AN: I do not own Highschool Of The Dead nor any of its characters. I also apologize for my long absence!

Now that our little disclaimer and apology is out of the way, I have a very important message!

When I originally started to write this fanfic, I had no idea where I was going to go with it. NO plot, No true development of my OC. And most importantly, I had decided to just follow the main story and throw in a half baked character and call it a story.

Wrong!

So after some heavy reconsideration, and heavy editing of what was to be my 'plot' for this Fic, I am able to say I believe I will make a good story out of this yet! So next chapter, which should be out on friday of next week, will be completely different from these last three.

So with that little authors note the only thing have to say is that all I own is this computer and my OC . Enjoy this chapter and review to get a digital cookie!

HOTD: The Dead Walk On

Chapter 3: Democracy? There is no Democracy Left!

It's been about 20 minutes since we barricaded ourselves in the Teacher Faculty Room, and it's been a nice reprieve from the blood soaked halls of the school interior. But that doesn't mean we're trouble free at the moment. We have no plan, no weapons other than a baseball bat a makeshift nail rifle and a bokken. Along with a now broken makeshift machete… And one large fucked up scene of the field flashing through my mind over and over again!

I slammed my fist on a table 'Damn it all!' I screamed in my head. It was just when I needed it the most that it would break on me like that.

"Hey" Takashi asked, placing a hand on my shoulder "You alright?"

I thought about all that had happened today. And the more that I thought about it… I shook my head, "Not in the slightest… I mean, you saw what just happened out there? Right?" I pointed to the door as the shadows of the reanimated students walked past the tinted windows. "It was a slaughter house Takashi!" I whispered, "And out in that field… All of those students screaming, NO, Pleading for help! My help, Takashi!" my breath shuddered as another vivid flash of a screaming student being eaten came to mind.

"I don't think I'll ever be 'alright' ever again…" I mumbled. Looking down at my blood covered gauntlet before clenching my fist.

Takashi didn't know what to say, so he went to go around and check on the others as we all came up with a plan of action.

A few minutes later a water bottle appeared in my vision, "Here, this'll help." Rei offered with a genuine smile of concern. I gladly accepted the proffered water "Thanks." Opening the cap and taking a greedy gulp before stowing it in my bag.

"Ms. Shizuka, where are your keys?" Takashi asked.

The blonde nurse perked up a little bit. "Oh! They should be in my purse…" Before beginning to dig through her aforementioned hand bag.

"Is your car going to be able to hold all of us?" Saeko asked, making Ms. Shizuka slump in her chair.

"Now that I think about it…." Clearly it wouldn't

"It's fine," I said "We'll find another way out of this slaughter house." Although I knew what awaited us on the outside would probably be ten times worse than this damned school.

"Everyone sat in thought for a few moments on our next course of egress when Saeko brought up the best, and only, suggestion. "What about the Micro-bus we use to go to school tournaments?"

I blinked a few times before turning to the purple haired warrior "You are an absolute genius!" I exclaimed as I stood up "Not only can we all fit in the bus, any supplies that we pick up along the way can be easily stored as well."

During my rant I didn't notice Kohta look outside the windows of the Faculty room.

"Hey guys, I can see the bus!"

"That's nice," Ms. Shizuka stated "But where are we going?"

"We're going to make sure that our families are okay." I flinched as Takashi said the word family.

"We'll start with the family that lives closest to here, then work our way from there. If you're worried about your family then we can take them with us. And after that we'll look for a safe place and-"

Takashi stopped talking when he heard Rei gasp in surprise. And I instantly looked to the Television where her eyes were firmly locked onto. The Brownish orange orbs were wide with shock and fear as she watched whatever was transpiring.

"What's wrong?" Saya asked, as Saeko grabbed the T.V. Remote and turned the volume up.

The voice of a female reporter could now be heard clearly throughout the room. Giving the latest news on the world's conditions. From how The United States had been receiving cases of the unknown outbreak, to how the world had lost contact with Moscow and that Berlin was up in flames! Not a sliver of news that the outbreak was being halted were even mentioned.

"Mother of God!" I whispered as I listened to a news crew being attacked by the undead before being brought back to the broadcasting station. The News anchor being handed a piece of paper as soon as the screen changed over.

"There appears to be a problem with our remote. From now on we'll bring you the story from inside the studio." She announced, shuffling the papers she was holding further before continuing with the broadcast.

"The situation outside seems extremely chaotic, so stay indoors unless it is absolutely necessary to go outside! We will bring you more stories once the situation allows us to film on site."

Takashi slammed a fist down on the desk he was standing next to, Anger and distrust clear in his eyes. "Is that all?! Why didn't they tell us anything else?" He asked. Clenching his teeth with so much force that I thought they would snap in two.

No one else seemed to have an answer besides myself and Saya. Both of us began to explain at the same time.

"What good will it do if everyone begins to panic?" "Because they don't want everyone to panic."

We both looked at each other, well, Saya glared at me for 'interrupting her'. So I just waved my hand to tell her to continue explaining.

"Panic?" Rei asked, looking from the both of us with curious eyes.

"Yes you Idiot!" Saya growled. "First comes panic, then chaos. And chaos causes a disruption of order."

I grunted in confirmation. "Takagi is right. If the city becomes one big clusterfuck, then the government can't do anything to slow the spread of- Whatever the hell this virus is."

The T.V. once again began to talk about the outbreak. This time it was about the states. How the president was being moved to a safer location until the virus was contained and continue to run the government from there.

Tch… Typical cowardly ass still wasn't gonna do his job right!

And then they stated that Tactical Warheads. Missiles, Bombing runs! Were going to be used on heavy population centers to try and quell the virus! Damnit all to hell… These idiots were going to destroy the fucking nation before they cleared those damn shamblers from the streets!

I gritted my teeth in anger as the T.V. cut out once more, my body started to shake as I realized that due to the one man that should be ordering the evacuation of those civilians… Was going to blow them up instead! And my family was going to be among those numbers!

3rd POV

Everyone sat in stunned silence at what they had just heard. The entire world was supposedly going up in flames. And no one was going to come and give them any help all the while.

"So that's it then?" Takashi asked "They're everywhere?"

Marc just walked away to the back of the room, shoulders shaking and eyes full of rage and tears. No one dared to follow when he slammed his armored fist into a nearby wall and put a hole in it.

"T-that's just crazy!" Kohta exclaimed "When I checked the internet this morning everything seemed completely fine!"

Rei's weak voice was barely audible as she whispered "How could this have happened?! That this could have happened in a matter of a few hours is just…" She clenched onto Takashi's jacket "But they have to stop it right?!" she said a little louder "I mean, they have to stop it from spreading. Everything will be going back to normal soon." she sounded hopeful about that.

That hope wouldn't last very long though.

"Stop it?" Marc growled as everyone turned to look at his tear streaked face.

"They can't just STOP IT!" he yelled, "It's too damn late for that now! The whole World is fucked!"

Takashi scowled. "Why do you have to be so blunt about it?"

"Because this is a Pandemic." Saya explained.

"Pandemic?" Ms. Shizuka asked

"Yes, and ain't nothing gonna stop it until it's swallowed up everything it can get its hands on." Marc growled once more.

"So... What," Takashi began "Its like an Epidemic?"

"Saya shook her head before putting a hand to her chin in thought. "This is just like the Spanish Flu in 1918." Marc snorted "Yeah, but this time it's a lot worse…"

"More than 600 Million people got infected with it, and more than 50,000 people died from it." Saya continued, her face turned grim "And do you remember how much panic the Swine Flu caused? well now you can square that!"

"Not to be disagreeable," Shizuka added in, "But this is more like the Black death in the fourteenth century."

"More than a third of Europe's population died you're smarter than you look." Saya complimented.

"So how did the disease end?" Takashi asked.

"Well, there are many theories…" Shizuka began

"But if there ain't enough bodies to infect, then there isn't a reason to spread anymore." Marc interrupted as he grabbed his shield from a nearby table.

"Yeah…" Kohta began, "But now the dead people start moving around and attack you."

Everyone shuddered at those words.

"Are you implying that this outbreak is never going to stop?" Saeko asked with only a small hint of something laced within her words that no one could decipher.

Ms. Shizuka suddenly raised a finger in the air "Oh! The weather is going to be hot! Their flesh may not be able to move if it's rotted and they turn into skeletons!" She exclaimed.

"How long does a body take to decompose?"

"Well, in Summer, some parts of the body can become skeletal in twenty days. But in the winter it can take much longer… So only a couple of months! That's not too bad right?!" The Blonde nurse exclaimed with a can-do attitude.

"You're kidding?!"

"Oh look, she's not as smart as she seems…"

"So what are you saying?" Takashi asked with more than a hint of confusion.

"What she means to say is that we don't know if our logic of bodily decomposition even applies to these Things!" Marc exclaimed. "Think of it. When the Human body shuts down for good we lose all control of our muscles. We defecate and urinate on ourselves because our muscles are no longer contracting." he stated, pacing the room like some college professor.

"We know that those rules still apply, because every single one of those walkers out there smell like they just went on themselves instead of trying to make a break for the shitter. But when they reanimate their muscles start to contract again."

Marc stopped his pacing and merely stared at the floor "Maybe the virus is preserving the body somehow? slowing the decomposition by keeping a minimal amount of blood flowing through the system while blocking off injured areas of the body? Stomach acid has to keep being produced if those flesh eaters wanna keep gorging themselves…"

By now everyone was looking at the mumbling teen like he was insane while Saya actually looked surprised that he had any knowledge stored in his brain at all!

"Okay, while all of this is interesting Marc, we still need to find out if our families are okay." Saeko said, effectively bringing him back to the world as he apologized for losing focus.

"It's fine, but now we need a plan if we are going to survive… Teams! Form up into teams!"

And with that everyone grabbed what little weaponry they had, before grouping together. I decided to stick close to Takagi and Ms. Shizuka. Seeing as how even though I don't have a weapon I can still bash a freaks face in with my shield or clock them in the head with my gauntlet.

But after moving the makeshift Barricade, we all made our way into the hallway. Smashing in any infecteds heads before moving down the stairs and towards the front entrance of the building. Thankfully, we didn't see any shamblers on our way there. A big plus in my opinion as I was hoping to not witness the flashbacks of all those students being devoured in the field…

Marc POV

"Now let me make something clear." Saeko commanded "There is no need to engage in a fight unless it is necessary. Do whatever you can to avoid a fight got it."

"Remember they're sensitive to sound so keep it quiet, and they're strong enough to break down a normal door so if they grab a hold of you, they'll tear you to shreds. So be careful got it." Saya explained. Making a good emphasis on careful.

Only for all of us to hear a girl shriek in terror from the stairwell below us. And soon enough we sprang into action, rushing along quietly to get a better read on the situation. What we found was a group of four on a stairwell leading down to the main entrance of the building.

Unfortunately, so did the infected.

One of the freaks was getting ready to chomp down on the guy with the baseball bat before Kohta put a nail in his head. The undead fuck collapsed to the floor motionless once again just as Saeko leapt from the top of the stairs and smashed in the head of another with Takashi hot on her heels. Delivering a vicious strike to another infecteds head as he ran down the stairs.

Rei and I had discovered that a few more infected were coming down the stairs from up above us. Rei stabbing the first with her makeshift spear and dodging around it to kick it down the stairs towards me. Thankfully, the now dead freak landed on its skull with a sharp 'CRACK'.

I motioned for Rei to retreat back down as the other infected moved to get closer. And when the once teacher now turned undead reached the level we were on. I sent a vicious haymaker straight to his temple. The strike making the bastard stumble, giving me a clear shot to send my shield straight into his neck. The now very deceased man fell with a solid 'Thump'.

The four survivors were beyond shocked when Saeko bashed in the last two Shamblers heads in. Backing away from the now still corpses with obvious trepidation.

"Thanks!" one of the girls mumbled, still looking at the unmoving body of her classmate.

"Please, keep it down." Saeko warned

"Were any of you bitten?" I asked, clenching my fist in worry of what they might say.

Thankfully, "No, none of us are bitten!" They hadn't and there weren't any visible bite wounds or blood on their clothing.

"They look fine, I think we're going to be okay!" Rei called out excitedly.

"Don't say that just yet Rei…" I mumbled, looking past the stairwell and out to the field where all of the infected were wandering around. "Cause we still have to get out of this damn mess."

Takashi was quick to ask if they wanted to tag along with us. And unsurprisingly there were multiple affirmatives to the idea of leaving this hellish school. So with that we began our way to the front entrance of the school. Fearfully watching for any signs of the undead. And for a while, we thought that all of 'Them' had shambled away from the school. Unfortunately, this was quite the opposite of where they had gone.

Our plan of escape hit a major wrench when we found that the front entrance was infested with the undead. Teachers, Students, all of them must have fled here to try and get out of the building as quickly as possible. Only to end up blocking the way out for us when they got caught up in the massive rush to escape.

"Man there are a bunch of them…" Takashi muttered as we looked down into the moving mass of undead.

"From what I can tell the only thing they react to are sounds. So there is no reason that we shouldn't be able to just walk past them!" Takagi explained with finality. Only for Takashi to instantly return fire.

"Well then, why don't you go prove that theory?"

Takagi was taken aback by the statement, unable to find a proper response to the call out.

Saeko sighed "Even if we were to continue through the school, If we had to fight we would be forced to stop."

"And stopping to fight means more of 'Them' would come along. We would never be able to fight our way through a horde of undead in such tight corridors…" I voiced, looking down at the undead blocking the entrance and hearing the screams of all the students in the field. I had to look away when the memory started to hit me once more.

"We have to go through the gate," Rei pushed "We don't have any other choice!" The point of going through the gate was valid in my opinion. But I really didn't want to do it…

"Either way, someone needs to go and confirm Takagi's theory." Saeko added, arms crossed as she looked down at the undead as well. "Don't suppose you want to volunteer?" she asked Rei from the corner of her eyes.

No one moved to step up to the plate. And while I had been able to walk through the field and get into the building, I didn't know for sure if they didn't actually see me! They could have been chasing around something else and ignored me because of it.

Either way, I didn't want to wade through another horde. But if no one else took the challenge-

"I'll do it."

I was brought out of my thoughts when Takashi volunteered to be the 'guinea pig' for this damned theory. And Rei and Saeko were both instantly against it.

"No! You stay I'll go!" "I think I should go ahead of you."

I was truly amazed at how quickly they had volunteered when Takashi was the one putting his life on the line. I couldn't help but think that my good friend would soon start building his own apocalyptic harem in the future.

I blinked at the thought, but soon remembered what Takashi was about to do and gripped my shield a little tighter.

I never said anything as I walked behind the brave man who was putting his life on the line for us. Only to stop when Rei asked a very good question.

"Takashi, why?"

And his answer?

"I don't know…"

Made even myself want to facepalm. With my shield arm.

"You don't know?" Rei asked.

"Really. I don't know…"

And so we walked down the stairs, myself stopping at the bottom as takashi walked into the swarm of undead. And let me tell you, it was nerve wracking as all hell to watch him walk in there.

And just as I had, he walked through the horde unnoticed. Not a single undead turned towards him. they merely continued to walk past and around him like he wasn't even there.

It proved that these bastards were truly blind to the world. And right now we were gonna use that to our advantage.

And with a well thrown shoe, all of us were soon moving through the entrance of the school with a new found hope of escape.

CLANG!

That is until the kid with that damned pole went and clanged it against the stair railing… Well hopefully it didn't alert the entire-

NNAAUUGHHH!

School…. Well that's just great!

"RUN!" Takashi screamed as we all began to make a break for the activity bus. only to come screeching to a halt when a few undead shambled into the path we were taking.

"Why did you have to go and shout like that you Idiot!" Takagi screamed at Takashi. "We would have only had to deal with the ones around us!"

Rei and I were bashing away at a few undead who had come a little too close for comfort. And after she had dispatched her target "The rest of the school would have been on top of us either way! Didn't you hear that echo?"

I slammed my shield into another walkers face, "Now isn't the time to just stand around and talk you guys!" before once again bashing another infected in the face.

Thankfully "Just shut up and RUN!" Takashi got our dysfunctional train moving again as he charged into the crowd of undead. His bat making a path for him as he rushed headlong for the activity bus. And we were all close behind him.

We made good progress in our hack and slash sprint for the bus, but soon enough my breath was starting to hitch in my chest. My lungs were burning up a storm as I huffed and puffed for air. And the weight from my shield was gradually starting to wear me out. Even Kohta had passed me and was a good 3 meters ahead of me. And to make matters worse, I could hear all of those students in the field screaming for me to save them!

I knew that I would never make it to the bus with how heavy I was. My body armor and shield added another 50 pounds to what I already weighed, and with how cumbersome it was i knew I wouldn't live to see another day if I didn't ditch it right away. So I did the sensible thing that any sane person would do.

I dropped that 30 pound hunk of death in a heartbeat before unzipping the armored jacket and throwing it to the side as well.

With both arms free and the weight of my armor lifted from my shoulders It was easier going for me. And pretty soon I was going full tilt through the swarm dodging the arms of the infected or merely blocking the random limbs that came my way. And pretty soon I had caught up with the group just as they were boarding the bus.

I practically threw myself in the bus when I got there. Scaring the ever living bejesus out of Marikawa-Sensei and Takagi.

"Mind if I hitch a ride?" I puffed, causing the two to just stare at me incredulously. "Never mind…" I grunted, moving to get farther in the bus when a distressed cry of help barely entered my field of hearing. And in the distance I could see a group of students rushing their way to the bus as well.

"Who's that?!" Takashi asked, peering ahead to try and get a better look at who was running.

"That's Mr. Shido from Class 3A" Saeko answered.

As I watched as they ran through the undead, my vision flashed back to the field. How those students had called out for help before being devoured right in front of my eyes. I couldn't let that happen again!

"Quick find me a weapon, anything!" I yelled rushing back to begin scouring the seats and upper storage compartments for anything I could use to bash in a skull.

Takagi sneered "What the hell happened to that crummy shield of yours?!" she screeched, face red in anger from having been demanded to look for something.

"It was either drop it and ditch my armor or get eaten! Guess what route I chose!" I screamed back, wrenching open another compartment to find quite a surprise. Another Bokken to be exact. But it was solid, and would smash in heads rather easily given enough force behind the blow.

So with new weapon in hand I charged back outside and began to kill any of the infected that were in front of the bus. Clearing the way for the few survivors that were able to make it past the horde. And once the last person, Mr. Shido, got onto the bus I began to hop on as well.

"Alright! Step on it- AAGH!"

Only for something to grab onto the back of my leg and try and pull me back out of the bus. Unfortunately Marikawa-sensei did step on the gas. My feet and legs skidded across th ground for a few moments before the swerving motion of the bus flung me up in the air. I was holding on for my very life, and whether I survived or not would be one amazing mircle.

So here I am, holding on for dear life as bodies of undead fly past me. The one that grabbed my leg had been pulled under the wheels when Marikawa-sensei had floored the gas, and nearly pulled my leg out of place in the process. I was surprised that no one had grabbed ahold of my arm yet, and I could feel my grip slipping with every impact that the undead made.

When the barrage of bodies ceased for a few seconds I looked up to see how long we would be until we reached the gate. Only for my eyes to widen as the front of the bus collided with the closed, and very solid, gate. The large hunk of metal flew open and nearly slammed into me when the force of it being pushed open was returned back. Causing me to yelp in fear and let go of the handrail in the bus.

All I could feel was weightlessness before I slammed into the concrete harshly, the wheels of the bus missing me by only inches as I rolled to a stop a few meters down the road from the gate of the school. Needless to say, I was hurting pretty bad.

"Augh… Fuck!" I moaned as I pushed myself up on my hands and knees. watching as the bus careened down the road before disappearing around the next bend.

"Ain't that just a pain in my ass…" I muttered as I began to hobble away from the school some more. wincing with every step that I took as my bruised and very unhappy body protested against moving at all. Hell my legs were suffering from a good case of road rash but it was better to be safe than sorry when a horde of undead were lurking just a few hundred meters away from you. So it could get over its bitching for just a little while.

Finally, after walking until my legs continued to give out from under me, I sat down on the side of the road. Nursing my cuts and scrapes with a bit of water so that they were clean and free of any nasty debris before removing my shirt and tearing it into strips to bandage up my legs. I t stung, and it wasn't the most effective bandage, but it would get the job done for now

But now there was only one question to face and one logical thing to do after my fellow survivors had beat feat away after they had forgotten that I was dangling on the side of a damn bus.

"When will this damn pandemic slow down enough for proper survival? And now I have to go and find some sort of… help I guess?"

Yes, not the most glorious of plans, but the question of when the pandemic would slow enough for us to get a foothold back into reclaiming a little bit of society was a good one indeed.

'Guuurrg'

But finding some help and food would have to be top on the priority list for right now.

So with some effort. I pushed myself up off the ground and began my solemn march down into the city outskirts. hoping beyond hope that there would be something alive and not crazy waiting for me down there…

And there you have it folks. the third instalment of HSOD: The Dead Walk On.

What a crazy chapter this was! One for being the longest one yet with over 4,400+ words and the beginning of what I hope to become a story based on how surviving can change the way a person reacts to life threatening situations and moral choices! So sorry for you boob fanatics and pervs who like to watch smoking hot babes fondle each other in a bathtub! This is gonna be a little more centered on how I think a person could change in this fucked up zombie filled world.

But either way, as this is being posted on Thanksgiving day, have a very happy and turkey filled Thanksgiving everyone! And until next time, keep on bashing those heads in!

Isidrio