Jesus Christ.
¥ 20,000,000
I was in the hole for 20 million fucking yen.
That was over two hundred grand for those not in the know of the exchange rate.
The very feeling made my skin crawl as if I had invisible ants crawling up my legs. I hated debt. I hated the very thought of it and the one little glimmering light to having been cast into this soon to be nightmarish hellworld of the restless dead was the simple fact that ROB had been so kind as to not have my student loans follow me over.
So you can understand that it was with the utmost reluctance that I'd signed up for every fucking credit card that I could find. All in the last month. Because I didn't want there to be a society left when that first round of bills hit me.
Every moment I wasn't with the boys or with Shizuka I'd spent buying shit and locking it up in a cargo unit I'd picked up outside the city limits. Everything I could use to survive. And the end result I could get before reaching this point, about 20 million yen. Give more than take.
I had a crate of water filters.
Tons of rice. Literally. Dried beans. Canned meat. Sugar. Salt. Flour. Enough peanut butter to send an entire herd of elephants into a feeding frenzy. Powdered milk. So much Spam that I was afraid that my boys would turn into the Monty Python Vikings! Powdered eggs. Even a full pallet of instant noodles. Everything I knew would last long-term without refrigeration.
And that wasn't counting seeds for planting. Potatoes. Clothing. Weapons. Equipment. More shit than you could shake a very large stick at.
And this was with me grossly abusing wholesale, thrift stores, and frankly every grey and black market contact I could squeeze out of the Theigns without being too obvious about it.
And the end result? A storage compartment the size of a two-car garage loaded with goods.
Thank God for that free first month they were offering.
I was going to have to steal a fucking truck or three to unload it before the EMP. And you know what, there's a reason I'd also picked up a couple pairs of bolt cutters. All those other containers were probably going to be a good place to go shopping.
On the other hand, it was somewhat risky. There might be other people paranoid enough to have stashed emergency cashes in a container park. But, I'd taken some steps to ensure its security. There was one entrance and it was easily fortified. It would make a good base from which to reorganize. As such, I'd planted an idea in the heads of the Theigns over the past couple weeks.
Simply put, if shit ever goes down, if things ever get bad, that storage park is our meeting point. I told them all my entry code to the gate with absolute trust and the knowledge that I'd render them useless to a woman if they abused it. I was hoping that they were smart enough to consider the fucking Zombie Apocalypse as "Shit Going Down".
As I went through the list I'd made one last time I glanced up at the small alarm clock that was one of the only things left in my almost cleared out bedroom.
It was time.
I took a deep breath and with a trembling hand, I opened up the bottle of Sake I'd been sitting on for almost a year.
What I was about to do. It needed to be done. But I'd be damned if I was going to do this completely sober. Before coming here, I never drank, I didn't like the taste and the horror stories I'd heard of relatives going into dark places because of that addiction had always scared me off of it. After coming here, my more social lifestyle had forced me to at least sample, still didn't enjoy it but I could tolerate it and I never got wasted.
But right now?
Right now I needed the things that dark place had to offer.
"Sláinte."
--------------
The night air felt cool on my skin, there was also that charged, sensed feeling of a storm coming, a big one too. But the night was clear. I guessed it was just the anticipation.
I wore a large hoodie with the hood hanging low over my face and I kept my face pointed down. The sake had calmed my nerves but I could still feel a slight buzz of panic in the deepest pit of my stomach. Thank God for the Japanese habits of wearing medical masks while they were sick. I never could have gotten away with covering my face like this in the states.
As I made my way down the empty street I went over my plan over and over again.
I was a simple enough plan. I'd gone over it again and again. Walked the routes again and again. I knew what I'd have to do and where to do it. I could do it in my sleep at this point. But the planning was one thing. The execution, on the other hand? That was a totally different story.
I was taken out of my mental anguish when I saw my objective.
Game time.
Swallowing I picked up the pace. I was 20 feet away, 15, 10, I was almost on top of-
Now!
It wasn't hard to find basic martial arts weapons in Japan. In fact, you could pick a rather solid wooden baton up for only a couple hundred yen. A fact that Koichi Shido discovered quite forcefully as I brought mine down on the back of his neck.
Shido was a thin, fragile-looking man. Physically fit, yes, but possessed of no great strength or durability. As such he collapsed to the pavement like a puppet with its strings cut. Laying on the ground in a boneless heap, not making a single sound.
My heart hammered in my chest. I'd done it, the bastard was dead, or at least would be soon enough. Kurokawa's friend was avenged, and the shit would never develop a murderous sex cult of personality or harm another student ever again.
Shit, man! Okay! I know the plan! He's down! He's down! Part two!
Grabbing him by the legs I quickly pulled him into the alley way from which I emerged. It was one I chose for two very specific reasons: first, no cameras around. Second, there was a manhole cover about 30 feet in.
Taking a moment to give the body a couple strong kicks to the head, I used the baton to leverage the cover. It was heavy, even for me, but I managed to open it without making too much noise.
And then, after giving him one last kick for good measure, down Shido went into the abyss, head first.
At the bottom I heard a light thud and after a couple heartbeats, his glasses followed. Then I made the sign of the cross and moved the cover back into place.
God be willing, this would be the last anyone ever saw of Koichi Shido.
Then, I stuffed the baton into a plastic bag. And while I didn't see any blood, just to comfort myself I picked up a bottle of bleach I'd also left to the side, and then ran it down the trail which I'd dragged him. Then I threw the bottle into another bag and I was off.
The bleach I disposed of in a dumpster a couple hundred yards away. It was regular, everyday trash. The baton, on the other hand, was going right into an incinerator.
Panting like I'd run a marathon I leaned against a wall for a few moments, a few breathy chuckles escaping my lips. I'd done it, mission accomplished, I'd done what I'd set out to do. Shido was dead…
Oh God! What have I done!?
What I needed to do. He was going to kill so many people through his bumbling arrogance and casual sadism. He was a sociopath. A murderer already. Kill one to save a hundred. It was the lesser evil committed to prevent a greater evil.
And if I kept telling myself that, maybe I'd actually believe it.
Not now though, as a wave of gorge twisted my stomach, almost bringing me to my knees. Barfing wasn't something I did, I had a cast-iron stomach when it came to that…normally…
Right now, however, it was taking everything I had to not empty the contents of my stomach right then and there as atavistic guilt flooded every part of my psyche.
What do I do?
Then I saw a glint of gold flash in front of me, the golden crucifix I'd taken to wearing not long after my breakdown from learning that my grandfather of this world had died in Operation Market Garden had fallen front under my shirt and was slowly turning, glimmering in the light as if it was giving me a sign.
I grabbed the Crucifix in my right hand with the desperation of a man holding onto a lifeline. A mad hope filled me and after glancing around to get my bearings, I made a beeline for one of my weekly destinations.
Hopefully the doors wouldn't be locked. Hopefully I wasn't about to make a giant mistake. Though, at the moment, the possible consequences were the last thing going through my mind.
--------------
"In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." I muttered under my breath as I dipped my fingers into the baptismal font of Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church and made the sign of the cross.
To my surprise, the place had been unlocked and a few non-service lights were on, meaning that someone was here.
Following the signs, I'd quickly entered the part of the church where the staff member's offices were located. Looking at the placards, I saw to my relief that the one I needed the most had a light coming from under the door.
All but power-walking I made my way down the hallway until I stood in front of the door. I then raised my right fist and just barely stopped myself from pounding on the door. Instead, I knocked politely on the door.
There was silence for a moment, and then I heard a deep but jovial voice say: "Give me a moment and I'll be with you."
"Father, I wish to give confession."
"Hm. A little late, but I'm sure you have your reasons. Go into the confessional and I will be with you in a minute."
"Alright, Father."
Making my way through the hallways I found the confessional and quickly entered.
About a minute later I heard the door to the priest's chamber open and close.
I took a deep breath. "Forgive me Father, for I have sinned..."
"A rather grand one, I'd assume, for you to be here at this time of night," he said with some disarming humor. "Tell me what you've done, my son?"
I took a deep breath. "Father... what would you do if you knew something horrible was going to happen. Something so terrible that it defies all logic and that even trying to explain it to someone else would see you viewed as a madman. Something that you couldn't stop. Something you could only prepare for. And you know... you knew that there was one person whose actions when the time came, were going to be... so... horrific. So... abominable... that he had to be stopped."
There was silence, my heart began to pound in my chest, then in a soft tone he said: "What have you done?"
"I killed him," I replied. "He was no innocent man. He's casually destroyed lives. Killed men as surely as if he'd done it with his own hands. And I knew that in the days ahead he would destroy countless more. So I killed him."
More silence, then he sighed. "Could you have stopped this man in any other way?"
"No," I replied maybe a bit more sharply than I'd intended. "He was untouchable. His connections too deep, his contacts too powerful."
More silence. "And what is going to come that would make him so dangerous?"
"You wouldn't believe me," I replied with a sigh.
"Try me."
"With all due respect, Father, I'm not about to make a Cassandra of myself. You'll know soon enough."
"Then I cannot give you absolution," he said after a moment.
"Then let's make a deal, Father."
I could almost hear him blink. "It doesn't work that way, my son."
"I'm going to leave a note in this confessional. It has a location and a number for the lock," I said after a moment. "When the time does come. Go there. Know there is no saving them. That you can only save the people you're with... and for the love of all that is holy, do not let them bite you."
"Bite me?" He asked incredulously. "Who are they?"
"You'll see. And yes, bite you." I sighed. "And if it doesn't come to pass, I'll turn myself in willingly."
There was complete silence and I knew I'd lost him for now. There was nothing else I could do, but pray he understood. "I have to go, Father. May God and all the Saints be with you in the days ahead." I jotted down the information I promised him on a sheet of note paper, then I rose and quickly opened the door and fled, tears of frustration in my eyes.
"Wait! Wait! Come back! I don't understand!" The priest voice called out. I ignored it, and though my heart wrenched at what I'd done, I knew it could be no other way.
His voice rang in my ears all the way to my final destination. I stood in front of the rather upscale house for a few long moments, then I banged on the door, time to confess one last time.
There was silence for a moment then a like flickered on and Shizuka opened the front door, a pink tank top that was struggling to contain her bounty and a pair of short shorts were all that she was wearing. For once I didn't goggle. Instead, I did my best to control my emotions.
"Tom?"
"Guess what day tomorrow is?" I asked, with a smile.
She blinked. "What?"
"The one year anniversary of the day we met."
She blinked. "Really?"
"Really."
And then smiled, "Well then. You'd best come in so we can... celebrate."
If I wasn't going to find solace in religion, then I'd find it in sin.