What Remains: The Outbreak

by Tyler Barrett

  Kenji was at work on his second Yokai, hitting it in the neck but only partially decapitating it. The Yokai still twitched, until he pulled his sword out, severing the spinal cord. The last one that was still up and moving had moved in closer than Kenji realized. The Yokai grabbed him and pushed him to the ground, but Kenji was ready for it. He rolled with the force of the push and used the momentum to gain the upper hand.

  He pushed off the Yokai, landing on top of the creature. Kenji had lost his sword during the scuffle. He got up, grabbing it, and turned back to the Yokai. It had begun to get up, but he kicked it back down. He set his foot on its chest and then plunged the sword into the creature’s brain, ending its life. He pulled it out and looked at Nobuto, who had just dealt his death blow to a Yokai.

  Kenji looked around, seeing the carnage that he had created. It made him sick to his stomach; every fiber of his being hated doing what he had to do. He hated that he had ended more lives, even if those lives ended the moment the person became infected. The infection claimed each person as a prisoner, bound to seek out others to enslave. Kenji felt in some way that he was releasing these poor souls from that enslavement.

  Kenji shoved all these feelings down and away, not wanting his emotions to get the better of him. Nobuto was torn, wanting to cheer in the fact that he had proved himself again, and wanting to fall apart on the spot. Kenji realized that he hadn’t even taken account of the teen’s emotions. He quickly discovered that he needed to be strong for the teen.

  The teen needed someone to believe in, a strong idol. Someone that he could look at and believe that they were going to make it and that everything would be fine.

  Kenji walked over to Nobuto and patted him on the shoulder, and whispered to him, “You did well.” Kenji motioned to the dead bodies, “I’m sorry that you have to go through this… I mean… It’s something you should have never had to deal with.”

  Nobuto dropped his head, staring at the pipe he was carrying. He whispered, “I know. I feel like this all just a dream. That I somehow got sucked into a video game. I don’t know whether I should be glad that I made it through the fight or sad and upset for killing people. I feel as though I am a monster for doing such things, but I know that if I didn’t, I would be just like them.”

  Kenji spoke softly, “That’s what makes you human, Nobuto. You aren’t supposed to enjoy killing if you did you would be a psychopath. Anyways, we need to check the rest of this floor and move on. We need to be going, and make sure there aren’t any more Yokai around.”

  All the doors, except one, on the floor, were closed. They walked over to the open apartment and snuck in. There was lots of blood covering most of the furniture in the living room, but no bodies in sight. Kenji figured that at least one or two of the now dead Yokai in the hall had once been survivors. They left the apartment and closed the door, not wanting to disturb the apartment like the one they had found covered in blood before.

  Once they were back into the hall, they started to check the doors again. They were all locked, and again no answer when they knocked. It seemed that they would have to search lower if they wanted to find any survivors of the group. With that in mind, they left and descended to the tenth floor, and found the door still intact.

  They entered and found two dead bodies lying face down in the hallway several feet apart. Kenji put his finger up to his lips indicating that they should be quiet. He inched closer and closer until they were a couple of feet away from the first body. Kenji leaned forward and tapped the tip of his sword on the leg of the body. It didn’t move. Kenji let out a sigh of relief.

  He approached the second body less cautiously and tapped it as well. It didn’t move as well, he then noticed the bullet wounds to the body. It was riddled with bullet holes and had a hole in the back of its head. They were on the right trail it seemed as if they were going to find the soldiers. The way the bodies lay on the ground meant that the soldiers had to be in one of four apartments at the other end of the hall.

  Kenji and Nobuto walked down the hall and saw that one door had several bloody handprints on it. It possibly meant that they could be hiding within. They knocked on the door, and the sound of things hitting the ground echoed from within. A curse word was uttered quietly; one thing was for certain, living people were inside.

  Kenji knocked again, “Hello? We know you are in there, please let us in. We want to talk to you; we have others with us.”

  A muffled voice called through the door, “OK, just give us a minute to move the stuff away from the door.”

  Kenji and Nobuto heard audible grunting, and heavy objects moved on the other side. After about a minute the door opened. A man with an assault rifle aimed at them came into view. He pointed the barrel of his gun at them and talked harshly, “Are you infected? Do you have any bites or wounds caused by the infected?”

  They both shook their heads and showed the soldier their limbs, chest, and backs. The soldier seemed to relax, lowering his weapon slightly. He waved them into the apartment and closed the door behind them. Another soldier approached them while the first one shoved a heavy looking dresser against the door.

  The second soldier beckoned them into the living room, where they had pushed all the furniture to the sides of the room and had laid down some sleeping gear. The first soldier was average build and height and looked friendly enough. The second soldier was slightly taller and was very well-built. He looked like he was constantly pissed about something but didn’t let it out.

  The second soldier was cleaning up some food on the ground. Their packs were sitting next to the wall; it looked like one of them had been eating some canned food. Kenji assumed it was the noise they had heard.

  The first soldier walked into the living room, “Well, I guess introductions are in order. I am Private Tadao; this here is Private first-class Takeo. And who might you be?”

  Kenji answered first, “I’m Kenji, and this is Nobuto. I just want to start out and ask; are you two of the soldiers that lead a group of civilians into this building?”

  Tadao answered, “Yes, we are. How do you know that?”

  “We found a woman who said that you led them into this building, but she was attacked in the lobby. We were already searching the building for anyone alive and to clear out the Yokai when we found her.”

  “You found someone alive? Hell, we didn’t think anyone else had made it from the group. Everyone was running as fast as they could, trying to get away from the infected. Anyways, I and Takeo here tried to hold them off, so the civilians could find a safe place to get away, but we got cut off as well. We slipped in here and locked ourselves inside. How did you get here, I don’t remember seeing you with the group we brought in?”

  “My girlfriend and I were staying at my apartment on the nineteenth floor when this all started, we’ve just been waiting it out. Same as Nobuto here, who we found all alone on our floor. We were clearing out the building like I said, hoping to gather anyone left and all the supplies we could find. We were wanted to try to find somewhere safer as well.”

  “You might not want to go out into the streets; we were surrounded out there. We even lost the rest of our unit out there! It is like walking around in a war zone, the only thing is the enemy doesn’t give up or die too easily. What is your plan, just march on out there and see how far you can make it before they get you?”

  “My plan might sound crazy, but I have thought it out a bit. I want to go downtown, head in the opposite direction everyone else is heading, which the Yokai should follow out. I planned on moving quickly and using the smaller side streets. We were going to check the police station downtown see if there are any weapons left, find a good building to hole up in and start gathering supplies and taking out Yokai in the area.”

  Tadao rubbed his chin, thinking about the plan. “Well I supposed moving with a small group that could work, but you would have to move fast. Do you know the area well enough to make it that far?”

  “I know it well enough t
hat we shouldn’t have to look at a map. Would you guys want to join us, I mean it would be great to have two soldiers with us, and it beats staying here. This building doesn’t seem to be the safest of places, even with us clearing out most of the floors. Why don’t we just search the rest of the floors and clear out the building then we can all head up to my apartment and talk this all over, does that sound good?” asked Kenji.

  Tadao looked over at Takeo, who shrugged. He looked like the type of guy that didn’t like much to talk. He picked up his pack and sleeping gear. Tadao looked back at Kenji, “Well I guess that settles that. We will help you search for anyone else in the building and clear out any infected. Let us just grab our gear.”

  Kenji and Nobuto waited by the door while the two soldiers packed up their things. It only took them a few minutes, and they were ready to go. They moved the dresser out of the way of the door checking to make sure it was still clear. The four of them walked out into the hallway and onto the stairwell.

  Tadao stopped and took off his pack, along with Takeo. “Better to leave our gear here; I don’t feel like lugging it around.”

  Kenji nodded and asked, “What about your weapons, what are you going to use? I mean your rifles are going to be loud and attract any Yokai left in the building, and maybe any outside. Nobuto and I have weapons that don’t make that much noise.”

  Takeo walked over to where a fire ax was stored and broke the glass, pulling out the ax. Tadao reached into his pack and pulled out a six-inch-long knife. He sheathed the knife on his leg, securing it with straps. “Don’t worry; we have it covered.”

  They set off down the stairs clearing the rest of the floors. They mainly found more chaos and destruction. Some floors had dead bodies, but most had no one on them. They found a few more Yokai spread throughout the remaining floors and quickly killed them.

  When they got to the second floor, they could see signs of the Yokai tearing through it. Several doors had been smashed open, blood on the walls and floor, a giveaway that there was probably at least one on the floor. Kenji told the two soldiers of his plan that he and Nobuto had used earlier. They agreed to it and went back up a floor and across to the other side of the building.

  They both stood across the hall, with the door opened halfway. They gave a nod to Kenji, signaling that they were ready. Kenji entered and yelled down the hall again. The hallway came alive with the sounds of many Yokai groaning and moaning. Soon, several of the opened doors gave way to a multitude of bodies.

  Altogether there was about fifteen, way more than they had dealt with before. Kenji could feel the worry start to work its way through his body. He was sure the others felt the same way; it wasn’t easy to stare at something that scared you right in the eyes.

  Nobuto was several steps behind Kenji ready to jump in when the Yokai got close. It didn’t take long for them to reach Kenji, who began to swing his sword in a fury of swipes. He was starting to feel confident with the weapon but was still no master with it. Whenever it got tight, Nobuto was there to help, taking out any infected that Kenji didn’t kill.

  The two soldiers did their fair share of damage as well. Takeo took the lead; swing his ax taking limbs and heads alike. He was a brute of a man, a powerhouse, a force to be reckoned with. Whenever he didn’t kill a Yokai fully, Tadao was right behind him jamming his knife into the creature’s brains. Almost as soon as the fight had begun, it was over.

  They took count making sure there was none left alive. It seemed that the floor was clear, and together decided to move on. Kenji and Nobuto left the floor on one side of the building while Tadao and Takeo went down the other. They were going to use the same plan on the next floor if they needed to.

  On the first floor, there were only four Yokai which they took down quickly. They moved to the lobby and ground floor. It was clear that what Ren had told them earlier about the attack on the civilians was true. Blood and gore strung about the floor near the stairs. Several bodies were amongst the blood and gore.

  They only found a single Yokai wandering about the bodies, it turned towards them and let out a hissing moan. It was a little girl, around the age of eight. Her arm showed where a Yokai had taken a chunk out of her flesh and infected her. The front of her shirt caked in dried blood.

  Kenji and the others pulled back in horror, unsure. It was one thing to kill full-grown people who were infected. A child, well that was another thing on its own. Children represent innocence, and this one was defiled, a Yokai. She stumbled towards them dead set on reaching them. They were all helpless and could only stare at her.

  Kenji knew that they should do something about it, his body screaming to take action. His mind didn’t seem to want to act. His mind was telling him that it wasn’t right. It wasn’t right to end this child’s life, to cut it short. Kenji forced himself to move and told the voice in his head the simple truth. It wasn’t a child anymore; it was a shell, a vessel of infection. A tear rolled down his cheek as he swung the sword at the child, ended its last bit of life.

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  The building was now cleared, at least, all open areas were. There would be no way of knowing if Yokai lurked behind the locked doors on each floor. Either way, the building was safer now than it was, and they could make it to the lobby without running into a group of them again. The lobby entrance to the street had held, suffering no major damage. They double checked the barricade to make sure it wouldn’t break and saw that it was still sturdy.

  With that in mind, they left and walked back up to the floor where the two soldiers had left their gear. They shouldered their packs, and the four of them set off for Kenji’s apartment. It would be cramped, but at least, they had a small group now. The whole safety in numbers thing cut the edge off the worry of taking on Yokai alone. It was human nature to be around other humans, even if you hated the person you felt the need to know that you weren’t alone.

  They reached the nineteenth-floor huffing and puffing but had no incidents. They stopped outside Kenji’s apartment catching their breath and knocked. Kiyomi opened the door, ushering them in, her eyes went wide after seeing the two soldiers. After she closed the door, she introduced herself, “Hello, I’m Kiyomi, Kenji’s Fiancée.”

  They introduced themselves to her, dumping their packs in the hallway, “Tadeo. That’s Takeo,”

  They entered the apartment and whistled when they saw the pile of supplies. It wasn’t that much, but when you don’t have access to basic supplies, anything looks good. Kenji walked over to Kiyomi and hugged her, ending it with a deep kiss.

  “Where is Ren?” he asked.

  “She is sleeping in the other room, she apparently hadn’t slept much being stuck in that bathroom,” Kiyomi answered.

  “Alright let’s let her sleep and count up all the supplies we have. I want to know how many days’ worth we have. We can wake her up and talk about the plan once we after that.”

  Kenji offered some food to the soldiers since he felt bad about ruining their canned dinner. They gladly accepted it and ate greedily. Kenji left Nobuto in charge of cleaning and storing their weapons. He found a piece of paper and a pen and helped Kiyomi count everything they had. It didn’t take long since Kiyomi had already sorted it all out into different piles depending on the type of item it was. They had it split into food, medical, water; which was more precious than food.

  They had a fair, decent amount of food, enough to last about four days amongst the six of them. It wasn’t that much, but it could be worse. Their water situation was the most critical; they barely had enough to last about two days for the group once they left the building. If none of them needed any of the medical supplies immediately, they could make it last most likely several weeks.

  Kenji was sure that they could find more food by searching apartments without a problem. The most demanding thing would be finding either bottled water or even something for them to carry water in. At least, while they stayed here at the apartment building, it had power, for now. He didn’t k
now how long the power was going to stay on and didn’t give him any dreams of the plumbing working forever either. It was honestly a miracle they still had power, but most of it had been automated years ago, which didn't require a person to make sure it was working.

  They would have to keep an eye out for containers they could easily carry, perhaps even reuse, for water while searching apartments. The last problem would be finding sleeping gear for the rest of the group, the two soldiers already had their gear. He was hoping they could find some sleeping bags they could use. He already had one hidden away in his closet but would need a few more.

  Finishing his list, Kenji decided that he was going to go and get Ren. He walked into the bedroom, finding her curled up under the covers sleeping peacefully. He reached down to shake her awake gently. Her eyes shot open aware of the presence of a person. Instinct took over, and she shoved Kenji back, clamoring out of bed. She reached down and yanked up the bedside lamp, raising it to swing.

  “STOP! Stop! It’s me Kenji! I was just trying to wake you up,” Kenji yelled.

  Ren lowered the lamp, calming down once she realized who it was. She looked sheepishly at Kenji, replacing the lamp on the table. Kiyomi and Nobuto rushed into the room, “What is going on? Is everything Ok?”

  Kenji waved them down, “Its ok, no need to be alarmed. I just wasn’t thinking and scared Ren. She reacted and shoved me, that’s all. It's ok.”

  Ren smiled apologetically, “Sorry, I just woke up and sensed a figure standing over me. I overreacted and went on the offense. It won’t happen again.”

  “Well with senses like that it should keep you alive at least.” Nobuto pointed out.

  They nodded and laughed uneasily.

  It was almost bizarre to laugh at all, with everything going on around them. It seemed out of place, foreign. Had so much changed and happened that they were even fearful to laugh? It also felt good to have some normal human qualities show because they hadn’t had the time to let them out. They probably would have been dead by now if they were too focused on letting their human emotions out.