CH33 - A necessary choice

[Lyon's POV]

"I see..." Ren voiced out while looking through the three pages of the newspaper I had given him while we were eating, consciously ignoring the out-of-place dark red coloring in its pages which were caused by me whenever I'd pick the newspaper up to read the criminal's answer.

"Their numbers were initially 125 though I'm sure that isn't the case anymore. According to the prisoner, they had five groups tasked with looting the houses near the river while three were responsible for going deeper into the city, we can assume that we've handled two of the eight due to the recent incidents over these last few days." I told them while pointing my finger at the newspaper as I stood behind him while everyone else sat in a circle.

We ate breakfast, which consisted of pure bread with jam since we didn't want to start putting a dent in our canned goods or cup noodles reserve. Hoga was still restrained though he could eat thanks to Amaya, who happily placed a folded-up piece of bread in front of his mouth.

Only four of the five rear groups have people with guns as well as every frontline group. He was incapable of pinpointing any of the seven groups' location or pathing so we're in the dark about which routes to avoid, such information would've been crucial in "guaranteeing" a safe passage through the river but I doubt a bunch of escaped criminals would have the means to cohesively coordinate with each other in large distances without bringing attention to themselves.

'Still, we should be cautious and expect the worst-case scenario just in case. We could just try to go the long way around and go through a different side of the river but it'd take days just to have a substantial amount of distance from where we are, and even then it'd just be us betting our lives while hoping that their radius of looting isn't spread out.' I thought to myself while thinking up the many complications we'd have to worry about and the options available to us.

It isn't like we had the time to exhaust our options either since we didn't know how much progress the criminals on the other side of the river had with their task of clearing the hospital. The looters on this side didn't have a speck of knowledge about their other member's status since they'd been tasked to leave and loot long before the task of clearing the hospital should've begun.

They could be already finished or even dead by now and we'd still have nothing to confirm our suspicions unless we scout the place out ourselves. The criminal did not know what made their leader want to secure the hospital either though that kind of information didn't matter much, after all, we only cared about the fact that my and Misako's parents were there.

"It wouldn't be too much of a stretch to say that those criminals probably have access to rifles now." I told them which caused them to form uneasy looks at the thought of being killed and having to kill people. We doubt those criminals would just let us have our way and leave the hospital with our parents so a fight ensuing was already a guarantee.

Which side and who survives to see another day will depend on how we go about completing our goal but planning for it can be done another day. Our focus now should be on how we're going to safely cross the river first rather than worrying about unconfirmed suspicions.

"So, you saw that news stream too huh? There's a possibility that looters picked up the dropped rifles of the soldiers who died there but there's also the possibility that a few of them managed to get inside the building before they turned or died so the criminals would be able to get those guns." Misako stated as she stood up from the floor and dusted away the few crumbs that had settled atop her shorts.

The rest of us followed in pursuit and began cleaning ourselves with Hoga needing to ask for assistance from Amaya. We were halfway through our trip to the river which meant we should be able to reach it by the afternoon, I still had to drive for Misako's group since none of them were able to which meant nothing changed with our little convoy's set-up.

We checked the other car I had ignored last night and found nothing of importance to take with us though that didn't stop Amaya from taking with her a box of crayons that were left in the car's compartment alongside a CD case that was full of CDs with various genres of music. Ren was about to check the other car which had a dead body inside but I managed to stop him from doing so, citing that I had already checked it last night.

These two abandoned cars probably still had fuel inside them but the problem was that no one in my group knew how to siphon the gas out which meant we'd have to just leave the fuel there. That was what we were initially going to do until Misako told us that she knew how to do it using a hose so we just took off the one that was connected to a faucet and cleaned both holes while Chisato cleaned the dried blood off the SUV window with a mop that Alyssa found.

"We're gonna need another hose." Misako told us after we handed her the hose that we had just cleaned. It isn't like we knew anything about siphoning gas so we just did as we were told and took off another hose which was connected to another faucet located on the opposite side of where we had taken the first hose and handed it to her after it was cleaned.

The second problem was finding a fuel canister to put the fuel in but that complication was easily solved after Misako took two empty canisters out of the back of their SUV. It took less than five minutes to siphon out as much fuel as we could from both cars, but we didn't try to use it on the cars we were currently using since we'd need to abandon them anyway once we reach the river.

'There's also the problem of not even knowing what kind of fuel this was, none of us know much of anything about car engines other than the act of driving itself. All I know is that cars have engines that are specifically designed for the different kinds of gases so we might just end up with a faulty engine even if we were to try.' I thought to myself while carrying the two canisters that were used to separately store each vehicle's siphoned fuel.

There was nothing left here to take so I and Ren positioned ourselves in front of the shutters that we had used to seal the gap that our cars went through, causing a somewhat audible sound to ring out as the shutter slowly went back up. We then go back to our cars with me driving the SUV, spending the next few hours of the morning up to the early afternoon driving to the river.

~Early Afternoon - 1:03 PM~

"Ren, be careful with the slope." I told Ren through the radio as I watched the sedan's front end angle downward as it slowly went down the slightly unstable ground caused by the rocky "shore". We had been driving down the riverside road for about four minutes before we managed to find a gap big enough for both cars to go through between the many cars left abandoned in the street.

I watched as the car went down the steep slope, disappearing from the visible angle given to me by the windshield before I began driving the car forward as well while warning everyone to grip onto the small handles well above the window. Misako had managed to broker a deal between me and Hoga after he had apologized for how he had let his emotions take control of him which is why he was now able to keep Amaya's back to the chair while he used the handle to stay secure.

The SUV didn't have as much trouble as the sedan did due to its wheels but I could still feel the light vibrations coming from below me as I stopped the car a few footsteps away from the river's shore. I turned the car's engine off before going outside with everybody else following in pursuit as Hoga and Amaya went around the back of the car before stopping near Misako as my group left their cars too.

"The inflatable canoe boxes should have small inflators inside while the canoes should be able to carry about two people each but we should be able to fit Amaya in alongside about a fourth of our supplies." I told them while taking out a box that consumed more than half of my bag in height alone, Ren does so as well though his box is visibly misshapen at the bottom due to whatever stuff he had inside of it.

We could've tried looking for a sports shop or something to loot more canoes from but every shop I knew was back in the urban sector of the city while everybody else didn't know one either. Amaya would have to go alongside whichever canoe two girls were in since Ren and his backpack were quite heavy already and I don't think any of us are looking forward to swimming just yet.

"Lyon, are you sure these canoes will be able to handle all that stuff?" Alyssa asks while picking up one of the two canoes as she began inflating it using the tool that came alongside the packaging. Her doubts weren't unfounded but my mother had specifically bought canoes that were flexible while deflated and strong when inflated which allowed a carrying capacity of two people and a lot of supplies.

I explain to her exactly that and reveal how we'd be cutting it close with how many supplies we were carrying now but I informed them of how we should just abandon the boxes of perishable supplies that Misako still had with them. This causes Hoga and Amaya to form hesitant expressions though it is quickly dispelled after Misako told them how it'd expire soon without proper refrigeration anyways.

We began getting to work with me, Hoga, Ren, and Chisato taking out all of the duffel bags and boxes of supplies from each of our cars before separating the boxes of perishable supplies from what we'd still bring. The canoes, in exchange for their strong weight capacity and durability, came at the cost of taking a while just to inflate and the fact that we were using those small inflators decreased the efficiency which meant we'd finish piling the supplies out of the car a few minutes before Alyssa and Misako finished inflating.

"Ok, so we're gonna need to do two return trips for us since each canoe can only fit two adult-sized people and about half of our collective supplies. We'll need to dial it down for one of the canoes though since the first group to go will need to bring Amaya with them which means rather than half, they'll only carry about a fourth instead." I told them while pointing at the neatly separated supply containers.

We began to place the containers inside the compartments that had slightly solid bottom layers below where the seats were placed, reminding me of just how weird and unconventional these canoes were since this was the only canoe that I knew had this kind of storage compartment, but then again, mom bought it and mothers always find the weirdest things to buy online.

We also used the space in between the two rowers for more space to put supplies on but we left one of the canoes slightly less filled to accommodate Amaya's seating arrangement. We had yet to talk about which one of us would be staying behind to wait for the second trip but a conversation about it couldn't even start because of the barely audible sound of multiple cars coming from the direction of the road.

"... Alyssa, get Misako and Amaya and use the canoe with less weight and wait for me on the other side of the river. Ren, you and Chisato will be using the heavier canoe." I told them as I began making my way to the gap, causing everyone else to form expressions of protest. "Please! Just do it... I'll wait for the next trip."

The gap between the cars and the displaced rocks had been all things I'd just concluded to be coincidences and ignored but I wasn't about to just chalk it all up to randomness again and just hope that those cars aren't planning to use a "coincidentally" placed gap they could go through.

The canoes were inflatable which meant a single bullet could deflate them and that would mean trouble, huge trouble. The cars were only loud when driven in a fast manner or when they are being started so the quiet sound of the moving cars didn't mean they were far away enough for us to escape without the possibility of them giving chase. We'd also need to shove the duffel bags and boxes of supplies back inside each car which would take minutes, ones that we didn't have.

I wasn't sure if this convoy of cars were friendly but the area, that gap, and the information I managed to collect from the criminal's mouth kept me wary of any survivor we'd encounter inside this city. The chances of a random group of civilians having a gun wasn't high but it wasn't low either and If they're hostile then I'd keep them busy on the road for as long as I can.

It'd take them about 7-10 minutes just to get across the river due to the weight of the supplies and people themselves as well as the fact that the opposite sides of the river were separated by about 1,300 feet. A handgun's effective range is 25-30 yards which meant it wouldn't take them long to get outside of it but there is always a possibility that they have higher caliber guns so they'd be at risk unless something else takes away the convoy's attention.

"Lyon! You promised!" Alyssa shouted back as the sound of cars grew stronger, causing me to turn my face back to her with a forced smile finding its way to my face as I mouthed the words 'I love you' to her while Hoga began moving closer to the gap as well as he brandishes a knife that he'd somehow pickpocketed off of Misako.

He walks up to me and nods with an expression of confidence though his shaky eyes told nothing but anxiety and fear at what was to come. Who knows? Maybe these people weren't hostile and we could just talk with them or something, I'd rather not use the gun since that'd called every zombie near here to our location but that didn't mean I was entirely against the thought of it.

"I'll be fine, I promise so get out of here!" I shouted back with a pleading tone as I watched her try to move closer only to be stopped by Misako as she was pulled closer to the rafts which left with her a few seconds after. I resumed my walk up the slope with Hoga before I handed him the gun he had pointed at me earlier which causes him to form a surprised expression as he took it from me.

He inspects the gun and somehow manages to turn the safety off and cuck the gun before checking the magazine for the number of bullets it had. He'd either somehow learned how to do it after watching me do the same thing when I threatened him or he'd known about it through one of those first-person shooter games though it had to be very realistic judging from how he'd done it.

"COD" He whispers out as we stopped short of going over the slope, laying ourselves down on the ground while I made sure that my revolver and rifles were fully loaded and ready as I unclasped the lock of my machete's sheath. All thoughts of having a peaceful conversation with the vehicle's users disappeared after I noticed the familiar symbol spray painted onto the front bumper of one of the five cars driving closer to our location.

I point my finger to a gray two-story building located to our right on the opposite side of the road, there were other buildings near us like a small cafe, and more houses but what set the building I had pointed at earlier apart from the others were that it didn't have terraces to climb up to and only a singular door and front window that even had brown railings that left gaps too small for any human to go through.

The cafe would've been the most idiotic choice seeing how the white exterior fence used as a barrier to separate the road from the tables left outside had been ran over while the front side of the building itself which was made of glass was broken to little shards on the ground. Almost every other building had a terrace but there were a few others that didn't have one too it just so happened that the one I had non-verbally told Hoga to go to was the closest one to us.

'Here goes nothing' I thought to myself as I picked up the largest rock I could find near me and ran towards the road while Hoga made his way to the gray building. I narrowed my eyes and pull my right hand slightly to my back, throwing the coarse rock towards the first car which managed to break its windshield as it slightly swerved to the right.

I needed to make sure that I had their attention so I remained motionless for a few seconds, waiting for them to begin going outside of their cars as I shouted every curse in every language I could remember as I ran to the gray-walled house while watching them chase after me from the corner of my eye. I go inside before Hoga closed and barricaded the door behind me using a recliner he had dragged away from where I'd presume to be the living room of this very small house.

I go down on one knee and lightly pushed the curtain to the side, counting every person visible to me which tallied up to a total of fifteen to seventeen people since I wasn't too keen on pushing my luck any further by opening the curtains more. I watched as seven of them began taking out various handguns and aimed them at the building only for them to bring it down as a voice, who I'd presume to be their leader's, shouted out orders that warned them not to shoot since it'd call zombies to their location.

two of the eight shooters chose to brandish out weapons instead alongside the twelve other grunts which ranged from small-scale weapons like kitchen knives and ice picks to the more absurd ones like a makeshift naginata or spear which used a road sign pipe with a knife duct taped on its front end. I looked to my left and found Hoga pushing the recliner to the door with his back as he held onto the handgun I had given to him earlier with his left hand and a knife with his right as beady drops of sweat continuously fell from his pale face.

'Alyssa... please be safe.' I thought to myself while closing my eyes for a few seconds as a memory of the first time we'd gone to the crepe shop near the campus found its way to the surface. I opened my eyes and hardened my grip around my machete as I firmly decided that this wouldn't be the last day I'd hug Alyssa good morning.

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AN: I know next to nothing about canoeing and how far a person can travel via canoe(this is subjective to be honest since we all have different rates of speed) so I am just basing this off of average speeds found online. As for the bridge, it was inspired by the Ikitsuki bridge which is about 1,300 feet long and since it takes about 30 minutes to travel 1 mile/5280 feet in a canoe then it'd take about 7.5 minutes or 7 minutes and 30 seconds to cross the river.

Trust me, I now understand why people avoid writing realistic fics (as realistic as possible at least based on google-searched information) but I've already started writing this and I have no plans on giving up... so maybe... drop a review :).