Author's notes: As you'll be able to tell, I'm gonna do the police station first, then the mall, so this is the chapter where things really start happening differently than in the manga.
Chapter 10: The DEAD Gangs
With the humvee parked and the ATV pulled up besides it, most of the group stood outside of the vehicle, looking down the strip of road that was one of the major highways of Tokonosu; the previously hoped empty street littered with them as far as the eye could see, along with several crashes and abandoned cars.
To top it all off, smoke was rising from the wrecked side of the humvee, and the stop having been caused by the engine sputtering earlier; it didn't look like the humvee would tolerate mowing down anymore walking corpses, and they hoped it would at least run until they were able to find a decent, working form of transportation.
"So, what are we going to do now, Takashi?" Kouta asked, looking over to Takashi and away from the highway he had been peering at from the scope of his gun. "I don't think the humvee will last much longer if we keep using it like we were..."
"I..." Takashi stopped himself, and turned to Shizuka, who was sitting in the drivers side of the humvee with the window rolled down; Alice was still inside with her, and the rest of the group was outside. "Sensei...do you think you can drive more carefully? I know you're not the best when it comes to vehicles like that..."
Luckily, Shizuka took it in the best of ways, but she still shook her head slightly.
"I'll try, Komuro-kun. But with as crowded as the highway is, I don't think I can avoid them and the other cars..." Shizuka said apologetically, and looking over to the horde approaching them from the sounds of the vehicles stopping, and no doubt they were coming from behind as well.
"Whatever we do, we better do it fast." Saya added, thinking along those line that they would soon be trapped at both sides.
"If we take one of those factors out, you'll be able to drive better, right, Shizuka-sensei?" Kaede suddenly asked; Saya caught on instantly, and Takashi took a moment, putting it together with the fact that Kaede looked back to the ATV.
"Yeah, I guess so..." Shizuka replied, looking towards him, then to Takashi as he spoke.
"No. Before was different; you were right behind us. I don't want us separated so often like this." Takashi said, firmly as he could, even though, deep down, he knew it was their best chance to advance without wreaking their transportation.
"Don't worry; I'll meet you guys at the Higashi police station later, around noon today, no later than one o'clock." Kaede said with a yawn. "I can take care of myself, and it's just one person, if something goes wrong. Plus it's the best way to not wreak the humvee, which we need right now, right?"
Of course, at the mentioning of something going wrong made Takashi not want to agree even more and before he could, with the condition that Kaede make it there safe, Rei stepped up to Kaede.
"I'm going with you then." Rei said, indefinitely and firmly, then she smiled at Kaede. "You need someone to look after you to make sure you get back safely."
Takashi was silent for a moment, weighing the options in his mind; he didn't want Rei going, nor Kaede to begin with, but it wasn't like they had any other choice if they wanted to advance, and going back was out of the question. Soon, Takashi could feel everyone's eyes on him, and he let out a frustrated sigh.
"Fine. You two can go; we'll set out as soon as they follow you and the was is clear." Takashi said, finally making up his mind. "But you two better make it to the station safe, got it?"
"Naturally" Kaede replied with a light grin towards the leader before looking to Rei and started for the ATV.
Takashi tried no to think if his decision was right or wrong as her turned, motioning the rest of the group to pile back into the humvee; the sound of the ATV starting up made Takashi pause and look back, watching at Kaede drove off with Rei sitting behind him, holding on tightly.
"Make it there safely you two..." he whispered to them as they drove down the highway, they that had been approaching them quickly turned to chase after the noise as it passed them.
After driving down the highway to get the attention of as many of them as they could, Kaede had taken the closest off ramp, with the accumulated horde of walking corpses chasing after them to lead them as far away from the group as they could.
Kaede pulled the ATV into a small parking lot between two apartment complexes, and turned to look with Rei at how many of them they had gotten to follow them; they were quite surprise to see the street behind them full of undead, hobbling towards them.
"Maybe we got too many of them...?" Rei muttered sarcastically at the number of the undead they got to follow them. "Jeez...was there really this many on the highway?"
"Well, we are probably the thing making any noise for a few kilometers, thanks to that E.M.P. blast..." Kaede replied, absentmindedly looking up to the sky for a moment before looking back down at them as they started getting a little too close. "It's about time we get moving..."
"Y-yeah..." Rei nodded, sitting back down and taking hold of Kaede again as he revved the ATV, and sped off between the apartments, going up and over a curb to get back onto a street, them following them tirelessly.
Being on the road again wasn't so great however, more of them already crowding the streets Kaede had hoped to make a getaway on. With a low growl, he made a sharp turn into a park, it being the closest place that seemed clear of them.
"A park?" Rei asked, looking at Kaede oddly as he turned the ATV towards the park.
"I've got a plan...sorta." Kaede replied, looking over his shoulder at Rei momentarily, before looking forward again, the fountain in the center of the park coming into view; without warning, Kaede suddenly pulled the ATV to a stop, and turned slightly to Rei again. "Get off!"
"W-what?" Rei gasped back.
"Just do it Rei!" Kaede bit back impatiently.
Putting her trust in Kaede, Rei jumped from the ATV, bashing one of their skulls in with the butt of her gun as Kaede sped off again. Driving around the fountain once, he gathered their attention before accelerating, pulling the ATV into a wheelie, and hopped up into the circular fountain.
He worked quickly, unhooking a bungee cord from the crate on the back of the ATV as he circled the inside of the fountain, and wrapped it around the accelerator of the bike, hooking the other end to the bike so it would continue on it's course around the fountain.
Not caring one bit at how wet he was, Kaede jumped off the ATV and away from the fountain, the noise of the ATV distracting them completely as he rushed back for Rei; using what he had learned back at the school, the time there during the Outbreak seeming so very long ago now, he simply shoved them aside as he made his way, not lingering around long enough for them to grab him.
"Let's move; don't shoot unless you really need to." Kaede said, just above a whisper but just enough for Rei to hear him as he grabbed her hand, and pulled her along quickly.
Fortunately, they were able to move away from the fountain before it got too crowded with them, pushing or knocking away any of them that got in their way with the stocks of their guns; Kaede and Rei were making progress out of the undead-infested park with the ATV distracting them from the two, however, Rei was stopped dead in her tracks, a look of horror on her face.
She was facing a small group of much shorter undead, who were once children when they were living, the sight of the once children with parts of their bodies torn and bloodied, made her freeze up long enough for them to get uncomfortably close to her.
"Rei!" Kaede bit out a warning, one of the small undead spreading it's jaws wide and lunged for Rei; before it could bite Rei however, Kaede stepped in, pulling Rei back out of it's reach and slamming the barrel of his WA2000 into it's mouth.
Pulling the trigger, Kaede hesitated a moment as it's smaller head exploded with blood and bits of bone before re-gaining himself, and pulled Rei with him before they were attracted to them by the gunshot; they ran as hard as they could from the park, leaving behind the massive horde surrounding the fountain and easily loosing the few undead that tried going after them for the gunshot.
Once on the city streets again, the two relaxed slightly, stopping near a car to rest since the streets were literally empty of them, they being attracted to the fountain for long ways in every direction.
"That should distract them for awhile..." Kaede muttered, looking down at Rei, who had slumped to the ground at the car's door, while he leaned against the side to catch his breath. "Rei...will you be okay? We more than likely will be facing more of them like that..."
"I...I'll be fine. It just surprised me, that's all..." Rei replied, faking a smile for Kaede; they both knew there was more to it than that, it becoming increasingly hard on Rei to keep dealing with them when they looked human, but Kaede didn't push the matter. "I'm...still trying to get use to the fact that they aren't human anymore..."
Kaede nodded slowly, looking away from Rei for a moment, checking out the surrounding area, not seeing anything moving for a distance.
"We should get moving again, Rei." Kaede said, softly; Rei nodded and pushed herself up with the M1 in her hands. "I don't know the area very well, so..."
"Don't worry; I know how to get there from anywhere in the city" Rei said with confidence for getting to her father's place of work. "Just follow me, Kaede~!"
Kaede nodded at Rei, motioning her to start leading and took a look behind them, making sure they wouldn't be snuck up on by any of them while they moved on before following Rei, keeping a cautious eye out; they may be distracted by the ATV in the park, which even he could still hear faintly, but that didn't mean they could let their guard down.
This was one of the first times in his life Kaede was truly grateful for his late father's teachings about war tactics and combat situations that kept him on his toes while Rei kept alert as well as she could, having been a normal high school student only a few days before, thrown into this world of the walking dead.
Kaede was glad at how well not only how Rei was adapting life after the Outbreak, but the rest of the group as well, all of them keeping a relatively cool head during the ordeal so far; he tried keeping the thoughts of how long it would take before one of them actually snapped in the back of his mind the best he could, and instead put it to other things, like how many rounds he had left in the magazine of his gun as they walked.
Rei suddenly paused mid step, making Kaede stop as well and look up at her questioningly; she was still for a second, and Kaede's grip on his WA2000 tightened momentarily as he looked past Rei, seeing nothing even looking closely.
"What is it, Rei?" he asked, and Rei looked back at him with a light smile.
"Nothing. I...I thought I saw someone...it was probably just one of them walking around." Rei replied, hesitating a moment before pointing over to a public garage. "Over there. But I don't see anything anymore."
"Well, better safe then sorry, neh?" Kaede replied, figuring it was just one of them, but he still kept in mind there may be other survivors around, and some may be like the one they had run into at the gas station that first night...
Kaede raised his gun and looked through the scope, magnifying it to see the distant garage better. He was still for a moment, now cautious since he didn't see anything, not even one of them walking by one of the windows; Kaede was watching the building for a good few minutes, Rei shifting slightly where she stood.
"See anything?" she asked, getting a bit concerned herself. "I could have been seeing things, Kaede..."
"It's possible..." Kaede replied, finally lowering his gun. "But, if you did, it's gone now. Just keep on your toes, alright Rei?"
"Yeah..." Rei nodded in response, noticing how much Kaede was on guard after she mentioned seeing something; she herself tried labeling it off as one of them lurking in the garage, too stupid to get out and investigate the distant sound of the ATV, but she couldn't stop the doubts that wandered in her mind.
Rei faced forward again and lead the way once more, Kaede following just a few short steps behind as they made there way to the Higashi police station to meet up with the rest of the group; Kaede could already guess they would be later than they had planned, and looked up towards the sun.
He wasn't the best at determining the time from the sun's position, but it was something he was somewhat familiar with, and with no other way of telling time since the EMP blast, he made a broad guess that it was either nearing or it was already past noon, making it a fact that they would be later than expected.
"Ah, by the way, nice thinking back at the park" Rei commented, smiling over her shoulder at Kaede. "That sure distracted them for awhile."
"Yeah, and the noise'll last until the ATV's outta gas too, so it'll attract them for awhile." Kaede replied in a low voice; there may not have been any of them around to hear them, but he still didn't want to take any chances. "So we should be safe from them for awhile."
Kaede, who was looking towards the garage Rei had seen something, or someone, inside of, looking back to Rei, who had, in turn, turned her head sideways to look at him as well; there eyes never met however, as Rei looked right past him, suddenly whipping around as she tried raising her gun quickly, and Kaede heard fast approaching footsteps, defiantly not those of one of the undead.
Kaede's head suddenly burst in a sharp, numbing pain, his body dropping as his vision faltered, feeling the undoubtable warmth of blood running down the back of his head; just as Kaede's vision turned black, he saw several men surround and easily over power Rei, and disarm her.
Takashi looked through the mainly glass entrance of the Higashi police station, where he could see the banged up humvee where they had parked it, and a few of them still limping around. He then turned his attention to the clock on the wall, that was still oddly working; Saya had explained that it was battery operated, and since it wasn't a digital clock, there were no components to be fried by the EMP blast.
He really would have rather it not worked, reading it; 5:43 PM, four hours after Kaede and Rei were suppose to be there. They themselves arrived around noon, waiting an hour before starting to search for anyone in the areas they searched; they found the station empty, save for a few of them, that they dispatched and were able to score a some ammo off of, but that was about it, since the guns were either unusable or couldn't be found.
Kouta caught Takashi's eye with a frown before the otaku walked over to him with the new rifle held loosely in his hands, the AR-10 strapped across his back for now.
"Should we go out and look for them, Takashi?" Kouta asked in a low voice, looking over to where Shizuka was keeping Alice occupied, and her mind off of the two missing members. "We can't stay here forever, waiting for them; if shit hits the fan, they could easily break in through the front, and we don't know the lay out of the building very well, so we'd end up getting lost. At least, going out and looking for them would get us out of here; Miyamoto-san's father wasn't here at all..."
Takashi was silent for awhile, thinking to himself; he didn't want to leave just yet, since they might find clues as to where Rei's father was, if he was even alive, from his office, but only Rei knew where his office was, and he knew if they left, it wouldn't be a good idea to return if they found the two.
Takashi shook his head, resting it against his hand; he really didn't want to assume the worst case scenario, but as a leader, her couldn't rule it out and put everyone else in danger waiting for someone who may be dead, or worse...
"We'll wait here..." Takashi said softly, looking up at Kouta, "...for the rest of today; we'll leave noon tomorrow, and look for Kaede and Rei, if they haven't arrived before we leave..."
He added the second part a bit louder, so Saeko, who was standing nearby, and Saya heard as well. Neither Saeko nor Kouta asked any further questions of their leader, both telling it was hard for him to make such a decision, and neither wanting to make him make a decision on leaving them both behind before it was really necessary to do so.
Knowing that he may have to make such a decision rested heavily in Takashi's stomach, especially if they did, and the two were actually alive; he would wait until the last possible moment before making a decision like that. With that in his mind, Takashi stood after a moment, from where he was sitting on the main desk, and picked up the Ithaca.
"Kouta and I will got through the station again, to look for some food. Hopefully there is some around here...Saeko-san, look after everyone else while we're gone, okay?" Takashi said, noticing out of the corner of his eye that Kouta had gone to retrieve his school uniform, probably planning to change before Takashi made his order, and Saeko nodded; he looked over to Kouta and nodded. "Go ahead; when we're done, we'll start searching."
Again, Takashi looked over to the entrance way and out onto the street, hoping to see Kaede and Rei roll up on the ATV with a story of a long detour they needed to take to avoid them, but all he saw was the undead, and when the two would finally join with the rest of the group, they'd have more than just a story about a detour to tell about...
Kaede finally came to with a splitting pain in the back of his head that made him reluctant to move; his first reaction was to move his hand to the source of pain, but he soon found his hands tied together behind his back. As the memory of what Kaede last remembered came back to him, he opened his eyes and looked around.
He was in a room of some sort, only lit by the dusk outside, with several men sitting around, most facing away from him, and one on the bed; after closer inspection, Kaede could see bloody bandages around his arm, and guessed he had been bitten.
Looking towards one of the men, he looked him over carefully, since none of them noticed he was awake yet, and figured, from the way he was dressed, that he was related to the Yakuza in someway; he was either a grunt of the gang, or a full out member, which Kaede doubted somewhat.
His attention was drawn to the corner as one of them men began walking towards it to see Rei also awake with her hands and legs tied up and tape over her mouth; almost on reflex, Kaede sprung up to his feet, which were unbound, unlike Rei, and drew the attention to him and away from the squirming girl who could do little for herself.
"Who the hell are you guys? What do you want from us!" Kaede said, feinting panic; it worked in getting their attention on him, maybe a bit too much though.
"Shut the hell up, kid!" the nearest man roared, pulling his left fist back and punching Kaede full force; Kaede did little to prepare himself from the blow, even though he could have and would have stayed standing.
Instead, he was knocked over and thrown from his spot, hitting the ground hard to give the impression he was just as he appeared; a nearly average high school student. Blood started seeping from the bandage on his cheek as the wound from the match with Souichiro was opened, and Kaede growled inwardly for that.
However, a plus side to letting himself be knocked around was where he ended up; the men weren't too smart with the weapons they took from him and Rei, and he could feel the M1 resting behind him. The man who had hit Kaede took a step towards him to continue his assault on the teen, but another man entered the room, and Kaede could tell, from the way the other men reacted and the sword the man held, he was a true Yakuza member. With the men distracted from him, Kaede worked quickly and detached the bayonet from the M1 as the new man walked into the room, hiding it along his arm.
"Now, now, is that anyway to treat our guests?" the man asked, looking towards the man who had hit Kaede earlier; he seemed pretty young, but he had several scars on his face, and messy black hair.
Despite his younger age, he still seemed well respected by the other men, even in now after the Outbreak, so Kaede could guess he had became a person of power through fighting, so he would have to wait for the right moment to try anything.
"What is your name, boy?" the man asked, looking down at Kaede who played intimidation; the man that had previously advanced on Kaede threateningly grabbed Kaede's shirt and yanked him up.
"The boss is talking to you, bastard!" he yelled, further proving Kaede's theory of the man. "Answer when he asks you something!"
"Yoshitaka-san, that's enough." the man, their boss, said firmly, looking shapely at the man, before looking to Kaede, unimpressed with his show of weakness and highly suspicious of the teen, but that didn't mean much to him; in fact, it made him only that more interested in him. "If you don't want to tell me, that's fine. But boy...you had some nice weapons...you and that girl. Where ever did you find them, eh?"
"W-we just fund them. In someone's house...!" Kaede replied; he could tell the boss was catching onto his act quickly, but he wouldn't give it up so soon when he had the rest of them convinced. "You can keep the guns, just let us go!"
"Sorry, but that's not gonna happen; in fact, I'd like to return that gun to you..." the boss said, smirking softly as he looked towards the bedridden man. "Under one condition; he's been bitten, and won't last long, but I like having an even number of underlings...without him, there'd only be five, so I'd like you to replace him."
"W-what! Like hell I'd do that!" Kaede bit back, the surprise at the suddenness of the bosses offer making him drop his act for a second, and the boss smirked wider at the slight slip up; Kaede noticed that, and quickly put his act back up. "But what about her!"
"Oh, don't worry; we'll keep her around." the boss replied with a tone Kaede really didn't like, along with the chuckles and laughs from the other men, and Kaede had to try really hard to hold back. "But don't worry; join us and you'll have first rights to her. Sound good?"
"Of course, you'll have to share her too!" one of the other men added, raising another bout of laughter.
This time however, Kaede didn't even bother with the man's comment; his chance had come, in the form of the bitten man raising, having died some time during the conversation quietly, and now returned as one of them. One of the men near him noticed, but didn't think he had died yet, and stepped towards the bed.
"Oi, Satoshi, you alright, man?" he asked as he approached the bitten, realizing too late what had happened.
What was once Satoshi lunged from the bed and began tearing into the man's neck, grabbing him tightly to prevent him from moving; almost instantly, one of the other man drew a handgun, and fired at the undead Satoshi, failing at hitting the head. It dropped the man, who was twitching as he slowly bled out, and turned his gaze on the next nearest living, Rei; through the tape, Rei screamed, there being nothing she could do.
When the boss turned to the now zombie Satoshi, Kaede moved into action with little hesitation; he cut the rest of the way through the ropes binding his hands with the bayonet, and moved towards the boss. He looked over too late to prevent Kaede's strike, and the bayonet was thrust upwards.
The boss only managed out a few gurgles as the bayonet pinned his lower jaw to the roof of his mouth, and passing all the way up to the hilt, the tip of the knife just sticking from the top of his head. Pushing the boss out of the way, Kaede grabbed the hilt of his sword, and drew it from the sheath clenched in the dead man's hand.
With most of their attention on their undead comrade, trying to shoot it and only succeeding in drawing it's attention to them, only one of the remaining men noticed what Kaede had done; before the man could draw his fire arm, Kaede closed the distance between them, and thrust the katana through the man's neck.
As Kaede withdrew the sword from his neck, Kaede reached into his coat and yanked the gun from it's underarm hostler; Kaede vaguely recognized it as a black HK USP Match as he raised it, keeping in mind his targeted enemies were not them, but humans, so there was no need for careful marksmanship.
Kaede fired two rounds into the first man's chest, and three in the last one's chest; the gunshots also attracted the undead to him, so it quickly changed it's course and started for Kaede. He didn't even wait for it to get to him, more concerned for Rei then worried about it.
Taking a few quick strides towards Rei, Kaede easily decapitated it as he passed it, and proceeded to Rei. Kneeling down to her, Kaede dropped the gun and katana to the ground, reaching out and grabbing the tape; with one quick pull, he ripped it off, much to Rei's displeasure.
"Oww! That hurt, dammit! Couldn't you have done it more gentler!" Rei yelled, tears in her eyes and the skin under the tape red from the sudden removal.
"Well, if that's all you have to complain about, I guess you're fine..." Kaede muttered under his breath as he moved behind Rei and began unbinding her arms.
"O-oh...yeah, I'm fine...they didn't do anything to me..." Rei replied, quieting down a bit, and looking over to the six corpses laying around and gulped, finding that it was a lot easier to think of them as the bodies of them that the group had left behind so many times. "But...that was pretty amazing, Kaede...you...killed them all..."
"Y-yeah...what else was I suppose to do?" Kaede replied softly, not regretting one bit what he had done, but it was still an unfamiliar feeling, taking actual life when before, he was just putting corpses down. "And I'm not that amazing...I just waited for the right moment...they were stupid to keep someone that was bit in the room with them..."
"But still, there would be no way I'd be able to do something like that, even if I had the perfect chance..." Rei replied as Kaede finally got her hands free, so she began working on the knots binding her legs.
Kaede stood, leaving it to Rei and picked the katana up. With the bloodied blade in hand, he walked to the man that had been bitten; his body was twitching, and it seemed he had just finally bled to death; assuming it wouldn't be long before he arose as one of them, Kaede raised the sword, and drove it straight down into his skull, so far that it struck into the ground.
Kaede pulled on the sword, making sure it wouldn't come out; he wasn't sure if simply stabbing the corps through the head before it reanimated would prevent it from rising, so at least it would be pinned to the ground, and if itdid change, it would probably damage it's head more trying to get up, so it was perfect to leave the body like that.
The room was almost completely dark now, and Kaede took a look around; he spotted some candles on a dresser, and knelt near one of the bodies, searching it's pockets; Rei was watching him, having finished unbinding herself, with a curious look; she had first expected him to start taking the weapons and ammo from the bodies, but searching the pockets had her stumped.
"Uh, what are you looking for?" Rei asked, and looked towards the body with the katana impaled through it's head. "And you're not gonna keep that sword? Wouldn't it come in handy later on...?"
"I'm leaving it as a precaution, since we're gonna need to spend the night here." Kaede replied as he found what he was looking for, holding the lighter up so Rei could see so he wouldn't have to answer, and walked over to the candles, lighting them and giving the room more light with the flame, it being nearly pitch black outside. "Hopefully Takashi and the others are still waiting for us at the station."
"I see..." Rei said with a nod; she didn't understand fully why he left the katana like that, but since it was Kaede, she figured he had some sort of plan.
She watched as he lit a few more candles that had been left laying around, so the room was relatively lit, and then knelt near of of the bodies; this time, Kaede searched the body for guns and ammo. Without needed to be asked to help, Rei knelt down and began searching a body herself like she had done to the police officer the first night.
They were able to get nine handguns in total from the men and at least three or four extra magazines for each gun; Kaede also took a few hostlers from the bodies as well. They set the guns and ammo out of the bed, but they were far from done.
"We should check the house too, for weapons and to make sure its closed up properly for the night." Kaede said as he went over to the corner, picking up his WA2000 and Rei's M1, handing it to her.
Rei looked at the gun, it just not feeling right, then looked down to the bayonet buried in the boss's skull, and then over to Kaede, suddenly a bit squeamish.
"Ehhh...it just doesn't feel right without the bayonet..." Rei said, shifting a bit where she stood, looking pleadingly at Kaede.
He sighed, not even bothering to reply as he knelt and grabbed the hilt of the knife, giving it a solid yank; the knife slid out of the boss' skull, causing the leg to twitch and Rei to jump slightly. Kaede caught it and grinned teasingly at Rei, who looked away, embarrassed, and snatched the bayonet from Kaede.
"Let's get to work, Rei," Kaede said, holding back his laughter as he picked up a candle for himself. "I'll go and make sure the rest of this place is safe; you check the rooms for anything useful. Doubt there's any more of them in here...these guys seemed pretty smart, so I don't think they'd stay somewhere without clearing it first."
"Alright..." Rei nodded, before looking towards the window. "But where are we?"
"An apartment, I'm guessing." Kaede said as he strapped the WA2000 across his back to keep his hands free to carry the candle. "Not to far from where we where, since I saw some apartments nearby earlier; I'm assuming that's where they've brought us. We'll find our bearing tomorrow, when it's light out."
Rei nodded in agreement, picking up a candle herself, and looked around the room, heading for a closet and stepping over a few corpses as Kaede left the room.
It wasn't too long before Kaede stopped back in the room; Rei was still looking through the closet, not finding much yet. Kaede said he would be searching the other room, having found out there was only two rooms in the first place, and left again.
It was night now, the group, save for it's two missing members, was still waiting in the lobby of the police station; strangely, they hadn't needed to move from the room at all, they seeming to have dispersed from the area sometime during the day for some unknown reason, so there wasn't much of a threat from the undead.
At the moment, Takashi was standing guard, the rest sleeping or simply waiting for their turn to keep watch; Kouta, who was next, stood from his spot, passing Shizuka, Alice and Saya, who were all sleeping on the benches in the lobby covered with blankets they had luckily found, and walked over to Takashi.
"Get some rest; I'll take over now." Kouta said in a hushed voice, mindful of those sleeping.
Takashi looked at him tiredly and nodded, shifting the shotgun in his hands and walking towards one of the benches, looking at Saeko who was likewise up. He sat with a soft sigh, and set the Ithaca within reach before looking towards Saeko.
"You should sleep too, since you have the last watch after all." Takashi spoke quietly to Saeko, bringing her out of her thoughts.
Saeko looked over to Takashi, to see him patting the spot next to him with a warming smile on his face, and couldn't help but to smile back, walking over to join him. She sat, and did not hesitate one bit before leaning on Takashi's shoulder, making herself comfortable as Takashi pulled a blanket they over them; within moments, they were both asleep.
Having moved from the bedroom, Rei and Kaede sat in the living room around the coffee table, the handguns and ammo as well as a few other things they had found; a few flashlights that were working despite the EMP blast from earlier, a few replica 'ninja' swords, and what Kaede guessed was the rest of the Yakuza's ammo they had found in a closet.
That also told Kaede that they had been here for awhile, to have extra ammo stored away in the house. With Rei mostly just watching, Kaede sorted through the guns and ammo; since most of the ammo was of .45 ACP caliber and .40 S&W caliber, Kaede set several aside, there not being enough ammo to keep them around for too long.
Kaede did however keep the ammo just in case, and looked at the five guns he was planning to keep; both of the HK USP Match handguns(it turned out the man that he had taken the first from had a second), a Walther P99 with a under the barrel, which Kaede quickly checked to see if it was working, and a pair of HK MK 23 handguns, both with silencers but one had a flashlight, the other a laser sight.
"You can sleep in the other room, Rei; I'll be busy for awhile..." Kaede said, looking up at Rei momentarily before looking back down at the MK 23 he was examining; he was planning on checking each of the five guns, making sure they were in working order before actually using them.
"Alright then...good night." Rei replied, holding back a yawn; she couldn't doubt that she was tired, so she accepted Kaede's offer without complaint, and began heading to the empty bedroom, leaving Kaede behind in the living room.
The next morning, Rei awoke with the sun shining into the room; she sat up, rubbing her eyes, and yawned before groggily standing up, the events of last night coming to mind as she familiarized herself with the apartment.
After a quick stop to the bathroom, Rei continued into the living room to see Kaede sleeping on the couch, probably having passed out at sometime during the night. Since they didn't eat last night, Rei's stomach growled, so she went to the kitchen, leaving Kaede alone for now, and started looking for something edible; since the EMP blast knocked out all electricity just the day before, most of the food hadn't spoiled yet, but that didn't mean it was particularly good still.
With that in mind, Rei set out making a quick meal, knowing that they would have to leave very soon when they were ready; her cooking eventually woke Kaede, who jumped slightly and sat up, looking around before everything came back to him.
Kaede looked over to Rei to find her giggling softly at his sudden awakening, and he frowned, standing up and picking up the P99, which was in a hostler without a belt that could be attached to the holster Rei was wearing. He yawned lightly as he walked over to the kitchen, peaking at what Rei was making before holding out the holstered gun to her.
"Here, I want you to have this one; goes under the arm." Kaede said tiredly, watching as Rei took the gun and looked at it oddly before looking up to Kaede; he cut in before she could speak, knowing already what was coming. "I'll teach you how to shoot it properly later, but it also has a laser sight; all you have to keep in mind is to aim the dot a little lower than your target. And it's loaded with .40 Smith and Wesson ammunition...less recoil."
With that explanation, Rei attached the holster under her arm after a light struggle, Kaede wandering off muttering 'Toilet,' and she turned her attention back to the meal being fixed. Kaede soon was back, and went to the coffee table; there, he pulled on the dual under-arm holsters for the USP Matches, sliding both into them after checking the magazines to make sure they were both full.
As Rei finished and started serving food onto plates, Kaede started loading the other two guns, the ammo, and the flashlights into a messengers bag he had found; carrying that and the four ninja swords, which were short, single pieces of metal lacking a hilt and came two in a sheath, he walked over to the table, setting them down. As Kaede sat in one of the chairs, Rei walked over with the food and set a plate in front of him before sitting herself.
"We'll need to hurry and get to the police station when we're done. Do you know how far we are now?" Kaede asked as he picked up a pair of chopsticks and pushed some of the food into his mouth, chewing and swallowing. "This is pretty good for being thrown together..."
"Not really...I'll be able to tell when we're outside though." Rei replied as she ate as well, quicker than usual but no where near as much as Kaede was chowing down, smiling at him a bit sarcastic. "I'll take that as a compliment, so thanks."
As the morning came, Takashi slowly opened his eyes, still feeling Saeko beside him; looking towards the front of the lobby, he could see Kouta lightly dozing, and sighed. No matter how quiet and small that exhale of breath was, it enough to wake Saeko from her slumber with a jump.
"S-sorry..." Takashi muttered, looking over to the clock as Saeko moved off of him, yawning behind her hand; this time, it was Kouta who woke with a start, suddenly alert until he looked over to Takashi and Saeko, grinning.
"Why didn't you wake me up, Hirano-kun...?" Saeko asked sleepily as Saya stirred, waking slowly as well from the sun shining in.
"A-ah...you two just looked too...c-comfortable to disturb. Don't worry, I was fine taking the rest of the night." Kouta replied softly, stretching out and hopping to his feet. "See? Good as new."
Saya sat up in her spot and yawned as well, picking her glasses up from the table she left them on and pulled them on.
"Jeez, can't you guys keep it down while others are sleeping?" she muttered as she stood up stretching, getting a few apologetic looks from the other three. "Well, now that I'm up...Busujima-senpai, shall we get started on breakfast?"
The night before, they had found the cafeteria of the police station and, luckily, there was quite a bit of nonperishable food there they could use. With a nod from Saeko, the two girls stood and started for the cafeteria kitchen with a word to be cautious from Takashi, since they really didn't make a full sweep of the building yet.
Not even bothering to really clean up, Rei and Kaede double checked that they had everything with them, both hoping for the best as they started for the door. First, Kaede peered through the peeping glass in the door, making sure the hall was clear before venturing out.
Opening the door, Kaede slid out quickly, checking down both sides of the hallway with his gun raised, before relaxing slightly; it was empty. With Rei following after, they made their way through the apartments; luckily, the set up wasn't too confusing, and they were soon in the lobby, having to take the stairs down since the elevator was out.
"I guess that's why none of them got in, huh?" Kaede muttered, seeing the entrance into the lobby completely blocked off with furniture that Kaede had no hope of moving on his own. "But those guys had to have moved freely in and out...there's gotta be another door around here..."
"How about the emergency exit?" Rei asked hopefully, pointing to a sign reading 'Emergency Exit' and pointed down to the other end of the hall.
"It's worth a shot" Kaede replied, shrugging as he began heading down that way with Rei following.
They were both pleased to find the emergency exit unobstructed, and because of how it was set up, Kaede guessed this was the door the men were using to get in and out of the apartments. At the door, Kaede was careful to open it quietly and peered out into the surrounding area; there were a few of them limping about, but not many. It seemed the ATV had done all it could in keeping them distracted, and that it had died sometime during the night.
Kaede turned to Rei, pressing his finger to his lips signaling for silence before moving out into the open with her following. Making their way past them, Rei looked around to figure out where they were; luckily, Kaede's guess was right; they were still in the same area as before, and that wasn't too far from the police station.
She relayed the information as soon as they were clear away from them.
"It shouldn't take us too long to get to the station from here, Kaede. We just need to keep going down this road here for awhile." Rei said just barely over a whisper.
Kaede nodded in response as they continued down the street, keeping a cautious eye out as they moved at a quicker pace than the day before. As they came up to an intersection after several blocks, Rei caught Kaede's attention before motioning down the street on the right; the duo turned and started down that way, and Kaede saw a sign with 'Higashi Police Station' pointing down the street.
In the distance, they could barely make out the building of the police station. However, a growling that was worse than anything Kaede had heard since the outbreak made them both stop dead in their tracks, the pattering of four feet coming from behind a car...
It was nearing the deadline that Takashi had decided on, and every one was on edge, wondering if Rei and Kaede would make it in time. Shizuka was once again keeping Alice occupied with Zeke while Kouta stood near the entrance, keeping an eye out with the scope of his AR-10, with Saya standing nearby, and Takashi sitting on the desk with Saeko leaning against it near him.
It was quite, save for Shizuka and Alice's occasional laughter, and the tension was high despite that those few bouts of laughter; even so, Shizuka was also feeling the same as the others, the situation having been explained to her the night before.
As the clock reached 11:30, the tension seemed to thicken, none of them wanting to leave the two behind, but knowing as well that it could become very dangerous if they stayed too long, especially since they hadn't been able to clear out the building completely due to lack of knowledge of the layout.
It was a just about four minutes later that Kouta suddenly shouted, hopping with joy, making most of them jump.
"What the hell's your problem, lard ass!" Saya shouted back at the dancing gun otaku.
"They're coming~! They're down the street!" Kouta yelled back, pointing frantically and hopping around to the glass entrance; at this, almost everyone jumped up and rushed to the entrance.
Saya fumbled with the binoculars around her neck and looked towards where Kouta was still pointing down the street. Everyone watched as she finally got them up to her face, and her excitement fade almost instantly; their hearts dropped, and Kouta quickly whipped back to the windows, raising the AR-10 and looking to where he had seen them.
"What the fuck are those!" Saya gasped under her breath, having a much clearer view than Kouta did with the binoculars than Kouta did with the scope, but he could faintly make out what was confronting the two, and stopping their progress..
"D-dogs?"
Kaede was still with Rei trembling behind him, the beast before them a truly hellish sight; it had once been a dog, a Doberman Pinscher, a big one at that, but it seemed to have been affected by the disease that had been causing the dead to start walking again, for it's flesh was staring to rot off it's bones, and it's fur was stained with blood.
The dog, if it could even be called a dog anymore, pulled it's lips back in a low growl, it's jagged teeth bloodstained, it's ears and nose twitching as it looked straight at Kaede; it didn't matter that, like It's once human counterparts, it couldn't see, because dogs had a greater sense of smell and hearing, so even if they were silent, it could still smell them, having at least those two senses intact still.
Kaede didn't even have enough time to fully raise his rifle before the dog lunged, and Kaede let the gun fly from his hands to prevent it from biting him, the thing's jaws snapping inches in front of his face as he held it back with his forearm to it's neck; Rei moved to help, but she was faced with a problem of her own as another one of the dogs like the one Kaede was dealing with came out from behind a car, and charged for Rei.
Having played with his own dog more or less in the same fashion, Kaede was quick to move into action, wrapping his arm around the dog and flipping them over, pinning the dog down with his knee and putting all his wight down, pinning it's head down with one hand as the other grabbed at one of the USP Matches under his arm.
With little remorse, Kaede pressed the gun barrel to the dogs chin, just above the neck, and fired. Blood flew and the body went limp under him, giving Kaede a few seconds of ease until he heard gunshots, making him look up quickly; a second dog was charging for Rei, and she fired at it, but it was just too fast, and Rei had not training shooting dogs.
A few chunks of flesh flew from the dog's back as the bullets grazed it, but that was the best that happened; just as the dog lept at Rei. Time seemed to slow down, Kaede whipping his gun around to try and stop the attack as Rei stumbled back and fell, trying to lift the M1 to at least try and stop the undead animal with the bayonet, when a round blew through dog's neck, shifting it's path jest slightly.
The dog fell in a heap, and Kaede quickly rushed to the squirming beast; holding it still with his foot on it's neck, Kaede looked down at it with cold eyes before firing a round into it's head, killing it for good. Not yet relaxing, Kaede quickly whipped around, looking for any more of the beastly dogs; seeing nothing but a few of the corpses of humans attracted by the gunfire hobbling towards them, Kaede went over to Rei and helped her up.
"Are you okay, Rei?" he asked quickly, looking for any blood that was her own or any signs of injury.
"I'm fine...just a little shaken...that's the first time we've encountered something...something like that." Rei said, bitterly pointing to one of the dog's bodies; Kaede nodded slowly, just as a groan drew their attention.
Like with the dog, only with a more precise shot, it dropped as a 7.62x51mm NATO round ripped through it's skull, courtesy of the gun otaku at the police station. With that as a signal to hurry up, Kaede and Rei started for the station, running the rest of the way after Kaede picked up his dropped WA2000, to meet with their waiting friends.
Even with the knowledge of a new, even more dangerous undead enemy, things were still starting to cheer up for the group; they were finally whole again, and they would be able to face the next day together, whatever it would bring.
Chapter 10, end
Authors notes: Hope you enjoyed the chapter guys; the next one should be up soon! And I also have a poll, now that I've figured out I can do that, so please check it out; it's important to the continuation of this story! It's about which characters are going to be reunited with which family members.