Day 212, 8:00 AM
Hosu City, Alleyway
After the streets fill with zombies, Kaminari and his squad take to the alleyways. They leave their bikes behind in a nearby garage and quickly climb up a fire escape. Kaminari sprints toward the wall, doing a wall run, and leaps to the ladder. Pulling himself to the top, he kicks the lock, releasing the ladder and allowing the others to climb up. Kaminari climbs up the rest of the ladder before vaulting over the railings. He opens a nearby window and quickly climbs inside. He looks around, making sure the apartment is clear before a crunching sound behind him makes him jump.
Turning around, Kaminari sees a big figure charging for him like a football player. Kaminari quickly sidesteps the figure while putting his leg out, making him trip. The figure lands hard on his chest before turning around and standing up. He raises his arms like a boxer and prepares to attack him before he pauses.
"What?" the figure says.
Kaminari's eyes widen. "It's you," he gulps, "the guy who flagged us down earlier."
The figure puts his hands down. "You almost ran me over."
Kuroiro climbs through the window, drawing a knife. He holds it up, ready to slice and dice before the dragon boy holds his hands up. "Wait, wait, I'm friendly."
The rest of the Kamisquad climb through the window and draw their knives on the dragon boy.
"Usually, friendly people don't say they're friendly," Kuroiro argues.
"I'm not with these Bystander bastards."
"Bystanders?"
"That's what this group is called."
"The Bystanders?"
"How do you know?" Jirou cocks her head. "How do you know we're not part of these Bystanders and how can the same be said for you?"
"You're Kyouka Jirou, Denki Kaminari, Shihai Kuroiro, Kinoko Komori, and Minoru Mineta."
Kaminari pulls his mask down. "Everyone recognizes us; we're goddamn celebrities in the zombie apocalypse thanks to the sports festival."
"What is your name?" Kuroiro demands.
"My name is King Dragon."
"NO!" Kaminari shuts down. "No nicknames. What's your real fucking name and take your mask off so we can see your face. Prove that you're not with these Bystanders guys and we'll consider sparing you."
King Dragon reaches up and removes his dragon mask. Behind the mask was the face of a young man with handsome features, dark brown eyes, and soft, silky jet black hair that came down to his chin. The man holds the mask in his hands as he stares at Kaminari and introduces himself.
"My name is Kenta Oshiro. I went to Seijin High, Class 3-B. We've met before. Remember... the Provisional Hero Licensing Exam?"
Kaminari's eyes study Kenta's figure. He was a tall boy, taller than the average Japanese citizen, and wearing nothing but a pair of stretchy black pants. His shirtless attire displayed his stocky and very muscular build and tattoos of Asian and European dragons sprawled all over his body.
Jirou gasos. "You're the dragon boy?"
Kenta nods, smiling. "I am. Thank you for finally recognizing me." He was about to put his mask back on when the others raised their knives. "Fine, I'll keep my mask off."
"So we took the exams together; how does that prove you're not with these Bystander guys?"
"Did you not see them chasing me or do you need glasses?" Kenta growls.
"For all we know, that was a ploy to get us to lower our guard."
"Think all you want; I know the truth." Kenta clenches his fists. "These Bystander guys killed my friends and tried to kill me."
Kuroiro's eyes widen. "You're the dragon boy Heater mentioned." He lowers his guard. "I think we can trust this guy."
"Thank you," Kenta exclaims. "Another reason you can trust me: these Bystander guys do not like heroes. They absolutely loathe them and we were all heroes-in-training. They've been hunting me down for the past two days. You caught one of the Bystanders?"
"They abducted our friend, Koji Koda."
"Ahh, the one with the Anivoice quirk."
"They're keeping him in the Hosu General Hospital; we're on our way there right now," Kaminari explains.
"The hospital?" Kenta shakes his head. "The hospital is the Bystanders' stronghold. I saw how many of you came in through the city; good luck in trying to get there."
"We'll worry about that," Jirou says.
"Are you part of the Yakuza?" Komori suddenly asks. Kenta looks at her. "You got tattoos."
Kenta pauses. "The Yakuza is obsolete."
"Then why do you have tattoos?"
Kenta glares at her before turning away. "You should've brought more of your classmates with you to fight the Bystanders."
"If you can turn into a dragon, can't you kill them all?" Mineta asks.
"I'm flattered that you think I'm capable of city-wide destruction but even I'm fallible." He heads to the window and looks out. "We got zombies on the street."
"Yeah, that's why we took shelter in the apartment."
"There's one of those big guys. Those giant zombies."
Kaminari heads over to the window and spots the beast in the street. Gasping loudly, he crouches to the ground, pulling Kenta with him.
"Katsuya! It's the hunter beast!" Kaminari yells.
Jirou runs to the window and looks out. Gasping at seeing the beast, she crouches beside Kaminari.
"That thing is stalking me," Kaminari panics with wide eyes. "It's stalking me, Jirou! He's still pissed that I keep escaping him every time!"
"Shut up, dummy. It's a goddamn corpse; it can't hold a grudge. This is just a coincidence."
"I come to Hosu City and the hunter beast arrives? This is no coincidence."
"I'm sensing history," Kenta whispers.
"Guys, let's just get to the hospital, get Koda, and get out of here," Kuroiro suggests.
"Easier said than done, bro," Mineta argues.
"I agree with the midget." Kenta turns to the others. "Getting to the hospital is going to take a while. The hospital is a few kilometers away and walking on foot in a city filled with zombies will take time. I would suggest using the rooftops but even so, that will take time because not all rooftops are close enough to jump across."
"If you're a dragon, can't you fly us there?" Mineta asks.
Kenta pauses. "Yeah, that's not going to happen."
"And here I thought you were an ally."
"I have a reason for not flying... but I'm still not entirely trusting of you."
"We're here to get our friend, not start a fight," Jirou says firmly and angrily. "If you're not going to help us, then go away."
Kenta flinches before looking out the window. "I'll take my chances with you."
"Okay, fine, so you're going to be traveling with us. Remember, this is temporary. The second we rescue Koda, you're on your own, Oshiro."
"Kenta. Call me by my first name."
"Fine, 'Kenta'."
"Thank you." He looks out the window and puts on his mask, becoming King Dragon. "We'll start moving once the zombie crowd dies down."
A few minutes later, King Dragon is sitting by the window with the rest of the Kamisquad in the opposite corner, scavenging for supplies.
"Can we trust him?" Kaminari asks Jirou, whispering.
"We saw him run away from the Bystanders earlier and based on Kuroiro's statement earlier, we can trust that Kenta isn't a bystander. However, we can't rule out that he might be hostile."
King Dragon looks in their direction.
"I'll keep an eye on him," Kaminari whispers back.
About five minutes later, the squad heads to the rooftop of the building and sees the neighboring building close but not close enough to jump. Looking down, they see a fire escape below with another fire escape on the other building.
They head down to the floor with the fire escape, climb out the window, and one by one, they leap to the other fire escape. Kaminari goes first with the rest of the squad before King Dragon goes last. As King Dragon leaps off the fire escape, it disconnects from the wall and falls to the bottom of the alleyway. The sound attracts several nearby zombies.
They climb through the window into the building. They quickly take the stairway down and find the door leading outside. Kaminari opens the door very slowly and looks through the small crack. Seeing no zombies in view, he opens the door slightly more before peering out. This alleyway is clear of zombies with the horde remaining in the street. He carefully opens the door all the way and allows the rest to come through. They crouch and move down the opposite direction of the alleyway. They quickly hop over a small fence and begin jogging forward.
"What part of the city are we in?" Jirou asks.
King Dragon looks around. "I'm not sure; I've never been to Hosu City before."
"But you know where the hospital is, right?"
"I do."
"Guys, be quiet," Kaminari pleads. "The hunter beast might fight his way towards us." He gulps. "And I don't have my bike with me."
"Your bike is useless in a horde like this," Mineta points out. "Let's just be quiet."
Komori stops when she sees a walker in front of them with its back to them.
King Dragon steals her knife before heading up to the walker and stabs it in the brain with one hand, making it look easy. He turns to the others, bowing. "At your service."
Huh, he's strong enough to stab a zombie in the brain with one hand, Kaminari notes. He's very strong.
King Dragon returns the knife to Komori. He turns around and leads the group while crouching. "This way."
For several minutes, the Kamisquad sneaks through the next few blocks in the city by using alleyways and hiding behind waist-high cover while avoiding as much contact with the zombies as possible.
Coming up to a pickup truck, the six of them hide behind it as zombies walk by. They wait for the coast to be clear before they move to another car.
The barefoot King Dragon steps on a glass in the street, wincing. He quickly leaps to the car while rubbing the bottom of his feet. "Damn."
"That's what you get for not wearing shoes, jackass," Kuroiro scolds as he moves over.
"I can't control what clothes my quirk destroys when I transform."
"Yet, you have pants."
"They're stretchy."
"Are you wearing underwear?" Mineta asks.
King Dragon looks at him. "They're boxers."
Focusing, they quickly make it across the street. They head down the alley in front of them, pausing when they hear a large group of zombies growling at the end of the alleyway. They're out of sight but the kids know the zombies are around the corner, waiting patiently. The six of them quickly take refuge in a building to their left. Luckily, the door with the word 'Employees Only' wasn't locked. They gently close the door behind them and find themselves in a restaurant.
"Where are we?" Kaminari asks.
"I don't know," King Dragon admits. "Like you, I've never been to Hosu City; I'm just retracing my steps to the hospital."
"How much longer until we get to the hospital?"
"About thirty more minutes. Assuming that we don't run into any more friendly neighborhood zombies."
This is going to take forever, Kaminari internally groans. I just hope that Deku and the others get to Koda first.
Earlier
With Shishda and Bondo, they use a combination of their quirks to defeat the zombies. Bondo sprays a strong adhesion of glue on the roof of a car, and Shishida uses his quirk to pick up the car and use it as a shield against zombies. Four zombies get stuck in the glue, which he promptly smashes against a truck, turning them into mincemeat.
One of the walks falls to the ground. It crawls over to Shishida.
The zombie climbs to its knees and bites the distracted Shishida on the hip. Shishida silently screams with his eyes widening as he looks down. He elbows the zombie in the skull before moving over and stomping on its skull, crushing it. His train of thought takes a huge derailment when he realizes that he has a zombie bite on his right hip.
Bondo sees several zombies surrounding him and he quickly dispenses more glue on the ground to trap the zombies in their tracks, but due to their nature, the zombies simply continue to reach for him with some of them sacrificing their limbs to reach Bondo.
Bondo makes a run for it with Shishida finally catching up with Bondo, abandoning the car, and limping after the glue boy.
The zombies begin following after the survivors with Shishida and Bondo deciding to go to the left and take shelter in a nearby building.
They take shelter in an empty pharmacy. They quickly barricade the doors with a vending machine before backing away.
8:45 AM
Sighing heavily, Shishida looks down at his hip and strokes the wound with hesitation. The second his finger came into contact with his blood, he winced as if he just touched lava and turned away.
I'm going to die, Shishida internally cries. I don't want to die.
Bondo quickly goes through the cabinets, desperate to try and find anything that might treat the wound. Looking over every nook, cranny, cabinet, and fridge, Bondo comes up empty. The Bystanders made sure to be extremely thorough in making sure there were no supplies for any outsiders to steal.
He does find a bottle of water, which he takes to Shishida.
"It's not much but here."
Shishida sits on a gurney and drinks the water greedily. With a little bit of water in the bottle, he pours it over his bite, washing some blood away.
"Leave me," Shishda sighs heavily, removing his sunglasses. "Get out of here, Bondo. I'm going to die sooner or later."
"You're not going to die," Bondo declares. "I don't care what you say; you're not fucking dying. I'm going to get you out of here."
"And then what? Sooner or later, I'm going to turn into a fucking zombie. Get out of here while you still can."
Bondo shakes his head. "That's not happening. After all, we've been through, after all the friends and family we lost... I can't - no, I won't leave you behind."
"If you do that, I'm liable to chomp on you." Shishida closes his eyes before sighing. "Leave me."
"We can amputate."
"Are... you... retarded!" Shishida suddenly yells. "Look at where my fucking bite is; it can't fucking be amputated! You fucking dumbass!" He throws his sunglasses against the wall, breaking. "Fuck you, glue boy, fuck you!"
Bondo flinches and takes a step back. "We're friends and friends don't leave each other."
"Fuck you!" Shishida yells again. "I have always hated you, glue boy. You're so fucking ugly; you with you're fucking glue head! You deserve to die!"
Bondo steps back, his breathing pace picking up as he begins sweating.
Shishida bares his teeth at him like an angry monkey before his face softens. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry if I scared you."
"Oh my god," Bodno gasps.
"God? God has nothing to do with this. Have you seen the state the world is in; there is no God!"
"Shut up!" Bondo yells. "You're panicking and that's not helping." Bondo carefully reaches his hand up. "Come on. Come with me and we can get out of here together."
"I'll only slow you down," Shishida says calmly yet drowsy. "Just leave me, please. Please just leave me."
"I'm not going to leave you; friends don't leave each other." Bondo reaches out and carefully grabs Shishida's hand. He then walks forward, holding Shishida's hand and carefully pulling him along.
"Come on, we'll find a way out of here and regroup with our friends." He takes Shishida through the empty, messy hallway of the pharmacy. He pulls him long while looking at a flickering light above.
Huh, the power is still on, interesting.
They head to a room in the very back of the pharmacy, the room where all the medicine would be kept, only to find it completely empty. Not surprised. He spots a window in the very back of the pharmacy.
Shishida blinks rapidly, sighing heavily. He shakes his head suddenly when -
Kill. Kill him. Kill them all.
He slaps his face hard. No, don't... I don't...
Kill them. Kill them. Kill them.
But he's my friend. I don't want to kill him.
You have no friends. Kill them. KILL THEM ALL!
"OW!" Bondo yells as he snatches his hand away, his wrist tomato red from Shishida grabbing him. "A little rough don't you think."
"You're not my friend," Shishida whispers before closing his eyes. "You're not my friend!" he yells. "I hate you! I fucking hate you!" He gives a bloodcurdling scream at the ceiling as he arches his back and collapses to his knees. He catches himself with his hands before opening his eyes wide, revealing bloodshot eyes.
Breathing heavily, Shishida's bloodshot eyes stare at Bondo maliciously as he clenches his fists tightly into the ground. Shishida groans in pain, his eyes not leaving Bondo as he feels his muscles clench in his body.
"Oh my god!" He's not turning into a walker or a runner. Bondo spins on his heels and makes it through the medicine shelves, making a beeline for the window. He tries to open the window but the window remains shut.
The bones in Shishisda's arms push against his skin, restructuring to allow for a bigger growth. His ribcages begin to jut out until his body begins to expand. The bones in all four limbs then stretch out, elongating beyond their original use. His extremities follow soon, growing to the size of a pistol barrel. Shishida screams, closing his eyes and shaking his head.
Bondo unlocks the window at the top and attempts to use all his strength to lift the window. Looking back, he sees Shishida expanding in width and height, reaching a height of about seven feet, or around two hundred and fifteen centimeters. The screams from Shishida drown out, becoming replaced with inhuman growls that sound like raspy breathing.
Bondo managed to lift the window halfway up but it was enough. He squeezes his body through the gap and quickly closes it behind him as Shishida stands tall, now a ten-foot-tall beast of a zombie, ready to fulfill its sole purpose to kill and destroy. Bondo realizes he is now outside the pharmacy and into an empty alleyway. Without wasting another second, Bondo takes off before the Shishida beast notices him.
9:00 AM
Hospital with Anaemia
"Is that the camera set up?"
Whiteout checks the camera. "It."
Anaemia gives a thumbs-up. "Good." He turns over. "Newscaster, is the broadcast up?"
A woman with short blonde hair, and pale blue eyes, wearing a suit, and a red tie wrapped around the lower part of her face as a makeshift mask gives a thumbs-up. "All good, sir." She snaps her fingers, the TV in the corner of the room lighting up and showing a live broadcast of Anaemia in front of the operating room on the fourth floor. A curtain covered the window to the operating room. Anaemia turns to the camera. He turns on a cheerful voice that his doctor's mask somehow manages not to muffle or disrupt.
"And we're back with Juko News today, we're hope you're all having a good day. I'm your host, Anaemia, and I look forward to sharing just the facts with you today." He claps his latex-gloved hands together. "I know what you're thinking: Juko News is supposed to be a magazine company. Well, today nowadays, magazines are used for two things: fire and toilet paper. But there are other ways to spread entertainment today." Anaemia moves over to the curtain. "Like for example, surgery. Have you guys ever heard of surgery? I sure have." He pulls the curtain, revealing Koji Koda strapped to a gurney with a washcloth shoved in his mouth.
Twelve Bystanders of varying heights and mask designs occupy the surgery room with Koji Koda, each one holding a different blunt instrument capable fo cracking even the mightiest of skulls.
"Pain," one of the Bystanders says at a medium volume. "Pain," he repeats. "Pain, pain, pain, pain-"
"PAIN!" the Bystanders chant. "PAIN! PAIN! PAIN!"
Whiteout moves the camera forward, zooming in as a Bystander wearing a purple scarf as a mask approaches Koji Koda, holding an electric carving knife up.
"CUT HIM! CUT HIM! CUT HIM!"
The Bystander powers up the carving knife and slowly moves it toward Koji Koda's neck area. Koji Koda's eyes widen as she struggles against the bonds, screaming into the gag, the electric carving knife inches from skinning him alive when Anaemia bangs on the window. "STOP!"
The Bystanders groan but the Bystander with the knife turns it off and pulls it away.
Anaemia turns to the camera. "Thank you all for tuning into today's entertainment called 'Koji Koda's Konodrum. I can't wait to see how this episode ends but we have no script so even I don't know how this episode ends. We need help from the audience. Name you." He points enthusiastically at the camera. "The UA students who intruded into our beloved Hosu City. Don't you guys know you need passports to enter our beloved dome and yet, you came marching in here like you owned the place? That won't do; there has to be a fine to be paid. Sadly, Yen is worthless in this world." Anaemia steps toward the camera.
"But there is one thing you can do for us that will make us all even like Steven." He steps closer once more. "In case you've been living under a rock or just outright blind, zombies are infesting our lovely city. The sweet peaceful utopia is being stained with the presence of walking corpses. My fault, I admit, but as heroes, it is your job to get involved and clean up our mess. So my message to you is this: UA False Heroes-in-Training, clear out Hosu City of the living dead. We've already cut off all entrances so no more zombies will get into the city but according to an eye in the sky, there are two beasts in the city. If you clear out Hosu City of the undead, we'll consider trading the false hero known as Koji Koda." He claps his hands together dramatically.
"Oh yes, we'll give Kojo Koda back and we will keep him unharmed, physically for the most part. Clear the dead out of the city and Koji Koda is yours. We'll even set up a meeting spot so we can drop him off." He looks down at his wristwatch. "It is 9:05 AM in the morning. You have until 9:05 PM tonight to clear the dead out of the city and get Koji Koda back. This video will be played on loop through the televisions still working so you won't miss this exciting news."
His eyes brighten, indicating he is smiling behind his doctor's mask. "And now we conclude today's segment of 'Koji Koda's Konodrum'."
And with that, Whiteout turns off the camera with Newscaster killing the living feed.
The Bystanders come out of the operating room with the one with four of them staying behind to keep an eye on Koji Koda, including the one with the electric carving knife.
"Oscar-worthy acting right there, guys," Anaemia praises. "Good stuff. Man, you guys could play Heath Ledger's Joker. There's no way you could surpass his performance but you guys could get by." He sighs. "Well then, we need to start evacuating."
"We're not evacuating sir," a Bystander says. "We want to stay here in Hosu City."
ANameia chuckles. "I'm flattered that you guys want to stay but none of you are fighters. The city is quickly filling with the dead and it's my fault. We need to evacuate all the noncombatants immediately. We need only the warriors to stay behind to fight against the UA brats."
"That's not going to happen, sir," another says.
"Hosu City is our home," a third one goes. "We defend it to our last breath."
"Besides, we want to get a shot at those heroes for failing us," a fourth one announces.
The other Bystanders agree, nodding vigorously.
"We're all here to say," Whiteout says.
"Even me," Newscaster informs.
"And what if we lose more people?" Anaemia asks.
"Then we'll make sure it wasn't in vain," one of the Bystanders shrugs.
"Exactly," Whiteout nods. "Those people who died to make sure that Hosu City was ours did it so we can live. If we leave this city, they'll have died for nothing. Hosu City is our home and we will defend it. We'll stay, even if the zombies overrun it. We'l fight to take it back and we'll kill those false heroes."
Anaemia pauses, observing each of the Bystanders before nodding himself. "It is an honor to be a leader to all of you. When I first became the leader, I thought nothing but of the stress of leadership. Thank you all for being there for me."
"And what do we do about Koji Koda?" Newscaster asks. "Are we going to set him free?"
Anameia laughs. "Oh yes, we're going to free him. Free him from this depressing world." His eyes widen as his smile grows behind his mask. "I have a plan. I have a plan to separate those UA bastards." He claps his hands together and rubs them. "According to Eagle Eye, the students are separated. Chances are, one group will focus on leading the zombies away while the other will come to the hospital to get Koda. We're going to set things up so the biggest group, Izuku Midoriya's group, is the one to be forced to lead the zombies away, while Kaminari's group, which has Kenta Oshiro with them, come over here to the hospital. We'll separate the six of them and have them sneak into the hospital to steal Koji Koda back. I was thinking... we leave Koda on the ground floor and when Kaminari's group gets here, we send twenty, twenty-five of our members out the front gate, making sure to make it look like the room Koda's in is empty of Bystanders. They'll come in, and grab Koda, but what they don't know is that another group of twenty Bystanders or so is in the room, waiting for them, and as they're trying to escape, the Bystander group that left earlier will come back." He laughs loudly. "They'll be surrounded from all sides by fifty of us. If Kaminari's part of the group, that makes it even better because no matter how overpowered Kaminari is, he'll never use his quirk if his friends are collateral damage."
He pauses, his eyes glowing with malice. "Let's get started, shall we?"
Character Cards
-Kenta "King Dragon" Oshiro
Quirk: To Be Revealed
Occupation: Student of Seijin High School, Class 3-B (Formerly), wandering survivor.
Age: 18
Birthday: June 18th
Height: 190.5 cm.
Blood Type: B
Likes: Steak frites.
Other Facts: Self-taught tattoo artist.
-Kiyomi "Newscaster" Okada
Quirk: Water Traction (She can pull water towards her but it only works with saltwater).
Occupation: Starbucks barista (Formerly), newscaster for the Bystanders.
Age: 26
Birthday: July 12th
Height: 165 cm.
Blood Type: AB
Likes: The NCIS show.
Other Facts: Has a master's degree in electrical engineering.
A/N: A lot happened in this chapter. A lot.