The aftermath of the siege left the Takagi estate in a state of grim reflection. The morning sun illuminated a landscape that looked more like a slaughterhouse than a residential district. Thousands of bodies lay in heaps, a sensational testament to the night's brutality.
Jason stood on the balcony of the main house, watching the estate guards begin the gargantuan task of clearing the perimeter. He felt a deep, hollow ache in his bones. The electrical stimulation from Iris had pushed his muscles to their absolute limit, and now that the adrenaline had faded, every movement felt like wading through wet concrete.
Iris, give me a status report on the team's health, Jason thought, his eyes half-closed.
[SENSATIONAL. Physical exhaustion levels are high across the board. Takashi Komuro: 72% fatigue. Rei Miyamoto: 68%. Saeko Busujima: 45%. Your own biological systems are at 90% depletion. I recommend immediate caloric intake and four hours of REM sleep. However, I have detected a radio signal.]
Jason's eyes snapped open. A signal? From where?
[It is a low-frequency broadcast originating from a maritime vessel in Tokyo Bay. It is encoded, but I have already decrypted the header. It is a distress call from a JSDF (Japan Self-Defense Forces) laboratory. They claim to have data regarding the 'Type-B' pathogen's mutation patterns.]
A laboratory... if they have data on the virus, we might be able to find a way to stop it, or at least predict it better, Jason mused. He looked down at his hands, which were still stained with soot and grease. But we can't just leave. This place needs to be the foundation for everything else.
He turned and walked toward the dining hall. The group was there, sitting around a long wooden table. The atmosphere was somber. Even Shizuka-sensei was quiet, stirring her tea with a vacant look in her eyes.
"Hey everyone," Jason said, his voice soft but clear. He pulled out a chair and sat down, offering a small, tired smile. "I know we're all exhausted. You guys did something incredible last night. You saved hundreds of people."
"We just did what you told us to do, Jason," Takashi said, looking up. There was a new weight in his gaze—the look of a boy who had become a soldier overnight. "You're the one who kept the gate from melting."
"I just provided the tools," Jason replied humbly. "But we can't just sit here and wait for the next horde. The city is still full of people who need help, and more importantly, there's information out there that could change everything."
"Information?" Saya asked, her intellectual curiosity piqued despite her exhaustion.
"I managed to pick up a signal," Jason explained, leaning forward. "There's a research ship in the bay. They have data on the virus. If we can get that data, we won't just be surviving; we'll be fighting back with knowledge."
"The bay is miles away," Rei pointed out. "The roads are blocked, and the 'them' are everywhere."
"That's why we're going to build something better than a bus," Jason said. He looked at Kohta. "Hirano-kun, I saw some old ATVs in the gardening shed. If we can armor them and synchronize their engines with a mesh-network, we can move through the city like a pack of wolves. Fast, quiet, and lethal."
"Armored ATVs?" Kohta's eyes sparkled. "Jason, you're speaking my language!"
"I'll help with the fabrication," Jason said. "But first, we rest. Everyone takes four hours. No arguments. That's an order from your... well, your friend."
While the others slept, Jason found himself back in the workshop. He knew he should sleep, but the itch in his brain wouldn't stop. With Iris's help, he was already designing the 'Wolf-Pack' drones. These wouldn't be for combat, but for scouting.
He took several high-end racing drones from the estate's toy collection and began stripping them down. He replaced the plastic shells with lightweight carbon fiber and added high-intensity UV lights to the undercarriage.
Iris, if the UV light frequency is high enough, will it affect their retinas? Jason asked.
[Confirmed. While the 'them' do not rely solely on sight, their remaining optical nerves are highly sensitive to concentrated UV-C radiation. It will cause temporary disorientation and 'flash-blindness' in 84% of subjects.]
Perfect. Non-lethal crowd control for the drones. It'll give us the seconds we need to pass by.
As he soldered the last connection, a shadow fell across his workbench. It was Soichiro Takagi. The man looked older today, the weight of leadership visible in the lines on his face.
"You are still working," Soichiro observed.
"I find it hard to stop, sir," Jason said, not looking up from his work. "The world doesn't wait for us to be rested."
Soichiro walked over and looked at the drones. "My men tell me you are planning an excursion to the bay. It is a suicide mission."
"Every time we step outside those gates, it's a suicide mission, sir," Jason said, finally putting down his iron and looking the older man in the eye. "But if we stay here, we're just waiting to die in a very nice house. I want to build a world where Saya-san can go back to school. Don't you?"
Soichiro was silent for a long time. Finally, he reached into his coat and pulled out a heavy key. "This is for the underground bunker in the North Wing. It contains the estate's private armory—real weapons, not the hunting rifles my guards use. Take what you need. If you are going to represent the Takagi name out there, don't die like a dog."
"Thank you, sir," Jason said, bowing his head. "I promise to bring everyone back."
Four hours later, the group gathered at the North Wing bunker. When the heavy steel door slid open, even Saeko looked impressed. Rows of modern assault rifles, tactical gear, and boxes of high-grade ammunition lined the walls.
"Now we're talking!" Kohta shouted, running toward a specialized sniper rifle.
"Everyone, take only what you can carry," Jason cautioned. "Speed is our greatest weapon. We're not here to fight the whole city; we're here to get in and get out."
Jason himself didn't take a rifle. Instead, he took a compact submachine gun for emergencies and spent his time adjusting the tactical vests of the others. He felt like a big brother preparing his siblings for their first day of school, if school involved zombies and urban warfare.
I really hope I'm doing the right thing, Jason thought. If any of them get hurt... I don't think Iris has a fix for that.
[SENSATIONAL. Your concern is noted. However, the probability of success has increased to 62% with the addition of the new armaments. You are a capable leader, Jason. Even if you insist on being 'humble' about it.]
"Alright, Wolf-Pack," Jason said, looking at Takashi, Rei, Saeko, Kohta, and Saya. They were all geared up, looking like a professional extraction team. "The mission is simple. We reach the bay, secure the data, and come back. We stay quiet, we stay together, and we listen to the radios."
He climbed onto the lead ATV, which he had painted a matte charcoal grey. "Let's go show the world that humans aren't finished yet."
As the gates opened once more, the small convoy sped out into the ruins of the city. They didn't move like refugees; they moved like a scalpel, cutting through the shadows of the apocalypse.
Jason looked at the horizon, where the smoke of the burning city met the blue of the ocean. He felt the cold, steady pulse of Iris in his mind and the warm, thumping hearts of his friends behind him.
The reclamation had officially begun.
The trip to the Tokyo Bay was a sensational descent into the heart of a dead civilization. The suburbs had been quiet, but as they approached the industrial districts, the scale of the disaster became overwhelming. Skyscrapers stood like blackened tombstones against the sky, and the sound of the wind whistling through broken windows sounded like the moaning of the dead.
"Keep the formation tight!" Jason's voice crackled through the headsets. "Don't stop for anything!"
They were moving through a narrow corridor between two warehouses when the first obstacle appeared. A massive pile-up of tankers and shipping containers blocked the road entirely.
"Jason, we're boxed in!" Takashi shouted.
[DANGER. Multiple signatures detected inside the shipping containers. It appears they have been used as makeshift shelters... that turned into traps.]
"Everyone, off the bikes!" Jason commanded. "We're going over the containers. Kohta, get to high ground and cover us. Saeko, you're with me at the front."
They moved with the precision Jason had drilled into them. Kohta used his new thermal goggles to scan the metal boxes. "The third container on the left is 'hot', guys! Don't go near it!"
Jason led the way, climbing a stack of crates with an agility that surprised even him. The training Iris had provided was paying off—his muscles moved with a snap and power that felt effortless.
As he reached the top of a container, a "them" lunged from a gap. Jason didn't even draw his gun. He ducked under the swipe, grabbed the creature's arm, and used its own momentum to hurl it off the edge.
"Nice move!" Rei called out, following close behind.
"Just physics, Rei-san!" Jason replied, though his heart was hammering.
They reached the edge of the docks. The salt air was thick with the smell of rot, but through the mist, they could see it—the Hakuho Maru, a large JSDF research vessel anchored a few hundred yards out.
"There it is," Saya said, wiping sweat from her brow. "But how do we get out there? The pier is crawling with them."
Jason looked at the pier. Thousands of zombies were wandering aimlessly among the cranes and cargo. It was a sea of grey flesh.
"We don't go through them," Jason said, pointing to a small maintenance boat tied to a lower dock. "We go under them. Iris, can you remote-start that crane over there?"
[SENSATIONAL. Accessing the port's local grid. The backup generators are still functional. Commencing distraction sequence.]
Suddenly, a massive shipping crane at the far end of the pier roared to life. Its lights began to flash, and a loud, rhythmic alarm started blaring. The horde, driven by sound and light, turned as one and began shuffling toward the noise.
"Now! Move!"
The group sprinted down the maintenance stairs. Jason felt the vibrations of the horde moving above them, a low rumble like an approaching train. They reached the boat and hopped in.
"Jason, I don't know how to drive a boat!" Takashi yelled as he looked at the controls.
"I do!" Shizuka-sensei laughed, stepping forward. "I used to have a boyfriend with a yacht! It's just like a big car, right?"
Everyone stared at her for a second.
"Works for me!" Jason said. "Get us to that ship, Sensei!"
The boat pulled away from the dock just as the first of the zombies realized the distraction and turned back. They stood at the edge of the water, reaching out with useless hands, their moans drowned out by the engine.
As they approached the Hakuho Maru, Jason saw a figure on the deck waving a flare.
"We're the team from the Takagi estate!" Jason shouted through the megaphone. "We're here for the data!"
The ship's gangway began to lower. But as it did, Iris sent a sharp, painful pulse through Jason's mind.
[WARNING. Internal sensors on the 'Hakuho Maru' are reporting a bio-hazard breach on Deck 3. The distress signal wasn't just a call for help, Jason. It was a warning. The mutation... it's already on board.]
Jason's face hardened. He looked at his friends—Takashi, Rei, Saeko, Kohta, Saya, and Shizuka. They looked back at him with total trust.
"Change of plans, guys," Jason said, his voice dropping to a serious, assertive tone. "The ship isn't safe. We go in hard, we get the data, and we get out. No one stays behind."
Iris, give me the map of the ship. Highlight the mutation.
[PROJECTING. This is not like the others, Jason. It is sensational. It is faster. It is stronger. Be careful.]
"Let's go," Jason said, stepping onto the gangway as it touched the boat.
The quest for the cure had just become a fight for their lives in the middle of the ocean.