Kiss Me Sweet

[Mei Ju Ling]

How had she gotten there...That was a question that plagued her for days after she was found, and taken into the Underground, with the rest of the survivors. How had she gotten from being the daughter of a Chinese diplomat, a pop star, to hiding in a hole in the ground (albeit, a very nice, large, and spacious, hole in the ground) from the massive amounts of monsters that roamed the earth above her feet?

Mei didn't know. She remembered arriving at the airport with her cousin Kun, he had been the pilot of her father's private jet plane. He landed at the airport, where a chauffeured armored SUV (apparently something else her paranoid father had arranged) was waiting for her. She didn't like her father, and she let him know it, but he apparently didn't want her to be kidnapped by some lunatic hostage taker. So, he had the armored car made. It was a large SUV, which had been stripped down to the chassis. Then its windshields (back and front), as well as its side windows, were all replaced by nearly two and a half inch thick bullet-proof glass.

The body gained an additional 1500 pounds worth of thick bullet-stopping steel, as well as a kind of odd-looking mesh that worked like kevlar, stopping 9mm handgun rounds as well as rounds from revolvers. The steel was for more powerful weaponry such as sniper rifles. The roof was given the same treatment as well.

The car had several additional filters, and it had its own air supply, just in case the car was knocked into a lake, or pond, or if some kind of gas attack was implemented, the car had at least twenty-four hours of fresh oxygen which was recycled and recirculated.

She had found all of this out, when she had arrived at the SUV, and several armed men (she saw each one had a pistol, barely hidden by their black jackets), large Americans in black suits, wearing sunglasses, and earpieces, which reminded her of the stereotypical Secret Service that followed the president around (what was that joke her father told her before , oh she remembered - The president's got more security than the pope. One sneeze and 10 Secret Service agents, from almost every corner of the room say Bless You) stood aside the car, opened the car door for her, and shut it.

The driver, an armed man, slid into the driver's seat, and a second man slid into the front passenger seat.

She remembers, the driver driving out of the airport and heading towards the city. Once in the city (having driven through the turnpike), she remembered being stuck in a traffic jam. She remembered sitting in the backseat, as she listened to her latest single, the CD hadn't been release to the public yet, on a personal CD player, bobbing her head to the music.

It was only when she heard the screaming, that she peeked out the window....people screaming, running past.

"Evasive maneuvers! GO GO GO!" The man in the passenger seat shouted at the driver who put the car in reverse, slammed on the gas, then put the car in drive and drove around the car in front of them. He drove onto the sidewalk. Something, some thing was happening. She didnt know what. But she knew she was nervous. Was it some kind of terrorist attack? What was it?


Then...she doesnt remember what happened. Mei sat in the UPD offices. She was holding her keys in her hands, the keys to the SUV, they had a small teddy-bear decoration it, which she added after she woke up in the Underground. "How did....I get here..." She spoke aloud, the question directed at herself.

[Kazuhiko Inukai]

It wasn't a well thought-out plan, not by any stretch of the imagination. Izanagi, his eldest brother, had been the smart one. He would have known what to do. The simple fact that he could imagine his brother in a hypothetical situation faring better than him sent a blinding haze of red rage that wouldn't dissipate for a few moments after it had appeared. All Kazuhiko knew was that he couldn't stand by in the Underground any longer; it was nowhere near suitable for the third son the Inukai Group to be grouped together with a pathetic assortment of commoner Americans. He needed to be on his luxury private plan back to his homeland, and he was going to cut down whoever stood in his way.

"Oujisama" packed his backpack he night before his planned escape with rations of food he'd saved from his meals and other small things he had been able to steal, as well as the few personal belongings he'd been able to hold onto before being forced into the glorified prison they called the Underground. The only problem was his sword, the family heirloom katana that was his only weapon, and the only weapon he knew how to handle. The sword and sheath wouldn't fit in his bag, and had to be securely strapped down the length of his back and was constantly digging into his shoulder blades. He would have to endure it, at least until he was out of the Underground and didn't have to hide his weapon.

On the day of the escape he stalked down to the UPD office, scowling like he usually was (though in this case, it was from the plethora of bruises starting to form from his concealed weaponry). The idea was to see if he could stow away in a vehicle to get on the outside, the hoof it to the nearest airport. He would make the rest up as he went along.

Momentarily, Kazuhiko's gaze fell on a young Asian woman sitting in a bench to the side, and his stride stopped dead. He knew her from somewhere, he was certain of it, and his brain wouldn't let him move on until he identified her. He didn't even realize he was staring.

[Mei Ju Ling]

A soft sigh and she looked around. She had yet to notice someone was watching. Mei was like that. When she got to thinking, she became slightly oblivious to the outside world. Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster could wander past, holding hands (or flippers in the case of Nessie), smoking stogies and making jokes about the low intellect quotient of some blond, busty, bimbo actress they saw in a low-rated B-movie and she wouldn't really have bothered to peek over, or even notice.

Mei looked at the set of keys in her hand. A small teddy bear was attached to them.

For some reason, the first thing that came to mind, sitting in the Underground Police Department, staring at those keys, were the lyrics to one of her songs. The song title was "Kiss me Sweet" which was actually the same title as her first movie, and had been the main song of the film. She recalled, the movie had used several well-known Japanese, Chinese, and Korean actors and actresses, had a director, producer, and co-producers who each had made dozens of good films on their own.

And she? Mei Ju Ling? She was a newcomer. She was good with singing. Yes. But, acting? Kiss me Sweet was her first big movie role. Every other role she had had before that, was small. In fact, she had appeared in at least a dozen television shows, either as herself, or some character the writers whipped up at the last second, just in order to have a cameo. She's even played a fictional version of herself in the TV series, "Sunup, Sunset," which was a cute daytime family show, although she herself didnt watch too much of it. She saw one or two episodes, and found the show to be fairly funny.

She was written in, as a visiting pop singer. She was playing Rica Won, that was the name of the character.

She had done a surprisingly good job. Or so her agents, and the producers told her. She didn't know, so she took their word for it. She saw the television episode in which she was in, and thought, "Well, not bad."

It wasn't ego, it was...surprise. She was on television! Then the movie people showed up and wanted her to be in a movie. "Kiss me Sweet" they said it was called, and she would sing the main title song.

"Kiss me sweet...I'm sleeping in silence....." She uttered softly, singing to herself. Her voice had a soft, pure quality to it. A lot of her songs had English lyrics in it. Then again, as did many Japanese and Korean songs. It was really there mostly as an aesthetic. And as she sang, she suddenly realized, "Sleeping in Silence" had been going to be the name of the sequel she is going to be in...or at least, the name of the sequel she was going to be in. Mei could only imagine that the entire crew, most of the cast, the directors, producers, and writers were out there, among the masses of zombies and other creatures, stumbling about, bloody, clothes torn.

Not far from Mei, who sat, singing to herself, was a small tack board. On the board were notices, memos, as well as two posters. One was for an American movie actress, some pretty brunette girl that some civilian decided was cute enough and thus important enough to get her image stuck to the board. And the other, was of Mei. She was posed, very beautifully, in a Qipao dress, long and slender, with a slit up the side revealing her slender, smooth legs, as well as the fact that, with the Qipao she was wearing a pair of black knee high combat boots. It worked, as she didn't like to wear heels, nor fancy dresses.

The photographer knew her dislike of heels and dresses and decided, Well we need a picture of you in a dress, but you get to wear combat boots, to make you feel comfortable, as well as to express the image of youthful rebellion.

In the poster, aside from the beautiful silk red Qipao with a golden dragon and butterfly design, she had her hair blowing eloquently about her, as she had her arms crossed at her chest, facing away from the camera, in a very beautiful pose. The word "MEI" was written both in English letters as well as Chinese and Japanese symbols across the top of the poster.

Funny enough, that had been the cover art for one of her singles as well.

[Kazuhiko Inukai]

How oblivious can someone be? Especially when the handsomest Inukai son was obviously interested in that someone for one reason or another. And she was even singing a vaguely familiar song to herself as though there was no one else around. The nerve! Of course Oujisama took it as a personal slight and was about to give her a piece of his mind, when she looked suddenly at a notice board about three inches left of his head. Curiousity distracting him from his forthcoming indignant rant, he turned to look at what had interested her and frowned at the posters and what they displayed.

The American woman was alright, hot as far as Caucasians went, but there was something that bothered him about the Chinese woman in the fancy dress and significantly less fancy combat boots. He glanced back at the oblivious woman sitting there in front of him, then to the poster, then to the woman again. He did this for about a minute looking like he was watching a tennis match that was invisible to everyone but him. Like an old lightbulb slowly feebly flickering to life, the realization suddenly struck him like a stone right between the eyes.

"Nani... Holy fuck! You're Mei!" Kazuhiko suddenly burst out, shattering the silence like a gunshot. How could he have missed it? Mei was only on the front cover of most magazines in Asia every other week or so. He'd even had a girlfriend who was the Chinese star's biggest fan; she had loved singing along to her songs on the radio, which proved to be too much for Kazuhiko, seeing as she couldn't hold a tune to save her life.

[Mei Ju Ling]

Ignorance is bliss. Well, Mei wasn't ignorant, just oblivious. Big difference. She had been sitting, there, singing to herself, that beautiful song, and then suddenly, out of nowhere, shattering the silence like a plate in a shooting gallery, came the shout, "HOLY FUCK!" and she all but jumped out of her seat. She dropped the keys to the ground, with a stifled yip. She turned to face the person.

A pretty girl. She was, indeed, the girl from the poster. Albeit, lacking that gorgeous Qipao. Mei did, however, have a modest, non-formal attire on. That short skirt, with multiple front pockets, the mesh, the socks, the near knee high boots. The top with only one button done up and the tube top under it. She looked informal, but she looked good.

Mei blinked, those pretty eyes of her's then she'd give a faint nod. Mei was still a bit surprised. Well, she had gotten used to it. The idea of people staring at her, because they recognized her from some TV show, "Sunup, Sunset" or the movie "Kiss me Sweet," or because they were "huge fans" and owned all of her albums, including the hideously rare and hard to find, "Kingdom," it was called. The cover art had a very beautiful Mei, clad in a flowing dress, made of yards upon yards of silk. She had her hair beautifully done, falling around and past her shoulders, she was holding a gold and diamond studded staff, and she had a crown on her head, slightly tilted to the side. And she was giving a small wink to the camera, very cute.

She had gotten used to the staring. But even then, it was a bit startling to have this person shout out like that. "Yes." She nodded and stood up, then gave a faint respectful bow. She had been raised by a mostly absent father, but strict mother, who always taught her to mind her manners. She may be a pop star, and she may be well off, but that didn't excuse her from using manners.

She smiled at him, that same gorgeous smile that so many magazines had gotten hold of and splashed onto their front pages, coming into the movie premier of "Kiss me Sweet," or entering the awards ceremony, walking down the red carpet in a beautiful Japanese-inspired dress, based on a Furisode, or a Japanese kimono normally given to girls who were old enough to marry.

"Did you need anything?" She peeked down and realized she dropped her keys, leaning in to pick them up.

[Kazuhiko Inukai]

Mei's squeak of surprise made Kazuhiko jump as well, even though he'd been the cause of it. He was just too nervous about his dumb plan, so anything sudden like that spooked him like a wild horse. He mentally scolded himself for the girlish reaction, trying to look cool and nonchalant by running a hand through his wild black hair.



"Kazuhiko Inukai, of the Inukai group," He introduced himself formally, though his voice was flat, the quality of a phrase memorized by rote that had lost all true meaning to the speaker. He reached for his back pocket where he usually kept his business cards, another motion burned into his muscle memory by sheer repetition, then stopped. Who kept business cards when the fucking world was falling to zombies? He certainly hadn't, so there was nothing in his back pocket to retrieve besides rogue pocket lint and bits of string. He let his arm fall back to his side limply.

When he turned his gaze back to the pop star, she wasn't even looking at him anymore, attention turned to the floor to retrieve something she'd dropped when he'd startled her from her day dreaming. He scowled bitterly, once again offended that she wasn't gazing transfixed at the great Prince Inukai himself. And, once again, his bratty outburst was halted dead in his throat. Car keys... Kazuhiko smirked to himself, then letting the expression fade so as not to appear suspicious. Mei-chan could prove to be quite useful to him, if he could only win her trust.

"Want something? No. I just thought you were looking lonely before I noticed who you were." Kazuhiko told her, smoothly, charmingly. "Actually, you still look a little lonely. What are you doing here all by yourself?"

[Mei Ju Ling]

Rehearsed. His greeting, that was. It sounded very rehearsed, as if Kazuhiko had said it, over and over again, ever since he could carry a business card. Business card, where did that come from. Then she realized, that he had gone to reach into his pocket. It was the same behavior of her father. He would introduce himself, much like he did, then he would reach into his pocket for a business card, because no one could have enough business cards. It is a fact of life. Business cards were like oxygen, they were a necessity. Or so she jokingly used to tell her mother, back when she was alive. Back before she looked to her father with great disdain.

And there she was, a bit startled, but getting over that, over this person shouting out that she was Mei, THE Mei. And he was staring at her, an odd look. She couldn't quite place it. But she pretended not to see it. Well, to be honest, she only saw part of the look and she didn't know what it meant.

All she knew is that this person, how did he introduce himself again, oh thats right, 'Kazuhiko Inukai, of the Inukai group' apparently knew her, and wanted to talk to her.

"Oh." She blinked and she gave a faint smile. Those rosy lips of her's spreading into a slightly appreciative smile. "Thank you." She looked around. "To be honest...I don't really know how I got here..."

"I remember...being in the armored car, my father's highly overcautious and sent me a private armored car, an SUV, and..I remember driving into the city, then everything went crazy. People running and screaming and...I think we hit something, because I blacked out, and I woke up over there." She pointed to one of the open doors. Inside there was a desk, and a cot, apparently a UPD officer, or someone, had carried her in there.

"I think the car is still in working order, I found this on the desk." She held up the keys."They were the spare keys to the car." She sat down and looked at the keys,"I wonder if Kun is alright...." She uttered softly, "He's my cousin, he flew me here in my father's private jet. I think it should be at the airport..."

Then she added something, "Inukai group....Who are they? Are they like the Yakuza or something?" She muttered, peeking over at him.

[Kazuhiko Inukai]

If a heavenly chorus could have sung a divine harmony down upon him, it surely would have when Mei told Kazuhiko her story. Not only was he in the company of Asia's biggest star, but she had everything he needed to get the hell out of America and back home to Japan, a grateful pop star in tow. Fuck intense planning, all the pieces fell into place for him despite any foresight whatsoever. It was the story of his life, everything fell into his lap while he barely had to lift a finger. He laughed at her question about his family's company, "Ha, don't let my brother hear you say that. That'd ruffle his feathers for sure. No, it's just a massive corporation. Like the Yakuza, only legal."

His expression quickly softened to speak about her plight.

"I'm sorry to hear that, Mei-san. And you're stuck away from home as well. That must be terribly tough for you." Kazuhiko replied softly, giving every indication that he was genuinely concerned. about her. Of course inside he was jumping up and down like he'd struck gold. He slid smoothly closer to her and sat down next to her. Gentle, brotherly Kazuhiko-kun was a role he played very well for damsels in distress.

"Nee, you don't want to be stuck here, do you Mei-san? I was just going to get out of here and go back home. You could come along if you like?"

[Mei Ju Ling]

Nee, you don't want to be stuck here, do you Mei-san? I was just going to get out of here and go back home. You could come along if you like?

In a way, he had a point, but at the same time...Well she had many reasons to not go outside. Mainly, the creatures outside would get to them before they got very far. She had no gun, and he didn't look like he had any kind of weapon on him. They wouldn't make it far. Maybe a few blocks, before a whole group of those things found them.

Or worse, the big one. Mei hadn't seen the big one, but she had heard about it. The UPD were terrified of it. The stories they told, of how it threw about cars like children's play things, she did not want to meet such a creature. Such a monster.

Kun, I wonder if you're alright...The thought popped back into her mind, from the deep recesses, echoing about, reverberating off the internal metaphysical walls of her mind. He must be alright. He wouldn't have stuck around in such a situation. If the plane is still at the airport, then its still there but Kun....Well, at the most, he would have hidden in the airport, or on the plane.

She smiled weakly. She didn't know why she was smiling, she just ...felt the smile coming on, and she did. "I can't leave. We won't make it out of here. The airport is too far away. We'd have to go through the turnpike, or through the subway, and ....I'm not going down there." She looked down a bit. "They said those things liked the dark..." She looked at the keys in her hand. "Even if the car worked, it would only be useful in the city, and not on the turnpike. I heard it was crowded, stuffed to the brim with wrecked cars..."