Chapter Text
It roamed the halls of the once lively school. It’s mouth salivating with hunger.
It was hungry. It needed to feed.
Its legs could barely move like they used to. It slowly scaled the stairs, the scent of blood filling its senses. To others, such a smell might be disgusting. Even sickening. But to the shell of a former human being, it’s like coming home and smelling your favorite dish. It was… delicious.
It inched closer, and closer, the smell of blood getting stronger.
It pushed open the double doors and ran to attack its victim. The person panicked at first, but grabbed the nearest weapon, and…
…
Its head hit the floor with a thud. That was it. The person beheaded it. It should be dead. But, who used to be it?
—
“O-oh… god… Is that Shizuku-chan?!” Minori looked at her body, realizing what she’d done. She dropped her axe and started pacing back and forth. Her heart was racing.
“Shizuku-chan is my friend… But she turned into a zombie! She tried to kill me! But, I still could’ve humanely killed her! I shouldn’t have done this! I- I…”
Minori had spent her entire year searching for her friends. But, Shizuku had already turned. She was one of them now. She had lost all hope.
“If Shizuku-chan is… Then there’s no way they’re alive. What’s the point anymore?” She slowly walked towards the gate, looking down at the concrete floor below.
“It’s been two years. Two fucking years of this. I’m tired. Maybe this way, I'll be at peace.” She put her hand on—
A loud gasp suddenly rang out.
Minori quickly turned her head back. She quickly located the noise, and it was Shizuku’s head. Minori watched in horror, maybe even awe as she watched Shizuku’s body reach for her head, and hold it in her hands.
She’d never seen this before. “Minori-chan? Is that you?” Minori’s jaw almost dropped. She… She couldn’t believe this.
“W-why’d you cut my head off?”
“Um… I’m sorry. It’s just that, you- what, um. WHAT’S GOING ON??? You’re a zombie, Shizuku! I’ve never seen, or heard of this!”
“I’m a what?” Her hands turned her head around, to face her body. She saw that her clothes were dirty, and ripped up, and her skin was slightly tinted green. Her hands turned her head back around to face Minori once again.
“O-oh. I guess I am.”
Shizuku proceeded to attempt to put her head back in its original place, and Minori was still in awe.
There was an awkward silence afterward. Minori still had to process the fact that zombies could be sentient, and Shizuku had to process the fact she was a literal zombie! And that she has zero memory of anything before that.
The silence was broken by Minori, who had a conflicted expression on her face.
“I have no idea if you’re the Shizuku I once knew, but the fact that you remember who I am gives me hope. I’m really glad you’re here, Shizuku-chan.” Minori crouched down to her level and hugged her.
Shizuku suddenly remembered the familiarity of hugs, especially hers, and reciprocated. Minori hugged her tighter, afraid that this might not be real.
She hugged her so tight that her head fell off. Once Minori pulled away, she shrieked.
“I don’t think my head can stay on…” Minori noticed that she was making a sad expression, and couldn’t bear to see it any longer.
“I-I could stitch you up!” She offered, hoping that it was a solution.
“What if I had to turn my head?” Dang, that was a good point. But Minori didn’t want to just leave her like that. While brainstorming ideas, Shizuku grabbed her head off the ground, and reallyyy put it on there. She even twisted her head, trying to lock it into place.
“Hope that worked.” Minori just replied with an ‘mhm’, thus causing more awkward silence between them. There’s not much to talk about if every day is just the exact same, and you don’t remember jack.
Minori glanced at Shizuku’s clothes, dirty with blood. But Minori prayed that it was just mud.
“Want a change of clothes?” She offered, and Shizuku immediately nodded. Minori got up, and walked towards one of the various boxes on the rooftop. She opened the one labeled ‘clothes’ and pulled out some neatly folded clothing. She walked back to where Shizuku was and gave them to her.
“I think you could change in a restroom since zombies don’t attack other zombies.” Shizuku simply nodded, and headed towards the restroom, leaving Minori there, alone with her thoughts. Which she chose to speak out loud.
“Oh gosh, this is super awkward! You don’t see your friend for over a year, she ends up being a zombie, so you cut her head off in SELF-DEFENSE.”
…
“And then she ends up being sentient! I mean, I’m extremely grateful that she's still here, but is she even the Shizuku I knew? Again, super grateful and I wouldn’t trade this for the world, but… This is a lot to process! What do you think, Haruka-chan?” She looked at a basketball, with a face scribbled on it.
Minori sighed. “You’re right, I have no idea if her memories may or may not come back, but that doesn’t mean I should lose hope! Thank you.” She grabbed the basketball, and kissed it… Being alone might’ve made her lose her marbles.
“And thank you, for keeping me motivated all this time, Airi-chan!” There was another object with a face scribbled on it, and she kissed it…
“And Shizuku-chan… Thank you for always keeping me happy!” She kissed the object representing Shizuku.
She’s lost her goddamn mind.
“Is that me?” Minori shrieked, hearing Shizuku’s voice.
“Shi—Shizuku-chan! When did you get here?! How much did you see???” The brown-haired girl could quickly feel her cheeks heating up.
“Oh, I saw the whole thing, Minori-chan.” She walked towards Minori and sat beside her.
“You could always practice on me, y’know?” Shizuku winked at her, and Minori thought her heart was gonna stop right then and there. Her face got even more red, and she started stuttering like crazy.
She managed to string together a coherent sentence. “W-when did you get so… So—” She couldn’t even finish her sentence.
“Sorry, I was just teasing you!” Shizuku reassured her, which made her calm down a tad.
“W-we never established anything before…”
“Before what?” Shizuku felt some sense of familiarity when Minori vaguely mentioned some event, but nothing came to mind.
“There was a breach. We all used to practically live at the school. Since the outbreak happened while we were there. Despite everything that was going on, we… Well, I found comfort in you guys. I felt reassured that one day, they’d find a cure for this sh— crap. And I thought that we’d start… Um, I think I told you enough.”
Shizuku’s eyes widened. She… remembered.
“I remember! And we were separated during the chaos!”
“Y-yeah! And I’ve spent this entire year trying to find you guys, or any of my friends, with no luck. I barely even made it past the school gates. I was so scared. And there were so many zombies. I—” Shizuku cupped Minori’s face with her hands.
“What if we looked for our friends together?”
“What?”
“Since I’m a zombie, maybe I can help you out somehow! I don’t know how, but I’ll do whatever I can to help you, and to see my friends again.” Minori’s eyes glistened. Tears threatened to fall. She smiled at Shizuku and nodded.
“O-okay… Thank you, Shizuku-chan.” Shizuku wiped her tears away, and they sat there for a moment, enjoying each other's company.
“Wait, Minori-chan… You’re bleeding!” Minori looked down at her bleeding arm.
“O-oh, well… I ran out of bandages up here—”
“I’ll go get some!” She quickly got up, and walked towards the rooftop doors. She opened them, and closed them behind her.
“Uh…”
Once again, Minori was left with her loud thoughts.
“Shizuku-chan is so nice! Her presence alone can calm me down, and I really need to stop talking to myself.”
She finally stopped yammering, waiting for Shizuku to come back. Minori’s heart fluttered at how she immediately ran to help her out. She sighed, daydreaming about her.
…
Finally, she came back but with more than just a roll on bandages. She brought a bunch of supplies Minori could never get to. Batteries, multiple med-kits, flashlights, and a lot more clothes.
“Um, I thought this would help out? I went to the places with dozens of zombies and found some supplies.” Shizuku walked towards a shocked Minori, and put everything on the floor. She then sat beside her.
“Minori—” Shizuku gets cut off by Minori kissing her cheek.
“This is great! Thank you thank you thank you!” Minori grabbed the stuff, and quickly started placing them into their respective boxes. Shizuku watched her friend, girlfriend? Minori. With a smile.
Minori finished organizing the items, and looked at the sky. The sun was about to set. Sleeping was the worst part for her. She was horrified that a zombie could just come out of nowhere, and—
Shizuku put her hand on her shoulder. It turns out that Minori got noticeably more worried as time went on.
“Don’t worry, I’ll be right here. Also, you’re still bleeding.”
“O-oh, right. And… thanks, Shizuku-chan.” Minori smiled at her, before patching her arm up.
Shizuku looked down below. Watching a few zombies roam around the school. Seeing it in such a state made her a bit sad. She wished she could do something.
“Alright, we should get ready for bed,” Minori declared, with a freshly patched arm. Shizuku nodded at that. She didn’t feel tired, but she didn’t want to keep Minori up.
Shizuku watched as Minori got a few blankets, one acting as a bed, the other one a, well— blanket. And the last one acted as the pillows. She laid down on one of the makeshift pillows, Shizuku following suit. She noticed that the ‘bed’ was big enough to fit four people. She stared at the empty spaces, feeling saddened.
“Airi-chan, Haruka-chan. We’ll find you. In the meantime, please stay safe.” She turned back towards Minori, who was already sound asleep. Shizuku smiled at her, studying her face.
The vague memory she had of her groupmate completely changed. Her hair got longer, and she had a lot more scars. Especially near her face. Minori must’ve been through a lot, and that made Shizuku sad. She hugged her, not wanting to let go. Possibly wanting to protect her.
—
Minori woke up the next day, to a loud alarm. She slammed her hand over it, stopping the noise.
“When did I get that…?” She said, voice full of sleep.
“Minori-chan.” Her eyes turned towards Shizuku, who was standing next to a whiteboard.
“Uh, did you get all of this stuff?” Shizuku nodded.
“Yes. I wanted us to brainstorm a few ideas.” That wasn’t a bad idea. All of the joyful memories she had here, were replaced by negative ones. Being here almost… Sickened her.
Minori got up and drowsily walked towards the whiteboard. She started scribbling an idea, and titled it ‘THE MASTER PLAN!!! ヽ(・∀・)ﾉ’
She stepped back, allowing Shizuku to see her
masterpiece.
“The basic rundown is that… There’s a ton of cars in the parking lot. Shizuku, since zombies won’t harm you, I thought you could carry all the boxes down to a car.” She pointed at the doodle of Shizuku carrying boxes to a car.
“And since my dad taught me a few things on how to drive, I could drive us around town! We could look for people, and our friends! And, I also accounted for other factors!” She pointed to a doodle of Shizuku hugging Minori.
“T-this might look weird, but I have a theory! Zombies only go for humans if they smell them, but since you’re a zombie, I thought you could get me over there by masking my scent.”
“Oh, I think that’s true. I vaguely remember coming up here because I smelt your wound.”
“O-oh… So that means my theories were correct! I thought about using a dead body, but that’s gross. Finally… I might have a chance of leaving this place.”
…
“Um, when do we start?” Shizuku asked. “Oh, um… Y’know what? Right now!” Minori proudly declared, and walked off to start preparing stuff. Shizuku decided to help out, helping her seal the boxes.
After about 30 minutes, they finished. First, Shizuku would carry all the boxes down to the car with the most space, force her way into the car, and start placing the boxes in the trunk. Then, She’d come back for Minori, and they’d switch clothes (hugging would take too long) then they’d walk towards the car. And finally, make their escape.
“Good luck, Shizuku-chan.” Minori said. This had to work. She could barely stand being at this school anymore. “Same to you, Minori-chan!” Shizuku surprisingly carried 5 boxes at a time, which worried Minori. Just how strong could the zombies get? Once all the boxes were no longer on the roof, it was time to bring them all the way downstairs. It was tiring. Shizuku struggled to pull all of them downstairs. But finally, she reached the entrance of the school. She kept pushing the boxes, every push tiring out her limbs. She finally reached the car, broke the glass, and…
A pungent smell filled her nostrils. There was a dead body in the driver's seat. Flies and maggots surrounded the corpse. The key was in the ignition, like the person desperately wanted to leave. But, they couldn’t. There was a bullet hole through their forehead. Just who would do this? It was sickening. But Shizuku had to push forward. She took the body out of the seat, made sure the inside of the car was clean, and turned the key in the ignition. Thankfully, the car worked. She opened the trunk, and started placing the boxes.
Meanwhile, Minori watched from afar. She was excited. Her plan was working! Finally, she’d be able to—
She gets tackled to the ground. It’s a zombie, and it’s freakishly strong. She tries to push it off, with no luck. She reaches for her… Right, all of her weapons are with Shizuku. Still, Minori kept fighting. She’s so close to being free! There’s no way a zombie’s going to…
It overpowered her. Her eyes widened. She struggles, but kicks it off of her. She runs for the rooftop door and starts running. There’s no way she’ll die now. No way. No way! She narrowly avoids being bitten by the creatures, running through the halls, passing empty classrooms. She doesn’t even notice that dozens of zombies are chasing her now. There’s an entire horde after her.
But she kept running. She passed the lockers, and reached outside. She saw Shizuku in the distance, closing the trunk, Minori looked behind her, seeing dozens of zombies chasing her. Oh god… What the hell was she doing?! She barely managed to fight off that other zombie, but she panicked and started sprinting.
Shizuku noticed Minori running, and was shocked to see an entire horde behind her, she’s barely avoiding them!
“M-minori—?!”
“GET IN GET IN GET IN—” Minori ran towards the driver’s seat, while Shizuku ran towards the passengers seat. They both slammed the door shut, watching through the window as zombies clawed at the glass. Minori put the gear in reverse, running over most of the zombies in the process. She then put it in drive, speeding off.
And thus, Minori and Shizuku left the school. Minori was panting heavily, while Shizuku was concerned for her.
Once there were no zombies in sight, Minori stopped the car to catch her breath. “Here, have some water.” Shizuku reached for a box of water bottles in the backseat, and handed Minori one.
“T-thank you.” She took the water, and drank it. The lukewarm water made her slightly return to her senses.
“If you don’t mind me asking, why’d you start running? Did a zombie attack you?”
“Yeah… It was really strong, too! I panicked. B-but, we made it out, right?”
“I suppose…”
There was a silence between them, before Minori hugged Shizuku. She almost immediately reciprocated, as if she was about to do the same thing to her!
Minori reluctantly pulled away.
“So, where should we go? Who should we look for first? Maybe Shiho-chan?”
“Shii-chan! W-we should look for her first! I need to make sure she’s okay.”
“Alright! Now, if I was a Shiho, where would I be…?”