I got some extra time this week to upload an additional chapter ahead of schedule. Unfortunately I don't think I can make this a regular occurrence. You can expect another upload on our traditional date dear readers. I warned you it was going to get rough. And here it goes, getting rough. I'm sorry, but like I said, I have a despicable tendency to hurt my characters.
I don't own Hetalia and thank a deity or everyone would be shell-shocked husks of people. I don't own any of the song titles or bands that crop up in this fic either. I only own the story and the background OCs, who, let's face it, are barely more than glorified zombie fodder.
Tuesday 15th March 2013
Today has been the worst day in my memory- worse than the days I was stuck in the Math room with the others and the days I spent praying my friends would come back safe. I'm stuck in this weird purgatory of emotions, between a rage that would probably result with me murdering someone and a desire to cry for everything we lost up to this point which would have me curled up in a ball under my bed. I don't know what I should do. What I saw, what I know happened should be classed as attempted murder.
I don't know…I don't know what I should do, because what I saw is going to put us all in danger. Not 'if it's true'. Trust me this is the real thing! I know what I saw! I'll be lucky if I can ever get the scene out of my head, but it might as well have been burned onto my retinas. Every time I shut my eyes I see it. My ears are still ringing from the gunshots and screams.
Lili Zwingili was bitten this afternoon.
There was a breach at the perimeter on the third floor. Six zombies somehow got past a dozen heavily armed ex-soldiers, shambled down the hallway without so much as a nick from a bullet and into the hallway where at least 30 unarmed teenagers were taken by surprise.
The guys in the main hallways had no chance. Before anyone knew what was happening three people were bitten and Marichka was pinned to the floor by two zombies and her organs were being scooped out of her back in handfuls. Too scared to help, the majority ran. Only brave stupid Ahmet came to her aid.
Someone who looked back reported the last they saw of him he had whacked the bigger of the two with a fire extinguisher while the other four closed in and Marichka squirmed and cried on her front. I didn't see Ahmet stumbling around later, unlike Marichka who I personally shot in the skull. Maybe they lost interest when a noisier target presented himself. I haven't heard anyone mention recovering his remains.
Upstairs in a little-used branch of the hallway, I was plugged into my iPod by myself. Imagine Dragons was up at the loudest volume I could stand. I think I must have been trying to drown out my problems. Never doing that again. Who knows how long I sat there on my own unaware of what was going on. I could have been helping to save lives. Instead I just sat in a closet and stared at a water stain on the wall in a pathetic haze of self-pity.
Oh look at me my problems are so bad. I can't sleep at night and I feel like I'm on the verge of a panic attack all day and these people have started to annoy me- GOD WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?! WHAT A DICK! AT LEAST I'M FUCKING ALIVE. SO ARE MY PARENTS AND BROTHER AS FAR AS I KNOW! MY COUSIN HASN'T TRIED TO EAT ME. MY FRIENDS ARE ALIVE TOO!
Yesterday I called them my family. I talked about how they were all that I have right now, how this school has become my whole world. Said I would rather die with them than live as the lone survivor. Thought to myself I would do my utmost to protect them.
Well I fucked that up. While they took up guns -some of them had never fired before- to help each other, I sat alone in a corner with a sad song on loop and hoped someone would come along soon and ask me what was wrong so I could have a pity party.
Eventually I took the song off the loop, which created a pause just long enough between the songs that I heard the fighting. As soon as the situation registered in my mind I was off like a shot, stuffing the stupid machine in my pocket, praying I hadn't let someone die.
By following the noise at my top speed I came round the corner into a fight just in time to save someone.
This is what I saw. Heracles Karpusi struggled against a small but strong zombie, determined to bite into his throat. It had him against the wall with little or no hope of escape. Off to the left stood a member of Security named Dawson. She was a formidable woman, taller than me by at least 3 inches and she was armed with a machine gun. All she did was stand there. Stand there and watch him, her face totally apathetic. Almost like she enjoyed it! Hera wasn't calling for help. Every ounce of his concentration was focused on keeping his jugular inside his skin but the zombie got closer every second.
When I saw what was happening I quickly tackled the zombie around the waist then threw him against the wall as hard as I could. It didn't work. He kept coming.
"Shoot him!" I yelled at Dawson.
Dawson regarded me coolly and raised her gun. She levelled it with my chest. I would have been blown apart if it weren't for Lili, who came zooming out of nowhere and pushed the gun upwards just as Dawson's finger tensed on the trigger. Bullets ripped into the ceiling. One of them ricocheted off what must have been the bottom of the vents and stuck in the wall centimetres from Hera's face.
Dawson jerked the gun and connected with the side of Lili's face. She knocked her back.
Into the zombie's waiting arms.
The zombie grabbed Lili by the arm and bit deep. She was too surprised to scream or flinch. I could hear bones splintering and veins popping. Blood sprayed around its teeth. The taste of her own blood on her lips must have brought Lili back to reality. Using all her strength she delivered a devastating uppercut. Although it tore the zombie off a piece of her came away with it; her first two fingers and a chunk of palm.
She had hit it just at the right angle to break its brittle neck. The body fell at Dawson's feet, twitching. She aimed the gun again and Lili began screaming. This time my saviour was Marichka.
She came out of nowhere and ploughed Dawson straight off her feet. It was only as I ran to Lili I realised Marichka's skin had festered grey. She dug into Dawson with gusto. I grabbed the machine gun that had fallen to the side. My arms were unprepared for the weight - I wasted four bullets before I plugged Marichka in the back of the skull. Dawson was dead too. Marichka had followed the Transylvanian tradition of her people and had torn out Dawson's throat.
I stood there gaping for a second. That was the first time I had ever shot someone. I did it about a million more times today, and it didn't get any easier. Lili's screams attracted more zombies down the hall and they ran as fast as Marichka had. It barely clicked in time I should shoot them too. If I had hesitated a microsecond longer than I did all three of us would have been eaten, then possibly get back up and satisfy ravenous appetites with the corpses of our friends.
Blood flies like you wouldn't believe. One single bullet vaporises everything it passes and blows it out of the body in a red vapour. You can't begin to imagine what a machine gun does, especially in the hands of an inexperienced, terrified teenager. Video games do NOT prepare you for it. Action movies do NOT prepare you for it. War documentaries do NOTHING brace your mind for the first- hand experience. When the last one fell my hair had gone from blonde to red.
Hera had gathered up Lili in his arms. The screams had dwindled to a low moan, almost the moan I have heard so many times issuing from a dead throat. I thought she had turned until she looked up at me and whispered "Cut it off."
Hera and I noticed the knife strapped to Dawson's belt at the same time.
"Cut it off." she said again "Please. I'll turn if you don't. I saw it happen to the kids." I think those were her words. She stuttered so badly they were hard to discern. However there could be no mistaking her request when she nodded weakly to the knife and tried to lift her bitten hand.
What else could I have done? I retrieved the knife. We moved her gently to the floor, her head in Hera's lap and his grip pinning her to the floor by shoulders. She took a fistful of her shirt in her free hand and bit down on the collar of her jacket.
I cut her hand off a few inches along the wrist. The blade seemed alive as it bit through her skin, muscles, veins and went through the bone without much trouble. It was sharp. I am physically strong. Together we made a quick job of her wrist.
Blood has a life of its own too. When it knows it will be split it picks a target it will stain. It knows once it has been washed off, the stain will remain. I will wake up with the blood down my front, in my hair, my eyes, my mouth, dripping off the end of my nose…for the rest of my life. I will look down at my two hands and find them drenched wet crimson for the rest of my life.
I'm alright with this. I bought Lili's life with my actions. She is worth it a thousand times over. I'll never regret it.
We wrapped the stump in a tourniquet made from my shirt and wrapped her in Hera's jacket, I took the gun and we left. I didn't tell Heracles I had realised the identity of the first zombie attacker. I haven't told anyone.
It was Vash. The representative of Switzerland, the eternally neutral sharp shooter of the school. He was also Lili's older brother.
I cradled Lili to my chest as we ran to find Sadie. We literally ran through the zombies. The few around got very excited when they saw our little party- or if Luddie's correct when they heard Lili whimpering. Luckily for us Heracles was a lot more successful with the machine gun than my attempts. Don't ask me why we were looking for Sadie instead of bee lining it for the medical bay on the first floor. After the Dawson incident I wanted to entrust Lili to someone I knew would protect her. Dawson was going to let Heracles die.
I had the strangest feeling the situation would be similar in the medical bay as did Hera, and the patient made no complaints when I told her of my intentions.
She's in the med bay right now. I doubt anyone could do a thing to her if they wanted to; Luddie is beside her bed. He'll go to sleep eventually and Bella will take over for him. There is a unanimous agreement Lili should not be on her own while she recovers- and she will recover. We're sure of that now.
She looked like she might die in my arms a few hours ago. It was so scary. Blood just kept coming out. The hasty tourniquet was as useful as a band-aid. Finally, just as I thought she would be taking her last ragged breath right there in my arms, Sadie popped out of nowhere. In the nick of time. He's great at doing that.
"She bitten?" he had to shout over the chatter of the other students.
"Yeah. I cut her hand off." she and I shuddered together.
"How long ago?"
"Four or five minutes." was Hera's estimate. I would have said an hour.
"She'll be fine then. All we have to do is stop the bleeding."
He effectively saved her life in the middle of the hallway. First he sent Feliks and Eduard for the professional medical staff. Next he sent Toris to find Luddie (he turned out to be downstairs finishing off the last of the zombies) and inform him of his cousin's state. Then he laid claim to Oscar's lighter and the stash of vodka he knew Ivan knew the teachers kept in the last broom closet at the end of the corridor (thank God he's a creepy all-knowing bastard otherwise she probably would have bled out). With these materials he cauterized the wound. Disinfected the stump and burnt it shut.
She didn't make a sound louder than the hiss of a sharp breath. Hera held her free hand the entire time while Bella and I held down the rest of her body so she wouldn't flail.
Luddie arrived in time to see Sadie bandaging up the wound with a real piece of sterile gauze rather than someone's shirt. Lili smiled weakly as she saw him.
"I was bitten." her voice was barely a whisper. "But I'm fine now."
Luddie doesn't cry much. Sure he shed one or two tears during movies, books, video games (funnily enough the Walking Dead was the one that had him sobbing). He's a serious person. Even the way he cries is serious. His expression doesn't change a lot. The tears start to flow, even though his eyes won't get bloodshot. It's almost like he cries because he knows the reaction is expected at sad times, like even though he reacts to it he has detached himself from the emotion which summons the tears.
"You look kind of rough." he took her from me carefully. "Your clothes are a mess."
"You don't look so hot yourself." the girl smiled and tried a friendly prod at one of his scrapes, but the effort proved too much and she fainted.
"Don't worry L," Sadie reassured him "She won't turn. Al and Heracles made sure of that."
He looked at us for a long moment. "Thank you."
Hera nodded. I sorta just sat there. Couldn't think of a reply. I'll say something soon. I just don't know what I should say.
The medics ran in a couple minutes later and whisked the cousins off fast. The current population of the med bay: Lili Zwingili for an ("surprisingly clean") amputation, Elizabeta Hédeváry for a concussion, Berwald Oxenstierna for a gunshot wound and Audrey for hysterical shock. The beds surrounding them are full too. A lot of people are down there. I can only worry about so much before I have a nervous breakdown. How did Suzy get that shot in his shoulder? Sadik had a quick look at him while he helped in the bay and he said the slug hit him from behind. Surely there are no people in the student body supremely stupid enough to mistake a warm body for a cold one. Even in a panic the difference is obvious.
Dawson…starting from today I am going to prepare for a war with security. Dawson could be a one off. Or they could all be slowly turning against the children they were initially trained to protect. Desperate people are the ones you must always watch under pressure. With the guns and perimeters and their modest numbers, the Security personnel could live in the school comfortably for years. Why should they worry about children they are no longer obligated to protect?
And where are the teachers? I haven't seen a single teacher, and I see less and less of the Matrons every day. Maybe they're in hiding. Or maybe there's a better explanation for the fact that I saw Matron Hunter and Matron Kjellberg among the dead today than misfortune.
How did those zombies get through?
The dead:
Vash Zwingili
Ahmet Yilmaz
Maya Mark
Matron Hunter
Matron Kjellberg
Blythe Keiz
Four more people were bitten. I can't remember who.
a/n I'm so sorry Lili TT-TT. Be strong little lady, your time will come.
(I think I owe you guys an explainer here: I based the nations' specialisations on certain trades that would be very useful in the current climate and suit their personality, because I can see Ivan charging through the web of red tape in the Kremlin with his sociologist powers, or a trade that their nation was particularly known for or skilled in in the past.
For example Middle Eastern doctors were much safer than European doctors. For a headache they would prescribe more fresh fruit in the diet whereas European doctors would drill a hole in the head and drain out some water from the brain. Don't get me wrong- NHS whoop whoop, but I thought the role of the doctor would suit Sadik so well. He doesn't get enough love. And his name is not spelled with a 'q' because they don't have that letter in the Turkish alphabet. That's right they spell 'quickly' as 'kuickly' because they're actually that badass in Turkey.
OKAY I'M RAMBLING TIME TO SLEEP.)