Well, at least it wasn't a year this time. To all those who have reviewed, fav-ed and followed so far, thank you! This chapter is considerably shorter than the last but I'm hoping to try for a weekly update on Mondays so we'll see how it goes. Reviews, favs and follows are sincerely appreciated!

Disclaimer: We don't own KHR and this chapter is unbeta-ed.


15 1637I OCT 13

"Kyo-san, all communication lines are down. We cannot contact any of the deployed squads. There is no signal available for either the Internet or the phone lines," said Kusakabe.

"From the reports which have come in, we can so far confirm that majority of the residents in Areas 7 and 10 have finished evacuating to the shelter in Area 8. The remaining residents in Area 6 are being directed towards the school. The students from Namimori Elementary have also mostly made it into the school compound. The shelters in Areas 2 and 11 were already on lockdown when the squads arrived. They then assisted the evacuation and lockdown of the shelters in Areas 5 and 8. The only remaining open safe-zone is the school."

"Most of the deployed squads have returned and are helping to check and regulate the influx of civilians. Only Squad 5 remains at Namimori Elementary. They will be bringing up the rear. Will the school walkie-talkies be on loan to maintain contact with the deployed squads?"

"They don't work," answered Hibari shortly.

The room remained silent as Hibari jotted down his own notes from the reports piled on his table. Kusakabe wisely retreated to the corner of the room, unwilling to risk Hibari's wrath for potentially "crowding". Having worked his way through the stack of reports, Hibari stood and handed Kusakabe a concise task-list.

Kusakabe looked over it quickly.

- Identify and quarantine all infected separately.

- Barricade the gym as well as possible.

- Identify rooms which can be best protected for overnight stay.

- Keep the students and outsiders separate. Notes can be passed if they wish to contact people from the other group.

- Gather as many rations within the compound and distribute some of them equally for dinner.

- Send squads to recover as many food and material resources as possible while recording what was taken from where.

- Overnight watches should be assigned at vantage points.

- Compile a final headcount for how many are present in the school.

- Identify how many of the creatures have been spotted and taken out.

"Any questions?"

"No sir," Kusakabe replied before acquiescing to the unspoken dismissal.

Hibari let a bloodthirsty smirk cross his face. It was time to find the source of the black smoke which had brought the infection to Namimori and bite it to death.

15 0723Z OCT 13

"Breaking News : Japan faces a potentially lethal viral outbreak."

"The virus is said to leave the victims in heighted states of paranoia and prone to hallucinations which results in violent behaviour. The Japanese government is rushing to calm the public, claiming that the situation isn't serious as it sounds. They acknowledge that however, in light of the possibility that this could be the work of extremists, they have deployed personnel to form a perimeter around the suspected area and are allowing no travel in or out of the area. They have blacked out all communication within the area to cripple any group responsible and have medical and military personnel on standby in case of a hostile, violent response."

"Some suspect that the situation is far more sinister and it is alleged that communications are crippled to prevent the true extent of the situation from being revealed. The public is advised to remain calm and keep in mind that ..."

The lady shut off the video.

The two agents did not dare avert their eyes from the now blank screen. They had a very good idea that they had screwed up in quite a spectacular fashion.

"What is the meaning of this?"

Reeves swallowed harshly but made no other move. The man beside him might as well have been carved from stone. To speak would be to incur the lady's wrath, but so would their silence. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

"I had ordered for the vials to be completely destroyed, not have their contents spread everywhere. Do you know just what you have done?" she hissed. To say she was royally pissed would have been an understatement.

Taking a deep breath, she wiped all emotion from her face.

"Reeves, you are deployed to the secondary testing site. We have no choice but to actively take them out now. Gather as much research as you can. We need to reverse-engineer a cure. Once you're done, make sure you destroy everything this time."

Accepting the well-deserved barb, the agent in question collected his mission briefing and beat a hasty retreat.

When the door had shut silently, the man hesitantly spoke up. "I thought we didn't have intel on where the secondary site was?"

"We didn't. It seems we have a most unlikely ally at the site. I hardly believed it when I first received the message."

"I'm afraid I don't quite -" The lady slid an open folder towards the man. "Oh."

15 1924I OCT 13

"Sir, the grace period for the arrival of the vials has passed."

The man's eyes never left the screen playing the news reports about the possible "viral infection" in Japan. "Somehow, I don't think they will be arriving anytime soon. Oh well, let's use this to our advantage. Deploy a group of scouts, let's see just how well our project works even in its unrefined state. And send for our latest addition, we have work to do."

Within minutes, a young man in a green mechanic's jumpsuit and black boots was frogmarched into the room.

"Ah, our newest recruit!" laughed the man, finally taking his eyes off the screen. "How nice of you to join us! Though I must say, it was quite the shock when you landed smack-dab in the middle of our base. But no matter! With Fortuna's favour, we will progress. Now, I need you to recreate and enhance a formula."

"I refuse."

The man sighed. "See, I thought you might say something like that. But things are a little bit different here. We have sleepers in your dear mom's workplace. Surely you don't want anything to happen to her?"

Silence filled the room before the "recruit" spoke lowly.

"You're bluffing."

"Am I?" he asked. The screen behind him changed to reveal live cameras feeds and audio.

The young man's face turned a pasty white as he watched his mother converse with a colleague. He didn't bother kidding himself. He was well as truly stuck as of now. The only reason Mom was still alive was because she didn't really register on their radar. That and she made for a useful bartering chip. In the end, it didn't matter whether or not he cooperated; the second she became too troublesome, nothing he did would preserve her life.

"Fine. Where are the notes?"

The man stood up, radiating smug satisfaction. "I knew we could come to an agreement. This way please."

15 0817A OCT 13

"Vongola Nono."

"Please, Reborn, take a seat."


Things are starting to come together!

Fun Fact #7 : For those interested in reading more zombie stories, the novel 'Forest of Hands and Teeth' by Carrie Ryan, published in 2009, is a great read.

Fun Fact #8 : The characters in bold at the top of each major section can be used to identify the general timezone location of the respective section.

To all our readers, thanks for reading and we hope you guys will stick around. Later!