18 17. Escape from the DEAD (2)

"'WAIT, PLEASE, HELP ME!"

Hearing the cry only stirred up the zombies further. Kazuki looked in the direction of the sound with a skeptical gaze.

'No fucking way,' he muttered under his breath.

He recognized who was coming, and it was none other than Koichi Shido, the same guy he had left with a broken ankle, trapped next to an iron cabinet as a gift for the zombies. The question of how this piece of garbage was still alive died in his throat as he saw who was carrying him: Tsunoda, the leader of the students who had been bullying Kohta.

Everyone on the bus looked at Kazuki. Although he hadn't been voted leader, they all understood that they were only together on this bus because of him. Miku and Taniuchi were a bit apprehensive; after all, they had respect for Shido.

Miku looked at Kyoko, thinking she would ask for help, but upon noticing the look of disgust on Kyoko's face, she instinctively understood that something she wasn't aware of had happened, and the chances were slim.

Taniuchi wanted to ask for help, but she knew that if it weren't for this group, she would probably be dead and wandering the halls like one of them, so she wisely chose to remain silent.

The silence was broken by Shizuka, who spoke to get everyone's attention. "WE'RE LEAVING!"

Shortly after, they heard Takashi's voice. "Please wait a moment!"

"They're coming from the front too! If we take too long, we won't be able to get out of here!" Shizuka said.

"Run over them!" Takashi argued.

"If we accumulate too many, all these people will make us capsize!" Saya intervened.

Takashi clenched his fists and gritted his teeth, and before he could act, Rei spoke.

"DO NOT SAVE HIM!" Rei shouted, almost hysterical.

"Rei! What are you talking about?!"

"You don't have to save him! This trash is better off dead!" Rei replied with a guttural voice and genuine hatred in her eyes and voice, surprising everyone present.

Takashi was shocked by Rei's words, and it seemed like he was going to ignore her pleas and move away from her to save Shido and Tsunoda, even Kazuki was a little surprised by such hatred.

'In the manga, she didn't show so much hatred, although she wanted him dead, this is a bit beyond what I expected... Is there more to this story than in the manga? Wouldn't surprise me after all, this is the real world, driven by hentai logic which makes the situation even more suspicious, but still the real world.' Kazuki thought before interrupting the discussion between the two, seeing that the zombies were beginning to accumulate excessively.

"Shizuka, step on it." Kazuki looked at Rei as he gave the order; the sentence was decreed. Kohta let out a sigh he had been holding since he had seen who it was. Rei looked surprised at Kazuki and, seeing the seriousness on his face, felt gratitude surge in her heart.

'He didn't even ask why I acted like that... we met just over an hour ago, and he trusted me. Takashi, on the other hand, has known me since childhood and is treating me like I'm a monster or crazy. Actually, he's always been like that, hasn't he?' Rei thought after the incident, her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the bus engine.

VRRROOOOOOOOOOOM!

Shizuka stepped on the accelerator and sped the bus through the parking lot full of zombies. Takashi clenched his fists and turned his face to the other side.

"Takashi, don't turn your eyes. You'll understand," said Kazuki, as if he knew something that Takashi didn't.

Takashi didn't want to look but forced himself to look at Shido and Tsunoda as he held onto the bars since Shizuka was being forced to run over several of them due to the slight delay in leaving; each sound of a body hitting the bus hammered in his head, thinking that it was his fault that they almost didn't make it out.

Tsunoda, who was carrying Shido, stopped in shock when he saw that the bus had left without him and, looking at the extra weight that was Shido, began to shout.

"IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT, YOU DEAD WEIGHT, I SHOULD HAVE LEFT YOU TO DIE!"

Shido, realizing that the zombies were beginning to approach them, stopped leaning on Tsunoda and, with a look of regret, began to speak. "You're right, forgive me, Tsunoda-kun."

Tsunoda, who had started to feel a little bad for shouting at him, realized that the zombies were also approaching, but he didn't have time to respond because Shido pushed him with all the force he could muster toward them while jumping with an improvised crutch and his only good foot as far away as possible, since Tsunoda's screams, desperately fighting for his life as he was bitten, attracted the attention of the zombies closest to him, making his escape easier.

However, as he fled as best he could, his crutch, which was nothing more than a poorly adapted mop, broke, and when he was forced to step on the ground with his broken ankle, he couldn't bear the pain and screamed.

"AAARGH"

THUD!

He couldn't bear his weight and fell to the ground. His scream was just the beginning of the cacophony that ensued, as the zombies around him attacked him immediately on the ground, tearing his body to pieces with their teeth.

"NOOOOOO!"

"GAAAAARGH"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRGHH"

...

Meanwhile, on the bus, Takashi looked horrified, and his stomach churned. The silence was only broken by Shizuka, who kept repeating as she ran over the walking bodies in her path until she reached the exit gate, accelerating even more.

"They're no longer human... They're no longer human... THEY. ARE. NO. LONGER. HUMAN!!!"

The bus practically jumped out of the school gates, everyone inside breathing a sigh of relief for finally being outside. Still, on the other hand, the anxiety of what awaited them outside was palpable in their hearts.

The sight they had as soon as they hit the road was not inviting at all; a lot of black smoke rose from various points in the city, and the sky that was clear during the morning became blackened and heavy, like a preview of what awaited them in the future.

After a few minutes where everyone just contemplated the future, Kazuki broke the silence.

"How was it, do you still think we should have risked our lives to save those guys?" He said clearly, addressing Takashi. "Just imagine, you and Miyamoto, exhausted and needing to rest, and only Shido and Tsunoda are with you at night, and outside there's a horde of them passing by. Do you think you could sleep in peace?"

Takashi gritted his teeth, but he knew everything Kazuki said was true, he saw the moment Tsunoda was preparing to leave Shido behind, just to be betrayed and pushed toward them. But instead of retorting and grumbling as Kazuki expected, Takashi surprised him.

After taking a deep breath, Takashi spoke with a serious look, "I was being impulsive and almost put us in danger. I'm sorry."

With widening eyes, Kazuki nodded, but as he looked at Rei's face, he thought, 'Yikes, Takashi my dude, your sorry was only directed at me. You didn't even look at Rei… You may think it isn't important but women remember those things…'

And as if to confirm Kazuki's thought, Rei approached him, with a grateful look and a smile on her face, deliberately brushing against Takashi.

"Thank you for believing in me, Kazuki."

"It's okay, even if you hadn't said anything, I wouldn't have helped him anyway." Kazuki said, to undo the image that he had done what he did for her. Looking at Kyoko, he saw her with a slight smile looking at him.

Rei and Takashi sat in different places on the bus. And now that everyone was calmer, Kazuki noticed that they were passing through a very empty area of ​​the city, it seemed to be relatively more rural with several fields fenced with concrete next to each other and some nearby houses.

In this moment of calmness, Takuzo caught everyone's attention by asking Kazuki a very pertinent question.

"Hey Kazuki-senpai, what's the plan from here on out? We're just driving on the road, but where are we going? I'm worried about my family and I imagine others are too."

"You're right, initially we just needed to escape. Besides Kyoko, I don't have anyone close to me in this city or even country, for that matter, so I'm not as anxious as you guys. Listen to my idea first and then you decide if it holds value for you or not." Kazuki replied, prefacing his plans. "My idea is, first of all, not to rush to your homes. I don't say this because it will be dangerous or anything like that, but it's because, by this time, your families must have been dealing with this situation for at least a few hours longer than us. So, either they've gone to some safe place, or they've already locked themselves in their homes. Secondly, we have a bus and we can take advantage of this initial chaos to grab supplies along the way since I doubt that on this first day, people will be thinking so much about stocking up on food."

Everyone on the bus agreed with Kazuki's logic so far, and they were paying attention, waiting for him to continue.

"Thirdly, we should find a place that is safe at least for today. I imagine you guys are under the impression that everything will be over soon and I would really like that to be the case, but what happened at school is probably happening throughout the city, and just like us a bunch of people must be fleeing together. Just imagine the chaos and the absurd noise that must be in those places. Now, what attracts them?" Kazuki fell silent so that everyone could absorb his arguments, and noticing the furrowed brows of those present, he pulled a cell phone out of his pocket and handed it to Takuzo. "You can use my phone to try to call your relatives."

After the people on the bus looked at each other they nodded unanimously. Takuzo nodded and thanked him before sitting down and starting to call his family. Kazuki then went to Taniuchi, Kawamoto, and Miku who were sitting close together, and approaching them so much that he could see the slight redness in their cheeks, he took their hands and said in a gentle tone looking into their eyes.

"We will survive. Instead of everyone doing what they want, if we work together and protect each other, I'm sure we will succeed. Can you help me?"

Both blushed furiously and nodded, agreeing with a nearly fanatical gleam in their eyes. So far, they had firsthand experience of how effective Kazuki was, and it was by following his plans that they managed to leave the school unscathed. Not only that, he always cared about their well-being, and during the escape, he was always one of the first to fight ahead, bonus points for him being tall, well fit and handsome and Kazuki's image shone for these two who never had any previous interactions with him.

[Affinity with Momo Kawamoto +18]

[Affinity with Fumiko Taniuchi +12]

[Affinity with Miku Yuuki +6]

'Hold on, what's this?!' Kazuki thought, surprised. 'Affinity notification?! We really need to stop somewhere for me to scour this system from top to bottom, but for now, I should have a minute or two to look at the most basic of these things. STATUS!' Kazuki shouted the word in his mind full of expectation and almost letting out a smirk. Then, his field of vision was taken over by a blue square full of compartments as if it were an RPG character.

[Name: Kazuki Mendes Kurosawa (Joshua Mendes Ferreira)

Age: 18

Mutation: The Fool

Level: 01

- Attributes –

Strength: 5

Agility: 5

Mental: 4

Constitution: 5

Charisma: 10

- Passive Abilities –

Adaptation

Language Pack

Computer Acumen [7]

Bedroom Arts [2]

Aim [0]

Close Combat [3]

Sword: Katana [0]

Polearm: Warhammer [1]

Polearm: Lance

Crossbow [0] Bow [0]

- Active Abilities –

NONE

- Party 0/2 –

Apt to be invited: 01

- Relationships –

Click to view ... ]