground started to tremble and streaks of sand trickled down from the ceiling.
It’s another bloody earthquake! I must get out of here!
Gupta’s mind was racing but he wouldn’t know which way to go
.
Soon, the tremble was stronger and it evolved into a nasty quaver that threw him off balance. A deep crack split the ground into two halves and the gap widened at unbelievable speed.

Gupta tried to hold on to the staircase railing but it was too late. There was another hard tremor that shoves him into the gaping crack. He fell, hit his head on something at the bottom of the abyss and blacked out.

CHAPTER 43

“What was that?” Paul yelled, trying to regain balance in the middle of a long corridor that leads to the living quarters. The tremors seemed to have lasted for a minute.

“Another earth quake.” Howard answered, “Is everyone alright?”

“We’re fine. Let’s go.” Sarah said, brushing off the dust on her hair.

Howard did a quick glance around him to make sure that it was safe to proceed. He cocked his head and signaled the rest to follow him.

They moved quickly but quietly like a team of well-trained Navy Seals zigzagging in an enemy hideout.

Finally, they reached a fork in the corridor.

“Okay, let’s split up here.” Howard whispered, “You guys go to the tunneling machine. I’ll go to Gupta’s room. Be careful.”

Howard hurried down the left-hand fork while the rest of them took the one on the right.

Snaking through the cramped corridors, Paul, Johnny and Sarah scanned their surroundings, making their way to the door that would open up to the vast underground cave outside. They almost reach the exit when Paul suddenly stopped. He heard something and felt a chill.

“Did you hear that?” Paul whispered.

“What?” Johnny was puzzled why Paul stopped.

“Shhh..you hear that?” Paul asked, cocking an ear to the background noise.

“Yeah, it came from there.” Sarah said, pointing to the defunct military medical clinic on her right.

Sarah pushed the door and flipped a switch before Paul or Johnny could stop her. The overheads in the medical clinic flickered for a while and then lighted up as Sarah stepped in gingerly, porting her cross bow up and pointing it at the dead body lying in the middle of the room.

Under the pale fluorescent light, Henry’s body was beyond recognition. His lower jaw was gone and in its place a big gaping hole lined with blood and shards of broken bones. His skin had turned greyish and his belly was a large bloated hump. He lay on the operating table like a dead pregnant mother.

“What…what in heaven’s name happen to him?” Johnny stammered.

Sarah was leaning forward to have a closer look at Henry when a loud clung from behind her startled everyone. They swerved around and pointed their weapons at a dark corner of the room cluttered with old medical instruments.

“There’s something there.” Paul whispered.

They could see the shape of a small animal hiding behind a stack of junk. From where they were standing, it looked like a cat or a small puppy.

“I think it’s a cat! I can see its little green eyes.” Paul said.

Johnny held up his hand and crept forward. When he did that, the animal winced and squeezed itself behind a rusty wall cabinet that interlocked with some overturned I.V stands.

“Hey kitty kitty...What’re you doing there?” Johnny slung his rifle over his shoulder and crouched down. His hand reached out to clear a hole in the mayhem of old clinical instruments and devices.

A dark shape shot out with a loud squeal and smashed into Johnny’s face.

“Arrrrgh!” Johnny screamed, trying to brush away the small creature that was clambering on his face and making an ear-piercing screech.

Sarah and Paul could see clearly now that it was a quadruped and the small animal bore a resemblance to Nen.

Johnny pealed the jolting creature away from his face and flung it to the ground. Sarah immediately fired several darts from her cross bow but all of them missed the creature by inches. It was a small animal but a very agile one indeed. Paul pointed his flame thrower at the creature and pulled the trigger. A ball of fire almost incinerated the scuttling creature. Like a spider on a hot plate, it scurried to another corner of the room which was nothing but a dead end. It made a terrible shriek after it realize that there were no other ways out and its only escape route had been blocked by three heavily armed human beings.

“Gimme your red scarf!” Johnny cried.

“What?” Paul shouted back.

“Just give it to me!” Johnny insisted.

Paul removed the red scarf from his neck and tossed it over to Johnny.

Johnny stepped forward and hurled the red scarf over which landed squarely on the tiny fanged creature.

A terrible shriek erupted from underneath the scarf. Johnny unslung his rifle and smashed the shuddering red scarf with the rifle butt, killing the creature instantaneously.

“Here, you can have your scarf back.” Johnny passed the soiled red scarf back to Paul.

Paul brushed off some tangling entrails from his scarf and then draped it around his neck.

Johnny stared at him for a moment and said, “Man, you’re disgusting.”

Paul ignored his remark and asked, “What the hell was that?”

“Looks like a baby ‘Nen’ to me.” Sarah said, “Are you okay Johnny?”

“I’m fine. Just some scratches on my face.” Johnny said, spitting out some discharge from his mouth, “And I think I swallowed some of its sickening saliva.”

“A Baby‘Nen’?” Paul said, cocking his head to one side, “How many of such monsters do we have here?”

“There’re two of them. We just killed one.” Sarah said impassively.

“How do you know?” Paul asked.

Sarah walked to the heap of clinical junk where the baby creature was hiding and pushed the rusty wall cabinet aside.

“Come, take a look at this.” Sarah pointed to the small gap between the cabinet and the grimy wall. Paul and Johnny hurried over and they saw two mounds of white slimy cocoons nesting in the small gap. Both cocoons were torn indicating that whatever that were breeding inside had broken out.