The Green Fields Beyond
Author's note: I've been working on this new fic since having conceived it a few weeks ago. I noticed that many OCs in Highschool of the Dead section were being created from similar molds from the characters of the show, if not each other. I created two OCs as a reaction of sorts, both who are social outcasts. Very few of those OCs I see are of similar background or circumstance but those were seldom implemented extensively, mainly for RPs. Me and a friend had fun creating them. This is a rather soft departure from my usual work, which features canon characters. In fact this is probably the first HOTD fic to feature a main character from the Burakumin, a traditional caste of social outcasts in Japan. I created this prologue in response to a fellow writer, noting that my OCs need to interact with the main cast for this to be properly in the HOTD category, and also to some reviews which pointed out some flaws enough to revise my story.
Disclaimer: Highschool of The Dead is the property of the Sato brothers and Madhouse Ltd. No copyright infringement intended. OCs featured belong to me.
Thank you for reading.
Prologue: A Spot of Tea
The storm clouds disgorged sheets of water over the city of Tokunosu, a once bustling port city, now a necropolis where undead roam rampant in the streets. Below the bleak leaden skies were a group of survivors taking shelter in a house in the suburbs. Inside most of them huddled in the living while others where stayed in other parts of the house. Outside the typhoon picked up strength as the wind screamed against their haven from the elements. At the living room the stragglers were planning their next course of action.
"Here, we believe, should be the safest available route to the elementary school," Kouta Hirano said as he pointed a section of the map.
"That would mean a lot of fence climbing for us," Takashi observed.
"It'll be a waste of energy hopping up and down," Saya Takagi curtly stated, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose. "The alternative way would be traveling through the roads that are clogged with vehicles and 'Them', which is a highly dangerous route of travel."
"Seems like we are stuck between a obstacle course and a gauntlet," Saeko Busujima noted. "We'll have to choose quickly. Once the worst of the typhoon passes they'll start evacuating."
"But we're stuck in the middle of a storm," Shizuka protested. "We may not make it in time. And I think I may have trouble getting up." She gave off a ditzy appearance. With a physique and an attitude like, it was quite obvious that she was not cut out for odd jobs and circumstances.
"It doesn't have to be that way," a girl in the "map council" said. "If possible, there may be doors or other entrances that allow us entrance." Her voice had a curious melodic lilt, a hint of a brogue.
"And what if the doors are locked?" Rei Miyamoto asked. "And wouldn't there be more of 'Them'?"
"So we jump in with cold steel in hand, clear 'em out and open a way."
"Sounds like one of those damned British war comics that you and your friend liked so much, Midori," Saya said dryly.
"I don't see any other way to get through, besides the houses are rich in forage." That earned her an odd look from the pinkette. "Supplies," she explained, "if they aren't taken already."
"I see," Saya conceded. "I'm still against. Too many unknowns lurking in the corner for my liking."
"We'll have to give it a try," Midori said. "Unusual options bring high risks but offer high rewards. We'd need to dare if we want a best chance at safety."
"That's right!" Kohta said approvingly. "Who Dares Wins!"
"It's a sensible plan," Saeko Busujima agreed. "It might just work."
Saya groaned a bit, mostly at Kohta's outburst in quoting the motto of the Special Air Service. "Alright, the idea does have some merit. Odds are that the dead won't hear as much with all the rain falling."
"So, we're agreed?" Takashi asked.
"Yes, I do," Saeko said quietly
"Same here." Rei agreed.
"That's wonderful." Shizuka said happily, her assets seeming ready bounce up in a moment's notice. Midori blinked her eyes to get that thought off.
"A-okay," Kouta said cockily with a thumps-up. Saya merely groaned again.
"Alright, then," Takashi went on. "We should have some dinner and some sleep. I'll take first watch."
"I'll take second," Rei added.
"I'll have third," Saeko joined in. Everyone got up and wherever they need to be. Those in rest moved to the couches or whatever suited them. Takashi took up a position at the window overlooking the gate to the house.
"You know..." Shizuka asked Midori, "Is your plan really gonna work? I mean it involves a lot of climbing, and then jumping down on places that might have lots of Them. You might get hurt."
"We may have a fight in our hands but I've had closer scrapes before. And there's one person who I can trust in the closest of them all." She looked at the direction of the kitchen. "But first, a spot of tea."
"Donner und Blitzen," a girl at the window muttered looking out at the storm. She sat on the floor, her carbine lying next to her. Although for most of them were huddled in the living room, a little girl with pink hair overheard her. She approached her from the hallway.
"What does that mean?" Alice asked, curious about the meaning of the phrase.
"It means thunder and lightning in German," the girl explained. A brief flash outside lit her face. "What German soldiers scream when trouble's headed right their way." It was a lie but a little fibbing wouldn't hurt. She or Midori might explain it to her once they get another respite.
"Wow, I didn't think you know German?" said Alice, astounded. "You must have been really smart."
In the darkening light filtering through the window the little girl noted a hint of a smile on the corners of the teen's face. "Well, what can I say? I learn something new everyday, kid."
"Well, that's great," she exclaimed. "I bet you had very good grades."
Sure, kid, I had a lot of them, she thought. She wanted to say that she aced everything life threw her at an early age. So many terrible things. "I'm a graduate of the school of hard knocks."
"'Hard knocks'?" The term was quite foreign to her.
"Life, Alice, life," she explained. "Even before this happened living is no cake walk and now it just got worst will the dead..." she stopped herself from uttering a profanity, "... people getting back up."
"You know, I'm scared of those things," she said meekly. "I still am. But not so much because I have friends like Rei nee-chan, Saeko nee-chan, and you and your Midori nee-chan."
"Thanks, kiddo." The corner in her mouth grew a bit wider.
As the teens discussed the the next route of their trip. Two women were in the kitchen, preparing food for the entire party. These two have struck a rather unlikely acquaintance ever since they got together. It was at this time that they know each other a little more.
"I used to be a sukeban in my youth," Kiriko Miyamoto bragged to the pale, black-haired woman. "I was quite feared back in my day. Precinct Miyamoto they called me."
"And now you become a traffic cop for the precinct," she replied with a thin smile as she tended the tea kettle brewing in the kitchen of the house they were billeting. "You married an officer and had such wonderful daughter. Charming." Her voice had the melodic broguish lilt that seem to subtly sing the words rather than just recite them.
"Your little girl's not so bad herself," she observed. "She's got some spunk in her."
The woman smiled. "She got that from me. After all, life is far from easy and is short. No one can afford to fool around these days."
"Yeah, I know. Youth doesn't last long."
"Whoever thought that would happen?" she asked rhetorically. "A cop marrying a delinquent. Kinda helped too as I've kicked a lot of hormonally-stupid teenage ass."
"You must have done a good job," she commented with a smile. "Keeping the young-blooded hotheads in line and all that. They must have been terrified of you."
"Ha! They should be," she bragged. "I take no shit from them when they thought they can paint the town red like assholes."
"Must have put the fear of God and the police back in them," she observed.
"Especially with me on the side of the law," she exalted. "They never stood a chance. sure, there were a few of them shouted flak at me for being with the fuzz. If they say real personal stuff, boy, they really got it from me."
The other woman blinked hard. "You didn't apply police brutality on them, do you?"
"Of course not. However, when I really get down and dirty, they'll learn I haven't lost my touch."
"Just like the old country," she mused. The kettle suddenly whistled. The woman shut the stove up. She then selected a pre-heated teapot, tossing the now warm water in it to the sink. Putting a strainer inside, she added some loose tea leaves, then poured in the fresh hot water into the pot, then closed the lid. She then left it alone for it to steep.
"What's wrong there?"
"Where I come from, the police always abused their power on a routine basis. I say it was only fair that they earned it."
"Wow, must have been a tough neighborhood," Kiriko commented.
"You have no idea." Her eyes seemed to look at something behind the woman. Rei's mother thought she might have struck a bad chord in her memory.
"Ah, I'm sorry," she apologized quickly. "I didn't mean too-"
"It's alright," the woman said softly. "Not everyone welcomes the idea of going back to life long past."
Kiriko noted something in her voice seemed distant as well, perhaps longing for something that had long since vanished. "I see," she said sympathetically. "It must have been hard."
The woman turned to the direction of the doorway. "It is. Sometimes..." she sighed, "I wish I can go back to time to take back what I did. But then I won't have Midori and my love in my life."
"Sound a little sad, huh? Sometimes we do things that we're not proud off." She looked out the window. "Back in my old glory days I punched a guy in the face once, knocking him back into a store front window. He was trying to get his hands on one of my friends but I didn't mean for it to end up that way."
Both women were silent. It was surprising thing to hear from her. "We both have our youthful indiscretions, don't we? I was never proud about what I had been."
"What we're you back in your day?" Kiriko asked as she received a cup from her newfound friend.
"I was a commander of the Provisional Wing of the Irish Republican Army." Kiriko did her best not to drop her cup of tea.
Author's note: Yep, I'm taking a rather controversial subject matter in my hands. I only some scant knowledge about the PIRA or The Troubles so please feel free to tell all about it. I also have no idea how people from the Isles make tea and what I just wrote is from the top of my head so correct on that as well, especially on the details.