Sabre Dancing with the Dead.

Tokonosu, April 22 20xx

Day 11.

0701

Shinji finished shaving and washed the soapy remnants from his face. He put on his uniform, then climbed the companion way steps to the cockpit. Turning round, he dropped the hatch boards in place, and secured the hatch with a padlock. He stepped down onto the dock, and headed towards the club. The thought passed through his mind, that actually living full time on his beloved Umikaze was something that had never entered his mind. But here he was, a live aboard soldier/sailor. One of the very few positive things that this plague had brought to pass.

Umikaze was a 28 foot cutter, built in China by the famed Choey Lee yard some 50 years ago. Built back in the days when fiberglass was a relatively new building material, and they over built because they had no history to refer to in order to design efficiently. His uncle Itsuro had bought her after he retired from the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force. She was named after the first destroyer he'd served on in WWII. He'd retired after a further 20 years of service to Japan in the JMSDF and sailed Umikaze for a dozen more years until he became too ill to do so. It was he who taught Shinji to sail as a young boy.

He had never understood Shinji's decision to join the army instead of the navy but believed a man must choose his own path, and encouraged him anyway. After all, Shinji's father was an accountant, a fact that caused Itsuro's face to grimace every time he thought about it. And so, when Shinji's uncle had finally come to the end of his days, he made a point of bequeathing Umikaze to the young Private, with a stipend set aside to help pay for the mooring and maintenance.

Shinji had a small shore based apartment for his off duty time during the winter but from the first week of April 'til the first week of November, he took weekends and his leave aboard Umikaze. Late last summer he'd met a woman and as their relationship developed, was teaching her to sail. He paused in thought for a moment, as he remembered that she was now dead, a victim of this horrible disaster. His cell phone had recorded a message from her as the critters overran her office in downtown Tokonosu. It ended with her screams as they broke into the supply room she and several others had hidden in. At least he hoped she was dead, and not one of those staggering abominations.

Climbing up the ramp to the seawall, he headed to the clubhouse, waving at others he'd gotten to know better over the last week and a half. Looking over, he saw Wolf and Kat coming over in their dinghy from the moorings. He hollered good morning as they came along side and secured the dinghy. Together they walked to the clubhouse, where Kat disappeared into the "kitchen" area of the patio to help get the first meal of the day ready. He and Wolf headed over to what had become the command group table. Saburo met up with them as he walked out of the washroom. Wally, always an early riser, was there already.

Having grabbed their seats, they started discussing the plans for the day. Shinji was prepared to take the group of Fujimi students under his wing and get them up to speed on how they would be doing the retrieval mission for their parents. As they talked, Kat came out to ring the bell, summoning them to breakfast. As Shinji walked up to the serving line, he noted that Rei was still sitting aside from the group. The rest of the kids from Fujimi joined the line just in front of him. Rei followed several people behind them. He was a couple of people behind her as they shuffled forward to get food and tea.

Takashi and the rest of them all returned to their table and started eating. Rei walked past them to sit alone once more. So, upon picking up his tray, he walked past the group, and spoke.

"Get together with me after breakfast and we'll start you training on the assault rifles and side arms as well as unit hand signals." Kohta's eyes lit up at the mention of the weapons.

Minebea P9

Howa Type 89 Assault Rifle

They all nodded and agreed to meet up with him. With that, Shinji turned and walked over to where Rei sat alone.

"May I join you?" he asked.

She looked up at him for a moment. "Sure." she replied.

Shinji sat down, and started to eat. After a while they started talking about how each had survived and how they had found themselves at the club. He was happy to see that she was able to interact with him. She was hesitant at first, but gradually became more animated as she described their escape from the school, the incident with another teacher, camping at Shizuka's friends place, rescuing Alice, and on. She actually laughed a bit when she described Kohta's face as he found the sniper rifle Rika owned. Shinji became more impressed with the way she described working together with the others. Getting this group to where their parents were wasn't going to be as much of a problem as he'd thought it would be.

He glanced over at the others, saw they were ready to get going, so he finished his tea, and picked up his tray to take it to the washing station. He reached over for Rei's and told her to head over to the shipping container that he, Wolf and Saburo had modified for use as the armory. He'd be there in a moment. The can was working out well as a store for their weapons. Getting it into the compound had been a hoot. They had gone over to the Takagi warehouse with an APC and had brought it back by the simple expedient of dragging it behind the vehicle with chains. The racket had dragged every critter for miles to the sea wall. Getting it into the compound had taken a little bit of finagling but it had worked out fine.

That was the first time they'd used the remote noisemakers. On the run to the warehouse, they'd pulled up along the wall and put up a battery and horn, tied into the end of a reel of communications wire they'd grabbed from the JSDF base. A simple switch at the compound end allowed them to turn the horn on and off at will. When they got back to the gate, they'd shut down facing it. The switch was hit and after half an hour of blaring car horn, the critters had all congregated under the horn, half a mile away. Opening the gate was just a matter of grunt work, with a few people on the wall keeping an eye on them. The APC fired up and slowly dragged the can into the club compound, and into position. They unchained the can and drove back out to park outside. The critters never even heard the screech of steel on concrete.

5 minutes later he was with the Fujimi kids, getting ready to give them basic instructions on the rifle and side arm they'd be using. He unlocked the door and went inside. He unlocked the racks and picked up a rifle and a handgun. Returning outside, he showed each them how to check to see if they were loaded. He had them do it several times. Kohta, Rei, and Saeko had no problems at all getting the hang of it. The others took a bit of time, fumbling around, and a bit afraid of them.

When he was satisfied they knew how, He handed out a set to each of them. Then he went back inside and pulled out magazines for each and some ammunition. This he left in the can by the door, before closing it again.

He'd given it some thought last night as to how he'd set up a range. It turned out to be rather simple. They'd shoot over the wall, at buildings or vehicles up the road. The first few shots would drag critters to the wall, and thus provide walking man sized targets. When they were done for the day, the horn would be activated and the critters would toddle off down the road. But first he'd have to teach them to care for the weapons.

"First things first. You will not point that weapon at anyone or anything you do not intend to shoot. You will keep the muzzle pointed skyward or down at all times unless you intend to shoot. Is that clear?" He told them as he looked them in the eye.

"Yes", "Yeah", "OK', "Yes Sergeant" (this from Kohta).

Good, now let's head over to the dining area, and get a table so I can teach you how to field strip, clean and reassemble each of these firearms. Has anyone of you ever handled a gun before?"

Kohta immediately said "Yes Sergeant, I have." Rei spoke up as well. "My father took me to the police range a couple of times. I've fired the police revolver and the shotgun." Takashi was slower to answer. "I shot a guy who was going to rape Rei." He looked down. "I didn't kill him but I left him for the dead to kill."

Shinji thought about that for a moment. Then he looked Takashi in the eye and spoke. "I've been in the Army for 5 years now. Japan is a peaceful country, and we have never had to fight. Until now. This disaster has made us all do things we never expected to do. That includes killing people. The walking corpses are no longer people, and I have no qualms about shooting them. But I've had to kill several friends that I have served with, after they were bitten. We had an unspoken agreement not to allow any of us to turn if we could prevent it. I will live with what I have done for the rest of my life. You will too." that said, he paused again.

"But when I think about these killings and it unsettles me, I remind myself that I did it to save people I cared about, or to bring them final rest. You saved Rei. You did a good thing, don't forget that. You did not decide to rape a young woman, he did. Getting shot was the consequence of his actions. Don't mourn or feel bad about it, he brought it upon himself."

Takashi looked up, into Shinji's eyes. "Thank you."

"Consider this. You all woke up 11 days ago as ordinary students. Your greatest concerns were tests, and being with your friends. Maybe what you planned on buying at the shops next time. Today… today, you are combat veterans. Not with rifles and handguns, against a foreign enemy, but with improvised weapons against mindless killing machines. Without training, the lot of you teamed up, created weapons, and got out of a killing zone, and moved across a city full of creatures that had only one goal. To eat you. You saved a little girl from death at the risk of your own lives. It will be my honor to teach you all as much as I can about using these weapons, and working together even better than before.

"OK, now gather round and I will start on the handgun." Shinji said as he started to take the P9 apart, step by step, watching to make sure the students got it. He showed them how to clean the parts, oil them and then, step by step, how to put them back together. When they had finished the first iteration, he had them repeat it half a dozen times, to reinforce the lesson.

Next he turned to the type 89 and repeated the process. This they repeated several more times. Seeing that they had this part of the training down, he moved back to the container and picked up the can with magazines and ammo. He had them practice loading and unloading the magazines and inserting them and removing them from the weapons.

"Now, we'll do some shooting. Follow me."

The gleam in Kohta's eyes had everyone chuckling. Saya took a stab at him, calling him a hard core Otaku. He just grinned at her even more.

The group walked over to the wall where the first ladder was set, near the gate. There was a small platform here, about 48 inches wide and about 20 feet long. The 5 students lined up, with Shinji walking back and forth behind them to coach. He pointed out their first set of targets, a decorative grouping of bricks visible on the side of a building just across the street from the gate. He had each of them select a group and mark it on the sketch he'd made earlier.

Selections made, he had them load magazines into their side arms and make ready. At the command the kids slowly emptied the magazines into their group, watching dust and chips fly as the bullets impacted on and around the targets. Shinji coached them as needed, mostly Takashi, Saya, and Saeko, who had the least experience. He watched as Kohta and Rei assumed a Weaver stance and let fly. Not bad shooting either. He also kept an eye on the approaching critters. The kids worked through two magazines apiece, by which time the critters were getting pretty close.

He told the kids to clear their side arms, and make ready to shoot the Type 89s. "I want you to pick a critter at a range you think you can make a hit at. Aim for the head. As you become more comfortable, open the range up, and try to keep hitting them in the head." Checking all of them were ready to shoot, he gave the word. "Commence firing."

It became immediately clear to him that Kohta was indeed an excellent shot. He started out hitting the shambling dead at about 100 yards, and rapidly started shooting them at ranges of 150 to 200 yards as he got a feel for the rifle. Rei wasn't doing too badly either. She started off at 50 yards and opened up to 100 after half a mag. By the time she got to the last half of her second mag, she was pushing that out to 150-175.

As he coached Takashi, Saya and Saeko, he tapped Kohta on the shoulder, handed him the key to the armory and told him to go get the rifle he'd brought with him. He was back in a few minutes and loaded up the magazines. At a nod from Shinji he started popping heads at 2-300 yards. Very consistently too. Out of 20 shots, he only missed 3 times for a head shot.

The shooting slowed to a stop as the kids ran out of ammo. By now there had to be at least 200 deaders in view. The bunch at the bottom of the wall had to number at least 50 or more with others staggering towards them until they lost lock when the noise stopped. With no other noise to draw them they started shuffling off in different directions. Shinji reached out and hit the horn switch. Immediately the deaders all started heading to the spot a couple hundred yards away where the horn blared.

He checked his watch, about half an hour 'til lunch. Just enough time to get the kids to clean the weapons and secure them in the armory. After lunch they'd have a go at driving the APCs.