OK! Welcome to Chapter 3! From this point forward I will be uploading on Mondays for this story :D
Sit back and enjoy the carnage...
Chapter 3
The next morning all anyone could talk about was the incident from the day before.
"Oh my god I can't believe a student came into school just to attack a teacher!"
"I know right? It's madness!"
"Misa-chan is usually so calm and collected, I wonder what caused it?"
"I hope Yamaguchi-sensei was okay! She was trying to bite him!"
"I think she managed to bite his hand! I saw him heading to the faculty office this morning with his hand bandaged up"
Nanako sighed and rested her head on her desk. Homeroom was emptier than usual, though she had a feeling maybe some kids didn't come to school today because of what happened. She was honestly surprised her parents didn't demand she stayed home until the school addressed the situation… but here she was, at school, and wishing she wasn't.
Hikaru and Kaoru slipped in behind Haruhi and they took their usual seats, offering morning greetings to Nanako right before the bell rang for homeroom. Instead of the usual notices and roll call, the intercom buzzed to life and over the airwaves came Chairman Suohs voice.
"Good morning students. I would like to take a moment to address the very serious situation that took place during club hours yesterday. First year student Misa Aizawa attacked a teacher after entering school grounds after classes finished for the day. She has been apprehended and is undergoing a medical evaluation. I'd like to remind all students that the guidance councillors office is always open if you need to talk about any problems you might be having. Yamaguchi-sensei is fine and has chosen not to press any charges against the student in question and as such will be teaching his literature classes as normal." He paused a moment "Again, I'd like to remind all students that the guidance councillors office is always open if you need to talk about any problems you might be having so that we can avoid a repeat of yesterday"
With that, the announcement ended and the class was abuzz with chatter about how they were glad everything was okay and then the usual nonsense of 'I wish Misa-chan had said something, we could have helped her' it made Nanako feel sick to think that if someone was suffering that their friends wouldn't be able to tell until it was too late.
By fourth period things seemed to have died down and with this lesson being a study hall, she'd taken herself to the library to check out a Japanese to English dictionary because she'd left hers at home. Dictionary acquired, she decided maybe she could get some studying done in music room three while she half worked on the dessert list for that evening's club meeting. Since it was a free period technically, she took that leisurely walk up to the music room, passing by a couple of girls, one of whom was crying.
"I can't believe it… Mai-chan bit me" she sobbed as her friend soothed her.
"Come on, let's go to the nurse… then you can report Mai-chan while you are there Mika-chan…" the girl caught Nanako's eye and issued a warning "be careful if you see Mai-chan, she's acting really strange"
That interaction was all she could think about once she got to the music room and sat down to start studying. Before she knew it, the bell was ringing to signal lunch and she'd done nothing. Grumbling to herself, she stuffed her books back into her bag and scooped up the menu she'd been working on, deciding she could probably get it done in the dining hall while she was eating.
The dining hall was surprisingly busy today and that may or may not be because the incident involving Mai had gotten around. Nanako had heard that Mai was wandering around the rose maze after attacking another couple of girls and a guy or two when they'd been on their way to the dining hall.
"There you are Nanako" Haruhi smiled, sitting down next to her.
"Oh hey Haruhi" she smiled, looking up from the menu she was working on
"Still not finished?" Kyoya's voice drifted from behind her
"No Kyoya-senpai but it's almost done" she looked up as he sat opposite her.
"Good, I need to have copies made for each of the tables before club today" he had that charming 'don't mess with me' smile going on as he started to eat.
Soon enough the rest of the host club arrived to each lunch and talk turned to the rumours circling around about Mai. Nanako did her best to concentrate on the menu, trying to drown out Tamaki's over dramatic reactions and the sounds of the twins egging him on until finally something else caught her attention. A couple tables away, near the door; a girl got up out of her seat and approached a girl who had stumbled in, head down and twitching.
"Mai-chan? Are you okay?" she approached the twitching girl cautiously; the entire canteen fell into hushed tones.
Mai didn't move any closer, letting the girl come to her and when the other girl was in arms reach; Mai lifted her head and let out this unearthly screech before leaping on her and gauging at her face. The girls' screams filled the air as six more students came running through the door, eyes wide and crazy looking, and blood dripping down their chin. One of the student's was the girl who Nanako had seen earlier, the one who'd been bitten…
At first, it looked like some stunt the black magic club might pull and all the students remained seated, watching the display until another girl cried out.
"Oh my god! Hina-chan! She's… she's… DEAD!" she wailed as Mai began to feast upon the girl she'd just been attacking.
Chaos ensued. The six other students that had come running at Mai's call leapt on the nearest students while everyone else began to scream and scramble from their seats. Nanako stared wide eyed at the chaos erupting around her until she felt someone tugging her out of her seat.
"Nanako snap out of it, we need to get out of here" Kaoru looked down at her for a moment before dragging her along after the rest of the club.
"Where are we going?" she asked as she stumbled over her feet trying to keep up with how fast Kaoru was moving.
"Music room three, the doors are heavy and can be locked from the inside… come on!" he tugged her had harder.
As they ran, they passed by students who were fighting each other for the best place to go and others who had no idea what they were supposed to do. A scream left her lips as she saw Yamaguchi-sensei attacking a member of the kendo team, his teeth bared, drool and blood was splattering down onto his shirt as he tried to bite the student he was grappling with.
"Attention all students. Please return to your homerooms immediately. I repeat please return to your homerooms immedia- OHMYGOD NO! NOOOO! GET OFF ME! AAAHHHH-"
The intercom announcement cut off abruptly and Nanako clung to Kaoru's hand tighter.
"I guess homeroom is a bad idea!" He called back to her, trying to lighten the conversation.
Nanako couldn't respond, she couldn't process what she was witnessing… it was like out of a horror movie and for a moment she thought maybe she was just having a really bad dream. As they fought their way through a group of people, Kaoru lost his grip on her hand.
"Nanako!" he yelled over the noise as he got lost in the crowd
Nanako reached out to try and grab his hand but he was gone. She pushed and shoved her way along until someone elbowed her hard in the side of her head, sending her tumbling to the ground. Covering her head with her arms she began to sob as people stumbled around her, occasionally stepping on her until she felt someone yank her to her feet.
"Yamada, what are you doing alone? Where are the others?" the usually angry looking Ritsu Kasanoda was looking down at her, eyes filled with worry.
"W-we got separated… going... music room three…" she managed through her sobs.
"Alright… come on" his hand closed around her wrist as he forced his way through the crowd.
By some miracle they made it to music room three shortly behind the rest of the host club and a group of other students that had tagged along.
"Nanako!" Haruhi gasped, rushing forward to hug her friend "are you okay? What happened? One minute you were with Kaoru and the next you'd vanished!"
"I… I got separated… b-but Kasanoda… h-he helped me" she choked out.
Haruhi looked up at Ritsu with a grateful smile on her face "thank you Kasanoda… really…"
"Okay everyone inside!" Kyoya's voice called out over the group gathered by the doors.
Everyone filed in and the doors were closed and locked behind them. Haruhi helped Nanako over to one of the couches and sat her down; Ritsu sat next to Nanako, offering her a sip of his bottle of water.
"T-thank you…" she took a small sip before handing it back.
"N-no problem… really…" Ritsu suddenly realised he was sitting rather close to a girl and inched away slightly, trying to avoid a nosebleed.
"Nanako!" Kaoru rushed over and tugged Nanako to her feet, wrapping his arms around her "I am so sorry… I let go… I didn't mean to…" his voice cracked from the guilt he was feeling.
"It's okay Kaoru… you didn't mean to…" she sniffled, burying her head into his shoulder, her arms wrapped tightly around him "I didn't mean to let go either…"
"Hey… hey don't cry on me" Kaoru managed a shaky laugh "you're okay, that's all that matters…"
"Kaoru! Come help with this" Hikaru called, trying to count how many people they had versus the amount of cups they had.
"Coming!" he called over before looking back to Nanako "I'm going to go help Hikaru… you stay here okay?" he smiled before dashing off.
Nanako sighed and took a seat once more, feeling her head starting to throb thanks to the elbow she'd received to it. She had a feeling she was going to have a nice bruise in a few hours.
People found themselves places to sit as the host club rallied around to give aid to anyone that needed it. Several students moved to pull the curtains closed to in a way 'shut out what was happening outside'. Kyoya wandered over and crouched down in front of Nanako.
"Are you okay? Did you get hurt anywhere?" he asked, looking her over.
"Some jerk elbowed her in the head" Ritsu spoke up "knocked her to the ground and she got stepped on"
"Thank you Kasanoda..." Kyoya nodded "for helping Nanako"
Ritsu nodded and leaned back into the couch, leaving Kyoya to check Nanako over and once he was happy that she wasn't concussed or anything he gave her something for her headache and moved along to see to the next person.
Pushing up to stand, Nanako moved across the room to one of the large windows, peeking through the curtains to see what was going on outside. It was a mess… students being chased by other students and teachers, the sounds of their screams barely made it to the windows but Nanako could still hear them. Something inside her clicked and she realised what was going on…
"Zombies" she spoke out loud
"Zombies?" Ritsu had come over to try and persuade her to move away from the windows
"Yea… they are zombies" she turned to look at Ritsu "it's not quite like the movies but they are definitely zombies"
"Uh… I guess I can see that" Ritsu peered out between the curtains curiously.
"We need to check everyone for bites" Nanako could feel that weird panic building again "we can't have anyone in here that could be infected… we'd all be dead by sunrise… Kyoya-senpai!"
She moved off quickly, grabbing Kyoya's arm and tugging him out of earshot of the others in the room.
"Kyoya-senpai… those things… are zombies" she was trying to keep calm as she spoke to him "we need to check everyone for bites"
"I wondered how long it would take for you to catch up" he smirked lightly "I've already been doing that Nanako… I only have a few more people to check but so far so good, nobody seems to have been bitten"
"Okay…" she started to come back down again "I just… I don't want to die here… you understand, right?"
"I understand" he touched her cheek softly "but we are smart aren't we? We can adapt"
He had a point… Nanako and Kyoya were the top students in school, if anyone could adapt it would be those two… and besides, they had Ritsu and a couple other yakuza kids here and if anyone knew how to survive it was them.
Kyoya moved away to continue his checks, while Nanako went to sit back down again. Ritsu moved over to the group of yakuza kids to talk about defense, every so often shooting looks over at Nanako. He was worried about her… usually she had a calm and level head about things but today? Today had bought all her anxieties to the surface and he was worried she was going to have a meltdown.
Nanako moved off to a quieter corner of the room, trying to block out the sounds of screaming that echoed through the halls of the school as she tried to call her parents.
"The number you have called is currently unavailable, please hang up and try again later"
Grumbling, she brushed her hair back out of her face and tried calling the house phone, then the phone at her father's office and then the car phone but nothing… she couldn't get through to anyone. Exhaling slowly she moved back to her bag and pulled out a notebook and her pencil case, sitting herself down at one of the tables there and began making lists of things they would need, things they would have to do if they planned on staying here for the night… the bathrooms were just down the hall but it would be dangerous to keep opening the doors to let people in and out so they'd have to come up with something.
"Hey Nana-chan, whatcha doing?" Honey plopped down in the seat next to her, tilting his head curiously.
"Keeping myself busy Honey-senpai… I'm making lists of things we are going to need, places we probably will need to go and people we are going to want to try and contact…" she mumbled softly and she continued writing.
"I see…" Honey peeked at what she'd written so far "the bathroom situation is going to suck in a few hours"
"I know" she didn't look up from the pages as she wrote "I have been trying to come up with a way for people to be able to get to the bathrooms…"
"Well maybe we can blockade the hallway and create a new route" Honey suggested.
Nanako's head snapped up to look at Honey "you… that's a great idea!" a smile crossed her features "If we can block off the hallway we can have access to the bathrooms without any problems"
There was a thought niggling away at the back of her mind… half these students in this room won't survive the week… they are too spoiled and so used to getting their own way that it's going to get them killed. That's how it went in the movies! The airheads and spoiled brats were almost always the first to die and the whole idea made her shiver. She didn't want anyone else to die, if she could have it her way, this wouldn't even be happening right now!
All they could do right now however, was wait for things to quieten down before they would be able to make a move.