Hetalia of the Dead

Hello everyone

Starting this with an apology for not keeping up with updates like I promised. I've been really busy recently with a new job and then the Christmas Craziness.

But I was determined to get this up for Christmas as I always post a chapter as a little present for my readers and followers. So, Merry Christmas everyone and a Happy New Year.

In this chapter, I'm hoping to build some character development (for some characters), because recently I've been concentrating on the horror side of the story.

Chapter Twenty-One

Bright sunlight poured through the uncovered windows, shining warmly onto the sleeping occupants of the room. Snoring and dreaming bodies were sprawled over the place – on the floor, on chairs, on tables and on each other. Only two people were awake and they were Matthew and Francis, both having volunteered to take the watch for the last half of the night, taking over from Gilbert and Antonio at around about midnight.

Both blond teens were sat side by side, weapons by their sides and staring blankly at the staircase. Nothing unusual or dangerous happened during the night, unless you called Alfred talking in his sleep. With a yawn, Matt gently placed his head on his French lovers shoulder and closed his eyes.

"It's seven AM" he commented with a smile as he glanced at his watch. "I'm usually making pancakes for breakfast by now or forcing my brother awake for school. Now, that all seems like a million years ago."

Francis smiled softly and kissed the top of the Canadians head. "And a shower." He added. "I'd do anything for a shower right about now."

"And a bed," Matthew replied, groaning in want. "It's stupid the little things you miss when you lose them." With a sigh, he looked around the room, blue eyes lingering a little longer on Ludwig, Lovino and Eliza. "But I guess we're the lucky ones. When I think about it, neither of us have lost anything important. Your family is abroad so hopefully safe. My mom died years ago and dad, well he was a rotten drunk hoser. I'm not sad to see him go, honestly."

Francis sighed, trying not to think about his mother and sister who were in Paris for a girly shopping week. His father was divorced from his mother and living a disgusting life of whores and drugs. Francis too did not mourn the loss of him, and his darling Matthew was safe by his side. All that taken into account, Francis was indeed very lucky.

"Should we wake everyone up?" Francis asked, stretching his arms over his head, causing Matthews head to move from his shoulder. The Canadian grinned and replied "Oui," getting to his feet and going over to the closest person (Mei) and shaking her awake. The young girl muttered something in her native language and rolled over, still asleep.

Francis chuckled. "You know what that does to me, don't you? When you speak French."

Matthew grinned, then said in English. "Yes, but it's too early for any of that." Then with a wink, he whispered, "Maybe later, non?"

Francis shuddered in delight and refrained from grabbing the Canadian and taking him then and there, despite everyone now slowly rousing from sleep.

As Matthew woke up Alfred – who childishly rolled over and asked for ten more minutes -, Francis strode over to Antonio and gave him an encouraging nudge with his foot. "Wake up sleeping beauty," the French teen smiled as Antonio blearily opened his green eyes. "It's a beautiful day. The sun is shining, the birds are singing and the zombies are hoping to have us for breakfast."

"Not the worst wake-up call I've ever had," Antonio yawned as he sat up, his brown hair standing up in all sorts of crazy directions.

Francis snorted. "Wake up Lovino and Gilly for me, who then can wake up Ludwig."

"Aye aye captain" The Spaniard mumbled as he yawned again and stretched out his limbs. "Whatever you say."

Once everyone was awake and after everyone had used the bathroom, the whole team gathered together in the hopes of formulating a good plan together. They had new members of their group, so maybe their previous plans were no longer in motion.

"We'll go wherever you go." Toris said. "None of us live around here, we live at least thirty miles away. Our class were halfway to a theme park when we crashed, so wherever the nearest safe border is, is where we'll find our families . . . if they survived."

"What school did you guys used to attend?" Mei asked curiously as she used her fingers to try and brush her tangled hair.

"Hetalia High" Eduard answered. "It only accepted European students and more or less, taught them everything a normal school would, but also had extra classes in learning how to be . . . erm, well, more American I guess. We learnt American history, American music, American literature. We had to do the pledge every morning."

"I should hope so!" Alfred roared proudly, placing his hand over his heart. "You can't be considered a true citizen until you pledge allegiance at least one hundred times."

As he said this, almost everyone rolled their eyes. "Don't listen to the idiot," Arthur said fondly as Alfred pouted. "As you can see, all of us aren't American so you shouldn't feel awkward. Aside from Alfred and Matthew, everyone here is either European or Asian by birth."

Eduard smiled softly, "I guess that makes me a little less threatened."

"Just stay away from Ivan" Alfred whispered behind his hand, glancing at the Russian who was flipping through a computer manual he had found, not listening to any conversation. "He's a huge jerk!"

"Sshh!" Arthur hissed, elbowing the American lightly in the stomach. "Can you make your hate of the poor bloke anymore obvious? He's done nothing wrong."

"Yet" Alfred pointed out. "Not done anything wrong yet." He then frowned even further. "We used to be close friends in middle school but it went downhill when he thought a pig's heart would be a good birthday present."

"Ew," Mei muttered in distaste. "An actual, for real pig heart?"

Alfred grimaced and nodded. The pretty Asian girl pulled a disgusted face and whispered. "But he seems so nice. He wasn't mean or anything when I was with him and Vash in the canteen before we all met up."

"Wolf in sheep's clothing," Alfred told her since no one else seemed to be listening. "Do not be fooled. Any time soon and he'll betray us. Just watch, you'll see."

"Anyway!" Arthur said loudly, hoping to steer the sour conversation into another direction. He turned to the four new members and asked, "Do you guys have any weapons? Anything useful at all?"

The four of them exchanged glances and Eduard replied, "Nothing."

"And we have nothing to give them," Vash snarled as he packed his bag ready to leave, Lilly looking on. "Trust our luck to save the useless people."

"Hey!" Feliks snapped, looking as intimidating as a man could in a skirt. "We may not have guns or swords to fight with but we have smarts. Eduard can hack into any computer in the world – he's a techno genius!"

Vash growled then said sarcastically. "That would be useful if we were fighting against robots." He put the safety on his gun and tucked it in his waistband. "We can't kill zombies with e-mails and Twitter."

"I'm good at lock picking." Raivis piped up. "I'm your guy if you find that your enemy is a locked door."

"And Toris is really smart and so am I," Feliks ended, crossing his arms over his chest.

Vash rolled his eyes. "I don't really care what any of you can or cannot do. Just don't get in my way and if you get caught by one of those zombies, don't expect my help." He then turned away from the conversation, smiling only for his little sister – who, after overhearing the whole exchange – smiled nervously back.

Feliks growled. "What a douche. He's not your leader, is he?"

Alfred and Arthur exchanged glances. "We sort of, haven't got a leader," Alfred answered. "We all pitch in with the decision making and decide as a group which is the best one to take. No one has authority over anyone else here. It's a democracy."

Toris chuckled. "I think we'll just agree with the majority. We don't want to stick our noses into others business or change what has obviously been working so far for you guys."

"Just because you've just joined us doesn't make your opinion count for less," Arthur said. "So if any of you have a good plan or idea to suggest then make it heard. Who knows, your thoughts just might save us all."

"Hmm," Eduard commented, stroking his chin. "If you want our thoughts then here's one. How are you all so certain that you're heading in the right direction? We may never find shelter meaning all of this would have been to waste. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad you came this way because if you didn't, the four of us would be zombie chow."

Alfred shrugged. "No clue dude. We started randomly going in one direction and stuck to it. It's not done us much wrong."

Mei scoffed. "If you count Mr. Edelstein's death as not wrong."

"Technically he died before we took this route." Peter supplied. "The only one we've lost this way is Feli, but he was bitten at school."

"Two people?" Toris asked sadly. "I'm sorry to hear that. But you've all done amazingly to stay alive so far with such a huge group. I'm surprised you haven't lost more."

"Can we stop talking about death, please?" Arthur shuddered. "It's not pleasant to start the day by talking about who we've lost."

"Talking about starting the say." Vash commented. "We better get a move on. We're doing nothing but waste daylight."

"Hai." Kiku agreed, getting to his feet. "We must leave immediately."

"Okay everybody," Vash yelled so everyone could hear. "Grab your shit together and get ready to leave in five minutes."

Grumbles answered him as every person moved to collect any belongs that they may have placed somewhere. Others were collecting the last bits of food they had, conserving as much as they could. Once ready, they left the building.

As Gilbert, Ludwig, Antonio and Lovino got into the pick-up truck, the rest of the group jumped into the minibus, people having to squeeze together to make room for their new additions. Since Peter decided that Raivis was his new favourite bus mate, Arthur sat up front with Alfred who was once again at the steering wheel.

"Co –driver?" Alfred asked with a smirk as he twirled the keys around his finger, waiting for the pick-up to move first. "Can you even drive, Artie?"

Arthur scowled then said softly with a smile, "Of course I can."

"I don't want to panic you," Alfred continued. "But here, we drive on the right hand side of the road."

Arthur rolled his eyes in humour. "I know that. I learnt how to drive here, not in England. I know how and where to drive."

"Good," Alfred laughed as he put the key in the ignition. "But I guess driving on the left doesn't matter anymore. There are no cars on the roads but us."

As the pick-up slowly moved way, Alfred put his foot down on the gas pedal. The minibus moved about two foot before it coughed, shuddered and came to a sudden halt. Thinking he just stalled, Alfred repeated the action, but the bus remained stationary. With a quick glance at the dashboard, he found the problem instantly. With an annoyed sigh, he picked up the walkie-talkie where Gilbert has the other half and reported their situation.

"About turn guys," He said. "We're not going anywhere soon. We've ran out of gas."

Alfred could almost hear the growl that would have came from the German before he replied.

"On our way."

Translations:

Japanese: はい Hai - Yes

Mini Extra Christmas Chapter! (just for fun x)

"Merry Christmas Artie!" Alfred yelled happily, throwing a long string of shiny silver tinsel over the Brit's head. Arthur, who has just come through the door, smiled warmly at his friend and brushed melting snowflakes from his sunny blond hair. "And a very Merry Christmas to you too, Alfred," he replied, shrugging his thick coat off and sitting next to the American by the lit fireplace. "How are you?"

"I'm great." Alfred grinned, sliding over a freshly made hot chocolate that he had made with as much love and care as he could. "Snow is falling, the fire is lovely and my best friend is right here with me."

Arthur smiled over the rim of his mug, his green eyes reflecting the dancing flames of the fire. "I ditto that remake wholeheartedly."

"I also got you a little present." Alfred said as soon as his company finished his drink. He reached behind him and pulled out a small box wrapped in emerald green wrapping paper and fitted with a golden ribbon and bow and shyly handing it over.

A little surprised, Arthur took the small item into his hands, their fingers brushing momentarily and proceeded to unravel the ribbon. With that out of the way, he carefully tore away at the wrapping, clever fingers gently removing both tape and paper. Completely free of its covering, Arthur laughed lightly as he handled a new bow of earl grey tea, the kind he loved the most.

"This is wonderful, Alfred," Arthur chuckled. "My favourite. How did you know?"

"You drink nothing else," the American answered, shoulders less tense now he knew he had got his gift correct. "You always complain that you run out of them too quick."

"I do," Arthur agreed, placing the box aside. He then chewed his bottom lip nervously and whispered. "Thank you, but I'm afraid I didn't get you anything in return."

Waving it off, Alfred only grinned. "Don't worry. Just being in your company is enough for me."

"No." Arthur said, determined. "I'll give you a present too."

And carefully, like in slow motion, the Brit gently leaned forward, resting on his knees and putting his hands on Alfred's legs to steady himself and keep his balance. His jade eyes slowly closed and as their noses touched, Alfred did the same. He tilted his face up and whispered the others name, ready for their lips to touch.

"Alfred." Arthur gasped, just before the moment. "Alfred."

"ALFRED!"

"Yeah?" Almost there.

"ALFRED. OI, ALFRED!"

"Huh?" Any microsecond now!

"Wake up idiot!"

Sky blue eyes shot open and were immediately attacked with bright light. Shutting them for a second, he sat up, rubbing the backs of his eye lids before opening them again.

He was back in the office building with everyone around him currently still asleep. Arthur was knelt next to him, green eyes furrowed in annoyance. "Bloody hell" he muttered. "You sleep and snore like a hibernating bear you know?"

"Where did the fireplace go? Did you like the hot chocolate I gave you; I made it just for you?" Alfred asked, brain still fuzzy from a deep sleep. "The earl grey was bought straight from London!"

One dark eyebrow raised in confusion. "What on earth are you talking about?"

Shaking his head, Alfred remained silent and thought about it. It was not Christmas. They were not in his house sat by the fire but in an office complex surrounded by zombies. So that meant the almost kiss with Arthur was not true either.

"Sorry," he mumbled, scratching the back of his neck. "Just a dream I had."

Arthur rolled his eyes, but beamed with humour. "Obviously. C'mon, let's get some breakfast so we can leave as soon as possible."

"Sure," he yawned as Arthur got to his feet. "I'll join you in a second."

"Ok," Arthur replied, going over to Peter, shaking him awake gently.

Stretching his arms and legs, Alfred was sad that his little dream was just that – a dream. But as he ran his fingers through his hair and watched Arthur, he made a promise to himself. He promised to get everyone to safety and make that dream become a reality.