Mutation

The group of exhausted and sleeping girls didn't know how much time had passed since they shut the door the night before, but when Nodoka pulled out her cell phone to check, she noticed it was about nine in the morning. She knew she wouldn't be able to keep track of time much longer, for as soon as her battery died she would have to rely on her instincts and keep a watchful eye on the sun's positioning.

Nodoka began to rub her eyes of the sleep before reaching up to grab her glasses off the table near where she and Tsumugi slept and put them on before trying to get up.

First thing she noticed was Tsumugi had a rather tight grip on her waist and she began to try and wiggle out of it.

Kind of reminds me of being in Yui's grip, good god, Tsumugi-san has a good grip on me!

Nodoka thought as she finally pulled herself free but not without waking the blonde up from her slumber.

"Huh? What's going on?" Tsumugi mumbled out sleepily as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

"Time to get up…" Nodoka said as she began to search the wall near by to find the light switch.

Once she found the switch and flipped it on there was a collective groan in the small room as each of the girls started to wake up because of the sudden light.

"Nugh, who turned on the lights?" Ritsu mumbled softly as she turned to bury her face into Mio's bosom while the bassist slept on, oblivious to the lights being turned on or the sudden head pressed between her two perky breasts.

"W-What the? Where am I?" Jun asked as she sat up slightly in the sleeping bag she shared with Ui, not fully awake yet as she tried to take in her surroundings.

Ui was up as well, rubbing the sleep from her eyes before looking over at Nodoka as the more mature girl smiled stiffly at the younger Hirasawa.

"Morning Ui."
"Morning Nodoka-san…erm…what time is it?"

"About nine, well exactly nine now."
"Ah, I see. Thank you for waking us up."
Nodoka nodded and turned to look over at Yui and Azusa and couldn't help but stifle a giggle as she noticed Azusa was awake, but was having a very hard time getting out of Yui's grasp. The older guitarist had a pretty good grip on her kouhai's head and as the girl wiggled and tried to tug it free Yui held on even tighter and pushed Azusa's face between her two soft breasts.

That's when Azusa began to struggle wildly; she had to resort to smacking Yui with an open palm to wake her up. It finally worked and Yui opened her eyes slowly before she noticed someone struggling to get out her grasp.

"Huh?...Oh!" Yui quickly let go and Azusa sat up quickly, taking a deep breath while her face was completely red. At first Yui thought she had deprived her kouhai of air since she was holding onto her so tightly, then she noticed that Azusa was blushing and avoiding her gaze.

Well, I did push her face between my breasts...so that would be very embarrassing for me too I guess…well no, I think I'd like that. Yui thought as she smiled brightly before pulling the kouhai into her arms once more, giving her a good morning hug before nuzzling her affectionately.

"Morning Azunyan!"
"M…M-Morning." Azusa whispered as she pulled herself out of her senpai's grasp once more as Mio finally woke up after Ritsu coaxed her with a few shakes.

"Morning Ritsu." Mio mumbled softly while sitting up to stretch out.
"Morning sleepyhead…so, what's the plan for today?" Ritsu asked.

Grrrrrrrrowl~

All the girls jumped, thinking the sound was a zombie that had somehow got inside the room, however once they noticed that wasn't the case they saw Yui flop down on the bed and give a loud whine.
"I'm so hungry!"
"Oh…come to think of it, me too." Nodoka said as she felt her own stomach growl softly.

"We didn't get to eat supper…" Tsumugi stated as she stood up along with everyone else.

"Okay, first order of business this morning is find food…it's not the food that's making everyone sick is it?" Ritsu asked as she started to stretch out her sore limbs.

"No, it was a virus…not very sure how it's caught, but if these things are zombies, being bitten is one of the ways." Nodoka said as she opened the door and looked out into the shop, when she noticed the metal shutters were still in tact she sighed softly and walked out into the store and began to look around.

"Either way, we should find some food so we can make the rest of the trip to the safety zone." Azusa said as she finally got rid of the blush on her face.

"Well, if we can find a place with a stove and food, I can make us something." Ritsu replied as she and Mio walked over to put on their equipment with the rest of the group before Nodoka slowly opened one of the shutters and looked outside.

"I don't see anything…" Nodoka said as she ventured out slowly.

The streets were deserted, of course there were dead bodies everywhere, but she didn't expect not to see any. "It looks clear right now, let's get moving."
She walked out into the open cautiously while her dark brown eyes scanned the area over and over again while she listened hard for any noises, when she saw and heard nothing she motioned with her hand to the others and the filed out slowly.

"It's really creepy not seeing anyone or hearing anything…this silence is just…unnerving." Jun said as she held her rifle tightly, making sure to keep her finger off the trigger just in case she got startled and accidently pulled the trigger.

"I agree, I don't like all this silence at all…what if it's like the silence before the storm?" Yui asked while walking behind Azusa, a hand gripping her kouhai's dirtied uniform.
"That's calm before the storm, Yui-senpai." Azusa replied before she noticed something about all their outfits. They were very dirty, not only that there was blood stains on Ritsu, Mio, Yui and herself and she didn't know about the rest of them, but also she felt very unclean at the moment.

"Nodoka-san, should we…clean up a little as well?" Azusa asked suddenly feeling very self-conscious about her appearance.
Nodoka looked back at the twin tailed girl and raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?"

"Well…I'm just saying…shouldn't we get…clean clothing at some point?" Azusa asked once more.

"I'm with Azusa, shouldn't we shower or something while we're at it? I mean if this virus is airborne we could already have it, wouldn't personal hygiene help us out here?" Jun asked as well while they stopped in the middle of the abandoned road.

Nodoka brought a hand up to her temples and rubbed them slowly while looking back over her shoulder at the two youngest girls.

"Well…we could, but honestly I think it can wait till after we get saved, I mean just thinking logically…if we happen to come across a place that has more then one bathroom then maybe, but until then we can't just stop for that. We can stop for food though, after all our bodies will need it after all that we've been through so far." Nodoka replied as she motioned to continue on.

In all honesty, Nodoka didn't think she was suited for this type of leadership. Sure she was book smart, but having to deal with things she thought were only fictional was a completely different concept. She knew for a fact that her small medical history wouldn't save them if one of her friends got seriously injured. And that's what really worried her. As they shuffled nervously around the dead bodies she couldn't help but notice a few things, most of the bodies seemed to have been citizens, but there were at least two bodies she saw that were police, and a few she recognized were part of the JSDF. Nodoka wondered briefly if they should try to get to a military outpost instead of the safety zones. What if the rest of the safety zones were like the first one they found?

Empty and deserted.

She didn't have much time to think as she heard Yui gasp out and started jumping up and down excitedly.

"Look! Maxburger!" The airhead shouted while taking a running start towards the restaurant.
"Wait a minu-Yui! Don't run off!" Nodoka yelled as she chased after her.

The other girls quickly followed as Yui reached the door and moved to open it when Nodoka reached out and gripped her wrist tightly and tugged her away from the door before she could even open it.

"Nodoka-chan?"

"We have to be careful! You could have set off the alarm if the owners set up the security."
"Why does that matter?" Yui asked as she continued to stare at her childhood friend in confusion. Nodoka slowly let go of Yui, once she was sure the brunette wouldn't go running off again, and slowly walked up to the door and looked inside. It looked a little ransacked and messy, like people had already took what they needed and left.

"For one, there could have been zombies in here and you would have been all by yourself…how do you think we'd feel to watch you get hurt?" Nodoka asked as she frowned disapprovingly at her friend.

Yui began to look down as she took the scolding, shuffling her feet a little as she frowned sadly.

"Second, Yui, do you even realize what these zombies do? Have you been paying any attention to their behavior patterns?"

"N-No, I've been…too busy worrying about everyone else."
Nodoka instantly felt badly for saying what she had just said and allowed her frown to soften up a little before she continued.

"Well…just…we don't want to make loud noises, they seem to react to that. An alarm going off will probably startle most of the zombies within a close range."
"Oh…I'm sorry…I'll be more careful." Yui whispered as she looked down. She was about to say more when she felt Nodoka hug her firmly.

"I'm not angry with you Yui, I just don't want to see anyone, especially my best friend, get hurt by these things." Nodoka admitted as she pulled away.
"None of us want to see anyone get hurt anymore." Ritsu replied as the rest of them gathered around.

"Now, how about we grab ourselves something to eat." Jun stated as she looked at the door, after hearing what Nodoka said she was very hesitant to being the first person to open that door.

"Don't worry, I think we're safe…just be ready in case the alarm does go off." Nodoka said as she walked over to the entrance of Maxburger and pushed it open; when nothing sounded she held it open for the others to walk in.

"So, how are we going to do this? I'm pretty sure this food has to be cooked first before we can eat it." Mio asked as she walked over behind the counter and looked into the kitchen area. There seemed to be a few strung out pieces of hamburger patties as well as random fries.

"I can cook up something, Ui-chan if you'd be so kind as to help me out I'm sure we can make a few things for everyone." Tsumugi said as she walked into the kitchen area and began to pull out a few things.
"Okay, I guess I could help, I'm a pretty decent cook as is, so this can't be too much more difficult." The brunette joined Tsumugi and as they began to quickly fix up something to eat Ritsu walked over to Nodoka and leaned against the table a bit before looking nervously at the glasses wearing girl.
"So…sorry about thrusting leadership onto you, it's just…you're way more levelheaded then most of us so…it seemed natural."

"No, no…it's okay. I understand the intention behind it wasn't to stress me out, but there's just so many things that could go wrong in this situation." Nodoka replied as she looked over everyone, taking in their exhausted expressions even though they had gotten a lot of sleep. "I really don't want to be responsible if someone gets hurt…"
Ritsu followed the gaze and as she scanned each of her friends she couldn't help but linger on Mio's form. She knew right away Mio would rather be anywhere but here. After so many years of knowing the bassist, Ritsu for once wished she could take Mio away, somewhere safe.

"I know what you mean Nodoka, but we're here…all we have to do is be careful and watch each other's backs. Right?"

"Even that isn't enough sometimes…" The violet haired girl whispered as she sat down finally and took off her glasses to rub her eyes once more, trying to ease the pressure building in her head. "Even now, we're at risk of being attacked by those things…"
"Don't worry, didn't you say yourself they are attracted by sound?"

"I don't know for sure if they can't smell…"

"Oh…"
"Hey Ritsu, Nodoka, I have food for you." Mio interrupted the drummer and the president politely as she could before she walked up to hand the two a burger and some fries. "Mugi seems to be pretty good at making these things."
"Well she did work her for a little while baka, I guess some things stuck." Mio replied to Ritsu as she sat down next to the drummer and began to eat while the rest got their food as well.

"Mmm…I was needing this badly!" Yui purred out happily as she stuffed as much food as she could into her stomach while sighing softly.

"Mou, Yui-senpai, slow down. You'll get a stomach ache." Azusa said irritably while taking a napkin to the side of her senpai's face so she could wipe off some crumbs.

"Thank you Mugi-senpai, you too Ui, I'm pretty sure all of us were about to pass out." Jun said as she began to much into the food.
"No problem, I worked her for a little bit my freshmen year of high school so I still remember how to work the machines back here." Tsumugi replied as she and Ui came out from the kitchen with their own food and sat down to eat.

Once their tummies were full and they took a short bathroom break they were on their way once more to the safety zone.

Nodoka was constantly checking the map they got from the first safety zone to see just how far it was to the next one and she concluded that it would take at least most of the day to get there if things went their way.
Yui started to get uncomfortable with all the silence as they walked down the lonely streets and she made her way over to her kouhai and wrapped her arms around Azusa's, giving her a brief hug before nuzzling her while walking.

"Azunyan, I'm bored."
"Yui-senpai, this really isn't the time-"
"Hey…what's that?" Both Yui and Azusa stopped and turned to look towards Mio who looked pretty focused on something just a short distance ahead.

Nodoka followed the gaze and those dark brown eyes fell onto what looked like a puddle of toxic goo from old horror movies. The glasses girl slowly walked up towards the stuff, followed closely by the others, before she knelt down near the puddle to look at it in confusion.

"What the…what is this stuff?" Nodoka whispered to herself as she breathed in slightly, she instantly regretted it for the puddle gave of a horrible stench that made her jump up and cover her nose and mouth in disgust.

"Ugh! That's horrible!"
"Nodoka? What?" Ritsu asked as she walked up to the green goo and instantly covered her mouth and nose as well. "Ew! I didn't know there was something that could smell worse then puke, ugh gross!"

"Thanks for giving everyone that visual." Mio said as she looked around and grabbed a stick that was nearby and slowly walked over to the goo and began poking it while holding it nose.

As Mio did this she instantly noticed that the tip of the stick began to instantly dissolve in the goo and as she pulled it out to inspect it her stormy grey eyes widened at how cleanly it had been eaten away.

"That…isn't natural." Mio whispered as she turned to look at Nodoka and Ritsu who were just as shocked by the discovery as their friend was.

"Okay…maybe that's a military weapon, can't kill the zombies? Douse them with green smelly goo that eats them away like stomach acid." Ritsu replied as she and the others backed away from the puddle.

"Okay, everyone listen up, see that puddle?" Nodoka asked as she looked back towards the kouhai, Yui, and Tsumugi, noticing their gaze was on that slime. "If you see it while we are running from zombies or whatever else is out here, do not step in it or touch it at all, it'll easily eat through our shoes and…quite possibly the skin too."

"Actually!"

A new voice caused the girls to almost scream in terror as they all turned around and trained their weapons on the source of the noise. The woman that had spoken instantly raised her hands in the air and gave a yelp before waving her hands at them. "Whoa whoa whoa! Don't shoot! I'm not a zombie!"

"Kami-sama, don't do that!" Ritsu yelled as she lowered her gun with the rest of them. "If you can't tell, we've been through a lot, sudden noises don't sit well with us."
"Sorry, my bad…erm, but I thought you should know that goo you've been poking at, it actually can eat through flesh and bone very fast if it's not cleaned off quick enough." The woman stated as she slowly walked over to the group of girls, hands still in the air.

Now that Nodoka was looking at the woman she noticed a few things the others were probably just now realizing as well. She was definitely an adult that much was for sure, but then Nodoka saw the medical pack on her back and the medical supplies around her waist that were connected to a belt. The woman also wore all white as well as a surgical mask while her light blue eyes scanned each of her friends before landing on Nodoka.

"Which one of you is the…leader of this little group?" The woman asked.

"Uhm…" Ritsu looked towards Nodoka, who seemed frozen, and was about to reply when the glasses girl finally snapped out of her trance.

"I-I am." Nodoka said as she walked towards the woman.

"S-Stop right there! Don't come any closer, just…stay there for a moment."

Nodoka was thoroughly confused by the lady's behavior as she dug into her pouch on her belt and pulled out something before tossing it to the ground near Nodoka's feet.

It was pack surgical masks.

"Uh…Why do I need this?" Nodoka asked as she raised an eyebrow at the woman.

"Precaution, I don't want to catch…that virus." The woman replied making the girls blink in confusion once more.

"But we don't have it." Azusa stated as she began to glare at the woman.

"Before we get into this, just put those on, and to show you how serious I am about this I'll tell you who I am. My name is Hortori Sachi…you can call me Sachi-san. I'm a field medic for the JSDF. One of the last of…my unit." Sachi said as she bowed a little.

Nodoka finally took pity on the woman and began to pass out the surgical masks to everyone before walking back over to Sachi.

"I'm sorry to hear you're the last…my name is Manabe Nodoka, these are my friends. Hirasawa Yui and her sister Ui, Tainaka Ritsu, Akiyama Mio, Kotobuki Tsumugi, Nakano Azusa-chan, and Suzuki Jun-chan."

"I'm sorry we had to meet like this…I would say nice to meet you, but…" Sachi whispered morbidly before shaking her head. "Now's not the time for that…you want answers right? I bet you're just so lost and confused right now…probably lost family? Friends?"

"Both…actually." Mio said softly, swallowing a sudden lump in her throat at the mention of losses.

"Get on with it, if you're just here to tell us about what upsets us the most, we're just going to leave." Ritsu said firmly as she began to frown hard at the medic.

"A-Ah, gomen, I didn't mean to bring up bad memories, just…trying to sympathize. Anyways, that stuff, you were poking came from one of the infected, since they all look alike except this one, I'm going to call it a…vomiter." Sachi stated as she walked over to it. "It's acidic and smells very potent…the other infect are attracted to this stuff once it's rejected from the vomiter's body."
"That's…gross." Jun said as she made a face under the surgical mask.

"See Ritsu, they can smell." Nodoka said softly to the drummer causing her to nod softly.

"It is, but it's very deadly like I said…so, listen to your leader and don't touch it…it'll be even worse if it gets spat on you."

"How do you know so much about these things, Sachi-san?" Tsumugi asked as she stared at the woman.

"Like I said, I am the last of my unit that was sent here to observe what these things do so we can figure out how to eradicate them. Aside from the normal infected, there seems to be…mutations of the virus that changes them to be something different. I've given names to some of them that I've seen." Sachi said as she pulled out a small paper and began to read out loud the names on it. "I have vomiter, tonguer, pouncer, screamer, and…never seen this one, but heard other units talk about it over the radio, but we have another infected running around out there that we've dubbed the panzer."

As Ritsu listened to the woman name off the infect names she couldn't help but laugh at some of them.

"If you're going to give them names, why not just take names from video games and make it easier and not…as stupid, no offence." Ritsu asked as she looked at the green goo once more. "Like for the vomiter thingy, why not just call it a boomer, like in Left For Dead. And the tonguer could be the smoker! Hell even the pouncer could have an easier name, like the hunter."
"You think this is a game?" Sachi asked as she frowned hard at the brunette, making the drummer shut up under the intense stare. "I can assure you that this isn't…people are dead because of what is happening, I was only being technical when I made these names…and why would I name the tonguer smoker? It wasn't smoking the last time I looked at it."
"Uhm…sorry to interrupt, but…what's a panzer?" Yui asked as she looked at the woman curiously.

Sachi turned her head to the guitarist and began to shift nervously.

"I'm not sure, but from what I've heard over the radio, it's powerful…not sure how powerful, but apparently so strong it takes more then just five men with assault rifles to kill it."
"Creepy…" Mio whispered before she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. As she turned to see what it was it quickly vanished out of her line of sight. After hearing about all these mutations she couldn't help but get worried as she moved closer to Ritsu and clung onto her uniform.
"Ritsu…I think there's something here…"
"Huh? What do you mean Mio?" Ritsu asked as she turned to look around the empty street. Sharp golden eyes quickly looked around before she heard a soft gurgling noise. It didn't sound like any of the zombies they had seen so far and as her heart rate began to climb she pushed her best friend backwards.

"Guys, I think we've been in one spot too long." Ritsu said as she continued to scan the area for the source of the noise.
"I agree, look Sachi-san, we appreciate all you've done for us, but we really need to get going to the next safety zone." Nodoka stated as she turned to walk down the street.
"They won't help you."

Nodoka stopped and instantly turned back around.

"What did you say?"
"I said, they won't help you…you want to know why?" Sachi asked as her eyes showed sadness and compassion towards the group of girls she just met.

Ritsu wasn't paying much attention to the conversation as she suddenly got a feeling of dread in her stomach that was heavier then lead as her eyes flicked up onto the roofs of the buildings. She didn't expect to see a zombie up there, but once her eyes did a quick scan, she saw a rather strange looking figure standing on the top of one of the buildings before it looked like it was choking on something.

"What the…Mio move now!"
Her eyes widened when she realized what it was doing and that her friend wasn't moving, so she quickly pushed Mio away with all her might. Her mind was on only one thing, save her best friend, nothing else mattered. And as she turned to move herself she felt something wet land on her left arm as she pulled it back and out of the way of the sudden spray of green slime.

Mio could only watch in horror as some of the vile goo clung to Ritsu's left arm and her childhood friend let out a piercing scream of pain as it quickly ate through the sleeve of her uniform and began to eat away at her skin.

The wet feeling suddenly turned into a searing pain that she had never experienced before. If she had to describe what it was like to have liquid fire suddenly appear on her arm, this would be the best way to describe it. She couldn't even stop the screams of pain as she collapsed to the ground and raised her hand to try and bat away the slime.

However, before she could do that she felt a hand grab her own and pinned her down before she felt something very cold press against the burning skin.
"Shut up, girl! Stop squirming and let me help you!"

Ritsu vaguely heard someone talking to her, but her vision began to blur with tears as she struggled slightly against the hold.

"You! Uhm…Girl with black hair, get over here and hold your friend down, I can save her arm but you have to be fast! Everyone else, get ready to fight, there's going to be a rush of infected!"

"…" Mio was frozen, she watched wide eyed as Ritsu continued to scream as tears ran down her face.

"Mio! Help her!" Tsumugi yelled when a roar drowned out the rest of her words as a mob of zombies began to run towards them from all directions.

Something in Mio finally snapped and she was at her friend's side, she held Ritsu down as the woman began to quickly clean the acidic slime off the drummer's arm with a cloth that smelt a bit like the smell of a hospital.

While the two of them worked on Ritsu, the others began to get use to their new weapons as they picked off each infected that got too close, Tsumugi seemed to be going on pure will to save her friends, same as Yui, while Azusa, Jun and Ui focused hard on trying to take down the zombies that got way too close.

At one point a zombie almost tackled Azusa over, but a Les Paul descended on the infected faster then it could jump, blood splattering the ground near the startled kouhai before she shot Yui a thankful look.

Nodoka didn't like being in the middle of a street and doing this, but they didn't have any other choice. She turn noticed the vomiter doing the choking movements again and quickly aimed the gun at it, it was far away, very far, if she missed...no she couldn't think about what would happen if she missed, she had to hit it. She pulled the trigger of the gun and watched with eerie fascination as the bullet pierced the vomiter's head.

A clean shot.

The zombie's body tumbled off the top of the roof and onto the street where green goo began to pool around its body. The other infected suddenly turned towards the body of the fallen zombie and instantly ran towards it, ignoring the girls as they all began to tear into the body.

"We have to run! Now's our chance!" Nodoka yelled as she looked down at Sachi and Mio. She noticed that Ritsu had stopped screaming and was how focusing on breathing while the JSDF medic bandaged up her arm after tearing off the useless sleeve of her blue jacket and white dress shirt underneath fast before picking the girl up while Mio looked on worriedly.
"I'll carry her, run, we can take shelter in the shop to our right!" Sachi yelled as she ran ahead while the other girls followed. Nodoka sprinted ahead and quickly opened the door and allowed the others to run in before she shut the door and pulled down the metal bars so the zombies wouldn't get in. She finally noticed what type of shop this was and couldn't help but be thankful they ran into a medical clinic.

As she locked the gates in place she could hear panic in everyone's voice as they all began to crowd around Ritsu.

"Ricchan! What happened to her!" Yui yelled as she got on her knees near her fallen friend as Sachi laid her down on one of the tables while Mio looked on, her wide eyes full of tears as she took in the wounded state of her friend.

"Will she be okay? Please say she will, we can lose her too!" Tsumugi yelled as tears began to fall from her eyes.

"Ritsu-senpai…" Azusa whimpered out as she looked on worriedly.

"She'll be okay, calm down. We were able to save her arm so…don't worry so much." Sachi said as she sat down on the floor to catch her breath.

Ritsu's eyes were half-lidded as they stared blankly up at the ceiling, her fingers on her wounded arm would twitch occasionally as she let out a soft whimper of pain. Finally, after all the adrenaline left Mio's system she dropped to her eyes and tears began to stream down her reddened cheeks as she let out a stifled sob.

"I-It's all my fault, i-if I had just moved like she told me too…she…she wouldn't be like this." Mio cried out as her body got rocked by the power sobs coming from her body, she was pretty sure no one understood how she felt, she felt horrible for freezing up like that and risking Ritsu's life just because she couldn't move out of fear.
"Mio-senpai…" Azusa said softly as she moved to go comfort her, but she stopped when Yui grabbed her hand and motioned back to Ritsu. Garnet orbs went to her fallen senpai and noticed the blank look was gone and she was staring at Mio with worry and pain in her eyes.

"…M-Mio…" Slowly Ritsu tried to push herself off the table but when she couldn't she just relaxed on the surface before resorted to speaking instead. "H-Hey…it's okay…I….I'll be fine…just hurts a little that's all."

"B-But! What if you change! That stuff ate through your arm! What if-"
"She won't change." Sachi said as she looked up from her spot on the floor at the group of young girls.

"Why?" Jun asked as she kept a comforting hand on Ui's arm as she stared at the medic. "You also said the safety zone people wouldn't help us…why?"

"You really want to know?" Sachi asked, once again that solemn look was back in her eyes.

"Tell us, we have a right to know." Nodoka said as she glared at the medic. Sure, she was thankful she saved Ritsu's life, but what was she hiding?

"I'm sorry to say…but the reason you won't get saved is because you're all already infected."

Author Note: Oh, I think this is the most evil cliffhanger yet. I worked really hard on this chapter, I may not be the best at the action sequences, but that's only because I haven't gotten to the part where they will be fighting for their lives yet…well this was just a taste, I've got it all planned out so don't worry. Also, hope you guys enjoy my little OC for this story, Hortori Sachi, the Japanese Self Defense Force special field medic. I had to throw in someone who knew something about helping others or...I wouldn't have been able to keep the girls alive. I wanna thank Mr. Kyon for that little piece of advice. Anyways, back on the subject of the action sequences, they'll get better, I'll get there eventually. Whew, I think I need to take a break from this and make a happy prompt in We All Float Along or make the Houkago Teatime: Next Generation one-shot. Either way, thank you for the reviews on this once more, and I appreciate the helpful tips I've gotten, as for the beta-ing, still waiting on someone to write me back, and we'll see how that goes. ^_^