Airi Nakamura thought today was just going to be like any other day. A dull morning while she stayed bed-ridden for the rest of the day, waiting for the medicine that she drank to take effect, get better the next day and go back to her high school. Unfortunately for her, fate had other plans with her and now she is here, taking the normal route that she takes to get to school while fighting off the walking dead.

Well, the phrase 'fighting off' would be rather presumptuous as Airi fell on the ground, hands stretched outwards, screaming her head off as the undead that was on top of her tried to take a bite of her nape. For a walking corpse, Airi was rather surprised at its strength. By all means, she was no slack when it comes to strength, being a part of her school's baseball team ensured that her arm strength would be enough to swing a bat hard enough and be able to rebound from a swing.

Suddenly, the cracking sound of a pistol echoed across the street. The pavement was painted with blood and brain matter and the walking corpse that was on top of her fell limp. In a panic, she quickly shoved the body to the side, and she hastily sat up only to see more zombies walking towards their direction from down the street that they have to take to reach the school. Airi watched as Lyra fired shots at the zombies, every time Lyra pulled the trigger, one zombie would have a new hole in its head and would just go limp. Suddenly, Airi head a sound that made her heart drop.

Click, click, click

"Tsk… not now." Lyra muttered as she holstered her empty pistol.

Airi watched closely as Lyra interacted with that machine that was wrapped around her right wrist. She didn't know what it looked like, perhaps an unusual kind of watch. Suddenly, her eyes widened when green pixels started shimmering on Lyra's waist, the green pixels slowly took the form of a sword. She continued to be mesmerized by her as she pulled out the sword. Now that Lyra was brandishing the weapon, she finally noticed the other details that she missed.

Attached on the handle of the blade was a small fuel tank, a small and thin pipe with three small nozzles pointed at the blade. Lyra turned the knob on the small fuel tank.

ssssfwooosh!

The blade was on fire

"Stay here, I'll take care of this quickly." Lyra said.

Without leaving a gap for Airi to give a response, Lyra bolted towards the undead with her fire sword. Only now did Airi notice how deadly Lyra is, she danced around the walking dead with ease, twisting and turning around them, every time a window presented itself, she took it, immediately decapitating a zombie before jumping back to avoid another from grabbing her. It took a few seconds, but it seems like there are no more zombies that could be seen.

Lyra approached the Airi, still shocked at her. Reaching out for a hand, Lyra spoke. "Come, we don't have much time. Those things are starting to make their way from the city. If we stay here any longer, this place will be swarming with them."

"Right." Airi said shakily.

"How much further from your school?" Lyra asked.

"Not long… just turn from that corner and it's a straight shot from there." She responded.

Lyra nodded and both of them continued their walk across the suburbs. Afternoon had already, the sun had changed into an orange hue and eventually, they reached the corner that Airi mentioned. Around the corner, was a highway which led to her school. While walking down the highway, both of them noticed that there are zombies on the other side of the road. Airi also noticed that some of them were wearing her high school's uniform. A horrified look showed itself on her face.

"What's wrong?" Lyra said, noticing her horror.

Airi shakily pointed to one of the zombies, a male student. "That's the uniform of my school."

It took a moment for Lyra to connect the dots. "Shit… well, I guess your school is not an option. Do you any other pla-"

The sound of soft humming caught both of their attention, to their surprise, something came from out from the road leading to the school.

"Is that a bus?" Lyra asked no one.

True to her words, it was indeed a bus with a driver that Airi recognized. Shizuka Marikawa, her high school's local nurse. Overjoyed, she waved her hands up in a smile.

"Ms. Marikawa! Over here." Airi yelled

Lyra snapped her head over to her for a moment before realising that Airi knew someone in that bus that was heading over to them. To help her out, Lyra also waved her arms but didn't say anything. As the bus got closer, both of them suddenly head groaning from where they came from. Turning their heads to the sound of the groaning, a pack of zombies were shambling towards them. Lyra clicked her tongue in annoyance, she turned over to Airi.

"Airi, keep trying to get that bus's attention. Also, I'd like to borrow your bat for now."

"Sure!"

Quickly grabbing the handle, Lyra charged at the pack of dead, swinging the bat while Airi grabbed Marikawa's attention. The grotesque sound of wood meeting bone could be heard but Airi tried her best to ignore it.

"Batter up!" Lyra said as she took another upward swing which catapulted a zombie towards the pack, knocking at least three down and tripping those who were behind the knocked down zombies.

While it was slowly getting harder for Lyra to hold their position, Airi managed to grab Marikawa's attention. The sound of tires screeching could be heard, and the bus stopped just a few meters away from them. The door to the bus opened and out came a rather popular student in her school, Saeko Busujima, the captain of her school's Kendo club.

"Lyra!" Airi yelled.

"Right behind you!" Lyra said as she swung Airi's bat downwards, caving the skull of another zombie before lifting it back up, strands of blood clung on to the bloodied sports tool. Lyra followed behind.

Saeko stepped backwards to allow both of them to enter the bus. Just as the door was about to close, a zombie managed to grab Lyra's arm and started to pull. Lyra looked behind her with an angry look.

"Mother-" she hit the zombie's nose with the butt of the bat. "-fucker!"

The strike made the zombie let go, allowing for the door to fully close. "Drive!" Lyra yelled.

Not a moment too soon, Marikawa stepped on the pedal and sped past the walking dead.

Airi and Lyra walked to the back of the bus and sat there. Airi took a moment to catch her breath while Lyra interacted with her Pip-boy.

"That was close. Are you alright?" Airi asked.

"I am okay, how about you?" Lyra said as she handed the bloodied bat back to Airi.

Airi gingerly took her bat and placed in on the unoccupied seats to the left of her. "Not bitten." She joked.

"Good to know."

A couple of minutes passed already since then, and the entire ride has been quiet since then. Lyra and Airi sitting at the very back of the bus. Lyra tinkered with that watch looking thing on her wrist while Airi looked marginally uncomfortable at a particular person on the bus.

"Might you be the leader, Busujima?" Koichi Shido asked.

The captain of the kendo club looked at him. "We are without a leader; our survival has merely been the results of our teamwork."

Shido leaned forward, "That simply must not do, it is clear now that you guys need a leader."

A soft scoff escaped Busujima's nose. "And I assume you'd like to delegate yourself to that role?"

"Well, I am a teacher after all." Shido said nonchalantly.

Busujima said nothing else after that and kept quiet the rest of the ride. Turning his attention to the two newcomers of the bus, Shido walked towards both of them. One he recognized and the other he didn't.

"Airi Nakamura, I am so happy to see that are alright." Shido said while hugging her without any warning. "I feared that you had also joined those things, but I am glad that you are not."

Airi nervously chuckled. "I probably would have died if not for her." She said as she motioned to Lyra.

Shido glanced over to Lyra. A rather young looking girl, maybe around their age. He smiled internally knowing that there is another person that could potentially worship him.

"Of course, I would like to thank you, miss…?" Shido paused.

"Lyra, Lyra Bodewig."

"…Miss Lyra Bodewig."

"You have no idea how gratified I am to know that Miss Nakamura is safe, I am sure that you are happy as well, correct?"

"Uh-huh." Lyra said, her attention more fixed on her Pip-boy than him which ticked him off.

"I am sure that you have also been through alo-"

"Listen, buddy, is there something you want from me?" Lyra asked.

Shido was caught off guard by her sudden directness, but he quickly regained is composure and answered back with his usual flair. He started it with a short chuckle. "I do believe that I have you at a disadvantage. I know who you are, and you don't know who I am. I am Koichi Shi-"

"I don't care who you are." Lyra said firmly. "But with how much of my ass you're kissing just to get my attention, I do not think I want to know who you are."

An awkward silence stretched across the bus. All heads were looking towards Lyra and Airi now. One student stood up. A male student with a blond dyed hair.

"You'd better watch your mouth about him! He saved us!"

Another joined in. "I agree! If not for Mr. Shido, all of us would have already died."

Lyra looked at both students with a look of boredom. She leaned to the side so that she could the see the other students who decided to sit at the front. "Miss Busujima, I hope I said that correctly."

When Saeko Busujima heard her name, she turned to meet Lyra. "Do these guys speak for you?" Saeko shook her head. "Yeah, I thoughts so too."

Lyra looked back at the Shido. "What are you talking about?" Asked the teacher.

"It's glaringly obvious that the group in front of the bus doesn't affiliate themselves with you. Aside from the bloodied weapons that they have on their hands, most of them just looks really uncomfortable around you, specifically, buddy." Lyra said, still adamant on not calling Shido his name.

Seems like Lyra's words finally got to the student with the dyed blond hair. He gently pushed Shido aside and with clenched fists he walked closer to a panicking Airi and an unamused Lyra. "I'm not just going to stand here while you insult Mr. Shi-"

The cold barrel of The Deliverer is planted on the forehead of the student, suddenly making the student freeze. "What's wrong, chum? You look like you have something to say."

Lyra pushed him back with her gun, the student exhaled a breath that he didn't notice that he was holding. "Let's keep this nice and simple, yeah?" Lyra continued to sway the gun in front of them. "From what I can see, there are three groups of people in this bus. Miss Busujima's, you guys and me and Airi. Each of us have our own agendas, that being said, let's all try to be nice during this ride."

Silence covered the whole bus, Shido decided to sit down and a scowl on his face. Meanwhile, Takashi's group is a little more aware of Lyra. The student who had a near death experience sat down, clutching his chest as he tried to calm down.

Airi looked at Lyra. "You weren't…"

The wastelander looked at Airi. "Oh, I would. Had he not stopped there, I would've just pulled the trigger. If there is one thing that you need to understand, Airi, is that there are times when you need to defend yourself. Defending yourself might also involve taking a life."

"But isn't that too much?"

Lyra didn't answer and decided to stay quiet. She continued to fiddle with her Pip-boy while the bus drove into the city.

WHAT IS THIS? A NEW CHAPTER?! That being said, I know I said that I have exams but that didn't stop me before and it won't stop me now. Tell me what you think about this chapter, see if there is anything wrong and any kind of feedback would be very well appreciated.

With all that said, I bid you all adieu

Peace~