Last Alarm

Chapter Twenty

And Then There Was Alice Part Two

"What are you doing?!" Shizuka and Takashi asked me nervously as I drove the Humvee out into the street and then instead of turning left and driving towards the house where the little girl was hiding, I turned to the right instead, pointing the front of the Humvee away from the direction we were actually headed, and then stopped the vehicle and shifted the Humvee into reverse.

"For what we're about to attempt, I can't take the risk of damaging the engine." I began to explain. "And I also want to have this thing facing this same way so that we can take off from down there driving forward instead of having to drive in reverse all the way back here."

"Are you sure this is wise?" Shizuka replied. "It seems like a lot more trouble than it's worth."

"Trust me." I replied. "Once we get over there we're going to be stirring up one hell of a hornet's nest and after we're done, believe me, we'll want to bug out of there in an awful hurry, and I would rather you be driving us out of there going forward than trying to drive backwards at high speed."

"ME?!" Shizuka squeaked in horror. "You mean I'm going to be driving after all?"

"Yes, right after we get there, you'll be driving from that point on while Takashi and I grab the girl." I replied, as I flipped the switch to my laser unit "ON" and checked my Eotech sight to make sure it was working perfectly and then checked the safety on my carbine.

"What exactly are we doing, by the way?!" Both of them asked, and from the sound of their voices they were now even more confused and a whole lot more frightened than before.

I didn't blame them one bit. Even I was beginning to have my doubts that this crazy stunt was going to work.

And I also knew that any experienced combat vet worth his salt would have thought that what I was about to attempt was absolutely nuts and had me committed somewhere. And right after I explained my plan to Takashi and Shizuka , the two of them were just about a heartbeat away from jumping right back out of the Humvee and telling me to get bent.

"ARE YOU CRAZY?!" They both yelled at me.

"Hey, you were the one that wanted to go flying over there in your motorcycle alone, remember?" I reminded Takashi.

Takashi frowned at my comment but said nothing.

Boy, how quick he was to criticize my plan when his had been even more psychotic than mine.

"How many rounds do you have left in that revolver?" I asked him as I double-checked the amount of ammo in the magazine for my carbine and then tossed the sling over my neck as I then laid the weapon on my lap.

"Rounds?" Takashi asked, confused.

"Bullets." I explained, rolling my eyes.

Oh yeah, this rescue plan was just getting better and better.

"How many bullets do you have left?" I repeated.

"Three." He replied.

"Alright Takashi, your job is to grab the girl and that's it, understand?" I said looking at him. "Wait till I get outside the door and then tell you which way to go before you come out of the vehicle."

"You go the direction I tell you, and only the direction I tell you. You don't get creative, you don't try something that you think will work better, you just grab the girl period, and get your butts back in here, got it?"

"Hai." Takashi replied.

"And one more thing, son." I said looking directly into his eyes. "This is a rescue, not a video game. I don't want you shooting at anything unless something really goes bad and you have to shoot to save your life. And if you absolutely have to shoot, you watch what you shoot at, and then I want you to grab the girl, no matter how much she fights you, and you get back in here with her, quick. Got it?"

"Yes, sir." Takashi replied nodding his head.

I looked back at their faces as I gave them a quick smile to try to reassure them a little.

Yeah, as if that really could have possibly worked to calm their nerves, because it was very plain to see, they were both still scared almost out of their minds.

"We'll be okay, guys." I said as I turned back around and tried to mentally prepare myself for what we were about to do. "Just focus on what I told you and everything will work out fine."

Boy, do I really hate lying to people.

Neither one of them said anything in reply, but I knew that each of them were just digging deep within themselves to find every bit of inner strength and courage they would need for the suicidal task ahead, the same as I was.

"Okay you two, take a deep breath." I said as I took one along with them.

I was just as scared as they were, and this was definitely no joyride to the beach that we were going on.

Even after all those years of sheer terror that I faced on the job at times, this was still a nerve-racking situation to be in.

"Here we go." I said as I stepped on the accelerator.

"What is he doing?!" Saya asked out loud as she, Rei, and Saeko watched the American drive the vehicle out of its parking space and out into the street and then turned the vehicle in the wrong direction, appearing to their eyes to have been confused as to which direction he should be going.

He then stopped the vehicle and then seemed to pause for a few moments speaking to the passengers in the back seat before he suddenly began driving down the street in reverse, heading directly towards the mob of Infected gathering around the open gates of the house where the young girl was trapped.

"I have no idea." Saeko replied, her anger forgotten and replaced with confusion and worry over the American's mind boggling course of action.

Saya had already relayed the American's orders that they needed to gather their belongings and prepare to evacuate once the rescue party returned. However, after watching him driving the vehicle in reverse all the way down the street, they could not bring themselves to tear their eyes away from the drama unfolding in front of them.

"Hirano!" Saya yelled as she watched the heavy duty vehicle barreling down the street in reverse. "What's he doing?"

After not receiving an immediate answer, Saya frowned in annoyance as she looked up at the second floor balcony just above her head at the teenage boy who was still observing the spot where the young girl was hiding from the Infected.

"Hirano?!" Saya yelled again, as she noticed that Kouta was still peering through his riflescope, and intentionally ignoring her.

"HIRANO! I'M TALKING TO YOU!" Say screamed, angry at being ignored.

Watching from his shooting position on the second floor, Kouta stared through the eyepiece of the riflescope and steadied himself as he opened fire on another Infected that had walked through the gate. He was still keeping any of THEM from coming any closer to the frightened child, but their numbers were increasing and he couldn't hold all of them back for very much longer.

And as he was keeping careful watch over the girl and keeping all of the Infected at bay, Kouta also prepared himself for the difficult task ahead of covering his comrades when they arrived at the front gates of the house as he saw the Humvee driving down the street, in reverse.

Kouta was trying extremely hard to be one hundred percent completely focused on his job, and the shrill voice of Saya Takagi constantly nagging him was really starting to upset his concentration.

"WILL YOU SHUT UP WOMAN?! I'M TRYING TO FOCUS HERE!" Kouta roared, as he rested the reticle of the scope on another Infected and squeezed the trigger.

Saya gulped at Kouta's rebuke and stayed silent as he kept shooting, and after a moment she balled her fists and ground her teeth in anger as Rei and Saeko giggled at the couple's latest little tiff.

"He's getting bolder." Saeko thought to herself. "Takagi-san is certainly going to have her hands full with him before long."

Saeko's thoughts then became serious again as she continued to gaze down the street at the backwards moving vehicle as it barreled down the street, closing in quickly on the fast growing crowd of Infected people.

"Jimu-san, I hope you know what you're doing." She thought to herself as the vehicle began to impact a few stragglers that were shuffling down the street.

As we barreled down the street in reverse, it was dead silent in the cab of the Humvee. And I would have loved to have said that it was because we were all focusing on the job at hand, but that would have been a lie.

Although I do have to say, I was very impressed with the way Shizuka and Takashi were handling themselves. But the real reason everyone was so quiet was because we were all scared to death.

But to their credit, they were both determined to see this thing through no matter what no matter how frightened they were, just as I was.

And as we got closer and closer to the open gate I kept carefully watching my mirrors as I aimed the rear of the Humvee straight towards it, as we then began to make contact with a few of the Infected that were shuffling towards the rest of the growing mob gathering near the front gate of the house.

A common misconception that most people have is that ramming anything with the front end of a heavy-duty vehicle will not result in any major damage if the vehicle is built pretty stout like a pick-up or in this case, a military Humvee. The real truth is however, that Humvees may look as strong as a tank, but they'll damage just as easily as any vehicle if you're too aggressive in the way you drive it, especially if you try to use it as a battering ram.

Of course, using your vehicle as a battering ram, period, is still a very bad idea regardless. But we still had to get the small crowd of Infected out of our way somehow.

And in order not to damage the engine and make it easier for us to haul butt away from the scene after we had performed the rescue, I was driving in reverse hoping that the precaution I was taking would work to our benefit. It was a crazy plan no matter how you looked at it, though.

And besides being crazy, my plan also wasn't perfect either.

We might not damage the front of the vehicle or the engine or the drivetrain by what I was doing. But in truth, the rear of any vehicle is still much more vulnerable to damage than the front, especially because of the fuel tank that is located in the rear of the vehicle, which is also very vulnerable to damage.

This was a fact I had intentionally not mentioned before when I had hastily briefed Takashi and Shizuka of how we were going to perform our little rescue.

A fact that made me all the more apprehensive as we started to "bump" into a few of the Infected that were shuffling in the middle of the street, headed for the sounds of the crying girl.

And as I saw the first of the Infected stragglers coming into view, I intentionally slowed down as I braced myself for the impact I knew was coming.

"Hang on!" I yelled as we heard the awful sounds of metal impacting flesh and we all felt the vehicle lift up several times as we ran over those few stragglers shuffling down the street.

My slowing down was probably helping to prevent, or at least reduce any damage to the vehicle as we impacted against the Infected in our path. But still, it was quite a jolt each time we hit one of "Them".

And after years of seeing what damage a deer or a human body can do to a vehicle traveling at high speed, well, I didn't want to take any chances by going any faster.

It was still a horrible experience though for all of us inside the cab knowing what it was that we were hitting with each impact.

I tried to ignore that, and I also tried not to think about all the other things that could go wrong with this crazy stunt of mine as I kept my foot on the accelerator and struggled to keep the vehicle in control as I continued to drive backwards, using only my mirrors to see.

Driving in reverse using only your mirrors is a required skill if you're a Paramedic or a Firefighter. The reason for that is because there are no rear view mirrors in an ambulance or fire truck. The "box" of an ambulance and the closed cab of a fire truck make having a rear view mirror negligible. So we're trained to be able to back up without one by using only our side view mirrors.

Of course, normally there's a spotter outside to help direct us as we drive backwards so we don't bump into something, because you still have a major blind spot back there. But there was absolutely no chance of having a spotter back there at the speeds we were traveling. Especially with all the Infected walking around, as I continued driving backwards occasionally impacting a straggler here and there as we closed in on the open gate, where a pretty good sized group of Infected people were beginning to gather.

And as we got closer, I then slowed the vehicle once more and steered the wheel closer to the wall as the Infected, hearing the sound of the approaching Humvee, stopped moving and began turning towards us.

"BRACE YOURSELVES!" I yelled as I stepped on the accelerator gathering a little more speed as the rear of the Humvee made contact with the large crowd of Infected.

Instead of hitting them at high speed which would have only served to damage the rear of the Humvee and caused me to lose control and crash, I used just enough speed to basically "push" the Infected away from the open gate and out of the way, without causing any major damage to the Humvee itself.

And also by getting as close to the wall as I did, I successfully blocked any possible way for the Infected to try to squeeze through by any other way, other than crawling underneath the Humvee.

It was still one heck of a "thump" though when we plowed into them. And even worse than that, came the gruesome sound of bodies impacting the Humvee and bones shattering as the Infected were being ground underneath our wheels.

I tried not to think of about what injuries that my using the Humvee as a battering ram had done to the Infected surrounding all of us, even though the sounds of it all made it extremely difficult to think about anything else.

Over the years, I've seen the effects a moving vehicle has had on a human body upon impact even at slow speeds, and I tried hard not to think about everything that was going on around us as I lined up the front passenger door with the open gate and put the Humvee in "Neutral."

"GET READY!" I yelled to Takashi and Shizuka as I unbuckled my seat belt and then slid over and across the engine cover which is the big "hump" that separates the driver's seat from the passenger seat.

And just like I had told her to do earlier when I had briefed them of my plan, I felt Shizuka climbing into the driver's seat immediately after I got out of it, and then felt Takashi scramble up behind me on top of the engine cover and then place his hand on my shoulder letting me know he was ready.

"Shizuka, standby and keep the engine running!" I yelled over the moans of the Infected and the sound of their hands banging loudly on the sides of the Humvee, threatening to shatter the glass with each impact.

It had only been seconds since I had stopped the Humvee and already we were surrounded and getting more and more over our heads with this crazy stunt as it sounded like the entire city was pounding on us outside. It was terrifying beyond all belief, but everyone was still keeping it together, thank goodness.

"HAI! She replied, obviously scared out of her wits, but determined to do her part.

"Takashi! " I yelled as an Infected woman walked up to my door and began banging on the window.

"Hai!" He replied.

"Watch your feet coming out, and watch yourself at all times!" I roared, as I popped the door latch and slammed both of my feet into the door causing it to fly open and knock the Infected woman to the ground as the door struck her.

I took a quick glance at the ground first and saw a mangled pair of legs below me still twitching, their owners pulverized by the tires rolling over them.

Ignoring the gruesome sight, I then jumped through the door with my carbine raised and fired once into the skull of the woman I had just knocked down.

Whenever Military Spec Ops or Police SWAT Teams make a tactical entry to clear a room or a hostile area, they form up outside in what's called a "stack". And then when everyone in the team are in position they then make their entry, with each member covering a certain section of the room or area they are clearing and shooting the targets within their assigned sector.

Sometimes though, it may not be an entire team clearing a room or hostile area, but perhaps just a couple of guys only, like the situation here with just Takashi and I. And because it's only two people instead of a larger team, the two operators are then forced to have to work a whole lot harder to secure the scene by themselves.

In truth, being the only trained person here, the whole yard was actually my assigned sector, and so as I walked through the gate, I quickly scanned the entire yard and quickly visualized all the threats that were nearby.

And as I quickly scanned the yard, I spotted the little girl crying in the left corner with her eyes closed and her hands over her ears, scared completely out of her mind as a little black and white puppy stood in front of her yapping away at all the Infected walking towards her.

There was also about eight of the Infected lying on the ground, physical proof of Kouta's marksmanship.

However, there were three of them still moving around, shuffling towards the girl. And as I had entered the yard, I also saw the shadow of one of them behind some clothes hanging on a clothesline as the Infected person behind it also headed towards the young girl, who was now screaming loudly at the sounds of the gunfire.

"CLEAR RIGHT!" I yelled, seeing no threats on our right side as I then turned to my left and placed the ring of the holosight on the closest threat. And just as I was about to squeeze the trigger and take out the one nearest me behind the clothesline, a sudden spray of blood splashed across the freshly laundered shirts and the body of the Infected crumpled to the ground.

"Damn, that was an awesome shot, Kouta." I thought as I swept my carbine to the left.

"TAKASHI! LEFT CORNER! WATCH YOURSELF! " I roared, as I opened fire on the three Infected that were shuffling towards the girl, hoping that I could take them out quickly as Takashi swerved around behind me to get to her.

Fortunately, I was able to take them out quickly before they got too close to the girl as they fell in a heap after being shot a few feet away from her. However, the report from my carbine only caused her to scream louder with each shot, which I knew would only serve to increase her fear of us and make grabbing her and trying to make a fast extraction all the more difficult.

After I took out the three Infected, I swept my carbine left and right again, clearing the rest of the yard, after which I then turned towards the direction of the condo and waved my hand towards Kouta letting him know that we were clear, before I walked over to see why Takashi and the young girl weren't already heading for the Humvee yet as I spotted them still in the same corner next to her deceased father.

As I walked up towards the two kids, I found Takashi kneeling next to the little girl, who was crying uncontrollably as Takashi was busy trying to console her instead of just scooping her up and running back to the Humvee, like I had told him to.

She was very young, maybe about ten years old or so and visibly shaken up by everything that was going on, not to mention that she was obviously heartbroken over the death of her father who was lying right there in front of her with a huge bleeding wound to his abdomen. And obviously feeling sorry for her, Takashi was trying his best to console her as she continued to cry, ignoring his pleas for her to come with us.

Takashi was a good kid, with a kind heart, and those kinds of qualities are getting rarer and rarer to find in people nowadays, but what was really needed now in our current situation was quick action and not sympathy.

A sad fact in Emergency Services is that unfortunately, we can't always stop to offer comforting words or a warm embrace when tragedy strikes, because sometimes people's lives may still be very much in danger. And as much as some people may protest, sometimes being gentle just isn't the right thing to do if the victims of a tragedy are still in a very dangerous situation. Just ask a policeman, believe me, they know more about that than the rest of us.

And as much as we hate to resort to it, sometimes you just have to get physical and literally drag people away to safety no matter how much it sucks, because the rescuers and the victim may also end up being casualties themselves if they don't evacuate the scene immediately.

And as much as anybody in this world including myself, would have loved to have been able to say something to console this poor child whose father had just been murdered in front of her, and then gently urge her to come with us just like Takashi was doing, there was just no time for that, as Shizuka started screaming for us to hurry.

And boy, do I mean scream.

"HURRY UP! HURRY UP! HURRY UP!" Shizuka kept screaming hysterically, over and over again, as the Humvee began to rock back and forth with the weight of all the Infected pushing on it.

Boy, did she have a great pair of lungs to be able to scream like that.

Thought I was referring to something else when I mentioned Shizuka's lungs didn't you?

Take it easy fanboy, this ain't that kind of story.

And as if that and the noise from all the pounding on the vehicle wasn't enough to frighten her, then the unnerving sight of all the grotesque faces of the Infected mere inches away from hers with only a thin tempered glass window separating the nurse from a gruesome death was definitely pushing Shizuka toward hysterics.

No, I didn't blame her for freaking out at all. And from the sound of all the banging on the sides of the Humvee, I was sure her courage must be just barely hanging on by a thread.

And I have to admit, after hearing all that racket, the pucker factor was definitely starting to have a strong effect on me as well.

"I'm sorry baby." I said to the girl as I reached for her and scooped her up in one arm lifting her off the ground kicking and screaming, as I yelled at Takashi to make a run for it.

Things were certainly very grim, but we were almost home free, and just as my crazy plan seemed to have miraculously worked despite the odds against us, fate came back to bite me in the butt once again.

Life is seldom kind, and sometimes, the best laid plans fall completely flat on their ass as the unexpected always seems to turn up at the most inopportune time.

Richard Marcinko who was the founder of SEAL Team Six, was always very candid in every book I ever read from him about how constantly "Mr. Murphy" of "Murphy's Law" fame would constantly plague him on almost every operation.

And as elite as the guys from "SEAL Six" are, if things could go so horribly wrong for those guys despite the best laid plans from such elite operators, then this little impromptu rescue team didn't stand the proverbial "snowballs chance in hell "of doing this rescue attempt by the seat of our pants the way we were, without something going wrong.

And sure enough, "Mr. Murphy" came up, tapped me on the shoulder and said "Hey Jim, glad to see the rescue is going well, but I think I need to do something to shake things up, if you don't mind."

"Why would you want to do that "Murphy-san?" I replied almost wanting to cry when he finally showed up.

"Everything's going better than I expected, and we're so very close to getting away now without getting killed." I whined.

"Well now Jim, it wouldn't be fair of me to screw around with Dick Marcinko, Dennis Chalker and the rest of "The Boys" throughout their entire career and then just let you amateurs get away scot free, now would it?"

"No sir, I guess not." I replied dejectedly.

"Atta boy. Now don't get too upset now. This will only shake things up a little bit."

And the way "Murphy-san" shook things up for me came in the way of a savage bite to my right leg, causing me to cry out in fear and pain.

It scared the crap out of me as I looked down in horror thinking that one of the Infected lying on the ground had reached up and bitten me, condemning me to a horrible death.

Instead, I looked down to find, not an Infected human enjoying Mexican take-out, but instead, it was that little black and white puppy that had been barking all this time next to the girl that had bitten my leg just above my hiking boot, and absolutely refused to let go.

"SON OF A_" I yelled, relieved and also pissed off at the same time to see that it was only the puppy and not an Infected person. Although, having had an Infected person biting me would have been more dignified and looked a lot less stupid than I must have appeared now.

I tried desperately to shake him off, but that little guy refused to let go no matter how hard I shook, and between him and the little girl still screaming her head off and kicking and scratching my arm, I was thinking about just leaving the both of them there.

I know, I know, we did come out here to save her, and we went through a hell of a lot of effort to rescue her, and not to mention that it wouldn't be right to leave her and her dog behind, yada,yada,yada.

C'mon, you guys know I was only kidding.

And so with a screaming, kicking, girl clutched in my left arm, and a growling, biting puppy tearing into my right leg, I then walked-shuffled, skipped, shuffled-walked, skipped, skipped, back to the Humvee and got ready to toss both of them in, and trying hard not to do it out of frustration.

Ya know Murphy-san, if you were gonna screw things up for me; you could have at least let me retain a small shred of dignity, at the very least.

I seriously hoped that there wasn't a military drone recording any of this fiasco. I'd have been laughed at by the entire Japanese Military, not to mention being laughed out of the PMC community once word had gotten around.

And just when I thought things couldn't get any more worse or any more stupid for that matter, Murphy-san came up one more time and shook things up again by having our way out blocked by a couple of Infected that had dragged themselves under the chassis of the Humvee and were now trying to claw at us from underneath the vehicle, effectively blocking our only way into the Humvee.

With the girl screaming in my left arm, the puppy biting my right leg, Shizuka screaming her head off hysterically for me to hurry, and Takashi screaming just as hysterically with her, and about half of the city banging and moaning all along the Humvee, and now, the unwelcome presence of the two Infected on the ground blocking my path,….well folks, I'd had just about enough.

I roared as loud as I could as I lifted the muzzle of my carbine up and opened fire, one-handed, on the Infected at my feet and shot them to pieces, splashing blood, bits of flesh, teeth, and whatever other body parts in all directions.

Immediately, the little girl stopped kicking and screaming at the noise from the gunfire and even the puppy also stopped biting my leg and shrank back from me.

I then dropped my carbine letting it hang by its sling as I reached down and grabbed the puppy by the scruff of its neck and tossed both him and the little girl into the interior of the Humvee and then jumped in after them as well, slamming the door shut behind me as Shizuka put the Humvee into gear.

My treating the girl and her dog so roughly wasn't going to earn me any brownie points with them, but at least they were safe now.

Well, not really.

"GO! GO! GO!" I roared, as Shizuka slammed on the accelerator and we lurched forward about two feet and then almost came to a halt and then began moving very slowly, prevented from breaking completely free because we were being held down by the weight of all the Infected pressing in on us.

We were still moving albeit at a crawl, because of the combined weight of all the Infected as well as the force of their constantly pressing in on us from all directions. A diesel engine has a lot of power behind it once you get moving, but not a lot of acceleration, the "giddy-up and go" we needed so desperately right now.

And so pushing ourselves through the mass of flesh surrounding us was unnervingly slow, as if we were trying to push through mud. Still, our vehicle was a military four-wheel drive vehicle, so it was only a matter of getting some forward momentum and we would then soon be clear of the Infected.

Even knowing this tidbit of knowledge did little to put Shizuka's mind at ease though.

And as hysterical as she was now, as soon as we were clear, there would be no stopping her from driving full speed ahead all the way to the ocean to get away from here.

But at least she would be going forward though.

And now you understand why I drove backwards over here in the first place.

"WE"RE NOT MOVING!" Shizuka screamed shrilly, the panic starting to overwhelm her and starting to affect me too for that matter, as I jumped out of the front seat and pushed the little girl and the puppy into Takashi's lap as I crawled over to the back of the Humvee and opened the roof hatch and stood up.

And as I looked over the huge crowd of Infected all around us, I realized just how serious our situation really was and just how much Takashi and I had both seriously underestimated how quickly the slow-moving Infected would swarm over us. The outcome of his bike stunt would have been tragic indeed.

Shizuka was right to be screaming so hysterically. And if she could have seen the view that was before me right now, she probably would have fainted dead away.

And now I was really beginning to wish that this thing had a .50 cal mounted on it. Although I wouldn't have been able to depress the muzzle low enough to open fire on the Infected clawing at the Humvee anyway.

Still, it would have been nice to have.

"TAKASHI!" I roared. "PASS ME THE SHOTGUN! HURRY!"

I felt Takashi slap the shotgun against my leg as I reached down and grabbed it and then pointed the muzzle at the Infected standing in the front of the Humvee as I opened fire.

As much as Hollywood loves to picture it that way, a shotgun is not a howitzer. Shotguns just do not mow down huge throngs of enemy personnel with one blast, and neither do people go flying through the air after being hit by a round fired from one like you see in the movies. Although I admit, right now that would be so awesome if it were true.

Still, despite the Hollywood myth, I was taking out two Infected at a time with each blast which was still pretty good, I thought.

And when I finally ran dry, I dropped the empty shotgun back down through the hatch and switched back to my carbine and began picking them off as fast as I could as we started to finally gain some forward momentum. It was still unnervingly slow though, and the sounds of bones snapping under our wheels made me wince each time I heard a wet snap.

Takashi was beside himself trying to keep from freaking out as the window next to him threatened to shatter under the force of the Infected on the other side that continued to pound on it with their hands, streaking the glass with blood from their open wounds. Adding to his terror was the grotesque view of their faces pressed against the glass, mere inches from his own.

He desperately wanted to crawl over to the other side of the Humvee as far away as he could from the horrific sight, but the legs of the American standing in the hatchway and the fuel container lying on the floor on that side of the vehicle prevented him from occupying that spot.

Adding even more to his growing hysteria was the sound of the little girl screaming at the top of her lungs in fear, clutching him desperately as if she wanted to crawl inside him just to get away from the horror around them trying desperately to get in, as he tried as hard as he could to comfort her despite the nightmarish sounds going on around them.

Takashi's efforts to calm the child down ceased immediately though, as his ears picking up a sound that caused Shizuka and himself to become completely unglued. And the panic that they had been holding back, finally overcame them.

"JIMU-SAN! DO SOMETHING! HURRY!" Takashi and Shizuka screamed over the sound of all the noise from the Infected and the roar of the gunfire, as they both reacted in terror from the sound of a sharp crack coming from one of the windows.

Things were seriously getting ugly here I thought, as I heard Takashi and Shizuka screaming like I'd never heard them scream before as I kept on desperately shooting until the first magazine went dry. I then changed to the next one and kept on firing as fast as I could as the front of the Humvee unexpectedly rose high in the air as Shizuka had suddenly floored the accelerator in her panic, and drove us over the pile of Infected I had shot that were lying on the road.

Evidently, I had managed to knock down enough of them so that we were finally able to move forward with more ease and make some headway at last, but it caught me completely off guard as I struggled to keep my balance from her desperate maneuver and tried to keep from tumbling out of the hatch from her panicked driving.

And as we moved forward, the most horrible noise imaginable reached my ears as we lurched over the pile of Infected and then began swinging from side to side violently as the tires kept slipping, trying to get traction on the city street that was very slick with a thick layer of pulverized flesh and blood.

The vehicle was rocking very violently as Shizuka tried everything she could to get us clear, as I was almost flung out of the roof hatch again from the violent shaking of the vehicle. And then, after a couple more stomach-wrenching jolts, we were finally clear.

Shizuka then slammed on the accelerator once again as we screamed down the street at high speed. The panic had gotten the best of her, and as much as I sympathized, I needed to get her to get a grip quick because we needed to stop now before she decided to drive clear across Japan as freaked out as she was.

And as soon as we were about 100 feet away from the pile of Infected and in the clear, I started pounding my hand on the roof of the Humvee trying to get her to stop as I heard Shizuka scream in terror again, probably because my banging on the roof so suddenly and forcefully had spooked her.

"DON'T SCARE ME LIKE THAT, YOU BAKAAAA!" Shizuka screamed out of a mixture of fear and anger from the sound of it.

"SHIZUKA! STOP THE TRUCK!" I yelled as she kept going at full speed.

"WHYYYY?!" She screamed, her nerves obviously shot as the Humvee still showed no sign of slowing down either.

Which is exactly what I expected would happen after we had performed our rescue. And again, was one of the reasons why I drove backwards over here in the first place.

"JUST DO IT, WILL YOU?!" I roared as she finally slammed on the brakes and practically ejected me out of the hatch from the momentum.

Not feeling quite so steady anymore myself, I dropped down through the hatch and then threw open the right passenger door as the little girl sitting in Takashi's lap stared at me frightened and still crying as I grabbed the jerry can full of fuel, and the road flares from the floor of the Humvee.

I still needed for them to get away as fast as they could, but after seeing her scared little face I couldn't help myself and quickly tried to offer a few consoling words.

"It's okay sweetie, the "bad" people are gone now. "Big brother Takashi" and "Auntie Shizuka" are going to take good care of you, okay?" I said, trying to be gentle and also trying to show her I really was a nice guy and not the crazed maniac that I probably appeared to be.

She probably couldn't understand a word I said, but I thought I'd say something to help calm her down. After all, I didn't want her being frightened of me all the time thinking that I was some sort of crazed ogre when I got back to the condo.

If, I got back that is.

"Shizuka!" I yelled. "Drive on back to the condo, and get the kids to load this thing up in case we have to leave in a hurry! GO!"

"What are you doing?!" Shizuka yelled. "Are you crazy?!"

This poor woman was going to need some serious therapy after this was over. Actually, all of us were probably gonna need to see a shrink, if we survived this thing at all.

I know I desperately wanted to hit a bottle of whiskey after this was over, and I don't even drink.

Tonight would have been a great reason to start though.

"Jimu-san! Don't do this!" Takashi yelled. "It's too dangerous!"

Boy, was that ever an understatement.

"I'll be back in a minute!" I yelled. I'm just gonna see if I can slow them down! Now quit arguing and HAUL ASS OUT OF HERE! NOW!"

I slammed the door shut as Shizuka looked back at me with a worried look on her face, and then reluctantly stepped on the accelerator and took off as I popped off the cap on the jerry can and splashed diesel fuel all over the road. I then laid the can out in the middle of the road, still spilling fuel from its open top, and then stepped away from it as the Infected slowly shuffled towards me.

For some strange reason, as I watched the large crowd of Infected shuffling toward me, the theme song from an old Star Trek episode "The Doomsday Machine" popped into my head.

It was the scene where the huge doomsday device shows up and seems ready to swallow the U.S.S. Enterprise whole as it gives chase.

Yeah I know, I sure picked one hell of a time to get nostalgic.

And as I gazed upon the large crowd of hungry, moaning human piranha coming towards me, I couldn't help but feel really stupid for sending the Humvee off down the road while I stood here alone like a worm on a hook waiting for all of them to get closer.

"I didn't see this crap in "BACKDRAFT." I muttered, as I ignited the flare and tossed it in the road as about thirty of the Infected stepped into the large puddle of diesel fuel.

Gasoline is a very volatile fuel that will ignite at the slightest spark. Diesel however, has a higher flash point though, and a spark won't set it off, but when you use a hot enough flame, as in this case a road flare, it will cook off then, and it burns for quite a while, as the fuel I spilled all over the street ignited and began to consume the Infected shuffling about in it.

And after a few moments, I then began to walk away from the horrible scene of burning figures twitching in the flames and the loud moans of the Infected starting to rise in pitch. They weren't screaming, thank goodness, but the sound was still extremely hard on the ears anyway.

But surprisingly enough, the human bonfire had worked as the Infected seemed to come to a complete stop due to the burning pile of bodies that was obstructing their ability to surge forward.

The plan to emulate the Infected as a stalling maneuver had been a desperate one, and the sight and the smell was going to be horrible for anyone hiding in their homes nearby. But for us at least, we were safe from being attacked from this side of the road.

For now, anyway.

As I walked up the street back to the condo, almost everyone was out in the street waiting for me, their faces betraying the worry and fear that they were feeling as I walked up to them. And as I re-joined them, all of the girls came up and hugged me, to my surprise.

Each of them seemed to be genuinely happy that I was back even though despite my warning, Rei and Saeko were standing out in the open just as scantily dressed as they were before, either out of defiance or just because they had been watching our crazy rescue and just hadn't gotten around to it yet.

Fortunately for them, I was only bluffing about punishing them for walking around half-naked anyway, and even if I had been serious, I was way too fried right now to spank them both.

I'd just let their parents know about their choice of wardrobe when we met up with them, and recommend they be grounded for life or something like that.

"Everyone, ok?" I asked. "How's Shizuka and the little girl doing?"

"Everyone's fine, sort of." Takashi replied. "Marikawa-sensei is inside with Alice-chan trying to calm her down. They're both ok, but they're still very shaken up after what we just went through."

"So her name's Alice, huh?" I said as I looked towards the condo.

"Hai, Maresato, Alice." Kouta replied, still carrying the sniper rifle he'd found.

"Yeah, I don't blame them for being shaken up still." I said walking up towards the gate. "That was a lot hairier than I thought it would be."

"How are you holding up?" I asked Takashi, looking carefully at his facial expression. I was doing my best to keep it together for the sake of others. But Takashi was still young, and I wanted to make sure he wasn't feeling overwhelmed by everything that had just happened and needed to talk about it.

Takashi was a real trooper though.

"I'd rather not go through something like that again, but otherwise I'm fine." Takashi said with a grin.

"Do you think the fire will hold them back?" Saya asked nervously, looking at the burning pile of Infected still smoking up the street.

"At least for a while anyway." I replied, the fatigue really starting to hit me now. "We still need to be ready to leave just in case. Is the Humvee still working okay?"

"Hai." Rei said, nodding her head. "And as soon as Marikawa-sensei drove back, we loaded all our things in the trunk."

"We also hosed off all the blood on it as well." Takashi said, looking a little green.

Yikes, I can only imagine how nasty that job had been.

"Was there any damage to the vehicle?" I asked Takashi. I still intended to inspect it myself, but I figured I'd ask anyway.

"There were a few dents on it and the rear lights are broken, but that's all." Kouta replied.

The American nodded his head and kept watch on the smoldering pile down the road.

"That's fine. Getting a ticket for a broken taillight is the least of our concerns, neh." He said laughing.

"Jimu-san? I forgot to mention, I'm afraid our clothes are still washing." Rei said apologetically. "I'm sorry. I hope you're not upset."

"Don't worry about that." I said chuckling.

"But unless you and Saeko-chan really want to keep giving the guys a free show, I'd hurry up and put something on as soon as possible." I said chuckling as Rei and Saeko blushed slightly especially after noticing that the boys were eye-balling them pretty closely.

"Oh, by the way, how about my pack?" I asked, remembering that I had left it in the other condo when I jumped the railing over on their side. "Did ya'll happen to grab it too, by any chance?"

"Hai." Rei replied. "It was much too heavy for Takagi-san and I to carry it, so Busujima-sempai helped us bring it down."

"Thanks girls." I replied, still staring at the bonfire down the street. "Sorry for the trouble. Hopefully we won't need to leave right away after all, and we can all get some rest."

"By the way, good job, all of you." I said, rubbing my eyes trying to rub the sleepiness out of them.

I wanted to sack out as soon as possible, just like everyone else did, I'm sure. But before we could all turn in, I wanted to have a serious discussion with Takashi and Saeko first before we all went to sleep, and I really didn't want the others to overhear.

But a part of me still wanted to see what Takashi and Saeko had learned since that first day in their teacher's faculty room back at the high school, and if anything I had taught them was beginning to stick with them.

"Go ahead and head inside everyone. I'm going to stay out here for a while longer and keep an eye out just in case any of our friends decide to head down this way." The American said tiredly, still rubbing his eyes.

"What do you want us to do in the meantime?" Takashi asked.

"Well, ya'll guys are still in charge, so what do you think we should do?" The American replied as he smiled weakly, obviously physically and mentally exhausted.

"Saeko?" Takashi said looking at her. "What do you think?"

"We really should check on Marikawa-sensei and Alice-chan." Saeko replied. "Then we should take turns standing guard until morning and then depart at first light."

"What do you think, Jimu-san?" Saeko asked.

"I think our lives are in great hands." I replied with a smile, glad that they had been listening and also learning from my advice.

But there was still an important lesson or two that they still needed to learn.

"Takashi, do me a favor and put someone in charge for now and have everyone go inside and make sure Shizuka and our new guest are all right, and keep them company." I said as I looked at him. "I want to talk to you and Saeko for a moment first before we head in."

"And then after we re-join them let's have everyone find a comfy spot and grab some sleep." I added.

"We still might have to leave in a hurry, but if not, then we also have a long day ahead of us, so it's best that everyone get as much rest as they can."

I turned back around to face Takashi and clapped him on the shoulder.

"By the way, you did good, son." I said smiling. "You kept your cool for the most part, you also kept everyone together, and everyone is back safe, great job, Takashi." I said as the teen smiled bashfully, a little embarrassed at being praised, I guess.

"Kouta, you too buddy. That was really an awesome shot." I said to the boy who was practically beaming from my praise.

"Hirano." Takashi said, motioning to Kouta. "Would you please take over until we return?"

"Hai." Kouta replied as Saya made a sour face.

"Jimu-san." Saeko's said behind me, the tone of her voice serious. I'm sure despite the fact we were being civil right now, I was still very sure that she was still at least a little steamed about earlier. "Could I speak with you privately, please?"

"Actually, I'd like to speak with both of you privately Saeko-chan. "I said, as I looked up the street again checking to see if any of the Infected were shuffling our way and relieved to see none coming down the street even though the flames had died down significantly.

Instead of leaving though, everyone seemed intent on sticking around and observing whatever discussion I wanted to have with the two teens, even though I had distinctly said that I wanted to have a "private" discussion with them.

Some people just can't take a hint, I guess.

"Ok, guys. It's way past your curfew. Off to bed now, all of you." I said, shooing them away.

All of them looked at me as if I were nuts.

"Curfew?" I heard Rei and Saya say out loud.

"Yup, curfew. Now, git." I said pointing toward the gate.

"Let's go everyone." Kouta ordered, as he motioned the rest towards the open gate. Finally taking the hint, the other teens headed for the condo as Kouta bowed politely to me and then followed the others.

"Walk with me, guys." The American said to Saeko and Takashi as he walked towards the Humvee after the teens had disappeared behind the gate.

The teens silently walked behind the man as he walked to the rear of the Humvee and opened the rear hatch. He then began rummaging through the piles of personal belongings lying inside until he found his pack underneath.

He then separated his pack from the rest of the belongings and then unzipped a compartment pulling out a clear plastic pouch.

After opening the waterproof seal of the plastic pouch, he pulled out a tan-colored cloth and returned the pouch to the same compartment of his pack and zipped it closed, after which he then shut the rear hatch of the Humvee.

He then looked directly at Saeko still holding the cloth in his hand as he unfolded it, revealing that it was actually a large tan-colored tee shirt. He then took a step towards Saeko, and standing in front of her, he placed it over her head, and as her head came through the collar portion, the American then let the shirt fall over her.

"I can't have my favorite niece catching cold now, can I?" He said as Saeko looked up at him.

"Niece?" Saeko said a puzzled look on her face, as she pulled her long hair through the collar and let it hang.

"Well, when I'm not making you mad at me all the time, you did call me "uncle" a few times." I replied. "Only fair that I should call you my" favorite niece" now wouldn't it?"

"Not to mention your only one, correct? Saeko said with a slight smirk.

"True." The American replied with a grin. "But you're still my favorite, nonetheless."

The shirt was way too large for Saeko's small frame and Takashi began to snicker at the sight. The man was also amused at how tiny she looked wearing the shirt and began to chuckle as well, as Saeko giggled despite herself.

"It looks like you're wearing a serape." I said chuckling at seeing my shirt hanging off Saeko like a blanket.

"What's a serape?" She asked.

"It's a Mexican blanket that is traditionally worn as a poncho during winter." I explained. "And I'm afraid my shirt does indeed look like a blanket on you."

Of course, considering what little clothing she was wearing, a blanket was probably exactly what she needed right now.

"Jimu-san, is there something wrong?" Takashi asked, probably confused by my wanting to speak to them alone.

"I won't say that anything is wrong guys, but I think we need to get a couple of things settled before we join the others. But before we start talking, let's get out of the street first." I said as I headed for the gate, motioning for them to follow.

After we had walked through the gate and secured it behind us, I then led the teens up the small flight of stairs towards the railing that we had all jumped off of earlier. I still wanted to keep watch over the street for a while longer, but I also wanted to discuss a couple of things with the teens before bed, and I'm sure that the teens had something they wished to say as well, especially Saeko.

"I have a couple things that I'm seriously concerned about guys." I began. "But I'm not here to chew you out if that's what has you worried."

"But before I begin, I'm going to let you go ahead and speak first if you have anything to say, because I can tell that there's something on your minds and I want to get it straightened out before we go to bed."

I could tell Sako wanted to speak to me badly, but respectfully, she let Takashi speak first.

Takashi hesitated for a moment and then looked up at me as he spoke.

"Jimu-san, why have you been avoiding us after you returned with the others? Takashi asked a look of concern on his face. "It seems like you're keeping a lot to yourself right now."

"What do you mean?" I asked, a little confused as to what exactly was worrying all of them.

"You didn't tell any of us what happened when those men tried to attack us earlier." Saeko replied.

"And we can tell that something's bothering you too, Jimu-san. Why won't you talk to us?"

I've never known a teenager to offer themselves up so willingly to help a troubled adult when an adult is experiencing certain problems. Not that teenagers aren't capable of being so kind and considerate, it's just that normally in the real world, it's usually the other way around, with the adult offering to help a troubled teen. Not vice-versa.

I was really growing fond of these teenagers. Their parents would be so proud to know about what great kids they had raised.

"The only thing I'm keeping from you are some personal thoughts and worries that none of you needs to be concerned about, guys." The American replied gently.

"The two of you are the leaders of this group, and you're doing a good job, and the way you guys are showing that you still care about the welfare of others is a great quality that I'm really glad to see in both of you."

"But there are some things you do not need to know because they will only serve to cause you more apprehension that right now, you really do not need." I said, trying to be as polite as possible.

I wasn't trying to turn down their act of kindness by refusing to speak to them about my troubles. But there really was no need for them to know about my personal conflicts. We honestly had enough problems without the both of them trying to worry about me.

And as far as telling them about my killing those men, well, that had been a necessary evil, and I saw no reason to discuss it openly with them. I never talked about some of the horrors I had seen as a Paramedic and as a Firefighter, and I was definitely not going to discuss my having to kill as a PMC, especially to children.

It had to be done, and the last thing I wanted to do was sound like I was bragging about it. Better to just not discuss it at all. It would have served no purpose.

And right now, there was another problem to tackle before I could voice my own concerns as I turned to look at Saeko, who right now was looking at me as if she could bite a nail in two.

"Saeko-chan, do you have something you wish to say?" I asked, and from the look on her face, I could tell she was thinking it, even if she didn't say it out loud.

"Duh."

That was a stupid question, because I could see the from the obvious look in her eyes, exactly what Saeko was going to talk about before I even asked her.

"Jimu-san, with all due respect, I do not appreciate the way you treated me like a child earlier." Saeko said, the expression on her face tense, although she was being extremely polite.

"There was no reason for you to treat me the way you did earlier, even if what you said was true that my place was here taking command of the others. You did not have to humiliate me like you did." She continued.

I looked at her long and hard for a moment before I spoke.

"How old are you guys?" I asked them both.

"Seventeen." Takashi replied.

"Eighteen." Saeko said.

'I'm fourty-four." The American replied. "And at that age, it's very easy for me to look upon anyone younger than me as "kids" including you two."

"But believe it or not, I'm really very impressed with the two of you, and you have really earned my sincerest respect, because the two of you are a lot smarter and a lot more mature than most teens I've ever met. And that's why I've confided in you a lot and more importantly, trusted the both of you, more so than any of the others in our little group."

"But the fact remains, all of you are still very young. And as smart and mature as you are, you still have much to learn."

"Be that as it may though, one thing I am not is perfect. I make mistakes the same as everyone else, and sometimes when I screw up, I screw up royally."

"But I hope both of you will understand one day, why exactly I've had to say and do a lot of the things I've done."

"I do not like to be harsh to anyone." I said to Saeko as I looked into her eyes. "And just so you know, I'm not in the habit of humiliating people either."

"I admit I went overboard and went all "Daddy Dearest" on you earlier when I saw what you were wearing Saeko-chan. Or should I say, what you weren't wearing, sweetie."

I could see Saeko blush a little at that.

"And scolding you as if you were my daughter and dragging you back through the gate and spanking your butt, may have not been the best way to go about things." I admitted, which caused her to blush even more.

"And obviously, I know that you really are not my daughter, nor are any of you my children that I can tell you anything or force you to listen to me or obey me when I tell you to do something."

"But at the time, you left me little choice but to be forceful with you Saeko-chan when you refused to stay behind with the others like I told you to. And I really had no time to argue with you. And to be honest, the way I reacted…..well, I just couldn't help myself."

Saeko opened her mouth to protest, but I held up my hand so that I could finish.

"The reason I couldn't help myself Saeko-chan for treating you like a child was because I do think of you as my daughter, and because of that I treated you as if you were." I said looking at the ground for a moment before I looked back into her eyes.

"And I'm sorry I went too far, but at the time, you were making things harder for me and I reacted the same way as if you were my child that was arguing with me in the middle of a crisis and I had to put my foot down."

"You're right, you're not a child." I said, continuing. "You're a mature young woman, and a brave warrior, and to be honest, I would have loved to have had you with us on that rescue earlier."

"And I also know how much you wanted to help us, and I know just how hard it was for you to be told to stay behind." I said as I placed my hand on her shoulder.

"But that is one of the demands of being in a position of responsibility over the lives of others, is that it is never about what you want. It is about what the other people in your care need from you."

"And sometimes what's needed is not the Warrior ready to charge into battle, but instead, what is needed is the Wise Leader who will take over and do whatever it takes to take care of the people in his care."

Saeko looked at me and I could see the remaining anger in her eyes begin to melt away as my words begin to hit home.

"You're not my children, even though I think of you all as my own." I continued. "And I'm going to say or do things that may piss you off every now and then. But understand something, everything I'm doing, I'm doing for your benefit, not mine."

"But if you force me to get tough with you, believe me I will, even though I take no pleasure in it."

Saeko nodded her head as Takashi did also, even though they weren't too happy about what I had just said.

But honestly, there was no "I'm an adult, you're the child, so shut up." mentality here. I wasn't perfect as a mentor, and they knew it, and I even admitted it. But everything that I was doing was because I cared about them and wanted to help them. And they needed to help me, to help them. Even if I had to be firm and treat them like children sometimes, whether they liked it or not.

Case closed.

As Richard Marcinko always said. "You don't have to like it. You just gotta do it."

And now the time came to voice my own concerns.

"And now that we've discussed the things that were troubling you guys. I'd like to discuss something about the way ya'll handled this latest crisis." I said as I looked at them both squarely in the eye although I kept my voice friendly.

"Now again, this is a discussion and not a chewing out guys." I said as I saw the teens visibly tense up, expecting me to slam them with a tirade of criticisms, or something like that. "So don't feel like I'm jumping on your case, because I'm not."

"Takashi." I said looking at him. "You're trying to save that little girl all by yourself was very noble and I'm very proud of you for wanting to try and help her."

"But the problem is, the way that you went about trying to rescue her initially would have ended up in both you and her getting killed, not to mention one or more of us getting hurt or killed trying to rescue you. You understand that now, right?"

Takashi hung his head and I quickly tried to find the words that would not crush this kid's desire to take the initiative if ever a crisis occurred again. He was a smart kid and had a lot of heart, but he just needed to use his head more, and I wanted him to understand that. But I had to use my words very carefully, because sometimes the things we adults say can easily crush a person, rather than encourage them.

"Look son, your heart was in the right place." I said to Takashi." But all I'm asking is that you think more before you leap. Or next time, you or someone else is going to get hurt or killed."

"So from now on, whenever you get the urge to do something…"

"DON'T,….. right?' Takashi interrupted, with a crestfallen look.

"I wasn't going to say that." I replied and gave him another Mark Harmon "NCIS" smack on the back of his head. "Quit interrupting me and listen."

Takashi rubbed his head and looked at me annoyed.

"I was going to say, "Work smarter, not harder." I replied smirking at him. "That Evil Kneivel stunt you were about to pull a while ago would have been a one way ticket for you if I hadn't stopped you, don't you think?"

"Hai." Takashi replied grudgingly after a few moments of silence. I'm sure he would never forget that particular experience for as long as he lived.

"And as for you." I said looking at Saeko. "When bad things are happening, it is not the time to start arguing or trying to do things on your own just because you don't agree with what you're being told."

"This rescue we just performed could have easily gone the other way, and none of us could have survived. And if that had happened, what would the others do now without anyone to lead them?" I said looking Saeko in the eye.

"All I ask of you both is that use your heads first before you act, that's all."

"We cannot afford to be going through this silliness every time a crisis occurs, understand?

"Hai." They both replied, looking as dejected as can be.

"Quit looking so down-hearted guys. This was a discussion, not a chewing out, ok?" I said looking at them as they both acted as if I had just disowned them.

In truth, it had kinda been a chewing out even though that really wasn't the intention actually, although the kids were now acting as if I had just torn them a new one.

"Hai." They replied again, a little less down in the mouth.

Sheesh, these kids really got their feelings hurt easily didn't they?

"You know I love ya, right?" I said as I put my arms around them and held them close.

That got them laughing finally, as I squeezed them both.

The point was made, the hatchet was buried, and now we were at peace again.

Until the next fiasco, that is.

"All right, you guys. Go ahead and head inside. I'll be joining ya'll in a little bit."

"Can we stay out here with you for a while?" Saeko and Takashi asked, evidently wishing to socialize a bit more before bed.

However, there was still one more lesson I wanted them to learn.

"I would love the company actually." I replied. "But I'm only going to be out here for a little while longer just to make sure nothing starts heading our way."

"But before I head in I would greatly appreciate you both doing a big favor for me."

"What is it?" Takashi asked.

"Well, you know as I do, that here are a couple of very frightened women inside who have gone through the most horrible ordeal of their lives." I said looking into their eyes.

"And since you were there too Takashi, you know how crazy things really got out there for a while. The point is, they'll need whatever care, comfort, and support we can give them. So I would greatly appreciate it if both of you would go inside and see what ya'll can do to help them, until I return."

Takashi and Saeko looked at each other a little nervously. They were both quick to dive into danger, but the humanitarian part of being responsible for the lives of others made them a little uncomfortable.

It's a common problem in the newer generations of Fire, EMS, and Police personnel. Many of the younger folks are quick to respond to a call, quick to start treating wounds or put out a fire or subdue a criminal. But the part of the job that calls for compassion and comfort is almost an alien concept to some of them.

As I said before, we can't always offer words of comfort or a comforting embrace all the time.

But when you can, why don't you?

This was the last lesson I wanted these two to learn, just in case something did happen, and they were left all alone in command of the others. I wanted to be sure that what they did was not just help everyone try to survive, but really, to take care of each other.

So much had happened in just the past two days that it was indeed a miracle that any of us had survived any of it the way we had. But as this Contagion kept spreading uncontrolled, and people began to come apart at the seams, the chances were good that things were going to get so bad, that not all of us might survive it.

Today, we were all alive.

Tomorrow, that might not be the case. And if something happened to me tomorrow, I wanted to be sure to have this talk with Saeko and Takashi before it was too late.

"Part of being in Command you two, is seeing to every need of the people in your care, and not just making sure they're safe and well fed." I explained.

"Besides being able to fight, hide, and survive. You need to be able to deal with the emotional needs of everyone as well. Because if you don't, people will start to fall apart on you, and then everything goes to hell after that." I said looking into their eyes as I could see my words were starting to overwhelm them a bit.

"Don't worry; it's not all on you right now." I said as I smiled at them. "I'll be inside in a moment and check on Shizuka and Alice myself. Just see what you can do for them until I get there, okay?"

Still a little apprehensive, the two teens nodded and headed inside. And as they left, I paused to look down the street again, for any signs that any of the Infected were still determined to head up this way and block our escape route.

And after ten more minutes of watching the street with no more stragglers shuffling around even after the fire had finally burned itself out, I then waited another fifteen minutes before I headed for the door myself.

I wasn't shirking my responsibility on the teens by taking so much time, but I was giving them time to try to work the situation out by themselves before I stepped in.

And as far as keeping an eye out for danger the rest of the night, I was still going to keep watch on the street, but there was no need for me to be standing on the street anymore I thought, as I opened the door and walked in.

As the American walked up to the door and disappeared through it, unseen eyes that were glued to their high definition monitors sitting many miles away, watched him as he disappeared from their view.

Thousands of feet above the tiny group of refugees, the unmanned drone cruised silently in a large circling pattern, its high tech cameras recording every moment of the rescue of the child earlier, as well as the actions of the small band of survivors afterwards. The drone recorded all of the images in Infra-red, Starlight, as well as in normal view to those same watching eyes many miles away.

And as it continued its slow orbit, it recorded a wealth of information for the people watching the images being sent back to the monitors in the Command Center.

The drone recorded every detail of the people seeking shelter in the complex and especially their current location that was now the primary reason for its surveillance.

With its advanced technology it recorded every detail of the building, its surroundings, terrain, and the street routes that would provide both ingress and egress, as well as the movements of all people in the area, both living and Infected.

A wealth of information was gathered and the intelligence intensely studied as the drone finally completed its current mission, and then made a left banked turn headed towards the heart of Tokonosu City.

As I walked through the door, the teens were still gathered around Shizuka and the young girl Alice, both of them with their eyes reddened and their cheeks very puffy from crying, and after what they had just been through, I couldn't blame them. That had been way too close, and it would still be awhile before they would be over it anytime soon.

And as I walked up to the table, the little girl tightened her grip around Shizuka and stared at me wide-eyed as I walked into the light.

"Shizuka, how are ya, hon?" I asked as I walked up and patted her shoulder, while she nodded her head in response that she was OK, but was still too emotional to want to talk.

"How about you, sweetie?" I said looking at the little girl as I bent down on one knee. "You doing, okay?"

Alice continued to look at me with extreme fright, as her eyes drifted from my face down to my carbine, still too frightened of me to answer.

"O genki, desu ka?" I said in Japanese, hoping that it was just a matter of translation.

Nope. She didn't reply at all which proved to me that she was just scared to death of the presence of me and my carbine and not because she hadn't understood me.

That's a problem I've had all my life actually. Most people take one look at me and think I'm some sort of evil giant out to bash their heads in. And of course, children take one look at me and run crying to their teacher whenever my Engine Company went to visit any of the schools during Fire Prevention Week.

Of course, my large frame and serious appearance does help keep me from getting mugged, which is nice.

So after being surrounded by all sorts of monsters trying to kill her, and seeing one really big looking ogre with a rifle in front of her, this poor thing was understandably very scared of my presence as well.

Time to see if I could break the ice somehow.

"Well, guess I'll have to eat this candy all by myself, then." I said as I pulled back the retractable stock on my carbine and opened one of the storage tubes built into it.

There are few things in this world that will grab a child's attention faster than the words "candy" or "toy".

Say any one of those two words and even the most frightened child will begin to come around just to see if they can get their hands on whatever it is you have.

"Candy?" Saya asked as she watched me pop the top off one of the two storage tubes that were built into the stock of my carbine.

See what I mean?

I guess Saya was still a kid at heart herself, no matter how hard she tried to act like she was better than everyone else.

When I was issued my Mk18, I was given permission to customize it as much as I wanted, so long as it didn't affect its performance.

And one of the things I replaced on it was the stock, which I replaced with an aftermarket Vltor EMOD stock. The Vltor stock has three storage compartments in it compared to the standard SOPMOD stock.

Originally, the storage compartments were meant for storing batteries for the electronic devices that were attached to the carbine.

However, me being the practical person that I am, I used those same storage compartments to carry emergency rations and a couple of survival necessities. In this case, each storage tube held a stick of cinnamon candy in one tube and a buckstick which is a piece of deer jerky wrapped in plastic, in the other.

The third compartment of the stock held a couple of matches, fishing line and hook, and a couple of Band-Aids.

I did that just in case I ever lost all my equipment except for my weapon. That way, I still had a means of keeping alive, at least for a short, while even if all I had was my carbine.

After I popped the top off the watertight tube, I shook the piece of candy out into my hand as Alice looked up at me as if to say, "Can I have some?"

"You know, I'm kinda old to be eating candy." I said to Alice trying to be friendly. "Maybe someone else would like this candy I have here?" I said looking at her.

"How about you sweetie?" I said as I offered it to her as everyone else watched.

"Alice-chan, go ahead. He won't hurt you." Shizuka said as the little girl looked at her for reassurance.

She then took a few hesitant steps towards me, watching me all the while as she timidly took the candy from my hand.

"Arigato, gozaimasu." The girl named Alice said to me as she put her arm around Shizuka again, still not quite trusting me, but at least she was speaking to me now.

And then she added …"Ojiichan."

Ojiichan. Not "Ojisan" like Saeko had called me before, which stood for "uncle."

She had instead used a different honorific and had called me "Ojiichan".

Grandpa.

Ah well, at least she wasn't as afraid of me as before.

Of course, that brought a round of laughter from everyone as Rei tittered, and then everyone broke out laughing as I grudgingly chuckled at just being called an "old man" by a little girl I had just shared my emergency food with.

"Har, har, har-dee, har, har." I retorted sarcastically. "Laugh it up guys, you'll see. You'll be my age one day too, you know."

"And what are you laughing at?" I asked Shizuka in fake annoyance. "You're almost my age."

"I AM NOT!" Shizuka said in a huff that had Alice giggling. "I'm only twenty-six!"

"Oh. Well enjoy it." I said winking at Alice. "Because once you hit the big three-oh, it's all downhill from there, and you ain't that far away from it, you know."

Alice laughed out loud as Shizuka threw a wet dish towel at me that someone had been using to wipe down the table with. It caught me full in the face as everyone laughed at our playful banter including Alice, as Shizuka smiled at me, while Alice kept on laughing.

It doesn't take much to comfort someone sometimes, even a little playful banter amongst friends to make someone laugh may be all it takes for someone to forget their pain, at least for a little while anyway.

"Allright everyone." I said seriously." It's best all of us turn in and get some sleep, we have a big day tomorrow, so I want all of you to get as much rest as you can."

"By the way, boys. We'll be sleeping here tonight as well." I added.

"What about the other rooms we cleared out?" Takashi asked, probably wondering why we went through all that effort for nothing.

"Tonight's little activities, changes things." I replied. "I want all of you staying close by just in case we have to leave in a hurry. And that being the case, its probably best we all stay in the same condo tonight."

"And it's also probably a good idea for all of you to sleep either in your clothes or at least have them ready nearby, understand?" I said, obviously referring to Rei and Saeko's current lack of dress.

"Where is everyone going to sleep?" Shizuka asked, as Alice still hung on to her, although more out of affection than fear as she licked the cinnamon stick.

"You and Alice-chan can take the bed upstairs." I replied. "The rest of you just pretend you're at a slumber party and find a comfy spot wherever you can. We can grab some extra linen from next door if there are not enough blankets and pillows over here."

"And what about you?" Shizuka asked." Where are you going to sleep?"

"I'll actually be awake a while longer." I replied yawning." But I'll be sleeping next to the window downstairs so I can be able to get up and watch the street every now and then."

The hour was quite late, and even though everyone had been amped up during the rescue of Alice, the adrenalin rush had died down significantly and everyone was more than eager to hit the sack.

After walking to the condo next door with Kouta and Saya to grab some extra pillows and blankets, we then came back and let everyone grab a set and then try to find a comfortable spot to sleep on around the living room.

As a security precaution, I went out on the balcony to double check the street once more, and after finding it still empty, I re-entered the main bedroom, locking the door behind me, and waited for Shizuka and Alice to come upstairs.

After helping prepare the teens for bed, Shizuka finally came up the stairs with Alice in tow. It was actually quite cute watching how Alice had so easily latched on to Shizuka and was following her everywhere she went.

The little girl had been cleaned up and someone had given her a woman's tee that fit her like a nightgown, almost resembling the same way Saeko looked wearing the shirt that I had given her.

And as she followed Shizuka up the stairs, she held the puppy that we had brought along in one arm while she tightly gripped Shizuka's hand with the other.

As Shizuka walked up to me, I leaned over and spoke softly into her ear.

"The street's clear, the gates, and all the doors are locked, so you and Alice can sleep securely Shizuka-san." I whispered to her as Alice shyly hid behind her still a little bashful of me.

"I'll be downstairs near the window, so if you need anything, just let me know, okay?" I said as I headed for the stairs. "Oyasumi, Marikawa-sensei."

"Oyasumi nasai, Jimu-san." Shizuka replied.

"Oyasumi, Alice." I said to the little girl as I walked down the stairs.

"Oyasumi, Ojii-chan." Alice replied, as I heard Shizuka giggle.

"Doh." I winced, as I continued on down the stairs, growing more and more depressed with each step.

Geez, I didn't think I was that old.

Shizuka led Alice to the bed as the American walked down the stairs, and moved away the covers for her as Alice jumped into bed with the puppy still in her arms.

As Shizuka removed her bathrobe, she then slipped on a nightie she had taken out of a dresser drawer and then settled into bed herself underneath the covers as Alice slid over across the bed and snuggled up against her.

"Shizuka, Oba-chan?" Alice asked timidly. "Is that scary man your friend?"

"Hai, Alice-chan." Shizuka replied." He's a friend. Don't be afraid of him though. He's really very nice."

"He scares me a little, Oba-chan." Alice said yawning, as Shizuka placed her arms around her as Alice fell fast asleep.

"Hai. Sometimes he scares me a little too, Alice-chan." Shizuka thought to herself, as she held the sleeping girl close to her.

Shizuka lay in bed awake for a long while gently stroking the child's hair with her hand, and listened to the sound of the child's gentle breathing while Alice slept.

Soon, the fatigue began to fall over the nurse as well, as she began to feel her own eyelids becoming heavier, and then finally, sleep came to Shizuka Marikawa as well.

The puppy stared at the two women asleep in their bed for a moment and whined when neither of them moved as they peacefully slept. And as he heard their gentle breathing, he then curled up next to the young girl and soon fell fast asleep in the arms of his new mistress.

The kids didn't waste too much time finding a place to bed down. Although I almost thought there was a confrontation about to brew when Saya selfishly plopped down on the sofa and claimed it for herself before anyone else could.

But as it turns out, everyone was just too tired to fight over it as they all grumbled to themselves and found a spot on the floor and made themselves as comfortable as possible, as I turned off the lights and then walked past the exhausted teens and tossed a pillow and spare blanket on the floor next to the large window facing the street.

I was dead tired, but it was only a few more hours till morning anyway, so I had decided that I would stay up till morning and let the kids get some sleep instead of trying to shake the kids awake so we could all have an equal share of everyone serving on guard duty.

As any parent knows, trying to wake a sleeping teen is like trying to raise the dead, and I was in no mood to fight a major battle to wake them up, only to have them fall asleep later, when they're supposed to be keeping watch.

Besides, I figured I would just nap a bit before we took off in the morning to continue our search for a way across the river.

And maybe while Shizuka drove the Humvee, I could also catch a wink or two as we drove around, so I figured I might as well suck it up for a while longer.

As I tried to make myself comfortable sitting on the floor with my back against the wall, I took a long look out the window at the lights of the city still glowing brightly and tried not to think of the horror that was going on just outside these walls as I thought of the millions of people that would suffer this night around the world including my own family, whom I prayed were still alive and safe somewhere.

And then I began to think of the guys on my team, and hoped that they were doing okay despite everything. They were all professional soldiers with years of experience behind enemy lines, so I was sure that they could handle everything that was going on better than I could. But still, I was worried about my buddies, and I hoped they were all right.

My thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the sound of someone quietly walking towards, me as I looked up and was surprised to see Saeko standing there, still wearing the tee shirt I had given her like a nightgown.

"Hey, sweetie." I said as she walked up and sat next to me. "What's the matter? Can't you sleep?"

"No, I'm fine." Saeko replied. "I was just wondering if you, were all right."

"I'm fine honey. Why do you ask?" I asked her, slightly puzzled.

"I was wondering why you didn't want any of us to help you stand guard tonight." Saeko replied staring into my face.

"Oh, I'm fine sweetie." I replied. "I just thought I'd stand watch and let ya'll sleep is all. It might be a long day tomorrow, and we may have to push pretty hard."

"Besides, I have a hard time sleeping anyway, and once all of ya'll wake up in the morning, I'll just take a nap before breakfast, and then maybe another nap as we're driving around tomorrow."

"I'll be fine, so don't worry." I said to Saeko and smiled even though she probably couldn't see my face in the dark anyway.

"Go get some sleep Saeko-chan, it'll be a long day tomorrow." I said yawning.

"I will, but if you don't mind, I'd like to stand watch with you a little while longer." Saeko replied, obviously not convinced that I knew what was best for me.

Saeko may not be my real daughter, but one quality she and I shared was stubbornness, especially when it came to trying to help others and not taking "no" for an answer when someone tried to politely decline.

"All right then, do me a favor and hand me that pillow and blanket will you sweetie?" I sighed, pointing at the pillow and blanket lying near her.

As Saeko handed them to me, I set them on my left side next to my carbine as Saeko sat next to me on my right.

And as the night wore on we sat there for a while quietly talking to each other as we listened to the sounds of the other teens sleeping in the living room.

We talked about Saeko's father and the rest of her family, and then my own. And we also had an interesting discussion on Budo training, and about the dojo her father was currently training at overseas.

It was a little tough at times to try to carry the conversation though. Not because of fatigue starting to get the best of us, but because we were having a hard time trying to keep from bursting out laughing every time we heard Saya snore.

I swear, for such a tiny little girl of supposedly refined pedigree, she snored louder than any of my brother firefighters ever did in all the years I worked in a firehouse.

If it weren't because everyone was so dead tired, and in a coma-like state right now, I doubt anyone would have tried to stay in the condo and attempt to try to get any sleep with all that noise nearby.

Despite trying to carry a conversation over the roar of the lioness sleeping nearby, Saeko and I had a good time talking with each other and I certainly learned a lot about the young woman sitting next to me.

Eventually though as the night wore on, I noticed Saeko's head beginning to bob, as she began to speak less and less. And after a few more minutes I felt her head against my shoulder. And then a few moments later, I heard her snoring gently.

I waited a little while as she slept, and then quietly reached for the pillow and blanket next to me. I then gently lay Saeko down on the floor with her head resting on the pillow, and then covered her with the blanket.

I imagined Saeko must have been extremely exhausted to not have been stirred even a little bit, by my moving her to the floor. It was understandable though, we had been through a lot, especially the civilians who were not used to seeing such atrocities and tragedy as we had witnessed today. Even after all the things I've seen in my career, the past two days were about the most awful experience that I've ever lived as well.

And as I sat next to her, I couldn't help but smile as I watched the young girl sleeping so peacefully next to me. It was a moment I'd always hoped to have as a father, watching my daughter sleeping peacefully knowing that she was safe and secure with "dad" sitting nearby, watching over her.

And once again, I allowed myself the pleasure of pretending that this beautiful, smart, kind, and stubborn as a mule young girl sleeping peacefully next to me was my own child, as I reached for my carbine and laid it across my lap standing guard while my "family" slept away, dead to the world.

And as I continued my watch, I smiled, listening to the sounds of Saeko gently breathing as she slept. And at the same time, trying hard not to laugh at Saya nearly shaking the windows with her snoring as the night wore on.

As the first rays of morning began to shine through the window, I sat up and stretched my creaky old bones as I heard the sounds of footsteps coming down the stairs as Shizuka, dressed in a bathrobe, came down and walked around the corner.

She then walked over towards me with Alice holding on tightly to one of Shizuka's hands, while rubbing her sleepy little eyes with the other. And to add to the cuteness of the scene, the puppy we had saved back at the house was hurriedly running down the steps after them, trying hard to catch up.

And as Shizuka walked up, I saw her eyes glance over at Saeko sleeping soundly next to me. And then I watched her smile as she knelt down to talk to me quietly, so as not to wake the sleeping girl.

"Jimu-san, ohayo gozaimasu. Did you get any sleep…..Papa?" Shizuka whispered with a huge smirk on her face after seeing Saeko asleep next to me still dead to the world, as only a teenager can sleep.

"Not a wink, ….Mama." I replied smirking back as Alice buried her face in Shizuka's robe, still very sleepy.

Alice had quickly bonded with her new surrogate mother Shizuka, and refused to leave her side, which is not uncommon with a child that's been the victim of such a horrible tragedy, who then attaches themselves to the first kind person, they feel they can trust.

"I've been too busy making sure there were not going to be any more surprises while everyone slept. But now that your awake, I'm gonna go check the street and make sure everything's all clear, and then take a little nap before breakfast." I said yawning loudly.

"Okay, then." Shizuka replied as Alice buried her face in Shizuka's robe and tried to fall back to sleep while still standing up. "I'm going to wash up and then wake the girls afterwards and get breakfast started, then."

"Alice-chan." Shizuka said looking down at the sleepy-eyed girl. "Why don't you sleep here with Saeko-chan until I make breakfast?"

"Hai, Oba-chan." Alice said sleepily, offering no argument as she lay on the floor with her head on the same pillow next to Saeko as Shizuka covered her with the blanket, and then padded off to the bathroom.

I yawned as I grabbed my carbine and opened the door leading out into the street, letting the puppy outside as well so he could find a spot to pee.

The morning was eerily still without any sound, whatsoever.

Such stillness was completely alien in a major city like this with no sounds coming out from it. There weren't even the sounds of birds or neighborhood pets at all.

It was as if death had claimed everything in the city, including sound itself.

And as I walked towards the railing, I leaned over and saw the still smoking remains of the Infected I had torched last night.

The road itself was clear of any Infected I noticed, which was good news. So we should be able to depart without a problem once we were done with breakfast.

"C'mon buddy, let's get back inside." I said to the little puppy that was wagging his tail at me. I've always been a dog lover, and despite the little stinker biting me in the leg last night, I was happy to have him around. He'd be a great early alarm system for us with his barking, and more importantly, he'd be a great comfort for Alice.

I yawned once again and then went back through the door as I saw Saeko had awakened and was already headed to the bathroom, still wearing the over-size tee shirt I had given her to wear.

I locked the door behind me and then lay down on the floor across the wall from Alice and then lay my carbine next to me so I could reach for it instantly at the first sign of trouble.

As I lay my head on top of my arm, I watched the puppy snuggle up to Alice and then lay his head on the pillow next to her and closed his eyes.

I couldn't help but smile at the cute scene and then passed right out myself.

It felt like I had just fallen asleep when I was suddenly being shaken awake by Takashi who was telling me that my breakfast was ready. I blinked my eyes and tried to clear the cobwebs in my head as I looked at my watch through bleary eyes and saw that in fact, three hours had passed since I had laid my head down.

Everyone had already eaten breakfast earlier, and since they all knew that I'd been awake all night watching over them, they had decided to be nice and just let me sleep a little while longer as I dragged myself to the table, groggy and grumpy.

I was never much of a morning person. And unless coffee was anywhere nearby, none of the people in the room could really expect any improvement anytime soon.

"Ohayo." I grunted, as I sat in a chair and leaned my carbine against the wall, not really with it just yet and still very stiff and sore from the odd way I had been sleeping.

"Ohayo Jimu-san." Everyone laughed as they watched me looking like something the cat had dragged in. Even little Alice was laughing at me which was a good sign. I was really hoping she wouldn't be afraid of me, especially after last night's adventure in the Humvee.

Even the puppy was barking happily and wagging his tail at me.

"Well, I'm glad ya'll are all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed ." I grumped. "Ya'll must have slept well."

"Like a baby." Saya said yawning as she stretched. "Even though I was forced to sleep on the sofa."

"Glad to hear it." I said sarcastically, as everyone scowled at Saya.

Shizuka walked out of the kitchen acting all TV mom-like, and placed a plate of delicious-smelling food in front of me as I twisted my neck and back trying to work out the kinks.

Well, at least for someone I'm sure, it was a very delicious smelling breakfast.

Breakfast for me this morning consisted of a bowl of miso soup, steamed rice, pickles and some sort of blackened fish on a plate.

It smelled good I admit, but not exactly what I pictured when Shizuka had said "breakfast."

Of course, not being home in Texas, I really shouldn't have expected my normal breakfast of Tex-Mex breakfast tacos. Or even a more traditional American breakfast of eggs, bacon, and biscuits with a pot of coffee nearby.

Nope, you're not in Texas anymore, "Do-Do."

"Is there any coffee around by chance?" I asked Shizuka as I stared into the eyeballs of the fish that was staring right back at me from my plate.

"Coffee? No, I'm afraid not." Shizuka replied. "But I do have some fresh tea that I made. Would you like some?"

"Yeah, that'll do." I replied as it seemed that the fish's jaw had suddenly dropped open as if screaming in pain or protest.

Shizuka filled a cup full of steaming hot tea and handed it to me as Rei and Saya left the table and began playing with Alice and the puppy in the living room.

I took a few sips of the tea, trying not to make a sour face at its bland flavor, and also trying to avoid looking at my breakfast especially the part of it that kept looking right back at me.

"Are you not hungry, Jimu-san?" Saeko asked as she sipped her tea.

"Not anymore." I wanted to say as I suddenly imagined the fish starting to sing just like those stupid novelty plastic fish that started singing whenever you walked into the room.

"I usually don't eat breakfast so early actually." I replied, which really was the truth.

"I usually drink a couple of cups of coffee before breakfast first, and then I eat."

"Oh." Shizuka replied as she looked at me slightly disappointed. "Well, if you don't like it, I can always make you something else."

"No, no." I said, trying not to hurt her feelings as I grabbed the bowl of miso soup and started to eat. "This is fine, besides we need to get moving anyway, so I guess I'll eat right now, after all." I replied as I avoided looking at the fish which I could have sworn was watching my hand as I reached for the bowl of soup.

I took another sip of my soup trying not to think about how I was going to go about trying to eat that fish without throwing up and hurting Shizuka's feelings when the serenity of our little world was rudely shattered as the doors to the condo burst in around us.

It was all my fault actually. I had let my guard down and that is one thing in combat you must never do. I was not an experienced combat soldier, and if I had been, I would have taken more precautions and would have definitely been better prepared.

Unfortunately, I had gotten used to thinking that my only enemies right now were the slow-moving Infected, or panicked civilians falling over each other in panic and desperate enough to do anything to save themselves, or even the dregs of society that had indeed tried to attack us already twice, but in truth, were only amateurs with a lot of gall and no real weapons or fighting skills.

It was that kind of thinking that had caused me to seriously underestimate what kind of foes we would be facing, although in all truth, what were the chances of a well-trained assault force breaking in and performing a raid on us?

And it's that kind of thinking and complacency that will get you in trouble every time, as suddenly the front and rear doors were breached by someone slamming a sledgehammer into the doors from the first and second floors simultaneously.

And then as the doors fell to the floor about a dozen figures, all of them dressed in black fatigues and wearing gas masks, burst through the doorways with assault weapons at the ready.

The sound of the men breaching the doors all at once scared everyone almost to death as all the women screamed and Alice carrying the puppy, rushed into Shizuka's arms as the assault team came in, pointing the muzzles of their weapons at us.

It was almost a textbook assault, just like the one I had experienced in the "Kill House" back in Nevada during my first day at Laidlaw. And I almost mistook the black hooded figures for SWAT or even SAS except as I looked closer, I noticed that they were not equipped with the same gear and weapons as an SAS or Police SWAT team would be equipped with.

As a matter of fact, other than the gas masks and the black clothing, nothing else they wore or carried on their person was anything like the standard gear an SAS trooper or SWAT cop would carry. Nor were any of the weapons that they carried of the type that would be the preferred weapon for a Close Quarters Assault. Among the weapons that I saw was a Galil assault rifle, an M-14, an H&K G3, and the rest were carrying M16-A1's, and a couple of shotguns. All of the guns they carried were medium to long range weaponry, except for the shotguns which were skeet guns actually, and not designed for tactical use.

But just because they might not be SAS or SWAT didn't mean that they weren't a force to be reckoned with, and so I threw up my hands just like everyone else did as the men in black forced everyone to kneel on the floor as they covered us with their weapons.

Since I don't speak fluent Japanese, I couldn't understand what the men were saying as they yelled at everyone, which I'm guessing was orders for everyone to stay down, I suppose.

And since I didn't want to get shot, all I did was just kneel on the floor and stay still as they seized my Mk18, Sig pistol, and my SCUBA/DEMO knife from its sheath on my leg, as two of them covered me with their weapons.

While I watched them, I began to realize they were not as professional as they had first appeared. The breaching of the doors at the same time was impressive I'll give them that, as well as taking everyone down without firing a shot was a nice touch too.

But from what I could see now, while some acted like they knew what they were doing, for some of them, it was all amateur hour.

I was grateful that at least they had not used a stun grenade as they made entry as most professionals would have done to "stun" everyone in case any of us were armed. If they had, who knew what damage the amateurs in this bunch would have done?

But still, that would have been the wise thing to do if they suspected any of us were armed unless they had been doing surveillance on us and knew beforehand that we were not heavily armed, which I doubted.

I also noticed that they were not covering us as well as they should have been, as I noticed some of them staring hard at Shizuka whose robe had come loose a bit during the struggle and some of the "commando's" were taking their eyes off of the rest of us trying to catch a peek.

"Definitely amateurs." I thought.

And to make matters worse, at least for them anyway, they had also been very sloppy when they had searched me. They had confiscated my weapons all right which was normal. But they only took everything that they could see, and yet completely missed the H&K P7 I carried in my ankle holster.

But my biggest concern was that they were also being unnecessarily rough in the way they were treating everyone, mostly because they were obviously very nervous about what they were doing.

And as Alice cried in fear and Shizuka was trying desperately to comfort her, the men started screaming at Alice to shut up, which proved to me just how much they were in over their heads if they were already starting to lose control now with something as simple as a child crying in fear upsetting them so much.

And despite my attempts to tell everyone to stay calm, and not provoke these guys, the wannabe strike team must have decided I was not being cooperative enough because one of the fellows armed with an M16-A1, clubbed me on the side of my head with the butt of his rifle, blindsiding me as my Oakley's flew off my face.

I tried to shake off the pain of being smacked in the side of the head with the nylon butt stock from an M-16 which admittedly, is not as hard on the noggin like the wooden stock of an AK-47 or an M-14, but it still smarts being hit with one.

Of course, if I had been a more experienced combatant, I would have just taken the blow and not reacted in any way whatsoever, so as not to provoke these creeps.

But instead, rookie PMC that I am, I reacted out of pain and surprise and instinctively, with all the force I could muster, I shot my elbow out as hard as I could into the guy's groin who had hit me, causing him to double-over and fall like a sack of potatoes, screaming his head off in pain.

Yeah, that went off well with his other buddies, who proceeded to play "Inna Godda Da Vida" on my head and body with their rifle butts.

I admit it though, I was in the wrong.

The first rule of Hostage Survival 101 states specifically that "He who brandishes the weapon has the final say or action."

And me being the unarmed and "helpless" hostage, I should have just played nice and let the nice man in black use my head as a piñata as much as he pleased without interfering with his fun.

But no, I had to react out of pain and surprise and give him a full force elbow shot to the nuts and ruin his fun, not to mention the rest of his day, or even worse his ability to go to the bathroom like normal people.

There are few things more humiliating to a man's ego than having to pee out of a bag for the rest of his life.

Oops, sorry dude. My bad.

So now as his friends were reminding me just how displeased they were with me at overlooking "rule number one" of the hostage handbook, they decided it would be in my best interest to take it upon themselves to help refresh my memory by beating my brains out so they could start over from scratch.

Of course, seeing the error of my ways, I tried as best as I could to show that I was willing to be compliant with their "pop" quiz by allowing them to tenderize me to their heart's content without fighting back.

If there's one thing I'm good at, it's being able to take a hit.

Let's just say growing up, I was a target for every kid who wanted to make a name for himself by taking a swing at "the big kid who wouldn't fight back." And for why I wouldn't fight back, well, that's another story for later.

As things were though, even though it smarted some being clubbed the way I was, I was doing okay. I knew they were just trying to show me who was boss and if I cowered enough, they'd stop and we'd move on to the next phase, whatever that was. So I just lay there and took it.

And everything would have been just fine, if only one of them had not hit Saeko who was just trying to help me.

"STOP IT! YOU'RE KILLING HIM! Shizuka screamed as three of the black-clad attackers kept beating the American viciously with the butts of their rifles.

"PLEASE! DON"T DO THIS!" Takashi yelled as one of the other armed men pushed the teens to the floor while another covered them with his rifle.

The room began to become filled with the sounds of people screaming in fear as Shizuka and the children watched their friend being beaten savagely before them, as their attackers roared in anger yelling for everyone to shut up as the sound of the rifle butts continued to echo with a sickening thud to everyone's ears.

Saeko watched helplessly as the man was being struck over and over again, until finally, she could stay silent no more and rose to her knees.

"ENOUGH! STOP THIS, PLEASE! Unhhh!" Saeko cried out as one of the men struck her with the back of his hand to silence her.

Saeko fell back against the wall, her nose beginning to bleed as she looked up and glared at the man who had struck her and then raised her hands in front of her face as he acted as if he were going to hit her again.

"STOP!" The black-clad leader of the assault team said walking through the door and entering the room, as the man who had slapped Saeko turned his head at the sound of his leader's voice.

He wasn't the only one who reacted at the sound of the team leader's voice either, as almost everyone in the room turned their heads in reaction to the leader speaking in a woman's voice.

Unlike the rest of her friends though, the ears of one of the hostages perked up, as she recognized the voice of the female leader and then stared at her for a completely different reason than the others in the room with her.

Before the team leader could say anything more though, there was a loud roar that filled the room as the American suddenly lashed out at his attackers.

Grabbing the shirt of one of the gunmen, he then threw him bodily into the others standing there that had been clubbing him and knocked them all to the floor, as the American then hurled himself at the man who had just struck Saeko and the both of them then crashed heavily against the wall next to her.

Saeko dodged as both men slammed into the wall next to her as she rolled out of the way. She then turned around to face the two men fighting near her as she saw the American tear the other man's mask off and then grab him by the throat with one hand and violently pummel him in the face with the other.

Saeko froze, staring wide-eyed at the enraged American as she saw the terrifying look in his eyes. His eyes were the same as when the man had grabbed the teacher, Shido-sensei during their escape, and had then slammed him into the side of the bus the day they had been trying to escape from their school.

The American had come so close to killing the teacher that he had almost succeeded until Saeko had begged him to stop.

And now that same look of intense hatred was once again visible on the man's face, and Saeko knew that the American meant to kill the man who had struck her.

"OJISAN, STOP! I'M ALL RIGHT! PLEASE STOP!" Saeko screamed, hoping that her pleas would once again reach his ears and force its way through his crazed fury and stop him as before.

But this time her cries went unheard as the American continued to pummel the man as Saeko winced at hearing the sickening sound of teeth and facial bones breaking, as blood began to pour from the injured man's nose and face as the American kept beating him.

The other men meanwhile had finally managed to untangle themselves after being knocked to the floor, and as they raised their rifles to shoot the American, the leader yelled for them to stop lest they accidentally hit their comrade or Saeko lying next to them.

After barking an order, one of the men that was armed with the G3 rifle ran up behind the American and hit him with a glancing blow with the butt of his rifle.

The blow stunned the American momentarily, but instead of subduing him, the blow only served to infuriate him even more as he suddenly rose up and dove at the man who had just hit him.

The two men then crashed into the rest of the men who had just gotten up from the floor and as they landed back on the floor, the American began to punch and kick wildly at all of the men, with the same fury.

As the scene erupted into utter chaos, the leader aimed her pistol at the American as she knelt down, seemingly to shield Saya from harm, while Saya stared blankly at the masked woman while the fight continued nearby.

Saya snapped out of her daze however, when she heard a sudden scream come from the middle of the room as the American had reacted to being hit by another attacker and had grabbed Rei's makeshift spear that had been lying on the floor and stabbed one of the men in the leg with it and began twisting it as the man screamed in pain.

The scene had noe become completely uncontrolled as hostages and "commando's" alike were screaming and shouting as the American kept fighting in a berserker like fury, throwing chairs and swinging anything he could get his hands on at the black clad men.

Finally, one man armed with an M-14 rolled away from the others and then came up from behind the crazed American and swung his rifle butt against the back of the man's head as he then dropped to his knees from the blow.

The American was then clubbed again and again until he fell unconscious to the floor, bleeding heavily from his face and from several scalp wounds on his head.

"MAMA! PLEASE, MAKE HIM STOP!" Saya screamed as she finally found her voice and wrapped her arms around the waist of the black dressed figure.

"THAT'S ENOUGH, YOSHIOKA-SAN!" The black-clad woman roared as she motioned for her men to back off and then looked down at Saya and held her close as Saya wept against her.

"MAMA?!" Takashi said out loud as he stared at Saya gazing teary-eyed, at the leader of the group.

"Takagi-san, she's your mother?" Kouta asked in shock, as one of the men held him down with his boot.

As if to answer his question, the leader of the group returned her pistol to its holster and then removed her mask revealing an extremely beautiful woman who bore a striking resemblance to Saya, albeit older.

"Hai." The woman answered calmly. "I am Saya's mother. Takagi, Yuriko."

"Saya-chan. Are you all right, my child?" Saya's mother asked, almost near tears with relief at seeing her daughter again, unharmed.

"Yes, Mama!" Saya said sobbing, and then looked up at her mother. "Mama, where's Papa? Didn't he come too?"

Before her mother could answer, Saeko yelled in rage as two men grabbed her as she was about to check on the unconscious American and then roughly pushed her to the floor, and held her down as she struggled against them.

"WHY HAVE YOU ATTACKED US?!" Saeko screamed in defiance as the two men held her down. "What is the meaning for all of this? We did nothing to harm your daughter! LET US GO!"

"Calm down, all of you!" Saya's mother said as she gazed upon the people being restrained before her.

"We were led to believe that all of you may have been taken hostage by that man." Yuriko replied pointing towards the unconscious American.

"A friend in the JSDF advised us that the man was armed and dangerous, and we did not wish to take any chances. Not with your lives and certainly not with my own daughter's life."

"THAT'S RIDICULOUS!" Takashi yelled as he has also being held down on the floor. "He's done nothing but try to help us since we met him! And now you blow in here, scare everyone half to death, and allow your men to brutally beat us and expect us to really believe you're here to rescue us?! "

"I don't need to explain myself to you, boy." Yuriko replied, her face hardening and her voice like ice. "I recognize who you are Komuro, Takashi, and while I still remember what good friends you and Saya-chan have been since you were little, do not think that entitles you to challenge me on the safety of my child."

Takashi gritted his teeth as he glared at the woman who glared back at him, as he still struggled to break free.

"Takagi-sama." Shizuka said softly as Yuriko turned to look at her. "Please, I'm a nurse. Please allow me to help our friend."

Saya's mother frowned as she stared at the nurse's face upon hearing her request, but as she saw Alice quaking with fear and hanging onto Shizuka's robe, her face softened.

"Is she your child?" Yuriko asked gently as tears fell from Alice's face.

"No. We rescued her last night." Shizuka replied. "Her father was killed just down the street, and we have no idea where her mother is."

"Takagi-sama!" A voice yelled from outside as Yuriko quickly glanced at the man who suddenly ran through the doorway.

"What is it?" She asked.

"There's a lot of Infected coming this way!" The man replied the fear in his voice unmistakable. "At least sixty or more!"

"How much time do we have?" Yuriko asked, frowning.

"Five, maybe ten minutes at the most." The man replied sweating profusely.

"Everyone, we need to move now!" Yuriko ordered her men. "Aoshima, put the wounded in the van, and have the children placed in my vehicle."

"What about him, Takagi-sama?" The man with the M-14 asked as he pointed the muzzle of his rifle at the American. "Should we dispose of him here or try to take him with us? He's awfully big for us to carry."

"Mama, please don't let them kill him!" Saya gasped in horror at the reality that they were indeed serious about killing the man rather than taking the risk of him coming after them later, as Yuriko looked down at her daughter's crying face.

"Just a moment Yoshioka-kun." Yuriko replied as she tried to calm her daughter.

"Saya-chan, the only reason we came in as forcefully as we did was to catch him by surprise before he could get to his weapons and hopefully take him prisoner." Her mother replied. "But our first priority was to rescue you and your friends. His being taken alive as a prisoner was only incidental."

"But now that he's unconscious and injured as well, he's just too big for any of us to carry my child, and I won't risk the lives of everyone by wasting time trying to drag him away." Yuriko replied, and then added as she gazed at the unconscious man. "And we also can't leave him behind to pursue us later when he regains consciousness either."

"Takagi-san, please, I'm begging you, don't hurt him!" Saeko wept as she looked up at Saya's mother as the men still continued to hold her down.

"He only struck out when one of your men struck me! PLEASE! He was only trying to protect me!" Saeko said as tears fell down her face.

"I'm sorry child, I don't know who you think he is, but we've been informed that he is actually a very dangerous man and quite possibly an enemy of the State, according to our sources." Yuriko replied looking at her sadly. "And I will not risk any of our lives just to help a man who killed six people last night and nearly tried to kill my own men as well."

A sudden shout erupted from one of the men that was trying to help the man that had been speared through the leg earlier, as the injured man suddenly began to convulse violently and then seemed to go unconscious and stopped breathing altogether.

"Tetsutarou! The man yelled as he shook his friend and tried to frantically do CPR on him when he couldn't feel a pulse.

After a few moments of haphazard chest thrusts with no result, the man stopped and was about to give up, when the supposedly "dead" man suddenly rose up and began to attack the man who had tried to help him, much to everyone's shock.

"HELP ME!" The man screamed desperately as the Infected man tried to bite him.

"HELP ME! DOI-SAN'S INFECTED!" The man screamed in fear.

"THE SPEAR!" Yoshioka yelled in warning. "It must have been tainted with contaminated blood! Stay away from it!"

Rei gasped as she realized that once again, the dried blood that was on her spear had just claimed another victim.

Yuriko Takagi had begun to feel sympathetic with the teen's pleas for mercy for the American's life.

However, at the sight of one of the family's most trusted retainers and closest friends Tetsutarou Doi being Infected with the Contagion at the American's hand, any sympathy she might have had dissolved as her face became a mask of fury, and she then turned to the rest of the men in her command and gave the orders that sealed the man's fate and that of everyone else.

"All of you take Saya-chan and the rest of them outside and load them into the vehicles!" Yuriko yelled at the men still holding Shizuka, Alice, and the teens.

Their captors then immediately began to try to pull them all towards the door at Yuriko's order, which was proving increasingly difficult as their captives began kicking and screaming as they were being dragged out the door.

While those men were busy dragging their captives away, the rest struggled desperately to help the other man who was still trying to break free from the Infected man's grip.

"Yoshioka-kun." Yuriko said to the man holding the M-14, as he looked into her eyes, nodded, and flipped off the safety of his rifle with a loud click.

At first it seemed that the man Yoshioka was preparing himself to defend everyone from the Infected man.

However to Saya's horror, the man Yoshioka, her father's most trusted retainer, wasn't directing his gaze at the struggle nearby.

His attention was on the unconscious man at his feet.

The meaning was all too clear.

"MAMA! PLEASE DON'T!" Saya screamed as one of the men came up and dragged her away from her mother as she struggled to break free, while her mother turned her head away.

"YOSHIOKA-SAN! PLEASE DON'T KILL HIM! PLEASE! Say screamed in desperation as she was roughly carried towards the door.

"Takagi-san, please listen to me!" Rei pleaded as tears fell from her face. "The spear was mine! He didn't know there was contaminated blood on it! Please, it's not his fault!"

"Restrain them if you have to and get ready to move, NOW!" Yuriko ordered, ignoring Rei and looking away as the men carrying Saya and the others struggled greatly to drag them all out the door as everyone savagely fought their captors every step of the way.

"TAKAGI-SAMA! PLEASE DON'T DO THIS! PLEASE!" Saeko screamed as Yuriko ignored her anguished pleas as she watched her men finally pull the Infected man Tetsutarou, off the man that was being attacked.

They then began restraining the Infected man's hands with nylon handcuffs and also began to carefully attempt to tape his mouth shut as he savagely kept trying to bite them.

And the last thing Saeko Busujima saw as she was roughly dragged out the door was the American lying face down, unconscious and still bleeding on the floor, as the man Yoshioka stood over him with his rifle and then pointed the muzzle at the helpless man.

"YAMERO!" Saeko screamed, as she was roughly dragged away.

Author's Notes :

Guess it's safe to say based on some of the reviews I've gotten about the ending….

"Bet you didn't see that coming." (^_^)

When I decided to write "Last Alarm" I had intended to pretty much stick with the original storyline with just the addition of my OC. But I also wanted to add my own life experiences and personal touch as well.

Unfortunately, it just wasn't any fun doing it that way and so as you can see, I went my own direction in much of the story.

For some who have PM'ed me about Yuriko Takagi, she is really not a bad person, and in the manga and the anime, she was pictured as a brave woman who rescued her daughter and also helped her husband make a stand at Takagi Manor.

In my opinion though, the portrayal of Saya's parents was too brief and a little too rigid, so I decided to expand on them a bit more.

Yuriko loves her daughter dearly, and in the anime there was still a lot of friction between mother and daughter. In this scenario, I wished to portray Yuriko as a strong woman as well as a good leader.

But still, she is not perfect and she and Saya butt heads every now and then. And in this case, having to put the lives of the teens and her people over the lives of Jim is understandable, but not a decision everyone is in agreement with including the teens.

When I started writing this story, I wrote out a rough draft and went as far as ten chapters intending on doing one a month.

Now, it's only a couple months later and I'm up to Chapter 21 and those notes are long gone and everything up to now has been off the top of my head.

I'm not bragging, I'm just saying that I've exceeded what I intended and while I still have my own story to tell, I wouldn't mind hearing what all of you would like me to do with what happens next.

I've had some ask that Jim be captured and tortured by the Takagi's. (Poor Jim. As if he hasn't gone through enough. Ah well, should have just stayed retired instead of going off seeking adventure.)

It's also been suggested that Jim be left behind and have to fend for himself and meet up with the teens later.

And it's also been suggested Jim be killed. (Geez, I didn't think my character was that hated.)

Seeing as how Jim gets wounded during the final act, that ain't gonna happen, sorry.

So for any of you who have been faithfully reading my story, I'd like to hear from you what you'd like to see happen. This is not a poll. I'd just like you to PM me if you want to offer a suggestion on what should happen to Jim next and I'll see what I can work out.

In the next chapter, we get to see the Outbreak through a different point of view. When I first started writing the story, I extended an offer to anyone wishing to be portrayed in this story and after a couple of chapters, only one made an offer of an OC.

And so with poynton90's help, all of you get to see the battle at the airport through a member of BLUE Team's eyes.

And since poynton90 is a friend "from across the pond", his OC, Andrew is a former member of 22nd Regiment SAS that was Jim's mentor back in Nevada and also his best friend.

So I'm sure that any of my readers from England will be happy to see a fellow "Brit" become a regular part of the story.

And since the next few chapters take place at the airport, yes, it's safe to say that we'll be seeing a lot more of our favorite sniper again. All Rika fans can rejoice.

See ya'll soon!

Coming next,

"He Who Dares Wins." - Andrew's Story