The situation was getting worse. I don't even know what to do at this point. Emi had followed me when I left the base with two men who brought me to Bleed, my former gang leader. Both she and I found out about the brutal massacre of civilians in two train stations in Tokyo. And apparently, Japanese Antonov supporters orchestrated the massacre. Bleed and the people he was with were apparently Antonov supporters as well, who were looking for me and had planned to get me out of the military base where I was receiving War-Knight training so that I would help them. After finding out about the atrocities they had committed, I could never see myself joining them, especially after what they had done…
"You got a lot of bark, miss! Let's see you actually do something about it!"
Bleed was being provocative against Emi. I had never seen her so serious and angry in my life. She seemed to be disturbed by the fact that children were most likely killed in the attacks.
Bleed unexpectedly pulled out his cell phone from his pocket. He then proceeded to show his phone in Emi's direction.
"Just in case you don't believe me, here's proof! A shame, ain't it?"
Bleed had put a picture of the aftermath of the attacks and showed it to Emi. The picture showed multiple dead bodies, including those of children. This was finally when Emi snapped at Bleed's sadistic behavior. She proceeded to clench her fist and dash towards Bleed's direction. She seemed to not care about what would happen to herself. Tears ran through her face as she bolted to Bleed.
"FUCK YOU! ILL KILL YOU!"
Bleed, with a smirk on his face, raised his rifle in Emi's direction as she tried to hit him. I, with a split second to react at what was happening, ran over to Emi and pushed her away from Bleed, falling on top of her in the process. I held her arms and feet in an effort to stop her from moving.
"Oh, Hiro! You just saved your little friend here. She was a millisecond away from me turning her into Swiss cheese. Try telling her through her thick internet influencer head that I'm the superior one here!"
Bleed said.
As I held Emi down, I got close to her ear and whispered.
"Listen Emi. It's not worth it. Just follow my lead, okay? I'll get us both out of here safely. I promise well get him later."
She seemed to calm a bit down, but she was still physically and mentally distraught. She nodded at me.
I then stood up. Emi stood up as well.
"Give me some time to think about it. I can't decide with all that's going on in my head right now."
I said as I directed myself to Bleed.
"No can do, Hiro. It's either yes or yes. The leader of the Antonov supporters needs a strong, skilled, and reliable fighter who can do some of his dirty work. You can't use guns in every situation, so he requires someone skilled in hand-to-hand combat. That's you."
I started to think to myself. I can't leave this situation no matter what. I can't join them. They are technically terrorists. And seeing how they hurt innocent people, I couldn't risk committing the wrongs that I tried to stay away from. I decided to leave the Young Killers Gang and not commit crimes ever again. Joining Bleed again would mean that I would carry out what I tried to stay away from. My only option was either to fight or run. And fighting people with guns was out of the question. I only had one option.
As Bleed and his comrades stood waiting for my answer, I saw my chance to escape. In front of us, a campfire lit the camp. There were a few gas canisters and some kind of box that had an explosive symbol that probably meant a grenade or something. I knew that if I pushed the gas canisters and the wooden box into the fire, it would explode.
"Wait, I gotta tie my shoes"
As I crouched to "tie" my shoes, I used my hands and pushed the gas canisters and the wooden box into the campfire in less than a second. Emi, Bleed, and the others were flabbergasted by what I had done. After what I did, nothing happened and no explosion occurred. But I knew that once the gas canister melted, the gasoline would come in contact with the fire and create an explosion with the grenades inside the box. Since it took some time, no one expected anything to happen.
"What was that, Hiro? Is that your attempt to blow us all up? That's funny."
Bleed said while smirking.
I proceeded to hold Emi's hand and run. She followed and started running with me as well.
"Y'all really think a little shitty fire is gonna melt that in time to make it explode? Keep running, 'cause I'll still find you! Someone throw some water on that!"
As one of Bleed's comrades came to stop the fire, the gasoline came in contact with the fire, creating a big ball of fire. Then, the fire started melting the box, which in turn started creating sparks. The man who was trying to stop the fire fell to the ground with fire all over him. Bleed stood up, as he anticipated something was going to happen.
"Fuck it! Everybody run before it explodes!"
*BOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMM*
As Bleed warned the others, the explosives inside the box detonated and an explosion zoomed through the camp, echoing all over the woods outside the military base. Bleed and his comrades fell to the ground, with wounds all over their bodies. Emi and I looked behind us and saw the devastation caused by the explosion. We could hear screams of people burning alive. But we didn't care. They were responsible for the Tokyo attacks and we felt no remorse. Emi directed me towards the opening in the base, where I had left. As I looked behind me, I saw Bleed. He was hurt, with burns all over his body. He looked at me, fixed in my eyes. Like if he was looking at my soul. It was intense, but Emi dragged me with her hand and we lost contact.
We had somehow escaped Bleed's grasp, but there was no way we could tell anyone about what had happened. I had already feared the fact that the explosion probably alerted some of the soldiers who were coming back to their posts. At that moment, I looked at Emi and knew that we both had gotten into something that probably would chase us for the rest of our lives. But we knew that it was the right thing to do…