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On days like today, warm and slightly breezy, Haruhi would normally be sitting on her back patio sipping hot tea with a copy of Jane Eyre and relaxing. But those days ended two and a half years ago; everything ended two and a half years ago. Haruhi wasn't quite sure how the infection started, her best guess was that the FDA was testing some bullshit vaccination that went wrong and possibly got out of hand. But that was just that, a guess; and she only had hers. For two and a half years Haruhi had been alone with her thoughts, she wasn't even sure she had a voice anymore. She screamed when she saw a croaker rip out her father's internals and proceed to eat him alive, she screamed when she was then attacked by her father's remains, she screamed when she bit, but she did not scream when she did not change. As Haruhi's boots crunched through the fallen leaves and twigs of the forest she was pulled back into her thoughts of the day she was bit but did not change.

The day she was bit she was hiding in a small shack three miles out of her home town, in what she could best assume was used for fishing gear. Fortunately who ever owned said shack was gone, but the same couldn't be said for the neighbors. Through the crack of the shack door she saw what she thought was a young child. He didn't have any of the rotting traits of the croakers, nor did his chest gurgle and make the toad like sound; hence why Haruhi called them croakers. Against her better judgment, she left the shack to see if he needed help. She was two feet behind him when she heard it, the gurgling, followed by a bellowing croak. Anyone who knows Haruhi knows that she is not the fastest runner, possibly the slowest they have ever met. Two feet was not enough distance between the croaker and herself. The last time Haruhi used her voice was when she let out a shriek as the monstrous child bit into her calf.

Being bitten didn't mean she was invisible to the croakers; she was still sought out whenever they were nearby. From a scientific stand point, they were fascinating creatures. They instantly lost their sight when infected, it was easy to tell as how their eyes went white, their chests caved in and like most zombies from movies and such they rotted. But it drove Haruhi crazy as to why they croaked and gurgled. A trait she was still grateful for; hearing them before seeing them was always helpful.

Haruhi was pulled from her thoughts by the sound of a snapping twig, looking down she saw nothing under feet besides dirt and instantly she was on alert. She waited for four counts to hear a croak, but nothing; her fingers twitched in anticipation as they reached for the pistol on her holster attached to her side. Another four counts and nothing again, she released the safety on the gun.

There is no way in hell I imagined it, rule number one-six-one, never second guess yourself. The noise came from my left, get off the path, and get out of the open. Get off the path, get off the path!

Before she could think a flash of red swept into her vision and hurdled her to the ground. Panic coursed through her veins thinking that this is how she would die, from a red blob; her vision blurred out then started to come back into focus. The red blob was attached to a pale bigger blob, a body?

Fuck, when did they stop croaking? If I live I need to come up with a new name. Why hasn't it bit me yet?

"Y-you're a human, a living breathing human!" It spoke down to her. Am I going crazy? The blob spoke to me.

"Please say something," the voice was male, and young. Based off of the people Haruhi hung around with, she'd say mid twenties. He spoke again, "Please. I didn't mean to hurt you, are you okay? Please answer me." Haruhi's vision came to and saw that she was being pinned by a very attractive young man with fire hair. Could she even use her voice to communicate? Haruhi looked up at the man and moved her hands to his chest and pushed.

The first time I've had human contact in two years and I can't even speak to him. Come on Haruhi, force that boyish voice out!

"Ge-get off-off me," Oh dear God is that my voice? It sounds like I have sand paper lodged down my throat! Okay, try again, "pah- please. You're smothering me." Okay, much better, at least it doesn't sound like I was deep throated by the devil. The man removed himself from me and had a wicked smile on his face.

"You can talk! What's your name, how old are you, where are you from, are there others with you? Are you with a group?" God, slow down one at a time…shit my head hurts.

"My name is..." should I give my real name? Would it matter anymore? "Haruhi, my name is Haruhi, I'm twenty, and yes, I am alone." Maybe I should have told him I wasn't alone, in case he wanted to kidnap me or something, every book I've ever read there is ALWAYS some creep in the post-apocalyptic world trading women for food.

"I'm Hikaru, I was separated from my brother in the city two weeks ago, there was a horde there and I'm not so sure he's alive." Oh great he looks like he's about to cry, what do I do? Shit, please don't cry fire boy.

"Don't cry, I'm not good with tears. If he's alive he'll find you, if not… then be grateful he gets to escape this Hell." Shit, I hope he takes that in the best way possible. He looked up at me, his gold eyes shiny from unshed tears, and nodded. Good, at least he's taking that in a good way. "What about you?"

"What?"

"What about you? How old are you, where are you from, all that jazz you asked me."

"Oh, well, I'm twenty as well, I was traveling with my brother to the mountains, where it snows they can't survive in the snow. Figured it would be the safest place to hide out for a few years. Till they died out." Died out? Croakers can die again, on their own?

"Care to elaborate on what you mean by die out? I thought Croakers were already dead." Does this mean that this Hell will end eventually, and be safe again?

"Croakers? Oh the zombies" stupid name for them, too clichéd, "well at one point all dead turns to just bones, brain matter rots away to nothing and muscle matter does too, making them unable to move at all. So in about, five, maybe six years, all the 'croakers' will be just nothing." The glint in his eyes when he talked sparked something in Haruhi she thought was dead long ago. Hope, hope for the future and that she could make it out of this Hell alive.

"Do you really think that they'll die off? Or that the mountains are safe?" Haruhi had always been a skeptic but for once in her life she wanted to believe, every fiber of her being screamed at her to trust this information and believe. Hikaru smiled wide and nodded, excitement bubbled through his veins.

"Yes! Its very poss-"his words were cut short by a loud "croak" his face froze, his smile replaced by a dark glare. Slowly he stood up, pulling Haruhi up with him. His moved to his back and Haruhi noticed the large knife strapped across his broad back. She moved her hand to side, fingers feeling for her gun, but it wasn't there! Shit! Where is it! She looked around the clearing and saw it about three feet from her, and one foot away from a huge rotten croaker. It use to be male, and possibly a heavy weight champion! This monster was gigantic; it stood slouching at six foot four, his burly chest was caved in like the rest of the croakers. But this one looked, feral, hungry even. His white beady eyes sent shivers down Haruhi's spine.

"Hikaru" Haruhi whispered, "My gun is by his feet." The croaker's eyes looked at her, and it croaked at her.

"Sshh," Hikaru's eyes never left the croaker, "heightened hearing," the croaker's white beady eyes shifted its gaze from Haruhi to Hikaru.

It charged in one swift motion to the pair; Haruhi dove out of its path but was scratched in the process. Hikaru slid on his knees under the croaker's legs, slicing the beast in his gut.

"Haruhi! Your gun," he tossed the pistol at Haruhi, who managed to grab at it before the croaker lunged for her. Its teeth tore into her shoulder forcing a scream from lips. "No!" Hikaru couldn't believe it, finally there was someone, and fate tore her from him. Fate was unnaturally cruel to Hikaru. Haruhi put the gun to the croaker's forehead and pulled the trigger, its fat jowls releasing her shoulder from its painful grasp. Brain matter and bits of skull sprayed over Haruhi's back; pain seeped through her shoulder down her spine to her toes, the last thing she expected to feel was the warm barrel of her gun pressed to her temple.

"Don't shoot me, I won't change." At least she hoped she wouldn't change, who knows maybe the second/third time is the charm, she was just scratched and bitten at the same time.

"What do you mean you won't change?" He kept the gun to her head.

"I was bitten around a year ago, and I'm still here, if you don't believe me, lift my pant leg, the bite left a scar." He removed the gun from her head, no doubt that it was still pointed at her, Haruhi didn't move. She felt the fabric of her pants shift and slide up her leg up to her knee. Under any other circumstance she would have been embarrassed by her hairy legs, but given that showering, let alone shaving is a luxury, she couldn't really give a shit. His fingers were cold on her skin and he traced the discolored crescent moon shaped scar on the back of her calf.

"Believe me know?" Her pants were returned to its normal position, and so was the gun. "I'll take that as a no." She closed her eyes waiting for the bullet to end her miserable life, but after a few minutes of nothing she opened them again.

"Five minutes, it's the longest time it takes to change. If you're telling the truth after five minutes, I'll give you your gun back and we can leave." He kept the gun steady on her temple waiting for any signs of change. "Okay, five minutes are up. What makes you so special that you're exempt from the virus?" It was easy to tell he was angry, at her for something she can't control.

"God only knows."

"God has nothing to do with it, God left us a long time ago." Haruhi looked up at him and saw a mix of anger and confusion on his face. "Why are you so special?!" His voiced was raised to a shout now, "Why do you get to live from a bite when thousands of people die?!" His accusations that everyone was better than Haruhi made her face grow hot from rage. Forgetting the pain radiating down her spine, she jolted up and stood face to face with Hikaru. Well more like face to chest, she looked up at him with rage in her eyes, and slapped him across the face.

"I don't know! I don't know why I'm immune, and frankly I don't care! I know thousands of people died! My whole family is included in those numbers!" The slap didn't sit well with Hikaru and in his fit he returned one to her. Harder than he intended to, the slap echoed throughout the forest.

"Haruhi! I'm sorry, I didn't mean too!" He reached a hand out to her face but she slapped it away.

"Get over yourself, can we move on from here now? The noise is surely to bring more croakers." She picked up her gun, clicked the safety back on and set it back in its holster. Her face stung where his hand collided with her cheek. "You got angry, I get it, don't take it out on me. Or you'll wake up to find yourself alone and defenseless." The two left the clearing, Haruhi leaning on Hikaru as they walked.

The two walked for hours, the sun setting fast beyond the horizon. Haruhi's back ached more and more with each step; sweat dripped down her face and stung her eyes.

"We should set up camp for tonight. You don't look to well." Hikaru's side was drenched in her sweat, not that he minded. He craved human contact of any kind and while in his past life this woman wouldn't have caught his eye, she sure is catching something of his. One of her hands was on his shoulder the other over his hand on her hip.

"Yeah, seems safe enough," she looked around her; the brush was thick enough that if anything were to wonder enough noise would be made. "Help me, I need to take this shirt off and clean the bite. I might not die by changing but I could die from it festering al day."

She made to remove her top but the pain ripped through her side making her hiss out in pain. Hikaru's hand moved to her side, pushing her hand away.

"Hold still," he moved to her back, his fingers grazed her shoulder making Haruhi moan out in pain again. "Sorry… I'm going to have to cut it off."

"WHAT!?"

"Your shirt, not your arm." He reached for his blade and sliced the fabric like butter. The dirty fabric stuck to her body like a second skin. "I'm going to remove the shirt from your shoulder, brace yourself." She held her breath and tried not to make any noise when his fingers grazed her sore back. The shirt pulled away from her body leaving Haruhi bare and bloody.

"I have rubbing alcohol in my bag, hand it to me and ill finish the job," to tired to be embarrassed about her upper nakedness, turned to face Hikaru who in return blushed and looked away. "They're just breasts, will you please hand me the rubbing alcohol now?" Hikaru nodded and rummaged around in Haruhi's backpack and pulled out the white bottle with a quiet 'ah-ha.'

"Can you reach your back? Turn around I'll clean you off." He nudged her unbitten shoulder to get her to turn around. "This might hurt," he poured the liquid onto the bite, this time Haruhi let out a gasp from the stinging sensation.

"Fuck me that hurts! Make sure all the dirt is out of the wound please. I'm going to need your help wrapping it." He grunted in response and continued to pour the alcohol onto her shoulder, wiping the dirt off in the process.

"Done, do you have anything to wrap your shoulder with?" He capped the rubbing alcohol and placed it back into her bag. Haruhi turned back around still unbothered by her own nakedness.

"In the front pouch there are some bandages, and my flannel is in the big pouch," she touched her shoulder with the opposite hand and hissed when her fingers made contact. "Thank you… for your help," she removed her fingers and saw blood lightly coat the tips.

"It's no problem, here, I'm going to bandage your shoulder now," He placed a hand on the top of her shoulder, holding down one end of the gauze then wrapped it around and under her armpit, keeping the bandage in place. "There done, do you need, do you need help with your shirt?"He held up the flannel to Haruhi's face, a blush dusted across his cheeks.

"No thank you, you don't have to be embarrassed, they are just breasts you know." She pulled the blue flannel around her shoulders and tried not to groan from moving her shoulder; even lifting her arm hurt. Defeated she dropped her arms leaving her shirt open, "I'm going to bed, I hurt all over, thank you for your help Hikaru."

"Here, let me help," looking anywhere but her breasts Hikaru buttoned her shirt, and let his fingers linger at her collar.

"Thank you, Hikaru, good night."

"Good night Haruhi."

When Haruhi woke up the last thing she expected was not only a heavy arm draped over hip and resting on her stomach, but something hard poking her rear. She shifted, but that only caused Hikaru to tighten his grip and pull her closer. Human contact, intimacy, it had been so long sense someone had held her like this, or sense she last had sex, not that this situation would lead that far. She shifted again, and again Hikaru tightened his grip, this time nuzzling his face in her neck. This kids a heavy sleeper; she nudged his stomach, again nothing.

"Hikaru, wake up, we need to get moving," she tried to roll over but his grip wouldn't loosen, she tried again, "Hikaru, wake up!" This time she jammed her elbow into his gut earning an 'oaf' from the sleeping man.

"Morning, oh, uhhh…sorry, about….that." He shuffled away from her trying to conceal his enlarged appendage.

"It's a normal bodily reaction-"

"Please stop talking about it; I really don't want to talk about it." He shifted his jeans again, still refusing to look at her.

"Got it," she stood, ran her fingers through her brown hair, and then tied it in a tight bun.

"You know," Hikaru started, "in my past life I would have killed to dress you up, do your hair and makeup, me and my brother would have loved for someone like you to walk our run way." His eyes shone with mischief in remembrance of his past, a devilish smile gracing his lips as he looked Haruhi from head to toe.

"That sounds manipulative." His smile fell and was replaced with a pissed off frown.

"What would you know anyway," he took to defensive attitude when he hears something he doesn't like. Haruhi made note of that; he is not someone she would have acquainted herself with in her past life.

"I'd know when someone is a narcissist; frankly you're acting like a child, talking about dressing me up and making me over, as if I'm a doll, not a person. I don't like that, and I wouldn't have let you in the past; truthfully I'm grateful I never met you in the past time." Haruhi kept her face blank of any emotion, which furthered Hikaru's annoyance.

"Yeah well, back at you! C'mon let's keep moving, it's not safe to stay in one spot for too long." He slung his backpack over his shoulder and hers over the other. "Do you have more ammo, or do we need to stop in a town? If we need to do a run I'd prefer you to be able to move your arm." He motioned to her shoulder and watched her reach up at it with the opposite arm. She pulled away to find her fingers clean from any blood.

"I have a few cases in my bag; I should be okay for a while, depending on what I run into," She purposely left out a 'we' to see if he'd catch on.

"You mean us, right? Like yeah I'm an asshole, but I'm better than being alone right?" The mood between the two changed so fast it gave him whip lash. First they were okay, then she called him on his shit, and now she was going to leave him, in the time span of what, twelve hours?

"Keep your shit together, and I'll stick by you. I won't tolerate mental instability, or brats," she met his gaze and refused to look away, "are we clear?"

Hikaru, not wanted be left alone ever again, nodded fiercely, "Crystal."

They ventured forth, and for the next two weeks they walked, talked, and somewhat bonded the best a spoiled man child and a blunt grouchy woman could. Haruhi learned that Hikaru had an identical twin, Kaoru, they both were into fashion; their mother was a fashion designer, and they planned to take it over. Hikaru learned that Haruhi was in school to be a lawyer, like her mother who passed away when she was young. Her father owned a gay bar and liked to cross dress, from what he gathered, Haruhi's father was quite the man's man.

"Hey, do you hear that?" Haruhi stopped in her tracks and looked around.

"No, Haru, I don't hear anything," his hand went for his blade wondering if Haruhi had supersonic hearing.

"That's the point, it's been two weeks, why haven't we heard anything?" going a day or two without hearing a croaker was common, but nearly fourteen days? That was odd, very odd.

"Ever heard of not looking a gift horse in the mouth? Maybe they're starting to die off already," Hikaru started to walk again, and then it started.

It was a blaring ringing going off in the near distance, that grew louder and louder. They covered their ears to muffle the noise. The siren was so loud it rattled the brain inside Haruhi's skull, it hurt to even think. Hikaru grabbed her arm and pulled her away in what he assumed was the opposite direction of the mind numbing noise.

"We need to get out of here!" His grip tightened on her arm pulling her faster threw the brush.

"What the fuck is going on?' Her free hand covering her ear, she kept her head down and ran. Through the pain she felt in her head she looked up and saw it. A Horde; there were hundreds of them; the sound of a hundred croakers only seemed to amplify the sound of the sirens blaring off in the distance. That familiar feeling of dread seeped into Haruhi's bones, pumping into her veins. She knew she was going to die, in this world it was a given.

So...? What did you think? If you see anything you didn't like let me know! And please please please please! Review! Authors loose motivation when no one shows interest, I don't mean to sound pushy but it's the truth.. Thank you!