CH17 - A father's death
[Lyon's POV]
"Know anyone who owns a bicycle or electric car by any chance? If you know a shop that sells any of the two then now is the time to tell me." I told Ren while we were all sitting down on the floor while finally eating a home-cooked meal on a desk in front of his couch. It was already 1:00 PM when we finally reached his home, prepared a meal, and barricaded the entrance of his apartment room.
"Hm, I don't think I know anyone but I'm pretty sure there was an electric car shop in the street that had a fire earlier, the one we avoided going through. As for bicycle shops, there should be one about two streets north of here. Why do you ask?" Ren questions me while putting a spoonful of rice and bacon in his mouth.
"We're going to need a faster mode of transportation to get from here to my house. An electrical vehicle would be ideal since they make quieter sound emissions than gasoline-powered cars. Our second pick would be a bicycle since they're quiet and don't need any sort of fuel other than our energy, it'll be harder to carry heavy bags with us though." I tell them before drinking an entire glass of cold water before returning to my meal.
"I see... what'll we do if we can't find any of those two then?" Alyssa asks me while putting down her kitchen utensils since she had just finished eating her meal. She stands up while taking her glass with her as she moves closer to the water dispenser to get another cup before sitting back down on her previously vacant seat.
"We'll have to go with gasoline-powered cars then, a gasoline motorcycle would be too loud and will act as a beacon for a zombie's next lunch. So we'll just have to make do with a normal car at that point." I tell them before standing up and looking around the room.
The room had an average size, with a small kitchen and countertop opposite of where the living room was situated. To the kitchen's side was a bathroom while a door on the side of the living room led to a small bedroom. The door to the apartment room itself had a short hallway that separated it from the living room and kitchen.
We decided to use a shoe rack and a chair as barricades to prevent anyone or anything from entering through but to be honest, my opinion and expectation on its ability to protect us from 3 or 4 agitated zombies once they go through the door were lackluster.
"I and Alyssa will check out the cabinets and fridges for supplies we can bring with us. Ren, pack up some clothes and bring whatever you think matters the most with you, don't bring everything that has sentimental value. Come help me and Alyssa pack supplies once you're done. Chisato, stay close to the door and make sure to alert us if you suddenly hear someone knocking or bumping onto the door." I brief them as I dust away rice that had stuck to my pants while I was eating.
I, Chisato, and Alyssa leave our bags on the couch while Ren brings his with him to his bedroom. Chisato moves to stand in front of the small hallway, guarding it as she grips onto her bokken firmly while I and Alyssa began opening the cabinets for anything to take with us. We take out as much as we could carry and leave it on the table we were eating on earlier before going back and scrounging up more.
A few minutes later and Ren joins us, his bag now left alongside ours on the couch as he opens the fridge and takes out various jars filled with different spreads alongside a loaf of bread that only had half of it remaining. It took us about 10 minutes before we could finish compiling everything we were going to bring with us as we now all stood in front of the table.
"So what personal things did you bring with you?" Chisato asks while looking at Ren who opens one of the pockets of his bag to take out a picture. It was a picture of him and his family, he was wearing a toga while proudly carrying a high school diploma on top of the stage with his family smiling at the camera.
He then tucks it away before raising a bat that he had left on the couch, it was similar to the bat we had taken with us from the baseball club except for the fact that it had the letters R and C engraved on the flat top of the bat. The same bat that he would use back in the original timeline which just means that he somehow managed to get home back then too.
"Well, we have the food but what are we going to do with the water still inside the dispenser. It isn't much but every drop counts right?" Ren asks, prompting me to bring the bottles of water we were drinking from during lunch and refilling them.
"Let me compile everything we have first, including the ones inside our backpacks already before we begin dividing up the newly collected supplies between our bags." I tell them, receiving nods as I make mental notes of how many days' worth of food and water we now had for four people.
It took us about 30 minutes for me to finish mentally listing it all down and dividing it between us all. We had about 20 days' worth of food and 23 days' worth of water after combining our newly collected supplies with the ones we had taken with us from the canteen back at school.
"Have you said your goodbyes?" I asked Ren who nods back at me as I move to the front of the group while all of us stood in the hallway in our usual formation. We had already decided earlier before we finished eating that we wouldn't stay the night here. We were going to begin looking for a mode of transportation today, and if needed, then we'd just camp it out inside the vehicle or go clear out one of the many random houses to stay in for the night.
I move the shoe rack and the chair that acted as makeshift barricades out of the way, leaving the path to the door itself now open for us to walk through. I unlock the door and slowly push it open, peering into the hallway by checking both left and right for any signs of zombies or even humans who may have heard us enter through the stairway earlier.
The hallway was the same as we had left it earlier, devoid of both humans and zombies alike. I move outside and stretch my legs, physically and mentally preparing for the afternoon ahead of us. We could try looting the apartment rooms but doing that would be a waste of time, time that all of us would rather spend looking for our families.
I move to the door that led to the stairway on the side of the building instead of the one that would've led us to the first and second floors. I unlock it and pull it open, being welcomed into the world outside with the smell of burning buildings and the metallic smell of blood that had already dried on the pavement we'd be walking on soon.
I walk down the stairway with the others following close behind me, reaching the pavement outside of the building before turning left as we would be moving north since Ren had informed us of the possibility of there being a bicycle shop there. It took us around 15 minutes before we reached the first crossing lane, the path north was left clear of any obstacles so we continued moving in a straight line.
We passed more houses and apartments on this street than all the others we had just gone through, a clear sign of us transitioning from the urban layer of the city to the more open roads of the residential layer. There were still cars, but they were few and far between, some of them were even left on the side of the street where people with cars but no garages would leave them for the night.
"Where to now Ren?" I asked Ren as we had finally reached this street's crossing lane which meant the bicycle shop was somewhere around here since we hadn't passed any along the way.
"Uhm... I think it's somewhere to the right of where we currently are?" Ren explains to me unconvincingly, earning a sigh not just from me but the other two as well. Ren then faces downward, possibly ashamed over his lack of knowledge of the local area around where he lived.
We turn right and start walking forward, glancing at both sides of the street for any sign that indicated where a bicycle shop could be located. Halfway along the street, I managed to notice what seemed to be a bike hanging on a small metal railing on a building's second floor with the text 'Aki's bikes' inscribed onto it. A clear sign of a shop that sold exactly what we needed right now.
We reach the front of the shop, the entrance had been sealed shut with metal shutters while its side was made of glass, allowing us to peer into the building. On the opposite side of the street was a van capable of fitting about 7 people inside, the doors were left open with a puddle of blood forming from below the front passenger seat.
"Ren and Chisato, try to find a way to open that metal shutter or another way to get inside while I and Alyssa will check out that van." I whisper to them, the two nod and head toward the bike shop while Alyssa follows me to the van. I begin moving to the side where the driver's seat was located to look at the inside of the car from there.
'A puddle of blood under the passenger seat while also being the only door left closed. That person probably got bit and turned while inside the car, scaring off all the passengers inside while still being tied down by a seat belt' I think to myself, trying to guess the story of what had happened inside.
I reach the driver's side and notice a pregnant woman's body slumped over the front passenger seat, a hole to the side of the head with the shape of a knife being the reason for its death. Its skin still carried the signs of infection but it had already been killed by someone else.
I enter through the driver's seat and spot a picture of the same woman standing alongside a man who I assumed was her husband, and two male children, one of them being on the younger side of their teenage years while another seemed no older than eight years.
I take Gray out of its sheath and thrust it through the woman's head again before pressing the red button to release the seatbelt that held the woman's body to the chair in place. I open the door beside her and put my hand around Gray's wooden handle as I push the woman off the chair and onto the road with my legs, causing a quiet thud as the body falls limp on the ground.
I open the small compartment in front of the front passenger seat and find only a few candy wrappers and CDs of old songs I had never even heard about. I close it before returning my attention to the sun visor above the steering wheel, opening it in an attempt to find the keys to the car. It was nowhere to be found though so I rose from the driver's seat and went through the small path in the middle of the two front seats to reach the second row of chairs behind it.
It had nothing aside from two small pillows probably meant for the children on the picture and an empty can of soda placed inside a cupholder. I glance back at Alyssa who was waiting beside the car's door, her eyes wandering around the car, probably taking note of the fact that the front passenger seat's fabric had been stained red.
I return my attention to the inside of the car and reach the three seats on the third row of the car, the small window in the trunk of the van allowing me to see through it and observe the street behind us, including the bike shop. The trunk itself was empty of any bags or even trash which meant there was nothing inside to take with us if the other two managed to find a way inside the shop and get us bikes.
Unfortunately, I see Ren and Chisato walking toward us with their hands raised as the same teenager in the picture I found stood behind the two of them with a knife with their two bags behind him while the younger one stood beside him as he clumsily carried their weapons. I look at the small window on the rear storage of the car and see a man carrying a makeshift spear fashioned out of a broom, duct tape, and a knife, pointing it at Alyssa.
'Ok, it looks like they don't know I'm inside, the kid is too clumsy to do anything dangerous, and the teenager behind Ren and Chisato is a bit too close for comfort while the older guy is starting to get closer to Alyssa.' I think to myself while looking at the window beside the second row of seats at Alyssa who slowly dropped my old bokken before raising her hand as well.
I quietly move to the sliding door that was left open beside the second row of chairs, taking out my NAMBU M60 from its holster, putting my index finger to the trigger, and flicking down the hammer of the gun with my thumb. I silently but quickly step out of the car and reveal myself to the teenager while aiming my revolver at him, he yelps in alarm before raising his hand, dropping the bags to the ground alongside his knife while his yelp caused their father to turn back and move closer to the rear side of the car.
He notices me pointing the handgun at his son before smirking like an idiot with car keys dangling on his pants, the teenager, in turn, whispers something to the child beside him before the kid shakily hands the weapons back to Chisato and Ren before hiding behind his older sibling. Alyssa then moves beside me and notices that the teenager was dragging my two other companion's bags, eliciting her into whispering the info back to me.
"You, move beside the children and leave your make-shift spear close to the car alongside the bags and the knife that your son had." I command the father with a threatening tone while looking closely at his hands, watching them for any sudden movement. He whispers something to the older sibling as he picks up the backpacks, he leaves the bags, the knife, and the spear at the center of the rear side of the car before moving beside the teenager, his smirk never leaving his face.
"What's a teenager like you doing with a toy gun huh?" The man snarks with an unhinged expression, causing the teenager to look at him nervously. He whispers something to the older sibling, only a few words like "fake gun" were audible enough for me to hear while Ren picks up the makeshift spear, the knife, and the two bags with his free hand, leaving the spear and the knife beside me while he wore his backpack and gave Chisato's back.
"Shut up, those keys on your pants, are they meant for the car? If so, throw the keys to us and no one gets hurt." He nods at my question before taking off the keychain that kept the keys tied to his pants. He raises it and throws it to Ren with a lacking amount of power, forcing Ren to move closer so he could catch the keys.
This left Ren in a weak position as the man takes out a swiss knife from his pant pockets before charging at Ren. My eye manages to catch his movement before he could do any harm though as I aim at his chest since it was the easiest target, he wasn't a zombie so aiming for the head specifically wasn't needed.
I pull the trigger, causing a loud gunshot to echo down the street as the bullet pierces his neck instead of the chest due to his movement, blood gushing through the hole as he falls on the road while clutching onto his neck. His face morphed from shock to pain before ultimately settling down somewhere in the middle of those two sensations.
The gunshot had shocked my companions, a slick of blood managing to reach Ren's shoulder as he falls to the ground as well due to the shock of what had just happened. He picks up the keys and messily stands up before moving closer to us while the two children were now kneeling on the ground while sobbing as their father drowned in his blood
Chisato and Ren move closer to the two children of the dying father, putting their hands on their shoulders and pulling them up. The younger child doesn't fight back but the older sibling pushes Chisato away before pulling his younger brother back from Ren who only used a bit of his strength, allowing the older brother to pry his younger sibling off of his hands.
The two then kneel beside their father once more as the older brother cradles the dying man's head on his lap. The younger child just kneels beside his brother and leans his head on the older child's shoulder who replies to him with a side hug as he laid his head on the younger child's. Ren and Chisato just stand back and grimace at the sight in front of them, probably contemplating what they should do to convince the children to come with us.
"Get inside the fucking van, now!" I shout to my companions as I pull Alyssa while Ren and Chisato reluctantly follow my command, looking back at the children who remained where they kneeled the entire time as we began hearing screeches of agitated zombies coming from both directions of the street.
The three of them enter through the sliding door that was left open while I take away the keys from Ren before getting inside and closing the door behind us, I reach the driver's seat through the narrow path between the two front chairs.
I reach out to the handle of the door beside the front passenger seat and pull it close before doing the same to the door beside the driver's seat which was where I'd be sitting since I'll be the one driving.
I push the keys through the ignition before starting the car, the engine surprisingly starts a bit quieter than I would've expected of a gasoline-powered car but that didn't matter right now. I put the car in reverse, driving it back and positioning it in a way that the front was now facing to the left, opposite of the path we had taken to get here.
I shift the gearbox from reverse and back into drive, before pushing down its accelerator pedal with my foot causing the car to go forward. I ignored the two siblings who were still kneeling beside the fallen man as zombies rushed toward them now, they would serve as distractions while we made our getaway from this zombie hotspot.
'Looks like we only have enough gas to reach 3/4ths through our next destination, and that's if we don't make any detours along the way which is still a bit unlikely even though we're in the residential layer. We have more than enough to reach my home if we were to choose to go straight through the urban sector but only an idiot would do that.' I think to myself while checking the fuel counter before returning my eyes to the road in front of us.
We were lucky enough to have the road we were currently taking to be clear of any obstacles, though there were a few cars I needed to go around of. My eyes wander to the rear view mirror, my three other companions were sitting on the third row of chairs, carrying shell-shocked expressions as everything that had just happened settled in.
I hear footsteps coming from behind the car, muffled as the flooring of the car lessens its noise. I glance back for a quick second and see Alyssa looking at me in worry as she sits down on a seat in the second row of chairs. We say nothing to each other though as we spend the car ride in silence with only the noise of the air conditioner to fill the silent vehicle.
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AN: Ok, so I made a "mistake" regarding what gun Lyon bought early on into the fic. I was basing the gun on an actual shotgun that I found on an online website for sale. The name it had was "Miroku Citori" and one of the chapters I recently finished was when he was back home and took the guns out of their lockers. I did a bit of research and the gun's name was labeled wrong or something cause I couldn't find any Miroku Citori shotguns like it (Only Browning Citori). I did a bit more digging and learned that it was called Miroku MK60. Most of the details regarding the gun that I had already mentioned were correct though so I only needed to change the name of the gun whenever it was mentioned. Sorry about that.