I was running fast through the wide, third-floor corridors of the school, searching for the classroom where my K-imoto was supposed to be.
Damn, damn it... what the hell did I just see? And why the hell didn't I just blow those dead things' heads off? Idiot! They're probably infecting the rest of the people in the school now. Though, if I had just shot their heads off with my iron control power, K-imoto and I could have slipped away quietly before anyone suspected anything.
"No running in the hallways!"
Hearing a teacher's shout, I turned to him with an expression that would have made the god of death himself die. The man proved it by instantly turning pale and shutting up. I started running again, carefully scanning every classroom for my K-imoto.
Even though I had been running at high speed for some time, my body felt no fatigue. My breathing wasn't even heavy. Feeling the warmth radiating from my heart, I realized the 'Steel Man' trait was a huge help.
My muscles didn't feel the slightest strain, and I kept running until I reached the last classroom at the end of the hall and saw the blonde hair of my K-imoto.
"K-imoto! Grab your bag!" I burst into the class, throwing the door aside and making everyone, even the teacher, jump from the loud bang.
"Ani? What...?" K-imoto looked at me, confused.
"No time to explain, sis, we have to go! Get your things, quickly!" She obeyed and started gathering her notebooks and other things.
"Now, Isao Tsumugi, what are you doing! Class is still in session, and your behavior is unacceptable. Get out of the classroom! Right now!"
I turned to the old geezer.
"Shut up, old man. It's none of your business what I'm doing or what behavior is acceptable for me!" I looked down on him; he was a short, frail old man who taught Japanese history to middle schoolers.
"Tsumugi, either you leave this classroom right now, or you come back tomorrow with your mother, and we'll have a talk about your behavior!"
"Ah, fuck..." Ignoring the senile fool, I started helping K-imoto pack her things. After quickly putting everything in her bag, I grabbed her hand and headed for the exit, continuing to ignore the old man's words.
My sister's safety was my top priority right now.
"Ani, what's going on? Please tell me!" she said loudly, as if trying to shout over a distance.
"All hell is breaking loose! For some damn reason, zombies are real. I saw Teshima, and then Wakasaki, turn into those dead things one after another!"
"What? Don't say things like that, Ani! That's not a funny joke!" K-imoto stared at me in disbelief.
"I... I'm not joking, K-imoto... a man appeared at the school gates. Teshima tried to grab him but got bitten and passed out. Then, when Wakasaki tried to help him, Zombie Teshima bit into his neck and tore out a huge chunk of flesh." I felt a little sick remembering it all, and K-imoto started to turn deathly pale. "But even after that, Wakasaki got up too and followed Teshima..."
I hugged my little sister tightly.
"Don't worry, I'm here and I'll protect you." I felt her trembling arms wrap around me, and we stood there hugging for a few moments. "Okay, let's go. We need to meet up with Takashi and the others and get out of the school fast."
"Where are we meeting them?" A simple question, and I had no answer...
"Shit, we didn't discuss that with him!"
"Takashi-san was sitting next to you at lunch, which means he was there when it all happened, right?" She looked at me intently, still a bit pale but with resolve in her eyes.
"Yeah, but we ran off after, and I told him to go get Hisashi and Rei."
"Then, you dummy-ani, he's probably in his classroom, but on the other side of the school. If we start running now, we'll be there in a few minutes." She took off running and, turning her head towards me, shouted, "Don't fall behind, Ani!"
I ran after her. The corridors blurred past us, the numbers on the classroom doors changing rapidly. The whole time we were making our way to Takashi's class, an eerie silence surrounded us. I could only hear K-imoto running right beside me, breathing raggedly, trying to keep up.
And we finally made it to their classroom. Just as we arrived, Takashi was walking out, holding his ex-girlfriend by the hand, with his friend—or former friend following him.
"Takashi!" I shouted, getting their attention. Takashi sighed in relief when he saw me. Rei recognized me too but her expression didn't change, though you could see some wariness towards me. But Hisashi—he furrowed his brows, staring right into my eyes as if trying to rip my soul out.
"Isao, you're here! Now we can go..."
"Can someone please explain what's going on?" Rei shouted, looking at me and Takashi.
"We'll explain on the way. First, let's go to the sports equipment locker. We need some kind of tools to protect ourselves."
Hisashi kept drilling holes in me with his stare but followed my lead and started running with us. My K-imoto sighed, realizing we weren't stopping yet.
"There was some guy at the gates. At first, Takashi and I thought he was just some drunk office drone, but..." Takashi cut me off.
"He turned out to be one of the dead, a zombie! When Teshima-sensei came and tried to push him away, the man bit Teshima-sensei's arm. After that, Teshima-sensei became one of them himself and ripped a piece of flesh from Wakasaki-sensei's neck, right in front of our eyes."
"You think we're going to believe that crap, Takashi?" Hisashi looked at me suspiciously, pissing me off more and more. I fucking hate it when people stare at me for a long time. K-imoto knows this and had already noticed Hisashi's gaze, and she was now glaring at the clown with furrowed brows.
"I don't care if you believe it or not, but we have to get to a safe place!" Takashi yelled at Hisashi.
"If what you're saying is real... then you're right, Takashi. We need to find a safe place or get out of the school altogether," Rei agreed with Takashi, and I noticed Takashi cheer up a bit.
We reached a T-shaped corridor that led to the roof. Right across from the stairs, against the wall, were the lockers.
"Okay, what do we have here..." I opened a locker, completely blocking their view of what was inside, and looked. I wasn't too happy with what I found.
Just one aluminum bat and a bunch of different rags with a wooden mop. Not great. So I did the only thing that came to mind.
Since their view was blocked, they wouldn't see anything anyway. I closed my eyes and concentrated, imagining the shape, hardness, and weight of what I was creating in my mind, trying to do it without any sparks or effects.
A few seconds later, there were three aluminum bats inside. Two of them didn't have the fabric grip, which was bad for holding them, but whatever.
"Isao?"
"Ani? Is something wrong?"
They called out to me. I turned around, holding several bats, and quickly handed them to a surprised Hisashi and Takashi.
"What the? Since when do we have three baseball bats in our locker?" Takashi looked at me in astonishment. I gave my bat to K-imoto to hold, took out the mop, broke off the bottom to make a makeshift spear, and handed it to Rei.
"I'm trusting you with this. Takashi said you're good with things like this. And now," I took my bat back from K-imoto, briefly noticing Rei straighten her shoulders a bit, feeling more confident. Of course, I left my sister without a self-defense tool, but she doesn't know how to use anything anyway. "We need to go to the roof to see what the situation is from a safe height."
We had barely taken a step when the principal's voice came over the speakers.
"Attention! There is an emergency situation in the school. We ask all students to remain calm and stay in their classrooms. Teachers, please ensure this!"
"I repeat! All students... Who are you? What are you doing here?! D-d-don't come any closer, I'm the principal!" The microphone hissed. "AAAAAHHHH! STOP! HELP ME! IT HURTS, IT HURTS-S-S!" The microphone hissed again, and the speakers went dead.
For a whole second, the school fell into a dead silence. K-imoto came up to me and, seeking protection, took my hand in both of hers. Rei and Hisashi were completely pale, and Takashi had a complex expression on his face.
And then... from the ends of the corridors, we heard the screams of a crowd of students, doors banging loudly against the walls as they were thrown open, the thunder of running students. Chaos had begun!
"Let's go." One word, and we started heading for the stairs in silence.
"Shouldn't we be leaving the school?" Rei's question was a good one. It would be best to get out before things got worse.
The only problem was that not only Rei had thought of it, but dozens and hundreds of other students had too, which meant a deadly stampede that would turn into a stampede of the dead.
"No, right now the roof is the safest place. We'd better go there while..."
One of them appeared before us—Wakasaki, with his mouth wide open.
"What the hell?!" Hisashi screamed, and it didn't escape our notice that it instantly turned its head towards him.
The dead, gray-skinned, blind thing had excellent hearing and relied on it. It suddenly dashed towards Hisashi.
Not on my watch, you dead thing!
I lunged forward, swinging the bat, aiming for Wakasaki's head. If it weren't for my Metallurgy power, the bat would have slipped from my hands, but...
Splat!
The bat hit the zombie's head squarely, splattering its brains all over the wall and floor.
[Kill your first Zombie!]
[Bronze Ticket]
And there it was, my first ticket for my achievement. Bronze, but still, something good should come out of it.
A moment later, another screen appeared before me.
[Save Hisashi Igo's life]
[Silver Ticket]
Now that threw me for a loop. Was Hisashi supposed to die? The bastard annoyed me sometimes with his distrust (because I'm tall, look intimidating, and have bleached blond hair) and the way he sometimes stared at me, but I didn't wish death on him, unlike Shido.
"Brrrlgh..."
"Kghh..."
When I turned around, I saw Hisashi and Rei throwing up. Takashi looked a bit green but managed to keep his composure. The one I was worried about was K-imoto, who was completely pale, staring in shock at the gray sludge that was once Zombisaki.
I went to her, took her hand, and nodded at Takashi, who patted Rei and Hisashi on the back and, with some disgust, stepped over their vomit.
"Let's go, quickly, before other dead things find us."
We hurriedly began to climb the stairs, quickly ascending and opening the door to the roof.
The sunlight hit my eyes. The fresh air ruffled my hair a bit but provided a calm respite from the stuffiness inside the school. But after scanning the roof, I realized one thing.
For some damn reason, there were already dead things on the roof, almost more than a dozen of them milling about, which made me click my tongue in annoyance. I noticed that there was no one near the observatory.
"Quick, to the observatory, run!" I said quietly but forcefully.
We ran towards the stairs leading up to the observatory. The dead things turned towards us, hearing our running. Of course, none of them got close enough. The few that managed to get within a few meters, I killed with a blow to the head.
"Ani!" K-imoto shouted. She was ahead of me, in the middle next to Rei. In front of them were Hisashi and Takashi, who were also hitting or pushing the zombies away. But because of their weak hits, their zombies were staying alive. That wasn't the point, though. The point was that several zombies had closed in on Rei, and her wooden stick wasn't going to be much help. Not to mention, she slipped out of fear and fell on her fine ass, trembling as she looked at them.
"Rei!" "Rei!" Hisashi and Takashi shouted simultaneously, but they relaxed when they saw me and refocused. I managed to see their legs twitch in our direction, though.
I took a deep breath and rushed towards them, hitting three dead things right in their heads with a wide swing, sending them flying.
[Save Rei...]
[Silver...]
Ignoring the screen, I turned to Rei, grabbed her hand, and pulled her up, giving her a quick once-over and seeing no injuries. Then I looked towards the observatory; the stairs leading up to it were now within reach.
"Run! I'll cover your backs!" They ran, and I followed, staying a little behind, this time killing all the zombies that came from the sides and from behind.
They ran with all their might and managed to reach the stairs leading up to the observatory. I stayed behind and fought off the zombies, whose numbers had suddenly increased. It seemed they had flocked here because of the loud noise.
My breathing only started to get a little heavy, which pleasantly surprised me, since I had been moving very actively for a whole half hour, running around and swinging this bat.
Takashi stayed at the bottom of the stairs while Hisashi started climbing first, in case there was a zombie up there to kill. Rei was right behind him, and behind her, looking back at me with worry, was my K-imoto.
"Hurry, Isao!" Takashi shouted, making me rush. I barely managed to kill the zombies that got too close with a swing.
Once I was next to Takashi, I killed a zombie that had gotten too close with a blow.
[Kill ...]
[Bronz...]
I mentally waved the screen away.
"Go on up, Takashi, I'm right behind you!" I shouted to the fool and, watching him go up the stairs, I followed. All the zombies around us were already dead, and the ones still on the roof were 15-20 meters away.
We climbed the stairs. Hisashi had already put his bat aside and was dragging a table towards us.
"We better barricade ourselves while we can," he said, answering the unasked question from me and Takashi.
"Yeah, Takashi, let's help him, quick." I went inside and got another table, which I dragged towards the stairs to help Hisashi block the entrance. As I did, I noticed I had broken a little sweat.
Rei and K-imoto stood to the side. Rei was calling someone, probably her parents. K-imoto was staring at me with a lost expression.
"K-imoto, call Mom, then give me the phone when she answers," I shouted, continuing to build our makeshift barricade. K-imoto flinched, took out her flip phone, and started dialing Mom's number.
"We need to look around, rest a bit, and decide what to do," we guys talked while hauling things.
"I think we should take someone's car from the parking lot." Takashi's idea was good, but...
"We won't have the car keys," Hisashi pointed out the flaw in his logic.
"Then we'll take the school bus. The keys should be in the faculty office, and we might find someone else there," I said, setting down a table and looking at our makeshift barricade, then continued. "On the way to the bus, maybe we can save someone else who can be saved and..."
"Ani! Mom picked up."
All thoughts flew out of my head, and I ran to K-imoto. Instinctively, I noticed Rei standing next to her, also talking on the phone with someone.
"Here." K-imoto handed me the phone.
"Isao-chan..." I felt an instant wave of relief at the sound of her voice, which was still filled with worry.
"Mom..." I'm not crying... my eyes are just sweating...