“Well, first we create a plan. Saya any ideas on the zombies’ weaknesses? So far as I can tell they are slow and attack mindlessly. I estimate some form of fast-acting infection that kills on blood contact. I also noticed in the news that the ones in the body bags got back up. Meaning it can be a longer incubation time for some than others since the ones at the gate turned almost instantly. That would explain why even though we defended the gates at the beginning many zombies managed to cause havoc in the school since people were trampled in their attempts to get out of here. Some might have been hurt earlier in the day and thought nothing of it but succumbed to it inside our school.”

I reveal my analysis of the situation to Saya. A gleam in her eye appears something to distract her and show off has always been the best way to make her smile especially if it's beating me somehow.

This time however she looks a bit nervous at first about my analysis but then smirks. “Well, obviously I noticed all of this as well since I’m a genius!” She nervously lies.

“I also notice they are drawn to sound rather than visual contact or any other stimuli. They don’t even react to their body being struck instead it's all based on proximity to vibrations. I noticed this earlier when you yelled while I was… preoccupied with the other one. It's not just that they are drawn to loud noises that their only form of detecting us.” She gives me a challenging look as if I would disagree.

Interestingly, we can use this to our advantage if they only react to sound then their threat is significantly less.

“So, if we create a large enough sound, it can draw them away from us confusing them since that’s how they detect their prey,” I speak up.

“Exactly” She pushes up her glasses proudly.

“Nice observation next, who made this nail gun? It's well made and optimal for fighting the zombies out there, was it you Saya?” I ask while pointing to a nail gun that has been customized with a sight and armrest for added stability. It’s a fairly silent weapon that shoots semi auto and only would require one shot to kill. I know Saya is intelligent, but I’ve never known her to be one to work with developing any tools.

“Oh no um, that was Hirano” She looks pained to admit it since I praised it.

“UH Yeah I made it why? Do you like it?” Hirano seems a bit surprised that someone is complimenting him or acknowledging him.

“Yes, it’s great actually. Do you think with additional materials you could make other weapons?” If we have more weapons, we might be able to have none trained people defend themselves better like Auntie or Saya.

“Uh no I just know a lot about guns. Other things less so. If you find me some more nail guns, I can probably make something like this, but the ammo would be limited and the compression tank can’t really be refilled without specific tools…” Hirano looks a bit disappointed.

“Hmm well, we are going to need to be on the lookout for additional firearms from here out. Police cruisers and pawn shops would be the best targets maybe even some hardware stores for weapons like this” I heft the nail gun around a bit looking at it from another angle.

I look over the materials in the duffle bag as well to make the list of materials as accurate as possible.

“Um miss Shizuka why did you pack these materials in particular?” I read a lot of them and recognize them more as chem lab supplies rather than medical uses.

“Oh! They were the largest bottles and next to the alcohol and other disinfectant and antibiotics. I just grabbed them since they might be useful.”

“But why were they in the nurse’s office to begin with? These should be in the chem lab?” “

“Oh, the bottles all look so similar I’d get them mixed up all the time and bring back the wrong ones from the boxes. Mr.Taogi didn’t like it all that much… It’s not like I ever used the wrong chemical on a student or something.” She pouts a bit. But I can see her making that mistake.

“Well, it’s not that big of a deal it's better we have some of these rather than not, now that we have an inventory, now that there's no more news let’s get back on task. Who else has family nearby? Sorry for the distraction.” Looking around I look to Saeko first.

“Father is at a martial arts convention in another town. We were both invited alongside Auntie Ikara but since she declined, we did as well.” We look over to Auntie who looks a little guilty since a martial arts convention would be full of top fighters.

“Sorry… I couldn’t take that much time off. Especially in the middle of a school year…” Auntie answers looking down a bit.

“There's nothing to be sorry about I’m just glad that we stayed and were able to help protect you at the gate.” I smile at her. She's been there for me in some of my darkest days here and I can’t lose another mother I won't let that happen.

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She nods rapidly glad that I chose to stay too.

“Well, my father seems to be okay he's with the police somewhere I’m sure we can find him later. He told me to get out of the town though.” Rei answers. Her eyes look a little puffy but much better now than before.

“My dad's out of town and my mom’s a schoolteacher and wouldn’t be home until 5 so she could be anywhere by now.” Takashi answers looking a bit stressed out.

Damn tough luck

“Alright…”

“My parents are not in the neighborhood, but I’d go anywhere if it was with Takagi…” Hirano says on the side. Making Saya cringe and make gag sounds.

“But where are they then? Are they close at all?” Saeko asks.

“My father is a jewelry merchant so he's gone to Amsterdam to buy stones, my mother is a fashion designer so she's been staying in Paris too “

“Yeah right tubby, if you don’t want us to look for your family you can just tell us that. No need to make up a life story.” Saya interrupts his explanation. Honestly, I don’t fully believe it myself but it's his new life he can make his old one whatever he wants it to be.

“It doesn’t matter, it's his choice. What's important is we won’t be searching for his family.”

“Auntie and Saeko and her father are my only real living family. Then, Saya, Takashi, and Rei are all here, so I have no real reason to look for anyone else.” Saeko and Auntie smile at this Saya gives a slight frown but seems a bit content the other two don’t look phased at all. That’s when I remember the quest notification.

“Does anyone here know anyone by the name of Alice?” It’s a long shot but someone here might know them. Everyone else's name adds up to the list here. Even the lack of Hisashi.

“No, sounds American. I don’t know any foreigners here with that name. Why do you ask?” Auntie comments from the side and Saeko gives me a long look.

“I have a friend; I saw his body earlier and I know he has a sister named Alice. I just assumed she might be here. I’d try to help if I could.” I have to lie it’s not exactly like I can tell them I see notifications. Everyone else seems to buy it but Saeko still doesn’t look convinced she gives me one of those ‘we will talk about this later’ looks.

“It's fine though right everything will be back to normal soon, right?” Rei looks off into the distance while pulling on Takashi slightly. Damn girl your boyfriend died like an hour ago and you are already back to Takashi?

“Wake up this is a pandemic. The news isn't even explaining how bad it is to avoid panic. People are dying out there. The entire world is experiencing the same outbreak. Everything is falling apart.” Saya starts to give a bit of a rant.

“Sheesh, no need to sugar coat it.” Takashi snaps back

“I’m sorry? Am I not being nice about it? People are dying and you want me to what? Say everything is going to be fine? Grow up you idiot that’s not how real life works.” She gives a disgruntled humph and looks away from the now annoyed Takashi.

“She right you know. We need to approach this as if everything is coming to an end that we know. So that if things are made normal again, we are just happily surprised.” I pipe up.

“A pandemic?” Shizuka speaks up seemingly finally finishing a thought.

“Right a pandemic.” I nod to her.

“Well, how do epidemics or pandemics normally end?” Takashi asks. It's not his fault that more than half the room knows since we show up to bio or history class as everyone gives him a look except for Hirano.

“Well, usually when all the infected die since the disease is too deadly it can’t spread or a majority of a population achieve some sort of immunity causing its method of spreading to lower to the point of dying out.”

“Not really applicable here though since the dead come back as zombies and continue to spread the infection also since I don’t think there's any immunity to this. Even if one person is immune, they might just get torn apart by those that died and aren't.” I try to explain it slowly to Takashi a lightbulb seeming to go off in his eyes.

“You keep calling them zombies what is that anyway?” Another comment by Takashi. Again, not his fault modern viewing of zombies is very limited in lore.

“-sigh- read some old mythology sometimes, especially now since the world is seeing these types of creatures. Zombies originate from African folklore of voodoo. Stories say that their shamans could bring back the dead to serve them though that’s only one origin there are plenty of other histories with ties to the reanimation of the dead. Many novels have since depicted them in various states of expression from a curse spread by a bite much like a vampire/werewolf. To a disease shared by the host that controls the body once it’s killed the host. It could be either of these really. I’m hoping for the disease honestly since if it’s a curse or some form of weird voodoo stuff then I have no idea how to possibly prevent it. Since if it’s a disease we might be able to eventually make a vaccine or some type of cure by studying it.” I watch as people’s eyes light up as I mention a possible cure.

“In these stories what are their weaknesses?” Saya sighs like this is beneath her to ask about stories from old mythology or fiction to maybe help.

“Well, that depends on how it's spread. It also depends on their behavior. There are many different kinds of zombies in lore. If they eat the dead before they become zombies, then they are striving for flesh as a food source which means their bodies will most likely decay over time. If they bite then release, they are only attempting to spread the infection. This means If they are still relatively normal corpses they may die after breaking down within a couple of months due to the hotter summer weather and decomposition. If it's some sort of curse, then the bodies may not rot at all, continuing to move long after they should be able. There would also be the possibility that someone is controlling them if some sort of curse, though that seems unlikely due to their behavior and the scale of the problem.” I continue to list off the different possibilities and help explain the different concepts of zombies to them. There are many more, but a lot are unlikely.

“Yeah, that’s clearly a zombie. It's not human anymore…” Takashi mentions no longer using the term ‘them’ for the walking dead. Looking around everyone else agrees with the naming convention. We rest for a bit not sleeping but relaxing after running a lot before. Saeko keeps giving me glances while we all rest. Obviously wanted to have a more private conversation but Saya and Hirano keep staying near me. -sigh- Well looks like we are going to have to have a conversation…