The Second Card-
The Jack of Diamonds
Saya Takagi was not a happy girl.
People had started eating other people. Screams regularly tore through the hallways. And worse of all the entire school had turned into a warzone in only a matter of hours. It was like something straight out of one of those B-rated zombie flicks. And yet, here they were, as real as real can be. She turned her head back, looking at the two boys behind her.
She sighed. Why hadn't she gone along with Takashi when he had barged into class earlier? Now she was stuck with these two idiots, a fat gun otaku and a... She didn't even know what to think of the other lethargic looking boy. Lethargic was probably an understatement. Well… At least they weren't completely useless, even if they were stupid.
She frowned. Speaking of Takashi, she hoped that the idiot wasn't dead.
"You looked like a real pro back there Arisato-san. Have you done kendo before you joined the club?"
He merely shook his head in response. It seemed that the other boy had finally felt familiar enough with him to start a conversation. He couldn't blame Hirano; he wasn't exactly the "life of the party", according to Hisashi anyway. He found himself filled with an unfamiliar feeling as he thought about the grey haired boy. Was it worry? He supposed whether or not Hisashi survived this ordeal, if had had to choose, he would have preferred if he did. It seemed that he enjoyed talking with the boy more than he had originally thought. Perhaps… If this never happened, they would have become friends in the future?
He raised an eyebrow as he saw Takagi crouch down next to the water fountain, soaking a rag in water, probably one that she had taken from the arts and crafts room. Once it was wet enough, she wrapped it up into a ball, and promptly flung it at one of the walking dead in front of them. It landed squarely in the back of its head. Evidently, the dead didn't react to touch either.
"Uh, what are you doing Takagi?"
Hirano… He quickly glanced over to Takagi. If she went into harpy mode out here, they would most likely all die. Every single undead in the hallway would probably come running straight towards them.
He saw her left eye flinch in an almost comedic way as she continued to soak another rag in water.
"What does it look like stupid? I'm trying to learn more about them."
Surprisingly, she actually kept her voice down this time. As she continued to soak another rag, he turned his attention elsewhere, looking out the window, he could see two students on the run. He didn't recognize any of them, but they looked like first-years. They didn't last very long, as they were quickly caught by the mob outside, resulting in the two getting eaten alive. It looked quite painful. They probably would have been able to get away if they didn't try to run. Running would produce noise, one of the few if not the only things they were attracted to. Within mere minutes, the two now dead students began to rise once more. How curious, it seemed that once a person was killed, they would turn in a matter of minutes.
He frowned as he took in the scene in the courtyard. It seemed that you turned when you were bitten, but would it occur after one bite? Or did the person have to die first? Would one bite lead to instant death?
He was shaken from his thoughts when he heard Takagi throw another wet rag, only this time at a row of lockers instead of another undead. And lo and behold, the zombie mindlessly walked over towards the lockers direction. In fact, it had actually walked straight into the locker, making a loud noise as it ran into it. So it would appear that the undead were blind as well.
"You understand now? They only respond to sound. They probably can't see either, or else they wouldn't be mindlessly running into things."
Hirano only nodded in response.
"You're really smart Takagi."
"Of course, I am a genius after all. Let's get going, if we keep quiet, we should be able to avoid most of them."
The glasses wearing boy frowned.
"Wait, we're going outside?"
Takagi sighed.
"Well, duh. What, you want to stay in here?"
Hirano began to rub the side of his cheek as he sheepishly smiled.
"No, it's just that… I kind of hate walking."
… Perhaps if he plugged in his ears with his fingers, it would protect his eardrums from Takagi's incoming ultra-sonic attack.
"Maybe that's why you're so fat stupid!"
Ah… He should have just simply plugged in his headphones instead. He slowly got to his feet as he looked around. Takagi's yelling had probably just alerted every single zombie in the entire hallway.
"L-look at what you made me do stupid!"
Hirano still had that sheepish look on his face
"B-but you were the one that was yelling!"
Was Takagi really that scared of dying? Because her actions seemed to contradict her feelings.
"W-what did you say!? You're going to blame ME? H-how dare you, you fat idiot!"
Then again, he supposed it was just human nature to cling to normality. Or perhaps that was just simply her personality. He wondered when Takagi would stop yelling and notice that they were starting to get surrounded by a horde of the undead. Hirano had already begun shooting, but it looked like he would run out of ammo well before being able to kill most of them.
Glancing around, there didn't seem to be anything that he could substitute for a bokken either. He would be quite defenseless if he were to get caught.
-Click-
"A-aw crap! I'm out of ammo!"
"Just reload it stupid!", Takagi yelled as she frantically looked around for an escape route, "T-there's nowhere else for us to go, we're surrounded!"
She was right. The dead had them surrounded from both sides. In fact, some of them had started to leak out of the classrooms, most likely students that had thought it would have been a good idea to hide in them. Evidently, it wasn't. Takagi and Hirano had started rummaging through the schoolbag that they had stuffed full of an assortment of random materials from the arts and crafts room that the pink haired girl had claimed would be "useful". Looking for more ammunition for the nail gun most likely.
Takagi paused and glanced over towards his direction.
"Do I really have to tell you do everything!?"
He frowned. What did she want from him? There was nothing he could do in this situation, he had no weapon. Their only way of escape was to jump from the third floor, which would only delay the inevitable. If they actually survived the fall, they would only end up with broken limbs, easy prey for the undead outside. Not to mention the sound of the fall, would probably alert every single zombie in the whole school. She was the one that had started yelling, alerting all of them in the first place anyway.
"F-found them!", Hirano quickly grabbed some nails out of the bag and clumsily tried to load them into the gun.
"H-hurry up stupid they're getting clos-!"
It seemed that one of them had gotten close enough within arm's reach to Takagi as she was rummaging through the schoolbag. She screamed when she saw it of course, all while hurling insults their way, such as, "DO SOMETHING YOU IDIOTS!".
He glanced over at Hirano, it didn't look like he would be able to load the gun in time. But what could he do? He supposed he could try putting it in a headlock, but that probably would only get him bitten and turn him into a zombie as well.
He snorted. That would probably just piss off the pink haired girl even more. If he were to become a zombie, listening to her yelling would probably kill him right there on the spot.
If only he could stop that thing from using it's bite. Like how they would muzzle dogs. Ah, he raised an eyebrow at the thought. It was worth a try.
He quickly took off his jacket and flung it over the monster's face, putting it into a headlock. This way, it wouldn't be able to bite at least. It seemed that they were quite strong though, as it simply seemed to shrug him off, continuing its advance on Takagi while dragging his rather scrawny self along with it.
It had actually managed to grab onto Takagi with one of its hands, even while remaining trapped in a headlock, a testament to its strength. She only screeched louder in response. The strength of these things was unbelievable. Completely inhuman, then again, they were zombies.
He squeezed, trying to snap its neck, but it simply ignored him. It tried to open its mouth, attempting to crane its neck in the girl's direction. The boy only pulled back tighter in response. His makeshift muzzle wouldn't last much longer, as it was beginning to bite through the cloth. His breathing labored as he struggled to hold the monster back. He was unused to pushing his body to this extent.
And then he heard the all too familiar sound of a trigger getting squeezed. He breathed a sigh of relief as he could finally let go and quickly dropped to the floor, quite winded.
"Arisato-san!"
The worry in the other boy's voice did not go unnoticed. He merely lifted up his hand in response, indicating that he was fine. They had more pressing matters at hand after all. The glasses wearing boy understood and quickly began shooting. Even though every shot hit its mark, there were just too many of them. Glancing over at the pink haired girl, he could see that tears had begun to drop from her face. It seemed that she was in a state of shock. It wasn't a surprise, mere moments ago, she was only a torn jacket away from getting eaten alive.
His ears twitched. He could hear footsteps, human footsteps. Turning his head back, he could see some familiar faces rushing towards their direction. It would seem that they still might survive this ordeal after all.
The school's faculty office seemed to be a lot better off than most of the other rooms. There were no undead for one thing. Nor were there any bloodstains anywhere, the room simply looked like how it would have looked on any given normal day.
The only difference was that instead of teachers, it was now occupied by a rag tag group of students. He recognized most of the people in the room. Ironically, most of them were his classmates, barring his kendo captain and the school nurse.
He simply observed as everyone introduced themselves, frowning when he noticed that Hisashi wasn't with Takashi or Rei. Was he perhaps…
"Arisato-san? Aren't you going to introduce yourself?", the smooth voice of his kendo captain seemed to almost flow through the air.
He blinked, realizing that everyone in the room was looking at him expectantly.
"Minato Arisato. It is nice to meet everyone."
It was a very well-rehearsed line. One that he had used many, many times throughout his regular transfers.
"It is nice to see that you are alive and well Arisato-san", his kendo captain gave him a sad smile as she sat on the stool across from him, "I do not think that the rest of the club was as lucky as we were."
He did not know how to respond to that. So instead, he merely sat in silence, taking occasional glances around the room. Takagi had gone to the restroom, grumbling about her contacts the whole time while the rest of the group sat on the various chairs and stools around the room. He looked over towards Takashi and Rei's direction the most, curious as to where Hisashi was.
"It must have been tough without your bokken."
His eyes drifted back towards his captain. He supposed that it was, a flimsy metal pipe did not make a good substitute for a bokken at all.
"It is amazing how calm you can be about this Arisato-san", she paused for a moment, as if unsure of what to say next, "This situation can be frightening, in more ways than one."
If his sempai was afraid, she did not show it. All he saw was her ever clam exterior, it seemed as if she had not even broken a sweat, while they were all already exhausted. She even protected their school nurse the entire time. He found it hard to believe that his sempai was frightened. It did not seem to align with her nature.
"You are afraid?"
He did not miss the surprised look on her face.
"I am. But not of the dead."
He frowned. What had she meant? He never had a chance to ask as Takashi coughed, getting the attention of everyone in the room.
"If everyone is ready now, I think that we should get going."
"Oh, I know!"
Their rather energetic school nurse, Ms. Marikawa he believed it was, raised her hand in the air, as if she were an elementary school student waiting for the teacher to call on her.
"We could take my car!"
"Are you sure we would all fit in your car Marikawa-sensei?"
It seemed that Takagi was finally out of the restroom, wearing a new pair of glasses no less. How curious, he had never known that the girl wore lenses.
"Ah…", Marikawa almost seemed to deflate, as she realized that it was impossible for everyone to fit into her car, "We probably wouldn't."
"We could take the school buses", Hirano pointed at a key rack hanging from the wall, "I think the keys are over there."
Takashi nodded, "That's a good idea."
"But", the nurse rested a finger on her cheek, "Where are we going?"
Where indeed? The news report that they had seen earlier had depicted the entire situation quite clearly. The city was quite frankly, in shambles. This was not simply the dead attacking their school, the dead rising in their city. No, this was something on a far larger scale than that; it was something that was affecting the entire world.
Over a 1000 dead in the city alone, and that was only within a few hours. Apparently, China was already up in flames, the result of nuclear warheads being let loose. America wasn't faring any better, the president and his cabinet already having evacuated from the White House.
What exactly did Takashi have in mind?
"I think that… it would be best if we all tried to find our families first", Takashi looked around the group, "Is that fine with everyone?"
Everyone had nodded in agreement, barring himself of course.
'You don't agree with that Arisato-san?"
He had never directly spoken with Takashi prior to this. What little he knew of the other boy was simply from Hisashi.
"Ah, Komuro-kun", Marikawa hesitantly interjected, as if unsure of what to say, "Arisato-kun is… a bit of a special case."
Takashi simply raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"Ah, that is…", she looked over towards his direction an unsure look on her face, "Ah… because…"
"I do not have a family. I am an orphan."
The look of surprise on everyone's faces did not go unnoticed. He had not told anyone, not even Hisashi, so it did not surprise him. The only reason that their school nurse had known was because as a member of the faculty, she had access to his file.
"Ah, sorry Arisato-san", Takashi rubbed the back of his head uncomfortably, "I didn't know."
He had no reason to apologize, it did not bother him anymore after all.
"It's fine."
The room remained in an awkward silence for a while.
"I think… that you should still come with us Arisato-san" Takashi was the first to break the silence, "There's no reason to remain here after all."
The bitter tone that the boy had used to say that last part did not go unnoticed. He supposed that the boy was right, it was pointless to remain in school when there were no more classes left to take. So he only nodded in response.
"Alright then", a renewed vigor seemed to appear in Takashi's voice, "Let's take the bus and get out of here. We're all going to get out of here alive!"
Everyone solemnly nodded in agreement as they began to slowly remove the barricades on the door, gathering themselves in order to face what lied in the halls.
He was surprised when he heard a scream tear through the air. As depressing a thought as it was, he had assumed that the rest of the school had already succumbed to the dead.
Naturally, they had come to the rescue. Of course, he had no weapon, so he only watched from the sidelines, along with Takagi and Marikawa. His captain was as skillful as ever, easily dispatching them, one after another. What had surprised him was how skilled Rei was with that broomstick. He had forgotten that she was a member of the Sojutsu club.
There were only a few of the undead, so they had easily been taken care of. The victims in question were students from other classes, none of which he recognized. Takashi had asked if they wanted to escape with them. Naturally, they agreed.
The thing is, individually, the walking dead could be easily dealt with. While they were unnaturally strong, they were slow, as well as blind. They only became a problem when they were gathered in large amounts.
And there lied the problem at hand. They had easily dispatched the few stray walkers here and there. But when they reached the main entrance, it was safe to say that most of the students that had tried to escape earlier now roamed those same halls as a member of the undead. Needless to say, a lot of students had tried to escape.
"They can't see us", Takagi said confidently, "They only react to sound, so if we keep quiet, we can simply walk past them."
Takashi frowned as he stared at the rather large group of zombies loitering around the main entrance.
"You want to test that theory?"
"It's not just a theory", the nervous tone in the pink haired girl's voice did not go unnoticed, "I've tested it already."
"We don't have much of a choice anyway", Saeko said in a quiet voice, "All of the exits will be similar to this. Someone will have to go."
Unsurprisingly, no one volunteered.
Takashi sighed and raised his left hand into the air.
"I'll go then."
"Wha?!", the worry on Rei's face was evident, "You can't Takashi!"
She grabbed onto his sleeve, worried eyes fixated on his face.
"It's fine Rei", Takashi nervously smiled, "Takagi said she already tested it out."
"No, I'll go", this time his captain was the one to speak, "I believe I will be able to fare better if Takagi's theory is proven to be false."
He did not understand as he watched them argue amongst themselves. Why did they make such a simple task seem so difficult?
"Arisato-kun, what are you", Marikawa's eyes went wide, "W-wait Arisato-kun!"
Everyone stopped talking when they realized that the boy had already left the staircase. Their jaws dropping in shock.
He knew they reacted to sound, so he kept his footsteps quiet. When they got too close, he stilled his breathing. He stopped walking and looked back, seeing everyone's nervous eyes fixated on him. He did not miss the looks of fear that appeared when they realized they would have to do the same thing to escape.
He wanted to sigh, but that would probably cause enough noise alert them of his presence. He was probably going to regret doing this later. No, he was definitely going to regret this.
He slowly took out his beloved mp3 player and with great care, he unhooked the headphones around his neck.
….
With a heavy heart, he dialed his favorite song to the max and tossed his beloved music player towards the side of the room. It quickly gathered the attention of every single zombie in the entrance, bringing them all to one side of the room as the familiar tune of Burn My Dread blasted through those lovely headphones of his. A pity he would never see them again.
The group, seeing this chance, quickly began to quietly exit the school building.
He simply stood there for a while, staring at a corner of the room. He wondered if it would be possible for him to rescue his music player. Perhaps if he distracted them long enough?
"Hurry up Arisato", Takagi quietly hissed, "This isn't the time to space out right now stupid!"
He frowned. He supposed this was goodbye. The end of the road. He gave his beloved mp3 one last look before following after Takagi.
They had made it to the bus without too much trouble. After everyone had seen that he confirmed Takagi's theory, it was easy for the group to sneak past the dead.
They were all seated, simply waiting for their school nurse to start the engine.
"U-uh, this is different compared to my car…", Marikawa frowned as she looked at the controls from the driver's seat, "Uh, that's the clutch I think… and that's the brake? Ugh… Where's the ignition at?"
He raised an eyebrow. Could she really drive? Getting up from his seat he walked over towards the driver's seat and took the key from her lap, putting it into the ignition socket. Giving it a small twist, he heard the engine roar to life.
"Ah, thank you Arisato-kun!"
He only nodded in response as he began to walk back to his seat.
"H-hey, I think that just attracted all of them!", Rei stood up from her seat and pointed out the window, "We need to go, now!"
"Wait!", Takashi frowned as he looked back towards the main entrance, "There are more people coming!"
He walked over back towards his seat and looked out the window. A group of students and a teacher, Mr. Shido, he believed it was. As they got closer to the bus, he could see a few familiar faces. Tsunoda and Imamura were the ones he recognized right away, their rather distinctive dyed hair being easy giveaways. He raised an eyebrow when he saw Kawamoto, the first-year girl that had asked him out a few weeks prior.
"We need to go now!", Rei said in an almost desperate tone, "We don't have to help them, just leave them!"
Takashi frowned as he held open the door of the bus.
"What the hell are you talking about Rei!? Of course we have to help them."
How odd, he did not take Rei for a cold hearted person. Usually he was quite accurate when he came to reading people, so it was quite surprising to see that he was wrong.
"You'll regret helping him Takashi…"
He did not miss the venom in Rei's voice as she stalked back towards her seat. Did she perhaps hate someone from their group? Turning his attention back outside, he wondered who it could be that she had a vendetta against. Could it be Tsunoda? He believed most people did not like the delinquent. He frowned as he saw Mr. Shido kick a student in the face, leaving him for dead as he escaped. Perhaps it was Mr. Shido? His actions did not exactly paint him in a very good light.
Once the last person had gotten on board, Takashi slammed the door shut.
"Okay, hit it!"
He felt his stomach lurch, as Ms. Marikawa gave a new meaning to "putting the pedal to the metal".
"Oh my", his kendo captain looked at him nervously from the seat next to his, "This may be a bumpy ride."
That was probably an understatement. He sighed. He really wished he had his mp3 player right now.
"Why the fuck are we going into the city!?", using the seats for leverage, Tsunoda made his way to the front of the bus, "If you all haven't noticed from the smoke, the city is up in mother fucking flames!"
He felt his stomach lurch again as Ms. Marikawa harshly hit the brakes.
"Okay that is enough!", stopping the bus, the blonde haired nurse got out of the driver's seat, "I can't focus on driving if you're just going to keep complaining, so be quiet!"
Tsunoda seemed to be momentarily taken aback. He frowned before muttering something incoherent and walked back towards his seat.
"What the fuck are you looking at?"
He raised an eyebrow at Tsunoda, who was now standing directly in front of his seat.
"Hey, knock it off Tsunoda."
Takashi's voice only caused the blonde haired boy to scowl even harder.
"Fuck off Komuro, you ain't the boss of me. This is between me and him."
"Children! Please, cease this infighting at once!", Mr. Shido walked over towards Tsunoda and put his hands on the boy's shoulders, "Come now Tsunoda, there is no reason to fight is there?"
The blonde haired boy only scowled even harder before sulking back towards his seat, muttering curses along the way.
Mr. Shido only shook his head.
"This is why we need a leader!", he raised his hands into the air, "Without a leader, there will only continue to be conflict! We need someone with experience! Someone with poise!"
Takagi sighed.
"Let me guess, someone like yourself?"
If he noticed the sarcasm, Mr. Shido didn't show it.
"Why yes!", he grinned as he looked around the bus, "I am a teacher, therefore I have experience. It is only natural for me to be the leader. Why just mere moments ago, I saved the very same students that are riding in this bus right now!"
He spun around, so that his face was now visible to everyone on the bus.
"So what do you say guys? How about it?"
Shido's speech was initially met with silence. Then one student stood up and began clapping. And then another, and another. Soon enough, more than half the bus had thrown in their support for the teacher.
"Well now, I guess that does it!", he didn't think it was possible, but the man's grin only grew wider, "The majority has elected me to be the leader."
He raised an eyebrow when he saw Rei kick open the door to the bus, leaping off.
"Rei!"
Takashi jumped out after her.
"No way! I am not staying here with that bastard!"
Ah, so it was Mr. Shido that Rei did not like.
"Get back in the bus Rei", Takashi grabbed her wrist, "At least until we get back into the city okay?"
Mr. Shido only shook his head.
"Well, there's nothing I can do if you don't want to act in accordance with all of us."
"H-hey, Marikawa-sensei, we need to go!", Takagi said in an alarmed voice, "There's a bus coming straight at us!"
He frowned as he looked over towards Rei and Takashi. It seemed that they were still arguing with each other and did not notice the bus.
Jumping out of the bus as well, he grabbed Takashi and Rei with each hand and dragged them away to safety.
"W-wha?", Rei asked in a surprised voice, "A-arisato-san?!"
Just in the nick of time as well as the other bus crashed straight into a parked car, causing it to flip and land directly in flaming heap directly at where they were standing mere seconds ago.
He frowned as he looked at the giant flaming wall that was now separating them from the rest of the group. Raising an eyebrow when he saw some of the dead break out of the flaming deathtrap. They did not last too long however, as the fiery embers soon melted away at their flesh.
"O-oh shit.", Takashi said as he stared at what could be compared to as a scene straight out of hell, "T-thanks for the save Arisato, I owe you one."
He only nodded in response. Truth be told, he had no idea why he had saved them. Was it simply because of his moral conscience again? Or was it because of their relation with Hisashi?
"Arisato-san! Komuro-san!", his Sempai's worried voice snapped him out of his thoughts, "Are you guys all alright?"
"A-at the police station!", Takashi shouted, hoping that his voiced reached, "Meet us at the police station!"
"What time?"
Takashi took a quick glance at his watch.
"Tonight at 7!", he coughed, the smoke from the fire was beginning to get thick, "If not tonight, then tomorrow at the same time!"
"T-Takashi, we need to go now!", Rei shouted in a worried tone, "Before the fire starts to spread anymore!"
Takashi nodded before breaking off in a run.
"Right, come on Arisato!"
He decided to follow them.
After a good deal of running, they had stopped by the riverside to rest. He blinked as he heard the sound of an explosion. It was good that they had decided to run, any longer and they may have gotten caught up in it.
Rei's grew a bit paler at the sound.
"Oh my god…", she stared at the site of the explosion for a little while longer, "Arisato-san, thank you for saving us."
He only nodded in response, before sneezing. It was getting late so the temperature had started to creep downwards. He wished he still had his jacket.
Takashi raised an eyebrow.
"What happened to your jacket man?"
He sighed.
"It is a long story."
Takashi only nodded in response, frowning.
"Yeah, it's been a one hell of a day…"
He looked over at Takashi. And then at Rei. He supposed that this was a good a time as any.
"Where is Igou-san?"
Takashi scowled as Rei choked back a sob. No one said anything for a while as Rei had begun to cry.
Takashi only looked away.
"He's dead."
He did not miss the bitterness in Takashi's voice. He did not know what to think about the painful feeling that had begun to well up in his chest. Was he… sad?
"How… did he die?"
Another choked sob was his answer as Rei struggled to contain herself.
He suddenly felt like a real ass for bringing it up.
Sojutsu- A Japanese martial art that involves the use of a spear.
Author's Notes: Rest in peace MP3 player. We will never forget you…