NOTE FROM ME: Heya Peeps, Jester here with a new story. It's a story that had been playing around in my head since I first saw HOTD years ago, just never acted on it. But recently I felt like rewatching the whole only season, deciding I'd take a crack at it since there isn't a lot of Saya stories which sucks. Now I will be changing some things around that happened in the anime… okay maybe a lot more and will be changing the time it took to get to Saya's house because I always felt like it was too quick. I'm not sure how long this story will be but it will follow the anime from start to finish, this chapter being like episode one. And Nao will encounter Saya and Hirano in next chapter but it will be a short encounter, where Nao will save Saya for a moment before continuing… wow this message is pretty long lol. But one more thing about Nao his personality/character is a mix of Saya/ Saeko, he's normally pretty calm under tough circumstances and is smart coming up with a plan because of who taught him how to survive which will get around to later in the story. Buuut that's enough from me, have a good one, follow, leave a comment on what ya think, and I hope you'll stick around to enjoy the next chapter! ~Jester~

PS: I will be doing speech for the characters in Italic and what they are thinking with Underline to separate things. Please don't complain about it, just figure it's easier to understand.

Example of Speech

"Like so" Jester said

'Hope you're okay with it.' Jester thought

A Dead Arrow

Chapter 1: A Dead Morning

"Why… why did this have to happen?..."

A young teen said as he exhaled heavily, his brow covered in sweat as he struggled to catch his breath. His emerald green eyes opened slowly as he glanced around himself seeing no one.

"Great Nao, just fucking great. Only been an hour and you're already talking to yourself…" He said in a huff, taking a longer look around his surroundings not that it was much to see since he locked himself in the sports shed forgetting to even turn the lights on.

Though not pitch black since the window above the locked door let some light from outside in, and with it the sounds of slow shuffling feet. The faint sounds of screams inside the school could be heard as well, though it was almost drowned out completely by the moans of the dead.

That's right the dead, where did they come from? How the hell would a 16-year-old teenager know that, heck if any of the video games or movies taught him anything about undead. It was to always shoot them in the head, not that he was a one-man army with a room full of guns.

"Told teach we needed an armory…" He mumbled sarcastically trying to be as quiet as possible, so not to alert the undead. Forcing himself to his feet he reached out to flick the shed light on; light immediately filled the small room up. Revealing volleyballs, baseball balls and bats, soccer balls, all sorts of sports equipment.

More importantly the one piece of equipment he was Captain of, though it was locked up at the moment. Not that it mattered he had picked up the keys this morning from one of the PE teachers to practice with one of his teammates.

Looking around for his gym bag he left inside the shed earlier, he found it right where he left it on top of the locker. Pulling it down quietly he unzipped the bag taking out a set of keys attached to his house keys, right where he left them so not to lose them by mistake.

"Okay.." He whispered, he glanced through his bag once more seeing what else he packed. His school uniform, a towel, spare boxers and socks, few energy bars just in case he ever skipped breakfast, a half empty water bottle, cellphone charger though useless without said phone since they weren't allowed on school grounds. He left that in his locker inside the school… and not with him… so calling for help was out of the question.

Though with the undead watching around outside, he was pretty sure his phone wouldn't do any good. Unless he wanted to snap a selfie with a zombie, which sure if he wanted to die that would be a great idea. Tossing his bag down he inserts the key into the locker's padlock, a small twist later it popped open. Taking it off his threw the lock down onto his bag, it landed with a small barely auditable thud.

Lifting the locker latch carefully so not to be heard he pulled it open with a small smile, inside were several arrows inside a bin. 130 to be accurate, since he borrowed 20 of them for practice. 10 for him, 10 for his teammate. Though all 20 were outside along with the bow he borrowed, which he had no intension of running outside to pick up since he could just take more.

Reaching for one of the school quivers, which would attach to the waistband of his sweat pants. They could only hold up to a max of 20 arrows, any more than that and sure he'd be a walking Legolas from Lord of the Rings but he'd only be slowed down from the sheer amount. And if he used any he could retrieve them from fallen zombies if not then well he had 19 more…

Slipping the max 20 arrows into the quiver he immediately knew he made the right call in only carrying one quiver. Since the whole thing went down his leg and almost touched the ground, okay this wasn't going to work. Sure, in competition this would be fine since he didn't need to outrun a pack of zombies, only stand there and fire.

He glanced at his gym bag, it wasn't all that big maybe the size of a regular school backpack. So, shoving the arrows in there was out of the question, but… Taking the quiver off his hip he fastens the clip that would normally hang at his hip to a small metal loop where the straps were. It fit perfectly, he undid one strap that connected to the top of the bag. Shortening it a bit so it could only wrap once around the bag, which he did wrap it around the quiver once to keep it from shaking too much.

Now the arrows, since it was going to attached to the bag he needed a way to keep the arrows from moving around or slipping out… Looking around quickly he noticed one of the foam mats used by the track team.

"Awesome" He mumbled, pulling one of the arrows out of quiver he moved to the mat. Gripping the tip of the arrow so he had a firm grasp but left enough of the arrows tip pointing out so it was like a makeshift knife. Beginning to dig into the foam mat he cut the plastic covering pretty easy, though the arrow tip struggled to cut the foam but it did after a few attempts.

Once he had a sizable chuck cut off he returned to the quiver taking all the arrows out, stuffing the foam into the quiver, then shoving it down to the bottom with the back of an arrow. Then returning the arrows to the quiver he stabbed them into foam at the bottom hard enough to keep them from shaking around.

"Done, now then…" Turning the bag/quiver upside down he shook the bag a few times, confirming his makeshift arrow holder worked since the arrows didn't fall out. Setting the bag back down he returned to the locker taking out one of the long bows used by the school, or as they were commonly called a 'Yumi'.

A smirk pulled at his lips as he looked the bow over once, it was almost as tall as he was. Which cause him to frown, no this wasn't going to work. Once outside the bow would help but he'd have to enter the school in order to find a teacher, or escape since a large stone wall surrounded the school. The bow would be harder to use given the halls, classrooms, stairwells… he needed something smaller…

"The workshop…" He remembered, if he could get to the schools workshop he could cut the bow to a shorter length. He could break it right here and now to shorten but without the right equipment he'd only waste a bow, so the workshop was his only choice…

Which if he entered the school through the back entry, he'd have to move up three stories by the entrance. It wasn't too far he thought, he could make that after all from what he just experienced out there they didn't run only stumbled. Though if they got their hands on him it would hard to escape, since that was how he lost his first quiver.

And once he left the shed there was no coming back, so one weapon a long bow that was useless. A few arrows, which he could use as weapons alone but then he couldn't carry the bow…

'Okay so I'll have to do my best to keep away from them, shoving away seems to work well enough…' He thought to himself, and if this was like a video game punching wouldn't be wise since he could get bit… shoving them away with the bow would work well enough. It wasn't a staff but it would have to do… and it would only have to be when he entered the school. Outside it would be like a free for all…

Leaning the bow against the locker he moved back to his bag taking out the half empty water bottle, popping the top he took a long drink until he was sucking air from it. 'Stay hydrated in a survival situation… he always told me that…' The teen thought, taking the top off his bottle he moved to the sink inside the shed. It was normally used to clean some equipment, but it was a clean source of water. As he turned the water on he paused noticing his blood covered hands.

"Gin…"

An Hour Ago…

"S-Sorry I'm late Captain Nao!"

Someone screamed out behind the teenager as he was closing the sports shed, his green eyes moved to a freshman jogging over in his gym shorts and tee shirt. He came to a stop in front of his Captain, he dropped his bag on the dirt bowing deeply in apologies.

"Gin that's 3 times in the last two weeks you've arrived late!" The Captain said annoyed to the apologetic freshman, who didn't move a muscle as he kept bowing. Sighing lightly he swatted the freshman on the head with one of the bows he had leaning against the sport shed. Earning a grown from the underclass man, the teen stood straight back up taking the bow.

"S-Sorry, my mom has been sick lately. So, I had to walk my little sister to school…" Gin said nervously, Nao's eyes soften for a moment. Before collecting himself, he glared down at the freshman, offering a quiver full of arrows which they took.

"No excuses! Come on you asked for my help." Nao said before picking up his own quiver of arrows and bow, attaching the quiver to his waistband he shouldered his bow. Walking past the slightly nervous teen who followed they moved away from the building to several large straw targets.

"Hey, what's with all the targets?" Gin asked, the green eyed Captain rolled his eyes. "Practice dah, yesterday we practiced on 3 targets. Today we're stepping it up to 7 targets, and I want you to take less time than before to fire at each one!" He shouted like a drill sergeant, Gin jumped a bit.

"Come on Cap! That's too hard!" He fired back, Nao rolled his eyes. Nudging his shoulder forward a bit to his bow was at the ready, he then grabbed two arrows sticking one of the wooden shafts between his teeth. Drawing one of the arrows back on the bow string he paused from a moment getting his aim ready before firing the arrow, it whistled through the air sinking into the target to the left. Before it could come to a stop in the bullseye of the target, the second arrow flew into the target on the far left. Once again sinking into the dead center, but just like before it didn't even get the chance to fully sink in. Before a third, then fourth, fifth, sixth and finally the seventh arrow all hit dead center in the targets.

Gin's jaw dropped as he watched his Captain's pure talent with a bow. "Say something?" Nao calmly said, he lowered his bow before smirking at the stunned student. Before he could continue the loud speakers sounded from the school building…

"THIS ANNOUNCEMENT IS FOR ALL THE STUDENTS!"

"An emergency situation is taking place inside the school right now!"

"All students must follow your teacher's instructions and evacuate."

"I repeat-" The announcement was cut off for a moment, before the sounds of struggling escaped the speakers. Gin's eyes widen panic at the speaker's words, but those words were soon replaced with blood curling screams. Pleads of help, then finally silence, there was a small pause before new screams were heard.

But these screams weren't coming from the speakers, there were coming from the school itself. Multiply screams, female and male students all screaming in horror. Whether it was from the announcement or whatever was going on neither member of the Archery Club knew.

"C-Captain.. what should we do?" Gin asked, somehow keeping his cool enough not to run. But Nao knew… he was terrified, Nao on the other hand was calm. More calm then he should have been, taking a look at the school he thought about it for a moment. They were told to evacuate, was there a fire? No, no alarms were blaring inside.

Closing his eyes lightly he listened carefully, he couldn't make the sounds of fire trucks or police cars nearby. And he knew there was a fire department nearby, normally in the situation of a fire. The fire department would be here first, then the police which meant there wasn't a fire. Terrorist attack? Possible but then the Special Defense Force would be here by now, so that rules that cause for alarm out.

As all these thoughts rolled through Nao's mind, Gin cried out. "Cap, look!" He shouted, Nao's eyes opened as he looked to Gin who was pointing across the field. Now following his finger he noticed one of the PE girls staggering towards them, a faint red dye on her once white sweater.

"She's bleeding!" Gin said dropping his bow and quiver, dashing over to the bleeding student. Nao was about to stop him, but sighed lightly. "Gin! I'll get the first aid in the shed!" Nao shouted out, whatever was going on could wait till they helped the bleeding girl. Tossing his bow aside but keeping his quiver on his hip he moved to the shed.

As he got inside the shed picking up the first aid package someone screamed out. "C-CAPTAIN!" The scream sounded painful almost choked out, Nao shot up carrying the first aid out of the shed. As he did he saw Gin on the ground with the wounded girl on top of him, her teeth sinking into his throat. His hands clumsily trying to push her off.

"GIN!" Nao shouted, his eyes widen in panic for a moment before collecting himself. Running towards the pair he held onto the handle of the first aid box, as he got within a good distance he chucked the first aid at the girl. It slammed into her head knocking her off Gin, rolling a few feet away before coming to a stop in a small dust cloud. And sending the supplies inside the case all over the ground…

"Gin!" The Captain slid to a stop beside the fallen teenager, as he got a good look at the boy his once calm attitude was now replaced with a sense of fear. Fear, something Nao wasn't used to feeling. But he was scared, not for himself but for the boy whose throat was almost gone.

That's right, half of it was gone. The girl had bitten deep enough to reveal part of the bone that was normally hidden under the layers of muscle, arteries, skin all gone. The blood started to form a pool under the boy's head, he looked dead.

Though his chest was still rising and falling slowly, snapping out of his fear quickly. Nao reached for the first aid which was scattered all over the place from it colliding with the girl's head, which where was she anyway. The dirt where she was had just an imprint of her body, blinking Nao looked around.

Feeling something hitting him in the back he whipped around only to see the girl getting ready to fall on top of him. "S-Shit!" Nao cried out, he slammed his back into the girl and grabbed her head. Twisting his arms a bit to throw the deranged girl over himself and Gin, she slammed face first into the dirt before going still. A small pool of blood forming under her head, she was dead…

"Oh shit…" Nao said, he had just murdered someone. "I… killed… her…" He whispered to himself, standing up he stepped over Gin. Though as he was about raise the other leg to get to the girl something grabbed his quiver pulling down on him. Snapping his eyes to whatever it was, his eyes widen in panic as Gin was pulling himself up.

His eyes almost rolling back in his skull, he kept opening and closing his mouth making a clicking sound as the teeth collided with each other. "G-Gin?" Nao stuttered out, though as the words left his mouth Gin bit down into the quiver. Nao tried pulling away from Gin only the bleeding boy's teeth kept him from escaping, grasping the clip attached to his waist it popped off.

Stumbling forward a bit his foot got caught on the downed girl causing him to fall on his side. "Fuck!" He cussed to himself, quickly turning his focus from his slightly hurt elbow he noticed Gin slamming face first. The quiver still in his mouth, though as it came down the arrows fell out spreading all over the ground.

"Gin! What the hell is wrong with you!?" Nao screamed at the boy who was now crawling towards him, causing Nao to lash out with his leg slamming the deranged boy in the face. Which stunned him for a moment but not long as he lunged on top of his once Captain, Nao grabbed Gin around the throat to stop him.

"G-Gin s-stop!" He struggled to say as the boy tried to wiggle free from Nao's grasp, though it was hard to hold as the blood from the bite earlier started to coat his hands. He knew at this rate the blood would make him lose his hold, watching for a moment as the blood moved down his arms.

"S-Stop d-don't make me hurt you!" Nao tried to reason with the boy but it was no use, releasing one hand from the boys throat he reached around feeling some of the medical supplies. But it was all bandages, gauze pads, until his hand grazed one of the fallen arrows. Grabbing it around the shaft he pulled it up stabbing the boy on top of him in the ribs, but it didn't stop the boy.

"W-What the h-hell?" He coughed out, pulling the arrow out of boy's ribs he stabbed again. Nothing, stabbing the boy in the shoulder next the blood started to completely cover his hand that was holding the arrow. And his hand that was holding the boy's throat was now completely covered in the blood from the neck wound.

It was sickening seeing all the blood, but seeing it wasn't the worst thing. It was that his fingertips were digging into the muscles of the neck, the soft squishiness, along with the warmish fluid oozing between his fingers almost made him want to throw up. Though if he did throw up he'd be in trouble, well more than he was now. Tightening his grasp a bit more to the point where his fingers were now touching the spine joints.

"Y-You're dead a-aren't you?" Nao asked Gin, though he knew the answer already. The blood loss should have killed him by now, and the stab wounds would drop anyone by now. Grabbing harder into Gin's neck he pushed as hard as he could open forcing the dead boy's head up to reveal the soft spot under the jaw.

"I'm sorry…" Nao said with a hint of pity before driving the arrow through the soft skin into the boy's brain. For a moment, it had spasm before going still, rolling to the side he threw the now fully dead boy off him. Sitting up he rubbed his Persian orange hair with his bloody hand dying his hair a little bit red.

"What the hell is going on?.." He asked himself, lowering his hand from his head he looked to Gin's dead body. It didn't move anymore, just stayed there he was indeed dead for good. Forcing himself to his feet he looked to the dead girl from before, she wasn't moving either.

"Are.. they zombies?" He asked himself, it would make sense in away if they were. Gin had his throat ripped out and was fighting Nao like a mad man with only one thing in mind. For his teeth to sink into his Captain's flesh, at least that's what Nao had to assume given that Gin bit into the quiver like it was one last meal. But he didn't stop there either he tried to bite him the whole time they were wrestling on the ground…

"So… he was o-" His words were cut off as he turned to look at several more students staggering out onto the field coming towards him. His eyes widen in panic as he dashed off heading towards the back entrance to the school, only to stop a few feet into his dash as he saw several more of Them staggering out the back.

"Oh god." Turning around he saw the first group was closing in slowly, he might be able to dodge and weave between them. But it was too risky, if he got grabbed by one sure he might be able to fight them off with his bare hands. But if the rest of them caught up with him before he could fight the one off, he'd be dead. Seeing no other way, he took off running towards the sports shed.

"I-It's the s-safest p-place" He said as he struggled to talk while running, though who he was talking to he didn't know maybe he was just trying to convince himself it was safe. Concert building, metal door, sturdy lock to prevent theft of school equipment, and only a single window so unless these deadbeats were those shitty zombies from 'World War Z' then he should be safe.

As he was about to reach the shed another one of Them turned the corner somehow it had managed to get behind the shed without him noticing. Coming to a stop only few feet away from the building he reached for the quiver that was once on his waist feeling nothing.

"Shit" He cursed, as he turned to look at the one's behind him he counted 10. 'Okay 10 behind me, 1 in front of me. I can take the one but the 10 behind me? Suicide.' He thought, turning his attention to the one in front of him as it stumbled closer. He watched its movements carefully, they were slow…

'Easy to outrun' He noted, it was now 5 feet away. As it closed in one more foot, it's muscles tensed up before lunging at him. It's speed suddenly tripled as it closed the next 2 feet in a matter of moments, dodging to the side quickly he lashed out with one leg slamming it behind it's knee dropping it. Watching it come down on both knees Nao backed up enough to where it was out of arms reach.

'They suddenly get a large boost of speed as they close in, almost like an animal would when it closes in on its prey.' He thought, either it was instinct or sudden burst of adrenaline through its body. It was predictable so long as it was only one of Them, he watched for a moment as the others closed in slowly.

Their slow speed almost made him wonder if they had stamina, and were trying to save it all for when they got their hands on him. It was smart that's for sure, same tactic any athlete would take. Save your energy for the final stretch, that stretch being his life… or was he over analyzing?

"Every creature has a pattern…" He mumbled, that was what 'HE' taught him. Watch the movement, wait for your chance, and counter. But did those same rules apply to creatures who don't think just move? Maybe, but this wasn't the time to test it as the one directly in front of him was starting to stand back up.

"Fuck you!" He screamed kicking the one in the knocking it flat on its ass, deciding to not bother finishing it he moved to the shed. Busting the door open and locking it behind himself, whipping around quickly he took a deep breath before slowly sliding down the metal door…

The Present

"I'm sorry kid… I'm so sorry…"

Nao said grabbing the sink with his bloody hands, he watched the water flow into the sink and down the drain. He'd watch it for a good long minute before moving his right hand under the flowing liquid. It slowly pulled the crimson color from his hand and dyed the water in the drain. He could only watch it for a moment before he deeply inhaled once, letting a shaky breath out of his lungs. He felt sick to his stomach, just watching the blood wash away made him want to break down.

"T-This isn't the time for that…" He told himself, removing his other hand from the edge he ran it under the sink with his now ice cold hand. Rubbing them together so the friction would get rid of the blood faster, glancing around the room while he did this he noticed a bottle of dish soap.

Most likely used for cleaning some of the gear, walking away from the sink to it he knelt picking the bottle off the floor. As he stood up he noticed a mirror in the corner, and noticed he accidently got blood in his short spikey hair earlier (His hair style is like the teacher in Episode 1's the blonde who committed suicide from the window). Sighing he got to work cleaning his hands and hair, which took a while since he found out blood doesn't get out of hair easily…

"There. Done." He mumbled, drying his hands on his white tee shirt. Not bothering with his dripping hair, it will air dry soon enough. Though he did shake his head a bit to get rid of any extra water that might get in his eyes. And filled the bottle back up with freshish water.

Moving back to his bow and bag he threw the bottle in zipping it up. Pulling the extra strap over his head and shoulder, he tightens it up a bit so it doesn't shake around when he moved. Grabbing the bow, he aimed down the sights a bit. Not that there were any aside from where the grip ended. Grasping the bowstring he pulled hard at it a few times to make sure it was stretched.

"Feels good and ready." He said, he took one last look at the locker. Taking two extra arrows, doing what he did earlier by putting one between his teeth. The other on the bowstring ready to fire as soon as he pulled the string back.

'Let's do this!'