Disclaimer: I do not own Zombie Land Saga, or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.
Saga Stories: A tale of Zombie Land Saga
Chapter thirteen: Siege of monsters
Sakura Minamoto, after waking up the day after she and her fellow zombie actress girls did some commercial for a popular brand of curry, was sitting on a patio located on one of the upper floors of the abandoned mansion in Saga. It was fairly early in the morning, a little past six at most. Sakura was sitting on a comfortable wicker bench that had a long cushion on it for people to sit on. On a small outdoor table that was level with the arms of the wicker bench was a mug of coffee that Sakura had brought out with her.
The morning was cool yet comfortable, and Sakura, dressed in a notably baggy pink shirt with some very mild flower-patterns on the one side, a strong pink skirt that ended just an inch below her knees, a pair of white baggy socks and pastel pink slip-on shoes, and of course her customary ribbons on the side of her head in her hair, felt very much comfortable with her surroundings, with how her morning was shaping up to be. The long-haired zombie girl couldn't remember for the life (or lack thereof) of her ever having a morning that felt this good to her.
…In her current life as a zombie, or her previous life when she was still a living human.
Indeed, ever since she had first awoken as a zombie, Sakura couldn't remember any of her past life as a human. She got vague feelings that her human past wasn't exactly worth remembering, but even so she had taken to writing down all about all of her experiences ever since she first woke up as one of the undead. A short while ago, Sakura was in an accident where she, due to the trauma of the accident, jogged her human memories at the expense of forgetting her zombie ones. But thanks to the efforts of her fellow zombie actress Saki, Sakura had regained all of her zombie memories. Sakura also still had all of her human ones as well, so now she had-
"There you are, Egghead," the familiar and amused-sounding voice of Saki called out, making Sakura turn her head to see the delinquent zombie girl walking up to her. Both Saki and Sakura were in their zombie forms, neither of them using monster glamour to appear human. As they and all of the other zombie girls were at the mansion right now, this was no issue, so the girls were able to go about as they pleased. Letting out a snicker, Saki said, "I was wondering where you had gotten off to."
"I just wanted to enjoy a morning mug of coffee outside is all," Sakura replied as she gestured around their surroundings, "It's rather lovely outside right now. It just feels…cozy right now, you know?"
Saki smirked a bit, amused by the long-haired zombie girl's explanation. "Yeah, I get you," Saki remarked, "And it does feel like a pretty good time to be outside right now." Giving Sakura a curious look over, the delinquent zombie girl said, "Hey Egghead, you're still feeling okay after you got all of your memories back, right?" Sakura nodded a few times in the affirmative, getting a bit of a smile out of Saki.
Nodding once, Saki said, "Good, that's good." Saki crossed her arms over her chest as she looked at Sakura. Arching an eyebrow, Saki said, "Say Egghead, since you fully recovered and have all of your memories, what do you say we go out to celebrate it by getting something to eat? It'll be my treat."
"You…want to take all ten of us out to-" Sakura began in a curious tone, but was cut off when Saki held a hand up to cut her off.
Lowering her hand that she raised, the delinquent zombie girl said, "Not all ten of us zombies, Egghead." Gesturing between herself and long haired zombie girl, Saki clarified, "Just the two of us. You and me."
Sakura was a bit surprised that Saki was asking for some one on one time with her. "You…you want to take just me over to Drive-In Tori?" Sakura asked.
"Drive-In Tori, Egghead?" Saki replied, a curious look on her face.
"Well you said that you were treating," Sakura explained, "So I'm assuming that we're going to Drive-In Tori, since you sing its praise so much."
Saki chuckled a bit in understanding amusement. "…Yeah, it's a ball'in place, I'll always defend that," the delinquent zombie girl remarked. Giving Sakura an amused-looking smirk, Saki went on as she gestured to Sakura, "But this little outing is to celebrate your recovery. So if there's some other place that you want to head out to, just say the word and I'll hotwi-err-borrow the van from Shades so we can drive over and have a little breakfast or whatever together."
Sakura was surprised that Saki was giving her free reign to pick where the two of them would go to for a little bit of a breakfast together. After thinking about it for a bit, Sakura said, "Well, there is this one cake café that I've seen a few times. I'm kind of fond of sweets, and it's been ages since I've had some cake. The place I'm talking about also serves a selection of teas that go very well with all of their sweets, and I want to try their sweet tea."
Saki scowled a little bit at the mention of sweets; sure, Sakura liked sweets, but the delinquent zombie girl would readily confess to the fact that she didn't have the biggest sweet tooth in the world. Still, Saki was doing this for Sakura; it was Sakura's big thing, so if she wanted some nice little muffins or whatever the hell, then Saki would put up with it for her sake. "Alright, it's to the sweets place for us," Saki said, "Just give me a bit of time to get the okay from Shades to use the van so we have a ride while we're out."
The long haired zombie girl had reason to suspect that Saki wasn't exactly going to seek actual permission from Kotaro to borrow the van, or do something to borrow the van that was otherwise okay by conventional standards. Still, Sakura had to admit that this was part of the charm that made Saki just as diverse of a person as the other zombie girls. Sakura finished her coffee before she took the mug back inside, not wanting to leave it lying about while she and Saki would be out for the day.
Junko Konno and Ai Mizuno also had similar thoughts to what Saki was having, that being getting something together to celebrate Sakura's recovery. The two zombie idol girls, Showa and Heisei alike, decided to go it on foot since Junko was still a bit nervous when it came to riding in a vehicle, and even if she wasn't Kotaro couldn't drive them since when he went to the garage a few minutes previous he saw that the van was missing.
"Hey Junko," Ai began, getting her Showa counterpart to turn to face her, "What color streamers did Lily say we should get for the party for Sakura again?"
"Pink, Ai," Junko replied, "We got it that pink is Sakura's favorite-"
*BOOM*
Both zombie idol girls jumped a bit at the sound of the explosion that they heard somewhere in the city just now. Both of them looked around, and it was Ai who first spotted a column of black smoke rise up into the sky. "What the heck is going on?!" Ai exclaimed, a clearly alarmed look on her fair-skinned face; as they were out in public, both Ai and Junko had monster glamour up, so as to appear human.
Gently shaking her head as she and Ai both looked in the direction of the smoke, Junko said, "I have no clue, Ai." To the Heisei idol zombie girl's surprise, her Showa counterpart suddenly began to do a brisk walk towards the direction the column of smoke was rising up in.
"Why are you going towards the chaos, Junko?" Ai asked, "Shouldn't we move away from it?"
"That smoke is in the direction of the park where we did that dance with the old folks," Junko clarified, "And they have their dances at the park regularly. There's a good chance that they might be in that area, thus are in danger." Giving Ai a serious look with a hint of knowingness in it, the Showa idol zombie girl continued, "Besides which. If we're seen helping senior citizens get away from a burning building or whatever, it'll look good on us, thus look good on the whole of Franchouchou. I don't think Kotaro will be upset with good publicity."
Ai had to admit that Junko had a point on how it would look good on them if they helped the elderly in a crisis, even though Ai was getting the feeling that Junko wanted to go over there and help out solely because she was just plain worried about the old folks. Ai was unsure about heading in the direction of what could potentially be a burning building that is engulfed in fire, but she figured that there wasn't much of a choice in the matter for her.
Figuring that Junko would probably put up with it if she stood by and tended to any old folks outside of said burning building, Ai said, "Alright, lead the way." With their quest for the party décor for Sakura's party ignored for the time being, the two idol zombie girls made their way in the direction of the smoke column.
Sigrid Aesirson was out for a stroll to allow her mind to wander. The half-foreign zombie girl was still wondering what business was here on Midgard that the All-father would permit her return as a draugr to carry out. She yearned to know what she had to do, to get the answers for why she was taken from her warrior's reward in Valhalla. It was during Sigrid's wandering that she heard the panicked screams of some people, as well as the shouting of a loud and angry voice that sounded full of warlust.
Looking over, she saw a group of four humans; one was a young adult man who looked to be eighteen at a minimum, but the others were all early to mid-teens, two girls and a boy. However, it was what was chasing the four humans that had caught Sigrid's attention; a large, hulking, monstrous looking humanoid creature that seemed as if it were some manner of ogre. It was very clearly shouting in sadistic delight as it was threatening to literally rip all four of the humans limb from limb.
The half-foreign zombie girl took note of how the hulking brute was specifically referring to the four humans as humans, seemingly as if the hulking brute himself was not a member of humanity. Knowing full well that she herself was no longer a member of humanity, Sigrid felt compelled, both by seeing the humans flee from the brute and by her own warrior's blood, to go over and confront the beast. After all, who better to fight someone who by their words suggest that they aren't human than someone who literally isn't human themselves?
Sigrid's only concern was that she would be going in to fight the monster unarmed. Luckily for her, she spotted that one of the fleeing young teens, the only boy, had worn over his back a carrying case for sporting equipment, but it was just big enough to hold a single sporting instrument. Sticking out of the carrying case over the boy's back was the handle of a baseball bat, a sight that stirred something within the memories of the half-foreign zombie girl, but she paid it no mind as she made a slight turn to run to the boy that had the baseball bat.
As Sigrid reached the fleeing teen boy, she grabbed the handle of the baseball bat in the carrying case worn over his back as she turned to face the pursuing hulking brute. Without even taking a close look at the bat, Sigrid moved it to her right hand (she grabbed it with her left) before swinging the bat at the hulking brute, striking him on the side of his nose with such force that she heard and felt a satisfying crack.
The hulking brute fell back as he covered his broken and bleeding nose. "Aha!" Sigrid yelled at the hulking brute, "That will teach you to-" Sigrid stopped short when, as she yelled at the hulking brute she attacked to save the innocent teens and lone young adult, she saw the side of the bat that she had borrowed from the teen boy. Sigrid could not believe it as she saw those very familiar etchings on the side, etching that resemble the details on the side of a certain model of swords that were favored by the Vikings that once ruled the ancient lands of Scandinavia. Sigrid held the metal bat up to get a better look at it; those etchings were true, and the bat did not look like it had just come out of the factory freshly crafted.
"…Ulfberht…" the half-foreign zombie girl said, recognizing the very armament that she had used so long ago, back in her previous life, her life before she had fallen in battle. Sigrid's reminiscing on the past was cut off when the hulking brute recovered enough to look at her, a clearly pissed look on his face.
"So, another human wants to try to fight back against the hordes of Warlord Hirajo, huh?" the hulking brute said, "Fine, human bitch. I'll play your game." This hulking brute, despite clearly not being human, did not frighten Sigrid, even when she initially rushed him unarmed.
…But now she had Ulfberht. Now, Sigrid was complete.
"By the halls of Valhalla…" Sigrid said as she rushed the hulking brute again. The hulking brute tried to make a grab for her, but Sigrid skillfully dodged the reach, then jumped up and swung Ulfberht at the brute's head again. This time, she rended a diagonal gash across the brute's forehead as the end of Ulfberht struck across the head. "…I SAY NAY!" the half-foreign zombie girl exclaimed as the brute fell back while clutching his bleeding wound on his forehead; his nose was still broken and bleeding to, so there was blood all over.
The large hulking brute was surprised by the strength that this human girl was using. From what he was figuring, there was no way that this girl could be human, even though she was looking very much human. The brute was further surprised when the girl that was attacking him kicked him over with a well-placed foot slam to his chest, making him fall over prone. With a single jump, Sigrid flew over the prone brute and slammed her left foot down on his throat, crushing his windpipe. As he suffocated, the brute saw Sigrid swing that metal baseball bat at him, striking him in right on his forehead.
He saw nothing right as his head was hit, and would never see anything ever again.
Sigrid, holding the blood-coated Ulfberht in her right hand, walked a few steps backwards as she kept her eyes on the large hulking brute that had tried to kill four innocents before she stepped in and vanquished him herself. As the half-foreign zombie girl looked at the creature that she had just slain, she heard one of the young teen girls behind her say, "You…you just killed that big muscular monster guy." Having heard that girl speak up, Sigrid turned around to face the group of four humans that she had just saved from certain death.
Gesturing to where the corpse of the creature Sigrid had killed laid on the ground, the first teen girl in the group said, "There's…there's a bunch of those guys in the city. They showed up so suddenly." Gesturing to the young adult guy in the group, the first teen girl continued, "My older brother Saburo was taking me, Tsubaki and Sigurd to the park so we can practice baseball, and Sigurd even managed to borrow that special bat you took from him." Gesturing to herself, the first teen girl said, "My name is Maka, by the way. Thanks for the save just now."
"You…you are welcome," Sigrid replied to Maka, before turning her attention to the teen boy she took Ulfberht from. "You, boy," Sigrid said, "I assume that you are Sigurd, yes?" After the teen boy nodded once in the affirmative, Sigrid said, "What is your mother's name, and how is it that you borrowed this bat from her?'
Sigurd, looking mildly surprised, proceeded to explain, "My mother's name is Nagi. That bat that you took from me, it used to belong to an old friend of my mother's back before she had me, back when she used to belong to a delinquent group called Einherjar. Or so she says." Pointing to Ulfberht, the blood on it now starting to dry a bit, Sigurd continued, "My mom said that her old friend who used to own that bat named it Ulfberht, and that it was very special to said friend. My mom took over owning it when her friend died a long time ago, and she's had it ever since."
"I lost my bat, so Sigurd borrowed his mom's special bat so we can practice at the park," the girl identified as Tsubaki explained, "We were on our way to the park to practice when those big muscular monster guys started to attack everyone and everything in sight."
"I saw the pro heroes Mt. Lady, Mirko and Ryukyu on their way to fight the monsters in some part of the city," the young adult man identified as Maka's older brother Saburo said, "I can only hope that more pro heroes rush in to fight the monsters."
Sigrid looked at Saburo and the human teens with a mildly curious look. Pointing at the brute that she killed with Ulfberht, Sigrid said in a tone of piqued interest, "You all speak as if this beast here and all of his fellows that are attacking the city are not human."
"That's because they aren't," Maka said, "Or at least they simply can't be. I saw some of them morph into their large, hulking forms before attacking random places and people." With a troubled look, Maka continued, "I saw a particularly high concentration of them heading in the direction of the business district, where Shirayuki Offices is located. Me and Saburo's dad work there, and I'm really worried that he might be in serious danger."
Sigrid turned around to look in the direction of the city that had a higher concentration of buildings. She saw a few small trials of smoke rise up into the skyline, so the stories that the humans were telling her sounded legit to her. Sigrid turned to face Sigurd, gestured to him with her free hand. "…I shall be needing Ulfberht's case," Sigrid said flatly, her tone sounding more demanding than requesting.
Confused by Sigrid's actions, Sigurd nonetheless complied, taking off the sporting equipment case over his back and handing it over to Sigrid. The half-foreign zombie girl put Ulfberht in the case before slipping the case on over her back, just as Sigurd had worn it. The strap of the case went over Sigrid's chest, from her right shoulder to her left hip, and the case itself worn over her back, with the top peeking out from behind her right shoulder and the bottom peeking out a bit from behind her left hip.
…Again, complete.
Turning around, Sigrid pointed in the direction of the rising smoke in the city. "The monsters are in the city over there, yes?" Sigrid asked, "Then take me over there." The teens and Saburo all looked at Sigrid as if she had just grown a third head.
"Are you crazy?" Tsubaki nearly exclaimed, "Sure, you killed one, but do you know how many are over in the city area?!"
"I will lay them all low," Sigrid said, her tone determined and assured, "I will send them straight to the pits of Helheim."
Gesturing to Sigrid, Saburo said, "My little sister's friend has a point. Things are nothing short of chaotic over there. And what if you get killed yourself?"
With a chuckle, Sigrid replied, "Then I will have fallen in battle, a true finish that all warriors strive for. I will be brought back to the halls of Valhalla by the Valkyries once more, and will be returned to my warrior's reward that I was taken away from." The humans were confused by the half-foreign zombie girl's words, but they looked at each other and collectively figured that at this point, nothing could hurt.
Since there was no room in the cab of Saburo's truck for her, Sigrid had to ride in the bed of said truck, which was one of those worker's trucks that had that white rack thing sticking up in the bed. There were four white-painted metal posts, each post sticking up from a corner and were also connected by other white-painted metal bars. Sigrid got into the truck bed, careful to avoid the various gardening and landscaping tools, and stood in the bed of the truck, gripping the bar located above the truck cab.
"To battle!" Sigrid said as she pointed in the direction of the rising smoke. Figuring to just roll with it, Saburo had the teens get into the cab of the truck before he got in himself, sat in the driver's seat, stuck the keys into the ignition, and then turned the truck on and drove off. Sigrid looked on at the rising pillars of smoke in the city area as the truck sped towards it, her twin braids flowing in the wind as the truck made its way to the chaos. As she sped over to battle, the half-foreign zombie girl thought that perhaps this was the reason that the all-father permitted her return to Midgard as a draugr.
She was to be his champion in the war against the monsters.
"What fresh manner of hell is this?!" Saki exclaimed as she sped around in Kotaro's van that she hotwi-err-borrowed earlier, driving with all due haste to get out of the pandemonium that was going on at the moment. At first, things were going well during Saki and Sakura's little outing. The delinquent zombie girl, although she was not one for sweets herself, had to admit seeing Sakura enjoy the cake she got was a rather cute scene.
…Then a large, hulking monstrous brute suddenly barged into the cake café and started wrecking the place. Acting on instinct, Saki grabbed Sakura by the hand and ran out of a side door of the cake café with her. She threw Sakura into the passenger seat before climbing into the driver's seat herself, turned the van on, and then sped off. Saki saw more and more of the hulking brutes as she sped through trying to find a path to safety, because no way in hell was she going to let Sakura remain here in the city, not while there were all of these large hulking monstrous looking brutes milling about the place.
Speaking of Sakura, she was hunched up in the passenger's seat, very clearly frightened out of her mind. It was bad enough that Sakura saw some large, Lovecraftian horror suddenly appear in the middle of the area over by Shirayuki Offices that made her freak out just by seeing it, but Saki would be damned if she was going to let the long-haired zombie girl remain here where all of this horror was going on.
Saki pulled up near the entrance to an alleyway as she spotted a group of eight teens and one young girl that looked like they just escaped from a school somewhere nearby; if Saki's memory of this area from when she was still alive was accurate, then the group of students had most likely just come from Azu-Daioh High, although what the young girl, who had orange hair in twin pigtails, was doing in the group was beyond her. Seeing that the group of students had all noticed her pull up, Saki lowered the driver's side window.
"You all students who got out of a nearby school while trying to escape all of the big, hulking monsters that are attacking all over the city?" Saki called out to the students.
"Yeah, my friends and I all just escaped from Azu-Daioh High," explained one of the teen girls, who had long orangish hair and wore glasses, "The monsters that you just described began attacking our school." Gesturing to herself and the others in her group, the glasses girl continued, "The only reason all nine of us were able to escape was because student heroes from U.A. High School showed up to fight the monsters."
Sakura, having heard what the glasses girl said, spoke up suddenly. "Did that one girl just say U.A. High School?" Sakura leaned forward a bit to see Saki's face better, thus allowing the group of students outside to see her. "Don't you think we ought to leave all of the rescuing to the heroes?" Sakura asked the delinquent zombie girl.
"Chill out, Egghead," Saki said, "The two of us aren't exactly about to go out and fight those big hulking whatevers head-on. We're only going to pick up who we can and get them as far from all of this chaos as possible." The large abomination that Sakura spotted earlier roared out once again, catching the attention of both Saki and Sakura, the latter of which cried out in a freaked-out tone. "We should also get them as far away from that thing as possible," Saki remarked as she gave the abomination a dry look.
"Yes, please!" one of the boys in the group exclaimed, getting Saki and Sakura to look at him with curious looks, "Please get us all as far away from all of those monsters and that big-ass freak show as you-" The boy would have gone on, but he was cut off when a girl in the group, who to Sakura and Saki looked an awful lot like their fellow zombie girl Ayumu, cut the teen boy off before he could finish.
"Wait a minute, hold up," the Ayumu-lookalike said, cutting the boy off. Pointing to Saki and Sakura, the Ayumu-lookalike continued, "I recognize the both of you! You both star on that new slice-of-life sitcom called Saga Stories! I love your show!"
Smirking in amusement, Saki remarked to face Sakura and said, "Well would you look at that, Egghead? The first people we're picking up and driving to safety just so happens to include at least one of our fans."
"Make that two," said one of the girls as she stepped forward; this girl had long straight black hair and was clearly the tallest girl of the group. "I always make sure to catch every week's new episode," the tall girl said to Saki and Sakura as the glasses girl and a sporty looking girl stepped forward to explain that they were also fans of Saga Stories, leaving the three boys, an energetic looking girl and the young girl looking on in mild confusion.
Jerking a thumb over her back to point out the back rows of seats in the van, Saki said, "Well kids, what are you all waiting for? Hop in and Egghead here and I will take you all to a safe location." Wincing slightly as she did a quick count of the teens, Saki added, "Some of you might have to sit on each other's laps to make room, though."
"I volunteer myself to sit on Satoshi's lap, then!" the energetic girl declared as she raised a hand, drawing confused looks out of all of her friends and a look of mixed confusion and mildly piqued interest out of one of the boys, who Saki guessed was Satoshi.
Chuckling a bit in amusement, Saki said, "Whatever you want, kiddo. Just climb in the back with the rest of your friends."
As the energetic girl and the other human teens climbed into the back of the van, Sakura remarked to Saki in a mildly concerned tone, "Hey, don't you think Kotaro will get mad at the two of us when he finds out we took the van without his permission?"
Casually waving a hand in a gesture to show that she wasn't concerned, Saki replied, "When word gets out that we did so to personally save some of our fans from the monsters attacking the city, we'll get so much good publicity that Shades will actually thank us." Once all of the human teens were loaded into the van and the door closed behind them, Saki slammed her foot on the gas and drove off with all due speed.
Junko and Ai were running for their (un)lives as they tried to get back to the abandoned mansion; from what they saw, the chaos seemed to be concentrated in the city area, meaning out of the way places such as the abandoned mansion ought to be safe from attack by the monsters, as that is what was clearly going on, what those large, hulking brutes had to be. The two idol zombie girls stopped in their tracks when a building off to the side suddenly had its windows explode from inside, bursting open as flames erupted from within.
"Oh my goodness!" Junko exclaimed in surprise, just as startled as the pyrophobic Ai when the flames erupted from the building. The two zombie girls would have gone on to continue running to safety, but they stopped short when they heard one of the women standing outside near the burning building cry out in fear and worry.
"My ten-year-old son's in there!" the woman cried out; this woman had long, dark green hair, fair skin with little pink marks on her cheeks that look like blushing. Her face was a bit wide around her long mouth, making her look somewhat like a frog. As for her outfit, the woman wore a rather simple, albeit a little baggy-looking, purple sweater with a slightly darker purple turtleneck, a black skirt that reached an inch past her knees, cream-colored stockings and a pair of simple brown shoes.
Looking over as she saw the worried woman, Junko remarked aloud but mostly to herself and Ai, "Aww geez, that woman's kid is trapped in a burning-"
"AHHHHHHHH!" Ai yelled aloud, cutting Junko off as she, to the surprise of her Showa counterpart, ran right for the burning building before running right inside. Junko could not help but stare in alarm and worry as the Heisei idol zombie girl was inside of the burning building. What made this particularly surprising for Junko was the fact that Ai has pyrophobia.
Ai died when she was burned in a concert hall fire. And yet Ai ran right into a burning building, obstinately to try and locate the panicking woman's son who was still inside. Junko jogged over to the woman to ask her what had happened. "Some of those large, hulking…things…that have been attacking all over the city tried to raise some ruckus here," the frog-like woman explained, "The pro hero Endeavor fought them off, but some of his flames spread to that building that the dark-haired girl just ran into right as Endeavor took off to pursue the fleeing-"
The frog-like woman was cut off when Ai called out, "This is the only kid that I could find!" Junko and the frog-like woman turned to look over to see the Heisei idol zombie girl lead a ten-year-old boy down the stairs that led up the building that they just got out of.
The boy was fair-skinned, had shoulder-length black hair with the bangs of it obscuring his right eye, a bit of blushing on his left cheek similar to what the frog-like woman had, and he wore a baggy bluish t-shirt that had an image that bore a resemblance to the pro hero Ryukyu, a baggy pair of pale tannish cargo pants held up with a belt, and murky green shoes with white toes. He also had on a light gray backpack over his back; there was a light blue hexagon-shaped patch on the main pouch of the bag with a white silhouette of a flop-eared bunny in the middle, and a plushy resembling the dragon form of the pro hero Ryukyu stuck out from the main compartment of the backpack.
"Samidare!" the frog-like woman exclaimed as she ran forward and collected the boy into an embracing hug, crying tears of relief that the boy, who was clearly her son and apparently named Samidare, was safely rescued from the burning building. Samidare simply kept his face buried in his mom's shirt, crying in a clearly freaked out manner.
As Ai walked over to join Junko, the frog-like woman said as she looked up from her son and over to Ai, "I just don't know what to say to thank you for doing what you did to rescue my son from the fire."
Gently shaking her head, Ai replied, "No need to thank me. I'm just glad that I was able to-"
"Wait!" the frog-like woman said, pointing to Ai and Junko as a pair, "I recognize the two of you!" Nodding twice, the frog-like woman continued, "Yes, you two are numbers three and four! You two both star in Saga Stories!" Smiling a bit, the frog-like woman said, "My friend Inko and I are both really big fans of your show. We even saw the latest episode at the hospital that we're both nurses at while we were helping with a patient named Rei, who was watching the episode on the TV in her hospital room."
"Oh, umm, wow," Ai remarked, "I didn't know that I was saving the son of one of my fans." Blushing a bit in embarrassment, Ai continued as she scratched the side of her head, "Well, if it helps, you're certainly welcome."
Samidare, while his face was still buried in his mother's sweater, wined a bit in a clearly frightened and distressed tone. The frog-like woman noticed this, gave her son a reassuring pat on his back, then looked back up to Ai, who stood alone since Junko was doing something else. "We really need to get out of here," the frog-like woman said, "We're all in danger here, and Samidare is getting really distressed with all of the chaos that's going on."
Nodding in understanding, Ai replied, "Don't worry, ma'am. Once I find number four, the two of us will take you and your son here out of this area and-"
"Hey, number three!" Junko called out from a ways away, getting Ai and the frog-like woman to look over. Both girls were surprised to see Junko in the driver's seat of a car parked outside next to a fire hydrant. "Get in!" the Showa idol zombie girl called out from the car, which she had running at the moment, "I'll get us all out of here!"
Not bothering to question anything, Ai led the frog-like woman and her son over to the car that Junko clearly had just hijacked. Ai got into the passenger seat, and the frog-like woman got her son to climb in first before she herself climbed in. The frog-like woman sat behind Ai and her son sat behind Junko. "Are…" Ai asked as she turned to face Junko, "Are you okay to drive? I mean, isn't your amaxophobia still a problem?"
Gently shaking her head, Junko replied, "Now isn't exactly the time to let my fears bother me. I'll try to keep my screaming in fear as I drive under control."
"I hope so," the frog-like woman replied, "Loud noises like constant screaming really distress Samidare, so it will make him freak out even more than he is right now." The frog-like woman looked to her son, who was currently curled up in a fetal position on his seat in the car. Both of the idol zombie girls nodded in understanding, with Junko being especially understanding, right before the car pulled out away from the fire hydrant and proceeded to speed away from the chaos that was going on in that area.
"To the pits of Helheim with you, violent ogre!" Sigrid exclaimed as she swung Ulfberht at another one of the hulking muscular brutes, rending a gash in his forehead as the head of the bat struck across his forehead. The brute fell over prone, and as he laid on the ground, the half-foreign zombie girl went over and swung her metal bat down on the monster's forehead, ending the creature forever.
Having vanquished her fifteenth monster (yes, she was keeping count in her head) thus far, Sigrid turned to look up and see if there were anymore monsters for her to do battle with. Sigrid had never felt so alive in all of her life, both as a human and now as a draugr. This was a true rush, an epic battle against actual monsters that even the gods themselves would very much want to take part in.
…And that last part is what was giving Sigrid any concern at all. These were all straight up actual monsters, not unlike the ghosts and goblins that little children would hear of when their parents read bedtime stories to them. Were it not for the fact that Sigrid herself had been returned to Midgard as a draugr, then she would have had to question the very existence of these brutes. Even so, the half-foreign zombie girl would do as anyone in this situation would do; act as a true warrior and vanquish as many-
Sigrid was cut off in the middle of her thoughts when she heard a loud roar cry out from overhead. Looking up, Sigrid could not even believe her eyes, even though she had seen and vanquished many of the large, hulking monstrous brutes, even though she sees her draugr self in the mirror every morning ever since she had awoken as one of the undead. Sigrid, for the first time in all of her existence both living and undead, could honestly say that she had felt fear.
"DRAGON!" Sigrid exclaimed as she saw a large winged dragon fly overhead; it had pale gray scales although areas around its neck and head had fair-toned skin similar to that of a human, chin-length blonde hair held back with a headband, and a baggy hooded sweater worn under a casual dress jacket that was open in the front. Sigrid questioned not why the dragon was wearing clothes, or why it seemed to have the breasts of a human woman.
Sigrid was likewise shocked when she saw a woman with long blonde hair, and said woman was well over sixty feet tall, run on by, each step she took shaking the ground a bit. The giant woman whore a body suit that was white and purple with orange stripes here and there, and she wore a purple domino mask that had horn-like protrusions coming out from the side. There was also a woman in a leotard, and she had bunny-like accents on her person, but she did not even make the half-foreign zombie girl so much as look twice. Sigrid was more focused on having seen both the dragon fly on by, and now that giant woman run on by as well, and that woman was very clearly a true giant, easily dwarfing even Lily's still-living father.
"Well this is just great!" Sigrid exclaimed, noticing a monster run up to her from the side. Turning to face the monster, she quickly vanquished it before turning back to look back in the direction the dragon and giant went in. "Now there's both a dragon and a jötunn to worry about!" After Sigrid killed another monster with Ulfberht, she saw a police car pull up, park, and a police detective step out.
Taking a fedora hat off of his head, the detective said, "Miss, what are you doing out here? Although you have done a service in helping to kill some of the monsters that are here, you need to leave the fighting to the pro heroes and the special forces that have come here to help stop the monster attack!"
"These large brutes are no issue for me," the half-foreign zombie girl replied. Pointing her bat in the direction she saw the dragon and the giant go off in, Sigrid continued, "If I were you, more concern ought to be given to the fact that I just saw both a dragon and a jötunn move past here!"
The detective, with a mildly confused look on his face, said, "What's a jötunn?"
"The giant woman, you fool!" Sigrid scolded, "Why am I one of the very few here in these lands with a warrior's vocabulary?"
"Oh, giant woman?" the detective said, "You must be talking about the pro hero Mt. Lady." Nodding twice in understanding, the detective said as he pointed in the direction that Sigrid had pointed in, "Mt. Lady, along with the pro heroes Mirko and Ryukyu, are heading in that direction, as a bank and a high-end restaurant are in that direction, and they are highly sensitive targets for the attacking monsters." As he turned back around to face Sigrid, the detective said, "Anyway, you need to-"
The detective stopped short when he saw that Sigrid had run off while he was distracted. "…I hate it when people do that," the detective muttered to himself.
Sakura and Saki had just dropped off the students fleeing from Azu-Daioh High that they had rescued. Knowing that the teens and one child were safe, the two zombie girls decided to head back to the abandoned mansion. With Saki at the wheel of Kotaro's van, she and Sakura sped off with all due haste for the safety of their home. "I have no fucking clue what the fuck is going on here, Egghead," Saki remarked, sounding an even mix of annoyed, frustrated, and a little scared for her (un)life.
Sakura simply shook her head gently. "…I wish I knew what I could tell you, Saki," the long-haired zombie girl replied, "I really do. But all of those monsters attacking all over the city, all of the fighting, the innocent people fleeing the chaos as the-" Sakura stopped short as, while she was looking out the window of the passenger door, she spotted two fairly young teens fleeing from another one of the large, hulking, muscular monsters. The reason why Sakura stopped short when she saw this in particular is because she recognized one of the young teens.
Pointing out the window to the fleeing young teens, Sakura said after getting Saki's attention, "Hey Saki, isn't that girl that Maria girl that you helped out a short while ago?"
Her attention piqued by the mention of Maria, the delinquent zombie girl turned her attention to look in the direction that Sakura was pointing out. Sure enough, Saki spotted Maria Amabuki, the daughter of Saki's old friend Reiko, back when Saki was still alive a little over twenty years ago. Maria was not wearing her long red coat, but had on everything else. Saki did not recognize the boy that was with Maria as the two of them were running from the monster that was trying to capture them for who knows what reason.
Saki and Sakura were in Kotaro's van on the road running by the riverbank that Maria and the mystery boy were running along as they tried to escape. "…Oh hell no," Saki muttered as she suddenly jerked the steering wheel, making the van go off the road and down the grassy hill leading to the riverbank, "I don't fucking think so!" The speed with which Saki drove down the side of the hill was helped further by momentum, so it eventually came to be that the delinquent zombie girl, with her aim true, rammed the van right into the monster that was chasing Maria and her mystery friend, hitting the monster with such force that she killed him right there and then.
"…Well, I can't argue with results," Sakura remarked, feeling a little bit uncomfortable with exactly how Saki killed the monster thus saving Maria and the mystery boy. With the monster dead and Kotaro's van shut off, Saki and Sakura got out of the van and went over to the two young teens, with Maria right away recognizing Saki and Sakura.
Pointing at Saki, Maria said, "You're the girl that nearly wrecked my mom's motorcycle if it hadn't been for my cousin jumping in front of you and catching it!"
"Yeah, yeah, that's me," Saki said dryly, "But that's beside the point." Pointing to Maria and the mystery boy, Saki continued in a serious tone, "We're here to get you and your little friend here the hell out of here. There is no way that you kids should be out while there's a bunch of those big ass monsters all milling the hell about in the city."
"Yeah, my boyfriend Sasuke here and I are looking to get to safety," Maria replied with a nod.
Saki, despite the seriousness of the situation, had her interest piqued in an amused manner. "Oh?" the delinquent zombie girl said, "This guy here's your boyfriend, you say?"
The boy with Maria, apparently named Sasuke, nodded once in the affirmative; he was wearing a long-sleeved male school student's uniform top, matching pants, black shoes, and he was carrying a Japanese school bag. He was slim yet had a healthy build, he had fair skin, and his hair was jet black, straight and long enough to reach the tops of his shoulders. "Yeah, Maria and I were on our way to our middle school when the monsters first showed up," Sasuke said, "We ran when we saw a monster turn the corner that we would have turned to go to school."
"Heh," Saki remarked as she turned to face Maria, "I bet your mom will be thrown for a loop when she sees you've snagged yourself a boyfriend, young lady."
"Uhhg," Maria scowled, "Geez, we've already gotten over that hump. I already introduced him to my mom." Crossing her arms over her chest, Maria said, "I brought him over to my family's place and was all like, 'Mom, this is my boyfriend Sasuke Minamoto', then he was all proper and stuff and trying to be a good model person that my mom wouldn't be up-" Maria stopped short out of curiosity when as she looked over at Sakura, she noticed that the long-haired girl had a look of shock on her face.
Gesturing to Sakura to get her attention, Maria asked, "Are…you okay?"
Sakura, paying Maria no mind, turned to focus her attention solely on Sasuke. "You…your name is Sasuke Minamoto?" the long-haired zombie girl asked. Sasuke, with a mildly curious and partly confused look on his face, nonetheless nodded a few times in the affirmative. Sakura looked like she couldn't believe what she was seeing. Acting a bit tentatively, Sakura continued as she addressed Sasuke, "Would…I don't suppose that the name Sakura Minamoto would mean anything to you, would it?"
Saki, when she heard her fellow undead say her (Sakura's) real name like that, perked up a bit, wondering just where Sakura was going with this. To the delinquent zombie girl's surprise, she got her answer when Sasuke nodded once and said, "Actually, yeah. My mom said that when I was three, I had an older sister named Sakura who was killed a few days after she had turned seventeen. She was hit by some manner of vehicle from what the police report said, but I don't know anything beyond what I was told by my mom."
Crossing his arms over his chest, Sasuke gave the long-haired zombie girl a curious look before he asked, "How do you know that I not only had an older sister who died well over a decade ago, but you also know her name?"
"…Yeah, I want to know, too," Maria remarked.
"We can discuss that stuff later," Saki said as she jerked a thumb over her shoulder to point out Kotaro's van, "For now, we really have to get the fuck out of here before more monsters show up and try to wreck our shit." Everyone else nodded in agreement with Saki before they all piled into Kotaro's van. With Saki at the wheel, the van roared to live before speeding off, driving back up the grassy hill, getting back onto the road, and driving away from that area. Eventually, Saki was able to get Maria and Sasuke to the safety of Maria's place before leaving with Sakura to go back to the safety of the mansion.
Saki and Sakura never did give the young teens that explanation, by the way.
By late afternoon, all of the zombie girls, all in their true forms as zombies, were lying about in the futon room of the abandoned mansion; the fighting had ended, and with the pro heroes and various Special Forces cleaning up the mess, there was no need for the zombie girls of Franchouchou to get involved with anything else. Hikari, using her smartphone, learned that the leader of the monsters, some fellow by the name of Hirajo, was killed by Azu-Daioh High student Tsukune Aono, but that's about it.
It was as the ten zombie girls were all lying about the room that the door was suddenly kicked open, startling all of them and making them look up to see Kotaro storm into the room. The look on the face of the eccentric man was unreadable. He let out a sigh before he began to address all of the girls.
"…All things considered," Kotaro began, a slight yet somewhat noticeable hint of annoyed strain in his tone, "You girls did a lot of good. There are a few news articles circulating as we speak that goes on about how a lot of you helped out with getting innocent people to safety, or going to great lengths to protect the innocent when fleeing right away wasn't exactly an option. Even so, all of the good that a lot of you girls did today has certainly gotten the attention of the populace of Japan as a whole. Popularity wise, things are looking better than ever for 'Saga Stories'."
The ten girls of Franchouchou lit up a bit when their manager told them that, because of their heroism this day, they had gotten so much good publicity for their show. Gesturing around the room, Kotaro continued on in the tone that he had been using thus far, "There's the fact that Ai and Junko, both of whom had overcome their respective phobias to an extent in the process, saved a woman's ten-year-old autistic child from a burning building then got said woman and her child to safety. I was able to work out a deal with the guy whose car Junko hijacked, by the way, so no need to worry about that loose end."
"Hot damn, Junko!" Saki laughed as she turned to face the Showa idol zombie girl, "You actually stole someone's car and drove it around?!" Holding up her right hand for a high five, Saki said, "Well color me impressed! High five!"
With a small smile, Junko accepted the high five as she said, "Well given what was going on, it was the best I could come up with for me and Ai to get that woman and her son to safety." The other girls of Franchouchou all nodded in a manner to show that they were impressed with what Junko did with Ai to get those civilians to safety; Ayumu seemed particularly happy with the two idol zombie girls.
Pointing to Sigrid, Kotaro said, "Normally, I would object to what Sigrid had done, given that she had personally fought and killed a total of twenty-seven of the monsters from the horde that had attacked the city before the fighting had come to an end, but that actually did a lot to garner positive attention for 'Saga Stories'."
Crossing her arms over her chest, the half-foreign zombie girl replied, "Well when I saw that there were monsters attacking, I believed that I had finally found my answer to why the All-father had permitted my return to Midgard as a draugr, even though I had already fallen in battle once before and had earned my entrance into Valhalla." Turning her head to the side, Sigrid added, "I was even lucky enough to encounter my old friend Nagi's son Sigurd and borrow from him Ulfberht, even though I had to return Ulfberht to him when my part in the fighting had come to an end."
Gesturing to Sakura and Saki, Kotaro went on, "Sakura and Saki here in particular did a lot by picking up fleeing civilians and getting them to safety. Granted, I'm a little ticked that Saki had taken my van without my knowing or permission, but with the situation today being what it was, along with the fact that Saki had hotwired my van to treat Sakura to a day out to celebrate Sakura recovering all of her memories, I'm going to let it slide."
The other zombie girls all turned to face Saki, with Lily saying, "You hotwired Kotaro's van? Why didn't you just take the keys?"
"Couldn't find them," the delinquent zombie girl replied, "Either way, Egghead and I were able to get nine students from Azu-Daioh High to safety, then we vehicular manslaughtered one of those monsters in the process of saving two middle schoolers." With an amused smirk, Saki went on, "One of those middle schoolers was my old friend Reiko's daughter Maria, and the other one was Maria's little boyfriend-"
"My little brother."
Saki was cut off when she and the others all heard Sakura speak up. They all turned to face the long-haired zombie girl, a resigned, somber look on her face. "That boy that was with that Maria girl is named Sasuke Minamoto," Sakura went on, "And he's my little brother."
"You…" Ai said, "…You met your little brother? After all of…" The Heisei idol zombie girl stopped short, gently shook her head. "…Wow, Sakura," Ai remarked in a sympathetic tone, "I can't imagine how that must have thrown you for a loop."
"Speaking of throwing people through loops," Kotaro began, the mild hint of strained annoyance in his tone becoming more pronounced, "The nine of you girls who are NOT Yugiri are going to be thrown for a loop by something Yugiri did while she was out saving a civilian from one of the attacking monsters. Not only that, but Yugiri's actions while she defeated that monster has also thrown Japan as a whole for a loop." The other nine girls of Franchouchou all turned to look at the courtesan zombie girl, some of them looking at her with looks of suspicion.
Crossing her arms over her chest, Saki growled as she wore an annoyed scowl, "Damn it, Yugiri, what the hell did you do this time?"
Yugiri let out a resigned sigh, knowing that she had screwed up royally here. "…While I was wrestling with one of those monsters in order to keep him from attacking some civilians," Yugiri began, "I allowed my monster glamour to slip. One of the civilians that I was saving was a good monster, I believe he identified herself as an incubus, identified me as a zombie to the others that I was saving, a few of which are fans of our show. When some of the fans were asking some questions, I…ehh…" Poking the tips of her index fingers together, the courtesan zombie girl said, "…I told them that all ten of us are zombies."
Holding up his smartphone, Kotaro showed the girls of Franchouchou a news article that he had pulled up while Yugiri was talking to the other girls. "…Yeah, that is also spreading about you girls like wildfire," Kotaro growled in an annoyed tone, "Because of Yugiri's slipup, the word about all you girls being zombies is becoming public knowledge as we speak." The other girls of Franchouchou all gasped in shock, and Saki and Sigrid both threw pillows as Yugiri's head.
Putting his phone away, Kotaro sighed in a resigned tone. "…Thankfully, no one's freaking out about you girls being outed as zombies, mostly because the good monsters are educating the humans on how zombies in real life are nothing like how they are in fiction, emphasizing how zombie-ism is not infectious." Nodding once, Kotaro said, "The human populace is being told how there is by no means any chance of a zombie apocalypse, and that is saving you girls from having your heads hunted by overzealous zombie-hunters."
"Well that's a relief," Ayumu said.
"HOWEVER!" the eccentric man declared somewhat loudly, hands on his hips as he got all the girls to turn to face him again, "Me and a few of the lads are going to have to hold a press conference to address a lot of the mounting questions that people have in regards to you girls being zombies, mostly what all we know, how long we've been in action, what we've been up to and whatnot." Looking at all the girls, Kotaro said in a firm tone, "None of you do anything until I've cleaned up Yugiri's mess. Got it?"
The girls of Franchouchou, Yugiri in particular since she was the one who was in trouble, all nodded in agreement. Without another word, Kotaro turned around and left the futon room, thus leaving the zombie girls alone. A few seconds after Kotaro had left, the other nine girls all turned to look at Yugiri, who noted the looks that she was getting from her fellow undead.
Gently shaking her head in a disappointed manner, Sakura said, "…Really, Yugiri?"
END, SAGA STORIES CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Author's notes:
This chapter is meant to link 'Saga Stories: A tale of Zombie Land Saga' to a much larger narrative that I have been working hard on for quite some time. You'll notice that there are a lot of references to the monster attack arc in my 'Rosario Vampire Re-Vamped' story for Rosario Vampire, as well as a few details to my story 'A couple that will go down in legend' for BNHA. Sorry if some of you aren't all that fond of the idea of the girls of Franchouchou interacting with others outside of Zombie Land Saga, but the girls are going to be needed for an important role that is coming up in times and works to come.
…Anyway, this chapter also has a big development that I have had in mind for the girls of Franchouchou for quite some time, that being their being outed as zombies to the populace at large. This outing of their status is assisted by the reveal of the monster world, and the upcoming work between the governments of monsters and humanity. A press conference held by Kotaro and some of the men that he's in cahoots with will take place soon, to help get the humans in this story in particular used to the fact that some of their nation's most popular actress are actually members of the living dead; this will also play a big role in future chapters.
Won't that be fun?