Title: All Are Equal in a Dead Society
Summary: The world is ravaged by an unknown disease, and to those non-infected it's clear this is a zombie invasion. With the Host Club divided, what troubles will these young souls go through just to be reunited?
Warnings: T because it's zombies, there's gory stuff and probably some other bad stuff. We'll see.
Chapter Length: 1649 | Total Length: 1649

Chapter I
The Day of Destruction

All are equal when a world has ended.

Society destroyed, everyone just barely fighting to survive. There are no rich, no poor. No privileged and underprivileged. There are only the survivors and the dead.

A disease ran throughout Japan, taking the entire country off guard. There were more and more reports of outbreaks in certain cities. Attempts at quarantines failed due to the sheer numbers. What the citizens would call "normal life" managed to survive for around 24 hours from patient zero, until everything just...stopped.

It was May and a certain host club were unfortunate enough to be separated throughout the country. Each member's goal is to rejoin their friends, and maybe then they would be able to figure out a way they could all survive.

Haruhi Fujioka, a fifteen year old girl who was currently cowering in her home. The storm brewing overhead wasn't the only thing that was terrifying her. The Fujioka's old television set was currently turned onto the local news station, and their story was chilling Haruhi to the bone.

"...Officials have yet to inform the public of the identity of the disease, but all citizens have been advised to keep inside of your homes. It is also advised to block all openings as it has not yet been verified if the disease is airborne or not." The woman reported her voice grave.

"Thank you Kagami. We're here with scientists Shogo Hazuki and Kazumi Nori. Now, what disease do you think this is? Is there any cure?" The male asked, just buzzing at the chance to lead a top news story.

"The signs for the disease is a very odd amalgamation of symptoms. From what has been observed, the disease has a very mental effect on the patient. Seemingly decreased brain activity, making the patient run on primal instinct instead of their free will and sentient ability—"

Haruhi turned the television set off and stood up letting the blanket that had previously been comforting her, fall to the floor. She made her way towards her kitchen to pour herself another cup of tea. Looking out of the window into the pouring rain, she couldn't help but worry herself silly about her father.

Ranka worked deep in the city, near the heart of the disease. Haruhi had insisted that he stay home tonight, but the threat of late rent had dissuaded him. The nearby proximity of a lightening strike threatened to spill the jasmine tea as Haruhi's body jumped a foot in the air.

She put the tea to one side, and decided to forget about it. Moving back to her blanket, she burrowed herself into it and felt herself slowly drift off to sleep.

Sixty hours had passed since patient zero, and Hikaru, Kaoru and Tamaki had been hiding in the Hitachiin's summer home. They had been saying there with one of their maids and a cook employed by the Hitachiins. They had just enough food to last the seven of them just one more day, until they had to venture out to find some more.

Hikaru was more than frustrated. There he and his family were; all huddled up in their home; their windows boarded up and hiding like cowards. He wanted nothing more than to do something. There was an epidemic happening all throughout Japan, everyone of his friends not as safe as he was and he could do absolutely nothing about it.

The ginger wanted to scream, once upon a time he may have thought about a zombie apocalypse happening but now it was just pathetic. He had built up an image of himself slaying the undead left and right, Kaoru tailing just behind him as he headed towards the meeting point to rendezvous with the rest of his friends. The reality was that he was hiding within his summer home in the South West of Japan, whilst the rest of their friends were spread throughout. Kyoya was in the North, completing a business errand for his father whilst Hani and Mori were on a southern Japanese Island for a Martial Arts tournament. Haruhi had it worse out of all and was in the heart of it back in Tokyo.

The hosts were all separated, and it would take them almost six months just to meet up with one of them, providing that they weren't moving any time soon. The likelihood that they would meet up at all was almost nil.

Hikaru didn't like to pick favourites within his friends but his mind went straight to Haruhi. There was a storm in Tokyo before this all kicked off, she must have been terrified. A chilling thought washed over Hikaru making him shiver almost violently. There was always the possibility that they had gotten to Haruhi. What if by the time they met up, Haruhi was already undead?

Hikaru shook his head. No, Haruhi may be in the heart of it all, but she was smart and strong. She would have the necessary survival skills to keep her alive until someone found her.

Kaoru looked at his brother, understanding exactly what was going through Hikaru's mind. He was thinking the exact same thing, after all. The boy looked over towards his mother, hoping for her strong opinion and "let's kick some ass" attitude. But instead he just saw what he had seen for the past two days. She was stitching and restitching the same dress over and over again. It wasn't her best piece, but Kaoru thought it was just the sewing that was keeping her calm. He felt so sad every time he laid his eyes on her. He missed her old self.

"Um. Excuse me..." A girl dressed in a t-shirt and jeans walked in timidly. Kaoru recognised her as Chiemi, one of their maids before the zombie apocalypse. When it had all started to look bad, Yuzuha had dismissed all the staff but left the opportunity to stay with them should they like to. The staff had fled to their families but only Chiemi and the cook stayed as their families were all far off in Tokyo or abroad.

"Yes Chiemi?" Daichi Hitachiin replied, after the maid had lost her confidence.

"Akihito told me to tell you that the soup is ready..." She announced fiddling with her hands. No matter how many times the Hitachiins told her to talk to them like usual people she couldn't handle it. Kaoru supposed it was due to the fact she had only worked for them a week before now. Hikaru was starting to get annoyed by her timidness. She would have to get used to it, due to the fact they were going to be staying together for a while.

"Thank you, Chiemi. We'll be in the dining room shortly." The man smiled politely at the young woman before turning towards his wife and pulling her hand away from the dress. "Dinner's ready."

A moment passed before Yuzuha released a breath she didn't realise that she was holding. "I suppose I could take a break..." She muttered, placing the dress to one side and following her husband towards the dining area.

"Best tell our guest." Kaoru sighed, as he pulled his brother up from their seat on the window ledge.

"I guess." Hikaru agreed, his mind buried deep within his thoughts. He just let Kaoru lead him around in a daze. He was filled with worry, and kept thinking of ways that his friends might be in trouble and how he could help. But the latter always ended up with nothing.

Kaoru was sick of his family falling apart due to this. His mother goes ballistic the moment that everything stops, his father pretending nothing unusual is happening and Hikaru retreats into his thoughts not once sharing anything with him. The ginger growled and shook his brother's shoulders.

Hikaru looked at his brother with wide eyes, surprised with his actions.

"Snap out of it!" Kaoru near yelled, all his frustration poured into his voice. "I know you're worried about Hani and Mori and Kyoya and Haruhi. But we need to keep ourselves together. I can't keep being the brave one anymore. I know you feel useless but just remember that not everyone is vulnerable. Hani and Mori have martial arts under their belts, Kyoya will be smart enough to head for cover or figure out a plan of attack and you forget that Haruhi is smart and resourceful. They will all be fine and someday we'll see them again!"

Hikaru continued to stare at his brother with wide eyes, he had tried to hide all this thoughts from Kaoru in an attempt to protect him from worrying but maybe he hadn't put up a good enough wall. He had been unknowingly forcing his brother to be braver than he was, and he felt bad about it.

"And Milord is with us so that's one less person we have to meet up with. Whilst it's good to have a little bit of worry, too much can harm you. Please, at least just talk to me about everything on your mind. You don't have to go back entirely to your old self, just keep us in the loop."

Hikaru stood there for a moment, processing everything. A second later he reached forward and pulled his younger brother in for a hug. "I'm sorry Kaoru. I thought I was protecting you, but it looks like you're way smarter than I give you credit for."

Kaoru laughed, it was short just one laugh. "You're forgetting that it's due to me that you haven't failed half your classes."

"Shut up." Hikaru laughed as well. "Now c'mon, we have to let Tamaki know about dinner. No doubt he's making a mess of our bedroom with Antoinette."

Since personally, I think there's a severe lack of zombie AUs in the series that I love, I decided to write one. Unfortunately, I'm not a quick writer so don't expect updates too often. Thanks for reading!