HOTD: Undead World

by Lord-of-this-World

Sakata Rentaro's life was as normal as anyone's. Went to school, spent time with his friends. Life was good, but he always felt that something was missing, something exciting. And now, while accompanied by his friends, in the middle of a Zombiepocalypse, as he tried his best to survive, he wanted more than anything to go back... or did he? (OC as MC) (OC x Saeko) (Canon Divergence)

4. Chapter 3

Here's Chapter 3

Hope you enjoy

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Chapter 3: The Escape

After reuniting, the whole group made their way inside the staff room to catch their breath. Shizuka and Saeko had taken seats, with the former laying hear head on a desk while the latter massaged her own shoulders. Saya had gone to a sink to wash-up after being splattered in blood, meanwhile Rei searched around and managed to find some water bottles. The men, Rentaro, Takashi and Hirano where improvising a barricade with all the stuff they could fine; after they were done, Hirano went to check on Saya while Rentaro and Takashi took a seat on the floor with their backs resting against some photocopiers.

Rentaro sat there in silence, staring at the ground, not thinking about anything in particular; while he wasn't that tired physically, everything that had happened during the past hour would had been mentally exhausting for anyone and the events had been constantly flashing through his mind. He saw the dead rising, figured thanks to his phone-talk with Rika that it was not only happening at the school, it couldn't be, obviously; after that, he encountered and fought several of them, saw his classmates dying and his teacher using one of them as bait then escaping; after that, found a friend of his being eaten alive, 'saved him', then ended his life out of mercy, and now, after finding the rest of his friends, just went he thought his heart could catch a break, he finds out his old friend Hisashi was gone as well.

"Feels like a bad dream" he thought. "But this is really happening huh?" a small part of him also kept telling himself that he should feel fortunate; not only because he was still part of the living, but also because the rest of his friends were also alive and well, all on the very same room he was in.

He noticed someone was approaching his way, and just by looking at the legs he knew it was Rei. She was carrying a water bottle on each hand.

"Takashi, Ren" she called as she offered the bottles to them.

Takashi swiftly took one while thanking her; Ren also followed right after but he couldn't help to look at her face, more specifically her eyes; he noticed how puffy her eyes were; she had been crying a lot, not so long ago, he could tell; she had just lost her boyfriend after all. Ren nonetheless took the bottle with a small smile on his face.

"Thanks" he told her, she returned the smile as she nodded, before turning around to walk away.

He opened to bottle and drank almost half of it instantly before letting out a satisfied sigh. "Man, feels good to be alive" and he planned to keep it that way, no matter what. Ren then noticed that Takashi was eyeing at him but quickly looked away. Ren elbowed him slightly at this.

"Sup?".

Takashi turned his head to look at him fully, Ren could see the exhaustion on his features. "N-No, it's just… I'm just glad you're ok man" he responded with a weak smile.

"Same here brother" Ren replied with a smile.

"I… was going to look for you, but you know, that announcement was made and everyone went crazy" Takashi explained. "I shouldn't have ran like that, sorry, I wasn't really thinking at the moment, just moved… had to get Rei".

"Hey hey, it's alright" Ren quickly responded as he placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. "There was bad communication, or more like none, from both sides, so don't blame yourself; it's no surprise considering what we had just seen. But it's irrelevant now; what matters is that all of us are fine now".

Right after the words left his mouth, Ren bit his lip, instantly realized he had chosen his words poorly, and the fact that Takashi features instantly tensed shortly after, like he had just remembered a bad memory confirmed this.

Ren instantly felt like apologizing but he stopped himself, wasn't really the best thing to do. Both lowered their gazes and sat there in silence for some more seconds.

"May I ask…" he began, in a low tone. "How did it happen?"

Takashi's features didn't change this time, but he still kept his gaze lowered and didn't respond immediately. He then took a small breath.

"After everything… 'exploded' and everyone went crazy, we went in the opposite direction trying to not get caught up in the chaos, Hisashi, Rei and I… we shortly came across one of them; we tried to fight it, but it got its hands on Rei… Hisashi went and tried to pull that thing off her… but got bitten while at it…"

Ren bit his lip some more after hearing this and tried as hard as he could to not think about what could have happened if he had joined Takashi from the beginning; maybe he would have been able to save Hisashi if he was with them.

"Can't change the past…" he thought, trying to calm himself.

"After that…" Takashi continued. "We went to the rooftop and reached the observatory, but it was already too late… he… Hisashi… I-".

"It's ok man" Ren once again placed a hand on the brown-haired's shoulder, trying to calm him down, which worked after a few seconds.

Takashi took a breath. "I had to protect Rei".

"You did what had to be done" he assured him as he placed a fist on his friend's chest.

Both sat there in silent once more after they were done. Ren then did a face, like he couldn't decide himself to do something, he finally exhaled through his nose.

"Morita's gone too" he announced, not even looking at Takashi's face. "I also know nothing about Imamura… he's probably…"

"I see…" was the only thing Takashi could respond to the news.

Morita and Imamura weren't as close to the two of them as Hisashi, but they were still their friends nonetheless and the four of them hanged around together a lot for the past few months.

Once again, there was nothing but silence between the two. Rentaro finally decided to speak once again.

"Let's not lose anybody else" he said and even managed to smile a bit, while offering his hand to Takashi. His friend looked at him for just a second before nodding and taking his hand, sharing a bro-shake.

"Absolutely" Takashi said, returning the smile.

After sharing that moment with his friend, Ren looked around the room, glancing at the multiple figures. He felt like checking on Rei, but while Takashi was one thing, Rei was another completely different. She seemed to be doing fine on the outside, as she walked around looking for more useful stuff; he should probably leave that for later. There was also Saya, who went through a very rough moment just a few minutes ago; his eyes landed on Hirano who already seemed to be checking on her as she had just emerged from the bathroom, with her glasses on, and they were having a quick exchange of words. He then simply walked aimlessly and ended up near Shizuka and Saeko, as he rested his lower back against a desk, same desk he had left his bokken on previously. He picked his bokken up and scanned it, looking for any imperfection; he was satisfied to not find any, aside from the dried blood it had all over. He really had been lucky to bring it just for today.

He felt a pair of eyes on him and noticed Saeko staring at him with interest; he raised an eyebrow at this as he returned the stare. "Something wrong?"

She just slightly smiled. "Nothing, I was just thinking that your answer was 'yes', after all".

He stared at her for a couple of seconds in confusion, then he realized what she meant.

"Ohhh, right" he muttered before reaching into his back-pocket and pulling a folded sheet of paper – the application form to join the kendo club – he then placed it on the desk behind him. "Well… guess a proper initiation will have to wait… at least we got to practice a bit, eh?" he finished sarcastically, while slightly swinging his bokken with his hand for a bit.

Saeko giggled at this. "Indeed".

"Found them!"

Ren turned his head around to look at Shizuka, who was now holding with one hand above her head a couple of keys; her car keys, Ren could tell.

"Your car keys?" Saeko asked.

"Yes, now we all can-" she was cut off by Ren.

"Your car is not big enough" he reminded her.

Her expression quickly changed from delighted to disappointed. "You're right… then what can we do?"

Rentaro brought his hand to his chin and after just a second an idea came to mind.

"We can use the school buses" he suggested, his eyes then landed on the windows, where Hirano was standing. "Hirano".

The boy quickly got the message and looked through the window, then turned around with his thumb up. The buses were there.

"The keys are on the wall" Saeko added, Ren confirmed this by also looking towards where the keys were hanging.

"That's the plan then" he commented, his eyes on both Saeko and Shizuka, who nodded.

"But then… where should we go?" Shizuka questioned.

Ren once again brought a hand to his chin. The only place that came to mind was his home, where they could find the guns Rika suggested, which would be the biggest help they could wish for in this type of situation; his place was also big, and in a quiet neighborhood… now that he remembers, he also had to make sure that his dog, Guts, is doing alright. He very much hoped that dogs and animals as a whole were 'immune' to them, because if they weren't, their chances of surviving got even tinier.

"To our families; make sure they're ok" Takashi said.

"Right" he thought. He really wasn't the most suited to answer such questions; every single person in his life that he cared about was here in this room with him at the moment, except for Rika and there was no way he knew where she could be at, although he knew she was currently as busy as ever with everything going on since she was a member of the SAT, and also one of the best sharpshooters in all of Japan. While he couldn't help to worry, he was confident that Rika was going to be fine, she was as tough as they come, plus, one of the top shots in the whole country. Aside from them, he really didn't have anyone else to worry about, so it was only fair they decided where to go. He would follow and help in everything he could of-course.

"We'll go to everyone's house and help in everything we can, then we should find a safe place to stay" Takashi suggested.

"A place comes to mind, at least for a momentary stay" Ren added; his home being that place.

"The Police and Defense-Force should be on the move; they'll try to take survivors to a shelter" Saya joined in the conversation.

"We better not get left behind then" Ren added.

They all then turned their heads around when they heard Rei audibly gasp.

"Something wrong Rei?" Takashi asked her, concerned.

"What's going on…" she muttered.

Ren noticed that she was currently watching the TV; he spotted a remote at the desk in front of him and went to grab it, but Saeko who was right next to it was quicker and turned the volume on. He then simply stood behind her, as he watched the TV, everyone else also doing the same.

The TV was currently on the regional news channel and there was currently an anchor addressing the situation, mentioning something about riots, while on the streets.

"Riots? What riots?!" he heard Takashi question, confused.

They all kept staring at the TV, with the anchor still going at it, until the announcement was roughly interrupted by the sound of gunshots; a chaotic scene followed, with the police seemingly fighting them off. Finishing off with gunshots in the background and panicked screams, the signal then was lost. The news finally returned to what seemed to be the main studio. Another anchor then announced that they were having technical difficulties and were going to do the rest of the broadcast from the studio.

"It is dangerous outside, please stay in your homes and lock your door-" the broadcast continued.

"That's it?!" Takashi commented, clearly frustrated. "Why they won't tell us more?!".

"Guess they don't want to cause panic" Rentaro answered.

"Even now?" Rei asked back.

"Especially now" Saya joined-in. "Fear causes confusion, confusion causes the collapse of order… we can't fight them without order".

"It's also not the smartest idea to go and announce everyone with a straight face that the living dead are the enemy and you could soon be one of them" Rentaro added; he then grabbed the controller that Saeko had left back in the desk and started searching for more news channels. They quickly found out that, the whole world was going through it: America, Russia, China, you name it, everything had gone to hell.

Ren already had expected something like this, but that still didn't stop him or any of his group to grow even more concerned for their safety.

"When I used the internet this morning, there was nothing happening" Hirano added, also looking as confused as ever by the whole thing.

"T-This can't be true right?!" Rei cried as she grabbed Takashi by his shoulder.

"It's happening, as much as we hate it. We all woke up this morning and came to school like we usually did, had some classes like every other normal day… then in just a few hours the world fell apart, in roughly one hour and a half for us".

"There must be a place, somewhere where everything is fine! Where everything is still the same! Everything will be normal again right?" Rei continued, still in disbelief.

"Doubt it" Saya commented.

"You don't have to be so blunt Saya" Ren told her.

"But it's true" she continued, returning the stare towards him. "Better stop with the false hopes as soon as we can".

"No reason to talk like that" Takashi added as well.

"Can't help it" Saya said, throwing her hands in the air. "The fact is that we have a pandemic on our hands".

"A pandemic?" Takashi questioned. "Like the influenza?".

"More like the Spanish Flu of 1918" Saya explained. "Over 600 hundred million were infected and 50 million died".

"Or the Black Death from the 14th Century?" Shizuka added.

"That one wiped out a third of Europe's population" Saya commented.

"H-How did they stop?" Takashi asked.

"There's a number of theories…" Shizuka replied. "Usually, it's said that it eventually ends when 'enough' people die and because everybody with the infection dies-off".

"But now everyone that dies, comes back as one of them" Ren followed. "I'd say it's even worse than a pandemic, much worse. In just a few hours it made the world collapse; as much as I hate to say it, this feels like the beginning of an apocalypse" he finished with a grimace, while crossing his arms and staring at the window, taking a good look at how many of them were outside. Everyone just stared at him in silence, not being able to disagree.

"So there's no way of stopping it?" Saeko joined in.

"By killing all of them?" Ren replied immediately with his eyebrow raised. "We don't even know their origin and might never find out… as far as we know, it might have come either from some madman's lab or it's some kind of black magic fuckery" he finished as he threw his hands in the air, confused.

They all stood there in silence for the next couple of seconds until Shizuka seemed to realize something.

"Oh, I know!" she announced. "Maybe we can wait till they rot away!"

"How long would that take?" Saeko asked.

"If it was during summer, it would take around 20 days…" Shizuka began explaining. "If it would be during winter, it would take a couple of months, but before that…-"

"We don't even know if they will rot anyway" Saya said, cutting her off. "Walking corpses don't fall under the realm of medical science that we know… realistically, it might take us a while to fully understand them".

"Or maybe we'll never…" Ren added.

Once again, all the group stood in place, not really knowing what to say or do, all silently trying their best to wrap their head around the situation as best as they could.

"We all understand something very important by now though" Ren chipped in. "Don't get bitten, no matter what".

"Aside from that, the most important thing right now is to find a safe spot after making sure our families are ok" Saeko continued. "We better work as an unit though; selfishness will lead us all to the grave, we must move as a team".

Everyone nodded at this.

"There's some things we must get clear though" Ren announced as he brought his index finger to his ear. "The fact that they only react to noise being one".

"Oh, you noticed too?" Saya added and Ren had to admit that with Saya's input, he felt more sure than ever about it. Also hearing someone else confirming it added more weight to his statement for the group.

"That means we move as quietly as possible" he continued, while bringing his index finger to now his lips. "No shouting, only talking when it's necessary, feet as light as ever".

Everyone nodded at this.

"We'll have to watch out about their strength as well" Saeko added. "They're slow and clumsy, but if they manage to grab you, it will be difficult to get away".

"I've noticed it" Rei commented. "How are they so strong?"

"We typically have access to 30% of our max strength; basically our brain stops us from hurting our bodies by not excelling that" he explained. "Them? They're dead, braindead, so they have no limits, no matter what tears or breaks inside them".

They all kept looking at him, taking in the information, although he could sense some weird looks.

"Were you always this smart?" Rei broke the ice, her eyebrow raised.

Ren simply raised an eyebrow at this too, before chuckling a bit.

"Not exactly… I just know interesting stuff, that's all" he replied.

"Very observant I'd say" Saeko added; Ren tried to not smirk due to her compliment.

"I'll give him that" Saya added. She just had to huh?

The men removed the barricade and all of them finally readied themselves, with each grabbing their weapons, bags or anything that could help and Shizuka also grabbing the bus keys.

"Also let's not engage in combat if we can" Saeko added as she gripped her bokken with both hands. "Fighting everything we come across will slow us down".

"So to the buses is then?" Hirano asked, looking for one final confirmation.

Takashi nodded. "Going through the front entrance is the fastest way to the parking lot".

Every nodded and approached the exit.

"I'll take the lead" Ren said, cracking his neck, knuckles and rolling his shoulders while also taking some slight jumps, preparing himself.

"Right beside you" Saeko said as she stood right next to him.

"I'll have your back" Takashi told him, while readying himself with his bat.

"I'm ready too" Rei announces with her spear in hands. "Will take care of the rear".

"Hirano, I trust you can cover all of us buddy" he told him while looking back.

"Roger" Hirano said with a grin while gripping his modified nail-gun.

He then looked back at the Saya and Shizuka who also nodded.

"One last thing" he announced. "I'll repeat it as many times as possible, but if one of us is bitten, it's game over… if we also find someone outside that has been bitten, we will not be able to help… best thing we can do is… 'stop' them, before it's too late, and that also applies to us" he finished as he looked back, staring at everyone's face; he could tell everyone immediately knew what he meant despite not using the right term.

Ren then got his free hand on the door, but while at it, he heard them, some were standing really close to the door. Rentaro made a quick reminder to everyone by bringing his index finger once again to his lips before pointing at the door with his thumb, announcing they were right there. Before he opened the door, he glanced at Hirano and signaled him to be ready; Hirano nodded and started aiming towards the door. Ren finally opened the door and moved out of the way immediately, right after that, Hirano shot his gun two times. Ren finally exited through the door towards the halls, followed by Saeko and Takashi; they spotted three zombies nearby at the front, and without having to say anything, the three took the zombies out, one each. With a clear path for now, Ren signaled the group to move.

"Stick close" he whispered, but loud enough for the entire group to hear.

They moved effectively and as quietly as they could through the halls, with Ren, Saeko and Takashi smacking out of the way any potential threat and Hirano taking an occasional shot; Rei also made sure to push out of the way anything that was too close with her spear, while Saya and Shizuka followed closely behind.

As they moved, they came near some stairs and as soon as they did they heard some screams, coming from below. Ren, Takashi and Saeko quickly made their way towards a railing, taking a look below them, where they noticed what was happening. The three spotted a group of 4 students surrounded by a small group of zombies, and it was not looking very good for the students.

Before none of them said anything, Hirano had already taken a shot, taking care of the one that was the closest to the group. Ren then jumped over the railing, followed by Saeko and landed near the group, taking out one zombie each in the process; Takashi and Rei also followed by running down the stairs, each one also taking a zombie out.

The group of 4, consisting of two females and two males, looked as relieved as ever when everything was over.

"Th-Thanks-" one of the girls of blue-haired began but was immediately cut off by Rentaro who once again brought his index to his lip.

"Don't speak so loudly" Saeko whispered; the small group nodded. "Has any of you been bitten?"

"Wha- no, no; no bites" the same blue-haired girl responded, shaking her hands.

"They look fine" Rei added with a smile after checking them up.

"Good" Ren muttered.

"We're escaping" Takashi announced to them. "Wanna come along?"

The group of 4 looked at each other before nodding.

"Ye-Yeah" the blue-haired responded.

With 4 more members, increasing the group of 7 to 11, they continued moving as silently and as swiftly as the could until they finally reached the main entrance from the school, their exit in this case. There was a problem though or more like multiple, since the exit was riddled with zombies. They watched in silence from the railing of some stairs, that were right in front of the main entrance hall.

"We are not getting pass there anytime soon" Takashi commented.

"Why are we hiding?" Saya chipped-in. "They can't see, only hear".

"Care to prove it official then?" Takashi replied immediately, catching Saya by surprise, who clearly disagreed with the idea.

"They do only react to noise and they definitely can't see. We are not doing the best job at hiding you know?" Ren whispered. "It's just that with such a large group it will be impossible to move quietly enough. And if we engage in combat, we'll be surrounded in just a moment".

"What do we do then?" Saeko asked.

"We can't just use someone as a test subject or bait" Ren commented while massaging his temples.

"We can".

The group turned around confused, to look at Takashi, who stood there in silence looking at them. He then brought his fist to his forehead, like he was thinking about something really hard.

"I'll go" he announced.

The whole group was caught off-guard by this. Everyone looked at him bewildered, Rei especially.

"I believe I should go instead" Saeko suggested, stepping in.

"You should save as much stamina as you can Busujima-senpai".

"Why Takashi?" Rei questioned him as he grabbed him by the shoulder. "You don't have to".

"Who knows?" he said with a melancholic smile.

"No way, fuck that" Ren disagreed while stepping on Takashi's way; memories of what happened with Shido and his classmate flashing through his mind. He was not using anyone as bait.

"Then what?" Takashi looked at him, frustration in his features now.

"If only we could distract them" Ren thought. His mind going off and trying to come up with a plan; they could throw an object or something, but aside from their weapons and bags full of stuff that could help, they had nothing on. His hand then went to his pocket, looking for his cellphone, but he stopped himself; he couldn't just throw his cellphone away. His eyes, searching, finally landed on a slipper that was not that far away from the stairs, that clearly belonged to a student before.

Ren looked at Takashi before pointing at the slipper; Takashi's eyes searched in confusion until they also landed on the slipper, he then looked back at Ren, who with his hand signaled and mimicked what he was aiming for. One would grab the slipper and throw it far away, as a distraction; Takashi nodded.

"I'll go get it" Ren whispered.

"I'll be right behind you" Takashi added. "Will not accept a no" he added before Ren could protest.

Ren reluctantly nodded after a few seconds.

"Wai-" Rei began, but was cut-off by Saeko, who placed a hand on her shoulder.

"It's their decision, we have to respect it" the purple-haired commented.

Rei still seemed like she didn't like the idea not one bit, but remained silent in the end.

"I'll cover you guys" Hirano joined in while gripping his gun, taking a spot near the railing.

"We'll be ready if anything happens" Saeko added, with Rei nodding by her side, both reading their weapons.

Rentaro and Takashi nodded, before looking at each other and nodding again. Rentaro began making his way down the stairs, with Takashi following right behind, with a hand on Ren's shoulder. After they finally reached the end of the stairs, Ren crouched, trying to ignore the amount of zombies around him as much as he could, then extended his bokken towards the slipper, looking to retrieve it from the distance. He stretched as much as he could manage from the spot he was at, while using his free hand to balance himself forward by placing it on the floor. He almost groaned a bit when felt Takashi clutching his shoulder even harder; his friend was as nervous as ever, but so was he, no way could he deny it. He finally managed to get the slipper, by lifting it by the collar lining with his bokken. He then spotted a zombie approaching them; both him and Takashi held their breath as the zombie walked dangerously close to them. While holding his breath, Ren retrieved his bokken as quickly as he could but carefully enough to not drop the slipper. He finally managed to grab it with his free hand and then proceeded to slightly lift it over his head; Takashi quickly got the message and took the shoe from his hand and just a second later, while holding his breath, threw it as far as he could against some lockers. Ren tensed and closed his eyes instinctively once he heard the loud noise it created and held his breath as he heard the zombies moan and grunt, reacting to the sound. He finally opened his eyes and was extremely relieved to see them walk towards the direction the noise came from. He stood up and walked as quietly as he could towards the double front door, followed by Takashi. Each grabbed a handle and nodded at each other before slowly opening them, then both of them signaled the rest of the group to move.

Everyone headed towards the now opened doors, exiting one by one. As they made their way outside, Ren thought that he could finally sigh relieved, with that huge obstacle now out of the way. But then spotted one of the males he had saved, the last one in the group, making his way down the stairs, while carrying a big ass metal pole, the worst part being that he carried it very sloppily, too close to the railing.

"That fucking idiot-" Ren muttered under his breath and tried with one hand to signal him to be more careful… but it was too late. The guy hit the railing with the pole, creating and extremely high-pitched metallic sound that echoed through the halls.

Countless moans and grunts in the background and from some distance could be heard, reacting to the sound.

"Run!" Takashi shouted, turning towards the group.

Ren dumbfounded, stared at the guy carrying the pole, who simply stood in place not knowing how to react, then just a brief moment later was jumped by a group of zombies and he then began screaming in pain. Rentaro groaned at this and closed the doors, hopefully to buy the group some time.

"Why did you have to shout?!" Saya questioned Takashi, who looked taken-aback. He had reacted immediately by pure instinct after all.

"Didn't you hear that?!" Rei chipped in. "That sound echoed all around!"

"Just fucking run!" Ren himself shouted this time, while sprinting forward, knocking two zombies out of the way.

And they did just that.

The group sprinted as fast as they could towards the parking lot where the buses were at; with Ren, Saeko, Takashi, Rei and Hirano cleaning the path as much as they could, while protecting the rest.

One of the girls they had saved was unfortunately caught by the zombies; the group couldn't do anything about it and continued their way, with her screams fading in the background.

They finally reached the bus, after a full minute of sprinting, the combatants of the group started dealing with the zombies that were around them while the rest caught up.

Ren then noticed the remaining male from the group they saved hitting a zombie in the head with the bat he had been carrying, while surrounded by multiple others.

"What the hell?!" Ren questioned. "Why did he stay behind?!"

It was already too late, as the zombies swarmed him.

"Takuzo!" the blue-haired girl and the only remaining member of the group they saved shouted, stopped dead in her tracks.

Saya grabbed her by the wrist. "Let's go! If you get bitten it's over!"

The girl merely turned her around to face Saya with tears in her eyes and before she shook her head, releasing herself from Saya's grip and running towards the still screaming male, Takuzo his name, apparently.

"There goes our efforts to save them to the trash" Ren thought; not a single one of them had survived in the end.

"Wha-! Why?!" Saya questioned before continuing her way to the bus. "I don't understand!"

"I do" Shizuka commented while running beside Saya. "With the world in this state, if I knew I was going to die anyway, I'd like to do it next to the person I love!"

"Shizuka, the keys, quick!" Rentaro shouted as he hit another zombie in the head. They were right in front of the bus now. Shizuka ran towards him, quickly got the keys out and finally opened the bus door.

"Inside now!" Ren announced.

"That's ridiculous!" Saya continued, still confused by the whole thing. "What is she talking about!? Is she really a nurse?!"

"Please calm down Takagi-san!" Hirano shouted, now near her, while shooting his nail-gun, taking down some zombies that were approaching them

"Wha-?! Who do you think you're you fat-ass?! Don't interrupt me when I talk!" she growled at him.

"If you wanna talk I'll stay with you as long as you want, but please calm down Takagi-san!" Hirano said while facing her with a smile. That actually caught Saya off-guard, and she was even… blushing?

"You two seem close, I'm jealous" Saeko said with a playful smirk after crushing another zombie's skull. "But leave the flirting for later".

"Wha-What flirting-!"

"The couple over there, asses on the bus now!" Ren cut Saya off before she could complain even more. Saya's face turned even redder, but fortunately, she got the memo and finally entered the bus, alongside Hirano.

They were surrounded by a lot, Rentaro and Saeko did their best at holding them back with Takashi's support occasionally, who was also making sure everyone was fine. Shortly after, Hirano opened one of the windows. "I'll cover you guys!" he shouted while aiming and shooting down more zombies.

"Everyone's in!" Takashi announced. "Let's go!".

Ren smacked another zombie, sending it flying out of the way, while Saeko did the same. They both were being incredibly effective at holding the zombies back and were working great together as a duo, but they could only last so long. He then spotted a zombie approaching Saeko from the side and he darted towards it and quickly crushed its skull with his bokken, tossing it to the side. She turned around to look at him, Ren then pointed the entrance to her.

"Ladies first?"

Saeko smiled and even giggled at this, while checking her surroundings, they were still surrounded, but the zombies were at a comfortable enough distance from them, so they could now enter the bus.

"Glad to see chivalry isn't dead" she said with a smile, before turning around to head towards the bus.

"Not on my watch!" he shouted, a smirk on his face, while he kicked a female zombie in the gut, away from him; oh the irony.

"Ren!" he heard Takashi shout.

He smacked one last zombie in the head before turning around to dart towards the bus entrance, where Takashi was waiting for him with his hand extended, which he took before being pulled in inside the bus with the help from his friend.

"All set!" Takashi announced after helping him inside.

He scanned the inside of the bus one last time, making sure everyone was inside, before turning and walking towards Shizuka, currently in the driver's seat.

"We're good to go" he told her.

Just as Takashi was about to close the door, he and the rest of the group then heard some shouting in the distance.

"Wait!"

Ren looked through the window and spotted a group of seven survivors sprinting their way towards the bus. Ren walked closer to the glass to take a look at them better. He made a grimace, his features turning into pure disgust as soon as he spotted the group. He would be glad to find and save more survivors, but the fact that said group of survivors was being led by Shido Koichi out of all people was the worst news possible. The fact that Tsunoda and Yuuki Miku were also among the survivors was the cherry on top, which was honestly not surprising considering they were all part of the school's track team, with Shido being the coach.

"Who's that?" Takashi asked while eyeing at the approaching group.

"Shido Koichi, 3-A's counselor" Saeko responded while also staring at the sprinting group.

Rentaro just eyed at them in silence, his eyes fixated on Shido. He could feel his blood starting to boil by the second.

"We can leave now!" Shizuka shouted.

"There's survivors, we'll have to wait a minute!" Takashi announced

"They are crowding in front of the bus!" she warned.

"We'll just drive through them!" Takashi replied.

"You wanna flip the bus?!" Saya added from her seat.

Takashi simply groaned while making a face, not changing his initial plan to wait for them; Rei then grabbed him by the shoulder.

"No!" she cried. "We don't have to save him!"

"Rei?!"

"We should leave, now!"

Takashi just stared at Rei in disbelief. "What are you saying?!"

"We must not let him in!" she insisted.

Ren just silently watched as the group approached, then entered one after the other inside the bus. His eyes were still fixated on Shido though, who was the last one remaining outside; he currently had his leg being grabbed by a student who apparently had tripped, and seemed like he couldn't get up; what Ren saw next was both horrible, while also in a twisted way, enlightening. He had seen enough already inside the school… but this? It only reassured him about what had to be done.

Shido had stomped the student square in the face, making him let go of his leg, and the asshole had the audacity to walk towards the bus calmly, with a smug expression, while the zombies around him ignored him and gathered around the student he had just kicked, since he was now loudly screaming in pain.

Nobody else had noticed this, except Ren.

"Fuck this guy".

While gritting his teeth, he finally made up his mind, not caring about what the rest could think or the possible consequences. He was NOT letting that snake in, not a chance. Ren darted towards the door as fast as he could, his objective as clear as ever.

"MOVE!" he shouted as he pushed Takashi and practically Rei as well out of the way, since she was still clinging on him.

Ren got to the door and without hesitating, closed it, earning gasps and shocked expressions from everyone inside.

"Shizuka now!" he shouted.

"Wait! Shido-sensei-!" he heard a female voice say from one of the students they had just let in, but ignored it.

"NOW!"

And with that, Shizuka immediately started driving away. Ren, ignoring the protests from the students and even from Takashi himself, glanced one last time through the doors window at Shido.

The face he saw on the man's face had no price; he looked as dumbfounded as ever, his face going from smug to pure shock in just a second. Ren was more than just a little bit sure that before he went to sleep, in the near future, that face of his was going to flash through his mind, and he was going to have the sweetest dreams ever. He saw as the man now tried to run after the bus with his hand extended while probably screaming for them to wait, before he disappeared out of Ren's sight.

"Wait no!"

"Shido-sensei!"

"Stop the bus!"

Ren watched as the group of six students that Shido had led darted towards the back of the bus, to look through the window, at Shido, and his eventual fate.

"Stop the bus!"

"We must go back!"

"What the hell?!"

"He's still- No! NO!"

"Oh my-!"

"They are over him!"

"He's being attacked!"

"Shido-sensei!"

"Sensei!"

"Stop the fucking bus!"

Rentaro silently watched them; and while he was more than sure that there was no way Shido was surviving after being left behind, it was still calming and oddly satisfying to hear the students confirm that he was done for with their screams.

He then noticed the glances from his group, everyone staring at him in slight surprise or just pure disbelief, except for Rei, who was looking at him like he was a hero. Although there was surprise and even shock, he did notice that the only one that seemed to be actually disapproving and taken aback by his actions was Takashi.

"They're not humans!"

He and his group then turned around to look at the front after hearing Shizuka's shouting, who really hadn't paid attention to what had just happened at all, her objective solely being driving away from there.

"They're not humans anymore!"

The group then witnessed as she ran over several of them before driving straight through the iron gates, essentially escaping the school. They had grabbed and held themselves from wherever they could, thanks to the multiple impacts and rough driving, but as the bus finally stabilized, they all fixed themselves, relief on their features.

They had finally escaped from the school… and it honestly had felt like they were trapped in there for days.

They also had escaped from Shido. With him out of the picture officially, Ren somehow felt like he had removed a huge weight from his shoulder, especially after he couldn't deal with him inside the school. His very own soul was telling him he had done the right thing.

And now that they had escaped… where were they going?

Was there really a place where they could escape to? Or had they just left a small layer of a beehive to enter a bigger one? Nonetheless, inside the bus, they could catch a break, for now.

Or at least that's what he thought.

Ren sighed as the back group slowly turned around to face him, their faces ranging from fear to anger.

"Just great".

He had escaped from the undead… and now he had to deal with the living. But this was only a small price to pay compared to getting rid of the pain that could have been Shido Koichi, he was sure of that.

He just hoped for the situation to not escalate out of control.

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CHAPTER THREE LADIES AND GENTS!

AND YES, BYE BYE SHIDO!

After much thought about it, I just went and decided to get rid of the snake right at the beginning. Hope you guys like and agree with my decision.

Overall I hope you enjoyed the chapter and are enjoying the story as a whole!

See you on the next one!

Have a good one!