It all started one normal spring day. Takashi, my best friend and I were skipping class again. Takashi needed time to think and I did it because he looked like he needed some support, and because I wasn't interested in the subject.
Takashi had a ugly break up with his girlfriend and childhood friend Rei Miyamoto and she started dating one of Takashi's best friends and my now former friend Hishashi Igou. I didn't take the news well, and lets just say we are no longer friends.
As we were standing on the roof of our high school Fujimi High staring at the teacher's cars I spoke.
"Are you alright man, you seem kind of down, even more so today?" He just stared at me and gave a small smile and said:"Akito, shouldn't you be in class, you already got expelled from one school.
I looked at Takashi as I was giving a small chuckle to his statement but looked at him seriously as I told him:
"Don't try to avoid the question, you know you can talk to me I'm your best friend you don't have to put up the brave act around me."
Takashi and I met each other in middle school and became best friend. I later moved away but we stayed in contact and met up during holidays. I went to a different high school until I got expelled because of "dissipline" issues and met Takashi here at Fujimi High.
Takashi just sighed, looked at me and said:
"I know and thanks but I'll be fine, I just need some time to think."
"Sure, just letting you know I'm here for you just in case you know get depressed, give up on life and say "fuck it" and try try jump of the roof or something." I said with a small chuckle
Takashi laughed for the first time in weeks which was a miracle. He didn't take the break-up well and I was glad he started laughing. After we started laughing we spotted three teachers walking to the gate. I looked to the gate to see a guy who kept walking into the gate. I could hear the teachers talking to the man but couldn't make out what they were saying. I could see the gym teacher who's name I didn't know seeing as I was fairly new to this school because I arrived only 2 months ago and didn't get lessons by him, walk up to the gate and pull the man against the gate. The guy responded by taking a bite out of the teachers arm. The teacher screamed in pain and begged the other teachers to stop the bleeding.
After a few minutes the teacher started to cough blood, collapse and from what I'm guessing died because of the bite which should not have happend.
"What the fuck ?" Takashi said as he watched the entire scene unfold.
I however said nothing, just watching the entire scene. One of the teachers, a woman whose name again I didn't know walked up to the now dead teacher and crouched down next to him, holding him in her arms. He suddenly jumped up and bit the teacher in the neck causing blood to spatter out of her neck.
"We need to get out of here now!" I said to Takashi while turning back to the inside of the school building.
"We need to get the others first." He said as he followed my lead.
As we were jogging down the halls of the school Takashi asked:" What the hell was that?"
When I saw the murder at the gate and and how the teacher died, came back to life and bit another teacher I already knew what's happening,I saw this happen all too many times in games and movies. I took a deep breath and told him in the best way possible.
" Does the zombie appocolypse sound about right to you?"
He looked like he believed me which was weird considering I just told him something that sounded so ridiculous. We made our way to our classroom and burst in the class.
"Mr. Komuro and Mr. Kimura, not only are you skipping my class but now you have to disturb learners who want to work?" The teacher said angrily as we walked in and went straight to Rei and Hisashi.
"Come on, we need to go." Takashi said to Rei as he took her by the hand and tried to pull her out of her desk.
"What, are you insane let me go!" She yelled at Takashi while Hisashi stood up and asked him what's going on.
"There was a murder at the front gate" Takashi said still trying to get Rei out of her desk.
"A murder? Are you sure?" Hisashi said as he looked at Takashi in disbelieve.
"What would I gain from lying to you now?" Takashi replied as he tried to get Rei out of the desk.
"A murder, don't be ridic..." Was all she could manage to say before Takashi slapped her across the face. She and Hishasi looked at him, shocked at what he did. I hate people who lift their hand at a woman but she had it coming.
"We need to move now." I said as I walked out of the class. Soon after I was joined by Takashi, Rei and Hisashi. We walked up the hallway nearing a storage room when the intercom went on and the principle started to speak.
"All students and teachers, there has been an incident at the school gate. Please evacuate the school in an..." Suddenly we heard the sound of a door being broken down."O God, HOW DID YOU GET IN HERE. NO STAY AWAY SOMEBODY HELP!! STOP IT HURTS!!"
After that all that could be heard was the principle's screams of pain and the sound of flesh being ripped apart before the intercom died. There was a few seconds before everything went to hell. People were running out of the classrooms,pushing and shoving everything in their way. It was like a stampede, children who fell got trampled to death as others ran over them, some even pushed others off the stairs to get away and some even started punching the crap out of each other while trying to get out of the school.
"Head to the roof, we won't make it through all this chaos." Hisashi said as we ran for the stairs but he stopped before we could climb the stairs.
"Wait, if there really is something going on we need weapons" Rei said as she broke into the maitanance closet and Hisashi went in.
He gave Takashi a baseball bat and for Rei a broom with the end broken off and made it into a makeshift spear seeing as Rei was part of the schools shoujutsu club. Hisashi then came out of the room with two long steak knives which I thought was a weird place for those knives to be. He seemed reluctant to give me the knives but did so anyway. I felt the light weight of the knives in my hand as a flipped it around.
"What about you? You'll also need a weapon." Takashi said to Hisashi.
"I have a black belt in karate so I'm fine without weapons" he said as he turned to me and asked:
"Do you know how to fight with knives?"
"My dad taught me how to use almost anything as a weapon." I replied coldly at his question.
"So yes I know how to fight with knives"
Hisashi looked a little scared at what I told him but shrugged it off as we ran up the stairs to the roof.
"So what should we do on the roof ?" Takashi asked as we ran up the stairs
"We wait until things calmed down or when its safe for us to move." Hisashi said
Takashi was just about to argue when Rei interrupted him.
"Don't argue Takashi, Hisashi is always right"
That looked like it hurt him a bit but it stopped him from arguing but it didn't stop me.
"And what do we do if we can't get out of the schoool and have to stay on the roof, what happens if we don't have food and water and how should we escape if its too dangerous ?" I asked poking holes in his plan.
"I'll think of something when that happens." Was Hisashi's only reply.
"Oh that's just a brilliant idea I mean its not like there are people out to kill us or its not like we might stay on the rooftop for days, hell staying on a rooftop without an escape route and without food or water what could be better?" I said sarcastically, earning a glare from Rei.
We reached the rooftop and saw a teacher we all recognized as our modern japanese teacher.
"Mr.Wakisaka!" Rei said as she saw her old teacher.
"Looks like his trying to stop us." Hishasi said
The teacher lunged at Rei and she jumped back as Hisashi yelled at her to stab him. She stabbed him straight in the heart but he was unaffected by it.
"No way, how's that possible, I stabbed him in his heart" Rei said as the teacher continued to lunge at her closing the distance between them.
"Rei!" Hisashi yelled as Rei was grabbed by the teacher. He rushed in and pulled the teacher away from her by by holding his head in a lock.
"Hishashi!" Takashi yelled out to his friend
"Don't worry I can take him" Hishasi said while he struggled with the teacher. But then the teacher turned his head completely around.
"Impossible!" Hisashi said as he struggled against him.
The teacher then bit Hisashi on his arm, getting a strong grip with his teeth.
"Aaarghh!!" Hisashi yelled in pain as he was being bitten.
"Let go of Hisashi!" Rei yelled as she and Takashi tried to pull the teacher off from Hisashi.
"Takashi hit the teacher with this!" I yelled as I gave him his bat.
"Aim for the head!" I yelled as Takashi took the bat and began swinging.
"Aaaaaaaaaghhhhh!" Takashi yelled as he hit the teacher against the head with the bat causing blood and pieces of brain to spray against the wall.
"Are you ok!" Rei asked Hisashi as he was grabbing his arm in pain.
"I'm fine, just a scratch" He said as he tended to the wound. Takashi came to me and said:
"Thanks Akito, but how did you know to aim for the head ?"
"I didn't, wanted to test a theory and it looks like I was correct. Takashi this is just like the zombies in the movies, the only way to kill 'them' is to destroy their brains. And if they bite you you'll turn into one of 'them'. What I mean to say is that Hisashi is going to turn." I said softly so that Rei couldn't hear me.
"I know but we can't tell Rei she'll flip and call us liars and come up with stupid excuses." Takashi said as he looked at Rei.
"Well she'll find out one way or the other but right now we gotta move." I said as I walked further up to the roof. I was then joined by the rest of the group.
"We could use the observatory to hide." I said as I pointed to the observatory.
"Good idea there's only one problem." Takashi said as we looked across the roof to see a large amount of 'them' on the roof
"You know I didn't even notice them, thanks for reminding me." I said sarcastically at Takashi, while trying to count the numbet of zombies on the roof
"How are we going to get there." Rei said as she held Hiashi's hand tightly.
"We run and we don't stop until we reach the observatory and we cover each other." Takashi said as the whole team nodded in response.
"We'll then let's go, I'm not about to be turned into a zombie happy meal." I said trying to lighten the mood in the group. I'm no comedian and I use sarcasm to mainly poke holes in other peoples opinions and ideas or to poke holes in their self-esteem and to make small jokes but that's in in the humor department. Other than that I'm an extremely quiet 16, nearly 17 year old teenager who has a habit of saying what he thinks out loud, I was born with photographic memory and I'm bigger than most Japanese guys my age, mainly because I'm not Japanese. Which made me the odd one out practically everywhere I went and also caused me to be picked on at school, until at the beginning of middle school where I fought back against my bullies and also helped others who were bullied. The mocking and insults from others didn't bother me but my "friends" who gossiped and mocked me behind my back did, which in turn caused me to have trust issues. Takashi and Rei were some of the few people I trusted and even that took a while.
As we scanned the rooftop to see how many of the there were Takashi asked:
"You guys ready ?"
"Yup."
"Jip."
I was silent but I nodded to signal I was ready as I pulled out my knives and held them into position.
"Go!" Takashi yelled and then we bolted across the rooftop. Rei and Takashi were knocking them away from the group while Hisashi just kept running and I was busy running and stabbing some of 'them' who came in my way.
As we made our way up the steps to the observatory Rei turned around to stab one of 'them' coming up the steps. She stabbed it in the chest hoping to knock it down but instead it grabbed hold of the broomstick and shoved her against the wall and lunged at her.
"Rei!" Hisashi yelled while he grabbed Takashi's bat and destroyed the thing's head with the bat.
"Thanks." Rei said as Hisashi helped her up.
"We need stuff to barricade the steps go inside the observatory and find some stuff we can use." I said to Rei and Hisashi as Takashi and I stood guard, keeping 'them' away from the observatory.
"We got tables, chairs and rope will this do?" Rei asked as she and Hisashi came out of the observatory with the items.
"Sure just cover me while I build the barricade." I said as I started building the barricade.
"Where did you learn how to build barricades like this and why did your dad teach how to fight with weapons ?" Takashi asked as he stood and watch me build the barricade
"My great-grandfather was a US soldier who served in WW1 and WW2. My grandfather was a US Marine , my father was a U.S army Ranger now retired, one of my uncles is a Delta Force Captain, my other uncle is a U.S Navy Seal . My great-grandfather taught my grandfather how to shoot and fight and he in turn taught my father and uncles everything he was taught, and they taught me and my brother everything from their training and the training from my grandfather and great-grandfather. So basically my brother and I are trained as Marines, Navy Seals, Delta Force operatives and as Rangers. They also told us what it feels like to kill someone and taught me how to deal with the stress after doing it, seeing as I wanted to join the army after highschool. My brother and I were taught how to fight, how to survive,first aid, how to hunt and build a shelter, how to look for and purify water and how to build traps and barricades. As for why they taught me and Hikato, well I think they wanted us to be prepared, my parents are those clasical American prepare for doomsday type of people, or they wanted us to be ready in case we follow their footsteps and join the army. Hikato enlisted last year as a Marine. He moved from Japan to America to become one. By the way he told me to tell you that he's here for you in spirit, you know with the rough time your having "
"Thanks but wait but you and Hikato are white and your father is American ? Why do you have Japanese names and surnames? " Takashi asked still trying to puzzle out my family background.
" My mom is white but was adopted and raised in Japan, she taught me how to fight with swords, spears, sticks and oddly enough rocks. She apparently was always the odd one out in her family's dojo because she didn't like to fight with a katana but with a variety of other weapons. My aunt is more of a gun nut so instead of learning to fight with swords she learned to shoot. She's now a seargent in the SAT. And about the japanese surname...my dad insisted that I have a japanese surname, he changed his surname to my mother's to fit in here. So that's why I'm taller and a lot bigger built than normal Japanese guys or did you not notice my height compared to yours?" I said completing my weird family tree.
"Wow remind me never to fuck with you or with Hikato and no I did not notice it. Besides your not that much taller than me." Takashi said laughing as he helped with the last piece of the barricade.
"I'm good, but I'm not invincible, if it comes down to a life or death fight I'll probally use Krav Megra, and the fact still remains I'm taller than you." I said jokingly.
"Wait you know Krav Maga?."
"Jip its a lot better karate. My dad taught me boxing and got a friend who was a black belt in Krav Megra to teach me."
We just finished with the barricade when Hisashi started coughing. I turned around to see him turning paler and paler.
"Its not looking good" I said to Takashi.
He just looked silently at what was happening.
"Looks like it is just like in the movies, once you get bit you change." Hisashi said while sitting against the railing.
"Its not a movie,those stuff only happens in movies" Rei said trying to help Hisashi.
"It might as well be a movie...Takashi help me."
Hisashi said as he looked at Takashi.
"What do you want me to do?" Takashi asked but I knew what he was going to ask and Takashi knew to.
"Help me over the edge, the fall should crack my head open" Hisashi asked now looking worse than before.
"What? No Takashi you can't." Rei looked at Takashi almost begging him not to do it
"I don't want to be one of them!!!" Hisashi yelled out as he started coughing blood.
"I want to die as myself." He said and gave one massive cough, blood spilling out of his mouth before falling on his back and then he stopped breathing.
"Goodbye Hisashi, I'm sorry things turned the way the did between us." I said softly making my peace with him before he died.
"Hisashi!!!" Rei screamed as she held him in her arms, her tears running off her cheeks.
"Takashi you know what's going to happen do you want me to do it or do you" I asked him quietly so that Rei couldn't hear.
"I'll do it" Takashi said as he picked up his bat. He paused for a bit before.
"Rei get away from him now."
"What no he's not dead!" Rei yelled in protest.
Takashi looked at me and I stood up and walked over to Rei. Hisashi started to move.
"Look see Hisashi is fine he'll be ok." Rei said still argueing her case.
I grabbed her and pulled her away from Hisashi just before he could bite her but he nearly got me in the process.
"What are you doing let me go!" she yelled as she kicked and screemed in my arms.
"I'm sorry but I can't do that" I said as I held her back.
Hisashi stood up and Takashi tightend his grib in the bat
"No don't do it." Rei yelled as Takashi started to prepare himself.
"This is all just so fucked up its ridiculous. And yet its happening. Its happening!!" Takashi yelled as he charged at Hisashi and smashed the bat against his head completely destroying it in the proses. The body fell to the ground. Rei was in utter disbelieve. I let her go and took a white sheet and threw it over Hisashi. I was angry at Hisashi but I never wanted this to happen.
Rei cried for a few minutes before lashing out at Takashi.
"Why, why did you do it?" She asked in a low voice. I knew what was coming now.
"He would've bitten you if I didn't" Takashi answerd back in a low near silent voice.
"I didn't want you to save me. I would've gladly died with him and turned into one of them!!"
" I don't think Hisashi would want that." Takashi said looking down at his dead friend.
"And what would you know? I see what its about, you hated Hisashi, you hated him because he had me and you didn't! That's why you did it isn't it." She said with a smirk on her face. At this point I had it. I had it with her breaking down my best friend and treating him like crap and now she's doing it just after he had to kill one of his best friends.
"Would you shut the fuck up you irritating selfish, bitch" I said in a low almost growl like voice. She and Takashi were shocked. Takashi never saw me this angry before.
"I've had it up to here with you making if everything is about you. If you were bitten so fucking what if you and Hisasihi would be together I couldn't care less if you were bitten and turned into one of them, but you didn't stop to concider our safety did you? You didn't think that we couldn't handle killing you and Hisashi? No you didn't because you don't care about anyone but yourself, the world rotates around you and nothing else. Well let me bring you back to reality, as of right now the world is fucked. People are going to die and there's not a damn thing you can do to change it. Hisashi is dead and nothing will change that so get that into your fucking skull. He died because he was bitten not because Takashi did what he had to do to keep us save. Now if you want to die and be with your dead prince charming go ahead jump off the fucking railing and fall to your death. But before you do, let me make my last point clear. Hisashi was still in Takashi's eyes one of his best friends despite the shit he did with you. You watched your boyfriend die, but imagine what Takashi is going through, he just had to kill someone who was like a brother to him so keep thinking you have it rough, put yourself in his shoos. Now go fuck off and die for all I care."
I finished my speech wishing I didn't say all the things I did but that's wat I felt. I noticed Takashi standing up and walking to the barricade I stood up and joined him. He began loostening the rope.
"Takashi, Akito what are you doing ?" Rei asked in a scared voice.
Seeing as I'm disturbing you I'm leaving and going to bash some heads in, Akito you in?" Takashi said as I just nodded in agreement.
"Wait but you'll get killed if you go out there!"
"Don't start pretending to care now." Was my reply as I helped Takashi.
Suddenly Rei jumped onto Takashi and started begging him to stay.
"I'm sorry I didn't mean it please don't leave me alone, I really didn't mean what I said please don't leave me!" She cried as Takashi stopped working on the barricade and held her in a hug letting her cry. I stepped away and repaired the barricade. And then walked away and went into the obesrvatory to let them have their time alone.