I'M STILL HERE! Holy crap it's been a while since I last uploaded, sorry, been busy. I hated that I left it off for such a long time on that cliffhanger but uh how about a 4,000 word chapter to make up for it, yeah? Cool? Cool. Let's go.

Chapter Nine

Kuromorimine – Streets – Day Two - 0800

Maho Nishizumi slowed, stopping to catch her breath, she'd run several blocks at this point, she could keep going on indefinitely, being thankful for that tough training that her mother put her through. She checked her surroundings, again, no one in sight. She wondered just what the hell was going on. Cars were sitting in the street, the doors ajar or their windows smashed in. She hadn't seen anyone, no people, none of those creatures either, nothing. She felt truly alone. She then spotted the distant silhouette of the Kuromorimine Girls Academy. She approached quickly, the wrought iron gates greeted her. She approached the bars, grasping onto it, she stared through the barrier, no guard attending the gate as far as she could see. She tried to haul it open, it wouldn't budge.

Locked. She would have to find another way in, Maho looked around, the surrounding walls were flat on top, however she wasn't tall enough to pull herself up. Her eyes fell on one of the many cars she'd seen on her trek there, it had collided with the wall, barely damaging the concrete barrier, the front of the car itself however, was smashed in, dented heavily. An idea crossed her mind then. She mulled over it silently in her head for a moment, calculating the risk, deciding she had no better options, she walked backwards from the vehicle, taking a deep breath to prepare herself, she then surged forward, leaping quickly onto the car, taking a few steps, she launched herself again, colliding with the wall, momentarily winding her, she gasped. Grunting, she hauled herself up on top of the wall, she sat there for a moment, looking around from the new vantage point. There were many things scattered in the grounds leading up to the administrator buildings, from what she could tell, it appeared to be personal belongings such as luggage, this confused her, but she would worry about it later. She readied herself once more,

jumping from the wall quickly without hesitation and managing to break her fall with a roll. She stood, dusting herself off. She walked forward, keeping an eye on her surroundings. Maho soon found herself standing in front of the administration building, she moved her hand to grab the handle, stopping for a moment to think. She pressed her ear against the door, she couldn't hear anything on the other side, nothing. Quietly, she pushed the door open, ready to move back if something lurched out, silence. She searched the building, besides various papers being scattered among the room, it was still as tidy as ever, she moved to her mother's office, the door was already slightly ajar. She pushed it open completely, light crept into the room, falling upon a mess and a silhouette of something slumped against the far wall, her breath hitched momentarily, however the body was not that of her mother or anyone close she knew, she felt relieved, which was followed by guilt for feeling relieved, this was still a person…at some point. From what she could gather, there had been a struggle. Had the thing gotten in here and attacked mother? It looks like she was able to kill it and escape. Where was she now? Why did she not wake her up initially? All Maho's questions went unanswered, at least for now. She shook her head and turned, she needed to find someone else, anyone else, she didn't want to be going through this alone, she wouldn't admit it openly, but inside, she was terrified, as if she'd reverted to a small child, dreading the monster under the bed. Maho walked out of the administration building, she made her way to the school's gymnasium next. She moved quickly down the hall, coming to the large steel doors which led to the gym, she grabbed the handle, and with a grunt of effort, pulled them open, she was lost in thought in that moment, she hadn't heard the muffled sounds of feet being dragged clumsily against the hardwood floor, or the occasional growl from inside. Maho raised her head to witness her mistake, all in that moment, she inhaled sharply, there must have been over fifty of those creatures in there, they unfortunately noticed her almost immediately, Maho jolted backwards and took off, the infected surged out of the doors after her, adrenaline kept her going, the hallways that were once familiar were now maze-like and alien considering the lights were off. She couldn't tell where she was going, she could only hear the angered growls hot on her heels, she didn't need to look back to know they were right behind her, she dreaded the thought of being moments away from being grabbed by one of those things and being swarmed by the horde, tearing her to shreds, her mind race, the loudest thought screaming, etching itself into her mind,

'I will NOT die here with these things!'

With that in mind, she pushed herself, her chest burned, her breathing was erratic, she turned a corner, catching sight of a set of double doors, sunlight creeping through them, she let out a silent thankful prayer, and charged the doors at full speed, she shot out like a tank shell from a cannon barrel, the door slamming shut behind her. She lay on the ground then, exhausted, trying to reign in her breathing, the infected had managed to break one of the small windows on one of the doors, and fruitlessly reached for her angrily, she knew at any moment, they could accidently push against the handle, pushing the door open, she couldn't sit still. She looked around frantically, the dorms. She hauled herself to her feet, staggering momentarily, before pushing forward, she quickly reached the dorm doors, looking behind her, the infected had managed to push the door open, but were unsuccessfully trying to climb over each other, having blocked themselves in as so many had tried to get out at once. Deciding not to wait to see if they got unstuck, she stepped inside quickly, she looked around, the entryway was empty, however she wasn't about to make that mistake again. She looked around, her eyes falling on the glint of a glass case hanging on the wall, she grabbed the small rubber hammer attached the case and smashed the window. She reached in, pulling out a fire axe. She held the weapon in her hands for a moment, adjusting to its weight. This would work. She turned to the doorway that would lead her to the dorms. She walked down the corridor, moving cautiously, stopping at each open doorway and waiting, waiting to hear something stumbling within, waiting for a victim to grab. She'd cleared two floors of the building before she came to a dorm room, one she knew all too well, she tried the knob, locked. She thought about the sound it would make, but she reasoned she had no choice, she knocked, keeping her voice low she called,

"Erika?"

Her voice went unanswered.

"Erika. It's me, Maho.", she stated once more.

Nothing. She contemplated, was she even in there? She had to be sure.

"Erika, I'm coming in.", Maho replied to the silence.

She took a deep breath, checking around her, this floor had been clear, so she was sure the things wouldn't hear it, she raised the axe high in the air, and struck the knob. A clang rang out, she winced at the sound, the knob along with part of the door was now somewhat bent downwards from her hit. She raised the axe once more, smashing it into the door. The handle hit the ground, the door creaked open silently. She pushed it open all the way. Looking around, she couldn't see any signs of distress. She wondered if she'd been mistaken, until she heard the sounds of cries and occasional sniffles emanating from the restroom…

Oorai tank sheds – Day Two - 0825

Miho called over the radio once more, her inquires on updates going unanswered. She was becoming visibly scared, she shook, trying to come up with logical answers, maybe Erwin had dropped her throat microphone? Maybe it was damaged? One last thought crossed her mind, the worst-case scenario, she suppressed it, refused to even entertain the idea. She shook her head, no, that wasn't possible. She'd need to wait. They would answer back soon, these thoughts comforted Miho as she raised her head to look out of the window once more to survey the area, she caught sight of a pair of silhouettes in that moment, she recognized the back of Yukari's fluffy hair and military backpack she always wore, she and Noriko were frantically moving back to them, but wait, where was Erwin? She then noticed they appeared to be carrying something. It was in that same moment, she recognized the tan field jacket draped over the limp form they were carrying, the final thing she noted before sprinting towards the others, was the patch of blood soaked into the field jacket.

Miho rushed to the ladder, she nearly fell several times trying to frantically descend it, the other teams had caught on and seeing their commander worried about something was quite concerning. Before anyone could ask, Miho answered,

"Get the doors open, now! They've got injured!"

Nobody had to be told twice. Hippo team who'd been closest to one of the sets of doors quickly grabbed onto the latches and began to slide one of the heavy doors open. They soon caught sight of the two coming towards them, and the unconscious third they were carrying. A collective gasp of shock filled the tank shed as Erwin was rushed in. The jacket had managed to keep the wound under control on route to the sheds, but was quickly becoming ineffective, Miho removed the jacket to see the wound, it was in that moment something changed, her Kuromorimine instinct kicked in, again, it seemed as if Miho had been replaced personality wise, with her sister.

"Put her down over here. There is a first aid kit located on the far wall, I need it immediately.", Miho ordered. She had a certain look in her eyes, normally she was warm and shy, but now she appeared cold and calculated, she had one objective right now, she had to be strong, one of her teammate's lives depended on it. Miho turned around to a tap on her shoulder, the quiet Saki Maruyama looked at her with the first aid kit in tow, she quickly held it out to Miho, who accepted it graciously, nodding to the first year, she turned to Erwin. Miho quickly rolled up her sleeves, studying Erwin's face. She was unconscious, unresponsive, however was still breathing, although shallowly. She opened the first aid kit, she reached in, grabbing the necessary implements she'd need. Gauze, needles, a spool of sanitized thread. She examined the wound closer, being able to gauge it better under on the bright lights under the shed. From what she could tell, whatever attacked her had not managed to pierce her abdomen, although the gouges were deep and would definitely need to be stitched up. She was lucky, had they not gotten the assailant off when they did, had they been a second more, it would have shredded her abdomen open and spilled her entrails, the thought highly disturbed Miho, but she didn't show it. She couldn't show any look of doubt or fear now, she had to focus. She took a breath, tearing the pack containing the needles open, carefully removing them from their bath of sanitized fluid. She then threaded the needle. Turning to the others, she calmly stated,

"Since she's unconscious, she hopefully won't feel this, in the off chance she does wake up, I need two of you to hold her down and try to keep her quiet, as the thrashing could make it difficult to do this…"

Caesar and Saemonza stepped up to the makeshift operating table, on either side of Erwin, ready to assist when needed. Without any further hesitation, Miho went to work on sealing the biggest gouge first. There were four in total, two of which were deep. She pushed the needle in carefully, but skillfully. Pulling it out again, she listened for any sounds from Erwin, she heard none. She then continued, within five minutes, she'd managed to seal the biggest wound. Miho wiped the sweat that had formed on her brow, going to work on the second gouge, no sooner had she pushed the needle in had she heard a grunt from Erwin. She thought nothing and continued, the grunt turned into a yelp, Erwin tried to thrash, but her friends had caught on and were now trying to hold her down, Oryou and Yukari were each holding down a leg, Erwin's eyes shot open, she looked around in fear for a moment, looking somewhat relieved seeing the faces of her teammates. Caesar looked her in the eyes and calmly said,

"Erwin-san, you've been injured, Commander Nishizumi is trying to seal the wound, we're trying to help. Please remain still!"

Erwin attempted a nod, before staring at the ceiling, and seemingly clenching her jaw, preparing herself. She took a shaky breath, Miho taking this as a sign to continue, she did so. Erwin continued to let out small yelps which she failed to contain, clenching her eyes shut several times, after what felt like an agonizing eternity of the needle entering her flesh and being pulled back out, she heard Miho calmly state she had finished, at that moment, Erwin's body relaxed. Miho exhaled, feeling as if she'd been holding her breath the entire procedure. She made eye contact with the StuG commander,

"Erwin-san, whatever got you managed to cut you deep, but not deep enough to puncture your abdomen, I've sealed the bigger wounds, the remaining ones will heal on their own, I only have to apply disinfectant and bandage you up, okay?"

Erwin nodded as best she could manage and within the next moment, her strained facial features relaxed, she'd seemingly passed out once more.

With that, Miho went back to the kit, grabbing the small bottle of disinfectant, applying it to the wounds, Erwin didn't react to the disinfectant. Miho finally rolled the bandage around her abdomen. Erwin came to within ten minutes, The ordeal had lasted no longer than thirty minutes, but to the majority of the group, it had felt like years. She shivered, reaching out instinctively for her treasured field jacket, hesitating at it's current state, she refrained. Caesar caught on, and quickly ran over the their StuG, grabbing Erwin's hardly used Senshado jacket, Erwin accepted it, wrapping herself in the jacket's embrace.

Miho let out a short sigh, discarding the used implements and shutting the kit. She got up, grabbing a nearby rag, proceeding to wipe her hands. Content, she rolled down her sleeves, walking back to Yukari and Noriko, eager to know just what had happened.

"Yukari-san?", she asked.

Yukari looked up, both she and Noriko shared a look of guilt, regretting having run ahead, leaving their friend to get attacked and injured, thankfully not mortally.

"We were walking back, as reported…Noriko-san and I saw one of those things that had appeared to once been one of the maintenance staff at the school, we thought he might have had keys, so we went to take him down.", Yukari paused, looking to see Miho's reaction so far.

Miho simply nodded for her to continue, Yukari waited to be berated for her actions, but no such thing occurred, with that, she continued,

"Noriko-san and I had decided to take it on together, we believed there wouldn't be any immediate danger as it was only that one worker and a few others around it. We'd just taken it down when we heard something…A horrible screech, it was hardly recognizable as human. We then heard a thud and the shouting of Erwin-san, we rushed back just in time. Some hooded creature had pounced on her from a building or high place, I'm not sure, but it seemed more agile than it's uncoordinated relatives…", As Yukari went on with her explanation, Miho was thinking over what she had described.

*An infected that was agile? A leaping one? That didn't sound good…*, Miho stopped herself from getting lost in thought to continue listening to Yukari's account on what occurred, Noriko had joined them at this point, Yukari took this as a cue for Noriko to finish the story, she did, much to a grateful Yukari.

"As she said, Commander. We'd just grabbed the key ring when we heard that thing jump on Erwin-san. Yukari-san acted quickly, she had me take on the remaining infected around the maintenance worker while she took on that creature, she rushed quickly and with a blow heavier than a volleyball spike, she smacked that thing in the head with her club thingy! It did this backwards roll, and much to our shock, leapt away. At that point, we were able to get Erwin up and were running back here.", Noriko finished.

Yukari smiled somewhat, thankful Noriko had finished the retelling, she still felt bad about it, she felt like it was her screw up, if she hadn't taken the initiative and rushed the maintenance worker, maybe Erwin-san wouldn't have gotten hurt, her thoughts were cut short by a hand resting on her shoulder, she looked up to see the slight smile on Miho's face.

"Although it was risky to split up in the open like that, there's no way we could have predicted those things would be able to move like that, instead of regretting what's happened in the past, we need to move on and learn from this. If it hadn't been for your quick action, I fear Erwin-san…would be in a much more dire situation.", Miho said. Yukari and Noriko nodded solemnly, agreeing to not be so foolhardy should such a situation ever arise once more, the group looked over to where she rested, surrounded by her fellow team members, waiting for her to wake up.

In that moment, Yukari looked towards Miho once more,

"Oh! Here, Nishizumi-dono.", she handed the key ring over, Miho took it in her hands, nodding to Yukari with an approving smile, Yukari saluted, seemingly already getting back to her normal self, Miho wondered if the rest of them would ever be able to feel like their normal selves ever again, she shook the thought away, turning to Nakajima and Tsuchiya, she waved them over.

"These should open up the shell storage area.", Miho stated.

The pair nodded, the group then turned towards the door and approached it quickly. After a short couple of minutes sorting out the countless keys on the ring, they'd managed to find the right one, pushing the door open and clicking on the nearby light, they were greeted to quite an arsenal.

The walls consisted of four sturdy shelves going from knee level on the wall to the ceiling, lining the shelves were wooden crates, no one needed to wonder what lay inside, as it was clearly marked on each crate. In the corner, rested several longer boxes which they couldn't immediately identify, Tsuchiya grabbed a nearby prybar resting next to the door, and with little effort, pried off one of the sides of a crate, she was greeted to a several rounds of tank shells spaced evenly apart, separated by wooden slats to keep the shells from colliding. She took out one of the shells.

"Oh yeah, these'll work.", she said with a mischievous smile. Miho walked further into the room, looking around, she looked curiously towards the crates in the corner, she had a vague idea what was in them, but she wanted to confirm her theory. She opened the lid, sliding the paper cover placed over the contents. She was greeted to a crate containing four Panzerfaust recoil-less launchers. Yukari had taken notice of her commander's find, and immediately gasped in excitement.

"Wow! I didn't think we would find these! Oh, the damage these could do, to be specific, these are Panzerfaust 60s, the most common one! They began full production around 1944, to replace the Panzerfaust 30, which could only shoot 30 meters! These had a maximum effective range of 60 meters, Germany's answer for an inexpensive, high damage anti-tank weapon! They have absolutely no recoil!", Yukari exclaimed, Miho smiled awkwardly, having allowed her to spiel on, seeing it did her good, however she believed they had to move on from here.

"Uhh, Yukari-san…?", Miho asked.

Yukari paused, taking a breath, "Yes Nishizumi-dono?"

"I love to hear your explanations, but do you think it could wait until we're out of this mess? I wouldn't mind hearing more about it when we're safe!", Miho stated.

Yukari realized she'd gotten a little carried away and blushed.

"Ah! Sorry Nishizumi-dono! I didn't mean to get too excited like that!"

Miho chuckled, "No worries, Yukari-san."

With that, she began to examine the crates. From what she could see, they had two crates, so that made eight uses. She wasn't exactly sure yet what they would use them on though, they were high explosive, yes, but more so intended for hostile tanks. The others had walked up, Tsuchiya was the one to ask an obvious question that had gone unspoken,

"Anti-tank? Why would they give us anti-tank projectiles? I know the tanks are given extra protection with carbon coating, but I don't think that would protect anything against this, it could punch right through a weak spot in the armor."

Everyone half expected Yukari to respond first with some long-winded explanation, but it was Miho who spoke,

"These have been here a while; Back in the early years of Sensha-do, the rules were not concrete on what could and could not be used, safety wasn't as important as it is today, I doubt these Panzerfausts have seen the light of day in quite a while, they may still function though due to being kept in a sealed crate."

Everyone stood there, somewhat taken aback by the fact that the sport they participated in, what they thought had just been a fun extra-curricular activity had once been deadlier. Miho closed the crate, grabbing onto handles on either side, she hauled it up and carried it out. Again, she didn't know what they would use them for, but maybe it was better to be safe rather than sorry. Tsuchiya and Nakajima, with the assistance of Yukari, began removing some sets of tank shells from the shelves,

"Yeah, these'll do. We'll take 'em apart and use their filaments.", Nakajima said, before turning to Yukari and speaking once more,

"You all did good heading out, those materials you found in the chemistry labs will help a lot. It's a shame that the cost was one of you getting injured."

Yukari smiled, looking back over to where Erwin lay, who'd stirred and was now looking around at her friends, chatting idly, most likely regaling them with what had occurred. Miho stood in front of small reference map that showed the basic layout of the school and the property line. She occasionally scribbled on it, crossing out the auditorium, deeming it unsafe, crossing out the building containing the labs as they'd been searched. She retraced the path the trio had taken originally, as they encountered little resistance. It was half past eleven in the morning, she sighed, taking a step back to look over her work.

Meanwhile, the automotive club had begun work on their idea. It took a while, but soon enough, Tsuchiya and Nakajima took a step back from the workbench, they had one complete and one halfway, each individual pipe bomb took a few tank shells worth of filament each. Nakajima picked up the complete bomb, walking over to Miho, she held it out to her.

Miho took the homemade grenade and looked it over, it was crude for sure, but it might just work. Yukari too ran up, reaching into her pack, digging around for a moment, she retrieved a small lighter and held it out to Miho.

"I take this with me in case I need to set up camp somewhere and want to start a fire quickly!", Yukari chimed.

"Ah. Thanks, Yukari-san.", Miho replied, noting the fuse on the top of the pipe bomb.

"Yeah, Commander, that fuse should be good for about ten to fifteen seconds after lighting before it'll explode, so I recommend finding a target beforehand!", Nakajima stated, chuckling, Miho laughed nervously and nodded.

"What are the batteries for…?", Miho asked.

"Ah! Well, we figured these things like sound, so the battery taped to the side powers a little device on the top that beeps incessantly, it'll surely drive those things wild!", Tsuchiya answered.

Miho looked over the explosive once more, before turning to Yukari,

"Mind keeping this on one of the side pockets in your pack? I can't exactly carry it at the moment."

Yukari enthusiastically answered, "Yes, Nishizumi-dono!", before tucking the bomb in the side of her pack. Miho stepped onto her panzer then, turning to the rest of the group, who'd been sitting idly waiting for answers.

"Everyone!", she didn't have to yell very loud, everyone eagerly turned and waited expectantly.

"I'm not sure when help is arriving, but I don't think we have enough resources to wait for it here. It's time to act. It will not be easy, but I know we can, but only if we stick together, nobody wanders off alone or fights alone.", Miho started, before jumping down and walking over to the map,

"I've marked the areas we've explored on the map here, I don't know how many infected are left here, but from what the group that went out reported, it appears a majority of them have dissipated. Now as you know, the school is enclosed by a perimeter fence, it's aged but sturdy, although there may be a few entrances that we need to secure. What I'm proposing isn't going to be easy at all, but it is a whole lot better than doing nothing.", she paused, looking to the mix of shocked faces, inspired ones, and weary ones before ending with,

"I say…We take back our school."

Annnnnd that's that. Another one down, now I will try not to wait so long to upload again, just gotta work some writing time into my schedule. I kinda feel the surgery scene with Erwin was kinda lackluster, but eh, I'm kinda new to writing such scenes, anyways, until next time, see ya.