Darting toward the door of the class I stopped about halfway and glanced back to my desk for a second before running back and grabbing my notebook, then continued out of the room. Stopping only a few steps out of the door, my eyes scanned the crowded halls for any sign of Kiku or Feliciano yet as everyone shoved through the masses to try and escape, not one face really came into focus. Backing out of the way of those trying to escape, I flipped through the paged of my notebook find the page for this situation. Skimming over the page and ignoring the map drawn there, my eyes quickly found the written instructions and scanned them briefly; nodding to myself I closed the notebook then started pushing through the other students, moving in the opposite direction.

Breaking free of the crowd of students, my feet quickly took me towards the gym but a familiar voice stopped me in my tracks and forced me to turn around, where two figures were running toward me, the larger one constantly checking over his shoulders.

"Alfred!" Feliciano ran next to me, Ludwig close behind him, the blonds eyes never stayed in one place for long, and as I watched closely his entire body was shaking ever so slightly. He must have seen the same thing as me and just, wasn't able to handle it. "Where are you going? We need to get out!" Shifting my gaze to the gym doors behind me there was a short silence before Feli spoke again with a small nod. "Okay, but we're coming with you."

"Did you really think I would let you guys go off without me anyway?" Grinning at my friend, it was quickly wiped off my face by the sound of a nearby scream and the sight of student's running back into this hallway. "They're getting closer, come on!" Sprinting towards the gym doors, they followed right after me as I ran into the locker room, finally Ludwig spoke seeming to have been snapped back into reality by the screaming.

"What's in here?" Laughing dryly, I lead them back to the older unused lockers but passed all of them, dropping down to the floor in front of a large air vent. "Alfred! What are we here for?" Sighing, I spoke without looking at them, already starting to pull at the grate over the vent.

"Well," Giving a hard tug the grate started to pull away with a loud screech of metal against metal. "ah, whenever I got the chance," Placing my feet against the wall, I grabbed the grate harder, pulling with all my might the sound echoing through the locker room. "damn they must have tightened this! Anyway, when I got the chance, I hid baseball bats in this vent." With one last hard yank, the grate flew off and I quickly discarded it to the side with a large crash, and then reached through the opening in the wall. "I knew if something like this did happen the supply room would be locked so I'd need another way to get a weapon." Pulling out the first bat, I quickly handed it over to Ludwig then reached back in for the next one.

"Wait… You're the one that's been stealing them? You're the reason we had to run extra laps in gym!?" Rolling my eyes at Feliciano's complaining I handed the next bat to him with a grin, his pouting face just making me laugh as I reached for the last bat.

"Hey, you'll be thanking me for these later." Grabbing the last one I stood up and brushed off my pants before looking at them again. "Okay, let's go see who we can find. The library is the closest so why don't get Kiku first." Surprisingly they just nodded at my idea, pushing that away we quickly headed out of the locker room, finding the gym void of the living and the undead we moved on to the doors of the gym. Peeking out of the small window in the door, the halls now seemed oddly empty, but not silent as screamed echoed from where ever. Slowly opening the door and taking a cautious step out, my eyes scanned the hall before moving out further and motioning for them to follow. As they came up beside me, I quickly but quietly ran over to the other side of the hall where a side entrance to the library was, of course, this door said 'Do Not Enter' but, I didn't really think they would mind to much.

Pushing open the door and slipping inside, the first thing I noticed were strange sounds coming from somewhere in the labyrinth of book shelves. Feliciano slipped into the room next, standing next to me and searching around the small aisle of books nervously, and then he paused and looked at me with a confused look, whispering in a low voice.

"What's that sound?" Putting a finger to my lips I poked my head around the corner of the shelf, finding the tables empty while stacks of textbooks and papers lay scattered on the floor. Ugh, what was I thinking of course he wouldn't be in here anymore; he probably left with the others! Moving further into the library, the noises grew louder and were coming from just a few aisles ahead of us, feeling a sense of dread weighing down my steps I dared get closer to the sound. Pausing just short of whatever was making the sounds, my grip on the bat tightened and I got ready to swing if it came down to it.

Stepping into the next aisle over, a fellow student I vaguely recognized was leaning over another student, at first it seemed harmless enough, until I realized the strange sounds were them eating through the flesh of the others stomach. My lunch started to rise up in my throat but the only option was to swallow in back down as I grabbed the collar of the undead student's shirt and yanking them off of the body with a sudden strength. With them sprawled out on their back in a daze, the clouded and unfocused eyes found me standing above them and they started to reach for me. Raising the bat with a deep breath, I closed my eyes and slammed it down, all noises coming to a stop instantly. Turning my head as I opened my eyes, Ludwig was staring at me with a pained expression, Feli on the other hand dared to peek into the aisle and let out a blood curtailing scream, dropping his bat as he stumbled back landing on the ground with a thud, his eyes wide and horrified as tears instantly ran in rives down his pale cheeks.

The feeling of dread grew heavier as my gaze slowly moved to the body that the undead boy had been feasting on and immediately realized why Feliciano had screamed, staring down in disbelief at the all too familiar face, tears started pooling in the corners of my eyes as a ragged breath shook my body.

"Kiku… I'm so sorry…" Hot tears streamed down my cheeks as my knees buckled underneath me, sending me to the blood soaked floor. "…I… I should have come to save you first!" Hanging my head as my body was racked with sobs the only sound besides me, was Feliciano crying as well. That's right… I wiped my eyes with my shirt then looked up to where Ludwig was holding the sobbing form of Feli. It's not just me; I still have to keep them safe. I can't… I can't break down now. Not yet.

Moving to get up, a slightly gurgling sound caught my attention, pausing I scanned for any sign of any other undead attackers but when the sound came again, I realized, it was Kiku.

"…Al….fred…." Oh god. "I…it… it hurts…" Turning my gaze back to my friends face, his dark eyes were just barely opened and the life was leaving them fast, he was just barely hanging on. "….H...he…help…" All at once the tears came back to my eyes, but I tried to fight them back as I moved closer to my dying friend.

"Sh, don't…don't talk. Okay? Just, don't…" He didn't seem to register what I said, as his mouth kept opening and closing in an attempt to speak, a trickle of blood running from the corner of his mouth.

"…M…make…it stop…" Unable to say anything, I just nodded once tears finally rolling down my cheeks as the corners of his mouth twitched up into a smile for a brief second. For a moment I just sat there thinking, then set my bat down next to me, knowing there was no way in hell I could use that on him while he was still alive. Taking a deep shaking breath, I reached out my shaky hand and placed it over his mouth while pinching his nose closed at the same time. Screwing my eyes shut, I fought against the sobs when he fought weakly, his hands feebly trying to pry my hand away. It took so much longer than I thought it would, and only when his hands fell away from mine did I open my eyes, only to find his were empty and lifeless. Slowly pulling my hand away, I couldn't help it, a sob escaped my throat as my heart felt as heavy as lead, my body shaking like a leaf as I stared unmoving at the dead eyes that were stuck staring right back at me.

"Alfred…" Daring to look up, Ludwig knelt down next to me looking guilt stricken, his eyes avoiding Kiku's body. "You did the right thing… We couldn't have saved him, he was too injured and you stopped his suffering… There was nothing else we could have done." Nodding slightly, my eyes moved back to Kiku's finding a white film had covered them, no no no, not yet… Not now. Ludwig followed my gaze, and then sighed softly, gently pulling me to my feet. "Go over by Feliciano… I'll… I'll do this part." I didn't argue, I couldn't, I felt to numb as my feet mindlessly took me over to Feli, who was curled up in a ball, leaning against a book shelf. As his eyes looked up and found me, he scrambled to his feet and wrapped his arms around me, his sobbing having died down to only soft crying, his voice shaking as he quietly spoke.

"T-tell me this is j-just a n-nightmare… That w-we'll wake up at our h-homes… That Kiku won't be…" Feeling the numbness starting to fade away, I put my arms around my trembling friend, resting my chin on top of his head, my eyes strangely void of anymore tears.

"I wish I could…" From in the aisle, I heard Ludwig mutter a quiet sorry which gave me plenty of time to cover Feli's ears before the sound of the bat swinging through the air killed the short silence, followed by a loud crunching sound, then something splattering the bookshelves. Turning my head as Ludwig walked back over to us, he held both his blood covered bat and my own bat in his hands as he stared down at the ground. Blood dotted his shirt and arms, but he didn't seem to notice as he kept staring down, seeming just as trouble as I was.

Standing there in silence, we all jumped when the library doors burst open and two figures ran in, then froze staring at us as nervously as we were staring at them.

"Hm…?" Feliciano looked up, and then a weak smile found his lips. "Fratello! Toni!" He quickly left my hold and ran toward his older brother and Antonio. "I'm so glad you're okay!" He quickly latched onto his brother, who hugged him back just as tight; Toni smiled faintly then looked over at us before his eyes found Kiku. He stared at us then lowered his head as he walked over.

"Ludwig… You're brother… He's trapped in a janitor closet by a group of these people. Before I could stop him he had run out to create a diversion for Romano and me to get away…" Ludwig instantly went tense and looked ready to dart out of the room at any second, grabbing his arm, he looked at me, his blue eyes wild.

"You can't go alone. We'll all go together; we'll have a better chance." He stared at me for a moment, then nodded, looking almost relieved. "Feli, you should give Antonio your bat." Thankfully, he didn't refuse and quickly handed it over then hugged Toni too.

"Thank you for keeping fratello safe!" Romano slowly made his way over, his eyes cast down on the ground, but then he slowly raised his eyes to Ludwig before dropping his gaze once more.

"Your bastard brother… He wasn't so bad…" Turning to Romano quickly, I fixed him with an intense stare his brown eyes going wide and frightened when he caught my gaze, and he quickly ducked behind Antonio.

"Gilbert's going to be fine. We're going to make sure of it." I dare a glance over in Kiku's direction, but I could only see from his knees down from where I was standing. My heart swelled with guilt at the thought of how I failed him, even though I always promised I would save him if something happened. "Come on. We're not leaving Gilbert to die."


A/N: Sorry this was so late guys, I've just been really lazy this summer! I'll try to update more often! ~Imoto Out