Chapter 2

"He's not here," Kaito said "Let's face it, he's nowhere near here"

They had been searching the buildings surrounding the coffee shop for the last hour, and still Gakupo was nowhere to be found.

"He could be anywhere by now" Kaito was shoving the facts at Luka, who was reluctant to leave Gakupo behind. "He had plenty of time to move while we were scurrying around looking for him. There's no way to know where he is."

"We can't just leave him behind like that!" Luka protested "What kind of friends does that make us?"

"We're low on food and have enough mouths to feed already," Kaito said "You have to face it Luka, finding him will take days, and every day we spend looking for him in a place he's nowhere near, he'll get farther away. We need to get back before more zombies show up"

Haku had been silent throughout this whole argument. She agreed with Kaito, but was scared of getting on Luka's bad side. Haku was easily frightened, and anyone raising their voice even slightly scared her out of her wits, especially in a place where noise attracted flesh-eating undead corpses.

Luka said "Can't we just look around a bit more? I'm sure…"

Kaito grabbed Luka by her collar and pulled her close, so close that their noses were scrunched together. Luka could smell his lunch on the surface of his breath.

"Listen to me" his voice was a whisper of the most menacing kind "We aren't going to find Gakupo. It doesn't matter; he can handle himself. We need to get Haku back to the house; she isn't exactly stable. I think she may be slightly drunk, and that's why she's crying so much. Gakupo doesn't matter right now. We need to protect the people we already have with us. We don't even know if he's…" Kaito's voice trailed off. "…alive. And our search is hopeless if we're looking for a dead man. Look at it this way. If he still has his sword, he'll be fine. But if he lost it, he'll be dead by now. Now stop arguing with me and let's go,"

Kaito pulled his face away from Luka's and marched toward the street.

"Dumb, heartless, little jerk" Luka muttered.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?" Kaito roared, spinning around like a tornado to face Luka. "Are you calling me heartless? A jerk? Are you freaking joking? I'm leaving one of my best friends out there for dead in order to save you people! If I was heartless I would have just let you and Miku and Rin and Len all die at the ice cream parlor! But no! I went out there and risked my neck for you! So don't you call me any of those things, Luka!"

"KAITO STOP!" Haku yelled at the top of hop her lungs. Kaito and Luka turned to look at her. "Stop yelling! I don't like it when people yell. And out here it attracts those….things. So cut it out!"

"Stop yelling, Haku" Luka said gently "I know you don't like shouting, but that doesn't mean more shouting will stop it. You need to calm down."

Haku suddenly burst into tears again and sat down on the sidewalk. She cried for a few seconds before she started hiccupping and sniffling.

"It's like taking care of a child," Kaito muttered.

"She's drunk," Luka pointed it out "You said it yourself. What control does she have?"

"Haku," Kaito said. Haku hiccupped and looked up at him, wiping her nose on her sleeve. "Stop this. We need to get moving, and you aren't helping us."

"Sorry," Haku mumbled running her hand through her messy white hair "I guess I've just had a little too much."

"Let's just go before we're caught." Kaito said

They set off down the side of the still deserted street, not saying another word to each other. When they reached the building they were staying on top of, they headed in the front door.

Suddenly a zombie leaped out and grabbed Haku. She screamed bloody murder and tried to punch it away, but it was much stronger than she was and easily overpowered her.

Luka acted quickly. Pulling out her axe, she raced at the zombie and swung it like a madwoman. Kaito fumbled for his gun, and after a few seconds of hopeless axe beating, he shot it right in the temple.

Haku fell to the floor and curled up in a ball, whining about how the zombie had been violating her bubble.

"Crazy," Luka muttered.

Kaito bent down and grabbed Haku and pulled her face up so that she was looking at him.

"What the hell Kaito?" Luka cried. "What are you…"

"Are you bit?" He said, ignoring Luka. Haku just gave him a glazed over stare, her eyes unfocused. "HEY!" he shook Haku hard "I asked you a question!" But Haku still didn't respond "HAKU!" Kaito struck her across her cheek, leaving a bright red mark. "ARE YOU BIT?"

When Haku still didn't respond, Kaito began roughly searching her arms and legs for any signs of a bite. When he found nothing, he pulled her shirt off.

"KAITO!" Luka cried "WHAT THE HE-"

"SHUT UP LUKA!" He shouted "This is serious! She's wearing a bra anyways."

Kaito checked the front side of her torso, then flipped her over to check her back.

And sure enough, there was a bloody red bite right around the same spot where Len had been wounded. Kaito picked her up and carried her over to a large trash can, dumping her inside. He pointed his gun at her head.

"KAITO! WHAT ARE YOU…?"

Kaito turned just in time to see Miku and Meiko come running toward them holding bags heavy with supplies.

"What's going on?" Meiko asked. "Kaito why are you shooting Haku?"

"Where did you find her?" Miku asked.

"She's been bitten," Kaito said darkly "If we keep her around, she'll turn into a zombie. She's gonna die anyways now. I'm not taking any chances."

Before Meiko or Miku could say anything, Kaito fired, sending a bullet straight into Haku's skull. He then closed the lid of the garbage can and turned it on its side. He kicked it really hard and it started rolling down the street.

"It's so they don't find her and think there's more food near," Kaito said without even turning around. "I have to take every precaution to make sure we stay alive."

Kaito turned and headed into the building without another word.

Miku and Meiko looked at Luka, who shook her head and followed Kaito.

…

Gumi was sitting in front of the roof house with a rifle, prepared to shoot any intruders. When she saw Kaito through the scope, she jumped up and flew over to him.

"You're back!" She exclaimed, stopping in front of him. She expected to hear all about what had happened, who they'd seen, if they'd found Gakupo, or at least a pleasant "hello".

But Kaito walked right around her, acting as if she were just another object in his way. That was how he'd been treating everyone lately. He stormed right into the house and closed the door behind him.

A minute later, Miku, Meiko, and Luka came up. Gumi ran up to them, hoping that they would be kinder than Kaito.

"Hi guys!" She said "Luka, did you guys find him?"

"No," Luka shook her head. She was quiet and was twirling a strand of her long pink hair in between her fingers. That was a motion everyone had learned to recognize in their years of working alongside Luka.

"What happened?" Gumi asked "What aren't you telling me?"

Luka glanced at Miku and Meiko, who both nodded back; an unspoken communication meaning "Just tell her".

"Gumi, we found Haku," Luka explained "But, she was bitten, so Kaito had to shoot her."

Gumi didn't gasp. She didn't say something sympathetic or shocked. She didn't widen her eyes or drop her jaw. She just stood there, a saddened expression spreading over her face. She looked at her shoes, then back up at Luka. She nodded and turned around to go back to her post.

Miku and Meiko went straight into the house to give the supplies to Lily, but Luka hung back, looking at Gumi. Her usual peppiness had been replaced with a sort of melancholy silence. It was like someone else completely. Luka sat down next to her and stroked her green curls. She'd always liked Gumi's hair. It wasn't too long, but not as short as Rin's bob. It was the beautiful color of grass in the summertime and it curled up in perfect ringlets on some days and flipped back in little points on others, making her look like a Christmas tree.

She also had the most beautiful shade of green eyes any girl could want. They were rather large, and would be the envy of any ordinary girl.

"Was it hard?" Gumi asked, interrupting Luka's thoughts "Watching Kaito shoot Haku I mean."

"Not really hard," Luka said "That's not really the word to describe it. It was more like…pulling out a splinter, you know? I didn't want her to die, but I knew she was bitten and that she was going to turn. So I had to let him shoot her." Luka sat there for a moment, thinking it over. "Painful I guess, but not hard."

"Oh," Gumi mumbled. "Well, we should get inside. The sun's going down."

"Right," Luka said. The twosome stood up and headed inside.

…

Rin had been placing a wet cloth on Len's fore head when she heard the door swing open and slam closed.

"Meiko?" She called. "Is that you?"

"No," Kaito's voice answered.

"Oh," Rin was disappointed. She needed Meiko. Len's forehead had been strangely hot since he had gone back to sleep, and she had been doing whatever she could to cool him down. He also kept mumbling something in his sleep about an itch and then he would reach for his wound and try to scratch it before Rin pulled him away.

She had been changing the wet cloth every few minutes because his fever was so high he was heating them up like a stove top.

When Rin heard the door open and close a second time, she heard two sets of footsteps instead of one. She knew it was Miku and Meiko.

"Meiko?" Rin called "I need you!"
"Just a second," Meiko called back. "We found a lot of supplies; just let us get these to Lily,"

Rin was normally very patient, but with Len in the state that he was, and she not knowing what was wrong with him other than the hole in his back, she was freaking out more every second she had to wait for Meiko.

When Meiko finally came into the room, Rin explained everything that had happened since she left. When she mentioned the fever, Meiko's brown eyes widened and her complexion turned white.

"Oh God," she said when Rin finished talking. "I think the wound may have made his immune system vulnerable by creating an open pathway for bacteria to enter. And considering that we aren't exactly in the most sanitary conditions, this shouldn't be a surprise. He may have gotten very sick from an infection in the wound, especially one so close to his internal organs. This could end badly."

"No!" Rin cried. "I thought he was going to be okay!"

"So did I," Meiko said "I'm astonished that the infection spread so fast. I've never seen anything like that. Usually it takes at least twenty four hours, and often longer."

"Could it have something to do with it being so close to his vital organs?" Rin suggested.

"Possibly," Meiko said "But we need to figure out what it is before I administer any antibiotics. We don't want to make him worse."

"Oh no," Rin moaned. "And just when I thought it couldn't get any worse."

"Oh trust me Rin," Meiko said "This could be much worse."

Just then, they heard the sound of the door slowly creaking open and closed. A pair of light footsteps and a pair of heavy booted footsteps approached the living room. When the owners of the footsteps stepped into the room, they revealed themselves to be Gumi and Luka.

"Rin," Luka said "I need to tell you something,"

Rin nodded and followed Luka into a small study that had become the room where most of the supplies were stored. Luka closed the door and looked at Rin.

"Listen Rin," Luka began "I'm about to tell you something you might not like to hear. Make sure you're ready for it,"

Rin wasn't ready for it, not by a long shot. She'd spent most of her day fretting and crying over Len. And now she had just found out that he had some mystery virus that was spreading through his body like a wildfire, making him incredibly weak, horribly hot, nearly blind, and now it seemed he was unable to actually wake up. But she nodded anyway.

"Well, we didn't find Gakupo. We looked all over the area and just couldn't find him. But we did find Haku. She was in one of her depressed phases and was slightly drunk. We tried to bring her back here, but she was attacked by a zombie. She was bitten, and Kaito had to…"

Rin was staring at her, waiting for the inevitable end of the statement. She know what was coming, but when she saw that Luka didn't want to say it, she did.

"Kill her,"

"Yeah,"

"Is that everything?" Rin's voice was monotone.

"Yeah,"

"Alright," Rin walked out of the study and back to Meiko and Len.

…

"How many cans is that?" Lily asked.

Miku was helping Lily take stock of everything she and Meiko had found in the neighboring apartment building earlier. It wasn't exactly fun, but at least it was a job that got Miku away from all the drama. Here there was no shooting drunk girls with zombie bites, or watching horribly injured boys turn ill. Just her and Lily sorting through cans of food, extra clothes, bottles of water and Gatorade, and various items that could be used as weapons.

"In general? Or just of tuna?" Miku asked.

"Just of tuna, I want to organize them by food so we can make sure we get the right nutrients at the right times." Lily explained.

"Makes sense," Miku said looking over the cans of tuna fish "Nine I think."

"That would be a lot," Lily said "If there weren't so many of us.

"We need to ration the food as well as we can until we can find some sort of a steady food source." Lily continued "If we ate full meals, we wouldn't even have enough food for the next week."

"It's only been a day Lily," Miku pointed out "Why are we already getting so prepared? I mean, it's just more work for everyone."

"More work means more food to go around," Lily said, not looking up from the few boxes of crackers they'd found and she was taking stock of. "Are more people fed means fewer fights, which will make everyone happy"

"Are we going to eat any of it today?" Miku asked "It's already dark outside,"

"That I doubt," Lily said "We can eat in the morning, when we need the strength more,"

Miku groaned; she hadn't eaten since breakfast. There hadn't even been any time for her to get ice cream earlier. She was starving.

"Can't I even have a granola bar?"

"No, every bit of food needs to be saved,"

"Half a granola bar?"

"No"

"A quarter?"

"Miku, stop" Lily sighed "If you're really hungry, you can open a can of beans. We have plant of them"

"Can I cook them?"

"They come cooked in the can Miku"

"Well can I heat them up?"

"We don't have any electricity in here, but there are oil lanterns that Gumi lit with her lighter,"

"Why does she have a lighter?"

"Don't know, don't care," Lily shrugged "As long as we have light."

"Ugh, fine I'll eat the cold beans"

Miku grabbed one of the many cans of beans, a can opener, and a spoon. She went into the kitchen to eat her snack, where she found Kaito playing solitaire with a deck of cards he'd found.

"Playing the card game for loners?" Miku asked, taking a bite of cold beans. They were awful, but she was so hungry she didn't care.

"It's not like I have anyone to play with," he responded, not looking up from his game.

Miku sighed with relief. So he'd cooled off. Good. He had really been starting to scare her with his new attitude. His determination to do whatever it took to keep them alive, even if it meant taking other people's lives.

"I'll play a game with you," Miku said "I just finished taking inventory with Lily so I'm not really doing anything.

"What game?"

Truth be told, Miku wasn't a big player of cards. She didn't know very many games, and the ones she had heard of, she didn't know how to play. All she had ever played before was go fish and solitaire on her computer.

"You can choose," She said smoothly.

"How about a game of B.S.?" he asked.

"I haven't played that one before," Miku said. "Can you explain the rules to me?"

"Sure," he said, smiling "Just to let you know, I'm a master of bluffing,"

So Kaito explained the rules and soon they were in an intense game of B.S. Miku had just caught Kaito's bluff and made him take the whole deck when Gumi came into the room.

"Your watch Kaito," she said yawning.

"Okay," he said, standing up "Where's the rifle?"

"I left it by the door," Gumi informed him "Like you told me to, remember?"

"Oh yeah," he laughed. "Alright,"

Kaito walked toward the exit, but stopped on the way out, turning to look back at Miku.

"This isn't over Hatsune!" he challenged.

Miku laughed and said "I didn't think so. You were losing anyway."

Kaito laughed and left the kitchen. Gumi sat down next to Miku and gave her a funny look.

"What?" Miku asked as she got up to throw away her empty bean can.

"What do you mean 'what?' Miku? It's Kaito! An hour ago he was a big crab because Luka was giving him a hard time about Gakupo and he was upset about killing Haku! But now he's mister cheerful. What did you do?"

"Nothing!" Miku laughed "I just played some cards with him!"

"Seriously!" Gumi was bursting with curiosity "What did you do? Or was it something you said? C'mon, you can tell me!"

"I didn't do anything except play B.S." Miku assured her friend.

"Oh please!" Gumi cried "It takes more than a game of bullshit to cheer a guy up!"

"Well, what does?" Miku asked.

"I don't know, but whatever it is, you sure did it!"

"Maybe he just likes cards?" Miku suggested.

Gumi trashed that suggestion immediately "He plays cards all the time, and he still is his weird, emo self. I mean, he smiles or laughs every once and a while, but he's never THAT happy! And especially after what happened today…"

"Gumi!" Miku interrupted her mid-speech "I swear I don't know why!"

"Maybe…" Gumi thought it over for a moment, then her face lit up as idea struck her like a match. "Maybe he likes you!"

"No way!" Miku blushed "Kaito wouldn't like me! He's older than me! Boys usually go for girls their age or older! Like Meiko"

"Oh please!" Gumi protested "He never got this happy after a game of cards with anyone else! Not Meiko! Just you! He totally likes you!"

"Gumi, you're running away with your imagination. He was probably just happy to have someone to talk to after everyone was mad at him,"

"Oh don't deny it Miku!" Gumi teased.

"What shouldn't she deny?"

Lily had just walked in. She was running a brush through her long, yellow hair.

"Nothing," Miku said "It doesn't matter."

"Alright," Lily yawned wide, displaying the back of her pink throat. "Well, I'm gonna get some rest. You guys should too, you'll need strength to get back to work tomorrow."

"Alright," Gumi said. She got up to follow Lily, but turned around to face Miku "Coming?"

"Sure," Miku nodded "Just let me clean up these cards,"

…

Kaito raised his rifle the second he saw the figure appear on the rooftop. He looked through the scope, but it was still too dark to make out any more than a dark outline. Kaito knew it wasn't one of his own; they were all inside. He placed his finger on the trigger and waited for the figure to move to where he could get a good shot.

Then the second figure appeared. It was much taller and sturdier than the first, which was short and slim. Kaito could hear them talking, but the words were hard to make out.

The first figure suddenly started running toward the house. Kaito got them right in the crosshairs and fired. The bullet hit the figure right in the head and caused them to fly back and off the edge of the building. The second figure yelled and pulled out something long and slender; it was too dark to see what, but Kaito thought it was a weapon of some kind. The figure yelled something like "You killer!" or maybe it was "You killed her!"

But Kaito didn't care, he just sent a second bullet into the attacker's skull.

He jogged over to the figure's body to dispose of it. The person had landed on its front side, and as Kaito jogged closer, he noticed that it was a man with long, purple hair. He slowed to a walk. Could it be…no. No you can't be sure just by his hair.

Kaito approached the body and looked at its clothing.

A kimono.

That doesn't mean it's him. Plenty of people wear kimonos. And it's not like he was the only man in the world with long purple hair.

But Kaito was starting to doubt himself. He knew that the only way to find out who it could be was to look at the face, but Kaito was hesitant to. He was afraid of knowing the truth. Had he really killed him?

But curiosity got the better of him, and he flipped the body over. He looked at the face, his expression unchanged. But inside of him, something died.

Kaito lifted the body and lugged it to the edge of the building. He looked into the his eyes one last time.

Then he tossed Gakupo's body off the roof.