Chapter 2
It Begins...
Somebody screamed.
"C-calm down! Everyone, remain in your seats." As the sensei moved towards the door, Madoka glanced around. The rooms on either side were also filled with suddenly distraught, panicking students. Her own nerves had already been on edge, with all of Homura's talk of the disease, but the screams and moans were just too much.
Shaking, she glanced over her shoulder. "D-did you know about th-this?" she stammered, aware that nobody was paying the sensei's instructions any heed.
Somewhere, down the hall, someone screamed. Homura's eyes darted around nervously, and she shook her head.
The worried murmurs became panicked chatter, and soon, all of the classrooms had erupted in shouting. Madoka cringed, pressing hands over her ears as chaos engulfed the school.
Sayaka skidded around the corner, her well-worn sneakers barely finding purchase on the tiled floor. It was two more strides before she noticed them.
Falling backwards, feeling her tailbone collide painfully with the unforgiving floor, the blunette made a whimpering sound in the back of her throat, blinking back tears of pain.
A shambling figure, a well-built man of middle years, turned his head, piercing her with bloodshot eyes. Not bloodshot, she thought, gritting her teeth as she scrambled across the floor with hands and feet, trying to back the hell up as fast as possible. The eyes were completely red around the iris, no white at all. Like they were swimming in blood-
The man was dressed in the familiar garb of one of the maintenance personnel, torn along the shoulder. Above the man's arm, a horrible crimson gash bled freely, a substantial chunk of the skin torn away; in the second that she watched, it seemed to throb and darken before her eyes. Blood soaked the dark uniform, the entire left side coated in a glistening sheen.
The smell hit her; it was like the man had shit his pants, the stench making her gag.
Two meters away, the man lunged forward. Sayaka felt something grab her foot as she desperately backpedaled on all fours, jerking her leg as hard as she could. Grasping fingers fell away as her laces came undone, and she pushed herself off the ground before sprinting in the opposite direction.
Heart pounding at triple speed, Sayaka felt every stride in her poor, abused coccyx, but adrenaline and fear helped her grit her teeth and bear it. Glancing back, she saw the thing stumble after her, the distance widening. Then she saw the two other figures, one wearing a cafeteria uniform coated in red. The other's head seemed to slump, chin resting on collarbone like it was gazing at it's feet. As the thing, because it was obviously just that, now, a thing… as it turned, she saw the gaping wound beneath its jaw, wet, glistening muscle visible. The lurching horror's throat had been torn, nearly to it's spine, swaying limply as it spun to face her.
With a horrible, gurgling moan, the creature strode forward, and the three began to stagger toward her at a jog.
Oh shit oh shit oshitoshitoshitoshit!
"Sorry, Kyousuke-kun. She'll be back soon, I know it." Looking worried, the grey-haired boy walked back to his friends. Madoka swallowed, trying to reassure herself as well as the musician. She'll be back.
"Kaname-san, we should go." Madoka frowned, glancing at the raven-haired girl who tugged at her sleeve insistently. "We should leave."
"But, we are supposed to stay…" The pinkette's head was spinning. Their teacher had only been gone for a few minutes; at least the horrible noises over the intercom had stopped. So far, no students had left their rooms, but everywhere, everyone was looking tense, and several groups had gathered near the glass doors that opened into the hallway. "And Sayaka-chan…"
One of the upperclassmen was the first to leave. Followed quickly by the majority of his class, the juniors exited in a heaving mass of bodies, everyone trying to be the first one out. Immediately, the jumble disintegrated, students flowing down the halls in both directions, a few remaining to look around in confusion.
The dam burst. Students began running around, some fleeing into the hallway, others pacing the room in agitation. Shouting and cursing students pushed one another in a seething mass, some briefly trampled during the mass exodus. Clusters of students hotly debated what to do, shrill voices and panicked arguments erupted during this new wave of confusion.
Masumi watched the pinkette talking with the new girl. She'd struck up conversations with Madoka almost every day for nearly a month. Today was supposed to be the day… She watched the transfer student, envying the attention she was recieving. It was supposed to be me. Frowning, she took a step forward before stopping. "Let's go," Hikaru was saying. "This is starting to creep me out."
"Other people already left," Yori stated, running a hand through his spiky black hair. "We gotta get out of here-"
"Masumi-chan, what do you think?"
Scratching at her purple hair, Masumi shrugged. "Probably leave. I'll go see what everyone else is going to do," she offered, resolutely heading to the corner where Homura was talking to Madoka.
"Ah, hello, Kaname-san. Akemi-san." Masumi bowed slightly less for Homura than she did to Madoka, whose troubled face lit up in a smile.
"Hi, Masumi-chan! Are you alright?" Madoka's question cut right to her heart, the earnest concern and worry shining through her eyes and resonating through her voice.
"Y-yes, Kaname-san, thank you for your concern." Trying to avoid drawing attention to the sudden bloom of color her cheeks had developed, she got straight to the point. "We think it's time to leave. This is scary. Would you consider coming with us?"
Madoka grinned, heartened by the offer. "Oh wow, thank you Masum-"
"No, we won't," Homura stated flatly. The pinkette turned to stare at her with a hurt expression, and the purple-haired girl could barely restrain the sharp burst of rage.
"Something's wrong, you need to-"
Homura drew Madoka close, staring daggers at the other girl. "I don't think it's a good idea to get stuck following them," she said, nodding at the girl's friends. "We're better off by ourselves."
"But… safety in numbers…?" Madoka asked, confused.
"Any one of them might have whatever it is." Homura whispered. "The disease."
Madoka's lips compressed into a tight line as she thought.
"Madoka?" Masumi's voice was trying to be hopeful, but sounded so plaintive in her own head it shamed her. She'd planned it all out. Today was going to be the day that she finally approached the dainty pinkette, the girl she thought about all the time. She'd brought the pinkette's favorite dessert, and would just happen to offer to share it with her, and then they'd get to talking, and she'd invite the petite little cutie out… not on a date, exactly. Just two friends, spending some time together, alone and uninterrupted.
I'd be such a good friend! She thought desperately. And more, so much more… Sighing, she refocused on the object of her affection, who was looking distinctly uncomfortable under her adoring gaze.
"I'm sorry," Madoka began, and Masumi's world briefly crumbled. "I… I think I'm going to wait for Sayaka-chan," she said apologetically. Homura groaned in exasperation.
The noises in the hallway abruptly took on a different tone. The panicked shouts and general hollering that had been coming from the hallway as students piled out to join the growing number who'd left... changed. It wasn't subtle; suddenly the excitable, tense noises shifted to screams of surprise and terror.
Everyone in the classroom spun around, heads turning to face the exit door to the north, the one leading back to the cafeteria and gymnasium. That's where the screams were coming from. The double doors burst open, and a crowd of students was running back in, some entering classrooms and overturning desks, others fleeing down the hallway toward the other exit.
Someone, another freshman, Madoka thought, slipped as he came through the doors, his head colliding with the floor in a terrific impact. Nobody helped him rise; in fact he was trod upon by several of the panicked mob. Reaching out, the pinkette found the hands of Homura and Masumi without looking, her entire world focused on the poor, dazed boy as she struggled to rise. Pushing himself up with one arm-
Then they were upon him.
Screaming, Madoka turned away, but it was too late. Two shambling figures, draped in glistening, wet clothing, fell upon the prone boy. Claw-like hands descended, clutching and tearing, and two hideous, slavering maws opened wide-
It had gone deathly silent as every single student held their breath.
The boy screamed. The sound, filled with terror and despair, seemed to shake the glass walls. One of the monsters clamped down on his neck, and the scream wavered, gurgling hideously as the thing tore its head away, taking a chunk of flesh with it.
Gasps and moans, weeping and prayer, the thump of someone hitting the floor in a faint. The sounds were meaningless; Madoka found herself fixated on the arterial spray that spattered the glass wall, crimson flowing down the pane in waves. Glancing at the thing that had done this unspeakable thing, she saw with sick fascination that it appeared to be chewing the gobbet of the poor boy's throat.
The pinkette leaned over and emptied her stomach noisily, Homura dancing backward just in time to avoid the mess.
I should check on the girls, Mami thought. The classes on the upper level had, for the most part, fled the building. She'd considered making her way to the faculty area to see what was really going on. Obviously, the principal had been attacked. Combined with all this talk about some deadly super-flu…
But, she knew her friends were out there, relying on her guidance. She'd taken the pair under her wing, and had been surprisingly pleased at how much the girls had matured over the previous year.
Pulling up her thigh-high stockings, Mami ran her hands down the pleats of her short skirt. Not because they were sweaty. She wasn't nervous. Wasn't very nervous, at least. Taking a breath, the blonde gave her curls a tug and headed toward the stairwell.
"We need to go!" Homura was saying, shouting, but Madoka could only shake her head, trying to wake up from the horrible nightmare that had intruded into her normal, quiet life. She jumped, startled, as the doors burst open, drawing her eyes from the two crouched forms, crimson dripping from their mouths as they bent over that poor boy.
Madoka felt all sense of hope drain out of her. As the figure, clad in the expensive-looking suit, shambled through the doorway, her eyes were not drawn to the several forms that followed close behind, lurching through the growing pool of dark blood that slowly seeped across the hallway. She saw only her sensei's face, the wrinkled, aged man hideously deformed in a hateful snarl. When he opened its mouth and moaned, Madoka felt the world go fuzzy and everything went blissfully dark.
Fumbling with the dial for her combination lock, Sayaka wiped her fingers on her blouse. Of all the times to have a problem with my stupid locker combination, she thought, desperately trying to keep it together.
She'd encountered more of the things after doubling back. After losing sight of the original three, she'd turned a corner and found herself staring into the cold, dead eyes of what must have been half of the office staff. As they'd turned, she'd continued down the hallway, hoping to reach the stairwell.
But the stairwell had been a scene straight out of hell. Blood, so much of it, spilling down the stairs, and something up above was screaming and pleading. Clamping her hands over her ears as the screams became more frantic, Sayaka backed out, trying to figure out what to do next.
She was trapped; the hallways and stairway leading back to the classrooms were all full of those things.
The dead. The walking, unquiet, restless dead. Fucking zombies, Sayaka thought. And they said it would never happen.
If she couldn't find a clear path…
She'd have to clear a path for herself.
"YES!" she exclaimed, too loudly, as the lock popped open. Glancing around nervously, she reached in and grabbed the large, heavy duffel bag she lugged to school three days a week. With desperate need, she unzipped the entire length of the thing, revealing her equipment inside.
A long, shaky breath became a relieved sigh as she reached in, fingers clasping greedily.
It smelled terrible. Like Tatsuya had pooped his pants again. "Bad boy," Madoka murmured indistinctly, wrinkling her nose. Then something poked her firmly.
She blinked. "Homura-chan? Why are you up there?" It took a moment for the pinkette to realize she lay on the floor, a worried and impatient looking transfer-student standing above her.
Reaching down, Homura grunted as she helped the small girl back to her feet. She glanced around, seeing nothing but doom.
As her new friend had collapsed, the creatures had advanced into the hallway, carrying with them a miasma of excrement. Out of the six visible classrooms, perhaps three dozen students remained. Her teacher, along with the three that stumbled along behind him, had paused over the other pair, still feasting upon their fallen prey. After a moment, they continued on down the hallway, pressing against the glass after noticing the students who remained inside, smearing it with blood and saliva.
Homura could only watch with the remaining students in her room as the two crouched over the remains of the boy stood up, shambling over to join the other five. The ineffectual grasping and pushing became pounding and slamming as the creatures began to beat against the door, against the long glass wall, their fists battering and smashing.
Madoka blinked, feeling the world spin. Then, the sound of glass shattering drew her attention.
Four students remained in the room across the hall. They'd backed into the far corner, putting the teacher's desk between themselves and the door. As the glass began to crack, bloody streaks and fist-prints obscured the monsters for a moment before the entire pane shattered, sending a cascade of glass shards to the floor.
Even as they screamed, instinctively the students had shielded their eyes, and by the time they recovered, the creatures were upon them.
Madoka watched in horror as her former teacher dragged down a young girl, the struggle hidden behind the desk but her kicking, frantic legs all to visible, the screams all to clear. The other creatures lunged at the remaining students, another girl and a young man grabbed by the claw-like hands in an unbreakable grip.
"HELP US!" the boy cried, screaming as a bony hand was shoved through his abdomen, pinned against the wall. As the arm withdrew, a dark, wet rope seemed to spill out of the wound, and his screaming abruptly cut off.
The girl at his side, however, continued her screaming prayers, the fervent cries transforming into pure pain as her arm was wrenched behind her back with an audible snap. Homura saw the white of bone jutting through the shattered arm, as white as the teeth behind her screaming lips. Open mouths descended and as the screaming slowly faded, the pool of crimson from behind the desk spread across the floor with surprising speed.
"We've got to go!" Homura whispered fiercely. Two of the creatures, slow to join the others, lingered in the hallway, several meters from the door to their room. The pair looked up, down the hallway, as students from one of the far room fled in panic, lurching after their own prey.
It was now or never. "Nothing between us and the door," Homura whispered encouragingly. "But Kaname-san, we have to go now-"
To her dismay, she heard the sound of running, and looked up to see several of their classmates exit the room, the foolish boy Yori in the lead. Furious, she tugged on Madoka's arm, shooting a dark look at the purple-haired girl who stood near the doorway, looking torn.
"Go without me," Masumi called to her friends, none of which had noticed or expressed concern over her absence. The three hustled toward the double doors, gingerly stepping through the pool of coagulating fluid surrounding the mutilated corpse of the boy.
Hikaru stopped at the edge, taking a deep breath. As she braced herself to stride past the disgusting, torn body, with it's missing skin and exposed muscle and bone, she gasped, seeing the thing twitch out of the corner of her eye. Too late, she opened her mouth to call out a warning, but the thing shuddered, grasping out with both arms as Yori passed.
The spiky-haired boy's eyes widened in surprise, then dawning horror as the former classmate pulled him down, tearing into him with its teeth. Hikaru screamed as the creature's fingers latched around Yori's opened mouth, and with a sickening wrench the bottom half of the boy's face was torn off in a shower of blood. Something wet and pink dangled from the hole in his throat, but death was not quick to end poor Yori's suffering, and he was slowly eaten alive while his friend clutched helplessly at her green hair and screamed.
Hikaru couldn't hear the warnings through her screaming, and Madoka's shout had gone unheeded. Too late, she gasped for breath and heard the frantic sound from the room down the hall, turning just in time to see the pale, dead hands clasp around her throat as a crimson-stained, dripping maw leaned in…
Carefully poking her head around the corner, Mami looked both ways, scanning for danger as she caught her breath. A deadly strain of fast acting ebola, or North Korean terrorists, or crazed anti-government radicals… she'd been prepared for just about anything. Even the Chinese.
Not this.
Looking down, she focused herself inward, a cold, all-consuming sun sucking away her worldly concerns. Focusing on the nothing, she watched her hands cease their trembling. I can do this. For all she knew, she had friends counting on her.
Kyousuke scanned the shapes looming throughout the area, trying not to see them as individual beings. Gore spattered, red-eyed and moaning, the creatures were like something out of a nightmare.
Regretfully eying the blood-soaked hallway, the grey-haired boy acknowledged that there would probably be no violin practice today.
"Kyousuke-kun," tried Nakazawa, for what seemed like the fiftieth time, picking up another desk and placing it beside the doorway. "You gonna help me, man?"
The violinist shook his head to clear it. "Yes, sorry Nakazawa." His friend smiled and the two picked up another desk, filling in a perimeter around the walls. It seemed silly; what was a small desk going to do when the things were somehow able to break down the tempered glass with their fists? But it was something to do.
They were trapped.
After the failed attempt by Hikaru and company to flee, the zombies had lurched out of the classroom across the way, numbers swollen from the freshly killed students. They'd watched, sickened and fascinated and completely disgusted as the corpses had begun to twitch and shake, the partially-consumed bodies reanimating as if by some fell magic.
Less than a dozen students remained between the classrooms.
"We need to go out the south entrance," Homura stated, growing concerned by the far-off look in the pinkette's eyes. She turned her attention to the males. "No one has returned after heading through those doors."
The boys paused, glanced at one another, both thinking how ominous that particular way of phrasing it was.
"No one has returned, screaming and fleeing from zombies, after heading through those doors. Correct?" When she put it that way, it was easier to swallow. "So, we need to get out that way."
The brown-haired boy ran both hands through his long hair, grinning stupidly. "Okay, boss, you tell us what to do and we'll figure out how to do it."
Homura was unnerved, first thinking the boy was mocking her, then realizing he wasn't. Kamijou watched, blank-faced, seeming without opinion. He certainly hadn't been coming up with any ideas.
Madoka, comforted by the arm Masumi had lain across her shoulder, stared outside. The skyline was strange; not a cloud in the sky, but everything in the distance was dark, murky. She saw flashing lights in the distance, imagining security forces being called in to protect the students and faculty, on their way to rescue everyone. "I can see them! They're coming, they're coming for us!" Madoka cried, gleefully pointing out the window, her sense of relief palpable. The others, startled by her words despite the tone of voice, glanced at her, then out the window.
"Oh, damn…" Nakazawa breathed.
"It's burning," murmured Kyousuke. "Mitakihara is burning." It's… beautiful.
"No, no, no nonononono." Madoka pulled at her hair, anything to distract her from this new disaster, watching the flashing lights disappear into the distance. Masumi clutched her rightly, pink and purple hair pressed together. Homura patted the pinkette on the back awkwardly, counting zombies.
"There's twelve in the hallway. Two between us and the south exit; ten to the north." Homura thought quickly. "We just need to get past those two…"
"But how?" Nakazawa asked, hoping for a better, different idea. "They grab you and it's over! No way we can get past them, there's not enough room in this stupid hallway to maneuver." Escape directly outside was impossible; the glass-like wall along the exterior was military-grade reinforced. Bulletproof, and certainly student-proof.
"Sayaka might be coming back," Kyousuke added. "Maybe we should just finish barricading and wait it out…"
Homura looked at him in disdain. "You think Miki-san is going to come back through those doors, with the ten zombies milling around? Even if she did, what purpose would it serve to save her a seat when we're trapped in here like cows waiting to be slaughtered?" She looked at him carefully; as a recent transplant and someone who kept to herself, Homura had been unable to shield herself from all the gossip and rumor that seemed to spread through the school like wildfire. "Isn't Shizuki-san your girlfriend? Shouldn't you be concerned with making sure she's safe?"
Kyousuke's eyes grew wide and his jaw dropped slightly. I'm in so much trouble, he thought, wondering how the prospect of a girlfriend's ire could, even momentarily, eclipse the situation he found himself in.
As the creatures outside began to moan, shuffling aimlessly about, Masumi knew exactly what she had to do.
"Madoka-chan," she began, daring to call the girl by that cherished nickname for the first time. "Be brave. We'll get out of this." Taking a deep breath, she stood up.
"I know what to do," she said, drawing the looks of the four other students left in the room. "I'm going to draw those two away. I'll run out the door, get their attention, and duck into that classroom," she pointed across the way, at the room with the shattered glass wall. "I'll run around the desks, keeping them busy, while the rest of you sneak out the door!" she finished with a smile, looking warmly at the obviously concerned pinkette.
"Masumi-chan, no, it's too dangerous."
Homura, who'd been listening with a complete lack of expression, chimed in. "It might be our only chance," she stated softly, nodding toward the north set of doors. The door swung inward, and a figure lurched into view, the silhouettes of several others visible through the briefly open doorway.
All appeared to be former students.
Madoka shuddered, watching Yori and Hikaru stumble about, their eyes hollow and blood red, clothing ripped and soaked with their life's blood. She felt a pair of arms encircle her from behind, and turned to see purple hair rest briefly on her shoulder. "Madoka-chan, I… I just wanted to say, now… I… I think… I'd really like... to be your friend," she finished, mindful of the stares of the others.
"I'd like that," Madoka breathed. "I'd like to be your… friend."
Before she could think of a reason not to, the purple haired girl planted a quick kiss on the shorter girl's cheek, blushing furiously before marching over to the door. "Be careful," Madoka pleaded. Nakazawa gave her an encouraging pat on the shoulder, looking obviously relieved that it wasn't him going out there.
"I haven't been running cross-country since sixth grade just for fun," she smiled, trying to keep from hyperventilating. All the running, all the training, it all came down to this, the opportunity to save the person she had such intense feelings for. To be the hero!
She nodded, and Nakazawa opened the door while the others watched on, tense and hopeful.
Feeling her knees shaking as she walked, Masumi took a tentative step forward, then another. She glanced behind her, but the zombies on the far side of the hall milled about the pool of blood, remaining near the double doorway. She took another step, then another.
The two on her side of the hallway looked up in unison, blood red eyes staring out of pale, unhealthy faces that suddenly twisted as, moaning, the creatures advanced on her.
Now or never, she thought, backing up to make certain they were following before turning to run past the glass doorway the four others were staring out of.
Oh my god, she's so brave! thought Madoka, heart in her throat as she hoped, prayed for the girls safety.
Glass crunched beneath her uniform-complaint shoes as Masumi darted into the abandoned, blood-drenched classroom, keeping her eyes off of the long arcs of gore that painted the wall behind the teacher's desk. She skipped past the rows of desks, turning to watch her two pursuers enter the room, waiting for an opening.
As soon as the zombies had stepped out of the hallway, Nakazawa opened the door. "Everybody out!" They hurried toward the south doors, amazed and thrilled at the success of their plan.
Clearing the purple hair out of her eyes, Masumi watched the pair of shuffling, bloody monsters approach, glancing down the hall to make sure the rest remained where they were. She couldn't help smiling as she saw a distinctive, diminutive pink-headed figure dash out of the room.
"Everybody back!" Nakazawa screamed, a dozen zombies just beyond the double-doors lunging at his heels. "Back!" Madoka felt a powerful grip take hold of her arm and drag her as she glanced between the onrushing horde and the brave, heroic girl in the room. "Masumi-chan!"
Masumi looked up, uncomprehending of what she saw. A wave of the creatures was pouring out of the southern doors, the supposedly safe doors, the place they were going to escape… Her eyes widened in horror-if she didn't get out of here, soon, she'd be cut off!
"Masumi-chan!"
Glancing at her two mindless opponents, she decided on immediate action. The approaching horde was already halfway to the glass door of their classroom. Gathering herself, she dodged out of the way as one of the creatures in the room with her lurched forward. arms outstretched. It's fingers tightened around her foot, and desperately she kicked away, but felt herself dragged to the ground.
"MASUMIIII!"
Twisting her torso, the purple-haired girl yanked her foot right out of her shoe, leaving the gore-faced monster to its prize as she scooted away. Standing, she spun, running toward the room with Madoka-
The fall had been costly. Madoka, sobbing, pressed up against the glass, obscured by the advancing mob of undead. No, Masumi thought. This wasn't how it was supposed to happen. Turning, she saw the rest of the zombies down the hall had been riled, and were advancing on her.
Panting, unable to catch her breath, heart aching like she was having some kind of attack, the purple-haired girl ducked into another classroom, leaning against the door once inside. Almost immediately, the door was pushed inward as the creatures pressed up against it. Fumbling with an outstretched foot, she slid a desk over and jammed it against the door.
The others were shouting at her, but behind two panes of glass the sound was muted; the banging and moaning much more pressing. "Help. Somebody! Help me!"
Madoka's throat was raw from shouting, and suddenly Homura's hand was wrapped around her mouth, stifling her. Sobbing, she could only watch as the purple-haired girl tried desperately to move the teacher's larger desk in front of the door, but only manage to drag it halfway across the room before the zombies burst through her makeshift barricade. Sobbing, she watched the girl duck underneath the grasp of one of the horrors, spinning the side as another approached. She tried to leap away from the next, but something managed to grab her skirt and she was pulled down.
"NOOOO!"
Sobbing, Madoka buried her head in Homura's shoulder, her body wracked with terrible pain as Masumi, a friend she hadn't known she'd had until today, was torn limb from limb, the pitiful, begging screams ending abruptly with a spray of vital fluid as first one arm, then another, were ripped from her body to be fed upon by the hungry mob of slavering ghouls.
Homura took a shaky breath, trying to enjoy what might be her final moments. Hugging the pinkette tightly, she considered that there were worse ways to go, than with Madoka in her embrace.
Then, realizing what would happen to her, to the sweet, innocent pinkette, after they died… coming back, hungry and twisted and monstrous...
There were no worse ways to go. This was, unquestionably, the worst.
Not really OCs, these 'characters' are based off of Madoka's real classmates, none of whom have names so, yeah.
As always, any feedback is appreciated. Especially speculation. Who will die first? How? What would you do, if there was a Japanese zombipocalypse and you were a high school girl? Who do you think should die first?
Any thoughts, ideas and tropes of the genre are very, very welcome. Some of the girls will probably escape the school; what happens next is open to suggestion.
