Corpse March

Chapter 40 A Hot Wind Blowing

Time ticks away on the clock on the wall. Asuka sits on the ground like a broken puppet, deaf to the sound. Her eyes are fixed straight ahead, locked onto the clock face.

A tick. This emptiness that is not the same as nothingness. Even though she was supposed to be saved, all she could wish for was the blissful nothingness that used to envelop her. 

A tick. For someone like her, living is… painful. It is sad but it is true. Living is… cruel. It is strange but it is true. All there are are these fields. She works them every day, planting endless rows upon rows of rice. She works them until her hands and feet grow sore. She works them with the endless rows of people working them as well. All of them are no better than cattle, content working these fields till the day they die. Though, Asuka supposes that she must be even worse for thinking so. 

A tick. One day, it came. An opportunity for something more. A girl with a strange mask arrived on the farms. She offered everyone there a way out of this place. Most didn’t listen. But Asuka took the bait with her heart and soul. She signed up to be a part of Takakumo’s military. 

A tick. That’s where the girl introduced herself as Gertrud, and that the three others in the car were Kiko, Eliza, and Rika. They all fawned over Asuka, the youngest of the group, giving her anything she could want. But most importantly, they gave her family. 

A tick. But after everything, nothing has changed at all. Every reason she’s had to be happy that she’s alive, she’s lost. All those memories, all her comrades, everything, they’re all gone. This world no longer has any place left for her.

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“Asuka?”

“...”

“Asukaaaaa…?”

“Mmmm…?”

“It’s your turn!”

Slowly, murky sunlight slips begins to seep through Asuka’s eyelids. When she opens her eyes, she’s greeted by a group of dead women. Though, none of them know it yet. They’re still smiling and laughing as they take turns placing cards onto an ever-growing pile. 

“Aaaaand, that’s another win for Asuka.”

“Are we sure that you’re not cheating?”

“I’m not, I’m not.” Asuka shakes her head as casually as she can. “Promise.”

She’s lying through her teeth. No way she’s playing this game fairly. Not when they fall for the card-in-the-sleeve trick every time. Asuka laughs, joy cresting her face. Real joy, pure, innocent and fragile. But right now, she couldn’t care less. For now, Theta Squad– her squad– are all here. And that’s enough. 

“Anyway, it’s getting late.” 

Something clicks inside of Asuka, like the hammer of a gun being cocked. She has to say something. 

“Yeah, it’s almost time for deployment.” But she says something else. Don’t go. Someone inside of her screams out. Please don’t go. But she’s been trapped in this dream enough times to know that there’s no point. Even if she cries or screams or begs them, they leave anyway. So she simply sits there and watches, helpless, worthless. 

One by one, Gertrud, Eliza, Kiko, and Rika step out the door for the very last time until only Asuka’s left. Then she too steps outside. Into the nightmare.

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Operation Hemelvurr. The plan was simple. Or it was supposed to be, anyway. Theta Squad intercepts the Monarchian transport heading straight for the Neo Magical Academy and clears it of hostiles. It’s a mission that every Deathless has conducted at least once in their lives. And in the case of Theta squad, this should be their fifth. It was also their last. 

The transport was a trap– completely empty. The Monarchs blindsided Theta Squad with a torrent of hellfire. Bolts of light ripped through the canopy to find their mark. Asuka and Rika barely managed to spot them as they came. The others weren’t so lucky. Kiko took a shot to the stomach, Eliza lost a leg, and Gertrud would have to be buried later.

Four girls, trapped in a cave. With only this near barren stretch of land separating them from where the Monarchs are hiding. Asuka took a few potshots at the few she can see. But no matter how many she shot down, more just kept coming. 

When their scant rations ran out, they had to make do with the silverfish and the centipedes that call this place their home. Cobbled together leaf blankets tried in vain to keep even the smallest fraction of the cold out. Every night they fell asleep shivering from the cold, from hunger, from fear. 

Eliza is the second to go. They tried to staunch the bleeding. Applying layer after layer of bandage. Tying down the stump to stop the blood from flowing. But it was no use. On the fourth day, the others woke up, tried to change her bandages, then half-way through, realized that she had stopped breathing. 

Kiko is the third to pass. Sepsis found refuge in her wound. Day and night she would grit her teeth non stop from the pain. She told the others she was dying. She begged them to get help. And time and time again, they would tell her that there was no way out. On the tenth day, she died. She didn’t have any last words. No fanfare, no blaze of glory, nothing. She died like a dog. 

Then it was just Rika. She said she would go and get help, and that nothing was going to stop her from trying. It was plain to see that at this point that Rika might very much have gone insane. Maybe it was the two weeks of starvation. Maybe it was being trapped in the same room as her closest friends’ three graves. Maybe if Asuka had even the smallest drop of conviction more, she would have been able to convince her not to go. But she didn’t. And Rika did. The instant she peeked her head out, a bolt of light split her skull in two. 

Then it was just Asuka. Her and those four graves. Eventually, when she grew too hungry, she had to dig out those graves and eat the corpses. She hates herself. For not tying Eliza’s tourniquet tight enough. For not cleaning out Kiko’s wound enough. For not convincing Rika hard enough to stay here. With every bite she had to take, she hated herself more and more. Until eating became too painful. 

Then, about two months into the nightmare, she heard a voice. 

“Hey there.”

A girl stood at the cave’s opening. 

“Are you alright?”

Her voice is soothing but not without an air of authority. Asuka thought she was a Monarch at first, but then she realizes that she’s still alive so that’s probably untrue. 

“W… wat–er…”

The rainfall sustained her for the first month, but a single dry spell put her inches from death. Without hesitating, the girl takes out a water canteen and places it between Asuka’s lips. It tastes sharp, like electricity’s dancing in her mouth, rushing down her throat, filling her stomach, jumpstarting her brain, restarting her heart. Somehow, she starts to feel alive again. 

“You must be hungry.”

She waves at someone out of sight. Tan skin dances at the edge of her vision before disappearing. Asuka wants to turn her head, give thanks, but even that she no longer has enough life in her body for.

“Here. Something to eat.”

The girl holds a slice of bread to her face. Weakly, shakily, Asuka opens her mouth and takes a bite. Chewing is a herculean task, but her drive just to survive forces her jaw up and down.

“My name is Tsumugi Tsubame. The Monarchs are gone. You’re safe now.”  

“Th… Thank you.”

Tsumugi hugs Asuka tightly. She’s thankful for that, at least. Otherwise, she’d see the tears in her eyes. 

“Thank you.” 

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“One day, I’ll build an orphanage in this city. It’ll be filled with little children, free from the fields, free from the Monarchs, free from having to fight. They’ll all laugh and sing happily now that their feet don’t have to be sore from planting rice all day. And when I bring them toys that we’ve found in the outside world, they’ll call me ‘Auntie Tsumugi’. You can join them then.”

Asuka took a sip of her tea as she listened to Tsumugi speak. 

“How does that sound, Asuka?”

“It sounds nice, my lady.” 

“You don’t have to call me that.”

“Very well, my lady.”

Tsumugi chuckled to herself. “Until then, I want you to help me.”

“Of course. I’m willing to lay down my life–”

“N– no! Nothing like that! I just… need someone to show my troops that war is serious business. You’ll be a lieutenant of mine. As someone who’s come so close to death, I want you to teach them not to throw away their lives. That they’re more than just soldiers..”

“But we are just soldiers.”

Asuka said it without pain, without remorse.

“Our duty is to die–” Otherwise, why else would they have died? Their deaths… She refuses to believe that they were in vain. They must have had some purpose, even if that purpose escapes her.

She still remembers that pain. The pain of being slapped across the face by someone as gentle as Tsumugi. There were shiny streaks on Tsumugi’s face. It was only after a moment that Asuka realized that they were tear stains.

“Don’t say that. Don’t ever say that. You can fight as much as you want, but you’re not just expendable. Not to me. Not to anyone else.” 

“...I don’t understand.”

“Fine, then. Come here. Lay your head down on my lap.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Asuka does so without question or complaint. 

“I sense a powerful Gift within you. One that’s meant to uncover what’s been hidden away. The Gift of ‘clarity’.  I’m going to unlock it, okay? In return, I want you to find it– a reason to keep living. Can you do that for me?”

“...”

“Can you do that for me, Asuka?”

“I will do my best.”

“Good. It’s a contract, then.” In return for an impossible task, Asuka received her ‘Gift’. A special ability that lays dormant within everyone until it’s awakened should a councilor will it to. Where would she even begin? To her past where nothing is left? Or to her future where nothing is promised? The question follows her as she ascends to wakefulness. 

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“Number 37!”

Asuka sees the interior of her jail cell before she even opens her eyes. Such is the nature of her Gift. She lets her eyes stay shut for a moment as last night’s dream slips back into her subconscious. When the Disciplinary Committee member starts banging on her jail cell door, that’s when she finally gets out of bed. 

“What is it?”

“You’re up for release.”