At the end of the world
I will hold you so close
So we won't notice the destruction
Of all we used to know

-"End Of The World" Lenka

XxxX

Eight months. It had been eight months since things had collapsed.

About mid March was when the stories began to circulate. Stories about people being attacked in the Detroit area. It correlated with some strange military movement that no one quite knew how to account for. The media was all over it, speculating about something dramatic that riled everyone up. Looking back, they had good reason to do so, but at the time it seemed like the usual cycle of wild leaps without evidence.

Then came the video evidence and even greater media speculation. Was it a prank or for real? No one knew, but there was panic and the more real things seemingly got. The first thought was obviously that zombies were coming to life and attacking people, but no truly rational person believed that. Zombies don't make much sense scientifically when it comes to humans and Hollywood.

After a couple videos of the attacks came out, only a few days after the initial reports, the president addressed the people with a press conference, trying his best to keep everyone calm. He said that the city of Detroit had been exposed to some unknown agent that was making people sick. They did not know the origin of this agent nor how to fix it but they had so far observed that it displayed a short incubation period before the spasms and fever began like those observed in rabies, escalating agitated behavior and a split from reality, in other words hallucinations. It was not yet clear what would happen to those infected, although it was assumed that they would eventually die, what with their inability to care for themselves. Also like rabies, this agent appeared to be spread through bite, although it also seemed to get into the body by means of open cuts. It was advised than anyone who had been in the Detroit area be tested and as a precaution the city was quarantining infected citizens.

People obviously freaked the fuck out, as they do when faced with danger. The national guard was called in to calm the people, they tried to bring things back to normal but, of course, from there things quickly got out of control. As the Centers for Disease Control went around testing and checking for symptoms there were obviously people that they missed and those they missed spread the infection further. That combined with the civilian panic caused things to spiral quickly out of control. All means of transport were halted in and out of the city Detroit.

From there outbreaks began to pop up in other cities and the national guard was forced to draw back and quarantine a small portion of the state. Roads were blocked and patrolled, they didn't want anymore spreading. While they were trying to figure out a way to deal with this issue they would contain it. Trucks would come in by the day and drive out people who tested negative, but it was a slow process and there was danger in doing it both from the infected and from the panicked.

Outside this zone the rest of the American public, and the other countries, were trying to figure out what the fuck they were going to do. This quarantined zone had constant attention.

By the end of March the city of Ann Arbor was pretty well wrecked. And this is where our story unfolds.

Back when things started to look like they were falling apart Zeff, the proud owner of a proud restaurant called the Baratie, took the initiative to stock up on food. The Baratie storage was stuffed to the bursting by the time the really bad stuff started. When things started to go to shit in Detroit, people were rushing away by any means they could. Zeff was determined to stay right where he was. He had lived in this city all his life and he wasn't going to leave now. He and his adopted son, Sanji, kept the restaurant open as long as possible, but when looters started to show up they were forced to keep the doors shut. At least to the people who tried to rob them, poor bastards, they had no idea what they were getting themselves into. Most ended up with a least a bloody nose and empty hands. To the citizens who remained benevolent they took in until an army truck would come by and pick them up and take them out of the city.

When the infection spread to the city it was more difficult. They had to worry about letting infected people in. It wasn't that they were afraid of letting in someone dangerous, because the symptomatic spasms were telling, it was turning people away that was hard. Seeing infected people lurch through the streets was also very hard. Sanji often looked down at them in the street before he went to bed. It probably wasn't good for his sanity, they made his heart ache, but he did it all the same. The figures moved in a zombie like fashion, stiffly and without coordination. In his head, Sanji often refered to their infection as super rabies, but never said anything about it because somehow he didn't think everyone would find it so funny. At least not when it was affecting people they knew. Those infected often shouted nonsensically, although sometimes they were terrifyingly coherent. Nothing could help them and it was hard to get rid of them. Once they focused on something they were dead set on it and they moved without concern for for injury. Sanji had seen a number of them shot or cut down, they didn't seem to feel pain. They lurched forward until they were dead or totally incapable of any movement. It was disturbing, the kind of thing that sent the heart into a fury of beating until you thought it might burst out of it's home touched between the lungs, behind the rib cage.

As time passed, the streets grew crowded by lurching bodies and Zeff became more and more convinced that Sanji should leave the city. He was still young and if he stayed there much longer than something was bound to happen to him.

"You've got to leave, eggplant," Zeff said, rather out of the blue. At the time, Sanji had been cleaning blood from the floor where some fourteen year old boy had bled to death a few minutes before. He'd been shot, there was nothing to be done.

"I'm not going anywhere, old goat," Sanji said, not looking up. He had been expecting something like this for a while.

"What do you know? It's only a matter of time before you end up dead. This city is coming apart, you don't want to be here when that happens," Zeff said gruffly.

"And you do?" Sanji snorted.

"I'm an old man, someone needs to keep sending people out."

"And you're going to keep doing it with me here as well." Sanji put his hands on his hips stubbornly, "Where the hell would I even go?"

"Somewhere people don't try to bash your face in on sight."

"Everyone wants to bash my face in on sight," Sanji scowled.

"True," Zeff nodded, "I know I do."

"Well, you're going to have to put up with me a while longer, so deal with it."

"Your funeral." And maybe it would be. Although, in times like these there wasn't enough time for a funeral, just a few sad looks and then the body was put far enough away that it wouldn't stick up the place too badly.

Sanji was not impressed by Zeff's effort to get rid of him and it only served to make him more set in his idea to stubbornly stayed put. He would continue to help people until he stopped functioning, dammit.

They weren't doing especially well for supplies but they did what they could and they were better off than most. It felt good to give people something to eat, even it it wasn't much.

Day by day the number in the streets grew larger, getting people out became more and more dangerous. In mid April, Sanji and Zeff were making another drop off of people when shots rained down on them. The past few times something like this had happened. Rogues were looking to steal army trucks and supplies. People stormed in, opening the gate and letting the infected inside. It was chaos. Very hard to fight off an enemy that doesn't react to bodily harm. People were being shoved in the truck as they desperately tried to haul them out of the city.

Someone with a metal pipe swung back too far and smacked Sanji in the side of the head. The hit was hard enough that for a moment he blacked out, sprawling onto the floor. He would have been trampled if Zeff hadn't dragged him up and out. Unfortunately, the old man threw him into the truck while he was still too out of it to protest. His last glimpse of the old chef was only a blurry image as the door was slammed shut and the car drove off. Bastard.

Inside the truck, Sanji clutched his head as people tried to settle in, nervously looking out the back windows and ducking as they were shot at.

"Are you okay?" asked a kid to his right. Young adult was probably the proper term, but they were all a bunch of kids to Sanji. Geez, he sounded like an old man.

"Yeah, some asshole just hit me with a pipe," Sanji said absently, trying to get his brain to focus.

"How badly where you hit?" the kid asked in concern.

"I black out for a second," Sanji shrugged, "I've had worse." Growing up in an environment like the Baratie he had received some pretty hard blows to the head. More than a few required stitches.

"I doesn't matter, if you were hit hard enough to black out damage has been done. I'm going to need you to look at me," the kid said, turning Sanji's face in his direction. "Follow my finger," he said, moving his index finger back in forth in Sanji's line of vision. He followed the finger with a bit of effort. The kid went on with a series to tests, leading Sanji to believe he had some sort of training with this sort of thing.

"You a doctor?" Sanji joked, the kid was obviously not old enough.

The boy shook his head, "No, not yet. I'm Tony Tony Chopper, uh, just Chopper, please. I'm a med student at the University of Michigan," Chopper explained.

Sanji gaped at him incredulously, there was no way that was true. "Seriously?"

"Seriously," said a woman on the other side of Chopper. Sanji hadn't noticed her before, which made him worry about the state of his mind. Normally, he would offer help to any lady before receiving some himself.

"And who might you be?" Sanji asked brightly.

"Robin," the dark haired woman said calmly.

"And you can validate the kid's claim?" he asked, sweetly.

"I can," she nodded, "He is almost qualified to look after you," she winked at the almost doctor.

"That's qualified enough for me," Sanji laughed.

"Where were you before all of this?" Robin asked him as Chopper poked and nudged at the blond.

"I an a chef, we keep people safe in the restaurant until we can he'd them into trucks out of the city. Or at least we did. I guess, I won't he doing that anymore," Sanji frowned, thinking angrily back on that shitty old man's stupid face. "What did you do?" Sanji lifted his tone.

"I work for the University of Michigan in various ways, but mostly as a history professor," Robin smiled.

"Ah, smart and beautiful," Sanji grinned, turning to a puddle under her warm gaze.

"I think you have a mild concussion, we should get you to a medical facility when we're out if here," Chopper said, frowning unhappily.

"Thank's, doc, I'll be sure to do that when we get out of here," Sanji said gratefully.

"Don't call me that, you bastard!" Chopper squealed happily.

But before they could reach any such place to provide proper medical care, the truck veered sharply to the right and slammed to a halt. They weren't even out of the city yet, but the truck had smashed into another car, sticking them in place. For a moment everyone was silent, no one knew what to do. If they went out there was no telling what would happen, but they couldn't stay inside either, not forever anyway. After the silence came the panic. People lunging for the supplies stored in a compartment in the back. They shoved open the doors and spread them to the dim evening street. There were only a few figures lurching through the streets, which was lucky. Sanji stumbled out of the truck pulled along by the young doctor, he still felt slightly dazed and unsteady on his feet. Everyone was scattering, some in groups and some alone. Sanji, Chopper, and Robin set off together. As they passed the car they had crashed into, they saw that the other driver appeared to be alive, but was violently spasming. There was nothing they could do for that one, but Chopper insisted on checking on the driver of their vehicle. Unfortunately, he was already dead, blunt force of the steering wheel to the chest. The air bag must have malfunctioned, tough luck for that guy.

Unsure of what exactly to do, the newly formed trio moved slowly through the streets. It was fairly empty now that the others had run off, cars didn't pass through often anymore and people in houses, if there were any, remained out of sight. It was decided that finding a place to stay would be best, but also very difficult. They did run into a few infected individuals. Once spotted they became targets of a driven madness. Sanji was good about disabling them before they got too close, despite his throbbing head. He kicked them aside when they got too close. Ever the galant night, he must protect the women and children.

After walking around for about an hour without any luck, an ugly green van drove by. It was hideous, but it also gave them hope, every time a car drove by that little bit of hope leaped up only to be squashed down as it passed by then. This van had at first seemed like it was going to pass them by, but at the last minute it made a dangerous looking swerve and stopped at the sidewalk. The three of them ran over to the vehicle. Even through the glass they could hear a woman shouting at someone. The window rolled down and her angry shouts became clear.

"-You can't just grab the wheel like that! I could have crashed!" They could see the woman with orange hair yelling at the boy wearing a straw hat sitting in the passenger seat.

"Nami, we couldn't just leave them," the boy complained as he grinned at them. "Hi, I'm Luffy," he greeted them warmly, "Need a ride?"

"Yes," Robin answered, "Very much. We were in an army truck and it crashed. We have nowhere to go."

"You can come with us!" Luffy said enthusiastically.

"Shut up, we need to look out for ourselves, moron, we can't let more strangers come with us," Nami argued, glaring at them suspiciously.

"Just ignore her," Luffy said dismissively, "You should get it, it'll be awesome."

"Are you sure?" Chopper asked nervously.

"Positive," the boy grinned. The car was put into park and the door slid open automaticity with the touch if a button. In the back there was another man, this one had hair the strangest shade of green. "That's Zoro, by the way. We picked him up in Detroit," Luffy supplied.

"How is it over there?" Robin asked as she climbed inside and took a seat.

"Not good," answered Nami, "It looks like some sort of war zone now."

"What did you do before all of this?" Robin asked.

Chopper and Robin sat in the back while Sanji was seated next to Zoro. Sanji noticed that the green haired man had three sheathed swords with him like some sort of samurai. A curious choice of weapon, but Sanji could focus on that later, now a beautiful lady was talking.

"I am a meteorologist," Nami said as she dodged an old man stumbling his way across the road.

"I worked in a factory that made balloons," luffy laughed.

"I guess that answers the age old question then," Sanji said with a laugh.

"And what question is that?" Nami asked.

"Where do they make balloons?" He shrugged.

Her eyes narrowed in the reflection of the rearview mirror. "I feel like you're referencing something I don't get."

"It's okay, I didn't expect you to get it." What could he say? He was a fan of They Might Be Giants. "What are you then?" Sanji nudged the silent man beside him.

"State highway patrol," he grumbled with a glare. Oh yeah, he seemed the sort who would take down the criminals. Although he looked more like he would beat them to death than throw them into prison.

"Then why do you have three katanas and not a taser or a gun?" Sanji said, eyeing the swords.

"I was going to a tournament," Zoro said simply. He didn't seem to be much of a conversationalist.

"Oh, now I understand completely," Sanji said sarcastically. "Sorry, I was just wondering because you look pretty shifty sitting there, glaring at me."

"I could say the same," Zoro hissed, "What the hell happened to you?" The green haired man asked, giving Sanji a suspicious glare.

"I was hit with a metal pipe," Sanji rolled his eyes like it was a normal thing.

"Why?"

"Because I was standing too close when the guy swung it," Sanji told him.

"Well, I guessed that much, idiot."

"Then why did I have to tell you, dumbass?"

"I was asking why someone was swinging a pipe, not the process of how you were hit."

"There are crazy people running through the streets. Why the hell do you think someone would be swinging a pipe around?"

"Oi, you two stop," Nami told them irritably, "I'm trying to focus." She had pulled over and had a map laid out in her lap.

"Where are we headed?" Robin wondered. Hm, that seemed like something they should probably know.

"I know a guy with a farm," Luffy explained.

"But he doesn't know exactly where it is," Nami huffed.

"I told you, it's somewhere in here," Luffy poked the map, drawing a circle in a general area.

Nami shook her head with a hopeless sigh, "Fine, I guess that's the best we're going to get," she said, setting the car into drive and pulling away from the sidewalk.

They drove out of the city, carefully avoiding people and cars. Nami only hit one of the infected, which was actually pretty impressive because they were everywhere and she only nicked it in the side. It barely got any blood on the car.

Along the way this new group discovered that Zoro and Sanji should not be allowed to sit next to each other. Half out if the city Nami had to stop so that Chopper could switch places with Sanji because the two would not stop bickering about stupid things that no one cared about. They went together like water and oil, like bald people and hair brushes, like sharp edges and people with low self esteems.

They were nearly out if the city when Nami slammed on her break just in time to not hit the man who stood in front of the car, hands raised in fear. Once the car stopped the man let his hands down slowly.

Nami rolled down the window. "You okay?" she asked, he wasn't infected.

The man moved to the side if the car. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm a super hero anyway, so it's not like it would have done me any damage," he laughed nervously.

Luffy leaned over in interest. "Really?" he asked.

"Of course," the man said, "I'm the great captain Usopp!"

"I'm Luffy, you want a ride?"

"Luffy, we can't just keep picking up people like this!" Nami protested.

"Sure we can," Luffy laughed, "Get in."

The man hesitated for a moment but decided in the end to get into the car and squeeze in between Zoro and Chopper, although he looked terrified of the moss head.

"So then, 'captain Usopp'," Robin smiled, "What were you before all of this?"

"I was an digital artist."

"That's a useful skill to have in an apocalypse," Zoro snorted.

"Don't be rude," seaweed brain, Sanji scolded him.

"Fuck you."

"No, fuck you."

"Uh-uh, fuck you."

"No, fuck-"

"Will you two just stop!?" Nami shouted back at them, causing Sanji to apologize profusely.

They had to pass a military check before they left the city. The place they were going to was still within the confines of the quarantine but was on the edge of being out. Either way, everyone had to go through military check and they all obviously passed, so they were let through. None of them particularly wanted to stay to join the other refugees, that sounded pretty shitty, so they drove on. They were leaving the city behind now, the dying cesspool that it was quickly becoming. They were all glad to be gone from it but there was still that pang of sadness in the ones who had lived there.

The car ride was blissfully uneventful and quieter because Zoro fell asleep. Sanji wasn't allowed to sleep and if he did he had to be woken every hour, it wasn't very nice.

It was dark by the time they were approaching the farm, after Nami finally managed to track it down. The little farm house was surrounded by rows and rows of cherry trees, which made sense because it was a cherry farm.

Nami pulled into the long drive up the house and they all pressed to the windows looking for any sign of life. Nothing moved. Luffy quickly opened his door and started up toward the porch, knocking loudly.

"Brook! It's Luffy, open up!" the straw hat wearing boy shouted.

"Well, I hope there's no one hostile in there," Sanji said, unimpressed with Luffy's racket.

A light flicked on inside and a large, blue haired man stood in the doorway, grinning.

"Franky!" Luffy exclaimed, "Where's Brook?"

"He's trying to find some cat food, we saw a stray cat earlier and he wanted to feed it," Franky explained.

"Cool," Luffy grinned, "What are you doing here?"

"Brook's generator broke, so I came to be his super mechanic! I'm thinking about adding some modifications to it too," he laughed. "Who are these people?"

Each person was introduced in turn. "I picked them up on the way here," Luffy said proudly.

"I don't think you're supposed to let strangers into your car like that, bro."

"It's the end of the world, who cares," Sanji scoffed.

"And you didn't pick me up," Nami said, "You just got into my car and wouldn't leave," she glared at Luffy. Sanji's eyebrow twitched at the stupid kid's method of meeting Nami but said nothing for now. He should just be thankful that Luffy had picked them up.

Luffy ignored her as they stepped inside and another man came into the room, bag of cat food in hand.

"Luffy!" the tall, gaunt man laughed, "I'm glad to see that you are still in one piece."

"Yeah, there were dead people all over the place!" Luffy exclaimed.

"They aren't dead," Chopper cut in, trying to be the voice of reason, "They're just very sick."

"But they look like zombies," Luffy said, sounding confused.

"So do actors in make up, but that doesn't make them the real deal," Zoro pointed out.

"Zoro looks like a person but that doesn't mean he's not a moss monster," Sanji said.

Zoro growled at him like sort if stupid mossy dog. Ew, that would be the ugliest dog ever.

"Things are not always as they seem," Robin chimed in a rather cliché way, ignoring the tension between Sanji and Zoro.

"Yeah, anyway, we came to ask if you have room for us to stay," Luffy said, getting back on track.

"Of course I do!" Brook laughed, "You are always welcome here, as are all your friends!"

Luffy cheered and everyone was ushered further inside. It was a rather large house for just one person to live in so Brook was happy to fill it.

The house had three bedrooms. One was obviously Brooks's, one became the girl's room, and the other became the boy's room. Franky lived up the road and said that if they ever got too cramped he had a spare room as well. Brook wanted to share his room for the sake of fairness but no one wanted to infringe on their guest's hospitality.

In the boy's room they drew straws to see who got to sleep on the bed and who had to sleep on the floor. Zoro and Sanji got the bed but five minutes after the lights were turned out Zoro was kicked off the bed and they all knew that it wasn't going to work out. So they did a redraw and Luffy and Usopp got the bed. Sanji and Zoro's where set up far apart on the floor and Chopper slept close to Sanji in order to wake him up every hour.

When morning came Sanji felt like he had hardly slept at all. But he got up all the same and insisted on making breakfast, which turned out completely amazing. He made sure to use as little food as he could manage while still keeping everyone well fed.

When he brought out the meal everyone was already seated.

"It smells wonderful, Sanji," Robin commented as a plate of food was set down in front of her.

"It tasted even better." Sanji winked, out of the corner of his eye he saw Zoro roll his eyes but ignored it and continued to lay out the plates.

Once the food was tasted the shower of complements rained down on him. Luffy in particular wanted him to cook him a mountain's worth of meat. Unfortunately, they mostly just had non-meat products available. Still, everyone had something good to say about Sanji's cooking, a fact which stroked his ego soothingly like a cat. That is, everyone except Zoro. That fact was like the tip of a blade pressed into the skin of his forehead. It was painful but it didn't do too much damage and he just wanted to kick the one inflicting the irritation. At least the marimo looked like he enjoyed it for half a second before he closed off him emotions like a Vulcan. Maybe he was an alien, that would make sense. Why not? It was the end of the world after all. Who said that the aliens couldn't get in on the fun too?

Once breakfast was over with they for the tour of the farm. They saw all the cherry trees and the cellar filled with preserved foods. That was very good. They would have enough food for a good while. The property was very pretty, flat and open, but under the clear blue sky it was almost believable that it was just a normal day. Bit normal days were done now.

Post tour everyone split up to do whatever. Sanji made his way outside. Drawing out one of his few remaining cigarettes, he placed it in his mouth and lit the end with his lighter. He let out a long sigh, it was going to be a bitch when he ran out.

He heard something move behind him and looked over to see Zoro staring at him with a look of disgust.

"What?" Sanji asked irritably.

"Nothing, I'm sure you know how fucking gross those things are."

"I'm sure you know how gross your fucking face it."

"Wow, that was mature."

"What can I say? I am the embodiment of maturity here," he gestured down to himself.

"Right."

"What, don't believe me?"

"No, I don't."

"What can I do to prove myself?" He paused in false consideration, "Oh, I know, I'll just beat you up."

Zoro laughed, "I'd like to see you try, curly brow."

"What was that?"

"You heard me, shit cook."

"Okay, that's it. You better hope those stupid swords of yours aren't just for show." Sanji stormed forward, intent on kicking Zoro's face in.

"Come and find out," Zoro drew out one sword, raising it with the back side as Sanji's foot came soaring toward his head. Sanji was grateful that he didn't need the sharp edge, he didn't wasn't to ruin his shoes. At a time like this he wasn't about to get another pair anytime soon.

Sanji came about for another kick, this time aimed lower, it was dodged and the whisper of a sword flashed past Sanji's face.

Duck, dodge, swing, hit. It was like a dance and it flowed as naturally as water. They fought until were out of insults to hurl at each other and covered in minor injuries. Neither of them had managed to land a very solid hit, which was frustrating but it made the fighting all the more exhilarating. Eventually, they were too exhausted to keep up their original pace and all at once they were on the ground wrestling around. Zoro had the advantage there, being the muscly hunk he was. Not that Sanji was thinking that, no, it was just simply a fact of nature.

Zoro managed to pin him with a deal of difficulty and took his finger to draw a line across the blond's throat like a blade.

"You're dead," he panted.

"Yeah, shut up, muscle head, it's not like either of us were trying our hardest."

"But I still won," Zoro grinned.

"I thought I said shut up," Sanji growled, shoving the swordsman off of him. Zoro rolled off without protest and laid back on the ground next to him.

As they lay there bruised and slightly bloody Sanji thought maybe things wouldn't be so bad here. Sure it wouldn't be prefect, but the place had potential and the people weren't half bad either. Except Zoro, Zoro was a bastard.

XxxX

A/N: Part two will be coming soon. This is super rushed but I don't care, I'm just putting this up today because I feel horrible. Fuck life and the future...

I'm sorry, Michigan. I was thinking about the Great Lakes. Also super rabies. Hahaha, I suppose that in Ann Arbor it would be a bunch of zombie college students because of the university there or whatever.

Brook is a cherry farmer because I just remember camping in Michigan and hearing the cherry trucks drive by, sloshing their cherries around. There were a lot for some reason.

Thanks.