Footsteps hit the wet pavement. Their pace wasn't too slow but it wasn't too quick either. They needed to traverse through the road carefully lest they want themselves face to face with the zombies that have apparently appeared in the town out of nowhere. That was a real mystery. The blonde lagged a little behind her companions who were walking side by side without talking. She felt a little out of place to be completely honest. Maki and Silver has been through a lot together, mostly because they always stuck together when they always go on groups. They trained with each other, got injured together and kept each others' backs safe so she's pretty left out.

"Oi, Eri. You alright back there?" SIlver's voice piped up and the blonde looked up to them who have stopped to look at her. "You were spacing out." He continued, his eyes really showing his worry for her.

Eri shook her head. "No, I'm alright. I'm just a little…" She didn't continue to thought. She felt left out. She felt scared… she felt a lot of things but she didn't want to say them out loud. It wasn't embarrassing but there was something in her that was preventing her from saying anything to her current companions. Maybe it was just her stubbornness coming into play.

Maki looked up, either checking for the conditions of the weather or to think of something. "I'm pretty scared though." The red haired said but her voice was strained, meaning she didn't really want to say it. This caught Silver and Eri's attention. "How about you two?" She asked.

SIlver seemed to catch was she was trying to do and nodded. "Well who wouldn't?" He then held out his hands and left his gun hanging on his side. "Look… I'm shaking." He said and it was true, he was trembling. He let out a slightly nervous chuckle. "I always hid it because I was the oldest guy out of all of us." He then looked at Eri. "I'm surprised that you aren't scared too. I feel ashamed…"

Eri quickly shook her head and her hands. "What? No!" She exclaimed. "I'm scared myself you know and I feel a little lonely when you two are together. You seem so close that I feel left out…"

Maki crossed her arms then shook her head. "We've been together longer Eri, you should've just told me and I would've abandoned him for you." She said with no hesitation whatsoever.

"As much as that hurts on my side, she's right. Besides, you shouldn't hesitate to jump in a conversation of ours." Silver then ran his hand through his hair, a habit he picked up from Marcos. "Or just start a conversation since we usually travel in complete silence." He continued, remembering that he and Maki doesn't usually talk to each other when they travel. It was always Kei who started a conversation before the two talk.

Eri smiled. "Thanks." She then looked forward. "Let's go then shall we?" She asked and the other two nodded but they didn't move. "What's the matter?"

"I'd rather have you in front of me than at the back. I'm far too worried to let you out of my line of sight." Silver said, a small smile on his face. It was the truth. Both her and Maki's lives were his responsibility as much as his was theirs. "If you keep spacing out, then you might get lost yourself."

Eri smiled at him again before walking on ahead. She found herself flanked by both Maki and Silver on both sides. She looked at them both gratefully. So they weren't trying to block her out… why did she even think about that in the first place?

"Wow, it is overflowing." Silver pointed out as they approached the apartment where their comrades had died. "But what the hell are they doing?" Indeed, there was something odd in their behavior. They were flocking to the insides of the apartment, as if something was attracting them inside. He scanned the area for the familiar aqua blue hair or even the raven haired petite girl but he saw nothing.

Then where did the others find them?

"Come on." Maki nudged Silver and he snapped out of it. It seems he was the only one hung up on that last hope that they were actually alive. "There's a small alley back there, maybe we can use that to sneak past them and get to the main path."

"Yeah." SIlver said and then the two joined Eri who scouted ahead and gave the 'all clear' sign. They kept their guns up which had flashlights so it served as their light. It was day but the rain clouds covered the sunlight from getting through much so it was pretty dark.

They continued down the road but they didn't encounter any more of the walking dead. They arrived at their location which was a pretty big white building which looks like a normal school but there was a lack of… name that should be on the gates of the school. It was odd but they shrugged it off. This place was pretty secluded from the country so maybe it was a private school only made for scientists. Nevertheless they entered without any real trouble since the gate was left open.

It was quiet, peaceful even. It was quite unsettling but they trudged on with one objective in mind, to get the key and get the hell out of that place. Eri and the others entered the main building and it looked pretty much like an ordinary school with the lockers and the hallway. It just looked more… technologically advanced than normal schools who didn't have fingerprint scanners for every locker. Boy, that would be a bother for the students who want to send out love letters and such if they wanted to go down such a cliched route.

"Hm…" Maki brushed her hand on the shoe lockers.

"Miss going to school?" Silver asked with a joking voice and then tapped her shoulder. "You'll get back to it soon." He continued. "But before that, we need to find that key."

Maki nodded and she followed the silver haired teen who was already walking forward to the halls.

Eri followed the two but then had a sudden… hallucination. Three people walked beside them, a blue haired boy, a red haired teen and a raven haired girl. It only lasted for a second and when she blinked, the mysterious figures disappeared. She rubbed her eyes. Maybe she was getting too tired for this. They did train earlier in the day so this would be normal. "I think I'm getting a little tired." She mused and the other two looked at her.

"You maybe should've stayed back at the company." Silver said.

"Don't worry, I can still move and run if needed." Eri said as she dismissed it with a wave and then jogged to their side. "Let's go."

Silver looked at Maki as if trying to coax the female to ask Eri if she was really alright but the red haired teen just shrugged. The silver haired teen sighed and then kept to the back as the two girls walked side by side.

"Where do you think the key is?" Eri asked the other two.

"Let's try the faculty room. If it's not there, then the headmaster's room would be the next best thing." Maki replied.

"Good idea." Eri said and they continued on, peeking at the signs at the top of the classrooms. It took quite some time and a lot of walking, they finally arrived at the faculty room. They slowly opened the door with their guns drawn.

Well it was pretty empty… and very, eerily clean. It was as if the teachers actually had time to clean up their desks while the whole zombie outbreak was going on. They quickly searched everything in there, breaking the glass in the cabinets that were locked, shooting the locks when the glass wouldn't break under the pressure, opening the drawers and searching through the documents in hopes that a hidden key would be there.

"Hey, look here." Maki called out to the two who were busy searching elsewhere. The two headed to her way and Maki was looking at an old safe. "Does anyone here know how to unlock a safe without the combination?"

"Fetch me a stethoscope. Let's see if I can break it." Eri said with quite a confident smile.

"Well someone seems confident." Silver turned around. "Good thing we're in a school." He muttered and then dashed off without his gun which he left on the table.

"You know how to open this?" The red haired teen asked as she stood up and gestured to the safe.

"It can't hurt to try." The blonde said with a smile as she knelt down. "It's not easy but I can try. Some movies has its own lessons."

Maki sat down on one of the chairs. "Well good luck."

Soon after, Silver came back with the stethoscope. He gave it to Eri and then she knelt down, pressed the chestpiece against the cold metal and placed the eartips in her ears and she began turning the knob. She had all her concentration on the safe and the two knew that they should be quiet… very quiet.

Click.

"Bingo." Eri muttered with a smile. Two to go.

Click.

"Come on…" She turned the knob once more. This was the last one.

Click.

"Yes!" The blonde exclaimed with a huge smile on her face. This was the first time she ever did this and it was successful. She felt so accomplished.

Silver nudged Maki. "Heh, maybe we should've made her join way before. She has way more luck than the two of us combined."

She opened the safe and took out several documents inside a plastic bag. It also included a single revolver with some ammo. Eri placed it on an empty table and the other two flocked around it.

The documents actually state every single experiment the lab was doing ever since 1921. The laboratory they were going to seemed to have actually existed even before WWII which was kind of awesome. It had several reports of… uh…

Disgusting experiments.

They skipped the rest of the WWII experiments since they weren't very pleasing to the eyes. God help them forget those. And carried on to the more recent experiments. They finally found a familiar title.

BW.

Those two letters were all they needed to see. Eri quickly opened the documents and it indeed had some information unlike what Kei gave them which lacked information.

July 28, 1941

The new professor, Itsuki Orimura, had already suggested a weapon to make us win the war. It was a serum that would make the people who get injected with it turn crazy and will go out for blood. If we were to make this a gas, we can just drop it off in the other countries and we'll win the war.

December 6, 1941

The serum has been deemed too dangerous for use. They cannot be contained. Orimura never informed us that these infected people can actually infect others. It was a good thing that we tried it out in an isolated room before it could be decided to drop it off at Pearl Harbor or the Philippines.

It was several pages after when the words reappear.

February 18, 1988

This journal was long lost in a hidden town and now, we have found it. Combing through the archives, we have managed to see this journal with a sample of the serum and some notes on how to make it. I, Kaito Ushio, believe that this Itsuki Orimura has more than just a simple biological weapon in mind when he was making this. I shall find out what it is and I shall make a scientific breakthrough!

"Crazy." Silver said and the other two just smiled.

August 20, 1989

This serum is truly amazing. The people succumb to their need to swallow the flesh of their own kind. May it be their friend, their parent, their lover, they lose their mind and attack.

November 21, 1989

We managed to modify the structure of the serum but we aren't sure whether it would actually work since we haven't tested it yet.

March 30, 1991

THIS JOURNAL MUST NOT BE OPENED AGAIN. (This was written with either blood or red ink. The former was more likely.)

December 12, 2000

And so it begins once more…

"What the…"

"So the serum for the zombie infection dated back all the way to World War II?" Eri muttered as she placed the journal down. "That's just sick."

"World War II itself was filled with more horrid experiments just like what we saw and this… at least this was actually made for weaponry to aid in the battle against the Allies." Maki said. "But that doesn't give them the excuse to experiment on live human beings… that's just wrong."

Silver began to rummage through all their findings and found a key… but it was a door key and it was labeled 'Headmaster's Office.' He looked at the others and they all understood what they were going to do next. Eri grabbed the journal and then they left to find the headmaster's office.

"Headmaster's office… Headmaster's office... " Silver repeated those words over and over again as they tried to find the room. He then smiled. "This feels like my first day at UTX when I got lost in the sheer size of the building and I tried finding the where the headmaster was." He said. "Note that I said 'tried' 'cause I ended up arriving late to class because of it."

Eri and Maki giggled at that and Silver felt somewhat accomplished. His own misfortunes at least made the girls laugh when they were so tense. It wouldn't do them any good if they are too tense. They would grow paranoid and again, that was no good.

"The peace makes me feel like I'm right back at school and I'm heading back to the student council to complete my work." The blonde shared as she closed her eyes with a smile and stopped which made the other two stop as well.

"Although I'm pretty sure Otonokizaka doesn't smell like chemicals." Maki pointed out and the two shared a smile.

"True." Eri then continued to walk prompting the other two to do so as well. They didn't know when but they made the blonde the leader. It probably had something to do with the whole safe thing. Who knew she had skills like that?

After some walking, they arrive at the headmaster's office which was located on the other wing of the school so it took quite some time getting there. Before they knew it, the sun seemed to have been sinking which means they had to hurry. It would be better to get out of there while there is some sunlight peeking through the clouds than none at all. She used the key to unlock the door and slowly opened it.

There was a wooden table in the middle with a name plaque with the words 'Emi Taiyou'. It also had a single vial on the test tube rack with a bluish color. Behind the desk was the usual revolving chair and a window to the outside. On both sides of the room stood cabinets containing chemicals, journals, books and other things. They proceeded to look around like they did before.

Eri was the one who headed to the table to inspect the material there. It didn't have any smell or anything and seemed pretty safe. Beside the test tube rack was a small card. She ignored the blank card and continued to rummage through everything. The drawers just had the documents of the ownership of the school and their financial records. Some contained buying a few chemicals that she didn't even know were legal to buy.

"Anything?" Silver asked as he made his way to Eri. He came back empty handed.

Eri shook her head. "It's all just files. No key card."

Maki made her way to the two and then inspected the black card. "If you're in a school for scientists, you have to think like one…" She muttered before picking the vial up and then pouring it on the blank card. It revealed the content of the card which was the key card they needed. It gave anyone who managed to reveal it access to the laboratory. The words were on the card as well. "You, who solved this puzzle, is welcome in our team." "I guess not many people managed to know about this card." She said, picking it up and then twirling it between her fingers.

"Well now that we have what we need, let's get out of this place." Silver said as he headed for the door. When he opened the door again, alarms blared which caused all three jump in shock.

"What's happening?" Eri shouted through the sound of the alarms.

"Probably nothing good!" Silver shouted back. "Let's go!"

The three made their way to the hallway, now running when they heard the oh so familiar moaning of the zombies. They skidded to a stop to see that the hallways were already filled with the walking dead. "Where the hell did they come from?" Maki muttered before turning around and running to the other side with the other side.

"Where's the next exit?" Silver asked.

"No clue." Eri replied. They turned right and were met by a dead end.

"Crap." Silver muttered before looking out the window. "Well that looks jumpable." He said before nudging the others to follow him. He shattered the glasses with the butt of his gun and then jumped through, covering his face with his arms while doing so and the other two followed. They landed… relatively safely on the ground.

"Go! Go!" Silver barked and they all broke into a run. Finally the gate came into view. It was quite far though…

And it was closing. Slowly but surely, it was coming to a close. They ran with all their might and they could hear that the zombies were piling out of the school as well. They could hear them? No… they could see them…

Well whatever it was, they frankly didn't care.

"Ah!"

"Maki!" Silver and Eri stopped and stared at the fallen red haired girl.

"My leg… won't move... " Maki said, horror on her face but resolve made its way to her face. "Go. Leave!"

"Hell no!" The silver haired teen slung her arm over his shoulder and then started to support her running. "If we're getting out, you're going with us!" They started to run again and it was painfully obvious that they wouldn't make it. Not with the pace Silver and Maki were going. Biting her lip, Maki slowly unbuckled the serum around her waist, took the card and then whispered something to Silver. He sighed and nodded, all this happening behind Eri's back. He took the belt and the card and then dropped Maki and dashed for Eri.

"Silver?"

He smiled at her and then pushed the serum in her hands. "Good luck Eri. Get to the lab for us." With those words, the armor on his arm began to beep. "See 'ya when we do." He continued before pushing her towards the door with a great force. He slowed down to a stop and then went back to Maki to resume walking. They watched as she landed on the other side and the gates closed. "You sure that was the right thing to do?"

Maki shrugged and they arrive at the gate and then just sat down and leaned on it, waiting for their death. "I guess."

"I'm worried."

"You always are Silver, when it comes to her." Maki said with a roll of her eyes.

Silver shrugged. "Well, that's what happens when you grow close to someone." He said with a soft smile. "It's been nice traveling with you Maki." He said, raising his fist and pointing it towards her.

Maki gave him a sidelook and then nodded. "Yeah, it was nice." She then bumped her fist on his as the zombies descended upon them.

"Sayonara."

A/N: Heyo guys, in all honesty, I actually finished this chapter a some time ago but then it rained and my laptop got wet and it got busted so yeah… I didn't have any backup so I had to rewrite in from scratch on another laptop.

Gg: I meant the memories of having Nico and Marcos around them. And at least Eri didn't die… *thumbs up*

Dash24zappshift: I swear I hold nothing against you and the story is just really taking a turn for the worse.

Rena Bodewig: Yeah, they're zombies. Not necessarily dead… or are they?

JayXNitro: It is now confirmed… your heartbreak has caused my writer instincts to hurry up with this chapter.

Guest: Well good thing I never had anything planned for Kotori and Honoka… or do I?

p: Well the door broke down and the zombie piled in and began biting the hell out of the two. That's how they got bit.

YagamiShura: Thanks a lot of reading… and about Maki…

GAT-X105VividPanzer: Well there was more than just Nico dying.