Highschool of the Dead: Fanfiction Darkpenn

Chapter 13: shanghai

New World: Shanghai

Faced with a mighty peril, the group must learn to fight with their hearts.

Part I

" ... Kaz is the pretty one, I'm the smart one, Hotaru is the tough one, Rise is the funny one, and Nozomi is the boss," Kemi was saying.

"I want to be the funny one," said Hotaru.

"When you say funny, do you mean humourous or peculiar?" said Rise.

"Peculiar," said Kemi.

"Why do I have to be the pretty one?" said Kazuki.

"Well, duh," said Rise.

"Shut up and crawl," said Nozomi.

They were crawling to the top of a hill, staying below the horizon line. They reached the top and carefully peeped over. Nozomi put the binoculars to her eyes.

"Holy shit," said Rise.

"You should see it close up," said Nozomi. She passed the binoculars around.

"What was the name of this city again, Kemi?" said Kazuki.

"Shanghai," said Kemi. "Big, even by Chinese standards. Former population 23 million."

"I would say that they are now all zombies, and we are looking at them," said Rise.

"According to this map, this is just one of the outlying areas," said Nozomi. The binoculars had come back to her, and she was scanning the parts of the city further away. "Maybe they're not all zombies," she said. "Look over there, on the other side of the river, near that bridge. That wall. That's a survivor settlement, I think. A fairly large one."

"No way we can make it through the city from this side to get to them," said Hotaru.

"Perhaps we don't have to," said Nozomi. "We should be able to take the Archangel right up the river. You see that landing, just before that trestle bridge? And there's a path that goes up to the settlement. Kemi, what do you know about that river?"

Kemi studied her book for a while. Then she said: "That's the Huangpu River, a tributary of the Yangtse, which is the big river we came up, from the coast. About four metres deep in the middle, according to this. Plenty deep enough for our boat."

Kazuki was studying the scene through the binoculars. "That's the last bridge standing," he said. "And it doesn't go all the way across. There a gap on this side. But it didn't just fall, it looks like it was blown up. There's a heap of zombies doing something there. Can't see what."

"So the zombies have the north side and the survivors are over there, on the south side," said Rise. "Sounds like an interesting story."

"But a story with an awful lot of zombies," said Kemi. "I've never seen so many."

Nozomi was silent for a while. Then she said: "Let's go and see if Kemi's Chinese is enough to talk with whoever is in that settlement."

They were on the Archangel, heading along the Huangpu River. The settlement was a kilometre away.

Nozomi was scanning the zombie side of the river with the binoculars. There was the sound of occasional shooting.

"There!" she said. "Survivors!"

A group of four burst from the built-up area, running for the river. There was a huge troop of zombies, perhaps a hundred, after them. And gaining.

Rise, at the wheel, was already turning the boat towards the shore, towards the point where the survivors would reach the water.

"They haven't seen us," said Nozomi. "Hotaru, put up a flare. Kazuki, the 50-cal. Kemi, get on the side and see if you can tell when it's getting shallow."