A message for those who also read my story Courtship, sorry but it will not update today. Things have just been real busy for me and I am going to have to slow up on the updates for a little while.
I do not own Highschool of the DEAD or its characters.
Updated: 10/22/13
Shizuka, Nakajima and Colorado were standing in communications talking, as the radio chatter between the troops at the raider's village went on.
"I'm afraid if we don't do something soon, the other two critical wounded will die also, Colonel," Shizuka commented.
Nakajima nodded and grunted as he rubbed his chin in thought.
Colorado spoke up, "What if we could fly them out to the Mercy?"
Shizuka looked puzzled as Nakajima snapped his fingers. "What's the Mercy?" she asked.
"The Mercy is a US hospital ship that is currently off the coast. I forgot all about it, they would have the facilities to handle your critical wounded," Nakajima said.
The radio crackled with Cowboy's voice, "Cowboy to Colorado, got your ears on, pardner? Over."
Colorado stepped over and took the headset and mic from the radio tech, "Five by five, Bossman. Whacha need? Over."
"Get your wheels up and head out to the Iwo to refuel. Sword girl has gotten an itch and I need to fly cover looking for walkers. She's worried we're in for a rowdy time with Them. I only have about an hour of juice left before I have to head for the pump. You fill up first and relieve me soon as you can, over."
"Roger that, Boss, wheels up, pump up, and cover you. On our way, over and out."
"Cowboy over and out."
Colorado turned to the other two and nodded, "Sorry to cut this short, but I gotta run. Back soon!"
"Be safe!" both Shizuka and Nakajima said as he bolted out the door and down the stairs, calling for Red.
Nakajima turned back to Shizuka, "Let me make some calls and see what I can do, Marikawa-san. I'll let you know soon as I can."
Shizuka nodded, "Thank you, Colonel." She headed downstairs and back towards the clinic. She stopped out front and watched as Cowboy 2 lifted off and raced away to the East. She stood thinking for a minute before going inside, where she found Rei taking the blood pressure of one of the critical patients. It was just the two of them since Yukari and Urabe had gone with the attack group.
"BP seems to be weaker, Sensei," Rei told her.
Shizuka sighed, "Nakajima-san just told me there is a US hospital ship off the coast. He's going to try to get us transport out there for both of them. I want you to be ready to go too, Rei. We will go with them so we can find some things out and maybe get some extra supplies."
Rei looked worried, "What about the attack group? How are things going with them?"
The nurse smiled as she squeezed Rei's elbow. "Don't worry, they're fine. None of ours have been hurt and only two of theirs that tried to fire at our people. Everyone else gave up at once, and as soon as the trucks get there, the whole crowd will be headed back here."
Rei looked around Shizuka as Nakajima came in the front door.
"There will be a Blackhawk here in about forty-five minutes for the wounded you want to transport." he told them. "If there is anyone else that needs to go, decide now and we'll get them ready."
"Rei and I both need to go and find out some things as well as try to get more supplies. How are we going to get them to the landing field, Colonel?" Shizuka asked.
He grinned, "I sent a couple of people for two Humvee's. We will tie stretchers on the hoods and drive them around real slow. Not a problem."
Shizuka nodded, "We better go and get a couple of things from the house. We'll be back in a flash."
Nakajima nodded as the women headed out the door.
000
Takashi reached out and took Saeko's hand as they walked back towards the village. She smiled at him and squeezed his hand tightly as they walked.
She stopped and held her finger to her lips. They could hear undead moaning off to their left and Saeko slowly slipped her sword from its sheath. Takashi set his shotgun to ready, but knew to leave it to her unless needed. The less sound they made the better off they were going to be.
Three undead stepped out in front of them, but were shuffling slowly in what they both knew was 'search' mode.
Saeko waited to make sure they were all that were approaching them. She smiled as the trio turned toward the village instead of her and Takashi. As their backs were presented to her, there was as flash of silver and three bodies hit the ground, never to move again.
Takashi keyed his mic, while Saeko was cleaning her sword, and quietly said, "Komuro to all, Busujima-san just took down three zeds to the west of the village. No others in sight, we are proceeding into the village. Out."
He nodded and followed Saeko as she sheathed her blade and they began to jog.
000
They arrived to find the Captain grouping everyone into a circle near the gate. Troopers surrounded the civilians, facing outward and watching for threats.
There was the roar of a diesel engine as the semi-truck pulled up with Rika hanging off the driver's door, pistol in hand. She jumped down and jogged over to Tomasa, who was by the Stryker, as Giba shut the truck down.
"How close are the other trucks?" she asked.
Tomasa looked up to Kohta in the commander's hatch. Kohta was speaking into the mic on his crew helmet and held up his hand for them to wait.
He leaned over and said, "They are coming through the town on the coast road, but they're seeing a lot more undead activity than we did. If they could drive straight through they would be here in thirty minutes, but Toda-san thinks it's going to take longer because of the mob."
"Ask Cowboy if there is anything he can do to lead some of them away, so the second group can get through," Tomasa said.
Kohta nodded and got back on the radio. A couple of minutes later he said, "Cowboy says there is a school just to the north of where second group is bogged down. He is going to try hovering over the sports field and see if that will attract them."
Tomasa nodded and turned back to the others, "Urayama-san, is everything packed and ready to load?"
He nodded, "Yes sir. We did not have much in the way of supplies because we were foraging every other day. Each person has a couple of personal bags and that's it."
"Let's get everything we can in the semi-truck. I want to pack the Stryker with the children and load as many people as possible in the other trucks. If we have to bug out, we will pile the rest in the trailer of the semi and as many on top of the Stryker as we can," he told them.
They scrambled to get everything loaded. Captured weapons and ammo went in first then food supplies followed by the villager's personal belongings.
Kohta stayed in the commander's hatch as Paddy went to the rear of the Stryker and lowered the ramp. He could hear people shuffling in and moving around, but he kept his eyes on the tree line with a glance to the sky once in a while. He was surprised when someone poked him in the side. "Hey, hold this for a minute," Paddy said. He ducked down and…had a baby thrust into his arms.
Kohta stared wide-eyed as the child stared back at him. It seemed to be around a year-old and had a one-piece outfit on that was a sky blue color, and a little red stocking cap.
"Eh…ah…" Kohta croaked as the baby's face broke into a grin.
"Gaaaooooooo!" the baby cooed.
Realizing he was off his post, he pulled the child to his chest and stood back up. He turned toward the camp, just in time for Takashi to look at him. Kohta went red in the face as Takashi stood there for a moment, his head cocked to one side and his mouth open. He watched as Takashi called Saeko over and pointed to Kohta.
Kohta sighed as Saeko stared for a moment, then covered her open mouth and began to laugh.
Looking down Kohta said, "What are you doing to me, kid…everybody's pointing." The baby just looked up and 'gaooooed' while reaching for the helmet mic.
000
Giba and Tatsumi walked around the side of the semi to find Saeko almost in tears laughing. Walking up, Tatsumi asked, "What's so funny?"
Takashi turned toward him while grasping for air, "Look at the Stryker. More importantly, look at Kohta."
They both focused their gaze that way and froze with grins on their faces as Rika walked over. "What the hell are you monkey's grinning at?" she asked.
Her eyebrows went up once the scene was pointed out to her. "I wish I had a camera!" she muttered. "Saya really needs to see this!"
000
Kohta sighed again as now Rika, Tomasa and half a dozen others were now looking at him. He felt a slight tug on his vest and looked down to see a young pregnant woman smiling up at him.
"Thank you for holding him, sir. I will take him back now," she said.
He squatted down and handed her the child. Kohta smiled as the little boy grabbed his index finger and squeezed it. "What is his name?" he asked.
She smiled and kissed the little one on the side of the head, "We call him Ju-Ju, and I think he likes you!"
Kohta chuckled, "Eh…how can you tell that?"
"He did not cry when you were holding him. There are very few he likes to hold him, and he will cry if he doesn't like the person that has him."
He smiled as Ju-Ju giggled and gurgled, while holding his arms out like he wanted Kohta to take him again, "Another time Ju-Ju, I've got to get back to work!"
"Thank you again!" the woman said as she found her seat.
Kohta nodded and stood back up in the hatch. He frowned at those still grinning at him. He waved his hand in front of his face, pointed two fingers, first at his eyes, and then towards the tree line to the north where he could see walkers shuffling the convoy's way.
Saeko put her attention back to the north as Giba and Tatsumi drew out their pistols and screwed suppressers on the barrels. Takashi readied his weapon, but stayed back knowing it was best for the two older men to cover her.
000
Saeko stepped back and said to Tatsumi, "Hold your fire, Sergeant-san. Let me thin them down to save ammunition. If I fall back, then you may open fire."
Tatsumi grabbed her on the arm before she could move away, "Don't take chances and be careful! I would rather use up the ammo than have you hurt!"
She smiled and glanced at Takashi, "Don't worry, Tatsumi-san; I have too much too live for to throw my life away over this!"
Grunting, he let her go and raised his pistol to firing position.
Saeko worked her way left and watched as about a dozen undead shuffled their way toward the convoy. Drawing her blade she rushed forward and began her dance with a smile on her face.
000
Private Kurogane had climbed into the back of a truck to help some of the female and older civilians in. He stood by the cab, rifle at the ready watching for threats, when he saw Saeko advance on the undead.
"What is that girl doing?" one older woman asked as she pointed to Saeko.
"My god, is she going to attack them?" a younger woman exclaimed as Saeko began to maneuver around the side of the walkers.
'HOLY CRAP! Look at that!" a gray haired man cried out as the dance of death started.
Everyone in the truck stared as Saeko slashed into the creatures. Black blood and body parts flew as she twisted and spun; blade flashing as heads fell to the ground.
A couple of people turned and wretched over the far side of the truck as the first older woman stuttered, "W…what…what in God's name is she! A demon!"
"That's no demon," Kurogane said as they looked up to where he was standing. "That is our angel of death, Busujima Saeko. She is our sword mistress and a true samurai."
The civilians stood and watched in awe as it ended. The men watching her never had to fire a shot, and afterwards, one young man walked forward and spoke to her. She cleaned her sword and put it away before he took her hand and led her back to the others. "This is the way of our world now," the gray haired man said. "Long live the samurai…"
Kurogane nodded, "Hai, ojī-san, long live the samurai!"
000
Takashi stopped and watched her for a minute while she sucked air through her teeth. "Don't you think a dozen was overdoing it a little?" he asked.
Her eyes focused on him as she came down off of her killing high. She bent down and cleaned her blade in the clothing of one of the bodies. Standing back up, she took his hand and stepped closer as they started back toward the others.
"I guess I had an itch I needed to scratch," she said.
Takashi snorted and shook his head, "Well don't overdo it and exhaust yourself. I got a feeling we are going to have a rough ride home."
She nodded as they stopped in front of the others.
"Second group is still bogged down," Rika told them. "We're going to have Stryker 2 run in to pick up as many as they can before we try to head back toward the coast. Cowboy has a bunch at the school yard, but except for chewing them up with his guns and rockets, there is not much else he can do with them."
"Who is in Stryker 2?" Saeko asked.
"Shion, Toda, and Saya," Rika replied. "They should be alright if they run fast and not give any zeds a chance of grabbing hold."
Tomasa nodded in agreement, "We can check them over after they get here to make sure they're clear. When they arrive, I want to cram people in and get going for home ASAP."
000
Saya stood in the left hatch of Stryker 2 and watched as Cowboy flew back and forth over a group of buildings to their north. He side slipped around to his left putting the tail of the Apache to them and fired several rockets into the crowd below him.
"Cowboy to Toda, we can't do this much longer, I'm sucking fuel and getting low on ammo, over."
"Understand Cowboy, any word on Colorado?" Toda asked.
"Mississippi has him on another channel. He just left the Iwo Jima and should be here in fifteen, over."
Suddenly there was another voice on the radio, "Breaker 1-9! Cowboy, you got your ears on over?"
"Heck yeah! Is that you, Bulldog? Over."
"Roger, that's a big Ten-4, buddy! You got some problems I can help with? Over."
"Got some folks that need to get to the end of a road and back. Zeds are swarming and I'm about out of fuel and ammo. Colorado is on his way in from resupply, but we could really speed this show up with your help. How are you on expendables? Over."
"Roger that. Let me get there and see where you need of me before I say "can do". Approaching your pos from the north now, over."
Saya and Toda turned to the north and raised their binoculars. Saya could see a dark aircraft coming toward them. As it got closer her eyes got wider, "T…Toda-san! It's that Death Machine! The one from our first day!"
Toda lowered his binoculars and nodded, "Specter gunship…I think I know what Cowboy is thinking now."
The aircraft made a couple of slow lazy orbits while the pilot and Cowboy talked. A minute later Cowboy called Toda.
"Toda-san, Bulldog is going to plow the road. You be ready to run down it as soon as we give you the go ahead. It's gonna be bumpy and you'll still have to knock a bunch of zeds out of the way, but you can make it and give main group some relief. Then we'll do it again and the whole team can come back out. You understand, over?"
"Roger Cowboy, five-by-five. Bulldog sweeps the street, we pull a thunder run, make the pickup and repeat coming back out, over," Toda said. He glanced over at Saya, "Saya give me a red smoke grenade out of the storage box."
She dropped down and found the object Toda wanted as she heard Cowboy talking to Kohta on the radio. She popped back up and handed the can shaped device to the older man.
"You need to close up and belt in. This is going to be fast and rough," he told her.
"What about you?" she asked.
"I'm going to do the same as soon as they start firing. I don't want to have my head up during this," he replied.
She nodded, "I'll button up when you do." He nodded at that.
Everything was ready a minute later. Saya watched as the aircraft went out over the ocean and then made a slow lazy turn back toward them. It tilted its left wing slightly down as it came lumbering back. The rumble from the engines filled the air as it rushed by on their right. On the side of the nose, Saya could see the word BULLDOG and a painting of a bulldog holding a machine gun, with a cigar in its teeth. Further back there was a crewman in a window waving at them, the words 'Hi Mom!' were painted above the window.
Saya shook her head as she saw the last words on the side of the Specter. They were over each of the guns protruding from the side. One said 'Veritas' and the other 'Requitas'.
Toda had thrown the smoke grenade out in front of the APC right before the plane arrived. As they watched, it proceeded up the road for a short distance and then began to spit flame downward.
Toda pointed down and they both dropped, closing the hatches behind them. The other trucks were buttoned up as well and would stay where they were until the convoy came back. They would be safe as long as they sat quiet and still.
In less than three minutes, Cowboy gave the word and Shion shoved the Stryker in gear and hit the gas.
000
Kohta informed Tomasa what Cowboy was planning, and retrieved a smoke grenade from the cabin to give to Rika.
Tomasa had all the vehicles load up and maneuver into their order of march. He wanted to be ready when Stryker 2 got there, because he had instructed Shion to pull alongside, let everyone on top of 1 jump to 2, and climb inside through the hatches. It was going to be a tight fit, but all they had to do is get back to the coast and they could quickly split people between the other waiting trucks.
When the signal was given, Rika tossed the smoke marker and ran to climb in the command Humvee. Kohta, Tomasa and everyone who was exposed watched as the black aircraft bore down on them spitting death as it came.
The firing stopped as it crossed the top of the hill that led to the village. The pilot wagged the wings as they roared through the red smoke rising over them. It then climbed for the sky, to orbit until needed again.
Ten minutes later Stryker 2 raced over the top of the hill, bloody, with body parts hanging off the front.
As it came to a stop next to Stryker 1, a couple of troopers jumped over and gave it a courtesy search. After they called all clear, Saya popped the rear hatches and then opened the one she was using.
Wearing her helmet, she stuck her head out and looked around until she focused on Kohta, who blew her a kiss and gave her a thumb up.
Tomasa nodded to him and Kohta held the mic to his lips, "Bulldog, Bulldog, convoy ready to roll on your okay, over."
"Roger dodger son, we are inbound and going hot. Be ready, over."
The Specter thundered back overhead and started spitting fire as it crossed the top of the hill. Paddy kicked the Stryker in gear and raced after it as best he could with everyone else behind them. Kohta looked back, making sure Stryker 2 fell in line covering the rear.
000
It took about twenty minutes for the convoy to reach the waiting trucks. Cowboy had called in when they were half-way back and told them Colorado was on station and he was heading to the helicopter carrier to resupply.
It only took a minute or two to split people between the trucks, while the troopers kept the undead at bay.
They thanked Bulldog for their help, then headed south on the coast road, with Colorado flying cover.
A couple of hours later, they pulled across the drawbridges and stopped in the street to submit to a bite search.
Kohta climbed out of the back of the APC holding little Ju-Ju on his hip. The child's mother was helping the other children down and finding parents, before taking the boy back.
Kohta stood with his back to the direction he knew Saya would be coming from. Rika and the others were gathered around making conversation while watching and waiting for the girl to arrive. Ju-Ju's mother stood next to Rika, hand covering her smiling mouth, as Rika told her what was going on.
Saya arrived and called out, "What's everyone standing around for? I'm hungry, let's get some food."
Kohta turned to face her, "Oh Saya! Look what followed me home! Can I keep him?"
Saya began to spit and choke as she saw what Kohta had in his arms. Suddenly, little Ju-Ju raised his arms toward the girl and cried out, "MAMA!"
Saeko and Takashi had to catch Saya as she almost fainted.
A/N: ROFLOL! Mama! RL is getting busy right now so it may be a couple of weeks before I update again.
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