Darkness Dissolves When the Door Opens

The Worst of It

Out of thin air, out of nowhere, dozens of Japanese soldiers appeared from the darkness, from behind the still standing walls and sheds. They aimed their weapons, locking them to Jules’ head and the others’. They glanced with pride and fantasies. Their faces were full of exhilaration and joy that they managed to capture those escapees.

And one man emerged from the first house. An unburned photograph was in his hand. Jules could see his face, proud and strong. He must’ve guessed where they headed. Yamako.

But Himari flinched after seeing who was next to him. The man was wearing a black, German trench coat. He was also putting his Nazi hat back to his head, although he’d never done that before. He too, felt proud and powerful.

Himari hugged Jules’ right arm. She felt distressed, angry, and scared. Every feeling she had dumped mixed together in an unexpected climax. She felt she wanted to destroy every bone that man had. The smug smile on his face was dog shit to her.

“How many men did you kill?” Yamako’s voice was more intimidating in the dark space.

No one did answer. All of them only put their scared and angry faces. Asher reached for a pistol, but Hal, who was next to him, of course shook his head and thought it was a terrible idea. He maybe preferred to die, but these kids didn’t.

“I am genuinely surprised you could escape. Mr. Fischer next to me here told me that you would escape. I said to him; ‘that’s impossible, my guards will catch them before they even step foot to the church’s lawn.’ But now I realize that you all are smarter than you all look. And also, I have disciplinary classes to attend to after I’m done here. My men are the laziest, most incompetent soldiers of all time.”

Good thing most of them didn’t understand what he was saying. They only had their smiles and kept aiming for their heads.

“How do you know we’re going to be here?” 

And the unexpected voice came from Jules. Jules, the least person anyone thought would make a voice, spoke bravely to the big corporal. Jules felt stronger, braver, and more responsible if Himari was with him.

“Ah, good question. So, Fischer came to me just last night that you all are going to escape. I already had the idea of surprising all of you in this intimate place. This place is the only place you know. I just had a feeling. Maybe, if you chose Grogol Village, or the abandoned British warehouse one mile from here, we would never catch you. You all just too dumb and decided to go to the most convenient place ever on the island.”

Max Fischer, the German, looked at Himari with no guilt whatsoever. The time when he caught Himari climbing that ladder toward the storage he knew he could make the most out of Himari. He would get a pleasure from her, and he would also get an honorable medal from the Japanese. His company might even own a piece of village in the island and he could be the king of it. His sleek mind allowed him to reach to his goals. Alike Yamako, Fischer was also very greedy and stylistic in a way

Asher was the only person with his hand still firmed on his gun. “We’re not going back.”

Yamako stared at Asher. He was genuinely impressed by the kid. If he was a Japanese, he would’ve considered him to be his own son. They were so much alike each other.

Yamako walked toward Asher in the most stylish way ever. It felt like he was roleplaying as a military seducer, taking step by step like on a modeling stage. After all, Yamako was the most insane man ever lived, and he was like the most typical, unpredictable, monstrous villain ever.

“You again. You might not want to go back to that shithole, but these kids want to, right?”

Yamako crouched beside Asher where a small kid stood scared. Asher had been shielding him from the rifles’ aims all the time. If they started shooting, Asher wouldn’t hesitate to catch all of the bullets for that random kid he didn’t even knew his name of.

From my point of view, Asher was one of the bravest fighters ever. He could be a jerk at times, but he was the true hero everyone deserved.

The kid didn’t understand a word Yamako said, but he nodded anyway. His cold, tiny hands were shaking all over the place. To him, he wasn’t looking at a man, but at a furious dragon in the form of a human.

“See, Mr. Vans. These kids like it there. The place is shielded from wars and riots. They get two meals a day and their rooms are clean too. What can you ask more from a man?”

Asher didn’t flinch, but he didn’t respond either. Thoughts flustered to Asher’s mind in a second. Clean my fucking ass. Those places are like trenches, filthy and disgusting.

“Alright,” Yamako continued. “Go back to the trucks. You all know the drills. My men will drive them now.”

And everyone stood still.

Jules knew Yamako’s characteristic very well now. He could’ve just waited for them at the Cathedral’s lawn, but he chose Cortland’s fields because it would make him look cooler. Yamako was too childish for a military commander. 

Yamako frowned. He unlatched his pistol and it banged in the air. The bullet shook off, charging to the clouds. Everyone broke off and hurriedly got in those trucks again.

Jules’ hands were still on Himari’s. He didn’t know what to think. Himari would be punished. She was going to die. She was the reason everything happened. She would be tortured until her body couldn’t keep her life anymore.

But those last moments, Jules decided to stay beside her. Inside that truck, around dozens of scared children, Jules kept his eyes to her cheekbones. She stayed in his arms. 

They didn’t want to let go. They didn’t want to be separated. Jules and Himari wished that Yamako would throw her into the same cell as Jules, but they knew it was impossible.

Jules and Himari knew it was the last time they would see each other. Jules and Himari, the two people with same fates, stayed until it was all over. They didn’t want the trucks to arrive. They didn’t want the trucks to stop driving. But eventually, the journey would come to an end, and everything was then, over.

−

Japanese soldiers hauled every prisoner out of the trucks one by one. Their clutches felt rough. Marks would appear on the prisoners’ arms after all of that.

Yamako found the dead body lying on the dungeon’s floor. He was quite surprised they killed only one. He did find a fainted body sprung on the ground in front of Himari’s room, and three injured drivers lying on their beds in their sheds.

After everyone was in their cells, Yamako and two soldiers entered Jules’ dungeon. The soldiers were hauling the one woman he cared of. 

Himari Ashoka.

“I think you two quite grow fond of each other, no?”

Neither Jules nor Ashoka looked at each other. Yamako’s smiley face started as bliss to the Americans’ embarrassing defeat.

“You might think I will kill this young woman, but you are incorrect. I’m a forgiving person, and I respect that you killed only one of my men. She will live, but you two will never meet each other again.”

Yamako commanded the soldiers with Japanese. She would be locked in the dungeon with the pleasure women, being one as well. Jules and Himari would be separated only by a five meters thick wall, but their breaths would never be felt by each other, maybe ever.

“I’m forgiving, you see?”

And with an enormous, cheesy laugh, Yamako exited the dungeon, leaving with a sense of victory to his chest.