"Did you hear that just now?"

"Yeah, it sounded like a young girl was crying... Ryo, over there! Is that..."

"Hana?!"

They rushed over. Ryo quickly scanned the area for zombies, while Saya gathered the crying little girl up in a hug.

"Are you all right?" Only sobs answered Saya's question. "What happened? Why are you out here all alone?"

"Mommy!" wailed the little girl. "Daddy!" When they followed her line of sight, they found two corpses.

Ryo approached cautiously, pistol at the ready, only to find that both bodies already had bullet holes in their skulls. The female was obviously a zombie, her flesh rotting and her eyes blank white. The male could have been an ordinary dead man, with no sign of the virus infecting him other than the bite mark on his neck. A gun lay where it had slipped from his hand after he shot himself.

"It's okay, Hana." Ryo could hear Saya reassuring the child, but her promises sounded empty to his ears. "Everything's going to be okay..."

Ryo resolutely turned his back on the dead. These two would not rise again. He faced instead toward the living... and his eyes widened. There was blood on the Hana's shoulder. "Saya!"

His warning was too late. The small zombie sank its teeth into Saya's neck.

"Ouch..." Her cry was quiet, confused. She didn't flinch at the sound of the gunshot. Even when Ryo's bullet tore the girl's body from her, she only stared where it fell, then turned her puzzled face toward him. "Ryo..."

Those innocent eyes, meeting his gaze as if there wasn't a gun barrel aimed right between them, did nothing to steady the trembling in his hand. "I'm s-sorry, S-Saya..." Why did his voice have to shake too?

She looked down, a hand shifting subconsciously to press against her wound. "I'll become one of them now, won't I?"

Ryo swallowed hard. "You understand, then..."

A small nod in reply. "Just... Please, Ryo... Wait until I change? If it's you, I don't mind dying, but... I'm still afraid..."

"...Okay." There were tears welling up in his eyes. He didn't understand why. Why was he getting so emotional?

"I shouldn't say this, it'll probably just be a burden to you... but I want to tell you before I die." She met his eyes with a bittersweet smile. "I love you."

A throbbing pain in his chest. Hot tears overflowing and leaving cold trails down his cheeks. "I love you too, Saya," he whispered.

A monster rose up and stole his beloved from him. He destroyed it without mercy.

The echoes died away slowly, and he realized someone was calling his name. "Ryo! Ryo!"

With running footsteps, the voice came closer. He knew that voice, but his vision was blurred too much to make out more than a vague shape approaching him. He fell to his knees.

"Ryo..." The footsteps halted. Lionel would be taking in the scene now... A relieved sigh. "You're not bitten... Good. I'm not losing you too."

His weapon was pulled from his hands. The bigger man's arms wrapped around him, lifted him. Ryo let himself slump across Lionel's back. He ignored the jostling movements as Lionel started running.

How many people had died today? Shota Todomi. Hana Kawashima and her parents. Saya Hiramatsu. And so many more he didn't even have names for. Would it matter so much if Ryo Tsuzuki joined them?

...But there was a tight grip on one of his wrists, and another on his leg, telling him there was still something to live for. Some reason to not die yet. He'd have to ask Lionel what it was, if they ever made it to safety.