Chapter 39 - Hellzone

Ending the call with Daiyu, I sighed and knew where this was going. I honestly didn't think she liked me that much, the impression I got was one of mutual respect. I knew our fathers didn't see eye to eye, but we got along well enough. In all honesty she was cute the last time I saw here, but I hadn't seen her in over two years now. From what I could tell her sweet personality was still there which was a nice surprise.

"You'd be amazed how just listening, and giving a girl like her attention can make her love you.", Midna giggled, "You're such a lady killer."

"I am not...", I sighed, "I pursue the women I like, and leave the rest alone. I am not some guy that wants a hundred wives or something, I am not fucking Superman after all, petty sure that guy could have as many wives as he wanted too."

"Whatever you say.", she teased, "I hope you are ready for a fight, you aren't going to get away without some fighting. You'll want to be on the ground when you get there, the cannons won't help with enemies up close."

"You not going to specify?", I questioned.

"There are somethings I can't tell you, or I will get the ax.", she stated making a hand motion to her neck, "I value having my head on my shoulders."

"It's overrated.", I chuckled.

"Uh huh, it's cause you like your head somewhere else.", she laughed before diving into my shadow.

Sighing, I set our heading and sat back to watch the sonar and radar.

---Umbrella Base, Raccoon City---

Sending a few drones the base where the commander's son was supposed to be, footage revealed that the group had left. The battleship that had been at the dock was nowhere to be seen...a sight that infuriated the commander. Watching him punch a hole in the concrete wall, the pilots operating the drones worried they might be next.

"Sir, now isn't the time to be destroying company property.", a female scientist named Jessica stated, "Please calm down, and make a level headed decision."

"I will!!", the commander snarled, "I know those ships were disabled, or rigged to explode. This cat and mouse game with my son is becoming increasingly frustrating."

"He was military trained, if you weren't a piss poor father he wouldn't have gotten this far. This is your fault, he is a genius like his mother and you let him soak up all that knowledge. What did you expect him to do once this started!?", Jessica snapped.

"Grr...", he growled, "I had hoped he would have kept to himself, and maybe save his little girlfriends. If he had done that I could have overlooked him leaving him alone to survive in a tiny group. Now he is with our enemies, and headed...actually where is the ship headed?"

"Uh...well right now we don't have a visual. There is thick cloud cover so we can't see the ship, but base on their last heading it puts them heading towards Beijing.", one of the operators said, "Does he-"

"Haha, he's going for Daiyu and the Ma Dojo. That explains why they are on the move!", the commander stated, "I want our men to blockade them in the bay once they are in-"

"Sir!!", one of the operators shouted, "You need to see this!!"

"You find him?", the commander asked with an irritated tone.

"No...the north end of Okinawa, something isn't right.", the pilot said putting his view on the big monitor.

Turning their attention to the screen, the room went dead silent. Staring at the Hell covering the northern end of the island, they were dumbfounded by what they saw. Umbrella hadn't given any order for the dead to congregate yet they were, and were growing in numbers. The scene could be compared to Dante's Inferno...just far more gruesome.

"What the hell is going on there?", the commander demanded.

"The dead and the cybernetic units aren't responding to our commands.", the pilot told him, "All systems check out...the dead aren't responding at all!! Did someone hack our systems!?"

"Shit...doctor, do you see anything on your end?", the commander asked the head of the cybernetic team.

"I have no access to their systems, something is overriding my commands.", he answered, "Just what exactly was on the northern end of the island?"

"Is it possible he hacked them?", Jessica asked.

"No, the system isn't acting right. It's like it has a mind of it's-"

Before he could finishes his sentence alarms started going off. Frantically typing on the computer, he stated that something was infecting his computer. Stating that it wasn't any code he knew, he shattered the computer to sever the connection.

"What just happened?", Jessica inquired.

"Something started to hack my system, and was trying to get access to the servers.", the doctor said, "I didn't recognize the language they were using..."

"The advanced team we sent to Okinawa to greet them did go dark...", Jessica told the commander, "Is it possible we were a bit too hasty to field fragments of the energy stone we found?"

"Are you suggesting the stone mutated them?", the commander stated.

"I mean unless you have another idea, it is the most likely cause. We know very little about the stone or the untapped potential it has. If the legends are to be believed it was a fragment of a Gate to another world.", Jessica said.

"Bullshit, there is no way that is-"

"All legends are based somewhat in fact.", Red Queen interrupted him, "Due to the dangers of using the fragments, I highly recommend not fielding them till more research is done."

"I can accept that, call the teams back that have them.", the Commander agreed.

"Apparently you haven't checked your email in a while commander.", his second in command Igor chuckled, "All teams went dark over a week ago, rescue teams were sent but they also disappeared."

"Damn it...get me eyes over where they were last seen. If the fragments cause mutations that won't listen to our orders we need to eliminate them immediately. We can't risk losing manpower at this time, too many countries haven't submitted to us yet.", the commander stated, "Relay the information to me once you have eyes on target."

"Sir!!", they shouted and saluted.

---East China Sea---

Making good progress on the ocean, the cloud cover was giving us excellent shelter from the drones chasing us. I had been carefully watching the Umbrella ship that was going to Okinawa, and in the last few moments they stopped their advance on the island. Having done a fly over of our former base it was pretty clear they were likely going to give chase. For now they couldn't pinpoint us with drones or satellites, but that wouldn't last the entire trip.

'I wonder Gerald is doing...', I thought thinking of my Russian friend.

He was likely on the run from Moscow as the map showed the city was completely overrun. I couldn't pin point him at the moment by name, and my mental image of him didn't match him close enough for the system to pin point him anymore. Knowing him he rigged something up to take his sister, her friend, and him out of the city in a hurry. He was a prepper so something like this apocalypse was right up his alley.

Thinking about calling him, I decided to hold off for now. His father was the Minister of Defense so he had the contacts I needed to pass through the Russian defenses. I hoped things would be easy enough as I doubted the Russians would have sided with an American Company, but I wasn't sure. Money greases a lot of wheels so anything was possible.

"It sure is gloomy outside.", Mikoto and Nina said looking out the window.

"I am going to have everyone stay inside, the seas are getting choppy.", Yuko stated.

"Good idea.", I agreed, "Have the Black Label team stow any dangerous materials away safely. Don't want any unnecessary explosions..."

Glancing over to the gagged and tied up Oriha, she was making an expression that would have made someone think I was going to assault. Oriha had tried breaking into the powder room to take some of the shells the cannons used for "Research Purposes" so she said. I knew by the look on her face she was going to do something dangerous and stupid, and at the moment I didn't have time for her antics. Listening to her mumble under the gag I sighed, and removed the gag.

"Let me go!! This is imprisonment!!", she shouted.

"No point in shouting, we know you tried breaking in.", Saeko said with a smile, "We caught you on camera."

"What are you going to do to me? Tying me up like this...do you have some sort of bondage fetish!?", she squealed trying to tease me.

"No, I was thinking of using you to catch a shark. Fresh fish is always nice to have, mind donating a leg or arm to the cause?", I retorted.

"I am a pure hearted woman!! You can't just-"

Hearing her Sayo, Yuko, Yoko, and Mikoto all started choking up which pissed her off even more.

"What's so funny!?", she huffed.

"Pure hearted? When was the last time you did something when you weren't being paid?", Mikoto asked.

"That...that isn't fair, when was the last time any of you did?!", she refuted.

"Uh saving those people today.", they answered.

Letting them prattle on since they were enjoying themselves, I paid them no mind. My focus was on making sure we didn't get hit by a rouge wave on the side of the ship. To survive the wave, we would need to take the wave head on, and even then depending on the wave we may not make it.

"Looks like we have another storm coming.", Namiyo snickered, "I remember the first one..."

"It was only a few weeks ago.", I said.

"Mmm but it was a good night.", she sighed with a smile.

"You aren't wrong.", I told her.

Wrapping her arms around me, she let out a sigh. Asking her if they were all unpacked, they said they made the room as homey as possible. It wasn't a five star hotel, but we had our own area away from the others. We wouldn't bother anyone so long as the door to the room was shut. Deciding look at the World Map to see how things were going by Daiyu, I noticed that the area in Tianjin was swarming with undead, and the were changing one by one to the same color the Ridden. The number of dead there was so high I couldn't see open spaces between the dead.

'There is likely an Abomination there...', I thought, 'All I see is points just waiting to be put into my account.'

Having been asked by several of the women to find them armor, they wanted suits of their own. I honestly liked the idea, but the Doomslayer armor wasn't really suited for them. The suit was designed for a man so since they all had rather abundant clevage...they wouldn't fit in it comfortably. My idea was to get them Samus Powersuit's for each of them, and work with them to control it. I wouldn't be attaching any of the rocket launchers, plasma cannons, or other various weapons to the suits. If I did that I would be concerned they'd hurt someone on accident, those weapons were lethal to any unarmed person.

"You worried your lovely ladies will go on a rampage?", Midna snickered.

"There is a learning curve, I don't want them accidentally blowing a hole in the ship or rocketing someone in the face. They are klutzy too after all...I can already imagine Shizuka tripping and launching a rocket on accident.", I remarked.

Hearing her sneeze behind me, she asked me if I had just thought something rude about her like she had a sixth sense. Assuring her I didn't, I said that I was just steering the ship. Not pushing the issue further, she went back to chatting with the others as the waters started getting choppier. Before long the wind picked up and the skies opened as the rain came down in buckets. Flicking on the forward lights, I wanted to give the women some security that we would see danger coming.

Making some tea for all of us, Astrid gave me a cup before sitting down to read one of her books. Taking this opportunity to get a nap in, the majority of the women fell asleep as the storm raged outside. Enjoying the peace that storm brought, I glanced back to see of them leaning on one another. It was reassuring that they were getting along enough to act like this. Having a harem of any size usually came with a lot of drama, but given the circumstances they were getting along very well. I guessed fighting to survive everyday would do that to you over time.

---Tianjin, China 30 Minutes Before Arrival---

"Daiyu, have the Dojo people arrived?", I said over the radio.

"Yes, they got here earlier than expected.", she told me, "Victor, they said that Umbrella teams were fighting the Dead...is something going on? Up till now they were working in tandem."

"From reports I have been getting from George it would appear the situation with the undead is getting out of Umbrella's hands. There are places around the globe reporting in that the original zombies are becoming feral, and Umbrella is losing it's grip on them.", I stated, "Anyways, you should be seeing us now on the cameras."

"Yes!!", she shouted with excitement, "I can see your ship!! You brought a battleship, that was a wise move indeed!!"

'Not like I had a choice...none of the other ships would have housed all of us.', I thought with a smile, "Alright, we are going to begin our bombardment in ten minutes. Once I give the signal, get out of the bunker and head for the ship. We have people that will cover your approach, and I will be on the ground to assist with the bigger enemies. Keep moving no matter what, understand?"

"Yes Victor, I understand!", she acknowledged.

Using binoculars to look at the shoreline as we approached, it looked like the fighting with Umbrella troops had drawn the majority of the dead and Demons away. There were still a lot of enemies close to the bunker so the fire teams had their work cut out for them. Glancing over to Oriha, I asked her if she had a good grasp on the fire controls.

"Aye sir!! I will blows shit up!!", she snickered with a gleeful smile, "Soon...soon I will get to make the biggest explosions I have set off!!"

"Is that all you think about?", I sighed.

"Hey, I used to be an idol but that job is long gone. All I have left now is become someone's wife, and raise a family now...don't take one of the last enjoyments I have from me!", she shouted, "If you let me be the weapons operator, I wouldn't mind being your woman."

"Are you trying to bribe me for the permission?", I inquired.

"That's her way of asking you out, she's too immature to understand how adults ask.", Sayo teased.

"Shut up!!", Oriha snapped, "I just want to blow stuff up at the moment!!"

"See how she doesn't deny it.", Yuko laughed, "Give her a chance, and get to know her. She doesn't need to join us in bed immediately, she is more than happy if you made her the quartermaster for the weapons."

"Hell yeah!!", she cheered, "Even more explosives!!"

"We can discuss the position later, and we can get to know each other before you just jump into a relationship. I mean I honestly don't know a lot about you, and-"

"Listen mister, you hardly knew Yuko and Sayo when you pulled them in immediately. Am I not good looking enough for your tastes!? Is it because I am a bit crazy about explosions? No one jabs you for shouting our your attacks when you are fighting, and that is way more ridiculous than my fixation with blowing things up.", Oriha spat.

"She does have a point.", the other women said.

"Ugh!! My pride!!", I groaned, "I like saying it because I think it's fun."

"Nah, you are just as crazy as me so that makes us a perfect fit. I will move my stuff into the room, I have all sorts of goodies to spruce up the place.", she giggled taking the weapon's operation seat again.

'Ugh...', I thought.

"You like it, she is a barrel of fun and you know it.", Midna laughed in my shadow, "You have a fixation with curvy, klutzy bitches."

"Oh don't start that shit again...", I said.

"Hehe.", she snickered.

Putting that aside for the moment, the top priority was just getting everyone out of there alive. Saya would be at the helm while I was down on the ground, and she had orders to leave me if I had to hold something back. Being this close to China's capital put us well within range of a large Umbrella base. We had to make this quick as there was a high probability they would launch missiles at us, but given the situation on the ground they may be too focused elsewhere.

As we drew near the pier the fire teams got into position. Joining them the archery team and the martial artists got ready to move if the need arose. We were as ready as we could be given the situation, all we could do it fight hard to stay alive. Giving Oriha the order to fire into the city, she let off an evil laugh before unleashing a bombardment out into city. Watching long abandoned buildings explode, I told Daiyu to move out now while the dead were heading to the impact sites.

Pulling up to the pier as the group came out of the bunker, Hayato lowered the ramp to let them in. Jumping onto the dock to greet them, the one who ran to the front was none other than Daiyu.

<<>>

I had to admit I hadn't seen here in over 2 years now, but I didn't think she'd change that much. Looking at her now, and knowing her sweet personality, it would be impossible to not accept her. She had really become a beauty with few equals, and seeing her safe did make me happy.

"Victor!!", she shouted leaping into my arms.

"It's good to see you, Daiyu.", I said hugging her, "You have changed a lot since I saw you last."

"Hehe, I wanted to make a good impression.", she laughed as others ran up the ramp, "I have a lot of things I want to talk to you about."

"Of course, we can talk till your hearts content after we are out of here.", I said motioning her to the ramp, "For now, make yourself in the captain's quarters."

Giving me a beaming smile, she kissed me on the cheek and ran up the ramp. Turning my attention to the dead coming back towards us, I loaded a shell into my shotgun and ran towards the approaching dead.