3 Stats, A Rescue Mission And Getting Your Hands Dirty
I took my blazer off, using it to wipe my hands clean of the blood before using the cleaner parts to wipe my face clean of the scant splatters of blood on it - I took extra effort to avoid getting any of it in my eyes or mouth or in my nostrils.
It wasn't the perfect thing to use to clean myself but it'd do for now.
Looking down at the weapon I'd gained off of Hisashi, I saw the black combat knife; it looked like the type of knife the military would use. About thirteen inches in length, the blade was strong and exceptionally sharp. Hisashi had passed it off to me after I asked if there were any other weapons gained through the system before he picked up another baseball bat that was nearby.
There were a bunch of sport's supplies up here - mainly from the baseball club - for some reason but I wasn't about to curse out our only bit of good luck just because.
I only asked because I was curious but Hisashi seemed to take it as a request for them to show/give it to me. Not much I could do about it now, besides I liked the weapon. It'd save me getting my hands covered in black blood again.
It also helped that I was extensively trained in the usage of knives - especially knives like this one.
Putting the knife back in it's sheath and tucking said sheathe into my pants, I turned around to go toward the rooftop entrance. Before I could make it very far, however, a hand stopped me.
"Where do you think you're going, Kenta?" I turned to see Takashi looking up at me with narrowed eyes, "Because I know for a fact you aren't just going to waltz back into who-knows-what on your own," he scowled, knowing that's exactly what I was going to do.
"And what if I am, Takashi? I've already explained to you about my high stats due to god knows what and I've also explained how I'm much better prepared for this whole thing. I don't need you guys lagging behind me and dragging me down - I just need to go down there, get the keys and then come back up. When that happens, you get plenty of chances to attack zombies, alright?" I rebuked him, rebuffing his efforts to try and tag along even if I did know he was doing this because he was worried about me.
As much as it warmed my heart that he cared and was prepared to fight the undead with me, it didn't mean I was gonna let him. For one, it makes sense in a pragmatic way - only one person is needed for this job and I was the most suited for it.
In another way, I just didn't want to put him into an unknown situation that could lead to his death.
It was naive to think I could protect him forever but at least for now, I'd keep him out of harm's way. The same went for Miki. Rei and Hisashi...I didn't want to add to the numbers of the undead, so keeping them up here would be for the best. Despite their martial arts training and general athleticism, Rei is too soft and Hisashi is only trained in a type of Karate that is only effective in tournaments which means he has very little actual combat experience.
"I agree with Takashi, Kenta - you can't go out and do this all alone," Miki added and I physically restrained myself from groaning aloud, settling on a frown instead.
"I can, and I will, Miki," I said, putting on a more serious expression as I removed Takashi's hand from my shoulder, his efforts to keep it there being fruitless as I easily removed it, "You saw what I did to those infected outside our classroom. Imagine what I can do with a combat knife in my hands," I patted the sheathed weapon, a slight smile working it's way onto my face.
Both Takashi and Miki looked frustrated with me and my reasoning but couldn't find anything to refute. They both knew I was stronger than them, better trained for combat than them--hell, I'd even killed more zombies than them and done so with ease, no less.
Rei and Hisashi had nothing to add, the former simply hugging the latter for some emotional support in this quite frankly mind-breaking scenario.
Either way, Miki and Takashi were going to worry whatever I said or did, so I just turned and waved goodbye - they couldn't stop me from going and they knew it. I didn't exactly want to leave them worrying out of their minds but I had to be hard on them now to save them later. I'd get them plenty of opportunity to fight and level up later.
For now I had a personal objective to complete.
I had to find people. People from my dreams. I had four people to look out for - one was a blonde woman, the nurse for the school who I think is called Marikawa-sensei. I knew where she was.
Second floor, near the teacher's lounge on the north-east side of the school building.
The staircase I was on now was toward the south side of the building, so it was on the opposite side from where I was. I needed to move quickly. I burst forth as quickly as I could, not caring to spare my stamina as I'd put all my free unallocated stat points into it earlier - meaning it'd gone from 16 to 20. It didn't seem like a big increase but I could already feel a big improvement in my body's ability to efficiently use energy and how much energy my body had in general.
I pivoted and dodged around any infected I came across, not having the time to spend on dispatching them. Though I did have to get rid a few of them when dodging became more effort than it was worth when I could just take out a few infected. I killed nine this way.
Which pushed me to level three, causing my stats to rise once again. This time I noted that Strength, Agility, Vitality and Endurance all rose four points while Stamina and Spirit didn't rise at all.
Is that to do with the evolver thing in the status? It did say I was an evolver for those stats while it didn't say it for Stamina and Spirit.
While I thought this, I applied my two new stat points to Stamina and continued on my way after a quick look at my new status.
[Name: Kenta Nakamura]
[Level: 3 (0/250 EXP)]
[Bloodline: Rajang (Strength, Agility, Vitality and Endurance Evolver)]
[Strength: 38]
[Agility: 37]
[Stamina: 22]
[Vitality: 37]
[Endurance: 39]
[Spirit: 13]
[Unallocated Stats: 0]
[Skills: {Bio-Electricity Generation Lv1} and {Beast Transformation Lv1}]
Anyway, why was I going for Marikawa-sensei? Because she was a Nurse and knew extensively about first aid and medicine. I knew enough to keep me alive if it came down to it but not enough that I could guarantee I'd be able to look after other people if they were in a seriously bad condition.
Besides, all my training orientates around physical trauma. You know, setting bones, stopping bleeding, sewing gashes and cuts closed--that type of stuff. I know next to nothing about illnesses, diagnosing said illnesses or anything about drugs and what to take and when.
I saw Marikawa-sensei treating me in a dream once. From what I remember, I came down with a fever of sorts and she was nursing me back to health.
If such a situation happened to me in this reality, I needed someone like her.
...Talking about the dreams makes me wonder why I never saw a status screen in the them. I never saw a screen appear after I killed a zombie and I could never turn my hands in beast-like claws either. It should go without saying that I wasn't as so thoroughly superhuman as I am now either. Is the status something new or was I just not paying attention in the dreams where it did appear?
I shook my head, killing a few more zombies in my way as I hopped over their corpses.
[Basic Zombie Killed, 10 EXP gained!]
[Basic Zombie Killed, 10 EXP gained!]
And before I knew it, I'd arrived at the nurse's room. Sheathing the knife, I thought about barging into the room but thought better of it seeing as the last two times I'd done that, I was nearly assaulted with a wooden staff.
I checked left and right and saw there was very little undead presence around her but I could pick up the sound of munching and crunching in the classrooms not too far away.
The dead were eating, so we had until they finished to get to the teachers lounge, find the other people I need to find and--
Before I could think any further, the door swung open smoothly and silently and I reacted on instinct as I drew the knife from my side and stabbed it toward the head of whoever was in front of me. I stopped it in time, blaming my overactive instincts imbued into me by my grandfather and made even worse by my Rajang bloodline for the occurrence.
I'd came here for Marikawa-sensei but I'd found one of the other people I was going to search for.
Wielding a bokken that's tip was centimeters from my face, I saw a purple-haired beauty with bright blue eyes, pale unblemished skin and an elegant but athletically toned body. Not to mention her large bust and wide hips. She was a beautiful but deadly lady. One I knew, actually.
I lowered my knife from it's position of just hovering a inch from her temple and put it back in it's sheathe, "...Busujima-san," I gave a nod and she lowered her bokken, a smile replacing the look of deadly concentration on her face.
"Nakamura-san, I'd have guessed someone like you would survive this sort of situation," she teased and moved back, allowing me to see into the room.
...I saw everyone on my mental list of people to search for.
Marikawa-sensei, Saya, Busujima-san (who was still next to me) and some short dude with glasses. I knew they all originally left with me. In gaming terms, Marikawa-sensei is our healer, Saya is our mage (tactician), Busujima-san is DPS like me and the short guy is our Ranged DPS aka our archer (though he admittedly used a gun in every dream I saw him in, not a bow and arrow).
It was an effective team, so why fix what ain't broke? I don't know the guy with glasses or the school nurse all that much but Busujima-san had been in the same class as me since the first year of highschool and Saya is a childhood friend of mine.
All said and done, I could see what type of person glasses is and what sort of person Marikawa-sensei is and then I can make my decision on whether to keep them around or not. Regardless of how useful they seemed in the dreams, if they turned out to be less-than-desirable people, I'd deal with them myself before they could harm anyone I cared about.
Stepping into the room, I closed the door behind me before turning to the group inside.
"...First off, keep your voices down. The classrooms surrounding this place are filled with infected," I informed them, my voice little more than a whisper yet everyone heard me. Or at least that's what I took their rapidly paling faces for. "So, we don't have much time. I'm leaving the school with the school's minibus and you're all free to come with me."
All of them nearly jumped at my offer but realized what I'd just said and kept quiet, instead nodding their agreement to my offer.
"Do any of you have any place that's safe? Possibly having any guns or weapons in it?" I asked, knowing the possibility was slim but we'd have to have gotten the guns in those dreams from somewhere and the sooner I figured out where, the better.
Status screens and levels aside, I'm sure that I could still be put down with a bullet to the head. Having a gun would no doubt bolster our safety by quite a lot.
Marikawa-sensei lifted her hand slowly and spoke in a quiet voice, "My roommate keeps a safe of guns in her room - she works with the police. I should be able to get into it if given enough time, I'm pretty sure I know the combination," she trailed off, seeming both unsure and confident at the same time. What a contradictory mood.
"Is there a chance you could drive us there?" I asked, receiving a nod in return from the blonde nurse. At that, I let out a sigh of relief before continuing, "Then I'm going to get the keys to the bus and then I'll be pack. While I'm gone, gather as much medicine and supplies from here and wait for me to get back. I won't take too long," I kept it simple and concise and the nurse nodded, so I turned and went to leave.
I was stopped by Busujima-san speaking up, "I'm coming with you."
"No, you're not," I turned to her, daring her to continue with both my tone and expression, "They need protection. And I'm sure you've leveled up before and increased your stats, right?" I asked and she nodded, "What's your level and your highest stat?"
She paused for a moment, seeming to pull up her status, "Level four and my highest stat is Agility at 36."
"I'm level three and my agility is 37. It isn't my highest stat. My reward for surviving seems to have enhanced my stats and stat gain per level - so, do you think I can do this alone?" she looked up at me, her bright eyes holding a weird emotion as she gave an equally weird smile before she backed off and began helping Marikawa-sensei moving medical supplies into bags. I was unsure whether or not this was her agreeing with me or not, but I took it as such and left the room.
I saw Saya glancing over at me but I ignored it for now as I had keys to find.
Leaving the nurse's room, I continued with my silent moving through the school. I looked in the classrooms every now and then but all I saw were eating zombies, stuffing meat into their mouths.
...A disgusting sight, honestly. But one I'd no doubt start seeing more and more from now on. This was the new world, after all.
I made it to the teachers lounge without any trouble but there was a small group of infected inside the lounge itself. I cleared them out, netting myself 120 EXP and getting over halfway to level four. The thought to clear through the school to maximize EXP did pass through my mind but I pushed the thought back for now as I searched for the keys. With my enhanced agility which seemed responsible for overall speed and mobility, searching went by in a flash and I found the keys in no time.
Rushing back to the room with the other's in it, I whispered through the door and then opened it. No wooden swords came flying at me this time, thankfully.
I motioned for them to come out and they all did so, some with more hesitance than others. Busujima-san walked out with a nonchalance that made it seem like the apocalypse wasn't literally happening around us. Saya and the short guy with glasses were different as they tiptoed out, looking like they were terrified of making even a little sound.
Which is good. Terrified is good. Fear is a brilliant motivator when it comes to survival.
We crept through the hallways toward the roof, our speed being much reduced seeing as most of this group didn't have the high agility stats me and Busujima-san had.
Still, the infected still left around were killed before they could even turn and look to us. The short guy was wielding an impromptu gun he'd seemingly made from supplies in the school - it was a nail gun with a homemade stock and sights. It was quite good work, considering the conditions under which he made it.
Under these conditions, he still kept a calm head and took out every infected that came at us. Busujima-san and I only had to step in when he had to reload or when he asked us to deal with stragglers. He wasn't prideful or greedy for the EXP he was no doubt getting - he understood the value of teamwork.
It seems the dreams hadn't been lying about his usefulness.
I introduced myself to him and the cool shooter image I'd built up of him in my head disappeared when he gave a nervous chuckle and his serious demeanor when shooting disappeared for a rather meek expression as he introduced himself as Kohta Hirano.
...Regardless of his shy nature, he was a brilliant marksman. And I told him as such, asking him quietly about where he'd gained such a skill.
Apparently he'd gone to multiple different boot camps throughout Japan and a renowned one in the US where he was taught about firearms and their usage. I explained my own knowledge of firearms and their usage, and it seemed to be that he was starved for friends who shared his interests. Or just starved for friends in general.
I asked him to give me some tips, as though my training did include some firearms training, it was much more focused on knife combat and close quarters combat.
It was safe to say that Kohta - as he said I should call him - was excited about teaching me.
We kept the conversation to a low and only whispered, and through this I found that most of us were Evolvers. Kohta sadly wasn't an Evolver, but he had been gifted a skill that increased his hand-eye coordination and his vision's clarity and range.
...That did bring to question why he was still wearing glasses if he had a skill that improved his vision but I left that alone for now.
Busujima-san was a Agility and Vitality Evolver, Saya was a Spirit Evolver and Marikawa-sensei was a Spirit and Endurance Evolver.
After all this conversation, we found ourselves at the roof.
We didn't get a warm welcome. What we found was Hisashi slumped over on the railing, cradling his arm. Takashi was sitting near him, his head in his arms. Rei was crying her eyes out, sobbing near silently. Miki was just looking over at Hisashi with pity in her eyes as she tried to comfort Rei. Hisashi's arm had a bite mark on it and the surrounding veins were black and bulging.
...So he dies even after all this, huh? I tried. I made him use a bat instead of his competition-style Karate and his barehands. I warned them that a single bite would turn you--so why...?!
I bit back a curse and walked onto the roof, the others following me.
Takashi and the others, excluding Hisashi, looked to me and their eyes filled with emotion. Before any of them could speak, I walked over to Hisashi and leaned on the rails next to him, "So, what happened, Hisashi?" I asked him, looking over the multiple fires happening in the city not too far from us.
My brother went to reply for him but I gave him a look that said 'shut up'. He withered at that look and just slumped back down, gripping his hair.
"Is that a trick question, Kenta? I got bit," Hisashi gave a lethargic laugh before he sighed, "I was just protecting my friends. A few of them got in. They were faster than the slow ones. It was like they were normal people still...we got caught off-guard. I took a bite so Takashi wouldn't have to."
No wonder Takashi looked so torn up.
I let out a sigh, closing my eyes and scratching my scalp, "I'm gonna give you two options, Hisashi. Either I take you out now or we wait for you to turn and then I take you out."
"Absolutely not--!" Rei borderline screamed but Hisashi stood and held his hands up to stop her, "But, H-Hisashi...he's talking--talking about killing you!" she yelled.
"I'm already dead, Rei," he held up his arm which was dripping blackened blood, "I was dead as soon as I was bitten by one of those things," he had a saddened smile on his face and turned to me, "I'd like to go out as a human, Kenta. If you wouldn't mind dirtying your hands for my sake, that is," he chuckled...but it was a dead sound. Lethargic, lacking any happiness--the chuckle of a person who knows they're about to die.
My eyes hardened and I nodded, pulling out my knife, "I'll make it quick. It'll be painless, Hisashi."
Rei went to rush me, her staff in hand but she was knocked on her ass by Busujima-san who blurred and stood between me and Rei, "You should thank Nakamura-san and be proud your boyfriend is making the decision to go out as a human," the purple-haired woman said, a frown marring her face.
Winded, Rei could say nothing as I looked over at Hisashi, "See you then, Hisashi," I said with what I hope was a comforting smile. Hisashi returned the smile in a tired manner, nodding in reply. Then I took a step forward and blurred.
The unnaturally sharp combat knife flashed through the air, tearing through it and then through Hisashi's neck. Flesh and bone were severed by the sharp edge, and in a flash, he was dead.
I felt a hollow pit develop in my stomach but I pushed the feeling down and away as I flicked the blade, washing the red blood off the blade before I sheathed it again.
Hisashi's head and body dropped to the ground.
I bent down and closed Hisashi's eyes, putting his head next to his neck, where it should be. There was no pain on his face, so I knew I'd fulfilled my promise. It was an instantaneous thing. He probably couldn't even react to my movement.
...I'm glad I could fulfill those two promises to him. A swift and painless death.
I sighed and stood up, turning to Rei who looked at me with a hateful glare and toward Takashi who was still looking at the ground, gripping his hair like he was trying to pull it out.
My expression hardened once more as I took a step toward my brother. I bent down and grabbed him by the collar and easily lifted him up, "Stop mopping around like a fucking child, Takashi. You owe a debt you can never pay back - the person who saved you is dead," my words struck at him like hammers and his eyes filled with guilt, his hands dropping from his hair and to his side, "So, you have to live. If you want to pay Hisashi back for his sacrifice, you can't die. Ever. Because if you do, Hisashi died in vain today. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
I never raised my voice during that entire thing. My voice was level, calm and serious. But there was an edge to it that seemed to cut right through Takashi's depressed attitude, his guilt-filled eyes filling up with something other than guilt - determination.
He needed a reason to live and to not mop around in guilt. Giving his friend's sacrifice some meaning is all the determination he needs right now.
His brown eyes hardened and I could instantly sense a change in how he held himself.
Takashi had always been indecisive. It's why he lost Rei to Hisashi. Why his grades are so average. Why he's so average at sports. All because he struggles to make a decision and stick with it because he becomes anxious about the 'what if's that come from the decision. But right now, I saw him clearly decide on something inside his head and the determination that welled up inside him from that decision being made.
He decided to live. He decided to move forward.
I let him down and turned to regard the rest of the group. I was met with a varied response. Busujima-san looked at me with admiration, Rei was giving me a death glare, Saya and Kohta looked undecided on their opinions of me - though the former did have a complicated emotion in her eyes as she looked to me. Miki and Marikawa-sensei were the only ones who looked at me with worry.
Not worry that I was gonna turn into some sort of slasher serial killer but worry about me as a person after I just killed someone.
I shot them a reassuring smile, trying to comfort them and stop their worry but it did nothing.
Might have made it even worse as Miki made to walk toward me but stopped herself just as she began, biting her lip and seeming to think about something.
I looked back to Rei.
"Feel free to hate me, Rei," I started before sighing, "But don't ever think I enjoyed what I just did. I did it for the safety of the group and because Hisashi wished to go out as a human and not as some piece of rotting flesh that would try to eat us. I hope you realize that I only did what Hisashi wanted and that I didn't do it because I hated him or wanted to kill him," I let those words settle in her brain and she averted her gaze, her emotions becoming complicated.
But I understood it. I just killed her boyfriend. Regardless of any infection, I chopped his head off with a knife when he was still completely human. It was understandable to hold some sort of dislike for me after that. Even if it was unreasonable to blame me when he would've died regardless, who says human emotions ever have to be reasonable?
My grandfather practically tortured me and raised me as a weapon out of some twisted version of love, so I know all about how unreasonable human emotions can become.
It was at least a good sign that she seemed to be re-thinking her negative thoughts after what I'd just said. She was just lashing out at the nearest party she could because she was hurting on the inside.
Takashi in a surprisingly decisive manner, walked over to Rei and hugged her.
She tried to fight him off but the attempts were weak and without any real determination. In the end, she hugged Takashi back, balling her eyes out and sobbing as she grieved Hisashi's death.
And so, that was the sole sound on the roof. A girl's muffled sobs.
...What a shitty situation.
