Fate/Stay Night/High School of the Dead --- Chapter 4

Fate of the DEAD 4

(I don't own F/SN or HSOTD)

“Our situation is not improving,” Lancelot frowned, looking down at the zombies beginning to crowd the street. In the distance, the sounds of people screaming, yelling, or in one case shooting a shotgun could be heard. It was in the general vicinity of their current shelter, meaning that more and more of the dead were following the noise to try and find more food to eat.

The soft padding of footsteps approached the men announcing Saeko’s presence as she stepped out onto the balcony. Her mind was in tactical mode once again, making her uncaring of her near nudity in her apron and none of the men on the balcony were paying her much mind, their eyes facing the streets and the chaos still taking place.

“How bad?” she asked.

“See for yourself,” Kota answered, holding up a pair of military binoculars. Saeko took them and began peering down the streets to see what was happening.

Going over one particular street, she spotted a young man likely close to their age in a red jogging suit, running around with a grin on his face blasting the dead away with a shotgun. From the angle of his shots, he had discovered how to kill them but had either gone crazy from it all or had simply not figured out how they discovered their prey. Rather than thin out the hordes, his shots were attracting more. His body was trembling so fiercely even Saeko could see it through the binoculars. Finally, it seemed to affect the teen to his limit. His hands trembled so fiercely he dropped his shotgun shells as he tried to reload. When he tried to reclaim them, the dead swarmed him. His screams quickly echoed through the night as his blood splattered onto the road.

“You’re right. It is getting worse,” Saeko finally spoke, lowering the binoculars. “Much worse.”

“Dammit,” Takashi cursed. Slamming his fist down on the railing, he turned and grabbed the Ithica and headed for the door. “Enough of this!”

“Komuro?” asked Kota. “What do you think you’re going to do?”

“What do you think?” Takashi growled. “I’m going to go and start blowing some fucking heads off! Maybe by doing that we can start saving some-!”

“And then what?” asked Saeko. “Are you forgetting that every bit of sound only attracts them?” She turned and headed for the door again, Kota noticing her bacside and breaking into another nosebleed. Saeko ignored it as she entered the bedroom and turned down the lights, making it appear as if there was no one home. “We can’t save everyone. Not even with our skills and weapons.”

“As much as it pains me to admit it, Busujima-san is right,” Lancelot sighed. He glanced out at the night sky. “As much as I would prefer to go out there and kill as many of the dead as I can and save as many as possible, I can’t.”

“The best we can do right now is keep ourselves safe, try to survive,” Diarmuid nodded. “If we can save someone then that’s fine. It’ll remind us that we’re still human. But going out there into the hordes will only ensure a speedy death and if nothing else, make the situation worse if our bodies revive to join the others.”

“You see? Even Lance-san and Diarmuid-san agree,” Saeko nodded. She held out the binoculars to Takash who reluctantly took them. “Take a good look out there Takashi and get used to it. Being heroic isn’t going to be enough anymore. Not now. Not against this enemy.”

Takashi gripped the item, looking at it almost as if he was holding something foul, “I thought out of all of us...you three would agree with me.”

“Don’t get me wrong Takashi,” Saeko spoke, heading to the stairs again. “I would be just as quick to go out and save who I could as you are, but the situation doesn’t allow us that. I don’t like it any more than you do, but that’s the way reality is now.”

Diarmuid and Lancelot said nothing, Saeko explaining herself for the three of them quite well. As Heroic Spirits, they likely would have lasted even longer against the hordes than any one human but against the number of opponents and the threat of infection, even they would be cautious against their new enemy. Perhaps if they had Anti-Fortress or Anti-Army Noble Phantasms they would be able to fight, but likely at the cost of any straggling innocent lives in the process. No, caution would be the rule of this war.

“Don’t beat yourself up over too much Komuro-san,” Diarmuid offered. “You’re a good man at heart for wishing to help. Remember that. This situation may prevent your from helping others now, but that does not mean you cannot help in a later one. It just takes knowing when the time is right.”

“Doesn’t make me feel any better about it,” Takashi sighed, heading back out to the balcony where Kota was still cradling his nose from seeing Saeko’s almost bare backside. Kneeling down and trying to avoid noise, he began his own scan of the streets with the binoculars. Immediately he saw the results of all of the carnage. At a vending machine he saw a person screaming in pain as the dead tore into his arms and shoulders, not being able to die since no lethal blows had been taken yet. Another section had a man slamming on a door trying to gain entrance only for the dead to jump him, a blast of blood staining the side of the house he was trying to flee to.

“God dammit,” Takashi hissed, feeling sick. Sick at both the carnage he was seeing and because he was in a position to do something about it with so many guns around but didn’t. “It’s all going to hell.”

Turning to view another spot down the street, he was slightly taken aback by the sight of a older-looking man running down the street with a small girl and a woman following. The man had graying blonde hair and wore brown trousers and a white office shirt with suspenders, likely having been at work when the dead began to rise. The girl was in a pink dress with a button-up sweater over it and didn’t look like she was even ten years old yet. The woman Takashi could tell was beautiful even from where he was. She wore a red blouse with a denim jacket over it with a brown skirt and boots. Her hair was blue of all colours, not that Takashi could talk since Rei was a brunette, Saeko had purple hair, Saya with pink, Kyoko a redhead, and Shizuka being blonde. She looked like she could have come off a runway though. Maybe they just met up during the chaos or was she related to them somehow?

The trio ran up to one of the houses that had a stone fence around it. Likely they thought that such a place would be able to withstand the dead better than a normal house without a fence. Looking at them though, Takashi felt a sinking feeling in his gut. He was probably going to see another tragedy.

(LINE BREAK)

Hiroto Maresato, his daughter Alice, and her teacher Medea ran through the gates towards the house. It had been a hellish two days and something that all of them wished had never happened. Somehow, someway, the dead had begun to rise and kill every living person they had gotten their hands on. Once Hiroto began hearing the news about everything that was going on, his first thoughts had been to go find his daughter and wife. Abandoning his job at the newspaper service, he ran home daring to hope that his wife was locked up and safe.

What he found was a ghoul wearing her face and another one of their neighbours that had been chewing on her arm before she got up. Hiroto was forced to defend himself, taking a monkey wrench he had taken out of the garage at work for protection to kill them both. He mourned for the loss of his wife but he kept pushing himself forward. Running to Shintoko 3rd Elementary school, he discovered Alice hiding nearby, cut off from getting inside by hordes of the dead with only her teacher Medea protecting her with some kind of...power.

Were it not for her, Hiroto wasn’t sure if he and his daughter would have survived as long as they had.

Medea herself was a lovely woman who was obviously foreign, but as a man who went abroad often himself he found her looks pleasant in Japan’s monoculture society. She claimed to be Greek and had arrived at Japan for a fresh start from her ex whom they parted ways rather...poorly. She worked at Shintoko 3rd as an assistant caretaker for the teachers since so many children went to school there. Alice had excitedly told her parents all about ‘Medea-Neechan’ who was so pretty and told so many cool stories.

Hiroto and his wife met Medea several times and found the woman to be very-well spoken, obviously intelligent, and just so charming to be around. Her pointed ears were a little odd, but on someone like her they seemed to make her more attractive. Personally Hiroto wondered why a beautiful woman like her was simply helping care for children when she could have been a model of some sort. His wife on the other hand was scheming with some of the other housewives in their neighbourhood to try and hook her up with some of the men that were single, hoping to help her get over her previous bad relationship. Hiroto thought it was none of his business, but his wife wouldn’t be denied.

When he arrived at Shintoko 3rd for Alice, Hiroto was stunned to discover that the building was surrounded by some kind of orange dome that whenever one of the dead so much as touched it, it burst into flames and was little more than ashes in only a few minutes. He would have tried braving the barrier himself had not so many of the dead tried to surround it and he discovered Alice and Medea hiding in a nearby building. Apparently, Alice had gotten caught outside after one of the teachers who liked to bring a couple of the kids on trips to the park during lessons got attacked with her class. Alice was likely the only survivor and she had tried running to get back to school before more of the dead cut her off. Medea had escaped the safety of the barrier to rescue Alice and bring her back but not even her abilities seemed to stem the tide of the dead, forcing her and Alice to take shelter elsewhere.

Hiroto managed to reach them and together they fled for a safer place to hide. They heard that Onbetsu Bridge was being used to evacuate, but Medea revealed that the ghouls were attracted to sound so likely the bridge would be swarming with them. So they searched for an alternate means of escaping.

During the first night, Hiroto demanded to know just how Medea was able to shoot blasts of light which pulped heads or searing blasts of wind that could shred the dead with ease. Medea explained it as magic, pure and simple. She was also the one who erected the barrier around Shintoko 3rd. So long as it was up, the dead who so much as touched it would be incinerated. It was tied to something she called a leyline so it wouldn’t be going down anytime soon and it would be perfectly safe for living humans to cross. After seeing so many examples of it, Hiroto was hard-pressed to call Medea’s abilities anything else but magical. Strange or not though, they helped keep him and his daughter alive. For that alone he was thankful for her presence, nevermind how much his daughter adored her.

They had spent the day searching for shelter but were run off at every turn or found it infested. Onbetsu Bridge had been swarmed like Medea had predicted, forcing the trio to run to the nearby residential district for help. Thanks to some crazed punk shooting his shotgun at everything that moved though, they were quickly becoming swarmed by the dead who were attracted by the gunshots.

“This way,” Hiroto whispered as he ushered Alice and Medea through the gates. Once they were through, he shut the gates behind him.

“Daddy, is Mommy going to be able to find us here?” asked Alice as Medea shuffled her along.

Medea and Hiroto grimaced at one another, neither having the heart to tell the child that her mother was dead. Planting a fake smile on his lips, he looked down to his daughter, “Once we’re settled in we’ll find a way to let Mommy know where we are so she can find us.”

Hiroto then approached the front door. He hated having to do his next move, but he had to get inside! Lights were on and he could see figures in the windows so there had to be people still alive and hiding out inside. Reaching the door, he began hitting the wood. Immediately, the dead outside the gates became more agitated as they began to try and reach through the bars.

“Let us in!” Hiroto called. “We have a child with us and we can’t evacuate! We don’t have to stay forever, just until the dead clear out! Please!”

“Go away! We don’t have enough supplies! You’ll attract those things to us!”

Hiroto couldn’t help but gape at the cowardly reply, but Medea only had to struggle not to ‘tsk’ while Alice could hear her cynicism. She knew that people could be awfully selfish when the mood suited them and in a situation like this it was every man for himself. The moans from the dead grew louder, signalling more dead trying to force their way in. Alice whimpered and Medea quickly embraced her, trying to keep her calm.

Hiroto grit his teeth before he began slamming on the door again. This was the best-defended place they could get to and he would be damned if he let his little girl be eaten alive! “Listen god-dammit! If you don’t let this door down I’ll smash it in!” He raised his monkey wrench up to swing it. “One! Two!”

“Okay! Okay!” the cowardly voice on the other side cried out. “I’ll let you in! Just don’t break the door!”

Hiroto sighed in relief, lowering his weapon as he heard several locks come undone. He hated having to use threats like that but desperate times called for desperate measures. He’d have to make it up to them in case the stay was prolonged. The door slowly began to open and he couldn’t help but smile, “Thank you. I’m sorry about-!”

*SLNK!*

Medea’s eyes widened when she heard the familiar noise of flesh being sliced through. Looking ahead, her eyes widened when she saw a man in the hallways of the home with more survivors huddled behind him, holding a long stick with what looked like a large knife tied to the end of it. That knife itself was buried up to the hilt in Hiroto’s chest, striking a vital area.

“HIROTO!” Medea screamed, her grip on Alice loosening enough for the girl to see what happened. Her eyes widened in fright at the image.

“Daddy...?”

“I’m sorry,” the man holding the stick whimpered. He was crying and trembling something fierce. “I’m so sorry!” He pushed the stick, burying the blade deeper and pushing Hiroto away with a spreading red stain on his chest before pulling the blade out with a splash of blood. He quickly pulled his weapon back and shut the door, locking it shut once again.

Hiroto stumbled backwards, clutching his chest in a vain attempt to stop the bleeding. The blade had struck near his heart, severing one of the main arteries next to it. Stumbling back against the stone wall, his legs lost strength and he fell, his back against the gate, the blood stain spreading as he stared up weakly at his sobbing daughter who was running to his side.  “Alice...” he uttered, blood dripping from his mouth as he caressed her cheek. “It’ll be OK, sweety. Everything will be OK,” he reassured her.

“Daddy! Daddy! Please be okay!” Alice begged, tears running down her cheeks.

“I’ll be okay. I’ll be okay,” Hiroto mumbled, his breath becoming shallow. “Just...just keep following your big sister Medea. She’ll take care of you...until I...get...back...” Hiroto’s breath left his body in an exhale, death fortunately not leaving him to suffer like so many else had in the past two days.

“...Daddy?” Alice gaped. “Daddy? no...DADDY! DADDY WAKE UP! NO! DON’T GO AWAY!”

The sight of Alice crying, Hiroto’s body, and the sight of the door which hid the people who’d done this to them made Medea’s eyes flash with anger. Once again, the selfish and greedy people seemed to be allowed to prosper while the good people suffered and died. And once again she could do nothing about it, played as a victim to fate. Her magic could heal, but if the wounds were too severe or too numerous then there was little hope. Even then, it was more effective on herself than on others.

But even if her magic could not bring Hiroto back or heal Alice’s broken heart, she could at least use it to punish the people who had so selfishly taken a father away from his child. They said they were sorry? Oh, she would make them sorry, alright! Standing up over Alice’s crying form, she pointed her hand with the palm open at the door and the murderers behind it.

“Αερo!” Medea shrieked, unleashing a plague-like wind from her hand. The wind cut through the air, empowered by her High-Speed Divine Words allowed to her through her connection to her grandfather. The wind smashed into the door, shredding it to pieces. The people inside began to scream as the pieces hit them or rather the realization hit them that their protection was gone.

“You...murderers! Pieces of filth!” Medea snarled with absolute fury. “To Tartarus with you for murdering an innocent man who only wished to protect his child!”

Almost as if it were a death bell, the lock on the gate failed from the force that the horde of the dead were pushing against it. Alice screamed as did the people in the house as the property was compromised. Medea grit her teeth and prepared for a fight, hustling Alice back near a clothesline as the dead began to enter the property. Medea had hoped that the screams for the killers inside would attract the dead more than Alice’s cries, but it seemed like with any animal, even the dead went for the food that was closer. Several of the corpses turned from the gate towards the pair, their arms reaching out in preparation to tear their flesh from their bones.

The first of the ghouls approaching them suddenly found itself without a head as a blast of purple magic power pulsed from Medea’s hand, her Rain of Light spell which was one of her most versatile and her most deadly of incantations. The ghoul fell back as portions of its head flew in all directions, but more were quick to take their place. Medea didn’t mind as she shot more blasts.

If she paced herself, she could do this all night...hopefully.

(LINE BREAK)

Apartment

“Holy shit,” Takashi couldn’t help but admire. “That lady’s kicking some ass.”

He had seen the whole debacle begin from his perch on the balcony. He at first thought that it would be a repeat of the previous two kills he witnessed but it soon turned into something drastically different. He saw what happened to that poor girl’s father, killed at the hands of people he ran to for help. He certainly didn’t begrudge the woman for doing...whatever it was she did. He would have been out for blood too if someone killed Rei just to make sure that they stayed safe when they were huddled up inside a defendable place and didn’t want to share. A part of him hoped that the one who did the job got eaten by the dead for killing a good man. Now he just watched as the woman shot blasts of purple light, blowing the heads off of any ghoul that got near her and the kid.

“That’s kind of hot,” Kota bashfully admitted. Nothing was such a turn on for him than a woman who could kick ass. Well, a woman who knew her way around guns would be better but this was still pretty cool. He seemed to have an attraction towards aggressive women, like Saya.

“At least someone is able to survive out here in this hell besides us,” Takashi sighed. “Hope that kid makes it out okay.”

“What? A child?” Lancelot suddenly spoke up. Approaching Takashi’s position he took the binoculars from the teen to see where he was looking. He was no Archer so the enhanced eyesight of the class wasn’t available to him. It took a moment, but his eyes landed on the woman who was defending the small child with blasts of magic. “Another one.”

“One of us?” asked Diarmuid.

“Yes. And she isn’t going to last long at this rate.” Lancelot nodded.

“What?” Takashi blinked. “But look at her! She’s totally owning them!”

“Look again,” Lancelot replied, handing the tool back. “Hirano-san, your scope likely has a better range of sight than the binoculars do. Look at the woman and tell me what you see.”

Kota, who up until that point had been watching the carnage, turned his scope to the woman herself. His arousal suddenly died when he saw that the woman was panting sweating, and with her legs trembling. She had only just started assaulting the dead and now it seemed that she was already about to drop. From the look of her, she’d had to have been fighting since the apocalypse began. She hadn’t had the opportunity to rest and properly replenish whatever energy she had used and was running on empty.

“Lance-san is right. She looks like she’s going to drop,” Kota frowned. As if to punctuate his point, the woman dropped to her knees, panting hard and struggling to keep her arm raised but was still shooting the energy blasts. “Oh damn!

Takashi grit his teeth as he watched the dead steadily loom closer, the woman apparently losing too much energy and fell to her side, panting. The little girl was shaking her shoulder and crying for her to get back up but the woman was too weak. “Shit...not again!”

“We must assist them,” insisted Lancelot. Originally, they hadn’t been able to help anyone because doing so would just attract the dead, but the situation was different now. The dead were already here and a child’s life was at stake.

*KA-CHAK*

The sound of a bullet entering the fire chamber almost echoed as Kota hefted his rifle onto the balcony railing. Taking quick but careful aim, he placed a beat on the back of the closet ghoul’s head as it approached the woman and child.

“Rock and roll!”

*BOOM*

(LINE BREAK)

Medea panted as her vision blurred with the dead approaching. Alice was burrowed into her side, crying loudly, wanting the nightmare to end so she could be back with her parents. Medea was cursing herself for giving into her anger and neglecting her prana levels. She had been fighting since all this hell began! Of course her reserves would not be at their best! The only relatively positive change to their situation was the small white and brown puppy that had snuck past the dead, attracted by the noise before running to the pair of girls and began barking, trying to scare off the ghouls who were wishing harm on the pair. Medea couldn’t help but smile weakly as she watched the puppy’s brave stand. If nothing else, at least it would survive since it seemed that the ghouls weren’t interested in eating animals.

The closest of the dead snarled and prepared to lunge at what looked like an easy meal...

*BOOM!*

The sound of a gunshot cut through the air, stunning Medea and Alice where they were. The zombie that was preparing to attack suddenly had it’s forehead turn bloody as a bullet round pulped it’s brain from behind, dropping it where it stood. The witch and little girl couldn’t help but blink in surprise at what had happened.

*BOOM! BOOM!*

A pair of shots dropped two more of the dea that were lumbering through the gate, making the yard clear for the moment of the dead.

“M-Medea-Neechan?” Alice sniffled.

The bluenette weakly smiled as a third shot rang out and killed another zombie that entered the property, “I think...someone’s coming to help us.”

(LINE BREAK)

Apartment

*BOOM!*

Kota’s fourth shot rang through the night as he kept his eyes trained on the girl and woman so to protect them from any attacking ghouls.

“That’s what you deadbeats get for trying to go after a little girl!” Kota grinned maniacally. “You want something to eat, try a full serving of lead!” He punctuated the statement by dropping two more zombies from his perch.

“Hey, what happened to keeping our heads down and conserving ammo?” asked Takashi, a smile coming to his lips.

“IT’S A LITTLE GIRL! SCREW THE RULES!” Kota shouted back.

“That’s all the justification that I need,” Lancelot nodded, manifesting his armour again. “I’ll go out and retrieve them. Be prepared to move. The gunshots will attract even more of them.”

“I’ll go with you,” Takashi volunteered. “Going alone without backup is just screaming for trouble.”

Lancelot looked to Takashi, wanting to argue with him but thought better of it. The teen was insistent on wanting to help and a second set of eyes to help look out for trouble as well as another pair of arms to evacuate the two would be helpful. Lancelot knew his own strengths lay in whatever he could get his hands on. If his hands were full with the two females then he wouldn’t be able to defend himself from the dead. “Very well. We’ll be taking the motorcycle but be prepared to act fast!”

“Right!”

“I’ll begin waking the others,” Diarmuid volunteered. “We’ll pack as many supplies as we can.”

“I’ll keep an eye out here!” Kota nodded, firing off another shot to kill a ghoul which got too close to the girls.

Lancelot and Takashi headed back into the bedroom, the latter grabbing his jacket as they went. Kyoko and Shizuka were still dead to the world, but Tooru was beginning to wake up. He wasn’t in any position to notice the gunshots since he was more entranced by the female bodies next to him and wondering just what the hell happened. The knight and teenager headed down the stairs, coming out to the living room. Rei was sitting up again, rubbing her eyes while Takuzo had been snapped awake, making him gently put Naomi aside who was sleeping like a log.

“Takashi...?” Rei yawned. “What’s going on?”

“Yeah man. We’re all sleeping here,” Takuzo muttered, not wanting to admit he was enjoying sleeping with Naomi like he was.

“There’s a little girl outside who’s being cornered by them,” Takashi reported as he and Lancelot headed for the front door. “Lance-san and I are heading out to go rescue her.”

“Wh-what?” Rei gasped.

“Holy shit!” Takuzo gasped. “Seriously?”

“Dead serious,” Lancelot nodded, not stopping his march. “Diarmuid will help you wake everyone up. With Hirano firing as much as he is, we’re likely going to have to start moving soon. Be prepared.”

“B-But-!” Rei tried to argue. Lancelot going was one thing since he could handle it but Takashi too?

“Let them go,” Saeko spoke, approaching from the kitchen again. “It’s a man’s prerogative to go out and do things like this.”

“Sorry about having to do something stupid like this, but it’s something I can’t ignore,” Takashi sighed, buttoning up his jacket. At least if he wore it he wouldn’t have to worry about being scratched by those dead fucks outside and would only have to worry about bites.

“I’d be disappointed if you didn’t go in this case,” Saeko smiled. “Don’t worry about the rest of us here. We can hold down the fort.” Saeko shifted her grip, holding her bokken at the ready. “You just worry about getting that child back here unharmed.”

“Right,” Takashi nodded.

“Komuro, we must go if we’re going to save them,” Lancelot spoke, glancing back. “Hirano only has so many bullets and there are far too many of them outside for him to be able to kill them all.”

“Takashi, wait!” Takashi turned and saw Rei approaching him, holding the Smith and Weston in her hands. “At least take this with you. It would be better protection than just a crowbar or something.”

“Thanks,” Takashi nodded, taking the weapon and sticking it into the waistband of his pants. “Let’s go Lance-san!”

Lancelot and Takashi quickly exited the apartment, running down the stairs to the parking lot. The black knight ran to the motorcycle first and quickly took hold of it, wheeling it over to the entrance ramp to the parking lot.

“We’ll make a ramp for you to use,” Saeko spoke as she and Rei followed the men. “It’ll give you a good head start against them. That way you won’t just go running into their arms.”

“Good idea,” Takashi agreed.

Lancelot brought the bike into position before mounting it. Once he was in place Knight of Honor did its work, transforming the machine into his Noble Phantasm. The bike transformed into a black version of itself with a purple sheen glowing in the darkness. No one questioned the ability, having seen it too many times to find it strange and certainly too useful to speak out against. Takashi quickly hopped on behind Lancelot, gripping his armour for a better hold on the bike. In front of them, Rei planted what looked like a stunt ramp bicyclists would use before she and Saeko took positions at the gate.

“Don’t rely on the gun too much,” Saeko warned. “It would be like ringing the dinner bell to them. At least on the bike you two will be moving and able to get away.”

“Just be prepared to move when we leave,” Lancelot warned. “I suspect that this will get messy no matter how well we execute it.”

“Right,” Rei agreed. “Ready?”

Lancelot hit the ignition on the bike, making it roar. Outside, the dead began to groan and take notice of the noise, looking to the gates of the complex as the source. Lancelot gunned the accelerator, sending the machine roaring down the ramp at ridiculous speeds. Saeko and Rei of course knew the signal and threw open the doors. The bike hit the ramp and became airborne, flying through the gates and crashing into the horde outside, flattering at least one of the ghouls before Lancelot hit the ground and swerved in the direction of the woman and child, spreading the blood of the ghoul he hit on the ground like morbid paint.

“Hang on!” the knight ordered.

Hitting the accelerator again, Lancelot and Takashi roared down the street. Once in awhile, Takashi or Lancelot himself would kick one of the dead away that was too close, but mainly swerved to avoid hitting them. Lancelot could have easily run them down on the modified bike but that would have eaten up precious seconds in the rescue. That aside, Kota had them covered by shooting down some of the dead that were directly in their way.

In no time at all, they reached the house where the girl and the woman were located. Lancelot hit the brakes and swerved in the streets, knocking several more ghouls away before riding the motorcycle inside. He hit one of the corpses of the dead already on the property and gained more airtime, but recovered like a professional and landed on the ground. Lancelot quickly dismounted, Takashi not too far behind. Lancelot quickly took stock of the situation. More of the dead had wandered inside and were heading for the child and the woman while even more were at the gate slowly shambling inside. The door to the house was open, but no more screams could be heard from inside. Either the people fled, or the dead had entered and had already devoured everyone there. Either way, they weren’t of concern.

“Komuro! Secure the women! I’ll take the gates!” Lancelot barked.

“You got it!” Takashi nodded, running to where the pair and the puppy were cornered.

Lancelot in the meantime grabbed the monkey wrench which the unfortunate father of the girl dropped when he had been stabbed. Knight of Honour quickly turned it into his Noble Phantasm, granting it power which would have been considered ridiculous for a simple tool. Weapon found, the knight charged at the front gates and the ghouls slowly wandering inside. He swung wide, smashing the heads of the zombies, pulping their brains and leaving them to dribble onto the grass where they fell. More shots rang out as Kota cleared the area in front of the gate with impressive accuracy. With the dead cleared at the moment, Lancelot shut the gates again before using his own wrench to clamp them shut. Normally a ridiculous notion, but the gates were more likely to break off their hinges then the Noble Phantasm was of breaking.

Takashi went about his task with equal ferocity. Pulling out a crowbar which he had been supplied from the bike, he swung and smashed  punk zombie’s head, sending it sprawling onto the ground. He then twisted on the spot and caught another zombie in the face, dropping it where it stood. Checking around himself, he saw that the dead were cleared from the yard and all the rest were outside and unable to get in. Sighing, he looked to the pair in relief, “You two okay?”

Alice gasped, brought out of her shock by the words. With her, Medea grunted as she tried to sit up, “Could be...better.” The puppy merely barked its own confirmation to health.

Lancelot approached the pair and he and Medea met eyes, instantly recognizing each other as a Heroic Spirit. They didn’t not share words though since it was not the time for such. Approaching the woman, he kneeled down at her side, “Are you able to stand?”

“Not...nn...not for some time,” Medea shook her head. She was not one to trust easily, but seeing these two risked their lives to save her and Alice, she was willing to give them some benefit of the doubt. “I used too much...”

“I see,” Lancelot nodded. Stepping closer, he gently collected the woman into his arms and picked her up in a bridal carry. It looked paradoxical considering how threatening his armour looked compared to the gentle task he had given himself. Alice quickly scooped the puppy into her arms as she timidly approached the knight and the teenage boy who had come to her rescue.

“Hey...Oniichan?” She mumbled timidly, tugging Takashi’s sleeve.

“Yeah?” asked Takashi.

Alice trembled, but then pointed over to the corpse of her father. He was easily identifiable, being the only body there that didn’t have gray skin and dead features. “That one there...that one’s my Daddy.”

Takashi and Lancelot grimaced at the sight. The man had only wanted to find a safe place for his daughter and another person but got stabbed for his troubles. The teenager glanced back at the house which was now compromised, but he saw figures in the window staring down at them in fear. He scowled at them for their cowardly and selfish act of murder before he turned his attention back to the dead man. He walked over to a clothesline and grabbed a white shirt which was hanging there before plucking a flower from one of the bushes. He then returned to the body and draped the shirt over his face. It wasn’t a perfect means for respecting the dead, but it was a whole lot better than the other bodies in the yard got.

“He died trying to protect you and your friend,” Takashi sighed. “That makes him a pretty great dad if you ask me.” he held up the flower to Alice, as the man’s daughter it was her right to offer something to his dead body so his spirit could be at peace. The little girl trembled with shiny tears dripping from her face, but she managed to get the courage to take the flower and place it on her father’s chest. Her sobs grew louder and Takashi hugged her, offering at least some comfort to her in her time of misery.

“It never changes,” Medea whispered in Lancelot’s arms. “The selfish live and the innocent die. Why does fate always hurt the most those who deserve it the least?”

“Fate didn’t decree this, humans did,” Lancelot whispered back. “And humans can be notoriously selfish.” he looked at the crying girl who Takashi was doing his best to comfort. “That said, there are those who prove to be shining examples of what humanity could be as well.”

“A shame not everyone decides to follow it,” Medea whispered back.

Takashi allowed Alice to cry for a few more moments before he calmly held her up so that he could speak to her, “Listen sweetie, you’re going to have to be really quiet, okay? The noise is only going to bring more of them and that we don’t need.”

“I...I know,” Alice nodded. “Medea-Neechan told me that too. But...how are we going to get out of here?”

“Good question,” Takashi grimaced. The gate was now swarmed with the dead trying to get through, the noise from the bike and the fight had caused all of the dead in the street to pool together at the gate to try and get inside. The modified wrench would hold the gate shut so they couldn’t get inside but who knew how long it would be before they all gave up and moved elsewhere? They couldn’t stay since the people in the house would likely try to push them out if not kill them like they did Alice’s father.

“Even I can’t force my way out through that, not if I wish to keep the rest of you alive,” Lancelot frowned, eyeing the mob just feet away.

Takashi frowned in thought and looked around, but then his eyes fell on the wall surrounding the property itself. It was then an idea struck him like lightning, “Say, if we can’t get past them then why not go above them?”

“Hm?” Lancelot blinked.

(LINE BREAK)

Apartment

True to his word, Diarmuid managed to wake everyone up from their slumber and relay the situation. Saya agreed that with the level of noise Kota made from his shooting and the chaos that Takashi and Lancelot created down the road that the dead were going to swarm the streets pretty soon so evacuation was imminent.

Takuzo, Naomi, and Saya raided everything they could gather from the apartment be it weapons, food, clothes, or other supplies. Thankfully Shizuka’s friend had a lot of backpacks and other bags to carry it all in. Saeko and Diarmuid were keeping an eye on things in the street which was for the moment clear since the dead were going for Lancelot and Takashi for the time being.

“Think it will all fit?” asked Rei, eyeing the amount of supplies they raided.

“It’ll have to,” Saya frowned, tying her hair back into its twin ponytails. “Just do it quietly or else we’re going to be the ones in trouble.” The genius then looked up the stairs. “Shizuka-sensei, are you-UH?”

Saya blinked slightly when Shizuka came running down the stairs, hugging a military carry bag to her chest filled with more supplies that she managed to hunt down. Not a great amount of shock, but the ditzy teacher had just been woken up and was still ditzier than normal. because of that, she was still naked and didn’t seem to realize it.

“I found more stuff!”  the blonde smiled proudly.

“That’s...great,” Saya frowned, irritated at the nurse’s stupidity. “Now why don’t you go through it and maybe try to find some clothes?”

“Huh?” Shizuka blinked and looked down at herself. She then gasped and blushed profusely. “No wonder I was so cold!” She dashed to the other supplies so she could find an outfit she could wear to hide her nudity.

“You ditz,” the voice of Kyoko Hayashi sighed. Coming down the stairs was slower for her, having to support Tooru and his sprained ankle. The bespectacled boy was still slightly stunned having woken up between the underwear-clad redhead and the nude blonde. Thankfully, Kyoko deemed it important to at least put on a blouse even if she hadn’t gotten a skirt on yet so he was rapidly recovering.

“So, just how are we supposed to help Komuro?” asked Naomi. “He’s still stuck over there and from the looks of it he won’t be able to get back.”

“Well...” Shizuka offered, shrugging on her blouse. “Then we’ll just have to go get him.” She blinked when silence and stares were her answer making her feel self-conscious. “Ah, did I say something stupid? I mean, I do have the keys and everything already.

“Actually,” Saeko began to smile. “That doesn’t sound like a bad idea at all.”

‘Sounds pretty good actually,” Rei agreed.

“She’s right! A hell of a plan!” Saya nodded. “We go rescue Komuro and Lance and then we haul ass outta here!” Quickly grabbing a flashlight, she blinked it up at the balcony where Kota was keeping an eye on things from above.

Kota waved, showing he received the signal and began packing up everything from weapons to ammunition. What still bothered him was how they were going to get Lancelot and Komuro out of their situation. A military-model humvee was nothing to sneeze at and it could take a whole lot of punishment before needing to be repaired. The problem was that with all of the zombies huddled together, he had doubts that even a humvee would be able to bulldoze through all of them. Now if they had a tank then that would be a different story altogether but that wasn’t happening anytime soon.

Slinging his rifle over his shoulder, Kota gave one last glance over to where Takashi and Lancelot were before freezing. At first he thought he would have to check his glasses, but when the image didn’t vanish he began to grin, “Oh that ballsy genius!”

(LINE BREAK)

Street

Indeed it was a ballsy move that Takashi and Lancelot were undergoing. Takashi carried Alice on his back and her puppy in his jacket as he walked along the outer wall of the property, above the swarming zombies. He needed to be careful not to make a sound or else they would know where food was. How Lancelot’s armour wasn’t making a sound Takashi didn’t know but he certainly wouldn’t complain. The people in the house, without a barricade, would not last much longer but Takashi couldn’t care less about them. Their actions doomed themselves. Behind Takashi was Lancelot who was carrying Medea, the woman being much too weak to even stand up on her own still.

It was slow going, trying to keep their balance while carrying extra weight. They also tried to keep their noise down as quietly as possibly. Now and then a zombie would grasp at the walls, but it seemed more like exploratory grabs that actual knowledge that something was there.

‘Slow and steady, slow and steady,’ Takashi reminded himself, putting on a brave front so that the girl on his back would be calm. At least the puppy was managing to behave himself, not moving an inch as Takashi walked. ‘Just a few more feet and we can haul ass outta-’

“Umm...Oniichan?” Alice whispered. “I...I’ve...I’ve gotta pee.”

“...” Takashi blinked. He silently begged that he misheard that. “What did you say?”

“I’ve got to pee!” Alice whispered urgently, beginning to fidget on his back.

Well...can’t you hold it?” asked Takashi. He didn’t need something like this happening to him right now! “Think about playing or TV or something?”

“No! I can’t hold it!” Alice replied, her squirming becoming worse.

Lancelot blinked at the conversation, honestly surprised that now of all times the little one would need to have a bowel movement. Medea almost had the urge to giggle and would have if the situation had not required silence. Alice always had to go to the bathroom when she got scared or nervous. She was a little surprised that given the hell they were in, she was able to hold it in for so long.

“...” Takashi was silent for a moment. This never happened to the heroes in the movies. It figured considering how his life had been recently. “Okay, you can go right here. Oniichan will forgive you.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Go ahead,” Takashi nodded, a manly tear leaking from his eye. Alice nodded and stiffened slightly. Right before Lancelot and Medea’s eyes a dark stain appeared on Takashi’s back and went down to his pants.

‘That’s new even for me,’ Lancelot couldn’t help but admit to himself. If any of his comrades back in Camelot had heard of such a rescue followed by such humiliation they would have been rolling on the floor with laughter.

The moment of levity was interrupted when a lucky grab from one of the dead snagged Takashi’s shoe, making the teen slip. grunting, he managed to get his balance back before kicking the corpse responsible in the face. The noise from the body falling agitated the others, making them shuffle and press against one another, getting closer to the noise even if they didn’t find any food.

“Crap,” Takashi hissed to himself. Now the freaks were going to be looking for food where they were standing rather than trying to get into the yard where they were. They’d likely follow the wall trying to get around it to where they thought the noise was and follow them to the street where there was no more wall to follow and strand the group there.

As Takashi tried to think of a solution, one was provided for him by the sounds of a roaring engine. Looking ahead, they saw a pair of headlights racing towards their position. It took a moment for their eyes to adjust, but they soon saw that it was the humvee driving towards them with Kota on the mounted position with Saeko and Diarmuid standing on top with their weapons ready. It was damned sweet sight to see and in Takashi’s mind a little alluring since Saeko was still in the apron.

The humvee raced into the mob, running down the dead without a car, showing just how tough military engineering was. When it got close enough, the driver, Shizuka, made a sharp turn and made the machine skid to a halt. Saeko and Diarmuid immediately leaped off, using the momentum from the stop to launch them at the closest zombies. Saeko’s sword skills once again showed their worth as she cracked a housewife zombie over the head, ending her threat before moving onto the next with uncanny grace. Still, for all of the skill Saeko showed that made her amazing, Diarmuid showed off a completely different level of skill that was downright legendary. The man dipped and swerved past the dead, swinging his spears both short and long. the short one stabbed the closest of the dead, easily ending them while wide swings of the red one actually beheaded its targets, sometimes as many as three in one blow!

“Takashi!” Rei shouted, coming up from the gunner spot next to Kota. “Get your ass over here!”

“Easier said than done!” Takashi shouted back, starting to move once again.

“Crap. We need more time,” Saya hissed, realizing the situation. “Hirano!”

“On it!” Kota grinned, bringing the Ithica to bear and taking aim at the approaching horde. Grinning, he pulled the trigger, bringing a resounding bang. The shotgun peppered the nearest dead with lead, knocking them all back and like a domino effect, they knocked back the ones behind them making a good portion of the horde fall over and begin struggling to get back up again.

The distraction proved to be enough, both Lancelot and Takashi leaped from the wall and landed on the pavement, running for the humvee as Diarmuid and Saeko retreated to join their friends. Takashi brought Alice to one side, opening the back seat to cram themselves in next to Takuzo and Naomi while Lancelot took the other side, passing Medea off to Kyoko and Tooru before dismissing his armour and climbing inside.

“Okay! We’re clear! Let’s go!” Saya barked orders. The ditzy blonde driving nodded and ht the gas, driving down the street, crushing more of the dead along the way.

As they drove, Takuzo spoke up “Hey, what smells like pee?”

“Oh shut up.”