Chapter 35 Trouble in Japan

Being faced with Z’s in a confined space is everyone’s worst nightmare, well ok. Everyone who has had to deal with Zombies, point conceded. Still, being faced with youngsters changed in Z’s is bad. Being up close and personal is way worst. Her assault rifle was practically useless in theses vents and whoever had set the trap had done so with this in mind. Thinking fast, Parkson took her breast knife and waited until the first one had his face near her hand to strike it straight in the eye. Without stopping, to think too much about it, she crawled over his body to find another one already reaching for her. It was bad. Killing it, she glanced behind and was appealed to see a toddler, probably 2 or 3 years old grabbing her right boot and pulling itself upward toward the unprotected calve. She had two choices: 1 was to get bitten and keep to the vent regardless of the consequences. They could probably patch her up at HQ. The second was less painful but equally dangerous: going out from the vent and making a dash for it. The decision was made for her when the combined weight of her, the Z’s and the not that strong wire made the whole contraption give up and crash on the floor. Rising as fast as she could, Parkson found herself surrounded by mini Z’s and some bigger one. Dispatching the ones right next to her with the butt of her riffle, she glanced at her GPS and started moving as fast as she could without making undue noise. She was one floor up her goal and half the station away. Using her comlink, Parkson called for some distraction so the diversion would override whatever instruction the Z’s might have in their limited brain. Five or six seconds later, she heard and felt and explosion and some crowd cheering. She smiled. Z’s would be attacked by the loud noise and the human voices would trigger their hinter reflex. Nicely done. Now, with only 1 spare clip, approximately 12 rounds in her current clip, she had to rely on her speed and some fancy foot work. She guessed that she would need every bullet getting out of there with her charge intact. She used a special combination of Parcour and Kukri to jump, tumble, slice, behead and kill as much Z’s as possible while keeping moving at top speed. Using walls, hangings, rails, stairs and even Z’s, she reached the stairs where she stopped cold. Down and waiting for her were the security force. Each one of them was armed and said weapon was aimed directly at her. This time, Parkson was not so nimble. While she avoided most of the bullets, she was still hit twice. Once in the stomach and the other one way more troublesome, right through her left thigh. That would slow her down. And even worse, draw the Zombie to her. But she had been prepared and would not give-up. Rolling quickly on her side, she threw a special grenade: the Z-99. This little black and red American football shaped piece of steel had been devised on an Aztec design of their frond munitions. The size was bigger of course and could be thrown either the classic way or the football way. The first method simply consisted at throwing it in the general direction and let it explode. The second one was for more precise attack and asked for a lot more precision and practice. One could even put it in a traditional grenade launcher. It would go once and an half the distance of a traditional grenade. But the very amazing thing about the device was that it was set to send most of its offensive charge upward thus augmenting the chances of red hot shrapnel’s finding their way to the brain. Using the first of only 3, Parker threw it at the mini swarm of Z’s preventing her from going down. Then, while pieces of dead corpses ran around and on her, she checked her injury. It was bad but the muscle fibers would be able to hold her weight. She did not feel pain as much as discomfort, being dead herself. Peaking downstairs, she saw that the way was clear for now. Using her riffle as a crutch, she started down the stairs when she heard a soft voice calling: “Overhear! Quick! They can’t get in and you can look at your injury.” Surprised, Parkson saw a young girl, black hair disheveled, her face stained by tears and dirt. She was beckoning to Parkson and showing her the surprisingly secure hiding place she had. She had moved from her original hiding place, probably attracted by all the noise and commotion. She had moved instead to a concession store. But this store had steel shutters held down by a series of chains who, when put together were the size of a big male thumb. She had obviously gotten the keys from the severed arm near the gate who still had the ring around one of its bloated finger. She motioned again and her eyes grew wide in alarm. Looking behind her, Parkson saw that she had not destroyed every Z and some were back with a vengeance. Half running half limping, she made it to the safe hole with seconds to spare. Enough to help the young girl put the chain back in place. Then, while the Z’s where groaning, moaning and rattling the shutters, she introduced herself while taking care of her injury and giving a status report to HQ. Once everything had been taken care of, Alice turned to the girl who, in typical Japanese fashion had waited for her to be ready to talk. Tell me, Yukio…may I call you Yukio? Thank’s, so tell me. How much did they tell you about your condition? What would happen to you? - They…they told me I was sick, that I could never see my family again and that I would have to leave the country. I was…unclean and…and… And the poor 16 year old girl dissolved in tears. Alice, sighing, held her in her arms and remembered her own “coming of age”. It had been a lot harder for her since Zombies were not common knowledge at her time. But like Yukio now, she had had a friend who had made her promise to do the same as her if ever she was in the same situation. - It’s ok honey, I understand. First, you have you understand that you are not unclean. You are lethal. There is a huge difference. Your very existence put’s people in danger of dying. But, like me, you have the potential to become much more. To help other so they will not become infected or forced to leave their loved ones. But first, we have to leave this place alive. In about 2 hours, a small tactical weapon will be unleashed on this station destroying everything in it down to the very last levels. And that’s with us in it. So, we have to get out of here. And the only way is through the vents but they are trapped. The only other way is through the sewages. Can you do this with me? Do you have the will in you to live a life of rejection, forgoing everything you ever knew and everyone who knew you? If you do not, I will kill you right now and leave you in peace. The girl sat in the traditional Japanese way, legs under her and thought. Alice could almost see the thoughts coming and going in her mind. Then, the girl smiled a little and said in a clear and surprisingly strong voice: “After all you have done to help me, it would not be honorable for me to let you down. And the kami of the wind told me he would be waiting for me in Canada. So, down we go”. A bit surprised, Alice nodded and they started to prepare and plan for the trek.