Sabre dancing with the dead Ch 21

Tokonosu, April 20 20xx

Day 9.

1137

The day had started off like all the others. A group breakfast, planning the next supply mission and housekeeping tasks. Sea water had to be hauled to the washrooms, fresh water dispensed in measured amounts, dishes done, laundry washed in the outdoor tubs knocked together for the purpose. There were many more tasks that needed doing to keep the settlement in running order.

One thing Wolf had suggested the day before involved taking all the sails off boats not being used and stretching them out to collect rain water. This would help with the water supply problem, by allowing this water to be used for washing clothes and personal hygiene. By the end of the day, the yard would pretty much be covered with sails tied to the tsunami wall, the retaining wall at the south end of the compound, the divider wall between their compound and that of the fishermen and all the light standards within reach. They had lots of barrels so collecting the water was a cinch.

The fishermen had also come over and were looking at several of the really large ones, with an eye to putting some of the trawlers under sail when the fuel finally ran out. There were 7 large sailboats that had not yet been launched by the day of the critter attack and their masts and booms were in racks along one wall. Wolf had already been approached to assist in the modifications.

Given the materials and tools in the fisherman's compound, Wolf figured it would be relatively easy to set up, their biggest problem would be to erect the masts. He had made a note to check the club's crane to see if it still ran or if it would be back breaking manual labor to horse it around by hand. It was an old crane, dating back to the founding of the club in the early 70s but had been maintained in excellent shape. According to Eriko, they had just replaced all the cables last winter.

Wolf was now once again back at it, sitting in the cockpit enjoying the weak April sunshine. There was a nice breeze coming in from offshore and the stench of decaying corpses was temporarily gone. They couldn't really complain anyway, the breeze appeared to be mostly on shore and a lot less offshore. He was sipping tea, after a half decent breakfast and contemplating various details for their survival. It always came back to the same sticking point. Not enough information. For all the knowledge he'd acquired from years of basic and intermediate level reading on hundreds of subjects, without local intel, planning was just not happening. There were just too damn many things about the local area that he needed to know to in order to form a plan that had a snowball's chance in hell of being long term.

He'd been lucky in that aspect, the steel hull and cabinets had shielded one of his two laptops. As far as he could determine, EMP have no effect on DVD disks and so his survivalist library was still intact. He had started working on it, first in book form, then as computers got within his price range, in electronic format of one type or another. Floppies, Zip Disks, CDs, DVDs, and lastly Blue Ray disks. As it was he had information on dozens of survival related subjects, about a thousand books he'd gathered since the first meeting of what he and Neil had called the "Doomer School of Hard Knocks".

As he kept on banging his head against a lack of information, he kept thinking how Neil would have dealt with the situation they found themselves in now. He'd always been a fan of the KISS principle (Keep it simple, stupid!) and had had a way of taking Wolf's complicated plans and knocking them down to where they could be accomplished with minimal effort, tools and materials. Usually with enough time left over for a pint or three. Bush engineering he used to call it. Having him around now would have been a blessing.

He figured Neil would have had a simple solution to the info void. If you didn't have it, get off your arse and go get it. He would have geared up, and gone and gotten it, doing his best not to become critter chow.

If that was the only option (and Wolf believed it was), there would be nothing for it but to sit down with the military experts, put together a mission, and go… Kat would not be pleased. But she'd also know that he couldn't sit back and let others risk themselves.

As he sat there, he gradually became aware of the sound of voices coming from the direction of the entry channel into the club basin. He also heard the sound of oars in oarlocks and the swish of water as a boat moved through the water. Thinking Capt. Nishizawa had returned for some reason, he gave it no thought. Then it dawned on him that they had a motor launch and were unlikely to be using oars. So, he glanced over the side.

Coming slowly up the fairway was an 18-20 foot rowboat. Sitting in the bow, a pink haired teen, two pigtails and glasses. Behind her and side by side, a young woman with orange hair, and a very nice figure. The violet haired lady seated beside her was striking. Tall, with hair down to her waist. She held a sheathed Katana in her hands, and her head was on a swivel as she kept an eye on their surroundings.

The next two rows were taken up by the oarsmen. One, a serious case of bed head, the other a pudgy lad with glasses. Seated in the last row, and steering with the tiller, sat an older woman, likely in her late 20s. Wolf found it hard to take his eyes off of her. Her chest would have ranked as World Class. Certainly enough to put the likes of Kim Kardashian to shame. (Ha, he wondered if Kim and her husband were still alive. Neither of them had much going for them in the survival department.) Beside her sat a little girl with a small pup standing on his hind legs in her lap, tongue out, paws and face over the starboard side, watching the water go by. The little girl kept him in a hug, just to make sure he didn't go for a swim.

The boat headed to the dinghy dock, and after some confusion as to how to get alongside, they made it and tied up. As they stepped out of the boat, Shinji and Saburo came down the ramp to welcome them. Introductions were made and they were invited to grab a bite to eat as they didn't appear to have had any food for some time. They had nothing edible in their boat at all.

Being stymied by a lack of intel on their planned move, Wolf figured he might as well go meet the newcomers too, so he finished his coffee and hopped into the dinghy. By the time he'd got to the dock, Kat was there, hugging all of the newcomers. Apparently they were all students she knew or had taught in the time she'd been at Fujimi High. The older woman was the school nurse, and knew Kat well, or so it appeared.

As Wolf came up beside her, she turned to him and with a huge smile introduced her students to him. First the young lad with the severe bed head. Kumuro Takashi. He stood with an aluminum bat in his hand. The ginger haired girl who kept trying to hang on to him, Miyamoto Rei. She was armed with a toad sticker made from what appeared to be a broken off mop or broom handle. Wolf noticed Takashi was constantly pulling away from her. Must be some story there.

The pink haired girl with glasses, was named Takagi Saya. Kat mentioned in passing that her father was a powerful politician in the Diet. The young man standing beside her couldn't keep his eyes off of her. He was carrying a bolt action rifle with a scope and looked like he could use it. When he wasn't fawning over Takagi, he was sweeping the perimeter, seemingly ready to go into combat mode instantly. This lad looked like he had permanently switched to code Yellow. His name was Hirano Kohta. Shinji questioned him at length and seemed satisfied to leave the rifle in his hands.

The stunningly beautiful tall purple haired woman, katana in hand, was introduced as Busujima Saeko. At the mention of her name, Saburo stepped forward and introduced himself as a student of her father, Busujima Kage. Saeko bowed to him and mentioned having seen him several times at her fathers' dojo. Beside her, the older woman introduced herself as the school nurse, Marikawa Shizuka and the child was Maresato Alice. Apparently Alice had been orphaned and taken in by the 6 of them on the second night. The puppy, yapping and scampering around looking for a bush to pee on, was named Zeke.

Introductions were just finishing up when the bell at the clubhouse started to ring, telling them that lunch was being served. Someone had already run ahead to tell them to set 7 more places. Once everyone had finished eating, they asked the young people to tell of their survival as they trekked across the deadly city. Takashi did most of the talking, with others adding comments with details of their journey from the school and how they had ended up coming into Tokonosu Yacht club in a rowboat. One thing for sure, this bunch had fought well together, covering each other's backs, and were working well as a team based on what Wolf could gather.

During lunch Saburo asked them what their plans were. Takashi wanted to find his mother. Rei wanted to find her dad. Saya, sadly, was alone now, her parents were dead after their mansion was over run. Kohta wasn't going anywhere, his parents were overseas as was Saeko's father. He would stick to Saya like glue. That much was plain to see by everyone except Saya. Shizuka and Alice had no idea. They should try to find Alice's mother, if she was alive. Saburo and the others assured them that for now they had a safe place to stay and shelter. With that said, he asked them to follow him out onto the docks along the breakwater.

When they got to the docks, Saburo asked them to break up into groups that would occupy a boat together. Shizuka and Alice stepped to one side and were joined by Saya. When Rei took hold of Takashi's arm, he pushed her away, saying something in low in Japanese. Rei went white as a ghost and could only watch as Takashi put his hand out to Saeko. She nodded and took his, and they stood to one side leaving Rei standing there.

Saburo watched them split up and just shrugged. Obviously there were some bad feelings towards Rei on Takashi's part, and the gist of his comments made it clear he wanted nothing further to do with her anymore. That left him with 4 separate groups to house, since Kohta and Rei couldn't very well stay in the same boat. He took Shizuka, Alice and Saya to one of the midsized cabin cruisers. The lock on the cabin door had been taken apart, so access was no problem. He gave the 3 a quick tour and then moved on.

Takashi and Saeko were given another somewhat smaller sailboat, about 28 feet in length. They should be cozy in there, he thought with a quiet grin. That left him Rei and Kohta. These two he took to a couple of small cabin sailboats towards the end of the peer. Kohta thanked him and climbed aboard, ready to see what was what. Rei just stood there looking down at the one she was supposed to stay on. He waited a moment to see if she had something to say. Nothing. He gave her a pat on the shoulder and told her to come and talk to him if she needed anything. With that, he turned away and headed back to the patio. As he went, he wondered if the lovers' triangle was going to cause them problems. Crap, he hoped not.