rifle.
“Wonder if it’s still working.” Nelson said willfully, raising the rifle slowly, curling his index finger around the gun trigger and aiming the firearm at Paul.
“Stop playing...” Before Paul could finish his sentence, Nelson had squeezed the trigger and a sharp metallic sound followed by a dry click crackled from the rifle. If that rifle was loaded, Paul would have been dead.
For a second or two, Paul’s mouth dropped open in a combination of shock and dismay. He started forward and grabbed the rifle from Nelson’s hands.
“Are you out of your mind?” Paul shouted, waving the hatchet in his hand. For a moment, Kenso thought that Paul was going to plant the hatchet into Nelson’s head.
“Hey, I’ve checked. It’s not loaded.” Nelson said with a playful smile.
“That is not funny. And this is a bad time to fool around.” Paul said, inserting the hatchet between his belt and his belly.
“Sorry, brother” Nelson said, turning his attention to boxes of unused grenades and landmines stacked at one corner. “Hey, these could be useful, we could blow our way out of here.”
“Provided you don’t blow down this place first, Nelson.” Paul said sarcastically.
Johnny picked up five Arisaka Type 99 rifles and two bagfuls of ammunition. He tried to sling them over his two shoulders but found them too heavy to carry at one go. He then lay down two rifles on the floor and said, “I think we’ll need these. I’ll just take three first. Later, I’ll come back to pick up the rest.”
“Paul, will this do?” Nelson asked as he pulled a long iron chain with a padlock from one of the rifle racks.
“Yes, that will do,” Paul answered, “And we need some of these as well.” He unhooked a haversack from a metallic shelf and swept boxes of bullets into it.
“Are you guys going for a war?” Kenso asked, watching Paul pack little green grenades into the haversack and Nelson looping rifle slings around his neck. Johnny was near the doorway trying to tuck rifle magazines into his capacious trousers pockets even though he couldn’t carry any more loads.
“We have to protect ourselves, man.” Nelson said.
“From what?” Kenso asked.
“I dunno, from whatever killed those soldiers, I guess.” Nelson said.
“Come on, those soldiers were dead for seventy years!” Kenso said. Paul picked up another rifle and clapped Kenso on his back. “It’s for precaution, Kenso, just in case. We’re done here, let’s go.” And he walked past Johnny and left the room.
“Howard says we should take whatever may be useful.” Johnny shrugged his shoulders before he followed Paul out.
“Well, I just hope we don’t have to use any of these.” Kenso said grimly to Nelson before the two of them walked out of the armory room.
The four men went over to the storage facility down the hallway and had a peek at the room before they locked it up with the iron chain and padlock they had taken from the armory room. The gruesome imagery of mutilated corpses was cast like stones in their minds and almost immediately, all four of them regretted taking that pointless glimpse into that terrible massacre which had happened decades ago in that room.
Paul and his buddies came out of the barrack looking completely different than before.
Just thirty minutes ago, they were civilians wielding hatches and broomsticks. Now they resembled a squad of World War Two marines who had just parachuted behind enemy lines with their gears and scrambling to comb the vicinity for possible threats. Kenso-san was the only person still qualified as a civilian as he was not holding any firearms and definitely not behaving like the other three men.
The four of them moved swiftly towards the back of the barrack where the network of annex complexes stood. Most of the buildings in that locality had toppled over and were in total ruins. The four men walked unsteadily to one of the last standing annex buildings erected among the mayhem of
“Wonder if it’s still working.” Nelson said willfully, raising the rifle slowly, curling his index finger around the gun trigger and aiming the firearm at Paul.
“Stop playing...” Before Paul could finish his sentence, Nelson had squeezed the trigger and a sharp metallic sound followed by a dry click crackled from the rifle. If that rifle was loaded, Paul would have been dead.
For a second or two, Paul’s mouth dropped open in a combination of shock and dismay. He started forward and grabbed the rifle from Nelson’s hands.
“Are you out of your mind?” Paul shouted, waving the hatchet in his hand. For a moment, Kenso thought that Paul was going to plant the hatchet into Nelson’s head.
“Hey, I’ve checked. It’s not loaded.” Nelson said with a playful smile.
“That is not funny. And this is a bad time to fool around.” Paul said, inserting the hatchet between his belt and his belly.
“Sorry, brother” Nelson said, turning his attention to boxes of unused grenades and landmines stacked at one corner. “Hey, these could be useful, we could blow our way out of here.”
“Provided you don’t blow down this place first, Nelson.” Paul said sarcastically.
Johnny picked up five Arisaka Type 99 rifles and two bagfuls of ammunition. He tried to sling them over his two shoulders but found them too heavy to carry at one go. He then lay down two rifles on the floor and said, “I think we’ll need these. I’ll just take three first. Later, I’ll come back to pick up the rest.”
“Paul, will this do?” Nelson asked as he pulled a long iron chain with a padlock from one of the rifle racks.
“Yes, that will do,” Paul answered, “And we need some of these as well.” He unhooked a haversack from a metallic shelf and swept boxes of bullets into it.
“Are you guys going for a war?” Kenso asked, watching Paul pack little green grenades into the haversack and Nelson looping rifle slings around his neck. Johnny was near the doorway trying to tuck rifle magazines into his capacious trousers pockets even though he couldn’t carry any more loads.
“We have to protect ourselves, man.” Nelson said.
“From what?” Kenso asked.
“I dunno, from whatever killed those soldiers, I guess.” Nelson said.
“Come on, those soldiers were dead for seventy years!” Kenso said. Paul picked up another rifle and clapped Kenso on his back. “It’s for precaution, Kenso, just in case. We’re done here, let’s go.” And he walked past Johnny and left the room.
“Howard says we should take whatever may be useful.” Johnny shrugged his shoulders before he followed Paul out.
“Well, I just hope we don’t have to use any of these.” Kenso said grimly to Nelson before the two of them walked out of the armory room.
The four men went over to the storage facility down the hallway and had a peek at the room before they locked it up with the iron chain and padlock they had taken from the armory room. The gruesome imagery of mutilated corpses was cast like stones in their minds and almost immediately, all four of them regretted taking that pointless glimpse into that terrible massacre which had happened decades ago in that room.
Paul and his buddies came out of the barrack looking completely different than before.
Just thirty minutes ago, they were civilians wielding hatches and broomsticks. Now they resembled a squad of World War Two marines who had just parachuted behind enemy lines with their gears and scrambling to comb the vicinity for possible threats. Kenso-san was the only person still qualified as a civilian as he was not holding any firearms and definitely not behaving like the other three men.
The four of them moved swiftly towards the back of the barrack where the network of annex complexes stood. Most of the buildings in that locality had toppled over and were in total ruins. The four men walked unsteadily to one of the last standing annex buildings erected among the mayhem of
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