Portals of Infinity: Kaiju Page 18

  However I had lost a few, either in the explosion or going through the window. I only had four left after leaving one for my clothing swap. Yeah, I could have just stolen them, but I felt bad about taking what may be the guy's last possessions. At least the ring should cover their replacement.

  Plus I'd taken all of his spare change and five of the ten marks he had in his wallet, seeing as I didn't have any local currency at all.

  I used a cleaning cantrip after I got dressed, well two actually, the clothes were pretty dirty, and then quietly letting myself out, I set out on my trip to Chie Hayasho's house. It was a little after midnight when I left the soup kitchen; I got to my destination about three hours later. Thankfully I'd been able to catch a bus.

  The house was nice, a split-level ranch, and I walked around it twice to get an idea of the layout, before I carefully used my strength to force the lock on the backdoor.

  It gave with very little noise, and thankfully they didn't have a dog, or an alarm.

  I took my time sneaking carefully through the house. There were several people living here, in one room I could tell that there was a couple, which I guessed where her daughter and son-in-law, another two who were in separate rooms, which I guess were children, and then a much older lady, in a room downstairs on the main floor.

  I slipped into her room and pulled a chair over to the bed and looked at her for a minute, she was old, probably in her seventies, maybe even eighties.

  "Chie, wake up," I said.

  She mumbled and I had to shake her several times while saying her name.

  "Huh?" She finally woke up. "Who are you? And what are you doing in my room?"

  "I need to ask you some questions about a story you wrote, a long time ago."

  "A story?"

  "The tale you were told about the gojira, the big lizard like monster, the one you wrote in your book."

  "Gojira?" She said and started to sit up, so I helped put some pillows behind her back.

  "What do you want to know about that old story for?" She asked.

  "Because I need to know where you met the man who told you about it, his name was Eiji, wasn't it?"

  "How did you know that?"

  "I know a lot about him, but what I don't know is where he saw the monster and I need to go there, so I can find the weapon that kills it."

  "But it's not real!" She laughed, "It was just a story a young man told me while he was drinking his wine."

  "Well, where were you when he told you the story?"

  "Oh, we were at the Bento, it was this nice little lunch place by the university. Cheap too. Almost as cheap as the ramen place just down the street from it." She sighed.

  "What university?"

  "Oh, Hiei University. It was such a nice place," she sighed and then looked at me again. "So, you broke into my daughter's house in the middle of the night, to ask about an old folktale?"

  "It's not a folktale, Chie. There really are other places where such things exist, and right now, my home is being attacked by one of them."

  "Sure they are, isn't there someone who should be taking care of you, young man?"

  "Don't believe me, do you?"

  "Not at all," She chuckled.

  "Well, when he was telling you his story of the monster, did he tell you anything else?"

  "Well, he said he had watched it destroy a city, and that the way home was in the city, so until it was stopped, he couldn't go home. And that now he was going home."

  "Did he say how far it was from here?"

  "Oh, he said a bunch of things, they were mostly nonsense through."

  "Can you remember any of them?"

  "I'd rather not humor your illness, young man. If fact, I think you should be on your way before my son-in-law wakes up."

  I sighed, and pulled off my shirt as I kicked off my shoes.

  "What are you doing, young man?"

  "Showing you that there are some very strange things in the world," I said, and then I shifted.

  "So, maybe you can remember them now?" I purred.

  "How in the name of the seven winds did you do that?" she said looking at me. I'll give her this much, she wasn't scared at all.

  "I'm not from here. I'm not even from anyplace near here." I shifted back, put my shirt on, and then started on putting my shoes back on.

  "Listen, people really are dying, and I really need to find the world Eiji was visiting. So anything you can remember will help, a lot."

  She looked at me a moment, then shrugged, "Either this is a dream, and it won't matter, or it's real and it will. I'll pretend it's real.

  "He said he had just come back here earlier in the morning, and that he was on his way to Ako to cross back into Hanshin."

  I considered that a moment, he'd entered the last world via a gate where Ako would have been in Japan, and he'd entered that world from the Hanshin stadium. I guess it was as good a method as any.

  "I just came from there, did he say if the place he came from that morning was the place with the gojira?"

  "No, he said he'd traveled two days through some land that was between here and there."

  I nodded, "Did he say anything about that trip?"

  "No, no he didn't. Just that it was two days, a long walk."

  I got up and put the chair back where it was.

  "Thank you, Chie. You've been a big help."

  "So, he really was telling the truth?"

  "Apparently," I replied and let myself out of the room and quickly left the house.

  I caught up with the rest of the group about an hour after sunrise. I'd been able to catch another bus, and being rush hour, if anyone was looking for me, I guess the crowds threw them off.

  "Will!" Teshes said and running up to me hugged me.

  "So, what have you got for us?" Evean asked smiling.

  "What makes you think he has anything?" Loomis said looking a little dejected. I guess he really was jealous of me.

  "Because William always delivers," Evean said with a smile.

  "We have to go to Hiei University," I told them.

  "Where's that?"

  "Northeast of where we came out," I said. "Near the southern edge of the big lake."

  "So, about where Otsu would be if this were Japan?" Evean said thinking a moment.

  I shrugged, "I don't know Japan all that well."

  "It's not really that far from here, just a few hours drive," she turned to Suzona, "Let's go steal another car."

  "Aren't you worried about them finding us?" Loomis asked.

  "We'll be out of here before then," Evean said.

  Twenty minutes later we were all piled into another car, only this time I fell asleep with Teshes sitting in my lap.

  "Wake up, Will!"

  I opened my eyes and yawned, the car was stopped and everyone was getting out.

  "So, where are we?" I asked looking around.

  "By the university. Where to now?" Evean asked.

  I got out of the car and slowly turned in a circle looking around until I felt an urge from Fel. He'd said he'd know where the portal likely was.

  I stopped and got a good look in that direction. I could see a good sized ridgeline behind the buildings of the town.

  "That way," I pointed and started leading the way.

  After a half-hour or so of walking I started to feel it. I looked back at the others; Loomis was playing tail end Charlie today, lagging well behind us. Evean noticed that as well.

  "Don't fall too far behind, Loomis," She told him.

  He grumbled something, but started to keep up after that.

  Another twenty minutes later we could see what looked like a shrine and a large squad of police cars staking out the place.

  "Well, damn," Evean said and frowned. "How the hell did they get there?"

  "Maybe that lady called the police?" Loomis said giving me an accusing look.

  "I never told her about the portals, if anything, they should be at a lunch place closer to the school." I repl
ied.

  "The portal is probably a couple hundred feet behind the shrine," Teshes said, "we could probably sneak around and come in from behind them."

  "We'd need a diversion," I said looking over the situation. There were trees and bushes, but they were a couple of hundred yards from the portal.

  "It would take us twenty seconds to cover that ground," Suzona said. "And doing it in daylight would be suicide. At night, with a good diversion, it wouldn't be a problem."

  "Well, it's Will they're after," Loomis said. "Why don't we just give him to them? Not like it will really hurt him."

  "Because we need him," Evean said looking back at Loomis. "Plus his people are being killed, just as ours were."

  Loomis grumbled then, "Well what about her?" he pointed at Suzona, "She doesn't have any people back home."

  "We need her because it's a high-tech world," I growled, "and she's from a high-tech world, unlike say you," I snarled on the last word, as I started to wonder just how far I could bodily throw him.

  "I'll do it," Teshes said.

  "What?" Suzona, Evean and I all said in unison turning to look at her. Even Loomis looked a little surprised.

  "I'll do it. I'll distract them, and cause a diversion," She said.

  "Why?" Evean asked looking at her a little suspiciously.

  Teshes shrugged, "I'm not the fighter that the rest of you are, I'm not from a high-tech world, I'm not even all that experienced as a champion. If someone needs to make the sacrifice, I'm the best choice." She smiled suddenly, "I came along so I could help, this is something I can do, that helps.

  "Now, what do you want me to do?"

  Evean looked at the police a minute and then looked back at Teshes.

  "We'll circle around to the far side, in the woods over there. I'll let Roden know, he can have Selentia notify you. Then when you have their attention, we'll make our move."

  Teshes nodded, "Okay." She gave each of us a hug then, and walked back the way we had come.

  I watched her go a moment and shook my head. I had no idea what she had planned, but hopefully it would work.

  "Come on, William," Suzona grabbed my arm, and we followed Evean and Loomis, who was also watching Teshes as she walked away.

  Several hours later it was starting to get dark. We were in the trees, a few feet back from where they stopped. We'd kept pretty well together. I think we were all starting to get suspicious of what was happening. I just wanted to know how they'd gotten in front of us.

  Evean used the 'eyes and ears' trick to notify Roden, and ten minutes later we saw a bloody and half naked Teshes start stumbling towards the police, waving an arm and crying.

  Sure enough, the guns came up, they all faced her way, and one even ran over to her and helped her up towards them.

  "Ready?" Evean said.

  "Not much of a diversion," Suzona grumbled.

  And that was when Teshes's arm suddenly pulled back and whipped forward, throwing a small dark object at the group farthest from her, and followed that by shifting into her champion form.

  The object must have been a grenade, because there was a big explosion taking out the group she had thrown it at, and she waded into the survivors with amazing speed and agility.

  "Go!" Evean yelled.

  We burst from cover and ran for the portal as fast as we could, as we watched Teshes taking down policemen left and right.

  There was another explosion then, followed by one of the police cars blowing up, and by the time we got to the portal, someone opened up with an automatic rifle and I could see Teshes body jerk as she started taking hits.

  I was the last one through the portal, and just before I jumped through I saw her look my way and wave.

  And drop another grenade.

  Then she blew up.

  Seventeen

  4th World

  Techno World - Outskirts

  "Told you I liked that girl," Suzona said, picking herself up off of the ground and dusting herself off.

  "I wonder where she got those grenades?" I said, shaking my head.

  "Probably off of the two she killed back at the hotel," Evean said.

  "I can't believe she did that," Loomis said looking rather shocked.

  "Well, not like we had any choice," I sighed.

  "You could have stayed! You should have, too! It was you they were after!"

  I turned and stared at Loomis, I was really starting to get tired of his jealousy and his opinions. "Right now, you are the least useful person in this party. I suggest you shut your mouth and do your job, whatever that happens to be, or you'll be spending the next week waiting to be re-incarnated, understand?"

  "William!" Evean said stepping between us. "That was uncalled for!"

  "Not from where I'm standing," I said looking at her, "if he keeps taking that attitude with me, we're all better off without him."

  "The same could be said for you," Loomis said.

  Evean put a hand on my chest and pushed as I started to take a step forward.

  "Loomis, you will stop antagonizing William, understood?"

  "Yes, Evean."

  "William?"

  I looked away from Loomis and back at her. "What?"

  "Am I in charge of this group?"

  "Yes," I sighed, "you are in charge of this group."

  "Then you will not attack Loomis, or even talk to him anymore, is that clear?"

  "But he ...."

  Evean interrupted me, "I said: Is That Clear?"

  I grumbled and looked down at the ground. "Yes, Evean."

  "What the hell has gotten into you, Will?" She hissed softly. "You haven't been the same since we left that world of portal mappers."

  "What happened at Marland upset me," I said, not wanting to share anything more than that.

  "Yeah, well what happened to our troops at Barassa upset us a lot as well. So keep a lid on it, okay?"

  "Just, just keep him off my back," I mumbled.

  "So, which way do we go now?" Suzona asked, interrupting the conversation.

  I looked around; we were just outside another city, and it was pretty impressive looking. It had skyscrapers that went far up into the sky, with interconnecting bridges and vehicles of some sort were flying all around.

  "Is that a wall?" Evean asked.

  Sure enough, a light gray wall, that was probably thirty feet high, surrounded the entire city, or at least what we could see. There wasn't a gate in sight either.

  "That's different," Suzona agreed, "But do we know where to head next?"

  "All I know is that he said it was a two day walk from here to there."

  "Well that doesn't tell us anything, now does it?" Loomis grumbled, glancing over at me.

  I was about to say something when Evean stepped on my foot.

  "The gate we came through in the last world, that's about a two day walk from here, for a mortal, isn't it?" Evean said with a thoughtful look on her face.

  I nodded.

  "So?" Suzona asked before Loomis could say anything.

  "He keeps heading back to that spot," Evean replied. "At least he did after he left the Tower world for the next one; he went back to where the portal he first went through on Earth was."

  "I can't think of a better idea, so I'm game," I said.

  "Might as well," Suzona said.

  Evean and Suzona looked at Loomis. I looked the other way.

  "Shouldn't we check out that city first?" He asked.

  "Why? It has nothing to do with where we are going." Suzona said.

  "But, we might find something that could help!" Loomis said.

  "Suzona is right, Loomis," Evean said walking over to him. "It's a waste of our time. The next world is the payoff. The sooner we get there, the better."

  "Let's go," I said and started walking. I got some food and the compass out of my backpack and took a sighting as I ate some of the rations we'd brought along.

  "I wonder why the cities are walled," Suzona asked.

  "Zombies,"
I replied.

  "Zombies?" She laughed, "Really, William!"

  I shrugged, "Monsters, animals, criminals, armies, zombies, could be any of those. But if you noticed, there are quite a few vehicles flying overhead. So obviously the walls don't mean that much to the inhabitants anymore."

  "If the next portal is in a city, we're going to have to get past that wall."

  "Assuming that it has a wall," I said.

  "Think we'll find a road?" Evean asked from behind us. We were currently walking towards the woods, and I started to wonder about that myself.

  "Maybe we should head south, pick up the river to the coast and follow that around to the city," Evean suggested.

  "That's probably a good idea," I said and shifted to head southwards. I thought I heard Loomis snickering, but decided just to ignore it.

  "Notice anything strange?" Suzona asked twenty minutes later.

  "You mean, other than the complete lack of people, roads, paths, buildings, or much of any other signs of civilization?" I asked.

  "Other than the cities of course," Suzona added cheerfully.

  "Then no, nothing strange at all," I said.

  "You really are in a bad mood, aren't you?" She asked, lowering her voice so we wouldn't be heard by the other two.

  "Yes, I am."

  "Want to talk about it?"

  "Right now, that would only make things worse," I said.

  Suzona nodded and we continued southwards in silence.

  We came to the river not much longer after that. The land all around here was mainly grasslands. There were no buildings, except for a couple of concrete blockhouses along the banks of the river that looked like pump houses of some sort.

  Night fell before we made it to the coast, but we walked past two more of the walled cities in that time, one on either side of the river. We could also see another, much larger one to the south, on the far side of the river as well.

  After night had fallen, we all switched to our champion forms, as there wasn't any lighting, beyond the stars in the sky, and the reflected light from the cities.

  "Are there tigers in Japan?" I asked out loud as we continued on our way.

  "There may have been once, why, do you smell any?" Evean asked.

  "No, but with all of these open spaces, there should be a lot of wild animals running around, and that means predators, and I seem to recall Asia having tigers."