1 The First Day of the Rest of Our Lives

First came the announcement.

"Attention all students! Violence has broken out on campus! Students should evacuate the campus according to their teacher's instructions."

With just those words the atmosphere within the class— nay, the whole school, became almost tangible. Barring a few jokers who thought it was just another practice evacuation, many of the students and teachers peered at the PA systems in the corner of their classrooms with bated breath.

"I repeat. Violence has broken out on campus! Students should evacuate campus—"

Then silence. At least until—

"Help! Save me! ARGHH! No! HELP!"

Blood-curdling screams erupted from those very same systems. Whoever was unfortunate enough to have announcement duties that morning no doubt suffered an excruciating death.

Their screams echoed all around campus, within every classroom and hallway, they even made their way outdoors and beyond the premises.

And when it was finally over—

"...."

Dead silence. The troublemakers stopped fooling around. Teachers dropped whatever they held in hand. Students froze in their seats.

Those screams… They were more real than any horror movie, more visceral than if performed by the greatest actors, and more hairraising than any conceivable thought.

So, all students and teachers did what any person shouldn't do when faced with the prospect of killers on campus. They panicked.

"O-Out of the way, dumbasses!"

"Move it, move it!"

"Fuck off bitch!"

Students poured out into the hallways in waves, trampling and beating each other without a second thought so long as it meant they'd get out quicker.

Screams filled the air, and blood lathered the halls, however, in one classroom two people still remained. One trembling beneath her desk, the other stoic in his seat.

"...."

It wasn't until the stampede of students and faculty faded into the distance that one of them finally decided to speak.

"O-Okuma-san… Aren't you going to run too…?"

Pale white skin and a tiny mole beneath her right eye were barely hidden by the thin frames of her black glasses. Her long brown hair braided into two loops adorned on each side of her head shook with every utterance.

Her teary dark green eyes shakily refused to meet the stare of the classmate whose shoulders she could only reach even when he was sitting down.

But even then she crawled from beneath her desk like a newborn fawn all the same. Curiosity and fear marred her face as she approached the behemoth in the corner of the classroom.

"Mm, I was just waiting for everyone else to leave first… It'd be easier to walk through the halls that way…"

His gray eyes met her face or at least attempted to as both the height discrepancy and the fact that the girl in question refused to look at him only made things difficult.

But nonetheless, he answered her question.

He got up from his seat calmly, ignoring the girl's jolt as he now towered over her.

"Let's go… Um, ah—?"

"I-It's Miyako, Miyako Sasami!" The girl, or rather— Miyako, answered his somewhat disrespectful inquiry with a level of agitation uncharacteristic even for her.

"... Sasami-san then… Come look over here…"

Dorio Okuma swept back his short black hair languidly, his free hand pointing toward the window he sat beside.

"Then excuse me…" Miyako walked past Dorio with her head low, slowly, she peered outside the window—

"This is—?!"

Outside their classroom window, she saw a hell she'd never imagined.

Blood filled the courtyard, students and teachers were torn apart limb by limb, and fires erupted throughout the city the school overlooked.

"This is horrible!" She slumped to her knees with disgust written across her face, her hands covered her mouth in fear of retching up, and tears dripped down her face more rapidly.

"H-How, it wasn't like this only a few minutes ago! This has to be some cruel nightmare! It just has to be!"

Dorio didn't bother comforting the fear-stricken girl. Instead, he focused on the culprit— or rather, culprits, littering the school.

They shambled like puppets without strings, limping as if their bodies couldn't carry their own weight. Their skin was sickly pale. Each and every one of them was adorned with some sort of bloody injury that just wouldn't stop oozing. Their eyes were rolled back into their skulls.

But what each of them had in common was that they were all connected to the school, either they were clad in its uniform or faculty who were recognizable beforehand.

"...."

Dorio watched in silence as they devoured former friends and staff alike. Biting or tearing apart flesh with their nails as if they were starving.

"Zombies…" He muttered under his breath.

*𝘽𝘼𝙉𝙂!*

Dorio gripped the desk he sat at whilst not even glancing at the startled Miyako. He slammed it against the classroom floor before tearing off one of its legs.

"Here." He handed the separated table leg to the only other person in the room.

"Huh…" Miyako stared up at him with a blank expression.

"You want to live, right? Take this then." He forced the table leg into her hands before lifting the table and holding it in front of him like a shield with its legs facing outwards.

"W-Where are you going?! Are you crazy, you'll die out there!" Miyako grabbed onto his arm with her free hand, practically digging into her heels to stop Dorio as he made his way to the classroom doors.

"And what? Will it be any different if I wait in here? No, with how many people on campus turned, death is almost certain if we stay. The more people die the closer they get to us, hungry and eager to feast, they'll certainly find us just by wandering these halls. That's why we got to leave now. Before I didn't move because I didn't know the situation, but now we have no other choice."

"...." Miyako clenched his arm tighter, her anguished expression turning pale as the table leg in her other hand trembled.

"So what will it be, Sasami-san? If we wait here, we'll become just like them. If we leave, we at least have a chance."

"Leave and go where!? You can see just as well as I can… The city is burning… All of our classmates, even our teachers, they're dead too… Mama and Papa too probably… It's over."

Dorio didn't need to turn around to note her expression, the despair in her voice was all too apparent in his ears. But even then he showed no sympathy to the girl, instead, he gnashed his teeth and clenched the table in his hands to the point of creaking.

"So what? We just give up here? Dying without a fight just because at a glance things seem hopeless! What about that Mama and Papa of yours? Would they do the same? Do you think they'd just let themselves die when their precious daughter is possibly in danger?"

"I-I…"

"No, they're probably fighting like hell right now to get to you… As their daughter don't you think you should at least meet them halfway? You said it yourself, they're "probably" dead. Is that something to cry about? Hell, to me it sounds like great news! But every minute we wait here that "probably" becomes more and more certain. Knowing all this, do you still want to wait here…?"

"No… No, I want to see them again! I want to see my mama and papa! I don't want to die yet!"

Miyako roared with renewed vigor, the sleeves of her uniform brushed away any tears welling up in her eyes. She steadily got up and brandished her chair leg in both arms.

Seeing this, Dorio grinned.

"Alright, let's go! Hurrah!"

"Hurrah!"

Dorio bolted out of the classroom, and Miyako followed closely behind him. In the narrow halls of the school, such a formation was viable for guarding both the front and back.

But there was still one thing to be considered—

"Um, Okuma-san… Where are we headed? The courtyard is littered with "them." From the window, the streets didn't seem so safe either… At the very least walking out there would be too dangerous…"

In the eerily quiet hallway, Miyako's voice echoed far.

"Walking…? Who said anything about that?"

"Huh?"

"The faculty office… If we can get there we can drive out the front gate with one of the school's buses and head to my house."

"Drive?! B-But, we're high school students… Do you at least have a learner's permit?"

Dorio stared at his recent companion with an incredulous expression.

"I-I didn't mean it as if I'm afraid we'll get in trouble! What if when we get inside you don't know how to move it? At that point, we'll just be sitting ducks!"

At this, Dorio paused his steps.

"I have one, but I don't think the skills I learned will apply to something like a bus… But it's either that or walking. I don't know about you, but I'm not confident I could get out of here without leading a horde to my home unless we have a vehicle."

"O-Ok, we'll try then… Maybe we'll even find an adult on the way there, someone who could drive for us…"

"I'm glad you're hopeful now but remember to temper your expectations. Any adult with the know-how to drive probably already left this place as soon as things hit the fan. Even if we find one who stayed, it's probably because they're too scared to move…"

"R-Right, I apologize…"

The two ventured deeper into the school, unaware that the sort of person they were looking for happened to have their eye on the same place as them.

---------- Author's Notes ----------

"Aw shit, here we go again."

Maaa~ Feels good to finally be writing again! Hello again to anyone who's come here from my last work and welcome to those just discovering me now~

To those new, thanks for giving me a chance thus far. As for those returning, I appreciate your support as always! Honestly, I wasn't expecting to go on such a hiatus after the ending of my last work. In fact, this was supposed to come out a long time ago. It was just that several external matters have prevented me from writing thus far, and I only have the time now because, well it's New Years.

Considering my last fic started on New Years day it'd seem like tradition to just put this out here today. After all I made several resolutions:

1. Write more! Thus if you check my account there'll likely be another fic that came out today as well.

2. Draw! To be specific I'd like to create artwork for these fics that give you, the reader, a more immersive experience when reading. The problem is that I suck ass at art but that's why I want to draw, to learn and better myself.

3. Finally make a video! Sometime summer last year I teased a video with a trailer that ended up leading nowhere. Though that was mostly because the game I was getting footage on left early access and everything I made up to that point was made irrelevant. This time I have several ideas for several different games and I even plan to make 4 videos before publishing so I have tons of time to make more.

Well, I suppose that's all I got to say today... Oh, yeah, another reminder! Another fic should have its first chapter released already! Make sure to check it out by visiting my account and looking at my works. It should be titled something like "Hakase Shinonome's Faulted Android."

Once again, thanks for giving me a chance, it truly means a lot to myself who already has low self-esteem. May you have a great afternoon, evening, and night!

If you want to visit all my socials such as my YouTube channel, Discord, and Twitter, here's my one-for-all link to all that: https://linktr.ee/ardoaleister