Chapter Text
The metal was burning hot even through his gloves.
“On three! One, two, three!”
Tougou heaved. The pillar was thirty foot long, being pushed by four men on his side, and hauled by four others on ropes from the front. His feet slipped on the dry, scrambled earth as he leant his shoulder into the steel pole. Pebbles scrabbled out from under his boots, skittering away.
There came creak, and then the pillar pulled away, rising high out of reach like the mast of a ship, sailing into the sky. Tougou shaded his eyes as he watched it pulled into place by the other team. With a thunk it hit the bottom of the hole dug for it. Another team hurried forward the moment it was in place, pouring wet cement into its base.
“Nice going!” A boisterous young man punched his shoulder. Tougou recoiled from it. He was hot and sticky, and not in the mood for quips and camaraderie.
“Okay, Alpha Team,” their captain said, “take five while we set this strut.”
Tougou did so gladly. The other seven men clustered together to chat and admire their handiwork. Tougou found himself a flat rock and deposited himself. He pulled off his helmet and knocked back water from his canteen. The young man from earlier broke away from the others, apparently to engage Tougou in conversation. Tougou regarded him with mild annoyance. Alexandersson. Alexandersson was trouble. Tougou wanted no part in anything he had to say. He looked decisively in the other direction, hoping the man would get the message. He did not.
“You got enough water there, Tougou?”
“Yep,” Tougou replied, still not looking at him.
“Pretty sweltering out here,” the young man said. He pulled off his helmet, shaking free a mane of sandy hair.
Tougou wished he hadn’t. His hair fell over his eyes artfully, and stuck up at all angles elsewhere, with a kind of magnetic chaos. It always drew the eye, like so many of Alexandersson’s antics. Tougou realised he’d been staring when he caught the smirk on Alexandersson’s face.
“At least it’s dry heat out here.” Alexandersson continued. He sat himself down on the rock next to Tougou. “Beats that humidity back in Japan. Your summers are crazy for it.”
“You’re not Japanese?” It felt stupid to say in retrospect: Alexandersson was sandy brown of hair with sea blue eyes, but he spoke the tongue like a native, so Tougou had always assumed. He mumbled awkwardly after, but Alexandersson only laughed. It was a nice laugh: genial, and not at all callous.
“Half. But it’s the Swedish weather that I grew up with. Luckily I can still get a nice cold winter if I head up north enough in Japan. You from that way?”
“No. Not really. Just central. Niigata.”
“You get snow?”
“Mm. Pretty often.”
“In Umeå we’d sometimes get a meter at Christmas. What I wouldn’t give for some snow right now!”
Tougou looked about them. There wasn’t a grain of moisture in sight. They were in a wide-bottomed basin of a dry valley – dusty blond cliffs rising on either side, all blocky and jagged, like they’d been stacked out of cut brick and stone. Clustered at the base of the cliffs was bright green foliage: tall grasses and the bristles of low palm trees. The floor of the valley though was swept clear, like someone had come through with a broom and cleared everything aside.
“So…” Alexandersson started again, disturbing Tougou from his musings on the barren landscape. “You think we’ll get the bridge finished today? I know the captain wants a siesta break this afternoon, but I reckon we can keep going. There’s clear skies for it, and there’s rain coming in from the north due to hit here tomorrow. I think we should push on.”
Everyone on Tougou’s team was well aware of what Alexandersson thought on a variety of different topics. He was always having thoughts, frequently differing from their orders. Tougou wasn’t sure why the man insisted on thinking for himself so much when they had a perfectly workable chain of command that was far more informed than they were.
“If the captain says we should rest during the heat of the day, then we should rest during the heat of the day,” Tougou intoned flatly.
“Sure, sure,” Alexandersson continued. “We don’t want to rush the bridge of course. Gotta make sure it’s well built, but conditions might be tough tomorrow. Maybe we should talk to the captain.”
“We?” Tougou didn’t trouble to hide the scathing note in that.
Alexandersson looked at him, a flicker of something that might have been hurt in his eye. It vanished in the next moment and he gave Tougou a grin.
“If you don’t ask, you’ll never know.”
“We have our orders,” Tougou said shortly.
When Alexandersson looked at him now, there was something incisive and cutting in his gaze, like he was analysing Tougou. Tougou looked away, he didn’t want to be scrutinised. He wanted to be left to his own devices, fulfilling the mundane work that had to be done before they were be shipped off to wherever HQ wanted them next.
Tougou stood. He swiped up his helmet and fitted it on, before starting to wander up the valley.
“Don’t go off alone, Tougou,” came Alexandersson’s voice. “The wilderness can be treacherous.”
Really, who did he think he was? Always offering his opinions and sticking his nose where it didn’t belong. Just because the man was good in the field, didn’t give him the right to lord it over everyone else. To Tougou’s irritation, he could hear boots following him.
“I want to be alone, Alexandersson,” he said coldly.
“No can do. Comrades need to stick together in foreign territory.”
He sounded so candid and enthusiastic all the time. Tougou wondered if this guy was one of the ones who’d signed up under the influence of all the impressive propaganda. To Tougou this was a job: a job with stability that gave him the excuse not to go home on holidays.
“Wait up, Tougou!”
Tougou didn’t wait up. In fact, the more he heard that cheerful voice, the more intent he became on dodging it. He stepped onto a rock, and then on up the slope beyond. Ahead, he saw a fallen log beneath a palm tree, nestled at the base of the steep cliff. He dipped behind an enormous boulder and trod lightly, concealing his footprints in the dust. He ducked into the palm’s shade and sat with his back to the log, hidden from view of the valley floor.
Finally, there was quiet. A flock of birds disturbed somewhere off on his left, and below, he could hear Alexandersson grunting as he sought to follow him. Tougou had a solid two minutes of peace before Alexandersson found him. He came huffing round the boulder, and deposited himself on the log next to Tougou.
“You clean vanished. Impressive.”
“Not well enough…” Tougou murmured.
“What’s with all this loner stuff anyway? Seems like a strange line of work to choose if you don’t like being in a team.”
That really pissed Tougou off.
“I like being in a team just fine,” he said coldly. “It’s you who can’t handle teamwork.”
Alexandersson looked down at him, surprised. Tougou glanced away, embarrassed at that outburst.
“You always flaunt the chain of command,” Tougou muttered.
To his annoyance, Alexandersson laughed.
“Only when the bosses are being idiotic. I’ll abide by the rules when they make some worth adhering too.” Alexandersson gave a mischievous grin. Tougou didn’t share it. “Kinda peaceful up here, isn’t it,” the young man said after only a few seconds of silence.
“It was,” Tougou ground out.
“And beautiful. Hey, look at that!”
Tougou followed where Alexandersson had pointed. A ream of dust was falling from the clifftop near them, spilling like fine sand in an hourglass. It had probably been dislodged by shifting rocks above them. Tougou scanned the lip of the cliff, checking for movement. Sure enough, he saw the figure of a small boy, silhouetted against the sun. Tougou sighed.
“A kid playing,” he gave. “Probably watching the bridge being built.”
The boy seemed to have spotted them however and was calling down to them now. His voice sounded urgent. He was pointing behind him.
“You understand him?” Alexandersson asked.
“No. Let it be, he’s probably just excited.”
“Could be urgent, or he might be in trouble.” Alexandersson stood and cupped his hands to his mouth. “You speak English?” he ask, switching to English to asked as much.
The boy only hopped up and down with more agitation, pointing.
“Huh,” Alexandersson said. “Your helmet’s on – check that for me, won’t you? He’s pointing towards the dust stream.”
Tougou quite wished to tell Alexandersson to put his own helmet back on, but instead he reluctantly complied. The Tekken Force issue helmets came with an internal electronic scope with some minor analysing power. He focused now on the dust as it skittered off the top of the cliff, shooting out through a smooth worn channel in the rock. Except it wasn’t just dust now, or perhaps it had never been.
“Water,” Tougou said. “Looks to be a small waterfall.”
Alexandersson glanced at him sharply.
“A waterfall? Wasn’t there a minute ago.”
Tougou shrugged. He did feel a faint sense of unease though. He stood.
“Probably just runoff from a nearby river, let’s head back down to the others.”
“There are no nearby rivers.”
“Hm?”
Alexandersson’s eyes were glued to the water spout.
“It’s dry for a hundred miles each direction, and it hasn’t rained in a month.”
“I’m not a geographer, Alexandersson, I don’t know what- holy-!”
Tougou stopped short in surprise. The spout of water roared dully and a stream began to pour down. It gushed over the clifftop in a jet, and kicked up a cloud of dust where it hit the valley floor.
“Inform the captain.”
Tougou didn’t even question the order. That sense of unease was rearing its head more firmly now. He touched the side of his helmet, opening a channel to the captain.
“Sir, this is Tougou. I’m with-”
“Get your ass down here, Tougou, I said five minutes not a vacation!”
“Sir, there’s an unexpected stream of water flowing down the cliff into the valley.”
“Most likely a burst pipe from the ironworks up the road. Have you seen Alexandersson?”
“Yes, sir, he’s with me.”
The captain tutted in annoyance.
“Get down here before I write the both of you up,” he snapped.
Tougou closed the channel, frustrated now. He was a model soldier. The captain hadn’t even so much as looked his way in weeks, and now he was at risk of a warning thanks to-
“I’m worried. Let’s move. Tell the captain to evacuate the valley,” Alexandersson said.
“You tell him,” Tougou snapped. It wasn’t like him to lose his temper. It wasn’t like him to show any emotion at all, in fact. Alexandersson had wrung an unusual amount from him in just the last quarter of an hour.
There came a cracking sound from above. Tougou glanced up, and saw a tree moving. He froze where he stood. The tree seemed to be walking along the clifftop. It moved with a slow grace, until it neared the spout where water was pouring down the cliff face. The tree tilted. Its boughs cracked, and suddenly it was tumbling, plummeting into the valley. There was a crash as it hit the ground, and abruptly water was gushing down from above in droves, hissing as it funnelled through the rocks to roar over the edge. The little boy was still dancing frantically up there motioning now with his hands for them to go.
“Oh!” Tougou exclaimed.
Before he could fully comprehend anything more, Alexandersson had seized his wrist and was dragging him back down the valley.
“Wait, we won’t make it!” Tougou cried.
“Of course we will,” Alexandersson said. That cheerfulness was gone from him, and only a hard practicality was left.
“No, I mean, we’re uphill here – further up the valley and the bank, it’s foolish to head down, and the water’s between us and them!”
Tougou broke free of Alexandersson’s hold and scrambled onto the boulder. He touched his helmet.
“Captain! This is Tougou. There’s a flood coming in your direction, vacate the valley now!”
“I thought I told you to get your ass down here, soldier?!”
“North east of your position!”
There was a moment’s pause on the other end of the channel, then it went dead. From his vantage point on the boulder, Tougou could see the captain throwing his arms as he gave orders, and the other men darting about in response. Alexandersson joined Tougou on the boulder.
“Idiots,” he hissed under his breath. “They should have listened when we first told them to go.”
Tougou had no time to respond to that. Above them, water was streaming through multiple gulleys. Curtains of brown water cascaded down, plunging into the valley. A slow push of water had begun to swell and spread below, snaking between the dry stones to roll up the dust and carry it sliding as a great tongue of mud, spreading down the slope. There came a boom like a low peal of thunder, and, abruptly, the side of the cliff face shifted. It slid at first, then collapsed. The earth trembled when it fell, and a dust cloud burst up into the sky. Mud splattered up the side of the cliff and over everything nearby.
“We have to move,” Tougou said. “Further up the valley, come on.”
“Not until I can see the team are safe.”
“They have the captain with them, he’ll lead them to higher ground.”
“I’m not running like a coward,” Alexandersson snapped.
Tougou stared at him.
Thick brown water was rolling over the clifftop. It swelled in pockets in the valley floor, and then began to sweep up everything in its path, tugging down the low foliage, and soon the palm trees. He saw trunks uprooted and carried in that lethargic, powerful swell.
“Then you can die like a fool.”
Something squealed then – it was a high pitched scream of metal. Tougou looked on in horror as the bridge strut with its still wet concrete foundation, bent, tipped, ripped, then came crashing down into the water with an almighty splash. Tougou grabbed Alexandersson’s wrist. He pointed. Near their boulder were the first trickles of spilling water. Alexandersson finally nodded, and the two of them sprung away, running up the valley.
Tougou was panting in his helmet, not stopping to look behind him.
“Tougou!”
He stopped when Alexandersson called to him. The man had paused and was looking down the valley. The steely glimmer of the water was spreading as a mass behind them. From here, they could see the nose of the flood pushing down the valley away from them. It sounded like a low roar from here.
“It’s headed west. We’re on higher ground here. I don’t think it will back up to us. We should find shelter on higher ground though.”
Tougou nodded. He touched his radio comms on again.
“Captain, this is Tougou, come in.”
There was silence. After a long moment, just after Tougou was starting to worry, the channel crackled.
“Tougou. Tell me you and Alexandersson are clear of the water.”
“Yes, sir. We’re upstream though. Do you have a recommended course for rendezvous?”
“Negative. The battalion made it up the steps in time, but the water’s at the base of them now. You’ll have to sit tight for an air extraction, or wait out the flood.”
Tougou’s expression flickered with worry.
“… How long ‘til extraction?”
“I don’t know. Chopper isn’t in range. They weren’t expecting us to need them, and the weather’s not meant to be good tomorrow.”
“I’ve got half a canteen of water and next to no rations.”
“Then you’ll have to put some of that survival training into practice. You’re cut off. Keep in contact. I have a mess of my own to handle. We lost the bridge and all its parts. Command won’t be happy.”
Tougou stood still. Alexandersson was looking to him. He still didn’t have his helmet on, Tougou realised. He didn’t see it in his hand either.
“Where’s your helmet?”
Alexandersson shrugged. He made a vague gesture to the floodwater.
“That has your comms and scope in it!”
Alexandersson shrugged again.
“We’ve got yours. I don’t like it anyway.”
“You don’t like it?”
“Feels suffocating. And it messes up my hair.”
Tougou sighed. Of all the people to get stuck out here with.
“We’re on our own. Extraction might not be til tomorrow or the day after.”
To Tougou’s great consternation, Alexandersson’s face lit up with excitement.
“Neat,” he said. “I’ve been meaning to put my survival training into practice. Come on then. We best start scouting the area.”
Tougou reluctantly followed him as he set off. His pace was far too exuberant for the heat of the day and the direness of their situation.
“It’s coming on to midday,” Tougou called to him. “We should find somewhere to rest through the heat.”
“Captain’s not on our tail now. We can push on.”
Tougou felt himself hissing softly through his teeth. Alexandersson was looking about them nonchalantly, like they were mid camping trip, and not catastrophe. The chasm they were in was steep sided with little cover. It sloped gradually eastward, and was barren and dry.
“Steer clear of that north cliff,” Alexandersson said. He’d slowed his pace, Tougou realised, and was next to him now. “Flash floods are unpredictable. We don’t know what’s happening up there and the water could divert at any moment to where we are.”
“Know a lot about situation’s like this?” Tougou asked, keeping the needling tone of his voice only just inflected.
“Not in these settings, but they’re pretty common during glacial melts. Mostly you just have to keep an eye on where the lowest ground is, and the route potential water might take to get there. Unfortunately, it looks like this is probably the lowest ground for miles. We should keep an escape route in mind at all times.” Alexandersson pointed to the south side of the valley. “Keep an eye on hand and foot holds on that cliff. We might end up clinging to it while waiting out our rescue.”
Tougou quieted. He felt a small twist of shame at underestimating his comrade.
“And there I thought you were only good for bulldozing into the enemy,” he murmured.
Alexandersson raised an eyebrow.
“You notice me on the field?”
“Who couldn’t?!” Tougou said before he could help himself. Alexandersson’s eyebrows climbed higher. “You’re a machine out there. Everyone’s always worrying for you.”
“They are? First I’ve heard of it.”
Tougou’s heard beat a little faster.
“I mean, you’re reckless. People always have to cover you when you barrel in like that.”
“Do you cover for me?”
Tougou glanced away.
“This isn’t about me. I’m just saying you should be more cautious.”
“Why? We win conflicts that way.”
“It’s not just about winning. It’s dangerous.”
Alexandersson grinned.
“I’m touched that you care so much about my wellbeing.”
Tougou scowled then and fell into silence. It was embarrassing to admit that he spent so much of his time looking out for this man’s back when the guy had barely noticed him before. He occupied a large portion of Tougou’s waking thoughts, while nothing much at all seemed to occupy this guy’s thoughts in turn. Except apparently a decent knowledge of flashfloods…
“Check the north cliff with your visor. Keep your eye on it and tell me if you see any movement.”
It was a sound request, especially since Tougou was the only one with the equipment to do it, but it was still annoying to take an order from an equal.
“Roger,” he said flatly.
“The name’s Lars, actually.”
Tougou gave Alexandersson the most deadpan expression, though he realised his helmet obscured most of it. Alexandersson only grinned back.
The cliff line remained stable from what Tougou could see of it. They’d been walking for near an hour up the chasm, with Alexandersson keeping an eye on potential spots of relative safety, or an opportunity to scale the cliffs. Tougou could feel his armour heating up. Within, it was sticky and hot. He thought about taking a sip from his canteen, but he had no idea how long he’d have to be out here and how far he had to make that water go. He could feel himself flagging, while Alexandersson made no sign of letting up. He thought about asking for a break, but Alexandersson had already made his thoughts on siestas amply known. Tougou didn’t want to appear like the weak link next to him.
By two P.M. Tougou felt dizzy. He was sweating so hard that it felt like his suit was filled with water, all the while his tongue felt thick and dry. It stuck to the roof of his mouth, and all he could think about was his water canteen.
“Are you keeping an eye on that north cliff?” Alexandersson asked.
Tougou felt a pang of guilt. He hadn’t in some while. He turned his helmet vaguely to the cliff. The electronic display in his helmet picked out the important features, giving him a simple readout.
“All good,” he croaked. He stumbled, slipping while his vision was turned from his path.
Alexandersson looked back at him. He was a good few paces ahead, tireless.
“You good?”
Tougou gave him a thumbs up, not trusting his voice.
As they pushed on, the valley floor became rockier. Alexandersson leapt easily from boulder to boulder. Tougou had a much harder time of it. He was dizzy now, and apparently had no more sweat left to sweat. When he reached to grasp the corner of a boulder, he was hyperaware of his own hand – of the texture on his glove, the red plating on its back, the way his fingers grasped at the stone. He breathed heavily through his mask filter and pulled himself tall. He placed his next step, leant his weight onto it, and suddenly the world was falling. His foot slipped between two rocks and his ankle twisted. Pain lanced up his leg, blinding him for an instant. In the next, he was just hissing in pain, curling his fists tight as he tried to shift his weight from the pain.
Alexandersson was next to him the moment he heard him cry aloud.
“You okay?”
“Yep,” Tougou said, pain shooting through the word.
“Gimme your hand.”
Tougou took it, and Alexandersson hauled him up. He stood precariously now on one leg, unwilling to put weight on it.
“Just… need a moment,” Tougou said through gritted teeth. “Help me sit down.”
“Not here,” Alexandersson said. “Let’s head to the side, just in case. Need a hand?”
Tougou very badly wanted to say no. Right now he wasn’t sure he’d make it a step though, especially on this terrain. He was silent in response. Alexandersson tilted his head, one eyebrow quirking up. He came up beside Tougou.
“Put your arm over my shoulder.”
Tougou reluctantly did. When he tried to set his foot down, pain glanced sharp and spiking right up his leg. He paused again, breathing heavily.
“I got you,” Alexandersson murmured, “Come on, it’s not far.”
Tougou hobbled forward, doing his best to set his teeth together hard and make no sound as he struggled on. Alexandersson got them up the bank to the base of the south cliff, and helped Tougou sit down with his back to it. It was all Tougou could do to restrict his pain to his hidden facial expressions and supress the faint whimper walking on it wanted to tear from him.
“Let’s check that leg,” Alexandersson said softly.
“You take it out that boot, it’ll swell up like a grape and never go back in,” Tougou ground out.
“Let it swell. The constriction won’t do it any good anyway.”
Tougou wasn’t so sure about that, but he was too tired to remember much from first aid training and too exhausted to argue. He reached for his canteen. He tugged off his helmet and took a small sip from it. It was barely enough to wet his parched lips. He exhaled heavily and swallowed. Despair was settled in his soul. They were miles from help, his ankle hurt like hell, they had hardly any water, and there was still a flood risk.
“I’ll take care of us,” Alexandersson said in that gentle tone Tougou hadn’t bothered to protest. He was crouched on his haunches a pace away, keen blue eyes fixed to Tougou. Tougou didn’t look at him.
“Didn’t you say it would rain tomorrow? Won’t there be another flood risk?”
Alexandersson glanced up at the long strip of sky above them.
“Quite possibly,” he admitted.
Tougou let his head flop back, then winced when it hit an angle of rock.
“Let me see to your leg,” Alexandersson said.
“I can do it myself.”
A moment of reaching though, and it became apparent that Tougou couldn’t. Frustration and helplessness were building within him as Alexandersson slowly undid the straps on his boot and pulled it off. Tougou’s ankle was a welt of swelling purple, globulous and rising fast in its unconstructed freedom.
“Nasty,” Alexandersson murmured.
Tougou watched as Alexandersson took off his gloves. There was a faint panic in his chest now. He swallowed as he watched those careful hands lift his leg to inspect the injury. Alexandersson’s touch was tender, fingertips barely brushing his skin.
“How’s your range of motion?” Alexandersson’s voice sounded far away.
“Huh?”
“Your foot, can you rotate it?”
Tougou did so for him, wincing a little. Alexandersson asked something else. He was crouched right next to him, but for some reason he sounded further away still.
“Hm?” Tougou squinted at him.
He felt Alexandersson’s hand come to his forehead. It felt cool, comforting. Tougou wondered how he managed to keep so cool. It was so hot.