Chapter 14

Axis (Ludwig's P.O.V)

Feliciano woke me up with a large smile on his face. His old self showing intently past the sun. "Wake up Doitsu! Wake up!" He yelled loudly in my face. I sit up and rub my eyes, even though I am still wearing gloves. "Good morning." I growl towards him. His smile only widens a bit, and he stands up straight. Kiku was up to, his jacket hanging flimsily over his shoulders.

"How was your part of look out?" I ask him groggily. "Nothing bad happened. No attacks or anything." Was his response. I nod and stand up. Kiku and I had done watch outs last night. First I stayed up to watch, and then I woke him up so he could watch until sunrise.

We couldn't let Feliciano watch, he might kill the three of us. Also last night, we decided to have all three of us go inside and check the factory. "I'm sure we'll be okay. I doubt anything that bad will happen again." I remember Kiku telling me that, and me taking his word for it.

"I guess we better start with the factory then." I suggest. Kiku nods and I call Feliciano over. "We're going to go inside the factory, alright? I'll need you to be careful and stay next to me or in front of me." I instruct him. He smiles and nods. "Yessir!" He says with a little salute.

As soon as we stepped in, Kiku put his jacket on, the cold air sent goose bumps up my arm. Felicano kept his arms around mine, and walked next to me. I held my pistol tightly in my right hand, waiting, just waiting for anything to pop out. Feliciano's now only had his right arm around mine, his left was waving the pathetic white flag he made yesterday.

A quick glance of the inside and you could tell this place was abandoned. Weeds were growing over the walls, mold cascading throughout the place. The smell of death and rot filled our nostrils. We kept our eyes open for anything that could happen, and so far no problems have occurred yet.

Turns out, the factory was for Twinkies. An American pastry that was quite famous. We decided to collect only a few, then to search in different rooms for blankets, or things like that.

So after searching through a level for an hour, we made our way to the second. There, was a door we needed to open to enter a room, where a hall ended. I walked over and opened the door without hesitation, not even thinking of what could happen.

When I open the door, all I see are Loaners walking around and moaning for food. For a moment I only stand there, my breath taken away, but I move when I hear Feliciano scream. The goddamn idiot!

His scream attracted all their attention toward us, and with that, they came. "Shit!" I yell, and shut the door. But they counter through it, and follow me down the stairs. I held Feliciano's hand tightly, squeezing it a bit. "Doitsu! Doitsu!" He called.

"They've got me!" With that I turn around, and notice one was holding onto his arm, his head moving closer, ready to eat. I pulled Feliciano as hard as I could and threw him towards Kiku who was in front of us. The Loaner fell forward and lodged it's teeth into my arm. "Damn!" I yell, and hit it in the head with my pistol. "Bastard." I mumble, my arm hurting from the bite.

One moment, I'm turning around, the next; I feel someone's hand on my jacket collar, dragging me. Feliciano was being dragged too, screaming my name and crying. I look behind me; Kiku was carrying us while running. His arms back like, what Feliciano would say, a ninja. I close my eyes and try to pretend the pain wasn't there. The bite mark wasn't there.

Kiku's P.O.V

"Doitsu! No!" Was what I heard when Feliciano hit my back. He fell to the floor and I stopped. "Bit! He was bit!" Was all I could hear. I run up and grab Ludwig by the collar, not daring to look at his bite, and I then grab Feliciano's collar. I dragged them behind me after I shoved my sword into my sheath, and began running as fast as I could. Their combined weight pulling me down made it very hard, but if I wanted both of them to live, if I wanted my plan to work, I had to run fast enough.

Ludwig didn't object to my dragging, all I could hear was the moaning and Feliciano's cries and screams. I didn't look back; I just tried to find the way we came in. We were up stairs, so a window would work. I had no other choice. I head butted through the closest window and jumped. Felicano was flailing around. "Stop moving!" I called back to him. I just barely made it to the other building roof. The pavement slapping my foot and knee, a loud thunk behind me.

The Loaners couldn't get over here. I let go of the two and ignored Feliciano as he screamed Ludwig's name. I let my eyes scan the roof. Ludwig was sitting up trying to reassure Feliciano. "Feliciano!" I call to him over his screaming. I pull out my sword from my sheath as I say this. "Move." I tell him. "Bu-" He starts. "Move, quickly!" I tell him. He was wasting time, time I needed.

He was still crying, but he moved to the side. With that, I raised my arms, the sword tight in my grip, and I swung down through Ludwig's shoulder, cutting his arm right off. "Waaaaahh! What the hell!" He screamed. "Don't touch it." I told him, and rushed over, pulling off a large part of my jacket, fitting to the size of a strip.

Ludwig was shaking a bit as he looked at the damage. I got on my knees, and used my shaking hands to create a tourniquet*. "Feliciano, give me your flag." I tell him. He didn't respond, his sobs still loud and resounding in my ears. I turn around when I'm finished tying. "Give me your damn flag!" I yelled at him. When I looked back, I saw him sitting up straight, his face white, and his eyes wide. I could feel my throat tighten.

I walk over and take the flag from him. He didn't resist, he was simply frozen. I walk back to Ludwig re-tie it, finishing the tourniquet. He was sweating and shaking, and I was breathing heavily. I could hear Feliciano scoot to Ludwig. "Doitsu." He cried, resting his head on Ludwig's chest.

I watched as he clung to him. "Why did you do that?" Ludwig asked me, his voice raspy and hollow. I was staring at nothing in particular, my eyes in a gaze. "To stop the infection from going to you heart. If I cut off your limb, the one that was bitten, I might have saved you from death." I said this with no emotion, still lost, and thinking of what might happen to Ludwig, to us if he didn't survive.

Ludwig's P.O.V

This made a lot sense to me. And who knows, it might actually work. This excruciating pain I am feeling right now, might be worth it. I nod; even though he isn't even looking at me. I just don't have the energy to say anything. I could feel a deep coolness fill me, a coolness that dragged me to sleep.

All I could think about was Feliciano. How crushed he was going to be, his chances of surviving traveling down by the second. Images of my past continued popping into my head. One, of a little girl that looked strangely like Feliciano, giving me a push broom. Weird, I never remembered this happening to me, so I tried to hold onto the image, before I realized what it was.

Feliciano's head was on my chest, and he was sobbing uncontrollably. My eyes were closed, but I still breathed steadily. With my only hand left, I grab Felicano's, and squeeze it tightly. "Feliciano." I whispered. I opened my eyes to see him, he lifted his head and looked at me. His face was wet, red on some places, blood on one side of him, and the rest of his skin completely pale. His face showed an emotion I had never seen before, his eyes were open and wide, showing the concern and sadness he had welled up inside of him.

As I looked at him, I choked out my last words. "I still have the push broom." Then the rest was black, and I could feel myself drift away from the boy I fell in love with.

Feliciano's P.O.V

After he choked out those words, Doitsu let go of my hand, his grip loosening with every word he spoke. When he finished, his heart stopped beating. It took me a moment to register this. To realize that Doitsu was gone, but when I did realize, there was an aching feeling in my stomach, a feeling that made me want to disappear.

"DOITSU!"

*Tourniquet

Medicine/Medical, Surgery . any device for arresting bleeding by forcibly compressing a blood vessel, as a bandage tightened by twisting.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed! Please don't stop reading because I killed Germany, we have good reasons for this ya know!