Alright, so, Blanca here. I have the honor of starting off our first story on this account... so here it is. My chapters will be from my OC, Azumi's, point of view. As for Noire, though, it will be up to her as to the perspective in her chapters and what not. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I neither own nor claim to own Highschool of the Dead or any related characters or locations. This is purely for amusement.

Edit: Since this chapter was written quite a while ago, I went back and switched a lot of sentences around to make it a little more readable. It's still far from being perfect, though, so I suggest getting past this first chapter before judging this fanfic's quality.

xX Chapter 1: The Valley of Death Xx

Life wasn't filled with much excitement for Keiji Azumi. The high school girl often woke up to follow the same schedule: scarfing down her breakfast before running to get ready for the day. Her parents worked most of the time, leaving her to talk with her younger twin brothers, both around 10 years old, which she didn't actually bother trying to do. They were young boys, afterall, which lead to some pranks on their unsuspecting sister, further deepening the ridge between them.

Azumi just didn't want to deal with them that morning, so she had set her alarm a bit earlier than usual so she would be getting ready by the time they sulked downstairs to get something to eat. The two weren't in the happiest of moods in the early hours of the day so pretty much everyone in the household would steer clear during that time. For some reason she hadn't heard them pound down the steps like usual, though. She only dismissed it as them simply being quiet that day and went on with her plan.

She stood in front of the mirror in the house's only bathroom, allowing the reflective surface to fog almost completely before cutting off the water. As the last drop dripped out the nervous girl jumped as she heard a pounding from somewhere outside the window. Azumi inched forward until her shins rested against the side of the tub, the other half of her body stretching until her hand could pull aside the curtains, peering into her neighbors' yard only a few yards away from her own.

The square patch of grass was empty of life; the only movement was the hose which was sprawled across the ground, water gushing out onto the path leading up to their front door. Azumi narrowed her eyes, raising a foot onto the smooth edge of her bath to be able to raise herself higher to get a better view. Her gaze immediately went to the side windows as her heart beat increased, the vital organ seeming to shoot right up into her throat. Their neighbors were an elderly couple, after all, so she could only imagine what would happen if the two were being robbed.

Minutes passed without any signs of movement on either the lawn or what the girl could see of the inside of the house. Azumi sighed, letting her breathing steady before looking out onto the street. It was at that moment that she realized how she could possible look to anyone looking in from the outside. Her face to reddened as she quickly closed the curtains as her hands unconsciously covered her chest.

After finishing up in the bathroom she went to throw on her uniform, struggling with her shoes as someone knocked on the door.

"Come in!" Azumi called out, trying to force her heel in. She would definitely need a new pair soon. While the frustrated girl continued with her battle, a pair of long, smooth fingers pushed open the door, revealing a sweet face framed by smooth black locks: her mother. The woman had this aura around her that made her seem as though she couldn't hurt a fly, which both annoyed and pleased her daughter. It was hard to argue with such a person without feeling guilty for doing so. Her mother was also a rather easy person to talk to, which helped when the twins were in a bad mood. Somehow she was almost always able to talk them down from the ceiling.

"Mamoru and Manabu don't feel so well today, Azumi, so I'll be staying home to take care of them." she said in a rather calm voice, sending a smile in her direction. She only nodded in response, her focus going back to her shoes as she wiggled her foot, finally managing to get it on. It was a snug fit, but it would do. After shoving on the other she looked up to see her mother still standing in the doorway, that smile of hers refusing to budge.

"M-mother...?" Azumi stuttered, her eyes widening as she stood up, clutching her bag in her hands, "Is everything alright?"

The smile only widened, "Oh, everything is fine. I just have a lot on my mind." she dismissed her daughter's concerns and waved a hand as if to bat them away, "Don't hang around too long! School can be a rather long walk when trying to maneuver around the traffic."

She nodded once more as her mother headed off down the hallway. The door was left open behind the woman, which allowed the lingering steam from the bath seep into her room. Azumi took a deep breath and paused a few moments to wait until the sound of another door opening and closing to be heard. She then shoved a few more books into her bag as well as a pencil and eraser. Azumi flung her bag over her shoulder and bolted through the house to reach her front door. As her feet reached the pavement, though, she heard a few more loud crashes from the house next door. Her head whipped around in the direction of their neighbors only to once again not see a thing move in the yard.

Azumi unconsciously began to walk towards their front gate. She stopped right in front of it and rested a hand on the peeling surface. She lifted her fingers to eye-level and rubbed them together to watch as flakes of paint fell. Her eyes then went back to the gate and noticed that the bare parts were more towards the top of the gate, as if someone had desperately tried to climb over it. Azumi raised an eyebrow and gently pushed it open. The wood creaked and one of the hinges came loose. The gate gave one last groan before she stopped it. If it had moved any further then it probably would have broken apart. Something was definitely wrong here. She put her hand up to her eyes to shade them as she glanced over the house itself. Nothing else beside the running hose seemed to be out of place. Azumi walked over to the bushes and pushed a few branches aside to find the gear to turn it off. Once that was done she went back to the broken gate and examined the scratches once again. It could have been a cat that scrambled over. Still, it wasn't normal of the old couple to leave their property looking so disheveled. Azumi could recall more than one time where she was called over to help them water their garden or even to help plant a few flowers.

She attempted to push the gate back into its original position but paused when the gate let out an even higher groan. Azumi sighed and brushed the back of her hand across her forehead before she headed off down the street. The farther and farther she walked away the panic alarms in her mind began to dim. All of the houses around her were normal enough. A few children of varying ages were being ushered out of one house with their books in-hand while another girl around her age rode past on a bike. Birds were flying about without a care in the world and the normality of the neighborhood was only occasionally broken by the sound of sirens in the distance. Wait, sirens? Azumi came to a stop at the curb beside one of the busiest roads in the town. She looked up and down the street in curiosity before her eyes finally stopped on the scene happening just a little farther down. Her shoulders slackened and allowed her bag to slip down until it rested in the crook of her elbow. From what she could see there had been an accident of some kind; the traffic was beginning to back up. Horns blared up and down the street and startled some younger school kids that had been walking up on the other side of the street.

On closer inspection she recognized the children as some of her brothers' friends: a girl with matching black ponytails and two boys with different shades of brown hair. She began to walk across the street towards them but only ended up taking a step before hesitating. She watched as the two boys looked at each other with an excited glint in their eyes,

"Let's go check it out!" the one boy yelled to the others and took the girl's hand before he practically dragged her down the street towards all of the chaos. The other boy paused for a moment to look around until his wide eyes connected with Azumi's. Their gazes were locked for a couple seconds, which seemed more like hours to her. The boy finally broke their eye contact to run after his friends. He could be heard yelling for them to slow down until the three disappeared into the growing crowd. From the looks of it, it would be foolish of her to try and go her usual way to school. She sighed and fixed the placement of her bag. Azumi would go the back way that some of her school friends sometimes took when in a rush. The route was a bit out of the way, but if she jogged the last mile or so she should get there on time. Besides what had happened in the main part of town, the walk to the school was rather uneventful for Azumi. She thought she heard some rustles in the bushes but just figured it was an animal walking around. There were some woods right by the road, after all. Still, she continued on with her chin high and hoped that whatever it was would go away. It was a great relief for her when a certain pair of metal gates came into view. The nervous girl increased her pace until she was running towards her goal.

As Azami took her first couple steps onto school grounds, she heard the distant sound of a bell ringing.

"Crap!" she muttered under her breath and, while securing her bag on her shoulder, she sprinted the rest of the way to the building. The only time she stopped was to open the door, and even then she went right back to full speed down the hallway and up a flight of stairs. She soon reached the right floor and continued to run, not even noticing another person turning to go down to another floor. Her forehead met with their's and sent them both onto the cold floor.

Azumi ended up sprawled across the ground with her legs bent in front of her. Her skirt rode up rather uncomfortably to her waist in such a position and didn't help with the pain that radiated from her head and lower back. She opened one eye to see that the other girl had fallen in a similar fashion except was already up on her knees. Pain was clearly seen on her face as she rubbed the back of her head.

"I-I'm so sorry!" Azumi stuttered, flinching as she was also able to get up into a kneeling position. She then tugged her skirt down before she looked back at the stranger with an embarrassed smile, "I... should be going." She then struggled to stand up, but when she did she gave a slight bow of her head in the girl's direction before she continued to run down the hallway. Her bag once again hung uncomfortably from the crook of her elbow. When she reached the door the out-of-breath girl swung it open and stood there for a moment as her chest heaved.

A cough interrupted the length of silence that came with her entrance. Azumi looked up to see her teacher glaring at her, the woman standing with a piece of chalk pressed against the board as if she were about to write something. Her still red face went even brighter as she bowed deeply and mumbled apologies for such a loud entrance as well as for being late. Her teacher pinched the bridge of her nose and pointed with the chalk to the girl's desk. Azumi then bowed once more and scurried to her seat. She quickly took out the things she would need for the class and went straight to work.

The day went on rather normally after the morning events. The classes seemed to go slower than usual for her, but that was to be expected for any regular student. Even though she cared about her grades and such it didn't mean that she actually enjoyed them. Her main goal was to just finish high school and finally go off to do better things with her life. Maybe she would even go off to a university somewhere and finally take classes that she actually enjoyed. Azumi's thoughts were interrupted when a buzzing sound echoed throughout the school. Her head snapped up from where it rested on her hand while her other one stopped doodling on some notes that she was supposed to be taking. Some of the other girls squeaked in surprise while others continued to lay back in their seat. The rest of the students reacted similar to her: snapping out of their thoughts or stopping whatever they were doing to look around. Confusion was written clearly across their faces.

There was some more crackling before a voice could be heard. She wasn't exactly paying close attention to whatever the man was saying, having decided to go back to doodling, but anyone who didn't miss the sudden screams were either deaf or fell asleep during the lesson. Azumi's eyes widened as the man's screams for help seemed to echo around the room and was followed by a moaning in the background that sent everyone on edge. As soon as the screaming started, though, it ended, and left only silence.

"Shit-"

One of the boys said in a shaky voice, snapping everyone out of whatever trance they were in. People began screaming and pushed each other to reach the door. Azumi just stayed in her seat with her hands hovering over her mouth as the students ran past. Some even pushed aside the teacher. The sudden force sent her into the chalk board where she slumped down onto the floor and disappeared from her view. Azumi only bothered to move when the last student ran out. She stood up on two shaky legs to walk to the front of the eerily empty room. Her hand rested on the edge of the podium as she peered over it. The sight of the passed out woman caused her to gasp and take a few steps backward. Her teacher's bun was a mess and a little blood was seen smeared across the wall behind her. The sight disgusted her to the point of nausea.

How?

Azumi stumbled towards the door with a hand resting on the wall as she peered out into the hallway. There were a few people wandering about that had hung back like herself. They seemed to still be in shock, as if they were thinking it was all a dream.

Why?

She felt tears begin to form in the corners of her eyes, a few creating wet streaks down her cheeks as she struggled to figure out what was going on. Her hands curled into tight fists as she took a few steps out into the hall. Her footsteps echoed much louder than usual. Azumi then stopped to raise a hand to wipe away her tears and sniffed as she did so.

"This can't be happening... This can't be happening..." she heard a boy whisper from somewhere further down the hallway. Her gaze locked onto him just a second before her stomach flipped and she rose a hand to cover her mouth at the sight. His clothes were tattered and splattered with blood as if he had been in a fight. A particular dark spot was by his neck where she saw the flesh ripped away, the sleekness of a bone peeking out as he limped along. He then paused to cough up more blood across the once shiny tiles. He stayed bent over for a moment before collapsing to the floor. His body still twitched from the pain as more blood continued to trickle from his mouth.

Azumi could only look on in horror as the boy finally went still in his own pool of blood. The boy then began to stand up just seconds later without much difficulty as she had expected. His skin looked a bit more grey and sickly than before. His head stayed limp for a moment before he looked up, his face sunken as his mouth opened and let out the same groan that everyone had heard over the speakers. That sight was what finally had her streaking towards the nearest staircase. All she could think of was to keep going higher and figure out what to do from there. Pretty soon she reached the end of the staircase that stopped at the floor just below the roof.

Run.
All I have to do is run.

Those words continued to run through her mind as she ran; the windows letting in the only light available in the surprisingly wrecked hallway. Pieces of desks and paper were sprawled across the once-polished floor. The foundation of the school seemed to creak with every step she took.

Run.

The spine-chilling moans of Them echoed down the hall, bouncing off the walls around the uniformed girl.

Run!

She willed her feet to move even faster, trying to imagine herself as being only a blur. That way of thinking always helped her before out on the track, but those times weren't exactly life threatening. Her thoughts came to an abrupt halt, though, when similar sounds rose up from the staircase she was heading towards. She cautiously looked down at the floors below to see a writhing mass of decaying bodies clumsily making their way up to their meal.

Her hand slowly lowered until only her fingers grazed her bottom lip, allowing a useless plea to escape, "Please... someone... help me..."

A pitter-patter of feet echoed down the hallway. At first Azumi thought it was Them coming to get her, but then she began to question that. They didn't seem to be able to go all that fast. She was just about to look over her shoulder when she felt a hand grasp her own, tugging her towards the stairs that she thought had a way up to the roof when really it didn't.

"No!" she screamed, trying to pull her hand away from whatever seemed to be pulling her to her death.

"Come on!" a girl's voice surprised Azumi. This caused her to pause and actually look at the hand that was wrapped around her wrist. Her eyes followed up her arm, to the collar of the girl's uniform, and finally to her light brown eyes.

"I-It's you!" she whispered in amazement, recognizing the girl she had run into before, about to apologize again before the girl just shook her head,

"Please, let's just go!" the girl pleaded and once again tried to pull her towards a door that Azumi had neglected to notice before. It was probably the one to the roof, now that she thought about it. She then nodded in response and held her tongue as the girl flung open the door, still dragging her along as she ran up the stairs that immediately greeted them. They only went up for a couple of yards before yet another door was seen. It was at that moment that Azumi stopped resisting and actually pushed the strange girl out of the way, desperate to open the door herself. For what reason, she really didn't know.

The light of the outside world temporarily blinded the two as they stumbled out onto the roof. As their eyesight slowly became sharper they both sighed in relief that the area was free of Them. As her companion began walking across, Azumi turned back to the door. They should at least try to block it off until they get their heads straight. She then looked around and after a few minutes she found a broom propped up on the wall just inside the small staircase. It wasn't very sturdy, but at least it could've given them some time to get away. With that thought in mind she stuck it through the handle of the door.

Azumi then turned around to look over the rest of the roof, spotting the girl standing just a few yards away. She turned around to face her and pointed up at the sky. They both looked up, Azumi noticing the faint roar of an engine in the distance. A helicopter then came into view moments later but didn't actually go anywhere near them. It instead veered off towards a busier part of town. Her eyes continued to follow it as she began to take in what their surroundings contained.

There was smoke rising up from flames scattered where ever they looked, accompanied by the tortured screams of terrified people. A hand rose to her mouth at the feeling of her stomach churning. She quickly turned away but was only able to run a few steps before emptying her stomach.

"Why... why is this happening?" she heard the girl whimper.

Azumi coughed a few times before she could respond, "I don't know." She backed up a few feet to get away from the pool of sick before bending down until her knees touched her chest. She stared blankly at the chaos happening around them.

Next time on Another Day!

"Act dead!"

"You're raiding the bodies?"

"I made you a Useful."

"Why didn't you tell me you were changing!?"

"Let's make a break for it."

xX Chapter 2: Murder's Plaything Xx