Gusung tenderly swept her long wet hair back from across her face, forcing a smile and leaning forward to kiss her tenderly, his voice a whisper, ‘Give me five days then…but leave if fighting gets near. I will find you…’ He kissed her lips once more, a wet hand slipping to her jaw in fondness, then broke away, coughing to stifle his rising emotion as he strode round the car and towards the trees.
Jaelim grasped the door handle of the Hyundai, gently pushing the eager dog onto the passenger side and slipping into the driver’s seat, watching her husband briefly talk to the military officer before saluting, tears in her eyes as she engaged gear, the car edging through the marching soldiers to re-join the traffic north.
Outskirts of Tokyo, Japan
Detonations rumbled in the city behind them, the wailing siren rising in ferocity in the distance, the crackle of small arms fire rattling and echoing from the high rise city buildings. They had been running for some time, his confused mother fearful and initially arguing with the excited and terrified youth as he returned home breathlessly. Then the sirens had commenced, his eyes welling with tears as he witnessed a beloved parent struggling to comprehend what was happening, the almost panicking voice on a nearby loudspeaker virtually shouting for people to leave as soon as possible from their neighbourhood.
Jets had then suddenly roared overhead, helicopters following, the two staring out of the grime coated windows of their sixth floor apartment in awe as they glimpsed soldiers with red scarves sitting in the open doors of the choppers with automatic rifles, dust surging across the windows from the downdraft, the helicopters continuing eastwards. Several more dots were visible, banking across and around distant skyscrapers and the neon lights of the central city districts, large vivid advertising screens still flashing and spinning on the bright displays as frantic car horns sounded below, his mother frustratingly deciding to pack two bags with food as she shook nervously from shock.
As explosions rocked the area of the fish market, she had sobbed uncontrollably, realising the fantastical stories of her son were probably true, the plumes of fire and acrid smoke rising into the air where her husband of nearly twenty years had worked. Any slim hope for her husband’s survival diminished as the bags were finally readied, her chest heaving as she wept uncontrollably, the two having then struggled down the stairs with startled neighbours to emerge into a panicked chaos at street level almost two hours earlier.
Naomitsu Kanaya sprinted to the end of the alleyway, his slim frame heaving from the exertion and fear as he gasped, glancing in either direction into the next narrow street warily, eyes straining as he glimpsed the fires burning in high office buildings far to the right. Smouldering paper and debris swept along the thoroughfare with dust, the stationery queuing cars coated in a thin line of ash, black smoke plumes rising behind the youth as he spun round, gesturing to his mother frantically.
Heat swept across his slim features, tears of overwhelming guilt welling in his eyes as he glimpsed his mother struggling along the alley, other startled Japanese residents trudging forwards with their own meagre possessions in the assembling and increasing throng of people. Many were stepping from their own properties on either side in shocked bewilderment, several stopping abruptly to stare upwards into the darkened smoke filled sky and then fearfully to the east and towards the rumble of gunfire and explosions.
Coughing, he lunged back towards her, shouting as other pushed past, losing sight of the smaller older female briefly as his panic rose, struggling through the throng of whimpering people he had previously broken free of, determined to carry the bags as his chest heaved.
A nearby crack of gunfire caused the crowd to suddenly surge forward, shouts and screams filling the dust filled air in an urgency to escape, the loudspeakers once more bursting into life, the instructions to ‘remain calm and to leave the city as soon as possible…helping elderly neighbours and children to escape’. He pushed further as the official instructions continued, ‘residents were to move inland…and keep moving. To seek refuge with relatives or find military or government supply points.’
Two more jets roared overhead, adding to the confused panic as further screams rang out, shell bursts to the north and south seeming to shake the two and three storey buildings on either side, the Morgons firing rockets into suburban areas to increase panic and to delay the advance of Japanese soldiers and reservists.
Naomitsu pushed further between the advancing figures, several swearing disapprovals in response, his eyes widening further at the breach of a normally accepting protocol, despite his actions. His head turned desperately in the crowd, misted scared faces straining ahead, several looking in his direction as he pushed through the throng, his actions becoming more frantic in search of his mother.
Breaking through a line of people, he stumbled, dropping to his knees before a crouched figure he immediately recognised, the kneeling woman’s shoulders shaking uncontrollably as she sobbed. His hands stretched out for his mother, pulling her close as muffled explosions detonated in the distance, the passing figures knocking their frames in a rising panic to escape.
The roar of engines, Nao’s eyes rising over his mother’s shoulder to see the armoured cars pull from side streets further east at the end of the alleyway, the main road littered with debris and discarded possessions. Soldiers ran alongside their vehicles, many ducked low and carrying heavy weapons and ammunition boxes, his eyes straining as he glimpsed the thick black smoke plumes ahead on the horizon, several buildings in the centre of the city burning fiercely.
Flaming embers and burning paper billowed around their huddled
