"Kurosaki! Hey, Ichigo!" Silence. "OI! Kurosaki!"
Ichigo blinked his eyes open and slowly lifted his head off of his arms. "What do you want, Arisawa?" he grumbled.
Tatsuki grinned wickedly. "Skipping class again, huh?" she asked, walking to stand next to him. "You'll have to repeat the grade if you keep doing that."
"Hypocrite, you're skipping too," he pointed out. "Besides, I have a good reason to skip."
She raised an eyebrow. "And that reason would be…?"
"Calculus sucks."
They both laughed good-naturedly, before Tatsuki slapped him hard on the back and said, "I'd better get going. Mr. Kutsuzawa will kill me if I miss any more of his class." She turned to look back at him. "And I suggest you do the same."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Ichigo muttered, looking out over the school campus. This was why he liked to hide out on the roof while cutting class: the view was excellent.
His eyes wandered past the front doors, through the lawn, and near the Recreational Busses when something caught his eye. It was a figure, most likely that of a man, slowly hobbling to the school entrance in a very strange way.
"Hm. What's that?" Ichigo thought, and only after Tatsuki walked back over to his side did he realize that he had said it aloud.
She saw what Ichigo was staring at and laughed. "I looks like a zombie," she joked before walking back down the staircase.
Ichigo glanced at his watch. There was still twenty minutes until the period was over, so he had some time to shoot.
I'm thirsty, he thought. I guess I'll go get a coke. As he walked down the stairs and through the hallway to the vending machine, he looked out the windows and could see the same figure he had watched on the roof, still stumbling around as if he was drunk. Except now, he was surrounded by a group of people.
Weird. Maybe the drama club's rehearsing a play or something. Ichigo stopped, and once again, watched what was going on below.
He leaned on the windowsill and narrowed his eyes in order to get a good look at what was going on. Then suddenly, all hell was let loose as the figure bent down and seemingly bit the arm of one of the people down there. "Oh, god!" Ichigo yelled, straightening up and covering his mouth with his hands.
Had it all been part of the act? No, it couldn't be, he had seen blood, real blood, spurt out of the wound…and now the person was writhing in pain on the ground…
Forgetting all about getting a drink, Ichigo whipped around, planning to go get help, only to find his teacher standing right behind him.
"Well, well, well, look who's been skipping class!" She said, whacking him on the head with a textbook.
"Ochi-sensei, look down there, something bad's happened—"
"Come on, Kurosaki, let's get you back to the room, I've got a group of students waiting for me," Ms. Ochi said, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him away.
"You don't understand, someone just got bitten—"
Ms. Ochi rolled her eyes. "Enough with the nonsense, Kurosaki. I daresay you've skipped enough class today."
Ichigo knew there was no use in arguing, and thus allowed himself to be pulled back to calculus.
"Hey everyone, look who's decided to join us today!" Ms. Ochi called out to the class. Several kids laughed, but most remained silent; Ichigo was rather intimidating, after all.
As he took his seat, he looked around the room, hoping to make eye contact with one of his friends. He didn't see Renji or Chad in class today, but managed to catch Uryu's glance and tapped on his laptop to signal that he wanted to talk.
Uryu_Ishida: What is it?
Ichigo waited a few seconds to make sure no one was watching before responding to Uryu's instant message.
Ichigo_Kurosaki: Something weird's going on. I just saw this guy start biting people in the courtyard.
Uryu_Ishida: You're joking?
Ichigo_Kurosaki: I'm dead serious.
Uryu_Ishida: Do you want me to check it out?
Ichigo_Kurosaki: I guess. Just say you're going to the bathroom.
Uryu_Ishida: Okay.
Ichigo_Kurosaki: Wait, where's Renji and Chad?
Uryu_Ishida: Absent or skipping.
Ichigo_Kurosaki: K.
Uryu raised his hand. "Ochi-sensei—"
"BEEP!" He was suddenly interrupted by the sound of the intercom. "Attention all students and teachers. This is the headmaster. We are now in panic mode. Please lock the doors and remain inside your classrooms."
"I told you!" Ichigo stood up and yelled at his teacher.
Ms. Ochi just rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Since you're up, Kurosaki, go lock the door for me."
Ichigo angrily stormed over to the door, reaching to lock it, when he made the mistake of looking out the window into the hallway.
There were bodies, bodies everywhere. Except they weren't on the floor, motionless; they were moving around, walking, opening their mouths impossibly wide and biting into flesh. "Holy shit!" Ichigo yelled. He covered his mouth with his hands in disgust and stumbled away from the door.
"We have to get out of here," he gasped.
"Yeah, NO. The headmaster said to stay in the classroom," Ms. Ochi said pointedly.
Ichigo's jaw dropped. "Do you see what's going on out there? If we stay in here, we'll get bitten and turned into one of them!" he growled.
She smiled sweetly. "Fine. If you want to leave and risk expulsion and/or being exposed to whatever's out there, be my guest."
"Come on, Ishida, we're leaving this place," Ichigo said. He stormed over to the window and flung it open.
"What…?" Uryu said quietly, but he immediately followed.
"Bye, you guys!" They could hear Ms. Ochi yell as they climbed down the wall. "I'll put some flowers on your graves!"
The two boys kept climbing until they reached a small balcony on the second floor that they could take refuge on for a few minutes. Panting slightly, they both squatted over and placed their hands on their knees.
"Are you…sure this was a good idea?" Uryu asked.
Ichigo looked at him darkly. "You didn't see what I saw out in the hall. If we stayed in the classroom, we would've been attacked for sure."
"What's…what's out there?"
"You're going to think I'm insane when I tell you this, but…" Ichigo started.
"Go on."
"It looked like bodies. Dead bodies. Walking around and banging on classroom doors and stuff," he choked out.
Uryu raised an eyebrow. "You mean zombies?"
"Yeah. That."
Uryu's eyes widened and his hand flew to his mouth. "Damn it!" he whispered.
Ichigo straightened up. "What's wrong?"
"O-orihime. She's not too far from here. D'you think we could go get her?"
"Yeah, sure," Ichigo said. He knew how important saving Orihime would be to his friend; Uryu had liked Orihime for two years now. "And that reminds me, I should probably tell Tatsuki about what's going on too. You ready to roll?"
"Let's go."
Tatsuki shifted her position in the hard plastic chair she was sitting in and curled a piece of her long, spiky black hair around her finger. I should have never come back, she thought. This is so boring.
Suddenly, her phone vibrated, interrupting her trail of thoughts. Mr. Kutsuzawa had gone to the teacher's lounge, so she hurriedly pulled it out and checked it.
From: Ichigo
Message: Remember that person we saw a little while ago? That's what's causing this lockdown. It's some zombie-like epidemic. No joke. You need to get out of there, and bring anyone you care about too. Climb down the window and meet us at Class 2-B.
Ichigo, what the hell? Ignoring the abnormality of the message, Tatsuki got out of her seat. She didn't believe all of the zombie hocus-pocus, but thanks to Ichigo, she had an opportunity to skip class. Why not take it?
Tatsuki stopped at the window and turned around, looking out over the class. Finally, she found her target "Asano! You're coming with me," she said, grabbing Keigo by the collar and dragging him towards her.
"W-where are we going?" he gasped.
"To meet Ichigo at class 2-B."
Mizuiro, who had been eavesdropping, hopped up to join them. "Ooh, a field trip? I'll come, too."
"Well," Tatsuki said, ignoring the curious looks of her fellow classmates, "I hope you two are good climbers."
"So, how are we supposed to do this?" Uryu whispered. They were standing outside the P.E. supply closet, with Ichigo digging inside hurriedly.
"We can sneak up using the emergency staircase," Ichigo grumbled as he tossed a metal bat into Uryu's hands.
"Er, okay. Judging by what you saw earlier, I'd say if you get bit, you get turned into one of them."
Ichigo nodded. "Yeah, that's why I gave you the bat. Smash their heads in, but only if they come after you. Only if you have to." Finally, he came out of the shed, carrying a long, spiked rake and several other bats with him.
"She's in class 2-B, you know."
"Yeah. I already told Tatsuki, she's meeting us there."
They just stood there few seconds, before a scream broke the silence.
"What happened?" Uryu breathed.
"They must've realized everyone was inside the classrooms."
"And…?"
"Broken through the doors." Sure enough, just then, the hall outside began to flood with people and the things Ichigo had seen in calculus.
"We've got to go before she runs off and gets herself killed," Ichigo said.
They raced up the staircase, trying to go as fast as possible without making too much noise and giving off their location. The second floor wasn't too far down from the shed, but class 2-B was all the way at the end of the hall. They reached their landing and cautiously opened the door, afraid of what might be on the other side.
Just like below, the hall was filled with zombies, but they didn't seem to notice Ichigo or Uryu.
They can't see, Uryu mouthed. Ichigo nodded, and quietly, they began to make their way down the corridor, praying that their friend would still be safe.
The two were getting closer. They could see the door now. It was ajar, with light flooding out of it. Ichigo reached to grab the handle, when—clank.
A bat fell out of Ichigo's backpack, and the head of every thing in the hall twitched in their direction.
"Oh, shit. RUN!" Ichigo yelled. They raced inside and slammed their backs onto the door to keep the zombies from breaking in.
Uryu coughed. "O-orihime? Are you in here?" There was silence. Then, after a few seconds, a muffled squeak came from the corner of the room.
"Orihime?" Ichigo called.
"I-ichigo? Uryu? Is that you?" a nervous voice said softly.
Ichigo breathed a sigh of relief. "Yeah, it's us. We're here to protect you. Are you okay?"
Finally, Orihime came around the corner and into his view. She was shaking, but she didn't look hurt.
She opened her mouth, blushing violet, but her voice seemed to get caught in her throat. "Y-yeah! Yeah, I'm p-perfectly fine!"
Uryu backed away from the door for a split second and jammed a desk against it. "Where's the rest of your class?"
Orihime looked down at her shoes. "Well, uh, they went outside to do an experiment, but I—" she sneezed "—I've got allergies, so the teacher said it would be best if I just stayed inside." Her eyes widened as she continued on, "And t-then, I heard the announcement and went to go close the door, and I saw th-those things out there and hid in the closet."
The two boys laughed nervously. "Well, we're just glad you're alright. Now, don't you think it's time to get out of here?" Ichigo said, pointing to the window.
Orihime blushed furiously. "Th-that sounds like a really good idea!"
"Holy shit," Tatsuki murmured. "Ichigo was right."
Keigo bit his lip. "What do we do now, Tatsuki?"
"Shut up, idiot."
His eyes twitched. "I-idiot? I'm not an idiot!" he cried.
"Don't lie to yourself, Keigo," Mizuiro said with a sweet smile.
"Hm. Ichigo said to meet up at class 3-B…or was it 2-B? It doesn't matter, though, because going back inside the building would be suicide," Tatsuki thought aloud. "Of all the places to meet, why would Ichigo choose the Juniors' science classroom…? Unless—" she gasped.
"What is it?" Mizuiro asked, cocking his head to the side.
"Class 2-B! Of course! That's Orihime's classroom! They were going there to save her!"
"So?" Keigo asked grumpily.
Tatsuki smacked her fists together. "So we have to go up there."
"I thought you just said it would be suicide!"
"Orihime's my best friend," she snapped. "I'm willing to die trying to save her."
"We'll need weapons to defend ourselves from the zombie-things," Mizuiro pointed out.
Tatsuki grinned. "Correction: you'll need weapons. I'm the captain of my Dojo, I think I can defend myself." Turning around, she pulled two metal arm braces out of her backpack and put them on. Her grin grew even wider as she pressed a button on either side, causing long, one-inch spikes to come out of the sides and knuckles.
Keigo wimpered. "Please don't kill me."
"Oh, and for you guys…" Tatsuki grabbed a broom from the wall beside them and broke it in half. "This will have to do for now. I'm ready. You ready? Okay, let's go."
It was dark. All was silent. She moved through the piles of bodies that she had just recently silenced, towards the figure of a woman in front of her.
"A-are you—?" the woman whispered.
"Watch out," she said as she swung her wooden sword at the zombie behind her. Black blood sprayed out everywhere, and she swiftly cleaned the blade of her sword on a small, bloodied cloth.
She exhaled deeply and extended the woman a hand as she began to walk forward. "I'm the captain of the Kendo Club. My name is—AHG!" she tripped over a fallen student's body. "Stupid—freaking—bodies! Why do I keep tripping over stuff? WHY? Is it just because I'm short? UHG!"
The woman stared at her as she straightened up and regained her composure. "Phew. Sorry about that. I'm Rukia Kuchiki, and that bunny shirt you've got on is adorable."
Author's Note
Ta-da~! New story :3 For those of you who have watched HOTD, I apologize for any major similarities between the anime and this Fanfic, as it is, after all, supposed to be based on the show.
And don't worry, a few of our favorite Espada will come into the story soon.
Please write a review, they make me happy.
Later,
-Potter/JediEspada