Ah, school has started... I can tell that this is going to be rough, my last class anyway... hope it doesn't delay my plans for this fic. That would really suck if it ends up taking a week longer than it should to type up a chapter...

Oh well, no choice but to go along with it.

Here's the next chapter. Hope you enjoy it.

Chapter 3

They hadn't driven very far until they began to run into Them, quite literally in fact as Shizuka ran some over. "What's going on? The closer we get to Higashi Hill's 2-choome, the more of Them there are!" Rei shouted. Takashi was next to her wondering the same thing as well.

"Damn it, there's gotta be reason for this," Takashi said. He blinked suddenly as he noticed something. In the distance he saw what looked like wires stretched out across the road. "Oh shit. Shizuka sensei, stop the car! Stop it now!" he yelled out.

"Huh?" It was the response he got from Shizuka. The same could be said of the others as it was obvious that they were confused by his sudden outburst. That and it was impossible for someone's eyesight to be that good from such a distance. It seemed that it wasn't only Takashi's appearance that have gone through some changes.

Takashi got pissed. "There's wires stretched across the road, so if you don't want to end up cutting us all cut to ribbons, then stop the damn car!" His anger was evident and everyone was taken aback by it, but Saeko now saw the wires and so did everyone else. Shizuka slammed on the brakes.

The hummer skidded, but still kept getting closer to the wires. The guts from Them were making them slide like that, but Shizuka was able to stop by easing of the brakes and hitting the gas. However, when they did come to a halt, the hummer hit the wires and it made Rei lose her balance and fall of the hummer. She hit the front of the hummer and then fell onto the ground, making her easy prey for Them as they came closer.

Without even thinking, Takashi slid off the hummer wielding the shotgun with just one hand. As he touched the ground, he took aim at a small group of them and without hesitation, fired. The one in the middle had its head blown cleanly off and the other fell back from the force of the shotgun blast.

"What the...?" Takashi couldn't help asking himself that as he has never fired a shotgun before and the shot didn't feel like a fluke to him. More of Them kept approaching and so he once again fired without thinking, blowing two of them down with a shot. He smiled as the bodies fell. "Wow, don't know what's going on with me, but this is nice."

The smile faded though as more of Them approached. "There's way too many of Them," he muttered. As he said that, Kohta shot down a few of Them and turned to Takashi.

"Don't stop firing!" That was all he needed to say to get Takashi to continue blasting away at Them. A few shots later though, he was out and had to reload. He clumsily fumbled a few extra shells out of his pocket, but dropped them.

He swore and went to pick them up. Saeko got out of the car and rammed the butt of her sword into the face of one of Them. "Komuro-kun! I'll help you protect Miyamoto-kun!"

Takashi looked at her as if she was crazy. "No! There are too many of Them to fight with your sword!"

She smirked. "I realize that!" She quickly turned and slashed at another one of Them. Takashi would've continued to argue, but he gave up and decided to focus on Them for now. Having picked up the shells and loaded them, he continued to pick off Them with some assistance from Kohta.

However, it wasn't long at all until he was out. The only way to fight Them off now was to use the shotgun as a club. Takashi ran up to one and smashed the butt of the shotgun right into it's face. Rather than just simply falling down from the force of it, the head seemed to explode as if struck with another round from the shotgun. Takashi's eyes widened in surprise.

"What the hell?" He could never hit that hard before. He turned around and saw that Rei was looking as shocked as well. So was Kohta, who also watched this, but he shook his head and pointed past Takashi. Takashi quickly turned and smashed the shotgun again into another one of Them, resulting in the exact same thing. "Wow," he said to himself.

Unfortunately, the shotgun couldn't take so much force and it broke into pieces after that swing, something that Kohta cried about for a second. Takashi threw the pieces to the ground and walked up to a group of Them, confident that he could take Them down easily with his newfound strength.

He lashed out with an elbow as he got near and was rewarded with a satisfying splat as the head was crushed and blood flew onto a nearby wall. Then he spun and kicked another in the chest, his foot literally burying itself in the zombie's sternum. It didn't kill it, but it sure made it back up. Takashi finished it with a punch to the skull.

Takashi killed the few remaining ones with just as much ease, unconsciously letting out a barely audible laugh at how easy this was now. He didn't notice everyone giving him strange looks as this was as surprising as when he went through those changes.

More of Them came, but Takashi took them out as well, smashing in their heads as if they were mangos. More blood spattered the streets. At first there was a huge crowd of Them, but now all that remained were the headless corpses of Them all over the road. Takashi smiled in satisfaction at his work.

"Komuro?"

He turned to Kohta. "Just how the hell were you able to do that?" he asked, his amazement obvious.

"I have no idea. I just clubbed Them like I did in the beginning. Your guess is as good as mine about whatever's happening," Takashi replied. Now that they were safe, he could take the time to think about all of these recent developments.

"Wow, Onii-chan, you were like a super hero!" Alice practically yelled as she got out of the hummer and went to Takashi. Takashi laughed sheepishly as she hugged him.

"I wouldn't exactly say that. If I really were a super hero, then I'd be wearing a cape and costume." He smiled as Alice laughed.

Rei, Saya, and Saeko though seemed worried. Takashi could tell by the looks on their faces. He saw that Kohta now had become serious and Shizuka... well, she was being Shizuka as she stood there next to Rei, supporting her since she was hurting from falling off the hummer.

"Oh crap, I totally forgot. Rei, are you okay?" he asked, now concerned.

She gave him a weak smile. "I'm fine. Just need to rest a bit."

"Crap! Everyone, look!" Kohta yelled out.

They all spun and froze at the sight. The creature from yesterday has appeared once again. However, the real reason why they just stood there like statues was because there were several of them and they were approaching quite fast.

Takashi involuntarily shivered as he remembered how he was impaled. Kohta took aim at one of them and fired. The thing lurched back for a quick second. It began to move forward again as if nothing happened. Kohta cursed and fired again. At this Saeko drew her sword again and waited for one of them to get closer. Even Saya moved a bit towards them, a gun in her hands.

"Do you know how to use one?" Kohta asked.

"I'm a genius!" was her response.

She took aim and pulled the trigger. She managed to hit one, but it had as much effect as Kohta's shot. Takashi turned to see Rei, Shizuka, and Alice huddled together, unarmed but determined. Seeing his friends fighting their fear of these things made him feel a bit pathetic as he wasn't doing anything.

He looked back at the creatures and took a deep breath. "I can do this... I can do this... I'm stronger than before..." He mumbled. Takashi charged at one as fast as he could. He moved in close and kicked it as hard as he can. To his surprise, the thing flew back from the force, but it got back up as soon as it landed. The other ones took note of his presence and clumsily moved towards him. As one got close, it spun around, its bladed arm sticking out.

Takashi saw it coming and noticed that it was fast, but not as much as it was before. He stored that fact away along with all of the other weird things he's been through in the back of his mind and moved back to avoid the blade.

He felt a pain in his back though. He turned and saw another one had slashed him. Funnily enough, he couldn't feel a wound. Takashi punched it and the thing staggered, which Takashi then took advantage of and started to hit it again and again.

Several punches later, the thing died. Well, it seemed to die as suddenly, a black mist of some sort shot out of it and the thing's body seemed to deflate. Takashi jumped back in surprise and this nearly led him to being hit again, but was saved by a timely intervention from Saeko, who had come up and struck the thing across the back.

From afar, Kohta and Saya were taking shots at the other ones, but the shots weren't dealing enough damage to them. The creatures shrugged off the bullets and continued to approach Takashi.

Takashi had just finished off the one Saeko hit and had just noticed the others coming. "They're getting shot one after another, but they're completely ignoring everyone else," he thought as they all were focusing on him.

There were only four left, but everyone still felt a little scared as these things were unknown and they didn't know what exactly to do. Only two were dead and it was Takashi who killed them and because of whatever has happened to him, it was unknown if it was something only he could do or if they weren't doing something that Takashi was.

Considering all he did was beat them with his fists, the only explanation was that they weren't dealing enough damage. With this in mind, Kohta and Saya upped the firing rate and the things were being peppered with bullets.

This was a good thing and a bad thing as they could actually see them hurting now, but two of them turned and now moved up to the hummer. "Oh shit," Kohta muttered as he just ran out of bullets. He quickly scrambled into the hummer and got himself another clip. He tossed one to Saya as well.

While that happened, Saeko had ran up to the two left that were going for her and Takashi and hit it with the butt of her sword. It barely flinched, but she didn't let up as she began to slash away at it with everything she had. The thing lashed out with a slash of its own, but Saeko was able to dodge albeit barely. Another couple of slashes later, the thing staggered and Kohta took this chance to take a shot at it. This time, the thing moaned as the black mist poured out of it and died.

Takashi was beating on the other one and had just killed, having found it surprisingly easier to kill it. It was almost as if he was getting used to this. "Fat chance of that. I'm barely getting use to Them," he thought.

By the hummer, the last two were close now to it, but a final shot from Saya brought one down. However, the other one was still kicking and it jumped high into the air. Rather than having a blade on its arm, it had one on its leg and right now, that particular leg was aimed at Kohta. Kohta had just ran out of bullets and Saya was out too. The thing was coming down fast and Kohta knew there was no way he could dodge it.

Takashi and Saeko saw this as well and began to run towards the hummer, but by the time they did start moving, the thing was practically on top of Kohta. He had closed his eyes, preparing to take the blow.

"Everyone, get down!" This sudden yell took them all by surprise, but Kohta complied and quickly ducked as a powerful burst of water shot out above his head and struck the creature head on. It flew back and before it could get up, it was shot several times by someone and it died.

Everyone looked and saw a small group of people clad in gear on the other side of the wire. One of them went up and made an opening for them. "This way. You'll be safe over here." Takashi and the others didn't have to be told twice as they moved through the opening and to the other side.

As Takashi was making sure Kohta and the others were okay, Saeko had walked up to one of the people and bowed. "Thank you for rescuing us in our time of need," she said respectfully.

The person she bowed to took off the helmet, revealing to them a beautiful woman. "Of course. I wanted to help my daughter and her friends," she said with a smile.

Saya ran towards her. "Mama!" As she embraced her mother, everyone else watched them with a content smile on their faces. And so the day came to an end.

Okay, that last bit felt a bit corny, but no matter how many times I do it, it just doesn't come out right.

Well, I was able to get this done relatively fast and I was also able to get the demons in there as well. Don't worry though, I plan to put other demons in there, I'm just focusing on throwing in the Scarecrows first.

So I hope you liked it.

Please review.