"A sniper huh?..."Igano scratches his chin as he purses his lips. A small amount of grease painting his cheek.
"Yea, I'll be on helicopter support soon. So I could use a weapon that can shoot straight after a ten-meter distance." I nod as I glance around the tent, the buzz of the people working on equipment ever so loud. Equipment that honestly varied from weapons, to actual machinery.
"Huh. I thought this tent was meant for weapon maintenance." I motion with my head at what seemed to be a stripped-down engine in the corner of the room, a couple of mechanics doing, 'something' on it.
"Oh? Nahh. Mechanics in overall use this tent. As most hardware tools are placed here." Igano shrugs as he also looks at the engine.
"But, back to your question." He adds as he turns to me.
"We don't have any snipers you could use. Not military-grade ones at least. We do have a couple of X-bolts's. But uhhh. I think it would be better if I just give you a barrel extension for your Scar-H." Igano folds his arms as he tilts his head.
"And a better scope." I add as I nod.
"Sure thing. Give me the gun for a bit, I'll hook the parts on for you. Oh and the mags, or you refilled em yourself?" Igano extends his arm towards me as he motions towards an empty table a few meters behind him.
"Just don't break it." I jokingly respond as I hand him my Scar-H and mags. Igano just chuckles.
"Well, I won't be keeping you. Seems you got people in, high places waiting for you." He adds as he leans to the side to glance behind me...
I tilt my head before also turning to look behind me, only to find a certain pikette waiting next to the tent's exit, arms folded and looking towards me.
(Hmm? Saya?)
I arch an eyebrow as I turn around to walk towards her. Saya quickly turning to look away when she realized I was coming.
And the moment I got close.
"Are the others set?" I ask as I stop in front of her.
"Yea." Saya nods.
"So, here..." She adds as she hands me a military-grade radio. Υou know, the ones with the very long, flexible antenna.
"Huh, we went from earbuds to flipper-sized Nokias." I chuckle as I put τhe radio in my vest's chest pocket, half of it still sticking out. Then I bend the antenna and shove its top into the same pocket.
"You'll be going too far for the earbuds to reach you. I've already set the frequency, so don't go pressing any buttons like an idiot. Also, these radios are not push to talk. They're constantly open. So don't go off saying any stupid stuff either..." Saya retorts as she folds her arms.
(I would make a joke now. But, she does seem worried. I mean, she did have actual nightmares about this stuff. So, let's not be 'too' insensitive now.)
"Don't worry, I'll be back before you know it." I respond as I pet her head. Saya mumbled something as she glanced away, but did not try to stop me.
"Hope I'm not interrupting anything." And a male voice speaks up from behind me, Saya quickly leaning away from my hand the moment she heard the voice...
Turning to look over my head, I find Igano with my gun.
"Your girl's ready to go." He chuckles as he shows me the Scar-H. A new, longer barrel attached to the front, along with a longer, bigger, actual sniper scope.
Now, I don't know if it was because of how Igano called it, but Saya turned to stare at the gun with a slight frown as I took it and passed its sling over my shoulder.
(...Don't tell me she'll start acting jealous because Igano called my Scar a 'she'...)
"If you are ready, we should get going. You need to be by the landing pad before the helicopter arrives." Saya calmly speaks up as she turns to leave the tent.
"To think I'd live to see the day where the boss's daughter would let somebody pat her head. Hell must have frozen over..." Igano whispers as he turns to stare towards Saya, then gives me the mags.
"No frozen hells needed, just the end of the world." I respond as I chuckle, turning to leave right after.
And so, I exited the tent to find Saya waiting for me a few meters down. After she saw me, she nodded and turned to walk again, her destination, the airport.
I then quickened my pace to catch up to her.
"Do you think Rei's dad is still alive?" And the moment I got next to her, She spoke up.
"No idea. But, he was a cop right?" I ask.
"Detective." Saya corrects me.
"So he should have some training at defending himself, and as a detective, he should also be able to think under pressure. On the other hand, he was gone for some time now, and all it takes is a bite..." I continue.
"Just, be careful ok?" Saya responds as she glances at me.
"Don't worry, I got every intention to return." I say lean slightly towards her.
"And continue from where we left off~" I whisper as I poke at her side.
"N, not here you idiot!" Saya quickly wiggles away from me as she throws a few quick slaps at my hand, then lifts her head to look at me with puffed cheeks. I just chuckle as I put my hands in my jacket's pocket.
"Stupid, now everybody is looking at us..." She mumbled as she kept walking with her arms folded.
"They're probably jealous." I shrug as I keep walking.
"Hum, at least you understand how lucky you are..." She adds with a huff.
(On that, I can't disagree...)
And so, we passed the bridge and went into the airport. Then, we went towards the left. Towards what I think were helipads, judging from how there were several docked helicopters scattered about. And in the distance. A group of people.
(Hmm, I see a set of purple hair. Saeko and Rika are already over there. And a chubby guy with a short girl next to him, Khota and Asami? No wait, there is another stocky dude there, but he is dressed in military gear. And Takashi, and a guy with a sniper in military gear, and one guy with a medic armband also in military gear. And, one guy that looks like a casual grunt, in military gear...)
And as we closed in...
"Oh come on Saeko~ At least give me a chance, I swear you won't regret it~" The stocky dude was speaking with Saeko.
(...Really now?...)
"It is 'Busujima' for you." Saeko calmly responds with her arms folded.
"And, you just got burned." I speak up as we close in, the group turning to look at me.
"Hmm? Oh, Naier's here, we're all here?" Takashi asks right after.
"Yea, I think so." Rika responds.
"Naier? So that's the masked guy's name?" The stocky guy asks as he turns to glance at me with an arched eyebrow.
"Yes." Saeko responds calmly.
"Hmmm? Oh! So you must have been the cute voice he was talking with then!" The stocky dude exclaims as he points at Saeko.
(Wait, cute voice? Talking? When did. Ohhhhh. Wait, don't tell me this guy is the machine gun dude from the last time I was on a helicopter run with Rika. Was, he always that short?)
"Saeko was not the one using the radios, I was." Saya, who was a few steps behinds me walks up next to me and speaks up.
And...
-Whistle-
"Hot damn~" The stocky dude whistles as he eyes Saya from top to bottom.
(...Oh great, he's that type of guy...)
"Ugh, creep..." Saya just groaned as she rolled her eyes with a dissatisfied look, slightly moving to 'hide' behind me as she tugged my sleeve.
"Oi now, that's just mean..." The stocky dude laughs.
(Not really in the mood to deal with this...)
"Well commando, glad you could join us." Rika waves at me with a friendly tone as she smiles.
"I'm not late am I?" I ask.
"No, the helicopter is not here yet." Takashi responds.
I then turn to glance at Kohta and Asami.
Asami just waved at me, while Kohta was, avoiding to look at me?
(Huh? What's up with Khota?)
"Hey Khota." I speak up as I fold my arms.
"H, hey..." Khota glanced at me before looking away again.
"...Uhh, did I miss something here?" I ask as I tilt my head.
"He thinks you are mad at him." Saeko responds casually, causing Khota to snap his face towards her, wide-eyed.
"...Uhh. Whut?" I frown as I tilt my head even more.
"W, well you know, from yesterday..." Khota mumbled.
(...He means when I went ballistic at Rei? Oh come on, he can't be that meek to think I was actually going off at the whole group. Right?...)
"I'm not mad at anybody, Rei included. Shit happened, now it's over." I respond.
"Uhh, well..." Khota, just kept mumbling.
"But hey, if you don't want to come over to my room once electricity is back for some video games then I ain't gonna force you." I add as I shrug. The words, video games instantly making Khota lock his face at me.
"V, video games?" He asked as he kept staring at me, his voice slightly cracking at the end.
"...And nerd number one baited nerd number two successfully..." Saya groans as she rolls her eyes.
"That makes you nerd number three then?" I ask as I turn to glance at her from over my shoulder, causing her to slightly push me as she puffed her cheeks with a slight blush.
"Can I be nerd number four then?" Saeko speaks up right after as she smiles while tilting her head. Causing almost half of the group to turn towards her.
"I don't want to feel left out." She chuckles as she puts her hand over her lips, then walks up next to me.
"Oh, oh! Make me number five then!" The stocky dude raises his hand right after, starting to also walk towards me.
"Sorry, max party number is four." I replied flatly, the stocky dude letting out a disheartened 'awwwwhh'
"Hmm? Oh, I think our ride is here." Rika then speaks up as she kept looking towards the sky in the distance. A helicopter seemingly making a beeline towards us.
"Well then. I should get going in that case. Try not to lose your radio this time." Saya throws me a quick smirk as she turns to leave.
"I guess I should go as well." Saeko adds right after, and right as she finishes, she leans towards me and touches her forehead on the side of my forehead, sliding her fingers under my balaclava and to my neck.
"I'll wait for you to return." She whispers before she also turns to leave. Leaving, well. Everybody to stare at me.
"...I want to buy your life." The stocky dude blurted out with a serious expression.
"Best I can sell you is uncracked pistachios." I respond as I fold my arms.
"Man, that's cold. Sharing is caring." The stocky dude chuckles.
"That type of sharing, makes want to rip somebody's nervous system and knit them a sweater with it." I answer as I narrow my eyes.
"Ohh, ughh. That just made my elbow nerves hurt..." The stocky guy responds as he grimaces, massaging both his elbows with his hands.
(Hurt? Gooood. Oh wait, we're not in Murika...)
"By the way Naier..." And my radio goes live.
"Ohh! The cute voice is here!" The stocky dude chuckles.
(...He bounced back fast...)
"I'm going to take my laptop to my room." Saya responds.
"Uhhh, why?" I ask back.
"Because if electricity returns, you'll fill it with stupid games." Saya answers flatly.
(Oh you know me so well.)
"You just want it to play sims in private don't you." I chuckle as I look at the helicopter that Rika pointed at some time ago, now clearly heading towards us.
"N, no I don't! I need it for important stuff!" Saya yells through the radio.
"Like playing sims in private." I answer with a slight shrug. Saya just lets out an audible groan.
"Or you're using that as an excuse to make me break into your room at night?" I ask again with a slight smirk.
"W, what are you saying you ultimate buffoon!" Saya yelps back.
(..Ultimate buffoon? What's next? Mega Retardmon? Heh. You know it's rather funny how her insults just keep flying over my head...)
I hold myself back from chuckling. For about two seconds. Before finally, I let out a dry laugh.
"You two sure get along." Rika, who was standing next to me leans slightly towards the radio.
"Better than the first time we met." I answer with a shrug.
And, after a few minutes of silence, the Blackhawk helicopter finally landed in front of our group.
"Alright people, let's move!" The sniper guy started walking first towards the helicopter as he shouted.
"I'm calling gibs on the machinegun!" The stocky dude shouts as he quickly moved to follow after the sniper.
(And that seals the deal, this guy is the machinegun dude...)
One by one, we all got on the helicopter, with me sitting by the left door on the first row of four seats, Rika sitting next to me the medic after her, followed by the stocky/aka machinegun dude, Takashi ahead of me, next to Khota and Asami, followed by the sniper. With the generic dude sitting on one of the two remaining seats that were back to back with the seats that Takashi and the others took. In front of the generic dude, several boxes filled with ammo, and then, the cockpit
(Well, here we go again.)
I turn to glance outside as I leaned on my seat.
"Alright people, we'll be heading towards the cinema first as they asked for support, then, that grain silo." The pilot speaks up, and the helicopter starts to take off.
We all stayed relatively quiet for some time, Untill...
"Hey, comando. Want to have another match~?" Rika asks as she puts her hand on my shoulder and leans on me to look outside as well.
"You two seem close. You knew each other before the outbreak?" Takashi tilts his head as he looks at me and Rika.
"Hmm? Nope, we actually just met a couple of days ago." Rika answers casually.
"Speaking of it, that's Takashi, the group leader of the group I was with, next to him is Kohta, and after him is Asami." I motion towards them with my head as I start speaking.
"And on a side note, Khota is actually a dead shot, he's much better than me." I add, Rika instantly raising an eyebrow.
"Ohh? Really." She asks as she then leans towards Khota, causing the cleavage of her open suit to become even more visible towards the chubby guy, whose eyes, started to trail...
"Uhh, aahh, n, no. I mean yes, I mean. I'm, Ok..." Khota mumbles, Asami glancing at Kohta, then at Rika, then at where Khota was staring. Then, she looks at her own chest. And lets out a dejected sigh...
"Khota, you are making your girlfriend depressed." I speak up as I fold my arms. Khota darts his head to me and blinks a couple of times, before snapping out of whatever fantasy he was in.
"Ahh! Oh! S, sorry!" He quickly turns towards Asami as he apologizes.
"...If only Asami was bigger. Life is not fair..." She mumbles.
"Hmm speaking of girlfriend. I'm actually impressed to see that certain two girls are actually having a civil conversation between them. You must be, really good at what you do." Rika smirks as she turns to me, causing Takashi to turn and stare at me even harder than before. Practically, I think he could see the wall behind me with how hard he was drilling holes in me.
"I got no idea what you're talking about." I shrug. Rika just chuckles again.
"Hmm, so Khota right? If you don't mind me calling you that." Rika then turns towards Khota, who quickly shakes his head.
"If commando says that you're a better shot than him, then I 'have' to try you out~" She adds as she leans towards him again.
"T, try me out?..." Khota asks with a squeaky voice, his eyes trailing down again...
"Rika please don't be so suggestive to our resident gun nut. He's still too pure." I chuckle as I keep looking out the open door.
"Hmm? So you're telling me you're not pure?" Rika smirks as she glances at me.
"Does this look pure to you?" I ask as I turn to her and point at my face, or well, mask.
"No idea, maybe under that mask you have an innocent, pinchable baby face." Rika laughs back.
"You should know that innocent-looking faces are far worse than faces that scream 'be aware I'm up to no good'. If they have twisted intentions I mean." I respond as I let out a dry laugh through my nose. All the while, Takashi was staring at me and Rika with his mouth zipped tight...
"I don't mean to cut your little merry party, but we are closing into the cinema, and I'm seeing a lot of movement. Get your guns ready people!" The pilot shouts. Distant gunshots becoming louder by the second.
(Huh, well that was fast, coming by boat took almost three times the time...)
And soon after, we flew over the cinema, constant gunfire echoing from below, the road in front of the cinema block off by several rows of barricades on both sides, with enough space between to fit a couple of trucks. Corpses pushing up again both sides. With the side that was to our front, which led further away from the airport, having visibly a lot more corpses, both next to the barricade, and incoming towards that said barricade.
"This is Hawk six. Did somebody asks for air support?" The pilot speaks through his radio with a slight smirk on his face.
"Oh am I glad to see you guys!" The heli radio responds.
"Tell us where you need us." The pilot retorts.
"Our left! Too many for us to handle! If all these fuckers reach the barricade they'll get past it in no time! No way I'm losing this place when two damn kids managed to take it over by themselves." The radio responds.
(Huh, looks like I'm famous. Heh...)
"Roger that." The pilot nods and starts moving the Blackhawk again. The sniper dude and the machinegun dude readying their guns and quickly opening fire the moment the corpses came into view.
"Hmm, by the way, Khota." Rika glances at the chubby guy again.
"This Ar-10. Is mine, right?" She asks she leans towards the gun.
"Uhh well..." Kohta fidgets about as he looks away.
"I mean, it has the same modification. And mine, should also have a nudge. Right, Here..." She points at a small cut on the outside of the changing handle as she leans even more towards the chubby guy.
"Ahh, well, you know. It's, because..." Khota just kept glancing around, his voice losing volume to the point that he probably just kept speaking in his head.
"Hmm, tell you what. Impress me now, and I'll let you keep it." She smiles as she leans back. Khota's eyes instantly flaring up.
"Really?!" He shouts excitedly as he darts his head towards the dark-skinned sniper.
"Don't get too excited though. I'm really hard to please~." Rika chuckle as folds her arms. Khota, didn't seem to even realize the innuendo this time though, as he was almost drolling over what might soon become his gun for real.
"Takashi!" He then darts his head towards the shotgun tooting hero.
"I need your seat!" Khota exclaims as he points at Takashi's seat.
"Uhh, Ok..." Takashi nods slightly and starts to get up.
"Hold on to something, lest you go skydiving into a horde without a parachute." I speak up as I point outside.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
"Yea, you're right. Thanks." Takashi stops moving, only to grab the top of his seat as he got up, Kohta quickly passing under Tkashi's arm.
(Why are you thanking me? Common knowledge is common. Uhh, great. Now I'm being a dick in my head for no reason ..)
" Alright. Let's see..." Khota then looks outside as his face turns serious.
"Well, this might be interesting." Rika puts her arm on my shoulder and leans on me as she keeps staring at Khota.
"All I need to do is keep them away from the barricades. So first I need to draw them away, then I can pick them off." Khota whispers as he looks through his scope.
"Maybe shoot a car gas tank? Hmm, still might not actually blow it up though..." And Khota keeps mumbling.
"Do we have any more ammo types here?" Khota asks as he looks away from the scope.
"Here." The generic dude from the other side slides a metal box, under Khota's seat.
"Sweet! Thanks!" He exclaims as he takes one mag from his vest.
"Takashi! Please change the ammo in this to incendiary!" Khota shoves the mag on a confused Takashi.
"Uhh, which..."
"The ones with the Blue tip!" Khota cuts him off...
(I'm starting to wonder who's the boss between the two right now...)
All the while, on the other side of the heli...
"Ahahahaha! Eat led motherfuuu,uuuooww, biut my liup..." The stocky dude shouts. The sniper just glanced at the guy and shook his head, then turned back to shooting.
"Rikkaaa, I did a boubou, can you kiss it away?" He adds as he turns to stare at Rika with a dramatically sad expression.
"You want me to change your diaper too?" Rika chuckles, causing a couple of people, along with the stocky guy, to start laughing.
"Ohhh kink..."
-KA-BOOM-
And a loud explosion shuts the stocky guy up.
"Ha! I knew I could do it!" Khota shouts as he lifts his head from the scope, staring at an SUV that was up in flames relatively near to us.
"Ohh? How did you manage that?" Rika asks as she turns to look at the burning car, the nearby corpses slowly surrounding it.
"I shot the tank a couple of times, then switched to indecency and shot the pool of fuel that was created underneath it." Kohta responds as he switches magazines. Then looks through his scope again.
(Well looks likes I won't be doing anything this time around. Hmmm, and now I'm bored. Being bored makes me do stupid stuff. So, let's do something stupid.)
"Hey Saya." I turn towards my radio.
"Hmm?" The radio responds.
"I'm bored. Tell me a joke." I answer with a lazy voice.
"...What..." Was all I got for a response.
"I, am bored. I want you, to tell me a joke." I say once again.
"Ugh. What are you saying you idiot. Stay focused, you..." Saya loudly grumbles back.
"Joke. Or no cuddles for you." I answer with a serious tone. Causing Saya to start choking. And Takashi to glance at me with a weird expression, before he turned to focus back on loading bullets in the mags Khota kept shoving at his face. The rest, were too busy shooting stuff. Otherwise, I bet that mister stocky on the other side would have something to say. Well, ok Rika was staring at me with a smirk, but I guess I should be thankful she didn't actually speak...
And after a few seconds of loud coughing...
"W, what are you saying you dolt?!" She shouts.
"I'm haggling for jokes?" I answer again with a flat tone as I look out the open door. Khota by now being completely in the zone and almost rapid-firing his Ar-10.
"Then haggle using something else you idiot! W, what if somebody hears you..." Saya responds this time with a calmer, almost whiny tone.
"...So what you want to tell me is. That you feel the need to hide me from other people? My hart..." I answered with a dramatic sigh.
"I, didn't say that. I just don't want others to stick their noses in my private life..." Saya answers with a calm tone.
(Ohh? An actual answer that makes sense instead of yelling and calling me names? Saya, I is impressed.)
"Hmm, point. Which means I'm probably not getting my joke..." I sigh.
"Humf. That's not my problem." Saya huffs with a pleased tone.
(She really likes coming on top huh? Uhhh, that came out wrong...)
And so, I kept looking outside, Kohta essentially taking care of the whole left side of the heli by himself, while Takashi was acting like his reload boy.
-Sometime later-
"You were not kidding commando. The kid is pretty good..." Rika, who was leaning over my shoulder chimes.
"So you gonna ask for him from now on and leave me to rot in piece?" I ask back.
"Ehh, he has yet to blow up an airport. Though I must admit his reactions are more entertaining than yours." She chuckles as leans back on her seat. Khota paying absolutely no attention to us...
"Damn guys. If I knew you'd be this efficient I'd have called you earlier. You saved our guns." The pilot's radio speaks up.
(Huh? Saved your guns ehh? Guess them Tyranoids are really hard to hit...)
With that, I lean back on my seat and casually stare outside, towards the sprawling city.
(Makes me wonder how the other cities are handling this. Considering the army here seems to be handling this place 'ok'. Yet again, in a place like say America, where even the squirrels are packing, things could spiral out of control, very fast. Just think about it, a Shido, with guns. Ughhh. Yet on the flip side, a corrupt individual in power here could cause much more damage...)
"Enjoy it while you can. We have a long-distance ahead of us. We can't keep this bird stationary in the air for too long with how much fuel it burns." The pilot responds...
-Some more time later-
(...I'm, bored...)
"...My fingers hurt..." Takashi whispers as he keeps reloading the empty magazines Khota was pretty much tossing towards him by now.
"Ahahahah! Who's your daddy biatch!" And the stocky dude on the other side was also, in his own world, the sniper silently taking pot shots next to him.
The medic was also as silently looking outside, while Rika was...
"I'm booored..." Whining as she kept leaning on me in order to look outside.
(...You don't say...)
"Hey, think of something fun to do." She adds with a lazy expression as she shakes my shoulder.
"If I had something fun to do I would not be as bored as you." I respond as I kept looking outside...
(Hmm, the roads are littered with burnt corpses, also wrecked cars. Khota really went ham...)
"Hey pilot. How much more genocide till we move on?" I ask as I turn to look towards the cockpit.
"I'd say a couple of minutes. But since you asked..." The pilot picks the radio next to him.
"This is hawk six. We'll move on now. Hope that was enough for you." He adds.
"Roger that Hawk six. We'll take it from here, next beer is on us. Alright you ballerinas! Back to positions! Break time is over!" The radio responds. And the helicopter, start to finally move.
(Damn, that guy is as loud as fucking ever. But hey, a guy who shares his drink can't be 'that' bad right?...)
"Uhh? Ahh? We, are moving?" Khota, who was silent up until now finally takes his eyes off the scope.
"Yes, time's up." I respond.
"Ohh. Uhh so, umm..." He turns to glance at Rika, then away from her.
"How did I do?" He asks.
"You got me bored." Rika answers flatly with a serious expression. Khota lowered his head in defeat.
"You could have at least made 'some' mistakes to keep things interesting." She chuckle right after, causing Khota to sigh in confusion as he lifted his head to look at the purple-haired sniper.
"Well, just don't come to me if they ask you for the gun's paperwork. Or if it's legal for you to have it. Though considering our circumstances I don't think you'll have to worry about either. Just take care of it ok? It was a real pain in the ass to ship in Japan. Also, it was my first gun." She adds with a slight shrug. Khota's eyes instantly widened as Rika stopped speaking.
"Y, yes!" He responds with an excited nod, hugging the rifle.
"Good for you bud, just, turn the safety on please." I add as I glance at him, Khota letting out a low-toned 'ah' as he turned the gun's safety on.
And after a few minutes of silence, and the occasional giggle coming from Khota as he kept poking his Ar-10...
"So, where are we going to now?" The medic asks.
"Central landmass, about halfway past its middle point." The pilot answers.
"That far? Can't they just send some people from a nearby outpost then? Why send a heli from the other side of town?..." The generic dude groans.
(You didn't know how far it was? Though that was what debriefing was for, or did you sleep through it?)
"We're the only ones with any actual air support to spare." The pilot responds flatly.
"And the nearest outpost to that location is still too far away to go by land." He adds.
"Speaking of it. How will we move about?" The sniper asks.
"What do you mean?" Takashi responds.
"We have two different objectives from what I've been told. Search and rescue, and checking the grain silos." The sniper answers.
"Well, checking the silos should not be too hard. These things should have a hatch at the top right? I can just drop one of you on it." The pilot adds right after.
"Let's just hope they ain't locked then." I shrug.
"Ehh, just let me go then. No measly lock can stop these babies~" The stocky dude chuckles as he flexes his arms. His suit swelling from the mass underneath.
"What, you'll punch the lock open?" Rika laughs.
"Ah? Baby, you don't know how many locked doors these bad boys have opened." The stocky dude responds as he turns towards Rika, waggling his eyebrows with a smirk.
"Damn dude, you sound like a total fukcboi right now..." I sigh as I glance at him.
"You know you're just jealous of them biceps." The stocky dude laughs as his smirks turns towards me.
"Not really..." I shrug as I look outside. The landscape slowly moving in front of me.
"Totaly a response of a guy who's jealous." The stocky dude laughs back once again.
(...I could really rub it in his face that I'm the one with two sexy girlfriends. But that statement will be used against me in so many ways, so that I'd rather not...)
-Yet again sometime later-
We hand long since passed into the central landmass, the helicopter quickly flying towards its new destination.
(...You know. I really wonder how many times would we have gotten close to getting chomped on if we had to do this distance by foot. Heh, flyers, are indeed crutch mounts. Not that I'm complaining mind you.)
We had passed a residential district and a business district so far. We had also gone over the elementary school that Rei's father was supposed to be stationed at. All that happened quite some time ago. In other words.
"Time to wake up people. I see the facility." The pilot speaks up.
"Ohh? Finally~ I was about to fall asleep." Rika lets out a yawn as she streches.
"Hmm, the place seems pretty big. I see at least two rows of silo tubes. Sets of threes" The pilot continues.
"No, wait. I see six more behind the main building." He adds.
"Twelve total? Damn, if these things are full, then the new menu will become boring as fuck." The generic dude whistles.
"I'd rather have boring food than no food." The stocky dude adds right after.
"A rare moment that I actually agree with you." The sniper chuckles as he turns to look at the stocky dude.
"So? How do we do this?" The medic asks as the helicopter flew over the main building.
And as the pilot said, a 'sixpack' of grain silos towering from both sides of an already tall building. Machinery and shiny pipes sticking out of said building and leading towards the tube sets.
(Hmm...)
I lift my scar and use the scope to take a better look around the building.
Sadly, with electricity out, the insides of the building, if viewed from the windows, looked pitch black. But considering that corpses had already spread on the roof and the surrounding scaffoldings. It's safe to say the insides were 'not' safe...
"I see a lot of scaffolding to move around. But let's not bite off too much. I can leave one person on each set of silos. They can check them while we do another run of the building, get a closer look for any signs of survivors." The pilot glances at us before turning to look back out.
"Alright. I'm a man of my word. So I'm taking one set. Ima bust them locks." The stocky dude nods.
"I'll take the second one then." The generic dude adds.
"You guys don't have to, this is something we have to do." Takashi speaks up right after.
"Ehh, where here now so fuck it. I'm bored of sitting on my ass anyway." The stocky dude chuckles.
"Alright then. I'm going to close in to drop one of you on the nearby silo set." The pilot nods.
And just as the pilot started to turn the heli.
(Huh?)
"Wait!" I shout as I raise my hand.
"What's up commando? Saw something?" Rika asks as she leans to look outside as well.
"Other side of the main building, next to the distant silo set. Small building, about one room size. A small bridge linking it with the main building." I point with my free hand as I speak, before grabbing my scar with both hands again.
"Hmm?" Rika tilts her head and looks through her scope. Khota following right after.
"Yea, I see it. the one that has diagonal supports attached to the silos right? With that giant balcony surrounding it. " Rika nods as she speaks.
"Yes. Look at the grouped-up corpses lying in front of the door. Not the ones strolling about around on the balcony, just the 'dead' ones. " I add as I also nod.
"Uhh, what about them." She asks as she tilts her head.
"They are not dressed like factory workers." Khota speaks up.
"Exactly. And they have rather big bags on them. So unless people liked to go camping on silo factories before the outbreak..." I add as I stop looking through the scope.
"People from the group that came with Rei's dad!?" Takashi exclaims.
"Or random scavengers. The thing is, they're all next to that door. So 'something' inside that door drew them there. And something, dropped em." I add as I glance towards the distant structure.
"So somebody might be alive in there!" Asami loudly speaks up. I just nod.
"Alright then, I'll leave one of you here, we'll then go straight to that spot, then the final silo." The pilot adds as he glanced at us, before turning to fly the heli towards the nearby silo pack.
"I would go first. But I'll go on the second, just in case you people need saving in between." The stocky dude makes a thumbs up towards us.
"Saya, we just reached the silo factory, storage, or whatever the crap it is." I speak up.
"Ok..." Saya respond with the most lazy-ass tone I could possibly imagine.
(Damn she sounds like she's about to fall asleep on the mic, no wonder she's been silent...)
And so, the moment the Blackhawk stopped a little over the first silo pack, the generic dude disembarked, or more like jumped off. After that, the pilot quickly moved the helicopter towards the other side of the building, since the longer it stayed over that silo pack, the more corpses it would draw towards that unlucky sob that was on it.
"I don't see any place to land. The balcony is too small for the bird."The pilot speaks up as we close into the small building.
"The railing on the far left. It's broken, can you just get the helicopter on the same height as the floor? We can get off normally then." Takashi speaks up as he keeps looking out the heli.
"Hmm, alright, should be manageable." The pilot nods, and as so, he flew the helicopter to the side of the balcony, and then slowly started to descend.
"By the w..."
"Surprise bitches!" And before the pilot could speak. The stocky dude shouted, and opened fire, mowing down the corpses that were on the balcony with his machine gun.
"Never mind..." The pilot sighs.
"Well you three, I think this is your part." I speak up as I look at Khota, Asami, and Takashi.
"Yea." Takashi nods as he gets up. And as he turns to leave.
"Hey. Did you get a radio? Don't think shouting us information from down there will work" I ask.
"Uhh..." Takashi just glanced around.
(Unprepared as fuck you are...)
"Here." Rika then tosses him a radio.
"It's tuned to the heli's frequency." She adds.
"I see. Thanks." Takashi nods slightly and exits the heli, Khota and Asami following behind right after. The helicopter gaining altitude the moment all three were off.
"Alright then, the next silo is right next to us so." The pilot mumbles to himself as he flies right on top of the next silo pack.
"And my time is here." The stocky dude gets up as he leaves the mounted machinegun, pulling his rifle from his back.
"Nobody touch my gun now ya hear." He adds as he turns to look at us.
"Except if you're a sexy broad. Then I'll let it slide. Now~ CAWABANGA!" He cackles as he jumps off the Blackhawk.
"Hey, we just searched the ones by the door. They indeed seem to be scavengers. Although..." And the radio in the heli speaks up.
"Although?" The pilot asks.
"They don't seem to have any resources on them. Food, water, ammo, guns. Nothing." The radio answers.
"Looted?" The pilot asks once again.
"Think so. Their bags are open. We will try to go inside the building now." Takashi responds through the radio.
"Very well. We will keep guard at the bridge in that case." The pilot nods and turns the helicopter to hover over the bridge that connected the small building with the rest of the structure.
"Uhh, the door seems locked." Takashi adds right after.
"You have a shotgun, use it." The pilot shrugs.
"Uhh, tell him to let Khota do it. I think he might be more well-versed in that stuff." I add. The pilot nods, and adds as such.
The last thing I saw as the helicopter turned, was Takashi handing the shotgun to Khota...
And soon after.
-BANG-
A single gunshot echoed.
"That gunshot will start drawing everything here. Guess it's time to actually do something." Rika readies her rifle as she glances at me.
"Say, how about that challenge now~" She adds as she smirks at me.
"Ehh, were you not half aslee..."
-BANG-
And second gunshot cut my sentence in half. The echo coming from the building Takashi and co probably entered...
(Huh? A second gunshot? That, can't be...)
"A, AAAAAHHHH! NO! NO NO NO!" Followed by an equally, loud scream. And the fact I could hear it from the helicopter, made it all clearer how loud it was...
(Good...)
"Lower the heli!" I shout as I get up, the pilot just nodded and did as I asked.
"Naier? What's going on? Is something wrong?" Saya asks through the radio.
Without really waiting, or responding to Saya. I jumped down, landing on my hands and feet a few meters away from the now open door. I quickly shake my head and start running towards the door, readying my Scar.
And the moment I entered the room...
-Clack. Clack. Clack. clack...-
The constant sound of a gun hammer clicking. Coming from the deep end of the room. Where a man with glasses, in his early fifties and an armband that had the word 'police' on it was sitting on the ground, with his back against the wall. Aiming a revolver towards us, and pulling the trigger again, and again, and again, his face frozen in shock...
Takashi was also frozen on the side of the room, staring at the man, while Asami was...
"Khota! Khota!" Kneeled down next to Khota, who was sprawled down on the floor, blood pouring from a bullet hole on the upper right side of his chest...
(The fucking, hell?..)
I quickly turn around and run out of the room.
"Medic! We got injured! Gunshot wound on the chest!" I scream as I wave my arm.
Rika's eyes go wide as she turns to look inside the helicopter, shaking the guy with the medic armband who was a bit too focused on falling asleep. The moment he turned to look at her, she said something, which then caused the medic to quickly turn towards me, before as quickly getting up, grabbing a first aid kit from the Blackhawk's wall and jumping out of the helicopter.
The moment he hit the ground he run up to me, then past me, straight into the room, me following behind him right after. He then quickly ran up to Khota, almost sliding to a stop next to him.
Without speaking he undoes Khota's vest and grabs the neck of his shirt, pulling it to look at the bullet wound.
"Fuuu, too high to hit lung.." He sighs as he visibly relaxes, then opens his first aid kit.
"You girl! Keep pressure on the bullet hole!" He shouts as he passes his hand under Khota's shoulder, causing him to wince in pain.
"No exit wound, the bullet is still inside. Can't remove it here with all the infected coming, I'll have to do it on the helicopter. And can somebody stop that damn clicking!" The medic shouts as he points at the policeman at the far end of the room, who was still dry-firing his revolver.
I glance at Takashi, who was still frozen.
"Takashi." I walk up him, no response, his finger still on the trigger of the Ithaca m37...
I glance at the shotgun, before with a quick motion, I put one hand on the butt of the gun and with the other, I pull back the forestock, ejecting the bullet that was in the chamber, then leave the forestock pulled back as I bring one hand to Takashi's shoulder.
"Wake up!" I shake him as I shout. Takashi shakes his head and turns to look at me like a fish.
"Is that Rei's dad?" I ask. No response.
"Takashi pull your shit together! Khota is fine! Is that Rei's dad?!" I ask again, louder this time.
"Y, yes, yes!" Takashi loudly responds as he snaps back to reality.
"Then speak to him. He knows you. Take his gun away and make sure he has no other way to hurt us or himself." I respond as I point at the man who was still pulling the trigger of his empty revolver.
"N, Naier?..." And a meek voice speaks up from my radio. I glance at it and take a deep breath, before letting out a sigh.
"Yes Saya?" I ask.
"Is, everything alright? You, you just said that somebody got shot. Are, are you alright?..." Saya asks right after.
"Yea. Khota got a bullet to his chest..."
"Shoulder." The medic corrects me.
"Shoulder. We found Rei's dad, he's in shock, I think..." I continue.
"Are, you ok?" She asks again.
(No fucks given for your canon love interest? Damn Saya that's cold.)
"Yea, I'm fine. So is Khota." I answer, Saya, didn't respond...
"Hey, Naier right? Help me get the guy up. The others seem to still be trying to stick their fingers out of their asses. And the kid is way out of it to walk by himself." The medic motions me towards him a couple of times, Khota now having a bandage plastered on his wound. I nod and walk up next to Asami. Who was still crying her eyes out.
"We lift him up on three, the pain will probably help him snap out of it so he can get up and walk." He adds as he slides his hand under Khotas injured shoulder.
"Get the heli to the side where the team disembarked, we're coming in." The medic adds as he speaks to his chest radio. As I tap Asamis's shoulder, who silently turned to look at me, her eyes red from the crying. She then nodded slightly as she looked away, sliding herself back before hugging her knees...
"You might wanna hurry then, I don't think we ca, Shit! One got past us! Keep your eyes up! One of them dead fucks is coming towa, never mind, he just walked off the ledge..." The radio responds. The medic just hakes his head as he jerks his shoulders.
"Ok, One, two, three!" And, we pulled Kohta to a sitting position. Who, ended up screaming in pain as his eyes darted open, Asami quickly putting her hands over her ears as she tightly shuted her eyes.
"Kid! Kid can you hear me!" The medic then shouts.
"UUUUghhh! It hurts! It hurts! I don't want to die!" Where the first things Kohta shouted.
"You won't be dying. But we need to get out, come on! On your feet!" He loudly responds as he gets up and walks to my side, then starts helping Khota up by the armpit.
While the medic was dealing with Khota, I turn to glance at Takashi, who was kneeling next to Rei's dad, his revolver now in Takashi's hand, staring at Kohta with his eyes wide open.
"Everything alright here?" I ask as I walk up to Takashi, who, just shook his head.
"He won't answer back, he just glanced at me before turning to stare ahead." Takashi responds.
I fold my arms as I glance at the carton box next to Rei's dad, half of it full of grains, along with several water bottles that also had grain inside. The ones inside the water bottle having sprouted.
(He sprouted the grains to eat them? Smart. But, how long was he stuck here with the corpses banging at his door?)
"We need to get him on the heli. And I think we better tie him up." I sigh as I keep looking at him.
"Don't you think that's a bit extensive?" Takashi asks.
"And what if he flips out mid-flight and jumps off the Blackhawk? Are 'you' going to tell Rei that?" I ask. Takashi just looked at me, and after blinking a few times.
"Y, yea, yea you're right. For his own safety. But uhh, he got no handcuffs on him." He sighs as he turns to look at the man. I nod slightly and turn around to see that Kohta and the medic were already gone, Asami still blocking her senses from the world around her.
(...Asami really broke down huh. Not that I blame her, I don't even know how I'd react if it was Saeko or Saya in Khota's place...)
"Hey! Come on! We can't stay here forever!" And Rika pops up from the door, motioning us to move.
"Got any handcuffs?" I ask.
"What? Naier I apprised the sentiment but now it's not the time to be kinky." Rika replies as she stares at me.
(Really now Rika?...)
"Tie up the guy's hands to the Blackhawk in case he freaks out on the heli." I sigh as I point at Rei's dad.
"Oh. Uhh no, I don't any, but we got tier-ups." She responds.
"Good enough. Help Takashi get the man on the heli, I'll get Asami." Rika just nods at me as she quickly enters the room, while at the same time I ran to Asami.
"Come on, time to git." I say in a low tone as I kneel next to her, grabbing her shoulders and sightly pushing her up. Asami just followed the force I applied on her without responding.
And so, like that, we walked out the damn room, heading towards the helicopter that was waiting for us by the bacony's edge. After we all 'safely' got on, the helicopter quickly started to lift before turning to fly to where the stocky dude was at...
(Well, that went like shit...)
I close my eyes as I take a deep breath, sitting on my seat shortly after. Then open one eye to glance at Rei's dad, one hand tied to a metal pole on Blackhawk's wall.
"Here kid, take this for the pain." The medic hands Khota two small pills as he speaks.
Kohta takes the pills and swallows them without speaking...
"Hey guys! How did itwhathefuckingfuck!?" The stocky dude exclaims as he enters the helicopter.
"They should take effect in twenty minutes or so." The medic adds as he ignores the stocky dude.
"Why didn't you give them to him sooner?" Asami asks while sitting next to Kohta, hugging his uninjured arm with both her arms.
"Because it's not for the pain he's feeling now." The medic flatly responds. Causing Asami to blankly stare at him.
"I'll have to remove the bullet from there, that means I'll have to poke around the wound, maybe even cut it open some more" He adds as he sighs...
"Is, there no other way?" Asami asks as she glances at Kohta with a worried expression.
"Not unless we return to base, and our medical tents ain't exactly first priority. Since our enemy can kill us with a damn bite." The medic drops his shoulders slightly as he speaks.
"Plus, the longer we take the worse it'll get..." He adds as he glances at the bandage on Kohtas shoulder, a small spot of blood slowly, yet steadily spreading from the center of the bandage.
"So, I'll try to..."
-KA-BOOM-
And a thundering explosion cut whatever the medic was saying short...
(Oh what the fuck?! What now?!)
"Are we under attack?!" The sniper shouts as he looks out the helicopter. I quickly glance out of the Blackhawk as well, only to see smoke coming up from a bridge in the distance. And...
"This is demolition team gamma! We need immediate assistance! Right fucking now!" The main radio on the Blackhawk screams out.
"This is Hawk six. We just heard an explosion and are seeing smoke to our right. That you guys?" The pilot responds.
"Yes! One of our explosives went off preemptively! We got no casualties but we're still not done setting the damn explosives! And we're already starting to see a lot of movement! We need fire support! Now!" The radio shouts back.
"This is not far from here, we can be there in one. We can not pick you up though, we're full." The pilot answers.
"Our own extraction will be here in five, cover fire thill then would be helpful!" The radio responds.
The pilot turns to glance at us, turns the helicopter towards the last remaining member we had yet to pick up...
"What are you even trying to blow up..." The pilot grumbles.
"A secondary bridge. It's not being used by our transports, so it only benefits the infected to move between landmasses." The radio calmly responds.
"Not a boring moment huh..." Rika glances outside as she keeps her hand over her eyes to keep her hair out of the way.
It must have taken less than a minute for us to take the generic dude in and reach the point of the smoke, which had all but nearly dissipated. The location was indeed a bridge, which was now missing one support beam from underneath.
One side of the bridge, was a residential area, with a relatively big amount of corpses. The other side was full of tall buildings, some of them being skyscraper-sized, and while I could not see the streets there very well, the parts I could though were...
"There's, a damn horde on the, uhhh, business sector." I point towards the left as I speak.
"These zombies, are all business." Rika adds right after...
"...Rika, I'm gonna hand you over my title of lamest jokes." I chuckle.
"Hey you chuckled, so it means it was not lame." Rika chuckles back.
"Hey Naier, what is going on? You are not coming back yet? What horde?" And my radio speaks up.
"Uhh, yea, we need to wait for the demo team to extract first." I respond.
"The who what now?" Saya asks with a confused tone.
"...Wait. You, didn't hear anything?" I ask as I tilt my head.
"Hear what?" Saya asks back.
"Explosion?" I respond by asking yet again.
"Uhh. No. Did, something happen? Are you ok?" Saya asks back.
(She must have asked me if I'm ok over five times by now...)
"Yea, nothing to worry. Just a small delay." I answer.
"Don't worry, I'll bring your boyfriend back in one piece~" Rika, who had leaned over next to me adds right after.
"What? Hey! Your voice is too clear! Don't stand so close to him!" Saya shouts back.
"Ohh, very receptive~" Rika chuckles again as she leans back.
(Khota is out cold and Rika is making innuendo jokes. Then again, considering she has been in this job for quite some time. It would make sense she seems so lax about it, and it's not just her, other than Takashi and Asami, the others don't seem that shaken about it. I just hope the guy will be fine, vital hit or not, getting shot is no fun...)
"Uhh, bad new guys. I don't think our fuel will last us a five-minute levitation plus then a trip back to base. I'll have to leave you here and come pick you up." The pilot then cuts us off.
"Sorry, but I am 'not' going down on that street." The sniper points towards the horde-infested roads.
"You won't, the roads are too narrow for the bird to fit in anyway. I'll leave you, uhhh. There, the building on the edge before the river, next to the skyscraper. It's like seven to six stories tall, should be tall enough to keep out of trouble. And the roof seems clear." The pilot adds.
"I can't go through, need to keep an eye on the kid." The medic speaks up.
"Yea, and we should have one more person to keep an eye on our new friend." The pilot nods as he starts to move the heli.
"I will stay, he knows me." Takashi raises his hand.
(...Great, so much for 'YOu WiLL jUsT stAy iN tHe HeLi aNd sHoOt'...)
I shake my head as the Blackhawk reached the roof, and then softly lands on it.
"Ok then. Time to give em hell!" The stocky, aka machinegun dude exclaims as he grabs the machine gun from the helicopter, takes it off, then grabs a couple of boxes of ammo and gets off.
"Hey! The fuck you doing with my gun?!" The pilot shouts. The stocky dude just ignored him and walked towards the edge of the roof with the gun over his shoulder, a merry skip on his step.
"Oh whatever. I'll be coming to pick you up anyway..." The pilot sighs.
"Not like he'll be able to hit anything from this far up with that thing..." The sniper shrugs as he also exits.
"Who knows, maybe he'll surprise us all." Rika chuckles as she also exits.
And so, all of us got off the heli, which then quickly took off.
After getting off, I looked around the roof.
Other than a single door in the middle, the place was empty, no benches, no nothing...
"Huh, is it allowed for buildings to be this close together?" I whisper to myself as I walk to the edge of the roof and towards the skyscraper, which must have been what. One, one and a half meters away? My self reflecting on the glass panels which it was made out of...
"Hey Naier! You'll miss the party! Come on!" The stocky dude shouts as he waves his arm at me...
I nod and turn to walk towards the group. And the moment I close in.
"Hey, hey. Let's make a bet, If kill more than you, you'll let me..."
"No." I cut him off.
"What? Come on I didn't even finish!" The stocky dude exclaims.
"It probably had something with either Saeko or Saya. So no." I respond as I kneel down. The generic dude next to me fiddling with the radio the pilot handed to him.
"Damn man, you know me so well!" The stocky dude laughs as he also kneels down and starts setting up his 'borrowed' machine gun.
"Hum, like I would ever let that creep anywhere near me anyway." My radio speaks up.
"Aww come on Saya, I'm not 'that' bad..." The stocky dude drops his shoulders as he turns to look at my radio.
"It's 'Takagi' for you bozo." Saya scoffs.
"And you just got burned, twice..." I shrug as I look through my scope, the guy responding something that I didn't bother to hear...