The Purging

Glorious Strategist

CHAPTER 14

To say that Jean Charles’ welcome when he arrived in Japan was inhospitable would be the understatement of the century. Weapons of all sizes and shapes have remained trained on his brain from the instant his plane touched down on Okinawa. Bared fangs and hissing voices were certainly the type of greeting he was accustomed to in East Asia, but this time he had actually come to help instead of hurt. Miraculously, he manages to keep his cool and attempts to diffuse the volatile attitudes of the locals, “I’m not here to make trouble. I’m looking for Mitsuru Masamura. She’s expecting me. I’m here to help. Believe me nobody is more shocked to hear me say that than I am.” The polite admission does nothing to improve the situation.

A quick sniff of the aggressors yields an interesting fact. These vampires are young, surprisingly young. Not a single one could be older than a century. Paranoia and desperation hang in the ozone. Contempt rises within him and the urge to teach the fledglings some respect comes to the forefront. The irritated wolf bares his true face at them, “Alright, enough coddling. Get out of my way, or so help me God I will eat every single one of you.” Guns cock and safeties switch off. Paranoia gives way to panic and the young blood drinkers take aim between his eyes.

Before anyone can make a move, Jean’s intended contact appears behind her troops and chides them, “Yes, quite impressive. Everyone has really big swollen testicles swinging betwixt their legs. Here’s a thought. Why doesn’t everyone just stow the testosterone for five seconds so we can fortify the base for the actual attack that’s coming. Or if you geniuses prefer, you can just kill each other now and ruin any chance we had of living through today.” Both sides relax and weapons are holstered for the time being. She glares at Jean, “Please refrain from antagonizing my troops any more than you absolutely have to. Everybody here is already on edge and the last thing we need is you storming through slaughtering the new recruits. Try to remember you are here as part of an attempted alliance between our respective organizations. It would be quite counterproductive to all involved if we turned on each other so soon.” Just as cold and callous as he remembers her, perhaps more so. Still wearing the same silk kimono and zoris she used to as well. Jean has to remind himself not to stare at her lazy eye, lest she become even more obstinate.

“Why do you have so many younglings around here? I feel like I’m walking through a preschool right now. There are more seasoned combatants as well, I hope?”

Mitsuru raises an eyebrow and scoffs, “Obviously there are. These are just our perimeter guard. All of our more experienced soldiers are inside the base. We’ve been incorporating as many of our indentured humans as possible in order to increase the size of our army. Kagan and his enclave will be attacking soon and their numbers have at least doubled in recent history.” Numbers would be an issue. Mitsuru and Jean both knew that. Kagan and his ilk are indiscriminate in who they brought into the fold. They had to stoop to these tactics as well to avoid being overwhelmed. Even if they had to recruit homeless people, bodies were bodies.

“Yes, I know about the attack. Plus, it is likely that Ahmu is sharing troops with Kagan now as well. When you take all of this into consideration, how can you justify having a crowd of jumpy children as your first line of defence?” Mitsuru steps into his path so she can lean in close and whisper directly into his ear. The new recruits didn’t need to hear what she really thought of them.

“They are the first line because they are completely expendable. When the battle starts, anyone outside the base will stand no chance of surviving. Why waste our best and brightest in a fool’s errand when there are thousands of status seeking social climbers who will gladly throw their lives away for a fleeting chance at immortality?” She was most certainly heartless, but not at all stupid. Depending on circumstances, the fledglings could at the very least buy them time to escape if things got too heated.