PoruShark Writer's Note: Please read the latest chapters at Lycoris Undead.
Please add Lycoris Undead to your collection, along with my new book, Goddess's Assassin.
Enjoy reading!
***
[To all surviving students. Stay hidden in your classrooms or other safe places until the authorities arrive. If you can, try to reach the gymnasium through the path behind the Academy grounds. We have other students and supplies with us...]
"How did it go? Did they all make it out?" Natch asked after stepping out of the gymnasium broadcasting room.
Alexa, Jun, Diane, and Arthur, who had been keeping watch from the second-floor bleacher windows, approached Natch to report on the situation outside.
"They all made it to the microbus and drove out," Jun said, reassuring Natch that he had counted Ren's group even from a distance.
"Using the gymnasium's broadcasting equipment to help them escape the undead horde," Alexa said. "That's pretty smart of you, Diane."
"No, that was all Ren's plan."
Diane explained that, before leaving, Ren had asked her and Arthur to connect the gymnasium's broadcasting system to the Academy's and broadcast an announcement to help their group avoid the undead horde once they reached the open field and headed for the microbuses.
"That guy really thought his plan through, but it was all thanks to Lady Sakura," Arthur said, never missing an opportunity to praise Diane.
"Then let's hope he has a plan for after they get outside the Academy."
***
It's really happening...
Everyone had the same thought as they witnessed the reality of the undead outbreak unfolding outside their Academy.
Buildings were covered in blood, broken into and ransacked by desperate people, or surrounded by undead trying to get inside.
Burning cars littered the streets, some abandoned and covered in blood.
Strangers were chased down by undead while others were already being devoured alive.
Survivors fought desperately against the undead.
And madmen killed their fellow humans.
"Be careful on the road, Eve," Ren said, noticing Evelyn's terrified expression as she continued driving.
"I'm fine, Ren."
***
Eve continued driving until they reached a relatively safer area, where at least there were no other people around to attack them.
"Stop the bus for a second, Eve." Ren said quietly from behind Evelyn.
Following his request, Evelyn slowly hit the brakes and parked the bus at the side of the road.
"What are we stopping for, Ren?" Evelyn asked, voicing everyone's question.
"I don't think the kids would be comfortable seeing the bus like this."
The windows, seats, and floor were stained with blood, while the microbus was also filled with the torn-apart corpses of senior students and the four undead Ren and Liz had taken down.
"You're not telling us to clean this mess, are you?" Tristan retorted, clearly unwilling to clean or follow any more of Ren's instructions.
"We'll just be wasting time when we should be looking for Natalie's sister."
"It's fine," Natalie said, interrupting them before another argument could break out.
"I won't let my sister get traumatized by riding in a bus that's this disgusting."
"If you don't want to clean, then go handle the undead outside," Ren said, tossing his wooden sword toward Tristan.
Tristan caught it and glanced toward the side of the road, confirming that only a few undead were slowly approaching the micobus. He then looked back at Elizabeth, inviting her to join him.
"Let's beat them up together, Elizabeth," Tristan said with an excited grin.
However, Elizabeth rejected his invitation.
"I think I need a bit of rest, so I'll just help clean the bus," Elizabeth replied with her usual gentle smile.
"Just go with Marcus," Evelyn suggested, glancing at Marcus, who was sitting directly across from Ren.
"You two should be enough to handle those few undead, right?"
Whether it was a challenge to his combat skills or simply an act of dominance in their relationship, Marcus silently agreed with Evelyn's suggestion.
He really is being submissive, Ren's friends thought as they watched from the back seat alongside Gian.
As for Tristan, he would still rather fight the undead than clean the inside of the microbus.
"You better be done cleaning before I take down those undead."
***
"They're probably looking at us like we're some kind of maniacs," Karl said as another car passed their bus and suddenly sped up.
"I mean, even I'd get scared seeing someone carrying a corpse," Mike replied, looking at the body of the senior he and Karl were carrying. His face had been torn apart, and his stomach was ripped open, making him almost impossible to recognize.
Ivan and Gian then stepped out of the microbus carrying another corpse.
"Ugh—!"
"Hey, don't get your puke on me," Ivan grumbled as Gian threw up after laying the corpse at the side of the road.
"Cover them with these," Ren said, handing his friends the bloodstained curtains from the microbus. Natalie, Evelyn, and Elizabeth had used them to wipe the blood from the floor, windows, and seats.
"It's the least we can do since we don't have time to bury or burn them."
Ren and his friends continued carrying the senior students' corpses outside and laying them along the roadside while Gian kept throwing up.
As for the torn body parts, Natalie, Evelyn, and Elizabeth had no choice but to throw them out the windows so they could clean the inside of the microbus faster, before Tristan finished taking down the group of undead approaching them.
Or so Tristan thought.
"Damn it! These bastards just keep coming."
Tristan continued fighting, taking down more undead with the wooden sword Ren had given him.
Meanwhile, Marcus supported him by holding back the few undead that slipped past Tristan while he was fighting recklessly.
Despite their efforts, more undead continued to come at them.
RARGHHH!
"Die, you shit bastard!" Tristan shouted, swinging his wooden sword out of frustration over Ren's closeness to Natalie, Evelyn, and Elizabeth.
However, his strike failed to take down the undead, and his wooden sword became stuck in its skull.
"Shit!"
RARGHHH!
Just then, another undead that Tristan hadn't noticed lunged at him.
"Marcus!" Tristan shouted in panic, calling for help.
Marcus swiftly followed up with a series of powerful kicks that knocked both undead to the ground.
Knowing he was safe, Tristan rushed over and finished off the two undead, smashing their heads one after another with his wooden sword, without displaying even a trace of the swordsmanship he was so proud of.
"Fighting recklessly like that will just get you killed," Marcus said, trying to stop Tristan's rampage.
"What? You think you're better than me?!"
As soon as Tristan smashed the last undead's head, he rushed at Marcus and shoved him.
"That bastard is flirting with your girlfriend right in front of you, and you do nothing! You don't even say anything!"
Tristan tried to shove Marcus again, intending to knock him down, but Marcus easily defended himself and pushed Tristan back instead.
"You know nothing about my relationship with Evelyn, so shut up, Tristan."
"I know your clan was only after Evelyn's family's wealth!"
"Shut up!"
"I know you don't even like her and that you only have eyes for your sister!"
"I said, shut up!"
This time, Marcus attacked Tristan, pushing him to the ground. He then straddled him and grabbed his wooden sword, trying to take it away, but Tristan held tightly onto it.
***
While Tristan and Marcus wrestled, repeatedly ending up on top of each other as if they were making love, as Ren joked, his and Natalie's groups finished cleaning the inside of the microbus.
"How does it feel watching two guys fight over you?" Ren teased, sitting behind Evelyn and whispering in her ear.
"Aren't you going to join them, then?" Evelyn asked, leaning back against the driver's seat and whispering back.
"Do I still have to?"
"Hmm..."
They're fighting because of you, greedy pervert bastard.
Ren's friends cursed him silently as they watched him flirt with Evelyn.
"Those two useless imbeciles," Natalie grumbled, watching Tristan and Marcus wrestle on the ground.
"Should we stop them?" Elizabeth asked, though her gentle smile seemed to suggest otherwise, at least to Natalie.
"Beating them up to teach them a lesson would just be a waste of your time, Liz."
"Then what about helping them?"
Elizabeth pointed toward a few more undead approaching Tristan and Marcus.
"That was supposed to be their job."
***
Tristan and Marcus ended their argument when they noticed the group of undead approaching them.
The two were about to fight, using the undead to vent their frustration, when Ren asked Evelyn to honk the microbus's horn and signal them to come back.
Their group then continued traveling toward Center City Elementary School.
Or so everyone thought.
"Stop the bus for a second, Eve"
"What are we stopping for again?"