Chapter Ten
Bus of the Dead
Location: Tokonosu City
Time: Z-Day +1 17:00 Hours
The city skyline was illuminated with a solemn orange glow. The dying rays of natural light cast dark shadows on the living inhabitants of Tokonosu City as they walked towards what they believed was salvation. However two individuals dressed in tactical gear walked in the opposite direction.
Queen sucked her teeth before muttering in a low voice.
"Look at them. Like lambs to the slaughter and lugging their suitcases."
I responded with grunt. I wasn't in the mood to talk. We were still pretty far from our target's location and if what Hunter mentioned earlier today was true. I wanted to be out of this side of town by night fall. I grunted again as I bumped into Queen who was in front of me.
"Hey, watch it!" Queen snapped quickly.
I apologized quickly before taking my hard copy map out and examining it.
"Yo, Earth to Jack. You there partner? You've been out of it since we left the last house," Queen said as she waved her hand in front of my face.
"Yeah, just concerned that's all."
"Anyways, time for a late lunch. Here." Queen said in a matter of fact tone before shoving a spam sandwich against my chest.
The two of us walked towards the cement wall separating a house from the street. We sat down with our backs up against it before starting our meal. I looked at the spam sandwich with disgust. Having spam for the first meal of the day was enough, but having it back to back was too much. Queen noticed my disgust before elbowing my left arm.
"Look, I drained the oil as much as I could from that alright. Man up and chow down you wuss."
I admitted defeat with a sigh before chewing slowly. Neither one of us were prepared for spending more than a day in this city, but the way things look. We might be here for a little longer than we have anticipated. I was barely more than a quarter of a way through my sandwich when the sound of gunfire erupted from around the corner accompanied by many foot steps.
Queen stuffed what was left of her sandwich in her mouth before flipping the safety off on her TMP. Before I could even tell her to stop, Queen stepped around the corner and a blue blur filled my vision. She had just tossed a female police officer over her shoulder on instinct. The barrel of her firearm was pointed straight down at the officer's nose as she continued to chew on her sandwich through her puffed out cheeks.
"You?" Queen asked with her mouth full before lowering her weapon and offering the officer her hand.
"You done?" I asked before walking past them and pulling down my mask. "It's Hunter and Jordwell."
"What? I thought they would have crossed the river by now." Queen exclaimed as she quickly turned a one eighty on her heels.
The two idiots were playing hero as they covered for the civilians running away from the horde of infected hot on their heels. I felt a breeze rush past me as Queen ran directly into the fray. I cursed under my breath. She's in the mood again. No matter how much ammo the four of us had, it would not be enough to hold back the infected long enough for the civilians to cross the bridge behind us to safety.
"FIRE IN THE HOLE!" Jordwell screamed and not a moment later I felt the ground shake underneath me while the civilians around me lost their footing screaming.
"Son of a bitch! Warn us next time!" Queen screamed over the radio.
"Don't mind her Jordy. Good work!" Hunter commented with a slight chuckle in the middle of his sentence.
Jordwell's M203 HE grenade only made a small dent in the horde of infected chasing them. I scanned the street while taking into account of our situation. There was a elderly couple and another female officer was supporting them. The rest of the more able bodied civilians were starting to run in different directions. It was becoming a shit storm real fast.
"You! Get as many people onto that bridge as possible. Have them take cover!" I screamed at the officer who Queen had flipped earlier.
She stared at me with a confused look on her face. Rolling my eyes at our apparent language barrier, I opened up Mr. Flower's. Taking out an aluminium film case along with two bottles full of laundry detergent and gas I pointed at the items, then at the infected and then I made a explosion gesture with my hands.
The female officer nodded her head understanding what I intended to do. I then pointed at her, the civilians, and the cars on the bridge before performing a ducking motion as I covered my head to express the concept of taking cover.
She nodded again before jumping into action and ushering the civilians out of the line of fire and towards the bridge. I looked back towards my team mates. They were losing ground fast.
"Give me a wedge formation. Queen take center. Hunter! I want you on the right and Jordwell, you're on the left. Buy me minute so I can set this up!" I shouted as I uncapped both my bottles and started to pour them out in a parallel line across the street.
"This is going to be interesting," Hunter chuckled as he quickly glimpsed back at me to see what I was up to.
Jordwell laughed at Hunter's comment before Queen cut in over the radio.
"Ok, seriously. What the hell is going on? What am I missing out on? And Jordwell just laughed. That dude, never laughs. Somebody fill me in?"
"Just do your job miss." Jordwell muttered in a serious tone as he began to fire his rifle in semi-auto with even deadlier precision than earlier.
"Yeah and stop throwing ammo away like it's candy," Hunter chided in as his magazine clicked empty.
"What the f_ck just happened..." Queen muttered in an astonished tone.
I emptied the the remaining fluid inside the bottles at the end of the street before tossing them aside. I ran back to the middle of the street where I placed the aluminum film case. It was harmless, until I flipped the switch that poked out of a small indent in the center that was cut out years ago. I smiled at the sound of a Nokia phone powering on inside the aluminium film case.
"I'm ready, now haul ass back to the bridge!" I screamed as I grabbed another Nokia phone from Mr. Flower's before zipping the fanny pack up.
"You stop for take out or something!" Queen shouted with a snark before breaking formation.
"Bounding!" Jordwell announced as he ran towards my position while reloading.
"Forget the peel! Just haul ass back to the bridge! Go go go!" I shouted.
Droplets of sweat started to adorn my forehead as I stared at the Nokia phone in my hand waiting for it to boot up. Jordwell ran past me followed by Hunter and then Queen who grabbed my left arm and started to drag me away.
"Stop looking at porn on that piece of junk and let's move!" Queen shouted as she forcefully shoved my ass into gear.
Without anyone slowing down the flow of the infected Queen and I felt their outreached hands on our trail. Maybe it was my imagination, maybe it wasn't, but it definitely felt like those things have picked up the pace in chasing after us.
"Hey! Whatever you plan to do with that antique, now's the time Jack!" Queen shouted as she panted in between words.
I glimpsed at the cellphone in my hand right as it's screen switched to it's default state. Pressing the contacts button I pressed call on the single contact number in that list.
"EVERYBODY DOWN! FIRE IN THE HOLE!" I shouted as Queen and I both slid over the hood of a BMW parked sideways on the bridge.
A cellphone rang down the street. The ringing noise stopped the infected in their tracks as they slowly turned towards the sound of the noise before a giant explosion of fire engulfed everything in the IED's blast radius. The glass windows of the BMW shattered above us as metal beads and shrapnel penetrated it. The civilians taking cover behind a bus screamed as the explosion caught them off guard.
The four of us took a second to catch our breaths before standing up to examine the carnage in the street. A wall of fire had blocked off the rest of the street, but the infected who were caught in the flames continued to shamble on aimlessly. The explosions must have disoriented their hearing. Those who were not affected by the blast stood idly in front of the flames as they tilted side to side completely clueless.
"Two parts gas, one part liquid laundry detergent. Courtesy of the boys from Fallujah," I whispered to Queen with a smirk before turning to Hunter. "Now you mind explaining to me why the hell you two were playing hero?"
"We weren't, we were doing your job. Your target? She was part of that mess of civilians that we were providing cover for. Bloody cunt didn't take the advice to stay home for extraction," Hunter exclaimed as he pointed his thumb back at the civilians who were now stepping out from behind the bus.
"You mean that dumb bimbo in the Sunday dress?" Queen asked with an raised eyebrow and a smirk.
"She was searching for her puppy when those things attacked," Jordwell reported.
Before Queen and I could ask how did he know, Hunter interrupted.
"Jordwell speaks Japanese. He uh, has a lot of anime and manga stuff in his room. Don't ask boss. I was surprised when I caught him watching that stuff in the middle of the night on his bed with a bunch of Asian junk food. Oh and she speaks enough English to be an CIA asset. So... yeah job just got easier."
Queen shook her head left and right to get the shock out before taking a more sarcastic nature to address the situation before us.
"Now the million dollar question. What do we do with them?"
There were two female officers, neither one of them are armed and a group of survivors which included an elderly couple. The sun was setting quickly, and if I knew my zombie mythology well, these things are more active at night. We're going to have to find some cover soon. The wall of flames were already starting to die out at the end of the street.
"Hunter, secure the VIP. Jordwell talk to those police women. If anyone knows this city, it's them. We need a place to bunker down for the night. The way this bridge looks, it seem's like the infection has already reached the other side of town. Go." I ordered.
"Roger that boss," Hunter and Jordwell said in unison before running off to perform their respective tasks.
I turned to Queen who was already in the middle of lighting a cigarette. She noticed my gaze before her eyebrows furrowed.
"What? Why are you looking at me like that? You know I don't like that look," she stated while blowing smoke out of her nose.
"You know how to hotwire a bus?" I asked.
"Too lazy. You do it. I'll keep watch." She replied before jumping on top of the BMW and sat cross legged facing the direction of the flames.
"Fine. Just give Alan an update while you're at it," I said before turning on my heels and walking towards the tour bus the civilians took cover behind earlier.
Jordwell and Hunter approached the group of survivors. The black haired officer walked up to the duo to stop them in their tracks, but Hunter pushed past her to check on our VIP. I followed quickly behind Hunter as Jordwell started a conversation with the officer. The doors to the tour bus was already wide open, probably because the passengers had to make a run for it to cross the bridge. Sitting down in the driver's seat I smiled at the nice present fate has left us. They key to the kingdom was left hanging right there. I guess not everything had to be difficult.
I turned my head to check the back of the bus before I realized the fatal rookie mistake I made. I forgot to check if the bus was clear before doing anything else. I came face to face with an infected passenger just lingering there. That thing was just standing right next to me, staring straight ahead. There were two ways I can approach this. Either risk the thing hearing me flick the safety of my gun off, or take him out with the knife. Neither one was desirable. I'd much rather be further away from this thing. As I slowly reached for my knife so as to not make any noise, Hunter came to my aid by screaming like a loud idiot.
"Hey bo - oh shit!"
My first reaction was to squeeze my eyes shut and duck as I heard the double tap echo from Hunter's rifle. The survivors outside screamed. Then I felt the dead infected's body land on me. The thing was heavy as I grunted while pushing the thing off.
"Sorry boss. Itchy trigger finger," Hunter said with a grin before flicking the safety on his rifle back on.
As the Brit climbed on board, he scanned the back of the bus before dropping down on all fours to check for any extra surprises. Satisfied with the results, he flopped down on a seat in the front before shooting me a grin.
"So... what was that?"
"Yeah, yeah. Rub it in. Rookie mistake. Forgot to check the back of the bus," I muttered.
"And that mate, is why you died on that bus in Resident Evil 2 when you first played it." Hunter laughed.
Jordwell screamed at us from outside asking if everything was alright, to which Hunter responded by sticking a thumbs up out of the window.
"Alright, go ahead and tell the rest of the guys about it one day. Now, help me get this thing off the bus." I said accepting the humiliation that was to follow.
In another ten minutes, we had everyone in the tour bus were already on the road. Jordwell, who was the only on our team that understood Japanese was in the driver's seat. The black haired police officer stood next to him and gave him directions to the Taiei Shopping Town mall. Jordwell had given us a brief background of the two officer's and their situation earlier. The black haired officer was named Matsushima and her younger partner was Asami Nakaoka; however to Queen and I, they were the two officer's that nearly gave us a ticket a couple of nights ago. So trust could be a big issue.
I stared out of the windows to my left as Jordwell drove slowly through the dead city. The rocking back and forth of the vehicle was peaceful in it's own way since Queen had nodded off to sleep on my right shoulder. It's been a long day and the other passengers behind us were snoring as well. Hunter was sitting to the right of us along with the VIP. He yawned before rubbing his eyes with right hand. Shaking his head slightly, he looked in my direction to see my gaze fixed upon him. Giving me a quick smile and thumbs up, he returned his focus to the road on his right side.
The bus slowed down slightly to make a turn. The lights on the street were starting to flicker on as the last rays of sunlight disappeared. Now it was my turn to yawn. Sure Queen and I may have slept through most of the afternoon, but you don't get rid of fatigue with just a afternoon nap. I felt my eye lids getting heavy from watching the dull and dead city streets.
Location: Tokonosu City
Time: Z-Day +1 19:20 Hours
A violent lurch brought me back to my full senses in an instant. The bus had come to a sudden stop and Queen was groaning next to me.
"Thanks buddy, but you can take your hands off my chest now," she mummered in a sleepy tone.
My right arm had shot out in a reflex to hold my partner back so that she wouldn't bang her head on the pole in front of her. I gave her a nod before I removed my hand and checked on the passengers behind us. They were all coming out of their slumber from the sudden stop. Getting out of my seat, I quietly told Queen to let me pass before signaling Hunter to stay where he was.
"What's the hold up?" I asked in a whisper.
"Make-shift roadblock. Looks deliberate," Jordwell reported as he scanned the street in front of him.
It was a very narrow two way street with no room for parallel parking on either side. The roadblock Jordwell had mentioned was made from a silver minivan and a red Honda civic parked perpendicular to the flow of traffic. To our left was a small hill which was covered with brushes and trees. With the limited lighting provided by the street lights it was hard to see anything past the brushes. To our right was an array of two to three story buildings, with broken glass windows and kicked down doors. I heard the click of the safety going off from Jordwell's rifle.
"Forward or detour?" Jordwell asked anxiously.
"Detour. We'll find another route," I replied.
Jordwell nodded his head in agreement silently before putting the bus in reverse. This was obviously an ambush scenario, and we've been sitting here a little bit longer than necessary. We've only been going in reverse for a couple of feet before Jordwell stepped on the brake again and I was thrown backwards onto the ground.
"AMBUSH!" He shouted before the sound of a shotgun blast was heard. "I'm hit! I'm hit!"
Struggling to regain my balance, I heard gunfire erupt from inside the bus as Hunter and Queen returned fire. The civilians were still screaming and crying in their seats with their hands covering their heads. I was finally able to switch from laying flat on my back to lying on my belly and in front of me I saw Jordwell's body laying flat on the ground.
"Jordy! Hey Jordy! Talk to me!" I screamed over the gunfire.
"Fine boss! Just got lucky with a graze," Jordwell replied grunting as he fumbled to switch his mask back on.
The pellets from the shotgun shells continue to decorate the front windshield. To my right was Matsushima who had assumed a crouched position staring intently at me.
"Tell our officer here that the civilians need to get down on the floor. Not stay in their seats. If they do, they're dead!" I ordered before flipping my mask back down and powering it on.
Jordwell gave me another silent nod before speaking quickly in Japanese to relay my orders to the officer so that she may carry them out.
"Jack! We need to get the fuck out of here! Why isn't the bus moving?" Queen asked while reloading her TMP.
"Roadblock! Just kill these f_cks! They shot at the wrong f_cking group tonight! Hunter! On me! Jordwell! Maintain security of the vehicle with Queen!"
Hunter crawled his way next to me as fast as he could before asking where we were going.
"We're going hunting."
"CONTACT! LEFT SIDE!" Queen shouted as she fired her TMP in short three round bursts at the hillside where men with an assortment of melee weapons were coming out of the brushes.
The sound of the shotgun went off again before the front windshield to her right finally collapsed from the sustained damage. Jordwell's AK responded in kind as he rained hell on whoever was firing that shotgun at the front of their bus.
Returning her focus to the hill side she saw that the figures that were now moving out of the brush now carried an assortment of pistols as opposed to the earlier wave that carried melee weapons. Her eyes widened as she felt a few rounds flew past her head. Queen instinctively ducked back down as three rounds flew through the open window where her head was a second ago.
Queen raised her TMP over the window and fired blindly spraying the area on the hill before her magazine clicked empty. Upon hearing the sound she retracted her arm and proceeded to reload her weapon. Taking another peek over the window, she found that the men had moved even closer, bullets flew right over her head before she quickly ducked back under cover. Those guys had her position dialed in.
"Changing cover! Jordy! Cover me!" Queen screamed as she crawled a little further to the back of the bus as Jordy fired his AK in three round bursts as well.
Popping up from her cover, Queen let out three short bursts from TMP before ducking back down for cover again. She knew she had hit two of them. Taking another deep breath, she peeked out from her cover again to take aim. She felt something strong hit the front of her mask before being knocked backwards and landing on her back. The HUD on her mask flickered slightly before the visuals returned to normal.
"Queen's been hit!" Jordy shouted over the radio.
"I'm fine! I'm fine! It just hit the mask and knocked the wind out of me. Jack, whatever you and Hunter are doing. Do it fast. We're running out of time here."
I let out a sigh of relief upon hearing Queen's voice saying that she was fine. Hunter wiped his bloody knife on the man's shirt collar shirt before putting it back in his sheath. Moments earlier, Hunter and I had slipped out the back windows of the bus on the right side. By doing so we had stayed out of sight of the enemy firing on our position from the front and the hill side. Upon landing on the ground, Hunter immediately put two rounds into the man who blocked our escape with a moving a truck. We then proceeded to move up the street on the right side, leap frogging as we went. We kept our heads low to avoid detection and even crawling on our belly's at times to maintain our stealth.
Eventually we found our target. A single man in a disheveled collar shirt firing a over and under shotgun at our bus. We made our move when he started to reload. Before he could even scream for help, Hunter had already gutted him in the abdomen before bringing the blade up while it was still inside of him. The two of us continued to move towards the hill before taking cover behind the rear of the silver mini van.
Hunter put up four fingers to signal that there were four targets. The men did well to conceal themselves from our team mates by using the brushes on the hill, but their flanks were completely exposed to counter attacks like ours. Without a second thought our rifles roared to life with semi-automatic shots being fired. The two targets closest to us dropped down screaming in pain, and before the other two can realize what had happened to their comrades, they dropped to the ground in pain as well. Four AK rounds were fired from the bus before the sound of the dying men stopped.
The street was quiet again. The gunfire from earlier left only trails of smoke, blood and empty shells. Hunter and I made our ways back to the bus to assess the damage. The entire vehicle was littered with bullet holes. The engine revved in front of us as it struggle to come back on. Raising my mask up I stared at Jordwell with a concerned look. He shook his head signaling that the engine was completely shot and unresponsive.
"Bollocks!" Hunter screamed as he kicked the front of the bus with his boot.
All I could do at this point was let out a sigh and light a cigarette. The sound of shuffling and moaning of the infected came from a distance behind us. This was going to be another long night.
Time: Z-Day +1 19:38 Hours