Yeah, To death with short chapters. More than five thousand words, I feel vaguely accomplished :)
Not much to say this time, I'm just happy that I've gotten this chapter up, Please review.

And so,

1000 Suns

Chapter 3
Searching for the DEAD

When morning came all I wanted was to pull the covers over my head like a little kid. I wanted to go back to sleep and dream of going to school and forget this world even existed. In the end I dragged myself back into the nightmare because my family needed me. Because they always needed me.

Komuro sat on the edge of his bed, alone in his empty suite. The sheets of the bed were twisted and tangled from a night spent tossing and turning in the grips of one nightmare or another. It was dark in his room, curtains drawn and lights, of course, broken. His eyes, half lidded, stared at the curtains that covered the glass wall. Vaguely entertaining the idea of opening them. But while the sun may lay beyond the fabric it also concealed the burnt shell of the city. Yeah, the curtains were staying closed. He would rather put up with the darkness. Komuro knew the darkness very well, like an old friend. But beyond that thin red curtain lay death, and he had no intention of looking upon it.

His gaze drifted down to his hand. Thumb rubbing across the tip of his index finger Komuro felt a small, rough callus forming on the pad. Huh, never thought I would have the chance to get gun calluses. Suddenly he stood, stretching his arms as he rose. Grabbing the scuffed up leather jacket he had found at Saya's mansion he shrugged it on over his red T. Sweeping up his Ithaca he pocketed the room key as he stepped out into the hall, trying to muster up the courage to face the day. It was five steps or less to any of the other doors in the hall; but at the moment he needed time to think, so he stepped out onto the southward facing balcony.

With the sun just breaking over the horizon the air retained its chill from the night before, causing Komuro to pull his jacket tighter around him as he slung his shot gun over his shoulder. Sprawling out below him was the city, or what was left of it anyway. Cars were scattered haphazardly across the streets, some crashed into lamp posts or walls. Houses stood with doors open and windows shattered. Off in the distance he could see Onbetsu bridge, vehicles piled everywhere, hastily erected barricades torn down. It lay abandoned, as did the rest of the city between it the deserted parking lot below him. Even the city's new occupants were scarce, their shambling forms scattered here and there, the rest out of sight, hidden by buildings and wreckage. Of to the right Komuro could see the east police station, their next destination. The street in front of the building was empty of them, for the time being anyway. It was anyone's guess how long it would stay that way. He could see no movement around the four story building. As far as he could tell the police station was as dead as the rest of the city. Joy, he thought to himself, more dead bodies. Komuro stared out over the city dejectedly, pondering their next move.

Behind him the sliding door to the balcony opened. Saya, wrapped in a blanket from one of the beds, stepped out onto the balcony beside him. "Never thought you were the type to get up with the sun," She remarked with a wan smile.

"I wasn't," Takashi replied, a similar smile crossing his face. "But it doesn't surprise me that you are," Saya shrugged, "I am what I am," She said.

"Saya," Takashi said after a short period of silence, "Do you know how many students were enrolled in our school?"

She looked at him oddly, "Why would you care about that?"

"Well," He began, rubbing the back of his head. He didn't want to look like an idiot; but this was Saya, one way or another you'd end up making a fool of yourself. Taking a breath a growing a pair he quickly outlined his idea. "Figuring that we're the only survivors from the school, and knowing that the city's population was around 4 million,"
"4, 338, 651," She interrupted, "Yeah well," Komuro continued, "couldn't we get a rough estimate of how many people may have survived by crunching those numbers?"

Another odd look, "You know," Saya said, "Sometimes I'm not sure if your an idiot or a genius." Takashi chucked, "I am what I am," He shot back.

"I'll be right back," Saya replied vanishing back into the hotel, presumably searching for a pen and paper. Komuro returned to his contemplation of the city, attempting to string together his thoughts into a coherent whole. He was thinking deep thoughts, something he had never done before this madness began, when two slender arms wrapped around him, pulling him into a warm embrace. "Morning," A soft voice whispered in his ear.

"Saeko," He replied, a smile breaking across his features. "How could you tell?" She asked playfully, resting her chin on his shoulder.

"You smell like lilac," He replied, "Though I don't were you've been hiding your perfume," She chuckled slightly at the joke. "I wish I could say you smelled as nice," Was her reply. They both laughed a little at that. As the sun continued to rise she slid her arms under his, embracing his chest while she rested her head on his shoulder. It was peaceful, a sensation he'd not felt for a long while. He leaned into her, letting the smell of lilac engulf him. No words were spoken. Saeko didn't ask him any questions. This moment was a gift, a short time when Komuro didn't have to do anything, when he didn't have to think and plan, when he could just relax for a few seconds.

"Pardon me if I'm interrupting," Saya remarked sarcastically, as she stepped back out onto the balcony. "If you don't want me to answer your question I can just come back later . Or the two of you could just get a room and be done with it." Komuro and Saeko stepped apart, a slight blush on both their faces. Saeko lowered her eyes demurely. Smiling one last time a Komuro, she stepped back into the hotel, leaving Saya and Komuro alone on the balcony.

"So did you do the math?" He asked. Saya glared at him, contemplating flipping him off for such a stupid question. "Of course I did the math," She replied, "It took me longer to find a piece of paper that it did for me to solve the problem, it's, like, middle school level after all."

"Thank you for supplying my daily dose of confidence," Komuro replied sarcastically, turning to lean out on the balcony rail. "So what did you get?" He asked, hope coloring his voice.

"Nothing good." she replied, sighing. "figuring that us six the only survivors from a school of 1640 students, including faculty and staff, that means the overall chance of survival is less than half a percent. So in our city, using our school as the standard, 14, 751 people should have survived, out of over 4 million." She took a breath, continuing, "Our city is 11 square miles so if the survivors were spread out evenly that should factor into about 1341 people a square mile, minus the three square miles that burned two nights ago that means there should be about 10728 people left alive." She paused, "But since my parents gathered so many people to them I'd place that number under ten-thousand, possibly closer to nine-thousand five hundred. Technically, I should have included Shino's group into the calculations. But when we left the mansion I'm pretty sure I saw their bus crashed into the concrete barricade. So they're probably all dead now.

Processing all this, Komuro shrugged. "About ten-thousand people, huh?" He remarked looking over the silent city. "Sure doesn't seem like that many."

"Most of them have probably hole up like we have, or been evacuated from the city to the island air port or something like that. But truthfully, I think ten-thousand is a very hopeful estimate."

He looked at her, "Why do you think that," She glanced at him shaking her head in disbelief, "How many people in the city are kendo champions or otaku's capable of assembling a gun out of wood shop equipment?" She asked, sarcasm dripping from her voice, "How many people just happen to have keys to an apartment stocked with an abundance guns and ammunition? Face it, we got lucky." Looking over the city she added, "We got really lucky."

The sun was fully above the horizon now; and inside the hotel Komuro could hear the sounds of people waking up. Sighing, he set that information aside to go over it later. He turned and reentered the hotel; right as Rei stepped out of her apartment door, running into him and sending them both sprawling in an tangled heap upon the floor. Takashi landed on top of Rei, one knee in-between her thighs and her hand in a place he'd rather not think about. Saya stared at them in a mixture of amusement and shock, "How the mighty have fallen," She remarked to herself, before stepping over them to enter her suite. The door to Rei's suite banged shut, leaving the hallway empty.

"T-takashi" Rei stuttered, her face bright red. Jumping back to his feet Komuro pulled Rei up with his. He stepped back slightly, putting a more comfortable distance between them, "Ohayo..." He managed.

Staring at him for a second Rei giggled, raising a hand to cover her smile. "What?" He asked, slightly annoyed.

"The expression on your face!" She replied her, giggling turning into laughter, "You, you should see yourself right now!" She remarked, doubling over from laughing so hard. Komuro couldn't help himself, he started laughing too. He didn't even know what was so funny, it just felt good to laugh again. As the laughter died away Rei straightened. Rubbing her eyes she said, "You know, the old Takashi wouldn't have hesitated to take advantage of that situation," She remarked, smiling, "And the old Rei would have slapped him. Now the new Takashi helps me to my feet and says 'Ohayo'"

"What does the new Rei do?" Komuro asked, smiling as well. "This," Rei replied. Stepping forward she brushed her lips lightly against his, "As a reward for being such a good boy." She whispered. Before he could react Rei slipped into Saya's suite, leaving Takashi alone in the hall. He shook his head. As if his life wasn't confusing enough without Rei and Saeko constantly battling over him. He didn't know which way to turn; and was becoming more and more afraid that he would be castrated in his sleep.

Saya's Suite
"Why are you all in here?" Saya asked, drawing a blanket tighter around as if it would protect her from the eyes of her friends "Can't you go meet somewhere else?"

"You're part of our team," Rei replied with a friendly smirk, "So since you're not moving we have no choice but to meet around you." Saya glared at her. "What, turnabouts not fair play?" Rei asked.

Saya bemoaned her bad luck getting stuck with this girl out of everyone in their school. Turning to Komuro, she said, "Might as well get this over with fearless leader. The sooner your done the sooner I can go back to sleep."

Shaking his head Komuro picked up the conversation, "We all know that the police station is our goal for today. Saya," He said turning to face the little genius, "Marikawa-sensei said you need a break, so I'm abiding by her expert opinion and giving you the day off. Hirano, I want you to stay here with the Girls. Rei, Saeko, and I will head down to the east police station. While you guys are here start packing up our stuff, I want to leave as soon as we get back."

Hearing Takashi's instructions Saya slumped in relief. Usually she would complain and gripe about being coddled but right now the last thing she wanted to do was head back out and face them. Now she had a chance to relax, and Khota what staying too so she would have someone to talk to other than Alice. She favored Komuro with a weary smile, letting him know she appreciated his decision. Komuro nodded, accepting her thanks as he and the two girls departed back to their suites to gather their equipment. Sighing the pink haired genius stretched back out on her bed. "Well if that's all I 'm going back to sleep," She said, rolling over so her back faced towards the other occupants of the room. Khota removed the magazine from his rifle and placed it in a corner before sitting down to play pati-cake with Alice. Thus the four remaining survivors spread out in a comfortable fashion around the room, Shizuka sorting out her medical, supplies, Zeke sitting attentively as he watched Alice and Khota clap their hand. Normalcy is hard to find in the apocalypse; in situations like these you take what you can get.

20 or so odd floors below them the other three were just exiting the hotel, armed to the teeth as they crossed the deserted parking lot again, two less in number than before. Other than that not much had changed from yesterdays excursion. Komuro lead their little party with Saeko and Rei flanking him on either side. He had his Ithaca gripped by the barrel, figuring at this point it would be better to use it as a club. The parking lot was utterly empty, the plastic bag from before long gone, taking with it all the color left in the grim world. Ten steps to the road, Rei mentally checked off, taking note of each movement, seven steps, six steps and we pass the humvee. As they passed the empty hummer Komuro took a second to smash a zed's face in with the butt of his shotgun, letting it slide quietly down to the cracked pavement. They stepped over the corpse without pausing. It was just another body, a drop in the ocean of death that ragged around them. Such an incident was of so little consequence that they barely even took time to notice it. When death is all around you, surrounding you like a noose, you become used to it. Death becomes a normal facet of your life.

That is perhaps the most frightening thing of all; for what is life if death has no meaning?

Back in the Suite
Shizuka sighed happily, replacing all of her supplies into her "magic bag" as Saya had dubbed it. She had more than enough gauze and stitches, not that those were in much demand giving the highly infective nature of getting bitten. Other than that she still had a good supply of pain killers, minus those she had given to Rei when administering her treatment back a Saya's mansion. She was running low on her ointments but that was of little consequence, as it was highly unlikely that anyone would suffer an injury like Rei's ever again. Ever since being catapulted of the roof of the humvee Rei had become very particular about riding inside. And of course she had all of the anti biotics, anesthetics, and the like she had managed to grab before she had cut and run back in the school. Thank Kami for penicillin, she thought to herself, knowing that it any of the teens in her care got sick with a bacterial infection those tiny white capsules were all that stood between them and an ironic death. After all, it would kind of suck to die of Erysipelas with all the walking corpses just waiting to take a bite out of you. Sadly there was little Marikawa could do for viral infections, she could only hope that this year's flu virus wouldn't be particularly bad. Perhaps she could convince the kids to lay low for a few days if anybody caught the flu. Though with so few carriers of the disease she wondered if it would spread at all. Unless it was some variant of the bird flu and was transported by animals.

Yes, contrary to popular belief, Shizuka Marikawa was not a total air head. Her grasp of medicine was startlingly deep and complex; otherwise she still a total ditz. Hey, you can't win them all.

Looking up from her medical supplies she saw that Hirano and Alice had transitioned from pati-cake to singing 'twinkle twinkle little star; Hirano's personal version. What did he call those again? Shizuka wondered for a moment, the 'filth' version? She tittered to herself as she remembered, not to mention hearing the words. If Saya was awake she would be furious that Hirano was still teaching little Alice more deplorable children's songs. Though all and all, Alice was the biggest mystery to Shizuka out of the entire group. While she didn't think anyone else cared much about it; Alice's personality struck Shizuka as odd. After all the little girl had gone through Shizuka could not comprehend how she was always so happy, still so innocent despite watching her father die right in front of her. From the accounts she's heard from Hirano and Komuro his death had been gruesome. And it wasn't like the Alice didn't remember it, she had expressly cited her father's death when Khota had tried to drop her over the wire barricade at the entrance of Saya's neighborhood. So what was with this little girl? Shizuka was not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, though she had never seen a horse in real life, but she was worried about the possibility of repression or some other mental disorder surfacing. But who knows? Shizuka thought to herself Maybe she just came to accept Komuro as her new father. For know she was smiling, and in the end that was the most important thing.

"That was a great song Khota-chan!" Alice chirped, "We should teach it to Saya-chan!" Khota laughed nervously at the prospect of getting caught red handed for teaching Alice a new 'filth' song.

"Takagi-san is sleeping, Alice-chan," He replied, hoping to cover his tracks, "She wouldn't like it if you woke her up." Alice nodded happily, accepting Hirano's explanation before begging to play another round of pati-cake.

West of Fifth Block, Onbetsu Ward*
Komuro, Saeko, and Rei walked down the center of the street in tight formation, making straight for the east police station. They shambled intermittently across the once clean, well repaired, pavement. Occasionally the group had to weave around cars that were scattered across the lanes, pausing now and then to bash another one of Them in the head. Six or seven blocks from where they stood Rei could see the roof of the police station peeking out above the other houses. Despite all she had seen Rei still hoped that she would find her father alive and well at the station. She still wished that she could get her family back, as naive as it sounded that dream was all she had. And now they were almost to the police station, her dream was finally in sight.

But life is never that easy, and a few blocks later it made its contrary and unavoidable presence known. Standing between Rei and her goal it seemed as though all of them that were out of sight this morning had formed a gigantic hoard surrounding the police station; grey shambling figures so close to one another they collided with the ones surrounding them. Here and there lone zeds staggered across the pavement, separated from the main group, only to gravitate back to the sound they created as they wandered around aimlessly, running into others and collapsing, only to noisily regain their feet, a chorus of moans accompanying them.

Frowning at the grim sight Komuro motioned to his companions and they moved away from the mosh pit. He looked over the block for a few seconds before speaking, trusting in the sounds made by them to mask his whispers. "It looks like they have the police station completely surrounded." He stated, quietly, "And there's no way we can cut through this horde. If we can't find a way in through one of the other houses on the block then we're screwed."

"But, how did they even get here!" Rei whispered, her tone lending urgency where volume could not. "This morning the streets were clear, where did they come from?"

"It does not matter where their abhorrent corpses sprung from." Saeko interrupted, looking over the situation with a calm eye. "They are here now, and unless we can find a way around them we will have to leave." Rei glared at her, but Komuro stopped the acidic comeback she was about to spew with a shake of his head.

"Rei, I'm sorry but in this case Saeko is right." She hissed back at him, "We can't just leave! Not when my father could be right there!" Komuro put his hand on her shoulder, looking into her eyes before continuing. "We won't just quit. If we can't find a way through today we'll wait until all of them leave and come back. And if all else fails I'll ask Shizuka to drive the humvee down to bulldoze thought them. One way or another I'll get you to the police station," Rei seemed to deflate at Komuro's words, regaining control of her emotions. She nodded to him, letting him know that she was fine. Taking a quick second to survey the situation once more Komuro whispered, "We'll circle around the block and see if we can find a way in. If we get that far we'll cut through the block and try to get to the station's back entrance." They moved out quietly, giving the undead horde a wide berth as the moved down a street next to the block, looking for a break that they could slip through.

To the south, in front of a small library the horde was considerably thinner. The Library, a short brick building, sat behind a five foot high wall that encircled this part of the block. A short break in the wall appeared directly in front of the front door of the library. A few yards wide, the opening was blocked by about ten of them. The only point on the block that was not swarmed by the undead. Komuro and company stood on the other side of the street, regarding the break in the horde surrounding the police station. "What do you to think?" Komuro asked quietly. Rei didn't reply, not removing her gaze from the small opening in the wall. Saeko turned to Takashi, nodding to show her approval of their current course of action. "Let's go then," He said shifting his grip on the barrel of his shotgun and raising it to a more ready position. To his left and right Saeko and Rei shadowed his footsteps. As they approached Saeko's katana hissed out of its sheath and Rei lifted up her rifle lunging forward to spear the first one of them through the head. She lowered her bayonet to let the corpse slide quietly to the ground. Saeko followed right behind with a quick slash of her sword, a small smile coming to her face. Within moments they were through the opening in the wall.

Moving swiftly as silence would allow they circled around the side of the building pausing only momentarily to take down one of them that blocked their path. Passing through backyards they eventually made it to the back of the police station. Rei could see the roof over the tall brick fence that barred their way, the last obstacle between her and the back of the building.

Takashi moved next to the wall, slinging his shot gun over his shoulder. "Here," He said knitting his hands together, "I'll boost you both over the wall."

Saeko nodded, "I will go first," She said. Rei shot a quick glare at her, "Why do you get to go first?" She asked. Saeko just cocked an eyebrow at the brown haired girl, "Which one of us would be better at taking out a large amount of them in the enclosed space of that ally?" She asked rhetorically before moving to stand in front of Takashi. Sheathing her sword she placed her left foot in his palms.

"Ready?" he asked. After she nodded he heaved her up, nearly throwing her upwards as the grabbed the top of the concrete fence, hoisting herself over the brick wall to land on the other side. Rei heard a swish and two thumps shortly afterward; presumably Saeko taking out a few of them. Rei moved forward next repeating Saeko's maneuver she moved to pull herself up to the top of the fence. But she had only just gotten her elbow onto the lip when the support of Komuro's hands disappeared. She let out a gasp, coming dangerously close to slipping as her feet scrambled for support on the brick.

That was when she heard a moan.

Turning, her muscles frozen in fear, she saw Takashi scrambling backwards as one of them shambled towards him. She could only watch in horror and disbelief as the rotting corpse sunk its teeth into his arm. He cried out in pain. Grabbing its head with his other hand he turned, bashing its head into the wall with all his might. Once, twice, he smashed the thing into the wall. On the third strike it released his arm, sliding lifelessly to the ground. But the noise he had made attracted more of them. They stumbled out of the houses and buildings about him, making their way towards him.

Swearing under his breath he ran back towards Rei. Taking a running leap he grabbed the edge of the wall, mustering enough momentum to hall himself over. Reaching down he yanked Rei up behind him and the two jumped, closer to tumbled off the other side.

Saeko was before them helping Komuro and Rei back to their feet. "What happened?" She asked, her face betraying her worry.

"O-one-one of them" Rei blubbered, struggling to form the words, "One of them b-bit-"

"Rei, I'm fine," Takashi interrupted, grabbing her by the shoulders. "Look," he said, showing her his arm. "It didn't break the leather." It was true. The black material of his jacket was in worse shape than before; but the leather itself was unbroken. Rei stared at his arm for a few seconds. Taking a deep breath she managed to stop her shivering, slumping back against the wall they just hurled themselves over. "You okay?" he asked, worry creasing his brow. She nodded.

"Let's go," She replied softly, "The back entrance is around that side of the building," She pointed. Komuro pulled Rei back to her feet and they moved to go around the building, Saeko taking point.

Rei didn't know what was more disheartening. The fact that the side door was busted open; or that it was busted open from the inside. "Well at least we know why all of them are here." Rei stated, trying to make light of the situation. "Busting this door of its hinges would have been pretty loud." She paused, "Well there's no point in wasting time. Might as well get this over with," She tried to smile, and failed miserably.

Saeko took point. And the other two followed her into the building. The first floor was empty, so was the second. As they arrived on the third floor they came across a man laying on the ground, his back propped up by a wall, dressed in a police uniform. He was pale, sweat covering his face and breath coming in short sharp gasps. But it was his right leg that drew they eye. Five inches below the knee a column of white jutted out from his shin, three inches of bloody, shattered bone. At the base of the wound Rei could see that his skin was red and inflamed through his ripped pants, a mixture of blood and pus seeped from the wound adding to the large puddle of filth that had formed around his leg. At first it was all Rei could do to drag her eyes away from his mortal wound. But upon seeing his face she gasped, "Yamashita-san" She whispered. He cracked an eye open when she said his name. "Rei," he replied. He let out a dry wheezing noise. It took her a moment to realize he was laughing, "Long time no see," His voice was crackling, dry. Without further ado Rei knelt beside him, uncapping her water bottle and pouring a stream of water down his chapped torn lips.

"Bless your soul Rei," He croaked, his voice marginally stronger than before. "Who are they?" He asked a slight jerk of his head indicating Saeko and Takashi who stood a respect full distance away.

"Friends," Rei replied, "Yamashita-san, what happened here?" She asked, voice fearful.

He looked over what was left of the police station, the place where he had lived and worked for the last 15 years since he turned 23. "Don't worry kid, your dad wasn't here when the shit hit the fan," He replied, answering Rei's unspoken question. "He and two others went to see if they could find any other survivors, maybe get some find some other cops or something." Yamashita took a breath, air rattling in his chest as he inhaled, "Two other officers came back from gathering supplies about an hour after your dad left. One of them was bitten, but he tried to hide it." Yamashita let out a crackling chuckle that turned into a coughing fit. "By the time we found out it was too late, He turned, started biting people, and now I'm the last one left. I fell down the stairs trying to get away from one of them and broke my leg. It was all I could do to drag myself out of the stairwell and prop myself up against this wall. I've been lying here since then, trying to keep quiet so they won't find me."

"When did that happen," Rei asked.

"Two, Three days ago" Yamashita replied shaking his head as if he was trying to clear it, "I've lost track of how long I've been here. They left the night the city burned." He paused, "Before you ask, I don't know where they went or when they'll come back. Your old man said something about checking police head quarters, but that place was in the burned section of the city. Sorry kid." He took a breath, steeling himself for what he had to say next as Rei rocked back on her heals, shocked by his news. "I'm done for kid." He said sadly, "There's no point in me staying alive." He stopped Rei from interrupting with a look. "The gun safe is on the second floor, the combo is 3-42-28-7. There's extra ammo and supplies on the fourth floor."

"Yamashita-san, what are you saying?" Rei asked, "We can get you out of here, we have a doctor with us, you'll be okay," She seemed to be talking more to herself, trying to convince herself that what she was saying was true.

Yamashita just chuckled, "Look at me kid. I can't even move. And I'm not deaf, I can hear all of them moaning outside. I don't know how you got in, but there's no way in hell that you're getting me out." He paused, another fit of coughs seizing his body. "Just don't leave me for the zombies okay?" He asked quietly. Rei's eyes widened as she realized the implications of his plea. Rei closed her eyes, trembling as she nodded in affirmation of his request. "Thanks," Yamashita sighed, letting a wan smile lift the corners of his mouth. "There should be a few silencers in the gun safe."

Fifteen Minutes Later
They exited the block same way they entered, moving back towards the hotel. Rei's eye's were hollow as they made their way down the street. Takashi glanced at her, worried. She seemed not to notice the world around her moving robotically, in his footsteps. Killing Yamashita had broken her, and he could only hope that she could find a way to draw the pieces back together.

Our group, my family, wouldn't have survived the first day, perhaps not even the first hour, without everyone else. If not for Rei I would have gone out in a blaze of glory on the roof of the school. She may not even know it, but she saved my life. They all have. Without Saeko and Hirano we'd all be dead countless times over. Without Saya we'd have no direction; without Shizuka we'd be stranded, and have no guns to boot. And without Alice... we'd all have gone insane a long time ago. Perhaps we will anyway.

High School of the Dead
Searching for the DEAD

About the star (*). So, in Japan streets aren't named, block are. The name them in order of age, so fifth block is the fifth oldest block in that area. Wards are just a division of the city, a municipality kind of. Beneath ward there are a few more divisions but I decided to go with ward. Also I completely bs'ed the name of the ward. But whatever.

Till Next time,
Argentorum