Day Zero
Synopsis: At 0600 hours, your biggest concern was surviving math class. By noon, your classmates were dead, Tokyo was burning, and the world had ended. Welcome to Day One.
TW: Itoshi Rin x F!Reader (Blue Lock) Zombie Apocalypse AU, violence, gore, badass reader, nonchalant reader, emotionless reader, blood
Blue Lock: Outbreak (Series Masterlist)
This morning was the same old as usual, you woke up at 0600 on the dot. Not six-oh-one. Not five-fifty-nine. Exactly 0600 hours. You pushed yourself upright and immediately began making your bed. Every corner had to be tucked properly. No wrinkles or loose sheets. Your father hated loose sheets so you made sure to make it extra tight else you face losing different sorts of privileges. Once that was done, you headed for the bathroom, showered, brushed your teeth, and changed into your school uniform. Your hair perfectly slicked back into a pony tail with nothing out of place. By the time you came downstairs, the house was just as quiet as it always was. Breakfast was simple, rice, eggs, and miso soup. Simple. Efficient. Filling.
The TV in the background had the news reporter talking about increased police activity and riots this morning but you didnât really listen. They didnât block your usual path to school so it didnât really affect you and if it really was important then your father wouldâve known about it and handled it long before the news could report it. But aside from that unusual report, it was a pretty normal morning, the birds chirped happily as you walked to the train station and did your normal commute. The sun was even shining brightly with only a few clouds in sight as the birds chirped a happy song in the background. Pretty boring and normal day for a 15 year old huh?
At school things werenât any different either, just the same old boring math lessons that made you want to slit your own throat rather than listen to another teacher yap about quadratic equations or whatever that was. But that didnât deter you from listening the best as you could, after all any grade below perfect would be considered as failing in your fathers eyes. Though as you glanced at the clock at the top of the whiteboard and realized how much time was really left until your next class came, it made you groan in annoyance. Youâd rather have PE right now, at least that wouldnât bore you.
Well as bored as you were, things soon became more interesting as a loud crash outside the school disturbed the lesson. Everyone turned their heads to watch as the car flipped over outside the window and slid directly into a street light, exploding immediately and burning the passengers inside along with it. Shocks of gasps rang throughout the room as you noticed people on the streets began running everywhere. Your classmates started pulling out their phones even after your teacher scolded them and began recording the horrific scenes displayed.
Tensions grew high inside the room as the classrooms besides you started screaming. It was confusing. What exactly was going on? Wasnât today just supposed to be a normal day? Some girls in the back started crying in panic and anxiety and it didnât help, only causing widespread panic as people got up from their seats looking around frantically, some even calling their parents begging to go home.
Ding dongâŠ!
Ding dongâŠ!
Ding dongâŠ!
Everyone became silent when the announcement rangâ static voices through the school's speaker system turned frantic quickly, as the schoolâs secretaryâs voice finally came out clear. She trembled, voice wailing like a child which made you silently cringed as her yelling only became louder and more desperate. âT-This is not a drill! A-All students are to stay inside of their classrooms immediately! The government has announced a state of emergency throughout the entire city! W-We are currently under martial law! T-Teachers, stay inside with your students! Barricade the doors, lock the windows, don't open them for anyone! I repeat, d-don't open them for anyone! D-Don't help those who are exhibiting violent behavior! Stay inside and wait for emergency personnel toââ The last of her voice was cut off so suddenly and the last thing we heard on the intercom was the echoing of her screams.
During the announcement you could hear screams, groans, and banging on the door in the background. It sounded both human but at the same time, inhumane? It sounded completely wrong. Your eyes darted to your teachers as he took in the announcement and made his move, dashing to the door with the intention of barricading it to protect the students he swore to teach and protect. But it was no use since he was too late, thatâs why he was always the math teacher and never offered the gym coach position. Before he could fully slam the door shut, the heavy stomps of feet skidded and stopped right outside our door which granted a couple of screams. That only seemed to fuel the monster's rage.
A person, if you could even call it that, emerged from behind. The way it pushed open the door made you raise your eyebrows as you looked at them. They werenât an unfamiliar person, in fact it was the schoolâs known prankster, a kind young boy who though smaller than most of his peers compensated for it with his huge personality. But who he was didnât bother you, nor the fact that you both greeted each other good morning just today. It was the fact that youâve been partners with him in gym class before and you know better than anyone else that this boy couldnât lift anything heavy for the life of him.
So how come he was able to slam open the door so hard that it sent your teacher flying back on the floor. The boy stood there heaving and wheezing. His eyes blood shot red as drool dripped continuously from his mouth. He looked more like an animal than an actual human being. His clothes were torn apart in different areas and blood was spilling onto the floor from his right side, a prominent bite mark was engraved into his skinâ wait doesnât that bite look resemble human teeth marks?
Then again it didnât really matter, since what happened next was a blur. The boy seemed to resist whatever he was fighting inside of him, banging his head on the whiteboard and seizing in a standing position until his pupils turned from brown to milky white. It was only then did he growl, the most animalistic growl youâve ever heard a human make, it mirrored a predator about to attack their prey.
Your teacher, still on the ground clutching his shoulder which he seemed to have injured, tried to escape, pushing himself back with his feet, his fight or flight instinct triggered when the boy who made you laugh once lunged and attacked your teacher, pinning him down and going for his neck. Teeth sinking in deeply as everyone started screaming and running to the back or sides of the class, pressing their bodies against the wall as though that would save them. The chairs and tables screeched in the nastiest ways as they were dragged alongside the panic.
It was a horrifying sight that made some of the students throw up and hyperventilate. Well everyone except you who sat in your seat perfectly in the center of the classroom, still observing the situation with mild interest. Finally something was happening in your life. The boy pinning down your teacher, tore off a large chunk of his neck, the jugular veins coming along with it. Making blood splatter all over the classroom, you made sure to flip up your desk to cover you from most of the damage, only your shoes and socks receiving some of the aftermath. But that couldnât be compared to the students on the sides near them, they weren't spared from the massacre.
That was only the beginning though, the back door of the class pushed open and in came more students pouring in who were in the same state as the boy in front. Only this time they didnât take their time, they just lunged at the closest person next to them.
Screams rang throughout the room and you didnât even bother to move, only tilting your head as though you were bored. This was why everyone in school deemed you as the weird kid, you had little to no empathy. But to you they were just a bunch of nobodies who didnât know how to use their brains so why would you associate with them? Your father never knew what the future held so he prepared you for the worst, and well this apocalyptic beginning wasnât something either of you had anticipated.
âWhen people panic, they stop thinking. The first person who keeps their head is usually the one who survives. So donât be stupid.â The words of your father echoed in your head. Those words were something you lived by, your father always knew better and instilled in you to always observe and use your brain before jumping in blindly into any situation and immediately making an impulsive move.
Look at the situation and assess your best shot at survival. Weigh out your options and make the smart choice. Calm yourself down and do not panic. A pretty normal thing for a father to teach his daughter, if only the circumstances and reason behind them were actually normal. âLooks like whatever this is has similar symptoms to rabies. One bite and this infection spreads rapidly.â You thought to yourself and made a decision to head home.
Everyone panicked as they ran for it, trying to escape the horrors only to ultimately get pinned down and bitten, soon becoming infected just like everyone else. The classmates youâve known for years started turning on each other, the infection spreading faster and taking over the host the more it became viral. Turning around to grab your bag, you notice that one of the infectedâs attention turned on you. When it tried to lunge at you, only then did you make your move. Grabbing the chair you were just sitting on, you swung it hard against the girl who used to hide your pens. Effectively slamming her against the wall.
Another boy from front of the class who had already turned ran at you at full speed, he snarled and jumped making an attempt for your neck when you grabbed your entire desk, flipping it up and blocking his way, smacking him so hard that he fell on his back to the ground, the wind knocked out from his lungs. You were sure that it should've taken him a minute to recover but he was only on the ground for one second and got back up like it didnât affect him at all. âWell, thatâs not good.â You realized this isnât a fight you can win alone as more infected made their way to you.
Weapon, you needed something to stop this, you quickly opened your bag and pulled out your pencil case. Itâll have to do for the time being, it was a fight to get to the window. Since you were on the first floor which already led to outside school, you could easily make a break from there. But several infected were blocking the area, some of your classmates ran outside through the door using the chaos to their advantage, but most of them werenât so lucky. Which meant that there was an overflowing amount of infected who were after you. You opened your pencil case and grabbed a pen and drove it straight into their eye as one infected tried to attack you from behind. It stopped them, they fell on their knees and didnât get up again.
Bingo. So these things could be stopped, the only thing is that you were quickly running out of pens to use. And it didnât help how these creatures seemed stronger than they were when they were still humans. You punched and narrowly managed to avoid teeths as you grabbed a fallen chair from the side and threw it at the window, using it as an escape.
You ran for it, your bag and skirt swinging through the wind behind you as you let the adrenaline take over. âIs it right to abandon them all?â You looked back at the school for a second and contemplated if ditching the people there was an act of cowardice or survival. The place in which you spent most of your life became smaller and smaller as the distance grew greater between you. The classroom you spent half a year in learning and growing, becoming a forgotten memory in the past as the once pristine white walls were now stained in crimson red. The laughs that used to echo in the hallways were now screams of pure terror.
The people youâve surrounded yourself with since your childhood days were dyingâ have died at the choice and cost of you observing and not helping. You acknowledge that some part of it you were at fault knowing that if you had moved quicker to rip off the boy from your teacher before he had made a move to bite him, maybe heâd still be alive and normal right now. Or maybe if you had closed the back door quickly then maybe your classmates would still be alive. Then again they never even asked you for help. But that sort of mindset would make your father call you stupid and weak.
Maybe it was because you were a teenager and entering your rebellious phase, but sometimes you think your fatherâs methods in life are wrong. But then again, his way of life was what kept you alive and in this moment, in the beginning of the apocalypse maybe that was the only important thing. To stay alive and see another day until we find a way to stop whatever this was and return humanity back to its original state. Well one thingâs for certain, your boring morning today just turned a whole lot more interesting.
Taking the train to go back home was out of the question, the underground station would probably be the perfect place for these creatures to be crawling in. Tokyo had the biggest and busiest station of all and it didnât help that today was a Monday making the subways more packed than they already were. Hundreds of people gathered in an enclosed space was like asking for a death wish. So you had no choice but to run home and running 30km straight home wasnât an impossible feat but it was incredibly hard when you were trying to dodge people who were trying to bite you at every second.
Your school supplies had long been depleted and you were using anything at this point as a weapon, while simultaneously trying to find a mode of transportation and observing the onslaught before you. By this time you had run the whole 17km, you were more than halfway home without taking any breaks in between. You were glad you had your fatherâs harsh training to thank because if not for that you doubted you could run that far or last this long at least.
âSeconds, or maybe even a minute or two. Thatâs all it took for what I assumed was a viral infection to spread. Maybe the placement of the bite also affected the spread rate?â You werenât a scientist or anything but you werenât dumb either, you kept on observing and jotting down mental notes of things that you theorized and would have to confirm later on.
Outside the school wasnât looking that good either. If the school was overrun quickly you could only imagine how Tokyo and the districts surrounding it were handling the situation. The school wasnât placed exactly in the heart of Tokyo, but youâd have to pass by it in order to reach home, since you lived in the opposite direction in the outskirts. So it usually took a while to get to school and back but your father insisted that it was good for your discipline and character. Besides, he preferred private schools, no matter how inconvenient the distance was.
People were on top of each other fighting, biting and infecting each other. Those actions were on repeat over and over again. I was starting to get sick of the metallic scent but it didnât bother me that much. Though, you thought maybe the sight of it mightâveâ shouldâve frightened you a bit more. This infection couldnât be contained with how rapidly it spread and the nature it was built on. Unlike the COVID pandemic, this situation couldnât be handled by washing hands properly or wearing masks. No, whatever this was⊠It wasnât going to be that simple to recover from this unless someone could come up with a cure.
As you ran more, your legs became more exhausted and feet were hurting, the school loafers you used were definitely not made for running. You could see police and military personnel defense stations set up and being easily overrun by the undead, which worried you as it meant this was too much for the government to handle. You worried about your familyâs safety, especially your fatherâs. But you couldnât focus on that right now, you had to be careful and dodge the stray bullets that shot everywhere and focus on survival.
It was pure chaos, somewhere behind you a building exploded as an airplane crashed right into it. Making the whole thing crash down and knock some other buildings in the process like dominos. Everyone was running away from it, trying to get crushed but a lot of people were unlucky. Everyone was busy trying to fend for themselves as they turned against each other.
With the normal heavy traffic, it prompted most people to get out of their car and run, causing more chaos on the street and hundreds of cars to be abandoned. You couldâve used the abandoned cars to drive home if only had it not been trapped by hundreds of more vehicles. It was a dead end at the moment so you had no choice but to abandon that plan and stick to running.
There was a clearing, an area where not so many cars were gathered which made it perfect to make a gate away if you could just find a car to use. A girl with blonde hair jumped from behind you and you couldnât dodge that easily since another person was being attacked right besides you. So in response you grabbed the girl by the hair and ripped her off before she could sink her teeth into you. You kicked her square in the chest back to where you had been standing just moments ago when⊠Boom!
A navy blue bus with a strange hexagon logo on it, swerved from the streets avoiding another incoming truck headed straight for them. Which made them head straight to where you were standing earlier, to which the infected girl who was about to lunge at you again got hit by the bus instead. âShit, that was close.â Inconveniently the loud noise coming from the crash gathered more of the creature's attention. Going straight for you, you scanned the area quickly for any open doors when you saw a van with the driver's seat wide open.
Funny, you donât think any officers would be pulling you over and asking why an underage girl like you was driving without a drivers license. The bus from earlier overturned to the side and you half expected it to explode but luckily for the people inside it didnât. You could hear doors and windows being forced open as the passengers ran out in different directions trying to find shelter and not get killed. Well not your problem.
You ran again towards the van, it was a little distance but you could make it when another car came passing through. You dodged barely on time and narrowly missed being hit again, there was too much going on that it was hard to both coordinate your mind and movements. The car ended up hitting another infected on its way to crashing, and while the infected was pinned down it didnât stop squirming around trying to escape to hunt down and feed again on human flesh.
Seeing the opportunity arise, you made dashed for it. Only then did you finally make it into the van, slamming the door shut behind you and locking it. Making sure there was no one else in there with you. The coast was clear, there wasnât anything living in there with you, you let your shoulders loosen slightly so you could catch your breath for a second from all that running. In the back of the van there were signs of a struggle earlier, a bloody hand print left pressed on the window, still fresh and dripping. The back seats were messed up, making you assume that someone became infected and started attacking the other passengers during the drive prompting everyone else to abandon ship and make it run for it.
Well too bad for them. One man's trash was another's treasure. You instinctively reached to turn the keys but it was missing, you checked the ground in case it had fallen or something. You searched around the driverâs seat one last time, checking beneath the seats, the center console, and even the sun visor. Nothing. A small sigh escaped your lips. Of course it couldn't be that easy, youâll need to hot wire it if you want to get home. Fortunately, that wasn't a problem. Most daughters probably didn't know how to steal a vehicle before they were old enough to drive one, but most daughters weren't raised by a man who believed every useful skill could one day become necessary.
âDependence gets people killed.â Another one of your father's favorite lessons.You got down on your knees and ripped off the plastic panel from underneath the steering wheel. Dropping to your knees, you ripped away the plastic panel beneath the steering wheel and exposed the tangled mess of wires hidden behind it. The process wasn't particularly difficult. It was just annoying. Outside the van, chaos continued to unfold. You ignored it. Panicking wouldn't make your hands move faster.
Your fingers worked through the wires methodically, separating them according to color while trying to remember the exact instructions drilled into your head years ago. Back then you had complained endlessly about learning something so stupid. Now you were silently grateful. You were in deep concentration and almost got the engine to start when your flow state was disturbed by banging fists. You looked up from the wires and found bright teal blue eyes glaring at you down. He was still human as far as you could tell, and no visible marks of any bites or exhibiting any symptoms. There was some blood that stained his navy blue sports uniform but you doubted it belonged to him. Clearly he was an athlete, great just what you needed.
âOpen the door!â The boy yelled, desperately yanking at the passenger-side handle as though sheer force alone would somehow convince it to unlock.
Another boy sporting the same uniform ran after him. âRin!â he called out, his midnight-blue hair tousled and sticking to his forehead from sweat. He shot a quick glance at his companion before turning toward you, panic written all over his face as he attempted a more reasonable approach. âPlease! Help us! We won't cause any trouble!â
You donât know what exactly compelled you to help these strangers than your own classmates that youâve practically known your entire life. Maybe it was because they had actually approached you and asked for help rather than running around aimlessly like headless chickens, only stalling for what in the end was inevitable. Or maybe it was simply because they looked more useful alive than dead. Either way, you unlocked the passenger door and returned your attention to the exposed wiring beneath the steering wheel. Only, that single act of kindness seemed to open the floodgates.
The moment the first two boys climbed inside, they immediately began calling out to their other friends. One after another, more teenagers sprinted towards the van and piled inside without so much as asking for permission. You hadn't exactly offered the vehicle as a public shelter, yet they treated it as one regardless. The realization irritated you far more than it should have. Having people depend on you was a burden you never actively sought out.
In came a couple more other guys, you didnât even bother to check them out or how many they were. Focusing on finishing the task at hand so you could escape this hell hole quickly. The overturned bus from earlier had drawn the majority of the infected toward it, buying everyone a temporary window of opportunity. Soon enough, that window was closing and by the time the last survivor scrambled inside the van. Dozens of infected had already spotted the group especially considering the survivors you took in came from that very bus. Their creatures' heads snapped toward the vehicle before they charged forward at full speed. Making it harder to concentrate and start the engine already.
The van shook as several bodies collided against its sides, âHurry up! Theyâre coming for us!â The boy who I assumed was named Rin barked from the passenger seat beside you.
Despite the urgency in his voice, you barely reacted. Instead, you lazily flicked your gaze toward him before returning your attention to the wiring, âDo you know how to hotwire and drive a manual car?â
His eye twitched as he muttered profanities underneath his breath, "...No."
"Then don't tell me how to do my job." A vein visibly popped on his forehead.
From the back of the van, another voice cut through the growing tension.
"Please hurry!" A purple-haired boy shouted, panic evident in every word. "They're everywhere!" As if to emphasize his point, another infected slammed itself against the side of the vehicle hard enough to rock the entire van.
âIf I get bitten can I still take a nap after this?â And you thought you were a bit unhinged, though it couldnât compare to the white haired boy
With one last twist, the wires sparked, electrocuting you a bit prompting you to shake your hands as if that would help. The car roared to lifeâ catching even more attention nearby, some infected left in the midst of their meals in favor of us. You guessed these boys were really popular among the people, huh? The deserted corpses' guts were spilled everywhere and it wasnât a really pretty sight. You had half the mind to threaten to kick out some of the boys as they almost hurled from the traumatizing scene, their stomachs not able to handle such horrors.
Children, women, and men. No one was spared from their wrath. The metallic scent of blood filled your nostrils again but you were starting to get used to it, and though it was highly unpleasant but youâll live. You stared straight at the road and drove directly into the infected, crashing into them without batting an eye as the sounds of bones shattering could be heard. You wanted to go home quickly with the intent of going after your father.
For the first time since everything began, there was peace. Not real peace. The kind of peace that came from being sealed inside a moving vehicle while the world burned outside. The infected couldn't reach you for now. The screams were muffled behind glass and metal. The smell of blood that had followed you throughout the city wasn't as overwhelming anymore. For a brief moment, all you could hear was the steady hum of the engine and the occasional nervous breathing coming from the boys behind you.
It felt strange. Just this morning, your biggest concern had been surviving another math lesson and making it home before your father found a reason to complain about something. Now your classmates are dead. Your teacher was dead. Grades didnât matter anymore. The school you'd spent years attending was likely overrun by now, reduced to another forgotten building swallowed by the chaos spreading across Tokyo.
You wondered briefly how many people were still alive. How many parents were searching for their children? How many children were searching for their parents. How many people were currently watching someone they loved turn into one of those things? The thought lingered for only a moment before you pushed it away. There wasn't any point dwelling on things you couldn't change. Father hated that. The road stretched endlessly ahead of you as the city slowly disappeared behind the van. The smoke rising into the sky became smaller and smaller with distance, though you doubted the images would leave your mind anytime soon. Behind you sat six complete strangers.
A few hours ago, you hadn't known any of them existed. Now their lives were tied to yours. Just as yours had become tied to theirs. Whether any of you would survive long enough to see tomorrow was anyone's guess. Funny how quickly things changed. Still, as you tightened your grip on the steering wheel and continued driving toward home, one thing became painfully clear. Whatever happened tomorrow was a problem for tomorrow. For now, everyone inside the van was alive. And in a world that seemed determined to take everything else away, that was enough.
A/n: I have never speed run writing something this long lol But Iâm happy with the way this turned out. This is still more like the prologue and introduction so thereâs still a long way to go. Anyways hope you guys enjoyed this!
