-13)

„Well…I think that is what you can expect of the capital of hell, eh? Dead people coming back to life is the least…", Rick's mother pulled a big piece of her cigarette and inhaled the smoke deeply. The ashtray was filled with at least fifty of those coffin nails. Diana could see in her face that she wasn't usually smoking, she got paler with every drag. She had seen that before. Her ex-boyfriend, that asshole, was a strong smoker.

„But, mom, you said something about monsters? What did you mean if not the zombies?" He looked at the place behind his mother's head, where a window had been.

It was completely covered with wooden bars now. Diana swallowed, she actually did not want to know what made such a security necessary.

Maybe the insects? Or the dogs…hell, it could even be flying mutated pigs…

She could feel a icy-cold shiver running down her spine. The darkness in this apartment and the sealed windows made her feel like being in a dungeon surround by evil fiends. She wanted away, fast…very fast.

„Trust me you…don't want to know", Rick's mother sighed. But she seemed oddly calm, as if she had already lost any hope.

„Alright, doesn't matter anyway. We wait till tomorrow and will leave at dawn. We leave the city", Rick stated strongly. His mother looked at him and then she smiled briefly. „Your just like your father…always fighting battles you can't win. We can't leave the house anymore. I don't even know how you made it here in the first place. We can only wait till we run out of food and die peacefully."

The absolute coolness with which the woman stated that they would die was horrifying, she really must have lost every bit of hope. Or was it more then that?

„Rick, now that you're here we can meet Kogoro together. Let's be happy."

Diana couldn't …just couldn't grasp this. She really wanted to die, without even trying to survive. Diana did not want to think what she was thinking right now, but she couldn't help it.

We have to leave her….she will be our death…

She felt dirty, slimy and like a horrible bitch, but she knew it was right.

The loud noise of breaking glass woke her from this terrible thought. But thankfully it was not one of the blocked windows that was opened roughly by a monster. No, it was just Rick's glass that he threw against the wall. Some of the juice, he had been drinking, ran down the wallpaper.

„NO!! That's not what tousan would want us to do!! He did sacrifice his life for mine, I owe him to fight for it!!"

His mother remained calm. „You don't know what you are talking about, you did not see them. Even your father would have had to run from them."

Diana had watched that scene paralyzed and was really curious what that story with Ricks father was about, but she did not dare to ask.

„Then we run too. We run until we reach the RPD and hide. The monsters won't get us…", Ben tried to calm the situation down.

„We won't make it…", Ricks mother whispered sadly.

„Yes, we will. And even if we won't, at least we tried", Rick said darkly and left the room.

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It took them about one hour to search the entire house, but they did not find anyone anywhere. Toni had actually been hoping not to find her parents, because they would never have been able to survive here. They would have been zombies, which she would have had to kill. Thus, it was actually great that they were no longer here.

But now she wanted to know where they had gone. They would never leave her behind, would they? Okay, they were often fighting, but not that much. The only thing odd was the untidy bedroom of her parents. The cupboards were ripped open and empty, likewise the sideboards.

They must have fled…without me…no… that is just impossible they would never do that…never…

The pain of doubt really made her crazy. On the other hand, what could she accuse them for? They woke up in a town run over by dead people. If they just lost their minds and fled it was nothing surprising. Toni was sure she would have done the same…or maybe not….

Now where she was standing in front of her own room, and watched Alan opening the door carefully, she understood that this was what happened anywhere in the city. All those who could flee fled, leaving someone behind if necessary. Kids, Grandparents, Pets…they were all dying somewhere alone.

The only encouraging thought was that she would not be alone when this time would come. Even if it was only Alan, a person whom she never seemed to understand or even like, it was better then being alone.

Her room's door, which was covered in posters and the typical „genius at work" and „keep out" signs, opened slowly, not screeching a bit. It was of course oiled on a regular basis.

„I'll go first", she said, readying the handgun and pointing it towards the interior of the room.

He nodded darkly. The blade of his odd weapon glowing in the shallow moonlight. Toni pressed the door open with the elbow, entering her room. All her senses were opened and even a silent moan would have made her shoot.

But there wasn't anything. It was just pitch-black. Her hand quickly searched for the button next to the doors frame. The neon-tube at the ceiling exploded in light, blinding her for a few seconds.

She forced her eyes open, only able to see colors of her room, the oak of her cupboard, the blue of her wallpap…

….movement!!

Her body acted quicker then her brain could have thought about it, her hand rising up, her finger pulling the trigger of the Samurai Edge, which was not easy at all, and fired at the bloody red movement in front of her.

„Don't…!!", Alan shouted, but she did not hear it.

Three bullets hacked into the thing, but it did not stop moving. Her eyes got clearer, even if she actually did not want to see whatever was coming at her. The red turned a little brighter, with golden dots on it and Toni stopped firing. It was a mischievous evil…curtain…

A goddamn piece of expensive stuff, that was swinging at the soft wind of an slightly open window. The three bullets ripped holes of the size of carrots into it. „Damn…", Toni growled. „I loved that one…"

„Next time look first, then shoot. I don't like to be the next curtain you kill…"

Toni gave him an angry look. „Yeah, just hope that I will have to mistake you with a curtain…"

His eyes spoke of nothing again, he ignored her sarcastic joke, as always. „Hey, come here", he ordered. His position right at her bed made her brain go into „pervert-mode".

Maybe he wants…nah, impossible…if he tries that… I'll really kill him….

„What's it?", she asked, trying to regain her mind.

What the heck is wrong with me? I am close to death and all I seem to think about is sex? …wait a second…maybe that is not sooo wrong after all…

„A note", he picked something up and held it in front of her nose. „Addressed to you".

The weapon fell out of her hand on the, luckily soft, carpet, she literally ripped the small white peace of paper from Alan's hand and started reading it.

Antonia,

they came only halve an hour after you left. Two dark limousines, filled with employees of Dads business-partners. They told us that something happened in the city and it was no longer save. We only had minutes to pack some things. They swore that you were taken care of.

I really hope you never have to read this lines, because that means they lied.

God help me, I just felt they were lying, but I had no choice, they never asked If we wanted to leave and Dad told me to obey them. I wonder what he knows…

Thus, I decided to write this, just in case you come home and look for us. If there really is something wrong in the city, we will come back and fetch you. Don't worry, I swear we will save you.

If we …can't make it, because of some reason, Dad says you should head for the police station or his bank. He said that there was a way to leave the city from there. He seemed sure you would find it.

Never forget that we love you, forever.

Mom & Dad

As she read her eyes filled with tears. The running started when she reached the eighth line and by the time she read forever she was crying like a little girl. She felt so sad and lonely and ….hateful. What did they think leaving her behind? If her father knew what was wrong why didn't he do anything? It was eating her up inside, she really started to hate them, even if she did not want to, those words on the paper were like all her life had been.

Her mother once again tried to pretend something she wasn't. Only this time it was her love, that she was faking.

She threw herself onto her bed, and covered her face in her hands.

„Abandoned you, didn't they?", that emotionless dick asked as unmoved as ever.

„Shut up!"

„That's how it is. In this world…"

„Shut up!!", she screamed between sobs.

„…you cannot put faith in anyone…"

„Shut your stinkin' trap!!!"

„…they will all turn on you."

Her sudden movement surprised herself. She grabbed the gun from the floor and aimed it right at Alan's face, her hand twitched, but she held it straight.

„Shut the hell up, or I will kill you."

„You can't ignore the truth. It doesn't matter if they are your parents or friends or lovers. They will turn on you for their own sake", he seemed not even slightly worried because of that gun at his forehead.

She grinded her teeth on another, breathing heavily. „What do you know, huh? You still have a family somewhere!!!"

An amused grin flashed over his lips: „Your wrong, I don't.… Those people…they mean nothing to me, and I mean nothing to them."

Her finger left the trigger, she let the weapon sink and took a long deep breath.

„Tell me", she said while she sunk against the wall next to her bed, hugging her legs and resting her head on her knees.

„Huh?", he not even seemed to be relieved that the weapon was out of his head, how could he act like that?

„I wanna know, wanna understand how you do this. How you shut out your feelings like that."

„Heh", he had a slight smirk on his lips, but his eyes still spoke of sadness and hurt. „If I tell you, you'll get nightmares and cry again."

He did not want to speak about it. That was obvious, there was no use threatening him. „Please, I need to know."

She pointed at the free space on her bed, right next to her.

With an annoyed sigh he sat down and leaned against the same wall as Toni.

„This story is a secret. I never told anyone about it, exactly like I was told."

„You're a secret agent, huh? C'mon…"

„No…not a secret agent….a killer.", he said in such an easy tone that Toni wasn't sure she understood him right. He didn't say killer, did he?

„What was that?", she gasped.

„If you really want to understand, then I should start from the beginning. That was ten years ago I presume. Cannot really remember it that well. I was in elementary then, I think somewhere near NY. I was a very violent child. Always looking for a fight, but always seeming to pick the wrong guys… got many major beatings."

„Doesn't sound that special to me…", Toni threw in.

That was the normal story of a child with a far to big mouth, which got his face punched in several times.

„Yeah, until I killed one of them."

Her heart skipped at least two beats. „You killed another kid when you were only eight?"

„He was eleven and I cannot remember if I really killed him or not. But he was at least severally hurt. Punched him till he stopped moving. He was the schools bully, wanted my food money."

She began to shiver. This story was definitely freaking her out and she would get nightmares.

„I understand…", she tried. Of course, if you had done such a thing you get separated from others. They fear you and hate you. He got lonely. No wonder he closed his feelings inside.

„You understand nothing. Story hasn't started, yet."

A cold shiver ran down her spine. What in all heavens could be worse then that?

„You know, there were many people in our hometown, who hated us for what I did. They were threatening us and the parents of that bully even sued us. My parents had no other choice as to leave. I never understood what was wrong, was too stupid."

He had his eyes pointed at one of her posters. But Toni wasn't sure if he was really seeing the two musicians on it or if he was seeing his past.

„Problem was, when you cross the line of punching someone half dead you lose pretty much all of your self-control. I had more fights and my parents finally decided to do something. Luckily a colleague of my father knew that the company had a special school, or you could call it a camp, for maladjusted kids like myself."

„A camp run by a firm? That is sure odd…those things are normally in state control, aren't they?"

„Exactly, and this is where my story starts. The day I entered the UCC, the Umbrella Correctional Compound."