Written by: Nami Tsukiko
Characters owned by Nami
Plot is based from the manga created by the mangaka Daisuke Sato and illustrator Shoji Sato
High School of the Dead
The cherry blossoms bloomed and drifted down as it blew with the light wind current. The warm summer air filled this city of Japan. Today was the last day of school, before summer vacation. My heart raced and dark brown eyes gleamed with excitement as I stared at the clock intensively. I wanted the bell to ring now, but staring at the clock won't make it go faster. So, I stared outside the window beside my desk instead. The sky was clear blue, no clouds; dark, light, thin or puffy, plagued the sky. The sun was out, shining radiantly in the sky. The birds chirped and flew cheerfully through the beautiful sky. The grass was green and lively. Flowers blossomed and butterflies flapped their little wings. The scenery seemed so peaceful, until someone walked, more like limped up to the school's front gate. I couldn't see his face, but his skin was a horrible gray color, his eyes were yellow with pale colored pupils. He growled and grunted as he shook the gates vigorously. A couple of gym teachers, along with the principle and the vice principle walked up to the gate, trying to calm the weird guy down. I couldn't hear the conversation, but the guy grabbed the vice principle and bit her in her neck. Blood started spurting from where bit her. I widened my eyes in horror as the vice principle fell to the ground dead. Her skin started changing from fair to the same dull gray color as the guy in front of the gate. Her fingers started twitching, until her body slowly sat up. She stood up and stared at the gym teachers and the principle. The three cowered together as they stared at the vice principle. The principle mumbled something to her which I guess was her name. She growled at them and grabbed the principle and bit him on his neck. He cried out in agony as his blood spurted from the wound on his neck and splattered everywhere. The two gym teachers ran away screaming loudly. I couldn't believe what on earth I was seeing. The principle then stood up looking exactly like the vice principle and the weird guy with his dull colored skin. The guy broke through the black gates and he and the others started slowly dragging their body towards the school. I quickly fell out my chair. This was like a fucking zombie invasion! My sensei stared at me oddly as he pushed up his glasses with his index finger on the bridge of his nose.
"Is there a problem you would like to share with us, Miss Tsukiko-san?" Hikaru-sensei asked me.
I could barely speak. My body was trembling madly. I scooted back and away from the window. My heart raced, petrified of what I just saw. Before Sensei could ask me the same question again, the intercom came on.
"It seems a terrible tragedy has taken place. Our principle and vice principle were attacked and the culprit is walking among us in this school. I advise you to calmly and in an orderly fashion to walk out of this school and go home quickly to your parents. Wait! Who are you? Stay away from me you demon! Stay back, you zombie! Aaaaaaahhh! Eurghhhhhh!"
After the gurgling sound, the intercom was shut off. That was the sound of our gym teacher. I knew it. Zombies are starting to invade Japan. It was like a horrible horror movie gone badly. My classmates started to scream out loud and all piled to the door, trying to get out. There was no way I was gonna be left alone in here, so I jumped on top of the crowd and jumped out. I quickly ran to the janitor's closet and got out the bat he kept in there. I slowly and silently looked for an exit, grasping the bat tightly in both of my hands.
Not long after, the whole school was infested with zombie students and faculty. Blood was splashed all over the walls and the floor. It covered all the dead bodies of students who were soon going to transform into zombies. I decided to head up to the school's roof. As I walked through the cafeteria to get to the side door that led to stairs leading up to the roof top, I was grabbed from behind. An arm tightly grasped my neck and pulled me back into a cold chest. I looked up to see it was my old boyfriend. He had the same gray colored skin, yellow eyes and pale pupils. He snarled at me. I closed my eyes tightly as I smelled his breath. It reeked. It smelled like hardcore shit. I struggled in his clutch, but to no avail. How can he let this happen to himself? It was probably the whore he cheated on me with. I know she did this to him. I slightly chuckled to myself. This bastard got what he deserved. I kicked backwards into is crotch. He cried out as he let me go and pushed me away. Good, that still hurts them. I tightly grasped the handle of my bat and charged at him. I jumped in the air and slammed the end of bat roughly in the back of his head. He cried out again as he fell on the ground. A huge bloody hole was in the back on his head from where I attacked him in. I smiled warmly at his dead body.
"Now you can rest in peace, Makoto-san." I whispered sincerely to him.
I quickly ran to door, before I got attacked again, carrying my now crimson stained bat, covered with Makoto's blood. I briskly ran up the steep metal stairs, until I got to the last one. I decided to barricade the door with objects I found on the roof. I sighed in relief as my body dropped down on the cold ground. I looked up to see the sharp end of a pointy sword aiming at my face. I gulped as a bead of sweat trickled down the side of my face.
"A…ano…could you please put your sword away? I promise I'm not a zombie." I told the broad, glaring down at me with her ocean blue eyes.
She closed her eyes as she sheathed her katana sword. I let a huge sigh of relief as I held my chest. I started checking her out. Her hair was long; about mid length, and reddish-pink color, fair skin, glossed lips and she wore our school uniform. I looked over to my left to see that I was stared at by three other surviving students; two guys and another female. One of the guys was thick and the other was slender and well built. Both of them had fair skin. The thick one had short, dirty blonde hair, green eyes and wore thick rimmed glasses; wore the men's version of our school uniform. The slender one had short, spiky light brown hair, hazel eyes and wore the same thing the thick one wore. The other female, was a blonde with blue eyes, fair skin and wore the girl version of our uniform. All three of them crowded in the corner of the roof. The crazy samurai chick walked back over to the fence and stared down at the front of the school. I slowly got up and walked over to where she was. I too stared down at the front of the school. There was a huge horde of zombies dragging themselves around, searching for a prey to feed upon. It was disgusting to look at them; blood dripped from their mouth as they lusted for more. It looked like they were unable to see us from up here. My heart started sinking below my chest as thought about us five were the only surviving students from this school. What was happening to Japan? Were other parts of the world having the same problem? When will this zombie apocalypse end? A million questions ran through my mind. My body started trembling again. I was scared to death right now. I was thinking about my own death. I know I wasn't going to survive long. I'm not ready to die yet. There is so much I haven't done that I wanted to do. I wanted to be someone, someone people looked up to, before I passed away quietly in my bed, with my old husband tightly holding my hand and my children and my grandchildren watching me. All of this will now never come true!
"Well, we might as well introduce ourselves." The chubby one said.
I leaned on the railings with my right hand holding up my head. I stared out at the sun setting. I really don't care about making friends. I wasn't really a people person around this school. Actually I was a punk delinquent who didn't give a shit about anybody or anything.
"My name is Joben Keiji," he introduced himself.
"Ya, sup, I'm Hiroshi Saku," said the slender one.
"I'm Hana Akemi," said the blonde.
"I'm Dai Chiyo," said the crazy samurai chick, but kind of quietly.
Even though I didn't look at them, I could feel their gaze on me; all four of them. I sighed in irritation.
"Whatever, yo, I'm Tsukiko Nami," I told them in an unfriendly tone.
I really, really didn't feel like talking to those weirdoes. I wasn't in the mood to socialize. Zombies were attacking, killing and transforming us into one of the living undead! I had to murder my ex-boyfriend! Now wasn't the time to be making new fucking friends.
"What do you think caused this?" I heard Akemi ask.
"I saw it with my own eyes. There was a guy, whom I guess now, was a zombie and he walked up to the front gates. He was angry, his skin a horrible dull gray color, yellow eyes and his pupils were pale. He shook the black gates ferociously, like an animal. The vice principle, principle and the two gym teachers walked up to him. That's when he grabbed the vice principle and bit her in the neck, killing her. This is what I thought, until she looked like the guy and attacked the principle, turning him into one of them. The two gym teacher ran away, screaming loudly. The guy broke through the gates and him, the vice principle and the principle dragged their bodies into the school." I explained to them.
"How horrible!" Akemi gasped.
I gritted my teeth in annoyance. I already didn't like her.
"Ya, how do you think I feel when I had to actually watch it from start to finish? It wasn't a pretty sight." I told her, with no emotion in my voice.
"It's the government's fault! They were probably experimenting or something and it went horribly wrong." Keiji described.
I now sighed out in irritation.
"It doesn't matter how it happened. What matters now is planning on how to survive this and we have no choice, but to do it together. Otherwise none of us will survive." I told them, still staring at the sun set.
"Nami-chan is right. We have to find a place that is deserted and not infested with zombies; somewhere we can lie low, until this zombie disaster blows off." Saku agreed with me.
Nami-chan? What gives him the right to use my name so damn casually? I just met him like a few minutes ago. I never said he could call me that.
"Perhaps a deserted island will be sufficient for the place we described," said Chiyo.
She speaks! I was beginning to get worried.
"Dai-san is right, but there's one problem. Does anyone have a map on them?" I pointed out the obvious.
"Damn…"Saku mumbled.
"I believe there is one in the principal's office, but that's a long way from up here." Chiyo told us.
I sighed as figured it out. One of us was going to have to go down there and get the map. Everyone stayed silent. A bunch of punks.
"Well, since the map is very important, I volunteer to go do it, since the rest of you guys are too afraid to do it." I told them as I started walking to the barricaded steps.
"Wait, Nami you can't go alone. I'll go with you." Saku suggested as he placed a hand on my shoulder.
I shrugged his hand away from my shoulder.
"I can handle myself. There nothing, but a bunch of dead freaks. They shouldn't be hard to take of." I told him as I silently and slowly started to de-barricade the entrance.
Once I finished, I walked down the metal steps, tightly grasping onto my bat. I hid behind a wall as I checked inside the cafeteria. The coast was clear, except for the Makoto's dead body on the floor. I cautiously started walking through the cafeteria. Once I was out, I thought about a shortcut I could go to. I've been to the principal's office a dozen times. I should know a shortcut by now. I was on the first floor, so it really shouldn't be far from where I am now. I sighed in relief. I think I just might make this. I started slowly walking through the halls. There were no bodies, but blood still was everywhere. It was disgusting to see. I wasn't looking where I was going, so I kicked a can that was lying on the ground. Crap! It bounced itself off the wall into the lockers. That caught the bad attention of two zombies who was charging after me; one from the front and one from the back. Shit! The one in the front attacked first, so I kicked its gut, so that I pushed it back. Then the one behind attacked, but I jumped in the air and twirled kicked its face. I attempted to attack it with my bat, but the one from the front came back and grabbed my neck and pulled me back. The one from the back grabbed my legs. It started drooling when my underwear came into view. The hell? Was this zombie horny or something? I wrapped my legs around its neck and twisted it. I stopped when I heard a crack. The zombie then fell on the ground. I struggled as I tried to get the other one off of me, so I could kill it. Damn, but it had a strong hold of my neck. It was starting to squeeze the air from my lungs. I choked as I tried to gasp for air. My legs wiggled around, but then the zombie fell down on the floor with a huge wound to the head. I was dropped onto my butt. I cried "ow!" I looked up to see it was Saku holding up a now bloody brick. He held out his hand, offering assistance to help me up. A wide smile was plastered on his lips. I tightly grabbed it and he pulled me up. I started wiping down my clothes.
"Arigatou," I thanked him.
"No problem, I had a feeling this would happen." He told me.
I watched as the zombie I cracked slowly got up. His head was hanging to the side as he held both of his hands out in front of him.
"What the hell man! I thought I killed you! I cracked your neck for heaven's sake! When will you die?" I sighed in aggravation.
"I think the only way to "kill" them is to hit them in the back of the head." Saku stated.
I growled as I charged at it, jumping in the air and slashing its back head with my bat. It cried out and fell to ground. I sighed in relief. Saku stared at me.
"You handle a bat very well." He told me as a bead of sweat trickled down his face.
"Remind me to never piss you off." Saku said nervously.
I slightly laughed at him.
"I'll be sure to remind you."
I started walking, but a little bit faster than before, being careful to where I step. Saku followed closely behind me. I sighed in relief as we reached the principal's office. I quickly searched for a map. Would a deserted island be on a map anyways? Whatever, I didn't let that thought cross my mind. I searched inside his desk and found it. Bingo! I quickly grabbed it and ran outside, with Saku still following me. We both made it carefully back to the school roof. I plopped my body down on the hard ground, relaxing. Saku patted my back. I smiled up to him.
"I owe you my life." I told him.
He rubbed the back of his head nervously.
"It's no big deal. I had a feeling that you were going to get attacked. I wouldn't let a cute girl die." He told me.
I felt my face heat up, but I held it back.
"A…arigatou", I mumbled to him.
He just gave me a sincere smile. Chiyo spread out the map on the ground. Good thing it turned out the map I grabbed was a world map. I lied my head down on the ground as the sun was setting further and further behind the horizon. The sky was getting slightly dark as it was painted with a rainbow of red, orange, yellow, pink and purple. Akemi and Keiji gathered around Chiyo, checking out the map, but for some reason Saku stayed by my side and rested beside me.
"How do you feel about this zombie apocalypse?" Saku asked me.
"Are you sad that your parents may have been affected?"
I shook my head.
"I was always neglected by my parents. I was an accident, a mistake. During intercourse, the condom broke. So, I wasn't supposed to exist. So, I don't care if they turned into zombies. If I encountered them as one, I wouldn't hesitate to kill them." I told him.
"Damn, that sucks. I and my parents didn't get along either. It wasn't as bad as you, but it was pretty bad." He stopped.
I suddenly became interested.
"Well, don't stop there man! I wanna here your life story." I demanded him.
He chuckled a bit.
"I never thought you would be interested in my life. I feel happy now. Well, it started a long time ago. My little brother was in an accident and he died at the age of seven. I was only older by a few minutes. After that, my parents have never been the same. They constantly fought and blamed me for his demise. A few years later, my mother died of cancer. It turned out she was whoring around with other guys. Feeling distraught over the death of his wife and youngest son, my father turned to alcohol and drugs for comfort. He was killing his brain cells, so he couldn't think straight. He often abused me in all ways you can imagine. When I turned fourteen, he died. He was overdosed on alcohol and drugs. His heart just shut down. It couldn't function anymore."
I sat up and stared at him. His face and eyes revealed sorrow and loneliness.
"Parents can be bastards, huh?" I asked as I stared at the ground.
"Ya", he agreed with me.
"Alright, I believe the Laccadive Islands are best because it's the closest deserted island to here." Chiyo suggested.
"That's off the coast of the South West Indian state of Kerala, right?" I asked her.
I felt everyone's gazes pierce me.
"Ya, I know. I don't seem like the smart student, but I learn things too." I told them, not looking them in the eye.
"That's correct." Chiyo told me.
"Now there are two questions I want to ask. What are we going to do for food supplies and how the hell are we going to there; fly or by boat?" I asked the group.
"Well, there is a grocery store near this school, we could always go there and take all the supplies we need." Keiji suggested.
"That's true", Chiyo agreed.
"Ok then, how are we going to get there? I'm sure none of you know how to fly a plane." I asked again.
"Actually, I do. I took airplane lessons for years." Keiji pointed out.
"Great! Now all we need is a car or a vehicle to drive to the grocery store and to the airport." I sighed.
"Ano….we could always use that school bus outside in the front." Akemi brought up.
"Then it's settled. We'll take the bus to the store, take all of the supplies we need, head to the airport and fly a plane to the deserted island of Kerala." Chiyo affirmed.
"Right!" the whole group yelled, getting pumped up.
I smiled at them. I believed we could actually survive this together. Now our summer adventure began.
We all fought our way to get to the front of the school, but we had each other's back, so no one was injured. When we got to the front, we were surrounded by zombies. I grunted as I held my bat tightly in front of me.
"You guys go. I'll hold them back." I told them.
"Ya and I'll help her." Saku said.
The rest nodded and ran to the school bus. All of the zombies charged at Saku and I at blinding speed. Saku held onto the sword Chiyo handed him. I wonder why she didn't stay. Saku charged at the zombies and started slashing them away. Slashing at them wouldn't work. That's where I come in. I ended up smacking them in the back of the head with my bat, causing the ones I attacked to fall onto the ground, but there was too many of them. The more I "kill", the more that come at me. My whole body started getting hot as sweat started to form on my face. My breath shortened, causing me to pant.
"There's too many of them." I told Saku as his back leaned up against mine.
The zombies then started flying out the way as a yellow school bus ran through the group of them. Chiyo stood at the entrance holding on to one side of the door and holding out her arm to us. I smiled as I held onto Saku's hand tightly. Chiyo grasped my hand that outstretched to us and pulled me and Saku into the bus without stopping it. I sighed in relief again when my body gave out onto a brown leathery seat in the back of the bus. It was old with a few holes with white stuffing coming out, but it was comfortable. I slightly tensed up when Saku decided to sit right next to me.
"Whew, that was a close one, wasn't it?"
I nodded my head.
"They keep multiplying. There are so many zombies I can handle at once. That was over my limit." I replied back to him.
"Well, the worse is over. We got pass the first step without anyone getting hurt or killed." He sighed in relief.
I just nodded my head, agreeing with him. I started relaxing my body as I enjoyed the bus ride to the grocery store.
"Wait a second, who's driving this thing in the first place?" I asked myself as glanced forward to the front of the bus to see Akemi.
I rested back on my seat and smiled.
It's a good thing she knows how to drive. My relaxation ended when we reached the grocery store. I groaned in irritation as I grasped tightly onto my bat. We all got off the bus and walked into the store.
"Alright, Saku and I will fight off any zombies in here, while the rest of you get all the stuff we need for us to survive on a desert for a long time." I planned out.
They all nodded and quietly started searching and packing all the food supplies needed. I silently walked into the front as Saku guarded my back. The store was dark. The only light that illuminated it was the sun, which was almost behind the horizon. I let up my guard, checking every single area, leaving no space left unchecked. Then a zombie came into my view. He stood a few feet in front of me. He snarled as his eyes glared daggers at me. His back was slouched forward a bit. He growled as he started charging at me. I tightly held onto my bat. I wasn't afraid anymore. I was actually enjoying this entire kicking zombie ass thing. The zombie tried to grab me with his hands; I dodged both of them, jumped up and slammed the back of his head with my bat. The zombie fell onto the ground. I smiled when I won our fight. The rest of the group started heading out. Keiji motioned us to hurry up and come. I happily followed his orders, but a zombie blocked my way out. Saku started charging from behind me. I ducked when he jumped above my head and slashed the zombie's head off.
"Arigatou", I thanked him.
He shook his head, grabbed my hands and ran to the bus, dragging me with him. I smiled widely at all the supplies they managed to take.
"You didn't bank rob the store did you?" I asked.
"Does it matter?" Keiji asked me.
I shook my head.
"No, I guess not." I replied to his question.
I relaxed in the same seat I sat in before I got out the bus and Saku sat next to me again. My arms embraced the back of my head as I leaned back on the bus seat.
"We passed step two. One more step to go before we are finally free from this invasion." I told Saku.
Another thought crossed my head. Where was the fucking government? Whatever I really didn't care. When we arrived to the airport, we gathered up all of our stuff and hijacked a small plane. I took a seat next to the window with Saku close beside me. Keiji sat in the captain's seat, checking to make sure everything is secured and ready for our flight. I felt all of my energy being drained out me at a rapid pace as the plane took off. I didn't know why though. As the hours passed, the heat was leaving my body as it became ice cold. My breath shortened again, so I started panting. What the fuck was happening to me? I felt a huge pain wash over my body as I fell onto the plane floor, grunting.
"Nami-chan, what's the matter?" Saku asked me worriedly.
I couldn't answer him. My mind couldn't process any words because it was focused on the pain. I held onto my right ankle. I felt a warm liquid seeping through my skin. I stared at it shocked. It looked like something bit me. The fuck? Everybody other than Keiji stared at my wound.
"A zombie must've bitten you in the ankle." Chiyo explained to me.
"No….shit…Sherlock…"I hissed at her accidently.
"Oh no! Nami-chan is going to be one of them!" Akemi cried out worriedly.
My head was feeling hazy as I felt woozy. My vision was blurry as it was beginning to fade away.
"No! I won't let this happen! I don't want another person I care for to die!" Saku screamed out.
I could barely hear him because my hearing was also fuzzy, but I did catch those words.
"How can you care about someone you just met earlier today?" I panted at him.
"You don't know do you? Nami-chan, we've known each other longer than today. You may not have known, but Makoto was my best friend. Ever since you two started dating, I've been hiding my true feelings from you. What he did to you was unforgivable and I wanted to be there for you, but I couldn't because I wouldn't have been able to conceal my love for you. I didn't want to pressure you and I didn't want to become a rebound, so I left you alone. When you came running up those stairs today, I was so relieved. I thought you had become one of them." Saku confessed.
I scoffed at him.
"You would tell me all of this now, when I'm about to die." I told him, trying to sound angry, but failing miserably.
"Gomen! Gomen, Nami-chan", he apologized.
"I forgive you." I said to him.
I started to lose the feeling in my body.
"I won't let you die like this Nami-chan." Saku told me determinedly.
He got up and searched for something. I didn't know what it was, but when he found it, he set down beside my ankle. My head was rested on Chiyo's lap as Saku brought up my injured ankle to his lips.
"Wait, what are you doing?" I asked him frantically.
He ignored my question and bit into my ankle, sucking up the blood. My cheeks flushed as I bit my tongue, trying to suppress the pain from his teeth. Chiyo noticed my bloody mouth, so stuck a white cloth in my mouth to stop me from biting my tongue again. Saku then spit out my infected blood in a bowl he found once it filled his mouth. He then went back to sucking the infection from my blood stream. He did this numerous times, each time, with me feeling a little better. After a while, I felt myself succumb to the darkness as I drifted into my consciousness.
The next time I slightly came to was when I felt that I was laid down on something soft and dry. My feet were getting soaked with cool water, but it stung my right ankle. I flinched as I opened my eyes to stare at the night sky. The stars was dispersed everywhere across the dark sky. I slowly sat up to stare out at the full moon. It made the ocean beneath it glisten and sparkle. Did we make it to the Laccadive Islands? I shivered when a cold breeze whipped by me. I looked down at myself to notice I was only in my bra and underwear. I quickly embraced myself with my arms as I started blushing again.
"What the hell happened to my clothes?" I asked myself quietly.
"Nami-chan, you're awake. Yogatta…." I heard Saku mumble as he sat down next to me. I turned around, trying to hide myself. He started laughing nervously.
"Gomen, but your clothes were messy, so Chiyo and Akemi decided to wash them, when you still slept.
"Ya well, now I'm gonna catch a cold for being half naked out here." I mumbled angrily.
I watched as Saku embraced me with his jacket. I held onto it tightly, trying to get warm.
"Thank you for saving me once again. If it wasn't for you, I would probably be a zombie by now. Arigatou…" I thanked him.
"I told you before. I wasn't going to let a cute girl die, especially a cute girl I care for." He said to me.
I inhaled the salty scent of the ocean. It felt nice to be on an island and away from the chaos.
"Saku-kun, I wanted to tell you something before I blacked out."
"What is it?"
"Out of everything that happened to us, I actually felt myself start to like you. Even though I thought we just met, you was always there for me, rather it was rescuing me from death or from heartbreak. I loathed Makoto for what he did to me. I promised myself I would never fall in love again, but I did and I'm glad it's you." I confessed to him, not looking at him.
I felt him turn me around and pressed his lips on mine. I was caught off guard so I fell backwards onto the sand. My hands twitched as I embraced my arms around his neck. He parted from my lips and stared deeply into my dark brown eyes. My face darkened and I'm sure he realized that because a chesire like smirk played its way across his lips. Our moment was interrupted when an "ahem" was heard. We looked up to see it was Chiyo and Akemi. I quickly pushed Saku off me and sat up.
"The rest of us made a bonfire and cooked up some food. Care to join us?" Chiyo asked, smirking.
Akemi started giggling. I nodded my head, unable to speak words. They smiled as they walked back over to Keiji. I stood up; wiping the sand from my body and zipping up the jacket Saku gave me. It went down and stopped at my knees. Saku grabbed my hand and walked me over to the rest of the group. We sat down and ate together, like a family that was chosen by fate to be together. Our adventure was long from being over. Actually another had just started once we reached this island. Our survival adventure starts now because I know someday; zombies will somehow come here, forcing us to find another place to lay low. Our adventure won't stop; it's never ending, but I'm not worried. The five of us can survive any danger. We put our heads together and plan something out. When we stick together, nothing can stand in our way.