Author's Note:
If you have any recommendations for future worlds Hiro could visit, feel free to leave them in the comments.
Also, if you're enjoying the story so far, please consider leaving a review. Your feedback is greatly appreciated.
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Chapter 10: The Beginning
Now here I was.
Sitting in class.
Looking out the window.
Trying to process the information I'd just learned.
I was in Highschool of the Dead.
The soon-to-be land of the walking corpses and physics-defying breasts.
"..."
Not gonna lie.
Despite everything, I was excited.
A little.
Okay.
More than a little.
Zombies had always been one of my favorite apocalypse scenarios back in my old world.
Objectively speaking, they were terrible.
Society collapses.
People die horribly.
Civilization ends.
On paper, it was one of the worst things that could realistically happen.
And yet...
The inner child in me couldn't help but feel excited at the prospect of smashing zombie heads.
Preferably with something very long, hard, girthy, and blunt.
Like a bat.
Get your mind out of the gutter.
Unfortunately, wanting to smash zombies and surviving long enough to actually do so were two very different things.
Experience had taught me that.
Painfully.
So instead of daydreaming about becoming the protagonist of my own zombie movie, I focused on what actually mattered.
Planning.
Preparation.
Because unlike my first world, this wasn't some isolated death game.
This was a full-blown apocalypse.
Most likely a global one.
Food.
Water.
Weapons.
Transportation.
Safe zones.
Information.
Every single one of those things would become important sooner or later.
The problem was...
I had absolutely no idea how much time I had.
Six months?
That was how long it had taken before things truly went to hell in High-Rise Invasion.
Maybe the same thing would happen here.
Honestly, I hoped so.
Six months would give me more than enough time to prepare.
Acquire supplies.
Scout locations.
Possibly convince certain very useful characters to cooperate with me.
Unfortunately—
"Hm?"
Something outside caught my attention.
Smoke.
Far in the distance, rising into the sky.
It was faint.
Barely noticeable.
But it was definitely there.
And judging by how spread out it looked, there was no way it came from a single building.
"...A fire?"
I frowned.
Now that I was paying attention...
There were sirens too.
Police sirens.
Distant.
Continuous.
I had subconsciously filtered them out earlier, but now that I'd noticed them, I couldn't unhear them.
One.
Two.
Three.
Several different sirens.
All going at once.
"..."
A bad feeling settled in my stomach.
No.
There was no way.
It was too early.
Right?
Please tell me it's not today.
Because if there was one thing fiction had taught me, it was that coincidences rarely existed.
Especially around protagonists.
Yeah.
I nodded to myself.
There's no way canon starts literally on my first day of school.
That would be ridiculous.
As if the universe had heard my thoughts and decided it would be funny to prove me wrong, the classroom speakers suddenly crackled to life.
Chiishk!
[Attention, all students!]
Every conversation inside the classroom immediately stopped.
[Violence has broken out on campus.]
Silence.
Complete silence.
My expression slowly froze.
[Students are advised to evacuate the campus immediately under the supervision of their teachers.]
[I repeat. Violence has—]
I was already gone.
I grabbed my bag and bolted.
Fast.
Very fast.
So fast that before the announcement had even finished, I was already halfway through the classroom door.
"Oi! Hiro! Where are you—?!"
I ignored whoever shouted after me.
For a brief moment, I considered warning everyone.
Telling them to run.
To stay away from anyone acting strangely.
To avoid getting bitten.
Then I remembered the rooftops.
The screams.
The panic.
And how nobody listened anyway.
"...Sorry."
Besides, if the anime was anything to go by, most of these idiots wouldn't move until the announcer literally got eaten over the speakers.
Staying here was suicide.
Because once the announcement ended...
Chaos would begin.
And I had absolutely no intention of being caught in the middle of it.
I sprinted through the hallways.
Students stared as I passed.
Some looked confused.
Others annoyed.
A few teachers tried to stop me.
I ignored all of them.
The infection in this world had always bothered me.
Even back when I first watched the anime.
It spread way too fast.
Komuro witnessed the first victim at the front gate.
Ran back to class.
Grabbed Rei and her soon-to-be-zombie boyfriend.
And somehow, in what couldn't have been more than a few minutes, the entire school had already gone to hell.
Which made absolutely no sense.
These zombies weren't fast.
The infection itself took time.
So where did all those zombies come from?
Honestly, I had two theories.
Either the outbreak had started much earlier than what the anime showed...
Or the universe had simply decided consistency was optional.
Neither possibility was particularly comforting.
Then—
[NO! HELP ME—!]
The voice abruptly cut off.
A wet, horrible sound echoed through the speakers.
Followed by screaming.
Begging.
And then—
[GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!]
"..."
Well.
The announcer was dead.
Which meant—
"AAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!"
Screams erupted everywhere.
Doors burst open.
Students flooded the hallways.
Some ran.
Some cried.
Some simply stood there in confusion.
The entire school descended into chaos within seconds.
And because screams meant noise—
The zombies immediately became much more active.
Fantastic.
Absolutely fantastic.
My life just kept getting better.
As I turned a corner, I nearly collided with a teacher.
The man stumbled past me, one hand pressed against his neck.
Blood seeped between his fingers.
His eyes were wide.
Terrified.
"H-help..."
I stopped.
For half a second.
The teacher took another step.
Then another.
Then suddenly—
His legs gave out.
He collapsed.
The smell of blood immediately hit me.
"..."
The bite mark on his neck was impossible to miss.
Around me, several students screamed.
I quietly took a step backward.
Then another.
And continued running.
There was nothing I could do for him.
Not anymore.
It wasn't long before I stopped again.
No.
I had to stop.
Three figures stood in the hallway ahead of me.
Their uniforms were stained with blood.
Their movements were sluggish.
Unnatural.
One of them slowly raised its head.
Dead eyes locked onto me.
"...Well."
I adjusted my grip on my backpack.
"That didn't take long."
The three zombies began shambling toward me.
Slowly.
Relentlessly.
And somewhere behind me—
More screams echoed.
"...Shit."
End of Chapter 10