I don't own bleach blah blah blah you know the drill everything in this is the property of the person who created the referenced, material, character or item etc. etc. etc. not me

some minor notes to any one who is A not of my local area or B not British

this is set in my home town in Wales and feature's geographical references and names for things in the British or English phrasing, although For the local city references I:E County names, I have used the zones of the Rukongai (sort of).

B&Q is a British hardware store, and Wilkinson and Argos are (as far as I know) also British shops, Barclays is a banking firm and dual carriage ways are multi lane highways if you have any questions about places or shops or building mentioned in the story just ask oh and lampposts are street lights. Although street names and descriptions have stayed the same I have changed village and town and city names to hide the actual places.

enjoy the show folks

SURVIVOR

I ran the blood pounded in my ears, a deep throbbing that reverberated through me.

I could hear my own breathing inside my skull, the nasal sound filled my head crushing against my skull, forcing my mind to concentrate I pushed on; the boots on my feet thumped the pavement as I ran crushing everything in my path.

Hear the rasping breath of those things behind me snapped me out of internal reverie and spurred me on , 'god dam they're fast' I muttered to myself.

I flew round a corner and leapt over the corpse of some poor sod not fast enough to escape; still they were right on my tail, I just could not shake them. Reaching out I clasped a corner fixed lamppost and swung round the corner my feet pin wheeled through the air as if trying to push me round the corner faster, landing with a thump I tore off down the road like a bat from hell.

Reaching my hand up I keyed the blue tooth headset in my ear as it chirped telling me I had a call coming through; not for the first time I praised the gods the mobile networks were automated.

'Ichigo man where the fuck are you', Renji asked in a rather harassed and concerned tone, in ragged gasping breaths I panted out a reply.

'corner of Jacksons lane coming out past Barclays, I got fuck knows how many on my ass, I need a pick up man and fast'.

The line went silent I heard tapping and a rumbling white noise tone, for a good minuet the only thought going through my head was that the networks had finally crumbled; then as if the gods themselves had heard my thoughts, I heard the most beautiful voice ever come over the line.

'Renji said you needed a lift, can you make it to B&Q on the dual carriage way?'

Panting now from the exertion of having to talk and run I gasped out a reply

'I think so but its going to be cutting it close man, I got loads of these fuckers on my ass where are you please tell me your close I am bingo on ammo and running on adrenalin man I don't know how long I can keep this going'

I heard muffled cursing the seconds stretched into years the I finally was granted an answer.

In the baritone voice that had melted more than one woman's heart he replied

'We are in B&Q now, the trucks outside in the car park; Im in the store now picking up supplies, if you can make it to us I will haul ass in here and make sure we are good to go for your arrival.

Try and shake em off if you can Ok; just to by us time to load up but we will be here for you I promise'

With that Chad broke our connection and I was once again on my own.

Darting left I cut through the arcade and sped past a milkshake shop and a small American comic shop, I spared a glance inside the place that not so long ago had been one of my favorite hang outs and noticed to my chagrin and also amusement that the missing issue to my comic collection was sat on the shelf, shaking my head I sped onwards up through the small corridor smashing through the gates at the end.

Doubling back on myself as I broke out the far end I vaulted the railing on my left and turned up Merlin's walk skidding in my haste, throwing my hands forwards I scrabbled on the grit filmed cobbles, wincing as I felt the sharp stones tears through my palms; regaining my footing I sprinted onwards.

Pulling off that maneuverer had shaken some of the things off my ass but a fair few had doggedly kept up, I could all but feel them chomping at the heels of my boots.

I burst out the far end of Merlin's walk and darted left, tearing off up past Argos and Wilkinson's weaving through the back alleys behind the shops and houses, trying in vain to lose as many as I could; coming down the chain link fenced side path past the police station I slipped again rolling forwards and some how coming to my feet again, I glanced back behind me to see what had caused me to lose my footing and instantly regretted it.

The rotting corpse of a SO19 firearm's officer was half pushed through the steel mesh of the fence, the tangled remains of his corpse had began to melt into a viscous ooze that covered the pathway.

Retching and heaving I turned back to face the other way and pushed forwards

In desperation I leapt down the ramps in front of me over both railings to land in a crumpled half roll at the bottom that knocked the wind out of me, I staggered to my feet and took off running past the derelict MFI in a flat sprint towards B&Q.

I screamed out on the roundabout thankful for the literally Zero accumulation of traffic nowa days and ran for my life.

I could see the building just ahead of me and ran like Satan himself was after me; Chad saw me and waved his arm in a frantic signal for me to hurry up.

Ikkaku was the crouched on one knee a telescopic sighted hunting rifle in his hands aimed over my shoulder I heard the crack of the rifle and felt more than heard the collapse of one of the things behind me.

Coming to the wooden piling fence, I leapt over it like an Olympic hurdler and made the last sixty meters to the open truck before I dived headlong into the back, sliding to a stop with my head resting on the cool aluminum body of the Luton van. I looked over to see Ikkaku jump into the back with me and pull down the roll shutter back door to van, a Frantic scrapping filled the Van just as Chad slammed on the accelerator and flew out of B&Q's car park, heading back home the screams of the infected following in our wake.

Ikkaku grinned at me as I looked at him, gasping for breath.

'To...Fucking...close... dude.' I panted out, between Lungfuls of air.

'Teach you not to go all lone ranger on us, wont it?' He jibbed playfully as he tossed a bottle of still water at me.

I snatched it out the air and gulped it down greedily, relishing the feel of the cold liquid rolling down into my stomach.
'So, where are we headed this time? We had to bug out of the town library Bloody sharpish. Dunno how those things sniffed us out so quickly, I only went back because our sat phone and coms units were still there.'
Ikkaku glanced at me as I said that and cocked an eyebrow, 'Don't worry, they're in the bag.' I said as I hauled off the bag on my back and unzipped it, showing him the contents.
'Renji's going to love you man. He was worried we had lost them for good this time.'
I laughed and shoved the bag aside.

'So you going to tell me where we are going or what dude?'

'Balesport, South end of Hokutan.' He said in a very flippant manner.
I almost spat out the mouthful of water I had just taken when he told me. 'Why in gods name are we going there?'
He shrugged before saying, 'It's only a refueling point and ammo cache that's close by then we're off again to Fuck knows where. Chad never said where the others had holed up this time. I think though, if I read the map route right, I saw it's some where in the Daleston market district of some random ass back water district I aint never heard of. A big indoor place from the looks of things. I was there late Thursday night before I was pulled out to do this supply run, first time I have been left out the loop on things like this and I don't like it one bit.'

As I watched him talk, he ran his hand over his shaven head his hair Shawn back so close to his scalp he looked completely bald.

The truck lumbered on, the motion almost sending me to sleep. God I was so tired oh so very tired. I struggled to my feet, pushing against the side panel of the Luton's body and made my way over to the hole cut into the back of it and slid the tin partition out the way before I shouted through to Chad. "Where we at dude?".
Cocking his head to one side to make it easier for me to hear, while keeping his eyes on the road, he raised his voice to reply 'Just passed Sanclear village, turning onto the Hokutan road heading for Balesport now. Get your head down and try and sleep ok, ill keep us running right, besides Ikkaku can switch out with me if I start to lag.'
I mumbled a reply and slid the partition back in place to keep the wind out, then I found myself sliding back down to the floor and virtually passed out,. As I was fading into oblivion, I heard the beginnings of a murmured conversation between Ikkaku and Yumichika. Well, parts of it anyway. 'Yeah bruh, no worries. I'll tell her, yeah okay...Okay, okay. Yeah OK, don't worry about it.' Then my eyes glazed and the blackness took me completely.
The next thing I remember was being kicked awake by Chads size 14 boots as he started pulling the timber studs out the Luton van.
Kicking my legs to the right, I swung them over the end of the van and sat there for a while, just taking in the surroundings. It wasn't a bad place to be and from the way it was so god damned clean, I guessed it was Balesport.

Although, despite it being clean, it was obvious to every one it was on the low side of the district. I felt the wind catch my hair and I raised my face into the passing breeze. The cool air ran over me like water, refreshing not only me, but it seemed like it was breathing life back in to my soul. It seemed like it was the first good thing to happen to me in what seemed like a week and to say that about a cool breeze just tells you how Fucked things had gotten.
I hopped down from the van and followed Chad into the building he was carrying the wood studs into. It looked like it had once been a school. As I followed him into what had at one point clearly been the assembly hall, I glanced at the walls and a chill ran down my spine as I noticed the paintings and decorations done by the children that had once been there. Reading the dates on the header tags on the boards, this school had stood vacant for a while. I brushed the thoughts from my mind, pushed the swing doors open and carried on into the hall. As I was opening my mouth to speak, Chad called out from the other side of the hall; 'Ammo crates and stores of D pack rations, as well as bottled water, are over the far end. I also think there's a couple of long handled machetes and a shotgun there, as well as a few other bits and pieces. Help yourself, Hanatoro keeps this place pretty well stocked. Dunno where he finds the stuff but he does. Oh, and it's him you've got to thank for me and Ikkaku being in your area when we got that call, otherwise...' Chad stopped mid sentence, unable to finish what he was saying. Our friendship ran deep and even if he hadn't been in the area, I doubt he would have left me behind. Although, I don't think a lot of other people could have said the same for either of us.
I wandered over to the crates stacked along the back wall, slipping off the stolen webbing belt I had lifted out of an army surplus store we had broken into a few months, back I emptied out all the pistol magazines I had in it and began to reload them. As I was busying myself doing this, Ikkaku ambled over and broke open a box of the ration packs and slung one in the small microwave that was on a trestle table in the corner. When he pulled the steaming packet of pork and dumplings out the microwave, the aroma wafted over to me and I realized just how hungry I was. This was only reinforced by the growling noises coming from my stomach.
My ammo refilling forgotten, I walked over to the now open box of ration packs and fished around for another meal. I finally grabbed a hold of a pouch and eagerly watched as I pulled out sausage and beans which I gratefully slung into the microwave.
The bell dinged and I yanked the door open hard enough to wrench it off the hinges but, luckily for me, I didn't. Otherwise the others may have killed me. I tore at the packet to widen the hole enough to get my spoon in then wolfed down the contents in seven mouthfuls. Quickly, I reached for a second packet, not caring what I got this time round. I was still ravenously hungry but, five pouches, later I sagged against the wall and slid into a seated position.
I was sated and full for the first time in three weeks. I sat there in a happy fugue of stomach busting fullness until I remembered my ammo cache needed refilling and, with a small groan, I got up and carried on with the task.