Thanks for the reviews! I love feedback. I also love zombies. Yes. I intend to do horrible, vicious things to characters. * evil Grins * Here's your next chapter!

** ** ** ** ** ** Chapter 8: The Gathering Dead ** ** ** ** ** ** **

Kohta Hirano stood on the short walking bridge, his brows drawn together in a frown. They were surrounded. They had been hearing the dead all around them for over ten minutes. The group was very close to being completely overwhelmed by the dead.

Saeko was breathing hard, her bokken was dripping with the blood of the dead, her skirt, torn a bit at the back, showed a bit of her tight, fit thighs which were wet with sweat and the blood of her victims. A smile graced her lips, her cheeks were flushed slightly, as if in the throws of passion.

"They're getting a bit close for comfort." Saya said, nervously, she and Miss Marikawa were together, back to back. Miss Marikawa was holding her medical bag in front of her chest like a shield. Saya was holding a small bat, but it was still clean.

"We've got to get out of here." Hirano said, shaking his head. He was guarding the north end of the bridge, Saya the south end. Luckily, this was not a broad bridge, only two

abreast at a time could cross. It was an old bridge, it creaked as they stood on it, the wind brought relief from the stench of the walkers.

"Any ideas Takagi?!" Saeko asked, turning her head slightly as she downed another one. "We're getting overwhelmed here!" She slammed the bokken into the heads of two together, making a temporary block.

** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** With Takagi, Kouga, and Rei ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **

Takagi slammed his bat into the head of a zombie as it ran from the side of an alley. Rei gave a little yelp of surprise. Kouga laughed a little as he ran ahead, then behind them, clearing the way, leaving very little for the two high schoolers to do. Rei stabbed a zombie through the head as it ran from around a corner with a snarl.

"Hey, I thought we were heading to the shrine?" Takagi shouted to the speeding demon.

"There's something going on, the others are heading toward the other side of the shrine." Kouga said from the roof of a nearby building he'd run up the side of. "It's another group in clothes like yours. They're on a bridge but they're surrounded." He said, frowning.

"That's the others, Takagi!" Rei shouted to him, then raced toward the fight.

"Let's get them!" Takagi replied, racing toward where Kouga was looking.

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** Higurashi Shrine *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***

"Kagome, get your boys, we need to go get those students." Gabrielle called over to her, looking toward the mayhem on the walking bridge.

"Yeah. Let's go!" Kagome shouted, then paused, looking at Gabrielle. "My boys?"

"They're your team. They're all boys. They're your boys." Gabrielle explained as she grabbed a set of kodachi.

"They fight admirably." Sesshomaru said, smiling, eying the tall, black haired swordswoman.

"Let's do this!" Souta shouted, pulling the throwing knives he'd taken from his grandfather's room out of their pouch.

Sesshomaru leapt from the god tree and onto the gate, then to the nearest building Inuyasha followed him step for step. Miroku and Sango on Kilala flew toward the havoc. Kagome stayed behind to guard the compound with Kaede, Shippo and Souta. "Be careful. Don't get bitten." She said to Gabrielle as she sprinted past the gate.

"Duh." Gabrielle called back to her, running toward the group of people surrounded by the walking dead.

She pulled the .22 pistol from her waist holster, shooting twice, each shot a head shot. It was hard to miss with the short distance, a mere ten feet from the gate. Sesshomaru flew from building to buildng, Inuyasha behind him, as the trio flew directly above her on the cat demon.

"I'm running out of ammo!" Kohta shouted back to Saya and more importantly to Saeko.

"Completely out or just this set?" Saeko asked, downing another of the dead.

"Completely." Kohta answered.

Recognizing the direness of the situation, Gabrielle pulled the A.K. from it's shoulder holster two magazines were taped to the sides of the stock with paper tape for easy access, tossing it up like a spear at Inuyasha. "Inuyasha! Give this to the fat kid!"

Inuyasha caught the gun, then jumped toward the center of the bridge. He landed on the rail, shoving the metal thing at the fat kid with black hair. "Here." He said, frowning, as the boy's eyes lit up.

"That's an A.K from the American military! Holy crap!" Kohta grabbed it, chambered a round, and fired at a zombie over Inuyasha's shoulder. Inuyasha grabbed at his ears, recoiling from the incredibly loud bang so close to his head. Hanyou hearing was bad for this, he thought to himself as he turned and began slashing at the turned humans.

"Kohta, we have reinforcements coming! Watch your shots!" Saeko shouted across the bridge to him, eying the couple on the cat demon. The tall, silver haired demon that leapt from roof to roof also caught her eye, but her attention was divided between surviving and not killing friendlies.

"Roger that. I'm watching my shots." He shouted back.

"That's a 32 round magazine, kid! Count your shots! Extras are on the sides, you have that many to get you to the shrine complex!" Gabrielle shouted to Kohta, using her .22 to clear a swathe around her and toward the swordswoman.

Sesshomaru set down behind the girl-child as she finished downing another pair of enemies. "They just don't stop." She muttered to herself. Sesshomaru drew Tensaiga and stood beside the girl, ready to cut his enemies up. "Hello, stranger." She smiled over at the silver haired demon. Sesshomaru smiled back at her.

"You have great skill with the sword." He said, then proceeded to slice through four enemies at once.

"This is insane!" Takashi shouted, coming from the left. Sango used Hiraikotsu to knock about a dozen off of their feet, cracking heads against pavement before she caught the giant boomerang. Miroku jumped down from the air, stepping down onto the bridge, staff ready to defend the two in the center. The older woman with the outrageous body had him itching for just a touch.

"Careful!" Sango shouted, pointing to the side of the shallow river, the zombies were now coming from the sides.

Dozens, then hundreds were coming out of the surrounding houses, Rei was fighting back to back with Takashi, Kouga ran circles around the enormous swarm. They were surrounded on all sides. A little girl screamed from a balcony, her short pink hair was damp with blood. She screamed hysterically. Sango swept away, grabbing the girl by her shirt, pulling her up and away from the zombies coming out of the apartment.

"We've got to get back to the house!" Sango shouted, Gabrielle called out an agreement.

"Can everyone fit on Kilala?" Gabrielle shouted up to the hunter as she swung Hiraikotsu again.

Sesshomaru and Inuyasha ended up back to back, Sesshomaru's sword and Inuyasha's claws were making red arcs as they cut down enemy after enemy. But for every one enemy they disabled, two more took it's place.

"Tetsuaiga would be of great help at the moment, brother." Sesshomaru said to Inuyasha. Inuyasha snarled and drew the sword. When it didn't transform, he used it like a traditional katana. Slicing heads from bodies, the group was quickly finding themselves pushed to the center of the bridge. Takashi, Rei, Saeko, Kohta, Miss Marikawa, Saya, Inuyasha, Gabrielle, Sesshomaru, and Miroku were all together, trying to fight their way forward, in the chaos they'd fought to the center of the bridge only to find themselves trapped.

"Kilala can only carry three or four at a time!" Sango shouted, swinging Hiraikotsu down again, trying to clear a swath for her friends and the teens to move forward.

"Aim for their heads!" Saya shouted.

"I think we get that by now." Gabrielle shot back as she downed another three with well placed shots. "Sango! Grab the non-combatants, the two girls, and get them back to the compound, then come back. We'll make our way toward you!" She shouted up to the hunter.

"Ok. Girls, jump!" The girls jumped, Miss Marikawa grabbing on to the outstretched hand of Sango, who pulled her up. Saya grabbed Kilala's fur, holding on for a second before Sango grabbed her too.

"We'll be right back!" Sango shouted, speeding on Kilala toward the shrine.

"We won't make it.." Saeko said, frowning. She slashed again, and again another zombie fell.

"This is impossible." Gabrielle muttered to herself.

"Then it's time for my turn." Miroku smiled sickly, unwrapping the holy bindings on his hand. He opened the vortex, drawing the walking dead into it. Into himself. He drew, stepping forward. He walked, pulling the monsters into himself from the left to the right, ahead of them. The moaning, hungry, walking dead were sucked into the vortex. He walked forward, sucking in not dozens, but hundreds of what were once humans. As soon as the area was cleared, he wrapped the holy guards around his hand again before going onto one knee and vomiting.

He shuddered as he stood, and turned back to the others. "Let's get home." He said with a sad smile before turning away, toward the shrine. He took off at a run, the others followed, Sesshomaru leapt from building to building, Inuyasha following him, the others stayed on the ground and made it safely back into the Higurashi shrine complex.

As they reached the inside of the gates, Sango slapped Miroku. Tears were streaming down her face.

** ** ** ** ** ** ** AN ** ** ** ** **

Yup. A cliffie.

You know the drill, Read, rate, review. Until next time.

-and one more thing,