Around a week has passed and the atmosphere in the club was still heavy after the death of Dasuki. The day was going great until Bernard called us all for a new "emergency meeting" in the cafeteria. I wondered what idea he could have this time. After everyone has arrived he stood in the middle and loudly said:
- "Allright camp, I have a planned a new mission"
- "A new mission?" I said "During the last one I almost died!"
- "Well it's not like I forced you to go this time. Besides, now we are better prepared and armed. And we will remain on the ground so no one is going to fall to the death"
- "What is this plan?" asked Sayori
- "Now this is big. I am planning to clear the school yard of the zombies. There is only one exit from the school grounds, a big gate near the exit. If we manage to reach and close it we can prevent any zombies from entering it."
- "What if zombies go over the fence?" asked Michael
- "Good question, soldier. Did you see how those zombies are moving? I doubt any of them have enough coordination to pass over a fence. They can barely move their hands…"
- "Okay, but closing the gate safely and finding any possible weakness will surely take time. How will we be able to keep zombies from attacking us in the meantime?" asked Xavier
- "We will divide into two teams. One group of two people will go to the entrance, while three people will fight any zombies that might approach us. This is bulletproof plan"
- "Just like your previous plan?" I asked ironically
- "No. Three people were clearly not enough previously. Five people should be enough to secure each other. Remaining four should stay in school in case something goes bad. So who is going with me?"
- "I am going!" said Xavier
- "I want to go too!" said Michael
- "Very good soldiers. Who else?"
- "I want to go!" said Sayori loudly
- "Huh? Sayori? Why do you want to go?"
- " I have never been on a mission and I want to help! I can't just sit there and do nothing!"
- "If you really believe so. But don't run to me and complain when you sprain your foot, like…"
- "I am going to!" I said
- "Monika? Didn't you just say that this is a dangerous idea?"
- "I have trained since the last time. I can now operate a sword and I'm stronger. Also if Sayori is going I must go too to protect her"
- "Allright. That makes five people. Please everyone gather your weapons and supplies and ready in 15 minutes before the main school exit"
- "Yes, general!" said the rest of the team.
I went to the supply room to grab my katana that I found during the last operation. I have been training on it since a week and could comfortably swing it in all directions. I grabbed a backpack, a snack to eat and in a few minutes I was ready. I met with Sayori in the corridor:
- "Hey Sayori, are you sure you want to go with us? This will be a very dangerous mission"
- "Yes, I won't be a burden, I promise. This is so boring here."
- "Can you at least fight with any weapon?"
- "Yes, I can throw stones at zombies. I can also catch zombies' attention when others are fighting!"
- "Yeah…"
"I had a bad feeling about her participation. Anyway precisely at a given time we all gathered at the main exit.
Bernard was carrying a short knife and a flare gun. Xavier had a bow and arrows, Sayori had a slingshot with some stones. Michael was carrying equipment to close the gate. I was armed with my katana beside my belt.
Michael had pulled out a big piece of paper with a written map of our school.
- "I have drawn a rough map of our school. Here is the main building where we are currently residing. Here is an entrance to the school. Here is a fence around the entire school building. The only exit is the main gate here. Me and Monika will work to close it. Meanwhile Sayori, Xavier and Bernard will go around the fence looking for any holes and weaknesses that could spoil our plan and allow enemy to penetrate"
- "According to our observations" said Bernard "Right now there should be around four zombies inside the school grounds. I have waited with the decision to launch the operation until it drops to reasonable numbers. Right now there is a perfect window of opportunity. You need to kill all of them to clear the area. Understood?"
- "Understood" said Sayori and Xavier
- "Are you sure you will handle closing the gate?" asked Sayori
- "Yeah don't worry Sayori. Monika know about good knots, this gate can't be too hard to close"
- "Please stay safe, Michael"
- "You too Sayori"
- "Ekheem.."
- "Right, Monika, let's go"
- "Okay… 3..' 2… 1… Let's go!" shouted Bernard as he opened the door
Me and Michael immediately sprinted to the main gate. There weren't any zombies in sight, so we quickly reached it without any problems. There was some garbage and stones near the gate so we had to remove them in order to close the gate. Michael took some boulder that was standing in the way and placed it near. I removed some glass bottles laying there and other unpleasant stuff. Now we grabbed the gate and began pushing it.
- "Push harder!" said Michael
- "I'm trying my best"
After some trying we managed to move the gate. When I looked back I saw that Xavier managed to shoot down a zombie with an arrow. Bernard finished him with a blow to the head with his knife handle. Sayori was throwing rocks at zombies. But so far she angered more of them than injured them.
We almost closed the door when suddenly it stopped moving. Some metal part malfunctioned and it wouldn't move any millimeter further.
- "Crap!" I sweared
- "Please stay here, I will try to repair it!" said Michael
I grabbed my sword in both stands as I stood near the gate entrance. That's when I heard a zombie coming from the outside. I brandished my sword, but it didn't seem to be scared.
- "Michael, please hurry up!"
- "I'm trying! I need to move this rusted hinge which fell off!"
After the zombie came to the opposite side of the gate I pushed my sword into the monster's eye socket. It didn't seem to bother him very much as he continued pushing it. I quickly removed it and stabbed him in the abdomen. A bunch of his organs fell off but it only deconcentrated him for a moment before he attacked me with his hand. I quickly cut his wrist rendering his hand useless. Just when he was about the enter, I heard:
- "Okay push now!"
I raised my leg with my entire strength.I pushed the big metal gate with a kick. The zombie fell on the ground surprised and the metal wings finally clicked together. Now we needed to act quickly. Michael pulled out a metal chain and twisted it around the gate's wings. I pulled one end while he catched the other and with some pulling we made a solid knot around it. Then we jumped back. The zombie was again trying to pass, but was unable to his utter despair. The closing worked.
- "We did it" I raised my hand
- "Good job!" Michael high-fived me.
Just when we thought that all ended with success, suddenly we heard a loud scream of Sayori around 20 meters away.
- "Oh now, what did she do?" I worried
When I looked at the source I noticed she was wrestling with some zombie who caught up to her.
I rushed to save her.
- "Don't worry I'm gonna save you!" said Xavier pointing his bow at the zombie and firing it. The arrow missed both of them and landed at the ground. I was forced to stop, as not to get caught in the crossfire.
- "Please do not shoot Sayori accidentally!" Michael shouted
- "Don't worry, I know what I am doing!" responded Xavier, loading the next arrow from his container.
- "Sayori please don;t move, I need to focus on the target!"
- "Please hurry up, I don't want to die!"
He released his bow and fired the arrow right at the zombie's head. But just as it was supposed to hit him, Sayori suddenly struggled in a fight with the undead, rotating 90 degrees. The arrow hit her in the chest, going a few centimeters deep.
- "Aaa I got shot!" scream of Sayori was loudly heard, as she collapsed on the ground
- "Sayori nooo!" Michael screamed with her
I instantly rushed to her with my katana drawn high. I lunged at the zombie and cut off his head with one precise cut. It had much smaller resistance than I thought. His ball bounced a few times like a blowing ball before stopping with a surprised look forever carved on its face. Michael meanwhile was kneeling over Sayori:
- "Sayori are you alright? Please let me remove the arrow!"
- "No!" I warned him "If you remove the arrow, she will lose too much blood. We need to take her to the nursing room. Now!
Bernard who just caught with us looked at the situation and said
- "Monika, Michael go with Sayori, me and Xavier will end the operation!"
I grabbed Sayori by her legs while Michael grabbed her by her arms. We quickly walked to the school, beware as not to drop her. When we entered the building others gathered around.
- "I heard screams, what happened to Sayori?" asked Linda
- "Xavier accidentally shot her during fighting, we need to operate on her fast!"
- "I will help you, let's go to the nursing room!"
We quickly reached the room and placed Sayori on the main table. The same that I was previously operating Bernard on.
- "Michael please leave the room, we need to be focused on operation"
- "Yes sorry, I am going" he said as he closed the doors behind him.
- "Sayori, are you feeling good?" asked Linda
- "Yeah besides that I just got shot in chest, you know, it used to be worse"
- "It doesn't look good, the arrow is deep inside the heart. Let's hope it didn't damage any important organs. Monika please raise her legs, that way more blood will flow to her brain and heart."
- "Yes" I said as I grabbed both her legs and put a box beside them to allow blood to flow out of them.
- "We need to remove her shirt, but the arrow pierced through it. Monika, please pass me a pair of scissors!"
- "Yes, here!"
She cut her shirt revealing her bare chest with an arrow sticking from it just left of her sternum, slightly on the left side. There was a lot of blood that had spilled out.
- "I see you're not wearing a bra, Sayori" noticed Linda
- "All my bras were dirty and I forgot to wash them so I didn't wear one hehe" Sayori looked embarrassed.
- "Maybe not the smartest decision in hindsight. Now is the hard part. Arrow tip has shape which is supposed to stuck inside the victim and make it harder to remove it"
- "What are we going to do?" I asked
- "We are going to remove it by force. First Monika, give me water we need to clean the wound before the operation of removal"
I gave her a bottle of water after which she began to carefully clean around the arrow with a piece of cloth.
- "Ow, it hurts" complained Sayori
- "Ohh it's gonna hurt much more when we are going to remove it"
- "What?"
- "Nothing! Monika please give me pincers"
- "Here you go"
- "Allright Sayori, this one is going to hurt, but we need to complete it. Do you understand?"
- "Yes, I think I do. Monika, can you hold my hand?"
- "Of course Sayori!" I said as she grabbed my hand.
- "I wish we had some pain-killers here… Anyway!" said Linda as she grabbed the arrow with the pincers and sharply began to pull it out.
- "Aaaaaaa!" screamed Sayori at top of her lungs as her nails painfully dug into my hand.
- "Please survive this Sayori" i said to ther
- "I have no choice, right… Aaa!"
- "We are almost there, just a bit more" said Linda "And there we go!"
Entire arrow was now removed from Sayori's body. We wasted no time however as I put a piece of lint inside the wound to swallow the blood. Linda rolled a bandage and put a few layers of it around to keep the blood from flowing out of the wound. Finally we were done.
- "Now it looks like the worst is behind us. You need to rest Sayori and don't engage in any risky activity if you want to recover properly."
- "Yeah I understand it"
- "Looks like everyone needs to learn this lesson by themselves" I said remembering when i was wounded myself.
At this moment we heard a loud "knock knock" at the door.
- "May I enter?" said Michael
- "Please come in!" said Sayori
He opened the door and looked at Sayori, a bit scared but also relieved.
- "Is everything okay?" he asked
- "She got lucky. If the arrow hit her just bit higher it would have reached her heart and she might not have survived" said Linda
- "Ohh I am glad everything ended fine. Sayori please don;t make such risky things again!"
- "I won't again, I promise!"
- "Ohh come here, you airhead!" he said, as he kissed her in the lips. They remained in that position for a moment, before I broke the awkward silence:
- "Ekhem"
- "Ohh sorry, we were lost in a moment" blushed Sayori.
Suddenly the door opened again and Bernard entered:
- "Sayori, are you okay, I just returned…"
- "Please knock before you enter!" she said as she covered her nipples with her arm.
- "Oh sorry, I didn't see anything! But I am glad that you are now fine, Sayori. I feel dumb for taking you for such a dangerous mission"
- "Nah it's my fault, I volunteered for this mission"
He then looked at me:
- "Monika, when you cut off that zombie's head with a sword that looked so cool, not gonna lie. You saved the situation for all of us"
- "Hehe thanks" I said embarrassed "I acted out of instinct. I was myself surprised how easily his head just popped off"
- "Anyway the school yard is now all cleared, we can safely go outside and organize there. This is gonna give us much more freedom"
- "That;s one good information. What are we gonna do now?" I asked
- "Now you should leave the room, to allow our patient to rest," said Linda.
In the afternoon when after a long day I went to the shower I noticed Sayori sitting on the floor. She was covering herself with soap, avoiding the area covered by bandages. I undressed and sat near her.
- "Hey, Sayori, are you and Michael dating?"
- "Ohh right, yeah we started doing two days ago, i didn't tell anyone yet, but I guess now truth is spilled"
- "Who confessed first, if I may ask?"
- "Michael initially came to me on the top of the building. He started with saying that he always like me as a friend but got so lost in speech that I had to take the initiative and kissed him first!"
- "Ohh wouldn't expect that from you, sounds really romantic"
- "Hmm are you jealous Monika? Did you make your first move with Bernard yet, I clearly saw that he tried to flirt with you today, don't think I didn't notice"
- "Do you think that I would have any chance with him? We clashed so many times and we are so harsh to each other. I can't see him as my boyfriend"
- "Well how about you try to change his opinion on you and ask him on a date?"
- "On a date? Wouldn't that be basically confessing? What if he rejects me and became even more distant to me?"
- "You don't have to name it a date… Just ask him to eat with you together on top of a school and try to make smart conversation with him, look if you're both compatible you know"
- "I… I will try it!" I responded confidently.