Author's notes: Get ready for a really, really long chapter...and remember to reveiw.
Chapter 9: DEAD storm Rising
"It's him!"
Shido Koichi stepped from the beat up school bus he had been using and driving himself before the 'rebellious faction' of students abandoned him and the others that were with him to meet on of the Takagi family vassals standing guard at the gate where the bus was currently parked at, a few students following him to stretch out, not like they really needed to, their activities in the bus giving them plenty of time to stretch every which way.
"Who thought the son of Shido the politician would be helping people even at a time like this!" the vassal praised mockingly as he approached the teacher. "Well, we're not having any elections with things as they are now..."
"That doesn't matter to me. I'm merely a humble teacher." Shido replied in a cold voice, hiding his scowl and putting up a friendly act to get into the mansion; they've gotten this far, and there was no way he would let such a lowly man like this cause him to turn back at the gates of his goal.
"Truly honorable!" the vassal said, with sarcasm dripping from every word; it was obvious he didn't like Shido, knowing their whole family wasn't one to be trusted easily."That you brought along surviving students with you when you escaped the school!"
"Of course. It's a teacher's duty..." Shido said, hiding his hate-filled eyes behind his bangs as he put up a bit of a show, speaking louder so the nearby vassals, and survivors not brought by himself could hear. "To put the safety of his students before his own!"
"I should have expected as much from someone brought up by a man like your father." the vassal sneered back, watching as Shido's students began gathering up behind their 'savior', then back to Shido as he cleared his throat.
"I know things are difficult here as well, but..." Shido started, continuing with in his louder voice to be sure he was heard by others. "Can you at least help these poor students? I'm fine on my own..."
"You're a real saint, aren't you?" a familiar voice called out, making Shido's eyes narrow in anger. "Shido-'sensei'?"
Rei spoke the honorific with poison dripping from it, and Shido turned to the voice to come face to face with the barrel of Rei's M1, it's bayonet pointed directly at him. The vassal who had been previously exchanging sarcastic words with the man seemed impressed, and the student's having varied responses, mostly of anger and shock, never having expected to see Rei alive, especially not with a gun, or the guts to point it at their savior; Kaede was close on her heels, along with Takashi and the rest of the group not too far off.
"M-Miyamoto-san, Himoura-san...I'm glad to see you alive...all of you..." Shido added, seeing the rest of the group out of the corner of his eye, too busy to really see if they were all there with coping with the fear and anger of having one of his 'students' turning such a dangerous thing on him.
"Do you know how good I got at soujitsu? It's because I was instructed in the use of the bayonet when I was young" Rei spoke in a deathly calm voice, pressing the tip of the bayonet against Shido's cheek, drawing a drop of blood. "And I learned from my father who had never known failure in the prefectural police!"
At this, one of the remaining male students of Shido's group, Sasaki, started moving for Rei, having enough of the 'traitor' holding their beloved teacher at gunpoint; he was stopped however, as a hole was shot just where his foot would had landed before it hit the ground, making him take a step back. Kaede was responsible for it, holding the WA2000 tightly to his shoulder, pointing it now at Sasaki, giving the silent threat to all of them; make a move, and they'd be dead. This was nearly enough to make Shido's students shit themselves, and with a motion from Shido, Sasaki stepped back in line, so headstrong from Shido's praise of him that he would have charged at Kaede anyways.
"He suffered because of you. He's the kind of person who can take anything, but he was brought to tears and asked for my forgiveness!" Rei continued now with Kaede covering her, and Takashi soon after, holding the Ithaca; even if it wasn't pointed at anyone, and there was no will from the user to kill, it was still intimidating to the other students after seeing how the other two changed, making them only guess how much the others had changed as well. "It was all your fault I was held back a year! And I've known it all along! You were the only one managing the grades!"
This was of course, news to Takashi and Takashi, both looking to Rei in surprise, now understanding why Rei hated Shido so much; Kaede had his own reasons to hate the teacher, but Takashi was clueless. This slight detraction gave Sasaki the chance to try and move, only to have Kaede's gun on him once mare, and a gunshot sounded, making the students jump, Rei and Takashi unflinching from the familiar loud bang; blood trickled down Sasaki's cheek from where the bullet grazed by, and his face contorted into anger, but remained in place, the look on Kaede's face telling him he did it on purpose, putting even more fear from the students into Kaede's marksmanship.
"But I took it! My dad told me if his investigation went well, he could have you and your father arrested...but now..." Rei growled, continuing on and not hesitating in the slightest after Kaede's gunshot, pressing the bayonet knife deeper into Shido's cheek, making him wince and a stead stream of blood to flow down his cheek; it was obvious from his lack of glances to his students that he was in no way concerned with their safety, even after the second gunshot, his eyes and body frozen in undeniable fear as he looked past the knife and down the cold steel barrel of the M1 in Rei's hands.
"A-are you going to become a murderer?" Shido said, the fear showing in his voice and eyes but he tried to act like he wasn't, hoping he could talk Rei out of what her eyes and words were pointing towards. "Do you, the daughter of a police officer, intend to become a criminal?"
"I don't want to hear anything more from you!" Takashi yelled, noticing how much of an effect Shido's words were having, and so did Shido; Rei's hands were shaking, and she looked like she was on the verge of tears, but she made no move to lower or remove the bayonet from Shido's cheek.
"Then kill him!" Souichiro's booming voice sounded out, shocking everyone and causing the 'peace-loving' adults to reel at the blatant encouragement for the 'violent' teenagers to kill such a 'thoughtful and caring' man, and even caused Rei to hesitate just as she was about to lunge; Shido's fear increased as well, the teenager now having permission to end his life by the leader. "I know that man's father, however, that means nothing now! If it is what you want, kill him!"
The adults tried protesting against this, but Souichiro's sharp eyes silenced them before they could even get a word out, and his words making them keep silent.
"Of course, if I had reason to, I would do it myself!"
There was now doubt in Rei's eyes which had just been ready to kill Shido just a few moments ago; Takashi tried running to Rei's side, but he found himself stopped, by Saeko.
"Saeko-sa-!"
"...Miyamoto-kun has to make this decision on her own..." Saeko said calmly, holding Takashi back until he figured out it was useless, slumping back at watching, biting his lip.
"Go ahead, kill me!" Shido said, the doubt in Rei's eyes giving him courage, but he was still scared, the M1 still pointed at him, even if the bayonet had left his cheek, and there was still Kaede threatening him, yet he had come to the same understanding as Saeko did, as much as he hated seeing Rei in the state of distress she was in. "Kill me, take my life away! You're free to go down that painful path if you want to so bad! Me being a teacher and you a student, it would be an appropriate learning experience!"
With the group in the background, Rei's hands shook as she held the M1, Shizuka covering Alice's eyes and she could feel everyone's eyes on her. After a moment, she looked back at Shido to see him glaring fearfully at her; Rei's grip on the M1 tightened and steadied, her eyes loosing any uncertainty they held before, and Shido gulped, shutting his eyes tightly, only the gunshot or impalement never came.
Rei lowered her rifle and lowered her eyes before turning from Shido, and walked away.
"...is that what you think?" Souichiro asked, watching Rei as she walked past, everyone giving a sigh of relief, and Kaede lowered his gun, taking a few steps backward with his eyes on the students before turning and walking back toward the group.
"...he's not even worth killing..." Rei muttered, pausing for a second beside Souichiro.
The Don suddenly began laughing heartily at Rei's comment and Shido's anger towards it and as Rei continued on, Kaede soon after.
"Good show, Miyamoto-kun!" Souichiro roared out as Shido seethed in his anger.
"You have no idea what I went through to make it this far...little swine like you should just keep their mouths shut and...!" Shido growled to himself, gritting his teeth in anger after having his life threatened by a student for her to only walk away, and for this man, the Don, to be laughing so insultingly after giving her permission to kill him, even saying he would kill him, only if he had a reason...to say the least, be was pissed. "You worthless piece of shit...Himoura too..."
"You. Leave now." Souichiro's laughter suddenly came to a halt, his sharp eyes on Shido; he was surprised to find them on him when he looked up, and only made him that more pissed off; Souichiro's gaze was only on him for a moment, however, further adding insult as the Don obviously didn't take him as much of a threat but just an annoyance, and glared at the students. "You all to. You have already been tainted by this man's dastardly!"
The vassals instantly came to the Don's side, ready to force the group to leave if they did not do so quietly; Souichiro waved his hand off into the distance as he continued.
"You should cleanse yourself of him, but for now..." his voice became cold with no remorse. "We do not have any space for you! Leave here in the bus you came to us in!"
"Do you think that was wrong, Komuro-kun?" Souichiro suddenly asked of Takashi as, in the background, the vassals were 'escorting' one of the female students into the bus after she tried using sex appeal to be allowed to stay, only for it to backfire on her; Takashi turned, a bit surprised at the sudden question, and soon realized he was being asked a question as a fellow leader.
"I...can't say I'm happy about it, but if I were in your place..." Takashi started replying, weighing both sides; on one hand, Shido was an evil person, best off dead as he understood, however, to send of him and his students, even if they would follow his every order, was a bit excessive in most people's opinions. "I don't know what I would have done. Sorry."
"I respect that kind of thought..." Souichiro replied firmly. "But things are not going to change back to how they once were! If you want to stay alive, remember that."
"Yes sir..." Takashi replied with a nod, noticing Kaede with a comforting arm around Rei behind Souichiro; his thoughts wondered on that for awhile since Souichiro seemed done as he walked away without another word.
He didn't feel any soft of jealousy like he did when he saw Rei and Hishashi together, or any other feeling of love towards Rei; just a strong feeling of friendship that could be almost called love. It almost felt...right to see them, like they would be alright together, as a couple or a team, or whatever, like they connected or something. Maybe that was just Takashi getting over Rei, and him knowing Kaede would protect her with his life, no matter what.
Takashi's thoughts were interrupted by Saeko's hand on his shoulder, making him look at her and he felt his heart beat a bit faster; one thing was for sure. He was over Rei, and was falling for Saeko as she was him.
"Come on, Komuro-kun. Yuriko-san says we're late for dinner." Saeko said with a light smile. "Everyone else is already heading in..."
Takashi nodded and followed with Saeko towards the mansion side by side, and Takashi soon felt Saeko's hand on his, her fingers interlacing with his own; he noticed she had taken her gloves off, but he still had his own on. It didn't really matter through, as both of them were enjoying such simple contact, no words having to be exchanged about their developing relationship.
A little too soon the two found themselves entering the dinning room where everyone was already seated, Rei and Kaede sitting beside each other with Alice and Shizuka sitting across from one another, and, oddly, Kouta and Saya sitting together; it looked like even Kouta had no idea how that came to be. The two let their hands part as they sat down together, next to Kaede and Rei, and noticed the table was set in a western style, but there was no food out yet; as soon as Takashi and Saeko were seated, Saya turned in her seat towards the door to the kitchen.
"Alright, we're ready!" Saya yelled out and there was soon bustling in the kitchen.
Shortly afterward, several vassals-turned-waiters walked out with plates of food, setting one in front of each one of the group before returning to the kitchen, grumbling to themselves about having to serve kids like butlers. The group started eating around the same time, and Takashi hardly even noticed the others started around the time he did.
Several blocks outside of the Takagi mansion's blockade, a micro school bus full with several students and their teacher' chaperone' in this land of the dead came to a stop as the sun set over the horizon. The students looked to their teacher questioningly as he parked the bus in a clearer area so the undead would be unaware of their location after a short while.
That teacher was, of course, Shido Koichi and the students the ones he had infected with his 'religion'. However, at the moment, he had no preaches to give them or anything to say to them; he was fuming, his 'grandmaster' plan ruined by Miyamoto Rei, Himoura Kaede, and he even blamed the rest of them...and he was particularly pissed off at Takagi Souichiro at the moment as well.
"Sensei...?" one of the girls nervously approached their teacher, all of them sensing something wrong with him. "A-are you okay...?"
"Don't worry about me!" Shido snapped out, making the girl jump back in fear; Shido realized this and turned back away from the students. "I'm thinking, so go entertain yourselves!"
With permission from their teacher, the bus soon broke out with sounds of an orgy; normally, Shido would be watching, but he was still at the wheel, gripping it tightly even if they were parked for the night as he tried formulating a plan to get revenge on those who ruined his original run for safety to the Takagi manor...
When the group had finished eating, Takashi waited for the vassals once again came out to take away their plates before standing and clearing his throat; he was surprised to see everyone turn their attention on him, even though they had just been previously immersed in their own separate conversations.
"Erm, well..." Takashi muttered, a bit thrown off before he recomposed himself enough to continue. "Well...since you guys are insisting on coming with Rei, Kaede and I...I guess I have no option but to let you. But you have no obligation to come with us..."
"Of course there's no obligation; you made that clear earlier when you said it would just be you, Kaede and Rei..." Saya replied with her usual smug look. "We're a group, so we can't be so easily parted. And so, we won't let you three go on ahead without us."
There was a general agreement around the table with heads nodding all around, Takashi sighing with an odd content; as a leader, he was glad to see such unity in the group, however those feelings were new and not yet quite welcome, since Takashi still didn't consider himself the leader, and he as a person wanted the rest of the group, that already knew their parents were safe or had no option to see them, to be safe with someone trustworthy, in this case with the rest of the Takagi family.
"W-well, in that case," Takashi started; again, he was a bit taken back at how quickly everyone's attention was back to him, but no where near as much as before. "We'll rest up for the night, and we'll head out tomorrow morning then. I'll go and talk to Takagi-sama about our change in plans in the morning ..."
Again, the group broke up into their own separate conversations, Kouta and Kaede being the first to leave, saying they would give the guns one last cleaning and fill a few magazines with the ammo given to them by Yuriko earlier, leaving the rest of the group behind as they made their way up to their shared room, the earlier argument having been forgotten.
Shortly after, Shizuka decided to take Alice up as well, seeing as how the young girl was yawning tiredly; Rei left with them, and Saya soon after. Seeing no point in staying in the dining room, Takashi stood from his spot, and began for his room, Saeko following him without a need to ask if her presence was wanted or not.
"You did the right thing, Komuro-kun." Saeko stated softly from behind. "There was a very slim chance of only you three finding your parents and returning with them alone..."
"I just didn't want to put any of you in unnecessary danger..." Takashi replied with a light sigh, yawning tiredly; they had had a long day, and another was already lined up for the next one. "In any case, we need to get some rest, alright?"
Just as Takashi said so, they come to the hall where the doors to both of their rooms resided; Saeko juggled the though of asking to sleep with Takashi, but even with the purest of intentions she was sure Takashi wouldn't allow it yet.
Saeko was already willing to give this man who accepted her everything she could offer, however she held herself back, fearing that she might just scare Takashi away; a more sensible side of her told her to take it slow-ish for romance's sake. Saeko took both into consideration, and bit Takashi a good night, heading into her own room as Takashi went to his.
The sun rose almost too fast for most of the group, especially for Kaede and Kouta; the two had finally passed out when they had stripped each gun, cleaning and oiling them each to make sure there would be no problems in the immediate future, and filled every empty magazine they had just as a precaution.
For these tired souls, the sun would not have been enough to wake them, only to make them toss and turn away from it's shining light; luckily however, the sun had a helper...
"Kouta-chan! Kae-nii-chan~! Time to wake up~!" Alice's dive-bomb of Kouta not only awoke the gun otaku, but the sound of the said otaku falling out of bed, Alice's giggling, and Saya's laughter from the bedroom door rose Kaede too, who groggily sat up in bed, looking from the tangled mess of sheets to Alice, who was dressed in a new sun dress, and then to Saya standing in the door, wearing a ruffled skirt and white blouse; he and Kouta having fallen asleep in the jumpsuits and t-shirts Matsudo had let them borrow, and were both rather disheveled.
Saya was suddenly silent, before bursting out in laughter once again at the sight of Kaede with a horrible case of bed head, his ponytail having loosened through the night; with the attention suddenly on him, Kaede growled, knowing the purpose of the laughter, and began roughing up his hair into a, hopefully, less ridiculous look.
Rei happened to walk by at this moment, yawning with her own hair a bit messy, but nothing as bad as Kaede's, and wearing nothing but an oversized night shirt and panties Saya let her borrow; interested in the laughter, she peaked into the room and couldn't help giggling herself at the sight of Kaede's hair.
"Jeez, is it always that bad in the morning?" Rei asked, getting her giggles out of control.
"Sometimes..." Kaede muttered, pulling his hair tie out and trying to brush back his hair with his fingers. "I usually have my mom help me out with it in the mornings..."
"I'll help you out!" Rei suddenly chimed, rushing off, making Saya sigh to herself and look sharply at Kouta, who jumped at attention.
"You. Go wash your face; breakfast will be ready soon." Saya said in mach disgust, crossing her arms as Alice hopped off the bed at the mention of breakfast, heading out of the room with her task complete; Saya stepped away as Alice skipped from the room, Kouta following shortly after and fixing his glasses as Rei came back down the hall from her room with a hair brush in her hand, humming happily to herself. "And you; try not to be took long..."
Saya gave Rei a grin that almost made Rei blush and made her wonder how much people knew of the developing relationship between she and Kaede; then again, she was dealing with a genius, something in her mind told her, maybe she just could read the little signs no one else could?
Rei shook her head as Saya and Alice began heading down the hall, Kouta heading towards the bathroom himself, wondering why she should even be making such excuses? Wouldn't it be good to show she and Kaede were a pair? Or maybe it was important to keep it in the dark...?
Rei pushed the thoughts into the back of her head as she came to the doorway to find Kaede sitting on the edge of the bed, staring distantly into the wall, zoning out and almost seeming like he was sleeping with his eyes open and sitting up. Rei light giggle made him jump, and she was on the bed before he could even look back at her.
"So...why do you grow your hair out, Kaede-kun?" Rei asked idly as she positioned herself behind him and carefully began brushing out the knots in his black hair that fell around his shoulder blades; she had never realized how long it really was, or how smooth and shiny it was. "It's not exactly a trend...well, wasn't a trend..."
Rei had a bit of difficultly finding the words to put it, but either way, she wasn't expecting the silence that followed; she was about to apologize when Kaede finally answered her question.
"I let it start growing out when my father died, four years ago." Kaede replied with a light sigh, finally giving up the battle and telling Rei out right. "He had long hair himself, so I guess it would be a reminder of his death."
"I-I see..." Rei gulped a bit surprised at the fact; she always thought it was just his person preference to grow out his hair.
The two once again fell into silence as Rei continued brushing Kaede's hair out as carefully as she could, soon being able to run the brush completely through his hair without any snags, his hair falling tamer but still messy, which was natural for Kaede.
"A simple ponytail come undone to easily though..." Rei muttered, Kaede raising his eye brow at her mumblings. "Is it alright if I braid it?"
"Knock yourself out..." Kaede muttered, passing his single hair tie back to Rei and stiffing a yawn, having had his hair braided many times before by various people, but never being able to do it himself.
Rei giggled lightly to herself when she received permission, separating his hair into three strips which she started braiding without putting it in a ponytail first, since he only had one hair tie, humming and smiling lightly to herself. Once down to the tip, Rei tied it off with the hair tie and let it go, taking a look at her handy work; she had to admit, Kaede looked pretty good with his hair braided.
Rei's smile suddenly faltered as reality seemed to catch up with her once again; they would be leaving the safety of the mansion and heading into the world of the undead once more, the fact not lost on Kaede ether, who sat quietly, letting Rei do her thing with his hair. When she was done, Kaede continued sitting there quietly, not even turning his head to look at her. With a troubled look on her face, Rei leaned forward, hugging Kaede from behind and burying her face into his neck; Kaede tensed for a moment before relaxing as Rei embraced him, waiting for the inevitable questions he wouldn't be able to answer.
"Do you think we'll find our parents...?" Rei asked after a moment of silence; Kaede frowned slightly, letting his bangs shadow his eyes as the question hiding in all of their hearts was voiced.
"I...don't know, Rei." Kaede replied, truthfully, and he felt Rei tense up slightly against his back. "But, if anyone has a better chance at seeing their parents, it would be you, Rei; your father's a police officer, right?"
This relaxed Rei a bit, but Kaede knew it was a fifty fifty chance, especially with Rei's father being in the police; sure he would have weapons available to him most civilians wouldn't, but also he'd probably be one of the first sent to deal with them, therefore putting him in danger of being bitten. As much as that was true, Kaede refrained from mentioning it, knowing it wasn't the time nor would it probably ever be to tell Rei such a fact.
"I...can't predict the future, Rei. But, in the here and now, I will protect you...I'll make sure you're safe to see your father again someday." Kaede said firmly, his feelings for Rei having developed to much more than just a crush it had been mere weeks ago.
Again, Rei's tightened her arm around his chest, and this time Kaede turned his head to her; he was slightly surprised to find Rei's lips pressing to his for their second kiss. This time, it wasn't due to the influence of fear and alcohol like back at the house the second night, but was a true kiss where Rei's feelings were conveyed to Kaede, showing they pretty much matched his own; and thus, he kissed her back, matching Rei's feelings for him with his own for her.
The kiss soon became heated, the two not needing anymore reassurance of each others feelings, Rei making the first move and sliding her tongue against Kaede's lip; again, she surprised him with her forward nature and quickly parted his lips, his tongue darting out and brushing against Rei's tongue before sliding into her mouth, tasting her, and nothing but her, there first kiss having been full of the bitter alcohol taste.
Before they ended up going too far, Kaede placed his hand on Rei's, and a few moments later she pulled back, lightly flustered from the kiss, and that was about it for the cause of her blush; Kaede's cheeks were likewise tinted a light pink, and he was slightly out of breath. Rei smiled and giggled lightly at him as Kaede's blush darkened a bit and looked away.
"Look's like you've gotten better self control then last time~" she teased, remembering how Kaede had quickly become erect during the kiss while this time, she guessed he had only stirred slightly in his pants.
"R-regardless..." Kaede cut in, avoiding Rei's gaze and ignoring her teases. "We should had down; everyone else is probably waiting for us by now."
"Oh, right..." Rei muttered, remembering how they were expected to be down for breakfast by now, sliding out from behind Kaede and standing, Kaede looking over in time to see Rei's panties momentarily exposed when she moved.
Rei giggled when Kaede quickly turned his head, knowing why he did and knowing full and well it wasn't completely accidental. Kaede likewise stood after Rei, the traces of his blush fading as Rei started for the door and he following behind.
"I'm going to get dressed, so head down without me, okay?" Rei said over her shoulder as she left for her own room.
Kaede nodded unnecessarily to himself as he left the room as well, shutting the door as an after though and began heading down to the dinning room.
Takashi once again found himself in the presence of the Don in the staff room of the mansion, standing before the man who was sitting on a couch, a table littered with papers separating them as before, however, Takashi was standing a bit more firmer, not letting on as much as how much the Don's presence intimidated him since he was now representing the whole group.
"What is it that you wished to speak to me about, Komuro-kun?" Souichiro asked in his booming voice, bearing down on the teen with his sharp eyes as usual.
"I've come to inform you of our group's change in plans, sir." Takashi replied, trying to sound equal to Souichiro as leaders; it seemed to be working, since Souichiro only laughed heartily at Takashi's tone, so he continued. "The whole group wants to go, so we are; the rest will be the same as we disguised before."
"I said to do as you like, didn't I?" Souichiro boomed out, leaning back comfortably on the couch. "In that case however, I'll entrust my daughter to you and to Hirano-kun. Make sure you bring her back safely."
Most of the group was assembled in the dinning room by the time Kaede had gotten down there, save for Rei and Takashi. He took a seat and looked curiously to Saeko, who was fully dressed with the exception of her katanas, and Saya for an explanation to where Takashi was, and they to him for where Rei was at, Saeko seeming to already know about Rei helping him with his hair.
"She's changing." Kaede replied, reading their questioning and, in Saya's case, suggestive glances, filling Saeko's questioning looks and crushing Saya's. "Where's Takashi?"
"He is speaking with Takagi-sama about the change in plans." Saeko replied with a small smile just as Rei walked into the room, dressed in her school uniform with the holsters and everything, sitting next to Kaede; there was no need to repeat the information since Rei had overheard the answer to where he was at.
With Rei seated, the group waited for Takashi to arrive, talking amongst themselves; Kouta and Kaede talking about guns and the WA2000 now in Kaede's possession, Shizuka and Rei talking about Alice, who was listening and adding things where and there about her past, and Saeko continuing her conversation with Saya about koi they started the other day.
Before any of them had realized time had passed, Takashi had returned to the dinning room, giving a sigh of relief at finally being away from the Don's overbearing presence and back with the group; so much in fact, he payed no mind to how silent it suddenly got, all attention on him suddenly. He walked around the table and too the spot next to Saeko without a second thought, everyone watching his every move, more to mess with him than anything else really. Finally noticing the questioning gazes, Takashi looked up at the group.
"Well, we more or less have permission; he said like last time to do what we want, so we'll be leaving soon today...Saya and Kouta, if you can check on the status of the humvee after breakfast...?" Takashi looked towards the two as he spoke, pleased to find them both nodding. "Then Kaede, Rei and I will get to packing then and..."
"Ah! I remembered!" Shizuka suddenly shouted from nowhere, jumping from her seat and scaring the vassals that were bringing out their food like the night before, since the whole group was now seated.
"W-what is it, sensei...?" Takashi asked as Shizuka realized everyone was staring at her oddly.
"I remembered my friend's phone number!" Shizuka cheered out, hugging Alice, who was the closest to her, tightly to her chest in her happiness for remembering such a trivial thing. "I didn't bring my phone or my address book, so I haven't been able to remember it until now~!"
"Friend? The one that had the guns and the humvee?" Kaede asked, bringing back the curiosity as to who this friend was.
"That's the one!" Shizuka said, hugging Alice still as she looked to Kaede, Kouta and, indeed, everyone else perking up to listen to her next part. "She's in a special team of prefectural police...she's part of an S.A.T. So she's probably still alive. If we could get together somehow..."
"That would be amazing!" Kouta cut in, unable to help himself any more at the mentioning of Shinguard's friend being in such a military-police group.
"Mh-hmm! So, Komuro-kun, phone~!" Shizuka chimed, holding her hand out to Takashi, the group already knowing Takashi was the only one with a phone at the moment.
Takashi sighed lightly and reaching into his pocket...to find it empty.
"Ah...I must have left my phone in my room..." Takashi muttered, Kouta and Kaede sighing while Saya rolled her eyes, Rei giggled, and Shizuka whimpered defeatedly. "C-can you wait till after we eat, so I can grab it later?"
"I think so..." Shizuka replied, not having enough faith in her own memory but still tried keeping the phone number fresh in her mind as she turned to her food, most of the other group members having started during their conversation, and joining them.
Kouta was the first to finish, and waited around for Saya to finish as well before the two left, Alice following them to go check on the humvee to make sure it was ready to go. Shortly after, Kaede and Rei finished as well, the two heading off before Takashi to start packing up the guns and ammo for the trip; Shizuka was next to finish, likewise heading up to the rooms to get her medical supplies and any other things they had left behind in the room. With more than half of the group gone, Takashi finished up his food, Saeko waiting for him and following him upstairs, he to grab his cellphone and any other things, and Saeko to retrieve her katanas and whatever else was in the room.
When Takashi was done, he went to help Rei and Kaede pack up and move the ammo and guns down to the garage with the humvee, Kouta, Saya and Alice already waiting around with Matsudo and the humvee ready to go, packed with previsions provided by the mansion's stockpile, and with two tanks of gas, the truck's own tank filled with gas. Before they began packing, Kouta handed Takashi the Ithaca, and Kaede gave Rei the M1, they keeping the AR-10 and WA200 respectively; Kaede had decided to put the M870 away for now, opting for the WA2000 now. Takashi, Kouta and Kaede strapped the guns to their back while Rei had to set hers aside for now.
As the five loaded up the truck with the items, Shizuka came down with her medical bag and a duffel bag, helping with the packing of the humvee. Last to join them was Saeko, armed with her swords as usual. It was then that something crossed Alice's mind.
"Sensei, weren't you going to call someone?" Alice asked, looking up at the nurse, realization flowing over her as everyone paused, looking towards Shizuka.
"Oh, right! Komuro-kun! Phone quick!" Shizuka said, the number popping up in her head; knowing how air-headed Shizuka could be from only being around her for a few days, Takashi quickly reached into his pocket, grabbing his phone and handed it to Shizuka.
"Uhh...let's see...1 is here...2 is there and 3 is here..." Shizuka muttered to herself cheerfully as she looked down at the phone, the most of the group looking at her in slight disbelief.
"Uh, Shizuka-sensei. Should I dial the number for you...?" Kouta finally asked, raising his hand offeringly.
"Don't interrupt me, or I might loose my place" Shizuka said as she dialed on number, then another and another, the group watching in anticipation for the call to actually be made.
With the start of a new day, the school micro bus became alive as the mostly nude teenagers woke, to find the bus in motion; Shido had woken only a few moments before them and had started off with no real destination anymore, now looking for a safe place to stay or maybe even some more people willing to be 'saved.'
With they never resting however, some problems arose; Shido had to make several turns to get away from massive hordes the bus had no hope of running through. He let out a frustrated growl as he was forced to make another quick turn, the students being tossed around at the sudden, unexpected turns; Shido barely noticed they were heading right back for the Takagi manor when something in the distant sky caught it eyes.
Something seemed to be flying high into the air, and it suddenly exploded in a bright light that made Shido turn his eyes away, unintentionally turning the wheel...luckily or unluckily for them, the bus didn't respond to the wheel being jerked. Shido noticed this and tried turning again; nothing happened, and Shido noticed they were heading towards a downhill decline.
Slamming on the breaks, Shido soon found out they didn't work either...
Shizuka finally got the number dialed, the group listening closing as the line rung, Shizuka quickly pressing the phone to her ear and listening intently. The phone rung for awhile, well past the time anyone else would have hung up; Shizuka was on the verge of doing it herself.
"Hello?"
"Ahh, Rika! You're alive?" Shizuka cheered, jumping with joy, literally; Kouta nearly fainting at the sight of Shizuka's breasts bouncing, Takashi and Kaede not helping but taking a glance at her. "Me too, but we've been through an awful lot..."
"Shizuka! Where are you? My place?"
"We had to leave there. Oh," Shizuka replied, happy that her friend was still alive and sounding well. "We borrowed some of your weapons and things-"
"That's fine. Where are you now-!"
High above in the sky, there was a huge flash of light, something like an explosion; a few short seconds later, thephone gave out with a zap, Shizuka quickly dropping the steaming object in surprise.
Out on the streets at the barricade around the manor, one of the vassals was working a forklift, closing up the gap in the barricade they had made to let in a few survivors that had passed shortly before, the other vassals taking them to the mansion so it was just he and another vassal.
As the vassal operating the forklift neared with the concrete slab to fill the gap, the forklift jerked to a sudden stop despite his foot pressed on the gas, confusing not only him, but the other vassal, who had no idea what was going on, neither of them seeing the distant flash of light in the sky.
"Hey! Why did you stop!" the other vassal yelled, obviously a superior officer of some sort.
"It's the engine...!" the forklift-operator replied, trying to restart the forklift with no results, only the sound of the engine rolling. "It's not working!"
Further down the street, unseen by the vassals, was a bus speeding down the hill, straight for them.
"I can't believe the engine would stall at a time like this!" Shido yelled out in anger; of course, he didn't believe that was the case to begin with, but he really didn't want to look at any of the other possibilities. "What is going on here!"
"S-sensei! Look out!" one of the students yelled, having looked out the front window while Shido was turning the key, trying to get the bus to start to no avail; Shido looked up with his student's warning to find them headed straight for the mansion's barricade and a forklift. "Look out!"
The two vassals finally looked up to see the bus speeding straight for them, hardly having time to register what was happening, let alone get out of the way; the crash echoed for near miles thanks to the silent area. The out come of the crash left the gap even wider than before, the forklift tipped over, with both vassals dead and several of the students as well.
Shido had been temperamentally knocked out against the wheel; when he came to, he was greeted by the sound of groaning and shuffling feet as they walked around he bus and into the barricades.
"W-what happened?" Shizuka asked, picking up the phone carefully, the screen black; Shizuka looked apologetically to Takashi, but he and everyone else had something else to worry about.
The sounds of a major crash echoed through the compounds, and a few moments later, Souichiro with Yuriko and a few other vassals exited the mansion as Shizuka started apologizing for the phone, not knowing how it happened so Takashi easily forgave her, none knowing of the doom limping towards them at that very moment.
"I wonder what's going on..." Saya muttered with concern as she listened to what was going on with her group, then looked around, listening to the yells and panicked conversations that had suddenly broken out around the same time as the phone died out; a vassal trying to start one of the vans was telling another vassal the van wasn't starting, something wrong with the starter engine, and a survivor yelling for help, her husband's Pacemaker suddenly stopping. "How could all this happen at once...?"
"What's wrong, Saya?" Kouta asked from a kneeling combat position, sensing danger and getting ready for the worst.
"None of your business! You stay there!" Saya bit out as she began heading over to Rei who, seeing Kaede and Kouta tense up with their guns now in their hands, picked up her own rifle and attached it to it's hostler. "Miyamoto, try aiming with your gun's dot sight."
"What? Why?" Rei asked with confusion, Kaede's eyes suddenly on them.
"Never mind why, just do it!" Saya bit, and Rei raised the gun up to peer through the sight. "Well? Can you see it?"
"Let's see..." Rei muttered, unintentionally pointing the gun in Saya's direction, who hurriedly moved out of the way; Rei was surprised to not see the little red dot in the center of the sight. "No, I can't..."
This seemed to worry Saya greatly and anger Kaede oddly.
"Papa! We need to change our plans!" Saya yelled across the grounds to her father. "This is probably-!"
"They're coming!" a vassal yelled as he made a mad dash for the open gate of the mansion, drawing the attention of everyone in the courtyard to him. "Don't come this way!"
Just as the man made it to the gate, bloody arms caught up with him, and cold hands pulled him down as several of them he had been running from pulled him down, blood splattering on the ground when they started eating the screaming man.
"Close the gates quickly!" Souichiro roared over the panic starting among the survivors. "Defense units, assemble! Do not let any of the dead inside!"
Almost instantly vassals armed with katanas or Howa Type 89s or other various Japanese made weapons began forming, others running to the armory to arm themselves. One of the vassals, the one holding the key to the gates, protested momentarily though.
"D-Don! Are we just going to abandon the people who are still out there!" he yelled; the Don didn't even turn to crush his protests.
"If we do not do it now, we will loose everything inside the mansion's walls!" Souichiro yelled back, drawing his sword as the undead began flowing towards the open gates in massive numbers; it almost seemed like they had been waiting for a chance to attack. "Do it!"
Reluctantly, but also seeing the approaching threats, the vassal pulled out the electronic remote and pressed the button to close the gates. However, nothing happened; the vassal pressed it several more times to no avail.
"The remote's broken at a time like this!" the vassal cried out, pressing the button several more times before throwing the useless plastic aside. "Someone close the gates!"
The vassals closest to the gates quickly jumped into action, pushing the gates closed before they could get in; however, they had gotten there just as the gates were closing, and stopped the two gates from meeting. Bloodied arms struggled against the gates, and several more vassals came to help, but not before one of the undead slipped through the gap in the gates, forcing it's shoulders to break in the process.
"One of them got through!" one of the vassals yelled as he and the rest of the vassal finally forced the gates closed, severing several arms to do so.
The one who had gotten into the gates, stumbling forward; everyone held their breaths, save for a survivor that had argued the most with Saya the day before when she, Takashi and Kouta had gone to the camps, began shouting at the nearest one with a gun, which happened to be Kouta himself.
"Wh-why are you just sitting there! You have a gun, so hurry up and kill him!" she yelled hysterically at the kneeling teen; she was surprised to find he already had the rifle to his shoulder and was aiming through the scope.
"I have one..." Kouta said in a singsong voice as he lined up a shot, and fired. "...in my pocket~"
The zombie's head exploded in gore as the bullet ripped it's skull apart, the force of the bullet sending it flying against the gate; one of the vassals, which was actually the one who had tried taking the guns from Kouta the day before, looked in disbelief at the teenager.
"Sorry buddy! I was wrong about you...!" he said to Kouta, who gave him the thumbs up and grinned evilly.
"I'm the baddest mother fucker around!" Kouta said confidently; a series of shots following his, however, made others wonder.
"Yeah, for about a meter..." Kaede added, as he fired several shots, killing three of the undead, that had been reaching through the gates to grab the vassal, with three well placed head shots; competitive sparks flew between the two gunmen, and they were near starting another marksman match like they had before, but they were interrupted by the sound of fabric ripping.
Kouta and Kaede looked over to the source of the ripping to see Yuriko, who had ripped the side of her dress higher up her thigh after tossing aside the scarf that was resting on her shoulder; the sight surprised Saya, who quickly threw her arm out to block Kouta's vision, Kaede quickly looked away, and Takashi was at a loss of what to do with such a sight before him, but he was reminded that it was one of his childhood friends' moms by Saya's gasp of "Mama!"
Yuriko paid the teens no mind jest yet, arming herself with the CZE Vz83 and FN Browning M1910 that a vassal had brought out to her; turning to her husband, holding out a Luger P08 with a attachable stock and a drum magazine.
"I'm ready." she spoke in her calm, polite tone. "Are you, Souichiro-san?"
"Yes, I am!" Souichiro replied, looking over his shoulder to Yuriko, then faced forward again, away from the gun. "But I...have no need for a gun."
"Yes dear" Yuriko said, lowering the gun and, with no hesitation, turned to Saya, offering the gun to her. "You use it then, Saya-chan."
"A-A Luger P08! With a stock and drum magazine too..." Kouta said, dreamily from behind Saya as she took the gun, even if she didn't know how to use such a thing to begin with.
"I don't know how to use this in the first place!" Saya reminded her mother, who only smiled. "And, on top of that, why do you have a gun yourself!"
"Back when I was working on Wall Street, I took a self defense course for executives. I might even be a better shot than your father here~" Yuriko replied, oblivious to the looks the younger group was giving her as Takashi, Rei, and even Saeko imagined Yuriko in some sort of detective get-up; her eye turned on to Kouta, who stood up straight under he gaze. "Could you teach her how to shoot, Hirano-kun?"
"Y-y-yes, yes, yes!" Kouta said, excitedly for being asked to teach Saya how to shoot.
The sounds of the gates creaking as they tried breaking in, knowing there was living meat on the other side, brought the group back to their current situation. Takashi, remembering his phone, looked towards Saya to ask about it as Kaede went over to Rei; after a moment, Kaede walked towards the garage with the M1, leaving Rei with the WA2000 just in case, which she held a bit awkwardly because of the bullpup design.
"...so why did the cellphones and cars just suddenly break down?" Takashi asked; the question wasn't aimed at anyone in particular, but Saya knew she was the one expected to answer, since she was the only one that knew why. "It happened right after that light in the sky..."
"It was an E.M.P blast!"
Almost like a routine, the group looked to Saya for a further explanation.
"It was a H.A.N.E...a High-Altitude Nuclear Explosion." Saya elaborated before continuing her explanation. "If a nuclear missile detonates high enough, gamma rays overload the air molecules with electrons, causing what is known as Compton Scattering. The high-speed electrons are caught in the Earth's magnetic field, and are discharged over a large radius, causing an Electromagnetic Pulse; it's fatal to electronic equipment! The Electromagnetic Pulse goes through antenna and burns out the integrated circuits. "
"So, in other words, now we..." Saeko started, the weight of the situation falling on them now.
"Right. We can't use any electronic equipment now!" Saya replied with a nod.
"What!" Rei gasped, now fully understanding what was happening. "So cellphones and stuff don't work anymore!"
"Everything from cellphones to computers are totally useless now, and same with automobiles that use electronics; they won't move anymore. And the power plants are most likely dead as well." Saya continued. "If actions had been taken to counter E.M.P.'s then it would be different, but...I think only a small part of the Self-Defense Force and the government are made for that...nor do I think they were expecting such a thing to happen."
"Is there a way to fix the broken equipment?" Souichiro asked, naturally taking an interest since it affected him and his own group of survivors.
"If we replaced the fried parts, then we may be able to get the cars working again, but there isn't a chance with the other things..." Saya said with a frown. "There's also a possibility that some cars weren't affected, especially older car models, and others that aren't intergraded with micro-chips and stuff like that."
"Look into that as soon as possible!" Souichiro suddenly addressed a vassal standing near by, who replied with a "Yes, sir!" as the Don turned back to his daughter. "Saya!"
"W-what is it?" Saya asked, jumping slightly at her name suddenly being called like that, and looking up at her father.
"You have managed to keep your head even in this chaos. I commend you!" Souichiro spoke, his voice not softening in the least, yet it still had plenty of an impact on Saya; the Don walked past his shocked daughter as the rattling of the gates became louder as the undead outside of it became even more restless, going as far as trying to squeeze through the bars, succeeding in loosening the gate's rails.
"Th-there's too many!"
"The gate won't hold!"
The vassals at the gates were trying their best to keep the gates from collapsing, but there was just too many of them for the gate to hold off; with a loud crash, they were finally able to knock the gates over, much to everyone's horror.
"Run away! Don! Run away!" the vassals yelled as they were quickly over come by the swarm of undead that flowed into the compound now that the gate was out of the way.
The first to be hit was the survivor's camps due to their panicked screaming and the fear brought by them approaching, which only drew more screams and more undead. As the camps were overrun, they began wandering the grounds, vassals facing them head on and bringing them into a frenzy of violence and killing
"Honey..." Yuriko muttered needlessly as the Defense Units were waiting for his orders to start pushing the undead out.
"Papa, we should get into the house-" Saya started, knowing it was useless to try and take so many of them on, since the noise would only attract more, but Souichiro cut her off.
"Our current goal is to defend ourselves! They broke down the metal gates." Souichiro boomed out. "Even if we went into the house, they would break in and w would be eaten there!"
"Takagi-sama!" a vassal yelled as he ran to the Don, a rifle in his hands and important news; Souichiro nodded, and that was all the vassal needed to start conveying the information. "I saw from the second floor that the people at the neighboring houses have not yet been attacked! It may be possible to reclaim the gate!"
With this information, Souichiro turned to the Defense units of the mansion, as well as the survivors that had escaped the camps while the undead hordes were busy with the other, less smart survivors; the said horde was now starting to advance on them.
"Our targets are those that have broken through!" Souichiro's voice boomed over the groaning of them and the dieing screams of the more unlucky survivors. "Men who can fight, prepare yourselves! Women and children who want to survive, get in back!"
At this time, Kaede came running back out with the M1 in his hands; he had gone to change out the scope for Rei's usage, and, once back with the group, traded Rei again before looking to Takashi, as did the rest of his group, for their next move. Just as Takashi was about to tell them to assist riding the grounds of the undead, Souichiro addressed him.
"You have your own mission, do you not, Komuro-kun!" he said, his back to Takashi and the others. "It is time you went on your way!"
"...yes, sir." Takashi said reluctantly; despite their numbers, Takashi wasn't sure if they would be able to deal with so many of them, but it was true.
They had their own mission to attend to.
"Hirano-kun." the Don's attention was turned to Kouta, he still not facing them yet. "...I am entrusting my daughter to you."
Kouta nodded firmly, having one of the rare moments where he was able to stand up to Souichiro's words; Saya was quickly catching on, even if she didn't want to.
"Papa! What the hell do you mean by that!" Saya yelled with a light panic in her voice; the sound of a slap quickly followed, and Saya looked up in shock at her mother, holding her cheek. "M-Mama...?"
"Souichiro-san and I have a role to play, Saya-chan. Having you in the care of Hirano-kun, Komuro-kun, and the others is the one thing we as your parents want for you!" Yuriko spoke, pain hidden deep in her voice for having to explain this to her daughter. "Don't think for a second that this doesn't kill us inside to do this! Please don't make us suffer any more! Just go!"
"Auntie..." Alice spoke softly; as a child, she could tell when someone close was in pain, and didn't like it.
"You're a good girl, Alice-chan..." Yuriko said, kneeling down to her level and hugging her. "Auntie's daughter is a good girl, too. Listen to your brothers and sisters, alright?"
"Papa! Mama!" Saya yelled out, holding back her tears from having to part with her parents, possibly even permanently now; she turned away from the two, and started towards the garage where the humvee was. "I love you!"
Yuriko smiled sadly to her daughter as she made her way to the garage, and Takashi could almost swear he saw the edges of a smile on Souichiro's face as well before he turned to go after Saya, the rest of the group likewise heading towards the garage with them.
"Throw the dynamite!" Souichiro yelled, his vassals jumping into action at his commands, throwing several sticks of explosives into the hordes of undead, putting holes into the sea of them filling the courtyard, other vassals readying themselves for battle.
The group of teenagers neared the garage to find Matsudo working under the hood of the humvee, and their hearts sank slightly, hoping that the humvee was one of the lucky vehicles that were still operational; the technician stepped back and closed the hood, seeing them approaching. Figuring out their fears, Matsudo gave them the thumbs up, and Takashi let out a relieved sigh as the group started working to finish packing up the humvee, never having been able to fully finish earlier.
"You guys are good to go; this is a military vehicle, and one that has had anti-E.M.P. measures added." Matsudo spoke to Takashi mostly. "You guys were lucky, since not a whole lot of even military vehicles have them."
"What are you going to do next, Matsudo-san?" Takashi asked, almost already able to guess his answer from the other vassal's will to fight with the Don.
"The woman I love is out there with everyone else, so it should be obvious." Matsudo said, picking up a heavy wrench as the group began loading themselves into the humvee. "Good luck, all of you."
"You too, Matsudo-san. Thanks for everything you've done for us." Takashi said with a light bow as he turned and walked to the humvee, Matsudo going the opposite way to join the rest of the group fighting against them.
"Matsudo-san!" Kaede called out, bringing the mechanic's attention to where Kaede stood, next to one of the ATVs they were planning to use when it was just he, Rei and Takashi. "Do these things still work?"
"They should, actually. Why?" Matsudo replied, but got no answer, so he continued on; Takashi took up where he left off, watching as Kaede grabbed a tanks of gasoline and, after some searching, found a flare in one of the tool boxes.
"What are you doing, Kaede?" he yelled, half in the humvee while he watched him.
"There's just too many of them for Takagi-sama to take care of!" Kaede yelled back as he pulled the tanks along with him to the ATV. "Remember back to the first night; they are weak against fire!"
The indecent Kaede mentioned flashed into most of their minds, save for Alice since she wasn't with them then, when the other bus had crashed, separating him and Rei from them and where the zombies who had been set ablaze from the crash died rather quickly.
"You guys make a path with the humvee, and I'll light the bastards up!" Kaede said as he lifted the tank onto the rack on the back of the ATV; before Takashi could stop her, Rei had slid out of the humvee through the gap made by him and the open door.
"I'm going with you then!" Rei said demandingly and rushed over to Kaede; stopping him before he could protest. "You won't be able to drive and dump the gas at the same time, right?"
Reluctantly, Kaede nodded and Takashi had no choice but to go along with it; it was quite a plan, since he too knew their numbers were just too great for Souichiro, his vassals and the few survivors left alive. Takashi slid into the humvee besides Saeko, Kouta ready to stand out of the porthole, and Shizuka at the wheel, their eyes all on him.
"We're clearing a path for Kaede and Rei, then we're getting the hell out of here!" Takashi said; they didn't need anymore from Takashi, Saya nodding in agreement as Shizuka started up the humvee and Kouta cheering at the plan.
Takashi made a sideways glance at Saeko, and got a small nod from her; he let out a light sigh as the humvee pulled out, Kaede pulling away from the driveway for the humvee with Rei sitting behind him on the ATV, and readied himself, as did the others who weren't waiting for something else, as Shizuka whipped the humvee around to face the horde of undead being met by the Takagi family vassals.
Once outside the garage, Kouta stood out from the porthole, looking behind them to see Kaede pull up a few meters behind the humvee and gave him the thumbs to to go.
"He's ready whenever you are, Shizuka-sensei." Kouta said, ducking down to relay the information to the driver; Shizuka looked back to Takashi, who nodded, and revved the engine, shifting gears before speeding forward into the crowed of undead.
Luckily, the horde wasn't too dense thanks to the efforts of the vassals, so it was easy to knock out a path for Kaede and Rei to follow; it wasn't until they were a good way away from the garage that Kaede gave the word for Rei to start pouring out the gas, Kaede purposely driving so that it would be poured on they that had been knocked over by the humvee. With Kouta relaying the directions for the humvee to go for the maximum spread of the fire, the two vehicles twisted around the courtyard; the vassals watched, wondering what they were doing, when they could, but they had more important things to worry about.
"We're starting to run low, Kaede!" Rei finally yelled to Kaede, the tank almost empty now; Kaede motioned with one hand to Kouta to start heading for the gate now, which was relayed to Shizuka, and Kaede started following them.
"Alright, when we run out, pop the flare and toss it as close to the gas as you can!" Kaede yelled, passing the flare back to Rei, who took it with her free hand.
The humvee mowed down the undead, sending bodies and blood flying as it made it's way to the open gates; behind them, the ATV with Kaede and Rei followed closely, the gasoline running out just as they passed through the gates. Hearing the sound of the tank hitting the ground and being left behind, Kaede slowed down a bit to give Rei a better chance with the flare. The hissing of the flame starting made Kaede look back, and watch as the flare flew through the air, Rei holding her breath.
The flare hit it mark, and the gas was quickly ignited, setting them on fire all throughout the courtyard; those who caught fire quickly set fire to others, and as they started dropping slowly, the cheers of the vassals could be heard just before Kaede gunned the ATV to catch back up with the humvee, which was fast approaching an obstacle...
"There! That's the only way out!" Saya yelled, pointing ahead to where the bus had crashed into the barricade that had started this whole thing.
"I-it's a little narrow, don't you think!" Shizuka replied fearfully.
"Just go through it!" Saya yelled, pointing onwards, and Shizuka hardly had anytime to argue; the teenagers readied for impact as the humvee scrapped against the side of the bus, and slammed into the concrete slab, sending it sliding out of the way and seriously damaging the side of the humvee that it hit.
Luckily, the humvee broke through and was still working, and they drove through; Kouta confirmed that Kaede and Rei had followed them out safely, and that they were dropping like flies back in the compound. They settled down a bit inside the humvee, Kouta a bit concerned over the damage to the humvee, but it was fine, for now...
"So, what do we do now?" the present group members asked in unison, looking to their leader Takashi.
."...Rei, Kaede and I need to find our parents first!" Takashi answered after some hesitation. "We'll check our houses first, Higashi police station, and Shintoko Elementary school third! At this rate, it won't even take us two hours!"
The group nodded at the plan, having already known the three's parents were first priority for them now.
"After that, we'll look for your friend as well, sensei." Takashi added, making Shizuka look back at him happily, having not expected such a thing to be offered; Takashi grinned back at her before there were cried of disapproval from Shizuka looking away from the road, causing her to look forward and correct the humvee's course before they crashed. "Uh, first things first though; we need to find a place to stop and let Kaede and Rei in..."
At that moment, Saeko noticed something up ahead, clear of them, or so it seemed.
"There's the highway!" Saeko said, pointing forward as they approached the mentioned area; as far as they could tell, it was free of any of the undead, and Shizuka sped up a bit to get there faster.
They were wrong. Dead wrong...
Chapter 9, end.
Authors notes: Sorry everyone for the long wait...had a bit of writer's block. Hopefully I'm back for good, and I'll be uploading another story soon, though the character designs for that one may take awhile...artists block's to blame for that one...