No Birds, No Bees
[II]
The roads were a mess, as no one was around to keep them clean. Well, no one who was smart, anyways. If a road wasn't in disrepair, that meant that someone had been through the area recently, and that set about a chase.
Thus, the truck jumped about as we hit potholes and swerved to avoid fallen trees, utility poles, snowbanks, corpses that had not yet been eroded by the breeze, and whatever else was around.
You got used to it after a while. I was sitting in the back row,in one of two seats that faced rearwards, watching out the back window for anything we drove by that deserved a second look. This arrangement had paid off on some occasions, such as was the case when we ended up accidentally straying into the territory of a warlord that had set herself up in the old red-light district of Osaka.
She's dead now. Miyuki is quite an accurate shot with a bow and arrow, even out the back door of the moving truck. Her explanation to that probably involves lots of math calculations and someshit. I say it's either dumb luck, or she's a ninja that's going to kill us while our backs are turned.
Let it be said; if someone in this little group dies from an unknown assailant, I'm killing her. She's too nice of a person to be suspected of such of a thing, which would make it the perfect cover story. She probably knows this herself, and is keeping this fact squirreled away behind her pretty face.
Though, it is quite a pretty face, I must admit.
Even when its' covered in the blood of a woman you've just hacked apart with a bonesaw.
That little incident is the reason why we don't raid hospitals without a 24-hour stakeout, minimum, first.
We're not the only ones who've taken to killing others to survive. I think there's more of those kinds of people...us...left, than those who aren't killing, if only because we've killed them off almost entirely.
But now, the fight to survive has become a lot less direct. Anyone who's not in a shallow grave right now has all the essentials to survive. It's been almost 5 years, give or take. Now we're in a terrible war for dominance that may never end up meaning anything, in the long run.
Think about it. Every man is dead. We met a lady a few weeks after everything began, and she told us that she was pregnant with a baby boy when it all started, and she had forced out a dead fetus the day after the event. That's bad. That means that, even though we've taken up the man's job of fighting, defending our families, and surviving against all odds, there's no continuation. Most of us have turned to each other for sexual pleasure,yes, but who wouldn't? That's not the important part, though; that still can't impregnate someone.
Unless someone comes out of the woodworks in a foreign country and creates a male, gets it to maturity, and, assuming it survives that long, has it get with basically every person on the planet who doesn't have STD's, then we're all fucked. Like, worse than what Tsukasa does to me. I tell you, her use of garden tools in foreplay...
"Konata!"
I jerked my head up. We were still in the back of the truck, but we were stopped. The grimy rear window no longer showed a winding road leading up to the mountain we had been surveying the city on, but the wrecked exterior of a convenience store.
We were moving into the city. A dangerous crossing, to be sure. Not into the city center, or anything; that would be one of the worse, and potentially deadly, decisions one could make.
"Hey, wake up!" I shook my hair, feeling that I was sitting on a portion of it, restricting my head's field of motion. I unbuckled myself, getting up and leaning onto the seat, looking at Kagami, who had been directly behind it, bringing my head dangerously close to hers.
She blushed heavily, scarlet mixing in with the faint grey tint of ash, an ever-present element in the air now.. You know, when the subject of killing people comes up so often, it's nice to still be able to have somewhere to fall back to, somewhere where we can just be the innocent teenagers that we never really got to be. Seventeen going on twenty two. High school going on gang wars, rape, murder, homicide, human trafficking, drug abuse, and more hot, lesbian sex than you could shake a stick at.
Yeah, sounds about right. I miss the old days of just sitting around, talking about nothing, and not worrying about someone attempting to cut your leg off and use it as a cane. But wishing it back won't bring it back, now will it?
"We're...we've found a camp that looks like it's been used recently... C'mon, we'll get a position over it and maybe score some easy supplies from this." Oh Kagami, always so worried about where your next meal is coming from. The answer was most likely, just like last night, and the night before, and the night before that one, either pre-packaged snack food looted from houses or businesses, human flesh roasted over a fire made of car tires, or the occasional small woodlands animal that Yui-neesan managed to catch in the woods.
We had it good compared to most of the other plebs trying to eke out an existence.
"Alright, count me in. Where is this little encampment, anyways? We came through here yesterday and didn't see anything." I kicked the back door open with my foot, having long ago memorized where the latch was, and climbed out into the bleak grey dawn that greeted us every single day.
Kagami came out of the side, nodding towards the 24/7 snack shop that was on the corner. Miyuki could be seen standing in the alley next to the building, the recurve bow we had found years ago on her back. It was quite sturdy to have lasted this long.
"Over there. Yui went inside to check it out, but says that no one was in sight. Kuroi's off with Tsukasa checking out the spots plebs usually settle down at, they'll come back and move the truck, at which point we'll stake out the place until a little past noon."
Plebs. They're such easy pickings. You needed a weapon of some type to keep alive out here, but these idiots just waltzed around. Looters with more possessions than brains. How they managed to survive until now is anyone's guess. I say they're just random people from the upper half of the country making their way down to the coast, figuring that if aid would come from anywhere, it would stop in the port of the big cities first.
Too bad no aid is coming at all. Unless ourselves playing a hand in their deaths' counts as aid. In which case, yes, the best aid of all is right here.
"Well, lets get into position then. Miyuki, get on the roof of the shop, you'll be relatively hidden and be able to use the long line of sight to spot any incoming persons of interest." Miyuki nodded at Kagami's words, jumping up onto the hood of the truck, before climbing onto the roof of it. She got a running start down the back and cleared the gap between the truck and the store, grabbing the ledge of the roof and swinging herself up. Our fight to survive has made all of us more or less agile. Excessive weight might be the death of us, and being able to dive through a window flawlessly might be the difference between life and death.
I moved into a position that was quite familiar to me; we had come through this area several times in the past few years. The building across the street from the convenience store had suffered a bad fire, apparently, and there was no apparent way to reach the second floor,as the stairway was crumbling and quite useless. But if one were to climb around the exterior, they would find a set of barely visible holes in the wall that are climbable.
I retraced my steps from the last time we made camp in the area, and found the burned-out shelter untouched. It was quite dark inside, as the sun had not quite entered the building, so I strained my ears to hear the sound of breathing of any type.
It never hurt to be cautious, as being careless might kill you. All I heard was the quiet whispers of wind making its' winding way through the alleys and open windows of shattered abodes.
I made my way to the window, looking across to Miyuki and waving, who likewise waved back. Tsukasa and Kuroi were moving up the road, staying to the sides of the street and moving stealthily, if anyone was watching from street level, anyways. Being even a few meters higher offered no cover for them, from myself or Miyuki. They came up to the truck in the alley and dove inside, before the rumbles of its' engine were heard moments later.
It pulled farther down the alley, out of my sight, and roughly ten seconds afterwards, the engine cut, leaving the morning eerily quiet once again.
Kagami, Tsukasa, Kuori, and Yui all came out of the alley a few minutes later, heading off in groups of two to separate locations. Kagami and Kuroi went down the road to my right, taking up a position on the roof of an apartment building. They didn't bother heading inside, as that would be much too risky. Instead, they climbed up the balconies on the front of the building, pulling themselves up the side of the building, one floor at a time.
Kuroi had a piece of wood hanging from her pants; this was used to hold doors shut. Even if someone saw them climbing up, they wouldn't be able to open the door, and the resulting sound of a metal door banging into a wooden plank would alert them of an intruder.
Tsukasa and Yui made their way into the convenience store, no doubt hiding under ruined desks or toppled shelves, sitting in wait like a wolf gazing over a recent kill.
But unlike the noble wolf, we were not leaving anything to chance. As soon as someone, or multiple someones, as it appeared to be, showed themselves, we would strike them down and loot their supplies in a heartbeat.
So now were going to lie in wait for hours, just for the notion of gaining something out of it.
When it's like this, when we're waiting for the kill to walk into our trap, I take the time out to think. I've done a lot of thinking in the past few years.
I usually try to think about when we weren't killing and pillaging and basically hastening our own destruction. The irony here is that we're only doing it in order to prevent our own destruction, in this case, our own deaths.
It doesn't really change anything in the long run. We'll still fight against ever-increasing odds, up until we come into contact whose supplies and equipment are superior to ours, and kill us off, just like what we've been doing for years.
It's not that hard to imagine, either. All we really have is a trashed truck, a fuel siphon, a bow, and a pistol. That isn't much at all.
There's gotta be someone who made their way to an air force base or something and is armed to the teeth, living off the spoils of the land...and all the ladies who still walk this mockery of the Earth.
Yeah, it's just great. Looking over your shoulder every minute, just to make sure your best friend doesn't try to stab you with a rusty knife.
It's the dark ages all over again. I'm more worried about infection than I am about getting shot or stabbed. Every sickness could be your last.
...Miyuki is alerting me.
Leaning farther out of my vantage point, there were figures coming down the street slowly, from the east. Of course, they were right in the sun's glare, so I had to shield my eyes in order to get a better look. Pulling out binoculars, I looked out to them.
All middle-aged, or thereabouts. No visible weapons. Shouldering backpacks, their gait indicated they were tired, or at the very least fatigued.
Easy targets; my favorite kind. I watched for another minute, just to make sure that no one else was with them, before ducking back into the building, making my way quickly down to the first floor.
I exited into the alley behind the building, creeping my way down the alley, before getting on my hands and knees, and trying not to make a sound, ever so slowly worked my way around the empty trash bins and wreckage, towards the street.
Popping my head out to look both ways, I saw that the women were now to my left, about 10 meters away, and still walking in the very middle of the street. Fools.
I got up, making sure to pull my hair up so that I would not trip on it, and began to follow. I could see Tsukasa's hair down the street, and I tried to gauge how close to them I would be when I caught up to the lovely plebs.
I made up my mind in a split second, deciding to play what we called "Pretend Hunting". It was simple, really: I would pretend to be sweet and innocent, initiate direct contact with the plebs, and while I talked about such trifles as how I was living off of a rooftop farm in the business district, the others would move into position and act as my "caretakers", claiming to have lost me while I was wandering about.
We would then act nice to the targets, before one of them slides away, priming their weapon and killing one of them, before we scramble to murder the rest of them.
It's quite an adrenaline rush, to tell you the truth. Something primal about knowing that you're mere minutes away from lodging a machete in some girl's throat. You should really try it sometime.
"Hello there!" They stopped, quite shocked indeed, and as I had concealed my knife on my side with my hair, I advanced on them, hands open, waving with one arm. They turned to me, and as I had previously expected, they did not appear to be carrying anything; their hair was all straight-cut, no doubt performed haphazardly with a pair of scissors when needed.
"Girl! Why are you out and about at such an hour? There's bad things afoot!" Their leader spoke strictly, as though I was to be reasoned with. Still, it's an advantage to look about eight years younger than what I actually am.
"Oh, you worry too much ma'am! I'm just going around on my rounds to see if anyone left any scraps behind. I have a rooftop garden in the business district, but I'm not vegetarian, so I need some real food at some point. You're new around here, are you just passing through?" I did a little pirouette, just to keep up the disguise of a bubbly schoolgirl, and I do believe they fell for it, hook, line, and sinker.
I looked up, seeing Miyuki poised and ready to make a nice puncture wound in someone's head, but I tilted my head to one side and moved my hand in a 'come here' motion. That, combined with the 'rooftop garden' keyword, would get them in position in short order.
They seemed pretty taken aback that I wasn't trying to kill them (or not yet, anyways), and they struggled to answer my question, doing the whole 'tug at collar, looking confused' shitface act.
"Uh...yeah, we've been heading down the coast for a few months now, on our way to Nagasaki..."
Of course they were. Maybe they were stupid enough to proclaim their intentions immediately, or maybe she was just bullshitting me. It doesn't matter much, either way.
"You're not the first to come through here this week. A few days ago, some bandits came through here heading south as well. I watched 'em through the window."
Miyuki was now on the lip of the roof, her bow drawn and her arrow at the ready, and Yui was in the shadows of a building on the opposite side of the road, ready to make the move of 'escorting' me.
"Izumi! What are you doing!" Kuroi made the first move, running into the road from behind and grabbing my arm, glaring at the other women in displeasure. She had made her way to ground level from within the building, Kagami most likely having followed her. She no longer had the wooden plank, which confirmed my suspicion; Kagami was probably just out of sight with it.
"What did I tell you about talking to strangers?! You never know when someone's going to pull a gun on you, or take out a knife and slit your throat!" I feigned a scared look, but pointed to the other women as I tugged gently against Kuroi.
"I checked them out before I approached, there wasn't a problem mum! I was just making conversation, is that too much?"
"The young miss is correct, we were just having a word of conversation. We do not even have anything to harm anyone with-"
"Sure you don't, and I'm fuckin' Cinderella."
"What did you just say, you bimbo!?"
The older of the two women took up the conversation, speaking directly to Kuroi. With their attention on her, and us making more than a little noise, Tsukasa advanced from behind with her blade drawn, and Yui set herself against a trash bin, steadying her arms as she aimed carefully at the back of their heads.
We were still in the way of either of them taking a shot, however, so I did what I do best, and yanked out of her grip, which wasn't actually tight at all, and jumped back.
"This is a stupid argument, just stop it!" Kuroi turned her back on the two women, walking towards me, and as soon as the space was clear, a distinct *thwip* was heard.
"AAAAAGHHHHH!" I saw the arrow penetrate her neck, heard it as it went through soft flesh, lodging with the tip sticking out of the front of her coat. The older woman looked to her, but in the same instant, a nice hole appeared in her forehead, splattering brain tissue all over herself and her companion as she collapsed to the ground.
Kuroi and I unsheathed our knives, but I was quicker, jumping on the screaming woman, who was stumbling around with blood gurgling out of her throat. I sliced her throat as I knocked her to the ground, before flipping her over and ripping the arrow out of her, pulling a long strand of compacted skin and tendons with it. I wiped the resulting mess on her clothes, which were already beginning to turn a wonderful crimson color as the blood pooled out of her throat and chest onto the road.
Yui, Tsukasa, and Kagami immediately went for their bags from their respective places, efficiently ripping them open and dumping the contents of them onto the street, quickly sorting through what was useful and what wasn't.
There was several cans of food, mostly vacuum-sealed fruits, as well as several bottles of water. These were slightly more important, because while there were several bodies of freshwater within an hour or two out of the city via car, almost anyone with half a brain would know to camp the shit out of those places and prey on anyone attempting to get to the water.
We dragged the bodies to the nearest alley and threw them in a trash bin, giving them the burial they deserved.
With more than enough supplies gathered in the past hour than we needed for an entire week, it was time to while away the time before we needed to move on. Yui got the truck and moved it to the side of the road, allowing us all to climb onto it and onto the rooftop, after which she drove it to the middle of the road and cut the engine.
See, the truck was a high-value target, to be sure. Anyone who saw that sitting in the middle of the road would immediately go for it, seeking shelter within it, maybe, or just to damage it, and damage the party whose ownership of its' chance of survival.
Also, it allowed us to easily prey on anyone who went near it for any reason. We had plenty of supplies visible within it, so it was all the more tempting to get to.
Yui got onto the roof via Kuroi and Kagami grabbing her hands when she jumped from atop a bin to the lip, and pulled her onto the roof after a brief struggle.
Miyuki leaned against an AC cooling unit on the middle of the roof, her bow on her lap, her attention on a book in her hands. It appeared to be an edition of the Silmarillion, and from the looks of it, it was pretty tattered; there was a whole chunk missing from the front cover, for reasons unknown.
I'm still not really sure where the hell she keeps on finding books, but, knowing her, she's probably just grabbing them out of houses and businesses when we're scavenging for inanimate objects, not people, as we are wont to do.
The sun just managed to make its' way into the sky, and we're already done with our killing for the day, as long as no one else comes our way. Weird, isn't it, how the world has caused the whole world to become nastily antagonistic and deadly towards one another? I can't say I don't have any opinion on that, truthfully.
It seems now, that with no hope of reproduction, we're just fighting to be the last of a dying race. That's what we are; a dying race. We've found families of animals with babies, so it's not that anything male was killed off.
Just humans. Back, when this all started, we thought it was every male across every species. But now it's known that it was just us nasty, evil humans. A deity's torture to us? Perhaps not, but then again, you never know. I don't have any more tears to give to those who now rest in eternal stillness, so I cannot believe that it was a punishment to any one particular side, people, race, or species. Other than humanity, of course.
They're playing cards over on the other side of the roof, but I don't feel like joining them. I shook my head, reminding me to wipe off the accumulating ash from my hair. It was pretty disgusting, really; it just floated down oh so gently, and stuck to everything. Trying to keep anything clean was almost more trouble than it was worth. It also kept the sun's warmth from ever truly reaching us. It hadn't been warm enough to actually shed long sleeves and coats for a year, easily.
It made me wonder where exactly the ash was coming from. A volcano that erupted in a faraway place, perhaps? If that were true, wouldn't it have stopped by now? Maybe it's just the collection of all of our hatred, dropping onto everything and everyone, reminding us that we're hateful, disgusting beings. We're killing each other just to breathe our last that much farther along. We're in a hole now, and we already know that no one will ever get out.
I said this last night, but now I know a much better way to describe it. The one on top of the pile struggling to get out might be remembered when another group discovers their remains in the far future, if that is even possible.
That might just be the reason I keep on killing, and keep on living.
It would be so easy to just slit my throat, and join my parents in watching this world fester and die, but that's not going to get me anywhere, especially if death really is the end. I'd also be doing an injustice to my friends. They'd be stronger than me if I did that, and I can't let that happen. I'm the survivor here. This is my story, and if anything happens to change that; well, I'm not above killing my friends.
Definitely not above that.
As I drift off into an uneasy sleep, I continue thinking about this whole situation, and what it entailed, and what we'd do after supplies ran out in this area.
We'll have to move on sometime...
A/N: aaaaaand Konata is fucking crazy. Not like everyone else isn't just as self-serving and self-centered under such dire circumstances. Miyuki's immortal glasses and books are the only gag you're going to get.