"Come on! You have to move!"
I couldn't move, as the all too familiar violet orbs stared at me dully.
"Matthew!" Alfred's desperate voice called.
What had once been my ex-boyfriend kept moving up at me, blood dripping down his jaw.
"Fucking run, you idiot!"
The tall blonde moved up at me, but I still couldn't move, as I stared at the remaining of Yao Wang that was sprawled out on the ground.
"Matthew! He's not the same Ivan anymore!" Alfred was sounding beyond frantic.
I tried to move, but to no avail, as emotions flowed over.
PANG! PANG! PANG!
Three bullets collided with Ivan's chest, and he flinched, but yet he didn't stop moving at me. And then another bullet collided with his face and he fell to the ground. I turned around quickly, seeing the dark-haired man that had just shot Ivan, as well as the brown-haired man that stood only a few meters away from him, face grim. The dark-haired man lowered his gun with a growl.
"How fucking stupid are you?" he grumbled, looking between me and Alfred, talking with a thick Spanish accent. "How the heck do you expect to fucking survive out here without a fucking gun?"
Alfred promptly ignored him and ran up at me, hugging me tightly.
"Are you alright?" he gushed, checking me for any sign of harms. "Geez, Mattie. You scared the living day-light out of me."
"The way you two fuckers are acting, there won't be any living day-light left in you." The Spanish man commented, shooting an angry glare at us. "Do you want to end up like that one?"
The man quirked his head at Yao's remaining, causing tears to flow up in my eyes again.
"Ssh." Alfred whispered. "It's alright."
"Are you not listening to me?" the man yelled. "That guy could have ripped you apart!"
"Es, watch out!" the other stranger suddenly yelled, as Ivan's sister Natalia (or well, former Natalia) dragged herself out of an alley.
"Big brother!" she screamed manically, and I shuttered. Even in "death", she was obsessed with her brother.
"Natalia" lunged at "Es".
The other stranger picked up his gun, firing two shots at her, only lowering the gun when he was sure she was dead.
"You're getting unfocused, hermano." The stranger said grimly, directing his attention to Es.
"I guess I owe you, one." Es growled, looking down the alley to see more zombies coming up at them. "Fuck. What do you say I pay back right away? Toni, what are our odds?"
"Nothing is impossible." Toni muttered thoughtfully. "But if we're supposed to look after the kids, we might as well shoot ourselves here and now, save ourselves the trouble."
Es backed a few steps back.
"I guess that settles that then. How long does it take get to the van?"
Toni glanced down a sideway road.
"Ten seconds." He decided, just before an old "hippie" van stopped behind them.
A redhead boy glared at them from the driver-seat, aiming a gun out the window and shooting the closest zombie.
"Bastard! I thought I told you to stay out of trouble!"
"It was Es' fault." Toni growled as he pulled the door open, while shooting another zombie. "He's the one wanting to save them."
"Well, the idiot was going to die!" Es defended himself, pulling himself up on the van. "Are you two coming or not?"
Es looked at Alfred and me before grabbing me by the arm and pulling me onto the van, as Toni did the same to Alfred. Es fired one last shot with his gun as Toni shut the door and the redhead hit the break.
"You're job was simple." The redhead growled at his two companions. "Get in, and get the fucking food. Is that so fucking hard to understand?"
The van took a sudden turn and I almost fell. Es easily caught me and straightened me up, keeping a hand on my arm just for safety.
"What was I supposed to do?" he glared at the driver. "I couldn't let them die, now could I?"
"You've done it before." the redhead retorted.
"These ones had a chance." Es growled.
"Tch, you just thought this one was cuter than the rest."
Es clenched his fist, having forgotten that he was still holding my arm to support me. I couldn't help but winch.
"Lovi~" Toni said chocked. "Don't say like that!"
"Why the fucking hell not!?"
"Esteban is my brother." Toni tried.
I almost fell over again (it was a good thing that Es/Esteban was still holding on to me), as "Lovi" stopped the car in the middle of the street.
"DON'T EVER FUCKING SAY THAR WORD AGAIN!" he yelled at the top of his lungs.
"Lovi, I'm…" Toni started.
"DON'T TALK TO ME, BASTARD!" Lovi yelled at him. "GET THE FUCKING OUT OF THE CAR! I HOPE YOU FUCKING DIE!"
Esteban let go of me, and moved up at the driver-seat.
"Why don't you let me drive for a while?" he tried. "You've had a long day."
Lovi nodded, and moved to the passenger-seat, trembling, allowing Esteban to take the driver-seat.
"High quarters?" he asked.
"What other choice do we have. Boss is going to be pissed that we didn't get the food though."
Esteban cursed.
"Too fucking bad for him. You two better grab something for support. It's gonna be a bumpy ride." He growled before hitting the breaks.
Alfred and I did our best to keep our balance as the van turned right and left with a speed that would probably be illegal in normal cases. Esteban suddenly stopped the car, causing Alfred, me and even Toni to fall over.
"Wait here." Esteban warned, taking his gun and getting out of the car. "I'll be back in five."
Esteban closed the door behind him, and then there was silence for a few seconds before Esteban perked his head back in.
"Lovino? You mind helping me shoot some zombies?"
Lovino didn't need to be asked twice, and was out of the van within seconds, bringing his gun along with him as he did. Silence fell in the van again, as Alfred and I exchanged looks with each other. I had the feeling that someone should say something, and that we all wanted to, but no one did, and the van remained in an eerie silence. And then the door of the van flew open, causing me to jump in chock, and I was suddenly very glad that we had at least one gun in the van. That passed though, as I realized it was Esteban, arms full with various food.
"I always do my job!" he grinned and stuffed the food in the van before returning to the driver-seat.
Lovino was already prompted up in the passenger-seat.
"Let's go." He ordered. "We're already late."
Esteban didn't object, and before I could react, we were off down the streets. After a few unpleasant twists and turns, the van stopped, much more calmly this time. From my position in the van, I had yet to see where we'd been taken. The door was forcefully pulled open, revealing a scary looking albino.
"Toni, you son of a bitch, where the hell have you been?"
The albino's red eyes, caught on me.
"You brought guest?" he commented.
"Stop screwing around, and start helping out with the food instead." Esteban growled, slamming the driver-seat-door behind him. "I've gotta take these two to the boss. Toni… talk to him."
Esteban cocked his head discreetly at Lovino.
"You two…" Esteban turned to me and Alfred. "… come with me."
Alfred and I exchanged looks before hesitantly following Esteban. As we walked, I caught sight of a tall blond working on an abandoned car, and I slowly began to realize where we were.
"This is a parking-house." I whispered to Alfred.
"I think dad worked near-by." Alfred whispered back.
"Esteban!" a voice called from nearby.
I looked up. A brown-haired woman and a blonde man stared at us. It was the man that had called Esteban's name. The blonde man rose, eyeing us as he got closer.
"What have we here?" the man asked, cocking a thick eyebrow.
"Saved their asses, down by Times-Square." Esteban explained. "What, Arthur? Gotten bored of Gilbert already?"
"There has never been anything between me and Gilbert." Arthur hissed.
"You better report them to the boss." The girl warned. "Don't worry. He won't kill you."
The girl winked at Alfred and me.
"I'm Elizaveta by the way. Good luck, and welcome to the family. Oh, and Esteban, boss is by the shooting rink."
"Come on!" Esteban rolled his eyes, waving his hands for us to follow.
Alfred and I followed in silence once again, though I'm pretty sure he as well as me had countless of questions going around in our heads.
CLINK.
That was the sound of a bullet suddenly hitting an old wine-bottle.
CLINK.
Another bullet hit a beer-can.
CLINK.
The third bullet hit the stone-wall. Despite the three warning shots, Esteban still led us closer to the source of the shooting.
"You're not focusing." A male voice complained. "Try holding it like this instead, and focus on your target."
"Boss?" Esteban called out.
"Hold on a little, Lilly. Esteban?"
A blonde man with a top-military gun in his right hand hurried up at us.
"You're late. And you're not alone."
"I couldn't just let them die." Esteban defended himself.
The blond nodded thoughtfully.
"Go get some rest for the time being. You're changing shift with Tino in about two hours."
"Thank you." Esteban nodded shortly before running off down the hall.
"You two… follow me."
The blond made a swift motion with the gun and Alfred and I followed him to what appeared to be the shooting-rink. A teenage-girl sat on an old car-seat, practicing her aim with her gun that was surprisingly similar to the one the blond man was carrying. In fact, the girl herself, was surprisingly similar to the man himself.
"Brother?" she asked surprised. "Who are they?"
"Esteban found two survivors on the streets. Sit down."
The blond man gestured to some other car-seats that were thrown to the side, and the three of us sat down, while his sister continued "playing" with her gun.
"I must say I'm surprised to see Esteban bring someone new back." The blond sighed. "I was beginning to fear there was no one left alive in this city."
"I'm sorry." Alfred suddenly said. "Who the hell are you? It's like an organized resistance here."
"My name is Vash. And we are. Are goal is to extinguish the walking dead, until the day they no longer pester the streets of New York. It's a dangerous job, and though we try to save as many as people, we can only take in so many."
"Why have your head-quarters here?" Alfred asked.
"It's tactical." Vash replied. "There's only one way in, and that's through the gateway on the bottom floor. We keep a sniper at bay 24/7 in case any zombie comes near."
"And you are there boss?"
"Correct. Now, who are you?"
Vash looked from Alfred to me and back to Alfred.
"My name is Alfred, and this is my twin-brother, Matthew."
"W-what will you do to us?" I squeaked out.
Vash sighed and ran a hand through his hair.
"I can't throw you out on the streets."
"So you'll be a part of the crew." Vash' sister concluded. "Are you done now? I won't be the best at shooting on my own."
"I'll make sure that the two of you get some training before you're sent out on your first mission. For now, report yourselves to Berwald. He is in charge of supplies and such. Tall blond man, you can't miss him. Tell him that I sent you."
Alfred and I nodded and got up, leaving Vash to deal with his sister. We found the guy, Berwald, where I'd seen him on the way to Vash, still working with the motors of one of the cars.
"Eh? Berwald?" I asked, but he didn't seem to react.
"Are you Berwald?" Alfred tried.
Berwald looked up from his work and nodded shortly at us.
"Vash sent us." Alfred explained.
Berwald cocked an eyebrow.
"He said we should talk to you."
Berwald nodded.
"We're new."
Berwald nodded.
"Berwald! Stop messing with them!" a small blond called from his position at a window frame. "You'll scare them… oh hold on a second…"
The small blond rose his gun and fired three times out of the window.
"Got you." He smirked, before turning back to his former conversation. "You'll scare them off, just like you did with me the first twenty times."
"W'lc'm. Ah'm B'rw'ld, h'd 'f s'pl's. (Welcome, I'm Berwald, head of supplies)." He said choppingly, making me have to focus hard to collect what he was saying.
"I'm Alfred, and this is Matthew."
Berwald only nodded at that.
"W' w'rk s'mpl'. 'ch d'y, w' s'nd 't p'tr'ls t' ch'ck th' c't' f'r s'rv'v'rs. W' 'ls' 'lw'ys h've a sn'p'r r'dy 't th' w'nd'w. 'r g'l 's t' sl'y z'mb's 'nd s've l'v's."
"I'm sorry what now?" Alfred asked.
"Kesekesekese." Someone laughed, and I turned to see the albino grinning at us. "It aint easy, cousin. What Berwald was saying is: Gilbert is the most awesome person ever alive."
Berwald glared at the albino.
"Well…" I started thoughtfully. "Considering the high amount of zombies going around, that's not actually that much of an achievement."
The albino pouted at me for a second, before grinning widely.
"Hey, I like you kid." He explained, ruffling my hair. "I'm the awesome Gilbert Weilschmidt."
"Gilbert, you son of a bitch!" Esteban called from afar. "Would you please help out, just this once!"
Gilbert stuck his tongue out at the glaring man.
"The awesome Birdie needs me!" he called back.
Did he mean me? I asked myself.
"No really, what's Berwald is trying to say is. Our work is pretty simple. Every day, a small group of people goes out in the city, looking for survivals and shooting zombies. Every now and then, Berwald here also sends out a group to try and find new supplies. Food, electronics and such, though he's always there when it comes to the electronics. Meanwhile, as I'm sure unawesome Vash has already told you, we keep a sniper in two different windows with a good view of the entrance. Their job is to shoot any approaching zombies. Our awesome mission is to slay the zombies until they're gone. Oh, and save as many survivors as possibly. Usually, we either let them stay and help out, or we help then out of the city, see as far as we know, the zombies haven't reached outside New York yet. See, this guy, Lukas put a magic ward around New York, keeping the zombies at bay, with the help of Iggy, that's the guy with the eyebrows, and Iggy's brother. Problem this time is, we've had some technical problems lately, and for the time being, we can't get out of the ward either. Iggy is working on that."
"GILBERT!" Arthur, or Iggy as he apparently was called, yelled. "GET YOUR BLOODY SORRY ASS OVER HERE, YOU WANKER!"
Gilbert rolled his eyes and trotted over to the van, where Arthur was waiting impatiently, muttering something about unawesomeness. Berwald followed him with his eyes before returning to us.
"Th' sl'p'ng 'rr'ngem'nts 're s'mple, w' sl'p 'n th' c'rs. Ah'll f'nd s'mewh're f'r y'u tw' t' sl'p. B'f're y' c'n g' 'ts'de th' h'ghq'rt'rs, y' m'st l'rn h'w t' 'se a g'n. V'sh w'll m'ke s're t' g't y' a "m'nt'r" t' t'ch y' 'v'r'th'ng." (The sleeping arrangements are simple, we sleep in the cars. I'll find somewhere for you two to sleep. Before you can go outside the highquarters, you must learn how to use a gun. Vash will make sure to get you a "mentor" to teach you everything.)"
"Thank you." I said politely after managing to process what he'd said.
"Y' m'y s't d'wn 'nd r'st n'w. Ah w'll r't'rn t' y' s'n w'th y're sl'p'ng 'rr'ngem'nt."
Alfred and I nodded slowly, before we walked slowly through the hall, trying to find somewhere we could sit in silence. At long last, we found an empty barrel on the off side and sat down. We sat down silently for a long while, and then the tears began to fall. At first they were barely noticeable, but then I started shaking and Alfred noticed them.
"Sssh." He whispered to me, holding me close. "We're gonna work things out."
"He was… and then he just. I thought…" I sobbed, not being able to manage any full sentence, but I didn't need to.
"It'll be alright. I promise. Look out there." Alfred pointed out a small window, at the clear blue sky outside. "Yao's up there now, with mum, and dad, Logan, Riley, and Allie. Do you remember Allie? We would play on the beach, by her summer-place and she pushed me in once. And as revenge, you pushed her in, but you accidently fell in yourself."
I released a sad laugh.
"We were drenching wet, and mum scolded us for it." I laughed sadly. I released a heavy sigh. "Hey, Al? Do you remember when I had cancer?"
"Geez." Alfred muttered. "I was terrified. I remember I visited you every day while you were at the hospital. I thought for sure I'd lost you forever."
"I did too for awhile. But then, when I got back, I thought myself the luckiest ever, because I was alive." I heaved another sigh. "Now, I wonder if I wouldn't be better off, had I died back then."
Alfred hugged me tighter.
"Maybe for you, but not for me. If you'd died back then, I wouldn't have been able to stay alive. Do you hear me?" Alfred demanded hugging me even closer. "We're not going to die, neither one of us."
I nuzzled me face into Alfred's shirt with a sigh, closing my eyes as I did.
"Why don't you sleep for a while." He suggested. "I'll wake you up if anything happens."
It wasn't until now, I suddenly realized how exhausted I was, and before I knew it, I fell asleep with Alfred holding me tight, quietly humming some old lullaby that our mother used to sing to us when we were children.