[Kenji] Brothers in Arms

Brothers in Arms


This can't be good for my heart at all. I crouch and tip toe behind cover through a deserted, war-ravaged town with my M16 in hand, watching the back as Kenji and I move forward. We've been silent for nearly three minutes now, both of us too paranoid to take our eyes off of our designated direction. The crunch of gravel is constant beneath my feet, making noises that just add to my worry with every single step. Kenji watches the front as we make slow progress towards the rendezvous point, scattered and distant gun fire occuring from multiple directions.

He taps me on the shoulder, which nearly makes me jump and scream out in surprise. With two fingers, he waves them in the direction of a seemingly stable building as the majority of the surrounding buildings crumble to the ground. We stack up on opposite sides of the doorway, sprinting into our positions. With the toss of a stun grenade into the room, we follow shortly after, clearing the first story before moving upstairs. The eerieness continues, as not a single soul was present, drawing me to the brink of a full blown panic attack.

Kenji takes off his sling, setting his rifle against the wall of the bedroom that we've ended up in. He flops down on the bed and shuffles his hand throughout one of his many pockets, fetching a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. He offers me one, which I kindly accept to help calm my nerves. With a quick flick of the lighter, I find myself blowing out heavy amounts of smoke before Kenji finally breaks the silence that has settled between us.

"Shit man, what are we going to do?" His voice, for the first time that I've ever heard, is nearly shaking. I'm not sure if it's fear or anxiety, but something has certainly gotten to him. I guess I shouldn't be talking, because it's certainly gotten to me as well.

"Take a few to get our act together, then haul to the rendezvous I suppose." He lets out a big puff of smoke, nearly looking as if he's in thought. I guess certain situations can bring out different sides to everyone.

"But what if we don't make it, man? Taro and Lezard might never even reach it if we do, they could easily get their shit blasted away at any moment..." He trails off, taking another drag from his cigarette. I've honestly never hseen him this uptight about anything, even the feminist conspiracy shit that he's been laying on me for quite a while now. I take a breath out a thick amount of smoke before tapping out my cigarette, offering my hand to bring him to his feet.

"Well, we're in worse shape just sitting here aren't we? Let's get our asses in gear." Kenji's eyes flare up at my words, a decent amount of passion seemingly returning to his spirit. With my help, he gets up from the bed and tosses the sling around his body, giving me a nod to take lead as we re-enter the ruined streets below.

We run, crouch and crawl our way from building to building, clearing the seemingly deserted town in a very short amount of time. A pit of anxiety rises in my stomach at the thought, as we haven't been met by any resistance yet. The sporadic gun shots in the distance seemingly get closer with every step, growing louder as we inch our way towards the meeting point.

We finally reach the other end of the town, only a country road with scattered remnants of vehicles and debris being the remaining obstacle between us and the point. Kenji takes point this time, but rather than watching our back, we both just start heading up the road the slowly. We duck and dive behind the few pieces of cover that are scattered throughout the path, giving us slight protection from the buildings that could contain enemies in the closing distance.

As we reach the final stretch of the road, there is a large gap between cover, a distance that I would say could easily be 500 feet. We take refuge behind the charred remnants of a truck, facing back towards the ground we've just covered within the past ten minutes. Kenji sighs and rubs his temples a bit, taking a quick swing from his canteen before speaking to me.

"Hisao, this is the home stretch man. If we get to that point, we're home free to winning this battle! With or without Lezard and Taro, we can still win this shit!" He extends his hand to me, leaving it in a position for me to grasp it. I connect mine with his and give it a big pump, as he's never really given me the opportunity to shake it before.

"Let's get moving, we can talk when we get to the rendezvous." He shoulders his rifle as we sprint out of cover, running full speed towards cover. He trails me slightly with a heavier loadout, but still manages to keep a close distance between to the two of us.

A loud crack rings through the crispy evening air, the distance being nearby. Not thinking to stop, I finish the sprint to our final bit of cover, diving and propping my back up against it as I catch my breath. As I open my eyes from taking a quick moment to regain some air my lungs, I notice something has gone extremely wrong. I hear a pained groan about 50 feet away from me.

That's about how far away we are before a gunshot rings out.

I now realize how bad this situation is. Kenji was hit while we hit the last bit of distance between us and cover, and is now screaming and yelling in pure agony a few feet away from me. Without even taking a moment to think, my adrenaline gets sent into overdrive, sending me sprinting once again from protection.

My combat pounds pound into the dirt faster another shot rings out, digging into the ground less than an two inches behind me. I slide in to Kenji's aid, my adrenaline helping me pick him up with some ease. I pull his body as fast as I can into cover, once again barely avoiding a bullet as it connects with the ground off to my right.

I slam my back into the sandbag protection behind me, just tall enough to keep us from getting hit from most any possible angle. I turn my attention to Kenji as his breathing sounds heavy and uneven. Blood pours from a massive wound in his stomach, forming a small pool as the bullet managed to have a clean entry and exit. I fumble through my utility belt, looking for gauze or something to try and sustain his bleeding. I find some and begin to desperately apply it to his wound, but it doesn't seem to have much of an effect at this point. His breathing continues to increase to a higher pace as my hands continue to be covered in his blood, trying my hardest to save his live.

"Kenji, we're so close man! You can't go dying on me right now, no chance in hell!" He laughs a bit, which causes him to cough up a little bit of blood and wince in pain heavily.

"Bro, I'm toast. This is it for me, where my road ends." He reaches his hand out and grasps for my uniform, grabbing hold of it and pulling me closer to him. "You're on your own, friend. Until... we meet a-again..." His voice finally falters and fades out, his breathing coming to an abrupt halt and his body falling limp. Tears well up in my eyes, but I attempt to keep them at bay. I never got to tell him how it was an honor to fight along side of him before he passed, something that will always bother me. Anger rises in my throat.

I want revenge, and I want it right this instant. With a scream of fury, I propel myself up and vault over my cover, firing round after round in the direction of the town before me. Before I know it, there's yet another loud crack ringing through the air, and I find myself stumbling backwards onto the ground. I feel darkness approaching as blood empties from my chest, yet another clean wound as the bullet passed through my back.

So, this is how it ends, huh?

My eyes fade to black, and with that, it was all over.

----------

"Fucking Hanako, man!" Kenji is yelling at the top of his lungs and he throws his headset at the screen, taking me out of the zone. "How the fuck is she so good at sniping?! I bet that feminist bitch can't even fucking quickscope!" He hurls his controller towards the wall as we hear an eruption from the other room of the beach house, the girls all laughing hysterically at our fate.

I struggle with my words as I fling my headset off and set my controller down on the now unoccupied space beside me on the couch, slicking my hair back in frustration. Lezard and Taro both flick their headsets off in disgust and head into the kitchen for a few drinks, ready to drown their sorrows of getting absolutely destroyed by a couple of girls in the other room.

I think I might finally see where Kenji's coming from with the whole 'feminist conspiracy' thing.

In the hallway off to the side of the living room, a door opens and footsteps tap lightly in my direction. Around the corner peeks a grinning, but still shy, Hanako. She walks on over to the couch and flops down beside me, snuggling up nice and close to me.

"Oh, you think you're just going to make it up to me by being cute now?" She giggles and smiles in her usual shy manner, planting a light kiss on my cheek.

"A-actually... I was coming to ask you a question."

"What is it?"

"Do you want to play another round?" Before I can even answer, Kenji sprints in from the other room, obviously over his frustrations. Hanako squeals and hops from her seat, finding cover behind the wall in hallway.

"You're on, bitch!" Hanako shoots me a cute wink before returning to her room, as I pick up my headset and controller and get ready for the next round. I rub my temples as the four of us get ready to go again, strategizing in a different manner this time.

It's going to be one hell of a long night.