It was one of those slowly cold growing autumnal nights as the world should become a new scary face.
A little boy with light blue hair was sleeping on a black couch, he was still wearing his everyday clothes though it was only a few minutes before midnight already.
However, the little boy wasn't even thinking about going to bed before because it was a very special day. He was waiting, for hours. But he didn't lost hope yet. Eventually the fatigue dragged him to sleep and he curled up on the sofa.
The sound of the door moving suddenly got him up. A surprised short laughter came through his lips and a big smile got its way on his face when finally the older one entered the living room.
„Hey...", the other one greeted him, smiling softly and joined him on the sofa „Shouldn't you be in bed already, Haruto?"
„Oh no, how late is it?", Haruto trembled, peering for the clock. It was 10 minutes before midnight.
„Well, not too late yet.", he cheered, stood up from the sofa and fetched a little white box he was hiding all day long under the coffee table and giving it to his older brother who seemed to be too tired to realize what was happening.
„Happy Birthday, Nii-san.", Haruto said and smiled.
Kaito was astounded, Haruto truly would never forget that it was his 20th birthday today.
„Th-thank you.", he muttered, as he accepted his present and dragged his little brother into a tight hug.
„What are you waiting for, open it.", Haruto giggled.
Kaito smiled. „Yeah, okay."
Carefully he openend the box and he couldn't trust his eyes when he saw a silvern watch covered in black velvet, on its frame the wings of a dragon were engraved. Behind the clock hands he could discover the brand name Photon.
„Do you like it? Your old one was broken, so I thought-"
„Where did you get it?", Kaito interrupted him and smiled.
Haruto started to laugh. „Drugs you know? I am dealing with the hardest drugs to get the money."
Kaito knew it was a joke, obviously Ryouga and Yuuma had given him the money for it, not entirely happy about that but they couldn't reject his little brother's wish to make him happy. And Haruto knew, that Kaito really liked his old watch.
„Ah, I guess that you can help me to pay the rent.", he joked and both of them fell in a happy laughter.
They spent a whole while in the living room, Haruto insisted that they spent at least a bit together to celebrate his brother's birthday even though he had to go to school on the next day and both of them were really tired after all.
It was past 2 a.m. when Kaito lifted Haruto in his arms to bring him to his bed.
Tomorrow would be an exhausting day again, but as long as Haruto was happy he didn't care about himself. Finally having a home outside of the loud and crowded city was a good decision he made, even though he had a lot to work for giving his brother all he wants.
For a while Kaito was watching him sleep, cuddling with a little stuffed dragon toy. He smiled, stroked his hair gently and gave him a little good night kiss on his forehead before he was going to his own bedroom.
The loud ringing of the telephone next on his bedside table shook Haruto from his sleep. Tired and completely disoriented he fumbled for the black thing and answered the call with a weary voice.
„Hello?"
„Haruto? Can you please give me your brother, it is very urgent-"
„Ryouga? What is-"
Suddenly the call broke up. He could only hear the low hoot of the busy tone.
„What is happening here...?", he asked himself. It was pitck-black night outside. How late was it? And what was so urgent that Ryouga Kamishiro called his brother in the middle of the night?
Still afoul, Haruto was leaving his bedroom and looking for Kaito. On the other end of the floor he was able to hear the television from his brothers room.
„Nii-san?", he called but nobody answered.
He followed the noise of the TV and was surprised, that Kaito left his bedroom door open.
„-that the insurgences from the past few days have a connection to the broken-put pandemia. The infection maintains to increasing aggression and-"
„We all have to get out of here, gas is leaking."
„It seems that-"
„GET OUT!"
Haruto only noticed casually what the reporters were saying, but he realized the danger just from the explosion he listened to directly happened some miles away from his home in Heartland City.
Buildings became a sea of flames in front of his eyes.
Frightened he fell back, a little scream came through his lips as he hit the ground.
The news channel was interrupted, he could only see the flicker on the TV.
„Oh my god", Haruto cried, he picked himself up and ran down the stairs to the kitchen.
Cop cars were driving past their home.
„Kaito! Kaito, where are you?", Haruto called, feeling tears on his cheeks. He was scared, where was his brother gone?
He never would leave him. Never.
Haruto caught a glimpse of a thing blinking on the kitchen table. It was Kaito's mobile phone. No connection and eight missed calls.
»Where the fuck are you? Call me back. - Ryouga«
»I'm on my way. - Ryouga.«
Haruto's hands were shaking when he put the phone back on the table.
That didn't sound good. He was afraid, but he couldn't stay where he was, he had to find Kaito as soon as he could.
A weird shadow passed the window, which let Haruto shy away. He felt alone and lost.
Nobody was in the living room. The only room which was left was Kaito's home office. Last chance. Haruto opened the door. Papers were scattered over the floor and somebody left the terrace door open. Could Kaito be outside?
Haruto was coming nearer to it with caution, he felt like something very dangerous was in the backyard.
A scream came from the outside and suddenly his brother tripped backwards into the room, shut the door hectically and hurried to his desk.
„Is everything okay, Haruto?", he asked, his voice was trembling.
„Err, I guess.", Haruto replied, wiping the tears away.
He watched Kaito to rummage in the drawers, obviously searching for something until he found it. A little black suitcase Haruto could remember. It was once a present Kaito got from a remote relative he never really wanted, but the fact that he searched for it was giving Haruto another reason to be afraid even more.
It was a gun. „Did anybody came in when I was away?", Kaito asked bustling.
„Uhm, I don't know. Who should come in here?", Haruto responded, coming nearer to the door so he could catch a sight but Kaito snapped: „Keep away from the doors!"
Haruto got frightened by the harsh voice of his older brother, but he was able to see the sorrowful look in his eyes.
„You scare me, Nii-san. What is happening?", he cried while Kaito was loading the gun with shaking hands.
„Our... our neighbours. I guess they are sick."
„They are sick? What do y-"
But Haruto's question was interrupted by a loud weird scream coming from the backyard and a person slamming against the glass door.
Haruto screamed, blood stained the door and it began to split.
„Fuck...", Kaito whispered, regretting his words when he saw Haruto's scared face.
He took position in front of his brother to protect him as good as he could do, levelling the gun at their neighbour who was still slamming himself at the door.
The man seemed to have lost his complete sanity and he was covered in blood. A horror picture he never could imagine to become reality before.
„Everything is okay, everything is okay...", he could hear Haruto mumbling, trying to calm himself and his brother down.
„Stay back!", Kaito shouted, but the man he knew as a kind elementary school teacher didn't listen.
He finally made his way directly through the door into the room, falling down on his knees.
„I am warning you-"
The man leaped up and tried to attack Kaito but the older Tenjou reacted fast and shoot the insane in the head. Haruto screamed and covered his eyes.
Kaito grabbed his brother's hands and dragged him back into the living room.
„Y-you shot him, Nii-san!"
„Haruto..."
„I saw him this morning."
„Listen. Something really severe is going on. We have to get out, do you understand?"
Haruto nodded, he stopped trying to get rid off the tears on his face. They burned on his skin, but the horrifieng things which happened in the last seconds burned themselves into his mind and he couldn't stop crying.
Headlights from a car were shining through the kitchen windows, a sign that somebody arrived.
„It's Ryouga. Let's go.", Kaito said and carried his little brother outside.
„Damn it, where the hell were you all the time? Do you know what's going on?", Ryouga snapped, leaving an adress of welcome out.
He was there with Yuuma who clinged on Ryouga's arm, both of them seemed to be as afraid as Kaito and Haruto were, too.
„I have an idea...", Kaito replied harshly. „We must not loose a second here, let's go."
Yuuma opened the backdoor of the van with which they came to pick the Tenjous up and helped Haruto to climb in, then he joined the young boy on the back seat.
„Fuck, where does all the blood come from?", Ryouga mentioned when he saw Kaito's clothing. It was soaked in blood. „Not mine. Just – let's go.", he muttered, throwing himself on the front passenger's seat.
„Apparently everyone in the city is going crazy. Something like a parasite.", Ryouga told them.
„Can we please leave now.", Kaito demanded him, Ryouga omitted his reply this time and started the motor.
„Haruto, how are you?", Yuuma asked and tried to smile to give the youngest some comfort back.
„Good good.", Haruto replied. According to the circumstances.
„Can you please turn on the radio?", he asked.
„Sure.", Ryouga replied and pushed the button of the radio.
„Thank you."
Nothing happened.
Ryouga sighed. „No mobile, no radio... yeah, everything is alright. The narrator just palavered some minutes ago."
„Where will we go?", Kaito asked him.
„He said something about the army assembling road barriers."
Haruto's glance wandered out. Families were packing hectically supplies and blankets into their cars. Everything became a chaos.
They were driving outbound lane.
„No entry to Heartland City."
„We have to leave as fast as we can. The Highway.", Kaito ordered him.
„I had the same idea.", Ryouga mumbled.
In the meantime Yuuma dragged Haruto on his lap, stroking his hair so the child could calm down.
Cop cars were hurrying with full alarm into town.
Ryouga turned to the other direction.
It seemed that Ryouga and Yuuma knew more about what happened in the city and he needed more assurance about what was going on.
„How many people died?", he asked Yuuma.
The young black haired man tried to escape Haruto's view, glancing to his boyfriend.
„Many people. A family laid totally torn to pieces in their-"
„Ryouga, stop it.", Kaito snapped.
„Sorry.", Ryouga mumbled and gave his full attention back to driving.
A car had crashed into a street lamp at a crossroad. It was so dark that they couldn't see if the driver was still there – or if the person was still alive.
„How could this happen...?", Haruto sobbed, Yuuma hold him closer.
„Nobody knows it. At first it seemed to be just the south, but now they are talking about that it is nearly everywhere.", he replied honestly.
Ryouga turned to the left on a country road. They were passing a burning Shinto shrine near the road. „Holy...", he muttered.
Haruto felt how panic and fear started to cord up his throat.
„Are we sick?", he stammered.
„No. No, we aren't, Haruto.", Kaito tried to calm him down.
„How do you know that, Nii-san?" He knew it was a lie to make him feel better.
„They said the people in the city are. Not us."
Haruto was silent for a second. But then he demanded: „Wasn't the school where Kabayama-san worked in the city?"
Kaito held off for a moment, though he acknowledged his brother's notice. He was talking about their neighbour he shot just minutes ago.
„Everything is alright. Trust me.", he whispered, but his voice was still unsure.
They noticed a family near the road, their car seemed to be broken; the adults waving and crying for help. Ryouga drove slower, intended to stop.
"What the hell are you doing there! Drive on!", Kaito snapped immediately.
"They have a child.", Ryouga replied, but his opponent didn't seemed not to care.
"Same for us."
"But we still have room for them, Nii-san.", Haruto replied, trying to convince his brother to help. But Kaito got the control over Ryouga completely to ignore the obviously helpless people.
"I've seen more than you... There is someone else who will come for their rescue.", he said harshly.
"We should have helped them.", Haruto muttered and drooped.
"Shh, it is okay.", Yuuma said softly and stroked his hair, but giving Kaito a dark glare.
The older one seemed to understand, his serious face changed to sorrow.
An ambulance was passing them, driving insanely fast to the other direction with an ear-battering sound and blinking emergency lights.
Finally they left the darkness of the country roads behind – but the picture they got was not a sign of serendipity.
The drive-up to the Highway was crowded, red backlights of thousands of cars were shining towards them. They were stuck.
"Fuck. Every idiot has the same bloody idea.", Ryouga cussed, driving slower and looking for a sign that they could get out of this, but there was no chance than going back.
They could hear a rescue helicopter flying over.
"We should go back. There must be another way out of this.", Kaito said with a trembling voice.
In front of them a man exited his car and complained about the traffic jam. "Hey assholes, what the fuck is your proble-" Suddenly a man ran to him and tossed him against the car, a guttural scream and the sound of ripping flesh mixed itself with the hooting cars.
Another of those insane people climbed into the car and attacked the co-driver.
"Oh my..."
Ryouga swore; the man who just killed a person in front of their eyes ran towards their van, ready to attack. As fast as he could Ryouga turned the car around, with creaking tyres he nearly rushed away. They heard the insane man bumping against the back of the car, but they could escape. For a moment.
"What the fuck, did you see that?!", he bellowed, his face showed an expression full of panic. "Yes, I did.", Kaito replied chiefly. "Now turn here.", he added when Ryouga was about to just go back. However they were stuck in a blind alley of people running in their direction. A caravan blocked half of the street, the street was nearly impassable.
"No... no no no no...!", Kaito cried silently as they had to slow down.
"What are they escaping from?", Haruto asked, frightened.
"Get us out from here.", Kaito whispered to Ryouga whereupon the other snapped back "I'm fucking trying…"
"We cannot stop here, Ryouga!" - "I cannot drive through them, Kaito." - "Then turn back!" - "There are people, too!"
Haruto felt how Yuuma's embrace became tighter and he turned him around so Haruto's sight was blocked. It seemed that Yuuma didn't want him to see those horrible things outside and Haruto was thankful.
Unfortunately he couldn't blend out the screams and sounds of death.
Finally the small passage was free and Ryouga gave full throttle and tried his best to pass the street.
Suddenly a bright light showed up from the left. "BE CAREFUL!", Yuuma screamed but it was too late.
The other car crashed into them and everything turned black.
Blurred screams and the sizzling noise of open fire was the first thing Kaito could hear when he woke up.
"Nii-san... Nii-san?"
The van was laying on the side, the windscreen was badly damaged. He could barely see how one of those mad driven people ripped out the organs of the dead driver to whom they crashed together. The picture made him sick. Kaito blinked, his body ached terribly when he tried to move. "Everything is okay, Haruto...", he heard Yuuma saying, the boy was still in the back of the car, holding his little brother. Slowly his survival instincts came back to his mind and Kaito started to kick the windscreen to free themselves of the car wreck.
Not even a second after he stood up a man completely covered in blood kicked him back on the ground, a horrible sound came out of his throat. That guy tried to bite him with his bloody teeth.
Kaito wasn't able to realise what was happening until Ryouga battered him down with a brick.
"Fuck! Are you alright?", he asked, shaking.
Kaito didn't hesitate a second longer, he passed the gun he was holding all the time to Ryouga and answered: "Please take it. I will help Haruto and Yuuma out of this."
His opponent nodded absently, still shivering. He took the weapon and got in position to give them backing.
Kaito crawled back into the wreck and freed Yuuma and Haruto from safety belt.
They seemed to be alright, but their clothes and faces were full of dirt and scratches.
"Thank you, Kaito.", Yuuma smiled, but suddenly his smile changed to pain. "Ahhh...", he hissed, holding his arm.
"Yuuma-kun!", Haruto cried. "It is okay, Haruto. Nothing bad, I guess I just have a bad bruise.", the black haired boy replied and moved his arm a bit, they could see his pain on his face.
Kaito dragged his little brother onto his arms and carried him out of the car, Yuuma followed him, whimpering because of the pain in his arm.
They were hearing a shot and a dead body covered in blood fell in front of Kaito's view when he climbed out of the broken window. Instantly he covered his brother's eyes, but Haruto had seen the horrifying image already.
"Everything is okay with you guys?", Ryouga asked.
Yuuma acknowledged but mentioned his injury.
"We have to get out of here as soon as possible."
"Nii-san.", Haruto yelped, when his brother let him down. He clung on his older brother's coat, as if he couldn't hold himself on his own legs.
"What is wrong, Haruto?", Kaito asked but he already could guess what was wrong and that cracked his hope even more.
"My leg hurts."
"How much does it ache?"
"It is really painful."
Kaito felt how a lump came up in his throat. It seemed the accident had cause Haruto to break his leg. He didn't waste another second and picked him up.
"Run!", he demanded and with Haruto on his arms they followed the people who tried to escape from those monsters which were once human.
Kaito could feel his brother's heart beating against his chest.
Everything around them became a hell within seconds. They were running down the streets; from the corner of his eyes Kaito could see how a car crashed into a gas station and the whole building exploded. People were screaming and those who were not fast enough were kicked to the ground and bitten.
They turned right into a back road. An apartment building on the left was completely in flames, but Kaito could still see people there, burning to death. He felt totally sick, his eyes watered from tears caused by the smoke and all the fear in his heart.
"They are burning, Nii-san. The people are burning...", Haruto whispered in shock.
"Don't look at them. Just... don't look. Close your eyes.", he replied, tears were falling down his cheeks, pressing his little brother tighter to his chest.
Everywhere was blood and fire, immersing the night in orange light.
And the screams.
"Here!", Ryouga shouted, checking if they were still following him.
There was an abandoned police block in front of them, the monsters could have overrun it just some hours ago. The cop cars were empty.
Another car from another back road rolled down the street and crashed into one of those cop cars, causing another explosion. Probably there was gas leaking.
The people fell back and a bunch of them were caught by the monsters.
"In the alley!", Ryouga demanded, pointing at a little alleyway which was protected by a huge fence. The fence door was open, luckily. They ran and Ryouga shut the door, locking it hectically. One of the monsters tried to attack Yuuma but his boyfriend shot him down. Even though Ryouga never used a gun in his life, he was pretty good in sighting.
"Come on!"
On the right two insane driven creatures were pressing against the fence. Kaito wasn't able to hide the horrible view from Haruto.
He wished he could.
Suddenly a warning sound got their attention – the monsters managed it to break the door and following them way too fast.
"SHIT!"
There was a back door of an abandoned bar on the right. Ryouga slammed himself against the wood and luckily it gave in.
Yuuma and Kaito followed him into the bar. Chairs were scattered around the floor, two corpses were lying on the floor, their upper part of their bodies were ripped off and the whole floor was covered in blood. But there was no time to care about the horror.
Ryouga slammed the door and called on them to leave the bar. "I am faster than you guys, take care of Haruto and RUN!"
"But-"
Yuuma wanted to gainsay Ryouga but he interrupted him: "I said RUN!"
With a glance full of sorrow he followed Kaito on the streets. The monsters were on the door. Hopefully Ryouga would manage it to escape. If not, there was no time for a goodbye.
He knew that bar, one year ago he was there sometimes with Ryouga. Kaito wasn't the man who liked going out to drink something, but with Ryouga it was something different. However, his new job didn't give him the time for himself anymore.
And now as the world turned into pure chaos...
"Yuuma, here.", he demanded the younger one to follow him to a parking area in front of them. There was only a small wall separating them from the Highway.
If they would reach it he could save Haruto. His brother was whimpering silently in his arms, his leg must still hurt and all those impressions in his head must scare him to death.
"Haruto, we'll be safe soon. Just a little more..."
The wall was damaged – down the small hill an ambulance crashed into a rock, its lights were immersing the slope.
Yuuma and Kaito stumbled down the muddy grass. Kaito remembered that there must be a little river they had to cross.
Where was Ryouga?
He had no choice, he couldn't go back to search for him until Haruto wasn't safe yet.
Again the weird howl of those insane creatures was behind them and Yuuma yelped, trying to draw aside from his attacker when suddenly multiple shots from a machine gun killed the thing.
Confused to realise what happened and numb from the loudness of the gun they looked up to the full armed soldier, pointing with the flash of his machine gun at Kaito.
"Stay back!", the soldier demanded.
"I... we are on the run! Everything is okay. We are... not sick.", Kaito blurted out, his voice flipped over.
The soldier didn't move his gun, but he called someone with his wireless receiving set: "Sir, I have three refugees here. They are unarmed."
Kaito couldn't hear the reply.
"But... Sir, they have a child."
Kaito's blood suddenly ran cold.
The soldier sighed sorrowful. "Understood, Sir."
He could feel the the soldiers' pity when he levelled his gun again on them.
"Nii-san...", Haruto whispered.
"Fuck", Kaito cried out and drew aside when the shots fired on them, Haruto and Yuuma were screaming and they fell ruggedly on the ground.
He could hear his little brother sobbing. A blinding light focused his face, he could barely see the gun barrel pointing at his head.
"FU-!"
A shot from behind killed the solder. "Kaito! Yuuma!"
This familiar voice. It was Ryouga.
"Fuck. God bless I arrived in time, holy shit. That could have gone really bad.", the young man panted.
"Haruto!", Kaito cried, his whole body ached of fear, he picked himself up and hurried to his brother who was still bent double in the grass and sobbed loudly.
"Haruto... Haruto..."
Everything was so surreal. His view was blurry from the tears; he picked Haruto up carefully – and his breath suddenly stopped when he saw all the blood soaking his brother's clothing.
"No-"
This couldn't be real. This must have been a bad dream.
A really bad dream which was supernaturally realistic. His heart stopped.
This...
"No!"
The tears were burning on his face, bitter tears of despair.
Haruto clung weakly on his arms, sobbing loudly full of pain.
"Kaito... what is... oh dear god."
Yuuma fell silent when he behold the tragedy, loosing ground.
"Nii-san...", Haruto sobbed, every second made his grip weaker. "N-nii-san..."
His voice was scarcely audible.
"Don't be scared, you hear me, Haruto? W-we are there soon, and then we will get a doctor for you, okay? Please... please...", Kaito begged, the pain in his heart got worse with every syllable.
He pressed his fingers on the bleeding wound, as if he could stop it that easily.
"Nii-san..."
"Please stay with me... please, Haruto.", Kaito sobbed loudly, holding Haruto's little hands.
"Nii... san... d-d-"
"Haruto..."
"Dai... daisu... ki, Nii-san.", Haruto whispered. Then suddenly his sobbing stopped and his traits eased, leaving a deadly smile.
"Haru- no! NO!"
Kaito's legs gave in, he fell down on his knees.
"Haruto... Haruto, please... don't leave me... please..."
His light was extinct.
Und somit starb das Licht seiner Seele.
»The number of confirmed victims is over two hundred. The governor declared the state of emergency, which limits entry and departure from Japan.«
»It was unbelievable. Thousands of dead people laying on the streets, panic is spreading all over the world since a classified record of the WHO tells that the updated vaccination trials didn't work.«
»With the disempowerment of the democracy we are able to make the right decisions for this country to protect our citizen.«
»Los Angeles now belongs to the cities under martial war.«
»Every citizen has to register at their belonging quarantine zone in the time of 72 hours.«
»After three days in a row rebellions rule the quarantine zones and winter stocks are running short.«
»A group which calls themselves ARCLIGHT take responsibility for both attacks on the government.«
»It came to demonstrations after the execution of six alleged supporters of ARCLIGHT.«
"You can still rise with us. When you are lost in the darkness... search for the light. Give faith into ARCLIGHT."
