Sabre Dancing with the Dead Ch 29

Tokonosu, April 23 20xx

Day 13.

0930

The second mission had been on the road for a couple of hours now and were passing the East Police Station where they had saved Rei's parents and a few others. Yesterday had been a good day. Hopefully today would be just as good.

Shinji had them collect the nixies and the cable from the East Police station, and they now made their way towards the elementary school where Takashi's mom worked. The school was about 5 miles further along, and so far, the only thing they'd seen was their continuous tail of deaders. The tail had become so commonplace that they no longer paid any attention to it, until it was time to dismount or do something that required the column to stop. The brainless things just followed along like dogs. The ones who came into the street before the 14 ton APC got there, ended up as jam under the wheels. None of the team even commented about it anymore, it had become so…"normal".

Shinji looked down at his replacement driver. He was doing fine, handling the big 8 wheeled vehicle like a pro. Rei had gotten up with the rest of them; but when she walked up to where Shinji stood; he took her aside and suggested she take the day off, and spend time with her parents. She shrugged and went back to the boat they were staying on. He'd picked out a new driver the night before with just this in mind. She and her parents needed some time to decompress.

As they progressed, Shinji became increasingly tense. The school was only about a mile further but he could see that things were getting worse. The number of deaders was increasing and a lot of them were young people. According to Takashi, there was a middle school a few blocks away from where his mother taught elementary kids. He was starting to get a really bad feeling about Takashi's mother.

As the convoy progressed closer to the middle school, the number of young people increase. There were a few adults mixed in, they could well have been the teachers. Shinji looked back to where Kohta was sitting in the cupola of his APC. All Kohta did was shrug. He too was thinking they were going to find a slaughterhouse. Any moment now Takashi was gonna stick his head up through a hatch and see the crowd of dead young people. Question in both his and Shinji's mind: Would he lose it and got berserker and get himself killed?

The convoy slowly passed the middle school, its grounds covered with wandering deaders and the remains of victims who were beyond becoming animated. Their train of deaders became longer, and Shinji debated deploying a nixie to keep the crowd down. He decided that it might draw any deaders away from the elementary school they were heading for. He radioed Kohta that he was going to deploy the device.

The lead APC pulled alongside a telephone pole and one of the dismounts climbed on deck and tied the nixie to the pole. They moved to the next one and a half dozen more after that, loosely stringing a good 300 yards of wire. Their tail obediently followed the roar of the diesels. Kohta pulled alongside and Shinji signaled cut the engines. Then he had the nixie turned on.

The nixie they had deployed was a 3rd of the way between the middle school and the elementary school, nearer to the former. Flipping the switch, the horn started blaring. They had hooked a jumper to the APC power system so they could run the nixie for some time without worrying about the battery state. The nixie did its job, and deaders came from both sides to gather under it. Their tail slowly shuffled back to the nixie, leaving them with none. With the nixie 12 feet up, the critters could do nothing but reach up and claw at the pole. There was no worry about the pole coming down; there were deaders on all sides pushing at it.

Takashi had asked to come up through the hatch and nothing Kohta could do would prevent it. He stood up in the hatch and looked off in the distance to the nixie and its crowd of deaders. Gradually it dawned on him that most of the critters were school kids. His face went from calm to fearful as he realized what that signified. He turned to look forward, down the street where the open space of the elementary school was visible. Those figures staggering towards the sound of the nixie were a lot smaller than the ones from the middle school.

Takashi had given his father up for dead some time ago. From what Wally had told him, there were few survivors at the island airport. He had accepted that, and clung to the hope that his mother might still be alive. He dropped back down into the APC and sat down, a look of resignation on his face. Saeko, seated beside him, turned and asked what was going on topside.

Takashi was silent for some time. Finally, he turned to his lady. "I think we are too late. The street is full of deaders and most of them are very young. We took too long... My mother is likely dead."

Saeko said nothing, only reaching over and taking his hand. She squeezed it gently and Takashi turned to look at her.

"I'm glad you are here." he said as he squeezed back.

Up in the commanders cupola, Kohta could do nothing but hope that his friend would not lose it and go berserker in an effort to try and find his mother. He cringed to think what would happen if Takashi did find her and she'd turned. He turned to the other APC and saw Shinji with a questioning look on his face. Kohta shrugged his shoulders.

The two APC commanders went back to watching the deaders flow past, and congregate under the nixie 300 yards away. The flow had slowed to a trickle, with only a half dozen or so between them and the elementary school. So far as they could tell, none of the dead passing them looked like it might be Takashi's mom. A few grown men passed, possibly teachers, but so far only a couple of women had gone by. They appeared to be much too young to be the missing mother. Shinji called down to the dismount trooper to deploy the battery for the nixie, and disconnect the noise maker from the APC electrical system. The trooper did so, and secured the battery to the lamp post beside them. Shinji gave him a thumbs up as the troop got back inside.

Shinji looked over to make sure Kohta was watching, and gave the "wind em up" sign. He saw the young student acknowledge and spoke to his driver. Both APCs started up in a belch of diesel smoke. Shinji once again took the lead and the two vehicles made their way to the elementary school, fearing what they might find.

Having threaded their way past a dozen or more cars stalled in the roadway, the column came up to the wall around the school. Fairly typical of Japanese schools, it was 3 stories high. The gate was open, and Shinji lead the other APC into the compound. He had one of his dismount troopers run back to close and secure the gate with a chain and a lock.

Shinji and Kohta both looked round the compound. It was littered with small bodies, mostly torn to unrecognizable shreds. Both Kohta and Shinji had to exert a great deal of self control, so as not to puke at the site of the rotting bodies. They could see that there were a couple of dozen critters still there, mostly kids, and an adult. They had been between cars and the wall and had beaten their hands bloody trying to go straight at the nixie down the road. Their attention had been drawn by the snort of the diesel engines as the APCs came through the gate and several were now approaching. Both Shinji and Kohta shut down the engines and went silent. They also observed critters slowly ambling out of the main entrance, with a few more coming out an open fire exit.

Kohta had parked alongside the lead APC and he motioned Takashi to climb out of the hatch and follow him as he jumped over to talk to Shinji. The sergeant looked at Takashi for a moment, and then spoke.

"Takashi, this is your mother. How do you want to play this? With the gate closed and us being silent, I think a quiet search is possible. But the question is, what if we find your mother has been turned?"

Takashi thought about it for a bit, then spoke.

"My mother teaches in a room on the 3rd floor. There is a stairwell just beside the lobby, we can get up that way. Her classroom is at the far end of the building, at that end." as he pointed in the direction of the classroom." he paused for a bit, thinking.

"I realize that there is little chance my mother is still alive. There are only classrooms on the 3rd floor, and the kitchen is on the main floor, at the other end of the building. If she managed to get the room secure, it's been almost two weeks with little or no supplies… But I must try to find her."

Shinji made to speak, but Takashi held up his hand and continued.

"Sergeant, you can have the men clear out the critters wandering about, but I will enter the building alone. There is no need to risk anyone else for this. It is MY duty to see to my mother. No one else has to risk their lives.

Shinji looked him in the eye and said, "Ballsy,Takashi, ballsy. Your sense of duty is noted. However, everyone here volunteered to go on this mission. We will execute it the same way we did yesterday, as a team… Besides, I doubt chains would hold Saeko back if I let you go alone. Not to mention, she'd likely take my head if I DID let you go off alone."

The back hatches were quietly opened and the dismounts move out, spreading round the compound and dispatching deaders with crossbow and club. It took them about 20 minutes to clear the compound and return to the APCs. Shinji detached four of his troops to go with Kohta, Takashi and the rest as the entry team. Saeko stood next to Takashi, katana in hand. Kohta looked them over, and satisfied they were ready, gave the signal to advance to the main doors.

Th group quietly passed through the main doors which were jammed open. They had to step over the bodies of young children who had died horribly and most of them were struggling to keep their breakfasts down. Takashi lead the group, bat in hand, Saeko on his right flank. The lobby was clear of moving critters, so they moved down the hall to the stairwell. Here they heard shuffling, and they backed out into the hall. Takashi silently moved forward and up to the first landing. He signaled he had eyes on 3 deaders, and backed down.

When he was off to the side, he tapped the hand rail with his bat and withdrew. The shuffling moved closer and a moment later two deaders came tumbling down to the first landing. They thrashed about, unable to rise, so Takashi climbed back up to the landing and bashed them in the head. He turned and signaled Saeko to come up. As she got up beside him, another critter must have heard them or just wandered too far towards the stairs, as it also walked off the edge of the 2nd floor landing and almost ended up on top of Takashi. Saeko moved in a fluid motion past Takashi and the critter's head rolled aside.

Turning to Kohta, he signaled them to advance, and then turned and climbed the stairs to the 2nd floor. He carefully opened the door to the hall, aided by the clear glass in the door. No critters near, and the hall appeared empty. Kohta came up to him, and they had a whispered conversation, where upon Kohta signaled one of his men to secure the door so no one could get into the stairwell. Then he pointed upwards, and took the lead.

Once they hit the 3rd floor landing, Takashi looked through the glass and saw a few battered students and a teacher aimlessly wandering. He signaled eyes on 5 and tapped Saeko on the shoulder. Kohta looked at him with a question in his eyes but Takashi gave him a thumbs up. He nodded and held back. Turning back to the door, Takashi quietly shoved it open. Well oiled, it made no noise but there was something blocking it that he couldn't see through the window. He gradually applied more pressure and the door opened with a quiet scrapping sound.

The nearest critter, the teacher, turned towards the slight sound and ambled over to the door. Saeko slipped through silently and waited for the man to get close. A sweep of her blade, and he was down. Problem was, the thud of his body hitting the floor roused the others. Four kids, not more than ten or eleven. Saeko paused for a moment, then stepped forward, tears in her eyes and took them all out with blinding speed. As the last little body fell to the floor, she came to a shuddering stop and hung her head, tears flowing freely.

Takashi stepped forward and put his hand on her shoulder, turning her towards him. She feel into his arms and quietly cried as he whispered what he hoped would be soothing words. As they stood there, Kohta and the rest of them stepped into the hall and spread out, silently checking the classrooms for any signs of life, or death for that matter. They all remembered how Dave Cross had died and no one wanted a repeat.

One of the guys looked into a classroom down at the far end. He turned and waved Kohta over. Takashi's friend walked over, and looked. He spoke quietly to the man who'd called, who then backed away from the classroom. Kohta turned and walked up to Takashi and Saeko.

"We think we found your mom." Kohta said quietly, and motioned Takashi to follow him. The young student slowly walked up to the door of his mother's classroom. Steeling himself, he looked in. His mother sat on the floor on the far side of the room. She had her arms around as many kids as she could reach, and her head was down as if comforting the little body snuggled up to her. She was surrounded by all of her students, hugging each other, some hugging his mother.

Takashi stood for a moment, then tried the door. It was locked. He stood staring at his mother as Saeko came up and put her arms around him. Together they stood, Takashi saying goodbye, Saeko supporting him in his grief.

After a while, Kohta came along side of Takashi to ask what the young man wanted to do now.

"She is here, where she enjoyed being, surrounded and loving those who loved her. Let her rest in peace."

He looked once more through the window, and whispered "Rest in peace mother. I'm sorry I couldn't get here in time." Then he turned, took Saeko's hand and walked to the stairwell.

The return journey was a quiet one, the troops in Shinji's vehicle took care of retrieving the nixie and the convoy made it's way back to the club. After they'd dismounted and were safe inside the compound word spread and various people came up to the young student to offer their condolences. Rei and her parents both came up to speak to him, offering what support they could. He politely thanked them and made to head down to the boat he shared with Saeko. As they made their way to the dock, Wolf came up to them. He handed Takashi one of the oh so expensive bottles of sake.

"Sometimes it helps."

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Well my friends, it's now official. I am now retired. Held out as long as I could but the horsechit just kept getting deeper. Figured I'd better didi before I told one of our semi-literate customers where to go and what to do when they got there. Anyway, as of August 31st, I'm a free man, settling into not quite abject poverty :). I expect I can now start writing more regularly, so thanks for being patient.

Sabre Kai