School's Out

Akarai Sabe's POV

The news set me on edge. It set all of us on edge. I needed another cigarette, but I wouldn't have one. I didn't know when my next opportunity to find some might be, and I wanted to make them last. It was a habit I'd tried to shake—I hadn't had one in months before finding that pack in a teacher's desk—but nowadays, smoking isn't what's going to kill me and not looking like a delinquent is the least of my worries.

It took a few moments for the static to be replaced by an upbeat please stand by message, which felt downright perverse under the circumstances. Then the feed cut back in to show the news studio itself, where the news anchor didn't look like she was any more at ease than we were.

"Uh …" The anchor was handed some sheets of paper from off-screen, which seemed to ease her back into her role. "There appears to be a problem with our remote. From now on we'll bring you the story from inside the studio. The condition outside seems extremely chaotic, so stay home unless it's absolutely necessary to go outside. We'll bring you more stories as soon as it's safe to cover the current situation from the site."

Bang!

The sudden noise of Komuro punching a desk startled me, and I briefly had a flash of an older man laying his fist into the wall. I shoved those memories down as I forced my mind to remain with the present. I couldn't afford to slip.

"Is that all?" Komuro demanded angrily. "Why didn't they tell us anything else?"

"They're afraid of causing a panic," said Takagi.

"A panic?" asked Miyamoto.

"Yeah, you idiot!" Takagi snapped. To be fair to her, it was a pretty stupid question under the circumstances. I wasn't exactly what you'd call top of the class, but even I realised, just from having witnessed the trampling of Yamashita as my classmates fought their way out of our classroom, that telling the public flat-out that shit was going down would be a bad idea. "First panic then chaos, and chaos causes a disruption of order, and then, when order is disrupted … well, you should just hand it all over to the walking corpses."

Busujima changed channels to a global news station.

The news anchor said, "This unusual and unprecedented biological phenomenon that spread throughout North America has yet to be put under control." The screen switched to footage of a helicopter taking off outside the White House. "Government authorities have evacuated the White House and will relocate to a command centre onboard the aircraft carrier George Washington. There are reports that the transfer of power is in preparation for the use of tactical warheads to combat the infestation. We've currently lost contact with Moscow. Beijing has been set ablaze. London has maintained order, while in Paris and Rome there have been reports of looting. The government officials have declared a state of martial law—"

The news anchor was lost in static.

"Fuck," I breathed, "it's everywhere. The whole world."

The end of the world.

The thought made me shudder. Post-apocalyptic fiction was about to start looking like a series of how to manuals.

"That's crazy," Kohta said. "Everything was normal when I checked the Internet this morning."

"I can't believe this," said Miyamoto, taking startled steps away from the TV. "This happened all over the world in the matter of a few hours …" She clung lightly to Komuro's arm. "But they'll stop it, right? I mean they have to stop it from spreading, I mean …" She took a breath, then smiled. "Everything is going back to normal soon."

"That's not gonna happen!" Takagi insisted harshly.

"Why do you have to be so blunt about it?" Komuro asked protectively.

"She's right," I said. "There are a few hundred dead students in this school alone who can attest to that. You think we're all just gonna be rocking up to class next week like nothing ever happened?"

Busujima scoffed. "Like you ever showed up to class anyway."

"Did too. I was there today, when this shit kicked off. Where were you, Miss Perfect?"

"Oh my God, will you two shut up?!" Takagi snapped at us. "Listen, all of you! The delinquent is," she actually grimaced before speaking the next word, "right. This is a pandemic. There's nothing we can do."

"A pandemic …" Miss Shizuka murmured.

"It's the outbreak of infectious disease," Takagi explained for those with less than two brain cells. "The entire world is experiencing the same outbreak."

"So, what, it's some kind of epidemic?" Komuro asked.

"This is exactly like the Spanish Flu of 1918," said Takagi. "More than six hundred million people got infected and over fifty million people died from it. Remember how much a panic Swine Flu caused? Well, square that."

"Not to be disagreeable, but I think this is more like the Black Death from the 14th Century," said Miss Shizuka.

"One third of the European population died," Takagi said in agreement. "You're smarter than you look."

"Which basically all boils down to the fact that this is going to get worse before it gets better," I said. "Even bearing in mind that dying is all it takes to catch whatever this is, we've gotta take into account the usual morons who'll downplay any disease as either overblown or a conspiracy and completely ignore common sense trying to prove themselves right."

Takagi looked at me with a slightly different expression than the usual dismissive glances and glares I got. "Surprisingly socially aware of you. Two of you are slightly less stupid than I thought."

"So, how did these outbreaks finally end?" asked Komuro.

"Well, there are many theories," said Miss Shizuka. "It usually stops when too many humans die. There wouldn't be enough people to spread the disease."

"But now," said Kohta, looking out the window at the masses of Them shambling around below, "all the dead people get up and start attacking you."

"Are you saying that there's no reason for this outbreak to stop?" Busujima asked.

Miss Shizuka perked up. "The weather's going to be hot! They might not be able to move if their flesh decomposes and they become skeletons."

"How long does it take for that to happen?"

Miss Shizuka began counting it off on her fingers as she did the maths. "In summer, some parts of the body can become skeletal in about twenty days, but it takes considerably longer during winter." She put a hand under her chin in thought. "Couple of months. That's not too terribly long."

"You're kidding."

"She's not smarter than she looks," Takagi said derisively.

"So, what are you saying?" Komuro asked.

"Medical logic doesn't apply to those dead corpses that move around and attack humans," said Takagi. "Worst case scenario, they might never decompose."

"First thing we find out is if our families are okay," said Busujima. I may have imagined it, but I thought her eyes flickered to me for a second. Maybe she just can't help giving me the evils. "Then we need to find someplace safe to hold up for a while. But no matter where we go, we're going to need a plan. Teams! We need to team up."

That seemed to light a fire under our asses. Every one of us who had a weapon picked it up. I needed to find a new one soon—the flimsy metal of the table leg was already dented. It would still do for a while more, but it was never going to be a long-term solution.

"Let's try to pick up survivors whenever we can," said Busujima.

"Let's do it," Komuro agreed.

"What's the best way outta here?" asked Miyamoto.

"Sorry to break it to you, stupid, but we're gonna just have to go through the front," said Takagi.

"Where everyone was running to after the principal's announcement," I pointed out. The bulk of Them would likely be around that area. "This could get messy."

"Let's go," said Komuro.

We went.

There was already a small gathering of Them outside the faculty office by the time we got the barricade cleared and the door open. Only three—nowhere near enough to be a problem, especially after our short rest. Kohta took two of them out with his nail gun within a second of us getting the door open, and Komuro charged forward and bashed the other one's head in with his bat, yelling as he did so. I wanted to admonish him for the unnecessary noise, but I understood. I'd had a good scream myself earlier, after all.

We left the interior onto the walkway Komuro had closed the door to before we'd taken shelter in the faculty office. We stood at the railing atop a set of stairs, looking down upon the hordes of Them below.

"Let me make something clear," said Busujima. "There's no need for you to engage in a fight unless it's necessary. Do whatever you can to avoid a fight, you got it?" Her eyes once again flashed at me specifically.

I bristled. "I'll have you know I am quite capable of not bashing a head in if I want to."

Kohta looked between the two of us awkwardly and said, "I mean, you do have kind of a temper …"

I narrowed my eyes at him, but I couldn't refute the point. "Traitor …" I said quietly.

"Shhhh!" Takagi hushed us angrily. "They're sensitive to sound, remember? Don't make too much noise. And they're strong enough to break through regular doors, and once they've got a hold of you, they're gonna tear you to shreds. So, be careful."

"Aaaaaaaaaah!" a girl's scream rang out. A bunch of perched crows, probably waiting to pick at the dead, took off, filling the air with caws.

The scream in question came from the nearby staircase. Komuro, Miyamoto, Busujima, and I raced to help them while Kohta began shooting from afar. He was a good shot. Nailed (ha) the ones closest to the living students before we'd even reached the stairs.

Well, before Komuro, Miyamoto, and I had reached the stairs. Busujima didn't bother with them—she jumped right off the railing and dropped down to deliver a devastating blow to the top of one of Their heads without so much as changing facial expression.

Hot, I thought. Then, my pulse suddenly pounding, I internally screamed, No, no, no! I did not think that! I did not just think that!

I never thought I'd be glad to kill something, but in that moment, I was grateful for the distraction.

Komuro bashed the brains in of one of Them which was standing on the stairs whilst Miyamoto, who had jumped just as Busujima had only to a point on the stairs below the survivors, stabbed another in the chest. It didn't even flinch. For the first time, it occurred to me that the head might really be the only way. I got lucky, I thought. The only reason I'd been consistently going for headshots so far was that I'd been using my fists, feet, and a blunt object—the head was the most effective point to attack with those things even in living people. Miyamoto bounced back from the failed stab attack and danced around the undead student and kicked it down the stairs, where its head broke open as it hit the bottom.

I continued past the two of them and met with Busujima on the stairs just above the other survivors, swinging my table leg at one of Them that was nearby. Its skull held but I knocked it toward the bannister, and its top half bent over. So, I kicked it in the ass and sent it tumbling over to the concrete below. Busujima broke another's head open with her bokken. The stairs were clear.

"Uh … thank you," said one of the surviving students. There were four of them: two guys and two girls. It was one of the girls who'd spoken.

"Keep it down," Busujima ordered gently. "Is anyone bitten yet?"

"What?" asked the same girl. She understood quickly and raised her hands placatingly. "No, no one."

So, the bites are significant, I noted. I was beginning to feel way behind everyone else. They'd clearly been observing and learning, whereas I'd been killing Them by sheer luck and spent almost the entire time hiding like a wuss in the student council room. I began to feel ashamed of myself.

"It looks okay," said Miyamoto. "We'll be alright."

"We're getting out of here," Komuro announced. "Do any of you want to come with us?"

"Sure," said the girl. I had to assume she'd been leading this group of four despite the fact that only one of them, one of the guys, had a weapon of any sort—it was a long pole. Either that or she was just the designated spokesperson.

Third Person POV

The group continued on their way down toward the entrance, re-entering the building through a similar glass door to the one they had exited upstairs through.

It was exactly as Sabe had said before they left the faculty room, to Saeko's slight annoyance. The entrance was packed with Them. The mindlessly hungry moans and groans they made combined together to form a truly disturbing cacophony that would have made her shudder had she had less self-control.

"Man, there are a bunch of them," Komuro whispered.

"No shit, Sherlock," Sabe snapped quietly. Saeko thought he sounded mildly panicked—she surprised herself by feeling empathy for him.

"From what I can tell, the only thing they react to are sounds," said Takagi. "They can't see us, so it's pointless to hide from them."

"They're blind?" Sabe asked, surprised.

Takagi nodded. It didn't matter. There were too many of them down there to move safely even if they couldn't see.

"Why don't you go down there and prove that theory?" Komuro asked. Takagi bristled at him.

"But even if we keep going through inside the school," said Saeko, "once we get attacked, we're going to be stuck."

"We have to go through the gate," said Miyamoto. "We don't have any choice."

Saeko said, "Someone needs to go and—"

She was going to suggest someone go to confirm Takagi's theory; she was going to volunteer to do it herself. But that plan was moot.

"Sabe!" Miss Shizuka gasped.

Because whilst they'd been talking, Sabe had already walked halfway down the stairs.

"What the hell is Akarai doing?!" Hirano hissed. There was a note of fear in his voice.

"I-Is he gonna be okay?" asked Miyamoto. She was the last to speak.

They all watched Sabe in silence as he descended, quietly and carefully, down the stairs and toward the mass of Them at the bottom. He paused briefly before leaving the stairs entirely and visibly took a breath. Then he stepped down and into the horde.

Everyone tensed up. It took Saeko a moment to realise that she had, too. I don't want him dead, she told herself in an attempt to justify the sudden concern for Sabe's wellbeing she was experiencing. Just because I don't like him doesn't mean I want him dead. Yet something she was trying desperately to ignore told her that it went deeper than just not wanting him dead. He jumped into the jaws of a potentially horrible death completely unprompted to evaluate Takagi's theory—it was a respectable thing to do.

Saeko tried not to think about it. It was all too confusing for her. She just kept her eyes on Sabe to see what would happen. Despite herself, she tensed up again as one of Them made a beeline straight for him …

… and walked past as though he wasn't even there.

Sabe's posture relaxed. He turned around and looked back up the stairs at them. He raised a hand with a thumb up, then held his entire palm up in a "wait a second" gesture. There was a smirk on his face now, like he'd known it would turn out this way the whole time. Bullshit, Saeko thought.

Sabe leaned down and picked up a discarded, bloody shoe from the floor. Then he turned, reared his arm back, and threw it down the hallway full-force. It made a loud bang as it impacted the wall far away from the entrance.

Every single one of Them turned in the direction of the noise at once and began shambling over. Sabe waved an arm at them all to come down.

They walked down the stairs, taking great care not to make much noise. They didn't want to screw themselves over by drawing Their attention. Sabe walked slowly to the front doors and pushed them open. Saeko sped up slightly and held one door open, allowing him to focus his attention on the other. He met her eyes for a moment and nodded thanks. She returned the nod.

"Nice one, man," Komuro said as he passed by Sabe.

"Don't do that again," Hirano growled, but he also clapped Sabe on the shoulder.

Almost everyone made it outside without incident.

Then one of the boys they'd picked up in that group of four, who was lagging behind and still on the stairs, made a mistake.

Clang!

The sound of his pole hitting the bannister wasn't especially loud, but in the silence they were trying to maintain, it may as well have been thunder. There was a small delay of maybe a few seconds, then Their voices picked up in what almost sounded like excitement and shuffling footsteps made their way back toward the entrance.

"Oh, fuck," Sabe whispered. Saeko could agree with the sentiment.

"RUN!" Komuro shouted.

Then all hell broke loose.

Akarai Sabe's POV

All attention was on us now, from both inside and outside. And there were a lot of Them outside, just as I'd seen from the window of the student council room.

I nodded toward the outside of the school. "Ladies first," I said to Busujima.

I got no argument as she released the door she was holding open and prepared her bokken. I held my door open for just long enough for the guy with the pole to make it outside, then I let it drift closed and readied my table leg for combat.

"Why did you open your big mouth?!" Takagi yelled at Komuro. "We could have made it there by just taking care of those who were close by if you hadn't said anything!"

Busujima knocked the block off of one of Them that had been standing right behind Takagi while she was too busy bitching.

"The noise would've echoed anyway!" said Miyamoto. "Just start swinging!" She swept the legs out from under one of Them with her makeshift spear.

"There are too many!" Kohta exclaimed, aiming his nail gun at Them as They approached but unable to decide which to shoot.

I charged past him and whacked one of Them across the eyes, scraping them out of its face. It dropped unceremoniously to the ground. "All the screaming isn't helping," I said. I tightened my grip on the table leg. There were so many of Them. My heart thudded in my chest.

"He's right!" said Komuro, hitting one of Them with his bat. He swung the bat wide, and a lot of blood flew off of it and onto the floor. "Just run!"

Komuro, Busujima, and I led the charge. Miyamoto wasn't far behind. When I'd seen the horde through the window earlier, I'd pictured trying to fight my way through it as a borderline-hopeless endeavour wherein I'd be bashing a head in every other second. That wasn't what it was like. For one thing, I had allies. For another, They were spread out enough that we had to do very little fighting. They were slow and unsteady, so unless one of Them got directly in my path, attacking was pointless.

I had run past at least seven before it became necessary to attack. I held the table leg above my head in both hands and brought it down with a thunk upon the thing's head, cracking it open like an egg. I could hear the occasional bang-bang sound behind me as Kohta fired off his nail gun.

"Ah!" came a yell from behind me. "Ah! Ah!" The panicked yells became more pained. "Aaaaah!" I didn't need to look to know that one of the others we'd picked up was being eaten.

I couldn't do anything about it.

I couldn't afford to turn around.

I just kept going.

"Wait a minute!" I heard Takagi shout. "You heard me, didn't you? He's not gonna make it! Why are you going back to him?" I broke another one of Their heads open in the next moment and didn't hear what was said to Takagi, but I heard her respond, "Oh, shut up, Dr Bleeding-Heart!" So, I assumed it was Miss Shizuka who'd spoken.

Bang, went Kohta's nail gun. "Look out!" he said. "Don't you worry, Takagi."

"You rude little otaku!" yelled Takagi. "How dare you interrupt me while I'm talking! Why would you do that?"

"I don't know," said Kohta, "'cause I really like your voice."

I swung at another one of Them and sent blood and brain scattering all over the floor. My table leg was looking a little bent out of shape by now, but there were only a couple of Them between us and the bus. I think it can last that long, I thought. "You two can get a room later!" I snapped. "For now, I think we'd best all focus on living for there to be a later, don't you?"

Kohta shot me a glare. "Between the two of us, I'm not the one who needs to get a room!"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" I asked, genuinely confused.

"Miss Shizuka, the key!" exclaimed Komuro. He'd cleared a path to the bus.

Miss Shizuka ran over and unlocked the bus, then rushed to the driver's seat. Kohta and Takagi were the next ones in. Kohta opened one of the windows and aimed his nail gun out of it.

Meanwhile, Komuro, Miyamoto, Busujima and I were still outside, keeping Them from closing in on the bus.

"Let's go," said Busujima. "Everybody's inside."

"You go," said Komuro. "Ladies first."

"You too, Miyamoto," I added. "I've got this. You three get on and I'll be there in a sec." I whacked one of Them upside the head, and it dropped. The table leg was now bent into a full right-angle and I was pretty sure it was useless. I looked back and saw that the three of them were all on the bus, so I made a break for it and ran through the door.

Komuro was just about to close the door when the other survivors appeared.

There were a bunch of them, not an entire class's worth but maybe half of one. Most of them were students, but there was a teacher in the mix. I found myself both relieved and disappointed. I was glad others were alive, but my least-favourite teacher being around even as the world literally ended wasn't something I was going to be happy about.

"Who's that?" Komuro asked.

"Mr Shido," Busujima and I both said. "From our class," I added.

"Class 3-A, moron," said Busujima.

Aaaand we're back to our regularly scheduled programming, I thought. Part of me was glad. There was something familiar in our sniping at one another that at once calmed my nerves from all the dead people I'd just been fighting. "It's our class," I said. "Doesn't really matter what it's called."

"See what I mean?" Kohta asked. Takagi nodded. I still didn't know what he was talking about.

"Shido," Miyamoto said intensely.

"We can go now!" Miss Shizuka announced. The bus's engine was making the whole thing vibrate lightly.

"Wait just a little bit longer," said Komuro.

"They're in front of us," Miss Shizuka said panickily. "Any more and we won't be able to drive through here."

"Run 'em down," Komuro ordered.

"If Dr Boobs tries to drive over that many, we'll flip the bus," Takagi pointed out.

Komuro growled in frustration. Then he moved to get out of the bus to go and help, but Miyamoto forcefully grabbed him by the arm. "We don't have to save him!" she said vehemently.

"Jesus!" Komuro exclaimed, shocked. "What do you mean, 'we don't have to save him?'"

Miyamoto doubled down. "We don't have to help him! We should just leave him here to die!" I was taken aback by the sheer loathing in her voice, but I was not unfamiliar with the feeling. I just didn't expect it to be a common emotion among people my age.

While they argued, Shido and the students were all running desperately to reach us.

They made it without any need for Komuro's help. I recognised a couple of the students as they passed me—Tsunoda and Yuuki, who I knew were dating and both of whom I'd seen around the shadier parts of town before. I didn't know Tsunoda personally, but I was … acquainted with Yuuki.

Komuro slammed the door. "Okay, go!"

I looked ahead and saw how many Miss Shizuka would have to drive through to make it to the gate. I quickly grabbed the seat across the aisle from where Kohta and Takagi were sitting and braced myself for a rough ride.

Miss Shizuka slammed her foot onto the accelerator and the bus took off at full speed at once, tires skidding loudly as it drifted into position.

"To the gate!" Takagi yelled.

"I know!" Miss Shizuka shouted back.

The ride smoothed out somewhat once we were facing the right direction, but we still had to get through the growing crowd of Them between there and the bus.

"They're not humans anymore," Shizuka said to herself in quiet intensity. "They're not people anymore. They're not alive anymore!"

Then she really put her foot down.

The collisions as the bus hit Them were bad enough but tolerable, and I found myself surprised that more blood wasn't splattering onto the windshield. Then came the problem of the gate—it was closed and locked. The only way through it was to force our way through it.

I braced myself.

We hit it with such force that the bus actually leapt up as though we'd gone up a small ramp. My body was wrenched forward. I think I may have been in danger of injury had I not braced myself beforehand. I was slammed back into my seat again as we landed. The bus turned sharply to the left and went on.

We had done it.

We escaped.

I slumped back in my seat, relieved.

"Can't believe we did it," said Komuro.

"Yeah," Kohta agreed, fiddling with the tape on his nail gun.

"Thank god we did," said Shido. He stopped next to Busujima's seat and leaned toward her. "I take it you have been appointed leader?"

"There's no such thing," said Busujima. "We just work together in order to live, that's all."

"That's not good," said Shido. "In order to survive, we definitely need a leader. A leader who bears everything with valour, with confidence."

"You'll regret this," Miyamoto said quietly to Komuro. "I guarantee that you'll regret that you helped him."

I didn't know what her problem with Shido was, but I found myself agreeing. The way he was talking gave me a bad feeling. I knew his type—they always had to be in control. As soon as Shido started talking about us needing a leader, I knew the kind of man we were dealing with, and my good mood at having survived swiftly died. I would have to keep an eye on him.

"The city!" a student exclaimed.

We had appeared out of the wooded area around the school and had a good view of the city. There were great pillars of smoke rising up everywhere.

Third Person POV

The bus hit one of Them as it approached the city proper. The road was empty of all actual life.

"Shiiiit," said a student from Shido's group who'd been talking shit for the last twenty minutes or so. "Like I said, it's only dangerous if we keep going! First of all, why do we have to go with Komuro and the others?! You guys are the ones who decided to go back to the city! Maybe we should've just looked for a safe place inside the school! If you ask me, we were better off where we were!"

"He's right," agreed another of Shido's group. "I kind of agree with Tsunoda. We should barricade ourselves—"

Miss Shizuka slammed on the breaks and brought the bus to an abrupt halt. She undid her seatbelt and leaned over, allowing her unfairly huge boobs (Saeko wouldn't admit it, but they made her feel self-conscious about her breasts, which were otherwise some of the biggest in her year) to swing down. Even covered completely by her white shirt, they drew stares from all the guys on the bus.

"Okay, you all, that's enough!" she said. "I can't focus on the driving with all this yelling!"

Tsunoda stared just as much as everyone else. "Y-Yeah, whatever," he conceded unhappily.

"You're free to get off and walk back," said Sabe without so much as looking back at Tsunoda. "I'll wave goodbye."

Tsunoda gritted his teeth. "The fuck did you say?"

"You heard me." Sabe sighed, sat up straighter, and finally acknowledged Tsunoda with a look. "But whatever you decide to do, do it quietly. You're giving me a damn headache."

"You son of a—"

Tsunoda rushed to where Sabe was sitting, fist raised.

Hirano raised his nail gun in preparation, and even Saeko felt her muscles tensing as she prepared to jump into action.

Quick as a flash, Sabe stood from his chair, reared his head back, and then drove it forward into Tsunoda's nose, which made an audible snap as it broke. Tsunoda yelled with pain and fell backwards, landing on his ass.

Sabe rubbed at his forehead irritably. "A loud bark but a real shit bite," he said. "Yuuki always said you talk a big game but can't deliver."

"N-No I didn't!" exclaimed a girl at the back of the bus.

Tsunoda somehow looked even angrier. "When the hell was this?!"

"Good question," Saeko said before she could stop herself.

Yuuki had a reputation that clearly Tsunoda was in complete denial about. The mere suggestion that Sabe had spent time with her sent a surge of unreasonable anger through Saeko, and she found herself glaring between the both of them. Yuuki caught it and quickly turned away, but Sabe was still looking away and didn't notice. Then Saeko questioned herself as to why she was so pissed off. She didn't know, and she wasn't sure she wanted to. It might complicate things even more than today already had.

Sabe glanced behind him in response to Saeko's question and met her eyes. His face reddened and he looked at the floor. "Forget it," he said. "I misspoke. Just get off your ass and shut the fuck up, Tsunoda." He slumped back into his seat and didn't make eye contact with anybody.

Then Shido walked forward, clapping.

"Bravo!" he praised. "Quite a show you put on, Sabe. Although I suppose we shouldn't have expected anything more of you—you always have been a filthy delinquent."

Sabe visibly clenched his teeth but otherwise didn't react.

"A display such as that," Shido continued, "only proves my point. We need a leader. We do. Surely nobody would entrust us to a brute like Sabe, and I doubt the rest of you wish to bear such a responsibility on your shoulders."

Takagi adjusted her glasses, disinterested. "So, you're gonna run for the position, then," she said.

"I'm a teacher, Miss Takagi," said Shido. "And, while mature, all of you are barely in your teens."

Sabe finally cracked. "Barely in our teens? The youngest people on this bus are sixteen, you twat," he said.

Shido looked down at Sabe condescendingly. "And the fact that you willingly associated with Sabe here doesn't speak well of your characters," he added. Sabe clenched his fist. "The same cannot be said of me. Why, just moments ago I saved all of these brave students!" He turned around and flourished his arms toward his group. "What do you say, guys?"

Everyone from Shido's group began applauding him, meaning that he had a clear majority.

Shido took a bow and then turned around again, the cocky expression of victory plastering his face. "There," he said. "It's been decided. The majority seems to have made the choice quite clear, yes?"

The sound of the bus's door opening caught Saeko's attention. Miyamoto had gotten off. Komuro rushed over. "Rei!" he shouted.

"No way!" Miyamoto shouted. "I won't do it! I'm not staying here with him!"

"Get back on the bus," Komuro said quietly.

"Well, there's nothing I can do if you don't want to act in accordance with all of us," Shido said with obviously fake sadness.

"What 'us?'" Komuro asked angrily. "What are you talking about?" He stared out after Miyamoto for a moment, seemed to come to a decision, and jumped out.

"Komuro!" Takagi exclaimed.

Komuro grabbed Miyamoto by the hand. "Wait!" he said. "Get back on the bus. When we get to the city, we'll get off. I don't want you to leave."

"That's why I told you that you'd regret this!" Miyamoto snapped.

"No, we'll both regret this!" Komuro snapped back.

A loud honking noise sounded.

Saeko's eyes widened as she stared out the window at what was coming. It was a bus, not unlike theirs, and it was approaching at top speed.

Saeko turned to Miss Shizuka. "Okay, you need to punch it!" she shouted.

"Huh?" Miss Shizuka questioned. Then she saw it and gasped in horror.

The speeding bus hit a car, and its back end raised from the road and kept rising until the bus flipped completely, fell on its side, and kept on skidding along the road. Komuro and Miyamoto were directly in its path. Saeko didn't see what happened to them as it rocketed to where they were a moment before. The gas within the bus lit up and soon the entire bus, now blocking off a part of the road, was lighting up the evening with roaring fire.

Sabe shot out of his seat, a look of panic on his face, and ran for the door. Saeko, also worried, followed.

"Komuro!" Sabe shouted with undisguised fear. "Miyamoto! Tell me you're alive!"

The dead began to crawl out of the crashed bus, now even more dangerous since they were all on fire. It suddenly occurred to Saeko that Sabe was unarmed. Yet he showed no immediate intention of retreating. "For fuck's sake, answer me!" he cried.

"At the police station!" Komuro's voice called from behind the wreck. Sabe visibly sagged with relief. "We'll meet at the east police station!"

"What time?!" Saeko called.

"Seven o'clock!" said Komuro. "If not today, then tomorrow at the same time!"

The flaming bus collapsed in on itself. One of Them came closer. Saeko raised her bokken to strike it, but it dropped dead of its own accord, the fire having heated up the skull and made its contents nothing more than a hot soup. Sabe took a step back, breathing heavily.

"Come on," Saeko said harshly, turning back toward the bus.

"That was my fault," Sabe said quietly.

Saeko paused. "What?"

"My fault," Sabe repeated. "I should've kept my temper with Tsunoda. I gave Shido an opening, and that's why Miyamoto got off."

Saeko's immediate instinct was to argue against that, but she stopped herself. He did have a temper, and that could be a problem in the future. It would be best if he learned to control it. "It's pointless to dwell on it," she said. "We just need to keep moving. Now get on the bus."

He did. She followed.

Saeko closed the door as she got on. "Looks like we're not taking this freeway anymore," she said.

"Okay," said Miss Shizuka. She started the bus back up and turned the wheel. "I'll turn around and find another way."

Sabe slumped back into his seat and folded his arms over his chest. He glared at his own reflection for a while. After about half an hour of that, his eyes drifted closed and his breathing levelled out. Saeko wasn't sure if he was really asleep or not, but sleep sounded like a good idea either way.

Saeko allowed herself to slip into an uneasy slumber.

Those of you who've read the original will notice a difference in the OC and Saeko's relationship. In the original version, it was pretty one-sided, with Saeko being the aggressor and the OC wondering what he did wrong. Here, I've toned up the hostility on the OC's side (which was easy given his delinquent characterisation in this version) and toned it down on Saeko's side to make the whole thing more mutual whilst still leaving room for friendlier moments. I hope I'm handling the balance okay.

Now, to reviews:

pyrojack25: I am trying to get back into the swing of things. That's part of why I chose to rewrite this. Thought returning to one of my earlier works might relight the ol' fuse.

TheCarlosInferno: There may well be some more story-based inspirations taken from The Walking Dead, but I'll leave that to your imagination until we get there. ;)

See you in the next one.