[Notes at the end of the story]

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Twilight of the Dead -- Series I
A Ranma/Day of the Dead crossover

by James T. Jeans "The Man With The Machinegun"
================================================================

"With You"
Theme: Twilight of the Dead -- Series I


"Now we are lost and are all alone
All things have changed and we can't go back
But I will always really care for you.
Though you are not near
I won't give up, No! No!
Even if to only hear
Those three small words - I love you
I will be,  joined with thee,  just wait and see
It's a lonely life, such a lonely life!
This has been one great big nightmare
Stranded  far away from you.
Even though, I don't know, could be true
I might just love you
And if this is found to be true
Nothing will ever keep us apart
But now I'm so lonely
and feel all alone.
And now, this I vow, I will be with you!"
---

(Lyrics by James T. Jeans)
(This song uses the melody of 'Little Date')

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PROLOGUE

"400,000 to 1, Captain." The man was irritated. Not
only irritated, but frightened as well. "We don't
fair well against those odds." He reached up to rub
the back of his pudgy, short neck, sweat coating
the vicious, hard skin.

    Captain Cooper stood slowly from his seat,
his thick black hair hiding most of his forehead,
which malformed in agitation. He placed his hands
down on the table before him and leaned forward. "I
don't give a goddamn what you have to say,
McDermott," he began, his voice quiet, calm. "I'm
not risking any more of my men so you can play on a
hunch that some quack, nut job doctor came up
with."

    Dr. McDermott adjusted his glasses and
sighed. "Well we certainly aren't going to kill
them all."

    "We can try," Lt. Johnson cut in, sliding a
bullet into the chamber of his 9mm. He laughed,
almost maniacally.

    McDermott ignored the ignorance and looked at
Cooper. "Dr. Logan was onto something with his
research, I am sure of it. If we can domesticate
them. If we can --"

    "Can what?" Cooper barked, walking slowly
around the table. "Turn them into pets? Teach them
tricks?"

    "Teach them to behave," McDermott offered,
following Cooper with his eyes.

    "At what price? My dead men as a reward?"
Cooper's expression grew dark. "I know what that
quack Logan did to the soldiers that were sent to
help his experiment. The man was a fucking
lunatic." Cooper rested his hand on his revolver.

    McDermott's eyes followed the Captain's hand
down to his gun. He gulped loudly.

    "I don't intend on letting you do the same
thing to me, McDermott." Cooper walked quickly to
the seat next to Lt. Johnson, pulling it away from
the table, and sitting in it slowly.

    Johnson continued to go over his gun,
polishing it with a small white rag, and loading a
previously empty clip with more ammunition.

    The room sat in silence for a moment. Doctors
Kelly Preston and Evan Rembrant sat quietly across
the room from the only other two soldiers -- Quinn
and Brendan.

    Kelly sighed and looked around the group of
people, her small, pale face showing signs of
fatigue and agitation. "Look, this childish
bickering is getting us nowhere."

    Cooper pointed at McDermott. "I don't intend
on letting your friend here endanger the lives of
my men by sending them to round up those things."
He eyed Kelly for a long moment, then returned his
attention the the rest of the room.

    McDermott shook his head. "Tokyo is all but
abandoned, Captain. The humans within the main city
have evacuated."

    "Which is why I don't understand this
bullshit mission." Attention shifted toward Quinn.
The young man looked around the small group for a
moment, his soft features worn, his face a curtain
of confusion. "There's no one here. We were sent on
a mission of seek and rescue."

    "Exactly." Cooper stood up and walked over to
the map of Tokyo. His hard, brown eyes moved up and
down the wall map quickly. He turned around and
gestured toward the three scientists. "We weren't
sent here to help you three yo-yos stop these
things by teaching them to be good little boys and
girls. We just happened to find you on the way."

    Leaning forward on the table, Kelly noted a
small folder sitting on the table in front of
Cooper. "You were sent here for a specific group of
people, weren't you?"

    Cooper nodded and lifted the small manila
folder. He tossed it across the room, onto the
table in front of Kelly. "A small pocket of
resistance has arisen in a large sub-district of
this city. It's been reported that they've killed
no less than 100 of these things."

    Johnson slid the clip into his 9mm. "Without
guns," he added, placing his weapon in his lap.

    "Of course without guns," Rembrant spoke up,
shaking his head at the ignorance of the soldier
across from him. "Guns are more illegal than heroin
in Japan."

    "Shut up!" Johnson bellowed, aiming his gun
at the estranged scientist.

     Cooper grimaced, slaming his hand down on
the table. "Both of ya shut up or I'll shoot the
two of you!" He paused, and then continued.  "We
want to know how they've been doing this. We might
have some kind of fighting chance against these
fuck brains... If these people work with us."

    Kelly opened the folder slowly. She thumbed
through the pictures and files. She stopped on a
picture of a young man with a rather muscular frame
and a long pigtail. "I've heard of this guy," she
said, thinking back. There had been many news
stories on the young man, and a small group of his
friends, not long before the disaster. "He was a
local hero in Tokyo, before all of this started."

    "And 13 months in, he's still alive. Or at
least he's believed to be." Cooper walked back to
the map and looked up at it. "In 28 hours, Quinn
and Johnson are going to accompany Weston in the
chopper over to this section of Tokyo." He reached
up and pressed his finger aginst a section labeled
with the word 'Nerima'. "I trust you all know a
little Japanese?" He looked back towards McDermott.

    "Fluently," the eldest scientist confirmed.
"I don't know about your men."

    "Of course they do." Cooper turned to face
the room. "Why else would they have been sent on
this fucking mission?"

    McDermott shrugged. "Look, even if this man
CAN help, how do you expect him alone to stop a
planet overrun by the dead?"

    "I don't. I expect him to tell us how he does
it." Cooper paused. "How his friends do it."

    "What if he won't tell you?" Rembrant asked,
looking up from a stack of papers.

    "Tokyo is now under martial law." Cooper
smiled slightly. "If he won't talk, I'll have him
executed for insubordination."

    Kelly grimaced, her features flushing with
surprise. "Under whose authority?"

    "Mine." Cooper walked from the map, ignoring
the stunned gazes of the people around him.

    "Our law doesn't apply to the Japanese
community, Cooper. You're an American soldier. You
don't have the authority to instill martial law on
this city." Rembrant watched Cooper closely,
removing his feet from the chair before him.

    Cooper's face grew dark. "He doesn't know
that. As far as the citizens are concerned, we're
here by declaration of both governments."

    Quinn, Brendan, and Johnson all looked up at
their commanding officer.

    Brendan shook his head. "It's immoral,
Cooper. Why should we go along with this?"

    "Because you're under MY command, Brendan.
You'd be wise to remember that." Cooper looked over
towards the map, turning his back to the room.

    Brendan stood up slowly. "I won't go along
with this, Cooper. You're trying to pull
nonexistant strings on these people."

    "That's a declaration of Mutiny, Mister,"
Cooper said, his voice low, dark.

    Kelly looked between the two men. She
suddenly felt uneasy, the way she felt before a
disaster struck, like a tornado or earthquake.

    "Yes sir, I suppose it is." Brendan watched
Cooper, his posture rigid. He didn't know what hit
him.

    Cooper's body spun around suddenly and a loud
crack rang out through the room, causing everyone
to jump.

    "NO!" Kelly jumped to her feet as Brendan
fell to the floor with a dull thud, a wash of blood
rushing from his chest.

    Cooper looked toward Kelly, a stream of smoke
rising from the barrel of his revolver. He glanced
from person to person. "Anyone else have any
problems with how I run this operation?"

    "Goddamn it, Cooper!" Kelly screamed, turning
to look at the soldier. "You can't do this to us!"

    Cooper pulled his gun around slowly, the
barrel aiming at Kelly, toward her head. "You have
'til the count of 5 to sit down and shut the fuck
up."

    "You listen to me you asshole," Kelly
continued, her emotions fuming, "We are a civilian
operation sent here to work with a team of the top
Japanese geneticist to find a way to reverse what's
happening. You don't have any authority over us!"

    "That's three you've wasted," Cooper replied,
pulling the hammer on the revolver back.

    Quinn stood up suddenly. "Kelly, shut up and
sit down."

    Kelly glanced towards Quinn. His eyes pleaded
with her, and shifted quickly between her and the
Captain. She looked back at Cooper.

    "That's 4."

    Kelly looked around the room. Rembrant looked
at her, then Cooper, his eyes wide in terror.

    McDermott stared at Cooper, unbelieving,
while Quinn watched, his gaze now demanding.
Johnson simply continued to observed the activities
around him.

    Kelly slowly lowered her body down into her
seat and glared up at Cooper, her eyes burning with
spite.

    Quinn sat slowly, looking from Kelly to
Cooper.

    Cooper uncocked the hammer of his gun and
held it in a non-hostile manner. "I'm running this
show now. Anyone who fucks with my orders will be
shot. Is that clear?"

    Everyone just nodded, watching the Captain.
He walked around the table, over to where Brendan
lay. He took his coat off and threw it over the
body.

    He moved back over to his seat and looked up,
around the room. "We continue as planned. In 28
hours, we move in to search the Nerima sub-district
of Tokyo, and we don't come out until we've found
Ranma Saotome. Is that clear?"

    Everyone nodded again.

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

[Notes: This is the start of what I plan to re-release of Twilight
      of the Dead, before I begin working on newer chapters.
      This means that all Six old chapters will be reworked and
      posted back here, on the FFML. Please do C&C, so I know
      what I should do to make this story a little better,
      and more enjoyable to read.]

      Best regards,

      James
      The Man With the Machine Gun

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