Vector swore silently as both he and Christine undid the safety on their weapons. If they were lucky, the cars would take a turn before they arrived here, thus avoiding the unnecessary. If not, however, the battle would be fought uphill. There was no cover that they could use to hide behind, and if all of them were armed with guns, there was no way around not getting hurt, for some of them, at least. They may be just yakuza, but there are some who are excellent marksmen.

There was the option of using their 'cargo' as bait and regrouping with a new plan, but according to Vladimir their numbers are superior by two to one at the very least. It was highly unlikely that everybody was going to take the bait.

"At the speed they're going, ETA is five minutes and seventeen seconds. It seems like they have intention of making a turn anywhere." The way was shut. Stopping meant death. There was only one answer.

"Vladimir, how far are we from the first intersection?"

"Five hundred and twenty five meters. Keeping the cars' speed into consideration, you, Christine and Ryuji should have no problem making it. Carrying the cargo and doing so would be a risky bet."

"Fighting is a succession of risky bets in and of itself. Christine, call those two back."

Christine called back the duo covered in blood who had created a mound of at least a hundred dead bodies, and pulled Saya and Kota back up on their feet. "You heard what was going on. We'll be running for the next five hundred meters or so and try to circumvent the cars heading towards us."

"Five hun…? That's impossible!" Out of everyone, the introverted Kota was the least athletic person out of everyone here. As a non-sportsman, even a hundred meter dash has him heaving and sputtering for air, and he was being told to run five times that length.

"It's barely a tenth of my jogging course. If you can't, that's fine. You fall behind, you stay behind. Living is not for the weak." With those words, Vector broke off into a run, with Christine not far behind.

"Takagi, let's go." Taking Saya by her arm, he began running. He was tired of being the weakling, the whipping boy in the world before it fell apart. He will live, and he will change. He will choose when and where he will die, and to earn that right, all there was to do was take action."

"Come on, come on! Move those legs, private, or I'm gonna shove this blade in your ass! Hurry hurry hurry!" Feeling a slight prick at the back of his neck, Kota immediately picked up the pace, and Ryuji continued to keep the knife just a skin's breadth away, laughing as he ran right at his heels.

"They're almost there, hurry." Vector picked up his running pace even more, continuing to control his breathing; in through the nose, out through the mouth. Raising his knees up to his stomach, he lunged out to take another step.

And there they were, it was within their sights. The white stripes of the crosswalk, road signs, traffic lights, and cars. The intersection. "Distance, 150. Our left, right?"

"Da."

Taking a quick look behind him to make sure everyone was there, Vector turned left. There was some distance, he spied about a dozen infected roaming the streets. "Here we go." Kota was wheezing erratically like he was having an asthma attack and Saya was panting as she sweated bullets, but without so much as a short break, Vector kept moving.

"You have another minute before the convoy arrives. Hide yourselves." Each of them took a position out of sight, such as behind bushes, in cars, and under a blue tarp covering construction equipment. Vector took some things out of Christine's pack. "Five, four, three, two, one, and they're on site. They're slowing down."

They were spotted, after all. Activating the cloaking device of his trusty coat, Vector circled around the yakuza members. Many of them were donning suits while others were shirtless, exposing their large tattoos as a way of intimidation.

In reconnaissance, there were five important pieces of information, forming the acronym SALUTE: the enemy's size, activity, location, unit, time before contact, and their equipment. None of them were even considering hiding at all, which made Vector's job easier.

Thirteen bogeys, currently searching, approximately twenty meters away, no recognizable unit, and a minute before contact. Their equipment consists of three cars, five guns, three rifles, two bladed weapons and three blunt weapons. Now he needed them to get well within the maximum effect range of the trap.

"Now." Vector flung the object in his hand towards them. Several seconds later, a blinding flash and a loud bang echoed through the streets, mixing with screams, shouts of anger, and gunfire.

Gangsters are gangsters after all, Vector sighed with his ears covered. Getting caught in such a basic ambush. Without the proper equipment or mental preparation, nobody stood a chance against the 180 decibel sound bomb. Aiming his AUG, Vector immediately began picking off the first visible man with a firearm. There was no telling what panicked men with guns would do, especially when they are blind and deaf. No use in risking stray bullets.

"Vector, I got two with guns." Christine reported through the earpiece

"I got three. Two had guns." Ryuji snickered. Adding that to Vector's kill, they had already wiped out almost half. Undoing the cloaking, he dashed towards a yakuza member closest to him. Under bad vision, the man saw something black and gray come at him, but was unable to do anything about it. His ears were still ringing hard and he had a massive headache. He crumpled to the floor as he felt a cold blade plunge into his heart.

"You motherfucker!" Another man, who recovered surprisingly quickly from the effects of the flashbang, began swinging his katana wildly as he charged towards Vector.

"Idiot." With three sharp pops, three holes materialized; two in the man's chest and one in the head. Before the man keeled over, Vector wrenched the sword from his dead hands. Keeping the blade up, he advanced slowly, cutting down anyone that attacked him in a single stroke. "Clear."

Ryuji and Christine each repeated the same, and the six reconvened again.

"Shot count. Three rifle, zero pistol."

"Three rifle, one pistol."

"Thirty rifle, two pistol."

Once they confirmed bullets left over, they began picking up the yakuzas' weapons. The guns were Makarovs and Tokarevs of poor quality no less, but the bullets were still usable for other purposes.

"Would you mind if I ask where you learned how to fight with a sword?" Saeko asked Vector.

"Why?"

"Your movements told me you are someone with expertise in Japanese martial arts."

"I am. My style is based on the Yagyū Shinkage-ryū mixed with two other styles. After I mastered it, I developed something through them that fits my needs. I have my own swords back at the safe house as well." Saeko felt dizzy for a few seconds. Mastery of even a single style of swordsmanship could take over a lifetime, and yet he mastered three. Three.

While not absolute, Saeko was confident in her martial skills. Not only had she practiced with bamboo swords, but with wooden and real swords as well since she was young. In the kendo club, her peers, her father, relatives and friends continue to praise her over and over as a prodigy or even the second coming of Chiba Sanako herself.

Yet all of that was torn down in a sparring match with Ryuji. She finally understood. Their technique, honed and perfected in battlefields dwarfed hers by far. Being raised by family members with such skill, there was no reason that she could win. The mere thought would be presumptuous.

"Saeko, just so you know, don't ask him to teach you anything. Don't forget you're the weakest of the group."

"I am aware. I will do my best to perfect what I know as much as I can." She picked up a stray bullet and handed it to Ryuji.

"We've made a lot of noise, we'll have more company later. Let's move before they get here." Taking two of the cars the yakuza were using, they peeled out of the area.