After a while of walking, me and the others discussed on where to go next. Takashi brought up the Shintoku Third Elementary School, located in Tokonosu City.. I wasn't really fully on board, before asking them if they were sure that it wouldn't be abandoned, like the police station. They did have high hopes, however, so I just went along with the plan. I looked over at Alice and just knew she was just tired of walking; we walked a few miles from where we picked up Miss Miyamoto, and we had a block or two to go. Seeing that I had my backpack on, I handed it over to Rei's mother, asking her nicely to carry it for me. I squatted down, offering a piggy-back ride to Alice, and she climbed onto my back. I wrapped my arms around her legs as she wrapped her arms around my neck, and I stood tall. After we walked the blocks, we saw the building, in all of its glory. We approach it and heard a few male voices yell out.
"Hands up! All of you!" One of them shouted. The male had a voice of a young adult. We put our hands up, looking at each other. "Identify yourselves!" Another voice yelled out, sounding like a male in his late 50's who had the lungs of a smoker. I slightly stepped in front of the group I was with.
"My name is Johnathan Arison. I am an American who moved here a few days ago." I slowly turned my head to the group and introduced each and every one of them while gently tilting my head into each of their directions. I would point, but that would mean that they would try to shoot me, mistaking me for a foe. I tried to squint at the directions of the voices and I saw that one of the men turned to look behind him. It was difficult to see, due to the sunlight. There was a figure approaching behind him as I squint a little harder, trying to make out who approached them. I could've swore that I saw the principal. All I could see was the outline of his form and his hair. While I was busy in thought trying to make out who the figure was, the first male voiced called out at us to head inside. We looked at each other, grabbed our belongings thatn we had to drop to put our hands and headed inside.
When we walked in, we saw many survivors. I don't really know how to describe the layout of the building. The front doors had two sets of double doors (to increase the security in schools) that leaded to the office with double doors that had a metal frame, with a glass window that was the length of any person's torso. Upon going through the doors leaded to the "commons area", in American terms, which had hallways to the left and right of you. Both of these hallways lead to the stairs. There were many benches, tables and chairs set up in the commons area. The first thing that caught my eye was that there were little kids at one of the tables. I look over at Alice.
"Hey, why don't you make some friends?" I ask her, letting her be with her own age group. Saya nudged me and gave me a glare. I glared back.
"What? She's been through a lot today, give her a break!" I said to her, maintaining my glare. She rolled her eyes and sighed. Alice then looked at Saya for approval. Saya looked back at her and said while smiling at her,
"Go ahead, have some fun." Alice smiled gleefully and went over to the kids to talk to them.
"That's the first time I ever saw you smile." I said, before chuckling. She walked away as she muttered out a "whatever". Takashi walked up to me.
"Hey, I'm gonna try to look for my mother. Hopefully, she'll still be alive." He said to me, giving a stern look to me. I nodded at him.
"I hope so too. Good luck." I said back to him, as he turned and headed down the hall. I watched him walk until I felt a tap on my shoulder. I looked over my shoulder and saw someone that looked like the principal at Fujima Academy. I then turn to him.
"Are you...who I think you are?" I asked him, waiting for the answer that I wanted.
"Yes. I am." He answered, as he nodded. I was shocked that he made it out of the school...with the whole panic embracing the school.
"But...how?" I asked, extremely curious on how he escaped.
"When the outbreak started at the front gate, I was there, among the others. I actually used my car to escape the grounds and head over to Shintoku to alarm the others of the incident that is happening right now. And that is why I am here now." He held out his arms as he said his last sentence. He then looked at my arm. "What happened to your arm?" He asked suddenly in concern. I look at my arm.
"Oh, I got scratched by one of them. It's not really a big deal. I'm not bitten." I then look at him again. He was calling for a nurse to come to my woman was skinny, had red hair that went down to her shoulders and had brown eyes. The nurse then escorted me to the clinic, sat me on a bed and unwrapped the bandage on my arm to examine it. She spoke in a quiet and gentle voice:
"This doesn't look like a bite mark to me...how long ago did it happen?" She asked me, looking up at me. I looked back at her.
"A day ago. Maybe two." I replied back. She then stood up, since she kind of had to bend over to get a close look at my arm.
"Well, sources do say that suffering scratches from the undead can also turn you, but I never saw that happen nor is there any evidence. The only way you turn is if you get bitten. And the only two ways to stop that from happening is to either have the bitten area amputated or destruction of the brain. However, you can still get an infection from the scratches, so I might give you some ointment or antibiotics." She said, as she gave a light bow. I nodded at her, thanking her for her help. Before I walked out of the room, I looked at her.
"what is your name, if you don't mind me asking?" I questioned her, hoping to being able to cal her at least by her name.
"Asiri." She answered, giving me a light smile.
"Johnathan Arison. It's nice to meet you, Asiri." I smiled back at her before leaving the room. Before I went anywhere, the principal pulled me to the side and gave me directions to the buildng: he said that the first floor is for dormatories, the second floor is for food and supplies, the third being the armory and the fourth being the security personnel. After that, he walked off and left me to explore. I saw Takashi sulking on a bench in the commons area. I then sat next to him.
"Hey. We got assigned rooms in the dormatories." I told him. He responded with a sigh. I then feared the worst.
"She...She isn't alive, is she..?" I asked, praying that it wasn't true. But to my disbelief, he nodded. I sighed. I then gave him a hug. It's so strange that boys act like it is so weird to hug other boys. It's normal. Especially in this situation.
"I'm so sorry, man..." Those were the only words that left my mouth. I released the hug and went upstairs to the first floor.
I walked up and saw that Rei and the others already were getting comfortable in their dorms. So I decided to go to the next empty one. I sat down on the bed, exhausted from the day. I then heard a knock at my door.
"Come in!" I hollered. As the door opened, I turned around to see who it was. It was Rei. She walked towards me.
"It's just me. I was wondering how you're doing." He said to me as she sat beside me. She was quiet for a bit. "So...Shizuka.."
"Told you about why I moved to Japan." I finished the sentence for her. "Because I hung out with the wrong crowd and had a gang on my ass. Don't worry about it." She looked down.
"Why did you hang out with those people?" She asked, looking at me. I never really maintained eye contact with her. I didn't want her to feel like she was upsetting me in any way. It does hurt for me to tell what happened, but the pain goes away quick after I get done telling the story.
"I hung out with them because I had to steal stuff. We weren't really armed robbers, we never really beat up people and mugged them after, at least I didn't. But I had to steal. If I didn't, me and my mother would have been homeless. Her job doesn't really pay her much money, and I constantly lied to her about me having a real job. Now...you're probably wondering where my father is the whole time? He is in jail. And no, he wasn't the type that would rob or kill anyone. He was arrested because he has a huge drug problem. Before his last arrest before I moved, he was doing really well. He was off the stuff for almost 2 years. He was arrested again a few days before I left. I always saw that he tried to give up the drugs and live his life. It pains me every day, thinking that I might find his corpse on the ground from an overdose. You see, you and your friends are so lucky to have your parents to begin with. Especially Saya. Her family is so rich...but my family had to be so poor." I took a deep breath, pausing for a bit. "Poverty lurks in every corner. There is just no way to escape it." I then stopped and looked at Rei. She just looked at the ground in disbelief.
"I'm so sorry. I never knew that you went through such a thing!" She said, in a sad tone. I nodded.
"But luckily for me, those events made me wiser and mentally stronger. Anyways, why do you have a grudge on Shido? And why aren't you and Takashi together..?" I questioned her.
"Well, I should have been a Senior this year. Before school started again, my father had an investigation on Shido's father. And as a 'punishment', he kept me back a grade!" I shook my head.
"Okay, now I understand why you're so pissed at him."
"To answer your second question...he just doesn't really like me. When we were in Kindergarten, we made a pinky promise that we would be married someday. But I then dated Hisashi and I guess that ended it. Besides, he has Saeko."
"Try not to worry about it, Rei. I'm here for you. You can come and talk to me if you need anything." I gave her a light, reassuring smile. She smiled back.
"You know...I think you're right. I shouldn't dwell on it." She then got up. "Well, it's getting late. I'll see you in the morning." As she started to walk to the door, I looked over to her.
"Goodnight, Rei." I said to her, and she turned to me.
"Goodnight, Johnathan." She said back as she closed the door. I then crawled into the soft mattress and closed my eyes, ending this day and moving on to the next.