Ch 9

Duncan was expecting a constant, unending battle while they waited for Amanda to return. The situation became the opposite.

Shirakawa got people going with rescue and triage of the injured, and made sure everyone stayed away from Duncan's small group. Island communications were out so they had no help until Amanda arrived to radio in what happened. Since they were on their own with no power or outside contact, the survivors eagerly agreed not to antagonize the weapon bearing diclonius. Passing by a cafeteria, Duncan was able to get some food for his small group.

Kaede brought a table out to the waiting area for the landing pad. Inari munched down happily on a sandwich as Duncan stood watch inside, and Kaede and Kouta talked just outside.

Shirakawa appeared down the hallway and called to Duncan. "May I approach?"

"Go ahead." Duncan called back. He had his rifle, but held it at ease.

Shirakawa walked up to a respectful distance from him. "We have tried to restore communications, but no luck. When you leave, would you please send a distress signal?"

"We will. I imagine if no one hears from you, someone will be coming anyway," he told her.

Looking past him, Shirakawa noticed Inari was eating. "How do you do it? How do you interact with diclonius and they don't try to kill you?"

"I just treat them like people and not animals," Duncan said flatly. "Kaede is my daughter, that's it. She has a powerful mind, yes, but I don't see her as different than anyone else. I'm sure your practices of kidnapping and throwing these girls in steel vaults has something to do with their attitude."

"Is she bothering you?" Inari asked as she came up beside Duncan as she munched on a half sandwich.

Shirakawa held up her one hand. "I only wanted to ask Duncan some questions," she said defensively.

Leaning close to Duncan, Inari whispered, "Why don't you want us to just kill them and be done with it?"

"Because not everyone is guilty," Duncan explained. "And besides, their government will take longer here with the survivors, which gives us more time to get someplace else."

Inari eyed Shirakawa as she considered his words. "There's two more, want me to bring you one?" Inari asked, showing him her last piece of sandwich.

"Thanks, but no, I'm fine."

Looking at Shirakawa, Inari said, "You try to hurt him, I will tear you to pieces." She went back over to sit down, but kept her eyes on Shirakwa.

"She doesn't trust me," Shirakawa noted.

"Can you blame her?"

"No, I suppose not."

"Dad!" Kaede yelled, "Amanda's coming!"

Duncan went outside. In the distance, a helicopter was coming in low. By the rounded body, it was a passenger model. Duncan walked over to the edge of the pad away from the building. Far below was

the ocean. A good place to dump the guns when they left. "She's early," he said.

For how long it seemed to take them, only a half hour had passed since Amanda had taken off. She hadn't even had time to get to where she said the Cessna was. "Something is not right, get inside." he told Kaede and Kouta.

Kaede went in, making sure Kouta was right beside her. Shirakawa stayed with them as they waited to see what the helicopter was going to do. Kaede and Inari were at the front of the group, ready to defend or kill as the need arose. The helicopter came in to land and settled down on the pad. The side door opened up and Nana appeared to wave at them to come.

"They came back?" Kouta asked.

"We'll find out why after we're in the air, go," Duncan said.

The group ran out and climbed aboard.

"What are YOU doing here?" Kaede yelled. It was then Duncan noticed Shirakawa had gotten on with them. Sitting in the back, Shirakawa had her head down, trying to make herself small.

Inari said in Duncan's ear, "She tries anything, and I kill her." She went to the back and sat beside Shirakawa, eyeing the woman with daggers.

Climbing up into the co-pilots' seat, Duncan put the headgear on so he could talk to Amanda. "Why did you come back?"

Amanda smirked and said, "Fuel is one reason, we need to save all we can. Also, Yuka back there was

going nuts Kouta wasn't with us. I was afraid she was going to do something stupid to get me to go back."

Duncan looked back to see Yuka was pressed tight to Kouta's side. Kaede was on his other side and eyeing Yuka unkindly. "This might get complicated," he said.

"What, that Yuka has the hots for that boy?"

"Kaede also sees him as her boyfriend," Duncan replied.

"Ohhh, that has the possibility of getting pretty messy," Amanda agreed. "So what's with Miss armless back there?"

"I don't know, she just ran up and got on with the rest of us."

"Well, she's committed now, unless you want to throw her out," Amanda told him.

"That's a last resort. Are you sure my plane is where you left it?"

"Pretty sure. We'll find out soon."

.

Amanda flew over the Yokohama area and off into the hills. Coming upon a valley, she descended into a small town. Flying to a school, she moved to land in the overgrown athletic field in the back. As she settled down, Duncan saw his twin engine Cessna parked near the building.

"We'll need to transfer fuel, this thing had plenty, but I'm afraid your tanks are all but empty," Amanda explained.

Duncan only glanced at her and sighed.

.

After the helicopter shut down, Amanda got out and showed Duncan the buckets she had found to transfer fuel with. Three two gallon containers, a pair of five gallon containers and a length of rubber hose. "These were in the school's utility shed." Amanda explained. "There's nothing else, this town is empty."

Duncan winced. "This is going to take a while. Have you checked the plane out yet?"

Amanda bit her lip. "Sorry, I've been busy. It did fly, so that's a good sign, right?" she asked with a hopeful smile.

.

Duncan organized a search party. Kaede, Kouta, Yuka, Mayu and Nana were gong to look around town for any gas containers, clothes to fit Nana, Inari and Kouta, and any food they could find.

Duncan himself checked his plane out and helped bucket transfer fuel. Inari, Amanda and Shirakawa were going to help. Not wanting to waste any fuel, Duncan got Inari to pull the Cessna closer to the helicopter. The fuel situation was not good, Duncan had the extended range wing tanks as well as the main tank. The main tank was reading all but empty, as were both wing tanks. There wasn't enough left to justify starting an engine to pump it together in one tank.

.

Kaede was becoming irritated with Yuka. Their job was to search for things they needed, but the only searching Yuka was doing, was what she could see within sight of Kouta. So far, the Nana/ Mayu team had found a small round tank that smelled like gasoline.

In a garage, Kaede discovered a hand pump with hoses and a plain bucket. Finding a stream, Kaede washed the bucket out and made sure the hand pump worked.

"Hey Kaede, can we have your help please?" Kouta called.

Kaede followed the sound and found Kouta at a shut down gas station. Although the convenience store inside was long ago emptied of any goods, in back Kouta found couple steel barrels. Showing Kaede the barrels, he said, "They are heavy like they are full, but I have nothing to open them with."

"Got it," Kaede assured him. With an invisible hand, she opened the top. She sniffed. "It smells right. Nice find Kouta."

Kouta beamed her a brief smile and said, "Doesn't airplane fuel need to be stronger than regular gas?"

"I got a hand pump here, lets take some out and see what it is," Kaede said. She put the suction hose in the barrel, and the discharge in the bucket. After a few pumps, an amber liquid came out to pour into the bucket. Kaede stopped pumping.

Kouta frowned. "I can't be sure, but it looks and smells like kerosene."

"Darn. Well, how about this other barrel?"

The second barrel was also a lower grade fuel. While they were doing this, Kaede noted Yuka was watching them. It was irritating Yuka was not being very useful. Then again, Yuka was irritating just by being Yuka.

"We got this, Yuka. Why don't see if you can go find some food?" Kaede asked.

Yuka shot Kaede a glare. "Someone has to watch out for Kouta," she retorted.

"I can do that very well," Kaede told her. "Don't worry, you should be safe. If you see someone, just scream us a warning."

"That depends WHO they are looking for," Yuka grated.

"Guys," Kouta said to get their attention. "Lets not fight, OK?"

"Who's fighting?" Yuka said in a false light tone. "I am only watching after you."

"We're suppose to be finding containers, fuel and food. We have work to do," Kouta reminded her.

Kaede cracked a grin and said, "And Yuka loves work. She can sit and watch it for hours, right Yuka?"

Flushing at the insult Yuka snapped, "At least I don't KILL PEOPLE!"

"I'm sorry if you can't defend yourself ... or anyone else," Kaede retorted.

"Hey! Stop it already," Kouta said in a not-quite yell. "There must be something around here we can use. Let's split up and look."

.

Duncan sat on the right wing, pouring containers of gas down the main tank fill port. Sitting with her back up again the fuselage, facing him, Inari made a funnel with a pair of invisible hands to help him pour gas in, and not spill it on the wing. By the helicopter, Shirakawa sat holding the siphon hose to fill containers, and cover the end with her thumb when Amanda switched the full ones for empty ones. When containers were full, Inari reached out and floated them over so Duncan could pour those in, and returned the empties to Amanda. It was manual, but with the four of them, it was going faster that Duncan had thought it would.

Watching Duncan work, Inari asked, "Is this why you got me out of there? To do work?"

Duncan glanced at her, but forced his eyes back to watching what he was doing. The lab coat she had on was open, showing way took much of her. "No, we got you out because that was a horrible place, and no one deserves to be treated like that. You are helping because you want to. At least, I thought you were."

"I am. You must want something, you got us out of that place."

Duncan put down the empty can and began pouring the next full one. "Holding you like that was wrong. I can't see something like that and just let it go. Besides, they kidnapped my Kaede, I wanted to be sure they will never do anything like that again."

Inari saw Duncan flick his eyes at her again and asked, "Why do you keep looking at me?"

"Your coat is open and I can't help myself," Duncan said stiffly.

"He likes your body!" Amanda called over.

Duncan flushed and focused harder on the gas pouring into the wing and not on it.

"Why?" Inari asked as she opened her coat all the way and looked down at herself. "It's just me."

"Maybe he wants you," Amanda said with a mischievous grin.

Inari looked at Duncan who was doing his best to ignore her. "For what?" she asked.

Amanda burst out laughing.

"Please, cover up," Duncan said sternly to the fill port.

"You like looking at me?" Inari asked.

His face reddening, Duncan said, "Yes! You are very pretty, and ... just cover up, it's hard for me to concentrate."

"If you like seeing me, then why do you want me to cover up?" Inari asked, confused.

Amanda said, "Inari, when men see a woman's body they really like, they get stupid and can't concentrate. Please, cover up before he looses his mind."

"Oh." Inari closed her lab coat. "I don't want you to loose your mind." She watched him pour for another minute, then asked, "Why weren't you looking at me so much in my room when I wasn't wearing anything?"

"I was concerned for our survival at the time," Duncan said heavily.

"You're not now?"

"No, we're not fighting anyone now."

"So, you want to look at me when we're not in danger," Inari concluded.

Amanda was giggling helplessly. Duncan wasn't happy with Amanda, and Inari was still showing way too much leg for comfort. Long legged red heads were about the sexiest women Duncan could imagine, and here was one sitting right by him.

"It's empty," Inari said.

"Yeah," Duncan said, noticing no more gas was coming out and exchanged the empty container for a full one.

Inari floated the empty over to Amanda and brought over another full one. Watching Duncan, she said in a musing tone, "I like watching you also."

"Duncan does have a nice build, doesn't he?" Amanda asked teasingly.

"He has plenty of muscles," Inari agreed. "He also cares about us, even though we are different. I don't think he will abandon us or abuse us like those humans do. I feel safe with him."

Duncan emptied the container he had and said, "Hold up a minute, I want to see how much we have in the tank." He ducked quickly into the plane.

Amanda took that time to bring a full container over and set it on the wing. "You really like Duncan?" she asked.

"For an almost human, he is a very good man," Inari said.

"For anyone, he's a very good man," Amanda agreed. She looked at Inari a moment, then said, "I really like Duncan too, but some of my habits are ... a little too much for him. Do you think you like him enough to stand by him for a long time?"

Inari cast Amanda a questioning look. "If I am willing to stay with him and help him now, why would I stop doing so?"

Amanda only grew a brief smile. "A woman he loved very much died not too long ago. He's doing better getting over it. He needs someone who will be there for him. I have done what I can, but ... as much as I hate to admit it, he needs someone else."

"I don't know what you are talking about."

Duncan came out and said, "Main tank is half full, how much more is in the chopper?"

Amanda went over and climbed up into the cockpit. She hopped down and said, "We're down to a quarter. Will that be enough?"

Duncan did some mental figuring and said, "We'll make it to the Philippines, or the northern Russian islands. From there we can refill and make it home."

"Let's get the rest done," Amanda said, and went back to filling containers.

.

Kouta had started the day walking between Yuka and Kaede just because. Now, he stayed between them out of fear. Yuka was casting dirty looks at Kaede, and Kaedes eyes held red rings around her irises as she cast Yuka cold stares. He knew Yuka could go spastic, and in a fight against Kaede, she would loose horribly.

"Kouta, I won't hurt her, as much as I'd like to," Kaede said evenly as if reading his mind.

"I am not the violent one, you have nothing to fear from me either," Yuka said haughtily.

Kouta knew better. Yuka had a wickedly fast punch, as he'd discovered a few times. "You are fighting about nothing, please stop," Kouta told them.

"We're not fighting," Yuka stated. "In fact I think it's better to show you how much more I care for you."

"You?" Kaede asked with a raised eyebrow. "I truly care more about Kouta."

Kouta rolled his eyes. "And if you care, you'll stop this bickering!" he cried.

That worked. He as able to walk in peace.

.

Nana looked at the two wheeled thing with a seat. "Mayu, what's this?"

"It's a bicycle," Mayu said. She went over and pulled the bicycle away from the back wall of a house. Getting on, she said, "You sit like this and push the pedals, and ride it." Mayu tried to push down on the pedals. A grinding sounded.

"They're stuck," Mayu said with a frown. Looking down, she added, The tires are flat too."

Looking at the wheels, Nana pointed and said, "Only on the bottom."

Getting off it, Mayu put it back. "It's no good, Nana. Besides, we're not looking for bicycles."

"Too bad, it looks like it could be fun," Nana pouted.

They continued around the house, looking in windows. Coming to the garage, Nana looked in and pointed. "Hey Mayu, what are those boxes back there?"

Mayu looked. On shelves in the back were what looked like full boxes. "I don't know. I doubt they are food."

A male voice commanded, "What are you two doing here?"

Mayu and Nana squeaked in surprise and turned to face a large, bare chested man who has tattoos all over his body.

"We're looking for food," Nana said innocently.

"Well, get lost or someone might get hurt!" the man growled.

"Don't worry, we're not going to hurt you," Nana said brightly.

The man stared at her, then laughed. "You're funny kid! What are you doing here?"

Nana opened her mouth and Mayu quickly clapped a hand over Nana's mouth. "So sorry, Sir, we're just lost," Mayu offered.

The man nodded slowly. "That chopper than came in, that yours?"

"Nope! We stole it!" Nana announced.

"Nana!" Mayu cried. "Don't tell him that!"

Nana blinked at Mayu. "What do you call it then when we throw the pilots out and get everybody in and take off?"

The man gave another hearty laugh. "All right kids, who's with you. You didn't fly that machine here by yourselves."

Seeing Kouta, Yuka and Kaede coming up the street, Nana pointed and said, "With our family. We had to get away from that facility and come here so we can fly away."

The man laughed again. "A whole family of fugitives, huh? You won't find a better place to hide than here." Looking at the approaching trio, he added, "Couple nice looking women, too."

"Mister, do you have any food?" Nana asked.

"For me." he said, then grinned and added, "That is unless those ladies can dance."

Kaede raised an arm stop Kouta. "Stay here," she said evenly. Continuing forward she said, "Nana, Mayu, we didn't come here to talk, have you found anything?"

The men stepped between Kaede and Mayu. "I got food, but it will cost you."

"Cost me?" Kaede asked.

"Yeah. Food for you clothes."

Kaede snorted. "How about this? You give us some food, and I won't throw you over that roof?"

The man laughed. "Bitch, I'm love to see you ... GHAAAAaaaa" He cried as he shot up in the air and over the roof.

Kaede turned and walked into the house. From a window showing the back yard, Kaede looked to see the man lying in the yard and groaning in pain. Mayu and Nana followed her in. They found the kitchen stocked, and took some canned and bagged fruit, meat snacks, a big bottle of soda and a few bottles of water.

Loaded down with some provisions, the group walked back to the school. Iniari was pulling the plane out to the roadway. Duncan guided her to line the plane up, facing down a long straight stretch of road.

"We got food," Kaede announced as they all gathered near the plane.

"Great," Duncan beamed. "Grab something to eat, then we're off. Kouta, didn't find any transportation, did you?"

Kouta blinked. "Ahh, no. Not that we were looking for any," he replied.

"They are going with us, aren't they?" Kaede asked.

"Kaede, we're leaving the country," Duncan reminded her.

Kaede winced and glanced at Kouta. "But, I thought Kouta could come with us. He's in danger too."

"What about me?" Inari asked as she gripped her nurse's coat, which made more leg show.

"When those people on that island get their shit back together, it won't be safe here," Amanda said.

"I don't want Kouta in danger any more," Kaede added.

"Wait ... what?" Yuka asked, turning pale.

"I think you should take Nana so she'll be safe," Mayu said.

"Not without you, Mayu," Nana said firmly.

Duncan stared at them. He hadn't planned on the entire group coming along. Seeing their expectant faces, he let out a sigh. "All right, who's coming?"

Kaede grabbed Kouta's hand. "Kouta, Nana and Mayu!" she announced.

"What?" Yuka asked weakly. "Kouta?"

"I want to go too," Iniari said.

Duncan opened the side door and said, "All right, if you're going, get in."

"You're going back to Seattle?" Yuka asked.

"A stop in Seattle to get clothes and a few other things," Duncan told her. "After that, we're headed for Scotland. I know a place we'll be pretty hard to find. Amanda, you still have that passport kit?"

"It's right on board," she said with a smile. We'll all be legal before we leave Japanese air space!" She got in the plane and said, "Anyone who needs a passport, join me in the back."

Inari got on and followed Amanda. So did Shirakawa. Kaede went to lead Kouta on, Yuka grabbed his other hand and stopped them.

"Kouta?" Yuka said fearfully. "You can't leave me!"

"You can come too, Yuka," he said.

"But ... what about college? What about all our stuff at home?" she cried. "We'll be leaving everything behind!"

Kouta shrugged. "I don't think it's safe there any more, and I don't want Mayu or Nana hurt. I don't want you hurt either, so come on."

"Ohhh!" Yuka whined, but got on with Kouta and Kaede. She whined again when Kaede put Kouta at a window seat, and took the one beside him. She settled on sitting behind them. Mayu and Nana sat by each other.

Duncan got on last and went into the cockpit. He started the engines, and noted he had just enough straightaway to get airborne. After the short warm up, he held the brakes and ran the engines to full power. When he let off the brakes, the plane jumped forward.

A tattooed man holding a club staggered out into the street. Seeing a plane barreling towards him, he jumped to the side. Duncan lifted off. Once he was above the ground clutter, he turned east and looked at his digital map to see the best route to take. There would be no major airport stops on this flight, just gas stops at the smallest places he could find. The fewer people to ask questions, the better.

End of Deliverance.