Day 403, 12:15 AM

We got back. We got back to our classmates as fast as we could. The ambulance had headlights, and so did my dirtbike, so we were able to navigate the roads with ease. And we felt slightly more confident knowing we had medicine in the back. I was leading at the front and we made our way to that Mister Donuts place, not stopping for anything unless it was undead. It took us maybe ten or twenty minutes to get back, much faster than it did to take us to get to the emergency medical center. We arrived at the bakery and now, we were ready to face our classmates, who were just as tied as we were.

Kendo steps out of the donut shop and stands in front of Kaminari and the others as they park the ambulance. The rest of the UA students step outside and gasp at the sight.

"Holy shit," Kendo curses, "did you..."

"Yeah, we got ourselves an ambulance." Jirou climbs out of the driver's seat. "Fully loaded with medical supplies, medicine, everything. Now, I was hoping we could have this ambulance to give you good news but the ambulance is kinda like an elephant in a room."

"What were you guys up to again?" Deku asks as the others head into the ambulance and search through it.

Jirou quickly explains the situation. She tells them about the LC Paramedics and what the others told her in the ambulance about the organs and who they belonged to.

"Reiko," Monoma gasps breathlessly. "She... she's..."

Jirou nods. "We didn't know about it until later. I swear, we..." She pauses and closes her eyes. "I... we didn't know we were transporting her organs until much later. Much later, on our way back. We were just informed like ten minutes ago."

Kendo steps towards the 1-B students. "You knew these guys killed one of us and you didn't get revenge?"

Komori steps forward. "They said they tried to save her but they couldn't so they harvested her organs and had us drop them off somewhere so they could be used to save someone else potentially. They also took some of our blood as collateral, just in case."

"Organ theft. That is organ theft." Monoma clenches his knuckles. "Who are these paramedics? Where are they? Give me a name so I can go kill them."

"No, it's too late. Look, I hate them for having removed Reiko's organs but they kept their word. We delivered something for them and they gave us an ambulance. And... and we can at least trust them in that regard."

Jirou awkwardly steps forward. "Speaking of which, now brings us to why we're here."

The others face her.

She nervously licks her lips. "So then. Uh... you see, when... when we were.. uh... dropping off the organs at their destination... we were supposed to grab two backpacks of supplies as payment for the paramedics and... uh..."

Kendo steps forward. "Uhh... what?"

"There might be a forest fire."

The others stare at her with unblinking eyes, almost as if they were staring into her soul. She knew that she needed to explain things so they were up to speed and quickly. "You see... when Kaminari and I were in this monastery... we uh... we attacked by vermin and... he dropped a torch he was holding and the monastery burned up."

The others still don't say anything.

"Okay. So... what are you saying?" Kendo casually demands.

"Uh... the monastery caught fire and uh... there might be a wildfire."

For the longest time, the others say nothing and continue to stare at Jirou with their surprised but angry-looking eyes. After what felt like hours of silent scolding, someone finally broke the ice. Without surprise, it was Kendo.

"You started a fire?"

Kaminari steps forward. "No, it was my fault. But... I had no choice. It was an accident."

"You got so scared by some kind of vermin that you dropped a torch and lit a monastery on fire?"

"Not just any vermin, a zombie vermin. It's hard to believe but we got chased by zombie rats."

Jirou nods. "Yeah. Vermin. Zombie rodents, freaking scary."

"And light doesn't do jackshit for any of them. They were going to swarm us so we had to do something. I dropped the torch and then she... I had to pull her up so dropping the torch was necessary. I didn't mean to." He feels himself choke as he tries to explain himself. "I didn't mean to."

"We may be dealing with a forest fire because you got clumsy? And you traded our classmate's organs for medicine?" Kendo shakes her head like a disapproving mother. "Jesus Christ. What is wrong with you?"

"Kendo," Deku steps forward. "Wait, it's not too bad. If they take me to where the fire is, I can use my powers to contain it. If we're lucky, only the monastery is burned, and no trees."

"Unlikely, you idiot," Bakugou snaps. "And I thought you were supposed to be a damn nerd. How long ago this this fire start?"

Kaminari hesitates. "Uh, I think... like almost three hours ago?"

Bakugou slaps his forehead. "Damn it. If it's been burning for three hours, then it's likely that the fire spread."

Mashirao raises his hand. "Hey, it's not too bad, right? All we gotta do is leave the forest, right?"

A pair of floating gloves give a thumbs-up. "Right," Hagakure's voice echoes. "If we leave the forest, then we won't get burned, right?"

"If we leave the forest, we'll have nothing but the city to go back to and the cities are fucking infested with fucking zombies," Bakugou reminds them. "Not to mention that we get our food from wildlife and if they're forced out of the forest, it's going to make hunting even harder, especially since that kid with the rocky head is dead."

Kendo gulps as she tries to come up with a decision. In times like this, when she's feeling distressed about a moral dilemma, she looks at the stump on her right hand and thinks back to the choice that cost her that right hand. She hesitated and because of that, she had to cut off her hand to stop a bacterial infection from spreading. She clenches her left hand into a knuckle before growling.

"We'll check it out first and then I'll come to a decision. But I want to make one thing clear: we cannot lose the forest. Like Bakugou said, if we lose the forest, we'll have nothing but cities to go back to, and zombie-infested cities aren't an option. The forest provides us with cover and wildlife and if we lose that, then we're as good as dead out in the open." She turns to the Kamisquad. "Kaminari, you're going to take Deku with you to this monastery. If the fire isn't too bad, then Deku will use his powers but after that, you get the hell out of there unless you want a horde on your ass."

"And if the fire is too much to contain?" Uraraka asks. "What do we do? If the fire is too much, then we won't have enough water to put it out. And Deku can only use his quirk for so long before he exhausts or burns himself."

"We'll figure it out, I'm sure," Tsu reassures.

Tokoyami looks at the sky. "I have a few ideas involving Dark Shadow but it would have to wait until morning and time may be of the essence."

Kendo turns to the ambulance. "Guys, get everything out of the ambulance and then search inside the Mister Donuts for anything useful. Gather everything you can that is flame-retardant and get ready. If there is a wildfire, we need to deal with it now, not tomorrow." She closes her eyes. "And none of us got any sleep so we're not going to be fighting at full strength. And if we use our quirks too much, we'll attract zombies in all directions."

"We'll figure it out. I trust you'll come up with a plan, Kendo." Deku runs to Kaminari. "Come on, take me to the monastery. I'll see what the damage is."

"Can't we all go?" Awase wonders aloud.

"No," Kendo argues, "if it's something Deku can deal with, then we don't need to put more people at risk."

"Right," Deku nods. "Plus, Kaminari has his bike. If he gets swarmed, he can just ride in circles until I deal with the rest of the flames and then we can get out of there."

Kaminari gulps. "If that's what you want. It should take me like thirty to forty-five minutes together, depending on how dense the zombie population is on the roads."

"Then let's hurry."

Kaminari climbs on his dirtbike and starts it up with Deku on the back.

Uraraka runs up to Deku. "Hey, be careful."

"You too."

Kendo pats Deku on the shoulder. "If it looks like it is too much or you feel you're in danger, get back here immediately. We still need time to come up with a plan because we still need to work on taking back our home. You know, the one we lost last night?"

"I agree. Don't worry, we won't push our luck." He turns to Kaminari. "Ready?"

"Ready." He revs up the bike and drifts to the right before speeding off.

The others watch as the two boys take off before vanishing in the distance.

Jirou silently waves. Be careful, Pikachu.

Kendo turns to the ambulance. "Come on, hurry up and get everything out of the ambulance."

Uraraka leads her classmates into removing the contents from the vehicle before bringing it with them to the Mister Donuts.

The classmates quickly load the medical supplies into the small building and begin sorting through them. Meanwhile, Bakugou heads behind the counter and grabs a map showing other Mister Donuts in the area, which gives them a rough map of the area. He flattens it on the counter as Pony shines a flashlight over it.

"Okay, we need to come up with a plan, a game plan, right now." Bakugou looks at Kendo. "For starters, if this wildfire becomes a problem, we're going to need to make it our top priority and then worry about clearing out the zombies from our gated community."

"The community should be clear of zombies," Jirou says suddenly. "One of the paramedics was driving back to his base on Kaminari's dirtbike and his dirtbike was at the community."

"This must've been early in the morning because when we went back, it was filled with zombies again." Bakugou makes a fist. "They must've cleared out this morning then went back inside. Either way, we gotta clear the zombies out now."

Kendo looks down at the map. "Jirou, point to where you think the monastery is."

"Okay." Jirou looks at the map. "Let's see. We're here... and the emergency medical center was 16 kilometers this way. Then, we had to travel another 16 kilometers to get to the monastery so..." She points at a spot on the map. "Here, this small landmark right here. I think this is the monastery."

"That's 32 kilometers away; that's at least a twenty or thirty-minute ride."

"It took us longer because we had to take the backways to get to the monastery."

Kendo points to the map. "Okay. Our community is four kilometers this way. So it's a grand total of 36 kilometers from our community to the monastery. Okay, so... if there is a wildfire, then it'll be hours, maybe even days before it reaches our community so we have plenty of time. So, here's the plan: we're going to divide and conquer."

"I say the people with non-combat quirks or useless quirks stay behind," Bakugou suggests. "Like Camie; her quirk can't exactly help put out a fire nor can it trick zombies since they'll instinctively know her position if she uses her quirk."

Camie nods without saying anything. "Yeah, totes, bae."

Kendo nods. "Yeah, good idea. Okay, so there will be a team to deal with the horde at our community and another to deal with the horde around the monastery." She pauses. "Okay, there are 10 people in Class 1-A and 1-B both, totaling twenty, but with Hatsumei, Camie, and Kenta, that makes 23. If we're sending someone to deal with the monastery, we need to be careful. Okay, first up,"

"I'll go," Jirou volunteers. "If there's a fire, I want to help put it out. Besides, my quirk is useful for slowing down zombies."

"Me too," Bakugou almost yells. "I got one beast kill under my belt so I'm confident I can get another."

"An assisted kill," Monoma corrects him. "And I'm going to the monastery as well. Chances are, Deku'll need someone to give him a hand in putting out the tires and as long as I maintain constant contact with him, I can use his quirk indefinitely."

"I'm heading out too."

Kendo nods. "Okay, good. So that's three for the wildfire team. Anyone else?"

"I'll go," Komori volunteers as she steadies herself on the counter.

Kendo watches her. "Didn't you say you gave a pint of blood earlier?"

"Yeah."

"Okay then. It's settled; you're not helping. You lost a pint of blood; you need as much rest as possible. Take some iron supplements.

"No," Kenta argues. "Let's say there's a wildfire and we need a lot of water, water only a helicopter can carry. I can be that helicopter."

Kendo puts him into a chair. "Don't even think about it; Kenta, you gave a pint of blood and you can only sustain your dragon form for so long. You'll run out of stamina much quicker than the rest of us and you'll be a sitting duck. No, you are not coming along." She turns to the rest. "We're going to break up into three groups. The first group deals with the wildfire, the other the community, and the other stays here."

"I'll stay here and keep an eye on things," Hatsumei volunteers. "I'll make sure they get plenty of iron supplements."

"Samsies," Camie smiles.

Uraraka groans. "I'll stay too. I've been reading some medical books so I sorta got an idea of what to do if they start feeling the effects."

Kendo smiles. "Perfect. Now then, let's arrange the rest of the team."

Wildfire Team (9): Deku, Kaminari, Jirou, Bakugou, Tokoyami, Monoma, Kodai, Manga, Kuroiro.

Community Team (8): Kendo, Shiozaki, Hagakure, Pony, Awase, Mashirao, Kaibara, Tsu.

Staying Behind (6): Uraraka, Mineta, Komori, Kenta, Camie, Hatsume.

Shiozaki looks at the teams arranged and presses her lips together. "I'm not sure how I feel about this arrangement?"

"Divide and conquer. Your quirks are strong but we need to make sure we have some quirks strong enough to deal with the horde at our gates. And we need to make sure someone is here at Mister Donuts in case of an emergency. Oh, and keep an eye out for Shoda. Reiko is dead, Sero is a zombie and so is Shoji. If there's a chance Shoda's still alive, we need to keep an eye out for him; do you guys understand?" Kendo looks around the room, almost desperately looking for any sort of validation. "And Bakugou, I trust that you'll lead the wildfire team to victory, right?"

Bakugou smirks. "You're trusting me?" He laughs at the top of his lungs. "Oh don't worry, victory is already assured."

"Now, let's hope that we don't need to split up but everyone, get ready just in case because we'll have an answer as soon as Deku and Kaminari get back."

With Deku and Kaminari

"Just like old times, you and I stuck together," Deku tries to joke.

"Yeah. This time, let's try and not get anyone killed," Kaminari counters, hoping it sounded funny.

"Yeah."

They rode through the forest, taking the same route Kaminari had taken earlier. They passed the emergency medical center without drawing too much suspicion and rode past dozens of zombies but the gaps between the zombies seemed larger and the horde didn't seem as dense as before.

They were able to get to the monastery in thirty minutes but they didn't have to ride the whole way there to know the results of what had happened.

Even with how dark it was, they could see the black smoke rising into the atmosphere and the soft glowing orange light flickering in the distance. Seeing the light getting brighter the closer they got, the more their hearts started pounding in their chest. Out of desperation, Kaminari revs the throttle to its ultimate limit and accelerates as fast as the bike would allow him.

"Deku, we..."

They skid to a halt only a few hundred meters away from the village where the monastery and surrounding trees light up the bonfire, making it look like it was daytime again.

Without hesitating, Deku reaches out and uses his quirk. He opens his palm and concentrates. He grits and breathes through his teeth as his eyes widen. The fire in the monastery, once racing the height of thirty, forty, maybe fifty feet, slowly but surely, shrinks in size, becoming smaller in mass and height. The fires put up a fight before the blazes go, reaching the size of a candlelit fit. The flames extinguished without any further assistance but the damage of the monastery is beyond repair and is now an unrecognizable shell of its former self.

Deku turns to the flames threatening to devour the trees and thrusts both hands out. "Okay, you got this!"

The flames slowly shrink but as they shrink, they shrink at a slower pace than the flames that engulfed the monastery and even so, the fire was spreading too quickly from tree to tree.

"It's not shrinking fast enough!" he realizes. He decides to change up tactics. Instead of shrinking the flames, he calls the flames toward him and shrinks them in his palms but is careful not to burn his electric friend.

Kaminari takes off, breaking Deku's line of sight and making the flames burn his palms. "Hang on." Kaminari grabs onto him and yanks him toward his back. "Zombies!"

The horde Kaminari spent so much time trying to avoid found their way to him and the undead beings quickly surrounded him from all sides with almost every direction nearly closing off. He manages to speed through a narrow gap between two zombies and barely makes it through. "Hang on!" He swerves and drifts to dodge the dead motherfuckers and he has to remember that Deku is on the back and to not ride so crazy on the bike unless he wants his green-haired friend to fall off.

"Keep us steady!" Deku keeps his focus on the wildfire and holds his right hand out. He calls the flames to them and they respond to his call in the form of fireballs that engulf some zombies. He directs the flames into the zombies before screaming suddenly. He smelled something that reminded him of barbeque but he knew right off the bat that it was his flesh. His hand was cramping from overuse and he was starting to get burned by his own flames and that goddamn flames weren't doing jack fucking shit to those goddamn zombies. Sure, they're burning them, but not cremating those undead fuckers.

Damn it, Deku internally winces. It fucking hurts.

"We gotta get out of here!" Kaminari swerves off to the side and swerves again, avoiding a tree by only a few inches. "Come on."

"No!" Deku yells. "I can still put out the flames."

Kaminari took a quick look to see the wildfires reaching at least three-quarters of a kilometer beyond the wildfire and weren't dying out. With no choice as more zombies surround them, Kaminari rides off in the direction of the fires. "Don't get burned, don't get burned!"

Deku uses what's left of his abilities to create a path for them to ride through like Moses parting the Red Sea. Kaminari laughs and steadies his handle. He steers to the right to get back on the path they took. He rides off in the opposite direction of the now-ash monastery and nearly sideswiped a runner.

Deku reaches behind him and continues to aim at the wildfire, trying to put out as much of the flames as he can but the pain is getting to him. His hand trembles and convulses like a vibrating bed and the palm of his skin turns red like an apple. He snags a fireball the size of a school bus but he convulses and closes his hand, causing the flames to dance around in the air before extinguishing in the air like a spore released from fungus.

"No, go back!"

Kaminari grabs Deku's left hand and holds it tight to his stomach, using only his right hand to steer the bike. "Oh don't worry, we are going back."

Deku knew what he meant. "No, go back! The wildfire! I can still-"

"No. You're hurt, okay? Got it, man?"

Deku makes a fist with his hand that now begins to sizzle like a chicken breast on a stove. His head falls between Kaminari's shoulder blades as he takes a moment to allow his hand to... cool down.

Once they're hundreds of meters away from the zombie horde and wildfire, Deku looks at the back of Kaminari's head. "We had to go back. Please, we barely put out any fires. Please, just... take me back so I can... I can still extinguish the fire."

"No." Kaminari feels his eyelids get heavy. So tired. "No, we can't go back. No, we can't. Have to... have to go back." He shakes his head, waking himself up, and focuses on riding out of there.

Mister Donuts

Pulling up to the bakery, Kaminari sets his bike to the side before looking at the UA students who look at him eagerly and anxiously, waiting for a response. "We're going to need a bigger fire extinguisher."

Bakguou growls. "Damn it, I was counting on you two. But, it can't be helped."

Kendo shakes her head. "I can't really get mad at you; not your fault. Okay, guys, it's time to divide and conquer. Everyone, get in your car and get ready to head out."

"What's the plan?" Deku almost begs.

"Deku!" Uraraka runs out and grabs his hands. "Oh my gosh, your hands. You overused your quirk!"

"I'm fine."

"Don't push yourself to your limit. Please, don't damage your body for our sake."

Monoma smiles. "Oh don't worry, Uraraka. I'll be by your side the whole time. With you and me working together, we can double your fire extinguishing efforts. AND WE CAN FINALLY PROVE THAT CLASS 1-B IS SUPERIOR TO YOU A-LIST BASTARDS! HAHAHAHAHA!"

Whack.

Kendo catches Monoma. "I don't need two hands to knock you out, Monoma."

Manga clears his throat before he speaks up. "I've been told my quirk can help in this case."

"And we'll deal with the zombies," Jirou goes next.

"And any beasts that come our way," Bakugou growls.

"The rest of us will stay here or take back our community," Uraraka informs them. "I'm staying here to keep an eye on those who gave a pint of blood."

Kaminari looks at Jirou. "Okay. I'm liking this team-up so far. Come on, the wildfire is spreading, and... like I said: we're going to need a bigger fire extinguisher."

"Don't worry," Kendo assures. "While we were using the map, we found a couple of lakes nearby. We're going to send Kodai there with buckets of water. Once they're filled, we're going to load them up in the ambulance and drive back and forth. Kaminari, you'll be the go-between."

"Sounds awesome; so I'll be riding back and forth, transporting people?"

"Yeah."

"Hell yeah, awesome, I've always wanted to be a johnny-on-the-spot!"

"Let's go!" Kendo leads her team to the side of the bakery where cars are parked.

"Wait," Kodai whispers. Kaibara stops in front of her. She pulls him and kisses him. "Be careful."

"I will." Kaibara gives her another peck on the lips. "You too, Kodai." He climbs in one of the jeeps.

Bakugou looks at Camie. He nods wordlessly to her. Take care of yourself, you airhead idiot.

Camie glances at him. I already know what you're thinking Bakubae so I'll just say this: I'll be careful. That goes double for you, bae.

As Kaminari starts up his bike, Jirou climbs on the back. Jirou turns to the others. "Hey, everyone: remember the most important rule: don't die."

"Nobody is dying this time," Tokoyami says, "I swear to the gods of heaven of earth, no one is dying, not in our group at least."

"Everyone," Deku shouts as he climbs in one of the jeeps. "Remember: go beyond..."

"PLUS ULTRA!"

Elsewhere

"What is going on here?"

"There's a fire."

"What?"

"There's a fire, a wildfire! I was doing my routine patrol and I saw flames. I got a closer look and there's... there's a wildfire and it's spreading."

"Holy shit, are you sure?"

"Uhh, can you see the fucking black smoke on my fucking mask?"

"Sheesh, I was just asking for clarification, no need to be such a cunt. Okay, how far and wide is the fire?"

"Uhh, about a kilometer or so. It started near that monastery, you know, the one in that village?"

"Oh shit."

"Orders?"

"We're only a few kilometers from that place. If... if the wildfire reaches here, we'll lose our home. Hell no, we fought fucking tooth and fucking nail to get our home; we will not give it up. Mayday, go tell everyone we got a wildfire to deal with, now!"

"Roger that, Smiley."

Elsewhere... again

"What the fuck?"

"What is it? Give me the binoculars. Holy Hell."

"Maybe literally."

Another elsewhere... again.

"Wake up. Hey, wake up, five-alarm fire."

"Can't you see I'm sleeping?"

"I thought you firefighters were supposed to be on a fucking 24/7 hour schedule."

"Uhh, in case you hadn't noticed-"

"In case you hadn't noticed, Backdraft, there's a wildfire."