A big thanks to Recklessbaka and Gravenimage for reviewing last chapter. I didn't think anyone would take the time to leave a comment.
Thankfully, this chapter is actually a decent length, though I wish I could have made it a bit longer. In the end though, I decided to get to a good stopping point and go. I've been gone for too long as it is.
1000 Suns
DEAD Man Wonderland
What does it take to be a good person?
In the old world you had standards to judge by. Don't lie, don't steal, don't kill. Easy things to remember, and, for the most part, easy things to comply with too.
When you have everything you need, why steal ? When telling the truth is easiest, why lie? With law and order pervading social life, why kill? But now, now things are different. Now we have to judge people on a different scale. Being nice won't save you, telling the truth won't get you food, laying down your weapons won't protect your family.
I've done terrible things to survive as well, we all have.
Seven people sat in a room, the children were elsewhere, sleeping. It was dark outside, with the crescent moon hanging low overhead, and the interior of the room was cast in shadow. The occupants of the room, though young, were all jaded adults, they had seen far too much.
One of them, Saya, was talking.
"... Then, after the group was a few turns ahead and out of sight, they took a left turn, right here." She pointed to a map open on the floor. "The old lady and the man who was with her took a right turn here, half a block later. After that, the stumbled into a group of them.
Surprisingly convenient, isn't it?
Those two would have been fine on their own, they were smart. None of them noticed the two living people in the area. Except that the group leader, Izou, sent one of his men back to check on them. Now, if the two had just taken a wrong turn, the man wouldn't have found them. But he knew exactly where they were. He didn't backtrack at all, he took a shortcut."
Saya took a breath, "And he took the first shot. I'm sure you all can guess what happened next."
Then the room faded into silence.
Takashi spoke next. "There's no way Shibata wouldn't have known about that."
"How'd you figure that?"
"That's just the way she is." Takashi shrugged, "I can't give you anything more definite than a gut feeling, but I'm sure about it."
"Plus, she's got practically everyone in the building eating out of her hand." Rei added.
Saya nodded grimly. "So... What are we going to do about it?"
Isou chuckled, "That's the million dollar question, isn't it?"
"What?"
"It's an American idiom. Don't mind me," He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.
"Whatever," Saya huffed. "We have more important things to deal with than semantics. For example, can we still trust Shibata and her groupies even though they feed little old ladies to the zombies?"
They looked to Takashi, who shrugged.
It was Saeko who answered the question. "I believe so." Saya cocked an eyebrow. "I spoke to the woman early this morning. She holds some rather... traditional values. Anybody who lives in this building is under her protection. And I believe that she will do everything in her power to keep her people safe. However, until one sets foot inside the office building they aren't her concern. The same goes for people who are cast out or leave of their own volition."
"So by 'traditional' you really mean 'archaic'? Those type of beliefs would fit better in the Warring States Period ."
"That's one way of looking at it, Takagi-san. However, your father pursued a very similar strategy did he not? Takagi-sama simply had the resources to take care of the old and infirmed who were unable to provide for themselves. Shibata, on the other hand," Saeko gestured at the rundown state of the building, "does not."
Saya muttered something uncouth under her breath, but otherwise remained silent.
"Does it even matter if we can 'trust' her?" Rei hissed sharply. "She murdered someone. She killed them just because they would be an inconvenience to take care of!"
Hirano nodded, "I'm not so much worried about what she'll do to us than what she'll ask us to do."
"Exactly! We should get out of here while we have the chance, before they take our stuff out of the humvee and lock it up."
"Is it really that simple?" Rei glanced over at Yukiko in surprise. The young woman was looking out the window demurely, her legs folded to one side of her. "We have safety here. We have a warm place to lie down in the evening and the assurance that we will be safe in our sleep. For the first time in weeks we can go to sleep and know that our loved ones won't die while our eyes are closed."
"What?" Saya said, "So it's okay if they kill off a few old ladies, as long as you're safe? Is that what you're saying?"
"As long as Shin is safe." Yukiko replied, "For the safety of my little brother, I would do many terrible things with my own two hands."
"None of us are without fault, Saya," Takashi cut in. "And she's right, I've killed to keep you all safe. And I would do it again." He let out a breath, "But the difference is that Shibata is killing innocents. She's executing people who have done no harm to anyone else. I can't just look the other way when it's like that."
There was a poignant pause.
"Once, when I was little," Yukiko began softly, "I saw a little blue bird land in my neighborhood park. It was so pretty that I wanted to catch it and take it home with me. But before I could do anything more than look, a snake shot out of the grass and devoured the little bird whole. I was so angry that I was going to go over and kill the snake, but my mother stopped me."
She looked up at Saya, and there was steel in her gaze. "Do you know what she said to me? She said, 'Rain will make the flowers grow'." Yukiko shook her head angrily, "Rain will make the flowers grow. And I'll except the rain, no matter how heavy it gets, as long as Shin can live in safety."
"Letting others suffer for your own happiness? That's the moral of the story?! Bad things have to happen my ass!"
Yukiko glared back defiantly. "What would you give to see your family safe again?"
Saya flinched back as if struck. She growled, and drew back her arm to slap the other girl.
Takashi caught her wrist. "Enough, both of you." The tension in the air calmed. "Either way we can't escape for the time being. For now, we'll wait. Let's get some sleep."
Silence fell over the room like a veil and Takashi's family settled down to sleep. There was tension in the air, but that was nothing new. It was just another night in the darkness.
Saeko took first watch, kneeling silently in the corner of the room, her sword across her lap while she sat upon her heels. In the shadows of the night, one might have mistaken her for a statue. Thus was the way of the samurai: inner peace, control.
In her heart of hearts, Saeko believed that Shibata had made the right choice. Saving the old and weak will only drain her resources. It was better to pick and choose, to gather as many as possible, but only those with value. Anyone who could carry a weapon, any woman who could still bear children, all of these and more. Saeko understood the older woman's thoughts on the matter. However, Saeko knew that her place was at Takashi's side. Should he choose to leave, she would follow.
She could only try to convince him to remain.
The next morning dawned slowly, the pale sunlight falling weakly upon the city. Silence filled the air, as it always did. The noises of life that once pervaded the streets and buildings had long disappeared, and in the silence, animated corpses walked the streets hunting for warm bodies.
Takashi lay awake but unmoving and stared at the ceiling. It was early and he had stayed up late into the night, but he was wide awake, unwilling or unable to go back to sleep, but would let the rest of his family rest for a while longer. Just because he was used to surviving with four hours of sleep didn't mean the rest of them had to be.
He was tired, true. But it was not his body or mind that was weary. Rather, he was tired of making choices.
How long ago had Saya 'elected' him leader? Less than a week? He'd lost count of the exact number of days because that event felt like a lifetime ago.
Days felt like years when it was a challenging just to survive from hour to hour.
To be completely clear, Takashi was sorely tempted to stay at the Shibata's apartment complex just so he could offload the burden of leadership onto another. But at the same time, he couldn't just leave his responsibilities in someone else's hands. He had to know that his family would be safe if he made that choice, but if he could do a better job of keeping them safe, then he'd be forced leave Shibata's group. He wouldn't place his family into hands less capable than his own.
Takashi sighed and stood, setting aside his heavy thoughts for another time. He stretched his shoulders and popped his neck before quietly leaving the room, making sure to close the heavy door quietly behind him, and nodded briefly to the guard in the hall outside.
Takashi didn't really have a set destination. He wandered around the edges of the floor and looked out the industrial size windows. At dawn, the city outside looked almost peaceful, as if the real people would wake in a few hours and begin yet another day in an endless progression of days, as if the world hadn't already ended.
Some time later, Takashi found himself on the roof the building. The air was cold enough for him to see his breath, but he pulled his jacket tighter around his shoulders and stuck it out. Over the breeze he didn't hear when the door to the roof opened a second time.
"Komuro-san, Ohiyo-gozaimasu."
Takashi glanced over his shoulder in surprise. "Ah, Shibata-san, good morning. I'm not intruding into a personal spot am I?"
Shibata shook her head, "Of course not, the roof is open to anyone who can bear the early morning chill. Though I am surprised to find you up here, Takashi-san, most of mine spend the morning hours asleep."
Takashi shrugged, "Wanted to clear my head."
"Indeed." Shibata moved next to him by the edge of the rooftop and they stood silently for a while, overlooking the city.
A fine mist had risen off the Onbetsu river that the first rays of dawn had yet to burn away, and for a short while the city appeared to be painted gold. Beneath the soft sunlight's ethereal glow, the city almost looked alive again, like a phoenix rising from its ashes.
Takashi glanced over at Shibata after a few minutes of silence. Part of him wanted to ask her why she'd leave an old woman to die, but that would tip his hand. He sighed and looked back over the city. Sometimes you have to play your cards close to your chest.
"Something on your mind Takashi?" Shibata asked.
Takashi snorted, "Always." Shibata nodded in understanding.
"There are no 'days off' in this world," She murmured. "A leader always has to be thinking, always has to be vigilant. It wears upon you doesn't it?"
"Sometimes I don't even want to get up in the morning."
She sent him a wry smile and after a few moments of silence she said: "Did you know, Komuro-san, that most of the groups who've joined my community never really had any 'leaders'? They were just herds of people wandering from one place to the next, like cows ever seeking a greener pasture. It was rather disheartening, actually, to see how few of us really has what it takes to lead."
Takashi just shrugged, wondering what brought that sudden tidbit out. "It's always easier to follow. That's the only reason why leaders are important in the first place."
"So it doesn't surprise you that, other than myself, you are the first person I've come across who could really be called a leader? As the rest... well, others may lead, but no one else has had that inherent spark of charisma that makes you want to follow."
"Takagi-sama was a man like that." Takashi replied, "So was his wife. Compared to those two, I'm nothing special."
Shibata chuckled, "Believe what you wish Komuro-san. But surely there must be a reason why Takagi-sama's own daughter chose to follow you in his place." Takashi fell silent. After a few moments of without speaking Shibata stretched her arms up above her head.
"Well," She said, "I enjoyed our chat, Komuro-san, but I must return to my offices presently." Takashi held the door open for her as she left.
Alone on the roof, Takashi turned back towards the city. It still was a beautiful sight, as the morning mist evaporated and left the city clear to see.
A few moments later the door opened again.
"Saeko?"
"Shh," She whispered back, "The others are still asleep, but I saw that you were missing and I wanted to be with you for a while. The last few days have been far too busy for my tastes."
"Un." Takashi's agreement was rewarded with a brief kiss and a warm embrace. He wrapped his arm around the woman's slender shoulders and held her flush to his chest. He let out a slow breath, "I'm sorry Saeko."
"No need to apologize, love," Saeko smirked at Takashi's blush. "You bear too many burdens already. Just relax for now. It's enough."
Takashi chuckled, "Thank you... love." The word was heavy on his tongue, but Saeko smiled contentedly when she heard him say it. They stayed like that for a moment longer before separating. They re-entered the building quietly and made their way back to the others.
Saeko caught his hand right before they got to the room. "Would it be so terrible to let someone else bear the burden of responsibility for once?" She gave his hand a warm squeeze. Then she was into the room before Takashi could respond and the door thudded shut a moment later.
Well... He thought to himself I guess I know what side she's on. Takashi opened the door and moved into the room himself.
The others were just waking up, Alice rubbing the sleep from her eyes and Rei fixing her hair. Takashi pulled Khota to his feet. Once everyone was up and moving (and the two little kids were out of the room for a moment) Takashi turned to face everyone else.
"Right, today we have one goal: Find out what's going on in this place." He didn't need to say anything else, they all knew how important this was. They had to know the full extent of Shibata's actions. Was the death of the old woman a rare occurrence, or did Shibata kill people she deemed unfit to survive on a regular basis?
It was still early, though by now it was clearly 'morning' instead of 'dawn', and they had to wait a while before someone came around with a list of 'chores'. Saya had filled Takashi in on that practice yesterday evening. Some tasks had to be completed before a certain time, usually noon or dusk which were more or less approximated, and others just had to be finished before the start of the next day.
Scavenging only took place every few days, so for today the boys were relegated to being maids, just like the girls.
One thing that Saya had picked up on was that the chores were rather light. She estimated that there were about fifty people living in the office building, give or take about ten, and the daily things that needed doing were dealt with quickly and efficiently. What impressed Saya even more was that everyone seemed more than willing to do their part. If nothing else, Shibata was a capable organizer.
Hirano and Rika, after proving themselves to be excellent marksmen (they each were given one bullet to headshot a target at 750 meters), were assigned to morning sentry duty on the roof that evening. They even got their rifles back, though it was a bit disconcerting to watch Khota practically rubbing his cheek against his ARC. They weren't alone, of course, and the other men on the roof top let slip some interesting things. Most importantly:
"Heard anything knew about that gang from last week? A friend of mine said he ran into a few of them on a salvage run."
"Yeah, they've been getting closer. Doesn't matter though, well pop their heads off before they can do anything serious... Oi! There's one now. Hey newcomers! Get over here!"
Khota and Rika moved quickly across the rooftop, "What've you got for us boys?"
One of them had a pair of binoculars pressed to his eyes. "Look there, at the alley between the hotel and the restaurant. Block three. There are two kids, dressed in some stupid looking leather. You see them?"
"Un." By now, both the snipers had their weapons braced against the rooftop. Finding the targets was child's play. Especially when they were carrying bright red gas cans. One of the gangsters was dousing the wooden planks of the restaurant with gasoline.
"Off 'em." The man said, "They're part of some arson gang that's been trying to set fire to this place for weeks now. If we don't kill them they'll just come back from another direction and do it all over again."
Rika nodded, "I'll take the one who's pouring. On three. One, two-" The sharp retort of gunfire shattered the stillness of the evening. Half a mile away, two headless corpses collapsed to the ground. The gas cans clattered to the pavement.
"Nice shooting, newcomers." The man impressed, but doing his best to hide it. "Let's do a quick sweep of the area; Shibata's worried that these assholes might end up setting fire to the whole city. We'll send out some people to pick of the gasoline later."
That night the group gathered back in their 'room' and laid out the few blankets Shibata's quartermaster had given them, and a few moments later Alice skipped proudly through the door with Khota by her side. "Onii-san, Onii-san! Look what I made at school today!" She held up a sheet a computer paper with a crayon drawing of the whole family, even Zeke, standing in front of a green blob that Takashi could only assume was the humvee.
School, daycare and even classes for the children. Something else Takashi couldn't give Alice while on the move.
He smiled, "It's beautiful Alice." She surprised him with how good the proportions were, for a child that is. It even looked like she had blended two different colors of crayons together to get the exact shade of Saeko's hair. "Looks like you're going to be an artist when you grow up, huh kid?"
Alice shook her head, "Iie! I'm gonna be just like you Onii-san!"
Takashi could only chuckle sadly. "Hopefully you won't have to be..." He murmured. Alice blinked in a rare moment of confusion before Takashi lightly pushed her towards Shizuka to get her hair brushed. Soon enough, the exhaustion of the day took over and the little girl collapsed against the buxom nurse's side.
After Shizuka put Alice and Shin the rest of the group quieted. After a few seconds of uncomfortable silence, Takashi spoke. "If anyone has anything important that they learned today, just say it. No interruptions, let's get the big picture before we start arguing again."
Saya fixed her glasses and huffed, "She organized, I'll give her that much. Whoever she has running this place knows what they're doing. Even my dad would be impressed with her setup."
Rei nodded, "I noticed that as well. It's part of the reason why everyone likes her so much."
"Not everyone," Yukiko said. "There is a small group of people who are especially wary of Shibata-san. Even to the point where they refuse to talk about her at all, or just make general statements about her ability to lead."
Rei and Khota exchanged glances. "That's because she's had other people killed in the past." Khota murmured. "The two other sentries on the roof talked about it."
Rika smirked "And Shibata isn't the only warlord in the prefecture either. There's some gang of drugged up kids running around in the area as well. According to our watch commander, they're goal is to light the rest of the city on fire."
Saya frowned. "Dumbasses."
"Couldn't agree with you more."
Takashi sighed "Shibata is just a mixed bag. For every bad thing we hear about her, we hear something good as well. Or worse, a reason why the 'bad thing' " He made quotes in the air "Is completely necessary."
Rei shook her head adamantly, "It's not that complicated! That woman kills innocent people, there's nothing else that needs to be said."
Rika chuckled, "Nothing in life is ever that simple kid. As a soldier you get over the idea of 'black and white' real quick. Or else you get court marshaled."
"Rei," Takashi said. "We've all done terrible things in order to survive. Hell, you wanted to abandon Shido at the school on the first fucking day. We need to stop judging by the standards we used to know, the measuring stick of a dead world won't help us here."
"Been saving that one for just the right moment, Takashi?"
He sighed, "Yes Saya, I want to sound cool that badly."
The room lapsed into silence again, as nobody could think of any more points to make. Takashi could also see that nobody's opinion had really changed. Whatever they believed before, and he was pretty sure he had the rest of his group pinned down, they still believed it. And they were still divided right down the middle.
For his own part, Takashi just wanted to know what the extent of Shibata's crimes were. How far did the rabbit hole go? Only then could he make his own choice.
"So," He said, "I guess we aren't coming to a decision tonight."
Yukiko raised her hand slowly. "Actually... even if the rest of you decide to leave. Shin and I are going to stay."
Shibata's right; being a leader is hard. So hard that most people can't even do it. So hard that most people are willing to give up their own freedom just so someone else will make decisions for them. And in the absence of a leader, they'll just wander from place to place, aimless, directionless. Barely more alive than the walking corpses they have to run from.
Cattle, she called them. She called everyone else in this building cattle. I should have been angry. I should have been pissed off that she'd say such a thing about the people within her care.
I should have been, but I wasn't. Because in the end, I almost agree with her.
High School of the DEAD
DEAD man Wonderland.
A few ending thoughts. One, sorry this chapter took so long to get out. The only explanation I can offer is that school came and smacked me in the face with a nail studded two by four. I almost finished it before the beginning of the semester too, but nope, school said nope.
On that note, I'm not sure how long it will take me to get out the next chapter, but we're approaching the end of this story. One more chapter, if I can make it long enough, two or three at most. It kinda snuck up on me, to tell the truth, but I have the rest of the story planned out. And don't worry, things will come to a head between Takashi's group and Shibata soon enough. Though perhaps not in the way you might expect.