Last Day of Normal

Helltanz's notes: I started this while MP was on hiatus. It began initially out of a thought exercise on another forum. So before we start this story is a result of getting prompted to write based on a scenario posited on another forum. Just so thats clear. The scenario in question was being stuck in HSoD (which at the time I hadn't read, and knew very little about other than it involved a zombie apocalypse) and asked what would you pack if you had a vehicle choice (there were three base options given a humvee, an APC, and a Huey), and 5 duffle bags to pack in plus your choice of two guns (with ammo packed in the back of your vehicle). Thats what the scenario was So in a way you can see this as a self insert.

So this new fic, and its a little different than my usual fare. Its going to be largely told in first person (unless I go back and reformat it into my usual Omniscient 3rd Person point of view). I don't really know how keen I am on doing this in first person. If you want to see my attempt at original zombie apocalypse, check in sometime on my fictionpress account (same pen name) and see how you like ADZ.

- divider-

Disclaimer: I do not own High School of the Dead. This particular bit of writing is the result of a prompt on another website, and thus may also borrow elements from other works. At the time of my writing this disclaimer this is not a crossover. Later down the road depending on what direction this takes it might develop into one, and it might not.

-scene break-

If I'd have known yesterday would have been the last normal day of my life I might have gone out and enjoyed myself more. It was supposed to be just another hypothetical situation. I wasn't actually supposed to end up, somehow, in the middle of the day in somewhere that was very clearly not my home town... or anywhere that I recognized for that matter. I also shouldn't have been loaded down like I was.

I might have taken the time to really look around, definitely would have in any other situation, had it not been for what I had termed at one point in discussion as a [an almost] 'ideal choice for zombie survival vehicle' [of the options available]... and five duffle bags to the side of it. A quick check of one of the bags showed a familiar well worn FAL para rifle inside it.

That was about when this little 'hypothetical discussion' came back to me. I took a half step. Yeah either this was a hellaciously realistic dream or this was going to be all kinds of fucked up. The vehicle in question was the ASLAV 25. It was basically the Aussie version, with appropriate tweaks to handle their needs, of the Corp's LAV 25. In short it could seat nine people, and was thirteen odd tons of armor and guns. I was too busy poking through the bags, and trying to figure out what to do with it all when the screaming started. It took me a good minute to filter through the Japanese. At this point I wasn't even questioning why I'd suddenly become, at least semi, fluent in a language my grasp on had always been broken, at best, on.

So in ten minutes, and as soon as I peaked around the corner, I'd figured out a few very important things. The first obviously was I was stuck, for the forseeable future, in Japan, and I had already seem my first zombie... Definitely a zombie given the mass of ruptured tissue and nasty gash on the arm from probably getting popped by a low speed collision with a car's grill. There were four people on the other side of the gate, and a zombie on the other side, just one, but that was all it had taken.

The man, whose name I would later learn was Teshima, had stuck his hand through the gate and grabbed the zombie on the other side. As a result he got bit, and well it spiraled from there. Of the four teachers who had come to the gate, Teshima and the female teacher got turned flat out, and well the other two teachers panicked but they'd probably gotten bit as well. That was the problem they'd run off... no doubt to call the police about the gun wielding Gaijin than the zombies, because really... not that it mattered. The gate was secure I pulled the nine millimeter handgun from its drop leg holster leveled and squeezed. At condition zero the gun discharged.

The spent brass rolled along the ground and ended a few feet away from what was I guess now my amphibious vehicle. The zombie who had been named Teshima slammed futilely against the gate, as did the other one. Noise, obviously but I couldn't tell if they could actually see me. I glanced back at the other corpse, which wasn't moving, which I took to be a good sign. Two more pieces of brass went across the black top.

At least the one good thing about this was for planning a hypothetical scenario I had a lot of stuff of course most of my plans had dealt with being stuck somewhere in the states. I hadn't really been prepared for actually having to work off my hypothetical response in some city in Japan that I knew next to nothing about. It didn't give me a whole lot of options. I bent down, pulled a folding knife out of my pocket, and cut the identification tags off my duffle bags, stuffing them in my interior pocket of the jacket I was wearing.

I stood back up and eyed the dead zombies on the ground. One outside, and two inside the gate. I didn't pretend to be an expert on schools but this one was big. It might not have been the brightest decision, but after a moment of hemming and hawwing I started hefting the dufflebags up onto the top of the ASLAV. I didn't see any other zombies coming, and there had to be a way to open the gate from the inside, so the best idea I had was to hop it and figure it out.

Actually clambering over the gate was a bit more difficult. Then again I probably should have tossed my back pack over first, instead of climbing over. I'd stowed most of my, what I was terming, extra miscelaneous gear in, or on the turret of, the ASLAV. It took longer than I expected to tell the truth, and it was precious time I wasn't really sure I had to waste. In hindsight he recalled that simply ramming the gate might have been a better idea. Closing the gate was a lot easier, of course by the time all that was done their was more screaming and shouting coming in from the school.

There were probably two zombie teachers, plus whomever they've bit. I don't even know what I'm doing, because there is a small rational part telling me I'm being a moron. The ASLAV's rear compartment was, as I had noted, loaded with 308 and 9mm ammo, and I'd found the five extra large duffle bags worth of supplies that I'd painstaking planned out...

So thus here I was with that, and I'm doing this stupid thing and rushing in. I don't know anything about the building I'm going into, just like I don't know anything about the city I was in.

In the, what should have stayed, hypothetical you got a choice of a vehicle, two guns with ammo for them filling the vehicle, and five bags you could back with whatever for supplies. Of the two guns I'd picked I'd left the rifle in the ASLAV.

The second gun I'd pickedwas an HK MP5K-PDW. I considered it a fairly ideal choice. Its side folding stock already set, and the gun itself set on its sling it was just waiting to be used. The zombies were in the school, and that was the problem I was facing.

From the screaming and shouting, and the general panic that seemed to be setting in I could figure that the zombies were already in the school. One kid had already ran down the stairs, and out the building, and there were a couple more running. Without an idea about the layout of the place I had no idea what that meant, which I found myself hauling another student up to his feet.

People in a panic don't tend to notice a whole lot. Even if there weren't a whole lot of people running, they were too scared to notice much else beside what was right in front of them. They also didn't care if they ran anyone over. A panicked group of people was not something you wanted to stand in front of. Trampling was not a quick death normally.

I really needed to figure out where to go, and well, the nurses office was probably the best place to start. I could have just ran through looking for zombies to kill, but even at that moment I knew that was stupid. Running inside the building might have been impulsive, but I couldn't think of anything better at least trying.

-scene break-

The kid hadn't really known much, and there hadn't been much I could tell him. He'd probably been a freshman, or a sophmore. I didn't even know where to tell him to run to. The only good advice I was able to give was to find somewhere he could barricade himself in and be quiet. I probably should have told him to get a baseball bat or something to. After that I moved. The zed responded to noise, and if I wasn't careful they'd probably focus in on my gunshots because I was probably making a lot of noise, even relatively to the panicing students, as a I made my way through the halls of the school. The MP5K was just heavy enough that recoil wasn't a problem, but with a full set of gear I kind of needed to pace my breathing just in case I did suddenly need to run like hell. Still the undead were THE issue, and even being reasonably quiet the gunshots were still going to make plenty of noise, still every little bit helped I supposed. On the plus side the zombies were pretty much limitted in numbers.

I'd put together a semi clear picture of what must have happened. Shooting Zombie Teshima, and the ping poing club's advisor, as I found out later, had probably meant there had only been two. At least one of them had run into the reception, or whatever, and if I was to guess the other had run to warn, or get another teacher. One of them had gotten bit on the arm or at least that was my guess from the bloodstain on the hall's wall.

Obviously at some point he must have bit another teacher, or student and that'd spread to the floor in question.

Given that it had taken me a couple minutes to hop the fence, another couple to get the gate open, and then time to drive the ASLAV in, park it out of sight, and close the gate. Less than an hour obviously so I, it wasn't like I had colossally screwed up. The school wasn't lost, yet, but it was big. There was the chance Zombies had gotten loose in multiple buildings... that would be a mess.

I stopped, looked around, and wondered, again, just what I was doing. If the zombies were loose, and with as much shooting as I'd done that was clearly the case I needed to find somebody who knew the town and get out of here. Telling as many people to hole up somewhere safe would only accomplish so much.

The damn first floor of the school seemed pretty much gone. I paused there was a heavy thump from outside the door as I made my way up the stairs. At least someone was fighting back. I shouldered the submachine gun. I knew it was still on semi auto, but I checked anyway. Obviously wasting ammo might not have been that big of a concern but noise and accuracy were. An entire classroom worth of Zed would eat me alive in this much tight space so I couldn't afford to get boxed in. I caught my first sights as I entered the second floor hallway.

It was certainly apparent the zombies spread at a geometric rate. That being obvious there also weren't that many up here. I slotted the fresh magazine into the HK. Six, seven zed at least maybe more in one, or more, of the rooms. Once I'd started shooting they'd probably prioritize me. I probably also hadn't cleared all the ones on the ground floor, that was another thing to consider. Either way there wasn't much choice, sure I'd packed plenty of blades, in my bags mainly, but I'd prefer to avoid such close encounters.

Busujima Saeko, whose name I found out after I stopped shooting, had heard the gun shots before ever seeing me. You'd have to have been deaf not to. I hadn't bothered using the suppressor. I was planning to save it, and the limited subsonic ammo I had for when I needed it. At the same time I didn't want to start shooting with her in close proximity.

Ooh this was stupid, less stupid than deciding to rush into the school I knew zombies were in but the point stood. "Hey get into a room without zombies," At least that was what I was hoping I had said in Japanese. I turned the gun towards the zeds near window and squeezed, three rounds. That was bad a major violation of the gun safety that had been beaten into my head, but there hadn't been much choice.

At least I had the zombies attention. I went for the ones away from her, hopefully she'd do the smart thing and stay out of the way. I was angling my fire so any stray shots would still go out a window, but even so I wouldn't have that option for long. Still the remaining four zombies wasn't much, not at this range, but that wasn't saying much.

I'd probably drastically underestimated the spread. I could see ones walking across the courtyard no doubt attracted by the multiple gunshots. I doubled tapped the last zombie, and then reloaded, "Uh hi," I could reload a fully empty pair magazines in two or so minutes because I hadn't fully expended them I just needed a minute to sit down. I checked my watch, I'd started it after I'd seen the first zombie. 1 hour 15 minutes. I looked back to the courtyard, what was I gonna say you're good at using that stick to wail on zombies I have this bag full of nice toys out on my armored vehicle... yeah right talk about stupid introductions. "Might want to keep moving, there are a lot more of those things than I figured."

I hadn't realized, comprehended that this was such a big school. I had visibly seen that it was large, but I guess just seeing wasn't enough. One of the zombies, just one was needed to spread it into one of the other building... damn it all. I needed to find that quiet place. What I needed to go ahead an reload those magazines.

Introductions turned out to be a simple affair. The outbreak of the zombie apocalypse didn't really give you time for talking about what you liked to do on Sundays or whatever. I'd brought pretty much everything I could think of, and most of it I'd left strapped to the external cargo racks on the turret. I looked around, "So to the nurse's office?"

"This way," She gestured, and I nodded casting a glance towards the freshly barricaded stairs that lead back down to the first floor before following her towards the nurse's office. Neither of us had said why we were going there, and really it could have been anything. If she hadn't demonstrated how good she was with the wooden sword she had I'd have been inclined to try and offer her some other weapon.

I was telling myself I was going to the nurse's station because this would probably be the only option to grab as much medical supplies as possible soon given that hospitals and pharmacies would be over run quickly... the school certainly seemed to be going that way quickly enough. I kind of doubted though she had the same idea. It wasn't like I was going to ask though.

Killing the zombies on the second floor seemed to have stopped the spread... for the moment at least of course that didn't mean much what with the zeds crawling around the ground floor, and probably in the other buildings. I looked back down at the H&K a little paranoid tic just checking over it again. I hadn't stopped the infestation, and I stopped, "Does the school have a PA system?" It was a stupid question of course it did, but the real question, and I didn't even know why I was asking, was could it be used.

If an armed contingent, even maybe just baseball bats and sticks, of students could barricade themselves safely on the upper floors... if they could do that and the rest of the zombies were lured back to the ground floor then the school might be able to be salvaged. It was a big if... oh certainly I could probably provoke the zombies to chasing, following the sound of the gunshots, but expecting these people to get organized without much prompting... that was the if that was the question. The school was gated it was a good first defense, and it was multi storied, and maybe they could make it, it was a better chance than leaving without saying anything at all.

I tried to explain it, and it might work. Might, and that was better than no chance at all. Maybe that was all that I need to do, because I wasn't going to stay here. I glanced at Saeko, I wondered if she actually had a plan. In truth I should have had a better plan. I was the one who had gotten the for warning, and the time to prepare, and dropped smack in the middle of Japan with all my supplies.

I hadn't been planning on Japan though. All the plans I had mainly revolved on first hand experience off my surroundings. Survive was the name of the game... the game. I glanced back at my watch. This was not a good start. It was less than an hour and a half in and I was... Adapt and overcome, but first improvise. So I guess that was precisely what I needed to do, improvise with what I had and adapt being in Japan as opposed to America.

True things were different than I'd planned but I still had my supplies. Improvise long enough to adapt to the change and then... I kept walking even as I glanced out the window. I should have brought the rifles. Making the shot to the ground with the nine millimeter, making the head shot reliably totally not something that was going to happen. I shook my head, should have brought the rifle. Shooting something that was on the ground not going to work well, not from this angle.

I half looked around. Maybe the school could be salvaged, maybe not. I wasn't going to stay here though, "so whats your plan?"

"The nurse has access to a car," She said after a minute, "and she's an adult who'll know how to drive so," Her plan was to get with the Nurse and get out of the area, made sense.

Right Japan, like Europe wasn't like the states when it came to driving laws. These people didn't get their license as early as in the states. I made a half grunt, probably rude sounding, but in the situation she didn't comment on it, "Well that is an option I guess." I wasn't going to volunteer that I had wheels already. Another half grunt, and looked towards the sign.

"What about you... you're prepared." That would totally have come off sounding accusatory in any Indo European language. Hell it sound close enough to a compliment in Japanese except for in this case prepared meant ready for the end of civilization.

I shook my head side to side just a little in a kind of yeah well gesture. It was a distinctly western gesture, or at least as far as I'd guess it was. Then again she seemed to understand well enough. I checked my watch again, damn I was getting paranoid about doing that. "We need to hurry." I said tapping the digital display.

She nodded in response, and let my lack of a response pass. I looked down the hallway. A sign read Nurse on it, well there it was I adjusted the position of the stock where it was resting against my shoulder. Saeko didn't need to make such adjustments with her wooden sword. Not that there looked like there were any more zombies-

A scream from inside cut that line of thinking off. The zombie was already dead when we got inside the office. It'd just been one, and the sophmore had apparently busted an IV tree onto the Zed's head, so good on him. Definitely good on him considering I hadn't brought any of the extra goodies with me. I'd need to dig those out at the first opportunity. I bobbed my head a little in the direction of the zombie, "Hey Saeko you mind hitting him- it in the head, just to be sure" I could have shot it, but we really didn't need to be making any more noise than absolutely necessary.

I looked around as they started talking. I moved over to the medical supplies. True I had packed what I could during the time I had to prep, but I wasn't going to pass up more supplies when they presented themselves. I reached around and pulled open the tote bag I had brought with me, that had been packed inside one of the duffle bags. Clean bandages were really something to try and stock up on, as was stuff like advil or generic stuff like APC tablets.

The nurse, and Saeko were having some rapid fire discussion of the best way to get away from the school.

The final consensus was we needed to go to the teacher's lounge, which was were the nurse's keys were. I told them up front once we got the keys I'd meet them in the parking lot. Ishi, the sophmore who'd brained the zombie with the IV tree, objected a bit to that.

Telling them my ride was a multi ton armored vehicle... well running around with a bunch of guns in Japan was one thing... a very odd thing but this was crises so that could be presumably hand wave... better to wait. "Look kid all you've got to do is follow her, and whoever else to the buses." I clapped a hand on his shoulder "I will meet you there," At his look I laid it out, "I've got a ride, I'll drive it around, but I've got to be able to move quickly... now come on." It wasn't like I was trying to ditch them, they knew this town, and I needed to be with someone who did.

We moved down the hallway heading towards the teacher's lounge... geez a lot of these kids were gonna get eaten it seemed so pathetic. These kids the ones who were just milling about in their classrooms... geez there were zombies yeah, but there were gunshots. Some of them at least , like the ones from the first floor,were demonstrating the good sense to run, whether it was to hide in some other room or on the roof, or wherever.

As it turned out the nurse did have a car. Just not one with enough space to carry her, Saeko, and Ishi all together. Ishi has some stupid idea of staying behind, and then riding with me... if its alright of course he added a minute later eying the black metal military issue HK.

I figured he probably was thinking that I had some big muscle car, like a thunderbird, or maybe a gigantic ford escalade. Americans all drive Sports Cars or SUVs right? I mean thats the stereotype, and well I did drive an SUV back home. A tiny car wasn't really ideal for getting around in this situation... especially not the one the Nurse was describing... cars weren't my thing, but what she was talking about sounded something like what Scott wanted.

Either way getting through the hallway had lead to other students, and well...

... it was a serious fucking nail gun. The kid was using a nail gun to kill zombies. I wasn't even going to comment on the home built stock. "Look lets just get to the teacher's lounge," I grunted, there was some murmuring as Saeko helped the chick who introduced herself as Takagi (Saya) up. Getting into the teacher's lounge wasn't a big problem.

"We should stay together."

I shrugged, "Okay, and then what. I could give you a lift to the minbus out there," I said gesturing to the parking lot, "its not going to be comfortable though." There was a general consensus that it couldn't be any worse than this. After all what were the other options I run off on my own to the 'car', and they run all the way to the parking lot on foot while I drive that way.

I didn't see a PA system, so telling everybody else in the school to do something wasn't going to work... well it had just been an idea to begin with. I really didn't think trying to shoot my way to the office, or where ever the intercom was, was going to work either.

"Lets catch our breath here, and then we'll figure out what to do alright?"

The kid who'd introduced himself as Takashi agreed, "I guess that'll work," He had a baseball bat, and the girl he was with had... what I thought might have been a mop maybe with the mop head taken off.

I moved over to the window, it wasn't like there was anything else to do until they were ready. The kind of chubby kid glanced at my guns. "Those are -" His eyes kind of widened, he focused in on the SMG cradled in my arms "THATS THE HK MP5K PDW," He exclaimed.

Oh boy what I had gotten myself into.

-scene break-