Chapter 12

"You hear that?" asked Obata. Minamo nodded as more people began to appear.

"What the hell is going on down here?" said Minamo aloud. "What happened down here?"

The others slowly lumbered forwards, showing various signs of wear and tear. A few looked relatively human, but had limbs missing- one had no arms at all, instead stooping forward with nothing beyond the shoulders. Behind it another turned, half of its face missing, as though it had been torn off. The missing cheek revealed a side of broken teeth, hanging loosely from the gums. More continued forwards.

"Stop" said Minamo half heartedly as Obata lifted up the large gun he carried. She turned in surprise as one leapt at her, having been able to sneak behind one of the containers. She gripped hold of it as it tried to bite her, and pushed it away. It charged again, stopping as Minamo blew its head away. Another gripped its arms around her throat, pulling her towards its open maw. Obata pulled it off of her and pushed the man back, knees snapping as the legs collapsed under the man. Minamo turned to the others, who all eyed her hungrily. These were far from friends.

"Hey Hirano!" she called out into the darkness.

"What?" came back a reply.

"Permission to open fire?" she called out.

"Granted. These fuckers should be dead. They aren't human" yelled back Hirano. "They're trying to kill us!"

Obata nodded as Minamo held up her rifle.

"You mind stepping away a bit Obata?" asked Minamo, "I wouldn't mind keeping my hearing."

"Of course" said Obata, pulling down on the trigger. The Daewoo opened fire, bullets ripping into the gathered people as the belt of bullets was fed into the chamber. Obata stood gripping the rifle with both hands running through all 200 rounds.

"That ought to make them think" commented Minamo.

"Perhaps" said Obata pulling out a fresh belt of bullets. He carefully began placing them when a faint scratching caught his attention. He slowly looked up in disbelief to watch as a man, torn in half by the gunfire, slowly dragged himself towards Obata, spine scraping across the floor as he moved.

He stood up, pulling out the make of pistol that all of the team carried. He calmly walked across to the man and fired one, smashing apart the top of the skull. The head fell down to the floor, cracking against it.

"That was for your own good" said Obata, "To put you out of your misery."

"Obata!" called out Minamo.

Too late Obata tried to target the woman with no legs beneath the knees that had crept up on him. He yelled out as she bit down into his leg, ripping off part of his calf even through the trousers. Biting deep, rotting teeth broke away from the gums embedding themselves into his torn leg as the woman began to devouring the bloody muscle. Enraged Obata punched this strange being in the face, watching in surprise as the head fell back, hanging over its back. Apparently the head had only been held on by the barest of skin and muscle.

Despite that it still moved, and growled at Obata despite not being able to see him. For the first time a look of pure horror crossed Obata's face, and he slowly limped backwards. More of those things had appeared. Minamo was busy gunning down a group of three that had tried to flank them.

"Why do they keep moving?" she asked loudly. "Why don't these damn things die!"

"Try and shoot them in the head" said Obata looking at the person he'd earlier shot. It had yet to move. And the first being they had encountered had stayed down after being shot by Kimura. "Shoot them in the-shit!" he called out.

Another one had grabbed him. He tried to punch it away, but the man stood behind him, Obata unable to get a clean punch. Obata paused in surprise as it bit down on the side of his neck, ripping off skin and muscle, teeth crushing one of his veins. He held one hand against his neck and blew out the back of the biters head. As it fell back he allowed a faint grin of success and turned to get his larger gun. The being in front of him lurched forward and bit down, tearing out the Adam's apple, ripping off a large section of skin. With the faint smile of success still on his face, Obata fell to the floor as blood spurted across the floor from two different wounds.

"Obata!" called out Minamo.

"Go, get back to the others" the man attempted to say as he slumped forwards, the creature now biting down into the back of the neck. He however barely let out a faint gasp through his torn larynx. Obata didn't move, dead. Minamo paused, thinking about picking the large rifle, but backed away as more of the torn people pulled themselves forwards. She had to help the others.

---

"They're all around us" said Yomi, her head bowed in defeat.

"Who the hell are these people?" asked Ohyama.

"Colleagues of mine" said Ishihara, recognizing a former janitor before Yukari destroyed his head with a shotgun blast. "They all work here."

"Well Mr Ishihara, I have to say, I don't like your workers" said Yukari, loading more shells into the shotgun.

"The exit is blocked off" said Kimura, "But there's a door over there."

"We have to wait for the others, and then we can get out!" suggested Kagura.

"If the others are coming back" replied Yukari.

"Yeah that's nice and all, but its keypad protected. I need a code" said Kimura distractedly.

"Try 01002" called out Yomi.

"What" said Ishihara, "How do you know if that'll work?"

"The system is down and keypad based doors are independently locked. With the loss of the Queen a standardized code can open any of the doors!" Ishihara stood with a puzzled look. "They said it at our last meeting" said Yomi.

"Thank goodness we have a new recruit with us" mused Ishihara as Kimura rushed to the door. "Only a new person would actually listen to what was said, so as not to get caught out."

Kimura typed the code into the small keypad and stood waiting desperately. He watched as the light turned green and yanked open the door to be confronted by more of the strange creatures. He paused as they moved towards him, reaching out and snarling.

"Yeah well up yours too" said Kimura slamming the door shut and locking it. He turned around. "Screw that. Miss Tanizaki, we have a problem!" said Kimura rushing back towards the group.

"I hadn't noticed that" replied Yukari as she decorated a wall with brains. "I had never noticed anything at all out of place."

"There's no need for sarcasm" said Yomi quietly.

"Trust me, in this situation there is" replied Yukari. "There's always room for sarcasm."

Yukari held up the shotgun as a figure ran through the steam coming from one of the containers.

"Don't shoot!" called out Minamo as Yukari pulled down on the trigger and fired. Minamo appeared looking pissed.

"I thought I told you not to fire" she said.

"Damn" said Yukari, "I missed."

They stood with their guns trained on the steam filled darkness, both yelling out in shock when Kubo and Hirano suddenly appeared.

"Don't do that!" said Minamo.

"Can't any of you bastards warn me you're coming?" moaned Yukari.

"What do we do now Hirano?" said Kimura.

"Where's Obata?" asked Kubo.

Minamo shook her head. "He didn't make it."

"Damn it!" yelled out Kubo, "God fucking damn it!"

"Everybody fall back" said Hirano, "Get out."

"The way we came is blocked off by those things" said Kimura, "And behind door number two is a hoard of them."

"Then we go this way and pray we find a door" said Hirano.

They ran, Minamo and Hirano gunning down the creatures as they sprinted along the narrow passageways between containers and stained walls. Kagura spotted a door and ran to it, the people with weapons trying to hold off the foes. Taking a deep breath she kicked open the door to find an empty corridor.

"This way!" she called out. "Get in here!"

The others spotted her and rushed through the door, Ohyama following Kagura, Kubo the last to enter, picking up a piece of torn metal and using it to wedge the door shut. They stood panting and laughing nervously, Hirano walking across to Ishihara.

"I want some answers."