Black Plague

Chapter 31

"I-I think I'm done." Jessie said in between pants.

He rested his hand against a tree as he caught his breath. He looked up to see Akita smiling down at him, smiling back Jessie dropped his stick and sat down resting his back against the tree.

"You did a lot better than I thought you would, take pride in that." Akita said as he sat across from Jessie. He grabbed the binoculars he had left on the snow bed and peered out towards the cabin.

"You're just saying that, I never touched you. While I am very much covered in bruises." Jessie said looking down at his arms. He watched as a small amount of smoke billowed away into the night as the chill returned.

"No I truly mean that, I would say that with enough practice you could be a terrifying opponent." Akita said .

"Thank you, hopefully after all of this is over you can keep teaching me." Jessie said feeling his face flush.

"That would be nice, my father always wanted me to take a student." Akita said as he smiled wide.

"You've mentioned your dad a few times, if you don't mind me asking, what kind of man was he." Jessie asked curious. He had questions about his own father so the subject intrigued him to no end.

Akita's face tightened and Jessie could see he had asked the wrong question.

"He...was a complicated man. He believed heavily in our traditions and keeping them alive." Akita said sternly.

An awkward silence fell over the two of them as Jessie struggled under its weight.

Oh god what did I do.

Right as Jessie was about to make it worse Akita held up his finger as he looked down at his watch.

"It looks like it's time for me to switch shifts." Akita said as Jessie deflated.

Akita supported himself up with the help of his wooden blade discarding it once he was standing. Latching his sword and mask to his belt he turned to Jessie.

"I hope there is a future where I can teach you, you've...left quite an impression on me." Akita said as he quickly turned and walked towards the camp.

"I think you've left one on me as well." Jessie said quietly.

Left alone Jessie grabbed the binoculars left behind and peered through them to see an empty cabin. The forest around him was calm and he enjoyed the silence finding solace in its emptiness. Staring out at the cabin he noticed how run down it really looked, there were shattered windows and what looked like graffiti on the door.

He took a look at the shed beside the cabin getting the same impression. It was just as tall as the cabin but not quite as long. It was in total contrast to the cabin, the sleek metal walls were bare of any graffiti, looking almost new. The only indication it had stood there for quite some time was the weather damage to the roof.

"That place doesn't look anything special, so why choose here?"

"This is a secluded area in a forest people rarely go to, if it was me choosing a place to hide out it'd be here." Said a very tired voice from behind Jessie.

He turned to see Lily rubbing her eye and yawning. Her short hair stuck out in odd places and Jessie stared as she sat down beside him.

"What?" Lily asked as she fixed her hair.

"Nothing. I just wasn't expecting you to be the one to show up." Jessie said quickly turning away from her.

"Is it a bad thing that it was me that showed up?" Lily asked.