CH6 - Before we go

[Lyon's POV]

The electricity to the campus itself went out right after Ren finished talking with his family. It was as if the world was letting us give them our final farewells before it killed us off. None of us screamed, if there was anyone here who had a fear of imaginary monsters in the dark then they were able to easily understand that screaming now would only bring monsters to where we were currently hiding except this time, the monsters wouldn't be imaginary anymore. We didn't have any candles to use for lighting, after all, what kind of kendo club meeting room would have spare candles just lying around the corner or in the drawers if it even had one. I removed the now useless charger from my phone and slid my fingers across the screen, prompting the screen to open so I could use its flashlight feature as a makeshift lightbulb for a few minutes.

"We should remove the laptops, phones and chargers still hooked up to the sockets and put them back in their assigned bags. The outside is teeming with those things so going out now wouldn't be the smartest decision if we want to get out of here alive." I tell them, only to receive a nod as Ren and Chisato put their laptops and all our chargers in Ren's bag while me and Alyssa put our laptops in our bags. I whisper to all three of them to sit back down at the table afterward so that I could brief or ask them about what we should do from here on out.

"I don't know about you guys but I'd rather not stay here any longer than a day. I understand that some of you have families and homes you want to go back to but going out there right now and all alone is a death sentence. This is why I propose that the four of us come together as a group and systematically go to whichever home is closest before moving on to the next." All three of them contemplate my words before nodding in agreement, understanding that we only had ourselves and each other to faithfully put our trust and lives in.

After confirming that everyone was on board with my idea, I started questioning them about where they lived so that we could ascertain which house we would all be going to first. Ren's apartment was the closest to the campus but since his family lived north and not here, he believed there would be no need to go to his apartment to check for anything. After hearing him out, I voiced my suggestion that we could go to his house to get some well-needed supplies, after all, we only had two days worth of food with us and I don't think going to a supermarket would be the best idea with the fact that most people who aren't dead yet would be rushing their asses off to get carts of toilet paper for some reason.

"How about you Chisato? I know that we both live in the same general direction from the school, but you never actually told me how far apart we lived." I ask her with all of us except for Chisato herself looking at her, waiting for her response. She looks at the ceiling, trying to think about just how long it usually took for her to get from her house to the campus. A few minutes of staring at the ceiling later, she finally informs us of how far she lived from here. Apparently, she lived only 40 minutes away from the college campus which means that my and Chisato's houses shouldn't be too far apart from each other.

With both Chisato and Ren out of the way, that left only me and Alyssa who had just been nodding along to our words from the beginning of our briefing. "I believe my house should be the farthest from here since me and my family lived close to the outer border of the city itself" she quickly tells us before directly staring at me, waiting for my answer to the question I had presented to them earlier. The other two quickly followed in pursuit, prompting me to tell them where I lived as well.

"I live in the same general direction as Chisato's except mine is closer to our school by a small margin. It should only take us 30 minutes to get there on foot but with all those things outside, I won't be surprised if that 30 minutes became 1-2 days instead." I tell them without missing a beat, all three of us then agree that since my house is the second closest, then it would be our second destination after checking in with Ren's apartment for a much-needed supply run if it had not been looted yet already.

With our destinations set, I advised them that we should think up basic hand signals we can use once we inevitably go outside for more supplies as well as to leave the school itself. They at first wondered why we needed hand signals as a means of communication but I told them that we should still have them so that we can avoid talking outside entirely altogether. We decided that a tap on their wrist would be for asking what time it is, raising the index and middle finger and rotating the two in the air means going back to our designated safe zone, raising the index finger alone and pointing it to one direction will mean there's a zombie in that direction, raising the hand and creating an O shape using the thumb and the index finger means its safe, raising an entire hand without closing it would mean doing a complete stop in terms of movement for some reason and lastly, raising the entire hand but in a fist means to just run while following the person in the front or the back to whatever destination he/she is going, dependent on which direction the team is currently facing.

Once we finished allocating hand signals to the specific meanings we began to decide on who would be standing in front and behind the group. These two positions were the most important since the person in front would be the first person to see everything thus he or she will be obligated to clear the path in front of them and have knowledge regarding what each hand signal meant. I volunteered to be the person in front since it would be the most logical approach with me having my bokken with me while wearing a durable bulletproof vest, not that they know I have one but I still would've volunteered to be in front of us regardless of whether or not I had a vest.

Ren had the heaviest bag which means he would be more suited to be placed right in the middle of the group since carrying a heavy bag would be too straining if he had to lead us as well, that and the fact that we had no weapons meant he wouldn't be able to clear the path ahead of us. Alyssa would be fine being the person behind us since she has experience fighting with a bokken but with the fact that she didn't have any weapons with a long enough reach, choosing her to be the person to lead in case of a retreat wouldn't be safe for her.

I could give them my swiss knife for protection but I'd rather they only need to use it if the zombies managed to get past whoever is in front of them. This left Chisato as the best person to stand behind everyone since she not only had more mock combat experience than the other two but also had a practice bokken with her. We never really did ask her why she had her bokken with her if she was meeting with me though. 'Hm, should I be worried for my safety?' I think to myself before shaking my head out of such useless thoughts.

"Hold on, we've talked about where we going AFTER getting out of the school but we haven't talked about how we are going to get out of the school itself" I tell them, we were all getting too optimistic. I already had a plan to escape from the school but the way we talked about where we're gonna go earlier seemed careless optimism, it was as if we were hoping to just escape from the school without an actual concrete plan.

A few minutes went by with no one giving a suggestion, they all knew that using the front gate to get out of here was stupid as that place would probably already be crawling with zombies we would want to avoid at all cost. "Well since no one has an actual plan to get out of here, I suggest that we go through the southern exit" I tell them, only to receive a questioning look. Alyssa was the first to speak up among the three clueless people with me, "What southwestern exit" she asks.

"I wandered around the school during one of the break times we had during club day and found a small gate near the abandoned southern dorm that was wide enough for one person to go through, it was locked with a padlock though so we either find a key that may not even exist anymore or find something strong enough to break it with." I tell them, only to receive a nod of agreement from all of them, with no one else to give any more suggestions, the southwestern exit became our main means of escape.

"I'd like to avoid going near the campus center as I'm sure we can all at least agree that running from tireless zombies is not a part of anyone's itinerary. The room that houses maintenance gear is found on the first floor of this building which means we might find something to cut the padlock with there. Afterward, we could go through either the western or the eastern building, both have benefits we could use for the present or the future.

The eastern building houses much of the sports club equipment but the building only has one small cafeteria we can collect supplies from but going through the eastern building makes us go farther from the exit. The western building, in turn, houses equipment for clubs like gardening, photography, arts and music. The supplies we'd find would be useful when we are somewhere safe but there isn't much that would help us in our current situation but that would at least bring us closer to the exit as well. In the end, we decided to go through the eastern building since it housed sports gear we could use as weapons and armor. before moving on to the southern building.

By the time we all finished talking, the sun had already set and the time was already 8 PM, taking away with it the last bit of natural lighting we had. 'It hasn't been long since much of the population of the school was turned, so going out before 9 at least would be dangerous since there might be zombies who can still see but just to be safe, we should wait at least until it's past 12 before we do any recon outside the room' I think to myself without even realizing all three of my companions were just staring at me, waiting for the next topic we should talk about. As usual, it is Alyssa who pokes my arm, which then breaks me out of my stupor and back into the present.

With our hand signals, positions and escape plan decided, we move our topic of conversation to what we should do next. I told all three of them that maybe we should try going for the maintenance room during midnight, only to then receive well-deserved incredulous looks from both Ren and Chisato. I then remember that they weren't able to hear what I already knew and what Alyssa learned from that live stream we watched together. Alyssa comes to this realization as well before proceeding to tell the other two what we heard from the doctor or scientist on metube.

Ren and Chisato both nod after hearing Alyssa's knowledge about the virus but it seemed like Ren still had a question in his mind that needed answering. "If they lose their ability to see after 2 to 3 hours, then couldn't we just wait till the morning instead of going out during midnight where light is almost non-existent." Ren questions me with the other two looking at me, waiting for an answer to Ren's inquiry.

"You are correct in the fact that zombies are blind dogs but let me ask you this question. If you thought going out during the daytime would be the safer option then what do you think will the other survivors that remain inside the school think as well? What if desperation has set in for them and they try to harm us to get the weapons we currently have? What if the-" I tell them before my words are suddenly interrupted by Ren.

"I get it, I get it but you don't really think they would do that right? I mean, I get that the world is ending but just hours earlier we were all going to school, talking to friends and eating together. Do you really think they would fall that far into depravity already and what would we be doing in the meantime while we wait for midnight?" Ren questions me and yet his tone made it as if he was just trying to convince himself rather than ask us.

"Scenarios like this bring out the worst in people, civilization might have kept our shadows at bay before but now... nothing is stopping those same shadows from doing what they want anymore. As for what we would be doing in the meantime, I would like to propose that all three of you take a nap for now while I stay awake and guard the door. I will wake everyone up when it is time to go outside. I already slept in class earlier anyways so there is no need for me to do so again here." I inform them, only to receive a nod from all three of them as they start positioning their bags on the floor as makeshift pillows.

Ren and Chisato quickly fall asleep, possibly because of mental fatigue wearing them down. I couldn't see if Alyssa was sleeping though since she was laying down, facing the wall to her left. As for me, I walked towards the door and add to the barricade the chairs previously used by Alyssa, Ren and Chisato, only leaving my chair which I then positioned in front of the window. Much of the campus square was too dark for me to see at this point since it looked as if it was a sea of darkness, just waiting for would-be passersby to drown in its waters'.

As I stare at the window, I start hearing footsteps coming toward me before pausing entirely once the sound was close enough for it to be easily hearable. I glance to my side and see Alyssa who brought back one of the newly added chairs from the barricade to place it beside my chair. My new companion and I both just stared at the darkness outside, enjoying the tranquil silence of a school that seemed to be entirely devoid of life if we were to exempt ourselves. This silence is broken however by Alyssa as she whispers to me without taking her eyes away from the window in front of us.

"You lied" Alyssa whispers with a silent tone, probably trying to avoid attracting zombies from outside as well as waking the other two who were asleep in the same room. This statement of hers causes me to look at her while slightly tilting my head to the side, basically saying that I wasn't exactly sure which "lie" she was referring to earlier. My uncertain expression did not go unnoticed to Alyssa though, who broke away her stare at the window just to look at me.

"You didn't get to sleep in class earlier, which means you lied to us so that we could sleep somewhat peacefully before possibly running straight into the clutches of danger." She clarifies to me with a tone that was neither laced with anger nor hate, rather it was one that was filled only with worry and care. Her words bring a smile to my face before I return my eyes back to the window and stare into that hulking mass of darkness outside. "Your right, I am a liar. Do you hate me now Alyssa?" I ask her, fully aware that she was only wary of me putting their well-being above my own.

"No, that is unlikely, after all... I could never hate you." She tells me with a quieter tone than earlier as she begins to lean her head on my shoulder. Not long after, I begin to hear silent breaths coming from Alyssa, who sported a calm and beautiful smile as she leaned her head on my shoulder beside me. I wait for a few minutes before moving her head and laying it down on my lap instead as I caress her smooth black hair. I stare back at the window again without halting my gentle caressing of Alyssa's head except for this time, the silence of the world around me is accompanied by the calm breaths of Alyssa, becoming the crescendo of what might just be the most silence I might ever experience before we go back to the hell outside.