“Cheap punk? You. You look like a third-class salary man in that suit,” he returned, which was one of the lowest slurs one could give someone of Gaku’s standing.
However, Gaku was not interested in exchanging verbal jabs with his rival. He was more interested in finding a way out of his current situation, and he knew he would have to use Isamu to accomplish that feat.
“You’ll never get out of here alive if we don’t work together.”
“I’d rather kill you and take the keys.”
“The zombies will eat you before you figure out which car it is,” Tohno told him.
“Do you think I don’t know how to use a locator device?”
Gaku scoffed. “Huh. And attract the zombies. And you still won’t have what you came for. Now give me a gun.”
Isamu paused, rethinking his position and realized he needed to keep his adversary alive until the serum was in his possession.
“Okay,” he said. “I’ll kill you later… Kurosawa.”
“Yes, Boss,” the junior responded.
“Give Boss Tohno your katana and take Brother Saito’s pistol,” he instructed his employee.
“Yes, Boss.”
“What about me?” Yazawa asked, having been silent for so long.
Isamu looked at the Tohno chief and conveyed, “You won’t need one. You and the rest are zombie bait.”
Isamu pushed the elevator’s call button and the door re-opened. Kimura pushed Yazawa into the car first; the rest of Tohno Clan followed.
Looking at the serving cart with the tray and lid, Isamu pulled off the cap to reveal a platter containing various sushi. He picked up a piece and smelled it.
“Did you fish this out of the Asakawa River?” he asked with disgust, as he dropped the fish back onto the plate. Isamu removed Gaku’s pocket-handkerchief from his suit jacket and wiped his hands with it. When he was finished, he stuffed the soiled handkerchief back into Gaku’s pocket.
What should have been a quick ride down ten floors was not to be. The elevator abruptly shuddered and slammed to a halt between the third and fourth floors. The door opened to reveal four feet of exit space above their heads.
“Stupid elevator,” Isamu said, and then ordered Gaku to push the lobby button again, but the car did not respond. “You should be ashamed,” he told his former associate. “This is the worst hotel I’ve ever been in. Where is your pride?”
Isamu ordered Tohno Clan member Kenji Shimizu to look out the opening, but Gaku’s bodyguard refused to do it.
“You’re not my boss,” Shimizu reminded him.
“Is that so?” he replied to the remark. “Should I have Matsumoto cut you open and stuff your bleeding body through the gap? I’ll know then if it is clear.”
Drawing his wakizashi, Matsumoto gave Shimizu a wide grin.
Chief Yazawa ordered his underling, “Inoue. Go see if it is clear,” but Isamu was not going to have his authority undermined.
“Scarface goes or you die,” he told the Tohno chief, aiming his pistol at him.
Shimizu acquiesced and Inoue held the serving cart while his superior climbed atop of it.
Looking out the gap, he checked both ways to see if the corridor was empty, but he also observed that a section of the building and floor had been destroyed.
“It’s clear, Boss,” he stated, and then withdrew his head from the space and turned around. “But there’s—”
As Shimizu moved to get off the cart, two pairs of hands thrust through the opening and grabbed onto his jacket collar, pulling him back.
Inoue and Yazawa gripped Shimizu’s legs as he struggled to unbutton his jacket, but the hands now had him around his neck and started to pull him out.
Gaku grabbed hold as Shimizu began to scream in horrific pain. Shimizu’s head ripped from his body, and his torso flopped back onto the cart. For a moment the headless carcass spurted blood from its neck stump.
Zombified Kase and Sakata peered in. They attempted to crawl through the breech when pistol shots from Isamu, Kimura and Kurosawa rang out. Dripping blood and brain matter, the two former Tohno henchmen dangled into the car with their skulls blown apart.
Pointing to Inoue, Isamu stated, “You. Peon. Go up and see if there are any more.”
“Send one of your own men,” Yazawa told him, tired of being zombie bait.
The statement had not been a request, so Isamu made a clearer declaration. He shot Inoue in the head; the peon’s brains and blood splattered onto Yazawa.
“Now you go,” he instructed Yazawa.
“You’re insane!” Tohno exclaimed.
“I’m a father trying to save his child,” Isamu snapped back.
***
A few feet from the elevator there was a gaping hole in the outer wall and a huge section of floor missing, making one direction impassable.
Matsui helped Tohno out of the car. As he was pulled clear, he saw his chief on his knees with Isamu’s lieutenant aiming a pistol at his head.
“I’m done with the games,” Isamu informed his former associate. “Tell me where the vials are or I will kill this peon.”
Gaku snapped, “Show him some respect. He is my chief.”
Kimura cocked the pistol’s hammer.
“Then tell me where the vials are or I will kill this chief peon.”
“Boss. Don’t tell him,” Eiichi Yazawa said, and then offered up his life. “It will be an honor to die for you.”
Isamu laughed. “Finally, one Tohno member with honor. Kill him.”
Kimura pressed the pistol against Yazawa’s head, showing the Tohno leader there would be no mercy.
However, Gaku knew Isamu could be bargained with. He believed there was one thing the Kudo Clan leader wanted more than exacting revenge. That was the antiretroviral.
“No, wait! I’ll tell you. But your word. Your word if I do, you won’t kill him.”
“You value your chief peon that much? Then you have my word.”
“Or Kimura!” Tohno added, just to make sure his statement of intent was clear.
“Deal,” Isamu agreed.
Isamu motioned for Kimura to back away. The first lieutenant did as instructed, but kept the pistol aimed at Yazawa, ready to fulfill his boss’s order if the Tohno boss did not give up the information.
“Tell me before I change my mind,” Isamu warned.
Gaku said, “The only place where it is cool and dry. The wine cellar.”
Isamu gestured with his pistol, and then said, “Now show me.”
Kimura lowered his weapon. His part in the strategy was complete, but the scheme had not come to complete fruition. As Yazawa came to a full stand, Matsumoto drove his wakizashi through Eiichi’s neck and forced him over the edge of the building.
“You fucking prick!” Gaku exploded with outrage at the treachery. “Where is your honor? Does your word mean nothing?”
With anger, Isamu told him, “You have no right to question my honor.”
“I’m not questioning your honor. I’m refuting it exists.”
“I don’t give a damn about what you think. You put profit before family. Yourself above the welfare of the clan,” he reminded his former associate, and then venomously added, “My daughter’s life is in peril. For that I take everything you value.”
“You think I’ll stand here and take this from you, motherfucker!”
Raising his sword, Tohno charged at him, but Matsumoto struck it from his hand with his wakizashi and then punched the Tohno boss in the face, knocking him to the ground.
Isamu stepped on the blade as Gaku tried to reach for it.
“Motherfucker?” Isamu questioned. “You should have stopped at fucking prick. Always thinking with your fists instead of your brains. You’ve outlived your purpose.”
Defiantly Gaku responded, “Go ahead—kill me. But it will take you hours to find where I hid it. Do you think Nozomi has that long?”
Isamu hit him in the face with his pistol, nearly knocking him out.
>
“Bring him,” he ordered.
Kimura motioned for Matsui and Kurosawa to pick the dazed man up. Matsumoto reached down for Tohno’s discarded sword. He handed the weapon to his boss.
Passing the open door to room 417, they walked around the corner and into a hall awash with zombies feeding on corpses. For a moment everyone remained frozen and silent, and then cautiously retreated. Their presence went undetected by the undead.
Near the corner, Matsumoto stood by the edge keeping watch, while the others stood a few feet away whispering.
“What are you waiting for?” Gaku asked in a low voice. “The stairs are at the other end. Just shoot them.”
“What do you think, we have endless bullets?” Isamu replied in a soft voice. “Use your brain for once. Kimura.”
“Hai,” the first lieutenant responded, presenting himself.
Isamu whispered into his ear.
“Understood. Saito, Matsui.”
“Yes, Boss,” Matsui answered.
Kimura pulled them aside and out of earshot of the Tohno boss.
“What are you planning?” Tohno questioned Isamu.
“A diversion.”
“For what?”
Kurosawa and Matsui moved down the corridor checking doors. Tohno watched, perplexed at why Isamu’s men were checking rooms.
“Do you remember when we were fifteen and I lured those three bullies into the dead end alley so you could come up behind them?” Isamu asked Gaku.
“Of course,” he replied. “I stabbed all three of those little pricks in their asses. They were too embarrassed to come back to school for a month.”
“And they never bothered us again.”
“So what does—” Gaku began to ask, but was interrupted by Isamu’s returning juniors.
Kurosawa bowed slightly before giving his report.
“Boss. It is all set.”
Isamu smiled and then said, “Kurosawa, Matsui, Kimura. Go. Matsumoto. Make sure Tohno here gets the zombies’ attention, and then join us.”
Matsumoto pressed his wakizashi into Tohno’s back. Gaku now understood what Isamu had planned for him. He objected.
“Oh, hell no!” his voice no longer in a cautionary low tone.
Isamu smirked as he departed, telling Gaku, “This time you’re the bait. Lead them back to the elevator.”
Matsumoto prodded him with the wakizashi, pushing him forward and around the corner.
Matsumoto shouted, “Hey zombies! Look what I brought you! Nice fresh meat!” The undead looked toward the noise. “That’s right. Come and get him!” he encouraged the undead that were now focused on them.
Matsumoto kicked Tohno in the side of the knee, forcing him to the ground, and then he ran, leaving the Tohno leader behind.
Gaku struggled to rise as the nearly dozen zombies moved towards him. He limped around the corner.
There was no sign of his adversaries. He struggled to walk, hobbling, using the wall to help support himself. The zombies were close behind.
He came to room 417. The door was closed, but he knew that was where his enemies had taken refuge. He pounded on it as he watched the zombies getting closer.
“You bastards!” he condemned those behind the entry who refused him help. He had no choice but to continue on down the hall and to the service elevator.
Gaku stopped at the edge of the large section of missing floor. He looked across to the other side and then into the gaping hole. He knew, even if his knee had not been injured, that only a person of great agility and strength could jump across the abyss safely, even if they had enough room for a good running start, which now was ever shortening with the undead nearly upon him.
“Bastards,” he whispered to himself, and then turned around to face his undead adversaries. They were just yards from him. He knelt down and shouted at the top of his voice, “You bastards!” The yell resonated down the hallway. He closed his eyes, not in cowardice at the face of certain death, but at accepting his fate.
Behind the darkness of closed eyelids, the sound of shuffling and thudding filled his ears, and then everything went quiet. He opened his eyes. There was a pair of female legs in front of him. He looked up and saw a knife blade protruding from the woman’s eye. The blade retracted.
Matsumoto forced the zombie over the edge of the missing floor. Wiping his wakizashi, he looked at Tohno with a wide grin of satisfaction.
“You can get up now,” Isamu told him as he approached.
With a displeased look he responded, “Fucking bastard.”
“You’re welcome. Now we go.”
V. Beware the Fury of a Patient Man
Zombies Souta, Nitta and Ikeda tussled with several half-naked living dead girls within the open elevator car for Haruto’s corpse. The three pulled and tugged on Haruto’s legs, until they tore free from his body. The elevator doors closed with Haruto’s torso and the girls inside.
***
Finally reaching the basement, Matsui grabbed the door handle and pulled, but the door would not open.
“Shitsureishimasu, Boss,” he apologized for his inability to open the entry. “It’s locked.”
“Open it,” Isamu instructed Gaku.
“I don’t have a key.”
“What kind of bullshit is that?” Isamu asked.
“Do you think I carry around every key for the building?” Gaku asked.
“Kurosawa.”
“Yes, Boss.”
“Shoot the window,” Isamu instructed.
“Yes, Boss.”
Kurosawa shot, but the bullet only made a crack, and the slug fell to the floor.
“Heavy tempered safety glass,” Tohno informed them.
Kurosawa shot again. The second bullet made a hole and cracked the glass even more, but the window did not shatter. He aimed the pistol again and pulled the trigger, but the gun clicked.
“Forgive me, Boss. I am out of bullets.”
“Idiot,” Tohno remarked. “Now you know why I didn’t ask you to join me.” Gaku turned to Matsui. “Give me your bat.”
Matsui ignored him.
“Idiot,” he told the Kudo junior. “Give me the bat.”
“Hey,” Isamu snapped, “who you calling an idiot, stupid?”
“Just give me the bat,” Gaku demanded.
Isamu gestured to Matsui, giving him permission to relinquish his weapon to their enemy. Gaku took the bat and whacked the glass. It fell away.
“Satisfied?” Gaku asked, and then snidely remarked, “Old school still works.”
Isamu gestured with his pistol.
“What?” Gaku responded to the motion.
“The bat. Give it back,” Isamu told him.
Displeased, Tohno handed the bat back to Matsui, as Kurosawa reached through the window frame and unlocked the door.
***
Kudo underling turned zombie Ryota Hamasaki walked aimlessly by the elevator of the penthouse hallway. The elevator chime drew his attention. The door opened and revealed several topless strippers gorging themselves on flesh. He was immediately drawn to the smell of the meat.
Moving to feed on Yuuta, the small-breasted girl rose, giving a low guttural groan, and pushed the interloper into the elevator call button panel. Hamasaki’s back pushed against the board, lighting a few buttons.
***
The basement was large and filled with many wine racks, mainly containing bottles of sake. Isamu was impressed at his rival’s ability to acquire such a large and varied collection, which now belonged to him as spoils of conquest.
Under the majority of the racks sat traditional sake tubs. Tohno pulled one out with a cherry blossom label design.
“This is it,” he told Isamu.
“You put it in sake?”
Gaku replied, “Do you think I’m stupid? It’s empty.”
Isamu gestured for Gaku to move back, and then gestured to Matsumoto. With his wakizashi he cut off the rope bindings that helped to keep the small drum sealed, and pulle
d away the wrapping and carefully broke open the lid. Isamu reached in and found what had been stolen. He withdrew a clear sealed bag containing two small bottles and several syringes.
Holding up the bag, Isamu questioned Gaku’s ethics. “You would sell this on the black market? You are pathetic and dishonorable—worse than a chinpira.”
Isamu reached into his leather jacket and retrieved his cell phone.
“Hello. Hello... Yamada. Yamada. Stupid voice mail.”
No one saw the sommelier come from behind the large wine rack until it was too late. The zombified wine steward grabbed Kurosawa from behind and bit into the side of his neck, ripping a chunk of flesh away.
Bleeding heavily, Kurosawa pulled away and attempted to hold back the crimson flow as he screamed for help. Matsumoto ran his wakizashi through the sommelier’s head as the junior collapsed.
Kneeling on the floor, pale and still clutching his neck, Shuichi Kurosawa knew he was doomed. He beseeched his leader to end his life.
“Boss. Please. Don’t let me become a zombie. Honor me. Take my life.”
Yakuza custom obligated Isamu to fulfill the man’s last request. He drew his pistol, and told the dying man, “You die with honor.”
Kurosawa’s head blew apart, creating a large spatter of blood and brains on the floor.
***
The dining room was a shambles. Part of the ceiling had collapsed and light fixtures lay broken on the floor, while others were hanging precariously from the ceiling, flickering. From the kitchen the remainder of Kudo Clan and former associate Tohno made their way toward the entry.
Natsuko Otomo limped toward them, barely able to walk, her flesh riddled with bite wounds.
As Isamu moved toward his former lover, he raised the katana Matsumoto had handed him earlier.
“Only death will cure a fool,” he told her, as they drew near each other.
He was about to cut her down, but hesitated. He looked at her for a moment, reconsidering, and then lowered the weapon.
“You don’t deserve pity.”
The group moved from her path and to the exit.
Apoc Series (Vol. 2): Silence of the Apoc [Tales From The Zombie Apocalypse] Page 31
