Act 2: Going Through Hell

Morita and I quickly escaped the rain as soon as we re-entered the lecture hall.

And Jesus Christ, just when I thought the dorms looked like a shithole, the classes are almost ten times worse.

The corpse pileups were a hell of a lot bigger than they were in the dorms.

Dried up blood seemed to be the new choice of paint for the walls and tilings.

I could see a bunch of people moaning and wandering around slowly... except, I'm sure as hell that they're not people anymore.

And don't even get me fucking started on the smell.

"So, any bright plans to get to 3A, Toshio?"

I glanced over at my friend, who was still a bit shaky from having to kill that girl earlier. God that still creeped me the fuck out.

"Come on, we need to get to the stairwell. Shido's class is just the floor above us, we shouldn't have too hard a time getting there."

I started to lead the way. Navigating the bloodstained halls, and watching for any movements from one of them, I cautiously tried to prepare myself if one of them chose me as their next dinner. We softly stepped, trying to not make a single noise to attract the attention of those things. Luckily, we seemed to be getting off relatively scott-free without anything going for us.

My hands were still just shaking impulsively though.

I could actually see the faces of those things. There were two kinds of zombie faces, both of which outright fucking horrified me: The first ones, were the grotesquely deformed, shredded, mutilated, decaying, or any other face that looked like being held against a wood-chipper would be the only reasonable explanation for its current state. Exhibit A: That girl Morita killed. The second ones, I guess were even scarier to me, in a much more subtler way. The faces of my friends, or at least the people I knew, slowly decaying and trapped within their state.

I was seeing all these expressions on the zombies faces, and most of them were simply stuck in this rigor-mortis form of what they looked like right before they died. The most common? Pure, and utter horror. So their faces just seemed to be trapped that way...

"Oh, shit! Toshio, hate to interrupt your train of thought or whatever, but you've got a guy on your six!"

I snapped out of my stupified terror to toake a glance behind me. A guy who's uniform was shredded up, and was missing a chunk on his shoulder was walking towards, arms outstretched. But he was still walking slow as hell. I felt a bit more confident this time, though I still wasn't sure how this would go. I started to think of all the old movies that I watched when I was younger, whenever there were zombies: You gotta smash their head, shoot them in the head, or something. It seemed to work when Morita killed that one girl, I decided I had to try that myself.

Took a bit of a batting stance, trying to put a positive, more familiar spin on things. I'm Shortstop on the baseball team, right? I just gotta... try and imagine that thing's head to be a ball coming in at the plate. A really slow ball. Then hit it for a home run...

God damn it, now I'm never gonna look at this sport the same way again.

Not letting its moans and growls distract me, I tensed my muscles up as I swung the bat as hard as I could, just before the monster could even touch me with it's scaly, decaying arms. I closed my eyes as soon as I swung, and it took me a few moments to open them up again after I felt the bat hit something. Sure enough, I looked down and saw that all that was left of the thing's head was just a bunch of shattered skull, with skin keeping it together. Its contents were graciously splattered on the wall. Hell of a lot more gruesome than what Morita had done.

I quickly looked away from the display, and noticed Morita, who was looking at in some sort of awe or something.

"Damn dude, was that what would happen to me if I added Kawamura to my report?"

I glanced back at the thing I just killed, and I almost wanted to laugh at my friend's joke. Something in my stomach though prevented me from doing that though. It was nice to hear him still wisecracking, but it didn't really make me feel better, not at the moment.

"Come on, the stairwell's just down this hall."

We started treading towards there, still being extra-careful, and trying to not make any noise. Evidently, those things don't really perceive the sound footsteps. Then again, another thought entered my mind: If they did hear footsteps, then they probably would be attacking each other. So maybe they tune it out, or they're deaf... Frankly, I don't want to stick around and experiment with shit. I started to slightly pick up the pace, with Morita following behind me.

I got to the end of the hallways, no further problems. God damn, I remember when it took me just 30 seconds, and not 10 damn minutes just to walk from when end of the hall to the other.

I entered the stairwell, but when I looked up, I found a few more of them walking up the stairs. That's when I looked up a bit further, and I felt my heart sink a bit.

"You're fucking kidding me..."

The way to the third floor from the stairwell was barricaded up, with a bunch of desks, tables, and cabinets all lined up and stacked together. From a gap in that makeshift wall, I could actually see someone, a person, stacking a final desk before that tiny window was sealed.

"Hey, wait!" I called out. I'm pretty damn sure whoever was up there could hear me. Unfortunately, the things that were trying to get past the crude barricade also heard me. Their attention was then directed to me.

Shit. So much for assuming they're deaf.

"Toshio, who are you yelling at-"

I looked behind me to see Morita following me, but as soon as he saw the things in front of me, he quickly quelled his voice as he backed away some. Sighing, I tightened by grip on my bat. Glancing down the stairs to the lower levels, I thought of a quick idea to get these guys out of the way. Backing away from them slightly, I waited for them to get in the right spot before I smacked my bat into one of their stomachs. A zombie stumbled a bit, before he bumped into his friend, and both of them were sent tumbling down the stairs. The remaining one picked up its pace as it got closer to me. Reacting quickly, kicked it in the shin, tripping it up a bit before I kicked him again, this time down the stairs. I felt pretty much in the clear at this point, until I felt something jerking my leg, causing me to fall, almost dragging me down the stairs too.

I frantically looked down to see the thing maintaining a firm grip around my leg, it opening its slimy mouth prepared to try and eat me. I struggled with trying to shake him off, but I knew I wouldn't be lasting long without help.

"Damn it, Morita, I think this is the time you save my ass!"

I was thankful that he didn't need any further encouragement. He quickly went in and smacked the guy in the head, making him let go of me as he tumbled down the stairs. Morita offered me a hand, as he pulled me up back on my feet. My heart was beating heavily, and I sighed as I adjusted the batting helmet on my head.

"For god's sake, man... don't just fucking stand there while I try to do most of the work, you're gonna get us both killed..." I scolded.

He didn't really reply, as he briefly looked to the ground then nodded at me. I was starting to get the feeling he was really getting just broken by this whole ordeal. I mean, I was too, but at least I still had a goal, and that was to get Fumiko out of here. Morita was probably wondering what the hell kind of future was ahead for him.

Looking up, I still felt incredibly annoyed at the barricade made on the stairway entrance to the third floor. I knew that getting there now would get a hell of a lot more complicated. I started banging my fist on the pile of desks and cabinets.

"Hey, I know you can hear me over there!"

I heard a couple of voices whispering to each other, before one of them decided to speak out.

"You're... you're not bitten?"

"No, we're clean... I'm Toshio Ozaki, from class 3B. My friend Morita and I are trying to get up there. You mind if you clear up all this crap to let us through?" I asked, trying to put my most politely sincere tone.

"Fuck no!" said another voice. "Ever since this disaster happened, we've spent this whole time blocking this entrance to make sure none of them can get up here! What if we clear up all this shit, and some of those god damn monsters walk up and overwhelm us? We've got a whole class up here still!"

My brows raised at what the other one just said, my hopes starting to rise. The prospect of hearing about a whole class of survivors was uplifting for me, and I'm sure my was already feeling better too.

"A whole class?" Morita asked. I was just thinking the same thing.

I heard a couple more whispers coming from the other side.

"Listen, we'll talk more about that later... I... I can't say much, at the moment. We've boarded up all the entrances here to the third floor... but uh, I think except the doors leading to the walkway of the administration building. You can try there," the first voice called back.

"The admin building?" I asked. "You mean I have to walk my ass outside first, to get here? The campus and admin building's probably overrun by now!"

"Listen here, asshole: We were about to board up that doorway, and we're under orders not to even let any outsiders in anyway. But since Kurokami here is such a chickenshit, he's convinced me to keep that door unboarded until you guys even get up here. And I highly doubt you douchebags would even survive trying to get here anyway," the second guy said.

"Orders? Tell whoever said that, he can take those orders and shove them up his ass. I'll be there in ten minutes. Fifteen tops," I barked out. "Asshole."

I started to head off down the stairs, and to be honest... I more or less said that time-frame out of frustration, and possibly just to fuck with that one hostile guy's head. And really... I didn't think that too much through.

"Fifteen fucking minutes? It took us ten minutes just to try and walk through that single hallway, Toshio! Are you insane?" Morita asked incredulously.

"No... not yet... We'll just start running, then."

I kinda tried to reply with my own sarcasm, though my sense of humor can be dry from time to time... and Morita didn't act like he appreciated it. With that, I started to pick up my pace down the stairs. The zombies I tripped up earlier were still struggling to get on their feet as I passed by. I took a moment to stomp and kick them in their heads, just to try and either kill them or slow them down some. I could still hear Morita's steps, as he tried to catch up with me. We managed to get down to the first floor... and it seemed like with every new area I stepped into, shit was just getting worse, and fucking worse.

Now I had the pleasure to view these sons a bitches feeding on those fortunate enough to have died completely before turning into one of them. Or at least I prayed they got the mercy of death first. Otherwise, they'd probably start moving, then join the bastards who were eating them right into the feast. Some of them looked intact enough to get up again... and others... I don't even know if they'd be identifiable anymore. And god, there was this... this sickly sweet smell in the air, something that... just contrasted with the horrible smells of decay and bodies, but... in a way, it was subtly worse than just smelling all the dead people.

Damn it, I felt shivers going down my fucking spine. If I hadn't defiantly said that I'd be around to the third floor of the lecture hall in fifteen minutes, I probably would've spent an hour or so puking in the very spot I was in.

I have got to stop staring at these things... My psyche would probably be more intact if I didn't have to notice every fucking detail that my senses could perceive in these monsters.

"Shit man, you've been leading the way this long, don't back out on all of this! Don't give up after we've gone this far!"

I heard the hushed pep-talks of Morita, following a pat on the batting helmet over my head. He trying to get me to snap out of whatever terrified stupor I was in, and I felt really grateful I wasn't alone right now. I glanced over at him, and nodded my head.

"I know... we've got to get moving..."

I started walking really fast, just a few paces shy of running, trying to move as fast as I could without attracting too much attention to myself and Morita. My bat was held at the ready though, to bash in any of those monsters' heads.

As I made it to the end of the hall, I was thankful that I didn't seem to catch a zombie's attention. Most of them were too busy eating, a fact which I felt thankful and uncontrollably freaked out about. And I'm pretty sure that Morita was just staring at the ground, following wherever my feet were going the whole time. I hated that I had to play leader for right now. Being a leader in this situation meant that I would be first to see whatever fucked up things awaited us at every entrance.

Morita and I stepped outside, and I looked up to see that the clouds were clearing, and the light shower had stopped at least. The moisture in the air was refreshing though. The air still reeked of the stench of decay, but at it smelled and felt better to breath in than what was being circulated inside the buildings. Off in the distance, I could see that there were more of them wandering past the campus gates, and there was a lot of dark smoke rising from the city horizon.

"Jesus, it's probably happening all over Tokonosu... or even all of Japan... damn it, I don't like this..."

Looking around my immediate surroundings, the situation didn't seem much better than what was going on indoors. There were still undead eating the living (or what was left of them), and there were still even more undead simply walking around like they owned the place (but really, I'm pretty sure that they did by now).

I continued walking along towards the administration building. I looked at the path ahead of me, and it was obvious I'd probably have to take some detours and go along an uneven, but somewhat safe path. They blocked the straightforward, conventional path.

Suddenly, in the midst of my scouting, I heard a couple of screams. I raised my bat, tensing up, and I quickly looked behind me. Thankfully, one of the screams wasn't from Morita. However, I did see him stare in horror off in some direction. Off in the distance towards where he was looking at, I could see a guy trying to defend himself from a group of them with just a rake. A girl was with him, though she was starting to get dragged in by the horde of zombies, practically guaranteeing there wouldn't be a way out for her. Most of the monsters that were surrounding the guy with the rake left him to focus on the girl... but Morita himself was more focused on the guy trying to fend them off.

"Oh my god, that's Takeda! We gotta go after him, man!"

My brows rose in surprise. Takeda was this friend of Morita's that he often mentioned, something of a partner in crime when it comes to hitting on the girls. But right now, I didn't think that mattered. He looked like he was in some pretty slim odds for survival, and his fate seemed like it was already sealed.

"He's fucked, Morita!" I quickly intervened, grabbing my friend by the shoulder. "We're gonna be walking into suicide if we go over to that horde!"

Then, I felt a sharp blow to my face, as I stumbled back. I had no idea what the hell hit me, and I was still trying to comprehend what the hell happened. At first I thought one of them got me, but then I looked up to see Morita's clenched fist, then I looked up further to see an almost furious expression on his face.

"Fuck you, Toshio! I'm with you to save your girl, and I think that itself is suicide! Do something for me first, then. You want to save your friend? Help me save mine first, you prick!"

Morita then started to run off towards the group of zombies attacking Takeda. I looked over towards the administration building, almost inclined to just leave them. But I didn't feel like I could abandon Morita, and I sure as hell couldn't just go in there alone.

So I ran off, in pursuit of him.

I started to just focus on the things in front of me, seeing bunch of their heads lined up perfectly for me to crush. With a strong swing from my bat, I managed to take out a couple of them, also sending their corpses falling and stumbling into the other undead, causing an almost comedic domino effect. I glanced over at Morita, who was acting like a fucking beast getting through the zombies. His adrenaline was pumping, I knew it, so I had to try and stay close behind him to make sure he didn't do anything rash. I glanced over at Takeda, who was seemingly relieved to see us.

I looked at what was behind him, and I knew that his peace of mind was temporary.

The poor bastard kept staring at us, almost like everything would be alright. Until one of them started dragging him by the leg, getting him to fall on the ground. More of them then started to form a group around him while he was vulnerable.

"NO!"

I heard Morita shout out, as he was beating a zombie into submission. I saw him immediately run towards the horde of them that were surrounding Takeda, as he tried to take them on and kill them one by one. I quickly rushed in to help him, not even choosing to think about killing them. It just... happened. I just let instinct take over, as I repeatedly swung my bat at the nearest thing that reeked the stench of decay. I wasn't thinking as I hit them, I was just doing. And I'm pretty sure that's the same way Morita felt too.

I don't know how much time passed. It could've been seconds. Maybe minutes, or hours spent killing these things. It certainly felt like forever, in that mere space of time... all the same, when it was all over, and we managed to take out the last one of them, it seemed like it happened so fast. I sighed in relief, as I felt my body become a bit weary. I felt almost slightly limp, as I ended up using my bat as a cane of sorts, but still gripping the handle out of paranoia.

I looked over at Morita, went over to inspect his friend, who was still on the ground. I grimaced slightly, though I didn't want to let Morita see that. Takeda had a bunch of wounds all over him, one in his leg, his chest... his neck... My friend kept shaking his body, as if to prompt a response from him.

"I'm sorry Morita... he's dead."

I felt sorry to break it to him... Morita was continually shaking his head, denying that fact. I wanted to go over there and comfort the poor guy, telling him we did our best. I took a step forward...

But that's when I saw Takeda's body twitch one of its hands. He started moving his limbs, as if regaining consciousness.

"Oh, thank god... see, he's not dead, Toshio!" Morita exclaimed, as he patted Takeda on the head. "Don't worry man, everything's gonna be okay, we're gonna get you help, and-"

That's when I saw Takeda's body start to rise from off the ground. And I instantly had flashbacks of the first zombie I met. He got up, in that same, creepy marionette fashion.

"Morita, get the fuck away from him... he's... he's one of them!"

It was made evidently clear to both of us, when we looked into his eyes. Those same, god damn empty eyes.

Takeda then opened up his mouth and sank his teeth into Morita's shoulder.

"No... NO!"

I ran up to Morita and Takeda, the former's pained screams echoing in my head, as I swung my bat so fucking hard into the zombie's head.

I don't know when he died, and after a while, I'm pretty sure that Takeda was on the ground, now dead for reals. But I didn't care. I kept bashing away, yelling every obscenities and vulgarity I could recall in my head, angry at how Morita came to save his friend... and we failed.

And this was what he got for being a better person than me.

I finally got an opportunity to calm the hell down... And I realized that at some point, I was repeatedly bashing the ground... because where the zombie's head used to be, there was now only just a pool of blood and small bits of brain.

My grip on my bat loosened in disbelief. I looked over at Morita, trying to see if he was alright. I felt like crying, and damn it, I felt a tear or two fall down by cheek. I shook his body, but he didn't respond at all. I was starting to feel choked up, as I picked up his bat and dragged along my friend's body. I looked up, and noticed that the coast was relatively clear towards the administration building, possibly one of the only uplifting sights I've seen in a while. That didn't make me feel one damn bit better about Morita though.

As I dragged him inside, I let go of him as I got near a desk. He looked dead, and he hadn't moved a hair since Takeda attacked him.

"God damn it... why is this happening?"

I knelt down, putting my bats on the ground, as I said a silent prayer for Morita. I sure as hell wasn't pious, but my posthumous words had to mean something.

After spending a few minutes mourning my friend, I decided that I had wasted a hell of a lot of time, and that those bastards on the third floor would have probably locked up the doors by now. I just hoped that that Kurokami guy would continue being nice enough to leave the way open for me. The asshole stationed with him though had other plans, which discouraged me.

Picking up my baseball bat, and leaving Morita's by his corpse, I sighed. With a tip of my helm, I bid farewell.

But then I paused, when I noticed his body twitch a bit.

"Oh my god... Jesus... God, no, this can't be happening..."

The body started to move around a bit, but by then, I had already seen enough. Morita had become one of them.

I did what my instinct told me. And this time, it told me to run. So that's exactly what I did. I felt a bit too weary to keep fighting without resting for a bit longer... but I knew that wasn't the real reason I ran away. Honestly, I didn't have the balls to kill my friend, and really, I felt even more fucked up just leaving him like that. But the world was going to shit... and if everything around me is dying, then my only fucking hope that I kept holding onto, was Fumiko. I pretty much accepted by now that everything I once cared for in this world is dead, except her. She seemed... so in-reach right now, like of all the things that entered my mind, she was probably the only thing I cared about that I could still save. And that's why I didn't want to let go.

I had many things to deal with right now...

I was still discouraged, at the fact that I was alone now.

I was still thinking about Morita's death.

I was still scared for my own life.

I was still afraid that those guys on the third floor would lock me out.

I was still plagued by the thoughts of Fumiko in danger, and me not being there for her.

And I was still scared of almost everything around me, because in my eyes, all I saw was what Hell looked like.

I tried going over anything inspirational that I've ever read or been told, because quite god damn frankly, I needed it. Cycling through my memories, I recalled a quote from some British guy who's name I couldn't remember, nor could I care to remember:

"If you're going through hell, keep going."

Thanks for reading chapter 2. Now, I don't believe I made the proper introductions, so anyway, I'm Mr. Wang. This here is my first HotD fic, and I'm proud to be writing it. For those of you fellow fans of the series and otherwise, I would very much so appreciate some feedback on how I'm doing, and constructive criticism is welcome. So please, review, comment, add to your favorites, whatever. But most of all, I hope that you come back soon for the next installments of Fallen Angels.