HOTD Classmates of the Dead

by The Celestial Sky Dragon

Three friends, an Archer with a paranoid father, a baseball player who sucks at pitching, and an islander who fights with his fists, find themselves in a world where the dead walk and the living become the prey. they will have to band together with friends and foes to survive the cruel reality they have been thrown into. this isn't a movie, or a game. its real life.

21. Chapter 21

A/N: Hello Everyone Today I bring you Chapter 21 of Highschool of the Dead. It was really hard for me to come up with this Chapter, I'll admit. I've been having trouble with nearly all of my stories, but do not fret...I actually watched the anime again for the Sixth time, and will most likely watch it again just so that i can get more ideas. of course, the Anime ends off right at the Mall Arc where the Manga continues, to its a bit difficult, at this point i don't even have to read any of it, considering the fact that I have surpassed where the manga left off. Regardless, here is chapter 21

H.O.T.D.

Chapter 21

The Police Station

Rain battered the streets of Tokunosu, washing away the vast amounts of blood that bathed the streets. The small fires that had started had finally been put, as the coming storm unleashed its wrath on the now empty streets of the once lively city. Thunder boomed and lightning split the sky open, as the clouds kept on unleashing their cold spray. The dead seemed a little disoriented from the rain hitting the pavement, but they were soon growing used to the sounds. A loud explosion rung through the area, and they all looked to the source of it.

In a nearby Plaza, an Ac130 had crash landed, killing several of the dead that had lingered in the area. The right wing of the large war plane had come off, the turbines still spinning while on fire. The nose of the plane had slammed into the side of a building, causing it to tilt a bit, the whole structure almost falling over. The tail of the plane had fallen off, and several of the dead soldiers that had been inside fell to the ground, a mass of torn limbs and blood hitting the floor. One of the side doors flew open, and three of the surviving soldiers jumped out. One of them was heavily injured, his arm visibly broken. The second was clutching his head, stopping the bleeding from a nasty cut he had received. The third, seemingly the only one who had no injuries looked around, M-16 trained on his surroundings.

"Gomez, how is your arm?" the man with the gun asked, looking at his comrade.

"Its fractured sir, there is no way I can use a rifle." the man with the broken arm said.

"Sir, we have infected, to many to take out." the third soldier said. The first grit his teeth, pulling the slide of his gun.

"Men, it has been an honor to fight beside you. Rodriguez get Gomez out of here!"

"But Lieutenant.." Gomez cried.

"I said MOVE SOLDEIR." The man shouted, running toward the crowd. The two soldiers looked away and tried to get away, only to get mobbed themselves, their screams were blocked out by the wind.

"What the hell do you think that was?" Nick asked, looking at his sister. He was holding his father's Barrett M98 in his hands. The black sniper rifle was a bit heavy for his taste but it was a surprisingly accurate gun. Considering the fact that he had his shotgun stolen, he wasn't about to take it for granted. Better yet, he had several magazines already prepped and a few cases of bullets as well, so he would be set. He shivered a bit as the relentless spray hit his face. On a normal day, he would have stayed in his dorm, most likely watching videos or hanging out with some friends, but sadly, normal life wasn't going to be the same for him anymore. He looked at his sister, who was holding her bladed staff in her hand, sometimes twirling it as they walked. It had been a while since they ran into any infected. Finally, after a few moments of silence, his sister replied.

"I dunno. It could be the army...some American troops were handling evacuations earlier today. They were trying to make it before the storm hit, but as you can clearly see, that wasn't possible." she said.

"It seems that since the world went to shit, everything has been going bad everywhere." he said.

"Yup, though with that heavy of a slam, I'm willing to bet it was a plane..we did hear those turbines earlier. Maybe one of the planes at the airport survived the EMP and they got the people out of here. I still can't believe the US launched that attack." she said.

"Leave it to America to jump the gun. Hey, was City Hall the only place of Evac or are there anymore places?" he asked. The dirty blonde haired girl looked at him, brushing some bangs out of her eyes.

"There was a place set up at Shintoko Third Elementary School."

"Shintoko? That's where my friend's mom teaches...we can meet up with them at the station and then head..." he stopped when his sister held her hand out. She shook her head.

"That place was overrun, all of the kids were mutilated, and the teachers that were left holed up in the cafeteria, only for the infected lunch ladies to turn on them too. The place was a real blood bath, the army took the building down." she said. Nick's eyes widened, and felt like vomiting. He leaned against the side of the building they were next to, feeling a bit faint.

"My god...all of the kids were..."

"Every last one of them. Trust me, I was there helping out, I barely got out of there alive before the APC took me to City Hall. It was then that I forced that guy to send out the message, I didn't want to die without seeing dad, and its weird that he hasn't shown up yet. There is another evacuation station in Towa City, a bit more well suited than the hastily set up ones in Tokunosu, we may be able to make it in time to get rescued." she said. He gave her a nod and regained his footing, swallowing the lump in his throat. As they started walking, the heard the sounds of cables snapping in the distance as well as glass breaking. They both shared a look and went out into the main street, seeing a few infected shambling around. In the distance, around six to seven blocks away, the saw the tallest building in Tokunosu start tipping over. It slammed into the building next to it, and all of the glass on the right side of it shattered and fell into the streets below. The crane that was sitting on top of the building snapped in half, the span of it fell to the ground, a sharp metallic bang ringing through the area. All of the nearby infected let out a groan and started heading in that direction.

"Holy shit...what the hell is going on?" Nick asked himself.

"I don't know, but whatever caused that building to fall, must have been big. Not only that, it just alerted every infected in a mile radius, we better find some cover." Mindy said, quickly crossing the street. Nick raced after her, placing his sniper on his shoulder.

"Mindy, we can't waste time. We have to make it to the police station, my friends will be there." he said.

"Yeah well, the Police station is in that direction, I'm sorry but if your friends have any cells left in their brains, they would head somewhere else. I'm, not going to be zombie food."

"Well I'm going...Cody saved my life, not only that..I made a promise to Rei and Takashi that I would help them find their parents. Takashi's mom is dead, I might as well be the one to tell him that, save him the trouble of finding the crater that was once Shintoko Third Elementary."
Mindy stood stock still, looking at her brother. She knew he wasn't the brightest crayon in the box, but deciding on going in the same direction as the infected, it would be suicide, and she wasn't going to be a part of it. She shook her head and turned around.

"If you want to die, then so be it, but don't blame me for it. Remember, only you can save yourself in the world, I saved you from those infected back at City Hall, I won't be there to do it again." she said. She spun her staff around herself, slicing a nearby infected's head clean off. She stabbed it once it hit the ground.

"Whatever, its not as if you ever gave a shit about me anyway. You were always the one that dad payed attention too, after all you got the special training, you got to go to the fancy schools, while I just sat there, watching it all go down. I hope you make it out of this shitstorm alive Mindy, and if you do, make sure to tell dad that it wasn't his fault I died."

Nick turned heel and walked off, heading toward the Police station. Mindy scoffed and kept walking forward, heading toward a mini shopping plaza that had been near their location. Lightning tore across the sky, the flash brightening the city streets for a few seconds. She stopped halfway to the nearby convenience store and looked back, not seeing her brother in the mass of piled up cars and dead bodies. She sighed and turned around, stabbing a nearby infected through the eyes. Thunder boomed loudly, sending a shiver down her spine. She shook her head.

"I've always hated thunder."

"Come on guys, we're almost there." Cody said, looking over his shoulder. Lily and Melanie were leaning against the wall, visibly spent. They had been running for quite awhile now, and the tiredness of the day was beginning to take their toll on them. It didn't make the walk any easier on them, especially with the rain that was battering the streets. They had taken shelter in a holiday card store, which luckily had no infected inside. He reached into his pocket pulling out a golden pocket watch, which he had found in a drawer near the register. It was a wind up model and had luckily survived the EMP. It read 3:34PM, the sun would go down soon, and he didn't want to spend a night in the cold dark streets of Tokunosu.

"Damn it...if those bastards hadn't taken our supplies." Melanie said, slamming her fist against the rack she was leaning on, a few greeting cards fell to the floor. Lily sighed.

"There was nothing we could do. If there had been some cover, trust me I would have gladly killed them all. They'll get their comeuppance soon enough." Lily said. Her clothes were soaked and she was dead tired, she was clutching her pistol tightly in her hand, in case an infected were to surprise them. Cody sighed and leaned against the door, a hand on his katana.

"Things are getting bad...City Hall exploded, which can only mean the army bombed it because it was overrun. If that's the case, any other Evacuation places in the city may go down at any given time. Getting out of here will be harder than ever. And we still have to cross Towa City, and Tokyo." he muttered.

"Is going up to Hokkaido even a wise idea? What if we can't make it there, we have a lot of people with us Cody, most of them can't even fire a gun right." Lily said.

"We're gonna have to make it, through the skin of our teeth and the hair on our asses, we'll have to make it." he said.
"Don't know about you, but my ass isn't hairy." Melanie said.

"Same here." Lily said, a chuckle escaping her lips. Cody rolled his eyes.

"We're not that far from the station, just a couple blocks. We have to go while the rain is still heavy, that way, they are disoriented." he said. Melanie pushed off the wall, walking toward the door.

"Fine, lets stop beating around the bush...but before we go." she licked her lips and planted a firm kiss on Cody's lips, surprising the teen a bit. She pulled away before he could even react. She turned the lock and pushed the doors open.

"Man, she's got you whipped. Why not just fuck her and get it over with?"

"Quiet you." Cody snapped, making the tealette roll her eyes. Once o the streets, they darted as fast as they could, pacing themselves a bit so they wouldn't get tired. They reached the street corner, and Lily looked around, giving a nod when it was clear. The turned up that street and kept moving at a brisk pace.

"At this rate, we'll be there in ten minutes. I hope they have food, I'm a little hungry." Cody said.

"Its a police station, if they don't have fresh donuts, I'm gonna be pissed." Lily said.

"Like the piggies had enough time to stop at Starlarks before shit hit the fan." Melanie said. They turned at another intersection, stopping in their tracks. They saw a teenage boy, running away from a horde of infected, or trying too since his leg was broken. He was trying his hardest to escape them when he fell down. He looked up, seeing Cody and the girls.

"Help me." he shouted.

"What do we do?" Lily asked.

"He's got a broken leg, he'd slow us down." Cody said.

"Please..you have to help me...I'm begging you." the teen shouted. He looked back as the horde was catching up with him.

"Cody...are you sure?" Melanie asked.

"Yes, lets keep walking." he said, leading them away, just in time to miss the young man get torn apart. His screams of pain and agony filled their ears as they walked, but were soon drowned out by the wind blowing. Cody took a shaky breath, calming himself down. When he looked up, he noticed one of the nearby buildings start to tip over. His eyes widened as he just stood there, watching it happen. The building crashed into the one next to it with a loud slam, large panes of glass hit the ground, shattering on impact. He saw a few bodies drop as well, as hear a few screams of living people before they met their demise on the asphalt below them. The last thing he heard was the loud bang of the crane as it hit the ground.

"Holy shit, they knocked down a building?" Melanie asked.

"That wasn't a planned fall...if it was it would have been executed differently. To take down a building that big, you need to put explosives on the foundations, and key places on every floor. Whatever caused that building to fall over, it wasn't human. Must have been that Ac130 we saw flying around earlier."

"What the hell could have grounded a military plane like that?" Lily asked.

"A couple infected soldiers, that's what. The Police station is a block away from that building. We'll be walking into the snakes pit so be ready." he said, drawing his sword. The girls nodded and reloaded their guns, both of them being down to their few remaining magazines.

"Do you think we should find an alternate route? After all, this area will be crawling with them soon." Lily said.

"If we try to find an indirect route to the station, we'll just end up bringing ourselves farther away. And what if more infected get in our way? We'll never be able to make it then. We have to get there and secure the building so that the others will be safe." Cody said, earning a nod from the girls.

They ducked into a side street, moving a bit slower than before. Cody silently took out the infected near them, carefully setting their bodies down as to not attract attention. They came out in an open street, seeing a few over turned cars blocking their view. He peeked around it, seeing a horde of infected heading their way, at least twenty of them. He looked back at the girls and shook his head. They ran back to the side street they had come from and looked for an alternate path. After about an hour or two, they reached the Police station. They saw tire marks on the ground, and the garage doors had been knocked off their hinges, at least the inner doors had been locked.

"Looks like this place is empty. Save for the infected." Lily said.

"How are we gonna go in there? We're low on ammo." Melanie said. Cody glanced at his sword, watching the water and fresh blood drip down the edge of the blade.

"We'll just have to go silently okay. Stay behind me and stay alert, if a problem arises, I want you to leave and find a safe place to hide." he said.

"But...what if they hurt you?" Melanie asked, worried about the object of her affections.

"I'll be fine. Its not as if I'm going to be bit, besides, those idiots didn't take my armor." he said with a smile. They sighed, giving him a nod..they both trusted that he was able to defend himself. They silently moved toward the police station, opening the doors.

The main lobby was a wreck, broken glass and chairs had been strewn all over the place. Blood was smeared all over the once clean tile floors, and one of the vending machines had been tipped on its side. One of the desks had been tipped over, and one of the legs was missing, most likely used as a weapon at some point.

"Stay lively girls, start checking this place, I'll check over here." he said, moving toward the opposite side of the lobby. The girls broke off, searching the rooms on the bottom floor. Lily pulled open one of the offices, swiftly dispatching the infected officers that had been inside. She walked over to their bodies, and took off their belts, each having a Colt Detective Special in their holsters, along with a few extra rounds. She placed them around her shoulders and left the room, closing the door after herself.

"Okay...take a deep breath, aim and pull the trigger." Melanie muttered to herself as she threw an office door open. The lone infected that was inside looked her way, and started shambling toward her. The radio that had been strapped to her shoulder dragging behind her. Melanie rose her gun, hands shaking a bit. She wasn't a good shot, getting a headshot had been lucky, but she had to get up close to kill them. She took a deep breath and pulled the trigger, hitting the infected in the shoulder. She grit her teeth and pulled the trigger again, hitting the infected in the throat.

"Damn it, just get it in the head." she shouted, pulling the trigger a third time. The infected's head snapped back and her body dropped, slamming into the table that had been in the room. She took a deep breath, wiping the sweat off her brow. She turned around, eyes widened when she saw the infected officer behind her. It lunged at her but before it could take a chunk out of her face, a blade split its head in half, bathing her in blood. The body fell to the ground, and she saw Cody in front of her, a frown on his face.

"You need to pay more attention Melanie." he said.

"T-thanks Cody." she said, a blush on her cheeks. He brushed past her to the infected she had taken care off, he grabbed the belt that had been around her waist and handed it to her.

"It doesn't have a gun, but you do need a holster, so take it for now." he said. She nodded and strapped the belt around her waist. Cody decided to stick with her after that, making a mental note to work on her aim.

Fifteen minutes later, they met up in the lobby, next to the fallen Vending machine. Lily gave it a firm kick, shattering the glass. She stuck her hand inside and pulled out some chips, handing them to her friends. Cody was looking over their haul.

"Well, its not much, but a few extra guns will go a long way." he muttered. He grabbed one of the Colt Detectives and pulled the cylinder out, checking the bullets, two had been spent, which he quickly replaced. He spun the chamber before closing it, grabbing the next Colt. Melanie was playing with an extra bullet, rolling it around with her finger. Lily pulled out three batons and set them next to the guns, a smile on her face.

"Found these inside a fridge." She said.
"Why would they hide them there?" Melanie asked, getting a grin from the tealette.

"So people like us don't steal them, and yet, no adult would think to look in the fridge. Honestly, I was just hungry, but the fridge was nearly empty, just filled with spoiled left overs. A real shame." she said. Cody chuckled and set the gun aside.

"We've cleared the lobby, its best we move onto the first floor and take out any infected up there. We should also pay a visit to the armory, see if the cops left us some toys to play with." he said.

"As if they left stuff behind." Lily muttered, tearing her chips open, she all but inhaled the tiny bag, grabbing a second one from the machine.

"They might have, remember they were deployed in a rush, so they might have forgotten some stuff, even a spare bullet is better than nothing."

"I suppose your right." the blonde muttered. Cody stood up, handing Lily one of the revolvers, he tucked the second one into his belt, in case he needed it. He grabbed his sword, pulling it from its scabbard.

"I'm heading upstairs, Lily can you handle keeping watch?" he asked.

"Sure thing boss man. I'll let out a couple rounds if anything bad happens." she said.

"Right, lets go Melanie, grab a baton." he said. She nodded and grabbed one of the batons Lily had found, flicking it open. She tightened the strap around her wrist and followed Cody up the stairs. The teen leaned against the doors that lead to the first floor, peeking through the glass to see a few infected shambling around.

"I can see three in my line of sight, there might be more." he muttered.

"What do we do then?" the blonde asked.

"Kill them off course, one of them has a 1911 hanging from their finger. There's no way in hell I'm leaving that behind." he said with a smirk. Melanie sighed, boys and their guns. Cody opened the door and slowly crept into the room. He easily took out the infected in front of him, driving the blade through the back of its head. He set the body down and sprung forward, slicing the remaining infected in half with his katana. He flicked the blood off his blade and drove the tip through their eyes. He grabbed the gun off the ground and pulled the magazine out of it, humming to himself.

"Loaded magazine. No spares though." he muttered, placing the gun behind his back.

"Hey Cody, check out what I found." Melanie said, holding up an MP5, with a scope attachment. His eyes widened.

"Where the hell did you find that?"

"On the floor, and I found two spare magazines for it." She said, holding the two black magazines up.

"Heh, I'll be damned...I suppose you can have it, finders keepers after all." he said. She giggled and slung it around her shoulder, placing the magazines in her holster.

"Well, I don't think we'll find anything else here, lets head up to the second floor and find the armory." he said. She nodded and followed closely after him. They took out the few infected that still lingered the halls, following the signs until they reached the armory. Cody frowned a bit, seeing all of the open lockers. He had been lucky to find a spare case of 9mm Parebellum rounds, but that had been it. He looked around for a while longer, only finding a broken shotgun. He sighed.

"Is it bad that I had my hopes up?" he asked, looking at Melanie.

"Not really...because I just came up with another idea...do you think the Evidence room might have firearms?" she asked.

"Melanie you are a genius. Confiscated firearms are usually stored there, but how are we gonna get in?" he asked.

"How about using a hand drill." a familiar voice said. He looked up, seeing none other than Saya standing at the door, her Luger in her hands.

"Saya..you made it." he cried, running toward her. She jumped into his arms, hugging him tightly. They shared a kiss before looking at each other. Melanie pouted, glaring at the two for a few seconds before looking away, arms crossed.

"Lily told us what happened. We didn't have any problems getting here, but being robbed by marauders..come on Cody."

"What? There was no cover..you know I would have shot them if given the chance. Is Nick with you?" he asked. She shook her head.

"We didn't run into him, but we figured he'd be coming here, since this was the meeting spot since the beginning. We'll wait for him if we have too, but we can't wait for long. I take it you saw that building that recently tipped over right?" she asked.

"I saw it tip over. Did you see what caused it?" he asked.

"No we didn't...but there's been a large gathering of infected around that building. We had to take three alternate routes just to get here, and its getting worse out there. We'll wait out the storm, but when the sun comes out, we have to leave, with or without Nick." she said.

"But we can't just...leave him." He said.
"I'm sorry sweetheart, but he chose to leave on his own. We can't wait around forever. We have to make it to Rei's and Takashi's house as soon as we can, and this storm is being a major hindrance. For now lets head to the Evidence department and crack the door open."

"I still can't believe we're doing this." Mindy muttered, as she leaned against an overturned delivery truck. Nick pulled the bolt of his rifle back, making sure there was a round in the chamber before slamming it closed. He rose the gun to his shoulder and looked through the scope.

"We have to go by that fallen building if we want to make it to the Police station. If we take a few of the infected out now, we can pass by there safely." he said.

"As if you can nail an infected a thousand meters out." she muttered, looking away from him. The rain had lessened a it, but the wind was still a pain in the ass. Even though he wanted to retort, she was right, if the same stuff he learned about in games applied to real life, then the strong wind would take this bullet off target. He sighed and lowered his gun.

"You're right Mindy...but we can't deliberate anymore. We need to do something."
"Can't we just walk around? Better safe than sorry."

"Yes, but it would take too long, knowing Cody, he'd leave before the eye of the storm passes, because that's when shit is gonna get bad." he said. He rose the gun back onto his shoulder and started looking around with the scope.

"Then its best we make our way there fast. Even with an alternate route, it would be faster than walking through that." she said.

"Yeah but...what about that Plane? If you said a plane was flying around, it must have been the one that did that, meaning there's guns and ammo, we could use the weapons." he said.

"Going on a suicide run for a couple extra bullets? Man you really are an idiot." She said. He rolled his eyes, focusing the infected. Something suddenly caught his eye, a black sports car, a Camaro by the looks of it. It whipped around the corner, nailing a few infected as it went. It ended up hitting a pole, and with all the blood on the ground, it slid around, slamming into the side of a building. The pole hit the ground, the bulb breaking on the ground.

"The hell was that?" Mindy asked.

"A car just wrecked a few streets from here." he muttered.

"What? That EMP took out all electronics in the city, how is a car still running?" she asked.

"I don't know, but I think that...holy shit." he muttered, seeing one of the passengers get out of the car. His mouth curled into a snarl as he looked at his once best friend. He flicked the safety off, placing a finger on the trigger.

"What are you doing?" Mindy asked.

"Taking a shot...trust me, this guy deserves it." he said, as he was going to pull the trigger, he heard a loud howl behind him. He lowered the gun a bit and looked back.

"What the fuck?" he muttered. His eyes widened in fear as a horde of infected was running toward them. He slung his gun over his shoulder and took Mindy's hand, the girl stunned at what she was seeing.

"Move." he said, pulling her along. At that moment, he didn't care about anything, he had to make it to the Police Station.

"Big brother, what are we doing? We can't just run to the station, we'll lead this horde there." She said.

"Well do you have any better ideas?" he called out. She grinned and quickened her pace, now pulling him.

"I got one. You ever fire a rocket launcher?" she asked. His eyes widened as he shook his head.

"Well, you are gonna learn today." she said with a giggle. Nick shuddered a bit.

"What the hell did those CIA bastards do to my little sister?" he muttered.

Mindy lead Nick down the street, pausing to take a few breaths before heading toward the fallen building. They avoided the large panes of glass that had shattered all over the floor, along with the metal desks and corpses that laid on the ground. They reached the plaza, seeing the body of the crashed Ac130, the tail had broken off, and had caught fire, while several infected lingered in the area. The pile up of cars seemed to slow down the infected horde, but it wouldn't hold them back for long.

"This way. You had the right idea with coming to where the plane was." She said, carefully moving toward it. A metal desk slammed into the ground behind Nick, making him shout in surprise, urging him to run. Mindy quickly raced up the fallen plane's wing, diving into the fuselage and once Nick was safely inside, she slammed the door closed. She breathed a sigh of relief, falling to her knees.

"I don't think I ran so hard in my life." She said.

"Heh, I'm used to this kind of running. I was on the baseball team remember?" he asked. He looked around the plane, seeing several infected soldiers reaching for them, since they were strapped in place. He took out his knife and walked over to them, putting them out of their misery. Mindy stood up and started looking around, she saw a few discarded rifles on the floor, and picked them up. She tossed one aside, as the muzzle had snapped clean in half. She found an AR 15, with a breaching mount on it. It had a working red dot sight and an extended magazine. She saw a fanny pack on the ground and picked it up, unzipping it, a smile worked its way to her face when she saw all of the loaded magazines inside it.

"Well, looks like I found myself a best friend." she said, attaching the fanny pack to her waist. Nick grabbed an M4, holding it up to his shoulder.

"Its a good thing Cody gave me a crash course back at the mansion. I don't think I could handle using a rifle if I didn't have the training." he muttered.

"Find all the ammunition you can and stuff your pockets, this place is a gold mine. I'll see if I can find an RPG." she said, heading toward the tail end of the plane.

"Be careful." he said, only for her to wave him off. He started looking around, placing all of the things he thought useful on top of a crate near the door. So far, he had found two AR 15 rifles, eight spare magazines for them, all loaded with ammunition. He found a spare EoTech scope, which he had placed next to the rifles, along with a Glock 19. He found a black cylindrical canister with a pin at the top, and cringed.

"A Flash bang...would these even be effective against them?" he muttered to himself. He shrugged and set it next to his small haul.

"Well, I didn't find anymore rockets, but I did find the RPG itself." Mindy said, leaning the weapon against the crate. She had a green rocket in her hands, which she placed on top of the crate. She glanced at the dead soldiers, frowning a bit.

"Do you...think Dad is maybe..."

"Don't say that sis. Dad is a Marine, he wouldn't let himself get killed by those infected fucks."

"Sorry." she said. He shook his head and walked over to one of the soldiers. He cut the seat belt that held him to his seat, he lay him onto the ground and started taking his vest off.

"What are you doing?"

"Taking this vest. I just want to be safe you know." he said. Once it was off, he set his Barrett down and slipped the vest over his head, making sure the straps were tight enough to keep it safely in place. He grabbed the arm guards and leg guards and started putting them on as well.

"I suppose I should make the best of it." she muttered, grabbing a spare set of leg guards. The everything else was a little too big for her, but the leg guards would be enough.

"The east Police station isn't far from here, three blocks at most. With that huge contingent out there, we'll have to be careful. What's the plan?" he asked.

"Well, I don't know if you noticed, but this plane crashed with its payload. This RPG should be enough to detonate all of it." she said.

"You want to blow this shit sky high?" he asked, giving her an incredulous look.

"Yeah, the sound will echo throughout the city and draw them this way. It will make it easier for us to leave Tokunosu. Trust me...we need to get to Towa city before the next Evacuation station gets taken down, this city is gone and there is nothing here but death." she said. He sighed, giving her nod.

"Alright then, we'll blow this shit up and then head to the station." he said. She gave him a thumbs up, a smile on her face. He grabbed his sniper rifle and slung it over his shoulder, grabbing the M4 he had found. He strapped the EoTech scope onto it, making sure it was firmly in place. From what Cody taught him, he could change the brightness and type of dot he could see. He messed around with it for a few seconds, changing it to a cross hairs, as he was used to firing with that set up already. He grabbed the Glock 19 and slipped it into his holster.

"You got the ammo?" She asked.

"I got enough ammunition for this rifle and for my side arm." he said. She nodded, grabbing the second AR 15 and placing it on her shoulder. She grabbed the RPG and handed it to Nick, grabbing a hold of the green rocket.

"We'll use the other door..once we're a few flocks away, I want you to fire at the tail end of this plane, the explosion should be enough to detonate the payload." she said. He nodded, following her to the emergency door. The door flew open, and they quietly made their way across the broken wing. Mindy quietly took out the nearby infected, keeping them away from her older brother who was placing the rocket into the launcher. He twisted it into place and kept on moving, finally when they were a block away, he took aim at the plane. Swallowing the lump in his throat, he looked through the scope, aiming for the tip of a cylindrical black charge that was barely sticking out of the plane. He heard the sound of bodies dropping to the ground as well as the groans of the infected.

"Will you hurry up? We're running out of time here."
"Hold your horses, I gotta take aim first." he snapped. It was the first time he was doing this, how dare she rush him. It was their only rocket too, he didn't want to miss. He took a deep breath, exhaling slowly. He pulled the trigger, firing the rocket and almost falling on his ass from the recoil. It sailed forward, slamming into the side of the plane, missing the missile he was aiming for. The side of the plane burst outward, a fire cloud bursting from within. A second later, the plane burst into flames, a loud explosion tearing through the area. Nick tossed the RPG aside and grabbed Mindy's hand, pulling her behind a large van. Shrapnel and hot flaming metal flew all over, the building rocked, tipping over further landing on top of the building next to it.

"Lets move!" Mindy shouted. They broke into a sprint, heading toward the Police station.

"What the hell is going on?" Cody shouted, trying to look out the window. All he caught was a loud explosion followed by the damaged building falling to the ground. The entire earth around them shook from the impact, and the sounds of breaking glass and bending metal filled their ears.

"I don't know what that was...but we have to hurry it up here. With all this noise, the Police station isn't safe anymore." Takashi said.

"I'll have this open in just a jiffy guys." Kohta replied, quickening his pace to open the door.

"How far are we from Rei's house?" Cody asked, glancing at his watch.

"About five blocks." Takashi replied.

"That explosion surely attracted more infected to this area. If we take the back exit, we may be able to avoid them all. But that doesn't mean we won't run into any issues. Let's just hope whatever is in here is worth it." He said.

"We're about to find out." Kohta said, pulling the door open. Takashi smiled and stepped into the room, followed by Cody, Kohta, Saya and Alice, who had decided to stick around. Cody moved toward the boxes in the very back of the room, and started digging through them, not finding anything of use.

"Hey, look what I found." Alice cried out, holding a flashlight in her hands. She pressed the button, illuminating the room.

"Nice work Alice. Flashlights like these can easily survive an EMP. And we can find some batteries for it too." Cody said, ruffling her hair. She giggled happily, shining the light around the room.

"Found some money. Doubt we can use it for anything now." Saya muttered, holding several packs of Japanese Yen in her hands.

"Hey, you can burn that. Money catches fire rather quick."

"Hello...what is this." Takashi said, flicking the latches of a large black case open. He opened the top, eyes widening at what he found.

"Holy shit, this is the same model of gun Nick has. A Benelli M4 Super 90. These shotguns are semi automatic, and can hold ten shells in the tube. And it has a breaching mount, meaning you can use it to open doors." Kohta said, gushing over the gun.

"Can I use the shells from the Ithaca?" Takashi asked.
"The super 90 is a very versatile gun. Luckily most of them come in the 12 gauge format, so you can use any 12 gauge shells with it. You got a case of 25 brass birdshot. The spread should be enough to handle anything in front of you." Cody said.

Takashi nodded and set the worn Ithaca down. The shot gun had served its purpose, the stock was chipping in places and visibly scratched, blood still dripped from it. He rested it against the table, holding his hand up in a salute. After a second, he grabbed the Benelli M4 along with all of the shells and walked out of the room.

"We found several handguns, but all we have are the magazines that came with it. Add in the Colts and 1911 that Cody found, the two MP5s and Saeko's Vertec, and we have enough ammunition to last us a while. The ones we started with are better, but these will do." Kohta said, placing all of the guns into his backpack.

"Not enough ammunition in my opinion...Goddamn it if those thugs hadn't taken my shotgun...we'd be set." Cody muttered.

"Hey, they took my M16, which you took without asking missy..you owe me." Rin cried out, glancing at Melanie who blushed and looked away.

"That's the least of our worries. Rei where is the Communications and Command room?" Saya asked, glancing at the brown haired spear user.

"On the third floor, all the end of the hall." She said.

"Okay, lets go up there. We'll use a standard formation, Shizuka I'd feel a lot better if you carried something...this should do." Cody said, handing the blonde woman one of his spare .38 special revolvers.

"It's so light weight." she said, looking the gun over.

"The switch at the side opens the cylinder, all you need to do is replace the spent bullets when you run out. There's little kickback with this gun so you should be fine." he said. She nodded, and he gave her a handful of bullets, which she shoved in her skirt pocket.

Cody took the front, leading their group up the stairs. They entered the third floor, and swiftly took down the infected near the entrance. Cody stood in front of the branching hallway, slicing the heads off any infected that came near him. Takashi slammed the muzzle of his shotgun into a nearby infected, splitting its head open. Kohta looked around for a few seconds before giving the others a nod. He turned around and started drilling the lock, while Cody and Takashi kept watch.

"Did you guys pass City hall on the way here by any chance?" he asked, earning a nod from Takashi.

"The place was burnt to the ground though. Was that where Nick was heading?" he asked.

"Yeah, but I doubt he died there. He wouldn't die so easily, I would know." he muttered.

"Door's unlocked guys." Kohta said quietly. He grabbed his Silenced MP5 and stuck it through the slight crack in the door, three swift shots and the infected inside fell down dead. They entered the room, looking around.

"There's no one here either..just dead people." Rei said, looking rather distraught.

"Wish the lights worked." Melanie muttered, trying not to trip over anything.

"There's light coming from that panel over there." Alice said.

"Wait..let me see." Saya cried out, racing toward the monitor. She glanced at the screen reading the message.

"I thought the EMP killed the power. Is there a working power plant around here?" Saeko asked, clearly confused.

"As if. This probably had a back up battery..its been on standby for awhile now." the pink haired girl said.

"Just like the backup generators at the hospital." Shizuka said, a smile on her face.

"I'll be damned, I wasn't expecting you to remember that." Rin said. Shizuka huffed, feeling a little insulted.

"Did you find anything?" Cody asked.

"No..there's a lot of useless information on it...the only thing I did find was that they announced a J-alert."

"A J-alert? The hell is that?" Takashi asked curiously.

"The J-alert system is a warning broadcast system that sends warnings out to the people via satellite, in case of missile assaults, strong tidal waves or earthquakes." Kohta said.

"Its the Japanese equivalent to the American Emergency alert system. Thing is, without any power..we can't get the messages." Rin said.

"And there's no search bar. I can't find anything." Saya cried, slamming her fists onto the desk.

"Hey, quiet down a bit. This floor hasn't been fully cleared out yet." Rin snapped, glancing out the door. Alice walked up to the monitor, looking at all of the keys before pressing one in the center of it. It beeped a couple times, making Saya look at her in anger.

"What did you do squirt?"

"I just wanted to press something." she said.

"Well you just messed it...no wait...nice job kid, you found just what we were looking for." Saya said proudly.

"I did?" she asked.

"Yes...it says here that the S.A.T. is conducting an emergency recovery in two days time, at Shintoko Third Elementary." she said.

"Recovery? Not rescue?" Takashi asked.

"They probably don't have supplies and firepower to send out a rescue team. Meaning that this recovery is possibly their last one, after that we'll be stuck in this city with no one but the dead and the ones that are crazy enough to be out there." Cody said.

"But...what about the Army? Wouldn't they be conducting rescue attempts?" Melanie asked.

"Lets be honest, the army is most likely getting ready for war, not just the undead, but with other countries...this plague didn't stop America from firing EMPs into the atmosphere, what's stopping Russia from sending nukes over here? What's stopping North Korea from outright carpet bombing this place?" Cody replied.

"Why would they attack us of all places?" Takashi asked.

"Who knows? Lets just hope that whatever remains of the Government is either too stupid to do anything or doesn't have the authoritative power to do shit. Rei, where is your dad's office? Maybe he left a message or something up there." the brown haired teen.

"Its over here, at the end of the hall." she said, exiting the Communications room. She lead them all the way to the end of the hall, throwing the door open.
"Dad!" she cried out, only to be greeted by an empty office. Her lip quivered and her shoulders started shaking. She looked at the floor, her hair covering her face.

"Takashi...he's not here..dad isn't here." she said.

"Your father is a resilient man. He wouldn't just give up, he probably left trying to help some refugees or something. This place looks like it was a refugee camp before shit got bad. Everyone start looking around, maybe he left a message or something." he said. Everyone split up and started looking through the office. Rei walked over to her fathers desk, tears running down her cheeks. She picked up the picture that was next to the PC, looking at it fondly.

"Is that your mother?" Cody asked, peering over her shoulder. She gave him a nod.

"She used to be a police officer like him...she actually met him in the line of duty...she has a bit of a delinquent past." she said.

"We'll find them, they'll be fine." he reassured. She gave him a smile, setting the picture down. Shizuka yelped in pain, hitting the white board near the other end of the room on accident. She rubbed her breast, a few tears of pain escaping her eyes.

"Jesus, are those things that damn big lady?" Melanie asked, glancing at the other blonde.

"I can't help it. Its a family trait...hey...there's writing on here." she said, flipping the board.

"Emergency Evacuations being held at Shintoko Third Elementary." Kohta read aloud. Rei's eyes widened in shock.

"That's...that's my dad's handwriting...he's at the elementary. He's probably with your mom Takashi." she said, looking at Takashi who gave her a smile.

"At least we know their fine. We still have to check our houses just in case, your mother will most likely be there." he said.

"Okay, we found what we came here for, lets get back down and plan a course of action. We only have three hours or so of daylight and I want us to be in a safe place before nightfall." Cody said. With that everyone started doubling back to the lobby, making sure they didn't run into anymore infected.

The group made it downstairs, all of them stopped when they saw Lily making out with a soaking wet Nick, who looked like he had gone through hell. Beside them was a young girl who seemed like she had seen better days. She was wringing out her hair while muttering things under her breath.

"Nick...you made it here..holy shit." Cody said, forcing the two teens to pull away. The dirty blond gave him a toothy grin.

"Course, I can't die just yet. This story isn't over that's for damn sure...oh, and before I forget, this is my little sister Mindy." he said, pushing the girl forward.

"Mindy? Wow look at how you've grown..last time I saw you, you were barely off the ground." Cody said.

"I wasn't that short Cody, jeez...and besides its only been two years." she said, looking away from him.

"Where did you get those rifles? Three AR 15s with scopes and a Barrett M98? Those are the best of rifles man." Kohta said, looking the guns over. Nick seemed to ignore him as he begun to speak.

"Well, in order to get here we had to distract a massive horde of infected, it seems the virus is mutating them...they can run now." he said.

"Just as I thought...reminds me of the Hooded infected I fought back when I rescued Melanie." Cody muttered, not exactly wanting to remember that particular event.

"Anyway, in order to distract them and draw them away from here, I shot an RPG at the plane and made it all explode, knocking the building down in the process. If the explosion didn't kill them all, the falling rubble surely did. But as we were making our way here, it started drizzling, just as it had stopped too. And it doesn't look like it will let up either." he said.

"Just our luck...hey could I get one of those rifles? My shotgun sort of got stolen." he said.

"Really? Hey...now that you mention it, where is your Hecate?" Nick asked, glancing at Lily.

"Funny story...we were all stopped by these thugs. Their leader seemed to be a bitchy young girl, wearing a red bandanna around her neck. I wanted to shoot them but they seemed to be well armed, and we didn't have any cover." she said.

"Son of a bitch...that cunt got you too?" he asked. Cody's eyes widened.

"We got robbed...by the same group?" he asked, not believing his shitty luck.

"What are fucking odds of that? I had a gun to my face just because I didn't want to hand my rifle over. Dumb asses forgot to pat us down for extra weapons..and I'm glad they did." Melanie said.

"My rifle, you mean." Rin said.

"Whatever, jeez I'm sorry that your rifle got stolen, at least my brains are still in my head and not on the ground, or in some infected's stomach." she snapped. Nick handed his two spare rifles to both Cody and Melanie, handing his Barrett to Lily who was rather impressed by it.

"It's my dad's rifle. He built that thing himself...this model normally comes with a .338 lupua barrel but he modified it to chamber .50 caliber ammunition." he said.

"Can you even handle a .50 caliber?" Mindy asked curiously.

"She had a Hecate II before it was taken by those thugs." Cody said. The short girl looked the tealette over, with scrutinizing eyes.

"Its nice that we're all getting acquainted and all, but we have to move. There's an emergency S.A.T. evacuation in two days time." Takashi said.

"Really? Where did you find this at? The last Evacuation place was in Shintoko third Elementary and that place was bombed to the ground." Mindy said.

"Uh...what?" Saya cried out, clearly confused by what the girl had just said.

"Shintoko Third Elementary was turned into an Refugee and Evacuation center a few days back, there was an Army contingent deployed there, keeping the people safe, but someone inside turned, and all of the people there got turned into infected. The last of the survivors tried hiding in the lunch room, only to be killed by the lunch ladies. Only around ten people made it out of there, myself included and were taken to City hall, which was also bombed." she said. Rei started hyperventilating, fanning her face with her hand before passing out, only to land in Takashi's arms, the teen having to drop his shotgun to the ground.

"Rei...what's wrong with her?" he cried out.

"She passed out. Probably from hearing that story." Saya said. He lay her down on the soda machine, and Shizuka started looking her over. Takashi looked back at the Mindy, his face being a ghastly white.

"Are you sure the place was bombed? Maybe there could be survivors." he said.

"Sorry kid...I was there, the military brought the entire building down. They used mortars and dynamite...no one is left there...all of the kids...I had to watch so many kids get brutally murdered by their friends and family..it was horrible..to be honest with you, I don't think I can even sleep after witnessing that." she said.

"Oh god...mom." he muttered, sinking to his knees.

"Hey, you can't break down on me right now. There is a possibility that she and Rei's dad made it out of there alive. Sure, it sucks that she probably had to leave her students behind but she probably survived. You gotta believe that..and on the off chance that she didn't...well...I dunno what we'll do...we'll have to move on." Cody said.

"Easy for you to say...your dad is still alive somewhere, and I bet your mom is perfectly fine." Takashi snapped.

"Actually, if you want to know..my mother died the day shit hit the fan. Vermont was one of the first states to get hit with this fucking virus. She's been dead for the entirety of this fucking thing, and she's most likely walking down my neighborhood as a shambling brain sucker. At least there might be a chance for you to see your mother, living or dead. I don't have that. The last time I spoke to her was during the Holidays when she came for a visit, and I'll never get to see her again, so man up. Parents die all the time, its up to us not to end up like them, especially now." he said firmly. Takashi nodded, standing up and wiping his eyes with his shirt sleeve.

"You are right Cody. Sorry for that bad comment man, I didn't mean it." he said.

"Its alright...just remember...we've all lost someone in all this shit...the most important thing right now is what we do. We have to move, and fast...before its too late."

"Rei is still passed out, carrying her isn't an option." Rin said.

"We'll wait for her to wake up then and the second she does, we move." he said.

"Good, its about time for a break...all that running earlier made me tired. God I wish I had some Dew." Nick said, sitting against the vending machines. Cody couldn't help but chuckle at that comment. He glanced outside, seeing the dark swirling clouds moving at them. That Typhoon would be making land in the next few days, if they didn't get out of Tokunosu by then, then it would be a bad thing. They'd be stuck in the middle of that storm without food and supplies, and most importantly, they'd be stuck with the dead all around them.