Disclaimer: Okay everyone; I don't own Ranma one half at all. Not a single character is mine…except for Vladimir. Also, the way I described how vampires are is my own.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Sorry I've taken so long to upload this! i've been crazy busy with school and work...plus I haven't been in the mood to write lately. also, sorry if this chapter seems kinda boring, I really havent done fight scenes with out the magical elements (IE Sailor Moon type stuff ) in it so i'm afraid it's gonna be a little weak. Well, let me know what ya'll think!
VEINS: A BLOODY TALE
CHAPTER 4: The Zombies
It looked human and had decaying flesh that showed both bones and muscle. It's clothes looked torn and ragged while it had long blades glued to it's fingernails. Ranko's heart started to speed up and her body started to shake madly while terror took over. Ryoga just sighed while he looked up at Ranma and said, "I hate zombies."
The strange creature let out a moan that was mixed with a screech from it's lips while Ranma planted his feet to the ground.
"You should get Ranko out of here." He said as he smiled; a fang showing out of the corner of his mouth. He hated zombies as much as anyone, but he did enjoy fighting them and getting a work out. Ryoga only sighed again and said, "Fine, but I'll get the next one."
"Sure." Ryoga used his free arm and lifted Ranko's bottom half into the air, holding her bridle style while she let out a yelp, the only sound her lungs would let her make.
The zombie lunged for them with an intense speed but as his razor nails flew close to them, Ryoga jumped high into the air. He went flying over the railing on the roof and the two disappeared from site while the zombie lunged for Ranma.
The teen blocked the razors with his forearm and lowered his body to the ground. He put all of his weight onto his hands and kicked upwards, slamming his shoes into the creature's jaw. The chin of the monster went flying into the air and clanked to the ground nearby while the zombie took a few steps back. Ranma smiled to himself as he got back to his feet and moved into the zombie. It saw this coming and slashed it's arms in the air in front of him. Ranma dodged them and grabbed an arm when one came in to close. He pulled the dying body towards him before turning around and flipping the zombie over his shoulder. The creature let out a jawless moan as it went flying threw the air, it's shoulder ripping from it's socket as it did so. Ranma threw the arm away nonchalantly as the zombie went over the railing and fell to it's doom. The teen slowly walked to the edge, brushing dirt off his clothes as he did so.
That was his fastest time yet. The teen walked over to the railing and looked down to the grassy field. He saw the zombie he was fighting shattered into pieces and it's eyes staring back at him. Ranma looked at it for a moment before he noticed that the rotten meat smell was still there, though the source seemed to be from the front of the school instead of the back. There was also the faint sound of his classmates screaming and Ryoga fighting. The teen sniffed the air one more time before jumping over the railing and landing on top of the dead zombie. Closer to the ground, he could hear people screaming better and sighed. 'Great,' he thought to himself. 'Now we're gonna have to erase some memories.'
Ranma started running next to the building until he was in the front of the school. There, he saw that the courtyard was full of the living dead and his classmates who were scared out of their minds. Over in the corner, he could see Ranko and Akane paired up, their backs touching and their arms raised. The red head looked over at him for a split second before she raised her arm and sent a zombie flying. A Zombie lunged for Ranma, who smelled him coming and took a step to the left. The undead stumbled before the teen put his entire weight one his left leg and kicked it hard. The zombie went flying and smashed into the fence across the school yard, shattering into five different pieces. Ryoga joined him with a smirk on his face, a small fang showing out of the corner of his mouth.
"Looks like we'll both get a workout today." He said as another undead soldier reached for them. Ryoga causally punched it and watched as it's head landed on the ground nearby.
"This is insane!" Ranma exclaimed, seeing Akane taking care of two living dead at once. "Where do you think all of these came from?"
"The graveyard?" asked Ryoga with a shrug.
Suddenly, the smell of blood was in the air. Both vampires raised their noses to the sky and sniffed until they recognized it. They turned towards the school and saw a zombie with it's razor nails dripping with a few drops of blood. Nabiki was standing in front of it, her arm bleeding and red liquid slipping through her fingers as she held it with her other arm. Soon more blood started to fill the air. The scents started to throw off the vampires, who winced at the intensity but continued to fight.
Akane let out a yelp as an undead creature got her in the leg and blood dripped out from the four slash marks. She fell to the ground while Ranko kicked the attacking creature with a stick she had gotten from a nearby tree and said, "Akane-Chan! Are you okay?"
"Yeah…" replied the tomboy. She started to get up while another zombie came close and she called out, "Look out!" Ranko turned to hit the undead, however in the process the razors slashed at her cheek. Blood fell down in a stream down her chin and into her white school shirt. With the tree branch, she quickly stabbed the zombie and flung him into the nearby stone wall. Its body split into five different sections while the red head wiped her cheek with the back of her hand.
"I hope this doesn't leave a scar." She said, annoyance in her voice. The two girls looked around to see the zombie numbers shrinking and the nodded at each other. Ranko quickly tossed her large stick over towards Ranma and Ryoga and smiled as it stabbed two more zombies like it they were pieces of a kabob. The two vampires looked back over at the girls and Ranma said, "Hey, you almost hit us!"
"That's the price for zombie killing!" Akane called back.
"C'mon guys. Let's finish this!" called out Ranko, spotting the last ten or so zombies walking closer to them. Ryoga popped his fingers while he balled them into fists before he said, "Last one done buys the rest Raman." Akane and Ranko both high fived each other before they split up from each other, taking on two different sections of the zombie army. While the girls started to kick and punch the undead, the vampires slashed at the zombies with their own razor fingernails. Ranma swiped his hand quickly in front of the undead in front of him before the head popped off like the cork out of a bottle. The body of the zombie fell to the ground, its hands clawing the air to get one last victim. The teen vampire planted his foot onto its chest and forced all of his weight on it. The ribs crunched under his shoes loudly until his foot reached the grass and he lifted his foot up. The group looked around once the ten zombies were gone and was glad to see there were none left. Akane let out a sigh before she said, "Damn! What was that?" the two vampires shrugged their shoulders before Ranma said, "Is everyone okay?"
"Yeah, just a scratch." Said Ranko, placing her hand on her cheek. She could feel the cuts already scabbing over and hoped that it didn't become a scar of any type. Silently, Ryoga moved closer to Akane while Ranma said, "Good. Sorry about this Akane-Chan."
"What are you sorry ab-" suddenly Ryoga planted the heal of his palm on her forehead. The girl froze and her eyes grew large and blank while Ryoga said, "Nothing happened here today. You got that scratch on your leg when you tripped over a fallen tree branch in PE."
"Nothing happened today." Akane repeated in a toneless voice. Ranko watched in amazement while the teen repeated everything Ryoga had said and looked over at the other vampire.
"What is he doing?" she asked after a moment.
"He's erasing memories." Ranma stated flatly. "We're gonna have to do this to everyone in the school so they don't know about the zombies."
"Do zombies attack often?"
"Not really. This is the first time though that so many have come to one place." Ranko nodded while Ryoga removed his hand from Akane and she blinked a few times. She placed her hand on her forehead and said, "What happened?"
"You fell asleep." Said Ryoga with annoyance. "The bell is going to ring. You better head on inside."
"Oh, okay." She started to walk back into the building, still in a daze while Ranma said, "You too Ranko."
"How long will it take to help everyone?" she asked; real curiosity in her voice. Ranma smiled while he and Ryoga raised their arms into the air. With a small pop, a large mass of black bats appeared in the air, soundless and their eyes red. Ranko let out a loud gulp sound before seeing a few fly away and attach themselves to the faces of some of the students.
"Not long really."
Vladimir watched his major zombie attack from the safety of his base. He watched with a smile on his face while the army of the undead closed in on some of the students at a local high school and felt the excitement course through his veins. Then, out of the corner of the mirror he was watching, he saw a vampire. The vampire was young, but as Vladimir watched in dismay, the vampire was joined by another and they started to kill the zombies. Anger quickly replaced the excitement until it was boiling out through the eyes and all of his army was completely destroyed. True, some of the humans who were obviously martial artists fought off some of the zombies as well, but there wasn't supposed to by any vampires around Nermia! Vladimir watched as the vampires started to erase the teenager's memories and he slammed his fist into the mirror. The glass cracked in a spider-web pattern around his fist until one long piece reached the wooden border. The image of the two young vampires faded to the evil man's reflection as he looked at himself, anger showing on his face like it was transparent.
"Damn it!" he said, looking at himself. With all of the zombies dead, then the chance of getting any information from the small computer chips in their glued on razor nails was lowered from 90 percent to 10. This was his last chance to find the vessel for Chronos. If he didn't' come up with anything this time, then he was going to end up like the nameless minion; his neck broken and his body tossed assigned like yesterday's garbage. What was he going to do?
He continued to look at his reflection as something scrolled in read across the broken glass. Vladimir looked up at the writing and the look of desperation was replaced with a smile. It seemed that even with ten percent chances, he was still able to get the name of the person who was going to be the vessel of the evil demon. Vladimir quickly stood up and started to copy the text in the air with his finger, a small trail of dark red fallowing it until he had copied the entire text. He then moved his hand to the wall, the text fallowing it. It planted itself into the wall and disappeared, connecting with a computer that was inside the wall and connected to another one in the next room. The script disappeared as Vladimir turned from the broken mirror and walked down the hall to the next room, the smile never leaving his face. Maybe this was going to work out after all.