The white sedan stopped at the entrance of the radio tower. Jo sighed and began to drive forward. From behind him, Alice scooted forward and tried to look as best as she could through the windshield. The students on either side of her sat still and said nothing. They had not let out a peep since the ride had began. For what it was worth, neither had minded Alice passing the time by singing Mother Goose songs.

Jo frowned as he pulled up into the first floor and saw the bloodied corpses of the zombies strewn about. "Please close your eyes, sweetie." He heard her giggle. "Okay, Papa!"

He drove up the next floor, and pulled into the third. More slain zombies. Apparently, the Kohta kid was more of a ripper than he had thought.

As he got closer to the door, he stopped abruptly. There were two figures behind the glass. But even though he could not make out their facial features, he could definitely see that they were not moving as he had seen the zombies move.

"What is it?" It was the boy, Hisashi. He unclipped his seat belt and moved. Jo muttered, "It looks like there are some people there. What should we do?" Hisashi paused. "Let me get out and go in front. You can follow." He turned to Rei, making sure not to squeeze Alice out. "I will need your spear."

"Hisashi, I…"

"Please."

She sighed and moved it to the side, and Hisashi grabbed hold of it. He pushed his door open, held the spear with both hands, and walked forward with Jo carefully pushing the pedal and keeping the car going.

Hisashi got closer and closer to the see-through door, and the figures stopped, as if staring in surprise. Hisashi permitted himself a smile as he got close enough. He could clearly see Takashi and the other girl, Miku. They looked as disheveled as him, and they were wearing casual clothes instead of school uniforms. Miku also had a long-barreled gun in her hands. A week before, that would have shocked him. But for now, all he could do was wave. And Takashi smiled and waved back before opening the door.

The six of them-Takashi, Miku, Hisashi, Rei, Alice, and Jo-moved up the sixth flight of stairs. Takashi and Miku did not share proper introductions with the latter two. There was too little time, and all they needed to know was that they were with their schoolmates. Hisashi led the way with the spear, and Jo had slung Alice over his shoulders so she could sit and save her energy. Soon, the open wooden door was in sight.

Kohta had his shotgun at the ready when he had heard the footsteps, but he took his finger off the trigger and lowered the barrel as the entourage moved in single-file. Beside him, Saeko smiled and Saya leaned back in her wheelchair with a smirk.

"I"m so glad to see you all!..." Kohta trailed off as he saw the gun in Miku's hands. His eyes glimmered with excitement, and he pointed. "Oh! Is that a Cabela? I can't see the model from here, but…" He stopped himself, swallowed. "Sorry. This isn't a good time."

No one said anything for a moment. Then Saya leaned forward in her seat. "Was the museum as bad as I had thought?" She watched Takashi shrug. "Worse, maybe." Beside him, Miku tensed. "Where do we go now?"

Jo paused. "Maybe we could stay here?" Saya rolled her eyes. "We've barely enough supplies to last a week. And we're in a single building in the middle of nowhere." Saeko paused. "Could we find another house and fortify it?" Hisashi shook his head. "We were checking out villas. Nothing can keep those monsters away forever." For a fleeting moment Takashi wanted to ask his friend and Rei if they had found their parents, and he decided against it.

Kohta scratched his head. "Maybe…" He stopped. "Did you guys hear that?" No one spoke, so he moved over to the office window and forced it open. The breeze hit his face, and a sound came into focus. A low, drumming hum. It began to grow louder. By the time Saeko had joined him, it had grown into a deafening roar.

It was at this moment that Jo called out amongst the confusion of the group. "There's one more floor! The roof where the central transmitter is!" At this, Kohta made for the door with Saeko close behind. "I'll check it out!" He racked a round into his shotgun as Saeko drew her bokken. Once he realized she was there, he dismissed the possibility of dissuading her. The two of them moved through the door, and saw another, metallic one to their right.

Kohta pushed it open with the barrel, and they moved up a short flight of concrete steps onto the roof. Kohta turned and froze. With one hand still on the gun, he pinched himself with the other.

Yes, it was a helicopter. A gleaming, silvery one, probably an H225. It was planted in the middle of the white surface, but the rotors were just starting to come to a stop. When they did, a lone figure came out. They were dressed head to toe in black, with a flight suit and what looked like a motorcycle helmet. They had a handgun, and held it expertly, with both hands and the barrel straight ahead.

Kohta began to gulp and sweat as he raised both hands, then awkwardly removed the shells from his gun and placed it on the ground. To his side, Saeko pushed her bokken back into her belt.

The figure drew forward, the gun still trained on them. Kohta squeezed his eyes shut and stood up straight as best as he could. Then he felt Saeko tap his shoulder.

The first thing he saw was that the stranger had lowered her gun and was holding the helmet in the other hand. He then saw that the figure was a woman, with luminous long hair and a beautiful face. He did not say anything. He was sure he saw that face before...

The woman smiled and coughed politely. "My name is Yuriko Takagi. Pleased to make your acquaintance."

Story idea by CRed1988 and writing by Jerviss.