Morning soon came and our group of survivors prepared for their move to the other side of the river. Clothes had been washed and dried, but no one felt like putting the full uniform back on. Eddy had found a leather jacket I liked next door and Takashi grabbed a denim one for himself.
Kohta found a combat harness in Rika's locker and now looked like the second coming of Rambo, which Ed and Ben approved of.
Saeko put her uniform top on over a black miniskirt with dark purple leggings and arm and knee guards. In fact, most of the girls seemed to be going for skirts that were shorter than school regulations would have allowed. All of the males present couldn't help but wonder why the homeowner had so much revealing clothing.
Matthew would be in the lead driving the Humvee with The Eds, Rolf, Saeko, Saya, Kohta, Takashi, and Rei. Rei and Takashi would be in the gunner's turret with a side of the Humvee each to watch. Kohta rode shotgun. Saeko would be ready if they needed to fight close in and Saya just didn't want to ride in the bus.
Kyoko would drive the bus with everyone else, Ben acted as security, and Shizuka would be near Mr. Maresato to keep an eye on his injury and to keep little Arisu company. Not that that would be an issue, she had already started calling every student big brother or sister and was so cute that no one could be upset if she sat with them, not even Tsunoda, and the little dog happily panting away in her arms added to the cuteness. She was a living reminder that everyone hadn't lost their humanity. And the dog had kind of become the group mascot.
Nikolai also revealed that in Ben's family's garage, a dirt bike was stashed, which they threw into the back of the Humvee for safekeeping, never knowing when someone might need it. The Old Russian Soldier had also revealed a few more guns Ben's father had stashed away in case of emergencies, which Ben himself couldn't access and didn't feel like bothering to disturb his dad to ask.
The first was a CM901, which was given to Matthew, and went well with his Beretta M9 and Defiler. The second was an MK-14 with ACOG sight, which was given to Imamura. The third was an M4A1 Carbine, which was given to Morita.
With everyone loaded up, they tried for the footbridge they were stopped at yesterday only to find that someone had put up more permanent obstacles last night while the zombies were all busy chasing the police siren. With no other choice, they drove to Onbetsu Bridge.
The police were a little on edge with seeing everyone so heavily armed and it took almost a half hour explaining why and how they were so armed. Due to the zombies, weapons were now practically a necessary fashion accessory. Many others crossing the bridge that day were armed with whatever they could scrounge. The police had long ago stopped trying to confiscate every gun they found, only confiscating them from known criminals.
The police finally let the group go with the warning that other bridges hadn't fared as well as this one, so they should keep an eye out for any walking dead on their way to their destination. Then they asked what their destination was.
"We're going to the Takagi Estate. One of us just so happens to be their daughter." Eddy smirked, delighting in the faces of the police when they found out exactly whose daughter they were holding up. They were falling all over themselves to speed the group along after that.
Taniuchi and her father had a sweet reunion, and he was more than happy to know where she was going and that she would be safe. A few of her classmates admitted to themselves it was a bit of a gut-wrench to separate them so soon after reuniting but at least she was in good hands.
The road to Saya's home was less than accommodating. Some people seemed to have just left their cars where they abandoned them in the road. Other places were under the "control" of whatever gang thought they could get away with it. Other streets did, in fact, have zombies shambling about.
"Geez, I think I saw a few of those Lickers crawling up the walls of the houses," Takashi noted.
"You know that hooded zombie with the claws that pounced on Ben the other night? I think I saw another one watching us from the rooftops." Rei nervously said.
"The zombie with the long tongue that tried to drag away Takuzo? I think I saw one getting shot down by one of the gangs for stepping into their turf." Eddy noted. "Sheesh! I can still smell the smoke coming off it!"
"Rolf, how did you survive?" Ed asked.
"Indeed, we didn't see you at school when this madness happened. Where were you?" Double-D added.
Rolf nodded his head as he figured he owed his friends an explanation for where he was and how he got to them.
*FLASHBACK*
Rolf was at a movie theater with some of his classmates. They were at the movie theater for a class trip as their music teacher was a former movie actor. Rolf had to go to the bathroom and was currently washing his hands when he heard moaning.
"Hello?"
Nobody responded as Rolf noticed the moans were coming out of a stall. Rolf was about to enter the stall and see what was up until he took a sniff of the air, and immediately clasping his nose with his hands.
"Yhew! The stench of the dead is unmistakable!"
Rolf then looked down to see blood coming from the stall, his eyes widening as he slowly began to realize what was going on. He then opened the door to see a dead body slumped over on the toilet, their head hung down, and blood dripping from their mouth.
"Who could do such a depraved act of debauchery in Rolf's presence?!"
Rolf quickly ran out of the bathroom to find help, only for his eyes to zero in on a man shambling in the lobby, a large chunk of his left arm torn out and the same stench of death radiating off of him.
"The Undead Menace have arrived to torment Rolf!"
Rolf quickly ran back to the theatre where his class was, only to see a massacre in front of him, blood splattered over the walls and carpets. Rolf could only close his eyes in despair as he saw the corpses.
"Abominations...they shall pay for this transgression!"
Knowing it wouldn't do any good to die here, Rolf made his way to an exit, finding himself in an alley. He took a moment to look around for anything that could be useful to defend himself and found a lead pipe on the ground. He then heard the barking of a small dog and went to investigate.
The barking came from a dumpster and Rolf was stunned to see a little puppy hiding underneath it. Rolf crouched down and held out his hand, the little dog slowly peeking out before licking his hand, realizing he was trustworthy.
Rolf noticed the dog had a nametag and inspected it to see it was called 'Zeke'. Nodding his head, Rolf picked up the dog and made his way out of the alley...
*END FLASHBACK*
"So, the cute little dog you were with is named Zeke, huh?" Rei asked as Rolf nodded.
"Rolf can only assume that the little one's owner had perished to the undead menace."
"Poor fella..." Ed said, feeling bad for Zeke.
"You know, when they say you can't go home, I don't think this is what they had in mind," Matthew said.
Saya was about to rip into him for that but instead looked ahead of the road and screamed.
"LOOK OUT!"
Matthew saw the wires an instant later and heaved the wheel to the side. A few zombies were run over, causing the Humvee to lose traction on their bodies and blood, sending everyone into a spin. Rei was thrown from the roof during the spin and landed hard on her back while Double-D looked about ready to hurl.
The Humvee came to a rest, stalled against the many strands of wire that someone had strung across the road. Kyoko brought the bus to a much more controlled stop and Shizuka and Takashi rushed out to assist Rei. While they did that the rest had other problems.
"They're coming!" Kurokami cried.
"Ugh, not a good day..." Nikolai groaned as he readied his AUG and stepped out of the bus, aiming at some zombies to shoot them down, Ben jumping out to join him.
"I can see 30 zombies approaching us. And the numbers only increasing since plenty of people heard that crash."
"CRUSH THE ZOMBIES!" Ed cried as he jumped out of the Humvee and began smacking zombies away left and right with his Spiked Bat. One almost bit him before meeting a hatchet that came out of nowhere and planted itself to its face.
Ed turned around to see Rolf, the two friends nodding as they proceeded to work together in tearing the zombies apart.
Double-D, who had been given the .44 Magnum by Ben, nervously took aim, planting his feet on the ground before firing at a closing zombie, blowing its head into bloody chunks as he nearly fell on his ass before steadying himself.
Saeko took care of a group of zombies without any help as she struck gracefully with her bokken. One tried to grab her but she dodged it while tripping it with her foot. Once it was down Saeko quickly made a strike to its head to end its life. More came to surround her but before she could do anything, Ben mowed them down with his MP5.
Everyone else who had a gun started joining in to hold them back. Kyoko tied a rag around one of her crossbow bolts and lit it, firing into the sky signaling anyone who was paying attention. Even Zeke joined in and started biting the zombie's ankles. The unarmed students would break open boxes and reload spent magazines, Arisu doing her best to help.
Takashi and Takuzo worked together to organize a retreat over the wires while Kohta covered them. It didn't take long for the guns to start running low and the horde pressed ever onward.
"I have Vodka...BUT NO FUCKING AMMO!" Nikolai cursed angrily.
"It's not enough!" Double-D cried. "We'll be overrun in minutes!"
"If that's the case..." Eddy sighed as he kicked a zombie off his Boomstick. "Then I'm glad that you guys were my friends."
"After all these crazy adventures..." Double-D smiled sadly. "I can't believe a zombie apocalypse would be what breaks our fellowship."
"Dammit!" Ben cursed as he grabbed a zombie's head and ripped it clean off with the spine still attached before using it as a makeshift flail to smack around a few zombies. "Come and keep some, you ugly sons of bitches!"
"It's no use!" Saeko cried as she stood back to back with her Disciplinary President.
"Just us, маленький мальчик (little boy)." Nikolai sadly chuckled as he joined the three, followed by Ed and Rolf. "At least I won't have to tell your parents you're dead."
"And at least I won't have to tell Dad one of his old buddies died..." Ben sighed. "But we can at least save the rest of our friends!"
Ben then began screaming loudly while firing his SCAR. Saeko, Ed, and Nikolai realized what he was getting at and joined in, attracting as many as they could. Saeko aided by swinging her bokken against the metal railing every now and then. Luckily, Kohta caught on to what the five were doing and got the rest to cease fire and stay quiet so the dead would follow the noise away from them.
The rest of the group was a little over halfway evacuated having all stopped to help Arisu and her dad over the wire, when help finally came. Several people in firefighting gear showed up and started using high-pressure hoses to blast the zombies back while others used shotguns and two of them were hurling Molotovs as far into the heart of the swarm as they could. Still others came with folding ladders and the remaining students on the danger side of the wire hurried over.
Suddenly, heavy tremors were heard as Ben's Vision Mode detected the threat before seeing it; a massive jacked-up zombie who looked like he was infused with over a million steroids.
"What the hell is that?!" Miura cried.
"TAAAAAAAAANK!" Eddy screamed as Saya looked at him weirdly. "What? That guy is built like a Tank, so it seemed appropriate!"
Seeing the behemoth was heading straight for everyone as they were escaping, Ben leaped over the railing and clung to its back as Nikolai aided him by shooting at its exposed spots.
"Come this way, ублюдок (Motherfucker)!" Nikolai screamed as the Tank tried shaking Ben off, only for him to grab its neck in a vice grip and with all his body weight drag it to the ground.
"PREPARE TO MEET YOUR MAKER!" Ed cried as he leaped over the railing next to help Ben with his Spiked Bat.
"Gaeben...?" The Tank suddenly spoke upon hearing Ed's words, only for him to smash its face, followed by Rolf joining in and burying his hatchet in the side of its thick neck.
Back with everybody else, they all had managed to make it over the fence thanks to the surprise backup.
"Thank you." Kyoko bowed to the leader of the group. "We were in a tight spot.
"It's alright, I was happy to help my daughter and her friends." The woman took off her helmet.
"MAMA!" Saya cried as she ran to hug her mother.
"Holy crap, that's Saya's Mom?" Morita asked.
"She's definitely up there in the Top 10." Imamura said, nodding his head.
"Ugh, you and your love of older women..." Naomi groaned.
"Looks like they're safe," Saeko said as she and Nikolai joined Ben, Ed, and Rolf, the three having finished massacring the Tank.
Ben nodded. "Yeah, now it's time to save ourselves."
The fires started by the Molotovs would burn for a while and the horde was bringing the fire closer to them. It was time for a tactical withdrawal.
"HEY, MONOBROW! YOU GUYS BETTER BE ALRIGHT!" Eddy called out from the other side.
"DON'T WORRY, EDDY! WE'LL BE BACK BEFORE YOU KNOW IT!" Ed called back.
"Luckily, my Vodka survived!" Nikolai laughed as he took out a bottle. "Care for a victory drink?"
Meanwhile, back at Rika Minami and the Torekuroshi's Joint Duplex, Shido was still chained, struggling viciously in his chains as he grit his teeth in fury, screaming for help desperately.
"I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU ALL!"
"Come now, Koichi Shido...such undignified manners."
Shido stopped his struggling to see a masculine figure hiding in the shadows near him. The former teacher scowled as he shook in his chains again for emphasis.
"They left me for dead! ME! I'm the one who will guide them to sanctuary, not that military brat and that musclehead!"
The man stepped into the light, revealing himself to have slicked blonde hair, black shades, and wearing all black. Shido stopped his struggling, his eyes widening as he recognized who this man was.
"A-Albert Wesker! Current acting CEO of Umbrella after Ozwell E. Spencer's death!"
The man chuckled. "So you're not completely delusional. Very good. In that case, I have something that may prove beneficial to your destiny."
The man reached into his coat and took out a syringe filled with a dark blue substance. He then approached Shido and before he could protest, injected him in the neck with it.
"W-What did you do?"
"If this works...I have simply made you stronger...better...the perfect leader this new world order needs."
Shido felt the effects immediately, he began screaming and frothing at the mouth, his eyes turning pure amber and his already snake-like eyes became even more like that of the eponymous reptile as his teeth sharpened into fangs...
"Yes, it seems you are compatible. Together, we are the first step in humanity's evolution..." Wesker smirked as he watched the changes take effect.
Ed, Rolf, Saeko, Ben, and Nikolai have been separated from the group with promises to reunite with them. We get another Special Infected from Left 4 Dead, a funny little Fourth Wall break, and the reveal of the story's big bad...
Hope you're all having fun with this story, because I sure am!