THE LONELY WALK: CHAPTER FOUR

The telephone trill stabbed Jif's brain like a church bell. Blood rushed from his eyes and his lungs filled with air as he leapt off the bed.
"UH!" he yelled without thinking. He'd leapt up to the end of the bed, pulling the sheets down in doing so. He knew he'd have to pull them back up again!
"Hello?" came Yuzuyu's voice. Jif shot to the right. Yuzuyu's was standing next to the doorframe in her diaper. She looked so cute; her breasts were just starting to grow, even though she was fifteen. Small droopy flat mounds. The nipples were almost black, in stark contrast to her pale skin. She was holding the receiver of the telephone up to her right cheek. Jif was already off the bed and pacing round to her by the time her eyes rolled in his direction. She offered the handset out to him.
"It's Transit," said the girl, sounding deflated. Jif knew she didn't like getting messed up with his work. But even more so with a fatality; Charlie's fatality.
"Yes Angus!" gravelled Jif into the mouth piece.
"Uh...hello there." he began. His flat accent was Boston born and bred. "Took the words right out of my mouth." His name was Angus Van, but he was called Transit, for no particular reason. Jif guessed it was Vin's idea, as it was Vin's builder father who drove a Transit Van back in Watford. Whilst this was going on, Yuzuyu paced away up to the wardrobe to get her school uniform.
"Am I in the shit?" asked Jif, abruptly.
"Uh, yea," replied Transit. "It was supposed to be a party to celebrate 2 years of Lime.Inc, and get some new investors in. But it turned into an awful mess! And it's largely on your watch!" Jif felt his eyes water. He rubbed his right eye with his free hand until it almost felt good.
"I was told I could hire anyone else I wanted!" gravelled Jif.
"But it had to go through Vin first. You sent to paperwork on the day! He wasn't a trained body guard, was he?"
"No, but neither 's Iffy!"
"Iffy is covered by our insurance, this boy isn't!"
"HIS NAME IS CHARLIE!" shouted Jif. He realised his outburst, and glanced over to Yuzuyu to see if she was scared. She wasn't. Infact she was smiling, as she laid her school uniform on the bed. It looked more like a sailor suit for ladies. Yuzuyu went to the Boston school for Japanese. It was a prep school for the gifted, on a Japanese theme. The uniforms were bog standard Japanese. White sailor style blouse, red cravat, short dark blue skirt. And they asked the pupils to where long socks too, although this rule was rarely enforced. It was also what Rajah wore day-in day-out; Rajah being the Indian girl at Babylon Zoo next door.
"Jif" went on Transit, "nobody cares. Vin want a sit rep completed by lunchtime."
"Faxed?"
"No, he want it delivered in person."
Situation Report was a military term for an up to the second radio commentary. But Vin adapted the phrase to be used at Lime.Inc for daily reports to be made at the end of each day and faxed to the embassy in Washington.
"To Washington?" exclaimed Jif. He then noticed the wardrobe was still open and Yuzuyu had put a bra on. White. He loved that colour on a brassier.
"Yep, he's sending a limo to you."
"It'll take hours!"
"It's this or nothing Jif," Transit went on. In the background, he could hear a young man mumble. There was a clatter of something, a sigh of resignation from someone. "Jif, Dill wants a word."
"Put him on," mumbled Jif. He was then given a blast of heavy breathing through the ear piece. Dill Lexmark was the youngest member of Lime.Inc, and probably most streetwise, but like everyone else, never took on Vin for fear of getting the sack.
"Hey Jif!" began Dill's soft placid voice. He took a long breath and continued. "Vin is going to cut of your head and feed you to the dogs!" The choice of words didn't fit the accent.
"What's the point of telling me this if I can't get out of it?" replied Jif on autopilot.
"It's not about the sit rep, it's about setting an example for the rest of us not to fuck about!"
"What the fuck does Vin know? Everyone is fuckin' about in this company!"
"Seriously, run whilst you can! If you come to Washington, he's gonna sit you in front of us, and by the end of the day, you'll just be a hole with no ass around it!"
Jif knew what he meant. It was a dismissal, but even more than that. It was one of Vin's little mind games to show he was in charge. But looking at Yuzuyu putting on her school blouse just made himself drift.
"I don't GIVE a shit!"
"JIF!"
"A good friend of mine is dead because of that...that....racist!"
"Racist!"
"Yes, a racist! He thinks he's superior because he's black and all that bullshit about history!" Jif was picking words quickly to handle his anger. He wasn't even sure he knew what he was talking about . Calling a black man a racist? Dill didn't reply, other then sigh through the earpiece.
"He wants to fuck me, let him! I've told the truth. I got nothin' to be scared of!"
Jif swiftly put the phone down, but didn't slam it.
"Jif, is it bad?" asked Yuzuyu. She'd finished buttoning her blouse.
"Yea," said Jif, pacing up to her. "But I don't care. All I want is you." He placed a hand on her clothed shoulder and she smiled. He drew his hand down her back and started brushing her diaper, making a rustling noise. "Do you need to change?" he asked her, as he'd always done.
"No," she replied, emphatically, "not yet." She drew her right arm to pick up her dark blue skirt. "But you can help me with my skirt." She said to him, with moderate enthusiasm. Jif smiled back.
He took the skirt from her and held it by the waistband. Crouching onto his knees, he held it open. Yuzuyu took a step back, and then stepped into the skirt. Jif slid the clothing up her legs and over her diaper until it covered the perils of her blouse. Jif fumbled with the shirt fastening, and it held in place. Yuzuyu's dainty hand covered Jif's own. She tugged at his hand, telling him to get up. He stood up again, and Yuzuyu leaned forward, placing her flat palms on Jif's shoulders. He knew what to do. Half bent, he too leaned in and puckered up onto her lips. She kissed him back, and withdrew.
"I like being your baby, Jif," she said childishly.
"Me too." He replied. "But I don't control you, do I?"
"Of course you don't Jif. You don't ask for sex from me. And you don't order me about either. So don't worry, about me! Worry about the job." He knew she was right. "Are you going to walk me to school today?"
He gazed out the window. He'd done it so man times, but not today. He wanted to dream more of Charlie. And think of a way out of this hole.
"No, honey. I can't today."
"It OK. I can do it."
She put on her shoes and paced out the door. Jif went back to bed, head on the pillow and heard the ping of the elevator down the corridor. He closed his eyes and thought about what was going on.
How could Vincent be like this? How could he live with himself? Because he could! To run a business he had to be ruthless.
But Jif still felt as though he was being stabbed in the back. One of life's lessons. He shouldn't have counted Jif as a friend.
Friends were hard to come by. Girlfriend evens more. In nursery, when a beautiful girl he liked refused to hold his hands in the playground, he fell into despair. He despised girls from then on and wanted nothing to do with them. When his friend got girlfriends, be buried himself into food. He ate and ate and got fat. And the results were sitting in his stomach right now.
He knew friends came naturally. A connection of similarities. Charlie and Jif had similarities, that's why talked to him so much. Yuzuyu and Jif had similarities, that why she stayed with him all the time.
But sometimes you have to force people to be friends. Or it happens because there's no other option.
Charlie was a wonderful pal; a ray of light in the darkness. Vin was the guy with connections; the one to turn to when no one else would listen. But Jif owed his life to a man few would call a friend.
Ruthless. Greedy. Christ, insults weren't worth getting into.
If he hadn't been where he was....would he be alive today?

September 13th 2003 19:01 JST

It was a whirlwind of actions. Jif was on his knee's, cradling the dead man's body when he heard the crunch of a footstep next to him. He thought the gunmen had come back to finish him off. He waited for the men to do their work. They didn't. these men were different. He could sense their honor.
He didn't have time to speak, or fight. He was hoisted up by his arm pits by four very strong hands. They smelt of fish and salt. He only looked at the short guy; shorted than Jif, wispy moustache and horn rimmed glasses, yellow skin.
He felt Fido's body slip away, his head falling against Jif's crotch, slipping to his knee, as he was pulled away. The men raised him until his feet were above the ground, putting all his weight on his arm sockets. He tried to get his feet back down to take the eight off his shoulders, but they started to move and wouldn't let him stand.
He felt he was going to die, and didn't want to see anything. He screwed his eyes shut as he was dragged along the messy road, the end of his shoes scraping along the floor.
He felt is left foot hit something hard and metallic. Then his knee settled in a soft fabric. Air conditioning was on and music was playing. He was being bundled in a car.
The car doors slammed and he felt the two men sit up next to him. He could feel their body heat. The car pulled off, quickly. There was a splash as it sloshed through a puddle.
"Open you eyes," boomed an Asian voice. It had heavy H's. Jif didn't comply
"OPEN YOUR EYES!" repeated the voice. Jif inhaled a shaky breath, before doing as he was told. The car was a right hand drive, as all Japanese cars. This was a Mercedes, however. He saw the 3 pointed star from the steering wheel.
The front passenger had turned around, hugging he headrest of his seat, facing Jif in the eye. He was nearly bald, with a goatee beard and moustache. About mid forties. Brown eyes. Serious face. He was all in black; black pants, shirt, jacket.
"Yami yori mo kowai no wa kodoku," he said to Jif in a powerful voice that demanded respect. He was saying "Solitude is more frightening than darkness."
Jif didn't move his head. And he didn't dare look at the men next to him. But he focused his eyes on the windows. He could see the buildings were becoming older and rougher. Then, he recognized the old hospital. They were taking him back to where he'd started.
The car made a sharp turn and bounced through a few pot holes before entering an opening in a wall. The car was engulfed in darkness as the outside faded from view. The Merc ground to a stop and a light came on inside the room and the space was dazzled in a pale brightness.
As the driver got out, Jif could see through the windshield a long workbench with power tools. Was he gong o get tortured?
Another Jap in a dark suit paced around the front of the car and looked in through the windshield. He pulled a smile and paced off again. The Jap passenger still looked at Jif. Jif didn't react. Nothing he could so. Everything about today had told him it was best to do nothing.
The passenger's door was opened by the driver. The passenger finally got out, and rest of the doors opened. Jif was pulled out by the short guy again, but once out of the car, released him. Jif stood tall and felt the other guy stand next to him. Robotic. They were here to watch over him. Jif looked at the other guy. A little taller than the other guy. Thin. Black, thick, flat hair. It was only then that Jif noticed that the tips of his fingers were missing.
The room stank of engine oil and must, and had bits of car and Cola cans strewn about the floor. It was a garage. And it seemed to be rather dusty. It hadn't been used for years, like most of the other buildings in this sector.
"Come!" called the main man. He was waving them over to a doorway on the wall on the right. The pair grabbed Jif by the forearms and pushed him forward. They were slow enough to allow his to walk this time, but it was still aggressive.
He was pushed through the doorway and into a dark cigarette smelling den. A plastic picnic table and two dining chairs sat in the middle of the room. In each corner was either a mattress or a sleeping bag. In the far left corner, where a door was wide open, he made out a toilet and a wash basin. It was probably a temporary shelter. But where else could they go?
He was thrust down into on of the chairs before being released. The arm rests felt welcoming to him. The bald Jap stood at the other end of the table and pulled his chair, scraping it along the floor, before trotting in front of it and sitting down with a whoosh of his clothes. Then, he closed his eyes and bowed to Jif.
"My name is Atlas," he began. Weird name. His H's were heavy; almost every sentence began with an H with this guy. "And I am Yukuza!"
Jif shivered. Under the table he clasped his hands, playing with his thumbs.
"What do you want?" graveled Jif. Atlas played it cool and calm. He closed his eyes, pulled his lips to smile and opened them again.
"I am a patriot. I love my country" he said softly. Jif started to shake his head.
"I don't want to interfere with you're country." He whined, about to cry. He thought he was going to be classed as an invader
"Be quite!" snapped the Jap. He blinked and carried on talking. "I know you went into the building that burnt down today."
Jif squirmed in his seat. He hated this sort of interview. Integrations, he felt they were. This certainly was an interrogation. Ever since his first Job interview he felt uncomfortable like this; sitting face to face with the interviewer.
"I know Kensuki Kenjiku had involvement there. And I know Rock shot the professor." Jif barely knew Kensuki Kenjiku. From what Vincent had said, he knew he was an investor, and he was involved in freezing dead people. He knew Rock was a dangerous psychopath! But that was it.
"What I want to know is why?"
Jif sighed. He didn't know why the building was torched! Maybe the Doc had pissed the boy off. Jif leaned back in his chair and gazed down at the desk, avoiding eye contact.
"We had a lot of equipment in that building. It was going to make us very rich. I AM NOT HAPPY. MY Bosses as not happy!" He paused to calm himself down. "You see the man next to you?" Jif looked up.
"Finger?" said Jif, throwing his head to the tall man next to him.
"Yes," replied Atlas.
"It was a punishment, wasn't it?" he asked.
"He failed to show his honor in his work," said the yakuza
Jif turned to face the man, looking up at him. The man didn't make eye contact, looking straight ahead.
"I'm sorry." Jif softly said. Atlas rapped a knuckle on the table and Jif snapped to attention again.
"Kensuki is a traitor to my country..." began Atlas
"And you're better are you?" Jif said angrily.
"I am the last chance you have, Kitchen!"
"Look!" Jif stared going into begging mode. He couldn't think of anything else, because he had nothing to offer them. He didn't know anything of the company, he didn't have money, he didn't know where Yuzuyu or Keitaro had been taken. If they knew he was worthless, they might have got rid of him, maybe deadly. But at least, he knew, the nightmare would be over. "I'm just a white bloke from Hull brought up in a world about-" he held out his hands to make a football, "this big. You've got to know that I don't know what you're about. I don't know what this island is about."
"Yukuza, Kitchen!" stated Atlas, as if Jif was Dumb. "Japanese Mafia!"
"I know that, it's just, I'm not involved in what goes on," he explained. He began directing his arms, pointing to nowhere, showing his palms to say he meant to trouble. "I was just sent to look after the building. I don't know what goes on in it. That my bosses job. Vincent Bird. Take it up with him." Atlas took a tired breath.
"Someone tried to kill you. You don't want to get back at him?"
Jif knew who he was on about.
"His name is Rock, right?"
"Yes. It is Japanese for six."
"Well," Jif began. He pondered what to say, if anything. There was nothing to say. Nothing this guy would have already known. "I don't even know where to begin."
"You went into the building! So you know what there was!" Jif shrugged. Of course he didn't know what was in the building!
"It was just some lab," he stated, shaking his head and sticking his hands on the table again. He racked his brain for what there was in the burning room. Copper pipes. Aluminum cylinders. White smoke from the ice. Liquid Nitrogen. The giant copper cocoon. How could he explain that! "I don't know a test-tube from a Bunsen!"
"What was the professor working on?"
"I don't know."
"What was in that building?"
"I don't know! It was all on fire!"
"DON'T LIE TO ME!" screamed Atlas. Jif's eyes began to water. His lips pulled back in grimace. His stress levels were roaring and he began to shake.
"THERE ARE THINGS I CANNOT KNOW! He screamed back as a tear left his eye.
"If you have any honor for what is left of your homeland-"
As the Jap spoke, Jif's fear-grin shrank suddenly. He rummaged through his internal pocket of his jacket and pulled out the brown book. It still smelt of bleach.
"The man gave me this! The professor!"
He gave it to Atlas. The Yakuza spun the book round and opened the front cover; spine on his right, the Japanese way.
"I don't understand the writing, but I read pictures. I know it's about that girl."
Atlas turned the pages.
"He also said that the island is going to sink. I saw it myself. The reservoir is seeping into the islands foundations."
"We know that," said the fingers man. He sounded more African than Asian. "Kensuki has ordered a helicopter from Honshu. It is going arrive here at one o'clock Japanese standard time. He'd only do that if he cannot save his empire on this island!"
"Shit," thought Jif. That was why Rock had said he was going to die anyway. Maybe another massive earthquake! A major earthquake! But Jif was too scared to ask. Atlas was busy with the book. Jif realized there was something her had missed out.
"Her name is Yuzuyu!" he stated. To which Atlas looked up, stunned, and the rest of the yakuza behind Jif shuffled together, whispering faint sounds to each other.
"Yuzuyu! You sure?"
"Yes. She said so. Why would she lie? We found her in the fire. The other..." he paused, and tried to sum it up without getting complicated. "I thought she was a runaway! But she had amnesia! We were going to take her back to the mainland." To which Atlas brought his elbows onto the table, propped up his arms and slumped his head into his hands. Jif knew he'd said something significant, but it was something bad too.
"You understand?" Atlas said, bringing his head up again.
"No." replied Jif.
"The girl is Kensuki's daughter. She died of meningitis." Jif was confused. He shook his head ins disbelief. If she was dead, who was the girl he'd been walking with all this time.
"But if..."
Jif quickly understood. Cryogenics! The father was involved in Cryogenics. That was what all the material was in the lab. That was what the ice and liquid nitrogen was for! That was why she was so cold!
"She was reanimated!" Jif gasped.
"The diagrams show her body has been deliberately altered."
"How?"
"There are steel pivots built into her joints. It says they are made to maximize her strength. There are also circuit boards in this girls head. "
"Circuit boards?" exclaimed Jif, "What for?"
"To take away pain."
"Oh shit!" he swore. He'd read enough philosophy and psychology to know how this worked. "If you take pain, you take emotion."
"This isn't a girl, it's a cyborge"
"No, she ain't like that!" cried Jif. He didn't want her to die, even if she was the product of something evil.
"She will be if Kensuki keeps going. He does this not for love! He wants a ruler for this island when he die!"
"What about that Rock boy? He said he was Kensuki's son."
"Kensuki never had a son. Rock is a boy who follows him like a dog. He'll do anything for his master. But Kensuki wont let him rule this land. He's a lose cannon."
"He's going to kill her isn't he?"
"Yes. He will."
"Atlas smiled"
"You love her!"
"She's given me a purpose. It took me so long to see it!" Atlas smiled.
"Yami yori mo kowai no wa kodoku," he said again. "Solitude is more frightening than darkness." Atlas leaned back in his chair and put his hands behind his head. Cocky. "Then do it. Make her your purpose."
"How?" Jif graveled. He didn't even know where to start looking for her. "I don't know where she is!"
"I do!" replied Atlas
"You...you'll get her?"
"No... that's your job." Jif suddenly realized what they wanted. They didn't want info, they wanted man power.
"You want me to help you?"
"There no one else here that will help you, English." He was right.
"Of course," he replied. "What do you want?"
"To take out Kensuki, and anyone who'll take his place."
"I don't think I can."
"You won't kill anyone, we will. You just clear the way for us, and get that girl out."
"Why you do this?"
"Because there are something we shouldn't know, and some we should. My country is falling apart from people like Kensuki. This girl will crush them all. I want you, to be the deliverer." Jif looked down and rattled like a snake. His stomach was twisting again. He could die trying, but this girl was his chance to prove himself. As a human being. As a father. He wanted to love her. and he wanted her to love him. He had to try!
"I feel sick, but I gotta do this." He said throatily.
"Good," replied Atlas. "Rock is going to kill that girl because he thinks she's an outsider. He never was Japanese!"
"He fears technology," added Jif.
"Hi" replied Atlas. He meant, of course, "yes!"
"Then...lets get her out of there."