Handing our lunch bentos to Saeko, everyone got loaded into the Humvee aside from me. Looking at me with confusion, Ken said there was plenty of room in the second or third vehicle we were taking with us. Telling him I would be running alongside the convoy, he looked at me skeptically for a moment.
"I know you are strong, but you don't need to show off.", he chuckled.
"It's not to show off. If we encounter another caravan on the road being chased by a group of Undead and/or Demons every second counts. Not to mention I can get to places the vehicles can't so I can take care of lone enemies.", I explained to him.
"Oh, in that case it makes sense then.", he said understanding my point, "So to recap, we are going south while Itami's group is going northward on the peninsula?"
"Correct.", I replied, "Everyone ready to move out?"
Getting a thumbs up from the drivers I turned to Jeong who was finishing up installing cameras on all the vehicles. In the event something happened too quickly for teams to send a message out, the camera feeds would be monitored by Red and White Queens. They had volunteered to do this as they felt they were bested suited for that sort of work. Once the cameras were active, Itami's group and mine rolled across the bridge before separating on the other side. Easily keeping up with the convoy, I started looking ahead of us on my map for any potential survivors or enemies.
"Quite the smooth move back there...", Midna said catching up to me with a smirk.
"In regards to Cammy and Chun-Li?", I questioned.
"What else?", she giggled, "You were almost their lunch."
"Very funny.", I sighed, "You going to harass me about it?"
"No, I don't want to go back into the freezing water!!", she shouted with a shiver, "I was just going to say it was an inevitable thing. Those two are smart, they know damn well that if you hadn't ran into them that day their lives would have ended in a gruesome way. Strong women like strong men that can provide for them, and you fit the bill to a T."
"Listen, I can buy the instinctual thing about Sayo, Ilulu, and even Alcina...are you saying those two are as well?", I said not believing her.
"No...I am saying they are two very powerful women. A guy like Kohta, Takashi, or pretty much anyone else wouldn't be able to keep up with them.", she replied, "I mean think about it, either of them get in bed with a normal guy...that guy is dead. They need a man that can keep up with and exceed their sex drives. You do remember that older women enjoy sex way more than younger ones, right?"
"I can see that, I still would have thought Ken and Ryu would have had a better chance.", I remarked.
"To them, the Street Fighter guys are brothers-in-arms. They couldn't see themselves dating someone like that, the men have themselves are to blame for that. Those muscle heads have always treated them like men, not women. No matter how tough a woman is, they don't want to be treated like a man 24/7.", she informed me.
Thinking back on our interactions Ryu, Ken, and Guile treated Chun-Li and Cammy like family. There wasn't any romance there I could see, it was like they were siblings almost. Thinking about it that way made me feel less upset about what was going on. I honestly respected the three of them as much as I did Kohta. They were straightforward with me when I needed advice, and they hadn't once softened a blow when I spoke with them about things. In addition, they didn't try to cause me headaches...except when they over did it on booze.
While I was thinking about that, several entities popped up on my HUD. There was a small caravan of survivors being chased by a pack of Undead. Mentally tapping on the Undead Icons, the map displayed them Mutant Timber Wolves.
'That explains how they are keeping up with the vehicles at 60mph.', I thought before switching on my radio, "We got a dozen tangos inbound. They are chasing a caravan of people in cars. Our convoy will reach them in-"
"Hold the phone, are you saying you can see someone?", Guile said scanning the horizon, "I don't see-"
"Don't question him.", Saeko stated, "If Victor says we are approaching a group, you should trust his instinct."
"I mean...", Guile started to say before he backed down, "Alright fair enough, he hasn't failed us yet. It's just hard to think he could see-"
"I see a dust cloud!!", Ken shouted pointing down the road a head of them.
"Son of bitch, how good is your eye sight!?", Guile said in disbelief.
"I eat a lot of carrots.", I chuckled, "You all help the caravan, I will handle the threat."
Acknowledging me, I picked up the pace and pulled away from the convoy. Rushing towards the caravan the lead car driver was the first to spot us. Seeing the Humvee behind me first, the driver started flashing his lights before realizing I was in front of the Humvee. Panicking when he saw me, he almost jerked the wheel and rolled the car. Making a hand motion for him to slow down, I gestured that I would take care of the threat. Deciding not to argue with the man out running a military vehicle, the lead vehicle started to slow down.
---3rd Person POV---
"What the hell is that!?", his navigator shrieked point at the person in the suit of armor.
Watching a person in a weird suit of armor dash past them, they felt the car shake a bit from the air pressure they were producing. Sticking his head out the window, the driver wanted to make sure that he wasn't hallucinating from the long hours on the road. Seeing several of the wolves that had been chasing them for the past twenty miles peel off to attack him, he thought the man was a goner. To his utter disbelief the man grabbed one of the wolves by the throat midair and ripped it's head clean off like it wasn't attached. Proceeding to boot stomp the next two into the roadway, none of his targets got back up.
"Son of a bitch!!", the driver screamed as he slammed on the brakes.
"What is it?", his navigator asked in a worried tone.
"The person in that armor...he's massacring the wolves with his bare-", the driver started to say before the pack was torn to bits with a single move, "They are all gone..."
"What do you mean all gone!?", the passengers questioned.
"He killed all the wolves in seconds...", the driver gulped, "I really hope he is friendly because we aren't out running him..."
Seeing a group of three military vehicles pull up in front of them, several people got out and approached them cautiously. The driver from the first vehicle approached his window with a smile on his face.
"You alright?", Ken asked.
"What the fuck is that person!?", the driver shrieked, "He just-"
"Believe me, we have seen him do a lot.", Ken laughed, "Now then, are you in need of any medical assistance?"
"No, we are all fine...just really exhausted.", his navigator said, "We haven't had much rest since our base was overrun by the Undead."
"I am sorry to hear that, we are part of a larger settlement about thirty minutes down this road.", Ken told them, "We have shelter, food, and beds if you are interested."
"Whose your leader, and what is his price for it?", the driver asked understanding that nothing was free in this new world.
"I am the leader.", the armored person said walking up to the window.
Removing his helmet, the young man looked at them with a smile.
"We need able bodied people to help farm, fish, and hunt. In addition there are various jobs we can use hands for around the settlement...maintenance, home building, and stuff like that.", he told them, "What you are thinking isn't how we operate, your women aren't going to be forced into anything worse than manual labor."
"Got it, well if that's the case we'd be very happy to take you up on that offer.", the driver said with an exhausted smile.
"Where you guys come from, if you don't mind me asking.", the armored man asked.
"Fort Hope in Pennsylvania.", the driver replied sticking his hand out, "Name's Howard Hoffman."
"You guys did really well getting here.", the armored man praised them.
"Not really...when we had to flee Fort Hope there was fifteen vehicles in our caravan. As you can see, we are down to five now...", Hoffman said clutching his steering wheel.
"I am sorry for your loss.", I replied, "I am American, but most of my group is from Asia. I was in Japan when this started."
"Son of bitch, you got here all the way from Japan!?", Hoffman gasped, "That's no easy feat for someone as young as you."
"Thanks, well keep heading down the road towards are settlement. I will radio ahead so they know you are clear to enter. We already cleared the area ahead of you so you will be safe.", the armored man assured him.
"Well then we will see you this evening I suppose.", Hoffman chuckled before pulling away.
---Victor POV---
Watching them pull away into the distance, I turned to Ryu and Ken who were looking at me with depressed looks.
"Pennsylvania...that's like almost 5 thousand miles from here...", Ken said, "That's a long drive."
"They looked exhausted and disheartened.", Ryu stated, "Losing so many people...I can't imagine how much pain they carry."
"We are going to run into a lot of people like that.", I told him, "Some case are going to way worse than this..."
Sending word back to Base Camp, I told them to expect the convoy within the hour. Getting back in the Humvees, we continued onward scouting for anything we could find. Stopping at small villages along our path, we find no living souls around. We did find people that opted to end it all before they turned. Covering a lot of ground by lunch time, we stopped at a small trappers cabin to have our lunch. Sitting at the table outside the cabin we ate our lunches in relative silence till Guile spoke up.
"So how much further are we wanting to go before heading back?", Guile asked, "In all honesty, I am surprised we ran into that caravan when we did. Aside from a few huts every so often, we haven't seen a soul out here."
The map showed me that there was another group of survivors about thirty minutes from our current location. They were completely surrounded by a horde of several hundred Undead Animals according to it. Not wanting to give that away quite yet, I told him we would continue for another hour before circling back.
"It must be nice having someone to make you a homecooked meal.", Chun-Li giggled.
"It's a blessing.", I answered with a smirk, "Their cooking is wonderful."
"Do they cook for you often?", Alcina asked me out of curiosity.
"They do, I get warm meals every day.", I admitted, "I do what I can to help out around the house though as well. Stuff like washing dishes, doing laundry, sweeping the floors, dusting, and even occasionally cooking meals myself are all part of what I do for them. Outside of that I do the usual guy stuff like maintenance, chopping firewood, and chasing off any wild animals that come knocking."
"I get the last few things, but...why do you do the other stuff? Surely having a harem means they can delegate tasks so you don't have to lift a finger.", Ken stated.
Every woman at the table glared at him like he was a moron. Even Alcina and Ilulu who knew nothing of what a regular person did found what he said offensive.
"Ken, you realize I didn't get partnered up with all my lovers just to have them do all the work for me, right? A partnership means both people put the work in to make it work. I do what I can because I love them, and want them to be happy. If doing small things like that can put a smile on their face, why wouldn't I do that?", I chuckled, "If you keep that attitude you aren't ever going to get yourself a woman."
"I guess...", he said scratching his head, "Cammy and Chun-Li, is that what women like?"
"Yes, we don't like men that want us to do all the housework.", Cammy said with an angry twitch, "We especially don't like it when we do that and have to tend to children. Believe me, I know plenty of women that left their husbands because of that."
"Agreed, personally I like a man that can support his family and helps his wife as he can. We understand that men have a lot on their plate like we do, we just like having help around the home.", Chun-Li added, "Several people I know got walked all over by inconsiderate men."
"Oh...", Ken said with an uneasy laugh, "I...I see, well that is good to know now."
"Did you have someone you are sweet on?", I questioned.
"Eh...", Ken said, "Well yes I do...you know that Medic Kurokawa?"
"Oh!!", Guile snickered, "You mean the nurse that patches you up all the time?"
"Is that why you have been your ass kicked recently?", Ryu choked up.
Teasing the hell out of him, Ken started to look like he regretted bringing it up. Shaking my head at him, I knew he had a long ways to wooing her. Shizuka told me that she was looking for a guy, unfortunately for Ken she thought of him as a muscle head as he was always hurting himself in training. Telling him that would be like pouring gas on this fire so I opted to keep quiet for his sake.
'Just stop using your injuries to see her, and you could have a shot.', I thought.
Finishing our meal we headed out on the road again.
---Itami's Group---
Having no contact with enemies or allies, Itami's group was rather bored. To pass the time Itami and Kurata took to singing theme songs to popular animes...which drove Kuribayashi to throttle both of them after the second song. Telling them to do something normal for once, the men started talking about Magical Girls and Cat Girls which got them punched again.
"Come on Kuribayashi, make up your mind!", Itami said gripping his helmet for protection.
"When I said normal I meant something other than your anime crap!!", she hissed, "Don't make me jam my bayonet up your-"
Before she could finish her sentence a loud cracking sound rang throughout the area making the convoy come to a screeching stop. Looking around to see if they were on ice, they saw solid ground beneath their feet. Checking their surroundings, they found a large fissure over their heads in the sky.
"Well that's not good...", Itami stated grabbing the radio, "This is Charlie Team, we have a situation."
"What is it Charlie Team?", the Base Team replied.
"We have...well it's a fissure in the sky.", Itami told them.
"Itami, you aren't trying to get out of working are you?", Yanagida laughed.
"He isn't joking sir, there is a massive dark fissure in the sky. It suddenly appeared after a loud cracking sound.", Kuribayashi remarked.
"A cracking sound? We heard that here...", Yanagida replied, "We assumed it was an iceberg, but I guess it was that then. Stay put and observe, we will send Bravo Team to your coordinates."
"Can you tell them to double time it?", Itami pleaded, "I don't want to die in some Independence Day or War of the Worlds crap..."
"Don't say that!!", Yanagida spat, "We already have Demons and Undead to worry about, we don't need aliens now!!"
---Victor POV---
"Copy that Base Team, we are headed to their location.", I replied having helped the two families trapped in their homemade tanks, "I will head to their location, we have some survivors that are in need of medical attention. Have the medical teams on standby, we have several cases of malnutrition and dehydration."
"Roger that, the medical will be ready.", the Base Team replied.
"We are coming with you.", Ilulu and Alcina told me.
Being the two most likely to kill everyone here, I immediately agreed as the possible alternative ended with a lot of deaths. Having Alcina change into her Draconic form, Ilulu hopped on her back and followed me from the air. No longer needing to worry about vehicles following me, I picked up the pace to about three hundred miles an hour. As we approached Charlie Teams location, we saw the fissure in the sky above them.
Getting closer to it, the fissure started to hum loudly like something was about to come through. A few moments later, another loud cracking sound rang out.
"Warning: Interdimensional Breach Imminent.", the system told me.
"Itami, get your team out of there!! Something is coming through.", I shouted over the radio.
Seeing the vehicles gun it out of the area, the fissure completely opened and Demons started pouring out of the sky. Along with I saw several familiar faces tumbling out of the fissure with them. Rushing forward I got close enough for my Telekinesis to stop them from hitting the ground. Pulling them away from the pile of Demons they skipped across the ground a few times before stopping.
"Where...where are...we...", Rory weakly said, "This isn't the Italica..."
Realizing that they didn't know what had happened, I told Alcina to get them back to the base. Running over to the people from the other side, I helped get them on her back. Looking at me in a drowsy state, Rory looked like she wanted to say something but I didn't have time to wait. Lifting off the ground in a hurry, Alcina got clear before the Demons were able to gather their wits.
Pulling The Crucible off my hip, I activated the sword and stared the enemy down. Seeing the sword several of the Demons faltered out of fear. Some of the more intelligent Demons pushed aside their fear, and came barreling at me attempting to take me out. Grabbing one of the Barons of Hell by the horn, I threw it to the ground burying it's face in the snow. Slamming my foot on it's head, I swung my sword and cut it's head off like it was butter.
Proceeding to tear the remaining Barons of Hell to bits with my sword and bare hands, the horde of foot soldiers was sent into to a panic. Looking to flee from me, I put the Crucible sword away and pulled out the Blades of Chaos.
"Alright, time to make Kratos look like Amateur Hour!", I snickered as the blades started flicking around me, "Time for some point harvesting!"