A/N: I would love to post this chapter a lot earlier but I was suffering from brutal PC problems, that not only left unable to go online for more than 5 minutes but also, and even worse yet, caused my PC to go into "crash-reboot" mode for a few hours or so. In other words, I've been out of a PC since early January and just this week, I finally got my PC repaired. Not to mention that school started again. Ugh.
HOWEVER now that I am online for now, I'll write as much as I can and update like crazy, but if I go on a spontaneous hiatus again, you all know why. Anywho, enjoy this chapter and please feel free to leave a review.
Even though she had just been bitten, Kurumi's energy was back miraculously. She ran forwards, towards the one with glasses and yanked the shotgun out of his hand, rather easily as he was too frightened to do anything. Kurumi was fuming, releasing a war cry before she slammed the handle of the gun into the side of the younger man's head. He stumbled backward, unconscious. Frank managed to catch him before he smashed his head in the asphalt.
"Miki!" Paul shrieked in horror, cradling the bleeding Miki who lay wounded on the ground, the blood pouring out of the bullet hole in her arm. Her breathing was uneven and she whimpered weakly as she shut her eyes to prevent the tears from falling. The man with the red cap silently rolled away, rubbing his sore face. That Asian girl managed to land several good punches to his face and he was more than sure that she managed to break his nose as the blood spilled all over his shirt and hand.
He wiped the blood off his face and reached for the shotgun, wary of the sudden company. If he could just reach a couple of more inches-
"Don't think about it." Kurumi aimed the gun at him. She held it steadily in her hands, her eyes shooting lightning. Though she extracted no fear, she was terrified beyond wording. She hoped that her fearless attitude could persuade him from trying anything funny as she would love to avoid shooting, given the fact that she had no idea how this thing worked. Sure, one pulled the trigger and a shot was fired but how about the throwback power? What if she completely missed her target or shot someone else? Not to mention the exhaustion that came sneaking up on her.
Luckily, the man backed off and Paul quickly reached for the shotgun, pointing it at the man. He was shaking with anger and his tight around the barrel was so tight that the whites of his knuckles were showing.
"You-you monster. I will kill you!"
"Paul." Frank's voice was stern. He lay the boy down on the ground and headed towards him, raising his hand in a defensive manner. There was no more need for more ´bloodshed. Right now, getting the food was the only thing that mattered. But he couldn't help but wonder what he should do with these two.
"Paul, don't do it. You'll regret it afterward." He pleaded, standing in arm's length of Paul. If he dared, he could have reached out and yanked the gun out of his hand. But a feeling in his gut told him that it would only result in disaster. So, the only reasonable course of action was to be as psychologically inviting as possible. Not his strongest side as he would much rather be telling things as they are.
"But he tried to kill Miki."
"Actually, Kenny did. With good reason 'cause your bitch attacked me first!" the man with the red cap smirked, looking at the unconscious boy that lay a few feet away from him, unfazed by the fact that his buddy lay on the ground.
"Sh-shut up or I'll shoot! I'll shoot you!"
"I bet Miki would be most disappointed if you killed someone," Frank said, basing his words on common sense and assumption. Sure, Miki and the rest of the School Live club had been subjected to death on a daily basis but none of them would go as far as to kill another human, would they? Frank had no qualms about it for the sake of survival but them? They were just teenagers, controlled by their hormones and whatnot.
Paul seemed to calm down as he lowered the shotgun but he sent the man with the cap a death's glare. By now Miki sat up, clutching her wound. She clenched her teeth, trying desperately to muffle her grunts of pain.
"H-he's right. It makes you, ugh, no better than them if you kill them." She spoke, looking at Paul with pained eyes. Tense moments passed by and it soon felt like an eternity before a change of course was made. Paul, begrudgingly, lowered the gun, his hyperventilating slowly dying down.
"Great job, kid. Now, let's take the supplies and get out of here." Frank said, picking up the one unconscious kid named Kenny and placed him on his shoulder.
"And racist McGee?" Kurumi snorted, to which Frank delayed his reply. He turned his gaze away from her and towards the man with the red cap, who crossed his arms, frowning deeply.
"Put my brother down and we'll leave."
Frank had a hard time believing that. Years of wartime had left him naturally skeptical towards anything really but he knew that they had already won not to mention this kid was unarmed. Against his better judgment, he put the young boy down and took a few steps back.
"Kurumi, keep an eye on those two while I gather the supplies." He said as he headed towards the truck. The door to the storage was opened but Frank quickly closed it again and took the key before heading to the driver's seat. A corpse was slumped over the steering wheel with blood covering everything. Frank, unfazed by the gore, pulled the body out of the truck and with it. He started the truck and drove towards the girls and Paul.
"Alright. I've had enough of this place. Get in." The photographer waved to the teens, prompting them to enter.
"And those two?" Kurumi glared at the brothers who were on their way to God knew where.
"They said they'd leave, right? So let them. We can't keep babysitting them anyways."
"So, uh, how do we get all of this food to the safe room?" Paul sat squeezed between Kurumi and Miki, the latter letting her head rest on his shoulder as she drifted off.
"We'll have to drive it through the gate." The photographer said, as a matter of fact, earning a glare of disbelief from Kurumi.
"You can't be serious."
"Look in front of you. What else can we do?"
And sure enough, a wave of undead blocked the entrance to the mall. It would be next to impossible for them to reenter the mall unharmed. Due to the commotion of the earlier hours, they had come flocking like flies. Running them all down with the truck was the only option left.
And thus, Frank pressed the speeder down.
"What the…? Where have the lot of you been?" Otis stood up when the group returned to the hideout with their arms and bags filled with supplies. Even still, they all looked like they had returned from a war zone; all covered in cuts and scratches not to mention that the two girls had received awful wounds. Looking at their current state, he silently began to conclude a series of possible events. He headed towards Frank and the two exchanged glances.
"We got the supplies. Now, we should be settled for now. And, uh, there's a truck outside with more stuff."
Yuuri's eyes grew wide with horror and she jumped to her feet, oblivious to her injury and hurried over to her friends.
"Kurumi-chan! Miki-san! What happened? Are you alright?" the brunette hugged them both, her voice shrill and light with horror. At her feet, Taromaru barked with eagerness.
"We're fine. We just had a few… mishaps." Kurumi said and pulled away from Yuuri's tight grasp. The brunette had accidently touched her bite mark and it was still aching and sore, unwarranted of any physical contact.
"Indeed. But we came out on top. Right, Paul?"
By hearing his name, the young man's cheeks pinked and he gave an eager nod.
Later that evening, the hardships of the group were celebrated with a somewhat scarce dinner. Regardless, the safe room was filled with supplies, that would suffice for days.
"Why are we stopping here? Wouldn't it be a lot easier if we went to the parking lot?" Yuki asked as Chuck carried her down off the bike. Chuck furrowed a bit, noting that the girl was heavier than she looked like. In the distance, a horde of undead wandered aimlessly about; the incoming dusk making them harder to spot. He knew that they all got unreasonably more aggressive at night and the noise of the motorcycle would draw them near. Frankly, Chuck didn't want anything else but to avoid fighting a wave of zombies with inhuman strength
"Probably." He said, resisting the urge to further explain himself. Sure, Yuki was 18 years of age although looked no older than 10 but what worried him the most was this unnerving feeling that kept nagging him. The little voice in his head telling him that her mind was far from stable. Which further left the question of how she managed to run around without even a bloodstain, let alone a scratch.
"The…there are too many zombies for us to drive through them."
"Zombies…?"a blank stare
"Mr. Greene, zombies only exist in films!
"Goddammit." Chuck cursed under his breath. His fears were well justified. "Ok, we walk the rest of the way but we have to be quiet."
Yuki carefreely skipped to his side, taking his hand in the process. Upon her lips was the sincerest of innocent smiles, he had seen in a long time and he couldn't help himself to see her as a child. She was old enough to be his sister and even still.
Then again, as they walked towards the end of the day, he was once again reminded that her mind was broken beyond repair. He couldn't blame her for that. And therefore, he had to protect her.
"We'll take a detour through the plaza."
"M'kay." The petite girl said drowsily. Her grip on Chuck's hand loosened and he decided to carry her on his back. It would of course leave him open to attacks but on the other hand, it gave him the possibility of speed, should danger arise.
It had barely been an hour before she began drooling on him in her sleep.
