Chapter 1
"Run Jun!" Takashi yelled at me as he and the rest of the group turned at the corner. I tried my best to keep up with them while carrying Alice and Zero on my back. The hungry growls of the walking dead behind me let me know that I should keep running. I turned the corner like the rest of the group. The others were way ahead of me, shooting everyone of "Them" that got in their way.
I continued to catch up with the group when a dead body on the floor grabbed my leg and tripped me. I fell face flat and Alice went flying forward. She landed with a painful thud on her already broken leg. she cried out in pain as "They" closed in on her. Zero barked threats towards "Them" but only succeeded making sure they knew they were there. As I tried to get up to save her, the zombie pulled on my leg and bit me. I yelped in pain and quickly got out my handgun and shot it in the face.
I rolled over onto my back and quickly aimed for all of "Them" that were close to Alice. The bullets tore right through "Their" heads. The noise from the gun started making the ones that remained walk towards me. Takashi showed up and picked up Alice. "Hey Jun! Don't die now!" he yelled and ran back towards the group.
"Of course not!" I said to myself with a grin. I pulled out my other handgun and aimed at all the undead. I pulled the triggers with inhuman speed and nailed each ghoul with two bullets to the head each. I got back up and caught up with Takashi. "We better hope they have ammo at the safe zone. I'm all out."
"True. I only have 10 shells left. You okay Alice?" Takashi asked. She nodded and wiped a tear away.
We approached the large metal gates of the safe zone where the rest of the group were being inspected by guards to make sure they were "safe". When it was my turn the guard noticed the wound on my leg. "Oh shit! He's bit!" the guard yelled and didn't hesitate to raise his machine gun. Takashi lunged forward to try to stop him but was to late as several bullets tore through my chest and stomach area. I dropped to the floor in a pool of warm blood. I could hear the screams of Rei and the unsheathing of Saeko's sword, just before everything went black.
It's hard to believe that only two months ago everything was normal...
HOTD
It all started on a warm autumn afternoon. I was leaning on the rails of the school roof, looking at the falling red and yellow leaves on the trees. To me the world had ended 3 months ago when, my now ex-girlfriend, Rei Miyamoto, left me for one of my best friends, Hisashi Igou. I entered what Takashi called a "state of depression" and lost most of my social life to staying home and watching soap operas and playing video games. To put it simply, my life sucked.
That day I really didn't feel like sitting next to Hisashi during World History, so I ditched fourth period to stay on the roof. "So many leaves..." I muttered to myself.
"Hey Jun! What's up?" My train of thought was interrupted by a familiar voice and the fifth last person I wanted to see at the moment, Takashi Komuro.
"What the fuck do you want?" I grunted.
"Well, Hisashi texted me that you skipped class and told me to check up on you. You still upset about the break up?" I turned my head towards him and my angry expression answered his question. Takashi sighed. "Jun! You have to get over her!"
"Hey! If you were in my shoes you would be just as depressed!" I snapped at him.
"Meh." he shrugged, "I think I would have been bet-" He stopped mid-sentence and seemed to be looking over my shoulder. I turned around and saw a man bumping into the school gates. "What the hell is he doing?" Takashi asked.
"I dunno." I answer simply.
Some teachers went over to the gate to investigate. "What do you think you're doing!?" we overheard Ms. Hayashi yelling at the man. The man only turned in her direction and continued to walk into the gates. "Hey! Asshole! I'm ta-"
"Don't strain your voice Kyoko." Mr. Teshima interrupted, "I'll take care of this." He grabbed the man by his shirt collar and pulled him into the gates. The man's head hit the gates so hard that blood began to leak out of his mouth and eyes.
"Mr. Teshima! What did you do!?" Ms. Hayashi scolded.
Mr. Teshima turned around and said, "I don't know! I barely p-" He didn't finish. He began to scream in agony as the man outside sunk his teeth into his arm. "GET HIM OFF!" He screamed as the man began to draw blood. Mr. Teshima began to hit the man to try to make him let go but the man ignored all the blows. Teshima was finally free when the chunk of his arm the man was biting into was torn off.
He screamed in agony as blood gushed out of his wound at an alarming rate. The other teachers tried to help but he went limp a few seconds later. "What the fuck?" I muttered. The rest of the teachers began to freak out at the death of their co-worker. Then we all heard the moaning.
Mr. Teshima had started breathing again and making strange moaning noises. "Oh! Mr. Teshima!" Ms. Hayashi exclaimed in joy, "Thank god you're al-" She was interrupted when Mr. Teshima grabbed her shirt, pulled her towards him. She had no time to react before Mr. Teshima bit her throat out.
Takashi and I watched in disgust as Mr. Teshima continued to feast on Ms. Hayashi. The other teachers panicked and ran away. I turned away gagging and looked at Takashi, who continued to look at the events unfolding with wide eyes. I looked back down at the scene and witnessed Ms. Hayashi rise up.
"What the hell!? She's alive!?" I couldn't believe it! She had her throat ripped out and she was still standing!
"What the fuck is going on out here?" I looked to my left and saw a student come out of a nearby alley. He was one of those guys who ditched class everyday for a smoke. The bloody teachers heard him and started walking towards him. "What the fuck are you to doing!?" He asked, clearly scared as hell. They were only a few feet away from him when he decided to pull a pocket knife out. "Don't come any closer! I don't care if you're teachers! I'll fuck you up!"
The teachers didn't care. They continued to walk towards him. True to his word the student slashed at Mr. Teshima with his knife and jammed it into the side of his throat. Blood spewed out of Teshima's carotid artery. Any normal person would have gone into shock and died a few seconds later. Unfortunately, they weren't normal. Teshima, unfazed by the attack, grabbed the student by his jacket and pulled him towards him. The student screamed for help as Teshima bit into his shoulder and Hayashi began to eat his leg. Me and Takashi could only watch in horror.
"We have to get out of here!" Takashi said with panic in his voice. I knew how he felt. I was trembling and I felt like I was going to throw up. "Come on lets go." We ran to the doors and rushed through the halls. We where passing the B hall when I stopped. "Jun? What's wrong?" I couldn't answer him. There was a nagging in my head telling me I had to do something. On impulse I ran into Hall B looking for room 3106. "Jun!" I heard Takashi call my name but I ignored him.
HOTD
If I can save anyone, it has to be her... That's all that was going through my head. When I reached 3106, I slammed the door open. "What the Hell are you doing Mr. Serubantesu? You couldn't be happy just skipping my class?" Mr. Sato asked. I could have cared less about what he had to say. He wasn't what I was after.
I scanned the room and found Rei at the back of the class. I walked my to her and grabbed her arm. "You are coming with me." I gritted through my teeth.
I felt someone grip my shoulder tightly. "Where the hell do you think you're going?" a familiar voice said.
I turned around and looked Hisashi in the eyes. "I don't care what you do. There are people out there killing each other and I'm getting her out of here." I hissed.
The other students in the room started giggling, as though they thought I was joking. "I don't believe you." Hisashi said with a stern face.
"I can vouch for him." We all turned around and saw Takashi leaning onto the wall trying to catch his breath.
Hisashi, clearly not happy about this, agreed. "Fine. Let's go Rei." He ordered.
"Uh, sure." Rei agreed, obviously lost on what was happening. They both left with Takashi and I quickly followed, leaving everyone in the room wondering about what was going on.
HOTD
"You guys mind filling me in on what's going on?" Rei asked as we ran through the halls.
"Let's see," Takashi began to explain. "Outside there are teachers that are eating other people and these people are also beginning to eat other people."
"That's insane!" Hisashi exclaimed
"Well it's real, so we have to get the hell out of here." I responded.
We ran for a few more feet when Hisashi abruptly stopped. "What the hell is it now?" Takashi asked.
"If what you say is true, We're going to need weapons." Hisashi responded. "And I know where to get some." He then ran into the G hall.
"Son of a bitch!" Takashi cursed and ran after him.
"Wait for me!" Rei cried out running to catch up with Hisashi. I sighed and followed.
HOTD
I met up with the group at the locker rooms outside the gym. Hiashi was handing out weapons to Rei and Takashi. Rei had a broken broomstick as a spear and Takashi had one of the two baseball bats from the locker. Hisashi threw a baseball bat at me. I guess he expected me to catch it but he caught me by surprise and the hilt hit me in the nose. "SHIT!" I fell to my knees and held my bloody nose in pain.
"Oh god! I didn't mean to hit you! Are you alright?" Hisashi asked.
"I'm fine." I said standing back up. I let go of my nose to pick up the bat and the bleeding stopped. "See? No need to worry."
As I wiped some blood off my nose, the school speakers turned on. "Attention students. There has been a violent outbreak on school grounds! I repeat there has been a violent outbreak on school grounds!"
"So they finally notice..." Takashi grumbled.
All students are advised to stay inside the classrooms until-" We heard the sound of a door being slammed open. "No! Stay away!" There was the sound of glass breaking and the blood curdling screams of the principal as he was killed.
There was a silence for a few seconds and then all the students started screaming and rushing out the classroom doors. "Shit! He caused a panic!" Rei cursed.
"Well plan A is in the shitter. Time for plan B!" Hisashi proclaimed.
"Did we even have a plan B?" I asked.
"We do now!" He exclaimed running up the nearby stairs.
We all followed Hisashi to the upper hallways. Luckily we were able to get around the panicking students in the main halls by taking the lesser used ones. "So where exactly are we going?" Takashi asked Hisashi.
"We're gonna barricade the roof and wait this out. If it really is as bad as you say then the military has to step in at some time." I had to admit he had a point. It did seem safer to wait it out then going into it head first to escape. While I was lost in thought of how this was going to work out, Hisashi stopped abruptly, causing me to crash into him.
"What the fuck man!?" I scolded him. He tried shushing me but it was far too late. I looked up and saw a zombified version of Mr. Waki-saka. My literature teacher.
He looked in our direction and started limping toward us with his arms out, grabbing for something that wasn't there. We all started walking back slowly, Everyone but Rei. She was frozen in fear at seeing one of "Them" for the first time.
"Rei! Come back here with me!" Hisashi called. But Rei stood there like a statue. "Rei! Come on!"
By now Waki-saka was within grabbing distance of Rei. He grabbed her spear. "Damm it Rei! If you're going to stand there at least hit the fucker!" I don't know whether it was my yelling or Waki-saka pulling on her spear, but Rei snapped back into reality and whooped ass. She started by shoving the spear into Waki-saka's stomach. She then pulled it out and hit him in the face with it 3 times. She finished him by putting all the strength she had into impaling Waki-saka by jamming the spear into his heart, lifting him off the ground.
"Holy..." Takashi said in awe
"Shit!" I finished for him.
"Alright! Enough dilly dallying. We need to go before more of 'Them' show up." Hisashi commanded.
"'Them'?" I asked.
"Yeah, they seem like something out of that Romero film but I don't wanna call 'em zo-" His explanation was interrupted by Rei's screams.
Waki-saka, still having the spear coming out of his heart, continued to attack Rei. I gripped my bat, ready to slam it into Waki-saka's, but Hisashi beat me to the action. He held Waki-saka in a choke hold and ordered Rei to pull out her spear.
"Hisashi! Get away from that thing!" Takashi demanded
"Don't worry. I've taken self-defense before. I can take 'em." Hisashi remarked, his voice brimming with confidence. This confidence was short lived however. As Hisashi talked, he didn't notice Waki-saka turning his head, and by the time he did it was too late. Waki-saka sunk his teeth into Hisashi's left arm.
Hisashi screamed in pain and lost his grip on Waki-saka, which in turn let Waki-saka grab Hisashi. "Shit!" Takashi yelled and ran over to help Hisashi. Rei also ran up and tried to pull Waki-saka off of Hisashi.
Rei turned to me with tears in her eyes. "Why are you just standing there! Help us! DO SOMETHING DAMMIT!" Her yelling at me made something fire up inside me. A rush of energy built up inside me. I gripped my bat and ran towards them. I lifted the bat up and brought it down with enough force to break... something. I had my eyes closed so I couldn't tell who I hit.
"Please don't tell me I missed." I whispered.
"You didn't." Hisashi responded. I opened my eyes and saw my bat had dug deep inside Waki-saka's head, gray matter spilling out all over the place.
"Oh shit..." Takashi gasped. He grabbed Hisashi's arm and looked at his bite wound. "Damn! This looks bad."
"Don't worry it doesn't even hurt." Hisashi said holding his arm. Takashi had an uneasy look in his eyes. "Anyways we should get moving." Hisashi got up and lead the way to the roof.
We made our way to the top and found at least 15 undead students up here. "Shit! They're already here!" I cursed.
"We still have a chance Jun." Takashi pointed towards the observatory, which was still free of the undead.
"You guys ready?" Rei asked.
"Yep!" I nodded.
Takashi sighed and nodded.
"Lets go then!" Hisashi yelled. We ran as a group with Takashi in the middle, me to the right, Rei to his left and Hisashi behind us. I slammed my bat into the nearest ghoul's head, sending pieces of skull bone and gray matter flying. Rei jabbed her spear into another one's head and pushed him off the roof.
We began to climb the stairs when Hisashi fell to his knees and began to cough violently. Takashi went back to get him. "This is no time for your allergies to come up." Takashi joked. Rei Went back to cover for them while I went up to see if it was clear.
"Okay! There's no undead up here!" I announced. Hisashi and Takashi had made their way up here, but Rei was still fighting off one ghoul. "Rei! Come back!" I called to her. She turned around to look at me. That mild distraction was all the ghoul needed to grab Rei's spear and throw her against a wall. "R-"
"Rei!" Hisashi interrupted me. He ran past me, took my weapon and killed the ghoul attacking Rei.
"T-Thank you." Rei said silently. I felt a pang of jealousy spark up inside me. I ignored it when Takashi called me over to help build a barricade.
HOTD
We all sat down near the observatory. I took out my cell phone to check the time. 1:27. "Shit. It isn't even past 3."
"So when do you think this is gonna blow over?" Takashi asked me. "Or at least help is going to arrive?"
"Don't expect it soon." Hisashi answered. "It'll probably be weeks befo-"he was intterupted by his own violent coughing.
"Hisashi!" Rei cried. "Are you okay!?"
"I'm fine." he said weakly before coughing again, this time spitting out blood. Me and Takashi ran over to help him.
"Shit! What's wrong!?" Takashi paniked.
"Hisashi looked at his bloody hands and chuckled. "So it is like in the movies. One bite, then you're fucked."
"Don't say that!" Rei ordered with tears in her eyes.
"Jun, Takashi. I need you two to do me a favor." He croaked. He slowly lifted his hand up and pointed towards the roof railing. "over the edge. The fall should bust my skull."
"What?" I was shocked. I was jealous of the guy, but I didn't want to kill him.
"You know we can't do that Hisashi." Takashi refused his request.
"I don't wanna be one of them!" Hisashi yelled, blood now gushing out of his mouth. He coughed up more blood and dropped to the floor. Rei tried to help him up but he pushed her away. He looked at me and reached his hand out to me. "Please." he begged.
I walked towards him and crouched down to hear what he had to say. He came close to my ear and whispered, "Take care of Rei for me, will ya?" then he tensed up for a second and then went limp.
"Hisashi..." I mourned. I turned around to see Rei weeping and Takashi looking away from Hisashi's corpse. I got up and walked away from my deceased friend when we all heard the moan.
"Hisashi!" Rei cried in joy. She ran up to him and gave him a hug. "See! Hisashi can't die! He can't..." She grew silent when she looked at Hisashi's glazed eyes. Hisashi grasped Rei's shoulder and pulled her towards him, ready to kill.
I ran over to them and kicked Hisashi in the face before he had the chance to bite Rei. "Hisashi!? What's wrong!?" Rei cried.
Dammit! She's delusional! I thought. I grabbed Rei by the arm and dragged her away from the Hisahsi. "Jun! Hold her back." Takashi ordered, "I need to put Hisashi out of his misery."
"No!" Rei screamed. Takashi ignored her at ran at Hisashi with his bat raised. He swung at Hisashi's head with all his might. We all expected the bat to break through Hisashi's head and for this all to be over. It was not so. Hisashi instead was able to catch Takashi's weapon in mid-swing and swing it back, throwing Takashi to the other side of the roof.
"What the fuck?" Takashi groaned in pain. Hisashi was having a seizure while standing up. He began to scream and spit blood all round himself. His grip on the bat began to be so tight he crushed the bat in his hands, as though it was a soda can "Shit!" Takashi cursed. Hisashi snapped his neck up and gave a roar that could probably be heard around town and froze.
"What the hell is happening?" Rei whispered to herself. I was speechless. What was going on? Takashi began to get up. Holding onto the railing for support. Hisashi must have thrown out his back or something if he could barely stand.
We all heard a horrifying laugh coming from Hisashi. He snapped his head back down and turned his attention to me and Rei. He smiled at us and blood began to run down his foggy eyes. He let out and insane laugh before his eyes changed from a foggy gray to a luminescent yellow.
He ran up to us and pounced. Before any of this could be processed in my head, I pushed Rei away on instinct. Hisashi was able to tackle me to the floor, hitting my head on the concrete floor. Hisashi laughed again, grabbing me by the neck. I tried to pull his hands away but he had an iron grip. He threw his head forward for a bite at me. I guess it was a lack of perception, but he missed the bite and head butted me instead, making me lose my grip on his hands. I jerked my knee up and hit him straight in the stomach. Unfortunately he, like the rest of "them", didn't feel a thing.
I was out of breath now. I couldn't fight anymore. I was finished. Hisashi was moving in for the final bite when a baseball bat hit him on the side of the face, knocking off his grip on me. "Get away from him!"Rei yelled at Hisashi. Catching my breath, I got up to see Rei hit Hisashi again.
She swung again and Hisashi caught the bat. He pulled her towards him getting ready for another bite. I ran up to them and pulled Rei away from him. I then kicked him in the torso, knocking him off the building.
"Are you okay?" I asked Rei.
"Yeah. I'm fine." She responded. We both walked over to where Takashi was lying down.
"You alright?" I asked.
"I'm fine as fucking roses." Takashi responded, giving a forced smile. "But I might have trouble standing up."
"Yeah. We should probably rest for now." I suggested.
Rei and I sat down next to Takashi. "I can't believe this is all happening." Rei muttered. She was still obviously shocked by Hisashi's death. I looked over to her and tears began to roll down her eyes.
"Rei..." I scooted over closer to her and hugged her. She embraced the hug and began to cry into my chest. "Don't cry. It's over. It's all over." For now...