บท 10: 10
Chapter 5 - 1, H.O.T.D
Shin: That was close.
Takashi: Yeah it was. Good thing that you warned us.
Rei: Sorry for getting you involved.
Shin: No trouble at all. We are a team after all.
Takashi, Rei, and I exited the tunnel and were breathing in some much needed fresh air away from the burning wreckage of the flipped over bus. We took a minute to rest beside a hill and that was when I remembered.
Shin: Shit!
From up the hill, a man in a biker outfit came down the hill and crashed into Takashi slamming him into the ground. Rei and I tried to get him off, but the biker was in fact one of THEM, so his physical strength far surpassed ours put together. I found a nearby brick, originally Rei's job, and smashed it down against the undead biker's helmet. The force of the hit was more then enough to cause an injury to the head despite the helmet protecting him, and so he died... Again.
It was a short scare, but that attack put us more on alert. We no longer had the safety of moving together in a large group of fighters, so we had to become more vigilant of our surroundings. Next came finding a means of transportation. It would take to long to meet up with the rest on foot, so we looked for anything that we could use to take us there.
Takashi found the bike of the undead that just attacked us, but there was no way that it was going to fit three people (The third wheel is sorry). Luckily Rei then found an abandoned pickup truck up the road with the keys still in the ignition and had a half a tank of gas left. That pickup truck became our new ride through the new city of the dead, ruled by THEM.
Takashi in the drivers seat, Rei in the passengers and myself in the back drove through the city. Driving through it all it gave off a very eerie feeling. Stores, apartments and car were abandoned far as the eye could see. Everyone who once lived here either ran away and abandoned this part of town... Or they all died and were turned into THEM and were just waiting, hidden nearby to attack us. It was by no means a pleasant drive.
Rei: Over there!
Rei shouted, and she proceed to point to was a cop car. The cop car was sticking out around the corner of a building. We drove closer to the cop car, and only to find that it was the wreckage of a cop car. A truck had driven straight into it. Our only hopes were dashed that we could receive any help (I knew the plot, but pretended otherwise), but it wasn't technically a bad thing to find this cop car. Rei approached the wrecked cop car and suggested that we scavanged what little we could, maybe find a weapon for our protection against them. From inside the car we were able to acquire real weapons.
A Japanese police issue gun.
A police baton.
Handcuffs.
And from the destroyed and no longer functional gun, additional bullets.
Takashi was given the gun and I took the police baton. The gun was the obviously more powerful weapon and I kinda wanted to have it, but since gun's were needlessly loud and so it couldn't be used regularly, so on the surface there wasn't any real point in keeping it besides making ourselves feel safer, but the truth was that Takashi, Rei and I would be in need of it very soon.
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After acquiring weapons from the destroyed cop car, we continued to drive and eventually it became dark. It was finally night time, but because we did not have any shelter to speak of it was nothing to be happy about. Truth be told, I wish it was still day time even if it meant that my two days here in this world would be extended a little.
During the day there is the light from the sun and a sense of security even in this apocalyptic world, but during the night there was none of that. Not only was it harder to see, during the night all living, who had not turned, and animals will be resting, which means that even a small sound will carry over a long distance. For example, if I fired off a single gunshot the sound during the day would only bring nearby THEM towards us, but in the middle of the night undead from miles and miles could potentially find there way to me.
We were all tired and wanted to find a place to rest for a while, yet we had a problem. We were running out of gas, so we had to stop soon. Lucky, there was a gas station right in front of us, and for whatever cosmic force that is at work out there it was the very same gas station that Takashi and Rei stopped at in the original story line.
Now that part baffled me since we were traveling in a entirely different vehicle with potential more or less gas then the bike they were going to originally take. If this wasn't a coincidence, but intervention from God then that meant that he really wanted us to stop here despite us Players changing the plot so much.
Well, that was fine with me. If I can help it, I too didn't want anymore major changes to the story. Even if the difficulty is higher then it should be, long as it still follows the same time line and events as the original H.O.T.D then I think I can manage, but if God throws me a major curveball, then I can't make any promises about playing my role.
We stopped at the gas station and began to quickly fill the truck with with gas, or that is what we wanted to do, but we didn't have any money on us so Takashi and I went inside the gas station store. As we were looking around to see if there was anything we needed first, I first went over the next major event in my head that should be happening any minute.
In the original storyline Takashi and Rei's bike was running low on gas so they stopped at a gas station to fill it up. While Takashi went inside the gas station to get cash from the register to pay for the gas, a crazed man attacks Rei from behind while she was waiting for Takashi to return. Takashi hears her scream from inside and rushes out to find Rei being restrained at knife point. The mad man who had just lost his family to THEM and then had to kill them with his own hands losing all of his morals in the process. So he now had no problem with kidnapping and killing people.
With Rei held hostage, Takeshi was forced to disarm and fill the tank of the bike so that the mad man could use it to escape the city. Then, while the mad man was distracted, Takashi shot the mad man in the shoulder with the gun he had hidden, took Rei away on the bike and left their attacker to be eaten and turned by THEM who were drawn to all the noise they were making during the confrontation.
Shin: (If all of that is about to happen then what should I do?)
The mad man must have already seen me enter the gas station with Takeshi, so I can't just sneak up from behind and hit him. My best guess as to what will happen is that either me or Takeshi will be ordered to leave, probably to go back inside the station while the other fills the tank of our pickup truck. The variable we need to worry about here is who will be asked to leave. If it is the person who isn't armed with the gun then things won't go too well. The mad man is large and looks well built enough to pose as a challenge to us if we don't have the gun, especially since he will have Rei as a hostage.
If we can't kill him in the first move then it is very possible that Rei or one of us will be killed or seriously injured. That will be bad since the fight will draw over THEM who are near by. The one who has to stay and mediate with the mad man and fill up the gas has to be the one armed with the gun. That means success or death rides on a 50% chance. The same as flipping a coin in the air and being asked if it is heads or tails. I can't predict the future with math and seeing through the human psyche like [ ], so those kinds of odds were far to low for me to bet my life on.
Takashi: Shin, there is plenty of snacks here and since we have the pickup truck we should just take everything.
Shin: Ah, I guess so. Who knows what our food situation will be like from now on in this apocalypse.
Takashi: That's a good point. Shin, take everything you can to the pickup truck. I'll open the cash register and get money for the gas.
Shin: Alright, but too bad this isn't a gas station that all you have to do is press a button behind the counter and you can get gas manually.
Takashi: You mean non self service? Those are rare these days and I always thought that those places were to dangerous to work at, so I never applied for part time jobs there.
Shin: Why is it dangerous?
Takashi: Isn't it obvious? Those kinds of gas station are more likely to have more cash in the registry than places that use credit cards. I was always afraid that some junky would come in at night with a gun to rob and shoot me.
Shin: I guess that is true and you see stuff like that on the news, but you shouldn't let the things you see on tv stop you. The media, they dramatize events like they happen all the time. Besides, even if someone does try to rob you, those kinds of places will have...
Takashi: What? Have what?
Wait, that is it! How could I forget such a simple fact. It may just be the stereotype for stores in bad neighborhoods, but it should be possible, right? This is a manga/anime world after all. To confirm my suspicion, I went around the counter as Takashi was about to smash open the cash register with his bat, and I looked under the the counter.
Shin: Bingo! There really was one under the counter!
Takashi: That's...
What I had just taken from under the counter was a gun. A handgun of some model and when I checked and took out the cartridge and it was fully loaded with bullets. These was even a box of ammunition as well under the counter.
What is this?
Bio Hazard (Close enough)?
Call of Duty?
Splinter Cell?
And what fool leaves his job as the apocalypse is going on without taking his or his owners gun? A stupid fool who has probably been turned into an undead by now, that is who.
Takashi: I never thought to look under the counter.
Shin: Well, I like to play American based games with all to realistic violence and detail (You know the one). Besides, you were having fun as you were about to smash open the cash register, right?
Takashi: Th-that... your right. Sorry.
Shin: No need to apologies. Just holding onto this handgun is makes me want to test it out on one of THEM. Too bad they are so damn loud.
Takashi: Hahahaha, I'm the same! This is all so dangerous, yet...
Takashi smashed open the cash register with a scary smile across his face, and within his eyes was a hint of madness. Even without killing his best friend, Takashi was already being changed by the apocalypse.
Takashi: Stuff like this is far too fun.
Shin: I have to agree. Let's take the money and-
Rei: Kyaaaa!!!
Takashi: Rei!!!
It looks like Takashi opening the cash register and taking the money out was the sign for the next event to occur, but there was no longer anything to worry about. Now that both Takashi and I are each armed with a gun, the worst case scenario wouldn't be a problem anymore now that we were both armed with guns.
Takashi and I both ran out of the station in response to Rei's scream, both of us ready to tackle anything that could get in our way... Or that is what I wanted to believe, but like what I most feared, even without changing the plot any more God threw us a goddamn curveball to the face. Before us now was the mad man who was in the original story, currently restraining Rei as a hostage.
Rioter 1: Took you assholes long enough to bust open the cash register. Isn't that right bro!?
Rioter 2: Your right partner!
The mad man that I was expecting from the beginning called over to a man who I had never in my wildest dreams expected to find.
An accomplice.
An accomplice with was waiting right behind Takashi and I after we exited the gas station.
An accomplice rioter who was armed with a gun pointed at our back.
Shin: ...God one, us zero. Lesson learned, don't ever go into a gas station in the middle of the night during the apocalypse.
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