No, no, she was trapped! She tried the door, but it was locked from the other side! Konata pumped another shell into her shotgun and let a zombie have it, blowing it's top off. But there were still others shambling towards her. She pumped another shell, slamming the butt of her gun against the head of one and setting it off on the one behind her. The extra force of the shot smashed the head of the one she struck, dropping it to the floor. She pumped another round and shook off a pair of hands that grabbed her from behind.

"Hey, hands off!" she turned and fired. It was only after the fact that she screamed in horror; she just shot Miyuki! "No, Miyuki! Miyuki, I'm sorry!" But it was too late, there was a gaping hole where her chest used to be. Konata dropped her shotgun and ran to the door. For whatever reason, there was an opening in which to look through.

"Help, someone, please help!"

"May the rats feast upon your eyes!" That voice, it sounded like Kagami!

"Kagami, you have to help me!"

There was a shot and blood splattered across the wall. Tsukasa fell into view, a hole in her forehead. She had a look of horror locked on her face as Kagami stepped forward, holding a smoking revolver. "The darkness comes!" She put the gun against her head and smiled.

"KAGAMI!" Konata screamed as the zombies grabbed her and dragged her away from the door. "NO, KAGAMI!" There was a gun flash and the sound of a body hitting the floor. "KAGAMI, NOOOO!"

x

"Kagami!" Konata cried as she suddenly rolled off her bed. She looked around, wondering just what happened. That dream, it felt so real. She could still remember how the shotgun felt as it bucked in her arms, the smell of the burning gunpowder and the rot of the zombie's flesh. It was all so vivid in her mind, especially the dead look in Miyuki's face as Konata blasted her open.

"Konata, is everything alright?" A blue-haired man came in to see his daughter crying. He went to her side and hugged her, trying to calm her down. "It's alright, it was just a bad dream. It was just a bad dream."

"But it was so real!" she cried. Her breathing was ragged and she was covered in a cold sweat.

"But it was just a bad dream. You can relax now." The man rocked his daughter, who was visibly shaken by her dream. "Hey, there isn't any school, why don't we watch something?"

"A-a-alright." Konata sniffed and went to her anime collection and picked something out. She put it in and cuddled up with her dad. She didn't want to be alone right now, for fear of the dream coming again. She would also have to call up her friends to make sure they were alright.

x

The next day, Konata was on the phone, hoping to get a hold of Kagami. But when the phone was picked up on the other end, it was Tsukasa who answered. But Konata breathed a sigh of relief.

"Konata, what's wrong? You don't sound very good."

"Sorry, it's just that I had a nightmare and needed to hear you guys were okay."

There was a bit of silence, but then Tsukasa said, "You had a bad dream too? I was actually talking to Miyuki before you called and she said that she had a bad nightmare as well. She said she could hear you screaming her name."

"Ok, now that's just strange, cause I was doing just that in mine."

"Why would you be screaming her name?"

"Uh, I think it would be a better idea if I explain it to Kagami first. I don't want to be giving you more nightmares." There was another moment of silence and Konata realized she wasn't sounding like her usual self. "Tsukasa, are you there?"

"Tell me," the tone in her voice caused Konata to freeze, "how did I die?"

Konata dropped the phone, her hand shaking out of control, "T-Tsukasa?" She could hear the girl laughing through the phone. She clutched her head and closed her eyes, her mind feeling like it was about to break. This...this...isn't...

x

"Konata, what's wrong? Are you still there?"

Konata opened her eyes to discover that the phone was still in her hand, "S-sorry, I-I don't know what came over me. Um...did you ask me a question just now?"

"Ya, actually, I asked if you wanted to talk to Kagami. I think she really wants to talk to you about something. She was a lot more shaken up by her dream than I was."

"Konata?" another voice asked.

"Kagami, you had a bad dream too?" Konata had to switch the phone to her other hand because the one she was using was starting to shake again. Or was this actually the first time? "Kagami, please tell me, what did you dream?"

"Konata, hold on a second. Tsukasa, can you give me a bit of privacy for a moment?"

"Ya, sure."

"Alright, Konata, I had a dream that I-I s-shot Tsukasa... I don't know why I would ever do such a thing, but I remember her attacking me, a crazed look in her eyes."

"I saw you through a small window in the door. I saw it happen...and then you..." she trailed off after that.

"I know..."

"I'm really freaked out right now. I just want to forget this whole thing. All of this is getting to be too much for me."

"Okay, this coming from the girl who played all three games of F.E.A.R? That is bad. Hey, here's something that will get you back to normal, there's an anime convention happening."

"I'm already gone!"

"Hey, where'd you go?"

"Oh, sorry, dropped the phone. So, call over Miyuki and bring Tsukasa, I'm sure this will help them too."

x

At the convention, the girls, even Konata, were slightly on edge. They had found themselves talking about their shared dreams along the way, which only served to scare them even more. Konata was the hardest hit because she wasn't able to find any manga she wanted to buy.

Kagami was so out of it that she didn't realize what she was looking through until Konata tapped her on the shoulder. The blue-haired girl pointed to Tsukasa, who was nearby. Kagami realized she was reading a boys love manga and immediately put it down. She was serious distracted, something Konata knew all too well. Miyuki seemed to have suffered the least of it, but that seemed to only because Konata shot her so early in the dream.

That little detail had disturbed her, but she was happy for Konata's concern. She was also happy to have been removed from the dream before she had seen what happened to her friends. It also helped Konata to know that Miyuki didn't feel anything, and that she didn't hold anything against her, since it was all just a really bad dream.

Konata was passing by another stand, the seventh one now, without buying anything. This really wasn't like her. She must be sick or something, because she should have a whole bag full of manga. But today she had nothing. And then she came across something. A strange manga she had never seen before.

It has a strange cover, showing a mysterious light bathing an area, with the words 'Eternal Darkness' displayed on the front. She found herself reaching out to touch it as voices filled her head. She didn't know what was going on, but her sight began to blur and everything suddenly went dark.

When she opened her eyes, she was standing in a dark store. There were empty pedestals all around and the shelves were the same. But as she approached the counter, she saw the same manga sitting on a pedestal. Below it, separated from her by a plane of glass, Konata saw a number of comics, their pictures of faces screaming at her. If it wasn't for her inner otaku, she would have ran for it by now. She picked up the manga, revealing the 'pedestal' it was sitting on to be a large, withered hand. With the manga gone, it closed into a fist.

"Okay, where do I get one of these? I wonder if the store clerk will-" everything suddenly went black again. When she opened her eyes, she realized that he was back at the convention. Strangely, the stall was completely empty now. Nobody was around and when she asked why, the answer was that the owner never showed up. That was strange, but now she was stuck with the manga. When she opened it to take a look, she was horrified at the sight of what was within.

Half of the pages were missing and many of the rest were blank!

There was barely anything in this one, not counting the one page showing three runes that seemed to glow. It was an interesting effect, one she never seen before. What was also strange was that she felt like the runes were drawing her in. But she was so drawn by all three that it was giving her a splitting headache. It got so bad that she could almost hear someone screaming inside her mind. She slapped the thing shut and her headache stopped almost instantly.

"Here, you look like you could use a drink." A drink container filled with chocolate milk was held out in front of her.

"Oh, uh, thanks." She took it and had a good look at the one who gave it to her.

He looked like a fellow student, but he seemed a bit older because he was easily a head taller than her friend Miyuki. Because of that, Konata only came up to his bottom ribs. His short brown hair was slightly messy and the sunglasses he wore hid his eyes, giving him a 'mysterious stranger' sort of look.

"Believe me, I've had days where I need a pick-me-up. You look like you're going to either snap and go crazy or sit down and cry."

"Now why would you say that?" Konata asked and he chuckled in return, confusing her.

"Because I was the same way when I was playing the first F.E.A.R game. The ladder scare really freaked me out."

"I know, right? When I saw the little girl standing there, I was about ready to break the trigger button trying to shoot her."

"And then there was the guy on the bottom, I fired my shotgun as soon as I saw him. A friend of mine never made it past that point, but I was able to get through. I was still pretty shaken after that." The young man shivered at the memory. Konata smiled, feeling somewhat relaxed with him already. She took a sip of the chocolate milk, against her better judgement, and it tasted amazing!

"Wow, what is this stuff?"

"It's something I made with some choco, mint chocolate, and milk."

"It's great! I feel so much better now!" It was true, because she felt like she could take on the world again. All the thoughts of that nightmare were clearing out of her head. It was as if the drink helped to cleanse her mind. "I have to give this to my friends!" She almost took off, only to remember that she didn't get his name. When she turned, he surprised her by putting a hand up, stopping her.

"My name's Grimma Verick."

"How'd you get a name as awesome as that?"

"Oh, it's actually a nickname I picked up because off the stuff I write. I'm actually not from around here." He took off his shades, revealing them to be clips for his glasses. Seeing Miyuki with a pair like that crossed Konata's mind for a moment.

"Surprised me, your language skills are pretty good."

"Thanks, it took me forever to learn it so I could watch my favorite anime. There's also some games I wanted to try out, but I couldn't find a translation." He pulled out a few game from the bag he was carrying. She took a peek into his bag, much to his surprise, and she pulled out a couple of dating games.

"Oh, my dad has these. And I've played this one plenty of times."

Grimma blushed, his secret out to a girl he had just met, "Uh, you've played these games before?"

"I get them off my dad all the time. He's the one who buys them." Konata was surprised when Grimma's jaw dropped. Then she thought, [I]I guess that was too much information, poor boy, I think I broke him.[/I]

"Um, weren't you going to see your friends? Mind if I come along?"

"Sure. I'll introduce you to everyone. And did you say that you write?"

Grimma nodded and soon discovered that she was having trouble keeping up with his long strides, "Ya, I write fan fictions. I've got a couple dark ones that people like."

"Cool. You have to tell me where to find them some time. Hey, Kagami, over here!" She waved to her friend, who was still wandering about in a bit of a daze. "Kagami, here, drink some of this."

"What? Oh, alright..." she tried the chocolate milk and her eyes went wide. "This is good, I feed so much better now!" She ran off to find her sister. When she came back, they also had Miyuki with them. The two girls looked a lot better now that they had a taste.

"Where did you get this?" Tsukasa asked.

"From this big guy right here." Konata patted Grimma on the back, or at least she tried too. He was taller than she thought and her arm was a little low. Nobody but she and Grimma realized that she had just patted his butt. He didn't say anything, instead reaching out to shake their hands.

"My friends here call me Grimma Veric."

Tsukasa tilted her head, "Now that's a name if haven't heard before."

"It's more of a nickname that sort of stuck. Anyways, did you girls like the chocolate milk I made?" Their eyes went wide when they heard that.

"You made this?" Tsukasa asked. "Could you show me how sometime?"

"Alright, it's actually pretty easy. And I've got plenty in my backpack. I try to keep myself prepared since I don't know this place very well just yet."

Kagami chuckled, "Believe me, Konata here is our resident otaku."

"Oh, really? Explains how she recognized my purchases so easily."

When Kagami looked over at Konata, she saw the look on her friend's face that told her not to ask. She knew her friend well enough, and it seemed that Grimma shared some of her interests. Whether this was going to be a good thing or another nightmare was still to be seen.

"Hey, I know where we can find some great manga. Want to come?" Konata didn't even wait for a response as she grabbed Grimma's arm and dragged him off. The others didn't mind because he had left each of them with a drink container filled with chocolate milk. It helped to brighten up the day, for each of them were needing it after their nightmares wracked their minds.

Konata and Grimma searched around for quite some time, checking out manga, video games, and figurines. It was an interesting experience for Konata that she practically forgot that she was still carrying the strange manga with her.

It was so easy for her to share her gaming experiences with Grimma, for he had quite a few of his own to share in return. Many of them were funny to hear, while some were enough to make her shiver thinking about them. He had quite the interest in psychological horror games, which explained some of the writing he spoke about.

As the two were leaving, they realized that they didn't have the other girls with them. Konata turned too quickly to remember that Grimma was close behind her, carrying the bags. She crashed into him and bounced off, losing her balance in the process and started to fall. Grimma dropped the bags and lunged for her. But when he started to fall too, he turned them around so she landed on top of him.

When she opened her eyes, she stared into his dark brown eyes, which almost matched his hair. He stared in return, into her green, almost emerald, eyes. He quickly turned red until she closed her eyes for a second before pulling away.

"Wow...I didn't know my first would be like that..."

"How do you think I feel?"

"Happy? Amazed? Completely blown away that you got your first kiss from such a gorgeous girl like myself?" Konata asked. She blushed because she was getting a little too far ahead of herself.

"Crushed... You're sitting on my stomach..."

She looked down and saw that she was. When she got off, he took in a deep breath and coughed. She helped him up and he looked at her while he stood on one knee. He picked up her manga and handed it to her.

"Thanks..." she watched him get up and stand over her. He was about average height, but to her, he was quite tall. She was starting to get a clue as to how her mom felt when she was with her dad.

"Hey, we finally found you two!" Kagami called as she ran with her sister. The two girls froze and the color drained from their faces, which helped to counter their blushing when they realized that Grimma was looking away. They had a feeling they knew what happened. "We thought you two had left without us."

"We almost did," Grimma replied, "but Konata remembered and we were going to back inside, but one of the bags slipped out of my hand and spilled." It was a nice save, because Konata, for once, was speechless. "Hey, I'm staying with a friend right now, but I don't have to be back until later. I can also leave a message saying where I will be."

"Alright, you can come with me." Konata smiled when Grimma blushed again. "I can show you my collection when we get there. And you'll like my dad."

As the group went their separate ways, none of them noticed how the shadows seemed to be stretching out, as if reaching for them. When a cloud passed over the sun, they vanished completely and were gone when the light returned.