24 Chapter 24 - Open Road

Setting out at 9am, we kept things moving at a steady pace. With no obstacles blocking us on our way out of the city, we had no real problems making good time. Once we were out of the city, the roads widened up and allowed us to avoid the pile up of vehicles on the roadways. It was clear that most people didn't have the same mentally that I did. Most of the vehicles were coming into the city...not leaving.

"I didn't think things were this bad out here.", Saya said seeing the charred remains of homes and farms, "I thought the dead would have stayed in the city where the noise was."

"We don't know if it was the dead, looters, or Umbrella.", Yuko retorted looking out the window, "For all we know brigands did all of this for fun. People's true nature comes out when they are pushed to the breaking point."

Asking Saeko how it looked from the gunner turret, she said she didn't see any threats. Looking the other direction Rika reported the same thing. The view on my mini map showed there were undead around, but not nearly as many much as there was in the city. Enjoying the scenery for a while, once we reached the next city we stopped on the outskirts to see if there was a boat we could take.

Spotting a ferry we could commandeer for transport, Rika stated that we could use that and take the vehicles with us. Looking at the area on the mini map, it looked like there was a hostile group on board the ship already of about 40 people. Borrowing the binoculars, I called out the armed people patrolling the ferry.

"So we either peacefully take it, or kill them for it.", Mikoto said, "Usually I would say peacefully, but with everything happening we should use force. They look like they wouldn't be reasonable if we took the diplomatic approach anyways."

"I agree, we need the boat.", Saeko stated, "Do you have a plan Victor?"

"I do, my plan is to hit them from behind.", I told them.

"How do you intend to get behind them?", Yoko asked.

"Via the river.", I remarked, "Think you can cause a distraction at the front, Oriha?"

"Hehehe.", Sayo and Oriha giggled pulling out some explosives, "How big of a distraction do you want?"

Giving them a smirk, I told them to cause a big enough distraction that they would come out but not big enough to attract all the zombies nearby. Once they were off the boat, Rika would pick a few off so they would be too preoccupied to notice my approach. There was a chance they would rush our position here, but Sayo and Oriha would devastate them as they ran by with Sayo's machine gun. Getting the group up to speed on our plan, those that could use rifles got into position while I swam out to the boat.

Looking at how the group was spread out on the map there were several people in wheelhouse, a few scattered around the deck, and the majority were down in the crew area with some appearing to be using the showers. With that knowledge in mind, I made my way down to the water and started swimming silently towards them.

Once Sayo and Oriha saw me get into the water, the two women made a beeline for the area across the street from the docks. Already having an idea of what to do, Oriha wanted to strap some explosives to a small car and blow it up. The resulting fireball would attract the defenders, and put them in the snipers sights. Telling her plan to Sayo, she agreed to it and helped fix the explosives.

Placing the remote detonated blasting caps in the C4, the two women retreated a safe distance away. Once they were behind cover, they made sure that their guns were ready in case they needed to assist the sniper team. While they were waiting for a signal from Rika, Oriha decided to strike up a conversation.

"So how was he?", Oriha teased with a smirk, "We know that the two of you went off to have some fun."

"You really going to tease me?", Sayo asked her, "You remember last time I damn near killed you, right?"

"I am not messing with your food ever again!", Oriha retorted, "Unless you plan on-"

Licking her lips, Sayo gave her a smile.

"Uh...okay then.", Oriha stated, "So he is good for it then?"

"He is very good at it.", Sayo admitted, "I really like it. How are things going with you, found mister right yet?"

"The available pool of men my age is...well it's not the best. There is the gun freak Kohta, the baseball bat guy Takashi, the clueless guy Hisashi, Victor, and a few others. Frankly I don't think I can compete with most of you for Victor.", Oriha said, "My options are more on the...well they aren't that great. Arashi would be nice if he wasn't always so angry."

"What do you mean you couldn't compete with us for Victor?", Sayo inquired.

"Some of us don't have pumpkin sized breasts!!", Oriha said punch Sayo's chest.

"Hey!", Sayo pouted, "Don't hit me because you have developed yet!!"

Before Oriha noticed the signal from Rika. Acknowledging the signal, the two of them ducted behind a wall and detonated the charge. Sending the car nearly ten feet into the air, they set off almost every car alarm on the block. Turning to Oriha, Sayo wanted to know why she decided to not follow instructions.

---Main Group---

Watching the scene unfold, Yuko and Rika both sighed. The two had been told to keep it small, but the word appeared to mean little to them. Having watched the car shoot nearly ten feet, the main group watched nearly every undead in the area stop and start heading towards the noise. The fact they had set off every car alarm in a two block radius was going to attract a horde, which was something all of us had wanted to avoid.

"No sense in keeping quiet now.", Rika said removing the silencer from the barrel, "Shizuka, make sure everyone is loaded up. If things go south we are going to need to make a speedy play."

"Okay!", Shizuka said saluting her like she was in the military.

"We are friends, you don't need to salute me haha.", Rika laughed with a smile.

"I was just having some fun.", Shizuka giggled running back to the bus, "Everyone make sure you-"

Tripping over her own feet, Yuko and Rika just sighed. Having been friends with her for ages, they knew she had a knack for tripping over anything. Fortunately there wasn't some poor soul in front of her that would get clobbered by her knockers.

"Reminds me of Christmas three years ago.", Yuko said.

"You mean when she tripped, and cold cocked that poor waiter with those jugs?", Rika smirked, "I remember that stupid grin the guy had when we got Shizuka off of him."

"Don't bring that up!!", Shizuka pouted, "I was drunk!"

"Uh huh...", they replied not buying it.

"Kohta, you...", Yoko started to say looking at the boy with the bloody nose at the end of firing line.

"Hehe, I like panda's!", he said lost in his imagination of how that would have felt.

"Ugh...", she said lightly kicking him in the thigh, "Pay attention, we need to make sure the enemy stays focus on us."

"Right!", he remarked snapping out of it, "Targets spotted!"

Calling out the locations to Rika, she moved into a better position to start laying down fire with the other snipers.

---Boat---

Waiting by the bow of the boat, I heard the explosion and leapt out of the water to grab the edge of the ferry. Pulling myself over the edge, I pulled some piano wire out of storage and garroted one of the guards that had stayed behind at the bow. Thrashing around trying to get to me, I forced him to kneel and knocked his gun away. Once he was dead I stabbed him in the head, and threw him off the ship. Heading to the wheelhouse first, I found several people gathered around the captain's seat trying to figure out how to start the boat.

'So they don't know how to operate it...', I thought observing them, 'Better make this quick, we got zombies coming this way.'

Drawing Ebony and Ivory out, I kicked the door in and blasted the people. Having no time to react, they didn't even get a scream out before their brains were blown everywhere. Stowing their bodies in storage, I found the keys under the captain's chair and headed blow deck.

Moving to the crew quarters I found several people singing in the shower blissfully unaware I was there. Deciding to make this quick, I plugged in a hairdryer, and tossed it into the shower room. The floor had just enough water to arc the electricity, and electrocute them. Preventing the GFI for triggering, I waited a minute before unplugging the device.

Walking into the shower all but one person were dead. The remaining person was the furthest from the hairdryer, and was currently incapacitated. Shooting him in the face I moved on after cleaning up the mess and turning off the water. The people who were sleeping were easily dispatched leaving only the people engaging my group left.

Tossing the bodies in storage, I quickly cleaned up the area before rushing to where the remaining people were. As I was running up to the deck, I heard a second explosion nearby that shook the whole boat. Getting outside, I found Oriha laughing like a moron as Sayo carried her to the boat.

"What the fuck happened!?", I asked them.

"I made them go boom!!", Oriha laughed waving an RPG at me with smoke still coming out of her barrel, "They were being too loud so I made them go away."

"We are going to have a serious conversation about the word minimal.", I sighed, "You brought all the undead here, thanks."

"You are welcome.", Oriha replied.

"Ugh...", I sighed turning towards the group on the hill.

With the ferry clear, I signaled up to my group who hurriedly drove down to the pier. By now the undead were starting to get close, and we were running out of time. As we were loading the vehicles on the ferry, they started to arrive in mass with several Tanks at the front. Untying the ropes from the dock, I told the fighters to keep them off the boat. Running up to the wheelhouse I jumped into the captain's seat, I fired up the engines, and started pulling away from the pier.

Using spears to keep the dead back, we managed to get away with no causalities. Once we were a ways away from shore, the group broke up to find places to sleep for the long trip. Being the only one with the knowledge to operate the ship, I had chosen the wheelhouse as my area. Choosing the same, my group of lovely ladies brought our gear up while I charted our course to Okinawa.

Using a map and rough speed, it would take us about two weeks to reach Okinawa. It wasn't exactly what I would call fast, but out here we were safer than on land. If we kept no further than a half mile off shore we would stay relatively safe as aquatic life had yet to turn undead. Giving the women the news, they were content to have a bit of rest before we reached Okinawa. They were under the impression that the base was empty, but my mini map said otherwise.

From the way the map was showing, the US Military had definitely retreated but a new group was inhabiting the base. It appeared that a group of survivors had moved in and they were neutral at this time. Whether or not they stayed that way when we tried to take a ship remained to be seen. Looking over to see Rika looking out at the shoreline, I asked how things looked.

"Frankly it looks like fucking shit.", she remarked, "That little city were were in is partially burnt to the ground."

"See what caused it?", I inquired.

"Looks like a city bus struck a gas truck.", Yoko stated looking in the same direction, "Probably happened when this shit started."

Agreeing with that assessment, I looked at the dials to make sure we would have enough fuel for our trek so I could plan stops accordingly. Based on the supplies we had now we would need to make about 3 stops along our trek for water and toilet paper...a very valuable commodity. Marking the cities we could stop at, I sat back and looked at the mini map to see how Daiyu was doing.

Seeing that she had made it to the safe house, it looked like about a quarter of her group didn't make it. Knowing that they had likely brought additional supplies with them, I figured she had about a month and a half before needing to be rescued. The safe house had it's own filtration system, electricity, and communication equipment so she would be alright for the time being.

My other friends were all holed up in their homes and shelters as well. George was at his pub surrounded by women as I expected, and the others were busy moving around their locations. Satisfied with that, I closed the mini map and increased stat points for my lovers focusing on attack and defense for the time being. Making sure to bump it up only slightly, I wanted to make sure they didn't hurt themselves with a massive increase in power. Unlike me who had a High Human body, a sudden increase in strength could lead to them killing themselves accidentally.

"We should probably get too training.", Saeko stated looking at the time.

"We can afford to miss a single day.", I remarked, "Let them settle in, and relax. Till we reach our next destination, everyone will be training in some fashion. Our next stop is Hamamatsu for resupplying."

"How many days till we get there?", Rei asked.

"About two days.", I replied, "This boat isn't the fastest haha."

"How fast are we going?", Yoko inquired.

"Currently 4.5 knots, it's two weeks to get to Okinawa.", I told them showing my map, "We will stray far from shore at several points, I am trying to make our trek as short as possible."

Deciding to get comfortable, the majority of them took a nap. Saya, Kyoko, and Namiyo expressed an interest in learning how to steer the ship to be of assistance to me. Since it would be nice to have others I could swap with to steer the ship, I was happy show them the ropes. Explaining what each dial did, I proceeded to talk about the depth finder...arguably the most important tool here. Telling them how important it was to monitor the depth, I said there was a chance we would beach the boat if we weren't careful.

"Don't boats usually have some sort of nautical chart or something?", Saya asked, "My grandfather owned a boat, and he had one on his ship."

"Not a ferry like this. What we are using it for isn't what it was built for. This boat was made for crossing the bay, not making over a 1,500 km trip.", I remarked, "The charts they have are for the bay only, that information is useless."

"Got it.", Kyoko replied looking over the gauges, "So, what about fresh water?"

"Ah, that is a very good question. The ship is setup with a filtration system that takes sea water and purifies it for use onboard. Problem is that it is slow, and that with the number of people we have it won't keep up with cooking, cleaning, and showering. We will use it exclusively for showering, and use the water we have for cooking and cleaning. When we do supply runs we will get water too.", I stated, "We can quickly fill up our tanks, and empty the waste tank when we reach Hamamatsu. I will have the maintenance team worry about that."

Nodding their heads, I proceeded to take about what each alarm light was. Telling them that the most important lights were the fuel light and the oil temperature lights, I said that no matter what they had to alert me if they came on. The engine on the ship were diesel so if the engines ran dry, we would have to bleed the entire system which would take valuable time. If the oil temperature light came on, it meant that if nothing was done the engines could weld the pistons to the engine causing us to become dead in the water.

"All in all it seems really easy.", they said.

"It is, the complicated stuff is doing maintenance, repairs, and docking.", I admitted, "When you are on the open ocean, like we are, there are things to consider like the tide, current, and sandbars. This far out we shouldn't have a problem, but at night it becomes much more difficult as we have no lights to guide us by inland and we need to keep the spotlights off."

Giving Saya the helm, I watched her closely and gave her tips as she needed them. As I was watching her, I learned a new skill called Teaching which I immediately maxed out. Using the skill, I gave the three of them a go steering the ship before resuming my shift so they could rest.

"How does it feel having so many beauties in your cabin?", Midna teased me.

"I wouldn't call this a cabin...I don't even have a real bed.", I sighed.

"You have to look at the bright side, you have a room full of beauties.", she pointed out.

"That is true", I laughed, "My only problem is I am not into exhibition...we have guests following us from the shore."

The people that we killed were part of a larger group that were likely going to take the ferry till we stole it from under their noses. They were currently following us, they knew we had stolen the boat and were hell bent on getting it back. Fortunately for us the route we were taking would we be a fraction of the time it would take them on land. They would have to contend with road blockages, hordes, other groups, and a less direct route. Within a days time we would lose lose them, and not have to concern ourselves with them.