Chapter 10: Fuji Kaede 3
“Hah….hah….”
After setting up the barricade, my father moved more furniture towards the fire door of the fire escape that had been closed and reinforced it so that they couldn’t get in, and he was out of breath and slumped down on the spot.
My mother and I were also involved in the process, but most of the work was done by my father alone. Seeing him lift heavy furniture with incredible strength, I’ve never felt so reliable for my father.
”Haha, the great physical power of stupidity in the fireplace….”
My father said that with a tired smile and stood up.
A small sound of banging on the fire door could be heard downstairs. No one is coming towards the escalator.
“It’s not normal… Normally, people would come around to the escalator.”
With that said, my father checked the barricade once more and said, “This way,” leading us toward the backyard.
My father pulled out a key case from his pocket, inserted the key into the door marked “Staff Room” and turned on the light in the room.
I unloaded my luggage and took out the first aid kit from the storage shelf to quickly check on my mother’s condition.
It was dark earlier and hard to see clearly, but the condition of my mother’s arm after she took off her coat was terrible, and the flesh was gouged out as clearly as I could see.
“Awful…”
Unconsciously I said the words. The words made my mother smile as she said, “I am okay” with cold sweat on her forehead.
My father used his phone to call the police and fire department while he was treating my mother. It seemed that the phone lines were flat or not connected. In the middle of the call, my mother took over the task of making the call with her free hand, but my mother just shook her head.
“Damn, no connection….. Kaede, turn on the TV over there. Keep the volume down.”
Following my father’s words, I turned on the TV and saw that it was broadcasting live to the scene of the panic.
The reporter said that we were far from the center of the commotion, but to me since I had escaped this far, I could only assume that it meant nothing. Sure enough, the reporter was attacked by a group of bloody-eyed figures who looked as if they were wearing special makeup, and the camera seemed to have fallen to the ground.
Immediately, the video switches to the studio, and the dumbfounded newscaster makes a forced apology, saying that there was a disturbance in the video.
I, my father, and my mother stopped moving and stared at it intently.
This time inside the studio, aimlessly a man dressed as a security guard enters the room trespassing. The neck area was stained red and there were stains on his clothes. When a staff member rushed to stop him, the security guard bit the staff member on the neck.
The staff was covered with red blood and collapsed, now the security guard sunk his teeth into his face. Seeing the situation in the studio, the camera image remained unchanged and a panic ensued as people ran for cover. Eventually, the staff member who had just collapsed slowly got up, and then the camera collapsed, or the cord came loose, and the video stopped showing.
Just like watching a movie or something.
A bad feeling came over me and I slowly turned to look at my mother. My mother was staring at the TV with a somewhat cold look in her eyes.
“Hey, honey.”
“Oh, oh, I’m sorry that’s all for now. But I need to get to a hospital right now.”
At my mother’s call, my father finished wrapping the bandage and stopped it with the bandage stopper, as if he thought he had been told to stop his hand.
“Thank you. But no.”
“No, it’s not…. Did I roll it wrong? Sorry..”
My mother shakes her head, looks at her arm, which has finished the first aid treatment, and rubs it lightly. She closed her eyes once and looked at me, then at my father. Then, in a trembling voice, she said.
“No, sweetheart. Look, I don’t know what’s going will happen to me.”
Kamaura Translations 