The handle was again agitated, but the door did not open. Red sighed, as she was remembering only now that she had locked all the doors! Fear and stress had, decidedly, a bad effect on her teen mind.
Finally, after many more seconds during which the handle of the right aft door was agitated more violently than ever, it was released. She heard more growls, and even two roars, coming, seemingly, from two different creatures. It was as if two of the zombies were fighting against each other, so that they would know the consumer of their prey.
Prey?
That's when she heard a loud noise behind her and, looking back, she saw with fright the sliding door open on the side of the van!
She leapt out of the passenger's seat and stopped in front of the open door, which revealed a nightmarish scene...
There was a silhouette standing in the entrance of the vehicle, plunged in the dark, and Red saw many dots around the surprising figure.
The latter took, slowly, one step at a time, and entered partly inside the vehicle, standing in front of her, illuminated by the headlights, which was coming through the windscreen. The teen opened her eyes wide.
Hiroto was standing in front of her, panting while he leaned, with a hand to the frame of the sliding door open. He looked at the metallic floor, his head heavy. The teen heard a sound of water droplets falling on metal. Lowering her gaze, she saw that there was a bleeding wound at the level of one of his shoulders. Droplets of blood were slowly, but surely, falling on the floor of the vehicle, where a small reddish pond was beginning to build up. She looked at it, aghast, and felt frozen by fear, when she heard the sound of the dripping blood covered by a growling.
Two of the nearest red dots, behind him, quickly became the eyes of a horrible skull-like face, flanked by two similar creatures, which approached him from behind. The undead slowly turned their heads, looking alternately to the left and the right. They obviously were attracted at the same time by the young girl and by the old man, and, motionless now, seemed to hesitate.
Hiroto whined, stepping back and, once outside, knelt on the ground. In front of the open entrance of the van, he closed his eyes, traces of pain visible on his face.
Before Red could move, the living dead, the group of creatures, excited by the smell of blood, pounced on the wounded old man.
***
Reflex
The suffering, kneeling man stood up instantly, jumping from his kneeling position while grabbing swiftly the hilt of his sword. Red hardly noticed him twirling with the saber in his hand, very brief metallic reflections of the dim light on the blade betraying the fact that it had been pulled out.
The old Japanese fell briskly on his knees on the soft but dirty ground, his sword neatly tucked in his scabbard, on the side of his waist, his head leaning forward and looking at a muddy little pond of blood. The horrible creatures around continued on their impetus to plunge on him. The nearest fell on him from behind, its head separating from its body. It fell like an ugly ball and splattered in the mud, between Hiroto's knees. The two other zombies, on his left and right sides, both fell in two pieces, their torsos falling at first, cut diagonally at their upper parts.
No longer controlled by the head, the two oddly cut torsos stopped walking and stood, slightly capsizing.
Finally they fell on the dirty ground while the third corpse, which had been more neatly beheaded by the old Japanese, fell against his back, its severed cervical vertebrae hanging over his head. The body began to tremble, its arms and hands shaking, giving the impression they were wanting to grab the man. The latter stood up and elbowed back, his elbow sinking into the exposed ribs. Because of the violence of the blow the corpse fell behind him in the mud, dark blood gushing out of its truncated cervical vertebrae.
All this took place in only a fraction of a second, almost too fast to be seen by the human eye. Red was amazed, despite her knowing him very well.
"Grandpa!" Red exclaimed, and she then jumped out of the van, crouching near the old man to help him, as he was making a lot of effort to get up from his kneeling position.
"My God, you're wounded!" yelled the teen as she saw, in horror, blood flowing even more freely from her grandfather's shoulder. The violence of his movements while slicing through the creatures haven’t improved the state of his wound, on the contrary, the girl told herself.
"Yes," Hiroto answered, his face weakened, her help being welcomed. "I've been shot."
"Shot? But, by who?" Red yelled, goggling at him while she helped him climb inside the vehicle.
"Vlad... He... he... treason," and, as he had just murmured that while the teen was closing the door, he failed.
Looking back at him she saw him fall on his side, on the metallic floor of the van, one of his temples of hitting the cold, hard surface.
"Hiroto, no!" cried the teen, having been unable to react quickly enough to soften his fall.
She knelt near him and lifted his wrinkled face to find he had a small bleed at his temple.
She walked on one of the big back seats and unfolded it, transforming it into a hide-a-bed. At least this old van given to the group was very practical, despite it being very comfortable.
She returned to the old Japanese and, satisfied that he was a small and light man, she was able, with not too much effort, to lay him on the sleeper.
Something touched the back of her hand, startling her, and looking down, she realized that it was her grandfather's right hand. He sighed and, closing the fingers of his trembling hand, he slowly pressed hers in his. She felt worried. It seemed so light, so weak... not the usual iron fist she was used to.
"Red..." She was surprised by his voice, which was now blunt.
"Yes?" She knelt closer, because his voice was becoming very weak.
"Red, in Japan, you know, a child has complete freedom until his seventh birthday." He stopped speaking, taking some time to catch his breath. The girl asked, frowning slightly, "Why do you say that to me?"
"You’ve known so many horrors, and so young!"
The red haired girl smiled at him and said, "Yes, I've been living through a nightmare, even before the death of my parents, in fact, as far as I can remember. Always hiding, always feeling fear, from time to time." She hesitated, seeing the now attentive, compassionate face of the old man who was watching her, and she continued, "But you and Mei, you gave me a lot of love... and you accepted me inside your family, to the point where you accepted to initiate me, teaching me your very descendants' fighting secrets. I was really honored!"
He smiled at her, not in the usual, timid way to which she was accustomed, but with a warm, full, heartfelt smile. He murmured, with difficulty, "I'm so happy that our most recent past has been so mutually satisfying," and as he stopped speaking, his smile faded away. He slowly closed his eyes, seemingly beginning to fail. Red suddenly felt fear, fear of losing, once more, a loved one. She yelled, shaking him, "No, please, stay awake, stay with me!"
He reopened his eyes, seemingly unable to maintain his attention on anything.
Then the ginger girl felt reassured when she recognized his usual sparkling eyes riveting on her.
Swallowing hard, he said, "Red, we must find some help at the Community, Johnny and Bo have been taken prisoner by Vlad and his henchmen!"
"Vlad? His henchmen? The bloody…"
Hiroto abruptly set up, looking decided to stand up.
Suddenly, he closed his eyes and lay heavily back.
"Hiroto!" the teen yelled, as she saw even more blood pour from the wound at his shoulder. She shook him as much as she could, but he did not move. She used all the knowledge in first aid that he had taught to her and to the other students of the dojo: cardiac massage, mouth to mouth breathing, but all was in vain.
He remained unconscious.
Blood was dripping even more freely from his wound, becoming more impressive every second. She took the entire bandage she could find and put it on the wound, fighting to stop the bleeding.
Finally,
after many minutes, she saw with relief the bleeding stop. But something else worried her: Hiroto seemed to be so pale... It was clear that he had lost too much blood. Red decided to do what her Sensei had always encouraged his students to do.
She took a thin tube for intravenous infusion and, quickly, placed the needles on each side of the tube in her arm and in her grandfather's. She was careful, while sitting near him, to have her arm over Hiroto's, so that blood flowed by gravity toward his arm.
Many minutes passed by while she waited, the dark liquid coming from her veins, visible source of life inside the translucent pipe, flowing toward the old man, saving, she hoped, his life.
She saw with satisfaction her grandfather getting back his color.
But at the same time, she started to feel strange, dizzy...
And she heard growls just outside...
They were very near. Looking down at the metallic floor where blood had accumulated, under the improvised bed and her own dangling legs, she smelled its odor... and she knew that the creatures outside smelled it too!
Scratches made her shiver. She realized that they had come from the closed sliding door.
Thank God, I slid the door shut...
That's when doubt, a terrible doubt, seized her, as she was feeling her head spinning now...
I slid the door... but when being surprised by Hiroto's failing and fall, did I lock it?
The answer startled her when the door slid briskly wide open, and three zombies leapt inside toward them both, while opening gaping, roaring mouths.
***
Rescue
Red saw death hasten toward her as the creatures threw bony hands with jagged fingers toward her.
The claw-like tips of their fingers stopped millimeters away from her blurry eyes, as a silhouette appeared in her field of view. Her heart beating, she was waiting, weak and defenseless, for the merciful end of her short life. She told herself that, at least, it would be the end of all her worries.
As seconds passed by, she was astonished to see that her green eyes weren’t torn into shreds, and no jaws plunged with delight into her jugular.
Her view adapted as she heard the creatures roaring in front of her, and then she realized that they were immobilized by the silhouette behind them, a huge one, that she finally recognized.
It was Harry who, his big arms coiled around the zombies, was crushing the three of them together in front of him. Backs to him and still facing her, they uselessly extended their arms toward her, unable to grab her, carried as Harry walked back with them.
Their roars and growls changed, going to the treble side, becoming now screams of anger and frustration, as the black giant turned around with them. Doing that, he had increased even more their pulling away from their prey. He approached the opened door with his frightening upload.
As the living dead were becoming slowly conscious about who was standing in their way, they began to try to free themselves, now screeching like furious birds of prey.
A new zombie appeared in the open entrance and roared loudly, as it opened a gaping mouth while looking at Harry with appetite.
The roar ceased instantly when it received its three counterparts in its head.
The group fell back outside in the dust, broken into parts, which mixed together in a mess of bones and rotten flesh.
Harry slid shut the door and locked it, shouting, "Adios!"
The good colored giant turned around as new roars and howls were heard, and he smiled at her, showing his white teeth.
She smiled back… just before she saw his smile fade.
She saw the ceiling and the interior of the van turn around her, as she vaguely realized that she was falling head-first toward the metallic floor.
She saw its harsh surface leap toward her and invade quickly her field of view.
The floor stopped just a few inches from her nose, making her squint slightly.
She then heard the warm voice of Harry, strangely resonating in her head, "Red, are you OK?" She felt as if she was floating over the floor, hardly feeling her body. She realized that she was manipulated, like a puppet between a child's hands. Her field of view changed, the floor disappearing, as she understood that she was seated onto one of the back seats, the good giant watching her with a worried face.
"Red?" his voice resonated even more in her head and she fell into oblivion.
***
Johnny and Bo were astonished by the little game of the two hit men they were watching.
Two bikers on the same motorcycle were rolling around the van, which had its roof window closed, now. They were both playing with the mob of living dead, a dangerous game. One of them was driving while his comrade, sitting behind him, was letting a beheaded chicken bleed, hanging it by its legs. He was making a red path on the dirt, which attracted the creatures. The two bikers, swiftly, avoided being grabbed by the zombies. More than anything, they did what they could to avoid falling, knowing it would mean their death. They went away, followed by the creatures excited by the blood, and they all disappeared out of the view of the group led by Vlad.
"Go forward,” he yelled, and saying that he raised a leg and kicked Johnny's back. The hit almost made him fall against the luxurious van's closed door, but he was able to recover his balance.
The young colored man responded to pain by turning swiftly around and intercepting Vlad’s leg, almost making him fall and lose his gun. Other weapons handled by his men pressed on Johnny's temple and flanks, menacing to shoot.
"Continue, make me fall completely, I’d love to shoot you," the hit men’s chief yelled mockingly. Gritting his teeth, he remained in a delicate equilibrium, threatening to fall whenever his leg would be pushed upwards.
The young man looked at him with hatred and lowered the man's leg before freeing it, letting him correct his balance.
"Good, good, you understand quickly, bright boy," Vlad said, clearly amused, as he continued menacing him too with his gun. Aiming it at Johnny’s forefront, he slapped him noisily.
No reaction came from the young colored man.
Another slap.
Same thing, nothing. The laughter of all the hit men erupted.
A more violent slap was given to Johnny by Vlad, who was ready to provoke a bad reflex.
The young man remained stoic despite the ever louder laughs, finally looking at the hit man with hatred. He finally showed an attitude of cold impassivity, the same one as his Sensei.
Vlad goggled at him, and hissed, "Lower your eyes, sonofabitch," but the colored young man remained impassive, looking him directly in the eyes.
The hit man suddenly slapped Bo, who was surprised, before looking quickly at him with hatred. This pleased Vlad who murmured, “Who is going to be shot first?" and saying that, he pressed the barrel of his gun on the center of Johnny's forehead.
His index finger began to slowly increase its pressure on the trigger.
"Stop!"
The recognizable voice had startled him so much that he had almost unloaded his gun, but luckily, he had controlled himself. Manifestly thwarted, Vlad looked in the direction from where the voice had come. They all heard, coming from a loudspeaker on the roof of the truck, "Bring them to me, they have more value alive than dead… at least for the moment."
"Did you hear, morons?" said Vlad, nodding in the direction of the truck. A door on its side slid while a sound of whirling electric motors was heard, showing that it was not moved manually. Another black leather-dressed man appeared, and, enlightened by the diffuse light that reigned inside, Johnny and Bo recognized him as Vlad's colleague. He was almost as bald and bearded as him, but taller, and blond. A machine-gun at his side, he motioned for them with a wave of a hand to enter. The duo moved forward, pushed by Vlad, and got into the vehicle, the light of which dazzled them, a deafening cackle hurting their ears.
On their right-hand side, as their eyes slowly became accustomed to the interior brightness, they saw a ladder, which gave access to the roof wind
ow, above. At the foot of this ladder, two men in black uniforms were crouched in front of a set of cages, in which one could discern dozens of chickens, all cackling noisily.
These cackles redoubled and became deafening, when the two henchmen began to seize chickens in two of the cages. They were obviously preparing to continue the "distribution," and the poor animals, having heard their predecessors, seemingly guessed their fate. Their thighs firmly held in the mens' hands, they fussed, moving in all directions, beating wings and raising feathers in the air. One of the men sneezed then, wiping his nose with his sleeve, and swore. He then stood up and started to climb the ladder. The noise and, above all, the smell in the back of the vehicle caused Bo and Johnny to grimace in disgust.
A light but real knock on the back of their skulls made them both groan and, turning around, they saw that it was Vlad who had beaten them with the butt of his gun. He pointed it toward the other side of the vehicle, and said mockingly, "It's on the other side, clowns."
Johnny's eyes became as furious as those of his friend Bo, who rubbed his head, but the first immediately buried his emotions... not without having widened the evil smile of the henchman, glad to have been able to make the colored man lose his impassivity, for even one second.
Without saying a word, the two prisoners fumed as they walked towards the front of the vehicle, stopping in front of a metallic separation wall. Two closed doors were on the left and right of the wall, each surrounded by a bright, red border, made of neon lights.
Vlad advanced towards one of the doors while the men who had accompanied him surveyed the prisoners. He then bent and placed his right eye in front of a sort of camera, on the left side of the door. The camera projected very briefly a bluish horizontal flash, which swept the eye of the henchman from the upper eyelid to the lower.
BESIEGED (HUNGRY Series Book 2) Page 8