Author's notes: Thanks to those who have read this story, and a big thanks to those who have reviewed it; your reviews are very encouraging, so thanks you two...yeah, only two people. I', not asking for a bunch of reviews or anything, but it would be nice to see how many people are reading this and liking it...and since there's only two people, I guess it's okay to answer their questions now, instead of making them wait, neh?
In response to Dante's Desciple:I wanna give you a bit of a special thanks for giving me my first review, so...yeah. Thanks. As for your question about Kaede, in the RPG sense, he would be a freelancer, capable with everything and can provide support for everyone without really specializing in anything specific; make sense? And in a more literal take on the question, Kaede can indeed use a sword, but he's no were near as skilled as Saeko, yet he really excels with firearms and other related things, more so than Kouta is, while he still has his own type of smarts; I guess that explains more why I'd describe him as a freelancer, neh?
In responce to Dante-SonofSparda-EX21: 1)Thanks for the suggestion, I myself have noticed the first chapter being a bit...long, and I apologise for that; it should be the only long chapter like that for awhile, if not for the whole story, but I just don't know were to separate it at without making two really short chapters. 2)Thanks for that information; I was worried it would be boring to those really familiar to the series, and sorry about the grammer problems. I can assure you they were all accidental. As for the questions on the pairs, I do intend to have Takashi and Saeko's relationship develop just as I'll have Kaede's and Rei's, and even Kouta and Saya's as well, even if that'll be a bit more of a challenge; I'll also be adding another two or so pairings later with some other OC's I'll be introducing later. 3) I'm glad I gave you the idea, and thanks again for letting me know that I'm doing good with my character in the HOTD series. Oh, and I'll defiantly check out your story ASAP.
Chapter 5: The DEAD Way Home
The night had been rough for the group, escaping the apartment and having to rescue Takashi from the middle of a horde of them before making their way though the city; it took the rest of the night to get to a second of the river far from any of the city's bridges, and by day break they had found one. Everyone except Kouta and the little girl they had saved, Alice, was inside the humvee, sleeping save for Shizuka, who was driving; Saya sat in the front seat sleeping and Takashi, Saeko, Rei and Kaede(in that order) crowded in the back, fast asleep with Saeko laying in Takashi's lap and Rei resting against Kaede. Takashi was now wearing a pair of jeans, the leg cuffs rolled up a bit and Kaede was now in a pair of cargo shorts and his school shirt, the sleeves rolled up to a little below his elbows.
Saya was the first to wake, the first thing she heard was the sound of water splashing against the sides of the humvee as they crossed the river; as Saya rubbed the sleep from her eyes, she also heard the sound of Alice singing on the roof with Kouta, were they were on look out; beside them was a pole with most of Takashi's school uniform and a pair of panties that had been soaked the night before with Alice's pee, and event Takashi still refused to explain himself.
Saya shifted, looking at Shizuka for a moment, the nurse smiling at her, before getting up and slipping out through the turrent port, now being able to hear what Alice was singing.
"...gently down the stream! Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream~! La, la, la, la, gently down the stream!~" the little girl chanted happily, sitting on Kouta's lap. "I can sing in English too."
"That's awsome, let me hear it!" Kouta laughing softly with the girl, not even noticing that Saya had popped her head from the port and snattched the binoculars from him and began checking out the shore line.
"Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream! Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream~!" Alice sung in English, Kouta smiling and even Saya impressed at how well the little girl's English and Japanese were, wondering which one as her native tongue.
"All right, let's make it a duet this time!" Kouta said, smiling at Alice, who smiled back and nodded with a giggle; Kouta started off, with his own version of the song, overall drowning Alice's original with his own. "Shoot, shoot, shoot your gun, kill them all now! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Life is but a dream!"
"You're so good, Kouta-chan!" Alice giggled as they finished their 'duet,' Saya having enough of the two by now.
"Hey lardo, you shouldn't teach those kinds of songs to little kinds!" Saya yelled, making her presance known to Kouta by slamming her arm against the humvee's roof, who practically jumped out of his skin, Alice looking over at Saya questioningly.
The slam, as well as Shizuka announcing that they were near the shore, woke Rei up first who smiled softly after seeing that she had slept against Kaede, and that he was asleep still as well, like Takashi and Saeko; Rei's eyes fell on them two next, and frowned, not with jealously, but with confusion. Rei thought she'd feel jealous at such a sight, but she felt...okay with it, especially since it was Saeko, knowing deep down she had what it took to make Saeko happy; deep in her subconscious, Rei came to the understanding that she was fine with Takashi's choices, as long as he was happy.
Rei's thoughts were interrupted as the humvee came onto dry land, throwing them around a bit. Once grounded, Kouta slid to the hood of the humvee, then onto the ground and cautiously looked around with the AR-10 in his hands, not a soul in sight, dead or living.
"There's nobody here..." Sayacommented, looking both ways as well and seeing nothing but the shores.
Back inside the humvee, Kaede, who had been woken by the humvee hitting solid ground again, rubbed his hand over his eyes before yawning and pushing his hair back out of his face, most of his shoulder length black hair having found freedom from his ponytail; quite the annoyance to Kaede, but he'd never cut his hair willingly again out of his own choice...
After seeing Kaede awake, Rei moved right to Takashi, pulling on his cheek and waking him right up.
"H-hey, what do you-" Takashi started, pausing after seeing the mischievous look on Rei's face. "H-huh...?"
"You're quite popular, aren't you?" Rei said with a small grin, Takashi realizing there was an unfamiliar warms on weight on his lap, and looked down; Saeko was dozing still on his lap, unknowingly drooling on Takashi's shirt and her hair a disheveled mess.
Almost as if sensing she had become the topic of a discussion, Saeko woke softly and sat up, rubbing the drool from her chin; a look of realization dawned on her face and she blushed softly, quickening her task and looking away, embarrassed by being seen by everyone at one of her most vulnerable of times.
Rei was about to make a sly comment until there was a knock on the car door, the three looking over to see Kouta motioning them out while Saeko fixed her hair. Takashi and Kaede nodded and Takashi opened the door, letting them out of the back, Saeko refusing to come out just yet. On his way out, Kaede grabbed both shotguns and stretch out, yawning before looking around.
"It's so empty it's almost more scarier than a beach filled with them..."Kaede muttered as he turned to see that Kouta had climbed back onto the humvee and was helping Alice down along with Takashi, who had pulled on his fingerless gloves again.
Kaede watched with mild interest as Kouta lifted Alice and passed her down to Takashi, only for her to squirm, mentioning something about her panties; Kaede sighed as he rested his Remington against his shoulder and looked up at their 'flag' consisting of Takashi's pants, gakuran, and Alice's panties.
Kaede sighed and watched as they were scolded by Rei who then said that they were going to get dress.
"And you had better not peak; that goes for you too, Kaede!" Rei yelled, addressing Kaede suddenly.
Kaede simply shrugged, and Kouta and Takashi joined him at the front of the humvee, along with the small white dog that Takashi had brought along with him; he instantly began barking at Kaede when he yawned again, and Takashi chuckled at him.
"You're energetic as usual I see, Zeke..." Takashi said, petting the dog on the head as Kouta and Kaede exchanged looks before Kaede addressed Takashi.
"Hey, Takashi, come here" Keade said, waiting for Takashi to approach before holding out the Ithaca to him; Takashi shook his head and was about to say he didn't know how to us it, but Kaede shook his head and pushed it into Takashi's arms. "I'll teach you; it's a shot gun, so you only have to aim for the general direction of their heads, and it has a scope, so aiming will be much easier."
"Listen, I've never used a gun before, besides the revolver; I don't know how to use something like this." Takashi said as he looked down at the shotgun in his hands; it felt alien to him, none the less, something told him he could get use to it. "I'd...be much better off with a bat or something..."
"No; things'll only get worse here on out; plus we have more guns than we have people to use them" Kouta cut in, having already discussed this with Kaede last night while the two gun experts were on the roof of the humvee. "Besides, you have two people who do know how to use them; just ask, and we can give you a little re-education on the functions."
Taking this as a cue from Kouta, Kaede held his own shotgun up and pulled the pump back, making sure to catch the chambered shell before he lost it.
"Doing that ejects the chambered shell and gets another ready to fire; do it after each shot you fire. Since you've never fired a gun before, make sure to keep the butt tight against your shoulder..." Kaede demonstrated it with his shotgun, and motioned for Takashi to do the same to get a feel for it. "...and use it at relatively close range for the best effect. You only have to aim for the general area of the head because of the shell's ability to spread."
"So...what do I do when I run out of ammo?" Takashi asked, already feeling a bit more comfortable with the gun, Kaede's explanation and examples helping out alot.
"Open the gate like this, and slide the shell in like that." Kaede spoke as he went though the actions slowly, pulling the slide back and sliding the shell he had earlier ejected back into the magazine. "Your gun only holds four shells, so a total of five when one's chambered. Be careful, because it can only hold four though, okay?"
Takashi nodded, looking down at the shotgun again with a frown; he may now know how to use it, but it still didn't feel quite as natural as Kaede and Kouta made it look.
"Oh, and, when worse comes to worst, you can use it like a club" Kaede added, much to Kouta's disapproval, which Kaede noticed. "Er, well, just make sure you grab a few extra shells, okay...?"
Again, Takashi halfheartedly nodded, holding the shotgunin both hands as he started walking towards the embankment, leaving Kouta and Kaede at the humvee.
"Onii-chan!" Alice's voice suddenly rang out, stopping Takashi and making him turn around, expecting to see just Alice, but he was wrong, his jaw nearly dropping.
"Eh...Takashi, what's the...?" Kouta started asking, following Takashi's gaze, his mouth opening in delight; Kaede turned as well, following the other two's gaze and likewise was stunned.
The five girls had finished dressing and were walking towards the boys, Rei, Saya and Saeko walking with Rei in front, and Alice and Shizuka behind them, however, Takashi, Kouta nor Kaede really noticed the two.
Rei was in her school uniform, but had added several harnessed to her body, one that outlined her breasts and made them seem just a bit bigger attached to the M1 and one worn diagonally on her hips, also emphasising her curves there; she also had put on a pair of white fingerless gloves, and a pair of elbow and knee pads with her regular tennis shoes. Kaede's eyes wandered from all three girls, but stopped on Rei, watching her approach with a light grin.
As for Saeko, she wore the school top with a purple bow added, but had a short black skirt that fit around her legs wonderfully, and would have been constricting if not for the slit up the right leg than ran high enough to show the bows were her panties were tied together on the sides; she was also wearing a pair of black nylon thigh-highs with boots and a garter strap seen thanks to the skirt's slit. In her hand was her bokken, and there was a light smile on her face when she noticed Takashi staring at her the longest.
And finally Saya was wearing a coat, partially buttoned up and her breasts popping out, constricted by a short, black tank-top that may as well be considered a sports bra, and a short green skirt with a pair of high-top shoes, half way tied up. Unlike Saeko, Saya frown when she noticed it was Kouta who looked at her the longest, giving him a glare that made him look away quickly.
"You guys got a problem or something?" Rei asked with a sly smirk, making the three look away from their 'targets' with nervous looks.
"Eh, no...do you even know how to shook that thing?" Takashi asked, looking back at Rei, attempting to change the subject off of them and motioned to the rifle in Rei's hands.
"Mmm, not yet. I'm sure Kaede or Hirano-kun can show me..." Rei said, looking from Kaede to Kouta, who seemed to jump at the attention.
"I know, I know, I know! The army puts bayonets on those guns, and we just happen to have a bayonet with us!" Kouta said, waving his hand around like a little kid before actually going and retrieving the bayonet; while he was gone, Kaede gave Rei a quick lesson on how to shoot, telling her only to do so if absolutely necessary until she was able to practice.
Kouta returned from searching the back of the truck with the bayonet in hand; Rei swung the gun barrel to him so he could put it on for her, but only caused Kouta to jump out of the way, several giggles coming from Rei, Shizuka and Alice, and even Saeko. Rei looked down at the bayonet curiously for awhile, the gun and the knife completely unfamiliar to her.
'And so, our battle preparations were complete...for the time being...' Takashi thought to himself as he watched Shizuka and Alice back into the humvee after mentioning they should move out, the rest of them staying out for now.
With a look at the other two, Takashi nodded and motioned to the slope leading up to the street; the three teens made their way up until they were just at the top, hidden from view from the street and the street likewise out of their view from their position on the slope. Kaede and Kouta gave each other a nod before climbing up the last bit, looking both ways with their guns raised.
"Clear!" Kouta called out first, shortly followed by Kaede saying the same thing; Takashi watched, the sight almost seeming like a sort of game if he didn't know what they were looking out for.
Takashi stepped up into the street as well, the Ithaca held loosely in his hand as he looked both ways as well; the streets were indeed completely clear, not that he doubted Kouta or Kaede, it was just odd, the streets on the other side of the river having been full of the undead. From his spot, Takashi turned and waved down at Rei, motioning towards himself and the humvee; it felt odd for Takashi to be using his hands so much, but it had been decided the night before that they would keep the chatter to a minimum while outside as to not attract any of them.Takashi hadn't really gotten the hang of it yet, but there wasn't away to tell Shizuka it was okay to come up without yelling down to them.
"It's clear, Shizuka-sensei" Rei said, having been looking out for the signal from Takashi, holding back a giggle at how he looked motioning to them.
"Alright, here it goes!" Shizuka said as she started up the humvee, reaving the engine once before speeding straight for the slope; on the street, Takashi quickly moved out of the way towards Kaede, both he and Kouta moving back to avoid the humvee.
As the armoured vehicle hit the slope, the tires and momentum easily pulled the truck up the slight incline, and it got several meters of air when it hit the end of the incline, Kouta needlessly jumping out of the way as the truck whizzed past, hitting the ground hard and skidding to a stop.
"H-how can she make the humvee move like that..." Kouta shivered in fear, still huddled on the ground as he watched the humvee come to a stop, Shizuka in the driver's seat looking proud of herself for getting the humvee up and over the slope.
The humvee was shortly followed by Rei, Saya and Saeko while Kouta regained his composure; once on the street, Saya took a better look around with the binoculars, seeing a car further up the stree. The window was broken, and there was blood around the broken glass.
"It hardly looks like they blocked the river off at all..." Saya muttered as she looked around, seeing more signs of them, but none of the actual walking dead around.
"From what they said on the news, the whole world's like this, right?" Saeko said as she likewise observed the area with her own eyes, not being able to see too far. "So it's only natural they would be on this side of the river too..."
"But the police'll still be around, right?" Rei chimed in; Saya frowned, knowing Rei was thinking about her father and doubting, deep down, that he was still alive at the moment.
"Yeah, Japan's police forces are very dedicated." Saya said with a forced smile, Rei nodding in agreement; Saya decided to give Rei a bit of hope instead of crushing it then and there, because she didn't know for sure if her father was dead, even if the odds were against him...
"Um, so what should we do now...?" Shizuka asked from the window of the humvee, leaning out at the high school students all gathered around, Kouta having gotten over the whole 'jumping humvee' incident with a grin from Kaede and a 'That was fucking cool either way' from him.
There was a few moments of thought were the group ultimately all looked to Takashi, who looked back a bit dumbfounded before putting his mind to work.
"Uh...oh, Takagi!" Takashi suddenly said, surprising the pink haired girl. "Your house is in 2-choome at Higashi Hill, isn't it?"
"That's right..." Saya replied, slowly realizing what Takashi was going for.
"Then your place is closest, and that's our first stop!" Takashi said; they left the decision up to him, and he made one, the group nodding, seeing the basic sense in Takashi's decision, which surprised Takashi, who had pretty much been declared the leader already.
"I don't have much hope, but..." Saya said with a small smile, and Takashi nodded, smiling.
"Let's get going then!"
And with that, they all piled into the humvee, Zeke hopping in just as they closed the door, and they were off down the street towards the hill in the distance.
With the humvee so crowded, Kaede eventually opted to sit on the roof than crowing up the humve even more, taking both his shotgun and his katana with him. From there, he was able to keep an eye out, even if the roads were empty; he eventually shifted so he was sitting on the back of the humvee with his shotgun resting against his shoulder, watching the roads they passed. Eventually, Rei came out to join him, Kaede helping her sit of the roof of the moving vehicle.
"Wow...I'd never be able to do something like this if everything was normal..." Rei said as the wind blew through her hair, speaking before she thought and fell silent for a moment, Kaede frowning slightly; things were indeed different now, even if only a few days had passed, and they were already starting to get use to the 'new world,' Kaede thinking about this during the silence, which didn't last long, thanks to Rei. "Have you noticed, Kaede?"
"Notice what?" Kaede asked, his mind starting to come back to the present situation and looked over at Rei to see her smiling.
"We haven't come across any of them sence last night." Rei said with a smile as Kaede nodded, knowing it subconsciously but never really thinking about it. "It's a nice change, huh?"
"Wonder why though..." Kaede thought out loud, looking up at the sky as Rei leaned her head on his shoulder; for a few moments, there was smoke in the air from a house fire probably long burnt out by now until they passed it by, the blue sky only obstructed by a cloud or two, Kaede frowning as he came to another realization.
'Yesterday, people were flying around like crazy, but now the skies are completely empty...' Kaede thought, not wanting to bother Rei with the information as she took his silence as an invitation and made herself comfortable against him.
Their peace lasted for awhile but was soon interrupted by a thud at the front of the humvee and the truck rocking slightly as it ran one of them over, completely whipping away what Rei had just said; neither of them minded, until the thuds became more and more frequent and Kaede saw more and more of the undead as they passed. Kaede soon turned and growled lightly, the streets littered with the undead and only seemed to get thicker down the road; as the terrain became rougher, Kaede placed his hand on Rei's shoulder. She seemed to understand and followed his guidance, laying against the roof of the humvee facing forward, holding on tightly with Kaede's arm around her as the truck encountered more and more undead, threatening to throw the two off if they weren't careful.
"Were did they all come from?" they heard Saya yell from inside the humvee. "Gah! Here too! Make a left turn here! Here!"
The humvee suddenly made a sharp left turn, nearly turning Rei and Kaede over and tossing them off, Kaede straining to keep them both on the humvee as they straightened out.
"H-hey! We're up here, you know!" Kaede yelled down into the turret port as Rei saw something gleaming across the road in the distance, Kaede not seeing it because his head turned towards the opening. "Be a little more considerate, will you!"
"S-sorry, but the closer we get to Takagi's house, the more there seem to be..." Kouta replied from the port, looking up at Kaede with an apologetic smile as Rei finally figured out what the gleam in the road was.
"No, no, no..." Rei started shaking her head in horror, drawing Kaede's attention back to her. "S-stop! Stop the car now! There's wires stretched across the road!"
As Kaede looked up, he noticed them too, and also yelled for the car to stop; Shizuka quickly turned the wheel, skidding to the wires and pinning several of them between the car and wires; the car's momentum quickly won, and Kouta covered Alice's eyes inside the humvee, the windows splattered with blood and gore as they were ripped apart from the wires. The car kept skidding however, the wires guiding it along their length, the tires not stopping thanks to the blood and guts provided by the undead.
"We're sliding too much!" Shizuka yelled, trying to get control of the car again to no avail, having no idea on what to do. "Why won't it stop!"
"All the people...n-no, all of their guts are making us slide!" Saya yelled; indeed, the tires were covered in gore, leaving a long, red skid-mark along the ground, Kouta nearly making a skid-mark of his own as he noticed them quickly approaching the wall.
"S-sensei! The tires are locked!" Kouta finally yelled, gathering his wits. "Let go of the brakes and hit the gas just a little bit!"
"W-what?" Shizuka turned slightly to Kouta, his advice sounding ridiculous, but what else could she do but trust him? "O-okay...!"
Following Kouta's direction, Shizuka relieved the pressure she had been putting on the breaks and switched her foot to the gas, giving it a light push; the humvee lurched closer to the wall, and Shizuka panicked, quickly slamming on the breaks again.
Up top, Rei and Kaede were holding on tightly through the ride of their life, Rei shutting her eyes tightly as the wall neared, the humvee suddenly lurching to a stop, raising off it's back wheels a meter or two, sending Rei and Kaede forward. Rei slipped from Kaede's grasp, and continued forward, Kaede reaching desperately for her as she flipped once through the air, and hit her back hard on the humvee's hood before bouncing off, and hitting the ground hard, the wind knocked right out of her lungs; Kaede barely even registered the flash of her panties before he jumped down as well to protect Rei from the approaching undead.
Shizuka watched in horror as Rei fell from the roof, hitting the hood hard then landing on the ground, several undead quickly noticing her and limped towards her wheezing form. Rei was unable to get up, so Kaede jumped to the hood, then down in front of Rei with little hesitation, raising his shotgun that he had somehow been able to keep hold of this entire time; without hesitation, he aimed and fired at one of them, it's head exploding in a shower of gore before it's body fell in a heap on the ground. Kaede then pulled back the slide and, before the spent shell hit the ground, dropped another one of them.
"Damnit! I'm going out to help them! Kouta...!" Takashi growled through clenched teeth, having watched from the back the entire time, helplessly; he grabbed the Ithaca and went for the door, looking back at Kouta to see him nod, his AR-10 ready, and stood, popping out of the turret port as Takashi lept out of the humvee, slamming the door behind him and landing, taking up a position in front of the humvee, pressing the shotgun to his shoulder. "Pull the slide, aim, and shoot!"
As Takashi recited to words, he cocked the Ithaca, looking through the scope, aiming around one of their chests, and fired; the recoil knocked him back a few steps before he caught himself, looking up to see he had barely hit his target, blowing away a small only chunk of it's head, but just enough to kill it.
"What the hell? I aimed at it'shead, but it barely did anything!" Takashi growled as he slid the pump back, ejecting the shell and the gun automatically pulled a new shell into the chamber.
"This is your first time shooting, so you basically suck!" Kouta yelled from atop the humvee, firing off a few well aimed shots, dropping several of the walking dead while the sounds of Kaede's shotgun died out, followed by a curse and some fumbling as he reloaded his shotgun. "The recoil will make the barrel aim a little higher than were you pointed it; shoulder the gun and lean into it! And aim for the chest!"
Kouta hissed the last part as he fired several more shots, the 7.62mm NATO rounds ripping through head after head; as for Takashi, he shouldered the rifle again, muttering the directions over and over again as he took aim, 'leaning' he best he could into the stalk. It took him a second to aim right, and he fired, two of them collapsing after having the sides of their heads blown off.
"That's more like it!" Takashi yelled triumphantly as he cocked the shotgun and lined another shot up and firing, the blast echoed by Kaede's gun.
The three continued firing round after round into the crowd, however, it was endless, the few they killed being replaced by three or four more of the undead. That is, until Takashi's gun clicked empty.
"D-damn, outta bullets..." Takashi growled, reaching into his pocket were he had a few extra shells; as he pulled out a few, his hand pulled out the rest and they spilt onto the ground. "F-fucking hell!"
Takashi tried gathering the dropped shells, however one of them stepped closer, preventing him from grabbing them; he stumbled back, falling on his rear as it approached him. Before either Kaede or Kouta could line up a shot on it, Saeko was out of the humvee, slamming the door shut after her as she sped towards Takashi, slamming the handle of her bokken into it's chin, knocking it back.
"Are you alright, Komuro-kun?" Saeko asked over her shoulder as she switched her grip around on her wooden sword, not exactly hung up on Takashi's answer as she swung her bokken, easily crushing one of their skulls. "I'll help you guys out here."
"No! There's too many of them for you to use only a wooden sword!" Takashi yelled back as he started to his feet.
"I realize that..." Saeko said with a soft smile over her shoulder before she turned, swinging her sword expertly, blood splattering the ground and her clothes as Saeko dispatchedone undead body after another; Takashi went for the shells he had dropped again, only for one of them to step on them, preventing Takashi from reloading.
"Hey, Takashi!" Kaede yelled; Takashi looked over to him to see him tossing his Remington to him, catching it with a bit of suprise. "It's fully loaded and it has twice as many shells as the Ithaca; just use it the same way, just don't drop the damn bullets!"
Kaede gave Takashi a light grin and nodded forward slightly as he drew his katana, Rei struggling to get up behind him, making Takashi turn to his own situation. Quickly pulling himself to his feet, Takashi raised the shotgun to his shoulder and shot at several undead behind Saeko, allowing her to continue swinging her bokken without worry for the time being.
For the third time so far, Kouta's AR-10 clicked dry; he pulled the magazine free and dropped it onto the humvee's roof, his hand quickly going for the pocket in his vest he kept three extra clips. Realization slowly dawned on Kouta as he felt at the empty pocket, reaching in to find nothing.
"Out of magazines...!" he growled, looking away from his pocket to see the situation around them worsening by the second as Kaede kept to Rei, who couldn't get up due to her injured back, cutting down any of them that drew near and Takashi and Saeko trying to get close to them to help out, but to no avail; there were just too many of them; seeing his help needed and fast, Kouta grabbed the empty clip, and held it down the port hole. "Someone hand me something that looks like this! Quickly!"
Inside the humvee, Shizuka and Saya were watching from the front seats, Shizuka on the verge of a break down and Saya feeling utterly useless; in the back, Alice was huddled in the corner, tears threatening to fall but she held them back, trying to block out the sounds outside, Zeke standing near a window barking out only adding to the chaotic whirlwind of noises. As Kouta yelled back into the humvee again, Alice was brought back, hearing what Kouta wanted after he repeated himself, likewise snapping Shizuka and Saya out of the nightmarish-like state they were in.
The two women turned to head for the back to see Alice was already shifting through the duffel gags of things, even Zeke looking like he was trying to help as he dug at a bag; it finally fell over, and several magazines spilled onto the humvee floor. Alice quickly grabbed one in each hand, holding them tightly, and raised them up to Kouta's hand waving th empty magazine around.
"Here, Kouta-chan!" Alice called as she held up the magazines with a helpful smile, the tears forgotten; the sight seemed to trouble Kouta, as if he just remembered Alice being there with them, it being one hell of a reality check.
"Thanks, Alice-chan" Koutareplied, forcing a smile as he took bothmagazines, easily holding them both in his hands; he quickly slapped one into the AR-10's receiver and pulled back the action, loading a round as he slipped the other magazine into a pocket. "Time to kick some ass!"
"Shizuka-sensei, try starting the humvee again!" Saya yelled, Alice's need to help bringing her to her own senses and she began heading for the same door Takashi and Sako had exited.
"I-it's no use! The engine's stalled and won't start?" Shizuka replied in a panicked tone as she watched Saya move through the humvee. "T-Takagi-san, where are you going!"
"I'm gonna pick up Komuro's gun and use it myself!" Saya grunted as she squeezed through the two seats into the back and moved towards the door, ignoring Shizuka's protests of it being too dangerous. "I know already!"
Saya waited for a moment, timing herself before throwing open the door and leaping to the fallen Ithaca, picking it up as well as a handful of shells which Takashi had dropped earlier.
"Takagi! Do you know how to use that? Load the shells in from the bottom and-!" Kouta started yelling, seeing Saya pick up the shotgun; however, Saya interrupted him before he finished, loading the shells on her own.
"Of course I do! I'm a genius, of course!" Saya yelled back, looking over her shoulder at him smugly, unaware of one of the undead approaching her; Kaede and Rei seeing this and called out to her, yelling 'Takagi' in unison. "Call me by my first name from now on!"
Saya took their warning the wrong way, the walking corpse limping closer; Saya was saved by Saeko, however, who bashed her bokken across it's face, unintentionally splashing Saya in gore and an unusually large amount of spit, soaking Saya's clothes and hair; this only seemed infuriate Saya further.
"I'm not shy. I'm not timid. I'm not a coward!" Saya yelled, cocking the shotgun and firing, two of them dropping for good and another falling over with part of it's shoulder missing." How could I just die! What kind of person would just let themselves just die without doing anything! My house...my house is just a little further away!"
The struggle was once again on, the group giving it all they had; however, their sheer numbers over whelmed them, Saya out of ammo and Takashi close behind; Kaede and Saeko exhausted, both bloodied and covered with bit of gore from cutting or smashing them up. At some point, Kouta tried convincing Alice to get over the wires and get away, but Alice knew what was going on, the situation all to familiar, and outright refused. With the condition of the group, Takashi knew they wouldn't last long at all and it would be only a matter of time before they were completely overwhelmed; as Saya flipped the shotgun, ready to use it as a bat, Takashi made his decision, helped along with Alice's outburst of her wanting to stay with them, no matter what. He stepped up behind Saya, grabbing the shotgun in mid-swing as she charged, stopping her completely.
"Let the men put on the show, Takagi..."Takashi said, letting go of the Ithaca and holding the Remington in a similar fashion as he walked out towards the crowd of undead.
"K-Komuro?" Saya gasped, realizing what he was planning to do; so did Saeko, because she quickly rushed towards him as he charged into the crowd. "N-no...!"
"I'm coming with you, Komuro-kun!" Saeko yelled as she followed after Takashi, beating open a pathway along with him, the two making sure to make as much noise as possible; Rei was about to yell to them, wanting to tell Takashi he was crazy and for him to get his ass back, but Kaede stopped her.
"We'll meet up later, you got it, Takashi!" Kaede yelled before they were too far, understanding what was going through Takashi'shead, since he had been thinking the same thing. "I expect to see you both back at Takagi's house!"
The only reply that he got was a thumbs up from Takashi as he and Saeko disappeared into the crowd of undead; none the less, only half of the crowd or so following them, and the other half still advancing on the remainder of the group, Kaede and Kouta being the only two to protect them now, with Saya having the will to fight, but not exactly the strength anymore.
Further down the street, Saeko and Takashi quickly ran up the stairs, pleased to find that they couldn't navigate stairs too well; at the top, they were able to see the group, still surrounded by a formidable amount of them.
"Shit!" Takashi yelled, slamming the shotgun stalk against the railings in an attempt to attract more away from the group. "Hey, you fuckers, over here! Get your decaying asses over here and eat me!"
Takashi kept yelling at the top of his lungs, no longer watching the group; he eventually felt Saeko's hand on his shoulder, and he feared for the worst, looking back towards the humvee half expecting to see it overrun with them. Instead, he saw what he described a a miracle; an unknown force of what looked like fire fighters blowing them away with high pressured water cannons, allowing the group to evacuate to the other side, Kaede supporting Rei over to the other side of the wires.
"Oh thank god..." Takashi muttered, heaving a sigh of relief as he watched the group be taken to safety; he then turned to Saekoand gave a her a light smile. "Now, we have a promise to keep; we can't go this way, so we'll have to go around and find another way there..."
From their new position on the other side of the wires, Kaede and Kota watched as Takashi and Saeko turned, disappearing from the stair landing. Kaede's attention was drawn back to them as one of the firefighters offered to take Rei, but he refused, wanting to be the one helping her to the vehicles the firefighters had come in.
"We'll come back for the truck later" one of the firefighters said, apparently the leader of them; the person's face was hidden behind the helmet and face protector, but they could tell she was female, from her voice and what the firefighter's uniform showed of her body, and her voice a little more than just a bit familiar to Saya. "I'm happy to see you alive, Saya..."
The group watched curiously after this statement as the woman lifted her helmet, long light purple hair hair falling around a beautiful, mature face, stunning Kouta and Kaede for a moment.
"Mama!" Saya yelled, jumping into her mother's arms, hugging her tightly around the neck as she half sobbed, half laughed in her mother's neck
'We're safe, for now...' Kaede thought, looking back to were Takashi and Saeko had been. '...now all that's left is to wait for you two to keep your promise...'
Chapter 5, end
Author's Ending Notes: There may be alot of typos in this chapter; I went through hell putting it through spell check on this site for some reason. It kept pushing words together, so I had to re-read it several times before I just said screw it and saved it; I apologies for them though.