In this chapter there is more hope, but that's not going to last. Enjoy!
It's a battle to survive mentally and emotionally.
Tezuka hurriedly made his way towards Kamikaze High, he called Inui and told him and Renji to continue researching the places' history and notify him if they come up with anything important. He swallowed a bit as a rush of guilt swallowed him up and he felt that he once again failed to notice the obvious. He was worried that once again Sakuno was alone with no one to support her and that terrified him.
Sakuno was still deeply disturbed by the corpse of Kikyo on the floor and her body went numb from shock. Nana and Maro helped her up and told her they had to move on, there is nothing they could do anymore and they wanted to check the room the teacher told them about just in case. It was decided that Maro would be the one to go in while the rest kept watch of the door as they watched him slowly and steadily walk further in. He opened the box to see it had a big bottle of sleeping pills in it, probably for anyone who wanted to commit suicide.
Maro was nervous be he did find a false bottom in the box and two antidotes, he was pretty excited and was starting to make his way back when the walls opened up and two chains came flying at him he was able to dodge them but got cut on his shoulder a bit. He quickly crawled out and to the others.
"Ah…I uhh…got two." He said still a bit jittered by the attack.
"Good job man!" Juro exclaimed very impressed.
"Yes, your reflexes are quite good" Nana also commented.
He stood up with a smirk but got dizzy and fell to the ground, he threw up and it seemed to be all blood, the rash was also spreading. Sakuno was still a bit in shock from earlier but tried to offer her hand until Usagi pushed her out of the way.
"Hey you gonna just lay there? Take one then hand the other over!" She said out stretching her hand and Maro could see that her finger tips were bleeding.
He stood up and turned around giving himself one of the injections, no one was very surprised he almost died to get it so he deserved to have one but it was also up to him who got the other.
He turned around and looked at the group. " Now, who should I give the other too?" He asked not sure what to do
"Give it to the hardest worker." Kyo said as Usagi was being held back by Juro and Nana.
Maro nodded and walked up to Juro who was busy trying to cover Usagi's mouth and injected the shot into his shoulder. Juro was surprised at first but almost seemed to break into tears when he realized what happened.
"Th-thanks man!" He said picking up and hugging Maro with a huge grin on his face.
"P-please…let go.." Maro said while gasping for air.
"Oh right sorry man!" Juro said and put him down gently.
"That was the scariest thing yet." Maro replied with a sheepish smile.
"What the? Damn it!" Usagi yelled clearly upset by the outcome but she decided to just turn away from them and pout.
"Well, you guys can do what you want from here." Nana said with a small and sad smile.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Juro asked confused. Usagi mumbled something but he didn't catch it.
"I mean you guys can go back up where it's safe." She said with a deadpanned voice and a hand on her hips.
"That's true…but…" Maro started but felt slightly out of place.
"I'm sure Kyo-sempai and I can handle it." She said.
"What do you mean? You and Kyo-kun?" Usagi said a bit insulted she was counted as a competent person on the team. Sakuno too felt a bit disappointed that still no one can count on her for help.
"It's not that, we are simply the oldest and less rash of us. It's our jobs to take care of those younger then us." Nana said softly.
"Nah! I'll stay a bit longer make sure I get those damn teachers back. It would be nice to all go back together." Juro said.
"Also the cafeteria is still blocked so maybe we will find some other exit and escape." Maro added.
Sakuno was a bit surprised but she smiled tenderly at them and felt that there was some hope for her life. She decided that it was time she tried to continue forward and not look back because she would be consumed by fear and misery again.
They continued down the long hallway when Sakuno seemed to wonder what exactly got her into this mess, this school.
(Sakuno P.O.V)
Ryoma had just broken up with me and I tried to find my friend to confided in her. I wandered aimlessly for a while when I found her chatting with some of her other more cooler friends. It was lunch time and people were looking at me strangely while I was fighting the tears back. Tomoka looked annoyed and sighed when she saw me then hurriedly rushed me away from her other friends. She walked me to the school and to the girls bathroom and asked me.
"What's up?" She said
"R-Ryoma-kun…He…he broke up with me." I said as tears began to fall.
She sighed again.
"I knew this was going to happen." She said simply.
"Wh-what?" I said very confused on how she knew I was going to be crushed by the only guy I ever liked.
"You're just so quiet and meek Sakuno, everyone could tell he was bored of you." She said harshly.
I was deeply shocked and mortified that our break up was a topic of everyone's conversation and that people were just watching and waiting for it to happen. Naturally I cried harder as my body slowly started to heat up from embarrassment and hate for myself and for everyone around me.
"Come on Sakuno it's okay." She said trying to be caring, I clung to her shirt and I was trying to stop my tears with no luck.
"Eh! Sakuno can you not cry so much?" She said probably disgusted that I was crying on her shirt and getting it dirty.
"I-I'm sorry." I was barely able to muffle out between sobs.
"Sakuno girls aren't pretty when they cry, pull yourself together." She said and tried to push me away a bit.
I looked up at her as the feeling of total disgust washed over me, knowing I was acting so childishly, crying so hard over a boy. It was disgusting because at that moment I realized he was the only redeeming thing I had in my whole life. When we grew up everyone changed and became distant but Ryoma stayed with me. It was probably out of pity that he did or he was bored and wanted an excuse to deny all the fan girls.
I hate myself so much.
"Sakuno, I got to go ok? My friends are waiting." She said then ran off ,out of the bathroom.
I watched her go then got up and went to a stall locked the door and sat there the rest of the day. I was being so overdramatic it hurt, I mentally cursed myself at how pathetic I was the entire time. Time sure went by fast when I was degrading myself. Seemed like I barely scratched the surface of how incompetent I am when it was time for afternoon sports to begin. I shot up and remembered I had tennis practice but thinking about it I never really liked tennis, I didn't hate it but….
"I don't want to do it anymore." I said when I remembered that the only reason I joined tennis because of that one person.
I went home when I was sure that everyone else had left the grounds, I didn't want someone from the tennis team to see me and ask questions. I stared down at my feet the whole walk home. I didn't get lost, I guess that's the good part.
I was quickly scolded by my grandmother for being late and not showing up for practice and I didn't tell her that Ryoma had broken up with me. To her that wasn't important enough, I wasn't sure what to do so I nodded and went to my room. I decided early the next morning after my depressing sleep to throw away all my tennis gear.
My grandmother already left for her teacher and coaching duties so I was alone. I knew I couldn't avoid school but the first thing I did was go get a resignation form from the office and leave the tennis club. The whole day I could hear people whispering but I had become numb to it and just wallowed in self pity. That's how it went for a long time I just went to classes and spoke only when spoken too. Until one day.
I was asked to read a sentence in English. I stood up and was about to start. Nothing came out. The teacher at first wondered if I forgot I shook my head no and tried again. Nothing, and then the teacher was pissed and demanded if I knew the line to say it or sit down. I did know the line, I knew I could say it I was staring at the paper so hard I began shaking and I wanted to say it. Come on! Come on!
"A-Ah…." I gasped then I was swallowed by darkness.
(Regular P.O.V)
Sakuno looked at the people around her and remembered the other friends she has made here, they all were different and weird but they helped her a lot. She thought of Rai who unconditionally watch out for her with out a second thought and the people who support her and the few that confide in her like Ikeda. In a way she was needed by at least someone. She then remembered Tezuka who started to grow more in her mind as a person she might trust again.
"Oi!" Hey you guys!" Sakuno stopped when she heard the familiar voice of Rai.
"R-Rai-sempai?" She asked happy but confused.
The whole group stopped and looked to see that behind him was Shiro, Kaito, and Yoi.
"Hey Sakuno-chan you okay?" Rai asked concerned.
Sakuno blushed but gave a nod.
"That's good, we were worried." Rai said.
"Yeah! I was also worried that big guy Juro would do something to you!" Shiro said pointing at Juro. "Hey, where's Kikyo?" He asked.
"Why you little!-" Juro was about to tackle Shiro when he took a breath and calmed down after he heard Kikyo's name and the memory of her face entered in his mind.
"She was killed…." Nana said solemnly and Sakuno looked down depressed wishing to forget the gruesome scene.
"A teacher shot her after she got the antidote." Maro said and kicked the ground while he kept his hands in his pocket. The group grew silent and it seemed there was a heavy air of dread and guilt.
"That's horrible, those teachers!" Shiro yelled in rage.
"We'll get them back, but we got to find more antidotes." Rai said trying to calm Shiro down.
"Any luck?" Yoi asked the others.
Sakuno nodded then pointed to Juro and Maro. "They were able to get the antidote."
"What's it to you?" Usagi asked clearly not pleased with more people around which meant more competition.
"Well I also got the antidote." Yoi said simply, not liking Usagi's pushy attitude.
"Can I ask you guys for a favor?" Kaito finally said to Juro and Maro.
They seemed confused then gave him a slight nod.
"Can you go with Yoi back to the cafeteria to my bag. I have all my computer equipment in my bag. These newer rooms have electrical sockets in them I could use to hook up my computer and get a message to the outside world." Kaito said.
"Why didn't you go?" Kyo asked darkly.
"We didn't want to backtrack when we haven't even found one antidote." Rai said.
"We also didn't want to send Yoi-chan back alone, she may be strong but she still might get hurt." Shiro said.
"I have some stickers we'll leave a trail, the rest of us will go ahead and keep looking." Kaito said pulling out his collection of "Hello Kitty" stickers.
Both groups looked at him with confusion and their brains seemed to have stopped working for a moment.
"Th-that's cute." Yoi commented and Kaito gave a stoic nod back.
She then grabbed Maro and Juro by the wrist and walked with them back towards the cafeteria as the others decided to go forward for more antidotes.
"I'm glad we were able to get the antidotes, but I feel bad for the others." Yoi said with a small smile.
"Yeah, but I'm sure they'll find more!" Juro said with a laugh.
"Umm…My wrist it starting to hurt can you let go?" Maro asked having is fill of being squeezed.
"Haha, yeah mine too! You sure are strong little lady!" Juro said chuckling a bit.
Yoi smiled a bit more. "Not yet." she said and continued to lead them back.
With the other group Nana looked over at Rai, Shiro and Kaito.
"Have you guys met anyone else?" She asked.
"No, you guys are the only ones we've seen for a long time now." Shiro said then scratched the back of his head nervously.
It was apparent they may be the only people still alive in this maze of hallways and doors, considering that fact, they were very lucky that only one of their own was killed off. Sakuno began to cough and feel a bit weak, she stumbled a bit but quickly corrected herself. Rai offered to help but she declined politely saying she didn't want to burden him.
They searched each room and most of them were empty, with only white wash walls and fluorescent lights. Some had a chair in the center but it was made of metal so it couldn't hide anything like antidotes in them. They were simply metal chairs that have been bolted into the floor, they were pretty creepy but the group had no time to be concerned as they're energy seemed to be drained by the second.
Usagi collapsed at one point, she had a high fever and was shivering, Nana picked her up and gave her a piggyback ride. Sakuno could see Nana was a well built woman and looked naturally athletic, if it wasn't for the fact she was so pale and barely slept she would probably have been a popular girl. Usagi too, she had bright red hair with a bright personality, she was bossy but she seemed like the type of person that attracted people to her because she did what made her happy and smiled brightly.
After a while of continuing to open up doors too find nothing-ness Shiro was able to find an antidote and the group decided to give it to Usagi sense she seemed to be at her limit.
"Her small body allowed it to spread faster and sense she's such an active person it made it doubled the rate of infection." Nana said as she lifted the still unconscious Usagi back up.
The group seemed to feel a bit more hopeful until a man wearing a lab coat stepped out of one of the rooms with an ax in his hand. He smiled at them with a sort of sadistic look and closed the door gently.
"Hello kids." He said with a tilt to the head.
Current Groups :Wandering(bold=antidote): Nana, Rai, Kaito, Shiro, Usagi, Sakuno, Kyo
: Recon: Yoi, Juro, Maro
It's getting close to the climax I feel, some people are going to prove their worth now. Hopefully Sakuno is safer? Please read and review! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Next chapter it will be a battle to survive physically.