4 Chapter 4 - Looting 101

Watching the group run towards us, Shido was falling behind as he wasn't physically fit. One of the students, a kid from the chess club, tripped and was trying to get back up when Shido got to him. Asking for help as they were almost upon them, Shido went to kick the kid so he could escape. The moment I saw him go to do it, I drew my revolver and fired twice.

"AHH!!!", Shido screamed falling on the ground, "My legs!!"

"KID RUN!!!", I shouted at the boy as he quickly took off running.

Having shot Shido in the kneecaps, he would no longer be able to move again. Screaming for help like an idiot, it was only a few moments after that when the dead were all over him. Howling as he kept reaching out for help, I decided to give him a farewell present. Pulling an incendiary grenade out of my pack, I pulled the pin and lobbed it at him. Dropping in the center of the horde that was eating him, it exploded and lit all of them on fire.

"What the hell are you doing!!", Takashi shouted grabbing me by the collar, "You just killed a-"

"All of you watched what he was about to do.", I said as the student got on the bus, "He was going to sacrifice that kid to save his own neck. Don't give me a lecture about who I kill, especially when it's to save a innocent person. You better get used to sights like that, people show their true colors when pushed to the edge. I have no problem killing people, get over it. Shido was a scumbag, and you know it."

"Why you!", he seethed before Rei smacked him with her spear knocking him out cold.

"Why did you do that!?", Hisashi said going to Takashi side.

"I have been telling you both that Shido was slimy man, but neither of you wanted to believe me!!", Rei scowled, "He was a piece of shit, and you know it now. You saw what he was about to do, you want to justify it too?!"

"Rei I-", he tried to argue.

"I have had it with you!!", Rei shouted having reached her limit, "We are done!!"

Storming to the back of the bus, she sat between Kyoko and Saeko. Taking my seat, I closed the door and shifted the vehicle into drive. Flooring it through the front gates, I didn't even bother swerving to miss the dead. With this many people in the bus getting too fancy with the dodging might flip the bus so I plowed right through.

Blasting the gates off their hinges I got us out of the immediate area. Following the map in my HUD, I could see all the enemies and civilians on my map. Turning the icons off for now, I just plotted our stops along the way for supplies. Five minutes after leaving the school, I pulled over at a convenience store to loot supplies. Since Takashi would be out for a while, and Hisashi would be a liability, I tossed bags to the guys from the sport clubs.

"We get in, grab food, water, and medicine, then leave. Don't-"

"We aren't going in!", they said tossing the bags back at me.

"Are you men or cowards!?", I spat with annoyance.

"There could be dozens of them in there!", they refuted.

"Move it losers!", Saya shouted pushing them out of the way, "I might not be able to fight, but I can help gather supplies."

"I...I will go.", Kyoko said.

"Same here.", Rei stated.

"I will keep watch.", Saeko told me.

"Two more people.", I said.

"I will go.", the boy I saved earlier spoke up.

"Count me in.", Kohta said cocking his pistol.

Shaking my head with a grin, I said we needed to be quick. Turning my icons back on, I confirmed the building was clear, but I still acted like I wasn't sure. Doing a quick sweep of the building, I gave the green light to the others. Running inside, they opened their bags and started throwing stuff in.

"Focus on non-perishable items first. They will last the longest, perishable items we will need to eat first before they expire.", I told them all as I looted the medicine shelves.

Hurriedly filling our bags with hygiene products, food, beverages, and meds all of us quickly piled into the bus again. Going to the next two locations, we did the same thing. When we got to our last stop, we found people inside grabbing things like us. They were all just families and elderly people trying to get what they could before this place was picked clean.

"Hey that is ours!!", one of the boys from the Kendo club shouted, "Give that-"

Having been berated by the women who had been taken turns getting supplies, the boys finally stepped up to the plate though they were pissed off. The whole situation pissed them off, and they were taking it out on these people.

"Leave them alone, just get what you can and lets leave. If you try to take from them I will cripple your ass. We may be in survival mode, but we are not savages.", I told him, "I apologize for his behavior, please don't mind us."

Loading up on bottles of water and canned food, I was about to head out when I saw one of the Archery men try to steal from an elderly woman who had dropped her bag. Running over I grabbed him by the neck, and hoisted him up.

"What part of don't steal from them don't you get.", I said in Japanese before throwing him out the window, "Get your ass back in the bus, I will have a talk with you later."

Helping the woman gather her stuff, I apologized again to her and hurried out of the building. Throwing him into the back of the bus, everyone silently watched us.

"I told you not to lay a finger on those families. Shitty people I have no issue stealing from, but I refuse to steal food out of the mouths of innocent people, especially children. We are loaded up for at least a month now, we can let them take what they need.", I told him.

"We need every scrap of food we can get!", he said going for his bow.

Pulling a knife out, I flung it and pegged him in the shoulder causing him to scream with pain. Slamming my boot down on the blade, it went clear through his shoulder.

"Until we have a formal vote, I am the defacto leader.", I hissed, "I said we don't take from innocent people, and that's final. If you have an issue with that rule, you can tell me and I will fix that problem really quick."

Putting my revolver to his head, he lost all the color in his face.

"Society may have gone to shit, but it doesn't mean we act like raiders. They were here first, and had gathered what they could for their families.", I told him as I pulled the blade out, "Disobey a direct order again, and I will kill you for insubordination. I don't have time for people that don't know how to follow the simplest of orders. Just because you are pissed off that the women berated you for being a coward doesn't mean you get to act like a bully against an elderly woman or those young families."

Scowling at him, the women were all done with him now. I wasn't making an example out of him because I wanted brownie points, it was the fact he disobeyed an order I gave him. It's one thing if they attacked us, but those people just wanted food that's all. I couldn't condone stealing from normal people, that was reserved for dirt bags only. Eventually people were going to need to barter for things, and him attacking potential traders in the future was unacceptable.

Driving over to the bank, we pulled up behind the building to use it to hide the bus. Getting out of the bus, I led the group inside. There were still people inside the bank, and for now I didn't know if they were a threat. Going in first, I found the Bank Manager and several tellers behind the counter. Telling them we wanted to setup camp here tonight, they asked if they could stay with us. Agreeing to that, I told the others to come inside. Locking the door with the massive deadbolts, I had the men help me move heavy furniture in front of the door. Using carpet to cover the windows, I wanted to ensure no light from inside would leak out and alert people outside of our presence here. Once everything was secure I had everyone sit down in the vault.

Making sure everyone was present when we counted the supplies, I wanted to make sure all of them knew what we had so there wasn't any bickering about hiding supplies. Writing it all down on a notebook, I tossed it to Kyoko.

"Moving forward, I making you in charge of the supplies. Whenever someone needs something, you update the sheet. If you notice anything missing, you let me know and we will figure out what's going on.", I told her.

"I understand...I...I can do that.", she promised.

"Good, now then...", I said looking at everyone, "We are safe here for tonight, but I still want to have watches happening. For now, we can rotate every two hours till we leave here. Agreed?"

"Yes!", everyone stated.

"Alright, the biggest thing we need to decide now is who will lead this group. That person will need to make the decisions of where we go, how we get there, and will be the representative for the group should we meet other groups like us.", I told them.

"Why can't we just collectively decide where we go?", Takashi inquired.

"Too many cooks in the kitchen, getting a group consensus on those topics is going to be difficult. It could take hours to simply debate a single thing, we need to be flexible so having a single leader is best. We have several people here with leadership abilities so we have options.", I stated.

Overwhelming the women voted for me which pissed the boys off. Even though I had told them not to act on emotion, all of them were extremely grateful I warned them about the undead early, and had gotten them away safely. They were even more happy I killed Shido as they collectively thought he was a bit of an ass...an understatement in my opinion. Deciding to vote me as well, some of the boys were trying to get on the good side of the women as they wanted to get some.

"Very well...", I said, "Aimi, Nina, and Pucca, I am leaving self-defense training to you. We have people here with no fighting experience, and we need them to be able to defend themselves. All of us need to contribute to the group as a whole, none of us have a reason for not being able to contribute in some fashion. I don't care if it's sanitation, organization, collection, defense, or looting...all of us have to do something. Those who do not work will not eat, understood?"

"Yes!", they said.

"Good, the only way we survive this is if everyone chips in. For today, we just take it easy and unwind. A lot has happened, and I understand some of us need to come to terms with that. First thing tomorrow, we need to do recon of the area. Till then rehydrate, eat, sleep, or do what you want. Lights out at 10pm.", I ordered.

With the decision made I left the room to search the bank for anything useful. Not far behind me Rei, Saya, and Saeko also looked for anything useful. During my search I found the burglar alarm system and disabled it. I didn't need alarms going off that would draw the undead here, and I didn't need a rude awakening at any point during the night.

"You sure do know a lot of things.", Rei told me watching me splice wires.

"I learned a lot in Military Boarding School.", I chuckled, "It may have been a horrible experience, but I am grateful to have this knowledge now. I don't know what I would have done without it if I am honest."

"I am sure you'd be fine.", Saeko said kissing me, "Just so you know, that was a sexy quick draw on the bus."

"Lots of hours practicing.", I replied smacking her butt playfully, "What do you three think? I get this is a shitty situation, but what do you think of the team?"

"We need more variety of skills. Right now we are combat oriented, long term we need trades and farmers.", Saya said thinking ahead.

"Agreed, our food won't last forever and neither will the foods in the markets.", Saeko agreed.

"Probably need to get better weapons and armor. Our stuff is for competition, not actual combat. It will break pretty quick, and the gear you brought is foreign to most of us.", Rei added, "Also, I am sorry about those two. I had hoped they would step up, but they didn't. I can't believe I held out hope that they would change."

"It's okay Rei.", I said kissing her neck, "We will get through this. Once we get this place in decent shape I am thinking we need to reach out to our families, cellular is down though so we will have to hike it."

"Mmm...", she purred as I kneaded her butt like she enjoyed, "Are you telling me you want to have some fun? I don't mind, I could use it to take my mind off things."

"I am saying you need to relax. Your mother and father are tough, they will make it through this. If my satellite phone could reach them, I'd let you use it.", I said kissing her, "For now, just relax and calm down."

"I am when you hold me like this.", she giggled, "Thank you for alerting us...if you hadn't called we may have died."

"I look after my lovers.", I said handing them chocolates, "I can't show favoritism in front of everyone else, but I can spoil you in private. You three are my beautiful women, and I care about you three a lot. I would go through hell and back if it was to save you."

"That's precisely why I said yes.", Saeko said kissing me, "I wanted a man, not a boy."

"Yeah...I mean, it's not like I wanted you to be so protective of me.", Saya stated hugging me tight.

"I am happy you are my first and only partner.", Rei whispered, "I love you Victor, and I want to stay with you forever."

Kissing me as a thank you, the three of them continued searching the building. While I was interested in a bit of fun, right now I needed to figure out things before I could indulge in my carnal desires with them. Once the entire building was checked, we regrouped in the vault and went over our findings.

"Alright, as you all know the cell phone towers are down. I don't know if it's because a vehicle took them down, or if the system was overwhelmed by all the calls. Either way I am sure all of you would like to make sure that your families are safe.", I stated, "Tomorrow I want to focus on checking our surroundings out, and locating a Ham Radio or a normal radio. We will want to figure out where the majority of survivors are going so we can plan a path to get there. Again, I don't think following the same path everyone else does is the best idea."

"Where do you think they are most likely to setup a shelter?", Kohta asked me.

"One of three places...the elementary school, the police station, or the Takagi mansion.", I stated, "The elementary school has a WW2 bunker under it, it would make for an excellent shelter. The police station is an option because they have heavy equipment, and are already an arm of the government. Lastly is the Takagi mansion, and that is because Saya's father will likely prioritize helping the civilians. He's one of the few decent politicians I have met personally."

"So...we just need a radio of some kind?", Kyoko asked.

"Fuel, water purification, backup batteries, food, and ammunition...we need all of it", I stated.

"What about other survivors?", Hisashi inquired.

"Based on the amount of food we have, we could survive about a month on our supplies.", I answered, "We can refill bottles of water here, but I highly recommend boiling it. The current status of the water plant is unknown to us, for all we know there could be contaminants in the water."

"I hate to be the one to say this, but...what about bathing?", Shizuka pleaded, "We will all start to smell pretty bad soon, a bath would be nice."

"That can be part of our recon mission tomorrow.", I agreed, "Include that to our list."

"Why aren't we going to the Embassy? Isn't it heavily fortified?", Takashi pointed out.

"That puts us very close to Tokyo. Assuming at least a quarter of the population has already turned...that's almost ten million of those monsters wandering the streets.", I said, "Tokyo is densely populated, it would be very dangerous to go there at this point in time."

"The military would be there though!", several of the men shouted.

"And we'd all have to wait in queue to be allowed in...assuming they let us in.", I reminded them, "Let's find out where the local safe zone is tomorrow, and then decide based on that. No point in suggesting places when we don't know where the safe zones are right now."

Agreeing to that, I could already tell some of the boys weren't happy about me leading. A few of them were glaring at me, mostly because the girls were following my instructions. Honestly, I needed guys and ladies in this group. Having solely one or the other wasn't going to fly, nor did I want to have all of these women to myself. I may be a High Human, but it didn't mean my stamina was unlimited...I had limits too. For now all of them are acting this way because I helped save them. As time went on I was confident they would find other men, and it would thin out my female numbers. Rei, Saya, Saeko, Aimi, Nina, Pucca, Kyoko, and Shizuka were my main focus at this point. They each were somebody I trust to assist me, and would do what I could to make them happy. In Kyoko's case, the fact she was helping me so much impressed me. Sure I knew it was because I saved her, but she showed a lot of promise.

'The only man that will be sharing a bed with them is me.', I thought as everyone got comfortable, 'Anyone outside those eight, you are more than welcome to make passes on.'

"Who is taking first watch?", Saeko asked.

"First watch will be Rei, Saeko, Kyoko, and me. Second will be Kohta, Saya, Aimi, and Artemis. Third will be Takashi, Nina, Hisashi, and Pucca. Last shift will be Shizuka, Haru, Mui, and Hiroto.", I stated, "We will start watch at 10pm, till then just keep an ear out for trouble."

"Got it!", everyone stated.

"...I hope I don't have to fight..", Shizuka pouted, "I don't know how to fight."

"Don't worry.", Mui giggled tapping her sword, "I got you covered Miss Shizuka!! Nobody is getting past me!!"

"Yeah, we will protect you Miss...Shizuka.", Haru and Hiroto promised.

Helping sort out our meal plan for the rest of today and tomorrow, all of us spent the rest of the day coming to terms with the new world we live in.