Author's note: As you saw by the summary, this'll be my version of Highschool of the Dead with my own characters thrown in and my take on the events of H.O.T.D, and I will typically be using the same names for the chapters. If you don't like it, don't read it, so on and so forth. I don't own the series, yadda yadda, yadda, and there will be lemons later on, so you are warned. Oh, and I'm gonna start when Takashi goes and gets Rei from the classroom, sense that's were things really start acting out differently; also, I'll be skipping the switch overs to the other characters, because they play out just the same.
Chapter 1: Spring of the DEAD
"H-hey! Were do you think you're going, Komuro!" yet another teacher yelled as Takashi ran right past him in the halls; he didn't have time to deal with anyone at the moment, having one thing on his mind.
Finally at his destination, Takashi tore open the door of class 2-B, making every one jump and turn to see who it was; Takashi was already walking straight to Rei, who, as soon as she realized who it was, jumped from her seat.
"Skipping class again, Komuro? Is it not enough for you, so you now have to disrupt other student's class time?" the teacher asked, bitterly, and continued talk, lecturing Takashi without really doing anything; Takashi ignored him though as he approached Rei.
"W-what are you doing here!" she gasped, backing away a few steps before Takashi grabbed her arm, preventing her from continuing. "W-what the hell, Takashi?"
"We need to leave" he said simply, holding her firmly and looking straight in her eyes with a serious look, giving most people the wrong idea, the murmurs of 'love confessions' floating around the room, also ignored by Takashi.
"Wait, wait...what's going on, Komuro-senpai?" a student suddently asked, standing from his seat. "This really isn't the time for a confression..."
"It's nothing like that, Himoura-san!" Takashi bit back, suddenly realizing something; this guy, Kaede Himoura, would be a big help if he brought him along, remembering the incident he had just witnessed, and the fact that he and Rei were suppose to be dating, which would help him get Rei out of there, so he lowed his voice to a whisper. "Listen...we need to get out of here; there...there was a murder at the gate...some criminals or something got into the school..."
"A-are you serious!" Kaede gasped out, not able to keep his voice down at the information. "You should tell somebody then-"
"No, I'm sure the school authorities already know...I just wanna get Rei outta here..." Takashi said, earning a nod from Kaede.
"What are you two talking about! Don't keep your explanations from me!" Rei growled, yanking her arm from Takashi's grip. "Tell me what's going on!"
"I-it doesn't matter right now, Rei...we need to get out of here though...come on, we'll tell you on the way" Kaede said, placing his hand on Rei's shoulder, calming her down a bit, even if just the slightest, preventing any intervention from Takashi.
Reluctantly, Rei nodded, giving Takashi a frown before she and Kaede followed him out of the class, the teacher sighing, not even bothering to call anyone and simply continued with his lesson...
The trio had been walking quickly through the halls, Takashi explaining the situation again without telling them any...unnessiary details, as he thought they were at the time, sence he didn't know what was going on himself.
"Well, if what you say is true..." Kaede said, looking around and spotting the janitor's locker, walking towards it and opened one of them, picking out a baseball bat from inside inside and handed it too Takashi. "We'll need weapons, just in case we run into the killer, right?"
Takashi nodded and watched as he twisted off the handle of a broom and handed it to Rei, the end jagged because of how he twisted it off.
"What about you?" Rei asked, taking the broom handle with nervous hands, knowing something just wasn't right, especially how Takashi was acting, and it was more than just a murder getting into the school; she didn't quite notice Kaede picking the lock of the other locker.
"What are you-?" Takashi started as he watched Kaede get the lock open and opened the locker.
"Don't worry, I'll use this~" Kaede said, obviously pleased with himself as he pulled a katana in a silk sheet used to carry swords from the locker, slipping the sword from the sheet; it wasn't anything special, a contest sword with a squared guard and a slightly longer than average hilt.
"W-what the hell? Why's that here?" Takashi asked, Rei thinking the same thing.
"The kendo teacher keeps it here, for special matches we have from time to time" Kaede said, leaving the sheets in the locker and closed it, sliding the katana into his belt. "I don't think he'll mind me using it, right?"
"How did you know it was there?" Takashi asked as he motioned him and Rei to start walking again.
"Don't worry about the little details...more importantly, were are we heading?" Kaede replied with a wave of his hand as they walked at a quickened pace.
"Well..." Takashi said, thinking; he hadn't even thought of that to begin with. "I'm...not sure were we should go..."
"We should call the police first" Rei suddenly interjected, having enough of being more or less ignored by the two males. "Don't you think that would a better thing to do than arming ourselves...?"
"Good point, I guess. Here, try it" Takashi said, eyeing the sword at Kaede's side, still wondering how Kaede knew of such a thing being in the school and wondering if following Kaede's advice on arming themselves; Keade noticed Takashi's glances and shrugged sheepishly. "She's right, you know..."
"Spur of the moment thing...and you can't tell me you weren't thinking the same thing, arming ourselves before we run into the murders or whatever..." Kaede replied with a frown, like Rei feeling that there was a little more to the situation than some criminals breaking into the school; wouldn't tere have been an announcment or something by now?
The two had looked over at Rei, noticing she had been quite for so long to be calling the police.
"This is a recording. We at the emergency 110 line are held up in an emergency at the moment. If after calling again and we still can't receive your call, then hang u and try again later" was barely able to be heard by Takashi and Kaede.
"Just what is...going on...?" Kaede asked, his question not directed to anyone specifically as he looked at Rei's wide eyed face, and Takashi's contracted face.
"Damnit...we-" Takashi started, just to be cut off by an announcement over the intercom.
"Attention all students and teachers! There has been a violent conflict at the school gates. However, the police are on their way, so students, please stay with your teachers and follow their instructions, and please, remain calm. I repeat, there has been..."
"This just keeps getting better and better..." Kaede muttered, the confused murmurings through the classes being heard in the halls. "We'd...better get going..."
Kaede spoke just in time, the panic starting to set in on the students, Takashi, Rei and Kaede continuing down the halls; as they made their way to the next building, the announcement turned from bad to worse, something happening to the announcer.
I repeat, there has been a violent struggle-AAAGGGGGHHHHH!" The announcement was suddenly cut off by a blood curling scream, stopping Rei, Takashi, and Kaede in their tracks, and making every student and teacher in the school stare at the intercom, stunned silent. "I-it hurts! Stop! N-no! Some one help me!"
"Was...that for real just now...?" Rei asked, staring up at the intercom as the transmission was cut off.
"I-it seems so..." Kaede said, looking to Takashi for some sort of explanation, but none came, which was somewhat expected.
"We need to get moving; let's go to the roof for now...see if we can see anything from there..." Takashi said as he began running towards the stairs, screams and other sounds of panic sounding from the classrooms, soon spilling into the halls as they neared the stairs.
They were suddently stopped, however, as a teacher limped into veir, his head bowed.
"That's...Wakisaka-sensei, the current events teacher...?" Rei said as they stopped. "Is he gonna try stopping us...?"
The teacher then stopped and raised his head with some effort, and seemed to look straight at them, an inhuman grown coming from his bloodied mouth.
"S-shit! Run!" Takashi yelled, Rei gasping and running first, followed by Kaede, who's hand was on his sword, not knowing enough to draw it yet, and Takashi, the bat ready in his hands, ready to use it but also not quite ready to attack the teacher.
That changed when he whipped around towards Rei and reached for her, Kaede and Takashi not quite close enough to protect her.
"Hey! Wakisaka! over here!" Takashi cried, but to no avail, the teacher reaching for her. "Rei!"
With Takashi's warning, Rei spun around and preared her makeshift spear, her eyes narrow and void of any hesitation.
"Don't underestimate a member of the sou-jitsu club!" Rei yelled as she thrust the jagged end of the broom handle through the teacher's chest, peircing his heart with ease, lifting him off his feet for a second even.
However, that didn't spot the teacher one bit; as soon as he got his footing, he tried reaching for Rei, her spear holding him just far enough that his hands couldn't reach her. Being too concentrated on keeping him at bay, Rei couldn't do much else, and the spear was sinking further into the teacher's body, so, Kaede stepped up, putting Wakisaka in a tight head lock, still not prepared to use the sword on anybody.
"Pull it out, Rei!" Kaede said, holding the teacher still as Rei stood, pulling her spear back.
"N-no! Kaede, get away from him!" Takashi yelled, Kaede looking back to reassure him he could hold him when the teacher began forcing his head around, Kaede quickly turning and grabbing his head, his strength being to great for a human. "H-he's not normal! GET AWAY!"
"D-damnit!" Kaede yelled, there being a snap of the teacher's neck as he turned far enough and snapped at Kaede's arm; Rei closed her eyes so she wouldn't have to look, only to open them to the sound of a fist coming in contact with flesh.
Kaede had let go of Wakisaka just in time, his jaws only catching his gakuran and ripping the sleeve as he pulled back; needing no other incentive, Rei tried again with her spear, stabbing him through the side as Kaede stumbled back, even surprised himself that he dodged the bite. However, the attack didn't do much like before, and he tried twisting around towards Rei again, the spear preventing him from turning around completly.
Takashi took this chance, and swung the bat, full force, down on Wakisaka's head, crushing his skull; the body fell straight to the floor with a dull thud, pulling Rei's spear from her hands as he fell.
"Looks like...crushing the head's the only way..." Takashi said, panting slightly with the bat in his hands, looking over as Kaede stood up. "You okay?"
"Y-yeah, just a little shaken up..." Kaede said, looking at the torn sleeve of his gakuran, a screaming drawing his attention to a side hall, were what seemed to be a group of students were limping along towards them, the source of the screaming coming from a few on their knees, someone in the middle of them kicking as the 'students' leaned over him. "W-we should go..."
Takashi agreed and with that, the were heading for the roof again, through Rei did want to help out but could only guess the fate of that student, and also knew, as did Takashi and Kaede, that he was probably too far gone to save now. A few minutes later, the three burst out onto the roof, only to find it already occupied by the undead, some finishing their snacks of the living students.
"D-damn!" Takashi growled, only to hear the sound of Kaede drawing the sword at his side.
"The observatory deck!" Kaeded said, pointing towards the mentioned area with his free hand. "We can go there, board ourselves up, and figure out something to do next, maybe even to wait for a rescue?"
Kaede explained, Takashi nodding at the plan as his hands tightend on the bat. There was no words needed, the trio running full speed towards the raised observatory room and taking out any one the undead that got in their way, bushing and slicing off heads as they went; luckily, with the three of them, it didn't take long for them to get to the observatory room and rushed up the stairs.
However, one of them had followed, and was half way up the stairs when Rei noticed him, quickly turning and trusting her spear into his stomach.
"Rei! Come one!" Takashi called as she stoped to look back.
"I've got this!" Rei yelled back, looking back at Takashi; the undead teacher grabbed her spear were it had pierced him, and yanked it from Rei's hands out of pure chance, swinging it and knocking Rei against the wall.
The teacher withdrew the broom handle from his stomach and dropped it, before rushing at Rei; Takashi started for her, but Kaede was already a few steps ahead, jumping from their spot at the top of the stairs with his katana raised over his head, and swung it as he landed, easily severing the head of the attacking teacher.
"Are you okay?" he asked Rei as he helped her up, grabbing her spear for her and handing it to her.
"Y-yeah...come one" Rei said as they climbed back up the stairs; he and Takashi quickly working on barricading the stairwell from any of the undead before they got to them.
Once done, Takashi and Kaede slumped onto the ground, Rei coming back from the observatory with a few bottles of water. Kaede stood, flicking the blood from his katana and sheathing it before taking the water and taking Rei; Takashi also accepted the water with a short nod of thanks.
"There's some food in there, but not much...hopefully enough to hold us over until we're rescued, right...?" Rei said ith a light smile, handing the bottles to Kaede and Takashi. "...so, what exactly are they...? It's like a horror movie or something...l-like zombies..."
"It sure seems that way..." Kaede replied, looking down at the 'students' limping towards their location with a frown. "Their certainly not human anymore..."
"This is fucking ridiculous!" Takashi suddenly snapped, jumping up. "This is real life! How is this shit happening!"
"I don't know! None of us do!" Kaede shot back, likewise standing up to face Takashi. "We don't need to be freaking out either way! It may not be the best example, but it's the only thing we've got to go on, unless you have something better?"
Takashi hated to do it, but he shook his head, Kaede's words making sense even if he didn't want to admit it.
"First thing's first..." Kaede continued, his tone softening slightly. "We can't got calling them humans...there's no way they are..not anymore...that's it. We'll refer to these...things as 'them' from now on; sound good?"
Rei nodded first, shortly followed by Takashi.
"There's no way these things are human, so what caused the change then?" Takashi asked, only receiving a shrug.
"Dunno, but whatever is causing it is transferred from a bite from someone already infected, as we've learned form movies, and seen with our own eyes" Kaede said, looking back over them, seeing that the few corpses that were being munched on had gotten up, joining their ranks. "So any bite from them is extreamly dangerous, right? On top of that, the only way to kill them is by bashing their heads..."
The last part of Kaede's review on the undead was drowned out by the sound of helicopters passing over by, the three looking up as four black hawks flew over head; Rei instantly stood and waved her hands at them, trying to flag them down. Despite looking right at her, they continued on without hesitation.
"It's pointless Rei..." Kaede said as he watched them continue on.
"W-why...? They saw us, yet..." Rei sobbed, near tears.
"That's why" Kaede said, pointing out to the city, were smoke was rising. "It looks like the city is in just the same condition; they probably means they had a special mission or something. That's why all the police lines are tied up, and there may not be a rescue for awhile, so..."
"We're on our own..." Takashi finished, getting the full picture of the situation now, the banging on the barricade not helping any and slammed his bat into the railing in fustration. "Damn...and now were stuck up here..."
"No, not exactly..." Kaede said, standing up and taking a look around the observation deck, walking around the building and talking over his shoulder. "We shouldn't try fighting them all, but...maybe there's something we can use to clear them all out of the way."
"There...was a fire hose on the other side of the observatory" Rei said, wanting to help out with their situation, sense they were all stuck there weather she liked it or not. "I don't know if it'll help or not..."
"No, that's perfect Miyomoto-san" Kaede said, finding the fire hose as she mentioned in and unwinding it, carrying it over to Takashi. "Here, you use it. Rei, turn it on when we're ready; I'll open up the barricade. Once most of them are cleared out, we'll make a run for the entrance to the school, okay?"
As Rei and Takashi nodded, Kaede took off his torn gakuran and tossed it aside, having no use for it now, leaving him in a white dress shirt before walking over to the barricade; he looked back at Takashi to see him nod, holding the hose tightly in a readied stance. Kaede quickly pulled out a few key items in the barricade, they on the other side quickly doing the rest.
"Rei!" Takashi yelled as they started pushing the barricades in, Kaede, who had backed away, drew his sword in one swift motion, just as Rei turned the water on full blast.
Takashi stumbled back a few feet from the initial backlash of the water shooting from the hose, but, as soon as he was able to get the upper hand over the force, he was able to blow them away, knocking them down the stairs and even causing quite a few to bash their heads on the ground; most of them on the roof had gathered, so most of them were taken care of with just that.
Takashi quickly dropped the hose as Rei shut the water off, grabbing his bat as Rei joined them and they rushed down the stairs with Kaede in the lead, slashing across one of their faces who was lucky to survive falling from the stairs, allowing Takashi to take the lead. He knocked a few of them that hadn't been outside the barricade out of their way as they approached the door to the stairs.
Once there, Rei and Takashi entered and started down the stairs, Kaede stopping at the door to make sure none of them on the roof followed behind them, closing the door after him as he went to join the other two. They each exchanged a sigh, the halls relatively empty, but the floors and a few walls were stained with blood, but no corpses.
"What...happened here...?" Rei asked, looking around stunned.
"Anyone bitten becomes one of them, huh...?" Takashi muttered softly as the grip on his bat tightened, suddenly blinking in surprise as a sound echoed through the halls. "A...gunshot...?"
"No, not quite...we should still check it out though, right?" Kaede corrected Takashi as he flicked his wrist, cleaning the blade of blood again before sheathing it. "A gunshot would be much louder; in any case, we should still check it out, no?"
Takashi nodded along with Rei, and the three began heading to towards the source of the sound the seemed to have come from the floor below, and had echoed through the stairs to their floor. As they rounded the landing between floors, a scream echoed up, and Takashi recognised the voice immediately.
"That's Takagi-san's voice!" Takashi yelled as he rushed down the remaning stairs, followed shortly by Rei and Kaede.
Takashi skid to a halt, stunned for a second over the sight before them; his pink haired childhood friend pushing a drill through the head of one of their heads, blood splattering over her body.
"We've got a problem, Takashi..." Kaede'svoice came from over his shoulder, followed by the sound of his sword scrapping from it's sheath; Takashi turned to see he and Rei already standing at the ready, several of them limping towards them.
Takashi also noticed that the school nurse, Marikawa Shizuka, and a senior he recognised as Busujima Saeko, standing at the opposite hall near by as he gave orders to Rei and Kaede, he himself not knowing why he did so at the time.
"Rei! Take the ones on the right! I'll take the ones on the left and Himoura, you got the center!" Takashi yelled, the two moving to follow the orders without hesitation; Rei was able to kill one with a single strike and disable another momentarily while Kaede dispatched two in the center, finishing off the one Rei was holding at the end of her spear.
Takashi himself quickly bashed in the head of one and went to attack another to find the senior, Saeko taking two out, leaving only one in the vicinity, which Takashi quickly took care of. As it's body hit the floor, Shizuka and Rei quickly rushed to Takagi to make sure she was alright while Saeko, Kaede and Kouta we left standing around, Kaede and Takashi quickly taking a look around to make sure there weren't any of them near by before they turned back to Saeko and Kouta.
"You all know Shizuka-sensei, the school nurse. I'm Busujima Saeko, senior class A" Saeko introduced herself, Shizuka needing no introduction, as Kaede and Takashi turned their attention back to the other students.
"Komuro Takashi, sophmore of class B" Takashi replied, scratching the back of his head with his back in his other hand.
"Himoura Kaede, also a sophomore and from class B...I think we've met during kendo practice from time to time" Kaede said as he cleaned his sword from his blade with a torn peice of clothing from on of the corpses before sheathing it, Saeko eyeing it curiously. "Uh, Watenabi-sensei keeps this at the school for certain contest...I'm pretty sure I'm the only one that knew that, and were it was..."
"I see...and you are?" Saeko replied with a light smile as she turned her attention to Kouta, who jumped and stuttered a responce.
"H-Hirano Kouta, s-sophomore of class B-B as well.." Kouta replied nervously, intimidated by the fact she was a senior, regardless of what had been going on and what he had to face before meeting with every one.
"It's a pleasure to meet you all..." Saeko said as she started turning to Rei and the others.
"Ah, I'm Miyamoto Rei, same year and class; I'm also in the sou-jitsuclub. You won the national tournament last year, right?" Rei said, turning to Saeko as she spoke; however, this seemed to be a snapping point for Saya...
"What's with you guys, acting so friendly?" the blood splattered genius said in a hash tone that made Kouta wince.
"What are you talking about, Takagi-san...?" Takashi spoke, taking a few steps towards Saya, unsure if he should get angry or try and comfort Saya himself.
"Stop being an idiot! I'm a genius!" Saya suddenly shouted, whipping around on Takashi. "If we start acting like this, then we'll lose the next time and get-!"
"Alright, that's enough..." Saeko's voice suddenly came from behind Saya, her hand coming to rest of Saya's shoulder and turned her around, Saya getting a good lock in the mirror behind the trophy display of how bloody she had become after drilling through the undead's skull earlier, her eyes widening.
"A-ahh...my clothes...are so dirty...I-I should clean up before I go s-see my mom..." Saya said weekly before collapsing, Saeko following her down and holding the sobbing girl.
A short while later, the group found themselves inside the near by faculty room, Takashi, Kouta and Kaede barricading the door against them,and with one door, it was made easy with the three of them. Inside the room, Shizuka was sitting at a desk with her head down, Saeko sitting next to her, seemingly in deep thought, and Rei was leaning against the wall before suddenly jumping up.
"Takashi, you have your cell phone on you, right?" She suddently asked, looking at him hopefully.
"Uh, yeah, why? Didn't we already agree calling the police was pointless?" Takashi asked as he stepped back, looking at her as Kaede and Kouta finished up with the barricade.
"Yeah, but I just remembered...my dad gave me a number to call if I ever needed him for an emergency, so I'll try that now..." Rei replied, holding her hand out to Takashi. "Just give me your phone."
With a sigh, Takashi complied, handing her his cell phone and watched her open it up, her thumbs pushing in the numbers as he vaguely heard Kaede and Kouta talking about the barricade behind them.
"Ah! He picked up..." Rei said, drawing Takashi's attention to her again, her face lightening up. "Hello? Dad?"
"Hello...this number, is it Takashi...gave you this number, right? Is Rei alright?" Rei's dad could be heard over the phone, but the reception kept cutting out what he was saying, and the static made it hard to hear.
"Dad! It's me, Rei! Dad!" Rei's face quickly changed to worried; it sounded like her dad couldn't hear her on the other side.
"..it! Is you family...from, and to the city..." suddenly, the static cut everything else off, and soon the call was disconnected all together.
"Dad! Dad...!" Rei tried calling out, but the connection was cut, and, with tears in her eyes, Rei lowed the phone, and closed it.
"At least you know he's alive" Takashi said in a soft tone, not knowing what else to say at a time like this, having heard most of what Rei could hear.
Without hesitation, Rei hugged Takashi tightly and started sobbing in his chest, Takashi holding him. He couldn't help but to look curiously over his shoulder at her suposedly new boyfriend; Kaede was looking back at him with a slight frown, but he simply shrugged, Takashi feeling no hate or any expected feeling coming from his gaze, and looked away.
Takashi thought this strange and tried thinking o about what Rei and Kaede's relationship really was, his thoughts only broken by Rei's sobs as the room fell silent. With the atmosphere so heavy, Kouta decided to check on Saya to escape.
"Takagi-san, are you okay...?" Kouta asked as he rounded the corner to the sinks were Saya was washing off, seeing her fixing her glasses and her face still slightly wet after washing it off, a towel in her hand already to dry off better. "E-eh? G-glasses...?"
"So what! My contact lenses were in too long!" she yelled as she dried her face the rest of the way and threw her the towel in his face as she walked past. "Plus they keep falling out, alright!"
Back with the rest of the group, Rei had calmed down a bit, and they were all discussing what was on their minds.
"So, what's our next move? It's already obvious we should stick together, right?" Saeko said from her seat as Rei and Takashi took a chair, Kaede hopping up onto a desk sense there weren't anymore left, Shizuka now handing out bottles of water to every one and retook her seat, smiling lightly that some one hadn't taken it while she was away.
"That's true" Kaede replied with a nod. "It's also obvious we should get outta the school...but were too after that?"
This brought another silence were Takashi thought to himself before finally speaking.
"We'll take it one step at a time; Shizuka-sensei, were are you're car keys?" Takashi said, finally falling on a decision; it may not be the best, but it was something.
"They're in my purse.." Shizuka replied and began rummaging through her bag until Saeko spoke, stopping her dead.
"Is your car big enough to hold us all, Shizuka-sensei?" she said, looking around the room; there were seven total.
"Ugh...n-no..." Shizuka replied as she pictured her small car that would barely hold four of them squished.
"How about the micro buses? For field trips?" Kouta asked suddenly, joining the conversation too as he and Saya joined them, walking over to the windows with Rei.
"They're still there...were are the keys?" Rei asked, looking around as Shizuka pointed them out, a key rack on the wall near the door.
"One of those would sure hold us all, but were would we be going in one?" Saya asked, not having heard that part of the conversation yet. "I wanna make sure my parents are okay..."
Saya's comment got several nods of agreement; one from Rei, one from Takashi, and one from Kaede.
"We all live near by, so we'll check our homes first? Then we'll find some place safe to stay, or something like that..." Takashi again made another desision for the group without even realizing, and every one agreed on it as well. "If we can't find them at our houses, then we'll look-"
"W-what is th-this...?" Rei's voice suddenly came from behind the group, making them turn to see her and Kaede looking up at the t.v, Kaede turning with a grave look on his face.
"You guys...may wanna see this..." he muttered as he turned the t.v up so everyone could hear.
"...it. Due to the large numbers of riots throughout the country, the government has been forced to rethink it's emergency policy. However, when questioned on the ability of the Self-Defence Force to maintain a public order, representatives would not..."
"A news report..?" Takashi gasped, his and everyone else's eyes glued on the t.v now.
"...comment. The local death toll has already surpassed 1,000.. The prefectural governor is going to make a speech directed to those evacuated. He..." The reporter suddently stopped, pressing her hand to her ear pice as new information came in. "Just in! The police have made an announcement!" They still don't know what to make of the current situation..."
This time, the reporter was cut off from a body in a body bag behind them raising; screams and even a gunshot sounding before the broadcast was cut off, and the picture changed to that of two reporters in a studio.
"...we're having some technical difficulties. From now on, we will be broadcasting from the studio."
"T-that's it! Their not showing any more?" Takashi yelled angrily; they made it sound like some sort of relatively normal disaster was happening, nothing about the dead walking and attacking.
"They don't want to cause a panic." Saya said, simply, as she pushed her glasses up.
"Even after what was just shown!" Rei interjected
"Because of what was just show." Saya replied, taking a second before explaining further. "Fear causes chaos, and chaos destroys order; without order, who knows how many lives will be lost?"
"Still...this just shows how the much help the government and such are gonna be in a situation like this..." Kaede said with a scowl, never being one to like the government or authority figures. "They're gonna be more worried about retaining order...something that probably won't happen, especially after this..."
The group fell silent as the report continued, the words exchanged heavy in their minds.
"...is what it has become. The Central Security office requests that all citizens remain indoors. If at all possible, please stay in your homes. Also, please close any windows or other potential entrance ways. The government is advising people to keep others out of their homes. This is due to the evacuation shelters being..."
With no other useful information being mentioned, Saya snatched the remote from Kaede's hand, who gave it up without a fight, and changed the channel to another news broadcast; and American one being translated into Japanese that seemed a lot more helpful.
"The United States is working to get these bizarre occurrences under control. The President and his cabinet have fled the White House." the report was indeed more helpful than the last, not because of the information, but it showed that the Outbreak of dead was more than likely world wide, shots of the undead approaching the White House as a helicopter took off, as well as a shot of a city street, a military blockade faced with hordes of undead.. "Reports say they are flying westward. Furthermore, the United States are preparing their nuclear weapons. Critics say..."
"That's all we fucking need!" Kaede suddenly shouted, saying what was on all of their minds. "Threat of nuclear war over this! The governmets' have a real good hold over this one...retaining order my ass!"
"...that if actions are taken, circumstances would be dire(followed by a "Damn right they would be!" from Kaede). At the preasent time, we are still waiting for correspondence from Moscow. The entire city of Peking is in flames. In comparison, London is having relatively few troubles maintaining public order. But the prevalence of looting in Paris and Rome is staggering..."
This is were Takashi took the remote and turned the t.v off completely, tossing the remote onto the desk.
"That's...enough of that..." he said with a sigh.
"I...don't believe this is happening..." Rei suddenly said, on the verge of tears again. "I-I can't believe this is happening! There's gotta be a place were everything's fine, right? Everything was just fine this morning-!"
"Well, you're wrong!" Saya's voice suddenly cut in, like a slap across the face for Rei, who was clinging onto the nearest person, which happened to be Kaede.
'That seems right...' Takashi dully noted, remembering earlier when she had clung to him instead of Kaede. 'The rumors said she was dating him after Hishashi...'
"Don't talk like that, Takagi!" Takashi said firmly, pushing his thoughts of Rei, Kaede and Hishashi aside.
"I can't help it; it's the truth. We've got a pandemic on our hands." Saya said, shrugging her shoulders as Kaede comforted Rei, calming her down. "It's an infection spreading like wildfire; the rest of the world has the same disease as we have here."
"Like the Spanish Flu in 1918?" Takashi asked, recalling one of the most recent history classes he remembered.
"Exactly" Saya said, a bit pleased with Takashi's example. "In that case, 600 million were infected, and 50 million died from it; they can't underestimate pandemics like that, or this."
"Sounds like the Black Plague from the fourteenth century..." Kaede said as Rei left his arms, wiping her tears away; he seemed to have calmed down as well from the news report, but he obviously still wasn't happy. "It nearly wiped out Europe's population, or something like that..."
"What did they do to stop it? Both pandemics...?" Takashi asked, wondering if they could get anything useful out of past events.
"Nothing that worked" Kaede replied with a frown.
"True; they tried many thing, but it just eventually stopped. People just grew an immunity to it" Saya continued for Kaede, seeing that he didn't seem like he was going to continue. "But...people who die this time around...come back and infect others..."
"...so you're saying there's no way of stopping it from spreading?" Saeko asked gravely.
"When it gets really hot, their muscles would rot and fall off their bones, and theywon't be able to move!" Shizuka suddenly said, seeming like just a random, air headed remark, but it made some sense...even if it was only by a little bit.
"And how would that happen?" Saeko asked, a bit thrown off, like the rest of them, over the sudden statement.
"During the summer, it would take about twenty days for themto rot in the sun...but it's the start of winter now..." Shizuka said, realizing just how useless the comment was to their current situation and time frame.
"We're not even sure they'llstart rotting" Saya interjected with a frown. "We know so little about them, so there is a lot of room for surprises...and they're already dead, so a cure is out of the question...how long we'll have to deal with them is unknown at this time..."
The room fell into silence once more, each person in their own thoughts, Kaede shifting onto a table again, remembering Takashi's words, and figured it was a good time to remind everyone else of them again.
"After we check on our families, we'll decide on a safe place to escape to and stay until we figure something else out, right?" Kaede said, repeating Takashi's words in his own. "We'll worry about the details later...sounds like a good enough plan for me."
There were nods all around, Takashi looking thankfully almost at Kaede for reminding the group of the goals they had already decided on.
"Yes...however, we won't survive if we act selfishly; we're a team" Saeko spoke to further the group's bonds. "If we wanna live, we must act as one.."
There was a round of nods again, and Kaede hopped of the desk.
"Alright then! So, how are we gonna get outta the school building then?" Kaede asked, stretching his arms out and sliding his katana, which had been leaned against a desk at some point, as well as his sleeves rolled up to his elbows.
"The quickest way would be out the front entrance and straight to the parking lots from there..." Takashi said as the rest of them got ready, Kouta and Kaede already taking down the barricades as Shizuka grabbed a set of keys for a bus; leaning his bat against the wall, Takashi helped get it down faster.
Before opening the door, Kouta grabbed the modified nail gun, Kaede opening the door for him; with two well placed shots, two bodies fell and the halls was clear for the group to exit.
"Don't fight them unless necessary; pushing themover if just as effective. We don't need to go straining ourselves now that we're leaving the school" Saeko said, sharing her previous knowledge about the undead leaned when they were all separate.
"They'resencitive to sound only too! But they're strong enough to rip a door of it's hinges, so be careful!" Saya added in a loud whisper as the group started advancing towards the stairs, Rei or Takashi pushing aside any of them in their path with Saeko and Kaede next, then Kouta and Shiazuka with Saya at the very back.
As the neared the stairs, the sounds of a struggle were heard, and Takashi could barely see a small group of students fighting off a few undead; without hesitation, he and Rei rushed to their aid, Saeko and Kaede taking their places until the rest of the group caught up; when they did, Saeko and Kaede quickly joined in, dispatching them quickly, especially Kaede with his katana. Even if it was just a contest sword and was dulled slightly, Kaede knew how to use it and did it with enough strength to easily decapitate any of them.
"T-thank you for saving us!" one of the girls said to be quickly hushed by Saeko.
"Don't speak too loudly" Saeko said, keeping her voice just above a whisper. "Were any of you bitten?"
"N-no..." one said, followed by shakes of heads all around.
"They look fine, really..." Rei replied before turning to them. "We're gonna get out of the school...want to come along?"
"Y-yeah!" one of the male students said with a nod.
With the other group of students with them, they went down the rest of the stairs, Takashi motioning for them to stay just around the corner of the last flight, Saya, Kaede, Saeko and Rei stepping down with him, looking into the entrance of the school.
There were several of them limping around, completely oblivious to the group of living students just a few feet from them.
"This doesn't seem like too good of an idea..." Kaede muttered, speaking Takashi's mind as they looked down at them.
"I really don't wanna do this..." Takashi muttered, looking back at Saya. "You sure you're right about this?"
"Of course!" Saya said in a loud whisper before quieting down slightly. "They only react to sound, all other senses are dead, so it'll be like you're invisable!"
"Then show us proof of your theory, Takagi!" Takashi hissed back, only to for Saya to shake her head violently.
"I don't wanna do it either!" Saya bit back. "And we can't all go; we won't be able to move quietly with a big group like this..."
"Inside the school...during the first attack, I couldn't find any consistency in their movements." Saeko said in a whisper as they moved down behind a row of lockers closest to the stairs when the path was clear. "We won't be able to just run out the entrance all together..."
'Who...' Takashi thought, his eyes falling on everyone of the group he knew he could trust; his eyes rested on Saeko and Kaede for a second, but he looked away. 'There's only one...'
"Alright, I'll go" Takashi spoke with a frown, almost instantly getting objections from Rei; he looked at her and gave her a soft smile. "You're only making things harder for me..."
And with that, Takashi walked out from behind the lockers, Saeko holding Rei back to prevent her from stopping him and making unnecessary noise. As Takshi walked out into the open, suddenly freezing as one of them seemed to look right at him, but it limped on, Takashi letting out a light sigh.
'I'm glad Saya's right this time...' he thought to himself as he walked further out, just to make sure; none of themeven made a move to acknowlage him being there. 'In that case...'
Takshi bent down and picked up a discarded shoe and tossed it against a locker as far away as her could throw it, making as much noise as a shoe against a locker could. Almost instantly, they started limping towards the noise, and Takashi rushed over to the door, opening it. As soon as the path was clear, the group started running over, one by one; the plan was going perfectly, except for the last student, the pole he had been using for a weapon hitting the wall, the sound echoing through the halls, alerting them in the school, and outside.
"Run!" Takashi yelled, the group not needed to be told more than once as they began spiriting to the buses.
"Why'd you yell!" Saya yelled at Takashi as they ran, side by side, Saeko and Kaede in the lean, knocking down any of them in their path. "We could have probably been able to slip past them even after that!"
"A noise like that echoes far; we would have them from all over the school if we didn't start running" Takashi shot back, swinging his bat into the saide of one of their heads, almost soothed by being able to hit something so violently at the moment. "Just shut up and run!"
As they neared the bus, there was a scream that made Takashi turn; one of the student's had been grabbed by one of them and was pulled down, and bitten, several others coming to join as they devoured the student. Every one had looked back to see what happened, some too busy with other things to worry too much about it; he was bitten and his fate was sealed. Despite knowing this, Saeko and Kaede hated to admit it, but turning, having more important things to do for the better of the whole group, the two fighting off many of the undead.
At the rear, one of the girls yelled and began running towards the male, but Saya grabbed her, stopping her for a second.
"Don't bother! There's no saving someone who's been bitten!" Saya hissed at her; none the less, the girl yanked her arm free from Saya's hold and ran back to him.
"Why bother living anymore! I don't have anyone to trust anymore!" the girl yelled over her shoulder as the ran towards the male, only to be pulled to the ground and bitten, them swarming over from the screaming the two were making.
"I-I can see were she comes from..wanting to die next to the one she loves..." Rei commented, being the closest on and has watched the whole thing.
"Maybe if the rest of the world is this bad...maybe it'd be better to die..." Shzikua said a few feet ahead of them.
"You call yourself a nurse!" Saya yelled at her angrily.
"Look out!" Kouta cut it, firing a few nails at several of them that approached the three girls, cutting Saya's chew-out if Shizuka. "Please stay calm, Takagi-san..."
"You stupid tub of lard! What makes you think you can interrupt me!" Saya shot back angrily, Kouta's lip wavering at the verbal abuse, but regathered his composure quickly.
"W-when you're done talking, do you think you could tell me whether you'd consider going out with me?" Kouta suddenly asked, throwing Saya of blanace.
"You two must be close...I'm envious." Saeko commented over their shoulder, the area temporarily cleared of them.
"Shizuka-sensei! The key!" Kaede yelled from near the bus, slicing a head off.
"R-right!" Shizuka stammered, quickly running to the bus with everyone else, unlocking the door and going inside, followed by the student's who weren't fighting the undead off.
"I'll shoot from the window" Kouta said as he rushed inside; a second later, one of the buses windows open and Kouta popped out, providing cover for the students still outside.
"I"ll stay out here for support; senpai, Kaede! Get inside!" Takashi yelled, knocking away one of them that had gotten too close.
Inside, Shizuka was having some problems with the car, never having to need to drive a bus; she was looking around the dash board, trying to familarize herself with everything while trying to figure out how to drive it as well. As this went on, Takashi backed up into the bus after Saeko and Kaede, Rei helping him pull the door closed when they heard a voice.
"Please wait a moment!" some one yelled, Takashi peering out; the voice belonged to what seemed like a teacher, leading a small group of students, the teacher waving at them to signal they were coming.
"That's..." Takashi started, looking at the teacher, but couldn't remember his name.
"Shidou from class 3-A" Saeko replied, looking from the front window at the approaching group, neither of them noticing Rei looking at him with pure hate in her eyes; Kaede seemed to be the only one to notice, and was instantly weary of the teacher, it taking a lot to get a response like that from Rei.
"We're ready to go!" Shizuka suddenly interrupted from the driver's seat, Takashi shaking his head.
"Hold on for just a few minutes until they get here!" Takashi replied, heading down the steps. "I'm gonna make sure their path's clear!"
"B-but they're coming from the front too! If we wait too much longer, we won't be able to leave!" Shizuka interjected; none the less, Takashi was rushing down the stairs, Kaede and Saeko following.
"We can just run them over, Shizuka-sensei!" Kaede yelled, the last one down the steps, however Rei grabbed him.
"W-we don't need to save him!" Rei yelled; this seriously made Kaede reconsider saving the teacher.
"What are you saying Rei!" Takashi yelled from outside, bashing the head in of one of the undead, Kaede pulling himself from Rei's grasp after hesitation to help Takashi and Saeko.
"We shouldn't save him! That kind of person is better off dead!" Rei yelled from the door way, her protests falling on deaf ears now.
"Everyone, hurry! They'll help us!" Shidou yelled, motioning his students to the bus; one of them that was catching up suddenly tripped and skid to a stop near his feet.
"S-sensei! I twisted my ankle!" the student yelled, grabbing onto Shidou's pant leg.
"Oh dear...now that's unfortunate, isn't it..?" Shidou said in a deadly tone, looking down at the student with cold eyes before kicking his face with the bottom of his foot, breaking his glasses and nose. "Get your hands off me! The weak have to right to live!"
And with that, Shidou started for the bus again, the withering and screaming student working as an excellent dementstration for everyone, and now one saw the act. However, Kaede had seen the outcome, and was believing Rei more and more, even if all he saw was Shidou calmly walking away as they surrounded his student and dug in.
"Alright, Shizuka-sensei!" Takashi yelled as they all were loaded on the bus, Shidou being the last.
"I'm going!" Shizuka replied, starting the bus and drove, the initial start making everyone lurch in their spots for a moment before they regained their composure.
"...you saved us. Is Busujima the one in charge?" was the first thing out of Shidou's mouth, the senior in question frowning instantly and Kaede scowling along with Rei, his hand never leaving his sword, that had been sheathed at some point.
"No, we don't have anyone like that. We relied on each other equally to escape" Saeko replied coldly as she and Shidou locked eyes, staring one another down for several minutes while the nurse was having a struggle of her own.
"They're not human anymore...not human...they're not human!" Shizuka yelled, breaking the match between Shidou and Saeko by drawing their attention as Shizuka ran down several of them in the way.
"That's unacceptable.." Shidou continued while everyones attention was on Shizuka, a small, sadistic grin playing his lips. "In order to survive, a leader if absolutely necessary...the reason is obvious. The leader must protect the order of the group..."
Takashi had turned his attention back to Shidou, frowning gravely as he listening to his words, suddenly feeling an arm around his own.
"You're going to regret this..." Rei said in a soft voice before looking at Takashi directly with firm eyes. "You're defiantly going to regret saving him"
'Of course, when she said that, I had no idea what she ment; I didn't know anything about Shidou. But I also...' Takashi thought to himself as the bus neared the school gates.
"I'm... going to break through the gate!" Shizuka warned, everyone preparing themselves just in time, the bus throwing the gates open as it crashed through and out onto the streets, smoke could be seen coming from the city.
'...didn't know what to expect in the outside world, so I was feeling even more uneasy about everything...'
Chapter 1, end.