Last Alarm
Chapter 9
"Escape From The High School Of The Dead
It was time to leave.
But first, there was something I needed to do. And I had to do it quickly.
"Takashi, Saeko-chan, chotto." I said to the two teens, motioning them to follow me to the small kitchenette area towards the back of the faculty room.
The other teens immediately perked their heads up, and looked over at us walking away, and I imagined that they were curious as to why I singled out these two. But there was no time to explain and I merely motioned for them to stay put. Although I could see Saya trying to discretely move closer to where we were headed.
"Stay over there with Kouta, pumpkin. I need a moment with these two." I said shooing her off. I also glanced over at Rei who seemed to be a little upset that I had asked Saeko to come with Takashi instead of her. But from the face she was making as she stared at us, it led me to believe it was more a case of teen rivalry with Saeko over the handsome young boy in the room and not my choice of interpreter. Well, their love triangle would have to wait. THIS was serious.
As we all entered the kitchenette, out of earshot of the others, I turned toward the two teens and looked at their puzzled faces.
"Saeko, please interpret my words to Takashi for me please? This is very important." I said looking at her face.
"Of course." She replied. "Is there something wrong?" She asked, a concerned look on her face.
"Not at all." I said with a sigh. "But, what I have to ask of both of you will be extremely difficult, and as much as I hate to burden you with this, the two of you are the only ones I have the utmost confidence in, to be able to say something like this to."
"Nanda?" Takashi asked, concerned by the serious tone of my voice. Saeko said a few words in Japanese, and he nodded his head.
"I've been watching all of you since we locked ourselves away in to this room. And of everyone here, the two of you have both proven to me to be the most trustworthy, mature, and cool under stress, than the rest of the others. So what I'm asking of you both, is that if anything happens to me, I need you to take it upon yourselves to step up if the worst should happen and take over. And get everyone to safety. Understand?"
Saeko had been translating my words to Takashi, and stopped for a moment before finishing.
They both looked at me as if I were nuts, and I could tell from looking at them, that they were about to say something along the lines that" everything would be alright," and so forth. But I stopped them both before they could utter a word.
"Guys." I said, holding my hand up to shush them. " I'm not being fatalistic here. I just want to make it clear, that YOU guys are in charge when I'm not around, because YOUR'E the only ones I can trust to get everyone home. Because I KNOW you can do the job, that's all. Understand?"
I could see that they weren't too keen on the idea. And that was good. Since I knew their ego wouldn't be the determining factor on taking on this huge responsibility, BECAUSE they DIDN"T want the job in the first place.
"This is REALLY life or death you two." I continued, putting my hands on their shoulders. "And I mean this. I have absolute faith in both of you to get everyone home safely if I can't. I just wanted to let you know that. Ok?''
In truth, I really WASN'T sure one hundred percent that they were up to the task. But of everyone in this room, these two showed the most promise. And I needed them to grow up, and step up, if I was no longer in the picture.
The two teens looked at me though, as if I was giving them my final farewell.
"Quit looking at me as if I'm dying guys." I said grinning. "I'm just letting you know how much I trust you, and how confident I am in your ability to lead this group just in case something happens to me, that's all."
They both smiled somewhat weakly, and I hugged them both just to try to help calm their fears a bit.
"Oh, and if Saya gives you any lip about ya'll being put in charge." I said as I stepped back from them. "You have my permission to smack her."
The two teens laughed at that, and I then motioned for them to join the rest of the group.
"What's so funny?" Saya asked suspiciously, eyeballing the three of us.
"Nothin' , we were just talking about you." I said with a grin. If she was going to insist on being a brat, then two could play that game. I just had to be careful and not go too far and cause a repeat of the mess I had made earlier.
"What ABOUT me?" She said, hands on her hips.
"Nothing special." I quipped. "Just that your glasses make you look real cute, especially when you're standing next to Kouta."
The embarrassed look visible on both Saya's and Kouta's faces, was priceless. And while I was not trying to hurt anyone's feelings, I saw no harm in a little friendly ribbing.
Besides, when she wasn't busy screaming at the poor guy, I could see that Kouta was more than happy to be around her, so I thought I'd give them a little push in the right direction.
Ah, amour.
The time for jokes was over now though as it was getting late, and it was most definitely time to get moving.
I walked up to the door past the rest of the group and then motioned for them to move up, as I reached the door and placed my hand on the panic bar.
" Ok, guys." I began.
" From this point on, NO unnecessary noise. And no wandering off. WAIT, for my commands BEFORE you strike. If you need to say something,….WHISPER. Otherwise, remember my hand signals that I taught you once we get moving. And try not to get separated. OK?" I asked looking at their faces.
Everyone nodded in acknowledgement, and raised their weapons. I then turned back towards the door, and letting out a breath, slowly pushed it open. Unlike dynamic room entry, were the rescue team breaches the door with explosives or a shotgun and tosses in a flash bang grenade and double-taps all the tangos inside while they stand shocked, blinded, and confused by all the explosions. This entry into the foyer was requiring stealth. And since I didn't have a well-trained team of operators behind me, I needed to make our escape out of the school as quietly as possible and not draw any attention.
If that was even remotely possible with a bunch of teenage civilians, and one school nurse following closely behind me. And knocking open doors was definitely not an option, and firing my carbine would also need to be avoided as well, unless there was no other choice.
Unlike a tactical team, where all the operators normally line up in a "stack" and enter into a room with everyone fanning out and covering each section of a room. In this case, there was no "stack". It was just little old me. And I didn't want the kids too close, just in case there was a bunch of these things waiting out there in the foyer for us. So as slowly and as quietly as I could, I opened the door and peered outside.
Yup, there were four of them, standing right outside towards the doors leading out to the walkway. I immediately checked the area to my right, and then quickly scanned the rest of the foyer to make sure there were no more Infected within my line of sight. I then turned around and looked back at the group and then nodded to Rei to hold the door open for me. And as she held the door open, I stepped outside, and turned immediately to my left with my carbine to my shoulder and checked the hallway to our left.
"Clear." I said, in a low voice and turned around aiming my carbine at the slowly shuffling figures in the foyer, and moved slowly towards the kids gathering at the door.
"Kouta, you're up." I whispered. "Take out the first two. The rest of you, take out the rest, and BE CAREFUL." I said as I moved forward and to the side of the Infected teens, trying to get in a better position to cover the kids with my carbine.
The strategy was simple enough. Whenever we came across any Infected, Kouta would take out a few of them with his quieter nail gun/rifle, and then leave a couple stragglers that could more easily be taken out hand to hand, by the other teens without putting everyone in too much danger unnecessarily. I would have loved to have him shoot all of them, but he didn't have that much ammo. And there was no telling how many of these things we'd have to go through before we got to safety. So knocking a few down and leaving a couple for hand-to-hand combat was our only option.
Meanwhile, I would cover them all with my carbine, and would use it too, if it looked like the kids were going to be in trouble. Even though the normal report from a .223 isn't extremely loud outdoors in the battlefield, in these long hallways, it sounded like a cannon. And I didn't want to use it unless I REALLY needed to.
The reason for that was because otherwise, we might find ourselves facing a HORDE of these things coming out of the woodwork, attracted by the noise of the gunfire. We'd been lucky before, but I really didn't want to push it. I really hated to put these kids at risk at all, but I couldn't do everything, and so there really wasn't much of a choice in the matter.
There were two small "pops" from Kouta's nail gun and two of the Infected teens fell to the ground, a nail imbedded in their skulls.
"Not bad." I thought to myself. "That thing works better than I thought."
Now came the part I really hated. Letting the kids go toe-to-toe with these things with their improvised hand-held weapons, while I stood there with perfectly fine firearms watching them.
I cursed myself for not having a suppressor for my rifle or my pistol. But there was no time to beat myself up over it, as the kids moved forward and made their attack as I pressed the switch on my laser unit and covered them with my carbine. Takashi moved swiftly, and quietly, as the Infected boy in his path fell to the ground in a heap with one swing of his bat. "Well done, kid." I thought.
The next one,…not so much.
I guess there was something either lost in translation, or the kid's thirst for battle was at an all-time high, or the young man was just anxious to get to his mother and wanted to destroy any obstacle in his path.
I'm not really sure, because suddenly noise discipline and teamwork went out the window, as he gave a loud battle cry and rushed past Saeko who was getting ready to strike, and almost completely knocked the head off the next Infected student, splashing blood, bone and brain matter all across the foyer wall.
I reached up and grabbed him by his arm, trying to keep him from turning the bat on me, as he flinched upon feeling my hand on him, and hissed at him angrily when he looked at me startled, in the face.
"SON! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" I hissed as he looked at me. "CALM THE HELL DOWN, DAMMIT, YOUR'E GOING TO GET US ALL KILLED!" I said as I let go of his arm.
Takashi looked at me with a rather embarrassed expression on his face and nodded his head, as Saeko translated my angry words. He bowed and apologized. And as I looked in his face, just like before with Saya a while ago, I felt ashamed.
I was not dealing with a cadet or rookie flying off the handle here being reckless and about to get everyone killed because he'd lost it on a bad call. These were teenagers whose lives were turned upside down and now, instead of focusing on school, dating and parties. They were now forced to kill people to survive. Infected and extremely dangerous or not, these things had up till now been their schoolmates, their FRIENDS. And now to keep from being killed by THEM, they had to KILL THEM first.
I had to remind myself of that every second that we were together. Even though I have to admit, I was really not thinking about it at the time and was just pissed off at his actions.
These kids were doing the best they could, and they really did not need me pushing them too hard. But under the circumstances, I couldn't just coddle them either.
Sometimes as adults, we tend to forget what it was like to be young, and I'm no different. Although I do try really hard to remember how it was for me back in those days, when it comes to dealing with young people in life, as well as on my job.
In the short amount of time we have to deal with a victim on a scene, we try our best to gain a person's confidence while we are there, to try to convince the victim that we are there to help them. And that is extremely hard to do, when a person is so afraid that he pushes away everyone trying to help him or her. It's not easy to do, and we are not always successful.
Teenagers are smarter than we give them credit for, and no, I'm not just saying that. Don't believe me? Try working a smart phone without a manual. I had to have an 8 year old show me how to use mine.
Or maybe it's just me.
Again, I'm no authority on the human psyche, but I've learned that when teens are beginning to feel their independence, and are trying to work towards being adults. Whenever they try to apply themselves to something they feel is important, they usually put forth their best efforts into it.
And while teens HATE being patronized, extreme criticism of their efforts can also unfortunately, make them lose all motivation to keep trying, especially, if the adult continuously downplays or severely criticizes the sincere efforts of the teen trying to do his best.
It's one reason I refuse to be a jerk with new rookies that we would hire in the Dept. Most of those guys were in their early 20's, and eager to learn the trade.
The old school mentality of some of the older guys was to act like some sort of Drill Instructor and treat the poor kid like he's lower than dirt. That stuff was understandable back in the Academy, but in my honest opinion, that stuff has no place in the firehouse.
While I DO believe, that we ALL have to EARN the right to be in whatever our profession of choice is, that we signed up for. I don't believe in any of that bullying crap, and I've always taken the younger guys that were eager to learn, under my wing every chance I got.
I take the mentor role seriously. And I never saw much benefit in helping a rookie learn an extremely difficult and dangerous trade by constantly calling him a dumbass and telling him to go mop the floor. Too many kids in the past that were treated that way, tended to be too afraid to ask a question or approach a veteran with a problem until something bad happened and by then, it's way too late.
That mentality is not as common as in times past, thank goodness. But it still shows up from time to time. It's not a practice I have ever believed in.
Of course, that's just me.
Not wanting Takashi to feel like he had just compromised us, even though he probably HAD come close to doing exactly just that, I tried to make him feel that it wasn't all that bad, and convince him that it was not the end of the world. Still, I was biting my tongue a bit doing so. I mean seriously, hadn't I just said just before I opened the door, "NO UNNECESSARY NOISE?"
I put my hand on his shoulder and gave him a friendly squeeze. Then, I motioned everyone over and gave them some last second instructions so WE wouldn't screw up again. And yes, I did say "WE" as in it was just as much my fault as Takashi's.
Maybe I could have been clearer on my instructions and avoided this in the first place somehow. Although I still really don't see where I dropped the ball on that one. I thought I had been pretty clear.
Ah well.
As the guy's in SEAL Team say, "There's no "I" in "TEAM." We would all triumph or we would all fail together.
And it's not just the SEAL's. The whole "TEAM" thing is not something we take lightly in ANY service, military or rescue or police. It takes everyone doing their jobs and covering everybody's back to succeed and come back alive.
Think that's silly, touchy-feely nonsense?
Then come over here, grab a weapon and take over, bub.
By all means then, please step up and impress the hell out of me, won't you?
"Ok, well done guys." I said trying to be encouraging and not let them see the vein popping out of my head.
"Ya'll handled that pretty good, and no one got hurt. BUT, from now on, IT'S IMPORTANT that from this point on, NO NOISE, okay?"
"This isn't a Kurosawa film," I continued. "Were we all go rushing on a battlefield screaming our heads off with swords drawn and crossing swords in a crash of steel."
"From here on out you are a bunch of ninja's and you move silently, and you strike WITHOUT warning! Got it?" I said looking each of them in the eye.
They all nodded their heads in agreement and as I looked into Takashi's face, I could see he still felt pretty bad about nearly losing control. He was a good kid, and I didn't want him getting so discouraged that he wouldn't even try to show any initiative in the future. So I put my hand on his shoulder and looked into his face.
"Son, it's ok. I'm not upset with you alright? The bad guys are down, and everyone's fine. Don't worry about it, ok?" I said as he looked at me, while Rei translated.
"Sure wish I knew the language better." I thought to myself. "I'd really love to be able to talk to this boy without an interpreter."
When Rei had finished speaking, Takashi smiled, although I could see, he was still a little upset with himself.
I clapped him on the shoulder, and gave him a friendly smile. "Let it go, son. You're still my main man, and we got a job to do, and everyone's depending on us, so let's not sweat the small stuff and get moving."
"Ok, everyone." I said focusing my attention on everyone else.
"Same thing as before. I got the point. Kouta, your behind me, and all of ya'll follow closely behind him. Don't get too spread out, and don't clump too close together either. OK?" There was a quick nod of heads from everyone and a few nervous looks.
"Allright gang, here we go." I said as I opened the door to the walkway and went through.
No sooner had we all gone through the doors and rounded a bend when we heard a young girl's scream.
There were four of them. Two boys and two girls on the second floor landing, and they weren't alone either.
There were four Infected teens headed downstairs and one coming from below and they were closing in in on the tiny group fast. Armed with only a bat, and a "sasumata," which is a restraining tool that resembles a large tuning fork and is often used to restrain rowdy students and dangerous adults that wander onto the school grounds.
The boys were trying their best to protect the two girls cowering behind them.
But with just the two of them and those feeble weapons they had no chance whatsoever.
Well, until we showed up that is.
And we had gotten there just in time to, just a couple more steps by the Infected students and it would have all been over.
The kids made quick work of dispatching the Infected students in record time. Kouta's shots were all on target and two of them fell, while Saeko, Takashi and Rei took care of the rest with a minimum of effort, and NO noise. THANK GOODNESS.
They took my ninja advice to heart I'm proud to say, although I would have liked to have seen a few less acrobatics though. But hey, they were working as a team and they weredoing a great job, so I tried not to micro-manage them.
Guess I needed to work on loosening the apron strings a bit myself, anyway.
However, there was one thing I needed to step in for.
After, all the Infected were put down, and all was quiet again, I heard Saeko ask the teens that were just rescued something I couldn't understand, and in response to Saeko's question, one of the girls raised her hands and shook her head vigorously and said something that sounded like "no we aren't" in Japanese. Rei said something in response and smiled as if everything was ok.
Time for a reality check, by the American jerk again, I guess.
I raised my carbine at the four teens on the stairway and ordered them in English "Weapons DOWN! Hands UP!"
The kids looked at me pointing my carbine at them, and froze. Saeko was shocked, and I could feel the eyeballs of all the teens as well as Shizuka's staring right at me, probably thinking I'd gone crazy.
"REI." I said in my most serious voice. " Tell them to drop their weapons, raise their hands, and turn around one-at-a-time."
Rei looked about as scared as could be, and she hesitated for a moment.
"Tell them it's important sweetie, because if they don't, I will have to shoot." I said, as I pressed the switch on my laser unit on and pointed it at the boy with the towel around his head and holding the bat.
"Please Rei." I said as seriously as I could.
Rei snapped out of it, and quickly translated my words as the boys quickly dropped their weapons and both they and the girls quickly raised their hands and rather clumsily, turned around as I had ordered one-at-a-time.
As soon as they finished and I could verify for myself that no one had been bitten, I motioned for them to pick up their weapons and raised the muzzle of my carbine away from the teens and then walked past all of them and Rei. I turned my head to look at all of them and saw the confused and frightened looks on their faces.
"DO NOT TAKE CHANCES, GUYS." I said again in my most serious tone, but trying NOT to sound angry.
"If you ever come across someone that might be a survivor, you DON'T get close to him until you are DOUBLE-SURE they are NOT Infected, UNDERSTAND? BE THOROUGH!"
I turned to the freaked out teens that had just been rescued and said "Gomen nasai" as I raised my carbine to my shoulder, saying "Let's move!" to the group as I descended down the stairs.
"What's HIS problem?" The boy armed with the bat whose name was Takuzo, asked Rei.
"I don't know." Rei replied with a pout.
"What a JERK!" Rei thought as she watched the American descend the stairs.
" Mo, I told him they were ok!" she thought angrily as she looked up at Takashi and shook her head.
Takashi looked at Saeko and as their eyes met, they exchanged worried glances. The American's words had made sense, but his methods worried them quite frankly. Takashi looked over at the teens who were still watching the big man going down the stairs, and practically shaking with fear.
"We're leaving this place." He said to them. "Do you wish to come with us?"
The young girl who had spoken earlier, somehow gained her composure and stuttered a bit, trying to get her words out. "Y-y-yes. We do."
Takashi shrugged as he passed Rei and waved for everyone to keep moving. Hopefully, things wouldn't get too ugly before it was all over.
He was wrong, it had just gotten a LOT worse.
They had entered the main building and were descending down the staircase straight towards the hallway leading out to the main entrance when the American raised his fist. It was one of the signals he had taught them, and they halted immediately without a sound. Well, except for Saya that is.
"What is it?" She whispered, LOUDLY.
Everyone looked at her with an angry look including Kouta, who had never dared to do that before. Saya gulped and held her tongue as everyone watched the American below turn towards them and raise his hand and then pointed his fingers in a "V" towards his eyes. He then motioned for them to move back. The group quietly moved back up towards the landing, as Kouta and Takashi walked up to them, their faces grim.
"What is it?" Rei asked, extremely anxious at seeing the looks on the boy's faces.
"There's a LOT of them." Takashi said his voice low and the look on his face etched in worry.
Saya, a little annoyed that everyone was hiding like frightened school kids when she had already proven that THEY only reacted to noise, voiced her annoyance on everyone's hesitation.
"They only react to sounds. They CAN"T really see us. So it's POINTLESS to hide from THEM." She said in a huff.
"Okay, Takagi, I want you to prove that theory of yours for us then." Takashi shot right back at her.
Saya gulped, and said nothing more. She wasn't THAT confident that they didn't react to sounds. After all, Kouta had shot all the Infected teens up in the foyer earlier. There was no time to study ALL their characteristics with 100% certainty.
"But even if we stay inside the school, once we get attacked, we're going to be trapped." Saeko calmly pointed out.
"Then we have no choice then but to go through the gate." Rei said resignedly.
"Then someone needs to go and confirm Takagi's theory." Saeko said, stating the only obvious option left for them.
Takashi sighed as the weight of the girl's words fell heavily on him. They were right, someone needed to check and see if Takagi was correct that the Infected teens would react only to sound. If it was true, then they could leave this place NOW without having to fight a horde of Infected all the way to the mini-bus. The only other option was to have the American start shooting, which would serve to draw who –knew- how- many hordes towards them that they would all have to fight through, to reach the mini-bus before they could get away. OR, they could go around try to take another route which would take more time and could possibly be no better than this place. Takashi was beside himself as to what to do.
"Think dammit." He thought to himself. But in truth, there was only one answer.
"I'll go." He finally stated.
Everyone gasped at his words. They had not expected Takashi to volunteer for this most dangerous task. They had been thinking of asking the American what he thought they should do, as he was still near the bottom of the stairs, studying the Infected and surely, trying to figure a way out.
Rei however, had personal reasons as to why she felt Takashi shouldn't go, and was the first to speak.
"Takashi, you shouldn't go! I'll go instead!" She quickly offered.
Saeko was not to be silent either on the matter. "I should be the one to go first." She offered, a little more determination in her voice than Rei.
Takahashi had remembered the American's words up in the faculty room about he and Saeko taking charge of the group if the worst should happen. And after losing control up in the foyer. Takashi had begun to feel more responsible for his actions and for the safety of the group. He looked in their eyes and he knew what he had to do.
"I can't ask anyone else to do this. What kind of man would I be, putting their lives in danger?"
"Busujima-sempai. Please stand by just in case." Takashi said, his face turned away from them.
Rei however, was stunned. "Takashi, WHY?" She couldn't comprehend why he was willingly putting his life in danger.
Was it because of guilt over having to kill Hisashi, or was it the ugly words she had yelled at him as the boy she had started to like that she had left Takashi for, lay dead on the small observation deck?
"I don't KNOW why." Takashi said, his voice sounding very distant.
"You don't know why?" Rei said confused.
Takashi turned around and looked right at her. The eyes looked so sad, so lonely, so distant. Rei was completely dumbfounded by what Takashi was about to do. And when he turned around and started walking back down the stairs, Rei could stand it no more.
"Takashi!" She said in a loud voice and lunged to stop him, but was caught by Saeko before she could take another step.
"I understand your feelings, but do NOT interfere with him" Saeko warned her, as Takashi stepped near the American crouched near the bottom of the stairs. "This was his decision, and a woman shouldn't interfere when a man has made up his mind."
"Yup, we're boned." I thought grimly.
I scanned the hallway as best I could without sticking out like a piñata. There was easily about twenty of them, most off to the right. There were at least a dozen shuffling around, with about eight to my left that I could see. I could see the bus way out in the parking light shining like a big white beacon of hope. Might as well be in Houston for all that it mattered now.
I blew a deep sigh of frustration. Well, no way was I going to put these kids at risk with our earlier tactics, and I couldn't afford to compromise us by opening fire and taking out every Infected student in the hallway fast enough before the rest of the school came a shuff-shuff-shuffling along looking for dinner.
There really was only one choice without getting everyone killed, and that was to backtrack and find another route with less Infested lurching around and then try to break through them somehow. This path in front of us was just plain suicide.
I got up and stretched my legs and let out another sigh, and prepared myself to go back upstairs and give the group the bad news, when I suddenly felt a presence next to me.
"Takashi?" I said quietly, startled to see the kid right next to me, when he was supposed to be upstairs with the others.
"What are you doing here, son?" I asked him quietly.
"I have to do this." He told me in English as he looked me in the eye and took a couple steps down the stairs.
"You have to do WHAT? HEY!" I hissed at him as I grabbed his school jacket sleeve, trying to hold him back. The kid swung his arm back and broke my weak grip on his sleeve and kept going. I was about to lunge and forcefully grab and pull him back upstairs thinking he'd lost it, when a gentle but firm hand grabbed my shoulder. I looked up at the one who had grabbed me and saw Saeko looking down at me with a VERY serious expression on her face and with an even MORE serious tone in her voice, as she spoke to me saying, "DON"T try to stop him. He HAS to do this." She said.
"What the hell do you mean he HAS to do THIS?" I whispered angrily.
"Have all these kids gone crazy?" I thought. "DAMMIT!"
I broke away from her grip, and took a few steps down till I had a better vantage point.
"DAMN FOOL KID!" I swore under my breath.
"You better have a good reason for this STUPID stunt." I thought to myself as I raised my carbine up and swept the hallway around the stealthily walking teen.
It had only been a few moments since he had walked onto the floor, and already he was surrounded by a mass of THEM. Takashi was more scared than he had ever been in his life, and was seriously second-guessing the wisdom of what he was doing. So far though, Takagi's theory had been proven right. The shuffling Infected teens seemed to take no notice of him at all standing in the middle of the main entrance whatsoever. Takashi breathed a sigh of relief." Perhaps we could get by here as long as everybody could stay quiet and we could,…" Takashi began to think.
Takashi's thoughts were terrifyingly interrupted, when suddenly an Infected teen lurched forward out of nowhere and came directly at him. Just as Takashi's heart skipped a beat at seeing the boy coming towards him, his heart then nearly stopped altogether, when the Infected teen suddenly, for no apparent reason, lunged forward with jaws agape. Takashi held his breath as the boy came. A bright red dot glowed upon the boy's forehead, and Takashi's first thought was, "NO! They'll HEAR!" But the expected gunshot never came as the boy walked right past Takashi and continued on.
Takashi, his face sweating, looked back at the American who was busy scanning the room for any more threats near him. The man didn't look directly at Takashi, but he did not look very happy at all, and as he scanned the spot where Takashi stood. He shook his head as if he was really upset with him.
"And he has every right to be mad at me." Takashi thought. "This WAS pretty stupid. Ah well, I might as well finish this." He said, as he spotted the blood-stained shoe of a student and reaching down for it, he threw it with all his might at a row of lockers down the hall with a loud "WHOMP" as it banged against them.
All the Infected teens within earshot suddenly stopped their haphazard shuffling and instinctively lurched forward to the new sound and the source of food that they were constantly seeking.
I watched as the Infected Teens all went past Takashi like a sea of death passing around him. It was a miracle none of them brushed up against him. I did my best to cover him, but with that many moving around, all it would take was one wrong move and NOTHING I did would save him. Finally, they all filed past him and I stepped down to the floor and scanned down the hallway to the left where the Infected teens I had seen were.
They were gone now and headed in the direction of the noise from the thrown shoe. I than scanned to the right, and kept my carbine trained on the mob down the hall, as Takashi quietly opened one of the front doors. I nodded my head to him as he then motioned for the others to follow, as Saeko came down the stairs and opened the other door. And then everyone else came down the stairs and filed out quietly.
I was beside myself with anger with the boy though. The kid had done a VERY brave thing, and now we were now on our way out of this building, and closer to getting away from this nightmare. It was good thinking and very courageous. And it was also the most dim-witted, unnecessarily reckless, dumb-assed, lame-brained, stupidly moronic, foolhardy, knuckle-headed, unnecessarily reckless, ( Did I say that already? I DID? Sorry.) most FOOLISH stunt the kid had done yet.
When the kid looked at me, I felt like Charles Bronson's character Bernardo in the movie "The Magnificent Seven", when the young gunslinger Chico played by actor Horst Buchholz had nearly got his head blown off by a bullet and then looked around at everyone as if he had done a good thing by nearly getting himself killed as Charles Bronson's character shook his head in disgust.
OH BOY, when this was over, the kid and I were gonna have a SERIOUS man-to-man talk about this crazy stunt of his. For now though, his plan had worked just fine, and we were on our way to safety. Or so I thought.
It seemed to me that Takashi wasn't the only boy I was going to chew out by days end after all, when a sudden "CLANG!" came from the staircase. I spun my head around and wanted to shoot the kid coming down the stairs. While everyone else had quietly and carefully come down the stairs without a sound, the last kid carrying the sasumata, had come will-nilly, skipping down the stairs like it was a regular day at school and slammed the damn thing against the staircase rail.
The sound of metal on metal sounded like a friggin' church bell ringing in the long hallway. I bet you could hear the sound for miles as hard as this idiot had slammed it against the rail. All of a sudden I heard Takashi yell something loud and then ALL the Infected teens in the hallway turned around, and with jaws agape just like piranhas, looked straight at ME.
"THANKS A LOT FOR RINGING THE DINNER BELL, YA DUMB-ASS!" I roared as the kid ran whimpering out the door. My patience was now completely gone. I raised my carbine again to my shoulder and fired at the approaching Infected teens coming at me and then quickly turned and ran out the door.
Saya was yelling at Takashi outside and then started shouting at me for shooting I guess, as I ran out the door, passing them both.
"MOVE DAMMIT! THIS AIN'T NO TIME TO BE ARGUING! MOVE YOUR ASS!" I roared as the teens stared at me. I heard Saya squeal as an Infected teen lunged at her from inside, but Saeko managed to take him out before he reached her.
The scene was bad, they were coming from EVERYWHERE, and we were quickly going to be overwhelmed if these kids didn't STOP talking and start MOVING.
Rei had just knocked down a young girl with her makeshift spear and for some reason decided now was a good time to argue with Takashi and Saya. Meanwhile Kouta , all by himself, was busy freaking out because he was too busy trying to acquire a target in his sights from the rapidly growing mob shuffling toward us from the front. So much for staying together and working as a team.
"QUIT TALKING AND MOVE! I roared as I pushed past them and started blasting away with my carbine, sending infected students spinning right and left from the impact of the bullets as they fell to the ground.
Takashi without warning, suddenly came up on my left side, and whacked an Infected student in the face with his bat, dislocating the thing's jaw as it fell in a heap to the ground.
I tried to go around him to avoid shooting him, now that he was in my line of fire, and nearly got hit with his bat in the process, as he swung it to the ground spraying the pavement with blood.
"Watch that thing, dammit!" I yelled as I shot two more Infected students and moved towards the front again firing as I went. Something must have snapped in the kid, because I heard him yell something and suddenly I could hear everyone start running up from behind me.
Takashi looked out over the scene and took it all in. The American was busy cutting a swath through THEM to make it possible for Takashi and the rest to make a run for the bus.
But the American could NOT do it all for them, no matter how well armed or trained he was. They needed to fight as well, and right now, they were not fighting as a team like before but were falling apart into chaos. He had to do something to get his friends to safety and he needed to do it NOW. The American was right, it was time to quit screwing around and MOVE!
"ENOUGH TALKING! RUN!" He roared to everyone. "JUST RUN!" "RUN!"
And suddenly, just like that, the indecision, second-guessing, and arguing amongst themselves disappeared. And as one, they ran for their lives.
And were nearly all accidentally shot by the American, who quickly swung his carbine upwards to avoid hitting them as they all ran right past him at full speed while he had been firing upon the scores of Infected directly in front of all of them.
The American swore as they passed him by. He then shook his head and started running after them, saying some things in In English and in his native tongue that did not sound very nice at all.
"Well…," I thought sourly. "At least they've stopped yapping and started MOVING finally!"
Problem was, they were moving TOO FAST, and got themselves in the middle of one hell of a mess. If any of us survived this, there was going to be hell to pay for breaking ranks and charging like a bunch of barbarians head-on into a fight. I shouldn't have been surprised though, they were not trained former military, or even newly-trained guerilla fighters. They were civilians with blunt weapons and a whole lot of fear giving them the courage to fight right now.
Still, I wanted to tear my hair out at seeing them run recklessly out into all that mess. However, they weren't doing too badly. Saeko, Takashi, and Rei were kicking some serious butt, with Kouta doing some pretty good shooting himself, while Shizuka and Saya ran close behind them. The other four teens were just trying to keep up and let the other four do most of the fighting. The kid who had stirred the hornet's nest had dropped his sasumata way back at the main entrance, so he was out of the game.
I shook my head in disgust and raced past all of them trying to help the other four make a hole in the horde big enough for everyone to make it through. If I had known what was going to happen next, I would have held back and covered the four stragglers instead of trying to make it to the bus with the rest. I was running alongside the kids, firing my carbine at an Infected teen here and there which was not easy going at a dead run with a more than 120 pound pack on my back. It wasn't a fully loaded 200 pound Bergen like the SAS boys carried, but it was a miracle that I was able to keep pace with the kids at all and I was starting to huff and puff pretty good at that point.
"Getting old, old man." I said between huffs.
First thing I noticed as I was getting closer to the bus, was that the horde of Infected was starting to clear a bit, and then I noticed about 100 feet from the bus that I had actually PASSED the kids, and I realized something was wrong.
I mean, I'm not THAT quick a runner.
I immediately turned around when I heard a young boy's scream and looked in horror as one of the four stragglers had somehow gotten himself surrounded and was trapped in the clutches of a group of infected and was now being dragged down and bitten as he fell. I let out a deep sigh and felt my heart get heavy when I heard the boy screaming for his girlfriend to run, and she screamed his name in response and pulled away from Saya to return to her boyfriend, even though it was suicide. There was no way for me to stop her short of shooting her.
And thankfully, her screams of pain as she and her boyfriend disappeared under the pile of writhing bodies were mercifully cut short. The danger to those left standing was far from over though however, especially after the group all stopped to watch the horrible scene, instead of running towards safety.
People do that all the time, rubber-neck the most horrible scene they've ever witnessed in their lives and then hang around to watch and discuss it with other people in the crowd, talking about it in horror and how tragic the whole thing is, when the scene is still very much a dangerous place to be around, and then they get mad when you try to move them back for their own safety.
That's what was happening here as Saya, Shizuka and Rei, seemed to want to watch and ponder the deeper meaning of life while they were slowly being surrounded by Infected they couldn't see because, THEY,….WERE,…. TOO,…. BUSY,…. TALKING!
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YA"LL DOING WAY OVER THERE!" I roared. "GET YOUR THUMBS OUT OF YOUR BUTTS AND GET OVER HERE! NOW! DAMMIT! NOW!" I yelled as I raised my carbine and fired at the head of an Infected girl reaching for Saya. The girl fell to the ground as Kouta moved up to protect her, saying something I couldn't hear and which earned him another angry verbal assault from the spoiled princess.
Ah well, opposites attract.
"WILL YOU PEOPLE, PLEASE, MOVE YOUR ASSES?!" I yelled in frustration. Seriously man, did these people really just want to stay and enjoy the great outdoors and wax poetic while killer zombies approached from all directions? It's like they were just asking to be served as a hot lunch, geez.
Fortunately, Takashi got everyone moving again and I started to cover them, firing at the infected that got too close while they made for the bus.
"Glad ya'll could take time away from ya'lls little pow-wow, and join me!" I shot at them sarcastically as they all ran past.
"Sorry." Saeko yelled as she ran past. "We didn't mean to fall behind."
Well, SHE was at least still using her head. The rest of them were all pretty much still on my shit-list though.
I heard Takashi yell at Shizuka for the key to the bus, and I heard them scramble aboard, as Saeko, Takashi, and I covered everyone. I then heard Kouta talking as he opened a window and just as quickly heard Saya screaming behind him.
"Those two sound like they've been married an AWFULLY long time." I thought as I chuckled to myself listening to the two of them despite the danger going on around me.
I heard the bus start up and I then yelled at the two teens to get on board and spun around to join them. Just as I was about to follow them through the door, I heard faint voices yelling from behind me, and I immediately turned around. It was another group of teens and one male teacher yelling for help, as they came running full speed in our direction.
"GREAT." I thought to myself as I grimaced at their plight. They were a LONG way off, and while there wasn't nearly as many Infected cluttered around as before when we went through, there was still enough stumbling around out there close enough to reach out and touch them, unless I was able to take some out as they ran.
The second dilemma was, that there was a BUNCH of Infected lining up in front of us and blocking the exit to the main gate. So it was either leave the stragglers, and attempt to save ourselves, or wait a few more moments and risk being trapped without being able to leave the parking lot.
I didn't even think about all that until after I had pulled out my empty mag out of the well of my carbine and switched to the other clipped to its side, and shoved it in and slapped the bolt catch. I looked through the holosight on the Eotech and aimed the middle red dot, that I had zeroed the sight for 25 yards, and then raised the sight to the second red dot below that, which is the one I use for longer ranges, and began picking off Infected left and right, as the group ran for their lives toward us.
I could hear the angry shouts of the kids inside and I could kinda figure out the gist of what they were saying too. Some wanted to leave, some wanted to go. I couldn't blame them, fear affects everyone differently. You never know what you're going to do until you finally face it, and sometimes the things we do in the face of fear surprises even us. They sure were making a bit of a racket though, especially Rei.
Finally, the group of teens started to get closer to the bus as their teacher waved them on yelling encouragement. I was relieved that there was another adult in the mix finally. It would help greatly to put these kids at ease with another teacher on board.
Or so I thought anyway, until I saw a straggling teen that was running with schoolbooks in hand, of all things at a time like this, and then suddenly he slipped and fell to the ground in front of the teacher.
"Ouch." I thought.
" That looked like it hurt. Well, he can just help carry him while I keep the goons off of them." I figured.
I was glad we were almost out of here, the natives were definitely getting restless around here, and I really didn't want to share the pleasure of their company much longer.
At least that's what I expected the teacher to do. That's what ANY decent person would have done I've always believed. Fear makes you do strange things alright, but that still didn't prepare me for what the teacher did next.
The man looked at the kid clutching his heel for a moment and then sadistically kicked the boy right in the face shattering his glasses as the boy howled in pain and covered his face with his hands screaming in agony, with his screams raising in pitch as a gang of Infected students descended on him and he disappeared underneath a writhing mass of them.
The Eotech sight isn't a scope, so it's not magnified. But I could have sworn the bastard was smiling as he turned around and straightened his jacket and walked calmly towards the bus as if he had all the time in the world.
"WHAT THE HELL DID HE JUST DO?!" I said aghast. "Did he REALLY just do what I thought he did?!"
I couldn't believe my eyes at the cold-heartedness of his act, and there was no way in hell THIS S.O.B. was getting on board with the rest of the kids till I got some answers as to what the HELL he thought he was thinking by doing that. As he approached the bus and stopped a few feet away from me, he hesitated a bit at seeing me standing there all heavily armed and blocking the door to the bus. Like I said, it's not every day you see a heavily armed American on the grounds of a Japanese High school on a bright sunny day very often I imagine.
Wonder how he felt about seeing a heavily armed, and ROYALLY, PISSED-OFF American, pointing a fully automatic carbine directly at his chest, on the grounds of a Japanese High school on a bright sunny day.
The man gasped as I suddenly raised my carbine to my shoulder and took three steps towards him as he stopped about twelve feet from me. I pointed the muzzle directly at him and yelled for all to hear.
"WHAT THE HELL, DID YOU JUST DO?!" I roared at him as he stepped back.
"ANSWER ME ASSWIPE!" I yelled again.
"N-N-Nani-O" The teacher stammered, as his brow began to sweat profusely. He said some other words in Japanese that I couldn't understand, and then made the mistake of trying to walk towards me speaking calmly as if he were a negotiator trying to talk ME down from doing something crazy.
Uh-Uh. Momma didn't raise no fool. I squeezed a shot off over his head and enjoyed the satisfaction of seeing him duck. He was lucky, if I had been the gang-banger type of latino, I'd have already emptied a mag in him and then tagged him out of spite. As it was, I was REALLY tempted to do that anyway.
"Yiiiiiiiiiii!" he screamed as he covered his head with his hands looking at me with a mixture of fear and anger in his eyes.
I heard the kids screaming in shock at the spectacle of me and the teacher outside. I guess my sudden confrontation with their teacher and shooting a round over his head was a bit of a shock for them. Guess they hadn't seen what this slimy bastard had done to one of their own. Ah well, so I'm the bad guy again. Story of my life. Yippee.
"JIMU-SAN!" I heard Saeko yell. "Why are you doing this?! PLEASE STOP!"
If any of these kids had proven themselves to be courageous, level-headed, and strong, it was Saeko. I really wished I had a daughter like her. You know, to smack Saya around.
"Saeko-chan! I yelled " Tell this man to answer me, or I am going to KILL HIM!" I roared as I pressed the switch on the laser unit and aimed it at his chest for emphasis.
At this range, there was no way I could miss the guy this close. The only reason I flipped on the laser was to reassure the teacher that he was going to very well die right here and now, if he didn't explain why he had just killed a helpless boy begging for help.
Saeko yelled at the teacher in Japanese, to which the teacher blubbered out something, I couldn't make heads or tails of even if I did speak Japanese. I could tell Saeko was having a hard time understanding him too.
"SPEAK UP!" I yelled as the man freaked out again at the laser dot pointed on his chest. He spoke again a lot more clearly this time.
"He says he doesn't know what you're talking about Jimu-san, PLEASE! They're getting CLOSER!" She said her voice sounding desperate.
"THE HELL HE DOESN'T KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!" I yelled, about as pissed off now as I've never been before.
I pointed the muzzle and the laser directly at the man's face and yelled once again for all to hear.
"SAEKO!" I yelled. "TELL THIS GREASY-HEADED, SLIMY LOOKING, RAT - F_CK SON OF A BITCH, THAT HE HAS EXACTLY THREE SECONDS TO TELL ME WHY HE KICKED THAT BOY IN THE FACE AND LEFT HIM TO DIE, OR I'M GOING TO SHOOT HIM AND LEAVE HIM HERE TO ROT!
Saeko and the rest of the kids were all screaming on board the bus now, probably because of my confrontation with the teacher and probably also because of the rapidly approaching Infected closing in around us. They were not helping things with their panicked yelling to help smooth down the situation either though. I quickly turned to my left and shot two Infected teachers who were approaching from the rear of the bus, and quickly turned back to the terrified teacher as they fell to the ground. The kids in the bus screamed at the shots and then fell silent.
Thank goodness for small miracles.
The man still hesitated and by now I'd had enough. But even though I was angry for what he did, and the guy was without a doubt a sure-fire threat for sure, I wasn't a murderer even if he was. But, if he didn't explain his actions, there was no way he was getting on the bus until I got some answers.
"SAEKO! TELL HIM NOW!" I yelled once again.
Saeko quickly translated my words to the teacher. And he did the wrong thing. He hesitated at giving an answer right away, which told me his sick mind was trying to hide something.
"San!" I counted off in Japanese, as I took my finger off the trigger guard and placed it directly on the trigger.
"Ni!" The man started to stammer something, but it sounded like gibberish to me.
"Ichi" Still nothing.
"Goodbye asshole." I said calmly and smiled as I started to squeeze the trigger.
"MATTE!" The man screamed as tears fell from his eyes, and he quickly sputtered some words that Saeko had to ask him to repeat again. Saeko's voice was really getting to sound more desperate as she yelled the man's words to me in English.
"Shido-sensei says the boy was bitten and he was just trying to get away!" Saeko yelled. "Jimu-san,PLEASE, they're real close now! PLEASE STOP THIS!"
"BULLSHIT!" I roared. That boy's screaming didn't sound like he was Infected. But, if he had been bitten, and hadn't turned yet, I could see then why the teacher would be desperate enough to be so brutal in trying to get away from him.
Still, that smirk on his face didn't look like that of a man regretting the death of a child he had to leave behind in order to save his own life. The bastard looked like he enjoyed it.
"OJI-CHAN! PLEASE!" Saeko was begging now, referring the respectful Japanese term of "uncle" to me to try to calm me down and end this mess peacefully.
I did NOT trust this man, and I made it VERY clear when I aimed my muzzle to my right and switched my carbine to full auto and emptied the entire magazine roaring like a madman. It was a stupid thing to do, wasting ammo that way, but I was pissed, and I was making a point at the same time, so screw it. I did manage to knock a few down with my wild shooting.
Meh, Shizuka could finish them off with the bus when we ran over them on the way out.
When the bolt of my carbine slammed on an empty chamber, I let my carbine hang by its sling and I pulled out my Sig Navy pistol, and grabbed the man by the lapel of his expensive suit and pulled him towards the bus and then slammed him against the side of the bus so hard the bus rocked a little as he crashed into it. I then cocked the hammer of my pistol and put it under his chin and hissed into his face.
"I don't care if you can really understand me or not bub. But if you're lying to me, you had better PRAY I never find out, because if I do, and if I EVER see you do something like that again, or even THINK that you're going to ever jeopardize these kid's lives, I'm NOT going to hesitate."
" I'm just going to shoot you in the gut, you rat bastard, and then I'm going to feed you to THEM while you're still alive! GOT IT?!" I yelled.
I didn't care if he got it or not to be honest, I just pulled him away from the side of the bus and roughly shoved him through the door as I fired my pistol at some more Infected in front of the bus before stepping in and shutting the door behind me. I doffed my pack as Takashi yelled at Shizuka to take off finally, and not a moment too soon either. The line of Infected that had been gathering in front of the bus began to look more like a lynch mob.
I didn't know it was possible to do in a vehicle this size, but somehow Shizuka popped the clutch and tires squealing, we took off like a shot across the parking lot.
I hurled myself in the passenger seat next to her to keep from being hurled to the floor instead, and then quickly buckled myself in. Shizuka was extremely upset at the situation laid out in front of her, which was understandable. There was just no way to get past the horde of Infected and reach the front gate without running most of them down.
I was about to yell at her to punch it, but she was already way ahead of me.
"Ningen, ja nai! Ningen, ja nai!" (They're not Human! They're not human!) She kept repeating to herself, as she shifted into higher gear and plowed into all of them swerving left and right as body turned to jelly under our tires and caused her to lose traction at certain points.
As we came close to the gate, I motioned to her to slow down, and then told it to her outright.
"Shizuka, stop! I'll get out and,….AWWWW SHIT! I yelled as we slammed, full speed through the gates and out into the road, fish-tailing as we swerved down the road.
We were clear. But not quite safe, as Shizuka was still flying at blinding speed, down the steep hill I had climbed up earlier to escape a crowd of Infected I had passed on the way up. Not wanting to plow head on into that bunch again if they were still on the road somewhere ,or fly off the hill going at break-neck speed around a tight corner either, I reached over and put my hand on Shizuka's hand on the shifter and calmly told her to ease down on the accelerator.
"Shizuka." We're clear. Slow down. We're OK now." I said looking at her, as her eyes got full of tears and she sniffed. She had been through a lot today as it was. And running down a bunch of teens, Infected or not, was not an easy thing to get over right away. Still, it wouldn't do to go through all that, just to finally have all of us crash and die in a high speed accident running for safety.
Shizuka blinked her eyes and tears fell as she down-shifted and slowed down the speeding bus. I breathed a sigh of relief and looked at her.
"Are you ok, hon?" I asked.
She didn't answer, but just shook her head up and down and mouthed the words "Yes" and "Thank You", as she blinked the tears from her eyes and then smiled at me. And then she blushed suddenly.
I wondered what was wrong, and then I realized that my hand was still on hers as she was driving. I quickly took my hand off hers and apologized as she laughed. It was only then that I noticed the extremely large slit up her dress that she or someone had torn up the side of her dress. She also saw me staring at the shapely leg sticking out from underneath and laughed even louder. Now it was my turn to blush.
Busted, old man.
Author's Notes:
When I came across this part of the story when the group makes their escape, I wanted to make it exciting, but one thing I'm trying NOT to do is be the kind or writer that makes himself the hero and everybody else is helpless without him. Part of the appeal I believe of HOTD is the story of a bunch of kids growing up and dealing with the life or death situation of a zombie apocalypse, without any adults around and handling things on their own. I'm still working on it, so that this whole story is NOT centered on any one person, especially the character who's supposed to portray me. It's a work in progress.
Another problem I faced in this story is how my character and Shido would interact when they met each other. I had so many choices to choose from. I could put down that I was shooting and didn't see him kick the boy, I could have put down that I saw nothing, or THOUGHT I saw something.
So many scenarios to choose from, and no idea which one to choose. Normally, I'm pretty much a laid-back, easy-going person that my friends at work, and my brother can testify to. I've never talked or treated anyone like my character did to Shido in his chapter, and I thought it would be a great way to help the story be more dramatically pivotal in explaining Shido's decent into madness and Jim's struggle with his conscience after being "Mr Nice Guy Fireman" all his life. And then now, having to think like a combat soldier, and his personal struggles with it changing him.
So after sleeping on it last night, I came up with the direct approach, and went all East Side San Antonio local boy on him.
There are two things I hate in this world, and in my job, I've seen a LOT of it. Child abusers, is one of them.
So since he fell under one of those categories, it was easy to get all medieval on Shido. And by doing that, it will also make the story a lot more interesting as well when they meet up again in later chapters.
And when I mean interesting, I mean that Shido becomes quite a bit more evil than just wanting to rule the "world" he envisions. He wants revenge on the man and the group of teens that humiliated him, and starts to hunt them down with his "army."