Ronin
Chapter Three
"Kohta."
He opened his eyes to an elder contractor standing over him with a wiry blond beard and eyes obscured by wraparound sunglasses.
"Break's over man." The man said, offering Kohta a hand. "time to go."
Kohta took the man's hand and was hauled to his feet. "Cheers Tex."
Tex flashed his cheeky smile before heading off to finish his preparations for deployment.
He, Kohta and four other contractors had been assigned to a joint convoy escort duty with six JSDF soldiers out to the Matsuzaki settlement. After that, they were to recon the area for the rebels operating in the area, report back, and await further orders.
It was a small supply convoy; Two Humvees each armed with a turret mounted fifty cal machine gun, a Type 73 heavy truck loaded with essential supplies for the Matsuzaki settlement (mainly spare boat and generator parts), and finally, a civilian fuel tanker loaded with 10,000 Litres of diesel to keep the place going.
The vehicles, as well as the contractors, were all gathered in the underground car park beneath the Jade Traveller Hotel. From there they'd leave the safezone then head South West on the Tomei Expressway before turning off and heading down Route 136 almost the whole way to the settlement. A journey just over 190 kilometers and around three hours on the cleared and established route.
'Assuming we don't run into trouble on the way.' Kohta though, and the likelihood of that was, in his opinion, close to zero. Something the other contractors attached to the mission seemed to agree.
Tex certainly seemed to, judging by the way the career contractor formerly of Blackwater PMC was pouring over the road map, looking for any areas of potential ambush and routes around them.
Dino stood next to him. The former Australian naval special forces combat diver was near magical when it came to explosives, and probably the luckiest man Kohta had ever met. He always left the bar with a beautiful young woman on his arm. Kohta put it down to the accent.
A short way away from them, Slater was sharpening the edge on his medical scissors. The ongoing joke being that they wouldn't let the former firefighter paramedic, have proper ones, so he had to make do with sharpened safety scissors. Still, though let him carry an M4 and a breaching axe.
Mary sat silently nearby, going over her SCAR H with the care and precision a surgeon would his tools before a heart transplant. Her blood red hair, emerald green eyes and pale skin, were all hidden beneath a large Bonnie hat and dark green scrim net scarf.
"Hey, has anyone seen Skye?" Kohta asked, looking around for his missing friend. "Or the SDF for that matter?"
"Oh, your little girlfriend went to go find them," Tex said before looking up from the map with a smirk. "You miss her already?"
"She's not my girlfriend," Kohta replied flatly, ignoring the smiles that were spreading across the three elder contractors faces.
"Really?" Tex asked, "I would 'a thought after all those midnight rendezvous you two would be goin' like jackrabbits."
"Uh-huh, keep telling yourself that Tex," Kohta replied as he climbed up on the lead Humvee and checked the .50 Cal.
They had a good mix of skills and experience on this op. Three vets, three rookies. A jack of all trades, a bomb tech, a breacher, a medic and two scout snipers/marksmen. Assuming all went well, it should be a walk in the park… assuming.
"Well, look who finally decided to turn up," Dino said. Kohta first looked up from the machine gun and then over to where he and everyone else was looking.
Skye had returned leading six SDF soldiers towards them.
For a moment, they looked kind of alien to Kohta. They were uniformed, all wearing the same type III camo, helmets, ancient Iraq war era body armour and they all carried identical type 89 assault rifles. Most of the contractors used their own kit, survivors worked with whatever they could get their hands on and even national armies tended to use a mix of kit from whatever was available and suited to the task at hand.
"Howdy." Tex greeted happily with a tip of his cap to the Japanese soldiers. "You boys coming on this little road trip then?"
"Hai," the leading SDF soldier said. He was an elder looking soldier whose face had just started to wrinkle in places, but still carried himself like a man twenty years younger. He was accompanied by a younger soldier with tanned skin and deep brown eyes. "I'm Sergeant Major Fujita Tsuneo. This is Leading Private Takashi Komuro, my second in command."
'Takashi Komuro?' Kohta mentally asked, unsure if he'd heard the man right.
"I'm Tex. Good to meet you." Tex replied, shaking the Sergeant Major and Leading Private's hands before turning to the other contractors. "You've met Skye. That's Dino, Slater, Kohta and Mary."
"Kohta?" Takashi asked, turning towards the man Tex had indicated as Kohta. "Kohta Hirano?"
'So, it is Takashi.' Kohta thought. The car park was silent as the two old friends and survivors looked at each other. They'd parted on semi good terms when Kohta left Japan. But he was in no doubt that Takashi would've heard Saya's one-sided story about him abandoning her, and would stand by his pink haired friend.
Kohta dismounted, securing the .50 before dropping into the Humvee and climbing out the rear passenger door feet first, before striding out towards Takashi. He had to stop himself grinning when he saw surprise flash across Takashi's face.
Kohta was no longer the short fat otaku that had left Japan…that Takashi could push around and overrule. Now he was easily as tall as Takashi and even broader in the shoulders, and owing to years of constant brutal combat and elite training, he now boasted a physique that would gain him entry into any special forces or elite military community.
Kohta stopped just short of his former colleague, meeting his stare with confidence that the old Kohta had seldom shown.
"Komuro." Kohta nodded at him.
"Hirano," Takashi replied a moment later with his own nod. "It's been a while."
"Four years." Kohta agreed. He paused. "How is everyone?"
"They're ok, mostly," Takashi replied. Kohta frowned at that so Takashi explained. "We lost Miyamoto-sama and Takagi-sama to a flu last year. Rei and Saya didn't take it well…" He paused at the mention of Saya's name, watching for Kohta's reactions.
"You hurt her, Kohta," he whispered. "You hurt her bad."
"She wasn't the only one who got hurt, Takashi," Kohta whispered back slowly before turning back towards the Humvee. "She's wasn't the only one…"
Kohta headed back to collect the last of his kit in silence while everyone watched.
"Alright," Tex said out loud, breaking the uncomfortable silence. "Two vehicles per team. Two in the trucks, four in the Humvees. Let's keep the fifty cals manned at all times, do this right and come home safe. Anything to add Sergeant Major?"
Tsuneo shook his head. "No, let's go."
"Alright, mount up!"
The two groups dispersed and headed towards their stacked kit; grabbing rifles, clipping on body armour, and zipping up daysacks before converging on their assigned vehicles.
"Slater, Skye take the truck," Tex ordered as he racked the slide on his M4. "Everyone else, in the aft Humvee." He stepped closer to Kohta as the young sniper as he rounded the Humvee towards the back door.
"What was that about?"
"An old friend," Kohta replied while checking over his SCAR. "And a long story."
"Wanna talk about it?"
"Not really." Kohta walked past him to the Humvee's rear passenger door. "But I better."
"Alright, wait till we're on the move."
"Copy." Kohta opened the door and held it open. He whistled over towards the wall. "Krieger. Up!"
The German Shepard ran across the car park and leapt into the Humvee and lay down on the rear driver side seat. Mary followed and manned the fifty Cal before Kohta got in the back and shut the door. Dino jumped in the driver's seat while Tex took the passenger/ navigator position before snatching the headset for the CB radio off the cradle, keying it up before he even had it to his ear.
"This is Humvee 2, ready to roll out."
There was a click. Then the other trucks and Humvees sounded off one at a time that they were ready to move. A minute later they were rolling, the Humvee's and trucks growled out of the underground car park and out onto the street, keeping slow and quiet to prevent the engine echoing, and running over any pedestrians.
The convoy cruised out the settlement's southern gate. The SDF Humvee up front, followed by the two trucks with the Contractor Humvee in the rear. The windows were rolled down, allowing a cool breeze through the vehicle as well as allowing them to rest their weapons on the frames, giving them an immediate all round three sixty firing arc in the event of ambush.
"Alright Kohta," Tex said bringing up the suspended topic from earlier. "You said you had a long story to share?"
"Yeah, what was that mate?" Dino asked. "You know that guy? And who was that 'Saya' chick you mentioned?"
Kohta sighed. It was a long story. Not one he liked telling.
"Yeah, I knew him," Kohta replied, beginning his story. "His name is Takashi Komuro. He was in my class in high school."
He paused and smiled before continuing, high school seemed like a lifetime ago.
"He, I and a group of others fought our way out of our school, around town. Hell, we even managed to salvage some guns and find a few of our parents before we got rescued by the SDF."
"And this 'Saya' chick?" Tex asked. "Where does she fit into this?"
"Saya Takagi... was a classmate," Kohta said, picking his words carefully. "We were… close, during the outbreak."
"Takagi!" Tex replied astounded, turning to face Kohta in the back seat. "As in prime minister Takagi?!"
"Yeah, his daughter."
"Holy shit! You were banging the Prime minister's daughter?" Tex laughed, as did Dino. But Kohta wasn't laughing, in fact, he looked grim at the suggestion.
"No. I wasn't." Kohta replied shortly. Dino and Tex took note of his tone and stopped laughing. It was something he clearly wasn't proud of, whatever it was.
"Shortly after we got to the Takagi mansion," Kohta continued with a sigh. "we were attacked and overrun by the undead, just after. During the battle, when we were about to leave, Lord Takagi asked me to protect his daughter. Which I did until we were rescued by the SDF.
"When we were rescued, we had our guns taken away and were put in with the other civilians. A few days later, the SDF came and asked for volunteers to help fill in their casualties. The main fighters and leader from our group; Takashi, Saeko and me, volunteered to enlist. But they turned me down because of my weight."
Tex and Dino nodded, they'd been among the operators who'd help Kohta chin down and dubbed him with the war name 'The Sumo', which Kohta tolerated with some level annoyance.
"After that, I was in a bad place." Kohta continued. "Shooting walkers was about all I was good for. It was about then when Colonel Lail found me and offered me a PMC job. At first, I was going to say no so I could stay and protect Saya however I could. But when she reunited with her father and he took her back in… I knew that he could protect her better than I ever could. And if I left Japan and went with Lail, maybe I could help others as I had helped her."
"I'm guessing she didn't take it well?" Tex ventured. Kohta nodded sadly.
"'Fine! Go! Run away and be a killer for hire if it'll make you happy you stupid, fat otaku!' were her exact words." He said sadly. "I parted on better terms with the others. Takashi, Rei and Saeko understood. Alice was sad to see me go. But I could never bring myself face Saya or her parents again."
He paused and looked down ashamed.
"Saya's mother died last year from flu," he said "and I regret that I didn't get the chance to say goodbye. Now or then."
The Humvee was silent for a while, the only noise coming from the engine and the occasional whine of the turret traverse as Mary panned the .50 around.
"Kohta, I ain't no expert on this Saya chick," Dino said after a while, glancing back at his young colleague through the rear-view mirror. "But I do know soldiers, and I know civvies. We don't expect them to understand why we do what we do, why we put ourselves in harm's way for people we've never met. But if she can't accept that you're willing to fight for those who can't fight for themselves, she ain't worth it. Coz we sure as hell ain't no 'killers for hire', and anyone who thinks you are, ain't fucking worth it and needs their head checked, mate."
"Thanks, Dino," Kohta replied. Dino always had sucked at giving speeches, and despite how he felt about her, he was right about Saya. If she couldn't accept that why he did what he did… then maybe she wasn't ever right for him.
…
The Tokyo city sprawl eventually gave way to the coast road that they would follow to the settlement. Kohta had taken over the .50 from Mary a while ago, and more or less remained silent since his story, chewing over a few questions in his mind. Had he been right to leave Japan? Was Saya worth leaving? Had she ever been?
Kohta pushed the thoughts aside and went back to work, scanning the .50 around and watching for targets. A short while ago the coast road started to climb along the cliffs, which meant they weren't far off now. But they were running late. They'd been late starting out and there were some new abandoned vehicles had appeared on the previously cleared highway, but while they were running late, they would just after darkness enveloped the entirety of the sky.
Still though, Kohta couldn't help but shake the feeling that something was off. They'd made contact with the settlement to inform them of their late arrival with no problems, but nothing in the two hours since. And that made Kohta edgy.
"Hey Tex," Kohta asked, crouching half into the Humvee so he could Nighthawk. "Any word from the settlement?"
"Nada," Tex replied. "Could be they ran outta gas though. Boss did say they were running low."
"What do we know about this place?" Dino asked.
"Small fishing community." Mary answered plainly. "contains roughly two-thirds of the Japanese fishing fleet. Home to fishermen, their families, and a small group of Buddhist monks."
"Monks?" Kohta asked sceptically. "Really?"
"Apparently," Mary replied, equally as sceptical.
The convoy rounded a corner on a headland, and the scene that greeted them was stunning.
A wide, calm moonlit bay of black/blue water lapping against the dark shore. At this distance, the settlement' buildings were just a series of black on black shapes behind barricades built from abandoned cars, vans and buses reinforced with welded steel plates. They could even make out a few fishing boats tied to the wharf, bobbing at the ends of their mooring lines on the moon and star lit ocean.
"Something's wrong." Kohta realized, he dropped back into the Humvee. "Stop the convoy."
"What?" Tex looked at him as if Kohta had turned crazy.
"Stop the convoy," Kohta repeated, grabbing a pair of thermal binoculars from their storage pouch and jumping up back to the turret. He powered them on and zoomed in on the settlement at maximum magnification as the Humvee and the truck in front came to a stop, their engines settling down to silence with a series of cooling pops and clicks.
"Ok, you wanna tell us what that was all about?" Dino called up to Kohta. Kohta didn't reply immediately, he was busy scanning the settlement, looking for any splashes of red or white against the bluey green back ground.
'I was right.' Kohta though. "There's no one there."
"Come again?" Tex queried. Tsuneo, Takashi and a few other SDF soldiers started to gather around the Humvee, wanting a reason for their stoppage.
"The settlement." Kohta clarified. "There's no one there. Thermal's not picking up anything, living or dead."
"That can't be right, Kohta," Takashi said. "We spoke to them only two hours ago and everything was fine. Maybe they've just turned in for the night."
Kohta shook his head. "They know we're coming, so at least someone would be up to open the gate." He then lowered the thermal binos and handed them to Tsuneo so he could take his own look. "And besides, this is a fishing community. A port. So why hasn't anyone turned on any lights to guide the boats in? Not even a beacon fire?"
"Maybe they're out of power and can't," Mary suggested. "Maybe all the boats are in."
"No, he's right," Tsuneo replied. "I only count two boats in the harbour. And I'm not seeing anyone on thermals."
"Maybe the biters got in." One of the SDF soldiers suggested.
Kohta shook his head. "They'd still show up on thermals."
"How?" Takashi accused. "They're dead. They don't make anybody heat."
"True, but they still absorb heat during the day," Kohta explained. "They still retain enough heat to show up for an hour or two after dusk."
Kohta had to pretend to scratch his nose to hide a smirk at Takashi's face when he realized he'd never had thought of that. After all, who didn't like to see their friends fall short every once in a while.
Beginning to accept that maybe something was wrong, they tried to raise the settlement on the radio again, to no avail. After a few more minutes of scanning via thermal, night vision and conventional binoculars, they agreed something wasn't right.
"We should send out a recon team," Tsuneo suggested. "Make sure we're not walking into an ambush."
"Right." Tex nodded before turning to his contractors. "Kohta, Mary. With me, and bring Krieger."
The two young contractors jumped to action, kicking the door open and flying out of the Humvee, followed by an equally active German Shepard, although mainly because he needed to relieve himself, which he did against the Humvee's tire. Tsuneo turned to Takashi while the contractors did a quick weapons check.
"Komuro, take Yagami and Suoh and go with them." He instructed. "I'll stay with the convoy."
Takashi nodded and ran off back up the convoy to fetch the two requested Japanese soldiers. Tex leaned in on Kohta as he did up Krieger's leash.
"You going to be ok with him?" Tex whispered, nodding in the direction where Takashi had run off to.
"It's fine Tex." Kohta nodded. He trusted Takashi to put any personal feelings aside.
"Alright then," Tex replied. He tapped Mary on the shoulder. "Let's go."
Tex, Mary and Kohta headed off with Kohta on point with Krieger leading the way, his sensitive nose scanning for anything that smelt off or dead.
Takashi and his two soldiers fell in behind the contractors. They were still roughly a kilometre from the settlement so retreated into the forest to the left of the road, the cover of the trees would shelter their advance from any prying eyes that were out there.
As they moved from tree to tree, they were accompanied by an intermittent low growl. Krieger could smell the infected nearby. Every few meters they would stop and take a knee, and the canine would turn and growl in a certain direction, his way of giving a target bearing and distance which Kohta would relay to the other shooters in the team.
"Infected, One O'clock."
"Got him," Tex reported. Kapfft! "Neutralised."
"Another one, Ten O'clock," Mary whispered Kapfft! "Neutralised."
"Clear," Kohta reported. Krieger's growling had quietened, but it was still there. There were still a few infected around, but they were further off. They were ok to move for now, but the infected would be back, they never came in small numbers. They made their way forward in a slow half crouch, eventually coming to the edge of the treeline, facing a line of abandoned structures. Takashi moved forward so he was close enough to be heard by Kohta and Tex.
"The settlement's front gate is two blocks past these streets." He said. "The debris has been cleared on the road between those buildings so we can get the convoy through."
"You been here before?" Tex asked.
Takashi nodded. "A few times. Small temple, basic infirmary, that sort of thing."
"Ok." Tex paused to think for a moment. "What kind of security do they have?"
"Normally, someone on the gate and someone on the radio," Takashi said. Kohta and Tex shared a look.
"That's it?" Kohta asked astounded. "One guy on watch and another with ears on?"
Takashi shrugged. "There's only one entrance by land. Besides, this is a tier III settlement, a low priority target."
Kohta sighed and shook his head despairingly. Japan clearly needed to do a reassessment of what did and did not pass for a 'low priority target', but that was above Takashi's pay grade, no point getting mad at him about it.
"Alright… Komuro, was it?" Tex asked. Takashi nodded. "You take point with Kohta and Krieger Let's move.
The group moved out with Kohta and Krieger in front, and Takashi walking beside them and the rest of the squad following behind. The group descended down an embankment that separated the road from forest and finally rejoined the road. They spread out and moving quickly, fully aware that there was not enough cover and a multitude of potential ambush spots around. They cover either side of the road. Nothing met them.
They advanced, buildings surrounding them on all sides. Few were ruined; most had been stripped of their owners by the evacuation efforts when the outbreaks first started. But there were broken in doors and some bullet holes in the walls, windows smashed on food stores and buildings that might provide anything a survivor might need. Most of the vehicles were gone though, dragged away to be used in the settlement's barricades.
There were a few corpses strewn around. The one nearest to them had been cut down by a blade of some kind; maybe a fire axe or a sword, and further out there were some others who'd been dropped by gunfire. The bodies were almost skeletal in parts after years of exposure to elements without shelter, others were decayed, pulped and rotten, enough that it nearly made Kohta gag.
"Wonder where they were going." Kohta pondered.
Mary shrugged. "Anywhere there's food," she replied while adding a look of disgust at the fallen corpses.
"Quiet," Tex replied.
After a few more minutes of stealthy advance, they could see the settlement's perimeter wall: A ten-foot-tall tower of piled cars with scrap steel welded and bolted over it to cover the gaps. The front gate was visible too, which looked like someone had installed an industrial sized garage door and frame with a gantry built over the top. There was no one on the gantry keeping watch and no signs or sounds of life on the far side of the wall.
"Where is everyone?" Takashi whispered, but his voice seemed to carry and fill the air. "Quiet, isn't it?"
Kohta looked at him, "Want me to say it's too quiet?"
"You don't need to," Takashi replied.
"Alright," Tex cut in. "Kohta, take Komuro up there and get over the wall, see if anyone's really home. Then get the gate open and we sweep and clear the place. Don't wanna be out here long after dark."
"Roger that," Kohta said. "Krieger, stay. Takashi, come."
Krieger whined and Takashi snorted. Kohta needed his eyes checked, or did he really look like Zeke?
The two young men pushed up from the rest of the group. Kohta knew there was no one out there. So why was his gut telling him he was walking into a trap? They were unchallenged as they approached the gate. There really was no one there. Kohta tried the gate. As expected, it was locked.
"Up and over?" Kohta suggested. Takashi looked at him dubiously.
"Hirano, I'll never be able to lift or boost you up there." He said. It was a good point. Even though he'd lost a lot of weight, Kohta still must have outweighed Takashi by Forty pounds before adding his kit on, the only difference was that it was now all muscle, not fat.
Kohta looked around at the wall of cars and studied it, he smiled. "You won't have too." He walked over to the edge of the first car, studying it for a moment while Takashi looked at him confused.
Whoever designed and built this wall was smart. They'd stacked the cars they'd scavenged two high one on top of each other and then welded or otherwise fixed plates of steel and scrap metal over every conceivable way that an infected zombie could get past it. No way through or under. But, there were a few handholds that, if you were a thinking person with full motor control and hand eye coordination, could be scaled.
Kohta slung his rifle and found a hand and foothold and pushed up, scaling the wrecked cars as easily as he would a climbing wall.
"Hirano, are you nuts?!" Takashi hissed, but Kohta ignored him. Not out of disrespect, but so he could do the task without stopping to think about the consequences if he made a mistake. He knew climbing on a stack of rusty cars was dangerous; one wrong move and he could fall and twist his ankle, or he could cut his hand open on some jagged metal and catch tetanus or something else nasty. But courage was two-thirds bravery, one-third ignorance; if you don't think about the dangers, you won't encounter them.
Kohta reached the top of the wall and crouched on top of the wrecked car, drawing his Nighthawk and scanning the settlement while trying to keep his balance.
There were no infected in the perimeter that he could see, no moving corpses in the darkness. But then again, there were no signs of life what so ever. The place was a ghost town.
Kohta carefully stood, feeling the pile of cars creak and sway slightly under him, even the metal of the bonnet underfoot pop as his weight dented the elder metal. Carefully avoiding any glass that might shatter, he made his way down the car and climbed onto the sturdier (and less likely to collapse at any moment) gantry. Pausing only to switch from his Nighthawk back to his SCAR, Kohta headed down to find a way to get the gate open.
Kohta's sense of unease grew. The sun had since disappeared below the horizon and the last vestiges of light were just about to follow it, and there were still no lights on in any of the windows from the settlement. Any hope Kohta had that anyone was still alive here, had just about evaporated. But nothing had made any moves or attacked him yet which was surprising, and also deeply, deeply worrying.
Kohta found the chain that opened the gate and started pulling the chain through the pulley. The gate opening with a series of rattles, clangs and a thunderous roar and Takashi moved inside, his weapon raised and scanning for any signs of movement in the series of buildings that littered the settlement.
"Gate's open Tex," Kohta announced into his radio. "Place is quiet, come on in."
Tex and the others broke cover and sprinted towards the settlement. They crossed through the gate and set up a defensive perimeter while Kohta and Takashi closed the gate behind them.
They waited. No one got shot and no living or dead came out to meet them. Suddenly Kohta's order to stop the convoy didn't seem so crazy, especially when there was a chorus of soft snicks as the various soldiers and contractors eased their weapon's safeties off, liking the atmosphere no more than Kohta did.
"Comm check." Tex's voice overlapped with its own echo in Kohta's ear piece, as his own voice melded in with the chorus of voices replying "Check" as each member of the party sounded off.
After a tense few moments of watching the darkened buildings, which continued to show no signs of life, Tex detailed the party to split off into pairs. The two SDF soldiers that had been detailed to accompany Takashi melted away in silence off towards one of the larger building groups while Tex and Mary headed off in another, leaving Takashi, Kohta and Krieger alone.
"Alright, where to?" Asked Kohta. Takashi had been here before and knew the place and the people, a fact Kohta was going to take maximum advantage of. He could spot anything out of place that Kohta might miss, which could well be the difference between walking into an ambush or avoiding one.
"Temple," Takashi said. Puzzlement flashed across Kohta's face for a moment, before he realized. Where would a bunch of lightly/ unarmed monks and fishermen go in time of crisis within their walls? The sanctuary of consecrated ground, trusting their safety and deliverance to the gods. A dubious concept in Kohta's experience, but then again, he always felt the kami had enough on their hands trying to keep the balance of the world in order, so he tended to take care of himself while more pious souls were now wandering as the living dead or clogging up the cemeteries.
The two stepped off Kohta falling into line behind Takashi and Krieger following his master close behind. They naturally kept to the side of the road that was in deepest shadow as they picked their way between the buildings.
"Cafeteria's clear." One of the SDF soldiers reported. "Someone was here recently though. There are still dishes waiting to be washed."
"Is it tidy?" Kohta asked.
"How do you mean?"
"He means, does it look like they were interrupted in the middle of dinner? Or did they get time to have a cup of coffee afterward?" Tex clarified.
"Oh, then it's tidy." The soldier replied. "Places laid and everything."
"Then they weren't intending to go anywhere." Takashi glanced over his shoulder at Kohta. His face told him that he didn't like it any more than he did. "So where did they go?"
"They didn't get sick," Mary reported. "Infirmary's clear. Standby, I'll check the patient records."
"How many are normally in the infirmary?" Kohta asked Takashi.
Takashi shrugged. "Two or three. More if something bad's happened here or in one of the other towns."
"Other towns?" Kohta asked. This was supposed to be the only settlement for miles. Takashi nodded.
"There are a few non-government aligned settlement's around here." He explained. "Most are non-hostile, in fact, we trade with quite a few of them. They mainly just don't want to be part of the government or haven't been amalgamated yet. But this is the only one for about a hundred kilometres with a decent medical facility. Shizuka-Sensei helped set it up."
"The record's show three patients admitted," Mary reported over the radio. "Two fishermen who caught hypothermia after their boat capsized, and a farmer with a fever case. So, where are they?"
Kohta's stomach continued to sink as he and Takashi arrived at the temple, a converted Christian church on the seafront with a Kami gate hung over the door next to Jesus Christ nailed to the cross. As they got closer, Krieger started to growl, just like he did with the undead.
"Guys," Kohta spoke into the comm with a mild sense of urgency. "Krieger's got something. Rally on the temple."
Kohta and Takashi couldn't hear any sounds of undead from inside the temple, but something had set Krieger off. And whatever it was, Kohta would feel better having as much back up as possible when they went in to find out what it was.
"Why does this remind me of the east police station?" Takashi asked, keeping his type 89 pointed at the door.
"Because Zeke was growling at the door of that place too," Kohta replied. He then paused for a moment. "How is Zeke anyway? He still around?"
Takashi laughed. "Yeah, Zeke's still alive and kicking. He lives with Alice, Rika and Shizuka-sensei."
'Rika?' Kohta thought. 'Isn't that the woman who owned the apartment with the guns?'
Further thoughts on the matter were cut short when the rest of the group arrived, jogging up to the temple and trained their weapons on the door.
"What we got?" Asked Tex.
"Not sure," Kohta replied. "No sound from inside but something's got Krieger spooked."
One of the SDF soldiers scoffed. "It's a dumb dog. It gets spooked by his own shadow." Kohta wheeled on the man and got close to him, far closer than the man would have liked.
"That 'dumb dog'," Kohta snarled. "is a fully trained zed hunter and attack dog. He could rip your throat out before you could even turn that gun towards him." Kohta then leant in and whispered in the man's ear.
"He's also very sensitive. I suggest you apologise."
The soldier looked down to see the snarling face of a German shepherd, bearing his serrated titanium canines that could rip open kevlar as easily as hands tearing a piece of cloth. A cold sweat ran down the soldier's neck.
"Ok." He said, his voice wavering. "I'm sorry."
Kohta shook his head. "Don't tell me." He pointed to Krieger. "Tell him."
"Kohta, that's enough. Back off." Tex cut in before the man could say any more. Obedient to his instructions and turned away, retaking up his position covering the temple doors. Krieger barked loudly at the soldier before following Kohta back to his breech position.
"Alright," Tex announced quietly. He gestured to the two SDF soldiers. "Open the doors, everyone else, firing line."
Takashi, Kohta, Tex and Mary took up position, their rifles pointed at the door like a firing squad. On Tex's nod, the two soldiers opened the doors. Nothing happened. Nothing emerged from the darkness except the smell of defecation and decay that made everyone fight to keep their last meals in place.
"Smells a bit." Kohta gagged, tears forming in his eyes out of reflex. Tex nodded, his left hand floated free of his rifle and motioned the gun group forward. Weapon lights flicked on and they headed in, illuminating the room with cones of light. The air was musky with the stench of the foulest kind. They all stopped short when they shone their lights on the back wall.
"My God." Mary murmured.
"Fucking hell." Agreed Kohta.
They'd found them. The remains of the couple of dozen people who lived here, riddled with bullet holes piled up against the wall, which itself was marred with blood trails, brain matter and strings of bullet holes. One of the Japanese soldiers vomited, Kohta felt like it but resisted the urge, rage filling him as he examined the scene.
"They were herded in here and lined up against the wall," he said solemnly. "Then they opened up on full auto. They had no chance."
"But why though?" Takashi snarled, enraged by the death and desecration. "What was the point."
"Maybe it was raiders." Mary supplied. "A well-stocked settlement like this would be a tempting target."
"It wasn't raiders," Kohta said, moving closer towards the altar.
"What makes you think that?" Takashi asked. Kohta nodded upwards and shone his weapon light at it. Everyone looked up at the large cross and found it had been vandalized. Mud or some less wholesome substance had been caked to it, and the walls around it were fairly shot up.
Tex turned to Takashi. "Which of the rebel groups goes in for this kind of thing?"
"None of them." He replied shaking his head sadly. "They hit military and government targets. These people were just fishermen and monks. No threat to anyone."
Tex nodded and headed outside, regaining the sweeter air outside as he got on his ear piece to the convoy, apprising them of the situation, as well as ordering them to patch him through to Tokyo HQ with their more powerful radio set. Takashi meanwhile showed some initiative and sent his two subordinates to guard the front gate, to keep an eye out for any unwelcome surprises.
"We're to sit tight," Tex announced when he was finished. "Bring the convoy inside the walls for the night and await reinforcements. Colonel Lail's ordered a drone flyover at dawn."
"Makes sense." Kohta nodded. "But whoever did that's probably long gone."
"I don't think so," Mary said, finally emerging from the church. "Some of those bodies are still warm. Given the time of year and what they're wearing, this can't have happened more than a few hours ago."
Takashi looked like he was about to argue, but Tex interceded him.
"We did hear from someone two hours ago and everything was normal." He said. "It could've been one of them."
"Or it could've been one of the attackers giving us an all clear." Kohta pointed out. Tex nodded grimly.
"There's something else," Mary added. She looked uncomfortable for some reason.
"The bodies… there are no women."
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Jango