t was Shizuka who woke me up the next morning, barely lucid, and my eyes crossed as I, trying to keep them open, tumbled out of the bed I'd been sleeping in.
I glanced down and noticed I had no drawers, ah… must have had a fun night… I grimaced as my mind began to clear and I remembered why I had come calling on Shizuka last night.
Digging around for my pants I made my way into the kitchen where I could smell Shizuka cooking breakfast. She was wearing a tight black skirt and a white blouse that really wasn't leaving much to the imagination. I always wondered where she found those outfits, were they custom made? Another mystery I'd never bothered asking.
"I'm sorry that your martial culture festival idea was shot down. I thought it was a good idea, but the principal must have had his reasons..."
"I know," I replied. And those reasons were currently bunking with the Ninja Turtles, I thought to myself with no shortage of bitterness. Having had a chance to sleep it off, I found my guilt terrifyingly absent.
I'd had plans. Big plans for the big day. To hold a 'martial cultural festival' today. In essence, an excuse to have all the combat martial arts clubs to be on the field and fully equipped when everything turned to shit, along with as many of their families and friends as we could pull together sitting in the stands.
But no. Shido had to put an end to it, after all, his twisted little band of lackies in the track club wouldn't have been able to steal the show. And if it didn't make him look good it didn't need to exist.
He'd probably managed to kill hundreds, even before the zombies showed up.
It'd taken everything I had not to snap his neck right there in Principal Yamada's office with both Yamada and Shido's little love slave watching.
But I'd held my tongue and accepted the doom that had been dealt to so many people. It'd also been the final straw.
It had been that moment that I'd gone from agonizing over the idea to accepting it as an absolute. He needed to die. And now, he was dead. Because of him I couldn't save those poor people, but by god, I'd avenged them. And if my time came before I could find absolution, then I was sure that unless everything I'd ever been taught about a merciful God who forgives the frailty of man was a lie, then He would understand why it had to be done.
"But what can you do, right?" I sighed.
She frowned slightly. It was more playful than saddened, however. "Tom, you're awfully pensive this morning." Her frown twisted into a smirk. "Nervous about meeting the new faculty, I bet."
I shuddered. And that, even more than my 365 day countdown, had been the final indicator. Before he killed himself, the gym teacher had mentioned the introduction of newfaculty in the manga.
It was all I could do not to quake nervously. I was as ready as I'd ever be, but fucking Christ, the fucking world was going to end in like... a couple hours!
How the fuck does anyone take that without completely losing their shit?!
"Not that worried, just had a really bad dream."
"Oh?
"Shizuka," I said with a deep sigh, "This is about to sound utterly insane, but would you be willing to humor your man's nightmares just this once?"
"For you?" she said with a tone that bordered on a purr. "Anything."
"Well, if you see Zombies in the school today, find me as quickly as possible and don't get eaten."
She blinked. "Are you serious?"
"It was a very vivid dream." I said in a flat tone.
She sighed. "Fine. I'll keep an eye out for the walking dead..."
I suppressed a shudder at the name and couldn't help but wonder. Did The Walking Dead and Highschool of the Dead take place in the same universe? Was that comic the future of my beloved Georgia?
Home, I hadn't thought of it in a while. An ocean a continent and an entire universe away from where I was now. There was no going back. Home was here, now. Home was Shizuka. Home was my students. And while I had to accept that I couldn't save all of them, I'd save as many as I could.
A smile spread across my face and I hugged Shizuka from behind, nuzzling her cheek before turning her head to give her a soft kiss.
"Oh, and if things look bad, check the bottom left hand drawer of your desk, under all the paperwork."
She blinked. "Huh?"
-----------
If there was one thing that my Grandfather had impressed upon me many a time before he passed away, it was: never volunteer for anything. It was one of those happy little lessons he'd mentioned from his time in the service, along with the rather abrupt and somewhat terrifying explanation he'd given my five year old self as to why he was happy to have never 'earned' a Purple Heart.
So, of course, I'd volunteered to take up gate duty on today of all days. Patrolling with the P.E. teachers was normally an alright experience, usually we shot the breeze and exchanged training regimens as we patrolled. A few of the other teachers had those oversized Y-shaped staffs used to apprehend people, for myself I didn't have one but under my shirt in the small of my back I kept my Francisca ready to use at the first moment, along with several of the many, many knives I'd procured as part of my preparations.
And fifty feet of paracord. Never leave home without it.
I was on the far side of the school when I heard the sound of banging metal from the front gate.
In this moment, the world slowed to a crawl as my body entered autopilot.
For the last hour, I'd had my phone in hand with a text ready to to send. Two words: Condition Red. Those were two orders I'd drilled heavily into my boys. All my boys. Huscarl and Theign.
The meaning was simple: immediate, lethal danger. It was a general call to arms.
Normally, I'd have hoped that they'd heard the warning, but my mind was too set. I didn't have the time for hopes. I only had time to act, and sending that call had been an automatic reaction, one I'd been ready for since I'd started training them.
And what came next was something I'd been preparing for since the moment I'd arrived.
I ran. I ran as quickly as I could, and while I wasn't as light on my feet as Shido had been before his not-timely-enough demise, I'd long taken to heart the first lesson of Zombieland.
Cardio.
As I skidded into view of the main gate, the world slowly drew into slow motion.
The zombie at the gates.
The other teachers approaching.
Mr Teshima slowly reaching out...
I screamed. "Stop."
'Stop!"
"Stop!"
His head turned. And the zombie bit.
Ms Hayashi screamed as she fell back.
For a moment there was chaos. And in that moment my hand went to my axe.
In the manga, this would be the moment where Teshima rose. The moment Kyoko Hayashi died and became one of them.
Slowly she reacted as he began to stir.
"You're al-"
"Kyoko!" I roared as I drew my arm back. "Get down!"
More by reflex than thought the woman wrenched backwards, drawing away before he could grapple her and giving me a perfect target.
I hurled my axe with all my strength, hours upon hours of practice propelling my arm at just the right arc, letting the axe go at just the right moment. The weapon spun through the air like a whirlwind. A moment later there was a sickening thud as the axe buried itself in Teshima's chest and he was forced to stagger back, buying me a moment.
And that moment was all I needed.
Fist met face as I punched my undead colleague in the face as hard as I could, causing his face exploded in a spray of blood and teeth.
Now most people would doubt the logic of punching a zombie in the mouth. To those people I have only one counter: Kevlar Gloves, Bitches.
Again, the zombie was forced back, buying me just enough time to throw Kyoko to the ground and grab the handle of my axe.
That was the point where my plans went a little pear shaped.
It appeared that axes seem to find sternums a nice place to get stuck.
So there I was. Trying to pull my weapon out of a zombie's torso while the damned thing decided to turn its attention to the closest source of warm human meat. Specifically, me.
It leapt forward with unnatural strength. And this time it was my turn to be sent on my ass, but rather than simply fall to the ground I leveraged several years of high school wrestling experience.
With strength born of adrenaline and desperation I was able to control its mouth with one hand, though the feeling of it biting down on the armored motorcycle jacket I was wearing under my blazer was somewhat disturbing.
With a grunt of effort, I wedged my feet between the zombie and myself, then kicked with all my might.
With a terrible ripping sound my axe was pulled free of the walking corpse, and then I drew back and swung for all I was worth.
The monster that had once been a friend's skull exploded like an overripe melon at the bite of my axe, spraying me, and my fellow teachers with a not-at-all unimpressive font of gore.
As my mind cleared, I had to ask myself. What the fuck was it with anime and blood pressure measured in PSI? I remember the first time I cut myself cooking… so… much…red…
"B-brody-san? Wh-what's going on?" Ms Hayashi asked meekly, with eyes wide and filled with terror. Which I could understand. It wasn't every day you saw a colleague, who you were, if cooler gossip was any indicator, sweet on get killed, get up, get killed again, try and rip the throat out of another colleague, then get killed for a third time in the most brutal way possible.
I glanced up to the gate where the one zombie had grown into three. And in the distance I could see more coming.
"Armageddon. Doomsday. The Apocalypse. The dead are walking the earth to feast on the flesh of the living. Look out there. If those aren't zombies I'll eat my hat." I glanced down to the mortal remains of Teshima. "And it seems that being bitten makes you one as well."
"Don't be ridiculous!" Mr. Yamanaka roared. "You just murdered a colleague, you gaijin bastard!"
Tetsuo Yamanaka was one of the few members of the staff who could outright be considered one of Shido's minions. Having realized long ago that if you can't beat 'em, join 'em, and fed by a steady diet of small favors and minor political boons, he'd become the man's somewhat enthusiastic underling. And now, ignorant of his master's death, he was blindly trying to enforce the party line.
I glared at Tetsuo, who, while he'd never personally bothered me, I'd never liked the man in the slightest. Stomping over to the balding shit stain I grabbed him by the front of his shirt and lifted him from the ground. I then started speaking in a calm, clipped tone.
"Tetsuo Yamanaka, for just once in your pathetic life, open your eyes and look at what's in front of you!"
"S-stop!" Hayashi exclaimed. "Both of you! H-he was already dead! He had a-an axe in his chest! And he kept moving! He tried to bite Tom! He tried to bite me! And... and look at the gate!"
The three were now seven.
Shit.
"W-we can't fight! We have to protect our students!"
I nodded. "She's right, we can't be fighting with each other right now." I then looked back to Yamanaka… who was still dangling a few inches off the ground, thanks to the wonders of anime strength physics…
I let go of the man's shirt and he dropped to the ground with a thud.
I looked back and saw that the seven were now a good dozen.
"And we need to move fast."
"Fine," he spat. "But when this insanity comes to an end there will be a reckoning."
"I hope that day comes soon." I replied wistfully. "Now, I need all of you to pay attention to me. Yamanaka, go find the principal, tell him exactly what's going on. Kyoko, go to the PA and tell the students there's an emergency. Everyone outside the main building needs to get inside. And Ryushi," I added in reference to the fourth feature present...
Or at least who should have been present.
"Has anyone seen Ryushi?"
At that moment we all heard the sound of an engine roaring, as a white Nissan SUV began hurtling towards the unopened gate.
I was barely able to tackle Kyoko out of the way of the speeding vehicle.
Tetsuo, on the other hand, was not so fortunate. The man only had enough time to raise his arms before the white truck struck him full on and he became one with the hood.
In the driver seat I could make out the frantic, terrified face of Mr. Ryushi. And a moment later, he rammed the gate going a good clip. While strong, the gate was only really intended to defend from perverts and delinquents, not speeding vehicles, and it virtually exploded on impact, taking the zombies with it.
We were clear for the moment, and his car should draw off any stragglers, but there would be more. There would always be more.
"He... he..."
"Kyoko!" I interrupted, as I pulled the both to our feet. "Take off your shoes."
"W-what!?"
"You're in high heels." I exclaimed as I grabbed her arm, maybe a bit too hard. "Take off your fucking shoes and run!"
Her eyes widened in realization and she kicked off her pretty red pumps. Then, with an aggressive push, I almost threw her forward and she started off in a full run for the school building.
I took a deep breath and turned back towards the open gate and withdrew my cellphone.
Steadying myself, I sent another text, this time to just my Huscarls.
EVERYONE TO THE FRONT GATE. FULL GEAR AND LIVE STEEL. BRING MY GEAR. WE HAVE TO PROTECT THE SCHOOL.
My phone vibrated as I got a reply. It was from Kohta.
SENSEI, WHAT IS IT?
Well, he asked. And I replied:
FUCKING ZOMBIES.
His response was almost instantaneous.
SERIOUSLY?!
You know, I was honestly shocked that he didn't just dismiss me. But he asked. So I told.
SERIOUSLY.
I sighed and stepped forward to plant my axe into the head of the first undead to show itself before looking back to the school.
The city of Sparta never had walls of stone. It had walls of men.
It was my fondest hope that the men of Fujimi High School would be sufficient to keep that proud tradition alive.