Land of the Dead (High School of the Dead SI)

[Brian Boru]

Cross posting this from SB just in case anyone has issues with it or I feel that I might be ranging into...racier stuff for the sake of the story.

AN: Constructive criticism and or volunteering Betaing is appreciated and will be acted upon.

One year, it had been a VERY long year since I'd found myself in the land of the Rising sun, with no memory of how I'd gotten here, documentation indicating that I was a Custodian at some high-end high school in a city whose name I didn't recognize.

Today was actually the anniversary of the day I'd found myself in a dingy apartment with a custodial uniform in one corner and a note attached to it. Written in Japanese script, which I found to my shock that I understood perfectly, was a short letter explaining that I was now a Janitor for some place called Fujimi high, all documentation was taken care of and I even had a bank account. It was the end of the note that made a chill crawl up my spine that day.

One Year Ago

"Please be sure to bring the items found in your closet one year from now to your school. You will need them."

Hesitantly I had opened the small closet and a cold, hard knot formed in my stomach when I saw sitting at the bottom of the closet three things. A ax, a spear, and a shield. Why in God's Name did I need weapons like that, I had no clue but if ROB, as I'm sure ROB had something to do with my situation, said I would need them, then I had better listen to what he had to say.

Shutting the closet I had dressed myself glanced into the mirror...which had brought me to a complete stop yet again.

"What the fu...?" I had muttered staring at a small mirror hanging in on one of the walls of my apartment.

I....looked like myself...sort of... a more apt description is if I had visited one of those caricature artists like they had back at Six Flags, only the caricaturist was replaced with a Japanese style artist and had made me into a cartoon character....though, much more detailed than any that I'd seen in my entire life. I was leaner than I'd ever been in my entire life. Lifting my shirt I noticed that the sheathing of fat I'd carried for pretty much my entire life was...gone....replaced with hard muscle. I wasn't model lean by any shape but I looked more like a miniature linebacker than the pint-sized offensive lineman I was before....

"Damn...looking good..." I'd muttered to myself. Even IF this didn't make up for the fact that I'd been ripped from my home and life...it was a start.

Pushing it out of my head I headed out of my building and glanced in the direction of my job....about a stone-throw away from my new home...convenient. Glancing under the stairwell I noticed the moped I apparently had a key for....never had one of those before...but shouldn't be too hard to learn to ride.

Locking the door behind me I'd trotted along at a sedate pace, my mind a flurry of questions. So deep I was in my thoughts I'd failed to notice something else about my new...home. In fact I failed to notice said trait until I was walking through the student parking lot when the driver side door of a little bug car happened to open and I stopped dead in my tracks...

Blonde hair was the first thing that stood out. Bright as the sun and long enough to reach a gloriously formed posterior. Then this glorious tribute to feminine beauty turned around to face me. Amber eyes that seemed to glitter with bubbly happiness. A perfectly formed face that seemed to permanently smile and light up everything around it. Oh yeah and a bosom that'd make Anna Nicole in her prime feel self-conscious.

Apparently I'd been staring for a while when a horn honked right next to me. I nearly jumped out of my skin and scrambled out of the way of teacher trying to get to their parking place. I caught a glance of dark hair and glasses before the car passed by me.

I heard a female voice giggling. I turned my head back towards the focus of my attention. Apparently the woman about my age had seen the entire affair and had been amused by my antics.

I could feel my face going red as I chuckled weakly. "Thank-you, I'll be here all week." I replied as if I'd been doing a comedy routine.

That set her laughing even harder, her shoulders actually shaking a bit....along with other things. "You're funny Sir. Oh but are you alright?" Even her voice was a wonder to hear...I was starting to wonder if I had a problem...

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just scared me out of a year of growth is all." I managed to sputter out.

"Are you sure? Because your face is all red." The blonde bombshell walked around her car and actually pulled that stunt with the hand and the forehead. Unfortunately, or fortunately, that also meant that certain somethings were rather....close, nearly pressing into my chest really. A small corner of my mind noted that we were nearly of a height, she being just a hair shorter than me at about 5'8''.

"N-no really I'm alright just had a scare is all." I had finally managed to sputter out, and backed up just slightly so as not to intrude on her personal space.

She smiled and said, "If you insist but if you don't feel alright later you can come see me, I'm studying to be a doctor and I could use the practice."

"Thank-you Miss, kind of you. Oh where are my manners, I'm Tom Brody" I managed to sputter out, "I'm the new Custodian here."

She bowed in return. "My name is Marikawa Shizuka. I'm the School Nurse here. I'm also new. It's my first day actually. I hope I'll be able to find the nurse's office."

A detailed map of the school flashed in my mind, well Fortune Favors the Bold and all that.

"I think I can help there. I kinda had to learn every nook and cranny of this place when I started here. I can take you to the nurse's office before I head down to mine." Really just a glorified broom closet my implanted memories said but I wasn't about to say that out loud.

That brilliant smile snapped right into place, "Oh thank-you!" I think my heart skipped a beat.

"Not a problem, the least I could do really. Us newbies have to stick together right?" I managed to say without getting tongue-tied.

"I guess you have a point, lead the way Brody-san."

With that I turned and headed into the building, Miss Shizuka behind me, a chipper smile on her face.
As I guided the two of us through the large school a niggling familiarity began worm its way through my mind. This all seemed really familiar. The names, and the young lady moving up to walk next to me, I felt like I knew them from somewhere.

Then it struck like a thunder-clap I knew where I was and what was going to happen in a year and why I needed those weapons when it happened.

I managed to cut off a curse before Miss Shizuka noticed the change in my demeanor. A quickly plastered smile covered the growing terror that rose us from my soul. Then a sort of resolve seemed to harden as I headed down the hallway that held the Nurse's office.

"Well here's your office Marikawa-san. "If you need anything or help finding a room I'll be on the first floor by the stairs, can't miss it."I hope you have a good day." I gave her a slightly clumsy bow.

"Thank-you Brody-san. I hope we'll meet again soon. Us newbies have to stick together right?" Marikawa echoed my own words and returned the bow, then headed into her office.

I smiled again then headed down to my office. I knew why ROB had armed me and given me a year. I needed to prepare.

 

[Brian Boru]

For several weeks after beginning my new job I entered a sort of routine. I'd wake up around 7:00 clean up, drink a Coke Zero (thank GOD I found that corner shop) pack a lunch, (vegetables of some sort and usually canned tuna. Not the meal of kings but it got the job done.) Walk to the school, say good morning to Miss Shizuka, help her with anything she was bringing to the office, we'd talk for a bit, nothing major, music, books, movies and the like.

I learned she was a sap for romance novels or romantic movies, when she'd gotten to see Titanic in Highschool she admitted she'd cried at Jack's death and the ending where Rose and Jack were together again in the afterlife.

I told her about my interest in Fantasy and Sci-fi and my preference for the more historical stuff. Though the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit had been my favorites growing up. I was a bit surprised when she'd told me she'd never read them though she said she'd enjoyed the movies and had admitted to having a crush on the character Legolas.

"You and half the planet." I'd commented dryly.

"I was in middle school!" She huffed though not she wasn't really all that mad.

I chuckled and shifted the cardboard box in my arms, "So what's in this one? Your brick collection?"

That set her giggling again. "Nothing like that Brody-san. It's just some rubbing alcohol and bandages...and maybe a few microscopes."

"A 'few' microscopes? What do you need that many for?" I asked, no wonder this thing weighed a ton.

"I'm also in medical school to become a full doctor, remember? I need to get some studying in whenever I can and the hospital was kind enough to lend me the equipment while I work as a nurse her."

I nodded, "That makes sense. Though I don't think my arms will appreciate it."

That got her laughing again and I laughed with her. It was rather nice talking with a pretty woman, I'd never really done that back home, a combination of nerves and time had curtailed my socialization opportunities with the fairer sex. Meaning that I relished these moments.

Eventually though we reached the Nurse's Office and I was able to put down the arm-killing box. I shook my arms and winced at the pain in my elbows.

When I started my cleaning job I had found to my pleasure that Fujimi High had a state of the art weight room for the student athletes. Thank-you wealthy alumni and parents!

After a short conversation with the principle I got the deal that so long as I cleaned up after myself I could use the weights to my content. A deal which I had taken quite willingly. I remembered full well what was coming and I needed every chance I could get to increase my odds of surviving the hell that was coming.

I'd quickly started a weight training regimen, thanking my lucky stars I'd memorized the routines that my old man had hammered into my skull though I would freely admit that this was the first time I'd followed through the routine start to finish on a daily basis without ever cutting corners. The results were that I'd been slowly getting stronger, interestingly at a rate I was sure I hadn't achieved since high school, another trait from my transfer to this world? The downside was that some of my joints were sensitive after the punishment I'd given them.

Apparently Shizuka had seen my pain and had immediately walked over, a slight look of concern on her face. "Is everything alright Brody-san? Did you pull something?"

I shook my head, "Nothing like that. My elbows are just a bit sore, remember I mentioned that I'd started weight-lifting? Just comes with the territory to maintain these muscles." I flexed a bicep to prove my point.

That look never left her face, "But if you're hurting then it's my duty as a nurse to help. Hold on I think I might have something..." With that she turn and began searching her cabinets, eventually searching into one of the lower cabinets...rather far back. I quickly glanced out the window and took a different view than what everything my Lizard Brain was screaming at me to do instead. Finally I heard a muffled shout of "Found it!"

I turned and watched her wiggle herself out of the cabinet and produce a jar about the size of your average canning jar, a look of satisfaction on her face. A clear viscous material was visible through the glass the container and I could catch a hint of something mint like. Even from over where I was standing.

"An old family remedy, I learned how to make it from my grandmother and it does wonders for sore muscles and joints." Then she opened the jar.

A moment later and my senses were outright assaulted by a wave of mint or some sort of vaporub. I could feel my sinuses clearing themselves and then begin to burn.

"Wow! That's some strong stuff. What's in it?" I asked through a few coughs.

"Now that'd be telling family secrets Brody-san. But you can use it as much as you want whenever you want. Just come here and ask me. Go ahead and put some on your elbows. Not too much, this is quite strong."

Sniffing in an attempt to clear my nose I nodded and took a bit on two finger tips, it was extremely cool to the touch, then I began to rub the gel-like substance into my elbow. There was an odd combination of cool and burning for a moment, then incredible relief as the pain just vanished.

I audibly sighed in relief, which elicited another giggle from the veritable Angel of Mercy. "It seems like you like it Brody-san."

I shook my head, "Um, yes, thank-you, thank-you very much, this stuff works like a charm."

"Happy to help Brody-san. Now we both need to get on to our jobs. Keep the jar, I have a few more in the cabinet there." She said with a smile.

"Thank-you again Marikawa-Sensei." I said with a appreciative smile on my face.

"Oh you can call me Shizuka if you like."
I blinked a bit at that, then I grinned and bowed again. "Thank-you again, ...Shizuka. I guess you can call me Tom then."

"Good day Tom." She replied. With that I headed out of the office towards my own glorified broom closet, the jar under my arm and a smile on my face. Today seemed like a good day. I even began whistling a tune as I headed down the staircase.

My smile vanished when I almost bumped into someone coming up the stairs at the same time. That someone else turned out to be the biggest dick in this entire damn school, one Shido Koichi, a teacher as well as the Track & Field coach. He was also arrogant, and sadistic to a disturbing degree and the only reason he had a job at this school was because of the string pulling of his old man, who was some big shot in the national diet. Well the old fart sure as hell didn't have my fucking vote.

Either way the smug bastard did his best to look down his nose at me, a difficult venture when the man was a couple of inches shorter than me and at least 100 lbs lighter. It was a comparison in opposites, the lean, clean-shaved, slick-haired, bespectacled, and smartly dressed Paragon of Japanese handsomeness on one side. While on the other was a prime example of Gaijin. Big shoulders and limbs, shaggy hair that was starting to look like a mop, shaggy beard (needed a trim) and wearing the somewhat shapeless outfit of a custodian.

"Ah Brody-san, good morning." He managed to eventually say, God the bastard's voice sounded oily.

"Good morning Shido-Sensei, surprised to see you in the stairwell."

"Not that surprising I was just giving some of my students some advice on a private matter on my way to my class. Well good-day Brody-san." He then moved on past me.

As soon as he was out of sight I turned my head and spat. Scumbag had no business advising a rock let alone the young people who attended the school.

I then headed down the stairwell and found the students he'd been advising. In actuality it had been a trio of sophomores bullying a freshman. The poor kid was in a ball as one of the jackasses was rearing back for a kick.

"HEY!" I bellowed. The three wannabe-thugs snapped their heads to look in my direction. Any retorts at the Gaijin butting in died in their throats when they got a look at my green eyes seeming to almost blaze in fury.

"I suggest the three of you get to class, NOW!" The three boys scrambled up the stairs like the hounds of hell were after them. Once I was sure they were going. I turned back to the kid they'd been beating on. "Hey kid, you alright?"

The kid in question was still curled up on the ground, shaking as he fought back sobs.

"Hey kid, you okay? Those jackasses are gone, I scared them off for the moment. Here let me help you up." I said in as gentle a voice as I could.

Eventually I managed to get the kid back on his feet and one look at his face triggered recognition in my mind. Hirano Kohta, official marksman and gun-nut for the canon team about a year from now. He didn't seem much like the dead-eye crack-shot I knew him to be, but then again he didn't have much in the way of confidence when he was unarmed.

"Are you hurt? I know the nurse and I can can take you to her if you want."

"N-no I'm alright Janitor-san." The young man fought to hide any tears though the red eyes and sniffing were dead giveaways.

"You sure? If you're worried about those jerks I think between me and Marikawa-Sensei we could have the Principle throw the book at the three of them." I mused.

"N-no! I mean, no I'm alright. No need to interfere." He said, "Thank-you for helping." He brushed himself and began to head up the stairwell.

I'm still not sure why I did what I did but I sighed and called, "Kid wait a moment."

He stopped and turned back to me. "Thinking about it. Yes, I don't think that just going to the Principle will solve anything. Even if we get rid of those jerks another pack of them will pop up to replace them in a heart-beat. Bullies like that can smell weakness like a shark does blood and they'll come out of the woodwork if there's a soft target for them."

Kohta seemed to curl up on himself as he heard himself being described as a soft bully-magnet.

However I wasn't finished, "However, that doesn't mean we can't do something to resolve the problem. We just need to make you NOT a soft target. Tell me kid you part of a club?"

"No, I'm not in a club." He said weakly, a look of interest on his face, curious about being NOT a soft target.

"Excellent! Tell you what kid I've got a plan that is a sure-fire way to get those jerks off your back, heck if you listen to what I say then might even be a chick magnet by the time I'm done with you. You interested?" A smile spread across my face.

Kohta stared at me before rubbing his eyes and nodding. "Yes, of course! I'll be under your care Sensei! Oh erm..my name's Hirano Kohta."

"Calm down ki-er Kohta-san, I'm not much for standing on ceremony. Brody-san or Tom-san's fine." I said with a chuckle."

"Alright Hirano-san if you're really dedicated then meet me at the door to the dorms at about 6:30, make sure you're wearing your P.E. clothes and we'll get started. Will I see you there?"

"Yes Brody-san I'll be there!" With that the young man scrambled up the stairs just noticing the time. I chuckled then headed down to my broom closet to drop my lunch off and then head off to make my rounds.

That evening Kohta was true to his word. I started him working the same sort of program that I did, though at a much lower weight and intensity. No point in killing the kid. After the weight training we then did stair runs, after the classes were over and the clubs were done we mostly had the building to ourselves. Kohta didn't make much of a showing that first night, but honestly he had a dogged determination that allowed him to get back up after collapsing from a minute long sprint up the stair-case.

When we finished Kohta was exhausted and he stank up to high heaven but he seemed quite happy with himself. "Not bad kid, you've got a fire in ya kid, you'll need that for this stuff."

A weak smile spread across his sweaty face. "Thank's Sensei, I mean Brody-san."

After making sure he got to his dorm and got cleaned off I went back and cleaned up the equipment, locked the buildings down and headed home myself.

I had no idea what the consequences would be but I felt that I was doing something good for everyone involved.

 

[Brian Boru]

And so the weeks went by as I worked in my new training regimen with Kohta with my regular schedule.

I hate to admit it, but it was a bit on the embarrassing side to watch the poor kid struggle. I'd been lifting weights since I was in middle school and had been lifting weights in the several hundred pound range for years. Watching some Kohta's age dying with only 50 lbs was like watching a three legged puppy trying to chase a ball.

However I reminded myself that when I'd started lifting weights properly I was dying trying to bench press a pair of 20 lbs dumbells. So I held my tongue and told myself that he'd improve. And amazingly he did. It took a few weeks but one evening instead of looking like a man facing his execution he instead had one of grim determination.

"Well you seem to be in a better mood today kid. Something good happen?" I asked good naturedly.

"No Brody-san, today just seemed better today. I can't really put my finger on it." He shrugged his shoulders that were looking a hair broader or maybe it was the slightly smaller gut pulling on his P.E. shirt less that was causing the effect.

I grinned, then clapped him on the back, "That's good, means the endorphins are kicking in finally I was wondering when they would." It probably helped as well that someone seemed to give a damn and was interested in his well-being. His parents, from what I recalled travelled often and while they did care were on the distant side and so weren't always aware of what was going on with their kid.

Add in the fact that he's kinda short, overweight, wore glasses and wasn't the most socially adept he was almost a perfect storm of high school drama and ostracization. Well hopefully I'd make a difference on that front.

As the two of us went through our routine I noticed he'd at least doubled his original weights, impressive, very impressive.

The next morning I was interrupted on my walk down to my office by the principal's secretary a small young woman, 5' nothing and she couldn't have weighed a 100 pounds soaking wet. Cute as well in that pixie or kitten sort of way plenty of guys seemed to lose their minds over here in Japan.

Something of a rarity as well if one were bluntly honest I wasn't sure how but it seemed women on average seemed more….healthy here that back home and that seemed to be a world-wide trait….a Playboy mag I'd found once while bagging the trash was...eye opening, to say the least.

But back to little miss secretary, yes she was cute, but to be perfectly honest that sort hadn't ever really been my type and it didn't help that the woman PLAINLY didn't like me. I wasn't sure WHAT I'd done to offend her but I had and she would make it blatantly clear in her dislike. It was astounding sometimes how someone that tiny could make a guy over half a foot taller than her feel intimidated but she was pulling it off with one of her ice-cold stares.

"Yes Yamazaki-san? How can I help you?" I asked in my most polite voice, in a likely vain attempt to appease her with manners. It failed.

She all but glared at me and said in a clipped and icy tone. "The Principal would like to meet with you Brody-san." And with that she turned around and began striding back to the office.

I stood there staring for a moment, unsure what to do, but before I could react she turned around and glared again. "Well aren't you coming?" Then she snapped back around and continued her power walking...how she did that in heels and a skirt that tight I'll never know…

Anyway I gathered my senses and trotted after her before catching up and slowing down my stride to keep apace with her, taking one stride for every two of hers. My feet flapping a bit compared to the ordered and quick stacatto her heels made.

She made no sign that she'd noticed me catching up and continued staring ahead and clacking along the hallway. The silence and my imagination began to gnaw at me as I wondered what the principal wanted with me. I'd never actually met the man though apparently I'd done my interview with the man before starting my job as part of my cover story when I arrived here and I was slightly concerned as to what he wanted with me.

In an attempt to break the ice as well as sniff out what might have been in store for me I turned my head to look at Miss Yamazaki and cleared my throat to get her attention.

"So...would you happen to know what Principal Yamada wants with me?" I asked in a slightly nervous voice.

Yamazaki never turned her head and didn't seem to have heard what I said, I was about to repeat when she suddenly responded. "I don't know. He didn't see fit to tell me and it wasn't my place to ask. You'll have to find out yourself Brody-san." She didn't elaborate beyond that and her tone brooked no further questions so I kept my mouth shut and sweated as the two of us continued on our way.

Finally we entered the principal's office area, a small waiting room with a desk that I assumed was Yamazaki's was pushed alongside one wall while some chairs were lined up against the other side. Yamazaki promptly sat down and began to type away on her desk-top computer. "He'll see you now." She said in a quick tone, never looking away from her computer screen.

Rude, I thought to myself, then bowed my head and headed towards the door, as I closed the door behind me, I noticed that in a small picture frame was a rather candid photograph of Koichi Shido. Ah so that's how it was, my dislike of the snake was well known though I'd never said so to anyone. If she was sweet on that bastard then that explained things so much.

That line of thought was chased out of my head with an older male voice broke the silence in good though slightly accented English, the first I'd heard in a while. "Ah, Mr. Brody, glad to see you, come sit down."

Turning around I got my first close look at the school principal. He was around 50 years old with short cropped hair and a salt and pepper moustache over his lips. His dark eyes were intelligent and he seemed to be a pleasant man. I'd certainly never heard anyone complain about him before.

I bowed and then sat down. "Good day Principal Yamada. Good to see you as well. What was it you wanted to see me about?"

"Ah cutting to the chase then? Good, this will make things quicker."

He shuffled some papers and my stomach began doing back-flips.

"It says here that you applied to the Custodial Job, even though you're a native English speaker. You could have gotten a job as an English teaching assistant. Why is that?"

Swallowing and praying that ROB wouldn't screw me over before the apocalypse actually happened I answered as calmly as I could. "Well to be honest it was two reasons. First I wasn't confident enough of my Japanese language skills that I wouldn't make an idiot of myself. The other reason was that I didn't feel that I had the teaching experience for that sort of job. That and I'm not the public speaker, it wouldn't look good if the students saw their teacher stuttering while trying to teach them, they're not oblivious and they'd pick up on that very quickly."

He nodded. "Yes that's what you told me when you applied for the custodial job and to be honest we didn't need an English teacher assistant or otherwise at the time. That's changed however since then." He looked over his papers and continued, "I'm sure you heard about this already but one of our foreign assistant teachers had to leave suddenly because of a death in her family.

I winced at that, yeah I'd heard about it. Young lady from Cali had been here as a teaching assistant for a few months then got the tragic news that both her parents as well as a younger sibling had died in a tragic car accident. I hadn't talked with her but from what Shizuka had told me it had all but broken the young woman and she'd listed for a few days before declaring she was leaving to go home.

"Oh yes I heard. Shame what happened to her, no one deserves losing so much so quickly." I said in a sympathetic tone.

Yamada looked down for a moment then looked back up. "Indeed but with Miss Clara heading home that leaves an opening that needs to be filled and I'd rather not go through the madness and paper work needed to get another fluent English speaker. Not if there's one already here.

I stared for a moment. "Me? But I'm not registered with JET, I'm not even a teacher!"

"I don't HAVE to get my english instructors from the Program and you'd be a teaching assistant, much looser standards and requirements for the job. It'd also be an increase in your pay and easier hours than the ones you keep already. As for your worries about your Japanese, I really don't hear any problems considering we've been speaking it since you sat down." Clever old man. Very clever.

"So Mr. Brody what are your thoughts?"

I sat there for a moment then shrugged, "Alright, though I hope you know I might not be the best man for the job." I said.

He extended his hand for a shake to my surprise and I grabbed it and gave it a firm shake. "I'm sure you'll be fine. Besides I'd hate to tell Inoue-san that the Janitor job I'd told was his was no longer available."

I froze for a moment, stunned at the old man's confidence. He only smiled at my surprise. "I'll handle the paperwork and I'll have someone give you a crash-course on what you'll need to know. Just make sure you have some presentable clothes for when you start classes."

I grinned again. "Thank-you but I have to ask. Why? I mean why me?"

The smile on Yamada's face faded a bit. "Simple. You don't like Shido-Sensei, and the feeling is mutual. I can't fire the man for certain reasons, but if I can aggravate him in other ways then I'll take it. Besides your English and Japanese are impeccable, some of the best I've heard from a non-native speaker and you seem to work well with the students. I've heard how Hirano-san's been improving in his classes and he seems to be in better shape. You seem to have helped him and I hope you can share that with some of the other students." The smile on his face returning.

"Well in that case I'll do my best and thank-you for the opportunity sir."

With that I got up and left the room with a smile on my face and a spring in my step. I wasn't being fired heck it was actually a bit of a step UP! Miss Yamazaki stared a bit at the good mood I seemed to be in and I ignored her in return. As I headed out of the office I paused then turned and changed the direction I was originally heading. "I need to tell Shizuka about this."

 

[Brian Boru]

AN: With thanks to Grey Rook For Beta Work.


It took a few weeks before I was allowed to begin assisting one of the teachers in their classes. My superior was an older man by the name of Minato Kurokawa, a shorter man even for Japan who seemed to buzz with energy and seemed truly passionate in his work.

When he introduced me to the class a few people gasped in surprise, it wasn't like I was completely unknown. A big Gaijin like myself working as a Janitor was going to make people take notice and few people had heard how I'd taken Kohta Hirano under my wing, and his confidence had grown in the last month since he'd started strength training along with some weight loss. However, me showing up in a pair of Khaki slacks and a red polo shirt instead of the Custodial outfit that could be generously called a tent seemed to have knocked many of them for a loop.

Kohta was the first to break the silence. "Mr. Brody? When did you become a teacher?" The rest of the class turned back to look at him, all a bit surprised that he'd spoken up and many that he seemed to know me.

I grinned and nodded in his direction. "That's Brody-Sensei while we're in the classroom, Mr. Hirano. As for my new job, apparently Principal Yamada decided that with Miss Clare going home he needed a new assistant teacher quickly and apparently my Japanese is good enough to pass muster for the teaching job. Besides, he didn't want to have to go through the madness of the JET program's paperwork. Have you seen the forms? I have, if you bound all those papers into a single book you could club an ox to death with the thing." I shuddered dramatically to drive home the point. Which promptly got a laugh out of most of the class.

I chuckled with them for a moment, before I continued with my introduction. "If anyone's wondering how I know Hirano, well, I had made an agreement with Principal Yamada about a month and a half ago. If I made sure to clean up after myself then I could use the weight room here to my heart's content. About a month ago I had met Mr. Hirano, and I'd noticed he'd been having some troubles and I'd offered to have him join my strength training regimen. And now you know my past. So let's continue with this class then. Yamada-Sensei, I guess you take the stage now?"

I backed away and let Yamada do the heavy lifting, my job seemed to be having an example of a native speaker to hear and practice as well as some cultural exposure.

The high point that day was when I was telling them not to be afraid to practice their English, otherwise they'd never learn. "It doesn't really matter how your grammarstructure sounds. Well, it does, but not as much as it might in other languages. The thing about English is that it's a bastard language, pardon my French (an idiom that got a chuckle from those that got it), meaning that the structure was broken from the old Anglo-Saxon when the Normans came over and brought their French and you can speak the words of the sentence in plenty of orders and still be understood.

You might also catch some words from other languages interspersed through American English, that comes from how we had people from all over the world coming and bringing their mother tongues with them. There's a joke I've come across before that English, especially American English, is the language that clubs other languages over the heads in a dark alley then rifles through their pockets for loose grammar."

Once that one got through to them, that got them laughing even harder. I took a quick bow. "Thank you! I'll be here all week, and the week after that."

Once classes were done, I was heading over to the Nurse's office to speak with Shizuka about how my first day of classes had gone, when I almost bumped into a young lady coming out of the office. The first thing I registered was long dark hair with a purple shade to it. "Oh, I'm sorry about that, miss." I bowed in apology, then my eyes widened for an instant when I got a better look at my companion.

Besides the purple hair which was easily as long as Shizuka's, she also had blatantly non-Japanese blue eyes and an angular look to her face, reminding me of nothing so much as a bird of prey, those eyes had the same intensity and banked ferocity, just waiting to be let loose. Yep, I'd just met another member of the HOTD team, nation-wide acclaimed kendoka Saeko Busujima. She was easily as tall as Shizuka though not nearly as...bountiful, though she certainly had nothing to worry about on that front and what was I thinking this was a student! Likely one of mine!

Thankfully she didn't seem to have been too flustered as she bowed respectfully and said; "No, you did nothing wrong Brody-sensei, I opened that door at the wrong moment and I wasn't looking where I was going."

"Well no harm no fuss then, I guess." I said with a grin. Then I remembered where she'd walked out of. "Erm, I hope I'm not prying, but what brings you here to the Nurse's office, you're not hurt are you?" I glanced her over looking for bruises or other injuries, spotting nothing.

"Oh no, I'm alright. I was just taking one of my teammates here, he sprained his wrist during practice today." She replied, seemingly giving me a once-over as well, not like someone interested in the opposite sex but like someone sizing up someone else for a fight.

"Well, I won't delay you from your club activities, miss, so have a good day." I bowed and she did as well, turning around and striding off back towards wherever the kendo dojo was located… wait a minute…

"Erm, wait! Hold on, Miss Busujima, if I could have a moment." I called out and trotted after her.

She stopped and turned around, curious what my reason for stopping her could be. "Yes, Brody-Sensei?" Her eyes were now a bit curious.

"You said you were part of the Kendo club, yes?" I asked, a plan beginning to form in my mind. "I wanted to ask you a favor. You see, an acquaintance of mine was an avid weapons collector, especially of Dark Ages European gear. But when he had to give some of his stuff away I ended up receiving some of it. Thing is, I've been wanting to learn how to use it for a while now, but I haven't had anywhere to practice with them."

"And you wish to use the Kendo Dojo to practice?" She asked, her eyebrows arched.

"Erm, yes, but I haven't managed to find a club member before now and ask them, let alone their teacher, advisor or instructor if I could use the facilities, unless that'd be too presumptive." I said a bit sheepishly.

Her eyes narrowed for a moment. "What are they?" The look in her eyes seemed to indicate that she thought I might have a bunch of movie prop junk.

"A Frankish Francisca battle axe, a German Iron Age long spear, and a full sized Germanic Round Shield with an Iron Boss, they're all authentically forged and combat ready,though I can't tell you the maker they seem to be excellently made from what I could tell." I couldn't help the small satisfaction I felt when her eyes widened at my words.

"And they really ARE authentic?" Her tone was now a bit curious.

"Authentic enough that I managed to hack a branch thicker than my wrist right off a tree over in the park. Had to run like the hounds of hell were after me I'll admit. Some old lady spotted me hacking at trees and was calling for the police….please forget I said that." I winced at the memory of that when I'd smuggled my weapons to the local park to try and get some practice with them. Apparently ROB had supernaturally sharpened them as they were razor sharp and hadn't lost their edge in the slightest even after whacking on a tree with the ax for a minute.

"Interesting…." She mused to herself, a spark flashing in her eyes. "Well, I have no issue with that nor should our advisor. When would you be practicing?"

"Oh, erm, later in the evening. Usually I lift weights starting around 6:30 in the evening for about an hour, along with some endurance and sprints. But I think I could replace a few days of practice with my gear every evening."

"Very well, then I'll see you at 6:30 tomorrow." With that she turned and headed to her club.

"Thank you... wait what?" I spluttered. I felt like I'd missed something here… ah well, I got a place to practice without old biddies accusing me of herbicide so that's a plus.

I walked into Shizuka's office. And was surprised to see that Shizuka didn't have the usual white blouse and black skirt she usually wore. Instead, she had a blue tank top with an unbuttoned white shirt and white, looser fitting skirt on.

She was writing something down on some sort of form when she looked over at the door and saw me standing in the door. "Oh Tom! Hello, how was your first day teaching?"

She walked over to the door with a slight spring in her step and her wide smile on her face. Still was a treat every time I saw her.

"It went fine, Shizuka, the students seemed to like me well enough, even managed to get them to laugh a few times and they seemed to pay attention."

"That's great, Tom, I knew you had it in you." Her smile was, if anything, even brighter, then she started fidgeting a bit and averted her eyes.

"What?" I asked.

She snapped back at me then glanced at the young man sitting in one of the chairs, struggling very hard to look anywhere else but at the doorway.

I nodded and stepped out of the room and back into the hallway. She followed and closed the office door behind her.

"Well, some of my old college classmates were having a get together tonight. But my roomate Rika decided that she wanted to join us at the last minute, since she was a classmate as well, but now we've got an odd number of people and... well, Iwaswonderingifyoucouldcomealongwithus?" The last bit she blurted out in a bit of a tumble and it took me a moment to decipher what she'd said.

I blinked for a moment then slowly asked; "You sure the others won't mind me coming along?"

"No, not at all, at least I don't think they would. But it's better to ask for forgiveness then for permission right?" She said that with more conviction that the situation warranted, but that was part of her charm.

I considered this for a moment, I wasn't exactly a social guru and this was a bit daunting but one look as Shizuka's face and all objections turned to dust and blew away in the proverbial wind….yep...I had it bad alright….
"Well, I've been needing to get out more and now I can say I'm a school teacher instead of a janitor, it's got a bit more dignity to it don't you think?" I said with a smile.

"So you'll come? Thank you so much! I'll be sure to tell Rika. Here, let me give you the address." She handed me the business card for a bar of some sort that was located on the far side of the city. Hmm...hadn't been there before.

"Alright, I'll be there."

"Thank you again, Tom!" She surprised me by giving me a big bear hug… promptly short-circuiting my brain for several minutes while she went back into her office. I wasn't sure HOW, exactly, I managed to get back to my apartment that evening, but I distinctly recall humming We Are the Champions at some point.

 

[Brian Boru]

Again with thanks to Grey Rook for his Beta Work.
It took me about half an hour to wash my face and change my clothes to something a bit more casual. Shizuka had called me and told me that this wasn't a formal event in the slightest, so casual was best.

When I'd gotten the teaching job Principal Yamada had given me an advance on my pay to get myself some clothes to wear for teaching, considering my Custodial work clothes and workout clothes weren't going to cut it, to put it mildly. While I'd braved the local clothes store, I'd gotten myself some jeans and t-shirts along with a jacket for the colder weather when it would eventually come.

Tonight, I'd worn a pair of loose-fitting jeans and a black t-shirt with nothing adorning it. I didn't bother with the grey, hooded jacket I'd also purchased, considering how warm the weather was getting. After that, I'd hopped on the local bus and rode over to the bar that Shizuka and her old classmates had rented for the evening. I watched the town roll by, occasionally taking notes on the layout of certain roads, locations of hills, bridges, buildings, where people seemed to be the most concentrated and where they weren't, all of these notes were jotted down in a small black notebook I had started using a few weeks ago when I'd realized just how long it had been since I had arrived here and had begun to really prepare for when Z-day arrived.

I had also begun gathering information about just where exactly Tokonosu WAS in relation to the rest of the country.

After a bit of work I'd finally figured out where Tokonosu was located. Tokonosu City was a part of the larger Nagoya metro-area one of the three great metropolitan concentrations of Honshu, the later was also the capital of Aichi Prefecture which consisted of the old provinces of Owari and Mikawa of Sengoku Jidai fame. Tokonosu had been the center of the holding of a Daimyo clan known as Takagi whom had built up the area as an homage to Osaka, including their castle which was a miniature of Osaka castle itself.

According to local history, the Takagi clan had originally been sworn to the Toyotomi's and had suffered during the defeat of Ishida Mitsunari at the battle of Sekigahara. They had, luckily, not been large enough to warrant destruction and had been allowed a reduced part of their ancestral holdings in Tokonosu where they had remained ever since. One Takagi ancestor had managed to visit Osaka castle and had convinced the Shogunate to allow them to mimic the larger castle. How he'd managed to do that was unfortunately lost in the mists of time, but folklore went that he challenged the incumbent Shogun's champion swordsman for the right and had won after a bout that had nearly killed both men.

The family had survived the Meiji restoration and had been awarded the title of Baron which they had held until the end of the Second World War and the occupation. The Takagi clan had been wrecked by the war financially and had ended up being forced to sell their family castle in the wake of the old land holdings being broken up.

They hadn't left Tokonosu though, continuing to serve the area for years. There were also rumors that the current head of the house, one Souichiro Takagi, had plans to purchase back his ancestral home from the government, though many considered claims like that idiotic, but the fact that they existed at all were a strong indicator of the waves Souichiro was making in the city.

I grimaced at the thought of meeting the man, from what I had remembered from the Manga and Anime the man was hardass through and through, and the fact that he was a right-wing nationalist party leader made me sweat a bit at the thought of actually meeting him after Z-day. Hopefully the man wouldn't outright kick me out... or his followers...well, I'd cross that bridge when it came up.

I was just coming to that resolution when I noticed that I was at my stop. I quickly got off of the bus and glanced at the address again along with the slightly gibberishy directions that Shizuka had apparently given me in my haze. Seriously, who writes smiley faces on directions... heh, even had a chibi picture of her face in the corner… she had talent with that…

Chuckling, I tucked the paper back into my pocket and went on my way. Glancing around at the towering buildings that made up this part of the city, watching the mass of people moving through its busy streets. A cold feeling entered the bottom of my stomach as I thought about how this was all going to disappear in less than a year's time. Thousands of these people were going to be dead very soon and most likely worse than that. It was a chilling thought. I wished that I could somehow stop this from happening or at least spare the people of this city, there were people here I considered friends. I shook my head, there's not a damn thing I could do to stop what was coming, merely use the tools I had to do the best I could. Beyond that, well, I was merely a man and couldn't hope to do beyond what a man could do, the rest was in God's hands.

I was shaken out of my musings when I heard a female voice shouting my name. "TOM! Hey! Tom! Over here!"

I looked around and spotted Shizuka waving at me from about 30 feet up the sidewalk I'd come. She was wearing the same outfit I'd seen her in earlier that day and looking DAMN good in it. Next to her in a pair of black slacks and a white shirt with an unbuttoned black shirt was a tanned woman with purple hair, though unlike Saeko's this one's hair was had a more reddish tint to it. She was wearing a pair of dark shades and a slightly exasperated look on her face as she watched her friend's antics.

Ah so this must be the famous Rika Minami I'd heard so much about from Shizuka… also the one with a small armory... useful to have, I must say. Well, my dad always said that win a girl's friends and you win the girl... wait what?

I was shaken out of my thoughts when Shizuka actually hugged me in public, eliciting the ire of everything with a Y chromosome within a two mile radius... not that I even thought about that when it happened.

"Oh I'm so glad you came Tom, I was worried you might have changed your mind."

"W-wouldn't have missed it for the world Shizuka." I managed to wheeze out.
Shizuka stepped back, a smile still on her face. "Oh, where are my manners? Tom, this is my roommate and best friend since college, Rika Minami. Rika-chan, this is Tom Brody,he's the new teacher at the school I work at."

"A pleasure to meet you, Minami-san." I said with a polite bow. I think I was getting the hang of the catch-all gesture.

"Ah, so you're the one Shizuka's been bending my ear about for the past month." Rika quipped, a smirk on her pretty face.

"Rika-chan!" Shizuka squawked, a blush on her face.

I could feel my face heating up as well. "Well, I hope it's been all good things. She's mentioned you before as well, law enforcement, right?"

"That's right. First Squadron chief for the prefecture and SAT sniper, so you'd better not ever tick me off, mister." She said with a smile.

"No fear of that, Minami-san, I like my innards where they are, thank you very much." I said with a chuckle, though I knew damn well that she could blow my head off with easeif the need ever arose.

That set her laughing again. "Ha, you didn't mention he had a sense of humor, Shizuka. Though you were right and he does fill in a shirt nicely."

"Rika-chan, I never said that." Shizuka all but shouted back.

I wisely kept my mouth shut, no way no how was I going to enter that minefield.

"Oh Shizuka, you know I was just teasing you, you're so easy to get riled up sometimes." Rika smirked.

I coughed and said; "Well, ladies, shall we move on while some of us still have our dignity?"

That got another laugh and the three of us went on our way. The two women leading the way while I followed a step behind.

The bar they'd mentioned was only a few blocks further up the street. It wasn't the most expensive looking place but it seemed inviting, and I could smell something cooking as well as other voices beginning to enjoy themselves.

"This the place?" I asked. When they nodded I stepped aside and gestured with my hand. "Ladies first, then." I said with a smile.

"Oh, thank you." Shizuka said and giggled while Rika said; "What a gentleman." Some slight humor in her voice.

"Just what I was taught, Ma'am." I replied... an American Southern accent added to Japanese... sounded kinda funny… but I wasn't about to break character as they both smiled again and I followed after them, thinking that this might be pretty fun.

​

*****************​

This was not fun. Well, actually, to be fair the evening HAD been pretty fun. Shizuka and Rika's classmates had been a bit surprised to see a burly American Gaijin walk into the bar behind the two women. But when Shizuka explained why I'd been invited and had introduced me they'd been pretty quick to welcome me.

The rest of the evening was spent with the former classmates reminiscing about classes, classmates, professors and college shenanigans. Not being an Alumni of their Alma Mater I'd listened to the conversations around me. Well, that was the plan but the others were curious about the Gaijin that had acted as ballast and occasionally brought me into the conversation, asking about my home, why I'd come to Japan, my work and how I knew Shizuka.

I managed to deflect anything that might raise more questions about my place here and I was able to focus their attention on my sudden promotion partially as a snub at Mr. Shido.

"That whole family's rotten to the core." One drunken male Alumni had said. "His father's a crooked politician, his mother was a lush, I've heard his bastard brother's just as bad and seems to be set up to replace him considering he's already an intern for his father's group. And I can't imagine Shido's all that happy about being replaced and he's got all those young people to vent and manipulate. S'not right, not right at all."

While I agreed, it seemed more than a little tactless to say so in public and said as much. The man merely shrugged and stuck to his words.

The conversation thankfully shifted to other trains of thought, or so I thought. Another female classmate was looking between me and Shizuka, before settling on me and saying; "So, are the two of you an item? Is that why Shizuka-chan here decided to invite you?"

"N-no nothing like that at all. We're just friends and co-workers is all." I managed to splutter out.

Shizuka was red as a beet as well, though if that was the booze or the conversation I couldn't judge.

The friend shrugged. "Well if you're not, then could I borrow him?" She teased Shizuka with a smile. "Younger, a foreigner, AND he seems to take care of himself. Me likey."

I promptly choked and nearly drowned myself on the coke I'd been drinking, ROB did NOT prepare me for this new predicament!

While I was trying to breathe and restart my brain, Shizuka beat me to the punch with an answer, sort of. The pretty woman had been sitting next to me for most of the evening, I guess because she was my unofficial sponsor for this get together, which meant she was easily able to lean deeply into me and giggle softly; "Tom-san'sss... not like that…"And with that she seemed to fall asleep with her head on my shoulder. That set the rest of the party howling.

I weakly joined them. "Alright, I guess Marikawa-san's had enough for tonight. Hey Miss Mina...mi?" I looked around for the tanned purplette but she was nowhere to be seen.

"Um, where is she?" I asked, a bit nervous.
"She left over an hour ago, something about a situation down at the station. She said that you might need to take Shizuka-san home." A still somewhat-sober voice called out.

"What?" I said, a bit stunned.

A few minutes later I managed to get the young woman up on her feet and towards the door.

The rest of the evening was NOT what I'd called fun. First, Shizuka was too far gone to tell me her damn address, then when I found her phone and tried to call Rika the woman either wouldn't or couldn't answer her phone.

Then I learned that the buses had stopped running and the area didn't have a Taxi service, which meant I had to half walk half drag a giggly Shizuka Marikawa several miles to my place to hold her over at least until she sobered. It didn't help matters that she practically clung to me the entire way and mentioned at least twice that we looked like a couple.

Then about half a mile from my place it started to rain. "GOD DAMMIT WHAT ELSE ARE YOU GOING TO THROW AT ME?!" I had half roared.

"Thatz not nicee Tom." Shizuka had muttered.

Finally, after what had felt like an eternity, I managed to drag my companion up my stairs and into my apartment. "Finally made it I HATE summer rains!" I muttered.

I then tried to towel myself off as best I could after handing Shizuka one as well. Once we'd dried our hair I'd handed her a pair of my shorts and a t-shirt. "You'll get sick if you stay in that wet outfit, so I guess you can borrow some of mine while we dry out yours, probably won't fit right." I muttered.

Shizuka thanked me, then began to lift her wet top. "Wait! Not here! I have a bathroom, you can change there!" I managed to choke out.

Shizuka had tilted her head then said "Okay" before walking into the bathroom. Taking advantage of the privacy I'd quickly changed my own clothes before pulling out some blankets and an extra pillow. Even if she'd sobered up enough that I wasn't fearing for her life, I wasn't about to let her out into that rainstorm, not this late.

I had finished setting out another sleeping spot when Shizuka had walked out of my bathroom, the shirt and pants not fitting her radically differing body shape, but damn me if she didn't look good in it.

"Alright, Shizuka, you can sleep here on my futon, I'll take this blanket over here." Once she showed that she understood that, I made sure she was settled down and had the blanket over her before bedding down myself. Shizuka was already snoring faintly when I finally managed to lay down and drift off myself.

The next morning, I woke up with an odd sensation next to me. I didn't recognize it in my sleepy haze but it felt nice. I blinked a few times and managed to turn my head to see to my mild horror that Shizuka had gotten out of her futon and had gotten under my blanket with me, and not only that, she'd managed to wrap both arms around my chest like I was a giant stuffed animal... ah, so that's what those two things were, pressing into my side.

As I watched that sleeping beauty next to me, one word escaped my lips. "Fuck."

"Language, Tom-kun."

 

[Brian Boru]

It took me about ten minutes to finally extricate myself from her grip - she was amazingly strong for her size - but I finally managed to escape without waking her up.

After checking to see that she was still asleep, I padded over to my refrigerator, opened the door and grabbed a coke bottle. I quickly twisted the cap off and chugged the 20 oz of caffeinated goodness. When I was a kid I'd never been able to stand the smell of coffee, just walking down the coffee aisle would make my stomach turn. After watching my parents always drinking the stuff in the morning I'd sworn to myself that I would never become reliant on caffeine in the morning to get going, if only to avoid being forced to need that foul smelling java. I chuckled mildly to myself, I still ended up being like ninety percent of the first world, I just had a different delivery system for my poison.

I was about to let out the routine belch I normally made after chugging a coke but stopped myself and was a little more discreet instead. I DID have a lady over, after all, and I didn't want to wake her up with a burp I swore had made dust fall from the ceiling at least once. Once I'd vented the carbonation from my stomach, I tossed the bottle into a bin saved for recycling and then set to work making breakfast. It was just some simple scrambled eggs as I wasn't usually one for the so-called most important meal of the day, preferring to eat a bigger meal later on, but I didn't know Shizuka's own eating habits and I'd always heard that a guy who made breakfast for a girl he had over was a good one.

That made me pause for a moment and think about the odd situation I was in. Back home, if someone had told me that I was going to be fixing breakfast for a gorgeous woman after she'd spent the night at my place, I'd have never believed them. Yet here I was, funny how the world worked sometimes. The question was, did I want to keep this, whatever 'this' was, going?

I glanced over towards Shizuka's sleeping form, who'd just so happened to kick off the blanket she'd been covered with, shirt I'd loaned her hiking up, exposing most of her midriff…

...whelp, that had answered that question.

Resolving that question, I pushed the eggs off the skillet onto a plate, placed said plate with silverware on my small table that officially sat two, even though I'd had trouble eating on it just by myself sometimes. Then I walked gently back over to Shizuka and gently shook her awake. "Shizuka. Could you wake up? I've got breakfast if want any."

It took her a while before she managed to return from the land of Nod, her eyes almost completely shut as she tried to take in her location with her sleep-addled mind. Eventually she looked down at the clothing she was wearing. That must have clicked in her mind, panic flooded her as she turned bright red. It was oddly adorable, but I'm not the sort to allow people to wallow in misconceptions.

"Relax, Shizuka, nothing happened. You were too drunk to tell me how to take you home and your friend had left earlier without telling me where you lived and she wouldn't answer when I tried to call her. Things kinda went downhill from there as I decided to have you sleep last night off at my place. Unfortunately, the weather decided to disagree and we got soaked. I lent you some dry clothes and you managed to change yourself in my bathroom while I changed out here. Don't worry, everyone's honor is intact." I finished my explanation with a grin.

Shizuka proceeded to go beet red and bowed her head. "I'm so sorry Tom-san. I shouldn't have drunk so much. I know I get silly when I drink, and I also got the both of us soaking wet, we could have gotten sick from that."

"Relax, Shizuka, it wasn't any trouble. Well, okay, it was frankly a pain in the ass, but that was the rain more than anything else and that was neither of our faults." I frowned. "If anything, it was your friend Rika's fault that we were in that mess. Seriously, she could have told us ya'll's address when she was leaving. Next time you see her, could you tell her that I'd appreciate it if she wouldn't vanish on an incapacitated friend?"

Shizuka spoke up then. "It wasn't Rika-chan's fault, if she's called then she has to go, no matter what she was doing before." An angry glint flashed in her eyes and I knew that I'd overstepped myself.

"Alright, alright...sorry I said anything. That offer of breakfast still stands if you like." I said a bit sheepishly.

Shizuku humphed before getting out of the blankets and striding over the table, sitting down and after looking at my eggs for a moment she took the fork I had placed on the table and took a bite of the eggs. She chewed them for a moment before swallowing. "Not bad, Tom-san, do you have salt?"

"Yes, let me get it for you." I quickly retrieved the salt and placed it in front of her. She added a small shake and took another bite.

"Better." She said in a short tone.

"Glad you enjoy it. I'll admit I'm not the best cook around." I replied, slightly relieved.

We sat there in silence for a while before I ventured to talk again. "So, Shizuka… I had fun last night with you and your friends. I'm glad that you invited me."

Shizuka must have calmed down from my slighting of Rika as she smiled back at me. "I'm glad that you could come. It was fun as well. My old classmates seemed to like you."

"Well, that's good…" I paused, unsure of how to continue. I rubbed the back of my neck and glanced around my apartment, nerves making finding what to say next damn near impossible.

Shizuka noticed my discomfiture after finishing off her eggs and spoke up; "Yes, Tom?" I noticed that she'd dropped the honorific again.

"Oh, erm, well... I was just thinking... I wouldn't mind going out with you again... just the two of us... there's a movie that's coming out soon and I was wondering if you'd like...to go see it... with me?" Eloquence, thy name is NOT Tom Brody when asking women out, especially gorgeous women, even IF you've become pretty good friends with them. I KNEW I'd screwed this up and I could feel my cheeks flushing. Dammit, I thought I'd gone beyond this shit!

Shizuka watched me doing an impressive impression of a fire hydrant for few agonizing heartbeats, then with that grin that'd nearly made me street pizza that first day I'd arrived here she replied. "I thought you'd never ask, Tom-kun. Rika-chan assured me her plan would work but I didn't believe her."

What.

Her smile widened as she got up from the table and patted me on my cheek, the touch of her skin almost like a brand. "You know, Tom-kun, you shouldn't make a girl wait, she might decide to be sneaky to get things moving. Sunday sounds wonderful, but let me go see if my clothes have dried off, we'll talk about which movie we'll go see after that."

With that she walked into the bathroom.

"So, was that a yes?"

 

[Brian Boru]

With thanks to Grey Rook here's Part Seven

As I headed out from my final class of the day, I still hadn't lost the silly grin that I had had plastered on my face since that morning. I had a date, for the first time in my entire life I had a date! Not only that, but it was with one of the most gorgeous women in Japan, if not the world, though that might have been bias talking. I don't think my feet touched the ground that entire day, and I'm pretty sure that people were looking at me funny but who cared!

It was in that hazy state of bliss that I was brought back to reality when I heard a female voice calling my name, one that sounded oddly familiar. I turned around and was sucked back to reality when I spotted one Miss Saeko Busujima looking at me askance. "Sensei? Are you alright?"

That quickly reminded me of the conversation I'd had with the young woman the day before. "Oh right, sorry, I had a bit of a crazy evening the day before, I'd forgotten you'd allowed me to use your dojo. I haven't even brought my stuff today. Terribly sorry, Ms. Bujishima." I quickly bowed in apology. "But if you're willing to wait I can go get it from my apartment, I literally live a couple of minutes away."

She looked me over. A girl that age shouldn't be able to berate a grown-ass man with just her eyes. Then she seemed to shrug it off. "I heard from the nurse's office about your... adventure last night. A man shouldn't apologize for doing a good deed, just come to the practice room as soon as you can." With a faint smile on her face she turned and began heading towards the kendo room. For some reason, I felt like I'd passed an extremely important test.

Deciding not to dwell on that particular line of thought, I exited the school grounds and ran down back to my apartment. I quickly walked over to my closet and opened the door, pushing aside the clothing I kept in there including a leather biker's outfit, something I hoped I could use when THAT day came, and pulled out the shield, axe, and spear, all three of them wrapped in heavy cloth.

After checking to make sure that they were still in good condition, I strapped the shield over my back, stuck the axe through my belt and kept the spear over my shoulder like a hobo stick. I looked ridiculous, but it was the best I could do at the time.

Locking the door behind me I quickly walked back up the hill to the school, purposefully ignoring the looks a few people gave me with the wrapped weapons. It only took me another few minutes to get back to the school proper and find the Kendo Dojo.

It was a traditional-looking building set on the school grounds, someone must have greatly appreciated the art when they donated to the school.

Slipping off my shoes, I quickly entered the building. I noted that Busujima was kneeling towards the back of the dojo, she'd managed to change into a kendo uniform in the time it took me to get back to the school. When she saw me shut the door behind me she smiled and rose to her feet.

"That was quicker than I expected, Sensei."

"Well, like I said, I live right near the school so it was no problem getting to my apartment and back."

"Convenient, so Sensei, let me see this gear you're wanting to learn how to use. Axe fighting isn't my area of expertise but I might be able to point out a few things."

"Alright then, let's take a look at these." And with that I unwrapped the axe and shield from their coverings. I heard a slight gasp from Saeko when I unwrapped the axe blade. I was a blithering moron when it came to weapons but even I could tell that a master had put his heart into forging the axe head, the curve of theFrancisca battle-axe's head was absolutely perfect, and the steel glistened like ice in the afternoon sun.

I took a few steps back from Saeko and after hefting the axe a few times, I gave it a few practice swings, it was perfectly balanced as far as I could tell and I felt a sort of rightness with the world when I swung the blade in a few lazy swings.

I then placed the blade on the ground and turned my attention to the shield. It seemed to be a work of art as well, made of solid wooden planking as well as having an iron rimming around the edge and tough leather making up the front. The front was painted a pure white background and a black raven painted in Norse style, if I recalled it actually the same Raven stitched into the Raven banner that the sons of Ragnar Lodbrok bore with him when they led the Great Heathen Army to the shores of Britain to fulfill their oath to avenge their father's death. ROB, or whatever power had sent me here, had a sense for the dramatic. The boss was made of solid steel and had some etchings that reminded me of Norse knotwork, wonderfully made, and I think I could see dragons and other creatures in the boss.

Even though I'd seen them before, it was still a sight to see these obvious works of master craftsmanship.

I slid my hand into the boss-grip, while not light it wasn't as monstrously heavy as I'd expected. I shifted the thing high to low and back several times before punching forward with it a few times. Once I was satisfied with that I picked the axe back up, holding it in my right hand while I kept the shield in my left. Bending my legs a hair and keeping on the balls of my feet, I moved my right foot back so that my shield was forward.

At this point Saeko spoke up. "You might have the right idea, Sensei, but you're too stiff, relax a bit more and straighten your legs a bit. Yes, like that. Feeling more comfortable?"

"Actually yes, I am, thank you." I replied, bobbing my head towards her in thanks. With that, I began some practice swings, just using what felt right to me. Overhand, underhand, sideswing, punch forward, hook and pull, punch with the handle and shield punch, they were a simple set of strikes, but considering that I only had about ten months to learn them simple was ideal. For about half an hour I continued to practice with the axe and shield with strike after strike after strike. It wasn't perfect and I was sure there were better ways to go about this, but I needed to start somewhere.

It was about then I noticed that Saeko was watching my - what I felt was - moronic flailing about. She wasn't in her kneeling position and when I looked around I saw that she'd been practicing on a dummy along one side of the building, but it was still odd to be watched with such intensity. "Is something the matter, Miss Busujima?" I finally asked.

"No, Brody-Sensei... you said you've never actually used that axe or shield before?" She replied, a slight look of interest on her face.

"Other than a few swings in the park one time, no. Why do you ask? My flailing about that obvious?" I asked with a self-deprecating chuckle.

"No, it's not that bad, but you've got some impressive stamina, wielding a blade requires the use of muscles you normally don't use or at least not in the way you need, most who first start working with a weapon would be spent after a few minutes and you've been going for half an hour already." She replied.

I blinked at that, I'd always had pretty good stamina and the ability to shrug off discomfiture, but half an hour? I didn't even realize so much time had gone by, I was kind of impressed with myself. "Huh, well, that's good, I guess." Right then the muscles of my arms and shoulders tightened up, the abuse I'd put them through finally catching up.

Saeko noticed it immediately. "You over-exerted yourself, Sensei, you might want to get a drink of water and rest a few minutes before trying to continue."

I nodded and strode out and around the side of the building where I'd spotted a water fountain - the only sign of modernity in or around the building I'd spotted so far - and gulped down some water, quenching my thirst. Once I was finished I stood back up and stretched by arms in an attempt to keep any cramping or stiffness out. As I stretched I assessed my current situation. I still had about ten months before Z-Day came, in the past couple of months I'd been physically training myself to the best of my admittedly hazy memories of fitness and strength training I'd done with my high school football team and my father.

I grimaced at that. My dad, my mom, my younger brother and sister. After I'd gotten the teaching job I'd decided to try and look up my family to see if they were here, if there was a possible other me living on the other side of the world. My findings weren't comforting. My search was a failure, there was no record of any of my relatives or the firm my dad worked at.

On a whim I decided to look up my grandfather, a WWII veteran whom I was named for. It was then that I found out why my family didn't seem to exist. On a site dedicated to the Old Hickory Division was the name of a Tom Brody who was killed in action during Operation Cobra when the 30th Infantry got hit by friendly fire bombing. It had floored me when I saw it. I simply stared at that name over and over and over again. I looked up Operation Cobra, I saw how a British Bombing run had screwed up on their targeting and had dropped their payload right on top of the Division, causing a hundred casualties, my grandfather of this world apparently being one of them.

Luckily, that had been a Sunday, meaning that I wasn't missed because I was in a haze for the entire day. It had also finally hammered home that, without a shadow of a doubt, I was no longer home and that I likely wasn't ever going back. For the first time in a long time I wept, I cried long and hard, I screamed, I shouted, I cursed, I threw things, stomped on the floor and even hurled things against the wall. I prayed long and hard, begging God, ROB, anyone to take me back home away from this madness and horror of a world about to die in waves of the undead. I begged for the answer to why I'd been brought here, for personal amusement, to act as a hero? I wasn't a hero, I didn't have it in me to be one, I was a 25 year old college graduate, I'd never been in the army, I'd never had any serious leadership experience. I had the social skills of a rock, there was no way in hell I could survive in this world, let alone thrive.

I'd finally exhausted myself when the door to my closet groaned open. I had probably shaken it loose in my temper tantrum, though I was sure I'd shut that door properly. When it had opened wide, the weapons that had been given to me on my arrival had fallen out with a thudding clatter. The axe and spear heads and the shield boss glinted in the midday light that beamed into my room and hit them dead on. The Raven on the shield almost seemed to flap its wings.

A rush of warmth and confidence seemed to fill me up from deep in my core. Whatever force had brought me here wouldn't have given me so much time and such gear it had wanted to make me suffer and die quickly. I walked over to the fallen weapons, I picked the shield up and held it in my left, I hefted the axeand gave it a few practice twirls then stuck it into my belt. I then picked up the spear, beautifully balanced with a diamond shaped head about ten inches long and razor sharp. I gave it a few practice thrusts before holding it like I would a practice staff. I may be way over my head but I wasn't helpless. Taking comfort in that, I carefully put the equipment back into the closet and closed the door. I didn't have anywhere to practice with that gear, not yet. But I intended to rectify that as soon as I could.

The rest of the apartment dwellers never commented on my outburst but I did see a bottle of sake sitting next to my door the next morning with a short note saying, "It won't cure what ails ya but it'll numb it long enough for you to deal with it." No name was written below.

That bottle was still in my home, unopened. I'd also taken to wearing a crucifix under my shirt and next to my skin from that day on.

I was actually fingering the golden crucifix when Saeko interrupted my reminiscing behind the dojo. "Sensei? Are you alright?"

Blinking away my wool gathering, I straightened up and stretched one more time before turning back to Saeko. "Yes, I'm doing fine, Miss Busujima. Would it be alright if I practiced here for a little while longer?" I asked. "I wasn't planning to go longer than another fifteen minutes, if that's alright with you and your club members. Where are the rest of them anyway?" I hadn't seen anyone else besides Saeko since I came here.

I was actually a bit surprised when Saeko seemed flustered as she answered. "Food poisoning. I told them that a sushi platter that cheap was a poor choice."

The image of the normally stoic young swordswoman that agitated was enough to make me start laughing. It took me a few seconds to get back under control but eventually I managed to wheeze out; "I see, my sympathies, Miss Busujima and I hope your clubmates have a speedy recovery."

Saeko flushed for a second then bowed. "Thank you for the gesture, Sensei. As for your question, yes you can continue for a while longer. If you want, you could keep your gear here if you like."

Smiling, I bowed again. "Thank you Miss Busujima, that'd be greatly appreciated, it certainly makes it easier to not have to carry all that stuff back and forth from my house."

"Not at all, Sensei, it's a pleasure to see someone interested in the old methods of combat, even if it isn't with the sword." She answered.

She seemed to consider something for a moment then continued; "If you'd like some help with the spear as well, I think I might have an idea. I'm not experienced with that weapon but I know the captain of the Sojutsu club and she might be able to help you there."

I thanked her again and then went back into the Dojo to continue my practicing. The next day was the first time I met the next member of the original crew, one Rei Miyamoto.

 

[Brian Boru]

With thanks to both Grey Rook and Traiden for their part here's part #8


The next afternoon, I was introduced to the Sojutsu club and their captain, a young lady by the name of Torako Saotome. I'd blinked at the surname but decided to ignore the joke that bubbled in my brain about swarms of fiances and cursed water. I quickly bowed at the smaller young woman, and thanked her for being willing to give me a few pointers.

Torako was somewhat cold when she replied; "I'm sorry to say, Sensei, that it's likely only going to be a few pointers. Our club is preparing for a big tournament and I need to give them my full attention if we're going to do well."

"I understand, just a quick rundown of how not to stab myself in the foot would be a great help by itself." I replied. Well, it was not what I was hoping for but I'd take what Icould get, and besides, whatever spear work they used likely wouldn't correlate with what I was going to be using it for besides the very basics. But like I'd told her, I'd take what I could get.

"So, could I see what your spear looks like? It'd help with what I need to start with your training." Torako asked.

"Ah, right here." I grabbed the cloth-wrapped bundle that had been leaning on the wall behind me. I handed it over to her, allowing the young woman to unwrap the cloth. The long Germanic Spearhead flashed under the light of the flourescent lights of the Sojutsu Club's dojo. The blade alone was a good ten inches in length with the sheathing that fit over the shaft adding about ten more inches to the thing, then there was the solid ash spear shaft. All told the thing was over seven feet in length and utterly deadly.

Torako hefted the thing, seeming to find the balancing point for it and grunting in satisfaction at what she found. Then she handed it back to me. "Not bad, Brody-Sensei, whoever made the spearhead and shaft was a true master of the craft. I hope you will treat such a fine weapon with the outmost respect it deserves."

"Of course I will, Miss Saotome." I answered, slight satisfaction that one experienced in the art I was trying to learn seemed to approve of my gear.

We were interrupted when the door to the Dojo slammed open and in dashed a pretty young girl, younger than Saotome. Her eyes were a chestnut brown with two antennae-like strands rising from her hairline. Ah, so this is Rei Miyamoto, I think I have a class with the young woman though I couldn't recall exactly.

Miyamoto seemed to be breathing heavily like she'd been running to the Dojo. "Miyamoto-san, so glad you could show up." Saotome answered dryly.

"I'm sorry, Senpai, I was talking with Shido-Sensei about a misunderstanding about my grades." The young woman apologized with a bow. Then she noticed me standing there. "Brody-Sensei? What brings you here?"

I smiled and bowed. "Good afternoon, Miss Miyamoto. I inherited a spear from a friend of mine and Miss Saotome happened to be nice enough to help me get started on learning how to use it." A concerned look spread across my face. "Is something the matter with Shido-Sensei?"

Rei grimaced and shook her head. "Nothing really, Sensei, there was just something funny going on with my grades in his class and I wanted to talk to him about it is all. Nothing to worry about."

I frowned for a moment. So the son of a bitch was already starting his revenge run on a young girl over what her father was doing to his father? Well, I'd do something about that if I could.

**********​

"Ah Koichi-San, I've been looking for you." A few days later I finally managed to track down the skinny bastard in one of the many hallways that made up the school here.

The bespectacled man turned around, his eyes not showing his thoughts as he pasted a smile on his face. "Good afternoon Brody-San. What can I do for you?"

"It's actually about a student of ours, Rei Miyamoto? I've heard she's been having trouble in your class?" I answered, keeping my voice even and polite.

"Yes, I know who you're talking about. What about her?" He answered his tone also flat but I had the feeling he was wondering where I was going with this.

"Well I just don't understand why she's having a hard time in your class. I'm the Assistant Teacher in her English class and she's doing really well. Not only that but when I asked around she doing great in her other classes too, yours is the only one she's struggling in at the moment. Why is that?" I looked him dead in the eyes with that last sentence demanding a good answer.

A condescending smirk spread across his face and he closed his eyes and turned his head slightly, "What can I say Brody-San? Every student has their problem subject. Can I help it if my class just so happens to be…"

With a snarl I grabbed him by the lapels of his coat and slammed him against the wall, actually lifting him a few inches off the ground. Then in a clipped tone I ground out, "Listen you SMUG Sonovabitch! I don't know what that poor girl's done to you but either you put her grades back to normal or so help me…."

"You'll what? Report me to the principle?" For a man threatened by someone at least fifty pounds heavier than him, he was amazingly calm about it. He glared at me with those snake like eyes of his. "He won't fire me. My father and brother have made sure of that.

Glaring at him I said, "What about your father's current problems with Officer Miyamoto's investigation on him for corruption charges? I'm sure people might notice if his son was going after an upstanding officer's daughter as retaliation."

That seemed to get to him as his eyes widened in shock for a moment, it didn't last long to my confusion. "I don't know how you learned about that but if you're resorting to blackmail than two can play at that."
Confused I let him back down to the ground. After straightening his jacket he turned back to me. "When I learned you became a teacher here I got curious about you. So I had someone I knew in the government track you down. There isn't much about you Brody-San, you appear in town not long before you got the Janitorial position here at the school.

"All your paper-work was in order but it seemed not many people remembered processing those papers; and when they tried to learn when you arrived in Japan there was nothing. You just appeared out of the blue with all official documents. Very suspicious Brody-san, very suspicious indeed. I'm sure there are plenty of people in government that would love to learn who you really are Brody-san, and I'm sure my family could assist in pushing that through." He finished with a grin.

That son of a bitch, my face reddened and I started to clench my fists so hard they began to tremble. "You...Son of A…."

"Yes, yes you've already insulted my mother once Brody-san, no need to repeat it." He cut me off with an incredible nonchalance.

Then he continued, "Now this is what is going to happen. We are going to forget we ever had this conversation and you stop looking into how I run my classes nor are you going to mention anything to anyone. Otherwise you will either; be deported, or be locked away in a small, dark room for a very long time are we clear Brody-san?"

I didn't say anything, it took everything not to just leap out at that bastard right then and there. Seeing I hadn't responded, he stepped closer and had his face a few inches from mine. "Perhaps you didn't hear me, Are We Clear Brody-San?"

"Crystal." I finally ground out.
"Excellent, I'm glad we could have this conversation. Well unless you have something else to say, have a nice day Brody-san" He then turned to leave but stopped at the last minute. "Oh, one more thing…"
He then backhanded me across my face, it wasn't a very strong blow but it did leave a red mark on my cheek, "That was for insulting my mother." He then walked off down the hallway. Leaving me with my impotent rage.

That evening I demolished a tree in one of the more secluded parts of the park. People interviewed on the news the next day said it looked like a deranged pack of lumberjacks had gone after the tree.

**********​

That Sunday I was still in something a foul mood but thankfully I had managed to hide it for the most part from Shizuka when we went on our date. The movie was something for a forgettable rom-com. Something about a man from the modern age who'd fallen through time to the Hiei-era and used his photographic memory of Shakespeare to woo some servant of a court noble woman. Unfortunately he sent his message to the wrong person and had half of the court ladies losing their damn minds over the beauty of his poems.​

It made me chuckle a few times but was a bit forgettable otherwise. Shizuka enjoyed it though and I would be the first to admit it was nice how she grabbed my hand during some of the sappier moments of the film.

When I took her home (a really nice place to be honest, apparently being in the police paid well). She said her friend Rika forked the bill for most of it with Shizuka promising to make up for it once she became a proper doctor. She stopped at the doorway and smiled, "I had fun today Tom, I'd like to keep doing this."

Swallowing I said, "So would I Shizuka." Yes I didn't stutter that time. PROGRESS!!!

Then Shizuka surprised me when she turned around and kissed me on the cheek. "We'll have to do something else next Sunday Tom. I'll see you at the school tomorrow. Good-night."

"Y-yeah..goodnight." I squeaked out.

My feet didn't touch the ground the whole way home.

**********​

Several weeks later I was training with Kohta when he surprised me by speaking up during weight lifting. "Sensei. Could I ask you a favor?"

Pulling my earbuds out so I could pay attention to him. "In the weight room it's either Tom or Brody, but yes Kohta?"

"Well I was talking with some of the guys in the manga club and they noticed how I wasn't being bothered anymore and how I've gotten more fit lately, and they wanted to know how I did it. So I told them that you've been helping me with strength training and conditioning. It seems that they're curious about joining us and I told them that I'd have to speak with you first so…"

"If they want to join us I have no problem, so long as it doesn't interrupt anything important. We don't start until after club activities are over anyway. Just make sure they know what they're getting into. I'm not going to be cruel but even gentle is going to be hard in the beginning." A thought then began forming in my mind. It had been bothering me how I knew that a vast majority of the men, women, boys and girls at this school were likely going to die in less than a year.

But that didn't haven't to be that way. I'd been growing in leaps and bounds with my ax and spear work, maybe I could starting showing others a few pointers soon...so maybe...well I'd have to get the funds for it first.

"How many might be joining us?" I finally asked.

"Maybe five or six guys." He said, a slightly relieved look on his face. That's a start.

"Sounds fine to me. Tell them to come in tomorrow." I said.

 

[Brian Boru]

Again with thanks to Grey Rook Here's Part Nine.


The next afternoon, I was caught by surprise when, instead of the five that Kohta had said might have shown up, a full dozen young men had shown up. Most were first-years, though there were a couple of second years among them as well. I also noticed that most of them were that classic string-bean build of those who'd never lifted anything heavier than a bookbag. "Got my work cut out for me." I muttered under my breath.

"Alright boys, first question, do any of you have any pre-existing conditions that I might need to know about? Asthma, diabetes, chronic low blood-sugar or the like?" I asked in a clear voice, shaking most the guys out of their conversations or reading materials. When noone said anything I continued. "Alright 'gents, I feel like I need to warn you so listen up. This will not be a picnic, as Kohta over there can tell you this is going to be tough. I won't demand what you can't provide nor am I looking to push you to the point of breaking, but neither am I going to accept anything short of your best.

"Judging from your physiques, not a single one of you have ever lifted weights. Am I correct?"

I got nods from all of them.

"Right, first thing we're going to do is see where you boys stand. After that we'll start you on the same regimen Kohta's doing, at a lower weight, of course. Don't get discouraged if you can't do the same weights one of your classmates can do. They don't matter, all that matters is giving it your all. We clear?"

More nods, good. I think I got the point across.

"Right let's go over a few rules then we'll get your maxes down…"

I then explained the rules of the weight room to them, making sure they understood clearly not to get in the way of people, to always pay attention to their surroundings, tobe careful around weights and bars.

Then we went through their maxes so we could have something to work from… it was rather embarrassing to watch and I remembered how badly Kohta had done when he started. Glancing over to Kohta, I noticed with satisfaction that he was doing at least three times the weight of the next best in the entire group. He and the others noticed as well, and like I'd hoped it had a good effect on my first trainee. Thankfully, the others seemed to take heart from Kohta's effort instead of being discouraged. Good, if they saw Kohta as someone to match then they'd work all the harder.

About an hour later they'd gone through their one-repetition maxes and seemed to already be a bit fatigued. "Right, all written down, I'll be sure to get a chart and put everyone's maxes on there. Now, before you complain, that isn't to embarrass you guys, it's so you can look at your max and figure out the weights you'll need to do at a glance when we do the real thing."

"Now as trying to do an actual workout now would be counter-productive, we aren't pumping iron today. Follow me, we going to do some stairs." Oh those innocent faces, they have no idea what is about to happen to them.

**********

"...and the entire staircase now smells of puke! It's unsanitary!" Two days later I was standing in the principal's office with one Kyoko Hayashi, a history teacher and the advisor for the Ping Pong club. The latter wasn't really pertinent to the situation, though.

What was, was her complaints about the consequences of that first day of stair runs, I'd been lucky with Kohta in that he seemed to have the same cast-iron stomach I had and wasn't inclined to puking from exertion, six of the new guys, on the other hand, most certainly were. When that had happened I'd called an end to the stair runs early and had the guys who were doing alright help me clean up the mess that had resulted.

Apparently we hadn't done a good enough job as I'd been hauled into the principal's office to get a tongue lashing from the resident disciplinarian. To be fair, she pulled off 'strict librarian' amazingly well. Long, auburn hair, the classic glasses and a full figure. Also only a few years older than me, how she wasn't already married I never understood though the vehemence with which she was going on about my 'illicit activities' where I'd been 'abusing' the students like a 'meat headed thug' was a bit on the harsh side.

Mister Yamada had waited until she was winding down before cutting in. "Miss Hayashi, Mister Brody here has already talked with me several times and I've already given my permission for him to work with anyone who wants to join his group. He already warned me that this might happen, though I doubt he expected half of them to do so all at the same time." That got a nervous chuckle out of me and a basilisk glare from the older woman. "I also told him that as long as no one got hurt I had no problem with what he did, and Brody-san already said that he'd helped the ones who didn't get ill clean everything up and he even warned the Janitor the next morning who said that the... splashed… area was as clean as feasible and the only thing else to do is wait for the smell to fade."

Miss Hayshi was stymied for a moment at how calm and accepting Yamada was at what she felt was justifiable outrage over obvious student abuse and clear misuse of a teacher's place of authority.

Seeing that she wasn't going to answer immediately Yamada continued; "Hayashi-san, do you know which students decided to join up with Brody-san's weight-training group?"

When she shook her head he continued. "I do and I also know that each and every one of them has had at least one unpleasant interaction with the Track and Field club. If this can help them at all then I'm certainly all for it."

Yamada didn't continue and to be honest, he didn't have to. Miss Hayashi understood immediately why these young men had returned even after puking their guts out. Shidou was the advisor to the track and field club - one of the worst in the Nagoya metropolitan area, I might add - and his club seemed to attract the more unpleasant members of the student body. Shidou's presence certainly didn't help either, if anything the man made things worse.

When Ms. Hayashi heard this her entire demeanor changed. She turned to me and said; "I see that I was misinformed about the nature of your group, Brody-san. My apologies." She then bowed to me, not a deep one but enough to show that she was honest in her apology.

"It's nothing, Hayashi-san. I understand completely that you saw, or rather smelled, something terrible happening to the students under your care and you moved to do something about it. It's really quite commendable, actually." I said, a bit embarrassed at the sudden turn around. Damn, Shidou really wasn't liked here was he?

"Thank you, Brody-san. I wish you and the students with you luck." She bowed to the both of us and turned to leave, but right before she left, she turned back, "Actually, let me make it up to you, Brody-san, some of us teachers go out once a month as a group. Usually to one of the local bars. I think you've been here long enough to be invited. We're planning our next get-together a week from now, if you're interested."

"Sounds like a great idea, would it be alright if I brought Shizuka-san with me?" I hadn't been sure what the two of us were going to do this coming weekend and this seemed like a perfect idea.

Something rippled over Hayashi's face for an instant but I wasn't able to translate it before she said that would be fine and closed the door. Huh, wonder what that was. Turning back to Yamada I said; "Well, she certainly changed her tune when she learned I was helping the victims of Shidou-san's goon squad. Remind me again what's the worst that could happen if we fired him?"

"Our jobs would most likely be called into question, Brody-san. And don't worry about Kyoko-san, she's a bit stern and serious about her work, but her heart's in the right place and she does care about the students here." Yamada said, that same serene grin he always kept on his face as strong as ever.

"Well, that's good to know, unless you have anything else I need to know I probably should get back to my class before Kurokawa-san's taken hostage by the students." I said.

Chuckling at my poor joke both of us said our good-byes and I left his office. The little secretary was glaring at me... again, but honestly I couldn't have cared less.

**********

"Sensei, what kind of axe is that you practice with over at the Kendo dojo? I've never seen that style before"

The question came from from one of the lankier members of my trainees. A guy by the name of Hayato Shirakawa, he'd been one of the six to lose his lunch that first day but had worked harder than anyone as far I could tell and had been making amazing progress since he started a month ago. He was a member of the manga club and had aspirations of making a historical manga, though he still wasn't sure what the time period he wanted to use.

Considering the fact that we were already done for the day I decided to humor the kid. "Oh that? Well, it's called a Francisca Battle-axe, it's a type of weapon used by an old Germanic tribe called the Franks. It's actually a brilliant bit of design with that shape."

"Really? How's that?" One of the others who'd listened in said.

"Well, that's because there's a nasty little trick the Francisca does when you throw it. See how the Franks fought either against the Romans or other tribes, though when they were around that wasn't too much of a distinction... anyway. What they did was they usually carried several of those axes and when they got within range they'd all throw one of their axes. If they hit then they'd likely ruin anything they struck but if they hit the ground the shape of the ax and handle would actually make the thing bounce, and I mean bounce hard enough that it could go clean over a man's head or even hit people in the back. That'd ruin someone's day, that's for damn sure."

"It bounces? Yeah, right." Another student called out. "Prove it, Sensei."

"You know what? Alright, I'll show you how that thing can bounce. Anyone else want to watch?"

I got affirmatives from all thirteen of them.

"Right then, follow me."

We reached the dojo quickly enough. "Just wait outside here, guys and find me a clear spot will you?"

I quickly slid the door open and, finding my axe, I grabbed the thing and dashed back out with it.

"Alright guys, you find a spot?"

They had, it was in a corner of the track, empty at this time of day. It was an open space that had been too odd a shape or too small to be used for anything and so had been left alone. The tall stone wall that separated the school from the rest of the world stood more than high enough to act as a back wall.

"Right then... hmm... see those old chairs over there? Stack 'em up about man height then stand WAY clear and just watch."

Once that was done, I hefted the axe a few times and gave it a few twirls in my hand, it spun fast enough to actually humm for a moment, anime physics can be awesome sometimes…

It seemed to do the job of impressing all the young idiots with me. "Right then, here I go."

I reached back and hurled the thing, intentionally striking the ground in front of the stack of chairs. There was a sharp 'thunk' as the ax struck the ground and, true to itsword, it really did bounce and flew a good head's length over the chairs. It didn't stop there though, it actually hit the wall and bounced yet again, this time hitting the back of the top chair and making it fall off the stack with a crash.

There was silence for a moment then the entire group began cheering like I'd done some amazing feat.

"Do it again!" was the general response.

After stacking the chairs again I hurled the thing again, and again the thing bounced though this time it hit the middle chair, sending both it and the top chair flying backwards... damn, anime physics are fun.

"Alright, that's enough guys. I'd rather not have someone get hurt, okay?" Despite a few grumblings they acquiesced. Hayato then surprised me when he picked up the axeand examined it for a moment. "You know, Sensei, my family used to be blacksmiths and my grandpa still has the old family forge in his backyard and is pretty good at it. He could probably learn how to make these pretty quickly."

I was about to ask why he would want to do that when that same thought came to my mind... hmmm... we might be on to something here. "If you want to, Hayato, I could lend you the axe so you could should show it to your grandfather next chance you get. It'd be nice to have a blacksmith take a look at it and tell me what he thinks."

"Thanks, Sensei, my family lives half an hour from the school, actually, I could show it to him Sunday."

"Right... you know it might be better if I came with you, just in case something happens, rather not have you in trouble if you were walking around with it."

"Good point, I'll be sure to tell my folks you'll be coming."

As the rest of us started heading back a plan really did begin to form in my mind. Now, could I teach a bunch of physically rehabilitated nerds how to be a warband? Well, it wouldn't hurt to find out now would it? I also had all that pay I wasn't really using, no real point in saving for retirement when the undead are coming in less than a year, is there? Now how to get the iron blanks…

AN: Here's a video showing how a Francisca ax really WILL bounce.

 

[Brian Boru]

*Clink*

*Clink*

*Clink*

"Damn, does this get repetitive," I muttered to myself.

*Clink*

*Clink*

*Clink*

Two days after meeting Hayato Shirakawa's Grandfather, who was also named Hayato - the younger man was apparently named after him - I found myself sitting in my apartment with an electric screw driver, a few pliers, a wooden rod, a bolt cutter and a whole lot of non-galvanized 16 gauge tie wire. With them I was following several how-to's I'd found online on how to make riveted chainmail armor.

I'd been inspired to start working on this after my visit to the Shirakawa house that Sunday afternoon. Hayato senior was a man in his sixties, but was aging much more gracefully than some I've seen. While his face was wrinkled and his hair had gone steel gray, his hairline hadn't moved an inch. His frame was completely unbent and he had a bunch of wiry muscle to it. Like a compressed coil ready to spring at any moment.

He surprised me when, after I'd bowed in greeting, he had offered his right hand to shake in the Western style. He had a grip like a vice and I had to exert myself to match his strength. I must have passed muster, because he grunted in satisfaction before a smile spread across his face and he clapped me on the shoulder and asked me to sit on the porch and have a drink with him.

Surprised at his sudden welcoming demeanor, I followed the old man to the back of the house where he slid open a door, revealing a small but well kept yard with a large shed in the back, which I assumed was the family smithy. He asked me to sit down and told me to wait, then he headed back into the house for a moment. When he came back out he had a couple of shot-sized glasses and a bottle of sake in his hands. I'd never had sake and despite a couple of visits to a bar with Shizuka I wasn't one for drinking, but out of politeness I had accepted the offered glass and sipped it a couple of times before setting it aside.

Old man Hayato, for his part, had thrown the thing back with surprising speed before filling it up again. This time he nursed the thing as he looked to the back porch. "Brody-san, I'm not sure how to say this, but whatever you've been doing for my grandson, keep doing it. I've never seen him so full of life before. Normally whenever he was home, he'd just head up to his room and never leave. He had no interests, it seemed like, and no friends, he always had this beaten down look to him. Now when he's around, he's got a confidence about him that a real man should have and he's told us how he's been competing against the others in your group."

"Oh c'mon, Shirakawa-san, all I did is show him how to pump iron. He did the rest, the kid's got more to him than anyone really expected, he just needed the kick in the pants to get moving." I told him, not sure how to respond to the gratitude the old man was showing me.

"Well, whatever you did, thank you, my family owes you one and never let it be said a Shirakawa didn't repay his debts. If there's anything I can do for you, just name it." He said.

I was stunned for a moment, unsure of what to say to the man, when a thought came to me. "Actually, there is something you could do. Your grandson had invited me over because he wanted to show you the axe I have. I've got it here." Pulling out the backpack I'd carried the the battle axe in, I quickly pulled the thing out and handed it over to him handle first.

He took it from me and looked it over. "Interesting shape. Francisca-style axe, correct? Hmm... good curve to the head and handle, not many get that right." He then hefted the thing and hurled it towards a pile of wood next to the shed. The blade bit hard into the wood.

"Good balance. You take good care of it and whoever made it knew what he was doing. You want me to make another?"

I coughed for a moment then said: "You will? I mean would? Erm, I'm not sure what to say to that, wouldn't that be a bit expensive?"

He shrugged. "Old roommate of mine back in college is in the recycling service, he specializes in steel, he could get me enough quality metal to arm an entire army, no trouble. And if you're worried about my time, don't, it'd be a pleasure. I retired a few years ago and I've been all twitchy with nothing to do and I've been wanting a project."

"Well in that case I've been bouncing around an idea for the guys who've been in my unofficial club…"

Two days later found me making the links Shirakawa senior would be heating, and treating the rings I'd been making non-stop with the wire he'd given me along with some spare metalworking tools he had. Shirakawa himself was busy with the axes and spear-heads, and when I'd asked him about the shafts and handles, Shirakawa had laughed and said that he knew a few guys who were also retired and bored out of their minds.

Leaving it at that, I'd simply gotten on with the ring making.

*Clink*

*Clink*

*Clink*

"GOD IS THIS MONOTONOUS!"

**********

"What club did you want to help start up?"

"The Western Martial Reenactment Club." I replied.

"...Explain..." Yamada said after a moment.

"Well, the boys in my club know I practice with Western style weapons, and I've shown them how I use them occasionally. In a perfectly safe environment, of course." I then proceeded to explain how one of the young men in the club mentioned how his grandfather was a trained blacksmith and was willing to kit us out.

When I'd finished explaining that tidbit he continued to stare me directly in the eyes, saying nothing but obviously expecting something else from me.

Swallowing, I continued. "Mr. Yamada, I realize that this is unconventional in the extreme, but I've seen how these young men have gone from being walking punching bags with nothing to live for to actually having friends, confidence, their health if nothing else, and that was just with my impromptu weight lifting group. I feel that a club like this would give them a bond between each other and something they'd be able to remember and take strength from for the rest of their lives. Not to mention it'd allow them to stand out for any college application, if nothing else. That's my reasoning, take it as you will, sir."

Yamada was silent for a moment, then he smiled. "I've seen the excellent work you've done with these young men and frankly I'd like to see that continue. You have my official approval, and my personal blessing." He chuckled and continued; "I took two years of English Literature in college, one of the best tales I ever studied was Beowulf. I'd like to see what you can do with these boys, Mr. Brody."

I blinked in surprise and bowed again in thanks to Yamada before leaving. I had so much work to do to get these boys ready. Hey, more hands for clipping rings! WHOO HOO!

**********

"Shields UP AND CLOSE! Keep them UP AND CLOSE! The damn thing's useless if you let it hang like a limp noodle. You've got muscles, USE THEM!" A month later and I was bellowing at the top of my lungs at the now twenty-five strong members of my little crew, or maybe not so little crew as the case may be.

As I sweated with the rest of them, I took note of how well they were taking to the basic drills I'd put together working with my axe and spear. It wasn't fancy and against a trained fighter it might not work all that well but against a horde of zeds or poorly armed and trained thugs? It'd be a killer. Excellent.

There was Kohta, hammering away at a wooden post I'd managed to scrounge up from a pile of scrap from a torn down building before the stuff was taken away, maybe he was just inclined to it but a good way to describe his build was if his chest and stomach had swapped places from when he'd started. I'd seen stumps that weren't that stout… anime physics, gotta love em' sometimes.

I then turned my focus to Hayato, the official president of the club, unofficially our band's Atheling. It turned out the kid had a knack for being a leader and could get the others to work harder than they would have otherwise. He also seemed to have taken to the armed fighting better than any of the others; often going toe to toe with me in our spars with shields and wooden axes and spears.

"Hey Sensei! How about you and Hayato have a spar now. We haven't had one for a couple of days now!" One of the others shouted.

The call was picked up by the others including Kohta. His confidence had gone through roof compared to what it had been before we had met. A grin spread to my face as I recalled a certain incident involving one of the members of the track and field club, a bigger guy whose event was the shot put.

The bastard had tried to start a mess with Kohta, who'd promptly told the taller guy to shove it. When the guy had grabbed him, Kohta had promptly gut-punched him hard enough to floor him with just that single blow. Unfortunately, some of Shot Put guy's buddies saw this and immediately jumped in to avenge their friend. At the same time,some of the muscle nerds happened to find Kohta trying to defend himself against three others and dove in to defend their friend.

The end result was four bruised but grinning Reenactment Club members standing victorious over an equal number of their former tormentors.

Inevitably, news of this spread through the school like wildfire and people realized once and for all what had happened to the school's resident otakus. Shido was, of course,OUTRAGED at what had happened to his students he was the advisor to. He'd immediately taken the mess to the principal, him haranguing Yamada to do something about this travesty, how I was turning the students into violent thugs. I promptly explained that Kohta had been accosted by the Track and Field member and had then been promptly been attacked by other members of the Track and Field club. It was then that several members of Reenactment Club had seen a fellow member and friend being attacked and outnumbered and had jumped in to help. What were they supposed to do? Just sit there and let it all happen?

I ended my argument with a comment on how the Track Club had a history of bullying the members of the Reenactment club before it had been founded. It might have been a good lesson that randomly harassing or outright attacking people wasn't conductive for their long-term health.

Shido did not take well to that final observation and it might have devolved into an actual fight right then and there. Sadly, THAT particular fight was delayed when Yamada brought in Sayako, of all people, as a witness to what had happened, she'd apparently seen the entire encounter and had sided with me and my boys' story completely.

Yamada had nodded and thanked her for her help before dismissing her. As she turned to go I could have sworn she'd purposefully caught my eye before leaving… nah...couldn't have been.

Shido and the Track and Field had been collectively reprimanded for their actions but Yamada had not gone further as he felt the Track and Field Members had been punished more than enough.

I was shaken from my reminiscing when Hayato crashed his axe into the front of his shield, painted with the Dai Gurren Brigade's mark on the face in bright red paint. I'd promptly returned the favor, mine having the Four Star Dragonball painted on mine. The guys really had gotten silly with the painting of the practice shields, and I still wondered at the wisdom of doing so, but in the end, did it really matter that much? Let them have their fun.

"Ready, Hayato?" I said, slight grin on my face.

"Been ready." He replied.

With that the two of us immediately went to the attack. Spears darted, shields clashed and axes hammered, bruises formed and teeth were nearly busted. Shizuka was somewhat in a tizzy over my battered face but I couldn't shake off the grin. Hayato was most certainly ready for what lay ahead.

**********

Five months, five more months until the world as most knew it would end. After my adventures in armor making and putting together the core of an army… wow, never thought I'd say that, I'd been compiling something of a great shopping list of everything me and a surviving group could possibly use.

As I was comparing prices for a water filtration device, my cell-phone suddenly started ringing. Checking the screen, I grinned when I saw that it was Shizuka calling, probably had called in to check whether or not I was ready for our date that evening. Taking a hint from every relationship ever, I'd been ready to go for half an hour andwas just waiting for her. It was forty-five minutes until our rendezvous time before I headed over to her and Rika's place. Hitting the answer button I brought it to my ear and spoke. "Hello?"

"Tom! Hello! I was just calling to make sure you remembered when to come and pick me up."

"6:30, I remember, don't worry honey, I'll be there." Honey...that was a term of endearment I'd only recently been using for her and never at the school. It still felt funny to say it, but I was most certainly not complaining. The two of us had been dating for several months now. I'd never said a word about us being an item at the school, somewhat unsure what the rules about fraternizing with co-workers were, and neither had Shizuka, but either no one had noticed any small signs of us being a couple or they hadn't cared.

For the most part, the two of us had been pretty low-key, we'd each lunch together most days in her office, shooting the breeze at the same time. We'd communicate via text otherwise as we'd normally be pre-occupied with other things for the rest of the day. On the few occasions we had a shorter day at the school, the two of us would normally just laze about, either at my place or hers for a few hours. Boring as hell, I know, but honestly, neither of us were teenagers with hormones howling at us and to be frank, I rather liked it. It was soothing just having someone by your side. That she was a knockout that could put Ms. Monroe to shame certainly didn't hurt either.

To be honest, she was something like a calming element in my life. I was normally a pretty laid-back individual, but when I got agitated over something I could freak out with the best of them. Shizuka, if anything, was an even more relaxed person than me. She might have seemed a bit scatterbrained from time to time but her chipper attitude and the relaxed smile she always had was one of the few things that kept me from howling in terror at the threats coming down the pipe.

She was also one hell of a motivator to make DAMN sure that I got as ready as I could for whatever lay ahead.

A timer went off right then. "Oh, 45 minutes, better get going then." I quickly checked that I had my wallet, my keys and my cellphone, then I locked the door behind meand headed out to pick Shizuka up and head to downtown, Karaoke tonight, under my breath I half-sung, half muttered an old sea-shanty tune I was fond of. "Ten long years, I've courted Sally, Way Hey Bully in the Alley, but all she did was dilly and dally. Bully down in Shin bone al…"

**********

"Well that was fun." I said as we left the Karaoke place. Shizuka had her arm around mine and giggled to herself.

"Yeah it was, why did you never tell me you could sing, Tom?" There was a slight pout on her face.

"Well I guess it never really came up." To be honest it hadn't, which was rather odd. One of the things I was more proud of than anything in my previous life was that I had a natural talent for singing. It was something I'd always had for as long a I could remember. I'd even been professionally taught for years. I'd never done it for money but I might have been able to do so. A combination of stage fright and general lack of confidence had always held me back from really pursuing it.

I'd also had the habit for years of singing when I was by myself, when I was driving in a car, taking a shower, hell, even mowing the lawn, it helped pass the time and when you're good it was a source of pride.

"Well, I'm going to have to bring some of my friends next time, they have to hear you. They'd never believe if I just told them."

That and possibly show me off, my mother used to do that as well. It'd be aggravating from time to time, but when I looked at the oddly conspiratorial look on Shizuka's face I found the idea rather fun. Besides, it'd been a while since I could simply sing my lungs out and I'd been missing that.

"Well, time for home then, unless you've something else in mind." I said with a grin.

To my surprise Shizuka paused for a moment, a blush on her face. "Actually, I do."

Before I could respond she reached up with her left hand and turned my head, then, to my slight surprise, she kissed me... hard. My brain promptly short-circuited and I didn't recognize where she was leading me until we'd already walked through a door of some building I didn't recognize in my dazed state.

It wasn't until I was sitting on a bed I didn't recognize that I realized where I was. "Erm...Shizuka….how did we get in a lov…" My brain short-circuited yet again from something else entirely.

**********

"Just as a warning, I have no clue what to do here."

"That's alright, just let Shizuka-Sensei show you."

**********

It took about three days before the people of my apartment to get sick of being serenaded by On the Street Where You Live over and over again every evening.

 

[Brian Boru]

Realized I'd forgotten I'd posted this here as well so here's some catching up.

OOC: Look who's got new material!




It was a few weeks after a little incident involving my entire apartment building howling "SHUT UP!" at the same time (I guess even Broadway classics can get old after a while). It was Sunday again, and I was walking with Shizuka through the local park. Not my normal idea of a good time, but the sun was out and the weather wasn't so bad. It also didn't hurt that a woman I was coming to adore was by my side and happy as a clam.

We were passing through the center of said park when we noticed some sort of commotion going on on the opposite side of the center.

"...and the Americans continue to occupy our country and force us to be virtual vassals. Because of them we've become good for nothing else but making toys for spoiled children around the world. When will they let us go? The Pacific War has been over for seventy years, nearly all who fought in that war are long dead and the Cold War, their last excuse to stay here, has been over since before many now grown men were born. Why else are they here? We ask them to leave yet they say they must protect their interests here in the Pacific and so we are trapped by outsiders."

Hearing the name of my home country, I turned my head to glance over to the source of the sound. Set up in one corner of the cul-de-saq like center of the park was a small platform maybe three feet wide and three feet across, just big enough for a single man to stand on. Standing on said platform was a man around my age. He was wearing a black outfit vaguely familiar to the old Imperial Military Dress uniform, as were the three others standing on either side of the platform. All were fit and angry-looking young men, their arms crossed and their eyes seeming to challenge anyone to take them on.

Ah so these were some of the local ultra-nationalists… joy…

I had been...conflicted over how to deal with these clowns. On the one hand they were more than likely the most organized and driven group in the entire Nagoya Metropolitan area outside of the military or police force, and their leader's daughter was a student of mine who could be a useful link to them. On the other hand, these were the jokers who wanted Japan to return to her 'glory days' of the early 20th century and they were jackasses bar-none. For the moment, though, I'd made it a point to avoid them.

"Let's keep moving, no point in jackasses like that ruining a nice day." I said to Shizuka. She looked at me for a moment, slight concern for a second, then that satisfied smile she almost always had reasserted itself. "Alright, Tom-kun."

We making our way away from the Ultra bastards when Mr. Leather-lungs must have noticed me. "And look there. See how the Gaijin corrupt our culture and way of life! A woman of Japan imitates the West to whore herself out to a barbarous Gaijin!" One corner of my mind marveled at the over-dramatic way he spoke. The rest of my mind was too busy going into RAGE-mode to notice or even care.

Clenching my fists tight enough to make my knuckles crack, I came to a complete stop. My eyelid twitched erratically. Shizuka was looking on with concern. "Tom-kun?"

I extricated myself from her arm, then I turned and made my way towards the podium. The men who were not speaking tensed, they might have noticed the murder in my eyes. Making long, purposeful strides I came to a stop about three paces from the podium. The speaker, a younger guy with square glasses and short-cropped black hair looked me over, contempt on his face. "Yes, what do you want, Gaijin? Or did you not understand me? Maybe I should use smaller words."

I took a deep breath and reminded myself that knocking this son of a bitch's teeth out would result in police involvement then I responded. "Thou, sir, hast insult'd me and mine woman, in public. If this wast a moo civiliz'd time I wouldst be demanding that we meet on the field of hon'r whence I couldst extract mine pound of flesh from thy hide. Sadly that is nay long'r acceptable so I wilt settle with asking thou cease and desist with thy base sland'r.

Oh, I am s'rry, did thou not understandeth mine w'rds? then let me explain to thou in a mann'r that one of thine intellect couldst understand."

Everyone stared at the burly, hairy American speaking like a court noble from the Hien era, the speaker more so than any other. While he was stunned I snarled like a bear woken up in January. "FUCK YOU! YA SONOVABITCH! IF I EVER HEAR YA INSULTIN' ME GIRL EVAH AGAIN, I'LL RIP YA 'EART OUT THROUGH YER ASS! THEN I'LL MAKE YA EAT IT! DO YA UNDERSTAND?"

Perfect diction followed by crass insults and threats in the worst Kyushuu dialect they'd ever heard took all three young men aback, the one on the podium actually falling to the podium floor in a heap, his eyes wide and nodding rapidly.

Still angry but satisfied with terrifying the dick, I grinned. "Good then, I'm glad we had this conversation. Good day."

I returned to Shizuka who was staring at me, her normally half-closed eyes as wide as saucers.

I gave her a much warmer smile than what I'd given the three dicks at the podium and said; "Sorry about that, it just didn't sit right with me that those bastards would insult you like that."

"You didn't have to go that far." She said in a low voice.

"Well, those jackasses needed someone else yelling at them for once. Giving them a taste of their own medicine and all that." I said.

That set Shizuka giggling. "True, I've seen those jerks before. They always seem so angry, the way they yell at everyone all the time."

I chuckled and nodded, then I pulled her close and whispered in her ear. "Besides, they were wrong about you. I know you don't dye your hair... unless you're more thorough than I thought possible with your coloring regimen."

That got a blush and a squeal from Shizuka as she struck my chest with one of her small fists. "TOM-KUN!" she shouted indignantly. I just laughed in response, which got more mortified flailing from Shizuka.

All in all, it was a rather nice date.
​

 

[Brian Boru]

Enjoy Ladies and Germs...




Christmas….

The Happiest Time of the year had come around again… and all the Joy of it had completely passed me over.

This was the first time I'd ever gone through a Christmas without my family. Looking around at the rainy city, with nothing even vaguely resembling the sort of decorations that would be everywhere back home, it hit me yet again that I was no longer home and that I was likely never going to be home ever again.

I was walking back towards my place, returning from the Christmas Day service at a small Catholic chapel that ministered to the foreigners that traveled here for business. Under my breath I hummed one of the songs that had been sung during the service.

"...Hark the Herald Angels sing….
...Glory to the Newborn King…."

Tears started to form at the corners of my eyes, I wasn't one to cry often, but under the weight of my circumstances the tears fought to flow. Thankfully the rain that was coming down in buckets managed to hide any that escaped and hid my face to prevent anyone seeing the burly gaijin crying in the rain, so at least I kept my dignity... for what it was worth.

After what felt like an eternity I finally managed to reach my apartment, opening the door I shucked off my coat and hung it in the bathroom to let it drip dry. I looked around my empty apartment, sighing at the anemic little plastic Christmas Tree I'd managed to find a week ago that was the only sign of the holidays in the place.

When I had realized that my family was no longer here, I had tried to take comfort that at least I'd have Shizuka to spend the holidays with me. I'd even bought a pair of earrings for her as a gift. But even that didn't seem to be in the cards.

Shizuka had left town on Christmas Eve, apparently there was a family emergency and she had to head home to deal with it. Frankly, I had been crushed, I'd had a nice little dinner planned that day with her along with the gift for tomorrow. However I'd not said anything and just told her to be safe and that I hoped everything was alright at home. I'd made sure to say a prayer for her and her family as I knelt during the service though I also guiltily prayed she'd come back as soon as possible.

It was more than a little sad, but other than the club, she was all I really had. I'd made few friends here, my foreigner background, more aloof nature, and the knowledge that nearly all of these people were going to be dead or worse in a year's time had curtailed any real attempts on my part to make any connections.

Such a policy had kept me sheltered from any future heartbreak of losing friends... but it also meant that I was a lonely man on nights such as this…

I was interrupted from my dark musings when I saw a small note on my kitchen table. "Odd…." I thought out loud. I had locked the door before I left to go to the Christmas Service and the only other person to have a key to my place other than the Landlord was… "Shizuka!" I exclaimed.

She'd come back! Earlier than I'd hoped. A smile on my face, I grabbed the piece of paper and quickly scanned it….

There was no signature and the writing was typed so I couldn't determine who it was from the handwriting. It was also very short and perfunctory.

"Please Come to the School, behind the gymnasium. We'll be waiting for you."

We? What's going on? I thought, but now too curious to ignore it I made to leave. Grabbing my coat I left my apartment and headed up the hill towards the school.

As I approached I noticed that there was what looked like torches burning inside the school grounds. A momentary flash of panic flushed through me for a heartbeat before I calmed down, no, the school wasn't burning down... but it did raise more questions.

When I reached the gates I saw to my surprise that they were open. Looking around, I didn't see anyone waiting at the gates but I did see that the torchlight was coming from behind the gym, there was also a delicious smell coming from the same direction. I could smell cooked pork and other meats along with something downright sweet.

Picking up the pace I came around the corner of the building and came to a stop. Someone had set up this large event tent, torches were stuck in the ground all around it and two of my boys were standing at the entrance. When they saw me they raised the practice axes we used during practice in salute. "HAIL! The King has come to the Hall!" they both shouted in unison.

Blinking in surprise I asked, "What's all this?"

"Just step inside." was all the one on the left, a leaner member of the crew named Kenichi answered. His companion Toru, one of the biggest of our little club, said nothing, just a smile on his face.

Seeing that I wasn't going to get any other answers out of them I stepped into the tent proper. I was surprised by the warmth, looking around I noticed some space heaters, as well as a small fire in the center of the room. The edges were flanked by two benches while the back had a small raised platform where a much smaller table sat.

Along the sides were the members of my club... along with some other people… judging from the resemblances I guessed they were family members, I smiled when I saw old man Shirakawa sitting next to a middle-age couple who I assumed were his grandson's parents. "Evening sonny. Quite the shindig these kids set up for ya."

"No kidding," I told him. "didn't know they had it in them."

"Well, when they heard that you didn't have anyone to spend the holidays with, your girlfriend and the boys managed to organize this whole thing. Found someone who had a spare tent from a wedding gathering dust, another had family who did catering, and another had an aunt who could buy this all in bulk. But it was my grandson and your girl who did most of the heavy lifting. She was out here helping the boys set this up since last night."

I blinked in amazement and looked around at the impressive spread in awe. "I'm going to have to write so many thank-you cards for all this..."

That set him and his son laughing, the former saying: "Well, head on up to your special seat, your lady-friend's been waiting for ya."

Looking back to the raised seat, I saw that there were four chairs set behind it. The inner-right seat was empty but sitting in the inner left was... "SHIZUKA!" I shouted, then flushed a bit at my outburst. Sitting on the outer seats were the younger Hayato to the right and Kohta to the left.

When they saw me approach the table they both stood up. "WASSAIL! Our Cynning has come to his hall for the Yuletide feast!" Kohta half-bellowed to the small faux hall. The rest of the club members stood and taking up the various cups, bottles, and cans they had in front of them shouted "WASSAIL!" as well.

There were a few well-meaning jeers from their relatives but otherwise there was little mocking for such melodramatic pageantry. A big grin spread across my face then I raised a clenched fist in return, that set the boys roaring and like a champ I strode to my seat. I made a moment of eye-contact with Shizuka before turning back and said: "Warriors! My mighty Drengas! It warms my heart to see you all, gathered here during the Yuletide. When we first gathered I did not see the fine champions that stand before me now! I saw the dregs of society, the loner, the stringy, the awkward, the obese, nothing but prey to the wolves of this world. But now... now I see MEN, WARRIORS, HUSCARLS of mighty thews that any leader of men would be proud to have in their Werrod! I may have shown you the way, but it was the fire in your bellies and your blood, sweat and tears that took you down the path that has brought you thus far!"

I was mildly surprised at the awed looks on their faces… and was Touji crying? Slightly bemused, I grabbed a cup in front of me and raised it high. "Hail to the young champions, who've come so far!"

To my surprise, their friends and family actually took up the cry. "HAIL!"

Grinning, I took a seat, grabbing a slab of ham from a platter in front of me. I stopped filling my plate when I saw Shizuka looking at me with an amused smile. "What is it?"

She giggled a bit but answered me. "I didn't know you were so good at making speeches, Tom."

"I'm a man of hidden depths, Shizuka-chan, that and I was cribbing REAL hard on movie speeches there. But I meant every word out there. I'm real impressed with how far those boys have come." I said, turning my eyes to scan the impromptu hall, seeing the young men of the club - for young men they were - taking in the compliments from their parents, siblings and friends willing to come to this get together, smiles on each and everyone of their faces.

I turned back to Shizuka and said; "I heard from Hayato Shirakawa Sr. what all you've been doing for the past day and a half. I... I don't know what to say except thank you, from the bottom of my heart... I... really don't have anything to come back to in the States and this... is more than I could have ever imagined."

Shizuka smiled that serene smile of hers and answered; "It was really all the boys' idea, I just helped keep things organized."

"You're a terrible liar, you know that Shizuka." I grinned and kissed her on the cheek, which sparked a few shouts from the rest of the party.

I then glanced at Kohta and Hayato, both men were digging into their meals, ostensibly ignoring me and my girlfriend's conversation. "Any chance you could tell me why the two of you are up here with us?"

Hayato swallowed and answered; "Don't look at us, Sensei, the rest of the guys insisted that we sit here. They said that the best fighter and the one who's been doing this the longest should be sitting at the raised table and nothing we said would convince them otherwise."

I snorted at that, but didn't comment, because what could be really said to that? But I tucked that away, it seemed that a hierarchy was forming in the band with Hayato and Kohta as the captains. I was satisfied with the boys' choices, Hayato, once he'd broken out of that shell he'd kept himself in for years and decided to go without a slump for once in his life had that air of a leader in him. Kohta, while shorter, was also now built like a tree stump, the fat having melted away and bulking out like any man who does strenuous work does. While there were a few others who could out lift him, myself included, Kohta turned out to have incredible stamina, able to keep going during burnout workouts that rivaled even me, a man who'd been doing this sort of thing for over a decade. I was excited to see what he could do when the time came, he'd need that endurance.

I grimaced for a moment when I remembered why I had formed this club to begin with. However, Shizuka had noticed my change in mood and spoke in a low voice. "Is something wrong?"

Shaken out of my funk, I brought my mind back to the present and smiled before whispering: "Oh nothing, just thinking that someone was not very nice by tricking her boyfriend. Such a naughty girl making her man think he'd be spending all Christmas alone pining for her. Naughty girls like that need to be... punished, don't you think?" I whispered in her ear.

Shizuka reddened at that and poked me in the ribs while letting out an embarrassed squeak.

I simply laughed my damn head off, when I saw that boys were trying their damnedest not to look like they'd overheard us I simply laughed even harder.

The rest of the night went pretty well, all things considered, the food was great, the company excellent. I surprised a few folks with some Christmas songs, some of the adults got sloshed and Shizuka got more than a little tipsy, but thankfully no one made a fool of themselves.

That evening when I brought Shizuka back to my place I showed her the earrings I'd gotten for her as a Christmas gift. Well, I learned that yes she really could do that trick with her tongue…

In the years to come I'd would take strength from that evening with friends, comrades, and loved ones. It would be a source of hope to keep moving in the dark days to come.

When the final term of the schoolyear started back up, things would begin to come to a head and I was to be finally introduced to the final member of the canon crew, Takashi himself.

 

[Brian Boru]

A/N: Profuse apologies for still not reaching fucking Z-Day's Eve yet but here ya'll are so have fun I guess...



Christmas came and went and the final third of the schoolyear came and with it came the final push before finals.
In the classes where I acted as assistant, most of the students were doing quite well... with a few exceptions, some quite surprising.

"96…"
"90...."
"82"
"71"
"55... dangit Hina…"
"100... excellent, Kohta."

In the teacher's office, I was helping Kurokawa grade quizzes we'd handed out earlier that day. While I wasn't teaching all of my boys, I was proud to note that the ones I did teach were knocking their English assignments out of the park. I guess they didn't want to come up short in what I was officially supposed to be learning.

I grinned, those boys had come a long way from what they had been when I'd started that after-class weight-training group nearly a year ago. And glancing at myself, I'd done damn good for myself as well.

I wasn't exactly a strong-man competitor, nor was I cut enough to compete in a body-builder competition; but I was damn strong now, easily twice as strong as I had been when I arrived here and I was certainly leaner than I'd ever been in my entire life. I didn't know if that was Anime physics at work, me finally putting my all into my training regimen, or both, but it had paid great dividends.

I was brought back when I came across a specific quiz. I quickly graded it… and was greatly concerned by the results I found, considering whose it was.

"Hey, Kurokawa-san, take a look at this." I spoke up to my superior, who set down the quiz he was grading and walked over to my desk.

"Yes, Brody-san? What is it that you've found?" I didn't say anything, but handed him the quiz I'd just graded.

He looked it over, then frowned. "Are you sure this is correct?"

"Yes I'm sure. I made sure to grade this correctly. But look at the name….there's got to be a mistake." I said, glancing back at the name at the top of the paper. Rei Miyamoto, one of the members of the Canon Crew.

While I hadn't interacted much with her, aside from getting some pointers in spear work from her and her club captain, she'd always been an excellent student when I and Kurokawa were teaching English for her class. Getting an F was disturbing, and it might mean that whatever issues she was having in Shido's class was starting to affect other parts of her life.

Glancing over at him, I asked Kurokawa in an even tone: "How much do you know about Ms. Miyamoto's father?"

Kurokawa's eyes widened in surprise… and a little fear. His eyes darted around the room a few times before turning back to me. "I-I..." He was stammering… Kurokawa, a man that was the definition of calm and confident eloquence was stuttering...Good God what did Shido DO to this man?

Kurokawa finally calmed downed with visible effort and said: "I've been here for six years, and one thing I've learned is not to go against Shido-san. He may not look much but the man's as vicious as snake and just as cunning."

I stared at him. Just how many tendrils did that smug shit-stain have in this school?

"You don't believe me? I'm honestly surprised, didn't you have a run-in with him earlier?"

"I did but I'm a weird foreigner, it's easy to get dirt on me." And wasn't that a weird concept that took a while to get accustomed to. "Are you telling me he's blackmailing other teachers as well?" And just when I thought I couldn't hate that son of a bitch any more.

"Yes, and don't think it's just his father, Dietman Shido, doing all the heavy work either, Brody-san. Shido's more than his father's connections, though he won't hesitate to use them…" Kurokawa trailed off there.

He seemed unwilling to continue and seeing the turmoil on his face I wasn't going to press him. Then he sighed and turned back to me. "This happened a few years ago, when Shido had just started teaching here and his brother had started classes here at the same time."

"His brother? I didn't know Shido-sensei had a brother." I knew full well he did, but I didn't have a way of letting others know that I knew that without uncomfortable questions being asked.

"From an affair, Shido seemed completely unfamiliar with the boy so we figured he didn't know about him until right before classes started that year. Ken was a smart kid, VERY smart, but he was terrible at foreign languages; he could study English exclusively until his eyeballs melted and he'd still BARELY pass. Now, Ken's English teacher was a Tetsuo Hiruma, I'd known him since high school, upstanding guy though he had a terrible taste in women especially considering what his wife… I'm getting ahead of myself.

Towards the end of the schoolyear, Ken was on track to flunking his English class. Shido-san tried to convince Tetsuo to fudge Ken's grades enough that he'd at least pass. I heard later from Tetsuo that when he refused, Shido promised that he'd regret doing that.

We had both laughed it off when he told me it but damn were we wrong, we were SO wrong."

He stopped again, seeming like he didn't wish to continue. I remained silent, simply waiting for him to keep going.

"About a month later, police stormed into the class with a warrant for Tetsuo's arrest. A senior girl at our school had accused him of raping her. It was all shit, though, Tetsuo was a good man through and through. He loved his job and had a loving family, or at least he thought so. None of us could have imagined that he'd have done something so heinous.

I immediately came to my friend's defense and acted as a witness and as a support for his alibi, I knew for a fact that he couldn't have harmed that girl when she said she did because he'd been with me drinking that entire evening. But during the trial, there had been massive amounts of evidence against my friend, recordings, photographs, things that never should have been possible, but the evidence kept on coming showing my friend as some depraved, voyeuristic paedophile, and once that accusation was out and parents took a look at the so-called evidence and... well, it was all over but the screaming."

Tears were actually forming in his eyes now. "Tetsuo was sentenced to life, in one of the most brutal prisons in the entire country. His wife filed for divorce two weeks after the sentencing, took the kids, everything he owned, put his son on her family's directory. His own parents and siblings disowned him. I was the only one to ever visit him there... and it was so far away it was almost impossible to do so… one time… one time I was too worn down from a hard month to visit him... and when I wasn't there... he... gave up."

Kurokawa, one the most happy-go-lucky men I'd ever seen in my life, now had his hands over his face and was weeping. "My best friend since highschool gave up because of me not being there when I should have…"

He looked back up at me. "Shido is a cunning monster and he'll ruin the life of anyone he thinks is trying to obstruct him. So I'm begging you, don't go against him on this. Help Miyamoto-san however you think you can, give support, sympathy, whatever you can but don't go against him on this… please…"

I sat there, stunned beyond words. I knew that Shido was a sadistic snake as was his father, because there was no way in hell that Shido was able to do this all on his own, but this went so far beyond the fucking Pale that you hit Achill Island. My fists clenched so tightly that blood was beginning to pool from between my fingers - I never thought you could actually do that.

Taking a deep sigh, I forced the fury raging in me down for at least the next few minutes. I stood up and grabbed Kurokawa by the shoulders, wrenched him to his feet. "Kurokawa-san, I'm not one to normally do this, but God do you need one." And with that I wrapped him in a bear hug because GOD did that man need it.

After a minute I let go, looked him dead in the eye and said in as serious a tone as I could muster: "It wasn't your fault, Kurokawa, you couldn't have known, nor is it Tetsuo's fault because it takes the strongest of men to keep going in the face of something like that. It's Shido's fault, Tetsuo's blood and the ruining of his life is entirely on his hands and his father's, because as cunning as Shido is I can't imagine that he was able to have done all that by his lonesome."

Glancing at the papers that still needed grading, I sighed and after straightening them up stuck them into a desk drawer. I then grabbed my coat and keys. "Alright then, since it'd be utterly pointless to try and finish these grades now and since we don't have work tomorrow, you and me are packing things up right now, I'm calling my girlfriend, you call your wife and together the four of us are going to get utterly shitfaced as we toast in memory of Tetsuo Hiruma."

Kurokawa blinked for a few moments, then grinned and, after shoving his still ungraded papers into his own desk drawer, grabbed his coat and hat and followed out the door, hitting the lights as we left.

The hangover the next day was ten types of utterly horrible but I think I made a friend that evening, and an oath that Shido, his father and his brother were NOT going to last past Z-day any longer than I could allow.

********************

I stared at the thirteen young men sitting meekly in the lunchroom chairs that had been pulled out for this meeting. I was sitting across from them along with principal Yamada and, oddly enough, Miss Hayashi. I wasn't sure why she'd been included, but it was trivial compared to the story that the boys had to tell us.

When Hayato finished speaking, I sighed, covering my eyes with one palm before dragging it down my face in frustration.

"Alright boys, let me get this straight: you, just the thirteen of you, without any help from the newer members, managed to take over the entire delinquent population of Tokonosu city?" I asked in a flat, accusatory tone.

The boys flinched almost as one before Kohta spoke up. "W-well Sensei, it wasn't like we did it on purpose."

I gave him a flat stare, a headache forming behind my eyes. "Explain."

"Well, Sensei, what happened was me and Hayato were walking down to the convenience store when we saw a bunch of punks bothering this girl in a side alley. Now, we couldn't just leave her there, right? So we stepped in to make them stop. They didn't take kindly to our butting in, violently so. We were just defending ourselves and helping out a girl in need."

"Alright… but how does that translate into becoming pint-sized warlords?" I prompted, though I got the feeling that I knew the answer to that question. When Miss Kyoko sqeaked indignantly at my flippant words I just glanced over to her. One look at the exasperation in my eyes shut her up and she turned back to the boys, Hayato speaking up this time.

"Well, we'd, erm... defended ourselves against those guys and after saving that girl we didn't think anything more of it. Seems those guys remembered... and they held a grudge. We... kinda had to keep defending ourselves when more and more gangs came, either trying to get revenge or they thought we were a gang who were trying to challenge their position, whatever that meant. Eventually they stopped showing up and we thought it was over and done with." Kohta trailed off there.

"Apparently it wasn't." I muttered, pointing my thumb to the window that allowed a view of the front gate… and the two dozen or so gang leaders who had camped their butts outside waiting for the 'Huscarl Gang' to show themselves likely they wanted a grand battle royale or some crazy shit… I wondered if it was too late to just take Shizuka and move to Alaska… my damn sense of responsibility said otherwise… dammit…

Yamada then decided to speak up. "While I can't condone the violence, I can understand why you did what you did, boys. You intervened in something that needed to be stopped and you didn't actively chase these fights after the first.

While I would have preferred that you had gone to the police after the first fight, I can't condemn you for defending yourselves when those young men kept coming after you, and I can't say that I'm not a little impressed at your prowess. So my verdict is that you boys go out there and talk with those young men waiting for you out there. See if you can talk them into leaving. If that fails I'll have the authorities on the line and they'll be here in less than ten minutes. Do NOT antagonize them. Understand?"

The boys showed their understanding by nodding quickly in response to Yamada's question.

He then pointed at me. "You'll accompany them, Brody-san, and act as a referee to keep anything from getting too out of hand."

I opened my mouth to protest for a moment, then stopped myself. I was the best one for the job present without bringing in the police. "Alright then, Yamada-san." Rising from my seat I turned to the boys. "Alright boys, follow me, let's deal with this once and for all."
Like a gaggle of ducklings the boys rose and followed me out the door to the front gate.

I glanced back at them to remind them to stand straight with their shoulders back, but was pleased to see that they did so on their own.

When we were within twenty paces of the front gate, I came to a stop and looked behind. "Alright boys, talk to them see what they want."

The group of young men glanced at each other, then Hayato stepped forward. "I guess I'll do it. I was the one to jump to that girl's defense first…"

"Alright then, Hayato-san." I said, as he walked past me I clapped him on the shoulder. "However this turns out, I'm proud of you boys, not enough people have your courage and I wish more did."

Hayto tensed up for a moment then moved forward. The others followed behind him as moral support and what I assumed was a show of strength.

The delinquents, all thirty of them, noticed us approaching the gates, excitement flashed in their eyes and they made towards the gates until they were crowded right in front of the metal bars.

The one at the front was big bastard, easily six feet tall, his hair was worn long with red highlights at the ends, his ears were pierced multiple times and he didn't wear a school uniform - at least not one I could decipher as such.

He sized up Hayato for a moment then said, in a baritone voice: "So, you're the boss of the gang that's been kicking our collective asses up and down the whole damn city for the past month? Figured as much."

Hayato glared the bigger boy in the eyes and said: "What do you want, Sasuke? Another rematch? You remember what happened last time, right?" Damn, didn't think Hayato had that in him.

Sasuke glared at Hayato for a moment and I thought I was going to have to interfere or worse, have the police involved: instead I was surprised when Sasuke broke into a deep belly laugh. He was laughing so hard that tears formed in his eyes. The other street toughs and delinquents behind him started laughing as well and just as hard.

Standing in stunned silence, we let the guys on the other side of the gates laugh themselves out. Sasuke wiped a tear from the corner of his eye and said: "No we don't want another rematch, none of us do. You've proven you and your 'Huscarls' are the toughest outfit in the entire city, repeatedly."

A few of the delinquents rubbed their heads or limbs as if they had been reminded of a drubbing they took in the recent past… good GOD HOW DID I MISS THIS FOR SO LONG?!

I had barely recovered from that little revelation when Sasuke made a deep bow at the waist and said: "I, Sasuke Urameshi, do swear me and my Iron Tigers gang an oath of loyalty to Hayato Shirakawa and his Huscarls gang. We're your boys now, boss."

Before Hayato or the others could respond, another teenager strode forward and bowed as well. "I, Hikaru Tendo, do swear me and the North Street Alliance gang an oath of loyalty to Hayato Shirakawa and his Huscarls gang. We're your boys now, boss."

On and on it continued, each and every one of these young men came forward, told their names and said that their gangs followed Hayato and the Huscarls gang.

When the last one made their oath, one of the others glanced at me, he jabbed a finger in my direction. "The fuck's the old-timer here for?"

Bristling at the insult, I was about to put this punk in his place when Kohta spoke up. "He's Tom Brody, assistant english teacher, he's our club advisor and he's the one who taught us how to fight. A year ago, each and everyone of us were the worst kind of nerds imaginable, look at us now and I dare you to insult him again."

The street toughs looked back at me again, eyes as wide as saucers, the one to disparage me quickly bowed and apologized. The others, apparently impressed by my credentials, bowed as well. Then one of them spoke up. "Any chance you could show my boys how you fight like that?"

And like a dam bursting the others began asking the same thing as well.

I stared at the bowing crowd, jaw hanging and eyes glassy, I could barely comprehend what was happening… Alaska was starting to look better and better...

 

[Brian Boru]

With a ton of input from Psyckosama and Greyrook as editor, here's the next bit hope ya'll enjoy.


The rain was coming down in buckets and the wind was blowing hard. But today was shield wall practice and the boys needed to get their work in, as did I.

Before I arrived in Japan I was a lazy bastard, I did what was needed to get things done and then I went on with my life. If I was properly motivated, though, I could and had gotten things done with a surprising amount of energy. The problem had always been convincing myself that something that needed doing really was that vital which was, I will freely admit, hard to do sometimes. Knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that hordes of the undead were coming was an incredible motivator.

"Kenichi! Get Torou out of that mud hole before he drowns himself!" I bellowed at the top of my lungs. The young man immediately grabbed his comrade and yanked him up, one-handed I might add, out of the mudhole in the practice field we'd appropriated from the soccer club.

I was currently leading the boys in a shieldwall advance, locking shields together and getting them to march forward in quickstep as a single unit. Simple enough on paper, but in practice MUCH harder than it looked. A proper shield-wall required the men in the line to lock shields and keep close together to get the most effective results. That proved to be surprisingly difficult even on smooth ground in ideal weather conditions, in the pouring rain on a field that had the shit torn out of it by rain and hundreds of practices that difficulty went up exponentially.

I, however, was hellbound and determined that by the time Z-Day came these boys could stand alongside Charles Martel at Tours and or the Crusaders at Dorylaeum without being found wanting. An insane goal, but one I intended to reach.

When they reached the end of the practice field, they all but collapsed beside each other, many ripping off the Germanic helmets recently made for them. I reminded myself to thank old man Shirakawa again for the work he and the other grey-beard hobbyists he'd brought in for this project… come Z-day, I knew I needed to try and track them down. Skills like they had would be vital for not just scraping by in the days ahead.

Ending my woolgathering, I strode over to the boys, now a good fifty strong with the various gang-leaders coming by to practice with us. And hadn't THAT been a bunch of fun, convincing those boys that no, they couldn't bring each and every one of their subordinates along with them on these training exercises. Nor could they skip class to come here daily. It'd taken some heated discussions, but we'd settled with them coming on Saturdays after the end of the half-day of school and ONLY the leaders. If they wanted to teach their boys how to fight, that was their prerogative.

Interestingly, it was Hayato and Kohta who managed to convince the various leaders to promise not to cause trouble in the city and to try and curb their own men. I had severe doubts that would work, but watching street toughs flinching at someone with a way too large collection of magical girls from across the years was hilarious nonetheless.

When I made it over to them I bellowed out over the rain: "Aright Boys, last event of the day before ya'll hit the showers. We're having a Holmgang, Huscarls verses Thegns, three on each side. Pick the best three. Best two of three will decide the winner. Winning team gets a pizza for two guys each."

That set everyone roaring and after a few minutes of jostling the teams were made. For the Huscarls were Kohta, Hayato, and a hulking third year by the name of Kenji. He wasn't one of the original thirteen, but had been one of the first to join afterwards. Originally something of a whale, nearly a year of training had left him a behemoth stronger than anyone else in the club, including myself - much to my annoyance.

The trio held an impromptu round of Rock-Paper-Scissors to decide their fighting order which resulted in Kenji being the first in the ring. At 6'3'' and broad as a barn he was a scary-looking SOB, but out of that armour he was as gentle as a kitten, likely why he'd been something of a laughing stock despite his impressive size.

He now banged his practice axe against his shield in challenge of his opponent, the stubble that was his anemic attempt at growing an "epic viking beard" making the water on his face flow in rivulets as he glared across the ring at the gathered Thegns.

When the leaders of the various gangs had decided to come on Saturdays to train with us, they'd continued to call my boys the Huscarls, a joke title they'd given themselves when it'd just been us but had now become something of a gang name to differentiate themselves from the delinquents who were their technical subordinates. When I'd tried to call the delinquents Huscarls as well they had flatly refused, they weren't part of the school they had claimed and they had their own gangs to lead.

I had thought about it for a moment then decided that since I'd gone with the Germanic motif for this long, I might as well go whole hog with it. I'd quickly described the rank of Thegns to them, elite ass kickers who had their own followers but swore themselves to other leaders as well. After a bit of back and forth to make they understood what I was describing they'd taken to it like bears to honey. Technically speaking, a Thegn really wasn't the most accurate comparison, but after their first couple of attempts at pronunciation, I'd decided that even I wasn't cruel enough to try and make them say Ealdorman all the time.

After a few moments, another hulking form exited the gathering of Thegns: Onikumo, real name Yusuke Sawanara, was the leader of the Red Bulls gang and before my boys had inadvertently conquered half the damn town had been considered the strongest delinquent in Tokonosu. He'd also been the one of the most resistant to the terms I'd imposed in exchange for teaching them how to fight.

Said terms had been no selling drugs and that they'd NEVER take up arms against the innocent. Which, of course, covered the unholy trinity of rape, theft, and assault. Hokey sounding as hell but after a few glares and thinly veiled threats, most had obliged. Those that hadn't were probably regretting it now as they were serving as the preferred live-fire test dummies for those who had.

The resulting martial code was an interesting mashup of pre-Christian germanic honor and Bushido with a dash of Medieval Chivalry for good measure. One result had been the Holmgang, despite swearing 'allegiance' to the Huscarls, these gangs had been feuding for years and grudges like theirs didn't simply stop like that. They did, however,take to stepping down the street brawls, instead favoring duels and setpiece battles where they could properly work out their aggression in 'glorious and honorable combat'. The end result tended to be bumps, bruises, and an all-around reduction in conventional thuggery.

In all honesty, it was a bit creepy how into it they were getting. While I'd modeled my own boys on the early Anglo-Saxons, they'd found the northern end of the germanic sphere to be more to their liking. I'd heard some strange stories about them building shrines to Odin and Thor, the latter of which often involved a distressing amount of comic book memorabilia. Many had also taken up Norse nicknames, as well. Tokonosu's thug life was showing a growing number of Ragnars, Hrothgars, and even one gang head who'd coined himself as 'Eric the Red'.

Ultimately, though, a bunch of Norse-crazed delinquents would have been harmless if not for another, FAR more concerning habit they'd picked up. Having learned the difference between being Norse and what it meant to be a Viking, some of them found a loophole in my 'don't attack the innocent' rule.

More than once a couple gangs decide to band together and 'go a-Viking'. Simply put, they'd grab their gear and wander into the territory of gangs who'd either refused my terms or were outside of the area my boys commonly went. Once there, they'd either roll any gang members they found for cash, or if they were feeling more adventurous, 'raid the monastery'. Which meant they'd make a beeline for their gang clubhouse, and once there beat the shit out of anyone present, loot it for everything that wasn't nailed down, and then smash everything that was.

When I'd heard about those little adventures, my heart had nearly stopped. This was getting WAY out of control and I had no idea how much longer this could last before I got the Japanese Fuzz coming after my ass. Learning how to sleep on my back and keep one eye open at all times was not how I wanted to spend my last month before Z-Day… that, and Shizuka would be sad if I did something that got me arrested. Or, Heaven forbid, they tangled with a Yakuza member, if that happened they were dead, no ifs, ands, or buts and there wasn't a damn thing I could do to prevent that.

My introspection was cut short when Kenji and Onikumo bellowed at each other from either side of the ring and slammed into each other with an almighty crash. Digging their feet into the muddy ground they pushed at each other with their shields while trying to hammer each other with their wooden axes. Back and forth around the ring they shoved at each other until Kenji managed to hook his axe behind Onikuma's shield and wrench it out of the way then following it up with a shield bash that drove the big youth backwards, and through the rain I could see that Onikuma spat blood. Right, then…
"End the match! First blood goes to Kenji and the Huscarls." My boys immediately roared in approval at Kenji's victory, clashing their shields and beating their chests. The Thegns on the other side of the ring mutter under their breath but did little else.

"Right next pair, enter the ring."

With that Kohta stepped into the ring. Sports glasses wrapped around his head and under his helmet, I'd never figured out how he'd gotten everything to fit properly.

Across from him came a tall young man with dark hair and one of the most diabolical grins I'd ever seen. Tatsumi Oga, sometimes called the Devil or among the more Norse inclined, Surtr. When I'd heard that name and seen that fang-like grin he often sported I'd had a mild panic attack. Did ROB pull another fast one on me and shove even more bullshit on my plate to deal with?

After a few weeks, I'd calmed down when I never saw a green-haired baby clinging to him, but I'd swear that I did see a busty blond in a gothic lolita outfit once… out of the corner of my eye. It was... odd…

This was going to be an interesting fight. Oga had been a late joiner. He'd just wandered in one day looking for a challenge and after seeing what I'd had to offer, said it looked like fun. And it was. For him, at least.

Oga was a demon of a fighter, pure and simple. He was a lone wolf and the only one of the Thegns who wasn't also the leader of his own gang. I'd heard rumors of how he'd been able to fight entire gangs before on his own, and honestly I could believe it. He wasn't exactly the best suited for shield wall tactics, but on an individual level he was almost unstoppable.

In fact, none of my boys had been able to beat him yet. Some had come very close, but the slippery bastard had always managed to pull out a win. That was why Kohta had formed something of a rivalry with the delinquent. He was the first of my disciples and one of the strongest. To him it was a matter of honor. For Oga, well, I wasn't going to hazard a guess as to how his twisted mind worked, but he seemed to enjoy the challenge.

He sneered as Onikuma walked past and for a moment the tension in the air was palpable. The two hated each other and after the first couple of disasters, I'd outright banned them from sharing a ring during these meetups. While watching those two fight was entertaining, when paired up they tended to ignore the first blood rule in favor of the Thunderdome standard. Trying to explain a dead teenager to the police was not my idea of fun nor was it in any way beneficial to my continued well-being.

Kohta snarled when he saw Oga was his opponent. "This time it's my win. I've been training myself to the bones for this fight and there's no way in hell you're beating me."

Oga for his part just grinned. His tone was dismissive but there was a distinct gleam in his eye. "Yeah, ya' said that the last time we fought, and the one before that too. So shut up and let's do this."

Kohta didn't deign to verbally respond to that, instead he raised his shield and advanced on Oga, his short stature allowing for more of his body to be protected by his shield. Oga, for his part, simply stood there for a moment, waiting for Kohta to get in range. Then he let loose a barrage of blows with his axe, using his greater height and reach to try and batter down Kohta's defenses.

In this situation, most people would try and draw away from the attack and reevaluate, but instead Kohta seemed to charge into it, smashing his shield against Oga's both in an attempt to negate his reach advantage and to make the most of his greater strength and lower center of gravity.

Between the strike to his balance and the questionable state of the ground, it almost sent Oga sprawling. It was very much to his credit, however, that he kept his footing and managed to recover almost immediately before pivoting out of the reach of his opponent. Twirling his axe in his hand and grinning like a psychopath he chuckled. "Ha! That was new. Almost got me there, short stack! Just don't think you're gonna get the chance to do it again."

Kohta didn't say anything, he wasn't one for shittalking during a fight. Instead he came forward again at a steady but calm pace.

Oga braced himself as well, so when Kohta charged at the last moment, the taller boy was able to take his charge without losing his balance. The two shoved at each other for a moment before Oga ground out between clenched teeth: "Ya deaf shorty? I just said that wouldn't work a second time."

With that, he shortened the grip on his axe and punched at Kohta's face in an attempt to force him to back off. Kohta however simply ducked his head, allowing his helmet to accept the blow. Had they been using real axes it would have been something of a risky move, but as the old saying goes, without risk there can be no victory.

Kohta then began driving forward again while at the same time using the lower position of his shield to begin forcing Oga's shield up, leaving him open for a body blow and a win in this duel. A predatory grin spread across Kohta's face, not unlike the one almost permanently slapped across Oga's. I raised an eyebrow, impressed at Kohta, beating Oga in the Holmgang had become almost an obsession for him, and it looked like he was finally going to do it.

Then, to my surprise, Oga slipped on the wet ground and hit the ground with a thud. Kohta, momentarily surprised at this sudden windfall, went in for the kill. Almost faster than the eye could follow, Oga swept his legs and hooked Kohta's, sending the boy crashing to the ground with a thud. Then Oga, like greased lightning, had gotten off the ground, leaving his shield behind, and was on top of Kohta in a heartbeat. One knee pinning Kohta's shield to hit chest, his free hand pinning Kohta's axe hand to the ground and his own axe pressed against Kohta's throat which, had it have been real, would have likely begun to cut into the shorter fighter's throat.

"Ya give up?" Oga asked, the smuggest smile in the world on his face.

Kohta glared at Oga with a white hot fury, before sighing and muttering: "I give."

Oga laughed and got off him. "Not bad, shorty, ya almost got me that time."

He then offered his axe to Kohta so he could grab it and pull himself up. "No hard feelings, right?"

Kohta grinned and grabbed the axe, then he pulled down violently, dragging the off-balance Oga off his feet to splat into the mud right next to him. "None at all."

Oga spluttered for a moment then stared at Kohta, then he burst out laughing, clutching at his sides. Kohta soon followed him and both mud-coated boys were simply howling in laughter.

"Why don't you two stop with the foreplay and just fuck already!"

I snapped my head in the direction of the Thegn who'd said that: Daigo Matsumari, leader of the Heavenly Dragons. He wasn't one of the best fighters among the Thegns, but he did have the loudest mouth. He also was one of the first to start fighting with my boys, as well as one of the last to join, and while I didn't have any proof, I'd bet a month's pay that he was probably also also one of the idiots who'd come up with the whole 'going a-viking' idea.

In other words, he was a nasty little streak of piss, the better part of which probably ran down the side of his mother's leg. And if the look on Oga's face was any indication, wouldn't be too long for this world if I didn't interfere.

Almost reluctantly, I stepped forward and spoke up in a loud and clear tone. "Daigo-san, so nice of you to volunteer for the last duel. Hayato, you're up, it's one and one so far and this'll be the tie-breaker."

Daigo went as pale as a sheet at those words, while his comrades simply laughed at his misfortune. Hayato was, simply put, the best fighter among the Huscarls, and while he wouldn't beat on a man while he was down, if he thought you needed an asskicking he wouldn't hesitate to deliver. And Daigo needed one like a fish needs water.

I was about to start the fight when I happened to glance up and see two shapes moving through the rain from the school's main building. I tried to see who the two were but the intensity of the rain made it difficult to make out any features. Glancing back at the still smoldering fury in Oga's eyes I made a snap decision.

"Alright, I need to go handle this," I said calmly. "Oga, since you won the last bout, you get to ref."

Daigo's face went from pale to bleached at Oga's smile, the sheer gleeful cruelty in which would have given lesser men nightmares. "I'll do ya proud, Sensei," he replied with far too much cheer.

"I'm sure you will," I replied drolly, suppressing a slight shudder. Oga calling anyone sensei was never a good sign.

My Huscarls were chanting Hayato's name while the Thegns were making bets on how long Hayato was going to toy with Daigo before he pussied out when I turned and started to walk over to the two shapes in the rain.

It took a few moments before I could make out any details, but it was soon clear that the two were short, likely two women, the blue raincoats they wore indicated they were police officers. My stomach seemed to plummet for an instant before I squared my shoulders and marched over to the two officers.

"Greetings, ladies," I said with a polite nod. "How may I be of assistance?"

The taller of the two, a dark-haired woman a bit older than me, stepped forward and said: "Good afternoon, sir, I'm Officer Matsushima. Are you Thomas Brody?"

I fought back a slight flinch at her pronunciation of my name. Come on Japan, was it really that hard? "Yes, ma'am."

She sighed, unsure how to continue, while behind me I could hear Daigo bellowing in terror as Hayato was beating the asshole out of him. She looked over my shoulder trying to see the source of that racket then turned back to me. "About a month ago, our station began receiving some interesting reports. It seems that the street crime in many areas took a strange and interesting... shift."

I fought down a sigh, knowing damn well why that was. "How so, officer?"

She glanced over my shoulder for a moment and then looked at me with a peaked eyebrow.

It seemed that Hayato had Daigo on the ground and seemed to be driving him into the earth like a human nail.

"It's to submission and they're using pads?" I offered weakly.

She nodded in seeming acceptance before moving on. It seemed that the sports culture in Japan was just a hair more accepting of extreme violence. I mean, just the stories I heard about the Jindai Rugby Team alone...

"Back to your question, the reports I mentioned said that overall harassment of civilians by local street gangs has plummeted, while violence among the gangs themselves has shot up tremendously in some areas while vanishing completely in others." Well, it seemed the action of the Thegns had been noticed. Surprised it took as long as it had.

"Well, that sounds like good news, officer, but what brings you here?" I asked.

"Many of my colleagues would agree with you," she replied. "You're not currently under investigation but if you discover that your..." She paused. "Students do anything clearly illegal I expect you to contact the police."

I nodded. This was starting to seem a bit fishy. There's no way they'd have sent a street cop, even one as cute this this one, to deliver this kind of warning. "So what brings you here, officer?"

"I'm here investigating a report of an interrupted purse snatching. A few days ago in the Hanbai shopping district, we had a purse-snatcher try and make off with a woman's purse. Before the thief ran more than a few paces a known gang member of the Iron Tigers clotheslined the thief and returned the purse to the woman."

I have to admit I gave her an unimpressed look as I read between the lines. Her superiors were content to just leave things be for the moment, but little miss ambitious junior officer was trying to find a feather for her cap.

"Sounds like he was just being a good citizen, officer." I said, now getting slightly annoyed.

"While none of the witnesses would corroborate, according to the thief, his wallet was stolen by the delinquent while he was on the ground. He claimed he heard him mutter something about spoils of war while he was being beaten."

"And none of the witnesses will corroborate?" I asked, repeating her own statement.

"Yes, sir..." She replied with as much professionalism as she could muster.

"Then why are you here?" I asked once more.

She flushed. It would have been cute if she hadn't been trying to grill me. "Because the woman who owned the purse has placed an open reward to the young man who retrieved it for her."

I smirked and glanced over to the Thegns. "Hey! Uremeshi! Seems one of your boys is a regular old good samaritan!" I shouted over the pounding rain, laughing street thugs, and the cries of the damned. "Lady Cop is here about some kind of reward."

Sasuke raised his head at the sound of his name and glanced in my direction. It took him a moment to remember what I was talking about before he smiled. "Oh, ole Ichi the white knight, eh? So he really did clothesline that Black Ronin motherfucker? Hah! Need to tell the others to stop giving him shit for making up stories."

"Language Uremeshi, we are in the presence of ladies."

"They're just a couple pi-"

"Ladies, and if you finish that last word I swear I'll turn around and study my finger nails while they break their nightsticks off in your ass," I turned around and bowed. "My apologies officers, they're not entirely housebroken yet."

The younger of the two, a petite blonde, giggled slightly, earning herself a curt glare from her superior.

I glanced over to the smaller woman and my eyes widened momentarily. Asami Nakaoka, a survivor that the high school crew came across at the local mall, had a spark of a romance with Kohta... and… well, her end was a tragedy worthy of Shakespeare… hopefully I could avert it... but I can't be everywhere at once…

Fuck. I'd have to try. And probably try and save Jackass Senpai here. She was a nice girl and you know what, Kohta deserves to have some happiness considering all the shit about to be dumped on his plate.

Just as I was thinking that the Huscarls were walking past the three of us as they headed towards the showers, I then had a brain storm. "Hey Kohta! Why don't you explain to these fine officers what exactly I've been doing here, because they seem to think we're doing some shady business here."

"Alright Sen...sei…"

His eyes widened as they met with Asami's, who blushed in turn. I looked between the two of them for a moment, and swore I saw sparkles and a fucking rainbow.

If Dreamweaver started playing spontaneously in the background I swore I'd-

Oh, no way...

My head whipped back to the Huscarls. "Kenji, answer your damned phone."

"Yes sensei!" He replied with a flush as he started toward the bleachers with a joyful smile. His girlfriend was calling.

I turned back to the young pair, and sighed. Damn that was fast… and now I was obligated to at least try and track her down if I didn't want the Huscarls to split up on Z-Day considering the respect the others gave Kohta as the first member of the club and the one who invited them in the first place.

Fuck.

 

[Brian Boru]

It was another average day… so long as you didn't know that the Zompocalypse was coming. I was finishing up the last class of the day while thinking about where I could stash a couple of weapons caches for the big day when a feminine voice broke through my thoughts.


"Excuse me, Brody-Sensei?" Glancing towards to the door, I saw, to my mild surprise, Saeko Busijima, captain of the Kendo club and one of the OTL Main characters standing there with a nervous look on her face.


That was a bit surprising for several reasons. For one, Saeko rarely frequented my part of the school and other than coming by the dojo to practice with my own shield and ax on my own time we rarely interacted with each other. For another reason, Saeko was not one to let down her stoic persona to anyone. It took either a lot of trust or extreme duress to break that facade.


Curious about what she wanted, I put down the sheet of papers I'd been stacking and walked over to her. "Yes Busijima-san? Is there something I can do for you?"


She bit her lip for a moment and looked away for a moment, goggling internally. I waited until she seemed to steel herself and turn back to look me in the eye. "Brody-san, my club formally asks if we could have a competition between your club and ours. A series of five duels between the most skilled members, perhaps?"

Are you sure that 'goggling' is the right word here?

I raised my eyebrows at that. "Miss Busijima, I should remind you that, and this is with great respect to you and your club, my students are being taught a combat martial art. Kendo is a tournament style. The simple fact is that my students are not taught to hold back while yours have, and for good reason, had the rules of the sport drilled into them as part of their training. Your team would be fighting with a handicap."


Her nervousness seemed to instantly evaporate and a hard glare locked eyes with me. "And if we still won, wouldn't that mean that we're even more skilled than we thought?Besides, it would be good practice to see and compete against other styles, it would be good for both our clubs." And you really, really wanted to have a go at me. See if you're as good as you think you are.


"Maybe it would, but I refuse to fight you at anything other than your best," I replied calmly. "But would you mind if we cut to the chase, Miss Busijima?"


She blinked at that, seemed I'd put her on the backstep with that remark. I pressed forward. "I know for a fact that none of the other members of the Kendo club want anything to do with my boys, especially after those delinquents began joining for saturday practices. But you, you want a challenge; I've seen you practice once or twice, you always seemed bored, or constrained, like you're limiting yourself when you really want to cut loose and give it all you have, is that right?"


She flushed and took half a step back. "I have no idea what you're-"


"Don't lie to yourself and don't lie to me," I interrupted, crossing my arms in slight annoyance. "You've got the heart of a warrior. To be completely frank, you're one of those people who'd have been much happier being born 450 years ago when people didn't just play swords after school. And more than anything, you want to be able to enjoy the thrill of a real fight without having to worry about being judged."


She turned red and clenched her fists. "I have no idea what you are talking about! I only came here to challenge your club to a proper contest of skill!"


"Miss Busijima, you're lying again. But let's make a deal: you'll have your tournament between your club and mine, but you need to repeat after me. 'I Saeko Busijima, challenge you, Thomas Brody, to a duel.' It's what you're really after and if you admit that then you've got your tournament and your personal fight."


Her eyes narrowed as she glared at me. "Fine! If that is what it takes, then! `I Saeko Busijima, challenge you, Thomas Brody, to a duel!' Just name the time and place!"


I nodded and said: "I accept your challenge, we'll have it at your club dojo in three days' time. Be at your best, because if you aren't, I will defeat you without fail. And once we've had our duel, then we can discuss a match between the clubs."


I swore I saw a small smile on her face as she replied: "We shall see about that, Brody-sensei." She then bowed and said; "Good day then, Sensei." And left, though if I didn't know better I'd swear her step was just a little bit lighter than it had been when she'd entered.


I was grinning at a job well done, then it hit me what I'd just done. "Oh God, did I just pull a Shido? I mean, I know I did it for her own good but... Christ, I think I need a drink." That bottle of Sake sitting in my apartment suddenly became much more appealing…



****************


CLACK!


WHACK!


POW!


"Alright, you three out, next three up!" I said, doing my best to keep my feet and my composure, still wondering why I'd gone along with this psychotic idea.


"Alright Sensei!"


"My turn!"


"I'm still having doubts about this…."


You and me both, Touji… I thought to myself but the two of us were part of a very small minority among both the Huscarls and the Thegns. When I'd walked into the field for training that afternoon after speaking with Saeko about a duel three days from then, I'd learned, to my chagrin, that one of the boys had overheard that conversation and thought it'd be an awesome idea….but that I needed some heavy duty practice to have a chance against the daughter of a nationally renowned champion swordsman.


Thusly, they'd come up with the brilliant idea of forcing me to fight with my all by making me fight every single member of the club, both Huscarls and Thegns. In one sitting. At three to one odds. Every afternoon until the match.


The next matchup I had to face was the one I was dreading most. It seems that the boys had decided that I'd needed proper motivation, so somehow Onikumo and Oga had momentarily put aside their differences for the moment in favor of a more entertaining pastime. And to make matters even worse, they'd somehow convinced Hayato to join in on the fun. The fun, of course, being kicking my ass.


It would take everything I had to just defend myself, let alone go on the offensive. When I took my revenge it would be as cold and merciless as northern winter's gale…. And feel as warm and satisfying as a balmy tropical summer's breeze. This I swore… by the name of Christ, Thor, Zeus, and any and every deity known to man.


Shit, I'd swear it by the Flying Spaghetti Monster at this point.


As I took a deep breath and prepared myself for the pain to come, I glanced something out of the corner of my eye. It was Takashi Komuro, Mr. Protagonist himself.


He was sitting on the bleachers staring off into space with the most lost and dejected expression on his face I'd seen in some time. I didn't see much of him outside of class, but considering that finals were almost up, I had a strong feeling what was eating him: Rei Miyamoto, the latest victim of the Shido clan. She was his friend, his love interest, and she'd been failed because Shido's father was a scumbag. And now the poor sap was stuck wearing the cement shoes in a pool of teenage angst.


Of course, none of this came to mind when I first saw him. The only thing I could think was: an excuse!


"Hold up, guys." I walked over to the bleachers and called out. "Hey, Komura! Come here."


The kid didn't seem to hear me at first, but when I called him again he raised his head and glanced in my direction. When he saw it was a teacher calling for him, he sighed and stood up, then dejectedly stomped his way down the bleachers towards me. When we both reached the bottom staircase he looked me over for a moment before asking:"Alright, Sensei, what is it you wanted?"


I glanced him up and down, to get the measure of the boy. I cupped one hand over my chin as if in deep contemplation, making learned noises. "Hmmm… uh-huh... Yeah. I can work with this."


"What the..."


"Kohta. Get us a set of spares. The rest of you, give us space. This is private."


"What the hell are you talking about?" He repeated, this time able to complete his statement.


"Listen kid, I know exactly what's eating you," I said with a knowing smirk on my face.


"And I also know the solution."


"Yeah, and what's that?"


"Right now you're moping. But here's the issue: you have one of two choices. First, you can go back up to your bleacher and go angst yourself into a hole. Second, you can pick up a shield, pick up an axe, and turn your sorrow, your rage, and your frustration into something useful. What will it be?"


"You have no idea what's-"


"Rei's your friend and because of political bullshit, she's being fucked over by that sociopathic cunt, Shido."


His eyes widened when I said that. "But... how…"


"Because I've dealt with his bullshit in the past and I don't think there's a single person on the staff that he hasn't blackmailed, intimidated, or manipulated into putting up with his special breed of evil."


I could see the wheels turning in his head as the pieces fell into place. His eyes narrowed and his fists clenched, he then spun around and began marching towards the school with murder one his face. Reacting quickly, I grabbed his shoulder and turned him back around to face me.


"Hold on! You can't just go charging in like that. As much as I hate to admit it, the bastard's as slippery as an eel, has a vindictive streak a mile wide, and his old man is so well connected that the son of a bitch is basically untouchable. Trust me, I know. What you need right now is an outlet to vent your rage. Then you can figure out how to make up with your friend. She really needs you right now, kid. And if you don't show her you still care then you're both going to regret it."


He stood in place glaring at me, stewing with impotent rage for a moment, but then, almost serendipitously, Kohta arrived with the equipment I'd ordered him to fetch.


"Ah, right on cue." I grabbed the helmet and offered it to him. "First things first, you need to vent some frustration and I could use the practice. So, what do you say?"


Takashi stared at the helmet for a long moment before sighing, said; "What the hell…" and took it from my hand.


"Right then, Kohta, help him get the rest of that on, I'll be waiting in the ring."


A few minutes later Takashi came out with a helmet, an axe, a shield and some shin and arm guards. He was making a few mock swings with the axe, testing out the weight and how it felt to swing it.


"Keep a tighter grip, that axe is an extension of your arm and you need to think of it as such. And another, more important, rule, always keep your shield up!" I bellowed that last part, and to my amusement I'd made the kid jump a bit.


Now that he was focused on me I said: "Right, let's see what you can do. I'll give you corrections and some pointers as we go."


What followed was a good fifteen minute spar that grew more intense as Takashi took in what I told him and became more and more confident with how the axe and shield style worked. To my pleased surprise, Takashi was a natural, he had no hesitation, had good reflexes, and he seemed to soak in what I was telling him at a rapid pace. He was still very rough but he largely made up for it with raw potential. Damn. If I'd just taken him in a few months ago I'd have had another terror like Oga or Hayato on my hands.


Though there still was about a month to go. I smiled. There's something to be said about working under the wire...


For about a minute, Takashi was letting loose a flurry of blows on me, which I deftly blocked or parried. Finally he was bent over, gasping for air and a hint of a smile on his face. I was smiling as well, though not as winded.


"You have potential, kid, how about joining the club this April? I know you don't have any other obligations."


"I'm not sure, Sensei, I mean the other guys have had months on me."


"Ah, don't worry about it. I know you live nearby, so do I and I can give you a crash course over the break, by the time April comes around I assure you you'll be just as good as any of the others! So what do say?"


Takashi looked me in the eyes, then at the others who'd been watching, all seemed impressed with the guy… then he grinned and said: "Ya' know what, I think I'll take you up on your offer… But for now I've got someone I need to talk to."


And with that, he began removing the sparring gear and with a final wave he headed up towards the school, where I knew the Soujutsu club held its practices. I felt pretty good with myself; I'd just nipped a whole bunch of angst and teenage drama in the bud before- wait… did I just pull a Therapy-no-Jutsu...


Holy shit. I really just did.


Jesus... if I hadn't already known I was in a manga series, I'd have been convinced of it after that little spat… that sake bottle I kept in my closet was becoming even more appealing….


"Hey Sensei!" Oga exclaimed with a smile and threw an arm over my shoulder. "That was a pretty cool thing you just did. Fer an old guy."


"Watch it Oga, I'm not even thirty yet."


"Like I said, old guy. And ya' know ya still haven't finished the circuit, right?"


I paled slightly as his smile grew. "Oh… right…" Fuck do I need a drink…


**********


The next morning I was a hair stiff, and more than a little sore, but about as ready as I could be for this duel. Over and over again in my head I questioned whether I'd make a mistake insisting on this fight. On the bright side, getting her to accept her more violent nature as a part of her would be a boon in the early days of the apocalypse. Having Saeko going all out from moment one would literally save lives. On the other hand, fucking Christ, what if one of us went too far? What if I hurt her? What if she she hurt me? Or worse yet, both. We'd never be able to recover quickly enough for Z-Day and then we'd be completely, wholly, and rightly fucked.


"Lord in heaven. Please don't let me fuck this up. Amen," I prayed under my breath as I walked to my first class, making the sign of the cross for good measure.


For the rest of the day I was in a fog, going through the motions as Kurokawa and I continued trying to cram in some last minute tidbits of information into these kids' heads for the finals.


When the lunch bell finally rang, with more muscle memory than any real thought I made my way towards Shizuka's office. When we'd started dating I'd learned that they kept a mini-fridge in her office. Technically it was for various medical items, such as cold compresses and the like, but it doubled for personal lunch storage. I'd jumped at the opportunity to store something other than canned food or sandwiches and not risk getting my lunch stolen out of the faculty fridge...


If he wasn't blackmailing people or ruining their lives, he was stealing their lunches. Seriously, Shido's wickedness had no limits.


Plus, there was something special to be said about having your girlfriend make you a bento every day for work. Cliche as hell, yes, but let's be honest: I was living in an anime after all. And it was also really cute. Especially the way she made sure to give it cute decorations and would light up whenever I opened it.


When I opened the door I was on autopilot and was only vaguely aware of my surroundings. Meaning that I was completely unaware when a hundred and thirty pounds of gorgeous woman glomped me from behind the door, nearly knocking me to the floor in my inattentiveness.


Some people had coffee, others used energy drinks, I used to use a whole lotta soft drinks, now? Now all I needed was my daily glomp from an overly enthusiastic blonde with the body of a goddess. Shizuka was like a shot of adrenaline straight to the brain with those embraces of hers.


Shizuka was resting her chin on my shoulder, still hugging tight I might add, when she asked; "What's wrong, Tom-kun?"


For a supposed air-head, she was amazingly perceptive.


"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." I said.


"Try me." She said with a giggle.


Turning my head and making enough space so I could kiss her cheek I said: "Alright. But be warned... it's a bit nutty."


She smiled and moved away, towards the mini fridge. "It's you, Tom. Of course it's a bit nutty."


She bent over to open the fridge, causing me to unconsciously suck in a deep breath through my nose. Hot damn! Now there was a sight I'd never grow tired of seeing.


"So," she asked, retrieving our lunches and closing the door with a slight kick from one perfectly shaped leg. "Why don't you tell me about it?"


She did a playful little twirl and placed the bentos on her desk before taking a seat. She didn't like to sit behind it when I was around, instead favoring the far side so we could sit together.


"You want the short version or the long version?" I asked with a sigh.


She paused for a moment. "Hm. Start with the short. I don't like suspense."


I loosed another sigh. "I have a duel with Saeko Busijima, the captain of the Kendo club after school."


She blinked. "And I'm sure there's quite the story behind this duel, right?"


"That would be the long version," I replied.


She smiled. "So, did you tell me because you didn't want me to worry or because you didn't want me to nag you about getting yourself hurt?"


I raised an eyebrow. "I'm fighting an eighteen year old girl and you're worried about my health? Talk about being supportive of your man, honey?"


"She's a nationally recognized kendo champion, dear."


"And I taught a bunch of otaku how to conquer Norway… have a little faith in me, could ya?"


"Don't be silly. I'm your girlfriend. Of course I have faith in you." She raised a finger. "But I'm also the one who cleans you and your boys up when you get too enthusiastic! And fretting over you is part of both my jobs!"


That set me chuckling, the tension flowing out of me like a river. The woman was a balm to the soul, how the hell was I so lucky?


"Too true, honey, too true, but I'm getting off topic."


She nodded. "That you are. You came here for lunch, right?"


"But of course." I lifted the lid of the bento to see that she'd made the hotdog octopi again, with the rice balls decorated with bean jam smiley faces. "Ah, a work of art, as always."


That prompted another one of those golden smiles as I make a quick sign of the cross and muttered a prayer of thanksgiving before digging in, Shizuka giving her usual cheerful cry of "Itadakimasu". We then quickly dug into our lunches. As I ate, some of those concerns I'd been worrying over began to crawl back in but at a much more muted level that I could keep a lid on.


"So about that story, well, what happened was that about two days ago," I began. "Saeko paid me a visit. Seems she had the idea of pitting the best of her kendo club against the best of my boys."


"Sounds alright so far," she replied, gently picking up a piece of sushi and eating it with graceful relish and a smack of her lips.


Shit, what was it about that women that made even eating semi-erotic?


"The problem is I pushed her," I replied.


"If you say you propositioned one of your students I'm going to be very cross."


"W-what?!" I exclaimed, turning a brilliant shade of read. "What would even make you say that?"


"I wanted to get a rise out of you," she said with a twinkle in her eyes. "I know you'd never do that. Not with how shy you were the first time we-"


I coughed. "Can I tell the story? Please?"


She giggled. "Carry on!"


I sighed. "It was obvious that she really just wanted to go one on one..."


Her eyes sparkled. "Are you sure you didn't-"


"No!" I exclaimed as she laughed.


I love the woman, but god damn her dirty mind!


"Shizuka, she's a fighter! I've been dealing with aggressive people for months. Maybe she wanted the match, maybe she didn't, but I could tell that what she really wanted was to fight someone she didn't have to hold back on. But she was too afraid of herself to admit it! So I pushed her and made her challenge me properly. And now I kind of feel like an ass about it because that's the kind of shit Shido pulls all the fucking time."


"Not really," she replied. "Sounds like you did it because you that she, your student, was somehow feeling..." She pressed her chopsticks against her chin for a moment, looking for the right words. "Out of touch with herself. Right?"


"Yeah, that's a good way of putting it."


"Then you weren't acting anything like Shido," she clarified. "Maybe I've just watched too many martial arts movies, but I think you were just acting like a good teacher. Your job as a teacher is to help these kids even if they don't want to be helped. To teach them how to become stronger and better people. Sometimes you can talk to them and they'll listen, sometimes they don't and you have to trick them into learning. Right?"


I smiled. "I guess you're right on that part. Still I hope we don't accidentally hurt each other, there's only…" I stopped right there, quashing a desire to clap my hand over my mouth. Jesus, I'd almost admitted to the Zompocalypse with only a month left. Don't trip at the finish line, man.


Shizuka didn't seem to notice my trip up. "Don't worry, Tom-chan," she replied with a smile. "If you're so worried, how about I come by and supervise to make sure everyone comes out okay. Okay?"


I smiled. "Thank you, Shizuka. I don't know what I did to deserve a girl as great as you."


In fact, I thought as I plastered a slightly plastic smile on my face, I really didn't deserve her. I'd been lying to her since the moment we met.


Oh god, did I need a drink.

 

[Brian Boru]

AN: With gratuitous input from Psyckosama and Editing from Grey Rook, here's part Sixteen, enjoy!
AN Note to QQ only: If you randy bastards want to put your imaginations from this chapter on paper feel free but I ain't contributing...

Several hours after my lunch with Shizuka, the final bell for the day rang and I made my way towards the locker rooms with a change of clothes under my arms. After that lunch-time conversation, I'd become a bit more accepting of the fact that yes, I was about to have a dragout fight with a high school student, and yes, I was going to have to go all out on her if I didn't want her to reduce me to a greasy stain on the rug.

And yes, I was still having problems coming to terms with it, because the idea that I was in danger of getting my ass kicked by a Japanese schoolgirl was still a bit hard to believe.

Would someone please remind me of why I went and picked a fight with a self-admitted sadist with world-class kenjutsu training? Because I was still wondering and was in no mood to become her... her...personal pleasure object. At least at 18 she was no longer technically jailbait, whatever hollow, twisted comfort that fact might provide.

Dear God I must be stressed out for my mind to go there.

I tried to remove that little image by reminding myself that, as good as Saeko was, I'd been working myself to the bone for a year, I'd taken the worst nerds and otakus in this damn school and had turned them into warriors able to conquer cities. I had indirectly humbled a score of the worst street gangs in Tokonasu.

Of course I could handle one crazy samurai girl with a 'hurting people' fetish. Right?

A quick change later and I was marching into the dojo. I wore the full gear; helmet, chainmail, arm and leg guards, a wooden practice axe in one hand, and I intended to grab my personal shield being kept in the dojo.

I told her that she had to take this one hundred percent seriously, or she'd lose for sure, but the reality was that I'd have to do the same as well or face the same consequence.

When I reached the door of the dojo, I couldn't help but notice all the shoes at the front door of the building and the sound of voices, seems like I was a bit late to the party.

Sliding open the door, I was hit by a wave of sound as both the Huscarls and the Thegns had come out in full force to watch this fight. All fifty or so of them, they'd also come with their own gear on, including their shields which they were using as impromptu drums as they hammered the axes against their sides, at first a loud cacophony but eventually a rhythm like the heartbeat of the universe itself began to form, and eventually several score of battle-hardened young men were drumming their support for their Cynning.

There was a good reason drums had been used by warhosts since times immemorial, there was something primal about that rhythmic hammering. An ancient heartbeat that reached down to a man's soul, for first time that day I was actually excited for this fight. In response to this sudden exuberance on my part, I raised my axe over my head, and my Werod roared their approval loud enough to make the rafters of the dojo shake.

I happened to glance to the other side of the dojo and saw the kendo club sitting over there. A plain nasty grin spread across my face when I took in how spooked they were at the rhythmic shield drumming as well as the boisterous support I had from my boys.

Then I happened to spot Shizuka sitting in one corner of the Dojo, a first aid kit by her side. When we made eye contact, she gave me one of her million-watt smiles and waved in my direction. Suddenly, all the chanting of my name in the world didn't seem to matter a wit.

Riding that particular buzz, I turned to my opponent and my brows promptly furrowed. There was Saeko herself, kitted out in a full set of kendo armor, save for the large headgear indicative to the sport, nor did I see one either in her arms or near her.

I politely bowed to the young woman, then asked: "I hate to ask, but where's your helmet Ms. Busijima? I can't really start this duel if you don't have one."

"I have decided to forgo the helmet," she replied. "While it offers effective protection, it is ill suited for a 'real fight' as you called it."

I frowned. "Well, lucky for you then that our helmets aren't quite so limited."

I glanced over to the boys. "Alright, who wants to lend Ms. Busijima his cover?"

It was telling to the nature of teenage boys that virtually all of them had raised their hands.

I sighed. Boys will be boys, and Saeko was pretty much a walking fantasy. Of course they'd be stumbling over each other in an attempt to win her attention.

What?

I was in a relationship, I wasn't blind.

"Alright, let's do this fairly." I then proceeded to cover my eyes with my left while with the index finger of my right pointed out I began moving my finger back and forth and up and down before finally coming to a stop at random. Opening my eyes, I smirked and said: "Alright, Touji, you get to lend the helmet, go on ahead."

Touij, one of my huscarls, quickly got up and scampered over to Busijima and plucked his helmet off his head and handed over to her. "Oh... erm... don't worry, I-I disinfected it just this morning… unless you want another one? B-because that's alright…"

Apparently, how to talk to women is not a skill one spontaneously learns. Little late to teach any of them, though… darn… not that I really was one for teaching that particular skill to begin with.

While Touji was beginning to self-destruct, Busijima saved the poor guy's dignity by taking the helm with a smile. "Thank you Touji-san, I'll wear it with honor." And with that she plopped it right on her head. "Perfect fit."

Touji managed to mumble something and with a quick bow scampered back to his spot, the other boys either ribbing him or congratulating him for his lucky break.

That bit of drama out of the way, I turned to Busijima, who looked a little incongruous wearing a northern Germanic helm with the VERY Japanese Kendo gear she wore as well. Raising my shield which I had grabbed while Touji had been up, I then pointed my axe at her and bellowed my challenge. "I, Thomas Brody, Cynning of this Werod comes in response to the challenge of Saeko Busijima. In accordance to the old ways this fight will be until submission or one combatant is either no longer able to carry on or struck with a blow that would be lethal had we chosen to use live steel. I accept these conditions, do you?"

Saeko blinked at that for a moment, then grinned. "I, Saeko of Clan Busijima, Swordswoman and Captain of this club accepts your conditions. Let us see who is the greater fighter."

"Let's…" I growled. "Good luck."

She smirked. "You as well."

I then all but roared as I crashed my shield, Busijima was silent but she twirled her sword several times that I knew for a fact were completely unnecessary.

Then Shizuka, who was the only neutral in the building, stood up and raised her arm, then shouted: "Begin!"

I quickly approached her, shield raised and my axe hand positioned to strike at the first possible-

Shit!

The room resounded with the crack of wooden sword against wooden shield, as Saeko went on the attack. It was only reflexes made from countless hours of practice managed to keep Saeko from cracking my skull within the first two seconds of the fight.

She'd started with an all-out assault. She'd probably been hoping that she'd take me out with an all-offensive strategy. And I had to give her credit, it almost worked. Unfortunately for her, it didn't - which meant she was open.

So I attacked. Deflecting her blow with one hand I brought my axe down towards her shoulder.

The girl was fast, I'll tell you that. It was a testament to both her speed and her skill that she was able to roll away. And probably lucky for us both, because had it connected I'd have given the strike even odds of breaking her collarbone.

A couple bodylengths away, she rolled to her feet with a level of grace that could probably humble even an olympic gymnast. And in her eyes I saw respect along with a flash of excitement. It was the look of someone who'd finally found a proper fight.

My body now flooding with adrenaline, I did my best to prepare for her next attack.

Saeko's smile wasn't entirely wholesome as she fell back into her fighting stance and we once again began the dance of death.

As she went on the attack again, I realized that Saeko had one very clear and very exploitable weakness that, if properly leveraged, would lead to absolute victory: she was a sadist. She was a skilled fighter without a doubt, but her driving force was her literal lust for blood and violence.

This lent her an air of predictability. If she could attack, she'd attack, and given the choice between between defense and offense, she'd always choose offence. It was probably a somewhat useful trait in the Japanese martial mindset. Their weapons, armor, and strategy all lent themselves to favor the offense.

But unfortunately for her, I was fighting using very different methods and a very different mindset.

If Japanese methods favored skill and speed with the intent of ending it with a perfect killing blow, then the traditional european methods were designed to force the enemy into a grinding contest of strength and will.

As long as I kept it on my terms, I'd win this, if only because I'd be able to exhaust her.

Saeko moved in for another attack, I deflected it. And then another, and then another.

I could see the frustration and fury growing in her eyes, but I could also see restraint.

Shit. I didn't want to humiliate her. It wouldn't do for her to doubt her abilities this close to Z-Day. If anything she needed to be less restrained when the day came, not more so.

And because of that I had to take a risk.

"I told you, Saeko!" I exclaimed as I blocked yet another strike, this time taking an opportunistic attack with my axe. "If you want to win, you have to give it you all! So how about you cut it out with this Yamato Nadeshiko shit and show me your A-game!"

Her eyes flashed with fury as she understood my words. "H-how dare you!"

"You're holding back," I said with a growl. "I can see it in your eyes. They way you're fighting now, I'll grind you to dust. So either let the tiger out of its cage, or get off the mat."

She stepped back and for a moment I saw conflict in her eyes. So I rolled mine.

The little shock of disrespect seemed to do its job, because she simply took a deep breath and fell back into her stance.

The change in her demeanor was subtle but definitive, and I'll freely admit, really fucking creepy. The look on her face was... well... the last time I'd seen a look even remotely like that on a woman's face was the last time Shizuka and I, well, a gentleman doesn't tell.

I'd never really understood the phrase 'bloodlust' until now. The look in her eyes was a rather twisted mixture of longing that almost defied explanation. It was one half burning sexual desire, one half impassioned rage, one half giddy expectation, and 150% really fucking disturbing.

I need an adult….

Oh crap.

I am the adult!

If she was fast before, now she almost seemed to teleport into her blows as I blocked three bonebreaking strikes in as many seconds.

Shit. At his rate she'd pressure me hard enough to find a chink in my armor before she ran out of steam. I couldn't just defend anymore. I had to break up her momentum. Now it was my turn to step it up a notch.

A moment after she struck for a fourth time I struck out at her with a shield bash, which forced her backwards and threw her off balance for a brief moment. She almost immediately recovered, but that was enough time for me to step into the attack.

She grinned like a maniac as she brought up her sword to block and probed out with a side kick.

I smiled. Alright, so we're using hands and feet now, eh? Good to know.

You know, she kicks like a mule for a 120lb girl. It wasn't enough to do any harm, but it was enough to buy her just enough time to disengage and start circling me like a shark.

I smiled. Good. Now she was using her head. Now was when it would get real.

I could already see that the fight was taking its toll on her. She was flushed and she was breathing hard, through a treasonous part of me noted just as much seemed to be an erotic flush as much as exhaustion.

Would have been almost sexy if it wasn't completely terrifying. Shit, this girl had a bad case of the cray-cray. I almost felt bad that I'd goaded her into letting it out of the cage. Almost.

It was exactly the kind of crazy we were all going to need if we were going to stay alive.

On and on the fight continued, neither one of us able to land a hit, I was too slow to hit her, and my defense was too strong for her to penetrate. I was getting tired, but she was starting to draw back more and more.

The look in her eyes was changing. Still creepy, but changing. Now it was more primal hunger cut with desperation. Christ, I'd never actually been in a fight that actually felt dirty before, but something about this girl made a duel downright lewd.

Then I saw her bunch up, as if preparing for one last attack, she broke into a run, then surprised everyone when she lept into the air and did one of the last last things anyone would have ever expected to see in a weapons duel: a two-legged flying drop kick.

It was damned impressive, I'll tell you that, but there was one problem. It was powerful, it was unexpected, but it was also one of those tricks you used only once in front of a particular opponent. It was a shock and awe attack designed to stall and stagger the enemy, leaving them open for the kill. Extremely risky. A gamble, and one that she lost, for several reasons.

First was that I had the advantage of having seen the High School of the Dead anime before I'd arrived. Which meant I'd seen this move before. I hadn't been really expecting it, but on the same note, I knew she was able to do it. So I never had to face the same degree of 'what the fuck' that another enemy might face.

Second, she was fast, strong, powerful and fit, but in the end, inertia equals mass times velocity, and I outmassed her twice over.

What all this meant was when she went for the kick, I immediately charged into her taking the blow to my shield, then launched off with as much strength as I could muster. My greater mass times my own velocity canceled out hers, and sent her sprawling.

Again, it was a testament to her speed and skill that she was able to recover as quickly as she did, but unlike that first big attack, this time I was the one with the momentum.

I will freely admit that I body slammed a 18 year old girl, pinning her sword with one knee as I dropped the other onto her chest before slamming my shield down next to her head, just inches away from her throat.

"You are dead."

Her eyes went wide with realization and shock as they locked on mine. For a long moment we stayed in place, holding each other's size, before she smiled and laughed before releasing a suspiciously moan-like sigh.

"Your win, Brody-sensei," she said in a husky voice.

Quickly. Very quickly. And actually somewhat desperately I drew away from her. It was actually with a moment's hesitation that I offered her a hand up. Normally I wouldn't have hesitated, but seriously, sparring with this girl when she let it out was one of those things that could throw any man for a whirl.

Now that she was no longer hanging on, I was able to see exactly how fatigued she was. She was barely able to stand. No wonder she'd gone for an all or nothing.

She slowly bowed to me. "You are a most skillful opponent, Brody-sensei," she said holding onto as much poise as possible all things considered.

"You almost had me a couple of times," I replied with a smile. "You are a skilled warrior."

While it was hard to see, considering how flushed she already was, the praise seemed to have an effect and she went just a hair redder.

Christ...

"Thank you, sensei."

"You are welcome, Saeko."

"I look forward to our next match."

Christ....

I smiled. "As do I. Once we've rested we should start planning the match between the clubs."

At this, my boys started to smile while she began to look a hair intimidated.

"As do I, sensei."

She turned around and walked back to her side, but as she did, I heard her mutter something under her breath. It was so low I shouldn't have heard it. Wouldn't have, if I hadn't heard it before.

A chill went up my spine as I flashed back to the anime and one particular scene and one particular quote.

"I'm wet."

Oh, sweet merciful Christ...

I returned to my side of the Dojo to cheers, and as I removed my helmet, Shizuka rushed over and planted a kiss on my lips.

Normally I'd have enjoyed it for all it was worth, but right now I'd been dealing with such mixed fucking signals that all I wanted was nice, long, cold shower.

In liquid nitrogen.

 

[Brian Boru]

Again with thanks to Psyckosama and Grey Rook for their contributions to this fic here's chapter 17



Jesus Christ.

¥ 20,000,000

I was in the hole for 20 million fucking yen.

That was over two hundred grand for those not in the know of the exchange rate.

The very feeling made my skin crawl as if I had invisible ants crawling up my legs. I hated debt. I hated the very thought of it and the one little glimmering light to having been cast into this soon to be nightmarish hellworld of the restless dead was the simple fact that ROB had been so kind as to not have my student loans follow me over.

So you can understand that it was with the utmost reluctance that I'd signed up for every fucking credit card that I could find. All in the last month. Because I didn't want there to be a society left when that first round of bills hit me.

Every moment I wasn't with the boys or with Shizuka I'd spent buying shit and locking it up in a cargo unit I'd picked up outside the city limits. Everything I could use to survive. And the end result I could get before reaching this point, about 20 million yen. Give more than take.

I had a crate of water filters.

Tons of rice. Literally. Dried beans. Canned meat. Sugar. Salt. Flour. Enough peanut butter to send an entire herd of elephants into a feeding frenzy. Powdered milk. So much Spam that I was afraid that my boys would turn into the Monty Python Vikings! Powdered eggs. Even a full pallet of instant noodles. Everything I knew would last long-term without refrigeration.

And that wasn't counting seeds for planting. Potatoes. Clothing. Weapons. Equipment. More shit than you could shake a very large stick at.

And this was with me grossly abusing wholesale, thrift stores, and frankly every grey and black market contact I could squeeze out of the Theigns without being too obvious about it.

And the end result? A storage compartment the size of a two-car garage loaded with goods.

Thank God for that free first month they were offering.

I was going to have to steal a fucking truck or three to unload it before the EMP. And you know what, there's a reason I'd also picked up a couple pairs of bolt cutters. All those other containers were probably going to be a good place to go shopping.

On the other hand, it was somewhat risky. There might be other people paranoid enough to have stashed emergency cashes in a container park. But, I'd taken some steps to ensure its security. There was one entrance and it was easily fortified. It would make a good base from which to reorganize. As such, I'd planted an idea in the heads of the Theigns over the past couple weeks.

Simply put, if shit ever goes down, if things ever get bad, that storage park is our meeting point. I told them all my entry code to the gate with absolute trust and the knowledge that I'd render them useless to a woman if they abused it. I was hoping that they were smart enough to consider the fucking Zombie Apocalypse as "Shit Going Down".

As I went through the list I'd made one last time I glanced up at the small alarm clock that was one of the only things left in my almost cleared out bedroom.

It was time.

I took a deep breath and with a trembling hand, I opened up the bottle of Sake I'd been sitting on for almost a year.

What I was about to do. It needed to be done. But I'd be damned if I was going to do this completely sober. Before coming here, I never drank, I didn't like the taste and the horror stories I'd heard of relatives going into dark places because of that addiction had always scared me off of it. After coming here, my more social lifestyle had forced me to at least sample, still didn't enjoy it but I could tolerate it and I never got wasted.

But right now?

Right now I needed the things that dark place had to offer.

"Sláinte."

--------------

The night air felt cool on my skin, there was also that charged, sensed feeling of a storm coming, a big one too. But the night was clear. I guessed it was just the anticipation.

I wore a large hoodie with the hood hanging low over my face and I kept my face pointed down. The sake had calmed my nerves but I could still feel a slight buzz of panic in the deepest pit of my stomach. Thank God for the Japanese habits of wearing medical masks while they were sick. I never could have gotten away with covering my face like this in the states.

As I made my way down the empty street I went over my plan over and over again.

I was a simple enough plan. I'd gone over it again and again. Walked the routes again and again. I knew what I'd have to do and where to do it. I could do it in my sleep at this point. But the planning was one thing. The execution, on the other hand? That was a totally different story.

I was taken out of my mental anguish when I saw my objective.

Game time.

Swallowing I picked up the pace. I was 20 feet away, 15, 10, I was almost on top of-

Now!

It wasn't hard to find basic martial arts weapons in Japan. In fact, you could pick a rather solid wooden baton up for only a couple hundred yen. A fact that Koichi Shido discovered quite forcefully as I brought mine down on the back of his neck.

Shido was a thin, fragile-looking man. Physically fit, yes, but possessed of no great strength or durability. As such he collapsed to the pavement like a puppet with its strings cut. Laying on the ground in a boneless heap, not making a single sound.

My heart hammered in my chest. I'd done it, the bastard was dead, or at least would be soon enough. Kurokawa's friend was avenged, and the shit would never develop a murderous sex cult of personality or harm another student ever again.

Shit, man! Okay! I know the plan! He's down! He's down! Part two!

Grabbing him by the legs I quickly pulled him into the alley way from which I emerged. It was one I chose for two very specific reasons: first, no cameras around. Second, there was a manhole cover about 30 feet in.

Taking a moment to give the body a couple strong kicks to the head, I used the baton to leverage the cover. It was heavy, even for me, but I managed to open it without making too much noise.

And then, after giving him one last kick for good measure, down Shido went into the abyss, head first.

At the bottom I heard a light thud and after a couple heartbeats, his glasses followed. Then I made the sign of the cross and moved the cover back into place.

God be willing, this would be the last anyone ever saw of Koichi Shido.

Then, I stuffed the baton into a plastic bag. And while I didn't see any blood, just to comfort myself I picked up a bottle of bleach I'd also left to the side, and then ran it down the trail which I'd dragged him. Then I threw the bottle into another bag and I was off.

The bleach I disposed of in a dumpster a couple hundred yards away. It was regular, everyday trash. The baton, on the other hand, was going right into an incinerator.

Panting like I'd run a marathon I leaned against a wall for a few moments, a few breathy chuckles escaping my lips. I'd done it, mission accomplished, I'd done what I'd set out to do. Shido was dead…

Oh God! What have I done!?

What I needed to do. He was going to kill so many people through his bumbling arrogance and casual sadism. He was a sociopath. A murderer already. Kill one to save a hundred. It was the lesser evil committed to prevent a greater evil.

And if I kept telling myself that, maybe I'd actually believe it.

Not now though, as a wave of gorge twisted my stomach, almost bringing me to my knees. Barfing wasn't something I did, I had a cast-iron stomach when it came to that…normally…

Right now, however, it was taking everything I had to not empty the contents of my stomach right then and there as atavistic guilt flooded every part of my psyche.

What do I do?

Then I saw a glint of gold flash in front of me, the golden crucifix I'd taken to wearing not long after my breakdown from learning that my grandfather of this world had died in Operation Market Garden had fallen front under my shirt and was slowly turning, glimmering in the light as if it was giving me a sign.

I grabbed the Crucifix in my right hand with the desperation of a man holding onto a lifeline. A mad hope filled me and after glancing around to get my bearings, I made a beeline for one of my weekly destinations.

Hopefully the doors wouldn't be locked. Hopefully I wasn't about to make a giant mistake. Though, at the moment, the possible consequences were the last thing going through my mind.

--------------

"In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." I muttered under my breath as I dipped my fingers into the baptismal font of Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church and made the sign of the cross.

To my surprise, the place had been unlocked and a few non-service lights were on, meaning that someone was here.

Following the signs, I'd quickly entered the part of the church where the staff member's offices were located. Looking at the placards, I saw to my relief that the one I needed the most had a light coming from under the door.

All but power-walking I made my way down the hallway until I stood in front of the door. I then raised my right fist and just barely stopped myself from pounding on the door. Instead, I knocked politely on the door.

There was silence for a moment, and then I heard a deep but jovial voice say: "Give me a moment and I'll be with you."

"Father, I wish to give confession."

"Hm. A little late, but I'm sure you have your reasons. Go into the confessional and I will be with you in a minute."

"Alright, Father."

Making my way through the hallways I found the confessional and quickly entered.

About a minute later I heard the door to the priest's chamber open and close.

I took a deep breath. "Forgive me Father, for I have sinned..."

"A rather grand one, I'd assume, for you to be here at this time of night," he said with some disarming humor. "Tell me what you've done, my son?"

I took a deep breath. "Father... what would you do if you knew something horrible was going to happen. Something so terrible that it defies all logic and that even trying to explain it to someone else would see you viewed as a madman. Something that you couldn't stop. Something you could only prepare for. And you know... you knew that there was one person whose actions when the time came, were going to be... so... horrific. So... abominable... that he had to be stopped."

There was silence, my heart began to pound in my chest, then in a soft tone he said: "What have you done?"

"I killed him," I replied. "He was no innocent man. He's casually destroyed lives. Killed men as surely as if he'd done it with his own hands. And I knew that in the days ahead he would destroy countless more. So I killed him."

More silence, then he sighed. "Could you have stopped this man in any other way?"

"No," I replied maybe a bit more sharply than I'd intended. "He was untouchable. His connections too deep, his contacts too powerful."

More silence. "And what is going to come that would make him so dangerous?"

"You wouldn't believe me," I replied with a sigh.

"Try me."

"With all due respect, Father, I'm not about to make a Cassandra of myself. You'll know soon enough."

"Then I cannot give you absolution," he said after a moment.

"Then let's make a deal, Father."

I could almost hear him blink. "It doesn't work that way, my son."

"I'm going to leave a note in this confessional. It has a location and a number for the lock," I said after a moment. "When the time does come. Go there. Know there is no saving them. That you can only save the people you're with... and for the love of all that is holy, do not let them bite you."

"Bite me?" He asked incredulously. "Who are they?"

"You'll see. And yes, bite you." I sighed. "And if it doesn't come to pass, I'll turn myself in willingly."

There was complete silence and I knew I'd lost him for now. There was nothing else I could do, but pray he understood. "I have to go, Father. May God and all the Saints be with you in the days ahead." I jotted down the information I promised him on a sheet of note paper, then I rose and quickly opened the door and fled, tears of frustration in my eyes.

"Wait! Wait! Come back! I don't understand!" The priest voice called out. I ignored it, and though my heart wrenched at what I'd done, I knew it could be no other way.

His voice rang in my ears all the way to my final destination. I stood in front of the rather upscale house for a few long moments, then I banged on the door, time to confess one last time.

There was silence for a moment then a like flickered on and Shizuka opened the front door, a pink tank top that was struggling to contain her bounty and a pair of short shorts were all that she was wearing. For once I didn't goggle. Instead, I did my best to control my emotions.

"Tom?"

"Guess what day tomorrow is?" I asked, with a smile.

She blinked. "What?"

"The one year anniversary of the day we met."

She blinked. "Really?"

"Really."

And then smiled, "Well then. You'd best come in so we can... celebrate."

If I wasn't going to find solace in religion, then I'd find it in sin.

 

[Brian Boru]

AN: With thanks to Psycko for his help with the fight scenes and to Grey Rook for his continuing editing work. Finally here's to all you bastards patient enough to wait for the big day. Here it is!


It 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.

 

[Brian Boru]

AN: Again with thanks to Psyckosama and Grey Rook, here's the next Chapter.



It turned out that fighting Zombies one on one wasn't so difficult, the bastards were slow and as long as you kept moving you could dart in, split their skull and dart back out of the way.

Ryusei, the fucking moron, had blown the gates wide open, leaving an opening fifteen feet across for the undead to just waltz through. However, the jackass had done us one favour: his mad dash for freedom had taken out the zombies that had already begun to congregate around the gate and the racket he made had drawn any others towards him. It'd only last for a short time as he was going far too fast to make a good decoy. They'd turn their attention back to the school soon.

But until then, I'd make a fighting retreat until the boys showed up. And as thin as the horde was at the moment I was making progress. I kept my head on a swivel, making dead sure not to let the fuckers get too close to me or in my blind spots.

Occasionally, I'd give one of them a swift kick with my heavy-duty boots, they weren't steel toed, though, despite the possible protection those had they were more likely to break your damn toes, then smashing in their skulls with a swift stomp with my heel.

Thankfully, though, they were still coming in a trickle, which meant I could take them individually. I was determined not to allow the bastards to enter the school grounds because if they did we'd lose our choke point and would never be able to push them out.

This location would serve as our Thermopylae. And while I had no intention of dining in hell, we'd hold these Hot Gates for as long as we could...

If they made it in time. The trickle I'd been able to handle was now becoming a stream I was having to move back and forth to prevent the undead from getting behind me or around me. I was now dual wielding with my axe in one hand and a knife in the other, hacking and slashing in all directions. Shit, I was getting surrounded. Dammit! If I died now everything would be for nothing!

The thought of leaving behind Shizuka and my boys lit a new fire under me and I began swinging faster, becoming a whirling dervish of destruction, the corpses were dropping faster and faster, yet for everyone I took down, two more took their place. I'd always heard that term before and I'd never really understood the true horror of such a situation until now.

With a final burst of effort I cleared as large an area around as I could to buy myself a few moments….and more and more kept coming right towards me…

Then, as if by magic, everything changed.

I heard an impact next to me and standing there, axe in hand, was Takashi Komuro.

"Aren't you a sight for sore eyes," I muttered as I stood up. Nothing like a bit of backup to trigger your second wind.

To the side I saw Rei Miyamoto holding one of our spears at the ready as well as his friend Hisashi Igou who was standing in a Kempo pose.

"I was cutting when I got the call," he admitted. "Saw everything from the roof. Made it as fast as I could."

"Attention all students!" the speaker system suddenly announced. "This is an emergency situation and all students are to seek shelter in the school! I repeat! All students are to seek shelter inside the school! If anyone is bitten, please report it to a teacher immediately!"

I smiled. It seemed that Kyoko had made it to the PA system. Thank God, that could keep things from going to complete shit… just partially shit…

"Miyamoto! Igou!" I barked. "Do not engage the enemy!" I ordered.

"But we can fight!" Igou cut in.

"If they bite you, you die," I stated as I caved the head of another zombie. "You aren't properly armed. Right now I'd have to waste time to protect you. Both."

Rei flushed, "Just because we're not in your stupid club doesn't mean we're useless! I know how to fight"

"No," I snapped. "You're not!"

Pulling back from the fight for a moment I fished a key out of my pocket and threw it to her. "And you'll get your chance. But right now I need more than just another spear on the line. I need you to get all the martial arts clubs together and have them go to service room 0-14. Unlock it and take what's inside!"

"W-what?"

"We don't have time for questions! Just do it! Use the PA!"

She nodded and ran off.

Then I glanced to Igou. "Get everyone else who can fight. I don't care who, and head to gym and get every piece of sports equipment you can find that can double as a weapon! Get the fire axes from the hallways too!"

He nodded. "Right. I'll protect the school!"

Maybe it was because of an adrenaline shock but I had to fight down a giggle at the deadly seriousness of his words. Japan, such a funny place.

"You do that, kid. And don't die. That's an order."

"Yes, Sensei!"

I smiled as he ran off. And then smiled even more as a horde of latter-day Saxons came pouring from the side door of the school.

Every single one of my boys had answered the call. Including poor Kenji, the poor sod had failed a class from his own actions and was forced to take a remedial semester before he started studying for University exams. I'd pitied the poor guy at the time, but now I was thanking all the saints and every kami in Japan the guy stunk at math.

"Holy shit," Kouta exclaimed upon seeing the horde. "You really were serious!"

"Yes, because I'm one for tall tales, Kouta." I muttered flatly as most of the boys rushed forward and shield met zombie with a mighty crash.

Taking a moment to catch my breath, I took a look at my knife. Half the blade has snapped off in some zombie's skull at some point.

With a sigh I tossed it to the side and looked over to Kouta. "You have my gear?"

"Right here, Sensei!" Several of the other boys called out. Grinning, I broke from the fight, having faith that my boys could handle themselves.

I called over my shoulders as I ran to get my gear on. "Aim for the head and don't let them bite you! If they do, you're dead!"

"Like the movies?" Hayato asked from the front line.

"Just like the movies!"

Kouta helped me get my chainmail on and slid my helmet onto my head as I cinched my belt over the mail. One thing the movies never mention is that if you don't do that then the weight of the chainmail is utter murder on your shoulders. Checking myself over one last time I took a deep breath. Back to the battle.

Then my Cellphone rang.

Gritting my teeth, I answered. "What is it Oga?"

"Am I the only one who's seeing fucking zombies?"

"No you're not! We're fighting for our fucking lives here." I snarled back. "It's the fucking Zombie Apocalypse!"

"Huh. Well, shit. Listen, we're holding out for now but I'm guessing you want me to save as many of these morons as I can before we get overrun, right?""

"Yes, Oga..."

"Well shit. Guess I gotta go smash some heads and see how many of them I can kick some sense into. Meet up with you later."

"Don't do anything stupid. We're gonna need you."

"... Heh. Thanks, Sensei. Remember not to die."

He closed the line and I glanced up to watch my Huscarls throw themselves into the fray. To my relief, it seemed they were holding the line just fine. Even pushing back the horde back out of the gates and forming a two man thick line, with the ones in the back stabbing over their compatriots with the lugged spears I'd also trained them to use.

Taking a step forward, I readied myself to reenter the fray.

And then my phone rang again.

"Oh for fuck's sake!"

----------

From the door to the school, Saya Takagi looked on in mute shock.

When she'd seen that musclebound midget dork Kouta bolt from the classroom she'd been infuriated and, against her better judgement, had followed with the intention of giving him a piece of her mind. She was, after all, Class President and while she had only taken the rank to shut up her father, it still came with responsibilities and just letting him cutand run in the middle of a lecture would make her look bad.

She'd been shocked when he ignored her and dashed into the changing room with a couple dozen others of his cosplaying dork friends. She'd been ever more shocked when they came out couple minutes later looking like they were were preparing to raid the English coastline.

She wasn't about to scream at a bunch of suddenly scary-looking boys with suspiciously authentic-looking battleaxes, but she did want to know what was going on. So she followed. And then she saw something that would stick with her forever.

Fucking zombies.

She was smart. Very smart. Genius level smart. She knew because she'd been tested and was easily in the 99th percentile of intelligence in most fields. She prided herself on having an answer for everything, and when she didn't, she'd do her all to figure it out using the elements she could observe. Most of the time it worked.

Most of the time. Right now as she ran through the possibilities every she found flaws in every possibility. Rabies? No. These bodies were dead, not rabid. Fungus? No. No signs of fungal infestation. Nanotechnology? It could have been a possibility if it actually existed.

Again and again she tried to figure out something rational. And again and again, it was shot down.

About the only thing she could even make stick was "Alien Space Bats", but even then, it was a complete cop out to just shrug and say "A Wizard Did It".

But that wasn't the only thing that had caught her eye. In fact, it actually caused the lesser reaction of the two.

It was Takashi, her Takashi, with shield and axe ripping through a horde of zombies, looking like he'd tripped and fallen out of an issue of Vinland Saga.

For as long as she could remember, he'd been there for her. He was her rock, and once, maybe she'd even loved him. She knew him as well as she knew herself, or at least she'd thought she did.

As he formed a line with the other boys she was left to wonder: where had he hidden this? How had she missed this?

She frowned. It was because she'd stopped paying attention. Ever since it'd become obvious that him and Miyamoto were an item she'd forced herself to distance herself from Takashi, acting surly and insulting him at every opportunity. She'd been ashamed for herself later, but it was for the best. Better to set boundaries now and prevent heartbreak later. Then he started to act like an irritating slacker who couldn't even show up for class half the time and she felt she'd been proven right in her actions.

It had vexed the hell out of her and twisted her perceptions. But now her mind was processing new data and the end result was right in front of her.

"Hold the line!" he cried out. "If we fall, the school falls! Give them nothing! Take from them, everything!"

"That's 300, you jackass!" A male voice called from the shield wall.

"Shut up and fight, Kenta! I'd like to see you come up with something better!"

That actually started off laughing among those idiots! How could they be laughing in a situation like this?

Then it struck her. No. They weren't idiots. They knew what they were doing. They were keeping their spirits up. They were risking their lives so that their classmates could survive.

Her eyes locked on Takashi, and she thought back to how she'd been treating him. He, her oldest and most beloved friend. She'd thought that he'd turned into a wastrel, but she'd been wrong, he was a hero.

And the only feeling she could summon was a cold and biting sense of shame.

---------

Most students knew service room 0-14 as the unassuming door in the basement nobody ever went into. It was the most remote and least convenient of the various maintenance rooms in the school. As such, it was also the most uncommonly used. Kept inside were rarely-used seasonal items and equipment of no great importance to basically anyone. The kind of stuff everybody needed but nobody used.

When he'd changed jobs, Tom had made sure to make copies of all the keys. He knew in the days to come being able to access any room in the school would be useful. Such as right now.

This, however, was not known to Rei Miyamoto as she ran down to said room as quickly as she could.

She'd given the announcement, and after some screaming from Ms Hayashi, Principle Yamada had acquiesced and sounded the call.

Moments later, she found herself running towards the storage room as fast as she could.

And it was something of a bother when she saw Saeko Busujima waiting for her, bokken in hand.

Seriously? She'd run as quickly as she could! She'd been the one to tell them to make the announcement! How the hell did she beat her?

"Miyamoto-san," Saeko said with a nod.

"Senpai," she replied in greeting.

"Do you know what this is about?" her senior asked with absolute seriousness. "Through the windows I saw Brody-Sensei's club fighting with a mass of individuals at the gate.There are bodies. I was already on my way out when I heard the announcement. Explain. Now."

"I...this is going to sound crazy but…" she sighed. "Zombies."

If there was one absolute with Saeko Busujima it was her iron clad control. The girl always wore a mask of ironclad serenity. As such, Rei had to resist the urge to laugh when the girl took on one of the most gobsmacked expressions she'd ever seen.

Then her eyes narrowed. "Do not joke with me, Miyamoto-san..."

"I'm not joking!" she exclaimed. "Takashi's out the fighting a giant horde of zombies and Brody-sensei told me to get everyone from the martial arts club and unlock this room!"

At the mention of Brody-sensei's name, the older girl blinked and then gave a stiff nod. "I see."

Rei blinked. Wow. That was all it took for her to believe her?

"Please open the door."

Rei blushed and nodded, fishing the key out of her pocket. Then she placed it into the lock of the heavy wooden door and turned the knob. The door opened smoothly with a slight squeak, then she reached over and flicked the light switch.

What she beheld was one hell of a sight.

On one side of the room was a vast pile of various holiday decorations, capped off by a large plastic santa someone had decided to glue a pair of aviator sunglasses to.

On the other was an honest-to-god armory. Leaning against the wall was row upon row of weapons. Spears, compound bows, quivers full of arrows, a mountain of martial arts weapons, even swords, honest to god swords!

Like the ones from the club room, the spears Brody-sensei had hidden down here were different from the traditional yari. They were larger and heavier, with a viciously long triangular blade with two crossbars underneath it. Her guess was that they were some kind of European spear. Not exactly what she was used to, but well balanced and wickedly sharp. A dependable, no frills weapon.

Her head turned at the sound of a gasp.

Saeko had followed her into the room and was standing in front of the row of swords. A flush had spread across her face and the expression she was showing was indescribable. Tentatively she reached out and picked up one of the swords.

Most of the swords had been dojo-grade weapons. The kind used by senior students of a style to showcase their skills without endangering a more valuable weapon. They were almost entirely utilitarian in design, not even bothering to have many of the common decorations given to a traditionally made Japanese blade. This one, however, the one Saeko had chosen, was a very different weapon indeed.

The blade had a black Saya and Tsuka, wrapped in purple silk with finely polished brass detailing. The Tsuba was not entirely traditional, being made of black steel with an inlay of brass in the shape and form of a lotus.

Almost reverently she drew the sword and gasped. The blade was traditionally forged.

Saeko gave the weapon a quick study and a test swing, and he smile turned to a pout for just a second, but returned quickly when she noticed the small tag hanging off of thesaeko of the weapon.

Looking over, she read it.

Saeko. Protect the school.

The older girl took a deep breath and quickly sheathed the weapon. Her look was one of absolute determination. "Of course, sensei."

Clenching her fist, Saeko rushed over to the final part of the armory: a rack full of leather jackets. There were various styles and in various conditions from good to beat to hell. Many still carried their thrift store sales tags, but they were heavy leather. The kind that would protect against a good, strong bite, she realized. Also along the wall was a large box of work gloves that proudly stated that they had a puncture-resistant kevlar lining. Just how prepared for this was sensei? How had he paid for all of this?

Her fellow student dressed herself like a woman possessed then turned to the door. Since they'd entered the hallway had filled with the members of the clubs.

Rei could hear them commenting on all the weapons and gear and wondering just where had all this come from, and what the hell was going on.

Rei panicked for a moment, Brody-Sensei hadn't told her what to say to the other students and she had no idea how to explain this without looking like a lunatic. But as she dithered, Saeko stepped forward and took control of the situation.

Taking her sword in hand, Saeko turned to them. "I know that you're confused, so was I until a moment ago, but this is what is happening: outside right now, our school is being besieged by the living dead."

Several of the other students started to laugh and comment but she silenced them with a quick draw of her blade.

"Silence! If you do not believe me, look outside, see it with your own eyes and know that for every second you delay one of our classmates risks his life to preserve yours!"

She pointed at the weapons. "Brody-sensei has, in his wisdom, prepared for this eventuality and has given us the tools to protect our school! I for one will not reject his generosity. I intend to fight, for my school, for my classmates, and for my life. And if any of you have even a gram of courage or pride in your hearts, then you'll grab a weapon and follow me."

"For years we've trained in the martial arts of our people, now is the moment where that training proves it worth! Take your weapon and follow me. I will not force you, but if you do not, know now that your cowardice may very well have doomed every one of us!"

She raised her sword. "Who Will Follow?"

The responding cry was deafening, each and every one of the students gathered answered her cry in the affirmative. It was actually a moment before Rei realized that she was screaming too.
​

 

[Brian Boru]

AN: With thanks to Psyckosama and Grey Rook Here's Part 20
"Yes, Hiroshi, head for the depot, me and the Huscarls will meet up with you as soon as we can. How do you get there? Oh good God man…"


Frustration and disbelief continued to build up in me as I was prevented from joining the huscarls at the gate because Thegn after Thegn kept calling me one after the other. It had to be one of the weirdest sights in the world, this well-armored man out of dark ages Europe screaming at the top of his lungs into a cellphone while a bunch of his companions were off fighting hordes of the undead…


Fuck. I really was living in a manga…


"It's to the north of you on the west side of the river. In fact, it'll be visible from the shore... You know what? Just call Yoshi and meet up somewhere half way. He knows where it is and you'll have better chances together anyways."


"Alright, head for the river, then keep going upstream until you're out into the burbs, then get to-"


"Got it, Old Man!"


"Hey! I'm only…"


Click


"Twenty-six" I finished lamely, shoving my phone into a pocket.


Now that I was finally able to give my boys my undivided attention, I took in their situation, and was damned impressed at how well they'd handled themselves.


Not a single one was slacking or out of position, they'd completely blocked off the broken gate and were efficiently slaying every single zombie coming at them, but I knew that they couldn't keep this up forever.


I could already see that they were beginning to tire. They still had energy to spare, but it was the little things. They were talking less, they were getting more and more red in the face, and they were fighting less with passion and more mechanically.


Sooner or later they'd start making mistakes and while they were well armored, their defenses were not absolutely perfect. If we were overrun we were dead, then everyone else would be too.


"They're not going to last." A female voice spoke up.


I snapped my head in the voice's direction, and there beside me was Saya Takagi, the one member of the canon crew I'd yet to interact outside of teaching. She was a brilliant student, acing every test, quiz or other assignment we put in front of her. What the hell was she doing here?


"Ms. Takagi, what the hell are you doing out here?" I barked. "It's not safe."


"And the rest of the school is?" she snapped. "There's a bunch of... of... I can't believe I'm actually saying this... Zombies trying to get into the school and eat our brains!"


"Well, moving towards them isn't exactly conductive to your health now, is it?" I remarked sarcastically.


She crossed her arms. "So, sensei, what's the big plan to stop them? Besides having Takashi-kun stand there and fight them while you make phone calls?"


"...Dammit… Alright, do you have any better ideas than mine? Because all I've got is jump in there with them until my reinforcements hopefully show up." Where the hell were they?


She blinked. "Reinforcements?"


I gestured at my equipment. "You think this is all I had squirreled away? No, I had spares and, hopefully, Ms Miyamoto managed to gather the armed martial arts clubs to my... well I guess I can say it now... secret armory I had in the school basement."


Saya stood silent for a moment and then facepalmed. "That has got to be the most idiotic, half-baked plan I've ever heard!"


"Hey!" I countered. "I didn't exactly expect for that idiot Ryushi to flip his shit and crash through the gate."


Before she could reply with yet more scathing commentary about my general competence I cut her off. "This is pointless... I'm arguing with a teenage girl... look, the boys aren't going to be able to keep this up forever, nor will the martial arts club members if or when they show up. We need something to get the pressure off of them so that we can set up a barricade to fix that damned gate. So unless you have any bright ideas I'd appreciate it if you'd zip it." I said that much more harshly than I'd intended.


Saya looked at me as if I were some kind of insect. "Thank you for the pep-talk, sensei. Your mastery of the obvious is humbling," Her eyes narrowed. "Now tell me everything you know about those things."


Glaring at the continued lip but letting it go in the face of Hordes of Goddamn Zombies, I gathered my thoughts. "Well, it takes a blow to the head to take them down though I guess dismemberment or-"


"Bullet points!" she exclaimed, going a little red in the face. "We don't have time for a lecture!"


"Alright! Alright!"


"Aim for the head. You get bit, you become one. They seem attracted to sound and heat. Seem to be blind. There, that short enough for ya!?"


"How fast are they? How individually intelligent are they?"


"Mindless shamblers," I replied drolly.


"Anything else?"


I raised an eyebrow. "Want a lecture?"


She glared for a moment and began to pace. "Alright. They're mindless individually but seem to gain a degree of hive intelligence as their numbers grow..."


She looked up. "Do they make sounds?"


"Nothing but groans and moans."


She frowned as she began to pace again. "Some form of subvocalization is possible, then. Explains the insect-like social behavior..."


"Is there anything else? Because I noticed that they seem rot real fast right after they die. I guess I could get a sample if you want?" I snarled at her.


"I fail to see how that's applicable," she muttered as she continued to pace, lost in thought.


"Is there a point to the twenty questions? Because if there is then I'd-"


Her head snapped up and she cut me off in a shrill tone. "Yes, I'm trying to think of a way to get them to stop swarming us!"


She threw back her head and then took a deep breath. And started staring into space. Or rather, staring at the parking lot.


"Sensei..."


"What? Do you have an idea?"


"Follow me."


I glanced back at the gate. "But-"


"Just come on!" She snapped.


"Alright already… yeesh, I'm just your damn teacher… not like I deserve a little respect…" I muttered under my breath.


"Are those gloves of your shock resistant?" she asked as she started off towards the parking lot in a full jog.


"Yes!" I bit back, before turning back to the boys. "Hold the line, boys! We've got a plan!"


"Got it, Sensei!"


Grumbling I ran after her, quickly meeting her at the parking lot.


"Okay, what's your plan?"


"We need to open one of these cars," she replied. "I need the horn and tool kit."


"And it'd take too long to run and get the keys… dammit..."


I glanced over and sighed. Well, considering that he was dead I doubted that he'd complain.


Striding over to Teshima's car, a nice Mitsubishi Lancer, I smashed the window and unlocked the door.


I'm sure he'd understand.


Almost frantically, Saya pushed past me and pulled the hood release.


Running around the front, she threw the car open and glanced over the engine. "Help me find the horn!"


"Got any ideas where to start?" I said as I tried to find something that might vaguely resemble a horn.


"Wait," she muttered to herself. "Hold on. Think. Alright. A horn would have to be located in an area with minimal blockage to get maximum sound..." she looked over at me. "Rip out the grille!"


I nodded and dug my axe into the grille and gave it a strong yank.


Thank God most were made out of plastic these days. It took a little bit of elbow grease but it came free. And there it they were, mounted right over the radiator. A small pair of speakers with wires coming out of their sides, each attached with a single bolt...


She was up and a flash and running back to the cab. She pulled the trunk release and glanced over. "Get the automotive toolkit!"


I sighed and walked around the back and opened the trunk.


It was mostly empty, though there were the standards. For example, the normal spare bottle of oil, jug of coolant, and some-such. There were also a couple shopping bags loaded with what looked like Shojo Manga of all things.


I blinked. Well. That's a thing. Can't account for taste but I'm not about to criticize the dead.


Pushing it all to the side, I pulled up the rug to get into the spare tire compartment, and there, sitting atop the tire was a small black box.


Opening it, I found that it was a simple hex set.


"Bingo!" I quickly shut it and brought it round to the front of the car. Quickly finding the right bit, I attached it to the wrenches and quickly began quickly unscrewing the bolts.


"Alright, now what?" I asked her. I heard a bunch of shouting from the front gate, some of them female… it seemed that Rei had brought reinforcements.


She looked up as she took the kit. "Did you see anything like duct tape or electrical tape back there? And give me a knife if you have one."


"I have one right here. Let me go check." I quickly pulled it from the loop on my belt I'd kept it, flipped it in my hand so that the blade was pointing at me then handed it to Saya, forcing down the expectation of a 'thank-you' from her I'd had hammered into my skull when I'd been in the Boy Scouts.


True to form, she took it without so much as a nod and got to work loosening the horns. "Find tape and some rope if you can manage it."


"I have some paracord."


"Give it."


I sighed and this time just dropped it next to her. If she couldn't be bothered to be polite, why bother?


"Anything else?"


"Get tape."


"On it." I moved back to the open trunk, apprehension building as I heard a few screams that may not have been battle-cries coming up from the gate.


Scrounging around, to my relief I found a roll of the black tape. Didn't recognize the brand but it was electrical tape alright.


"Here we go." I said as I began to walk around to find her on the ground in front of the car with the horns already out, carefully trying to strip the wires with the knife.


Without glancing up she held up the tool kit. "Get the battery out!"


She paused before adding. "And just use your axe to chop the leads off at the wire! I need them!"


"Ah, I see what you have planned," I said with a faint smile.


I quickly looked at the engine and frowned when I didn't see the battery. I didn't see it in the trunk so it probably had to be underneath all this plastic intake crap.


Normally, I'd have carefully removed it, but this was a dead man's car and it was being sacrificed upon the altar of the good of the school, so I simply chopped it out with my axe.


A good call because moments later I saw it, located under the intake held in by two bolts on a retention bracket.


As she said just to chop the wires off, I did so with two swift swings of my axe. A moment later I began to undo the two bolts holding the brackets.


I'll tell you now undoing bolts had never taken so long in my life.


Once it was free, I gritted my teeth and hefted it out.


Shit it was heavy. I hoped she had a plan for how to get the damned thing away from the school.


With a grunt, I placed it down next to her.


"I hope you have a plan on how to get this thing out of here..."


"Use the rope to sling it over the fence, and hopefully over the cliff on the other side of the road," she replied as she started taping the horns to the battery. "You can do that, right?"


"Yes I can. I'm more than strong enough for that." Now I realized why she'd insisted I come along.


"Good..." she paused. "How good are you with knots?"


"Passable."


"Better than me," she admitted as she began loosening the neutral lead. "Tie the rope."


"Got it." I quickly tied around the contraption with the paracord, having to concentrate for a moment to remember the appropriate knot for this sort of work. Thank God I'd spent the past year reinforcing everything I'd learned about survival in the scouts.


"Good," she cut in as she loosened the positive lead. Once it was free she wrapped the stripped wires from the horn around it then tapped it to the lead, making sure to hold onto the shielded section of wire.


It made a short but mighty honk.


"Good." she looked up and handed me the wrench. "Once we're to the wall, tighten it on and then throw it over.


"Alright, so, all that's left is to trigger and throw the damn thing. Let's head back, but Saya, you keep your distance, and keep that knife just in case."


"I don't think so!" she snapped. "I'm going to see this through to the end!"


"Fine, but don't get too close." I said, hefting the battery and running back towards the gates.


"No!" she exclaimed. "The point is to get them away from the gates, dumbass!"


As I changed course I looked back. "You really need to think about how you talk to your elders!"


"I'll apologize when we're not about to get eaten alive by... by... them!"


"No! Do n0t euphemize them, call them what they are: zombies." I said as I made for where the fence surrounding the periphery the school sat on was a bit lower. After I arrived, I made my way I gave the battery a few practice twirls then got to work.


The resulting sound was deafening, and it was through gritted teeth and strength of will that I was able to tighten it.


Fuck, I hope I didn't get hearing loss from this shit.


Scrambling back, I grabbed the rope and gave it as powerful a spin as I could physically manage.. Moments later it was sailing over the fence as hard as I could as I fell to the ground dizzy and near deaf.


It seems spinning around in a circle like a lunatic while having a car horn screaming in your ear does wonders for your equilibrium.


I smiled as I saw it go flying over the embankment on the other side of the road only to keep sounding loud as can be once it had come to a rest.


Fighting the urge to sit back and rest for a moment, and I'll admit, the vertigo originated urge to empty my stomach, I forced myself to my feet and towards the battle lines.


There I saw a battleline of students. My own boys holding the gate while the others opportunistically attacked the zombies though the bars of the wall's fence.


But more importantly, most of the zombies, those farther from the battle were starting to move on and slowly the tide became a trickle.


Forcing down the nausea to the best of my ability, I bellowed at the top of my lungs. "Keep it up! Only a little while longer!"


"Oh shit," I muttered as I began to stumble, only to find Saya Takagi grabbing hold of my arm to keep me stable.


"I apologize for being disrespectful, sensei," she said as she looked up to me. "But there was no time to be polite."


I nodded. "I get it. Just... be a bit more level headed next time."


She blinked and stammered. "Next time?"


"It's the end of the world, Takagi."


She went as pale as a sheet as her mind began to process the reality of the fact. "B-but the military has plans for things like this..."


"And if those plans were holding, do you think we'd have had zombies trying to eat the school?"


She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "Shit! Shit! Shit!"


Taking a couple more breaths she stood up. "Of course. This is no time to be excitable." She snorted and continued: "I'm assuming you have one of those 'Zombie Plans' that you Americans love so much?"


"No, I happened to have had enough weapons to supply an army in the basement just because."


It was a shame that I didn't have a camera phone, because the look she gave me was priceless and worthy of being recorded for future generations.


"Crazy foreigner." she muttered as she lead me to the others.


Once we were closer I took a step without her help and thankfully found that at least the bulk of the vertigo had passed. And my hearing was starting to clear up. Thank God.


During that time, the students had also managed to polish off the bulk of the remaining zombies. There were stragglers, of course, but the numbers were low enough that they could be dealt with individually rather than as part of a battleline.


"Great job, everyone," I said as I got close. "The decoy should buy us some time to come up with a plan."


"A plan to what?"


I turned about to find the deeply flushed face of Principal Yamada.


Gleep.


"I sincerely hope that you have an explanation for all of this, Brody-san," he said as his eyes looked over the dozens of armed students and the veritable mountain of corpses that sat at the entrance.


I open my mouth to respond, but almost as if taunting me, my phone rang.


My eye twitched for a moment and I simply gritted my teeth. "I need to answer this. It could very well be life or death."


"... Considering the situation, I will allow it."


I pulled out my phone and answered. "What is it, Daigo?"


"Holy shit is this some fucked up shit, boss..."


"I'm well aware of that."


"I've already lost three guys! Shit man, it's the end of the world!"


"I'm aware of that as well."


"Yeah, you're kind of on the ball about this crap. Anything I should need to know?"


"Don't let them bite you. They're blind. They're attracted to sound."


"Wish I'd know that first one earlier... shit, man."


"Listen, I don't want to sound like an asshole but I've got my own problems here."


"Oh. Yeah. Right. On my way to the rally point, boss."


"Good to know. Stay alive. Call me if you need to report anything else in. Brody out."


I clicked off the phone before he could go on. Daigo never knew when to shut up.


"I apologize, Principal Yamada..."


He took a deep breath. "From where I stand you have been smuggling weapons into my school."


He took a step forward.


Oh shit. I don't need this right now!


"You have been training the students to serve as your own private army..."


He took another step forward.


Shit, how do I explain to him that I had to do this? But how can I explain me knowing there was a zompocalypse coming?


"And you have somehow made more of a mockery of my authority and the integrity of this school than even Shido-san has ever managed."


He took another step forward bringing us face to face.


Well might as well take my lumps. I did lie to the man for a whole fucking year.


"And by doing so... you saved us all."


He bowed deeply at the waist. And it wasn't a little bow either. The man's torso went completely horizontal for a moment.


Shit, I'd never understand how the Japanese could fucking do that...


"You have my deepest and most sincere thanks."


In the wake of such unexpected gratitude it was only proper to respond with all the eloquence and diction I could muster. "Uuuuuuuhhh… Don't mention it?"


He began to laugh and shook his head. "You have a unique way with words, Brody-san."


Off to the side, I saw Saeko and Takashi approaching with Kouta, Rei, and Hisashi trailing them.


"You created a decoy to draw them off," Saeko observed. "The brilliance I'd expect of Brody-sensei."


"Great job, sensei!" Kouta chimed in.


"Ahem!" Saya coughed as she crossed her arms. "I'm the one who came up with it! He just provided the dumb muscle!"


Saeko blinked. "I see... It was... quick thinking."


"Where was that enthusiasm just a moment ago?" Takashi commented dryly. "But yeah, that was the kind of great idea that the smartest girl in school would come up with. She probably just saved us all."


Saya's cheeks were suddenly hit with a splash of red. "W-wait! I couldn't have done it if you weren't holding them back! I-I just did my part!"


Rei frowned. "We all did our part. Lets just leave it at that. Okay?"


"Such youthful enthusiasm!" Principal Yamada exclaimed, causing the the students to blush.


"Any losses?" I asked, looking at Saeko.


"No reported injuries, sensei."


I nodded. "Good."


"So, Brody-san," Yamada asked. "I am assuming you have a plan?"


"Yes. And it goes something like this..."
​

 

[Brian Boru]

AN: With thanks to Grey Rook and Psyckosama, here's Chapter 21






"My plan is simple," I said after a moment of thought. "You know where the Shimori Self-Storage Park is?"

Principle Yamada nodded. "I'm aware."

"Well, it's reasonably secure, outside the city proper, and I have a container unit there loaded with food and other supplies. While not long-term viable, it's secure, it's outside the city proper, has lots of scavenge..."

"Scavenge?" he asked.

"Sir, it's the end of the world out there. Conventional property rights are pretty much a null factor at this point. You take what you can for the sake of survival."

He nodded. "I see. So your plan so far is we go to this storage park, empty your storage container. Loot the others and..."

"Then we head into the mountains," I replied. "You ever heard of the Crystal Peaks Ski Lodge?"

He nodded. "Something about a construction scandal about 3 years ago. Lead to the owners being indicted. It has been for sale ever since..."

He paused for a moment. "I assume your plan is to relocate there, usings its limited accessibility and geographical isolation to provide a degree of protection against the restless dead?"

I nodded.

He smiled. "Brilliant planning, what I'd expect of my teachers." he paused. "Were it not absolutely insane. But in an insane world, the madman is king, is he not?"

He paused. "Though I can see one flaw in your plan. It would make relief from the authorities extremely difficult."

I took a deep breath. "There will be no relief. The city will be completely overrun by tomorrow and you can probably expect total worldwide social and government breakdown within five to seven days."

There was dead silence from both staff and students at those words. More than a few of either group looked ready to break down weeping. Which made me hate myself for this next part.

"In fact I wouldn't trust anything without EMP hardening after day three..."

Saya immediately went pale as her fast mind realized the implications of that statement. "Oh my god..."

I nodded. "My guess is a limited nuclear exchange by day three. Day five at the latest... once the nuclear powers start suffering large scale social breakdown, one of theirgreatest concerns will be ensuring that their enemies can't sweep in and pick up the pieces."

Horror descended across the entire assembled group like a fog. It was the kind of stifling oppressiveness that made it difficult to breathe. Understandable too, because these people were all Japanese. They alone in the world knew what it was like to be on the business end of a nuclear attack. It was something literally burned into their national identity.

Kyoko, who had followed Yamada when he gone to speak with me, collapsed in on herself and said: "W-why? Why do something like that, what's anything worth if the dead are walking around?"

"Pride. Short-sightedness. Sheer bloody-minded spite. An attempt to contain the outbreak. Take your pick, Hayashi-san."

"How do you know that going to happen? Who says you're right? For all we know the SDF and the American army will come marching in to clean things up in the next hour!" One male kendoist cut in. He blanched almost immediately when Saeko shot him with an absolutely terrifying glare.

"If they could, it wouldn't have gotten to this point," I cut in. "This has all the hallmarks of the beginnings of a worldwide epidemic! If you went to the computer labs right now, looked on the internet, I'm sure you'd find news from thirty different countries telling you the same thing, right now: the dead are walking."

"That is a good idea, Brody-san," Principle Yamada cut in. "Hikagi-kun," he looked at the Kendoist, "Shiratama-san's Computer Science course is currently in progress. I want them to find and print every piece of information they can find on the subject of this... situation."

"News sites aren't going to have this yet. It's happening too fast and right now the governments will be in damage control mode," I added. "As much as it hurts to say this... tell them to start with the Chans and other web-forums. First person accounts will be aplenty."

He looked over the two of us, then over to Saeko who was still giving him a hateful glare, and ran off as fast as his legs could carry them, his sheathed Katana still stuffed into his belt.

"Sensei?"

I looked over and nodded to Takashi. He was bloody, tired, but his eyes were sharp and focused. There was a good reason that he was the series protagonist. He had the guile to survive, the guts to go on, and as I'd learned over the past month, the makings of a real leader.

"Yes, Takashi?"

"How bad do you think it's going to get?" he demanded to know. "I mean, you're talking about the end of the world. So, how bad?"

I frowned. "Do you really want to know, Takashi-kun?"

He nodded. "Yeah. I mean, if we're going to have to live it, we have to know what to expect."

"At a generous estimate," I took a deep breath. "We're looking at a 90% loss."

He blinked. "Wait. What do you mean, 'we'?"

"Humanity."

Saya looked over almost incredulously. "And t-that's your generous estimate?"

"Do you really want to hear my worst case scenario?"

Nobody answered and a few actually looked away.

"Sensei," Saya asked, a look of mounting horror growing on her face. "Are you implying... extinction?"

I shook my head. "Thankfully not. But we very well could be very well looking at a death rate of 99.9% or more."

"Or more..." she repeated.

"Or more."

Several of the girls and at least one of the boys began to weep.

"I could be wrong. I hope I'm wrong," I said after a moment. "But let's not fool ourselves, it's better to prepare for the worst case scenario than to bet the house on a happy ending that may never come."

I took in the view that our raised elevation granted us, taking in the billowing smoke that rose all across the city. "Me, I'm heading for the tall timber and hunkering down, if I'm wrong then I can go back once the fires are out. If I'm right then I've given myself the best chance for survival possible."

I turned back to them, looking as many of them as I can in the eye. "I'd like it if you'd come with me. As many as will go."

------------

As we moved towards the school I made a beeline for the nurse's office, there was something that needed to be done as quickly as possible.

I was alone, principal Yamada and Ms. Hayashi having decided that, at this point, the only real option was to call an assembly and let the students know that something was up.

Once that was done, we also needed to make as many calls as possible to friends and family. The more people we could get linked up for recovery the more we could save. Plus, there were people who really needed to be contacted before everything went to total shit.

I did not look forward to telling Miss Takagi to call her parents. I was expecting a full-blown argument, but in the original timeline the man had the most organized and least psychotic group in the entire city. It had taken an act of Shido to fuck him over, and that asshole was pretty much the personification of Murphy's law.

If it can go wrong, it will go wrong, because of Shido.

I had to get on the man's good side and his daughter was my best opportunity to reach him. So little miss pigtails-and-bad attitude tsundere could take her teen angst and teenage pride and shove them right up her perfectly drawn little bottom. Sideways. Right next to the tent pole that was already there.

My mind was a jumbled mess, how was I going to explain this shit to Shizuka? She may have been a goof but she wasn't an idiot, and had always been able to suss out anything I'd tried to keep secret from her. It'd made Valentines hard as hell to buy a gift for her and make it a surprise.

When I reached her office door I'd still not been able to figure out what to say to her. Sighing, I opened the door. "Shizuka, honey are you al- OOF!"

All the air was driven from my lungs as Shizuka tackled me with enough force to give an NFL linebacker envy. She seemed to completely ignore the chainmail I was still wearing as her grip only tightened. "Tom-kun! Oh thank God you're alright! I heard what had happened at the gates and Teshima Sensei and that there were real Zombies and... and... ahhhhhh!"

And with that, I had a weeping Shizuka in my arms. What the hell did I do here?

Unsure of how to respond I removed my gloves and stroked her head while wrapping my other arm around her back while whispering: "It's alright, Shizuka, we're alright. I'm alright. Nothing bad happened." I pulled her up a bit and, lifting my helmet,kissed her. "See, honey? I'm alright."

She looked at me with her tear-filled eyes and sobbed again for a moment before clenching her arms around me even tighter. I swore I felt my ribs creak for a moment.

I sat there for a few minutes letting her calm down on her own terms, before I started to get back up while Shizuka more or less clung to me like a sexy limpet. "Alright,Shizuka, we can't just be sitting out here in the hallway. We've got things to do."

She looks up and blinked. "Things to do?"

I nodded. "We need to get ready to evacuate the school. It's not safe. And I need you to call Rika."

She blinked. "Why?"

"We're going to be stopping by her house," I replied. Her EMP-shielded hummer was alone too valuable an asset not to jump on. Her closet full of guns was just candy. Plus, call it hero syndrome, but I did kind of want to save Alice if I could.

I would also have to have Kouta call up Asami. A couple of cops would be useful, and once we'd cleared the school, a quick convoy to pick up the mall survivors wouldn't be at all an unreasonable act.

Rei's place would also be a top priority for looting. Plus she'd called him all of once in the Manga. Here, I'd encourage her to keep calling until she got through. His skills would be useful.

Shizuka blushed. "Um. Tom... One problem with that?"

I frowned. "Yes?"

"I forgot my phone this morning..."

I shrugged and tossed her mine. "I got it covered."

She frowned. "Tom. Why do you have my best friend's cell number in your phone?"

"Because you forget yours all the damned time," I replied as if it were as obvious as day.

And it was true too. I would have kept it for that reason even if there wasn't the whole 'My Zombie Plan Involves Robbing Your House" element.

"So why exactly are we going to be looting her place?" she asked. "I mean, what does she have?"

"Guns," I replied. "And a truck that could survive an EMP attack."

She blinked. "Oh. That," He eyes narrowed somewhat. "How did you know about all of that?"

"She's talkative when she's drunk," I replied.

Her eyes narrowed even more. "And how do you know what she's like when she's drunk?"

"Because the three of us go drinking and she normally gets chatty around the same point where you get silly," I replied with a bit more snarky than I'd intended. "So, and I don't mean to offend you when I say this, can we please drop the misplaced 'paranoid girlfriend' shit and focus on the issue at hand? That being the innumerable hordes of the undead hungering for our delicious brains?"

She pouted but I continued: "Because, if I really wanted to screw your roommate I'd have just said yes that time when the two of you got really plowed and suggested a threesome."

Her face took on a crimson glow as she pulled away waving her hands. "Okay! Okay! I'm sorry! You're not sleeping with Rika! I'm sorry I got paranoid! Next subject!"

I chuckled a bit. "Alright, honey, I'll stop with the teasing. But now we need to focus on getting out of here. If an outright horde of undead, and they were undead, I killed enough of them to know the diffrence, managed to get this far up the hill, then God knows how bad it'll be down in the city, and I'd rather we not be here for longer than we have to."

She nodded. "What do you need me to do?"

"I want you to get all your medical supplies and box them up. We don't have time to be neat. You can organize and count off what you have later. Right now, though, just get them in a bag and get ready to get with the fuck out of here."

She nodded and started ripping stuff off her shelves and throwing it onto the bed in her office.

As she did so, she looked over, a spike of fear in her eyes. "Tom...?"

"Yes Shizuka?" I asked her.

"I-in your dream, how bad does it get?"

I sighed, I didn't want to distress her any more than I already had, but better she hear it now then when the principal made the general announcement. If anything, at least I could help her deal with it. "Come next year, I'd be surprised if one in a thousand are still alive. It was that horrible." I said in as calm a voice as I could.

I placed my hand on her shoulder and smiled weakly. "But I never saw you hurt, or bitten or anything. As far as I could tell, you were alright. So take heart from that, I guess."

She bit her lip and nodded, fighting back tears as she continued to strip her room. "They're going to depend on us, aren't they?"

I nodded. "As if we were their parents."

"I'll be strong for them," she said, "Will you be strong for me?"

A much stronger smile spread across my face and I said in an upbeat tone, "For you, stronger than Goku."

------------

I found my quarry loitering about outside, watching the gate like a set of hawks. For someone who wasn't a fighter, Saya was awfully willing to get close to the action. Mostly so she could give orders.

From what I saw, she actually had things in good order. While they were badly damaged by the impact, the gates were still on their hinges. At a glance I'd thought them to a be a total loss, as they were not designed to open that way. The students under Saya's direction, however, had already managed to reset one of them and were slowly forcing the other back into position with sheer muscle power.

Huh, maybe they still maybe had a little life left in them after all. They'd need to be chained, but we had that. And locks. We were a high school after all.

"Careful you idiots! If you make too much noise 'they' will come back."

"They aren't 'they' Takagi, they're Zombies, I thought you were smarter than that." One male student commented dryly.

"You can only say 'the zombies' so many times before it gets old, Mishahara," she snapped. "Now get back to work!"

"Alright, alright, no need to get all bitchy... of all the days for her to be on the rag…"

Saya's face turned a bright shade of red as her eyebrow started to twitch. Now, as amusing as it would be to see a the captain of the wrestling club get his balls handed to him on a plate by a pink-haired pixie, I kinda needed him intact.

"Alright Ms. Takagi, calm down."

I looked up. "And Mr. Mishahara, shut up and get back to work."

"You need something, sensei?" Saya asked after glaring at Mishahara for a moment.

"As a matter of fact, I do." I paused. "I need to speak with you and Miss Miyamoto for a moment."

She nodded and followed me, as did Rei who'd been watching the gates with Takashi and Saeko.

"What's this about?" Takashi asked.

"I'm sure it's nothing." Kouta replied. "If we needed to know sensei would tell us."

I paused. "Actually, all of you can come with, I guess."

I lead them away from the group by about 10-20 yards and then turned back to them.

"Do you have your cellphones with you?" I asked.

Rei nodded. Saya only scowled.

"Miyamoto, your father's a police investigator correct?"

"Yes Sensei, but I tried calling him through the official lines and-"

I sighed. "Rei, do me a favor and look outside the school. Tell me what you see?"

She obediently glanced out towards the rising smoke, screams, and sirens that were now a constant background noise for the entire city. She then looked back. "He told me never to call his personal number while he was at work, unless it was an emergency…"

"Rei, I don't know about you, but I'd personally count the end of the world as we know it as an emergency."

Rei flushed like a neon sign. "Alright sensei…" She then reached into a pocket, pulled out a small flip-phone and began to punch in a number.

I then turned to Saya, who had waited until I'd turned my attention to her, then said: "I don't have a phone, I'm a model student."

I sighed and shook my head. "And somehow, having no means of contacting your family in an emergency makes you an ideal student. Sometimes I really wonder about this country." I pulled out mine. "I'm sure a genius like yourself has your parents' private numbers memorized, correct?"

She gave me a look that could melt steel before daintily taking my phone from my hand.

"You do realize who my father is, correct?"

"A prominent politician who has the mentality and resources to get shit done in an emergency?" I asked rhetorically.

"He's Souichiro Takagi, Don of the prefecture's Ultra-Nationalist organization."

"Again with the things I'm aware of." I commented dryly. "And I'm sure a strong Japanese patriot would be interested in cooperating with a well-meaning American ally who wants nothing more than to dedicate his efforts to preserving the lives of as many of his precious countrymen as possible."

That set her sputtering. "F-fine! Just don't say I didn't warn you, Sensei!"

She started to dial, I raised my hand. "Wait, let Rei contact her father first. Then we'll deal with yours, that way nothing gets missed in the kerfuffle."

She scowled but nodded, closing my phone shut.

The two of us then turned to Rei, whose concerned face lit up as she apparently managed to contact her father. "Daddy! Is that you? It's me, Rei!"

Her elation died as I heard a faint voice on the other end of the line, not enough to make out what they were saying but the tone seemed to indicate that they were extremely agitated.

"Daddy? Can you hear me? Daddy?"

Then I heard what sounded like gunfire erupting from the phone and Rei snatched it away from her ear. Then, sudden silence: "Daddy! Are you there? Daddy!?"

She closed her phone, then turned to me, her eyes shining with tears. "He... he couldn't hear me... and... I... I heard guns…"

"Call him back in a little while," I said calmly.

She looked at me for a moment, tears ready to stream down her face, when Takashi moved in to put an arm around her. "Sensei's right, Rei-chan, your dad's a tough guy. I'm sure he's going to be alright."

Rei turned her head and smiled at Takashi, she rubbed her eyes with her hands and calmed down enough to talk. "You're right, Takashi, I'll try again later, he wouldn't want me worrying about him like this."

I turned to Saya, who'd been waiting patiently for her turn. "Alright, Ms. Takagi, you're up."

She gritted her teeth and dialed the number. A moment later it was answered. "It's your daughter..."

She blinked. "Yes. I'm alright... It's my teacher's phone and-"

She scowled. "He wants to talk to you."

I blinked and nodded. "Alright, hand it here." She placed the phone into my hand and I quickly raised it to my ear. "Hello?

"To whom am I speaking?"

"This is Tom Brody. A teacher at your daughter's school."

"The American English teacher. The one who transformed the delinquent gangs of the district into a Viking army. I'm of a mixed opinion of you, Mr. Brody. On one hand, you have awakened the martial spirit in our youth. On another you did it by entrenching them in a deeply foreign culture. And now I find that my precious daughter is in your custody."

I blanched a bit at that gruff voice. "That'd be correct, Takagi-dono." I finally said, '-san' a bit too... plebeian for the man. Wow did that feel weird.

"Hm. Respectful for a foreigner. Very well, Brody-dono. I am currently fortifying my family estate. You and any survivors with you may take shelter here, along of course, with my daughter."

"I actually have my own fallback plans. I've managed to preserve almost the entire population of the school. The grounds are not secure so we are relocating. I've got a supply depot on this side of the river that I plan to fortify before heading over the river further upstream and away from the city. So-"

"I see," he replied."As much as it pains me to say this, I cannot expect you to abandon your charges for the sake of my daughter. So instead, I entrust her to your care. I would like to know the details of your plans, but I would prefer to do so in my wife's presence."

I nodded. "I understand. Your daughter is safe with me and my b- er, my men."

Then a thought occurred to me. "Takagi-dono, some of the... erm... gangs that have sworn themselves to obey my command are on your side of the river. They aren't trained soldiers but they're strong, brave, and tough-"

"Would they be willing to obey my orders?"

"They will if I tell them to, and as long as you don't force them to break any oaths."

"And what are these oaths?"

I sighed. Hope he didn't think this sounds stupid."Don't take up arms against the innocent."

I actually heard some slight amusement in his voice. "A most acceptable condition. Your soldiers will be a welcomed addition. My men and I welcome all survivors with the courage to carry on in these times. Now if you will excuse me, duty calls. And Brody-dono, tell Saya to remain safe."

"Of course, Takagi-dono."

The line went dead and I turned to Saya. "Your father wants to know the full details of my plans, but more importantly, he's asked me to watch after you. He asked me to tell you to stay safe."

She blinked. "My father said that?"

"He's your father," I stated calmly. "He loves you. Is that so hard to believe?"

She frowned. "If you knew him…" she said.

"Saya, he loves you. I could tell that much." I said.

Takashi put his hand on her shoulder and said: "Hey, at least you know your parents are alright."

"Speaking of which," I glanced to him, Saeko, and Kouta. "Maybe you three should contact your families as well..."

Takashi frowned. "My dad's out of town, but I probably should call my mom... Should probably tell Hisashi to call his parents too."

Kouta shrugged. "Well, my parents are out of the country."

"As is my father," Saeko added.

I raised an eyebrow. "You're not even going to call Asami?"

Kouta flushed and then turned white. "Oh shit. She was on shift today wasn't she? Crap!"

"Attention all students! Please report to the auditorium!"

I turned towards the boys working on the gates. "Saeko. You keep an eye on this lot and make sure they don't get eaten. The rest of you, follow me and let's see what Yamada-san has lined up for us."

-----------------

"Asami! Asami-chan are you there?"

"Kouta-kun! You're okay! I'm so happy to know you're alright! There dead are getting up and eating people! It's so scary out here!"

"Asami," he said with total relief, "I was so worried about you. Listen. Where are you? Brody-sensei has a plan! Where are you right now?"

"Asami is with Senpai at Taiei Shopping Town. We were helping with traffic when 'they' showed up!"

He frowned thinking back to what Sensei had said to Saya. "Asami, don't call the Zombies 'they', 'them', or any other stupid euphemism. They're zombies. The dead are walking and we all have to accept it."

"Okay… Y-you're so strong, Kouta-kun! I don't know if can-"

"Yes you can," he replied. "I believe in you."

"Thank you, Kouta-kun. You said your sensei has a plan?"

"Yeah. He has a fallback point stocked and supplied. But you're never going to be able to get across the river with the things are right now. Listen, you need to tell Matsushima-san to get everyone together and be ready to evacuate! Brody-sensei talked with some people and there's a safe spot on your side of the river at the Takagi estate. Brody-Sensei told some of the Thegns to guide you there if needed."

"But she says we should wait for our superiors!"

"They're not coming, Asami." he stated. "Listen. This isn't just just in Tokonosu. It's international. Across the country. Across the world. I know you want to be a good cop. You're a good person and you want to protect people. The best way to do that is to take everyone you can with you and head for a safe-zone."

"Kouta… I... I..."

"Asami-chan, please, Brody-Sensei thinks this is going to get bad, really bad. He told us that he be surprised if one in a thousand were still alive by next year!" Kouta whispered harshly, he barely stopped himself from shouting that last part. Looking around he saw to his relief that none of the civvies, as he'd privately labeled them, seemed to have noticed his outburst.

Asami was completely silent for a long while, then she said:"A-alright, I'll talk with Senpai and see what she thinks."

Kouta sighed. "Do what you can, Asami, that's all I ask, and remember, whatever happens, stay alive, whatever it takes. If you need me, just call me and I will find you, no matter what."

"T-thank you Kouta-kun... I... I love you!" She blurted that last bit in a rush as if embarrassed to say so.

"I love you too." Kouta sighed and ended the call, turning to walk back into the auditorium. It seemed that Brody-Sensei was going to explain to everyone what was going on and what his plan. He hoped that his fellow students would take it well.

The entire auditorium, that had been rumbling with panicky students, went silent when they saw who was stomping across the podium in full war-gear. His helmet under his arm.

Brody-sensei looked over the student body, teachers along the walls to help keep order. His green eyes as hard as flint, or at least they looked so to the young man. Behind him was Principal Yamada, pale as a sheet, covered in a sheen of sweat, and clenching a thick stack of computer print-out papers.

That more than anything made Kouta's blood run cold. He was willing to accept Sensei's judgement until proven wrong, but he knew what those print-outs were: final proof.

It was all he could do to not get up and run from the room, to call Asami again and tell her to make for safety as quickly as possible.

Brody-sensei then tapped the microphone to test it, once he saw it was on he turned and nodded to Principal Yamada.


The older man nodded back and stepped forward to the microphone while Brody-Sensei stepped back a few steps to give him room. Yamada looked over the sheets in his hands one last time, then took a deep breath and started.

"Students. This is an emergency as you have heard, but the nature of this emergency is hard to believe. So before I tell you, I will show you."

He brought up the projector. "This video was posted to the website 'Youtube' less than an hour ago. None of it is from a movie."

Then he pushed play.

The video was grainy and shaky but it was clear as a bell what it was. A horde of zombies overrunning several pedestrians, shot from a window overlooking the scene. It was horrible, though thankfully, it was also too low resolution to make out the worst details.

Then he moved onto another. This one being security footage of zombies storming into a convenience store.

And then another a live news report where the anchor and cameraman were ambushed and eaten alive, then seen to rise on camera.

Several of the students grimaced, others looked on in confusion, a couple idiots even laughed.

"You may think this is a laughing matter," he said coolly. "But I assure you it is not."

Then he brought up a picture of the gate. He could see several of his fellow Huscarls as well as a number of members of the sports clubs standing vigil, and behind them was a giant mass of corpses.

"This was taken at the main gate five minutes ago. After Brody-san lead the brave students of his Reenactment Club and the proud martial arts clubs of this school to victory against..." he paled as he said it. "The walking dead."

There was dead silence for a few heartbeats, then the auditorium, exploded in sound, as the students all voiced their disbelief or fears at the same time.

"Silence!" he exclaimed, bringing his fist down on the podium. "There is no time for frantic behavior. By showing your fear and acting irrationally you put yourselves and the whole of the student body in danger. I have in hand reports and first-hand accounts from across the world of what can only be described as the beginnings of a Zombie Apocalypse."

He paused. "So far, we have been lucky. One of our number was prepared for such an occasion and lead the school to a victory. A short-term one, however for we are not yet safe. We do, however, have a plan to ensure the safety of the students and staff."

He looked over. "Brody-san, if you will?"

Brody stepped forward to the podium, looking over the student body he seemed to finger something around his neck for a moment before taking a breath. "Students and Faculty, I'm not going to lie to you. It's bad out there and it's going to get a lot worse before it gets any better. Right here, right now, your greatest asset for survival isn't the police, isn't the military, it's the person sitting right next to you. Right now, all we have to depend on is each other."

He looked up. "Right now the school isn't safe. We need to evacuate. Using both busses and all of the faculty's cars, we should be able to evacuate the whole student body in three trips. Two, if we aggressively requisition vehicles found on the way down. Along those lines, any of you with driving experience need to report it here and now. I don't care if you're licensed. If don't care how you learned. Right now, all I need is the knowledge and the will."

"W-what about our families!" one of the students called out.

"Good question. How many of your families are in the city?"

About two thirds to three quarters of the student body raised their hands.

He nodded. "Alright. Once you're safe we're going to make arrangements. But you come first. Those who can will be encouraged to join us at the meeting place. Those who cannot will be encouraged to join together and find somewhere safe. When we can, we will try to get them out. I can make no promises but I swear to you all in God's name, that we will save as many people as we can."

He looked over to the principal who nodded. "The busses are being prepared as we speak. Once they are ready, we will call out names. I will now turn the podium back over to Principal Yamada."

 

[Brian Boru]

AFTER A FIVE MONTH BREAK, MY MUSE HAS RETURNED TO LAND OF THE DEAD! WITH THANKS FROM PSYCKOSAMA AND GREY ROOK HERE'S A NEW CHAPTER!!!!!!!





It turned out that ripping out forty-odd chairs without heavy duty power tools was much harder than anyone had expected. Oh, we had some wrenches originally meant to change tires that miraculously fit; but we found to our dismay that the bastards who'd screwed these seats to the floor has used a rattle gun to install them. Which meant they were in tight. Really, really damned tight. It had taken a massive amount of blood, sweat and tears just to remove the first seat.

Thank God for Oyama-sensei who, after seeing the problem, was able to rig us up a breaker bar by welding a piece of rebar to a socket wrench.

Seriously. Thank God for that man. Some of the boys were joking about building him a shrine.

Or at least I think it was a joke.

Anyways, thanks to Oyama-sensei's quick thinking, we were able to extricate the chairs from the busses in a decent amount of time, which would allow for many more students to be squeezed into the individual busses.

Unfortunately, even with the modifications there wasn't nearly enough space to take all the students in a single trip, meaning that we had to decide who would go first and who would need to wait for a return trip.

"Alright, let's go over this list one more time." I muttered to myself, a small notepad in my hand, as I paced around an empty classroom before heading back to the the auditorium where the students who hadn't been assigned to chair ripping duties were told to wait. We sure as hell didn't want anyone wandering off and getting lost, bit, or bringing down a zed swarm on top of us.

"Huscarls... then half the kendo club… should I bring Saeko? Absolutely. She might not stay even if I gave her a direct order." I said in a low tone, flipping through the list of names and groups I'd made with the school. "'Never give an order you know no one's going to follow' and all that."

The simple fact was, I had to prioritize. There was a strong possibility that a return trip would be impossible and if such an event were to occur then I had to make sure the half I saved would be the most vital for our future survival. This was my triage and I was taking the ones I knew were absolutely needed for the survival of the school, whatever the cost might be to my soul and I knew it would be heavy.

I paced that classroom for over an hour, writing down and striking off names, possibly consigning hundreds of young people to horrible deaths. Some were easy to give a spot on the first trek, others less so. I agonized for what felt like an eternity before deciding we could squeeze the rest of the engineering club into the first trek despite knowing several of them were severely asthmatic.

Then the enormity of what I had done struck home. I remembered the spray of blood when Teshima was bitten, the thunk as my ax bit home into his chest, the blood and corpses that were splattered everywhere as my boys and a bunch of teenagers fought for their lives against the undead! It was too much!

For several minutes I just stopped and clutched the crucifix around my neck, praying for some guidance. I was a just a janitor/assistant gaijin English teacher, and before that I was just working as a kind-of sort-of clerk at my dad's five-man engineering firm. Who the hell was I to try and lead hundreds of teenagers and people years older that, men? Sure I had been in the Boy Scouts and had reached Eagle Scout, but did that qualify me? I didn't know.

After what felt like an eternity I remembered why I was the one who had to do this. Who else could? Who else had been given time to prepare? Who else had been given the natural talent to fight? Who else had prepared for doomsday non-stop for almost a year?

Whether it was Yehovah, Odin, Amaterasu, or a bemused R.O.B. I was literally the only one able to save these kids and as God was my witness I would do all that I could.

Finding the resolve to go on, I finished the list after another hour of working, all the while I muttered a prayer to God for strength and forgiveness if I was wrong in my choices.

Finally I finished the list. I looked it over one last time, then I left the room. Under my breath I muttered the "Our Father", the "Hail Mary", and begging every Saint I could remember to pray for Shizuka, my Huscarls, my students, my fellow teachers, their families and the people of the entire world. I was glancing over the list one last time, taking in all who would go.

All of the Huscarls would go, they were the best trained and best equipped fighters I had and I knew I would need them to punch through any blockage we'd come across. As for the martial arts club members I'd armed, I figured the more athletic/skilled half of each club would be ideal for extra muscle. The other half I decided to have stay behind to guard the school until we returned.

As for the rest...well it took some time but I tried to select the more competent ones. The ones who could survive or help others to survive. I wanted to save them all, but I had to make sure to triage. Just in case everything went tits up.

To my eternal shame I'd also tried to lean towards female students among the non-fighters, if things really were going to go tits up then having a glut of unattached males was not conductive to cooperation in the group.

And ironically this also meant that I was bringing every female member of the Track Team. As well the less bothersome male members. Like it or not, terrible in track meets or not they were fast, a trait needed in this world.

Well, most of the less bothersome. That douchebag Tsunoda had managed to save his own life by uttering three valuable words.

I know Parkour.

Seriously, why the fuck hadn't I even tried to learn learn it? Stupid!

As for the others, my Thegns would have simple orders for keeping the peace if we made a return trip. If anyone starts shit, threaten to throw them over the fence. If they don't stop, hit them until they do.

Leaving the last room of the first year hall I headed back towards the auditorium, the students had been told to relocate to the second floor and barricaded all but one of the stairwells with as many desks as they could dump down. The idea was that if the zombies came back then they could block the last stairwell and enter the busses through their emergency exits via the second floor windows.

Walking through the various classrooms I quickly stuck my head in and called the students to return to the auditorium, deciding to prevent any undead from being drawn to the PA as the bait horn was starting to audibly weaken. As the Huscarls walked by I handed Hayato sheet of paper and told him to show it to the others. I mentioned that these people were their responsibility to get onto the busses. Once they were loaded on they'd join me at the front of the caravan. He nodded and called out Kohta who quickly read through the list once he was told what it was for.

When he noticed the names of the Track Club members he glanced up at me with a questioning look in his eyes. I grimaced for a moment as I remembered that before he had become a Huscarl he'd been the favourite punching-bag for the track goons who were only egged on by Shido. He wouldn't have shed a tear if each and everyone of them were dead and tossed down a sewer… oh wait…

Seeing him about to protest I said: "They're fast on their feet. It's a useful skill these days. Besides, would you rather them causing shit here? Or on the bus where we can smack them for being idiots?"

Kohta thought on that for a second before sighing. "I get that, but Tsunoda? Really?"

"He knows Parkour."

Kohta paused for a moment and blinked. "Really?"

"He claims he does," I replied with a shrug.

"And you believe him?" he asked, incredulously.

I smiled and patted him on the back. "Look at it this way. If he's lying, well, you can help me show him how dangerous it can be to lie."

Kohta's smile made me wonder if simply throwing him out of the bus wouldn't have been the kinder fate.

When I opened to door to the last classroom, my eyes bugged and I quickly slammed the door, hearing the feminine shriek and the rustling of clothes as two certain someones began throwing their clothes on as quickly as possible.

I simply stared at the hallway wall opposite from said room until the door creaked open slowly and out walked big Kenji and a third year named Yuuki. All four foot eight inches of her. Seriously, she was a pixie.

With the adage about opposites attracting resounded in my mind I gave them both a look.

"Sorry about that, Sensei," Kenji said with some reluctance. "but I just couldn't not spend some time with my girl. I mean, what if..."

"Shut it both of you and get your asses on the bus. We don't have time for this shit."

His face lit up. "Sensei, you really mean it?"

"Sure," I said with a well meaning smile. "She's tiny. I mean, all else fails she can lounge in the overhead compartment or something."

The girl flushed a brilliant red. The kind that comes from fury, not embarrassment. And it made her look something like a christmas decoration considering her shockingly green shade of anime hair.

It honestly made me worry for my balls. She was at perfect punching height.

"Babe, you really wanna piss off our ride?" Kenji said weakly.

She glared for a moment then huffed and started towards the bus.

"Thanks, Sensei. I mean it..." Kenji muttered under his breath as he followed his pint-sized sweet-heart.

I shook my head in mild amusement and followed them into the auditorium.

As I entered the doors, I steeled my features and made my way to the podium, a list in my hand of the various club members and non-combatant students I wanted for the first trip.

When I reached the microphone, I cleared my throat and said: "Alright, we should be finishing up with the busses, I must warn you, there is not going to be much space so please no one fly off the handle for inappropriate touching, there's no helping it. However, if I find out that someone is taking advantage of the situation...

I leaned in. "Let me put it this way. Eventually we will have latrines to muck. Let that stew in your hormone-addled adolescent minds for a while because anyone who gets handsy will be getting every shit job I can think of for... well... pretty much for fucking ever."

There was some laughter from the back.

I glared at the peanut gallery who didn't seem to get the picture, time to pull out the big guns. "Okay. Plan B. Girls, anyone who gets touchy feely you have my permission to dispense justice. Saeko-san will be master of ceremonies."

The smile that came to her face was positively chilling. "I shall do my best, Brody-sensei."

I paused and made sure to add a caveat. "No permanent injury or broken bones."

"As you wish..."

Holy shit. Did she just pout?

And did she just quote Star Wars at me?

Either way, the idiots seemed to have the lightbulbs go off because the laughter died right then and there.

-----------------

I took a deep breath as I looked over the ad hoc convoy lined up in front of the school gates.

Two busses carrying almost a hundred and fifty students combined, with almost two score divided amongst the personal vehicles of the teaching staff, along with every pieceof valuable equipment and supplies we could find.

Everything that wasn't bolted down had been loaded up. And everything that was was in the process of having the bolts cut. If we were lucky, we'd even be able to find a cargo truck on the way back for the really heavy shit. Maybe raid the Japanese equivalent of U-haul or something.

When the various students had been told who would and wouldn't be going there had been a small uproar at the choices. Sweet-hearts and friends wouldn't want to be separated, rivals didn't want to be mashed next to each other. It took me bellowing at the top of my lungs and quite a bit of juggling to get things ready to go. We didn't have all fucking day for this shit.

Still, it had taken much longer than I'd hoped but we were standing in front of the busses ready to leave.

"Alright," I stated stiffly. "Here's the plan. One bus up front, another in back. Teacher vehicles in between. We all have radios, so if you see something that looks advantageous you either radio for a stop or contact one of the busses so we can mark it on GPS. Understood?"

There was a deafening "Hai!" from the teachers.

"Very good..."

"Excuse me, Brody-san..."

I paused and looked to the speaker. "Yes, Takayama-san?"

The man took a deep breath. "Once we have delivered the first group of students, I wish to fetch my family. My wife and child are at home and..."

I raised a hand. "It's alright. Do what you have to, just don't abandon the students and get back to the location as quickly as you can. And most importantly, don't die. You can take whatever equipment you need from the sports locker to protect yourself. That goes for the rest of you as well, just do not do this recklessly. You save no one if you die foolishly."

"I understand, Brody-san."

I nodded. "Good. Anything else?"

"No, I believe not," Principal Yamada cut in. "We must get going. I will see to the school. You ensure that our precious students will be seen to safety."

He smiled and nodded to the assembled teachers before turning back to me. "You carry with you the pride and honor of Fujimi High School! I trust that you will carry through."

"I'll do it or die trying!" I replied….with a little more force than I'd intended….maybe the animu effect is getting to me….

He grinned. "That's the spirit! Now off with you all!"

The teachers and students started moving to their assigned vehicles, but before I left I had one piece of unfinished business.

Taking a deep breath, I moved to Shizuka. She was standing by her little car with three girls. On the roof of her vehicle were several crates loaded with all the medical supplies that we could find. With the help of the three members of the nursing club who'd be cramming themselves into the single passenger seat, they were doing one last check to make sure nothing fell off.

And yes, there was actually a nursing club.

Straightening my shoulders, I walked over to her, my helmet under one arm, my shield on my back and my axe in my belt. I must have looked like a warrior going off on campaign, which wasn't all that far from the truth.

The clinking of my mail caught her attention and she turned away from the girls to look at me. Her eyes brightened in that way that made my heart flip every time and I smiled. "Shizuka."

"Tom." She replied, that same smile she always had on her face though I could see the strain creeping in at the edge.

That hurt, I hadn't expected to fall in love, hell I never expected the woman to even notice me...but she had, and I had thanked God everyday for that.

"You knew this would happen, didn't you?" she stated calmly.

Every warm feeling I had vanished like the morning dew and black dread form in the pit of my stomach.

"I-...I..bu.." I couldn't speak, my throat tightened up and my stomach dropped to my feet.

"Why didn't you try to stop it?" she asked calmly.

"I...I didn't know... how it would begin. Or where… just that it would happen."

"So instead you just saved the people you could..."

"It's all that I could do."

"No," she replied moving in close. "You could have simply fled and saved yourself. But instead you're here...."

"You think I would have left you behind? Or them?"

She smiled. "Of course not... because you're a hero, Tom."

She gently pressed her lips against mine.

"My hero."

I grinned and pulled her close, "You're mine too, Shizuka. I've known about this for too long, I'd have gone mad a long time ago. But I didn't because every time I looked at you, every time you smiled at me, spoke to me, every thing you did... relit my fire and kept me going. And..."

"Don't give me that, Tom. I'm just along for the ride... now..." She gave me a quick swat on the ass and a bedroom smile. "Now get out there and save the world."

"Y-yes ma'am!" I said with a giant grin on my face.

-----------------

It was maybe a good 5 minutes later that I began to realize the one kink in my plan. I wasn't the one driving. With the bulk of the teaching staff alive, they were able to actually have the regular drivers do the driving. This meant that I was simply a passenger.

A passenger, in the back, pressing the flesh with a large group of exactly 73 terrified teenagers inside a space rated to fit 25. Needless to say, there was a rather interesting set of sensations going around.

The first and foremost was the heat. It seemed that even with the AC blasting and the fact that this was early spring, fitting three times the rated capacity of the bus would lead to some thermal regulation issues.

Good fucking God, why hadn't I taken off my armor?

To make matters worse was the smell.

Deodorant, motherfuckers, ever heard of it?

Still, I was amazed that things had gone as well as they had. People were scared shitless and worried about their families, but they were all still alive and unbitten. The only casualty we had so far was Teshima.

I grimaced at that. Teshima had been a P.E. teacher and while we weren't friends we respected each other and he'd been quite impressed with what I had done for the nerds I had made into Huscarls.

I knew I'd be having nightmares about his dying and what I had to do to put him down. But the simple reality was I couldn't afford to hesitate. If I did, people would die. Simple that.

I also took comfort in the fact that aside from Teshima and Tetsuo no one had died so far. My boys and the martial arts club members had fought like heroes. I needed to make sure to commend them somehow. I'd make sure to do so once we got to the storage lot, it'd help earn the respect of the Thegns with the martial arts folks.

Speaking of the Thegns, I needed to contact the guys on the other side of the river and get them to head to the Takagi manor. I'd lose a few fighters but I was sure that old man Takagi could make use of them and it'd be easier logistically on us when we tried to cross the river later.

Checking my phone for the charge I quickly began typing up the message for the pertinent gangs, let's see, Iron Cobras, Shield-Breakers, Ragnar's Raiders, who else…?

It was then that I felt something rub up against my arm. Something very very... soft. And squishy.

Slowly, as my hackles began to rise, I turned my head and looked to the side to find myself locking with a pair of amber eyes.

Yuuki Miku. Say what you will about the star of the female half of the Fujimi High School track team as a person, she really was a knockout. And she was currently pressing her tits up against my arm.

"Brody-sensei?" she asked, looking at me with shimmering eyes.

Is this really happening…

"Ye-yes Miku-san?" My voice cracked a bit, this can't be happening!

She moved her hand to grasp my arm. "You're going to keep us safe, right?"

"Yes."

"You're going to keep me safe, right?"

"Yes, I am."

She smiled and learned in, all but pressing her body against mine.

"Keep me safe and I'll do anything you ask."

"All that I ask is that you give it your all."

"Don't worry. I'll give it my all no matter what you ask of me..." she then leaned in and in a husky voice, she whispered: "And I do mean anything."

I froze in place.

I need an adult.

Oh crap.

I am the adult.

"Hey!" Saya cut in. "Cut that bitch in heat shit out, Miku. This isn't the time. This isn't the place. And nobody wants to smell your damned hormones."

Yuuki's lovely face twisted into a mask of hate as she glared at Saya through hooded eyes before pulling away and vanishing into the press of students.

Saya huffed. "The nerve of that..."

"STOP THE BUS!"

We were all lurched forward with several people nearly being crushed as the bus came shrieking to a halt. I had to brace myself from slamming into Saya .

"What the hell, Takashi!" I growled, looking at the newest of my huscarls. "I assume you have a good reason for stopping the bus."

He nodded. "Yeah, sensei. There's a bike on the side of the road. Looks intact."

I pressed through the mass of students and moved to the other window. Glancing in the direction he indicated, I saw the aforementioned bike laying on its side next to the side rail of the highway.

"And I assume there's a point to all this?" I growled, feeling not a little bit annoyed by all this.

"Yeah, having someone with a bike might be useful for... you know... scouting missions and stuff."

I was about to snarl at him when I remembered that he had actually been a pretty skilled rider in the original manga… and after thinking about it he did have a point. On the other hand, there were some downsides.

"You do realize that on that thing you're going to have absolutely no protection if we should run into a horde, right?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I know, but I think it'll be worth it. Besides, if it gets bad you can throw a rope down from the roof of the bus and pull me up, right?"

I paused. That wasn't a terrible plan, actually. A questionable one, maybe, but not terrible.

"Alright," I replied after a moment's thought. "But you either ride in full armor or not at all, and watch out for the rider. He's probably still shambling around somewhere."

He nodded and grabbed his axe and helmet from the overhead compartment. "This isn't my first time killing Zombies, sensei."

"No, that was an hour ago," Rei cut in. "Stop acting like a macho idiot and be careful."

"Yes, mom!"

Her squeal of rage was almost but not quite covered over by the laughter of the students.

Moments later he was walking out the door axe in hand, moving towards the bike.

Suddenly there was a blur of movement, and more than one girl screamed as the former rider attempted to devour the sweet flesh of the living. Thankfully, it was stopped by two factors. First, it was in a full coverage helmet. Second, it never made it into range as Takashi's axe buried itself to the haft in its skull, splitting both head and helmet like an overripe melon.

Takashi pulled his weapon free with a grotesque sucking sound before wiping it clean on the pants of the corpse. Then he righted the bike, mounted it, and turned the key.

The engine started without issue and he shot me a quick thumbs up.

"Okay," I called up to the driver. "Lets get moving."



OOC: For those curious, here's Yuuki Miku:

And the Inspiration for the OTHER Yuuki in the Story:

Minus the black dress of course ...AND REPLACED WITH A SCHOOL DRESS!
Get your minds out of the gutter people!

 

[Brian Boru]

With thanks from Psyckosama and Grey Rook here's the next chapter.





"You can't be fuckin' serious, boss..."

"Yes, Hrothgar, I am 'fucking serious'. Listen, I'm no fan of the Ultra-Nationalists either, but strange times make for strange bedfellows and right now it'll be too dangerous for you to try and get across the river. Go to the Takagi estate and tell him you're one of mine. I've already talked with him. He'll take you in for now and we can link up tomorrow."

"How do I know he won't try to stab us in the back?"

"First, I have his word. Second, I have his daughter."

There was a momentary pause.

"Oh. Okay. See you there, boss."

My relief was almost palpable as I ended the call. And that was the last of them. Thank God I'd managed to deal with that quickly enough.

"So, you have his daughter?" Saya asked, with a peaked eyebrow. "How dastardly."

"The sarcasm is not nearly as charming as you think, Ms. Takagi. Especially in this heat." I replied with a sigh as I put away my phone. I instinctively glanced at the power meter, still around 85% but who knew how much longer it would work.

It was... odd, trying to comprehend a world without cellphones, or computers, tv, movies... I knew in my head that it was going to happen. But in my gut? That was taking longer to accept... and it sent a chill through me. I prayed that my preparations would be enough and I ran a thumb across the small gold crucifix I constantly wore around my neck. It was becoming a nervous tic and I wondered what other twitches I would develop in the weeks and months to come.

As I stared out the window I watched the houses roll by; thankfully Fujimi academy was outside the city proper, meaning that there were few others out here, alive or dead. The main reason it was taking so long to reach the storage lot was, frankly, cautious driving. Which made this ride seem endless and I could hear the sounds of misery from the students packed in here like sardines. In retrospect, this whole plan was dumb as hell and it was a miracle we didn't have someone keel over from heatstroke. But what choice did we really have?

I was taken out of my thoughts when I felt the bus come to a stop. "Everyone brace yourselves!" called out the driver. "We're here!"

"Halleluja…" I muttered under my breath as more than a few of the students started cheering.

"Alright everyone, I know your knees and legs are killing you but let's act like civilized human beings and get off in an orderly fashion." I called out.

"If you need water we have a few crates of water bottles in the over carry, they're not cold but better than nothing." A fair number of voices called out they'd like some, some more vociferous than others.

I continued: "If nature's calling there's a bathroom in the lot's office shed you can use after we clear out the lot. If you can't wait just go round the other side of the bus, we'll make sure no one bothers you."

When a few feminine voices shouted indignantly I replied: "Welcome to the Apocalypse, ladies. Make do, or get eaten. Just don't get the rest of us killed in the process."

"Brody-sensei..." Saeko said with a slight tsk. "There is no reason to be impolite."

She then paused before adding: "But he is correct," Her voice dropped to a tone that promised suffering. "Foolish risk taking is forbidden."

"And I'll let her dole out the punishment too," I replied as I pulled my gear from the overhead, "So just imagine what the nice girl with the razor sharp sword will do to you if you do something stupid and get people killed. Now. Huskarls to the front! We need to clear this place. Lane by lane sweep! All other armed students, your job is to defend the vehicles. Everyone else, once you're off the bus stay close and do NOT wander off."

"Right!" Several voices called over the heavy clink of armor as the huscarls made their way through the bus. I stood at the door, leading from the front. I was still feeling guilty over not fighting with my boys during their first battle and I intended to be there in the thick of it this time.

Of course, for better or worse, things don't always go as you've planned as the thick of it in this case was more the thin of it.

Inputting my access code took all of 15 seconds and we were in. There were six rows of containers with three lanes. So I had the combat martial arts clubs guard our rear while we broke into groups and marched down towards the manager's office. Thankfully, the place was emptier than a politician's words.

Well, except for the manager's office itself but that encounter went a little something like...

"Ugggh..."

Whack!

I love Kenji, I really do. He's a sweet kid... but sometimes he just makes me look bad. I don't want to sound like some kind of console kiddy screaming over Xbox Live, but when the boss says he's going to take the lead and there's only one thing worth hitting, you let him take the first swing!

Stepping over the lot manager, or rather, both halves of him, I walked over to the tool chest by the wall and picked up the rather impressive set of bolt cutters he kept in plain sight as a reminder to his customers to pay their rent and passed it on.

"Hayato," I said turning my head to them.

"Yes, sensei?" he asked.

I placed the bolt cutters on the desk, then snatched his keys as almost an afterthought. "Start cutting the locks and see what those keys belong to. I want every container in this place opened and inventoried to the best of your ability by nightfall. Get the others to help you, but I want the boys to open the containers. God only knows what's hiding in those boxes."

He nodded, reaching for the cutters. "I'm on it."

"Good. As expected of my lieutenant." I replied. Wasn't really me, but it was what they expected and what they needed to hear.

Hayato's chest puffed slightly at the half-handed compliment before I scribbled down a couple numbers. "This is my unit and my combination. Send someone to open it ASAP."

"Yes, sensei!"

"Good. Kohta, Takashi, you're with me. The rest of you, you know what to do." With an affirmation we broke up to our various tasks. Me, Takashi and Kohta headed back towards the vehicles where the teachers were helping the students disembark. When they spotted the three of us leaving the lot everyone came to a complete stop. I could see the apprehension in the faces of more than one person.

I smiled. "All clear, there was only the manager lurching around and we took care of him. Get on in ASAP, Kenji and Hayato are setting things up and taking inventory. Move the vehicles in and unload any cargo. The sooner we get done, the faster we can get the others."

The relief was evident on everyone's faces as they turned towards the lot. "Just a few rules." I said before they could get much further. "First off, no one leaves the lot. The place is secure but we haven't examined the area around it yet and who knows what might be lurking around. Second, everyone get a buddy, we're facing the zombie apocalypse here people and everyone knows what happens when you go off alone, right?"

That got a few dry laughs from people, but most just grimaced.

Huh. Too soon.

I looked at the martial arts club members and added; "And you, help patrol the perimeter. If you can, get some people on the roofs to look out but don't take any stupid risks."

The club members nodded. "As for the rest of you listen get settled in and make sure to listen to Hayato, they know what needs to be done."

I was about to look for Saeko when I looked past the busses for a moment, and blinked in amazement at what I saw.

Rolling up on the gates was a large black van with the words: "Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church".

"So, he did read my note," I muttered to myself as I walked towards the gate.

When the students and teachers paused in confusion I waved them to keep going. Once they were moving again I turned back to the van that had just turned off.

The door opened and out stepped, well, let me put it this way. If I'd known this was the man I was confessing to I would probably have been too nervous to enter the door. At times I'd wondered what Sig Curtis would look like in real life. Now, I knew.

I'm not exactly a short guy anymore thanks to whatever bullshit space magic dumped me in this shithole, but the father had a good head on me. And it was attached to a body, that while stocky with a rather jolly looking gut, just screamed 'Sumo', he also had arms that were probably as big around as most other men's thighs.

He locked eyes with me, and it made me feel like a small boy who had been caught playing in the baptismal font. They narrowed for a moment and I felt my bowels twist and fear far stronger than I had fighting the walking dead crawled up my spine. His bearded mouth twisted into a grimace for a second, and I suppressed the urge to swallow and instead matched the gaze to the best of my ability.

Then after a moment that felt like an eternity, his entire demeanor changed and he smiled warmly, suddenly looking like nothing more than an overgrown teddy bear of a man.

"Fifteen Our Fathers, one hundred and fifty Hail Mary's."

I sighed, releasing a breath I hadn't even known I'd been holding and hit the open button for the gate. "Welcome, father, to our little hideaway. One of the boys can explain the plan."

He nodded and stepped to the side. "I assume you're a very busy man, what with saving the innocent from the forces of judgement and all," he said in a tired, almost irreverent tone.

"Well, let's get you folks in." I told him. He nodded and got back into the van, while the students still entering the lot made room for the vehicle.

Moments later the van pulled in and once the gate was shut, disgorged a shockingly young and voluptuous young woman wearing what some young women wear when they're considering the Holy Orders, and about a dozen small children. Wait a minute, I've seen that girl's face before…

"Seems you've been busy yourself, father." I commented.

"We had a small daycare for the mothers in the community," he replied calmly. "It is the duty of a priest to shepherd the troubled and the innocent. In these times, we are all troubled, and there are none more innocent..."

He paused and crained backwards, looking out the gate. "And speaking of the troubled..."

There was a screech of tires as a battered bus that looks like it would be right at home running prison transfers screeched to a rough stop next to the gate. On its sides were blazoned the words Ishiyama High School.

Which meant it probably did perform prison transfers once upon a time.

The driver side window rolled down and I found myself looking into the lazy glare of Tatsumi Oga.

"Sup."

I couldn't help but laugh. "Why am I not surprised that you made it here first? Welcome aboard, Surtur."

The humor bounced off him like buckshot off an ironclad and he narrowed his eyes and half snarled; "You gonna let me in or do me and mine get to entertain the biters? Because as fun as it was smashin' their skulls in, we're kinda sick of it. Lost five guys in the escape."

I nodded and pushed the button and moments later, the bus was inside.

"Are you sure this is wise?" Kyoko asked me obviously nervous about inviting in a bus full of students from the most infamous school in the entire region.

"They might be a pack of ill-tempered punks, but they know when to follow orders and they can fight," I replied. "Right now, that's enough."

Kyoko didn't seem all that convinced but didn't protest, turning back to the students and other teachers.

"We're going to be staying here for some time..."

"Couple days," I cut in. "At the most. The sooner we move on, the better our chances of survival. Anyone who wants to try and contact your family, this is your chance..."

My eyes turned to Takayama. "If any teachers want to try and rescue their loved ones, then I can't stop you but understand we can't afford to wait up for you. Stay in contact because if we don't hear anything from you, we will assume you died in the attempt."

"Hey!" One of the students cut in. "What if we want to try and save our families!"

"Then I'll personally pound the stupid out of you. You have no weapons, no vehicle, and sadly I'm still responsible for your survival, but if you insist on sneaking out and earning yourself a Darwin Award then be my fucking guest, because that'll be one less mouth to feed and idiot to protect from their own terminal stupidity!"

The father who had silent during this conversation, sighed and turned to the young woman. "Mari-chan, look after the children."

She nodded. "Of course, father." That voice, I know it from somewhere… no… ROB, stop fucking with me here.

Oga, who had exited the bus grinned and turned his head his followers, a motley crew of tough-guys and sukeban, "Hey, Hilda. You're good with brats. Go help out."

The father's eyes widened somewhat, as a rather striking blond girl holding a rather vicious-looking green-haired baby stepped into view from the crowd. She was wearing a lovely black gothic lolita dress and a very deep scowl.

"Excuse me?" she snapped.

"You've already gotta watch out for one brat. Might as well put him with the others."

She sighed and walked off the bus before pausing before the nun and giving her an appraising look. Once her eyes had locked with the older girl's chest, which, to be honest,was rather... um... heavenly... she raised an eyebrow and asked. "Which fetish video did you trip and fall out of?"

Mari flushed red for a moment. "Excuse you?" Oh c'mon!

"The whole sexy nun thing," she replied. "Thought that only happened in pornos."

"First, I'm only a volunteer. I dress like this because I want to honor the church..."

The priest shot me a long-suffering look but said nothing. There was a story there because I knew the girl was way too young to have taken her vows.

"Second, like you're one to talk! And whose child is that anyways?"

"My sister's," Hilda replied, blandly. "She went out to get milk and asked me to look after the brat for half an hour. That was five months ago. Last I heard she was turning tricks in Nagasaki."

Mari flushed in indignant anger but impressed me after reciting something under her breath which calmed her down. Then she said: "As interesting as this slow motion trainwreck of a conversation is, there's stuff we've got to do."

Hilda laughed, 'Yeah, yeah," she said and rounded on the not-nun. "I like you, you've got spunk. Let's go."

She turned to the kids. "Alright brats, come on! If you're good I'll teach you how to set stuff on fire with sun lasers."

The children cheered and began to follow leaving the older girl to growl in indignation and rush after her.

There was a momentary pause and the priest released a deep sigh. "I see no good coming of this."

"Maybe," Oga observed. "But at least it'll be funny."

"So long as they stay alive and safe that's all I care about for the moment." I replied.

The priest grunted and nodded. "True."

"Sensei!"

I turned to see the petite form of Saya Takagi looking at me. One thing I did notice was that she was carrying a cellphone. Little Miss Model Student with a phone. Good to see.

"Where did you get the phone?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Off the manager," she replied. "I called my parents. Two of the other gangs have arrived at my family's compound. Also, the vehicles are unloaded."

I blinked in surprise. "That was fast." I glanced back over to the priest and Oga. "How long were we sitting around talking for?" I was a bit upset with myself for wasting time.

"We finished just now," she stated.

I nodded. "Good. Okay. We need to get moving again. I want you to put the spears from my stash the in all the busses."

She nodded in comprehension. "Understood."

I turned back to Oga and his thugs and noticed that half the male members were either staring at Saya, at Mari's retreating form, or the silent but irritated Kyoko. Hell, I swear one of them was even drooling.

Couldn't really blame them, to be honest. Mari could cosplay as Hinata Hyuga without any effort, and Kyoko and Saya... seriously, was there something in the water at this damned school?

Clearing my head, I simply shot the undeclared banchou a look with a raised eyebrow, and he gave me a slight nod in response as this was not the time, nor was it the place for this shit.

"Focus, you idiots!" Oga snarled and they snapped out of their daze.

I turned to Oga. "I need your bus and I've got a job for you and your boys. How many of you know how to drive a truck?"

He raised an eyebrow and looked at me as if I'd just asked him if he secretly moonlighted as a magical girl themed superhero called Okama Kamen. "Seriously?"

"Father, are you willing to help ensure the survival of this group in a more physical manner?" I asked turning to the priest.

"Of course!" he replied. "A shepherd's duty is never done!"

"Right. There's a truck rental about three kilometers down the road. I need you to get it it and retrieve as many vehicles as possible. Father, fill your van to the max. Oga, I need you to pick out the best fighters out of your group, and hit up my storage unit for arms and armor. If anyone isn't good enough, talk to Hayato about getting some Huskarls to back you up instead. Father's got command of this mission."

The Father nodded with all seriousness, but Oga crossed his arm and scowled. "Listen, I follow you because you're tough and trained the strongest gang in the entire city. This guy..." he thumbed to the priest. "I don't know."

"Would you like me to prove my strength?" The priest asked beatifically.

What.

"Sure, if you can lay even a single hit on me, I'll follow your lead."

What?

To my amazement the priest nodded in agreement to his demand and then, far faster than a man his size should be capable of, struck out at Oga with a palm strike.

What!

The delinquent saw it, and moved to dodge, but wasn't quite fast enough to dodge, and instead it clipped his shoulder and sent him into a spin. This was quickly capitalized on with a second strike which sent him flying through the air and into the door of one of the containers... a good five meters away.

Oga bounced with a wince-inducing thud and ended his short trip looking at the sky and grasping his ribs with a grimace.

Holy shit!

"Are you satisfied as to my credentials, young man?" the priest asked with a playful seriousness.

"Yeah, yeah... ughhh.... Let's go steal some trucks. Once I can breathe again."

I shook my head and turned to the other delinquents who'd been watching. "Who here can drive? Raise your hands."

Nearly every hand shot up.

I smiled. "Great. I need a volunteer to drive a truck back to Fujimi with me."

Most of the hands dropped and I looked over the remainder before settling on a silver haired kid who honestly didn't have the cast of a fighter. "You're in," I replied as I tossed him the keys.

Oga raised an eyebrow.

"You sure, Furuichi?"

"He's got the look of a man who wants to live instead of going out in a blaze of glory on a one way trip to Valhalla. Important for a rescue mission I think."

Oga grunted in acknowledgement.

"Besides," Furuichi added, "Chances are that truck is going to end up with a number of girls, several of whom might feel very thankful towards their courageous rescuer!"

I sighed. Or he could just be a pervert...

"Alright people!" I exclaimed. "Everyone load up and let's get...!"

My little impromptu motivational was cut off by the ringing of my phone.

Looking down at the number I felt a chill of dread run through my veins as I realized the number was Principal Yamada's.

With almost reluctance, I answered the phone, and took a deep breath.

"Yes?"

"Brody-san, we have a problem..."

---------

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," I muttered to myself as Fujimi came into view.

The gate was down, and sitting inside the courtyard was a wreck of a car. According to Yamada the vehicle crashed through the gates only a couple minutes before he called, and with most of the fighting forces gone, there was no time for a repeat performance of our little wall of men.

It was with twisted satisfaction that I noted the door was open and about 15 feet from the vehicle there was a rather indicative bloody smear on the ground that told the fate of the driver.

"What in all the fucks?" I growled in anger as I drove up on the school, the yard of which was well layered with the undead. "That son of bitch better be glad that the zeds got him, because if I'd gotten my hands on that asshole..."

I growled and banishing daydreams of bloody murder, looked over to Shizuka who'd joined me on the bus out of concern that there might be need for a medic. And by the bus, I meant the one Ota brought. The kid might be a lazy, sadistic, asshole delinquent, but bringing a third bus? Well shit, and it wasn't even Christmas.

Of course, someone had to drive it and I didn't exactly trust him or any of his psychotic little buddies with this job. And as I was stuck with the thankless of job running mission control, it also meant that Shizuka was driving.

And yes, those words were every bit as terrifying as you could imagine.

Taking a deep breath I lifted one of the school walkie talkies we'd brought with us and opened a line to the other drivers. "Alright, you all know the plan. Back up and we'll start the evacuation."

And better yet, that plan had been written with two in mind. With this bus, we had three and even better yet, this bus was actually a full-sized school bus and not one of those fancy mini-tour busses that they used at Fujimi. This, among other things, meant that it had a rear hatch and the seats were more easily removed. I'm not going to lie and say we didn't spend most of the trip throwing chairs out the rear. After all, Mama Brody didn't raise no liar and it doesn't count as littering if it's the Apocalypse!

"Yamada," I muttered over the phone, "We're moving in."

And we were. In about three minutes all the buses were lined up closely against the wall. Due to the particularities of the school's design, the first floor was actually slightly recessed in comparison to the higher stories. This meant if we pulled up close there was pretty much no gap between the wall and the roof. A bit of a drop, yes, but that's what rope was made for.

I smiled as I moved away from the cab and worked my way back. The next best thing about this bus was that it was large enough to have two evac hatches. That meant it we could move twice as fast.

Once we had the busses in place I pulled out the phone and called Yamada. When he picked up I said in a low tone: "Alright, we're lined up, we need you to exit through the second story windows. We have the busses lined up against the side of the buildings and it should only be just over a one meter drop to the roof of the busses. Once there we have the evac hatches open and you'll just climb and drop down in."

"Very well, Brody-san. I'll be sure to warn everyone to go slowly so as not to cause a traffic jam." Yamada replied. The relief was obvious in his voice. "I'm also glad you came back."

I put a mock affronted tone in my reply. "Why Yamada-san, doubting I'd return? I'm hurt that you'd think so little of me. Why if this were a more honorable time I'd request pistols at ten paces at dawn!"

That got a slight chuckle out of the man. "We'll send the students out first and should the worst happen… don't hesitate to leave us old coots behind. And as a personal favor… please watch out for my nephew. I've no idea what's happened to my brother and his wife and their son is the only family I know is still alive."

I was a bit surprised there as Yamada wasn't one to get teary-eyed. Then again, considering the situation...

"You have my word, Yamada-san."

"Thank you. We'll start sending the students out now." With that he hung up.

A few moments I heard a series of thuds on top of the bus, and a moment after that a scared looking young man dropped through the top hatch. He looked around furtively for a moment but when he saw he was safe he relaxed a little. "I'm glad you-"

I interrupted him with a raise of one of my hands and said. "Save it for when we get back, right now you need to move and let the next person down." I indicated the dangling legs swinging over the kid's head.

"Huh?"

He looked up only to receive a foot to the face.

"D-don't look up, pervert!"

"Hey! I didn't do it on purpose!"

Moments later a girl dropped down, still glaring, with her hands on her hips. "Well if that's so, why do you have a nose bleed?"

"Because you kicked me in the face!"

I sighed and pinched my nose. It was moments like this that I remembered that I was literally living in an fanservice manga with all the tits and tropes thereof. Oh, fuck my life.

"You two can have your little lover's squabble at the back of the bus. Now quiet down and get out of the goddamned way!"

Both young people flushed in embarrassment and meekly made way for the next person to drop down. Slowly but surely the students slid out of the window, scampered across the top of the bus, and slid down through the hatch.

I sighed deeply and leaned against the console next to Shizuka. "Not great, but could have been worse."

She smiled and gave me a chuckle. "I'd make some kind of observation about it, but I really don't want to jinx it."

My face split with a grin. Good God do I love this woman.

------------

Fucking Tanaka.

If there's one rule you always need to remember it's that no plan survives contact with the enemy, or in in this case, Ichiro Tanaka.

One thing I'd prided myself on when I'd created my Huscarls was that I'd taken many of the saddest, weakest, and physically useless members of the school and turned them into the toughest, hardest, Viking motherfuckers this side of Asgard. Sadly, it was only most, and one of the ones who'd failed muster was Ichiro Tanaka.

He'd been suggested about three weeks into training and then managed to last three minutes of training before he'd declared it too hard and slinked back off to his dorm to play creepy loli visual novels or whatever else it was the fuck he did in his spare time.

Before I'd found him Kohta had been short, weak, and fat. Now, while I couldn't say I helped him any with the short problem, he... well... now, lets just say 'nobody tosses a dwarf' and leave it at that.

Tanaka was a couple inches taller, and easily twice as wide as Kohta has been when we met, and after said three minutes of training, he'd been left sweating like a pig in sauna. Needless to say, he wasn't a very physical boy. The more cynical part of me would guess that the closest he'd gotten to cardio in the last couple years probably involved a dark room and a box of kleenex.

It was a shame too. I'll admit, I couldn't stand the kid. His attitude was crap, his personal hygiene was worse, and he the way he looked at the girls in the school made me wonder if we were dealing with a creepy stalker hentai protagonist in training, but nobody deserved what he'd gotten.

Well, except for Shido.

Getting into the busses wasn't exactly treacherous. Took some care, but lowering yourself three feet over a wall by a rope isn't exactly an obstacle course unless you're really unlucky, or the most pathetic fatass I'd ever met.

Ichiro Tanaka somehow managed surpass even my low opinion of him and be both at the same fucking time.

I was unable to see it happen because it happened on the bus to the right of mine, but I heard the entire thing. Tanaka had been trying to lower himself onto the bus roof when somehow he managed to slip and twist his ankle. He then somehow managed to stumble the entire length of the bus, thrashing as he tried to regain his balance before going flying off the front with a panicked scream which continued on in agony once he hit the pavement.

And of course, Zombies are attracted to loud noises. Which considering that the school grounds was swarming with them by this point, well, what happened next should be obvious. I only had a second to make eye contact with the boy before he was literally torn limb from limb.

To make matters worse, this was seen by literally half the remaining students who also started screaming, drawing in probably every zombie within damned near a kilometer...

I hate to speak ill of the dead but...

"Fucking Tanaka!" I cursed as I lept to my feet only moments after the chaos started. "All of you! Shut the fuck up and calm the fuck down!" I roared at the top of my lungs.

Jabbing a finger towards the approaching horde I snarled, "In case you didn't notice his screaming is why all the fucking zeds swarmed on him, now unless you want to share his fate I suggest you pipe the fuck down, NOW!"

I wish I was able to say that that was enough to get them all in perfect order but that would be deluding myself. There was still a general panic, especially among the students still in the school, many of whom were now too terrified to even risk the climb down.

Gritting my teeth and closing my eyes I picked up the hand set radio I was using to keep in contact with the other teachers.

I was probably going to hell for this but sometimes when things get bad you just have to swallow your kindness and institute a triage.

"This is Brody. Anyone who is too panicky to climb down, since we don't have time to coach every one of them, move them to the back of the line and explain this very clearly. If they climb down, there's a low chance they'll slip, they'll fall, and then they'll die horrible deaths. If they don't climb down, we'll have to leave them behind to save the others. In which case they will die horrible deaths. The choice is theirs. This might seem cruel, but right now we're on a time limit."

Taking a moment to center myself, I then spoke into the Radio again, this time with the intent on contacting the other drivers.

"Everyone crack the windows and get the spears. We can't keep them away from the school, but we can keep them off the busses. And for fucks sake, you spear out of the window you do not reach out of it. Anyone who gets bitten will turn into one of them."

I lowered my Radio and frowned. Fuck this waiting shit.

Pushing past the Throng of students I pulled myself onto the roof. "Alright! " I called out. "Anyone small and light, just jump and I'll catch you!"

It was a risk, but I could already see the horde bunching up, both around the busses, and slowly approaching the school from outside the grounds. We had maybe ten minutes and were going to be driving over a whole lot of speed bumps on the way out.

Fuck.

As I was guiding another small girl towards the hatch, I felt the bus shake. I immediately clasped the girl to my chest and knelt down to keep my balance, ignoring the squeak of embarrassment and the flush on her face that immediately appeared. I looked down over the edge and saw that the swarm had grown large enough that their combined mass could shift the bus.

I noted with some satisfaction that the spears were doing their job in driving them off or putting them down but I knew it couldn't last. Either enough zombies showed up to tip the bus or enough were killed that they could reach into the bus on top of their redead companions. Or worse, we could get in the rest of the students and find that there were too many zombies surrounding the bus to allow them to move from their standstill position.

Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!

Glancing down at the small girl still in my arms I saw the fear in her eyes, I looked back up to the students at the window, none of them looking at me, instead at the ever growing horde. I could hear the curses and battle-cries of the students in the busses, spearing everything that got close and the constant moans, rasps and death rattles of the horde. I realized that there was no way we'd all get out of this alive, and if anyone had to make the ultimate sacrifice….

I gently helped the girl into the hatch, I then stuck my head into the bus and and called for one of the huscarls who came along, Sasuke of all names. "Could you come up and bring my weapons with you?"

"Alright sensei." He pulled himself up and handed me my gear.

"Thanks, Sasuke," I said in a calm tone. I then started sliding my armor on. "I need you to help the rest of the students down and into the bus. I've got something else to do."

"Sensei?" The young man asked, his confusion obvious in his face.

"There's going to be too many zeds for the busses to get through and escape, someone's going to have to get their attention elsewhere. Who else is going to stay alive long enough?" I said strapping my shield to my arm and doing a few test swings with my axe.

"No. Sensei NO! Let me do it! I'm your huscarl, isn't that what a huscarl does? Fight and die for his chief?" Tears started forming in the young man's eyes.

I smiled and placed my hand on his shoulder. "I'm not your chief, I'm your teacher, you're too young to throw your life away, let a man who's lived his life do it. Besides, a leader has to sometimes make the ultimate sacrifice sometimes to keep his people safe."

I then pulled out the crucifix around my neck on last time, kissed it and handed it to him. "One last favor Sasuke? Could you give this Shizuka? Tell her I love her and always will. Tell her I asked her to keep safe and be happy. Tell- tell her that if the world wasn't ending I would have bought her a ring a long time ago."

Sasuke blinked back more tears and, taking the little golden cross said: "Yeah, I will."

"Good. Now, go help the others down." I smiled and turned towards the front of the bus where I could leap down to the ground more easily.

As I walked I started to pray. "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for you are with me; your rod and your staff they comfort me." For all of its inaccuracies the King James Bible had some lovely lines. Then I started up another prayer, "Our Father, who art in Heaven…" I needed to finish those prayers the good father had asked me to say for my penance and better now than never. Who knew maybe I'd get through all of them before I went down.

I was starting to build up speed for the jump when I was shaken out of my state of mind.

Someone was blowing an airhorn from one of the nearby doors, what idiot would...I turned my head and saw to my surprise that it was Principle Yamada, he'd found an airhorn and was blowing it from an open door on that bridge thing that spanned between the two buildings of the school. The zombies immediately turned towards the loudest noise and moved away from the busses.

Yamada waited and kept blowing his airhorn along with shouting at the top of his lungs in between blasts. "Hey! Hey! Over here!"

At the last moment he moved towards the building farthest away from our evacuation point. As the horde continued to pour up and into the building I realized that the zombies were no longer pressuring the bus and even the way out of thinning.

Deciding not to think about it I turned back to Sasuke and said. "Change of plans, we're going to work together and help the rest of the students down as quickly as possible."

Sasuke stared at me for a moment, then smiled and said, "Alright Sensei."

We then turned and started catching students again, then practically tossing them down the hatch. Quicker than I thought possible the last person, little Yamazaki of all people, much less angry than normal, downright scared actually, was lowered down into the bus. I glanced at the others and smiled when they were finished loading as well.

I turned to Sasuke and was about to tell him to hop back in when his eyes widened and he pointed at one of the buildings, "Sensei! Look!"

I turned and saw that Sasuke was pointing at the building Yamada had lured the zombies into, specifically it was the one with the dome on the roof for the astronomy club, standing up there was Principle Yamada, he'd barricaded the stairs and was still blowing his airhorn. He blasted one last time and looked back towards us. Right then the barricade broke and the swarm lurched up the stairs towards him.

Yamada backed up towards the railing, the side which opened up to the parking deck below. I never even blinked at the old man saluted and right when the zeds were reaching out to grab him, he leaned back and dropped out of sight, I swear he was smiling. A few zeds followed the sound after him. The rest milled about for a few moments, then began lurching in other directions.

I turned back to Sasuke and said: "Let's go."

He never said a word, he just nodded and slid through the hatch. I followed suit. When my feet hit the ground I turned to Sasuke who already knew what I wanted and handed back my crucifix. I slipped it back around my neck and under my shirt I turned to Shizuka and said: "Let's get moving, it's a long ride back."

"Alright, Tom." And with a roar of the engine she moved, the other vehicles followed suit. There was still an smattering of zeds in the way but not nearly enough to impede our path. All the while Shizuka repeated: "They're not people anymore." Over and over.

I just clutched my crucifix and started working on the rest of my penance. While at the same time offering my prayers for the soul of Mamoru Yamada, the bravest man I'd ever had the honor of meeting.

 

[Brian Boru]

With thanks to PsyckoSama, Lilbobchicago, and Grey Rook for their help and in the case of the former kick in the pants here is the next part in the tale, Land of the Dead,

In memory of Daisuke Sato the Author of the original story. For inspring me to write the longest story I've ever made.

A few hours later I found the line of busses rolling to a stop in front of the storage lot, and to my mild surprise I didn't see any of the undead wandering around. Working my way up to the front I glanced through the windshield and noticed that groups of people were all busy at some task or another on the other side of the chainlink fence instead of just milling around, or worse, panicking. Good. Nodding in satisfaction I opened the door and shouted out to the sentries by the gates. "Oi! Get the gates open, we got some panicky folks here with some very full bladders!"

Not normally my style of humor but frankly I didn't give a shit, I was drained, physically as well as emotionally. Today had been one of the longest and most horrifying days of my life and I had a strong feeling that things would get worse LONG before they ever got any better. Once I saw the gate being pushed open I leaned back into the bus and shut the door, allowing it to enter the parking lot part of the storage lot.

To my satisfaction, I saw that the boys who stayed behind had started forming a barricade around the entrance, using furniture, office cabinets and other things too big to be brought along. I hadn't told them to do that, so either one of them had a spark of inspiration or someone else among the school body. Either way I would make sure to commend them.

But first I wanted off this damn bus and out of this damn armor. I wanted a hot shower and make sweet, sweet love to Shizuka, if for nothing else than to remind myself that I was still alive.

Unlike Yamada, I forced my eyes shut as the image of his last moments falling from the school roof forced themselves into my mind's eye again. I knew I'd have nightmares about that one. I'd never seen someone die violently like that.

Well, except for Shido, but honestly, he didn't really count as people. Given a good night's sleep, a zombie apocalypse, and three rounds of Rosary Beads later and all was right in the eyes of God. I was sure I'd get the occasional nightmare, but considering the fact that I was in the middle of a zombie fucking apocalypse, that much was a given.

Anyways, I'd lost relatives in my life and even while they'd hurt it had never been a lingering pain, most likely because most of them had been old and very ill when their time came so it was more of a relief that their pain had ended and they were on the other side waiting for the rest of us. This... this was more visceral, more abrupt, and much more preventable.

I clenched my fist as I remembered that tub of lard somehow managing to stumble his way along the entire bus and down to the ground making a godawful racket the entire way. If only that kid hadn't fallen, everyone including the poor bastard would have gotten out alive. Yamada wouldn't have had to sacrifice himself. And I wouldn't have had to watch a good man throw himself off a building to escape being eaten by shambling corpses.

The busses rolled in and the gate quickly shut behind us. I turned back to the students and said: "Alright kiddos, we've arrived at the safe point. Please step off the bus in a calm and collected manner, we should have food and water set up by now and there's some showers and bathrooms in the main office. Finally, please don't leave the perimeter, everything looks alright here so far but looks can be deceiving and if you wander off, you're likely to end up dead. Understand?"

A few nods and muttered yesses floated back up to me. "Alright then, now head on out." The door slid open again and the students filed out of the busses, the first group had already gathered around the bus and when they spotted their classmates, friends, and a few sweet-hearts, they all shouted and ran towards each other in a moshpit of crying and hugging adolescents. Watching them, a warm feeling filled me and despite my exhaustion a grin spread across my face. Today had been an utter nightmare, but all things considered it could have been much, much worse. The number of students I had managed to save was frankly a miracle and I made a quiet prayer of gratitude for getting through that mess alive.

Speaking of which… Looking around I spotted the younger (and possibly last) member of the Yamada family. Outside the possible claims of nepotism, his successful membership in the Japanese Boy Scouts and the substantial number of survival skills he possessed as a result had netted him a place on the first bus. On the bright side, it meant he'd been spared the horror of watching his uncle's heroic last stand. His sacrifice. Something I'd never dishonor by ever calling it a suicide.

On the other hand, it meant that someone would have to break the news, and as much as it pained me, that duty now fell on my shoulders. Or at least it should. I needed to find him before some dumbass walked up to him and said something stupid like 'Wow! Dude! I just saw your uncle jump off a building! Hurk! Hurk!"

What? Just because they were my students didn't mean there wasn't a fair share of tactless morons...

Squaring my shoulders I looked over my shoulder to where Shizuka was sitting and waiting for the others to finish filling out. "I'll go talk with Yusuke over there, he needs to know about his uncle."

Shizkuka nodded in understanding, a small sympathetic smile on her face. I returned her smile then turned back and made my way through the crowd, pausing to respond to the students who thanked me for saving them at the school... this might have been a mistake trying to go directly through the crowd…

Eventually, though, I finally made my way to Yusuke Yamada, the kid was speaking with several of his troop members as they cleared out, when I cleared my throat to get his attention.

"Brody-sensei!" he called out with a smile. "We found a unit filled with camping gear!"

I paused for a moment, looking at said unit with a slack jaw. He wasn't kidding. He was also understanding. It wasn't a unit with camping gear. It was a unit that was only camping gear. And I don't mean it had some camping gear and an empty unit, no. What I mean is that it was stuffed to the proverbial gills with camping gear. I was seriously considering active divine intervention at this point with the luck we were having.

Turning my attention back to the task at hand I turned back to the young man. "Yusuke, could we speak over there for a moment? I need to tell you something and you might want to be away from the others when you hear it." I gestured to one of the small alleys formed by the storage buildings that had no one else in it.

He nodded. "Okay, sensei. What do you need?"

I lead him away from the others. "It's about your uncle Yusuke, I'm sorry to say it but, he's not coming." I placed my hand on his shoulder. "For what it's worth, he died a hero and saved everyone's life, mine included."

He froze, going completely pale for a moment then took a deep breath. "W-what happened?"

I took a deep breath and continued; "We were getting everyone out pretty smoothly when someone tripped and fell off the roof of a bus, brought in swarms of the undead with his screams. Needless to say we were going to get overrun unless we left immediately. I was... fully prepared to sell my life to clear a path for the others. Then your uncle drew the attention of the zeds away from us with an airhorn, managed to lead the entire horde to the opposite end of the school. He ended up trapped on the roof, swarms of zed were coming and we were wide open, so he… jumped, taking several undead with him."

I rubbed my eyes, fighting back the tears, then I looked Yusuke dead in the eye. "Your uncle was a hero and he sacrificed himself to save all of us. The last thing he said to me was to look out for you. And I intend to keep that promise, no matter what our final situation is you've got a home with me for as long as you need, whether it's a cabin in the mountains or a cardboard box in the city."

By the time I was done, he was crying, but eerily enough, he had a smile on his face. A wide smile. "I see."

I looked at him funny. "Yusuke, you lost your uncle, if you need to cry, then cry, no one's going to think less of you for it."

"It's not that," he stated with a slight tremor to his voice. "I'm sad that my uncle is dead. He might have been the only one I have left, and he's gone now... but if he had to die. I'm glad it was like this. And... and I know that in the end, it's how he would have wanted to die."

I was now a bit surprised. "Really?"

He nodded. "M-my uncle always loved Samurai dramas," he stated with a sniff. "He... he always thought that the ones where the hero sacrificed himself in the end were the most heroic because they were the most selfless. The ones who put their honor before all else. He used... he used to say that there really weren't men like that anymore. I'm happy that if he had to die, then my uncle died like a hero in one of his samurai dramas... That... That he was able to die with honor."

"Yes, he did," I said in an introspective voice. I hadn't known the man very well. I'd respected him for sure, but now I wished I had known him better. Taking a moment to breath I nodded at the boy. "I'm glad you're holding up, just remember if you need it, I'm here for you, whether an ear to listen or a shoulder to cry on."

I then surprised the kid by pulling him into a quick but firm hug. I patted him on the back twice then let him go. "Alright, it's been a long day and it isn't over yet, so let's get back to the others before they wonder where we are."

He nodded and took a deep breath and then turned to his friends who'd paused in their labors to watch. "A-alright guys! Who said to stop! Everyone's depending on us! Let's go!"

Nodding in satisfaction, I turned back to the others and looked for anyone who wasn't pulling their weight. I also needed to organize a party to strip the trucks Father Oshiro and his party had brought him of their electronics so we could lug all this crap once the EMP went off… that meant finding a suitable Faraday cage.... My tired brain unfortunately couldn't recall what exactly I had decided to use for such a purpose.

What I would give for a fleet of Trabants right now. Sure, they were commie shit cars made from cotton and powered by lawnmower engines that made Yugos look like Lamborghinis, but they also had all of five moving parts in the engine and given five minutes of modification, they could probably be started with a hand-crank.

I sighed.

So much to fucking do and so little time…

----------

It wasn't too long before the gang members began to trickle in. I was helping set up some shelters in the unused containers when I heard a commotion at the gate. Grabbing my ax and spear I made my way to the gate.

Pushing my way through the students, teachers and huscarls who had gathered at the gate, armed with whatever weapons they could get their hands on in the case of the former, I finally reached the gate, and grinned when I saw Onigumo and Daigo standing there with most their gang members behind them... as well as their girlfriends, siblings, and a few of their parents… I hadn't seen that many peroxide blondes with spray-on tans since highschool… even the few women who had to be their mothers were in on the panda act. Blinking in surprise for a moment, I shook off my initial shock then grinned as I called out to the two Thegns.

"What are you punks doing standing out there? Come on in where it's safe!" I greeted with a laugh.

And getting to the point, Tomoko, the mousey looking girl who'd drawn gate duty, pushed the open button with a bored sigh. Almost as soon as there was space available the combined gangs all but ran through the still opening entrance, more than one person collapsing as soon as they were inside the walls of the facility.

"Alright everyone," Tomoko called out. "Everybody line up for bite inspection!" I turned to look where she was sitting in the guard box, but before I could speak, she simply stated: "I've watched too many of this kind of movie."

I gave her a mild glare, but her sleepy green eyes never faltered. Shrugging I let it go and turned back to the newcomers.

As much as I hated to admit it, the girl had a point. Though I'd have to have Shizuka give her a once over at some point. Between the dark rings, and the fact that she was one of the few girls I'd seen in this fan service rendition of Japan who didn't look like she'd tripped and fallen out of a girly mag, something had to be wrong with her.

Turning back to the group, I sighed and said: "She's got a point. From here on, everybody entering gets a quick search, just to make sure."

Daigo blinked. "Hey, what's the big idea? You didn't say we'd be gettin' a pat down!"

Onigumo simply glanced back to him and growled: "You got somethin' to hide?"

"No!" he exclaimed. "Listen, I lost five fucking guys! I had to mercy kill two of 'em myself! You know, so I'm not exactly appreciating this shit!"

Onigumo simply nodded. "I know how it is, but this ain't for us..." he glanced out at the nervous-looking mass of students. "It's for them."

"Ugh. Fuck it. Fine," he growled. "But if any of you try and feel up my kid sister, I'm cuttin' your balls off."

I rolled my eyes. "Like genders, Daigo."

He blinked and then grinned. "Can we have just girls do it instead? Cuz I ain't lettin' no dudes get anywhere near my stuff."

"I'll pat him down if I can give him a rectal cavity search!" one of the girls called out from the crowd. I will admit I put on a face as if I were considering it.

He went pale and smiled back. "Um. Yeah. So. Like genders will be just fine."

With that settled several of the teachers, including Shizuka were called in to pat down the newcomers to check them for bite wounds. To my mild surprise we found none, but one of the last women checked, an older woman whom I later learned was Daigo's mother, winked at me as she walked past. I bit back the groan of frustration that threatened to form in the back of my throat and that headache was coming back. I was too tired to deal with this shit… and the day was far from over because there was a swarm of teachers and students who wanted a meeting to discuss how we were going to track down and bring back their own family members... fuck.

As Ms. Leathery and Leering was getting patted down the sound of engines could be heard coming over the horizon. Looking up the flash of dread faded when I saw it was Father Oshiro and Oga coming back with the trucks I had sent them to get. "One... two… three… four... five, not bad." I muttered as they brought the literal handful of vehicles to the gate. As they were still open letting in the gangers and their families I had the guards wave them on through.

The vehicles came to a stop in the parking lot of the lot. The nearest one rolled down one of its windows and Oga stuck out his head. "Mission accomplished, boss. Could have grabbed some more but we didn't have enough guys who could drive a stick."

"That's alright, looks like that's more than enough for the moment." I replied. Making some rough visual estimations and unless we had a massive influx of new people, we should have enough to carry the stuff and the people at least to the Takagi estate… after that might be a problem when that EMP hit… I'd need to make something to protect the more fragile stuff, but what to use…

When the others members of the party were piling out of the car one of Daigo's crew suddenly shouted. "Hey, why ain't they being checked?"

I turned in the direction of the voice, "Because they weren't fighting a pack of zombies the whole way back, right?" I turned back to the trucks. There was some gore on the undercarriage, and the lead vehicle had a couple interesting dents, but considering the situation that much was a given.

One of Oga's crew had heard my comment and, with a cocky grin, replied: "Not a one, can't get bit if the closest they get is kissing your bumper."

"Please remember to take the vehicles outside the wall and clean off the mess with bleach," Shizuka called over. "We don't want to risk infection."

Oda nodded. "Right. You heard the lady..."

I turned back to the peanut gallery and, with a satisfied smile, said: "Well, there's your answer."

I didn't get a reply other than a few mutters and considered the matter closed. Though back to how to protect the sensitive bits of the vehicles….

I was interrupted when Ms. Saya Takagi walked toward our small motor pool, looked the vehicles over and turned to me with her hands on her hips... as well as a pair of glasses she hadn't had before. "I assume you're going to have the sensitive parts kept in a Faraday cage if this EMP blast you think might happen goes off."

I grinned a bit, girl was smart, not many people would even know what a Faraday cage was, let alone know what they were used for. "Yes I was, only problem is I'm drawing a blank on what to use for the cage."

She nodded. "Any entirely closed metal container will do as long as the entire surface is conductive and you properly insulate the contents," she stated matter of factly. "And for the smallest items probably the easiest way to protect them would be to find as many microwave ovens as possible. Microwave ovens use electromagnetic radiation to cook food, as such they're designed to protect against high energy electromagnetic fields."

Looking around at the storage buildings I nodded. "Good idea, should be a few somewhere in this mess, there should be at least one in the office for the staff if nowhere else. And if worst comes to worst I guess we could loot a department store if we have to."

I turned back to her. "Unless you have something vital you were already doing why don't you gather a group to search for some microwaves or anything we could use to build a couple of Faraday cages. Pick as many as you need and if anyone gives you any lip tell them I said so. If that doesn't convince them tell Ms. Busujima that I asked her to help you convince them otherwise."

"Mr. Brody, a word with you?" A deep voice called out. Recognizing the voice I turned and saw Father Oshiro standing there, surprising me with the sheepish look on his face.

Oh God, now what?

"Yes, Father?" I tried to keep the strain from my voice but from the look on his face I wasn't entirely successful.

"Could we speak in private?" The father said, the big man looking like a kid who'd been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly and under control I agreed to his request and we headed towards the former office for the storage lot. Closing the door behind us and pulling up the chair the manager used to use, I sat down with a thunk and gestured to the other seat across from me. "Take a seat, Father."

He slowly lowered himself into the chair, his bulk making the plastic and metal groan audibly under pressure.

"I have something I must confess." he admitted after a moment. The both of us paused for a moment, taking in the pun he'd just unintentionally made. Both of us snorted at the poor joke and I gestured for him to continue.

Recovering himself he continued: "While you were away taking care of the rest of the students from your school, I made a few calls to people I know. The Church is not particularly large in Japan, but everyone knows everyone here and we always keep in touch. I saw what you were doing here and I contacted a colleague of mine who ministers to the local Boy and Girl Catholic Academies here in the city. The faculty and the students trust him and when I told him I had been shown a safe place had begged him to get as many of the students as he could here he agreed almost instantly. I pray he and his flock will be alright."

I was silent as the grave for several minutes, just taking in the new bomb he'd dropped on me. "So, let me get this straight, you went behind my back, contacted someone I didn't know and never could have vetted. Gave away what could be the difference between life and death for all of us. And now we could have several hundred more terrified and hormonal teenagers barreling their way here… or eaten alive during the trip over if the worst happened… is that right?"

The man was thirty years my senior, an ordained priest, and whom I was convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt had been a former Sumo champion, and here he was he was trying his best not to look like a small boy who'd been caught stealing the cookies. "Well, when you put it like that…" he muttered.

Sighing, I simply rubbed the bridge of my nose and gave him a level glance. "You know I wouldn't have turned them away. But it would have been nice to have some forewarning so I could... you know... make arrangements?"

"Sometimes, my son, it is better to ask for forgiveness than it is permission," he smiled. "You should know this fact better than most."

I gave him a flat stare. He just had to bring up Shido. "No. No. You're so not going there."

"Yes," he replied with a smile. "I am so going there."

There was a long silence between us before we began to laugh at the ridiculousness of the situation. And it was while laughing that I outright told him: "You do realize this means you're going to have to go out and find us more trucks. Right?"

He stopped laughing.

I didn't.

 

[Brian Boru]

AN/: With thanks from PsyckoSama and Grey Rook, here is the newest chapter in this mad adventure. Enjoy.

The sun blazed bright overhead while people continued to trickle in from the surrounding area. Mostly the Thegns and their crew and kin, but a few were either escapees from the city that happened across the storage lot in their attempt to get out of the city. As well as one group that would have a lasting impact in this ever growing community.

Smoke billowed over the horizon as a grim reminder that the world was ending. Many stood watching the smoke, pausing from whatever task they were doing. No one spoke, no one felt the need to. As for myself, I was getting something to eat.

The last time I'd eaten had been that morning at Shizuka's, the scrambled eggs only a distant memory. I paused in my walk over to the hastily set-up grub tent, really a tarp with a large pot over a fire with rice, meat and vegetables bubbling away. Had it really only been a few hours since the world had fallen apart? This morning I had a stable job, my own place, a girlfriend who adored me and me her, and even a good chunk of my students liked me. Now it was barely the afternoon and I was the unofficial leader of a refugee band hiding in an abandoned storage lot and planning to flee a dying city to the mountains….

I fingered the cross around my neck and muttered a prayer to Saint George and Saint Martin of Tours, the patron saints of soldiers, to give me the strength to fight on, before squaring my shoulders and marching onward to what seemed to be an ad-hoc kitchen area: a nearly empty unit that had conveniently contained little more than some lawn furniture and a large gas grill. To my surprise, serving out the food were Miss Kyoko Hayashi along with a female student I didn't recognize and one of the Gyaru girls that had come with the Thegns. About nine others were busy cooking under the direction of the school's head chef and Ishiyama's rather terrifying lunch lady.

I will admit, the bottle blonde was a bit offputting. She had the most radiant and chipper smile I'd ever seen in my life. Normally I'd be lamenting the fact that her "fashion sense" was detracting from her beauty, but right now, considering the events of the day, it almost seemed a bit 'Stepfordy'.

Taking a breath to relax myself, I greeted them with a nod. "Afternoon, ladies. Smells divine." To my mild surprise the younger girls blushed at that. Miss Kyoko noticed their red faces and, after clearing her throat to get their attention, turned to me with a professional face and said: "It isn't fancy, but it's filling and I've not heard anyone complaining." Not that many would, Miss Hayashi was more than just another pretty face. She had a spine like steel, took shit from nobody, and had been one of the few people brave enough to tell Shido to shove it. In about those words, as well. Though the fact that she also was a world championship table tennis player didn't hurt. It was easy to bury your average Joe. An Olympic bronze medalist in ping pong? Not so much.

"I'm sure it's fine." I said, and gladly took the bowl she handed over. Looking down I was mildly amused. Red beans and rice. A simple, reasonably tasty meal that just happened to have some cultural connotations in Japanese culture. One of the many little cultural oddities I'd learned over the past year. At least when I wasn't playing 'Gaijin Smash' to neatly avoid the obnoxious shit.

"Sekihan?" I asked with a peaked eyebrow and a small smile. "Well then? What's the occasion?"

"We're alive." Mr. Kaga, aforementioned chef, replied. "Considering everything, that is worth celebrating. It also is nutritious, easy to make in quantity, and you just happened to have several tons of both in your container."

"All perfectly valid reasons." I replied with a thin smile.

Turning around, I searched for somewhere to sit. I spotted Shizuka eating with several of the other teachers near the former office. I quickly made my way through the groups of other people already eating. Most were focused on the food, making little conversation, not wanting to strike up conversations that would inevitably turn to the events of the day and the future. A few did look up when I walked by and smiled or said a few words of greeting. I returned the greetings with a few words or a smile myself, these people were scared out of their wits, some comforting gestures were easily given and enormously beneficial to their mental wellbeing.

When I reached Shizuka's group seated around a turned-over bucket, I cleared my throat to get their attention. Once I had their attention I asked if I could sit with them, one man, an older guy who taught Japanese History, nodded and shifted over so that a space was opened up next to Shizuka. Thanking the man I quickly sat down. Giving Shizuka a quick smile which she returned I turned back to my bowl. Before I dug in I made a quick sign of the cross and softly worded grace, using a prayer that my father had gotten from when he'd been growing up Methodist.

"Good Lord, Accept our thanks. For these and all our blessings, we ask in Christ's name Amen. Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen."

I made the Sign of the Cross again, clasped my hands for a moment, then dug into the rice and beans. I'd never been the biggest fan of rice growing up, and my Cajun ancestors were likely shaking their heads in disgust at that. Though after a year of living in a nation where where the amount of rice needed to feed a man for a year was a traditional unit of measurement, and the goddess of prosperity was also the goddess of rice, I'd learned to love it.

Or at least passively tolerate it.

In this case, the stuff was actually pretty good, though that may have been hunger talking. After eating several bites, I finally looked up to my co-workers. Several faces were drawn and slightly haggard looking, and one person had a bruise on their face. But overall they seemed to be holding up for the moment.

A little unsure what to say I decided to just break the ice and and cleared my throat. "How's everyone holding up?"

Everyone was silent, most just staring into their bowls or laps, not wanting to say anything. I realized a bit too late that they were obviously still traumatized by the world crashing down around them. And genius I was, I'd just reminded them what was going on outside of our refuge.

I was about to start kicking myself for saying something so stupid when Shinzo Takayama, one of the surviving P.E. teachers and coach for the judo club, spoke up. "Physically, we're alright…" He listed off, his eyes not focusing on anything.

There was another awkward pause before one of the other teachers spoke up. "We're alright, for the moment. Considering the alternative…" He too trailed off and shuddered, the terror seeping out of every one of his pores.

He recovered himself and stood up. He set down his bowl, turned to me, and bowed so low I thought he was going to fold himself in half. "Brody-san, you saved our lives, and those of our students. I can never thank you enough or ever repay you, but I'll spend the rest of my life trying to." His voice was tight, emotion tinting his tone. The man looked ready to start sobbing, whether from relief, terror, or gratitude I couldn't tell.

Feeling a bit embarrassed at his dramatic display, I muttered; "Christ's sake, man. I'm your kohai, not your daimyo!"

There was a tired chuckle through the group, and Mr. Kurokawa was the first to speak. "As a teacher, this is true. But I do not believe we will be returning to those duties any time soon. As you made so clear to us, this is a new world. And in this world, we are but anxious disciples looking to you for guidance... Brody-Sensei."

I was too stunned to speak, completely taken aback at Kurokawa, my immediate superior, the man who I was an assistant to for the past year, was acting like a supplicant…

But it made a twisted sort of sense, I was the only man in the world who had known what was coming. Meaning I was the only one who could prepare beforehand. To those who were blindsided by the zombie plague, someone with just a level head would seem to be a godsend. A man with my level of preparation… a lesser... more self-interested man could leverage that if he were so inclined.

But I had no desire to use this to turn myself into some kind of... Immortan Tom.

I schooled my features. No. What I wanted... was to save as many people as possible. Because I wanted to be able to look at myself in the mirror. Because it was the right thing to do. Any man who wasn't a complete bastard would feel the same way.

Though I have to admit the thought of Shizuka in a harem girl outfit was all kinds of fun.

Clearing my mind, as not to look like a perverted idiot, I spoke up. "I was planning on having an open air meeting, to air out what needs to be done next. Please be there."

I dug into my bowl, finishing as quickly as I could, and wiped my mouth with my sleeve as I stood up, walked over to Shizuka and gave her a kiss on the cheek. The world was ending, social propriety was out the window at this point. Then I turned and nodded my head to the others and went looking for the other teachers, Huscarls, Thegns, and anyone else I thought might have something useful to add to the meeting.

Before I was out of earshot, Takayama called out to me. "My wife and child are still out there."

"Have you called them yet?" I asked calmly.

"Of course," he replied. "It was the first thing I did. My wife is holed up in our apartment. I told her to lock the door and answer for no one but me..."

I frowned. "What floor do you live on?"

"The Seventh," he replied, earning a wince from me.

"She's going to be hard to extract," I admitted. "And while I'm not going to stop you, you will need to figure out a strategy for getting her out if the building is infested. That's part of the reason why I want to call a meeting. Blindly rushing off to the rescue is just rushing off to your death."

That seemed to satisfy him for the moment, though my mention of her living that high up making things difficult only seemed to make him even more uncomfortable.

"Don't worry about it, teach." one of Eric's boys, cut in with a sideways smile. "If you're willin' ta swing around and help me pick up my mom, I'll watch your back."

He paused. "Where do you live and what do you mean watch my back?"

The delinquent grinned. "I live near Shizume Station. And I like to go climbing so I'm pretty good with ropes. If we stop by my place I could pick up my climbing rig... all else fails she can just rappel down."

Kurokawa's eyes lit up. "That's on the way to my house! You have a deal, young man."

The... Minion(?) held out his fist. "You got a deal, bro!"

There was an awkward silence for a moment. "Don't just leave me hangin'."

The teacher sighed and gave a chuckle, then returned his brofist. "These times make for strange bedfellows."

I nodded at them. "You see, this is exactly what I want to see. By working together and making plans we can save the people we love." I paused and then added: "And make sure to bring proper protective gear."

I then headed on my way, the others needed to know...oh wait, looking over my shoulder I called to the two, "Mind spreading the word? I want a meeting with all the adults, gang leaders, and anyone else you think might have something useful to say. Understand?"

"Gotcha boss." The kid called out. Satisfied I moved on, now if I remember right Saeko was somewhere around…

----------

A stretch of the parking lot had been cleared of most of the junk, and chairs from both the office and the emptied storage lot had been pulled out so that people would not be forced to stand.

Speaking of standing, I'd found a large painter's stepladder that was big enough and comfortable enough that I could use it as an impromptu podium.

Surveying the crowd, which consisted of almost everyone except for the guys on guard duty, I cleared my throat and in a loud voice called out. "Can everyone hear me? If you can't, please let me know. Anyone?"

I waited for a moment, everyone seemed to nod or make some sort of affirmation to being able to hear me.

Nodding, I continued. "Alright, first off, let's just get this out in the open now so there's no bullshit later. We're in the middle of a zombie apocalypse, just like in the movies. To be clear, the undead are wandering around in hordes and they hunger for the flesh of the living. If you're bit, you WILL die and then you will come back as a zombie yourself. And before you think the authorities will roll in with the JSDF, the US Marine Corps, or the Salvation fucking Army, think again. We don't have the set up here, but before we left the school, we saw video from Tokyo to San Francisco, from New York to Madrid. This is an international pandemic. God willing, things will be back to normal soon enough. But God helps those who help themselves, and we can't pretend it's just all going to be okay and wait for Big Brother or the Heavenly Choir to swoop in from on high and make it all better."

"You realize most of us aren't Christian, right?" a voice spoke up from the crowd.

I sighed and facepalmed. "Yeah, but I am. And it's pretty much the closest thing to Armageddon you're going to find outside of a Baptist sermon out there, so pardon me for defaulting to what I was raised with."

There was a little laughter. Well. More dull chuckling. But let's be honest, it would take a better man than I to be jovial in a time like this.

"As I was saying... there is no government, no Self Defense Force, no U.S. Army coming to the rescue, they've got more on their plates than they can handle to spare anything for us. For the foreseeable future... we're on our own. All we have is our wits, what we can salvage, and most importantly, we have each other. Did anyone not understand that? If you didn't then ask someone else because I don't have time to explain it again."

I was about to continue when my phone rang.

Of all the timing...

I reached down to turn it off but froze. It was a call from Souichiro Takagi.

"Shit," I muttered before looking back up. "I apologize, but I absolutely have to take this call. It's from someone with whom cooperation will be paramount to our continued survival."

I glanced over to Saya and said: "Miss Takagi. I know that you've probably spent the past several hours analyzing my predictions and at this point probably understand them better than I. Do you think you can take over this briefing while I speak to your father?"

At the mention of her father, Saya went ramrod straight before giving me a stiff nod. "Yes Sensei."

Sighing in exasperation, and wondering when I'd finally be free from the goddamn cell-chain, I walked away from my spot. Saya quickly stepped in and gave a clear and concise rundown of everything that had happened, my predictions for the immediate future, and my escape plan to anyone who hadn't heard it before. For myself I stepped behind a building and, covering one ear so that I wouldn't be interrupted, spoke into the speaker.

"My apologies, Takagi-dono.You caught me in the middle of a briefing and I had to excuse myself."

"Ah. My apologies then, Brody-dono, for the inconvenient timing."

"It's alright. Saya's handling the details for me. She's a very capable young woman."

There was silence on the line but I had a feeling there was some parental pride going on behind Mr. Takagi's stony exterior. "I see. Very good. Several groups of your soldiers have arrived at my compound. They are capable, but willful. Though considering what you had to work with, I must congratulate your efforts. Saya explained the generalities of your plan as well as your long term predictions. They paint a grim picture."

I heard a deep sigh, a rare show of emotion from the otherwise schooled man.

"Even worse, neither my daughter nor wife could find fault in them."

"I wish they did," I replied grimly.

"Greetings. Brody-dono," spoke a feminine voice that I assumed to be his wife.

"Hello, Lady Takagi. I assume that you know about my eventual goal of using the Crystal Peaks Ski Lodge as a base of operations?"

I swore I could hear her wince. "Yes. I have."

I blinked. "There something wrong with the plan?"

"The plan is good," she replied, "I have questions, and will admit that while I do have some personal reservations as to your choice of location, but they're immaterial to the issue at hand."

My eyebrow peaked. "What's the problem, ma'am?"

"It is nothing of substance. Please go on."

I lightened my voice. "Lady Takagi, in times like this it is helpful to vent one's frustrations. Please, let it out."

"Very well." she admitted, "I've seen the plans for Crystal Peaks. They were a crime against good taste. It looks like..." she trailed off for a moment.

"The deformed prom night dumpster baby of Edo period and traditional Swiss architecture that was subsequently drowned in glitter?" I offered.

There was a pause, followed by a dull chuckle. "Well put, Brody-dono. Needless to say it probably would not have been my first choice. But as I said, it is immaterial."

Clearing her throat, she continued: "Back to the business at hand. How do you intend to feed your survivors once you get the ski lodge?"

"I have multiple tons of organically grown potatoes in multiple breeds that I intend to use as a seed crop, as well as a number of other crops that would do well on a mountain. In addition I've plotted the location of a number of farms. We should be able to rescue or release a large quantity of livestock along with crops and additional seed stock. I've also made sure to mark the location of a number of food distribution centers. Between them, and the other rations I have packed, we should be able to survive until we are growing our own food."

"I see, you have put an impressive amount of planning into this. But what of defending this little haven?" She asked.

"The location is naturally defensible," I replied. "We also have a large quantity of various traditional arms. And my girlfriend's roommate is a police sniper with a personal gun collection that's extremely impressive, by American standards. She's currently holed up at the airport, and I have permission to raid her armory."

That I asked over drinks during a theoretical conversation of 'Hey, if there was a zombie apocalypse, could I raid your weapons stash?' went without saying.

"Beyond that, I have assembled a sizable library on demolitions, gunsmithing, and a number of other topics that probably got me on an FBI watch list. Or at least the local equivalent."

"The Koanchosa-cho isn't quite as intrusive as your Federal Bureau of Investigation. And besides, they probably had 'important' things to worry about… such as ruining my daughter's birthday party…" The last part was a mutter, and I had a feeling I wasn't supposed to hear it, so I wisely kept my mouth shut.

I unconsciously nodded. "Right, your husband told me that several groups of 'Thegns' from around the city have been showing up at your estate, correct? We've got the other half of them coming here to the outskirts of the city, along with most of Fujimi Academy, a large contingent of Ishiyama survivors, an entire Catholic preschool complete with priest, and the promise of possibly another Catholic priest leading the survivors of a small Catholic High School. Then I've made a promise to locate as many of their families as I could before we moved on, but as is we have a glut of teenagers and are short on adults."

"I see…." Lady Takagi was silent, likely a bit surprised at the sheer numbers and eccentricities of the people I'd gathered around me. If it wasn't me involved I'd be asking where the Rabbi and the bar were.

"Anyways," I continued, "I have a bead on a largish group of survivors who also have access to a sizable stockpile of supplies that would be very useful to us in the days to come."

"And we have a fortified refuge with more and older people able to supplement your fighting men who, while brave and skilled for their age, are still boys." she added.

There was a grunt of assessment from Souichiro. "And what information do you have on this group?"

"They're under the leadership of a pair of female police officers and are holed up in the Taiei Shopping Town."

"A mall would be a significant resource," Yuriko observed. "Though if what he says about the EMP attack is true, we will have to commit a large amount of effort into food preservation."

"The... less prepared survivors among my group are becoming restless," Souichiro observed. "Some practical labor would give them something useful to occupy their time with."

"And considering where we are going, any warm clothes we find would be a blessing," Yuriko thought aloud.

Souichiro gave a sound of agreement. "Yes. It would be a significant resource," he repeated, echoing his wife. "Brady-dono. How do you know of this group?"

"The junior officer is the girlfriend of one my students," I replied. "If you feel it would be useful, I'll text you her number so you can coordinate the rescue."

"That would be ideal." he replied. "And if you find any other groups of survivors who you believe would be more easily rescued by my group, inform me. Together we shall save as many of my countrymen as possible."

"Agreed. I'm going to be holding a group meeting momentarily. If you wish I can leave the phone on speaker phone so you or your wife can listen in and provide input."

"That sounds ideal," Yuriko remarked.

"Great." I said with a smile. "Any other pressing issues?"

"We will need to link up," she stated. "Ideally before the EMP attack."

I nodded. "Agreed. We can discuss that later. I need to get back to the meeting."

"I understand," Mr. Takagi stated, "Attend to your duties, Brody-dono."

"Thank you, Takagi-dono." I paused. "Just one last thing."

"Yes?"

"Do not be hesitant to deploy the more... particular skills of my Theigns. A good number of them know how to, among other things, hotwire cars. I'd strongly suggest making full use of them at the mall."

There was a chuckle from the other end. "Do not worry, Brody-dono. I will keep your subordinates very busy."

"Excellent. Please pardon me, but I've got a meeting to head." I turned around and headed back to Saya, who seemed to winding down with her catch-up for the group. No one's eyes were glazed over, so I assumed she hadn't gotten too technical for them.

"Lord gimme strength and eloquence." I muttered as I stepped back onto my step ladder, making sure to hit the speakerphone button as I did so.

 

[Brian Boru]

A/N:WHEN HELL HAS RUN OUT OF ROOM, THE DEAD SHALL RISE TO WALK THE EARTH AGAIN!

...have fun...




"...and that's why I feel my plan to hide in the mountains until things begin to settle down is our best chance for survival. Unless you have any other questions that don't involve why we can't stay here and wait for the JSDF to come and save us, or if we could change our route to swing by your homes personally…" With that last question answered I stepped off my impromptu podium and made for the storage lot office, hoping I might be able to at least sit down for 10 minutes.

As I walked I waved to a few people who greeted me or thanked me for either saving them or setting up this haven, however temporary. One or two people from the meeting tried to follow me and ask me some follow up questions, unfortunately, they were repeats of 'why can't the JSDF help us?' or 'why can't we go by my neighborhood, it isn't that far out of the way'. I waved them off, making vague promises to talk to them later about it and just kept walking. The sun was starting to get lower into the sky as the afternoon wore on. I nearly stopped walking when I realized what all had happened today and it wasn't even six yet. Dear God in His Heaven, if this was what I had to look forward to I'd be gray and bald before I was thirty… Lord gimme strength.

As I made my way up the staircase, I saw from the front window that the light was on and someone was inside. When I stepped inside, I blinked in surprise at the change in decoration. Replacing the smashed-up office furniture was a proper queen-sized bed set into the corner with mismatched sheets and blankets, along one wall was a full sized couch that I knew hadn't been there before and along the other wall was a wooden dining set with two upholstered chairs and a candelabra complete with candles.

"Is that you, Tom?" I heard Shizuka call from one of the back rooms.

"Yeah, it's me, honey," I replied distractedly, still taking in the now cozy apartment I was standing in. "So when did this all happen?" I gestured to the renovations, even though she wasn't able to see my motion.

"Oh, it seems that some of the others wanted to thank you for all you've done for everyone and did all this as a thank you." She called again.

I was more than a little surprised, when did they have time to do all this? "They didn't-"

Shizuka interrupted my protestations. "Ah ah ah, Tom. They wanted to do this, and it'd be rude to not accept it. Now could you come back here, I need your help with something."

I sighed and rubbed my shoulders. At this point, I wanted nothing more than to shrug off my armor, towel off, and take a nap. But no. I couldn't afford to. I was on a very strict schedule. I needed to get as much done as possible before the EMP hit and then I needed to get these people to safety before the shock of the event let off and the sheer enormity of the situation of the situation really set in and they started freaking out.

God help me.

My thoughts trailed off as Shizuka entered the room. She'd gotten out of the pencil skirt and white blouse she'd been wearing earlier and was now wearing a scarlet red dress that seemed to be painted on her and only reached down to her mid-thigh, while up top her breasts pushed out of her dress far enough that it looked like if she sneezed or even breathed too deeply they would jump right out. Her hair was done in a loose bun and she had a touch of makeup that enhanced her already flawless features.

My brain broke.

I must have been staring because she looked me over once before striking a pose, jutting one hip out while resting a hand on her opposite hip and raising her other hand behind her head. Lord did that dress accentuate dem' curves. "Like what you see, Tom-kun? We found this box of dresses in one of the storage lots and since no one else could wear them, the others decided to give them to me."

She made her way over to me, her hips swaying in the most hypnotic fashion. She placed one hand on my armored chest, a thrill went through me and my mouth went dry. She looked up at me and started toying with the straps. "I bet you're sweaty under all that armor. They couldn't get us a proper bath but there's some hot wash clothes you can use to wipe yourself down."

She then placed her hand on my cheek and traced her fingers along my jawline, before walking into the main room, as she passed by she said. "The others have everything covered for tonight, let this lady reward her mighty conquering hero..."

I stood there, stunned silent, for about two heartbeats, then I said the two most painful words of my life.

"Shizuka, no."

She stood there seemingly as dumbfounded as I'd been when she walked in. "W-what?"

I grimaced, "Believe me, I'd like nothing more... but..." I sighed deeply and leaned against the wall, letting go of the false bravado I'd been keeping up the entire day and letting my exhaustion show in full. "We're not done yet," I replied, "Honey, the clock is ticking. We need to get to your place tonight, raid Rika's gun safe, get her Hummer, and then get to the Takagi estate so we can relocate their population to this side of the river before the EMP hits. And then, and only then, will we have time to sleep as much as fool around."

She stood there for several moments, her face a storm of several emotions, confusion, hurt, anger, before finally settling on resigned acceptance. "Shit."

That made me blink. Shizuka, did not curse. Ever. The few times heated words escaped her lips I could literally count on one hand with digits to spare. To be that blunt and crass in her language meant she was just as close to her wits' end as I was.

"Well put," I replied dryly, earning a tired chuckle from her.

"I..." She sighed. "I was just hoping we could get a little bit of privacy to... to maybe forget the day happened if just for a moment?"

"Privacy?" I asked in feigned ignorance. "What's that? It sounds like a food. Is it any good?"

She punched me in the arm in response. Hard. "Tom!"

"Sorry Zuka," I said with a laugh. "Had to lighten the mood somehow and if I'm not laughing I'd be crying." I paused. "Or screaming. Or generally ready to break something. But I was serious. Privacy probably isn't in the cards until we're in the mountains. Neither is sleep, to be completely honest."

She took a deep breath, then sighed. "Alright, I'll… go get changed…" She then turned and headed back towards the back room she'd come out of.

As I watched her go, it took everything I had not to throw my head back and howl my rage and frustration to the heavens.

What I did do, however, was storm out of the office wishing I could rip something's head off. "Oga!" I yelled out.

"Yeah?" the aforementioned delinquent called over from where he was emptying a cargo container. "Whatssup?"

"I need one of your boys to hotwire a beater for me," I replied with a scowl. "There's some shit I need to pick up off location," I snapped out, "And there's going to be a vehicle waiting so I need some disposable hoopty to get there."

One of the many newcomers who I didn't recognize looked over and exclaimed: "Wait, you're leaving?"

"No!" I snapped out, letting my frustration come fully to a head. "Unlike you, some of us don't have the luxury of waiting for the people with a plan to tell us what do do. I have to get in a vehicle, drive halfway across the city to my girlfriend's house, then empty her roommate's gun safe, dig up the keys to her hummer, which, mind you, is EMP proof, and then make it to the Takagi estates before dawn. And maybe, if I'm very fast... and very lucky... then just maybe I'll be able to fit in some sleep before I get back here."

That shut him up nicely, something I hadn't managed to get the fat fuck to do during the debriefing earlier. I shook my head as that thought went through my mind, that was uncalled for. It was the stress getting to me, something that would get me killed if I didn't focus.

A few minutes later, the car came rumbling by and fuck me that's one ugly hunk of junk. The thing seemed to be 90% rust and was only keeping in one piece through spit, gum, duct tape and the Intervention of God himself. Well, I asked for a beater and I got one.

Looking over my shoulder, I called out for the people who would be accompanying me on this mad little adventure. "Shizuka, Miss Miyamoto, Takashi, Miss Busujima, Miss Takagi, and Kohta, gear up, we're going on a gun run." My voice had always carried well, and in my clipped tones, it sounded across the lot like a gunshot. Saeko was the first to arrive, the sword I'd set aside in for her in the school armory in her hands and… was she cuddling it?

Shaking my head I looked her over, aside from some elbow and knee pads she wasn't all that heavily armored… save that she was wearing a set of leathers form-fitting enough that I could tell she was diligent in her "landscaping", and from the smirk on her face she was dressing for effect.

Alright. Somebody tell me. Who did I murder in a past life to deserve this shit?

And no Shido doesn't count.

Trying to hammer away certain dark thoughts by working through my plan of action again, I found salvation when the others showed up soon afterward. Both Takashi and Kohta were suited up in their huscarl gear and Rei was dressed in denim and leather, wielding a spear with a wicked-looking blade on top. Saya wasn't armed, save for a small knife on her thigh while Shizuka, back in her normal dress, was holding a first aid kit. Smart girl.

Nodding, I gestured to the vehicle. "Alright folks, pile on in, the sooner we leave the sooner we get the guns and can get to your house, Saya and bring the cavalry back here for evacuation."

The others took one look at the car then back to me. "How are we supposed to fit in there? It can barely hold four." Saya voiced the thoughts of the others, her voice dripping with disdain.

I gave her a flat look. "Sit in someone's lap."

That set her off, as I knew it would. "Oh hell no, I'm not sitting in any of those perverts' laps."

Glaring at her, Rei responded; "You could alway sit in either Shizuka-sensei's or Saeko-senpai's laps."

"Like I said, those perverts." Which got a glare from the sword girl in question.

"Right then. Pinky's riding in the trunk." I said in a tone that was completely done with this shit.

That shut her up right good.

 

[Brian Boru]

Forgot to post this one.

In retrospect, asking for a buster might not have been my most thoughtful decision of the day, I reflected as the car ground to a halt about half a block from Shizuka's house as its tortured engine seized up in series of clangs and rattles followed by one very final pop.

"Okay, looks like we're parking here." I stated a bit abruptly as I kicked open the door. And I do mean kicked. The thing stuck like a motherfucker. I hopped out with the others quickly scrambling out behind me, not wanting to be around after that clanking tin can's death rattle had to have alerted half the neighborhood's resident zeds.

Saya was the second to last one out, having had to sit in Saeko's lap, face as pink as her hair while her features were stiff to a degree normally reserved for statuary.

As we stepped away from the car, I paused for a moment to give the rustbucket one affectionate nod. Normally I would have given it a pat on the hood, but considering the volume of smoke billowing from the engine bay, I was in no rush to get too close.

"Ya did good buddy, ya did good."

"Sensei," Saya asked wearily, "How much farther? Because I will be very upset at you and never forgive you if you stranded us in the middle of the city to be eaten alive kilometers from our objective."

"About 12 houses. Give or take." Shizuka replied with a sweet smile. Or at least the appearance of one. She could be hard to read, but to my highly trained eye, she was all but projecting an aura of smug amusement.

I guess after 30 minutes of listening to Saya running on full Tsundere mode on the way down, she was very pleased to have an opportunity to take her down a peg.

Couldn't blame her. There had been moments when I really had been tempted to follow through on my threat of sticking her in the trunk. Looking around as we quickly stepped our way towards Shizuka's home we kept a constant lookout for any undead, amazingly we saw none, at least none along the stre- wait, never mind.

Coming from around one house came a trio of zeds, looked like a group of salarymen judging from their outfits and approximate ages. I made to deal with them almost on instinct but before I could take an extra step both Takashi and Rei had dashed ahead. Takashi checked the first with his shield, knocking the clumsy former human to the ground before following with a chop to the thing's head, splitting it in an eruption of gore. Rei had stood behind him and with a quick thrust of her spear over his crouched form lanced the face of the second, the broad-bladed spear all but decapitating it. She quickly pulled her spear back and with a twist of her body caught the third, tripping it as Takashi recovered. He then exploited Rei's opening and and finished it with a smooth strike.

I blinked in surprise, despite having never fought before as a team, the pair had taken out three zombies in less than as many seconds.

I had to say, being able to work as such a well-oiled machine despite never having trained together spoke volumes of the depths of their relationship. I had to admit it, I was impressed. Saya, on the other hand, was subconsciously radiating jealousy while Seiko was... blushing faintly.

Jesus Christ.

Please don't tell me that she considered "Couples Zombie Slaughter" to be romantic. Because at this rate I was going to have nightmares about her.

Again.

Forcing down yet more dark, dank things that would haunt my subconscious to deal with later, I moved past the pair and reached the front gate to Shizuka and Rika's house. After a moment's panic digging through my pockets I pulled out the proper key and quickly unlocked the gate that separated the house from the street. We could have vaulted the wall easily enough but why make it harder for yourself when you didn't have to?

I pulled the gate open and turned to the others. "Alright everyone, get in, Shizuka, unlock the front door and let the others in, I'll lock the gate."

She nodded and, stepping past the others, made her way up the stairs to the front door and after fumbling with her keys for far longer than she needed to found the correct one and opened the door, leading the others inside, once they were in I shut the gate quickly locked it, and made my way in as well, Shizuka waiting with the door open until we were all inside before she shut the door and locked it herself.

"Hey sensei?" Kohta asked with no shortage of excitement in his voice, almost bouncing on his heels as he indicated Rika's car outside. "Was that a real MilSpec Humvee?"

"Yep!" Shizuka replied. "Used to belong to the US marines. My roommate bought it and had it shipped up from Okinawa."

"Amazing what perks being an elite sniper brings, eh?" I commented dryly.

"Nah, more she's just a giant military Otaku who knows who to talk to." Shizuka replied with a shrug.

"Alright everyone. Here's the plan. We're to raid the kitchen and strip the house of anything even remotely valuable, load it in the truck, and maybe if we get a chance grab some showers."

I paused. "And we're going to see if we have something sane for Miss Busujima to wear."

She frowned, crossing her arms under her breasts and defiantly thrusting her chest in my direction. "And what is wrong with my clothing, sensei? It is durable and allows a high degree of movement."

I almost flinched. Down boy.

"Leather doesn't breathe." I replied calmly. "I know it might be comfortable, flexible, and even protective, but once you get a good sweat going you're going to be wishing that you could take a bath in baby powder because the chafing will be the stuff of legend. Do remember, that this will probably be our last chance to clean up until we get into the mountains. Which could be a week or more."

It was a testament to her sense of practicality that Saeko almost turned green at the realization. "Sensei, I am beginning to believe that I did not entirely think this through."

"And that is why I am the teacher and you are my beloved student," I replied putting on my best all knowing master act.

She lowered her head, blushing slightly. "Of course, sensei."

Good, she seemed...

I paused as I realized exactly what I'd just said.

Oh.

Wait.

Fuck.

I sighed. Well. That was certainly a thing.

Damn it, mouth! Next time check with brain before you try and sound all deep and shit! There were so many ways to misread that statement that you could probably write a book.

I sighed. "Okay. How about you girls just shower off and find her a change. The boys and I will get in the gun safe and start loading the truck. Then we can swap off and get moving once we're fed and dry. In all luck we'll be spending the night with the Takagis."

They nodded in agreement and separated but to my personal shame I noticed the awkward coughing and side glances they gave me and Saeko, first chance I had I was ramming my skull against a brick wall until the sweet dark embrace of unconsciousness came for me. It was the only way to be sure this nightmare ended.

----------

About an hour and a half, give or take, with a hot bath behind me, I felt much more alive than I had in weeks. The pressure Z-Day's anticipation and the mad scramble just to keep everyone alive during those first critical hours had stretched me to the breaking point. Even now the sounds of sirens and the occasional gunshot could be heard despite my best efforts to ignore them.

To help focus my attention elsewhere, I'd opened up Shizuka's laptop and begun searching for the most up to date road traffic information I could manage in order to plan for our exodus. All the while I kept several tabs from both national and international news sites to help keep track of the goings on in the rest of the world. It didn't bode well. Large swaths of Europe were on fire with most the large cities already being under siege by the undead. China had already become a media black hole having gone as far as to completely shut down the civilian internet. And America, well, Martial Law had been declared and they were actively deploying US military units to combat the "infected".

Oh, and several major Hollywood stars had managed to get themselves eaten on live TV while protesting the "brutal oppression". I'd make a joke about stupid liberals, but considering the fact that numerous white nationalist groups had declared this God's punishment for multiculturalism and already started numerous race riots in order to "purge the undesirables to save the white race", neither side really had a pot to piss in.

What really amused me was that there were people fleeing across the Mexican border in droves. Headed south, that is. Northern Mexico is a lightly populated wasteland. Which might be a Godsend for the few souls that lived there.

One of the best managed responses to this entire situation seemed to be Jerusalem. The Israelis looked like they were preparing a fortress city protocol, though considering the tone of the reports I was a bit hesitant to feel positive about it. Some of the ethnic subtexts I was hearing were extremely disturbing and were hinting at a bloodbath that could probably be called a holocaust.

As for the rest of the Middle-East, it looked like every asshole with a grudge against their neighbor was taking the opportunity to cash in their chips. To call it a shit show was pretty much the understatement of the millennium. The only group that seemed to be even marginally stable was the Coalition forces in Iraq, and that was because they were hunkering down and shooting pretty much anyone who as much as looked at them funny.

All of this was being done, of course, while waiting for the girls to finish bathing and while I was sitting in the window watching the house across the street. I knew that sooner or later Alice and her father would show up and I was not going to let that little girl down. Also the dog, can't forget that brave little trooper.

I was also doing my best to stay in contact with 'home base'. Which was actually getting easier. Less failed calls. Though fact that the cellular lines seemed to be clearing up did not bode well for anyone.

"Hey, Sensei!" Takashi called out from the Kitchen. "You going to help out with loading the truck?"

"I'm busy. Checking out the traffic patterns and trying to find the best evacuation routes," I glanced up. "Where's Kohta?"

The teen sighed deeply. "I think he's still in Rika's room, drooling over the weaponry."

I frowned. "Tell him that he'll have all the time to get his rocks off later. We need that vehicle up and ready to move as soon as I make the call."

He nodded. "I got you, sensei. But what are we waiting for? I mean, I can see you're watching the street for something."

"Survivors," I replied. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. "Takashi. Do you trust my instincts?"

"Considering you're probably the only reason I'm alive right now, yeah."

No. No I really wasn't. I took a deep breath. "There's going to be some people coming by sooner or later. If I ever want to be able to sleep at night ever again, I'll have to be here."

I paused. "In fact, there are survivors across the street in, I think that house over there..."

I pointed at the house where Alice's father would have met his end in the canon. Now, while most people portrayed them as villains for that act, having lived the situation, I could say with certainty that they were not evil. They were just scared. "Might be a good idea to send someone over to try and get them to join us. But be careful. They're going to be jumpy and will probably try to stab you."

He blinked. "You serious?"

"It's the same feeling that had me ready for the undead rising. That good enough for you?"

He nodded. "I'll get Kohta. We'll armor up and check on them."

"Good. Once you're done over here, we can use the opportunity to strip their cupboards as well. Call it payment for the ride."

"Right sensei." He nodded and began for the door before pausing and turning back. "Anything else?"

"Yeah. Don't forget the little dog."

He paused in mid step, lifted a single finger and then lowered it with a deep, long-suffering sigh.

"Sure thing, sensei."

----------

Hail Mary, full of grace...

The prayer ran through my head in what felt like the thousandth time in ten minutes as I was left dealing with something that frankly I'd been dreading almost as much as the Zombies...

Hadaka Apron Saeko.

Saeko, cool as a cucumber, walked towards me slowly and gracefully, her body shifting from step to step with the ease and flexibility of a snake homing in on an especially fat mouse. There was a coy, playful smile on her face and I swore to god that she was giving me bedroom eyes.

In her arms she was carrying a tray full of food. Delicious smelling food. Food that she'd cooked, having volunteered for kitchen duty. Her excuse was that she didn't want to get the clothes she'd be taking dirty, but even though I remembered vaguely that she'd done this in canon, I knew, somehow she was doing this on purpose just to fuck me...

Goddamn it brain!

Fuck with me.

Hail Mary, full of grace…

She was carrying the tray low and in front of her in a manner that seemed to be placed perfectly to bring attention to her full, pert bust, which was being rather... attentive in the cool spring air.

Swallowing deeply and trying not to make a fool of myself, I simply plastered on a pained smile and nodded at her. "Thank you for the delicious meal, Saeko."

"You're welcome, Sensei," she replied. "If there are any other matters I can aid you in, then do not hesitate to ask. I am at your service."

Oh Lord help me. Hail Mary, full of grace…

"I'm fine. Really." I said a bit too quickly. "Very fine. I'm busy though. Important things about the evacuation. So if you'd just put it down I'll eat it in a moment."

She nodded, seemingly accepted my words without a moment of hesitation. "Of course, sensei."

She turned around and bent over at the waist gently placing the tray on the table, and of course, giving me a perfect view of her perfect, peach shaped bottom that was, of course, obscured only by a sexy black thong that could be sarcastically referred to as "ass floss".

It was all I could do to hold in a pained whine that probably would have sounded like someone deflating a balloon.

HAIL. MARY. FULL. OF. GRACE....

"Thank you Saeko." I said in a pained, almost robotic tone. "You may go now."

She nodded and bowed deeply giving me the perfect up shot before turning about and leaving, her hips and bottom in a manner best described as hypnotic.

I released a deep breath I didn't know I was holding when she left.

"I need an adult," I muttered to myself.

Good lord I felt dirty. Like Chris Hansen would pop out of the woodwork at any moment and ask me to sit down. I also could use a cold shower. And a cigarette... and I don't even smoke!

Forcing all thoughts from my head and focusing all my mental faculties on enjoying the food in front of me. And I had to admit that it was actually a very enjoyable meal. Saeko was actually a very talented chef. She also, it seemed, had decided to go all out with this one. It was outright loaded with the freshest ingredients, no doubt making full advantage of all the things we would not be able to bring with us. Shizuka was a pretty decent cook, as long as you didn't expect her to do anything too complicated, but Saeko was on a whole other level.

She'd make a wonderful wife...

...

...

Hail Mary, full of grace…

--------

I'd like to say that I enjoyed the meal, but to be honest, while it was delicious it was hard to truly experience your food when you kept having ass floss flashbacks which were themselves intermixed with bouts of prayer.

For a moment, I thought about going for seconds, but considering what was awaiting me in the kitchen, I decided that discretion was the better part of valor and that I wasn't that hungry.

And believe me, it takes a lot for me to turn down seconds.

I sighed deeply and leaned back, clearing my mind.

Then I leapt forward, a chill running down my spine.

Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit.

During that whole ordeal I'd lost my focus. I stopped watching the window for Alice and her father. And if anything happened to that little girl or her old man, it was on my head.

Frantically I leapt towards the window and looked outside.

There I could see that the Humvee had been moved across the street and the boys were helping a number of people load it up with the useful contents of the house. Considering the number of people and volume of cargo it would be a tight fit, but in this situation alive and well stocked was far more valuable than comfortable.

More telling, though, was that there seemed to be at least half a dozen new additions to the street. Seems the boys had been busy...

From across the street I could see Takashi talking to a relieved-looking man before he turned his head towards the house. From across the street our eyes met, and moments later he had his phone out.

Mine began to vibrate about a second later. I almost wondered why he just didn't shout out to me, but right. Zombies. Loud sounds. Bad idea.

"Yes Takashi?" I asked.

"Sensei, you were waiting for a girl and her father, I'm guessing?"

"Yep." I replied, relief filling me as I spotted a small girl clinging to the man with whom he'd been speaking. "That's them."

"We have them..." He sighed over the line. "And the dog."

"Great!" I replied, my previous tension vanishing like mist in the wind. "Okay, pack up and get over there. There's going to be a swarm showing up any minute now and I'd very much like to be gone before it gets here..."

He simply nodded to me across the street and closed his phone, ending the call.

I stood up and disconnected Shizuka's computer from the wall. No use leaving it when it could still be useful.

"Alright everyone!" I called out. "We're leaving! Put some damn clothes on and get ready to move out!"

And that means you, Saeko!
​

 

[Brian Boru]

AN: With thanks to Psyckosama, Grey Rook and Lilbobchicago have a new chapter.



I had to admit, there was certain thrill riding in a military-class vehicle down a zed-filled road and watching the bodies fly in every direction. How did that song go again?

"Move Bitch! Git out the way! Git out the way, Bitch! Git out the way!"

"Sensei," Saya growled out, disturbing my state of automotive homicidal zen. "As... amusing as it is listening you to butcher an English rap song, you might want to know that you're frightening the others."

"Shit, did I say that out loud?" I thought to myself.

"Yes. Yes you did." was the immediate response.

Crap… I must be more tired than I thought. To be fair, I'd been running full-throttle without any real rest for at least fifteen hours. I was kind of impressed I hadn't collapsed yet.

Muttering an apology I glanced around the rest of the vehicle, despite being one step short of an APC, with our group, Alice and her father, and the extended family from across the street all packed in it was more than a little snug. Taking everything from Shizuka and Rika's apartment that wasn't tied down didn't make things easier. But I wasn't one to complain, not when the Xth zombie was sent pinwheeling into the sky as we zipped along at around thirty miles an hour and I could hear the clinking of enough firepower to arm a marine squad in the back.

Speaking of Rika's armoury, either the series had underrepresented the sheer size of her gun collection or meeting me had somehow inspired her to expand her collection by an order of magnitude because instead of the three guns of the series there were an even baker's two dozen. Everything from a couple cute little 'girly' pistols to what seemed to be a full-on anti-material rifle.

As we rode along I began to brainstorm what I was going to do one we reached the Takagi estate and rendezvoused with the other half of the thegns. While all of the Thegn gangs theoretically respected the rules I'd set down, the ones on the other side of the river were more… aggressive in their adherence the viking theme they adopted after encountering my boys. While I could never prove it, I was sure some of the gangs from the far side of the river were using live steel in their holmgangs, the duels they had accepted as a means of settling disputes instead of massive back-alley brawls like in the past. I had wondered about some of the scars and bandages the leaders from the far side sported when they showed up to train with us but I'd never pressed them on it, not wanting to put them on edge, or worse, let them loose into the surrounding area without even my minimal supervision.

Most of these boys, asides from their leaders, had almost never met me despite my attempts to visit each gang at least once to see what their situation was and make sure their leaders weren't teaching them something wrong that would get them killed in the days ahead. Hopefully it wouldn't be too hard to smack some heads together and get them to follow me on an escort mission to the storage lot. Which was why I was hoping Mr. Takagi had softened them up by the time I got there, It'd make things much easier. Or at least that they didn't pick a fight with the Ultra-Nationalists and when we got there the entire complex on fire with the two groups duking it out while civilians were getting munched on by the undead that had streamed through the gaps in the barriers that no one was manning.

At that thought I pulled out the crucifix I had been wearing for months now, muttered a prayer and kissed it. That was the last thing I needed right now. I prayed that we didn't come to that.

-----------------------

Thankfully, my trip to the Takagi estate was delightfully mundane. Besides the ongoing game of Carmageddon that was our drive through the city, the only real event of note was one of Shizuka's neighbors having a small but thankfully contained panic attack when we forded the river. Apparently she had some childhood trauma related to the ocean and was uncomfortable around large bodies of water.

Been nice if they'd bothered to tell me that before we were fifty yards out.

"For the sixth time it's alright, you don't have to keep apologizing ma'am." I said over my shoulder to Mrs. Ikari. The matriarch of the extended family that had been hiding across the street from Shizuka's place was still breathing a little harder than was normal and her husband was still holding her hand while squeezing it soothingly and speaking to her in a calming tone.

Her face pale and covered with a sheen of sweat that wasn't entirely because of our contained and tightly packed seating arrangement looked up to me and quietly smiled before bobbing her head again and saying in a quiet voice, "Even so I'm still sorry. An old woman like me breaking down like a frightened child."

"You were a frightened child," Saya said bluntly. "That's how childhood trauma works. Something happens that burns itself into your mind so badly that every time you face it you go back to that moment." Trust Saya to make an anvil look subtle…

Our conversation was cut short as we rounded a corner on approach to the estate and was met by a set of jersey barriers that seemed to have been modified by putting a line of barbed wire across the top. Behind them, were a trio of men standing guard, two of them wearing black faux-military dress uniform...uniforms that I recognized from previous encounters with the local breed of ultra-nationalist pseudo-fascist. The other guy was a normal civilian, salary man if the suit pants and unbuttoned shirt were any guess.

"Present yourself," one of the man said looking up to the HUMVEE without a ounce or fear, or at least with a bucket of bravado.

Before I could respond a gorgeous, and to be completely honest absolutely MILF-tastic woman, with magenta hair who looked like she was at most 35 stepped into view a wearing a fashionable looking black dress.

They always say look at a girl's mother to see what she'll look like in 30 years, and goddamn, Saya was set to age like a fine wine.

"I've got this..."

The young man nodded. "Yes, ma'am."

She smiled and looked up. "You know, Brody-dono, it is polite to call before you visit."

I smiled weakly as I looked down from the turret ring. "Um. My apologies. I've been a bit overwhelmed. Sometimes the small pleasantries just get overlooked."

She chortled lightly. "It is alright. I understand. But there are no worries, Saya called on your behalf."

I glanced down. "Thanks."

She simply smiled and gave a respectful nod, before glancing behind the wall. "Open the gate."

Moments later a forklift rolled into view and lifted the barricade out of the way to allow the Humvee to pass. Not wanting to waste time we quickly drove into the compound allowing them to replace it.

At the top of the hill I could see the Takagi estate itself, a western-style mansion with a large driveway in front and several outbuildings to either side. Off to the right side of the driveway, nearly a dozen large military-type tents were lined up in a neat row. I could see dozens of people milling about the tents either talking or working on something with their hands. Most of them were... rough looking... trailer trash sorts,for a lack of a better term. The rest were more normal looking people, one of whom was an oddly familiar looking woman with a pixie haircut and a resting bitch face.

Inside I could see a large group of young men forming a circle in the main driveway, judging from the scraps of equipment many of them were sporting, and I could hear the chanting even over the rumble of our engine, ascertained that those were the thegns who managed to reach the Takagi complex. I had found my lost boys.

Glancing out the window to Mrs. Takagi, who'd taken it upon herself to guide us to a parking spot, I asked, "What's going on?"

"If I'm to understand correctly, one of my husband's subordinates called the honor of one of your 'Thegns' into question. He demanded a duel to satisfy the insult, and my husband agreed to allow it as long as it was done under proper supervision."

"Well at least there isn't live steel." I muttered under my breath as I hopped out of the truck and made my way to the Thegns. As I walked I paused and bowed to the woman. "My apologies, but I have to see to this."

She nodded in response. "Of course."

Grinning for a moment I turned back to the large crowd, most of whom were too focused on the fight in the center of the crowd to notice my approach. I tapped one young man who was shouting encouragement to their leader on the shoulder to get their attention.

He glanced over his shoulder with a growl of annoyance, "What do you waa... oh. Um. Sorry, my Jarl."

A smug grin spread across my face as I nodded. Jarl was I? Heh. Yeah. I could roll with that. Putting a finger to my lips I made my way past him I quietly passed my way through the crowd. Several of them cursing at me, only to go pale as a sheet when they saw who was on the receiving end of their tongue after which they'd sheepishly bow and let me through.

I finally got through the crowd to get a front row seat for the fight. I should have known. Toji Yoshida, AKA: Eric the Red. Short for his age, with a wiry build, pretty boy features, and naturally red hair with matching eyes that I swore glowed in the dark, he stuck out even in this much more technicolor version of Japan. That meant he'd have had to fight twice as hard and be twice as vicious as your average delinquent just to keep up his reputation. He was the type who had decided to split the difference and go for quadruple.

In fact, I'd bet good money that he was probably the bloodthirsty little fuck who'd come up with the idea of going a-viking to begin. God knows his gang had built up a reputation as the most notorious raiders on the far side of the river. Having the outlet was probably the only reason he hadn't gone rogue. At first he'd been even more resentful than Onikuma himself, though once the raiding started he'd become downright enthusiastically cheerful.

It was honestly a little terrifying.

I also noted, with some annoyance, that he wasn't wearing his helmet and instead was letting his long, and I honestly couldn't believe I was going to use this word in reference to a man, luxurious red hair flow wildly behind him like a silky, well conditioned, crimson banner.

Good lord. I needed to squeeze a tit, just to reaffirm my sexuality.

Against him was a man who looked to be somewhere in his mid to late 20s, tall, immaculately dressed in the pseudo-military uniform that seemed to be preferred by Takagi's happy band of World War 2 apologists. His hair was slicked back and his features severe, and he held himself like he was hiding a spare bokken somewhere a bit uncomfortable.

Or at least that's probably what he'd normally look like. He seemed like the type.

Right now however he looked a bit more disheveled. And by that I meant he had the look of a man in the midst of getting his ass kicked. His clothes were dirty and scuffed, making it clear he'd taken his fair share of tumbles, his hair was a mess, and from the looks of things, his nose very well might be broken, and he looked downright punch drunk. Probably from the same shield bash that wrecked his nose.

Eric on the other hand had a light sheen of sweat on his face, and the gleeful smile of a "That Kid Down the Street" when left alone with a power drill and his sister's pet rabbit.

And somehow, I was this psychopath's boss.

God help me...

Standing off to the side, was Souichiro Takagi, looking a stone faced as ever.

I hadn't seem the man in person before, though I'd seen him on television, on the occasional political posters, and of course his voice was constantly streaming out of those damned propaganda vans. He was more intense in person.

Quietly I slipped into place next to him.

"Brody-dono." he greeted calmly.

"Takagi-dono." I replied with a nod.

Greetings over with, the two of us turned our attention back to the fight. A fight which was starting to have a bit more weight to it than a simple duel.

"Your men are somewhat... wild." he observed as we watched the two clash.

I shrugged. "I know, but I'll admit I've put more effort into making sure they don't piddle on the rug than giving them their flea dips." A little glib but I couldn't show an ounce of give with this man, otherwise he'd walk all over me.

Turning back to the fight, Eric was pacing back and forth, a maniacal grin on his face and his blunted ax twirling like a baton between his fingers. The boy was toying with his older opponent like a cat with a mouse.

"Come on, brother, all you have to do is admit you were wrong and say 'I'm a giant pussy swinging around my overcompensation stick' and it'll all be over." He said in a genial tone, as if he were talking to a close friend. His smile on the other hand bore a degree of smugness that made me want to punch him by reflex.

Right. No one with an ounce of pride would capitulate under those conditions.

I glanced at Takagi. "He is your subordinate, Brody-dono."

I nodded. Right.

Stepping forward, I spoke in a bold tone. "Alright Eric, that's enough."

I turned to Takagi's subordinate. "Do you admit your error, never mind his outrageous demand?"

He paused for a moment then bowed unsteadily. "He is a skilled fighter and I retract my remark."

"Good," I replied coolly. Then I turned to Eric. "You've won the fight and proved your skill. There's no need to continue. Accept his submission. Making outrageous demands like that will only make you look the fool."

Eric, unfortunately, wasn't having any of it, instead he turned his head and spat at the ground. His disdain and contempt was blatant. "Fuck off old man, that cunt over there insulted me and he needs to learn his place."

My eyes narrowed. "Watch yourself, boy," I said in a warning tone. "Accept his submission. Now."

He rolled his eyes dismissively. "And what are you going to do about it? You want a piece of me, old man?" He grinned and spread his arms wide, extending his shield and axe to the side, doing a slow circle of the impromptu ring. Several of the gangers, likely Eric's personal followers, roared their approval of their chief's bravado.

"No, boy, I'll take the whole thing." I said with a growl. "Holmgang it is."

I looked over to Kohta. "My shield and arms please."

He nodded and returned moments later with my shield with a Black Raven on a white background. I accepted it without a word and took my axe, giving it a few practice swings. A moment later Saeko approached carrying my helmet and looking extremely intense, even by her standards.

This was unexpected.

Without a word she lifted the helmet and understanding her intent I lowered my head to make it more easy for her to place it upon me.

"Show him his place, Brody-sensei." she said without hesitation.

"Wow, nice piece of ass you got there, chief," he said with a smirk, "Been checkin' out the student body?"

She gritted her teeth and I saw murder in her eyes. Yeah. Time to put a stop to this. The worst I'd do is beat him senseless, if Saeko got her mitts on him, they'd be burying him in bucket.

"Keep that up, Eric, and I'll let her deal with you." I said darkly.

"And it's not even my birthday!" he said with far too much cheer.

"But unfortunately, I need you alive." I finished. That made him blink. Audibly.

Goddamn anime.

"Huh. So you're saying the little kitten is too much for me?"

"You're making me reconsider my stance," I said with a growl. "Now, shut up. It's time for teacher to give you your lesson."

He laughed and spun his axe. "Now this is what I'm fucking talking about! Come on old man, hit me with your best shot!" With that he flew right at me, axe high for an overhand chop.

With no visible effort, I stepped around his swing, and batted his swing into his shield, forcing his upper body to twist to the left but leaving his face still pointed forward...and wide open for my counter.

I followed up by simply cold-clocking him. He went out like a light.

"And the lesson for the day?" I asked in a conversational tone. "Always wear your fucking helmet."

Looking up I spotted one of the more shell-shocked gang members, and assuming it was one of his subordinates, I said: "You. Drag his his ass off to the side and dump a bucket on him." The ganger took a moment before he realized I was talking to him. I cleared my throat once to get his attention and after a moment processing my words he immediately grabbed his leader and bolted.

"So. That was dumb. If anyone else has a case of the stupids, form a line. Otherwise, I believe we can just assume that I'm in charge and you do what I say, right?"

I smiled and did a slow rotation, taking in the crowd.

"So? No takers?" I grinned. "Good. Because, we've all got shit to do, so if any of you have something you need to bring to my attention, I'm all ears."

Yet more silence. Oh for God's sake.

"Kohta, Takashi... go talk to them and find out who needs to talk to me."

I shook my head and walked back to Mr Takagi.

"I apologize about that mess." I said calmly.

"You're very capable," he replied with the smallest smile. "Perhaps when the situation is more opportune we will have to test our skills."

His eyes were downright sparkling with what was probably the closest he's capable to boyish glee.

I couldn't help but smirk. "I look forward to it... But enough of the formality." I offered him my hand. "We're going to have to work together closely, and I feel it would be best if we don't spend the time dancing around each other. Call me Tom."

He paused for a moment giving me a measuring look then his eyes flickering behind me for a moment took my hand with a small nod. His grip was strong enough to twist steel. I responded by matching it. His lip lifted ever so slightly with approval.

"You may call me Souichiro, Tom-san."

I smiled and followed as he lead us off to the side. "So, where do we stand at the moment?" I asked him calmly.

"My wife is handling the logistics so if you desire exact numbers, ask her, but as is we have several weeks of supplies and are quartering several hundred survivors, not counting your own numerous subordinates."

"And the mall?" I asked.

He glanced at the gates. "Last night I sent a team of my best men to investigate it. The female police officer leading the defense was somewhat difficult, but an accord was reached. I have already dispatched a send group to evacuate them. They should be returning within the hour."

I smiled. "Kohta will be pleased."

He raised an eyebrow.

"The shorter of the two boys who accompanied me. The junior police officer is his girlfriend." I explained.

He nodded with a slight hum. "And how does your situation stand?"

"At last report, good. We still have a trickle of family members coming in, but at this point I wouldn't be surprised if we were edging close to a thousand."

He smiled. It was extremely faint, but his pleasure at the news was clear. "Impressive."

I had the feeling that was about as close to a "Booya!" as the man was physically and emotionally capable of.

"But it will put a great strain on your supplies." He then said, the frown right back on his face.

"You'd be surprised," I replied dryly. Before the late and unlamented Shido had decided to fuck things up, I'd intended to run a school festival with the hopes of getting as many loved ones at the school as possible, and my preparation had reflected this.

As impressive as the numbers I had now were, I probably would have been able to save maybe even twice as many if Shido hadn't decided that he needed to prove he was the biggest swinging dick. It honestly made me wish I could murder the bastard. Again.

Between what I had in my storage locker and what I'd managed to squirrel away in the mountains, I probably had enough to feed everyone in my group for three months, more if we were willing to cut rations until we could get a harvest planted.

He raised an eyebrow and obviously wished for me to continue.

"I've have roughly three month's worth of food, not including seed stock." I replied, as matter-of-factly as if I had been discussing the weather.

As a reward for dropping that little bomb, I had the pleasure of seeing Takagi's iron visage actually break for a moment and the stunned man openly stare at me in amazement for a moment.

"You have three months of food?" A second voice called out from behind me, turning around I saw that Mrs. Takagi, along with her daughter Saya, were walking towards us, apparently so the latter could greet her father. It was a bit hard to see but Saya was fighting down a downright impish smirk. It wasn't everyday the Iron Giant's armor cracked and this was likely a special treat for her.

Looking back to her mother I nodded, unable to hide the grin at the stunned look on her face. "What can I say? I like to plan ahead and what red-blooded American doesn't have a Zombie Plan?"

The sheer audacity of my words seemed to take them aback, as Mr. Takagi just gave me a dumbfounded look in response, too stunned for words and too proud to stutter. Mrs. Takagi was also staring at me before I saw something click behind her eyes and they narrowed ever so slightly. I had a feeling I'd need to be explaining a few things eventually. Though not right now.

Even Saya had to doubletake for a moment.

"That is more than I saw at the storage," she noted.

"The rest is at the lodge," I replied, to which she simply nodded. She'd long learned to just roll with it. It was easier on the sanity.

Changing the subject I cleared my throat and said, "Regardless of supplies or manpower, and I hope I don't sound too bold, we're going to have to relocate to the storage. It's closer to the highway and once the EMP hits, it'll be easier to move out from the periphery than from the city proper."

"I agree," Mrs. Takagi replied. "Though my husband and I have discussed the situation and would like to raise two points."

Taking this as his cue, Souichiro began to speak. "First, I wish for a small group of volunteers to remain here. We have decided that this location will serve as a secure strong point from which to gather supplies from the city. Second, we have several mechanics here and they have assured me that they will be able to remove the critical electronics from a number of vehicles which can then be placed within shielded containers in the eventuality of the attack of which you are so clearly concerned."

"I take it Saya explained my concerns?"

Her mother nodded. "Yes, and I find it to be a distressing, but likely possibility. My husband is more skeptical, but we have decided that it would be better to err on the side of caution."

I simply nodded. "That's fair."

With that the four of us made for the main house, Mr. and Mrs. Takagi and I discussed organizing the evacuation while Saya followed along, occasionally adding her own opinion, though I noticed her parents didn't seem to really note what she was saying.

This caused me to literally take pause. Oh no, I was not dealing with this coming of age shit with the undead wandering around, time to nip this in the bud, now, "Excuse me, as I have no desire to be disrespectful or, God forbid, question your parenting, but Saya has proven herself to be a valuable member of my group. Without her insight we probably would have taken far greater casualties. I put great stock in her opinion and consider her a valuable advisor."

Saya looked at me for a moment with absolute shock, obviously never imagining that I would go to task for her with her parents like this. Then she shrunk back when she noticed that Souichiro had decided to make her the sole focus of his attention.

"How did my daughter's insight help so greatly? You seem to be otherwise extremely well prepared."

I looked at Saya and smiled. "Tell him."

She took a deep breath. "I-I... when Brody-sensei first encountered the undead, along with several other teachers, one of them panicked and fled, destroying the main gate with his car. This both breached the defenses of the school and drew the attention of a small horde of th-..."

I gave her a steady look and cleared my throat.

"Zombies," she said with a slight blush, obviously a little uncomfortable using such a normally silly word in front of her parents. "I devised a plan and with Brody-sensei's aid, jury-rigged a decoy with which to draw them off."

"She also helped me convince the principal of the enormity of the situation," I added, my features darkening for just a moment, remembering that brave, brave man. "Because of her we were able to react much more swiftly, and of course, in an emergency fast action saves lives."

He looked at her for a long moment and then smiled. It was a small smile, but for a moment his stony facade cracked and in his eyes I saw real pride. "As I expect of my child."

Her mother was also controlled but much more expressive. She looked very pleased indeed.

After taking a moment to allow the Takagis their honestly somewhat adorable bonding moment, we continued onto the main house, having resumed our conversation. This time however, much to my pleasure, Saya's option was being given some actual weight and consideration. She was still the junior member of the conversation, true, but at least this time she was being treated as a member rather than one of the peanut gallery.

As we neared the house, one of Mr. Takagi's men came rushing up to us.

"Takagi-sama, the group from the mall is returning."

"Kohta!" I called out, "Walk with me!"

I looked over to Souichiro and his wife. "I'm not missing this reunion for the world..."

Mr. Takagi gave me a stern look, but his wife gave him a look and he seemed to just deflate ever so slightly and follow. Saya seemed to double take at this for a moment, before following.

Kohta met us half way and gave me a confused look. "What is it, sensei?" He asked as we approached.

I smiled knowingly. "Just keep a close eye on that bus."

We stood in place for a moment, calmly watching as a continuous stream of people slowly exited the bus until I saw a familiar little pixie in blue step out of the bus. I couldn't help but smile.

From next to me I heard a gasp and looked over to see Kohta looking on in shock, almost quivering in place. He turned to me, his eyes begging.

"Go to her," I said calmly.

He didn't have to be told twice and with a shout of joy he rushed towards her, sending one gang member flying like a pinwheel in his wake. "Asami-chan!" he shouted, a huge grin on his face.

The little pixie heard his bellow across the manor grounds. "Kohta-kun!" she squealed, almost letting go of the old lady she'd been helping out of the bus, only to rush forward once the woman had waved her off with a smile. Faster than greased lightning, she tore her way through the crowd of people making their way from the vehicles to the manor, darting between them like a deer in a forest. Her blue eyes were shining with tears and her expression one of pure joy.


The two didn't slow down for an instant until they collided with each other, Kohta snatching up Asami in his arms and swinging her around, her tiny frame leaving her swinging like a kite in the wind in his tree trunk-like arms. When he stopped spinning her around he pulled her close and she all but smothered him in kisses all over his face, before returning the favor with one long deep kiss himself.

Honestly, and somewhat ironically, it was like watching a replay of the famous VJ day kiss photo abet in miniature, big as Kohta was horizontally he was still only 5'2'' and Asami was half an inch shorter than her beau. It was adorable and I could feel something warm and fuzzy welling up in my chest. If nothing else I'd stopped one awful heartbreak from happening.

I wasn't the only witness as many of the thegns and their followers who had met Kohta had seen their very public display of affection and had start hooting and hollering in approval...ah teenagers…

"Do you see this?" Souichiro exclaimed stepping forward. "Remember this, all of you. Look upon this young warrior and his reunion and remember. This is why we fight! For those we cherish!"

That got a round of cheers from his followers as well as a number of the refugees. Even a couple of the thegns seemed to take it to heart.

Smooth political operator taking advantage of a situation or not, I couldn't help but agree with Souichrou. This was what I was fighting for, what I'd spent a year training myself and others for, breaking the bank supplying for. So that young loves and lives would survive in this Land of the Dead.

That made me think of my own love, I turned around looking for a familiar length of golden hair. I spotted her standing among the refugee tents, looking over an older man who was doubled over and holding his chest. A warm feeling filled my chest.

Well played, Souichiro. Well played.

For those we cherish, indeed.

 

[Brian Boru]

We've come back from the dead so many time we're getting a free ice cream next time round.

Thanks to PsyckoSama, Lilbobchicago, Grey Rook

Part Twenty-Nine:

The Takagi's meeting room was tastefully austere, sacrificing much of the victorian charm of the rest of the main house to capture a distinct sense of purpose and absolute focus. The furniture was still antique, and probably worth more than my parents' house, but much more subdued in its beauty. In the rest of the house, even the chairs were a point of conversation. Here, however, focus was to be kept on the subject at hand, and not on the object upon which one sits thine ass.

On the table was a large map of the grounds of the failed Crystal Peaks Ski resort and the surrounding area. I had to admit, it was a bit of a strange bird. While designed primarily as a Ski resort, it had been later expanded to include a lakeside marina when the the geniuses behind it realized that they were building on a mountain next to a dam. This lead to them adding a small marina to the design, and while it had barely started construction when the entire project crashed and burned, it still have a couple of temporary docks from where they brought in the construction equipment by barge.

"Mt. Suishoyama. An interesting choice," " Miss Takagi remarked as she studied the map, "Protected on two sides by mountains, one by a large body of water, and the other is a narrow mountain valley with no major settlements or outlets. The only major approach is over the dam and through a winding mountain road." she glanced up. "In other words, it is a fortress."

I smiled. "Security was one of my utmost concerns. After all, while zombies are not known for their mountaineering talents, ultimately the most dangerous predators will be the living and not the dead."

This of course, was relative bullshit. While I knew it was ridiculously hard to approach, the security had been a distant consideration to the fact that it could be reached via a reasonably simple and direct route, was close enough that that we could walk it if push came to shove, was isolated enough that we would not have to run a gauntlet to get there, and most importantly, was completely abandoned. I'd only realized how stupidly protected it was after the fact.

She nodded then glanced up. "It does raise one major concern, however. That being food. While the lake is richly stocked with fish due to the thoughtlessness of the developers..."

I blinked. "Really?"

"You didn't know?"

I shook my head. "Never heard anything about fish."

She nodded. "Understandable. It was something of an ecological scandal that was quickly overshadowed when the business imploded. It seems that in order to promote fishing, they had the lake stocked with several invasive species of fish. Brown and Rainbow Trout, I do believe, along with Large Mouth Bass. There was a call to exterminate them before they could damage the local ecosystem, but the regional government couldn't assemble the will, nor the money to fund the project."

Well, I wasn't really the fishing type, but even I knew those were actually some pretty sizable fish, and with this much time virtually uninterrupted in the wild there'd be some monsters in that lake.

"I see. But what is your issue with food?"

"These mountains are not well suited for farming, and even with access to the valley, it would take a great deal of time and effort to clear."

I smiled. "I see. You're right, farming most grains would be extremely difficult, but we already have several stretches of clear land perfectly suited for farming: the ski slopes."

She peaked an eyebrow.

Saya smiled. "He's thinking potatoes. Mother. At first, I was wondering why he had so many varieties and subspecies, but it makes sense now. It seems that he's hedging his bets."

"I'm almost as Celtic as Cú Chulainn and Brian Boru," I replied drolly. "My mom's side of the family were literally potato refugees. The downsides of having limited genetic diversity in your potato crop has been all but burned into my racial memory."

For the first time in the conversation, Mr Takagi spoke up, in the form of a dull chuckle. "I see you have much in hand. However, do you really expect us to subsist on a diet of potatoes and lake fish?"

"My ancestors subsisted on similar fare and were taller, stronger, and healthier than their bread and beef eating English overlords." I replied coolly, not liking his tone. I politely refrained from mentioning that your average Japanese man of the time, subsisting on a diet largely consisting of fish and rice, was just about the height of your average Irish woman of the time. "But you are correct. I have no desire to live off of fish and potatoes."

This was mainly because I didn't know about the fish.

"There are a number of farms and rural villages south of the lodge. Once we have the civilians to safety we can send teams into them to recover as many domestic animals and livestock as possible. Chickens and pigs, ducks, rabbits, goats if we can find them. Cattle will be more valuable as a source of labor. And we can't forget dogs and cats as well... To be companions and guards, not food," I added after the moment.

Felix and Fido were worth more alive than on a dinner plate.

Then Mrs. Takagi dropped a bomb.

"So, how did you know this was coming?" Mrs Takagi asked without even raising her tone. "And why didn't you warn anyone?"

I closed my eyes and sighed. "What makes you think I knew?"

"Because one does not invest this level of preparation into a simple zombie plan, while everything I have seen implies a man who knew not only exactly what he would have to deal with, but when," she replied. "Potatoes have a usable lifespan of three to five weeks in normal conditions. This can be extended up to several months if stored properly, but one does not buy and refresh multiple tons of potatoes every few weeks for something as trite as a zombie plan, nor would you be able to afford the sheer volume of supplies you seem have gathered on a assistant teacher's wage."

"Takagi-dono," I said in a tired tone. "Do you know the difference between a mad man and a prophet?"

Saya's eyes went wide at my answer, while her mother seemed to defer to her husband.

Mr. Takagi said nothing but inclined his head after a moment, silently asking me to continue.

I looked up at him, my eyes red with exhaustion. "One of them is proven right by history. Who would have believed me? How many people could I have saved from the inside of an asylum?"

Saya whispered softly, "So... you knew it. All of it. You knew this entire time. So that's why you trained the boys? That's why all the weapons. That's why you tried to arrange that school festival..." her eyes went wide. "Sensei, where's Shido-sensei?"

"In the sewers, a block down the road from Yorinaga's Yakitori," I replied drolly.

She gaped, her eyes going wide.

"Shido was the kind of man who'd happily lead us all to our deaths as long as he was the one who got to do the leading," I said dryly. "He was far too ambitious, far too arrogant, and far too influential. The divisions he would have created would have cost us time and lives." I also just despised the bastard on a personal and professional level, not that anyone would consider that an excuse... except maybe Rei.

Souichiro locked eyes with me, unblinking for a long moment then gently dipped his head. "Duty heavier than a mountain," he said with a respectful tone. "We shall never speak of this again."

Well that went better than I hoped, thank God for Takagi pragmatism…

"So how long have you known?" Yoriko asked. "I'm guessing a year?"

I blinked. "How did you know?"

"You do not believe we'd allow a mysterious gaijin to educate our daughter without first inquiring to his origins. You appeared as if from nowhere a year ago," he paused, "Exactly one year ago, yesterday. The timing is extremely convenient, and when combined with your foreknowledge, leaves many questions to be answered. And I'm also assuming that it is directly connected to your reasoning for killing Koichi Shido."

"He'd have gone full psycho, and his behavior would have lead to dozens of deaths, including your own," I said with a growl.

Saya blinked, her mask of calm slipping for a moment. "What the hell did he do?"

I sighed. "Well, without my intervention all of about a dozen people would have survived the school. You, Kohta, Takashi, Rei, Shizuka, Saeko, Shido, Yuuki, Yamada, Taniuchi, Tsuda, and Kurokami. Once you were away from the school in the bus, he would have started acting like it was his personal fiefdom and made insane proclamations like how you'd all be needed to repopulate the species."

She blinked. "What."

"After you, Kohta, Takashi, Rei, Shizuka, and Saeko decided that he was completely nuts, he left you all by the side of the road to die." I snorted. "Hell, he even tossed Yamada to the undead because he was more interested in worrying about his family than participating in Shido's Fuck Bus."

Saya's face slowly twisted into an unmoving rictus of shock, disgust, and utter bewilderment as all of her blood seemingly made its way to her face as she blushed completely red in that special way only a female anime character could. It was a bit off putting to see it in real life.

"And how did his actions lead to our deaths?" Souichiro all but growled.

"He ended up plowing through your barrier in his bus after the EMP went off. The undead swarmed your compound, leading to the deaths of almost everyone within. The two of you died fighting, as back to back badasses in a last stand to buy time for Saya and her friends to escape." My tone still quiet but on the inside my gut churned, it was one thing when they were just cartoons, but these were people. People with hopes and dreams for the future.

"Then in a way, you avenged us retroactively and in doing so prevented our deaths," Yuriko remarked before letting out a deep sigh. "I never thought I'd see the day where the only serious, logical explanation for a situation that I can think of is is that it is all 'a big ball of wibbly wobbly, timey wimey stuff'." she said in the most droll tone physically possible.

Saya began to sputter, and turned to her mother. "Seriously? Doctor Who? At a time like this?"

Her father turned to her with a glare, obviously annoyed that she raised her voice to her mother, but he was cut off by his wife.

"Daughter," her mother said with a sigh. "We are in the midst of a literal zombie apocalypse and are dealing with a man who has seen a possible future. The world has officially become a place where only the only logical answer is one, that by all standard convention, sounds like lazily written science fiction. I believe I've earned this moment of irreverence, if only to preserve the lingering wisps of my sanity."

Saya paused for a moment, gaping like a goldfish trying to figure out a logical retort before simply lowering her head and simply muttering "Point".

"Brody-dono," Mr. Takagi said calmly. "If it were not for my wife, I would consider this madness. But I trust her judgement and can find no fault in her logic. So, in this 'future' your foresaw was what would have happened had you not been present?"

I nodded. "My 'visions' largely centered on your daughter and friends. As if watching an anime or reading a manga."

He nodded lightly. "And in that future, who now live hundreds would have died without your intervention, including myself and my wife?"

I nodded gently. "Yeah. Like you said, I woke up here, in Japan a year ago, with the shirt on my back, the knowledge of what was to come, and no possible way to get home. So I did what any man would do."

"No you did not," he replied sharply. "Most would have seen to their own safety, and that of their loved ones. They would not have dedicated their lives to ensuring that as many survived the coming disaster. They would not have raised an army to protect those survivors. They would not have prepared a safe haven. Yet you did these things. You do not give yourself nearly enough credit, Brody-dono."

He then stood up ramrod straight and bowed to me. Deeply. For a moment his torso was almost vertical. "Thank you very much for your actions, on behalf of my family and my countrymen."

I was unsure how to respond, I was overwhelmed that the couple had just accepted me somehow knowing that there was a zombie apocalypse coming a year before it happened. And I had to admit, that Souichiro had just hit me right in the feels with that one.

"And in doing so you have both avenged our deaths and saved our lives. For both I owe you a debt."

"Then you can repay that debt by helping me keep as many of our people alive as possible." I finally replied after gathering my wits about me.

He chuckled dully. "Of course. That is answer I'd expect of you."

Saya looked over. "Okay, Nostradamus-sensei, earth-shaking, sanity-melting revelations aside I believe we still need to discuss how we plan to reach your promised land."

"I'm thinking we get as many vehicles as we can that can survive or at least be shielded from the EMP and move out in a convoy as soon as the power dies. We should be able to make it in a day."

"You're sure about the EMP?"

I nodded. "Yes. The Chinese launch some time tomorrow. The US Navy launches ABMs to counter but one of the Destroyers was overrun, and they missed one of the missiles which exploded in an airburst EMP strike."

She grimaced. "So how much do you actually 'know'?"

"Only until a couple days from now," I admitted. "Beyond that, it's just fragments."

Mrs Takashi scowled. "Do you know what causes it?"

"Something supernatural," I admitted. "Beyond that I got nothing."

"Supernatural, of course," she said pinching the bridge of her noses as if she were in pain.

I shrugged my shoulders as I gave her a sympathising look, "Sorry, all I know is that it wasn't some sort plague that went out of control. Whether Hell ran out of room or some idiot sneezed while saying "Klaatu Barada Nikto", all I can honestly tell you is that something other caused this."

The couple looked to each other then nodded, some wordless decision had been made and I somehow knew this would be a massive headache… joy…

"Very well," Mr Takagi said with a nod. "Then the plan shall be this. We will begin to strip the grounds immediately, then relocate to your encampment. Once there we shall strip every vehicle present of its electronics and place them into shielded storage. After the Pulse we will return the vehicles to working condition and begin to move."

Thinking back to the size of the lot, I tried to picture whether or not the extra three hundred people would be able to fit inside the walls of the lot. After a few moments of rough calculations, it'd be a tight fit but it'd be doable. Then the image of a certain pixie haired twit came to mind.

"You are going to have problems with a small group who will ignore reality and try and argue that the zombies are still people. They mean well, but they're basically going to make fools of themselves. You're probably want to have measures in hand to manage them before they do something stupid and get themselves, or more important anyone else, killed."

He simply nodded. "I have heard rumblings but did not believe that anyone could be so foolish. I am not a man who likes to admit when he is wrong, but in this case I shall do so with great... disappointment."

"I might be able to point out the likely ringleader if you like." I offered.

"Do so and I'll make sure they stay quiet and out of the way," Mrs Takagi offered with a hard edge to her voice.

I raised an eyebrow. "You're not going to kill her, are you?"

She smiled beatifically. "Of course not. I value the life of every man and women under our protection, and will seek to protect them with my all, even from themselves if need be."

I paused for a moment and nodded. "Okay then. We've worked out the details and you have the location. I don't want to sound rude but we're burning daylight and time is of the essence."

Mr. Takagi nodded as he stood. "Of course. I shall issue the orders to my men immediately."

"I'll go tell my pack of wildmen to get ready to move out, and remind them to cooperate," I replied. "Shintoko Third Elementary is being used as a shelter by the JSDF and Takashi's mother works there. I don't think the authorities will listen to me, but I'm going to have him tell his mother where to go for when things go pear shaped."

Souichiro raised an eyebrow. "And you believe they will?"

"It's likely that they have no long term plan besides wait for extraction. Such a passive direction is weakness." I replied. The manga had never really given much information on the school or what was going to happen there, but let's not fool ourselves. This is Highschool of the Dead and nobody is allowed to have nice things.

I only lasted this long by defying the genre and going full Zombieland. Because fuck Highschool of the Dead. Fuck the Walking Dead. Fuck the entire Action-Horror zombie movie genre. And fuck you, George A. Romero, you motherfucker. I'm going full on Survival Horror, thank you very much. Emphasis on survival.

"I'd also like to check Rei's fathers' station. If he's alive, he'd be an asset. If it is abandoned, it would probably be a good idea to strip it of any firearms. If you can reach any in the time we have, I suggest you do so."

"We shall do so," Mr Takashi replied calmly. "Do you know of any other survivor groups?"

I shook my head sadly. "Outside the Airport, no. However I can give you the numbers of several of the teachers from the school. They can likely coordinate with the students to see if anyone can find out. As much as I'm loathe to say it, you're much better equipped to do large scale rescue and evacuation than we are."

"That is understandable. You are only one man who was working in secret on a teacher's wages. I have access to an organization that is the product of decades of hard work and effort backed up by a not insubstantial personal fortune."

"Alright then," I said after a moment, "If you want I can leave you two alone with Saya for a moment..."

He shook his head, dismissing my offer. "There is no need. Our daughter is safe. That is what is important. We will have time together once we are secure and have the time to dedicate personal concerns. For now, we must attend to our duties."

I nodded. "Lets."


A/N: For some dark comedy. I don't remember if this has been discussed in this thread but over on SB it has been mentioned and the both of us have confirmed that Brody did not even think about stockpiling condoms for his great trek.

Now remember the vast bulk of his followers are terrified and soon to be VERY bored teenagers with limited chaperones of any sort. Cue the fireworks.

 

[Brian Boru]

OOC: I am starting to wonder if I am the spirit of some long forgotten holiday. Thanks To Psyckosama, lilbobchicago, and Grey Rook for their help.


We walked out of the study quickly and with purpose. The effects of the earth-shattering revelations I had given the Takagis didn't seem to show on their faces but I knew that probably that evening, when they were hunkered down in whatever sort of bedding they would manage to scramble together on our trek, the entire family would be staring up into the night sky or the roof of whatever shelter they had. A deep feeling of dread and uncertainty keeping their minds racing and preventing them from sleeping until long into the night.

I knew that because the same thing had happened to me at least once a week since I had arrived here in this funhouse version of Japan. A cavalcade of doubt and fear would dance through my mind on those nights. I was not a decisive man by nature. I preferred to think long and hard before making a decision and I would often ask others for, if not their constructive opinions, at least an emotional approval of my actions and choices. If something out of left-field was thrown in my face I would be paralyzed for a few moments, at least that had been my nature when I arrived.

At some point early on, probably after my first date with Shizuka, I had come to the revelation that these people, who had only been animated characters at some level in my mind, were people. Flesh and blood, body and soul people who had no idea what was coming. And I was the only one who could change their fate. So I had forced myself every day, every hour, every minute to dedicate all my energy, both mental and physical, to one single goal. Save as many people as I possibly can.

That constant mantra of 'if not me, who?' along with a frequent short prayer of 'Lord give me strength' was what kept me going. It had been a long year preparing, and a longer... dear God how long have I been going? What day was it? We spent much of the previous night working our way through the post-apocalyptic hellscape, just to travel a mere ten kilometers to the Takagi residence and had arrived in the middle of the morning.

I'd been awake and running at full steam for over 24 hours, barring the 30 minutes of not-sleep I'd just about managed to pick up at Rika's place… And like the pebble that starts the rockslide, that revelation made my body itself realize just how exhausted it was. I was unable to stop myself from letting out a massive yawn, my eyes watered and my vision blurred, my muscles started to ache and there was that light-headed feeling a lack of sleep always gave me. My body was already telling me to sit down, shut up, and close my eyes. And I knew I still had days more to go before I could afford to shut down.

A small hysterical giggle escaped my lips. Oh no, not yet, not now, I couldn't start falling apart just yet, there was still so much to do. I wasn't one for coffee but I could kill for a coke or a red bull, anything to keep me moving. Only problem, where the hell could I find one in this madness… or ever again in the days ahead… that... that was yet another thing I was going to have to get used to... maybe honey-sweetened ice tea… no true Southerner would go without.

Realizing I was woolgathering, I cleared my head with a quick shake then followed the Takagis who had moved ahead without me, not noticing my pause. I quickly increased my pace to catch back up with them, both of the older Takagis noticed my delay and turned their head to watch me.

Mrs. Takagi was the one to ask the question that was on both of their minds. "How long has it been since you slept, Brody-san?"

Despite having just been thinking about it, I took a moment to respond. "I've been moving non-stop for at least 24 hours and I've eaten twice... I think." Saying it out loud made it worse and now I was starting to feel that lovely headache that would always form behind my eyes whenever I didn't get enough sleep. The bags under my eyes were a Brody trait, something the men in my family all had though exhaustion made it worse and combined with SOMETHING starting to bloom and making my eyes redder than normal and I was sure that combined with the dust, blood and gore splattered on me I probably looked like I belonged on the other side of the fence.

"Sensei." Saya snapped at me as she stormed up behind me.

I sighed. I was way too tired to deal with this tsundere shit. "Yes?"

Meanwhile her father simply raised an eyebrow and gave her a mildly amused but questioning look. He didn't say a word, but at the same time it said volumes. Mainly that he was both amused and annoyed in equal measure and that she had best have a very good reason for being so curt with a teacher whom he'd grown to respect.

She stormed up to me and held out a small can that in that moment was quite possibly the most beautiful item in the world. At least the most beautiful barring a way out of this fucking mess.

It was a can of Blue Ox, this world's completely not Redbull energy drink.

I could have cried.

"This is from my personal stock," she said calmly. "So I want you to follow my instructions closely..."

If I wasn't standing right in front of her very intense father with the very sharp sword I would have probably fallen to my knees declaring her a beautiful angel of mercy.

Or kissed her.

Maybe both.

"Proceed." I managed to croak out.

"You're going to use this to take what is called a caffeine nap. You are going to find a nice, comfortable place, and chug this all in one go. Then just lie down, close your eyes, and rest for twenty minutes." she stated in a tone that brooked no argument.

"Yes Doc." I slowly said, taking the can from her hands with all the reverence of a pilgrim being given a holy relic to safeguard.

I think I might have muttered 'my precious'.

"You may return to my den to refresh yourself." her father stated, glancing back the way we came. "None shall disturb you."

I couldn't help but smile at the sweet memory of the overstuffed leather couch. It had been softer than my bed and the leather it was so buttery I'd swear it was lambskin. Considering the location, it probably was.

It was almost in a daze that I made my way back, finally letting the exhaustion catch up with me, swaying with every step.

As I walked, however, I heard a rather amusing exchange.

"So, a caffeine nap?" Saya's father asked her.

"I use them to study. Mother taught me about them."

"Hmn," he said to his wife. "So that is how you do it."

"Daughter, we must really talk about you dispelling all of my mystery."

I couldn't help but smile as I heard husband and wife share a small laugh.

You know what? They were an odd family, and they were all probably all sorts of crazy, but they were still good people.

Well. At least when he wasn't making excuses for World War II.

--------------------

God bless you Saya Takagi, you fun sized super genius.

Thanks to her and the magic of her caffeine nap, I actually kinda sorta almost felt like a functional human being again.

Muhahaha! SCIENCE!

Okay. Back up. Maybe a bit too much caffeine in that nap.

Either way though, too much shit to do and not much time to do it.

Without delay, I made my way outside to make sure that nothing had caught on fire the moment I closed my eyes.

Thankfully, nothing was burning.

Next step would be to check with the Takagis again. I'd given them enough time to internalize the situation, process the details, and turn the power of their dual pinkette super-geniuses towards finding a solution. Time to see what the mother/daughter team had come up with.

"Takagi-dono!" I said happily as I approached the hard-faced man. "Thank you for lending me your den."

"You seem in high spirits," he replied. "Good."

He looked towards his own subordinates. "Take heed, men and observe Brody-dono's behavior. Even in these trying moments, he keeps his spirits high. Emulate this and you will survive any hardship."

The gathered men shouted an enthusiastic "Hai!"

I was being used as an example to inspire others. I honestly didn't know how to feel about that. I'll go with pride, I needed some sort of pick me up to see me through this shit.

"So," I said after a moment, "You come up with a plan to get your people to the storage park yet?"

He nodded. "Yes. My family and I discussed it." he said calmly.

My family and I. Not my wife and I. I couldn't help but smile. That meant that they were taking Saya seriously.

I guess she'd managed to prove herself to them. As her teacher, I couldn't help but be proud of the acid-tongued little midget.

"So what do you got?"

"You undoubtedly wish to return as quickly as possible, correct?"

I nodded. "That goes without saying. Right now I have some good people holding down the fort but..."

"But denying such a large group its primary leadership is dangerous at times like these." he finished.

I could only nod. Took the words right out of my mouth.

"We would like to make it to your lot before nightfall so we will all need to move as quickly as possible. It is our intent to leave a small contingent behind to secure the mansion."

I blinked. "Why?"

He smiled. "It is a fortress, Brody-dono."

I nodded. Yeah, I'd noticed.

"We will undoubtedly need to return to the city from time to time to scavenge for supplies and parts. Having a redoubt within its borders would undoubtedly be useful."

"Understood," I said. "Good idea. We'll probably want to return to the storage lot to finish stripping it as well."

"Undoubtedly." he replied with a nod.

"So, what's the plan in the short term? I'm sure the womenfolk have something genius in mind."

I could see the edge of his mouth twitch for a moment. Which was probably his version of a shit eating grin. "Yes. You should return to the lot as soon as possible. We would like you to scout out a path for our travels, when necessary using your vehicle to clear the road."

Good idea. Hummer drivers have a word for the average Japanese street car. That word being 'roadkill'. It might make a bit of noise, but I'd be able to push anything under a cargo truck out of the way with contemptible ease. If they had a straight shot, it would really minimize the risks.

"I can do that." I replied.

"Very well. I'd like Saya to accompany you as our representative." he said, surprising me a bit.

I thought he'd want to stay united with his daughter.

"Alright."

"In exchange however, we want one of your companions to remain behind. While they are enthusiastic, your... 'theigns' are a fractious lot with questionable discipline."

"Guilty as charged. Though in my defense, I was working with street gangs and only had so much time."

"That was not a accusation," he stated. "You managed to transform hooligans into a functional, albeit rowdy army. That is a respectable feat."

"Thank you." I frowned, however. I was not excited about leaving someone behind. In no way, shape, or form did that sit well with me. I was probably being overprotective, but for the large part the people with me were all on the list of the people whom I'd grown closest to over the past year, and simply letting them out of my sight made me get twitchy.

I sighed and began to think. I needed to ask someone, but who?

Rei was effectively a non-option. Takashi, he was a good kid but separating him from Rei and Saya would probably be begging for trouble. Besides, he hadn't been with the huscarls as long as most of them and hadn't even been there for the gang fights that had brought the theigns on in the first place. Shizuka? Hehe. No. Saeko? She'd do her best to make me proud, but at the same time I was honestly a bit terrified of what she'd be capable of if I let her out of my sight for more than five minutes.

That left Kohta. Who, actually thinking about it, was not a bad idea. He could kick the asses of any one of the boys if they tried something, was functionally one of my primary aide de camps which meant he could reliably speak with some small degree of authority without having to call me not to mention he was considered by most of my boys as the very first huscarl, which added a great deal of prestige. And more importantly, Asami was here.

He probably wanted to be separated from her just about as much as I was Shizuka, and knowing the girl, there was no way in hell she'd come with us. First, she was too loyal to her 'senpai', and second, it would have been a clear and unabashed case of favoritism to bring her along.

No. She had stay, and Kohta was going to stay with her.

"Alright," I said, "I'll talk to him."

-------------------------

Fifteen minutes later I was honestly beginning to get very frustrated.

Where in the fuck was that boy?

Sometime between when I'd begun to talk to the Takagis and now, Kohta had seemingly vanished into thin air. I'd asked the theigns. Nothing. Shizuka was busy helping manage the medical supplies. I'd found Rei and Takashi catching a quick, and honestly well-deserved nap under a tree and was loath to disrupt the adorableness. And Saya'd been with her mother the entire time.

"Saeko." I said with a sigh. "You have no idea how happy I am to see you."

She flushed slightly. "Thank you, sensei. How can I help you?"

You know, normally I'd have kicked myself about another slip that encouraged her borderline yandere crush, but at this particular moment in time, I was simply too fucking annoyed to care. I needed to find that boy, tell him what was up, and get out.

Probably after reading him the riot act because god damn it man...

"I need to know where Kohta is." I said bluntly.

She blinked and glanced off to the side. "I saw Kohta-san and Asami-san about fifteen minutes ago."

"Thank God." I sighed in relief. "Which way did they go?"

"They were walking behind the house," she stated. "Would you like me to show you?"

"Please."

She nodded and guided me back around the house.

As we walked I couldn't help but smile as I saw a familiar pain in the ass with a pixie bob looking pained as she loaded boxes loaded with canned goods into a truck under the watchful eye of Yuriko Takagi.

For a moment, my eyes locked with the pink haired woman. I raised an eyebrow and she simply replied with a smirk.

Well, that was one problem put to work. Quite literally.

A minute or two later we found ourselves behind the mansion.

I had to admit, they had a rather nice private garden back here, but again, no Kohta.

I looked at Saeko. "You sure he went this way?"

She nodded. "Absolutely, sensei."

I sighed deeply, before letting out a long grunt of frustration. Goddamn it boy.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes to center myself. It was then that I heard... something.

My eyes opened and I scowled. What the hell was that?

Walking forward, I could hear it more clearly coming from the bushes near the wall.

Was that... giggling?

I closed my eyes again. Oh for the love of...

As I neared. Yeah, it was giggling.

Steeling myself, I glanced behind the shrubbery. "Alright, what the..."

Before the words even finished leaving my mouth I found myself retreating back with a near audible snap, my mind doing its best to blank out the last half second. Moments later, a disheveled Kohta came stumbling out of the bushes, blushing as red and bright as a Kryptonian sun, with Asami in his shadow, looking like she wished more than anything she could go invisible.

"Ah, sen-um-sensei!" he stammered out. "C-Can I help you?"

I sighed. "Kohta." I said with a growl. "Listen. We're about to leave. I need you to stay behind to coordinate with the Takagis and to make sure the Theigns don't do anything stupid. Can I trust you?"

He nodded maybe a bit too frantically.

"Good," I replied as I simply walked towards the front, doing my best to ignore the situation I was leaving behind, as well as the sideways looks that Saeko was giving me.

Ugh. Teenagers.

I at least hoped they were using protec-

I paused mid step and mid thought. My eyes went wide, as my blood began to run cold as I was overcome with grim realization.

Well.

Shit.

I knew I forgot something...