cabalistic

Having a secret or hidden meaning. Occult.

Prologue- glass

Anxiety bubbles up in her stomach –boils her nerves – like a sickness.

It spreads throughout her at a feverish pace, never letting up, and most certainly never taking pity. It makes her hands and lips tremble, and her legs wobble as she stands, hands clenched so tightly her nails bite into her skin, creating half moons. Her palms are sweating and her mouth is dry, and she is frowning intently at the screen as people pace around her. Yuuki is at her side, but she's rooting for another person, and really, Hisa doesn't know why she's thinking of the one she's thinking of, because she should be cheering for her own teammates, but-

Inwardly, she thinks of Kazekoshi's captain, and how she's in second place, right behind Nodoka. And she wishes she could actually see the match with her own eyes, wishes she could see that blue eye that she deep down knows is wide open, analyzing every move and possibly unnerving her other teammates.

But Saki is someone to be feared, and Nodoka is, once in her zone, almost untouchable.

She doesn't know about the other boy, the only boy to make it so far, because everyone else annihilated their opponents, but he's in fourth place at the moment, so he doesn't seem to be a big threat. Actually, he's so behind it would be impossible to catch up in the time that is left.

But there are two thousand points between Mihoko and first place, and thirty thousand points between Saki and first place, and the girl is a monster, really, and it would be so, so easy for her to catch up, with one of her startling plays-

But Mihoko stands a chance, and so does Nodoka, because they're all amazing players. They're all amazing players, and when concentrated, with both eyes open, Mihoko is a force to be reckoned with.

She is a force to be reckoned with, and Hisa wishes she could watch her play.

But then the boy is scoring points - so many points – and the game seems to be at his favor.

First, it is Nodoka. He takes away eight thousand points, placing Mihoko in first place and bringing himself up, a little bit. Then, he attacks all of them, with a Tsumo that takes away three thousand and six hundred points from each of them. And then it is simply Saki, from whom he takes three thousand points, pushing himself up within reach of all of them.

All of this, within a minute.

For the next few seconds, nothing happens.

And then Mihoko strikes back. Hisa doesn't know how – she wishes she could see the game – but she manages to obtain three thousand points from each of them. Saki interjects, here, by attacking the boy and Mihoko, taking away twelve thousand points, total. Then, she attacks all of them, possibly with a Tsumo after a Kong, and wins twenty-four thousand points. She has managed to push herself up to second place, smack in the middle of Mihoko and Nodoka, and the game is so close it makes her heart pound in her chest.

On the inside, she is all frazzled nerves, but on the outside, her exterior is calm and somewhat smug, like it always is. She is the picture of pretty confidence, with lips tilted at the corners and observant eyes.

On the inside, her nerves are fried.

But still, something breaks her concentration on the game.

It is outside the lobby, and some people have stopped pacing around her. They are moving towards the glass doors, trying to see what's going on outside, just at the foot of the steps. It is only then that she hears the sound of a helicopter, whirling just up above them.

She is curious, then, curious and anxious, a mixture of both that feels strangely like foreboding, but can't be, because she isn't watching the scoreboard, anymore. She knows she should be, because the end is very near, and she's dying to know who'll win.

And still, she walks away from it, away from Mako, and Yuuki, and Kyoutaro, and they don't notice that she's stepped away until she's been obscured by all the other people moving to see what is going on outside. They don't notice until they can't know where she's gone.

So Hisa makes it to the very front of the crowd, and is almost pressed up against the glass, as she sees it.

And at first, she has no idea what it is that she's seeing, except that it is very, very bad.

She can make out the outline of an entire platoon of police officers, all of them holding guns, and one of them, the leader, she assumes, has some sort of megaphone. He's speaking into it, loudly, but she can't understand what he's saying. She's never seen police dressed like that, in real life, though. Perhaps in movies and in animations, and sometimes in manga, but she's never seen police geared up like that in real life. With guns so big. With clothes so heavy.

The helicopter's whirl is pronounced above them, and there's a beam of light pointed in the direction the officers are facing, but she still can't see what it's pointing at.

And then she can.

Four people are running towards them, and for a moment, it looks as though they're all running away from something. But that's not true.

The truth is that only one of them is, and the other three are chasing. The police are taking aim.

She briefly notices that the people around her are beginning to back away from the glass, fidgeting, and she takes a step back, as well, because there's something in the process of welling up in her throat, something dry and unpleasant that she doesn't exactly recognize, but does, at the same time.

So the police have taken aim, and they fire, but only two of the three chasers go down.

The other one pounces, fingers extended, and knocks the person fleeing down, hard, onto the pavement. And then he reaches to tear a chunk of bright, bloodied flesh straight from the skin of her neck.

It is at that moment that she realizes what she is feeling. A peculiar sense of terror that has now spiked into horror, and the feeling is barely setting in, making her take another step away from the doors, when something in the distance explodes.

It is a bright, hot orange, lighting up the sky, and the police have only just barely turned their heads to look its way when the shockwaves reach them and knock them off their feet.

The shockwaves, which she sees coming even before they reach the doors.

Doors, which are made out of glass.

Glass, which breaks into shards.

Shards, which are propelled into her body with all the force of a charging bull, tearing her flesh and burning straight into her bones.

Bones, which are bruised as she is slammed into the floor, and then the heat and the pain, which make everything suddenly unbearable.

People are panicking all around her, now, and no one is stopping to help her as her blood – red like her eyes – pools all around her.

She wonders, so very briefly, whether or not someone had managed to win the game. She wishes she could see Mihoko, Mihoko with her beautiful eyes, and wishes she could congratulate her.

But she feels herself slipping away from everything, and the pain is so much that she doesn't even want to try to stop it.

Mako, Yuuki, and Kyoutaro can't find her. They don't see her until she's already gone where they can't follow.

They have to leave her, because the helicopter has crashed into the eleventh floor of the building, and it is suddenly unstable.

A/N:

Right, uhm. Yeah. Woot. For all of you who already know what this is about, yes, it's a zombie story. But no, it's not going where you think it's going. Anyway, Left 4 Dead elements will probably abound in this, regarding the actual zombies.

Right. Sooo. Obvious pairings are HisaMihoko, ToukaHajime, and SakiNodoka. But that last one isn't the main focus, so please, chill if you don't like it or whatever.

Also, a little vote. Would you rather I write in past tense or present tense from here on out?

Later. And by the way, thank you so much for you reviews. My next chapter for Center of the World is already halfway done. I just have to...update something else, for the Mai Hime fandom, first. That having been said...

Thanks, and later.

PS: Reviews feed my soul. Which is black. Like the coffee I drink. ('cept that I don't drink coffee.) :D