Sam Shepard's Story

"Is it bad I'm starting to enjoy this?"

"Now you're starting to think like a zombie hunter!"

"What'd I tell ya! Damn near close. Thanks guys!" she told them, grinning. She turned up her music and pulled out Juy. "Hell, this is way too fun!" she spun and killed about ten in a row.

Airi laughed at Tenno. "Damn, Ten-ten! You're good at this!" she went to where she was told and took down anything that came at her. "Sam! If that stick of yours breaks, by my foot is a baseball bat one of these things dropped. Give me the word and I kick it over th- Gods damn you, undead bitch!" she kicked off one that was trying to eat her chest. "Fucking a..."

Sam fell in line with Tenno's battle plan. Shepard had been on enough sports teams to know how to follow a good play when he heard one. He lined up on the front left laying out everything in front of him. With one good swing the metal fence post caved in the chest of one of the nearest only to have it's head crushed in by Sam's sneaker once it hit the ground. Sam's swung hard like a major leage batter on the next three all advnacing at once. The three zombies mouths spewed blood after the blow connected with all three in succession.

Sam! If that stick of yours breaks, by my foot is a baseball bat one of these things dropped. Give me the word and I kick it over th- Gods damn you, undead bitch!"

As if on cue Sam's weapon splintered warning him of it's fraility. He turned about ready to shout to Airi to toss him the bat when he noticed the zombie. Directly behind her with its hands reaching for her throat the undead creature had it's lifelss eyes set on its prey. "She doesn't see him! Got one shot! Gotta make this count!" Sam shouted at himself within the confines of his own mind. He cocked back his arm and with a mighty swing sent the fence post flying. It sailed through the air and found it's target. The base of the spine in the back of the zombie. The post impaled it's target in a stunning display of gore as it toppled over. Sam smiled proudly half surprised he hit his target.

"I'll take that bat whenever you're ready!"

He said before turning back around to uppercut the ever loving shit out of the nearest zombie, sending the ghoulish corpse flying backwards into the crowd.

Airi turned to see the zombie get impaled. She was surprised that the thing got behind her and the fact Sam had saved her. He wasn't so bad.

"I'll take that bat whenever you're ready!"

"Heh! Thanks, Sammy boy~ Here!" she sang out, kicking the bat over to him, watching it roll against his foot. Her skirt flipped up, showing off her cute stripes before she roundhouse kicked a zombie in the face. She thought about where in the school they could rest.

"Ten-ten! I got an idea! The gym! It's big, got the running water of the showers and it'd be easy to defend! I saw we head there and regroup ourselves." she said, driving her heel into the zombie's face. "The cafe's near there too so easy food access!" she turned back to the school and sighed.

"So many of 'em... Bandy, wanna help out?" the cat meowed and ran through the hoard. "Ah... shit..." she sighed again, going back to the fighting.

"Diamond formation. Sam take to the front left and Takeo take the front left. Aika stay to the back and alert us of any zombies coming to flank us. Airi take the the front. I'll be in the middle to shoot any flankers. We all back up as they try to swarm to limit their numbers. Remember it's kill or be killed!"

"Sorry friend," Takeo replied. "But I don't really take orders." He continued to slaughter more zombies, using the long blade to decapitate several zombies at a time. He noticed Sam cover Airi's back, saving her from a nasty zombie bite. And felt a pang of guilt. "I really should have had that..." he thought. "I'm supposed to be the professional here..." He turned around and roundhouse kicked a zombie, strangely in sync with his fellow zombie hunter, covering his shoes with gore.

"Good idea Airi, we need to rest for a bit of we're gonna continue looking for survivors, and find out who caused this clusterfuck."

"Sure but I locked some in the gym. I'd say there's at least 14" Tenno said as he shot two behind Airi. "15. OK lets get a move on, this place is getting crowded. Remember to stay in formation until we get inside the building!"

Airi sighed and turned to Tenno. "Look, I've lived shit like this before so I'm leading this little group. Now, I'm taking point, Kukai, Sam, I need you two to watch my backside. Let's move. And Ku-ku? You are taking orders, but not from him, from me." she took off running towards the entrance, jumping and slashing as she went.

When she entered the school, she saw the surprisingly empty halls. "Huh..." She moved carefully, eyes darting around everywhere.

"You got it sarge." he said smiling. To his surprise he couldn't help but feel a bit proud of the zombie hunter for taking charge. He followed her into the building, watching for zombie tails, and resisting from making a crude joke about watching her backside.

"Very well Oyabun" Tenno told her sarcastically as they got to the halls. "So I've been meaning to ask, since it's a spell if the zombies bite us will we turn or not?" That was what really bugged him, not the carnage, not the aspect of death, but the idea of him turning. When your born into the Yakuza you get used to stuff like this in certain situations whether it be in a firefight or observing torture. Magic. This was new to him entirely and Airi knew all about it. He HAD to find out more.

Airi stopped and held up her hand. "Well. Depends on what spell we're dealing with... It's not voodoo, and it's not hypnotism." Two fingers went down. "I know it's not a virus, and it can't be a summoning," two more. "so yes." she turned back to the gym doors. She opened them and looked around.

"Hello?" her voice echoed through the large room. "Hey, didn't you say that some people were in here..?" she ran in, and began looking around. Bandit ran out and began meowing. "Bandy? Is anyone alive..?" Bandit's tail swished to the left, a no. "Well, shit..."

"Dammit." Tenno cured quietly. "If this was biological the answer would be no, no, yes, yes, yes. Can they still see, feel, hear, smell, and taste?"

"Actually Airi, I have a feeling that it may indeed be a summoning." he looked down. " When I was in the parking lot, I saw something...something fucking big. I also saw someone turn, so it may not be after all, but whatever I saw..it wasn't human."

He looked around the gym. While not as big as the school stadium, it was still fairly large, so there was no telling just what may be hiding where.

"They can see and hear Tenno, but not taste and feel. Smell depends on what kind of spell was used.

Airi turned to Kukai. "You sure..? Then this may take days to fix... Great... Come on... I need to rinse some of this blood off and you boys smell a bit weird... Then we'll rest and call it a night... Ku-ku, tonight, me and you, keeping guard tonight. We'll work in shifts. This is base..."

She revved Yuj and a couple of the undead ran out. "Let's clean this up before we do all that though!" She killed a couple, but fatigue made it hard. Her breath came out in sharp pants.

Aika trailed around behind the group, keeping their blurry outlines within sight. But he could describe one thing, the entire group were skilled at killing all these things. Very. Reentering the building could have never been a good point for Aika, but with the barrier surrounding the school and with a group of other survivors, it was all good.

"...Um...What's our destination from here? I think I can bring us anywhere in the shortest route possible. " Aika asked, flinching a little when blood spurted out from one of the zombies that Takeo was slashing. He adjusted his broken 'spectacles' a little.

He had been acting and playing the idiot recently in Yukkuri Academy, but survival was at stake... so it was time to bring out the smarts even in the presence of others.

"First we wash and eat, then we prepare for war" Tenno replied to Aika. Tenno took a look into his private locker that he bought off from the school. Inside was a box with all of his private things he packed in case he needed to make a quick escape. Inside was a bottle of imported Schwäbischer Whiskey from Germany, 4 clips of .22 ammo that he snuck in, a small joint, a cell phone, matches, and 100,000 yen. Tenno took the wad of money and stuffed it in his pocket. Reloading his gun and put his other things into his pockets as well."39" Going to the showers he stripped and began to wash.

The next hour or so breezed by like a blur. The surrealism of what had transpired hit the big American like a sack of bricks. He was in the shower, eyes closed just letting the hot water pour on him as he leaned one hand on the wall. All the blood, the gore and bodies. While he thrived out there and even enjoyed it to some degree it wasn't something he was accustomed to. Not like a few of the others. Airi and Takeo were apparently badass trained zombie killing machines. This was all probably like some goddam vacation for them and Tenno was Yakuza. Sam only knew about them from the movies and shit but his badassery level was off the fucking charts. Shepard sighed in the steam filled shower once before shutting the water off. He had to shut all his doubts out, no fear, no hesitation. It was game time and he had to get his head in it. He stepped out of the shower, his resolve secure. He changed into a new pair a blue jeans almost identical to the ones he had on. Having no other shirts he had to put back on his Superboy tee though in all honesty it was the favorite shirt he owned. Being on the football team he had a few perks like keys to the coaches office he made after that one time Coach Sato gave him the key so he could drop off some equipment. Sam had made copies before giving them back so he would have access to Coaches not so secret supply of booze. Today's choice apparently was Jack Daniels. Sam smiled warmly as he looked at the bottle. One of his favorites. Back home he and his buddies used to go through this stuff like water while talking about comic books.

"Ahh takes me back..."

He said to himself as he kicked back in the coaches office, putting his feet up on his desk as he relaxed in his computer chair. He poured a shot and downed it, savoring the warming sensation as the alcohol went down his throat. He took a deep breath of pure peace before pouring and downing a second shot. A part of him wanted to go out to the others, share the booze, especially with Airi. He paused and chuckled thinking he'd need more than one bottle to get that girl drunk enough to make any stupid, albeit sexy, mistakes. Sam savored the peace and quite he'd found in the coaches office, the solace. His own Fortress of Solitude. A serene smile dawned on his face as he just enjoyed the moment. His eyes taking in all the photographs, medals and sports memorabilia. His eyes finally fell on an old acoustic guitar leaning against the wall in the corner of the room. His eyebrow arched in surprise.

"You never cease to amaze Coach."

He said as he stood and crossed the room to pick it up. He returned to his seat as his hands lovingly felt along the length of the instrument. Every crease and dent, every bend. His warm expression was like he was looking at a memory. Days of sitting in the sun with his friends sharing a couple of drinks and just wasting the days away back in the good ol U S of A. His fingers slowly found their ways to the strings and he plucked a few simple notes to get the feel for the instrument. He paused to tune it up a bit before beginning to play.

~Mother, I tried to do right by you,
To do what you asked me to.
I did wrong, and I knew.~

~Mother, I tried to behave for you.
Now I'm a-diggin' a grave for you.
It was all I could do. ~

~Find a way back home, make everything new.
I wish it was true.~

~Father, well I gave my soul to you.
I came in blind folded for you.
It was all that I knew.~

~Open your arms and I'll fly out of hell up to you.
I wish it was true.
Boy, come on out from the cold.
You're lost outside there, don't you know?
It's not what you say, it's what you do.
Just keep wishing your wishes are true.
Well your dreams, they're reality.
There's no pain, there's no misery.
Just polish the blood and the brews.
For there's just no way you can lose.
Well I wish it was true.~

~Country, I was a solider to you.
I did what you asked me to.
It was wrong, and you knew.~

~Country, now I'm just a stranger to you.
A number, a name; it's true.
Throw me away when you're through.~

~Home of the brave and the free; the red, white, and blue.
I wish it was true.~

His voice echoed out through the halls into the gymnasium as the American sang of home, family, and loss alone with a guitar and a bottle of Jack Daniels.

Laz's ears prick up as he heard some singing. He looked around, before he realised the sound was coming from inside the Gym. He took a few steps and entered the Coaches Office, looked around and saw Sam.

"You know, you're not bad. Maybe if you make it out of this fucked up nursery rhyme, you could make it big time. Anyways, mind helping me and that dude with the Guitar out with something?". He adjusted the Baseball Bat in his hand, and took another puff of the Cigarette.

Sam set the guitar down with a friendly smile, appreciating the compliment.

"Sure man, what's up?"

Shepard said as he got to his feet. Sam's eyes flicked to the baseball bat in Laz's hand and realized he couldn't remember where he'd put the one Airi had given him. "Gotta get myself a weapon before we go anywhere." Sam reminded himself in his head, hoping he wouldn't forget.

Lazarus spoke. "A friend of mine's on top of the Building next to ours, or at least Mr. Chinen thinks so... Anyways, when I last looked around the bottom floor, someone had dumped a massive amount of shit in the stairwell, or it looked like the roof had collapsed. We're gonna need some help moving it all, and if we don't hurry, my friend and the people with her might die". He grinned at Sam.

"You're a strong-looking guy, as well as a good Singer and Guitarist, and it seems like we'll be needing your help to get through. So, waddaya say?".

Shepard couldn't help but smirk.

"I'm in."

He said with a fiery glint in his eye. Being the massive comic book geek that he was anytime he could help people he would do so with more than a little nerdy enthusiasm.

"Though I'm not sure how much my musical talents will help."

He added sarcastically.

"Let me just grab a weapon."

Sam took a minute to open the coaches locker inside his office to rifle through some of his equipment before pulling something out. Sam turned around metal baseball bat firmly in his grip and a smirk that said, let's crack some skulls.

Lazarus grinned at Sam's sarcasm, before walking out the door. He reexited the Gym, hopefully with Sam behind him, and pointed to the door. "Okay, we need to get in there without getting noticed, get up the stairs, open the Barricade, get everyone down here, and then we're all good". Lazarus grinned, and spoke again. "You sure you're up to this?".

Lazarus gave Sam time to answer before dashing straight over to the door, opening it, and disappearing inside. He had a feeling that Sam was behind him, and he kept up the pace until he almost ran into a group of zombies. He skidded and leaped backwards, hiding behind the corner. There must've been at least 10 or more, and there were more coming around the corner now. He turned to Sam. "Fuck. Now what?".

(OOC: Sorry for the late reply, I was editing a Post in another RP =3 )