Not much to say about this. I had fun writing it. I like zombies.
Already Over - Chapter 1: The End of the Beginning
It had been a normal day - comfortingly normal - a few detentions, some arguments and lots of boredom. It was only period five, near the start of term, and I had already acquired an impressive number of enemies within my class. I glanced at Kokatsu, sleeping soundly on the desk in front of mine, drumming my fingers on the desk, wishing more than anything for the monotonous routine to end. I suppose I should have been more careful what I was wishing for, but it's not like I could have predicted what was going to happen. It's not like I wanted it to happen. In one moment, everything changed.
Takashi Komuro burst into the room, the door slamming into the wall behind him. The dull sound reverberated in the now silent classroom. Everyone stared at Takashi as he made his way through the room.
"Komuro, couldn't you just settle with skipping my class?" the teacher sighed, but was completely ignored. Takashi ran over to Rei and grabbed her arm roughly, "We're leaving. Now."
"W-What? What's happening-?" Rei asked, looking confused, irritated and a little scared, all at the same time.
Hisashi got out of his seat and started towards Takashi, "Dude, what are you doing?" Oh right, I had forgotten that he was dating Rei.
Takashi turned to him, his face deadly serious, and his voice low, "People just got killed out by the front gate. No bullshit."
Hisashi's expression told us all that he didn't believe his friend, "Seriously…?"
"Yeah, 'cause I'm making shit like that up!" Takashi snapped. Hisashi was about to retort, when Rei pulled her arm away and started yelling.
"Jesus! What's going on, you two-!" She was cut off by Takashi slapping her right across the face. I smirked despite myself, it was about time somebody slapped some sense into her. I had seriously been considering doing it myself.
Rei held her cheek, looking like she was about to kill something. "Listen," Takashi growled, his voice even lower than before, "Listen to me."
At his serious words, Hisashi and Rei followed him out of the classroom. The teacher didn't even bother trying to stop them - I wondered if he even could. They looked so determined all of a sudden. I began to wonder if people really were dead outside the front gate. I started to get out of my seat, but the teacher shot me a familiar 'try-it-and-you're-in-detention-for-the-rest-of-your-life' look. I sat back down, defeated.
Everything went back to normal for a while, or as normal as it could be after something like that happening. Then, after what could have been a few seconds or several minutes, as time always distorted horribly during maths lessons, the PA system rang out across the school.
"This announcement is for all students. An emergency situation is taking place outside the school right now. All students must follow their teacher's instructions and evacuate." As per usual, it began to repeat.
It took almost three repeats for the message to sink in to my class. Then they all jumped to their feet and began charging haphazardly towards the door, crashing into walls and eachother, pushing and kicking people out of the way, and generally acting like a bunch of scared toddlers. I stayed in my seat, waiting for the rush to end. Once the sound of thundering feet had begun to fade somewhere down the long corridors, I got to my own feet and began walking in the opposite direction to the others. I would find my own way out.
I had only taken a few steps when I heard a piercing scream echo through the corridors. I ran towards the source of the noise, slipping on a wet patch on the floor and tumbling to my knees. I shuddered as I looked down. Trembling, I stared in horror at the puddle of blood I was kneeling in.
After a few moments I got over the shock, and shakily got to my feet. Then I began to run. My feet were moving of their own accord, heading away from the shouts and cries that seemed to follow me as I ran back in the direction I came.
"This can't be happening." I told myself, panting because I was still running, "This can't be fucking happening."
I rounded another corner, travelling in random directions as I had lost all sense of where I was in the school. At that point, I was sure I wasn't going to make it out alive. I skidded to a halt as I took in the sight in front of me. There were a group of sick looking people covered in blood. They turned to look at me slowly. It was like something from a cliché horror movie, only this time it was real. Their eyes were blank, and hazy groans erupted from their bloodied throats.
I felt my body freeze up. They advanced slowly, taking stumbling steps. I tried desperately to move, but my legs were working against my will. I heard a scream from further down the corridor, on the other side of them. She didn't stand a chance. They were distracted by the noise, and began moving away from me. I ran. The girl's muffled screams of pain echoing after me no matter how far I went.
I found a supply closet in the east wing. It seemed like it had already been raided as the door was left broken on the floor and most of the useful items were missing. The only thing left that looked vaguely sharp was a rake. I nodded to myself, feeling a little braver.
"They better damn well put on my tombstone that I died fighting zombies with gardening tools," I muttered to myself, trying to sound nonchalant, but cautiously walking now, looking for any other survivors. The blood-splattered clock on the corridor wall told me nothing, but the sun was already setting in the sky. The sunset was red. Deep, blood red. The last thing I wanted was to be stuck in this school at night. Fear had made me lose both track of time and my way. It was well enough knowing that I was somewhere in the east of the school, but beyond that I had no idea where I was.
I must have fallen asleep against the window, and it was a miracle that I hadn't been eaten alive by the time I awoke. The dim morning light was filtering through the large glass panel, but the sky was still tinted red.
I jumped at the sound of a horn. Pressing my face to the window to see what was going on; I saw a group of students seemingly led by Komuro running towards the school's van. That's when I knew where I was. I charged along the corridor, trying to keep my rake off of the floor in case they heard me. Almost impossibly, there were none of them by the fire exit near my English classroom. I darted outside, feeling confident. My bravery, or perhaps foolishness, was certainly not rewarded.
There was a whole swarm of them outside. They were halfway through tearing a male and a female student to pieces. Still, they turned at the sound of the flimsy wooden door slamming against the cheap brick wall. I cursed loudly, seeing as they already knew I was there. There were a small group of students, mostly girls, already on the bus, which seemed to be being driven by the school nurse. I could never quite remember her name. Komuro and the captain of the Kendo club, whose name I think was Saeko, were protecting the bus from them. A slightly larger group of students were being directed to the bus by what seemed to be a teacher. They were getting closer now.
Discarding my better judgement, I swung my steel rake at the leading one. Its head was badly pierced, and with a little tug I managed to free my weapon, taking half of its head with me. Fighting the urge to shudder, I managed to take down two more of them, trying to get towards the bus. I heard the others talking, but I couldn't make out what they were saying over the sound of brains splattering on the floor. I promised myself that I would never underestimate a rake ever again.
Komuro suddenly shouted, and their attention was directed away from me. I took the opportunity to duck around the side of them, heading for the bus. Their attention spans were even worse than mine. I gave Komuro a thankful nod as I passed him and leaped onto the bus, panting heavily.
"Alright," Rei said, not bothering to greet me, "Now let's go!"
"B-but…" I panted, "W-What about…the teacher guy…?"
"We don't have to save him!" Rei shouted, her voice full of hatred, pulling at Komuro's arm.
"Jesus Rei!" Komuro snapped, tugging his arm away, "What do you mean we don't have to save him?"
Rei tried arguing more, but Komuro didn't seem to agree with her, and we waited for the teacher to get onto the bus along with his students, much to Rei's discontent. The teacher was tall and slender, with short black hair and glasses. I'd seen him around school before but I had never been taught by him. I didn't even know his name; in fact, I didn't care what his name was. Then he looked at me.
I'd never noticed his eyes before. The eyes of a snake were the first things I thought of comparing them to. They were yellow, and he narrowed them as he looked at me, smirking slightly. I felt a shiver run up my spine, but I couldn't tell whether it was a good kind of shiver or not. I don't even know if there is a good kind of shiver. He stared at me for a moment, before walking further down the bus. The doors were closed now, and the ditzy nurse put her foot on the pedal, calling for us to hang on. We finally began to move.
I became much more aware of the blood that was still on my legs and short school skirt. I wiped it off my legs onto my sleeve, not even bothering to try and get the stains out of my skirt. I knew from past experience that blood was difficult to get out of clothing. I was comfortable kneeling on the floor, even though there were a couple of seats available. How was I supposed to know that our driver was…well, kind of clumsy?
Without warning, the bus turned sharply and tipped onto two wheels, almost flipping over entirely. I was thrown half way across the bus, slamming hard into a wall. I cursed several times, standing up as pain shot through my lower back. Then deciding it was best to take a seat, I wandered to the back of the bus, carefully holding onto each seat I passed in case we came by another turning. I finally found two empty seats near the end of the bus, and sat myself down. Pressing my back against the window and tucking my legs up against my chest, I only then began to realise that this might have happened on a large scale. I worried for my family. Not that I had much of a family. Still, I was troubled.
Closing my eyes in realisation of how exhausted I was, and cuddling my rake to my chest as if it was my closest friend, I finally fell into a shallow, fitful sleep as the still red morning sky faded into falsely idyllic blue.
Wow. That was a pretty long chapter. I hope you guys enjoyed reading it! I really loved writing this, so I think I'll get on to the next chapter as soon as I can.
R&R please, it makes me happy.