Hello people, and welcome back to Highschool of the Dead: Resurrection. Sorry I haven't unloaded in a while, I was suffering from a minor case of writer's block, but I think I'm o.k. now. Anyway, am I the only one who thinks the group deserves to have some peace and quiet already? Not to mention there was a bit of a Metal Gear Solid/Assassin's Creed vibe with Itachi sneaking around and getting rid of those thugs...
While the rest of the group devoured their lunch, Itachi went to take a shower by himself, one that was badly needed, for both hygienic, and psychological reasons. As the lukewarm water poured down his raven-black, shoulder blade-length hair, as well as the physique that his archery and parkour skills gave him, he began to think his situation through more clearly. Maybe the military base was his best bet afterall; even if there were other places to go, a military base being one's home spoke for itself. When he wasn't thinking about the situation, he kept an eye on the entrance, halfway-expecting Saeko to show up...but she never did.
The idea of her coming in made him smirk; not only did she not know what she was missing...it would have been hilarious for all the wrong reasons for him to make it clear he didn't want anything to do with her, only for her to show up anyway. Then again, why would she come into the shower just to see a body that a good number of women would kill to feast their eyes on? Then again, she never seemed to be the type of woman who eyeballed a man for the sake of it, and he should know; plenty of Itachi's female classmates used to look him over as if he was a walking trophy...not that he wasn't.
Eventually, the rogue archer got dried off, and while he did that, he reflected on his relationship with the group...and it turns out his trip into the city helped quite a bit. Yes, he did consider hogging the supplies, at least until they were needed, but there's no way that idea could be taken seriously, even if it wasn't too late to carry out that excuse for a plan. Next time however might be different if things go too far south; there was only so much a person can take. People have been killed throughout history for pushing others past their limits, so something less extreme was on the table by default.
During the Boston Massacre, an event that happened before the American Revolutionary War, a fight broke out between the Americans and the British, which was instigated by the Americans taunting and harassing the Redcoats, and some of the Americans were shot dead because of their stupidity. Granted the British got crushed at the end of the war but nevertheless, the incident spoke for itself: push someone too far, and they're going to hit you back, whether you're prepared or not.
But now was the time for relaxing, not for preparing some pathetic revenge scheme for something that wasn't even that serious, so he finished drying off, put his pants, socks, and shoes on and finished his richly-deserved lunch...and the others outside apparently had the same idea.
"I still can't believe you found a Desert Eagle. This is just too good..." Kohta said in awe.
"Alright, the good Corporal found a big pistol. Point taken." Saya said.
"That big pistol, fires one of the biggest handgun rounds in the world. He could probably kill multiple zombies with one shot, and each of them would take enough damage to kill several zombies, just from the amount of damage done." Kohta said before grinning.
"It would. The Desert Eagle I found is a 50 caliber action express." Masato said simply while his undivided attention was still on finishing his food...and Kohta let off a high-pitched squeal.
"You hit the jackpot!" He exclaimed.
"I know, and on top of its high-caliber, it also weighs four pounds, so it makes a decent club if need be." Masato said.
"This just gets sweeter and sweeter..." Kohta said.
"Yes, now be quiet and eat. There's going to be plenty of training to do later on. Especially with that SAW we found." Masato said.
"Yes sir." Kohta said before getting back to his food.
"SAW?" Takashi asked.
"Squad Automatic Weapon, aka, the M249 light machine gun. Right sir?" Kohta asked.
"Right. But we aren't firing it; the more ammo we have, the more chances we have to kill the zombies." Masato said.
"Can't argue with that..." Takashi said, and the rest continued in silence.
"Load it again." Masato said, and Kohta removed the ammo box from the SAW, by opening the top lever, removing the belt, pushing the box away, then grabbing it again to simulate getting a new box, then put the box into it's spot, then fed the belt inside the box into the gun itself before closing it...all while laying down on his front.
"That looks like a real pain in the ass to do." Takashi said.
"You don't know the half of it." Kohta groaned.
"That's the price of a large ammo count; you may take a long time, but you also don't need to do it often." Masato said.
"I'd still take a shotgun, M4, or SCAR. At least reloading is easier." Takashi said and Masato looked right at him.
"And if this SAW is the only weapon you have available?" He asked, and Takashi rolled his eyes in thought. "The more comfortable each of you are with a weapon like this, the better off you'll be. Plus reloading simpler weapons will be even less daunting, which if what you said is anything to go by, is quite a feat."
"With that being said, you're up Takashi." Kohta said before getting up so Takashi could take his place on the ground. He then followed the same process...but took almost twice the time thanks to how much trouble he had feeling his way through the steps.
"Takashi...even for a first time, that lack of speed is not acceptable. Start over immediately." Masato said seriously, and Takashi groaned before repeating the process. After not one, but no less than four tries, Takashi got it done quickly enough, then Kohta took his turn, and even took over the lesson itself as Masato left the area...and ran into Saeko who started following him.
"You shouldn't be so hard on him." She said.
"And you should know why I was hard on him in the first place." Masato said.
"I've seen your rage towards the undead myself, and Takashi is not a soldier, despite how good he is." Saeko said.
"He is still part of a team devoted to the undead's eradication...as are you. As such, I expect all of you to be as competent as you can be." Masato said.
"We are, and we have our own reasons for wanting to survive this plague; not everyone shares your hate for them." Saeko said.
"Everyone who doesn't is a fool...!" Masato growled, and Saeko stopped following him and watched Rei and Saya head to the armory, and follow them inside.
"You really blossomed with that rifle." Saya said seriously.
"It felt like it too; I feel like I could take on a whole horde of zombies myself!" Rei said with a smirk.
"That...would be interesting to see." Saeko said, and shared the smile Rei had.
"You planning on using another weapon Saya?" Rei asked.
"Eh, might as well, if these M4s even take the suppressor I have...which I kind of doubt. Oh well, if they don't, then that's one more type of ammo we, or I can use instead of the 5.56 ammo we have." Saya said.
"That is very true..." Saeko said...then Rei opened a case.
"Hello...what have we here?" She said dramatically.
"Let's show it to Kohta..." Saeko said.
"That's an AA-12 fully automatic shotgun!" Kohta exclaimed.
"A what?!" Takashi asked.
"You heard me right. That baby is like the result of a shotgun and a machine gun having a baby." Kohta said and Takashi raised an eyebrow.
"Which...is both weird and terrifying at the same thing." He said and Kohta grinned as he eyeballed the gun.
"The AA-12 spits two shells every second, the stainless steel frame keeps it from rusting, the spring in the stock helps manage recoil. It takes either clips, or drums, and can even lob small rockets. If we found one of these before, we could have kicked alot more ass..." He said seriously.
"So who wants it?" Rei asked.
"Takashi...grab it before I do...now." Kohta said, and Takashi smirked and took the AA-12 and looked it over. He then moved it up and down to feel the weigh, then pointed it in the distance.
"Fuck yeah..." Takashi breathed out, and Rei sucked in a breath at the tone he used.
"Please tell me there were some drums or clips at the armory..." Kohta said.
"Yep." Saya said simply, and Kohta rushed over to the armory, and started chuckling when he fond multiple drums and clips for the AA-12.
"Wait, what about those slug rounds we were after?" Rei asked.
"Well, we haven't searched the entire base yet, so who knows what we'll find." Takashi said.
"Takashi, we are so saving the clips whenever possible; I have an idea." Kohta said.
"Which is?" Takashi asked.
"We still have a ton of shells left, and we can load them into these drums and clips for later use." Kohta said.
"Recycling be damned..." Rei said while shaking her head.
"We're still keeping the Benelli right?" Takashi asked.
"What kind of question is that? Hell yeah we're keeping the Benelli." Kohta said,..and then they heard rapid footsteps, and then looked to see Alice running towards them.
"Hey!" She yelled.
"What's the matter?" Takashi asked.
"We should go see Itachi." Alice said, and the whole group deflated.
"It is not likely he wants anything to do with us." Saeko said.
"Nor do I want anything to do with him..." Saya groaned.
"But he's with us. We can make friends with him." Alice said and Rei knelt down to her level.
"Alice...he made it pretty clear he doesn't want to be friends with us." She said.
"Why not?" Alice asked.
"I don't know, but he has a nasty habit of taking his pain out on others. Yes, alot of people do that, but his case is not normal." Rei said.
"He also probably blames us for some of his pain. He did lose his home because of us." Kohta said.
"That was an accident." Alice said.
"No...it was carelessness." Saeko said seriously.
"All the more reason for us to try and cheer him up!" Alice exclaimed, and Rei put her hands on Alice's shoulders.
"We don't have any right to force him. Besides, if you go in there, he might yell at you." She said.
"But..." Alice trailed off.
"She's right. It's too risky." Takashi said, and Alice deflated and walked away.
"She does mean well." Saeko said.
"She's still wrong, and when you're wrong...you're wrong." Saya said, and everyone looked at her. "What? I can grow too..."
Itachi had his feet perched on the metal rail of his bed, with his fists supporting his body as he slowly but steadily did push-ups, in the same jogging pants and shirt he always wore. Alice then came in, with some small boxes of food, and watched Itachi train, and then mustered the nerve to approach him. Once she got close enough, Itachi sighed and stopped doing push-ups.
"I already told you, I don't want to be shadowed by-" He stops talking when he looks at Alice. "Oh, it's you. What do you want?"
"Well...I...ummm..." Alice trailed off as Itachi continued exercising.
"Spit it out." He said.
"Well, everyone else is doing things outside." Alice said.
"So?" Itachi asked simply.
"So...they're getting better stuff." Alice said.
"Good for them." Itachi groaned.
"Don't you want to do things with them?" Alice asked, and Itachi stopped exercising, sighed, then sat on the railing.
"Why would I do that?" He asked.
"Because, you're with us, and we should do things together." Alice said, and Itachi scoffed.
"Please. I'm in here because I want to do my own thing, and they're out there, because they want to do their own thing. The way I see it. that's how it should be." He said.
"How can you say that? We're supposed to be friends!" Alice exclaimed.
"We're supposed to be friends...you have alot more faith in that than I do." Itachi said.
"It's the truth." Alice said.
"Maybe we would be friends if I wasn't being continuously screwed over by the people around me." Itachi said.
"We can help you." Alice said.
"I sincerely doubt that; I can do pretty well on my own." Itachi said.
"But you're still living with us, and we can help you." Alice said.
"Kid...this group mentality shtick is not as fool-proof as you think it is; literally every time I worked with someone, it lead to one mouthful of disappointment after another, and it'll be a cold day in Hell before that changes." Itachi said.
"You're wrong!" Alice snapped.
"Am I...?" Itachi trailed off.
"Yes you are! The others loved me very much for as long as I've known them! They're good people, and you aren't being nice to them!" Alice exclaimed.
"They haven't been nice to me this whole time, and FYI...you're not talking to another child, so don't treat me like one. Anyway, there isn't one thing I told you that isn't true, and what I'm about to tell you...is very true. I've had a good thing going since the world fell apart, and I don't need anyone else to keep it going, and I certainly don't need you, or any of those other butt-munchers getting in the way." Itachi said, and Alice groaned.
"You're the one being a butt-muncher!" She exclaimed, and Itachi stood up and Alice retreated from him.
"Only because I'm hanging around them all the time!" He yelled, and Alice started hyperventilating, and her eyes watered from the fear Itachi instilled in her. "I'm not even going to ask about your parents, because frankly, I don't want to know, but if you want to help me, then go away and let me get back to training, it's the only thing I can do here anyway." With that...Alice did nothing but watch Itachi go to the other side of the barracks, and start pulling his bowstring over and over before doing a full split, as well as side-splits. While he did that...Alice simply stood there heartbroken; she was warned he would probably be cold towards her...but this was just awful. Despite the tears rolling down her face thanks to Itachi's callousness, she still left the food she brought him on the bed and rushed outside, little did she know Itachi watched her leave her gift for him...and he actually started to think about how he treated her, and why.
"Let's go over this again..." Masato said as Shizuka looked over the controls for the Stryker again.
"What do all these buttons do?" She asked.
"Those don't matter, just focus on how to move forward, back, and change direction. All of which are dictated by those switches over there." Masato said, and Shizuka cautiously tried each one, and Masato braced himself for the random changes in direction and speed.
"Why can't you drive this?" Shizuka asked.
"Because you need to at least be able to do something with it. I'm not above driving this, but not if there are zombies that need their brains blown out. Now, I'm going to give you a chance to relax and let this information sink in, but sooner or later...you're going to be tested." Masato said before walking out, and leaving Shizuka behind to pout and groan in frustration.
He then saw Alice weeping by herself, but moved on when he saw her dog Zeke comforting her with his tail wagging. He then went to find Takashi after a thought occured to him. He then found Kohta fawning over the AA-12 Takashi was practicing his reload with.
"I cannot wait to see what other pieces of artillery we find here...!" Kohta said excitedly.
"Takashi. I want to talk to you." Masato said seriously and Takashi gave the AA-12 to Kohta and followed Masato to one of the empty hangers.
"Yes sir?" Takashi asked.
"Tell me about that little girl." Masato said.
"Well...we found her after her dad was murdered, and we had to fight through a whole crowd of zombies to do so, and she's been traveling with us ever since." Takashi said.
"Did you exterminate the crowd?" Masato asked.
"I...think so." Takashi said.
"Very good. Now, what can she do against the undead?" Masato asked.
"Nothing! Sure she's brought us ammo quite a few times, but she's never fought with us." Takashi said.
"Unacceptable. Starting soon, she needs to learn how to fight." Masato said, and Takashi recoiled.
"But...but sir! She's a little girl!" He exclaimed.
"Irrelevant. She is part of this group, and there is a very real chance that she will only have herself to rely on, for a moment, or for good. She might even be the difference between a victory or defeat in some form or another. Being able to use a gun, in combination with what experience she already has could be vital in this regard." Masato said.
"What about her say in this?" Takashi asked.
"She has none." Masato said and Takashi tensed up. "Don't give me that look. This entire world hangs in the balance, and everyone will need to climb to the top sooner or later, unless they don't want to live long."
"But sir..." Takashi trailed off.
"That's final. Do not make me repeat anything I told you." Masato said, and Takashi deflated.
"Yes sir..." He groaned.
"Now, she is not fit for combat, and as such will not be on the frontlines, at least not yet, and at this moment, the idea of her being trained is out of the question, but that does not excuse her in the long run. As for how this will go, I myself have plans for Kohta; at this rate he's well on his way to becoming a Private, in the meantime, I expect you and maybe the women to give that girl what expertise you can." Masato said.
"Yes sir." Takashi said.
"Now, is there anything you would like to say about your own progress?" Masato asked.
"Well, I've been practicing my reloads, and I haven't fired any rounds to conserve our ammo." Takashi said.
"Very good, but after today, we will take the fight to the undead, so I expect you, Kohta, and possibly the women as well, to sharpen your skills as much as you can beforehand." Masato said.
"Yes sir." Takashi said.
"Carry on." Masato said, and Takashi walked out of the hanger, sucked in a deep breath and walked off.
Well...talk about food for thought eh? Alice being able to actually fight zombies kind of sounds like Clementine from The Walking Dead game, sorry for the minor spoiler there, but it's true. Sorry for the lack of zombie-killing in this chapter, but the next one will more than make up for it, and I will NOT wait forever to write it, so be sure to Rate, Review, and Share while I cook up some carnage for you. Stay tuned.