Chapter 1: Hello Survivors.
A police officer lay dead on a dirty, bloody street. His face plastered with agony and fear on his last moments of death. As the virus spread throughout his remains, his brown pupils began to turn into milky, empty ones. It stared into space, slowly realizing its conscious.
"Mikawa Ikito, report on your progress." A female voice called over from a black hand-held device inches away from its outstretched hand. "Mikawa Ikito, what is your situation over?" The female voice repeated. Two brief beeps from the device brought the corpse rolling to its side, attempting to get up from its fallen position. It groaned, releasing a long strand of saliva and blood to drip past its chapped lips. Its skin was still fresh, but it's starting to decay.
It finally got up after much effort and started to stagger away, crushing the walkie-talkie under its feet as it did. It staggered with uncoördinated legs and swayed its arms from side to side as if it had no control over them. Its left arm had been chewed away, leaving nothing but fibres of muscles to keep it hanging. It started to head toward a brightly lit gas station. 'Castco', a signboard with a bright blue glow, was its name.
Not even past the first pump, its head jerked in the opposite direction, spewing blood and gore before falling among the pile of corpses that littered the lot's perimeter.
A girl, hidden behind the boarded window of the station, pulled the bolt back to release the cartridge out of its breech. She sat back from her place and checked the silencer on the muzzle of the rifle, wondering how long it would last before it wore out.
This was her 12th confirmed kill today. Adding yesterday's total making it her 34th.
She took a sip of mineral water to wet her lips. It was cooling in the gas station but the air conditioning made it dry. It was dark outside and the sun could not be seen anywhere on the sky. The girl took a peek at the clock on the wall, by the 'Exit' sign, wondering what time it was.
"8:52." She muttered the number.
Faint footsteps echoed outside. The girl crouched up from her place and raised her rifle's scope to her pale-green eye. The only thing that stood out was the silencer that protruded out from the gap of the boarded window. The station was dark with only the 'Exit' light glowing in the night. She scanned the streets and the buildings nearby but all she could hear was the faint footsteps echoing in the distance. Not a soul could be seen.
Two corpses staggered into her field of view by accident but their footsteps didn't match the one she's hearing. Theirs sounded dragged, tired and almost lifeless while the one she's after sounded firm and dynamic. She felt for her pockets of her black tailored vest and brought out a .35 rifle cartridge. Putting it in the empty breech, she pushed and closed the bolt before taking her aim once again.
She didn't pull the trigger; it was not the time yet. When They were lined up on her cross-hair, she took a breath, let two-thirds of it out and squeezed it. The bullet whizzed its way out of the silencer and straight through the skulls of the walking corpses. Their heads jerked to the side before their whole body followed to the floor. Her 36th kill.
She pulled the rifle back and checked her silencer. It was becoming a habit of hers.
XxX
Alice knew she was going to die. Her grip on the edge loosened, leaving her on her fingertips. She looked down at the three corpses that had attempted to eat her alive. She was about to be like them, splattered on the cold asphalt of the parking lot in the most inglorious way. She couldn't pull herself up as her arms were too tired to do so. She breathed sharply and felt a cold sweat run down her cheek.
"Somebody help me!" She screamed, knowing that it wasn't the best idea but what else was there to do? "Is there anyone?!" She continued to cry for help but still heard nothing. "AH!" Her hand slipped from its grip leaving her with her dominant one on the edge. Below, eight corpses began to appear, walking into what seemed to be Alice's death spot. She was ringing her own dinner bell, letting them come for a feast.
Her heart grew heavy as she knew she's about to die. Her will to live wavered with no other choice but to fall and die.
Her fingertips slipped from the edge and she found herself falling. It was nothing like in movies or games. Nothing slowed down. She wanted to scream and cry at how unfair it was but it would only be a waste of breath.
"Yah!" Another voice, an unfamiliar one uttered aloud.
A grip squeezed tight on Alice's forearm. Her eyes were screwed shut but when she opened them, brown eyes, greeted her green, emerald ones. "I got you!" He exclaimed. "Keep your eyes on me and don't let go!" He ordered as he brought his other hand over to grab hers. He pulled her up with minimal effort and was able to save her from death.
When she was sitting back on the floor of the rooftop, she rubbed her aching arms and let air into her lungs. Hanging on for what seemed like five or so minutes took a lot of her stamina.
"Are you okay?" The teenager asked, wiping cold sweat off his forehead. "You got me really spooked there." He was a foreigner but he spoke seamless Japanese.
"I-I'm fine." She replied as she adjusted her studded black, fingerless gloves. "Let me calm my nerves for a bit." Now brushing dust off her black, mini pleated skirt.
The teenager approached her with two metal tonfas in hand. He showed them to her and asked,
"Are these yours?"
"Yes," She answered, taking them off from him. "Thank you."
"You're welcome." The teenager responded in English. He slung the straps of his Beretta M501 Italian sniper rifle to his shoulders and fixed his short, dark-brown hair. A pair of sunglasses hung on the front collar of his sleeve-less royal blue Under Armor shirt while an orange UT hat was strapped to the belt hold of his blue jeans. He had a typical American look and the physic of an American footballer.
He turned and faced the door with choices in his mind. He has the choice to travel alone or together in numbers with the girl who he had just saved.
XxX
Kazuko, with an affirming nod, kicks the door out of his way and points the Beretta into the empty room. Only the sound of his gun, switching from SAFE to FIRE, resounded in the room. He pulls the gun back to the side of his face and enters the room to look. He rummaged through piles of unwanted files and folders, eventually finding a first-aid box hidden beneath the mess. He freed from its place and proceeded out from where he came.
The kick attracted more than he'd expected. Walking corpses, of who were once business men and women, advanced toward him. Kazuko had to run the opposite direction and away from Them, but that also meant running away from where he's supposed to go. He had to ascend a floor and circle from there to reach the storage room.
With the gun gripped tightly in one hand and the first-aid box in another, he had to clip the box under his arms to open the storage room door. After quickly, but subtly closing the door, he darted for the girl whom he had left to rest.
"How are you feeling?" Kazuko asked as he placed the Beretta aside and unlatched the first-aid box. He took out the required necessities and laid them out in the order of use. After getting what he need, he pushed the box aside and carefully pried the girl's fingers off her wounded shoulder to begin treatment.
She stuttered a response but was cut off with a cry as disinfect ran through her exposed flesh. Kazuko immediately pressed a hand to her mouth, shutting her. He gave her a stern look and gently removed the cupped hand to tend to her wound; A wound caused by trying to exit through a tight fence at the back of her school. It was brave of her to make it this far alone but Kazuko doubt she traversed without company.
"I-I'm sorry." She was the first to break the silence. Kazuko didn't need her apology so he simply continued with the roll of the bandage without respond. "This... injury." She continued. "I actually got it from my boyfriend." Her words clammed up to her throat but managed to sound audible as she said it. Kazuko stopped his hands and simply waited for her to continue. "He was already bitten... I-I didn't what to do."
Kazuko knew where this was going. He shut his eyes and exhaled. He didn't interrupt her, he needed her to finish, to confirm his doubts and clarify his truth.
"When he got close, he... he was like those things out there! He tried to bite me but I escaped. He continued to... Then... my shoulder, he managed to scrape his teeth-" She looked at it and remembered painfully at the event. Kazuko was right. She's infected. But when? The question only served to threaten Kazuko and his well-being.
With an audible sigh, Kazuko finish applying the bandage, stands up and reached out for his Beretta M92F. A bullet was ready in the chamber and there was no need to pull the barrel, nor switch the firing mode.
"Y-You're going to... kill me?" She asked wanly. Her green eyes, which were wet with tears, followed Kazuko's every movement.
"Yes." He answered briefly and raised the gun. The girl stared at the barrel until a loud boom filled her vision with black. Her body jerked for a moment, but only for a moment as the bullet drove through her head. Her body leaned to the side and fell to the cold, dusty floor.
XxX
A loud crunch resounded in the empty classroom as Vivian McArthur managed to break off a chair's leg for a weapon. She weighed it in her hand and swung it for a test. It was a little less than desirable, but it will have to do.
The night crickets continued to chirp as if the apocalypse outside was a mere dream, or an unreal effect in the world. Everything seemed normal in the class's four walls, but Vivian knew that things were different outside. Violently different.
A small, hand-made poster at the back of the class piqued her interest. It has several outlines drawn with many different colours, but the text that was written in the centre was the main attraction of the decoration.
'Trekking Club! Join Today!'
'Visit us in class 2-5 if you wish to join!'
Vivian rubbed the edge of her frame-less glasses and wondered for a moment where class 2-5 would be. Having several supplies with her wouldn't be such a bad idea, trekking supplies to be precise. Binoculars, machetes, compasses and the like filled her mind and drove her forward to find it.
She turned to face the door, only to find it opened with a figure standing by it. It was too dark to make out his or her features but from what she can tell, the person was able to make out hers because of the light outside, casting down on her through the windows.
She cursed this moment for not noticing his or her presence earlier; she was too occupied with her thoughts for supplies, dropping her guard.
The man raised a hand, his dominant hand no doubt, pointing a gun at her. The light managed to reach far enough to show the model. A Beretta M92F.
Vivian was outmatched. The man, who she could tell by a proper look of his outlines, held a gun, while she had nothing more than a piece of timber.
"Who are you?" The boy, who Vivian could guess by the tone in his voice, asked almost interrogatively. He walked deeper into the class, letting the light outside spill on to him to reveal his features.
A high school student, with a tired, young handsome face, stared at her almost stoically, waiting for her to respond. His black eyes gazes deep into hers, noticing them to be chocolate. Not only that, they had a hint of yellow in them. A strange colour that filled with a serious combativeness in them. Kazuko took the silence as defiance but did nothing to make her repeat.
With a tired sigh, he pinched the bridge of his nose and lowered the gun, noticing how unfair it was to challenge someone who only had a piece of wood in her hand.
"Let me rephrase that question," He finished the action and looked back at her with an almost bored and annoyed expression. "Are you infected?" He finished. This time, she needed to answer.
"No." A brief one.
The boy couldn't see any visible cuts or marks on her skin, nor any tearing on either her red T-shirt or brown, short cargo pants. She was clean.
"Okay..." He tore his gaze away from the girl, noticing how awkward it had become in the silence. It was his fault and he knows it. He clears his throat, as if it would help, and introduced himself, trying hard not to sound monotonous. "The name's Kazuko Ozaki, sorry for being rude; I'm just too high-strung after all that's happened." He spoke quickly and still managed to sound monotonous. He bowed apologetically and rubbed his eyes after that.
Vivian could see the marks of insufficient sleep beneath them and upon closer inspection, his eyes were bloodshot. She began to wonder how long he had kept himself awake but quickly dropped the question as she knew she's next to introduce herself.
"Vivian McArthur." She spoke briefly and gave him a tip of her khaki, boonie hat, that's clipped on one side. "I... accept your apology?" She didn't know what to say but a brief smile on his face was enough to tell her she's on the right path.
"I see you dislike my chair. Strange, what did it ever do to you?" Kazuko pointed to the timber she had all along in her hand. He picked the fallen chair up and attempted to set it back on its proper place, only to find it tipping over and falling to the floor.
He's weird... Definitely mentally unstable. Or maybe he's just tired...
"What?" Kazuko asked without looking at her. Without realizing it, she had stared at him for a full minute as he began searching for something underneath his table.
"What are you looking for?"
Without answering, the sound of tape ripped off from its bind resounded in the empty classroom. Kazuko took out two magazines and placed them on the table. He ejected a magazine from the Beretta he had held and switched to a fully loaded one. Vivian picked the one Kazuko had just dropped and noticed it to be empty.
"You pointed an empty gun at me?" She questioned almost with disbelief in her tone. She flashed the empty magazine toward him and shook it in her hand almost angrily. Kazuko finished reloading and looked at her with the same stoic expression as pulled back, but not after putting the empty magazine down at the table next to the full one.
"I do that all the time." He answered indifferently. A long yawn escaped his mouth but he covered it with a hand. A grim expression could be seen on his face as he ran his hand on his hair in frustration. "Aaah..." He groaned.
"Shouldn't you get some rest? How long have you been awake?" She asked with curiosity. She had just met him, so the feeling of concern never really reached her.
"Not yet and... four days?" He answered both questions in a single statement.
Not yet? What does he mean not yet? What's got him so busy he's neglecting sleep?
"What's got you so busy, you're neglecting sleep?!" She questioned almost in a vexed way.
Loud knocks came from the door. Vivian noticed that he had locked it before he approached her. Loud, lifeless moans echoed outside and she knew the door wouldn't last.
Kazuko moved in a methodical and almost calm way as if he had rehearsed this moment. He checked his Beretta, his attire and his spare magazine almost orderly before turning to Vivian.
"Under the teachers desk is a machete. Take it." He offered. Without a moment to waste, Vivian sprinted to the front of the class and looked under the table, finding a machete taped underneath it. This was probably the same thing Kazuko did for his spare magazines.
Ripping it from its bind, Vivian held the machete and let its blade glisten in the light.
"Get ready!" He yelled with a tinge of life and health in his tone.
The door exploded into the classroom, sending wood of different sizes to fly hazardously at Kazuko.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Went the sound of the gun shots...
High School of the Dead. Surviving Z Day 3.
I hope you have enjoyed that! Doing H.A.N.E would only lead to a harder time for me to think and make up a chapter. Not only electronic equipment are a no go, communications as well. My mind isn't so broad as to be able to think of something to overcome the 'No electronics and electricity.' challenge.
I have problems with several OC's that are handed to me unfinished, or are just simply confusing for me to understand.
OC Leon Shades. From what I can tell, she does not have any appearance. (You left Appearance blank in the 'Fill up OC form.') Please do fill it up, thanks!
OC Hailey Morgan Cook. You wrote 'A black school girl looking shirt with a blue stash in the...' Is she a black school girl? Or does the shirt look like a black school girl? (I'm not racist!) Please do clarify this, thanks!
I'm not angry. I just don't want to screw up... though I did a lot of screwing up in the past but THAT'S not the point!
I will put in the OC form below, so if anyone want to update, or drop in an OC, feel free!~
Fun Fact 1: This was difficult to write as having writers block didn't help.
Fun Fact 2: I got lazy and decided to play games and strum guitars instead of writing.
Thanks for reading! See Ya!
-Character Information-
Name:
Nickname:
Gender:
Age:
Height and Weight:
Clubs/ Activities he/she took while he/she was in school:
Appearance:
Casual Wear:
Sleep Wear:
Personality:
Love interest:
Background Story:
What he/she's good at:
What he/she's not good at:
Fears:
Primary Weapon:
Secondary Weapon:
Tertiary Weapon:
-Family Information-
Father's Name (Alive or Deceased):
Mother's Name (Alive or Deceased):
Guardian's Name (Alive or Deceased):
Sister's Name (Alive or Deceased):
Brother's Name (Alive or Deceased):
-Others-
His/her reaction(s) to other people/ OC's:
What does he/she think(s) about Kazuko Ozaki: