All You Need Is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka Read Free Book Online Page B

You watch. I’ll bring the hardest workin’ men in the 17th.”
    “Kiriya! Quit standin’ around like a scarecrow and get your butt over to the infirmary! You’re excused from today’s PT.”
    “PT? Who said anything about PT?”
    “I did. Someone stepped in a knee-deep pile of pig shit in the PX last night. Now that may not have anything to do with you, but nevertheless, at oh-nine-hundred, you’re going to assemble at the No. 1 Training Field in your fourth-tier equipment for Physical Training.”
    “You gotta be kidding! We’re goin’ into battle tomorrow, and you’re sending us off for PT?”
    “That’s an order, Corporal.”
    “Sir, we’ll report to the No. 1 Training Field at oh-nine-hundred in full fourth-tier equipment, sir! But one thing, Sarge. We been doin’ that liquor raid for years. Why give us a hard time about it now?”
    “You really want to know?” Ferrell rolled his eyes.
    Leaving the conversation I’d heard before behind, I escaped to the infirmary.
    6
    I was standing at the gate that divided the base from the outside world. The guard who checked my ID raised his eyebrows doubtfully.
    There was an extra layer of security on the base thanks to the U.S. crew’s visit. Although the Japanese Corps oversaw general base security, the balance of power with the U.S. prevented them from interfering with anything under U.S. jurisdiction. Luckily, U.S. security didn’t have any interest in anyone that wasn’t one of their own.
    Without leave papers from a commanding officer, Keiji Kiriya wasn’t getting off the base. But the U.S. soldiers could come and go as they pleased, and all they had to do was flash an ID. Everyone used the same gate, so if I got an American guard, he might let me through, no questions asked. All they cared about was keeping undesirables away from their precious Special Forces squad. A recruit trying to go AWOL wasn’t likely to catch their eye.
    The guard must not have seen many Japanese ID cards, because he stared at mine for a long time. The machine that checked IDs just logged who passed through the gate. No need to panic. Why would they change the system up the day before an attack? The muscles in my stomach tensed. The guard was looking back and forth between me and my card, comparing the blurry picture with my face.
    The cut on my temple burned. The sawbones who tended to me in the infirmary gave me three stitches without any painkiller. Now it was sending searing bolts of electricity shooting through my body. The bones in my knee creaked.
    I was unarmed. I missed my knife, warm and snug under my pillow. If I had it with me, I could lock this guy in a half nelson and—thinking like that wasn’t going to get me anywhere. I stretched my back. Gotta stay cool. If he stares at you, stare right back.
    Stifling a yawn, the guard pressed the button to open the gate. The doorway to freedom creaked open.
    I turned slowly to look back as I slipped past the yellow bar. There, in the distance, was the training field. The sea breeze, heavy with the scent of the ocean, blew across the field toward the gate. On the other side of the fence, soldiers the size of ants performed tiny, miniature squats. They were the soldiers I’d eaten with and trained with. They were my friends in the 17th. I swallowed the nostalgia that rose up in me. I walked, unhurried, the moist wind blowing against my body. Keep walking until you’re out of sight of the guard. Don’t run. Just a little farther. Turn the corner. I broke into a sprint.
    Once I started running, I didn’t stop.
    It was fifteen klicks from the base to Tateyama, a nearby entertainment district. Even if I took a roundabout route, it would be twenty klicks at most. Once I was there, I could change my clothes and lay in the supplies I needed. I couldn’t risk trains or the highway, but once I hit Chiba City I would be home free. Neither the army nor the police stuck their noses in the underground malls-turned-slums there.
    It