Last Alarm
Chapter Nineteen
"And Then There Was Alice." Part One
As it turns out, clearing the grounds of the apartment complex really had turned out to be the easiest part, and it was mostly due to the small amount of actual landscaping on the property. Real estate in Japan is at a premium if you live in a large city such as Tokonosu. And this particular neighborhood was about as hemmed in as could be just like most residential areas are that are situated near the sea.
The apartment complex that Shizuka's friend resided was a relatively small complex as far as most condos go. In all, there were only about eight units total on the whole property. And the actual grounds that surrounded it were not very large at all. There was also hardly anything in the way of actual landscaping here either other than a large tree.
The rear of the complex was mostly one large parking lot for all of the residents to use, so we had a clear line of sight all around the complex without having to search through a lot of nooks and crannies or around multiple trees or shrubbery looking for an Infected person that might be concealed from our view.
Nor were there any obstructions that would block our line of fire in case we needed to engage any of the Infected, or someone that was "hostile", which was starting to be more a problem for us lately.
Unfortunately for us, our only means of transportation, the Humvee, was just too large to be driven up the small driveway that was on the side of the complex that lead up to the rear parking lot. This could be a real problem for us strategically, because we couldn't just jump in the Humvee and take off if we really needed to evacuate the condominiums in a hurry.
The way things stood right now, we would have to park the Humvee very close to the fence line and drop down from the fence to the roof of the Humvee and then go through the roof hatch, if things really hit the fan and we needed to leave in a hurry. It was awkward and unsafe, but there really were no other vehicles suitable enough for all seven of us to use.
I really would have loved to have had the vehicle parked a lot closer to us inside the fence line were we could get on board with ease.
Although, with the ramp being the only way in or out, even if we could have fit the Humvee through it, it would still have been difficult for us to bug out of here in a hurry with only one exit available to us. And it would have been impossible to leave that way if it became overly congested by a horde of Infected blocking the way out.
Still, the advantage we had thus far with the way the complex was constructed was that it was extremely easy for us to clear the grounds and thus make it possible for us to have some sort of secure place to spend the night.
Besides the six Infected we came across on the steps near the entrance, there were only about four more shuffling around on the grounds itself, and pretty soon we were done mopping up the exterior of the complex without breaking too much of a sweat.
And after we had taken out all of the Infected on the exterior of the apartment complex, I then had Shizuka open up the door to her friend's condo. After which, Kouta and I then cleared the interior of the condo while everyone remained outside until we made sure it was secure.
The condo that we would be staying in was rather large actually, and it took a little longer for Kouta and I to clear it than I thought it would before I was convinced that it was safe enough to let the rest of the group come inside.
It was a pretty impressive condo for a person living on a police officer's salary I thought to myself as I admired its spacious interior. I was beginning to think maybe I should have been a cop in Japan to be able to live like this, as the rest of the group came in and locked the door behind them.
After making sure everyone was inside and safe, I doffed my pack in the living room along with everybody else's stuff, and gave instructions to everyone on our next plan of action. Then, after making sure that Shizuka, Rei, and Saya would be safe while we were away clearing out the other condos, I then went upstairs followed by Kouta, Saeko, and Takashi as we went up to the second floor landing.
We then went through the difficult task of climbing into each of the adjoining condos and clearing each and every one of them systematically. "Difficult," because we were making our entry to each condo from the second floor on each unit.
This was a little tough because each outside balcony of every individual condo was separated from each other and in order to access each balcony, we had to climb over the railing and on top of an overhang to get through to the other side as we attempted to enter each condo.
"Why don't we make entry on the first floor instead?" Kouta had asked earlier, puzzled that we weren't making our entry on the ground floor, instead of climbing along the second floor landings.
Personally, I think he was just more than a little disappointed that we weren't going to make a spectacular dynamic entry the way the Spec Ops and SWAT Teams do by blasting the door open with the shotgun aimed at the lock and the hinges and then kicking the door in and start shooting at anything that moved within.
That, and I think he just hated all the extra exercise he was forced to do.
The real truth was, the main reason I chose to make entry from the second story versus the bottom was to preserve the integrity of the locked security doors downstairs by not busting them down, or breaking any of the windows downstairs so that we could all stay in the condos without compromising the security of each room by keeping the doors and windows intact.
It's extremely counter-productive to breach a door, thus making it useless, and then be left with no way to secure the main entrance into the place you've taken shelter in if you have no way to secure the entryway afterwards. This was one of the main reasons why I was being careful to try to keep from smashing everything as we went.
Blocking an open doorway with a sofa or coffee table because we had just trashed the door was just not going to work for us in case we did become trapped by a bunch of Infected that had managed to get through the gates and were now trying to get at us. There would have been no way to keep them out with the doors weakened or trashed completely.
Of course, we could have just broken a window and then crawled through it and used something to block the window we had broken. We could have then unlocked the doors from the inside and so on and so forth.
But the problem was that the windows and glass all around the ground floor was thicker than most glass panes you see in homes back in the United States. And since they were so thick, I wanted to avoid shattering them too, to help maintain the security of each condo.
As thick as they were though, they wouldn't stop a horde of Infected determined to come in. But they would hold off a few of them pounding on the glass and give us enough time to head for the second floor in case of a breach.
And the sound of breaking glass in the middle of the night is a perfect way to tell if someone is trying to get in that's not supposed to.
You see, there was a method behind my madness.
Although the kids just couldn't see it, because once we got to the top floor, I had to stop Takashi from swinging his bat and shattering the glass on the sliding doors before I could demonstrate to all of them another of my reasons for going through all this trouble.
I swear, kids just love to smash things, don't they?
"Always try before you pry." I lectured the teens as I swung the unlocked sliding door open on the apartment next to the one we were staying. Takashi turned beet-red with embarrassment at seeing the ease at which I had opened the door, but in reality, he wasn't the only one ever to make that mistake.
One of the things that is taught at the Fire Academy, and something we always try to train newbies is the old adage "Try before you pry."
There's nothing more embarrassing than smashing a door, wall, or window to smithereens in a residence trying to make entry into a house on fire or for whatever reason your trying to get in the house and then the resident suddenly comes running up screaming bloody murder at you because the front door was unlocked in the first place.
Seeing as how secure this complex was though, I figured that the other residents might not be too worried about locking the sliding doors on their balconies, and my hunch had been proven correct for six of the eight units we had gained access to.
Most people, whether it's because of complacency, or a false sense of security, will often times leave the sliding doors on their second floor balcony unlocked, and thieves knowing this will just shimmy up to the second floor balcony and let themselves in. No fuss, no muss. No trade secret there, as anyone who lives in an apartment complex will tell you.
The other two condos we went to that were locked, were still easy for me to open up once I displaced the sliding doors off their track and pulled them free. After all was said and done, there was no breaking of glass or any doors shot up in pieces which was perfect in my opinion, but very anti-climactic for Kouta.
Surprisingly enough, no burglar alarms went off as we broke into any of the condos, and when we made our search of each of them, there were only about two people that we found at home and both of them were Infected, so we dispatched them quickly and walked out the front door of each condo as easy as you please.
All in all, clearing out the other units turned out to be much easier than I thought, although it still took a lot of time checking every room, both upstairs as well as downstairs, as well as every closet, and underneath every bed.
After we were done clearing out all the condos, we then had the unpleasant task of policing the bodies and laying them out in the back of the parking lot. There was no real ground large enough available to bury all of them and we were too exhausted to even try anyway, and so we let it go for now. There was still too much to be done before we could rest anyway. However, I knew something would need to be done about the bodies soon.
One of the things that usually follows a major disaster is the inevitable spread of diseases that plague the area from all the corpses that eventually rot outdoors after days of being left exposed to the elements without being buried.
When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and the levies were breached from the storm surge and drowned scores of residents living near the levies, many of their bodies were unfortunately unable to be retrieved for quite some time and diseases begin to spread from the corpses that rotted before they could be recovered and buried.
I couldn't even imagine how bad it was going to be worldwide once the plagues started spreading uncontrolled if the governments didn't get this Outbreak under control soon.
After the bodies were dragged to the farthest corner of the complex, I did a quick once-over sweep of the grounds and secured the main gate at the front as well as the rear of the complex. And then finally, we all returned to the condo where the rest of the group were and took a moment to catch our breath.
The complex was finally secure and we were more than ready, for a badly needed break.
Well, it was as secure as it could be anyways. It was nowhere near the ideal fortification I wished that it could be, but it was better than being out in the street or holing up in some rickety shed somewhere.
The complex was built very securely, and surrounded with iron gates all around. We also had food, water, power, and a lot of other creature comforts on hand than most people could only wish they had right now. But still, from a tactical standpoint, it was a far cry from being absolutely safe.
Even the Alamo looked like a pretty decent place for a small group of Texans to fort up back in 1836 when they were surrounded by thousands of enemies outside the gates, and we all know how horribly that ended up.
And since I'm originally from San Antonio and was raised on the stories of the Battle of the Alamo, I know the uglier details of how that battle ended for the Texans that they don't tell you about in the history books.
I saw no sense in troubling the kids with my worries though. We really were a lot better off than most people right now, and so I kept my mouth shut and let the kids relax for now as they literally tore into the food that Shizuka and the other girls had been quickly preparing for everybody while we were out clearing the other units in the complex.
We hadn't had anything to eat since the protein bars I had given everyone for breakfast this morning back on the bus, and we were all starving. I had rationed my own bar one bite at a time, and had made it last all day, but as I saw the spread before me, I wanted so badly to tear into one of those hastily-made sandwiches just as ravenously as the kids did.
Watching them wolf down the food the way they did made me laugh. Table manners went out the window once they stepped up to the kitchenette and began eating like a pack of wolves on a fresh kill.
I always did get a kick out of all those movies and anime's where someone is calmly cooking a meal for everybody after no one has eaten for an entire day while everyone else calmly walks around making polite conversation as the food slowly cooks on the stove.
Yeah right, like anyone's gonna really just sit there and wait for a meal to be cooked after not eating all day, instead of just ravaging through the fridge and cupboards and eating everything in sight.
It had been almost eighteen hours since their last meal which was the protein bar, and I'm surprised the kids weren't gnawing on the frozen steaks that Shizuka had laid out on the sink to defrost.
Obviously, the screenwriters of those motion pictures forgot what it's like to be a growing teenager because even Saya was stuffing her face faster than Kouta . And even Rei, Takashi, and Saeko had mayonnaise and mustard smeared all over their faces as they ate.
And boy, Shizuka could really put away some groceries too, let me tell you.
But before I could help myself to a sandwich hopefully without getting my hand bitten off by Mama wolf and her pack of ravenous cubs gorging themselves in the kitchenette, I seriously wanted to wash the blood off of my arms, and also scrub the camo paint off my face as well, before I ate anything.
My reasons for wanting to wash the blood off my arms goes without saying, but I was also concerned about the psychological effect my camo'ed face as well as the blood on my arms would have on the civilians in my care.
There's nothing like trying to eat a meal no matter how much you're starving, and then try to enjoy it and not freak out a bit while you're sitting next to the Jolly Green Giant who has blood dripping down his arms without wanting to upchuck everything you just ate. So I grabbed a juice box out of the fridge and chugged it down as I headed for the bathroom to clean up.
"Jimu-san? Where are you going?" Shizuka asked, curious as to why the American wasn't eating any of the sandwiches she and the other girls had hastily prepared.
"Surely he must be hungry as well." Shizuka thought.
"I'm just gonna wash up first, Sensei. I'll be right back." The man replied, entering the bathroom and shutting the door behind him.
"Saeko-chan, is he all right?" Shizuka asked the teen as Saeko was busy trying to swallow a large bite of her ham sandwich.
"As far as I know, Sensei. Why?" Saeko asked, puzzled at the nurse's concern.
"He's been awfully quiet since all of you came back, I've noticed." Shizuka said frowning. "All he said to us when we met him outside in the street was that all of you had run into some trouble while coming over here."
"By the way, what did happen out there?" Shizuka asked, a worried look on her face.
"Some men tried to jump us a mile away from here." Kouta replied. "Jimu-san said they were trying to set up an ambush for us when we walked by, and he stopped them before they could attack us."
"Is that all he said?" Takashi asked, curious as to what had happened to the group as well. The American had only mentioned that they had run into trouble, but had offered no further details. And once everyone else had arrived safely, Takashi hadn't thought to press the issue until now.
"He didn't say how many there were trying to attack you, or why they were trying to harm you, or anything at all?"
"No, that's all he told us." Rei replied. "We did see one of the men shooting at him as we,…." Rei hesitated a moment as she cast a quick glance at Saya before continuing.
"As we were hiding by the side of the road after the gunfire started. But we never saw the other men that he shot."
"You actually saw Jimu-san shooting at one of them? What happened?" Takashi asked, intensely curious now.
"Well, the man with the shotgun shot at him and missed, and then he fired two more times with his shotgun and missed him again. And then Jimu-san finally shot him. Why do you ask?" Saya asked puzzled, after taking an enormous bite of her sandwich, both of her cheeks swollen like a chipmunk's as she chewed.
"Because I saw that he had blood all over his arms." Shizuka replied, her brow furrowed with worry. "And I didn't see any wounds on him either."
"And if he was shooting his rifle, there would be no reason for blood to be on his arms." Takashi added, looking at everyone. "And that's what has me so curious as to what happened to all of you out there."
"That is true, he wouldn't have any blood on his arms if he was just shooting, unless he stopped to search the bodies afterwards." Kouta replied. "Or,…he said out loud at first, and then let his voice trail off.
"Or, what?" Takashi asked.
"Or, since he was by himself, he may have had to take out someone silently like a straggler or a sentry that was standing away from the rest of the other men, so as not to alert the others." Kouta replied.
"What do you mean, take him out silently?" Takashi asked, still confused.
"It means he had to kill someone hand-to-hand Komuro-kun." Saeko replied. "Probably by slitting someone's throat or breaking his neck, before Jimu-san could move in to position to engage the rest of the attackers."
"How awful!" Shizuka gasped. "Do you honestly believe he could really have done that? He doesn't seem the type to be so brutal."
"He is a mercenary Sensei." Saya replied. "I'm sure he was trained to be able to do that in combat."
"Yes, I suppose so, but still." Shizuka said, casting her eyes down.
"He probably had no choice, Sensei." Kouta replied. "All alone up there on the hill by himself in the dark. If that really is the reason why he had blood on his arms, I'm sure it was because it was a last resort situation for him."
"I thought about that after it was all over and he went off and walked ahead of us without giving out any details." Saeko said suddenly, looking down at her plate. "And even though he tried to stay in the shadows, I also saw the blood on his arms, and I had a feeling he was hiding something from us."
"He was probably afraid you were going to slap him again." Saya replied as Saeko smiled in response to her comment.
"Saeko-chan. Please don't be mad at him." Shizuka said, worried about a repeat of the horrible scene earlier. "I'm sure he didn't mean to break his promise to you to not take any more unnecessary risks."
"Do not worry, Sensei. I'm not going to lose control like earlier." Saeko replied, still staring at her plate. "And as far as breaking his promise is concerned, I know he was only trying to keep me from being afraid when he made that promise to me. I really didn't expect him to keep it, even though I really hoped he would. I don't know why I even made him promise that. He even said it himself, he's a mercenary, and it's his job to fight even though we all know he's not being paid for keeping us safe."
"And in truth, it really isn't my place to tell him anything, anyway." Saeko said, smiling slightly.
"But I can't help it." Saeko continued. "I'm worried he's going to get himself killed taking all these risks for us. And I know, I really shouldn't be worried by anything he does, but I am." Saeko said looking at Shizuka. "And I feel so silly as well, worrying about a man who's not even related to me."
"It's not silly at all." Shizuka replied, smiling. "I feel the same way. That's why I was worried when I saw the blood on his arms."
"She's right, it's not silly." Saya said looking at her. "Even though he's kind of a grumpy old guy, he kind of grows on you, you know?"
"Yeah, he doesn't act like most adults do." Rei agreed.
"Actually, he acts a little goofier than most." Takashi said chuckling.
"I'm still going to kill him later." Saeko replied, as she and everyone began to laugh.
"What's up, guys?" The American said, interrupting them as he stepped out of the bathroom, absent-mindedly wiping his hands and face with one of Rika's best towels, to Shizuka's horror.
The man had managed to wipe away most of the camouflage paint off his face, neck, and ears but there was still a bit of it smeared here and there. However, the towel itself was soaked through with the face paint and completely ruined, much to Shizuka's dismay.
The American looked upon the visibly pained expressions of all of the women in the room staring at him and froze in fear.
"What?" He asked, completely clueless as to the women's shocked reaction as he had walked into the room.
Some men will just never understand why some women, especially their wives or girlfriends, will get all upset at them when they wipe their dirty hands on their best towels after working out in the yard or on the car.
Nor will they understand why other women become so sympathetic to another woman whose property has just been ruined by a thoughtless man, and will thus gang up on him as well.
"See what I mean?" Takashi snickered as the women looked on in horror.
"Yup." Kouta said laughing.
"Uh-oh, this can't be good." The man said trying to make a joke to relieve the tension in the room, still not comprehending why everyone was staring at him as he tossed the ruined towel in the kitchen sink as Shizuka did a silent scream.
Moving quickly, he then walked past their scowling faces, until he knelt down over his pack that was lying in the middle of the living room floor.
He then unzipped several compartments in it, and then rummaging around inside the pack for a few moments he began pulling out several folding knives from it and then stood and walked back towards the group and began passing out a knife to each one of the four women.
"I don't know what's going on, and maybe I'm gonna regret handing you women these weapons for you to use, but here you are." The American said as he passed out each one.
"These knives I'm giving you are called the "M21" knife made by a company called CRKT." The man explained. "They were designed for utility and fighting use, and so from now on, I want each of you to carry this knife with you wherever you go, whether it's to the toilet, the shower, or even to bed, understand?"
As all of the women nodded their heads, he then demonstrated to them how to open and close the knife as each of the women followed his instructions and practiced opening and folding the rather large, folding knife he had given them.
"Keep this knife hidden on your person always, and also make sure that no one else can see that you have it. But I also want you to keep it somewhere where you can get to it quickly, okay?" The American instructed. "I mean it. Keep this knife with you at all times, because your life may depend on it, understand?"
"We will. But why are you giving them to us?" Shizuka asked.
"Because people everywhere are doing things that none of us would have thought possible and I don't want you walking around unarmed and unable to defend yourselves, no matter what. "The American said with a sigh. "These knives are not very big for you to use as a weapon, but they're better than nothing at all."
"My goodness, why do you have so many knives with you anyway?" Shizuka asked looking at the large knife the man had just given her.
"I had read an article in a magazine years ago, by (Ret.) Lt. Commander Mike Walsh in SEAL Team Four who stated that knives are specialty items, and that he always carried at least five on every mission he went to." The American explained. " It made sense to me, and because they can also be lost fairly easily in the field, I always carry a few extras."
"I knew it, he's a SEAL." Kouta whispered to Takashi.
"Will you please, STOP THAT?!" The American chided Kouta as everyone laughed. "I told you I'm a PMC."
The man shook his head and then gazed upon the group once more.
"All right everyone listen close, from this point on I don't want any of you going anywhere alone, or going anywhere unarmed either, are we clear?" The man said, casting a nasty look at Kouta who had just whispered something unintelligible.
"That goes for you too, guys." The man said, still eyeing Kouta.
Wide-eyed, everyone nodded their heads in understanding as the man then grabbed a sandwich and walked away from them over to his pack and then lifting it, slung it over his shoulder and began to head for the door.
"Jimu-san, where are you going?" Saeko asked puzzled at the man's odd behavior. "Is something wrong?"
"Not at all sweetie, I'm just gonna head over to the condo next door and clean up my gear and grab a shower and then rack out. It's been a long day, and I'm anxious to wash all of this mud off of me."
"But you just said for all of us not to go anywhere alone." Saeko said with a frown. "Why are you going alone, if we can't?
"I'm not alone sweetie." The man said raising his carbine in the air and smiling. "I have my "little friend" with me. Don't worry about me, and make sure you lock the door when I leave."
"Boys." The man continued. "When I go into the room next door, I'm going to lock the door behind me. If you want to come in, use the extra key we found. And when you do come over, come together, and come armed."
Saeko frowned even deeper, but said nothing as Shizuka placed her hand on Saeko's arm.
"Why not just use the shower here?" Shizuka asked. "We don't mind waiting till you're done."
"Naw, that's OK." The man replied walking towards the door slowly. "I think I'll spare you the image of seeing my wrinkly old butt trying to shower over here on this side. Besides, some of you need to clean up as soon as possible too. Ya'll are getting kind of ripe." The American laughed as he quickly ran towards the door as a hail of empty juice boxes were hurled at him.
"He's being unusually distant for some reason." Saeko thought as she watched the man leave and Saya locked the door behind him. "Something did happen a while ago, and he's trying really hard to keep it to himself."
"You know, he has a point." Rei said aloud, distracting Saeko from her thoughts. "I think a shower and a change of clothes really does sound like a good idea right now."
"Yeah, we should really clean up before they shut off the water and electricity." Saya agreed, finishing her sandwich. "I'm surprised with everything going on that all the utilities are still working."
"But they might not be for long." Takashi added nodding his head. "Takagi-san's right, we'd better take advantage of having water and electricity while we still can. You can all clean up if you'd like, Hirano and I will stand guard upstairs."
"Well, in that case, come along everyone, we can conserve water if we all go at the same time." Shizuka said as she led the way to the bathroom.
"TOGETHER?!" Saya protested as Rei pushed her along. "But that's so embarrassing!"
"Oh come on, you big baby." Rei chided her. "No one cares how you look."
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT? WHAT'S WRONG WITH HOW I LOOK?!" Saya protested as Rei shoved her through the door.
"Let's go Hirano." Takashi said as he headed for the stairs.
Halfway up the stairs, Takashi looked back to see that his friend had not yet joined him in his climb up the steps but instead, was still downstairs looking at the door that the women had disappeared behind.
"KOUTA!" Takashi hissed. "What are you doing?"
Kouta looked up at him and grinned mischievously. " Komuro, we can't possibly pass up this opportunity, man!"
"YOU BETTER NOT BE OUT THERE TRYING TO PEEP, YOU FAT OTAKU!" Saya screamed through the door. "I'LL STAB YOU WITH THIS KNIFE, I SWEAR!"
Kouta gulped and then quickly started to climb the stairs after Takashi, his desire to peep doused like a bucket of cold water being thrown over him by Saya's threat.
After I had exited the condo where the kids were, I then entered the adjoining one through the front door. But I still kept my guard up, as if the grounds had been penetrated and someone was lying in the dark trying to catch me unawares. It may have sounded like paranoia was overcoming me. But right now, it was a very real fear.
The reason I was being so vigilant was that I was now very worried about non-Infected people slipping into the complex and trying to harm the kids either because they wanted to steal our source of shelter, or any of our food, our belongings, or our weapons.
But what was really worrying me, especially after the two incidences today, was the very real possibility of some sick bunch of psychos trying to get at the women.
This was the main reason for my taking the precaution of giving the women the knives to defend themselves with, as well as telling everyone to only go outside in pairs.
As tired as I was, I couldn't afford to let my guard down too much, and I had decided that after I cleaned my gear, weapons and myself, that I would then come back and stand guard on the top floor of the women's condo as soon as everyone went to sleep.
For now, I still had too much to do before I could take a real breather. I still had to clean all my weapons and ammo magazines that had all been immersed in the polluted river after my involuntary little swim after I had jumped off the bridge.
Water doesn't necessarily cause harm or damage to weapons and ammo, especially military grade ammo, but the silt from the river bottom that was stirred up as I was being dragged along the river bottom by the current might have settled in some key places inside my weapons and could possibly jam the internals.
And that same silt might cause the magazines for my weapons to not feed properly as well. So basically, I had a big job ahead of me if I wanted my weapons to work properly when I needed them.
Fortunately, most of the things I had in my pack were sealed in waterproof plastic bags, so most of my gear and my clothes were still nice and dry. A lesson I had learned from reading all those books about the Teams.
I first removed everything from my pack as well as everything from my combat vest and rinsed the outside of all the plastic bags. I then washed out the pack and my vest and then stuffed them in the dryer. Mold and mildew can ruin gear, not to mention the strong smell of it in an urban environment can give you away too.
Using a dryer is not necessarily a good idea either because the anti-wrinkling cloths people use in the dryer to keep clothes from wrinkling has a strong scent that has a tendency to rub off on other loads of clothes even if another cloth is not used in that particular load.
The problem of using a dryer to dry gear used in combat is that the perfume from those cloths can adhere to your stuff and the scent will give you away if you're in the middle of a jungle or a desert and your gear smells like strawberries.
Still, I needed my stuff back in service really quick, so I put my wet things in the dryer and hoped for the best. We were after all in a metropolitan city and not the African bush, so I figured the extremely faint scent of strawberry smelling gear in the city wouldn't hurt me that much tactically, anyway.
I then began the long process of tearing apart my weapons and magazines and cleaning them, each and every part, a process that lasted well over a couple of hours.
As I began taking my weapons apart, I could hear the sounds of the women bathing through the wall. For some reason, they were being extremely loud and it really sounded like there was a slumber party going on next to me as I tried to focus on the task at hand.
I'm sure it would have been very interesting to see what was going on over there, but contrary to popular belief, not all men over the age of forty are dirty old men, and neither was I.
Hey, I'm serious. Quit rolling your eyes.
I had to laugh though. When I was a teenager, I would have probably gone crazy listening to the sounds I was hearing right now, which would without a doubt have sent my teenage hormones going into overdrive.
Now, the only thing that was going through my mind was how the loudness of their voices might be giving our location away.
"You're getting old, Jim." I said out loud, chuckling to myself and shaking my head.
So I ignored the laughing, yelling, and screeching going on next door, as I disassembled my weapons and their magazines and cleaned each of them out. And then I wiped each individual round down with a towel and counted the rounds I had left as I reloaded my magazines.
When I was done, my final round count was that I had thirteen full magazines for the Mk18 left, including the double mag set-up I had and the 60-rounder. I also had six full 18 round magazines for my Sig, as well as two full 8 round magazines for my H&K P7.
After the magazines had been reloaded, I still had a box and a half of 9mm ammo left over, and I also had four full boxes of .308 ammo for my M24.
Still a pretty decent amount of ammo left, but I needed to be careful just the same.
After I was done with all that, I took my gear out of the dryer and placed everything back into the pack and into my combat vest. I then took a long hot shower soaking for a very long while, letting the hot water relieve the knots in my back and soothing my tired, aching muscles. It's amazing the things we take for granted, and right now, a hot shower really was a luxury I was taking full advantage of.
Afterwards I put on an extra pair of clean clothes that I carried, and put the ones I had worn in the washer along with my hiking boots. I still had one pair of jeans and a navy blue tee shirt that I was wearing, and I had a pair of khakis and a tan tee shirt I could wear later as well.
Most PMC's don't usually wear military "cammies" all the time, like the regular military do. Most prefer to wear clothes that are more comfortable as well as more rugged than military-issue camouflage fatigues, although on a mission, they will wear " cammies" to suit the needs of the mission at hand.
As I waited for my clothes to wash, I did a search of the homeowner's kitchen and found some things I could snack on, but yeah, you guessed it. No coffee anywhere.
Ah well, at least he had cocoa.
I brewed up a cup and then I sat down on the floor leaning against the living room sofa, and as a precaution, I replaced all the batteries on all the electronic equipment mounted on my Mk18 which included my weaponlight, DBAL laser unit, and Eotech sight.
And as I worked, I thought about everything that had happened back at the river, and I knew that what was bothering me hadn't gone unnoticed by the teens or Shizuka.
It wasn't my plunge off the bridge or my tiff with Saeko or the people that I had killed today, that was bothering me right now. As a matter of fact, I wasn't upset that much at all about any of that, but my conscience was nagging me a bit on something else.
What I was really worried about was the excitement I was feeling at having actually been in real combat for the first time, ever.
When I had finished my "ride-a-longs" with EMS during my EMT-Basic training back in 1986, I was thrilled beyond words about the new adventure I had just experienced in a line of work that I wasn't too sure I'd wanted to get involved with in the first place.
And after making some really interesting calls with EMS and observing the Paramedics in action during that phase of my training, I was really pumped about a career as a Paramedic, after that.
And after my first structure fire as a rookie Fireman years later, I was stoked once again about my new experiences in such an exciting field, and I was practically crowing like a rooster about my first structure fire, even though it really wasn't all that bad.
And after I had spent 26 years helping people, I had finally become too "burned out" to want to continue any more, as well as some other things that happened that made me finally turn in my papers.
But it still hurt so very much to leave the only life I'd ever known when the time came for me to leave it all behind.
And when I became a PMC, I knew that I would have to change that mentality of mine about trying to help people all the time, and I would have to get used to the idea that I might have to actually open fire on people and take their life, in order to save my buddies and also to preserve my own life as well.
And that had proven so true today.
Today, I had killed ten people, not to mention all the Infected I had killed since this whole thing began.
Before today, I've never even thrown another punch at another person in anger much less shoot nine of them and taken another out with my knife.
That being the case, most people would have thought that I'd be extremely remorseful and probably start crying and calling myself a murderer and how could I ever do such a thing, and so on. Even though the people I had killed were the actual antagonists and I had only been trying to protect a bunch of innocent kids.
And the truth was, I really did feel regret having to kill those people. I may have had to kill in self-defense. But I was not a murderer. And I took no pleasure in it, whatsoever.
But what I was feeling right now was the same thrill I had experienced before, as a rookie Paramedic and as a rookie Firefighter.
And as I finished replacing all the batteries on my rifle and wiped down my knife after washing off all the blood, I kept re-living everything I had done since the firefight at the airport, thinking about every detail of every moment of what had happened.
The firefight against the Infected at the airport and the park, the helicopter flight and the crash afterwards, the E&E after I split up from my team at the park, my recon at the bridge, my preparing myself for combat at the hill, my trailing the kids looking for possible threats, the stalking I did of the men at the hill who came to ambush the kids, the silent movement I had done up until the moment just before I clamped my hand over that one fellow's mouth and then used my knife, and then the firefight with those men afterwards.
I could not stop the feeling I was having right now and I felt guilty for what it was that I was feeling, because now as I sat down quietly in someone else's luxurious condo, I had to admit.
I had loved every moment of it.
The fatigue started to really hit me about then, but I did my best to stay awake. And as soon as the buzzer on the dryer went off indicating that my shoes were dry I got up off the floor and took them out of the dryer and put them on my feet, enjoying the warmth on my tired feet.
I wanted to head back and check on the teens, but I was really tired right now, so I went back to the living room and stretched out on the sofa. And as I lay there I laughed a little at myself. I had successfully protected the teens from two separate attacks and a part of me wished the guys had seen it, just so they could see how far I'd come since I first walked through the gates at the training center in Nevada.
But then another part of me hoped no one would know about what I had done because I fully expected the guys to royally chew my ass out for taking such a huge risk.
That, and if Saeko ever found out exactly what had happened up there on the hill, she'd kill me for sure.
Even though I wished I could have seen everything that had happened on video, I was really glad that it was a good thing there wasn't any evidence of what had really happened out there.
And then I laughed again at my earlier thought of an unmanned drone flying overhead and capturing the whole thing on film and Gunny Ermey narrating it.
Of course the whole possibility of a drone catching our little adventure on video was impossible, not to mention just plain silly. The whole world was in the throes of a major disaster and all resources, military and otherwise were being stretched to their absolute limits trying to deal with it.
Nobody in their right mind would care less about the story of our little band and the trials we were facing much less expend any resources like a drone or rescue team on our behalf. I laughed again at how silly such a thing would be as I checked the electronics on my carbine to make sure they were working.
Hours earlier.
Location: Ifurita Air Base JSDF
Personal quarters of General Isoroku Ihara.
"I'll do what I can Soichiro-kun. You're having that chip surgically placed in her was a great help. Give my best regards to your wife. I'll contact you as soon as I have something. You're welcome old friend. Goodbye." General Isoroku Ihara said to the person on the receiving end of his cell phone as he hung up with a heavy sigh.
The frown on his face furrowed even deeper than it had in the past two days since the Outbreak began, and now as JSDF forces were being overrun and his own resources were being depleted at an incredible rate, General Ihara was now even more greatly troubled by the phone call he had just received from an old friend.
A friend who he would have gladly sacrifice everything for, and now after making contact with him and accepting his unusual request, the General was certain that he probably would be sacrificing his entire career for what he was about to do to help his friend in the middle of this crisis.
Ihara sighed again as he turned on his phone and dialed a number. As the receiving caller answered the phone on the other end, the General greeted another friend. A young officer that was also the son of an old friend from his Academy days.
"Ken-chan! How are you? Yes, I'm fine, thanks. I have something to ask of you." The General said, pausing for a moment before he continued.
"Are any one of the drones Command has assigned to reconnaissance along Sector 3-Alpha along the coast, anywhere near Tokonosu City?" The General listened for a moment and then breathed a sigh of relief at the affirmative reply on the other end of the phone.
Diverting a drone off a set flight path without good reason would be disastrous to his career during a crisis like the one they faced now.
However, having it make a slight detour and make a pass over an area on the way to its intended flight path wouldn't rouse that much suspicion.
"I might not have to face a court martial after all." The General chuckled.
Not that his orders would be questioned or countermanded anyway under the circumstances.
The Outbreak had already taken its toll on Japan's Self Defense Forces, and many of its Senior staff had already fallen along with many of their men in the battle to save their countrymen from an enemy unlike any they could have ever imagined.
Normally, the flight path of a drone could only be diverted during an emergency, or a classified mission. However, now in the middle of this crisis, normal military protocol was taking a back seat more often than ever before, and this little detour Ihara was directing would not raise any real suspicion.
"Good." Ihara replied. "I have some coordinates I want your people to make a pass over before they orbit the drone around the city. Go ahead and copy these coordinates down and I'll be there in about 20 minutes. Thank you Major. The coordinates are….."
"General Ihara hung up after giving the young Major the desired coordinates for the unarmed drone orbiting over Tokonosu City, which was currently recording the movements of JSDF troops below and gathering intelligence on the catastrophe they were desperately trying to bring under control.
He sat behind his desk a while longer going over the current logistical reports before he left his quarters and headed for the Command Center.
Dispensing with the customary formalities that came with his rank as he walked into the Command Center, General Ihara entered and immediately walked towards the young officer he had spoken to on his cell phone earlier.
"Welcome General." The young Major replied after the General had told everyone in the room to "carry on" with their duties.
"The Drone Operators flew over the coordinates you gave, sir. And the images we're receiving warranted further inspection I believe, so I ordered them to orbit over the target area for a while longer instead of a quick pass as you ordered."
"Oh?" Ihara asked, surprised.
"Yes sir, And I really think you should see this." The young officer said as he waved him over to the monitors that displayed the images being received by the drone as it orbited the area where the General had requested the fly-by.
"What's wrong? The General asked, slightly puzzled.
"Nothing wrong, sir, just,…interesting." The Major replied pointing at the screens.
Each of the large monitors that the Major pointed at showed the images being recorded in real time by the drone, the powerful cameras displaying the images being sent back to the Command Center in infra-red, starlight, and normal view.
"What do you mean,…..interesting?" Ihara asked.
"Sir, as the drone flew over the coordinates you requested, eleven separate heat signatures showed up on FLIR. Four of them were walking single file along a small stretch of road alongside the canal just north of Tokonosu Bashi. They were, and still are, headed northwest as you can see."
General Ihara looked at the large monitor showing the IR image of a small group of people walking in the dark, each of them spaced several feet apart and walking in single file, three of them seeming to be carrying weapons of some sort as they walked.
The General's eyes switched from the IR image to the monitor display in normal view as he spotted one of the people walking in line sporting a shocking pink hairdo that immediately caused him to suck in his breath.
"Sir, the people in that group seem to be three women, and one male. Two of the women are carrying home-made weapons, while one is unarmed, and the one boy with them walking towards the rear is carrying a rifle, sir." The Major explained. "Their clothing also suggests they're schoolchildren."
Ihara grunted in response, as the Major continued.
"This other contact was trailing them from about 50 meters behind, originally." The Major continued, as he pointed to a large solitary figure of a man on the screen. "He's a very large male, and very heavily armed as well. He was also walking behind the schoolchildren in an unmistakable zigzag pattern."
"Has he shown any signs of aggression towards the children?" The General asked aloud, his brow now wrinkled with worry.
"None so far as we've noticed, sir." The Major replied. "He is staying concealed from their view however. It appears that he's using NVG's as he moves, and the way he's moving in that zigzag pattern suggests he might have some military training as well. But it's when these other contacts showed up that things really got interesting, sir."
"What other targets?" The General asked, scanning the screens.
"Here, sir." The Major said pointing at the top of the screen as the drone banked and the ghostly images of the people the Major was talking about finally came into view.
" When these other people entered the area, sir, then this man trailing the children suddenly started rushing forward when these other contacts came into view." The Major explained.
"I see what you mean, about "interesting." General Ihara said as the ghostly figures of five obviously armed men that had been walking towards the group, suddenly stopped and lay on the ground as a sixth, carrying a rifle or shotgun in his hands, continued on.
All eyes not busy with other duties, were glued to the monitors watching the small drama unfold as the man in the middle of the field trailing the small group of children and now way in front of them suddenly froze, apparently seeing the other man approaching him.
He then lay on the ground removing the large field pack he was carrying as the man with the rifle or shotgun closed in and then suddenly slowed down as if to observe the children.
Everyone stood in hushed silence as the man lying on the ground suddenly reached down and pulled what appeared to be a large knife from his boot and then began to approach the man with the shotgun from behind.
There was a startled gasp from someone in the Command Room as they all watched the larger man on the monitor suddenly grab the smaller man from behind and stabbed downward with his knife. And then as they watched, he then pulled the still struggling man away from the edge of the hill as the children kept on walking, apparently unaware of the attack.
"Oh shit." A female Captain in the room said out loud as the man suddenly twisted the other man's neck and then retrieved his pack and the dead man's shotgun and then started heading towards the men still lying on the ground.
"Major, are there any patrols from the Ground Forces near that area?" Ihara asked, not removing his eyes from the monitors.
"I already had some people look into that sir, and their nearest patrol is at Tokonosu Bashi assisting the police and they've got their hands full. The rest of the Ground Forces in the area are scattered throughout the city trying to help control the Infected, and they're unable to maintain effective communication with their people in the field in this area, sir."
"I'm sorry General." The Major said apologetically.
"Understood, Major. Thank you for trying." General Ihara replied.
As Ihara watched, the small group of children suddenly stopped for some reason and seemed to be speaking to one another for a moment before two of them ran towards the river and seemed to be sitting near the water's edge.
One of them that had run out into the darkness Ihara noticed, was the young girl with the shocking pink hair.
Ihara swore under his breath and began grinding his teeth as he continued to watch helplessly at each screen as the men lying on the ground suddenly got up and appeared to be getting ready to attack the young travelers.
He then swore out loud as a fierce firefight erupted when the large man came up and surprised the other men that were lying on the ground from behind, killing all of them and then engaging another man that had probably only been wounded and had shot at him three times, missing him as the larger man then fired his weapon, the muzzle flash from his weapon showing up on the screen three times as the other man then collapsed and fell down the hill.
After the fight was over, Ihara tensed as the man walked over to the children. He then breathed a heavy sigh of relief as the man and the children continued walking along the road together after a brief moment, with the large man walking "point" leading the schoolchildren.
"So he was protecting them after all." The Major said out loud, also sighing with relief.
"It would appear so." Ihara agreed, as he continued watching the monitor.
"They appear to still be heading northwest, General." The Major stated as the small group kept on walking completely unaware that their movements were being watched.
"Keep the drone fixed on them for now and contact me if they take shelter somewhere. I'll be in my quarters in the meantime. Keep me informed if anything happens." Ihara ordered as the Major turned around and looked at him.
"Yes sir." The Major acknowledged and then asked. "General, is there something I should know about these people, sir?"
General Ihara understood the reason behind the Major's question. In a time of crisis like this, it was highly unusual to focus the flight path of such a highly valuable resource such as a drone on a single group of people while an entire city was in crisis and its use could definitely be applied elsewhere more strategic.
"Let's just say that big fellow that just took out all those men single-handedly is definitely a "person of interest" Major." The General replied, trying to keep his true interest revealed.
"And I'd also like to know where those people are headed before we break off the drone back to its assigned patrol. That man may be protecting those children for now, but that doesn't mean he isn't going to be a threat to them later. I want to know the exact location of where he stops for the night."
"Understood sir." The Major acknowledged, as he saluted his superior officer.
Ihara returned the young officer's salute and then walked through the doors as he left the Command Center and returned to his quarters nearby. As soon as he sat at his desk, he punched up the re-dial button on his phone and waited for a response.
"Soichiro-kun, it's me. We found her. And yes my friend, she's alive. But there's a problem….."
I had tuned on the television trying to catch whatever news was going on at the time, having no doubts that all the newscasters would be focused on the Outbreak and the crisis at hand. The biggest problem I had as I flipped through each channel was, you guessed it, trying to find a channel where everyone was speaking in a language I could understand.
Maybe it was too much to ask for, but considering that in America we have cable channels in Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Tagalog, Indian, and Arabic and so on, I was hoping there was at least one in English still working here in Japan.
Despite the language barrier, I could tell by the footage that the Contagion had spread faster than anyone could have imagined and seemed to be contained to most of the more financially secure and technologically advanced countries, just like I had theorized.
There was also some very shocking footage of some parts of certain cities in America being napalmed by A-10's trying desperately to hold back the hordes the military was engaging.
I couldn't recognize the cities being fired upon, but to see that happening back home, was still a shock to me.
As I flipped through the channels, the footage got only grimmer and much more graphic than the previous channel. And in a touch of irony, I nearly laughed at seeing lines of traffic of thousands of my fellow Americans trying to escape to Mexico while the Mexican army tried to hold them back.
I didn't laugh though, because somewhere in that traffic, my own family and friends might also be fleeing for their lives and the helplessness I felt at being across the world unable to help them came back with a vengeance.
I was lost in thoughts of my own despair when the sudden blast of a rifle being fired from extremely close by, snapped me out of my funk and I jumped to my feet snatching up my Mk18 and my combat vest as I ran across the room and then bounded up the stairs.
I made it up to the balcony and found Kouta leaning against the far railing looking down towards the end of the street. And I also noticed something else.
"Where did you get THAT?" I said pointing at the very high-tech rifle he was holding as I climbed over the railing of my balcony and then over the railing on his side and then finally moved up next to him.
"Komuro and I found a weapons locker inside." Kouta replied, beaming with joy at his new "toy."
"We also found another rifle, a shotgun and a crossbow in it as well as a ton of ammo."
"Awesome find." I said as I looked at his rifle. And then stared in the direction he had been shooting. "What are you shooting at by the way, son?"
"There's a little girl just up the street that's under attack. Komuro-kun and I saw her and her father trying to find shelter in a house and the people inside killed him as he was banging on their door. She's out in the yard crying next to his body and the sound of her voice attracted a bunch of THEM. I shot a couple trying to get to her and Komuro left to try to rescue her."
"Oh." I said absent-mindedly, not really paying attention to the last part Kouta had said, as I scanned up the street with my monocular and finally spotted the house he was talking about.
It wasn't hard to find, the yard was pretty well lit up and the gate was open with about a couple dozen Infected heading towards the open gate.
I couldn't get a visual on the little girl, but she must still be alive and kicking and definitely wailing loud enough to be heard by every Infected in the area apparently. There were a few Infected walking down the street headed for the people trying to evacuate on Tokonosu Bridge. But with her crying, the sound of her voice was attracting very unwanted company, and in increasing numbers. And if we didn't move fast, a rescue of that little girl would be tough.
"HE'S DOING, WHAT?!" I roared, finally realizing what Kouta had just told me.
Kouta shrunk back at my reaction and seemed hesitant to answer me, which was understandable; I was pretty steamed at Takashi's recklessness.
And yes, I realize the irony of what I just said about Takashi being reckless. So sue me.
"He-he's going to rescue her." He stammered.
"HOW?!" The American asked, his eyes widened in horror.
"He's going to ride over there in his motorcycle and get her." Kouta replied still spooked by the look on the man's face.
I heard a noise coming from the driveway below and looked over the railing to find Takashi trying to start his bike while Saeko and Rei where preparing to open the gates. I saw a hastily constructed little ramp sitting at the end of the driveway and I figured out exactly what Takashi had been planning to do.
"Oh, somebody help keep me from beating this boy." I thought to myself.
"STOP WHAT YOU'RE DOING!" I yelled at the teens below, as their heads snapped up to look at me.
"Jimu-san!" Takashi yelled up at me. "A little girl's in danger! I have to try to rescue her!"
"FINE!" I roared. "BUT NOT, THAT WAY!"
"Well how then?' Takashi shot back.
"Just wait till I get down there!" I called out to him. "Trust me; I got a better way of getting to her!"
I didn't actually. But I wasn't about to let him go off half-cocked and get himself killed. I figured by the time I got down there, I would have pulled something out of my head to use as a rescue plan that would be less dangerous and have more success than Takashi's half-ass Evil Knievel stunt.
"I swear that kid's heart is in the right place but his head is somewhere else completely!" I grumbled as I looked over at Kouta who acted like he was afraid I was gonna hit him.
"Keep them off of her. We'll be enroute to her location and try a rescue but you're it, till we get there. I also want you to watch your shots when we get there, because we're gonna be going in hot and we can't afford any mistakes, got it?"
"YES, SIR!" Kouta replied giving me a thumbs up.
"Good man." I said as I turned around, intending to head for the door.
"OH YEAH!"
The words were out of my mouth before I could stop myself much to my embarrassment. I have to admit, it was not a sight I expected to see. And to be honest, I doubt any man could have not reacted the way I did if he could have seen (cough) what I saw.
Of course, I wasn't the only one who was struck stupid by the sight of Shizuka standing naked next to Saya at the doorway either.
"SHI-SHIZUKA-SENSEI!" Kouta stammered, barely able to breathe at the sight of the naked nurse in front of us.
"Hai?" Shizuka replied sleepily as she absent-mindedly raised up the medical kit she was carrying at the same time that had been strategically been covering certain (cough) "vital" areas.
"Oh my." I thought turning around trying not to stare, and for some reason, unable to find my voice, as I could hear Kouta practically gasping for air next to me.
I quickly snapped out of it, feeling like an ass, as Saya snapped at both of us for making so much noise.
"SHIZUKA!" I yelled at her, snapping the nurse out of her drowsiness. "I need you to come with me, NOW!" I said as I ran over to her and grabbed her arm, yanking her behind me as we went through the door, while she screamed in protest as I dragged her naked towards the stairs.
"What's taking him so long?" Takashi grumbled as he waited next to his bike.
"I don't know, but if he doesn't get down here soon, a rescue attempt will be moot." Saeko said frustrated.
At that moment, the American finally came around the corner carrying a shotgun, his rifle hanging by its sling, and also dragging Shizuka dressed in a bathrobe, by the arm.
"Takashi, come with us." The man said as he let go of Shizuka's arm.
"What are we doing?" Takashi asked puzzled.
"We're taking the Humvee for the rescue instead of your bike. Do you still have that revolver with you?" I replied.
"Yes." Takashi replied.
"Good, let's go." I said headed for the gate, but stopped when Saeko grabbed my arm.
"Jimu-san, there's a bunch of THEM just outside the gate." She warned.
"How many?" I asked as I stared at the gate.
"Perhaps a dozen." Saeko replied. "Perhaps you should re-think your plan?"
"No, we'll just try another way of egress." I said as I motioned for Shizuka and Takashi to follow me as we walked up the steps to the railing overlooking the street.
I did a quick scan up and down the street and saw about eight Infected shuffling near the gate and about six more more shuffling around nearby as well. They would be clear of the gate in a few moments, but I didn't think the young girl we were trying to rescue had that much time to wait for the Infected to shuffle on, just so we could walk through the front gate.
"All right, both of you over the fence, quietly." I whispered to Takashi and Shizuka as I flung my leg over the railing and quietly let myself down to the ground. As soon as my feet hit the ground I quickly checked to make sure that none of the Infected had heard me and had turned direction back towards us, as I brought my carbine up to my shoulder so I could cover Takashi and Shizuka as they dropped down too.
I heard Takashi come over the railing and drop to the ground. And as he moved up to my side, I looked up to see what was keeping Shizuka, who was still standing above us behind the railing looking down at us, her hands pressing down the front of her robe.
"What are you waiting for?!" I hissed. "Hurry up!"
"I'm coming!" Shizuka snapped at me whispering angrily. "Just don't look up!"
"Is that why you're taking so long? You're kidding me, right?" I said, looking up at her. "I think modesty is a moot point right now after that little show you just put on a minute ago."
"Go to hell!" Shizuka snapped.
As I heard Shizuka climb over the railing and then drop behind us. I motioned for both of them to head for the Humvee and unlock the doors while I covered them. As I was about to follow Takashi and Shizuka across the street to the Humvee, I heard a noise coming from above and as I looked up I saw Saeko also climbing over the railing, obviously determined to come with us.
And that's not all I saw, as I quickly looked back down again, and then closed my eyes and shook my head as I heard her silently drop to the ground next to me.
"Kids these days, I swear." I said under my breath.
In all the craziness, I had not noticed what Saeko had been wearing all this time until I looked up. And now that I had, I could not help but wonder what had gotten into these two women who seemed intent on flashing themselves to the whole world.
I had to laugh a little at myself too I have to admit.
When I was a younger man, I would have stopped to gawk at a pretty girl like Saeko, Rei, Saya and most definitely Shizuka the same as any young teen with raging hormones.
Nowadays though, it always struck me funny as to how back when I was a teen and saw a gorgeous girl passing by, I'd be in a hurry to undress her with my eyes.
Now, as I grew older, it seemed to me that now I was more in a hurry to make them put some clothes on.
It's hell getting old I guess. Or maybe it was just the fact that my "daddy" instincts were getting stronger and stronger when it came to the teens in my care, especially Saeko.
And seeing Saeko dressed the way she was sent me into "Daddy Dearest" mode faster than a lightning bolt.
Saeko had quickly climbed over the railing, seeking to join the others in their attempt to rescue the young girl that was in increasing danger every minute that passed. Her movements were cat-like as she stealthily dropped to the street below, with barely a sound heard as her feet hit the ground.
And as she stood up, she was startled to see the American standing directly in front of her, arms folded across his chest, a very cross expression on his face.
Wide-eyed, Saeko stepped back when the man leaned forward mere inches from her face and spoke in a very displeased tone.
"Young lady, just where exactly do you think you're going, especially dressed like that?!" The man said, staring directly into her eyes.
"I am going with all of you to help rescue the child." Saeko replied matter-of-factly. "And as for why I'm dressed this way, my clothes are washing and this is all I have to wear right now."
"Be that as it may, do you honestly expect me to allow you to go into a combat situation wearing only a kitchen apron and thong panties, Saeko-CHAN?!" The man asked in a scolding voice.
"It won't affect my fighting ability." Saeko replied defiantly. "And that being the case, I see no other reason why I shouldn't go."
The man narrowed his eyes at her answer.
"Don't you dare go the "brat" route with me young lady. I got enough trouble with Saya pulling that crap as it is." I said sternly.
Saeko's only response was to continue to glare at me, determined to go with us regardless of what I said.
Time for "Ojisan" to put his foot down.
"Look Saeko-chan." I said, still trying to be reasonable. "I meant what I said earlier about being honored and proud to fight at your side, but the fact is, your choice of wardrobe aside, if ever the group has to separate like right now, there needs to be someone in charge at all times with each separate group of people."
"Takashi and Shizuka are coming with me on this rescue. This means you need to stay here in command and take care of Rei, Saya and Kouta while we're gone, and if necessary, lead them to safety if something goes wrong."
"But." Saeko began.
"No, buts!" I hissed, and then caught myself before I let my frustration get the best of me.
Saeko just wanted to help, and I couldn't blame her for not wanting to be left behind either. It sucks being left out of anything in life especially something like this and she was definitely an excellent fighter, and I could definitely use her on this rescue.
But I couldn't take everyone with us, and I needed her to take care of the teens that were left behind.
And no matter how much she wanted to join us, she had to learn the responsibilities and the disappointments of being in command the same as Takashi would, and there was no more time for argument.
I reached over and gently grabbed both of her shoulders and looked directly into her eyes.
"Sweetie, I know you just want to help, and I respect you for it." I said gently.
"But your place is here, Saeko-chan." I said as I kissed her on the forehead and then grabbed her arm and forcefully walked her to the front gate that was now clear of the Infected that had moved further on down the street.
"Jimu-san!" Saeko protested as I opened the gate.
"Don't you Jimu-san me, young lady." I said, as I opened the gate and pushed Saeko through it, giving her a hard smack on her scantily-clad derriere as she went through.
"I love you like a daughter hon." I said, as she spun around and glared at me with an angry look on her face. "But if you force me to put my foot down because you refuse to listen to reason, then that's exactly what I'm gonna do."
"And right now, you've been placed in a position of responsibility, and now's not the time to argue about it because you don't agree with it."
"And another thing." I said, wagging my finger at her as if she were a small child. "Even though I'm not your father, if I ever see you walking around dressed like this again, you won't be able to sit down for a week, understand?"
"And that goes for you too Rei. Get some clothes on both of you." I snapped at the other young teen who was only slightly more dressed than Saeko was, although not by much, as I shut the gate and headed for the Humvee.
As I walked over to the Humvee, Shizuka and Takashi were both sitting in the front seat waiting for me.
"Sorry Shizuka, I need you in the back seat for now." I said as I opened up her door.
"You too, Takashi. Get in the back, buddy." I said as I headed towards the rear of the Humvee and removed the large five gallon jerry can of diesel fuel mounted on the rear of the Humvee, and placed it on the floor of the rear passenger seat, next to Takashi's leg.
"What are you doing?" Takashi asked, extremely confused.
"Preparing for the worst." The man replied. "Do you see any road flares back there?"
"Yes." Takashi replied, reaching back towards the trunk area and grabbing several flares in his hands.
"Good, place them on the floor and don't let them bounce around too much." I said as I headed towards the other side of the Humvee.
As Shizuka got out of the driver's seat, I opened the rear door for her and as she got in, I passed her the sawed-off shotgun I had taken from the bald man back at the river for her to place on the floor next to her.
"What are we doing?!" The two of them asked me, a little bit too loudly. I could see just how confused they were, but the truth was, I was still trying to work out the details of my plan, so they were just gonna have to wait till I had something intelligent to tell them.
"Trust me." I said smiling.
As I was about to enter the Humvee, I saw the gate open and Saeko poked her head out to look at me. She then opened the gate and acted as if she were going to begin walking back towards us.
I figured she had been stewing behind the gate, especially after I had slapped her bottom and had also slammed the door in her face. And I guess she had finally reached her boiling point and had decided that she was going to step outside and give me a piece of her mind.
I however, thought otherwise.
"YOUNG LADY, IF YOU DON'T MARCH YOURSELF RIGHT BACK IN THERE AND PUT SOME CLOTHES ON, I WILL SPANK YOUR BUTT WHEN I GET BACK, I SWEAR!" I roared as a few of the Infected down the street started to turn at the sound of my voice.
Noticing that the Infected had turned around, Saeko's eyes narrowed and she said something low and dirty under her breath that I couldn't hear, as she turned back around and slammed the gate closed behind her.
As I finally got into the driver's seat and shut the door, I heard Shizuka giggling at me.
"What?" I said, still annoyed at how screwed up this whole rescue was going.
"Oh nothing." Shizuka said still giggling. "Why? Are you going to scold me now too,…Papa?'
"Oh, shut up and put on your seat belt." I chuckled, as I started the big diesel and then put the Humvee into gear and drove out into the street.
Author's Notes:
I've tried as much as I could do to be as accurate as possible when it comes to the military part of my story. But as much as I would like to be as detailed as author Tom Clancy is with his books regarding anything military, those same resources that he has access to, are just not available to me. So as far as the drone scene of this chapter goes, I had to "wing it", literally.
So I apologize in advance to anyone in the military reading this chapter because I know, I'm way off with the actual procedures and capapbilities, concerning the use of a drone in the JSDF as well as the protocols and jargon used in the JSDF Command Center.
Also, I realize the scenes where the teens find Rika's guns and of course, the infamous "bath scene" have been left out. Since everyone has seen the anime and the manga, I figured there was no need to dwell on it.
Ya'll know what happened while Jim was in the other room so no need to spend a lot of time describing it in written form. ^_^
And don't worry, Jim and Saeko work it out without getting emotional.
See ya'll next time.