Highschool of the Dead: Fanfiction Darkpenn

Chapter 19: tokyo

Tokyo

A radical proposal - very radical.

Hirano looked around the table of the Maresato farmhouse. Saya was next to him, and there was Rei and Benaro, Alice and Huyu, Keizo Busujima, Shizuka and Shun, Yuudai, and Tiraro Rigazo of Depot 361. And Nozomi Hirano, as well.

"Thank you all for coming," he said. "I wish it was just a social occasion, but we need to discuss an emerging issue.

"We had all hoped that the zombie threat was over, but new developments have made some of us think otherwise. As we know, at the time of the Outbreak the zombies were blind, slow, and pretty dumb. But within weeks they had developed sight and had become much faster, and had learned to co-operate, even use basic weapons. The Battle of Sheroda showed how much they had evolved.

"And even though there have not been any major attacks for many years, the zombies have continued to evolve. How far, we don't exactly know." He turned to Saya.

Saya opened her laptop computer, called up several images, and passed it around the group. It showed the towers that the zombies had built in Maebashi.

"There was one, it looked several years old, which was basically just a pile of stuff. The second one was put together from selected material. The third one is a planned, designed construction. And there is a leader. That's him in the checked jacket.

"At least some of them have become much stronger. One of them almost kept pace with a motorbike for several kilometres, and when I shot him it took five bullets in the head to kill him."

Hirano turned to Nozomi. "Nozomi, I believe this connects with what you saw in Shanghai," he said.

"Pretty much," said Nozomi. "After a couple of years of unsuccessful attacks on the human settlement, the zombies had stopped trying, apparently. But then a leader appeared, and they started attacking again, tougher and more organised. They built a platform to get across a blown bridge, and holding them off was a close-run thing. Hotaru Tatagi killed the leader, and described her as one tough mother."

"So you are saying, Hirano," said Rigazo, "that you expect the zombies to at some point attack again, is that it?"

"It's a possibility we cannot afford to ignore, and based on the China experience, I would rate it higher than a possibility," he said. "We have destroyed all the bridges between here and there but if they want to find a way they will."

"Do we know how many are left?" said Yuudai.

"We estimate that in Tokyo alone there are over 650,000," said Saya. "God knows how many in the north-east. Assuming a 1-in-20 figure, perhaps 400,000 in Iwaki and Sendai. Sendai could be worse, since it seems to have been the starting point. Of course, there might be none at all, like in Kyoto and Osaka, but we shouldn't assume that. Some of the photos we have of Tokyo show huge numbers of them."

"And we think they have developed a large-range weapon," said Hirano. "A trebuchet, something capable or hurling a boulder a kilometre. It's big. They cleared some of the freeways so they can move it, I think. They used it against the zombies in Maebashi. Killed a lot of them, absorbed the survivors into their own tribe." He called up the images of the ruined towers in Maebashi, surrounded by zombie bodies, and passed the computer around again.

Yuudai said: "So if just the ones in Tokyo decide to move south, are chances would be ... ?"

"Zero," said Hirano. "Our latest survey put the number of humans at about 5000, spread around the country. But of course many of those are very young. And our stock of weapons is not great. We are manufacturing more bullets and shotgun cartridges but it's a relatively slow process."

Everyone around the table was silent, considering the magnitude of the problem.

Saya was the first to speak. "I have a proposal," she said. "It's ... pretty radical."

Everyone looked at her.

"Nuke Tokyo," she said.

"Uh, what?" said Hirano.

"Nuke Tokyo," she repeated. "With a nuke."

"You mean ... an actual nuclear bomb?" said Shizuka.

"I do," said Saya. "I mentioned that it was radical, right?"

"Hold it," said Nozomi. "Explain to the young person: what are you talking about?"

"A nuclear bomb," said Hirano, "is an extremely powerful explosive. As in, capable of levelling a city in one bang. Two were used by the Americans to end the Pacific War, in 1945. After that, a number of countries developed them, but they were considered too awful and too dangerous to use. Several were apparently used soon after the Outbreak, but we don't really know why. They exploded high up in the air, and caused the EMP that fried all the electronic circuits."

"Saya," said Keizo, "I know you are very smart. But I do not think that even you are capable of building an atomic bomb. For one thing, it would need material we simply do not have."

"We do not need to build one," said Saya. "There are several on the American aircraft carrier, according to the papers I collected from there, and I believe they are still be in working order. They are considerably larger than the ones used to destroy Hiroshima and Nagasaki. There are safeguards but with enough time - several weeks - and some technical assistance I think I could get past those. They are warheads, not loaded into missiles, but the missiles that the ship carries would be completely useless by now. So we would have to come up with another means of delivery. It would not be easy but should be possible."

"So you've thought about this," said Shun.

"Thought about the practical feasibility, yes," said Saya. "Doesn't mean I like it."

"A nuke," mused Shizuka. "A goddamn fucking nuke."

"And here is me thinking that human beings had left all that shit behind us," said Shun.

"It would be nice to think so," said Saya. "But we may be looking at the real possibility of extinction."

"Uh, I hate to be the one to raise this," said Yuudai. "A question is: do we have, how can I put it, the right to do something like this? To do our best to exterminate them?"

"They're zombies," said Rei. "They're already dead."

Yuudai turned the laptop around to display the picture of a tower that the zombies had built.

"Once upon a time, I would have agreed with you in a moment," he said. "Now, I am not so sure. They show awareness, organisation, and even a sort of creativity. Maybe they're not brainless creatures any more."

"This idea," said Saya, "has not escaped me. On the other side of the ledger is the likelihood that the zombies will continue to evolve. Until they win."

Everyone was silent again.

"After all the years we've spent building things up again," said Shizuka softly. "And now it could all be washed away."

Rei, as resolute as ever, stood up. "I propose three things," she said. "First, we get as much information about the Tokyo situation as we can from the air, with regular flyovers. Second, that we set up a monitoring post, maybe a couple of people with a radio, on a rotating watch, not far from Tokyo, so we can get some warning if they decide to move this way. Third, that Saya and whoever she wants to help her further explore the means of salvaging a working nuclear bomb from the ship, and to start thinking about how to deliver it. Saya, I suggest you enlist Satsuki Kiromiri, she reads English and is good on the computer side."
Everyone around the table nodded reluctant assent.

"And may God have mercy on our souls," said Saya.

END