Author�s Notes:

Hey, gang. Well, here�s Chapter 1. The prologue three days ago received one piece of C&C which was criticizing me on my �portrayal of US military soldiers in a negative light�. This criticism had to do with the fact that we are on the midst of war with Afghanistan.

I�d like to make it abundantly clear that this is a story about zombies. It doesn�t involve terrorism, it doesn�t involve the bombing murder of innocent people � which are all still very sensitive subjects, I�m sure. They are for me.

My point is that this is a work of dark fiction which I began over two years ago. I don�t find it to be in bad taste, and I stand behind my decision to continue posting the story because, as I say, the story is basically Ranma vs. Zombies with a group of scientists and soldiers caught in the deluge.

So here is chapter 1. C&C would be most appreciated. I have to thank Morgan Hudson for his incredible help in this story � formatting, grammar, construct, plot elements, et al. He�s been a great inspiration.

Incidentally, Morgan constructed a marvelous logo for this story arc. Take a look-see.

http://www.angelfire.com/extreme2/skyryder/twilight2.jpg

All the general Disclaimer applies. Ranma � and Day of the Dead belong to their respective creators. All original characters belong to me.

Enjoy

J.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Twilight of the Dead - Series I
A Ranma/Day of the Dead Crossover
----------------------------------
by James Jeans


=============================
Chapter 1 - Memories I
=============================

The city had become a grisly war zone. It was like
something out of old World War II films, only twice
as graphic with a little less charm and grace. And
it had all happened so fast... So damned fast...

    There had been no warning, of course, and no
time to prepare. It just fell upon them, like a
sudden, violent hurricane, relentless and merciless.

    The bodies of the dead were returning to life.
No one had a clue as to what was happening. Nobody
in authority, especially. Someone would always
believe, in their own naive way, that they had some
sort of handle on the moment.

    Rumors of varying caliber, from  the
superficial to the plausible, were being thrown in
the same fashion as Bureaucrats slinging mud.
Witchcraft, Voodoo, Satanism, and many other black
arts had come under fire.

    There were also accusations of a chemical
spill, one of the hypothetically credible theories,
but there was no way the entire planet could have
been infected over the course of a week.

    The rumors continued to spread, creating
panic, sweeping over the general population like a
swift, sticky river of lies. It confused them, made
them feel as though they were suffocated in the
muck. Hearsay would be their unfortunate downfall,
drowning them before they even had a chance to swim.
Put simply, humanity fucked themselves.

    Akane Tendo sat under a skylight that allowed
a front row seat to ominous night sky. She stared
through the tempered glass, seeing very few stars
through a fat, dank overcast. It had lingered for
nearly three days, seeing to it that not only the
beautiful night sky was hidden, but the calming blue
of day remained shrouded as well.

    She continued to reminisce, thinking about the
earlier days, and how cruel people had become to one
another. She couldn't believe, at the time, how
easily her peers could lay blame. But that was the
easiest way. She realized this now.

    Instead of trying to cope with the constant
headache of uprooting the ominous goings-on behind
the catastrophe, they would lay blame on the most
likely, most vulnerable sap who happen to be within
earshot. The metaphorical 'Lynch Mob' would hunt
down a person who was different from themselves, if
even in the slightest way. The blame had to go
somewhere, and fuck whoever happened to get in the
way. He or she would be a simple casualty of war.

    This particular casualty of war had a name,
however. A well known name. And the 'Lynch Mob'
title was far from metaphorical in this case.

    A group of Akane's 'fellow' students had
gotten together one night, almost a year ago, and
decided that their casualty would be Hikaru
Gosunkugi, the school geek. He had been the cause of
the waking dead, no dinky-dong doubt about it.

    The cause of their suffering, Gosunkugi was. A
menace to their society, and an all around bad guy.
Who else could it be? Everyone else was so...
innocent.

    Gosunkugi the cause? A preposterous idea, as
far as Akane had been concerned. Gosunkugi may have
been naive, shy, and a social reject, but he was
harmless overall. Pathetic, even. For those
students, however, his involvement in the was as
clean-cut as Sean Connery.

    Furinkan High had become one of the designated
zones of sanctuary back in the beginning, before the
order to remain in one's own home took effect;
before the order was then disbanded because it
seemed impracticable; before there were no more
orders, only chaos and selfishness and pomposity.

    The local television stations had declared it
one of the safer buildings, at the time. That was
before the people within - newscasters, journalist,
police force, citizens - were mostly devoured by a
sudden brigade of Flesh Stalkers.

    It was after the students and their families
had started to arrive that Gosunkugi had been deemed
unfit to remain amongst the rest of the innocent
population. Tautly was more like it, Akane thought.

    Gosunkugi was a misfit, and likely in league
with whatever devils had caused the destruction of
their fine community.

    Akane felt, no she KNEW, that poor Gosunkugi
was fortunate that the students hadn't known at that
time about the worldwide spread of the living-dead.

    She could still hear the shrill screams
and pleas of a desperate teenager as she moved down
the corridor, towards the Co-ed washrooms. She
shivered as the thoughts blanketed her mind like a
cool, wet sheet...

*    *    *

    Akane Tendo bounded through the doors of the
Co-ed washroom. She gasped, and a perplexed
expression crossed her face. At first she wasn't
sure what she was looking at. A thin red trail of
fluid was smeared up the fa�ade in front of her. It
was almost see through, and resembled cheery Kool-
Aid that had a little too much of the bright red mix
poured into the water.

    Her eyes moved from the floor, up the polished
porcelain wall. Her contorted reflection stared at
her for a moment through the red fluid, but it
passed as her eyes continued to rise. Her mind
raced, and little by little the idea of Kool-Aid
evaporated from her mind, along with any optimism
she may have harbored.

    A chill slithered down her spin like a frigid
sliver of ice. She wanted to believe her eyes were
playing a cruel trick on her, that she was simply
daydreaming. Hallucinating, even.

    Akane saw Hikaru Gosunkugi. She watched in
disgust as the sixteen-year-old dangled grossly from
the rafters, helpless. A rope had been tied firmly
around his neck, and it resembled a dog hung on its
leash more so than gallows.

    They had strung the rope over a crossbeam high
above the floor and dropped him. An even more
horrible thought then struck Akane - maybe they had
eased him down slowly, taking morbid joy in watching
the teen suffer? She felt her stomach tighten in a
great knot.

    Fingers grasping uselessly at the pseudo-
noose, Gosunkugi nails began to slice at the tender
flesh above the twine. Small pools of blood began to
form between his neck and the arch of rope around
it. He didn't notice.

*    *    *

    Hikaru Gosunkugi was dead. Well, he was dying,
anyway. His brain hadn't caught onto the fact yet.
He somehow wished it would, though. If it were
possible to simply close down his brain, he sure as
hell would have.

    He didn't fully understand what had happened,
and in his current state, he probably never would. A
group of boys had jumped him. Pushing him thought
the washroom door, he remembered the searing pain in
his nose and upper lip as his face collided with the
porcelain wall.

    It wasn't just his nose and upper lip, though.
In his mouth was what felt like chalk. It was
powdery, and his mouth was much too dry to help
moisten it. Other than the powder, there were also
small chunks of bone... No, not bone...

    His tongue trailed along the roof of his mouth
until it came to the point where his incisors were.
Or should have been, anyway. Two sharp stalks
replaced them. He moaned, though whether or not it
was physical or mental he didn't know. He'd have to
get it looked at if ever things returned to normal.
Maybe they could replace his teeth at no charge? He
had been attacked, after all.

    Hikaru Gosunkugi suddenly felt as though he
would burst out in laughter. Not just laughter, but
a mad, irrational howl. After all, how many people
hanging from the end of an insufficiently made noose
would be considering such things?

    His vision was deteriorating and his throat
was filling with bile. Sure, things were bad, but
they could have been worse. He could have been
eaten. //My bus has arrived,\\ he thought, feeling a
sharp sting in his eyes as the blood vessels began
to burst. His mind screamed, his mouth gurgled.
//And what lies ahead can't be any worse than what
lies behind...\\

    In the last few seconds of Hikaru Gosunkugi's
life, he saw a magnificent oracle of beauty standing
below him, looking on in disgust and fright. A small
smile traced his lips, and his final thought was the
gorgeous angel's name. //Akane...\\

*    *    *

    It wouldn't be any better, though. Gosunkugi
didn't know that as his body began to fall limp, and
it was probably better that way, but his nightmare
was just beginning. His soul would not rest, and he
would call his new habitat hell.

*    *    *

    Akane looked away from the dying student, only
to see five of the offending students strewn about
the rafters, watching.

    Her eyes returned helplessly to the Gosunkugi,
and she could see a thin trail of blood and saliva
drooling from the corner of boy's mouth, his
body hanging before her limply.

    From the look of it, his face had been smashed
against the wall before he was drug to his final
destination. His struggle had ended, though.

    She wasn't sure, and she knew it would
probably haunt her for many, many nightmares to
come, but it looked as though his lips had turned
upward in a morose little smile...

    Akane's eyes locked with Gosunkugi's. It was
far less than actual eye contact and more like his
eyes were simply staring at her, unseeing. She felt
her stomach twist again, only this time a stream of
bile flooded her esophagus. She reached up quickly
with the back of her hand and slid it across her
dry, cracked lips.

    "It's the Tendo girl!" one of the students
screamed, his voice masked by rage and fright. It
stunned the raven hair girl as well. She was sure
she recognized the voice, yet he had referred to her
as 'the Tendo girl'. He was more than likely one of
the boys who spent a good deal of Freshman year
neurotically pining over her. It was surreal to hear
someone she probably knew refer to her like that.

    Akane backed slowly toward the door, shaking
her eyes darting up into the rafters. She couldn't
tell how many of them there were, but she knew there
were many. Her face drained of color, and she
suddenly felt very cold.

    "She helped him cause this," another one
accused, his voice dripping acid. "Why else would
she have rushed to his aid?!" The other students
mumbled in hushed agreement.

    "Get the bitch!"

    Akane's body snapped into action, realization
setting in as these harsh, untrue words reverberated
through the washroom, as well as in her head. Her
feet slapped against the concrete floor loudly as
she raced out of the room, hearing the students
continue to scream and shout.

    "Get her! Kill her!"

    "Don't let her get away! She might let those
things in!"

    Akane stopped for a moment and looked back
into the washroom. Her eyes were glazed in
surprised abhor as one of the students released the
rope holding Gosunkugi in the air.

    His body fell to the ground. It seemed to fall
in slow motion, and it made Akane dizzy. The impact
sound was nothing like what she had expected. Rather
than a loud, sharp thump, she heard only a dull, wet
smack. Her bile rose again.

    The raven hair girl suddenly ran as hard as
she could, turning a blind corner, continuing down
the corridor. It didn't make any sense to her. More
than anything else these kids sounded frightened,
but why was it like THIS? The reality of Gosunkugi's
corpse laying in the washroom hadn't really sunk in
yet, she supposed. Did it matter why it was like
this? Those kids had just murdered someone, and now
they had their sights set on her, the newest
casualty.

    She stopped near a cubbyhole at the far end of
the corridor and whimpered lightly in fright. It was
a dead end. //Nowhere to go,\\ she thought, crossing
her hands helplessly over her stomach.

    "Where is she?"

    "I saw her go that way!"

    "Let's get her, then!"

    Her knees bent slowly, and she slid down the
wall to the floor. She squeezed her eyes shut
tightly and her lips trembled. So many times in the
past she had taken on these very students. She
remembered her routinely duels with them before
school every morning. Things were different now,
though. She didn't know if she could fight them.

    "URGH!"

    "OOF!!"

    "URNK!!!"

    Akane's eyes popped open. She had been deep in
thought, but the surprised yelps of pain from just
around the corner had yanked her back like a
bullwhip. The grunts and groans continued, followed
by an all too familiar and welcomed voice.

    "Ya got somthin' to say to Akane, ya clear it
through me first, ya got that?"

    "Get out of the way, Saotome," one of the
students replied, his voice shaky and unsure. "This
doesn't concern you. Your fianc�e and that wizard
kid Gosunkugi are to blame for all this. She can't
go unpunished!"

    The voice darkened. "Wrong answer."

    Akane heard another loud 'OOF' and then a
tumultuous inrush of sound, followed by a flash of
energy. She could hear concrete and wood crumbling
under intense force.

    Then silence. The general sounds of a
building filled to the breaking point with people
still flourished, but she could no longer hear the
cruel sound of false accusations.

    Akane adjusted her position on the floor and
crawled on her hands and knees over to the corner,
peering around it. The sight beyond stunned her. She
knew that he was protective of her, but...

    Ranma stood silently in the hallway, his face
riddled in a confusing array of emotions as he
looked around the chaotic mess. A light mist rose
from the wall next to him, where one of the students
had been flattened into the structure by a bolt of
raw ki.

    On the floor lay the other four students,
beaten and unconscious. Akane's eyes trailed from
the destruction over to Ranma. The boy turned
slowly, his eyes shut tight as he moved toward the
dead end at the other side of the hall. His
movements, though a bit shaky, were strangely
graceful, as if he had practiced the act of walking
down a hallway.

    The student who had been flattened against
the wall pulled himself out slowly, moving his head
from side to side. He felt a thick, warm liquid
dripping down his lip, and reached up to wipe it
from beneath his nose.

    The boy stepped away from the wall, holding
his left arm against his chest, as if to protect
himself, or the arm, which had obviously been
broken. His school uniform was torn just below the
bend of his elbow, and blood tainted the material.
Akane thought she could see a shard of bone
protruding from within, but she turned her eyes
away. She didn't much care to confirm what she might
or might not have seen.

    Ranma stopped and grimaced, his back facing
the student. His pizzazz may have faltered, but his
keen senses were still working 9 to 5, with quite a
bit of overtime thrown in the mix. "Back off,
man..."

    "You and Akane were in on it together,
weren't you?" The student directed an accusing look
at the martial artist. He took a step forward,
breaking out in coughing fit. As it subsided, he
continued. "You both...!"

    Ranma's ear perked suddenly, and the hair on
his neck stood on end. Sometimes it didn't seem
quite as sweet to have such keen detection skills.
It grew bitter quite often, actually.

    He could still hear - feel - the student
moving toward him, but there was something else.
Something was creeping up... "Look out!"

    He jumped as the unavoidable howl of pain
detonated behind him like a time bomb. He spun on
the heel of his kung-fu shoe, hearing his fianc�e
cry out in surprise and disgust. The martial artist
took a step back, his eyes wide in terror.

    Terror. A feeling Ranma Saotome of the
Anything Goes School of Martial Arts wasn't supposed
to experience. A feeling that any martial artist was
supposed to have learned to cope with. A feeling
that had brought him to his knees on more than one
horrible occasion, leaving him helpless and useless.

    The student struggled backward, his hands
grasping desperately at the unseen monster that held
him from behind. A dull, paralyzing pain shot
through his neck, causing his vision to explode red.
The realization that this red tint was not only
caused by the pain, but a flowing jet of his own
blood threw him into a frenzy.

    Ranma watched the 'unseen monster', his mouth
slightly agape as Gosunkugi's corpse tore into the
student's neck. It had come from behind, but bent
around him to tear out the front of his throat.

It then slid its long, slender fingers easily
through the material of the students uniform, into
the flesh of his chest and abdomen.

    Akane leaned forward, unable to contain her
fear and anxiety. The contents of her stomach
explode upward, a thick white liquid blanketing the
floor in front of her.

    She looked up and witnessed the continuing
destruction of the student's mangled body. Her eyes
flashed across to Ranma, though. He hadn't moved to
help the student. Maybe he realized it was too late,
or maybe he had just frozen in fear...

    Gosunkugi's corpse clasped its large mouth
down on the student's neck again, its teeth
shredding skin, flesh, muscle and vain. A geyser of
blood began to flow, spraying from the jugular. His
uniform and face were both dark red.

    It continued to chew, working it's way
through the student's neck in a horizontal line.
It's teeth soon began to work into the windpipe and
spinal cord, causing the student to convulse and
lose control of his body.

    Ranma closed his eyes, unable to move as the
student's screams became more desperate. Then it
stopped, the only sound now Gosunkugi's teeth
ripping at flesh, and crushing spinal cord.

    Silence. A low thud echoed through the hall,
and Ranma opened his eyes reluctantly to see the
student's head rolling uselessly toward his feet,
eyes unseeing, jaw snapping wildly.

    Akane felt herself wretch again at the sight
of the rolling head. She closed her eyes as red hot
tears began to blur her vision. "Oh gods!" She began
to scream, an uncontrolled, madwoman scream.

    Gosunkugi released the student's body and its
attention focused on Ranma. He wasn't surprised by
its fast, jerky movements. He had just been killed,
by the looks of it. The only indication that he was
dead were the marks around his neck, and the angle
at which his head rested on his body. It was a
stunning sight. Gosunkugi, the school nerd.
Gosunkugi, the human punching bag. Gosunkugi, the
living dead Flesh Stalker... He didn't hesitate
anymore.

    Screaming, Ranma spun around suddenly,
leveling a spinning heel kick with the side of
Gosunkugi's head.

    The undead student's head flew across the hall
and hit the wall, rolling down onto the floor. It
landed several feet from Akane. She screamed and
backed away, pinning herself against the wall.

    As tears continued to flow, she focused her
gaze back on her fianc�e. A very noticeable change
had taken place in the pigtailed martial artist. He
looked older, somehow, as if the whole situation
had aged him before his time. She knew deep down
that she probably looked just the same to him.

*    *    *

    Ranma had matured considerably since the whole
ordeal began, but he had still possessed that
childish, foot-in-mouth characteristic. Akane was
thankful for that because, moreover, Ranma had
become quite uptight. He snapped at people often,
but still verged on the softer side. He still
managed an awkward one-liner every now and again, as
well.

    They had all changed a lot after the first
few creatures had arrived in Nerima. She knew that,
if Ranma were still alive, he would still be
suffering from what he considered to be his ultimate
failure.

    She twisted a finger in her once again lengthy
hair, a habit that had formed back before Ryoga had
chopped it off with his belt-lance a year earlier.

    Sighing, she looked out the skylight into the
thick, gloomy night. "Where are you, Ranma?"

*    *    *

    The young, stout male looked out over the now
vacant town of Nerima, watching the many empty
streets and massive buildings. It was so damned dark
out there. Most of the power had gone, and very few
buildings were supplied with backup units. The
building he stood upon had been equipped with a
small solar powered generator. It continued on
endlessly, droning as loud as ever.

    In the day, he could see many of the
surrounding wards - Itabashi, Toshima, Nakano,
Suginami, Musashino, and Hoya, to name a few. The
pollution had really begun to clear up. Smog no
longer hindered the ability to view things at a
great distance.

Nighttime was a different story, however.
There was no light at all. Their building had been
the only source of any illumination, especially
during heavily overcast nights. He was sure that
there were other buildings with similar generators,
but most of them probably weren't as heavily
inhabited.

    He focused his concentration on watching the
streets directly below. His eyes had accustom to the
dark, and the area below was at least somewhat lit
by the building. In the immediate distance, he could
make out what remained of Furinkan High. Most of the
building's upper levels had been destroyed in a
'freak explosion'.

    Ranma knew better, though. He remembered
exactly what happened. No one could get along and
morale finally fell apart. Everyone in the building
bickered, argued, and complained. The final breaking
point had been the murder of Hikaru Gosunkugi.
//Poor guy,\\ Ranma thought, his shoulders hitching
back in forth in a dramatic shudder. He hadn't seen
it happen, but he had been told by some of the
students involved that they had strung him up over a
rafter.

    They never found everyone who had been
involved, not that it actually mattered. Law had
deteriorated to nothing more than a hallow word.
There was no meaning left in it. The four boys who
were found out didn't get in a single bit of
trouble. The only retaliation they met had been from
him.

    But finally the creatures broke it into the
school building via a door in the basement.
Apparently no one had bothered to mention that there
was an entrance into the building in the lower
levels.

    It was a total slaughter. Ranma helped as many
people as he could, but saw just as many people fall
helplessly to their aggressors. He watched as a
desperate student broke a gas line with his boot
heel. He recognized the student as being one of
Gosunkugi's attackers.

    "No!" Ranma had shouted, rushing toward the
student. There was no time. A rush of heat and air
exploded into him, heaving him backward through a
window. He landed on a row of shrubs just off the
main door stoop.

    He thanked the gods for his quick reflexes.
Those things were on top of him in no time. He
scaled up what remained of the school and had, after
extensive amounts of running and dodging chicken-
fried corpses, escaped into the night.

    But when he rendezvoused with the survivors,
several students, some he knew and some he didn't,
had gone missing - Ukyo, Ai, Ku, and...

    "Akane," Ranma said mournfully, his head
hanging low. It was more of a moan, and had anyone
been listening, they probably wouldn't have
recognized the name. "I failed you. I'm sorry."

    He closed his eyes and fought back tears. It
was be "unmanly" to cry. But what did THAT matter
anymore? After all, his mother was no longer here to
enforce the rules of said manliness, and it was his
fault.

    He felt a strong rush of wind blow through
his hair and over his face. He let his thoughts
drift with it.

*    *    *

    "Saotome!"

    Ranma skidded to a halt, his feet sliding
across the asphalt loudly. Breathless, he turned his
head to see who was following him.

    Ryoga Hibiki moved up the street quickly,
darting around abandoned cars and flaming puddles of
gasoline. Tears flowed from his eyes. They streaked
down his cheeks, but probably wouldn't draw
immediate attention.

    Ranma turned fully to face his long time
rival. He straightened his posture and watched the
Lost Boy approach. "What d'ya want, Ryoga? I ain't
got time to fight you right now. I've gotta get to
the Dojo. Mom and Pop are there with the Tendos..."

    "U-Ukyo's dead," Ryoga stuttered, interrupting
the Pigtailed Martial Artist. The tears in his eyes
began to flow a little harder. "I-I tried so hard to
help her... But there were so many of them... I
couldn't stop them."

    Ranma took a step back, shaking his head. He
felt the weight of the world pressing down on his
shoulders. It was as though someone dropped a house
on him. Ukyo dead? Was that possible? She was so
strong, so full of life... She couldn't be dead...

    And then another thought struck him. He turned
in the direction of his home. "Oh no... I gotta get
to the Dojo!!"

*    *    *

    Ranma could still feel the sting of Ukyo's
death. The news had really rattled him. He didn't
know whether or not he'd ever get over the loss of
his friend. Out of all the fianc�es, he knew she
would have been the most likely to remain his friend
if he had not chosen her.

    A lot of people felt that Ukyo had only been
interested in Ranma's inheritance - the Saotome
School of Anything Goes Martial Arts - or in the
idea that HE had to be hers, as though it were a
contest to win his heart.

    Ranma never believed that. She had been his
friend when they were children, and the thought that
it had all meant absolutely nothing to her was a
painful idea.

    He could feel a familiar ache rising in his
stomach, one that he had never experienced before
the night of Ukyo's death. What happened later at
the Tendo Dojo was burned in his mind like a
photograph. Sometimes he wished his ability to 'see'
things so clearly would just fade.

*    *    *

    Ranma and Ryoga bolted through the narrow,
cluttered street. They both leaped high into the
air, gliding over a pileup in the center of the
intersection. Ranma thought he could smell burning
hair and flesh from within the mangled vehicles. He
tried not to think about it.

    Ryoga was having a hard time keeping up. He
kept catching unwelcome glimpses of what he tried to
pretend weren't bodies. In his sixteen years of
life, he had never seen a person killed in such a
gruesome manner. Eyes, throats and stomachs eaten
out. Heads ripped from their torsos, arms scattered
across the pavement... Very sloppy. Very disturbing.

    Ranma, on the other hand, barely noticed the
devastated bodies. He could only think of Ukyo's
death and reaching the Tendo Dojo. He tried to clear
the former from his mind's eye. It distorted his
judgment, and he couldn't handle that right now.

    The two martial artists rounded the corner
that connected the streets where the Tendo Dojo
was situated. They ran up to the gate and peered
through it. The door into the house was agape, slid
back to the open position.

    Ranma grimaced. He and the Eternally Lost Boy
ran into the yard. He cried out in surprise as
suddenly something latched onto him from behind the
gate. The cold, clammy hands groped at his arm
firmly, pulling with incredible strength.

    Ranma's eyes widened as he caught sight of the
monstrosity. He thrashed and jerked, swinging the
creature around in the air.

    Growling in an extremely feral manner, Ryoga
pulled his fist back and punched. His balled up hand
embedded into the creature's back, causing it to
hiss in pain. He pulled back and looked in horror at
the creature. It was still on his arm, thick dark
fluid seeping from within. It soaked the yellow
twine of his sleeve, and he could feel it on his
skin. The creature turned to look at Ryoga, growling
in agitation.

    Ranma spun around to look at it. He kicked
up and around, toward its head. Everything seemed to
slow down, and his eyes blazed with anger as his
heel connected with Its temple.

    Ryoga watched the creature's head separated
from its body at the base of the neck. The severed
head flew through the air, spraying Ryoga with a
thick black liquid.

    The head hit the wall and rolled down to the
ground, the dark ooze was joined by a viscous red
fluid, and it began to pool around the cranium.

    The body twitched as blood began to pour from
the neck, onto Ryoga's arm. He pulled his arm back
and let the corpse fall to the ground.

    Ranma looked down at the creature in disgust,
then at Ryoga. The two looked at each other for a
moment, but both suddenly averted their attention to
the house.

    "Sayuri!!! Nabiki!!! NOOOOO!!!"

    Ranma's face twisted in surprise. Sayuri?
That was Akane's friend from school. What was she
doing here?

    "That was Akane!" Ryoga bellowed, his
expression twisting in a dark mix of concern and
anger.

    "Come on!" Ranma almost literally flew
through the door , sliding to an abrupt halt as his
eyes surveyed his the house. It didn't look good.
Four of the undead had gathered on either side of
the entrance.

    Once inside, his mouth fell open in horror.
The house was infested. The dead humans stumbled
around the room, up the stairs, into the kitchen,
and out the back door onto the veranda.

    Ryoga burst in, his own eyes wide and
terrified. "Akane?!" He stopped and looked around.
"It can't be..."

    Ranma moved toward the stairs, going up them
two by two. He pushed the zombies out of his way as
he went, giving them little chance to attack.

    Ryoga begun the hazardous ascension into the
higher level of the home, following Ranma's lead.
His agility was increased by the adrenaline that
flowed through his veins, and it only pulsed with
more force as his fear increased.

    Ranma stopped at the top of the stairs and
moved toward Akane's room. He froze suddenly, his
eyes drifting down to the floor. His breath caught
in his chest.

    A group of zombies huddled down around Nabiki
Tendo's corpse. There was no face to identify the
body, but it WAS Nabiki. Her short brown hair
feathered across the floor around her empty skull.
Her neck had been ripped in half, and the hollow
space that remained drained a thick, dark pool of
blood across the floor.

    He watched the zombies, unable to move. They
began to prod at her, grabbing exposed flesh,
ripping at it greedily. Her school uniform had been
torn, and her stomach  and breasts were bare.

    //I guess she doesn't wear a bra,\\ Ranma
thought, taking care not to look at her chest. He
was at least respectful in that way. //That or they
took it off...\\ He felt a rush of self-contempt
wash over him. What was he thinking? It never failed
to surprise him what went through a person's head in
dangerous situations.

    One of the creatures slid its hands down onto
Nabiki's belly and grasped the skin. It pulled in
both directions. Ranma's eyes glazed with disgust as
the flesh tore as easily as latex, exposing her
actual stomach, intestines, kidneys, and other vital
organs. Blood splashed across the floor as the
creature began to chew on the torn flesh.

    Ranma covered his mouth with the back of his
hand and turned away, gagging. He closed his eyes
and felt his body shaking, a sense of true terror
gripping him for possible the first time in his
young life.

    "Look out!"

    Ranma spun on his heel, his arms raised to
defend himself, only to see Ryoga's fist knocking a
creature's head from its body. The corpse slid
uselessly to the floor and the head hit the wall,
leaving a large red splotch.

    Ryoga looked at Ranma, who nodded his thanks.
He nodded in return and turned toward Akane's room.
Then he saw Nabiki. "N-Nabiki...?"

He felt his stomach crunch, and he thought he
were about to pass out. He looked away and closed
his eyes.

    Ranma darted past Ryoga, who followed him
promptly. They moved toward Nabiki and the other
creatures.

    As the Pigtailed Martial Artist passed one of
the supernatural killers, he pulled his fist back
and snapped it forward, sending the creature into
the wall. He heard a sickening crushing sound and
knew the creature's skull had collapsed from the
impact. He smiled.

    Ryoga glanced down at Nabiki as they passed
her and shook his head. It was inhuman, the damage
that had been done to her. He prayed for her
silently. They reached Akane's room and Ranma threw
the door open....

===============================================================




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