Crying again, but this time with joy, she slipped the larger ring onto the third finger of my left hand.
I took the other ring and slipped it onto her corresponding finger.
"Finally." She sighed, a peaceful, contented expression framing her face.
And as the rain sleeted down, we continued to kneel on the wet concrete with our foreheads pressed together and our arms wrapped around each other. Savouring this moment, this reunion.
When her teeth started clattering, I took her hands and helped her to her feet. "We'd better get you inside and into a warm shower before you catch pneumonia."
So hand in hand we made our way to the elevator. I figured I had a good enough reason to break my vow about not using it on this occasion too.
The night’s emotional roller-coaster ride and constant running about while already weak from the wound took their toll on me. I was exhausted. I staggered through the door of my flat with an arm draped around Nanako’s shoulders. She was so cold that her teeth clattered nonstop, so we went straight to the bathroom. She reached for the buttons on my shirt with fingers she couldn’t even hold still.
"Come on, we've got to get you out of those wet bandages," she said, putting my welfare above her own.
I caught her hands and held them still. "A few minutes won’t make a difference to me. Our first priority is to get you warm. I'll get the shower going. It's a temperamental little beast."
Nanako nodded and stripped out of her clinging wet clothes while I fiddled around to get the shower to the right temperature, a difficult task at the best of times.
"Right to go." I held back the plastic floral-pattern shower curtain.
She slipped under the steaming hot water and sighed deeply with blissful relief as the water cascaded down her beautiful, lithe body. I stood there drinking in the sight of her, not quite comprehending that she was my wife.
"Don't just stand there." She held out a hand. "Get undressed and hop in."
I didn't need to be asked twice.
* * *
I was rudely awakened when the flat’s front door was kicked in. That I didn’t wake at the sound of boots outside indicated how soundly I'd been asleep. Lifting my head from the pillow to see the bedside clock, I saw that it was 4:30am and still dark outside. Nanako was lying half on top of me, soundly asleep, with her head on my shoulder, right arm across my chest, and her legs entwined with mine.
I struggled to sit up, waking Nanako in the process. The front door slammed shut and four men with guns rushed into the lounge-bedroom, blinding us with their torchlights.
“Got ‘em!” Lieutenant King declared. “Ethan Jones and Nanako, you are under arrest for sexual misconduct.”
“No, you’ve got this all wro…” I protested but got no further before one of the intruders smashed the stock of his assault-rifle into the side of my head.
* * *
I came to with a thumping headache that felt like a red-hot poker was stabbing me in the head. It took a moment to realise I was gagged and on my knees on the floor beside the bed with my hands cuffed behind my back. One intruder stood behind me, holding me upright by my hair and right shoulder.
The lights were on, and by twisting my head a little to the right, I saw Nanako kneeling beside me, similarly restrained. Her eyes were wide with terror. We were both shivering, for she wore only a t-shirt over her underwear, and me only my boxer shorts.
The intruders were all Custodians, but King was the only one in front of us. He stepped closer and leered down at me with undisguised loathing.
“You stupid fool, Jones! Did you seriously think you could cavort and sleep with this girl without us noticing? You’re dumber than I thought. Now the normal procedure after arresting you two is to take you to the magistrate in the morning, but we have a bit of a problem with that. The sentence for sexual misconduct is death by lethal injection, but in your case, Jones, the magistrate will transmute your sentence to several years hard labour. Since Nanako is from Hamamachi, he will probably just expel her from the town.” He knelt down and stuck his ugly face in front of mine. “And as I’m not happy with either of those options, my friends and I are going to administer the sentences you deserve right here and now. A bullet to the back of the head.”
I tried desperately to tell him that we were married, but the gag had been shoved so far into my mouth that I could only make muffled noises.
King stood and drew his pistol. He grabbed my pillow and folded it double. “I’m going to do her first so you can have the pleasure of watching her die, Jones. That’s only fitting, isn’t it? Payback for what the little cow did to my family’s honour.”
I flung myself back against my captor, but he jabbed me in the ribs with his right fist and drove the air out of my lungs.
King approached Nanako, but she struggled against her captor with all her might and tried to tell him something, but the gag made her words intelligible as well.
Not caring about our incoherent protestations, King walked behind Nanako, placed the pillow against the back of her head, and pressed the gun into the pillow. Although still winded, I fought desperately against my Custodian captor as well, trying to tear my head from his grip and kick behind me at the same time.
“Hold fire for a moment, Lieutenant,” the fourth Custodian said suddenly. Until now he had been standing quietly behind us, content to watch the proceedings, but now he reached out a hand to stay King. He was an Anglo-Australian, as tall as King, with a square jaw, and a very powerful build.
“What is it, Captain Smithson? You said I had your full support in this!” King complained.
“They’re wearing wedding bands.” The captain pointed out.
I stopped struggling and watched from the corner of my eye as King stepped back to look at our hands, clearly confused. “It’s a trick, Sir. It has to be. They weren’t wearing them on Friday.”
Nanako nodded furiously, desperately trying to speak over the gag.
“The girl’s trying to tell us something,” Captain Smithson said.
“Yeah, ‘don’t kill us,’” King snarled angrily.
“Doesn’t sound like that at all. Remove her gag.”
“But Sir,” King protested strongly.
“I know you have issues with her, but it isn’t going to hurt to hear what she has to say. Now take off the gag, and that’s an order.”
King untied Nanako’s gag and ungraciously yanked it from her mouth. As soon as it was out, Nanako twisted around to address the captain. Her words poured out like a waterfall as she relayed the entire story to the captain.
“What a load of codswallop,” King retorted. “Why didn’t you tell Ethan the ‘truth’ as soon as you saw him on Monday?”
“I didn't want to force the truth on him. I wanted to trigger his memories of me instead,” Nanako replied, though to the captain, not to King.
The captain indicated for the Custodian restraining me to remove my gag. “Is what she’s saying true, Jones?”
“Yes, Sir! When I went to the hospital yesterday I saw my hospital admission form from November 2120, and it stated that Nanako was my wife. That’s how I found out.”
“I see. And did she trigger any of your memories?”
“Yes, Sir. Since her arrival, I’ve had a number of memories of the time I was in Hamamachi. Last night I had a dream where I remembered meeting her for the first time. After things started falling into place, I confronted my father. He admitted he had asked the Custodians to have Nanako thrown out of Newhome.”
“Lieutenant King,” Nanako said before the captain could reply. “Don't be mad at me for stopping your sister’s marriage to Ethan. Blame Ethan's father his deception.”
"Can you prove any of this?" the captain asked. It sounded like he was beginning to believe us.
"Have a look at my file in the hospital," I replied. "You'll see I was checked into the hospital in November 2120 by Nanako Jones, with her relationship to me listed as 'wife'."
"You can also ask Councillor Okada," Nanako added. "He knew Ethan very well."
King suddenly had an epiphany. "Nanako, you said Jones went to Hamamachi."
"Yes, Sir."
"Did he join the Militia?"
"Yes, he did, though he was promoted to the Rangers soon afterwards," she replied. “He developed entirely new strategies for dealing with the Skel, and these were adopted by the Militia and Rangers.”
“And they were?” King prompted.
“Never fight them frontally but use stealth to get behind them and ambush them.”
I’d actually developed my anti-Skel strategies when I started foraging at the age of seventeen. As I was able to detect Skel ambushes using echolocation, it was from there I got the idea to sneak behind them and give them a taste of their own medicine.
“How did you fight the Skel previously?” the lieutenant queried.
“Upon encountering Skel, each squad broke into two teams. One team would provide covering fire while the other advanced.”
“I see,” King said, nodding his head. As the Custodians were primarily a police force, they probably hadn’t learned military tactics such as this.
Captain Smithson looked at Nanako and me, still handcuffed and kneeling on the floor and shivering uncontrollably. He sighed and addressed the Custodians who were restraining us. "Alright, uncuff Mr. and Mrs. Jones and let them go."
Now that we were free, the captain and two Custodian privates strode for the door. In typical form, they did not apologise even though they were about to murder us a moment ago. I was overwhelmed with relief that we were still alive, but also incensed with anger at yet another Custodian injustice. How much longer did I have to live in this prison-town?
Ignoring wrists sore from chafing handcuffs and knees aching from kneeling too long on a hard wooden floor, I stood and helped Nanako to her feet. Like me, she was relieved but angry. She was also shivering uncontrollably from the cold.
But before I could even take stock of our situation, King was back in my face.
"Mention this little ‘misunderstanding’ to anyone, anyone at all, and there'll be a little accident when you're out foraging one day. You reading me, Jones?" he hissed in my ear.
I wanted nothing more than to smash my fist through his pockmarked face, but that would just give him the excuse he needed to lock me up. With a monstrous amount of self control, I focused on breathing in and out and glared back at him without answering.
King turned and sauntered after his companions, but just as he reached the apartment door, there was an enormous, thunderous boom, which shook the building to its very foundations.
The captain steadied himself against the doorframe. "Earthquake?"
"No, an explosion," I said.
The Custodians rushed onto the walkway and looked about to check if my observation was correct, but they couldn't see anything from there.
All of their radios suddenly sputtered to life. "Code 906. All Custodians report to North End in full battle gear immediately, repeat, Code 906." The message was repeated every few seconds.
"You've got to be kidding!" King exclaimed.
"What's 'code 906?'" I called out as I dressed quickly into trousers, t-shirt and hoody.
"Let's go!" the captain ordered, completely ignoring me.
"Captain Smithson, wait!" I shouted as I darted onto the walkway after them. Again he ignored me, so I reached out and grabbed his sleeve.
"What, Jones?" he practically shouted in my face.
"What's 'code 906,' Captain?"
"Skel have broken into North End," he snapped back.
"What could the Skel possibly gain by doing that?" I asked, trying to prompt him to think things through rather than rush off impetuously. I was working on the assumption that the Skel were much more organised than we had previously thought, and that besieging Newhome was the first stage of some insidious plan. This was obviously stage two. But what was its goal – to cripple the town perhaps? And to such an extent that the population would be forced to leave? If that was the case, then I could think of only two possible scenarios in which the Skel could achieve that end. One was to destroy our electricity supply, and the other was to cut off our water.
Snatches of frantic dispatches bled through the Custodian radios:
"...used a captured Bushmaster to break down the gates..."
"...Skel everywhere..."
"Sir, we've got to go." King pressed.
The captain waved him back and answered me, "Supplies, livestock, slaves, the usual, how would I know?"
"They can get those from any Victorian country town without having to go head-to-head with a few hundred well armed Custodians," I pointed out.
"...taking casualties..."
"...medic!"
"If there's something you want to say, Jones, out with it!"
We could hear the staccato sounds of guns firing in the distance. Custodians were fighting back.
"...building's on fire..."
"...fleeing civilians are blocking my line of fire..."
"Call the security detail guarding the sub and I'll wager my bottom dollar they don’t answer," I said quickly, deciding to put my hunch to the test. The Skel were going after the electricity, they had to be.
While the captain made a call to Custodian Headquarters on his radio, Nanako joined us on the walkway. She was dressed in black over-knee socks, shorts and top, and looking a lot warmer.
The captain rejoined us, and was clearly not pleased with what he had heard over the radio. "HQ says they're not responding," he said darkly. "Okay men, we've got a sub to save. Virtually everyone else is already in or on the way to North End, so HQ is sending a couple of squads back to meet us at the western gates. Then we go in and go in hard."
"...bravo company unable to enter North End, gates – the road is clogged by civilians..."
"...get these blasted civilians out of the way..."
"You rush out through the main gates to save the sub and you're all dead." I raised my voice to make myself heard.
The captain was not pleased at my constant interruptions. "And why would that be, Jones?"
"Because they'll have set an ambush outside the gates, expecting you to do exactly that, Sir. May I be so bold as to suggest a strategy?"
"Jones, this is Custodian business!"
"How many times have you fought the Skel, Sir?" I asked, risking a verbal slap down.
"...requesting permission to retreat..."
"...Skel have guns, repeat, Skel have guns..."
The captain glared at me, confirming my suspicion – the answer was never. "Well then, what strategy do you propose?" he finally asked.
"I presume the city has a secret entrance on the west wall?"
"How do you know about the secret doors?" he demanded, shocked.
"I saw a squad of Custodians using one once."
"Well, you're right, there is one on the west wall. It's opposite the bridge, a hundred metres south of the western gates and sub."
"In that case I recommend you send your force out the secret entrance, advance to the river bank and then follow it to the sub. That way you'll come up behind the Skel who are waiting near the gates. When you find them, fire a flare so that you can see them and take them out."
"Sounds good in theory, Jones, but how are we supposed to find Skel hiding in the dark?” he demanded.
I wanted to keep my mouth shut and let the Custodians deal with the situation to the best of their ability, but with such small numbers they'd fail and I knew it. And although my conscience wouldn't be pricked if these particular Custodians met their end out there, what if the city lost power? That would be disastrous for ten-thousand civilians, since we had no alternative power supply. All of the power stations had been destroyed during the war. Without electricity to provide lighting in the green houses, the town would only be able to generate a fraction of the food it needed.
"...we're pinned down here..."
"...fall back, fall back..."
"Put me with the lead squad and I'll take point," I offered.
"You think you can find Skel in the dark, do you, Jones?" the captain asked.
"...walked right into an ambush..."
"... my squad’s wiped out!..."
"Yes Sir, no question about it. I know how they operate."
"Sir, I believe he can. He had no problem locating David Chen when the Skel abducted him," King said, surprising me by confirming my abilities. Apparently, he didn't like the idea of fighting Skel in the dark without me.
Nanako pulled me away from the Custodians. “Why do you want to help them, Ethan, after what they just did to us? And you haven't recovered from your wound," she whispered fiercely as she clung to my arm.
I cupped her face in my hand and whispered back. “It's not for them. If I don't do this we may not have a town by morning.”
"Then I'm coming with you so I can watch your back."
"There's no way I'm gonna risk you out there," I declared, alarmed by the very thought of her trying to fight Skel ambushers in the dark.
"You don’t need to worry about me, Ethan. When we were in Hamamachi you taught me how to fight Skel. I have experience fighting them too. So I'm coming with you whether you like it or not. I just got you back and there's no way I'm letting you go out there against those things without my support."
I saw that arguing would get me nowhere so I nodded my consent, reminding myself that she was in the Hamamachi Militia – which was such a foreign concept to me.
The captain seemed to be weighing up his options, and finally said, "Okay Ethan, let's go. We'll kit you up with a vest and gun when we get to the barracks."
"I'm coming too," Nanako informed him as we hurried down the walkway towards the elevator.
Captain Smithson didn't even bat an eyelid with his speedy response. "Absolutely out of the question."
"Why, because I'm a woman?" she asked as she hurried to keep up with our longer strides.
"Fighting is men's business," he snapped back.
"Not in Hamamachi, Sir. All of our women serve in the Militia one month each year. I am experienced with Austeyr assault-rifles and have fought Skel and raiders both," she said as she stepped into the elevator with us and stared up into his face. "Besides, you need all the experienced fighters you can get."
“As much as it irks me to say this,” King butted in, “She’s right, Sir.”
The captain looked at King, and then back at Nanako. "Fine, you can kit up too then."
I glanced at King, expecting to see gratitude or relief in his countenance, but instead saw cunning anticipation. No doubt he was hoping the Skel would kill Nanako and rid him of a thorn in his side.