Chapter 10
Rin had walked two miles when the snow had begun to fall. It was a light, gentile powder, so she ignored it. She continued walking in the direction of the supposed helicopter. After a few minutes, she noticed that the snowfall was becoming heavier and heavier and was gathering on her jacket. Her hands and face felt numb from the cold. She pulled the neck of her sweater up over her nose and shoved her hands in her pockets.
"I need to find shelter," she whispered into the sweater. She stopped moving and looked around. She was on top of a large office building. There was nothing on the roof except snow, so she guessed that the roof access was a trapdoor of some kind. But the snow was completely covering the surface of the roof, so it would take hours to find it and she didn't know where to start.
After thinking about it for a minute, she decided to keep moving and find shelter elsewhere before the storm worsened.
…
"Yuki! I…"
"Save it. I heard everything, and I want to know the plan. I can help." Yuki didn't move from where she stood, she didn't even uncross her arms.
"We're not putting you in danger again." Luka said firmly "We can't risk you like that."
"Wherever Hiyama Sensei goes, I go." Even after Kiyoteru's requests for Yuki to call him by his first name, she still addressed him as her teacher. "I'm pretty sure I made that clear a while ago."
"You need to stay with your cousin!" Luka said, her demeanor becoming strict. "I'm not putting your life on the line for the sake of what you want."
"So you're just going to leave me here with these people?" Yuki asked.
"You know Mew better than you know any of us. You wouldn't just be safer, you would be happier with her."
"I wouldn't be happy if you and Sensei left me!" Yuki cried. "I heard what you said about Mew, and I don't want her to do to me whatever she did to Rin!"
Luka stared at Yuki, her eyes filled with sadness.
"Yuki." Luka said gently, trying her hardest not to break down "She already did. What Mew does to people is she talks to them until they believe every word she says, and then she gets them to do whatever she wants."
"How?" Yuki was shocked at this new information. A girl who controlled people with words? Was that even possible?
"She does different things to different people. I don't really know how to explain it, but she's really dangerous."
"Then you can't leave me with her!" Yuki pointed out. "If talking to her is dangerous, how do you expect me to want to stay here?"
"If the alternative is what we have planned, then I think you want to stay." Luka said stubbornly. "Trust me; this is far more dangerous than anything Mew can say."
"I don't care! I can handle myself! I could even shoot a gun if you guys let me."
"You're staying here Yuki, and there's nothing you can say that will change my mind. O don't care what Mew can do as long as you don't get involved in Rin's plan. So go back to your tent and rest while you can."
"I'm not sleeping in the same tent as her ever again!"
"She's not even in there. She's over by the fire pit. Now go!"
"I don't want to go back to sleep. I want to help!"
Suddenly, an idea popped into Luka's head. She thought of a way that Yuki could help without getting too involved in her and Kiyoteru's potentially dangerous scheme.
"You know what? I think I have an idea." Luka bent down and whispered her plan into Yuki's ear. Yuki nodded, understanding the risk but still wanting to go through with it.
They looked up as the snow got heavier.
"Let's go over to the fire." Luka advised. "The snow's getting pretty bad."
As they walked over to the fire pit, and Mew, Luka couldn't help but worry about how Rin might have been faring in that situation.
…
Rin trudged through the snow, a prisoner to the cold. She had nowhere to go, nowhere to hide from the stinging cold of the wind. The snow was starting to get inside her jacket, where it would melt from her body heat and get her wet. That was making her even colder. She wanted to stop, to just lie down on the ground and let the snow engulf her. But she knew that there was no way she would survive unless she found somewhere to hide from the storm. She was exhausted and freezing, but she continued to walk in hope that she would find shelter.
When she came to a building that, to get on top of it, she had to leap not only across a three foot space, but she also had to gain altitude somehow to reach the roof that was a foot higher than where Rin's head now was. She knew she couldn't make the jump with the little strength she had left, so she sat down on the edge of the building and pulled out a small can of mixed sweetened fruit. She didn't even bother with a spoon (as if she had one) but just slurped the can down.
Suddenly, she felt dizzy. She started to slide off the edge, but grabbed on just in time. She shook her head clear and backed away from the edge. She was weak enough to fall off the edge, and she had too much on the line for that. Her plans for Luka and Kiyoteru wouldn't work if she was careless and died.
Rin quickly finished her snack and looked back at the jump she had to make. It seemed like too large of a task for her to perform in this state. She tried to stand up to look for an alternate route, but found that her legs were cold, numb, and extremely weak from walking so long without stopping to rest. She tried several times to push herself to her feet before she finally succeeded. She walked several feet across the roof before she fell back down, feeling even weaker this time.
Stand up Rin! It's just a little cold out…
She tried to haul herself to her feet, but felt weaker with every attempt. She resorted to crawling along the snow covered rooftop, wet snow seeping through her jeans and soaking her legs. She was almost sure she was getting frostbite in her fingers, but she did nothing about it.
After less than a minute, Rin could crawl no further. Her hand slipped on a small bit of ice and her face came crashing down in the snow. She rolled on to her back, pain and cold everywhere. The little she could see -due to the snowstorm- was spinning around her. She couldn't move a muscle and felt like her vision was darkening.
Is this what it feels like to die? If it is, Len was lucky that his only lasted a second.
And there, all alone on that rooftop, slowly being buried in the snow, Rin lost consciousness.
But she had blacked out before she could see the coated figure approaching. The person bent over Rin's unconscious form, as if studying her. Then they picked up her limp body and carried it away.
…
The storm just kept getting worse. Everyone was huddled around the fire pit, the storm being too harsh for anyone to search for supplies or even stay on watch.
Luka, Kiyoteru, and Yuki were all huddled together, not saying a word. They weren't sure whether to put the plan into action now or wait until the storm died down. They all knew exactly what to do and when to do it, but they just weren't sure if they needed to start at that moment.
"Where's Rin?"
The question had come from Yuki. She stared at Mew with her big brown eyes. She had a look of absolute curiosity on her face. Luka suppressed a smile as Mew ate it up.
I'll give this to the kid, she sure can act.
"Rin" Mew began with a small smile. "has chosen to leave our settlement. She told me herself that she was done with our overly organized situation and didn't like me as the leader. She told me that I am a selfish tyrant who doesn't care at all about you people and your wellbeing. She even said that I'm trying to control you all with words!"
Luka and Kiyoteru didn't even look at each other; they had expected something like this from Mew. Lola, however, gave Luka a confused look. Luka, when Mew's back was turned, shrugged and placed a finger to her lips. Lola gave a small nod and looked back at Mew.
The only person who didn't know the truth was Yukari. She just sat there, her mouth hanging open. She was shocked, and nobody blamed her. She and Rin had been becoming close friends, and that had sounded exactly like what Rin would have said. But everyone held their tongues and looked at Mew, who was the only person not sitting down.
"I know this may come as a shock." She said, turning to see Luka's and Kiyoteru's surprised faces. "But Rin made her choice, and now she's gone."
"Mew?" Yuki asked. "Can I ask you something?"
"Of course," Mew looked at her cousin. "What is it?"
"Can I whisper it in your ear?" Yuki asked, faking an embarrassed smile. "It's kinda embarrassing."
Mew bent down, her ear right next to Yuki's icy lips.
"Okay, what is it?" she asked.
Mew felt a cold ring of metal press against her exposed temple.
"Gotcha," Yuki said with a smile.
Luka and Kiyoteru jumped into action, Kiyoteru grabbing Yukari and Luka wrapping her arms around Lola.
"Hey! Let me go you big weirdo!" Yukari shouted as Kiyoteru grabbed her around her waist while her arms were at her sides.
"What the hell, Luka?" Lola cried. Luka whispered the plan into her ear, letting her know that she trusted her completely and what Rin's note had really said.
"What is this?" Mew demanded without moving. She was afraid that Yuki had been around Luka and Rin long enough so that she wasn't afraid to shoot.
Luka grinned with all her passion and happiness. She was slightly crazed with the sudden power over their leader, and she felt truly happy for the first time in a while.
"This is the plan." She said.
…
Rin woke in an unfamiliar room. She was lying on a soft green couch with a thick quilt covering her. The walls and ceiling were covered in a chipping coat of deep green paint. When she rolled over, she could see a stone fire place with a homey fire burning in it and deep mahogany floor boards.
How did I get here? Am I dead?
Suddenly, a girl with long blonde hair walked into the room. Rin couldn't see her face, but she was wearing a white sweater and grey jeans. She also was wearing brown combat boots that were soaked with melted snow. Rin watched as the girl pulled off her boots and placed them by the fire to dry. She then proceeded to pick up the poker and adjust the various kinds of fuel for the fire; newspaper, sticks, old notebooks, a few books, and some actual pieces of wood.
"Where am I?" Rin asked; her voice was surprisingly hoarse.
The girl jumped, obviously startled by the sudden noise.
"Oh good, you're awake." The girl spoke, but a familiar voice came out. Rin was surprised, could she really be alive?
"Lily?" Rin croaked.
"So you do remember me." Lily turned around, her familiar face confirming Rin's suspicions.
"Yeah," Rin sat up, looking around the room. "What is this place?"
"An old hotel room." Lily explained. "I found it a little while back, after I was left alone." She gave Rin a sad look.
"What are you talking about?" Rin demanded. "You were the one who ran away!"
"That wasn't what happened, Rin." Lily said. Her words were angry, but her tone melancholy. "I did leave the restaurant three weeks ago because I was mad at Luka, but I was just going to clear my head. I went into a building next door to cool off, but when I came back, the restaurant was in shambles, there were zombies everywhere, and the three of you were nowhere to be found. I thought they'd gotten you, and I was the only one left. But it looks like you escaped."
"We all did. Everyone's fine as far as I know." Rin said. "But what did you do after you found the place wrecked?"
"Well, I went looking for a new place to stay. I spent some time just hopping around and camping out on rooftops, but eventually I realized that it wouldn't be safe in the cold. So I found this place and stuck with it. It's really nice actually. And there's a queen sized bed behind that curtain." Lily pointed to a doorway that was covered by a flower patterned curtain.
"This place is really nice, but I can't stay here." Rin pushed the blanket away to find that she was only in her under shirt and panties. She looked at Lily for an explanation.
"Your clothes are drying." She explained "You were soaked from the snow."
"Are we far from the place where you found me?" Rin asked.
"No, you were on top of that building next door." Lily pointed to the window. Rin stood, slightly wobbly at first, but soon finding her footing. She walked to the window and looked at the roof of a building that was covered in snow. She quickly realized that she was inside the building she had needed to jump onto the roof of.
"I need to go." Rin said, slowly walking back to Lily. "Where are my clothes?"
"Are you blind?" Lily asked "They're right there! By the fire!"
Rin turned and realized that she was right. Her sweater, jacket, jeans, and shoes were all drying by the fire place. Rin bent down to pick them up, finding them surprisingly dry. She pulled on her sweater and started to yank on her jeans. Lily watched her, making sure that she was strong enough to move around on her own. Once Rin had pulled her jeans on, she grabbed her jacket, which she found to have her earmuffs inside of one of the pockets, and pulled in on.
"Where's my backpack?" she asked, pulling her earmuffs on and adjusting her hair clips.
"In the other room," Lily responded, still studying her fellow blonde's movements. She was unstable, often falling off balance and seeking assistance from a wall or chair to hold herself steady as she walked. She walked through the curtain, grabbed her backpack off the bed and came back into the main room.
"You're in no condition to go out there." Lily determined. "You can't even walk straight."
"You don't understand." Rin said, shaking her head as if it would clear it of all the dizziness. "I need to meet them, and we need to get to the helicopter."
"What are you talking about?" Lily asked, obviously confused. "Who do you need to meet, and what helicopter?"
So Rin sat down and explained the situation to Lily, who listened to the whole thing without comment. She explained from the point of Lily's leaving and the man attacking Yuki in the bathroom to Mew's mission for her and her note to Luka and Kiyoteru.
"That's why I need to go." Rin finished. "They're counting on me, and I can't just let them down."
"What makes you even think there is a helicopter?" Lily asked. "Mew's a liar and a mentalist, she could have made the whole thing up."
"That was considered. If we don't find it, we can find shelter elsewhere. I could bring them here couldn't I?"
Lily nodded.
"I still can't let you go out there by yourself." Lily said stubbornly. "You'll get yourself killed."
"Then come with me!" Rin begged. "I don't care as long as we do what I promised!"
"Fine." Lily nodded. "Just let me get my stuff."
…
"What do you want?" Mew asked, trying to maintain her calm exterior, but they could hear a twinge of panic in her voice.
"We are going to leave." Luka said, loosening her grip on Lola ever so slightly. "All of us. You are going to stay here while we get every bit of supplies we need together. If you make the slightest movement, sound, or attempt to stop us, Yuki will put a bullet in your head. Get it?"
"Got it." Mew muttered in defeat.
"Good." Luka smiled as she released Lola. She turned to her and whispered "Sorry for the theatrics, but we wanted her to think you were on her side in case this didn't work out."
Lola nodded an apology and looked at Mew with disgust.
"I never liked you anyways." She spit at the bowed woman. Mew forced herself not to react; she didn't want to give the traitorous girl the satisfaction.
Luka and Lola ran to gather all the supplies they could fit in their backpacks. Kiyoteru quietly tried to explain the situation to Yukari who, after several minutes of convincing, believed him about Mew's mind games and went to help Lola and Luka. Kiyoteru then grabbed his own gun and aimed it at Mew's head.
"Go help everyone else." He said to Yuki, who lowered her gun and nodded. She ran off to help gather what they could carry with them.
This was Mew's chance. Yuki may have been ruthless, but she had found out otherwise about Kiyoteru.
"I wonder how long it will take for you to realize what a huge mistake you're making." She said casually.
"Shut your mouth before I pull the trigger." He said threateningly.
"Do what you want with me. I'm just concerned about you. Here you have food, shelter, warmth, everything you need to survive. Out there the cold and wind is waiting for you to appear, so it can use one of its millions of tactics of killing you and everyone else. If you let me go now, I will forgive you for all of this and we can go on living as we were before. The icy winds out there are much less lenient. So why don't you just set the gun down?"
Kiyoteru faltered for a split second, but that was all Mew needed. She slipped away from the gun and stood upright. She snatched the gun away from the confused sensei and spun him around so that his back was to her. She pressed the gun to his temple.
"Now scream." Mew said, digging the cold metal barrel into his skin. "Scream like the little kitten you really are! Do it or I shoot."
Kiyoteru shouted as loud as he could, trying to make it as painful as possible.
"HIGHER!" Mew demanded. "I WANT THEM TO HEAR YOU SCREAM LIKE A NEWBORN BABY!"
He screamed as highly pitched as was possible with his voice. He screamed and screamed until everyone had come out. Luka, Lola, and Yukari came running toward them.
"Stop." Mew said, smirking with power-lust and insanity "Or you get to hear him scream for real."
They froze in their tracks, seeing the gleaming metal barrel of the gun being pressed into Kiyoteru's head.
"Drop everything in your hands. And if you hesitate, I'll blow his brains out." Mew cackled. The girls complied, letting all their supplies drop to the ground.
"Good!" Mew smiled evilly "No I want you to put every…"
Mew began to hack and choke, as if someone was strangling her. She dropped the gun and released Kiyoteru, who snatched up the gun and distanced himself from Mew, who he aimed the gun at.
But there was no need. They stared at mew for a moment before they noticed a glint of metal around her throat. They moved to see that Yuki was behind her and had lassoed her throat with a chain that she had found a while ago and deemed useful. She was slowly strangling her cousin and repeating the same words over and over again.
"I hate you. I hate you. I HATE YOU!"
Mew fell to her knees and started mindlessly groping at the air.
"DIE! DIE! DIE!" Yuki screamed with everything she had. She pulled on the chain harder and harder until Mew fell limp.
Seeing the lifeless body flop over, Kiyoteru ran to Yuki, who was still yanking on the chain and screaming louder than the icy wind. He reached the little girl and wrapped his arms around her. He pulled her away from the dead body.
"PUT ME DOWN! DON'T TOUCH ME!" She screamed.
"Yuki. Yuki relax. Calm down, take deep breaths." He held onto the girl, gently cradling her as she began to cry.
"I….I was so scared of losing you!" she sobbed "Mew was going to shoot! And I…"
"It's alright baby. Everything's alright." He held the small girl as if she was his own child. All of a sudden, he began to softly sing to her.
"The world will completely change in a mere moment. There are no securely existant things in this world."
"What we call 'always' evaporates in a mere moment." Yuki quietly joined in. "If 'always' does not exist then it's in short, wavering bits."
Everyone was silent as the two made their way through the song. Both the student and the teacher had beautiful voices, and they captured everyone's attention. Out of the blue, Luka realized that the song was very similar to their lives now. Every decision, every movement, every moment could change everything. The world had change in a mere moment hadn't it? One minute Luka had been licking her Popsicle, the next she was running for her life.
"I once believed in a world distant from its demise." Luka joined them after a minute. "If I regard it, it will distance itself from me forever."
Soon everyone was singing. They all had lovely voices, and they carried the song on well. Even Lola was singing, her voice beautiful and full of emotion.
When the song ended, Yuki hugged Kiyoteru tightly. He hugged her back, but gently and caringly.
"Thank you Hiyama Sensei," she murmured into his coat. "You know how much I love that song."
"You're welcome Yuki." He said, breaking the embrace and setting her down in the snow. "You know how much I love to hear you sing."
Yuki blushed. She turned to look at her cousin's body.
"I wish I could say she wasn't worth killing," Yuki sighed. "But she was. We all know that don't we?"
"Yes." Kiyoteru said. He turned to the girls awaiting them. "We need to get the stuff and go. Rin's probably waiting for us, if she's still alive that is."
Yuki nodded solemnly and went to grab a bag. It was going to be a long walk from there.
…
Lily and Rin had been waiting on the roof of the hotel for hours when they finally reached them. Rin stood and waved, catching their attention. She jumped across to the building where she had fallen unconscious and ran up to hug Luka.
"You're alive." Luka whispered, her breath shaking in the cold. "You made it!"
"And I found someone." She waved Lily down, who repeated Rin's actions and ran up to Luka. The two stared at each other for a moment, not knowing what to say.
"You made it." Luka said with a nod.
Lily didn't respond, she just threw her arms around Luka and pulled her into a hug. She started sobbing into her shoulder. Luka was shocked, she didn't know what to do make of it. Lily crying? And after what had happened between them before.
"I'm so glad you're alive." Lily sobbed "I thought they had gotten you, and that the last time we had ever talked to each other was in a fight. I'm so sorry for everything I said!"
"I'm sorry too," Luka said as she returned the hug. "But you don't have to cry like that. Everything's fine, and we're all back together. So stop crying, alright?"
Lily pulled away and wiped her eyes with a smile. She nodded and turned to jump back to the other side. Rin, who was feeling much better, followed her example. After her came Luka, Yuki, Kiyoteru, Lola, and Yukari.
"I wasn't expecting you to bring everyone." Rin said with a laugh. "This is just weird. Mew not being here to boss us around I mean. Is she dead?"
Everyone quieted. Rin looked around.
"I'll take that as a yes. Sorry for ruining the mood." Rin said, looking at the snow at her feet. The she looked up and around.
"The storm's lifting!" she said with a grin, looking around at the now light snowfall. "We can actually see where we're going!"
Everyone smiled, even Yuki. Rin sure knew how to lift everyone's spirits.
…
"There's the helicopter!" Rin cried. "Mew wasn't lying!"
"Is there anyone inside?" Yukari asked. "They could have abandoned it."
"We better find out fast then." Lola said, glancing to the west. "The sun's setting, and we need to get somewhere safe before then."
Luka and Rin ran up to the chopper. Rin tried to wipe the frost off the window and look inside, but it was impossibly painful with her bare hand. So they grabbed the door handle and looked at each other.
"On three." Luka said. Rin nodded. "One, two, THREE!"
They jerked the heavy door open and looked inside. Luka stared with disbelief. Rin was crestfallen. She turned around and marched back to the rest of the group.
"Empty." She reported. "Whoever landed that thing must've ditched it. It probably doesn't work."
"Like any of us could've even flown it." Lily pointed out. "Unless one of us secretly has a pilot's license."
"No supplies either." Luka informed the group. "Whoever landed got out alive and made a break for it with everything in that thing."
"Well," Lola asked. "What now? Where do we go, or is there no plan B?"
"We can go back to Lily's place." Rin said. "That place makes a pretty damn good shelter. We can stay there until we figure out our next move."
"We better get there fast." Kiyoteru looked at the setting sun. "It's almost dark, and it'll only be colder at night."
"Let's get moving then!" Lily urged.
Sorry that was a bit shorter than my recent chapters, but I wanted to actually upload at a reasonable time!
The next chapter will be the finale, so get ready for that!
If you don't know what time it is, I WILL slap you with a leek. Repeatedly.
How does Yuki feel about killing someone? How does she feel about that someone being her cousin?
Did you recognize the song they were singing? It's one of my personal favorites.
Will the setting sun pose a threat?
Why is the helicopter empty? Why did the pilot leave?
Did Mew deserve to die?
Are you sad that it's ending soon?
Are you planning to read my upcoming works? Yes they will be about Vocaloid.
Are you glad to have Lily back? Why or why not?
Is it weird to see someone die after so long? Okay so it hasn't been THAT long...
Do you miss any specific characters? Is there anyone who died who you think should have lived? (You can't say everyone)
Where did they originally find the chain? Why was that Yuki's choice of what to kill Mew with? She was holding a gun.
Was the plan all it was advertised to be? Or was it kind of a let down?
CAN Vocaloids survive a zombie apocalypse?
Thanks for all the reviews, follows, and favorites! You guys are the best!