Chapter 8

"There is nothing lonelier than a cat who has been loved, at least for a while, and then abandoned on the side of the road."

-Kathi Appelt

I awoke to the sounds of hurried footsteps and hushed chatter. At first I thought they were reapers, until they spoke of course. In the new world, waking up to anything but reapers was very unusual. I sat up slowly, looking around quietly at what was going on.

The boys were packing things into bags, occasionally whispering something to each other that I couldn't make out. The two other girls along with Subaru were still asleep though.

I was careful in being quiet as I rubbed my eyes and moved to the edge of the bed. The bed felt surprisingly soft for it's condition. It was a box spring bed, and the sheets looked like they were covered in dirt. Then again, a girl can't complain when she usually sleeps on the ground.

Subaru was sitting against the bed, eyes closed. He looked peaceful asleep, his snowy hair moving slightly with every small breath, and his face looked so relaxed that I was shocked it was actually him. I felt somewhat guilty, watching someone like I was. His face started to look troubled, like his dream was slowly turning into a nightmare. I knew that having nightmares during this whole apocalypse thing isn't pleasant, so I carefully kneeled down off the bed.

I lifted my hand up to his cheek, he looked so pained. His skin felt cold upon contact, I was taken aback by how cold he was. I went to retrieve my arm and unexpected pain seared up my arm at the motion. Though the wound had finally closed, I still was pretty sore. I instinctively moved my hand to hold my arm, and let out a small groan.

I didn't think I had been that loud, but Subaru had heard my small gasp and woke up almost immediately. It was like he had super hearing or something. He and I made eye contact, in which I just realized that I was a bit too close to him. His red eyes bore into my pink ones, I felt embarrassment creep up slowly. My face went hot and I backed up, causing me to hit my arm on the floor accidentally. I quietly squeaked at the pain, I didn't want to distract the others from whatever they were doing.

"..You good?" He asked, clearing his throat to get rid of his raspy morning voice. It seemed like he wasn't bothered by my closeness upon waking up. I looked away from him to try and hide my growing embarrassment at the action.

"Yeah… but are you-" I was about to ask him a question in turn, but was interrupted by Yuma's booming (at least to our sensitive morning ears) voice.

"Oi! Wake up you lazy butts! We gotta move." He called out, making me jump and waking the two girls up. Subaru looked at me for a moment, as he had taken notice of my small scare, then looked over at Yuma. With what expression, I don't know.

"But it's so friggin early…" Tanya grumbled as she closed her eyes in an attempt to fall back asleep. Yuma went to yell again but Amy was swift enough to wake Tanya before he could. She shook Tanya's shoulders, and with a gentle voice said some words to her (of what, I couldn't hear).

"Why are you all packing up?" I looked to Yuma and Rui, confused at the sudden haste. It was quite abrupt, and they were all acting like we'd get swarmed any minute.

"We gotta move, we stayed 'ere too long." Yuma answered, throwing both mine and Subaru's bags at us.

"Is a horde nearby?" Amy inquired, looking up to Yuma with worry adorning her features.

"No, just that those guys have been gettin' awfully close to 'ere lately." I was confused at the red-head's words. "Those guys"? Did he mean those men who attacked me? I didn't know who he was referring to, but I knew that the others obviously did not want to introduce me.

"Oi, snowball. Carry her bag too."

Subaru glared at Yuma for the nickname, but complied and grabbed by bag from me. I looked at him, worried by his agitated behavior.

"Subaru… are you sure? You don't have to carry it." I asked him, since he didn't look all that happy about having to carry two bags. He looked down at me, his face unreadable and lips slightly parted.

"...Don't worry about it." He replies nonchalantly, pulling my backpack on. I still had my doubts, but decided not to push further.

"He hates it when I do that…" I remind myself and give him a smile of thanks.

We wanted to take the humvee, but decided against it. Cars were faster yes, but far too loud. We'd get swarmed in minutes upon taking it.

Instead, we walked through the forest and into the city. While we walked, I snuck a peak at Subaru every now and then. I wanted to make sure he was alright… but something told me that might not have been exactly why. Eventually he had enough of my peeking, and gave me his warning glare, signaling he wanted me to stop.

I smiled and looked away, if I didn't heed his words he'd definitely do something of equal annoyance value. Like possibly steal my candy stash and make me bribe him to give it back.

The day passed faster than normal, meaning that it was nearing the winter*. Luckily, we found some old houses near the city outskirts. They weren't so far as to say they were farm houses. We entered the home cautiously, as it could have reapers lurking in the shadows.

Subaru and I went upstairs to the attic while the others cleared the two floors. It was dusty and full of cobwebs. We heard a faint scrape and Subaru swiftly moved in front of me. I readied my machete (given by Amy, as I was defenceless).

What we saw… was not what we expected. In the corner of the room was a pale, brunette woman. Her body was mostly limp, her thin ribs and corroded teeth plain to see. She made a faint wheezing sound, but didn't even move to look at us. She just sat there, with a small cloth huddled in her arms.

Subaru moved closer to her, and that was when she hissed. Her eyes were completely gone, and arms so decomposed that it was pure bone left. She only retreated more into the corner. It was like she was afraid.

"...g o… aw...a...y…" She wheezed out, I nearly ran out of the attic then and there. Reapers couldn't talk, so why was she?! I felt shock and terror flood my veins with the realization.

They're evolving. I backed away a few steps, and Subaru was only slightly taken aback. The woman moved the rag closer to her, her bones rattling at the motion.

"G..o….a..w..ay…" She repeated, this time her words actually registered. She sounded afraid of us. That reaper was actually fearful of humans.

"...are you afraid of us?" Subaru asked her, in which she just repeated her previous words. I looked closer at the rag, and noticed smaller bones within it.

"Subaru, that thing she's holding…" I pointed it out to him as my face scrunched up, I felt sick, yet also sad. Sad at what probably happened to that small body in the cloth, sad at how the mother reacted.

"Yeah…" Subaru said, less on guard. That reaper didn't want to hurt us… didn't feel the instinct to do so either. From what I could see, she just wanted to be alone with her child. Subaru gripped his machete and started to raise his arm, I rashly jumped forward and put my hands on his arm.

"Don't." I shook my head as I told him. Killing her would be wrong, she didn't want to hurt us… it wasn't right for us to kill her just because she was there.

"She's a reaper Yui, we can't risk all our lives just because you're sentimental." Subaru tells me harshly as he shook me off and got closer to the woman.

"Wait!" I shout as I pull him back forcefully. He turns and starts to open his mouth to speak but I stop him.

"From what I can see, she doesn't want to hurt us! Look at her for goodness sake! Does she really look like the rest of them to you?" I pointed at her retreating form, she was huddled up like a child who was afraid of the dark. She didn't look at all like those monsters outside.

"I don't care what she looks like, she's a reaper. If we don't kill her, she'll kill us." The albino tried to move forward but I pulled him back again. He growls at me, but I look into his ruby red eyes firmly.

"Do you honestly think this one deserves to die just because we happened to find her? She's terrified, Subaru. We should just leave her and close up the attic." I was basically begging him at that point. I knew that leaving her was a very risky move, but my gut told me that she was only wanting to be with her child. Subaru looks at me before narrowing his eyes. Something was bothering him, that I could tell from his clouded look.

"It's more cruel to leave her alive, little mouse." He whispered, I looked up at him in confusion. His form relaxed, and he turned to make eye contact with me.

"If she is actually conscious, then it's much worse to leave her here than to kill her. She'll be holding those bones for years, and she won't be able to die. She will have to live forever without her kid, and I don't know about you- but I'd rather die than go through that." I saw so many different emotions flicker in his eyes, but I knew now that perhaps he was right. Outliving your own child? I think I'd go insane.

I looked to the woman, before letting go of his arm slowly. I stepped back and looked down. I didn't want to see it. With the sound of her hissing at him, and then the gut-wrenching sound of the machete plunging into her skull, I felt tears prick my eyes. I didn't know why I felt so emotional about it, but I just began crying like a little kid.

It was dead silent in the room aside from my sniffles and soft whimpers. The man before me was taken aback by my sudden waterworks. I look down at the wooden floor with blurry vision, and I hear him approach me slowly.

"Why are you crying?" He asks me softly, much different from his usual tone. I rub my eyes to try and stop the tears, but they don't stop. I don't want to look at him, so I look down.

"I...I don't know either…" my voice cracks as I answer, I couldn't explain why that woman made me feel that way. Maybe it was because she reminded me of how I killed Haru, or maybe it was because she lost her child in such a devastating way.

I hear Subaru sigh, and feel his arms wrap around me. I jumped at the sudden contact, but slowly relaxed into his embrace. He held me until I was done crying, which took a few minutes. I looked up at him with sore eyes, and gave him a small smile.

"Thank you." I whispered as I went to back away, he didn't let go at first but pulled back the second time I tried to leave. He just grunts and looks away. It might have just been my imagination… but his face looked slightly red.

"Hey, is it clear up he-" Rui stops mid sentence upon seeing my face. He narrows his eyes and glares daggers at the albino. I was somewhat confused at the sudden hostility until I noticed how puffy my eyes were.

"Oh! I just randomly started crying out of nowhere! It didn't have anything to do with him, so don't get mad at Subaru." I waved my hands in panic as I explained. Rui was most definitely thinking it was Subaru's fault.

Rui gives me a look that basically screamed "I don't believe you" but in the low-key kind of way. I laughed nervously and felt eyes burn into me.

"Come down and eat you guys! The house is clear." A shout was heard downstairs from Amy. I mentally thanked her for the save and bolted for the stairs and past Rui.

I stopped my rash run when I noticed the two weren't following me.

"Hey guys? You coming?" I asked in worry, as I started to sense that Subaru didn't like the Mukami's much.

"Yeah." Rui said as he descended the stairs, I climbed back up to see what Subaru was doing.

Not much to my surprise, he was glaring at the stairs like they killed his dog or something. Poor stairs, how mean of Subaru. I flung my arms over the guard-rails and puffed out my cheeks.

"Su-bar-u." I called out his name teasingly, he clicked his tongue in response.

"What?" At his short response I smiled.

"Come and eat!" I stretched out the last word and looked at him with the look I gave him when I teased. After I nearly died, for some reason me and him have grown closer- which also means that I grew more risky with my words and actions. Subaru huffed a sigh and walked over to the stairs.

"I also need to ask you something later, when we're alone." I mentioned before speeding up my pace. I didn't want for him to question it, so the tactic of avoiding Subaru asking questions? Running away!

Dinner went by relatively fast, and we all claimed our rooms and shifts for the night. I managed to get Amy to convince the boys to let me sleep in the same room as Subaru (I still needed to talk to him after all.) and was sitting next to the window. We got a second floor bedroom, so I had a pretty good view of the outside.

"Was asking me this mystery question of yours really so important as to warrant sharing a room?" Subaru looked at me disapprovingly. Perhaps I went a bit too far with the room thing…

"Well yes, but also no."

"The hell does that mean?"

"Beats me." I shrugged jokingly before getting up and sitting on the bed.

"So, on with it already mouse." He ordered as he dropped our bags on the floor.

"Back when we first met-" I started, before being rudely interrupted by a certain albino.

"What do you mean "back"? We met a friggin month ago." His comment made me puff my cheeks and whimper in annoyance. He really was choosing now to get me back for the staring?!

"A month and a HALF mind you! Now shush!" I told him with slight annoyance. He just looked at me and gave the look of "well on with it already, I don't have all night".

"Back when we first met, why did you save me? And then why did you keep helping me and saving me after that?" I asked him, the question was on my mind since he saved my life with those hospital supplies (Amy surely does have a talkative mode when told explicitly not to tell others).

I saw him stiffen, which made me realize that maybe this was a sensitive topic for him. I opened my mouth to apologize but Subaru started to speak before I could.

"Just owe a favor to some old guy, that's about it." He explained simply. He was hiding something, but I felt like pushing was a bad idea. Nonetheless, I wanted more than that as an answer.

"Who is it that you owe?" I pursued, Subaru sighed in what I knew was annoyance.

"Nobody important."

"Subaru-"

"Stop." I closed my mouth at his curt response. Now I definitely knew that he didn't want to tell me, and that just made me want to know even more.

"Not until you tell me. I want to know whoever this person is at least!" I pushed, which only rewarded me with Subaru grabbing his bag and growling in displeasure.

"No means no Yui." I could tell I had made him upset with my pressuring, and he was definitely pissed off. If he's using my name while also growling, then that means he's actually angry.

"Where are you going?" he descended the stairs as I asked. He clicked his tongue and roughly responded.

"Out."

His answer worried me, and before I could do a thing he opened the door and left. I went to go after him but stopped upon seeing a small glint from something on the floor. I looked down at it, slowly picking up the metal chain. Connected to the chains was a pair of dog tags. One had the name "Johan Brun", the other was profusely scratched out. All I could make out was an "S" and a "K".

I stood there for a moment, puzzled at why Subaru would have this. Before I could properly untangle the knots that formed within my head, I saw that Subaru was completely out of sight. I ran upstairs to grab my things in order to help find him, but noticed my bag wasn't actually my bag.

He took the wrong bag… again. I huffed out air in anger, or was it frustration? I couldn't tell from how stressed I was running out, there would be no way to find him if I hesitated any longer. I hastily snatched the black bag and scribbled a quick note. I didn't want to leave without telling them or thanking them.

"Thank you for saving me, I promise I'll be back soon." With that I signed my name and rushed out the door as quietly as I could.

It was well into the night by the time I reached the shopping district, it was the last place that I hadn't looked at. Fatigue gnawed through my bones, I stifled a yawn and looked around.

I was on the rooftop of what I thought was a toy store. The top had gravel rocks all along it, which was very bad. With each step I flinched, and tried to get to the next building.

I knew that Subaru was most definitely not there, but I climbed to the next building regardless. My body yearned desperately for sleep, but I refused to give in.

"There's no way I'm going to give up on finding him, he took my bag… and also took all the answers to my questions." I whispered to myself, looking down at the dog tags. The metal trinket shone in the glimmering moonlight. I sighed and felt myself shake, my head starting to ache with the swirling emotions raging inside of me.

"I don't know how much more stress I can take… I'm-" I choked, tears threatening to fall. I was always the type to cry when I was frustrated or stressed, that certainly didn't change when the apocalypse occured. I put my hand over my mouth to try and stop any sound from escaping. Kneeling down, I tried to keep quiet as I cried.

I hear footsteps rapidly approaching from behind and sprung to my feet. I knew by the sound of their grunts and snarls that it wasn't a human. Tears still fell down my face as I took the best course of action I could think of at the time.

I pivoted and ran away as fast as my legs would take me. It had heard me, and screeched as it charged in my direction. I was nearing the end of the rooftop, and the gap to the next building was large. Grabbing a plank or ladder would take too much time. I weighed out my options, and decided to go for it.

I sprinted and jumped from the side of the roof, I thought I could stick the landing, but some genius thought that making the roof indented would be a good idea. A cross stood in the front of the roof, so I thought that grabbing that was my best bet.

I felt my leg hit the roof awkwardly and turn my body downwards. My fingers touched the cross, but easily slipped.

It was then I knew that pain was going to be my worst friend in a few seconds. Usually, if someone falls from a roof, they just fall off of it.

Sadly, thanks to Mister. Boney the first over there, I fell through it. The reaper jumped too, in doing so he broke through the roof and grabbed me with him. Reapers really were superhuman, so it took me by surprise. I fell on top of it, so I wasn't affected by the fall.

It's mouth was inches from my neck when I was tugged back by someone. I panicked and began to struggle, then I heard a voice.

"Quickly, kill it!" A young boy's voice came from the body holding me, and in turn an older boy came from the right to deal a killing blow to the reaper.

Once I saw it stop moving, I backed away from the two strangers. I was still on the floor, and very disoriented. So talking was definitely going to be hard.

"...are you okay?" The younger boy asked me as he came closer. He had short, chestnut colored hair. His eyes shone a vivid green as they looked into my own. He had pale skin, and was wearing a grey hoodie. It had a logo on it.. but was too stained and worn out to tell what. I scooted back until I was against the podium. The older boy glared at me with harsh, blue eyes. His eyes were thin, and he had long, messy black hair.

"...a thanks would be nice for saving your ass blondie." The older boy snidely remarked as he stomped towards me.

I recoiled and gripped the dog tags that I had placed around my neck. I was cornered… scared.. and my mind was mostly occupied by Subaru and the small scare with the reaper I had. I looked down and contemplated my next words.

"I wonder what Subaru would do if he were here…" I asked myself, unsure on my next move.

"Well? I would like a thanks." The older boy demanded in a gaudy tone. It made my skin crawl in irritation at how arrogant he sounded. I looked up to him, who wore a fuzzy green jacket and black slacks.

"I won't give any. It's not like I asked you to help me, you did it all on your own. I won't thank you for doing that on your own accord." I knew that doing that would be a very bad move, but Subaru would definitely say something similar. I wasn't sure why I wanted to respond like he did, maybe it was so I felt like he was here? I wasn't very sure.

The older boy sneered at me and kicked me, the younger boy pulled the raven back.

"Brother! Don't!" The young boy yelled as he held strongly onto the older boy's arm. I slowly got up and scanned the room for any viable exits.

"Stay out of this Drake." The older boy spat as he shook off his younger brother. I looked around to see only one exit. The front of the chapel.

"What are you lookin' for blondie?" The older boy asked me calmly, his sudden change in tone made me suspicious. Wasn't he pissed off a second ago? Why was he suddenly all calm and composed?

He must have realized something, or perhaps saw something on me. He was probably planning to steal my things.

"...have you seen a boy with white hair and red eyes around here? He looks like a walking polar bear so he's not hard to miss." I ignored the older kid's question and decided to see if these two had seen Subaru. I heard the boy click his tongue, but for some reason he didn't snap. My tone wasn't very harsh, but I thought that it'd still make the boy angry.

"No, we haven't seen anyone like that. Is he your boyfriend?" The younger brother responded, and I chuckled at the end of his answer.

"Thank you for the information." I smiled towards the boy, and didn't answer the second question.

"Are you leaving?" The younger boy, Drake, asked me. I saw emotion flicker through his eyes, which made me concerned for the boy. He looked at his brother with those eyes, full of fear.

I began to think it through. It seemed like he needed help, for reasons I didn't know. I didn't want to just leave him there. I shook my head. I was too sympathetic for my own good.

"No, I need to rest. I'm a bit tired, so I need to recharge." I thought my words would reassure the boy, but his face showed the opposite effect. It was the type of face kids make when they do something bad, and know they're in trouble. His face made me feel uneasy, so I took a quick glance at the older brother. His demeanor had changed far too quickly, it reminded me of a lesson Haruka taught me.

"Yui, be careful of manipulative people." My redheaded cousin suddenly told me as we walked up concrete stairs. There were trees around us, and we had come across a campground.

"What do you mean?" I questioned in confusion, her abruptness took me off guard.

"I mean people who will use you to better themselves." I blinked back at her words. What on earth brought that on?

"What's brought this on?" I voiced my thoughts, Haruka stopped walking and turned to look me in the eyes. Something was clearly on her mind and she looked weighed down by it all.

"It doesn't matter right now, I can tell you another time why I'm doing this. For now, just beware of people who might change their attitudes or personalities too quickly. Don't feel sympathy if they cry, and most of all-

-Don't believe them." I told the last part to myself aloud, but only in a meager whisper. The older boy eyed me with malicious eyes, almost enough to make me shiver from his gaze alone. It was obvious he wanted something from me, what it was, I didn't know.

"...If you're staying then I'd like your name. It's inconvenient to call you "blondie" all the time." the older brother stepped over to me and loomed over me. He was tall, almost taller than Subaru. It unnerved me, but I decided to respond vaguely.

"I know better than to give my name to a boy who doesn't give his first." I told him with a shaking voice. I was scared of the older brother, I felt ashamed that I couldn't react better. If Subaru were there, he'd handle it with ease, he'd probably say "I'm not giving my name to some obnoxious pipsqueak like you" or something. I stepped back from the rude raven-headed boy.

I gripped the dog tags again, something about having them with me calmed me. I glanced at the brunette named Drake, and gave him the best forced smile I could. There was no way I could actually smile in that situation, but I wanted to do my very best to make him feel less afraid.

"Well blondie," The older boy sneered my unwelcomed nickname, before continuing "I'm Jordan, that is Drake. Now cough it up." It looked like he lost his calm composure, which wasn't that calm- but still was noticeable.

"Yuri." I lied, I didn't feel safe revealing my real name. It was only a letter off… so I wasn't completely lying… I might have been kidding myself I'll admit.

"What a lame name, I'm heading to bed." Jordan rudely called out as he leaned against the only exit- the door. His things were lined against it, blocking my way out. I noticed a pit had grown in my stomach. My body kept telling me to run- to flee from that boy. I knew I wasn't safe with him near me. But… what will happen to his brother? What on earth will he do to him if I don't do something?

I sighed and made up my mind. I'd help this little boy, and then I'd find Subaru and get answers to my questions. "So Subaru, please wait for me to finish up here." I looked down at the dogtags as I vowed to myself.

Notes:

*I missed like, 5 updates, and that's bad- but I'll just have to space them out more

*I'm deciding on whether I want to stop using the quotes at the start of the chapter. Please let me know what you think.

*No, I am not abandoning this series at any point. If I do not update for a while, then that means that I've become busy in my schoolwork and church activities (yes I'm religious, will not elaborate further)

*Please review, it gives me motivation and lets me know what you guys like and don't like (like if you want me to go back to the old version of my A/N)