Miyamoto Rei
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138Miyamoto Rei from HOTD. The main heroine.
The humid air hung thick and heavy, a suffocating blanket mirroring the dread that clung to Miyamoto Rei. The wreckage of the school bus lay twisted and smoking a few yards behind her, a grim monument to the horrors she'd already witnessed. The dead, those shambling, hungry things, were multiplying like weeds, their groans a constant, maddening chorus. She clutched her bamboo shinai, its surface worn smooth from constant use, her knuckles white.
Rei wasn't the same girl who had nervously clutched a practice sword a few short weeks ago. She was hardened, her movements precise, her eyes constantly scanning for threats. The loss of her friends, of her old life, had been a brutal forge, hammering her into something both terrifying and resilient.
She was alone now, having lost contact with Takashi and the others after the bus crash. She'd managed to get away, scaling a chain-link fence that had been only a brief respite. Now she found herself in the overgrown yard of what looked like an abandoned research facility, the air thick with the smell of decay and something vaguely chemical. She moved silently, her breath shallow, the silence punctuated only by the rhythmic thud of her own heart.
Suddenly, a twig snapped nearby, not the clumsy break of one of the dead, but the deliberate crack of human movement. Rei spun, her shinai raised, ready to strike.
A figure emerged from behind a thicket of overgrown shrubs. They were tall, with a lean, almost wiry build, dressed in dark, practical clothing, almost like tactical gear. Their face was partially obscured by a dusty bandanna, and a pair of mirrored sunglasses hid their eyes. A large, well-worn backpack was slung over one shoulder, and they held a simple, but clean-looking hunting knife in their gloved hand.
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