A/N: Here's your next chapter, something I managed to write in between studying. I hope you guys enjoy it.
GAT-X105VividPanzer: One of the reasons while I love the song. Yeah, Honoka's pretty strong if you ask me. Anyway, good luck on your finals.
Dash24zappshift: I am so very sorry that I am going to inform you that this is not an action chapter. It's something that would get it cooking.
Rena Bodewig: Wow, you really seem to like that pairing. I must admit, it's nice to make their relationship go further. The dating chapter would be put up soon in the future before anything bad happens to the three guys. Whoops, spoilers.
Thank you for continuing to support this story.
As the others upstairs woke up slowly because of the morning light as all the curtains were open. The ones downstairs were struck with the delicious smell of food. Kei, Marcos and Nozomi soon stirred awake. Marcos reached for his glasses and then sleepily looked at the two who accompanied him. Nozomi stood up and walked to the kitchen to be followed by Kei and lastly Marcos. When they saw the table, they were quite amazed. It was like there was a feast since there was a lot of food on it. Silver was in front of a counter, preparing more coffee while Eri was still cooking soup.
"That looks so good…" Nozomi said with a smile.
The two looked at the group. "Thanks. We worked hard for this. Now off you three go, go to the living room and we'll serve it there. Wake the others up too." Eri said with a smile.
The group of three nodded and went back to their seats. Nozomi headed for the others and saw that they were already rising, Yukiho and Arisa were already outside Yukiho's room and was awaiting Muse to go out. Once the others came out of the room, they all went downstairs to see the feast before them.
Two long tables were placed in the middle which was filled with food. It wasn't such a lavish meal since they only cooked what they could salvage. They mostly cooked the ones that they couldn't bring. Two plates of chicken legs, three plates of hotdog, two plates filled with break slices, a pitcher of juice, a pitcher of normal water, a pitcher of iced tea and some sweets they got from the store itself.
"Breakfast is served." Silver said as he pointed at the food.
"It all looks so delicious!" Honoka exclaimed as she snapped out of her sleepy daze. "When did you guys make this?" She asked as she looked at Eri and Silver who were obviously the ones who cooked it since there were smudges on their clothes here and there… you know, looking past the blood and stuff.
"This morning." Eri replied with a smile. "What time was that?"
"No clue." Silver replied as he checked his pocket watch. "Quite a while, that's for sure."
"Well, there's your answer." Eri said as she looked at her friends who were already eating. "That was quick."
"Hunger Ayase… Hunger." Silver said as he quickly tapped her shoulder and headed for the plates and started to eat as well. "I swear, hunger is the best sauce ever." He muttered with a smile as he continued to eat.
"True nya~" Rin agreed as she ate as well.
"You could pass as one of those people who want a lot of food." Marcos said with a smirk as he held his fork with a hotdog on it. "Craving for it. What do you call those people in my language… Ah right, Mga patay gutom…"
"Hey!" The two exclaimed before they all burst out laughing.
"So will this be our daily routine?" Kei asked. "We're gonna eat then Ibarra here will teach us some Filipino words then we're all gonna go back to survival mode?"
All of them looked at each other. Honoka smiled and then nodded. "Yup! So we don't fall into depression."
"Then I have to prepare a long list of Filipino words if we're planning on doing that. It's going to be a very long list." Marcos said with a smile and his voice full of confidence. It only meant one thing, Marcos was planning on surviving for a very long time.
"True, true." Silver said, wiping his mouth with the sleeve of his right arm to wipe the remaining food that was there. He stood up and took his sword that was leaning on the table. "Let's explain the plan now shall we?" He asked Eri.
"So no more eating?" Rin asked with a slightly disappointed one as she took put her chicken leg down.
"No Rin, you can still eat but you have to promise to listen to us while we talk alright?" Eri said with a smile.
Rin nodded with a smile. "I promise!"
"Alright. Then let's do this." Silver said as he cleared one table of its contents before placing the map on it. He then took a deep breath. "So we found that the likeliest places that they would use are apartment complexes so we encircles the largest ones. We planned to go there. What do you guys say?"
"I guess it's a good plan." Marcos said. "I approve."
"It's not such a bad idea since using your logic on pinpointing the likeliest position and its spot on. I say we go for it." Umi continued with a nod.
Eri chuckled. "What is this? There are representatives for each gender?" She asked with a smile which brought the others to laugh.
"I guess it does look like that huh?" Honoka said, agreeing with her blonde senior's observation.
"It's effective." Maki pointed out.
"Yeah and besides Umi-chan is an ideal representative right guys?" Kotori said as she looked at the others to which they cheered.
The support made Umi blush. "I-I'm not that good." She mumbled.
"As humble and as shy as I remember." Silver said before folding the map and throwing it to Hanayo and she caught it clumsily. "You navigate Koizumi-san."
"E-Eh?" Hanayo looked at the map then back at Silver. "W-Why me? Umi-chan or Ibarra-kun would be better."
"Nonsense." Silver simply said. "You're gonna lead us to it alright?"
Eri caught on to what Silver was trying to do and then she looked at Hanayo. "We're counting on you Hanayo." She said with a wink.
"B-But…"
"No buts." Kei said and then petted Hanayo's head. "I'm sure you can do it Koizumi." He then backed away and then turned and faced the door. "Now let's go!"
"Where to next?" Marcos asked. He was just beside Hanayo to answer any questions she had about reading maps although actually pointing where it was, he did not do. Silver and Kei were in front of the group, Nozomi held her cross-like weapon ready as she and Eri were behind the group, keeping a lookout. The two map readers were in the middle of the group.
"U-Um… Turn left at the next intersection. Um… not the alleys." Hanayo pointed out with a soft voice.
"Please repeat. I didn't hear it." Silver said as his sword lazily swayed as he held onto it with his left hand.
"Turn left at the next intersection, not the alleys." Hanayo repeated in a louder voice,
Kei nodded and then they continued to walk and turned left on the next intersection. "You're doing good Koizumi." He complimented.
"I'm not…" Hanayo said meekly. "It's thanks to you that I'm doing good."
"Not true. You use what I teach you, that's good enough." Marcos retorted. His ears perked up as he heard something weird… "Run!" He exclaimed.
"Why?" Silver asked as he looked back at Marcos.
"Zombies!" He replied. His ears picked up quick footsteps coming from behind them. He could also hear the mass moaning that emanated from the group of zombies that were heading their way.
They all broke into a run and this time, Eri and Nozomi were in front and Silver and Kei are behind. "Hanayo, where now!?" Eri asked as she looked back at the young brunette.
Hanayo couldn't keep on map reading while running and now the pressure was on her. "I-I don't know…" She replied.
"Koizumi!" Kei shouted.
"We need those directions!"
"Hurry!"
Hanayo was drowned with all their voices and she couldn't focus anymore. Her grip on the map loosened and it almost flew. "Wag kang kabahan, chill lang…' Hanayo looked at Marcos with a baffled expression as she couldn't understand him. "Calm down. Just try and look at the map."
The young brunette looked at the map and then looked back at the street in front. "Turn left there!" She ordered to which the others followed. She continued to tell them directions and of course they followed. Miraculously, the escaped the horde by the time they reached the apartment. They all collapsed to the ground with the exception of the more physically fit group, the Scavengers which consisted of Marcos, Silver, Umi and Rin.
"Good job Kayo-chin!" Rin exclaimed as she hugged her panting friend.
"Yeah, great job." Eri said.
"You were amazing!" Honoka exclaimed as she too hugged the brunette.
Hanayo smiled at them. She couldn't believe that she did that. Her gaze went to Marcos who just nodded in acknowledgement.
"We're gonna go investigate inside first alright?" Silver said and the others nodded. "And don't worry since you'll be out here. Be careful on the zombies." With that, the Scavengers went inside the apartment building.
It was quite obvious that nothing was there. It was even in ruins and it seems that a lot has already come here and took everything. They managed to get some spare full water bottles which they happily took. They all headed towards the exit but something managed to catch Rin's attention. She entered the Master's Bedroom and then saw a closet there with blood stains on it.
"Rin?" Umi came in the room to see Rin looking at it. "What did you find?" She asked, nocking an arrow on the bow.
"I don't know nya~" Rin replied. She walked to the closet and slowly opened it, quickly jumping back as if expecting something to come out. Nothing did and the closet door hung lazily on its hinges and inside was another door. She walked to it and then opened it revealing a staircase to what seems to be a basement. "Should we?"
"Something must be in there right?" Umi said. "I guess we should." The blue haired archer was the first to descend to be followed by Rin, gripping her bat tightly as the descended.
When they reached the basement, they were met by a very… disturbing sight. In front of them was a blood stained room. It looked like a torture room. There were two beds with handcuffs built in it and on one side of the room was a tray. They didn't scream as they knew that it would attract some zombies.
"Umi? Hoshizora?" Silver called out as he and Marcos descended the stairs. "There you two are. What are you-"
"A torture room?" Marcos muttered. While Umi and Rin were just at the entrance, Marcos ventured inside, scrunching his nose as he the smell of blood was great. He then went to the tray and then took a scalpel from there. He began to examine it. "They used these tools to kill?"
"More like skin." Silver said as he opened a door revealing skin masks. He was visibly disturbed but did not show any signs of puking. "This is an apartment right?"
Marcos walked to another table and picked a paper up. "No… it's an orphanage."
"An orphanage?" Rin asked. "Then why is this here?"
"How about we ask her?" Silver asked, pulling a kid out of the room. It was a girl and she looked like she was weeping before they saw her.
The girl was holding onto Silver as if she depended on him for protection.
"Let's get her out first." Umi said as she managed to calm herself down. "Come here." She said. The girl let go of Silver and headed for Umi and held her hand. She gestured that they should get a move on and they all left.
Umi and the others came out of the place to see that the others were sitting down on the lawn, laughing and telling stories. Honoka was the first to notice them and the child. She stood up, dusted herself off and then headed to the young girl and crouched down to her height. "Hi there, what's your name?" She asked with a smile.
The girl didn't respond as she just looked at Honoka's blue eyes as if searching for something.
Honoka looked at Umi and the others as if asking who she was and the others simply shrugged.
"Where did you find her?" Nico asked.
"I'd rather not say." Umi replied, shuddering at the memory. "We just know that she was pretty traumatized."
Eri looked worriedly at the group as all of them looked like they saw something they shouldn't have. "Alright, let's just sit here and rest."
The others agreed and the all gathered around. They were handing out chips and cookies for their snack but most of them gave it to the kid who happily ate them.
"So what's your name kid?" Marcos asked as he looked at the girl kid there.
"Yuki… Anoka Yuki." The girl replied, her voice cold and emotionless.
The others could feel it. "So Yuki, mind telling us what was happening in that room?"
"Silver!" Umi scolded but Yuki replied anyway.
"Let me tell you my story first… When I was 5, my parents died so I was sent to that hell of an orphanage. They took good care of me at first but then as I grew older, the more I saw the fear in my friends' eyes. One night while I was going to the kitchen, I heard muffled screams coming from the Master's Bedroom." She took a deep breath. "I ran back to the room, convincing myself that it was nothing. The next day, we were told that our friend was adopted and I immediately knew that she was dead. We didn't show that we knew and then we continued on. Last year, I found out that we were actually eating the children that were killed the day before."
"Y-You… you ate…" Kei stopped and then held back the puke. Some of the others was like that as well.
"Shouldn't you be sick or something?" Maki asked. "Cannibalism leads to numerous sicknesses."
Yuki shook her head. "We grew immune to everything." She then looked at the older people before her. "We got sick but whoever lives through it gets a special prize…" She then took the locket she had hidden inside her shirt. "We get back the memories…"
"How cruel." Nozomi said, feeling angry that someone could do this to orphans.
"Then remember that room I was in?" Yuki asked Silver.
"Yeah, it was full of skin masks."
"They sell those to many people. I don't know how they make it look more like fake masks but they manage to do it." Yuki said. "Before you saw me, I was the next 'meal' because I screwed up big time. But then zombies came and I ran inside the room of masks. Then… this."
"What a life." Honoka said.
"It's so sad." Kotori added.
Yuki shook her head. "At least I'm alive. Sure I had to eat my friends and my parents are gone but I'm alive… I'm alive." She muttered the last two words repeatedly.
"Yes, you're still alive." Marcos said, kneeling down to her height on one knee. "But what would be the point in living in this wasteland?"
"If this wasteland would go back to its original form then living won't be so bad." Yuki replied, looking at Marcos with emotionless eyes.
It was something that surprised Marcos and angered him at the same time. 'How could someone rip this kid's emotions away from her in such a young age?' He asked himself in thought as he continued to stare back. He was snapped away as Silver spoke.
"Well what are you planning to do now Yuki?" Silver asked.
Yuki shrugged.
"Maybe you could go with us." Honoka suggested. She looked at the others who agreed. I mean, won't they be as monstrous as the owners if they left the kid here alone?
"You won't mind?"
"Of course we won't." Kotori replied with a smile. "That is if you feel comfortable with it."
For the first time since they met her, they finally saw a smile. It was quite small to the point of the mouth just giving off a small twitch but they saw it and they were happy. "Thank you." Her voice was full of sincerity and it was quite obvious.
"All right then." Kei said, standing up and stretching. "It's getting pretty late again." He said, looking up at the sky then to his watch. "We should camp out here inside the apartment for now. Is that all right with you Yuki?"
Yuki nodded.
They all went in and then went into the rooms. They were divided by year and gender with Yuki staying with the second years.
It was in the middle of the night when the floorboards started to creak. Everyone was in deep sleep so no one could hear it, not even the guys. The door to the first years slid open and a hand reached out for Maki and covered her mouth with a handkerchief. She woke up and then tried to fight the woman, making as much noise as she can but she couldn't produce much as she slowly drifted to sleep. The figure then dragged her out of the house and into the streets.