Day 402, 9:30 PM

"Shit!" Kaminari curses as he backs away. "Come on!"

Jirou stands there in shock as the zombie rats quickly swarm the room like water flooding in. Without thinking, she follows Kaminari.

Kaminari leaps to the top of a shelf and pulls Jirou up and it only costs him dropping his torch, which lands flat on the carpet with one bounce, and the fire spreads to the carpet. The swarm of vermins reach the shelf and skitter around it, trying to find another way up. Kaminari and Jirou sit with their asses on the top of the shelf with their knees pulled to their chests.

"You gotta be fucking kidding me!" Jirou exclaims. "Rats! Zombie rats!"

Kaminari hugs her tightly. "How are we going to get out of here?"

The zombie rats continue to swarm into the room. Not enough for them to climb over each other but enough to overpower an adult man. Not only that, but they're walking over the torch and continue skittering forward, despite some of them being lit aflame.

"Look, looks like that torch doesn't do shit," Kaminari realizes. He counts four flaming zombie rats and feels his heart race.

"Come on, we can't just stand here."

"I'll fry them." Kaminari stands up on the shelf. "Okay, you just, climb up to that wooden beam up top and once you're out of range, I'll fry them."

"No! What if there are more and you go stupid? You're only good for one hit with two million volts and two for 1.3 million volts. If you turn dumb on me, how will we get out of here? I don't know how to ride a dirtbike."

"Sorry, sorry, my bad."

"And if it takes two million volts to put them all down, then I don't want to be dragging your dumbass with me."

"Then use your heartbeat distortion on them. You know, tear the ground apart!"

"I am not setting one foot down on the floor if those rats are there." Damn it, our quirks work well for villain attacks but not for zombies. Damn it, when did quirks get so incompatible against zombies? Not only that but if there are nearby zombies in the area, our quirks usage will attract them. Fuck.

Jirou looks up to the wooden beam Kaminari pointed to earlier. It was a wooden beam connected to more wooden beams extending throughout the meditation room. They were narrow but big enough to walk across assuming they knew how to keep their balance. They were about six feet above their head so that meant that if Kaminari was able to lift her up, then she would be able to pull him up. Then again, strength wasn't really her thing.

Even during all those fitness tests, Kaminari still managed to outrank her, despite his rather poor intelligence. Yes, he may have been an airhead in some cases, but he was stronger, faster, and more agile than her.

"Hey, lift me up." Kaminari stands UPC carefully, gluing his back to the wall to not lean over the shelf. He carefully helps Jirou to his feet. "I kinda got an idea. If you lift me, I'll grab the wooden beam, and then you can climb up. Don't worry, you're not too heavy for me."

"What?"

"I said I'll dangle from the beam like I'm doing monkey bars and have you climb up my body. Don't worry, you're not too heavy for me."

She glares at him. "Is that a fat joke?"

"No, no, no. You're... you're a girl and girls are lighter than men."

"Sure." She hands him the torch. "Take this, we're going to need it. Get up to the beam, put the torch down, then dangle like a good little money."

"Roger that; I've always wanted to be a heroic monkey. Give me a boost."

Jirou boosts Kaminari up and he leaps to the wooden beam and dangles with one hand. He pulls himself up and places the torch on top of the beam before dangling with both hands, holding his weight and keeping himself as steady as possible. "Come on, Jirou, come on!"

"I'm going. One, two, three."

Jirou leaps and grabs onto the electric boy's legs and dangles briefly. She manages to grab him by his belt and hang on with her feet hovering just inches off the shelf.

Kaminari winches as he digs his fingers into the beam. "Okay, climb, before you tear my upper half away from my body!"

"You mean lower half, idiot!" Jirou hauls herself up like she was doing a pull-up and grabs his shoulder. She hoists herself up but manages to spare Kaminari from any more pain when she finally reaches the beam. After making it up top, Kaminari thrusts his body upwards and onto the beam. He winces as Jirou picks up the torch and illuminates a path for them.

"You're strong," Jirou compliments.

"You're not so bad yourself."

"I'm so strong... I almost made you fall."

"Yeah, you were. You were so strong, you almost made the wooden beam collapse."

Jirou chuckles. "Okay." She looks down and sees the fire spreading across the carpet like a drop of water landing on paper. "Oh shit. Come on, let's go."

The two of them quickly step across the wooden beam, holding onto each other to keep their balance with Kaminari in the back and Jirou in front of him. They make it to the center when the fire reaches the bookshelf. Kaminari looks back, his face illuminated with the light coming from the fire. His eyes widen.

"Just so you know, I think we have enough fire to roast some marshmallows."

Jirou stops at the wall and grits her teeth. "Damn it, dead end." She cocks her head. "Unless..." She plugs her earphone jacks into her speaker boots. "Just for a brief second and use only the very bare minimum." She sends soundwaves into the wall, soundwaves big enough to leave a crack in the wall before stopping completely. "Kaminari, the wall is weak; kick it."

Kaminari leaps down and dangles from the beam again. He crawls across to get to the other side of Jirou before pulling himself back up. "Alright then. I'm going to huff, I'm gonna puff, and I'm gonna kick this wall down."

He kicks at the wall, increasing the crack. He kicks again, his foot leaving a deeper impression. He kicks a third time, the crack in the wall now looking like a spider web. With one more kick, he puts a hole in the wall the size of his shoe. He kicks around the hole again before his foot fits through completely. He claws his way at the wall before shouldering into it and falls through, landing on a wooden surface. He jumps to his feet and turns.

"Come on, the dark is fine."

Jirou squeezes through the hole with the torch in one hand and stands beside Kaminari. "Okay, where are we?"

"Second floor. Which means, the stairs gotta be somewhere." He grabs her wrist and leads her. "Come on, let's go!"

They charge down the hallway and find a flight of stairs. Just as they were about to head down, a thought struck Jirou. "No, wait, Kaminari!"

They take their first step down the stairs when Kaminari obeys her command. Looking down, the zombie rats begin scaling up the stairs. Even though the torch failed to illuminate their appearance, the electric boy could tell by the skittering sounds they made, the godawful squeaking sounds of theirs, and the glow of their dead eyes reflecting off the torch.

"Oh shit!"

They make a U-turn and run up the stairs and down the hall as the zombie rats chase after them.

"Shit! Shit, shit, shit!" Kaminari looks over his shoulder to see the rats getting closer. "I thought this was supposed to be a zombie apocalypse, not A Plague Tale 3!" Though they manage to outrun them slightly, they are still in hot pursuit and when the other side of the hallway fills with rats, the two teenagers almost come to a stop before Jirou a window to their left.

"Out here!"

Jirou leaps out of the window and onto the roof where she nearly loses her balance and slides off had it not been for Kaminari catching him. Of course, he was able to balance himself on this roof slightly tilting downward. Jirou loses the torch when Kaminari grabs her so suddenly her body jolts and she loses the thing. It tumbles over the edge and to the bottom right next to the front entrance of the monastery.

"Over here!" Kaminari pulls her up and the two quickly hover to their left across the roof as the zombie rats skitter out after them. They run for it until they get to the edge, make a sharp right, and continue running. The rats continue to follow until Jirou gets an idea. Though this was a two-story Buddhist monastery, there was another roof above them and all they had to do was make a simple jump and pull themselves up.

"Kaminari, jump to the roof!"

Kaminari nods and leaps for the handholds to the roof above him and pulls himself up like nothing while Jirou continues running. "I'll pull you up."

"Hurry!" She continues running to keep as far away from the rats as possible. However, the rats were soon coming out on the side, blocking her off. Kaminari manages to catch up to her and hold his hand out for her to grab. "I'm here.

"Grab on!"

Jirou leaps and catches his hand with both of hers as he pulls her up just as the rats from both sides collide. Kaminari quickly pulls her up and they both crawl away from the edge and onto the center of the roof.

"Holy hell, man!" Kaminari sighs loudly. "That was intense."

"We made it." They look around for any signs of the rat. Aside from the squeaking and pattering on the roof below them, none of the rats seemed to have found them or cared enough to climb up another level of the monastery. "Those things, man."

"Yeah." Jirou gulps and catches her breath as she sits down and rests her arms on her knees. "There's zombies rats now? Zombie rats?"

"It's not just dogs and humans then." Kaminari strokes his chin. "What should we call them? I know there's a B-naming theme like brainiacs and beasts and bloodhounds and whatnot but I can't think of anything to call rats that start with B. We could call them Bubonic rats but that doesn't make sense."

"Does it matter?"

"Vermins," Kaminari sighs in defeat. "I guess we'll just call them vermins."

"Right, because that's what's important right now; trying to figure out what to call zombie ragues."

"Exactly."

Jirou looks around. "We gotta get outta here."

"Understatement of the year." Kaminari stands up and almost almost slips. "Yeah, any ideas?"

Jirou looks around the edges to try and find a way down. Huh, going down isn't an option with all those vermins. So, we'll just think of something else. Let's see... She narrows her eyes. After they adjust to the dark, she's able to see a tall tree just about a dozen or so feet from the monastery but since the apocalypse, nature overtook it and the tree gave birth to several branches sticking out of its trunk, several thick branches.

She points to the tree. "You think you can make that leap?"

Kaminari follows her finger. "Yeah, I can make that jump."

"Good, 'cause I kinda have an idea."

"Okay, let's hear it."

"Okay. So, unfortunately, it requires at least one of us to use our quirks. I was thinking that maybe, just maybe, you could leap to the tree, use your quirk to attract all the vermins so they'll go over the edge, and then leap back onto the roof and we can climb down together. Then, once we get to the bottom, I can use my heartbeat distortion and cause the ground around the rats to collapse so we can run out."

He chuckles. "I'm good, but I'm not that good. I can jump onto the tree from here because I have a running start but jumping back, no, no way."

"Oh," she hesitates. "Okay." She snaps her fingers. "Unless, hear me out. Unless, instead of jumping back onto the roof, you simply climb down the tree and wait. I would climb down the monastery and once I reach the bottom, I'll use my soundwaves to send the vermins flying and then you leap down and we make a run for your bike. Sadly, the only way for any of us to get out of this situation is to use our quirks to attract them. If we're lucky, the vermins are the only zombies attracted."

Kaminari nods. "Sounds good. But you have to be fast in climbing down, okay, please, don't leave me... literally... hanging, got it?"

She chuckles. "No promises." She takes his bag. "I imagine you'll need to be as weightless as possible."

The tree was located near the northwest corner of the monastery and Jirou heads to the southeast corner edge. She sends her earphone jacks flying outward and waves them around in the air. "Hery, verminators, come and get me!"

The rats skitter across the roof to the other side, climbing and clawing to get at the punk rock girl, resulting in some of the rats being shoved over the edge. Once the path is clear, Kaminari backpeddles before taking a deep breath. Without thinking, he sprints for it.

He leaps over the edge of the monastery and soars through the air before colliding with the tree. He claws at the tree, grabs a branch, and slows his fall down until he's halfway down the monastery, approximately ten feet above the ground. He uses two branches beneath him as footholds as he turns and presses his back against the trunk. "Okay, I made it." He winces once the calming feeling reaches him and his eyes squeeze shut. "Damn it, those branches hurt." He feels blood trickle down his chin from where he got snagged by a branch and wipes it away with the back of his hand. "Okay then. Now, focus."

He closes his eyes. "Okay, now, focus all of my electricity in one part of my body so I don't burn the tree down." He holds his hand out and with all his concentration. "Wait a second, wood is an insulator. Okay, so, I can go all out on a tree and not burn it. Good. Man, I forgot about my battle with Shiozaki at the sports festival. Okay."

He covers himself with the bare minimum of electricity. "Okay vermins, come at me, free deep-fried Kaminari on the side!" The rats on the roof pitter-patter towards the edge of the roof and they fall over like rocks off a cliff. Kaminari gasps when the rats land on the ground in front of him and presses his back closer to the tree. "Oh shit, oh shit. Jirou, hurry up and climb down!"

All the rats from the roof toppled over the edge and landed at the bottom. "Jirou?!"

Not only do the rats pile up at the bottom of the roof, but the same rats from inside the monastery pour out of all the entrances like water overflowing a bottle and converge on his position.

"Oh crap!" His heart quickens and he forgets how to breathe. "Jirou, where are you?! Please, please don't leave me!" Now that he thinks about it, he wonders how Jirou planned to get down from the roof. Unless, she planned on climbing down, heading inside, and then taking the stairs down once the rats cleared out from the inside. That's the only logical explanation.

Inside the monastery, Jirou trips and falls flat on her face when she reaches the bottom step. Her vision clouds with black smoke and she coughs up a storm. The fire from the meditation room didn't die out and since the sprinkler system was deactivated, that meant that it won't be dying out anytime soon. "Oh shit."

The ceiling frees itself above her and plunges down. Jirou screams before leaping forward, barely dodging it by only a few inches. She coughs as she climbs to her feet, spotting the corpse of two dogs before her. It was the dogs from before only now, they were chowed down to the bone, leaving nothing but red muscles and bone behind. They weren't bloodhounds this time, but regular dogs. "Hang on, Kaminari, I'm coming!" She picks herself up and runs for the entrance.

Outside, Kaminari screams at the top of his lungs. "No, stay away! Please, stay away from me! Jirou, help! Please, they're swarming me! Please, I don't want to die!"

He ups the amps on the electricity covering his body. "Indiscriminate shock: 1.3 million volts!"

Electricity shoots out of Kaminari's body and covers everything within a ten-meter radius around him. The smell of the rats, which smelt of rotting flesh, now smelt of burning barbecue after the electricity died down and the rats's skittering halted instantly. His panic remains, even as the zombie rats are no more.

Jirou races outside and spots Kaminari, stopping dead in her tracks, jaw dropped at the sight of all the rats dead. "Oh my god. Kaminari, are you okay?"

Seeing the punk rock girl put the electric boy at ease when his heart slowed down so he could breathe. He jumps down from the tree and lands on his feet like a cat, whining in pain from the impact. As a parkour expert, he knew that by jumping from a great height, he would have to roll to deal with the momentum but he did not want any part of those zombie rats on his body, dead or otherwise.

"Come on!" Kaminari races for her. "Come on, let's just go!" He snatches his backpack from her and hangs it from the front of his body.

"Hurry," Jirou urges, "please!"

The pitter-pattering sound returns, the source originating from the monastery. They didn't need to look back to know that the source belonged to more of those zombie rats. Those motherfucking vermins. With this knowledge in mind, they quickly pick up the pace and sprint as fast as they can into the small village, heading for the bike. Kaminari reaches the bike first and quickly pulls it out of its hiding place. He hops on the bike and starts it up. Jirou climbs on the back and hugs him tight. Kaminari rides forward towards the rats before doing a U-turn drift and zooming off.

The sound of the dirtbike's engines fills their ears but they can still hear the pitter-patter sounds of the rats from behind. Kaminari pulled on the throttle, making the bike go faster but he was so focused on getting out that he forgot to turn on the headlight. He quickly flips the headlight on and illuminates a path towards a tree in front of them. Kaminari swerves to the right, avoiding the tree, and makes it to the main road, where the rats are unable to keep up with them.

"Yes!" Jirou cheers at the top of her lungs, crying joyfully. "We did it! We fucking did it! We fucking got out of there!"

Kaminari smiles and laughs in relief, tears coming out of his eyes. "Hell yeah, hell fucking yeah. Okay, now... let's get out of here."

Like before, they stick to the path they originally took and avoid the roads. Since the village was kilometers behind them, they were able to relax a bit and Jirou was able to hug Kaminari rightly and rest her head against his back. She closes her eyes and sights softly. "We did it. We did it. We did it, Jamming-Yay."

"We did it."

Jirou pulls her head back and taps him between the shoulder blades. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Well, I sustained a minor branch cut to my chin but I'm fine. You?"

"Yeah, I'm good."

"Did you see that? One shot of my 1.3 million volts was enough to kill all those rats. Man, my power is awesome, yo!"

"It's because of their small size; they can't be as durable as a walker or a beast. We got lucky." She looks around. "That quirk usage could attract a lot of attention. Come on, we have to get back." She pauses as she thinks of something. "Kaminari, the monastery was bringing to a crisp, and... we didn't have anything to put out the fires."

"And?"

"And... that survivor... what if he was still there are the monastery? And he had the organs we were delivering?"

"Oh shit." He shakes his head. "Well, then, we don't say anything, right? Our deal was to deliver the organs and then bring the supplies back as payment, right? As long as we keep our mouths shut, then... well, we get our ambulance and get out of here, right?"

"Yeah, true." She thinks of something else. "And the monastery burning down, what do we do? What if the fires get out of control and we cause a wildfire?"

"Oh shit. Does it matter? I mean, with a wildfire, there's-"

"It does matter, Kaminari. Think about it; living in the city is not an option so we live in the forest. What happens if the wildfire spreads to us while we're sleeping in the woods? We'll be burned to a fucking crisp. Not only that but... any supplies in the area will burn completely. And the zombies, the zombies will become fire zombies. I'm telling you, Kaminari, we could be dealing with a wildfire!"

"Oh shit." Kaminari gasps and licks his lips nervously. "Okay, one problem at a time. Let's get back quickly. We'll... we'll take the supplies back, take an ambulance with us, then... we'll ask Kendo and Deku what to do."

"Just get us back to the paramedics."

"Yes, ma'am."

11:30 PM

"Pay up." Jirou throws the two backpacks on the ground before them before folding her arms across her chest. "We delivered your organs and everything and wouldn't you know, we managed to save at least eight hours."

CC glares at the punk rock girl before picking up the two bags and opening them. He pulls several supplies out before smiling behind his mask. "Man, UA, I knew I could count on you."

The rest of the Kamisquad stands behind Kaminari and Jirou, who both stare at the paramedics with determination and slightly impatient. Without saying anything, they let the others do their work and focus on getting the hell out of dodge. They were going to tell them about Reiko but now's not the time.

"Good, thank you." CC hands the supplies to Cardiac and IV, who transport them inside. "I gotta hand it to you, UA, you did us a solid. Now, we can go to sleep early tonight and-"

"The ambulance," she interrupts. "Now. Look, we delivered your shit for you, we just want our ambulance and then we'll be gone. You'll never hear from us again."

"Whatever you say." He turns to ICU and CPR. "Load up the ambulance."

The two surgeons nod before heading off. They return moments later with a box full of medical supplies, which they begin loading into the back of the ambulance along with a few bottles of water.

He whispers something to Xanax, who nods before heading off. "Just to show you how much we appreciate you for giving blood and being good little Amazon delivery boys, we would like to offer you something."

Xanax comes back holding a tray of chocolate chip cookies.

"Now, I know that you gave blood and some of my friends have been assholes so-"

Vantablack snatches the stay out of his hands before climbing into the back of the ambulance.

"Straight to the point," CC smiles, "I like it."

ICU and CPR finish loading up the vehicle. "Done," they both confirm.

Without saying anymore, Kaminari quickly climbs onto his bike and starts it up. King Dragon climbs into the driver's seat of the ambulance and waits for the others to climb in. Once that happens, he starts up the ambulance before following Kaminari.

Without skipping a beat, they leave the LC Paramedics behind and drive home.

Even as they munched on some of the cookies, Jirou could not shake the feeling that this little escape was over and that it was just the prologue of something else. She just prayed to whatever god was real that they wouldn't be dealing with a wildfire.