Scenario 6: It's only the end of the world

"Now the women are cryin' and the kids are dyin' and the men are runnin' away. Somethin' weird has happened and the devil he's a-laughin' and the church don't know what to say. Now the recently deceased have been openin' their eyes, but I know it's been prophesied through the comics I've been readin' and the movies I've been seein', so it comes to me as no surprise" Harley Poe "It's only the end of the world"

"This can't be happening." Sissi said.

She was sitting next to Ulrich, hugging her legs to her chest and shaking in fear.

"This can't be real."

"Then you had better tell the zeds down there because I don't think they've caught on yet." Nicholas said darkly.

"Shut up!" Sissi shrieked jumping to her feet. "Just shut the fuck up! You haven't said a single encouraging word since this bullshit started and I'm getting sick of hearing your voice!"

"And I'm getting sick of listening to you bitch!" Nicholas snapped. "You and your big fucking mouth haven't done anything useful, now or ever. If it wasn't for you, half of our friends wouldn't have been ripped apart in the cafeteria!"

"Fuck you!"

"Both of you shut up!" Ulrich bellowed.

Sissi turned to yell at him but stopped when she saw the coldness in his eyes.

"We aren't going to get anywhere by fighting." He said coldly. "If all your going to do is fuss and whine and moan then you can get the fuck off this roof. Nicholas, if nothing constructive is going to come out of that mouth of yours than don't say anything at all. Sissi, I mean this now more than ever... shut the fuck up."

Sissi opened her mouth to say something but couldn't form words. She had never felt hurt like she felt right now, as if one of those things down below had reached into her chest with its cold, dead hands and pulled out her heart. Ulrich turned around and left the roof. Odd patted Sam's shoulder and followed him down the stairs.

"You okay man?" He asked.

"No." Ulrich replied. "I feel like I'm just waiting to die and I feel like if I don't see Yumi in the next five seconds I'm going to slaughter my way though every single one of those flesh eating fucks to get to her."

Ulrich wasn't sure where he was walking to. He just didn't want to be around anybody at that moment. He half wanted to tell Odd to piss off but he was starting to feel better about their situation as he talked to someone about it. The two boys stepped into the bathroom across from the world history room. Ulrich walked up to one of the sinks and placed a hand on either side of the basin, leaning his weight into it. He looked at his blood spattered reflection and sighed. He and Odd both looked like they had crawled out of a nightmare. Ulrich turned the sink on and stuck his head under the cold water as Odd tore some paper towels out of the dispenser.

"Look, Ulrich." Odd started as he wet the towels and began rubbing the dried blood off of his face. "I'm sure Yumi is fine. She's a big girl. She's never really needed our help before."

Ulrich pushed the soap dispenser and lathered some of it into his hair to get the blood out.

"Honestly, we've needed her more than she's needed us."

No shit. Ulrich thought.

"I'll bet her and her family is safe and sound. Scared as hell, but safe. Waiting for the cops to move in and get them out of the city." Odd continued.

Ulrich suddenly remembered Yumi's last words to him. Her mother was sick and she was going to check on her before she left...

He gripped the sink until his fingers hurt. He gritted his teeth fighting back the urge to scream. At this moment Odd paused and felt his stomach drop. He too remembered that Yumi's mom had been sick. Sick with whatever it was that had been going around. Whatever it was that turned people into those things outside. As if reading Ulrich's thoughts Odd placed a hand on his best friends shoulder.

"If you go out there now, all your going to do is die." He said seriously. "It's not a probably die or a maybe die, it's a will die. Yumi is safe. I'm sure of it. She's not going to let a few zombies stop her. You're needed here. Without you, everyone here will be killed. You're the only thing keeping everyone from falling apart."

"Why does it have to be me?" Ulrich asked.

"That's just your character I guess." Odd said. "You're the one calling the shots. Everyone here will listen to you. Even that 'tard Nicholas and that jerk Herb."

"I dunno." Ulrich said. "Nicholas might know a lot more about this stuff than me."

"He may know a lot about zombies." Odd nodded as he continued washing the blood off of his face and clothes. "This'll never come out." He muttered. "But you know about survival. About fighting."

"So do you. And Jeremie and the others."

"Not like you." Odd said shaking his head. "You're a warrior. Have been since I met you."

"But those things..." Ulrich said staring at the blood in the sink. The pearly white porcelain looked like someone had their throat cut over it. The blood was swirling in the water. Ulrich could almost see patterns in it. The awful, hot, messy, sticky blood. "Those were my friends. They're... They're just kids!"

"They aren't anymore and there's going to be a lot more of them. What we need to do is focus on keeping the people that are alive alive until help comes." Odd said.

"And if it doesn't" Ulrich asked.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." Odd said.

Ulrich sighed and nodded.

"You coming?" Odd asked.

"Yeah. Just gimme a minute." Ulrich said.

Odd nodded and left the bathroom.

Ulrich finished washing the blood from his hands and left the bathroom. He walked back to the door that led to roof and saw Sissi walking down the steps.

"Hey. Ulrich? I- I wanted to apologize for... everything." She said nervously.

Ulrich didn't say anything and Sissi took that as a sign to continue.

"I'm just scared you know?" She said. "Everything that's happened, everything that might happen. I haven't been able to contact my dad in the dorms..."

Tears started pouring from her eyes and she didn't seem able to stop.

"And- and Nicholas is right. If I hadn't opened my big mouth our- our classmates might still be alive! They're all dead because-" she slumped against the wall and covered her face with her hands, her body shaking in sobs.

Ulrich felt awkward. He had never seen Sissi cry before and honestly never thought she was capable of it. He sighed and took a step towards her only to grimace and feel his leg spasm. He fell to his knee hissing in pain and clutching his leg.

"Ulrich! Are you okay?" Sissi asked dropping next to him.

"Fine." He said through gritted teeth. "Just a charlie horse. Need to walk it off."

"If you do that you'll make it worse." Sissi said her voice still shaky from tears. "Here, pull your pant leg up."

"W-what?"

"Pull your pant leg up." She repeated.

"N-no it's fine. Jim used to say the best thing to do is walk it off."

"Just do it." She said with more authority in her voice.

She grabbed his leg and stretched it out. Grimacing in disgust, she peeled back the blood soaked pant leg of Ulrich's jeans.

"Where? Here?" She asked.

"Yeah." Ulrich nodded.

She nodded and began massaging Ulrich's calf muscle.

"If you keep walking on it all you'll do is pull or even tear something." She said. "I swear Jim's such an idiot sometimes."

Her voice broke on the last word and she stopped rubbing Ulrich's leg and started crying fresh tears.

"Why am I such a bitch?" She cried aloud.

"Just your character I guess." Ulrich said echoing Odd's words.

She continued crying. Ulrich sighed and knelt down next to her. He wasn't sure what to say or do.

"Look uh- Sissi." He started. "Everything's... going to be... fine?"

The words sounded stupid. He felt them leave his mouth without any real significance. The worst lie he had ever told though Sissi didn't seem to think so.

"Do you really think that?" She asked looking up.

"Yes." Ulrich said with a little more confidence.

"Why?"

"Because... This can't be the end for us. It just can't. Being torn apart by zombies isn't exactly the way I pictured myself dying."

"How would you picture it?"

Ulrich thought for a minute.

"Sword fight." He said smiling a little.

Sissi snorted at this.

"Yeah." She laughed. "I bet."

"But really." He said. "If we stay together we can get through this. All we have to do is work together and we'll be okay."

"Okay." Sissi nodded and rubbed the last of the tears and smeared make-up from her eyes. "I highly doubt it but-" She sniffed. "I believe you."

Ulrich smiled and stood up. He extended a hand down to hers and pulled her to her feet.

"Come on let's get back to the others."

They walked up the stairs back to the roof. Jeremie and Aelita were by the ledge setting up what looked like a telescope.

"Found it in the shed." Odd explained. "It's a bit battered but it works."

"As soon as we can get it focused." Aelita said as Jeremie looked through the chipped eyepiece and adjusted the knobs.

"I think this is as good as I can get it." Jeremie said looking up from the lens and putting his glasses on.

Aelita looked through the lens. The image was slightly scratched and blurred. She had to support the telescope herself due to it only having two of its three legs. The body was bent and scratched and looked as if it had been dropped and stepped on.

"The streets are jammed with cars." She said. "Don't see how anyone would be able to drive through that..."

They told me that I was no good at all, such a waster-

"Who's phone is that?" Jeremie asked turning around.

"Mine!" Sissi said pulling it out of her pocket.

"I thought the phones weren't working?" Herb asked.

"It's not a call. It's a... a facebook status update? Someone posted on my wall!"


"Really think this'll work?" Terry asked as he read over William's shoulder.

"Hopefully." William replied as he typed. "I just hope someone out there is alive to read it."

William Dunbar

we r in the dorms. Is any1 still alive out there?

A few seconds ago * Like * comment

William, Terry Masters, Desmond Gerard, Thomas Jolivet, and Tania Grandjean were inside one of the dorm rooms on the second floor. After they fled the cafeteria they had met little resistance from the things outside. They had just ran as fast as they could, bashing down whatever stood in their way. Eventually they got to the dorms and blocked off the main entrance with furniture before running to the stairs and then blocking them off by tilting a soda machine on its side in front of the stairs. They weren't sure whose room they had ran into but when they spotted a white laptop on the bed they had decided to check and see if the internet was still working. When they saw that it was they starting sending messages on every social networking site they could but so far they had no response.

"Think this was Chevalier's room." Thomas said looking around. "He was kind of a geek."

The walls were covered in comic book and movie posters and the floor was strewn with old back issues of Shonen Jump and sci-fi and fantasy novels.

Suddenly, the laptop beeped and a message popped up underneath William's post.

William Dunbar

we r in the dorms. Is any1 still alive out there?

About a minute ago * Like * comment

Sissi Delmas

yes a bunch of us are on the roof of the classroom building!

A few seconds ago via mobile. * Like* comment

"Awesome!" Desmond said.


"It's William and some others! They're in the dorms!" Sissi said excitedly.

"Really?" Jeremie asked. "That's great news!"

He jerked the phone out of Sissi's hands and began typing out a message.

"Hey!"

Sissi Delmas

William, this is Jeremie. You guys need to stay put. Don't try and get to us. It may be awhile before the police come, if at all.

William Dunbar

Wat the hell is going on Jer?

Sissi Delmas

Nicholas was right. These things are zombies. We heard it on the news. We don't know how but its really happening.

William Dunbar

Wat do we do?

Sissi Delmas

All we can do is wait. According to the radio the police are still fighting. They may get to us eventually but we need to start working out a plan. First off, we need to think of a way that you guys can get to us.

William Dunbar

What'd you have in mind?


"Okay." William said to the others. "Let's go over it again."

They were all standing in the hallway in front of the door that led out onto the stair case.

"We're going to the floor below to raid Jim's gun locker for the shotgun." Desmond said.

"Also stopping by Stern and Della Robbia's room for Stern's martial arts weapons and Odd's radio." Terry said.

"Tania and I are covering the stairwell." Thomas said.

William nodded.

"Let's hope this works."

William pushed the door open holding his cleaver out in front of him. The stairwell was dark but he couldn't hear anything moving in the shadows. He turned to the others, held a finger to his lips and motioned for them to follow him. They quietly climbed over the vending machine and walked down the steps, taking care not to trip themselves up in the dark. They made it to the first floor and saw that the hallway was empty.

"Keep your eyes peeled." William whispered.

Terry and Desmond nodded and the three boys entered the hallway, William in the front with his cleaver at the ready and Terry and Desmond flanking his left and right armed with a pocket knife and a length of chain respectfully. They slowly and quietly made their way down the hall, ears straining to pick up the slightest sound. They finally reached Jim's door. William reached out and tested the knob.

"Unlocked." He mouthed to the others.

He pushed the door open and the boys slowly stepped inside. The room looked like a small gymnasium. It housed a single bed, a wardrobe, a punching bag suspended from the ceiling, a chin up bar on the wall, and a set of heavy looking dumbbells in the corner. At the foot of Jim's bed was a wooden chest with a heavy padlock.

"Damn it." William muttered holding the lock in his hand. "We'll need a key."

"No we won't." Terry said picking up one of the dumbbells.

He brought the heavy weight down on the lock. The lock itself didn't break but the wood around it splintered. Terry dropped the dumbbell on the ground with a quiet thud that was muted from the carpet.

"Okay. Cool." William said.

He opened the chest and smiled at the contents.

The shotgun was truly a work of art. It was a custom built, hand made Holland & Holland "Sporter", an over/under 12-gauge shotgun. The stock was made from walnut and polished to a glossy shine. The receiver was silver and beautifully etched with Kadic's crest on the side lined in gold.

William whistled and turned the weapon around in his hands. He reached into the chest and pulled out a box of shotgun shells.

"Only got about twenty." He said opening the box.

"Better make them count." Desmond said.

"Know how to use on of those things?" Terry asked.

"Vaguely." William said as he broke the gun and loaded a shell into each barrel.

He shut the gun and thumbed the safety.

"Come on. Ulrich and Odd's rooms just down the hall." William said.

Desmond picked up a duffel bag from inside the chest and the three boys made their way down the hall to Odd and Ulrich's room. They stepped inside and Terry immediately made a beeline for the wall that Ulrich hung his martial arts weapons on. Terry picked up a straight edged wakizashi with a black sheath and drew the blade out. He delicately ran a finger down the edge, testing its sharpness.

"Nice blade. Ulrich must perform maintenance regularly. " Terry said. "Not a knock off either. This thing's combat ready..."

He sheathed the blade and tied the sheath around his belt. He then picked up two pairs of nunchucks, a couple of kunai throwing knives and about a dozen throwing stars. He tossed all of these weapons in the duffel bag as Desmond unplugged Odd's purple radio and wrapped the cord around it. William waited by the door, watching the hallway for any signs of them.


Thomas leaned against the door frame next to Tania.

"What's taking them so long?" Tania asked chewing on her thumb nail.

"They'll be back soon." Thomas said.

"What if they got themselves killed?" Tania asked. "What if we get left alone?"

"That won't happen Tania." Thomas said.

He touched the side of her face with his hand and pushed a long lock of her red hair out of her face.

"I promise. We're going to get out of this." He said.

She smiled weakly and embraced him tightly.

"I'll keep you safe no matter what." He promised.

Suddenly a long low moan carried through the stairwell. Tania pulled away from Thomas and looked towards the staircase. The moan echoed again, cold against the concrete walls.

"Don't worry." Thomas said gently. "Those things won't be able to climb over the soda machine."

They heard the sound of slow moving footsteps echoing through the darkness. They kept getting closer but no silhouette emerged from the shadows. Thomas carefully stepped out onto the landing. On the wall next to him was a fire axe in a glass case. He broke the glass with his elbow and removed it from the case.

"Come on you son of a bitch..." He thought gripping the handle tightly.

The moan echoed again, closer than it was before.

"Where is it?" Tania asked.

Thomas walked over to the front of the soda machine and looked down the steps. Nothing but darkness stared back at him. Suddenly Tania screamed, making Thomas jump and almost drop the axe. He whipped around and saw Tania pointing to the staircase that led to the up to the next floor. Shambling down it was Thierry Suares. One of his eyes had been ripped from his socket and he had part of what seemed to be the broken leg of a chair rammed into his stomach.

"Holy shit." Thomas gasped. "They really are zombies."

The thing the used to be a 7th grade boy stumbled down the last few steps, almost tripping. He felt at the piece of wood in his stomach and slowly pulled it out. Dark blood dripped to the ground and the piece of wood came out with a wet squelch. He dropped it to the ground with a clatter and took a step towards Tania. Thomas got between the two of them and shoved the front of the axe into its face. It stumbled backwards towards the railing and fell backwards over it. A few seconds later Thomas and Tania heard a loud crunch. Thomas looked over the banister and saw Thierry on the ground below, part of his skull crushed from the impact.

"What the hell was that?" William asked as he Desmond and Terry stepped over the soda machine. "What the hell happened?"

"Just... one of those things." Thomas said. "I-I took care of him."

William looked over the banister and grimaced.

"Good job." He said quietly patting Thomas on the back. "Let's go."

They all returned to Chevalier's room. Desmond plugged in the radio and began searching through the radio stations. William got back on the laptop and sent a message to Sissi.

William Dunbar

we got the gear. We're ok. Wat do we do now Jer?

A few seconds ago * Like * Comment

Sissi Delmas

All we can do. We wait.

A few seconds ago * Like * Comment


"Okay." Yumi said. "We're getting close. Just a few more blocks."

Getting to Kadic proved much more difficult than she thought. The roads were packed with abandoned cars, looters, burners and of course them. It had taken hours for them to move through the city's streets, constantly taking detours to avoid fighting and of course, having to fight when that proved impossible. Both of them were covered in the blood of their enemies. Darren had ran out of ammunition during a fight with a group of burners and was know relying solely on his knife to fight with.

Yumi had never seen someone like him before. Sure, her and her friends used to fight all the time. Always vigilante against XANA and his plots. Darren fought like a trained soldier. He reminded her of Ulrich to a certain degree but he lacked the finesse that Ulrich used in combat. Ulrich had black belts in several martial arts and may as well have been a master swordsman. Darren was a brawler, someone fully capable of beating, pommeling, gouging and bashing someone to death with his bare hands. He used the knife like he had been born with it, his cuts precise, never missing his mark.

"There." Darren said pointing.

In the distance they could see the grounds of Kadic.

"It looks clear up ahead." Yumi said. "Maybe the school is safe."

"Wait." Darren said stopping. "You hear that?"

Yumi listened.

"No. I don't hear anything." She said.

"Exactly." Darren said. "All the fighting is going on at the other end of town. There's no gun shots, no people to scream or panic. As we've been moving closer to the school those things were moving in the other direction, towards the fighting."

"Do you think they're attracted to the sound?" Yumi asked.

"Probably. We've ran right past some of them and they didn't react until I pulled the trigger."

"Not all of them though." Yumi said. "Some just charged us regardless."

"Yeah. Just don't let your guard down." Darren said.

She nodded and the two ran down the street towards the school.

"Hey! There's a cop car there!" Yumi said excitedly. "They must be safe!"

"Hold on." Darren said. "One of the doors are open."

They both stopped in the middle of the street.

"I'll take point." He said drawing his knife. "Watch my back."

Yumi nodded and held her sword at the ready as Darren jogged up to the cop car. He held the knife ready and stepped around to the passenger side of the car. He sighed and sheathed the knife. He then waved Yumi over.

"What's wrong?" She asked jogging up to him.

On the ground next to the cop car was what was left of Officer Petit. His throat had been torn out and his left arm had been ripped out of its socket. It laid a few feet away in a pool of blood, hunks of flesh missing from the bone.

"Oh god." Yumi gagged stumbling back. "Oh no."

"Yeah." Darren said.

He crouched down next to the corpse.

"He's been dead awhile. The bloods already coagulated."

He examined the black boots Petit wore on his feet. He then began unlacing them and pulled them off.

"What the hell?" Yumi exclaimed. "You're just going to take them?"

"He sure as shit ain't usin' them." Darren said pulling the boots on and lacing them.

He finished tying the laces then looked up at Petit's belt. He reached up and pulled a handgun out of a holster along with two extra clips of ammunition.

"SIG Pro." He said ejecting the magazine. "Nine millimeter. Standard frenchie sidearm."

He slid the clip back into place and turned the safety on. He set the gun and clips on top of the cruiser and removed Petit's radio and nightstick. He turned the radio on and slid the nightstick into his belt. He held the radio up to his mouth and began speaking into it.

"Dispatch this is patrol car-" He glanced at the car. "twenty seven-four." He said into the radio. "Is anyone there? Over?"


Jillian Coe stopped typing at her computer and pressed a finger to her headset.

"Roger that twenty seven-four. This is dispatch go ahead." She said.

"Dispatch this is Darren Colt. I'm a survivor from Fort Alexander. I'm here at Kadic with a student. One of your officers is dead. Over." A male voice said on the other end.

"Shit!" Jillian cursed.

She sighed, took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes in frustration.

"What's the situation at Kadic. Over?" She asked.

"As far as I can tell it's quiet but something killed your boy. Over."

She put her glasses back on and began to pull up video feed from French CCTV. One window displayed the outside of Kadic Academy where she could see two teenagers standing next to a patrol car. The next window displayed the outside of the police station. She could see several of those things shambling around outside. The final window showed the entrance to Fort Alexander where several GIGN officers, French police officers, and the last of the American military had established a blockade and were trying to hold the position.

"Okay. Okay. Uhm... Look, Darren? I probably shouldn't be telling you this but the situation downtown is quickly turning into a clusterfuck." She said. "Your best bet would be to get into Kadic and lie low. The GIGN is making their way to your area but they are caught up downtown and I have no idea when they can make."

"Are those things causing that much trouble?" a female voice asked.

"Who is- oh. Right." Jillian said remembering the second person. "No it's not the... zombies-" She said this word as if it was taboo. "themselves, it's the burners. Their numbers are greater than anyone could have guessed and they're using guerrilla tactics to ambush any police and military force they can find. That combined with those... things running around is making it difficult to make any progress in securing a defensive perimeter anywhere. Over."

"Roger that dispatch." Darren said. "We're heading into the school now. We'll contact you once we find a place to lay low. Over."

"Roger that. Keep me posted."

Jillian turned her headset off and sighed. She watched the window displaying the entrance of Kadic and bit her lip nervously.

"Good luck kids." She thought.


Darren turned the radio off and clipped it to his belt. As he looked up he spotted something lying in the back seat of the cruiser. He drew the baton and bashed in the window. He knocked a few shards of glass away and leaned inside. He pulled out a Winchester 1300 Defender shotgun. It was equipped with a tactical flashlight under the barrel and spare shell holder on the stock. He pumped the slide and checked to make sure the weapon was loaded. He clicked the safety on and slung the weapon over his shoulder. Finally, he picked up the SIG and tucked it into his back waistband next to the M9.

"Okay." He said shouldering the shotgun. "You ready?"

Yumi nodded nervously.

"Let's go." She said