章 7: At the gates
*Same old annoying alarm noises*
...
I was sitting on my bed with my phone in my hands, looking at it as it kept ringing.
"Woke up before the alarm sounded off... Guess I'm a little on edge after all huh."
The shutters on my windows were half closed, what little sunlight that invaded the desolate room was not doing the room any favors either. I stretch and close my phone, then head towards the bathroom to wash up.
After splashing some water on my face I look at myself in the mirror.
"Huh, I should be looking much worse knowing what is going to happen in a few hours."
I return to the living room and open my computer, sitting on the chair in the process.
DayZ
"Seven AM, going to leave earlier today. It would be really lame if I got caught by the outbreak while I was heading to school. Shame that the stores only open after ten here, I had second thoughts about buying a solar power bank… But ehh, not that I have any money left. Oh well, what's done is done"
I spin my chair around till I'm looking at what I prepared last night.
"Bag" I get up, reach for the bag and then open it. Doing a last check to make sure I was not missing anything.
"Extra clothes, check. Swiss knife, check. Map, check. Compass, check. Flashlight, check. Screwdriver, check. Bandages, check. Food for today, check. Yacht keys... One can always dream."
Closing the bag, I throw it around my shoulder, take my keys and walk next to the tower of my computer.
"My friend, I'm afraid that's all the time we got left." I then unplug the computer, open the case and take out the hard drives, go to the sink, open it and throw them in. About twenty seconds later I picked them back up, thoroughly soaked, and walked to the front door of my apartment, opening it.
"Last time that I see this place. If the outbreak happens, I won't be returning here for obvious reasons. If the outbreak won't happen, I'll have to go and find myself an abandoned island, then make friends with the trees and monkeys, or face debt charges…or worse. I really dug myself into a goddamn hole didn't I. Maybe I'll go find Saya and ask her to call me stupid"
I shake my head and turn to glance at my 'house'.
( Today my future is going to change to either running from zombies, or running from the Yakuza... I find running from zombies more appealing right now to be honest.)
I walk out my apartment and follow the street towards the school. To make my future a fait accompli, I also threw my apartment keys to the first trash bin I ran into, then threw the hard drives in a different trash bin.
I then stood over the bin for a few seconds.
"A moment of silence for my two terabyte 'homework' folder."
I let out a small chuckle and hurry on my way. To be honest, I didn't feel safe on the streets right now. I wanted to reach the school as fast as possible.
"Won't it be ironic if I end up being the undead that is banging on the school gates?"
Apparently my brain did not appreciate the joke, as I got the sudden urge to start jogging, so I can reach the school faster. So all it really took for me to be in front of the school gates was fifteen minutes, half of my usual commute time.
After reaching my class and leaving my bag on the desk's side that was facing the wall, I sat down. I then spent several seconds staring outside, thinking what exactly I could say if anybody asked why I put all that crap inside my bag.
(Parkour might explain the change of clothes and bandages, but the amount of food inside along with the swiss knife and flashlight seems more reasonable if I was going camping or something. So...parkour camping? Or I can say that I was aiming to do a marathon, a very long marathon.)
I then turn my sight back towards the class, looking at the kids that were chatting among themselves.
(Wonder if any of them will survive.)
That was all I was able to think before the bell rang, with the teacher coming in a few minutes later ,causing the class to quiet down.
(Sorry, teach. But today my eyes will be stuck on the gate. I don't even care if it gets me expelled today. It's not like I will be staying in this school either way.)
As the class went on, all I did was indeed stare at the front gate.
(I will not only have to find a way to be out of class to check where Takashi will be at while Teshima gets bit, but I must also be able to get back in my class before the panic starts. As I really don't want to be in the hallway when every single student in this school will have the bright idea to run in a panic like a headless chicken.)
The first class passed normally. Nobody appeared at the gates and nothing seemed to be out of place.
Walking out of the class I passed by the vent, giving it a quick glance. Making sure it was still unbolted before returning back to class for the next period.
(The whole thing is supposed to happen in the middle of a class... but I don't know which one. The undead guy on the gate was dressed like a businessman, so he probably got attacked on his way to work and ended up here. If he was attacked after he was in his office, he would probably have stayed there as a zombie as he would not be smart or mobile enough to wander outside. Other than by falling outside a window or something. Yet, other than looking like he just pulled nine all-nighters straight he didn't look hurt, the giant chunk of his back missing excluded of course.)
And with that thought, the bell rang again, signaling the second lesson's start.
(If it's going to happen, then just happen dammit, waiting for it is not doing any good for my mental health.)
As the second lesson was in session, I could not help but start thinking what I was going to do if the outbreak didn't happen.
(I wonder if I'm able to use planes and ships to travel alone at my age. 'I' was sent here by my school as an exchange student based on what I saw in the school documents that I had with me.
Maybe...I should have learned how to drive a boat. Better chance of escaping people by sea rather than land, add that japan is a frigging island. Hm, Most boats do have a steering wheel though, and I do know some basics from playing video games. Like that the throttle can look like the one that planes got and...well that's all I actually know, can you hot-wire a boat?)
A loud thud jerked me out of my thoughts, the noise actually came from right in front of me, from the window beside me. Looking at it, I saw that it had some chalk dust on it. Looking down, I saw chalk, broken in pieces.
I turn my head to see the teacher glaring at me.
(Great, just, great. This is exactly what I need right now)
The teacher must have been bored of doing his lesson because he asked me to stand up and go to him, before he started an annoying monologue about… I don't know, I didn't really care about it to actually sit and listen to what the teacher had to say to be honest.
Between the teacher's loud monologue, the smirking students and my own state of mind, I had just about enough.
"I need to go to the bathroom."
That's all I said as I walked out of the class.
(That… might not have been my best idea, but I'll make it work. I can still keep a watch on the front gate from somewhere else. If the dead man appears I don't think the teacher will have a lot of time for chewing me out before the panic starts.)
With that thought in mind, I headed towards a hallway with a clear view of the front gates, that was also near the stairs I usually see Takashi at...
About thirty minutes passed with my eyes locked at the front gate. I had long since stopped thinking, as it was only going to give me a headache in the end…
Until, something happened… not the zombies sneaking on my ass, thankfully. Loud footsteps coming from my right. I turned my head to see Saya walking with her usual pissed off attitude. She just stormed passed me while stomping her feet, I think she didn't even realise I was there.
(Wonder what set her off this time.)
I then turned to my left, looking at her as she stomped away.
(She would pester Takashi that he was skipping class, yet completely ignore me. I guess she only bothers people she likes huh.)
And a few seconds later, it hit me.
(Wait, didn't Saya also skip class to speak to Takashi in the anime? And the way she just stormed off now… she looked like she just had an argument.)
(SHIT!)
I spring myself off the wall and break into a sprint towards where I just saw Saya walk away from… the stairs.
Stopping at the top of the stairs, I see none other than Takashi. Staring at the gate. And...I knew what he was looking at, I knew this scene by heart. The scene that has become etched into my head and only got reinforced by the time I spent panicking over what's to come...
'It' has begun.
I looked at the gate myself, for a final confirmation.
(The dead. They are at the gates.)
I did a full u-turn and started running to my class as fast as I could. While I knew I had time before the panic started, as Takashi had enough time to rush to Rei. I just felt that I need to be fast, very fast.
Reaching my class I slam the door open, startling some of the students that were seated near the door. The teacher looked at me with the scowl of the century, and some students started giggling again. Ignoring everything, I move quickly to the back of the class, grabbing my desk and pulling it further towards the back, pretty much shoving it into the corner of the classroom.
The teacher narrowed his eyes as he looked at me.
"We will have a chat once the class is over" Was all he said before he continued his lesson.
(No we won't...)
It was weird, but all the anxiety I have felt up to this moment since waking up today had vanished. The moment I saw the first zombie back there, confirmed what was going to happen and what I was going to do.
I even felt some relief to be honest. Relief that everything I did so far was not in vain… or that I will not end up in jail or the bottom of Tokyo Bay…
While I was busy preparing myself the speakers in my classroom crackled alive.
(The panic is going to start any minute now.)
I looked at the speaker that was installed on the ceiling, near the front exit of the class.
A voice, probably a teacher's, started ordering the students to evacuate, only to be suddenly cut off. Then, the speaker once again went live. Only this time, it was broadcasting the teacher's last moments as he began to panic in the AV room, shouting for help. Until he let out a scream, and then silence.
Looking back at the teacher, I see him frozen in place, the chalk on his desk slowly rolling towards a free fall.
(So, this is the class I was actually in.)
Was all I managed to think as the chalk hit the ground, smashing into bits, acting as the signal for everybody to go bat shit crazy.
You know in the anime you never think about it, but the sudden change from dead silence to everybody screaming at once is deafening. Like the school itself had started screaming along with the students. Morbid as it is, I couldn't think of it as anything else but the ringing of a lunch bell for the zombies.
Pandemonium ensued in the class as the students and the teacher alike started running towards the door, smashing into each other. Each one trying to scream louder than the one next to them.
And just like that, the class was empty. Only me, myself and I… and the screams from beyond the wall.
I slowly got up from my desk, picked up my bag, strapped it on my back as well as I could, then headed to the opened door, and closed it.
I turn around and look at the class.
(I will check if I can find anything of use here while the sea of death passes outside my front door.)
I go over some of the bigger bags, hoping to find something that might be of use…
Sadly, most of the bags had nothing interesting inside, aside from one that had a cell phone which I picked up and turned to a silent, non vibration mode.
(Taking out the battery to remove the SIM might lock it behind a password, so I should just keep it like this, in case I need loud distraction later.)
I pocket the extra cell phone, then grab the nearest chair and head to the door, opening it slowly.
I peek outside at both directions of the hallway. Seeing the hallway empty, with no blood splatters or bodies littering the floor I opened the door completely and then, with chair in hand I went to the vent. I place the chair under the vent, take the screwdriver out of the side pocket of my bag and unscrew the last screw that was holding the vent cover. With nothing holding it in place, the vent once more fell to the side, hanging by the last bolt. Reaching inside I grab the handle of the bat I painstakingly hid.
(All this to hide a bat...why can't I be in America? Sneak myself a minigun and rocket launcher...)
Bat in hand, I looked around me before pulling it out of the vent completely, then stepped down the chair. With the screwdriver back in the side pocket I once more scan my surroundings. I could still hear screams all around me. but they seemed different now, they were not the screams of panic. They were screams of fear...
The hallway was still empty, clean. Yet when I looked outside the window I saw a massacre in full display. People getting thrown to the ground, pinned down by groups of walking corpses, fresh blood being splattered all over the place. While the ones still alive used others as bait so they could escape. Worst of all were the people that died, only for them to come back and bite whoever was unlucky enough to care for them.
I let a huge breath out of my nose and walk towards the end of the hallway then look over the corner.
The hallway I was looking at now had a staircase in the middle, linking the floors together. Next to the staircase, I could see a student on his knees, next to another student who was on the floor. I could only see half of the body of the one that was on the floor, with the rest of it probably being on the staircase, which I could not see from the angle I was looking from.
I did not need to see the other half though, the pink line of flesh I could see going from the fallen student's stomach to the mouth of the one that was kneeling on top of him was enough to make me understand what I was looking at.
I was prepared to see some gruesome stuff from here on out, but I guess the first time is never easy. The fact that the first gruesome thing I wind up seeing is a corpse chewing on somebody's guts ain't helping either.
(Good thing I haven't eaten anything yet. My stomach would be throwing one hell of a party right now if I did… Still how should I call these things anyway? I have been jumping around names until now… Maybe I should just call them 'them' like the cast?...Hmm, nahh, too weird to use...I will stick with corpses, for now at least.)
Hitting myself in the forehead with my knuckles, I try to focus on my next plan of action.
(When Takashi was on the roof, it was already crawling with corpses. Meaning the corpses must have already overrun all the lower floors to also be up there.
And seeing how the staircase is being used as a dining table right now. It could mean that that has already happened. The reason why the hallway I'm in is clean is because nobody had a reason to run here, or didn't manage to, for now anyway.)
I go over the corner and walk towards the snacking student, his chewing getting louder as I get closer...
After I closed in enough to still be out of leaping range but have a clear view of the stairs I stopped.
(The stairs are clear, only these two are here. I guess the one on the floor tried to climb back up and got caught. Or he was running down and bumped into the one that is now snaking on him, seeing that his legs point towards the stairs and he's belly up.
No matter, now that I got only two potential walking corpses here, it's the best time to check if a hit to the head is enough to stop them for good. Or if it'll just get them pissed off and turn me into a lunchbox.)
With that in mind, I lift my bat slightly and grab the handle with both hands as I silently side-step towards the kneeling corpse. Once I was within swinging range of the corpse, I lifted my bat higher to the side of my head. And with a slight turn of my upper body, I swung down...
With a rather loud thud, the bat makes contact with the head of the chewing corpse, sending it sideways and then flat against the wall, smashing its head from both sides.
The body stays like that for a few seconds before sliding forward, falling down and stopping once and for all.
I turn my head and look at the second body that was on the floor.
(No time to celebrate yet, this guy will probably get up as well.)
I take a few steps back and wait. All while looking around me to make sure the sound did not attract anything. A few moments later, the second body started twitching, and then rose to a sitting position.
(Alright, now to test out just how smart these things are...I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm letting this one get up...I must be going mental, because I'm not freaking out right now.)
Using my bat I give it a quick poke in the back of the head and quickly take a big step back.
(Nothing, no reaction. Just like Saya theorized.)
That experiment over with, I started my next one.
I lift my foot and then bring it back down on the floor with enough strength to make an audible sound, then walk a few feet away so I'm not in the way.
The sitting corpse reacts to the sound as it lethargically turns its head to where I was a few seconds ago. It then slowly starts stumbling to a standing position and shambles to where I had struck the floor,then passes it and bumps into the window.
(And they are either blind, or insanely stupid. It just moved past where the sound originated and into the window beyond it. Meaning it just picked the direction the sound came from and followed it until it found an obstacle to hit into… or bite into.)
There were more things I wanted to test out, but I didn't want to push my luck. Not now at least.
I silently walk close to the zombie that was now making out with the window and take a swing at the back of its head with only one hand, my good one.
The impact of the bat causes the window to crack and the zombie to stumble backward onto its own guts that were on the floor, causing it to slip and fall down. It then started shambling about on the floor.
(Not dead, but it does seem to have trouble getting up.)
I jerk forward and bring the bat down to the dead guy's head, causing a splatter of blood to appear on the floor and him to finally stop moving.
(I still don't understand how they could track Takashi and his team later in the anime. They were actively chasing them in some cases. Maybe they can actually sense heat like Kohta theorized? So after linking a sound with a heat source they will go after the heat source with a fervor instead?)
Scratching my head, I turn to the stairs, to see that trouble has arrived. The sound of my bat smashing against the second corpse must have attracted some of the corpses from downstairs.
(They are dumb enough to get easily tricked, yet they are smart enough to understand that a sound came from a floor above them, to find the stairs and then climb them without falling over… ughhh...or they were already on the lower part of the stairs..)
I sigh in my head and move away from the stairs. Then begin walking down the clear hallway, with each of my steps making splashing noises.
Must have been the blood I stepped on as my shoes were starting to get rather noisy as I walked.
(Right. Time to change footwear.)
Still standing, I take my shoes off using my feet, bend over, grab them and throw them in the direction from which I came from causing any corpse that was heading towards my way to turn around.
I continued walking with only my socks for a bit until I was far enough from where I threw my shoes to feel safe. After taking a look around, I take off my bag, unzip it and take the plastic bag that had my boots in them along with my gloves.
(Boots over stuffy shoes any day.)
I take the boots out of the plastic bag and wear them. After folding the plastic bag I put it back in, closing the bag and strapping it back on my back.
Then I put on the gloves and test my grip on the bat.
(Not bad. Now to figure out what to do next.)
I glanced at the window to see the sun was still out, going strong. Then continue walking straight in the hallway.
(Takashi and Rei will stay up on the roof until the sun begins to set. Meaning that I need to find a way to survive until then, as the group will not meet until sunset. I could try to find Saeko or Kohta. Both are still alive wandering the school right now, with Saeko probably going ham on any poor meatbag that approaches her and Kohta being needled by Saya.
Now, the only time Saeko was shown before the group met up, she was going down a staircase, meaning she's either on the first or second floor right now. She then would end up in the nurse's office that is on the first floor, so she probably went from the second floor to the first. Saya and Kohta are also running around from what looked like probably the second or third floor.)
While I was in thought I heard moaning coming from in front of me. Two corpses were shambling towards me, or towards my direction at least.
I narrow my eyes and put my back against the wall on the side, while holding my bat from each corner with one hand so I can use it as a shield if one of them lunged at me.
As the two corpses shambled passed me, they didn't even seem to realize that I was there.
After they moved away, I got off the wall and started walking.
(This is not good, I'm going to get surrounded if I let these two walk and find more of these things ahead of me.)
Realization in mind, I stop in my tracks and turn around, then walk to the two shambling corpses in front of me…
Using both hands, I take a swing on the side of the head of the one that was near the wall causing its head to be smashed between the bat and the wall, making it fall down with a thud.
The second one, hearing the sound, moans and turns around to me, only to be met with a sideways swing from a bat to the side of its face before it could completely turn around.
Stumbling, it moves a few feet forward and then falls down. Moments later, it puts its hands in a push up motion as it tries to get up. I walk up to it and stomp my foot on its back, causing it to fall flat again, and in a quick motion, I raise my bat and swing it with a golf swing-like motion on the downed corpse, blood once again painting the floor red.
(Well, I suppose this verifies that they are more brittle than a normal human, or I swing like a truck like the rest of the cast.)
That over with, I turn back and head down the hallway again.
Turning over the corner after the hallway ended, I found another flight of stairs. To my surprise, they were empty, or more precisely the corpses there were all dead , like dead-dead.
Closing in on the staircase I hit the floor with my foot trying to make sure that they are actually dead and won't try to surprise jump scare me. None of them reacted, but still just in case, I took a long way around them.
I head on the stair's railing and lean on over it, looking down in the process.
(If Saeko had passed through here, then I'm too late. In the anime the first floor is like a dance floor full of dead people in the early hours.)
I give an annoyed sigh.
(I can't risk it, I will have to go through them just to check 'if' Saeko went on the first floor or not.)
I leave the bat on the floor and lean on the railing even more, trying to look up this time.
"Nope, can't see jackshit."
(Can't see anything from here, but I don't have much of a choice, I need to pick my poison. This hallway leads to a dead end, going down is just stupid, going back is pointless as the stairs there had corpses, moving ones. So the only way to go is, up.)
I push myself back, pick up the bat and start going up the empty stairs.
Thankfully I met no resistance going up the stairs. While blood and guts were splattered all over the place, that was all there was here. Nothing that would like to check how warm my insides were , are around.
I reached the top of the staircase and checked both directions of the hallway.
The third floor had some unwelcome guests scattered around.
(Most of the corpses are kneeling down and seem to be occupied with eating, so I should be able to walk past them.)
I was about to move to the right side, as it seemed to have less of them, when on the window of the opposite building, I saw two figures.
(Pink hair on a face that is probably frowning and a chubby guy probably looking depressed.)
I smile to myself and turn to look at the hallway that would make me cross paths with them,the left one…
My smile disappeared when I realized which part of the hallway I had to go through.
(Of course, it had to be the one that had more of them… But I can't miss this chance. I might not get another one.)
Steeling myself, I take a deep breath and start moving down the corpse filled hallway, which was made a lot worse by the fact that it also had moving ones…
So, I kept sidestepping to a corpse free wall, waiting for the ones that got too close to pass by before continuing.
(I am a ninja, I am a ninja, I am a ninja. If I get spotted I am a dead ninja.)
Everything was going fine and I was about to be out of the corpse-filled hallway. Until a corpse had the sudden urge to just do a full turn around and walk right into me.
The moment it was too close for comfort I didn't even think. I jumped back hitting my back against the window, and swung...In the worst direction I could have.
The bat impacted the thing's head and the thing's head impacted the nearby lockers as the impact of the bat made it turn around once more and end up in a lunging fall into the lockers, in other words, a lot of noise.
(I just dun an fucked up.)
In a split second, before the corpses could realise that the dinner bell had just rang, I bent my body forward, so their arms won't be able to easily get a hold of me, and break into a sprint. Thankfully, there were only a couple of them left between me and the end of this damn infested hallway.
I picked the first route I saw to be obstacle-free at that moment and started running. A few steps later, I see one of them blocking my way. It was far enough for me to change direction, so I just ran past it after swerving to the left.
Problem is, I was now running next to the wall on my left so I could only swerve to the right. Which would be a bad idea unless I wanted to end up running into one of these things. Before long, another one was blocking my way, this time I was unable to swerve past it. So I held my bat on each side with my hands and smashed it sideways under its armpit. Ducking my head and using my forearm to push its arm away from me so it could not grab me as it stumbled to the right.
With that one now out of the way, there was only one of them left in front of me. My bat was already in a position for a swing, so I grabbed the handle with both my arms and swung for the things head. Causing it to fly to the left and land face first into the windowed wall.
With the hallway in front of me now hostile free, I stop running and quickly look back. Every single one of them was now walking towards me. I then turn my head forward and start walking silently, turning over the next corner a few moments later.
In this hallway there were not as many of the walking corpses. But the few that were here, were heading towards my direction as well.
Undeterred, I continued walking forward silently. Side stepping out of the way of any of the shambling corpses, until I could see Kohta waving at me, with Saya behind him, giving Kohta the stink eye.
(Saya and Kohta must have heard the commotion too. Lucky for me, that made them wait instead of picking up speed.)
Heading towards the two I raise my bat and wave at them. After reaching them I speak up.
"Good to see you're still alive commando." I say in a low tone.
"Y...yea...glad to see you're also still alive from…whatever this is."
I then turned my sight to Saya, who was now eyeing me, still with a frown. I sigh and look around.
The ones behind me were flocking to where I had my little accident, so we were safe from them, for now at least. And, from what I could see, there weren't any hungry corpses in front of us either.
"Ummm this...is Takagi" Kohta says, introducing me to the scowling pinkette.
"Did you get bit?" She says with a sharp tone.
(That is the first thing she tells me? Not even a goddamn 'Hi, nice to meet you person I yelled at yesterday'. Not that I expected anything else from her to be honest.)
"Actually, that's a good question." I answer as I start checking myself for bites or any other wounds.
In the heat of the moment, it could be possible that I got bit, but did not feel it.
After checking myself. It thankfully did not seem to be the case.
"No bites" I look back up at the two of the main cast...
The three of us then spent a couple of awkward seconds looking at each other before deciding to move out.
"Wait, You… aren't you the idiot who was spacing out on the stairs yesterday, the one blocking my way? " Saya speaks up as we start moving, her eyes narrowed.
(Me and my big mouth...)
"Yeah… that would be me." I scratch the back of my head while letting out a dry laugh.
"...Ughhh" Was all she said as she shook her head and walked past me...Me and Kohta following behind her.
(Deja-vu… Maybe going on the first floor and hoping to find Saeko before becoming somebody's lunch was a better idea after all.)
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