Disclaimer: You know the deal.

Chapter 4: Escaping from High-School Hell - Part 2

POV Change: Peter

We were running towards the nurse's office, I was leading, killing any zombie in my way. My thoughts focused on the danger Shizika-chan is in. I was getting angry. When a zombie lunged at me I punched it's head so hard it snapped off. All of a sudden I heard something unexpected. "Did you hear that?" I asked. Takashi said "Was that...a gunshot?" Rei told us "It came from the faculty room." We all knew it was another survivor, trying to stay alive. A part of me wanted to ignore it and continue onto the nurse's office but I couldn't forgive myself for ignoring someone that needed help and neither would Shizuka-chan. We made our way to the faculty room. In my thoughts I said "Shizuka-chan; please stay safe".

We heard a scream and double-timed it there. We saw a zombie advancing on a cornered girl. I recognised the hair, it was Saya, Gerard's rival. Back before all this, they were always trying to one-up each other, wanting to prove who's smarter. I usually have to break up their arguments. As the zombie came closer, Saya grabbed a drill from the bag she had and drove it into the zombie's face. Sadly, the drill stopped before it could get through the skull. I was about to move to save her but Gerard was already charging in. He used his fire-extinguisher as a battering ram and slammed the zombies head into the wall, crushing it completely. The rest of us attacked and killed the other zombies.

I recognised the other two students. The boy was Kouta, one of our first friends. We met when we saved him from a group of bullies. The other girl was Saeko. I first met her in the school library and I asked her about Bushido. I ran over to Kouta "Kouta! Glad to see you're okay." He smiled, relieved to see his friends alive.

For some reason Saya snapped. "What's with all you guys, acting so friendly..." Takashi responded "What are you talking about Takagi?" That set her off "Stop being an idiot! I'm a genius! If we start acting like this we'll lose next time!" Gerard shouted back "What? You mean we'll lose if we start acting like decent human beings to each other? How stupid can you get!" She whirled around and started to retort "What do..." she stopped when she saw herself in the wall-mirror. "ah, ahh...I'm so dirty." her voice started to waver "I should clean up before I see my mom..." then she broke down, crying. Gerard pinched the bridge of his nose, muttering to himself and then I saw something I never expected. He walked over, knelt down and pulled Saya into a hug. Saya just cried against his shoulder. I felt sorry for Saya, having to go through all of these horrors.

Once Saya calmed down a bit we went into faculty room and barricaded the door. I saw Shizuka-chan was there and safe. I ran over and hugged her "Thank god you're okay Shizuka-chan! I was so worried about you!" She hugged my back "Glad you're okay too Peter-kun" She was smiling. Every time she smiles, it fills my heart with warmth and joy. "Ahem" I turned to see interrupted us. It was Gerard, with a smirk on his face "Okay love-birds, save it for when we get out of here". I felt my face heat up and shouted "Oh shut up! It's not like that!" He just snickered and said "Whatever you say". I let Shizuka-chan go and walked to the other side of the desk.

Takashi asked Shizuka-chan about her car keys. She started looking in her bag for them and Saeko asked if her car would fit all of us. She froze. I knew what she was thinking. It wasn't nearly big enough. I've seen it. Kouta suggested we take one of the buses. I agreed with him, they would be big enough to hold us all and anyone else we find. Saya asked where we would go. Takashi told her he had to make sure his family is okay and that they could check everyone else's houses too. She told us the police and self defence force would be evacuating people somewhere. Then we noticed Rei staring at the TV in shock.

POV Change: Gerard

We turned up the volume on the TV so we could hear the news report.

"...it. Due to large numbers of riots throughout the country the government has been forced to rethink it's emergency policy.

"It is clear the outbreak started in the Fortune City arena during last night's Terror Is Reality show. Information received from a behind the scenes source reveals that this outbreak was not an accident but an act of terrorism. This shocking footage was obtained from a source inside the Fortune City Arena, the site of the Terror Is Reality gameshow." The TV showed someone in motorcycle gear planting a bomb on the door to the zombie inclosure. "Initial reports suggest the man in the video is former motocross champion Chuck Greene" That can't be right!

I felt shaking and I was back in the faculty room. I'm losing it! Got to focus! "Gerard, you okay?" I heard Peter ask. "Yeah, bad memories, that's all". I looked back at the TV.

"Reports are coming in that the United States military is enforcing a blockade around Japan 'To prevent the spread on the infection out of the country' and sending in troops, relief supplies and evacuation crews when possible." Well, at least there's an organised response from someone this time. Can't wait to see how they screw it up this time.

I had Peter quickly catch me up on what I missed. The Police and Self Defence Force are scrambling to deal with the chaos and the evacuation shelters are full. "Figures. They're never prepared for an outbreak."

Saya started getting angry "What's with you two?! You're acting like you've done this before!" So I told her "That's because we have done this before." The others were shocked to hear this. Rather than face an onslaught of questions I just asked them "Have any of you heard of Fortune City?" None of them had. "There was an outbreak there, third one in the US. We were there."

Peter took over from there. "We were on vacation. Then all of a sudden it became hell on earth. People were dying left and right. We managed to get to safety with a few others. We had to survive for three days. During that time we discovered the outbreak was no accident. It had all been planned." I started again. "We worked with two others in our investigation; Chuck Greene and Frank West. We found out that the host of the show 'Terror Is Reality' paid a member of the group C.U.R.E. to plant a bomb to set the zombies being held for the show loose and framed Chuck for the crime. Then we discovered that the pharmaceutical company Phenotrans was paying him to cause the outbreak so they could extract the parasites that cause the infection so they could produce more of their drug 'zombrex'." I slammed my fist on top of the desk "They killed hundreds of people just so they could make some money! IT'S FUCKING INSANE!" I was getting really wound up but can you blame me? Peter grabbed my shoulder and told me "Gerard, calm down. It's over. Frank and Chuck broke the story and Phenotrans were taken down." I sat down and caught my breath.

I had him continue for me. "After the Fortune City incident, staying in the US kept bringing up bad memories and at times we started...seeing things. Things of the past. Horrors that keep repeating in our minds." He took a breath and continued "We couldn't take it so I decided we would finish our education in Japan and put that whole mess behind us. Now, I feel like hell has come back to claim us for good this time."

The other were in complete shock. Shizuka look at Peter with great concern. Takashi and Kouta were shocked to find out what two of their friends had been through. Even Saya was looking at me with a mix of concern, awe and respect. Peter broke the tension "Okay, enough about the past. We have bigger things to worry about." I stood up and said "He's right, we need to focus on getting out of here and somewhere more secure. We can question the hows and whys later." Peter gave us the plan "It's pretty simple. We head out the front door, sneak onto a bus and drive like hell. We'll work out a destination later. Okay, let's move!"