I hadn't been to the Two Steps From Hell Youtube channel in a while and discovered I have a few more albums to add to my list. I am so far behind in music it's sad. But this chapter was written while listening to random new-to-me music of theirs, so it's all emotional and odd conversations and stuff. I sometimes wonder with these stories of mine that are written over a span of years that if read all at once if it makes sense and flows from one chapter to the next or if you notice the change in tone. And wow at that sentence. Awesome. Just rolls right off the tongue, it does.
ELEVEN
Lupin stood staring stone-faced at a clicker as it clicked and snarled inches from him, it's hands clawing at the metal security gate keeping it from it's meal.
It had been two days since the raid on the scavenger hideout, the three making their way south over the Tama-gawa River and eventually arriving in Takaishi. Night coming, they took refuge in a small convenience store, making sure the place was empty before lowering and locking the gate.
"Hey," Fujiko said quietly as she came up behind him, a look of worry on her face.
"She was right to do what she did," he said, his eyes staying on the creature in front of him.
"What?"
"Shooting herself. Toshiko had the right idea, freeing herself from this hell."
"Lupin?" She placed a hand on his shoulder and turned him towards her.
He looked away from the clicker and stared blankly at Fujiko. "I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"I should have never made you come with. It should just be me out here." He turned back towards the clicker. "Would it really be that bad? Dying?"
"Hey," Fujiko said as she forced him to look at her again, his words frightening her. "Don't you dare start that! Don't you dare even think about leaving me here!"
"You two should go back."
She glared and slapped him hard in the face. "We're surviving this together! What is wrong with you?" As she stared at his expressionless face her eyes began to water. "Why are you saying these things?"
"This guy could have been someone rich and powerful, getting whatever it was he wanted," he said, referring to the clicker. "And now look at him, becoming something that only thinks of eating the living."
Fujiko stared as she tried to figure out what he was getting at.
Lupin turned his head towards her and stared into her eyes. "Zenigata was stupid for saving me in the sewers."
"What are you...?"
"You two have survived countless times on your own. You both chose to work alone. You'd go into dangerous situations knowing you had no back-up. You'll live out here. I won't."
"That's just stupid."
"Is it?"
"You used to work alone all the time and you're still here, so of course it is."
Lupin looked away and laughed, the first emotion he had shown that day. "Yeah, I worked alone, robbing banks and museums that were barely secured, if they were at all. Anything with even moderate security I ran away from bleeding and empty handed. And when I was really stupid and tried to take on something bigger, it was a miracle I even got out of it still breathing."
"And what about all those times you got captured and lived while walking away with millions?"
Lupin shook his head. "All I did was survive long enough for Goemon or Jigen to come and save my ass. On the outside I played it cool, but on the inside I was scared to death. What if I had gone too far? What if the ones I expected to come save me came too late? Or never came at all?"
"Jigen was always there, even when me and Goemon weren't. He always had your back. You should have at least known he was going to come."
"Yeah? Well, where is he?" Lupin wondered loudly. "Because I'm really scared right now, Fujiko," he said as he broke down. He leaned his back against the security gate and slid down to a sit, holding his head in his hands as he cried.
"Lupin..." She sat down next to him, wrapping her arms around his upper body in comfort.
"You think I was always like this?" Zenigata asked as he stood a few feet away from them, having heard most of the conversation. He pulled out a knife and walked up to the clicker, sliding the blade through the metal slats and pushing it into the clickers head, killing it. He pulled the knife out and watched as the creature fell to the ground.
Fujiko glanced up at him as he stared down at the two.
"That I never gave up on living?" Zenigata sheathed the knife and sat down across from them. "There was a time that the guys in the station had a pool going on whether I'd drink myself to death or turn my gun on myself. Tch, yeah, my life was great."
Lupin lifted his head and wiped the tears from his eyes as he stared at Zenigata.
Zenigata glared at him, then turned his gaze towards the dead clicker. "It didn't start out that way. I had my dream job, married the woman I loved, had a kid... And then, everything changed. That was when the fighting started. At first I wasn't home enough. And then I didn't make enough. Towards the end I didn't care enough."
Another clicker ran towards the gate, none of the three seeming to care as it screeched and clawed at them.
Zenigata glanced at it before staring down at the floor in front of him. "The divorce drained me of everything. I lost the house, half of my savings, my daughter..." He sighed and stood, pulling out the knife once more and killing the clicker, if only to get it to shut up. "I barely made enough money to pay rent and child support. I took extra jobs where I could find them. I was barely scraping by. And then one day I somehow got promoted to inspector. And with the extra pay came extra responsibilities that I didn't have the energy to care about. And just as I was about to give up on everything something changed." He looked down at Lupin and Fujiko. "You two came along."
The two looked up at him.
"So, Lupin, if you ever wondered why I seemed so obsessed about catching you, it was because I was. It was that or falling back into depression and slowly killing myself. I've survived this long because I was alone. And I was the only one who could save me. Nobody else could. Not even you."
Lupin stared down at his feet and slowly nodded.
"Toshiko did what she did because she knew that when she turned I would have let her kill me. I would have let her do what I have been fighting so hard against. She had to step up and be brave. And the fact that she had to do that shames me. I didn't deserve a daughter like her." He clinched the knife tightly in his hand before sheathing it. Without another word he turned and walked back to the small fire.
Lupin narrowed his eyes and watched as Zenigata walked off. "You wanted to go to Kumamoto?" He looked over at Fujiko. "Then let's go to Kumamoto."
She watched in surprise as he stood and walked off to join Zenigata by the fire.
...
"Get enough to eat?" Jigen asked as Ren finished her breakfast.
Ren said nothing, not even looking at him as she got up and took her plate to the sink.
Jigen sighed in annoyance and shot a glare at Goemon. "Thanks."
"I don't see how this is my fault," Goemon said as he glared back.
"She hasn't even looked at me since you brought up leaving yesterday, adding in that lie about how you and I discussed it."
"We did discuss it."
"Yeah, we did, and I said we're staying. But you made it seem so convincing that she doesn't believe me."
"Hmm, someone else who doesn't believe you."
"Fuck you," Jigen said as he stood and left the apartment.
Goemon grinned and stood, following him.
They walked up the stairwell to the roof, both standing near the edge and looking into the distance.
"It's right there," Jigen said, pointing to a brown two story building.
"What is?" Goemon asked as he stared in disinterest at it.
"It's a distribution center for all the markets in the area. Place has got to be loaded with food."
"And what makes you think there's still food there? Wouldn't everyone have picked it clean by now?"
Jigen shook his head. "The military used the building next to it as a holding cell for those who were infected. When everything went to shit the people inside of it had already turned and escaped. There's gotta be at least a hundred of them milling around."
"I'm surprised the Fireflies haven't come and taken it all."
Jigen gave him an annoyed look. "Like those assholes come this far south. Besides, they have almost the whole city of Fuji to themselves. They have plenty of food."
"I see you don't like them."
"Not really. Why? Do you?"
Goemon shrugged. "The group I was traveling with wanted to join them. From what I heard it sounded like they had the right idea."
"Tch, yeah," Jigen scoffed. "I mean, the military panicked and went overboard, but those guys were just following orders. They didn't deserve to be hunted down and killed like animals."
"And you know that they did this?" Goemon asked in shock.
Jigen nodded. "We passed through there on our way to this place. I told Ren to hide while I looked for a safe way out. On my way back I saw as they paraded these soldiers around while others spat and threw garbage at them. Kids that looked around eighteen or nineteen begging for their lives, only to be forced to strip naked and get on their knees before they were shot."
"I wasn't aware they did such things."
"You wouldn't," Jigen said as he stared at the distribution center. He paused for a second before looking over at Goemon. "They tell people what they want to hear. Make it sound like it's all unicorns and rainbows. And once you find out the truth, it's too late. You just have to go along with it to survive."
Goemon stared down and nodded. "At one point my group had twenty three people. One by one they became infected. Five were killed by me. Three of those five were children." He looked up and gave Jigen a pained look. "It still haunts me, what I've done. I can still see their faces and hears their cries."
"Goemon, they weren't human anymore. You did what you had to-"
"No, they were. They hadn't turned."
"You still did them a favor."
Goemon shook his head. "I was trained since a child to kill my enemies and have no remorse for them. Those children were not my enemy, though. They were just scared, uncertain of what would happen to them. They trusted me. And I ended up killing them."
Jigen remained quiet, letting Goemon get what was bothering him off his chest.
"You chose not to kill Ren when you saw her wound. I would not have been that strong. I am not trustworthy. I deserve to be punished for what I've done."
"From what I've just heard, you're punishing yourself just fine."
Goemon looked up at Jigen and glared at him.
Jigen scoffed and shook his head. "Look around you. I mean, this fucked up place we now live in, isn't that punishment enough? So you killed some kids! Boo hoo! You'd have rather let them suffer by turning? Just so you could still end up with the same result? Grow the fuck up, Goemon!"
"And if they had been like Ren?" Goemon yelled back "If they had not turned?"
The anger left Jigen and he stared off, now knowing why Goemon was so upset over what he had done.
"Before now I never knew anyone could survive this, but you're right. Ren hasn't turned. That wound looks the same as when I arrived here. What if there are more like her out there, killed the second they are bit? We'd never know because of the fear clouding our minds."
"You're right," Jigen said with a shrug. "We'd never know. And even if we did, those who were immune would still be hunted down and most likely killed to see what made them different. Because we're human, Goemon. And in a situation like this we are so fucked up with every emotion imaginable that we can't think straight. And it's up to us to control those emotions and be the rational voices because that's the only way we're going to survive this. And trust me, it's hard. It is. But it's the only way we're getting through this hell."
Goemon stared at Jigen and gave a nod. "What'd you do?"
Jigen stared off into the distance for a few seconds. "What I did is in the past. It doesn't matter now." He looked at Goemon before quietly walking past him to the stairs.
...
"Okay," Zenigata said as he and the others huddled around an unfolded map on the floor, the flashlight Fujiko held illuminating it for them to read. "We should get to the Tomei Expressway," he said as he pointed to a thick line on the map. "We can follow it down and eventually make our way to Kumamoto." He ran his finger down the line, veering onto other expressways until he reached their destination.
Lupin and Fujiko agreed in silence.
"There's a lot of cities along the way," Zenigata said as he folded up the map. "It should be easy to get supplies as we go."
"How bad do you think the expressways will be?" Fujiko wondered.
Zenigata shrugged. "I'm sure the infected have moved on from there, but we might have a problem with scavengers."
"And we can deal with them," Lupin said as he stared at Zenigata.
Zenigata looked at him and nodded. "If everyone's ready... The sun will be up in a few minutes. We need to use as much daylight as we can."
Lupin and Fujiko grabbed what supplies and weapons they had, joining Zenigata at the security gate.
Zenigata waited for them before unlocking and lifting the gate. "If we follow this road south we'll end up in Yamato. Probably take us four hours."
The others said nothing as they left the safety of the store and stepped out onto the street, snarls and screams audible in the distance.
Zenigata joined up with them and led the way.
It was almost three and a half hours later when they saw the first sign for Yamato, the expressway now visible through the morning fog.
"We stopping or do we keep going?" Lupin wondered.
"Either of you hungry?" Zenigata asked, getting shaking heads from the two. "Then we keep going."
They got to the expressway and walked up an offramp, a sea of burnt and bashed in cars before them. The three stopped and looked back at what was left of the city behind them, taking a moment before heading on.
An hour and half later they had reached the Ebina Junction, happy that the bridge over the Sagami-kawa River was still intact. They crossed it and continued on.
By the time noon came around the group had reached Tsurumakikita, getting off the expressway and onto city streets as they looked for something to eat and drink.
The city was quiet, not a gunshot or scream to be heard. "Should have slept here last night," Lupin muttered as he peered inside of a gutted business.
Fujiko looked over at him and smiled slightly. "It's nice to see you acting like normal all day."
"Normal?" Lupin asked in amusement.
"Yeah, normal," she said, walking up and wrapping her arms around him while resting her head on his shoulder. "The person you were last night... it scared me."
His right hand holding his rifle, Lupin brought his left arm up and wrapped it around Fujiko. "Maybe I cried that person away," he said with a laugh.
"I'm serious," she said as she pulled away from him and stared into his eyes.
Lupin's grin faded as he stared at her. "I know. It's just... this is who I am, right? And I don't want to lose that. I don't want to lose myself to what I have to be out here. I don't like that person and the longer we're out here the more that person is taking me over. I don't want to be him."
"I don't want you to be him, either."
"Promise me you won't let that happen, okay? Help me."
"I will," she whispered as she brought herself closer to him and kissed his cheek. She pulled her head back and smiled at him.
"That's it?" he said in joking disappointment.
She glared at him and walked off.
"Oh come on," he whined. "Don't you think I at least deserve a real kiss?"
"You're such a pig," she called out.
Zenigata glanced back as the two walked towards him. He groaned and rolled his eyes as Lupin was trying to get Fujiko to kiss him. "You two find anything or did you even bother looking?"
"We looked," Lupin said in annoyance. "Did you find anything?"
"No, but I don't think we're alone here."
"What do you mean?" Fujiko wondered in worry.
"Yeah, what are you talking about?" Lupin wondered. "This place is completely silent. Not even an animal is moving around out there."
"Look," Zenigata said, motioning his head up towards the top of a nearby building, words spray painted on it.
Lupin and Fujiko looked up.
"Fireflies?" Lupin said. "Let us light the way," he then finished reading.
Zenigata glared at the words. "About a year ago I heard one of the soldiers talking about the Fireflies. He said they were a resistance group that rose up shortly after the infection spread."
"The people that attacked the quarantine zone?" Lupin wondered.
"Could have been," Zenigata answered. He turned away from the building and continued his way down the street, glancing at shops as he passed them.
Lupin and Fujiko followed, the two now noticing multiple flyers from the group taped and stapled onto buildings and utility poles, messages of hope and safety and rebuilding scribbled on them.
"Who knows if those stories are true, though," Zenigata said as he glanced back at the two. "Or what the Fireflies even are."
Lupin nodded in agreement.
"In any case, keep your eyes and ears open. We don't need any trouble from them, if they are even here."
"Yeah," Fujiko sighed, now even more aware of her surroundings.
The three continued their search, eventually finding a small shop that had a can of tuna and a bag of chips left on one of the shelves. Behind the counter Lupin found a large bottle of water.
The tuna had expired months ago, but none cared as they dug into it, just needing something in their stomachs.
"At least the chips are still good," Lupin said as he stuffed a handful of them into his mouth and passed the bag around.
"I doubt we'll find anything else here," Zenigata said after taking a drink from the water bottle. "We're too far from the expressway as it is. We need to be heading back."
The others agreed as they finished off the chips and were given the rest of the water.
They left the shop and headed back onto the street, winding their way back towards the expressway.
"There's another message," Fujiko said as she stared at the side of a building as they walked by it.
"Come to the light," Lupin said in mock wonderment. He then scoffed and rolled his eyes. "You'd think a group with the name Fireflies could come up with something better than lame light cliches."
Zenigata looked back at him and grinned.
"You think it's real?" Lupin wondered as they passed a wall with the Fireflies name and logo on it.
Zenigata shrugged. "They might be. But then again they might be scavengers trying to lure people in."
Lupin nodded. "If they are real, you think they'll make a difference? I mean, with all these "we'll save you" and "join us and save the planet" messages they've put up..."
"You thinking of joining them?" Zenigata wondered.
"Tch, yeah right. Sounds like some weird cult to me."
"Until we know who they are we shouldn't take them too-" He stopped as he turned the corner, staring at the sight in front of him. "Lightly."
Lupin and Fujiko wondered what his problem was, finally catching up and stopping right behind him.
Before the three was a blasted out building, on what was left of the wall written "Those who don't join us die. Death to the oppressors." Below those words and leaning up against the wall was a pile of burnt bodies, smoke still rising from their charred skin.
"We need to get back to the expressway," Zenigata said, a sense of urgency in his voice.
"Yeah," Lupin said as he stared in shock at the bodies.
Zenigata started to walk off and stopped, looking back as Lupin and Fujiko continued to stand there. "Come on," he called out to them.
The two looked away from the smoldering pile and lowered their heads as they followed him.
From one of the windows above a man in a mask watched the three closely.
...
Ren walked out onto the roof, both of her hands wrapped around a small open can. She stopped and stared at Goemon's back as he stood in front of her.
Feeling someone there he turned and stared at her.
"I thought you might be hungry," she said in a low voice, holding out the can for him to take.
He stared at it, the can containing red beans, and nodded. He took the food and began to eat.
"Did you want to know what he did?" she wondered, her eyes staring off.
Goemon stopped eating, his eyes staring at the street below as Jigen was busy reseting one of the traps.
"I overheard you two talking," she said with a shrug. "I was never told a lot of stuff as a kid, so I learned how to eavesdrop."
"You are still a kid," Goemon said, keeping his back to her. "And I am curious."
She nodded and walked up beside him. "After we left Tokyo we'd run into small groups of survivors. Some of the men would look at me weird and I never understood it. Whenever they would leave Jigen would find a safe place for me to hide and he'd leave. A little while later he'd come back and we'd continue to look for my parents. I thought it was some... adult... thing, you know, that he had to do."
Goemon became slightly uncomfortable at that idea.
"So, one day I followed him," she continued. "I saw him knelt over some guy on the ground and he was punching him over and over. Nearby were two other guys. I guess they were dead. I don't know. I gasped and he turned and saw me. He wasn't happy and yelled, wondering what I was doing there. He stood and the blood dripped off his hands. I couldn't look away from them. I told him to stop, that I didn't like what he was doing. He told me he had no choice."
Goemon finished his beans and set the can down on the ledge in front of him. He continued to watch as Jigen was now making his way back to the building.
Ren sighed as she stared down at Jigen. "I told him I didn't want him to become like the others, like the infected. He then told me that he had overheard some of those guys talking about me, how they were going to take me. They had a group and were going to start the world over again and needed girls to help them. In a way I was glad he killed all those guys, but I still wanted him to stop. I told him that we could just leave and that I felt safe with him. I said that as long as he was with me that things would be okay." She stared off and chuckled. "Sounds kind of gross saying it like that, but we were never, you know, that way."
"I never thought you were," Goemon replied, now even more uncomfortable by her words.
She looked over at him and grinned. "You need to relax a little. You're too serious."
He grunted and glanced down at her.
"But anyway, that was what he did. Just thought you'd like to know, since he'll never tell anyone that story."
Goemon nodded. "Thank you."
She looked at him and smiled. "Once Jigen told me what a blow-hard you are, you're not such a scary guy."
"He what?" Goemon asked in annoyance.
"There you are," Jigen said as he opened the door to the roof.
Goemon and Ren looked back at him. Ren quickly turned her back towards him.
"You can't be mad at me forever, so knock it off," Jigen said in a raised voice. "Look, me and Goemon are going to the distribution center to clean the place out."
She turned in shock and stared at him. "But, you said it was overrun!"
"It is, but we can take care of it."
"No! What if you don't come back? What if-"
"Ren," he said loudly to get her to stop. "We know what we're doing. We'll come back. Don't worry about that."
"Promise me."
"I promise. Okay?"
Ren nodded as worry and anxiety filled her.
"Just sit up here and wait for us," Jigen said. "The rifle and shotgun are loaded, so use them only if you have to. If a trap goes off, leave it. I'll take care of it when we get back." He stared at her quietly for a few seconds. "You remember the signals?"
She nodded. "White is good and red is bad."
Jigen nodded. "Just stay up here and watch for the smoke, okay? And if someone comes around, get down low and be quiet."
"Yeah." She was quiet as Goemon joined him and the two started through the door. "Wait," she called out.
Jigen stopped and turned towards her, surprised when she ran at him and hugged him tightly.
"Don't die on me," she told him. "You promised, remember?"
He smiled and nodded. "I know."
"Good." She pulled away from him and smiled. "And bring me back some of that cereal I like."
He laughed and shook his head. "As much as I can carry."
She watched the two men walk through the door and the door close behind them. Her smile faded and her heart began to race. She closed her eyes and forced the tears out. She had forgotten what being alone felt like.
...
Zenigata, Lupin, and Fujiko continued towards the expressway, about a block from it when a noise caught their attention.
It was a low whistle, lasting only a second. Shortly after another one came. That was followed by another.
"Those aren't birds," Zenigata said, grabbing his rifle and aiming it around.
Lupin and Fujiko grabbed their rifles and scanned the area for the source of the noise.
"Look out," Zenigata yelled, a small metal canister being tossed from above them, the object bouncing on the street before spewing out white smoke.
The three covered their mouths as they tried to get their masks on. It was too late, though, as the smoke took it's effect and the three became weaker. Faint voices were heard and blurred images of people came towards them as the three began to pass out, their bodies finally falling to the street.
Zenigata fought the effects, his body unable to hold on, the last thing he saw being a masked man walking through the smoke towards him.
...
Ren sat in a chair on the roof, her hands holding a can of corn that she had been eating from. She set the can on the roof and stood, walking to the ledge and leaning on it. Her eyes stayed on the brown building as she looked for any signs.
No sounds came from that area, nor did she see any movement.
She turned and started back to the chair when she stopped and glanced over her shoulder, a gunshot going off in the distance. She ran back to the ledge and stared with wide eyes as the plume of red smoke began to rise. "No." She stepped away from the ledge as her hands shook and her eyes watered. "No! You promised," she screamed as tears rolled down her face. "You promised," she whimpered, falling to a sit on the roof and sobbing.
Gasp, cliffhangers galore! The resistant group in the game was called the Fireflies, so I just decided to keep that name since fireflies are awesome. And I think they did have the "Come into the light" type crap written on walls in the game.
