“Where’s safe?” asked Summer.
The officer looked her in the eyes then shook his head. “If I knew that, I would already be there.”
“You’d abandon your duty?” asked Jade in disgust.
“Duty didn’t keep my family alive,” said the officer. He closed his eyes slightly and sighed. “On and off the force.”
He recovered from that moment quickly, however snorted at her before speaking in a cold tone of voice. “There were only forty of us able to be sent here at noon to protect several thousand citizens…A few hours later, less than half of that number are left alive.”
“Some of them were people I had known for years. One of them was my own brother,” he said. “I watched a pack of those things tear him apart. There were hundreds of them, and I was already out of ammunition.”
“I shot my wife in the head today,” continued the officer without cessation, though his voice took on a quiet and tremulous nature. “She was eating our newborn daughter. So, I shot her in the head.”
A stunned silence fell over the passengers on the bus for a moment. It was only alleviated when the man spoke coldly, “I’ve done my duty. You can all go to hell if you think otherwise.”
Uninterested in continuing the conversation, the officer turned away and wandered back over to a small collection of road cones and sandbags that would stop absolutely no one.
Summer sighed loudly and gripped the steering wheel tight. The forthcoming nature of the police officer had not helped their mood at all, but at least he had been honest.
“What do we do now?” she asked in growing concern. “I was sure we could get some help if we found the police.”
Momoko grunted at her then adjusted her glasses. “I’m surprised there are any public services and servants left. Dealing with the public at large is the easiest way to get killed right now.”
Jade glared at her hotly. “That’s cold, even for you.”
Momoko started to say something but Tosh shook his head at her. Seeing the look on his face angered her, but she kept quiet. It didn’t take a genius to see that she had said something wrong.
Scott did not interject into the conversation, as he largely considered himself a tag-along. They had indulged him frequently since everything started. Unless they came up with an incredibly stupid plan, there was no point in trying to act like he was in charge. He was already a borderline dictator by his own estimation.
That sort of commanding leadership might be needed at the end of the day but how long would he even be in this world? What will happen when he eventually leaves? If they were used to following his every lead, they would be lost.
Even so, for now he was content not to bark orders. Of course, he did have a suggestion. He just wanted a certain someone to be the one to suggest it.
The group chattered loudly and made attempts to talk over each other as they tried to concoct a plan. Three members of the group still wanted to try to find out the fate of their families, while the other half had no one to go find who was worth the danger. The loved ones who counted most were either overseas or had already passed from this world.
“We shouldn’t travel in the dark,” said Tosh. “We’ll wreck the bus for sure and I don’t think any of us want to walk around at night if possible.”
The odd little collection of survivors nodded in agreement. They, however, found themselves at a loss. What should they do? Where should they go? It would be dark soon.
Several minutes of argumentative conversation led one of them to a discovery, though not the one that Scott had hoped for them to achieve. Saiko called out to him, “You’ve been quiet… What do you think?”
Tosh rolled his eyes but said nothing. What would be the point in starting an argument, right now? There was plenty of time to do that later. It would be dark soon.
“Well, I have far less knowledge of this city than any of you…” said Scott.
“I sense a but coming,” said Otakun with a grin.
“… But,” said Scott while nodding to him.
A few smiles appeared on tired faces in that moment, but those smiles turned to confusion when Scott looked over to Summer and continued, “That depends on whether or not Summer has a female ‘friend’ in the police force.”
Summer’s face suddenly reminded him of a surprised Pikachu. Mouth hanging open, and eyes wide like she had literally just seen everything in existence all at once, she did not speak immediately. If anything, her internal operating system needed to reboot.
“Even if she does, what does that do to help us?” Momoko questioned Scott.
“I do!” cried out Summer as her brain finally processed the moment. “I do! Her name’s Keiko, and she’s one of the top five snipers in the prefectural police department.”
“But wait… why did you say friend the way you did,” asked Summer, a sudden slyness coming to her voice. “What have you heard?”
Scott laughed warmly but shook his head. “Nothing like that, but the only knowledge I have of this place is from a not entirely accurate anime and manga series.”
“Ok, so why ask about her friend? Do you think she can come get us?” asked Jade.
“No. If she’s doing anything like in the anime, she’s currently on some island-based airfield sniping zombies while the so-called important people try to flee the area,” said Scott. “As far as I know, she should be alive and well at the moment.”
Summer clasped her hands together in front of her and looked at him starry-eyed. “That’s wonderful!”
“Yeah. Great for her… How does this help us?” asked Momoko.
“I hadn’t really thought about it, because it’s so far from the school, but Keiko has an apartment on this side of the river,” said Summer. “It’s going to take a while to get there and I don’t know what it’ll be like there…”
“I’ll go with you to scout it out,” said Scott. “Worse case scenario? I die and can let you all know it’s farked, so we don’t waste our time.”
“Can’t you just go alone?” asked Tosh snidely.
“I only know what the place looks like in an anime, not how to get there in what passed for real life here,” said Scott.
“I’m not sure splitting up is a good idea,” said Otakun.
“I agree. I should go with them,” said Saiko. She tilted her nose up slightly and looked down at the others a little.
Jade glanced at her then snorted. “Right, if all three of you go, why would you bother to come back?”
Scott shrugged. “The bus has our supplies, and Otakun’s still here.”
That earned him a snicker from Saiko, a worshipful look from Otakun, and a confused look from Summer. The rest of the bus sent him a mix of annoyed expressions and an angry glare.
“That’s not funny,” said Momoko with a grunt.
Scott smiled at her. “Aww. I like you too.”
She snorted at him then turned away, though there was a hint of color in her cheeks. Otakun’s worshipful look soured slightly, but it shifted into a gentle smile. It was as though he had heard an obvious truth.
“What about me?” asked Jade. “You made me a promise, Mister.”
Scott shrugged. “I promised I would help bring back Hisashi if I can find a way to do it. Never said I was your personal bodyguard for the duration of the apocalypse.”
Jade frowned prettily at him then released her breath in a loud feminine huff. “Argh! Men!”
Tosh, as usual, looked like someone had tea bagged him and he could still feel the texture of their curly little pubes on his tongue. It was a special sort of expression, really.
The conversation eventually found a compromise. Saiko would stay behind, giving Scott another reason to return. It was not a decision made without friction, however. She was clearly annoyed that she had to be left behind like a hostage as the compromise needed to get things moving forward.
As planned, they drove around the somewhat zombie free area until they found a vehicle that was likely to wor
k. It was an abandoned motorcycle that reminded him of an older version of the Harley Davidson Road King touring bike. The engine was still running. Nearby, a guy in what Scott thought of as American biker gear shambled around looking for brains, sex, or perhaps both at once. The guy was obviously well off before the fall of civilization. That bike would have been expensive even if purchased in the US.
“That’s our ride,” said Scott.
He hopped off the bus and quickly put the shambling bike enthusiast out of his misery. The bike itself seemed to be in good condition all things considered. He did not recognize the brand at all and thought that perhaps it could just be thought of as a generic heavy cruiser touring bike. Heavy being the operative word.
Curious, he tried to convert it into an item. He had yet to try that with a vehicle. The price tag that popped up made him blink. “Only thirty-seven hundred…”
“What’s only thirty-seven hundred?” asked Summer as she joined him.
“Ah. I checked to see what it would cost to turn this bike into an item,” said Scott. “Less than four thousand item points… Might not be a bad idea to buy a vehicle. There’s bound to be something good that we can get out of it.”
“You sure you can ride that thing?” asked Tosh. “I could take her.”
Scott grinned at him. “Bikes have always been how I got around. I’ve barely driven anything with more than two wheels in my life.”
“Right…” said Tosh evenly. He didn’t argue with Scott. In fact, hearing that he was leaving for a while had caused the surly teen to express himself with greater cheer.
They found a gated place to park the bus nearby, then settled in while Scott made a quick save. Soon, he hopped on the motorcycle and let Summer get on behind him.
She giggled softly then wrapped her arms around him and pressed herself against his back. “Wow. It’s been so long since I felt this way.”
Scott grinned and decided to play along. “What, you ride?”
She laughed a little and practically snuggled in against his back. “What was that?”
“You like riding?” he asked again.
“Louder!” she cried happily. “I can’t hear you.”
He laughed along with her this time. Summer had found a tiny sliver of hope and felt her usual giddiness return. There were few of the dead around, and she was embracing a man while the world whipped by. It was great.
Chapter Six
The chatter of concerned voices filled the air as two denizens of the bus made their issues known. Tosh stared at Jade, his eyes practically ablaze. The smoldering embers of his anger rekindled, he demanded answers.
“So, that’s how it is now?” he asked her coldly, despite the heart in his gaze.
Jade growled at him. “Oh? Now you care? For a whole year you practically ignored me, but suddenly I’m supposed to fall all over you just because you came to find me at the start of all of this?”
“Ignored you?” shouted Tosh. “You dumped me for my best friend!”
She laughed in his face. “Can’t stand that I found someone better?”
“Better? The hell did you just say?” Tosh fought down the primal urge, the primordial desires of his Slap-a-Ho genetics. “You know damned well you just got together with Sushi to hurt me!”
“There it is!” exclaimed Jade. “Always! It’s always about Tosh.”
“Tosh’s friend. Tosh’s feelings,” mocked Jade. She placed her index finger and thumb in parallel and squinted through the space between those fingers. “Tosh’s tiny little penis!”
Tosh threw his hands up in the air and shouted, “What the hell is wrong with you? You’d think that you’d be grateful that I came to save you if nothing else!”
“I never asked you to save me!” snapped Jade.
Tosh rose from his seat and slapped his hands down on top of the backrest. “You’d rather be dead than be with me?”
Jade shot up from her seat and slapped her hands down atop her backrest as well. “Maybe I would!”
“Would you two stop?!” screeched Momoko. “You’ll bring every dead thing in this city down on us if you keep this up!”
“You stay out of this! You don’t speak for me!” snapped Tosh.
“What?” shouted Momoko. “You did not just talk to me like that, you shouting idiot!”
“I’m not shouting!” shouted Tosh. “You’re the one shouting!”
Saiko sighed loudly and stood up as well. She walked toward the front of the bus then engaged the arm that opened the front door.
“What the hell are you doing!” snapped Tosh.
“Dealing with the crowd you idiots drew in,” she said simply.
“Crowd?” asked Tosh, confusion evident on his face. Why would shouting in the middle of a residential area during a global undead pandemic draw in a crowd?
Otakun joined her, nail gun in hand. Once they were off the bus, they went to work. Saiko rushed the three nearest zombies that were shambling toward them from down the street, while Otakun tried to pick off a few of the ones that were further away with his nail gun.
Try was the operative word. The nail gun had been used repeatedly, and his quick modifications back at the school had worn down. In short, his accuracy was off by a slim margin. As things stood, he took twice as many shots to bring down a zombie and his frustration grew with each missed shot. Nails were precious. By the time the mini-horde had been handled, he was low on ammunition.
“Tired?” asked Saiko.
“A little…” admitted Otakun. “Need to fix my sights… and I don’t have many nails left.”
She nodded to him, then looked around at their handiwork. The children on the bus had stopped screaming, but certainly had not come out to help defend it.
“Think you have enough to help if another wave of those things comes at us?” she asked him with a curious tilt of her eyebrow.
“Not sure…” said Otakun. “If it’s only this many? I think so, but that would be it.”
“That’s something at least,” she admitted.
Otakun fiddled around in his shirt pocket and pulled out a pack of nails. “Last mag,” he said with a tired smile.
She grinned at him while he reloaded. “We’ll make them last.”
He gave her a thumbs up, and his eyes practically sparkled. “We got this!”
She chuckled at his antics then asked, “How did you get so good with a nail gun? Is it that easy to use?”
“Guns are a passion of mine,” said Otakun. “Recently, I spent most of the summer break in America thanks to my grandfather. He was on goods terms with the owner of a private security firm called Sweetwater Inc.”
He checked his nail gun over briefly then nodded at it before he continued his story. “Anyway, they’re a paramilitary group, mercenaries in all but name. They protect important VIPS in war zones.”
“You trained with people like that?” she asked, slightly skeptical of his story yet her voice was filled with admiration.
“It was like a dream,” he admitted. “We went to the range every day for a few hours, and I used all kinds of weapons. The instructor took me under his wing and taught me all kinds of things, most of it was even legal.”
“Most of it?” she asked him curiously.
Otakun rubbed the back of his neck and laughed a little. “Well, you’re supposed to have a license to play with explosives, but they taught me how to make and use those as well.”
She nodded to him and asked further about his accomplishments and training. Through that Saiko began to understand Otakun a little more and found in him something of a kindred spirit. “Your passion for firearms reminds me of how my family trains with the sword.”
“You don’t sound like most people when you talk about me and my guns,” said Otakun quietly.
“Most people don’t understand a warrior’s pride,” replied Saiko with a shrug of her soldiers.
Otakun blinked then slowly straightened his back a little. No one had ever called him something
like a warrior before, though the instructor at Sweetwater had called him soldier frequently. “I’m a warrior…”
“Aren’t you?” Saiko gestured with her blade and moved it in a wide arc. She reminded him of the zombies felled with nails to the skull. There were at least a dozen corpses scattered around the area.
“While a lesser man hid in the bus and threw a tantrum like a child, you grabbed your nail gun and fought,” she said in a strangely cheerful tone. “What else would you call it?”
Otakun slowly nodded his head. It was food for thought. Up until Saiko had spoken those words he had thought of himself as being on the bottom of the survivor hierarchy. If anything, he thought the others might see him as a liability since he was fat and slow.
“I’m a warrior…” he said quietly to himself. In that moment, a hint of resolve began to blossom in his heart. He was more than the guy who got bullied in school. He was a guy with a nail gun and the will to use it.
Chapter Seven
The outbreak was still in its early phase, yet there was little traffic on the road. Most people were either barricaded inside their homes or shambled around looking for sweet meats of one variety or another. The caravan of fleeing survivors made a lot of noise and drew many people, dead or otherwise, to that part of town as well. This left the streets all but empty of the dead for long stretches of time. Abandoned vehicles and wreckage were another matter, however.
The distance to Keiko’s apartment proved to be one that would normally be nothing worthy of merit, but the route consisted of several of shifts and turn-offs that would need to be made due to the size of the bus. Eventually, Scott found a way through, but it looked as though it could easily make the trip take over twenty kilometers at a snail’s pace. It would be well after dark before they arrived with the bus.
They stopped outside of Keiko’s apartment and Scott killed off a few zombies in the area. Only then did it occur to him to ask, “You do have a key right?”
“Yes! Keiko gave me one so I can come by whenever I like, and to look after the place when she’s gone,” said Summer.
Power Fantasy Page 15