================================================================
Twilight of the Dead
A Ranma/Day of the Dead crossover 

by James Epnett
================================================================

Authors Notes: This is a one-off fic, not meant to last very long
at all, unless people like it. I'm writing this purely because I
need to purge a few Zombie scenes I plan to use in my screenplay,
Real Life, from my system. Like most Zombie stories, I'm going to
try to keep this simple. (Four or Five chapters at the most) And I 
will say now that I am only having fun with this, it's not a real serious
attempt to write a ground-breaking crossover fic or anything 
of the sort. But, it is an A/R fic, as we know that NotLD never happened
in the canon reality. But, C&C always welcomed!
^_^ 

I am still working on Crystals of Reality, but am taking a small
break due to writers block (I am about 25% done with Chapter 3
- Ryoga) So don't think I have dumped it if you are following it.
(I've seen people posting 3, 4 diffrent fics at a time on the ML)



Ranma 1/2 is not mine.  

Zombies as seen in "Night of the Living Dead", "Dawn of the
Dead", and "Day of the Dead" are George A. Romero's. 

WARNING: This story contains scenes of extreme violence, gore,
and explicit language. Don't say I didn't warn ya. ^_^ 
================================================================

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
continued, reaching up to rub the back of his pudgy
neck.

	Captain Cooper stood slowly from his seat,
his thick black hair hiding most of his forehead,
which crinkled in agitation. He placed his hands
down on the table before him and leaned forward. "I
don't give a god-damn 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 fuck job scientist developed."

	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 handgun. He
laughed, almost hysterically. 

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

	"Can what?" Cooper cut in, walking slowly
around the table. "Turn the puss brains into pets?
Teach them tricks?"

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

	"At the price of recently dead humans 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 swallowed out loud.

	"I don't intend to let you do the same
fucking thing to me, McDermott." Cooper walked over
to the table Lt. Johnson was seated at and pulled
up a chair. 
	
	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 looked over towards
the other two soldiers -- Quinn and Brendan.

	Kelly sighed in agitation. "Look, this
childish bickering is getting us no where."

	Cooper looked over towards the only female in
the room. "I don't intend to let your friend here
endanger the lives of my men by sending them to
round up those things."

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

	"Which is why I don't understand this
bullshit mission," Quinn said, bringing the
attention of the room over to him. "There is 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. "We weren't sent here to help you
three crazy fucks stop these bags of walking
maggots by teaching them to be good little boys and
girls. We just happened to find you on the way."

	Kelly looked over her note book, and then
back up at Cooper. "You were sent here for a
specific group of people, were you not?"     

	Cooper nodded and lifted a small manila
folder. He tossed it across the room, onto the
table in front of Kelly. "A small group of
resistance has arisen in a large sub-district of
this city. It's been reported that they've killed
hundreds of these things."

	"Without guns," Johnson cut in, cocking his
9mm.

	"Exactly," Cooper confirmed. "We want to know
how. 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. "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 down on a section labeled
with the word 'Nerima'. "I trust you all know a
little Japanese?" He looked back towards McDermott. 

	"Most of us know it fluently," McDermott
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." Coop smiled
slightly. "If he won't talk, I'll have him executed
for insubordination."

	Kelly grimaced. "Under who's authority?"

	"Mine." Cooper walked from the map, ignoring
the gazes of all the people around him, and sat
down. 

	"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.

	Cooper's face grew dark. "He doesn't know
that. As far as the citizens here are concerned,
we're here on orders 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 strings on
this person that don't exist."

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

	Kelly looked between the two men. She
suddenly felt uneasy. 

	"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's
corpse fell to the ground, a spray of blood rushing
from his chest. 

	Cooper looked toward Kelly, a stream of smoke
rising from the barrel of his revolver. He looked
from person to person. "Does anyone else want to
fuck with my orders?"

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

	Cooper pointed his gun at Kelly, towards her
head. "You have until the count of 5 to sit down
and shut the fuck up."

	"You listen to me you ass hole," 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, who's eyes were
pleading. She looked back at Cooper.

	"That's 4."

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

	McDermott stared at Cooper, unbelieving,
while Quinn watched, his gaze now demanding.
Johnson also watched in horror. 

	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 Cooper. He
walked around the table, over to where Brendan lay.
He took his coat off and threw it over the body. 

	He then 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.

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