Chapter Two: Escape
Harry's POV
He turned to the others while they stared at the TV in shock. "It's seems something has happened. From now on we will be bringing you the story from inside the studio." A reporter said a little shaken. "The conditions outside seem very chaotic, so please stay home unless it is absolutely necessary to go outside. We'll bring you more on this story as son as its safe to cover the current situation from the front." The reporter said growing more calm as each word was said. "Is that all?" Takashi asked fist pounding into the table in anger. "Why didnt they say anything else?" Takashi asked making him lean back against a table.
"They're afraid of causing a panic." Saya said as though it was simple. "Right now?" Rei asked. "Yes, because its right now. Fear brings chaos, and chaos causes a disruption of order. And when order is disrupted, how are you going to deal with the living-dead?" Saya asked making him sigh. "You forget though, the Government currently is losing support they cant handle the situation, and the people will see that, protesting groups will open up because they aren't willing to see whats really going on and assume its not as bad, and the chaos will happen anyways." He said getting silence from everyone. "The thing about this all is that, people see whats going on, and its basically impossible driving others to paranoia, and when you are paranoid you don't trust others especially the government." He said shrugging his shoulders.
"As you can see its happening world wide, this isn't a isolated event the governments will fall because average people wont see the plans put in place and will disrupt those plans themselves without really knowing it." He said gesturing to the TV showing the fact that most world governments have evacuated. "They're everywhere in the world? That's crazy." Takashi said having glanced at him and the TV. "Everything was fine when I checked the internet this morning." Kohta said. "Things can change in a second, you don't know of a bomb going off until its happened, even diseases can spread fast if no one notices at first, we don't know whats going on, but it happened fast." He said getting a small nod from the kid.
"I cant believe this, it happened all over the world in a few hours." Rei said not willing to agree. "Don't you think so there has to be a safe place." Rei said looking to Takashi. He glanced at the kid seeing him look at him. He tilted his head to the kid throwing his encouragement at him. "Everything is going to go back to normal soon." Rei said hopefully not getting a response from Takashi. "That's not going to happen." Saya said making him nod. "You don't have to be so blunt about it." Takashi said making him sigh. "Why not, the worst thing for a person to do is not to look at reality. Its harsh but it is the truth." He said scratching the back of the head knowing their wasn't really a nice way to put it.
"He is right, this is a pandemic, there is nothing we can do." Saya said in annoyance turning to Takashi. "Pandemic?" Shizuka asked nervously. He turned to glance out the window knowing that the more time wasted meant the darker it would get. "I would like to ask that we stop by my home should it be on the way. There are some things i could use from my house." He said cutting into their topics about what diseases this outbreak was more like. "I suppose we could, we will have to see how things go." Takashi said making him nod taking the tentative agreement for what it was.
"Wait so how did the diseases end?" Takashi asked. "Well many theories exist but most generally believe the disease died once the hosts population dropped to low to survive." Shizuka said. "But now, the still move and they attack you." Kohta said his gaze focused outside the nearby window. "You mean there's no reason for it to stop." Seako said calmly. "It's going to be hot soon, they wont be able to move very much if their flesh decomposes and hey turn into skeletons." Shizuka said happily making him chuckle slightly at the excitable reaction. "How long does it take for that to happen?" Seako asked.
"During the summer some parts of the body can become skeletal in twenty days." Shizuka said using her hand to count. "But it can take months during winter." Shizuka commented thinking about it afterwords. "Anyway it shouldn't take too long." Shizuka commented happily remembering what time of the year it was. "But we're not even sure they're going to decompose." Saya said making everyone turn. "Well I mean that's true, this does defy the laws of nature for all we know whatever is making these bodies move is keeping the flesh from decaying." He said getting frowns from everyone.
He sighed and glanced at the slightly blocked door. "In all reality none of that matters right now." He said getting a small cough from Takagi in surprise. "What do you mean it doesn't matter?" Saya asked making him groan. "Think about it, we are currently in a school, that happens to be filled with these things, we have virtually no weapons, and are in an enclosed room with one exit several stories up, figuring out whats wrong is the least of our worries, right now we need to get out and to somewhere safer than our current location." he said seeing her mouth shut and a pout form as she glared at him. "True." Saya said in small annoyance.
"We've chosen the Micro bus then?" he asked getting a small nod from Takashi. "Whats the plan then?" He asked getting a small grunt of surprise from Takashi as everyone turned to him. "Well we should leave now, if it gets to dark it would be difficult to move, we might as well move through the upper levels till we get near the bus." Takashi said hesitantly making him nod. He grabbed the K-Bar and twirled it for a moment looking over the newly clean blade. He stepped nearer to Takashi and glanced over Kohta as the kid pushed a small desk away. "You know finding their families is going to be difficult." He said getting a small sigh.
"We have to try." Takashi said making him blink in surprised before a small smile broke out. 'Alright, well I cant help but admire that attitude, you certainly have leadership material, everyone is looking to you after all, just don't fail where I did.' He thought turning back and moving to help Kohta grimacing softly at the small scrapping the furniture did against the floor as it was pushed away. "So improvised nail gun?" He asked Kohta getting a small grin and nod. "It has about the same weight as some older assault rifles, so its easy to handle once you have the proper bracing." Kohta said making him blink at the kid feeling sweat drop down the side of his face as the kid rambled on getting further into it.
He sobered up quickly as they opened the door. He walked into the hall glancing around and shrugging. "Eh its clear." he called back quietly getting the rest out of the room as they walked through the halls. "The halls are pretty empty don't you think?" Takashi asked making him sigh. "Most of the people who rushed away in a panic probably flew down the stairs towards the lower levels, some of those got trampled from falling so I doubt we'd see many more up here, especially since we cleared out many of them on the way to the faculty room. So we probably wont see many or any for that matter until we are near the bus." He said getting Takashi to blink in surprise before nodding slowly.
"Doesn't mean we wont have a fairly tough fight though, that's a given for what we've had to do so far." He said with a small smirk getting a slightly amused chuckle back. He glanced further back seeing Saya narrow her eyes at the chuckle and closed his mouth quickly feeling a small sense of doom for a short second. 'Man after everything I've been through Saya glaring is all it takes to throw me off, that isnt right, I used to be so much more collected.' He thought with a small sigh as they moved past halfway opened doors and empty class rooms. the small splashes of blood giving everything an ominous feel to the halls in the dead silence.
He shifted the knife in his hand getting a slightly better grip on it as one of them stumbled around the corner, The blade flashed before being buried hilt deep in the things forehead. He grabbed the front of the shirt and slowly lowered the body down keeping the actions silent. Blinking as everyone had stopped and stared at his move. He coughed lightly at the scrutiny and shrugged it off as Takashi moved past letting it go quickly. 'Glad to see I wont be getting the Spanish Inquisition.' He thought a slight coldness going down his spin as though he had drawn the attention of something he shouldn't.
He glanced around seeing Saya looking at him with narrowed eyes. He sighed softly, he should have known that she would pick up on it, and unless something changed he'd be getting a bombardment of questions, something he hadn't suffered since Hermione. He blinked pushing the memories back, the past has to stay there after all. "Wait, I just thought of this but what if we come across others who are ok?" Kohta asked making him snap to look at the kid in surprise. He glanced back to Takashi seeing him blink and respond quickly. "If they are alright, I don't see why we cant help them." Takashi said simply getting small smiles from everyone.
"You realize a larger group is more dangerous?" He asked getting a small nod. "Alright just making sure, currently we know what we are doing, but the more people we have the larger the possibility someone will disagree with our choices." He said getting a small sigh. "We already agreed to do what we choose, if they don't want to, they don't have to follow, for the moment if they join up its simply to get out of the school they have no obligation to follow us." Takashi said making him smirk lightly and nod to the logic he was giving. "We cant babysit them all." Saya said making him cough at the comment.
"Isn't it best to help those we can?" Rei asked. "Not always, after all we only need to look after our own right now, we don't have the power to do much more." He said seeing the small smile Seako gave at that. He shifted slightly unsure how to react to her, he was still getting an off-putting vibe from her. He felt an arm press against his chest and glanced down. He followed the arm to Saya and glanced back to in front of him seeing the railing for the stairs. "Thanks." He said getting a small huff. "Let me make this clear, there is no need to engage in a fight unless you need to, do whatever you can to avoid a fight." Seako said her eyes trained down the stairs.
"They're sensitive to sound so keep quiet." Saya said directly afterwords making him glance between the two. "You both know odds of that happening are low. Its not because we will go out of our way, but the world is rarely kind to us, and in this situation things go from bad to worse in seconds." He said getting a small sigh. "That may be so, but that doesn't mean we need to take unnecessary risks." Seako said making him nod quickly. "Alright, I'm just saying, we cant place blame because everything sours, sometimes things just work like that." He said seeing Saya turn to him. "That may be so, but in this case its avoidable, they can only hear so no sound no response." Saya said making him sigh and look at the ceiling.
'It's almost like you don't even get it, and yet I know for a fact you do.' He thought before turning back to the stairs. "The longer we wait the more problems we will potentially face." He said getting a small breath of annoyance from Saya. He smirked at the sound knowing he got under her skin quickly. "Hey, they are strong enough to rip through doors, and once they have a grip on you they will tear you to shreds." Saya called quietly making him look back and shrug. "At that point you are dead anyway. Whats more important right now is getting on the move." He said seeing her eye twitch at the dismissal of information.
He tensed slightly as a scream echoed from nearby. "Survivors. Lets move." Takashi said his eyes growing cold he ran towards the sound hearing the soft thunk as a nail impacted in one of the things head. He grabbed another from behind stabbing into the back of the head and pulling the blade back dropping the body with ease. He twisted towards another stopping his swing as Seako dropped down smashing it over the head. He ducked quickly seeing Takashi jump over him and heard the crack of the bat crushing another skull. He shifted slightly as the sound echoed.
He glanced over the new group seeing the five were relatively alright. "Thank you." One of them called out a little loudly. "Keep it down, Has anyone been bitten yet?" Seako asked getting a startled look and vigorous shake of the head. "Seako even if they were it would either be a fast change or it would take some time, and sitting around to see isn't the best idea on a stairwell." He commented moving past her and the group. "We're getting out of here, any of you want to come with us?" Takashi asked. He glanced back seeing the five agree and sighed to himself. 'Man this is going to be difficult now.' He thought looking over the obviously scared and tense group.
He stopped near the first floor seeing Kohta take a seat on the steps. He leaned against the wall and tried relaxing but the shuffling of feet downstairs made him tense. "Man there's a lot of them." Takashi said leaning over the railing to get a better look. "Far as I can tell the only thing they react to is sounds. They cant see us it's pointless to hide from them." Saya said making Takashi turn quickly. "Why don't you go down there and prove that theory." Takashi said making him cough at the quick wit. "Besides the closer we are the better chances they will have of hearing us as we plan our next move, if what you say is true." He said getting a small pout. "Even if we keep going through the school, once we get attacked we are going to be stuck." Seako said quietly looking over the group below.
"We have to go through the gate we don't have any choice." Rei said making him nod and stand. "Besides Seako, the situation wouldn't change much inside or outside, Inside we are closed in, outside may have more of them meaning numbers wise they close us in, the situation isn't good." He said getting a slight nod in response. "In that case someone needs to go and confirm Takagi's theory." Seako said simply glancing around. "I'll go." Takashi said making him groan. "No, Let me do it." He said seeing Takashi turn in surprise. "Eh, I'll be fine, besides I wouldn't feel right letting someone else throw themselves in this kind of danger." He said simply getting a small nod. "Why do you want to do it?" Saya asked. "I just said didn't I? Besides It's not like I cant get away." He said with a smirk before walking down the steps.
"I think I should do it." Seako called stopping him for a second. "Man you all are adamant, well to bad I made the choice, gonna have to live with it." He said cheekily. He stopped in front of one of the things seeing it face him and had to hold back his gag reflex. 'Man the breath on these things is horrid, maybe I should have let Takashi do this.' He thought. He poked the thing on the forehead and watched it sway for a moment before walking away. He glanced down seeing a small shoe and smirked as a small idea entered his brain. Taking his best pitchers stance he aimed down the hall. The small swoosh of the shoe in the air ignored as it impacted with a nearby locker the dull thud echoing slightly and drawing a few out of the main entrance.
He walked by the shambling bodies and pressed the door open quietly seeing Takashi lead the small group down the stairs. He grinned cheekily at the group getting a glare in response from Saya and a small repressed laugh from Seako. He felt a familiar shiver up his spin from her reaction but ignored it. He turned quickly as the sound of something striking the railway echoed through the halls loudly. 'Shit.' He thought seeing the things turn back around. "Run!" Takashi yelled making him grimace. "Why did you yell! Only the ones nearby would have responded!" Saya asked angrily. He turned jabbing the blade upwards and hearing a small clack from the thing next to him as the force shut the things mouth quickly.
"No way, did you hear that echo." Rei asked making him sigh as the blade slipped out of the thing. "Saya, Rei is right, the echo was loud enough to alert the others, besides that we need to move." he called turning just in time to see Seako knock one into the air that had been close to Saya. He moved forwards seeing Kohta step back trying to sight one in but to many were approaching. He crossed moving behind Takashi as the guy smashed another ones head in. "Kohta aim for the closest and go from there." He called stabbing the one in front of him in the eye. "Just run!" Takashi yelled moving through the groups only attacking those that got close.
He chuckled lightly at the response grabbing another and throwing it over his shoulder off a railing and to its demise below. He twisted tossing his elbow into the throat of another pushing it back to be smashed into by Takashi. "Nice." He called getting a small smirk. He kept the act up, sighing in slight relief as they got to the bus. He ducked under a swing as Seako took out one to his right and he stabbed back past her face catching the one that had gotten behind her. He slid to a stop for a second as one of the others was grabbed but frowned as the guy was ripped apart. 'Cant save him now, spinning around the girl who ran back for him. "What the?" He asked. "I understand, if the entire world turned into this, I'd rather die with the person that I loved." Shizuka said making him blink in surprise.
"Oh shut up Dr. Bleeding Heart." Saya said before one of them dropped dead from a nail to the head. "Look out!" Kohta yelled making him snap into action again and stab another in the chest forcing it onto the ground before crushing its throat and switching the stab point to its face. "Why would you do that!" Saya asked as he caught the tail end of the conversation. "I don't know cause I really, Like your voice." Kohta said turning and giving an adoring look. He coughed to keep the chuckles down from Saya's expression. "He has a point though, This isn't the time." he said passing by her as he tripped on of the things onto its face hearing the crack of its nose breaking.
'Huh first time I've heard that off them.' He thought to himself as a nail flew by his head impacting one of them making the body fall back into another. "Nice shot." he called feeling the grin in response. He slid to the ground as a body was tossed over him into another by Takashi. He stabbed the foot of one that got to close and swiped back at the other causing it to fall back. He stomped down on its head and heard the crunch before grabbing the knife back and moving for the buses door. The soft roar of the engine made him turn to the drivers seat. "Oh, its different from my little bug." Shizuka commented softly. "I'm sure you'll do fine." He commented before turning back to Takashi as Seako climbed on.
"Well get on." Takashi said making him shrug and climb on board. "No need to tell me twice." he said getting a small laugh in response. He sat quickly on the seat nearest the door slipping the knife in his jacket. "Whose that?" Takashi asked making him look out the window and frown. "That's Mister Shido of class 3-A." Seako said making him narrow his eyes. He may hate the man but he'd hold his tongue for now, mostly because those with the man didn't deserve to die. "We can go now." Shizuka said turning to them. "Wait just a little bit longer." Takashi said making him glance around.
He saw the look on Rei's face and knew whatever was about to be said, he would both agree and disagree with. "Anymore and we wont be able to drive through here." Shizuka said worriedly. "Drive over them." Takashi commented. "If Dr. Boobs tries to drive over that many we'll flip the bus." Saya said simply making him cough. "Dr. Boobs?" He asked getting her to tsk and turn away the small pink on her cheeks amusing to him. He heard Takashi about to leave only to be grabbed. "We don't have to save him." Rei said making him blink in surprise. "Jesus what are you saying?" Takashi asked. "We dont have to help him we should just go." Rei said making him stand. "What about those with him, would you condemn them because you don't like him. Don't get me wrong if it were just him I'd agree but this is about those others too." He said getting a small scowl.
He turned and stared at Shido. He watched silently as the man kicked the downed kid in the face and left him to die. 'This is a mistake.' He thought but squashed it down, the man would have karma's revenge that he would make sure of. He heard the slamming of the door and glared deeply at the man seeing him walk by. "Ok go." Takashi commanded making him lurch back into the seat as she slammed on the gas. He heard her mumbles and smiled slightly at how she was coping a small bit. Of course it might have just been his amusement of the thuds as they got ran over. 'Yeah, I'm amused over that, probably not a good thing.' He thought to himself before leaning back into the seat as they broke through the gate and left for town.
He pulled out a small rag and started to wipe off the blood from the blade. He turned around as the familiar sounds of some ass hats shoes thudded against the floor. "I take it you have been appointed leader." Shido asked leaning towards Seako. "There's no such thing, we just work together to survive." Seako said making him stare at the man. "That's not good, in order to survive you definitely need a leader, a leader bares everything, with valor, with confidence." Shido exclaimed quietly his eyes growing bright with a controlling gaze. "You'll regret this. I guarantee that your regret that you helped him." Rei said looking at Takashi seriously.
"I have to agree." He said quietly from the guys right. "The city!" One of the guys in the back exclaimed. He glanced outside blinking in surprise as fires raged and it looked a little like a war-zone, however it also look deserted. "Best relax while we can." he said leaning into the seat slightly closing his eyes to think. 'Everything has been screwed up, with the way things are its only going to get worse, We have to find Takashi's and Rei's family members and then find a somewhat safe place to hunker down for a while.' he thought glancing at the Ka-Bar in his hands with a small frown. 'The blade wont last me forever, and I need to get home to have better access to that which would work better for me. Not to mention gas becoming a problem, this isn't going to be easy for us.' He thought glancing over the rest of the group seeing them all resting slightly as the scenery blew by.
"You know we will have to cross the river to get anywhere near your homes and my own right?" He asked getting a small nod. "That's going to be a problem, odds are the police is stretched thin, and with whats going on we don't know what the current road situation is." He said getting a small sigh. "We will just have to keep going until we reach that point." Takashi said making him look over surprised before nodding with a small smile. 'Good to see he has faith.' He thought before looking back as one of the guys started acting up. "This is stupid, We should have stayed!" Tsunoda said making him blink.
"But they were everywhere." One of the girls said. "So, they are everywhere out here too!? Tsunoda explained getting a small sigh from another. "But out here we have more options." One of the guys said. "And its more dangerous, Like I said we should have stayed behind!" Tsunoda explained having stood up in the aisle. "First of all why do we have to go with Komuro and the Others. You guys are the ones to go back to the city! Maybe we should have looked for a safe place inside the school. If you ask me we were better off where we were." Tsunoda said making him sigh. "He's right, I kind of agree with Tsunoda, we should barricade ourselves somewhere." Kurokami said before being tossed forwards a little as Shizuka slammed on the breaks.
He watched her toss off the seat belt and turn around leaning in the aisle way. "Thats enough! I cant focus on the driving with all this yelling!" Shizuka exclaimed, the slightly annoyed look on her face strangely cute. 'Probably cause of her ditsy attitude, but its welcomed all the same.' He thought with a small smile. "How about you tell me what you want to do." Seako said making the guy turn quickly. "I just cant stand this guy." Tsunoda said pointing towards Takashi. "Why what the hell did I ever do to you? I don't even know you." Takashi said uncaring although facing the guy down.
He moved into action as Tsunoda approached stopping for a second as Rei took him down. "Might not be your best move ass." He commented holding the knife up to the light letting it flash at him. "Asshole." Rei commented standing over the guy. He groaned as the narcissistic ass hat himself stood up and approached while clapping mockingly. "Bravo, Simply outstanding teamwork." Shido said adjusting his glasses after stepping over Tsunoda. "I'm impressed, I commend both of you, at any rate a conflict such as this only proves my point, we need a leader." Shido said making him scoff. "Surely none of you want this responsibility." Shido said leaning towards the two.
"So you're going to run for the position then?" Saya asked adjusting her glasses turning away as the creepy bastard leaned down. "I'm a teacher Mrs. Takagi. While mature all of you are barely in your teens. That alone makes it very clear who's more qualified to assume such a roll, I have experience, why just moments ago I saved all of these brave students." Shido said turning to the group in the back. 'I have to admit the man may be manipulative to no end, but he's charismatic.' He thought watching the spiel play out. "The majority has seemed to have made the choice quite clear yes?" Shido asked. He glanced back at Rei seeing her grip the broom handle angrily.
He blinked in surprise as she jumped out of the bus and moved away from it. "Rei." Takashi called making the girl turn back angrily. "No way I wont do it, I'm not staying here with him." Rei called back. He stood up and walked to Takashi. "Well there's nothing I can do if you don't want to act in accordance with us." Shido said smoothly. 'Well played asshole, well played.' He thought. He grabbed Takashi's shoulder stopping the guy from jumping out. "Let me, I owe her father, and I doubt anything you say will get through, I know how she feels about this guy so I might have a better shot at swaying her mind." He said getting stared at for a moment before the kid nodded.
He stepped out and ran over laying a hand on her shoulder. "No I will not be around that pig." Rei said turning angrily only to look surprised at seeing him. "Trust me Takashi was going to jump off that bus and grab you himself but I told him to stay back, Doubt he'd let you go anyway." He said with a small grin getting a small pink dusting to light up her cheeks. "Listen I understand I hate the bastard too, but doing this wont get you anywhere, you just jumped out of a safe bus onto streets filled with these things, with no support or anything." he said seeing her face flush. "Its not like we'd have to stay long anyways-" He said getting cut off as the loud horn of a city bus made them look over. He watched as the out of control machine smashed into a car and flipped skidding towards them.
He grabbed her arm tossing her into the tunnel and dived in hearing the wrench of metal as it sealed them in. "Damn so much for the bus." He commented rubbing the back of his head as he looked over the burning metal pile. "You alright?" Seako called making him sigh. "Yeah, we both are fine." he said glancing back at the girl who seemed fine. "Where should we meet up?" He asked looking at Rei. "East police station." Rei said after a little thought. "Time?" He asked getting a small groan. "Seven o'clock?" Rei asked making him nod. "Meet at the East Police station." he said getting a blink of surprise. "When?" Seako asked making him glance over the burning bodies as the shambled forwards. "Seven o'clock, If not today, then tomorrow same time." He said getting a small nod before watching the girl jump on the bus.
"Whelp we better leave." He said hearing a spark from the other side. He ran towards the exit diving down away from the flames as the rushed over. He glanced to his right seeing Rei out of breath. "Least we got away from the flames." He commented only to feel the wind knocked out of him as one of them jumped on him the helmet keeping the thing from biting into him. He struggled to hold it in place as he reached for his knife. He looked up as it stopped struggling only to see Rei above him a cinder block in her hands. 'That's kind of scary.' He thought seeing the heavy object above his face.
"Thanks." He said taking the girls hand getting a small smile and eye roll. "Lets go." Rei said moving forwards. He followed after feeling like this was going to be one long night. He glanced over himself seeing the singed fabric of his jacket. "Wait a minute that guy had a helmet." He said looking down the street. He grinned seeing the dropped bike. "Can you even drive?" Rei asked making him glance over offended. "I'll have you know I am the best driver I know." he said getting a blank stare for a moment. "What?" He asked getting silence.
A/N: Whew buddy, honestly wasn't prepared to put this out until I saw the response from the last chapter, Several Hundred views in an hour alone, and a few reviews in a short time, gave me some fire to push this baby forwards, of course most of this was primarily done I just had a little more to do and to tweak and boom this new chapter. It'd longer by about two thousand more words. but its not the longest I hope to have. I am taking this in a unique direction, since Harry is the focus you'll see him in areas of the story that have the most focus. Of course I cant just leave the rest hanging so I plan to include some POV shifts every now and then. Plus I like Harry being the bad ass, his character never really was so I want to change that. I am thrilled You all are enjoying this, as its helped me get motivation to continue and maybe even move onto other works. Now I am trying to spice it up with some witty comedy here and there so it isn't so dark, but Harry came from a dark world he's going to have a little trouble with that ever so often. Plus there were some moments in here that alluded to his back story, this story may become revealed later but these moments will help you formulate your own ideas on it, and I am curious if you all will be thinking the same way I am when it is revealed.
Current Equipment:
1x Sneakers
1x School Uniform Pants
1x School Uniform Jacket (Burnt/Singed)
1x Blue Undershirt
1x Cheap Digital Watch
1x Ipod with Head Buds (Amusing even though its not necessary)
1x K-bar
3x 100 Yen Notes
Hope you continue to enjoy and I will be attempting to put out another chapter soon.