Chapter Text
[2 years, 5 months, 16 days, 02:34:24 after the 3rd Honkai Eruption]
“Major, unidentified flying object sighted above Soukai City! Location: SH639.”
Leon: When I was a kid, I used to think about the kind of person I grew up to be.
“Optical readings cannot discern the nature of this UFO. No bio-energy readings. Scans of the UFO interiors have failed.”
Leon: At least anything. I thought I didn’t seem to be the type of person to care.
“Clusters of small Honkai Beasts and Mech units detected. Battle plan deployed and validated.”
Leon: But this?
“Deploying drones to cover Valkyrie boarding action.”
Leon: I never thought my life would turn out this way.
[With the sun blaring into his eyes, Leon continued to lie on the roof of a building he cleared out, visibly exhausted having to fight off numerous Honkai Beasts and Honkai-inflicted zombies on said roof. Leon was a human-looking hybrid with blue hair, wolf ears and a tail, while wearing a police-looking tactical riot vest and pads over a blue battlesuit with white sleeves covering his entire body, save for his head and wolf features. He is also wearing a Mem hat, for no other reason than the hell of it.]
[His main claymore, the Labor of Olympus, was lying near him slightly above his head on top of a pool of blood, flowing from one of the zombies dead and motionless, while his two H&K UPS.45 handguns outfitted with compensators and Laser Aiming Modules (LAM) sights were lying slightly near Leon’s arms.]
[Leon raised his left arm to try to block out, or at least dim the light of the sun blaring in his eyes as a battleship flew in and started blocking the sun. Sighing, Leon got up and grabbed his weapons before staring at the drones and fighter jets flying by as the rest of Soukai City was delving into complete chaos.]
Leon: “God fucking damnit.”
[Resting the Labor of Olympus on his shoulder and setting his sights on the battleship, Leon started to run towards one of the drones flying near the building he is at and jumped onto it for a ride. As he lands, he stabs the drone using his claymore to prevent himself from falling off. Soon, more Honkai beasts jumped onto the drone as Leon got up and turned around. It looks like he was fed up but also ready for another fight like it was Tuesday.]
Leon: “Just another day dealing with the motherfucking Honkai.”
[Facing the threat, Leon screamed as he charged towards the beasts before leaping up and swinging the Labor of Olympus at them.]
[Two years ago…]
[08:45:08 before the 3rd Honkai Eruption]
[Back in Nagazora in the University of Raion, it was raining up a storm as trees were being swept violently by the unrelenting wind. Some of the areas in the gardenscape of the University were being flooded as a result.]
[Inside his dorm room, Leon, wearing a white zip up hoodie with orange sleeves, black fingerless gloves, grey jeans and a beanie (with holes cut out to fit his wolf ears), was sitting on a desk and working on his laptop. He was busy writing up a report about World War 2 for an upcoming History assignment as the door opened.]
[Entering the room was a male Hispanic-American with amber eyes and light gray haired student named Alejandro Garcia, also known as Cyno. He also happened to be Leon’s roommate. Cyno was dressed in a white T-Shirt and light brown leggings. Seeing Leon hard at work, Cyno couldn’t help but make a small laugh.]
Cyno: “Working late on that History assignment once again?”
[Leon turned his head a little as he noticed Cyno before resuming his work. Cyno shook his head and sighed as he continued to report about the current situation regarding the harsh weather outside.]
Cyno: “Well, if this storm continues to screw with us, all the upcoming classes are going to be cancelled until further notice. So, it would be nice to take a break for the time being. By the way, I got this.”
[Cyno proceeded to pull out a takeout bag of McDonald’s he bought prior to coming inside the dorm room. Leon took a quick glance before working back on his report. As much as he wanted to relax, Leon was too busy to even care since he felt the possibility of being held back by not completing his report in time. Cyno shrugged as he placed the bag onto the desk before going back to his bed at the bottom bunk and pulling out a Nintendo Switch 2 to play some games. As soon as Cyno turned the handheld console on, he was confused when he saw the wifi symbol not turning on.]
Cyno: “Huh, that’s odd. No wifi.”
Leon: “What?”
[Shocked by what he heard, Leon quickly saved his report before checking his laptop’s wifi, noticing that it had a cross on top of the signal. Checking the settings, he saw that the university’s wifi is not showing up along with any nearby wifi connections that usually show up when a device wants to connect to the internet.]
Leon: “The hell? There’s no wifi?”
Cyno: “Might be the storm screwing with the building’s antenna. Nothing we could do about it, now. Say, you want to watch a movie?”
[Leon looked at Cyno before shrugging, as if he was say “Fuck it, why not?”, before shutting off his laptop and grabbing the McDonald’s bag.]
[2 hours later, the two were sitting on a couch, watching a fantasy romance movie between a gray haired outer space traveler and a pink haired fairy where they had to save the pink-haired fairy’s world from outworld disaster. The fairy later is revealed to be a magical deity implanted into her world, which was a fake shell of a dangerous universe ending god created by an insane scientist as for some sort of sick experiment, by an unknown entity. After saving the world, the deity had to trap herself to prevent the world ending god from recovering in a never ending loop, but not before confessing her love to the gray haired traveler as the two were forced to go their separate ways.]
[Recommended Video (Start at 3:18): Animated Short: "Hello, World!" | Honkai: Star Rail]
[While watching the movie’s ending, Cyno was crying profusely as he blew a mountain of tissues. Leon, on the other hand, barely reacted much while watching, though he was also shedding some tears due to how emotional the ending was. He even had to pat Cyno’s shoulder gently to try to calm him down as he ate one of the french fries from the McDonald’s meal, consisting of french fries, two soda cups filled with Coca Cola, chicken nuggets and a chicken burger, that was now on the table in front of them.]
[Another hour has passed and Leon and Cyno were now playing with a card deck as they each held four cards in their hands.]
Leon: “Got any 4s?”
Cyno: “Go fish.”
Leon: “God, we suck at this game.”
Cyno: “Yep.”
[More time has passed and now Leon was playing Resident Evil 2’s Leon B scenario on his Nintendo64 due to the internet still not working as Cyno checked out the storm through the window. Of course, the storm hasn’t stopped, much to Cyno’s displeasure.]
Cyno: “Is this storm ever gonna end?”
[In fact, it seemed like it was getting worse as a sign that was torn off from the unrelenting wind barely missed the window. Seeing this, Leon and Cyno looked at each other before boarding up all the windows in case one of them did break unexpectedly.]
[Soon, the two, now feeling bored and left with no other options, decided to go to bed for now, hoping the storm would pass the next day. As Leon, having taken off his hoodie and fingerless gloves, slept on the top bunk and Cyno slept on the lower bunk, they had one conversation before drifting off into dreamland.]
Cyno: “Do you… ever think about doing something exciting in your life?”
Leon: “Nope.”
Cyno: “Well, at least I do.”
Leon: “Cool. Good luck with that.”
Cyno: “Oh I will… in my dreams. Goodnight.”
[Soon, they went to sleep, unaware they would experience a change in their lives.]
[It was the next day and Leon woke up. Yet, he felt that something was slightly off with the atmosphere. Getting down from the bunk, Leon groggily headed towards the bathroom and flicked the light switch, wanting to brush his teeth.]
[But for some reason, the lights didn’t turn off. Noticing this, Leon flicked the switch again and again, hoping for it to eventually light up. Yet, nothing still happened. Leon looked at the dimmed bulb and, after staring at it for a while in confusion, figured that the bulb filament must have fizzed out and shrugged before going to brush his teeth.]
[Afterwards, Leon headed towards his laptop. Upon turning it on, he saw that there was still no internet access. Now, Leon felt that something was strange. Turning to the boarded windows, Leon pulled one of the boards off and was stunned by what he saw outside.]
Leon: “What the fuck?”
[Outside, it was still raining, but fumes and smoke were coming out of buildings as the streets were lit on fire, like a giant riot was going on in an entire city. One of the University’s gates was lying on the floor, like something crashed into it and caused it to collapse. Not to mention, most of the cars were totalled, with some of the buses even missing from the parking lot. Not to mention, some kind of beam was shooting into the sky at a distance.]
Cyno [Whispering]: “Hey, Leon?”
[Leon turned around and saw Cyno peeking through the door he opened up a bit. Cyno looked scared, alarming Leon as he knew it was about to get worse from here.]
Cyno [Whispering]: “There’s something going on in the hallway.”
[Wasting no time, Leon quickly reached for his back pack and pulled out Matilda, a H&K VP70 handgun that once belonged to his late mother, Sofia Caulfield. Leon pulled out the magazine to check how many bullets he had left before pulling the slide of the handgun back a bit to perform a brass check. Seeing that he still had a full clip of 18 9x19mm parabellum rounds, Leon shoved the magazine back into the pistol before putting it in his pants. He then grabbed his cricket bat, spray painted to have the British Union Jack flag on it, that was next to the door and gently pushed Cyno aside to see what was going on.]
[Leon leaned out and noticed a female classmate on the ground doing something, but it was mostly too dark to see clearly. He then turned back to Cyno to speak to him.]
Leon [Whispering]: “Do you still have that flashlight?”
Cyno [Whispering]: “Oh yeah. Hold on.”
[Searching through his pockets, Cyno pulled out a pocket flashlight and gave it to Leon. Leon then turned the flashlight on and pointed it towards the female classmate. His eyes soon widened as he recognised her.]
[Moving into the hallway, Leon slowly walked towards the female classmate, who seemed to be cradling someone on the ground.]
Leon: “Uh, Mai? Are you…?”
[Upon getting closer, Leon noticed a pool of blood around Mai. Soon, Mai raised her head as, at the same time, a head, mostly half eaten, fell onto the ground, revealing that what Mai was holding onto was a corpse of one of the University’s professors. Mai turned around and groaned like she was feeling under the weather, revealing her pale skin and orange clouded eyes, as well as her mouth and teeth being coated and splattered by blood. Her hands and some areas of her body were also covered by blood, likely from the half-eaten corpse.]
[Leon, slightly panicking, slowly backed up as the zombified Mai stood up and began charging at him. Reacting fast, Leon swung his bat at Mai, striking her which caused her to fall down yet she didn’t die. But due to her swinging her arms violently at the same time, it caused Leon to accidentally throw the cricket bat aside. As Mai slowly began to get up, Leon pulled out Matilda and aimed at her. However, Mai managed to tackle the wolf boy before he could pull the trigger, knocking the handgun to the right. The flashlight was also swept away and its light was now shining at the struggle.]
[Leon was now struggling to push Mai off as she attempted to devour him. Seeing the handgun, Leon tried to reach for it while being forced to hold the zombie off at the same time. During the struggle, Cyno was still peeking through the slightly opened door, paralysed by fear and unsure of what to do. Seeing his friend acting like a coward, Leon had no choice but to put his foot on Mai’s body and quickly pressed his left arm against Mai’s mouth to ease the pressure of the body weight trying to crush him as he continued to reach for Matilda.]
[Soon, Leon was successful as he managed to grab Matilda and pressed the handgun’s barrel against Mai’s face. With one pull on the trigger, the handgun fired.]
*BAM!*
[Mai’s head was blown clean as the zombie now lay motionless. Leon quickly pushed the corpse off him before standing up, picking up both the cricket bat and the flashlight before heading back inside the dorm room. Poor Cyno was now forced to face a very pissed off Leon as he smiled sheepishly.]
Leon: “I’m fine by the way. Thanks for nothing, you dick.”
Cyno: “W-what was I s-supposed to do?”
Leon: “Oh, I don’t know! Maybe pull our undead classmate off me?! Or, at least, use the damn bat I dropped?!”
Cyno: “Oh.”
[Realising that now, Cyno found himself feeling like an idiot as Leon sighed and facepalmed. Soon, he noticed the bleeding bite mark on his arm before heading to the bathroom to grab the emergency first aid hanging on the wall.]
[After cleaning and bandaging the wound, Leon packed the rest of the medical supplies before walking out of the bathroom and stuffing it into his backpack. Cyno just watched while he was confused by Leon’s actions.]
Cyno: “Uh, what are you doing?”
Leon: “What do you think? One of our friends tried to kill me. I don’t think staying here’s an option anymore.”
Cyno: “So we’re just gonna leave?”
[After searching through his backpack, he pulled out Matilda’s extra magazines, which, of course, were empty, much to his displeasure.]
Leon: “Well shit.”
[Leon then forced the empty mags back into the backpack before continuing to pack any essentials in the dorm room before tying his hoodie’s sleeves onto his waist, and putting on his fingerless gloves, beanie and a strap for the flashlight. Afterwards, Leon went ahead and wore his white socks and black sneakers with blue undersoles. Seeing this, Cyno decided to grab his stuff too, put on his brown shoes and follow suit. After Leon and Cyno were done and armed with a cricket bat and hammer respectively, the two exited the dorm and, after checking to see if the hallway was clear, headed out. As they were walking, Cyno noticed Mai and the teacher’s corpse and felt quite disgusted looking at them.]
Cyno: “Oh, god.”
Leon: “Come on.”
[Leon dragged Cyno away as they left the dorms to find at least either a safer place to stay or, at least, a way out of the city.]
[Upon arriving in the hallways leading to various classrooms within the university, the place was in darkness and in quite a mess. The lockers toppled over with some on top of dead bodies. Blood was smeared everywhere, as if naughty children from kindergarten were playing a massive prank against the cleaning crew. And the scent of death was present throughout the whole place, which is unfortunate for Leon since his nose was as sensitive as a dog’s, forcing him to place his hand on it.]
Leon: “God, it smells terrible.”
Cyno: “Oh dear… This is something out of a horror movie.”
Leon: “Well, let’s hope we don’t have to do any stupid stunts like the ones in those shitty horror movies.”
[Trekking through the place, the two friends were trying to be careful not to ring the dinner bell. Cyno’s breathing soon began to quicken as he was feeling unnerved by the horrifying sight and the disturbing thoughts of a feast mainly consisting of living people rather than edible food.]
[Seeing Cyno starting to hyperventilate, Leon calmly patted him on the back in an attempt to calm him down. Cyno then looked at Leon’s bandaged arm and felt slightly concerned for his best friend as he quickly pointed at it while speaking about the condition.]
Cyno: “Are you gonna be alright? Mai took a huge chunk out to the point it drew blood.”
[Leon proceeded to lift up his arm to check on the bandaged area. Despite his face not showing any signs of concerns, he felt worried that the bite might potentially result in any unforgiving consequences that may bite him in the ass.]
[But there was no time for him to worry about that now as Leon focused on getting out of the university and finding help. Heading inside the cafeteria, the sight of students slumped on benches with their guts and necks torn out nearly caused Cyno to feel nauseous. This forced him to cover his mouth and prevent himself from throwing up.]
[Seeing this, Leon rolled his eyes as he and Cyno continued to venture through the cafeteria. On their way, the two soon heard something coming from behind the counter.]
??? [Whispering]: “Hey, over here!”
[Leon and Cyno soon noticed another survivor peaking through the gap between the glass and the counter and waving at them to get their attention. Seeing this, the two headed towards the cafeteria kitchen, where they were let in.]
[Soon, the two noticed that Professor Jefferson and his surviving group of students, Sato Haruka, Masurao Kira, and Hasegawa Hanzo were hiding in the kitchen. Seeing Leon and Cyno uninfected, the class sighed in relief, except for Kira, who was curled up and rocking back and forth in complete fear.]
Prof. Jefferson: “Glad you two made it. A couple of others in my class weren’t so lucky.”
[Leon noticed the traumatised Kira and looked slightly concerned before turning to Professor Jefferson.]
Leon: “What’s up with him? He looks stressed.”
Haruka: “There was someone Masurao-san… knew well. Those things ended up eating his friend, while he watched.”
Leon: “Yikes. Kinda fucked up if you asked me.”
Cyno: “So, uh… what’s the plan now?”
Hanzo: “To hide here, Cyno-san. And get comfortable. There’s enough food here to last us all for quite a while until rescue comes.”
[Eventually, Haruka notices Leon’s bandaged arm and her eyes immediately widen in fear and distress as she lifts and points her finger at the arm while trembling.]
Haruka: “Uh, C-Caulfield-san? W-What exactly happened to your arm?”
[Leon looked at his bandaged arm for a bit before turning back to Haruka to answer her question.]
Leon: “Right. I actually ran into Mai. She was… one of those zombies. Took a chunk out of me, apparently. Is that a problem?”
Haruka: “I-I don’t know. I just r-remember that Ayumi-chan was also b-bitten by one of those things. I-In the leg, I think.”
[Leon and Cyno soon looked at each other before turning their heads back to Haruka, wanting to know more.]
Cyno: “If you don’t mind me asking, where is Ayumi exactly?”
Haruka: “A-Ayumi-chan said she was g-going to stay inside the c-cold room for a while. S-she hasn’t c-come out since eight hours a-ago, no matter how many times I knocked.”
[Haruka immediately pointed at the kitchen’s dry storage, causing Leon and Cyno to look at it. Leon quickly walked towards the door and pulled it open, only to see Ayumi Shizuka facing away from the doorway. She was slightly twitching and her skin was oddly pale, almost white in colour, for some reason. Leon reached out before stopping himself, feeling that something was wrong.]
[Unexpectedly, Kira jumped up and rushed towards the dry storage and grabbed Ayumi’s shoulder before pulling it to turn her around.]
Kira: “Ayumi-chan! Are you okay? You’ve been there for-”
[Unfortunately for Kira, Shizuka’s eyes were glowing orange and her veins were visible with the same colour as her eyes. Upon seeing him, Shizuka lunged at Kira before chomping at his neck, hard. The pain was so intense that Kira made a blood curdling scream out of pure agony, alerting the others immediately as they rushed to his location.]
[Upon seeing her friend’s zombified state, Haruka screamed in horror while Leon, Hanzo and Professor Jefferson desperately tried to pull the two apart with all their combined strength. Eventually, they were able to pull the zombified Shizuka from Kira, who clutched his wound that was profusely bleeding out like a giant waterfall. Shizuka growled before charging towards the other survivors, but Cyno screamed and swung his hammer at her, knocking her down and allowing him, along with Leon with his cricket bat, to smash her head repeatedly until her face was no longer recognisable and her head has been reduced to paste.]
[Professor Jefferson attempted to stop the bleeding by pressing down on Kira’s wound with paper towels, but the blood kept spilling out to the point where most of his hands, arms and the paper towels were coated. Haruka was on her smartphone, attempting to call for an ambulance.]
Prof. Jefferson: “Stop s-squirming. Come on, stay with me. [Turning to Haruka] Have you called for an ambulance yet?”
Haruka: “I’m trying, Jefferson-sensei. But I cannot get through. The phone lines are dead.”
[Kira groaned as he was about to lose consciousness, causing Professor Jefferson to face him and lightly slap his face to try to wake him up.]
Prof. Jefferson: “Heyheyhey! Kira, please stay with me! Everything is going to be alright!”
Leon: “Professor-”
Prof. Jefferson: “Not now. [Turning to Kira] It’s going to be fine! It’s going to be fine! Help is coming and you’re going to be fine.”
Leon: “Professor!”
Prof. Jefferson [Turning to Leon]: “What?”
[Leon pointed at Kira, who died a few seconds ago, much to Professor Jefferson’s despair. In slight denial, Professor Jefferson slapped Kira’s face a few times, hoping desperately in vain to wake him up. Eventually, the professor’s tears began to pour out as he mourned for his student. Hanzo walked up and patted his English teacher’s shoulder as an act of comfort, prompting Professor Jefferson to get up and hug him.]
[Haruka also began to cry as she turned away to not let everyone see her weeping face. Cyno looked at the dead corpse with a feeling of sadness as he struggled to understand.]
Cyno: “First the storms, now this. How could this mierda (shit) happen?”
Leon: “Something tells me it has to do with that strange beam of light shooting into the sky.”
Cyno: “You think so?”
Leon: “Well, I’m not so sure, but it might explain, well… this.”
Cyno: “So… what do we do?”
Leon: “I think we have to leave this place and head to where that light beam was.”
Cyno: “WHAT?! ¡Amigo, ¿te has vuelto loco?! (Buddy, have you gone nuts?!)”
Leon: “Well, you have a better idea? ‘Cause its fucking clear no one’s coming to help us right now! The longer we stay here, the more likely we’re dead.”
[Cyno stayed silent. As much as he wanted to wait for the police, military or a special forces team to rescue him, he knew that Leon was right and they had a better chance of survival if they left the building and found help themselves.]
[Cyno then nodded in agreement as he and Leon prepared to leave the kitchen, much to Haruka, Hanzo and Professor Jefferson’s confusion.]
Prof. Jefferson: “Hold on, you two. Where do you two think you’re going?”
Leon: “Well, we’re getting out of here. That’s for sure.”
Hanzo: “Caulfield-san, Cyno-san, are you both sure that’s a good idea?”
Leon: “Honestly, no. But do you really want to stay here with the risk of your friend coming back from the dead and eating you all?”
[Haruka, Hanzo and the Professor soon looked at Kira’s corpse and immediately backed away from it. Soon, they got up and started considering that the university might no longer be a safe place to stay, nodding in agreement to leave. Soon, Professor Jefferson looked at the body, concerned about leaving it behind in the open.]
Prof. Jefferson: “We should do something about Mr. Masurao.”
[Hanzo and Professor Jefferson then picked up Kira’s corpse and threw it in the dry storage, along with Shizuka’s body before locking the door. Hanzo then picked up a black spray paint and painted on the door “Don’t Open, Dead Inside”, though it can be mistaken for “Don’t Dead, Open Inside” due to how Hanzo sprayed the words on the door.]
[Leon made a face that showed that he would have preferred smashing Kira’s head to at least prevent any chance of reanimation but then he shrugged and decided that this is good enough and whatever’s inside is now someone else’s problem. Leon then untied his hoodie’s sleeves and before putting the hoodie on.]
[The five remaining survivors quickly left the cafeteria kitchen and headed through a back entrance, hoping that it would lead to a quick exit.]
[One Hour Later…]
[Now on the streets, Leon, Cyno, Haruka, Hanzo and Professor Jefferson continued their walk for quite a distance from the university within the desolate Nagazora. Soon, the five came to a stop in front of a run down cafe.]
Prof. Jefferson: “So… This is where we part ways?”
Leon: “Looks like it?”
Haruka: “Are you sure you and Cyno-san don’t want to head to the military outpost with us, Caulfield-san?”
Leon: “Thanks, but we’ll be fine. Figured we head to a Police Station to get something more powerful than… [Look at Cricket Bat] this.”
Hanzo: “It’s okay, Caulfield-san. Take care.”
[Hanzo places his fist onto his palm and then proceeds to bow in respect, leading Leon to do the same. After Leon and Cyno said their goodbyes with Haruka, Hanzo and Professor Jefferson, the two walked towards a direction opposite from where Haruka, Hanzo and Professor Jefferson were walking towards.]
[Leon and Cyno continued their journey as they used the light beam in the sky as their indicator to where they were heading. Soon, the two were next to a fashion store for cosplayers and children. Leon noticed something on one of the shelves and approached it, the item of interest being a Mem hat on display. The wolf kid looked left and right before swapping his beanie out for the Mem hat.]
Cyno: “Really?”
[Leon turned around and saw Cyno standing behind him, slightly annoyed that Leon decided to stop for a hat. Leon’s only response was to shrug, leading Cyno to shake his head and walk into the fashion store. A while later, Leon and Cyno walked out, with Cyno now wearing a black hood-like hat with purple and gold features that resembles the head of Anubis. However, Leon noticed that the light beam had suddenly dissipated, causing him to worry.]
Leon: “Well that’s not good.”
Cyno: “Great. That beam of light was our only way of finding out what caused all of this. What now?”
Leon: “I guess our only option is to head to the Station, get whatever guns are left, and still head into the general direction of where that beam used to be.”
[And with that, the two continued their journey. A few hours of walking later, they managed to reach the Police Station, which looks as rundown as all the other buildings. Cyno began to feel slightly uneasy by the sight to the point where he developed second thoughts.]
Cyno: “Maybe we should head back to where the outpost was located?”
[Undeterred, Leon stepped into the building while Cyno just stood outside and hesitated. After looking around and becoming a bit anxious by the thoughts of what would pop out of nowhere, Cyno ran into the Station.]
[He searched the rooms until finding the armory. Entering the room, he saw Leon standing there looking around. The place was slightly ransacked and trashed, with some of the guns missing, likely taken by other survivors lucky to avoid getting eaten and/or infected.]
[Leon approached one of the lockers and opened it up, finding a New Nambu Model 60 revolver with multiple unfired .38 Special rounds in front of the gun. Picking it up, Leon checked the revolver’s cylinder to see if the gun was loaded. After confirming that the gun was empty, Leon grabbed the .38 Special ammo and began loading the revolver until all five slots in the cylinder were filled. Pushing the cylinder back into the gun, Leon walked up to Cyno and gave it to him, much to his confusion.]
Cyno: “Uh, why?”
Leon: “Well, why else?”
Cyno: “Well, you’re a better shot than I am. So…”
Leon: “Better to have one and not need it than to need one and not have it. Just take the gun.”
[Cyno reluctantly took the revolver from Leon and looked at it for a while. Soon, Leon pulled out some boxes of .38 Special from the locker and handed it to Cyno. Afterwards, the wolf boy went through other lockers, searching for at least anything for his VP70 or another gun he could use.]
[Eventually, Leon opened up a locker for MP5s, yet they were missing and the only stuff inside were boxes of 9x19mm Parabellum rounds, much to his luck.]
Leon: “Oh, fucking finally.”
[Taking out the 9mm boxes, Leon opened up his bag and pulled out Matilda and her empty magazines before laying them down onto a table. He then pulled out the magazine in Matilda’s before loading an extra 9mm bullet and pushing it back into the pistol. Placing Matilda down, Leon picked up another empty magazine and started loading bullets into it.]
[Cyno holstered the revolver into the back of his pants before walking up towards another locker and opening it up. Inside, he discovered a Heckler & Koch 416D with a 10.4-inch barrel and pulled it out before calling for Leon’s attention.]
Cyno: “Uh, amigo (friend)? I think I found something.”
[Leon turned to look at Cyno and saw the assault rifle in his hand, prompting him to stop loading Matilda’s magazines, get up and grab the rifle in order to inspect it.]
Leon: “What the hell’s a H&K 416D doing inside the armory? Aren’t these things usually for Japan’s military special forces?”
[Cyno just shrugged, confused as Leon was. Leon then brought the 416D onto a workbench with some attachments. Inspecting the parts for a while, Leon attached an EOTECH HHS II Holographic Hybrid Sight - EXPS2-2 as well as a G33 Magnifier, a CMR-301 Rail Master Pro Laser Sight & Tactical Light System, and a Magpul Angled Foregrip onto the AR.]
[Checking out the AR, Leon thought this could work and slinged it next to his backpack. He then walked towards the locker where the 416D was found and took both the ammo and spare magazines with him. Meanwhile, Cyno walked into the evidence room and noticed a sledgehammer next to the doorway, prompting him to pick it up and smile with glee.]
Cyno: “Hey, check it out!”
[Leon and Cyno reunite. Soon, the former notices the latter’s new weapon before staring at him with a deadpan look.]
Cyno: “What?”
Leon: “Well, good luck hauling that thing everywhere we go.”
Cyno: “Look, I’m sure we can-”
[But suddenly, the two overheard chatter coming from outside. This led them to go inside the evidence room to hide, not knowing who was coming inside or why they were doing so. Immediately, two female high school students entered the building.]
[One was a white haired girl with blue eyes done in a twin-braided style wearing a white female sailor school uniform while the other girl had indigo eyes and purple hair that was tied in a long ponytail and was wearing a sailor uniform coloured dark purple. Leon peaked at the two, trying to see if they were at least friendly or not. Soon, he noticed that they both went inside the armory.]
Cyno: “So? Who are they?”
Leon: “High school students. They likely are here for the same reason why we’re here.”
[Inside the armory, the high school girls were searching the room for anything they could fight against the outbreak, not realising that someone recently took some of the supplies.]
White Haired Student: “Damn. Someone must have come here and took what’s left. Mei-senpai, what about you?”
Mei: “Not much, Kiana-chan. A few boxes for your pistols but that’s about it.”
[Kiana smiled upon hearing some good news before pushing a box aside. Immediately, she discovered an Ithaca 37 shotgun with a pistol grip and a barrel and tube length that allows it to hold at least 7+1 12 gauge shotgun shells. Picking it up, Kiana turned around to Mei.]
Kiana: “Mei-senpai, here.”
[Mei turned around and managed to catch the shotgun Kiana threw at her. Kiana then extended her hand and made a gesture pulling towards her, causing Mei to realise and toss the ammo boxes she found earlier to her in exchange.]
Leon: “Do you even know how to use that?”
[Spooked, Kiana and Mei turned towards the doorway to see Leon standing there, causing the girls to point dual Glock 19s and the Ithaca 37 respectively at him. This forced Leon to slowly raise his hands to at least avoid potentially dying and to show the girls that he’s not a threat.]
Leon: “Ok. Yeah, I know how it looks.”
Kiana: “Ya think?”
Mei [Turning to Kiana]: “Kiana-chan, I don’t think he’s gonna hurt us.”
Kiana [Turning to Mei]: “How can you be sure, Mei-senpai?”
Leon: “Mei? As in Raiden Mei, the daughter of the CEO of ME Corp who got himself arrested?”
Kiana [Turning to Leon angrily]: “Watch it, asshole!”
Leon [Putting his hands down]: “Well excuse me, princess. Sorry for being curious. Not like I believe everything on the news to begin with until everything seems clear.”
[Instantly, Cyno runs in and sees the standoff, leading things to become super awkward.]
Cyno: “Uh…? Is this a holdup?”
[Of course, everyone glared at him with deadpan faces. Soon, Kiana and Mei sighed as they lowered their guns.]
Kiana: “Sorry. We thought you were a bunch of creeps here to rob, kidnap and rape us. Or a bunch of assholes trying to assault Mei for something she did not commit.”
Leon: "Seriously, is that what we look like? I already told you I don’t think your friend’s a criminal. Besides, the fact that the CEO was immediately arrested and locked up with little to no trial needed sounded sketchy as hell. Why the hell are more people not questioning this?”
Cyno: “Well, this is Japan, after all. They rather just keep their mouths shut and let the actual perpetrators get away with their crimes than lose any honor and respect others have about them for seemingly agreeing with the supposed criminal.”
[Mei immediately looked sad upon hearing that, causing Kiana, who noticed the change in expression, to look at Cyno with an angry glare. This in turn caused him to feel slightly fearful.]
Cyno: “Not that I meant anything bad about what I said. I just feel like this is just mostly normal for a lot of people outside law enforcement to do whenever something goes wrong.”
Leon: “Cyno, I think it would be best to shut up now. You’re making it worse.”
Cyno: “I’m just saying.”
[Kiana proceeded to sigh and shook her head in frustration before Mei began to speak up.]
Mei: “Everyone. Can we all please drop it? Besides, I think we should all get going before something tries to kill us.”
Leon: “You've got a point. This place is mostly a wreck. Don’t think it can withstand a giant crowd of zombies. Do you know anywhere we can go?”
Kiana: “Well, Mei-senpai and I were heading to the underground tunnels, hoping that we may be able to safely get ourselves out of the city. So, are you coming, wolfy?”
Leon: “Wofly? Really? Besides, my name is Leon Caulfield.”
Cyno: “And I’m Alejandro Garcia. Though, my friends call me ‘Cyno’. I guess you can too, chica (girlie).”
[Cyno winked at Kiana, causing her to roll her eyes in disgust. Leon, on the other hand, was confused and glared at Cyno.]
Kiana: “Well, in that case, I’m Kiana Kaslana. And I think you two already know Mei-senpai already.”
[Mei gracefully bowed towards the two boys before speaking up.]
Mei: “Yes. Thank you for joining Leon-san, Cyno-san.”
[And with that, the four began their journey to hopefully escape from Nagazora.]
[The entrance that led to the underground tunnels was far from where the Police Station was, resulting in more walking to be accomplished. On the way, Leon, still haven’t forgotten about that strange beacon from before, turned to question Kiana about what he say earlier.]
Leon: “Say, Kiana? You have a minute?”
Kiana: “Sure, what’s up?”
Leon: “Prior to reaching the Police Station, Cyno and I saw what looked to be a beam of light shooting up into the sky. If my knowledge about Nagazora is correct, isn’t that likely where your school is? If so, what caused the beam to appear in the first place?”
[Kiana stared at Leon for a while, trying to register what his question meant. Soon, it clicked into her head about what he was talking about and began to explain.]
Kiana: “About that… A few hours ago, Mei and I were at school. You know, doing the usual stuff a high schooler would do. Then, the storms came, causing school to end early. However, I soon noticed Mei-senpai acting quite off. She looked mostly fine but she was feeling like she was sick or something. Eventually, something inside her woke up… and it caused quite a struggle just to get her back to normal.”
[Leon had no words after hearing what Kiana just told him. Soon, he turned his head away from Kiana in order to try to process that story within his mind.]
Leon: So it’s likely Mei wasn’t the actual cause of the storms. But whatever caused her to go berserk might have something to do with the zombies. I guess that explains why so many people in this city have turned in a matter of minutes during my nap. But then what caused the storms and Mei to go FUBAR (Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition) in the first place? Something fishy’s going on.
Kiana: “Are you ok? Is it something I said?”
Leon: “No. I’m just still wondering why the city went to shit in the first place.”
Kiana: “I see.”
Leon: “Sorry you had to tell me that.”
Kiana: “Well, it's fine. Better to come out sooner rather than later.”
Leon: “Yeah. Guess so.”
[Eventually, they arrived at the entrance. Heading deep down, the four were now walking on the abandoned train tracks of a subway system, making sure that they are careful with every single step they make. Leon ended up having to pinch his nose from the rotting stench due to his heightened sense of smell.]
Leon: “Is this even the right way?”
Kiana: “Pretty sure.”
Leon: “What do you mean ‘Pretty sure’?”
Kiana: “Uh…”
Leon: “Kiana, do you even know where we’re headed or not?”
Kiana: “Well, do you?”
Leon: “Dammit, Kiana. This isn’t up for discussion!”
Kiana: “Well, excuse me for not picking up a map for this place!”
[Suddenly, a faint roar can be heard from a distance. While Leon and Kiana are too busy to notice, Cyno became anxious from the sound and started to worry.]
Cyno: “Hey guys?”
Leon/Kiana: “WHAT?!”
[Instantly, the roar grew louder, forcing the four survivors to run towards a nearby doorway in order to hide. Peaking out while remaining hidden, they saw a Honkai Chariot slowly walk by, scouring the area for any unlucky survivors that could have aimlessly wandered the tunnels.]
Leon [Whispering]: “What in the actual Resident Evil is that?”
[Kiana looked at Leon, confused by his question.]
Kiana [Whispering]: “Resident Evil?”
Cyno [Whispering]: “Well, it's this survival horror series that was made by Capcom. Leon actually has a copy of the Nintendo 64 port of the second game. You definitely-”
Mei [Whispering]: “Can we discuss this at another time, Cyno-san?”
[Cyno blinked before realising now is not a good time to talk about meaningless trivialities while his and everyone else’s lives are on the line.]
Cyno [Whispering]: “Sorry.”
[Taking no chances in waiting for the Chariot to walk past without detecting them, Leon mounted the 416D rifle against the door frame and pushed the G43 Magnifier down in order to increase the sight’s zoom focus. He then aims the rifle at the Chariot before placing his index finger on the trigger. Lastly, Leon used his thumb to turn off the safety and put it into full-auto mode. As the Chariot was walking closer, Leon tracked the beast’s movement and steadily prepared himself to open fire on it.]
*BOOM!*
[Then all of a sudden, a big beam of energy appeared from behind the Chariot and obliterated it to the point that most of its upper body was no longer there, causing it to collapse. Leon, Cyno, Kiana and Mei started at where the Honkai Chariot used to be with their eyes wide open, reacting in shock.]
Kiana: “Uh, was that meant to happen?”
Leon: “No, that’s definitely not how 5.56x45mm NATO rifle ammo should work.”
Cyno: “Then what the hell killed it to the point where it became… that?”
[The four then decided to walk out of their hiding spot and approach the Honkai Beast’s corpse. Cyno then proceeded to start poking it with his sledgehammer, trying to make sure it was dead.]
[Suddenly, the sound of a cannon charging was heard, causing the four to stand up and look at where it was coming from, with Leon aiming his AR in said direction. From the shadows, out came a floating gray haired petite girl. Her hair was tied into the style of drill shaped pigtails and her eyes were a darker shade of grey. Her clothes consist of black-brown ribbons with white polka dots on her hair, a dark brown jacket with yellow cuffs and silver clasps, and an orange vest beneath it with gold buttons and a brown gold-buckled belt. Beneath the vest she wears a white collared shirt with black stripes with a large yellow bow with a silver decal in the middle tied into the shirt's collar. She also has white gloves on her hands, as well as brown shorts over gray and yellow prosthesis legs.]
[Behind the gray haired floating girl was a big futuristic robot that slightly looked like the Chariot from earlier, but it had no legs, its color palette mainly consisted of red, white and yellow features, and one of the arms was replaced by an energy cannon that was aimed at the group.]
Leon: “Oh motherfu-”