“So, this is our place.” We pull up beside the bus.

“Is that bus functional?” Mrs.Togaki asks. Looking over the sports bus we have parked in front of the base.

“Yeah, that’s how we plan on getting all our stuff there too. Its full up on gas with some spares in the bottom storage area.”

“Good planning. I can see now why you said you have enough supplies for your group.”

We walk inside and make some introductions One of the men sees the guns that Hirano is cleaning and makes his way over to him.

“Hey, a kid shouldn’t be playing around with guns like that. Give it here.” He reaches over to grab one of them.

“NO! Who the hell are you? I am the best shot anyways, so these are mine!” Hirano backs away clutching them.

The man looks like hes about to push the issue when I interupt them.

“Haa don’t mess with Hirano he is our weapons expert.” He just chuckles at this.

“Ha weapon expert? Hes just some brat has he even fired one of those uh rifles before?” He looks between me and Hirano.

“These are not just ‘Rifles’ these are highly modified weapons illegal in the country of japan.” Hirano then spouts the exact specs of the weapons. I don’t really care enough to learn it and sort of tune it out. The guy next to me just looks frustrated since he knows less.

“Regardless they arnt toys, the adults should be using them.” Ignoring that the kid knows more about the weapons he falls back to the ‘adult’ excuse. So, I have to defend Hirano again.

“The adults? This guy is a better shot then me and I can already probably beat any of you despite never having fired a gun before. Age means nothing to skill.” The guy looks like he wants to challenge me before he remembers what happened before and backs off with a huff.

“Hmm passable Haru I take it you lead most of the talks going on here?” Mrs. Togako walks up.

“Yeah, a lot of dumb people out there. They want to hold on to any excuse for survival.” She winces a bit at that clearly having her own experiences with such things.

“Well, this base is certainly nice. If you’d like we can show you to the main entryway we take.”

“That would be great.”

We go on a brief tour around the base showing the different supplies and the map of looted locations. She takes out her own to mark the buildings off that they have looted as well so we don’t waste any time. She stays the night taking one of the rooms for herself. Rooms are a bit tight at the moment, so a few people are staying in the two buildings on either side after they have been cleared out. The next morning, we decide on moving over to their base for good.

“LISTEN UP PEOPLE!” I call out.

“ITS MOVING DAY TIME TO LOAD UP THE BUS!”

A few of the people look surprised and excited.

Everyone starts moving the boxes in preparation.

“Leave some space for some more stuff we need to check in on Tanada and her parents.”

“Uh Mrs.boss are you sure its okay to take in this many people at once?” One of the guards asks Mrs.Togaki

“Yes, they have enough supplies here to last awhile plus an addition like Haru and Saeko would make a great addition to our supply runs.” This makes the man pause then nod.

Everyone packs up and we drive the bus and Humvee to Tanadas Pawn shop. On the way there we see a few zombies every once in awhile but not many.

“How did you guys clear the streets anyways?”

“Hmm? Oh, we have a large bulldozer we got from the bridge that pushed the cars slowly and once the path was cleared, we Set up speakers in specific areas to lure the zombies towards them.”

“That’s pretty smart, keep the areas that they move to a minimum and give your supply runners more breathing room so long as they stay clear of those areas.”

“Yeah, I just hope the inclusion of these ‘reds’ doesn’t turn the table on these masses. If they can control the direction the horde moves, then we are just adding to their horde size by making them get into groups.”

She has a point theres nothing we can do but just see though. As we pull up the Pawn shop there are many bodies all around it now. Theres also what looks like a couple red bodies on the ground and one pinned to a very dented and beat up metal grating with barbs sticking out its back.

“Damn I hope we aren’t too late!” I hop out of the car and head over. Checking on the front metal grating it looks dented and broken in areas but it’s still holding. The Red stuck to the fence is still alive but has no leverage to move since its skewered through the slits of the grating by harpoons that have caught on its insides.

“Hey Tanada! Tanada! are you in there!” Inside theres some movement before Tanadas head pokes out.

“Oh, thank goodness you’re here. After you left, we decided to hold up for a bit until you checked in on us again. We just wanted to be cautious hearing about you seeing that red one nearby. Thanks to that we were closed off and a few red ones brought their small hordes our way. They attacked us in the middle of the night when I was out here taking a smoke break near the grating. They smashed on the gates… The kids were screaming the gun fire just brought more of them… We almost didn’t make it.” Damn it’s a good thing they were prepared just in case.

“Well, we have a bus outside we are moving to a more defendable base if you and your group want to join us now?” This draws a huge smile from her and she nods rapidly.

“YES!” She turns to inside. “MOM DAD TIME TO MOVE!” Turning back to me “Um do you mind helping me with the metal grate? That one is still alive. They don’t seem to attack each other so him being up there helped the others not attack the grate anymore. I think its also bent on the tracks the only thing really holding it up is probably the lock and some of the shit we have piled up in here and those harpoons.” Mrs.Togaki is out looking at the red one with interest and so is Saeko.

“So, this is a Red one Haru?” She draws her sword and slices into part of its skin fairly easily until it reaches bone which make the blade stop dead. Causing her to frown slightly.

“Interesting, I wonder if they are all becoming like this or if these are special circumstances?” Mrs.Togaki is also up there looking at it from the side. It shifts a bit but is still stuck to the grating. “Well, I’ll kill it, sorry Saeko you know I should do it right?” I turn to her she nods annoyed but understanding that I have a quest to kill more of them and that I have a benefit for doing so.

I slowly press my new machete into its spine easing the blade in until it catches between the vertebrate and sinks the rest of the way through. Tanada watches in fascinated horror as do a few others as the head falls off and the eyes continue to move but I severed it above where the nerves attatched to the muscles for the jaw. Taking out a pen I jam it up the nose into its brain and get the notification for killing it. Sighing in contemplation I look up to see a few sick faces other than Saeko who gives me a nod of approval. A few of the girls go back to the bus when they realize that theres nothing else interesting going on.

Me and a few other guys start pulling the grating off once the lock is undone and we start pulling instead of pushing it just comes off which really shows how close they were to getting inside.

It takes us a bit to move everything then start loading everything inside.

I notice Tanada is a bit finicky with her hands like she doesn’t know where to put them. “Where’s your rifle?” I noticed it was missing.

“Ran out of ammo so I used an old bayonet on the end. One of the red bastards grabbed it when I poked it through the grating and bent the barrel. Its just a glorified club now.” She lets out a long sigh. Grabbing it from one of the sides. We might be able to repair it so it’s probably better if we hold on to it.

“Well at least you’re not dead.” Shame she killed these reds without us. The reward for killing one red was 3 points I wonder what the next stage in the chain quest will give. At least I made some progress.

“True enough… Just to make sure... you’re like 16 right? You uh were kind of brutal with that one on the grate. I don’t know if I could have done that at your age.” She looks over at me conflicted.

“Hmm, no?” A bit of surprise shines in her eyes.

“Oh? How old are you then?” Seeing where this is going with a sigh.

“I’m 17 and taken sorry.”

“Ah uh, alright. I mean uh nah you’re way to young. I don’t want to be put on some list.” She fidgets a bit more than before now looking at her shoes and other things. Clearly uncomfortable now and not used to talking. Funnily shes closer to my mental age then the others. Oof that’s going to get real awkward next life.

“I mean my girlfriends are out in the car too if you want to meet them?” This got a blush from her.

“Girlfriends? As in plural? Kids these days sure are adventurous, aren’t they? Trying to hide them from each other or-“ She seems to be going through the different possibilities in her mind. It makes me chuckle a bit before correcting her.

“haha no no Saeko I’ve been dating for four years. Saya confessed to me the other day after Saeko gave her permission. The outside world is a bit different now a lot of rules no longer apply. Besides Saya’s mom is the lady that was over here as well, and she seems approving enough.” This got her to blush pretty hard.

“You sure seem to be taking advantage of the world being different, aren’t you? Seems like your bragging about it even.” She looks away.

“Hmm? No, I’m only proving that I’m not a degenerate. What about you?” She seems a bit shocked about being put on the spot and that I’m not embarrassed about being with both girls.

“Uhhh nothing let’s get this shit packed!” She runs off to go help the kids grab all that they can and start moving them. The old lady has trouble leaving but her husband ends up forcing her to after pointing out the ruined gate.

We all start to pack things Mrs.Tagoki is checking out the bodies of the red ones. One of the guys tries to hack into its head with a knife to prove a point but can’t seem to get his blade in there. He makes a look over at me after that.

“Alright everyone let’s head over to the estate and rest up!”

We all head out for a new place to survive hopefully it works out for the better.