Right then, for all you happy jolly fellows who liked my stuff so far…go and get glasses it was appalling, this will, most likely be as equally horrific but hey maybe the writing classes that I took will pay off, either that, or the teacher Mr. John Doe owes me fifty bucks.
Anyway all of my previous work is abandoned as of…wait for it…now.
And yes, I can do that; if you want to steal ideas, the story or hell just feature it in 'bad fanfic weekly' then go ahead, I isn't complaining.
But you didn't come here to read my own pathetic attempts to build my fragile and wholly misguided ego, you came to read some HSOTU, didn't you? Fuck yeah you did.
So without further ado I present for your viewing/reading/Burning with da flamer, pleasure.
The Eternal.
'Man, Saya is going to be pissed when she finds out I skipped class today.' Takeshi gave a wry chuckle as the mental image of his pink haired friend glaring at him with steam pouring out of her ears like some sort of demented train popped into his head as he strolled lazily down the roadside, the sun warming his face and neck, he often went on strolls like these now, especially since…'Rei'
Takashi scowled at that thought, and with a shake of his head dislodged the image of her smile from his mind, he was over her dammit, she could go off with Hisashi and marry him for all he cared…'pink promise'
"Gah, stupid woman, making me annoyed even on my walks." Takashi spat out in a brief moment of anger at Rei, it soon dissolved back into a sense of betrayal though, she had said they would grow up and be married, she had promised, now he understood that they were very young and didn't really understand the whole concept of marriage very well but still, it was the principle of the matter.
"Hey, hey kid, help me, please help me, I've been mugged."
Takashi stopped at the entrance to an alley and peered down into the oddly gloomy crevice, he would barley make out the outline of man slumped against the wall and he could hear a sharp laboured breathe emanating from his hunched form. Frowning slightly Takashi looked around the street in confusion, he could have sworn that there were more people than just him a second ago, but hey, if he was the only one in the area then it was his duty as a citizen to help the man.
So with a small sigh he walked out of the brightly lit street and into the dark alley, reaching out he grasped the hunched mans shoulder gagging slightly at the coppery stench that permeated the air, the man groaned slightly as Takashi shook him and then curled up into a tighter ball, the coppery smell instantly got worse than before.
"Oh crap its blood. Hey, hey you need to stay awake, come on you need to wake up, if you don't move your gonna die." Takashi was almost shouting by the end of his tirade and with a sharp grunt he slid his hand under the mans arms and pulled him up, or he would have done if the previously injured man hadn't shot up by himself and threw his arms around Takashi.
Takashi's eyes went wide for a second before agony ripped through his body as the stranger sank his teeth into his neck, the front teeth and the first row of back teeth didn't penetrate the skin but the four razor sharp and unnaturally long canines sure hell did, there was a brief moment of stunned shock before what felt like liquid fire exploded under his skin.
Takashi started struggling, his arms flailing wildly against the man, whenever they hit instead of warm flesh of cloth it felt like smashing his hand into marble, there was simply an icy chill permeating the mans entire body. It had been several seconds since the man had bitten him and already Takashi was feeling light headed, his strikes were becoming more and more feeble and his limbs felt weighted down with lead or rocks.
CLINK
Takashi blearily rolled his eyes down, there, in the mans jacket was a flash of metal, it was a gun, a revolver from the looks of it, but guns were heavy and he was so very tired, falling asleep seemed like such a good option now, and it wouldn't be that hard, he could just relax and let go, it wasn't as if he had anything better to do, he had no one to prove anything to, no promises to be kept. With that Takashi's leaden eyes drifted shut.
'Pinkie promise.'
And snapped right back open, like hell he was going to die here in some dingy alley way. With renewed strength Takeshi reached down and pulled the gun out of the mans inner coat pocket, with a sharp click he cocked it. Obviously sensing the danger he was in the man withdrew his teeth and swept his arm back in a clawing motion to try and bat the gun away, but it was already to late, Takashi pulled the trigger, the recoil jarred his arm and jerked the gun upwards so that the second shot caught the man cleanly in the head.
He stumbled back, thick blood that had more in common with tick black ink than any other liquid poured out from his chest wound and the shattered, broken remains of his face, it spilled across the dirty concrete floor staining everything it touched and becoming sticky on contact, Takashi pulled the trigger one last time sending the man sprawling backwards as the bullet ripped through his shoulder, he didn't rise.
Takeshi stumbled backwards his eyes still glued to the mans immobile form, he could feel the sticky blood coating his fingers and face, seeping into the soles of his shoes and staining his shirt, he was a murderer, he had killed the man, the man may have been trying to kill him but god, he had shot him in the chest, in the shoulder and in the head, he didn't have to go so far, he could have capped him and called the police, or threatened him and then ran away.
'No, he would have chased you, caught you and then what, you'd be as dead as he is, it's better this way' he didn't know where that thought came from but he didn't like it, it sounded like some psycho's reasoning, maybe he was becoming a psycho, he had read stories of men who killed people in wars and came back wanting to kill more, what if he became like them.
Suddenly he felt sick, his vision was getting blurry and the ache from where the man had bitten him had grown into a blistering fiery pain that made him want to claw at his skin and pull it out, Takeshi walked forwards but soon was forced onto his knees as he began to dry heave onto the alley floor, the heave sent him face first into the ground as his fingers slipped in the slick blood coating the floor, he hit his head on the concrete and everything went black.
XxXxXxX
"Miroko is dead."
The voice was dull and flat, without any inflection at all, it matched up with the pale skin and luminous red eyes of its owner, said eyes were currently staring blankly at his green haired mistress as she gazed at the smoke rising from a small section of the city and humming softly to herself. She hadn't reacted at all to the news that one of the biggest thorns in their sides had been killed; perhaps she would be surprised by the next bit.
"He managed to pass on his curse before he was killed, we may have a new member joining our organisation mistress."
She did pause at this, stopping her quiet little tune she turned around fully and regarded him with amber eyes that shone happily in the dark gloom of their house. Standing gracefully she flitted over to the cabinet at the other side of the room and threw open the doors snatching up the long barrelled riffle she pirouetted on the balls of her feet with a small giggle and thrust it into her red eyed servants hands and grinned, her razor canines shining in the dim light.
"Then you better go and make sure he's okay Hachidori-san.* Chop, chop." Hachidori didn't even blink at the child like tone and motions she was making, he had long ago grown used to her nature and in fact it added a sense of normalcy to his life that he really would miss if she went away or died.
He slipped the shoulder strap on and shrugged on a urban came cloak to cover his figure and break up his silhouette in the grey urban jungle that lay just below their house, it was times like this when he longed for the rice paddies that he grew up in, the smell of the water and the braying of the oxen as they pulled their load up the hills.
But still, there was a serene and mechanical beauty to the city at night and day, to watch it as he had, over hundreds of years it resembled a living creature, evolving, trying on new skin colours and sending out legs to cross wide rivers, having an immune system to deal with fires and criminals and a hospital and repair crew to patch up its many wounds and heal its broken organs. The highways and streets and back alleys its veins, the town hall its brain and the fair in the centre its beating heart flaring with light each night.
With a soft sigh he jumped from the balcony and skidded down the path dropping into a sharp roll and coming out of it to mount his motorbike in one swift movement. He started the engine and gunned the throttle accelerating down the path into the city to find his new brother in arms and try to convince him to join the right side.
XxXxXxX
Takashi slowly cracked his eyes open, then immediately shut them tightly, even the smallest fragment of light from the alley entrance burned his retina and made his headache even worse than before, he could dimly feel that the left side of his face was covered in something sticky and that there was a sharp coppery tang in his mouth, he had probably bitten his tongue when he fell and was pretty am lucky that he hadn't chocked on it and died in his brief spout of unconsciousness.
Pushing himself up he by his hands he felt the thrumming headache abate slightly, with a soft groan he managed to pull himself to his feet and slouch against the alley wall using it as a way of guiding himself out and to stop himself from collapsing to the floor again, it didn't take long for him to reach the end of the alley and stumble out into the street, the smell of blood still clung to him though and it made him want to gag again.
After several seconds of just leaning against the wall and enjoying the feel of sunlight on his skin and a fresh breeze blowing through his hair he tried to open his eyes again, lo and behold there was no pain, is vision actually seemed better than before, there was a sharp clarity to everything, but at the very edges it seemed to concave slight as though he was looking through a telescope.
Simply putting it off as a symptom of bashing his head earlier he made a mental note to go and visit the doctors to make sure he didn't have a concussion, it would be crap to escape being murdered by a vampire hobo only to die from concussion. Takeshi actually gave a wry chuckle when he thought about that, vampire hobo, it sounded like some bad American B-movie.
Reaching up he rubbed the side of his face, or at least he tried too, as soon as he touched it bits of flaky red gunk began to drop off in thin layers, recoiling he spun around and examined his reflection in the window of a local shop, the entire left side of his face and hair was coated in dried blood, the strange thing was before it had made him gag just seeing the blood, actually having it on him would have sent him into shock, but know, it didn't really bother him that much.
With a grimace he scratched some more off and started walking again, the sun was directly above him so he guessed it was around midday so lunch would on at school, he reckoned he could sneak in and wash himself off and then grab a spare uniform from his locker, it would be like he never left, maybe if he did it well enough Saya wouldn't be on his ass for being as she so elegantly put it stupid or being 'baka-Takeshi'.
Silly girl, she was funny in her own way though, her own Saya way, there really wasn't much else you could describe it as, she was like marmite; you either loved her or hated her. Speaking of loving, she really grew up this year; those uniforms don't leave much to the imagination. Takeshi paused at that and blinked slowly. 'Where the hell did that come from' Saya was one of his best friends, he'd known her since kindergarten and he'd never once thought about her that way.
'But those glasses and that hair, she's like a cosplayers wet dream…we tried cosplay once didn't we, when we went to Otaku-con.'
Okay this was getting kind of weird; there was a voice inside his head making some very inappropriate comments about his friend 'they're true though' and it sure as hell wasn't his own voice.
Takeshi was broken out of his thoughts by bumping headfirst into a cold metal door. Jerking back his cheeks burned with embarrassment, he was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he missed the massive military truck in front of him. Wait military. Backing up Takeshi got a good look at the truck, it lacked a license plate or any real symbol of identification, the only thing that stood out from the black colouring was the white tires.
It was however heavily modified and armoured, you couldn't tell from far away or at a casual glance but under the black paint there were plates of steel and studded points all over it to stop people from grabbing onto it, the tires looked like air ones but from what he could see they were actually solid ones, the windows were tinted but he could faintly make out thick metal bars just behind them, to stop any unwanted guests he presumed.
There was a dull clank from inside the truck and Takeshi looked away from the tinted side windows and walked around the back to the double doors, he stepped up just in time for them to be thrown open and send him stumbling, there was a flash of black and cold steel pressed up against his temple, Takeshi froze as he met the three amber eyes of the soldiers goggles, the matte black body suit was weighed down by ammo webbings and sheathed knife that looked as long as his forearm.
For a split second there was complete silence, then the soldier lashed out and punched Takeshi in the stomach making the blood soaked boy double over with a harsh cough, the soldier reared back as if to bring his pistol butt down on Takeshi's head, looking up Takeshi watched as for the second time a man was shot in front of him, the gun that delivered this bullet however was obviously a higher calibre one as it ripped straight through the armoured helmet the man wore and gibbed his head spraying blood and gore all over Takeshi for a second time that day.
This time however it was different, some of the blood landed in Takeshi's open mouth and as soon as it touched his tongue it felt like someone had hooked him up the national grid, images of a mans life played out before him sending spasms of sensory input into his mind. The stronger images even had sound and smell to go with them.
There were drills and firing practises pumped deep into his muscles, the rogue memories twitched them with phantom movements that they had never performed but somehow remembered doing. There was one section that stood out above all, it was a small creed told to all members of the dead soldiers division, and it was chilling in its coldness.
'When we hunt, we kill!
No one is safe!
Nothing is sacred!
We are Blackwatch!
We are the last line of defence!
We will burn our own to hold the red line; it is the last line to ever hold!'
With those memories firmly implanted in his mind he knew what was going on, there had been an outbreak all over the world, no one had seen it coming, no one was prepared for it, so they sent in the only ones who could even hope to control it, they sent in Blackwatch, most of the Blackwatch high command was either dead or stranded and they only had twenty five men in the city with twelve trucks between them and an Apache stored in on of the safe houses.
Takeshi's eyes narrowed as he stared at the open doors of the military truck and the weaponry and tech that it held, he had to get to the school, he couldn't afford to not get to the school if he did then all his friends, all the teacher and all the students were going to die, making his decision he clambered into the truck and slammed the doors shut behind him.
From a nearby rooftop Hachidori watched impassively as his new brother experienced his first melding, it was rather annoying to have to intervene so early, but his orders were clear, Takeshi was to survive, and Takeshi was to join them or Takeshi was to die.
XxXxXxX
The armoured truck screeched down the eerily empty streets, its tyres spinning and skidding as they tried to find purchase in the rapidly changing streets below, cobble gave way to asphalt which in turn went to rough concrete and finally the truck slid into the courtyard in front of the school, inside the trucks front seat Takashi sat back with a face splitting grin.
He could drive, well captain Yamato Koriyama could drive and since he had gotten Yamato's memories it meant that he could drive, and he was pretty dam good at it.
There was still the matter of how to prove the infection to everyone, he had at best around fifteen minutes before some of the faster walkers got to the school, if even one of them got into the building while it was full then it would be an absolute massacre, the students and teachers would be herded into corridors and chokepoints making it impossible for them to all escape unharmed, and anyone who was bitten would become one of them. 'Wipe out the infection at all costs, no mercy. Our means are justifiable by our noble goal.'
Takeshi flinched slightly, a second voice had joined the other two, he had dubbed the first psycho, the second perv, and the third was solider, he was actually starting to worry if he had gone insane and was imagining all of this, but on the off chance that he wasn't insane, well… Takeshi's features hardened, it was a grim visage, cold eyes glaring out from a bloodstained face, wild matted hair dangling like some sort of twisted bush around his pale skin. He wouldn't let any of his friends die.
"But still, they might just think I'm mad, in fact they will think I'm mad, unless…" Takeshi trailed off as he turned in the front seat looking into the back of the truck, strewn about the back was multiple uniforms of the Blackwatch along with rifles, SMG's, a few shotguns and several crates filled with ammo, Yamato had killed his teammates and in a fit of greed and terror he had stolen some of the supplies from one of the three Blackwatch safe houses in the city.
Clambering over the seat Takeshi hunched down and picked up one of the sharkskin undershirts, they weren't actually real sharkskin as the name implied but rather modified bite proof diving suits reinforced to offer protection from blunt strikes, they also came in all manner of sizes and Takeshi was easily as big as most adults he had met, finding a uniform in his size couldn't be that hard.
His mind made up Takeshi began to rummage around in the clothes picking up and discarding uniforms for around five minutes before he finally found one that fit, it was a Blackwatch commanders uniform consisting of a sharkskin undershirt with white slacks and a white pullover shirt worn over the top and tucked into a combat belt and vest along wit black combat boots, several straps ensured that he could discard the vest easily enough and the belt would come away by compressing either side of the buckle and pulling to the left, it would mean if the infected grabbed him he could get away with relative ease.
Moulded shoulder pads and a moulded back and neck protector meant that any infected from behind wouldn't bother him and to finish it off he had the standard helmet with tinted visor and gas mask that made them such a terrifying foe for their human enemies. He couldn't find any gloves but all that meant was that he would get powder burns on his hands from firing the guns, he could live with that.
Speaking of powered burns, Takeshi looked down at the Blackwatch standard issue SMG that lay next to him, its oily coloured metal glinting sharply against the grey floor, Yamato was better with a rifle but he wasn't as big as Yamato and the rifles have quite a kick, plus the SMG had an inbuilt sound suppresser. Right next to the SMG lay two other weapons, one a matte black trench knife as long as his forearm, this was soon secured on his thigh, the second a shock baton, these weapons were normally only given to specialists, a sign of their rank as well as a deadly weapon.
It had three settings besides on, there was stun, a mode that would knock a man sized target out for at least eight hours, incapacitate, it would mess up the central nervous system making the victim feel nauseous and collapse, and the final was labelled Lethal, it unleashes a low current high voltage shock to anything it touched and would roast a man alive if it hit them.
He picked up the shock baton and flicked it out to its full length, two and a half foot or reinforced electrified steel gleamed in the artificial light cast inside the truck. 'yes, this will do nicely' Takeshi thought grimly before he opened the back door, jumped out SMG at the ready and set off towards the school after locking down the truck with the electric controls.
XxXxXxX
Hachidori frowned slightly as he used his claws to rend another one of the pesky undead, he hated getting his clothes so dirty; with a sharp yank he pulled his hand out of the desiccated chest of his foe and whipped it around literally knocking another ones head off.
'This boy better be worth it.' He thought in a rare moment of anger as another zombie stumble forwards, the destruction of its brethren doing nothing to deter it from attacking, it was swiftly put down by a palm strike from him.
As the last zombie fell Hachidori turned and regarded his target through the rifles scope, he watched him walk into the school flashing the terrified receptionist a military badge that he had taken from the truck before disappearing up a stair well, then he panned the scope to the side and watched one of the teachers getting attacked by a zombie. A small smile tugged at his lips as the newly minted zombie and its creator shuffled towards the school, others soon flocking behind it.
'I they catch you they will kill you, prince with a thousand enemies, but first they must catch you. Run fast Takeshi and hope your friends can keep up.'
Hachidori stowed the rifle and jumped across to a different rooftop his red eyes gleaming hungrily.
XxXxXxX
*Hachidori is literally hummingbird, a usually active and playful animal; I thought it would be ironic to the call the nihilist hummingbird.
Right so, absolutely no action in this chapter, unless you count vampire hobo and Hachidori literally raping the zombies without even trying.
The next chapter will have more action in it.
So please read and review with what you think.
Ciao.