Outbreak Chronicles: Dead Pandemic

Chapter 9 Dead Bites
”Death is the final examination of one’s life and ultimate experience for mortals”

-Martin Heidegger

Day 1: 6:00 P.M.

Kirishima High School -Ground Floor: East wing Hallway

Duration of the Night Rage: 13 hours left

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The undead horde chasing Kyosei and Chie are all very nimble and fast that looking at them chasing a person is terrifying. Even Kyosei is having a hard time running since Chie is also with him and abandoning her is somewhat cruel. He is not a cruel person. They continuously run to the end of the hallway and reach the stairs. Seeing the undead getting close to their back is already hard for them to dodge and now they saw some undead in front of them too! They are surrounded!

”H-hey, we won’t survive this!” Chie groaned and tears flow in her eyes.

Kyosei got furious hearing this.

”Then, you die alone, f*ck death, I’ll beat them up,” Kyosei pulls a grenade from his belt that is firmly attached earlier and pulls out the pin of the grenade. Throwing it is not good since the trajectory might fail and explode on the area where the undead are no longer present seeing that they are running to chase them. He dropped the pinless grenade on the ground.

”Run fast!” Kyosei give the baseball bat to Chie and pulls out the revolver, aimed and fire on the undead in front of them.

BANG!!

The undead that was hit in the forehead fell and landed in the floor headless due to the burst from the strong energy of the bullet that penetrate the soft skull of the dead. Not long after, the grenade dropped exploded to the rushing undead, killing all of the undead caught in the explosion. The strong explosion is very devastating that it collapses the walls in the hallway caught by the might of the grenade. Some of the undead even died by the explosion without leaving a single part of their body intact. Cadavers fly and scattered around and it even rained blood for a few seconds. Kyosei and Chie did not stop in running and kept their distance, reaching the stairs leading to the second floor.

Day 1: 6:05 P.M

Kirishima High School - Clocktower

Duration Of the Night Rage: 12 hours and 55 minutes left

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All of them are startled in the sudden change of the undead’s behaviors. These are rather something that only happen on certain games and movies where these things are very scary and dangerous whenever it is night time. Now that the apocalypse is happening, a very scary thing is already happening to Kyosei and Chie. Being chased by the undead that can run like an athlete participating a 10 kilometer dash, its very terrifying already. They sighed in relief that Kyosei is excellent in fighting that he wiped out a few of the chasing undead. Also, they managed to reach the 2nd floor already. Nanami creased her forehead seeing the amount of the undead in the hallway of the second floor, third floor and 4th floor.

”This is absurd...” Nanami groaned. She is literally seeing the undead run so fast and even though they are vicious enough already, this time, the viciousness of the undead are multiplied. These undead are much more vicious than those zombies in the novel ”World War Z”.

”Help Kyosei quick Nanami!” Miyuki yelled at Nanami.

”I can only guide him. We can’t hinder his movements this time. If I interrupt him, he will just rush his death!” Nanami frowned.

Miyuki wipes the sweat in her forehead. Though the place is dark, the laptop gives light and the lantern that Kyosei looted inside the room of Made help illuminate a small portion of the place.

Bzzzzzzzzz

Bzzzzzzzzz

”Huh?” Sena who is always vigilant in her surroundings looks around. Souichi noticed her and approached.

”Sena? What’s up?” Souichi patted Sena’s shoulder.

”I heard some buzzing sounds earlier. Did you hear it?” Sena is puzzled.

”What? Buzzing Sound?” Souichi looks around but since it is dark, he can’t see anything, only around the place where the laptop and the lantern is illuminated while the rest is dark and barely seen.

Bzzzzzzzzz

Bzzzzzzzzz

That again! Sena carefully looked around by using her phone’s LCD light. Souichi also heard it and helped her look around. Just as they were about to give up...

”Huh?” Sena noticed something in the dark flying.

Bzzzzzzzzz

The buzzing thing that they found is a something rare to see in Osaka.

”Is that a mosquito?” Souichi creases his forehead.

”Mosquito? That’s a big mosquito!” Sena scowled.

The mosquito they saw is big, as big as a hummingbird. It might be small but its already abnormally big! Its thorax is glowing red and its eyes are like flashlight glowing in the dark.

”Step back!” Souichi grips the baseball bat given by Kyosei earlier.

The mosquito is hostile and attacks the two, even Miyuki, Nejima and Nanami are shocked on seeing a huge mosquito. Souichi grips the bat hard as the sweat fell on his face.

”Kyosei ordered me to defend the group and I will do it!” Souichi swings the bat real hard to the mosquito.

SQUISH!

Blood splattered on the bat and the mosquito burst like a mite squashed to death.

”Aaaaaggggghhhh!!!” a shout escaped on one of the tied up lackeys and Nejima is startled by this since he is guarding them. The other lackeys are shaking as they saw the lackey convulses and blood spills in his mouth. His eyes are dilated and blood is flowing in the eye sockets of the guy. Nejima notices that a big mosquito is currently enjoying its meal.

”Souichi-senpai! He is bitten by the mosquito!!” Nejima alerted Souichi about this.

Miyuki do the initiative and hit the mosquito currently sucking blood near its neck. She picked a piece of wood scattered around the place and slams it hard to the mosquito. As the mosquito burst, the other lackeys are shaking in fear. They wanted to escape but since they at tied up, they can only struggle to free themselves. The bitten lackey stopped convulsing after being hit by wood.

”What is going on?” Sena frowned.

”Based from those characteristics, those mosquitoes are a breed of Aedes Aegypti which are common in tropical countries in Asia and the one causing the outbreak of dengue and malaria in centuries. But those are more likely mutated mosquitoes,” Nejima said.

Just as they are about to look if the mosquitoes are still around, the lackey that got bitten shook wildly and his dilated eyes glow red and saliva mixed with blood flows out of its mouth.

”Crap, look at the guy...” Sena pointed to the lackey.

Even the other lackeys are trying to shake off from their shackles and escape, it is extremely tied up tight and now, one of their comrades are acting weird and they had a hunch what will happen.

”Untie us!”

”Help us please!!”

”Get me out of here!”

Different begs can be heard and the undead down are growling and snarling, wide eyed looking up the Clocktower. From the looks of the undead, if they could climb up, they will do it without hesitation just to eat.

The lackey that got bitten by the mosquito snarls and angrily waves its body to free itself from the shackles. The other lackeys pissed in their pants as liquid flows underneath them. The undead lackey noticed the other lackey tied up near and bites the nearby one without restraint.

”Aaaghhh! Help me!!” the lackey struggles as the other is still biting him.

”F*ck, its now an infected!” Souichi pulls out the Colt 45 in his waist and aims at the ”person” angrily biting the other one. His arms are shaking as he aims it. He never shoot a gun even once and he only see this kind of things in movies and televisions. Who would have thought he will be able to hold one to kill?

”Don’t shoot Souichi, we might attract lots of unnecessary trouble that will endanger Kyosei and the other girl’s life. Since it is tied up, let’s kill it with a melee weapon,” Miyuki strongly adviced.

”I strongly agree. Its much wiser to conserve the bullets of that gun for emergency than waste it. We might need that single bullet in the future,” Sena said.

Souichi reluctantly withdraw the gun and pulls out the baseball bat and swings it towards the undead.

SPLAT

The flesh of the head of the infected lackey splatters, landing in different directions and even the other lackeys are also not safe from the blood splattering. The other one who got bitten did not respond and he lifelessly stayed put even though the blood from his wound continuously flow. He is not dead yet but his body is slowly getting cold.

”What should we do?” Nejima wondered.

This time, Nanami responded.

”Mercy Kill. Before he turns into one, let’s kill him but before he turns into one. I usually saw that in movies and being bitten will never let you get saved unless their is an antidote. We don’t have one and I guess it is hard to have one, I suppose. We can only perform a mercy kill,” Nanami suggested.

”M..mercy...kill..” Souichi stammers.

”I will do it,” Miyuki volunteered.

”Wha- Miyuki!” Sena shows that she is against it.

”If Kyosei will do it without problem, then I will also do it too,” Miyuki said.

Though it is only a theory, Kyosei is not reluctant in killing undead which many people will feel the first time they faced something like this. Many will still think that those undead used to be a human too so killing them will also count as killing a human which leads to dangerous and bloody result.

Souichi shook his head and hold the baseball bat tightly in his hands.

”No, as a man entrusted by Kyosei to protect the group, I hold responsibility to do it,” Souichi trembles.

”But...” Miyuki is reluctant.

”Let me do it or my pride as a man will get ruined!” Souichi insist.

Nanami wanted to laugh but she can’t do it in this serious atmosphere. They are talking about a human life right now and it is not a laughing matter for them. They are not merciless killers that will willingly kill others for benefits. Nejima cannot do it since he is still too green on all of this and have not encountered much of the undead yet and Sena is also not used to it. Nanami is frail and she is also handling in Kyosei’s escape against the undead and while Miyuki is willing to do it, it is impossible to really do it and she might end up prolonging the lackey’s suffering. Souichi has the most experience against the killing the undead since he accompanied Kyosei for a short while and to survive, killing the undead in their way is necessary and inevitable to be avoided.

He rushes out and raised the bat to the lackey.

”This is what it takes to be a man!!!”

...

Day 1: 6:17 P.M

Kirishima High School - 2nd Floor Hallway: East wing

Duration of the Night Rage: 12 hours and 43 minutes left

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The hallway is more chaotic right now than when he passed it with Souichi earlier. Undead are more chaotic right now than the undead he defeated earlier in the morning. They are hiding in a classroom right now and put a blockade in the door. Good thing the undead inside is lacking with legs, perhaps its predator nab and digested his feet off on its body. When he raised his cleaver to strike its forehead, Chie interrupts him.

”Wait, let’s sever her hands first,” Chie said.

Kyosei did not respond but he cut the two thin hands dangling on its body. When he looks at the undead carefully, he immediately found out that this one is the school idol in that school and though he keeps on forgetting names, he can’t forget a person’s face once he saw it. This particular school idol is known for her sex appeal, pretty face and voluptuous body that many men will fall over heels to get her. He heard rumors that this girl is a slut and had sex with any boy she fancies with and dump them after. This woman also tried to seduced her once but since Kyosei is not interested, he slapped her face which makes her lovers to get angry and tried to beat him up. That’s when he received his 23rd memo to the disciplinary office for beating up 20 students inside the campus. Kyosei did not even evade it and shrug it off him. He was almost expelled that time but for some reason, it was dispelled and he get to stay in school. Due to that, this particular idol stopped flirting on him knowing that her womanly charms can’t charm him at all. Even if she wanted someone to beat him up and teach him a lesson, Kyosei will return the favor and teach the assaulters a lesson. Now that the apocalypse started, the school idol who are once known for her beauty is now a rotting corpse, much more revolting to look at right now.

Kyosei noticed Chie taking notes and nodding in response.

”Mm, this is real, even if they are already rotting to the core, as long as the dead still has its head intact, then it will continue to move,” Chie nodded.

She tried to put her fingers in the mouth of the dead and it responded by trying to bite her finger off.

”Oh! She really did want to eat my finger!” Chie writes again on her notes once again.

Kyosei wanted to slap this person to reality but of course he can’t. He raised his cleaver and sliced down the head of the former school idol and let her rest forever.

”Hey! I’m not yet done studying this one!” Chie groaned.

”I don’t care,” Kyosei responded and looked around the place. The place they are in right now is a testing site for chemicals for experiments in chemistry and more likely, the experiment is ongoing when the outbreak struck due to the scattered chemicals in the area. Picking up a few chemicals, he saw some of the chemicals are marked as a flammable material with a chance of explosion.

”Flammables, let’s use this,” Kyosei said and gathered a few.

”Alcohol? This is really flammable and I usually see this kind of things in movies used as Molotov cocktails,” Chie said.

Looking around swiftly, despite the darkness in the area and only the light from the phone illuminating the place, they still managed to find things and gathered twenty bottles and a match in the drawer. Getting the cloth and an adhesive tape, they put the bottles together using the adhesive tape and put a cloth in the open bottle of alcohol. Putting them together in the barricade of the door, they will execute the plan. Putting the cellphone found in a trouser nearby, they turned on its sound once again, attracting the undead in the barricaded door. Soon, most of the undead in the second floor are now on a rampage to get in. Kyosei light up the match and burn the cloth.

”Stay near the door so that you won’t get caught in the blast,” Kyosei reminded Chie which also Chie understand.

When the cloth burns slowly, Kyosei rolled over to the opposite area and run swiftly next to Chie. In just a second, the explosion destroyed half of the classroom.

”Run!” Kyosei and Chie opened the other door and run towards the next floor.

Their survival is just the beginning, the night rage is just starting to show its wrath to the survivors as they face different adversaries as the night goes on...