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FOREWORD

For all of you who are reading this story for the first time, I wish to let all of you know that this story that you are about to read is in reality only a "rough draft" of a novel that I decided to write for my younger brother as a gift.

However as I was writing the story, I thought that perhaps others would also enjoy reading this story of mine, and thus far, the reviews have been pretty good, so I think I'll continue to post here for a while.

While "Last Alarm" is based loosely upon the "High School of the Dead" manga and anime series, it is vastly different in many ways, one of these being that a lot of my own experiences as a Firefighter/Paramedic have been incorporated into the story.

Originally, I got the idea for writing a fanfic based on the HOTD series during a training session at work when we were asked, what would we do to help a group of civilians during a major disaster if we were out on a search party and came across survivors and back up was not going to be around for hours?

Of course, we were discussing earthquakes, tornadoes and other natural events and not a zombie apocalypse.

But then as I was watching the last couple of episodes of HOTD when I got home after a 24 hour shift, I began to think to myself about that same scenario we had discussed at work and wondering to myself….. "What would happen if I came upon a group of kids alone in the middle of a disaster with no one to help them?"

After brushing off the whole thing as silly and childish, I let it go for a couple of months but then finally decided to give in and started writing out the first draft of the story on paper before writing it out and posting it here.

And as a result of the positive views, I decided to continue posting this story here in the hopes that those who read it could tell me what they liked or didn't like about the story that would help me when the time comes to write the "finished" draft.

In writing this story, I wanted to base it loosely on the subject matter and characters of the anime and manga, but like all fanfics, I wanted to make it unique…. to make it my own.

And yes, for all who are wondering, I really am an active, full-time firefighter, and have served as a Firefighter/Paramedic for 28 years now.

And to this day, I still love the job, although I have to admit, it is starting to take its toll in some ways.

While I am proud of the job I do and the things I've done and the people I've had the great privilege to serve with, I'd still prefer to remain anonymous, at least for now until the story is finally finished.

My reasons for preferring to remain anonymous right now is because I'm not out for personal glory for one and for another, there are some things that are true about the reputation of firemen and police in that we find it essential not to let each other know too much about each other, particularly our likes, dislikes, and hobbies.

Because believe it or not, they can become excellent fodder for practical jokes that we firemen have become legendary for.

I had wanted to make a unique story, but the hard part is making a good story where the reader doesn't think to himself …"My, what an incredible waste of time that was".

I won't be quitting my day job anytime soon, but still, I wanted to make the story interesting, appealing, realistic and entertaining, and not just throw an enormous amount of literary refuse on the screen.

I also wanted, as I wrote this story, to honor my brothers and sisters in Fire, Police, EMS, and the Military with this story.

There have been a lot of books written about us, and some of us in Rescue, Police, and the Military, have even written books about our own experiences that made excellent reading and obviously don't include zombies.

So I figured we were due a zombie version.

In this story, I have done some research to try to get things right about the guys that serve, but not being a cop or military, I've had to rely heavily on friends who are Police and Military to fill in the gaps. Research books, Wikipedia and the History Channel have certainly been a big help.

Just the same, this is a fanfic written by a tired firefighter, with no clue on what he was doing, so don't expect a literary masterpiece.

But I do hope you have as much fun reading this story as I did in writing it.

Again, I am a Firefighter/Paramedic, and not Police or Military, although I have learned quite a few things from my friends in Police and SWAT and I have a few friends that have served in the Military and a couple in Special Operations who have explained a few things for the sake of accuracy, but they don't call them "The Silent Professionals" for nothing.

And yes, I actually do own the weapons my character uses in this story which made it a lot easier for me to describe the weapons my OC uses and how they work, how they shoot, and even how they can malfunction.

If you wish to see the weapons I use in this fanfic, go to my deviant art page under firemanjim, and you'll see all of the weapons, knives, and other gear that my OC uses, and I'll be posting more in the near future.

Although my OC uses military weapons and tactics often used by the Military, I myself am not former Military, even though there will be a lot of reference to the Military here as well as the SEAL Teams.

Stolen Valor is an ugly thing, and I won't be a part of it.

I'm quite proud enough of my own accomplishments, and I have no need to steal someone else's.

I never wore a badge I didn't earn, and I never called myself something I wasn't.

This story is meant to be a fun story and to also in a small part, honor those who go in harm's way for their fellowman.

So all of you guys in the Military, Police, Fire and EMS, this is dedicated to you guys.

However, you can hardly expect to live through a zombie apocalypse by fighting with axes and fire hoses, so yes, my character does use weapons which are the ones I describe in the story that I really do own.

And because there are Fire/Medics who serve on SWAT teams and serve in military bases as firefighters, yes, I used that as a basis for my character's whole reason for being in Japan in the first place, but that part is obviously fictional.

And again, please try not to take my pathetic attempts at the literary arts too seriously or laugh too hard at all my mistakes, this is supposed to be in fun.

But I do hope you enjoy the story.

Jim