Last Shimmer of Light
A fanfic by OrochiG.
Chapter one.
Begin Anew on Hidden Ground
Three years. That's all it took. Three years and the world is already dead. No more family. No more society. Only raiders, theives, survivors, ferals, zombies, and mimics are left. I am one of the survivors. My original plan for what happened hadn't worked. The groups were too few and too far between to rebuild. Civilization was, and is, a mere child's dream now. The last American safe zone was in California. That patch of civilization was torn to nothing one month ago. We were on our way to Japan, for more advanced equipment. A few survivors wouldn't hurt either.
"Approaching destination. Drop anchor and prep for deployment." Was heard over the intercom.
I loaded my gun, and reminded everyone to shoot to kill, not to mame. We got onto our designated speedboats. The boat ride was normal until we got to shallower water. The types of bumps in the water were from hands. Several hands. "Divert power to inflation systems and activate the S.C.U.M." I said. The S.C.U.M. (Submerged Chainsaw Undead Mutilator) is Basically five rust protected chainsaw blades facing various directions under the boat, all powered by one motor and engine. Ten by ten, Severed limbs that were long incapable of bleeding floated to the surface. Surprisingly, only one hundred or fewer zeds had swarmed our boat. Nobody had died so far, and it was intended to stay that way.
After hitting shore, a few miles of hiking brought us to an abandoned street tunnel. There was nothing on the other side of the mountain when we searched, so we assumed it was a bunker, and no moans came from inside, so we set up camp. Food was already getting scarce. Suddenly, we heard one of our guard dogs. The first one came from the bushes. It was missing one eye and both arms. Our snipers got that one, easy. But the first one had attracted many, many more. Too many of them. We were forced into the cave, and saw a bright light.
I woke up alone, in a white room. It looked like a pre Z-day hospital. I had a few bandages on, and feared the worst. A woman in a clean nurse uniform entered the room.
"Well... finally awake?"
"Yeah. What happened?"
"I don't know. We have some people coming in to ask a few questions, okay?"
"That's fine. Where's my armor and weapons? When I go back out there, I cant let those things bite me."
"Those things?"
"I'll explain later. Someone is coming."
"How did-"
The door opened and the nurse rushed out. A man with long hair and a leather trenchcoat came in. He greeted me politely, but with anger in his voice. He followed up with, "What are you doing at our academy? Why are you so filthy, and why are you carrying so many weapons?"
"I passed out in an old car tunnel and woke up here. I am filthy, as you put it, because the last of humanity has to scavenge to survive, and soap is a very rare find. As for the weapons, it should be obvious. Where have you been for the past three years?"
"Last of humanity? What the hell does that mean?"
"You've seriously never encountered any of the infected before? One scratch or bite and you're one of them. The only way to permanently stop them is to destroy their brain."
"What are they infected with?"
"Nobody really knows. In the great panic, there were several theories. We just call it solanum."
"What were the theories?"
"The most common? That was a three way tie between mutated rabies, a new form of bio-terrorism, and Swine Flu."
"What do you believe?"
"That it was a preexisting virus that was hiding in plain sight. Cannibalism always resulted in being sent to an insane asylum. Patient zero was probably one of those cannibals."
"Cannibalism?"
"The Zombies, as they are commonly called, have no memories from before the infection, and are incapable of learning anything. All they have is instinct. Mainly, the instinct to feed. Only humans get this symptom. All other creatures die before it can affect the brain. Humans become cannibalistic, walking corpses when even a slight amount of the virus enters the body."
"What? And you said you were among the last non cannibal humans?"
"Yes."
"If this is true, then I can tell you what is really the nature of this place. This is a place where monsters learn to coexist with humans and be undetected. This is Youkai academy. This place is sealed off from the outside by a dimensional barrier."
"So... This is the safest place left?"
"If you want to stay here with your fellow survivors, take it up with the headmaster."
"Okay. I will follow any rules I need to during my time here. By the way, where is the headmaster's office?"
To be continued...
