Nen (9 page)

“No, he did not die of your grip, Johnny. I saw what you did and trust me. That clutch of yours could not even kill a chicken.” Sarah said.

“Could it be possible that the air around here contains poisonous elements that are slowly killing us?” Mr. Park asked hysterically, “This place was totally sealed up for the past god knows how many years and human intrusion had essentially backfired upon us. Look at what happened to the Japanese soldier?”

“Henry died of asphyxiation. The Japanese soldier had its lower body torn off. He died in a completely different way.” Sarah corrected.

“Let’s not speculate how we are going to die guys. I think we need to get out of here as soon as we can.” Kenso-san cricked his neck before he said that amicably.

“You’re right Kenso, I am not waiting to die here like Henry.” Nelson muttered what everyone feared most in their hearts.

“I think we got to go through that tunnel now, with or without Howard.” Kevin suggested. Almost everyone nodded their heads in unison.

“No, I can’t risk my family going into that tunnel.” John spoke up, begging to differ. “God knows what’s inside? Howard said he will be back and I had his words.”

“Then you and your family shall stay here and wait. And we go.” Mr. Park from Korea said in an unfriendly tone.

At that instance, the tourists in the crystal cave did not know that the tunnel was merely a shallow one and if they knew, they would have passed over long time ago. Fear was such an odd thing and the presence of the mangled skeleton of a Japanese soldier was like a gigantic obstacle standing in their way. Imagine the difference between standing next to the railings of a balcony on a fiftieth floor apartment unit and doing the same thing on the ground floor unit. Even though the balcony railings on the fiftieth floor and that on the ground floor unit were of the same make and strength, people would feel insecure on the fiftieth floor and would refrain from leaning against the railings. However, no such fear would exist in their minds if they were on the ground floor unit.

The fear of entering the tunnel was like the fear of leaning against the balcony railings on the fiftieth floor. Entering it posed an uncertainty that most people feared. An unknown risk to take and if a wrong decision was made, it could lead to grave danger or even death. In fact, some of them were starting to speculate that Wong and Howard might had already been as dead as that World War Two Japanese soldier at the tunnel entrance.

“Hey, let’s not fight over this.” Paul said. “We need to stay together as a team to survive this. Let me suggest this, guys, I will go into the tunnel by myself but I will come back after ten minutes no matter what I see or encounter on the other side. I am going to set the countdown timer with my watch to ten and if I don’t return after fifteen minutes, you guys should block up the tunnel and start finding another way out.”

“Are you sure about this?” Nelson asked his friend.

“Yeah. Let’s not waste any more time, brother.” Paul gave a curt reply and he turned and walked briskly towards the entrance of the tunnel.

CHAPTER 17

Just as Howard and Wong were heading back to the tunnel that linked this army facility to the world of glistening crystal rocks, they heard a faint voice and saw a small human figure running towards them from the parking space of trucks and jeeps.

Howard lifted his hatchet against his chest but put it down when he realized it was Paul who was running towards them. Paul couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw the military base but he did not stop. To keep his promise, he continued sprinting like a flying dart towards Howard.

“Howard, where the hell… have you guys been? And…what in God’s name is this?” Paul stopped in front of Howard and Wong, panting like a dog.

“It’s a World War Two Japanese military base, Paul. My bad, we should have gone back earlier. Is everyone okay?” Howard asked with remorse. He realized that he had made a grave mistake, a mistake of indulging in his curiosity of this place and his strong desire to seek a way out. Something must have happened and he knew that he would never forgive himself if his foolish actions had indirectly resulted in any mishaps. However, this place was indeed mesmerizing and like nectar attracting bees, the tormented spirits of the grotesque massacre in that storage room had somehow lured him and Wong deeper and deeper into the military facility, tempting them to yearn on what was ahead and forgoes what they had left behind.

“Is there a way out of here?” Paul asked.

“We believe the entrance is right over there,” Howard said, pointing to the heap of collapsed buildings behind the Barrack. “But the entire area was covered with debris.”

Paul looked at his watch which started beeping. “Howard, we have to go back now. Henry is dead.”

Howard, Wong and Paul emerged from the tunnel entrance in the shimmering crystal cave, edged past the mangled human skeleton and came to the spot where Henry’s body was lying.

“Damn it, what happened to him?” Howard asked, putting his first and second finger on Henry’s neck to feel his pulse.

“Petechial hemorrhaging in his eyes, swelling of vitreous humor, blue skin, he definitely died of asphyxiation.” Sarah pointed to Henry’s bluish body and continued, “I couldn’t revive him, Howard. We were having this conversation with him and all of a sudden he fell into a convulsive shock.” Sarah Tan said, her eyes rolled towards Howard’s.

“Yep, Sarah did all she could, abdominal thrusts, CPR and all that. But he was dead in less than five minutes. ” Paul chipped in.

“What choked him to death?” Howard felt something amiss as he checked on Henry’s throat.

“That’s the strange part. Sarah told us that there was nothing in his throat and his airway was clear.” Johnny said, his facial expression similar to that of a guilty thief caught red handed.

“Yes, I can only guess that something was in his throat, blocking his airway and causing him to choke for a while, but it was not there anymore. Kind of weird.” Sarah said.

“The whole place here is weird. Wait till you guys see the other side.” Howard said.

“Have you guys found the way out, I mean, on the other side?” John Chan asked anxiously.

Howard stood up and said, “Not yet. But I believe there must be an exit point.”

“Are we going to bury him here?” Johnny asked, pointing at Henry. Deep in his heart, he could not help feeling responsible for Henry’s death even after Sarah’s assurances. He thought that maybe if he had not grasped Henry’s neck in the first place, Henry would not have choked to death.

Howard scanned the perturbed faces of the group and said, “Henry is one of us. There is a big army facility on the other side. I would suggest that we move him to one of the rooms there.”

“A big army facility?” Nelson said in disbelief. Paul and Wong nodded their heads.

Wong looked briefly at Howard and said, “It’s a…it’s a gigantic place and we think it is… deserted. Howard and I did not have time to cover the entire place. But there are lots of rooms, not to mention a small clinic that might have something useful for Mr. Gupta.” Wong turned his vision to Gupta and he looked at the injured man with eyes of remorse and uncertainty. He had agreed earlier to Howard’s request about not mentioning the gory massacre they had stumbled upon in the military storage room until the time was ripe.

Both Wong and Howard believed that there was an exit point in the military facility which could lead them out and Howard had felt strongly that if the massacre were made known to the others at improper junctures, there would be endless objections and debates from some members of the group regarding the decision to move on. On top of that, one thing that Howard wished to eradicate was senseless fear and panic creeping into the minds of those people. He fully understood the notion that when fear took over and penetrated a man’s soul, the fearful man would do all sorts of crazy things in return.

“I agree with Howard.” Johnny said, “We ought to go right now and we shouldn’t leave Henry here. I will carry him over.” He volunteered.

Sarah put her hand on Johnny’s shoulder and said, “It’s not your fault, Johnny.”

“Thanks Sarah, But I really need to do this.” Johnny looked into Sarah’s eyes gravely and said to her with heartfelt appreciation.

Pete walked over to Howard and held his hand tightly. An expression of delight and relief was dawning on Pete’s face as he said quietly to Howard, “Uncle Howard, I know that you will be back. And I believe you will never break your promise. But not everyone here thinks the same.”

“I know, kid. I know.” Howard smiled. With that, he told himself that he would never let this child down again.

After picking up their belongings, the tourists could hardly wait to tail Howard and Wong into the dark and crooked tunnel. In fact, they were all glad that their time spent in that man-made tunnel was relatively short. If that particular tunnel was much longer than it was, the awkward bends and curves would make their passing through strenuously challenging, especially for the injured like Gupta and for Johnny who single-handedly carried on his back Henry’s cold and stiff body which was in the early state of rigor mortis.

CHAPTER 18

The creaky wooden door securing the military medical clinic swung open and hit the side wall with a soft thud before Howard Smith walked into the dark and flipped a wall switch with absolute familiarity. He was capable of doing that because he had remembered the exact position of the switch when he surveyed this place with Wong earlier. The short-lived darkness turned to eternal glare when the ceiling lamps flickered for two seconds and then buzzed loudly to kick start the influx of bright, glaring yellowish light. The last time those ceiling lamps were powered up was more than seventy years ago! Johnny and Kenso-san strode in only after the room was illuminated.

“Unbelievable, the lamps here are still functional.” Johnny said in awe as he stumbled towards a German-made operating table, carrying Henry on his back.

“Let’s leave Henry here, Johnny.” Howard muttered and he watched Johnny lay Henry’s rigid body down on the operating table. Apparently, Johnny had rejected all help from anyone in the group ever since he started lifting Henry on his back at the crystal cave.

Kenso-san took a stroll around the room. He stopped in front of a doctor’s writing desk and said, “This reminds me of an old clinic that I visited in my hometown when I was five. The layout is almost identical to those pre-war surgery clinics that my grandfather used to patronize in Kyoto.”

“Yep, this is definitely a medical clinic for the Japanese soldiers. I hope the medicine chest here could do us some good.” Howard said as he opened up the First Aid medical kit that came in the form of a rusty tin box tucked at one corner of the room. From within he removed a can of antiseptic salve, a frosted glass bottle containing iodine, two rolls of cotton wool that were sealed in a bag and a field bandage kit that looked like a used sanitary pad.

“These items are way past their expiry dates,” Howard said grimly, “but some of them might still be handy. We’ll take them to Dr. Sarah and see if she could use them.”

Howard placed all the stuff back into the medical chest and held it under his arm. “Let’s go, guys.”

Johnny paused for a moment and he turned to look at Henry’s dead body on the rusty operating table. “I will come back for you Henry. I promise.” he muttered to himself but both Howard and Kenso were able to hear every word that he said.

The three men came out of the barrack where they had left Henry’s body and they moved quickly to the mini parade ground near the two-story building where the rest of the group were told to stay put.

Gupta was sitting on the ground with Sarah by his side. The rest of the people were all gathered at that spot and no one was loitering far from the group as the gloomy camp site do felt deserted and eerie.

“Sarah, I got you some stuff.” Howard handed over the First Aid medical chest to Sarah.

“Thanks, Howard.” Sarah opened up the box and examined the items in it. After a minute or two, she smiled and said to Gupta, “Gupta, your leg is a bit swollen due to the infection on the wounds. I will need to remove the splint for the time being and apply some of this antiseptic salve on your leg. This is to tackle the wound infection and we need to clean the wound and apply the antiseptic salve every six hours. It’s better than nothing.” Gupta nodded obediently.

“Let me help, Dr. Sarah. I used to work as a part time nurse in Tokyo.” Mami-san said.

“That’s fantastic!” Sarah said, “If you don’t mind, let’s do it now. I need you to hold on to these while I remove the planks.” Sarah passed the scissors and bandages to Mami and started working on Gupta’s leg.

“Where’s Wong?” Howard asked, realizing that Wong was not in the group.

“There he is.” Paul said, pointing to a small silhouetted figure that was running towards them from the far side of the parade ground. That back-lighted silhouette of Wong’s scraggy figure grew bigger and bigger as he approached.

“Howard, I found an exit but…but, please come.” Wong stammered, gasping for air.

Paul, Howard, Kevin and Wong were standing and looking at what was supposed to be the main entrance of the defunct military barracks. The main entrance was located on the other side of the parade ground and was initially shielded from their view from afar by fallen rocks and creeping plants. According to Wong, he had stumbled upon the concealed entrance by chance when he went scouting around without telling the others.