Dead Man Walking:
It's your funeral.
"Did you see that?" Yui said, pointing to the olive-drab truck racing down the street.
"I think we all saw it, Yui-senpai," Azusa replied.
"It's going the wrong way, Azusa," Ui said with a frown. "The hospital is the other way."
Nodoka watched the truck leaning heavily as it tore around a corner.
"It's also fully loaded," she pronounced. "That's not a ... bad sign. If they're loading trucks, then that means that the evacuation center has to be up and running."
"Oooh! Or maybe they're tearing it down and going somewhere else," Yui said.
"D ... d ... don't say things like that, Yui-senpai!"
"Aww, I was just kidding."
"Not funny," Azusa said, crossing her arms over her chest. "Seriously. Not. Funny."
"Okay guys, we made it all the way down the rail line," Nodoka interrupted. She waved her rifle in the direction of the station. "The hospital's not much further from here. We can talk all we want after we get there."
"Mhm," Yui said with an abrupt nod, dashing ahead.
"Onee-chan! Wait up!"
"Yui-senpai! Be careful," Azusa said, her eyes darting to the platform. The memory of the two seniors from Sakuragaoka was still very fresh in her mind. Luckily, everyone at the train platform was already dead.
"Guys, stop!" Nodoka shouted, but Yui had already stopped short of the stairs up to the platform.
"Nodoka-chan!" Yui said. "Something bad happened here!"
Nodoka was about to say something, but then she saw what Yui was pointing at. Scattered around the train platform were the dead. Blood was splashed and sprayed on the concrete floors and the walls. Entrails hung from the rails. The dead were cast haphazardly around the area, with faces and chests caved in. With necks snapped, and limbs broken and canted at all angles.
"Not all these people look infected," Ui said, leaning forward, looking pale.
"You ... you're right," Nodoka said, clutching her rifle. Behind her, she heard Azusa running up to them.
"What ... what could've possibly caused this?"
Nodoka looked around. Further down the tracks, railing from the station lay, twisted and shredded. Massive holes had been knocked into the walls with no rhyme, nor reason.
"I ... uh ... I don't know," Nodoka slowly replied, cautiously making her way up the stairs, onto the platform itself. "Let's ... uh ... let's just hope that this didn't happen too recently."
"Y-yeah," Azusa said, quietly, looking up. There was a gore-rimmed, body-shaped hole in the ceiling. She didn't want to think about how it might've gotten there.
"I've always dreamed of walking the railroad tracks," Mugi said, balancing on a long line of gleaming steel. "I wonder what it's like to sneak onto train cars and just ride that way, across the country; encountering the sorts of people one so rarely meets." She sighed softly, gazing up into the smoky sky, her eyes glittering.
Ritsu looked up, her mouth opening.
"This isn't America, Onee-chan," Sumire replied, pulling herself up straight. "You can't do that here!"
Ritsu's comeback faded into an easy grin. The young one's got some fire to her ... I like that. She glanced ahead to Mio, who clutched her rifle like a talisman; her moves erratic and jerky. Now if we could only get someone else to get back a little of her fire.
"Hey Mioooo," Ritsu said, draping her arm around Mio's shoulders. "Why so scared? We're nowhere near a rocky beach filled with ... barnacles. "
"Ritsu!" Mio shrieked, throwing Ritsu's arm off, and bringing her knuckles back down on the top of Ritsu's skull with a fluid motion borne of years of practice. "Wh ...wh ... why even say something like th-that!"
"I'm just keeping you on your toes," Ritsu said, rubbing the top of her head.
"The only way I could get more 'on my toes' is to float off the ground!" Mio said, shaking her fist at Ritsu.
"I'm ... I'm sorry!" Ritsu said. "Calm down, Mio. I'm just ... I'm just worried about you, that's all. You've been awful quiet lately."
"L ... l ... look at me, Ritsu," Mio snapped. "I-I'm carrying a gun! A real one! That I'm going to kill people with, because if I don't they'll ... eat my b ... b ... brains! I could be screaming and crying and screaming, b-but I'm not," she gasped. "I'm fine. I'm okay. I'm good." Deep breath. "I'm ... good ... "
You're totally losing it, Ritsu thought. She caught the corners of her lips tugging upward. No! Have you already forgotten? Be good, Ritsu! Be good!
"Watch out!" Sumire screamed, slamming into Ritsu from behind. Both girls tumbled forward, and it was all Ritsu could do to avoid slipping and falling face-first into the gravel.
BOOM!
There was a scream.
BOOM! BOOM!
Ritsu spun around, her heart racing.
"Mio!" She yelled, starting toward Mio, when Sumire grabbed her arm.
"Don't move, Ritsu-san! Look there!"
Ritsu's eyes followed Sumire's finger to the railroad tracks. Where she and Mio were just standing, wisps of smoke rose from the steel rails, which hissed and spat where they were covered with a gooey, greenish, substance. The puddle lay between Ritsu and Mio, who stared down at the puddle of goo in pale-faced horror.
"M ... M ... Mugi ... " Mio said.
"I got her," Mugi replied, already reloading her shotgun. She was staring at the ground, a pained look in her eyes.
"Mugi?" Ritsu said, looking to the blonde. Her eyes followed the muzzle of Mugi's shotgun to a zombie that'd been hidden atop a nearby rail platform. The zombie's head and neck where grossly stretched, and the flesh of its guts sizzled and smoked where the noxious acids that had been contained within were blasted out by Mugi's shotgun.
No, her guts, the thought came. The zombie was female, with dirty blonde hair, and leggings around her ankles.
"I, uh, don't think we should mention this to Yui ... y'know ... when we see her," Ritsu said.
"Right," Mugi agreed, biting her lip. "Let's keep moving, okay?"
Ritsu nodded, turning to Mio.
"Miooooo ... "
"Hmph," Mio turned away. "I am going to hang out with Mugi."
"I'm ... okay ... okay," Ritsu took a deep breath. "I'll ... I'll keep an eye on things with Sumire."
She watched Mio push ahead, catching up with Mugi. Sighing softly, Ritsu turned to Sumire.
"Hey, thanks for the save back there."
"It ... it ... it was nothing, Ritsu-san," Sumire replied, after several moments.
Ritsu smiled. "You should just call me 'Ritsu.' I mean we're all in this together, right?"
"Right, R ... Ri ... Ritsu."
"That's the spirit, Su-miii-re!"
"Wh ... wh ... what?"
Ritsu chuckled. "Oh, nothing. That just, uh, it felt right to call you that."
Sumire nodded, and both girls slipped into silence. Sirens wailed in the distance, and the still of the midday air was occasionally punctuated by gunfire.
"Ritsu," Sumire said. "May I be forward?"
Ritsu frowned. "Go ... right ahead?"
"Has ... anyone ever told you how much like sisters you and Mio-san are?"
"S-sisters!?"
Sumire nodded, her cheeks reddening.
"Yeah," she said. "I mean, I've only known the two of you for a day, and I can see it. Again, I'm sorry for being forward," she looked up, toward Mio and Mugi. "Mio-san reminds me of me ... she's your exact opposite. And yet, you have this relationship that looks like it goes beyond even the one I have with Onee-chan."
"Y-you're embarrassing me Su-miii-re," Ritsu replied, feeling her cheeks warm. "And Mio reminds you of you? I'm sorry to say it, but nobody does Mio quite like Mio. And besides, look at her," she said, draping an arm around Sumire's shoulder. "She's scared stiff," she said, her expression dropping. "I'm surprised she's ... she's coping so well."
Sumire exhaled. "Ritsu ... I'm terrified. I've been sick to my stomach ever since this all started."
"But you sling that shotgun almost as good as Mugi ... "
"No!" Sumire hurled Ritsu's arm off and wheeled back on her. "Don't you see, Ritsu? I ... I ...I'm doing it for Onee-chan! N-no matter how scared I get for me, I'm scared of losing Onee-chan even more, an ... an ... an ... and I'm sure that's what's keeping Mio-san going!" The words spilled out of her in an uncontrolled torrent.
Bam!
Ritsu gaped at Sumire.
"I'm ... I'm sorry I've been so forward!" Sumire said, suddenly flush. She took several deep breaths. "I just ... I just felt like I had to say that. I'm sorry."
I see, was all Ritsu could think. She looked past Sumire, to Mio and Mugi. No, I really do see. Oh Mio ... I've done it again, haven't I?
Ritsu took a deep breath of her own, putting a hand on Sumire's shoulder.
"Nah, I'm the one who should be sorry," she said. "You are a lot like Mio. You've got fire where it counts. Speaking of which ... I think I owe someone another apology."
"Yui-senpai! You've cursed us all!" Azusa shouted, staring across the street at the hospital.
"Whaaaa?"
"Don't give me that! I remember your 'joke' from before!"
"Okay guys, calm down," Nodoka interrupted. "It only looks like the hospital is deserted ... but that might not really be the case."
"Then wh ... wh ... why is there that big hole in the wall!"
"Azu-nyaaaan," Yui said, wrapping herself tightly around Azusa. "You're going to attract attention, y'know?"
"I ... "
"Shhh," Ui said, crouching down behind a dumpster. The girls were in a dark alleyway between two blocks of apartments. The late afternoon light bathed the tangle of smashed and stalled cars pushed off to the nearest side of the street, the dead bodies sprawled across the pavement of the street itself, and the hospital on the other side, in shades of crimson.
"Nodoka's right. They've got a searchlight set up, just past that gas truck."
"It's not on," Azusa managed.
"Well, Azu-nyan, the sun hasn't set yet," Yui replied.
"It will soon, Yui-senpai!"
"Here's another thing, the marker lights on that truck look like they're on," Nodoka said, shading her eyes with her hand. "They may just be holed up in the hospital until nightfall."
"Holed up? But wouldn't that mean that ... "
"Not necessarily. Looks like there was a big firefight here, earlier," Nodoka replied with a shake of her head, and a waving gesture toward the bloodied dead in the street. "They may be staying out of sight ... to conserve ammo. We should probably approach cautiously, otherwise they might think we're one of the infected."
"But we're not infected, Nodoka-chan."
"I know that, you know that, and we all know that Yui," Nodoka said. "They don't! Remember what almost happened to us yesterday? I don't want to take the chance."
"Well, what do we do?" Ui asked.
"We sling our guns and cross the street with our hands up," Nodoka replied. "Carefully."
"If the authorities are waiting on the other side, shouldn't we leave the guns here?" Azusa asked, trying to disentangle herself from Yui.
Nodoka looked forlornly across the street, and then into Azusa's eyes.
"The guns are for if I'm wrong about this," she replied. "That's also a chance I'm not willing to take." She let her rifle drop to her side and she raised her hands. "Okay, everybody, let's get across."
Ui rose to her feet. "I'll go keep an eye out behind you guys and come out last," she said.
"Oooh, I wanna hang back with Ui," Yui said, even as Azusa firmly grabbed the sides of her arms.
"No, Yui-senpai, you go after Nodoka-senpai, and then I'll follow you ... I want you where I can see you!"
"Aww ... "
"Take my hand, Yui, we'll cross together," Nodoka said, lowering one of her hands.
"All right!" Yui replied, firmly grasping Nodoka's hand in her own. "Let's go!"
Both girls slipped through a gap in the parked cars, and darted out into the street.
"Should we go?" Ui said to Azusa, extending her hand.
"B ... b ... but I thought you were going to look out behind us!"
"I just want to make sure Onee-chan is safe," Ui replied. "If anyone was coming, they'd have already followed the sound of our voices."
"Oh ... okay," Azusa said, tentatively taking Ui's hand in hers. Together, they followed the older girls into the street. Carefully, they picked their way between dead bodies. Between coagulating pools and sticky smears of blood and ichor.
"Can anyone hear us!" Nodoka called out. "We are not infected!"
"Yeah! No zombies here!" Yui added.
"At least, none that are alive," Ui said softly. "Don't let go, Azusa."
"R-right."
There were, perhaps, four lanes between the apartments and the hospital. Even so, Azusa swore she could see the late afternoon sun perceptibly descending in the hazy western sky. Considerable relief greeted her when they clambered over blood-soaked sandbags, onto the grounds of the hospital.
"Is anyone here?" Nodoka shouted, looking around.
"Hellooooo!"
"Not so loud, Yui," Nodoka said. "Stay behind me. Ui," she said, looking up toward the younger sister, "come with me."
"Right," Ui replied, crossing over to Nodoka's side in several big steps. Both girls walked toward the hospital lobby. Nodoka noted that there was a generator next to the searchlight as she stepped over a long, thick, red-purple thing lying on the ground, snaking toward the forbiddingly dark lobby. An ambulance was next to the door, riddled with bullet-holes.
"This isn't looking good."
"Let's make that call when we have a look inside," Nodoka replied, picking her way through the shattered glass.
The doors weren't open, so much as torn from their hinges. Chairs and tables were overturned and scattered, and dead zombies lay between them. Several dead JSDF soldiers were sprawled behind the front desk, their throats torn open. One had his head caved in.
"Crackle ... pshhht"
"Do you hear that?"
Nodoka cupped her hand to her ear, straining to hear what Ui was listening to.
"Pop ... fzzzzt ... crack"
"It sounds like a radio, Nodoka-chan."
Nodoka nodded quietly.
"Fzshhhhhh ... nyone listening to this ... crackle ... ency ... pshht ... up!"
"That's definitely a radio," Nodoka said, her head turning toward a set of double-doors barricaded by a waist-high pile of sandbags. "A live one! Maybe someone is listening ... Ui, watch my back."
"Mhm," Ui said, nodding.
"Hello!" Nodoka shouted toward the doorway. "Is there anyone here? We were told to evacuate here!"
The radio crackled, but the hospital was shrouded in a creepy, almost breathy, silence.
"We are not infected! There are four of us ... two are outside. Please ... if you're in some sort of saferoom, we don't want to be out in the open after sunset."
Nodoka began to creep toward the doorway. The glass in the doors was completely shattered, and the shards of glass on the floor gleamed the dim crimson of the reflected afternoon sun. It was then that she could hear a faint rustling through the shattered windows.
"Anyone ... kshhhhhhzt ... ning to ... crackle ... frequen ... pop ... se pick up!"
"Nobody is answering the radio," Ui called out behind her.
Nodoka nodded, voicelessly, her throat tightening. Were they too late? What would they do now? How was she going to protect her three friends ...
"Nooooo!"
That scream was Nodoka's. Rough hands groped at her, clawed at her, and hauled her back. Her feet slipped out from under her, and she slammed up against the sandbags. Hands pulled at her arms and her hair. They tugged at her backpack, and yanked on her collar. Her next scream was cut into a gurgling squeak. Arms circled her chest, rough hands groped and squeezed her, heaving back.
"Nodoka!" Ui screamed, instantly at her side, desperately pulling at the hands that held Nodoka fast. Behind her, she heard the grunting of at least two men behind her, and she felt their foul breath on her skin. Her vision began to swim as bony fingers wrapped around her throat. Desperately, she clawed at those hands, even as the world pulled away from her.
The world snapped back into focus and she desperately gulped air as Ui yanked the hands free.
"Shoot ... shoot!" Nodoka cried, just as an arm wrapped around her neck. She felt herself starting to be pulled up the sandbags.
Shoot them, Ui! Shoot them!
She saw Ui letting go, her hands moving away; but she couldn't see where they were going. Not with the darkness swallowing her up.
"Nodoka-chan!" Ui said, her face swimming into Nodoka's field of view. "Welcome back," she said, visibly sighing with relief. Yui and Azusa appeared next, their expressions mirror images of concern.
Nodoka tried to speak, but she could only produce a hoarse, strangled, squeak.
What happened? Her lips worked, but her voice refused to cooperate. Why are they here?
"I'm sorry, Nodoka-chan," Ui said. "I ... didn't think of shooting first."
Shooting? Nodoka tried to cudgel some useful insight from her brain.
"Y-you went totally limp ... " Ui took several deep breaths. "I got one before he could pull you over." She leaned over, her face very close. A tiny part of Nodoka's brain marveled at how Ui had managed to block out Yui and Azusa. "The other one tried to ... shoot me, but," Ui bit her lip and wiped her eyes. "I-I guess he was far enough gone that it ... didn't work for him."
"Shoot?" Nodoka whispered.
"Uh huh," Ui replied. "They ... were infected, but ... not totally," she added, rocking back on her heels.
Nodoka stared up at the ceiling. Pieces were falling into place. She remembered being grabbed, but that was all that would come to her. She forced herself up, as there were more pressing matters at hand.
"Yui ... Azusa? Why are you here?"
"W-we came running when we heard gunfire," Azusa replied.
"You were on the ground, Nodoka-chan," Yui said. "What happened to you?"
"I ... just got grabbed by some ... zombies ... that's all," Nodoka replied. They were infected, but ... not totally. Ui's voice echoed in her mind, and Nodoka felt very, very, dirty.
"Ui," she croaked. "Are there any others?"
Ui vigorously shook her head. "Not anymore," she replied.
"Okay," Nodoka said, swallowing. She cleared her throat. "Everybody gather round. I need you all to promise me something," her eyes found Yui's. "You, especially, Yui."
"Nodoka-senpai?"
"Nodoka ... chan?"
Nodoka adjusted her glasses. "No more half-measures, guys. I want you to promise me that, no matter what happens, you're going to get to Tokyo. And ... that you're not going to settle for anywhere in-between."
"Nodoka?"
"Remember that map, Yui?" Nodoka stared into Yui's eyes. "Remember what I said? It's going to be all about Tokyo in the end. That's going to be the only place in Japan that's going to be really safe."
"Senpai?"
"Just ... just promise me, guys, okay?" Nodoka stared at each of the girls, in turn. "Please?"
Ui nodded. A moment later, so did Azusa.
"Yui? You, especially, have to promise me."
Yui adjusted her guitar bag and returned Nodoka's gaze.
"I don't really understand, Nodoka-chan ... but ... okay. I promise to get everyone to Tokyo! No matter what!"
Nodoka exhaled deeply. Somehow, she felt as though a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She pushed herself to her feet, reaching for her rifle.
"Okay ... okay ... now let's all go see what's on the radio."
"Anyone who is listening to this frequency, please pick up. This is an official Self-Defense Forces emergency channel."
The man holding the radio was very, very, dead; his military fatigues soaked with blood and cut ragged.
"Those don't look like bite marks," Yui said, leaning close to inspect the man.
"That's not the point, Yui-senpai!" Azusa snapped, looking ashen in the harsh light of the fluorescent lantern by the man's side.
Ui and Nodoka exchanged a look, and Nodoka gingerly knelt by the man's side, picking the radio from his hand.
"Uh, hello?"
"Anyone who is listening to this frequency, please ... say again, over?"
"Oooh, he heard you!" Yui said, crossing over to Nodoka's side and leaning over her.
"Yui, be quiet for a minute, please?"
"Aww, Nodoka-chan ... "
"Yui-senpai!"
Nodoka scowled. "All of you be quiet!"
The other girls dropped into stunned silence.
"This is Evac Juliet-Foxtrot One-niner. Unidentified caller, please repeat your transmission, over."
Nodoka cleared her throat and pressed the "Transmit" button once more.
"Uh, hello ... I'm Nodoka Manabe-san. I'm at, ah, University Hospital. There are four of us here."
Silence.
"Uh, over?"
The radio crackled, and the girls nearly jumped.
"This is Evac Juliet-Foxtrot One-Niner, I copy, University Hospital. Are you alone? Over?"
Nodoka frowned. "No, there are four of us here. We've come from Sakuragaoka High. Where are you? Over?"
"Evac Juliet-Foxtrot One-Niner copies. Please confirm, University Hospital Evac Center is unmanned? Over?"
Nodoka closed her eyes, rubbing her temple with her free hand. "Yes. We found military here, but they were ... all dead when we got here. Over."
"Evac Juliet-Foxtrot One-Niner copies. Listen, can you get into a secure position? Over."
Nodoka looked around. The corner of the hospital where the former soldiers had holed up was well barricaded.
"Uh, I think so, yes. Over," she replied.
"I copy. There should be a searchlight outside in the parking lot. Is it on? Over."
"No," Nodoka replied firmly. "We got here before sunset. Over."
"Copy that." There was a static-laden pause. "There is a relief convoy being prepped right now ... but you will have to turn on the searchlight. The drivers are new, and unfamiliar with your area, and other survivors may be trying to locate the Echo-Zulu. Do you copy? Over."
"Did he just say what I think he said," Azusa said. Nodoka replied with a chopping motion with her hand.
"I ... uh, did you say to start up the searchlight? Over?"
"Affirmative. All you need to do is start the generator and that will turn the searchlight on. It will draw attention to you, so you will have to barricade yourselves and wait for our arrival. Do you copy? Over."
There was a collective intake of breath, as the girls looked at each other.
"Yeah, I, uh, copy. Over," Nodoka replied.
"Remember, the searchlight will draw attention. Prepare yourselves, and then call back on this channel when you are ready. Over and out."
Azusa was the first to break the silence.
"We're almost out of here! We just have to turn that generator on, and then sit tight until the military gets us, and ... "
"No," Nodoka said, unfolding herself.
"What do you mean 'no,' Nodoka-senpai?" Azusa frowned, staring into Nodoka's eyes.
"I mean ... no, we don't just sit tight. We get ready for a fight, and then start up that generator."
Azusa was suddenly in Nodoka's face, glaring up at her.
"A f-fight? Didn't you hear the instructions? They told us to sit here and wait for their arrival! They said nothing about fighting! Th ... th ... that's what they're for, Nodoka-senpai! The military!"
"Azusa ... "
"Why can't we just let the military do their job, Nodoka-senpai!" Azusa shouted, balling her fists at her sides. "Why do you want us to fight?"
"Azusa-chan," Ui said, putting her hands on Azusa's shoulders and squeezing firmly. "Where are they now?"
"I ... Ui ... wha ... what are you talking about?"
"The military, Azusa-chan. Where is the military right now?"
"They ... they'll be on their way here!"
"Oh! I get it," Yui said, smacking her fist into her open palm. "They're not here right now!"
"And what does that have to do with anything?"
"Azusa," Nodoka said placing her hands on Azusa's arms. "The town is full of the infected. What's going to happen when we start up that generator?"
"Zombies, Nodoka-chan, zombies," Yui corrected.
"Ahem, yes ... zombies. The town is full of zombies," Nodoka said. "And, like you said this morning, they seem to be attracted to noise; and that generator will make much more noise than anything else we've done today."
"Th-then why start it at all! We could just hide out until the military gets here!"
"They said they had new drivers, and there might be others; just like us, trying to make it here to be evacuated ... maybe even the others."
"L ... l ... like Ricchan and Mio-chan and Mugi-chan!" Yui said, her expression brightening.
"Yes, our friends," Nodoka replied, still holding Azusa's eyes. "That's why we have to start that generator. When we do, the zombies are going to come, and I can't count on those barricades to hold ... not after the things we've seen today."
Azusa's eyes darted from one side to the other, and then down toward the dead man leaning against the wall.
"I ... " she said, squeezing her eyes shut. "I don't wanna do this anymore. I want this all to go away ... I want to wake up in my bed right now and have this all be a bad, bad dream. I ... "
"Azusa," Nodoka said, gently shaking her. "You ... I'll tell you right now that I've been proud of you, Azusa."
Azusa's eyes snapped open and she looked up at Nodoka.
"You've handled this ... all of this ... better than anyone would have a right to expect," Nodoka's voice was soft, her pace deliberate. "I know it's a lot to ask, but you have to pull yourself together," she said, squeezing Azusa's arms again. "This fight isn't over yet ... but we do this one thing, and it'll be a lot closer."
Nodoka released Azusa and exhaled slowly. Her heart ached.
"The rest of us will look for supplies. Stay here and take a few minutes to get ready, and then we'll all go start that generator."
Darkness was falling fast. The comforting glow of urban twilight was diminished in a way Nodoka had only seen with major earthquakes. Above them, a handful of stars were shining through the haze with cold indifference, and it was something that she didn't find at all comforting.
"Nodoka! Flares!" Yui said, pointing to a box next to the searchlight. Nodoka hurried over to Yui, with Ui close behind. Azusa lagged well behind, not looking up.
"Huh," Nodoka said, bending down to pick up a road flare from the box. "I guess they were planning to lay these out after sunset." Absentmindedly, she tucked the flare away, next to her spare magazines. The dead soldiers had more than enough rifle ammo to go around and, she thought feeling the new holster on her hip, their 9mm pistols were a welcome upgrade from the police revolvers they'd carried from Sakuragaoka.
"Everyone, get close to me, and keep an eye out," she said, unclipping the radio from her belt. "I'm about to call in the military."
"Yes," Yui replied with a small fist-pump. Ui nodded sharply, clutching her rifle tighter. Only Azusa showed no visible reaction, but she came to stand next to Yui all the same. Nodoka frowned and pushed the "Transmit" button.
"Uh, hello? This is University Hospital again ... over?"
Static.
"This is Evac Juliet-Foxtrot One-Niner! I was beginning to think you'd been overrun by the Whiskey Delta! What's your status? Over."
"We ... it took longer to prepare than we thought. We're ready to fire up the generator now. Over."
"I copy, University Hospital. We ... we encountered some trouble with the Whiskey Delta, so our ETA will be fifteen minutes from your go-ahead. Are you ready? Over."
Nodoka looked around, at the others. Each girl nodded. Even Azusa. Nodoka herself nodded, and then pressed the "Transmit" button.
"We're ready here. I'm starting the generator now."
"Alright! We are headed for the Echo-Zulu ASAP. Remember, our ETA is fifteen minutes. Good luck! Over and out!"
Nodoka took one last look around, at the inky shadows that surrounded them.
"Let there be light," she said, reaching for the "Start" button.
Whunk, whunk, whunk, whunk!
Nodoka frowned and pressed the button again.
The generator's engine turned over again, sputtered, and then roared to life. Immediately, the world was lit in harsh blue-white light.
For a few moments, the only sound to be heard was the roar of the generator. And then the screaming started. Distant screams, from everywhere at once, surging together into a single wailing, buzzsaw howl.
"Get ready ladies, here they come!"
Flashlight beams bobbed and weaved in the encroaching darkness as Ritsu, Mugi, Mio, and Sumire half-jogged, half-staggered down the railroad tracks. The head start that Yui and company enjoyed had turned out to be much bigger than Ritsu anticipated. Especially with the need to periodically stop and shoot their way through the small, random, bands of zombies that felt the need to jump onto the railroad tracks and try to chase them down.
"W-whatever made me th-think any of th-this was a good idea!" Ritsu gasped. As she jogged, her submachine gun banged painfully into her thigh. She clutched her revolver in her hand. Her marksmanship was getting better; thanks to the constant 'practice' she had to endure.
"Raaaagh!"
Ritsu stumbled to a stop, bringing that revolver up. A gray-faced woman, whose eyes glowed bright yellow in their flashlights, was already running at Ritsu.
Bam! Bam! Bam!
Blooms of crimson erupted from the front of the woman's filth-encrusted blouse and she went down.
BOOM!
Another zombie tumbled backward, his face a pulpy ruin from a close-range shotgun blast.
"We ... we must be near another station," Sumire gasped, clutching her knees, gulping for air.
"Yeah I ... I can tell," Ritsu replied, working the ejector of her revolver with shaky hands. She dropped the two good rounds back into the cylinder, and then fumbled three new ones in. That was another lesson hard learned. Blood-soaked bandages were wrapped tightly around her left bicep, where a zombie had gotten a shot in when she'd shot through all five rounds in her gun.
"I see it, guys! Up ahead," Mugi shouted, waving her flashlight down the tracks. Around the corner, Ritsu could just make out the glow of the lights of the rail station.
"Is ... is this it?" Mio asked, clutching her rifle with a white-knuckled grip.
"I-I think so," Mugi nodded quickly.
"You think so?" Ritsu said, the adrenaline imparting a snap to her voice.
"Guys, look up!" Sumire interrupted, as Mugi was about to reply. "Over there!"
"I see it! That ... that looks like a spotlight," Mio said.
"This is the right station, Ritsu," Mugi continued, not missing a beat. "Why I think that spotlight is coming from the hospital!"
Ritsu nodded sharply, waving her pistol like a cavalry captain waving his saber, as he was about to command a charge. "If the lights are on, then that means the someone must be home! C'mon guys, go, go, go!"
"Waaaaagh!" The zombie flew in through the doors, into the hospital lobby. There was the meaty thud of colliding bodies, and Ui went down hard.
"Uiiii!" Yui screamed in surprise, turning to her downed sister. "A-Azu-nyan! Help me!"
"R-right," Azusa shouted, shaking her head. She clubbed the zombie straddled atop Ui with her rifle. Once, twice, and then three times. The third blow dislodged the man, who crouched, snarling at Azusa. She froze, looking into those hateful eyes.
Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!
The zombie pitched forward to the floor. Ui clutched her pistol tightly, turning her attention to Azusa.
"Thanks Azusa-chan," she said.
"Guys, I can't hold them all back myself!" Nodoka shouted; her face lit with the strobing of rifle fire as she gunned down the zombies who'd crawled in behind the leaper.
"Right!" Ui shouted, discharging her pistol at the oncoming horde with quick, deliberate, precision.
"Don't stay down there all night, Ui," Yui said, reaching for Ui's hand as the slide of her sister's pistol locked back.
"Azusa! To the left!"
Azusa's head snapped over to the left. Zombies were crawling over the sandbags, coming from the area that the military had blocked off.
"Aaaaaah!" She screamed, squeezing the trigger of her rifle. It bucked against her, and somehow, enough shots connected that the zombies tumbled lifelessly to the ground.
"Watch my back!" Nodoka called out, dropping her empty magazine and reaching for another.
"Onee-chan! The door!"
"Sorry!" Yui replied. She fumbled at her side, and then her SMG erupted with thunder, as more zombies appeared at the main doorway, running at them.
The staccato bursts of SMG fire were drowned out as Nodoka opened fire once more.
"R ... r ... reloading!" Azusa cried, staring down at her empty rifle.
"I've got your back Azu-nyan!" Yui said, turning her attention away from the door.
"Just like I showed you, Azusa," Nodoka called out.
"Y ... y ... yes!" Azusa replied. More barely-human figures, backlit by the harsh blue of the spotlight, appeared in the doorway. Their eyes shone yellow in the faint light of the lantern the girls had salvaged earlier and in the flashlights attached to their rifles.
"There's so many of them ... Onee-chan, be careful!" Ui said, dropping to one knee, firing again and again.
Lights flashed everywhere. Bright flashbulb-like pulses of light exploding from the muzzles of guns. The brilliant white of flashlights shining from tactical rails. The dim eyeshine of the undead as they fixed hungry eyes on tender, living, flesh. The dance of shadows in harsh, blue-white, light, as the zombies surged for their would-be victims.
The hospital was alive with sound. The hollow ping of empty brass bouncing off tile floors. The hollow clatter of empty magazines. The half-panicked cries of the girls. All of it set to the staccato crackle of gunfire. The zombies surged forth, their footfalls innumerable, growling, groaning, crying, and screaming. Each breath they took coming out as moan or hiss. All of it set to the steady drone of the engine driving the generator.
Clank!
Zombies suddenly became illuminated, their ashen, bloodstained features standing out in stark relief against flashlights. Behind them, blackness, and the bobbing and weaving of glowing eyes. Many, many glowing eyes. The sounds of their movements backed, not by the drone of a generator, but of the animal scream of the horde.
"Nodoka! The generator's out!"
"N ... N ... Nodoka-chan! What do we do!"
"There's so ... so many of them ... so many of them ... "
Crack! Crack-crack-crack-crack!
"Onee-chan! Don't stop now!"
"Y ... y ... yes! Right!"
"Nodoka! What do we do! There's too many of them!"
"Onee-chan! Azusa! Watch me, I've got to reload!"
"Azu-nyan? What are you doing?"
"S ... s ... I'm sorry, Yui-senpai!"
A long burst of gunfire, followed by silence. Absolute silence. The girls exchanged looks. It wasn't going to last.
Nodoka Manabe stood up, whirling back on the others. Light glinted as she adjusted her glasses.
"Stay here! I've got this! Do not follow me!"
"Nodoka-chan!"
"I mean it!" Nodoka snapped at Yui. "I-I'm going to restart the generator. Stay together, stay safe! And above all, get to Tokyo!"
Bam! Bam! Bam!
BOOM!
Zombies crumpled before Ritsu and Sumire as they emerged onto a road.
"Ritsuuuu! I don't see the spotlight anymore!" Mio screamed behind them.
"What do you mean ... awww damnit!"
"Maybe it's just a glitch, keep going guys!" Mugi called out.
"Y-yeah, right," Ritsu replied, starting out onto the roadway. Stepping out into a pool of light from one of the many streetlights, she spied a sign. Her eyes followed the sign off to the left.
"Damn it, the main road to the hospital looks like it's blocked off. Mugi? You think we can cut through those apartment blocks?"
"Absolutely," Mugi replied.
"All right! Lead on," Ritsu said. "We'll be right behind you ... Mio?"
"Did you feel that, Ritsu?"
"Feel what?"
"Feels like an earthquake!"
"You did not just say that," Ritsu said with exasperation. "I don't feel anything at all ... "
"She's right," Sumire said, staring intently at the ground. "I feel something."
Ritsu wanted to snap, but she was feeling it too. An unnerving tremor beneath the soles of her shoes.
"Well doesn't this just beat all?"
Ritsu had time to say nothing else, for a great bellow filled the air.
BOOM!
Ritsu was in an instinctive crouch, upon hearing the sound of a metallic object being cast aside with great force.
"Roaaaaaar!"
There! Charging up the blockaded road! A huge beast of a zombie, whose upper body was all rippling muscle and grossly distorted traditional Japanese tattoos. Everything from the waist down looked normal, and ridiculously tiny, but the giant seemed to move just fine.
"That's ... that's not even fair!"
The road exploded in a blizzard of sparks as the monster batted aside a K-car abandoned in its path. Mio screamed, dropping to her knees.
Oh God, not this ... not now, Ritsu thought, dropping by her best friend's side.
"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon, we don't have time for this! Get up! Get up! "
BOOM! BOOM-BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
That was Mugi and Sumire, gamely unloading their shotguns at the big monster zombie coming to kill them all. Out of the corner of her eye, Ritsu saw the monster rear up, pounding his chest with his fists. She shook Mio, squeezing her shoulders.
"C'mon, Mio, you made it this far!"
"B ... b ... b ... big ... "
"Raaaaaaargh!"
The monster was getting close to the barricades. Ritsu knew they wouldn't hold ...
Crack!
Mio stared up at Ritsu, her grey eyes wide with shock.
"You get up this instant, Akiyama-san!" Ritsu screamed, raising her hand for another blow. "Goddamn it, I am not going to lose you today!"
"Ri ... "
"Now!"
Before Mio could say anything, Mugi hauled her bodily to her feet.
"Run guys! Run!" Mugi urged. "Into the alley!"
CRASH!
Wood and grit flew past them, blasting at them. Mio shrieked, in pain this time, and the monster zombie was through the barricade. Ritsu scrambled to her feet, barely managing to snatch up her revolver.
BOOM! BOOM!
Sumire stood before the monster zombie, blasting away with her shotgun. In an instant, Ritsu turned away from Mio. She'd have to trust Mugi to get her moving.
"Su-miiii-reee! C'mon! Let's go!" Ritsu yelled, feeling her throat becoming raw. She aimed in the monster zombie's direction, squeezing the trigger five times in quick succession. She shoved her gun into the waistband of her pants, dashing toward the monster charging at them. She reached Sumire, yanking on her sleeve. Sumire's head snapped toward Ritsu, and she shook her head violently, as if emerging from a spell.
Both girls screamed as the monster knocked a Jersey barrier toward them and they were peppered with concrete shrapnel. Ritsu yanked on Sumire's sleeve again, and they started the desperate run toward the alleyway.
Nodoka ran out into the darkness. All around her were the shadowy figures of the undead.
BAM! BAM!
A zombie spun and dropped, with new bullet-holes in its head. Two more turned away from the entrance to the hospital, screaming at Nodoka. She fired again, clutching her pistol tightly. She was saving her rifle for when she got the generator started.
She cried out, involuntarily, feeling claw-like hands at her back. She drove her elbow back, feeling the zombie's ribs crack. The zombie staggered back, and Nodoka wheeled around in an instant, the barrel of her pistol jammed into the zombie's temple.
BAM!
The zombie dropped and Nodoka turned again, and with an explosive movement, she sprinted for the generator. Zombies dropped off to her side, cut down by rifle fire. She prayed the others were listening to her, and that their fire was coming from the relative safety of the hospital.
Was that gas she smelled?
Nodoka pushed the thought off. Two zombies leaped from the top of the tanker truck, landing in front of her. She sidestepped one, pistol-whipping the other one across the face.
BAM!
A third zombie staggered back, away from the searchlight. It vomited blood and then screeched at Nodoka. She shot it twice more, spinning back on the first two. She pulled back, just in time to keep one from knocking her glasses off her face. The other swung wildly, knocking Nodoka's pistol from her hand. She kicked out, knocking one down, and shoved the second back. It was a mad scramble for her rifle as the zombie lunged at her again, trying to grab her in a gristly bear hug.
Crack!
The zombie sprawled to the pavement, blood pouring from its mouth. The other zombie gained its feet just in time for Nodoka to get the rifle into firing position.
Crack-crack-crack!
She turned to the generator when a glint of light caught her eye.
"Oh ... damn ... " Nodoka swore. Gasoline dribbled from the tanker truck, puddling on the ground around her. Bullet holes pockmarked the tanker. Fresh bullet holes. Suddenly, the entrance to the hospital seemed like it was a thousand miles away.
"Don't stop running!" Mugi cried out. Mio screamed, and both Ritsu and Sumire gasped breathlessly. Ritsu's ribs hurt, her lungs burned, and her legs were on fire.
"Hraaaaaargh!"
Ritsu's stomach went into freefall and the pain briefly dropped into the background. She gulped another lungful of agony and forced herself onward. The monster was behind them. Always behind them, no matter how many twists and turns they took.
The goddamn military had better be waiting for us, Ritsu thought, as they turned a corner. Suddenly, light flooded into her world, driving ice picks into her brain.
"We're ... we're ... we're saved! Light's on ... on again!" Mio gasped.
"Don't stop now," Ritsu yelled, her voice hoarse. "Ruuuun!" Behind her there was a meaty thud.
"Ritsu!" Sumire gasped. Ritsu wheeled back and her legs nearly buckled as fresh agony radiated from her ribs. Sumire leaned up against a dumpster, gasping desperately for air. "It ... h ... hurts ... "
"C-c'mon ... let's g ... g ... go," Ritsu said, her lungs burning with each breath she took. "Al ... almost there!" She took Sumire's hand, trying to pull her away from the dumpster. Trying to catch her breath. Trying to find those last little reserves of strength for one more sprint.
"T ... t ... trying," Sumire managed, pushing off the dumpster. She leaned heavily on Ritsu, and the two started to stumble down the alley.
"Roooooaarrrrgh!"
Heavy footfalls were behind them. The monster was in the alley with them.
"Go! Go! Go!" Ritsu shrieked, trying to haul Sumire forward with her. Both girls ran a few, staggering, clumsy steps; and then, suddenly, Ritsu felt herself stumbling forward, nearly tripping as Sumire shoved her free.
She had just an instant to look back. The monster was upon them, sweat gleaming on pink-gray skin. He reared up; hauling one of those impossibly immense arms back ...
WHAM!
The dumpster was briefly airborne.
CRASH!
The edge caught, the dumpster somersaulted forward, and half a meter made all the difference in the world.
A concussive blast of air and a fist of metal shoved at Ritsu and she tumbled down the alley. Miraculously, she rolled to her feet, just in time for her momentum to be violently checked by one of the parked cars partially blocking the alley. Her ribs screamed fiery agony as she pushed herself off the car, stumbling across the road trying desperately to catch up with Mugi and Mio. Her eyes burned, and her vision blurred, but the image that would haunt her was seared into her mind with crystalline clarity.
"Roooooaarrrrgh!"
The sound cut through the grunts and screams of the zombies dying all around Nodoka. The sound cut to the very core of her being.
Crack! Crack!
A zombie sprawled at Nodoka's feet. She leaned heavily against the generator, behind a macabre fortress of piled corpses.
"Eeeeee!" A zombie screeched, crawling over its dead brethren, dragging its useless, bullet-riddled, legs behind it.
Crack!
The zombie stopped moving. In the back of her mind, Nodoka wondered what could've made that roar. The stink of gas fumes was starting to make her dizzy. Almost as dizzy as the blood loss. The legs of her pants were torn open and soaked with blood. The back of her top was similarly ripped, and a great blurry line crossed half her vision where her glasses cracked when a zombie had smashed her face up against the unyielding metal side of the generator.
"The hospital ... we're here!" A voice screamed, somewhere beyond the tanker truck.
Mio?
There was an inarticulate cry.
"Keep running!"
Mugi? Ritsu?
Nodoka turned, looking into the darkness. Lo and behold, she could see three shapes moving with the frantic desperation of the living.
"Akyiama-san! Kotobuki-san! Tainaka-san!" She screamed at the darkness.
"Nodoka!" Mio screamed back. "Ohmygod!" She started toward Nodoka.
"Rrrraaaaarrww!"
Behind them, across the road, an immense figure appeared at the head of an alley.
"No!" Nodoka yelled. "I'm protecting the generator! You three! Get to the hospital! Hurry!"
She watched Mio stumble past her, followed by Mugi, who was arm-in-arm with Ritsu; who looked up at Nodoka with wet eyes as she ran past, limping the whole way.
Crack! Crack-crack!
Nodoka turned away, dropping two zombies who'd noticed the three girls.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
She heard shrieks of surprise from the doorway to the hospital. She allowed herself the faintest of smiles ... now Mugi, Mio, and Ritsu, might make it to the hospital without getting shot by their friends.
CRASH!
Nodoka was on the ground, surrounded by shattered concrete. Stars glared down at her, and she flailed around for her rifle. Instead, her hand landed on something else that was long and hard. Her fingers wrapped around it, and she brought up the police flare that had been in her backpack.
"Rooooooar!"
Nodoka grabbed at the end of the flare, twisted, and pulled. She heard footfalls of zombies coming her way. In the distance, she heard the roar of diesel engines. She felt footfalls of the giant that had brought her down. Deftly, she brought the striker cap against the flare's igniter ...
Brilliant red light flooded Nodoka's vision, starkly illuminating the zombies coming at her. Her world exploded into jagged agony as zombies descended upon her, kicking and stomping at her. She flailed with the flare, the stench of scorched flesh bringing tears to her eyes.
You got me, but you're not going to get them, she thought. The giant appeared at edge of her vision, and there was just enough of a gap between the lesser zombies. With the last of her strength, she threw the flare toward the tanker ... toward the pools of gasoline collected below it.
They're safe ...
There was a tremendous blast, and everything was illuminated in fiery shades of yellow and orange. A hand of burning air seized Ritsu, tore her from Mugi's grasp, and hurtled her into the hospital. She hit the ground, tumbling like a ragdoll. When she stopped, she was facing the distant ceiling, and there seemed to be two of everything.
"Ricchan!" Two Yuis exclaimed, looming large in Ritsu's vision.
"R ... R ... Ritsu-senpai!" Two Azusas filled the rest.
"Urgh," Ritsu managed, struggling to sit up.
"Ricchan! Ricchan! That was an awesome entrance!" The Yuis said, shaking Ritsu.
"Yui-senpai!" The Azusas cried, their voices strained and thick. "That ... that ... that was 'cause of N ... No ... Nodoka ... "
"Onee-chan! Help Mugi-chan up! Hurry!" Ui called out somewhere behind Ritsu.
"R-right away Ui!" The Yuis sprung up, as one, darting off. Ritsu sighed sharply. One Yui was bad enough.
"Ritsu-senpai," the Azusas said, slowly merging into one. "H-hi," she said, her eyes wet with tears.
"H-hey, Azusa," Ritsu replied. "It's ... it's good to see you guys again."
"Yeah," Azusa said. "Can you ... can you get up?"
Ritsu looked around her, at the dead bodies and blood that almost carpeted the tile floor. Brass glittered among the dead, and she forced the physical pain and mental anguish to the background.
"I ... I ain't done yet," she replied, staggering to her feet.
Crackle!
"This is Evac Juliet-Foxtrot One-Niner! We've arrived at the Echo-Zulu, University Hospital!" A voice crackled from the radio Ui wore on her hip.
"The military!" Azusa gasped. Ritsu's head snapped toward the girl, and then back to Ui.
"We don't have a lot of time! Come out and get to the trucks!" The voice on the radio snapped.
"Survivors!" A voice called out over a loudspeaker. "This is the Self-Defense Forces! Get to the trucks!"
Ritsu threw her arm around Azusa's shoulder.
"Ritsu-senpai!"
"Help me out here," Ritsu replied. Azusa shrugged several times, trying to better take Ritsu's weight, and they both staggered toward the door ... toward the waiting military trucks.
Notes:
- Thank you to those who've reviewed the story since the last chapter came out. They are all deeply appreciated!
- This chapter has been modified from its original version ... mostly to clean up formatting, but also to better line up the writing style with later chapters.
- The two bands of Survivors are finally united as one! And they've finally escaped from their hometown (and it only took eight chapters.) This marks the end of the first arc. Next chapter will feature the new band in a whole new locale.
- The first Spitter makes her appearance! To all the Tachibana fans out there, I apologize ... but she was one of the first ones out sick with the Flu, same as Matsumoto.
- Ritsu pronounces Sumire's name just like Jun and Ui do in the high-school restart chapters.
- TAAAANK! What's trying to kill you? Tanks. Why should you keep running? Tanks. You're welcome.
- Sumire's death was plotted out right from the beginning of the story, though I do admit to wrestling with it, as I got further into writing this arc of the story. The thought did occur to me "What would happen if Mugi gets killed at the end of Act I, and the others have to cope with this person who reminds them of Mugi, but isn't really Mugi?" But ... then again, killing off the two best players on the Survivors' team in one fell swoop seemed like a quick way to get to a "... and then they all died. The End."-type ending. Which I'm trying to avoid.
- Unfortunately, so was Nodoka's. The first drafts had it happening as early as Chapter Three, but as Nodoka settled into her role as leader of her band; it became the death portrayed in this chapter as I sought to draw more parallels between the worlds of K-ON! and of Left 4 Dead.
