Don't own jack shit. Fuck off.

Japanese

English

"TAKASHI!" was all Takashi needed to hear to know that something bed had happened outside while he was getting some money for gas.

"Rei!" he thought as he rushed outside with his bat ready to help Rei defend herself from them only to see her with a knife to her throat held hostage by some gangster wannabe.

"Wow you got some nice tits girly."

"Let her go!" Takashi yelled trying to get Rei away from the rapist.

"Now why would I do that?" The man questioned, "Here's what's going to happen you little shit. You're going to drop the bat and give me your bike. If you do that I might think about letting your little girlfriend go." The man ordered as he groped Rei and pressed the knife into her throat allowing a crimson tear to make its way down her throat.

"Fine. Fine. Let me fill it up first." Takashi said to try and buy some time to think of a way to get both Rei and him out of this situation.

After filling the bike up Takashi said "There the bikes full now please let her go."

"Why would I do something like that? I ain't had some pussy this fine in a long time. I'm gonna enjoy taking her and showing her what a real man can do." The gangster said as Rei suddenly began thrashing harder in the man's grip screaming "NO!"

"What's this? You ain't popped her yet? HA! Now you definitely are never going to get her back. I'm going to break her into nothing but my perso-" The gangster was interrupted as a shadow separated from the bushes behind him grabbing his knife hand and extending it before bringing his left hand in and shattering his elbow by bending it 90 degrees beyond what it was meant to do before taking the knife with his right hand from his now nerveless fingers, spinning in a tight circle before plunging the blade into the man's skull.

"I don't believe that the little lady appreciates that." The man said to the new corpse as Rei broke free from the gangster's now dead hands and jumped into Takashi's arms. "Hello," He said to the stunned students "I'm Conall McLoughlin."

"Thank you." Takashi said as he tried to comfort Rei from her trauma. "I'm Takashi and this is Rei." As Takashi stood there he examined the stranger who called himself Conall. He had brown hair, and round blue eyes depicting him as a foreigner, he was about 170 centimeters tall with a slim build. He was wearing military combat pants and a green and black t-shirt with a skull with 2 broadswords crossed behind it.

"Do either one of you speak English?" Conall asked before seeing the clueless looks on their faces. Rei and Takashi were in English class but neither one had a good grasp of the language yet. Connall sighed before pointing at the Rei and Takashi with two fingers before pointing at himself with one before putting all three in a group and 'hopping' them along as if asking permission to follow them. Takashi looked at Rei asking if she would mind having a male stranger with them after what had just happened.

"If I'm going to be scared of everyone I might as well stop now and let Them have me." Rei replied before pantomiming that he could follow them. Conall smiled and thanked them before asking them which direction they were going by pointing a finger out at every road individually and then shrugging his shoulders. Rei knew where they were and pointed at where they were going before noticing the hoard of Them that lay between them and the road.

Conall and Takashi saw Them at the same time and as Takashi started to quickly mime to Conall that they had to go a different way Conall simply signaled for them lto get on the bike and to follow him. Rei and Takashi looked at Conall as if he had lost his mind as he walked head on into the hoard singing a song that they couldn't understand.

As Conall approached the hoard he began singing in a normal voice "Axes flash and Broadswords swing, shining armors piercing ring, horses run with a polished shield, fight those bastards till they yield." As he hit the first line of Them he lashed out with an open hand to the face of the first one as he reached for him resulting a nasty crunch before he fell to the ground never to rise. As Connall continued to unleash hell upon those that would harm him and his new companions he saw that there were more than he could comfortably handle with the others behind him. And the bike was a crotch rocket which meant it had less off road abilities than his. Upon realizing his mistake Connall stopped singing mid-verse and began throwing Them into one another with such grace and speed that Rei was astounded.

After fighting his way through 20 or so of Them Conall signaled for the two of them to follow through the path before it was shut by the rest of the hoard. As Takashi started up his bike Conall darted into and ally way and reappeared as they drove past on a Honda 650cc Nighthawk. Conall sped up and drove beside them for a moment signaling to Rei that he would follow them before slowing to fall in behind them.

An hour later it was well past dark and Conall noticed that Takashi was beginning to drift in his lane a little bit. Conall sped up and signaled a stop and began to mime that they needed to stop for the night. Neither one put up a fuss knowing that it was true. Conall continued to mime that the house across the street, a three story affair with a walled in yard, would be the best for them to crash in for the night after he cleared it. As he kept miming Rei noticed that his miming included or bastardized many of the normal signs from her sign language class.

Deciding to take a chance in hopes of furthering communication with the man Rei began to use some of the signs from her class while finger spelling anything that she didn't know the sign for. As she began Conall stopped his signing first adopting a puzzled look on his face at what she was doing before grinning like a mad man before enthusiastically replying in a very fluent manner. A far cry from his previous broken signs and exaggerated motions. Rei quickly stopped him telling him that she had only had one year of the class and while she could read finger spelling quite well she didn't know enough signs to hold a conversation before having to revert to finger spelling.

Conall quickly instructed them to take the bikes inside the wall as he made a distraction for Them that had closed in on their location during their discovery. Conall reached into his saddle bag quickly grapping a small firecracker and a lighter before moving a short ways from them. He lit the fire cracker before throwing it just in front of the group before signaling for Takashi and Rei to move quickly. The fire cracker went off releasing several bright flashes and a muted high pitched whistling sound not that different form a flash bang.

Takashi settled his bike first as Conall darted through the gate before closing it as quietly as he could as taking some rope from his pocket he quickly tied the gate shut. As he finished he saw Rei having some trouble with his bike as it was much heavier and bulkier than most bikes in Japan. Conall walked up and gently took the handle bars from Rei before shoving the bike forward over the hump in the ground that Rei had been stuck on before kicking the stand out and resting the bike.

As Conall fixated himself working on the bikes Takashi quickly dragged Rei to the side before asking "What was that?"

"What the hand signs?" Rei replied

"Yeah. Is he deaf or something?" Takashi asked having taken German as his foreign language.

"I don't think so." Rei said, "I thing that's the only language that we have in common. Neither of us took English for middle school so the only thing I can come up with is that he only knows English and Sign Language. And maybe a couple phrases in Japanese considering he introduced himself after he rescued me."

"So what were you saying outside?" Takashi asked while hoping that Saeko remembered the English class she took in Middle School.

"Oh, he was saying that you were swaying a little in your lane and that you were probably unused to so much constant exertion for prolonged periods of time. This coupled with the mental trauma of what we are going through it'd be better if we made camp here for the night instead of risking being hit by one of them while we are tired. He saw this house and thought that after clearing it that we could stay here for the night before taking off in the morning. It has a second story for lookout and a wall to help keep Them out." Rei said before yawning causing poor Takashi to nearly die of blood loss from seeing the amount of cleavage she had displayed during her stretch.

As they finished their talk Conall walked up before holding out a fist to Takashi. Takashi held out his hand as Connall dropped the spark plugs from his bike into his hand. Seeing his questioning look Conall signed as Rei translated that the bikes were much less likely to be stolen in the night if they couldn't start.

Conall turned around before either could say anything and grabbed a small bag beside his bike and began making his way to the front door. Reaching the door Conall tried to open it but it wouldn't budge. Mumbling something that Takashi didn't think was a compliment Conall dug through his bag and pulled out a small case which he opened to reveal a lock picking set that Takashi was sure couldn't be legal. With the air of a seasoned pro Conall quickly set to work on the lock which gave in under 2 minutes.

Seeing this Takashi couldn't help but become worried about this man that had appeared out of nowhere with skills that weren't part of any job that Takashi knew of and that he had allowed to follow them and who, for the moment, was leading them into a strangers house with who knows how many of Them inside. Finally realizing the position that he had put himself and Rei in Takashi's palms began to sweat as he envisioned all sorts of horrors this man could inflict on them and that they would be powerless to stop.

Conall, who was ignoring everything but the lock and the threat inside, Pushed open the door before quickly making his way through the house room by room checking for blood, bodies, anything out of the ordinary that could possibly indicate a presence other than theirs inside the house. Room by room was cleared under his expert eye before he advanced to the second floor repeating the process. After he had disappeared from sight Rei saw Takashi's face and mannerisms were off before asking him, "What's wrong?"

"Well, the world is going to hell, the streets are full of man-eating things that would happily kill us, you were taken hostage and almost raped right in front of me and I couldn't do anything about it, and to top it all off I'm risking you and me with a man we've never met before who appeared out of nowhere and is able to kill a man with his bare hands without batting an eye about it afterwards. And now we are breaking into a strangers home about to spend the night in said home with aforementioned killer and there's nothing to stop him from doing whatever he wants to with us." Takashi said bluntly.

"He risked his life to help us out. If all he wanted was to hurt us he could have saved himself a lot of trouble and done it when he first met us. He killed that man and all I felt was a slight pressure as he was killed. He could have do the same thing to you and me if he felt like it." Rei said.

As she finished talking Connall came back signing that the house was clean. Takashi and Rei followed him back into the house before they split up. Takashi headed to the kitchen to find some food for dinner while Rei headed upstairs to claim a bed and shower. Connall watched as they separated before heading to the garage.

Connall's Viewpoint

I had just finished sweeping the house before signing to the chick that it was safe for now. I watched as they separated, they guy seemed to be more wary of me now as his mind finally processed the events of the day. I left them alone in the house to give them space so they'd feel safer. I started to look around the garage for any tools that I might need later or were of better quality than my current set. As I was rifling through my third chest of drawers I stumbled upon a gold mine of high quality metal already pre-formed into semi-weapon like shape.

Excited by my discovery I began my search with fresh vigor trying to find the metal working tools that had to be around somewhere. After all the guys gun had only so many rounds and with how he didn't even reach for it when his girl was in trouble he obviously had no comfort with the damn thing leading me to believe that he was either a peacenik pussy or had no experience with the damn thing making it a liability instead of an asset.

The metal would allow me to make weapons for them that way we could be much more quiet and they would never run out of ammunition. The only problem was what weapon for the guy. The girl was obviously a martial artist with how she handled her mop handle and never let it go after her attack. She was used to using a staff or spear then and a spear was only a staff with a pointy end attached. I could fashion her a much more robust spear and the Takashi kid could make due with a mace since he'd been doing pretty well with his bat. The bat was inefficient when used as a weapon since its increased surface area led to decreased force making him have to hit the same zombie multiple times.

With a plan set for new weapons I returned to the house to find the two teens in the kitchen surrounded by food which would help replace the calories lost by the excitement and constant activity throughout the day. Rei saw me as I entered the doorway and waved me over before handing me a plate and silverware and waving at the food inviting me to eat. I grabbed some ham looking meat , green beans, and other bits of leftovers from the food provided. As I sat down Rei and Takashi glanced at each other and as I tucked into my dinner Rei began to sign who I was and other questions about my history.

"My name is Connall McLoughin." I said in Japanese before switching to sign language due to my limited vocabulary in their language. "Do you have a group to get to? Or are you alone as well?" They looked at each other then at me in askance to my reply. "I have a long and bloody history with nothing even remotely resembling a normal life or childhood. So you'll have to understand if I don't wish to repeat myself.

Rei and Takashi seemed startled at my answer before Rei asked how old I was. I told her I was 21 before she replied saying that she and Takashi were both 17. She continued with saying that their group ranged from 17 to 25 years old. Finally answered my question on if they were in a group or not. I finished my food and signed that if they still wished to know some of my history they would have to earn my trust first and rejoin their group if they still wished to know.

"Not like Vigilate Mortem can do anything about a breach in confidentiality now anyways." I muttered to myself. Rei and Takashi looked at me as I said this so I quickly changed the subject asking what weapon types they preferred since Takashi's six-shooter was too limited to rely on. Rei signed that her father taught her how to use a spear and she had never lost a match while Takashi had no formal experience with weapons.

I shrugged about his revelation since I had expected as much. As Takashi finished his dinner he yawned which set Rei to yawning as well. I smirked at this before telling Rei to go to bed and to take Takashi with her. She blushed a little at the implication hidden within the innocent statement so I ribbed her a little more signing that she had to stay quiet so as not to attract anyone or anything so if Takashi was too good they would have to stop. Her blush went atomic and I laughed as I took my dishes to the sink. Takashi seemed pretty dense as he started to fret over his friend asking her if she was ok. As Rei and Takashi left I signed that I'd take first watch before heading to the garage to occupy my time through the night.