Escape. It was all we could think about anymore, all that we needed. Survival. It was the only thing keeping us alive.
We stood at a stop now. The exit was up ahead, and around the corner…literally. The zombies that hovered the grounds undead around us, took no notice to our quiet whisperings. A plan was needed now, we already knew opening the door would be too much noise, and they'd find out.
"We need someone to scan the perimeter." Takagi said, pushing her lenses farther up her nose, while Kohta stared in amazement. I shook my head rolling my eyes. Idiot. My eyes lingered over everyone, and I sighed heavily as no one volunteered.
"I'll go." The words were spoken in unison, and I turned my eyes to Takashi who had a somber look on his face. I frowned before nodding at Saeko.
"It's better if we go together, that way if something happens to one of us, hopefully the other will make it back." She nodded seriously, before I turned away, Takashi right behind my back.
"No Takashi, you can't go! You'll be fine by yourself right, Sanada-san? Takashi! I thought you were tired of everything!" Rei screamed helplessly behind Saeko's outstretched arm. The fringe of my hair covered my eyes which now held a sort of gloom.
The look on his face. Takashi…I had never seen someone seem so sad…His eyes were glazed with uncaring, and a pained smile was sourly placed upon his face. He was hurting…emotionally. I bit my lip even more. I wasn't supposed to care. Not anymore. So why…? He turned and looked at Rei immediately silencing her protests.
"I still am." Three simple words. Three painfully short heartbreakingly simple words.
Without another word, and in the break of silence, we turned heading for the glass doors at the front of the building. We exchanged glances before he pushed the door open silently. At that moment, footsteps from the others sounded behind us, as the door was pushed wider open, and all the attention of the undead was focused on us. I panicked, hoping I could get them to safety. Takashi was already going over the options and chose a bad one.
"Run!" His shout was heard throughout campus, and the sickening crack of necks turning to face us was heard from every corner. All of them wandering soullessly, had eyes hanging or torn flesh where from under you could see scraped bone and horrible internal bleeding. The stench…It was as if we were in a rotted cemetery. I covered my nose, and squinted my eyes, feeling them already water up.
"Why did you yell? If you'd have kept quiet we'd only have to worry about the ones close by!" Takagi scolded even louder. I glared at them both.
"SHUT UP AND RUN!" Instantly, our legs were moving toward our one possibility of survival, the bus. I clenched my handgun tightly, only firing if necessary, wasting the rest of my energy on the run. However, one of the survivors weren't that lucky. The boy we'd met up with before along with the girl was harshly grabbed by the collar of his shirt and arms. It wasn't enough…He frantically began to beat them off, but it was too late. He'd been bitten. My eyes widened as rotted teeth pulled the flesh from his arm, devoured as if they were sharks. The girl we'd saved as well turned around frantic, tears in her eyes.
"Takazou!" I turned my head, as she broke free from our hold running toward him. I hated to admit it, even to myself, but I was envious. Even if she died, she had someone to die for, someone who cared…I…didn't. My father saw me as a financial help. That's all I was. Ignored until needed. Nothing…in the eyes of my father.
"What is she doing? Why is she going back? I don't understand?" Takagi yelled quickly, fumbling the words once or twice before putting them into a sentence. I flipped backwards before landing a headshot and looked towards her.
"I think I understand…If the rest of the world is like this…maybe we'd be better off dead." I stared at her gaping. That is, until I heard an abnormal growl coming from my left. My breath caught in my throat as the moment stopped. There was no time to move as I stood still in shock and did all I could do. Immediately my arms flew to my face, as I let out an ear piercing scream, and waited for my skin to be ripped clean off my arms and to feel the warm blood turn cold as it ran down my wrist to my fingers. However, the awful sensation…never came. Hesitantly, I moved my arms to come face to face with Takashi who held his hand outstretched toward me a half-hearted smile place upon his features.
"Don't worry Miyuki…I've got your back." I stared up at him dumbfounded until they finally processed in my head. He would help…me. I placed my hand in his, a combination of sweat and blood, as a smile came to my face as well.
"Thank you, Takashi. Really, I'm grateful—"I was cut off by Takagi who was glaring furiously at us from the bus.
"Stop dilly-dallying! Get on the bus before you get bitten!" I realized what had just happened and another glance between us was shared before we ran toward the bright yellow vehicle. I saw the zombies closing in, and growled mentally.
"SAEKO! OPEN THE WINDOW!" Without hesitation, she threw a window open and I pushed Takashi through the closing bus door, before kicking myself through the window, and choked on air. I landed on my side, feeling the pain in my ankle. Shit. It had been sprained. Ah, the price of living. I sat up, pushing myself against the bus wall, ignoring the yells going forth between Takashi and Rei. It seemed the whole time they'd been going at it like no other.
"Sanada-san are you alright?" I gave a bitter smile towards Kohta.
"Yep. Just fine, a sprained ankle is all." It took all my strength to push myself onto the seat, and in all the time it took, we had already gained new passengers. Apparently it was Teacher Shido and many others. I had heard of Shido, and I didn't like him. As he set sight on my ankle, we exchanged menacing glares.
"You are weak. It is the end of the world, and weaklings are no longer needed on this bus." I screamed as he lifted me on my arm, and stepped on my ankle, applying all the pressure he could.
"Miyuki! Stop that!" Takashi yelled.
"Shido what are you doing?" Rei screamed at the maniac. I glared up at him, my lip bleeding from my teeth trying to kill the pain. He stared down at me with disdain.
"She is weak. We don't need her." I reached behind me into my bag, and pulled out my handgun, and aimed it past his head, beside his ear leaving me to fall on my ankle…again and for everyone else to break out into a panicked scream. Slowly, I sat up, leaning my weight on my good leg.
"I don't take your crap. You are insane!" All the new passengers stared at me frightened, and I meant to stay standing, but with all the pressure on my ankle being removed at once, I was knocked out in a second.
Takashi stared wide eyed at Miyuki who had fallen to the floor, all color drained of her face. Just as Rei had said, he was already regretting having saved Shido. He had to be psychotic. Annoyed with the fact that NO ONE was going to help Miyuki for fear of being shot, he took action.
Instead of standing there, he stood and ran to her lifting her from the dirty bus ground to a seat. Her skin felt cool, her eyes closed into a peaceful expression. Silently, he brushed a strand of hair from her face, before setting her head down. He knew she was lying. He'd seen her, sometime, somewhere. He couldn't remember, and he wanted to know why, dammit! She was too confusing.
"Will she be alright?" He turned to look at Rei, who had spoken the words so quietly. With a nod of his head, he sat in the seat behind her, staring at her figure. The calm and peaceful expression suited her face. He'd seen her smile only once. One true smile. It was at that exact moment he vowed to himself, a vow to always keep her smiling. If only he knew how hard that task was.