Day 352, 1:00 PM
Falling asleep on the roof, Kaminari dreams of a time when things were simple. A time and place where the only thing he had to worry about was what was the most trendy thing going on. Now, it seems like no matter what, he'll always and forever be reminded of the fact that that simple life will never come to be. Sighing heavily in his dream and rolling over, he lies on his side and thinks of Kyouk. He wonders if she's thinking of him as he takes a nap on this roof. Huh, a nap on the roof? Not something he's done before. Waking up, he sits up and stretches, ensuring he is fit for whatever comes next. Pulling himself to his feet, he scans the area and checks to see if there are any signs of Deku. Looking around, he finds no signs and that it is simply him on this roof.
Man, it's kinda lonely on this roof. Come on, Deku, wherever you are, hurry up.
As much as he wanted to go down and look for his green-haired friend, the risk and fear of running into those zombie dogs overpowered him into submission so he decided to sit on the roof. Now that he had time to think, he reflects on the zombie dogs.
"How can there be zombie dogs? I thought only humans could get infected. Maybe, it's something else. Maybe..." He slaps himself. "No, Denki, you know what you saw. Zombie dogs, undead dogs. And they're fast, strong, and aggressive."
As Kaminari contemplates the dogs, a pattering sound below catches his ear. He suppresses his voice just in case but carefully peeks over the edge. Looking at the bottom, he spots a small pack of familiar enemies. His eyes widen but he manages to keep himself from screaming.
It's the zombie dogs, they're back.
He carefully steps back and holds his breath and waits patiently for them to hopefully go back.
Down below, the zombie dogs sniff the area and follow the trail leading inside the gas station. The trial continues beyond the small barricade in front of the door so the dogs go around. Heading for the backdoor from earlier, they try to push the door open with their snouts but they simply growl in response. Roaring, they headbutt the door, leaving dents behind. After a few hits from all four dogs, the dog caves in until it tears from the hinges completely. The dogs break through and door and they ram into the second barricaded door before finding themselves in the gas station. Sniffing the air around them loudly, they pause in their tracking when their heads turn towards the door leading to a ladder.
Walking up to the door, the zombie dogs growl softly and begin salivating with blood. They break open the door with their hardheads and sniff at the bottom steps of the ladder. As their sniffs become much more aggressive with each millisecond, their eyes widen in anger. They look up the ladder to see their target peering down at them.
BARK! BARK! BARK! BARK!
Kaminari leaps back and falls on his ass, crawling as far away from the ladder as possible. He makes it to the center of the roof where he believes he'll be the safest and simply pauses. "Oh my god, they found me? How did they find me?"
No, they can't kill me. They can't climb ladders. As long as they can't do that, then... I should be safe, right? Yeah, I should be safe. Okay, I'm safe.
He sits on the ground, crisscrossing his legs, and tries to mediate to block out the noise but the noise only seems to be getting worse with each passing second. The dogs don't stop barking and they're barking aggressively, not stopping for anything. Even as he plugs his ears, he can still hear them barking. He was pretty sure America could hear them barking from here. That's when it hit them.
Oh shit. What if their barking attracts other zombies? What if there's a beast in the area and they attract it? If this place is surrounded by zombies and a beast, I'm as good as dead. Deku can't get back. Oh shit. I gotta silence these zombies.
He looks through his bag and pulls out a can of ham. Or, spam. Yes, I can work with this. He finds the fishing line in the back of his backpack along with a hook. He hooks the spam to the end of the fishing line before heading over to the ladder where he meets the four zombie dogs surrounding the ladder. He lowers the spam as if he were lowering a bucket of water into a well.
The zombie dogs continued to bark at him relentlessly, ignoring the fact that free spam was dangling inches away from them. Though they did manage to get slobber on it.
"They're not going for it." He groans. "Man, I just wasted spam for nothing." He decides to let the fishing hook go and drop the spam. No way I'm eating something with contaminated saliva on it.
Okay, so zombies don't eat food. Well, non-living food, so to speak. I need live bait and ham isn't going to cut it.
But now was his chance to test a theory of his. Will my electricity fry them?
He grabs the ladder and slowly climbs down. Okay, I can only use my indiscriminate shock once or twice depending on my voltage. But... my indiscriminate shock only has a ten-meter ranger or so. If I get down there and make sure the four zombie dogs are within reach and I blast them with my awesome power, then I'll know for sure if I can kill them. It takes two million volts of electricity at least to kill a zombie but beasts aren't killed by it. If these zombie dogs aren't killed by it then at least I can climb back up the ladder, even when I'm braindead.
He climbs down the ladder, stopping halfway when he's sure the zombie dogs won't be able to jump this high.
Okay, the moment of truth.
He wraps his arms around the ladder tight and clings to it for dear life. "Indisrcirminate Shock... 2 Million Volts."
BARK! BARK! BARK!
~ZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!~
...
...
...
"Yay..."
The single word of 'yay' was the only word needed to break the absolute silence in the room, the absolute silence that came once Kaminari calmed down from discharging two million volts. It wasn't just the sound of the atmosphere that changed but rather the smell. What once smelled like dead flesh now smelled like dead burning flesh. Kaminari doesn't bother paying attention to the charred zombie dog corpses at the very bottom of the ladder and simply climbs up as slowly as possible. Carefully climbing with one step each, he makes it back to the top where he closes the hatch to the roof. He stumbles to the center of the roof, holding two thumbs up. "Plus... Ultra!"
He falls to his knees before falling on his side, his Jamming-Yay mode making it hurt less when his back collides hard with the roof. Even in his braindead mode, he can hear the sweet beautiful silence from down below. The zombie dogs were dead. Yes, they were dead and there was no disturbance from anywhere else. He was happy.
"Yay..."
Driving back to Deku's house, Bakugou leads the Shiksetsu student known as GPS into the home as they enter the zombie neighborhood. They stick to alleys and backyards to get there but they leave the car parked and guarded within walking distance. Ground Zero opens the door to Deku's apartment and heads inside with GPS. Ms. Illusion and Pinky stayed outside to stand guard with another Shiketsu survivor named Katana.
Katana was a girl and she wielded a wooden sword she carved out of a tree herself and was ready to use it to defend her traveling companions.
"How long is this going to take?" Pinky asks.
"Don't worry, gal," Ms. Illusion assures her, "GPS knows what he's doing."
"Okay." Pinky looks around. "I just don't like standing outside for too long."
"Don't worry, I'll protect you," Katana assures.
"Good." Pinky peeks through the door. "Guys, hurry up."
GPS sighs heavily. "Pateince, Katana-Sama, patience."
Ground Zero shoes GPS several spots where there were signs of survivors coming through. He takes him to Deku's bedroom and shows him several picture frames that were taken. He then heads over to the doorknob. GPS sighs heavily before heading for the doorknob. "Okay, chances are, there'll be his fingerprints and your fingerprints. So, I'll need to concentrate. I need to concentrate. I need to hone my senses so I can tell the difference between your fingerprints and his."
"Just hurry up, asshole."
"Whatever you say, Ground Zero."
GPS sniffs the doorknob like a dog. He sneezes into his inner elbow as dust gets in his nose. "Man, I hate dust." He sniffs again and when he pauses, Ground Zero looks over. "Ahh, I smell your fingerprints. Yes, I smell two sets of fingerprints, both recent. One is yours. That means... this other one..." He sniffs hard and loudly again and straightens his back like a soldier. "Yes, I have the scent. Yes, I can track them." He closes his eyes and makes a praying pose. "Now then, I require twenty-four hours of filtering out my senses."
"Let's go then." Ground Zero grabs his shoulder and pulls him away. "Filter it out back home, will ya?"
GPS rolls his eyes. "So impatient, child."
"Whatever, dickhead."
Ground Zero escorts GPS away and out onto the stairway leading down. The five of them quickly run down the stairs but stop suddenly when a swarm of zombies appears at the bottom.
"Oh," GPS gasps softly, "I guess I didn't have enough leeway in using my quirk."
The zombies ascend the staircase, blocking off the survivors. "Samurai warrior, be a good little ninja and take them out for me, will ya?"
Katana rolls her eyes. "A simple please would suffice, asshole." She draws her wooden sword. "卑怯者のように生きていくつもりだ," she says in English. "死にたくないから." She slices the first zombie's head off and kicks it down the stairs. She leaps forward and breaks the crowd of zombies. She slices at their fingers before getting close. She wears a wooden version of a skit mask where there are only eyeholes. She slices at the zombies' arms and legs before stabbing them in the skull. A small pack of runners charge for her. She throws several shurikens at them. She sprints for them this time and slices at their feet. She dodges and maneuvers around the zombies, drawing them away from the group as they run for the car.
"What about your teammate?" Ground Zero yells.
Ms. Illusion laughs. "Trust me, Bakubae, Katana is a totes badass and she can totes take care of herself. She is like seriously, wicked coolio, ya know."
The four of them run through the neighborhood, dodging zombies, leaping over fences, and charging through backyards to escape. As they look back, they see Katana running after them, parkouring over the fences while 'disarming' zombies of their arms.
They make it to the car where they hop in. They start it up before driving in reverse for a short while. Katana quickly leaps onto the roof of the car and holds onto the edges of the open sunroof. She bangs her hand against the roof twice. "Drive."
GPS laughs. "By all means." He shifts gears and drives off. He keeps the speed to a minimum because of his classmate on the roof but he doesn't stop for anything. Katana settles on riding on the roof rather than climbing inside and Ground Zero looks at her with confusion.
"She likes hanging off trucks," GPS explains, almost as if he were reading Ground Zero's mind. "She would've made a great firefighter."
"Yeah," Ms. Illusion agrees. "Cray-cray."
When they drive out of the neighborhood, GPS can drive without constantly making stops and minimize the risk for Katana on top.
Ground Zero looks to the driver. "When can you get started on tracking Deku?"
"Soon. And I already started filtering out their senses. I should know everything about their locations and whereabouts very soon."
Being welcomed warmly into their community, Kirishima and Shinsou were offered to take a shower. While this was a middle school and did not have a shower room, one of the bathrooms had been converted into a shower room. The plumbing still works so they have access to working toilets and sinks. The showers come from water in a bucket for watering plants. Though they have no body wash, they decide it's better than nothing. At least they can clean themselves. Kirishima misses his hair dye and more often than not, keeps forgetting he has black hair instead of red hair. Mina promised she wouldn't reveal his secret about his makeover to everyone but with the apocalypse happening, his secret was revealed when he no longer had access to his hair dye and his original hair color grew back.
As Kirishima and Shinshou shared a shower (not the same shower but two different showers in the same bathroom), Shiketsu High took the liberty of washing their clothes for them. As they settled in and got dressed in their now clean clothes, they met up with the rest of the SHiketsu High students, who watched them curiously and with caution.
Kirishima and Shinsou head to the cafeteria where the survivors have lunch for the day. The survivors gift the two outsiders with trays of food. Fully cooked prime meat food. Kirishima and Shinsou salivate at the sight of food and scream as they dig in.
"FOOD!"
As they much on the meat, they failed to notice that they had water brought to their table along with one cup of soda for them to share. Guess even SHiketsu had to save up on soda sometimes.
"Man, I can't believe how much I missed for like this," Kirishima says. "Man, thank you guys so much. You know, if this was a restaurant back when things were normal, I would've sent this food back but not now. No, I'm keeping this food to eat and I'm making sure it's digesting in my stomach."
One of the survivors, the cook, smiles. "I'm glad you like my cooking. It's my mom's recipe."
"Yeah," another survivor yells, "the recipe is thaw, heat, and serve."
"Shut up." The cook offers a smile. "Enjoy."
The UA survivors waste no time in wolfing down the rest of their food because they pick up their trays and discard the scraps off the tray and into a trashcan. One of the survivors quickly ties the trash bag into a knot before taking it away to the nearby furnace in the corner of the cafeteria. Turning on the furnace, he tosses the trash bag inside before closing the hatch tightly.
The cook approaches the two survivors. "So, how long are you guys staying here?"
"For as long as it takes." Kirishima takes a sip of water. "We're grateful for what you've done, seriously, but we're needed back home."
"What is your group like?" The cook steps forward. "How many, how strong, what class?"
Shinsou looks at the cook. "What's your name?"
"Oh, the name's Boyardee."
~HAhAHAHAHAHAHAHA~
"Boyardee?" Kirishima pats Shinsou on the shoulder, unable to contain his laughter. "That's your goddamn name?"
"It's not my real name jackass. And just a bit of a warning. I cook the food for everyone here and the next time you insult me... well... the next time you have a can of Chef Boyardee, there's going to be an extra special ingredient inside and it's not going to be love."
"Sorry, man," Shinsou laughs again, patting his stomach to calm himself down. "It's just, I never expected that handsome chef to have a weaponized name. Like seriously. What is your quirk?"
"Not related to my name, thank you very much." Boyardee casts one last glance at the boys before walking away.
The survivor who threw the trash bag into the furnace identifies himself as 'Grindor' before talking. "You know, Boyardee never was a very social kinda guy. He's a good cook but nah, antisocial."
"Sorry." Kirishima looks around. "So, you guys live like this every day."
Grindor nods. "Every day. We scavenge, we build, we improvise but above all else, we survive."
"Maybe we should a page out of your playbook."
"Maybe. But we're pretty sure our playbook is our playbook. After all, how many survivors do you send on supply runs? Three, four, five?"
"Six." Kirishima remembers the Kamisquad."
"Six, yikes. We only need to send Ms. Illusion out there and she brings us back the most shit."
"Shouldn't she have a group with her?"
"Ms. Illusion doesn't need a group. Why would she need a group?"
"In case she gets overwhelmed? What if she hurts herself or gets smoked out by a beast?"
Grindor tilts his head. "A beast?"
"Oh, a beast is what we call those big zombies."
Grindor narrows his eyes. "A beast. Sounds better than our name for those giant zombies We've encountered at least one of them."
"And all of you survived?"
"Yeah. These uh... 'beasts'... are uh... easy to deal with once you recognize their pattern."
"There's a pattern?"
"Yeah, and it's how we survive this world. This world is no different from the last word; the only difference is we're now aware we can die at any minute."
"And doesn't that bother you?"
"It does. And that's why we've prepared for such stress."
Right on cue, another survivor approaches them, holding something in his hand. Upon closer inspection, Kirishima realizes what it is.
A cigarette.
The survivor lights the cigarette and takes a deep breath. He blows out a puff of smoke at the survivors. They cough but it's the smell that makes them freeze in place.
"What is that?" Shinsou asks. "Why does it smell like that?"
"You should ask people for their names before you ask what they got in their possession." Another drag. "The name's Tongue-Tied by the way." He takes one more puff of smoke. "And it's pot; that's why it smells like that."
"Pot?" Kirishima's eyes widen. "You're smoking drugs?"
"I am." He takes a long drag this time before very slowly letting out a puff of smoke. "It takes the edge off and it smells really good." He holds the cigarette out. "Come on, have a hit."
Kirishima hesitates. "Why?"
"Like I said, it takes the edge off. Come on then, have a hit, see what you think."
"Smoking gives you cancer," Shinsou tries to tell him.
"We live in a world where dead people come to life and attack us. We live in a world where our loved ones can die at any moment and there's nothing we can do to stop that. We live in a world where resources are so scarce, there's only so much medicine left, and the one thing that should be at the forefront of my mind is dying of lung cancer?" He laughs. "Trust me; between dying a slow and painful death by zombies and lung cancer, I'll choose lung cancer every time because at least it wasn't an unexpected way to die back in the old world." He takes another long drag and sighs heavily. "Here, have a hit and see what you think." He looks at Shinsou. "Especially you; you look like you could use something to get your mind off things. What with those bags under your eyes and all."
Shinsou hesitates before looking down at the cigarette. The smell overcomes him and he almost gags but he contains himself. He grabs the cigarette from Tongue-Tied's mouth and takes a drag. His eyes widen as the smoke enters his lungs and he coughs. He bends over and puts a hand on his stomach, almost vomiting before he manages to straighten his back. Unexpectedly, he takes another hit. This time, his lungs offer little resistance though he manages to cough quieter this time.
Kirishima turns away at the smoke, his nose twitching a bit before he thinks back to all the people he lost this past year. How many people he failed to save? To this day, he still feels guilty for not saving Mina from that giant monster some years ago, and how he still feels like he can't call himself a man. Maybe something to take the edge off would be good.
He takes the cigarette and has himself a hit.
1:30
Arriving back at base, Ground Zero pulls himself out of the passenger seat and runs for the school. He is welcomed with open arms, well by proxy, since GPS, Katana, and Ms. Illusion were the only squadmates they cared about to see return.
Camie removes her glittering mask before stepping towards Bakugou. "You hungry, Bakubae?"
"Yeah, I guess so."
"Good, because Chef Boyardee makes a killer steak. We usually save our steaks for special occasions but you're our guests." She pulls him forward. "Come on, let's eat together, bae."
Bakugou offers little resistance as Camie leads him to the cafeteria. The others follow after him and they sit in their corner of the table. Kirishima and Shinsou were in the corner of the library, smoking with a small group of people, and were applauded for their efforts in fighting through their coughs.
Bakugou sits at a table and Camie sits beside him. She sets two trays down for herself and him, both with plates of steak. "Dig in, Bakubae, you're going to totes love Boyardee's cooking."
Bakugou digs into the steak with a fork and knife but pauses suddenly upon seeing Camie arm herself with a pot cigarette. He watches her take a long hit before blowing in the direction opposite of him.
"Do ya smoke, bae?"
He shakes his head. "No."
"Do you want to?"
"No."
"Good." She takes another drag.
"Where'd you get pot from?"
"We met a survivor group and traded with them."
"You traded your supplies for pot?"
"The medicine came with pot."
"I can't stand people who smoke."
"Then why haven't you walked away."
"Because I don't find you annoying enough to walk away." He was about to say more when Mora and Shishikura stepped towards Bakuou and towered over him.
"As you can see, we fulfilled our end of the promise," Shishikura explains. "We found the scent of your friends, and now, we just gotta wait until tomorrow to locate them."
"And it's still free of charge?"
"Absolutely," Mora assures. "We'll help you save your friend. After that, well, we can decide where our relationship goes next."
"Relationship?"
"Between our two groups."
Bakugou remembers that Camie said they traded with another group for medicine. "Oh. Yeah."
"You know, if your group is large enough, we can pull our resources. Just think: The unification of UA High and Shiketsu High. We can hammer out the details later but I'm sure we can make it work."
Bakugou looks at them, almost glaring. "You guys are trusting, aren't you? You shouldn't be so trusting."
"Why is that?"
Shishikura glares. "Are you saying you're dangerous people?"
"It's been almost a year, meatball guy, I'm pretty sure anyone still alive is a dangerous person. Have you ever killed someone before?"
The Shiketsu students say nothing.
"I figured. So then, you want to pull our resources, I get it, but don't be too trusting of us. After all, how do you know we're not using you?"
"Because you didn't get physical with me," Camie smirks, "back when I held my illusions up, you didn't attack me. That's why... we know you're not violent people, bae."
"Camie may be an idiot but she's right," Shishikura agrees. "If she brought you back, we can trust you. And your teammates have been nothing but friendly to us. And in spite of you acting like a back-alley hoodlum thug, you're not hostile."
"The people in Hosu city were assholes who deserved to die."
Mora shakes his head. "We don't deserve to die. You don't deserve to die either if you're willing to look for your friend. But our question remains as before."
Bakugou sits down in his seat. "Give me a moment to come up with an answer then I'll get back to you. But first, let's focus on finding Deku and that sparky kid."
2:00
BANG!
Kaminari leaps to a sitting position and gasps as he hears banging on the hatch to get down the roof.
BANG!
He grabs his knife and-
BANG!
The hatch opens and Deku pops his head through and finds Kaminari sitting in the middle of the roof. "Kaminari?"
Kaminari sighs heavily. "Oh my god, Deku, you have no idea how glad I am to see you. WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?!"
Character Cards
-Nao "Katana" Zaizen
Quirk: Woodchuck (She can use any wood-based weapon with deadly precision).
Occupation: Shiketsu High Hero Course Student (Formerly) Shiketsu survivor.
Age: 18
Birthday: August 31st
Height: 155 cm.
Blood: O
Likes: Pickles.
Dislikes: Teddy bears.
Other Facts: Sister was killed by the Kansai Ripper.
-Choji "Boyadee" Egami
Quirk: Batter-Rang (He can throw aluminum baseball bats like boomerangs).
Occupation: Shikstestu High Hero Course Student (Formerly); cook for Shiketsu High survivors.
Age: 18
Birthday: January 2nd
Height: 176 cm.
Blood: A
Likes: Fire.
Dislikes: Beards
Other Facts: Deaf in one ear.
- Tetsu "Tongue-Tied" Tokuda
Quirk: Hang-Tongue (He can extend his tongue to make a noose).
Occupation: Shiketsu High Hero Course Student (Formerly); Shiketsu survivor.
Age: 17
Birthday: October 5th
Height: 158 cm.
Blood: B
Likes: Iron.
Dislikes: Plastic.
Other Facts: Addicted to painkillers.
-Gin 'Grindor' Ryuzaki
Quirk: Plastic Melt (He can melt plastic with his bare hands as long as there's fire in the vicinity).
Occupation: Shiketsu High General Course Student (Formerly); garbage man for Shiketsu
Age: 19
Birthday: May 7th
Height: 155 cm
Blood: AB
Likes: Las Vegas
Dislikes: Filthy hands.
Other Facts: Learned to drive a car at 12.