Day 342, 7:00 AM

After the sun rises, the forester sets up the tent to take shelter inside. Before he does, however, he sets up the string of cans all over the vicinity, remembering that they are supposed to be his alarm against any zombies. It has been a few days since he killed a zombie but seeing zombies in the woods was too common, even for him. How he managed to go three days without killing a zombie, he'll never know. He sits back in the tent and begins warming up the water, remembering to boil it before drinking.

The forester wears a black trench coat with signs of wear-and-tear given how his undershirt was exposed through multiple holes and he wears a pair of baggy shorts barely coming down to his knees.

Sitting back down against his old, fluffy pillow, he takes careful sips of water before looking at the tent entrance. Crawling outside, he heads over to his small campfire and begins fashioning a knife out of a stick, just like the cavemen back in the olden days.

Whistling 'Swing Low, Sweet Chariots' to keep him company, he notices the fire starting to die out. Standing up, he steps over the strings and wires of the can around him and pockets his stainless steel knife in the back of his pants. Stepping over several logs and walking a good fifty feet away from his campsite, he collects several pieces of firewood before turning back. Walking at a brisk pace, he stops when he sees a squirrel run into an empty log.

Breakfast.

Smiling a bit and showing some stained yellow teeth, he jogs over to the log and sticks his hand in.

"Aah," he winces as he pulls his hand out from the log. Looking at his hand, he pulls several splinters sticking out of the back of his hand. Removing them quickly, he turns to the log to reach in again before something catches his ear.

Growl...

Hearing the soft growling sound of something inside the log that doesn't sound like a squirrel and might be a zombie, he backs away.

Without realizing it, a drop of black liquid drips down the back of his hand from the first splinter he pulled out.

Time of infection: 7:25 AM

UA Dorms

Sitting on the sofa, trying to do the best they can to keep themselves distracted, Jirou plays on the PlayStation console set up in the common area.

As they're playing some multiplayer game, Kuroiro sits beside Jirou. "So, how much are you betting that Deku and Kaminari will come back to us without resistance?"

Jirou pauses. "Knowing Deku, he'll probably put up a fight. But Kaminari, he'll want to come back. But... what are we going to bet?"

"The next time we find candy bars on a supply run," he answers. "Whoever wins gets all the candy we find and they don't have to share."

"Okay. I bet that Deku will come back but not after putting up a fight. As for Kaminari, he'll want to come back."

Kuroiro nods. "Okay then. To keep things even, I will say that Deku will want to come back but Kaminari will be the one to put up a fight."

Jirou looks at him. "Really?"

"I'm just making sure that there will be a winner one way or another."

Mineta looks over. "I bet that they both will come back without putting up a fight."

Kenta peers over their shoulder. "I try to stay away from eating too much sweets so I'm going to say they don't come back." He drums his fingers on the sofa. "Although, I am hoping they do come back."

Komori joins them on the sofa. "I see all of you shrooms have your own bets so I'm not going to be participating."

Kendo and Monoma step forward.

"I see they're not back," Kendo says to everyone. "Bakugou isn't back with Deku and Kaminari."

"Maybe they're with them right now," Shiozaki says. "I hope they are. I'm praying that they are."

"We can pray all we want but we need more than prayers." Kendo slaps her forehead. "Damn, I should've fought harder. What if none of them come back? Damn, fuck, we shouldn't have split up."

"We took a vote," Monoma reminds her, "ya gotta respect democracy."

"Yeah," Kendo nods with a roll of her eyes.

"Credit when credit is due, Kaminari was the best supply runner in our group but don't tell the angry pomeranian that. No worries, this just gives Class 1-B a chance to shine as supply runners." He smiles widely.

Kendo looks at him. "Do you want me to karate chop you unconscious... again?"

Monoma shivers. "Not today."

"Good." Kendo looks over. "Guys, I hate to do this but we need to start preparing in case Bakugou and the others don't come back. We need to assign new supply runners."

"You seem to be forgetting, Kendo," Kuroiro stands up, "the Kamisquad is the supply runner for this little survivor group. We can handle ourselves."

"Yeah, but Kaminari had his dirtbike which made it easy to maneuver," Komori admits. "So, I'm going to miss that."

Kendo claps her hands together. "Well, we can have the Kamisquad keep being our supply runners but since we're down five people, we need some contingencies just in case. We need to be preparing just in case. We need to up our game, all of us."

"Amen," Kamakiri nods.

Tokoyami folds his arms over his chest. "Reverly in the dark once again?"

Uraraka looks over at the bird boy. He's STILL saying that?

Kendo looks around. "Is it me or are we missing some people? Aside from the obvious five?"

"Oh," Pony begins, "two of us are hunting in the woods."

"Who?"

"Kodai, Kaibara."

Shoda looks over. "Are we sure that's the only thing they're doing out in the woods?"

"What else could they be doing?" Pony asks.

Manga laughs. "Going at it like rabbits, getting lost, getting lost in nature, you know, primeval stuff."

3:30 PM

With Koda and Kaibara

Walking back to the dorms holding several squirrels in their hands, Kaibara looks around, making sure there are no zombies in the immediate vicinity. They quickly take cover behind a tree when they see a pack of zombies stumbling to their right and wait patiently. The zombies walk past them, missing them by a few feet, and walk in the distance.

As they push themselves off the tree, Kaibara looks over at Kodai.

"Ready to go home?" he asks.

"Yeah," Kodai nods.

Kaibara counts the three dead squirrels in her hand. "You're very crafty, Yui."

She nods. "You too." She gestures to the four dead squirrels in his hand. "Father took me camping frequently when I was younger, taught me a thing or two about catching 'wabbits'."

They step over a small log and begin walking in the direction of the dorms. As they're walking, they pause when they see an orange tent set up in the distance. Looking around for any signs of survivors, they stroll to the tent. Stepping over the string of cans, they look around. "Uh, hello?" Kaibara calls out in a whispering tone. "Is someone there?"

Noticing the charred firepit in the center of the camp, he steps over and smells the remains to try and see how long they've been out. Looking back to Kodai, he sees her stepping toward the tent.

"Hello?" she carefully unzips the tent. "Hello?"

A hand leaps out at her. Kodai gasps before backing away, tripping over Kaibara and making them both tumble to the ground. The two drop the squirrels before looking back to the tent, and seeing someone crawling out.

The forester crawls out of the tent, his eyes landing on the survivors. Just as it appears he's about to crawl after them, he gasps loudly. "Who are you?"

He's alive, Kaibara internally sighs. "Oh, thank god, we thought you were a zombie." However, no comfort comes to either teen as their eyes finally comprehend the forester before them.

The forester, looking like a homeless man clothing-wise, looks worse in his skin. Specifically, there were crimson red rashes on his neck and black patches of skin on the back of both of his hands. Some of the skin on his shoulder was exposed to reveal purple patches of flesh sprawling from his shoulder blade to what appeared to be his collarbone.

"Holy shit," Kaibara gasps, "are you okay?"

He coughs, small droplets of blood flying through the air and landing on the leaves on the forest floor. "N-no," he gulps, "I need help. Please, please, I don't know what's going on with me. Please, I'm sick. Please, please help me!"

His voice rises in volume, causing Kaibara and Kodai to look around for any signs of zombies.

"Hang on," Kaibara tells him. "Don't worry, we'll... we'll get you some help. Stay here, we'll get some medicine and come back. We have antibiotics and..."

The forester pulls himself to his feet. "Please, please help me."

Kaibara's eyes widen as the forester towers over them. "We will, just... stay back!" He grabs Kodai's hands and pulls her up. "Look, just, stay in your tent and we'll bring back help."

"Please, help me." He staggers toward them. "I need help. My... my flesh..."

Kaibara looks at the black patches of flesh on his skin again. "Stay back!" Kaibara yells again. "Here." He snatches one of the squirrels off the ground. "Here, take this. Here, you can have it - just stay the fuck back."

The man continues approaching them.

"Stay back!" Kaibara yells. "I'm warning you!"

As Kaibara and Kodai step back, they trip over the string of cans and go down. They quickly abandon the man and make a run for it. Without looking back, they run as fast as they can back to the dorms, silently cursing under their breaths as they only bring one squirrel back with them.

As they make it to the gates, they quickly push open the slightly ajar doors before closing it shut and sealing it behind them.

Running inside, they sigh heavily.

Kendo approaches them. "Where were you guys?"

Kaibara continues to sigh heavily. "Hunting." He holds up the squirrel. "Look what we got for dinner."

Kendo's stomach growls. "Why were you guys out of breath?"

"Some guy in a zombie state chased us away."

"Excuse me?"

"Zombie," Kodai says simply.

"Oh," Kendo nods. "Are you guys alright?"

"Yeah," Kaibara nods, "just a little out of breath. Could use some water. Oh, and... sorry we couldn't catch anymore."

"You came back." Kendo takes the rabbit. "That's all that matters. And this one rabbit can save at least one of us so it wasn't for nothing."

"Thank you."

Manga walks up to them. "Are you guys sure you're out of breath only because you were running?"

Kaibara looks at them. "Yes." He picks himself up with Kodai following him. He takes half a water bottle with him up to his room and locks the door behind him.

Sitting on his bed, Kaibara takes a sip of half of the water in the half-cup before giving the rest to Kodai.

"We left that guy there," Kaibara whispers. "We just... left him. He was sick and we just left him."

"We couldn't do anything," Kodai says. "Not our fault."

"But we promised him medicine," he counters. "We told him we have medicine and... we would help him. And we just left him there. And... the squirrels, we could've brought more food for everyone else and we dropped them and ran off because we were scared." He leans over, resting his elbows on his knees. "He's probably in pain, suffering right now, all because we left him. Maybe if we gave him some painkillers or antibiotics, we could've made his life a little less painful. Oh god." He nearly vomits but he holds it in because vomiting means upchucking his meal for the day and in this world, vomiting your meal is not an option.

"Then let's give home some medicine."

Kaibara looks at her. "The others won't like it. After the Bystanders, they'll want us to not have contact with other survivors."

"Not their call; we'll sneak out if we have to." Kodai looks ahead. "I'll shrink the first aid pack and we'll sneak out tonight."

Kaibara looks at her. "Are you sure? I mean, are you really sure?"

Kodai clenches her jaw. "I am."

11:45 PM

Gathering their stuff to take with them on the trip to the man's tent, Kaibara and Kodai quickly sneak up and over the gates of the dorms before slowly marching over to where they last saw the tent. Relying primarily on instincts and the very subtle cues Kaibara can pick up thanks to his previous experiences in the camp, they can traverse through the woods smoothly. Well, smooth enough. Not smooth as butter but something close.

They trip over some sticks, branches, and logs but manage to mostly stay upright and they remember all the hollow trees they can hide in in case of any zombies. They prefer avoiding zombies as opposed to fighting them because fighting them is too risky. Too dangerous.

Yeah, those Walking Dead characters can dispatch zombies with ease but there are walkers and runners in this kind of apocalypse, and, even though they're less common, smart zombies and zombies built like fucking bulldozers. Better safe than sorry.

Then again, in this world, with everything they've done, chances are, they're bound to be just as sorry as they are safe, regardless of what they do.

Remembering the path they took to run away, even in their panicked state, they retrace their footsteps back to the camp with ease. Stepping carefully over a log, they spot something in the distance. Tilting his head, Kaibara realizes it is the tent from earlier. The bizarre thing is that the campfire isn't on but the string of cans surrounding the camp are still up. Even more bizarre, the squirrels they dropped were still there.

As the duo step over the strings, they stop at the pile of dead squirrels before groaning.

"Should we take it?" Kaibara asks.

Kodai shakes her head.

Kaibara's stomach growls. "Right, that guy could've coughed on them or... touched them." He groans in frustration. Damn it. Had we been calmer, then we could've grabbed our dinner for tonight. But now we can't because we can't risk catching whatever that guy had. Speaking of which.

"Hello?" he whisper-yells at the tent. "Excuse me, sir, it's us again." Kaibara steps toward the tent before Kodai grabs his elbow and pulls him back. He sighs heavily, nodding very slowly to tell her he understands. "We're back... we got the medicine that you wanted. Or... uh... we got you some antibiotics. And some painkillers." He turns to Kodai. She pulls out the first aid kit. Kaibara takes it. "Sir, we're going to leave you one bottle of antibiotics and painkillers each. I'm not a doctor so I don't know what I'm supposed to do so..." He carefully pulls out the antibiotics and painkillers before setting it down. "Also, you can have our squirrels. If you didn't touch them because you knew they were ours, thank you but you can have them."

Kaibara tilts his head. "Hello, sir, are you there?" He steps forward. "Sir? Are you there? Hello?"

He carefully approaches the tent and reaches out. He pauses inches away from the zipper. "Sir, I'm coming in. Do not lunge at me or I will be forced to defend myself." He sighs heavily, catching his breath. "I'm going to unzip the tent so I can see inside. On the count of three. One...two...three." He unzips the tent and pulls the flap open before backing away. Looking inside to see nothing, he gasps before turning around. "Sir, are you there?" He scans the area around him. "Sir, where are you?"

Kodai looks over, feeling chills run up her spine. "S-shit."

"Let's get out of here." Kaibara quickly leaps over the string of cans after Kodai. Pausing, he turns to stare at the squirrels on the ground once more. His stomach growls louder this time, sounding almost like a zombie and nearly making Kodai turn around to look for any signs of a zombie. "Sir, if you're around or you're within earshot, we're going to leave the antibiotics and painkillers with you. And the squirrels too." His eyes focus on the squirrels.

So hungry, so hungry, but... what if it's contaminated? He clenches his fists. Damn it.

"Let's go," he urges, "come on, let's go, get out of here."

Day 343, 12:00 AM

Staying up late on the couch to guard the place, Sero leans back on the sofa as he feels a familiar presence beside him. Looking over, he catches Shiozaki by his side.

"Hey, Ibara," Sero says softly.

"Hanta." Shiozaki sits next to him. "I thought you might like some company so... here I am."

"Thanks." Sero looks ahead.

"Hanta, I want to talk to you about your vote. Why were you so... determined to kick Deku and Kaminari out of the group? They were your friends. Sure, they committed the truth but...don't you believe in second chances?"

Sero looks at her with an unsure look on his face.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Sero looks to the front door with wide eyes. "What the fuck? Did I just hear knocking on the door?" He stands up. "Someone's knocking on the front door."

Shiozaki's eyes widen. "Oh, but, everyone is asleep in their rooms."

"Go wake up the others, I'll check it out. If it is a brainiac, I'll deal with him. If it's a survivor, I'll still deal with him." He points to his elbows. "Go." Shiozaki follows his orders and runs off while Sero runs to the front door.

Looking through the peephole, he sees the outline of a human standing, and given how the human was clawing at its hair, he knew that it was a human.

A survivor.

Sero kicks open the door.

The forester falls to the ground screaming in agony as he lands hard on his back, his right arm missing from the shoulder joint.

Sero screams as he backs away, tripping on his own feet.

The other students turn on the lights and run for the front doors. The 1-A students quickly check on Sero while the 1-B students head for the doors. Collectively, they exclaim in horror and disgust at the man who has black patches of skin running from his shoulder blade to his collarbone and then spreading upwards to his neck.

"Help me, please. Please, my arms are falling off!"

"Shit," Kamakiri yells. "Close the fucking door!"

Without questioning it, Tsuburaba slams the door shut and barricades it with his back.

"What the hell was that?" Kendo demands. "Who was at the door? How did he get in through the gates?"

"It was a survivor," Sero says as he picks himself up. "He, holy shit, he looked sick."

"Did you see those black spots on his arm," Yagani says, "disgusting."

"Open the door - we have to help him!" Shiozaki says. "He needs help."

"Open the door," Uraraka agrees. "Please."

"No way," Kimiko yells, standing next to Mogami and Shimamura. "We're not letting that contagious guy in here."

"He needs help," Uraraka yells.

"No," Shimamura also yells. "Keep the fucking door closed; he's not getting in."

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

"Go away," Kamakiri yells, "can't you see you're not wanted."

Tsuburaba locks the door. "Listen, man, we're sorry but we're not letting you in."

"Keep the door closed for now until we figure something out," Kendo orders. "How the hell did he find us?"

Click.

Suddenly, without warning, the lock begins to shift and turn counterclockwise. Tsuburaba quickly locks the lock again but almost immediately after, the lock rotates again. "He's got a key." He looks through a peephole. For a second, the man wasn't in his sight before realizing the man was still on the ground, holding his remaining hand open, palm open. "He's got some kind of quirk that allows him to unlock doors!" He shifts his view to see the gates open. "Holy shit, the gates are wide open!"

"He's going to draw zombies to us," Manga realizes with horror.

"Stop using your quirk," Tsuburbaa orders. "Stop! Stop using your fucking quirk! You're going to draw zombies to us."

Without warning, Kamakiri, Kimiko, and Shimamura quickly open the nearby window and climb out.

"Shut the gates," Kamakiri orders as they move to avoid the man. They run to the gates and start pushing it close. Just as they were inches away from closing the gates, the growls of a zombie overwhelmed their hearing, and zombie hands reached through the cracks, followed swiftly by the door being pushed against them.

"Stop using your quirk!" Tsuburaba orders again. "Stop using your fucking quirk! For the love of god, stop!"

The forest continues using his quirk on the door, hoping it might get him in somehow.

Kamakiri and the other two continue to push with all their might against the gates before they call for backup. Soon enough, Kuroiro and Kenta come to the rescue and big boy Kenta manages to push the gates open, despite the overwhelming force pushing back. The zombies continue to claw at the gate, making the kids step back.

Suddenly, the forester gags before his body convulsed. He projectily vomits blood on the doorknob. The man stands up suddenly, screaming as he falls to his knees. Without warning, his other arm disconnects from his shoulder joint and flops to the ground like a wet rag. Screaming at the top of his lungs, he vomits blood again, this time, it lands on the shoes of Kamakiri as he steps forward.

"He's going to spread whatever flu he's got," Kamakiri realizes.

Kimiko rips out a roll of plastic for cooking before she gets behind the forester. Without hesitation, she wraps his head in plastic. The man vomits into the plastic, which causes him to choke and crumble to the ground as he suffocates on his own bloody vomit.

The man convulsed and tried to rip himself free with his stumps but he only failed as Kimiko dropped him to the ground and removed the plastic before pinning him down. "Listen, we're going to get you help. We're going to help you, just stay here!"

The man convulsed one more time. Without warning, he vomits blood. Luckily, Shimamura saw what was about to happen and quickly dived to pull Kimiko away but the blood got on both of their faces.

Kamakiri steps over and pushes his foot down. "I'm so sorry." He draws a blade and jams it through the man's neck. Without wasting another second, he quickly drags the blade along the forester's neck before it decapitates the head cleanly from his body like a Barbie doll. Blood sprays onto Kamakiri's face but he manages to close his eyes and mouth, though the look of unease on his face is still written there.

Sighing heavily, the sounds of the zombies banging on the gates die down as they retreat in the distance, seemingly drawn by someone else using their quirks. Tsuburaba finally opens the door to the sight of Kamakiri standing over the decapitated forester with blood on his face.

Bizarrely, Kodai and Kaibara are climbing over the gates to the left of the gate door before leaping down. They pause and stare at the forester's body with horror. They look at each other before turning back to the group.

"What were you doing on the other side of the wall?" Kendo demands sternly.

We can't tell them what we've been up to, Kaibara tells himself. We can't. "The zombies were... were going to break through the gate. Kodai and I climbed over and drew them away." Well, using our quirks to draw the zombies away was true.

Kendo glares at them. "You could've told us your plan. What if they overwhelmed you out there?"

"We're sorry." Kaibara stands to his feet, Kodai suddenly having an expression of horror on her face as she buries her face into Kaibara's shoulder.

We're so sorry, everyone. He looks at the dead forester. Especially you.

Time of infections: 12:05 AM and 12:06 AM.

Character Cards

-Yoichi Iwadere (The Forester)

Quirk: Lock Pick (He can unlock any door telekinetically but he must first make physical contact with the lock).

Occupation: Home Organizer (Formerly); wandering survivor.

Age: 39

Birthday: October 11th

Height: 176cm.

Blood Type: O

Likes: Pickleball.

Other Facts: Teetotaler.