Act 4: Refuge from the Dead

Day: 1

Time: 3:37 P.M

Location: Kirishima High School - Ground Floor Hallway: East Wing

Time until Nighttime: 2 hours and 23 minutes left

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Keeping his steps as quiet as possible, Kyosei continues to move as silently as possible while also keeping his speed up to ensure he is not slowing down. He has wasted enough time already and can't afford to waste more. The longer he stays here, the bigger the chances that the zombies will flock around, making navigation harder.

There are groups of them but they are easy to avoid and sneak past through them but there are some that are unavoidable. Killing them in stealth is still possible but he would be wasting too much time killing them all and he would rather get out of this place faster than stay for a while.

Grabbing one of the zombie's heads from the back, Kyosei gripped it hard before slamming it hard on the floor, breaking its head and killing the zombie very quickly.

"They are so brittle, it felt like I am not attacking a former human being..." Kyosei flicks off the excess blood on his hands before he continues on his way to his destination.

Many would think why would Kyosei risk his life for Miyuki if he is avoiding her? However, it's not like Kyosei and Miyuki had a hostile relationship before, it was different. However, something happened in the past that would cause Kyosei to drift away and become a delinquent.

But now that something is happening, Kyosei is more willing to throw away his pride in avoiding Miyuki than let Miyuki be harmed. That is how valuable Miyuki is to Kyosei.

As Kyosei ascends to the next floor, more and more zombies are present though they are not moving around as most of the chaos happening happened earlier during the beginning of the outbreak, the result of the situation had increased the number of zombies that are around.

"F*cking hell, they are everywhere. Should I just clear all of them and kill them? But that would attract more attention than it should be..."

But before he can even sneak away, one of the zombies notices him and starts to shamble toward him.

"Agh screw it. I will have to make a quick work."

As the zombie shambles toward him, Kyosei grabbed his forehead before forcefully shoving it into the group of zombies causing them to fall over to the floor and struggle to get up. Before they can get up, Kyosei stomps over them before swinging his baseball bat in full force, breaking through the skulls one by one.

However, his little ruckus has attracted more attention.

"Hah...so much for doing this stealthily."

Getting his baseball bat ready, he started swinging.

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Day: 1

Time: 3:44 P.M.

Location: Kirishima High School - Stairs to 2nd Floor - East Wing

Time until Nighttime: 2 hours and 16 minutes left

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"Hah...hah..."

Gasping for air, Souichi Honda sat over in the corner of the stairs as he took a slight break. He has been running for quite some time after a few zombies decided to chase him. He managed to lose them but he can't keep on running away from them forever.

"Damn it, they are everywhere..." Souichi muttered to himself as he peeked over the hallway and noticed the zombies being idle.

It would have been great if he could just hide and wait for rescue, but he can't afford to do that. He is looking for his sister, Nanami Honda, and his girlfriend, Sena Yotsumishi who are both missing from their respective classrooms. He is not sure if they got infected and got eaten by the zombies but he is hopeful that none of them are harmed and managed to get away.

But without any clues to their whereabouts, he is not sure where to look first in these hallways infested with zombies.

Because he is still tired and his location is not that easy to be spotted by the zombies easily, Souichi decides to check his phone. The internet is still functioning so before the internet breaks down, he decided to check the news and see the situation over the current situation.

"Damn...Kyushu and Sapporo are already overrun? No way this is happening so fast..."

The SDF or Self-Defense Force is already deployed to help with the evacuation and defending the regular people from the threat but it seems that even with them, it is not enough fast enough to deal with them.

"Great...just great. And here I thought people would be more aware of this kind of stuff happening and would be more prepared, but it seems that real life is not that different either."

Souichi is not sure how the zombies managed to sneak into the school despite the gates being closed. Did someone else already infected inside the school before they turned and infected everyone else? He doesn't know. However, it doesn't matter who started it. The situation is already bad.

As he was still browsing over the phone, a few zombies started shambling near his location, causing him to curse as he slowly backed away.

"Crap...looks like proceeding without any weapon will just be a suicidal act..." Souichi is forced to find a weapon to defend himself when he sees a dead student whose head has been mauled badly not too far from his location. One of his hands is still gripping a metal pipe that seems to be part of the metal seats that can be assembled. It is intact and the corpse no longer needs it, so without hesitation, Souichi grabbed it and armed himself, ready to fight.

But he didn't attack immediately and proceeded to lie low and wait. The zombies might be ruthless but they have become stupid. Not only that, but it seems that their vision also suffered a lot and will only act towards any source of sound nearby.

The zombies quietly passed by and Souichi sighed in relief once the coast was now clear. Looking outside, it seems the sun is about to set.

"I need to hurry."

....

Descending to the second floor instead of seeing the living dead shambling aimlessly all over the hallway, what he sees is carnage and a gory mess of blood and brain matter. The dead bodies of all the undead are all lying on the floor, bathing in their blood with their head bashed to pieces.

The scene is enough to make Souichi spiral into dizziness and nausea. He has seen things like this in horror movies but seeing it in real life is not the same. Despite his urge to puke out his lunch, he held on to ensure he wouldn't make a sound.

As he was about the check in the hallway, a baseball bat was about to reach his face. It stopped midway and he was frozen in place with the bloody baseball bat still in front of his face. Souichi nervously gulped as he looked at Kyosei holding the baseball bat with a frown on his face.

"K-Kyosei?" Souichi nervously looked at him as he thought he would be done for.

"Thought it was some crawler currently trying to attack again, turns out it was a living person."

Kyosei then removed the baseball bat in front of Souichi's face and flicked the blood and brain matter into the side, splattering it to the nearby wall.

"I-I came in peace! Don't kill me!" Souichi has seen the bloody mess in the hallway, and with Kyosei being here, he doesn't need confirmation on who did all of this.

"Relax. I may be someone who has a sh*tty personality to others, but I don't just bash a person's skull without reasoning even under the apocalypse."

Souichi stood up and sighed in relief. He still can't stop shivering thinking what would have happened to him if he got bashed by the baseball bat.

"Trying to leave the school?" Kyosei asked as he glanced around the surroundings and ensured there were no more zombies around.

"No. I am looking for my Sister. I couldn't find her in her room so I was planning on searching the Student Council's room and checking if they were present there. I am also looking for my girlfriend and maybe they are together."

Kyosei shook his head. "Don't bother. The student council clubroom is deserted. I passed by there earlier so don't waste your time over there. If they are alive, they must be somewhere else."

"No way..." Souichi grits his teeth in frustration

"Calm down. Perhaps they are still alive. Seeing that there are only a few zombies around, there must be a few students and teachers who have survived and have locked themselves down to keep the zombies from reaching them. And that also means they are currently holding the area with other people as well."

Hearing that, Souichi immediately perked up. "You are right. I didn't see them die with my own eyes. That must mean they are still alive somewhere."

"You both are correct, most students managed to avoid the worst fate possible and have been holding somewhere else. I saw them evacuate and lock themselves in the gymnasium," a woman's voice echoed behind them, promptly turning over and getting their weapons up. But Kyosei sighed when he saw that it was the female student with a lab coat he saw earlier currently standing before them. It was Chie.

"Didn't I tell you to hold yourself over the room to stop zombies from attacking?" Kyosei frowned.

"Hey, hey. Just because I am a girl and seem like an airhead doesn't mean I am not able to defend myself from them," Chie then proceeded to wave her weapon of choice, a pair of scissors and a hammer. It seems that she was using the hammer more than the scissors seeing the blood more on the hammer than the scissors.

"Guess you are not just confident for nothing. So, you said that people were holding themselves over at the gymnasium?" Kyosei glances over the window and can see that the gymnasium is a bit surrounded by zombies. He can see a few of them going down though so there must be someone fighting over there to kill the besieging zombies.

"Yep. There is a high chance that the students, student council, and faculty members are currently gathered there, causing the zombies to be attracted over there. With how many people currently waiting for rescue there, there is no doubt about it."

Hearing this, Souichi gained a glimmer of hope.

"Then let's head there. We needed everyone's help to get everyone out of this place!"

Kyosei clicks his tongue. "Are you stupid or what? Joining them would just end up becoming a big trouble for us. Not only will this cause more danger for the people there but being controlled by the adults there would be much worse. Didn't think of those bastard teachers who are more than willing to sacrifice their students? You might have not seen them in action like that yet, but sooner or later, that will happen."

"But, maybe we will be rescued..." Souichi is still a bit hopeful.

"Rescue? Call me pessimistic but there is no way there will be a rescue party in here right now. Pretty sure this is happening all around the country. Perhaps even the whole of Japan or the whole world, who knows. Rescue will not come for us. We are all on our own here," Kyosei immediately slams down the facts.

Chie nodded in affirmation. "Even though it does sound pessimistic, that is the most likely scenario here. If we are meant to be rescued, we should have received one earlier. The fact that it's almost sundown and any rescue has yet to show up is enough proof already.

Souichi cannot say any rebuttal to their words. Because even he agrees with what they are saying. With the news being enough of a clue, their rescue will never come, and holding over there will just end up being a bad thing. However, he still wanted to rescue everyone, especially her sister and girlfriend.

Chie then suggested something to them. "How about we hold this up and create a temporary base that will allow us to be away from the zombies for the time being? A place where we can hold out the night, rest, and recuperate from all of the harsh work."

Kyosei looked at Chie and at the current time on his phone.

"Guess that is the most viable option. We can use this chance to keep our wits, lower the danger of the school in a significant way, and then leave. The problem is where we should make a place that is good enough that stop zombies from even reaching?"

"I know just the place. It is a good place for resting and it will allow us to keep our wits and rest there temporarily. Aside from that, we will be able to access the place without it being accessed by the dead unless they know how to climb ladders which would be a bad thing," Chie grinned.

"Are you talking about the Clocktower? Everything you said seems to fit the description down to the tee," Souichi guessed.

"Bingo! It isn't as wide as the gymnasium but it will be a good enough way for us to remain there until the sun comes up the next morning. Of course, we will need supplies but we can just have someone do an errand run and gather the stuff we need, then head there before the night comes."

Kyosei is pretty familiar with the Clocktower. Although it isn't a well-known place for many because of how it is dark and a bit noisy due to the mechanism of the clock of the clock tower, it is indeed a good place to remain until the next morning.

"Alright, let's team up for now. The three of us should clear up the way to the Clocktower. Then we proceed to the next plan."

Kyosei decided to team up with the two for a way to survive. If he wanted to rescue Miyuki, he would need the brains of Chie to think of a surefire way to do it.

...

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Day: 1

Time: 3:44 P.M.

Location: Kirishima High School - Gymnasium

Time until Nighttime: 2 hours and 16 minutes left

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While Kyosei and his newfound group are now in agreement to find a temporary base to rest upon, Miyuki is still waiting for Kyosei to appear.

Miyuki grits her teeth as she endures the situation. Thankfully, it seems that the teachers are still thinking that they have the high ground on this situation.

Currently, she is with a group of students with whom she has a mutual understanding of their situation do a plan that would allow them to escape.

"Here, Prez. Although I am not sure if it will work well, I hope that your trust will succeed," a young girl tosses the phone to Miyuki who catches it and soon finds a few bars of signal on the service bar. It might not be enough but she will need it before every single connection she has disappears.

Pressing the familiar number, she once again attempts to call Kyosei.