Matthew and Kyoko made their way to the principal's office, the former kicking open the door with all his strength as he dragged Kyoko inside.
"We have to evacuate the school!"
"Mr. McGee, what is the meaning of this?!" The principal demanded.
"Intruders at the front gate! Blood everywhere! Corpses biting people!" Matthew said, hoping simple words would be enough, sadly, that wasn't the case.
"Mr. McGee, what are you even talking about?!"
Matthew facepalmed. "Assailants infected with some zombie virus just broke through the front gate. Teshima and the janitor are dead!"
"It's true, sir," Kyoko spoke up. "I watched Teshima die before my very eyes and there are dozens of these infected people coming into the school as we speak."
"Right now, shit is hitting the fan," Matthew said. "I need to get to my locker, there's something important in it."
Matthew quickly ran to the teacher's lounge, found his locker, and opened it. He kept a lock on it for emergencies and to prevent anybody from sneaking a peek. He then found what he was looking for; a bowie knife he got from his father and a Beretta M9 that he inherited from his grandfather.
Matthew loaded up the pistol and sheathed the knife as he ran back to the principal's office. Needless to say, the other teachers were a little less than thrilled to see him carrying a firearm.
"Matthew, where on earth did you get that?!" Kyoko asked aghast.
"This is a serious emergency here!" The Older McGee Brother snapped back. "Has anyone tried calling the police?!
"I'm trying, I can't get through!"
"Same here! I'm only getting the 'line is busy' recording!"
"That's not a good sign..." Matthew grumbled. "Mr. Principal, you need to call the whole school...NOW!"
The Principal could see how serious Matthew was and pressed the button for the school speakers.
"STUDENTS, PLEASE REMAIN IN THE CLASSROOMS WITH YOUR TEACHER. THERE IS AN INTRUDER IN THE SCHOOL. I REPEAT DO NOT…!"
The principal was interrupted when shambling corpses burst through the front door. The teacher who was unlucky enough to be closest to the front door, started screaming as she was pulled under the small pile of grey-skinned attackers as they tore her to pieces.
"SON OF A BITCH!" Matthew cursed as he aimed, remembering all the video games and movies on zombies that he took to heart and shooting the ghouls in their heads, downing them. However, there were still more coming.
"PUT OUT THE GODDAMN EVACUATION ORDER!" Matthew roared to the principal as he reloaded his pistol, grabbed Kyoko by the hand again, and led her out while making a path through the horde. The remaining secretaries ran after them but the last one was grabbed and was drug under the mass of bodies to her doom, screaming like a banshee before her jaw was ripped off.
As for the principal, he panicked as he tried to warn the school more urgently, only to be grabbed by some zombies that broke through the window behind him. And unfortunately, he had forgotten to turn the mic off...
"STOP! NO! AAAAAHHHHHHH!" Was the last thing the principal could say, his words echoing through the speakers.
Eddy and Takashi have split up due to their friends being in different classes from each other. Takashi went to get Hisashi, Rei, and Saya while Eddy got Double-D and Ed.
As Eddy was running to Double D's class he heard a groan. He turned his head to see a male teen slowly walking his way. Eddy ignored him and ran to Double-D's class, slamming the door open when he arrived.
"Mr. McGee why are you interrupting my class," The teacher asked, surprised and annoyed at the sudden rude arrival.
Eddy ignored her and ran to Double-D.
"We need to find Ed and get the hell out of here!"
Double-D looked at Eddy like he had just gone insane.
"What are you rambling about now? Yuuki asked, sitting next to Double-D.
Eddy was losing patience. "Just come with me outside!"
Double-D could see that Eddy had an uncharacteristic look of seriousness on his face and turned to the teacher, raising his hand for permission to speak.
"Can we go to Mr. McGee's room?"
The teacher nodded and allowed the three to leave the classroom. As soon as they were out, Eddy quickly took off with the two following close behind.
"Alright Eddy, just what in the world is going on?"
"I'll tell you when we find Ed, we need to...!"
And suddenly, the principal's announcement rang through the entire school...
Morita, Imamura, and Miura stared at the transformed Ben in shock as he slowly rose back up to his feet, breathing heavily as the now jawless zombie slowly struggled to get up.
"B-Ben? A-Are you okay?" Miura asked nervously.
Ben looked around, trying to process what the hell was happening. The pain in his spine and back had now miraculously disappeared but his body felt weird. Fortunately, it was a good kind of weird.
"S-Sorry guys, I-I don't know what the hell is going on but there are zombies and-"
The zombie that tried to bite Ben grabbed at his leg, making him recoil as he pulled it away before stomping on the ghoul's skull, reducing it to the consistency of chunky salsa as Morita covered his mouth, trying hard not to throw up.
"What the hell, man?! I know you're strong but I didn't think you were THAT strong!" Imamura gawked.
It was then that Ben finally got a glimpse of his new armored form. He looked stunned at his body and then at his hands before turning to see his reflection in an unbroken window his eyes widening behind the red visor as he took a moment to unconsciously flex his biceps.
"Activating Nanosuit Bio-System Protocols"
Ben faltered in surprise at the mechanical voice that seemed to be coming from his suit, which began scanning what appeared to be his DNA as well as scanning Morita, Imamura, and Miura and marking them as friendly.
"Uh, you guys heard that too, right?"
"Yeah, what the hell is that suit, it just came out of our spine or some shit!" Miura said.
Suddenly, Ben noticed some figures approaching in a shambling manner and suddenly froze.
"System Override."
He felt his vision get sharper and he saw the figures more clearly. More zombies.
"Threat Detected."
"Guys, get behind me," Ben said as he felt movement return to him.
"Vision Mode allows the user to observe danger from a distance, be aware of combat objectives and tactical opportunities such as flanking or useful items."
"Okay, thanks for the clarification weird robot suit voice," Ben said,
The zombies were now close enough to lunge at Ben, but he threw a heavy punch to the closest one's face, tearing a hole straight through it. Ben then yanked his fist out and grabbed the next zombie, splitting its head in half down the middle before using its body as a makeshift club to knock the last zombie into the wall, splattering the contents of its head against it from the impact.
"Holy shit!" Morita gasped.
With no other zombies in sight, Ben turned to his classmates with a serious expression behind his mask.
"Guys, we need to get to the teacher's lounge. Mr. McGee helped stash a couple of my weapons in there."
"Wait, you have weapons?!" Imamura asked incredulously.
"Yes, I have weapons! And I'm licensed to use them in case of serious emergencies! My dad is a military operative, remember?!"
"Oh, right..." Miura awkwardly said, rubbing the back of his head.
"Come on, you guys gotta stick with me if you want to live. Let's go!"
As the four prepared to move, the principal's announcement rang through the entire school...
After the principal's announcement had finished, followed by his gruesome demise, everything had fallen silent. Nobody made a move. The teachers stopped teaching their lessons. Students stopped talking to each other or taking notes. Eddy and his group didn't move. Ed woke up to see Toshimi and Misuze with terrified expressions.
After an agonizing moment, all hell broke loose. The hallways were full of teachers and students trying to get away from the possible danger. They are running carelessly while tripping or trampling over each other.
Ed, seeing the danger at hand, quickly took Toshimi and Misuzu by the hands and waited until a path was clear for them before running through the hall. Ed soon caught a glimpse of a boy tearing a chunk out of a girl's neck and it all clicked to him.
"Zombies? Cool!" Ed thought before getting more serious. "I need to find a weapon to keep everyone safe!"
Ed then scanned around the area and as luck would have it, he saw a wooden baseball bat lying on the ground. He quickly picked it up and swung with all his might at the former student's head, the sheer force and speed was enough to decapitate the zombie in a single blow.
Toshimi and Misuzu stared in horror at just how easily Ed handled the undead menace, shaking in fear as Ed looked at the two apologetically.
"I know what I did should only be seen in movies but it's not the time to think! I'm scared too but as long we stick together we'll be okay!"
Seeing Ed's ever-sweet and reassuring smile made Toshimi and Misuzu feel safer as they clung to him like a lifeline. The trio then proceeded to move further down the hall, hoping to find their friends alive and not as zombies.
Matthew had told Kyoko to wait inside the teacher's lounge, where it would be relatively safer as he made his way to the nurse's office.
"Oh man, please be okay, Shizuka..."
When he arrived, he saw the school nurse, Shizuka Marikawa, being protected by the Captain of the Kendo Club and a member of the Disciplinary Committee, Saeko Busujima.
"Matt-Kun! You're okay!" Shizuka said in relief as Matthew smiled before noticing a boy on the ground, having been badly bitten all over by some of the zombies before Saeko disposed of them with her bokken.
"Oh, man..." Matthew sighed as he walked over to the boy, Saeko nodded to him, knowing what needed to be done. "Sorry kid, but that bite is pretty bad."
"M-McGee-Sensei...I-I don't wanna turn into one of them...just make it quick."
Matthew sighed sadly and put a bullet through the poor boy's brain, quickly and painlessly, just like that. Saeko sighed but her expression said to Matthew that he did the most humane thing possible.
"MATT-KUN!" Shizuka cried as she jumped on Matthew and hugged him tightly, giving him a faceful of her impressively large breasts as well.
"Can't breathe...! Gonna die happy...!"
Saeko sighed and smacked the older McGee Brother with the hilt of her bokken to snap him out of it, also making Shizuka let go as well.
"We need to get out of here, find any other survivors, and get out."
"R-Right!" Shizuka said as she began packing as many medical supplies as she could.
"I had Kyoko hole up in the teacher's lounge. We should make our way there." Matthew said. "I have a few extra pieces of gear and Ben has some stuff from his old man for security reasons."
After the announcement, Kohta and Saya had managed to split off from the panicking crowds and were running through the halls, trying to find their friends or at least a decent shelter.
"Idiot! Why are we running?! What are we even doing?!"
Kohta stopped. "We need to find Ben, Ed, and any of our other friends and get out of here."
The two ducked into a nearby classroom, which just so happened to be the Shop Class. Saya closed the door behind her, finding a drill and some nails before getting an idea as she brought them to Kohta.
"Oy, fatass! You're a gun freak, right? Make yourself a weapon or something!"
Kohta took the nails while Saya kept the drill and then noticed a gas-powered nail gun nearby. A lightbulb went off in the slightly pudgy boy's head as he took some duct tape along with the nails and the nail gun as he got to work while Saya sat on one of the desks, her mind wandering.
"Eddy, please be okay..." She secretly thought to herself.
Kohta had just about put the finishing touches on his weapon when banging alerted him and Saya. Turning around, they saw several zombies trying to break down the door. Saya screamed as they managed to push through and charged at her, only for nails to fly at high velocities and screw them in the heads, taking them out instantly.
Saya quickly turned to see Kohta, his modified nail gun complete with a manic grin on his face as he turned to Saya.
"Takagi-san can you carry those nails for me?"
"What do you I am, a…?!" Saya began to rant, only to shut up when Kohta looked at her with a crazy gleam in his eyes before immediately calming down and smiling sweetly.
"Pretty please with sugar and sprinkles on top?"
Eddy, Double-D, and Yuuki had managed to duck inside a small sports equipment room, quickly looking for any weapons they could find. Eddy found nothing except a small crowbar, Double-D picked up a golf club, and Yuuki found a tennis racquet before staring outside the door.
"Yuuki, are you alright?" Double-D asked his girlfriend.
"Double-D, do you have any idea of what attacked the principal?"
"I initially theorized it might be a hostage situation but from the blood I've seen so far, that theory is hardly plausible now."
Suddenly, the three heard moaning and looked out of the room to see two people walking in their direction. At first, they thought they were survivors but then Double-D got a closer look at them and his eyes widened in horror, especially at the conditions of their bodies.
"Are those bite marks? They seem...HUMAN?!"
Double-D quickly pulled Yuuki and Eddy back into the room, backing away from the door with a panicked look on his face.
"What the heck, Sockhead?!"
"Eddy, did you even see those people?! The bite marks on their bodies? They were almost HUMAN!"
"Oh, crap..." Eddy's eyes widened as everything began to set in. "I think we just wound up in one of Ed's zombie movies..."
Ed, Toshimi, and Misuzu continued to move through the halls, looking for anybody still alive. However, up to five zombies soon came at them. Ed was prepared to defend Toshimi and Misuzu, smacking the first one away with his bat before the other four were ripped apart by a fast-moving blur.
"Ed! Toshimi! Misuzu!" Came Morita's voice as he, Imamura, and Miura came in. "Thank god you guys are alive!"
The trio got a good look at the source of the blur and Ed's eyes sparkled at just how badass the armored figure was. Almost like a sci-fi first-person shooter action-adventure hero come to life!
"NO WAY! HE LOOKS LIKE THE MAIN CHARACTER FROM CALAMITY 3!"
"You think so?" The armored figure spoke in an all-too-familiar voice.
"BEN-KUN?!" Toshimi and Misuzu gawked in amazement.
"Yeah, don't ask us, we're just as confused as you are," Imamura said. "This suit just came out of his spine and covered his whole body. The next thing anyone knows, he's killing these things by the dozen."
"We were heading to the teacher's lounge. Apparently, Ben has guns hidden there for emergencies." Miura said.
"We need to find Eddy and Double-D too!" Ed pointed out. "Come on!"
The group headed through the halls, searching for their friends. They soon came across Takashi, Rei, and Hisashi being cornered by a zombie. Hisashi moved to restrain the zombie so Rei could take it out, but the ghoul proved stronger than it looked.
Just as it seemed the zombie was about to overpower Hisashi and take a bite out of him, Ben grabbed its head and twisted it violently, snapping the neck and killing it instantly. Hisashi yelled as he fell on his ass, staring at the corpse in horror before seeing the hand being offered to him.
"You okay, man?"
Hisashi's eyes widened as he was helped up. "Ben? What the hell happened to you?"
"That's Ben?!" Rei gawked, Takashi's eyes also widening.
"Long story that even I don't know the conclusion to. Come on, we're looking for survivors." Ben said.
With Takashi, Rei, and Hisashi joining the group, everyone continued through the school before hearing a bloody splatter and making their way over to see Eddy bashing in the brains of a zombie on the ground with a crowbar, Double-D and Yuuki nearby with their own weapons in hand.
"EDDY!" Ed yelled as he ran over and hugged his friend tightly. "YOU ARE ALIVE!"
"PUT ME DOWN, LUMPY!" Eddy barked but internally, he was glad his best buddy was okay.
"ED!" Double-D cried, running over to join in on the hug.
"Toshimi-Chan! Misuzu-Chan!" Yuuki cried as she and the two BFFs hugged each other.
"Thank god..." Hisashi sighed in relief.
"Well, the main power trio is back together." Ben chuckled. "Come on, we need to head to the teacher's lounge."
"Ben?!" Double-D gasped when he recognized the voice. "What in heaven's name happened to you?!"
"Yeah, you look like the main character from that FPS game that Lumpy was geeking out about last week."
"I really don't want to repeat myself on why the hell this happened. Even I don't know what's going on with this damn suit!" Ben said.
Before anyone could say anything else, a shrill scream echoed through the corridors. Eddy's eyes widened in horror as he recognized that scream and immediately ran in the direction of it.
"SAYA!"
"EDDY, WAIT!" The others called out as they chased after him.
Saya and Kohta had been making their way through the hallways to find their friends but some zombies had jumped them. Saya was desperately trying to keep a lone zombie from getting closer to her, throwing trophies from the trophy wall at it before resorting to using her drill to tear through its skull.
Kohta wanted to help desperately, but the other zombies were keeping his attention on them. When he tried to help Saya, a zombie got too close for comfort and would have bitten him had it not been for his quick aim.
"GET AWAY! GET AWAY!" Saya screamed as she continued drilling the zombie, the ghoul still reaching out for her despite its brain matter being churned into mulch. Suddenly, a crowbar smashed its skull open like an egg, making it drop completely dead as Saya dropped the drill, her clothes stained with blood and her breathing quickening as she tried to calm down.
"Saya, are you okay?"
Saya's pupils were dilated, still staring at the corpse before her. It wasn't until a hand reached out in front of her that she finally noticed Eddy standing there, a reassuring look on his face.
"Hey, Officer Takagi."
The rest of the group came over, Kohta smiling in relief when he saw Ed smash the remaining zombies with his bat while Rei made her way over to Saya's side, a worried look on her face.
"Takagi-San, are you okay?"
"Hey, what's going over here?"
Everyone turned to see Matthew arrive along with Shizuka and Saeko. Shizuka was quick to check up on Saya while Matthew sighed in relief at the sight of Eddy still alive.
"Hey, Pipsqueak. Glad to still see you in the land of the living."
"You too, Bro."
"Also, just a quick word to everyone; That's Ben," Morita said, pointing to Ben. "Don't ask, even he doesn't know how this happened."
"I see..." Saeko said before approaching Ben. "Thank goodness you're safe."
"Hey, I'm the head of the Disciplinary Committee after all." Ben chuckled, smiling behind his mask and visor. "Don't want to disappoint my right-hand woman."
"Well, since most of us already know each other, I doubt we need to do introductions or anything." Matthew shrugged. "Come on, Kyoko is waiting for us in the teacher's lounge. We can hole up there for right now and load up."
Everyone made their way to the teacher's lounge. Matthew knocked on the door and Kyoko answered it, carrying a stapler as a makeshift weapon before relaxing when she saw who it was.
"Everyone get inside, quickly!"
After everyone was in the teacher's lounge, Ed, Morita, and Takashi worked on barricading the door. With everything settled, Ben made his way to a secret locker and punched in some numbers on a keypad. Opening the locker, he took out a gear bag and gun case, placed them on the table, and opened them up.
"Since this suit showed up, I don't need to wear these," Ben said as he went through the gear bag first, taking out a lightweight Kevlar combat vest that had an extra holster and could carry extra magazine rounds. "Ed, I'm entrusting you with it."
"Cool! I am now Rambo!" Ed cheered as he took off his school jacket, making Toshimi and Misuzu blush at his slender toned frame, and put on the vest.
Ben opened his gun case next and took out the parts for an FN SCAR, putting them together with quick efficiency before installing a green dot sight/3x scope combination on the top rack of the gun.
"Holy cow! I knew you came from a military background and your dad is currently a high-ranking officer at the Okinawa base but to finally see your weapons in person?" Kohta excitedly cried. "Man, I am so jealous!"
"Don't worry, Kohta. I got a couple of toys for you to play with." Ben chuckled as he tossed his friend a Colt Python .357 Magnum, which he eagerly held like it was a priceless artifact.
"Ben, how on earth did you manage to keep these hidden?" Double-D asked.
Ben was about to speak before his suit suddenly spoke for him, speaking in a deep synthesized voice that unnerved everyone else.
"As of 1330 Japan Standard Time, Operation: Guardian has been activated per the rules and stipulations laid down by local, prefectural, and national government and cross-examined by JSDF. Benjamin Torekuroshi is now an active military agent working under US-SOCOM jurisdiction, under the command of Colonel Torekuroshi at the Okinawa base."
"W-What the suit said," Ben replied after an awkward silence. He knew what Operation: Guardian was, his dad had told him in perfect detail on what to do if it ever came up, he just didn't expect this suit or the zombies to be part of it.
Ben then fished through his gun case, pulling out the parts for an MP5 that he assembled just as quickly as the SCAR before moving on and taking out a K-BAR knife, which he handed to Imamura, who gulped nervously. He then handed a diver's knife to Hisashi, who held it firmly in his grip and grimly nodded his head.
"Does anybody else have any weapons?" Matthew asked while checking on his Beretta M9, making sure it was fully loaded.
"Well, I suppose this should suffice for now..." Double-D nervously said as he took out a Swiss Army Knife from underneath his hat while Eddy just patted his crowbar in his hand and Ed checked his bat for any cracks.
"Okay, regardless of this strange suit, I am now authorized to use any force necessary to protect everyone still alive," Ben said as he holstered his MP5 while holding his SCAR close to his chest.
"And how come we weren't informed of this level of connection, Mr. Torekuroshi?" Kyoko asked. "We know your father is an esteemed member of the military but we were not told about you being authorized to carry deadly weapons."
"If it weren't for these zombies, we'd all be blissfully ignorant and graduate and live our lives like normal people," Ben said calmly. "Until this mess started, only five people knew of me; Matthew, Ms. Shizuka, the principal, and my parents. I don't know how this suit came to me, but I'm sure my parents have the answers. After all, they are the only ones who can give the command to activate me."
Suddenly, Ben locked up, much to everyone's confusion and concern. Only Morita, Imamura, and Miura seemed to somewhat understand what was happening as the synthesized voice spoke again.
"System Override."
Suddenly, much to everybody's shock, Ben turned completely invisible, as if some kind of optical camouflage in the suit had activated. Matthew whistled in amazement while the science nerd in Double-D was eager to ask questions but restrained himself.
"Stealth Mode enables the user to infiltrate and flank enemy positions without being seen." The suit spoke. "Stealth Mode drains suit energy. Movement while cloaked drains suit energy faster."
"Sheesh, stop dropping all these bombs on us!" Eddy complained. "If this keeps going, the OC is gonna overshadow the rest of us!"
"Eddy now isn't the time to break the fourth wall!" Double-D chided.
"Well, unless the suit has any more surprises in store for us...I say we relax for a little bit." Hisashi suggested.
Our heroes have escaped for now...but for how long?