13
Last Alarm
Chapter 13
"Crossroads"
Part Three
"Love is the most powerful motivator in the world. It spurs mortals to greatness."
"Their noblest, bravest acts are done for love."
― Rick Riordan
As the Contagion spread throughout the city and the chaos from the resulting panic ensued, most people that were not Infected did everything they could to save the lives of their loved ones, friends, and neighbors, as well as trying to save their own lives, as the Infected continued to swarm and overtake the populace.
Sadly however, as is common in all disasters, there are those that arise from the ensuing chaos seeking not to help others reach safety, but rather to take advantage of the chaotic situation. And with all local authorities occupied in evacuation and rescue efforts, it is these very ones that loot homes and businesses and also prey upon those weaker than themselves.
Such was the case now in Tokonosu City as a mixture of people of all walks of life and of all ages took full advantage of the ensuing chaos to act upon their basest desires, encouraged further in their acts of depravity by the fact that there was no visible authority to stop them.
And with the growing ease of each act of crime they committed and no police to stop them, the predators only got bolder, and their crimes more debauched as the blood from their victims stained the streets.
One of these small bands of predators that Saeko and her friends faced now was a motley crew made up of older teens and some young adults in their early twenties, all of them fueled by youthful rage, stolen liquor, and street drugs.
The six young men and three young women were on the crime spree of their lives with no moral values holding them back and no one of authority to stop them. Nothing was sacred and no one was spared.
And they were enjoying every minute of it.
Location: Tokonosu City, Japan
Riverbank North of Downtown Area
Time: Late Afternoon
Spring 2013
Z-Day plus Two
There were nine of them, Saeko counted, looking up at them as they stood on top of the hillside looking down as Saya and Kouta hurried back to join her and Shizuka.
"Get behind me." She ordered, as Saya sat next to Shizuka and grabbed hold of her tightly. Kouta positioned himself behind Saeko and shouldered his nail rifle, backing her up.
Saeko looked up at the group of young people and tensed as five men split off from the group and approached from on top of the hill, sliding down the embankment screeching and laughing as they came brandishing their mix of homemade weapons, kitchen knives, chains, baseball bats, tire irons, and one of them carrying a machete.
They stopped for a moment, sizing up their quarry, once they reached the bottom after sliding down as the rest stayed at the top of the hill watching and laughing awaiting the show that was about to begin. All of them staring at the two teens standing before them in front of a very busty blond that was sitting huddled with a nerdy looking girl on the railing on the side of the road.
They then laughed scornfully at the sight of the chubby kid armed with some sort of nail gun, and a quiet girl armed with a wooden bokken, acting as if they could really do anything to prevent them from having a little fun with the two women behind them.
"This will be too easy." Each of them thought.
"What do we have here?" A shaven-headed punk said as he made a big show of twirling his bat as they approached the teens. "Are you babies out on a field trip?"
"Eh?" He said, egged on by his friends. "Neh, sensei."He said ,looking at Shizuka. "You taking the babies out to the museum and get lost?"
One older teen with a spiky hair cut and tattoos on his arms began to twirl his length of chain in the air attempting to intimidate the teens with the sound of it cutting through the air.
"Is that why you were crying little girl?" he said, gesturing at Saya and raising the pitch of his voice. "Are you lost and wanna go home to mama?"
"We're not on any field trip, and I'm not a baby, you jerks!" Saya yelled.
"Takagi-san, QUIET!" Saeko warned Saya as the gang of toughs jeered at Saya's act of defiance.
Saeko watched them closely, and was already forming a plan of attack as the young men approached.
Their mocking Saya was only a diversion. They were intentionally trying to throw them off balance by fear and intimidation, while they expertly moved into a position best able to take her and Kouta down as quickly and as easily as possible.
"Awwwww, are you gonna start crying again, little baby?" The bald one said mocking Saya.
Saya bristled at the punk's mocking of her and stepped forward as the girls sitting on top of the hill laughed along with the ringleader, and mimicked Saya's crying earlier, and laughed even more as she reddened.
"SAYA-chan! Come here!" Shizuka said, trying to keep calm herself, as the eyes of all the men continued to stare at her. She wanted desperately to calm Saya down, and try not to inflame the gang members any further.
"Saya-chan! Come here Saya-chan! Don't cry Saya-chan! You want your boyfriend to hold you again Saya-chan? " The entire group of toughs chortled continuing to mock Saya relentlessly.
Shizuka desperately grabbed Saya's arm and forcefully pulled her back as she had finally succumbed to all the cat-calling and had begun to take another step closer in a foolish attempt to confront the toughs that were insulting her.
Shizuka had literally just saved her life by physically restraining the young hothead who was so angered by the insults that all good sense had left her.
It had been their usual tactic to begin with, that had worked so well before, by attempting to separate one of the teens from the rest and use that one as a hostage to get to the others once they captured one of them.
Saya had been an easy mark, and had fallen for the clever ploy, hook, line, and sinker. That is, until Shizuka had grabbed ahold of her and held her down, fortunately for her.
Seeing as how the plan hadn't quite worked as well this time, the man with the bat tried a different tact.
"Awwwww, your no fun, sensei." The man said mockingly, the smile on his face, growing bigger, but by no means friendly.
"How about you, little girl?" He said gesturing at Saeko and twirling his bat. "You wanna play with the big boys?"
Saeko's eyes narrowed slightly as she ignored the man's words and spoke to Kouta instead.
The attack was about to commence, and she wanted Kouta to be ready.
"Hirano-kun." She said quietly. "No matter what happens, protect Saya and Marikawa-sensei at all costs, understand? DO NOT allow them to separate you from them, no matter what happens."
"HAI!" Kouta replied, standing in front of Saya and Shizuka, his makeshift rifle at his shoulder, muzzle up and covering Saeko.
The gang of street punks all laughed at Saeko and Kouta as the other two boys that had hung back began to walk forward as well, reinforcing the first three as the ringleader and the young women with him slid down the embankment and stood on the side of the road, ready to spring into action as well.
They had easily overpowered every one of their helpless victims by fear and intimidation before, and if that didn't work, then rushing in and overpowering their victims by force and sheer strength of numbers had never failed them before either.
Still believing they were dealing with a couple of harmless high school teens, the man with the bat, no longer smiling, glared at Saeko with her bokken at the ready, and twirled his bat again as he spoke to her.
"You gonna fight us with that wooden sword, all by yourself, huh, girlie?" He asked, and then looked evilly at Kouta.
"What's the matter fatty? Not man enough to face me like a man?" The punk said with a sneer."You gonna hide behind this skirt and let her do all the fighting?! What kind of a wussy are you?"
"Look at you, you fat slob!" The man said as Saeko could sense Kouta bristling at the man's words. "Do you even have a pair?!"
"Hirano-kun! Do not listen to him. He is only trying to intimidate you so they can catch us off guard!" Saeko shouted desperately. "Do not fall for it, protect the others!"
Still angry, Kouta stood his ground and waited as Saeko then glanced at the positions of each and every member of the street gang and then stared directly at the ringleader.
"I do not know why all of you are doing this." Saeko began keeping a watchful eye for the attack she knew was coming. "We have done nothing to you and there's no reason to harm us."
" Please just leave us alone, and let us go on our way. No one has to get hurt here." Saeko said as the leader of the group of toughs looked at Saeko and grinned evilly.
"That would be boring." The man said scornfully, as he then cast his gaze over at Shizuka.
"Besides we have plans for your teacher and the nerdy girl, neh, Aki? He said, looking down at the young woman standing to his left, holding a tire iron over her shoulder, who then blew a kiss towards Saya and Shizuka and then licked her lips as Shizuka and Saya gulped, sensing the horrible danger they were in and huddled even closer.
"I do not wish to fight any of you."Saeko shouted gripping her bokken even tighter. "And I urge you to re-consider."
" But if you will not listen to reason..." Saeko said her eyes narrowing. "And if you mean to harm my friends, then I will have no choice but to fight you."
"And I warn you, I will not hold back." Saeko said in a warning tone as the entire gang laughed at hearing Saeko's word's, with the exception of the ringleader, who was already tired of this game.
"Hiroki, just kick her ass already and be done with it." The leader said, having grown annoyed with the teenage girl armed with the bokken.
"The rest of you take the fat kid out..." The leader said as he looked over at Kouta. "He can't hurt you with that piece of shit he's holding, so hurry it up. I want to be off of the street before it gets dark."
The reaction by the gang of street punk's to their leader's words was immediate as the man with the bat had finally stopped resorting to diversionary tactics and opted for full violent force as he stepped forward and raised his bat, pointing it straight at Saeko as he stepped towards her.
"I'm going to take that wooden sword of yours and shove it up your ass, b_tch!" He said as Saeko, not fazed by his threatening words, merely readied herself and spoke in a voice so calm, that it only infuriated the punk further.
"If you wish to go toe-to-toe with me then pretty boy, then by all means, please step forward. I'll dance with you." Saeko said smiling as she gripped her bokken.
Enraged by her cockiness, the man rushed forward, followed by his fellows. The man with the bat lead the charge as he always did in a feint, hoping to draw Saeko out so the other two could flank her, while the other two behind them would quickly overpower Kouta when he tried to help his companion and then it would all be over in a few seconds.
It had worked several times before with other people that they had victimized and there was no reason to believe it wouldn't work now against such an uneven match. That had been the usual plan anyway.
Saeko had news for them, however.
Not falling for the feint, Saeko waited till they were almost upon her before she attacked.
It was indeed over in seconds. But not as the street gang had planned.
It had all happened so quickly, that it had almost seemed unreal, Kouta thought. Saeko's movements had been so quick, yet so graceful and fluid; that it seemed more like a beautiful, but deadly dance had just been performed in front of his eyes.
The leader had tried to knock the bokken out of Saeko's hand by quickly swiping his bat at it, thinking he could knock it out of her hand easily and then just push her to the ground and let the other two handle her, as he and the rest dealt with Kouta and his makeshift weapon.
As he swung at Saeko's bokken however she parried the blow instead, and then stepped forward shoving her bokken in a powerful thrust right into the man's throat, causing him to fall backwards to the ground, dropping the bat and clutching his throat as he struggled for air.
She then turned and swung her bokken , surprising the attacker to her right armed with a large kitchen knife, and hit him with a vicious strike to the right side of his head sending him to the ground in a daze, as she then smoothly turned around to her left and took out the other punk armed with a chain with a downward strike to his forehead, sending him to the ground as well.
In only three moves, Saeko had taken out three grown armed men in less than three seconds.
Saeko swung her bokken through the air and stared directly at the ringleader as the other two punks' that had been about to rush Kouta stepped back and away from her, wide-eyed.
The three men on the ground recovering somewhat, crawled away from her as well, and struggling to their feet, joined the others, each of them beaten and bloody.
Saeko then calmly stepped back towards Kouta and the others, readying herself for the rush she knew was coming next. They had all seriously underestimated her, and had been overconfident in their numbers and their earlier ability to frighten others into submission with intimidation. They wouldn't be so careless again.
Yelling and cursing the men who had been beaten so easily by such a small girl without even putting up a fight, the ringleader rallied his troops for the one big charge that would end it all.
"GET THEM!" He roared as they all rushed at once, screaming and yelling like banshees.
Saeko watched as all of them came rushing at her, their eyes filled with fury, all of them hungry for blood.
"Excellent." Saeko said, smiling as they came.
Takashi had the needle in the red as the motorcycle's engine screamed in protest. He had seen Saeko shatter the first attack by the three attackers, beating them into the ground and sending them limping back to join the rest of their gang. But it wasn't over by any stretch of the imagination, and it had all turned sour fast when the gang rushed the teens once again.
The next rush that came from the attackers, quickly had Saeko taking on multiple attackers all at once, and she was doing quite well too, effortlessly striking each gang member left and right with each strike of her bokken and actually smiling as she did so.
She actually seemed to be enjoying herself Takashi thought as a shiver went up his spine at the thought.
The same couldn't be said for the rest of Takashi's friends as Kouta, firing his nail gun with seemingly little effect, was quickly overwhelmed by a group of three teens that rushed him after the fragile stock on his nail gun shattered after he struck one of them in the face with it, and he was then tackled to the ground.
As they sped near the bend in the road, Takashi was forced to slow his bike down as they closed the distance between them, lest he lose control of the bike.
But as they came within 100 feet of the melee, he sped up, heading straight for the attackers who looked up suddenly hearing the sound of the bike almost upon them.
"REI, GET READY!" Takashi yelled.
"KOMURO?!" Saeko said as Takashi plowed into the gang of punks scattering them in all directions and then he laid the bike down on the road sweeping everyone in his path off their feet.
Rei, using their forward momentum, jumped off the bike before Takashi had laid it down and slammed into a man and woman, knocking them to the ground and using their bodies to cushion her fall, knocking the breath out of them.
She then knocked another teen to the ground with a vicious swipe to his face and stabbed another in the abdomen with the point of her spear as he screamed and tore the spear out of her hands as he fell to the ground.
And as the man painfully pulled the spear out of his abdomen, he then suddenly began to spasm uncontrollably as Rei then realized that the reason the man was spasming so horribly was because the dried blood that was on the tip of the spear from all the Infected she had killed was now spreading throughout the man's bloodstream.
Sickened by what she saw, Rei instinctively backed away from the man as she then felt someone tackle her from her left side as the girl armed with a tire iron pounced on top of her.
And as they landed heavily on the ground, the girl then kept trying to hit Rei with it, as she and Rei wrestled with each other rolling over and over on the ground.
Takashi rolled away from the bike and grabbing his bat, swung at a punk coming at him with a knife, and connected with the man's jaw shattering it and sending the man screaming as he spit blood and teeth fragments from his mouth.
Takashi suddenly felt something sharp rip through his jacket and he quickly turned around and swung at whoever had tried to knife him. His eyes widened as his bat struck an older girl in the face, breaking her nose and she immediately screamed as blood gushed from her nose and the space where her two front teeth had been.
Takashi hesitated at the horror of his striking a woman even though it had been in self-defense, and was then immediately knocked to the ground by the ringleader who had picked himself off the ground and hit Takashi from behind with a tire iron.
Takashi grunted as a blinding pain shot up his back and he collapsed to the ground, arching his back involuntarily from the pain.
"KOMURO!" Saeko yelled as she saw Takashi writhing in pain on the ground. Seeing an opening now that Saeko was distracted, one of the attacker's that was armed with the chain swung it at her. And as it wrapped itself around the wooden blade, the bokken was ripped free from her grasp as he yanked on it suddenly, and he then jumped forward and roughly shoved her to the ground.
Saeko sat up and turned her head in response to the sound of Shizuka's voice as the nurse screamed while some man with a shaved head and a tattoo on his face was trying to drag her away. He was having a tough time about it as Shizuka hung on the railing for dear life and was kicking at the man, trying to get away from him.
Kouta meanwhile, had broken free from the three punks who had tackled him earlier when Takashi had run them down with the motorbike and was swinging Shizuka's medical pack wildly at a couple of attacker's who were trying to get past him as he desperately tried to protect Saya.
Saya, in the meantime, was viciously slapping the man that was holding Shizuka's leg, with the nurse's shoe that had been kicked off as Shizuka was struggling against the man.
Growing extremely frustrated at being kicked and pummeled from both ends, the man violently back-handed Saya away from him. And as she fell to the ground, Kouta, shocked at seeing her injured, was immediately tackled to the ground and was then punched repeatedly by the two punks as Saeko watched horrified.
Takashi, seeing that everyone was now helpless, reached for the revolver he had placed in his belt, ignoring the pain that shot up his spine, and was horrified to not find it there. He searched around desperately looking for it and saw to his horror that it had apparently tumbled out of his belt and had fallen to the ground when he had struck the attackers with his bike.
He then finally spotted it as a man with a shaved head ran over and picked it up off the ground, and then looked directly at him.
I knew I wasn't going to be able to get to the kids in time.
After seeing Saeko taking out the first three thugs, I immediately spun on my heel and ran as fast as I could down the walkway, knowing full well I wasn't going to reach the kids in time and knowing without a doubt that it would be all over by the time I reached the end of the bridge.
Of course, I knew it was a useless effort. Not even if I was an Olympic runner that had a gallon of Red Bull injected directly into my veins did I have any hope of getting there and scaring the punks off before the kids got hurt or killed by them.
Still, I wasn't thinking of that right now. The kids were in trouble, and I needed to do something.
And as I reached the halfway point of the bridge, I heard what sounded like the engine of a motorcycle coming at high speed down the road, and I stopped for a moment, as I saw two young people on a motorbike making a beeline for the group locked in battle below.
I quickly reached into a pocket of my vest for my monocular again and peered through it, and quickly recognized the two teens racing down the road. And I was both thrilled at recognizing the two riders on the bike and then just as quickly, I was dismayed.
Takashi and Rei, my two little lost sheep had returned back to the flock, looking thoroughly exhausted but otherwise, safe and sound.
But right now, they were now returning to us at the worst possible time.
I'm pretty sure they could both see that it was Saeko and the rest, mixing it up with whoever those people that were attacking them were on the road below.
And at the speed that Takashi was pushing that bike, I could see that he was fully intent on riding to the rescue and doing what, I have no idea, to come to everyone's aid and put a stop to the fight somehow.
I had to hand it to the two teens, their heart was in the right place, and you have to respect that kind of fierce loyalty among friends. You just don't see it as often anymore.
Unfortunately, it was going to get them all killed.
Problem was, the people down there attacking Saeko, Kouta and the rest were extremely vicious, just by the fact that they were attacking a woman that was hurt and three teens for no apparent reason, and the type of weapons they had on them and the way they were using them told me that they were also playing for keeps.
And try as they might, even with her extraordinary kenjutsu skills and Kouta's makeshift rifle, there were just too many for the teenage warriors to handle, and even with Takashi and Rei charging to the rescue, it was only a matter of time before they were all overwhelmed.
And I knew then that I was not going to be able to get away with just scaring the gang members off.
I was going to have to shoot to kill.
At living human beings.
I was on the horns of a dilemma. No way would I be able to make it to them before it was all over, and the kids were killed. And I couldn't fire my carbine because the range was too great for me to make an accurate shot with any certainty at that range.
The longest shot I ever made with it was 300 yards with my Eotech sight. I could take longer shots with it of course, but not without using a scope which I didn't have for it anyway, and I didn't want to take the risk of taking the shot without one and risk hitting the kids or Shizuka.
The range was about 400 yards, and while it was definitely well within the range of my M24, the same problem still existed as before. The sound of the report would have me swarmed with Infected coming from all directions around the bridge at the first shot, and I'd be cut off from being able to get off the bridge the moment I fired on the attackers.
And there was also no guarantee that the attackers would be scared off before the Infected got to me either.
So it was either try to get off the bridge away from all the Infected and try to do something, which by then would be much too late. Or, pull out my M24 and open fire and then be overwhelmed by hungry Infected as I tried to ward off the attackers.
In other words, it would mean death for the kids if I did nothing, or death for me if I tried to help.
But if I did open fire, it would also give the teens a fighting chance to survive an otherwise losing battle they wouldn't be able to survive from.
I watched helplessly as Takashi and Rei suddenly slowed down the bike a bit as they approached the bend in the road, and then sped up again and plowed straight into the middle of the melee below, scattering everyone in all directions as they jumped off the bike and joined the battle.
And just like that, my decision had been made.
When it comes to long distance shooting, my younger brother Elias, is a much better shot than I am, especially with "Black Betty," the custom Police-issue sniper rifle I gave him as a gift. I used to take him a couple times to the rifle range when we first started shooting together and he would beat my grouping every time much to my embarrassment, although I was a much better shot with a pistol and carbine.
Being a sniper, whether your police or military, is for all intents and purposes, an art form in precision shooting. It is a tactical skill like no other, to successfully make that one shot to take out a threat at long range without hurting anyone else. It takes a cool head, calm nerves, a steady hand, and a lot of patience to make that one,….precise,….shot.
*"And dammit Jim, I'm a medic, not a sniper."
(*Yes, I'm a Star Trek fan too.)
My buddies Andy and Pete, the two former SAS troopers on BLUE AND GREEN Team, had coached me on long distance shooting back at the range in Nevada, and after much effort and more rounds wasted than I care to admit to, they had gradually worked me up to being able to hit a man-size target at 500 yards.
But even then, it wasn't all that pretty.
But as I pulled the rifle out of my pack, opened up the scope caps, placed it on the railing for stability, and then peered through the scope. I had little chance to think about my lack of skill any further because now things had gotten seriously ugly as Takashi had somehow dropped a revolver on the ground as he and Rei had crashed into everyone.
And now some bald punk had turned around and grabbed it before anyone else could.
There was no time left for me to attempt to calculate an accurate solution and dial in the range or the windage on the two turrets on the scope.
My rifle was zeroed for 100 yards, which meant anything within the center of the crosshairs was toast at that range, so I would have to adjust for the increased range of 400 yards by using the reticles on the scope and guesstimating the point of impact.
Running out of time, I peered into the scope and settled one of the "hash marks" that I had pre-calculated for shooting at a range of 400 yards on the bald guy's chest and then moved the crosshairs to the right to adjust for the slow-moving breeze that was blowing sakura blossoms everywhere.
I then flipped the safety lever forward and taking a deep breath to steady myself, slowly let it out and squeezed the trigger.
Takashi watched as the punk stood up, holding the revolver in triumph and then sensing Takashi staring at him, calmly looked over at him and then pointed the muzzle of the pistol at his face. Takashi, unarmed, and still aching from the blow on his back and paralyzed with fear, could only stare in horror at the gun that was about to kill him.
Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz, SNAP!
Takashi heard a noise like the sound of an angry hornet flying over his head as something popped on the man's chest and a small amount of blood appeared suddenly, and then the man pointing the gun at him suddenly lurched backwards and fell to the ground in a heap.
Everyone suddenly stopped moving at the sight of the man's sudden, unexplained collapse. The man who was still yanking on Shizuka's leg suddenly stopped to stare at his companion, as she continued to kick at him.
"Hiroki?" He said, staring in shock at his friend who was lying still on the ground, blood beginning to soak through his shirt, his dead eyes staring at him.
Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz, SNAP!
Takashi heard the same noise like an angry hornet flying overhead as the man holding Shizuka's leg suddenly cried out and fell to the ground and didn't move, half of his face missing.
Suddenly free, Shizuka screamed once more and then crawled over to Saya and covered her with her body.
"Everybody get down!" Kouta yelled, the first to react to what was happening after realizing what the sound actually was.
Everyone, including the gang members hit the ground immediately with the street punks staring wildly in all directions attempting to try to spot the hidden sniper without exposing themselves.
"SOMEONE'S SHOOTING AT US!" One of the girls yelled out.
"NO SHIT! WHERE IS HE?!" The ringleader roared.
All eyes scanned in all directions searching for the hidden sniper, until the man with the machete finally spotted the lone sniper standing hunched over on the bridge, his rifle resting on the railing as he peered through the scope.
"THERE! ON THE BRID,….Aaaaah!" The man with the machete said getting up to his knees and pointing the blade towards the direction of the bridge as a bullet cut through the air and hit him in the abdomen.
The man doubled over at the impact, hands clutching his abdomen. He then painfully straightened up, and removing his hands, stared wide-eyed at the small wound on his abdomen as blood begin to pour from it.
Then in a final act of defiance, he raised his machete to throw it at Saeko lying nearby and gave a loud roar as he prepared to throw it, as Saeko instinctively raised her hands to protect herself.
Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz, SNAP!
The man was cut off in mid-yell as the bullet impacted his chest and he was thrown on his back, the machete falling to the ground.
"Jimu-san." Saeko thought to herself, as she looked out towards the bridge and spotted the familiar figure of the American as he was pulling back the rifle bolt and cycling another round through his sniper rifle.
"CHIKUSHO!" One of the girls that had been about to hit Rei with a tire iron swore, as she tossed it aside with a clatter, got off the ground and ran for the revolver that the bald man Hiroki, had dropped.
"AKI, NO!" The ringleader yelled in vain.
The girl ran at a dead run straight for the pistol as Takashi looked up from the ground and watched in horror as she finally reached it and was about to close her fingers over it, when the whine of another bullet cut through the air again and the girl pitched forward to the ground, knocking the pistol away as it skittered towards Kouta.
"RUN!" The ringleader screamed as he sprinted away from the scene as a bullet screamed overhead and ricocheted off the road, near his head.
The surviving gang members dropped their weapons as another bullet whined in the air and struck a fleeing punk in the left buttock. Screaming as he fell to the ground, he then got up hurriedly, despite the pain and limped away as fast as he could, trying to catch up to the others running down the road.
For a moment no one moved, the only sound heard was the strangled moans of the man that Rei had stabbed with her spear as the Infection continued to spread through his system.
Takashi was the first to finally came out of his shock, and immediately checked to see if his friends were alright.
"Is everybody OK?" Takashi yelled. "Anybody hurt?"
There were no replies at first; everyone was still very much in shock at what had just happened.
The trauma of being savagely attacked by a gang of street punks, and seeing four people shot dead in front of them, was a horror that none of them could easily get over very quickly.
"I'm fine!" Saeko said finally as she then ran over to check on Shizuka and Saya who were both crying as they picked themselves off the ground.
"Are you hurt?" Saeko asked them as they stood holding each other, still too shocked to answer, as Rei rushed over to them as well.
Kouta quietly walked over to the dead woman after he picked up the revolver, and then just stood there staring at the body.
Takashi also picked himself off the ground shaking off the soreness in his back, and carefully walked over to Kouta, worried that his friend's emotional state might be too unstable for him to be using a firearm right now. He approached Kouta quietly and tried to speak calmly so as not to upset his friend any further.
"Kouta-kun. Are you Ok?" Takashi asked as Kouta stood there holding the pistol, still staring at the dead woman, and not speaking.
"Kouta?" Takashi repeated.
"Kouta-chan?" Rei asked as well, sensing the dangerous situation that might be brewing if Kouta was indeed becoming a danger to himself and everyone else now that he was holding a dangerous weapon in his hands.
Kouta looked up suddenly, his face like stone, his eyes cold as he raised the revolver and pointed it at Takashi.
Takashi stared wide-eyed in horror as once again, he stared down the barrel of the same revolver pointing at his face.
"KOUTA!" Everyone screamed in horror.
In a voice so calm, it sent a chill up his spine; Kouta looked straight at Takashi and said, "Get Down."
Takashi confused, as well as scared half to death, tried to talk Kouta down.
"Kouta-kun,….." He began, raising his hands to try to calm his friend.
"GET DOWN!" Kouta roared, as he pulled the hammer back, cocking the pistol.
Takashi dove to the ground as he suddenly heard all of the women screaming,.. "Takashi! Behind you!" and then Kouta squeezed the trigger twice at the man Rei had speared earlier, who now was completely Infected and lurching towards Takashi with arms up and hands reaching for him. Both shots hit the Infected man in the face blowing out the back of his skull, and he then crumbled to the ground.
"Double Tap, Baby." Kouta said a small smile forming on his face as he calmly put the pistol in his waist belt.
Takashi picked himself off the ground and was angrily about to yell at his friend for scaring him half to death, but he was too late.
Before he could even open his mouth to speak, Saya had already separated herself from the rest of the group and began launching a verbal barrage of angry words at the teen as Kouta cringed under the onslaught.
"WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH YOU, YOU FAT BAKA?! She screeched, her face twisted in fury and turning crimson as she chewed him out.
"ANSWER ME! DO YOU THINK YOU LOOK COOL NOW CARRYING THAT STUPID GUN?! " "YOU THINK YOUR CHOW YUN FAT NOW ALL OF A SUDDEN?!" "YOU THINK YOU'RE THE "CITY HUNTER" NOW, YOU FAT-HEADED OTAKU?!"
"DON"T YOU EVER DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT AGAIN, BAKA!" Saya screamed as she slapped him on the head.
Takashi could say nothing as Saya continued to verbally assail Kouta and occasionally smack him on the head as his shoulders kept drooping lower and lower as her angry tongue-lashing continued.
"He'll be fine all right, IF he survives her." Takashi thought shaking his head.
Giving up, he looked back towards his friends who were still a little shaken up, but appeared to not have been hurt too bad physically.
"Is everyone, okay?" Takashi asked again, picking up Saeko's bokken and handing it to her.
"As well as can be expected after what just happened". Saeko said, accepting the bokken from Takashi and looking at the bodies on the ground.
"Sensei?" Takashi asked Shizuka, as she was holding Rei in a bear hug.
"I'm quite fine Takashi-kun, Don't worry." She said smiling as she rubbed Rei on the head fondly.
"I'm so glad you two are safe." Shizuka said smiling at him.
"Yeah." Takashi agreed. "I'm glad all of you made it too."
"So you were not able to cross Tokonosu Bridge I presume?" Saeko asked, walking up to him.
"No, there was no way across at all." Takashi said.
"Well, we are all glad that the both of you made it back safely." Saeko said, slightly blushing.
"Yeah," Takashi replied, rubbing the back of his head. "Busujima-sempai, I'm glad to see you made it too."
"Thank you, I'm glad to have you back Komuro-kun." Saeko said, looking into Takashi's eyes.
Rei was watching as the two teens conversed and pouted at seeing the lovey-dovey looks being exchanged between the two.
"What, about me?" Saya asked interrupting, as she had finally stopped verbally beating Kouta to a pulp and had also intentionally interrupted the two teen's quite moment together.
"Eh? Ah,Takagi-san." Takashi said, embarrassed.
"Yes, I'm glad to see you too." He said as he looked into her annoyed face.
The teens instinctively ducked as the sound of a shot from a high-powered rifle came from behind them, followed by several short bursts from a rifle on auto-fire, and then the sounds of shots from a small caliber weapon began to echo across the river.
The group immediately looked over in the direction of the bridge and were shocked to see the American standing near the railing in the middle of the bridge, firing his pistol as a swarm of Infected were coming at him from all directions shuffling forward and relentlessly surrounding him from all sides as he continued to fire into them with his pistol.
He had obviously attracted the attention of a horde of Infected that were reacting to the sound of the shots coming from his sniper rifle as he fired upon their attackers in an effort to save their lives.
And now, he was desperately fighting for his own life, as the Infected quickly began to overwhelm him.
"JIMU-SAN! Saeko screamed as she suddenly turned away from all of them and sprinted as fast as she could, headed down the road towards the direction of the bridge.
"SAEKO!" Takashi yelled after her, as the others began calling after her as well.
"SAEKO-CHAN, STOP! IT'S TOO LATE!" Shizuka, yelled, and then looked with frightened eyes at Takashi.
Takashi met her eyes and realized that even Shizuka could see,….
The American was already doomed.
And Saeko was going to be killed too if she wasn't stopped.
"TAKASHI-CHAN, STOP HER BEFORE SHE GETS KILLED!" The nurse screamed, her eyes pleading.
"SAEKO!" Takashi yelled again as he ran to his bike and raised it off the ground. He jumped into the seat, started it and then gunned the throttle.
"Takashi!" Rei yelled, as she ran towards him.
"STAY HERE! I've got to stop her!" Takashi yelled as he sped off.
The group watched him speed off trying to catch up to Saeko ,who was desperately trying to run to the bridge all by herself, ignoring the fact that it would be too late to save the man who even now, was almost already overwhelmed by the huge swarm of Infected that seemed to appear out of nowhere.
All eyes then turned to the man fighting desperately on the bridge who had suddenly stopped firing and seemed to disappear behind the bridge railing for a moment to everyone's horror, believing they had just witnessed him being killed.
And then he suddenly reappeared again, with his pack on his shoulders, and raising his carbine, began blasting away at the surrounding horde pressing in on him as he tried to move forward down the walkway, shooting all Infected in his path.
It was in vain however. There were just too many Infected, and the situation was definitely hopeless.
"Jimu-san." Saya heard Shizuka say under her breath as the Infected closed in on him and his magazine went dry.
But it was what happened next that horrified them all.
No sooner had I made a quick check to make sure the street punks had turned tail and weren't coming back, than I saw that I was in trouble.
Scratch that, I was in deep shit.
I felt somebody's fingers sweep across my back, which really freaked me out to be honest, and I quickly swung around and slammed the barrel of the M24 into the side of the head of some Infected construction worker who was right behind me, and he crashed to the ground from the force of the blow.
I had figured I would be relatively safe behind the railing of the walkway from all the Infected, but somehow, he had managed to get under it, and now I saw just how quickly these things had reacted to the sound of my gunfire. They definitely had wasted no time answering the dinner bell that was for certain.
I fired at the Infected man I had just clubbed, and the top of his head disappeared from the round going through his skull. I then tossed the rifle on top of the pack and stood up and away from those pushing against the railing and fired my carbine in short bursts into them as the Infected were so close now, I really couldn't take the time for more accurate, single shot fire.
I just tried to blast them as far away from me as fast as I could. They were relentless, but I managed to knock some down before my magazine went dry. I then transitioned quickly to my Sig, and double-tapped as many as I could.
I wanted to grab my rifle and my pack and haul ass out of there which was getting extremely hard to do as those Infected that fell after being shot were replaced by three or more behind them.
Desperately, I ducked under the waving arms of one particularly relentless Infected office worker and grabbed my pack while hunched down and then shot him in the head.
As he fell back, he knocked down a few others and seeing as how I finally managed to catch a break, I wasted no time and moved as fast as I could to quickly stuff the rifle back into the pack as I was quickly being surrounded by an entire horde of Infected coming my way from all directions, with some crawling underneath the railing too, further up the walkway. I then quickly changed to a full mag on my pistol, holstered it, and then changed mags on my carbine.
I then stood up and resumed fire with my carbine trying to get myself out of this mess. I had switched to the 60-round magazine I had in one of my ammo pockets made by a company called Surefire, so I wouldn't have to change mags too often as I tried to break through this friggin nightmare I had gotten myself into.
I started shooting at any and all Infected in my path, trying not to be grabbed by the ones reaching for me pressing against the railing or the ones trying to come up from behind me and also trying not to trip over the bodies that fell in the process.
I seriously had my hands full.
At this point, I had given up any hope of shooting through all the Infected in my way and trying to break through them and make a run for it. All the Infected I had passed up before when I had first walked this way were coming out of the woodwork.
What I was doing now was trying to make some headway, closer towards the other side of the river, because what I was about to do now was the only choice I had left although it was absolutely the last thing I ever wanted to do in my life.
Takashi slowed the motorcycle as he approached Saeko still desperately running to come to the aid of the American still shooting at the Infected on the bridge. It was almost over thought Takashi, as the Infected were spilling over the railing and coming up from behind the man as he continued pressing forward shooting all the while.
"SAEKO!" Takashi yelled as he pulled alongside her. "What are you doing?! It's too late!"
Saeko said nothing in reply, and just ran faster, ignoring him.
"SAEKO!" Takashi yelled again, to no avail.
"DAMMIT!" He yelled out loud. There was no choice now. Saeko was determined to save the American, or die trying. He couldn't stop her, but perhaps together they could both accomplish what one person could not.
" SAEKO,GET ON!" Takashi roared speeding up alongside her again.
Saeko slowed as Takashi brought the bike to a halt, and she quickly sat behind him and grabbed his waist.
Takashi was about to take off again when he heard Saeko suck in her breath.
"NO." Takashi heard Saeko say in horror.
Out of the corner of my eye, I had seen Saeko running desperately down the road obviously trying to come rescue me. And then I also watched Takashi immediately following after her, trying to stop her from making her obviously suicidal rescue attempt, secretly relieved that he was doing that.
And then I watched him to my chagrin, giving up on trying to stop her, and then trying to help her, come to my aid.
"SON OF A,…..!" I yelled in frustration, cutting myself off before I could say the whole thing.
And I knew that right now nothing would stop either of them from trying to rescue me even if it cost them their lives.
When I was still a fireman, I could never have lived with myself if any of the guys had gotten hurt or killed over me. They were my brothers, and we took care of each other, even when we got on each other's nerves. And I never wanted them to sacrifice themselves to save me if I ever got into trouble.
It was the same with these young teens and their nurse, and like my buddies, no way did I want them hurt or killed, especially trying to help me. But now it looked as if these two young people were determined to sacrifice everything to save my life at any cost. And I couldn't let that happen.
I had resolved within myself to get them home or die trying.
It didn't look like I was going to be able to get them home after all.
But just because I had failed them, didn't mean that I was going to let them get killed in a useless attempt to rescue me.
No man who loves his children wants to see them get hurt.
Of course, these weren't my children, but it didn't matter. No self-respecting adult would want anyone getting hurt or killed trying to save him, much less a bunch of children he cared about and who had so much more to live for.
I had really come to care about them as if they were my own in the short time I'd been with them, especially the quiet, raven-haired one who had boldly told me not to come out here in the first place.
"I should have listened to you, sweetie." I thought, as I fired the last few rounds out of my magazine, and then heard that awful sound of the bolt finally slamming on an empty chamber.
No matter how fast I could reload or how much ammo I used, I knew it was a losing battle. I had merely bought myself some time and had gained some ground for a desperate plan that I seriously doubted that I would survive from.
But now, there was no choice and no time, and keeping those two from losing their lives needlessly depended on my following through on my desperate gamble.
When faced with death, none of us know what we will do until it's staring at us right in the face.
We all react differently to fear. Each of us either succumbing to it, or in some cases, from somewhere deep inside of us, some will react with a strength they didn't even know they even possessed, and will choose to face it, sometimes even defiantly.
And when the lives of others are at stake, sometimes, just sometimes, some of us will go above and beyond for those they may not even know, but whose lives are precious nonetheless, and they will make the ultimate sacrifice, so that others may live.
I dropped my carbine to my side, letting it hang on its sling and then quickly straddled the railing of the bridge and climbed over, hanging on the side of the bridge, and staring at the rushing river below.
I had always hoped that when my time had come, I would be able to face it with dignity and courage, no matter how afraid I was or how desperately I wanted to go on living.
I hoped that in the end, no matter what, that I would do the right thing.
I took another look back towards the road, and saw Shizuka and the rest of the kids staring at me in shock as they watched me hanging precariously off the bridge.
"I'm sorry I couldn't get you home kids." I said aloud, looking at all of them for perhaps the last time.
I had never wanted fame or glory.
Everything I had done in life was never about that.
I truly believed in what I did, with all my heart.
I had only hoped that my life would not have been a tragic waste when my time had finally come, and that all the pain and sacrifice I had made in my life wouldn't be for nothing.
And I also hoped that I wouldn't have just been a mere faceless shadow in the crowd that people had barely noticed was there, and all too easily forgotten.
I always hoped that in the end, my life had been worth something,…..
Had meant something,…. after all.
I then turned my attention over towards where Saeko and Takashi were, as Saeko suddenly looked up at me and met my gaze.
Saeko Busujima, age seventeen, my warrior princess, a credit to her family and her heritage, fierce and courageous in battle, and yet such a kind, sweet, caring young woman.
The daughter I had always wished for.
The one I would never have.
And nonetheless, the one that I was now going to do what I must so that she would live.
Those of us who choose to make that ultimate sacrifice for the ones we love knowing that our loved ones will live because of it, makes the sacrifice worthwhile.
But it doesn't make the parting any less painful, as Saeko looked directly into my eyes, and then realized what I was about to do.
"I'm sorry, baby." I said as I felt strong fingers clutching at me as I let go of the railing.
And as I fell, the last thing I heard was a scream as I plunged into the frigid water.
And then all I could hear after that was the roar of the river in my ears as I sank into the rushing waters like a stone, and the light disappeared around me.
"Mom, Dad, and especially you my brother…" I thought to myself as the roar of the rushing water thundered in my ears.
"I love you all." Was what I was thinking as I struggled to remove my pack which was weighing me down considerably as I was dragged along the bottom of the river by the strong current.
"I'm so sorry." I thought as I was tossed violently about by the current and smashed into something which drove most of the air out of my lungs from the impact.
"Please forgive me." Was my last thought as my head struck something and everything went black.
Saeko stared in disbelief as she saw the American hanging off the bridge as the Infected closed in around him. He then looked directly at her, and for a brief moment, their eyes met.
There was no fear on his face.
A look of intense sadness was the only thing that she saw in his eyes, and then his lips moved, speaking directly to her.
Saeko could not hear his words because of the loud rush of the river, but as his lips moved they seemed to mouth the words, "I'm sorry" in English.
And then she watched him in horror as he let go of the railing and disappeared into the water below.
Saeko thought she heard an intense screaming coming from somewhere far away, seeming to rise in pitch, and never end.
She wouldn't realize until much later that the voice that she had heard screaming.
Was her own.
Author's Notes:
UPDATED: 6-16-2014
I had to give myself a break and hold off on the Author's Notes because it was pretty late when I finished polishing up the chapter and posted it, and I had to go on shift the next day.
I'm currently writing these notes now that I'm on a break at work. We finished everything we needed to do today and I still have 15 hours to go on my shift so I'm using the extra time I have to finish this part up.
First, my sincerest thanks to you all for continuing to hopefully enjoy reading my fanfic. And a special thanks to all of you who have written a review.
I always worry that my story might be boring my readers, so I try to make each story a little better than the last which is not easy to do. This writing stuff is HARD.
I think running into a fully-involved structure fire is easier honestly, but I admit, I'm still having a lot of fun writing it, and I hope all of you are enjoying the story.
Although I did have some concerns when I first began to write this story.
Saeko, Rei and Rika are by far, the more popular characters of HOTD.
Especially Saeko, and as I wrote this story, I was concerned with how everyone would react to her displaying any emotions other than fearlessness and bloodlust as you see in the manga and the anime.
The idea was never to make the characters that everyone loves into something less than what they are in the original series, but I did want to humanize them a bit more.
In a world like the one the HOTD series portrays, the characters have to harden themselves to be able to deal with the things going on around them, but people don't need to be so stone cold that NOTHING affects them.
So I decided to try to have "Jim" and Saeko bond a bit more like father and daughter as well as all of the teens eventually see themselves as a family trying to survive, rather than just a bunch of strangers thrust together.
And yes, I intentionally wanted to have the characters Jim and Saeko to bond as father and child.
The inspiration for Jim and Saeko bonding as father and daughter came from another anime and manga from the "City Hunter" series called "Angel Heart."
It is the story of a young teen who was trained to be an assassin, and is eventually adopted as his daughter after the girl is given a heart transplant using the heart of the woman he loved. It's a great story. Check it out.
But no, Saeko isn't going to be made into a cry-baby that can't do anything without Jim around. But they do become closer than the rest, because later, certain "trust" issues are going to spring up again.
And later, Jim, Saeko, and Rika will have their own story to tell.
Last Alarm was a story that I wanted to make that used some of my true life experiences and personal thoughts in the story, and was always meant to be a fictional story of the heart.
I have read some great fanfics, but I'm afraid that when it comes to writing, I can only do a decent job on something I'm familiar with, so trying to get too creative with my character would have been more of a problem down the line..
For example, I studied Togakure Ryu Ninpo many years ago, but since there weren't any actual classes teaching it back then, was never able to be a full-time practitioner, so I've forgotten a few things about swordplay and taijutsu,
Back then,mostly all I could do was just read Stephen K. Hayes and Maasaki Hatsumi Sensei's books, and then practice on my own.
The reason I bring this up is because "Last Alarm" was never meant to be a hack and slash type of fanfic. Kenjutsu is an awesome art, and since I was so rusty, I watched "13 Assassins" and "Zatoichi" for inspiration on writing Saeko's fight scene.
Problem is, in kenjutsu, unlike in the "Highlander" series, which I'm also a fan of, the idea is to NOT cross blades but to quickly cut your opponent in one strike.
So I was stumped for about 3 days on how to write Saeko's fight.
So I went for realism and she kicked major butt in 3 moves just like a true sword expert would. What can I say? She's bad-ass.
LOL.
Actually it was only 2 days to finally figure out her fight.
The hardest part of this entire chapter was writing the bad guys scene and their dialogue and that took a whole day by itself.
The reason for why that took me so long to write is because everyone who knows me, knows I'm a nice guy.
Trying to write this story from the evil guy's perspective is pretty tough, and even then, as far as evil gang members go, these "punks" in chapter 14 sound pretty tame, actually.
And just for the record, I hated writing Shido's thoughts and dialogue in "A House Divided." I felt so yuck afterwards.
It's like comedian Ron White says in his comedy act. "Things that may you go,...BLECH!"
Anyway, I'll get used to it because Shido makes his appearance again and again later.
Like I said, I can only do a halfway decent job of writing, if I'm familiar with what I'm talking about, so trying to make Jim into a teenager, thats good with firearms and swords, and is a guy that does everything right and falls in love with any of the three popular heroines or even Shizuka for that matter, is a stretch of the imagination I would have NO idea on how to put onto paper.
I wouldn't even know where to begin, since I stopped being a teenager over 30 years ago.
So, I resorted to having my character be a mirror image of myself. Older, more experienced, a little wiser, and a father figure, vs. a young, studly fella who does everything right and has girls falling all around him.
Of course Rika is the most beautiful cop I've ever met, so we'll see what happens when they meet. :P
SPOILER ALERT.
Jim's not dead. Chapter One kinda spoiled it anyway, but I thought I'd just make it official.
I'll say this though. Jim's gonna wish that he had died when Saeko gets her hands on him for scaring her like that.
It's gonna hurt, I'll say that much. :P
And yes, Rika makes her appearance soon back at the airport and meets a certain former SAS friend of mine from BLUE Team.
There will be a few times as the story goes along that Jim has to separate from the teens and they have to carry on without him.
So we'll see how that all works out with the teens dealing with his "Loss" and the later when he is forced again a couple more times to leave them so they won't be killed as Shido's "army" and some other antagonists come after them.
We haven't seen the last of the street gang believe me.
Anyway, Thanks again for ya'll's support.
I really appreciate all the kind words and drop me a PM, whenever you have a question or a suggestion.
4-10-2013
By the way, my sincerest thanks to Dante's Disciple, who suggested to me the perfect theme song for the scene were Saeko tries to run to save Jim and he plunges into the river to keep her and Takashi from getting killed trying to save him.
It's the theme song from the popular video game "Dead Island."
I've been listening to a LOT of music to help me write this story, mostly Kenji Kawai stuff, and this theme really fits that scene.
I highly recommend reading that scene along with that music.