Nikita stood completely still, staring at Mara with a blank expression.
"A raccoon..I.."
He rubbed his eyes with uncertainty.
This girl is bat shit crazy..
Snapped out of his thoughts, Nikita looked back up at Mara.
"Steve? You mean that American? I guess he decided he had to go to school or something..I wasn't really listening."

Nikita began thinking about the raccoon again, before realizing something.
I'm just as crazy..
Nikita chuckled to himself before beginning his call.
"Here Timmy Timmy Timmy!"
He made sharp clicks with his tongue, similar to the sound that raccoons make.
He smiled slightly at Mara with a small chuckle, mainly at the ridiculous situation he was in. Walking corpses outside, 95% of the worlds population wiped out, and he was helping a random Japanese girl find her pet raccoon.. Or dog.. Was it even her pet? Or just some stray?

He didn't mind it though. It was a good relief from the hell outside.

Kari blinked when she saw the man hit the zombie in the head. She hadn't expected to see anyone else in the school. She took this opportunity to stab the zombie in the head in order to kill it. Leaving the knife in its head. she stood up and brushed herself off while looking the man up and down
"You haven't been bitten have you?"
She looked around to make sure there weren't other zombies around.

"Timmy? What are you doing? How do you know about my imaginary friend?" Mara asked Nikita, confusion and a small amount of fear showing on her face. "Before we moved, there used to be these animals called Tanuki, or Raccoon Dogs. They were always my favorite and my imaginary friend was Timmy the Tanuki. I would run around trying to chase him all over the house and yard. Being my imaginary friend though I'd never be able to."
She let out a depressed sounding sigh. "That was a long, long time ago though."
Realisation dawned on her suddenly. "Oh god, I'm sorry. I...Well, uh...I don't really know how to explain it...But it's kinda like...I don't know. Nevermind." She finally decided, her face red.

"I came to this school to see if I could salvage some spare parts, like the doors of the lockers." Steve said as he pointed to the various pillaged that were around them. He walked over to one of them and with his pocket knife unhooked it from it's place. "I had an idea where if it rains, the water will land here then leak into a bucket or something through these vents at the top." as he pointed to the rectangular vents at the top.

"My name is Steven, but you can call me Steve. No I haven't been bitten yet, so don't worry. What about you?" Steve said as he scanned the hallways

Nikita stopped the clicking and shrugged.

"No worries. I understand how it can be."

Nikita looked out the window once more. Two of the Zombies remained.
"Well Mara, I'll let you decide. Are we surviving together, or shall I go back out there?"

Mara didn't answer. The gravity of the decision was too much for her. On one hand she felt that being alone meant better chances of survival, despite her seizures. While on the other if she told him to leave what f something happened? They'd told her to become dispassionate, and she tried hard to be that way. But every time she saw someone dead that she had traveled with, it made her feel personally guilty. She didn't know what to tell him so stayed quiet, pretending to have a thoughtful expression on her face until he broke the silence.

Kari looked as he pointed to the items and spoke about them
"Well there are plenty of items here im sure you can use"
she walked over to the door and peered out to see if the hallway was clear
"I was just here to get something I left here a year ago"
she looked back at steven
"I'm kari"

"Nice to meet you Kari. Have you been here all this time?" Steve asked as he walked into the empty hallway and began removing lockers from their hinges and putting them on the floor. Every once in a while he found an item like a stick of deodorant or a binder and threw it onto the pile of stuff he would be taking with him.

Nikita smiled sincerely before patting Mara on the back.
"You believe it would be safer to travel alone, I assume."
Nikita took off his pack, filled with whatever scavenged food and purified water he could find, as well as some basic cooking tools and a first aid kit. He laid the pack on the ground and headed for the door.
He looked back over his shoulder after unlocking the deadbolt, and spoke firmly.
"I assure you though. I am no weak child."

Nikita twisted the knob and exited the house, closing the door quietly behind him.

From across the street, the sound of crunching bones could be heard, before two large thumps sounded at the front porch.

On the front porch lay the two remaining Zombies,severely disfigured and mutilated. Their heads resting next to their bodies, with their teeth knocked out and eyes gouged out.
A ways down the road, Nikita walked on towards that abandoned warehouse. Covered in blood, and expressionless.

He had long since forgotten his humanity. He might as well be one of the walking corpses by this point.

Kari wenced when the items hit the floor
"You probably wouldn't want to do that, it'll draw their attention, all that noise"
she looked out of the hallway
"Anyways I got what i came here for, I better head back before it gets too late"

"Don't worry Kari, I know a route off campus which had no zombies. Thats how I got here." Steve said as he riffled through a locker and found a bottle of water inside. "Score, free water. So do you have anywhere safe to hide out? I was gonna take this and hide at the old cement factory." as he picked up all the items

Kari shook her head
"I know my way around this place, if there is a path that doesnt have zombies doesnt mean they cant be there now"
she put her bag on her shoulder
"I have a safe place to go, its a few days travel from here. Its a safe haven for survivors. I only came here for something that was very important to me"
she started down the hall
"Anyways I better get going, I have to get back before everyone starts to worry, you can come if you like but you might end up having to go through a complete search. Just to be sure you dont have the virus or have been bit. its protocal"
she walked towards the end of the hall and turned the corner noticing a few zombies at the other end she turned back to steven
"I would advise not making a lot of noise there is a group of them just over there"
she went in the opposite direction from the zombies making her way quickly down the hall towards a fire exit

Steve crammed his bag with the locker doors and various other stuff. He grabbed his bag and walked over to Kari and said "You know a safe place? I think i'll come with you. My last hideout was overrun by a zombie horde, that was nearly a week ago." as he remembered his former hideout.

"I'll be able to help by using these lockers for more then collecting water. Does your base have a nice highrise?" Steve asked as he quietly followed Kari and took out his baseball bat, just in case a zombie ambush happened

Mara stood there staring at the abandoned pack in shock. Occasionally looking at the door Nikita had gone out of. No thoughts were running through her head at the moment. Eventually her mind clicked out of gear to cope with the shock and she turned around her gaze catching on the quickly vanishing ringed tail. Knowing there wasn't much time she moved quickly down the hall after Timmy. He led her out of the house and into the small forest area behind the house. Crashing through the underbrush she did her best to follow Timmy's tracks but quickly lost sight of him.
"Timmy? Where are you?" She called out to the Tanuki.
Something moved off to her left and she turned her head to look. "Tim... AAAAGGHHH!"
A zombie charged her tackling her to the ground. Jaws biting the air as she kept it's mouth away from her body. Rotten hands and nails assaulting her body. She didn't know what to do. Why was this person attacking her? Why did they smell funny? Were they sick? If they were she definitely didn't want to catch whatever they had if it made them this crazy. "Timmy, help me!" She said, seeing the raccoon looking creature sitting on its haunches staring at her.
A figurative gear dropped back into place as though the mind worked like the clutch on a manual car. Mara's "normal" self reasserted itself. Throwing the zombie to the side she covered as much distance from it as possible and brought her rifle to a ready position.
It took its time righting itself as zombies do. When it finally got back on its feet she was fully prepared. She swung the rifle in a perfect hack and the blade severed the cervical spine in one motion, leaving the head dangling by a few strands of tissue. It collapsed as the rotting body suddenly lost nerve control. It fell with the blade of her bayonet still embedded in its neck and pulled the rifle from her hands. Crunching leaves behind her, she drew the shovel from its holder and prepared herself.
Three zombies approached her from behind. "Shit." Not waiting, her adrenaline surging through her body, she surged forward. A chop with her shovel severed the rotting arm from the torso of the first one. A backhand slash, poorly aimed but it was her muscle memory, eviscerating the walking corpse. Fetid intestines and other organs spilled out making her gag at the smell. Luckily the zombie's feet got tangled in its intestines and fell to the ground giving her a clear shot at its skull. She embedded the blade of her shovel into its brain stem and the zombie went limp. Struggling to remove the shovel from the ex-zombies skull cost her valuable time. The other two were almost on top of her by the time she got her weapon free. The closest one swung at her with one arm. Blocking the blow with the handle of the shovel, the sheer force of the attack staggered her. Of balance she was easily knocked down once again. Saved by luck the zombie fell with her when she kicked reflexively at its leg. It landed on the upturned blade of her shovel head first. The other one was right behind it, arms outstretched, hands grasping air as it hungered for her. Fear was slowly eating into her adrenaline and she let out a scream. The shovel wouldn't come free and she abandoned it. Her rifle was too far away to grab. Picking up a large stick instead she jabbed at the zombie, keeping it back and swatting its arms away when they came too near. She slowly inched herself laong the ground, back towards her rifle, knowing she couldn't keep this up forever.

Kari started walking making her way to the exit
"Its a safe haven for survivors, its a place that is surrounded by huge walls that provide a barrier to keep the zombies out. The check everyone thoroughly before coming in. They have supplies and send out people in groups to gather more supplies from time to time. There aren't many there but it provides a place for people to go that's safe"
she looked around making sure the coast was clear then looked to steven putting her finger up to her lips as if to keep quiet
"we don't want to draw attention to ourselves so we have to be as quiet as possible from here on out"
She pushed what was left of the door opened and exited the school. They started making their way towards a warehouse which was close to the school and along the way to the safe haven cautiously making their way past zombies as quietly as possible

As Nikita heard the scream, he turned on his heels and instantly darted for the source of the noise.
It had to have been Mara. Who else would it be?
As he pushed farther into the forest to his side, he finally found the source. Nikita sprinted behind the zombie, grabbed the back of it's hair, and yanked it.

The zombie fell to the ground and began flailing it's arms, hoping for escape. Nikita dragged the zombie to a nearby boulder and began repeatedly bashing it's skull, over and over and over, the red mist erupting from the zombies skull was tinting his skin. The look in his eyes was that of pure rage.
After some time, Nikita stood up, and started stomping on the zombies head, though it had long since been dead. When he was satisfied, he used his machete to chop off the limbs, and laid them in a neat pile beside the torso.

He turned back and looked at Mara, only to find himself suddenly with his face to the ground, in an unimaginable amount of pain. He just realized that he had sprinted over to her, even on his bad knee. He knew that he had just gone through the stages.

Now he was going to black......black...

His head slumped fully to the ground as blood poured from the side of his from where he hit on the boulder on the way down.

Steve follow Kari towards the outside of the warehouse, being as quiet as possible. Thankfully the heavy metal and various other items he swiped from the school didn't drag him down or make any noise. Steve peeks into a window and doesn't spot any undeads inside. He leans over to his companion and whispers "The coast is clear." as he opens the door

Kari loked towards the window and shook her head
"You go ahead in I'll wait out here"
she looked around there were no zombies within sight
"If you want to go in go on ahead you might some more useful items, ill wait out here for you to return"

"Alright, just watch my back." Steve said as he placed his bag of acquired items on the ground by Kari and walked inside. He left the door wide open behind him, in case he needed to cal for help or to make a quick getaway. He took 4 steps inside and looked around

Hearing the door close and lock behind him, Steve began to panic. Taking out his baseball bat He attempted to break out the window, but found them too strong. He glanced around and sighed before saying "Guess I gotta try and find an off switch." As he followed the faint red light. He remained alert as he walked, while he wished he didn't have to put up with that annoying clicking sound

Steve smacked himself before thinking "I can survive this, and any scum I find in here." As he began walking in the direction were the red light was coming from before. As he walked he glanced in the direction of every sound, but kept walking forward.

Mara moved to Nikita, hand reaching out to shake him to make sure he was still alive. What was all of that about? That rage? She had never seen anyone lose control so completely before. He wasn't moving but he was still breathing. At least there was that. Using what she had in her pack she did her best to tend to Nikita's wounds, careful not to push too much of the zombie's blood into his system. It was tough but she somehow, through struggle, managed to get Nikita back to the house and situated in a somewhat comfortable position on the couch. Then she waited.