A/N: So...this was actually something for my writing club, but I thought this would fit perfectly with HSOTD! So I changed some words around and...tadaa!

I don't own HSOTD

I held the syringe up to the light. The meager light the one fluorescent bulb cast lit up a dusty glow throughout the cold storage room in the basement of a large department store. Well, it used to be a storage room. After the outbreak of "Them", I had led a group of students from my school. We had started off with a goal to find our parents, but once we figured we learned we couldn't leave the city, we started looking for safety. So we stormed this place and taken refuge in its basement. We set up small base here, and started our own research lab once we realized the government wasn't going to save us.

We had started with the dead – the really dead – zombies and done experiments on their flesh. When we found no leads on how to stop the spread of the disease, we dared to collect "live samples". Unfortunately, we lost many friends on those expeditions. We were only two strong now: Rei and myself. And we still weren't any closer to learning the weakness of this virus.

"Takashi, is there anything new?" I hear Rei ask. Her footsteps echoed in the lonely space as she rounded the corner. "You've been down here-"

"Shh!" I hissed. I glared at the contents in the tube as they swirled and settled. I held my breath. At this point, for the past fifty failed experiments, the liquid would bubble and burn – infected. I waited for the heat, the telltale stream of bubbles to mark another wasted effort. Nothing happened. I heard Rei's sharp intake of breath.

I shook the bottle, not wanting to believe, to have my hopes rise only to be crushed into a thousand pieces at the first bubble.

But it never came.

"Takashi…" she breathed. Her brown eyes were wide and a thin hand reached out to stroke the container.

I felt a grin creep across my lips and I turned to Rei. Her light brown hair was pulled into a ponytail today, falling straight in between her shoulders. The light bulb did her beautiful complexion no justice, but I could see her shaking with anticipation.

"Let's test her out", I said, grabbing more needles. Minutes later, we stormed out of the super-store, high on excitement and heavy with what Rei nicknamed the "Zombidote". We each had at least one syringe in our hands and a weapon on our belts. Pockets and bags carried more needles full of the green liquid. We took our first step out into the sunlight in years.

The smell hit us like a wall. Decaying flesh, decomposing trash, the build-up of waste… Rei made a face and I wrinkled my nose. Human forms littered the ground in layers, creating a grotesque maze throughout the streets. We stepped around them, alert for any movement. I heard Rei retch as we stepped over the shape of a small child. One of its arms was missing and its innards spilled from a slash across its stomach.

I glanced sadly at its mutilated form and patted Rei on the back as she wiped her mouth.

"I'm ok-"

"Look!" I pointed behind her at a shifting figure a few meters off. It stumbled through the mass of the dead, blindly searching for some form of food. I gripped the syringe tightly in my hand. This was our first test – the real experiment. "Let's go."

We ran at one of "Them".

"Remember", I called out to Rei, "I don't think it matters where we hit "Them", as long as we get all of the Zombidote into a main artery. The heart would be best then, but only because it would faster."

She nodded.

"Don't take any chances", I warned.

"Be careful", she shot back.

Rei got there first. She hurtled a pile of dead "Them" and stuck the syringe, deep, into its upper arm. The thing shrieked and spasmed, falling to the ground in a twitching fit. It jerked and screamed, foam bubbling from its mouth. Screams quieted to cries, and finally to low moans. When it opened its eyes, they were bloodshot. I swallowed. Bloodshot, but blue. Clear blue, with a distinct pupil, inlike the black orbs of "Them".

"Did…did it work?" Rei asked.

It was a woman. Her blonde hair was matted with blood and her skin was covered with bruises, but…there were no festers, no sores, no twisted limbs. Color was returning to her face, and her thin lips twitched as she tried to form words.

"Take her back to the basement. We'll figure it out later, do some more tests…"

We were surrounded. Tens of "Them" shuffled towards us, forty of more. They closed around us in a tight circle.

"They must have heard…" Rei said. Her voice trembled with her fear.

I stabbed the first of "Them" that came within striking distance. It fell in a storm of hisses. If I was going down, I was going down with a fight, and with a few more living people.

Rei had pulled out her hunting knife and was clearing a path for herself and the woman. I jumped behind them, injecting the few that tried to reach out to us.

We hadn't gone that far; I could see the store's sign ahead, and that gave me hope. I pushed the woman faster. It reminded of me of the escape from the school those many years ago.

"Rei! I'm going to get the others! Get to the basement and lock the doors. I'll kick the door five times when I get back!"

I whirled around and sprinted to the group of newly resurrected humans and pulled them to their feet. I ushered them forward with light, insisted touches and rushed words.

There was a hand at my back.

"I know, I know. I'm getting us to safety as fast as I can."

A breathy mumble answered me.

I shuddered as clumsy fingers groped at my clothes and threatened to pull me into the ranks of "Them". I watched with tears in my eyes as the re-humanized group fled towards the building, leaving me behind, not even once looking back. They disappeared into the doors just like my dreams, my research, my life.

At least, I thought as my senses were overwhelmed by the smell of rotting corpses and my eyes blinded by torn, bloodied rags of clothing, at least I've done so,ething with my life.

Rei would be torn when she found out I wasn't ever coming back, but at least I hadn't left her alone. And there was another generation now that would hopefully continue our research.

Hell, maybe I would be saved it. Maybe even the world.