A/N: Hello, welcome to my new story! This is a post-apocolyptic story. I hope you enjoy it. Thank you to wolverinacullen for reviewing my chapters and helping me keep rather sane while writing them.

Pairings: This story will have a couple scenes of TakaHaru, KyoHaru, TamaHaru. HOWEVER. This will not be focused on pairings at all.
Rated: M
Warning: There will be Major Character Death in later chapters, so be warned. This is rated M after all.
Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran High School Host Club or any of the characters. I am only responsible for the plot line of this story and the writing.

"I want you here. I don't care if its a hundred degrees and every blade of grass dies. Without you, none of that matters to me."

― Kami Garcia

The silence was deafening. They laid in a circle listening to the silence of the night. Their fire long past from licking the darkness to flickering embers to cold ash. Their skin was chilled by the cool night, protected by thin blankets. A howl sounded in the distance and they froze, their fingers clenching tightly in fear. A glint of metal and the quiet noise of the safety on a gun clicking off. Their eyes flashed to a girl with dark brown hair, staring off into the distance, holding a gun. A boy sat beside her, a katana in his hands and his steel eyes narrowed in the same direction.

They stood up quietly but quickly, the girl turned and motioned them to stay silent. The boy moved first, slinking into the inky darkness and the girl quickly following him, backup. There was a growl, closer to their campsite than before. A sound of a blade slicing the darkness, and a yelp. Silence fell along, and the group sat up as the two came back. The silver katana tainted with dark, almost black, blood.

He wiped it off as the girl walked over to where she had been sleeping and lowered herself down. The boy draped his jacket over her shoulders and the camp relaxed. They were safe. One by one, the group slowly slid back to the ground. The girl leaned back on her hands as the boy lowered himself to the ground and stared up at the stairs. His eyes soon slipping shut.

Six years of not seeing her best friends in the entire world. Six years of this wasteland, that was once her hometown. Five years since her father died. Five years since she last felt truly loved. Four years since she found familiar faces. Four years of slowly filling the emptiness inside her. Three years since she saw someone killed by another human. Three years since she found two cousins. Two years since she felt that stab of pure agony and pain. Two years since her heart hardened.

Her fingers stroked the side of the gun, flicking the safety switch before placing it by her side and looking down at the face that reminded her so much of an old friend. It pained her every time she looked at him. She had been doing a sweep of the area when she found one bleeding from his arm after an attack, the other one had been trying to get some bandages from his bag. She helped, completely oblivious to their looks until after. Her heart had stopped. Seeing those two boys who looked so much like their older brothers, it nearly killed her. The dark haired one was always silly before this happened, and now he was quiet and reserved, but not above smacking his cousin whenever he said something rude.

A smile stretched over her lips, memories flashing in her mind as she thought back to before the third world war had happened. Obliterating billions of people and creating a wasteland of the world. Separating her from her friends. The smile faded at that thought and she leaned her chin against her palm staring up at the skies.

She had almost been in a relationship, she had stopped him from ruining his life by obeying everything that his grandmother said. She had announced her love for him, and he had returned those feelings, bringing her into a time of peace. Of course, fate decided to ruin her happiness. There had been tension in the world, and suddenly that tension erupted. There were bomb threats in every country and-

"Haruhi," a quiet voice broke her thoughts and fingers brushed her cheek. She looked down at the dark haired boy. "It's okay."

"Hm?" she murmured, lifting her hand and touching her cheek. Her cheeks were wet and she smiled awkwardly and quickly wiped the tears away. "Go back to sleep, Satoshi," he hummed stared up at the sky. Satoshi watched the girl before resting his hand on hers and squeezing it slightly before rolling to face the dead fire and closing his eyes.

Six years since he had last seen his parents. Five years since he had first killed one of the creatures. Four years since he saw his brother have a break down. Three years since he almost died before Haruhi saved them. Two years since he had changed from his carefree ways. A year since he had seen her smile naturally.

It made him sad that they weren't able to live the life that they had wanted. He knew from his brother Haruhi had wanted to become a lawyer. He wanted to open his own set of dojos and train people how to defend themselves. He had never been clear on his cousin's intent, even if he knew the boy the best out of everyone. It was hard. On all of them.

-X

The silence would've been deafening to him, if it weren't for the rain splattering on the trees around him. He had gone hunting earlier before the rain. When it was easier to find the animals, but he didn't notice the dark clouds lingering above. His fingers still head the bow as he bent down. Fingers brushing some leaves gently not moving them. A partial imprint in the leaves.

He knew the print immediately and quickly got up, racing across the leaves. Thankful that the rain provided cushion on the usually crunchy leaves. He dropped down once again, ignoring the feeling of the rain soaking him to the bone. It made him feel something other than nothing. Rain dripped down his face, occasionally obscuring his view. There was a snort of a boar and the man reached to the quiver on his hip. Drawing an arrow and nocking it silently.

Following the half-wiped away and muddied tracks, he soon found the beast. Making sure that it was a male before drawing the bow quietly. He inhaled, on the exhale his fingers released, and the arrow flew towards the boar. With a squeal, it fell, and then the patter of rain could only be heard. He got up, heading over to the beast and pulling the arrow from its abdomen and wiping it clean, making a mental note to clean the arrow properly once he got back. After that, he tied the beast's legs, just in case it wasn't dead, and lifted it onto his shoulder. They would be eating meat that night. He started the long and silent walk back to the house.

It was six years, they had counted. Kyouya always made a tally of the days gone by. They no longer cared if it was a Monday or Friday, none of that mattered anymore. They cared about the days themselves. Seeing birthdays or occasions they would normally celebrate coming up gave them some sense of happiness. Surviving until their next birthday. Gave them a bit of hope.

He stilled his footsteps, placing the beast onto the ground and leaning his bow against the tree. He yanked off his shirt and tossed it on a branch before letting the rain wash away the mud. It was the closest thing he could get to a shower lately. The others still clung to their rich ways, even by just a bit. They relished taking showers, and whenever they got some power, due to the solar panels on the roof collecting the bits of sun they did get, the others showered.

As he dragged his hands through his growing hair, he let out a grunt of anger, tugging at it quite painfully before sighing. That was just going to bring him pain, he had to go into town to get some more supplies. The twins broke the pair of scissors they did have, the medical ones at that. Now, if someone was injured it would be hard to do a lot of medical attention.

It was pressure on his shoulders. He had to take care of his cousins and brother, and before they would all help. However, that one fucking day destroyed it all, crumbled their fragile system of operation and the weight crashed down on his shoulders. His brother had been injured by another group, and he...he...the man turned and punched the nearest tree. Cursing loudly to no one.

Three years since he had seen his brother and younger cousin. Two years since he had changed, as the others constantly reminded him.

After thoroughly being soaked by the icy rain, he tugged his shirt back on, noting that the boar had bled onto it. Possibly had bled onto him as well, not that he had noticed. He grabbed the boar, tossing it back onto his shoulder. Grabbing his bow and trudging quickly back towards the house. Knowing that he could catch a cold, and in this situation, a cold could mean death.

-X

"Tamaki, will you quit!" a dark haired man growled, smacking the blonde who was looking out the window at the rain in a depressing manner. "It's already depressing enough without you trying to revert back to your old ways."

"He's been out there for more than an hour," Tamaki mumbled, rubbing his head and turning towards the others in the room. "Hani-senpai, could you...?"

"Takashi doesn't listen to me anymore. I thought I told you to stop calling me 'Senpai', we're not in school anymore..." Mitsukuni replied curtly. The group fell into silence and the twins exchanged a look of knowing. It had been three years since their group of eight became six. It was painful for any of them, but the tallest of the group had felt like he had failed.

In truth, all of them felt like they had failed, but none would admit that.

The rain continued to hammer against the windows, the only noise in the room. It took another hour but they heard the door downstairs open and then close. The sound of wet shoes against the floor before silence. They stayed silent until the tall dark haired man entered the room. One of the twins passed him a towel, and he thanked the ginger quietly. The first word he had spoken in a while. No one acted surprised, although they felt it inside. Tamaki cracked a small smile, but kept his attention outside.

"Tomorrow, I am going into town," Takashi announced, "We need more supplies," he added on in case they objected. Hikaru looked up at him, an eyebrow raised.

"We have enough food, we don't need to go-"

"I didn't say we," Takashi interrupted, looking at Hikaru. The boy fell silent and stood up, shaking his head.

"You can't go alone, it was your stupid rule that there must be two people if someone leaves," Hikaru waved towards the window, looking slightly irritated. Takashi shrugged a shoulder and made to leave. "Why do you want to go alone?"

"What day is it tomorrow?" Takashi asked quietly, and when no one spoke up, he let out a soft sigh.

"The fourth," Kyouya spoke up, looking up from his present notebook. "Of February," he clarified.

"What does that mean?" Takashi turned around, looking at them each in turn. No one knew. No one remembered. He ran a hand through his hair and turned, leaving the room appearing calm. However, when he shut the door. He slammed it so hard a picture fell from the wall. Everyone in the room flinched and stayed quiet. A minute later, there was another door slam. Mitsukuni looked at them, frowning slightly.

"I'll go talk to him," he murmured, knowing they were going to ask regardless and slipped from the room. The twins stood up and slid from the room, heading to their room. Tamaki looked over at Kyouya quietly. The man shrugged his shoulders ever so slightly.

"We'll figure it out by tomorrow," Kyouya murmured, "Just think."

A/N: Ah, what did you guys think of the first chapter? I was thinking of doing a prologue, but I want there to be a certain amount of mystery about certain subjects. The next chapter will be longer, I promise!

In addition, can anyone think of what February the Fourth would mean to the Hosts? Ten brownie points to the people who guess!