Chương 44: Collateral Damage

Kurisu slumped forward, collapsing onto Kenji's chest, the red hair fading to black as the fight finally left him. Gasping on the pavement, Kenji felt rubble and glass grind into his back as he attempted to shift his weight and shove Kurisu off him, but he barely got the boy to budge. He flopped back, eyes staring into the afternoon sky until searing pain reminded him of his broken ankle and ribs.

"Secure them!" a National Guard Sergeant barked.

"Move in! Watch their hands!" Boots crunching over the debris of the 16th Street Mall, soldiers swarmed the intersection, rifles raised at the low ready. Two guardsmen seized Kurisu by the arms, grunting with strain as they dragged his limp body off Kenji and dropped him onto his stomach, ratcheting plastic flex-cuffs around his wrists. With a groan, Kenji tried to sit up, finding a combat boot pressed against his chest, pinning him to the asphalt.

"Get off me!" he wheezed, blood bubbling past his split lip as he struggled against the boot, before giving up and pointing toward the Walgreens wall.

"Ace, get a medic."

"They're on it," the soldier replied, lifting his boot.

"Just stay down." Several paramedics were already pushing through the scene. Reaching Ace, three knelt beside his crumpled form, checking his wrist and neck and trying to check his eyes while moving him as little as possible.

"He's not breathing! Bag him and prep the collar!" one yelled, ripping open Ace's shirt.

"No! Ace!" Charlotte screamed, breaking free from Steven's grip in a rush toward the boy. She made it three steps before two DHS agents intercepted her, grabbing her arms to drag her back.

"That's my son! Let me see my son!"

"Let me go! He needs me!" Gloria shouted, agents corralling her alongside Roland, who stayed quiet.

"Kenji, I'm here, say something!"

"Get your hands off us!" Steven struggled against an agent as he met the same fate. His arm twisted behind his back, before he was slammed face-first against the hood of a Humvee.

"They stopped the spider! They saved your asses!" The sound of shoes scuffing on the pavement drew Kenji's eyes to Agent Cox as the man stopped next to him, blocking the sunlight that had been forcing him to squint.

"Smith," Kenji rasped. The agent stared ahead for a moment, turning left and then to the right before looking down at Kenji.

"They saved nothing," he said.

"They turned a major American city into a war zone. Now, we were interrupted earlier, but," he looked up, head shifting, "every last one of you, is under arrest." Teeth gritted, Kenji glared up at the suit. Ace lay half-dead on the pavement, and this prick was actually pausing for dramatic effect.

"On what charge?" Roland demanded, wincing as metal handcuffs ratcheted around his wrists.

"That thing was an Act of God!"

"Domestic terrorism, Mr. Tetsuya," Cox replied, stepping closer, his voice dropping to a murmur to keep the civilians filming from the high-rise windows out of earshot.

"Use of an unregistered weapon of mass destruction. Reckless endangerment. The Guard operates under a chain of command. Your children operate on impulse." Gesturing toward the dust cloud billowing from the ruins of the pharmacy, Cox continued.

"You engaged a hostile entity in a populated commercial zone without clearance. Legally, that makes you liable for every brick broken in the crossfire."

"They're just teenagers!" Charlotte sobbed, straining against the cuffs as Kenji watched the medics shove a plastic tube down Ace's throat.

"Please, they need a hospital!"

"They're receiving military medical care, Mrs. Miller." Pulling out his phone, Cox turned his back on the parents.

"And they stopped being just teenagers the moment they leveled half of downtown. They are unregistered weapons of mass destruction you chose to harbor in the suburbs. Load them up. I want them separated. Parents to the holding cells at the District Office. Assets go to Anschutz, secure wing. Keep them chemically sedated."

"We tried, sir," a medic called out, holding up a broken syringe over Kurisu's unconscious form.

"The needles snap. We can't puncture the primary asset's skin." The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Cox swatted at the air.

"Then double the flex-cuffs and chain him to the transport wall. Just get him moving." After they all received bandaging and splints, Kenji was loaded into the back of a military ambulance alongside Ace and Kellevra. The steel doors of the vehicle slammed shut, sealing the boys away from the sunlight. Drawing a harsh breath into his bruised ribs, Kenji choked on the reek of bleach filling the interior.

Strapped to a gurney on the left side, he felt every pothole send a fresh spike of fire up his splinted shin, his eyes fixed on the stretcher opposite him. Ace lay immobilized in a cervical collar and a rigid backboard. A medic sat beside him, rhythmically squeezing a plastic bag attached to the tube protruding from Ace's mouth, forcing air into his lungs. The monitor tracking his heart rate beeped in an erratic tempo.

On the bench near the rear doors, Kellevra cradled his shattered elbow, his ruined leg braced across the floor to keep the knee from bending. His face, smeared with soot and tear tracks, remained fixed on the armed DHS agent sitting by the bulkhead.

"Where is Kurisu?" he whispered.

"Did they put him in the other van?" Face blank behind dark sunglasses, the guard stared ahead.

"Hey," Kenji barked, fighting the straps across his ribs.

"He asked you a question. Where is he?"

"The other asset is being transported separately via secure convoy," the agent replied.

"Protocol requires isolation for Class-A biological threats."

"Good," Kellevra choked out, burying his face in his good arm. Kenji winced, a fresh pulse of agony radiating from his crushed ankle before traveling up his shin to settle in his chest. He stared at the gray ceiling as the adrenaline faded, the pain of his broken bones blurring as he saw the dead stare in Kurisu's eyes, the lack of hesitation as he looked right at them and tore them apart. He felt the searing pain as a blade pierced into his back, grinding through flesh and bone as it cut into his heart.

In spite of the pain and coming death he smiled down at the untouched bundle of platinum hair and feathers he held cradled tightly to his chest. With a wet cough, he fell forward into unknown darkness." Ina!" Kurisu called out, startling awake in a cold sweat. His breathing ragged, he checked his back, finding no blade, nor blood. In a quiet rustle of silk, his mother rushed into the room, setting a lantern beside his bedroll as she knelt to look him over.

"Did you have another bad dream?" Harumi asked. Clutching his mother's kimono with trembling hands, the six-year-old nodded.

"It hurts… mama… it really hurts…" Kurisu choked out between short breaths.

"It's alright now, Kurisu. There's nothing to fear. Now, rest," his mother said, rubbing his back and rocking him gently. Harumi patted her leg, drawing him back down into the bedding so he could rest his head on her lap, her palm smoothing over his brow before tracing the line of his temple with her thumb, the indigo of her sleeve brushing his cheek as she began to hum.

Nenneko ya yo, nenneko yo —(Sleep now, sleep now, sleep my child) Tsuki wa kumo ni, kakurete mo —(Even if the moon hides in the clouds) Waga te no naka de, nemurinasai —(Within my arms, you may sleep) Kage wa tooku, sato e itta —(The shadows have gone far away, to the village) With his weight shifted against her lap, Kurisu's eyelids drooped, his fingers loosening their grip on her robe, as he sank deeper into the futon.

Nenneko ya yo, nenneko yo —(Sleep now, sleep now, sleep my child) Kaze wa mado ni, otozuredo —(Though the wind visits the window) Waga mune no naka, atatakaku —(It is warm within my chest) Yama no kanata, nami wa shizuka —(Beyond the mountain, the waves are quiet) The song fading on her lips, Harumi sat in the quiet, the soft breathing accompanying the rise and fall of his chest the only sound. As he exhaled a quiet sigh, Kurisu's fingers released her sleeve, dropping limp against the tatami.