Hello people, and welcome back to Highschool of the Dead: Resurrection. Yet another double-whammy, get used to it. Anyway, like I said last chapter...mother of all supply runs, coming at you.
In the usual manner Itachi ran ahead as Takashi, Rei, Kohta, Saya and Saeko, and as well as Alice and Zeke kept an eye on the sides. Occasionally, Itachi threw his wind chimes into the street to draw out any zombies before putting arrows through their heads, then retrieved his arrows and chimes for later use. When the group finally caught up with him, he was hiding behind a ruined car, then joined him.
"What's the matter?" Alice asked.
"That supply drop should have attracted other people. Remember when we first met, and the drops had a habit of drawing other people in? What if others need it more than we do?" Itachi asked.
"Corporal Toriyama also made it clear the people in this city can't be trusted, so let's just grab it and go." Rei said.
"Go ahead, see how far you get before some sniper none of us knows about shoots you in the head, or the knee before taking you hostage and stripping you of your clothes along with your dignity." Itachi said seriously.
"Now wait just a damn minute! Where did that even come from?" Rei asked.
"Itachi's right. The risk is too great, we should wait for at least a little while." Saeko said.
"Fine." Rei groaned.
"Wait, I've got an idea: I'll cover you from here with my own sniper rifle, while you go get the food." Kohta said.
"And I'll stay here and cover you, along with Alice." Saya said.
"Cover with with what now?" Alice asked.
"I mean I'll make sure nothing happens to them, and you'll make sure nothing happens to me." Kohta said.
"Oh...right." Alice said.
"Right, now let's go." Takashi said and Kohta looked through his rifle's scope as Takashi, Rei, Saeko, and Itachi rushed off to grab the food, and stuff it into their bags. Saya then kept an eye on the sides, and what's behind them...but she was alone.
"Anything coming their way?" Saya asked.
"So far, so good...wait..." Kohta said as the rest of the group continued loading up their bags...and then Itachi looked up, and dashed away before the rest did as well.
"Why are they coming back...?" Alice asked.
"Maybe they're done." Kohta said...and the rest of the group approached them, before catching their breath.
"There's a convoy...of vehicles coming...this way..." Itachi said between breaths.
"Ghosts?" Saya asked.
"Probably..." Itachi said.
"Please tell me they didn't see you." Saya said.
"They're not likely to see us if we run between they even show up, and before you ask : I heard their engines." Itachi said before they all heard engine sounds.
"Like that?" Alice asked, and they all turned to see a trio of cars approach the supply crates...and out came a dozen men and women, all wearing civilian clothes, as well as scraps of military-grade armor.
"They must be the Ghosts." Rei said.
"Right. What soldier wears normal clothes under armor?" Saeko asked.
"We need to get out of here." Takashi said...before the Ghosts opened fire, making the group flinch, and take cover...but no bullets came their way. They looked out of cover and saw the Ghosts were firing at a crowd of zombies.
"Those guys are definitely not soldiers, at least not of Masato's caliber." Kohta said.
"How can you tell?" Alice asked.
"Aside from their outfits?" Itachi snapped.
"I meant their full-auto firing." Kohta said.
"Accuracy over speed." Alice said.
"You'll never see a bow have that problem..." Itachi said proudly.
"You'll also never see a bow shoot more than once unless the user is skilled enough." Saeko said.
"Why thank you very much." Itachi said.
"That wasn't-" Alice cuts Saya off.
"Uh, Ghosts down there, opening fire. Very scary...!" She exclaimed as the bullet continued to fly...and one Ghost screams in pain as a zombie sinks it's teeth into his arm, and another Ghost blows it's brains out...then shoots the Ghost who was bitten without hesitation.
"What the...?!" Takashi breathed out.
"He didn't even bat an eye..." Rei said.
"Those people clearly take no prisoners; if this is how they treat their allies, they're likely to treat outsiders with even less mercy." Saeko said.
"All the more reason to get out of here." Saya said, and then the Ghosts get in their cars and drive off.
"This...might be a bad time to ask, but how about we loot these stores?" Alice asked.
"That's not a bad idea..." Takashi said before the group split up to check, and loot each store.
Meanwhile, Masato led Shizuka back to the motorshop, with Masato carrying the battery, and Shizuka taking the lead this time. Both of them kept an eye out for zombies, and the fact they both had their SCAR and M4 suppressed spoke for itself. However, since Masato used one hand for the battery, Shizuka needed to take point, as if she didn't have enough reason to buck up.
She then stopped a gasped when she stopped spacing out and saw the motorshop had a zombie infestation. She then looked at Masato who nodded at her, and she aimed at the zombies before letting off one round after another, and to her pleasure, each bullet pierced her targets. More amazingly, she learned from her past mistakes, because she got proud of herself for a moment, then stopped to compose herself, then opened fire again and took down the rest of the zombies.
"How was that?" Shizuka asked...and Masato actually gave her a faint smile.
"You've improved..." He breathed out as he walked past her, and Shizuka blushed before following him. When he neared the bus, he put his SCAR away, then got to work on the bus. Shizuka then watched him insert the battery, hook it up, and then pause for a moment.
"Is something wrong?" She asked.
"Try the engine." Masato said, and Shizuka got in the bus, started the engine, and it started sputtering before she stopped.
"Is...that supposed to happen?" She asked.
"Try again." Masato said, and Shizuka revved up the engine again...and it eventually started working.
"We did it!" She exclaimed, and Masato looked outside...and saw more zombies approaching. He then signaled Shizuka to come out with the bus, and she took her time doing it as Masato opened fire on the zombies as they went for the now-functional bus. Masato actually got in their way to get cleaner shots, and then jammed a knife into their heads whenever one got close enough, or kicked it down and shot it dead, or stomped it's face in. When one zombie got past him and went for the bus, he stomped it's knee in, then broke it's neck before slamming a zombie that jumped on him from behind into the ground before jamming a knife into it's brain.
He then shot the last few down before getting on the side the bus' door was, and Shizuka opened it for him before he got it.
"Drive!" Masato said, and Shizuka floored it back to their would-be base of operations. When they got there, they took a moment to breath easily, and Masato got the idea of grabbing one of their remaining gasoline canisters and filling the bus. Shizuka then got out and watched him do it...and then spotted a small horde coming their way.
"Uh...Corporal?" She asked before pointing at the horde, and Masato weighed the gas canister.
"A shame this is empty." He said.
"Don't burn down anymore houses!" Shizuka said seriously while pointing at him.
"I wasn't going to. Anyway, we need to find the rest of the group." Masato said.
"Yeah...that...kind of escaped my attention." Shizuka said.
"It wasn't even established." Masato said.
"Oh...right..." Shizuka said.
"Let's destroy that horde, and then go find our group." Masato said.
"Right!" Shizuka said firmly, and then the two got to work taking pot shots at the horde...then Shizuka run out of ammo. Masato then noticed, took it from her, then she watched him reload it before he gave it back, and the two got back to work putting bullets through the zombies' heads. Just like Masato, Shizuka never missed any shots, despite the fact she took almost twice as long to focus, which was twice as questionable seeing her companion was beside himself with hatred for the undead which should make his aim shaky at best. When Shizuka finally needed to reload, she took her time doing it, but she reloaded perfectly, then got back to shooting zombies until the last one fell.
"Alright...you drive, I'll guide you." Masato said.
"What?" Shizuka asked.
"We don't know where they are, so I'm going to have to do Itachi's job and scout ahead for you. There's no sense driving further and longer than we have to. Besides...you don't have enough focus for scouting, so all you have to do is follow me." Masato said, and Shizuka sighed before getting in the bus...and slowly drove after Masato, who went forward quite excessively while looking around, then signalling her to follow at a distance. They then continued this unorthodox method for quite a few blocks.
Back at the square the rest were at, they looted one store after another, and stored it in a car that turned out to be somewhat functional. Takashi, Rei, and Saeko went through most of the stores themselves, while Itachi mostly kept an eye out for more Ghosts, or zombies, but searched through some stores on his own with Alice. Kohta and Saya were currently going through an electronics store...and Saya was looking at a digital clock, while working on a watch.
"Says? What are you doing?" Kohta asked.
"This is an atomic clock; I'm setting a pair of watches I found to match the time it says." Saya said.
"O.k..." Kohta said, and Saya looked at him.
"You don't know what an atomic clock is do you?" Saya asked.
"Please tell me it has nothing to do with nuclear weapons." Kohta said seriously.
"Of course not. But to put it simply, these clocks are designed to measure time down to the smallest measurable part of a second, which means if an atomic clock says that it's noon, and not a second later or earlier, then it's noon." Saya said.
"That's incredible." Kohta said.
"Yes it is, which is why I'm setting these watches to match the time this atomic clock says, which is harder than you'd think." Saya said.
"Hey, you're the genius here; if any of us can it's you." Kohta said.
"You're preaching to the pope Kohta." Saya said proudly.
"Wait, why set two watches when we only need one?" Kohta asked.
"Because I'm keeping, and Takashi is getting the other." Saya said.
"Why him?" Kohta asked.
"Because regardless of rank, or...age, Takashi is supposed to be our leader, not that meathead who muscled into our group and tried turning us into a zombie death squad." Saya said.
"You don't approve of the corporal?" Kohtas asked and Saya deflated.
" I do admit he has a point...but he's only interested in killing zombies, that's not good enough to lead, and if you think about it, he has something in common with Itachi: they both need us more than we need them." Saya said.
"What? How?" Kohta asked.
"Take Corporal Toriyama for example, yes he helps us become better at fighting zombies...but at what cost? We've been endangered...God knows how often, I don't even want to think about where Alice's training, if you can even call it that, is going to make her end up, and on top of that...if it wasn't for us, the good corporal would've rampaged after the undead probably with reckless abandon, and die for it." Saya said.
"Good point..." Kohta said.
"And Itachi...where do I even start? Maybe I can forgive the fact he's killed people supposedly as twisted as Shido was, he's arguably justified in that sense. I can also forgive how much shit he's been talking, his stuck-up attitude, how much he blows us off, how much he scrambled his own logic about how he's not owed anything, which means he's owed a great deal, which by the way, I haven't even tried to piece together, and I can even forgive the fact he abandoned his own parents. But when you combine all of those things...he's insufferable! Sure, I've been pretty full of myself in the past, and to an extent I still am, but at least I'm honest about it; I don't hide behind how smart I am, and how little patience I have for those who aren't as smart as me. That is to say, I don't use it as an excuse; I simply go with it, which may be a double-edged sword, but...that's just how it is. With him? No! I don't care how much scouting he does, how much trouble he saves us, how many stunts he pulls, how many times he turns down a reward...or how much more handsome he gets, I don't trust him as far as I can throw him." Saya said before deflating.
"Do you think he'll betray us...?" Kohta asked.
"Honestly, I don't know, but I wouldn't put it past him. I certainly wouldn't put it past him to cause us problems, directly or indirectly." Saya said.
"Well, until then, we'll just have to make due." Kohta said and Saya walked over to him.
"Hold me..." She breathed out, and Kohta set his gun down and wrapped his arms around Saya, and felt her tension leave her more and more every second. Saya herself simply stood there taking the embrace as she leaned into the gun-toting oddball who's had a thing for her since they met. Eventually, she returned the embrace and Kohta tightened his hold on her.
"You know...I can really slim down at the rate I'm going." Kohta said and Saya huffed in amusement.
"Whatever you do...don't change more than that." She said softly.
"Don't worry about that." Kohta said, then Saya kissed his cheek which surprised him well enough to make him let her go. She then took the watches and walked off just slowly enough to let Kohta see the peaceful look on her face. He knew right then and there she was better than ever, and nothing else had to be said between them.
When Saya went outside, she saw that her teammates finished looting the other stores, and gathered it all into the car.
"Find anything?" Rei asked.
"Just a pair of watches I tuned to be as accurate as possible thanks to an atomic clock that still works." Saya said.
"And atomic clock? Damn..." Rei said.
"I take it that's nothing to make fun of?" Saeko asked.
"That only means we have the most type of time reading we can get our hands on!" Rei said seriously.
"I'll take that as a yes..." Saeko said.
"Anything else?" Itachi asked, and Saya stared at him. "Well? Is it a secret?"
"That's all we got..." Saya groaned.
"Oh well, we still got a decent haul, plus we no longer have to read the sun anymore." Takashi said.
"Now we just wait for a bus that may or may not be coming..." Itachi said.
"Masato and Shizuka made it out of a house infested with zombies, they'll be fine." Takashi said.
"Right..." Itachi whispered before leaning against the car...then they heard an engine in the distance, and Itachi rushed off to see what it was. Lo and behold, Masato showed up, and Shizuka came through with the bus, and Itachi led them to the supply pile.
"Well...that didn't take long..." Rei said, and then the group waited for the bus to stop close by, and Shizuka opened the door for the group.
"Let's load up." Takashi said and the entire group got to work loading the supplies onto the back of the bus. When they were done, they all sat down in the bus' front seats, for obvious reasons.
"So...where to now?" Shizuka asked, and Masato pulled the map.
"That temple is actually an hour's drive from here." He said.
"Shouldn't we drop off the supplies at our homes first?" Kohta asked.
"Good idea. We don't want this bus to get robbed while we're gone." Takashi said.
"Then let's go back home and then visit that temple." Saeko said.
"Got it." Shizuka said before backing the bus up, then driving them back to their base.
Well...the last chapter of this arc is approaching, and we all know what that means: a big finale. Will they have to change bases again, or will something completely new happen? I guess my audience will just have to Rate, Review, and Share while I get busy. Stay tuned...