by Tristan Vick
“Hey,” a man’s voice called out. “You all right in there?”
Kana’s heart nearly jumped out of her chest at the sound of another person’s voice. It was the first time in weeks of nonstop chaos that she had heard anybody’s voice—at least one that wasn’t screaming for mercy as they were being torn apart limb by limb.
Rising timidly, she peeked out of the glass window of the gondola. Peering between the safety bars, she saw a foreign man of fair complexion step onto the adjacent beam opposite hers. She watched as he walked fearlessly along it, as if he were a professional acrobat. He wore a black t-shirt with tan, blue denim jeans, and had a samurai sword slung across his back.
Although she was grateful for someone’s assistance, the closer he came the more anxious she got. Suddenly he was next to her window, peering in at her, and she didn’t know what to say or do.
Leaning over, he jiggled the handle, but it was locked. He then looked in through the glass at her. “I’m Kevin, by the way. What’s your name?”
Kana froze. She wasn’t expecting to have to speak in English. She didn’t know whether she should reply to this intrepid stranger in her piss-poor broken accent or just ignore him and hope he’d go away. Mustering up some conviction, she managed to spit out her own name. “I’m Kana.”
“Kana? That’s a pretty name. It’s nice to meet you, Kana. Can I tell you something?”
“Um...yeah. I guess,” she responded, a little perplexed.
“It will be dark soon. Now, the way I see it, you have two options. You can open this door and take my hand, and we’ll get the hell out of here. Or you can stay up here all night hoping the monsters will leave you alone.”
“If it’s all the same to you, I feel safer in here. Thanks though.” He was a perfect stranger after all. And a foreigner. For all she knew he could be a serial rapist or something.
“I get that,” Kevin said, his smile fading into a stern look of discontent. “They might leave you alone during the night. Or they might multiply and in the morning you’ll be stuck. Then the sun will bake you to death in that glass oven you’re in, and if you don’t die of heat stroke and dehydration, you’ll be forced to try your luck escaping an even more dangerous situation. Now, if it were up to me, I’d open that door and get the hell out of here as soon as possible.”
Kana squinted at him as she contemplated the best move to make. “You promise you’re not just trying to trick me?”
“I promise,” Kevin said, crossing his heart with his hand.
Without any further indecision, Kana leaned forward and unhooked the lock. The door swung open and Kevin leaned in and lent her his open hand.
The young man’s smile was dashing, and, having given it some additional consideration, Kana felt she could trust him. In fact, she really liked his blue eyes. They reminded her of the ocean.
“Come with me, if you want to live,” he said in a strange sounding voice.
Kana shot him a peculiar glance, not knowing why he changed his voice, but took his hand and gripped it tightly anyway. Once their hands locked together, Kevin hoisted her out of the Ferris wheel’s gondola. Scared out of her mind, she latched onto his chest, tighter than a koala, and trembled in his arms.
“Scared of heights?”
“A little,” she whimpered.
“Don’t worry, I’ll get you down safely. I promise.”
“How?” Kana inquired, looking down at all the hungry monsters waiting for them to plummet down onto the pavement. “There’s too many of those things already.”
Kevin laughed. “We’re not going down,” he said. Gesturing with his chin, he looked up and said, “We’re going up.”
As Kana looked up, the raised eyebrow on her face showed she wasn’t convinced. Above them were only more gondolas. “What? Up there? Why?”
“Ever seen the movie Star Wars?” Kevin asked, pulling a wire rope with a grappling hook on the end from the leather satchel fastened to his waist.
“Star Wars? Is that the one with the guy in the blue shirt with the pointy ears?”
“No. That’s Star Trek. Never mind,” Kevin replied. “It’s just that we need to go up in order to get down.”
“You’re not making any sense,” Kana said.
“Just hang onto me,” Kevin insisted.
Kana grabbed him around the waist, but felt a little strange holding onto a perfect stranger so kept some distance. Suddenly Kevin reached around her and pulled her into his body so tightly that her breasts mashed up against his chest. Her cheeks immediately flushed with embarrassment, as she hadn’t been this close to a guy since her ex-boyfriend. But, at the same time, if felt extremely safe being there in his arms.
Launching the grappling hook, Kevin watched it sail up and over the steel beam above them. The wire wrapped itself around until the hook latched on with a resounding clang. Giving the wire a tug to secure it, Kevin reached around Kana’s waist and pulled her into him even more tightly than before. She felt her pelvis slide comfortably into his and promptly wrapped her arms around his neck.
“You ready?” he asked.
“I think so,” Kana replied.
“Alright, here goes nothing!” Kevin said. With a strong kick, Kevin pushed off the beam and, with Kana clinging to him, they swung toward the parallel beam. When they came to it, Kevin kicked off it and swung back toward their initial position. Carving out large arcs like that of a clock’s pendulum. Kevin repeated this procedure until he got the momentum he needed.
Swinging back and forth caused Kana to get a little bit dizzy, so she buried her face into Kevin’s chest and squeezed as tight as she could.
“All right,” Kevin wheezed, “on the count of three, let go.”
“What?!” Kana said in dismay. “You’ve got to be out of your mind.”
“Remember, let go on three.”
“You’re not kidding, are you?” Kana asked, hoping to get a slightly more reassuring answer out of him.
“One...” Kevin began.
“Kuso!” Kana cursed.
“Two...”
On the count of “three,” Kevin had the sneaking suspicion that she probably wouldn’t let go of her own volition, so he did it for the both of them. Kevin released his grip at just the right moment, and they flew through the air, as if ejected from a slingshot—Kana shrieking the entire way down.
27
Escaping the Dark
Tokyo Dome City Amusement Park
With an unforgiving “Oomph!” they crashed down onto the rooftop of a nearby video arcade and tumbled to a less-than-graceful stop.
Kevin pushed himself up and got his bearings. Luckily, the concession stand was near the road. Only a chain-link fence divided where they stood from where they needed to be. But it was no problem, since they could easily hop over it from the top of the roof and land on the top of a black Toyota Prius. Luckily for them, there were no sign of Walkers, but with Kana’s non-stop shrieking there sure would be some shortly.
“Well, that wasn’t so bad, was it?” Kevin said, dusting himself off.
Kana shot him a sharp look. She wasn’t accustomed to being flung around like some rag doll. “What were you thinking?” she demanded, her chest heaving. “You could have killed us both!”
“Hey, in case you hadn’t noticed, I just saved your sorry ass,” Kevin said defensively as he tugged on his t-shirt. After the day he was having, he wasn’t in the mood to deal with anyone else’s problems. He had enough on his plate as it was. She could accept his help or not. Without offering to help her up to her feet, he turned and began to walk toward the edge of the rooftop.
She was about to scold him for not being a gentleman, but when she tried to stand up she felt a sharp twinge shoot up her leg. Kana yelped out in pain and quickly crumpled back to the ground.
“What is it?” Kevin asked, turning back toward her.
“My ankle. I think I sprained it.”
Kevin’s face turned grim again. “We can’t waste any mo
re time hanging around out here in the open. It’s too dangerous. We’re sitting ducks,” he said. “Plus, it’s already beginning to get dark.”
Bending down, Kevin scooped Kana up into his arms. Holding her securely, he trotted to the end of the rooftop. Pausing at the ledge, Kevin looked over and eyeballed the distance he’d have to leap to get over the fence and land on the car. Looking back at Kana, he softly asked, “You okay?”
“Yeah, I think so,” she replied, her pink lips curling into a smile for him. She hadn’t intended to smile at him, but there was something about him that she felt extremely attracted to. It was almost as if she couldn’t help but smile at him.
“We need to find shelter,” Kevin informed her as he took a few steps back and readied himself to take a flying leap with Kana in his arms. “Do you have an apartment near here?”
“Not near here. Downtown, closer to Yokohama, I have a ninth floor apartment.”
Disappointed, Kevin frowned. There was no way they could cover that much ground before nightfall. “Hold on,” he said.
Kicking off, Kevin dashed toward the edge as fast as his legs would allow with the additional weight. Jumping, he leaped off the edge and Kana and him landed on the Prius. Both hit hard and their legs went out from under them. Kevin rolled off the roof and crashed down onto the unforgiving concrete and Kana tumbled down the windshield and hood to a much softer landing.
With a scraped elbow, Kevin got up and went over to help Kana up. Once he got her onto her feet, he motioned with his chin to follow him up the street. “Come on, this way.”
“Wait!” Kana beckoned.
Kevin stopped and turned to face her and see what she wanted.
“I just remembered something. There’s a fancy onsen not too far from here,” Kana said. “We could spend the night there.”
“An onsen?” Kevin asked.
“You know? A bathhouse.”
“I know what an onsen is,” Kevin blurted. “But what good will it do us to hide out there?”
“I don’t think you understand,” Kana said gently. “It’s not a regular spa. It’s fed by a natural spring. We’d have water. Hot water. Also, it’s on the six floor, just above a gym. We could use the heavy weight training equipment to block up the doors, and we’d be safe for the night.”
“Sounds good, actually,” Kevin said, surprised by her suggestion. Besides, he didn’t feel like running all night.
Kana smiled at him and answered, “Tell me about it. I can’t wait to get my clothes off.” Realizing the peculiar way in which her words had come out, she blushed. Kevin just gazed back at her curiously. Returning his gaze, she looked deep into his blue eyes but had trouble sensing what he was thinking. “What I mean is…I want to take a long hot bath.”
Kevin smiled at her, but was too out of breath to say anything. Seeing as how Kana struggled to stay balanced on her injured ankle, however, Kevin took a deep breath and offered her a piggy-back ride. “You had better climb onto my back. We’ll cover more ground that way.”
“But aren’t you tired?”
“No,” Kevin lied, kneeling for her. “Hop on!”
Kana hobbled a few steps toward him when suddenly a voice moaned out.
“Grahhh!”
From behind the pillar of the pachinko parlor’s parking tower, a zombie in a black suit came out nowhere and grabbed Kana’s hair and reeled her back. She shrieked in fright as it pulled her toward its clacking teeth.
She squirmed desperately to get away and barely broke loose in time to evade his snapping jaws. Having torn free, she looked back in time to see that several locks of her hair were clenched tightly in the creature’s fists.
Just as soon as she was out of its reach, Kevin drew his sword and, in one quick motion, sliced the cap of the creature’s skull clean off. With its rotting brain half-exposed, the businessman fell to the ground with a splat. Brains spilled out of his skull and onto Kana’s feet. She screamed again, her shrill voice echoing throughout the parking lot. Panicked, she frantically backpedaled to get away from the gruesome, sloppy mess.
“Shhh,” Kevin hushed, pressing his finger to his lips. He looked around to make sure there weren’t any more of the undead lurking about. Satisfied that the coast was clear, he motioned for Kana to climb onto his back. As soon as she did, they set off.
The shade of night was already settling around them as they trekked across the ruins of Tokyo. Kevin felt almost as though the darkness was hounding him, always nipping at his heels—constantly threatening to devour him. All he could do was try to outrun it.
28
Second Chances
Tokyo Dome City Amusement Park
Inhaling the deepest breath she had ever taken, Saeko Sakaguchi sat straight up. Her lungs rattled and ached as she took in all the air she could.
Eyes wide open from the shock of her rude awakening, Saeko sat and stared out at the gloomy scene of the giant metallic caterpillar crashed in the stadium stands. It felt like she had been stuck at the bottom of the ocean, swimming desperately to reach the soft glow of light dancing upon the surface, for what seemed like an eternity. Then, just when she felt she wasn’t going to make it, as though she were about to suffocate to death, she burst through the shimmering veil with a violent splash and gulped down precious air.
Saeko’s head was still groggy, but she felt every air molecule in her lungs as they burned inside her chest. One little gasp for air caused her lungs to burn so hot they felt like they were on fire. It took several minutes for the burning sensation to fade. Then she just felt sore. Every bone and muscle in her body ached.
Sitting on the baseball diamond, somewhere between first and second base, Saeko felt dazed and confused. She didn’t know whether she was herself, a ghost, or simply dreaming. But here she was, having thoughts. Clear, coherent, human thoughts. Slowly, she looked down at her abdomen and saw the tight stomach of an athlete. Touching her abdomen, she ran her fingers across her taut abs. It was surreal. Suddenly she realized she had both arms. Both hands.
She held out both hands in front of her and fanned her fingers, inspecting them as if for the first time. There wasn’t a scratch anywhere on her body, even though her clothes were shredded to ribbons. And her leg, it seemed to be miraculously mended as well.
What remained of her schoolgirl uniform was so horribly tattered that it barely concealed her feminine figure. Whatever was left hung on her in shredded uneven strands, soaked to the very fiber with her blood. Nearly every inch of skin peeked through the ribbons, which covered only her most private areas.
Saeko remembered the cracking noise her ribs had made, the sound of dry tree branches snapping in half, when they had pried her open. She remembered passing in and out of consciousness as they gnawed on her leg and tore her left arm out of its socket then off from her body in what was the most excruciating pain she’d ever endured. But now her body was somehow mended. Every inch of her skin seemingly untouched and looking brand new.
She hopped up onto her feet and peeled off what remained of her white shirt. Luckily her black bra was still intact. Feeling herself up and down, she quickly checked the rest of her body for marks of any kind, but nothing. Not a scratch was on her. Not a single solitary scratch.
Saeko touched her face, ran her fingers through her black hair, and frisked every inch of herself, making a double pass as her hands ran along her feminine curves. She was completely intact. But how could this be?
For a moment she thought maybe she was dreaming. That maybe she’d woken up in the afterlife. But standing there in her underwear and silky black bra, she began to feel a slight chill. Saeko snatched up Kevin’s jacket that lay next to her and slipped it on. She zipped it up to her cleavage, turned up the collar, and walked out of the stadium.
Still a little disoriented by waking up from certain death, Saeko emerged from the dark mouth of the stadium entrance and stepped out into the light. She put up her hand to block the bright sun and gazed up at the hazy gray sky abov
e her. It all felt so surreal.
Her last memory was of taking a wrong turn, being chased down the corridor by an entire throng of monsters, only to escape into the ballpark. The only problem was the zombies who’d swarmed out of every entrance like agitated wasps, until finally they’d closed in on her. She’d had no place to run and no place to hide, and so she did what she’d been doing for months … began fighting for her life.
But an unlucky slip had caused her to lose hold of her sword. She’d tried to retrieve it, but she had gotten cut off. Without her blade she was defenseless. She remembered standing motionless, counting the moments before she was overtaken by the monsters.
They’d piled on top of her, forced her to the ground, and crushed her under their dead weight. Fingers dug into her skin as they tore into her, ripped out her insides, and gorged themselves on her entrails. That’s when she’d heard Kevin screaming her name. She’d looked over to see his face. Then she mumbled something. Things blurred in and out of focus, then she’d seen his face again. She thought she had told him that she loved him, but she couldn’t be sure now.
Suddenly, all her senses overpowered her all at once. Every smell and sound was crisp and clear. She could pick up fragrances several kilometers away. She could hear the fluttering of a moth’s wings even though it was far out of sight. Looking down at her hands, as if she were seeing them for the first time, she said aloud, “What’s happening to me?”
Saeko looked around and wondered what had happened to Kevin. Kevin. Where’s Kevin? Is he alright? Did he escape? He must have, his body wasn’t anywhere to be found. But then again, if he had been turned, well, his body wouldn’t be anywhere to be found either. Shit, Saeko thought. I have to find Kevin.
29
Bathhouse Blues
Midtown Tokyo, Spa LaQua Bathhouse