HOTD 3

We all ran as fast as our legs could carry us through the main hall and out of the building. The dead, shambled after us attracted by the sound of our heavy breathing and footfalls. Haven, taking the lead, kicked away two zombies ahead of the group to make way for the rest of the survivors. He then raised his weapon to slice off an arm from a zombie coming up from behind him.

Saeko, following from behind, smashed her bokken against zombies left and right, helping to clear the way towards the bus at the corner of the parking lot.

Kohta's accuracy with his nail gun, though, thoroughly shocked bot Haven and I. That fatty was a beast.

Sure, we saw the anime but getting head shots 100% of the time? It would be pretty hard to do so, wouldn't you agree?

While my thoughts were swirling around, a voice called out from our left. Turning around, we noticed two people we hadn't seen since leaving them to fend for themselves.

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Jax: Haven!

Haven: Jax?! Izumi?!

Jax: You son of b*tch, you're still alive huh?!

Haven: I told you, I'll be fine no matter what. You both should only worry about yourselves.

Jax: After leaving us like that, I seriously want to punch your face in.

Haven: Heh, you'll have time to do it later, we're leaving on that bus. Join us.

Izumi: We're on our way! Wait for us.

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They rushed through the horde, slicing through the zombies with as much force as they could muster. Izumi was carrying a bat in her hand. She must have found it and picked it up to ensure her safety.

Within mere moments, they reached our group and helped us cut through the horde that prevented us from reaching the bus.

Shizuka, the busty nurse, as soon as the way was clear, rushed into the minibus and switched on the engine. As she was fiddling with the controls we noticed a group of students running alongside a man wearing a suit.

They were heading to the bus as fast as they could to avoid being left behind.

Mr. Shido's Cabal.

Rei, seing the person she hated so much, shouted out in anger.

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Rei: We should leave them. Lets go!

Takashi: What? No, Rei! That's not happening.

Rei: Shido is terrible person, we need to leave them all behind!

Hisashi: Rei, what's wrong with you? We aren't leaving anyone behind!

Rei: Im telling you, its a bad idea to trust that man!

Takashi: Look, we cant just up and leave them hanging here. They'll die. Do you want innocent blood on your hands?!

Rei: You're making a mistake Takashi, Hisashi. You're going to regret this.

Haven: Perhaps. But for now, we'll take that chance.

Rei: Haven... fine. Don't say I didn't warn you.

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As much as Haven would've loved to listen to Rei and leave right away, he couldn't. The plot needed to develop in a certain direction for Haven to become stronger. His mentality needed to change. And I had the perfect plan to implement.

The Rioters would be a good place to start it.

Soon, Mr. Shido and his group arrived at the bus and got on. Rei glared at him the entire way but he chose to ignore it.

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Saya: Hit the gas!

Shizuka: Got it!

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The busty nurse stamped the pedal and turned the bus around a corner to head straight towards the gates.

A number of zombies were wandering around the gate, the ones that weren't affected by the commotion earlier.

Shizuka, the nurse, grit her teeth when she saw them.

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Shizuka: They aren't Human anymore!

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She closed her eyes as the mini bus smashed against their bodies, sending some flying and the rest crunching under the screeching wheels of the bus.

The bus's momentum reached a point for it to easily break through the gates, ramming them open. The students sighed in relief that they had finally escaped from the school. Their tense muscles relaxed and their bodies seemed to sink down in their seats.

Suddenly, a notification rang out our mind.

[Hidden Side Quest Complete!]

-You have saved Hisashi Igou, overcoming his fate to die within the school grounds and being turned into an undead to put down by his best friend. Rewarded 2,500 points and two C rank rewards!

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Haven: We got it!

[Good Job. It seems that God's dimension really is following the format of Side B or at least very close to it.

Haven: Sure, but wont this derail the plot slightly?

[True. Takashi's decision to kill off Hisashi when he turned was the start of his change in mentality. That would begin the development of him being the leader of these group of misfits.]

Haven: That's a bad thing...

[Haven, have you ever heard of the theory, The River of Time?]

Haven: I can't say that I have. What's it about?

[Think of a timeline as a river. It keeps flowing in a certain direction no matter the amount of stones you throw in. Do you know why?]

Haven: No.

[It's simple. The water will flow around the rocks.]

Haven: Something like fate huh?

[Indeed.]

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We spoke a bit more about some of the stuff we could buy in gods dimension but then the two people we abandoned showed up.

Jax and Izumi walked over to where Haven sat down and glared down at him, effectively interrupting our conversation.

They both took seats in front of Haven and opened their mouths to speak.

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Jax: You saved Hisashi. Why?

Haven: ...I felt that his character could be developed further in the story.

Izumi: Seriously? You are such an idiot. Do you think we'll fall for that dumb excuse?

Jax: ...You're telling me that you decided to go off alone just so you could change the story line?

Haven: Look guys, I know what I did was stupid but I have my own reasons for doing what I did. I don't expect you to understand but just know, I am not exactly a team player.

Izumi: Yeah, I think we figured that out already. I just can't seem to understand why you're so insistent on walking the path of solitude. You're clearly comfortable with working in groups seeing as how you, Takashi and Saeko were covering each other from attacks almost perfectly. I understand that there's something off about you but, I just want to know what.

Haven: (Aside from having two minds in one body?). I can't and won't bother explaining why I'm doing what I'm doing. Just, know that its necessary.

Jax: ...Seems like convincing you is a waste of time. I hope you know what you're doing Haven.

Haven: Relax, its not like im going to completely abandon you to your fate. If you're truly in danger, I'll try my best to come help. Okay?

Izumi: Sure...

Haven: Sigh...

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Haven will find that interactions such as these can only depend on the recipients themselves. He HAS to walk the path of solitude. Unity is important, but right now, personal development comes first.

I can't give much advice to him regarding his social interactions due to my shaky past. Each time I reincarnate, I gain all the memories and experiences of my hosts but I need to let him develop in his own way. I can only act as a friend and mentor to him, guiding him along the way as he makes his own decisions.

He has to forge his destiny with his own two hands and... I, will do all I can to make sure its one that'll let us both make it out of here alive.

But for him to start his path of becoming powerful, we must first gain every advantage in the book.

My thoughts were interrupted when the bus stopped near a tunnel. It seems like the plot was getting back on track.

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Shizuka: You all need to stop arguing! I can't concentrate on driving because of you!

Student A: Y-yeah. Sorry.

Mr. Shido: The leader of this group has a responsibility of appealing to these issues. I assume that you were appointed as leader, Ms. Busujima?

Saeko: I wasn't. We merely met each other and decided to follow our own paths. It just so happens that our paths seem to coincide very heavily.

Mr. Shido: I see... well it has been proven again and again that all groups must have leaders. If not, social order will not be carried out. Exactly like in this situation.

Saya: And let me guess, YOU'RE, going to run for the position?

Shido: Why of course Takagi. You are all in your teens, unaware of the true harshness of the world. I have experience in such things. Why, just earlier I saved all these brave students from the clutches of those horrible beasts. What do you say?

Saya: Pathetic.

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Mr Shido's cabal, likely being brainwashed by him, all stood up, one by one and voted for him to be the leader.

Rei, seeing this, stormed out of the bus in anger.

Perhaps some backstory is in order. Rei Miyamoto, the childhood friend/love interest of Takashi Komuro was supposed to be a senior like Saeko Busujima. The reason she wasn't, was due to an incident where Rei's father was in charge of leading an investigation against Mr. Shido's father, a politician said to be guilty in acquiring money through illegal means.

In retaliation, Mr. Shido's father told him to hold back Rei for a year to embarrass their family standing. Mr. Shido, listened to his father and flunked Rei Miyamoto, causing an irreparable hatred to occur between these two characters.

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[Haven. The second part of the plot is starting. Explain the situation to Jax and Izumi quickly.]

Haven: (Will do.) Jax, Izumi. The second part is about to start here. Be careful from here on out.

Jax: Haven? What's gonna happen?

Haven: You'll see soon. Stay in the bus and protect the main characters.

Izumi: ...Dammit, Haven just-

Haven: No time, gotta go!

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With those final words spoken, and before Jax and Izumi could stop him, Haven rushed out of the bus to follow Rei and Takashi. The other bus would arrive at any moment now.

And soon enough, when Haven was out of the minibus, a vehicle that was speeding down the street without breaks was heading towards them, it slammed into a car and careened its way into them.

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Rei: No! I won't be a part of a group that a man like that leads. I wont stand for it Takashi!

Takashi: Look, if you don't like it so much we can just tell them that we aren't going to follow his instructions. There's no need to have this episode that you're having.

Haven: Get out of the way!

Rei: Huh?

Takashi: Rei, watch out!

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Takashi, seeing the bus crashing towards them, ran towards Rei and pushed her into the tunnel to avoid the collision. Haven jumped in straight after them.

We were sealed inside the tunnel.

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Saeko: Are you okay?

Takashi: We're fine but it looks like the way's blocked. We wont be able make back over there.

Haven: We should meet up somewhere, any ideas?

Takashi: Yeah. Saeko, lets meet at the East Police Station!

Saeko: What time?!

Takashi: Seven o clock. If not today then tomorrow at the same time!

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Seeing the condition of the bus, Haven hastened them to get out of the tunnel. Sure enough a few moments later, it exploded, destroying the zombies that were inside.

Before we could catch a break however, a roar resounded from above us on the hill. We turned to it and saw a ghastly sight.

A zombie with a motorcycle helmet over its head leapt from the the top of the hill onto Takashi's body. It's weight and momentum, allowed it to push down Takashi's body, effectively pinning him against the concrete.

Rei, being the first to act, tried to ram its body off of Takashi. The zombie stopped trying to bite Takashi and turned towards her.

Then it did something which I thought impossible for zombies to do. It leapt at her ferociously, biting towards her neck.

Did it, see her? Weren't they blind?

It was thwarted however, as the motorcycle helmet stopped it from biting her. Haven didn't want to risk hurting Rei so instead of cutting the zombie with his sword, he kicked it off of her. It's body spun through the air and it landed on its feet. Like an acrobat.

Crap, I know what it is.

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Takashi: What the f*ck?! What's up with this zombie?!

[Haven. Its a Runner.]

Haven: Shit. This is a problem.

Rei: (rubbing at her neck) Cough, cough! What?! Do you know something?!

Haven: I had my suspicions about the zombie outbreak, different from what the others proposed. Seems like I was right after all.

Takashi: What do you- watch out!

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The zombie was nimble. It had an insane amount of agility, easily surpassing each of ours by a large margin. Using its astounding speed, it ran at us and leapt once more through the air, aiming to pin us down again.

And this time? Haven was the target!

Haven, barely had time to respond to its surprise jump attack, so all he could do was roll backwards and simultaneously kick away its body behind him.

Bang!

The momentum from the kick pushed the zombie into hitting a pole, grounding it for a moment. Takashi attempted to charge in with his bat to end it but just as his swing was about to smash into its head, it jumped once again onto Haven.

Haven was still on the ground, recovering from his back-roll. As he turned around, the zombie was in mid-air, its helmet had flown off its head during its jump, revealing its bloodied face and red eyes, different from the whites of regular zombies.

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[WATCH OUT!]

Haven: IM NOT GOING TO F*KING DIE HEEREE!

Rei: Haven!!

Takashi: NO!

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-MENTAL REALM LIMIT BROKEN!

REWARDED 500 POINTS, MENTAL CAPACITY INCREASED BY 20 POINTS, INTELLIGENCE INCREASED BY 10, REACTION SPEED INCREASED BY 30 POINTS!

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Boom!

For a second, the world slowed down to a crawl. Haven saw everything in that moment. Takashi was reaching his arm out to try grabbing the zombie from mid air to prevent it from jumping to him.

Rei's mouth was open in a partial scream to warn him. Her arms as well were trying to reach the zombie, to pull it back.

And the most important feature, the zombie itself, flying through the air, jaws open, saliva and blood flying around the air near its mouth. Its arms were stretched out in front of it to grab onto Haven's body to pin it down.

Haven saw all this, and in the span of a few milliseconds, reacted accordingly, his training with me coming in handy. Instinct took over and his left arm reached out to the bottom of the zombie's jaw, slamming it hard against the roof of its mouth.

His other arm looped around the zombie's own arm and came down on the back of it's neck, gripping down hard onto its neck. With the immediate threat of being bitten taken care of, his body twisted ever so slightly towards the right to dodge it's mid air attack.

Time seemed to flow back to normal after that moment of extra slowness and the zombie's body in mid air and Haven's was dragged down onto the concrete with the momentum of its leap. Haven however, due to him reacting in time, managed to get behind the zombie and effectively started pinning it onto the ground.

It struggled to free itself and bite him but his arms were like a vice, locking onto its jaw, rendering it unable to open its mouth and the other forcing its head down onto the concrete, pining it down.

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[Kill it.]

Haven: Gladly.

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He twisted its neck to the side, breaking it and the nerves connected to the spine. It was now paralyzed from the neck down.

Haven got off its body and dusted himself down. His black jacket and jeans were stained from when he performed a roll backwards.

He glanced over to the side to look for his sword. Seeing it, he picked it up and brought it down on the zombie's head, killing it instantly.

Haven then waved his sword to the side, splattering the blood on it, away.

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-Side Quest Reward 2, Kill Runner Zombies - 10 point acquired.

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Takashi: Holy shit! What the f*ck was that zombie! Are you alright, Haven?

Haven: Im... fine. Sigh.

Rei: You, didn't get bitten, did you?

Haven: No, but I almost did.

Takashi: That was some crazy shit.

Haven: Haha, Yeah that was truly crazy. The zombie is vastly different from its colleagues at the school which we killed. It was faster. Way faster.

Rei: ...this is bad.

Haven: I know.

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Haven squatted down near the corpse. He inspected it for a moment. Thinking for a while, he decided to to consult me.

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Haven: Erin, the zombie was a runner right? Its speed and agility was way above even what a regular human can do.

[Indeed. Zombies do not feel pain or the like so they are able to go beyond what normal humans can do. This will effectively slowly destroy their muscles and tendons in the process. And because their bodies are practically dead, their muscles wont heal the damage dealt to them. But now however, Im not so sure about about that.]

Haven: Why?

[You already know the answer to that, Haven.]

Haven: Shit.

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Rei and Takashi joined him, moments later to inspect the corpse as well.

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Haven: Hey, help me get this guy's clothes off.

Takashi: Er... what?

Rei: ...You... have a necrophilia fetish?

Haven: What?! NO! Look, I just want to confirm something. Here help me out.

Takashi: (muttering) Didn't think you were a gay pervert... guess you can't really judge a book by its cover.

Haven: (teeth gritting) Hey! Just help me out here, alright?

Rei: Sheesh fine. You better have a good explanation.

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Once the zombie's clothes were off(its underwear was kept on), they all gasped at what they found. The zombie had... small amounts of bone plating growing out from its spine and ribcage, acting as some sort of defense to protect its organs from harm. But its organs were dead... So what exactly was the point?

Haven didn't know, but it only proved our theory of being correct.

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Takashi: That's not normal. Im very sure normal zombies don't have these extra plates on their bodies.

Rei: You're right. In addition to that, its leg muscles seem slightly grotesque. Look, its not matching up to its body.

Takashi: Yeah, this isn't just a case of the zombie remembering leg day.

Haven: Well... at least we can confirm one thing for sure now.

Takashi: It seems so.

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Takashi seemed to have realized it as well. That was good. It would save us some time for explanations.

Rei glanced back and forth between Haven and Takashi, confusion etched upon her beautiful face. Or... perhaps we would still need to explain it... Sigh.

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Rei: Erm... what exactly?

Haven: Its a virus. Its a zombie virus.

Rei: I think... its pretty obvious from the fact that zombies are milling around, that ITS A ZOMBIE VIRUS!

Haven: No, you don't get it. This infection could have been a certain type of bacteria or the result of certain toxins being introduced into the human system causing the change. But now we know that isn't the case.

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She tapped her chin thoughtfully

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Rei: How so?

Haven: We can take off the toxin just based on this zombie's body. Its possible that this particular zombie was introduced to much more chemicals than any other one but that is unfortunately impossible. Look at the bite mark on its arm. A regular zombie was the one to have bitten him, transferring the disease. Now, for the reason why its a virus and not just some odd undiscovered parasite or bacteria.

Takashi: Viruses tend to evolve and spread faster than bacteria.

Haven: Yes. In addition to that, if it was just a certain type of bacteria that was transferred, antibiotics would have killed it off faster than it could regenerate.

Rei: No way.. so you're saying...

Takashi: That's right, Rei.

Haven: The virus is evolving and the zombies with them.