บท 6: Act 6: Clocktower of the Dead
Day: 1
Time: 4:14 P.M.
Location: Kirishima High School - East Wing - Rooftop
Time until Nighttime: 1 hour and 46 minutes left
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Kyosei's quick work with the dead didn't last long and thanks to the help of Souichi, the elimination time didn't take too long and the two cleared the whole rooftop.
"These zombies are aggressive...but they have weak heads that they die so quickly..." Souichi said as he kicked one of the headless bodies on the ground.
"Whatever caused them to become zombies, their heads have also turned so brittle to the point that they are not as sturdy back when they are alive. Good to see that you didn't have much problem disposing of them. I thought you would be stuck and would end up getting a few bites or two," Kyosei said as he flicked off the blood on his baseball bat.
"Hey, I might be reluctant to kill, but I don't want to end up like them. No matter how I refuse to kill, I don't want to die just yet. So even if I have no choice, I will do it if it means I will survive this one."
Kyosei looked at Souichi with a deadpan look before he looked away. "Good to know you won't be a burden. You are not the only one who doesn't want to kill."
After the clean-up operation, the three checked the whole rooftop for any shamblers remaining to be hiding in corners to ensure that they would not need to worry about the place getting attacked.
"No zombies on my side, what about you two?" Kyosei asked.
"None on my side either," Chie shook her head.
"There is one tied up on one of the posts nearby. I finished him off before he broke the rope that was tying him up. Aside from that one, I haven't seen any other zombies left behind."
Kyosei glanced at the direction where Souichi came from and as he said, there was a dead body lying on one of the pillars with the head splattered on the wall.
"Alright, looks like we are done in here. Let's head to our destination before night time comes."
Upon approaching the door, it was soon revealed to be locked.
"It's locked. Do we have to break the lock? Miss Chie, do you have the means to open the lock?" Souichi frowned and turned to look at Chie who was also frowning.
"Strange...this shouldn't be locked in the first place. Did someone have entered here and locked themselves inside?" Chie scratches her head.
Kyosei removed one of his headphones from his ear placed it on the door and listened.
"There is some movement inside. Most likely the person who locked this place up."
"So someone else managed to get here? Then that would be troublesome. I thought this would be deserted!" Chie places her palm on her forehead in disappointment.
"Then we can just persuade whoever is inside here to let us in. Considering none of us are infected and the three of us are combatants, they won't refuse us," Kyosei then pulls out the keys on his belt and pulls out a pin in his pocket.
"What are you doing?"
"What else? Since no one from the three of us has access to the key that will open this door, I will be picking the lock and letting us in ourselves. We can't stay here on the rooftop for the night.
"Wait, are you sure? What if the person behind the doors will take offense to us doing this?" Chie felt troubled.
"Then we negotiate, we leave, or we fight and force them to submission."
"S-Submission?! You mean..."
"We only fight, I didn't say kill. But if they want us dead, then I am ready to dirty my hands."
Despite getting nervous, both Chie and Souichi couldn't say anything back to Kyosei's words. But he is right, if push comes to shove, then it is a matter of time for them to fight back. There's no point in keeping a peaceful facade if the other party refuses to do so.
Kyosei lockpicks the door lock carefully to ensure that it will not make too much noise. Chie and Souichi are on the lookout while also keeping themselves away from the door.
Ka-chank!
"Door is open, get ready. Whoever is behind the doors, we make sure they aren't hostile. Ready your weapons!"
Chie and Souichi enter battle stance as Kyosei slowly turns the doorknob and opens the door.
CREAK!
The moment the door opened, the pungent smell of blood can be smelled inside. There was even blood splattered around the walls that had slowly dried up, showing signs that there was a fight inside that happened. Based on the signs, it seems that it was just a recent battle.
Kyosei immediately readied his weapon when something started to dart before him and was about to pounce him.
"HA!"
BRAAAKKK!
The sound of bones cracking can be heard as Kyosei swings the baseball bat as hard as he can to whatever is charging towards them. Although he is not sure where he hit it, it seems to be like he hit the enemy in a vital spot.
Whatever that entity is, it flew deep inside the room and landed on the wall. Kyosei immediately rushed towards the creature before it could stand back up and repeatedly bashed whatever resembled a head into Kyosei's eyes. Kyosei didn't stop until the entity stopped completely from moving.
"Hah...what the hell was that..." wiping off the blood that splattered on his cheek, Kyosei looked around for any threats left. He couldn't afford to be jumped by any other of those entities while he is busy.
When he is sure that there is nothing else left that would pose a danger to everyone, he called the two who are still outside.
"It is safe now. It seems that the sounds I heard earlier when I pressed my ear on the door was the monster just now."
"Are you sure that is dead? It might suddenly attack all of a sudden while we are unaware..." Souichi pokes the dead body of the monster that Kyosei killed using his shoes.
Chie pulls out her phone and shines a light on the monster that Kyosei killed and soon found what was the thing that he just killed.
"Based on the features and the clothes on the body, it is clear this thing was once a human... There is no mistaking it. This thing was once a human...however...something happened..." Chie frowned.
"You mean, this was a zombie? But it turned further into a grotesque monster like this?" Souichi couldn't believe it.
"Me either. A bit of examination should help. Guys, if you would, would you allow me to examine this guy?" Chie asked.
Kyosei approached the corpse and bashed it with the baseball bat one more time.
"Alright, go and check it out. Just make sure you don't get infected in the process."
Chie nodded and started wearing gloves and a few protective gear that they packed earlier.
Kyosei then looked at Souichi. "Don't bother her for now. Look around the place and look for some tools or items that we can use. There should be something that might be useful just lying around here."
"Alright," Souichi nodded. He looked at Chie one more time before he started to explore the place with Kyosei.
Kyosei started looking around the place and soon found a few things here and there. There were various stuff that are necessary for the maintennance of the clock tower's gear. There are even larger gears stored with some tools. Kyosei looked at the place for a bit and soon found a few interesting things.
"Hmm...a rope...and a rope ascender. Might be for ascending to higher areas of the clock tower's gear. Interesting. And it still works. The rope is tight, sturdy, and quite long. This is a good find," Kyosei mumbled to himself.
"Kyosei! I found some tools here like crowbars and stuff!" Souichi shouted not too far from his location.
Since there is nothing else that could be useful for their current situation where he is looking aside from the rope ascender and the rope itself, Kyosei heads over to the location where Souichi is shouting from.
"Here. There's a bunch of stuff that we can use as weapons. They are kinda heavy but they are usable and will last longer than our regular weapons that we are currently using," Souichi hands Kyosei a red crowbar which Kyosei accepts.
The crowbar is indeed heavy, but it is still easy to swing just like the baseball bat. And the crowbar is much more sturdier and versatile compared to the baseball bat. With this, he can pry open closed doors without the need of lockpicking and the crowbar should be more effective in bashing heads properly.
"Are there any other tools like this crowbar? Why don't you take this instead?" Kyosei asked.
"No. The crowbar would be a waste for me considering that I am reluctant to kill them. It would fit you much better in my opinion and this should be perfect for your combat style."
Kyosei looked at Souichi seriously before he handed the baseball bat to him.
"Then let's exchange. That weapon you are using should be in its last legs. Take this bat, it should last for quite a long time before it breaks down."
Souichi didn't decline and accepted the bat. He then put the metal pipe that he had been using all this time leaning on the wall.
Kyosei and Souichi then began to search over the pile of various things where various tools can be used as weapons to see if there is anything valuable. As much as the tools would be a great thing to use, they would be heavy to lug around and it would just slow them down if they try to carry it all over so they will have to be selective on which things they have to grab.
"There's some metal poles here. They are light, but they are sturdy. Cutting it a bit and then sharpening the end would make a decent spear," Souichi said calmly as he inspected the metal poles.
Kyosei seems to have realized something and looks over at the glass wall of the saw the building where the girls are currently hiding. Until now, it is still crowded with zombies and he can still see it even up in the air.
"Are they good for making makeshift javelins as well?"
"Javelins? It should work...but they would be a bit heavy for a javelin. But why a javelin?"
"I have an idea on how to rescue the girls over at their hiding place, but I needed something that would allow us to connect over here and that place without needing to clear the area from zombies," Kyosei then pulled out the rope he found earlier.
Although Souichi did not understand Kyosei's initial plan, he wanted to get his girlfriend and Sister out of that area as soon as possible so whatever is Kyosei planning, he wanted to trust in him.
"So what do you have in mind?" Souichi asked.
"First, we needed to reduce the length of this pole. This is too long and will not work if it is too long. It can't be too short either or else it will also be unstable. Just a bit tad shorter than a spear should work. But first, we needed something that would be possible to cut this pole."
"There is a hacksaw I saw around here. Wait a minute..." Souichi digs through the pile and pulls out a hacksaw. Its blade is still looking great.
"Alright, now, we start cutting. You know how to do it yes?"
"Yes. I have done some work on things like this before so I can manage."
Kyosei and Souichi began their work. Although it is noisy, it is exclusive to the room and is not noticeable outside, allowing them to work without attracting unwanted attention. Souichi is a quick worker and it didn't take long for them to get the javelin that they will need. Souichi also sharpened the end of the pole to make a makeshift javelin. Of course, it shouldn't be a regular javelin as it is designed solely for one thing.
"Alright. Next, we have this rope tied on this pole's end. I saw an electric drill that can help create a hole to put the rope on its end. That way, if we throw this, the rope should be included as well."
Souichi agrees as well and begins to drill a hole in the metal pole. Thankfully, it seems electricity is still running and they still can operate an electric drill. Once the hole was made, Kyosei fashioned the makeshift javelin with the rope. Tight enough to not just snap under weight and pressure.
"What's next?"
"Next should be throw this javelin to the ground and let it reach to the bottom. It would be great to reach their area but that is wishful thinking. Both you and I don't do javelin throwing. It's better to just let it fall to the ground while we ensure that the rope's end is tied deeply. However, we will only tie this rope once the javelin has already reached the gymnasium."
"Wait...don't tell me you want them to climb and use this rope to cross? That's too risky, Kyosei!"
"Don't worry, we have this," Kyosei then pulled out a rope ascender.
"What's that?" Souichi frowned. He is not familiar with the tool in Kyosei's hand.
"Rope ascender. It can safely carry someone up without the need of risking it all to manually hold to the rope which is potentially dangerous considering we will be doing something like this in a high place."
"You sure that still works?"
Kyosei nodded. "No worries. It does still work."
"Then, once we let this fall over to the ground, how do we even let this reach the intended area?" Souichi asked.
"I will be doing that. I will be descending again as I will have to take some food in the cafeteria for us to eat tonight. Since it is on the other wing, I will have to hurry right now."
"Aren't we almost short in time?" Souichi frowned.
"That's why we will need to hurry."
Kyosei then held tight to the crowbar in his hands.
"Wait, what are you doing Kyosei?"
"Gonna make a bit of noise for a bit," Kyosei said before he raised the crowbar and without warning, smashed the glass wall to pieces. The glass shattered from the sheer force that Kyosei did causing a loud crashing noise of the glass.
He then widened the hole a bit more, wide enough for the hole to be safely passed by a human. He also made sure that the remaining glasses would not fall on them by removing them altogether. Clearing the broken glasses on the floor, the place is now secure.
"Kyosei? Are you sure this is necessary? Aren't you widening the opening too much?" Souichi is worried.
"If we want to have no hassle in transporting everyone using the rope ascender and avoid getting killed by a glass shard then feel free to reattach the glass shards I removed."
It didn't take too long for Kyosei to finish removing the glass that would endanger them. He didn't remove the entire glass wall but he made a big hole in it. Kyosei wiped off his sweat and looked down on the edge. If one is afraid of heights, one can feel the vertigo just by staring.
"Alright. It's time for the hard part."
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