Hello again, everyone! I am quite pleased with the reception I've gotten so far. It's always nice to know that my work is appreciated. Regarding Ren's place in the group, and taking into consideration the reviews I've gotten from you guys, I've decided to make him … moral support of sorts. He'll give advice when it's needed, and generally put the needs of the rest of the group before his own. I guess we could call him sort of an advisor for Takashi. Or, if you want to take it a step further, he's sort of the 'dad' of the group.
Now, to answer some reviews.
Theboblinator: Thank you. I still occasionally find it hard to believe that there's somebody who likes my writing this much. Well, as you can see at the top, Ren's role is pretty much what you said, so thanks for contributing! And as I told you in the PMs, that new story is the One Piece story I uploaded a little while back.
LordGhostStriker: Have you read that many stories where the OC doesn't know what zombies are? From what I've seen, they know what they are, they just don't like saying it out loud.
Savoxgut: Thank you very much. I guess my timing was pretty convenient for you then. I certainly shall.
Guest: Sorry, but I'm not going to be including the OC from my other HOTD fic. I can see your point about how that would develop well, but it really isn't something I plan on doing with this fic. Sorry if I disappointed you.
Pyrojack25: Thank you. And yes, I know what you mean, and your suggestion was taken into account when I made my decision on the matter.
War sage: Thanks!
SharpRevan: Well, since Ren is going to be an advisor of sorts to the group I … guess it could be considered a little like that, if only a tiny bit. It's all good if that's the best you can come up with, you can just sit back and enjoy the story.
ParkerThomas: Thank you very much, I'm glad you like it. Well, that is the basic roll Ren will be fulfilling, so thanks for the suggestion. I hope you enjoy where I go from here.
Kyuubi gear: Thank you. Well, here's more. And thank you once again.
Guest: Cheers, man.
Mr. Aanonymous: Yes, there are going to be lemons, don't worry.
Guest: Thank you. Here's the update.
roxasduelwielder: Yes, he is going to sort of advisor for the group, so thanks for the suggestion.
Guest: Thanks, mate.
Guest: This is about the whole 'trans-pacific' thing, right? Yeah, I've already heard about it.
Let's begin.
Escape from the Undead Academy
"The government has begun to discuss the emergency measures," said the woman on TV. "However, the mobilisation of self-defence forces has been the subject of a—"
Saeko used the remote to change the channel. We were now all gathered in the faculty room, Takashi, Kohta and I having pushed a desk against the door to act as a barricade. We were in relative safety for the time being. While my breathing was still heavier than usual, my thoughts were now straight and I had calmed down quite a lot, which was good. I couldn't afford to panic at a time like this; it wasn't only Shizuka, I had to look after my students, too. Speaking of Shizuka, our hands had been locked with each other since the desk had gone up against the door. I honestly wasn't sure who was getting more comfort from it: me or her.
"—ver ten-thousand have been victimised in city areas so far," said the reporter on the station Saeko had switched to. Behind her, filled body bags were being removed from an ambulance by what looked like police officers. "The governor has already called for the—" A loud bang, the unmistakable sound of a gunshot, interrupted the reporter, who recoiled in surprise. The camera veered off from the reporter and I could see the heavily armoured police force crowding around what looked like one of the bodies. The reporter continued, "—already declared a state of emergency, and requests that the emergency disaster relief—" She was cut off again, but this time she had done it to herself, and it became very clear to me why the police had surrounded the body bags.
The body bags began to sit up. They were closed and sealed, so I couldn't make out the people inside, but that didn't change the fact that the people in those body bags were sitting up. They never had a chance to do much more, though, as two more gunshots rang out and round holes appeared in the body bags around where the head should be. The bags quickly returned to their lying position on the stretchers.
"It's a gunshot," said the reporter when she'd finally regained her voice. "It looks like the police are finally using firearms … from what I can see—" She was cut off one final time. The camera fell and I couldn't see much else … but I could hear the terrified screams of the reporter, and that was more than enough to tell me what had just happened. The television cut to loud static, only to be replaced by a TV studio. The noises of chattering people in the background told me that they were rather busy at the moment.
"Uh … there appears to be a problem with our remote," said the woman on screen, who had literally just been handed a sheet of paper. "From now on, we'll bring you the story from inside the studio. The condition outside seems extremely chaotic, so stay home unless it's absolutely necessary to go outside. We'll bring you more stories as soon as it's safe to cover the current situation from the site."
A loud bang from inside the room took my by surprise. Takashi had punched one of the desks. "Is that all?" he said angrily. "Why didn't they tell us anything else?"
"They're afraid of causing a panic," said Saya.
"A panic?" asked Rei.
"Yeah, you idiot!" said Saya harshly. She pushed up her glasses, which she had donned a little earlier, saying her contact lenses were making her uncomfortable. "First panic, then chaos. Chaos causes a disruption of order. And then, when order is disrupted … well you should just hand it all over to the walking corpses."
"A person is smart, but people are stupid," I said. "Get enough people in the same mood and they're liable to do some pretty stupid things … especially if they're scared out of their wits."
I honestly had to struggle to keep a smile from taking over my face. Despite all the death, despite the breakdown she'd had earlier on, Saya was still one of the smartest—no, the smartest person in this school. I had never been particularly fond of her aggressive way of addressing people, but nobody was perfect, and in a way it kind of worked: she got her point across in a way that made sure people remembered what she said, even if it wasn't in the most positive of lights. I couldn't help feeling prideful of my students when they showed what made them special, and despite the situation, I found that familiar feeling of pride swelling up within me at that very moment.
"This unusual and unprecedented biological phenomenon that's spread throughout North America has yet to be put under control," said the woman on the American news channel Saeko had just switched to. "Government authorities have evacuated the White House and will relocated to a command centre aboard the aircraft carrier George Washington. There are reports that the transfer of power is in preparation for the use of tactical warheads to combat the infestation. We have currently lost contact with Moscow. Beijing has been set ablaze. London has maintained order, while in Paris and Rome there are reports of looting. The government officials have declared as state of martial law—" Those were the last words we could discern before the TV cut to static once more.
That's something, I thought to myself, a feeling of relief coming over me. Dad's in London, and if they've managed to maintain order … he might actually survive this.
That happy thought in mind, I turned my attention back to the not-so-happy conversation.
"So they're everywhere," said Takashi.
"That's crazy," said Kohta. "Everything was normal when I checked the internet this morning."
Yes, that is rather odd, I thought at Kohta's comment. Someone so much as shits themselves in public and it's all over the internet in seconds, but this of all things wasn't covered at all … Either someone really wanted to keep this quiet or everyone died before they could post anything about it. And as much as I hate to be the conspiracy nut, the former option makes much more sense than the latter if how slow these things are is anything to go by … I stopped mulling this over as the conversation continued.
"I can't believe this …" said Rei. By her face I could tell she was in a similar horrified state to the one I had been in barely an hour before. "… This happened all over the world in the matter of a few hours …" She took hold of Takashi's arm. "But they'll stop it, right? They have to stop it … from spreading, I mean …" She turned her head up and smiled a little. "Everything is going back to normal soon."
"That's not gonna happen," said Saya. Her voice was raised a little higher than was probably needed.
"Why do you have to be so blunt about it?" Takashi asked her.
"This is a pandemic," said Saya irritably. "There's nothing we can do!"
"A pandemic …" Shizuka muttered next to me.
"And a pretty fucking nasty one, too," I said. I wouldn't normally swear in front of my students, but given the circumstances I think a few curse words would do the least harm of anything else. I sighed. "I'm sorry if I'm killing your hopes by saying this, guys, but Takagi is right, I really don't see this getting any better."
"But Mr Levitt," said Rei, "it can't just stay like this … can it?"
I felt a pang of guilt in my heart as I thought about what I had to say next. "I'm sorry, Miyamoto—truly I am—but there really isn't anything anyone can do." I said it as softly as possible, trying to give her the truth without distressing her too badly. "There are hundreds of students in this school, hundreds, and it took about twenty minutes for this place to go down like a sack of spuds, if it even took that long. As bad as it is to think about … I think staying alive is about as good as it's going to get for anybody."
"And even if it did spread slower, this is still a worldwide pandemic," added Takagi. "This is exactly like the Spanish Flu in 1918. More than six hundred million people got infected, and over fifty million died from it. You remember how much of a panic Swine Flu caused? Well square that."
"Not to be disagreeable," said Shizuka, "but I think this is more like the Black Death from the 14th Century."
"One third of the European population died," agreed Saya, "you're smarter than you look."
I felt a small spark of anger flow through me. "Okay, that's enough with the insults," I said to Saya. "That's not helping."
"So how did the outbreak finally end?" asked Takashi.
"Well, there are many theories," said Shizuka. "It usually stops when too many humans die. There wouldn't be enough people to spread the disease."
"But now all the dead people still move and start attacking you," said Kohta, who was looking out the window at the multitude of … Them below us.
"Are you saying that there's no reason for this outbreak to stop?" asked Saeko.
This hung over us for a moment, but then Shizuka seemed to perk up suddenly. "The weather's going to be hot," she said with a smile. "They might not be able to move if their flesh decomposes and they become skeletons."
I found myself smiling at my girlfriend's optimism. I absent-mindedly released her hand and put my arm around her shoulders. I kissed her on the cheek with a smile on my face. I sincerely doubted it would be as simple as she said … but I hoped it was. That would have made things so much easier if it was just a matter of waiting until the undead bastards rot. But life, as I'd come to learn, was never that simple. Still, I could hope, and there was a slim, very slim possibility that she was right. We wouldn't know for sure until some time had passed.
"How long does it take for that to happen?" asked Saeko.
"In summer, some parts of the body can become skeletal in about twenty days," said Shizuka, who was counting on her fingers. "But it takes considerably longer during winter …" She smiled brightly as the answer came to her. "Couple of months. That's not too terribly long."
"You're kidding," said Saeko.
"She's not smarter than she looks," said Saya.
"Didn't I say stop that?" I said to the pink-haired girl. Getting angry at the students isn't something I did if I could help it, but the insults against Shizuka were getting on my nerves. I briefly considered how hypocritical of me it was to complain about it now but not when she was doing it to other students, and I mentally berated myself for it. I couldn't let the situation turn me into an asshole.
Saya sighed. "Yes, Mr Levitt, I'll stop insulting your ditzy little girlfriend," she said sarcastically.
"So what are you saying?" Takashi cut in. I think he was trying to stop things from getting ugly.
"Medical logic doesn't apply to those dead corpses that move around and attack humans," said Saya. "Worse case scenario, they might never decompose …"
There was a moment of silence after that. I'm not entirely certain any of us knew what to say; I certainly didn't, at any rate. That thought plagued my mind something fierce. I may have spoken to Rei like I was fully prepared to live in this new world forever, but the truth is that the thought of it positively terrified me. It wasn't the thought of my own death that scared me—it was Shizuka, the students, everyone else. It was harrowing, the thought that everyone important to me, everyone I happened to meet along the way, would have a rather large chance of being eaten alive.
A sardonic grin appeared on my face. I really envied these kids. They had adapted so quickly to the situation, they had killed so many of Them with ease, whereas I had hidden in a classroom as the chaos erupted throughout the building, and then I'd had to stop on my way to the infirmary so that I could throw up. These kids—no, these young men and women were managing so much better than myself, and I felt so proud of them.
I would adapt for them. I would adapt for Shizuka. I would survive all of this for no other reason than to keep them as safe as they could get. They all deserved to survive this.
"So, what are we sitting around for?" I said, the grin on my face growing. I think it confused them that I was smiling, but I just couldn't help it. "If we're gonna be in this for the long haul, we'd best have some sort of plan."
I may have been their teacher, but even if I did have a plan I wasn't going to start ordering them around. Having one person in charge never goes well; more often than not, too many people in a group disagree with the one in charge and either leave or rebel—just look at any dictatorship in history and tell me I'm wrong. Teamwork was the only way we were getting out of this with even the remotest chance of survival, and that is why I was more than happy to let the students talk this out and give my opinion where appropriate.
I could see them smiling at me a little. And Shizuka rested her head on my shoulder. I had the sneaking suspicion that they still expected me to be going through the slight mental breakdown I'd had earlier; I couldn't say I blamed them. I had been quite pale for a while.
"The first thing we should find out is if our families are okay," said Saeko. "Then we need to find some place safe where we can hold up for a while. But Mr Levitt's right, no matter where we go, we're going to need a plan." There was a moment of silence as she seemed to think. "Teams. We need to team up."
There was no need to say any more, we all knew the deal by that point. We were going to try and escape from the school building, picking up any survivors as we went, and then we were going to take one of the school buses (since Shizuka's car was hardly big enough for all of us) and escape to the city.
As everyone got their weapons ready, I was stood by Shizuka, already holding the cricket bat that had aided me in my fights against Them thus far.
"When we leave, you stay behind me," I said quietly to Shizuka. She wasn't exactly built for fighting, nor did she have the stomach for the amount of violence we were inevitably going to face when we left the room, so I was very concerned for her. "I'll keep you safe, I promise. We'll get out of here just fine."
She smiled at me as she gathered up her bagged medical supplies. "Don't worry about me, Ren," she said. She leaned forward and kissed me softly on the lips. I was left with a lingering need for more as she separated from me. "It's not like you'll be the only one fighting, so try not to give yourself so much responsibility."
I nodded. "I can't promise not to do that, but I'll certainly try."
We smiled at each other and shared one last, short kiss before everyone else was ready, too.
"Let's try to pick up survivors whenever we can," said Saeko.
"Let's do it," said Takashi.
"What's the best way outta here?" asked Rei.
"Sorry to break it to ya, stupid, but we're just going to have to go out the front," said Saya.
I sighed. "Takagi, if you're not going to stop completely with the derogatory remarks, could you at least save them until we're not about to run into mortal danger?" I said. Surely someone as smart as her sees that now isn't the time for insulting each other.
We all gathered up near the door to the faculty room. Takashi was in the lead. I wasn't sure why, but for some reason letting him choose when to leave made some strange sort of sense. He just had this … air about him that made me want to follow him. It was crazy, really; I was stood there, perfectly willing to follow the orders of one of my students.
Then again, the whole world was looking pretty crazy by that point.
"Let's go," said Takashi.
He opened the door to the faculty room, and Kohta shot down two of Them that were lingering outside instantly. There was a third, which Takashi dealt with swiftly, bashing its head in with his baseball bat. Shizuka was staying relatively near the centre of the group, so there was at least one of us on each side of her. I felt a great deal of comfort knowing that she was protected on all sides.
And then we found ourselves fighting through the corridors of the school all over again.
~Me, My Students and the Dead~
We had reached a relatively clear stairwell when we stopped. It appeared that Saeko had something to say.
"Let me make something clear," she said, "there's no need to engage in a fight unless it's necessary. Do whatever you can to avoid a fight, you got it?"
"Remember, they're sensitive to sound, so keep it quiet," said Saya. "And they're strong enough to break through regular walls and doors. And when they've got a hold on you, they're gonna tear you to shreds, so be careful."
There was an incredibly high-pitched scream from somewhere nearby, and we all took off running. It was definitely a girl, and almost certainly a student judging by the high pitch of her voice. I gathered that she had to be in some kind of group if she was still alive in all this. That was good. The more survivors, the better. It didn't take long before we came upon another stairwell, this one a little crowded with Them … and I could see at least four students who appeared to be trapped in the middle of it.
"Stay back!" I heard one of them say, this one a male. One of Them went in for a bite, but Kohta shot at it from our spot at the top of the stairs, putting it down for good.
The rest of us leapt into action pretty quickly after that. I wasn't really keeping an eye on the others; rather, I was focusing all my attention on the fighting. I practically leapt down the stairs, surprisingly not falling down them, and brought my cricket bat down right on one of Their heads, cracking it open and spilling its brain matter onto the floor in front of me. I gritted my teeth slightly, but my reaction was nowhere near as severe as it had been before. I immediately swung my cricket bat to the left, smashing another one of Them over the railing of the staircase; it cracked its head open at the bottom. I could feel the others fighting around me more than I could see them.
My breathing was slightly laboured again by the time we had finished. I had lost count of how many former students I had just sent to their permanent resting places. There was no feeling of sickness this time, though, so I took that much as a positive.
"Uh … thank you," one of the girls in the group said. There were five of them, not four like I'd assumed. I didn't recognise any of them, so they were probably students who hadn't chosen to take English.
"Keep it down," said Saeko. "Is anyone bitten yet?"
"What?" the girl asked. "No … no one."
"It looks okay," said Rei in confirmation. She was smiling again. "We'll be all right."
"We're getting out of here," Takashi told the group. "Do any of you want to come with us?"
"We're taking one of the buses," I added. I thought they might want to at least know what we were doing before joining up with us.
One of the boys looked at me wearily. I realised that, with my slightly laboured breathing, I might have looked quite unhealthy, which probably didn't look too good given the situation.
"Sure, we'll come," said the girl. Though she was looking at me with some concern, too.
"I'm not about to drop dead, if that's what you're thinking," I told them with a humorous grin. "I'm just not used to bashing people's heads in. You're in perfectly safe company."
That seemed to put them at ease, and we were soon making our way through the hallways again.
It was not much longer until we reached the front doors of the school, and we hadn't really encountered too many of Them on our way over, so it was starting to seem as if we'd bypassed most of them … If only it had been that easy. We got there and at the front of the school, near everyone's shoe-lockers, were rather a lot of Them, just sort of stumbling about aimlessly. Not surprising, really, since they were pretty much blind. But whether they could see or not, there was a formidable number of Them in front of us, and if we wanted to get passed this area unscathed, we'd have to get rid of them somehow before we tried to move out.
"Man, there's a bunch of them," muttered Takashi. We were all doing our best to keep quiet to avoid alerting Them.
"From what I can tell, the only thing they react to are sounds," said Saya. "They can't see us, so it's pointless to hide from them."
"Why don't you go down there and prove that theory?" said Takashi.
"Actually, Mr Levitt was saying something like that earlier," said Saeko.
"When I was making my way down to the infirmary," I said when everyone looked at me, "I just walked through the corridors for the most part. None of the damn things had any clue I was there. I only even had to fight if the hallway I was in was too crowded."
"There are too many down there to just walk past them," said Saeko. "Somebody's going to have to clear the way."
Nobody volunteered in a hurry. I think we were all a little nervous that the theory about them being blind would turn out to be wrong—hell, I knew they were blind, yet some paranoia or another kept me quiet. I just had a really bad feeling about this.
Takashi sighed and rubbed his forehead. "I'll do it, I'll go."
Rei spoke up near enough instantly. "No. You stay, I'll go."
"I think I should go ahead first," said Saeko.
With some effort, I swallowed down the feelings of fear that were holding me back. "I'll do it," I said. I felt Shizuka grab my hand, and I squeezed back in reassurance. I was fairly confident now. "I've walked through a load of them once and come out fine, what's a second time likely to do to me?"
"I think you two should stay back here just in case," Takashi told Saeko and myself.
Rei stood up abruptly as Takashi began to walk away. "Takashi, why?" she asked. I was wondering the exact same thing.
Takashi stopped moving. "I don't know," he said simply.
"You don't know?" Rei was confused.
Takashi turned to look back at us with a smile. "Seriously, I don't know," he said. He turned back around and started walking down the stairs again.
Rei tried to make after him. "Taka—"
"Don't," said Saeko, grabbing one of Rei's arms to stop her from moving. "I understand, but you can't interfere with him. This was his decision."
I understood. I didn't like it, and I was only just keeping myself from biting my nails due to my restlessness. But despite thinking that I should have gone down in place of my student, I understood the need to allow his decisions to stand perfectly. There isn't much to worry about, anyway, I reasoned with myself. They're blind for Christ's sake. Takashi isn't stupid enough to make a shit-ton of noise on his way down, so he'll be fine. There's no reason to worry.
Calmed but still slightly restless, I watched as Takashi made his way to the bottom of the stairs.
He got to the bottom of the stairs and walked into the midst of the hoard. Then he just stood there. He looked nervous—for which I obviously couldn't blame him—but one of Them was approaching him, seemingly heading straight for him. I tensed at the same time he did, half expecting it to lunge for him … but it simply passed him by. I released my breath and smiled, knowing that Takashi was going to be all right. After a few moments, Takashi bent down and picked up a shoe that was lying on the bloody floor. He then proceeded to throw it to one end of the hallway, where it made a very loud bang! as it hit the wall. All of Them turned towards it, moaning in Their croaky, dead voices, and moved to that end of the hall, well away from the front doors of the school.
Once Takashi had opened the front doors, the rest of us began making our way down the stairs as quickly and quietly as possible. I was still hand in hand with Shizuka the whole way … we were nearly out the door … we were going to make it …
CLANG!
The sound of metal hitting something echoed rather loudly around us. Time almost seemed to freeze as the consequences of such a loud noise occurred to me. There was total silence for a few moments—I even had time to look behind me for a moment to see what had made the noise; one of the survivors we'd picked up had knocked the metal pole he was using against the banister on the staircase. The silence was deafening … then a loud noise seemed to rise up around us, and it terrified me to my very core. The moaning of hundreds of Them resounded through the air, and only a single thought occurred to me.
Fuck …
"RUN!" Takashi shouted at the top of his lungs, and we all did just that.
I gripped Shizuka's hand tightly—probably much tighter than was necessary—and I ran for the front door of the school as fast as my legs would carry me. My survival instincts had taken over again, and I was aware of very little other than the legions of Them that surrounded us as we exited the school. I released Shizuka's hand but made sure to stay near her, preparing my cricket bat for the biggest fight it had had so far.
"Why did you have to go and shout!?" Saya yelled at Takashi. "We could've made it by just taking care of the ones that were close by if you hadn't said anything!"
I bashed one of Their heads in with my bad, growling. "Okay, you know what, Takagi? I'm getting sick and tired of asking you to drop the hostility, so shut your trap and listen for a second!" Getting this frustrated with a student was unusual for me, but due to the circumstances, I didn't really have the presence of mind to try and say this nicely. "That sound echoed all over the place—you heard it, I heard it—so all these things were going to close on in either way, and fighting them makes noise, too, in case you hadn't noticed, so they would've ended up coming for us anyway! So what we're gonna need you to do now, is shut up and start running! Or would you rather be eaten? The choice is entirely yours." I was panting in frustration with her attitude, but as my mind cleared a little, I found that I felt bad about snapping at her like that. There would be time for apologies later, though, and for now I just needed her to work with the rest of us to get out of this alive.
Saya seemed to grit her teeth at being spoken to like that. "Yes sir," she said in a begrudging sort of voice.
We got moving again. I swung my cricket bat again, sending one of Them flying to the left with blood pouring from its head. Kohta was in front of us, aiming his nail gun at the large amount of Them, but not firing, possibly due to the sheer number of them that lay ahead of us. Takashi ran past him and the rest of us followed. I swung my bat with as much strength as I could muster, bashing in the heads of my former students and colleagues and feeling nothing from it because of the huge amount of adrenaline that was pumping through my veins.
"Forget talking," said Takashi, "just run!"
And then we all charged forwards. Myself, Takashi, Rei and Saeko were at the front, bashing in the heads of anything that was unfortunate enough to cross our path, but avoiding unnecessary fighting as Saeko had suggested. Kohta, Saya and Shizuka brought up the rear, with Kohta shooting anything that got close to them; they were following the path we were creating, though, which meant there were very few of Them between them and us. I thought everything was going really well … until the sounds of somebody yelling out in pain reached my ears.
I turned and saw that They had one of the survivors we'd picked up surrounded, and he was crying out in pain and fear as They clamped Their jaws onto him, dragging him to the ground without mercy.
I've got to help him, I thought. I've got to save him … I've got to try and do something— I bit my own tongue to snap myself back to my senses. I had already seen what happened to those who get bitten, and I also knew there was no saving him now, so charging in there would be a pointless risk. As hard as it was, I chose to simply move forward.
One of the other survivors stopped dead and turned around at the sounds of his screaming. She looked very distraught at the sight of him being torn apart on the ground, so I made the assumption that they had been lovers before all this. She made to run towards him, but Saya grabbed onto her arm.
"Just forget him!" Saya yelled at the girl. "Once you get bitten it's pointless!" The girl wrenched herself free of Saya's grip on her arm, looked at her, shook her head with tears rolling down her face, and ran towards the scene of the young man being brutally ripped apart. I would have stopped her, but a few of Them got in my way and I had to deal with Them. "Wait a minute!" exclaimed Saya. "You heard me, didn't you? He's not gonna make it! Why are you going back to him!?"
Shizuka, who had moved close to me after I'd dealt with the small group of Them, took a step back. "I understand," she said quietly. "If the entire world turned into this … I'd rather die with the person that I love."
I reached my left hand back, keeping my bat firmly in the grasp of my right, and gave her hand a gentle squeeze. "Shizuka, I don't plan on either of us dying," I said. "So you just stop those thoughts right there, okay? We'll get out of this just fine."
"Oh, shut up, Mr and Mrs Bleeding Heart!" Saya yelled at us. I wasn't even going to comment on that one.
"Look out!" Kohta shouted in warning before shooting down one of Them that had been closing in on Saya. He got close to her, pointing the nail gun all around them. "Don't you worry, Takagi."
"You rude little otaku!" Saya yelled. "How dare you interrupt me while I'm talking!? Why would you do that!?"
"I don't know," said Kohta, "'cause I really like your voice." He turned to her with a smile. She just looked confused and put off.
I had to smile at that. Despite how unpleasant Saya was being, Kohta was still trying to act all sweet with her. It was actually a really pleasant sight to see. I stopped admiring the students' relationships to each other in order to smash in the head of one of Them that had been closing in on Shizuka and myself.
"Nice to see the two of you getting along," Saeko said to Kohta and Saya as she seemingly decided to join us.
"Ms Shizuka, the key!" exclaimed Takashi as we got close to the bus. Shizuka had the key because she had a bag to put it in, and we really didn't feel safe putting it in anyone's pocket.
Shizuka got the door to the bus open and everyone started piling inside. Shizuka was in the driver's seat, and the only people still outside the bus were Takashi, Saeko and I. We were fighting off any of Them that got near. I saw Shizuka struggling with the controls of the bus and went inside to help her out.
"Trust me, it's not all that different from a car when you get used to it," I said, then I pointed out to her where all the controls were. The only reason I didn't offer to take over was because we were a little pressed for time. "You got all that?" I asked, to which she nodded.
Saeko and Takashi were both on the bus now, and Takashi was about to close the door when he stopped abruptly. I looked where he was looking and was shocked to see a rather large group of students, accompanied by a teacher, running towards the bus. As happy as I was that there were other survivors, I couldn't help but let a feeling of dread wash over me as I took a closer look at the teacher who was with them.
Oh, please God, don't let it be—
"Who's that?" asked Takashi.
"That's Mr Shido of Class 3-A," Saeko told him.
"… Well, fuck me with a rake …" I muttered to myself as my mood darkened considerably. Shido was one of the few people in this world who I could say I one hundred percent, without a doubt, absolutely hated. The man was a pervert of the highest nature, and he was constantly leering at the female staff members, but mostly Shizuka because of her rather sizeable bust size; I wouldn't have been surprised if he'd been doing so to students, too. And my feelings of hatred for the man were apparently mutual. Since I had started working at the school, he had taken every opportunity to get me into trouble, whether I'd actually done anything wrong or not. It all started early on, when I had reported him for neglecting to punish the students in his class that were bullying Kohta on a regular basis; ever since then, Shido had despised me.
Incidentally, I noticed Rei tense up at the sight of him, too. I wonder why that is …?
"We can go now!" Shizuka announced.
"Wait just a little bit longer," said Takashi. Rei looked at him like he'd just suggested we go outside and try to form a conga line with a large group of Them.
"They're in front of us," said Shizuka with a panicked voice. "Any more and we won't be able to drive through here."
"Run 'em down." Takashi's voice was stern.
Saya sighed. "If Dr Boobs tries to drive over that many, we'll flip the bus," she said.
Once again, I chose to ignore the comment, having more important things to be worrying about at the present time.
Takashi made to jump off the bus, but Rei grabbed onto him. "We don't have to save him!" she said aggressively.
Takashi looked at her incredulously. "Jesus. What do you mean, we don't have to save him?"
"We don't have to help him!" Rei shouted in his face. "We should just leave him here to die!"
I wanted to agree with her. The temptation to just leave the bastard to be ripped apart by Them was so tempting it was insane … but, while I hated the man with a passion I couldn't even describe, he had led a group of students to safety, and I certainly wasn't willing to leave them to die, so … I begrudgingly kept my mouth shut. Even if Shido was a scumbag, the fact that he cared enough about the students to try and get them out of there alive made me consider that he might not deserve to die.
What happened next convinced me otherwise.
Shido had stopped to wave the students on past, but one of them fell over and landed at his feet. Shido simply stood there for a few moments, and for a moment I honestly thought he was going to help the poor boy up, but … Shido proved himself to be worse than I had ever thought. He raised a foot up and brought it down on the poor boy's face. I saw blood coat the boy's face before the crowd of Them surrounding him shielded him from my view.
Shido managed to get on the bus before any of us could shut the door in his face. Our eyes met as he walked past me and we sharpened our gazes at one another.
That was the first time in my life I had ever wanted to choke the life out of someone as painfully as possible.
There was nothing I could do without wasting precious time, however, so I turned my gaze to look out the front window of the bus. Shizuka had started driving the second the door had snapped shut behind Shido, and we were now making our way towards the front gate of the school. Shizuka's breath began to quicken as we rapidly approached a large group of Them that was standing between us and the gate. She looked hesitant.
I placed one of my hands on her arm. "Shizuka, they're aren't people," I said. "They aren't even alive. You're not hurting anyone by doing this."
She seemed to steel herself. Then she slammed her foot down on the accelerator pedal and we went forward at a rapid pace, running down any of Them that got in our way. I quickly sat myself down in a seat right at the front of the bus, bracing myself for the inevitable impact. Sure enough, it wasn't long until the bus smashed through the gates of the school, and I damn near flew out of my seat when contact was made. And then we were driving, smoothly but rapidly, on the road outside the school.
I sighed in relief. We would be relatively safe for a little while, at least. I got up from my seat and walked over to Shizuka. Without getting in her way, I leant over and kissed her cheek softly. "If you need a break, just tell me and I'll take over," I whispered to her.
"Just sit down," she said with a smile. "I've got this for now."
I did as she said and sat down … though I just couldn't get comfortable knowing that Shido, that murderous son of a bitch, was on the bus with us.
~Me, My Students and the Dead~
The sun was setting. I was still sitting at the very front of the bus, occasionally glancing at Shizuka to see if she was getting tired. I realised with some humour that she was right about me worrying too much; I hadn't stopped worrying about her since the whole thing started, and she still looked fine. I guess I'm just that kind of person.
Kohta was re-taping the sight he had attached to the nail gun. Everyone else was sitting in silence. We hadn't really interacted at all in the half-hour or so since we'd escaped the school—we had been trapped there for a lot longer than anyone had thought.
"I can't believe we did it," Takashi said quietly.
"Yeah," Kohta said in agreement, just as quietly.
"Thank God we did," said Shido, who was taking his first steps towards the front of the bus since he'd gotten on. He was looking at me, his eyes narrowed and a smile on his face that was filled with disdain. "Can I assume you led them out of the school, Mr Levitt? Forgive me for saying, but I find that … difficult to believe."
I bit back a snarl. When I spoke next, I made myself sound as civil as possible, which was hard when the image of him stomping on that student's face kept flashing through my mind. "You'd be wrong to believe it, anyway, Mr Shido," I said with a strained smile. "No one led the group out of there. We fought together, we moved together, and we made decisions together. It's teamwork that got us out of there, Mr Shido, not leadership."
"An admirable sentiment, to be sure," he said, his eyes narrowing even more, and a smirk growing on his face. "But I'm afraid I must disagree. If we're going to survive, we're definitely going to need a leader. A leader bears everything, with valour, with confidence."
"Dictatorships always fail, Mr Shido," I said, frowning. "They crumble and they burn. Surely history has taught us that?"
"The city!" said the loud voice of a student at the back of the bus. Shido threw me a contemptuous glare before looking out the front window. I did the same.
It was chaos. From the road we were on, we could see the entire city down below us. There were large pillars of smoke rising from buildings. There were flickering lights from different places, showing where there were fires alight throughout the town. As we drove down the hill and into a small amount of buildings on the outskirts of the city, blood was splattered in the streets, and They were scattered around everywhere. We hit one on the way past a convenience store, and its body crumpled in the road like a rag-doll.
"Shiiiit," said a blond student from the back—Tsunoda, I believe his name was. He stood up to address the rest of the bus. "Like I said, it's only dangerous if we keep going! First of all, why do we have to go with Mr Levitt* and the others? You guys are the only ones who decided to go back to the city! Maybe we should've just looked for a safe place inside the school. If you ask me, we were better off where we were!"
"He's right," said another student, this one I didn't know. "I kind of agree with Tsunoda. We should barricade ourselves somepl—"
The screeching of the tires and the sudden force trying to fling me off my seat told me that Shizuka had just abruptly stopped the bus. The only reason I hadn't told them to stop was the fact that I thought everyone on the bus should have a say—even Shido, though I thought his opinion was worth less than dogshit in the park—and no matter how unreasonable their ideas were, everyone should be able to get said ideas out in the open.
Shizuka unclipped her seatbelt and leaned over to look at everyone … leaving her large breasts to hang there for everyone to gawk at. "Okay, you all, that's enough!" she yelled. "I can't focus on the driving with all this yelling!"
I moved forward as she sat back in the seat. "All right, Shizuka, time for me to take over," I said. She gave me a look. "You're stressed out. Just take a seat and let me drive for a while, okay?"
Shizuka sighed. "Okay," she said. She stood up and sat in the seat I was previously occupying. I sat in the driver's seat, clipped on the seatbelt, and began to move the bus forward once more.
"How about you tell me what you wanna do?" Saeko said to Tsunoda. I could no longer see what was happening as my eyes were focused on the road.
"… I just can't stand this guy!" said Tsunoda. "I hate him!"
"Why?" asked Takashi. From this I figured that Tsunoda had been speaking about him. "What the hell did I ever do to you? I don't even know you."
"You know—" If Tsunoda was going to say anything else, he didn't get the chance to. There was the sound of a hard impact and Tsunoda seemed to start choking. I heard a bumping sound that indicated he had fallen to the floor.
"Asshole," Rei said with contempt in her voice.
A sound I distinctly recognised as clapping resounded from the back of the bus. "Bravo," said Shido, and my teeth gritted together. "Is this that excellent teamwork you were talking about, Mr Levitt?" My hands tightened on the steering wheel. "I'm impressed. I commend both of you. At any rate, a conflict like that merely proves my point; we need a leader. We do. Surely neither of you want such a difficult responsibility on your shoulders?"
"So, you're going to run for the position, then?" said Saya.
"I'm a teacher, Ms Takagi," said Shido, "and much more qualified for the job than certain … others I could mention." I knew he was talking about me, and I felt myself tense in anger. "And, while mature, the rest of you are barely in your teens." The tone of his voice rose so that it resounded all throughout the bus. "That alone makes it very clear who should assume such a role! I have experience! Why, just moments ago I saved all of these brave students! What do you say, guys?"
A large amount of clapping came from the back of the bus, and I felt my stomach drop. Is … is this bastard really going to be in charge? Do these kids have no sense? My anger was building, but I did my best to stay in control as to avoid an accident. I felt a hand on my arm, and I turned to see Shizuka trying to smile at me. I smiled back and I felt actual calm wash over me.
"There, it's been decided," said Shido. "The majority seems to have made the choice quite clear, yes?"
"Mr Levitt, stop the bus!" Rei yelled from beside me. I turned to see her face red with rage. "I'm getting off!"
"Wha—" I had trouble finding my voice. I cleared my throat. "Miyamoto, I really think you should think this through—"
"STOP THE DAMN BUS!" she practically screamed at me. I could see her muscles tensing. Reluctantly, I complied and pressed my foot down on the breaks. I hated doing it, but I couldn't afford to be distracted while driving, I didn't want to risk crashing the bus. When the bus stopped, Rei kicked open the doors and leapt out and into the street.
Takashi stood by the door and leant his head out. "Rei!" he called to her.
"No way!" said Rei, turning around to face him, her face completely overtaken with anger. "I won't do it! I'm not staying here with him!"
"Get back on the bus," Takashi said quietly.
"Well, there's nothing I can do if you don't want to act in accordance with all of us," said Shido.
I snapped my head around to look at him. I practically growled as I spoke. "Shido, you son of a bitch, you'd better shut your fucking mouth right now. I hear one more word out of you and I'll come back there and choke the God damned life out of you, and I really don't give a fuck who voted for what!" I was shaking. I had never felt this angry in my life, and in that moment I honestly felt like I was going to kill him if another sound left his mouth.
Luckily for the slimy bastard, he chose to clamp his mouth shut faster than I even thought possible. He kept silent, but he glared at me intensely. It was funny, because for that one moment, Shido was afraid of me … and I liked that.
"Komuro!" yelled Saya, and that's when I realised that Takashi had gotten off the bus, too.
"Okay, both of you, get your asses back on the bus!" I yelled out at them, but they didn't listen to me.
Takashi grabbed Rei's arm. "Wait!" he said. "Get back on the bus. When we get to the city, we'll get off. I don't want you to leave."
"That's why I told you that you'd regret this!" Rei snapped at him.
"No, we'll both regret this!" Takashi yelled … then the horn of a very large vehicle sounded.
"Okay, you need to punch it!" Saeko yelled at me. I didn't even wait to see what was coming, I just floored the accelerator. There was an enormously loud CRASH! and then I saw that there was now the flaming wreckage of a bus between us and the other two, who it now seemed were trapped in an underpass. I had drawn to a stop not far from where we were before, but I still couldn't tell if Takashi and Rei were all right due to the large amount of fire in the way.
Saeko got off the bus. I didn't even protest this time; my heart was pumping too quickly for me to think properly.
"Komuro, are you all right?" Saeko called over the sound of the roaring flames.
"At the police station!" came the voice of Takashi, muffled by the sounds of the flames … and now the moaning of Them; They had apparently been on the bus when it had crashed, and They were still alive despite the flames. "We'll meet at the East Police Station!"
"What time?" asked Saeko.
"Seven o'clock!" yelled Takashi. "If not today, then tomorrow at the same time!"
Saeko got back on the bus and slammed the door shut. "Looks like we're not taking this freeway any more," she said.
"Right you are," I said. I switched the gears on the bus and got moving again, moving down the road in an attempt to find another way into town. I sighed. "Fuck me, this has been a bad day," I muttered.
"Do you want me to take over?" asked Shizuka with a smile and a glint of humour in her eyes. "You're getting 'stressed out'." She giggled.
I had to chuckle, too. It really was funny, just how quickly the tables had turned. Then I laughed again. Somehow, Shizuka had managed to make the situation feel a lot brighter with just one joke.
It wasn't a surprise, really. Just having her around made everything brighter for me.
I continued driving late into the night.
Okay, how was chapter 2? I'll admit, I had some trouble with this one; being a 17 year old high school student, I found it rather difficult to write from the perspective of a 25 year old teacher, but I think I did all right in the end. What do you think?
*While I have no plans for Ren to become leader of the group, I thought that since a teacher was accompanying Takashi and the others, then the other students would simply assume that teacher was the one in charge.
I realised upon writing this AN that Ren continuing to drive the bus after Shizuka snaps doesn't exactly fit in with canon, where the bus simply remains stationary during the rest of the scene, and Takashi and Rei get off at that spot. So can you guys do me a favour and pretend that there was still some distance to go before they reached the area where the crash occurs? Thank you.
Next Chapter: Taking to the Streets
