CH22 - Into the night

[Lyon's POV]

"So, everyone is fine with the plan then?" I asked my companions who nodded to my words. A few minutes of talking was all it needed for us to decide that we would first go to Chisato's house before going to the academy. There was a chance that her family wouldn't allow her to come with us though but we made sure to assure her that there'd be no bad blood between us if that were to be the case.

'So we'd go southwest from here, meet up with Chisato's parents before going back northwest to get to the school. We should be able to reach Chisato's house with the car by lunchtime, we can then travel back here and spend the night before going to the academy.' I think to myself as I make a short rundown of the plan mentally.

"Well, with all that settled. Anyone wanna go take a bath?" I asked my companions, they stare at me while carrying expressions of confusion, ones to which I reply with my own.

"Won't there be a chance for us to get infected then?" Alyssa asks me with a tone full of both doubt and confusion. It seems like the others had confused the virus to be capable of spreading through water which it actually isn't. The virus we were experiencing had the generic mode of transmission that most zombie viruses in movies had.

"No, the doctor back in the live stream mentioned that the ways of transmission are through the blood and saliva of infected individuals which means it isn't a waterborne virus." I correct their understanding though they understandably had doubts since it was a new virus and all which meant that the scientific community may have not had enough time to verify the modes of transmission yet.

"Okay, how about this? We can boil the water before we use it for bathing. The water in our bathrooms was collected a few days before the infection too so that's a bonus." I reassure them though that probably now raises the question, why do we have stored water anyway?

"We store water in cases of emergencies since an incident that involved our pipes disabled us from bathing for two days. It became a habit to stock up on tap water ever since then." I tell them before anyone could even ask the question.

"Boiling enough water for all of us would take a while though but it should be fine considering how early we had dinner this time." I informed them while looking at one of the phone clocks that I still had with me. I urged everyone to eat earlier than usual since I planned to tell them of my plans of going to the academy alone so now we had a surplus of extra time before the first night shift since it was only 6:30 PM.

It took 15 minutes before I managed to boil enough water for my bath, 3 minutes to slightly cool down the water, and 15 minutes again for the act of bathing itself. I usually only take short 5-10 minutes baths but the fact that it had been two days since my last bath and that I sweated through most of the day because of the number of layers that I wore was more than enough to convince me of taking a longer one.

I stood in front of the standing mirror in my room, taking note of the annoyance caused by my damp hair before I began inspecting the new articles of clothing I was now wearing. A gray shirt that had sleeves that reached all the way to my wrists with black tracksuit pants to accompany it. I was no master at picking out clothes but all that mattered to me was comfort.

I look at the rifle and the shotgun that I had just left on my desk but I opted to just leave them there. I take my bag with me as I go downstairs only to find my companions anxiously waiting inside the living room, all of whom were standing up since all of our chairs were being used as barricades.

"See, everything is fine. We can use all of my stove tops to efficiently boil the water, I don't mind holding down the fort until you're all finished. Oh but take this with you, we might need it in the future." I tell them before taking out all four of the two-way radios from my bag, one of which was the one that I had left for my parents.

They all take one radio, leaving me with only one which I put inside my bag as they left the living room and began boiling the stockpiled water. There was a problem regarding what clothing the women in our group would wear but that problem was quickly fixed after I told them that it'd be fine if they were to use my mother's clothing.

It was 8:24 PM by the time that everyone was finished with their bathing, Ren didn't take long with his bath so I was able to retire early into my room and prepare the futon I would be sleeping on. That was also the time when Alyssa decided to just enter my room while wearing a black nightgown while blushing in embarrassment, one that she tried to hide with her two hands while failing miserably.

I stare at her blushing figure which oozed out nothing but pure embarrassment and innocence, I cough into my hand before turning back to the window. It was quite obvious that she was getting uncomfortable though if that were to be the case then why would she opt to wear it in the first place...

"You can have the bed and uh... was it Chisato who convinced you to wear something like that...?" I asked Alyssa by turning back just a bit, her figure being visible from the corner of my eye. She replies with a nod, making me give my thanks to Chisato inwardly as she laid on the now clean bed.

I turn the lights in my room off before laying down on my futon, its comforting material offering to take me into the deep recesses of my mind as I slept. An offer that I more than willingly took after the stress of everything that has happened recently piled up on me.

I "woke up" standing in front of the gates of what appeared to be an academy, a cool breeze passing by me as it made me shiver due to its chilling temperature. The fact that the breeze had such a cold temperature was weird though because it wasn't even December yet which was when the winter season began.

'Another dream huh? This place looks too realistic to be a dream though...' I think to myself as I looked around the area that I stood in. The entire area around me seemed blurry except for the area on the other side of the gate. I go inside, pushing the large gate open while ignoring the piles of sandbags placed a few meters away on both edges of the gate.

Directly in front of it was a parking lot where three pathways lay in waiting, the middle pathway led directly up the stairs to the main entrance that had a banner with letters that were too blurry. The other two paths were ones that arched out and led to the sides of the parking lot which meant they were right beside the perimeter wall.

I walked down the middle pathway, ignoring the abandoned cars that were now collecting dust as bullet casings that were scattered on the parking lot's surface accompanied it. There were so many small details that I felt was just too specific for me to understand how and why would a dream be so realistic.

I reach the stairs that led up to the school's main entrance, taking note of the door's handle being locked with chains and a padlock as the banner that was previously blurry to me became clearer. The words "Tohoku Iwate Academy" written beautifully on the black banner with the color white, causing me to form a slightly surprised expression at where my dream had chosen to occur.

The main entrance itself was elevated to a degree with the stairway being added so a person could walk up and reach it. The sides around the elevation had aluminum railings probably meant to stop anyone from jumping or falling over the small bit of elevation around the main entrance's doors.

Beside the door were two bulletin boards on each side, all of which were messily placed in an order which became a telltale sign that they originally weren't there. I moved closer to the bulletin boards, taking note of the fact that all of them had pieces of paper stuck to them with thumb tacks, strips of tape, or stapler pins.

I passed by each one before stopping altogether as I stood in front of the fourth and last bulletin board. In the center of the bulletin board itself was a white sticky note, quite large in comparison to the usual sticky note but that was something I had chosen to ignore as something else caught my eye. The rest of the note's contents were too blurry for me to read but on the note's top left side were the words "Dear Lyon" written in black.

I moved my face closer to the note, squinting my eyes in an attempt to read its blurry contents only to then be interrupted as the doors to the school forcefully opened. The sound of the metal padlock and its chains breaking as the familiar sound of a lock cutter being used could be heard coming from my left which was where the doors to the school were.

Rushing outside of the door were several zombies, so many that I could easily guess that there were at least more than 30 of them. the first 10 clumsily slipped on the floor which caused more of them to fall as they struggle to stand back up. Though many had slipped over their own and others' feet, many more managed to rush toward me as I instinctually put my hand over where my machete and its sheath should've been kept.

Unfortunately, the machete and its sheath weren't there so now I had to use my fists to hold them back. I punch the first one to get close to me, causing its head to swerve to the left before I kicked it back, forcefully pushing away a few of those behind it.

With each one that I manage to push away, two more appear to take their place. It was when I pushed away the third zombie and had my back to the railing that I felt a hand put its grip around my ankle, pulling my leg back and causing me to fall to the ground as it bit onto my leg, allowing the zombies who I had fighting earlier with my fist to grab and bite onto my neck.

Strangely enough, it felt less painful than I thought it would, though that might just be because all of this was something that I perceived as a dream. The thought of getting bitten and the small bit of pain I felt was more than enough to wake me up though as my eyes opened and stared back at the familiar ceiling of my room.

I looked to my side and found Alyssa sleeping beside me, her two legs constricting one of mine as she cuddled up to my neck, her mouth lightly biting the part of my neck where I was bitten during my dream. I shift around the futon for a bit, taking out my phone from my pockets as my movement caused Alyssa to groggily open her eyes.

She, who probably thought this was just a dream, decided to tighten her leg's hold around my own, causing her body to move closer to mine as her arms which were previously cuddling onto my neck were now tightly hugging my body. Her still groggy eyes stared back at mine, she dreamily smiles before pushing her lips closer to my own.

A quick and pure kiss, one that lasted for mere seconds but was apparently more than enough to fully wake her sleeping mind as she probably felt the warmth that emanated from my lips. She pulls back, staring inquisitively as I smiled back at her, she then opts to stand up as she now fully realized our sleeping position.

"Good morning." I greet her with a grin plastered on my face as she scratched her eyes, making sure that everything she had seen and everything that she had done was all in real life and not some dream. I turn on the stranger's phone and learn that it only had 35% of battery left and that the time was 1:43 AM, 17 minutes before my shift would begin.

"It's still quite early so you should go back to sleep, I'll wake you up when it's your shift." I tell Alyssa who had already shaken away her embarrassment before I slung the rifle and carried the shotgun and the ammo fanny pack on the desk with me using one of my free hands.

I also made sure to take the mishmash of armor I had taken from the club rooms, my police utility belt, a new white hoodie, and my bulletproof vest from the cabinet. I leave the room and quickly wear my police duty belt, my bulletproof vest, and a hoodie to cover it, I disregarded the sports equipment for now before moving closer to the stairway.

I turn on the phone's flashlight, illuminating the dark house with enough light to at least show me the path I was going through. The house still had electricity but keeping the lights on while it was dark outside was a beacon for any living person with half a brain to understand that a house with lights on might just be worth checking out.

I reach the bottom of the stairway, pointing my phone/flashlight to the hallway that led to the kitchen where Chisato was coincidentally standing, leaning her back to the wall as she squinted her eyes while my flashlight was pointed at her. I then decrease the flashlight feature's brightness to a degree that it wouldn't blind Chisato.

"Lyon? You're a bit early for your shift don't you think?" Chisato asks while looking at me, the weakened flashlight still pointed at her. I hear a door close from upstairs before I could answer, the sound causing me to point my flashlight back upstairs with Alyssa, who was now wearing her armor over a white sweatshirt and skinny jeans, appearing at the top of the stairs.

"You should ask her that, her shift isn't even until more than 2 hours from now." I tell Chisato, referring to Alyssa who was slowly going down the stairs before pausing halfway through as she decided to just sit down on the stairs instead of continuing.

"Oh my, doing matching clothes already. My two juniors have grown into a cute couple huh." Chisato jokes at our expense, I point my flashlight back to her as it illuminated her grin-carrying face as Alyssa's was shrouded once more with darkness after I had pointed my flashlight away from her.

"I'll handle it from here, you can go take a rest." I tell Chisato who replies to me with thanks before she went back up the stairs. I put on my sports equipment before taking her previous position in the hallway as I held the shotgun in my arms.

"Hey Alyssa, you said that you've tried shooting a shotgun in the past right? You should have this then." I asked her before handing her the Miroku MK60 shotgun and the fanny pack that had 50 twenty gauge shotgun shells inside while the rest of it was inside a pouch in my backpack.

I tell her all the important information that I knew but it seems like she was quite familiar with that type of gun considering how she knew how to reload the gun with two shells and turn the safety off and back on. I sit down and stare at her, surprised over how she carried herself with the gun considering how rare it was for a civilian in Japan to know how to use any type of gun.

"Alyssa, you should take every chance you can to rest. Such a luxury shouldn't be disregarded when it's available to us." I slightly scold Alyssa as I point my flashlight at her. While I did appreciate the company, my worry for her well-being still overshadowed my desire to have someone to talk to.

"I know, but I've had more than enough rest for now so I might as well accompany you through the night with a chat." Alyssa answers back with a smile, her attempt to move the topic of conversation away from sleeping not going unnoticed. I sigh in resignation, choosing to just hold a nice chat with her about whatever mundane topics we could think of.

~2 hours later~

Our conversation had died down 10 minutes ago, the chat we shared ending after we had sufficiently reminisced about how we had first met. We opted to just relish the silence of the world, remaining vigilant throughout the quiet calm of the very early morning.

It was during this moment of silence when a ray of light pierced through the small glass pane as it slightly illuminated the hallway I was sitting on. The height of the glass pane was too tall though so it wasn't able to reveal my position to whoever was using that flashlight.

"Alyssa, go up the stairs and wake the others. Tell them to gear up and prepare their bags as quietly as possible. Don't go down until I tell all of you to and make sure to bring both of our bags with you, the two of them should still be inside my room." I whisper to Alyssa before I turned off my flashlight, not waiting for any sort of reply.

I crawled toward the door-shaped entry point that led to the living room as I began to hear very quiet footsteps coming from the stairway behind me. I peer through the window, finding two people wearing a black biker jacket that had white Venn diagram-like circles on it over a white shirt and green tracksuit pants standing close to a minivan on the road. One of which held a crowbar and a flashlight which he was pointing at the door while the other carried something smaller in size, a gun.

I unsheathe Gray with my right hand and held my revolver with the other, standing with my back to the wall beside the living room's closest entry point to the hallway and the door itself. Shooting a gun would call every hiding zombie to our location but we'd at least still have a chance to escape.

"Hey, why is the boss forcing us to loot houses across the river instead of just looting the houses closest to the hospital?" An unfamiliar voice asks, their conversation being audible enough for me to hear through the small cracks of the door after they got closer to the house.

"Stop complaining will you? You should be happy that we aren't included in the groups meant to clear and secure the hospital. The boss' younger brother and his gang helped us by killing the police in that convoy and took control of the bus for us. They even gave some of us guns, though more ammo than just a single extra clip would've been great." Another unfamiliar voice answers the first one, this time their voice directly just outside of the door itself.

Their conversation stopped as I heard them attempt to open the door, one that failed since we had locked it beforehand. It went quiet for a few seconds, I doubt they would have left just because the door was locked so I didn't let myself get relaxed. My doubts are proven true as pieces of wood fly out from the door as they used the crowbar to forcefully pry it open.

They push the door open but are stopped once more, this time by the couch that Ren had placed in front of it earlier. They do it again with most likely more force this time as the couch was moved aside, one of them gasping for air out of fatigue. A ray of light then wandered around the hallway as they pointed their flashlight in various directions.

'Two people, one melee weapon user and a handgun user.' I think to myself, taking note of what known weapons were they carrying. One of them then goes through the entry point right beside me, his eyes pointed directly at the floor where the duffle bags lay still.

It was when the person decided to go deeper inside the room and glance to his left did I bring down my machete on his head, killing him before he could even utter a scream of help or a yelp of pain. The blade cleanly entered his head while trails of blood flowed down his face as he stared at me in shock before crumpling down on the floor to his knees. I then kick his body away while pulling the machete off, which caused streaks of blood to dirty the floor after I forcefully pulled it out.

Though he was unable to scream, his companion still saw how my machete had just killed his friend. Seeing as how he already had the gun aimed at me, I decided to hide back behind the wall I was using earlier as the sounds of gunshots began echoing through the house as the idiot tried to shoot me through the thick walls.

It was then that I heard a different kind of gunshot twice coming from upstairs, following it was the sound of a body being knocked hard into the wall before it slid down slowly, the barely audible sound of clothes smoothly sliding down its stony surface slowly coming from the direction of the hallway.

I peer out of the entry point, finding the body of the person that was trying to shoot me riddled with holes as blood leaked out and steadily formed a puddle beneath him with his back leaning against the wall as a support. He puts his hand over his shirt before moving the hand in front of him, looking at the bloody hand with a shock that kept him from screaming.

I shot him with my revolver at the head, blotches of blood dirtying the wall behind him as well as the floor before he slowly slid on his side. The shock of his sudden death was still evident in his wide-open eyes as a steady trail of blood flowed down his face and onto the floor.

The sounds of agitated screeches coming from almost every direction could be heard now, the previously slumbering zombies now awakened as the sounds of gunshots coming from this house emanated through the neighborhood. Another idiot, who was most likely the driver of the van, began shooting at the house instead of escaping when he still could.

"Everyone, I need you to go pick up their flashlights, and the dead looter's gun as well as the extra clip. I also need all of you to carry as many duffle bags of supplies as you can and just throw them in the car." I tell the others while throwing the keys to the car to Ren as I sheathed the machete and holstered my revolver before preparing my rifle while moving closer to the window of the living room.

'We'd need a distraction, and a car's noisy horn should be good enough.' I think to myself as I break the window with the butt of my rifle and aim the gun's barrel at the driver. He notices the rifle now aimed at him and tries to leave, driving forward only for the bullet to still find its mark as blood splashed out of the driver's side open window.

Following the sound of me shooting the rifle was the loud horn of the minivan, the driver's head had most likely fallen on the steering wheel causing the car's horn to continue sounding off. Chisato and Ren opted to just put their weapons into the backs of their shirt while Alyssa left the shotgun hanging so they could all each carry one duffle bag per arm.

I take a picture of me and my family out of its frame before leaving through the front door with the rifle in my left hand and the last duffle bag in the other. I find Alyssa still waiting beside the broken door while the other two stand beside the car, their duffle bags having most likely already been thrown inside the car's back seats.

I head straight for the car, pulling Alyssa with me as Ren sat on the driver's seat while Chisato chose to go for the front passenger seat. I open the door to the second row of chairs and push all of the duffle bags into one corner so there'd be enough space for both me and Alyssa to fit inside.

We go inside as Ren starts up the car and drives it back to the road, a few zombies who were now gathering around the minivan managed to hear the engine start though as they ran headfirst into the back of the car. Ren then drove straight ahead, leaving the zombies behind us as their attempt to follow us became futile while we drove into the night.

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AN: Ugh, this was the longest chapter I made. I just couldn't bring myself to end the chapter with a cliffhanger. Anyway, sorry if the fight seemed too easy, this isn't some epic sword fight with anime powers after all. The reason why Lyon chose to hide back into the wall instead of shooting with his revolver was that the enemy already had the gun aimed at where he was. If he had chosen to aim his gun back, then the enemy would've been able to shoot him first. Now while yes, he was indeed wearing a bulletproof vest, it still only covered his torso, not his neck, arms, legs, and head.

Btw, side chapter will be uploaded in two hours.