Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Into The Void ❯ Judgement Day ( Chapter 4 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

By: MellyN

::: Into the Void :::

By Melissa Norvell

:: Chapter 4: Judgment Day ::

The group walked along the desolate village for some time. Reaching the outskirts, they didn't speak a word until they were completely out of the village. Even Sari was quiet, the events of the day before reeling through her head, like the last few minutes of her once normal life was in a state of constant replay.

"Sari dear," her mother called out of the front door to her. "Go and get some vegetables for the soup, okay?"

The child turned around and smiled at her mother, "sure Mom!"

Her mother handed her some money when she got to the doorway, "here's some money. Come straight back, all right?"

"Sure!" She nodded happily and raced down the driveway, past her father who was practicing some sword moves on the crisp, green yard. "Bye dad! Love you!"

Her father looked up from his practice and wiped the sweat off of his brow, "come and practice your sword skills with me when you come back, okay?"

"Sure thing!" She yelled when she looked over her shoulder before bouncing off into the market square.

'That was the last time I saw them…I should have checked to see if they were alive…But Agata said there were no survivors besides Rubio and I…' Her gaze turned to the sky. 'I can't help but wonder though…' Sari shook her head. 'I shouldn't keep thinking about it…I know it's bad…'

As she snapped out of her nostalgia, a voice cut through her thoughts.

It was Rubio.

"What?"

Sari blinked. "Huh?"

Then she heard Agata exclaim in anger, "I can't believe this! I just came from this village and now everyone here is dead too!"

"Oh no…" A worried look etched itself on Sari's features as eyes scanned over the ghastly sight before her.

It looked very reminiscent of her own village. The dead lay everywhere. Most of the houses were destroyed and demolished. Debris and human carcasses littered every inch of ground. The place looked like a battlefield of dead soldiers.

"I can't believe this!" Rubio said in outrage.

"I guess we have to check for survivors here as well," the blue clad female suggested.

"Let's go then!" Sari said loudly, voice laced with determination as she ran swiftly, breaking apart from her two allies. 'I've got to find them.'

After a few steps, she noticed that she wasn't being followed, so she stopped and looked over her shoulder. "Hey! You guys. What are you waiting for? Let's go!"

"Hmpf," was the stubborn reply from the silver haired man.

"Well, she's outgoing all of a sudden," Agata spoke.

"Let's go," Rubio replied.

"Right."

They both ran up to the girl, stopping a few inches behind her. Agata stated that it was time to search for survivors, and Rubio agreed. The three walked through the town, and in the search so far, they hadn't found anything or anyone that could possibly help. While Rubio and Agata searched a half burned house, Sari said something that inspired at least a little hope within the two.

"Hey! I've found someone alive over here!"

"What?" Rubio whirled around from his current position.

"Another one?" The white haired woman asked, feeling as if it had been her lucky day to find so many survivors in the area.

"Interesting."

When the two got over to the scene, there was a man lying on the ground. Sari was kneeling next to his shoulders, trying to shake him into consciousness. The man wore a green sleeveless jacket with a white wife beater underneath it. He had metal O-rings around his biceps and wore black fingerless gloves. His black pants were as pitch as the night and baggy, except for the spot on his right leg where a small binding of white was made. His pants stopped at his mid lower leg, where fur rings to match the collar of his jacket were produced, which turned into the black leather of his boots.

His long, rich brown hair was in disarray as it shook with Sari's movement, and a cowboy hat lay nearby. He wore a green headband with two golden rims at the top and bottom and a symbol of a star with two dots on either side around his head. He was of muscular build, as if he had been a body builder of some sort. Sari noticed as she shook him, the same symbol on his headband was the one of the back of his jacket.

"Hello? Hello? Wake up, Mister," Sari was trying to get the man to snap into consciousness.

"He looks badly wounded," Agata's sharp eye caught the mass amount of blood coming from his stomach area and seeping into the dirt below.

"He could have possibly put up a fight," Rubio noted. Anyone who had injuries like that and lived was a feat. It was something else to have that kind of resistance.

"He's not responding," Sari looked worried, "he must be out cold."

"That makes this situation a bit more critical than last suspected. We'll have to finish the mission early and report back later," Agata informed. Now that they had someone who was alive, treating his injuries was crucial.

"Right,” Rubio agreed, "Let's head to a place where he can be examined."

"We don't have enough time to get back to base before dark, so we'll have to take refuge in some private abandon house for the night and take the rest of the death toll in the morning."

"But what are we going to do about cowboy here?" Sari was still seated on the ground beside the fallen man. She knew they weren't going to just leave him, but now that they had him, they had to take care of him until he healed.

"She's right; none of us have the medical skills to help him," Rubio replied.

"That's where you're wrong," Agata spoke up.

Sari and Rubio replied with a 'huh' in unison as the white haired female began to explain that she possessed military medical training. It might not have been much, but it may be enough to last him through the night. The younger girl agreed that they should probably settle down, and suggested that someone should go and find a shelter and supplies to last them through the night. She picked up the wounded man, placing his cowboy hat over his head and swinging one of his arms over her shoulder. The yellow clad girl also stated that she would put him down and make him feel comfortable while Agata did her thing.

"Let me guess," Rubio exasperated. "You're volunteering me, right?"

"That's the idea," Sari grinned impishly.

The silver haired man slumped down dejectedly and sighed to himself, "right, sure…"

'Why am I always volunteered for this stuff?'

"Well, what are you waiting for? Don't just stand there, looking depressed. Hop to it!" The girl commanded.

With another sigh, the man walked off, as he was walking, he began to whine to himself. "I'm hurt too…But I suppose I'm the only functional male of the group." 'Let's see…' He looked around in search of anything that would be of any use to them.

XI.

Meanwhile, Agata, Sari walked through the village. Everything was silent until the other female spoke. As if mass funerals were in procession. From the looks of all of the twisted, mangled corpses around, it looked more like a graveyard after a haphazard grave robbery than a once lively village.

"All that's left to do is wait…" She looked over to Sari, who acknowledged her by looking back at her. "The sun is already setting."

She looked the skies, which were ablaze with brilliant oranges and reds. The sun looked large and was partially hidden behind the horizon. It bathed the three forms in brilliant orange as it slowly melted into the horizon.

"It's one sad sunset, that's for sure," Sari noted.

"Is he getting heavy?"

"Huh?" The girl looked to her new found friend.

"Your passenger," Agata gestured with a jerk of the thumb to the man.

"Nah, I'm strong."

XI.

Rubio looked through a broken window and peered into a house that seemed suitable. From the looks of it, no one had died inside and there were no soldiers waiting to ambush them. The structure had minimal damage, and a lot of the furniture remained intact. It was almost as if the family that was there just got up and left, abandoning all they had in an attempt to escape the carnage.

'This looks pretty decent,' he thought. 'It hasn't been ransacked and there are no bodies here. Whoever lived here must have been gone at the time. This will be a fine place to take refuge in.'

A brown shoe tapped against the ground rapidly and impatiently as the two women stood in the middle of a dirt road, waiting on Rubio.

"What's taking him so long?" Sari asked with her usual tone of irritancy.

"I don't know, but my legs are getting tired," Agata had been walking around for who knew how long. Her feet were killing her, and the faster she gave them a rest, the better off her weary body would be.

"No joke. We've been here for a while now."

As if by cue Rubio came running up to the three, yelling 'hey' to get their attention. It worked. The two girls turned their heads to acknowledge him, uttering the word 'huh' in unison. The silver haired man stated that he had found a place and gestured for the two to follow him.

"It's about time!" Sari replied.

"No joke," Agata agreed. Where did he even go? All he had to do was find a house in the village, not half way across Japan.

"Let's go!" The younger girl took off after Rubio. The two leaving Agata a bit behind.

"Hey! Wait for me!" She cried out as she ran after them. Trying to catch up to someone with so much energy just made her feet hurt all the more.

When Rubio got to the house, he opened the door and told them that this was it. The walls were a dingy brown and the floor a chalky white. There were a few things out of place from the apparent genocide, but other than that it was perfect for its purpose.

"It's small, but functional. It should work. Great job Rubio," Agata complimented.

"The pleasure is mine, Agata."

"Now, let's set up."

The man lay on a futon with medical bandages over his torso. Everything from the middle of his torso down was covered by a white starched cover and his head lay on a white buckwheat pillow. Sari glanced out of a nearby window. Rubio was seated on the other side of the man, and Agata was at his feet.

"Here's the food, or what's left anyway." The silver haired man stated as he put a few pieces of food down for everyone.

Agata picked up a sandwich, examining it with her lone eye. "Well, it does look safe, and I am hungry."

"Me too!" The girl rubbed her hands together in delight. "Let's dig in!" Sari began grabbing what she could and stuffing into her mouth as if she hadn't eaten in years.

"I'll go and get the drinks." Rubio stated, "Save some for me, would you?"

The silver haired man set off to look for some drinks. He was able to find some cans of soda and walked back into the room, where Sari was laid out on the floor, looking satisfied and Agata quaintly sitting on her knees. He glanced to the food supply, and that's when a shocked expression crossed his face. There was hardly any food left for him to eat.

"That was good," Sari said and sighed in content, patting her full stomach.

"Look how much is left you two…" Rubio said in a deadpan voice.

"Not very much," the girl replied, glancing at the food. It was his fault for not being faster.

"I didn't do it," the white haired woman mentioned calmly. She only ate one article and had one can of soda.

"Well, the rest is mine."

"I'm full anyway," Sari told him. He could have whatever he wanted. Sari was fine with what she had eaten.

The male sat down, putting the drinks on the floor in a pile in front of him before speaking. "Cans are all that I found."

"Works for me," the yellow-clad girl shrugged taking a can, while Rubio ate what was left of the food.

Being thirsty, Rubio decided to open one of the cans but the tab snapped off of the top. The man muttered a few curse words and uttered the phrase 'damn can' as he continued to attempt opening the now tab-less can. Green-blue eyes watching him from a distance, mildly amused at his antics as he became more and more fed up with the sentient object.

"Fucking can!" Rubio yelled, beating on the can in anger.

"What a dork," Sari felt a single bead of sweat roll down her forehead. Why did she put up with these people?

"Why is this happening to me?" Rubio asked in frustration. He picked up another can and tried to open it. This time the can did come open, but the tab fell inside of it and the side caved in, causing the silver haired man to produce another angry face.

Agata glanced over to the frustrated man with confusion etched on her face. "This might be a stupid question but…what the hell is he doing?"

"Rubio's trying to open the can and the can is winning," Sari said as Rubio attempted to pop out the dent in his can and it sprayed him in the face. "Actually…it's dying."

"Screw it!" Giving up, he threw the can out of the window and into the street, he attempted yet another can and got the same results and began to shout inaudible words. Then a perfectly opened can was handed to him.

"Here," the white haired woman couldn't stand to see him get beaten up by soda cans any longer. It was quite embarrassing.

Rubio tossed the other can over his shoulder, saying his thank you to Agata. A clunking sound was heard and ouch was also emitted from Sari. There was a pause before the can came back and hit him in the back of the head spewing a shower of soda all over him once more.

"Now, why did you do that?" Rubio asked through gritted teeth.

"You threw it at me first. Like I knew it would explode on you."

The blue-clad girl looked over to the sleeping man. He was slumbering soundly, as if the situation didn't bother him at all. 'How can you sleep through the idiots?'

The Rubio versus Sari battle of words was constant across the room.

"I will not apologize because you threw it first!" Sari yelled.

"Look!" Rubio shot back and pointed at the girl, "I didn't see you back there, okay?"

"No, it's not okay."

"Is it ever with you?"

"Can you feel a pain in your head?"

"Yes, I can feel a pain, and I'm hoping it will walk into another room."

The short haired girl grabbed a pencil lying on the ground. "Do you want me to throw this pencil at your head?"

"You're going to go to jail for stealing that pencil," Rubio noted that the object belonged to the deceased owners of the house.

"Shut up before I punch you in your big, little, skinny head!"

"What? How can his head be big, little, and skinny?" Agata looked confused. That insult didn't make any sense, whatsoever.

"Anything is possible with him," the young girl snapped throwing the pencil at him and watching it bounce off of his head. "Pick it up!"

"Pick it up yourself."

"Oh, bite me you big butter ball!"

"Butter ball?" Rubio looked unamused as beads of sweat ran down his forehead. He was hardly fat in any way, so her calling him such a name took him completely by surprise.

"Yes, butter ball," Sari confirmed, picking up a stick from the floor and throwing it at him.

"Wow, you threw a stick at me…I'm mortally wounded."

"You're gonna get it!" She couldn't take his smart mouthed remarks any longer. She hurled herself through the air and landed on him, throwing punches as she heard the wailing man below her shout that the offense was assault and battery. "Shut up before I hit you with this!" The girl grabbed a nearby soda can, holding it up menacingly.

"That's assault with a deadly weapon!"

"Are you two done yet?" Agata sighed. It was a ridiculous charade.

"For the moment…Until he tries to start stuff again."

"Start stuff!?!" The silver haired man was outraged at her accusation, but his mind berated his mouth. 'Just shut up Rubio…Just shut up…You've been through enough for one day.'

A disgruntled noise was made from across the room as the once slumbering man was now stirring awake as he shifted. The three all replied with 'huh' in unison as their conversation was broken up by the fourth party member.

"He's waking up!" Sari stated the obvious.

"I almost forgot he was there," Rubio replied. He was so quiet that he didn't make hardly any noise.

"I'm surprised that he could sleep during that. You two really are pea brains," the white haired woman admired his ability to sleep like a log. He was going to need it around the two of them.

The said two not only looked, but felt stupid.

Sari put a hand behind her head and looked down, a sweat drop apparent on her forehead. "Eh…Sorry about that."

"Yeah," Rubio agreed, "me too."

"Tell him that," the white haired woman motioned to the stirring man who sat up, holding his head with his eyes half opened as he let out a pained groan. After a few minutes, his eyes opened fully as he took in his surroundings.

"What am I doing here?"

"Don't move too fast…" Agata told him. "You'll hurt yourself."

"Who are you? Where am I?"

"Your village was destroyed. The three of us are the only survivors," Sari told him.

"You've got it all wrong," the green eyed man said, "that wasn't my village."

"Then what were you doing there?" The yellow clad girl inquired.

"I'm a professional Bounty Hunter. I was passing through on my way to hunting down a terrorist."

"Terrorist?" Rubio's voice almost faint.

"Yes, by the name of Masateru Ibuki."

Ghostly eyes widened a little, but not enough to be noticed by his new team mates.

"Something I say offend you?" The man questioned. His team mates might not have noticed, but he did.

"Nothing…"

"You sure?"

"He probably just had a hard day," Sari waved off the matter. "We all did. It's time to be resting."

"That's all I can do. I'm definitely out of commission for now."

"We're just waiting it out until we can go back to base," Agata informed them of what their next action was going to be.

"Base?" The brown haired man wondered just what she was talking about. Just who were these people that saved him from dying in a pool of his own blood?

"Yes, my military base," Agata confirmed.

"You really shouldn't get an entire force into what a single man can take out," the man sat up in his futon slowly. He could feel the stitches pulling at his flesh as he moved. This might have looked bad, but he could take care of it himself.

"What?" A flash of light was sent through her blue eye as Agata took it offensively. "Are you insulting me?"

"No, I'm just saying that the four of us should be able to do the job."

"That's absurd! We don't have that type of training!"

"How do you know?"

"What?"

"How do you know those two don't have any training?" He argued. Had she asked them? They were with each other when they found him, but how well did she even know her two team mates?

Agata looked at Rubio and Sari, "I don't…"

Come to think of it, she really never did ask either of them. She just assumed they were normal citizens that she found whom by the grace of god, survived the onslaught.

"Well, do you?" The hurt man inquired with a stern gaze.

"I'm training to be a master swordswoman. I can fight with three swords," Sari smiled, winking at him. "I'm also very good at the martial arts."

"I have quite a bit of military information and I'm skilled at many fields of martial arts. I also fight with twin katanas. In fact, that's what I was injured from; I was injured by a man named Valerio Valentino," Rubio told all of them of the events prior to him joining their little group.

Green eyes widened, and shock was written across the bounty hunter's face, " the Valerio Valentino? He's on all of the wanted posters. He's one of the most elusive and wanted assassins. The reward money on his head is a fortune and I admire any man who faces off with him and lives! That's quite a feat!" He gazed to Agata and smiled smugly. "Well, it seems that you have a good team on your hands. Once we're healed, we should do much better."

"This isn't a wise decision. None of you are trained professionals!"

"We've made it this far, haven't we?" Rubio made a point.

"Dang right and we didn't need your help either," Sari told Agata.

"Without me, you'd still be laying in a heap in those villages."

"I would have recovered," Rubio retorted.

"Would've woke up," Sari added. They didn't just stand still because she didn't run into them. She must have thought that she was pretty special.

"There's no convincing them," the brown haired man replied. "Why don't you just let us handle it?"

'Thank you! Now I don't have to risk being caught.' Rubio thought in relief. The last thing he wanted to do was have anyone figure him out.

"Oh, I'm Vincent Lockheart by the way, who are you?" The man, now addressed as Vincent questioned.

Everyone stated their names and introduced themselves to him one by one.

"Nice to meet you," Vincent smiled, "team mates."

"At least our team is equal right? Two men and two ladies." Sari pointed out the gender ratio in their little team.

"It'll be nice working with you," Vincent was sort of excited about having some new team mates. When he worked solo, he walked a lonely road. It was nice to have someone to talk to.

"What weapon do you use?"

"Who me?"

"No, your shadow," Sari huffed, "of course you!"

"Oh, I don't have a weapon. I use brute force. I'm an excellent fighter," Vincent told her.

"You mean you just go in there and beat them up?" Sari didn't think he was serious about that. Surely, he had to have some kind of way of killing people that didn't involve his hands. If he didn't, then she wasn't going to believe him otherwise..

"That's the idea."

"What if they shoot you?" She asked. Those guys had gun, no fist can smash through a bullet. Wel, not one made of flesh anyway.

'And you insult me?' The white haired woman sneered, "hmpf."

"I can usually just dodge the bullets and I can get their guns away most of the time."

"You must be good," Sari complimented.

"Oh, I am. Hey, is that soda?"

"Yes, we were drinking it earlier, " Agata pointed out.

"You want some?"

"Yes please," Vincent got tossed a can of soda.

"I'm going to examine you for wounds, but first I'll tend to Rubio," Agata informed.

"Hm?" Rubio looked a bit confused.

"Take off your shirt," he heard the instructions as he began to shed his layers, "and your bandages. We're going to sew up your wounds so you can heal."

"Right."

He was thrown a towel.

"What's this for?"

"Clean yourself off. I don't want you smelling of soda and sticky."

"What?" Vincent inquired.

"Yeah…" Sari put a hand behind her head, happy and laughed a little awkwardly. "About that…Funny story actually…"

"She spilled it on me," Rubio frowned, unveiling the situation to him.

"More like you bathed in it."

"I'll say. That jacket was soaked through. You know, if you wanted a bath all you had to do was ask. There's water everywhere," Vincent pointed out as he and Sari began to laugh.

"Yeah, funny guys," the silver haired man sighed.

In another room of the house close by sat a figure consumed in shadows for the most part, but the sun shone through the window above, striking jet black hair and blood red fabric. He lay on the floor with his knees bent up, his shoulders propped on the wall as he held a gun pointed upwards, the sun bouncing off the black metal, casting a glare.

'So…' Valentino thought to himself. 'Things have escaladed. Interesting indeed… Hope you know what you're in for…You won't be smiling for long and that's for certain…'

To Be Continued…