Sabre dancing with the Dead Ch 9

Tokonosu Yacht Club

07:05 April 17, 20xx

Day 3

Slowly daylight crept through a gap in the drapes. The window coverings not being completely solid allowed the light in the cabin to build up, until Wolf cracked an eye and looked at the big brass US Navy 8 day clock. Then he looked down to the mop of brown hair and one arm laying on his chest. Hmmmm. Last night had certainly been interesting. Now the question was whether this was just the usual survival instinct coming out or was there really a possibility of him and Kat getting it together again after all these years?

They have gotten back to the boat just after 11pm last night, and had sat up for another hour sipping rum and working out what to do next. After yesterday's mission and the debrief, it appeared that they or rather Wolf was the de facto leader of this motley crew whether he liked it or not. Yamato' nose was definitely out of joint. He was keeping to himself, ate dinner and left for his boat without saying a word. Every one else, including the newcomers gathered round as Saeko pulled the files out of the sail bag and handed out stacks to half a dozen tables so they could have a look and see what was in the warehouse.

It had already been decided that they would return to salvage any food stuffs and to see that all the doors in the building were closed and locked. They would then start at one end of the warehouse and do a sweep to kill any critters inside. It would make return runs much simpler if they didn't have to go through what had happened the first time every time.

Elaine and Fujiko had scoped out the locations of the nearest hospital and that of a major medical supply house which was not too far away, being a straight line drive north along the tsunami wall road almost to the river and a block west. They had debated long and hard over which one to hit. In the end, it was the supply house that was planned. They had also determined that they would need a much large team this time round. They also needed to find more ammunition for the sergeant's rifle. Or find him another rifle with more ammo. Shinji had gone through nearly 20 rounds out of the 60 he'd had when he got to the club. To that end, his JSDF armory was on the list, although that was likely stripped during the first day of the event. One could always hope. Shinji would lead that mission.

The quest to see if there was a doctor in the crew was a bust. No such luck but they did find a dentist and a veterinarian. Both were more than happy to provide what services they could. The dentist, Dr Shusui Yoshihama, not so much, but he looked to be a real hard charger type, and had already found out where the nearest dentist's office was, and was looking into setting up a mission to secure it. The vet said he would try to do his best, and under the circumstances, they were all happy to have him.

All in all, the roster of people in the compound had totaled out at 96 people. A few families, mostly though it was singles and couples who'd had the smarts or the luck to make it out to the moored boats. The ones who'd sheltered in boats tied to the docks had all died but for one group of strangers who'd been bright enough to keep quiet once they get there. They told of one or two critters stumbling past down the main dock and one which had apparently heard something which caused it to come out onto the finger. Where upon it promptly fell head first into the water and drifted off. That lot came out of their boat once they'd watched the Great Critter Munch (No idea who coined that phrase, probably Wally, but it was pretty popular) and then seen people out and about cleaning up the mess and getting stuff organized.

Anyway, after talking for an hour and a couple of belts of rum and a glass of Cointreau for Kat, they were wiped, and figured it was time for bed. That was a tad awkward as Wolf handed her some blankets and a pillow, so she could use the forward bunk and close the bulkhead door. She looked at him quizzically, as he mumbled about her privacy. At that point she tossed the items on the settee and asked him how the "sea going double" worked. 10 minutes later they were both in the double, and rapidly drifting off to sleep, having added a couple of Tylenol to the rum and Cointreau. The aches and pains from the previous night faded away and they slept.

As he lay contemplating his next course of action, the mop shifted, looked up at him and said "good morning." before hopping stark naked out of the bunk and disappearing into the forward cabin where the Air Head was. He on the other hand just lay back and nodded off again, at least until Kat came back and started poking at him.

"Come on, haul your carcass out of the sack. We have a lot of things to do today." With that said, she climbed back into the clothes she'd borrowed from his working gear, then climbed up the companionway and out into the cockpit. A few minutes later she came back down. "Elaine and Fujiko just headed into the clubhouse. I'm going to go over there and help get breakfast on the move. I decided last night that using the club dining room and the kitchen over there made more sense than schlepping groceries to the boats. We can get it organized and serve 3 meals a day if people will step up to the plate and help."

"I see the Vest Yorvik Feastocrat has returned from the dead." He said as he grinned at her.

"It makes sense, doesn't it? I don't have many skills, and we don't have kids who need a teacher at the moment do we? Plus I understand Japanese, love Japanese cuisine, and organized half a dozen feasts for groups twice this size." She said as she turned to go back up the steps to the cockpit. "Besides, Elaine and Fujiko can't do it all. There's too much to do. Now hustle or you can swim to the dock."

"Aye Aye, Captain, let me drag some clothes on." A moment later he was dressed, and scrounging round for his toilet kit. "You might want to grab some stuff for the shower. I guess you'll have to wash your undies and do without until they dry though."

"Now there's a thought." Kat mused as she turned back to grab some towels and some laundry soap.

As she did that Wolf got a strange look in his eyes, and disappeared into the forward cabin. He came back with a small bag full of woman's underwear, which he handed to Kat.

"Don't ask." was all he said.

Shaking her head, she turned once more for the steps, and was out in a moment with Wolf right behind her. He turned to lock up the boat, and then they climbed into the dink and rowed over to the dock. A few minutes later they were in the kitchen, with Kat explaining her mess hall idea. The other two liked it, and they were off on a planning session. Wolf headed over to the men's locker room, put his cloths and pistol into one of the lockers, then pad locked it with one of about a dozen locks he kept round for securing things. The shower was soothing to the aches and pains, and afterward he indulged in trimming his beard, and saving off the extra hair on his face. 10 minutes later he looked presentable and made his way to the dining room. Wally, Saeko, Kuma, Saburo and Shingi were already there poring over the import paperwork, separating useful stuff into piles. While they were finding some things, a lot the files were for commodities and items of no use to them. For instance, 1 container full of m en's hair tonic. A half container full of Dijon Mustard, the other half full of Pate de foie gras. Luxury no doubt but not hardly a staple. 6500 cellular phones. 2000 DVD players. 12 and a half tons of scrap metal. 3 honkin' big tree trunks for some religious thing. That sort of stuff. Great to fill a store with for sale or maybe a junk yard but as survival items, not worth a pinch.

Others came in gradually and introduced themselves if they were just coming ashore for the first time. Hearing the clatter of pots and pans in the kitchen a few of them went in to assist. Half an hour later they came trotting out bearing platters and pots full of breakfast items. Mostly it was Japanese fare, but they had gone out of their way to accommodate the Westerners in the crowd, of which there were now 7.

Pancakes. Even though they were the weirdest pancakes Wolf had ever seen, they were fantastic. Scrambled eggs, sausage and even a bit of bacon. Japanese items included white rice, Natto, miso soup, fish, seaweed and other things. For now, Wolf stayed with the western goodies. Plenty of time to get into Japanese cuisine once they had to start scrounging.

One thing he had to do was start picking up spoken Japanese. To that end he spoke with the four looking over the documents and asked them to help him learn. They were all very eager to try, and started right then. Half an hour later he had picked up some of the basics. As they talked they scanned page after page of import docs.

"Here are some that might be of use. Summer is coming and most of us only have the clothes on our backs so summer gear will be very much sought after. I have 11 different shipments in bond. Want me to open up the customs papers to see exactly what is there?" Saeko stated.

"Yeah that sounds like a plan. Kat has only a skirt, blouse and a jacket. No shoes or anything else. For now we can make out with what we have, but some warm weather gear will certainly hit the spot." Wolf replied as he checked out some sporting goods.

"Crossbows? I thought that they were pretty much illegal in Japan? Here's a shipment of 100 cartons of M-67 Cheetah cross bows. Plus a couple hundred boxes of bolts for it. Country of origin is China." He exclaimed.

Yes they are." Saburo replied. "There are very few archery clubs that use crossbows. They were never really popular through out our history. Too expensive, the Daimyos didn't want to pay for the making of them, even if it had the advantage of taking peasants and turning them into archers in time of war. The raw materials were just too expensive to make them in large quantities."

"Wolf, let me see those papers please?" Saeko put out her hand.

"Damn, we got sloppy. This paper work is misfiled which is how we found it. And you can kick me for not grabbing the rest of the paperwork." She groused.

"What do you mean" Shinji asked.

We should have grabbed all the export and transit papers too. That accounts for about 35% of what's in our warehouse at any given time." She blushed in embarrassment for forgetting such a thing.

"Don't feel bad Saeko, I worked in airfreight import and export for a long time, and I didn't think of it either." Wolf said with a grin. "Don't worry, we'll pick them up on the clearing mission."

Agreement came from Shinji and Saburo. Kuma thought for a moment before speaking. "You know, those crossbows might just save our asses."

"How do you mean? Saeko asked him.

"Well, Shinji is down to what? 40 rounds?

"Yes."

"Wolf, how much do you have for your weapons?"

"Hmm. 200 rounds of 6.5x55mm, about a 1000 rounds for the SKS, 500 for the Mini 14, 250 for the 686, and about a thousand rounds of 9mm. I can make some more .357 and 9mm but the rifle ammo, I can only reload for the 6.5mm. I only have hand loading dies for it and that's a one at a time proposition for match shooting. The Remington .223 I can reload if I can get dies for it which isn't very likely here. The SKS uses cases that can't be reloaded. So once that ammo is gone, its a club...Well it has a bayonet so I guess you could use it as a pig sticker in hand to hand. But I see what you mean." He replied.

"Ah, yes, I see it too. Silent, reusable ammunition and pretty accurate even for a novice at close range." Saburo noted.

"What about edged weapons? I have a cutlass, a hand and a half bastard sword as well as a Paul Chen Katana. The local cops were NOT impressed when I handed them the paper work and they insisted on seeing my locker and the locking arrangements." Wolf asked them.

"Paul Chen makes some pretty good Katanas. If you don't want to use it, I will take it. I have some skill with the blade." Saburo said.

"It' all good. I bought the katana intending on learning to use it but never had the time. I did do some practice with the cutlass, and it seems more suited to me. It'll do the job alright, Cold Steel put out a promo video of them chopping sides of beef in half with it. It'll do for me. The katana is yours Saburo. Hey how does that work anyway. I gather no one in Japan can own a sword yet damn near everyone has a katana or three hanging round? How do they get away with it?"

"Family heirlooms. The Japanese people would go nuts if the government ever even though to try to take them away. My family ended up as dirt farmers when the Meiji Restoration happened, but we still have blades from some of our ancestors. I even have my grandfathers naval sword." Saburo explained.

Kuma and Shinji both nodded. They too had ancestral weaponry and woe betide the silly government that tried to take them.

"Ok, so we have crossbows, and summer clothes. What else?"

That's all we've found so far. What do you think? Time for another mission?

"Yeah it looks that way. This time we need to take at least a dozen, armed as well as we can arm them. We decided last night to secure Takagi Shipping. That's going to take some manpower." Wolf replied.

Let's do a whip round and see who is up for it. With that said they split up and canvased the tables. Most said no thanks but they did make up their dozen. In addition to yesterday's team they now added David Courtney, Dave Cross, Kazuko Goda, Tsuneo Otana, Toshikasu Morihei, and finally Eriko and Tamichi Hara. Ten guys, two girls. Wolf figure they could arm them with 5 rifles, 3 edged weapons, and some boat hooks. Risky but that is what they had to work with. Then he thought to ask Eriko.

"Why not use the fire axes?" She asked. "We have a least half a dozen here and in the boat sheds."

"Yup, definitely too early in the morning for thinking. I need more coffee. Arigato, Eriko."

"Dō itashimashite, Wolf san."

"Doi-tashimashite? Doitashi-mashite, Dō itashimashite. Did that sound OK?" He asked.

Eriko chuckled as did several of the others. "Keep practicing, you'll get there someday."

"Hai." Wolf replied with a grin. "How about we brief in the new crew on what to expect out there, get our shit together and head out as soon as we can arm up. It's 9:10 already and we have a lot to do."

Saburo and Shinji both nodded. That said, Wolf turned and walked over to the kitchen where Kat and the others were cleaning up. She looked up as he entered the doorway and waved her over.

"We're going on a second mission. I would like you and Wally to organize the others for the noise maker crew and gate operator. We found some more hand helds so communication should be a lot better."

By this time she'd gotten used to the idea of staying while Wolf went out on the pointy end. It was one of the things they'd had a conversation about before dropping off to sleep. She just nodded, gave him a kiss, and asked him how soon.

"Figure half an hour to get set." He replied.

She said OK and turned back to the others.

As Wolf walked away, Saburo turned to the others and asked them how many of them were comfortable working in English. A tad more than half of them replied in the affirmative, and Saburo turned back to Wolf when he returned, for him to do the briefing. Wolf looked at him for a moment and told him to carry on. Nodding, the JSDAF Captain started to go into detail what the new mission entailed, a lay out of the building and outside spaces. He stressed absolute silence in motion and actions, in order not to draw any deaders. He then turned to Shinji and asked him to explain the movement of small groups, hand signals and the tactics to be used if contact was made with singles, or groups of deaders. Wolf watched Saburo and began to think about turning over the head position to him. Fluent in both languages, military training, and a good personality for interactions with others. Wolf really didn't want to be boss of this affair. 2.I.C. ? Yes. Boss? Not a chance.

By the time Saburo and Shinji had finished, people were trotting off in various directions to do all the things that needed doing, collecting the various items and getting things together at a rapid pace. Wolf headed back to his boat and loaded up everything he had that went bang or was sharp and pointy. He'd forgotten to mention the old Barnett crossbow he'd also taken when he left Canada. Bought long ago during his more rabid doomer phase, they would prove their worth now.

20 minutes later, they were all back by the Komatsu, ready to go. Kat and Wally manned the wall platform and Kat started the loud one sided conversation that drew the critters to her point. As they gathered, she would knock it off and let Wally draw them even farther from the gate with the car horn. All this was coordinated by hand signals they had worked out at the debrief the night before.

Wolf and Saeko climbed into the cab of the truck and got her running. Meanwhile everyone else piled into the box. The all clear signal came and one of the newer people opened the gate and they moved out onto the shore side road. Coming hard right, he ran her up to full speed and they made the Takagi facility in a few minutes. Moving down the container side of the building they checked the doors one by one and made notes on which were open. Once they did a complete circuit of the building, they pulled up to a personnel door on the container side, and let Kuma, Saburo and Shingi off. Moving down to the next overhead door, wolf laid on the horn, same as before. Again, Kuma cautiously checked the immediate area and then they entered. There were no critters anywhere near the big aisle, so he moved to the double door and opened it. The Komatsu entered, Kuma closed the door and Wolf shut her down. Everyone jumped off or out, and waited to see what developed. Who knew, it might be that there were none left inside.

5 minutes later, nothing. So, starting from the overhead, they all headed down the inside towards the sea. Each door was checked and locked if not already so. Two worked the doors, the rest of them formed a ring round them and they made steady progress down to the end and along the sea side (east) wall. A few doors open, but no critters. Wolf was curious as to why, and stepped out to the pier. Walking to the edge he looked down.

Two critters were in the water, entangled in some lines wriggling about like a caught fish. No others were to be seen. When he thought about it, it made sense. They couldn't see and so stumbled off the pier. B'bye! He couldn't complain, it made the clearing process easier. Returning inside, they finished the east wall and started back up the north wall, with all the big roll on/roll off ramps and doors. These were all closed, all of them were checked and locked. Proceeding to the west end (road end) they ran into a couple of critters, making short work of them with the swords. Saburo hadn't lied, he certainly knew what to do with the katana. And Wolf was quite pleased with the way the cutlass did it's thing. One stroke and off came a head. Shouting boo, and stepping silently to one side made giving them the coup de grace simple.

The others in the crowd looked a tad green as the two hacked their way through a half dozen critters farther along, right up by the offices. Again, Takagi employees, and Saeko was barely holding back tears by the time they were done. Leaving her and two others to act as cover, the group spread out across the building in a skirmish line. They then turned south and worked back to the seaward end, making a clean sweep from end to end, looking for the last critters. They found one more, and that was it. The building was secure.

Saeko worked quickly, pulling the rest of the files from the cabinets and stuffed them into the sail bag. Then she and her two companions headed back to the Komatsu to ditch the bag and help with the salvage of summer clothing. The import documents had been pretty specific and they had determined which containers and shelves to hit. Eriko, Dave Courtney and Tamichi joined Kuma as forklift drivers and quickly filled a space by one of the doors with case after case of summer clothing. Once they had the clothing, they went to find the crossbows and bolts. For this one they had to cut off a hardened steel lock, but the mini grinder made short work of that in a shower of sparks. Those cases ended up alongside the clothing.

Kuma had picked that area for a good reason, as he now checked the outside area carefully before opening the overhead dock door to show an open container on a trailer at the loading dock. He'd just finished clearing out that can when all hell broke loose and figured the amount of stuff they were going to take rated at least a 40 footer.

Half an hour later they were all loaded, and Kuma climbed into the cab of the transport and fired up the diesel tractor. He waited while Wolf brought the Komatsu outside. They secured the doors, and every one climbed aboard. Then they headed out of the Takagi compound and split up. Kuma headed to the club, VHF radio on the seat beside him to warn Kat. Wolf took the Komatsu north along the shore road, heading for the medical supply house. There were more than a few deaders on the streets now, ears perked up at the sound of the two diesels. Both vehicles advanced at a steady 20mph, crushing what ever got in their way. Kuma hit the VHF and told Kat to start the music again. He munched a couple of dozen deaders on the way to the gate and a larger group gathered round the car horn. In short order he turned into the open gate and watched it close in his rear view mirrors.

1. Pardon my Japanese, I'm using Google Translate and we all know how hilarious that can be.

2. Vest Yorvik Feastocrat: A title given to the person responsible for setting up the feast at an SCA event in the Canton of Vest Yorvik, an area west of Toronto Canada within the SCA. SCA is the Society for Creative Anachronism. We do medieval role playing and hammer each other with ratan swords. Google SCA.

3. The Takagi Shipping facility is loosely based on what was once the Canada Steamship facility in Port Credit, Ontario. It was converted to a marina in the 70s, and can be seen in Google Earth.

Author's notes: I don't own HOTD, or any of its characters. I just get to play in their universe. All characters in this story (So far) are my own.

Many thanks to xbox432 for the review. The lack of Japanese has been addressed.

Reviews gratefully accepted, as long as they are constructive and non-abusive.

Anyone interested in following the progress on the real life Sabre Dance is welcome to visit my builder's blog. Just search for Sabredancing. You'll find it.