As the world sank deeper into the chaos of the undead, governments worldwide were desperately struggling to maintain order and protect what remained of humanity, or so the media said, as most politicians had vanished without a trace.
Amidst the horror of the undead walking the streets, extreme measures were implemented in a desperate attempt to contain the infection and protect citizens. Police forces in every country were mobilized to handle the crisis, but often found themselves overwhelmed by the overwhelming number of zombies and the increasing violence among survivors. Cities became battlegrounds, with shootings, looting, and daily confrontations becoming the new norm.
In some countries, governments took drastic measures to try to maintain order, instituting curfews, large-scale quarantines, and even martial law in some areas. Medical resources were being diverted to deal with the growing numbers of infected, while scientists raced against time to find a cure or a way to contain the virus.
Meanwhile, ordinary citizens were fighting for survival in a world turned into a true nightmare. The streets were filled with armed and desperate people, each fighting for their own survival and willing to do whatever it took to protect themselves and their families.
Those who were stronger, smarter, or luckier managed to survive, while the weaker ones became easy prey for the zombies or fell victim to the cruelty of other survivors. The law of the jungle prevailed in a world where death lurked around every corner and hope was a scarce commodity.
And so, the Zombie Apocalypse transformed the world into a place of terror and despair, where only the strongest and the most cunning had any chance of survival. Humanity had been pushed to the brink of extinction, and there was no guarantee that it would ever find its way back to the light, but those who remained alive were relentless.
(Microbus)
"The coat looks bloody, chubby guy, check to see if he was bitten." It was Saya Takagi who spoke.
"Uh-huh!? Takagi-san, I think it's better not to, what if he bites me..." Kohta Hirano said as he pointed the nail gun at the unconscious body of their director.
"Someone needs to see if Shizuka-sensei's bandages worked, or deal with him." Saya stated astutely.
"Takagi-san, if that's the case, why don't you check while I cover you?" Kohta suggested.
"Are you crazy? What if he bites me?" Saya repeated what the chubby boy had said earlier.
Kohta looked at her with a sweat drop behind his head; they were both responsible for taking care of the Director until he woke up. Shizuka-sensei stopped for a moment and treated him; apparently, he took a strong blow.
Saeko Busujima spoke when Shizuka was taking care of him; she saw the Director sneaking into the bus from behind as they entered. It was also passed on to Saya and Kohta to keep an eye on him.
Anyway, the group of students was a bit tense with everything that had happened at school, the fate that was decided by the group that took the bus first, and also the fear of the director turning into a zombie and devouring them.
Especially the aggressive young man with dyed hair, Tsunoda, was the first student to start a mutiny, and when he wasn't complaining about the group's fate being the city, it was about throwing the director's body out of the bus.
While Kohta and Saya continued to argue about who would check what, Takashi, who was looking out the window, looked at the gun he had taken from the man.
He had never held a gun before; it was heavier than he thought. But why would a school director have a gun with him? He wondered, but it didn't matter, actually, it was probably very useful in this world.
Rei then sat down beside him without any consent; she was tense because of Shido-sensei for some reason he hadn't understood...
"Takashi, the director, do you think he... should we get rid of him?" Rei asked. The girl felt uncomfortable asking the question; it didn't seem cool at all, to think about throwing a person from a moving vehicle.
Takashi took his eyes off the gun he was holding and looked at Rei. "Shizuka-sensei said he took a strong blow, she didn't have time to make a complete diagnosis, but apparently, Azazel-sensei is fine." The boy said.
He said these words calmly, but he was actually quite tense; he felt uncomfortable every minute thinking he might be stuck in here with a nearly two-meter tall zombie; in the worst-case scenario, he would have to shoot him.
And it didn't help that that idiot was talking shit all the time.
Rei heard Takashi's words, but still seemed disturbed. She looked out the window at the world passing by below, a world now dominated by chaos and danger. The idea of having a possible zombie on the minibus, even if temporarily unconscious, was too terrifying to ignore.
"Takashi, I know Shizuka-sensei said he's fine, but what if she's wrong? What if he wakes up and... changes?" Rei asked, her voice filled with concern. She didn't want to admit it, but the idea of having the director turned into a zombie inside the minibus was too terrifying to bear.
Takashi sighed, understanding Rei's fears. He lowered the gun, putting it back in his lap as he tried to find the right words to calm his friend.
"I understand your fears, Rei. But for now, we can't do anything but trust Shizuka-sensei's assessment. And if he wakes up and tries to attack us, we'll be ready to defend ourselves." Takashi replied, trying to keep his voice firm and reassuring.
Rei frowned, annoyed by Takashi's apparent calmness in the situation. She didn't want to be confronted with rationality or logic right now. Fear pulsed through her veins, making it hard for her to calm down.
"But what if we trust her assessment and she's wrong? What if he turns and attacks one of us? Or worse, all of us?" Rei retorted, her voice laden with anxiety and frustration. She felt like she was on the verge of a nervous breakdown, and the mere idea of having a zombie on the minibus was too much to bear.
"Rei..." Takashi didn't quite know what to say to her; he was searching for words to try to calm her down.
But with that, she had time to get up irritably and go to another seat; he wanted to go after her, but thought it best not to.
Takashi sighed, looking back out the window; things could get worse along, and unfortunately, he was right.
(With Azazel)
I felt my mouth dry and my eyelids heavy; I actually felt like shit.
"Ow!" I felt my body bounce against the hard floor; I was in motion, probably on the bus I had fainted on earlier.
I wanted to get up, so with my hand, I searched for something to support myself until I reached a solid structure; unfortunately, it came with a noise.
"AHHHHHHHHHH!" Saya's scream startled everyone on the bus and made them all jump abruptly, but unfortunately for everyone, it also scared Shizuka-sensei, who briefly lost control of the
minibus, causing it to sway.
I started to get up slowly, still supported without realizing the gravity of the situation; I still had my eyes closed, and when I opened them, I had an unpleasant view.
My dear students were pointing sharp objects at me, besides guns... and a drill or whatever the hell the chubby boy was carrying, all with scared expressions.
I looked around, and it seemed to take a while to say anything. "What the hell! Hey kid, that gun is mine, give it back, it was a gift." Now standing with my hand on my head, I reached out to a confused Takashi.
I glanced at each of them out of the corner of my eye and analyzed the environment; they were probably afraid of me becoming one of them; well, that was the most sensible conclusion to come to when finding a fallen body.
Anyway, I recognized some students and, of course, the two teachers.
Saeko Busujima, Captain of the Kendo Club at the Academy and winner of some awards for the school, as important as that may seem. She is also the daughter of Master Busujima, one of the influential old men in this city, as far as I knew, he operated as a pacifist politician in self-defense assemblies, a politician whose fists spoke for him.
Saya Takagi, she is the daughter of an influential Uyoku dantai politician, and her family is deeply involved in Japanese politics; honestly, her family is a pain in the ass, especially the honorable patriarch.
Koichi Shido, one of their teachers, he is the son of a prominent politician, Ichirou Shido, someone with great influence in the city and the country; of course, his son took advantage of that...
Rei Miyamoto, she wasn't anyone important, actually, but when their eyes went from Shido to her, things changed...
There were some other unknown students to me here, and there was also one already in front...
"Yahoo! Azazel-sensei!" Shizuka greeted without taking her hands off the wheel.
Shizuka Marikawa, I suspected her picture was next to the word idiot in a dictionary; the nurse at their school was a complete airhead; she only managed to get a job at their school because... well, she was an eye candy, even more since her history wasn't much seen since she was fired from her last job for having sex with a patient during office hours.
Anyway, it was curious, so many prominent figures gathered in this small bus in the middle of a Zombie Apocalypse, curious how fate operated.
"Azazel-sensei, how do you feel?" Takashi was the one who brought me out of my reverie.
I took a deep breath. "Better if you handed me over soon." I asked again politely.
"Oh, right! Sorry." Takashi then handed me my Glock 19.
I felt a little safer having these guns in my hands for some reason, which calmed me down as well as the students around me.
"Well, well! How nice that you're okay, Director; we were worried about you." Shido's friendly voice was heard.
I personally didn't like this guy; if there's one thing I've learned, it's never to trust a man who has never stared at Shizuka's boobs... Seriously, all the teachers, including the women, stared at Shizuka's breasts except Shido; what was this guy's problem anyway? Even if he liked guys, they were like...
"Thank you for your concern, Shido-sensei, but I hope you've helped in some way instead of pretending to be shaken by me and just sitting there doing nothing." I replied as naturally as possible; I didn't want to be rude; I'm not here to make enemies after all, I didn't really have anything personal against Shido; he was just weird.
"What!?" Shido's tone gave everything away; he had said it was dangerous to be near a possible zombie earlier, so he made a point of staying as far away from Azazel as possible, even when Shizuka stopped the bus to treat the injured man, he refused to drive because he considered the distance between them dangerous.
Rei was one of the people who was pleased with the response that left Shido uncomfortable; she was calmer now that Azazel was no longer a threat.
"Anyway, I need to sit down; today isn't a good day for any of us, I believe, so I wish everyone sit down and rest their minds; I thank everyone for their care in advance." I spoke in a reassuring tone.
They seemed to relax with the situation, especially Saya, whom I had the favor of scaring with my previous feat; I made sure to give her a little pat on the shoulder for the scare earlier, probably later I should apologize.
I needed to stay calm; everyone here except Shizuka and Shido still had their hormones raging; I didn't want to imagine what's going through their heads right now.
Shizuka honestly didn't seem like the kind of person who would care or notice the degree of the situation around her.
As for Shido, well, he had always been an idiot and a little opaque about students' feelings in general.
I moved to one of the empty double seats and relaxed; why didn't these idiots put me in one earlier? Oh, probably for fear of becoming my dinner.
I needed to think about my course of action.
( 10 minutes later )
My plan was laid out, I needed to meet up with my daughter, this seemed to be the most plausible destination for the following reasons.
Firstly, she was my daughter obviously.
Secondly, currently she and her mother were on a military base, and if I learned one thing, it's that you should never try to invade a place with armed men; there are weapons there, so it was protected.
Thirdly, staying in this city seemed unfeasible just because of the catastrophe coming through the window, at least where her daughter was, it was a small town.
His destination was set, but how would he get there? Apparently, this bus was going to the city, a dumb decision since it would have a large concentration of people, but these kids probably wanted to see their families; I won't judge them. The question was, how would I show them they were wrong and should follow me to a possible military base?
Azazel considers himself many things, but he certainly wasn't any Captain America to rely on alone in this Apocalypse; he needed a group of capable people, and these students seemed at least acceptable, and it was advantageous for him, after all, he was their Director, a responsible and reliable figure from a general point of view.
But they were in the middle of an Apocalypse; some might have developed the attitude of 'the world ended so nobody cares about the past', this would be dangerous; the law of the jungle was perilous. At least he knew that boy with the baseball bat, Takashi if he wasn't mistaken by the name, was at least acceptable; he handed over his weapon without many questions.
He needed to bring them all to his side, and when humanity sorted out this issue with the dead, he would have some influential figures owing him favors...
And that brought him back to his paradox, how to make these kids abandon their loved ones to follow him?
His thoughts and tranquility ended when Shido appeared and sat next to him. "Azazel-sensei, these children are leading us to a dead end, a possible death, I think it's time for the adults to take control of the situation." Shido began.
"They want to see their families, there's nothing that can be done about it" I simply responded.
Was he plotting so soon? Well, Azazel intended to do the same, but nothing so blatant; Shido didn't realize that these kids mostly carried weapons and killed their schoolmates without a second thought? Sure, they were zombies, but it still required cold blood; even he felt bad about it and was a bit shaken by the situation, but the kids seemed fine with killing the 'enemies'.
Shido smiled, adjusting his glasses. "Children just need to be put in their proper place in the social hierarchy; if we get the majority's voice on our side, the others will yield; humanity always surrenders to the majority." he spoke with pride.
I almost smiled at him; did Shido think he was in a politician's roulette playing with neurolinguistic programming? Just by looking, it was clear most of these kids were tense; if they went looking for trouble, they might end up badly.
"Well, do as you please; if you succeed, I'll stand by your side." I said simply, noticing his eyes on my gun that I carried. He saw me not only as a threat to his schemes but also to his life; it was almost scary how stupid this guy was while being astute at the same time.
I personally didn't care what Shido would do; if he gained everyone's trust and made them obey him, he would easily become his right-hand man out of self-interest, of course. It wasn't time to choose sides; I would shoot in every direction to get what I wanted, even if I had to raise my gun and shoot everyone on this bus and take it for myself... I exaggerated in that statement, but it's an idea.
"I'm always happy to see how sensible you are, Master Azazel; it's always good to work alongside you." Shido said with a smile, to my disgust.
I sighed, thinking about what he referred to. Amidst our conversation, Tsunoda seemed to want to start a rebellion; the boy began shouting about how they should have stopped at the school or the dorms to hide instead of coming to the city, with others supporting him and complaining how the bus should go slower and stuff.
Well, it was partly true; it was stupid to come to the city, but it was still stupid to stay in a place full of zombies; it was like being in a house of bricks while the big bad wolf waits outside, but I knew the 'happily ever after' was on their side.
Curiously, Shizuka seemed to get stressed and stopped abruptly. "THAT'S ENOUGH, LEAVE ME ALONE! I'VE NEVER DRIVEN ONE OF THESE BEFORE!" She shouted, and the boy fell silent.
He did what Shizuka ordered, but his anger was directed elsewhere, apparently to Takashi, when things started to heat up, I felt like intervening, but Shido stopped me; soon, I didn't need to, Rei came with her bat and knocked the delinquent down, who sprawled on the floor.
Shido stood up; she seemed to want to take advantage of the opportunity. "Komuro-kun, Miyamoto-san, it's wonderful to see teamwork like this!" He began. "However, to prevent fights like this from happening, I think we should go back to the idea we had before; we need a leader for us." he announced once again.
Shido's idea apparently had been planted earlier, but the boys he approached with his eyes didn't like it.
"So let me guess, there's only one person who could bear this burden, right?" Saya asked.
Shido with an empathetic smile. "Takagi-san, I'm a teacher, and all of you are students, and unfortunately, Master Azazel is still debilitated to think rationally; I'm the only qualified one." Shido spoke.
" You don't speak for me, jerk." I thought.
Shido turned to the rest of the group on the bus. "So what do you guys think about it, if you agree with good old me, could you please raise your hands?" He asked at the end, charmingly but almost authoritatively.
Most of the students who weren't close to Takashi raised their hands without thinking twice; Shido was a true wolf in sheep's clothing.
"As I said, the majority determined that I would be your leader from now on." he said, opening his arms dramatically.
" And then... Who will rebel first?" I thought.
I hoped it would take a while, but soon I heard.
"Sensei, open up please! Open the door, I'm going!" It was Rei who practically ordered Shizuka, who seemed somewhat reluctant to open it.
The girl didn't hesitate and jumped off the bus without thinking twice. "REI!" Takashi shouted.
"I WOULD RATHER GO TO HELL THAN TRAVEL WITH THIS BASTARD!" Rei vented aggressively.
I admit I was impressed by how she put up with the man so much given their history.
"It seems I can't do anything to change her mind; she's a lost cause..."
Shido spoke to the wind, to Takashi's dismay.
Shido was clever; someone like Rei wasn't suitable for him; she knew his true face, yet why not just talk about him outright? Did she believe no one would be on her side? That gave me an idea.
"How can you say that?" Takashi reproached Shido.
Without thinking twice, I got up and quickly went to the bus door and stopped Takashi from jumping to Rei by grabbing his shoulder. "Leave it to me; I'll bring her back." I whispered to the boy, who agreed.
I would shoot in every direction; keeping Rei close wouldn't just earn me some points with the group, but also the good side of the girl because apparently, she didn't trust her... boyfriend? To tell who Shido really was; she preferred jumping into a land full of the undead than telling the truth; that could be useful at least.
I jumped and with a brief run, reached the girl. Personally, I wasn't in my best condition yet, but it was sustainable.
"Miyamoto-san, it's dangerous to go alone," I began trying to argue. "If you come back in, when we reach the city, we could..."
"I SAID HE WOULD REGRET IT!" She shouted, not listening to reason.
Great, this girl was too emotional for her own good.
"Now's not a good time for this..." I couldn't finish my sentence upon hearing a honk.
There was an out-of-control bus coming our way. "Crap..." I already imagined how this would end.
The bus, speeding, began hitting cars until it overturned and then exploded in a huge shockwave.
In an instinctive move, I jumped with Rei to the other side of the road from the bridge we were just parked on.
Damn, there were flames all over the middle of the road; I couldn't even see our little minibus that I didn't even know if it had been affected by this.
"REI! REIIIII!" Takashi's voice was heard screaming by me; this boy had a trained throat, huh...
"KOMURO-KUN! WE'RE OKAY! BUT WE WON'T BE ABLE TO CROSS TO THE OTHER SIDE!" I shouted to the boy, seeing the environment and the zombies walking amidst the flames... scary.
"WE'LL MEET AT THE POLICE STATION!" The boy shouted.
"AT WHAT TIME?" The question came, but I wondered afterwards if it was relevant.
"AT 5 SHARP, IF NOT TODAY, TOMORROW AT THE SAME TIME... TAKE CARE OF REI FOR ME!" He shouted pleadingly.
The zombies were coming our way, so I preferred not to answer and attract unwanted attention.
"Let's go!" Azazel firmly held Rei's wrist as they ran to get away from the flames and the zombies approaching.
As they ran, Azazel's hair was pulled by a zombie caught on the railing, a scene that could have been comical under different circumstances. Without wasting time, he quickly drew his pistol and aimed at the zombie's head, but before he could shoot, Rei grabbed a fallen motorcycle helmet from the ground and threw it with precision, hitting the zombie's skull squarely and making it fall lifeless.
"Damn, girl!" I said in a dirty but grateful way, looking surprised at Rei, impressed with her improvised skill.
Shortly after, I saw the zombie's motorcycle fallen by the roadside.
"Do you ride this?" Azazel asked Rei if she knew how to ride that, receiving a negative response. However, he didn't hesitate to hand her the keys. "There's a first time for everything."
Rei was incredulous for a second, but soon understood; Azazel was still far from being in a condition to ride a motorcycle, especially for the first time.
Rei accepted the offer and got on the motorcycle with Azazel on the pillion. They sped off, leaving behind the chaos and destruction they had witnessed.
Soon the two couldn't help but mutter to themselves in unison, "What a mess!"
( To be continued... )
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