Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia or any of its characters or plot
Notes: This is going to be a Gong Show, also say hello to Randal's wife, Freya, Antonio's wife, Sara, and Ralph's wife Tiana. Also people have asked that I write a chapter more pertaining to the Reapers life, and their relationships with each other, also I have been asked to describe the history of the outbreak.
Hetalia ZOMBIE
Christmas, Gong Show, and History
The date is December 20th in California year 2015, five years after the zombie outbreak currently over seven million people still remain human worldwide. Among those seven million people, thirty-six people residing in one of the largest malls in California. Following a short war between the allied groups of the Reapers and the Comabatants, against the Hunters. News about them being very little, but still just as interesting as always, Elizabeta and Roderich finally being able to follow through on original traditions of marriage are engaged, and are scheduled to marry in two days. Elizabeta now eight months pregnant, bets are being made as to what gender the baby will be. Soon it was going to be Christmas and the entire country was peaceful except for the random group of zombies that didn't know how to leave people alone.
The mall was quiet, except the low humming of a familiar song echoing through the halls, no light shown through the halls except the light from the breaking dawn.
"You better watch out you better not cry Santa Claus is coming to town" a traditional Christmas song echoed through the halls and nothing disturbed it's clear rhythm until.
"AHH!" Alfred leapt out bed startling Belgium who Alfred now affectionately named Belana. The two often slept together which was a rich joke amongst the group, however the two never touched each other. "BLAST THIS CHRISTMAS MUSIC! It's cheerful and Triumphant" Alfred whined.
"Still quoting Jim Carrey from How the Grinch Stole Christmas I see" Matthew said entering the room a pillow enveloping his head covering both ears.
"Who Turned On This Crap Da!" Ivan said following Matthew into Alfred's room. "I hope it isn't you Alfred da"
"OF COURSE NOT!" Alfred replied annoyed. "WHY WOULD I WANT TO PLAY THIS IRRITATING STUFF, IT'S NOT EVEN THE CLASSICS, IT'S THAT RETAIL REPEAT CRAP!" Alfred continued ranting his reason for annoyance of the songs playing.
"Well let's find out who is then" Matthew suggested as he and the others left the room searching for the main office where the terminal to the intercom is. They were soon joined by Vash, Natalia, Im Yong Soo, Kiku, Yao, Arthur, Antonio, and Randal following them clubs, brass knuckles and any form of blunt weaposn they have on hand as they raced towards the main office. They rounded a few corners until they came across the door they finally wanted.
BANG! The group charged through the door and stood ready scanning the room for the unfortunate one responsible for waking all of them with crappy Christmas music. They finished scanning the room and stared at the one responsible but stared shocked as they found themselves facing.
"PETER!" everyone cried shocked to see Arthur's younger brother sitting at the desk looking back at everyone surprised.
"uh, hi" Peter waved. Everyone gripped their weapons so desperately wanting to deal punishment for their suffering, but no one, not even Ivan could find it in themselves to hurt and maim a young child. "W-what can I do for you guys?" Peter asked growing nervous at seeing all their weapons.
"TURN THAT CRAP OFF!" everyone yelled at the top of their lungs causing Peter to fall off his chair.
"O-okay" Peter stuttered back onto his feet and turned off the repeat discs that were playing the Christmas music.
"Finally" Alfred sighed relaxing now that the music that plagued his thoughts was now off. The group finally let out sighs of relief after finally being tortured to be hearing those songs. "How about some breakfast?"
"Good idea aru" China and the others said as the others nodded their heads in agreement. Berwald and Tino arrived to see the group leaving, and a near to tears Peter sitting on the chair. Berwald smiled when his and Peter's eyes met.
"Come here son" Berwald called and Peter rushed over into Berwald's comforting arms. "Don't worry about them, they weren't trying to be mean"
"Yeah, you can listen to that music all you want" Tino added. "just don't put it on the over head speakers"
"Anyway, it's breakfast time" Berwald said as he picked Peter up and walked towards the food court.
Arriving at the food court Peter, Berwald, and Tino sat down and watched as Matthew, Francis, Yao, and Feliciano worked away in one of the kitchens. Peter looked around to see that they were sitting near Ivan, Alfred, Arthur and Francis
"So" Peter began staring at Alfred. "I was wondering, how is it you guys met?" Peter asked as Matthew, Yao, Feliciano, and Francis where distributing food, and well within ear shot of the question. The question was also heard by all the others.
"Could you be a little more specific about the question" Alfred responded wanting to answer the question properly.
"Um, I wanted to know what you guys did in the past, and I want to know what happened during the Outbreak" Peter answered.
"You also want to know what caused the outbreak?" Alfred asked.
"Yeah" Peter answered. "I was only ten at the time of the outbreak and don't know any details about it, plus I was curious to hear your life stories" Peter said enthusiasm and pure zeal reflected in his eyes. Alfred and the others giggled, after seeing how interested Peter was how could they refuse.
"Very well" Alfred answered looking at the others. "Where shall we start?"
"Let's start off with your story da" Ivan said. "By the time of the outbreak I was still in Russia with my adoptive father General Winter"
"And most of us were in another country, or not near the starting point of the outbreak" Yao said.
"Alright" Alfred answered. "So how should I start, okay so it was the summer of 2010" Alfred began.
Alfred's and Matthew's past a little over five years ago
It was the year 2010 summer time, school had just started up again, but this time it was the first year for Alfred F. Jones in a college in Sacramento California. He had just stepped out of his father's car and onto the grounds for the first time, though he has been here before during his application, and for tours but even then it still feels new to him.
"Welcome to hell" Alfred said to himself as he started walking towards the campus. As Alfred kept walking he walked by several groups of people and all of them revealing their clichés. The Goth's in one group, Greasers in another, Nerds lined the wall left of the main door, Jocks line the wall to the right laughing and pointing at the nerds, loners scattered about not paying attention to anyone or anything that didn't involve them. Alfred also eyed groups of normal people just sitting at a table or standing in a group talking to each other not bothering anyone around them, but however no matter how normal they seemed it didn't seem to protect them from the bullying caused by the Jocks and the Greasers. "Bullying" Alfred whispered to himself, "Such a pathetic way of life". Alfred had never liked bullying, not so much because Matthew his twin brother had suffered bullying time and time again, though it was a huge contributing factor. To Alfred Bullying just demonstrated a weak personality that needed to put down others just to have 'Fun' or to feel 'Better' about themselves or to 'Escape' their pathetic lives. Truth be told most of Alfred's world fell apart when he was separated from Matthew, Matthew wasn't much of an interesting brother in Alfred's opinion, but Matthew was like the weak little child that would have a weak constitution but with a big heart, Alfred had a stronger body but had little strength in the ideals and morals department, which Matthew seemed to provide in Alfred's life. Alfred had even made fun of his brother for some of his ideals, but Alfred would never chastise Matthew, nor insult him about it. Alfred quietly went to home room class got his locker number and locker combo. He proceeded to go to his locker when he came across a large group of people circled around something, laughing and tormenting whatever was going on.
"Come on puck put up a freakin fight will ya, I'm startin to get bored" Alfred recognized it as bullying, he didn't want to get involved and only walked past.
"P-please s-s-stop this" a weak voice barley reached Alfred's ear, the voice sounded in pain which undoubtedly meant that the bully was fighting a nerd or someone who didn't stand a remote chance against the bully. "Typical" Alfred whispered to himself.
"Ah, is the little baby about to cry" the bully Alfred heard continued to mock the unfortunate soul. At this point Alfred had a flash back as to when Matthew was getting bullied by three other boys, Matthew had never wanted to fight, and didn't even have the physical strength or stamina to fight properly. That mockery was very similar to the one used on Matthew many times, especially when Alfred got there in time to protect his brother.
"Finish that pathetic fool off" another voice cried, Alfred assumed that it came from a follower of the bully, or the bullies 'master' if you would. As Alfred continued to hear the cries and pleas from the unfortunate person, Alfred began to heavily contemplate getting involved. Alfred walked into the circle of people and slowly pushed his way past people until he was in clear view of the circle. He found himself staring at a Greaser like character standing over a young normal boy, the victim didn't look anything special, and neither did the greaser but however it pained at Alfred's heart to see this.
"Why don't you leave the poor guy alone" a stray voice from the crowd caught Alfred's ear. A young man with thick blonde hair stepped out of the crowd and Alfred recognized him immediately.
'MATTHEW!' screamed in his mind. 'That's not possible he should be in Canada!'
"Aw, and what are you going to do little twerp, you gonna stop me?" the bully got into Matthew's face.
"Maybe" Matthew calmly answered.
"Oooh" the bully let out a mocking cry.
'Are you CRAZY' Alfred continued to think.
"And how are you going to do that huh? Where ya from?" the bully asked.
"What does it matter?" Matthew asked not really understanding why it made a difference where he was from. But Alfred could venture a guess, the bully was probably looking for something to insult Matthew over just like his first victim.
"Where ya from?" the bully asked but this time more forcefully.
"I'm from Canada, what difference does it make?" Matthew asked back being serious.
"Oooh" the bully continued to mock. "You from that sissy nation Canada, HAHA! Canada what a joke" the bully continued to mock. Alfred however felt a slight wave of annoyance wash over him, there was nothing wrong with Canada it was a great nation. Granted it wasn't as powerful or as influencial as the U.S but Canada has been a loyal and unwavering ally to the United States for centuries. The only conflict they have had was when the U.S made a deal with Napolean and attacked Canada in 1812, which ended up with the burning of Canada's capital then, which Canada retaliated by burning down the U.S Whitehouse. Of course Canada and the U.S still had their disagreements but it didn't go beyond that a disagreement. Some examples where the Vietnam war, Canada didn't participate in that, and the current Iraq war Canada wasn't involved in that either. Canada also was against the blockade of Cuba, because Canada had great relations with Cuba, and still do.
"Oh, I have to ask, how much resistance can we expect when we invade your pathetic nation. Do you guys even have an army?" the bully continued to mock.
"Yes" Matthew answered showing signs of irritation.
"Oh, that's rich, so if we see someone in a red uniform riding a horse we can kill them and wipe out your pathetic military" the bully continued to mock.
"Wrong" Matthew spoke up. "The people in red are the Royal Canadian Mounted POLICE! They aren't a military force". Alfred was beginning to wonder whether this bully even knew a thing about other nations. Canada didn't have much of a military yes, but even then it still was a good military, Canada had proved that during the first and second world wars. Again the U.S had a larger military but that made sense to Alfred cause the U.S had over three hundred million people, Canada on the other had barley had thirty-five million people. Plus the U.S is spending Billions if not trillions into their military while Canada didn't spend anywhere near that much.
"So what" the bully continued. "You still are a pathetic nation, what are you gonna do if we invade you, NOTHING that's right because you guys don't have the ability to repel us" the bully continued.
'Someone want to remind me how this became a discussion about countries military strength?' Alfred asked himself wondering how it came to this subject.
"We don't need to do anything" Matthew continued. "Because if you do attack Canada you will end up having the whole world against you."
"HAHAHAHA" the bully laughed. "That's rich, so tell me how is it that the WHOLE WORLD is suddenly gonna declare world on our great nation because we decide to take over one pathetic excuse of a nation?"
"That's actually quite simple" Matthew answered. Alfred suddenly became interested in what Matthew had to say, though Matthew wasn't the strong one, he was most often the smart one between them, and it intrigued Alfred to see what Matthew had to say. "First off, England wouldn't stand for it" Matthew held up a hand and began listing off nations. "France not liking you probably would join England against you" the bully scoffed obviously thinking that England and France alone posed no threat. While Alfred did agree to an extent England, and France alone would still be a bother to deal with, major threat or not. "Now let's see Cuba would also jump at the opportunity to fight you" Now that Alfred couldn't disagree with. "Also along with Britain and France the Commonwealth would also fight you, which I hear is made up of several other countries" Alfred smiled continuing to listen. "Russia definitely wouldn't let you have your way, for a number of reasons" Matthew continued. Alfred couldn't disagree with that either. "China doesn't like you either, Japan isn't going to follow you if you decided to do something like that" Alfred wasn't sure about the Japan part, but he could see Japan negating their alliance because of such a reason, so Alfred wasn't going to argue about it. "I don't know about Germany and Italy, but seeing as you would be doing something very similar to what Hitler did in 1939, I would assume that Germany and Italy would get involved. You would also invoke the wrath of the Netherlands, and Holland" Matthew continued. "Plus I'm sure Ukraine would get involved".
"Ukraine? What the hell could Ukraine do?" the bully asked.
"Didn't you hear Ukraine has close ties to Russia, and if Ukraine wants to support Canada, it wouldn't be a stretch to say that Russia would support Ukraine." Canada then paused signifying that he was finished.
"I grow tired of this crap, anyway, what are you gonna do to stop me beating this fag" the bully gave the victim a sharp kick. "And what are you gonna do to stop me from beating you? You gonna throw Maple Syrup on me?" the bully mocked.
"That's actually not a bad idea" Matthew said, he reached for a side pocket and pulled out a small container holding a tan liquid in it. Matthew quickly popped the top off and sprayed the contents onto the bully, the bully staggered back after receiving a face full of maple syrup. Alfred suppressed a giggle. Some of the crowd surrounding them laughed at this, but it didn't settle Alfred's nerves in that Matthew was picking a fight with the wrong man.
"YOU PUNK!" the bully yelled throwing his fist at Matthew, Alfred held his breath. Matthew sidestepped the punch and grabbing the bully's arm he threw the bully onto the ground. Alfred sighed with relief but stared in shock as a fist came out of no where and connected with the back of Matthew's head. Matthew staggered forward until he landed in the arms of some people, but Alfred could tell right away that they weren't in a helping mood. The crowd threw Matthew back into the circle where now two bullies where waiting for him. Matthew found himself getting hit several times but this time, being thrown into Alfred's direction. Alfred stepped forward and caught Matthew with relative ease. Matthew waited a few seconds expecting to get thrown, but when he wasn't he looked up to the one holding him, only to stare into the bright blue eyes of his twin brother.
"Hey bro" Alfred smirked, by this time everyone in the circle was dead silent. "Whatcha doin?, picking fights like always?"
Matthew smiled back at his brother's choice of words. "I had to learn to stand up for myself without you" Matthew answered.
"Looks like you found yourself another bully" Alfred glared at the bullies in the middle of the ring.
"Yeah, say do you feel like helping me bro?" Matthew asked.
"Of course what brother would I be if I didn't" Alfred answered.
"Aw, so you gonna get your big brother to help you now" the bully mocked.
"Big brother? Last I checked twins didn't have a big or small" Alfred replied killing the bully's insult. The bully now enraged lunged at Alfred, who stopped the man dead cold. "Oh, is that all?" Alfred asked mockingly after gauging the bully's strength to be rather miniscule compared to his. "I was hoping for more" Alfred threw the bullies arms up in the air, and punched the bully in the face forcing the bully to hit the ground hard. The second bully jumped at Alfred, only to have Matthew's fist connect with the bully's face, the bully staggered, and when he regained his vision, the next thing he saw was Alfred's and Matthew's shoes connecting with his chest and face.
After that the bullies didn't get back up, and after helping the victim, and after a long talk with the principle, Alfred and Matthew returned to their regular school. Alfred joined the Football team, and Matthew was part of the sports medicine program.
After three months of peaceful school life news began to spread of a mad doctor who was researching viruses, which of course made health officials, and country security uneasy. They tried to find the doctor but without success, though rumors and news of the man died down a month later, it would be the source of talk and destruction the following month.
Matthew and Alfred had just finished another class, of science, when suddenly a cry of terror echoed through the halls. Running towards the area where the scream came from Matthew and Alfred dashed through halls, and corners until they came to the main lobby where some people where running and screaming. Alfred and Matthew found themselves facing a staggering female student whose skin now matched concrete grey, black ooze dripping from her mouth, her eyes matched the metaphor "Empty shell".
"What's going on here" Matthew asked out loud as both he and Alfred took a step back, keeping some distance between them and the student who was acting creepy.
"No idea" Alfred answered as they both increased the pace of their strides. "Either way, RUN!" Alfred cried, creeped out of his mind, and not wanting to stay and figure out what was wrong with the girl.
Alfred and Matthew ran down several hallways, only to come across several more students running a different direction. Stopping momentarily to see what was wrong they spotted several more students, but this time some of them looking like older adults, in the same "empty" condition as the first girl they met.
"Um," Alfred hesitated now, growing confused, and officially creeped out. "This way" Alfred tugged on Matthew's sleeve leading his brother away down a different path. They passed several more doors until they came to the Physical Education area, stepping through a door they entered a large gymnasium. Alfred looked around and spotted the door storing the sports supplies. Alfred rushed at the door and launched a desperate kick into the doors wooden frame. Though the door itself was thick and heavy, the hinges where old and gave way after Alfred's kick. The door staggered and flopped to the ground. Screams continued to echo throughout the school as Alfred and Matthew rushed in and grabbed anything useful. Alfred grabbed a couple metal Baseball bats, a cricket club, and a hockey stick. Matthew grabbed a javelin, a discus, a large cloth strap, and plopped a metal ball inside it, Finally Matthew grabbed his Archery club's Bow, and with it a quiver with easily a hundred or so arrows. Not satisfied with just that Matthew quickly strapped on a second quiver. Alfred turned to Matthew seeing he was ready to go, as they were about to leave, several other students rushed into the gym with two of those creepy people behind him. Matthew trotted forward with the sling and metal ball in the sling, spinning around building momentum for the ball, but slow enough to keep his aim good. Matthew let the ball loose on the first person, where the ball collided with the "creepy" persons chest. Matthew and Alfred heard the sickening crack of the persons rib cage, by now both Matthew and Alfred where expecting the people to snap out of their "Creepy" phases or imitations and start screaming about being assaulted. But surprisingly it never came, the "creepy" person who had their rib cage crushed just stood up again slowly and began staggering their way towards Matthew and Alfred. The group of students who the "creepy" people followed in where freaking out.
"What Are They!?" a girl screamed as she saw one of the creepy people continue towards them after having their rib cage broken like it was nothing.
"T-th-they're like zombies man" a male quivered.
"Zombies?" Alfred asked himself. "That's impossible"
"Impossible or not bro these guys fit the image perfectly, and not only that they are still moving without a problem even after I crushed one of their rib cages" Matthew said dropping the make shift sling, and picked up the discus. Matthew wound up his arm with the rubber disc in his hand, letting the rubber disc soar Matthew couldn't aim properly, but he still hit the second zombie dead in the neck, though Matthew was aiming for the zombie's face. The zombie croaked signifying that it's windpipe was crushed. But the zombie still staggered towards them. Alfred quickly forgetting his shivers of creepiness Alfred ran up to the closest zombie which was the one with its rib cage broken. Alfred took the hockey stick and clubbed the zombie in the head with the base of the stick blade, the zombie staggered back, and Alfred hit it a second time. This time the zombie fell and Alfred proceeded to repeatedly club the zombie's head, after four more hits to the zombies head, Alfred turned his attention to the second zombie. Alfred quickly dealt a few blows to the zombie's head, he effectively crushed its skull.
"Come on, let's go" Alfred said now desperately wanting to get off the campus and into safety back at his house. Alfred and his father lived nearby allowing Alfred to stay at home, but Matthew stayed on campus, because their father wouldn't allow him to stay. It didn't bother Matthew much as he had already paid for a dorm with some under the table help from Alfred. Alfred ran holding his brother's hand dashing through hallways, and through doors until they came to the front of the campus and what they saw shocked them. Students where running left and right screaming, Alfred and Matthew could distinguish groans and moans from random directions. Matthew and Alfred couldn't see clearly what was going on, but they could tell that the problem was already spread throughout the entire city. Matthew looked to his right to see a few college students being pursued by a zombie, Matthew instinctively grabbed an arrow, notched it into his bow. Taking carful aim as to not miss or hit anyone else, Matthew released the arrow, the arrow soared flying past college students and a teacher before embedding itself into the zombies head. "Nice aim bro" Alfred commented. "Come on let's go" Alfred didn't want to stay and deal with every zombie that came their way, and in such a panic Alfred didn't want to be anywhere near here either. Grabbing Matthew's arm and pulled in into a run, leading them both in the direction of Alfred's home.
Alfred and Matthew stopped randomly to shoot, and beat zombies that came close to them, Alfred dealt close quarter combat, and Matthew long range attacks. As they continued they found themselves crossing streets littered with bodies of normal people having been bitten, and chewed out by zombies, and ever so randomly a dead zombies body laid it's skull either crushed or blown off most likely from a gun, and a powerful one at that.
"Almost there" Alfred said as he and Matthew turned onto another street littered with bodies. But unlike the others this street was quiet. Too quiet. "I'm getting that eerie feeling ya know?"
"I feel it too" Matthew said as the two walked slowly down the street. Stepping over bodies Alfred and Matthew continued to listen cautiously for any sounds or evidence of hostile beings nearby.
"WHOA!" Alfred let out a yelp as he tripped over a dead body, Alfred's yelp made Matthew jump, quickly drawing an arrow notching and firing in what seemed like a second, the arrow embedded itself in the head of the dead body. Matthew let out a sigh when he finally realized that Alfred just tripped.
"Ah, jeez Alfred don't do that" Matthew let out an exasperated sigh.
"Sorry" Alfred apologized quickly.
"How much further?" Matthew asked.
" A couple blocks" Alfred said, the two completely forgot their eerie sensations after that ironic moment. "Where is everyone?"
"Aside from all over the place?" Matthew answered and asked at the same time, staring at a long red stain on the street, indicating that someone was dragged away while bleeding heavily.
"Yeah, but I also mean, where's the police, the army, where are the people who were able to grab a gun before getting killed?" Alfred asked looking around. Matthew had to agree, not one of the bodies that littered the street had a bullet wound on them, and on top of all that, not one of them was holding a weapon or a gun. Alfred suddenly came to a stop "There it is".
Matthew looked to see a tall brown apartment complex where Alfred and his father lived. The building itself was old, but Matthew had taken a look inside and it wasn't that bad, except for the fact that his dick of a father lived there. "You go on in, I'll wait out here" Matthew said, not wanting to confront their father, as he kicked Matthew out immediately, and often kicked out Alfred, but would at least let Alfred live there.
"Don't be stupid" Alfred responded by grabbing Matthew by the collar of his jacket and began dragging Matthew into the building despite Matthew's protest. "Tenth floor come on."
Matthew and Alfred quickly found a stair case and ran up the stairs passing several doors, and signs along the way. Almost now thoroughly exhausted running up all the stairs, they finally came to the entrance way for the tenth floor. Alfred opened the door, his hockey stick at the ready but there where no sounds coming from the hallway, feeling safe about moving into the hallway, Alfred and Matthew stepped into the hall. Alfred went ahead first treading cautiously as to not make any sounds to attract unwanted attention. Turning left they moved down the hall until Alfred stopped in front of a door with the number 1012 on it. "Ready bro" Alfred nodded to Matthew, and Matthew nodded back. Alfred turned the knob on the door, and found it to be unlocked, turning it further the door clicked open and Alfred pushed the door open slightly and peered inside. Hearing and seeing nothing, Alfred pushed the door open the whole way and stepped inside.
"A-Alfred, M-M-Matthew" a groggily voice came from the kitchen. Alfred and Matthew jumped at hearing the voice, but realizing that it probably wasn't a zombie, they walked towards the voice. Stepping into the kitchen Alfred and Matthew poised to strike at anything that would attack them, but when they entered the kitchen Alfred and Matthew looked on in shock to see their father sitting against the fridge his stomach seemed to be slashed open by a knife or a larger bladed weapon. Alfred dropped the stick and knelt down beside his father, Matthew stared in horror. "A-Alfred, Matthew I'm glad your both alive" their father said weakly.
"What Happened!?" Alfred cried seeing his beloved father nearly ripped in half and still alive in front of him. Matthew was speechless.
"I-I w-was working f-for the FBI to find the mad s-scientist that w-was creating viruses" their father explained, and both Alfred's and Matthew's eyes lit up in shock.
"Y-you where working for the FBI!?" Matthew said shocked.
"Yeah, I kicked Alfred out a lot, b-because, I w-was meeting w-with followers and c-colleges of the s-scientist" Their father continued. "I d-didn't want you here t-to come to da-danger as well. The FBI knew I-I had a son, I d-didn't tell them I had t-two sons" their father continued. "I d-didn't tell them what you guys d-did so they wouldn't be able to find y-you".
"But wait, i-if they knew Alfred was your son, then they would be able to find him at school" Matthew said.
"No, I t-told them, that I was more than willing to h-help, but they had t-to leave my son out o-of it" their father said hacking weakly. "They didn't follow, a-and I m-made sure of it, because, I h-held a lot of i-information on them, and I th-threatened to go to the FBI, if th-they touched you".
"But you are the FBI" Alfred said.
"They didn't know that" their father answered. "T-The scientist w-went even crazier, and r-released the virus" their father explained. "The v-virus is airborne but c-can only stay al-alive in the air f-for at l-least seven hours. From th-there it must find a host, and it will continue t-to spawn more until it can mutate t-the host. From th-there the virus can't be-become airborne, it needs to b-be transferred by b-blood, or e-exchange of fluids, s-such as bite".
'And many other types of fluids I'm betting' Matthew thought to himself.
"How, do you know all this?" Alfred asked.
"I-I was helping the mad scientist p-plan the outbreak, o-only I w-was going to h-have him stopped b-by the time we knew wh-when" Their father answered, then he quickly began fumbling with his pocket pulling out a set of keys. As Alfred and Matthew observed the keys, their father shakily gave the keys to Alfred. "Th-these g-go to that cabinet o-over there" their father pointed to a black painted oak cabinet on the far wall in the living room. Then their father grabbed both Alfred's and Matthew's collars as he tugged them closer to his face. "Wh-what's in there, i-is equipment to h-help you su-survive, and two of them a-are gifts f-from your grandparents f-from both y-your mother's and m-my side, take care of th-them, and s-save all th-those you can" Both Alfred and Matthew could feel their father's breath grow weaker as his life began to fade away. "And b-be careful, there are m-more than just zombies o-out there now".
"What do you mean?" Alfred asked.
"There's more than one type of virus?" Matthew asked.
"Y-yes" their father wheezed. "V-viruses that ma-make deadlier creatures and mu-mutations than just zombies. This v-virus was just the initial release, th-the rest will, be released, on other countries and times" Their father explained. "I-it doesn't mean th-that those o-other abominations w-won't show up here, i-it just means that there will be fewer o-of them." Alfred and Matthew felt their father grip tighter on their collars. "Survive, S-save this w-world, k-kill Dr. Vistan, a-and rebuild thi-thi-thi..." Their father let out one last breath before his arms went limp. Alfred stood the keys clutched in his hand, both brothers looked at their father one last time saying a quick silent prayer before turning towards the cabinet. Alfred tried several keys before finally finding the key that unlocked the cabinet, as Alfred opened it they found themselves staring at several cases they too were locked, but above them were two coats. One of the coats was a dark brown leather bomber jacket with a inscribed Fifty on the back, with fur lining the rims of the neck and the wrists, and emblem of the U.S Flag sewn onto the right shoulder of the jacket. The second jacket was a light brown long coat, made of heavy canvas, and fleece material, and emblem of the Canadian flag sewn onto the right shoulder of the coat. Alfred and Matthew took a minute to observe the coats before moving onto the cases that were stacked below. Alfred unlocked them one at a time, and found several items ranging from books, to solar panels, knives, and modern military clothing including armor. Alfred then unlocked one single case, and in that case was a small folded sheet of paper. Slowly Alfred unfolded the paper and found writing on it, holding it up to his eyes, he began to read the letter out loud.
"Dear Alfred, Dear Matthew, if your reading this odds are I'm dead or dying, it pains me to say this but I had a feeling that something bad would happen that would spell apocalypse for the world. I don't have much to offer you, and I also know that the consequence of my line of work would cause me to be a terrible father often to the both of you. There is nothing I can write, say, or express to my regret that I had to shove both of you away to hopefully keep you two safe from the man who threatens the world. These coats that you see were coats worn by your grandfathers during the second world war, a famous Air Force pilot in the American military, and a famous Shock trooper in the Canadian infantry. These coats had been to me the greatest symbol for me and my family, the true companionship of America and Canada. But in the world that will be created by Dr. Vistan and his mad followers, Dr. Vistan is a man who wants to tear down the world we know and rebuild it in his image, with him as the Saviour, or God of the new world. I can't ask you to fight a battle that you had no part of, but if I have failed then I am all out of options but to pass on the fight to the next generation. But I am pained even further to have my two most precious sons being forced to clean up the mess I failed to stop. So I have no choice but to say that I will not force this job onto you, and I do not desire you to fight a battle that was never yours. The choice is now yours my sons, but always remember that no matter the choice you make, I am still proud to be your father, and proud to know that you will all continue even after I have gone, with that I close this message with the words I have been dying to say all these years. I love you both with all my heart my sons."
Alfred closed the letter tears forming in his eyes, Matthew too near crying, their father a man of more questions than answers, and a man who would never even express the slightest form of love to either of them especially this past year. Had just written a letter that meant more than everything they could possibly think of. Matthew and Alfred quickly selected a jacket and wore it. Alfred the bomber jacket, and Matthew the long coat. After changing out of their regular cloths and into their military outfits that their father had supplied, they picked up everything they needed, and turned to leave when a deep moaned echoed from the kitchen. Alfred and Matthew peered into the kitchen to see their father standing and staggering, Alfred and Matthew didn't know what to make of it until they saw their father's eyes. His eyes were pure white reflecting a shell of a body with no soul or will of it's own, their father had been infected and turned zombie. As their zombie father staggered towards them Alfred turned to Matthew with tears still in both their eyes.
"I knock him down and you shoot?" Alfred suggested. Matthew took a quick second to understand what his brother was saying and nodded. Alfred quickly picked up the hockey stick he still had with him, with quick steps and strength Alfred swung his hockey stick as hard as he could clubbing their zombie father in the head, there zombie father staggered back, while Alfred ducked giving Matthew a clear shot at their zombie father. Matthew let an arrow loose as Alfred ducked, the arrow whistled over Alfred's head and found its mark in their father's skull, killing him instantly. Alfred and Matthew stood at the door way taking one last look at their father before leaving.
"Goodbye father"
"Goodbye father" they both said in unison as they turned to leave.
Fifteen minutes later Alfred and Matthew stood a block away from the building where their home was now slowly being engulfed in flames. More tears crept down their faces as they watched the flames reach the tenth floor. Matthew and Alfred did nothing as the building continued to burn illuminating the now night sky. Finally turning to leave, both of them said one last silent prayer for their father before they silently promised to not look back.
Present time
"Wow" Peter said wide eyed. Others had now joined around the table to hear the story on how the outbreak started, while this was news to most of the group it was old news to the original nine members of the Reapers. "What about your stories?" Peter turned to Arthur, Francis, Ivan, Yao, Kiku, Ludwig, and Feliciano.
"Our stories da?" Ivan asked slightly surprised that anyone was interested in his past.
"Yeah big brother Ivan, what happened to you during the outbreak?" Peter asked. Ivan looked slightly surprised and proud that Peter was calling him big brother.
"Well, I wasn't in North America at the time, I was in Russia with my adoptive father General Winter da" Ivan answered.
"Well, how did you get here then?" Peter asked.
"Well, how should I start da. Um, well, from what I know of the time frame, it had been three months since the outbreak. And since that time all of North America, and most of South America had lost contact with the rest of the world. Every nation stretching from Austrailia to Russia, and Portugal to Japan was on high military alert fearing attack from North America or some unknown power that was able to silently defeat North America in three months." Ivan began. "Just shortly before the outbreak my sisters Katyusha, and Natalia had moved to the U.S for school, while I was still in Russia for military instruction. But after contact had been lost, I looked for any opportunity to head to the U.S to find out what had happened. And I did find the chance, the Russian military was sending a reconnaissance to the U.S to find out what happened, and I begged with my father to go, and he agreed." Ivan continued.
Ivan's past, his entry to America
Ivan was sitting next to thirty other Spetznaz soldiers currently riding a cargo plane heading for the U.S. But however they were only a few miles from the border and they hadn't gotten any response from the ground, not even aircraft had come to greet them, or turn them away. There was no sign of life coming from the U.S. But that didn't stop the Russians from going in to find out what was wrong, though Russia and U.S weren't on the greatest of terms, if something happened to the U.S the rest of the world wanted to know about it.
"You ready Ivan?" a soldier asked Ivan.
"Yeah, I'm ready da" Ivan answered.
"Good, were going to jump in a minute, so I just want to know if you are going to change your mind?" the soldier asked. Ivan looked annoyed and confused.
"Why would I change my mind da?" Ivan asked.
"I know your looking for your sisters sir, but if something where to happen to you, it would be a big blow to General Winter sir" the soldier said.
"I wanted to come, and my father agreed da. I'm not about to change my mind da" Ivan said heatedly.
"I meant no offense sir, I'm just worried about what would happen if we fail to protect the great General's son" the soldier said.
"Well, don't" Ivan said his tone softening slightly. "I can take care of myself, and should anything go wrong, and I die, it will force Russia to attack the U.S" Ivan said.
"I guess so" the soldier said, then suddenly an alarm went off, signalling that it was time to jump. "Well, let's go then." The soldier said as they approached the aft ramp. Getting a green light all thirty-one soldiers jumped and down onto American soil. It didn't take long for Ivan and his comrades to land, and when they did they moved quickly to secure a warehouse, after that they set up a small radio station which would allow them to reach their headquarters in Russia.
"I see that you've arrived" General Winter's voice echoed over the radio.
"Yes father" Ivan answered. "We have arrived, but we haven't met anyone, or anything living yet. Which is odd, seeing as I at least expected at least some resistance from the U.S or an unknown power" Ivan explained.
"That is odd" General Winter replied. "Have you not encountered anything? Anything at all?"
"Nothing living" Ivan replied.
"I see well keep me updated" General Winter said before he disconnected the connection.
"I will father" Ivan sighed sadly.
"Comrade Ivan" the same soldier that wanted Ivan to turn around called to him.
"Yes comrade" Ivan responded.
"Where about to set up camp for the night, your cot is ready" the soldier said.
"Thank-you da" Ivan said standing up and heading for his cot.
Ivan had drifted off into sleep and hadn't slept more than four hours before being rudely awakened by someone grabbing his collar.
"WHAT THE!" Ivan cried out as someone grabbed his collar, but stopped when he saw the same soldier pulling him up and dragging him. Ivan didn't know what was going on, but all he knew is that there where screams and cries echoing throughout the building. Ivan looked up to his right where he saw one of the Spetznaz being thrown over a railing and crashing to the ground, right where the man fell from a lanky charred person stood there letting out high pitched screams like a banshee. The calls seemed to up the level of noise from whoever was attacking them, and activity seemed to be increased as well. Gunfire echoed through the halls proving to Ivan that some of his men were still alive, but Ivan couldn't see any of the action as the warehouse was filled with boxes, and supplies. But not seeing anything did little to comfort the Russian soldier as he realized that he was being led away from the fight, and towards the exit of the building.
"What are you doing da" Ivan asked trying his best to keep up with the soldier who was dragging him.
"We Have To Get Out Of Here Comrade!" the soldier responded.
"What's Going On!?" Ivan asked again.
"I Don't Know!" the soldier replied. They approached the door that led to the outside.
"Are We Just Abandoning The Others!?" Ivan cried not understanding why they needed to leave the others behind.
"It's Too Late For Them" the soldier replied.
"What Do You Mean!?" Ivan asked.
"We Are Being Attacked By Zombies Comrade" the soldier said.
"Zombies!?" Ivan was shocked. He had seen zombies in movies, but never before had he even thought that they could be real. "How Is That Possible!?" Ivan just couldn't believe what was happening.
"I don't know comrade" they barged through the door, and ran down several more streets before coming to a stop by a river. "I don't know, but what I do know comrade, is that Russia must be warned. If all of North America is becoming monsters, and South America is falling to this epidemic, who's to say that Europe and Asia won't fall to it as well." The soldier reached into his pocket, and pulled out a large hand held radio. "It's water proof, escape comrade, and warn Russia about what has happened".
"What are you talking about?" Ivan asked now utterly confused. But before either of them could continue a familiar screeching echoed through the air, signifying that the one who was calling all the zombies there was nearby.
"No Time To Explain!" the soldier cried garbing Ivan's jacket and threw Ivan into the river. "Warn the motherland, save Russia" the soldier said before he felt something jump on top of him, though he couldn't see he could feel something biting into his neck before he passed out.
Ivan thrashed wildly in the water struggling to stay above the surface, kicking rocks, ridges, and debris to keep himself from getting hurt. After twenty long minutes Ivan finally washed ashore, on a small shore not far from civilization. Ivan crawled painfully across the sand and gravel that covered the shore, and finally pulling himself fully out of the water, Ivan set himself against the dirt ridge surrounding the shore. Reaching into his pocket he pulled out the hand held radio that was handed him, quickly flipping switches and turning on the radio he waited for the signal to be received. After a few minutes the radio finally connected.
"He-hello?" Ivan said into the radio hoping that someone would respond.
"Ivan? I-is that you?" Ivan immediately recognized the voice of his father.
"Father!" Ivan cried pleased to hear another person's voice. "Father, please get me out of here, all of America has turned into monsters, a-and my team i-is gone" Ivan quickly explained through exasperated breaths.
"I can't son" General Winter responded.
"What?" Ivan felt his heart sink as he heard those words. "What do you mean?"
"Europe and Asia just experienced the destruction of the Americas" General Winter said. "The whole world is infected, Russia is all but destroyed, Britain, France, China, Japan, Germany, Italy, Africa. We're all but destroyed my son" General Winter continued. "And it pains me to say this but, there is nothing I can do to help you". Ivan felt tears prick at his eyes, with the combination of fear, and pain.
"B-but f-father" Ivan was close to pleading, but didn't know what to say.
"Ivan, do your foolish father one last wish" General Winter said. Ivan still dumbfounded couldn't say a thing. "Find your sisters, save everyone you can, and then save the motherland. I believe in you my son, and no matter how I may have treated you in the past, I want you to know that I love you".
"B-bu-but dad" Ivan began before he heard a crash on the other end of the radio and several groans, moans and then screeches.
"Live on my son" General winter said, before Ivan heard sickening crunches and rips.
Ivan dropped the radio as disbelief overwhelmed Ivan, tears streamed down his face as he sobbed uncontrollably. Ten minutes later Ivan felt strong enough to climb the ridge, and stumbled back into the city, still lacking the strength to walk straight, Ivan stumbled through the city lightly bumping into walls, and posts to help him stay supported. Ivan stopped at one post to catch his breath, and pulled a knife out of his pocket followed by a small packet of bread. Ivan sliced the package open and quickly stuffed the bread in his mouth, Ivan dropped the package not concerned about littering, and walked forward again. But didn't take one step until something knocked him to the ground, Ivan stunned as his face slammed into the ground, quickly recovered with the knife still him his hand he swung the knife at his attacker. Ivan felt the knife graze something, but instead of hearing an expected moan, or cry of pain he heard something more like a growl. Quickly sitting up he looked at his attacker, the attacker stood five feet high roughly, and looked blank white in complete contrast to the mutated creature that screeches. The creature also lanky, but looked to be nothing but skin and bones, the creature leapt up and began effortlessly scaling buildings, Ivan staggered to his feet as he tried to get on his guard, but apparently he hurt his leg, and fell back to the ground. Ivan looked back up to the creature and saw in growling at him, he continued to watch as the creature poised to leap at Ivan. Ivan desperately tried to get back up and fight, but he couldn't stand up quickly, and fear seemed to have paralysed his courage. The creature leapt at Ivan aiming for his neck, Ivan didn't do anything, as he was too frightened to move.
'I'm gonna die' Ivan thought as time seemed to slow down as the creature continued to descend on him.
PPHHIISSTT!
Suddenly something zoomed from out of nowhere and hit the creature in the head, the impact of what ever hit the creature redirected it's momentum and caused the creature to land harmlessly on the ground seven feet away from Ivan.
"Nice shot bro" Ivan heard a voice coming from behind him.
"It wasn't that hard, after all I've been doing this for over a year now" Ivan heard a second voice, and turned to see who it was. Ivan observed two males walking towards him, both blonde, wearing glasses, military gear, one wearing a dark brown military bomber jacket, the second wearing a long light brown long coat. "It looks like we have a live one" the one in the light brown long coat said.
"Indeed. Hey you need any help" the man in the dark brown jacket said.
Ivan said nothing, in all the excitement Ivan suddenly felt tired, not noticing how hard he impacted the ground as his world drifted off into darkness.
Back in present time
"I woke up later wrapped in bandages, near a fire" Ivan explained. "I then meet Alfred and Matthew formally for the first time da" Ivan finished.
"Wow, what were those creatures that attacked you they don't sound like zombies" Peter said.
"The ones that screech Peter, we call Banshees" Arthur said. "And the ones that growl and jump all over the place are called Jumpers"
"Oh" Peter responded now understanding a bit better. "What about you brother?"
"Me, well I don't have as much of an interesting story as Alfred, Matthew or Ivan, but to keep it short and sweet. I was working in my office when I was attacked. I didn't have much on me, but I did have a crow bar nearby which I used to fight off the zombies until I was able to get away. I escaped through the country side, often returning to the city to search for you and Berwald, but didn't have much success. I was attacked by a Jumper in a much similar fashion as Ivan, until Alfred, Matthew, and Ivan helped me" Arthur explained.
"Yeah, your right, you don't have an interesting story" Peter said.
"WHY YOU!" Arthur raged, but Ivan and Alfred held him back.
"What about you Francis?" Peter said.
"Not much different, I was working in my beautiful restaurant when the attack happened. Fortunately for me and my employees no one that was infected got in so we locked ourselves into the restaurant for over a month before we were forced to leave." Francis said. "After we left, we separated and I traveled the country side, for a week until I passed out from starvation. Sometime after I passed out, I woke up and Arthur, Ivan, Matthew, and Alfred had found me" Francis finished.
"Aw, that's not much fun" Peter pouted. "What about you Kiku?" Peter turned to the Japanese man.
"Me" Kiku looked slightly surprised. "Hm, well my story more or less is also Yao's story" Kiku began. "We met at a restaurant"
Kiku and Yao's story
"How have you been Yao-san?" Kiku asked as his old school friend sat down across the table from him.
"I've been doing well aru" Yao answered sitting down. "I've at least got some work in this crappy neighbourhood aru" Yao said.
"Where are you working Yao-san?" Kiku asked.
"Slums aru" Yao answered. "I apparently don't have a proper qualifying education that I got in China to work any better jobs aru" Yao explained.
"HACK COUGH!" Kiku choked on his drink in shock. "Not qualifying education? You were accepted in Japan school to study culinary arts, what do they mean do not qualify?" Kiku asked still shocked to hear this.
"I don't know aru" Yao answered. "But with the recession I'm probably going to lose my job aru"
"Ah, and do you have a job line up after this one?" Kiku asked.
"No, aru" Yao answered sighing in regret at his misfortune.
"Well, this answers why you put so much effort into finding me Yao-san, what kind of friend would I be if I left my old school friend out on the street" Kiku smiled when he saw Yao's face light up. "You can live with me until I can secure you a job at the office I work at, and then move out on your own" Kiku said.
"Really!?" Yao was surprised, that Kiku was able to read him like a book.
"Really" Kiku answered. "What kind of friend would I be if I didn't take you in?" Kiku asked.
Kiku and Yao left the restaurant and made for Yao's apartment. When a loud crash and bang echoed through the street. Kiku and Yao turned to try and see what caused the noise, they didn't see anything, but whatever had caused the noise was apparently causing even more problems to the point where is was causing others in the street to panic. Kiku and Yao watched on as people began to spill around a corner seemingly running away from something terrifying.
"What are they running from aru?" Yao asked out loud.
"No idea" Kiku answered. "Maybe a horror movie came to life and they just realized"
Both Yao and Kiku giggled at this knowing how stupid it sounded, only little did they know that Kiku was right. Kiku and Yao quickly stopped laughing when a giant of a creature rounded the corner grabbing one woman and ripped her in half. The creature stood roughly nine feet tall and roughly seven feet wide at its shoulders, but this looked to be all muscle bulk above fat, the creature continued to sweep people aside, and ripping others in half. Kiku and Yao watched in horror as the scene unfolded in front of them. Kiku however was the first to recover, quickly grabbing Yao's wrist Kiku dashed off with Yao right behind him. Yao quickly looked back only to see more of the carnage, but this time several other beings emerged from the corner jumping on the torn and crushed corpses, and on anybody that had yet to be touched by the giant. Kiku didn't look back but instead pulled Yao into a large building quickly shutting the doors and locking them, Kiku then grabbed Yao again and made for the top floor. In a few minutes they had reached the roof of the building, looking down on the street below, they could see individuals being torn to shreds by the new horde of human sized monsters that were ravaging the bodies. However the large creature was nowhere to be seen.
"W-Where's the big one aru?" Yao asked.
"I-I don't know" Kiku answered as both of them leaned forward to get a clearer view of the street. Both of them could now hear gunshots echoing through the street as people who were lucky enough to grab hold of a fire arm began to desperately fight back.
ROAR!
The giant creature suddenly appeared in front of Kiku and Yao, the surprise and shock caused Kiku and Yao to stumble backwards. The giant creature had apparently been following them up by scaling the side of the wall, how it managed to do that without being heard was beyond both Kiku and Yao.
"There he is aru" Yao said rather calmly.
"Got him" Kiku said pulling out a 9mm hand gun from his belt and pointed it at the huge creature now trying to bring itself over the ledge.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Kiku let out three shots, all of them hitting the creature in the head, it didn't seem to kill the creature but it did have enough effect to force its grip on the ledge to weaken, the creature let go of the building and fell seventeen stories down and impacted the pavement.
CRUNCH!
Kiku and Yao looked over the ledge to see the creature a bloody flat mess after it hit the ground. Recoiling from the disgust of the sight Kiku and Yao quickly went back inside, finding a lounge like room they went inside, checked it and found it clear. And after locking the door and barricading it they proceeded to watch feeling increasingly helpless as they watched the carnage continue on in the streets down below.
Present time
"What did you guys do after that?" Peter asked.
"Well Peter-kun we managed to survive there for a week with the food already stored in the fridge and storage. But after a week and the city quieted down, we left and took refuge in the mountains." Kiku answered.
"Okay, and what was that large creature you guys killed?" Peter asked again.
"We call them Juggernauts aru" Yao answered. "It took three bullets to the head and didn't die" Yao explained holding his hand to his head mimicking a gun. "We were just lucky it fell, or we might have been killed ourselves aru"
"Wow" Peter said mused again. "And what about you Feliciano?" Peter turned to the Italian cook.
"Ne, me?" Feliciano asked.
"Yeah" Peter said eager to hear his story.
"Ne, I don't have much of an interesting story. What happened was me and my brother Romano moved here several years before the outbreak. We wanted to work in an Italian restaurant, but however no one would offer us the jobs, so we were forced to work in fast food." Feliciano explained.
"Yuck, fast food" Peter looked disgusted, though Peter was being slightly hypocritical of liking to eat it every now and then, he knew that the smell of heavy grease and oil would be sickening over a period of time.
"Yeah, it was a little disheartening" Feliciano began. "But we worked and did our best. I was taking an order from a customer when another customer, a female jumped on me. I did my best to fight her off, but I was somewhat confused because this had never happened before. Anyway shortly after that Romano came and helped me wrestle the female off of us, of course we didn't know she was a zombie at the time. Anyway to make matters worse, our manager saw most of the incident, but didn't see the part where she attacked me. After Romano managed to safely pull me away from the woman, the manager stepped in the way and began yelling at us for fighting a customer. He actually started threatening to fire us when the zombie had chosen him as a new target. After she bit and killed our manager several more zombies rushed into the fast food restaurant and attacked several other people. We didn't have much choice as both me and my brother fled, of course the whole city had now become aware of the attack at the time of course it made our fleeing much more difficult, because the crowds were so large it caused me and Romano to become separated. I managed to escape the city unscathed, but I had to live in the wilderness for a week before I met everyone but Ludwig." Feliciano finished his story.
"Man what a prick that manager" Peter said pouting. "At least he got what he deserved"
"I don't know how much I would have wished him to die by being eaten Peter, but I would at least say that he had punishment coming" Alfred said.
"Meh, anyway Ludwig" Peter turned to the final original Reaper member that still hadn't had his story told.
"Uh, me?" Ludwig said.
"Yeah" Peter said looking eager to hear what he had to say.
"Well in terms of excitement I don't have much of a story, basically I was a chief military Engineer in Germany before I moved here. I wanted to be a tank Commander but the officers in Germany thought my abilities in Engineering were too valuable to lose in combat so they denied me my request. I was then sent here as a liaison. But when I talked to officers here about being a tank Commander they actually set up plans for me to become a tank commander here. My request had gone in, and it was a few days before I was to expect a reply when the outbreak occurred. I was in the hanger taking at a look at a new tank that the government was thinking of buying, a Type Seven Thunder Strike. It was a beautiful tank, but unfortunately that's when the base came under attack from zombies. A few Juggernauts had attacked, they killed several people, and they destroyed many of the tanks that where there. But like any military we responded quickly and killed them, of course there wasn't many people on base that day because of leave, and it was an engineering base so there wasn't a lot of people. But in the end it still cost the lives of almost everyone there, those who did survive where infected and were killed before they fully mutated. I was the only one who didn't get infected, I lived on that base isolated from the rest of the world for a good six months until someone came knocking on the gate. It was Alfred and the others, they had just come out of the wilderness to look for food, they stumbled across the base and tried to see if anyone was inside. I saw them, saw that they were healthy, and I let them in, that's when I joined their group, and I used the base to supply with weapons and clothing." Ludwig finished telling his story.
"Wow, so you where the one who got us all those weapons" Peter said understanding where all the fire arms came from. "Is there more to your story?"
"Oh, there's more to everyone's story but that will be for another day" Ludwig answered.
"Yeah, your right it's nearing Christmas and we need to get ready, get presents for everyone, and maybe decorate the place a bit" Alfred said standing up after the three hours of story telling.
"Wait, presents?" Arthur stared questioningly. "How are we going to get presents when we already have the whole shopping mall to ourselves?"
"Do not fret Arthur" Alfred said holding a thumbs up and a snarky smirk. "A hero doesn't let something so trivial stop him."
'That's what we're afraid of' Everyone thought simultaneously.
Thus everyone split up trying to find something they can do to make the best of their first Christmas in over five years. Alfred and Matthew were standing together near the ledge of the second floor behind the railing.
"What should we do?" Alfred asked outloud.
"For the seventeenth time, I don't know" Matthew replied sounding irritated. "And why are you asking me, I thought you were going to play the role of hero?"
"A hero, saves the day, he doesn't think how" Alfred replied trying to defending himself. "Oh, look a penny." Alfred bent down to pick up the penny.
"RUSSIAN TAKEDOWN!" Ivan lunged out of nowhere attempting to tackle Matthew and Alfred, but as Alfred ducked Ivan missed him and only ended up tackling Matthew. Both Matthew and Ivan fell over the railing and dropped down to the floor below.
CRASH!
"Alfred da, I have an idea da. Let's build a swimming pool da" Ivan said rather cheerfully holding onto Matthew still unaware that it was Matthew.
"That's a great idea Ivan, except two problems" Matthew replied. "One where are we going to build it, and second. I'm not Alfred"
Ivan looked down to the man clutched in his arms, and immediately released Matthew. "Sorry da, but I do know that I charged at Alfred, where is he da" Ivan said looking around and even underneath him.
"I'm up here Ivan" Alfred called causing both Ivan and Matthew to look up at the unscathed American. "But I do agree that it is a great idea. But what I want to know is, why did you tackle Matthew? You trying to get more attached in ways I don't want to know?"
"WE KILL YOU EH!"
"WE KILL YOU DA!"
With Yao, Kiku, Im Yong Soo, Hong, and Taiwan they were discussing on how to put up a tree.
"Well, it will definitely fit here, but how are we going to get that large of a tree in Im Yong Soo-san?" Kiku asked as they looked at the center section of the mall.
"I don't know" Im Yong Soo for the first time looked defeated. He wanted to make a grand spectacle of it unfortunately they had no way of getting a twenty foot tree inside the mall without chopping it to pieces first.
"Oh, well, we'll have to make do with a smaller tree aru" Yao said. "And if we find an artificial one we will use that instead".
"But then what should we do with all these ribbons?" Taiwan asked as she held up rolls and rolls of ribbons, and tinsel.
"Wait, were did those come from?" Kiku asked.
"Hong found them" Taiwan asked.
"And why is there so much aru?" Yao asked.
Vietnam and Thai then came around the corner, carrying more and more tinsel.
"EH! WERE DID YOU GET THOSE!" Kiku and Yao cried.
"From the malls storage" Thai answered, setting down two more boxes. "These I think are ornaments"
Hong walked up and opened the box. Inside there were ornaments, but however they were angels, Santa's, Rudolf's, and Baby Jesus holding signs that were advertisements, one even said. "The more you spend the better the Christmas".
"You've gotta be joking aru" Yao said.
"YEAH THOSE ORIGINATED IN KOREA!" Yong cried. For once no one felt the obligation to argue with him.
"Yeah Yong-san as far as I'm concerned your country can claim this" Kiku said kicking one of the boxes away.
"Looks like we're gonna need new ornaments" Taiwan sighed.
"Let's just hope that there's more in storage somewhere" Thai sighed with Vietnam behind him nodding.
Feliciano, Romano, and Antonio were in the kitchen planning and working up ideas and preparations for Christmas.
"Brother, we don't disagree with Pasta as a meal, but your putting everything on the list as pasta" Romano sighed at his brother's somewhat unhealthy obsession.
"Ne, but I like pasta" Feliciano pouted.
"I do too, but we can't live on just pasta" Romano finalized.
"I'll invite the Combatants over, and we can make more pasta" Antonio said trying to cheer Feliciano up.
"YEAH LOTS OF PASTA!" Feliciano cried.
"Did you really have to encourage him Antonio" Romano sighed. "You should know that he's now going to go way overboard"
"Really?" Antonio asked obviously not understanding what he has done.
"Will this be enough?" Feliciano asked. Both Antonio and Romano turned to see what he was talking about. But they saw pasta, pasta, and more pasta. Feliciano had apparently found enough pasta to fill up roughly eighty carts of it. Both Antonio and Romano looked shocked.
"Wait, Where'd You Get All That!?" Romano cried.
"From the storage" Feliciano replied.
"That's too much pasta" Antonio said finally realizing the damage he has done.
"Put all but two carts back Feliciano" Romano commanded wagging his finger. Feliciano sighed sadly, he turned around and grabbed a cart and began to start getting the unwanted amount of pasta into the storage.
"Now it's going to take him three hours to put this back" Romano sighed.
"Remind me to never encourage him again when it comes to pasta" Antonio said.
Tino, Berwald, Peter, and Raivis were in a room looking for wrapping paper for the presents they were gonna get.
"What about this?" Peter held up a roll of white paper.
"That's toilet paper Peter" Berwald said looking surprised.
"We can use it as wrapping paper" Peter said not giving an inch on the credibility of his find.
"Only if you want Alfred to wipe his bum with it before anyone opens it" Tino said with a smirk on his face.
"Ew" Peter said with a disgusted look on his face, dropping the roll of toilet paper.
"U-u-uh is it just me o-or is Ivan l-looking at me" Raivis said shakily as he pointed to the window separating them from the hall. In front of the window Ivan stood staring at Raivis.
"Yeah, he's staring at you" Berwald said.
"Ivan go bother someone else" Tino said loud enough for Ivan to hear.
"But Alfred is avoiding me da, and I can't find Toris anywhere da" Ivan pouted.
"Well, find something to keep you busy" Tino responded.
"I would but that would mean tearing up the tile flooring and I don't want to" Ivan said, but just then Matthew arrived dragging Alfred by one ear. Matthew then grabbed Ivan with his free hand and began dragging him away as well.
"There you are Ivan, time for us to get to work" Matthew said as he pulled both Alfred and Ivan away by the ears.
"That must hurt" Berwald said clutching his ear as if he was feeling their pain.
"Well, let's just hope Matthew can keep them busy" Tino said.
Natalia, Katyusha, Belana, Elizabeta, Lichen, and Seyana were on the top floor trying to put cloths together for the newborn Elizabeta is expecting, and tearing old cloths, to make new and unique ones for everyone. They also had a plan that would help the reputation of their group.
"This is a great idea, to make a common uniform for anyone in the group" Seyana said turning to Elizabeta.
"Well, I thought that since the males act as a military force against threats it would do everyone good to give them a common uniform to go by" Elizabeta said.
"Do you think it would be a good idea to also make armor?" Everyone turned to Natalia. "Ivan would look so good in armor" everyone felt uncomfortable as they saw stars twinkle in her eyes.
"Yeah, but we won't be able to do any of the metal work for that, so were gonna have to start simple with thick clothing and leather" Belana said.
"Yeah, maybe we can also do plastic if we can get the males to find good plastic equipment, we can work with that much better than metal" Katyusha said.
"Good idea, but that will have to be later" Belana said.
Roderich, Vash, Feliks, and Toris were outside looking to see if they could set up a better defense for the doors, and maybe set up some video equipment to see what's happening outside.
"Like why should we set up camera's when we can just look" Feliks said.
"Well, if it's a zombie and you look outside don't say we didn't tell you when you get your face bitten off" Roderich said.
"And besides if we have to shield the doors, we won't be able to look outside easily" Vash added.
"But where are we going to get the electricity?" Toris asked.
"Oh, Hercules, and Sadiq are working on that" Vash responded.
"I don't think it's like a good idea to put those two together" Feliks said.
"Why?" Roderich asked.
"They fight like all the time" Feliks answered.
"Don't worry we've got that covered" Roderich responded.
"Like whatever, anyway Toris let's go change the light bulbs" Feliks said as he grabbed Toris and ran off.
"What!? But I don't wanna spin the table" Toris said before he was pulled out of sight.
"Spin the table?" Roderich said sounding suspicious.
"I don't think I wanna know" Vash said turning back to the doors.
They heard Sadiq and Heracules fighting by the river bank again.
"Time to get Ivan" Vash said. "Those two better learn to co-exist if they don't want to be sharing a room with Ivan for the next week".
A few minutes later by the bank.
"WE WON'T FIGHT ANYMORE WE SWEAR!" Heracles and Sadiq cried as Ivan stood in front of them smiling his sadistic grin.
"Well that resolved very quickly" Roderich said.
"Well, it was either Ivan or Matthew, and knowing Matthew, he would can them before they could beg for mercy so Ivan was the better choice" Vash said.
Meanwhile
"Achoo" Matthew sneezed. "Someone must be talking about me, I hope it's a hot girl".
Whatcha doin?" Ralph, and Randal appeared above Alfred and Matthew seeing them dig a hole roughly five feet deep.
"Building a pool" Alfred answered.
"Oh, well, we can't find anything to do so do you mind if we help?" Randal asked.
"Not at all the more the merrier" Matthew answered. "Oh look a penny"
"Oh, No" Alfred sighed before.
"RUSSIAN TAKEDOWN!" Ivan screamed jumping out of nowhere successfully tackling Alfred. "Got you this time Alfred da" Ivan said smiling looking down at Alfred securely in his arms.
"Ya, you got me Ivan, now how about you let me go?" Alfred asked.
"No, I'm gonna savour this da" Ivan smiled and Alfred's spirits dropped.
"Brother" a voice echoed with a seemingly venomous tone to it.
"I'll savour this LATER DA!" Ivan cried as he let go of Alfred and ran off. Natalia chasing after him saying something about doing the same thing as Roderich and Elizabeta.
"Well, there goes Ivan" Matthew said.
"Does this happen often?" Randal asked.
"Yup" Alfred answered.
Ivan ran up the stairs and unsuccessfully hid in three stores before he found Yao and Kiku.
"YAO SAVE ME DA!" Ivan cried jumping and grabbing Yao's leg.
"What aru?" Yao asked confused. Until Natalia ran up and grabbed one of Ivan's legs and began pulling Ivan away, but Ivan didn't relinquish his grip on Yao. Yao grabbed onto the railing to stop himself from being pulled away. "LET GO ARU!" Yao cried.
"SAVE ME!" Ivan cried.
"Brother, time to get married" Natalia said in the same venomous tone.
"HELP ME KIKU!" Yao cried.
"As you wish Yao-san" Kiku responded stepping up beside Natalia and Ivan. "NATALIA-CHAN LOOK YOUR HOLDING A FAKE IVAN-SAN AND THE REAL ONE IS GETTING AWAY!" Natalia suddenly let go and ran off in the direction that Kiku was pointing. "And Ivan-san VODKA!" Kiku cried throwing a bottle of vodka in the opposite direction, and Ivan took off after the bottle like a speed runner on crack.
"Thanks Kiku aru" Yao thanked.
"No thanks needed Yao-san, I'm just glad I can tell that we are going to have and interesting Christmas" Kiku said.
Author's note: Well this took a long time because I needed to work out everyones history. That took a lot of thinking. Plus this is my longest chapter yet, I hope I don't have to do this again, anyway about the bullying and the country war I had at the beginning, that was me just blowing off some steam, I saw some American television and it's hosts were saying that Canada was a joke of a country, we had no military, were sissy's and all that crap. So I'm just going to say now that I meant no offense, and that I was blowing off steam because one guy said that we as a country have nothing to be proud of so ya. Anyway.
PLEASE REVIEW.
P.S be ready for an unexpected (and somewhat unfriendly) new member of the Reapers next chapter.
ENJOY
