While the men were by the outhouse, Mrs. Tomo was making her way inside to check on Ishmael. After hearing what had happened, all of the Tomo's came to assist the young household.

There was a gentle knock at the door. Ishmael was done with her bath and had washed her hair to get even more blood off of her. Thinking it was Sean or Seo, Ishmael opened the door slowly only to be met with a kind face and smile.

Mrs. Tomo helped Ishmael upstairs and gave her something to help her sleep. The elder woman told her not to worry about the food she had on the fire, she would take care of it. Ishmael thanked her and gave her a hug. The Tomo's were quickly becoming the grandparents she never had. Whatever Mrs. Tomo gave her, did the trick as she was soon fast asleep.

Kenji, one of the Tomo elders, quickly grabbed a nearby tarp and laid it on one of the larger bike carts as the men neared the house. Seo went to check on Ishmael but Abe told him that she was fine and pointed to the bbq area where his wife was tending to the meal. The men quietly headed out of the gate on their bikes towards the area to dispose of the body. Sean had given Abe his head lamp and adjusted it to the brightest setting as the sun had already set. Riding, no one spoke and the darkness helped disguise all the blood Seo had on him.

Seo carried his friend's body on one of the larger bike carts they had. He still couldn't believe that not only had Ito made it out of Tokyo, but that he had made it to the house, snuck onto the property and once again targeted Ishmael. The man he once considered his best friend had now become his enemy and was dead.

Mrs. Tomo inhaled the wonderful aroma of the soup after lifting the lid from the large ceramic pot. She added the chopped vegetables from the kitchen and gave the steaming contents a stir, tasting it to see if it needed anything extra. She was indeed impressed with the young woman's cooking skills, especially for a foreigner.  Mrs. Tomo started some rice to go along with the soup, the late dinner would be ready when the men returned.

Mr. Tomo took them to an area a couple of miles outside of town and off on a small side road. Even though the area was open, this particular section was separated from the rest of it, a large circle of stones lining the outside of a shallow, darkened pit. In the bottom of it were large logs. This is where they burned the bodies of the deceased.

"The elders of both towns decided this was the best way to dispose of the dead. Most of us are old; digging a grave would take us too long. Cremation was the only viable option for times such as these."  Abe Tomo parked his bike off to the side. 

Seo had remained quiet as he processed everything and the fact that he was about to burn the body of his best friend and worst enemy. Abe went to what looked like a small cooler type box and took out a folded white sheet. He returned to the cart and had the men wrap Ito's body in it, tying it closed at the head and feet. Abe returned to the pit and dosed the logs in gasoline.

"Place the body into the pit." 

The young men did as Abe asked and carefully lifted Ito's body off of the cart. A cell phone fell out, but they just left it for now. Body in the pit, Abe poured more of the liquid fuel over the funeral wrappings.

"Does anyone have anything to say?"

The group remained silent. Next moment, a lit match was tossed into the pit; flames shooting towards the sky. Seo turned and walked back to his bike that was used to transport Ito's body. He gathered the bloody tarp and tossed it in with the body. Seo picked up the cell phone and pushed a button to see if it would at least turn on. It did. The phone was a newer, high end satellite phone with a cracked screen, probably from his fight with Ishmael.

The ride back to the house was equally quiet, the night dark and the hour wearing on. They were all glad to be back home. Walking inside, no one was surprised that Seo went straight to his room to check on Ishmael. She was asleep of course and with a kiss to the side of her head, he went back downstairs after changing his clothes. The Tomo's were going to leave but they guys invited them to stay for dinner. They could keep the headlamp to help guide them home.

The Elders thanked them for dinner and would see them in the morning. As the guys sat at the table. Sean went to the fridge and handed out ice cold beers.

"We have beer?" Haru welcomed the cold beverage.

"Me and Kim found them in the garage while cleaning."

Seo, who had been checking Ito's phone, suddenly tossed it on the table and stormed out of the house. Seong picked it up and scrolled through the messages.

"Oh my God..."

"What!?" Sean knew that whatever upset Seo even more, had to deal with Ishmael.

"Ito managed to 'acquire' him and Miko these satellite phones. Apparently Ito met with Yamato before the outage and it didn't go well at all. Yamato mentioned something about Seo bowing out and for some reason both Ito and Miko blamed Seo for the botched deal. Yamato bragged about spreading word of Ito's incompetence and they wanted to ruin Seo and his business. Ito evidently found out about us coming here for the retreat and figured Ishmael and Seo were together."

"How did he find that out?!"

"He has an office in the building we're in. He overheard Min telling one of the other ladies about our group gathering. Ito knows that if things get too bad, Seo will always return to his parents house in Chiba. Miko jokingly suggested killing him. Seems Ito took her advice." Seong continued to scroll through the messages. "He went to Seo's apt, not finding him there he figured he was here. Ito paid some soldiers off to allow him to leave Tokyo. Ito had been staying around the caretaker's cabin watching us since he got to town the other day."

"That explains things, wonder how Ito got satellite phones?"

"Probably from some black market dealer he knows. Ito was into some pretty shady shit; another reason Joon wanted to distance himself from him. You can see where Miko asks if he's made it. When he saw that Ishmael was alone he must have thought it was just an added bonus and that she would be an easy target."

Kim had a frown on his face as Seo walked back into the house with a look that only Satan himself could pull off and returned to what was left of his beer. After a few minutes he had calmed down again. "Thanks guys for your help with Ito."

"Of course, we're family man." Seong offered up a smile as he squeezed Seo's shoulder. The men had hoped the rest of the evening would be a quiet one but that was not the case as one of their satellite phones started ringing from the couch. Retrieving it, Sean saw 4 missed calls.

"Shit..."

"What?"

"It's our folks. They've called like five times" Sitting back at the table Sean reluctantly answered the call. "Hey mom."

"Sean, we've tried calling earlier. Is everything okay?!"

"No mom. We had an incident at the house."

"Oh my god! JOHN! Come quick!"
"What?"
"Something's happened with the kids!"
"Jesus! Is everyplace going to shit?!" 

They could hear the parents fussing in the background when Mr. Thompson took the phone.

"Sean talk to me."

Sean was taking a deep breath to compose himself. Seo let him know he would tell them. "Mr. Thompson this is Joon...Ishmael..." Seo had to take a deep breath also. "Ishmael killed someone."

"Oh....dear....god."

"John what is it!?"

"Ishmael killed someone."

"WHAT!? MENG XIAO TIAN YOU START TALKING RIGHT NOW!!!"

"First of all, she's fine mom. Mrs. Tomo gave her something to help her sleep."

"Mr/Mrs Thomspon. She was attacked by the outhouse by someone that used to work with us. He...he had a knife so it was self defense."

"She didn't get hurt did she?"

"No. Just shaken up."

"Jesus Christ..."

"Boys, sorry John needs a minute. How are the rest of you doing?"

"We are doing alright Mrs. Thompson. It will take us a minute to get over things but we'll be fine."

"I know you will Joon. I'm so glad John stressed you two learning self defense Sean."

"Me too mom. I don't want to even think what could have happened if Ishmael wasn't able to defend herself. Especially since he had a weapon."

"Yeah, hold on John is back."

"You guys take care of the body?"

"Yes, sir. It was burned. The Tomo's helped us. There's a place that the elders set up to handle the dead."

"Do you know how he was able to get out of Tokyo? I thought everything was locked down?"

"It is sir, we found his phone. According to the messages on it, he paid off some of the soldiers to make his way out."

"Why was he there?" Again all the guys looked at each other, hesitating to tell her parents everything. "Joon? Sean? Haru? Someone say something. Why was he there?!"

"He was here to kill me i think. He wanted revenge and blamed me for some failed business deal. He came across Ishmael and thought she would be an easy target... I don't know what he thought that would do."

"Jesus Christ. We'll, he picked the wrong person to mess with."

"Yes sir he did."

"Where is she now?"

"Mrs Tomo gave her something so she could rest, hopefully she sleeps through the night."

"Okay, good. You guys need to shore up the perimeter. If he could get in, so can others."

"We will, we're going into the next town tomorrow for more supplies. Ishmael is coming with us."

"Alright. Well, hopefully you won't have to deal with anything like that again. I pray you don't."

"So do we Pops!"

Call ended, everyone called it a night.

Seo walked into their room. She hadn't moved since the last time he checked in on her.