Sabre dancing with the Dead Ch 10
Tokonosu Shore Road
11:20 April 17, 20xx
Day 3
Wolf watched the transport driven by Kuma head towards the club compound in his rear mirror. He and the rest of the crew were headed to Fujiyama Medical Supply near the river and about 5 blocks inland. As he drove, occasionally wiping out critters, he pondered how this would go. At Takagi, they had the sea at their backs and on both sides which denied that line of entry to the dead. Most of them just went kerplunk into the bay and that was that. It dropped the numbers they had to deal with a lot. This place would be a whole different story. Well, they'd find out when they got there.
As they drove north along the shore side road, the numbers of critters got heavier as they got closer to the river which was more or less the bisector of the down town area. The main core was of course some 20 or 30 blocks east (inland) of the waterfront, but the buildings were wall to wall with little in the way of open spaces. They trundled along at 25mph, and started having a harder time with the numbers of dead appearing out of alleyways and from store fronts. At one point, a slight downward slant to the road and a heavy layer of mushed up corpses caused the Komatsu to start to slide a bit, until Wolf backed off on the throttle and dropped her down two gears.
He glanced back in the rear view mirrors and could see that his passengers were not entirely sure anymore that they should be doing this. Come to think of it, Wolf wasn't too sure either. The numbers were just getting larger and larger. So far they hadn't figured out how to climb the ladder to the cab, and the box lip was a good 6 feet off the ground. Still, the pucker factor was rapidly approaching high numbers. At the rate they were going, it seemed unlikely that they would even make it. There was just no way to keep the truck from attracting them in huge numbers.
He picked up the VHF and got Saburo on the other end.
"Saburo, this is turning into deep shit. I think we should abort. What say you?" he asked.
"Wolf, these people with me are barely holding it together. I agree, this is too dangerous without a better plan." Saburo replied. He then whispered something to Shinji who looked up and gave a very clear thumbs down.
"Ok, we abort." He swore. They would definitely need a better plan. "I'm going to head up the next major intersection and then loop back and down to the shore road again."
"That would be wise. We'll run into less dead that way. The sound of the truck won't have carried very far up the side streets...Or so I hope!" Saburo grinned sheepishly.
"Keep an eye on the ones ahead. I'm gonna be a tad busy for the next little while." Wolf told them.
At that moment a deader came flying down from somewhere overhead in a shower of glass shards. She missed the truck by a good 5-8 feet, but that was it for some of the crew in back. They started demanding that Wolf turn around immediately. Sorry to say, the tail they were dragging was pretty huge, At least 150-200 that had survived the passage of the truck and were following.
Shinji pointed his rifle off to one side, and fired one round straight up. Absolute silence. Then he started to dress them down as only a senior NCO could do, up one side and down the other. By the time he was finished, they were completely cowed and totally under his command. "Watashi wa karera ni jibun jishin o anata o nageru mae ni, shizukani." he hollered at them among other things. Saburo quietly translated via the vhf and Wolf had to take care he didn't laugh too hard and lose control. Something along the lines of Shut up or I'll toss your ass over the side.
They were coming up on a wider side street, so Wolf turned east onto it. Here the deaders were less numerous, and he had no problem making it to the next right. Turning onto it, He realized too late that it was jammed with a pig pile of cars. Putting it in reverse he slowly backed down to the east/west street they'd just been on, squashing several dozen under the rear wheels. So far it was working. As long as they didn't pile up high enough to let them reach something vital they were OK. By the time he'd backed onto the east/west road and had enough space to turn west again, they were fairly surrounded. Never stop moving for more than a second. Quick shift from reverse to forward. Run up through the gears. Thank God this thing they were in could haul a fair tonnage. It meant that bodies, no matter how many, didn't really impede it. She just kept grinding them down to slurry.
He glanced in the rear view. Shinji had things well in hand. So far nothing had appeared over the sides or back of the box. Saburo kept an eye on the boarding stairs, and at one point climbed out to lop the head off of one enterprising SOB who'd fallen onto the stairs and was trying to climb up them. The blow didn't take off the head, but it sure split that buggers skull. Saburo kicked the corpse loose and then climbed back into the box.
Wolf got them headed west again towards the shore road but it was pretty thick. He glanced at the fuel gauge, still better than half a tank. Oh well, nothing to do but push on until the crowd thinned out. He figured they'd made it close to the road that the supply depot was on, but as they say, close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. He filed that thought away for later.
As they left the core area, the horde thinned out, those way behind losing interest, and those in front being a lot less in number. He raised Wally on the VHF and told him it was a bust, and to start clearing the gate area. At that point Shinji came up on the radio and asked if they could try for the armory which wasn't too far from their current location. It was also in a more isolated area so the number of critters should be less. Nodding agreement, Wolf had Wally hold off on the gate, and he once again turned 180 and headed to the armory.
Tokonosu fronted on the Sea of Japan, facing into the sunset. The shore side road ran pretty much north and south, with the club being located on the southern side. They had driven north to get to the Takagi warehouse, farther north to try and get to the medical supply house, and were now heading even farther in a quest to hit the armory just on the south side of the river. The armory was located past several industrial malls fronting on the shore road, one side fronting the river. It was loaded with vehicles and supplies, being one of the main bases in this part of Japan. According to Shinji, the site covered some 225 acres, loaded with everything from beans to bullets, flak jackets to flame throwers. In other words, a treasure trove… If it was still intact and not completely overrun.
Moving forward, they all noticed the numbers of walking dead dropping as they left the downtown area and entered into a more industrial sector. There were still a lot of them but not the shoulder to shoulder masses they had just avoided. The crew in back settled down somewhat, and Shinji guided them into the base via a front gate left wide open. No signs of living persons, only the dead wandering about. With the base abandoned and the noise gone, most have moved off following distant noises. The truck did however bring it's own train, and Shinji had them pull into a tank barn that appeared to be pretty clear. As the truck cleared the threshold he jumped off, and hit the door switch, then knocked a couple of critters on the head with the butt of his rifle. Wolf and Saeko climbed out, as did most of the others, and again spread out in a skirmish line. Saeko climbed back in the cab.
She laid on the horn half a dozen times, while the skirmish line backed up against the wall. Standing silently, they allowed the deaders to approach the truck, and took them down one by one. In short order they had cleared the building.
"OK Shinji, what's the game plan here?" Saburo asked, keeping an eye on the various doors.
"We head up to the roof, using the ladder on the 2nd floor landing, and check out what we can. Some of us should scout round this place and see what they can find, grab it and load it. For sure we should take whatever diesel we can find. Check out those APCs too. They are generally kept full, so if need be we can siphon some from them to top off our tank."
"Sounds like a plan." Wolf said as he looked at the wall on the other side and saw a rack of cans. "Over there." He pointed them out.
Shinji continued "We will decide which buildings to hit once we get an eyeball view. I expect most of the vehicles will be gone, sortied when the shit hit the fan. The armory is over that way," as he pointed to the west, "about 5 buildings over and the ammo store is right at the end of the yard, well away from anything. I have the pass code to get into both."
"Sounds good, let's do it." Dave Cross said as he pointed at a few people and said "We'll check out the area while you guys hit the roof." He, Dave Courtney, Eriko and Tamichi Hara all started moving towards the ground floor store rooms.
Shinji led the rest of them up to the 2nd floor landing and then up the ladder to an access hatch on the roof of the tank barn. From there they walked to the edge and looked out over the compound. Looking down, they saw that the truck had dragged a couple of dozen with it before it entered the barn. Walking to the opposite side, they saw it was clear. Shinji pulled out a pair of binoculars and looked at the armory off in the distance. It too was clear. Apparently most of the base personnel had been sortied or took off. There were not that many deaders around.
"Ok, I think we should fire up the truck, and drive it around making all kinds of racket. While it is going round we take those personnel carriers and drive straight to the armory and shut down while the truck draws them. They go away and we quietly load what we need. What do you think?" he asked the others.
"Well, we all know how the truck attracts them, and it did work when I cleared the compound. As long as we keep moving, they will follow. I think it will work. But I'm not gonna risk anyone else on this little job. I'll drive it and keep them occupied while all the rest of you do the armory and the ammo dump. This process should work for both locations and as long as you keep me updated by radio, it shouldn't be a problem." Wolf mused
None of the others objected or had anything to add, so they all trooped down the ladder and back to the truck. Shinji and the rest kept going to one of the personnel carriers, and after a few minutes, Wolf heard that one start up with a jet of black smoke. He was a bit surprised to see the second one start up as well, but figured Shinji had a good reason.
Once they had warmed up, the first one moved to the barn doors and Dave Cross got out to open it. As soon as it started to open a small flood of critters came through and Dave had to run to get to the APC. Once he was aboard, they pulled out, side by side, squashing anything that got in front of them. Wolf followed, squishing some more, as they headed to the armory.
When the two APCs got there, Shinji and the other driver both backed up so their ramps were just about on top of the door to the place, and shut down. Acknowledging the radio call saying they had shut down, Wolf started driving away, laying on the horn. As always, the critters lost lock on the APCs when they shut down and started to follow Wolf and the truck. The plan appeared to be working well. Wolf told them to stay put until he was at least a couple hundred yards away before they climbed out and entered the armory.
5 minutes later Wolf had dragged the deaders well away from the armory and Shinji used his pass code to open the door. He tossed a tin can into the entrance and stood back. 3 former JSDF troops came out, shambling along, quite dead. These they took down without a qualm, and figuring it was clear, they entered the multiple room bunker. As they spread out, checking out the various cases and crates, Dave Cross screamed as a deader, trapped between two rows of crates when the can hit the floor, turned towards him, and staggered out of the alley way to sunk its teeth into his shoulder, ripping out a huge hunk of flesh.
Fast as lightening, Saburo stepped across the corridor and took its head off. Cross was already showing the signs of turning. He motioned for Saburo to end it before he turned. The swordsman stepped back, and with a single blow took off the doomed man's head. As he did so, half his crew turned away and puked. Eriko hugged her brother and cried, sobs of fear, hopelessness and shock.
Saburo gave them a couple of minutes and then told them to get on with it. They had to load the stuff they needed or Cross would have died for nothing. When Eriko kept sobbing, he slapped her twice, hard across the face. He brother Tamichi glared at him but it stopped the fountain and she got a grip after a couple of minutes of whimpering.
Shinji unlocked racks of assault rifles, pistols and some heavy squad machine guns. The piece de resistance was a pair of flame throwers. All of this they loaded into the two personnel carriers, barely making a dent in the quantities in the armory. He then hustled them all into the APCs and led the march to the ammo point farther out in an open field. Eriko mumbled about taking Dave's body back for burial but both of the military men vetoed it as they thought it would damage morale more than just telling the others he'd been taken down and was dead. As they drove, Saburo told Wolf what had happened via radio, and after some thought he'd concurred.
As they headed to the ammo dump, Wolf was slowly dragging about a hundred or so deaders in a slow circuit around the parade ground about half a mile from where the APCs now pulled up before the ammo storage. Once again the APCs backed right up to the doors and they opened up under Shinji's code.
This time they took more care in clearing the building. As it turned out the dump was clear. Shinji had figured as much, as no one worked inside the dump unless they were moving munitions in or out. There should have been guards but they either sortied, ran or died. Here the goal was ammunition for the weapons, and demolition charges and detonators. He wasn't sure what they could use the demo for but it never hurt to have the stuff to make things go kaboom in a big way. Grenades was another thing on his shopping list. Two cases of frags, two Willie Pete and two cases of smoke filled the bill and the last of the space in the APCs. Time to leave. He resealed the doors, and off they went. Last stop was to pick up another APC or two. Dave Courtney had been watching closely and figured he could do one, Saburo the other.
This they did by going to a second tank barn where there were several more parked. The area was clear, as Wolf was making quite the racket and had drawn them from all over the compound. Quickly jumping out, the two drivers made their way into the vehicles, covered by Shinji with his assault rifle. Once inside they raised the ramps and started them up. Both were fully fueled and armed so there was no need to do anything but leave the area and head back to the club compound.
Shinji called Wolf up on the VHF and told him they were ready to leave. Wolf was at the far end of the parade ground so he bumped the speed up to max and headed for the gate. When he go there they slotted him into the number two spot and the convoy of 5 headed out.
"We needed 4 APCs?" He asked over the radio.
"Ah my friend you will thank me later." Saburo came back at him.
Half an hour later they raised Wally on the radio and had him start the "music". Once the batch of critters was drawn from the gate, the convoy ran most of them over and entered the compound, where they were waved over to the pit and washed down. Only then did they open up and get out.
It was a sad crew that came out, having lost Dave Cross. That evening, after the meal, Shinji looked around at the glum crowd, and hoisted his drink. Then he said something in Japanese. He then repeated it in English.
"Fuzai no nakama...Absent Companions."
…...
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.
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.
1. Pardon my Japanese, I'm using Google Translate and we all know how hilarious that can be.