A/N: Aaaahhh this has been sitting in my brain while I've been working and I'm finally posting it! Very excited to get back into writing fanfiction. It's been...so long. Please enjoy!
Haruhi internally groaned looking around the room full of her rich classmates. She had nothing against them personally, but sometimes their attitudes were almost too much for her to handle, especially on a day like today. She just wanted to go home already, make a nice dinner, then tuck into bed nice and early.
"Oh Haruhi!" Tamaki called from a nearby table. "Don't get too lost in your thoughts that you ignore those beautiful women in front of you! We won't be here for too much longer, you know?"
"Hm?" Haruhi hummed. She smiled, embarrassed she had been caught spacing out once again. "O-oh, of course! Sorry about that ladies," Haruhi started, turning towards the three girls in front of her. Also in their senior year, they were caught on Haruhi's every word. "I've just been so busy lately about getting into a good university once school ends, I guess I got a little distracted from what we were talking about."
"Don't even mention it, Haruhi!" the first girl exclaimed, brown curls bouncing as she leaned forward.
"Yeah!" the second girl chimed in, mimicking her friend, "university is so important!"
"Where do you think you'll be going for university, Haruhi? Will you have to get another scholarship?" the last girl asked excitedly.
'These damn rich people,' Haruhi inwardly groaned.
"Now ladies, please," Kyouya cut in, walking by with a clipboard in hand. "Don't stress out Haruhi too much about school. He's worked very hard as it is already, you know." Kyouya kept walking through the Third Music Room as he spoke, but Haruhi shot a thankful glance his way as the girls sitting in front of her kept chatting away.
Each one of the members of the Host Club brought Haruhi joy, and she couldn't imagine living life without them – even though she'd soon have to for school. Even though Honey and Mori had already graduated from Ouran Academy, they made it clear to the rest of the Host Club that they still expected to be friends. The last few years had been some of the happiest of her life, and she only hoped that university would bring more of the same.
That was the last completely normal day that Haruhi remembered before all of this. Later that evening upon returning home, she found her father crying – not unusual, until he told her why. They had both heard the reports about people getting sick and dying from some strange illness that doctors couldn't understand. At first Haruhi thought nothing of it, people get sick and die every day, right? Haruhi's own mother was proof of that. But this was…something else. The look of those people was enough to make Haruhi sick to her stomach thinking about it.
The next day at school was a Friday, and all of the students were worried. The fact that they were let out early showed that the staff was, as well. The sickness wasn't contained to just one country, and it was rapidly spreading.
"What do you think they're going to do about it?" Honey asked the group as they walked through the streets of Haruhi's neighborhood.
"Who really knows?" Haruhi replied, trying not to think about it too much.
"Well I'm sure the government does!" Hikaru cut in.
"Sure," Kaoru drawled out, eyeing his twin. "Are they the ones who stole your clothes last week, too?"
"No," Hikaru stated matter-of-factly, "that was you."
"I'm sure that it'll stay under control," Mori chimed in, sensing Haruhi's uneasiness. Haruhi gave Mori a small smile in thanks, though she wasn't sure if she believed him.
"Thanks, Mori-senpai," Haruhi replied, trailing off as she stared down the street behind him. Mori furrowed his brows, walking coming to a stop while he looked behind him at what Haruhi was staring at.
"Hey, what's the big idea?!" Tamaki asked, coming to the front of the group and stopping when he saw Haruhi's shocked face. "Haruhi? Are you okay?!" Tamaki reached out to touch her arm but froze when he saw tears forming in her eyes. "H-Haruhi?"
"Tamaki," Kyouya said sharply, prompting Tamaki to look at the rest of the Host Club. "Look." Tamaki slowly turned and faced the same way, freezing when he saw a lone figure standing in the street of Haruhi's neighborhood.
None of the group could tell if the figure was male or female. They stood huddled together, everyone now sharing Haruhi's uneasiness while the figure hunched over into the street, making gurgling noises.
"Are they okay?" Mitsukuni asked hesitantly.
The figure turned to stare at the host club, hearing Honey's voice in the quiet streets. Everyone tensed as they finally got a good look at the person's face – if they could even call them that anymore. There was loose skin hanging from what looked like the rest of the woman's face, looking like something had ripped her cheeks apart from her mouth. Her eyes had clouded over to almost pure white, and it seemed as if one of the bones in her leg had been broken somehow as she limped around to fully face them.
"Everyone listen carefully," Kyouya started quietly, keeping his voice low in hopes that he couldn't be heard. The woman kept staring at them as he spoke, unmoving. "Stay quiet. Don't speak unless you need to. We're going to back away slowly and run together to Haruhi's apartment. Something isn't right with her."
Everyone slowly nodded in unison, seeming to understand the urgency of the situation. Something was very obviously wrong, and they needed to find out what exactly in the safety of an enclosed space, and not standing in the street with someone who seems to have been mutilated.
"Together," Kyouya instructed, keeping his eyes locked in front of him. "Now."
The host club all moved together backwards, slowly as if not to alarm what was in front of them. Haruhi felt sick to her stomach looking at the woman's face, and wondered if she could tell what was happening, or if she was completely gone. Her face was torn, and Haruhi couldn't tell if it seemed more like animal or human scratches.
Haruhi flinched as one of the boys stepped on a dried out leaf, making a loud crunch. They all froze as the woman tilted her head, obviously hearing them. She tried to take a step forward, and her leg instantly bowed, a large cracked bone sticking out from the side just below her knee as she wobbled and fell to the ground with a loud thud. The woman released a loud groan, looking up and pulling herself towards the group.
"Oh my God," Haruhi whimpered, and in an instant they were all sprinting towards Haruhi's apartment. Haruhi could vaguely make out the footsteps of the twins running behind her, while Tamaki and Kyouya were taking up the lead. Haruhi glanced back after a second to see Mori trailing behind them, carrying Mitsukuni in his arms as to stay with the rest of the group.
They made it back to Haruhi's apartment in record time, flying up the steps and slamming the door shut behind them once everyone had made it in. Haruhi fumbled with the locks, making sure everything was secure before standing facing the door, palms flat against the door as she panted and felt her heart race in her chest.
"What the hell was that thing?!" Tamaki questioned, obviously panicked. "Haruhi, are you okay?" Haruhi nodded in response, still trying to catch her breath.
"Yeah," Haruhi responded after a few seconds, feeling nauseous. "I'm good." Haruhi looked up to Tamaki, instantly being met with his worried face. She was thankful that he wasn't trying to crowd and hug her right now. As she looked around the room of her friends crowded into her apartment, she could tell they were all sharing the same feeling of fear.
"That was scary," Mitsukuni commented slowly, eyes still brimming with tears. One of the oldest members of the group, he was currently still being protectively held by Takashi, who was kneeling down to check on the smaller boy.
"What was that?" the twins asked in unison. Haruhi could tell that they were both shaken up by what they had just seen, though they wouldn't openly admit it. "It looked just like a-"
"A zombie," Kyouya cut off. The room was silent as they all stared at him, eyes wide.
"That's just movie stuff," Mitsukuni sniffed, rubbing the tears from his cheeks.
"How would you explain what we saw, then, Honey?" Kyouya asked bluntly, and Mitsukuni frowned at him.
"Kyouya," Mori grumbled, giving him a hard look.
"Fine then," Kyouya sighed, "the undead. She very obviously wasn't alive, I think that much we can agree on?" The rest of the group cast wary looks at each other, obviously uncomfortable with the present topic, before eventually nodding. "Then I think we can also agree that whatever sickness has been going around has everything to do with it."
"So we get sick and…and turn into that?" Haruhi asked fearfully.
"I imagine once we die…yes, that's what will happen to us. I don't see how we're not all infected by now since people have been falling ill for months," Kyouya reasoned. Everyone was silent for what seemed like forever until Haruhi was the one to break it.
"Dad?!" Haruhi called throughout the apartment. After a few seconds with no answer, Haruhi hurriedly pulled out her phone and hit 1, instantly calling him. 10 rings went by before his voicemail came up, and Haruhi groaned before leaving a message. "Dad, call me back when you get this!"
Haruhi clicked the red phone icon and looked up, instantly being met with the sight of her friends hurriedly dialing phone numbers. She watched as one by one they either left messages or were met with full voicemail boxes, hesitantly looking around at one another when they realized their families were unreachable.
"Now what do we do?" Mitsukuni asked quietly, his eyes reflecting the panic that Haruhi so desperately wanted to let out.
"Well," Haruhi started unsure, "we stay together. We can't go back out there right now."
"Haruhi is right," Kyouya confirmed. "There's no way we can go back out there on a wild goose chase for all of our families."
"Staying here it is!" Tamaki happily added. "I'm sure we'll be safe if we all stick together! After all, we are the illustrious Ouran High School Host Club, are we not?"
"Well," the twins said in synch, giving an amused but pointed look to Mori and Honey, "most of us anyways." Mitsukuni giggled in response as he nodded.
"I guess we can wait before trying to call everyone again," Haruhi slowly said. "Until then…what are we supposed to do?" she asked. Haruhi could tell that everyone was trying to keep a cheery look on their faces, but knew they were all just as worried as she was. She wondered how they'd distract themselves until then.
"I think it's about time for dinner," Tamaki responded cheerfully. "Everyone, let's help Haruhi cook the best dinner ever!"
Haruhi supposed that would work for now.