Horse of the Dead

by Vimesenthusiast

Upon learning a few secrets he had never suspected about Genma, Ranma leaves his father in search of his mother. He finds her living with her sister and her family in Tokonsou City, and moves in with her. What kind of impact can Ranma, a boy who never fit in among civilized society due ot his dedication to martial arts, have when the outbreak occurs? Ranma/Saeko/Saya other TBD

4. We can't save Everyone

I don't own the horse or the dead.

THANKS TO Tikitau for sending me a PM pointing out grammar, wording and spelling mistakes. I always appreciate it! They have now been corrected.

I looked again at the HotD crossover section and i was appalled. People, I am going to say this just once, there are other male characters you can use in crosses other than Naruto! What the fuck! it is utterly appalling how he has almost utterly conquered the crossover section.

I loved everyone's reviews, as always, especially YMYRR, Narsil (is that name from the Lord of the Rings, been meaning to ask, always great to meet a fellow fan) Syn Julianus Serafim, and TJG.

JohnC25: Respect man, anyone who can read another language has my respect. I can't understand any other language written or spoken even after years of Spanish class and over a ten years of being an anime fan. I'm glad you like the story and hope you continue to like it going forward.

Fenrir of the North: I love your idea of blaming the sudden spread of the contagion or whatever on Ryoga, but honestly, I've been mean to him in all my other stories in some fashion, I'm afraid in this one i just don't want to deal with him anymore.

And now on with the show:

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Chapter 4 We Can't Save Everyone

Kasumi ran, keeping her footsteps as silent as she could, not looking back at what she was running from, she had seen more than enough of Them to have no interest knowing precisely who they had once been, neighbors, shopkeepers, or whoever else. Some things were too painful, but at least she knew they were not her family.

Kasumi had been shopping when she noticed a stranger walking around drunk. Before she could go over to offer him some aid someone else had moved toward him, and the man suddenly attacked, biting and ripping the grocers neck out with his teeth. There had been a lot of screaming involved and for the first time in her life Kasumi had felt real, honest fear. It was a feeling she was well used to now.

She had run home to tell her father, and found him already searching for her, his face an alloy of fury and concern, the weeping, rather sad man he had been since her mother died gone, replaced by the martial artist he had been. Apparently he had gone to see a friend and met another of Them on the way attacking a group of teens skipping school. He had killed it, but saw that those it had bitten were turning into whatever it was, and raced off to find her and her sisters.

After she armed herself with her largest frying pan and he had grabbed his naginata, they raced toward the school hoping to find her sisters there, but that hope proved to be in vain before they even got there. They found Nabiki outside Dr. Tofu's clinic, already turned. Neither knew why she was there with another student, a girl from her class going by her uniform, but she was now one of Them. Dr. Tofu lay dead, half in and half out of his clinic's door, his face gone and a large amount of his neck as well.

Something in her father had shattered seeing one of his precious daughters turned, and he had started sobbing like he had done for years, his armor of rage doused by grief. His sobbing however had roused the Nabiki Thing, and several more of Them in the area as well. Soun had seen them and raced to fight them, but there were too many and he was too mad with grief to protect himself, too slowed by his armor and his general lack of condition. Yet he bought time for Kasumi, crying now but keeping quiet, to race away in search of Akane.

Kasumi had been forced to defend herself a few times on her way to Furinkan, her trusty frying pan seeing service well outside it's normal purview. But she was a daughter of marital artists, and could swing one heck of a mean frying pan. Eventually however she reached the gates of the school.

There she found Akane fighting off a horde of Them with the Kuno boy by her side. The unlikely duo had seemingly fought their way out of the school only to be ambushed by an even larger horde outside. As she watched, despite putting up one hell of a fight Akane went down first, her outstretched arm bitten and practically torn off before she could pull it back. She screamed and fell clutching at the stump and Kuno could not hold them back alone. He went down too, still swinging.

Kasumi had turned and ran, and had been running since, sticking to the open spaces and making as little noise as possible, yet They were everywhere, and she had been forced to run and run again more times than she could remember.

Now a day later, exhausted, sleepless, and with her body, despite her keeping in shape through constant housework and a bit of martial arts training from her younger years, Kasumi was close to collapse. Even her arms were sore from swinging her pan so often the metal of the pan warped and dented, she had lost count of the number of Them she had been forced to kill in self-defense.

She came to a small bridge for pedestrian traffic over an aqueduct, but at the far end was another group of Them, already turning toward the sound of her pattering feet and she sobbed brokenly. She looked back and saw the ones chasing her were barely two strides behind her. She turned and jumped up onto the railing and with a sob was about to throw herself into the river when she felt herself being lifted up, and then the air was all around her as they left the bridge behind, still heading down into the water.

She looked down into a wizened face much like a prune or raisin on a small man that barely came up to her thigh. He seemed to grin at her for a moment as they were in the air. "Don't worry deary, I won't let someone with such magnificent hotchas die on me now. The undead do nothing for me you know." That was the last thing she knew before her mind, overcome with fatigue and grief, gave in and she collapsed into the darkness.

OOOOOOOOO

Ranma woke up from what had been the most up and down, topsy-turvy day of his life. On the one hand the zombie thing happened, but on the other hand he wasn't a virgin anymore!

He looked down at Saeko where she was cuddled up against his side in the bed, a small line of drool coming from her mouth and onto his chest, something that brought a grin to his face. The site of her reminded him of all the things they had done yesterday, and he could feel his body respond. New desires flooded into him, a desire to do it again, to see her moaning and writhing under him again and to have her scream his name. Of course if she screamed his name is loud as he wanted to hear her to they'd pull the zombies down around their ears, a thought which shocked his mind out of the gutter it had fallen into so suddenly.

This was helped by Takashi coming down the steps and kicking the bed softly. Ranma lifted his head a bit to look at the other young man indicating that he was awake and Takashi said quietly, "it's your watch." Indeed he looked exhausted, and Ranma wondered how long he had been awake.

Ranma nodded and quietly got out of bed so as not to wake any of the others, but he ran into a problem because Saeko would not let him go. With a smirk he solved this by simply lifting her out of bed as well holding her in his arms. Her head lolled against his shoulder and she kept on making these little cute snoring sounds, more like a whistle really, but still funny.

He turned from her to look up the Takashi who was smirking at them a little but mostly staring longingly down at the bed. "Get some rest Takashi, I'll keep watch for the rest of the morning." Takashi nodded and without any further prompting collapsed onto the bed as soon as they vacated it.

Ranma moved up the stairs and out onto the balcony still carrying Saeko. There he found that Takashi had grabbed a chair from the corner of the bedroom and put it outside on the balcony, and had also grabbed a blanket too. He set Saeko down gently to lean against the balcony's railing, and then walked back inside and grabbed some energy bars for himself from the kitchen. When he came outside Saeko was shivering and looked like she was about to wake up but subsided as he picked her up again to set her in his lap as he sat down in the chair. He pulled the blanket over them both, and stared out over the nighttime cityscape, seeing the first lightening of the new day coming, yet still hearing some noise in the distance. Nearby it was quiet, and he didn't see any zombies moving around nearby.

As he munched quietly on the energy bars he could almost feel the energy coursing into the room from them and this brought to mind how drained he was after using his meteor hammer. I need to think of some way to get my ki level up, he thought to himself between bites. How to do that though…

This thought occupied him for another two hours until the sun began to rise, the light of which came over the rooftops and once it was shining on them, slowly Saeko up. As she did Ranma stroked her back softly causing her to shudder a little as she woke up fully. This took a while, as Saeko was not one of nature's early risers. As his hands roamed around her back and she began to twitch and move around in his lap he couldn't help his physical reaction, which made Saeko wake up much faster, as his cock began to rub up against her rear.

Lemon start:

She smirked a little up at him raising her head just a little off his chest and scooting back and off his lap, the blanket falling to the balcony floor around them. "I'm a little too sore for any fun down there Ranma," she said, her voice a little breathy as she opened the fly of his pants to let his cock spring out. It looked even larger in the morning light then it had in the kitchen last night, and she marveled at the thickness of it, the veins standing out prominently, the feel of it, like a steel bar covered with skin. "That thing was inside me," she muttered to her herself, "no wonder I'm sore."

"However she said, looking up at him before leaning down and licking at at the top of his dick, cleaning off a bit of pre-cum and finding the taste good, "that doesn't mean I can't help you with your current situation."

Ranma was about to say that she didn't have to when she leaned down suddenly and engulfed his cock head with her mouth, and he groaned a little at the sensation, his head falling back as his eyes closed in pleasure. Saeko took this as encouragement and began to go to town, trying to take as much of him into her mouth as she could, but as this was only her second time giving head she could barely take a third of his length. Her jaw began to hurt after that point, and somehow Ranma figured that out and pulled her up off it before she could try further and maybe hurt herself.

This did not dissuade her however, and she started to use her hands to jack off the portions of his cock that she couldn't take into her mouth. While she was doing that Ranma leaned forward over her, reached down underneath her head and began to play with her breasts and nipples. She moaned a little at the sensation, then was very thankful that her mouth was full as she nearly screamed as Ranma pulled on her nipples between his thumbs and forefinger. The sensation was amazing, and she could feel her juices start to flow.

"Maybe I'm not as sore as I thought I was," she muttered, and made to stand up, but before she could Ranma reached down and lifted her back onto his lap. "Great minds think alike," she said throatily, and she reached down with both hands and guided him inside her for a second time. After a wince of pain as she got used to being filled again Ranma thrust up causing her to nearly scream but he covered her mouth was his own to deaden the sound, and her arms went around him and she just hung on for dear life as he pounded on up into her.

Last night Saeko had sort of taken the lead a bit in their meeting in the bathroom, but this time Ranma seemed to be re-energized, and it was all Saeko could do to keep up for the first few minutes. She ran her hands down his back and up under his shirt, pulling it off him and throwing it to the side so she could feel his muscles against her.

Ranma's hands were on her rear, urging her on and she lifted herself up and down off him as wildly as she could, wanting more of this pleasure more of this feeling, and suddenly he changed direction just a little, allowing his cock inside her to scrape along a new bundle of nerve endings and she nearly screamed again as she went over the edge.

She clamped down around him, and it was all Ranma could do to keep from coming again, the build up from being in her mouth for so long having nearly brought into the edge already.

Saeko seem to realize this and got off at him quickly and went down on wobbly knees taking him in her mouth again. She pushed herself up enough so that her tits were either side of his cock and she worked them furiously, and that added sensation plus her tongue moving around his head caused him to explode without warning into her mouth. She took him as far down as she could, and the shots went down her throat and hit the back of her mouth for the most part before spilling out of her mouth and down onto her breasts. She estimated that he had cum as much as two or three a normal man's load, and she was actually feeling a little full from sucking it down.

His cum tasted sweet, and was one of the tastiest things she had ever tasted and she moaned as she gulped the last load down. She brought her hands up and began to clean her breasts also, bringing them up to her mouth to lick the cum off of them, then stared in shock as she realized that Ranma's cock hadn't flagged at all. She smiled and was about to stand up and ride him again when noises from inside startled them both out of their sexual euphoria.

Lemon end

Ranma swiftly reached down and grabbed the blanket throwing it over Saeko and pulling her into him while she reached down frantically scrabbling around to grab both of their shirts. It wasn't that she was afraid of showing that she had claimed her man to the other girls, but she had remembered that there was a young child with them now, and showing her certain things just would not do. Then too, she was wondering, now that she had been shocked out of her lust, how this would impact the group dynamic. Not that I care what the other girls think, she thought, but dealing with their bitchiness would be irritating.

Ranma swiftly pulled his shirt over his head, and then surreptitiously rearranged himself so that his cock was back in his pants and covered. Saeko moved out from underneath a blanket to allow him time to calm down, having already put on her shirt. She moved to stand and look out over the cityscape, smiling a little as she heard the growl that came from Ranma as she leaned over the railing pointing her ass back at him.

"You are a fucking tease, you know that," he said to her as he stood up to join her looking out over the city. He reached down and took one of her hands bring it up to his mouth and kissing the back of it softly. "And fantastic, have I told you that recently?"

Saeko smiled happily, amused at how blunt he was, yet so romantic at the same time. "Not recently, nor is it something that any woman can hear too often."

"Well you are," he replied and then leaned in and kissed her on the cheek gently before moving away.

He reached down and picked up the binoculars from where they had kicked in their earlier activity, and began to use them looking out over the city, while inside most of the others continued to wake up.

OOOOOOOOOOO

Inside Alice had begun to wake up, some odd noises from outside having disturbed her rest. She lay there for a moment trying to remember where she was and with a jolt remembered what it happened yesterday.

She opened her eyes and was about to start crying when saw the woman with the huge breasts was about to turn over on top of her. Before she could do anything she was trapped underneath the blonde woman, her huge breasts on either side of Alice, smothering her with their size and weight. She began to flail her arms in panic, and thankfully someone responded and pushed the nurse off Alice, pulling her to safety.

Alice looked up gratefully, and then quailed a little at the look that the other teacher was giving her.

Kyoko cocked her head quizzically. "And who are you? And how did he get here?"

Alice looked down a little sadly, remembering how she hd been saved and what happened to her father. "I'm Alice Maresato," she said sniffling a little. "Ninja-nii rescued me last night when my daddy…" she paused and sniffled again looking down.

Kyoko translated this easily enough and pulled the girl into a hug. As the girl began to sob against her chest she sat up slowly, trying her best not to dislodge her and leaned her back against the head rest, putting her arms around Alice gently. So Ranma pulled out some more heroics last night, I suppose I should've expected that, she thought to herself. I hope he realizes he can't save everyone.

As she thought this she looked over and frowned heavily at the sudden movement she saw beyond the curtains out onto the balcony. She couldn't make out everything, but what had she had thought was just one person had suddenly become too scrambling around for something. She had been a teacher for several years now, and well knew what was probably going on out there a few moments ago. I'll have to talk to whoever is out there about appropriate times for such things she thought a little grimly.

That thought brought to mind when she herself would be doing if she had the chance. She had been attracted to Ranma up for quite a while before this all began, but her professionalism had always negated that. Now however being a teacher mattered not at all, nor their disparate ages. She wouldn't say she was in love with him, he wasn't really her type mentally or emotionally, but lust, oh yes that summed up her feelings nicely. But she also knew that Shizuka, Saya and Saeko all had interests in Ranma, and maybe Yuuki as well. Still, in the present circumstances certain social mores might well be set aside.

The continued sniffling from the young girl in her arms broke her out of such thoughts. She turned her attention away from such ideas for now, simply wrapping her arms around young girl and giving what comfort she could to a young girl who had lost everything.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

Downstairs Rei had woken up with a pounding headache, her first ever hangover, and the realization that drinking was just not worth it. After a moment she was able to open her eyes without pain, and, after several false starts, pushed herself up and out of the sofa. Once on her feet she wobbled a bit in place, her hands going to her head in an effort to keep her head from splitting open.

Rei then made her way into the kitchen, where they had left the bags and backpacks of stuff they had gathered. Most of the stuff they had gathered from the teacher's lounge, and all of the stuff they had taken from the garage except for a second nail gun and a bunch of nails, had been left behind when they had to vacate the bus so abruptly the day before. However the stuff Ranma had grabbed from their house was still there, and she grabbed the bottle of ibuprofen that was there, downing four pills with a glass of water.

She sat down at the table, head between her hands to block out the light, waiting for the pills to kick in. After that she got up and moved into the bathroom with the intent of having a morning shower.

Her plans were interrupted however as she walked into the bathroom and noticed some white stuff on the ground. She leaned down quizzically thinking it might be some kind of shampoo or something that had gotten onto the floor, but when she got closer she could see what it really was and reared back in disgust. She recognized that smell from a few times when she had given Hizashi a hand job, and she wondered which of the idiots had been in here and why the hell they thought this was an appropriate time to whack off.

A moment later however she noticed some long purple hairs on the ground and frowned even heavier. "Damnit those two were in here together!" She decided to forgo the shower and marched out, muttering furiously to herself.

This woke up Saya and Yuuki from where they were sleeping on one of the purloined mattresses. The two of them had somehow gotten tangled together in their sleep, their legs tangled together, their knees pressing into eachother's panties and both woke up wondering why they felt like they needed to rub one out.

Yuuki in particular was wondering what was in her mouth, and she opened her eyes to see that she was embedded in Saya's chest with her mouth open locked around a mouthful of tit. Saya too was wondering why her chest felt so weird, and looked down at Yuuki who looked up at her, her eyes wide. They looked at one another for a second of surprised silence then Saya scooted back rapidly, disentangling herself from the other girl at the same time Yuuki did the same.

After a moment to gather her composure, the pink-haired genius looked up at Rei and asked, "What the hell are you muttering about, what's got under your skin?"

Yuuki nodded, looking around and motioning over to Takashi, who was sleeping through Rei's mutterings, and over at Kohta, who was sleeping in the vestibule. "And keep your voice down, those two need their sleep."

Rei growled at her, her voice rising with every word. "I'll fucking talk as loud as I wa-"

Yuuki had leaped up and slapped one of her hands over the other girl's mouth. Now she stared at the girl angrily. "Whatever your beef is, keep your fucking voice down, got it? Those two were probably up most of the night watching over us, trying to protect us, got it? The least you can do is keep your harpy screeches to yourself, understand?"

Rei had been about to punch the other girl out for the hand over her mouth, but halfway through her little speech her eyes had flicked over to where Takashi lay, and she flinched guiltily, then nodded and Yuuki let her go.

Rei took a moment to make certain her voice was quite and then began, her voice low but angry. "I was just in the bathroom, those two idiots, Saeko and Ranma were in there together and they left behind… evidence of what they were doing. Disgusting! I mean come on seriously, we're supposed to all be sharing that bathroom, they can't muck it up like that!"

A stab of jealousy went through Saya at that news, and she ground her teeth angrily. Damnit! She thought to herself. She had been interested in Ranma for a while, but hadn't figured out the right way to broach the subject with him before all this began. Now if he was with Saeko those chances went up in smoke.

Yuuki on the other hand merely grinned. She knew even if she went to Ranma she wouldn't be the first to get with him and wouldn't even be the first in his heart. Saeko getting with him first just meant that she could figure out what she had to look forward to if she did try to pursue him. She got up out of the bed, ignoring the fact that her panties were a little damp as she pulled on a pair of Rei's jeans that she had grabbed the evening before. They weren't her normal style but they would do until she raided the upstairs bedroom for more. "Well then," she said, "if you'll excuse me I need to go find out some answers to some questions."

"And I know what kind of questions you're going to ask you bitch," said Saya to herself but shook her head. Even though she too was curious, the jealousy of it overrode her curiosity. Luckily she had a job that would distract her; she needed to start on the long-term planning Ranma and the others had asked her to do.

She looked over to where Takashi had slept through Rei's shouting, and then over at Kohta who was asleep by the doorway. "I guess those two stayed up most of the night," she said looking back at the angry girl. "Don't wake them up okay? Yuuki was right about that at least. They need their sleep and we'll need them alert later." Rei scowled a little but looked over at where Takashi was sleeping and her face softened, then she nodded and went into the kitchen for some food.

Saya got out of the bed, rearranging her shirt over her breasts again as well as pulling on a new pair panties and a skirt from Rei then sat down in the leather chair and pulled out the laptop box she had placed there before beginning to drink with the others last night. She plugged it into the wall next to her, and began to power it up and personalize it. That took about 20 minutes, after which she began to surf the Internet which happily was still online. How long that would be the case she didn't know, so she began to rapidly download anything and everything that she thought might be important, maps, city plans, news files, how to do build stuff, do it yourself plans anything and everything, then she began to put her mind to work and figure out how their group was going to survive long term.

OOOOOOOOOOO

Yuuki ascended the stairs and waved at Kyoko who nodded back still comforting Alice. Yuuki was a little surprised that the girl was awake at all, and very amused at Shizuka, who was sprawled out on the bed next to the pair dead to the world and even snoring a little.

She went outside and saw Ranma and Saeko looking around at the city, and then smirked a little as she grabbed the purple haired girl's arm. She tried to pull her, but that was like pulling at a freight train, Saeko might not look it but she was incredibly strong for her size. Giving that up for a lost cause Yuuki instead leaned in and whispered into the other girl's ear as she turned to her. "So, how was the wild horse? Did he live up to his name?"

Saeko shivered a little at the feeling of Yuuki's breath all along her ear, but nodded conspiratorially, a small but smug and very satisfied smile on her face. "That and more."

Yuuki grinned and pulled her inside to have a more private conversation while Ranma studiously ignored what they were saying. He also ignored the arousal that he had felt when Yuuki first came out, her braless tits practically on display through a very tight white shirt, complimented by a very tight pair of jeans on that showed off her legs admirably. It was as if having sex with Saeko had woken some new aspect of his cat persona, and it was taking a while to get used to the new urges. He would get used to them eventually of course, he wasn't going to be controlled by such stupidity, but right now it was an irritant.

During their conversation Yuuki was intrigued and impressed, but not so much as to override her brain, and she decided she would have to postpone making a try for the wild stallion.

While the others all saw her as, well a bit of slut if they were honest with themselves (except for Ranma who had never listened to rumors and couldn't care less about them), she understood social dynamic and what could change them far better than any of the others, so she knew what would happen if Kohta or even Takashi didn't have someone around to be connected emotionally to. A bit of leg, a bit of chest, these things worked to remind men what they were fighting for, not just personal survival but survival of the group.

She could tell that of the girls in the group only the little girl Alice and Rei weren't interested in Ranma, and that kind of disparity wouldn't sit well with either of the other boys. Takashi was so fixated on Rei it kept him stable but Kohta needed someone around, flirting with him and paying attention to him to anchor the gun nut in the here and now, the defense of the team. Then too, it wasn't like Yuuki was uninterested in the gun nut, so it worked out in the end.

OOOOOOOOO

Shizuka woke up about an hour later, and was introduced to Alice before mumbling something about coffee and heading downstairs. At the same time Rei, now minus the last vestiges of her hangover yet still incensed came up the stairs to give Saeko and Ranma piece of her mind. But the site of Alice stopped her cold and she frowned heavily.

Alice had gotten out of bed to thank Ranma for saving her and the two of them were talking outside on the balcony as Rei approached them, Kyoko, Yuuki and Saeko listening in with smiles on their faces. "No it doesn't have a name, it's just a meteor hammer, whoever heard of naming a weapon. That kind of thing only happens in old epics and movies."

"But all special super duper weapons are named, Ninja-nii," replied the little girl stubbornly.

"I told you I'm not a ninja my name is Ranma okay, and if you think it's that important why don't you name it? So, did you use ta live around here?" he said changing the subject.

"Yep" Alice said then sighed, sniffling a little and pointing to the right. "We lived about four blocks that way. I was at school near here when this all started and my daddy…" she sniffled some more but Kyoko's arm around her shoulders kept her from breaking down again. Even after only a few hours Kyoko had taken to the role of mother for the young girl easily.

Ranma went on briskly hoping to get Alice to concentrate on something else. "So do you know of any stores or anything around here?"

"Yep, there's a convenience store about ten blocks that way," she said pointing straight and a little to the left after getting her bearings, "and it's right next to a garage of some kind. At least I think it is, there are some cars all the time outside of it."

"Now that's useful," said Yuuki thoughtfully, looking at Ranma and the others "I thought of this last night. We have that Hummer, but we're going to need something to run it on. Kohta said that he can run on practically anything, but I think we should start scavenging fuel for it now. Also those things make a lot of noise, and I want to see if I can quite it down."

Rei scowled angrily at how they were all ignoring her but decided to take part in the discussion. She could shelf her irritation with the two sex fiends for later. "Remember our short-term plan is to hook up with our parents. Ranma and I know where our family is, but Takashi's mother is still out there, and Takagi's too."

Ranma shrugged. "I think we should use this place is a base of operations for a little while, though I'll leave long-term planning to Saya and Kyoko here," he nodded at the teacher who smiled a little at his deference. "I know what I am, I'm a fighter, a short term kind of guy, point me at a problem and I'll deal with it, but anticipating them down the line I'll leave to someone else."

Saeko smirked a little and nodded. "Indeed," she said "I think yours and my time could be better spent training the others a bit."

"I've already got training," barked Rei angrily. She wasn't exactly happy about how badly outmatched she was by the two of them, and didn't like anyone else pointing it out.

Ranma waved his hands in the air. "We weren't talking specifically about you cuz, I was actually thinking about Takashi. Kohta as a sniper's too good a resource ta risk, but Takashi needs to get better at close range. And Kohta should give ya all lessons on how to shoot."

"Takashi and Kohta are both still asleep," Yuuki said, "I don't know how long he was awake last night but I suppose we should get him up just in case. This place is nice and safe now, but the more time that goes on the more zombies are out there and the less safe we'll be remaining in one place."

Ranma nodded. "All right let them sleep for a little while longer, but sometime today I want ta take Rei and Saeko down ta the parking lot and teach 'em some moves." He grinned at the two of them. "I bet I can get you roof hopping within a week Rei, and Saeko-chan, I bet ya can do it within two days." He looked at the others seriously. "I'd like to say that to everyone, the added mobility would be fantastic for us to have, but I don't think it's going to happen anytime soon."

Kyoko scoffed amusedly. "Of course it won't happen. I'm in shape to keep my figure," she said running her hands down her sides dramatically, and was pleased that Ranma gave her a once over at that comment, something that made her preen a little. "But I'm not a martial artist and I don't have the training or the inclination to be one." She turned to Rei. "Rei-san, take Alice downstairs and get her some food and a shower."

Saeko reacted at the word shower, a light blush suffusing her face but Ranma missed it entirely and Kyoko smirked a little inside as she took charge in tried and true teacher fashion. "Then see if Kohta can get up and start training us how to use the guns he found here last night." She frowned thoughtfully touching her head and wincing a little. The migraine she had had last night had dissolved into a dull throbbing, it wasn't bothering her just yet but she was going to take something anyway, and she nodded at Alice. "I want to talk to Ranma for a bit and then I'll join you."

Rei broke off her glaring at the two martial artists and took Alice's hand in one of hers. "Come on Alice-chan, let's see what we have for you to eat here. We got a lot of energy bars and rice balls, takoyaki and stuff like that, but we'll see if we can find something more filling. Are you hungry too Saeko?" she asked trying to be civil.

Saeko had by this time recovered from her slight embarrassment and shot Ranma a wicked little look. "No thank you I ate my fill already this morning." Rei cocked her head not getting the reference at all, but Yuuki and Kyoko did and so did Ranma if his blushing face was any indication. Kyoko frowned oppressively while Yuuki simply giggled. "However I will take a shower first, that will let me… cleanup a bit." That phrase went straight over Alice's head but Rei nodded of agreement fervently. The three girls left with Alice, leaving Ranma and Kyoko alone for a moment.

Kyoko looked over at Ranma who was leaning against the balcony looking out over the city again, his blue eyes dark. "You did a very good thing last night," she said softly nodding her head in the direction of the spiral staircase. "But you can't go around saving everyone you know that right? The more people we have, the more resources we need, the more noise we make and the more of a target we are for both scavengers and zombies. It's harsh but there you are."

Ranma nodded somberly sighing a little. "I know that, but I couldn't just leave her out there could I?"

Kyoko shook her head. "I'm not saying you should have, I'm simply saying that you can't go around trying to save everyone, every time you do you put us in danger."

"I know that sensei," he replied, "and I'll try to keep it under wraps." He frowned angrily over at the house where Alice's father lay and shook his head. "Some people I wouldn't save even if I could."

Kyoko followed his gaze and nodded agreement able to make out the little bundle of Alice's father even at this distance. "Still, keep it in mind okay?" She reached out and ruffled his hair playfully and he pulled her into a fierce hug before letting her go and hopping up onto the roof to see what he could see was going on around the river. She blushed a little smiling at the show of affection and went inside.

About an hour later Shizuka came up and called Ranma down to join them. As soon as he landed on the balcony she pulled him into a fierce hug and said "Neko-chan you're such a good boy to save little Alice like that," she said kissing him enthusiastically on this cheek. "You're a regular hero."

Ranma blushed a little, feeling her huge breasts pressed up against into his chest as she began to drag him inside. When they entered the apartment he found that Kohta had taken over the bedroom and was teaching Rei and Yuuki how to point and shoot with the guns he had taken from the locked cupboard last night.

He nodded at all four of them as he was dragged along like a rag doll by Shizuka, a sight that made Yuuki grin and Kohta chuckle. Rei however hadn't gotten over her irritation at Ranma and Saeko for their desecration of the bathroom and simply glared. Ranma wondered what he'd done to his cousin this time, but shook it off as unimportant as Shizuka pulled him down the stairs.

Downstairs Takashi was still asleep in the bed pushed against the far wall, having woken up very briefly to move so that that could be accomplished. Saya was sitting on the sofa now fending off Alice who wanted to look at the laptop. "No you can't have it yet chibi," she said smacking Alice's hands aside. "Go upstairs and take that puppy with you, play around a bit, but get out of my hair."

Kyoko nodded agreement and shooed Alice off. Alice pouted. "Meany Onee-chan," then she scampered off after sticking her tongue out at the pink haired girl.

Saya grumbled a bit about insolent brats then motioned Ranma over to join them on the sofa, glaring a little at Saeko as she came out of the kitchen.

Saeko wondered what was that was about, and then noticed that Saya's eyes had flickered over to Ranma and realized what the other girl's problem was.

However Saeko had already come to understand a bit of how different life was going to be. She wasn't about to stop herself from enjoying the pleasures of being a woman now that she had been introduced to them with Ranma, but nor was she going to be so crass as to stop others from doing the same. She also knew that there was an attraction working between Saya and Ranma, and it went both ways. Ranma's affection towards the other girl was very apparent to her even before this and she had decided last night that sharing a pie was better than trying to own it entirely and not getting a further taste.

Ranma didn't know what his girlfriend was thinking, so simply acted as he always did. He sat down and pulled Saya into a one armed hug before ruffling her pink hair affectionately. "I see ya've been putting that bright brain of yer's ta work and thinking ahead already Saya-hime. What've got to show us?"

Saya huffed trying to fight back a blush at the nearness of him, and the smell. There was just something about Ranma that male kind of smell that got to her a little. "Of course I'm thinking ahead meathead, we can't all live by the seat of our pants like you do."

Ranma chuckled a little nervously at her glare, but she turned back to the computer and booted up some information before he could say anything. She gestured to him to look and Ranma did. On the screen were several news articles from the day before from all over the world in many different languages.

"This thing," she said seriously pushing her glasses up from where they had fallen down her nose, "is everywhere!" She leaned back a little and Ranma let loose a little rumbling sound, as she put her arms underneath her chest thoughtfully, making her breasts stand out even more than normal. He shook his head, trying not to look over at Saeko and hoping she hadn't noticed his reaction to that.

Saya went on having not seen it either. "We're not talking about an isolated incident here, and it's not something that's going to stop spreading anytime soon. It hit practically every city in the world at once, whatever it was doesn't really matter anymore. Civilization as we know it is going to change drastically. I'd be surprised if there are 20 million people left spread across Japan by this point. Remember most of the people in Japan live in the cities, there aren't nearly as many policemen as people think for the number of civilians, were all jammed in together…"

"You don't have to finish that thought," Kyoko said grimly, remembering the news before they left the high school. "If what's happening here is happening everywhere a place like Tokyo for example is probably even worse."

"Almost certainly far worse," said Saya grimly. "That's one of the reasons we can't stay in the city for long."

Ranma cocked his head quizzically not understanding that point. Saya growled a little and reached out pulling at his pigtail to get him to listen. "It's about sustainability meathead! Cities don't sustain themselves, food and water comes in from outside of the city to get processed and sold. The city only makes things it doesn't create them! And the city needs people running it, the water, the electricity, everything really. The more people die from this thing the less the city will be able to live, like an organism infected with a virus."

Saeko nodded thoughtfully. "Also we'll need to watch our noise emissions. Right now there are still a lot of people out there running around panicking and trying to blindly run away and pulling the zombies to them. But eventually the zombies will have no more easy prey, and then the nearest noise or sign of people like us will bring them down in their hundreds."

Ranma nodded having already thought of that point. "So what are long-term plans Saya-chan," he asked bumping his shoulder against hers.

Saya smirked at him, feeling a little prideful that he was trusting her with that task. "Well, we can't stay in the city, and any place in the countryside is likely to be as bad or will start to get worse as the zombies move out of the cities searching for food. We've seen that the zombies keep moving around, so eventually they'll leave the cities in search of more food. I know in the short term we're going to search for our parents, but the long term is what concerns me."

She frowned a little at the thought of her parents, having left a message for them on their answering machine but having not gotten a reply. She hoped it was because they were just too busy and yet a part of her thought that they shouldn't be too busy to look for their own daughter regardless of what was going on. She'd always resented the amount of time that was taken away from their time together as a family by her father's politics, but this was even worse.

"First we should also gather as much supplies, long-term supplies, as we can. I'm talking about canned goods, as much as we can find, energy bars as much as we can find, anything with seeds which we could plant, clothing eventually but we've got enough of that for most of us for now. I've already downloaded as many things off the Internet as I could about farming, finding fresh water and and a lot of recipes took for how to make food from scratch, and, hell anything else I could think of that could help us."

"I can live off the land easily enough," Ranma said stroking his pigtail thoughtfully "I've done it before often enough when I was younger. I can teach you guys all about that kind of thing."

Saya shook her head adamantly. "We don't want to stay on land very long. There's no way of group a small as ours can find a place to fort up where we won't have to fight off other people as well as zombies. Not in a place as crowded as Japan."

Ranma shrugged at that, after all he had been to places in Japan that weren't crowded at all, but he understood her point. After all, most of those places already had people, and they would be leery of welcoming strangers. "So what's the plan?"

"Get out onto the ocean and find an island that we can take over." Saya said bluntly. "Some place like Hachijō-kojima or Gajajima, abandoned but hopefully with buildings still standing. Move in with as many resources as we can, fortify the island, cut us off entirely from the rest of the world until this whole thing starts to simmer down if it ever does."

"If it ever does?" questioned Kyoko worriedly. "Surely you don't think that…"

"Sensei," Saya responded, ignoring propriety and cutting her off mid-sentence, trying to hold onto her temper more because Takashi was asleep in the corner than anything else. "This is happening everywhere in the world! Society as a whole is crumbling as we speak, and I for one am not going to let myself be blinded by hope that everything can go back to normal in the near future, if ever! What will rise from the ashes I don't know, but I'm not going to stand around and be forced to join up with some local bully boy or other!"

"No worries of that ever happening," said Ranma grimly cracking his knuckles. "Outside of a few of the martial arts Masters I trained with I doubt there's anybody on the islands that can fight me."

Saeko interjected softly, "But they wouldn't have to fight us head on Ranma-chan. All they'd have to do is gun you down from a distance, as good as you are even you can't survive being shot. It's guns that will decide which warlord or other takes over portions of the world."

Ranma grimaced but had to acknowledge the point. He could dodge an arrow, kunai or crossbow bolt easily enough, but a bullet was something else entirely. In another world he would have gone through training enough to toughen his skin enough to survive far more than a mere bullet, but this was not the case in this world.

Saya nodded grimly. "That's also a concern since in Japan most people don't own guns. There's a social stigma against them and numerous laws against personal ownership of firearms as well. So the only people who will have major weapons are the police, the army, or criminals. The police will have taken a battering everywhere because of this crisis, the army won't be effective if it is also dealing with its own outbreaks, which leaves just the criminal element, who are used to surviving, working together and preying on other people. Even with the danger of bringing more zombies down on top of them, as long as the bullets last those with guns will be a danger to groups like us, or maybe especially to groups like us."

She gestured at the bodies of the girls around her and Saeko and Kyoko, even Shizuka, who had merely been listening silently up to this point, nodded grim understanding. Ranma's eyes went flat and hard as understanding dawned but Saya simply went on. "Yet another reason why we should be ready to leave the city as soon as we possibly can."

Ranma sighed and leaned back closing his eyes and wondering what his mother was up to, and what they should do from here on. When he opened them he was surprised to see that the others were staring at him and he blinked. "Why are you all looking at me like that?"

"Ranma," Saeko said giggling, "you're our leader. It's your choice, what do you want us to do?"

"E-excuse me" Ranma said sputtering a little, "Since when am I the leader here?"

"Since you threw Shido-sensei off the bus," said Saya sternly and Kyoko nodded. "Like it or not Ranma you been acting like a leader from the very beginning. You haven't exactly planed ahead" she said smirking a little and poking him in the forehead, "but it's because of you that were all alive right now."

He looked over at Saeko and was about to speak but she shook her head. "Myself and Shizuka might still be alive, but Kyoko, Yuuki and the others would not be. And alone the two of us could not survive out here. It is to you we look for leadership Ranma," she finished, taking one of his hands and kissing his palm gently, causing Saya to glare. "It is your choice on where we go from here."

Saya nodded agreement despite wanting to do nothing more than reach out and claw the swordswoman's eyes out. Kyoko nodded too and Shizuka grinned giving him two thumbs up.

Ranma sighed and closed his eyes again for a brief moment before shaking his head and leaning forward intently. When he opened his eyes they were focused, hard and purposeful and the power behind his stare was almost palpable. Saya shivered a little and Kyoko did as well at the power of his presence. "All right. Short-term, Takashi and Saya still want to find out where their families are. I'll take Takashi out with me later today and see if we can get to the elementary school where his mother works. Maybe we can pick up her trail there or something." He looked at them all and shook his head slowly making them understand that he didn't think they would be that lucky before going on. "After that we'll split up into foraging teams. Saya I'll take you with me once ya find us a nearby electronics store or something. Flashlights and other things right?"

Saya nodded and he turned to Saeko. "Saeko-chan, you'll take two of the others Kohta for preference for one and someone else just in case and hit up the local grocery store. That Alice-chan mentioned. Grab as many canned goods and stuff like that as you can and bring them back here."

Yuuki, who had come down the stairs in time to hear the speech about Ranma being their leader, and agreed with it wholeheartedly, spoke up at this point. "Like I said before, I'd like to see if I can silence the engine on that Hummer, if I can that'll give us more lift capacity that we can actually use, far more than just us grabbing stuff off the shelves. As it is it's of limited utility."

Saya gestured toward the computer. "If you know the parts we can search for dealers in the city, and Ranma can take you there."

Ranma nodded. "My roof-hopping gives us a lot of mobility, I think we need to use it."

Kyoko frowned a little. "There is a mall on the other side of the river isn't there? Surely if we hit that up we can take most of what we need in one stop."

"If Yuuki can get the Hummer working quietly we'll definitely hit it before leaving the city. That thing can go through the water right I think Kohta said something about that last night?"

Yuuki nodded emphatic agreement. "It's waterproof, and it can run on anything from pure oil to alcohol fluid. It's quite a find, but like I said, it's not exactly silent."

Ranma nodded and turned to Shizuka. "You got in touch with yer friend right, ya want ta try and set up a meeting?"

"I can call her again," Shizuka said happily. "I don't know if she'll be able to get here though, maybe we should think of someplace else to meet up?"

Ranma nodded, "Do it." He turned to Saya and said. "You're still in charge of long-term thinking, make up lists of stuff we need long-term and give them to us before we leave this afternoon. Then check and see if you can figure out where we should go to get a boat. Small, fast and well-stocked would be my preference, but I know that's not going to happen, so small and easy to get to will do in a pinch."

Saya nodded having already thought of a few places. "Hopefully I'll find a place down river at the port. It's not a major port by any stretch, but it should still have a few boats for us to use."

Ranma nodded. "I think that's as much planning as we can do for now. Shizuka, Kyoko, head upstairs, and I'll join you in a minute, I'm gonna walk you guys through some hand-to-hand combat moves. Yuuki, make up that list of parts fer Saya-chan, then join us upstairs." Shizuka made to protest and Ranma held up his hand. "If I'm the leader I'm going to act like it, and that means make sure everyone here has the tools to survive."

"What about Alice-chan?"Asked Shizuka sadly. She didn't want to learn how to hurt people, not even to use it against zombies, but the idea of the little girl doing it was even worse.

"The TV still work? If it does, find her a channel ta watch fer a bit, some normality would do her good I bet just keep the noise level down and that door closed. Hell bar it as much as possible. When we leave on our scavenging runs we'll go out the balcony."

Saya nodded firmly. "And if we're still here tonight no lights at all. We'll keep someone out on the balcony to watch, but no lights after dark. I'd estimate that by tonight most of the stragglers and runners will have been brought down by the zombies, and they'll be searching for holdouts like us. At that point any noise or light we may attract them and other people too."

The think tank broke up and Saya handed the computer over to Yuuki for a moment so she coult type in the list of parts she'd need, then got up to grab a snack and put something else on but was stopped by Saeko tapping her softly on the shoulder and leaning close. "I don't mind sharing under the current circumstances you know."

Saya glared at her a little. "That's not nice," she said gritting her teeth to keep from yelling at the bitch. "You've already won, you don't have to rub it in like that."

Saeko shook her head and leaned in and kissed the pink haired girl briefly on the lips. She pulled back and said simply, "I'm serious," and then walked off into the kitchen.

Saya stared after her, a welter of confused emotions going through her before she shook them off and grabbed some jeans and a shirt. By the time she pulled it on over her head (very tight in the chest, she'd need to see if this Rika character had anything better upstairs) Yuuki had finished making her list and left the laptop on the sofa.

She started to use Google maps and Google search engine to find where the parts are being sold that Yuuki needed to silence the engine of the hummer. Then used the street view to map out a route to them, and look around to see what kind the traffic of a zombie nature was like around it.

Upstairs Rei and Yuuki were again being taught by Kohta how to load and fire their guns, and Ranma was walking Shizuka and Kyoko through some self-defense classes with a heavy cleaver that he had taken from the kitchen.

Instead of going to watch TV Alice had opted to play with the puppy and was busy running around up and down the stairs. Ranma wondered idly, how the hell is Takashi sleeping through all of this, the guy must have been dead on his feet.

Shizuka was not having fun, and because of her unwillingness to learn neither was Ranma, even if Kyoko had proven an alright student of the cleaver arts. Kohta was having a much easier time of it with Rei and Yuuki, who were both much more serious minded individuals then Shizuka. He just wasn't making any progress with the big breasted nurse, and it was with relief that he gave up the ghost as Alice ran up to him and said, "Hey ninja-nii, do we have a name for the puppy"

Ranma shook his head reaching down and ruffling her hair. "What've I told ya, my names Ranma, squirt. And nah we don't but if you want you can name him too. Have ya thought of any names for my meteor hammer yet?"

Alice shook her head. "None that really feel right" she confessed. "How about fang splitter, or zombie slayer, or…"

"No slayer anythin'," he said making an X with his hands. "Come up with something original okay?"

He looked up as Kohta asked him "Hey Ranma, do you want to learn how to shoot as well?"

Ranma shook his head. "No thanks bud, I'll leave that to the rest of you. Saeko and I are much more useful in close range than at a distance, and if I need it I've got my meteor hammer for emergencies. I don't want to take a gun out of someone else's hands and put them in mine."

Kohta nodded agreement. "How long are we staying here anyway?"

"Two days," said Ranma, "maybe three, possibly four if we can swing it, but that's doubtful."

He turned back to Shizuka and gently took the cleaver out her hands. "I'm sorry Shizuka-sensei, I know ya don't want ta learn this, but I had ta try. The world we live in now, ya all need ta learn ta protect yerselves."

Shizuka nodded sadly. "I understand that neko-kun, but I just can't do it, it goes against everything I believe in to learn to hurt someone like this. I'll just have to make do by relying on the rest of you."

Ranma nodded and gave her a gentle kiss on the forehead. "That's fine by me Shizuka-sensei. Just do yer best ta stay out of trouble and keep our spirits up, and we'll call it even okay?" Shizuka nodded, bringing him into a big hug then leaned down and wrapped Alice in an even bigger one, picking her up and taking her and the puppy downstairs to watch some cartoons.

Kyoko smiled faintly. "I think I'll do better with the guns as well Ranma-kun. I'm not built enough to make close combat truly viable ofr me, and I used to be the archery clubs advisor before moving to ping pong." She did not mention that was because even with a chest guard on her breasts got in the way of her shots with a bow. That hadn't stopped her from being very accurate when she could get a shot off.

Ranma sighed resignedly, already seeing the limits of his 'leader authority', but nodded and waved her off to join Kohta's group.

Saeko came up then and smiled slightly. "Since you are free perhaps we can get some lessons in. Two days I believe you said?" Ranma perked up immediately and Saeko giggled at how easy he was to distract with martial arts. I wonder if he is as easily distracted by the marital arts as well? Something to test out at some point.

The two of them grabbed Rei and exited via the balcony landing gently in the parking area, where Ranma began to instruct the two girls in ways to strengthen their legs enough to jump high distances. Saeko took up where they had left off her instruction last time, and Rei surprisingly listened intently, and followed Ranma's instructions to the letter.

After that the three of them reentered the apartment, Saeko surprisingly able to already jump high enough to grab the balcony railing, though not enough to go over it and land on the balcony like Ranma.

Saya came up at that point with the first two lists of supplies and parts. She handed one to Saeko, who looked at the others and said "Homuro-kun and Kyoko-sensei could you come with me please?"

Saya turned to Ranma and said, "Takashi's awake and having something to eat, he and Rei should be enough to guard this place, so we can go now if you want."

Ranma nodded agreement and turned to Saya. "You ready to go then Pinky or ya want ta eat something first?"

She growled a little at the nickname but nodded. The two of them walked out to the balcony, and Ranma picked her up gently in his arms and jumped up onto the roof leaving her there before going down and picking up Kohta and Kyoko and dropping them down onto the street where Saeko swiftly joined them jumping down herself.

The group waited until Takashi and Rei came out onto the balcony and waved at them, along with Alice who was waving frantically and the little puppy who was waggling his tail and looked like he wanted to bark but Alice's hands were over his muzzle. They all nodded grimly and then moved off in different directions.

OOOOOOOOOOO

Saya and Ranma headed straight towards an electronic store about 15 blocks away, but because of Ranma's speed they'd arrive there far before their friends arrived at the nearby grocery store, which was only four blocks away. This was especially true since Ranma traveled in a straight line once Saya figured out the direction, and Saeko and the others would have to follow the roads and avoid any zombies in the area.

Saya however had no thought for their other group, as Ranma had once again picked her up in his arms, with one hand on along her thigh just barely touching her rear with his pinky. It was enough for some reason to get her blushing, well that and his smell in her nostrils and feeling his muscles move and bunch against her cheek and side as he ran along with her.

Ranma was having his own issues at this point. Feeling Saya's body against his was intoxicating despite their intervening clothing and his tomcat side was acting up badly, his urges in that direction strengthened hugely by his being with Saeko. Yet it was that very relationship that gave him the strength to resist. Ranma refused to betray Saeko like that, and that thought allowed him to ignore his inner tomcat's yowling, regardless of his attraction to the girl in his arms.

After about ten minutes travel Ranma slowed to a stop above the electronics store, and put Saya down gently. He looked around the roof, making certain there was no threat or indeed anyway for anyone other than another marital artist to get onto the roof, then nodded. "Wait here for a second Saya-chan, I'll clear out the store then come back up for ya." Saya nodded, still blushing a little, and Ranma jumped down leaving her there alone to look out over the city and regain some of her usual composure.

Luckily there weren't any zombies or looters around outside, and he entered the store swiftly, the door making one of those irritating jangling noises. That roused the instincts of the two zombies inside, but as there were only two in the store he quickly dispatched them with a single blow to the head each. He stalked silently through the store making certain there was no one else around. After that he went back outside and brought Saya down into the store with him.

She tossed him one of the two backpacks that they had brought along, and pointed him in the direction of the batteries. "Double D batteries AA batteries, all the rechargeable ones you can find as well as a recharger just in case, as many regular batteries as you can too, as well as any and all flashlights, preferably LED outdoor types, as robust as you can find." she said by rote and then moved over to where there was a shelf of radios.

Saya looked around and found the one she wanted, one of those weird ones that had a battery inside but could also be powered by use of a crank, or even a small solar panel strip along the top. She hefted it frowning a little at the weight, but shrugged and stuffed into the backpack, then moved over to where there were walkie-talkies kits or four, and stuffed them in as well. They were the kiddy kind, simple to operate and with not a lot of range, but they'd be useful at least. Maybe they could eventually find some army depot somewhere, but for now they were good. Let's see, we've already got enough batteries for the computer, next we could use some tools, we lost all the ones Yuuki grabbed except for the second nail gun when we had to abandon the bus. She looked around for the tools section and found it in a display case by the stores bathroom.

As she opened the case to get at the tools within she looked up at a creak and screamed. "AHHHH!"

The door to the bathroom had opened and a zombie Ranma had missed, never even noticing the bathroom in his sweep came out lunging toward Saya. It was a girl, about her own age, wearing some kind of uniform and with a name tag on it. Evidently one of the workers had been bitten but got away to retreat into the bathroom but alas one bite was enough.

Before Saya could move it was on top of her, and grabbing and dragging her in to bite.

Before the zombie could drag her close enough to bite however Ranma appeared as if teleporting over the intervening distance, and a roundhouse kick slammed into the side of the thing's head, sending the entire body flying away. Ranma then jumped forward with both feet slamming down onto the thing's head crushing it before the zombie could try to get back to its feet.

With that done he ran back to check on Saya who was kneeling on the ground shivering in fear. Ranma gathered her into a hug and she clung to him desperately, trying not to sob in relief. One moment everything had been nice and calm, the next she had nearly died and been turned! It was moments like this that she realized she was never going to get used to this kind of life.

She clung to Ranma like he was her anchor, and in a moment of insight she realized that was indeed the case. He'd been there for her since the beginning of this whole thing, he'd been there before that, and now he was really the only lifeline she had. She wasn't quite ready to take up Saeko's offer of sharing him, but she was closer than she ever thought she would be to agreeing to something like that if it meant being close to him.

"Are you all right?" he said, his voice a deep rumble in his chest against her cheek, and she blushed heavily.

"I am now," she muttered then reached up and kissed him on the underside of his chin. Then she resolutely stood up out of his arms and gathered up the stuff she had been looting. "We need to get out of here, my scream will probably bring a few more of these things down on top of us we don't get out of here fast."

Ranma nodded grimly and ran back to pick up his backpack, already full of as many batteries of various kinds, chargers and flashlights as he could find, both large and small, enough to give each of them two apiece. He had also taken a power drill, and a few cell phones. While they wouldn't work on their own like the Kiddy radios that Saya had grabbed, they would still work for a while.

They met up at the front of the store and Saya was dismayed to see that she was correct, her scream had garbed the attention of several dozen nearby zombies and they were all shambling towards the store. Ranma frowned, put the backpack on his back and lifted her in his arms then raced out, turned and jumped onto the roof as soon as the cleared the little awning above the entrance. The weight of the bags and the girl didn't bother him much, and he landed easily on the flat roof. Even as more zombies congregated to the store he left away, keeping his leaps and footsteps as quietly as he could.

Within twenty minutes he was back on the street where Rika's apartment was, and within another minute he was leaping up onto the balcony as Rei and Takashi moved to either side, having kept watch on the apartment from there while the scavengers were away.

Ranma let Saya down onto her feet, dropping the backpacks into Takashi's waiting arms who grunted a little at the weight of them. "Any trouble out there?"

Ranma shrugged sardonically. "A bit of a zombie issue, the usual for these days."

Takashi grinned at him and Saya just shook her head blushing heavily as she remembered how Ranma had saved her and the little kiss she gave him after. "Baka," she muttered and walked inside.

Ranma looked after her quizzically. "Was it something I said?"

"Don't look at me, man," Takashi replied. "Women are a mystery to every man at the best of times, and that doesn't even consider the situation we're in."

Ranma nodded, "True that."

At this point Rei smacked them both upside the head and walked off in a huff.

The two men grinned at one another for a moment then Ranma became more serious. "Are you going to be good to go in a few hours, say around four or so? I don't want us to leave until Saeko and her group comes back, but after that we're going to book, and you'll have to direct me to your mother's elementary school."

Takashi nodded grimly, "I'll be ready."

Ranma nodded in reply, then turned as Yuuki came out of the sliding door to stand with the list in her hand. "You ready to go Ranma?"

Ranma gulped a little, seeing her in her new clothing. Yuuki was now wearing a pair of ripped Levi shorts that were just this side of decent, and a loose top that showed her midriff.

Yuuki smirked a little at the reaction she received from both boys, proof that even if he was devoted to Rei Takashi still had a pulse, and that even with him now being with Saeko she could still get a rise out of Ranma. After all, even if I've chosen not to go after him alone, that doesn't mean I can't have a little fun.

Ranma gritted his teeth and shook his head to override his inner tomcat's yowling for a moment. I am not going to jump her bones damnit, I'm with Sae-chan now, that's more than enough. After he was certain he had control of himself he nodded mutely.

The vixen grinned and leapt forward toward him and he caught her reflexively, not even grunting under her weight. Yuuki smiled saucily up at him then reached up and patted his cheek. "Come on hero, let's go."

Ranma fought back a growl and the desire to take this willing female then turned without a word and leapt onto the roof and away.

The two of them raced on towards the first of the shops that had the parts Yuuki needed to quiet the engine of the Hummer, but this time was going to be a little different. Most of these parts were large, many of them were heavy and all were cumbersome, therefore they'd have to make multiple trips even with someone of Ranma's strength doing the lifting.

They were also going to different shops, since no one shop outside of a single major automotive store on the other side of the river had all the parts they needed.

The store in question was about five blocks away from the electronic store Ranma had been to with Saya, and they found it easily enough, with Yuuki luxuriating in his grip and not at all unconsciously rubbing her breasts against his chest as they went along, simply enjoying teasing the hell out of him.

When he set her down onto her feet she could feel his 'reaction' to her teasing as she slipped down his body and found it very flattering in need. It feels as if Saeko wasn't exaggerating she thought to herself, a shiver of desire going through her, but she moved away, reminding herself of her desire to keep flirting with Kohta too so as not to mess with the group dynamic, but it was far harder to keep that in mind now.

Ranma, despite his physical reaction to the wench in his arms, had been able to control himself by remembering Saeko and their connection, and moved away from her quickly. Unlike the electronic store's roof, this one had a doorway leading down into the store, and he waved her over into a corner of the roof as he moved to the doorway, wrenching it easily off it's hinges and swiftly entering the darkness within.

Unlike the electronic store were there had been only a few zombies inside, this store had fifteen zombies scattered around the inside of it, and several of them heard the noise of Ranma's forceful entry and made his way toward them up the stairwell.

Ranma cursed a little but raced to meet them, his ki claws already out and shimmering along his fingers. The first three died before the others could respond, and moved on, but was mobbed by an even larger group the moment he opened the door on the ground floor. Despite their numbers and the close range Ranma was a whirling dervish, smashing them aside and slicing them into pieces while easily dodging their grasping hands and gaping mouths.

After the last zombie fell he moved towards the entrance to the actual garage section and found several more zombies there. With a dark smile of pleasure Ranma stalked the store clearing out the zombies and slaughtering them as he found them. After making a final walkthrough he turned around and exited the store the way he had broken in. "All clear Yuuki, let's go."

Yuuki nodded and followed him down, then began to immediately move around the storage area pointing out parts for Ranma to grab.

Ranma simply followed her orders, for a bit, moving the parts to a pile by the door, then looked askance at the large pile of stuff. "You sure ya need all this stuff?" he asked, being almost completely ignorant of anything to do with electronics or cars or anything of that nature.

Yuuki nodded grimly, "Yeah, I do. Modifying a military grade Hummer like Rika's isn't easy for a civilian to do, and trying to quiet the engine down while still letting the engine case retain its waterproof property is going to be tough. I'll need all these tools, and the parts we'll get from our next stop."

Ranma frowned a little but nodded then hefted some of the tools and boxed parts and shook his head. "I can carry all this but it's going to make a an unholy clang if I try to carry it all at once. I'll have to make three or maybe even four trips in order ta keep from making enough noise ta lead any of the zombies or other survivors back ta our base."

Yuuki nodded. "Do you want to carry me back first or let me stay here and go through the parts again?"

"Do you think you can find anything else we need here?"

Yuuki nodded firmly. "I saw a whole row of car batteries back there, we could use a couple of them, and we lost our power tools that I took from that first garage when the bus exploded." She snarled a little at the memory of that, all her hard work going up in flames.

Ranma nodded. "All right if you think you can look after yourself between my trips we'll do it that way. I'll carry this stuff up to the roof for now, if you can finish finding the batteries and tools ya need I'll carry it up, then ya can stay up on the roof with the rest until I come back for ya."

Yuuki nodded and they both split off. Ranma grabbed up the first few pieces and brought them up to the roof, returning to do the same again three more times. By that point Yuuki had brought two of the larger batteries she had seen in the storage room and he grabbed those and put them up on the roof as well, followed by Yuuki lugging a few of the heavier tools she needed to work on the Hummer.

Once they were there Yuuki went around double checking they had all the parts she wanted, and nodded at Ranma when she was done. "How do we want to do this?"

"I'll carry you back home now then come back for the parts and carry is much as I can without making a lot of racket."

Yuuki nodded and Ranma grabbed her around the waist and carried her back to the apartment, dropped her off and returned for the parts she had gathered.

By the time he was back with the second load she had already begun work on setting up a makeshift workshop, with Takashi following her around helping her set up an overhead light, a place for her tools by the Hummer's now open engine block and another place where he had placed the laptop so she could look at a schematic of the engine.

Ranma smirked at little at the blush that Takashi had on his face following the sexy petrol head around, a smirk that widened ever so slightly at the ferocious scowl he could see on his cousin's face as she stood watch on the balcony above.

After he was done transporting parts and tools Yuuki moved over to him, a second far smaller list of parts in her hand. Wordlessly Ranma picked her up and raced off over the rooftops, wanting to get this job done before Saeko and her team got back.

Yuuki again flirted with him for a bit, rubbing her tits against his chest as he carried her, and once more by the time they reached their destination he was sporting a very visible sign of his response to her.

Unlike the first shop this place didn't have a door leading inside from the roof, and Ranma left Yuuki there as he went down to the front entrance.

This store, and indeed the street outside looked to have been the site of a battle against the spreading zombie menace. there were dozens of bodies on the ground around the store and the intersection it was next to, including two dead policemen laying near a makeshift roadblock.

There were also at least twenty zombies moving around listlessly, many of them by the roadblock. Not enough to bother Ranma alone, even without his meteor hammer along (left behind because it clinked and he had to hold an end at least to keep it quiet) but taking them on and protecting Yuuki without making noise to draw in others in the area would be far more difficult.

We'll have to be as quiet as we can here, Ranma thought than moved over to the store. He didn't see anyone inside, and looked up as far as he could. While this door unfortunately had one of those annoying chime things it was a mechanical rather than electronic one.

Ranma gently eased the door open an inch, reaching up inside quickly to grab the little bell and hold it still. Then he opened the door, grateful there was no creak and went inside. He then removed the bell from the mantle of the door by ripping it out easily, a noise that elicited no response within the store or without.

There were several bodies inside, mangled and ripped to pieces, but only two zombies back in the garage area, and Ranma dispatched them with ease. Then he went back up and grabbed Yuuki, taking her down and in the store.

Yuuki immediately began ordering him around, pointing out parts to grab and pinching his ass whenever he bent over. This elicited a response a low growling sound from him that sent a shiver down her spine and caused her nipples to harden.

However even though she was doing this she was still able to go around and find the remaining parts she needed. That done she brought them out to the front of the store, piled them up there and then went back to grab some gas containers. By the time she did, Ranma had already moved the other parts up to the roof and come back.

When he saw what she was carrying Ranma cocked his head quizzically and she smirked at him. "I've got a credit card, so we can fill these up from a gas station, that'll save us some time later."

"Good, I'll fill 'em up some other time, let's get out of here, the number of zombies out there worry me and I want ta get ya out of here."

Yuuki nodded too but inwardly she was a little irritated that she wouldn't have any more alone time Ranma. To make up for this she jumped on his back as he turned to look at a zombie passing by on the street below them. He moved a little under her weight but that was all, and she wrapped her legs around his middle and ground her barely clad tits against his back making certain he felt her nipples, hard as pebbles, against his back. She whispered into his ear "Then let's go big boy."

Ranma twitched a bit and a low growl came out of him, but he still retained his self-control and the two left the store easily, with Ranma carrying both of the containers and not five minutes later they were back at the apartment complex and he dropped her on the pavement near the Hummer. It took Ranma three more trips to carry the stuff that Yuuki had grabbed this time.

Ranma jumped up to the balcony, keeping his inner smile to himself as he saw Rei's continued scowl. "Anything happen while we were gone?"

Rei shook her head, turning away from the view of Takashi following Yuuki's orders like some kind of hormonally driven obedient dog. "No, it's been really quiet over here. We haven't seen any zombies near here, but there's been some movement over by the river. We can't see much with the buildings in the way, but I guess most of the zombies around here have moved over there."

Ranma frowned a little, seeing that would probably make their eventual crossing of the river more difficult, but it worked in their favor right now.

Rei however had moved on to another topic. She looked around, making certain Alice was still downstairs, and then leaned in to whisper to her cousin. "Hey, look, I'm not unhappy or anything that you and Saeko are together or anything like that, but god-damnit keep that kind of thing to yourselves okay, don't fuck up the bathroom! Even after Saeko cleaned in there it still smells a little, even Alice could smell something 'fishy,' in her words."

Ranma flushed a little, then noticed that Rei was blushing, not with anger but simple embarrassment and he smirked, seeing a way to turn this back on her. "What's a matter cuz, ya jealous?" Rei's blush deepened and she glared at him, causing him to chuckle a little. "Well don't worry Rei, from how he looks at ya all ya gotta do is wink and Takashi will help ya shower or whatever ya want." Ranma wondered idly where this newfound confidence was coming from, but at the moment he just decided to roll with it.

"Fuck, I knew you were a pervert Ranma!" Rei hissed, backing away a little, her fist clenched, but her face was still red at the idea of being with Takashi like that.

It wasn't like she had never thought of it, but did she want to jump that far into a relationship with her childhood friend that quickly after he killed Hizashi before he could finish turning into a zombie? Despite what some people thought, she hadn't started going out with Hizashi just to twit Takashi for not pushing things, that was merely a bonus, she had honestly had feelings for him. The way he made her the center of his world and made her feel special was just what she needed at a very dark point in her life. How would it look if she simply forgot him and moved on quickly, especially since she was always comparing Takashi to him like she did last night?

Ranma noticed her faraway gaze and how she was now frowning and backed off. "Well I'll promise ta try and keep Saeko-chan's and my relationship to ourselves as best we can, but we don't exactly have a lot of privacy right now y'know?"

Rei came back to the here and now, frowning at what he had just said then sighed a little. "Just don't do anymore, well anymore anything like that in the bathroom or other place like that ok? If you have urges like that you can go next door for a few hours or something."

Ranma simply nodded agreement then turned to go inside and play with Alice, who had just run up the stairs followed by the puppy and Shizuka, smiling. She had been able to contact her friend again, but hadn't been able to set up a meeting with her. She ran up and grabbed Ranma into an exuberant hug. "Nee, nee, neko-chan, I called Rika-chan again."

"Oh, can she meet us here in a bit?" Ranma asked, his voice muffled as Shizuka had literally thrust his head into her massive chest, and he was in danger of suffocating.

Shizuka pulled back, pouting a little. "No, she's being kept busy being a, a special kind of shooter, you know the kind, they shoot realllllly far?" She spread her hands as if to indicate how far, her chest bouncing in response and Ranma forced his eyes to stay on her face. "She's over at the airport, and she's really busy. She and her partner are the only special shooter people on the island, so she's got to protect the entire place practically by herself! Oh, oh, but she thinks the idea of getting out to a island somewhere is a great idea, and she can't wait to meet up with us somehow down the road. She really wants to meet you neko-chan, I've told her all about your martial arts stuff, and Busujima-san, and Komuro-kun, oh and little Alice and…"

Rika was being kept busy as one of two snipers protecting the floating island Tokonsou International airport, which was situated about three miles out from the port. The port wasn't some kind of major traveling spot, but did a brisk business in bulk freight, while most of the civilian traffic came in at the airport and then over the massive bridge that linked the port with it. While Tokonsou wasn't huge like Tokyo or Kansai, it did have a lot of space to spread into, and had been growing in the past few years before this current crisis, making the airport an important public institution, thus it had an almost permanent SAT force to defend against terrorists.

At the moment Rika was too busy to even try and get away to meet up with them. She and her partner were the only snipers on the man-made island, and they were in charge of protecting all the outgoing flights carrying VIP's and normal civilians to a staging area elsewhere. With the land bridge there they were getting a pretty steady flow of zombies drawn from the noise of the planes taking off and hundreds had gotten onto the island before they could deploy to a defensive position.

By the time Shizuka finished explaining her friend's position Ranma noticed it was nearly 4 o'clock in the afternoon and Ranma wondered how the other scavengers were getting on. He trusted Saeko-chan to look after the others though, and turned back to play with Alice and the as-yet-unnamed puppy.

OOOOOOOOOO

Unlike Ranma who didn't have any problem moving across the city at will Saeko and her group were making very slow progress, moving from one hiding place to hiding place to another as silently as they could towards the grocery store that Alice had mentioned and whose position in relation to them Saya had figured out exactly using Google maps and the street view option.

They had to backtrack and move around several large groups of zombies, the smallest of which was 10 strong, and it took them several hours to get to the grocery store, by which time Ranma had finished with Saya and was halfway down his first stop with Yuuki.

The grocery store was a rather large one, nearly as large as the one whose parking lot they had stopped in to kick Shido and his burgeoning cult off the bus. Luckily it also had several windows looking inward, and they stared inside, seeing several zombies in view moving around. None were near the doors at the moment thought and Saeko looked at Kohta and Kyoko. "I'll take point, don't shoot with your guns unless you have to, we don't know how soundproof the walls are, just use the nail gun Kohta."

Kyoko nodded agreement while Kohta simply hung his head disconsolately. He knew that was true, but he really, really wanted to try out the guns he got in from the apartment. He also knew deep down that his main worth to the team was his ability to shoot, and their current ROE didn't let him use it.

Without further discussion Saeko moved toward sliding door, which thankfully didn't have a little jingle and the group moved into the grocery store the two gun carrying members following Saeko inside swiftly.

Saeko stalked through the store like a lion over the savanna, killing every zombie she came upon easily and efficiently with single blows from her katana, the katana she had gotten from her lover before they even became lovers.

Kohta alas was unable to stop himself and when two zombies came crawling out of the meat department at the back of the store and he reached for the Knights SR that he had brought along rather than the nail gun, turning and raising the rifle to his shoulder in the same motion.

The sharp recoil and the bangs brought a evil grin to his face and Kyoko frowned a little as she noticed it. She wondered what that smile signified, and was very much afraid that she knew. If Kohta had the same issue that she knew Ranma had, about violence and liking to fight, it might cause problems down the line when the smart thing was to run.

Here and now it had already caused problems, the retort of the gun having grabbed the attention of the rest of the zombies and they all moved toward them. Saeko scowled angrily at Kohta, who looked a little sheepish, but mostly unrepentant, the joy of finally shooting the guns he had taken giving him a little more courage. "Baka, you and Kyoko-sensei get behind the meat counter. Use the nail gun from now on, we don't want to make any more noise that could be heard outside!"

Kohta nodded and the two shooters moved to use the meat counter as cover while Saeko smiled a little as she saw twelve zombies moved down the aisles toward them. While Kyoko kept an eye on the door into the meat departments back room, Kohta fired at the ones furthest away and Saeko used the open space around the counter to slaughter the zombies that came toward her. That took barely fifteen minutes and Saeko frowned a little at how easy it was.

Kyoko noticed that frown, as well as the odd light in the swordswoman's eyes and groaned inwardly. Another one? Or is this simply a sign of the times, that you have to enjoy fighting to survive in this world? Regardless it's something I'll need to keep an eye on.

Saeko didn't know what the teacher was thinking and merely moved on with their work. "That will do. You two stay here, I'll make certain there aren't any more around."

Kohta nodded glumly, knowing he was being punished a little and castigating himself now that the euphoria of finally shooting a real gun again had passed.

Soon Saeko it cleaned out the entire store, and the trio moved into the backroom. This took them more time to clean off given its disorganized nature, but there were only two zombies in the workers cafeteria and Kohta dispatched them before Saeko could move.

After they were certain there was noon around and the zombies had been wiped out for now Saeko nodded. "All right," she said pointing at the boxes with labels she recognized coming from canned food (not a major source of food in Japan) as well as ramen. While having little nutritional value, the instant soup would be nice to have come winter and was easy enough to heat up even over a fire. "You two start gathering that up, as well as the packets of that Crystal Light stuff, we may get tired of plain water soon enough, then please search around for seeds for fruits and vegetables, and anything small you think we can use. I'll be right back, I saw something a while back that I think we could use."

The two nodded and Kyoko set down her nail gun (which she hadn't actually used) and began to pull stuff off the shelf and put them in the basket that they had grabbed. They brought several backpacks, but even with them their lifting capacity was limited. None of the three felt like trying to make multiple trips, it was simply too dangerous.

Kyoko moved around, frowning a little as she realized they probably should grab some bags of rice, but they would be very heavy, and rice cultivation was very land intensive. She wondered if it was worth it in the long run then shrugged and pulled down two large bags of rice, pushing them into one of the backpacks.

Saeko exited the grocery store quietly and went next door to a store she had noticed that sold luggage. She went inside swiftly, closing the door silently behind her, and looked around, noticing that there didn't seem to be any zombies in the store. She moved among the displays and looked at several large duffel bags, hefting them in one hand as she pondered which ones to grab.

She froze for a moment as she thought she heard something moving, but when she looked over where she thought the sound had come from she didn't see anything. Still she brought out her blade again and carefully dropped the duffel bags onto the floor. She slowly made her way around the store, keeping her eyes open and her senses alert.

She turned swiftly as a voice from the back of the store spoke, its tone an alloy of arrogance and lust. "Well what do we have here, a little hottie like you still alive and walking around alone, must be our lucky day."

Saeko turned around again swiftly, her sixth sense alerting her to movement from her right coming around one of the displays. She stepped to the side avoiding a blow that would've taken her in the back of the head from a bat coming from a large fat man. Her sword flashed out, actually slicing his arm off entirely and biting deep into his neck. The man went down with a gurgle and the man who had first spoken gaped in astonishment.

Saeko turned to him and smirked a little. "Two big, strong men like you have to gang up on little old me? Ahh well." she said, flicking her blade so that the blood on it flew off in red arc. She stalked forward like a hunting lioness towards the frozen man behind the register. "I certainly hope you'll put up more of a fight than your compatriot. There is no joy in slaughtering the weak."

The contempt she poured into that last word seemed to goad him into a response and he reached down and pulled out a shotgun from behind the counter. But before he could bring it around to aim at her she was right in front of him and her sword flashed out, slicing into his forehead and blinding him. He fell back with a scream, and she reversed her grip and plunged her blade into his chest. She pulled it out with a little bit of a smile. It didn't last however, as she had been telling the truth. There was no pleasure in killing the weak.

She moved around the register and into the back room, finding little of use but no one else either. She turned, grabbed up the duffels and exited the store moving back over into the grocery store.

Kohta looked up sharply as she stepped into the back room where he and Kyoko were still working, bringing his nail gun up reflexively then lowering it with a sigh of relief, "Any trouble?"

Saeko shrugged eloquently. "Nothing of consequence," she said smiling a little mysteriously. "Nothing of consequence."

Saeko was not prepared to share her brief moment of dark joy of the killing of the two would-be rapists with anyone save Ranma, and she would do that later that night. When she told him Ranma would in turn absolve her it, but caution her to not take too much joy in slaughtering the weak, reiterating that it was just not fun. It was better to have an opponent that was worth the name, or a fight that could get your blood pumping, which Saeko would agree with.

The trio of scavengers filled the new duffel bags, able to carry far more than they would have otherwise. Carrying the supplies and the need to avoid zombies slowed down their return greatly, but they at last made their way back around five-thirty that evening.

OOOOOOOO

The sun wasn't setting yet, but it would in a few hours and Ranma and Takashi left as soon as the group was back, Ranma wanting to see if they could pick up the trail of Takashi's mother, or at least what happened to her now. Even he didn't want to move around the city at night, as a lot of the ambient noise of the city disappeared at night even without a crisis going on, which would make it harder to avoid the zombies attention. Then too, he wasn't going to trust his eyesight or his hearing at night against the zombie's hearing.

"So how are you going to do this?" Asked Takashi.

Ranma shrugged "I'm going to carry you like I carry the others."

Takashi gaped at him. "Dude, that's kind of gay."

Ranma shrugged. "You can't keep up on foot and you can't roof hop yet."

"What do you mean yet," asked Takashi weakly.

"Don't worry," said Ranma grinning a little. "I'll get you all roof-hopping eventually."

Takashi groaned but got on the other boy's back. As soon as he did however Ranma shook his head, twitching a little. "Takashi I'm gonna just say this once, it's the first time I've carried a guy okay, so if anything, you know reaction wise, goes on due to friction or whatever, I am prepared to kick your ass into the river and leave you there ta die, got it?"

Takashi nodded agreeably. "That sounds perfectly reasonable to me."

"Good." Without further ado Ranma turned jumped up onto the roof and away.

The girls all looked at one another and then broke into giggles, except for Yuuki who looked off into the distance after them, a light blush on her face and a bit of blood coming from her nose. No one there knew it, but besides being a petrol-head she was also a closet yaoi lover, and the idea of Takashi being the uke and Ranma the seme fired her imagination. Luckily for both she knew better than to bring up even the idea. She shook it off quickly thought and went back to work on the engine with Kohta now helping her. Despite the time spent teasing him, which was really fun for her, they finished work on it in another hour, which turned out to be a very good thing.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

The trip to the elementary school took them 40 minutes because they had to cross the river first and then move on a diagonal from there towards the school. Unlike what they had expected there were no people on this side of town moving around, and instead there were a lot of zombies. It appeared as if the police's attempts to keep the zombie outbreak on one side of the river had failed miserably, and Ranma wondered how his mother aunt and uncle were faring. He was almost tempted to go look for them now, but knew it would be incredibly tough to find them, and with Takashi on his back a little too irritating too.

Takashi directed him the last few blocks pointing out the route and soon enough the two stopped on her roof right outside the elementary schools walls, staring down at it. It was a small elementary schools, with about six different classrooms on each floor of its two stories, an outer wall about normal head height, and a decent looking play area outside. At first they thought the kids were moving around outside, and were astonished to see it under these circumstances, but when they looked closer that astonishment turned into cold fury as they both noticed that the children were zombies.

"How are we going to do this?" Takashi whispered.

Ranma tugged at his pigtail thoughtfully. "I can jump to the wall and then to that tree by the building and up onto a window on the second floor. You know what floor your mother's room is on?"

"Second floor third from the stairs," Takashi recited by rote. "Do you honestly think she'll still be here with all the zombies around outside?"

Ranma shrugged. "She wasn't home dude, and if she's not here, where exactly do you think we should start searching for her?"

Takashi shrugged eloquently and Ranma nodded in turn. "Besides," he said looking at the front entrance which was shut tight. "That entrance is closed, who knows maybe they simply were able to fort up inside somewhere."

Takashi knew that was grasping at straws as did Ranma but neither of them mentioned it. Neither of them were willing to really face the truth, that possibly the entirety of the population of the school had been turned into zombies. If the school population here had panicked as much as the high school population had with them that was more than likely.

"Do it," Takashi said and Ranma nodded. Takashi got back onto his back and Ranma leaped forward onto the security wall around the school and then from there into a tree branch. The rustling leaves seemed to draw the intention of the zombies for a moment but they didn't wait around and Ranma jumped swiftly up onto the second floor. He held on their by his fingertips of one hand and smash the window with his other hand, causing the zombies from all around to stare up at them and move towards the building, mindlessly running into the side of it for a moment.

The two boys moved inside swiftly, and Ranma killed two zombies grimacing as he did, disturbed by their childlike appearance, before they moved out into the hallway beyond. From there Takashi took the lead with his bat, Ranma following close behind. Before they reached the door to the room Takashi had indicated however Ranma grabbed him and pulled him back.

Takashi looked at him and Ranma shook his head. "If your mother's been turned," he said softly, his eyes compassionate, "you don't want to be the one to do anything about it. I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy."

Takashi froze for a moment, images of his mother throughout his life superimposed on an image of a zombie and he shuddered, nodding reflexively. "If, if she, if she's like that give her mercy, please make it quick."

Ranma nodded grimly. Takashi waited for a moment as Ranma entered the room as silent as a ghost. A moment later Ranma exited the room his face grim.

"Well?" Takashi asked, his face already pale and drawn.

Ranma licked suddenly dry lips. "Short light brown hair cut down to her neck, wearing small glasses?"

Takashi nodded convulsively his heart breaking.

"I, I made it quick, I promise," Ranma said reaching out and grabbing his arm. Takashi's mother had been right by the door actually, surrounded by three zombie children who must have bitten her while she was trying to figure out what was wrong with them, or maybe defending her other students while they ran out the door. Ranma had made it quick as he could, a single blow to the head of each, but that was all he could do.

Takashi's legs went out from under them all his energy leaving him. Ranma stopped swiftly and scooped them up as easily as if he were a child, not wanting to linger here any longer. He raced back to where they had entered the school, and jumped down, easily evading the zombies and up onto the security wall then on up onto the rooftops as Takashi began to sob quietly as Ranma glared around him at the dying city.

Takashi's grief was interrupted however by some kind of noise in the distant sky, and suddenly all the lights, all the noise, everything electrical in the city suddenly stopped working. At the sudden cessation of background noise Takashi looked up, then, as Ranma set him down on a roof, looked around in shock. "What the heck happened?"

"I don't know, but it can't be good…" Ranma said, looking around worriedly. The two teens looked at one another, then without another word Takashi got onto Ranma's back and the martial artist took off as fast and as quietly as he could through the silent city.

End chapter

---

And here we have another chapter done. I have seen the latest chapter, and the mystery female shooter might be Takashi's mother, but that feels too much like a cop out to me. In a zombie story there needs to be some grief, and it can't all happen to near strangers or at the very beginning or off screen. So how will this change Takashi, what will he do now? And what will it mean to Saeko's parents and what happened at their mansion that the teens weren't there? And how will the group dynamic work out from now on?

Oh I decided no O.C.'s will be added for a long while, though I may add another male in five or so chapters. As always read and review, i want your opinions on what you think of the idea of them moving out onto the ocean.