PREVIOUSLY ON DEAD FAIRY –
Fast approaching them was four black hawk choppers of the Japan Self Defense Force.
Rei and Komuro started waving their arms around, flagging down the four aircraft.
"They're not here for us. Save your strength" Natsu simply said to them. True enough, the four Black Hawks just passed them.
Looks like I'll be revealing my secret to get through this. What a life.
"Guys" he said, and motioned Rei and Komuro to approach him.
"Don't freak out okay?" he said, the two just nodded in confusion.
CHAPTER 4
DISMISSAL TIME, WITH STYLE
A full minute had passed since Natsu called their attention. However, he has yet to make a move. Komuro and Rei getting anxious by the time. The former getting tired of all the waiting decided to poke Natsu.
"Hey, what is it?", he asked. Slowly Natsu turned towards them. His eyes seemed to be in deep thought.
"Oh, I meant, that don't freak out on me", Natsu replied, rubbing his head. 'Now is probably not the time', he thought.
"Oh, well we are freaking out. There's zombie out there. I don't know where my family i- ", Rei ranted, getting interrupted midway by Natsu's hand. He pulled her into a tight hug and rubbed circles on her back trying to calm her down. After a few minutes, Rei had calmed down and went into regular breathing again. Natsu thought she had fallen asleep, but due to their position he can't risk turning lest waking her up. Natsu looked towards Komuro for confirmation. To which the boy just nodded.
Slowly and gently as possible Natsu set Rei down next to Komuro.
"Komuro", Natsu looked at the boy, "Don't you think Hisashi's been gone long?"
Komuro just nodded at kept quiet. With a heavy sigh, Natsu stood up and dusted himself off.
"I'll try to find him, but before that we need to move", Natsu said. He walked towards the edge and peered over it. "We'll be sitting ducks here the longer we wait".
"Do we have to? I mean we're perfectly safe here", Komuro reasoned out.
"If we wait this out any longer, the chances of being surrounded by", Natsu paused "-zombies goes higher, and the chance of leaving this place in one piece becomes slimmer".
Komuro knew that Natsu was right. He was just denying the reality, the harsh reality that has been imposed on him. If you were to walk up to him and tell him that the world will end through zombies, he would've laughed his ass off. However, that fantasy was now reality. That thought was now walking the courtyard, the cafeteria, the hallways, and hell the city he grew up in.
"I'll wake Rei up", Komuro sighed and nodded towards Natsu. The latter walking towards the barricade and keeping a look out.
Komuro gently shook Rei to wake her up. Soon he was met with her brown eyes. Full of question and worry.
"We're getting out of here", Komuro said to her.
Rei just nodded. Komuro stood up and offered a hand, to which Rei accepted. The two were now silently walking towards the pink-haired dragon slayer.
"How is it?", Komuro asked.
"Luckily, there's nothing there", Natsu replied. He turned towards them. "Here's the plan"
"I think like any other living organism, they react to stimuli. The key here is we move stealthily. We move slowly. Slow is fast, fast is slow. We'll snake around if we are to encounter any. Let's not take risks we don't need to. Also stay on my ass, got it?" Natsu explained and getting two corresponding nods from the two.
"Here we go", Natsu mumbled as he slowly moved the barricade.
Once it was clear, the trio slowly moved towards the stairwell access door. Natsu peeked through the door. Aside from the blood marks, there was nothing in sight.
"Clear, slowly", Natsu whispered to the duo behind him.
After a few grueling minutes, they were finally at the fourth floor. And they found out, that their luck was going to run low soon. The hallway was littered with the undead. They were stuck and stumped. Out of the corner of his eye, Natsu saw something on the adjacent hallway. Someone was moving, intelligently on the other hallway on the other side of the courtyard. With his enhanced vision, he saw that the two were Saya Takagi, and Kohta Hirano. A light bulb lit up in Natsu's head.
"Saya and Kohta are on the other side", he whispered to Komuro and Rei. He gestured them to follow quietly.
Natsu pulled out his phone and opened his flash light app. He started to get the attention of the Saya and Kohta.
KOHTA AND SAYA.
Things were not turning out great for them. They tried to leave through the courtyard but realized that it was a one-way ticket to hell. The other floors weren't heaven either. And that's how they found their way on the fourth floor.
"Saya, look", Kohta gestured towards the other side of the hallway.
"Morse code", Saya realized. Kohta mumbled a simple "yeah"
ALIVE HERE. ALIVE HERE. The light repeatedly flashed with a series of dots and dashes.
"Your phone" Saya mumbled,
"What? Don't you have one," Kohta replied. Saya just rolled her eyes.
"Mine's in my locker, we don't have time. Phone. Now" Saya answered back, her eyes and voice leaving no space for discussion. Kohta handed the phone. Without missing a beat Saya was now answering.
10-4. WHO?
KOMURO, HBU?
"It's Komuro," Saya said to Kohta. Surprisingly, the boy was kept a straight face.
"What?" Saya asked with a tone.
"You didn't have to tell me. I can read morse code too", Kohta answered with a nervous laugh. Saya immediately went back to communicating.
PLANS?
ONE. 10-19 FCLTY RM. DVRSN IN 30. HIDE.
10-4
Saya looked at Kohta, who just nodded back to her. They both received the message and watched and waited for the 30 seconds to pass.
NATSU AND OTHERS.
"I hope this works", Komuro said with a worried tone.
"Me too" Natsu added.
The trio each had an item in their hands. Natsu a metal bucket, Komuro a trashcan, and Rei the yellow triangular wet floor sign. Luckily, they janitor's closet was nearby. Each of them readied their items out the window.
"On three" Natsu said,
"One"
"Two"
"Three", the three threw their items toward the courtyard. As soon as they were clear, they went towards the janitor's closet and hid.
CLANG. PANG. SHTICK.
The noise ringed all around the school. The reaction was instant. The undead on the hallways went towards the noise. Meaning, they jumped over towards the courtyard. The said could be same on the other floors. Every zombie who heard the noise came rushing towards the courtyard.
SAEKO
She had never imagined she would go out like this. A shameful and disgusting death. A death with no honor. Luckily the school nurse was here. That had to count for something. Dying while protecting seemed honorable.
CLANG. PANG. SHTICK. The noise reverberated. Saeko gripped her wooden sword.
The undead rushed out of the clinic, heading towards the courtyard. However, two were still there.
'Too easy' Saeko thought. The nurse whispered behind her.
"Miss Shizuka stay behind me", she said and readied her sword.
KOMURO AND OTHERS.
Natsu slowly peeked out. The hallways were now clear. He gestured towards the two.
The trio bolted straight for the faculty room.
When they arrived there, they saw that Kohta and Saya were there plus two others.
Nevertheless, introductions could be done later. They need to get in to safety first. As soon as Natsu passed the doors, Kohta immediately closed the shut. Komuro locking the doors with Kohta.
"Natsu, you're safe", Saya beamed. Rei rolled her eyes with subtlety.
"Glad you're safe too," Natsu replied with a smile. He turned his attention towards the two new people in the room.
"You are?", he asked them.
"Miss Busujima and Nurse Shizuka right?" Komuro interjected. The blonde-haired nurse replied with an absent minded yeah.
"I'd prefer if you call me Saeko"
-CLICK-
The niceties were cut short when Kohta turned on the T.V. Everyone went quiet and looked to the screen.
"Stay indoors. Stock supplies good for two weeks. Do not approach injured or wounded people even if they are your family members. I repeat, the authorities advise citizens to stay indoo-"
Natsu changed the channel.
"It is still unclear to what is this. The military is keeping quiet. The Health Department has also not given any comments. However, we have here Dr. Brown, a professor at Tokyo University." Another reporter was in another environment. This time an office of sorts.
"Sir, what do you think this is?", the reporter asked.
"It's the end of times. People have been committing sins for too long. Isn't it obvious? When there's no more room in hell, the dead will walk the earth.
Once again, Natsu changed the channels.
"Hey, hey, look, it's getting up. Get this get this" a field reporter said and guided his camera man towards a body rising from a stretcher.
Things went south quick. The reanimated corpse lunged towards the news team.
The zombie grabbed the reporter and tore off a portion of his neck. The cameraman dropped the camera and ran away, quick. However, the camera kept rolling and it filmed the reporter getting feasted on by the zombie. The display cut back quickly to the studio.
"It seems we have encountered problems" the anchorman tried to sound calm and collected but his face betrayed him.
TNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNT.
The SMPTE color bars dominated the screen and the steady tnnnnt filled the room.
Natsu sighed and Kohta turned off the television. Silence filled the room. Each person lost in their own thoughts.
Natsu looked towards the group.
'Komuro seems to be handling it well. Rei's still in shock. Saya seems to be planning a way out already, same with Kohta. These two seems level-headed enough. Miss Shizuka, woah, either she's tough as nails or scared shit or just an airhead. Saeko, she reminds me of Erza.' Natsu thought.
AHEM. Sayla got the attention of everyone.
"I've been thinking. The school has these buses right, the keys are right there. Why don't we take one and drive away from here?" She explained, the others nodding in agreement. Just like Natsu thought, Sayla already had come up with a plan.
"Also, with what Natsu did earlier. I think the undead responds to sound. They seem to have lost the ability to see and talk, but not hear and run. So, we better watch out there. Try to keep a low profile as possible." She continued,
"Let's go then", Komuro said, standing up.
"Wait a minute", Kohta called out. "Seeing as Saeko is the only here with a weapon, why don't we arm ourselves first. We need weapons to defend ourselves"
"Oh, yeah", Komuro dumbly replied.
All of them went around the faculty room and gathered together what could be potential weapons. They found two baseball bats from a certain Phys Ed teacher. A crowbar. A mop. An electric swatter, and a nail gun.
"I could cut off the head off the map, use it as a makeshift spear", Rei spoke up after a long time. She grabbed the mop and went back to customize it. Natsu was relieved, it seems Rei had come to her senses, and a spear was perfect for her. She was knowledgeable on how to use it.
"I'll retro-fit this nailgun to be portable", Kohta said with airtanks in his arms.
"Komuro and I have the baseball bats then, Saya you get the crowbar, and Miss Shizuka the uhh-fly swatter", Natsu said, and handed the nurse the swatter.
"Let's go around, look for supplies." Natsu suggested. The group nodding and sauntering off.
"Saya, a quick word." Natsu called out.
"Yeah?", Saya mused.
"By any chance have you seen Hishashi?", Natsu asked. Saya's face quickly went down and emotionless. Natsu had a bad feeling. Saya still hasn't replied.
Natsu was getting uneasy.
"He's one of them. He was roaming the third floor when we saw him", Saya answered quietly.
"No", Natsu whispered and clenched his fists. Hishashi had been a good friend to him, he deserved better than to be turned into a mindless carnivorous fucker.
Saya not knowing what to do left after saying sorry.
"Are we all ready?", Natsu asked
A series of nods and yes was the reply. He and Komuro held the doors. Natsu nodded towards Komuro. They both opened the door and jumped out preparing to whack any zombie. There were four.
Natsu and Komuro went to work. They went towards two nearest and ones and started beating the shit out of them. Saeko and Kohta was the next pair out the door. Kohta swiftly fired a nail round into one of the undead and Saeko charged towards one, her wooden sword drawn.
The group started to make their way towards the parking lot.
On the second floor, they met with another group of students holed up in the one of the classrooms. The smaller group of students joined and now the one united group started going down.
Unfortunately, things went sour. An IV stand a student was carrying hit the railings and created a metallic clang that echoed all over the school. Each person eyes widened.
"RUN!" Komuro shouted, and everyone was quick to follow.
"Why did you shout? We could have easily taken care of the nearby ones", Sayla argued angrily towards Komuro.
"The sound echoed all throughout the school. There was no way that only the near ones heard it", Kohta joined in and reasoned out.
"We can play the blame game later, for now run!", Natsu shouted towards them, and silenced their banter.
The bus was in sight. Natsu looked back. BAD IDEA.
The horde was right on their ass. Adding to the running away from danger cliché file, a girl student tripped and fell. Her best friend and what Natsu presumed to be her boyfriend quickly slowed down and tried to help her. Her best friend tried to get her up, while the boyfriend did escort duty.
Three people against a horde of cannibalistic freaks, it was pretty one sided.
Natsu saw as the three got torn to pieces. Guts flying. The boy's head was quickly severed by the zombies biting into his neck. The girl who tripped was in pieces. Her leg was severed, her guts were inside out, intestines being slurped like spaghetti, eyes missing, jaw removed. The two were lucky, their deaths weren't quick, but it wasn't slow either unlike the other girl. Her screams pierced the air.
"Keep running, and DON'T LOOK BACK", Natsu shouted at the group.
The third girl was being eaten alive. The zombie's hands were feasting on her limbs, and stomach. Her right arm was one bite away from being torn off. Legs were connected by a thin piece of tissue. The thing that shook Natsu to the core was her screams. As she was being eaten, she kept screaming. Due her mouth being open, a zombie's hand found its way inside her mouth and started to open it.
Her screams that were filled with fear, turned into a grueling growling screaming noise, as her jaw was ripped apart. What happened next chilled everyone's bloods. The growling screaming noise turned into a robotic screech. Natsu once again turned around, the girl's larynx got ripped and her voice box along it.
They were finally near the bus, but the three students weren't enough to stall the horde. Natsu calculated.
The group was 15 meters from the bus, the horde was 10 meters behind them.
10 to 5.
It dawned on Natsu they weren't going to survive like this.
He turned around, earning shouts from the group.
KARYU-NO-HOKO
10-4 : Affirmative
10-19 : Return to (in this case Go to)
Read and Review