Trigger Warning: Graphic Contents
It's been a few weeks since the announcement, Haruka and his group layed low for a while, trying to fight back the prize hunters. Maehara, Sumire and Yada tried to survive in the forest, forcing them to do more and more blood. This, combined with Level 2, caused many casualties, dropping the number of competitors to 200. A difference of 100 competitors separated them from the transition to the worst level of all... LEVEL 3
Night of the 11th of April 2016 - Island Forest
Maehara had a pendant in his hands, it was the one that Sumire jealously guarded, it had fallen out of her pocket without even realizing it; but the more he looked at it the more it reminded him of someone. A flashback kicked in, there was a boy with a hole in his chest and Maehara was the one who shot him.
"What do you have there, redhead?" Sumire asked the boy.
"Huh? Oh... uhm... well" Maehara mumbled out.
Sumire got closer to him and noticed that he had her boyfriend's pendant.
"The pendant? When did you took it?!" Sumire angrily asked.
"Relax girl! You dropped it, ok?" Maehara retorted.
"Well, if I dropped it, you should have told me immediately" Sumire said.
"You carry that trinket around like it's pure gold. In any case, in a place like this...it would have no value anyway" Maehara said.
"I don't have to account to you what this pendant means to me" Sumire said.
"Don't worry, even if you told me I wouldn't give a damn" Maehara proudly stated.
"Precisely" Sumire pointed out.
"Guys! Come check this" Kaho called the two teens.
"What is it, Kaho-san?" Sumire asked the black haired girl.
"Look over there" Kaho pointed to an approaching girl.
The teens were shocked when they saw who she was.
"Is that..." Sumire thought, but then two zombies came out.
"Yada-san!" Maehara whispered.
"Tsk...I was hoping for a quiet night" protested Yada
The zombies moaned, they were about to attack.
"She was with the sniper's group; why is she out here?" Sumire thought.
"Stay away from me or..." before she could finish the sentence, a zombie managed to snatch the pistol from her hand and send it flying into the bushes.
The zombies roared, they were ready to attack again.
"Who do you take me for?! For a weakling?!" Yada yelled at them.
Suddenly her eyes disappeared and a red glow came out of those empty lids.
"You're the weaklings here!" Yada voice was more deep, like she was possessed by someone.
The teens froze on the spot by fear behind the bushes.
"I'm gonna slice you up!" Yada said and a split second, the zombies were minced meat.
"She killed them! She's not the Yada I knew!" Maehara said at a low tone.
"I'll destroy everyone who's gonna dare calling me weak!" Yada said.
But in a flash, the visions about the lab returned and her eyes reappeared.
"Wha-What has…" before she could say anything more, the vision returned and the figure was now quite distinguishable and very familiar.
"Tomorrow morning... I'll expect you...Find me" the familiar figure said.
"Yes...now I understand...what I should do" Yada said and headed into the woods.
"She's moving; what do we do? We follow her?" Kaho asked.
Sumire thought about it for a second; but then she nodded in approval and the three teens followed the girl.
Night of the 11th of April 2016 - Near the abandoned plane
"The moon is up, we should stop here" Nagisa suggested to Hinano.
"I can still continue if you want" Hinano said.
"It can be seen from a mile away that you're tired. And anyway, there's no point in wandering all night; let's rest in here" Nagisa said, pointing to the fuselage of the abandoned plane.
"Ok, if you say so" Hinano said and the two entered the fuselage.
"I would like to remind you, however, that you will not sleep in the same comfortable bed at the farmhouse" Nagisa reminded the redhead.
"Why are you saying that?" Hinano asked the boy.
"Because it can make you change your mind and go back to Haruka" Nagisa said.
"Do you care so much about keeping me away from you?" Hinano asked.
"You know that I'm doing it only to protect you from me" Nagisa told her.
"Nagisa-kun, I don't want to leave you alone... no one deserves to be alone" Hinano said.
"Ok, I tried...wanna try to sleep now?" Nagisa asked.
"Sure" Hinano rested her head on the boy's chest "Can I lean next to you?"
"B-But I..." before he could protest, she fell into a deep sleep "Ah! I didn't even have time to say yes"
But then he felt it, the cells began breaking again, the urge of killing raised.
"Oh you fool! Now you will die! You asked for it" the boy said.
But some inner force was blocking him from harming the girl.
"No, not her. If you keep trying I'll kill myself" Nagisa's voice said inside his head.
It worked, the urge to kill gradually decreased.
"Wow, it's true then. I'm falling in love with you, Hinano-chan!" Nagisa thought.
"Mmmm... Haruka-kun" Hinano thought in her dreams.
*Timeskip*
12th of April 2016 - Abandoned Laboratory
The next morning, Yada reached an abandoned building, that looked like an abandoned lab.
"A lab? On this island? Did he told me to come here?" she asked herself.
She entered the structure, now in ruins and she founds a familiar figure inside one of the clean rooms.
"Right, I'm here. Now tell me, what did you do to me?!" Yada asked the boy.
Kaho, Sumire and Maehara followed the girl into the ruin.
"The girl went this way" Kaho said, following Yada's footprints on the dusty old floor.
"Girls, seriously now. Am I the only one who thinks we shouldn't follow a creepy girl that kills without her eyes?" Maehara sensed danger staying in the lab.
"Maehara-san! She's your classmate, you should be the first one to be worried about her. Anyway, we are here now, we might as well continue" Kaho scolded the boy.
"Yeah, you're right" Maehara understood.
"A lab...on a desert island in the middle of Japanese waters…What does all this mean?!" Sumire thought.
Back in the clean room, the boy smiled as the girl was getting more and more nervous.
"I want answers...now!" Yada demanded.
"Oh but of course, otherwise I wouldn't guided you here" the boy said.
"Those visions, the hallucinations, it was you right?" Yada asked him.
"The right term is "telepathic contact" but... yes, it was me" the boy confirmed "So, what do you want to know, Yada-san?"
"Everything! I want to know who are you and what did you do to me?" Yada demanded.
"My name is Nobuharu Shiratori and I've upgraded you!" Nobuharu explained "There, do you have other questions?"
"Uhm... you could be a little more argumentative, don't you think?" Yada criticized.
"What do you mean?" Nobuharu was puzzled.
"You've summed up an explanation that could go on for hours in one sentence. It's a bit...um...exaggerated," Yada detailed.
"Oh ok, I'll be more specific" Nobuharu cleared his voice. "I'm a guinea pig, one of the many on which the tentacles have been tested"
"Looking at you, you wouldn't think so" Yada sarcastically said.
"Even Jesus apparently seemed like anyone, yet a cross didn't stop him" Nobuharu fought back.
"You compare yourself to Jesus?" Yada asked the boy.
"Oh no, he was forgiving, unlike me" the boys eyes became more and more dark blue.
"Those eyes..." Yada felt like she'd seen those eyes before.
"Oh sorry, wait a sec...sometimes I let myself go" Nobuharu composed himself. "You know Yada-san, this lab was built by the first contestant of the show. They tried to find an antidote for the tentacles to avoid death. They failed, but it was a admirable effort"
"And what does all this have to do with my need of answers?" Yada nervously asked.
"You are afraid too; but you don't know where to find shelter" Nobuharu explained.
Yada began to think that those words explained what she was feeling at that moment.
"You fear the thought of being weak, you fear that all your efforts as an assassin have been worthless... and I gave you what you needed: strength" Nobuharu finished explaining his plan.
Yada was now sure about her feelings.
"You're scared, aren't you?" Nobuharu asked the girl.
"Of course I'm scared! You've turned me into a monster!" Yada accused the blue haired boy.
"Oh come on, it's like I turned a monkey into a homo sapiens, what's monstrous about that?" Nobuharu asked the girl. "If you learn to control them like I do...it won't be a problem" the empty eyes and the red glow returned.
"But what is it you want? What's your plan?" Yada asked the transformed boy.
"Oh, I'm glad that you've asked it. I'll enlighten you on the matter, but first... you three, why don't you come forward instead of eavesdropping?" Nobuharu spotted the three teens hiding behind a collapsed column and with a whip of his tentacles, the column was in bits.
"Crap, he spotted us" Maehara said.
Yada turned around and recognized his classmate, but she didn't understand who were the two girls who accompanied him.
"You got yourself tailed, Yada-san" more tentacles shot out of Nobuharu's back.
"Maehara! You're alive!" Yada greeted his classmate and then turned to Sumire and Kaho "You two have a familiar face..."
"These are Sumire and Kaho. Sumire has a prize on her head, just like us and Kaho is in our school" Maehara explained.
"Oh now I remember you!" Yada recognized them.
"I didn't expect you to appear" Nobuharu was surprised " I was expecting Haruka and company..."
"Talking about it... why aren't you with them, honey?" Sumire asked the girl.
"I have no reason to tell a stranger" Yada said.
"Oh come on Yada-san, there's no reason to keep that a secret" Nobuharu said.
"I was afraid of hurting my friends. Okay?" Yada answered the question.
"Especially Haruka..." Nobuharu kicked in.
"What?" Yada didn't hear him.
"Nothing," he pretended he hadn't said anything.
Sumire was not convinced of the version of events, she thought the worst.
"Anyway...even if this is not the group I've predicted, it'll be enough" Nobuharu said.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Kaho asked the boy.
"Let's not get carried away, this reality is useless. The final prize is fake; join me and you'll each reach your goal. Deal?" Nobuharu offered.
"What would I earn by following you?" Sumire asked.
"Oh, you just want to find Yuuki's murderer and trust me, you'll find him thanks to me" Nobuharu gave an answer.
"How the hell does she..." Sumire's thought was interrupted by Nobuharu.
"Kaho-san, you're searching for your Eiji. After all, you don't have long to live right?" Nobuharu asked the girl.
Kaho didn't answer, he was right but she wasn't ready to say it.
"Yada-san, you were looking for power and that's what I gave you. If your new objective is to survive...well, you'll be in good hands" Nobuharu said to the girl.
Then, he turned his sight to Maehara, who backed up a little.
"And you... would have preferred to live in the period of gladiators no?" Nobuharu studied it thoroughly "You like to fight and kill, Maehara-kun. You don't care about the final prize. You're an interesting subject, but if you don't want to join me, I won't complain"
Maehara looked at Nobuharu, he looked a lot like someone he knew, but who?
"So, what's it gonna be?" Nobuharu awaited an answer.
Kaho, Sumire and Maehara were not convinced at one hundred percent.
"Ok Nobuharu-san, you've conviced me but first... tell me, what are aiming at?" Yada asked him.
"What am I aiming to? To destruction" Nobuharu's eyes disappeared and the tentacles came out.
The teens backed up a little.
"I want to turn Yanagisawa's empire upside down" Nobuharu said.
"I don't care what you're aiming at..." Maehara said in anger "Take me to the final, Nagisa impersonator and I'll do anything you want"
"Nagisa..." Nobuharu was not unfamiliar with that name, as if it had already been called that way, but then he swept away those thoughts and focused on the three teenagers he had before him.
"This Nobuharu knows many things about us, but who is he really? And what should I do?" Sumire thought.
28th of March 2016 - Island's Farmhouse
Back at the farmhouse, Haruka was sitting in the living room, deep in his thoughts.
"Fuck it. Why? Why am I here doing nothing, keeping a bandana stained with blood in my hand?!" Haruka thought, holding Hinano's bandana in his hands "Why do I always think of that annoying redhead? Why am I not glad she's gone?"
He looked around, searching for her figure, but she wasn't there.
"Why?! Why dammit?! What's happening to me, not even Tatsuno has given me all this trouble with my thoughts. May I be..." Haruka thought, but burst into a big laugh "It's true, I love that silly girl"
Eiji looked at his best friend and memories of him with Kaho started taking over.
*Flashback*
3rd of March 2016 - Kinuta Park, Setagaya
Kaho and Eiji were sitting on a bench near the Koi pond, the water had a beautiful orange glow coming from the dusking sun.
"It was a great day" Kaho said, holding Eiji's hand.
"I agree" Eiji said "I wish it would never end"
"Well, sorry to disappoint you but I have to go back home" Kaho released Eiji's hand "It's already late and if my parents start worrying, we could be in a lot of trouble"
"Let me at least take you home" Eiji offered.
"Don't insist Eiji-kun, if my parents see me with you, they could make us split up... and I don't want that for us!" Kaho stopped him to try any further.
"I don't care about that because..." Eiji stopped for a moment "Look... Kaho-chan, I have to tell you something..."
Kaho was puzzled by those words.
"We only known each other for two months but I'm... I'm a hundred percent sure about my feelings..." Eiji took Kaho's hand again "Kaho-chan, I love you. I want to spend other days like this with you... forever..."
Kaho could only watch with wet eyes as his boyfriend made the big step.
"Kaho-chan, would like to be my girlfriend?" Eiji proposed.
"Eiji-kun..." Kaho couldn't find the right words to say it "I'm...dying..."
Eiji was shocked at his beloved's statement. His face was worth a thousand words, he wanted explanations.
"You see, I have a particular virus, perhaps unique. It could be cancer, who knows..." Kaho had tears coming down her cheeks "...but I only have three months to live... I'm so sorry"
"You didn't answer my question" Eiji said.
Kaho was shocked by that attitude, she did not expect such a reaction; this made her understand that, despite the illness that was slowly taking her away, Eiji would be next to her at any time.
"Yes!" Kaho said with a smile that stood out on his face riddled with tears.
*End Of Flashback*
12th of April 2016 - Island's Farmhouse
Those memories made Eiji take a decision.
"What are thinking about, Eiji-kun?" Haruka asked.
"I have to get out of here!" Eiji firmly said as he took his backpack and started packing it with supplies and ammunition.
"You're kidding me right?" Haruka sarcastically said.
"While we are here slacking, Kaho is out there, between thousands of dangers!" Eiji said.
"A lot of people are out there between a thousand of dangers; it doesn't make any difference. You're staying here, period" Haruka ordered him.
"I don't give a fuck about your orders, I'm going!" Eiji ignored him and headed for the door leading outside.
Haruka stood up the armchair and held the blond boy.
"Listen to me Eiji!" Haruka raised his voice "We're not in Tokyo! We're in a hell disguised as a reality show! We could all die in one moment to another, everything depending by crazy actions"
"Then I'll die in the attempt of finding Kaho!" Eiji retorted "I can't abandon her! Otherwise I'll regret it for the rest of my life!"
Those words were like stones for the professor, they brought back painful images of his girlfriend.
"God, you're stubborn" Haruka started to give up.
"Better let him go" the professor suggested.
"Ide-sensei, do not barge in " Haruka said.
"Eiji-kun is the only one of us who doesn't have a price on his head" the professor explained "If he leaves the farmhouse, he will not be under the scope of the other competitors, like us"
Haruka was starting to get nervous; then he noticed that he still had Hinano's bandana on his now clenched hands; in that exact moment, he understood Eiji's feelings
"You know what... do as you like" Haruka gave up and sat back on the armchair.
"Everyone, gather up! This discussion made my mind clear" Jiu called everyone in the room "If Eiji leaves the farm, we will follow him to help him save his beloved"
"What the fu..." Haruka was stunned by those words.
"The farmhouse is now useless, between the zombies and the price hunters, is too dangerous to stay here. Plus, the supplies are about to run out" Jiu explained while taking a bag "Pack all the food, weapons, ammunition and meds as you can, we'll move out soon!"
"Are you on drugs or something?!" Okajima ranted "And where are we supposed to go?!"
"To the beach, zombies and mutants stay away from it" the professor said. "They rather stay in the forest, I assure that"
"And why didn't we get there first?" Okajima asked.
"I dare you to find a comfy bed, food, meds and weapons on a beach..." the professor said sarcastically.
"Haha... it's not funny, fatso!" Okajima retorted.
"Eiji-san, we'll help you save your girlfriend! Together, we'll save her!" Jiu said, doing the military salute.
"I don't know how to thank you, Nishimoto-san" Eiji was touched by the soldier's act.
"Better not knowing that" Haruka thought "Well, let's start packing"
As the teens rushed to pack their bags with all the stuff they could need, the professor entered the un-used room and took some jerry cans filled with gasoline.
12th of March 2016 - Unknown Location
"The target of 100 contestants has been reached, initiate Level 3" Yanagisawa said to one of his lab rats "It's their time to shine, release the guinea pigs"
Lab rats nodded and pressed the button that unlocked the hiding places of lab rats.
12th of March 2016 - Outside a cave
A boy was scoping out the place in search of the hunted teenagers.
"Incredible, it has been three weeks since my arrival on this island... and I didn't meet a girl" the boy thought aloud.
But then, he felt a presence behind him that was making a slimy noise.
"What the..." as he turned around, a girl was standing in front of him with tentacles hanging around her neck and hair.
The boy tried to gun her down, but before he could do any harm, he got impaled and ripped apart by her.
"Y-YUJIIII!" the girl let out a chilling scream calling someone.
12th of March 2016 - Island Forest
Yada, Kaho and Maehara followed Nobuharu around the forest, aiming for the beach.
"Hey Maehara-kun..." Sumire called him.
"What?" Maehara said.
"Do you trust him? Nobuharu, I mean" Sumire asked the redhead.
"Well... by nature, I don't trust those I just met" Maehara explained "But I saw what he's capable of, and I'm going to keep him close to me until I need him"
"What if he's using us? If he wants to rip us off?" Sumire suspected.
"In that case, at the slightest sign of suspect, I'll find the way to rip him off first" Maehara said.
Sumire turned to Kaho.
"What about you, Kaho? What are your thoughts?" Sumire asked the girl.
"You know that I share your thoughts, Sumire-san. I don't trust that guy either" Kaho agreed.
Sumire looked at her, as the girl's fist clenched shut.
"That guys scares me, not for what he can do..." Kaho paused "...but because he knows all our secrets, that gives me goosebumps"
"So, what do we do?" Sumire asked the dark haired girl.
"At the slightest sign of suspect, we run away" Kaho hatched a plan.
"Okay, more importantly... is everything okay?" Sumire asked the girl.
"Don't worry about me, I'm a rock" Kaho assured the girl.
"You're saying that only to keep me quiet, right?" Sumire didn't fell for it.
"Sumire-san, for real. My disease is the last thing you need to worry about" Kaho said.
Suddenly, Nobuharu stopped on his tracks.
"Guys, let's keep going straight on...soon there'll be an important turn to take" Nobuharu sounded worried.
"What did you see, Nobuharu-san?" Yada asked.
"Death" Nobuharu said.
The teens were shocked by that word.
12th of March 2016 - Farmhouse
The teens took a last look at the farmhouse, which looked like it had just been stormed by looters.
"Time to put this place out of its misery" Jiu said.
Haruka nodded and took the lighter out of his pocket; after a brief moment of hesitation, the wick of his Zippo caught fire and threw it in the wake of the gasoline, which quickly engulfed the farmhouse in a bundle of burning flames.
The boys left for the beach while behind them, the farm burned and crumbled slowly.
12th of March 2016 - Island Forest
After an hour and a half of walking, the destination was in sight.
"Does it feel strange to wander around the forest after so many days locked in a farmhouse?" the professor asked.
"Don't relax and stay alert, Professor" Jiu advised him.
"Sir, yes Sir!" the professor made the salute.
Haruka had a strange feeling, after all those miles of walking, they should have run into some competitors already.
"How many competitors are dead? And if there were a hundred left?" Haruka wondered "In that case they would announced the third level. And if everything is so quiet, does that mean they want to ambush us? Fuck! I hate this game"
And he wasn't the only one to think that, Karma, Sugino and Isogai had the same thought; something was terribly wrong. But then, their thoughts were interrupted by Eiji.
"Guys, I see someone approaching us" Eiji announced "It's a girl"
"Could she be H...no I have to stop now" Haruka thought.
"Get ready with guns and rifles" Jiu ordered.
The teens stood ready in case of trouble.
"Please, let it be you, Kaho-chan" Eiji thought.
Not a leaf moved, only the sound of the bushes and the steps slowly approaching. Whether it was a woman or a zombie, the teens were ready to fill it with lead but suddenly, the faces turned into shock, mostly the professor, who recognized that girl standing in front of them.
"Stop! Lay down your guns" the professor ordered and the teens obeyed.
That girl was Professor Ide's girlfriend, she seemed lost and shocked to see her love again.
"A-Aoko..." the professor mumbled.
"Y-Yuji, i-it's really you!" Aoko ran to hug him.
"Oh God, y-you're here, you're alive! Aoko!" The professor wrapped her girlfriend in a warm embrace.
"Ide-sensei, do you know this girl?" Jiu asked the scientist.
"She's... she's my girlfriend, her name's Aoko; I've talked you guys about her, remember?" the professor introduced her.
"What is she doing here?" Haruka thought, something still wasn't right.
"Aoko, you can't imagine how relieved I feel. I ... I've been a fool!" the professor blamed himself.
The girl approached the professor in a loving way, while her eyes turned from pink to lava red.
"Yuji..." the girl impaled the defenseless professor in the torso with her tentacles coming out of her arm.
The others could only watch as the professor spat blood on the ground.
"You're right, you were a fool... you killed me asshole!" Aoko roared as she proceeded to pull out her arm from the professor, spilling guts and blood everywere.
"N-no...A-Aok..." the professor mumbled.
The teens were stunned, there were those who already had tears in their eyes, who watched the scene with open mouths and who instead was slowly boiling with anger.
"No! No! Nooooooooo! Ide-sensei!" Jiu cried out.
"It ... w-was... m-my fault" the professor said with the last bit of air in his lungs.
At that moment the girl starte to change into her final form.
"Oh my god! What the hell is that!" Eiji yelled.
Meanwhile, behind some trees, Maehara watched all the scene in horror.
"Uhm, guys... come and see... you won't believe it" Maehara called Nobuharu and the girls.
And while the professor fell on the ground, the girl reached the final state.
"Fire! Fire like there's no tomorrow!" Jiu ordered and the teens obeyed.
Maehara, Nobuharu and the girls watched, as the teens filled the girl-monster with lead; but in that moment Kaho saw a familiar face.
"Eiji-kun..." she thought, her boyfriend was in serious danger.
The professor was slumped to the ground, his guts slowly coming out of his pierced abdomen. As his breathing became shorter and his body became colder and colder he had a flashback of that damned moment when his life and that of Aoko changed forever.
*Flashback*
14th of December 2015 - Professor Ide's House, Kawasaki, Japan
"We're in serious trouble, Aoko" the professor was worried about their safety "I made a choice and there'll be consequences for this"
"What are you talking about, my dear?" Aoko took her lover's hands.
"They're going to kill us" the professor announced "I gave up my own life to save yours, but I seriously doubt that those bastards will keep their promise"
Then he let go of her hands, and went to pick up a box.
"That's why I want you to do something. Something that will be useful to you when they want to eliminate you," the professor opened the box, revealing a syringe.
"What is it?!" Aoko asked in disbelief.
"Your life insurance" the professor took the syringe out of the box "It's something that I created a long time ago... Hoping to never have to use it. You fell in love with an idiot Aoko-san, I'm sorry"
"Baka, I don't care who you are or what you do" Aoko got close to whisper something in the professor's ear "I love you"
After that, it all went black, until the image of a syringe flashed before the professor's eyes
*End of flashback*
12th of March 2016 - Island Forest
The girl roared as the tentacles multiplied becoming more and more deadly; but her roar, as well as scaring the teens, called many zombies, ready to make blood.
"Zombies are coming!" Eiji warned the group.
"How many are there?" Jiu asked.
"Stop asking questions and shoot!" Okajima yelled.
Jiu nodded and started shooting again; thanks to their numerical superiority the teens split into two groups: Haruka, Karma, Sugino, Nakamura, Okajima and Chiba took care of the girl-monster; while Terasaka's gang, Hayami, Isogai, and Kataoka took care of the zombies while Okuda and Hara made cover fire.
"That beast called them, with her roar" said Nobuharu "Fascinating and creepy at the same time"
"Well, while you praise a monster, I'd rather run. There's a horde of zombies here" Sumire protested.
"B-but...I can't abandon them" Yada said, watching their friends begin to struggle.
"Me neither..." Maehara got Yada's back this time.
"Why not, guys?" Sumire asked.
"They're our friends, we can't let them die" Maehara explained.
Kaho turned and saw that her boyfriend had been pinned down by a zombie. Without a moment's hesitation, she entered the battlefield and killed the zombie who was about to kill her boyfriend.
"K-Kaho-chan..." Eiji called her "It's you!"
"Eiji-kun..." Kaho smiled as she was finally reunited with him.
"How did you manage to find me?" Eiji asked her.
Before she could answer that, the guns restarted the ballet of bullets.
"There's no time to explain" Kaho grabbed the pipe "We have to get rid of them first"
Haruka kept blasting Aoko with his 7.62×51mm NATO bullets, but they didn't do that much damage.
"Hey you! Why did you kill him? I thought he was your boyfriend..." Haruka asked the monster.
"Boyfriend?! I should love the guy who turned me into this?!" Aoko yelled "He killed me! Instead of me, there is a monster! A monster! And if he was a friend of yours, YOU'LL JOIN HIM!"
More zombies came out of hiding, ready to kill.
"Dammit, I should have kept my mouth shut!" Haruka thought as he reloaded his rifle.
On the sidelines, Yada watched her friends fight for their lives, clearly tried by the battle.
"No, I will not stand by!" Yada ran to the battlefield.
"I'm following you!" Maehara followed her soon after.
"Yada-san! Maehara-kun! wait!" Nobuharu tried to stop her, but to no avail.
Left in two, Sumire shrugged.
"Well, at this point I can't leave Yada-san and Kaho-san alone, I'm going too!" she joins the fight too.
"Children..." Nobuharu said.
The zombies managed to avoid bullets and encircle the teens, now exhausted.
"Now we're fucked..." Haruka was about to throw in the towel.
Then, the zombies started to fall down like chess pawns; the teens looked at their surroundings, only to find out that were: their classmate Maehara, a girl and Kaho Tsuchiya from Haruka's class.
"Look! Reinforcements are here!" Jiu saw the three teenagers come to the rescue.
"There's your backup!" Maehara said.
"We're here too!" said Sugaya and Takebayashi, who came out from a tree branch.
12th of March 2016 - Show's secret studio
Tatsuno watched the screens with anger, as Haruka, her enemy, is still alive.
"Fantastic! This will bring the peak of audience" Homura cheered as the battle raged on.
"Damnit, why won't you die, Haruka!?" Tatsuno thought, as she grinded her teeth.
12th of March 2016 - Island Forest
"Haruka-kun..." Sumire called the sniper.
"Sumire-san..." Haruka answered "I told you we'd meet again, even that the situation is not the ideal one"
"Die, you sack of meat!" Maehara yelled.
Haruka and the redhead stared at each other for a while. Meanwhile, Yada transformed in her mutant form.
"Get out of my way, zombies!" she yelled.
"Kill them all!" Aoko ordered to the zombies.
"Everyone! Let's erase them!" Terasaka yelled "Let the rain of lead begin!"
All the teens kept on shooting and bashing the zombies, soaking the ground with blood.
"Yuuu-huuuu!" Yada yelled while killing.
"You want a piece of me?! Come and get it!" Maehara provoked.
Then, a zombie managed to sneak behind Haruka and Karma, ready to kill them with a swing of its claws, but an arrow stopped it.
"The hell... an arrow?" Haruka was puzzled.
To her amazement, she saw that they were Hinano and Nagisa.
"Hello, business partner," Hinano greeted Haruka.
Haruka smiled at her and nodded at her, then he returned to fill the zombies with lead.
"You were making such a mess that it was impossible not to hear you," Nagisa said.
Zombies wrapped around the boy.
"Usually, I don't like hurting other living creatures" Nagisa took out a baton "But this time, I think I'll make an exception"
Kaho kept hitting the monster girl with bullets, but nothing worked.
"Foolish girl, you can't do anything to me!" Aoko said and with a blow of her tentacles, she threw Kaho on the ground.
"Aaah!" Kaho yelled in pain.
"Kaho-chan! No!" Eiji ran to aid his girlfriend.
"Time to die!" Aoko was ready to give the coup de grace to the girl.
"Stop!" Eiji put himself in front of the girl to act as human shield.
"Eiji-kun, don't..." Kaho tried to move him out of the way.
"I'll protect you no matter what!" Eiji firmly said "I won't let this day to be our last one together!"
"Eiji-kun! Move out the way!" Jiu said.
Eiji closed his eyes, waiting for the fatal blow that would have sent him to another world. He felt the tentacles pierce something, but he felt no pain.
"I-I'm...alive?" Eiji said and opened her eyes, only to see that Haruka was the one pierced by tentacles "Haruka-kun!"
Yada and the other boys watched the scene petrified. Haruka, from his point of view, did not feel anything; he saw his blood flow slowly towards the now impregnated ground as his vision started to get blurry.
"Oh my god, Haruka-kun!" Jiu said in despair.
"Ah...ah.. asshole." Haruka said while coughing blood.
Hinano could not believe what she was seeing, the guy she'd spent so much time with since she found herself on the island was there, impaled by tentacles. That scene, now familiar in the head of the 3-E guys, there hits hard. Hinano already had tears in her eyes, Yada and Hayami watched the scene shockingly as the boys were now blinded by anger.
12th of March 2016 - Show's secret studio
In the studio of the show, the air becomes distinctly festive.
"YES! YES! Yea! This is a memorable day!" Tatsuno celebrated "Die, you scum!"
12th of March 2016 - Island Forest
"Why did you do it?! Why did you?!" Eiji asked his dying best friend.
"Ah...shut up, idiot!" Haruka said with a thread of voice.
"N-No! Enough..." Yada said in tears "ENOUGH!"
In a fit of rage and sadness, Yada killed all the zombies left.
"Yada-san..." Nobuharu was amazed by that.
"Hey fatso, get up... and do it!" Haruka said to the professor.
With the few remaining forces, the professor looked up.
"You have to say goodbye!" Haruka yelled.
"What!?" Aoko said.
In a flashback, the professor retraced all the good things happened with Aoko, then got up and with the few remaining forces ran towards his beloved.
"Aokoooo!" he shouted.
The boys watched startled the professor make a frantic run.
"Is he still alive?" Maehara said.
Aoko, seeing this, pulled out his tentacles, making Haruka fall to the ground and impaled the professor completely.
"I'm sorry..." the professor whispered.
"What?!" Aoko was stunned by those words.
"I gave you that serum... to make you stronger...so they... couldn't... hurt you," the professor whispered, "I couldn't bear it, that they would kill you"
"Oh Yuji, but then..." Aoko was interrupted by the final sigh of the professor and by his body that stiffened, he was dead.
Jiu nodded to Hayami and Chiba, who struck Aoko in the heart, killing her and reuniting her with her beloved. It was over, the girl turned guinea pig had died, together with the one who loved her; the guys let themselves go in a cry of pain for the death of one of their fellow travelers and for the one who sacrificed himself to save another and was now agonizing on the ground. Hinano was on the ground near Haruka.
"Hey, business partner..." Haruka whispered with what little voice he had left.
"Yes?" Hinano said in sobs.
"I have a hole in my chest..." Haruka said.
"I guess it hurts..." Hinano replied.
"Ahahah..." Haruka gave himself a laugh, then took something out of his pocket "Rather, take this"
Hinano took the bandana that she had lent him to cover the wound.
"Didn't you always bust my balls about this thing? Well, I never threw it away" Haruka said, smiling.
Hinano, now a river of tears, hugged the boy.
"Soldier, I didn't give you the order to die..." Jiu said in a broken voice.
"Ahahahah... who says I die?" Haruka joked, despite knowing well that death was at the door, howling his name.
"Precisely," Nobuharu pulled out a syringe "Who dies?"
TO BE CONTINUED...
LEVEL 3 INITIATED; TIME FOR THE GUINEA PIGS TO DO SOME DAMAGE!
THE PROFESSOR HAS MET AGAIN THE LOVE OF HIS LIFE AND DIED AT HIS HAND, SENDING ALL THE PLANS OF THE 3-E AND JIU GUYS IN SMOKE. WHAT ARE THEY GOING TO DO NOW? WILL THEY STICK TO THE PLAN ANYWAY?
HARUKA GETS IMPALED TO DEATH, JOIN THE PROFESSOR TO THE OTHER WORLD? OR WILL NOBUHARU BE ABLE TO SAVE HIM?
WHAT HAPPENED TO SUGAYA AND TAKEBAYASHI? WILL THEY HAVE SURVIVED LEVEL 2? HOW WILL THEY APPROACH LEVEL 3?
...
WELL THE ONLY THING I COULD SAY IS...STAY TUNED, BECAUSE THE END OF THE DAY IS ALL HERE, WHERE THE WHITE ROSES ARE WHEN IT'S GETTING DARK!
A.N.1 Hey guys! After a long hiatus, here's chapter 8, please tell me you thoughts on it and feel free to leave a feedback.
A.N.2 Sorry for the long waiting, but between the Christmas holidays and my daily life, I couldn't work on the chapter. Also, the story is officially one year old, soo I'll publish a special chapter; STAY TUNED!