Sabre Dancing with the Dead Ch 31

Tokonosu, April 23 20xx

Day 20.

1845

After the commotion caused by Rika's entrance, thing's settled down. Introductions were made, and the officers running the JSDF base in the ship yards got to know the team from the yacht club in an informal chat session before starting the briefing. Oh, and they had coffee, glorious coffee! Each side described the events as they'd occurred, and how each group managed to deal with the various obstacles. Wolf and Shizuka's tale led to some raised eyebrows. The trained soldiers were frankly amazed that untrained civilians could have done more than just cower. They were somewhat skeptical about the story being laid before them. To their reckoning, civvies had not done much more than scream and demand that the Army save them.

Wolf got the distinct impression that these jokers thought he and Shizuka were both embellishing their stories. Finally, after half an hour of doubtful looks from the officers, he basically told them to drop dead. "Believe what you want, We survived. On our own. Without your help."

Capt. Sakai wasn't too happy with the way things were going either. The other side of the table was basically ignoring him. It figured, they were grunts and he was a fly boy. Unless they could call him down for air support, the didn't have much use for him. Once he'd detailed his adventures, they pretty much ignored him. The situation they were in here in Tokonosu didn't have much call for a pilot.

After the conversations had pretty much fizzled out, they broke for dinner in one of the yard cafeterias. Here, the military types broke off into two groups. One was dubious about the survivors' claims, and the other, individuals who wanted to know more. Group A sat off by themselves, while the curious asked to join with Wolf and company for dinner. These guys had been on the pointy end since the beginning. Quietly their senior member pointed out that the other group mostly consisted of something unintelligable. Wolf looked over at Saburo and saw the Captain had a shit eating grin on.

He turned to Wolf and explained. Basically they were what Wolf would call R.E. . (rear echelon mother f..kers). Most of those guys were HQ types who had evaced from bases in the chaos, and ended up in the ship yards. Bureaucrats to a man, they had quietly taken over the admin tasks, but now the ranking officer, an Infantry combat General, was out on the airfield conducting the mop up exercise to secure the Island.

After hearing the University mission brief, The JSDF senior trooper, a Major, suggested that to get a fair hearing they'd either have to wait a few days or go out to the island Airport and speak directly to that officer. Wolf thought about it. Saburo asked them when they anticipated the airport to be secured enough to allow movement to the island.

"At least another week to 10 days. The majority of the Zeds are dead but they managed to get stuck in the most unexpected places, and the entire complex needs to be cleared room by room." the Major explained.

"Major, can you get word to this General to expect visitors for a conference?"

The Major thought about it, and replied "Yes I can. The General knows me, I've served with him for several years, and he fought side by side with us as we withdrew to this perimeter. He'll accept what I have to say. If they won't let me use the base radios, there are plenty of others to be had on the line."

Wolf went into a huddle with Saburo, Shizuka and now, Rika. It was pretty obvious that these two would never allow themselves to be separated again.

"What do you guys think? We can sail home, hang round here for God knows how long or we can go over to the island. If we go home we'll leave in the morning. If we go to the island, I'll want to shove off right away, in case the REMF's decide to impound the boat."

Saburo immediately said "Airport".

Shizuka and Rika had been speaking a mile a minute since their reunion and Rika was up on the plan for the University mission. She looked at Shizuka, gave her hand a squeeze and said "Airport".

"Shizuka? It's got to be unanimous."

"Airport. Wolf, this is too important to let a bunch of "rear echelon mother f..kers" screw it up." she said, suddenly turning bright red as she realized what she'd said.

All three, Wolf, Saburo and Rika burst into laughter. The Major and his XO roared.

"Ok, Airport it is." Wolf grinned, and turned to the Major.

Can you provide us with a portable radio so we can call into them before we arrive?"

"Can do. I'll have it delivered to the boat by one of my guys. In the mean time I suggest we finish our dinner like normal, keep chatting and then you guys can take me down to see the little boat you came in. That way no one will question why you all made a bee line to the boat." the Major said, painting an evil smile on his face. He turned to his XO and told him to get the radio and meet at the boat in an hour. "But first let's finish dinner."

Plan decided, they had a good time conversing with the Major and his people. After putting their trays in for clean up, they walked down to the break water. Their little 20 footer sat snug, waiting to head out. The XO materialized 15 minutes later, with a radio which Wolf parked in the dinghy.

He returned to the Major, and shook his hand and then the XO's hand.

"Thanks for the help Major, we owe you one."

"No sir, it is we who owe you and your people one. As far as I know, no one has considered what happens when the supplies we scrounge run out, which is pretty thoughtless for logistics people. You are light years ahead of us. Good luck to you. Who knows, if the General agrees, which is highly likely, I may end up going with you." the Major replied over his shoulder as they went to walk away.

He paused and turned back.

"You know you are all combat veterans now, right? Your cherries have officially been popped." he said as he stood to attention, and gave them a crisp salute. "Welcome to the club."

Shizuka looked like her head was about to explode. "MY CHERRY HAS NOT BEEN POPPED!" she yelled indignantly.

Rika put her arm around her and squeezed while trying hard to stifle a laugh. "It's a figure of speech, nothing more." Everyone else burst into laughter.

"OK people, time to get the show on the road. Man the boat. Major, it's been a pleasure" Wolf said, as he shook the officers' hand.

All four rapidly boarded the dinghy, and cast off. As they rowed out to the small boat, Wolf judged the wind. As usual it had shifted drastically as the sun set, and was now blowing off shore. Getting out of here was gonna be a piece of cake. He took a few minutes to explain what they were going to do, and showed Saburo the whisker pole and how it worked. They were going to need it to run directly down wind.

The wind was right on the nose, so he had the main hoisted and trimmed for a beam reach. Then Saburo went up to the bow and cast off the bow line from the mooring. As Saburo walked aft, the boat slowly drifted backwards and Wolf put the rudder hard over. The boat gradually turned side on to the wind, and the main filled. Saburo popped out the genoa, and Shizuka quickly trimmed it and snubbed it on a cleat. Wolf now put the rudder hard over the other way, as the boat gathered head way and pointed down wind. As the bow swung past broadside to down wind, Saburo attached the whisker pole to the Genoa. Wolf let out the rest of the genoa. In the mean time, Wolf told Rika to push the boom out to the opposite side.

As the nose came round, and the genoa filled to its full extend, the whisker pole was clipped to the toe rail, and Rika paid out the main so they were running wing n wing.

The small sailboat headed down the fairway til it hit the open bay. Off in the distance, about 10 miles or so, they could make out the dark mass of the island. Blocky black shapes showed where the terminal, hangars and other buildings were. The long rail/car bridge was off to their left.

At first they had thought all was dark except for the shipyard lights and a few small lights at the airport. But as Shizuka looked back at the city, she pointed and said "Look, there are other survivors out there."

True enough, there were dozens of single point light sources. Survivors huddled together, trying to stay alive as they were. Far off on their leftt they could make out the bonfire that they had lit to serve as a beacon for their return. Seeing that, Wolf was reminded of happier days, playing a Viking warrior in Valheim. Many times, it was such a bonfire that welcomed him home from his adventures.

He got the radio set up in the cabin and letting it warm up, he switched to the frequency he and Wally had agreed on. Wally replied immediately and sent for Kat. Once Kat was on the radio, he updated her as to their journey to the island Airport and the reason why. She advised him that Shinji's mission had gone well, and the compound was in good shape. She told him to be careful.

Figuring they had a good couple of hours before they got near the island, he shut down the radio to conserve battery life. Then he moved back into the cockpit where Shizuka had the tiller. She seemed to be doing very well for a first time sailor. Rika sat opposite her as they chatted, while Saburo kept his eyes moving around the horizon as look out. There was a partial moon up, and the sky was crystal clear. Looking at their wake, he figured they were doing about 5 knots, so figure 2-2.5 hrs to get to the island.

"Shizuka, how are you doing? You want a break?" he asked.

"No thank you, Wolf. I like this. Let me go on for a while." Shizuka smiled back at him.

"OK, When we get close I'll take over. Saburo, you can have the helm on the way back home."

Saburo nodded.

Wolf continued speaking. "Anyone who gets tired can go below and sleep, there are two bunks down there, and I doubt we will be staying on the island after we talk to this general."

Rika asked him "how long do you think it will take to get there?

"Given the wind, and this nice flat sea, we should be there by about 2100 or so. Talk to the General, half an hour to an hour, and then 3- 4hrs for the return trip. It'll seem like forever to you guys but it's a piece of cake for me. As I said, anyone who gets tired can go snooze for a bit. It'll get chilly but I had blankets put in there along with a sterno cooker so you can make some tea. There are supplies in the cupboard under the cooker." Wolf replied.

"How about you tell us of your adventures since all hell broke loose? I wasn't paying much attention during our conversations with the REMFs." he said, turning to Rika.

Her story was fairly simple, her team had been at the airport running hostage scenarios. She was XO for the SAT team of highly trained police, comparable to what the US called it's SWAT teams. When the outbreak hit Tokonosu, various and sundry politicians and other well to do types had made a beeline to the airport, hoping to get away somewhere else. Every flight out was filled to the max, and at first there had been little for the airport security to do but keep order among the panicked citizens.

It got ugly when the deaders had somehow managed to get into the submerged facilities tunnel that ran from shore to the airport. CCTV showed people in the tunnel and they realized too late that these were infected. The crew that went to investigate got the door open and about a hundred yards down the tunnel, where they ran into the deaders. They were over run and dead in moments, and the door was still open.

Being as the access point was very near the terminal, things rapidly got out of hand. The deaders slowly emerged and upon hearing the clamor of the people trying to get out, feel upon them in a feeding frenzy. The numbers virtually tripled and quadrupled in a matter of minutes, and the airport security were overwhelmed. They were for the most part lightly armed, but the fear of hitting a passenger caused them to hesitate.

Rika and the SAT team were out at the far end of the field, practicing a forced entry into an old airliner. When the terminal security chief called them over the radio, they scrambled to get there in time to control the incoming wave of deaders but it was already too late and all they could do was get as many people out to another section of the terminal that they could secure by blocking the halls with furniture.

Thankfully the SAT people had a range off to the side of the runways, for practice distance shooting. There was a small bunker with ammunition and half a dozen rifles with scopes attached for long distance shooting. Some handguns and shotguns were also there for training purposes. At least they had ammo and weapons if they could get to them.

That was Rika's first mission. She and a few others quietly exfiltrated the building, got into a catering truck and made a beeline across the field to the bunker. By that time flights had stopped as the aircraft on hand panicked and took off one by one. They made a direct run to the bunker and arrived without any issue. The bunker was quickly emptied, and the truck made it back to the terminal without too much of a problem. They only ran into a dozen or so deaders on that side of the terminal and got back in clean without any shots being fired. They hoped that the deaders would stay on the other side, perhaps allowing them to get out that way again if needed.

From there on, it was a matter of protecting the passengers as best they could. The stupid bastards would not pay heed to warnings to remain quiet, and every once in a while some rich idiot would raise his voice, demanding to be allowed to get on a plane. This agitated the deaders on the other side of the barriers and the walking corpses would break through and they'd have to retreat again, usually losing a bunch of passengers and a handful of security and SAT people.

Things were getting pretty crappy by the 4th day, but by noon things were looking up. Masses of helicopters and jets arrived over the field and started drawing the deaders away across the field. As they massed up, fighters came in and dropped napalm on them. The helos door gunners were having a field day with the ones who got stuck behind walls or other obstructions. As the afternoon progressed, the SAT people got out to a vehicle and made a beeline to the tunnel exit.

There were still stragglers coming out of the tunnel exit, and she and her fellow marks men sorted them out pronto. Dismounting they secured the doors and that was the end of traffic from the mainland. Traffic to and from the mainland had shut down the first day, with massive pileups on the bridge blocking the way even for foot traffic. The JSDF held the bridge clear until the barricades could be made completely impenetrable. Then they'd withdrawn towards the terminal. There weren't many left after they ran into deaders coming the other way, and their ammo ran out. The few that made it were serving with the Airport security and the SAT team.

When the SAT people got back to the terminal, the marines had started to land, and she and her people went to work with them. The call that she was to return to the mainland came as a surprise as she'd figured she'd never see Shizuka again.

As she told her version of events, Saburo went into the cuddy cabin and made up some tea for all, served with biscuits. The Airport was getting quite distinct now, they could make out the docks, ramps, various vehicles and even people now. Wolf went down and cranked up the radio. In minutes he'd established contact with the military running the securing op, and shortly after that he had the General on the line. True to his word, the Major had gotten word to the General and he was eager to meet with them.

With Shizuka still at the helm, Wolf watched as she judged the distance and approach to the dock. She had the genoa furled, and they ghosted alongside. As soon as they got the boat secured, Saburo lowered the mainsail and tied it down. Wolf was impressed with the nurse's handling of the small boat. She was a natural, it seemed.

They were met by a sentry, and they headed up to the terminal to meet with the General.

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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. The following characters belong to HOTD owners.

Komuro Tadashi

Miyamoto Rei

Miyamoto Tadashi

Miyamoto ? ( I don't think her mothers name was ever mentioned)

Busujima Saeko

Takagi Saya

Hirano Kouta

Marikawa Shizuka

Marasato Alice

Minami Rika

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