Alright, I know I've attempted this several times in the past... but hey, Highschool of the Dead is one of my favourite anime next to High School DxD, RWBY, and Black Lagoon. I was considering making a Black Lagoon story, but decided to save that for another time since that type of story will need some work. But for that story, I'll most likely use the OC that's in this story as the main character.

Yes, George Edwards, also known as the Bladewolf in other stories.

Anyway, welcome back to The Living Dead, which will have my OC paired with Saeko Busujima as she is my favourite character in the show and it's not because she's smoking hot. This story may go ten chapters before it's completed, since I intend for the OC to go off on a journey to discover what created the zombie virus, which will most likely lead into a potential HOTD/Walking Dead crossover where the OC teams up with Rick Grimes and company.

Least, I hope I can go ten chapters for the story while also putting in as much as I can.

Disclaimer: I do not own Highschool of the Dead. I only own the OC George Edwards.

Fujimi Academy was built on a large campus with multiple buildings in a fenced off and gated area. The main building and at least two other buildings were four stories tall and connected to each other by walkways on the 2nd and 4th floors. In addition to the main building where most classes are held, there was an administration office building, a dorm building, and a number of smaller buildings. The largest of these smaller buildings appeared to be a gymnasium. On top of the administration office building there was an observatory, which extended above the rest of the school and contained a large telescope and a room for Astronomy students to sleep in.

"Knew I'd find you up here." A young American man of eighteen years remarked as he walked up some stairs to join his friend in leaning on the railing. The American teenager had short black hair, with the sides shaved down and the top half trimmed for a spiky-up look. He had brown eyes, was around six feet tall, had a toned, healthy and fit physique for a guy his age but that was due to training how to fight and wield a gun. He was dressed in a school uniform that was mainly all black.

His name was George Edwards, an American student attending Fujimi Academy in Tokonosu City, Japan.

The friend he was talking to was one of his friends in the entire school, a young man of average height with brown eyes, spiky black hair with a brown hue and a slender yet reasonably powerful build that contributes to his agility. His attire typically consists of his black school uniform with a red T-shirt underneath. This was Takashi Komoru, one of George's friends since his first day at the school.

"Hey man." Takashi said with a forced smile before his expression went back to a somber one as he looked out at the courtyard, spying the school gates and the city beyond that.

George sighed, having a feeling he knew what was bothering his friend since this demeaner had only started after a certain event. "Rei again?

"Yeah." Takashi sighed. George felt for his friend. The guy had recently gone through a bad breakup with his now ex-girlfriend, Rei Miyamoto. Something about Takashi not understanding or some shit that she didn't even explain. What's worse was that she was now going out with Hisashi Igou, Takashi's former best friend. George was friends with both of them, but could feel like he was just a guy caught in the middle of their bitterness. "Pinky-promise. Cross my heart and hope to die…yeah right,"

"Hey..." George started to speak, only to be cut off by another voice, one he wished he didn't have to hear today.

"That's so stupid!" George and Takashi turned to see Saya Takagi looking at them with that 'I'm better than you' way she carried herself. She was a teenage girl of under-average height with long pink hair, which she mostly kept in two ponytails on either side of her head, which had two thin, long bangs at the sides, two thin strands of hair over the left side of her forehead, and a spiky larger portion of hair covering the right side of her forehead. Saya had fierce orange eyes and furrowed eyebrows.

"My day was going so well. I skipped that bastard's class, and now my good mood is ruined because you show up." George huffed with an annoyed tone as he rolled his eyes.

"Watch your tone with me, Edwards." Saya said with narrowed eyes, her tone matching the annoyance in George's. "Shouldn't you be in class right now?"

"Skipped it. If you were in Shido's class, you'd do the same. Oh wait, you might actually sit through it to prove your 'superiority'." George mocked with a slight smirk on his face as Saya's briows twitched.

"How dare you talk to me like that, stupid?!" Saya demanded as she approached them and bent forward, unintentionally giving both boys a view of her cleavage.

George rolled his eyes and turned away, shaking his head as Takashi spoke to Saya. The American's eyes strayed to the courtyard where he saw a girl making her way towards the gym.

Saeko Busujima.

She was a beautiful girl the same age as George was, has long, straight and shiny purple hair along with a triangular fringe at the front that barely touched the ridge of her nose, blue eyes, and lips that were a slight shiny pink. She was quite tall for a Japanese girl. And her body was a real eye catcher with curves in all the places, with wide hips, a small waist, and large breasts.

George almost sighed longingly as he watched her go. Boy, he had the hots for her so bad. Ever since he saw her on his first day here, he had quite the crush on her and it had just grown over time. However, he never plucked up the courage to try and talk to her, to befriend her and hopefully see if things go beyond friendship. She already had to deal with boys admiring her and asking her out, but she always turned them down with a polite smile, though it didn't stop them from trying again and again but it still end the same way with Saeko turning them down.

A part of George feared that he'd be added to the list of boys she's turned down if he asked her out, one of the main reasons he's been too hesitant and shy to speak to her.

"Great, now he's just like you," Saya said to Takashi, pointing at George. "Seriously, I don't know why you're still holding on to that stupid little crush of yours when you're too scared to even talk to her."

"That jealousy I hear, Saya? Feeling envy because the hot American likes the most popular and prettiest girl in the school?" George asked with a smirk, purposefully aggravating Saya in the hopes she'll go away.

And he got his wish as Saya glared at him before she walked away. "Stupid." She muttered as she left.

Takashi gave George an amused look. "You did that on purpose, didn't you?"

"To get her away, yeah." George chuckled as Takashi resumed his position of leaning on the railing. "Don't tell me you're going to speak on my... crush on Ms. Busujima."

"Dude, I know how you feel about her. The way you look at her is enough." Takashi said with a smile before it fell as he sighed. "I know how that feels."

George's expression softened and he patted his friend's shoulder. George always considered himself the type to look out for those that are his friends and close to him, it was something he picked up from his father, looking after your friends like they were your own family. An example of this is when George would defend his other friend, Kohta, was being bullied and occasionally beat up the bullies at the risk of detention. But it was worth it.

Now for a little backstory into George. He was born in Manhattan, New York where he grew up for thirteen years of his life. His parents were former soldiers, his father having been a Black Ops Specialist, while his mother worked in Special Forces as an elite sniper. Somehow, despite being in different military units, they met and fell in love. After marrying, they retired from military life and got pretty simple, normal jobs. George's father became an officer for the NYPD, while his mother was a firefighter.

It wasn't long before George was conceived.

George was happy with his parents for the first thirteen years of his life. The military was practically in his blood, and after hearing about his parents' stories of their time, spare the more gruesome details, George dreamed of becoming a soldier like his parents. So, his father started training him how to handle himself, how to fight, then started teaching him about guns with his mother piping in when it came to sniper rifles since she had been an expert sniper, along with a woman named Rika Minami, a family friend that George's mother met during a mission in Japan that had the American Special Forces cooperating with the Japanese SAT.

However, tragedy struck when George was thirteen. He had been in school when Rika arrived to pick him up and told him the bad news. His parents had died doing their job. A building had been on fire, calling in firefighters and the NYPD. It claimed the lives of George's parents, leaving the boy heartbroken and an orphan.

However, his parents had left in their Will that should anything happen to them, then George was to be placed under the custody of Rika since she was basically George's aunt in all but blood and a close friend of the family so it made her the only one who could take George in, something she did without complaint or hesitation. However, she said she would be moving back to Japan where she really lives, so George would be coming with her, which led to Riak teaching George Japanese before the big move.

And within a year, George found himself going from American to Japan. Rika didn't try to act like she was George's new mother, but she told him she was there to listen if he ever needed to vent some inner turmoil, and he did. Rika listened, never interrupted, and allowed him to let it all out.

It's been five years now, and in that time Rika had George transferred into school, and also continued where his parents left off in training him, even got him a licence to wield and own a gun if he still intended to join the military.

George shook his head from his thoughts and turned to Takashi, who was still looking depressed about his breakup with Rei. Ever the good friend, George decided to let him know a brutal truth. "Listen man, I'm not gonna say, you know, there's plenty more fish in the sea. I'm not going to say if you love her, let her go. And I'm not going to bombard you with clichés. But what I will say is this... it's not the end of the world."

BANG!

Simultaneously, George and Takashi turned their heads at the sudden sound, spotting the school gates where they could see someone was there, a man from the looks of it. He looked like he was trying to get in, but all he was doing was walking into the metal bars over and over again.

"Who's that?" Takashi asked with a frown.

"Don't know." George shook his head, just as befuddled as his friend was. "Probably some drunk if he keeps walking into the gates like that."

Takashi gave him a skeptical glance. "A drunk? At this time of day?"

"Hey, it's the afternoon, some people drink at that time." George pointed out.

Then a group of four teachers approached the man. Three of them were men, and one was a woman; Kyoto Hayashi, the ping pong club's adviser. She had light brown eyes with glasses, reddish-brown hair which she kept in a loose ponytail with long strands hanging down in front of each ear and a full figure with large breasts. George watched as she demanded to know why he was walking into the gate. Which had him stop, but didn't go away.

Then the gym teacher, Mr. Teshima, walked up to the gate and aggressively grabbed the man's shirt. Banging him against the metal hard enough that George and Takashi could hear it.

"Was that really called for?" George asked, as Ms. Hayashi asked him along the same line.

Suddenly, the man outside the gate grabbed the gym teacher's arm and took a bite out of it. Ripping out a mouthful of flesh. George's eyes widened in shock and horror as Mr. Teshima screamed in pain as he walked backwards, gripping his arm in pain. He then fell to the floor, convulsing in his own blood, before stopped moving entirely.

"What…just happened?" Takashi asked, trying to fathom what he saw.

Ms. Kyoto leaned over to seemly dead gym teacher.

Then it happened. Mr. Teshima, now with grey skin and blank white eyes, grabbed her by her dress, sat up, and bit into her neck.

"Holy shit!" George shouted as the woman screamed in agony as blood splattered out of her wound. He watched in horror as the man started eating into her neck. The other teachers ran away towards the building, screaming for help. "Was…was that really a Zombie?"

The thought of it was insane. But what else could it be? He just saw a man get bit, die, and then come back to life as one! Classic zombie!

"I've got to get Rei!" Takashi exclaimed and ran away.

"What?!" George followed after him.

The two boys sprinted down hallways until they found the classroom Rei was in. Being faster, George reached the door first and burst through the door as Takashi caught up. All eyes turned to the two boys as they stood there, slightly panting from their run. Well, Takashi was panting a little more than George who had done exercises and worked on his cardio growing up. It was something his dad made him do when training him to fight.

"Sorry about that." George apologized as Takashi walked up to where his ex-girlfriend was sitting.

Rei had a rather unique appearance. Her hair had a strange colouration that looked like a mix of orange and brown; it was styled in a ponytail, and two antennae-like bangs stood out at the front. Her eyes were a reddish-brown. She wore the girls' school uniform, which consisted of a white dress shirt with a green collar, a black ribbon, and a green skirt that came to way above the knees. She had a slender figure and larger than average breasts. Despite having no such interest in her romantically, George could certainly see why Takashi and Hisashi had such strong feelings for her, the attractive girl that she was.

"Come with me," Takashi said to Rei as she was sitting at her desk. He then grabbed her by the arm and pulled her out of her chair. "We've got to get out of here."

"Wh-What are talking about?" Rei asked, as Saya stood up for some reason with a pout. Then Hisashi stood up. He's the boy with the gray hair and brown eyes.

"Dude, what are you doing?" he demanded.

"He's right," George said, backing up Takashi. "We just saw two teachers get killed by the front gate."

Hisashi looked at him with shock and a gasp. "Are you serious?"

"Does it look like I'm joking?" George retorted. "Look, we gotta get out of here!"

"Jesus!" Rei yelled in frustration and yanked her arm out of Takashi's grip while yelling at him. "What's going on!? I can never understand what—" Takashi then slapped her across the face. And it wasn't just a normal slap, but like a bitch slap.

"Jesus!" George's eyes were wide at what he just saw. "Can't say I approve... but it was probably necessary. Now, if you two are done... let's move!"

Wioth that, he ran out the classroom and was soon followed by Takashi, Rei and Hisashi. "Will someone tell me what is going on?" Rei demanded.

"Takashi and I saw a murder at the gate." George explained as he looked around for a storage closest, they usually contained stuff that could be used as weapons. He found an old closest and yanked the door open, turning the light on and searching through it. There was an intruder at the gate. P.E. teachers went to check it out, but then they got killed. And now they're killing each other, turning into Zombies."

"That's insane," Rei said not believing him. "I think you've been watching too many movies."

"He's telling the truth. We both saw it with our own two eyes." Takashi defended himself and his friend before looking at George as he rummaged through the room. "What are you doing?"

"We'll need weapons to defend ourselves." George said, tossing a broom out which Rei caught on instinct, then a baseball bat was tossed to Takashi who caught it. "Shit... Hisashi, can't find anything in here unless you want that fireaxe behind you?"

"No thanks, I'm a black belt at Karate. Rei, give me that." Hisashi said, taking his girlfriend's brook and he broke part of it off to make a sharp end then handed it back to her. George walked over to the contained firexe, smashing the class with his elbow before taking the axe and giving it a few practice swings. "We should get out of the school if what you say is true."

"Yeah, before the chaos sets in." George said grimly.

"Let's call the police. We'll talk to my father," Rei suggested.

Takashi nodded and handed her his phone. "School rules are meant to be broken, right?" He joked as Rei took it and dial 1-1-0.

A few moments passed with nothing but silence. Then the voice of the automatic voice messaging system was turned on. Rei's expression became one of worry and shock. "No way…" She whispered. Jack knew that there was no help coming for them. "My dad is busy…It's impossible."

Suddenly, the intercom system turned on. Bursting with static that startled the four students before a panicking voice could be heard all throughout the school.

"Listen up, this announcement is for all students. An emergency situation is taking place inside the school right now. All students must follow your teachers' instructions and evacuate. I repeat—"

The sound of a door being forced open could be heard through the speakers. Then there was another thumping sound, like as if the mike had hit the floor. All was quiet as the next haunting moment came.

"No! No! How did you get in here?! Get away from me! AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!"

The four students in the hallway stood still as the sheer amount of tension in the school could be felt. 'And so the chaos begins.' Geirge thought, having a feeling of how the entire school is going to react after hearing that.

And he was right.

The screams of panic and terror filled the school as students and teachers ran out of their classroom. Running as fast as they could to the nearest exit. Friend turned on friend as they fought each other to get out. Some were pushed and pulled out of the other person's way. And some were even knocked over and trampled to death.

"Okay, enough standing around. We should get to higher ground, it's better than being stuck in crowded hallways." George said before he ran off down the hall.

Takashi looked confused, as his friend was going in the opposite direction of the other students. "What are you doing? We should get the fuck out of here!" he shouted.

Hisashi responded. "No, George is right about it being too crowded. We need to go through the main management building." he said before running after George.

When Takashi was about to argue, Rei looked at him with a glare. "Hisashi's right. Shut the hell up and do what he says," she said. Takashi sighed and the two followed after them.

George held open the door and the others walked past him, before he followed. They were now walking on the overpass walkways. They stopped and stared at the sight of one of the teachers. But he has already turned, and George got a good look at what the zombies look like. The skin was now grey and his eyes were rolled back and showed only white.

Rei gasped when she recognized the man. "That's Mr. Wakisaka. What's the matter with him?"

"He got bit and turned." George said, spotting a bloody wound on the former human's left ankle.

The zombie teacher noticed them and started stumbling towards them. He seemed to be zoning in on Rei in particular.

"Rei! Stab him!" said Hisashi. Rei looked hesitant. "Don't hold back! Give it all you got!"

Rei still seemed to hesitate, and the zombified teacher drew closer, moaning out in a dead sounding voice. Her hesitance very nearly cost her, and the zombie grabbed onto her. They struggled – George didn't think he could safely get involved, seeing as Rei and the zombie were so close together, and if Takashi and Hisashi's lack of action was any indication, they thought much the same – and Rei tried to hold the zombie back by holding her makeshift spear out between them. The struggle went on for only a few more moments … and then Rei got angry.

She shoved the zombie a few feet away from her with some new burst of strength. "Don't fuck with me!" she said in an angry growl. She leapt forward and punctuated her words by whacking the zombie with her broom handle. "I'm a member of the spear martial arts club!" In her rage, she stabbed the sharp end of the spear into the left side of the zombie's chest, and the dead thing went limp.

"Holy shit..." George breathed but with a grin.

Takashi fist pumped and said, "Yes!"

… And then the zombie moved again. It grabbed the spear that was still impaled in it and swung it to the side, forcing Rei into the wall, and she collapsed to the ground. The zombie went to move toward her, but she grabbed the handle end of the spear and pushed him away, struggling to keep him at bay.

"I don't get it!" Rei yelled in a panic. "I'm stabbing him in his heart … why is he still moving!?"

"… Because he is dead …" George heard Takashi mutter beside him. "He's dead but still moving!"

Hisashi took the initiative and ran forward, grabbing the zombie by its arms from behind. It seemed as though Hisashi was relatively safe in doing this … and then the zombie turned its head and, despite an obvious struggle to do so, got it to do a full one-eighty. It opened its jaws and bit down on Hisashi's arm.

Everyone stood there in shock for a few seconds at the sight, listening to Hisashi scream out in pain as the undead corpse continues to bite into the school jacket covering his skin.

Suddenly, the thing breaks through the fabric and into his skin, which finally makes Takashi rush forwards as blood sprays out of Hisashi's new wound. The raven haired teen brings the bat over his head, and then slams it down on the creature's skull. There's a sickening ~Crunch!~ as the thing's head caves in and the jaw dislocates.

Blood and brain matter go flying in all directions as the body slumps to the ground after the brain is turned into mush on the ground. Hisashi pulls his wounded arm to his chest and grips it in pain. When he does this, he and George share a glance before the American looks at the other two, "Takashi, Rei, scout ahead and make sure our path forward is clear. Also, see if you can find a medical room and find bandages, so we can bandage Hisashi's wound up."

"Right." Takashi nodded, while Rei glances at Hisashi with worry, before giving her own nod. A few seconds later, the two of them head off down the path ahead, leaving the two boys alone.

When they disappear through the door on the other end of the walkway, George and Hisashi face each other, and then share a sigh. George crouches to a knee, putting his axe down, then checks on Hisashi's wound, closing his eyes when he sees the zombie had gotten Hisashi's flesh. There was a pretty noticeable bite mark that was gushing blood on his arm.

"You know what's going to come next, right?" George asked quietly as he looked his friend in the eye. "That was a zombie that bit you, and we've seen the movies. We know what happens when a zombie bites you."

"Yeah..." Hisashi nodded, wincing in pain. "You... you should take me out now."

"No." George shook his head and looked at the arm before he grabs his axe. "There's still a chance to save you as long as we keep the infection in the arm."

Hisashi seemed to understand what George was meaning as he looked to the fireaxe, then to his bitten arm, the blood from the wound dripping off his fingers. Finally, after a few seconds of thinking about it, he looks up at George's face and gives him a nod.

Gently laying Hisashi down, George takes off his belt and ties it around arm, just before his shoulder so that the blood circulation is stopped. Staying on one knee, George raises the axe in his right hand, and grips Hisashi's free and unbitten hand in his left tightly. Hisashi gives him a firm nod that George returns... then he brings the axe down hard.

Hisashi screamed in pure agony, combined with glass breaking and a girl down below screaming as she was bitten in the neck by a zombie.

When Takashi and Rei came back, bandages in hand, they were horrified to see Hisashi with his arm chopped off. George explained that it was to quickly stop the infection from spreading to the rest of the body, so Hisashi still had a chance ti live without the risk of becoming a zombie. However, he'd have to grit his teeth through the pain but they wrapped up the stump that was once his arm as best as they can. In seconds, it became stained with blood.

They made it to the roof access door, which George shoved open and ran out. Behind him, Takashi came out with Rei, who was helping Hisashi struggle up the stairs. Even though he was able to keep up.

However, once he got a good look at the city, George's eyes widened. "My God…" he said in horror and disbelief as the other stared with him.

The city was in ruin. There was smoke billowing up from several buildings all over the city, with some even on fire. The streets were crowded with cars, trucks, and people running away from the dead. Some weren't able to get away and were killed and turned, all while sirens blared. The amount of destruction was unimaginable. It was like a warzone.

"It's happening everywhere." Takashi said as they stood still.

"But everything was normal." Said a shaken Rei as she watched the horror. "Everything was fine a minute ago!" Suddenly she and the boys were hit by a strong, massive gust of wind. It nearly knocked Rei, but while it did give George a good sight of her panties, Hisashi was able to get her and hold onto her tightly to keep her from flying away.

George turned towards the deafening sound of helicopter blades, and watched as military grade choppers flew right over the school. "Those are Black Hawks!"

"American military?" Takashi asked.

"That's not it. That's the Self Defense Force," Hisashi told him with a groan of pain. With no painkillers, he had to suffer getting his arm cut off. "Where did they come from? There's no base around here."

"OVER HERE!" Rei shouted at the top of her lungs while waving her arms above her head, trying to get the choppers' attention.

"Don't bother," said Hisashi, clenching his stump. "I wouldn't even waste your strength. That's the Self Defense Force. They must have some special kind of mission." He pointed to something. "They're not even doing anything about that."

George heard a girl screaming and looked towards the sound, only to see a girl being held by zombies. Two gripped and chewed into her shoulders and neck, while a third was munching on her ankle, causing her to let out the blood-curling screams of agony as she was made a human happy meal. George closed his eyes, trying to shut the screams out but it was useless.

"These things, they really are the Dead." He said to three with him, giving the zombies a name. "They die, and then they live again, but dead. Walking the earth. Roaming around looking for food. You get bit, you get turned into them, and the only way to kill them is to destroy the brain."

They hear a groan and turn around to see a zombie shuffling towards them. George narrowed his eyes, then rushed forward. He tackles the undead corpse to the ground in a shoulder rush, the thing giving off a grunt from the impact despite the fact that it shouldn't feel pain since it's nerves shouldn't even be working right now, and then George stood up within a few seconds of pushing it to the ground, before he lifts his foot and curb stomps its head until the skull smashes open, spreading blood, grey matter and broken pieces of bone across the ground, and over the bottom of his shoe. George grimaced as he dragged his shoe along the ground to wipe it off as best as he can before turning around to see Takashi, Rei and Hisashi looking at him with slight horror at the gruesome way that he just killed the zombie.

"Sorry about that." George said, then heard more groaning and looked to see more zombies had arrived, the sound of the helicopters' rotors having most likely attracted them. "Shit! We need to get to higher ground!"

"Any ideas?" Rei asked as they backed up.

George looked around before he noticed a set of stairs that lead up to a large storage closet. Unfortunately, there's a whole hoard of the zombie freaks between them and the presumably safe spot. He pointed. "Up there! We have to get up there! Maybe we can barricade the stairs, gain our bearings."

With the Dead coming closer, it looked like there wasn't any other opinion. They nodded to him and got ready to run. George readied himself too, ready to lead them to safety.

"Let's go!" He shouted and the teenagers ran towards the stairs. He was faster than them and cleared a path with his fireaxe, slamming it into any zombie in his path, or he physically rammed his body to knock some zombies down. They were slow as fuck after all. Takashi and Rei ran behind him and in front of Hisashi, killing any Dead that came for them.

George smashed a zombie in his way when he reached the stairs, and then another. He ran up the stairs and waited for the others. "Hisashi, are you okay?" Takashi asked, help his friend up the stairs to their safe place, as George flicked blood and brain matter off his axe.

Rei ran up the stairs before stopping and turned back to face a zombie that followed them. She let out a battle cry and stabbed the roamer in the chest, which also made her boobs jiggle.

'Is she crazy?!' George thought before yelling. "Aim for the head!"

The zombie then grabbed her spear and used it to slam her against the wall. She fell on the stair step and the zombie moved towards her, only for George to swing his axe directly into it's face, then he ripped his axe free while Spartan kicking the corpse down the stairs and colliding with the legs of two more, who fell with one's chin smacking off the bottom step. Rei blinked as she lowered her arms, looked at the zombie then up at George as he pulled her to her feet.

"Get moving!" He shouted, pushing her up the stairs. "Don't slow down!"

One zombie grabbed onto George's ankle as it crawled up the stairs, but got a hard kick to the face for its trouble. Making it to the top of the steps, George, Takashi and Rei quickly worked on setting up a barricade to keep the zombies back... for however long that'll last.

It was late afternoon, and the sun was starting to lower. The teenagers were sitting down and resting. The barricade was holding, consisting of a number of tables and chairs, then tied them to the rails of the stairs with rope so that they would stay in place. A few zombies were banging on it, but that was nothing to worry about; they weren't even making it shake.

"Why? Why is this happening?" Rei asked, looking like she was about to cry.

"I wish I had the answer, Rei..." George said with a sigh, running his hand through his hair. "We're all just as stumped and confused about this as you are. Maybe if we can figure out the cause of all of this, we can stop it... somehow. Or at least, protect ourselves."

"W-We... we should look around for matches or something." Hisashi said with pain in his voice as he moved, clutching his bandaged stump. "Make a fire... or we'll be fucked when it gets dark."

"Yeah, you're right." George nodded and was about to go search the storage closest for anything that could possibly start a fire only to stop when Hisashi suddenly started coughing. The others turned towards him and saw the grey-haired boy coughing up blood while hunched over. Slumping against the railing and having on hand on it to keep himself up.

"Hisashi!" Rei ran over to his side to check on him. "What's wrong with you?"

George came over and put a hand to Hisashi's forehead, pulling it away with a whistle. "Jesus, that's one hell of a burning fever."

"Y-Yeah... can feel it." Hisashi grunted, shuddering slightly. "I... I don't think we... cut my arm off in time, George. It's just like the movies... one bite and that's it."

"No… No! We don't know that for sure yet! What we see in the movies can't be true! It can't happen!" Rei exclaims as she sobs into her boyfriend's chest. Hisashi just continues to breathe in and out of his mouth for a few seconds before responding.

"But it did happen. To me… And to everyone else in this hell-hole of a school." He replies. George and Takashi were silent for a few seconds. Looking at the ground and realize that he's right. Guilt welled up inside George, as he knew he had been too late to save Hisashi from turning. His attention went back to Hisashi when he spoke. "Takashi... George... will one of you help me?"

"Help you with what?" Takashi asked him.

Hisashi raised his hand and pointed towards the railing. "I don't want…to ask George to kill me," he said, struggling to speak. "I don't want him to…have to… carry that pain. So… help me…over the rail. It's straight to the ground from there. It should be enough to crush my skull on impact."

As the boys looked at him in shock, Rei gasped. "What are you sayin—"

"I DON'T FUCKING WANT TO BE ONE OF THEM!" Hisashi shouted, before coughing much more violently. Blood came out of his mouth with each one. Now looking like he was having a seizure. George and Takashi continued to look at him in shock. "Come on…do it for me. I want to stay myself…until the end." He coughed up blood again and fell to the ground. Withering in agony and clenching his chest.

Rei kneeled by him, crying as she begged him to let her help and to not die.

"No! Hisashi!" cried Rei, hugging onto him as tightly as she could. "You can't die!"

Hisashi's coughing stopped as suddenly as it had started. He sat and convulsed for a few seconds … then stopped. Hisashi lay completely still. Not breathing. Not doing anything.

George's blood felt like ice in his veins. He couldn't imagine what Rei was feeling, her being Hisashi's girlfriend and all, but he felt like some important part of his life had been torn away. He only had four real friends. Three of them were on that roof with him, but one of those three was now dead. He could feel the tears building behind his eyes.

He noticed the grip Takashi had on his bat visibly tighten.

"Get away from him, Rei," said Takashi. His voice was dead serious and quiet.

Rei looked up at him, her eyes wide, then threw herself over Hisashi's body like a protective shield. "No!" she said. "He's not turning! He's not turning into one of them! He's going to be fine!"

"I'll do it." George said quietly to Takashi, his tone dead and emotionless yet serious as he gripped his axe tightly. He noticed one of Hisashi's fingers twitch and stiffened. "Rei... get back from it now!"

"He's not going to turn into one of them! He's going to be fine!" She shouted as Takashi walked over to her. He grabbed her arm and pulled her away. Wanting to get the girl away from the zombie as much as possible. Rei tried to struggle out of his grip, but couldn't. "No! Stop!" Hisashi's body twitched, which was noticed by his girlfriend. "Look! He's getting up! He's…"

Her false hopes were dashed away when the zombie stood up, and she took notice of its appearance. Hisashi had turned completely and there was no mistaking it.

"Hisashi…?" Takashi quickly pulled her back with the zombie tried to grab her with its one arm. He pulled her back behind George. "No way! This can't be true! No!" Rei exclaimed, as she stopped struggling against Takashi.

As the zombie limped closer to them, George felt a sob break though his throat, letting the tears fall. "Forgive me..." He whispered.

"Don't do it…" Rei begged with tears coming out of her eyes.

George reared the axe back and swung it as Rei shouted in desperation, but the axe was buried in the zombie's skull, killing it instantly. George took his axe back and gently laid the body down, closing the eyes. With a shaky breath, he dropped his axe and walked off to lean on the railing, his shoulders shaking with quiet sobs.

Takashi let Rei go and she ran forward. Kneeling down beside her dead boyfriend. Takashi was still surprised with what his friend had done. He then turned and went into the storage closet, and then call out with a towel. He walked over and placed it over what was once his friend's head. When Takashi stood up, he watched Rei continue to cry her eyes out.

"Why?" Rei sobbed.

"He would have bitten you if George didn't," Takashi answered, seeing George was also hurting since he had just killed one of his friends.

"I didn't ask him to save me!" Rei screamed at her ex. "And how would you know that anyway? Are you some kind of expert too!?" She sniffled and looked down at Hisashi. "And I would have been willing to get bitten…better to die that way, than surviving by doing some shit like this!"

"Rei," Takashi said, trying to defend George. He felt as though he should have been the one to do it. So that George wouldn't be the one to deal with this pain he was feeling. "George did what needed to be done. Hisashi wouldn't have wanted that for you."

Rei turned her venomous glare at him. "How the fuck do you know that, Takashi!? Oh, I know…you must have hated Hisashi right? Because he was dating me!" She mocked him, going a little insane.

Takashi was silent as he stared at his ex before he started walking towards the barrier. He didn't even say a thing. Nor make an attempt to deny what Rei said. "Alright, you obviously don't want me around." he said with a blank expression. "I'll just go take out some motherfuckers."

Rei was shocked by his words. Takashi turned and continued his way to the makeshift barrier. As she watched her ex-boyfriend about to climb the barrier, she started to feel bad for what she said to him. What she said to Takashi and about George.

"Wait, stop!" She ran forward and grabbed Takashi's arm. Pulling him away from the barrier. Rei started to cry again, while clinging to his arm. Not willing to let go. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean it! I really didn't mean what I said to you and George! I'm sorry, Takashi! Don't go!" She shouted. George turned with a little surprise on his face. He was sure that she never wanted anything to do with him after what happened. As he watched from where he stood, Takashi climbed down the barrier and wrapped his arms around Rei. Comforting her in a hug. Rei was surprised by this, but after a few seconds, she hugged him back.

George smiled at the scene. Even after all the hurtful things they said to each other, and despite everything, they still loved each other. He didn't know why Rei broke up with Takashi, but now he saw that she never truly stopped having feeling for him. George had feared that she would hate him after what he did to save them, but it looked like that wasn't going to be the point.

As George was seemingly forgotten about by Takashi and Rei, the American teenager then turned his head and stared out at the city in ruin. Taking in the destruction and Dead walking the earth. Hisashi's death was like a signal. That the normal lives they've led were gone.

And that's it for the first chapter everyone. Hope you enjoyed it.