@RickyGrimes @zombiemom62 @mishone. @PepperAnn
The mid season finale! I will drop 409 on the 26[SUP]th[/SUP]. ENJOY!!
NEW CHARACTERS:
Korean Leader – Kim Soo Hyun
Yui Kinoshita (CAMEO) – Aoi Morikawa
Hua Ji - Fan Siu Wong

SUMMARY: Jun and Co finally arrive at The Garden, where threats from both outside and in arise.

Episode 408-From whence you came
Shinji watched the Shinda become enveloped in flames, while the water around his raft filled with bodies, both dead and alive. Horrified, he tried to row away from the scene, but the arms of the bodies reached up, dragging the raft down. As the craft filled with black and red water, a familiar voice whispered “You could have saved them…but you didn’t. Just like you didn’t save me”
He turned, and looked at the charred body of a young woman crawling towards him. She raised her head, revealing the mutilated and burnt face of Yui, his ex-girlfriend. “Yui…but…you’re…” Shinji stuttered as she wrapped his face in her blacked, peeling hands. “You failed them…like you failed me” she hissed before looking up to see the Shinda erupt in flames, with a large flaming chunk of the hull hurtling towards him-

Shinji awoke in his cell, a tiny room with a barred door keeping him secluded from the rest of the community. He rubbed his eyes and fiddled with a book he was given, when a familiar voice asked “Are you comfortable, friend? I can provide more comforts if you ask nicely” Shinji looked up to see Rokaru sitting across from him with a gleeful smile. “You see, Sensei Shoji is not aware of this…arrangement I have made. Hell he still thinks you are out on a cleaning run. As for the others, well, they are being held in the cells next door. Save your friend, Gabe that is” He stood and tossed Shinji a shirt, adding “Your girlfriend Tomoko is outside, looking for help. I think instead of help, she will find something more…hostile”

Shinji angrily rumbled “And that means you will kill her too? When will the killing stop, Rokaru? When you have cleansed everyone who doesn’t exactly follow you orders? I’ve seen people like you before, and it never ended well for them” Rokaru leaned close to Shinji and tauntingly inquired “You think of me as a man wanting power? As a man wanting to hoard the treasures leftover from the old, desiccated world? You think so low and never once considered that, maybe I am doing this for my people’s sake” Shinji threw the shirt at him, and laughed. “If you really are that delusional, then you really aren’t suited for this world. But, don’t worry about that, since this world will chew you up and spit you out like the waste you are. You are a total moron” Rokaru smacked the bars with his nightstick. “Keep that up, Akai, and you will end up as a corpse long forgotten by the world. Behave, and I might not kill you…at least not now” He then waved at a fuming Shinji as he opened the door.

He left the cell and was confronted by Shoji, who threw against the side of the building. “What have you done?!” Shoji roared “You imprisoned Shinji, Emiko and Dr. Moon for no reason against MY ORDERS!!” Rokaru feigned innocence, bleating “They committed crimes against you and this community! I was merely-” Shoji slammed his fist into Rokaru’s face, and screamed “You have no power to do that without MY authority given first! You think you can order punishment without referring to me first? It’s my word and my word only that keeps this place running” Rokaru wiped blood off the corner of his mouth, and smirked.

“Maybe not for long, Shoji” He muttered, nodding to a man behind him, and Shoji was grabbed by a guard loyal to Rokaru, who threw him in the same cell as Shinji, locking the door and pocketing the key. Rokaru saw the small crowd of people, and explained to them “We were deceived by Shoji and his regime! He was weak, and allowed outsiders to take our home! They allowed outsiders in our community, poisoning us from the inside! We would have been stabbed in our sleep, and had our homes taken. We will survive, and we will not allow them to rule us under an iron boot!”

During the speech, Gabe, who was locked inside a cell of his own, clawed at the cell door, the loss of blood weakening him so much he was barely able to move. He felt incredibly cold, as he was drenched from sweat and blood as he lay on the concrete floor, each breath getting harder and harder to achieve. He rested his head down, and felt the pull of eternal sleep reaching for him, which he soon began to thinking about accepting, as the speech Rokaru was giving thundered through the small building. He was dying, and he knew it.

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“What kind of help are we talking about?” Sung-Min asked Tomoko, who watched the group closely. “My friend was imprisoned wrongly for something he never did, as were his friends. The man who imprisoned him has had an agenda against him ever since he arrived here, and this was him acting out” Kwan noticed a walker approaching them and shot it with a suppressed rifle while another was cut down by Shinsuke, with Tomoko noting “You are well armed. I think you can make a case for my friend” Kioko stepped in front of Jun and Sung-min, bowing towards the woman. “Tomoko, Shoji would never have allowed such a thing to happen, so Rokaru must have done this on his own accord. Shoji is not the kind of person to jail innocent people with good reason”

Jun cricked his neck. “Rokaru? Who is he?” “He is the lead security officer for The Garden” Kioko explained “I met him once while we were trading. He is a total asshole, but I never thought he would do something so…rash”
Jun checked his rifle’s magazine. “So if we convince Shoji we are friendly, maybe we can turn him against Rokaru. How many people are under his command as muscle?” Tomoko shrugged. “Maybe two or three. The guards normally are not loyal to him, but there are a few who are fanatical about his leadership” “So” Ronin suggested “Lets release your friends and kill Rokaru. Sounds simple enough to me” “NO!” yelped Tomoko “We are not going to resort to assassination! I…can’t let that happen, because it would ruin Sensei Shoji and his community’s view on his leadership”

Jae Eun stepped in, and pointed to a man behind Tomoko. The man, Hua Ji, smiled as he opened his arms. “Welcome to the Garden! We-” Tomoko drew her sword and stuck it in the man’s face. “YOU ARE WORKING FOR ROKARU!! BACK UP!” she yelled, while Jun and his group raised their rifles at the man. Hua Ji’s smiled fell, and he held up his hands. “I am here to find you Tomoko, because like you, I am against his regime of fear mongering. I will assist in any way I can” Takeshi raised his stump. “Excuse me, but we want to have a home in The Garden. Going around gunning down people will send the wrong message. Maybe we can persuade Shoji to help us, and in return we remove this Rokaru from power?”

Jun nodded, while Tomoko and Hua Ji spoke in private. Hua Ji then looked at the group, and ordered “Follow us. We will take you there and deal with things” Takeshi spoke up “Wait a moment…why do you trust us? We are strangers and for all you know we could be trying to raid your home” Tomoko pursed her lips. “I can tell when people are genuine, and when they aren’t. In my gut, I can tell you aren’t the kind of people to try something like a raider would. You have Kioko here as a friend, and, to be honest, I…we, don’t have any other choice”

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Emiko hugged her knees, sobbing at the thought of Gabe’s current state when the door opened, and in came Rokaru, armed with a night stick. “Please, stand” he said, with Emiko standing up. A guard opened the door, and she was escorted out of the cell with her hands tied behind her back.

“You are a violent woman Emiko. I suppose” he said, placing the end of the stick under her chin “That is what one needs to be to survive this world’s horrors. I know that. I also know that arrangements need to be made to ensure our survival. I just want you to know that this isn’t personal, sweetie” Emiko looked at Rokaru with tears dripping from her chin. “I hope you realize when you are dying on the cold ground, it will very much be personal, traitor” Rokaru smacked her across the face, again splitting open her cut. “You are a mouthy BITCH!” Rokaru spat “And if I was less moral, I might consider taking you for a ride at your expense. Trust me, that would be more pleasurable for me than you. But that won’t happen. Instead, you-” He was interrupted by a man outside shouting “Hua Ji and Tomoko return!”

The gates opened and in walked Jun’s group, who gawked and stared at the oasis before them. Haruna remarked “It’s like something out of a story book…safe walls, fresh food, children playing. It’s incredible” Ronin looked around and saw the people looking at them with mixed reactions, ranging from curiosity to mild fear or worry. “These are ordinary people living their lives day to day. It’s almost as if the world didn’t end here” Tomoko pointed to the large brick building and exclaimed “There is where they are holding my friends, since that is the village jail”

Rokaru stormed outside to find Tomoko and Hua Ji surrounded by Jun’s group, all of whom were armed to the teeth. He straightened his posture and sauntered over to the group. “I apologize for not having a warmer reception, Tomoko, but who are these people you welcomed into our community? They haven’t been vetted by me yet, so while I appreciate all of you taking care of my people, you will have to leave here as soon as possible, understand?”

Jun and Kwan walked up to the man, with Jun grabbing him by the collar and holding a gun to his chest. “GET SHOJI OUT HERE NOW YOU SNAKE!” Jun rumbled, with Kwan aiming his rifle at the rest of Rokaru’s men, ordering “Don’t do anything stupid boys” “You stupid sons of bitches” hissed Rokaru “You think you can take this place over? HMM?” Jun got directly in Rokaru’s face and demanded “We aren’t here to take this place over dickhead. Get me Shoji NOW; otherwise I blow your smug face off right here”
Rokaru waved at the guard, who ran to release his prisoners.

After a few seconds, Shoji, Shinji, Emiko, and Dr. Moon were released, with Jun gasping at the sight of his old friend. “Shinji…is that you?!” he asked, with Shinji running up to him, his face fraught with both joy and shock. Jun threw Rokaru to the ground and the two men embraced, while Ronin held a gun on Rokaru. “Dude” Shinji whimpered “I thought you were dead!” Jun smiled. “Well, I might have if it weren’t for blind luck” Shoji approached Jun, and extended a hand which the latter took.

“I assume you were told about our situation by Tomoko here? Actually it doesn’t matter, except that you are here to help us. I am Sensei Shoji, at your service” he said, with Rokaru chuckling in the background. “What are you laughing about asshole? Your little shit scheme failed after all” Shinsuke asked angrily, with Rokaru nodding towards the gates. The sounds of vehicles, a single truck and three motorcycles, roared up to the gate, with around nine Koreans stepping out and surrounding the gate armed to the teeth with rifles, pistols, shotguns and other melee weapons.

The leader stepped forward, a handsome yet rough looking man with his hair slicked back wearing a tan jacket, his shotgun slung across his back. In perfect Japanese, he shouted “You! The one with the leather jacket!” while pointing at Jun. Jun stepped forward, and stood in front of the barred gate that was normally behind the thick wooden gates, staring the leader in the eyes. “You wanted to talk to me?” he asked, with the leader grinning devilishly. “Yeah I did, actually. You see, we were going to come in here, and with our friend’s help over there, we would have made one hell of a haul here. Enough to make the Chinese happy for weeks”

Jun looked at Rokaru, who smiled with pure confidence. “You made Rokaru your inside man? What was in it for him, immunity?” The leader shrugged. “He wanted us to ice the leader of this cozy as hell little cottage. But…” he trailed, grabbing and cocking his shotgun “You being here makes his initial plans much more difficult. So since I am such a nice guy, I will give one of two choices: one, you can leave, and we promise to kill you only after we are done looting and pleasuring everything in here, or two, we kill you right here and right now. So which choice will you take?”

Jun looked at his people, who gave him knowing glances. “I think friend, you missed the third choice” Jun commented, with the leader scoffing. “Oh really? And what is that, exactly?” Jun shrugged. “Well, it involves you leaving this place, and never coming back. We aren’t a group of sheep awaiting slaughter, and you will die if you try to make a scene. So what do you choose, friend?” The leader put a finger on his lips, and pretended to think. “Well” he finally said after a moment “Since you put things like that…I will have to pass”

As soon as the words left his mouth Jun whipped out his Revolver and shot the leader in the head, and his group opened fire, gunning down all but two of the remaining Koreans.
Rokaru elbowed Shoji in the face and ran to the prison cell, slamming the door shut behind him. Shinsuke struck one of Rokaru’s guards in the neck with his axe, killing him instantly, while the last remaining guard raised his hands, only to get shot by Kuma. The last two Koreans tried to run, but one was shot in the head by Jun, with the other being attacked by a walker. Jun and Kwan ran outside the gates and shot the walker and the Korean, checking for anymore that might be hiding in the dense foliage and trees.

Suddenly, the door opened, and Rokaru stepped out with a bloody and dying Gabe in his grip, a knife pressed against his throat. Gabe was white, and a thin glaze of sweat and blood was all over his face as he wheezed for breath. Shoji stared in horror at Rokaru. “You were behind this whole thing so that you would replace me?! You were going to allow those animals to pillage and desolate our home so you could finally lead this place?! You betrayed everything you swore to uphold you traitorous bastard!!” Rokaru grinned. “I did it to preserve this place. They would have taken everything and left only ruins. I was going to SAVE this place, and our people. Then you had to let these fools in here, and let them integrate into our society”

He gestured wildly and pressed the knife close to Gabe’s throat. “You would have led us to our end! You would have killed us with your kindness and open mindedness!! You should have been stricter and maybe we would have lived!!” Shoji frowned, and replied “I agree. I was too soft, and I did allow people who don’t belong here. You are such a person, as you yourself said, because you are a threat to everyone here!” Rokaru screamed “NO I AM NOT!! I AM THE SAVIOR YOU NEED!”

He then stabbed Gabe in the throat, and drew his gun, aiming it at a petrified Esther. Before he could pull the trigger, Jun ran up and wrestled the gun out of his hand, eventually restoring to taking his knife and stabbing it into the ground, with Rokaru’s left hand being stabbed and pinned in the process. Jun stood and pointed the gun at the man’s face, looking back at Shoji. Shoji walked up to Jun and whispered “Kill him. I don’t want threats like him here”

Jun shook his head. “Shinji lost his friend to this prick…he should do it” Tomoko and the rest watched as Shinji marched towards Jun and took the gun in his hand, with Jun stepping back. Rokaru spat viciously “You don’t have the balls to kill me kid! You are the good guy, remember? You are the morally superior one! You kill me, and you become a monster” Shinji’s hand shook as he held the Beretta Bobcat as he replied coldly “I was a monster long before I came here. You aren’t telling me anything new. As for being the good guy…I never was” He then without a hint of hesitation pulled the trigger, blowing Rokaru’s brains across the ground. Emiko and Tomoko were shocked, while Ronin leaned towards Jun and whispered “He is ready for this world now”

Shinji dropped the gun, and slowly he covered his mouth, the horror of what happened slowly taking over him. Tomoko took his hands in hers, and embraced him, while he stared at the corpse. The people around him were deathly silent, while a single moan punctuated the silence. Jun looked at the gate to see the last remaining Korean slumping against the gate, gargling on his blood. Jun and Ronin walked up to him, and Jun leaned close to him, hearing him whisper “We will be back…in greater numbers…you will pay for what you did to us…”

Jun looked at Shoji, Shinji, and Jae Eun, and replied “Go ahead…give it your best shot” He then point blank shot the man in the face, killing him. He looked up and saw the settlers looking at him, with expressions of both shock and disgust. Sensei Shoji looked at the corpses of the dead Koreans and of Rokaru’s, wiping his brow stressfully. “It…had to be done, Sensei” Ronin assured the older man, who nodded. “We lived here untouched by the outside world’s poison, only to have one from within doing the poisoning for it” Jun, Shinji and Kwan watched as the man stood before his people, and pointed to Jun’s group. “These outsiders have proven to be the reality of this world, and if we are to survive, we must learn from them. They are not only our saviors, but exactly what we need to survive. Will you teach us?”

Jun looked at the bodies, then at a nodding Jae Eun and replied with a slight smile “Why not?”
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@RickyGrimes @zombiemom62 @mishone. @PepperAnn
Mid Season premiere! I would have let this episode sit, but since the holidays are coming, I think an early release is in order. Enjoy.
NEW CAST:
Hua-Ji Liang– Fan Siu Wong
Dr. Yoshi- Oizumi Yo

Summary: After arriving at the Garden, Jun and Co will have to fight to save it, and in the process become members.
Episode 409 – So shall you be sent
As the smoke spewed out of Jun’s lowered pistol, one of the villagers shouted “THE DEAD ARE COMING!!!” Jun looked behind him, seeing a sizeable herd approaching the gates as the villagers backed away from the onslaught of the dead. Shinji ran up to his friend, Kuroi drawn as he noticed the large body of Shinsuke readying his axe. “Who the hell are you?” he asked, receiving a curt “Does that shit really matter right here, right now kid? We have walking bone-bags to slaughter” Jun looked at Shoji, who gave him a single nod as he rallied the people behind him. “Ready yourselves! We cannot let them cluster and attract the people in here! Don’t let any of them get in the village!”

Tomoko ran up, her sword ready while Emiko joined her, a knife gripped tightly in her right hand. The walkers swarmed the group, only to get hacked, stabbed, bashed and smashed to death by the defenders. One walker was struck in the head by a shot from Jae Eun’s rifle, while another was pushed to the ground and soon its head was crushed to a gooey pulp by Haruna, armed with a brick. Tomoko slashed at a walker with Shinji at her back, while Shinsuke and Ronin cut down swathes of the dead with ease. Finally, Hua-Ji was slashing and cutting down clusters of the dead with his machete, sending pieces of brain and bones hurtling towards the ground with the air becoming black and red from the fetid blood of the walkers. More people in the village ran forward, weapons in hand. The guards climbed the wall’s catwalk and picked off stragglers, while Jun, Kwan and Shinji’s people fought with unbridled savagery.

“The gunfire attracted them here in the first place! Stop firing!” Shinji ordered, with Shoji shouting, fully panicked “Then how shall we beat these monsters? You are outnumbered Shinji!” The former grinned and replied after killing a walker “That’s what Jun and his friends are for, Sensei!” The killing of the dead continued until a single walker remained. Shinji and Tomoko smiled at each other and stabbed it in the head at the same time causing the corpse to plop on the ground. The group huffed and wheezed, while the villagers slowly came out of their homes, seeing the carnage before them. Suddenly a single walker growl alerted them, and the company turned to find the corpse of Gabe had reanimated, and was now slowly shambling towards them. Emiko felt tears roll down her face, but she walked up to the body of her former friend and stabbed him in the head, gently lowering the loose corpse on the ground.

Sensei Shoji walked up to the body, and then looked at the Buddha statue in the center of the village. “He shall be welcomed with open arms in the presence of the Buddha, along with his forefathers and their forefathers. Do not be overcome with grief my dear: you two will meet again in the hereafter, and no longer be burdened by the worries of this world” he said comfortingly to a sobbing Emiko, while Jun and the others lowered their weapons. Kwan, Dr. Hwang, Kuma and Shinsuke watched, their new friends paying respects to a grieving Emiko one by one. Shinji approached Kwan and said softly “He was my friend…” hanging his head in sadness. Kwan spoke up, replying gently “If he was your friend…then we shall grieve as if he was our own kin” with Kwan going to pay his respects to the fallen comrade first.

Tomoko approached Shinji, along with Jun and Sung-Min, who watched as Sensei Shoji blessed the body, and sung a low hymn, causing the village to become somber. The night quickly came, with a row of candles lit in remembrance of the man. Sensei Shoji looked up towards Jun, who was in the back trying to not be overly obvious. “You…you came here and now we are safe from harm. So…Gabe here was your friend…no?” Shinji looked at Jun who nodded and muttered “He was family” as Shinji, Tomoko, Emiko, Dr. Moon and Hua-Ji lifted the body onto a board and carried him to a pyre. Shoji put his hand warmly on Jun’s should and motioned for him to follow, as the villagers gathered to pay final respects to Gabe.

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Later that night, Tomoko looked at Rokaru’s corpse in the grave, remarking coldly “I am not saddened by his loss, Shinji. He was a traitor, and a murderer who wanted to sell us to the Korean and Chinese, so I am not losing sleep over his execution. But I will be by your friend’s arrival and having to gun those Koreans down” Shinji watched as the corpses lay supine across the cold ground, the smell of winter slowly setting in wafting in the wind. “It had to be done. Trust me, this is not the first time they’ve done things like this. Tomoko shot him a worried look, with Shinji reassuring her “They’re good people, Tomoko. I trust Jun with my life”
Tomoko stoically stared at the corpse, and commented “I just hope your trust doesn’t get more people killed…”

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Jun sat down, with the rest of his group waiting outside that morning. Sensei Shoji poured him a cup of barley tea, never breaking eye contact as Jun took the cup and drank it, sighing as the warm liquid lightened his spirit. “Jun Kikoda Masumoto, right?” Shoji asked, with the younger man replying “Yes sir. I am here on behalf of my group, asking for your blessing to stay here, away from the horrors the outside world shows us” Shoji himself took a sip of tea, and wiped the excess off the edge of his bottom lip. “What could you have to offer us? I am not trying to reduce your contributions as of late, but while Shinji and his team immediately proved themselves as valuable additions here, your group might be more difficult to integrate”

Jun cricked his neck. “I am not one to make shit up, sensei. We are a varied team of both fighters and providers, who will do anything you ask us” Sensei Shoji poured himself another cup of tea and drank it, all the while observing Jun’s slight impatience. “That is what you would call BULLSHIT. You have been out there long enough to realize the need to put on a friendly demeanor and face, especially if it rewards you in the end. So let me ask you again…what can you do to provide for us?”

The younger man sighed and answered the question with “Everything, really. We can go out on runs, help with crops and defend your people from both the living and the dead. We are very well versed in killing both” Shoji raised an eyebrow and sweetly replied “Not something you proudly advertise to a potential leader now, isn’t it? But no matter…you killed those Koreans and then the dead who followed. Still, I would rather have an innate grasp on the people I am talking to, rather than doing a crude interview. So Jun, how many people are in your immediate family?”

“My girlfriend, my adopted daughter and my mother, sensei. The rest of the group are people I have lived with and fought with these past 65 days” Shoji choked on the tea he was drinking and sputtered “65 days? It’s been 70…already 70 days into the end and people are killing each other and creating makeshift armies. When society fell it certainly fell quickly, almost as if we are pre-programmed to react to such an event, don’t you think?” Jun nodded and looked out the window. “People deep down are in it for themselves, doing whatever they need to in order to survive out there”

Shoji looked Jun in the eye and bluntly replied “Is that what this is? Playing me to survive? Because despite my gentle nature and your connection to Shinji, don’t underestimate my resolve. Screw this up or try something out of line, and I will have you killed. My people come first, and until you are fully integrated here, you are not going to be fully trusted. I won’t allow you to rampage through here getting people killed” Jun leaned forward and angrily hissed “I am not that kind of man! I will do whatever it takes to keep EVERYONE here alive, no matter the cost. I was raised to be a man of my word, and I am not going to betray my teachings now”

The elder leaned back and rubbed his beard, observing that Jun’s face was filled with sincerity. “You seem genuine…so you have passed the test. You could have lied, but you didn’t. What did you used to do before this Jun?” Jun bit his lip and answered “I was a college student, going for my degree in business…obviously I never got that far” Shoji smirked and asked “Yet for being a mere college student, you fight like a soldier. I take it the world molded you into what you are now?” with Jun nodding in response. “Well then…your job, if you want it, is to fill in our now vacant chief of security. What do you say, Mr. Masumoto?” Jun half smiled and extended a hand. “When do I start, sensei?” Shoji stoically handed Jun a clipboard and smiled, replying “I have a few people for you to meet first. But for now, we should both begin by settling your people in and getting them integrated with my people. We can’t bridges until we have a team, now can we?”

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Dr. Hwang entered the sterile, tiled infirmary and was immediately greeted by an impatient Dr. Yoshi, his arms filled with numerous white and chrome items. “And who are you supposed to be?” he demanded. Dr. Hwang smiled and extended a hand. “I am the new night shift doctor. Sensei Shoji promoted me to this position to ease your duties” Dr. Yoshi stared at her, muttering to himself “He did? Well…I guess I am going to have to be accepting of this confounded arrangement, aren’t I?”

He then walked away, leaving the woman to clear her throat and follow Dr. Yoshi as she saw Takeshi sitting on a bed, his scarred stump being examined by the doctor. “So are you sure the prosthetic will fit?” Takeshi asked, with Dr. Yoshi replying “It will since I am making it for you. It will be fitted with crude electrodes and leads, allowing you to use the fingers somewhat efficiently. It won’t be like your original hand, but then again an artist can never emulate nature one hundred percent”

Takeshi rolled his eyes and watched as the white plastic sleeve was slipped over his arm, with wires being stuck onto the back of his neck. The white and chrome hand’s fingers moved slightly as Takeshi scrunched his face, trying to move the digits. Eventually he slammed his hand down on the table and yelled angrily. Dr. Hwang sat next to the old man, and comfortingly ran her hand across his back. “It will take time to get used to the attachment, so be patient, okay?” Dr. Yoshi gawked at the interaction and blurted “Well I guess I am now obsolete? Or are you just being nice to the cripple?” Takeshi shot him an angry look and told the other doctor “Thank you my dear. Now, hopefully I won’t break this thing trying to eat and kill the dead. Be a shame to ruin Picasso’s shitty art wouldn’t it?”

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Jae Eun and Esther walked into their apartment, noticing the décor and furniture that was in the living room. A television, a stove and a large mauve couch with 2 red chairs. Jae Eun smiled and allowed Esther to walk around the place, finding a small room filled with books, toys and a child’s bed. Her mother grinned as Esther picked up a doll and immediately hugged it. “I love this place mom! Can we stay here?” Esther begged, with Jae Eun nodding, prompting the little girl to pounce on her bed. Jun entered his new home and looked around, his mouth slightly open as he noticed every piece of furniture and decoration. “Holy shit” he murmured, with Jae Eun wrapping her arms around his waist. “Well…you have a home at last, with a family to inhabit it. And no down payment required!” Jun chuckled and scooped up Esther, retorting “Not exactly the circumstances I was hoping for, but at least I have everyone safe in here”

Haruna opened the door to her apartment, a smaller space with two rooms joined together by a medium sized living room and kitchen. She looked around and smiled, dropping her bags and sitting on the couch nearby.

Shinsuke walked into the Gym, finding an assortment of exercise equipment and tools. Kuma joined him, grinning as he picked up a 10 pound weight and began to make arm curls, with Shinsuke lying down on a weight rack and lifting the bar.

Kasune knocked on Sung-Min’s door, and was soon greeted by the man himself. “Hey…what’s up?” he asked her, with Kasune replying “I need to talk to you for a bit, if that’s okay with you?”Sung-Min nodded, and Kasune entered his quarters, a small apartment with sparse trimmings. “Kind of small and barren isn’t it?” she remarked, with Sung-Min commenting “I am not a materialistic person. Besides, they were fresh out of smutty magazines and cat photos” Kasune laughed and then handed him a pack of cigarettes. “I heard you liked these, so I got them from the depot…” Sung-Min took the pack and sniffed the rows of paper tubes. “GOD I missed that smell…” he took one and lit it, taking a single puff. “Want one?” he offered her, with Kasune taking a cigarette. She and he puffed on the tubes, when Sung-Min blurted “So why did you come here?”

Kasune lowered her cigarette and took a deep breath. “I am interested in you. You are the one person I am compatible with, and I think-” “Stop” Sung-Min interrupted, with Kasune recoiling in shock. “Look, you are the perfect package…smart, kind and sexy as hell. But Kasune, I already had someone I loved. And she is dead…I am not ready to move on” Kasune held back tears and rebutted “Wouldn’t Akiko want you to move on already?” Sung-Min shook his head. “Maybe, but I can’t…I won’t…I’m sorry Kasune, but I am not ready”

Kasune sniffed and forced a smile. “Okay…we are still friends though, I hope?” Sung-Min ran a hand down her cheek. “I will always be by your side, Kasune. Finish your cigarette at least…shame to let it go to waste”

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Kwan sat down with Shinji and extended a hand. “Kwan P’yon, nice to meet you” Shinji took his hand and squinted at the man. “You rescued Jun and Jae Eun?” Kwan nodded, replying “We were attempting to find the Shinda, but we ran into him and his lovely girlfriend first. Ever since we have been on the road” Shinji leaned close to him. “So let me get this straight: you have yourself, a Korean army man, the Chinese doctor, and then the other two…who the hell are they?” Kwan chuckled. “Shinsuke Goro was a major wrestler supposedly. I never heard of him, but the way he bragged about his career you would think I watched all his battles. He is a brash asshole with no filter, but her means well enough. Kuma is a different story…”

Shinji raised an eyebrow.
“From what Shinsuke told me, he was beaten as a child because he was born from a black father and Japanese mother. He’s smart, borderline genius, but he is always quiet and keeps to himself. I will say however, I have seen him cut a swath through a sizable herd of the dead without any issues. He respects Jun, as do all of my people” They looked up to see Tomoko approach them and ask playfully “I am going to watch the child’s stage play in a moment. Want to join me?” Kwan and Shinji nodded, with Tomoko winking at Shinji.

Kwan slid his eyes cheekily at the other man, remarking smoothly “She is a fine woman, friend” Shinji scoffed and began to follow Tomoko, remarking “And she knows it too”
===============================================
Later that night Shoji sat down with Jun, Shinji and Kwan, pouring each man a cup of barley tea. “The tea is something I used to hate drinking” Shoji explained “Even when I was a child. I would have rather drank fruit juice or soda pop instead, but my father insisted I drink it. Over the years, I began to grow a fondness to the stuff. It’s rich in anti-oxidants and prevents cancerous effects from occurring. Hence my…continual habit of drinking this tea” Jun turned the cup in his palm three times, as did Shinji and Kwan, all of whom received a pleased nod from Shoji.

“I brought you three gentlemen here to ask you a question that is vital to our survival. I already know Shinji’s answer, but I need Mr. Masumoto and Mr. P’yon’s answers. You have lived in the wilderness before, killed and destroyed other’s who crossed your paths. Used gun, knife and other weapons to slay both the living and the dead, and lost many comrades in the journey. So tell me this, so I may rest my head peacefully at night…if the time comes, will you kill invaders, raiders, and other such people who threaten our way of life, as well as the ever present dead who fill our cities? Will you be willing to take lives but in the process become one with the violence we all face? Are you all ready to do that? This isn’t a pass or fail question...I need to know”
Jun looked at both Kwan and Shinji, and cleared his throat. “Anyone who tries to take this place is going to end up dead. Nothing will ever come through those gates that don’t belong. NOTHING”

Shoji leaned back and let loose a deep sigh. “I don’t doubt you in the slightest, but if things keep getting worse out there as I have heard it has, you may end up regretting that promise”
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On the next episode of The Walking Dead Japan: Jun and his group adjust to their new lives, as relationships grow closer.

 

@RickyGrimes @zombiemom62 @mishone. @PepperAnn
New ep! 410-412 will be released today. Enjoy
NEW CAST:
Bokoro – Kobayashi Katsuya
Fujita Shoji – Morita Myuta

SUMMARY: Jun and his group adjust to their new lives, as relationships grow closer.

Episode 410- The Pagoda
The truck pulled up to the shopping center, whose entrance was once covered over with a wrecked helicopter but had since been cleared out, allowing entry into the decaying building. Jun, Ronin, Fujita, Tomoko, Emiko and a local by the name of Bokoro, a man with a thick mop of hair on his head, climbed out of the truck and went to the entrance. Ronin banged on the window, with Bokoro and Fujita looking at him with confusion. “It’s so that way we can draw them out” explained Jun, while Ronin peered through the dirty window. “I see about three of them. I’ll wait until more come” Bokoro saw a walker approaching them and stabbed it in the head with a makeshift spear, getting blood on his leather shoes.

Fujita played with the revolver in his hand, checking the ammo obsessively. “Kid please don’t do that” warned Ronin who raised a singular eyebrow. “Why not? Its better I know how much ammo I have before I get into a fight, right?” Ronin took the gun and pointed to a dark spot on the nickel plating. “That’s corrosion. It will screw up the mechanisms and cause a jam. Try not to touch the chamber, otherwise, a thin layer of rust will form, every time you touch it…I’ve seen a gun blow up from someone fingering it too much” Emiko snickered, and Jun snorted at the comment. “Y-you’re punking me, aren’t you?” Fujita asked, receiving a cheeky smile from Ronin. Soon a bang was heard and then four walkers were soon beating against the Plexiglass window, snarling and clawing at the out of reach people.

After they were killed Jun and Tomoko grabbed a pair of shopping carts and wheeled them up to the group. “Let’s fill these up today. We need clothes, toys for the kids, food, water, medicine-” Tomoko interrupted “So everything. Gotcha” she smiled at a grumbling Jun and went inside the building.

The inside was dark, save for several windows that allowed sunlight in, showing the surprisingly intact store. Bokoro and Jun went to grab any food items, finding several cans, bags, boxes and crates filled with foodstuffs. “Jackpot!” noted Jun, picking up a Ramune pop bottle. Meanwhile, Ronin and Emiko went to the small clothing department, finding several shirts, pants, belts and dresses just sitting there untouched. Ronin picked up a sundress, made from warm blue cloth.
“That’s not exactly your style, Ronin, but hey you could pull it off” teased Emiko. Ronin chuckled. “It’s for someone back home, actually. I just hope she likes it” Emiko frowned. “How do you know her size?” she asked, receiving a devious grin from Ronin in return. Tomoko and Fujita searched the rest of the store, finding isopropyl alcohol, painkillers, bandages and more, while also finding, tucked under a shelving unit, a discarded shotgun.

Tomoko pulled it out, with Fujita gasping “I bet that’s a police issue rifle!” Tomoko nodded and released a single shell, catching it in her hand. “Jun” Tomoko issued through the radio “We have looted all the medical items here. Toys and other goodies next?” on the other end the radio crackled “Yeah sure. I need to grab something…personal from that area anyways. We’ll meet at the entrance”
Jun walked over to the medical department, breaking into the contraceptives case and pulling out several boxes of what appeared to be pregnancy tests. He looked up to find Tomoko watching him. “So…are you trying to have children?” she point blank asked, receiving a nod. “Jae Eun and I are safe now. I think it’s time maybe we should begin a new life…with our own children”

Tomoko squinted at Jun, asking “Is Esther not enough for you?” Jun looked at her and exclaimed “That’s not what I meant! Look, I have a feeling things are going to get better for us. I want to build a life, and start anew. I didn’t mean to come across as unthankful”
Tomoko smiled and patted his cheek. “Don’t worry I wasn’t being critical. I was messing with you. Now hurry up before it gets dark and we head home blind” Jun nodded, reaching into a jewelry case and pulling out a small box, stuffing it in his pocket unnoticed.
=====================================================
Back home, Sung-Min and Kwan watched as the delivery of toys and clothing was distributed amongst the children, all of whom joyfully ran off with the new figures and vehicles they now owned. Esther was given a doll named Hitomi, dressed in a traditional kimono which she loved. As the kids played with the gifts, Sung-min leaned over to Kwan and commented in Korean “I never thought I would see this happen. Kids being kids, like before all this happened. Seems too good to be true” Kwan nodded, smiling as a kid kicked a ball towards him, with the older man playfully punting the ball away. “I know. It’s a sign of better things to come I hope. Maybe…maybe Hwang and I can settle down. Have children and begin a new life”
Sung-Min shrugged. “Why not? You can do that now I think, now that you have walls, food, shelter, everything a person needs to survive all right here. I’d say go for it man”

Meanwhile, Ronin softly tapped Haruna on her shoulder, getting her attention. “Haruna, I saw this…and I thought you would like it. I think it’s in your size” he meekly explained, handing her the dress. Haruna gasped and smiled widely. “You shouldn’t have! But pray tell, why give an old woman a gift like this?” Ronin smiled and replied “To me, you aren’t old. And I got it because you deserve it” Haruna gently pushed Ronin behind a building and looked around, seeing no one. She then kissed him deeply, looking into his eyes afterwards. “You are such a bullshitter. But damn, I do love you anyways” she whispered. Ronin smiled and replied softly “I know I am…”

As she ran her hand down his tattooed chest she noticed the wolf tooth dangling from a string. “I never noticed this on you before…where was this from?” Ronin took the necklace and rubbed it between his fingers. “When I escaped the Shinda, I encountered Dr. Mesuji and killed her. I then…became lost, fighting the dead and the living. This was a token of all I went through just to survive. I almost died, and yet I lived when others didn’t” Haruna somberly commented “Well don’t think like that. You are here now, and to me thats all that matters, okay?” Ronin smiled weakly and nodded, as Haruna pecked him on the lips once more.

===============================================================
Shinji raised his boken, with Kuma and his other students doing the same. “Never allow the weight of your weapon to lessen your grip or balance. You will become vulnerable, and foes will take advantage of that. Never waver, and never be unwilling to expose yourself even if the scene is serene” One student, a cute woman with a button nose, asked “But why are we using bokens and not guns?” Tomoko, who was watching from the other side of the Gazebo, pulled out a BB gun she got from the mall and aimed it at her. “Disarm me” she ordered, which the woman did with ease. “Against guns, we are to use our wits. But against melee weapons, or the dead, we use skill to win. Guns are important, but there will come a time when the last bullet is fired, and we have to use other means to defend ourselves. This is for that time”

Kuma smiled and relaxed his stance, with Shinji giving him a single nod.
========================================================
Shinsuke, in the small gym set up in the basement of one of the buildings lifted a barbell, the weight alone causing him to huff and grunt. Kasune, while holding a stop watch shouted “AND NOW!” with the wrestler dropping the weight on the floor. “Hell yeah!” he screamed, throwing a fist in the air. Kasune rolled her eyes, which Shinsuke noticed. “What?” he asked irritably, receiving nothing in response. “Sorry…it’s an old force of habit. Whenever a big match was set, I would spend hours each day pumping iron, hyping myself up for the fight. Everyone thought the girls, money and fame was what I was wanting, and don’t get me wrong the girls were a huge plus, as was the money, but what I wanted was acceptance. I am loud, and I am brash, but it’s who I am, and to my fans it didn’t matter” Kasune raised an eyebrow. “Why are you confessing this to me right now?”

Shinsuke sighed and took a swig of water from a bottle. “Because now that I am with Kwan and Jun’s group, I feel like I am part of something better. Like I am helping out for once. And being here in this place makes me wonder if my usefulness will be forgotten” Kasune tossed him a towel and smiled. “You are a warrior, Shinsuke. You’re heroism has done much to help us live through the world’s horror’s. And you being here with us now shows me that Kwan and Jun consider you a valuable member of the group. And hey, maybe the people here were fans of you, who knows?”

The wrestler shrugged and stood, sweat dripping off his chest, making Kasune cover her eyes. “But first I would clean up. You’re making a mess!”
==============================================
Jun and Shinji went to the nearby orchard to go pick fruit, giving them time to catch up. “So Shinji, where did you and Emiko meet? I don’t remember seeing her on the Shinda?” Shinji paused and looked Jun in the eyes. “She was a JOC soldier whom I rescued. She saved my life numerous times, and for that I owe her” Jun was appalled and yelped “She is a JOC? Why didn’t you kill her? She is our enemy!” Shinji barked angrily “WAS! She isn’t evil, JUN! What about your friends, huh? A Japanese wrestler no one watched, a mute, a Chinese doctor and a Korean soldier. Am I to trust them?” his friend hung his head. “Yeah you are…because I trust them” Shinji half smiled and threw a rotten peach to the ground. “Then that’s the same reason you should trust Emiko. Because I trust her and Dr. Moon” They picked more peaches and apples, when Jun started laughing. “I have to be honest man, I would never have thought of the rich kid Shinji Akai being a warrior leader. Do you remember that girl from Okinawa, the one with the revealing clothes?”

His friend smiled. “How could I forget? She was always having the boys hounding her for dates. Except you…you always said you would ask out Jae Eun. Now you two are a couple…funny how the world brings people together?” Jun smiled and plopped a peach in the basket. “I never thought I would be with her…but now that I am, I don’t worry about how I dress, or how awkward I act. I worry about keeping her alive” Shinji’s air became sober. “Remember Ruto? Remember how he always ate peanuts and bragged about his hacking skills? I wonder if he made it out alive” His friend climbed down the small ladder and sighed. “I miss him, that’s for sure, but no use in drowning in nostalgia”

Shinji chuckled. “Isn’t that what we are doing right now?” The chat was stopped by a single walker who lumbered up to them, snarling and clawing. Jun walked up to it and stabbed it in the head, dropping it. He looked through its pockets and pulled out a wallet filled with family pictures and moments. “I wonder if he was happy back then, or these tried to convince him he was happy” Shinji walked up to Jun and looked at the photos, looking down grimly at the corpse. “Well, at least he joined his family a while ago. I…would like to take this back and bury it, as a reminder of who he was” Jun looked at the corpse and asked “You don’t want to bury the body?” with his friend replying “That wasn’t this man in the photos. He died a long time ago, alone and scared. It’s the least I can do”
=================================================
Jun entered his apartment suite and sat down, relaxing on the small sofa leaning against the wall. Jae Eun walked in, her hair freshly dyed with highlights of blue, purple and green. “Well” she asked, twirling around playfully “What do you think?” Jun smiled and replied “You look amazing babe…I forgot you used to have highlights, since everything happened” Jae Eun was not bothered and pointed to the small room next to the kitchen. “Esther is asleep at the moment. She had so much fun playing with the toys we brought!” Jun reclined on the sofa, patting the seat next to him. Jae Eun sat and snuggled close to his arm, sighing happily. “Look at this…a house, a kid, everything we both never thought would happen in a million years” Jae Eun exclaimed, touching Jun’s cheek. Her lover smiled and commented “I turned 20 yesterday…I think. I’ve lost track of days, so it’s a rough calculation”

Jae Eun grinned and kissed him on the cheek, flirtatiously cooing “Maybe a little celebration is in order?” as she revealed a pink bra strap on her shoulder. Jun smiled and held up a hand. “I need to talk to you about something…it’s important” Jae Eun straightened her posture, with her face growing serious. “Look…we have been together through some of the worst things imaginable. Seen people we know die and suffer. You saw me nearly die, and yet here we are, sitting on a comfy, yet ugly sofa” Jae Eun laughed and noticed Jun taking her hand in his. “On the Shinda, we talked about building a life together, starting our relationship in full. I said no not because I didn’t want to have a life with you, but because I felt like I wasn’t worthy, or ready. I do now, and I want you and Esther to be in my life forever”

Jae Eun smiled, a single tear rolling down her cheek. “I do too. I’ve wanted it ever since this started. But...why are you telling me this? Aren’t we already happy and starting a life here?” Jun sat up, with Jae Eun following his lead and replied “Mostly. But…I finally figured why my dad was never home. He always told me it was work related, that his military service was to take precedence over our family. But that was not true…he was like that because he was afraid to hurt our family…I realize that now, and it took far longer to realize that then it should have”

He took a deep breath and knelt down, pulling out a small cloth covered box with a single silver band across the top. He opened the box, revealing a gold ring adorned with a single piece of red jade, shaped like an open blossom. Jae Eun gasped and instantly tears welled up in her eyes, her breaths becoming sudden and sharp.

“Oh my god” she said between breaths as Jun finally asked: “Jae Eun Rhee, will you marry me?” Jae Eun restrained a squeal and yelped happily “YES! OH GOD YES I WILL!” Jun nervously smiled as he slid the ring on her finger, with his fiancé now jumping up and down, her hand covering her mouth. She then babbled something in Korean, causing Jun to frown slightly. Jae Eun sighed happily and commented “I was saying, I have never been so happy in my life” She then kissed Jun deeply, pushing him onto the sofa as she climbed on top of him, ripping off his shirt. “I thought this came after the wedding” Jun remarked, with Jae Eun unbuttoning her top and saying “The old rules are dead. Besides, traditions get stale after a while” as she then reached for his belt.
==================================
Shinji walked up to Tomoko, handing her a tiny bottle of sweet milk. “Yulko milk, your favorite” he commented, with Tomoko taking the bottle and taking a swig. She gasped and tossed the bottle aside. “It’s out of date, dummy” she said, causing Shinji to toss his bottle also. Tomoko smiled and said “I appreciate the thought though. Please, sit and watch the moon” The moon was full, illuminated as if it were covered in white gold. “It’s beautiful” Shinji remarked with Tomoko nodding in response.

She then adjusted her posture and remarked “I am not the most gentile person here as you might have noticed” Shinji smirked and commented “Yeah I’ve noticed. But to be honest, it’s refreshing to see. It makes you more genuine and sincere…I like that to be honest” Tomoko nodded once and looked at the moon again, the sound of crickets now slowly dying away, giving way instead to the hollow sound of winters chill. The air was beginning to get chilly, causing Tomoko to shiver slightly.

“So since you know I am brusque, I should also warn you I can be very impulsive around people I like. So…yeah” She then leaned over and grabbed Shinji’s cheeks with both her hands, kissing his lips. Shinji’s eyes flew open and he pushed her away, yelping “Whoa! Where did that come from?” Tomoko gasped, her face looking hurt. “I…I thought you…” she stammered, looking around her embarrassed at what happened. “Tomoko wait” Shinji exclaimed, noticing tears streaming down her face. He took the cuff of his shirt and wiped away the tears, smiling as he brushed the red hair away from her eyes. “I didn’t mean to act that way…I was just shocked you did that…” Tomoko sniffed and remarked “I meant it. I have known you for a week, but during that week, I have felt something for you I never felt before…something towards you I rarely feel now. I just didn’t know how to express it…” Shinji leaned in and kissed her, with Tomoko melting in his embrace. The moon illuminated them on the top of the Pagoda, with the rest of the Garden now sleeping as moonlight silence surrounded the settlement.

Meanwhile, Ronin sat alone in his room, with Haruna sleeping in the bed next to him as he watched the moon. He looked down at his scars and tattoos, and felt a sense of accomplishment that he was finally a part of something. Haruna sleepily muttered “Come to bed…I want you with me” prompting Ronin to turn to her and join her in bed.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On the next episode of The Walking Dead Japan: Jun and his group continue to settle into their new home, with a scouting party coming across a new face.

 

@RickyGrimes @zombiemom62 @mishone. @PepperAnn
New ep! 410-412 will be released today. Enjoy
NEW CAST:
Daichi Kodomo - Hosogai Kei
Mama-Sawaguchi Yasuko
Akira - Takeru Satoh

SUMMARY: Jun and his group continue to settle into their new home, with a scouting party coming across a new face.

Episode 411 – That was not us
Takeshi entered the depot, ringing the overhead bell in the process as he opened the door. He looked around and saw that Mama was nowhere to be found. Then he was greeted with a cheery “Hello there! Why you must be one of the new people who arrived 5 days ago!” Takeshi politely bowed and handed her a piece of paper which she took. Mama read the note and gave him a confused look. “Are you sure you need this much beer? I mean, no one really drinks it, sure, but 24 bottles is a lot” Takeshi lugged a crate full of sealed batteries or varying sizes on the countertop and smiled. “I think this is a good trade, no?”
Takeshi walked out of the depot, his crate of beer being drug along by a small wagon be found. As he opened the door to his apartment, he noticed a man run up to him and huff “Mr. Murano? Sensei Shoji wishes to talk to you” Takeshi nodded, plopping the crate inside his house and then walked to Shoji’s office.

Meanwhile, Jun walked along the wall’s catwalk, looking over the fence and seeing only one or two walkers in the immediate area. One of the guards, a pretty yet stern woman named Naoko approached him, saluting him. “I am not a military man Naoko, so no need for that” Naoko lowered her arm and replied “Sir, I was in the JSDF reserve when this happened, so old habits die hard I guess. I wanted to ask if you need any more supply running members. Do you?” Jun shook his head. “Not really. Shoji wants us to have smaller and less frequent runs, so as we may avoid undue attention from outside forces…or from the dead” Naoko nodded, a slight hint of disappointment in her face. “Don’t worry, I am sure Hua-Ji or Tomoko will need help sometime soon”

Ronin checked his wound, the bandages now no longer oozing or seeping blood. Haruna walked up to him, wrapped in a towel as he was examining his cut. “Scars look amazing on a man…trust me, the ladies would be all over that” she teased, with Ronin sarcastically replying “Too bad. I would hate to go from a 1 to a 2” Haruna laughed and ran a hand down his chest. “You are a better man than you let yourself believe you are. Don’t be so hard on yourself” She then dropped the towel, with Ronin raising a pleased eyebrow.

Shinsuke and Kuma were busy with the building crew assembling a new houses foundation, with Shinsuke lifting large bags of cement into the mixer. Kuma remarked “Kioko is here” Shinsuke wiped the sweat off his brow and noticed Kioko nervously approach him. “Hey…I thought you were hungry, so I made you some food. I cooked it myself Think of it as a thank you gift for saving my life” she handed him a large bowl of noodles swimming amongst an ocean of beefy broth.

Shinsuke smiled, replying “I think it was the other way around, with you getting us here and saving our sorry handsome asses” and took a sip of the broth, the liquid tasting absolutely awful, as if an entire block of salt was used. Shinsuke swallowed the broth and forced a grin. “It’s very good…thank you” Kioko blushed and ran towards the main village center, while Shinsuke poked at the noodles with his chopsticks. Kuma snickered, with the wrestler barking “Dude, please” as he forced down another gulp of the horrid broth.

================================================
Kwan and Tomoko geared up, with the latter grabbing a pistol, a small hunting rifle and Honor, while the former loaded a SCAR rifle and his two tone Beretta. They exited the gates and waved at Jun and Emiko as they walked deep into the woods. They arrived at a small yet new hotel built before everything happened. Inside the reception area was a single walker, dressed in mere rags. Tomoko killed it and looked around inside, while Kwan scouted the rooms. Out of 30 rooms only 1 was booked, due to the newness of the place, with a walker banging against the door from the inside. Tomoko tossed Kwan a water bottle and pointed to the door, now shuddering with each hit.

“Looks like someone is unhappy. You want to kill it or shall I?” she asked with Kwan shaking his head. “It’s not hurting anyone right now. I’ll kill it before we leave, okay?” They looked inside the hotel room, finding only tiny bags of mixed snacks and water bottles, when suddenly Kwan snapped his fingers in excitement. “We need new mattresses for the building being constructed near the south wall, right? Why not use these? It’s not like they have ever been used…hell I doubt someone has ever even screwed on these” Tomoko slowly nodded. “Yeah, but how would we get them there? Almost all our vehicles are for evacuation or crop transport…unless…” She looked outside a window, finding a large moving truck parked alongside the building. “Maybe we could clean that out and use that to move these?” Kwan peered outside and remarked “Let’s hope there is still fuel in the tank”

Kwan went outside and checked the truck, finding the keys in the glove-box and plenty of fuel in the tank. He started the truck and the vehicle grumbled to life, with Kwan raising a fist in excitement. He then noticed shouting from outside, prompting him to radio Tomoko “Is that coming from your end?” The woman on the other end replied “Nope, I was going to check it out” Kwan and Tomoko met, and snuck around to the other-side of the building, finding a Chinese soldier holding a man at gunpoint, shouting in Japanese “You assholes are trying to rob us again! We killed your leader and yet you still act like you are hot shit!” The person, a younger man with long black hair tied in a ponytail wearing what appeared to be a suit vest with a light leather coat over it, remarked “Hey, we are going to deliver you the goods! Just relax man!” The soldier laughed and racked a shot, aiming down the sights.

Before Kwan could kill the soldier with his rifle the man spun and drew his own katana, slicing the gun in half as well as the man’s head. He sheathed his sword and turned to walk away, before stopping. “I can see you two watching me you know” he loudly exclaimed, with Tomoko and Kwan stepping out from behind the building. “How did you know about us?” Kwan asked, with the man shrugging. “One smell was a light feminine smell, the other reeked of kimchi. So…two people by my counts” Kwan looked at the man with indigence while Tomoko commented “You have a sword? And you are skilled with it?” The man shrugged. “I raided a rich man’s home during the chaos. Found this and plenty of cash, but this has proven to be a much better investment. And to think, most American Weebs think everyone has swords”

Tomoko circled the man, asking “What is your name? Mine is Tomoko, and this is Kwan” The man bowed theatrically, and introduced himself with: “My name Akiranoro Oroku, but my friends call me Akira. Why? I have no clue actually…maybe it’s because people are lazy” Kwan cleared his throat. “Look mister actor, we are glad you haven’t killed us and all, but if you will excuse us we need to load some stuff up” Akira perked his ears up. “The hotel here has nothing of value except crappy peanuts…unless you are taking the beds with you…” Tomoko and Kwan turned at the same time, with Kwan inquiring “Why would we take those?” Akira gestured to the building with his hand, “See, when raiders or hungry people look for supplies, like I DO, they search food marts, malls, warehouses and other such places looking for food and other needed items. But a hotel has nothing of value to offer, unless it is brand new, like this one. Plenty of fresh, unsoiled beds for the taking”

Tomoko shrugged “We will leave you one if you want. That of course depends on if you play nice and don’t attack us” Akira smiled at her, “I wouldn’t dream of that, miss. Well…leave me one and I will let you be. See you later friends!” he turned to leave, with Kwan watching him as he vanished into the bushes. “Weirdo” he commented, heading inside the hotel. That night, after they loaded the truck with the mattresses, they settled down in the hotel, using a small heat lamp to warm themselves as they laid down two sleeping bags. “Should have taken a mattress” Tomoko grunted, with Kwan replying “Yeah no. We have only two left, the one next door and the one our dead friend inhabits. So sleeping bags it is” Tomoko snuggled down and used one of the pillows from the beds to rest her head.

“Kwan, since we are here, tell me how you got here?” Kwan rolled over and looked at her. “Why?” “Because” she insisted “I like to know things about my supply running partners” The Korean sighed and looked at the pale pink ceiling, now covered in shadows. “I umm…left South Korea during the worst of the outbreak. Only had a few things with me, all of which I traded for food, water, ammo…shelter. I traded my father’s pocket knife for a can of spicy tuna, and my mother’s jade and pearl earrings for a clip of ammo. I had to make it…so I stowed away on a cargo ship heading for Japan illegally. I got off and Japan was already collapsing, so I just hid with the other stowaways while the JSDF burned their large cities to the ground. We came out of the shipping crate and saw the ashes and ruins now overrun with the dead”

He stopped, taking a long breath. “I umm, had to kill my fellow stowaways, since they were planning on killing me. So I killed them in their sleep, one by one. I don’t regret it…eventually I arrived and met up with Shinsuke, Kuma and Dr. Hwang, and the rest is history” Tomoko blinked and raked the hair away from her eyes. “I was with my father and mother when the outbreak happened. The JSDF were killing anyone they thought were infected, and we stayed hidden in a sewer drainage tunnel for days.”
“My father” she continued “gave me his sword, something he bought as a gift for my brother, Jyona, but he never got to give it to him. Both my parents died from a herd swarming them while I was trapped behind a barricade of cars. I couldn’t do anything to stop it from happening. I still…I still hear their screams and the sound of the dead tearing them apart”

Kwan somberly looked at her. “I am so sorry that happened to you…” Tomoko swallowed and continued “I was found by Shoji when he and Rokaru asked if I wanted to join them to find a new home. I had nothing to lose, so I said yes. Now…I finally have a home and family I love” She turned away from him, sleepily muttering “Good night Kwan” with Kwan merely answering in return “Night Tomoko”

That morning, Tomoko awoke to find a walker banging against the outside window, alerting Kwan as well. “Dammit I was sleeping so well” he grumbled “what time is it anyways?” Tomoko glanced at her watch. “It’s half past 6 AM. We should get moving” Kwan gathered his things and stepped outside, finding a walker sliced to bits on the ground. “That was not us…” he looked around to find the area completely deserted.

“Think this was the work of our friend Akira ?” Tomoko joked, with Kwan shrugging. They then heard the truck start and watched as the moving van roared out of the driveway and tore down the road. Tomoko aimed his rifle and fired at the driver side seat, missing all his shots. “He stole the damn mattresses” Tomoko fumed as they chased after the truck.
========================================
Meanwhile at The Garden, Jun approached Sensei Shoji and pulled him aside. “Sensei, I was wondering if it would be possible for you to wed Jae Eun and I within this year” Shoji smiled warmly and answered in a fatherly manner “Congratulations! I would be honored to perform the ceremony. Tell me, what triggered this decision?” Jun looked at his feet and replied “I found a home finally. I figured now was the time to settle down and start a family”

Shoji stood and handed Jun a large Kimono. “This is a traditional wedding Kimono worn by the royal family for special occasions. We found several sets of these during our initial search of the premises. I think for your wedding, such a set is only proper” Jun took the Kimono and looked it over, the smooth silk sitting softly in his hands. “Sensei…but why?”
Shoji smiled and patted Jun on the shoulder. “You saved us. Think of this as a small measure of our repayment for your current and past services” Jun nodded and left the room, noticed by Ronin who simply grinned and walked into the armory. Inside Daichi was watching Jun with a look of disappointment. “Why do the hot ones always have to be attached to a woman? OH… sorry about that, what I can do for you hun?” Ronin slid him a small piece of paper, and asked “I want my Dragon pistol and a Colt Law Enforcement Carbine with an EO tech Scope. 100 rounds of ammunition please”

Daichi stared at Ronin for a bit and walked back into the armory, handing him what he was wanting. “I hope you are doing something useful with these” he muttered as he slid the weapons towards Ronin. The other man took them and said nonchalantly “I am going to go look for something. I dunno when I will be back, but it won’t be long I hope it won’t be long” He left the armory with Daichi calling out “Get me a man while you are out!”
=================================================
Kwan and Tomoko eventually caught up with the truck, finding the truck parked alongside the road with a large note taped to the door: “Dear friends, I am sorry I jacked your truck, but I wanted to provide for others as well. Still, stealing is not in my nature, and since you were kind enough not to shoot me on sight, and that shows you aren’t entirely bad. So here is your stuff, minus a quarter of a tank of gasoline”

Tomoko crumpled the note and fumed as she looked around, seeing nothing. Suddenly they heard a scream and ran off to its location. They came across Akira surrounded by the dead, his sword lying on the ground. Tomoko saw this and started to walk away when Kwan walked up and shot all the walkers surrounding the other man. Akira looked at them and breathed a sigh of relief. “You saved me! Look I realize you are both angry at me for stealing your beds, but where I come from, we need them too. I guess I should explain…” Tomoko and Kwan lowered their weapons while Akira continued:

“I am from a small settlement about 5 miles west of here, and our community is looking to become trading partners with another group, preferably one with plenty of stock and supplies. We have tons of medical supplies and tools…too much actually for our size, and we would be willing to trade supplies for food and weapons. We aren’t going to try anything stupid, I swear” Kwan raised an eyebrow. “And how do you know we aren’t raiders? You made an assumption based on simple actions from us, and you want to trade? What is the catch, because this is too good to be true”

Akira shrugged. “Well…I do have more to talk about, but maybe we can talk about the exact details when I meet with your leaders?” Kwan smiled. “Sure friend. That can be arranged” he extended a hand, which Akira took, only to get jerked forward and punched in the face hard. Kwan then knocked him out, shaking his fist from the pain. “Why did you knock him out?” Tomoko demanded “He took our stuff and his community story is pure nonsense” Kwan frowned, replying “I doubt it. It sounded too sincere, and I am usually great at reading people and their intentions. Maybe it would be for our benefit to bring him home and ask him a few pointed questions” Tomoko scowled but nodded in agreement.
===============================================
Ronin arrived at the clearing, with only the sounds of birds and squirrels in the air. He knelt down and dug a small hole, placing his wolf tooth in the concave pit, and then gently pushed the dirt over it. He took a deep breath and heard a twig snap behind him. He whirled and aimed his pistol, finding Haruna standing behind him. “Why are you here?” he demanded, with the woman replying “I was curious to see where you were going…what are you doing here?” Ronin sighed. “I carried this tooth as a reminder of my hardships. I went through hell to survive, and I didn’t want to become soft. Being Yakuza you learn quickly that being a softie means you have an expiration date on your forehead. I couldn’t risk having my days numbered. But now…now that I am at The Garden, I don’t have to be like that”

He stood, stamping down the loose soil with his boot. “I can become human again…maybe start a new life with the people I love” Haruna smiled and brushed his cheekbones with her hand. “Are you sure you want to be with an old bird like me? You are what, 30?” Ronin took her hand. “35. I am younger than I appear” Haruna smiled and whispered in his ear “I just turned 47. Age is just a number after all” Ronin looked her in the eyes and murmured “I wish I had known you these 35 years. Then maybe my life would have been better” Haruna smiled and kissed Ronin.

======================================
Kwan and Tomoko returned home with the moving truck that was filled with mattresses and what little supplies they had found. Jun pointed at an unconscious Akira and asked “Who the hell is that?” Kwan pulled Jun aside and replied gravely “Get Shoji and Shinji. We might have a problem here, and this guy knows the exact details”
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On the episode of The Walking Dead Japan: Akira meets with the community leaders at The Garden.

 

@RickyGrimes @zombiemom62 @mishone. @PepperAnn
New ep! 410-412 will be released today. Enjoy

NEW CAST:
Akira - Takeru Satoh
Ando - Yosuke Kawamura
Yukida - Masami Nagasawa
Kasuka - Harumi Sato

SUMMARY: Akira meets with the community leaders at The Garden, and a planned is formed.

Episode 412 – Darkness cometh from Light
Akira awoke tied to a chair, his head swimming from being stuck previously. “This isn’t the first time I woke up all hogtied like this” Jun plunked a chair in front of him and sat down, holding a glass of water. Akira nodded, and Jun allowed him a drink before their captive explained “Look, I get you are being protective and all, especially since I am a mere stranger to you guys, but I am not trying to pull a fast one on you” “Then why” Kwan asked from across the room “did you take the truck and leave?” Not really helping your case in the end” Akira sighed. “Okay look I took the truck because I figured you would be too busy with other things to care…but then guilt took over and I left it for you. Then I got knocked the hell out”

Sensei Shoji sat down in front of Akira and held out a key. “This will unlatch the lock holding all your restraints. Answer every question and this key will set you free, I promise” Akira straightened his posture in the chair and took in a deep breath. “I come from a small community that’s based in a small military checkpoint by a main road. It’s small, only having 15 people, but we do what we can to survive. We came across a large supply of medical supplies and equipment, and now we have that which we trade for food and weapons. We are starving, and barely able to grow crops, but if we had food given to us in exchange for medical supplies, we could survive until we are able to get the planters working. At this moment a small team of mine is searching an agricultural office building for supplies, but I haven’t made contact with them. Listen, I am being honest, the least you could do is trust me”

Shinji looked at Kwan and Jun, before remarking “I believe you. Sensei, I think he is in earnest” Jun and Shoji nodded with Ronin and Kwan giving them confused looks. “We should at least keep an eye on him. Make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid” Akira smiled sweetly. “I am not that kind of man, I assure you. May I have my radio?” Kwan handed him his radio and the man dialed in a frequency. “Hello, Ando? Are you there? HELLO?” the person on the other end whispered “Akira, it that you? Listen we are stuck in the building. A herd found us and trapped us in here. We cannot leave without someone drawing the dead away”

Akira looked at the others and worriedly replied “Don’t worry, we will get you four out of there. Hang tight!” He clicked the device off and said to Shoji “I uh…need your help saving my people as you heard. Look I know things between us are a ten on the I-would-rather-shoot-you scale, but I am on the level when I said those things. Please!” Shoji nodded. “Alright. But I will not tolerate anything that puts my people in harm’s way. If you try anything, Jun has my blessing to blow your brains out. Go”
Jun, Ronin, Sung-Min, Shinsuke, Tomoko, Kwan and Emiko geared up, with Akira fitted with handcuffs. His sword was in Kwan’s possession, as he was loaded into the van filled with supplies. Jae Eun, who was picking greens with Esther, approached Jun and asked “Please don’t be gone long” Jun smiled and kissed her, replying “If all goes well, I won’t be. See you two soon!” he waved at his family and climbed in the van’s passenger side seat.

========================================
It started raining as the van drove to the location Akira provided, a large agricultural research building near the city. Jun looked at Kwan in the driver’s side seat and pointed towards a road sign, causing Kwan to turn right. Meanwhile, Ronin asked Akira “So really, how did you know we weren’t going to outright kill you? You made a huge choice giving away your home location to us after all” Akira smirked. “I always have been a good judge of people’s character. After everything happened, I started being distrustful to everyone, even my family, in fear they would remove me as another mouth to feed. If I may be honest…I have been watching your people come and go through this part of the countryside for the past week”

Ronin’s eyes widened as he adjusted his grip. “You’ve…been watching us? WHY?!” Akira noticed Ronin’s anger and calmly explained “We needed food. We figured if you were good people we could arrange a meeting, and maybe initiate trade. I honestly meant nothing by my stalking beside that” Emiko remarked “So why steal the mattresses again?” Akira smiled and answered “Because we needed them. Also, I wanted to see if you’d chase me…” Suddenly the van stopped and Jun exclaimed “We’re here!”
Jun, Akira, Ronin and Tomoko exited the van and saw a sea of walkers, thousands upon thousands surrounding a building in the countryside. “Well shit. They weren’t lying when they mentioned a few walkers weren’t they?” Ronin commented. “Akira” Jun demanded “Just how the hell do you expect us to draw them away? That herd is too large!”

Tomoko was looking the other way when she saw something. “Jun, over there…it looks like an old limestone mine…Its pretty deep, and the shaft must extend deep into the earth. Maybe we could lure them there, close them up inside the mine and clean up the stragglers?” Jun frowned. “And how are we to lure them there? If we fire our guns we would have the heard scatter. We need to lure them ALL there somehow”

Akira remarked excitedly “The mine carts…we could put a radio in a couple of them, and then send them deep into the mine. Several carts would mean we could still keep luring more of them even if the other carts are gone. Most of the mines have both an electric pulley system and a manual one. Or perhaps a counter weight could be used to send the cart down into the mines?” Jun nodded at the idea. “Then that is what we are doing. Kwan, we need you to go back home and get Shinsuke and four or five old battery powered radios. Make sure they play CDS. HURRY!”

Jun and his group headed down to the quarry, finding a large mineshaft leading deep into the mountain. Inside the foreman’s office Ronin found a backup generator, which he soon connected to the pulley system. Meanwhile, the carts were found in working shape, as the group cleared the path for the walkers. A single large stone tumbled down the quarry, landing with a loud THUD.
Emiko, who was watching the heard from a tree commented over the radio “That didn’t get their attention. But I will promise the acoustics of this place will make those radios even louder” Ronin ran up to Jun and handed him a remote. “This is connected to the speaker system. We pipe the music through here, and that will attract every walker in a five mile radius”

The van with Kwan and Shinsuke arrived, and both the men carried out a handful of radios. “I hope your plan” grunted Shinsuke “works, because I wanted this radio” Kwan grinned and remarked “We can also find you another. Each radio has a rock CD inside, with the batteries loaded. We are ready to go” They put the radios inside every two mine carts and prepped the speakers, loading the loudest rock and roll CD they could find in the radio used as the main control deck. Ronin radioed “Okay we are hot! Akira and I will stay here to oversee the operation. Get out before the herd traps you inside!”
The group ran to the van, ducking inside and as soon as the coast was clear, Ronin hit the red play button, and then, after hooking everything up properly, pressed the overhead speaker key.

The brash music blared loudly enough to make Ronin and Akira’s ears throb in pain, even as they plugged their ear canals. The sound was deafening echoing throughout the area as if a rock concert was playing nearby. Emiko watched with stunned awe as the walkers turned their heads and began to head towards the noise, radioing to Jun “They heard that alright! They are heading to the quarry as we speak!” The herd of walkers slowly lumbered to the quarry a half mile away, creating a black mass on the now brown grassy field. The group watched as the music being piped through the speakers lured the herd like the siren’s call, causing the first couple hundred walkers to plummet into the quarry, tumbling down the rocky embankment.

As soon as around 90% of the herd was in the quarry, making the white ground black as if a ceramic bowl was filled with coal water, Ronin pressed another button, sending the carts into the mine. The walkers soon funneled into the shaft as the carts slowly went deeper and deeper into the earth, the dead enveloped in darkness as they wandered into the dusty, deathly silent hollows.
Jun watched with complete awe, remarking “Holy shit that’s working…the herd is going into the mine!” Akira waved at Ronin and wrote on a piece of paper “Give it another ten minutes…we want only a few stragglers left behind” Ronin nodded, and cranked the music down a bit, now seeing the walkers had pretty much stopped tumbling into the quarry. The last cart went down, luring the last couple hundred walkers into the mine, while Ronin and Akira ran down, pulling out a thick metal peg from both sides of the shaft exit, causing a thick metal door to come slamming down, sealing the mine from the outside.

Ronin shut off the music and looked at the twenty or so walkers wandering around the quarry floor. Ronin and Akira were back to back, as they began to kill the walkers, with Ronin tossing Akira his sword. Akira’s blade was shimmering as it sliced and cut through any walker in his path, while Ronin used a suppressed rifle to gun down the walkers on his side. Eventually, one walker remained, which Ronin impaled on a spike, although its head was still intact.
“Keep this one alive. If it is killed we will know someone has been in this area” he said, as Akira wiped off his sword. Akira smiled, and remarked lightly “I cannot believe that worked. We should inform your leader of the plan’s success. I would like to go talk to my people back at the research building with your permission” Ronin shook his head “That’s not my call. Jun and Kwan have to okay that”

They walked to the van and Jun happily hugged Ronin, while Akira radioed his people. “So on a one to ten scale how deaf are you now?” Jun joked, with Ronin replying laughingly “Deaf enough to not hear your shit kid. That plan was amazing” Jun nodded, noticing Emiko running towards them, a large grin spread across her face. “I would like” Akira implored “to go check on my people. With your permission, since I am at your mercy” Jun nodded, and they climbed in the van, driving to the agriculture building. They arrived to find the four friends of Akira’s wandering around, stunned with the mass exodus they witnessed. One of them, a handsome looking man with his hair tied back in a ponytail and his facial hair neatly trimmed approached Akira and yelped “Holy shit man! The herd just left! And what was that music we heard?” Akira laughed and replied “I’ll explain later. Ando, these are the people who saved your lives”

Ando bowed at Jun and his group, exclaiming “We thank you for what you did…we were looking for seeds to grow crops, when we attracted the herd from the nearby cities. Akira, we lost Oruchi to the herd…” Akira hung his head and remarked soberly “Well, at least she died amongst friends…Ando here is my brother, and Oruchi was a valued member of our settlement” Kwan remarked “We’re sorry about your loss…” Shinsuke added “So did you find what you were looking for?” And perked up and held up a bag of seed. Akira grinned from ear to ear and joyfully proclaimed “Well damn that’s awesome!”

Jun stepped forward. “Listen, there is a storm brewing to the east. Maybe you all can come with us and stay at our place for the night. In the morning we can take you home, and maybe begin trade negotiations” Ando nodded, remarking matter-of-factly “Our food supplies have begun to dwindle, meaning that if you can help us with our situation, we would be greatly appreciative. Besides, Miss Miyamoto, our leader, might not be the most trusting person, but at this point I think she realizes we have no choice”
=============================================
That night Akira and Ando’s group of four settled into the small apartment reserved for guests, with a guard standing outside their door. Sensei Shoji in the meantime was holding a small meeting between Ronin, Jun, Shinji and Kwan. “If what he says is true” Kwan said hesitantly “then we must be ready for whatever they have planned for us when we arrive” Jun nodded, with Ronin remarking to everyone’s shock “I don’t think Akira is going to pull a stunt. He could have killed us or done worse when he was watching us those past weeks. Sure it was for his benefit, but come on, the guy exudes honesty. Besides, my gut never lies”
Shinji was sitting alone, deep in thought, before being mentioned by Shoji “Shinji, you have been silent. What troubles you?” Shinji straightened his posture and commented “The world is new now. Now everything we used to know is gone, and we have new communities popping up. Even after the end, life still finds a way”

Ronin scoffed “Waxing philosophical huh? That doesn’t REALLY help our decision man” Shinji stood and leaned over the table “It does. These people are trying to survive, like we are, and this is our first encounter with a peaceful community, excluding the Shinda. We can form an alliance, and our swatch of territory is then made larger. We can rebuild society again, maybe not like some such as the JOC wanted, but in a better way”

Shoji grumbled happily. “I enjoy seeing optimism in this conversation. Personally, I think Akira and his people are worth trusting. We will give them a chance…but Jun, Ronin…if they are not on the level, and you sense that they might be planning something hostile, you have my permission to slaughter them” Shinji gawked at Shoji and yelped “What the hell? Aren’t you all for peace?” Shoji nodded, and then held up a single finger. “I am, but Jun and his group made an impression on me: if we are to live, sometimes we must deprive others of their lives. Of course that is a worst case situation, but still, better safe than sorry”

=================================================
In the guest quarters, Ando, sleeping in the bed next to Akira whispered “So you trust them?” Akira grunted, muttering “They haven’t killed us so far, and hey, they even fed us. Free food is ALWAYS a good sign” One of the other 2 surviving members, a young girl named Yukida remarked “They drew the herd away at the risk of their own lives. That’s a good sign if I ever saw one” Another girl with dyed blonde hair named Kasuka added “They could have simply left us and killed Akira. I think the actions they displayed should be trusted as genuine”

Ando grunted irritably and complained “We would have never gotten in this position if Miss Miyamoto never sent us on that run. Waste of time and Oruchi’s life” Akira shot out of bed and hissed angrily “WE needed those seeds to FEED OUR PEOPLE! Don’t be so negative all the time. Besides, we are still in one piece at the moment” Ando rolled over and murmured “I hope you are right”

===============================================
The next morning, the van was once again loaded with supplies, with another car in front as a scouting vehicle. Jun, Ronin, Shinsuke, Kasune, Tomoko, Kwan and Kuma geared up while their guests climbed inside the back of the truck. Jun noticed Fujita, Sensei Shoji’s son walking towards them, dressed in fine clothing and armed with a knife. “Kid, where are you going?” Ronin demanded, with Fujita exclaiming proudly “I am going to come with, acting as my father’s representative. Better to have an actual Shoji there, don’t you think?” Jun shook his head, and said “Look, this is way different than a run. You could end up getting shot or worse if things go south” “WHICH THEY WON’T” Akira loudly added.

Fujita pursed his lips. “I am going Masumoto, with or without your consent. Now please, let me get in the car” Jun stood aside, allow the kid to climb in the back seat of the red and silver car. Sensei Shoji approached Jun and remarked “He means well. Remember our agreement from last night…anything happens and you know what to do. But if things go smoothly, give them the supplies we packed in the boxes. Good luck, and please come back with good news” Jun smiled, noticing Shinji and Sung-Min gearing up for a quick supply run at the same time.

Shinji ran up to Jun and huffed “Looks like you will have all the fun man. Save some for me at least” Jun jokingly quipped “Don’t be so busy and maybe you would have fun. Take care of yourselves, and hey, if you find anything resembling American made chips, let me know” Shinji grinned and playfully saluted his old friend, meeting up with Sung-Min and heading out the gate. Jun climbed into the driver’s seat of the car and started it, the vehicle rumbling to life. Akira in the sea next to his, and Fujita and Kwan in the backseat, readied themselves as they pulled out of the utility garage and drove out of the Garden’s gates, waving at a cheerful Shinji and Sung-Min, as they went to visit Akira’s home.
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On the next episode of The Walking Dead Japan: Shinji and Sung-Min’s journey is wrought with strife, resulting in bloodshed

 

After 416 is finished and dropped, I will take a break from TWDJ to do other projects.
All 3 of you who read my stuff can look forward to Season 5 dropping sometime in late February.
I appreciate all of you!

 

@RickyGrimes @zombiemom62 @mishone. @PepperAnn
I hope you had a great x-mas everyone! Here are episodes 413-15, with the season finale dropping on the 30[SUP]th[/SUP].
NEW CAST:
Lee Gyeom- Kim Dong Chan (actor)

Summary: Shinji and Sung-Min’s journey is wrought with strife, resulting in bloodshed.

EPISODE 413 – Memoirs of Ruin
Shinji and Sung-Min arrived at the Torii gate, taking a left that would direct them to a city directly south of Akita, a huge city near the shore. They bypassed a sizeable herd and came across a former refugee camp, used to house infected people. Sung-Min sniffed “Looks like the JSDF left without so much as a goodbye. Nothing left here-” They then came across rows upon rows of dead corpses, all shot in the head execution style. “God…the soldiers must have been trying to contain the spread of the infection” Shinji noted, covering his mouth. A single walker approached them, wearing military clothing now covered in mildew and dirt. Sung-Min shot the walker in the head and searched the corpse, finding nothing of use save for a pair of field glasses.

Shinji went inside a small building, finding nothing useful. He then looked at the staircase leading up to the second floor. The floorboards dripped blood, making thick, black puddles on the floor. “God…I don’t even want to know what’s upstairs” Shinji grumbled, as Sung-Min climbed up the stairs. The second floor was empty, save for a single table and a chair. The white walls were painted with blood, as Sung-Min looked under the table, finding a gutted man rotting there, as if he was torn apart on purpose. “Shinji, we should leave” Sung-Min loudly announced, with Shinji shouting “I agree. There is nothing here for us to use”
In the vehicle garage, all the vehicles were gone, likely from the soldiers evacuating the facility long ago. The only useful thing they found was an errant 9mm pistol clip lying under a box.

Shinji and Sung-Min looked at the map before them, with Sung-Min pointing out “These buildings here are still untouched by Hua-Ji and his scouts, so we could search them” Shinji shook his head. “No, because that takes us too close to Akita, and that place is a deathtrap in waiting. Better we secure the areas outside the city first” Sung-Min frowned “You don’t think raiders haven’t scoured those supplies already? We were lucky to find a single clip of ammo. We have to be careful if we are going to scavenge through the city, otherwise who knows what will happen”

They arrived at the outskirts of Akito, the skyscrapers that once gleamed chrome and grey now black from the fire that consumed the city. Rows upon rows of cars lined the street, with only the sound of crows screeching overhead breaking up the deafening silence. Sung-Min reached inside a car and pulled out a hunting knife, which he tied to his waist. Shinji squinted and overlooked the highway, finding only a handful of the dead wandering through the maze of cars. “I only see a few walkers…even if we make a noise, we won’t have too much to worry about concerning them” Sung-Min made his way through the lines of cars, noticing some had scorched paint and melted interiors.

“Jesus they napalmed the cars to prevent the people from leaving” Shinji muttered, with Sung-Min overlooking a small crater a short distance away. “Must have hit a natural gas plant. Poor bastards didn’t even know what hit them as soon as it blew” They continued walking, finding one car loaded with supplies, including a blued snub nosed revolver. “Guy must have been a cop prepping for the worst” Shinji exclaimed as he rifled through the supplies, finding tons of canned, bagged and boxed food all still intact. Sung-Min scouted ahead, finding a corpse of a woman lying against her car, the doors having been broken into and had the supplies she was carrying stolen.

Sung-Min took a deep breath and went back to Shinji, loading up a shopping cart he found alongside the road with the food and supplies. “Shinji, I need to be honest with you…I don’t feel comfortable getting supplies from these cars. It feels like I am robbing a graveyard” Shinji wiped his forehead and remarked “You aren’t wrong, but think of it this way: they are dead, yes, but these supplies can keep us ALIVE. Maybe this is robbing a graveyard, but we have to do unpleasant things to survive now”

His Korean friend turned and saw the road leading to the woods that led to The Garden now far off in the distance. “I don’t like how far we are from home…especially now that we are in the city limits. God only knows we will attract a herd and have that to deal with”
Shinji pulled out a machete and an ice axe, remarking “Don’t worry the nearest herd is deep in the city. And we won’t go there” They then heard gunshots coming from a nearby highway exit, noticing a large group of Chinese militia members gunning down walkers that were in their way and checking over the cars. “Damn, they must be scouring the vehicles for anything they can use like we are” hissed Sung-Min as he ducked under a car, while Shinji snuck over to join his friend. “What do we do now?” He asked, as the Chinese searched every car and their leader shouted orders, pointing in their general direction.

As the two snuck away from the ever approaching Chinese, they then heard the Chinese leader shout something in Mandarin. A flurry of bullets flew past over Shinji and Sung-Min’s heads, and they looked up to see Korean raiders, dressed in ragged army clothing shooting at the Chinese. One Korean grabbed Sung-Min and shouted to him in Korean “*Here! Kill those bastards!*” Sung-Min gawked for a moment and yelped “*What about the dead? They will hear us!*” the other Korean snarled “*Screw them! We need to wipe these pricks away first!*”

Shinji was pulled to the side by one Korean and asked “*Whats your name?*” Sung-Min answered for him “*He’s mute. But his name is Oh Sing Won*” the other Korean chuckled and handed him a rifle, noting his sword “*Nice Katana man! Maybe I can get one like that from these Chinese shits*” Sung-Min hid behind a concrete block and gunned down one Chinese soldier, while Shinji shot at another, the Koreans laughing and killing any Chinese they saw. One Korean, a thin man with a mangy beard screamed “*SHIT! The dead are coming to check out the spat! Let’s bug the hell out!*”
The group ran away from the scene while the Chinese battled the large group of walkers now approaching them due to the noise they name.

=====================================

Sensei Shoji knocked on Dr. Moon’s room, with Ga-In answering. “Sensei! What can I do for you?” Shoji smiled and asked “I was wondering, did Shinji and Sung-Min radio in already?” Dr. Moon shook her head, replying “NO not yet. Fujita and Emiko will let you know if they do” Shoji nodded and commented “They might be busy. So I will give them another 2 hours” As soon as Shoji closed the door, Dr. Moon muttered “I hope they last that long, Sensei…for all our sakes”

===============================================
The Korean group ran to a small gas station, where the leader extended a hand “*Good /anyways?*” Sung-Min replied coolly “*Looking for food and supplies basically” The Korean leader nodded and then asked “*So whose command are you under?” Sung-Min cricked his neck “*What do you mean?” The leader’s smiled faded slightly as he replied “*I meant, whose command are you following? Cho Yun’s, or Byun Yim’s?” Sung-Min shook his head. “*Neither…we are here looking for fortune and supplies. We are not trying to get in anyone’s way I promise” The leader patted Sung-Min on the shoulder and joked “Better you two being Korean’s than Japanese dogs or Chinese assholes. Now, let’s eat before it gets dark”

They arrived at a small encampment occupied by eight more Koreans, all armed to the teeth as the other seven Koreans sat down. The leader gestured to the rest of his group and exclaimed grandly “This, my new friends is the remaining members of the 73[SUP]rd[/SUP] battalion. We scraped ourselves together and made our way here. Turns out, however the damn Chinese had the same idea. Bastards…” Sung-Min nodded, biting into a piece of marinated pork, when the leader sat up suddenly “OH, my mistake, Lee Gyeom, Captain Lee Gyeom. I assume Sung-Min, you were an officer?”
Sung-Min shook his head. “I was a private…I never wanted to be an officer. I didn’t want the responsibility. My friend here was a private too before he lost his voice” Gyeom handed the two a bottle of beer and remarked “Well, if you don’t object, we will sleep here for the night. Don’t worry, we have plenty of can lined wire surrounding the perimeter, so any dead shits touch the fence we will know in an instant”

Shinji awoke to relieve himself around the crack of dawn, hearing the sounds of birds and chirping as he unzipped his fly before hearing the sounds of twigs and coming from the foliage nearby. He ran back to the group and shook Sung-Min, the Korean sleepily grunting in Korean “What? What’s going on?” Shinji opened his mouth to speak, but saw the other Koreans waking up, and pointed to the bushes. Before they could react bullets flew, striking three of the Koreans before they could react.

Gyeom grabbed his rifle and began to fire with reckless abandon at the Chinese soldiers attacking. Shinji drew Kuroi and sliced the arm off one Chinese combatant before following the attack up with a cut to the neck, killing him. Another soldier raised his rifle and shot at Shinji, hitting him in the shoulder. Sung-Min saw this and shot the man in the head, before running over to help Shinji. Gyeon helped Sung-Min pick up Shinji and shouted “BACK UP! Head to the river and outrun these assholes!!”
The other Koreans ran from the fight, with another five Koreans getting shot to pieces and left for the dead to finish. The Chinese stopped chasing the men, with one shouting in Mandarin “Don’t! General Chang wants us to meet back at the base. Let the dead finish them off”

=============================
Sung-Min and Gyeom stopped, huffing and panting as Shinji and the 6 remaining Korean soldiers soon plopping to the ground from running. “Where the hell did they come from?” one soldier demanded, while another lamented “We lost all our shit back there! Goddammit!” Shinji felt blood oozing from his wound and quickly tied a bandage on the hole, while another Korean poured alcohol on the opening. The pain was instant, and Shinji almost screamed but instead bit his tongue, while the Korean finished binding his wound. “So…” Gyeom drew out slowly “Now where do we go? This part of the countryside was heavily firebombed and destroyed by the JSDF. Few if any supplies will remain” Sung-Min pointed to an army truck and grinned “We might find something there”

They then saw two Chinese soldiers exit the truck, with Gyeom gunning them both down. “Can’t take risks” he muttered, stabbing both of them in the head after looting their corpses. Shinji grunted in pain, with one Korean remarking “I thought you were mute?” Sung-Min snapped to attention and quickly blurted “He doesn’t like to talk due to trauma. He isn’t totally mute” The soldier frowned and handed him a bottle of Soju. “Drink it. It will warm you”

As they began to search the truck Shinji whispered to his friend “How long are we going to keep playing along? They probably radioed us by now. I say we run for it” Sung-Min shook his head, replying softly “We leave now they suspect something. I am going to kill them in their sleep, so we can sneak away and not get shot in the face” Shinji was horrified and hissed “Murder them?! Good god Sung-Min, what the hell?” Sung-Min leaned in very closely and replied “Better they die than us. And who knows when and where they will get tired of us and shoot us. Better to end the problem now, than have it stab us in the back later”

Gyeom approached the two and said almost apologetically “Hey listen…I wanted to say I’m sorry for dragging you two in this mess in the first place. You obviously want to live your own lives, and we should not have conscripted you” Sung-Min was thoroughly confused, asking him “Where did this come from?” Gyeom shrugged. “I used to think all Koreans were united, even when there used to be two countries that used to be one. But, everyone has to live their own lives. So I will offer you two this: Join us, or go on your own path”
Sung-Min squinted at the leader, noticing the other Koreans quietly surrounding them. “And you won’t kill us and rob us?” Gyeom shook his head. “You guys kicked Chinese ass and fought back. I think that deserves you two a pass. If we see you again, we won’t shoot at you, promise” Sung-Min smiled and extended a hand, which Gyeom took. “Thanks…well, I guess we should say good luck to you all”

They left the Koreans and walked for about two hours, finding their knapsack being rifled through by a Chinese soldier, the radio barking “Sung-Min, Shinji, are either of you there?” The soldier tuned into the station, and waved to another soldier walked up, listening to the broadcast. Sung-Min raised his rifle and picked them off, with Shinji killing another that hid behind a car. “Fujita, this is Sung-Min. Shinji is wounded, but we are alright…we got preoccupied” Fujita on the other end replied worriedly “Alright then. Where are you now?” Shinji answered through the pain “About a mile away from Akita. We should arrive back by nightfall” Fujita radioed back after a slight pause “Copy that. We will keep the lights on for you here. Fujita out”

Shinji noticed the sun overhead and commented irritably “I really hope the weather doesn’t get any more cold than it has been already. Goddamn weather is going to be the death of us” They arrived back at the highway, finding the streets filled with the dead, bustling about and feeding on the corpses of the dead Chinese soldiers. “I guess that counts us out of looting more from the highway” Shinji muttered cynically, while Sung-Min bit his lip, frustrated with what had happened over the past day.

That evening as they were heading home they heard several gunshots and screams coming from a nearby house, prompting them to run to investigate the cause. They cut down a few walkers in their path and found Gyeom and his men holding down a Chinese soldier, with a woman and child next to him. “Gyeom…who are these people?” Sung-Min asked, with Gyeom cheerfully replying “OH hey, you’re back! These rats we found trying to escape the city. Must have holed up there during the fall, and now decided to go out and see if anything is left. Doesn’t matter” he kicked the man and wiped his nose “because soon these three will be dead, but not before we have some mileage out of them” One of the Koreans began to tear the clothes off the wife, while the husband begged the Koreans in Mandarin to stop. The child was picked up and punched in the stomach, causing Shinji to shake in anger.

Sung-Min bleated “This isn’t needed! Just kill them and move on!” Gyeom grinned “Oh we will, but you don’t know how thirsty we are. This is our right” The wife was thrown to the ground, with a Korean stomping on her back to keep her down as they laughed at her suffering. Shinji finally had enough and screamed “STOP! LET THEM GO!”

Sung-Min closed his eyes as one of the soldiers yelped angrily “Hey! I thought you were mute! What the hell….HE’S JAPANESE! GET THIS DOG!” They forced him to his knees, with Gyeom handing Sung-Min a pistol. “I am betting this dog deceived you. A fellow Korean brother would never be so stupid as to ally himself with a Jap. Kill this asshole” Sung-Min lowered the gun to Shinji’s face, with Shinji giving him a single light wink. Sung-Min twitched his lip, and then in English screamed “NOW!” Shinji ducked as Sung-Min shot the Korean holding his friend in the head, with Shinji slicing off the leg of Gyeom. The man fell, clutching his stump while screaming in agony. Sung-Min shot another Korean, while Shinji beheaded another. The last two Koreans shot the woman and then raised their rifles to shoot their enemies, only to have one shot by the Chinese soldier.

The final Korean as cut along his side, forcing him to the ground and was soon finished off with Kuroi sliding in his temple. Shinji put his boot on the head of the Korean and pulled the sword out. Gyeom angrily screamed “YOU ARE A TRAITOR TO KOREA YOU BASTARD! I’M GOING TO KILL YOU!” He reached for his pistol, only to have a thin pipe shunted in his chest, pinning him to the ground. “The pipe won’t kill you…but the walkers will…” Sung-Min muttered as the four of them escaped from the house. The walkers surrounded the screaming Gyeom and tore into him, ripping off swatches of flesh and tearing out his innards, coating the moldy carpeting in blood.

The four of them arrived at a clearing, where the Chinese father picked up his daughter, handing Sung-Min a Walther P38 pistol. Sung-Min took the pistol and nodded. The Chinese father handed Shinji a note, written in crude Japanese that said “Thank you for help. Until we meet again. ~Zian” Shinji shook Zhou’s hand, as the father and daughter duo left, the forest enveloping them in darkness.

Sung-Min holstered the pistol, and Shinji remarked “We should take the supplies we have and go home. I think this trip has been too much for me” Sung-Min nodded and said “I rejected Kasune back home, and I regret it. I need to get over Akiko, but I can’t…and this journey made me realize I can’t keep killing like this” Shinji remarked “I killed people too. It’s something we have to learn to accept now, as much I hate to do so”
They found a truck used by the Koreans and hopped in, starting it and pulling out from the side of the road. “Shinji, let’s go home…” Sung-min said tiredly, with the later nodding as he took off down the road, leading back home.

========================================================================
On the next episode of The Walking Dead Japan: Jun and his group arrive ay Akira’s home, finding out more than they bargained for in the process.

 

@RickyGrimes @zombiemom62 @mishone. @PepperAnn
I hope you had a great x-mas everyone! Here are episodes 413-15, with the season finale dropping on the 30[SUP]th[/SUP].
NEW CAST:
Miss Nakajima - Wakamura Mayumi
Akira - Takeru Satoh
Ando - Yosuke Kawamura
Kobayashi- Ishikura Saburo
Katagiri - Takanori Jinnai
Bo Yung - Hyun Bin

Summary: Jun and his group arrive at Akira’s home, finding out more than they bargained for in the process.

Episode 414 – Peace in our time
The car arrived at the crossroads first, with the truck pulling up behind it. Jun turned to Akira and asked “So what is this home of yours called?” Akira looked out the window and answered “We call it Station 62. It used to be an old military supply camp, before the world ended. We found it and fortified it, making it a very secure base of operations. It only needs crops and a new actuator on the windmill to make it truly livable” Kwan looked at Akira and inquired “So how did you all live for this long without crops?” “MREs and rations were plentiful. We raided a medical college and cleaned out their medical supplies, so now we are swimming in those but starving in general” Fujita smiled and commented hopefully “Well, if all goes to plan we can fix those issues”

They arrived at a clearing, with a steep mountainside jutting from the earth. A tall, thick barbed wire fence enclosed the perimeter, which consisted of 3 small buildings and a few tents to the main building’s side, a tall windmill in the center of the place. The fence was broken up by a single guard tower, occupied by a single guard manning a bolted on machine gun. Jun, Kwan, Fujita and Akira stepped out of the car and immediately guards from the main gate shouted “DROP YOUR WEAPONS! WE WILL SHOOT YOU!”

Akira jumped in front and shouted back to them “HEY! These are the people who saved our lives! Open the damn door Katagiri!” Katagiri, a tall man with a beard shook his head. “Where are the others Akira? Were they killed, or are they being held captive?” Kwan whispered to Jun jokingly “Jesus, I wonder how they treat the mail carrier around here?” Akira exclaimed “They are in the truck behind me. Look, I am not being held against my will, so just open the damn door already before the dead start to get nosey. Don’t make me tell your wife you have been overly paranoid again, okay?”

The door opened, and the group all stepped out of the truck, walking into the base. Several guards armed with military grade and hunting rifles roamed the perimeter, with Akira and Ando approaching an older man dressed in Military clothing, his hiead covereed. “Mister Kobayashi, these are the people who rescued my people from the walker herd at the feed research building. They are interested in creating a trading relationship with us. Our medical supplies in exchange for food during the winter” Kobayashi stroked his small beard and grumbled to himself. “I am not the one to make that decision. Take their leader to Miss Nakajima, she will discuss this in detail”

Jun, Kwan, Fujita, Ando and Akira walked in the main building, the inside now converted into a living space for ten people, with beds lined against the wall and curtains separating the beds, creating small rooms. The main office had a single table, with a chair behind it, a file drawer and a chest in the corner. An older woman whose attractive features still remained was checking over paperwork, when she saw the four enter the room. “Take a seat, all of you, I will be with you in a moment”
She continued to pour over the papers, while Jun politely coughed. “Excuse me ma’am, but what are you looking at?” Miss Nakajima didn’t look up and responded “Importation logs. I need to make sure we have enough to keep us alive, and if we are even one bottle of water short, we might end up dead” she threw down the paperwork and put on a pair of thick glasses. Jun gasped, “You are the wife of the former Prime Minster!!”

Miss Nakajima smiled slightly “Yes, I was. I am shocked a youth such as yourself paid attention to politics. Tell me, are you a conservative, or a liberal?” Jun frowned “I hardly see what that had to do with our negotiations, Miss Nakajima. With all due respect” Miss Nakajima shot him a look of annoyance and irritably remarked “I asked that to gage your personality. By being coy, you are making my yay or nay harder to decide on”

Kwan spoke up “I think what Jun means, is he doesn’t want politics to get in the way of our possible friendship. The old meanings are no longer relevant, wouldn’t you agree?” Miss Nakajima sighed and replied “I suppose not. Better we agree on the now, and not the what used to be. Now, I am sure Akira here filled you in on our current crisis: our food reserves are now dangerously thin, and our attempts to grow crops all resulted in failure, mostly due to the planting season having passed by a month ago. We have enough rations here to feed us for another two days, three tops if we stretch them out. We have plenty of medical supplies, including medicine, tools and whatever an infirmary needs. We will give you 10% of our supplies, in exchange for 20% of your food”
Fujita raised a hand. “Excuse me, but 25%? Isn’t that a bit of an unfair trade?”

Miss Nakajima raised an eyebrow. “I believe it to be completely fair actually. You are supporting a group of what, 20 people? 30 at most?” Jun retorted “More like 100 plus, actually. You have around 15-20 people, and giving up a quarter of our food every 2 weeks is completely unreasonable. Still…you do need food, and since scavenging has become harder and harder for most people, food will be a top priority. Still, we are more than willing to LEAVE, if you want-”
Miss Nakajima stood up and begged “PLEASE! We need food…we are living off of crackers and water at this point…please, we will do whatever we need to in order to keep ourselves alive. We were not prepared for this world…the JSDF began to napalm the city when we were stuck in a subway tunnel. We came out days later, only to find the city on fire and crawling with corpses. We found this place and made it our own. Now…now we are going to starve to death unless you help us”

Jun leaned back and remarked strongly “5% of your supplies NOW, and another next week. We have food in the truck that will keep your people fed for two weeks. We will keep you alive during the winter, and then we will help you grow crops to live off of. After that we can have a friendly relationship IF you are game for that. Your people need to live, and we have what you need. So you have to admit, I am in the dominant bargaining position. So I would suggest you take our offer…Miss”
Akira smirked to himself, and Miss Nakajima rested her head on her hands, before finally groaning “FINE. We will gratefully accept the provisions you brought. Ando, please gather 5% of the medical supplies, including medicine and bandages” Jun and Fujita smiled, with the latter extending a hand to Miss Nakajima, who took it and shook the hand with detest. “I am all for alliances, but at this point we are being used” Akira replied comfortingly “Don’t look at it like that. Besides, it’s better than starving to death”
============================================
Meanwhile, Shinsuke and Kasune walked around the base, with a guard named Musashi following them closely. “I am not one to complain” Kasune began “But I just feel like Sung-Min rejected me because of my past” Shinsuke raised an eyebrow “What did you used to do? Strip?” Kasune shrugged “You are half right. I was a sugar baby for a powerful Yakuza warlord, and that made me do a lot of things I am not proud of, including stripping and pleasing many men…sometimes at once”
Shinsuke’s eyes widened “DAMN. So what happened?” Kasune smiled, replying “Ronin happened. I was his father’s plaything and I was away when he was killed. I never felt freer than when I heard the news. I became a model and escort when needed…I felt as if I wasn’t human” Shinsuke looked at his feet “I don’t think any less of you, Kasune. I’ll be honest, if I had met you in my past life I would have tossed a wad at you and asked for favors, but now, in this situation we are in, and becoming a good friend of yours, I feel like you deserve a good man”

Kasune grinned and ran her hand down his cheek. “You are rough, but sweet. I think that was a genuine emotion from you just then. Sung-Min is a good man, but he still has his heart in another direction. I know he cared about Akiko, as did I. I lost a special person on the Shinda too, and I still think about her every night. We don’t become hollow when our friends die, we just try to find another person to make us feel again”

Shinsuke patted Kasune on the shoulder and remarked “I am happy to have met Kwan and Dr. Hwang, since they are the only family I have at this moment. Hell, even the damn mute Kuma is like a family member” Kuma, who had heard this shot him a look and grunted “Thanks…I think” Kasune laughed and watched as Jun and his group left the main building. Tomoko approached him and inquired “So do we have a deal?” Fujita nodded, and Akira chimed in “Food in exchange for medicine and supplies. Once a month we will make a delivery, and once they will. But there is a catch…” Shinsuke frowned “What exactly is the catch?”

Jun replied “One of us will stay here, and one of the Station 62 people will live at the Garden. Each person will act as a representative for their original home, making diplomatic agreements easier, and allowing each side to know each other better. Now, we need to make a vote as to who will-” “I will stay here” Kasune volunteered “I can be that person. I don’t mind Jun, really” Jun nodded, with Miss Nakajima smiling and extending a hand to her. “I would like” Ando offered “to be the person who stays with Jun and his people. If they are cool with that that is” Fujita nodded and said “I am the son of the leader there, and I will allow it. No offense Jun”

Shinsuke reached in his pocket and handed Kasune a small coin purse. “Take this…this was my last paycheck’s remaining amount. I want you to have it” Kasune smiled and handed him a folding fan and a letter “The fan is for you…the letter is for Sung-Min when you see him next. I’ll miss you Sinsuke…pro wrestler” As Shinsuke turned, Kasune added “Shinsuke… I did watch you perform once in Kyoto…you won” Shinsuke fought back the tears and remarked “Thanks… that means a lot to me” Kasune smiled and waved to him, remarking “See you later…Ultimate wrestler”

They dropped off the food, and Ando climbed in the back of the truck with the box that held his few possessions. Akira took Ando by the arm and bowed, murmuring “Take care of yourself brother” Ando smiled, and returned “You too man. Tell mom I said goodbye” Akira waved at his brother, with Kasune at his side, as the truck and car pulled out, only to stop after a moment. Jun looked through the windshield and saw a small group of Koreans approaching the vehicles.
He stepped out and drew his revolver, with the leader of the Koreans stopping. He held up a hand and the other Koreans stopped as well. “What do you want Japanese dog? We are very busy if you don’t mind” The leader asked in near perfect Japanese. “We know you are heading towards the Station ahead. We cannot allow you to do that, but there is always room for negotiations”

The leader, named Bo Yung, laughed at the comment and replied “Oh really?! Well hot damn you are a bold one. I admire that to be frank, so I will give you this chance right now: step aside and let us do what we wanted to do and we will let you live, I swear” Kwan inquired “And let me guess, you are going to kill us if we say no?” Bo Yun nodded. “So you see, there are only 2 ways this can end. I would, if I may, suggest you pick the former. Not that I care, but the former means less dead to deal with afterwards”
Jun tilted his head and out came Shinsuke, Kuma, Fujita, Tomoko and Ando, all armed to the teeth. “I count” Jun pointed out “eight soldiers with you. That’s ONE more than we have. Now I am going to make this suggestion: drop your guns, and run as far away as you can, before we slaughter you shitheads. I am perfectly fine with killing you all, but I would, as you said, prefer to not have the dead swarm us. So if you do want to end this in bloodshed, I would suggest we all use knives or whatever can bash heads in better”
Bo Yun shifted his weight, clearly knowing he was too equally matched in this fight. “You make a great case friend. But keep in mind this: we will come back, and we will not be as forgiving as we are now. So for now, you win this time” he turned, and then remarked “Actually, eight is all you SEE. I am going to be honest…you are outnumbered by 2 now, so get ready to make amends asshole” He raised a hand and threw it down, a sharp hiss filling the silence. A body tumbled out of the tree nearby, landing with a hard thud on the ground. “Well…looks like our sniper got yours” Jun said, as Ronin in the other tree racked another shot. He aimed his rifle and fired, striking the Korean next to Bo Yun. Bo Yun snarled and raised his pistol, a bullet smashing his face to a bloody pulp as Jun promptly shot him with a suppressed 1911. Kwan, Kuma and Shinsuke raised their suppressed their rifles and fired.

Several more hisses sounded off, all resulting in each Korean being hit as they raised their rifles. Finally, only three Koreans remained, with their rifles firmly lowered. Jun walked up to them and asked “So will you leave them alone?” which Kwan translated. One Korean, whose face was tattooed, replied in Korean which Kwan translated as “I guess we don’t have any choice. You are a shrewd son of a bitch, and hope you get shot…but for new we leave” The three ran, leaving the dead bodies of their comrades on the road.
Jun waved at Ronin, who climbed down the tree and ran up to his friend. “Dumb prick’s scope reflected too much light…gave away his position within seconds” Ando remarked “I am surprised you are as comfortable with killing as you are. I suppose killing is the only way to keep alive now, especially in this new world” Jun cricked his neck “Well, it would have ended in bloodshed no matter what. Peace in our time is a thing of the past”

Ronin was looting the body of the Korean sniper, shouldering the Dragunov SVD rifle when he picked up the wallet the man was still carrying. He walked over and handed the wallet to Kwan. “Know this guy?” he asked, with Kwan grimly replying “Yeah…he was a Private last I saw him, stationed at the DMZ. God…how did he end up like this I wonder” Jun pulled him aside and said comfortingly “We aren’t set on pre-determined paths…you won’t end up like that man, I promise you that”
They arrived home, greeted by a worried Sensei Shoji and Jae Eun. Jun and Ronin stepped out of the car and approached the duo, with Jun reporting in: “We had successful negotiations with the Station leader, and came to a trade agreement. We now have a source for medical supplies” Jae Eun looked over Jun’s shoulder, a puzzled look on her face. “Wait, where is Kasune? Did she…?” Shinsuke stepped forward, a depressed demeanor being displayed by his face. “She stayed behind, and Ando here will live here. Fujita okayed the choice, Sensei….” He turned away, with Kuma going after him.

Kum pulled Shinsuke aside, asking “You okay?” The wrestler hid a tear and replied “I lost my friend, so no” Kuma turned his head, replying “She isn’t dead” “I know that, but all that talk about Sung-Min…he would be a lucky man if he were to have the same feeling towards her like she had for him…” Kuma put an arm around him, and replied softly “Next time you see her, tell her how you feel” Shinsuke sniffed and remarked “That’s the most I have ever heard you speak…hot damn” They then shared a laugh.
Jun looked around and asked “So where the hell is Shinji and Sung-Min? They should have been back hours ago?” Shoji furrowed his brows and replied heavily “We last heard from them 6 hours ago…We were about to radio them again, asking for an update” Suddenly a man ran forward shouting “SENSEI! Shinji and Sung-Min’s radio frequency was tuned in! We can radio them!” Jun and Tomoko ran to the radio tower and dialed in the frequency, with Jun hailing “Shinji, Sung-Min, this is Jun do you read me? Come in, Shinji or Sung-Min, either one of you please respond right now!”

The radio on the other end remained silent, until a low voice answered in fluent Japanese “If you want them alive, you will tell us where you are, before we kill these two…for their sake, I hope you consider” Jun looked at a stunned Tomoko and Sensei Shoji, asking the voice “Who am I talking to? Are Shinji and Sung-Min alive?” There was another brief silence before the voice again answered “For now. If they don’t give us your location, or if you don’t instead, they will both die…but first, let’s have a chat, shall we?”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On the next episode of The Walking Dead Japan: The group attempts to find Shinji and Sung-Min, who have been taken.

 

@RickyGrimes @zombiemom62 @mishone. @PepperAnn
I hope you had a great x-mas everyone! Here are episodes 413-15, with the season finale dropping on the 30[SUP]th[/SUP].
NEW CAST:
General Chang- Jiang Wen
Captain Wu – Zhang Jun Han
SUMMERY: The group attempts to find Shinji and Sung-Min, who have been taken.
EPISODE 415- Storm Clouds

2 HOURS EARLIER:

Sung-Min drove the truck up the hill, while Shinji nursed his still oozing shoulder. “That thing is gonna get infected if we don’t treat it soon” commented a worried Sung-Min, with Shinji grunting in response “If you find a doctor let me know then. I don’t have any clean cloth to make a bandage out of, and nothing to disinfect it” Sung-Min handed his friend a small bottle of imported Daniel Jackson rum which Shinji took and dabbed a bit of the alcohol on a cloth. He gritted his teeth and applied the cloth, the burn making him yell in pain. Sung-Min grinned as they turned a corner remarking cheekily “The burning is good you know. Means you’re not dead”
They then drove by a billboard painted with blood that read “Stop now or die”

Shinji hissed “We should stop the car” They slowed the truck to a stop, noting several Chinese soldiers stepping out from the ruins of a long demolished building. A single man dressed with gold stars and a decorated hat held up a hand and shouted to them in Japanese “STOP!” Sung-Min held up his hands and shouted “We didn’t kill your men on purpose! We were under duress we swear!” The decorated man laughed “I am not stopping you for that. I would have shot you both already if that was the case…no you are capable of giving us more than we ever wanted: a home with plenty of food and amenities. Oh my how rude of me, my name is General Yixian Chang. Now, please, come forward”

Shinji and Sung-Min walked up to the General who pointed to the billboard, waving at his men. They then swung over a body that was still kicking, tying it to the metal post that supported the weight of the board. The body was strung up with the man screaming in Korean. “That is what happens to people who anger me. I make examples of them. A treat for the dead, if you will” Shinji scowled “Why are you showing us this?”

The General then, in an almost fatherly way replied “Because I want to be as clear as possible. Now, we are taking you on a little ride, so drop your weapons and come with us. NOW” Shinji and Sung-Min begrudgingly dropped their weapons, with Chang taking Kuroi for himself. “Nice blade. I might need this later on” They then were handcuffed and taken down the road, as the dead soon surrounded the strung up Korean, tearing him to pieces.

===================================================
They traveled for about a half mile, with Chang asking Sung-Min “So you are Korean, yet you ally yourself with a Japanese man. How entirely alien an idea” Shinji point blank asked “Why haven’t you begun to torture us? You want our home, so why not start the regular gig of beating us up?” Chang smiled and replied “I am not the type to indulge in that. At least not yet. I am very reasonable, and that will become very clear later on. Ah we are here!” They stopped at a small village that was burnt and destroyed, the cars now smoldering hunks of metal and the streets now black from fire.

“Captain Wu, gather the prisoners” Chang ordered as he pulled off the radio from Shinji’s belt. “Ohhhh I bet this how you communicate. I will wait for home to ring in first” Captain Wu brought forth several prisoners and forced them to their knees. Chang walked up and picked up a chainsaw, revving it up before asking “Which one do you want killed, my Japanese friend?” Shinji, completely appalled squeaked “What? What do you mean?” Chang gestured to the people tied up and remarked “You have to choose one, or…” he waved at Wun who pulled a pistol on Sung-Min “…we will shoot your friend. One of these, or your friend. Choose friend” Sung-Min shook his head, muttering “Don’t choose Shinji…please don’t. I am not worth it” Shinji finally broke and screamed “The one in the blue shirt!!”

Chang smiled warmly and revved the tool, bringing the chain close to the blue shirted man’s face. He then smirked and brought the tool down on one of the women’s head, sending bone and blood shooting towards Shinji that soaked him. The saw sank into the brain matter, as the sound of snapping bone and squished brain filled the air. Finally Change released the throttle, causing the chainsaw to die down. “Choose another” he ordered, pulling out his pistol and pointing at Shinji. “WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?” Sung-Min yelped, as Chang lowered the pistol and shot a teenager in the head, sending pieces of his face shooting across the road. “CHOOSE AND I WILL STOP. Don’t…AND I WILL KILL EVERYONE HERE AND THEN YOUR FRIEND!”

Shinji finally screamed, tears rolling down his cheek “THE MAN IN THE BLUE SHIRT!!” Chang nodded and shot another woman in the head, before waving to Wu to take the prisoners back to their cells. Chang leaned down and savored the moment, hissing “You are not in charge. That is what you need to learn…you handing over your home’s location is another thing not in your control. You WILL give it over in time. Because I am not ready to blow your friend’s head to pieces just yet…but trust me he will want it”
He then heard the radio crackle, smiling at the two and remarking cheerfully “I wonder if mom is worried about you two already? Let’s see…”
============================================
NOW:
“Shinji, Sung-Min, this is Jun do you read me? Come in, Shinji or Sung-Min, either one of you please respond right now!” Jun hailed in a panicked voice.
The radio on the other end remained silent, until a low voice answered in fluent Japanese “If you want them alive, you will tell us where you are, before we kill these two…for their sake, I hope you consider” Jun looked at a stunned Tomoko and Sensei Shoji, asking the voice “Who am I talking to? Are Shinji and Sung-Min alive?” There was another brief silence before the voice again answered “For now. If they don’t give us your location, or if you don’t instead, they will both die…but first, let’s have a chat, shall we?”

Jun looked at Kwan and Shoji, asking the voice “Who am I talking to now? You have a Chinese accent, so you are probably Chinese” The voice replied “I am General Chang, and I have your friends here, waiting for daddy to pick them up. I am not QUITE done with them just yet, but when I am, I will let you know. In the meantime, we can meet at the old fish packing plant near the harbor if you want. Have fun” The radio clicked off with Jun angrily shouting “That bastard has them both! He wants to come here, he will get a shock when we kill them all!” Shoji put a hand on Jun’s shoulder and warned him with “Don’t be rash and go off on a fool errand. They gave you that location to get you killed!” Kwan added “He’s right. Besides, I heard seagulls in the distance, so they are by the docks I would bet. Maybe we can draw them out somehow?”

Jun cricked his neck “How so?” “We draw a herd there. We make them think a walker army is going to destroy their base and then pick off the Chinese soldiers that retreat. We kill Chang, rescue Shinji and Sung-Min and go home, leaving the walkers to eat the corpses” Shoji frowned and advised the two “Look I understand your frustration with this revelation, but we can’t get more people killed like this under these circumstances. For now we will have to wait until the moment is right for us to act”
============================================
Shinji and Sung-Min were thrown into a small room with a large blanket, an overhead light and a small bowl. “Here is where you will be staying until you either tell us where you live, or we kill you. Try not to freeze to death” Shinji perked his head up and demanded “How do you know Japanese so well?” Chang sighed and propped himself against the door frame.

“My father wanted me to be educated, so he sent me to Japan when I was ten, where I learned your language, and your mannerisms. He said, ‘a worldly mind will serve you well in life’, and he was right. I am not going to lie to you both: I will not hesitate to kill you both, but all I need is ONE of you to talk. So…save yourself the trouble and tell us what we want”

Before he could continue a soldier shouted in Mandarin “*More dead are coming General!” He smiled and closed the door, barring it with a heavy wooden beam. He stepped outside the building his prisoners were held and saw a sizable group of walkers approaching them, while Chinese soldiers hacked and stabbed them in an attempt to conserve ammunition. Chang stabbed one with a long knife, while another tried to bit him on the shoulder, only to get shot by the youngest of the men.
Chang screamed “You gave away our position you fool! On your knees!” The soldier did as ordered, and Chang approached him, drawing his knife and slicing a deep cut on the other man’s cheek. As the soldier clutched at his bleeding wound, Chang bellowed “Next time I will be doing that to your throats! Now keep looking for supplies, we aren’t staying here for long”

He cracked his neck and walked back to the prisoners he had left, dragging out Sung-Min kicking and fighting back as he was taken to a small room inside a former car repair shop. He was secured to a chair and one soldier punched him in the stomach, making him reel forward in pain. Chang leaned down to look him in the eyes, and said calmly “I know you a tough guy here. But I am running out of time, you see, and I need to know where you live. I know it’s cozy and comfortable based on your hygiene and the condition of your clothing. Now, I am not a barbarian, but I am not shy to do whatever is needed to get what I need. And I do mean whatever”
He walked over and pulled a tarp off a car battery, touching one lead to the other and creating a sharp spark to crackle. “The amperage has been lowered so it won’t burst your heart, I assure you. But it will hurt like a bitch. Now, I am going to give you the three strikes you’re out rule: tell me what I want, and if you don’t after I ask three times, I will do far, far worse to you. Now, where is your base?”

Sung-Min shook his head, and Chang clamped the leads on his arms, causing Sung-Min to shudder and shake, screaming as the electricity flowed through his body, making every pain receptor fire at once. Chang unclamped the leads, and smiled, asking again “Now that that is over, WHERE. DO. YOU. LIVE?” Sung-Min grinned and spat at the General, who clamped the leads on his skin again, causing the Korean to scream in agony.
Chang removed the leads and grabbed Sung-Min by the face, demanding loudly “WHERE IS IT???!!!” Sung-Min whispered “It’s in a small forest, a tiny building where your mom makes me happy. I think you know how” Chang laughed and patted his victim on the cheek. “Now it gets worse, asshole” He then waved in a soldier who brought in a pot with boiling water.

“This is a more traditional method of torture, friend. It works 9/10 times, unless you are one of those fat sauna dwelling bastards who likes the heat. Tell me where your home is, or it gets worse. I know you are protecting your friends, but this is going to continue until you talk, or I decide your friend is a better person to cooperate with me. Now…tell me where your home is!!!” Sung-Min growled “It’s in your ass!” Chang’s smile faded and he grabbed Sung-Min’s hand, plunging it in the boiling water.

Sung-Min watched as the flesh on his hand turned beet red, then slowly began to turn white, as flecks of skin began to peel off. The pain was unlike anything he had ever felt, and much to his horror the pain faded with the hand becoming numb. He pulled the hand out, with bits of cooked flesh dripping off the hand. “Shall I do the same to your wang, or will you talk?” Sung-Min watched as he tried to move his hand, barely able to do so due to the nerve damage. “No…I won’t”

The soldier slapped his hand, causing a large chunk of flesh to rip off. Chang pushed the soldier back, and ordered bring a woman from the remaining survivors here. I think maybe when he realizes his life is not the one in peril, he will change his mind” Sung-Min moaned as he felt the pain from his hand seeping throughout his body, while Chang commented “You can have the power here to stop us from harming this woman. Tell me where you live and you won’t have to watch as we ravage her again, and again, and again. It’s up to you” The woman looked at Sung-Min with tears in her eyes, the latter responding “I can’t….I am so sorry but I can’t” Chang pointed to the woman and shouted to his men “Have fun”

Sung-Min watched with horror and disgust as the woman was defiled in front of him, her screams echoing in his mind with Chang watching also, victory and confidence instead written across his bearded face. Meanwhile, Shinji sat huddled in a corner, freezing as he heard every noise coming from the horrific ordeal a few feet from him with shame and disgust.

===============================================
Ronin checked the magazine in his rifle with Jun grabbing another rifle from the wall, an angry look across his face. “Shoji give you the okay?” he asked, with Jun shaking his head. “NO he didn’t. And I don’t care if he does, because Shinji and Sung-Min are still in that Chang fellows grasp. Go in there and kill them all, plain and simple” Ronin grabbed Jun by the arm and said calmly “Look, I know you want them to be safe. I do too, but this is rash even by your standards. I have known you since you were that kid who watched as his world crumbled, and I know you could do this op, but I am telling you as my best friend and as the man your father told me to protect, DON’T DO THIS JUN. Please”

Jun angrily pulled away from Ronin and slung the rifle over his shoulder, rudely retorting “I don’t need you lecturing me!”
“Well how about me?” Jun looked to see Takeshi standing in the doorway or the armory, with Daichi desperately trying to keep out of his way. “Takeshi, please I don’t-” “Shut the hell up and listen to me, Jun. I died as soon as my dear wife passed. I lost everything, but I am still here, emotionally dead, and filled with hate and bitterness. You will go down the same road soon if you don’t watch yourself. I care about Sung-Min and Shinji too, but this would be suicide for you. Going out irrationally and leaving your girlfriend, your daughter, and your mother alone is being irresponsible. Don’t be so goddamn stupid. As soon as we have a shred of evidence to go out there on, we will do so. Please listen to me, Jun”

Jun hung his head and sighed, taking the rifle off his shoulder and placing on the rack again, a sad look on his face. “I lost Dad, Yui, Hideki, Akiko, and others who I cared about to this world. I don’t want to lose more…but I will wait until we have a solid lead” Suddenly Kwan ran in, panting as he wheezed and attempted to catch his breath “Tomoko and Emiko ran off to rescue them! We tried to stop them, but they ran before we could catch them!” Jun rolled his eyes, groaning angrily “God NO! Ronin, come on we have to go after them!” Ronin looked at Takeshi who nodded agreeingly as the two of them stormed out of the Armory, a flustered Daichi complaining “God, now I have to organize everything”

Jun gathered Kwan, Shinsuke, and Kuma, with Ando running up to him, exclaiming “I am here to help. Let me come with” Jun shook his head. “I appreciate it, but I need able bodied people here. Which is why you and Kwan are staying here. We need to be sure those Chinese bastards don’t find this place, and if they do come while we are here…well give them a warm welcome” Kwan nodded, watching with Ando as the four of them climbed into a pickup truck and drove out of the Garden, kicking up leaves and twigs as it tore down the road.

====================================
Shinji was dragged the next morning out to the shed where Sung-Min was being held, the latter sitting in his chair with a dazed look on his face, a mix of blood, tears and vomit on his shirt. Shinji noticed the blistered, now pinkish white skin sloughing off Sung-Min’s right hand, and hissed “God they will pay for what they have done” The woman that had been brought in earlier was curled up in a corner, sobbing as her clothes lay in a dirty heap on the floor. General Chang stormed in, a pistol drawn as he grabbed Sung-Min by his hair and clamped the barrel against his head.

“I cannot get a word out of this poor boy. Maybe you will be better to work with…I will warn you only once: if you don’t tell me where your home is after I count to three, your friend dies. No fuss, no politics. Now, let’s start counting! One!”
Shinji instantly teared up “ PLEASE! Don’t do this! PLEASE!!” Chang grinned wickedly “TWO!!!” Sung-Min whispered hoarsely “Don’t do it man…please” Shinji shook his head, tears now dripping from his red face “I can’t let them…I can’t…” Chang leaned in close and murmured “Last number coming up boy…THR-” “I’LL TELL YOU!!” Screeched Shinji, now fully breaking down and burying his face in his hands. “Just let him go please! I’ll tell you everything!!” Chang patted Shinji on the shoulder in an almost loving manner and remarked “Thank you kid…thank you…Well…shall we go?” He turned to Captain Wu and ordered “Kill the others and pack up: we are going to visit our new home”

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On the season finale of The Walking Dead Japan: All roads lead to The Garden, as Chang rushes to take Jun and Co’s new home, leading to a bloody confrontation.

 

@RickyGrimes @zombiemom62 @mishone. @PepperAnn
The season finale, and the last episode of 2016! I hope you all enjoy this, and come back in 2017 for the fifth season in February !
NEW CAST:
General Chang- Jiang Wen
Captain Wu – Zhang Jun Han

Summary: : All roads lead to The Garden, as Chang rushes to take Jun and Co’s new home, leading to a bloody confrontation

EPISODE 416- Step Away
The walker herd closed around a terrified Emiko and Tomoko who slashed and cut through the ever growing swarm of the dead. Emiko shouted to her friend “WE NEED TO GO BACK!!” as Tomoko slashed through two walker’s heads and replied “AND LEAVE SHINJI AND SUNG-MIN? NO!” Emiko dropped her knife during the confusion, scrambling to grab it when a walker gripped her arm, its jaws opening to clamp down in the exposed flesh.

A gunshot sent the front part of the walker’s skull flying everywhere, and Emiko watched as Jun, Ronin, Shinsuke and Kuma mowed down the walkers, while Tomoko pulled her to her feet. The last walker was cut down by Ronin who grinned looking upon the field of corpses, remarking “Well you ladies certainly know how to get into a heap of trouble” Jun grabbed Tomoko and hissed “What the hell were you two thinking?! You running and almost getting killed like that without anyone knowing?” Tomoko loosened Jun’s grip and growled “You were debating the whole damn scenario! Shinji and Sung-Min are going through god knows what, and you are all chatting!”

Ronin put a finger to his lips and pointed to a single man dressed in Chinese military attire standing down the way on a box that blocked the road. He saw the group and held up a sign that read: “TO SHINJI AND SUNG-MIN’S FRIENDS” Jun and his friends walked up to the Chinese soldier, who quietly handed him a radio. The radio crackled to life, and the voice of General Chang came through saying “I am aware you are looking for your friends, as noted by you being here. But I will make your job easier for you. I know where you live, and I have a proposal to share with you: allow us safe entry into your…Garden, and I will not kill you all. Otherwise we can settle this the hard way”

Jun looked at Tomoko and Ronin, who shook their heads. “How about” Jun offered “We give you a twice monthly shipment of food and supplies? We can give them to you in exchange for leaving our home alone, and you will be fed in the process. I think, General, it would be a win-win scenario for the both of us, don’t you think?”
There was radio silence, then Chang remarked laughingly “A meager twice monthly shipment? You don’t understand the gravity of our demands, do you? I am going to reject your offer, and count to three, and when I do, your friends are dead. ONE!” Jun screamed “FINE! Just…give me a moment to arrange things” He clicked off the radio and looked at the Chinese soldier, a smile across his face. “Can’t risk it” he muttered as he pulled out his revolver and shot the soldier in the chest, knocking him down. He then pounced on top of the man, viciously stabbing him until the head was a bloody crushed pulp. He got up and looked at his horrified friends, asking them “Well what do you propose we do?”

Ronin suggested, trying to ignore his friend’s actions “We lay a trap. Maybe near the woods we can tell them to meet us there for our surrender” Tomoko interjected “No way they would fall for that. They will most likely send scouts to make sure we don’t do a stunt like that” Ronin angrily growled “Then what do you suggest? We are going to lose Shinji and Sung-Min to these assholes!”

Shinsuke stepped up and said excitedly “The Mine! We lure them there, blow the side of the quarry and let the avalanche of rock take em out. Simple” Emiko laughed, replying incredulously “And have our friends buried under the shower of rock? Shinsuke we need to think up a better plan than that” Kuma, who was watching the conversation, piped up “They both know English. We tell them the plan before blowing the quarry” Shinsuke smiled and pointed his thumb at the man, remarking “See?! The dumb Chinese probably don’t speak a lick of English and that will allow us to tell Shinji and Sung-Min to make a break for it. We shoot at the soldiers to keep them busy, and them blow it. I have some C4 I took from the armory, so we can plant it and then get them free! What do you think Jun?”
Jun rubbed his stubble covered chin and remarked “I think that will work. Let’s get set up and tell our guests what they want”

=============================================
Shinji watched as Sung-Min held his hand, now covered in white, dead skin. “Sung-Min…I had to, I was not going to watch you die” Sung-Min remained silent, his whole body shaking from what he endured the night before. “Sung-Min…please talk to me” begged Shinji, while his friend stared at a fly on the wall. “Shinji…I wanted to die. I WANT to die now…I’m done with this” Shinji leaned in close and whispered “Don’t you dare talk like that. You aren’t going anywhere! I won’t-” “I SAW THE WOMAN BEING DEFILED AGAIN…and again…and again…I saw it happen over and over and I couldn’t help her. I was useless. I put our comfy home over the life of the woman. I’m done Shinji, and if you were a true friend, you would allow me to die by my own choosing” Shinji nodded mournfully, remarking soberly “We get out of this…and I will let you do whatever you want, okay?” Sung-Min angrily turned to his friend and hissed “We aren’t making it out of this one! We are going to die here, Shinji. I just hope Jun and the others don’t allow the Chinese bastards the chance to hurt the others…”

General Chang opened the door and waved his pistol at them, cheerfully ordering “Get out of here! We are moving out! Your friends have a special plan to surrender involving giving up their weapons. But what they don’t get is they are going to get gunned down, making our arrangement a much…cleaner job. No extra bodies to worry about when we make our home in your home” Shinji scowled “Why are you telling us this?” Chang smiled and replied “Because you two will be the last members of your home to die. But not before you witness the fruits of your labor”

The two of them walked out of the room and outside, finding the corpses of the villagers now burning in a large pile. The stench was overwhelming, and Sung-Min collapsed upon seeing this, vomiting what little food he had in his stomach. Chang mercilessly beat him, kicking his ribs and stomping on his hand. Finally he stood him up and placed the pistol against his head, as Sung-Min sobbed in pain and anguish. “Just…please kill me” he begged, as Chang replied “Not until you are done serving my needs first. Now move, we have a mine to go to”

===============================================
Jun and his group planted the C4 in the loose rock that was lining the quarry while Ronin placed an ear over the mine door, the sound of walkers banging against the door now silent. “Must be one thick door” he quipped as Jun handed him the detonation remote. “Are you sure you want to do this?” Jun asked his friend, who simply nodded “I do. I will run up the control shack and wait there until the show is over. We get Shinji and Sung-Min to follow us, and boom! We bury those Chinese bastards!”
===================================================
As Shinji and Sung-Min rode in the back of the army truck, Chang looked at Kuroi, remarking with intense interest “This is a wonderful sword…even by my standards. Tell me, how did you come by this?” Shinji remained silent, as Chang smirked. “I get it, you think nothing will change your fate, so why bother talking? Thing is, friend, you are not in the position to remain quiet. I like you because unlike your weak friend here you know the meaning of cooperation, and you understand negotiation. So, before I behead your friend here and toss his corpse to the dead that are trailing us, tell me about your sword” Shinji looked at a broken Sung-Min and replied “I got it from a friend who was like a father to me…he trained me in Kendo and made me put aside my angst and hate. That sword is an extension of my body, and not a tool. I was a college kid before all this…what about you General?”

Chang smiled and sheathed Kuroi. “I was in the Chinese army before all this happened. The dead started to come back, and China fell apart. Now my home, Hong Kong, is swarming with almost a billion of the dead. I lost my family…my wife, daughter and father to the dead. So I came here with what is now the remaining Chinese People’s Army, and decided to make a new life for myself. I guess that is never going to happen, but that’s also why I want your home: because I never was able to make my family happy, so maybe forgetting what happened will change that” Shinji nodded, and said sternly “We can’t change what happened. No matter how much we want to…and in the end, death will be there to greet us all”

Chang half smiled and replied “That makes two of us. I am not afraid to die, but when it comes for all of us, we better not make fools of ourselves and think we can trick it. Sooner or later, we will be nothing but footnotes in the now dead history books” The truck stopped and the General hopped out of the truck with Captain Wu in tow. Wu pointed to the quarry in the distance and remarked “It has several places to lay down sniper fire, but the loose rock will give away our positions if they fire” Chang nodded and looked at the shivering Sung-Min and ordering him to “Get out and come here dog” Sung-Min slowly got out of the truck and walked up to the General.

“You are going to be our bait, friend. Put this jacket on, and go down there. If they shoot you, then we go and attack your home. It’s going to end the same way no matter what, but cooperation goes a long way. Now go” Sung-Min put on the jacket, and watched as a soldier grabbed a toy replica AK 47 and taped it to his hands. “Go…” Wu commanded, with Shinji watching helplessly as his friend marched down the path and stumbled down into the quarry.

=========================================
Jun watched as a single Chinese soldier walked down into the quarry, an AK 47 in his arms. Ronin, wielding a sniper rifle, lined the soldier in his sights and watched as he stood waiting on the quarry floor. “This is weird…they would never send a lone soldier like that to lure us out” Kuma pointed to a small shiny object in the far off distance and remarked “It’s a trap” Jun nodded and remarked cautiously “Looks like a truck’s rear view mirror. They are watching us from there to see how many of us are here”
Ronin adjusted his grip and watched the soldier backing away from a walker that had wandered into the quarry floor, hissing “I think that guy is either out of ammo, or he is there against his will, otherwise he would have killed it” Jun grabbed a pair of binoculars and watched the soldier backing farther and farther away from the walker before noticing the soldier’s face: “OH MY GOD ITS SUNG-MIN!” he yelped, jumping up and running down the hillside to save his friend.
Sung-Min felt the rock brush against his back, as the walker grabbed him and tried to sink his teeth into his neck. Using the plastic toy gun he pushed it aside and attempted to smash the toy against a rock. The toy shattered after a third hit, with Sung-Min reaching for a long shard of thick plastic. The walker grabbed his arm, its mouth wide open with a long strand of thick saliva dripping from its teeth-

The head of the walker was yanked back, with a bayonet blade stabbed in the eye of the infected man. The walker collapsed, and Sung-Min looked up to see Jun standing there with a tired smile. “What took you so long?” Jun asked playfully, with Sung-Min hugging his friend. Suddenly, a radio on Sung-Min’s belt barked “A warm reunion. I know there are at least 2 of you in the area, making you an easy target. But this get together is tearing me up…” Sung-Min suddenly grabbed the radio and shakily replied “We are not afraid of you Chang…you want to have the Garden, come and get it”

The radio fizzled silent, then, General Chang replied “As you wish”

A single shot was fired, which struck Sung-Min in the chest, tearing a hole through his heart. He collapsed with a shocked look on his face as Jun grabbed him and held him close. “SUNG-MIN! NO!!” Sung-Min choked on blood, and handed Jun a locket, grunting thought the pain “Give this to Kasune…” He then forced Jun’s hand closed with the locket inside, continuing “Chang has 13 men at his disposal. Get Shinji out of there…and kill that bastard…” Jun nodded tearfully, croaking “I will…please don’t go!” Sung-Min chuckled, then his eyes grew dark as he finished with “Oh god…”
He suddenly slumped in his friend’s arms. Jun laid the body down, stabbing Sung-Min’s head to prevent reanimation. He grabbed the radio and snarled “CHANG! You want us dead…meet us down here so we can finish it” The radio replied “And witness your sniveling? No thank you friend. Instead, we will take a drive to your home and kick down the door. You are done for”

More shots were fired, with Jun getting dust in his eyes from the impact on the dry quarry floor. He pulled his revolver out and fired at the bushes nearby, with one bullet striking a Chinese soldier in the neck. The others ran back to the truck and climbed inside, with Chang screaming angrily “GO TO THEIR HOME AND KNOCK THAT GATE DOWN! WE ARE ENDING THIS!!!” Jun meanwhile picked up Sung-Min’s body and headed towards Ronin.

Jun and his friends ran to their truck, with Jun shouting “We need to go!!” Ronin yelled in return “WAIT! I HAVE THE PERFECT SHOT!!” He lined his shot up with the truck’s driver as the Chinese truck turned, becoming parallel to the Quarry, and as soon as the vehicle made the turn, he fired, striking the driver in the head. The truck veered out of control and flew down the side of the quarry, rumbling down as the stones rocked the truck.
Two Chinese soldiers flew out of the truck, only to get crushed by the truck rolling over them. Chang crawled out from the passenger side seat, a huge cut across his face. “WU! Get that shit Shinji out of there and execute him in front of his friends!” Wu shambled out of the back of the truck and grabbed a dizzy Shinji by the collar, dragging him out and into the center of the quarry floor.

Wu clamped a pistol against Shinji’s head and waited for Chang to give the order, when they noticed Jun stepping out from the manager’s station, his hands up. Chang grinned and remarked mockingly “Well hello there! Your friend Shinji is going to end up like Sung-Min there…and you are watching” Jun looked at Shinji and said in shaky English “Shinji…going to blow mine…run when I give signal” Shinji nodded, with Chang demanding “What did he say?” Shinji answered “He was telling me goodbye” Jun drew his pistol and shot Wu in the face, with Shinji running behind the quarry tunnel shaft that jutted outside.

Jun noticed the release pins for the shaft door that had been locked up 2 days prior, and yanked it out, the door popping loose and tumbling to the ground. Immediately dozens of walkers poured out of the mine, swarming over the Chinese. Chang ran around to avoid the walkers, only to get tackled by Shinji, who viciously beat Chang before grabbing Kuroi and its scabbard. Chang fired at Shinji with his Glock, before being bitten by a walker in the arm. Jun screamed into the radio during the chaos “BLOW IT!”

Shinsuke flicked the ready switch and pressed the button. The eruption shook the quarry, causing a shower of rock to shoot into the air, as several walkers were struck and killed by larger rocks. The avalanche of rocks soon slid down, crushing and burying both the remaining Chinese and the dead that were attempting to move out of the quarry excavation. The manager’s station was struck with a large rock, knocking Jun and Shinji to the floor, while the dust was now thick in the air.
Shinsuke, Tomoko, Emiko, Ronin and Kuma ran down to the quarry, noticing the once deep excavation now filled with large stones that sealed the now dead Chinese and Walkers beneath. The dust was so thick they could barely see past their faces, but then Kuma remarked “There!” while pointing to two figures climbing over boulders and stones, covered in thick dust. Shinji and Jun walked out of the manager’s shack, their balance shaky from the ground beneath them.
Ronin smiled, and hugged Jun, with Shinji greeted by both Shinsuke and Kuma. Ronin looked a dusty Shinji and teasingly scoffed “Tomoko, your boyfriend is a mess. I think he needs a bath, no?” Tomoko smiled and winked at Shinji, remarking cheekily “I think so. A personal one will have to do” Emiko ruffled Shinji’s hair, a cloud of rock dust fluffing out from the mess of hair.

The celebration was interrupted by a single shot coming from the dust. They looked in horror as Shinji clutched his chest, blood streaming out and making his hands red. Tomoko looked to see General Chang walking out of the dust, his pistol lowered as he bellowed “YOU LOSE NO MATTER WHAT! I WIN, AND YOU LOSE!!” Tomoko ran and sliced his hand holding the pistol off, followed up by a cut to his leg. As the General was on his knees, he smiled and chortled through the pain “I win…my men are overtaking your home…it’s over” Tomoko then stabbed the General through the mouth, and yanked to the left, separating the top half from the bottom half of the skull at the jaw line. Jun picked up the wounded Shinji with Ronin and Shinsuke quickly loading the body of Sung-Min in the truck, as Tomoko began to have a hysterical fit, with Emiko comforting her.

Jun climbed in the truck, and shouted into the long range radio “DR. YOSHI, WE NEED HELP AS SOON AS WE GET HOME! SHINJI IS DYING!!” A voice on the radio replied frantically “We are being attacked!” Jun looked back at a dying Shinji and muttered in horror “This can’t be happening”
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Season 5 to be released mid to late February, 2017.

 

This new season will have an Episode 1 release date of January 30th.
I would recommend anyone reading this to check out Rise of The Walking Dead, my other 10 part series. It will make sense when Season 5 comes out.

 

The next season is moving along quite well, with episodes 501-3 finished.

 

Coming this Wednesday