Chapter 46: On the road once again
"To your left!" The white-haired girl shouts as she flies right over my head.
Glancing to my left and down. I see a giant metallic, half-snake, half humanoid dragon 'thing' coming right at me. Mouth gaping open, thousands of small rotating saw blades visible in its mouth.
I turn the right jet wing that's hovering right next to my shoulder and aim the thruster straight down, then blast it off. The serpent scheming right past my legs as it whizzes past me. The force of the blast making me roll over in the air, as the next moment I was able to focus the targeting system of my suit, I was upside down.
"Wide open." I chuckle as I throw a light punch to the right jet wing. The metallic contraption responding by lining up to my side, with the thruster now pointing forward. And as the circle on my visor started to home in on the back of the serpent, the tip of the thruster started to shrink in scale, turning into a muzzle.
'Target Locked' a notification appears on my visor's top-left part as the circle flashed red. With the flick of the wrist, the thruster activated, a stream of red light coming from the tip. Instantly impacting the back of the robot that started to flail about as it plummeted towards the ground.
"Activate second, third, and fourth cannons." I throw another light tap on the wing to my left. Causing it to also come to my left side and point forward, two more cannon-like wings coming up over my shoulders, also pointing forward, while the serpent-like robot crashed into the ground, creating a large crater at the point of impact.
Nonetheless, it lifted itself up and turned to face me. Pointing the giant ax it had its hand at me, the thrusters on the underside of its body causing the trees around it to sway. The shot that connected to its back, seemed to only anger it even more.
"Naier what are you doing?! Move!" The flying, purple-haired girl shouts as she slices through a drone.
"No need. That killachine, it ain't getting off the ground again." I respond as all four thrusters 'break apart'. a bright red light shining through the cracks of the contraption along with a constant whirring sound that kept increasing in volume as the light through the cracks started to also increase in intensity.
'Charge. 80%' A text appears on the top right part of my visor as the metallic serpent then launches itself off in the air. Brandishing the ax in its hand as it started screeching like a banshee, dashing towards me...
'Charge. 100%' And, with a 'tick'. A deafening sound echoed as I got pushed back, my vision also taken away from the exceedingly bright light...
"Naier!" I hear a voice shout again…
"Naier…" The voice says again, this time in a much calmer tone.
"Come on, how long are you going to…" The voice then stops mid-sentence. After a short silence, I felt something touching my neck, poking a certain place on the left side...
"Ahh, this is. Uhh, I, might have gotten a bit too, fixated yesterday." The voice whispers.
"He, he might not see it. He's always wearing his idiotic mask after all." It adds right after.
"Come you stupid, think, think…" The voice then says in an annoyed tone.
"I'm going to bring it here…" It adds. And then, disappears…
After some time in silence, I let out a groan bringing my hand to my face. An annoying bright light poking straight into my eyes…
I let out a sigh as I opened my eyes. The light that kept bugging me, was coming from the open window to my left, the sun, being the annoying brat that it is, was shining straight into my face at full force…
"Ughh." I groan as I shake my head and turn away from the window, and end up facing the closed door…
It took me several minutes to realize that 'somebody' was missing. A certain pink-haired girl was not here. I bink a couple of times before lifting my head, looking around the empty room.
(Saya got up before me?)
I blink another couple of times before getting to a sitting position. Then stretch, before 'slamming' my hands on the bed, then continued to look around the room aimlessly. Until, the door to my right opened. Turning to it, I see Saya, her hair back to being twintails, and wearing her 'mall' attire, except that she still had the white jacket on top of the brown 'HQ' shirt, though she left it completely unbuttoned now. The rest was the same, the rather short shorts with the black suspenders and sports shoes.
"Finally awake?" She asks as she walks up to me, then sits on the bed while still facing me. Or, to be more precise, she was staring at my neck?
"Here." She says as she leaves the mask and balaclava on the bed.
"Uh, you didn't have to bring them up here. And I thought you didn't like it when I wore this?" I ask as I glance at my headgear, then back at Saya.
"I don't. But you're a persistent idiot so…" She responds, cutting her sentence as she looks away.
"I see." I answered blankly while staring at her.
"W,well I'm doing you a favor, so be grateful." She then exclaims as she turns to me with a frown, her hands folded under her chest. I, just tilt my head slightly…
(My brain filter ain't on yet. Stupid ideas, flooding in.)
"Want a reward cuddle?" I ask with a slight smirk, causing Saya to blink at me a couple of times, her eyes wide open as her cheeks started to blush.
"I, can't get on the bed with these clothes. Idiot…" Saya whines in a low tone as she glances away.
(But ain't you already sitting on the bed?)
I slide to the side of the bed that she was on, then turn to her. Saya still had her arms folded, looking straight ahead of her, occasionally turning her eyes towards me.
With nothing happening for a couple of seconds, I stretch and let off a yawn as I fall back on the bed.
"I hate mornings…" I groan as I bring my hands to my face.
"The sun has been up for some time now. It's not that early..." Saya responds as I feel the bed move, followed by 'something' pressing up against my chest.
Removing my hands from my face, I find Saya's face hovering above mine. She was actually still 'sitting' next to me, but the upper part of her body was now on top of me. Her chest pressing up against mine, her hands folded on her sides, ending up with her fingers on my shoulders. And, before she, or I, could do anything else. Her glasses slipped from their place, and ended up landing on my face.
"Bah. Under attack, send backup." I groan as I shut my eyes and shake my head.
"S,sorry." Saya apologizes as she quickly picks the glasses from my face, folding them, and placing them next to us.
"So, slept well?" I ask as I open my eyes and slide my hands from her shoulder to her back. Saya just glanced away and nodded, her cheeks slightly flushed.
"You?" She asks back as she turns to me.
"I got no complaints." I answer as I bring my hand near the lower part of her waist, then slide it under her jacket and shirt, Saya going wide-eyed as I run my hand up on her back.
"What do you think you're, khhumm..." Yet, before she could finish her sentence, she let out a soft moan as I lightly scratched her back.
"You don't like it?" I ask as I arch an eyebrow. Saya responds by closing her eyes and lowering her head, placing her forehead against my neck.
"A little more to the left…" She groans softly.
"I'll take this as a positive reaction." I say with a small chuckle. Then creep my hand up close to her armpit and skim my fingers around that spot, causing Saya to wiggle about with a slight giggle.
(Ohh? This must be the first time I actually hear Saya giggle.)
She then lifted her head to look at me. But, instead of the pout that I expected to see, she was actually smiling. And, with a quick motion, she leans forward. Planting a kiss on the right corner of my lips before getting up.
"We can't waste too much time here, we still have a mansion to reach." She says as she fixes her shirt and jacket, then turns to look away.
"I also feel like I could get addicted to this if I let you do it to me for too long." She whispers as she keeps looking away.
"A, anyway. Get dressed and come downstairs, everybody other than you is already up." She then adds before leaving the room in a quick pace, her head slightly lowered.
"Dressed? All you brought to me was the mask..." I say to myself after Saya had already left the room. After a couple of seconds, I shrug and get up, grabbing my mask and balaclava before heading into the bathroom on the second floor…
After washing my face and looking at the mirror, I noticed several red marks on my neck. And upon closer inspection, I could actually see. Teeth marks?
"Saya you friggin vampire." I say with a chuckle as I wear my headgear.
"No wonder you wanted me to wear this so badly." I shook my head and walked out of the room. Then headed to the first floor, where all three girls were waiting. Saeko and Hitomi dressed up in their 'normal' yesterday's clothes.
"Good morning." Saeko spoke up the moment she saw me, almost instantly tilting her head after she noticed that I was wearing my headgear with my 'pajamas'. Saya on the other hand, who was behind the other two girls. Let out a small relieved sigh.
"Umm, morning." Hitomi adds right after.
"Morning." I respond to the girls as I raise my arm, then start heading towards the first-floor bathroom.
"Left my clothes in the bathroom on this floor. Check that you didn't leave anything behind. We're leaving the moment I get out." Saeko nodded at me and turned to pick the two swords that were on the big, main table. Then headed towards the garage. Saya picking our bags from the couch, Hitomi helping Saya.
After entering the study and then going to the bathroom, I started changing to my actual clothes.
"Ok, mansion, extraction, and then hopefully, somewhere safe." I nod to myself as I glance at the mirror, then head back out.
"Ready?" I ask as I enter the room.
"Yes, let's go." Saeko, who was back in the main room, responds with a nod.
And so, we entered the car, Saeko opening the back garage door and gate before entering the car herself.
"Think we could take the boat with us?" Saya asks as she turns to me.
"The windows of the car don't come down to pass a rope around, and it does not have a rail to pass the rope on the roof either, we got nowhere to fasten it. And we are not dragging it behind with a trailer, makes it hard to maneuver and almost impossible to reverse." I answer as I keep looking at the side mirror while driving in reverse.
"Hmm, yea. I guess you're right." Saya nods slightly as she takes the map out of the bag that was next to her feet, along with her textbook. Which she then opens to the page with the information I noted about the roads.
"If all goes well, we will be there in less than two hours." She says after she runs her finger on the map.
"That's if all the roads we need to take are clear." She adds up.
"In other words, fat chance." I responded, Saya just nodded slightly.
Once the Humvee got out on the sand, I turned it to face towards the right before switching to 'D'.
(Last trip. Here we go.)
I nod slightly to myself and press on the gas.
"Based on the stuff you noted here, we have two roads we can take, one is near us, about two intersections down, the other is pretty far down, meaning it's closer to the mansion." Saya keeps looking between her map and the textbook as she speaks.
"Aight." I nod as I keep looking at the beach that extended ahead. Then bring my hand to the left part of my neck and massage it for a few seconds, Saya turning to stare at me.
"Is something wrong?" She asks.
"Vampires after my neck." I responded with a slight smirk. The two girls in the back seat turning to look at me with a questioning look. Saya on the other hand, started staring at me with an 'oh shit' expression. She then glanced around with a blushing face before looking back at the map that laid on her thighs…
(Don't do the crime, if you can't take the punishment.)
After that, we continued down the beach in relative silence...
"I wonder where they will extract us…" Until Hitomi spoke up.
"Japan has a lot of small uninhabited islands. While they might not be viable for a long term stay. As long as an infected person is not brought inside, it will be safe from the corpses. They can't swim, and the only way for them to reach it, is by randomly winding up there after falling into the deep sea, as marching into the sea from the beach will just push them back up on the shore" Saya keeps looking at her map as she speaks.
"Other than that, a cruise ship, or a plane carrier. The latter could act as a 'branch' point. Bring survivors there via a helicopter, then from there send them to a safe zone. This way the J.S.D.F would be able to also have better control of who goes where, or keeping people that they need, like engineers and doctors. And as bad as it sounds, getting 'categorized' by the J.S.D.F. I mean. They are the best chance we have for an actual counter-attack against the corpses." Saya continues.
"Are they really going to help us though? The army I mean…" Hitomi looks out the window as she asks.
"You think they would try to kill us instead?" Saya asks, Hitomi does not respond.
"You watch too many movies. The army is a nation's biggest strength. So it's easy to make them the bad guy to increase the tension in a movie, making it look like the heroes are up against a powerful foe by themselves." Saya answers as she pushes her glasses closer to her face..
"I'm not saying we should blindly trust everything they say. But we should not take it like they are out to get us. They 'are' extracting people out after all. That means that they are already allocating resources for it" Saya adds.
(You know, mentioning the aircraft carrier. World war Z might be a good example of this. The 'army' there was actively helping civilians. To the point that the water filter of the aircraft carrier started to malfunction because of being overcrowded. Though they did send the people to camps afterward. That, for all the crap they got, the main dude's family didn't look any worse for wear when he got to them in the end)
"You, sure know a lot Saya." Hitomi says right after Saya's 'explanation'.
"Hum, of course. I 'am' a genius." Saya declares with a triumphant huff.
(Heh. I missed this punchline.)
I chuckle under my breath as I keep driving…
"Actually. what are we going to do with the car?" Saya asks as I leave the beach and climb up the road.
"You mean once we reach the extraction?" I ask as I glance at Saya, she nods back in response.
"Uh, good question. I don't intend to just hand it over, but if we enter the 'save zone' with it, then we won't have much of a choice, especially if there are armed soldiers there." I respond as I tilt my head.
"Then hide it outside?" Saya asks.
"A possible 'starting' choice. We could keep it as an escape plan. In case things turn out to be not as 'expected'." I respond, then turn to glance at Hitomi who was sitting behind Saya…
"But that's highly unlikely. Rei's dad should have the real deal in information concerning extraction points. What with him being a cop and what not." I add up as I turn back towards the street.
"And if we do get extracted, giving the car up is the only choice, it's not like we can take it with us. I also doubt that they will let us keep our guns…" I keep speaking as I take a turn towards the uphill road to my left, sending a corpse that didn't want to move flying through the air.
"I'm going to miss this car." I say nonchalantly as I keep driving.
"Why? It's way too uncomfortable." Saya says as she re-adjusts her butt on the seat.
(Sweetheart, if 'this' Humvee is uncomfortable, wait till you see the ones from my world, this is like a luxury limo in comparison.)
"It's a tank. On wheels." I respond flatly. Causing Saya to groan and roll her eyes, though there was a slight smile on her lips.
"You're such a kid sometimes." She says as she turns to me with a smug look.
"It's part of his charm. Don't you think?" Saeko responds as she leans over my seat.
"Liking tools of mass destruction makes me a kid? I thought it would make me something closer to a psychopath..." I say with a slight shrug. Saeko lets out a small giggle as Saya groans with a smile again, then turns back to her map.
"Well, I do not care 'what' you are…" Saeko leans towards my ear as she speaks.
"As long as 'I' am allowed to be part of it…" She whispers, then backs off and sits back to her seat.
"By the way. I need your preference for something." Saeko says as she turns to the bag next to her. I tilt my head as I start to hear shuffling. And then...
"Which one would you prefer?" She asks as she brings something between me and Saya.
Turning my head to my right, I see Saya looking at me, her eyes wide open, her face a deep red…
Actually, it was not 'me' she was looking at, but the nightgown Saeko was holding. It's just, I could see Saya through the gown. Actually, it's the same one Saeko showed Saya in the house, the black one…
"Absolutely not!" Saya shouts as she darts her head to Saeko. Who weirdly, just pulled back the dress without speaking back. Only to find out why seconds later…
"This one then?" She asks again…
This time she had, 'Something'. I don't even know how it's called. It looked like a sleeveless shirt, except the front part looked like a giant upside-down 'V', starting from the collar, then splitting up to two parts that circled around to the back at about elbow height. If I had to guess, that thing would barely cover somebody's chest. Much less Saeko's. Not to mention that the 'lower' section was completely exposed…
"T, this is even worse than before!" Saya shouts again.
"Hmm, well…" Saeko tilts her head as she stops speaking, taking the second 'nightgown' back.
"I have not taken any other nightclothes with me…" She says with a 'worried' expression.
"I'm going to give you something then." Saya flatly declares. Saeko just turns to the fuming pinkette, and glances at her chest.
"They won't fit me. Your chest is too big compared to mine." Saeko responds with a calm voice. Causing Saya to blush even more as she reflexively brings the textbook over her chest, not that it helped much. Because, you know. It's kind of giant…
"A, and you focus on the road, pervert!" Saya shouts as she darts her head to me. I just chuckle and turn to look back at the street as I shake my head. All the while, Hitomi had pushed herself between her seat and the door next to her, watching the event unfold with a concerned look…
"You had that shirt you used last time, use that." Saya then adds as she turns to Saeko.
"Left it at the house." Saeko almost intently replies.
"W,well you can't wear these!" Saya frowns as she 'slaps' the textbook back on her thighs..
"Why? Is there a problem with them?" Saeko 'asks' with a questioning look.
"Their whole existence is a problem." Saya responds as she pouts.
"Hmm, you think so too Naier?" Saeko asks as she turns to me.
(Oh great, now they brought me into this…)
"You can wear whatever you want…" I respond as I keep looking at the street.
"You won't mind if I wore one of these tonight then?" She 'asks' again, a smirk slightly visible on her face...
"Uhh, well. There is one slight problem." I respond as I tilt my head.
"We might end up having to sleep with other people in the same room. And I might end up stabbing somebody if they end up staring too hard…" I added before the girls could speak.
"Oh…" Saeko's expression turned into a rather dumbfounded one, like she just realized that there's a chance of what I said can actually happen.
"Sadly, we're not prime guests like in Saya's house, we won't get preferential treatment." I add up.
"We could stay in the car then…" Saeko responds, obvious disappointment in her voice.
"Possible. But let's get there first. We'll act accordingly then." I responded as I glanced at Saeko, who didn't look very happy with my answer…
(Uhh, think, think, think. Ohh, Idea.)
"We could just go to the roof and watch the night sky then." I say as I look back at the street, and a few seconds later.
"Uhh. Too cheesy, forget I said that." I add as I tilt my head.
"Actually, that sounds like a delightful idea. I would like to ask that you do take me 'out' tonight." Saeko instantly responds as she leans on my seat again, bringing her face close to my ear once more.
"Just the two of us…" She whispers, then backs off again.
"Staying up late is counter-productive…" Saya butts in with a pout.
"Will it matter? We will be in a safe place, I don't see the problem of sleeping in a little late." Saeko calmly responds. Saya pouts even more and glances at me, before turning back to her map.
"Why do I always end up with the short end of the stick…" She whines in a low tone.
(Hmm, what we will do after we arrive aside. The road, thankfully for us, has been rather clean. Still, I can't say that I'm too keen on sharing a room with random people. Especially if two certain girls that I know will be as provoking as they always are when asleep...)
I casually swerve over a group of corpses, climbing up the pavement before driving back on the road.
(Even more so if I end up in a different room from them. Though I don't think that they will split us up after we get there.)
I let out a sigh as I kept driving…
(Ughh, I know I should not be jealous and all that crap. But, I can't be the only one who finds Saya and Saeko attractive. And I'm not exactly the perfect guy to be around with.)
"What are you so worried about?" Saya asks as she turns to me.
"What makes you think I'm worried?" I reply as I give her a quick glance.
"I could hear that sigh from miles away." Saya answers as she looks at me with a smug expression, her eyebrows making a straight line.
"My antisocial self is annoyed that I might have to be around people…" I respond with a slight chuckle.
(I'm obviously not telling them that I'm 'worried' that they might just up and leave me after we find more people. That could probably get them to actually get pissed...)
"We can just keep to ourselves. Just because they will be there, it does not mean we must make friends with them." Saeko adds as she leans between the two front seats.
"Yea, the last thing I need is another Sho talking to me." Saya groans as she looks back at her map.
"True, so, how far are we?" I ask in order to 'change' the subject.
"The mall will be to our left soon…" Saya answers.
"I see." I responded nonchalantly.
"We can take another route if you want." Saya turns to me as she speaks.
"The only reason we might need to change routes is if there are way too many corpses on our way. Otherwise, I see no reason to do so." I shake my head slightly as I keep looking at the road.
"Then keep going straight, the next turn you need to take is to the right, but it's still after a couple of intersections." Saya nods slightly and turns back to her map…
We then continued in silence, until we reached the turn Saya mentioned. The reason why she pointed this road out was because it was relatively medium in size, not too big to get clogged by fleeing cars, not too small to get blocked off by a single car. So after taking that turn, we continued forward.
"The next turn should be to the left. A couple of intersections later again, you should be able to make out the road as there is a car shop / showroom by the turn we need to take." Saya points her finger at the road ahead as she speaks.
"Hmm, a showroom? Do they keep cars fueled up in there?" I ask as I tilt my head.
"Highly doubt it. Too many cars, and most of them should not actually get driven before being sold." Saya responds as she shakes her head.
"I see. No reason to stop then." I nod as I keep my eyes on the road.
And, a couple of flying corpses later, I spot a corner building made of glass, a bunch of expensive-looking cars parked outside.
"Uhh, turn left here? I ask as I stop the car.
"Ye…" Saya lifts her head as she answers, her sentence getting cut as she looks at the road.
"...Of course something like this would happen…" Saya groans as she looks back at the map.
"Let me find a new route." She adds as she keeps looking at the map.
To put it plainly, most of the cars that should have been parked outside of the building, were piled up on the road around the building. Some of them toppled over, others on their sides. Along with a 'car hauler' big-rig that blocked off most of the road to our left.
"What happened there?" Hitomi asks as she peeks between the two front seats.
"Either the owner tried to bail out some cars, or somebody tried to pull a grand theft auto by stealing the cars amidst the panic. No matter which of the two it was, it failed miserably". Just as I finished speaking, a corpse planted its face on my door's window.
Turning to look at it, my sight focuses behind it, at the glass-walled building itself.
(The insides are empty? Hmm)
"Got anything?" I ask as I turn to Saya.
"Ughh, give me a second, I'm thinking." Saya groans with an annoyed tone.
"Well, I got something. Buckle up." I respond as I press on the gas. Saya lifting her head in question. Then looking straight ahead through the windshield.
"You're not…"
"I am." I interrupt Saya as I press on the pedal harder, the car picking up speed as it makes a beeline towards the glass building.
"W,wait!" Saya shouts as she starts flailing about, grabbing her seatbelt as the map falls between her legs. Hitomi had also gotten back on her seat, while Saeko was peeking from behind my seat. And as I could actually hear her giggle, I suspect she was smiling with the whole situation.
And the Humvee zooms past the store's outer 'garage', climbs a small number of steps. And launches itself a few meters in the air crashing through the glass wall and landing inside the building seconds later. I steer the car to the right as it touches the ground, making it slide slightly as it kept going forward.
"Where did you learn to drive!?" Saya shouts as she hugs her bag, that used to be by her legs.
"Once again. Video games!" I respond as I drive straight through the other glass wall, ending up on the other 'side' of the building.
With the big rig and pile up now to our right. I drove straight, out of the outer garage and back to the street, taking a couple of corpses along for the ride. The moment the car was in the middle of the street, I stopped and quickly exited the Humvee.
"What are you doing?!" Saya shouts.
"Give me a sec!" I shout back as I run to the front of the car.
(Wheels look fine, no glass shards visible, nothing seems to be stuck in the front or hood either.)
I nod and turn around. Only to see that one of the corpses that we dragged along had ended up crawling right next to the door I left open. It then slowly got up, and turned to 'look' inside the car. I could see Saya through the windshield, staring at the corpse wide-eyed.
'W,where is my gun!?" She shouted as she quickly started patting herself down. The sound causing the corpse to slowly hunch over as it started to limp towards the open door.
"Crap." I whisper as I run up behind the front door, giving it a strong stomp. The door smashing into the corpse, causing it to tumble down next to the back seat door.
(Sorry, seat's taken. Hitch another ride.)
I enter back into the driver's seat, and step on the gas as I slam the door shut.
"What did you do that for!" Saya shouts at me with one hell of a frown.
"Needed to check that the front didn't have any glass shards stuck in places it shouldn't." I respond as I turn to her.
"Ughh, stupid freaking idiot. Be more careful next time." She groans as she puts her hands on her forehead, letting out a sigh as she pulls her hands back towards the top of her head.
"Saya hates me now…" I whine with a sorrowful voice as I lower my head and sway it slightly.. Saya just, blinks at me a couple of times, looking stupefied. I guess my reaction was a bit 'too new'.
"I, I never said that I hated you, you idiot. Just, be more careful." She responds in a lower tone as she folds her arms, slightly lowering her head as she turns it towards the glove box…
(Don't. Don't. D…)
I let out a slight chuckle…
(Shit.)
Saya darts her head to me with a glaring pout, puffing her cheeks as she narrows her eyes.
"Idiot!" She grabs the map and throws it at me, though it just spun in the air and landed right next to my seat. Obviously not feeling satisfied with just that. She then leans to me and starts throwing quicks slaps on my arm with both hands. To be honest, she reminded me of that video where a Kitten was 'slapping' a cactus…
"Oi, don't attack the driver. Or we'll end up walking." I respond as I lean away from her…
"Then stop being so stupid, stupid." She answers back as she folds her arms.
"No can do. You wouldn't like me as much if I was not this stupid." I answer as I turn to Saya with a smirk. She just came back with a 'HUM' as she turned back to her seat and looked out the window...
I then picked the map that was next to me and opened it with one hand. Ending with it being upside down.
"Uhh, so I keep going straight?..." I ask as I tilt my head. Saya turns to glance at me, and let out a small groan as she takes the map…
"Keep going straight. The mansion is still a bit far off, but we should end up right next to it if we follow this road." Saya responds, a pout still on her face.
"Ok. Not much left to go." I nod slightly as I focus back on the road.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone