text: [Themes: horror, post-apocalyptic, action, horror]
  
  It took six readings of Dr. Blythe's email for the implications of what he wrote to really sink in. I couldn't remember a time when he wasn't messaging me incessantly about some new opportunity, whether it be a boring ass conference, or a small protest in the middle of downtown St. Louis. What exactly did he expect me to take pictures of at a conference? So I scanned the email absentmindedly until the word "Japan" flickered across the screen, and then I stopped.
  
  Japan was arguably the world's biggest mistake. Ravaged by the events of World War Two after they'd bombed Pearl Harbor, they stood on the brink of total annihilation, with their children standing boldly on the front lines, manning turrets. Rather than give in to the west, they'd done the unspeakable, but that would not stop the United States from dropping the deadliest weapon in human history on them, twice. Japan grieved in silence over the loss of their civilians, but would not give in. A mere week and a half later, the United States returned having tested their weapon, but this time with an entire fleet of bomb dropping B-29 Superfortresses. Japan would become a smoking, radioactive hellscape within the next four days, ending World War Two.
  
  As an anti-war advocate and photographer for Webster University's bi-monthly news feed, these facts came running back to me the instant I caught mention of Japan in Dr. Blythe's email. Naturally, I scrolled up and started again.
  
  J. Sutton,
  
  You're not going to believe what just came up. I was attending a conference today with Ogasawara Katsuo (by the way, I told you to show up, and this is exactly goddamn why) the guy we talked to last October about the expedition into Mongolia. Apparently the no-entry date into Japan expired last week, and while it's still incredibly irradiated, sections of it are no longer closed off completely to the public. One of his buddies' old homes is located in one of these zones, so they've been working on a new expedition. This might be the first time someone's actually set foot in the place in decades! I had to cash in a few favors with the guy, but it seems he's on board with what we're doing. I got us both a spot on his trip, six men, one tugboat. It'll take about two or three days to get there, but we can't let this opportunity slip. We could be on the forefront of... scratch that... you could be on the forefront of new footage from Japan. They're flying out May 17th, so be ready.
  
  Professor of Political History
  
  Dr. Blythe
  
  After I was done reading it the sixth time I was on my feet, gripping the back of my leather computer chair, trying not to get too excited. This wasn't the first time Dr. Blythe had gotten my hopes up. Not two months ago he had sent me a similar email about an "expedition" to Scotland, and I hadn't figured out it was a trip to the Smithsonian library until I was already halfway there on the Greyhound and had already endured several hours of his experimental bagpipe phase. And even more embarrassingly before that he had stirred up a frenzy over a trip to Nigeria, only to reveal to our entire team we were to meet Prince Masinga Mbeki once we got there. So I wasn't exactly keen on trusting him here, but I had met Ogasawara before, and he seemed like exactly the kind of crazy son-of-a-bitch to do something like this.
  
  I logged out of my computer and set my mind at ease with a cup of honey vanilla chamomile tea. There had been footage of Japan before, sure. Aerial shots and offshore photo-shoots, but never something this personal. I went to sleep with pleasant thoughts swimming in my head; this next month was about to become the busiest of my life.
  
  [Author's Note: My entry for Gower's Contest: Battle in the Ruins of a Dead Civilization Explore the not-so-uninhabited ruins of Japan, after it had been completely annihilated in World War Two. Fifty years later, the travel ban is lifted, and James and his crew may be the first people to get a peek into this relic of a country. However, expect the unexpected, for James and his crew are not the only residents of the Land of the Setting Sun! Hope y'all enjoy it! Please leave a comment, any feedback would be much appreciated! V.2 - 183% less POV and tense errors, partly in thanks to the help of Shadowdrake27 and Mizal. Thank you both!]
  
  > Continue
  Over the next couple of weeks, we rushed to prepare for the upcoming journey. Dr. Blythe somehow managed to get his Chinese visa within a day of sending me that fateful email, and I got mine by the end of the week, although it was a pain in the ass to drive down to Houston to turn in the papers personally. One by one, our ragtag crew got their visas, except for Ogasawara, who stayed mysteriously silent about the affair until about two weeks out when he declared that he "didn't need a silly visa". Nobody asked questions.
  
  The last two weeks passed by with bated breath, as the excitement began to mount. To pass the time, I badgered Dr. Blythe for information about the other three members of our expedition, until he cracked and revealed their names. First was Qara Reed, the photographer from Ogasawara's team, and a young Mongolian woman in her twenties. I did a bit of unsavory MySpace stalking to figure out that she was indeed, very attractive. After thirty or so thirsty minutes, I tore myself off her page and searched for the second name I had been given. Aubrey Allen, an American hitman whom I realized very quickly had almost certainly given me a fake name. I couldn't find any kind of information on him and could only wonder what kind of hitman would choose "Aubrey" as his alias. A bit concerned and irritated, I moved on to the final name, Itaki Kyoshi. This was Ogasawara's family friend whose house we were going to visit.
  
  When May 17th finally arrived, tensions were high. I was going to meet Dr. Blythe at the St. Louis airport, have a bit of a layover in Detroit where we'd run into the others, and then fly directly into Beijing. And for the most part, things went according to plan.
  
  When I arrived in the terminal for our first flight, Dr. Blythe was already there waiting impatiently. He then revealed to me that he had already been there for three hours, which I found ridiculous, but typical for Dr. Blythe. He was wearing a terrible button-up/sunhat combo, indoors no less. I made a mental note not to grow so old that I dismissed the laws of fashion completely. His carry-on bags were equally atrocious, practically bursting at the seams with useless garbage: some old metallic rocks from another expedition, a set of wooden candlesticks, and a weird glass skull. It looked more to me like the ingredients for an occultist ceremony, but I knew better to inquire. Inquiries required answers, and we had a three hour flight ahead of us.
  
  Running into the other four in Detroit was a bit of an awkward union. Ogasawara was loud and boisterous as usual, wrapping Dr. Blythe in a very stereotype-shattering hug, practically snapping the frail old man in two. I braced myself, and he almost lifted me off the ground, soles barely scuffing against the ground. Ogasawara was extremely tall and large for a Japanese man, nearly 6'3" with a neck like steel bridge cables. He looked like he was in his mid-fifties. He introduced us to Itaki next, who quite literally stood in his shadow to his right. Itaki was frighteningly skinny, wearing a shirt a couple sizes too large that drooped over him like a poncho. Shaking our hands with a firm grip, he thanked us for coming along. Behind Itaki, a man wearing a two-tone Hawaiian shirt seemingly materialized and put a gentle hand on his shoulder. He had light blonde hair and an angular face, and I knew before he even spoke that this must be Aubrey. Rather than speak, he gave a simple nod.
  
  Suddenly, I got blinded by a flash of light from the side. A camera flash. When the combination of white and gray dots faded from my eyes, I spotted the last member of our crew, Qara, behind the lens of a Canon Powershot S5 IS. She smiled as short black hair framed her face, and I instantly remembered my overenthusiastic stalking I had done not even a couple weeks earlier. I hoped my face didn't show it as she taught Dr. Blythe and I Zolgokh, a Mongolian way of greeting, by Dr. Blythe's insistence.
  
  The flight to Beijing was nearly 13 hours, but sitting next to Dr. Blythe? An eternity. Even as I turned our cabin lights off, he continued ranting and regaling me about his and Ogasawara's adventures in Thailand, back in the 70's. I had to really control myself. It wasn't his fault he couldn't understand social cues.
  
  We arrived in Beijing just as the sun rose over their runway, battered and bruised, and proceeded to customs. Everyone got through fairly quickly, apart from Dr. Blythe and Ogasawara. Dr. Blythe had over ten grand in cash on him, so he was filling out a declaration form, but Ogasawara seemed to be having a heated argument with the customs personnel. He raised his voice suddenly, attracting looks from people around us, including security. Several customs officers now watched him through the Plexiglas service window, as Ogasawara became more and more frustrated, veins on his neck popping out. Dr. Blythe excused himself from his window, and intervened carefully, trying to calm down the behemoth of a man. They whispered quietly to one another aggressively, and he came back over to us.
  
  "It seems our friend Ogasawara is running into issues with his... contingency for getting through customs. I'm afraid we're going to have to turn back with him." Soft-spoken Itaki objected immediately.
  
  "For what reason? I paid good money for this trip, Mr. Blythe," he spat. "Ogasawara knew as well as all of us what was required when we passed through Chinese customs."
  
  "Isn't he your friend?" I chimed in suddenly.
  
  "Of course, but even if we left with him, we lose our chance at getting into Japan. I lose my chance at seeing my home." Dr. Blythe ran a thin finger across the wrinkles on his face, a classic sign that he was thinking hard.
  
  "Maybe not, Itaki. I have a few contacts in Taipei, and quite a bit in American dollars. They may formally be a part of China, but they're much easier to bribe. It would be a far more difficult boat trip, but we could still make it with a larger boat and a small hired crew."
  
  Aubrey stood in the background like a monolith, and that's when I realized Itaki must've been his employer, not Ogasawara. Qara and I looked at each other, the only ones who hadn't really chimed in. She shrugged at me with indifference, and I realized I was going to have to be the tie breaker.
  
  > leave Ogasawara Behind
  "Look, I'd like to spend a vacation in Taiwan as much as anyone else, but we came here for a reason. I'm not going to spend a week on a shitty boat because this guy thought he could waltz his way through Chinese customs." Dr. Blythe looked at me closely, and then began to nod.
  
  "I suppose you're right, but if that's what we're doing, listen close. Keep your heads down, none of us know who Ogasawara is." Without another word, he walked back to his booth, apologizing incessantly for leaving while quickly filling out the rest of the paperwork. Meanwhile, commotion was beginning to stir. A customs officer tried to put his hand on Ogasawara's massive arm, but he shooed it away, warning the officer not to touch him. The officer stepped back, a baby compared to the hulking man before him, but he flicked down his plastic visor and motioned for other officers to join him. Dr. Blythe finished his paperwork, and motioned for us to go through the barrier, with him shortly following. When Ogasawara saw us leaving, that's when the yelling started.
  
  "Hey, wait! I'm still here!" The officers began circling around him, pulling him gently from the counter, but Ogasawara was having none of it. He grabbed the officer behind him and pushed him into a wall, sparking all the others to draw their batons. They descended upon him like flies on honey, only a single hand of his could be seen above the fray, pointing and grasping in our direction.
  
  It took no time at all for them to trace Ogasawara to us, and unlike him, I wasn't about to fight back against the heavily armed Chinese guards. We were promptly booked tickets back to Detroit, aside from Ogasawara, who'd been taken into custody. Dr. Blythe hardly met my eyes as we flew home, ashamed.
  
  Dr. Blythe hurriedly made plans for another expedition upon arriving back home, but three weeks later, we'd discovered another crew had already successfully arrived in Japan. I cornered Dr. Blythe in his office one late night for interrogation.
  
  "Can you believe those thick-headed fucks from Strayer got there first?" Dr. Blythe tapped his fingers on his desk rhythmically, as he stared down at a newspaper. He motioned for me to join him, and tapped directly on the paper. I walked over, expecting to see the footage from their expedition appear on the cheap paper, but it was not so. Instead, I counted my lucky stars that we'd missed our flight that day.