Last Alarm
Chapter 12
"Crossroads" Part Two
Saeko watched the American walk all alone down the long stretch of road leading to the bridge in hopes of obtaining a vehicle suitable enough to transport their small party, and as she watched him walk away, she reflected on what had happened to her earlier. She could not understand why she had so suddenly, and for no apparent reason, started to cry in the man's arms as he held her. Adding to her confusion, nor could she understand as to why she had felt an immediate dread that she would no longer see him again as he walked away.
Thinking that it was nothing more than concern over a comrade's safety, she tried to shake it off. He was indeed, taking a huge risk by going out all on his own into an area that was extremely dangerous without anyone to help him if he came under attack, so it was only natural for her to worry, wasn't it?
Saeko had long trained herself to control her emotions as part of her budo training. All those like Saeko who practice the martial arts must be completely committed to the mastery of their art and absolute focus and mental concentration are a large part of their training.
So too had it been for Saeko , spending hours each day over many years routinely absorbed in meditation and rigid discipline, allowing Saeko to gradually reach her full potential in her continued pursuit of her mastery of kenjutsu.
Few students of kenjutsu her age, had ever reached her level of skill or enlightenment. And NO one had EVER seen her betray even the slightest bit of fear or any type of emotion when competing against her in kendo matches.
Yet for some reason today of all times, her emotions had gotten the best of her. And her normally calm, serene demeanor had begun to fail in front of everyone. It had never happened before, and the fact that it had, bothered her immensely, especially now when lives were at stake. At a time when a cool head was needed the most she had almost been unable to maintain her composure, and had nearly come apart at the seams.
"Perhaps I'm just overreacting " Saeko thought, tiredly. "It has been a long day, and it isn't like I completely lost control of myself either. Perhaps, I'm just exhausted from everything that's happened."
She continued to watch the American as he walked towards the bridge initially, and then started to jog towards it, probably in an effort to hurry up and carry out his plan as the evening hours approached.
And then again, for no apparent reason that she could explain, she felt another twinge of sadness come over her as she watched him move further and further away. And once again she began to feel her eyes tear up, as she quickly tried to conceal her face from the others.
Saya, standing behind her next to Kouta, also watched the man jog towards the bridge although her reaction, was significantly different from Saeko's, as she scowled at the departing figure.
" Tsk, stupid, bossy, old fart." Saeko heard Saya grumble behind her.
Immediately, Saeko bristled at hearing Saya's words, and before she could stop herself, she replied angrily to Saya's comment.
"WHAT, did you say Takagi-san?" Saeko said, not turning around to look at her.
Sensing she had just put herself in an extremely dangerous position with the wrong person to piss off right now, Saya immediately tried to back pedal out of the predicament she had just gotten herself into.
"Eh? Oh nothing, nothing." Saya said waving her hands, knowing full well she was in hot water.
"Takagi-san." Saeko said, her voice so frigid, Saya felt a shiver go up her spine as she spoke.
"I do enjoy the pleasure of your company, somewhat comical as it has proven to be, and I also thank you for the contributions you have made towards our survival WHATEVER they may have been because I cannot THINK of anything you've done that's been USEFUL at all since we've met." Saeko said with venom in her voice. But, I grow extremely tired of your childish behavior and your sarcastic remarks. Especially the ones you have made towards Jimu-san."
Saeko turned around to face Saya, and the look in her eyes made Saya feel weak at the knees.
"From this point on, if you have any more snide remarks to make towards him, then keep them to yourself. I DO NOT want to hear such things come out of your mouth again, and if they do, you had better not let me hear you say them, UNDERSTAND?!" Saeko said, the air practically crackling around her.
Saya was taken aback at first by Saeko's rebuke and the obvious threat that came with it. But she had never been one to back down from a fight either, and as her resentment at being humiliated and threatened by the older teen broiled into anger, she suddenly balled up her fists, and the shocked look that had been on her face, quickly contorted into one of fury.
"Or, you'll do WHAT EXACTLY?!" Saya retorted defiantly. "Are you going to bash my head in with your STUPID SWORD just because I said something mean about your precious "UNCLE"?!"
Saeko gripped her bokken so hard, that everyone could hear the sound of the wood compressing under her hand as she squeezed it.
"Do NOT test me, little girl." Saeko said calmly, her own blood boiling.
"WHAT, DID YOU CALL ME?!" Saya, shouted.
"Takagi-san?" Kouta said meekly, sensing the storm that was brewing and about to be unleashed.
Saya brushed him off without a word, and took a step towards Saeko, as a catastrophic face-off seemed inevitable.
"SMACK!"
The sound of leather hitting bare skin sounded like a gunshot as Shizuka slapped the sole of her shoe against her open palm in an effort to turn the two angry girl's attention away from each other and put an end to the argument that was a heartbeat away from coming to blows.
"THAT IS ENOUGH! BOTH OF YOU! STOP IT, RIGHT NOW!" Shizuka said in a voice that was nothing like that of the normally timid woman that they had all been accustomed to hearing at school.
Everyone looked at the school nurse as she stood up, in spite the painful blister on her foot, placed her hands on her hips, and then glared at the both of them, a large scowl on her face.
Her normally friendly, happy-go-lucky demeanor was gone. What stood before them now was a completely different person, furious and without fear, and it caused them all to hesitate to continue with their argument any further.
"I can't believe the BOTH of you!" Shizuka said staring into the faces of both girls. "Fighting over such a STUPID little thing, like name-calling. We have enough problems as it is without any of us having to start fighting amongst ourselves over something so stupid. NONE of you wish to be treated like children, yet, LOOK at how you're behaving!"
"SAEKO-CHAN." Shizuka said, glaring at Saeko. "Jimu-san left you in charge to protect us, not get mad and go off and start a fight about something that wasn't worth listening to in the first place!"
"AND YOU, Takagi-san." Shizuka said, pointing her shoe that was still in her hand in a way that scared Saya even more than anything else had in the past few minutes.
"Grow up! I'm also tired of your silly, childish behavior and your snide remarks too. You're better than that, so start ACTING like it!"
"I'm so disappointed in the BOTH of you, and if Jimu-san were here, he would be too. He is risking his life to help all of us to get to safety and is trusting in all us to protect each other when he's not here, and you are all behaving like THIS, five minutes after he has just left."
" I am so ashamed of the BOTH of you!" Shizuka said, crossing her arms.
Shocked at the sudden change in the nurse's demeanor, and the chastisement that they had just received, the two girls' were rendered speechless.
Realizing that there was truly no way to argue the point with the angry nurse, the two teens conceded defeat, lest Shizuka bring the shoe she kept gesturing with into play. They both quietly lowered their heads, and bowed.
"Gomen nasai." They said, sounding every bit as foolish as they felt.
Shizuka was secretly relieved that the fight had been stopped before it had gone too far. Still, things had almost gotten out of hand, and it was time to get to the root of the problem before another confrontation became inevitable.
"That's better." Shizuka said. "I don't EVER want to see that again from EITHER of you, EVER."
Shizuka then turned her attention to Saya who instantly recoiled from the sight of Shizuka's shoe mere inches away from her face as Shizuka uncrossed her arms and pointed it at her.
"Takagi-san, I need a moment with Saeko-chan." Shizuka said, her voice firm and even, maintaining control despite the obvious frustration she felt.
"H-Hai." Saya said, backing away quickly and dragging Kouta along with her a slight distance away.
"Saeko-chan? I'd like a word with you please." Shizuka said, looking at Saeko.
"Hai." Saeko said, wide-eyed as she tried to stay out of the striking range of the nurse's shoe.
Shizuka limped back to her seat on top of the railing that she had been sitting on and motioned for Saeko to sit near her.
"I think I'll stand sensei, thank you." Saeko said warily.
Shizuka giggled as she realized her shoe was still in her right hand and she quickly placed it on the ground and again motioned for Saeko to sit.
"Please Saeko-chan." She said in a very pleasant voice, the look on her face no longer angry, but calm, serene, kind.
Motherly.
Saeko sat on the railing next to the nurse and felt Shizuka place her hand on her shoulder, and said nothing as the two women listened to the sound of the river behind them and enjoyed the cool breeze blowing as Saeko waited for the nurse to speak.
"He reminds you of your father doesn't he?" Shizuka said, finally breaking the spell.
"Eh?" Saeko said, caught off guard. "My father? You mean Jimu-san?"
"Hai." Shizuka said, smiling sweetly. "You call Jimu-san, "Uncle" out of respect. But I see the way you look at him, and from what I can see, it appears that the way you keep looking at him is more like you're looking at your father than a friend Saeko-chan."
"Is that why you are so sad right now?" Shizuka asked, putting her arm around Saeko.
Saeko was taken aback by the nurses' blunt statement and was at a loss for words at first. It hadn't occurred to her that perhaps the reason she was so upset right now WAS because of her worry over her father.
"He is nothing like my father at all." Saeko said looking towards the American who had now reached the bridge and was climbing up the embankment towards it.
"But you were thinking of him just the same when Jimu left, didn't you Saeko-chan?" Shizuka asked.
Saeko pondered it for a moment, and then the pieces started to fall in place.
"I-I suppose I was." Saeko admitted, still stunned.
"And that's also the real reason Takagi-san's words hurt so much when she made her comment a while ago, isn't it?" Shizuka said rubbing Saeko's shoulder and hugging her.
Saeko was still coming to grips with the nurses' words, and it all began to make sense now.
She WAS worried about her father, and in his absence, she had begun to connect with the American in her father's place. And as she began to realize the real truth behind her emotions getting away from her, she suddenly felt intense sadness and guilt course through her, not just over her conflicting emotions. But also the fact that the effect they were having on her, was starting to also affect the way she was treating those around her.
Shizuka held her tighter as she could sense the young woman's emotions conflicting within her.
"Do not blame yourself for what you are feeling Saeko-chan, or the way you are reacting to it." Shizuka added.
"When we are alone and afraid, it's hard not to find comfort with those who show us kindness when the ones we love are not around, or lash out because our loved ones aren't here with us."
Saeko said nothing, but nodded her head.
"How could you tell I was thinking of my father when I was watching Jimu-san leave?" Saeko asked, still puzzled at the nurses ability to be so insightful.
"I saw the way you hugged him when he tried to comfort you Saeko-chan." Shizuka said, and then added.
"It was the exact same way Saya-chan hugged him back at the school, in the faculty room."
Saeko was stunned by the last comment from the school nurse and looked at Shizuka's face.
Shizuka smiled and stroked Saeko's long hair.
"You and Saya-chan are more alike than you think Saeko-chan." Shizuka said with a hint of sadness in her voice.
"Both of you are experiencing the same pain of your father not being here now when you need him the most. And since neither of your fathers are here, both of you are reacting differently to the man that IS here in their place."
" And since both of you are hurting in different ways, it's expected that you would both react differently when you both watched him leave. Saya with anger, and you with sadness."
Saeko was still a little confused by the nurse's words, but as she sat there with the nurse calmly stroking her hair, thoughts of her father began to enter her mind.
He was gone so often visiting the family dojo overseas, that Saeko could barely remember the last time she had seen him for more than a few days at a time.
And the memories she had of her father that were the most vivid lately, were of him leaving the house on his way to the limo carrying him to the airport.
And then the truth of the nurse's words hit her, and she realized it was exactly why she had felt so sad at watching the American walk away.
She WAS seeing the image of her own father leaving her.
The sadness she was now experiencing was the grief she had felt every time her father left her behind to travel overseas and it WAS the reason she had started crying when the American held her as she tried to prevent him from leaving.
Her own father NEVER hugged her, ever. And the pain she felt at being alone had come in a rush as the foreigner had held her and treated her with so much affection and kindness that had been absent in her life for so long.
And Saeko now knew why she had grown so attached to the American so quickly. He had done all the things she wished her father would, and was never there to do.
Saeko suddenly felt her eyes tear up again and a sob escaped her lips as hot tears began to fall down her face. Shizuka held her close as the sobs came and Saeko Busujima let the pain of years of loneliness come out in a flood.
Saya watched sadly from where she stood with Kouta as Saeko let out the grief that had been tormenting her for years, and then Saya's own heart became overcome with guilt with the knowledge that she had also added to the older teen's grief. The words she had said earlier now stung her conscience, and her own emotions at seeing Saeko weep caused her own heart to break as well.
Hot tears began to fall from her face, as she tried hard to keep them concealed from the rest of the group. Unfortunately for her pride, her tears hadn't gone unnoticed though.
"Takagi-san." Kouta said looking at her. "Are you all right?"
Kouta saw her crying, and just like back at the Faculty room when she had been angry at the American and started crying in front of everyone, he wanted so much to take away the pain she was feeling and comfort her in any way possible. There was absolutely nothing Kouta wouldn't do for her right now, and he wanted so desperately to prove it.
Saya looked over at him and gazing into his eyes, saw just how genuinely concerned he was for her. She then sniffed and looked out towards the river away from him.
"Shut up, fatso." She said.
The first thing to hit me as I approached the bridge just as I was halfway up the embankment was the smell.
It wasn't the usual smell of putrefaction of a body that's been dead for a few days, but the smell of blood, excrement, and other fluids baking in the sun all day is a bad enough smell all by itself, believe me.
A big sense of déjà vu came over me again as I reached the top of the embankment and gazed out upon the bridge itself.
Oh yeah, it was just like when I first walked through the school, only worse. There was blood and body parts everywhere I looked. The whole bridge itself was now like the floor of a meat packing plant, a noisy meat packing plant too with flies buzzing everywhere, gorging themselves on the remains of the victims that had been caught out in the open. What little human remains there were left, that is.
I did a quick scan of the area, and seeing no Infected around, started to check the vehicles closest to me that looked big enough to carry six people or more. There were only four of us right now with Takashi and Rei still missing in action. But I wanted to be optimistic that we would find our missing friends, so I looked for a large sedan or van that would hold all six of us if we were able to reunite with Takashi and Rei.
Personally, an Abrams tank, or my personal favorite a U.S.M.C. LAV-25 would have been my preferred vehicle of choice.
As I searched the vehicles, I started to lose hope in finding one that we could use. In their panic, most of the cars and trucks on and around the bridge had been jammed so close together, that I would need a crane to get one clear from this jumbled mess they were all in. Either that or I would have to walk at least a mile or two to get one that wasn't wedged in like a sardine, thanks to the narrow Japanese streets.
It didn't matter much anyway. When the panicked civilians had abandoned their vehicles, those people that didn't take their keys with them, had left the engines still running for an unknown amount of time which just happened to be long enough for the engines to overheat and cause the engines to seize. There was nothing here we could use that I could see. I had already figured that would be the case before I had even set foot over here, but sometimes you just have to try anyway and hope for the best.
Not to be deterred, I began my long walk across the bridge. If there wasn't a vehicle we could use, then at least I could take a closer look and see if we could somehow cross the bridge anyway and hopefully scrounge up something useful in the process. Perhaps I could find a wheelchair or a bicycle for Shizuka to use so she didn't have to walk. Worse come to worse, I'd see if I could find a pair of shoes that would fit Shizuka's feet so she would be able to walk in relative comfort and give her blister a chance to heal.
I just wouldn't tell her the part about taking them off the corpse I had gotten them from.
As I walked through the mass of abandoned cars trying to avoid the pools of blood and body parts, I finally had to abandon walking through the middle of the bridge and decided to continue my search on one of the walkways constructed on either side of the bridge. The flies were crazy thick and I couldn't breathe without them trying to fly into my mouth, nose, and ears. Obviously, since flies eat carrion and can spread disease; this was the last thing I wanted to come into contact with, especially if the body they had just gorged on was that of an Infected person.
So I beat feet and went over the rail on the right side away from the swarm of flies, and shooed away the ones that were still on me. Fortunately, the flies were mostly interested in the smorgasbord in the middle of the bridge and left me alone after that.
From the looks of things, it had pretty much been a massacre judging from the amount of blood on the ground and the body parts lying everywhere. There were more than a few cars with their doors open and blood smeared all over the interior, which told me that some people were killed while still inside their vehicles, and in most cases, the passengers inside had been dragged out of their cars and consumed on the bridge itself. No one had been spared either as I saw the bloody remains of figures that were too small to be adults lying on the street as well.
I moved on, hoping that my trip would yield some positive results and not just have been a horrible waste of time. As far as I was concerned from what I could see though, it really seemed like a total bust.
And it didn't get any better after going about two hundred feet in, either. I hadn't noticed any movement on the bridge earlier from the road below when I first scanned the bridge, back when I was still with the group on the road. And because of the thick jumble of cars, I had missed seeing a group of Infected on their hands and knees feasting on their fellow commuters.
It was exactly as the school, complete with blood-smeared Infected and the sounds of feasting with bones breaking and flesh-tearing and everything, just like a pack of lions gorging on a freshly killed animal.
Yeah, EXACTLY the kind of escape route I wanted to bring three kids and a limping nurse through. Still, there weren't that many Infected crawling around, and I could easily handle them with my carbine. The problem was, once I started shooting, the sound would echo for miles and send our hungry friends coming in from all directions.
And even though Shizuka only had a blister on her foot, walking long distances or her having to run would make that relatively minor wound turn into something worse, if she could even escape with her foot hurting her the way it was.
Now that the whole world had gone to shit, even a minor wound or cut could result in gangrene setting in and killing a person over time without the proper medical treatment, especially if you're on the run and not able to stop. Shizuka's blister could end up resulting in her death if it got seriously infected and a fever set in. Sounds over-dramatic, but it was a real concern, and I had to take that into consideration. Something as simple as a small amount of penicillin, an aspirin, or even a clean bandage could mean the difference between life and death now, especially if you didn't have easy access to any of them.
Still, everything we needed to get to, was on THAT side of the bridge, and if we could cross here and somehow make it, we'd be closer to our goal of linking up with the other two teens and getting all of them home.
That fact alone was good enough for me and so I decided to continue onward and thoroughly check the possibility of our making a successful attempt at crossing this thing. And if the bridge ahead was clear enough to make our escape. Then I'd go back and get the kids and we'd haul ass over, even if I had to carry Shizuka across myself.
I looked over to where Shizuka and the kids were sitting and waved at them. Kouta and Saya immediately returned my wave followed by Saeko and Shizuka. They all appeared to be fine, and so as they say in the military, it was time for me to "Charlie Mike" (Continue Mission). I turned back around and moving forward, continued my recon of the bridge. It was getting late and I really needed to speed things up.
Carbine to my shoulder and eyes focused, I quietly pushed on as silently as I could, and did my best to move quickly as well without disturbing the Infected along the way.
Saya watched the man wave at her, and despite herself, had waved back. She was no longer angry anymore at the American, and the two teens had also made up earlier as well.
It HAD been a stupid thing to say, and especially to then pick a fight about it. And after talking to Shizuka-san after Saeko had regained her composure, Saya reflected on what Shizuka had discussed with her after they had finished speaking with one another, and after she and Saeko had finally apologized to each other.
Her father was absolutely NOTHING like the American that was for certain. Her father carried himself as a strong leader. Strong-willed, firm, and yet also cold in the way he behaved and in the way he treated others most of the time.
The American on the other hand was the exact opposite. He was extremely laid-back, although he did snap at them if they went too far with their shenanigans. Was always joking, and had the annoying but still likeable habit of being overly-friendly towards everyone.
Still, Saya had to admit, Shizuka's words had hit home, and Saya truly wished her father was here. He would know what to do in this crisis, and also,….
Saya felt herself getting emotional again and stopped herself before the tears began to flow.
"Papa." She thought feeling her eyes water again despite her best efforts to stop them.
"Papa, WHY didn't you come get me? I was waiting for you to save me Papa. Why did you leave me behind? I'm so scared Papa, where are you?!"
"Takagi-san?" Kouta said standing behind her.
"Saya." She said, not looking at him.
"Eh?" Kouta said puzzled.
"Call me Saya from now on. I HATE being called by my last name." Saya said, not looking at him.
"Saya." Kouta repeated, testing the sound of the name on his lips.
Saya suddenly turned around and embraced Kouta. The move had been so sudden and so unexpected that Kouta had nearly recoiled from her thinking she was about to hit him.
Instead Saya held him in a vise-like grip and started to cry on his shoulder.
Still in shock, Kouta couldn't believe what was happening, but as the girl sobbed into his shoulder, he wrapped his arms around her and held her close as she wept. It was the happiest moment of his life. The girl he had always loved was in his arms finally.
Saya wept as a single thought had finally pushed her past her breaking point and she could no longer control the pain she felt or the tears that flowed.
"PAPA, WHERE ARE YOU?!" Her heart screamed as she wept quietly on the boy's shoulder.
Shizuka looked over at Saya as she wept while Kouta held her close. She was at first concerned when Saya hadn't shown any emotion when she had first spoken to her. Yet Shizuka had hoped it would just take time for her words to break through Saya's strong outer walls before the strength of her words would finally reach her heart.
Saya was definitely different from Saeko as far as personalities were concerned. There was definitely more anger in her heart than sadness, and Shizuka was worried that the anger within her would be too strong to allow Saya to face it and she might then shut herself off from everyone.
But now as the girl wept, Shizuka was secretly relieved at the sight. Saya's anger was indeed strong, but the girl's pain had not completely hardened her heart after all.
"Hold her close, Kouta-chan." Shizuka said smiling. " And don't ever give up."
"KOUTA! SAYA! COME OVER HERE PLEASE!" Saeko yelled suddenly.
Shizuka frowned and immediately tried to stop Saeko as the two teens looked up at the sound of her voice and pulled away from each other quickly in embarrassment.
"Busujima-san, leave them alone for a moment." Shizuka scolded.
"Gomen nasai, sensei." Saeko said, not looking at her while moving into her "Chudan no Kamae" stance, her body tensed for action.
"The last thing that I wanted to do was to interrupt them." She continued as she gripped her bokken.
"However. We have company."
Takashi slowed the motorcycle to a halt along a long stretch of road running alongside the river. Rei was seated behind him and was puzzled as to why he had stopped all of a sudden. They had stopped earlier at Tokonosu Bridge, and had abandoned the thought of attempting to cross there, after realizing that getting across was going to be next to impossible with the sea of panicked people trying to cross over.
Things were barely in control at that bridge as some Infected had already infiltrated amongst the civilians, and others that were not Infected were now rioting against the police as well. Amongst all that chaos, there was absolutely no way they could cross the bridge and hope to meet the rest of their group at the specified time. So they had moved on in hopes of finding another way across the river somewhere else.
Now, for no apparent reason Takahashi had stopped the bike, and the last thing Rei wanted now was to be caught out in the open again after dark, especially after the night they had just experienced.
It had been the worst experience of their young lives Takashi thought, and both of them had barely survived it with their lives intact. They had not come out of it unscathed however, and Takashi was really worried about Rei after she was close to being nearly raped by some psychotic punk who had jumped them while they were trying to get fuel for the bike they had scavenged.
Takashi had managed to rescue Rei from the clutches of that psychopath. But Rei had been very quiet afterwards, and Takashi was worried that the emotional injuries Rei was going through might have cut deeper than the physical ones. Still, there had been no time to deal with their emotional wounds right now. There was danger all around, and Takashi was in a hurry to re-join their friends across the river.
He and Rei had both been very worried about their friends, knowing they had their own problems as well being separated from them, and having to travel in the company of that maniac Shido and his entourage.
The two teens had been traveling all night, and most of the day, stopping only to take a short rest around noon. After finding Tokonosu Bridge inaccessible, they had again sped down a long road on the side of the river, hoping to find an alternate bridge to cross, both of them becoming more and more fatigued as they rode along.
Still, it wasn't fatigue that had caused Takashi to stop the bike suddenly.
"What's wrong?" Rei asked, puzzled.
"There's a bunch of people down there." Takashi said peering at a group of people moving around about a quarter of a mile ahead of them at a slight bend in the road. A large bridge was behind them as they stood about on the road, blocking their path.
"Is it Them?" Rei asked clutching Takashi's arm tighter.
"I can't tell." Takashi replied. "They're just standing there."
From that distance, it was hard for Takashi and Rei to distinguish whether the people blocking their path were Infected or not. As far as they could tell, it seemed like a bunch of people had stopped to converse in the middle of the road.
"What do you want to do?" Rei asked. "Keep going or turn around?"
"There's no way to cross the river back the way we came from." Takashi answered, still trying to figure out what to do.
"Our best bet is that way." Takashi said pointing at the bridge. "There's nothing behind us. So we need to keep moving forward."
"But they're blocking the way." Rei said, frowning.
"Then we'll just need to bust through." Takashi said looking over his shoulder and smiling at her.
Rei stared at him wide-eyed for a moment, and then a grin formed along her face as well. The shy, quiet, indecisive boy that she had known most of her life was gone. Now the man in front of her had become so much more confident, strong-willed and BOLDER in such a short amount of time.
"I like this "new" Takashi." Rei thought.
"Let's do it!" Rei said, gripping Takashi's waist tighter.
Takashi grinning, popped the clutch, and back tire spinning, they launched forward, enjoying the breeze whipping past them as they sped along the lonely road.
It was a total waste of time, after all.
I had come across the bridge about two thirds of the length of it, past ravenous packs of Infected still gorging themselves on the remains of their victims all the while. I had to really focus on moving silently as the number of Infected steadily increased as I went by and the remains of their victims became less visible, which meant that these particular Infected on this part of the bridge had run out of food and would attack the nearest thing that sounded like a hot meal.
Moving silently is not as easy as you might think. It's not like sneaking past your mom and dad's room trying to sneak a snack out of the fridge or trying to avoid getting caught after its way past your curfew, not that I ever did those things.
But truth is, especially in the military, moving silently is WORK, especially if you're a big guy like me and you've got a heavy pack on your back. Those serving in the military and especially those going into combat, train in silent movement all the time and know all about what it requires to be done successfully. It's not something we do normally in the Fire Service unless it involves a practical joke and we don't want to get caught.
This was no joking matter, however.
Silent movement requires intense focus of your surroundings, the terrain you'll be traveling on, and even the weather. It's important to know all about the ground at your feet, whether it's slippery like mud, or loose like sand, and you can slip and fall on your butt, or is gravel-like or has a bed of dry twigs, or leaves lying over it that will make a noise as soon as you step on it and give your position away.
You also have to control your breathing as well because fear and physical exertion will make you start to breathe faster thus, making more noise and also give you away. There are a TON of factors to consider when you have to work in silence and invisibility.
Even smell is a factor as well. There are many accounts of during the Vietnamese War, that the Vietnamese were able to detect the approach of French Troops approaching their position in the jungle from long distances away, just by the smell of the soap, perfumes, and aftershaves the French soldiers used. I could go on but you get the idea.
By the time I had come two thirds of the way across, I could finally see that this bridge was a dead-end.
Apparently, as this bridge was being overrun, the local authorities or the military had used the remaining cars as a barrier on this side and had laid concertina wire for about 100 feet all across the bridge including the walkways and then closed the gates and welded them shut and then used more cars on the other side to brace the gates.
As it was, the concertina wire was more than enough to stop us cold. No way could I cut through all that with my little Gerber Multi-plier. I'd need a few Bangalore Torpedoes to get through all that crap. And I didn't have any in my pack at the moment.
I crossed over onto the other side of the bridge just the same and saw that it was no different on the other side. Not that I expected anything less anyway.
"Damn." I thought. I really hated having to go back and give the kid's more bad news. I did especially not want to go back empty-handed after my little tiff with Saeko. I swear, that young girl was really starting to get a lot bolder with me the way she had put her foot down a while ago. It was kind of cute actually, I thought.
As I looked around at the jumble of cars around me I spotted what looked like a brand new pair of white and pink sneakers lying near a mini-van.
"Might not have been a completely wasted trip after all." I thought as I headed over to them keeping my carbine's muzzle up as I approached the van. You never know what could be on the other side after all.
"Hell of a lot of trouble coming all the way out here just for a pair of Nike's though." I thought.
As I walked over to the other side of the min-van and found no Infected waiting for me on the other side, I was happy to find a brand spankin' new pair of women's Nike tennis shoes lying on the ground.
Problem was though, the original owner's feet were still in them.
And no, I don't mean that the woman that wore them was still standing there looking at me and saying. "Oh hello, sir! Fancy meeting you here."
Nor was she (thank goodness) Infected and coming at me with mouth open trying to help herself to latin take-out.
No, I mean, the sneakers were just sitting there with the remains of some woman's feet that had previously owned them STILL inside them, albeit, gnawed off at the ankles.
Even after years of seeing some pretty horrible things in my career, sometimes I surprise even myself with the words that come out of my mouth.
The first thing that came out of my mouth after seeing those two feet lying there was, "Ewwwwww."
Still, they were just what the doctor ordered, and so I reached over into my med pack on my left side, unzipped it and pulled out a pair of latex gloves that I quickly placed on my hands.
I've handled body parts without the use of gloves in the past, back when the ambulance services I used to work for when I was a rookie EMT, refused to buy us gloves. Sometimes, we had to steal a box from the hospitals we went to or bought them ourselves. This was back before the AIDS epidemic really hit hard in the 80's. After that, ambulance companies were forced to buy gloves for us and wearing them all the time whenever we made patient contact finally became the norm.
Still, even though I was not squeamish about blood and touching dead flesh, safety first you know?
After donning the gloves, I untied the woman's shoes and pulled the feet out of them placing them on the ground. I looked at the woman's feet after I had placed them on the ground still wrapped in the white socks the woman had been wearing.
If you think I felt a little bad about taking the poor woman's shoes and then leaving her remains behind without a decent burial or something, then you would be right.
I mean geez, it was messed up to say the least.
However, If these shoes helped Shizuka to be able to walk or run away in an emergency, and keep her minor wound from getting worse and developing a serious infection later. Then in truth, this victim would have contributed to saving another person's life, so I didn't feel bad about that.
It was just the thought of leaving these poor, unfortunate victim's remains out in the open after I had just scavenged the shoes .
So I took a quick look around and not seeing any Infected lurching nearby, I placed the feet together and covered them with a towel I found in the mini-van. Under the circumstances, it was the best I could do.
I then turned my attention to the pair of sneakers I had just scavenged.
The shoes were brand new, even the insole didn't have any wear on it or anything. There was a little blood on the shoes of course, so I washed that off with a bottle of water that I took from my pack, and then dried the sneakers off with a chamois that I found in the mini-van. After that, I sprayed them with a spritz of cherry-scented automobile air freshener I found in the glove box.
I held the pair of sneakers up and checked them out thoroughly.
"Good as new." I thought. "Shizuka's gonna love these." I said as I placed them in a plastic bag before I stuffed them in my pack.
Why did I put them in a plastic bag first, you ask?
Well hell, I don't want some dead woman's shoes touching my stuff.
As I put the shoes in the pack, and zipped it up, I thought I heard a faint yell over the rushing river below. I picked my head up and looked around as I grabbed my rifle and quietly moved over to the walkway on the other side.
I then looked across the river towards where the teens were, and was horrified at what I saw. I immediately started running down the walkway at a dead run, noise discipline and stealth no longer a concern.
My only priority now was getting to the kids.
But I already knew.
I wasn't going to get there in time.
Takashi felt Rei's grip on his waist tighten as they neared the small group of people in the road ahead and were finally able to distinguish the features of the people more clearly as they closed the gap.
"Takashi!" Rei screamed over the sound of the motorbike engine as she and Takashi watched the people in the middle of the road suddenly spring into action and began fighting amongst each other. At about the same time, the two teens recognized the people locked in battle ahead as Takashi then pushed the throttle to its absolute limit, the engine screaming in protest.
Some of the people in the road in front of them were their FRIENDS that they had been separated from.
AND they were under attack.
And as Takashi and Rei traveled at high speed towards the battle their friends were engaged in, hoping desperately that they would get there in time to save them, they were finally able to see the faces of the enemy that was attacking their friends as they got closer.
And they were both horrified at what they saw.
The attackers their friends were fighting desperately against were not THEM, at all.
THEY were HUMAN.
And THEY were winning.
Author's Notes:
When I had finished the rough draft of this chapter and was cleaning up the errors here and there last night, I was watching perhaps my favorite movie of all time, "The Last Samurai," which was one of the main inspirations for me as I wrote this fanfic.
In some respects there are many things in that movie that mirror my own life like actor Tom Cruise's character, although not nearly as dramatically like the warrior he plays.
However, in some ways the character he played, I was able to connect with myself in the choices I've made in life, my regrets, my sense of honor, my sense of duty, my joys, my sorrows, my achievements and my losses. Many of these will be written into the story later as "Jim" confides in his new friends later.
While still only a movie and this is only a fictional story with some of my life's experiences and personal thoughts written into it. "The Last Samurai" and my own fanfic "Last Alarm" are fairly alike in that it is the story is of one man's journey in an unknown place under conditions he cannot control and the effects the people and his surroundings have on him and also, the effect he has on the people he is with. I won't compare my story to such a well done masterpiece as "The Last Samurai."
But as ambitious as it sounds, I do hope to try to convey the same feelings and emotions that the film did in the way I'm bringing out the characters of this fanfic.
This fanfic is not about adults or children being better than one another or who is a better fighter or who is in charge or so forth. I wanted this story to be about the binding ties of friendship that unite perfect strangers who draw closer to one another as tragedy unfolds around them.
In short, it's about family.
It's something that the manga and the anime touch on, but didn't have the time to bring out. Perhaps they will, now that there is a second season coming out soon.
Anyway, the reason I brought all this out was because I wanted all of you to see where I was going with this fanfic and because I didn't want everyone to think this was just some touchy-feely type of story.
LOL. Believe me, it gets better, I hope. At least I'm trying anyway, and it won't be long before everyone starts kicking butt and taking names, so bear with me. But in the end, I really wanted to achieve something more here than just throw a bunch of words together when I decided to write "Last Alarm".
In truth, I wanted to leave something behind that I could be proud of that I could share with all of you who have taken the time to read this story. I just hope all of you will enjoy what I've written when it's finally finished.
And being as how all of you have stuck with me thus far and said such nice things about the story, I wanted to give you an idea of where this was all headed, and let you know one of the inspirations that motivated me in the making of this story that still inspires me to keep working harder to make my story better, as do all of you who have really encouraged me to keep on writing this story.
I humbly and sincerely thank all of you. Jim