Putting my Europa story on hold for a bit I decided to do a different story after 1) reading a certain zombie novel, and 2) after watching Highschool of the Dead (no, none of the characters from that anime are here).
This story was inspired by the wonderful zombie novel, "Day by Day Armageddon", which was in journal format. This kind of writing is foreign to me, and I'm using it in a very experimental way, so don't expect it to be phenomenal writing!
September 28, 2010
Well, I promised to begin writing in a journal. Not sure what to begin saying in the first entry. I guess an introduction isn't out of the question. I'm an American foreign exchange student at Komae High School, about two months in, and I'm a senior. I can easily see how disappointed those anime freaks back at home will be if they ever go to school here. No one has colored hair, and school is not filled with conflicted, magic-imbued, big-breasted girls. Oh yeah, and the language barrier. I've learned basic Japanese, but I'm barely passing my classes. Certainly I see room for improvement, but for now it's tense at best.
Not too many friends around here thanks to my horrendous Japanese. Not too many English speakers either, though there's probably a few lingering around, I'm just too busy with classes to really make friends now. I'm really going to have to get used to the food here. Sure, you have your American junk food, but my host family insists on "assimilation" into Japanese culture, which includes eating their food. Which is sea food.
Some interesting news from the States. Some flu's spreading around, probably another H1N1 virus. Somehow, I find that comforting; that cold from last week was God-awfully painful. Thankfully, my host family has English channels, which is where I got this recent news from. I don't tune in to these channels that often, since I want to immerse in as much Japanese as I can.
Anything else I could rant on? Not that I can think of. I'm half-asleep; I'll finish this later.
October 1, 2010
Sorry, Journal for the four days of silence. Busy as a bee here. A couple of things going on now. In school today, I tried out my Japanese with some other kids. Instead of saying "I'm tired today," I said "my food is boring today," as my host family explained when I asked them why those kids were giggling madly. They're still pretty cool people though. I have some interesting conversations with them in my limited Japanese, and they seem delighted to practice their English on me.
Still, I feel like an alien. I get quite the number of looks for my non-Oriental looks. Well, you can't please everyone. And by "everyone" I mean nearly the entire population of Japan.
That flu back in the States isn't H1N1, but it's sure as hell causing more of a panic than swine flu did. It's media name is "Green Flu", which is interesting I guess. I could have thought of a better name. Bird flu? Cow flu? Otaku flu? I don't know. Sounds like whoever's getting sick acts messed up. I really don't know; my studies beckon.
October 11, 2010
My studies can wait. Looks like this flu's getting bad. There's actually already been cases of it outside the United States. Those who are infected act violently. Mad cow disease? Rabies? I phoned my relatives and parents today, to check and see if they're all right. Nothing. Either all the phone lines are busy or they've just stopped working. I can only hope they're all right. My parents live in Tiverton, Rhode Island, about an hour from Providence. They might be OK, but then again it's the East Coast, where this Green Flu started. My relatives are in Austin, which has about 500,000 people. I'll try to put my mind off them for now; after all my uncle possesses several firearms, and thousands of rounds of ammunition.
Back on this massive island, I've begun to realize that I'm slacking off on my Economics stocks portfolio. Also, I've tasted fried squid for the first time. I'll spare the details of the aftermath. One more thing. The school announced today that all after school clubs have been cancelled, which sucks. I was REALLY looking forward to joining that board game club. What, do they think Green Flu has reached here? I want to think no.
October 13, 2010
The virus has reached pandemic proportions. It's like the damn Spanish Flu; even remote Pacific countries have reported cases of it. The World Health Organization and CDC said that the virus makes people extremely violent indefinitely. Basically zombies, except really fucking violent ones. It's spread through fluidic contact, so that means biting, or infected blood getting in a wound or whatever. It's a rapidly mutating virus, and it's airborne sporadically, which makes no sense. How can a virus be airborne one minute, and not the next?
But two things disturbed me the most. The first was footage in New York City, from a helicopter circling Manhattan. There were massive fires in the city. It looked like Hell incarnate. The reporter was frantically going on about how the city is in a mass panic. Traffic is non-existent. You can see hundreds of black, moving dots below, like viewing an ant hill that's just been disturbed. The other disturbance? There's been confirmed cases of Green Flu right here in Tokyo. Fuck modern mass transportation.
October 15, 2010
Christ, it's a war zone in the major cities, and not just in the States. I saw a tank run over whole mobs of people before stopping to shoot at a building in Los Angeles. Soldiers blew open doors and fired their weapons at unseen targets in Rome. The news is in a frenzy, and the talking heads are getting so annoying and repetitive that I simply drone them out.
Earlier today I had a talk with my host family, whom I unfortunately haven't really gotten into any detail. Junichi Susumu, my "father", and Moriko Umeko, my "mother" had considered moving out of the city, although we still have not seen any signs of Green Flu yet. I convinced them (at least, I hope I did) that Green Flu could very well burn out in a few weeks, and it will eventually get under control. I'm not sure if I convinced myself.
December 16, 2012
Well, isn't this fun. I'm currently barricaded in Komae High School, on the roof. Want to hear my story Journal? Oh, I bet you do. School was still going on, despite the clear uninterest of the students being teached and the teachers instructing, everyone's mind undoubtly on the news of the Tokyo outbreak. Apparently it was a safe distance from here, on the outskirts of the city.
Yeah, no. I found out the hard way that there where people not only infected in the vicinity, but infected inside the school. Several dozen, in fact.
It was in Calculus. Our teacher was absentmindedly lecturing us with notes on Leibniz's notation, when one of the students drew the attention of everyone by announcing she was feeling unwell. She certainly looked it. Her eyes were sunken, skin pale, and apparently having trouble breathing. Before the teacher could respond she gave something that was between a snarl and a scream, turned on the nearest student, and launched herself at him, a murderous look on her face.
The teacher thought it was a fight, tried to separate them. The girl turned, making incoherent noises, and threw herself at him now, punching, scratching, biting him. Realizing what she was sick with, seemingly at the same time, the entire classroom begin to come alive. Looking at them, I realized that there was more than one sick individual in the room. I was the first out the door, and I'm glad I was.
At that moment, the principal had made an announcement calling for order to be maintained in the school, which made me realize, at the fringe of my terrified brain, that our class was not the only one with an infected person. The entire school had deteriorated into swarming mobs of people, all in a terrified bid for freedom. I'm not sure how many people I punched, trampled, or shoved to get to safety, but by the time I made it to somewhere that wasn't a massive mob of students, I had enough bruises to look as though I was in a bar brawl.
Hundreds of footsteps, accompanied by collective shouting of 1,200 students, echoed all around as I continued to go to wherever I had planned to go, which was nowhere. I only knew that the more stairwells I put between me and that girl, the more safe I would be.
Only, that wasn't the case.
I saw several figures blocking the rooftop access. Their pale skin and erratic movements told me that something was very wrong with them. Their eyes lifted up to mine, and I saw something unnaturally disturbing that made me freeze in place.
At that moment, the rooftop access door swung open, and three people stepped into the room. One had what looked like a butcher's knife that was dripping with fresh blood; another had a handgun, and it wasn't until later that I realized how odd it was for a gun to be in a Japanese school; and the last had a fire ax.
I guess their appearance brought me to my senses, because suddenly I had drawn my pocket knife, plunging it into the nearest infected person, whom was gabbering in a primal frenzy. The knife didn't seem to unfaze the man in the slightest, even though I stabbed him where the heart should be. He was snarling, angrily rasping…and then he collapsed with a final whimper.
After retrieving the knife from the infected man, I turned to see that the other three infected had already been dispatched by the other two strangers, both also students, a guy with long, unkempt hair, who held the gun, and a girl who was taller than me by a full head. They spoke in their Oriental, evasive language, and I assumed they were asking if I was alright, to which I nodded.
So a few awkward phrases of introduction later, I found their names are Haruka, Junichi (the long-haired guy, who I swear is a Japanese equivalent of a punk rocker), and the tall girl, Maiko. We had attracted unwanted attention in our scuffle, and several infected were coming from the stairwell, screaming and growling. Giving them one last look I followed the others to the roof, and now we are barricaded here.
It's evening now. I can look out and see that the city has literally exploded into chaos. The smell of smoke and death never quite goes away. I can see raging fires, lighting up the night with an errie, bright spectacle; and cars wildly swerving in the streets. Sirens, screaming, but there isn't much gunfire, which isn't a surprise in Japan.
The other three are conversing in rapid Japanese, and I care only to catch a few words of what they're saying. It looks like they know each other well. I'm as far away from the barricade as I can. Their rigorous pounding is grinding on my nerves.