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Chapter 41 – The Iron Gate
🕑 Added 2025-09-18 06:18:37 +0000 UTCChapter 41 – The Iron Gate
The morning sun had already burned away the mist as the truck rumbled down the cracked road. Gaius sat in the back, the steel of his blue armor shining faintly in the pale light. His helmet rested against the magnetic lock on his back plate. He kept his gaze forward, silent, his massive frame steady even as the truck jolted over potholes.
Across from him sat Rei and Takashi, their rifles resting across their laps. Three guards rode with them, men who had trained for a day under Gaius’s hard but patient instruction. Each held a weapon with quiet confidence. The air inside the truck smelled of oil and old canvas, but the faint breeze through the open sides carried the sharper scent of decay. Somewhere beyond the ruined buildings, the dead shuffled and dragged their feet.
The driver called back over the growl of the engine, “Road ahead bends toward the school.”
Takashi nodded, tightening his grip on his rifle. “We’re close,” he said, almost to himself.
Rei looked at him and gave a small, encouraging smile, but her own eyes stayed sharp.
Gaius remained silent. His dark gaze swept across the city blocks they passed. Empty cars lay tipped on their sides or burned black. Windows were broken, doors left open. Shadows moved now and then between the wrecks, slow and uncertain.
A moan rose from the side street just as the truck passed. Three walkers lurched into view, arms outstretched.
“Open fire,” Gaius said, his voice deep and calm.
The three guards raised their rifles without hesitation. The sharp cracks of gunfire echoed off the buildings. All three dead fell before the truck even slowed.
Takashi shifted forward, scanning the road. Another group appeared near a broken bus stop. This time he fired first, his shot clean through the skull of the lead walker. Rei followed with two steady bursts, dropping the rest.
Gaius watched their movements closely. Every aim, every pull of the trigger. His eyes missed nothing, but he offered no praise or rebuke. This was not training anymore. This was survival.
They drove on, the guards firing short bursts whenever a stray zombie stumbled too close. The truck never stopped. Empty streets gave way to a narrow avenue lined with trees whose leaves were already brown. Through the branches, the outline of a low, wide building appeared.
Hoshikawa Elementary.
The metal gate around the school stood ahead, tall but simple, paint chipped, the iron bars spotted with rust. The driver slowed and stopped a few yards away.
Everyone climbed down except Gaius, who remained seated for a moment, scanning the area. His weight made the truck’s suspension creak as he finally stepped off, landing on the cracked pavement with a heavy thud.
One of the guards walked to the gate and rattled it. “Locked,” he called back. He shook it again, but the bars barely moved. “Doesn’t look like there’s a key anywhere. We’ll have to climb.”
Another guard came closer, frowning. “If we climb, we can’t get the truck through. We’ll have to leave it out here.”
The two men turned as Gaius approached, his shadow falling long across the ground. They straightened at once, saluting out of instinct. “Sir,” the first guard said, “gate’s locked tight. We can climb it, but the vehicle stays outside.”
Gaius gave a single nod. “I see.”
He stepped past them and stood before the gate. For a moment he simply looked at it. Then, without another word, he lifted one armored foot and drove it forward.
The sound of tearing metal rang across the street. The heavy iron gate flew inward like paper, crashing to the ground in a burst of dust and sparks. The men and the young pair behind them froze, eyes wide.
Rei whispered, “That’s… impossible.”
The crash echoed through the school grounds. From inside came a chorus of moans, low and hungry. Figures began to appear, dozens of them. Teachers in torn uniforms. Children, their small shapes moving with the same mindless hunger moving to the source of the sound.
The guards hesitated, rifles wavering. Rei’s breath caught at the sight of the child-sized figures. Even Takashi froze.
“Fire,” Gaius ordered.
The single word snapped them into action. Gunfire filled the air. The smell of cordite mixed with the sick-sweet stench of the dead. Rei steadied herself and fired, aiming for heads. Takashi followed, jaw tight. The guards formed a loose line and kept their aim true.
The walkers fell one by one, collapsing in heaps on the cracked concrete. No one cheered when the last body hit the ground. Silence settled, broken only by the faint ringing of spent casings.
“Advance,” Gaius said.
They moved through the ruined yard, stepping around the bodies. Gaius led, his heavy boots leaving deep prints in the dust.
A sudden flash of movement caught his eye. High on the second floor of the main building, a window opened just a crack. A small hand waved weakly.
Gaius raised his arm, a silent signal. The others followed his gaze and saw it too.
“There!” one guard shouted.
They headed straight for the building, rifles ready. More walkers lurched from dark corners, but the group cut them down quickly. Inside, the halls were dim and smelled of mold and blood. Classroom doors hung broken, desks overturned.
Step by step they cleared each floor, gunfire sharp and controlled. At the top of the stairs they reached the room where the hand had appeared. Gaius rapped once on the door with a gauntleted fist.
The door creaked open. A small child stood there, eyes wide and hollow from hunger. Behind the child, the group could see more, eight children in all, pale and thin.
One of the boys burst into tears and pointed toward the far side of the room. “Teacher Yumiko is dying,” he cried.
They followed his finger. Near the window lay a woman, her face gray with exhaustion. Her breathing was shallow, her lips dry and cracked.
“Mother!” Takashi’s voice broke as he ran to her side. He dropped to his knees, panic clear in his eyes.
Gaius moved closer at once, kneeling with surprising gentleness. He studied her for a moment, then spoke calmly. “She is severely dehydrated and starving. At least three days without water and food.”
Takashi fumbled in his pocket, pulling out a small biscuit. “Here, she needs food.”
“Stop,” Gaius said, his deep voice cutting through the room. “Do not feed her that.”
Takashi looked up, desperate. “But she’ll die!”
“She will die faster if you give her food,” Gaius said. “Her body cannot take it. First, water. Small sips. Slowly.”
Takashi hesitated, then dropped the biscuit, pulling a bottle from his pack. He held it to his mother’s lips and tilted it carefully. She drank, barely a mouthful at a time. Color began to return to her cheeks.
One of the children, a girl with tangled hair, spoke softly. “Teacher Takashi didn’t eat anything. She gave all the food and water to us. Even when she was too weak, she stood and waved when we heard the shooting. We helped her to the window so you could see.”
Rei’s eyes shone as she listened. The guards said nothing, their expressions somber.
Gaius straightened. “Bring the children to the truck,” he ordered.
The guards began to gather the weak and trembling children. Gaius turned to the unconscious woman. Takashi tried to lift her, but the weight of his rifle and pack made it awkward.
“I can carry her,” Takashi insisted.
Gaius shook his head. “Focus on the children. And your weapon. I will carry her.”
Before Takashi could protest again, Gaius lifted the woman with surprising care, holding her as if she weighed nothing.
Outside, the truck waited. The children were helped aboard first. Space was tight, the benches crowded. With Takashi’s mother lying across their laps and the children packed close, there was no room left for the giant in blue.
One of the guards stepped forward. “Sir, I can stay behind and walk with you-”
“No,” Gaius said firmly. “Drive. Take them back to the estate. Full speed, but stay alert for the dead.”
The driver hesitated, then nodded. “Yes, sir.”
The engine roared to life. As the truck began to roll, one of the boys looked back at the towering figure standing in the road. “Why isn’t he coming with us?”
“There isn’t enough space,” a guard explained gently. “And he won’t leave anyone behind.”
The truck picked up speed, rattling down the cracked street. Gaius remained still until it was a distant shape.
Then he moved.
At first he jogged, the ground trembling beneath each step. Then he accelerated, his pace quickening until he was running beside the truck, his armor gleaming in the sunlight. His strides were long and powerful, each one covering meters with ease.
The childrens and adults pressed to the side of the truck, staring in open amazement. One boy clapped his hands and shouted over the roar of the engine.
“Gundam!”
ps. its thursday, and exam next week, so been quite busy.
i'll make it up.
Comments
Erebus677
Blue smurf running like sonic. I can only hear that "gotta go fast" song XD
Noctis123
Our primarch please lay down your bolter for now we astartes will wait for your return from the realm of chaos (school)
