"...I mean, you really just don't see something like that SITTING in the middle of the highway," Tendou said.
"Looks pretty beat up," Kencho added.
"Even so, why abandon a truck like this?" Shizuka continued.
"Maybe it is out of fuel and they've gone to try and locate a fueling station?" Beatrix concluded.
The four had only been a day's travel since leaving the zombie-infested mountain hot springs with their progress now halted as they stood with rather quizzical expressions on their faces. They had come across a large pickup truck that was most likely an import judging from both size and make. The truck, a crimson red Tacoma from the small English lettering in some areas, sported a raised suspension with large multipurpose tires, a reinforced front bumper with built in pulling wench, an access cab, and a covered bed with the windows covered from the inside. Making up for the lack of storage space in the back of the cab was a mounted storage rack atop with a few large storage chests tied down with ratchet straps.
Clearly it was not meant as some sort of roadblock due to the sheer lack of blocking a singular vehicle could do despite its large size. It also sat with the back bumper completely against the roadside concrete safety barrier. The tailgate and rear window were completely open through a hole within the fence that sat atop the barrier that had been cut or forced through at some point. It remained unclear if this was for escape or temporary departure. There were no signs of struggle nor bodies of slain zombies scattered on the asphalt, but there were plenty of familiar stains of zombie entrails against the large tires and frame of the large truck. Tensions began to fester and grow within three of the four members of the group. However, the suspected individual that saw no present issue or threat was already grinning ear to ear and eyes full of awe. At the same time it was also here that Shizuka's eyes widened in realization of how familiar this truck seemed to three of them.
"This was the truck from back at the RV Convention Center, the one I suggested we take," she said as the four began to slowly approach it. Tendou and Kencho blinked for a moment in trying to call back their memories of the convention center before it finally dawned on the two of them as well.
"Was someone following us back then?" Tendou asked.
"There's no way. Remember that swarm that followed in after us? Might have stumbled in there after they cleared out when we busted the loading bay doors open of the convention center," Kencho replied as he scratched his chin in contemplation.
"Had to be a couple days after us. We would have noticed it following or seen whomever owned it fall victim to your previous manager's roadside trap," Shizuka finished sternly.
"Well...if they're gone then we could just take it with us!" Tendou exclaimed as he once again began to approach the truck. Kencho almost reached forward to stop his friend, but he knew there would be no point in doing so with the level of determination Tendou held. Even the analytical nature of Shizuka saw no real reproach or downside to having such a large truck as an addition to their arsenal, but she still could not shake the feeling of imminent danger from within her. Kencho followed behind Tendou towards the truck with the possibility of taking a break from the motorcycle sounding quite appealing. Beatrix, in a moment of unusual behavior, seemed to mentally align herself with the same suspicions as Shizuka. Her hand rested with a slightly firm grip upon the hilt of one of her dual katana blades, her eyes scanning the perimeter around the truck and down the hillside, before she also began to calmly walk. Seeing this also resulted in Shizuka issuing an exhausted sigh before joining the others in inspecting the truck with her arriving just as Tendou swung open the driver's side door.
An avalanche of empty sake bottles tumbled down from the floorboard and shattered onto the ground to cause the four to jump back momentarily in surprise. A few moments passed before all eyes diverted from the newly formed pile of broken liquor bottles back to the interior. All were slightly repulsed by a sudden wafting stench of sake and cigarette smoke, but Tendou was determined to push forward. A quick glance on the door he had opened saw a holstered Nambu M60 revolver taped to the inner door panel just beneath the door controls. The sight of the firearm clearly caused Tendou to hesitate momentarily, but he soon pushed through and continued inspecting the inside of the truck. The floorboard of the driver's seat was scattered sporadically with spent bullet casings of small arms rounds and a concerning amount of cigarette butts stamped into the floor. Tendou carefully placed one hand on the seat instead of the door to avoid accidentally discharging the revolver while the other hand grabbed hold of a handle situated on the frame just behind the headrest. Pulling himself up from the ground and into the vehicle's front sea, Tendou continued his investigation inside.
The front passenger's seat and floorboard contents only fueled the uneasy feeling Tendou had developed from just seeing the revolver taped to the door. Large crate of sake bottles filled with what looked to be viscous liquids and torn cloths stuffed into the tops with a very faint scent of gasoline sat in the center of the passenger seat with the seatbelt almost humorously coupled over it. In the floorboard, atop a few dozen boxes of .12 gauge shotgun shells, sat two SKB shotguns with the barrels sawed short and the stock's carved down into pistol grips.
"LOOK AT ALL THIS!" Tendou called out to both himself and his friends standing watch outside for the possible return of the owner. The others turned momentarily and were instant focused on the Nambu M60 prominently displayed on the open driver side door. Still bewildered by the contents of the front seats, his attention now shifted to the back. Surprisingly, the back of the cab had been removed entirely to allow a seamless flow of connected space for living and storage between the cab and covered bed. A faint breeze flowed through the opened back and through the open driver side door to help air-out the smell. Resting directly behind the front seats was a makeshift bed consisting of a small mattress sitting atop an elevated frame of plywood with no covers for neither mattress or singular pillow. Scattered throughout the back were various pieces of camping equipment, two large canvas duffel bags, and a large cardboard box with the letters 'MRE' on the side.
"I think Shizuka might be right, there's no way someone would just abandon all this stuff in here," Tendou said as he began to disembark from the inside of the truck rejoin the others waiting outside.
"There's no sign of struggle inside or outside. Whoever drove this out of Tokyo clearly isn't gone," Shizuka added.
"Well, then there's no reason for us to take a risk and steal from someone," Tendou replied with an exacerbated exhale while rubbing the back of his head awkwardly.
"What could we possibly take from the owner? Cigarettes? Alcohol? And just front judging what we've already uncovered, the owner probably has a stash of other stuff in those duffel bags or in the glove compartment," Shizuka finished.
"True necessities of a real Slav," an unfamiliar muddy voice thick with an Eastern-European accent said from down the line of four staring at the truck. A silent and awkward beat of silence passed before all four jumped back in varying exclamations of surprise at the sudden appearance of another standing with them on the side of the highway. Each had jumped into a quick defensive stance, but only Beatrix possessed any type of weapons amongst them, as the stranger calmly turned to face them.
The man stood at eye level with Kencho with a broad and bulky build with most of his features completely covered beneath a black loose-fitting cloth balaclava, a blue Adidas hoodie with three white stripes running down the top of each sleeve and up the middle of the hood, black fingerless hard knuckle gloves, VSR camouflage combat pants with an olive drab kneepad on his left leg, and dark coyote brown nubuck tactical boots. A pair of golden rope chains hung down from his neck reaching to the center of his chest and a platinum watch adorned on his wrist over the hoodie sleeve and glove. If the combination of his sudden appearance and his attire did not cause for enough concern, it was what the stranger was currently holding in his hands that gave them the largest reason: a Howa Type 89 with the stock and bipod removed.
The air grew tense with only it being brought to a uneasy truce when Beatrix tried to break the ice between the two sides.
"Your accent...Eastern European?" Beatrix asked as she racked her brain momentarily while not removing her focus from the armed unknown before them.
"так, yes, Belarus. Was here on vacation, next thing I know shit is going down and I can't get back home. I say to myself, 'Slava'-which is my name by the way, hello-'this probably isn't typical Japan. They seem much nicer on the first day but, hey, they may just be nice like that on first day. You're in deep shit, ебать, and after all that time you spent to learn Japanese. Tell you what we'll do- we'll have our money's worth of fun, hop on boat, get back to mainland, and then hitchhike back to Belarus like that time you threw car keys at what you thought was a bear but was just a very ugly woman.' I fought way out of hotel, picked up what I could, and then started my vacation!" Slava explained as he lowered the rifle to his side absentmindedly.
Despite this, most of Tendou's group seemed warry of the foreigner...well, other foreigner...but made no sudden moves as to avoid invoking a confrontation that could easily end violently. It helped ever so slightly when Slava suddenly released his grip on the Type 89 to let it freely hang via strap over his shoulder to begin rummaging around in the various pockets on his person. He did not seem bothered by both the strangers standing before him and how it was as clear as day that they had been snooping around his personal belongings and gear. Was there just that much trust? Was there an ulterior motive to this act?...Was he just stupid? These were the questions that flooded Shizuka's head as she carefully glanced towards Tendou to gauge what the next course of action was to be on their behalf.
"Why don't you come with us, then?"
A unified exacerbated groan escaped from the lips of Kencho and Shizuka at the reaction of the ever-optimistic young man, bright eyed and toothy smile plastered on his face, while Beatrix even seemed to loosen her guard by stepping a bit closer. After all, was she not the same as him with her being a foreigner that had arrived to 'Nippon' in order of fulfilling lifelong desires to experience everything this land had to offer? Sure, his own motifs were still in the grey but no body language or tone of voice gave neither her or Tendou a reason to fear for the safety of themselves and their friends. Slava stood motionless for a moment, having stopped in his search for whatever he was looking for on his person, and looked down towards Tendou. He blinked for a few moments before he suddenly burst into a fit of hearty laughter and, in one fell swoop, encased both he and Beatrix in a deathly tight bearhug that lifted the two easily from the ground to his own eye level.
"дзякуй! Many thanks, brothers!" Slava bellowed as he continued for a few moments more before releasing the two.
"Say what you will about Tendou, the guy definitely has people skills..." Kencho muttered under his breath as he couldn't help but smile slightly at the display brought on by his best friend's overgenerosity.
"It really wouldn't hurt to have another person in the group for safety, not just from the addition of his truck, and someone that seems to have some sort of firearm training/experience could prove to be beneficial," Shizuka added. She still did not trust the man in the slightest and seemed unwavering in allowing herself to even break her vision on him. While Tendou and Beatrix recovered from the assault of a hug, Slava began walking towards the hole in the safety fence above the highway siderail. He reached over with one arm and pulled over a large wooden pole with various bottles filled to the brim with water tied up and down its length.
"Wait, if there was only one hole in the fence, how did you get right beside us with none of us noticing?" Shizuka asked .
"I was on other side of truck when I heard your voices. I walk around to introduce myself, but you all seemed busy so I didn't want to interrupt. Where are you heading?" Slava replied with a gesture of his hand towards the other side of the truck, leaving Shizuka too exhausted to dignify both the simplicity of it and the humiliation of it being that simple.
"We're heading to the village Tendou grew up in to see if his family is alright," Kencho answered before mounting the motorcycle while Tendou, Shizuka, and Beatrix began loading back into the RV. Slava nodded his head and quickly climbed into the driver's seat of the truck. He watched as Kencho on the motorcycle first pulled passed, then the RV, and then following behind them. A chorus of loud clanging and clattering came from behind the truck as Slava instantly looked to the rear view to see most of his belongings falling to the pavement from the opened tailgate and window. Tendou was not far enough to miss the sound of squealing brakes followed by a tirade of Belarusian words that, judging from how red in the face Beatrix grew when she heard them, could be quite offensive if placed into text or listened to.
OCs are currently being accepted: name, age, race, background, description, weapons (if any), and 'reasons to live' in the apocalypse (if possible/want)