Canon Fodder

As the red glow from the lights appeared around me I let out a sigh of relief. The doors were back and the zombie was gone. “Bullshit!” I spat. Sweating, I looked down and I was in the clothes I had been wearing as a Japanese school boy in High School of the Dead. Black pants, white button down shirt. Feeling around my pockets my keys and wallet were gone. 

Looking around I noticed that the key was still in front of my 11 o’clock Door. “Fuck, fuck, fuck,” I said. Unsure what to do I brought up my status screen. 

I was putting together that each one of these 12 doors took me to a new world. But apparently it was an anime world. Unless they were all zombie worlds. I began to sweat picturing the Walking Dead or worse, 28 days later behind one of the doors. 

As I read through my status screen over and over I noticed that the World Escape timer didn’t decrease. Not only could I not escape whatever world I was currently in, but waiting here wouldn’t replenish my 24 hours. 

“Fuck,” I said, which was a good enough expression for how I felt. Cursing and grinding my teeth I began to pace and think, but the only answer that came to me were the doors. I was starting to get hungry. And if I was going to have to fight zombies again, I wasn’t about to do it on an empty stomach. 

Moving to my North Door, I ignored the High School of the Dead death trap. The key still on the floor I hoped it stayed. Taking a breath I walked through again. Stepping out into black space the door disappeared and the blankness of wherever I was began to brighten. 

Lights appearing overhead. I heard voices yelling. Disoriented I looked at my feet and noticed the very distinct train tracks below me. My heart clenching the roar of the train horn blared. 2 boys in front of me they started running my way. Like idiots. 

The lifted section where people waited for the train next to me I moved for it. Out of my peripherals I saw the 2 boys get bulldozed over by the train. I jumped. Heart in my throat as I grabbed and clawed at the tiles. A sharp pain in my side I began to move easier as I dragged myself away. 

As I heard the rumble of the train roll by I looked over my shoulder to see that I wasn’t all there. I had no legs, no waist, and more importantly no dick. Coughing up blood the train had gone past and taken my lower half with it. 

My surroundings began to become blurry. People crowding around my severed torso I let out a long last breath and sigh. No thoughts went through my mind. Except maybe regret for picking that specific door. 

Before I knew it my vision came back to me. Taking in huge lungfuls of breath my heart was racing as I got up from laying down. My legs back I began to hyperventilate. “Fuck!” I gasped. 

“You said it,” a voice said. Looking over there was a Japanese business man. My eyes focusing I looked around to see more people around the room. Hardwood flooring below me, windows looking out on the city behind, I appeared to be in a standard apartment. But then I noticed the ball. 

The black orb was about 5 feet in diameter. Sitting at the far wall I knew it immediately. My fears were confirmed as I got the notification. 

“Goddamn,” I grunted as I pulled up my Status Screen. 

There had only been a couple of minutes delay between dying and appearing in the small room. I sat on my knees thinking back to the Gantz manga. If there was a worse manga to be stuck in, I couldn’t think of it. Maybe Attack on Titan. I cursed myself, I couldn’t think like that. If I could get out of Gantz that could be my next stop. 

Gantz was a dark fantasy set in the modern world. Gantz itself was a man living inside of the black orb in the room. They kind of touched on who and what he was, but there was conflicting information. What I could remember was that he would summon people to this room to complete missions to defeat aliens. He would choose those people by picking random people that died. As I had died, I was one of the lucky few. 

The real problem was the aliens he quested people to fight were extremely strong. So strong that a simple toe kick could knock your head off. Every person in this room was destined to die at least once. The main character did a couple of times. By killing aliens you could earn points. Those points could be turned in to Gantz for rewards. Bringing people back to life was one of those rewards. 

I looked around. Scattered by the orb were men and a dog. I recognized the know it all kid leaning against the wall. He was in normal clothes but I could see the Gantz suit under his clothes. I couldn’t remember his name, but I remembered he was a dick. Never telling anyone any information, and hogging the points for himself. 

Next to me were the real main characters that had been killed by the train with me. Maasaru Kato was more of a supporting role, but I liked him better than the main character. He was an orphan and took care of his younger brother while saving up for an apartment. He was tall and had long black hair slicked back. 

Behind him was the real main character, Kei Kurono. Shorter than Kato he had brown hair and tan skin. Kurono was someone people hated at the beginning but he went through a lot of growth throughout the story. At first he was the typical horny teenager, probably a better representation of an actual protagonist than most works. But at the beginning of the story he was really annoying. And for some reason I had to save him. 

Standing up a thought struck me. Looking around I noticed that the girl hadn’t appeared yet. Kishimoto was a buxom blonde girl. She had committed suicide by slitting her wrists in her bathtub but Gantz brought her to the room. Slowly I realized that Gantz only took a certain number of people, I had taken her place. 

Which was probably for the best. She actually survived her suicide attempt so there were 2 Kishimotos, and the Gantz version had to live with Kurono where he lusted after her. 

“You were about to die as well, weren’t you?” A Japanese business man asked. Aiming the question at me, Kato, and Kei. I ignored him. Walking to the side I found a bathroom and mirror as the group began talking. As I looked at myself I appeared about 16 years old again. Same scruffy hair, wearing black pants, white button down shirt and a navy blue jacket. As I studied my face the memories came to me again. 

Not hurting near as bad as the first time the memories flowed in. I was Weston Watanabe again. Normal high school student, I actually went to school with Kurono Kei, the protagonist. I had been on my way home when someone pushed me onto the train tracks. Leading me to my death and rebirth. 

As my memories flowed in I heard the others talk. They were discussing what had happened. Were we in heaven or hell? I knew the answer of course, and I was tempted to tell them. But my quest was to keep Kurono Kei alive. If I changed something was I risking him dying. He didn’t die for a while in the main story. 

Then again, I wasn’t in the main story. Was I supposed to ensure he stayed alive because other things changed? There was too much going on. I walked back into the main room to find them all introducing themselves. 

Grinding my teeth I nervously waited. No more dead people appeared in the room. Some of the others looked to me to introduce myself. I considered not, but I needed to get close to Kurono Kei. And these people were lost. I needed their help if we were going to survive. 

“I’m Watanabe Weston,” I said. Making sure to say last name first. “I know what’s going on.” The kid that knew it all, scoffed. He didn’t think I did since he and the dog were likely the only ones that had survived the last mission. 

“This is Gantz,” I said pointing at the black orb. That stopped the middle schooler from smiling. “He has remade all of us after we died. We were all summoned here to fight aliens.” The room was silent until the music began.