A/N: Early update! Like I said last time, this chapter was already written months back, so it was a simple thing...I will be doing a lot of edits in the coming chapters, so there's a chance I might not update for the rest of the month.

Hope you stay safe and see you next time!

42 / Paddington Bear and the Stupid Zombies

Sakura froze.

The bear, with it's wicked grin, terrible face, horrible smell, was still looking at her, grinning.

She didn't know what to do. There was too little time, too little to do anything. She's dead but her brother and Renoir are not and now there's this bear, with it's burnt fur and grinning face behind them.

The bear sniffs the air.

And it's already too late.

Renoir stops in his tracks, glances at the forest and the darkness and asks, "W-what was that?"

It only took a second but that was enough. Time seemed to slow as the two humans turned to stare at the zombie behind them, the zombie that was staring at the large, black bear with it's red eyes, mad grin, and burnt fur. It's eyes, so dangerous, so unfocused, so lost.

And the humans and zombies ran, with the bear dropping to all fours and letting out a cry as it chased after them, spit flying everywhere.

/…..

It's like that wild boar all over again, Sakura realizes. The zombie knows she's not in any real danger, at least, she hopes not.

Sakura still remembers the panic and pain she felt as the boar bit unto her neck and threw her body against that well-placed tree. It had hurt but she hadn't really taken notice of the pain. Not then, anyway. She had been so upset about the whole camping trip that she had let it pass before it became nothing but numbness against her throat. And that knife. That knife that weirdo had planted on her chest. It had hurt. It had left her breathless.

But the bear was different, almost off. It was too feral, too nasty to be normal.

It wasー

Pain.

"EEK!"

"SAKURA!"

It hurt, it hurt, it hurt.

Skin broke, clothes were ripped, pain, all pain.

Sakura felt herself flying, thrown aside by the bear clawing at her stomach, ripping skin apart with it's curled claws.

The zombie girl was on the ground, unmoving.

"SAKURA!"

The bear roared.

Everyone had stopped running.

The bear, burnt skin and spit, was on its hind legs, staring at his handiwork that lay face down on the ground. Genji and Renoir stopped just a few feet away, with Renoir holding Genji back from almost running towards the fallen zombie girl, pulling at his arm and crying out, "The bear! The bear!" They didn't move until the bear turned it's nasty head their way and it grinned again. It growled, opened it's foaming mouth, then it suddenly stopped.

It felt something on its back. It was something small and delicate, something pink and dead.

While it was distracted, Sakura had quickly jumped onto the bear's back, holding it's fur, forcing the bear to pay attention to her as it was trying to shake her off. Her clothes were ripped, there was missing skin where the bear had slashed her, oh, if she had been alive...her hair was a mess, her makeup was running.

"Sakura! What the hell!?" Genji almost had half a mind to go punch the bear and get Sakura as far away from that thing as possible but he was held back by the shaking force that was Renoir.

Sakura struggled against the bear trying to get her of it's back. She held tightly onto the bear's neck, the fur ripping apart in her hands, forcing her to dig her nails deep into it's skin. The bear kept on trying to get her off, scratching a bit of itself with it's long, rotten claws, spitting and drooling everywhere. From the corner of her eye, she noticed her brother and Renoir, still standing there, Genji being constantly stopped from going to the bear by a fearful Renoir.

Sakura was afraid.

(it was like that time with that boar and her head; that time with that creep and Yugiri; that time with Renoir and those punks; that time with that truck when she was alive and it was inevitable)

"GET OUT OF HERE!" Sakura knew it was too late for her. But her brother and Renoir...but the bear got her. It ripped the arm that was holding onto its neck, making Sakura scream with shock and pain as she fell.

"Oh...oh my god!"

"YOU FURRY PIECE OF SHIT!" Genji cried out, suddenly enraged but unable to do anything. "That's my sister!" He wanted to move but he couldn't. He stared at his sister's discarded arm, twitching in the dirt, and at his sister that lay without it just behind the terrifying bear. He was alive, his sister was not, and the bear was grinning.

The bear moved it's head towards them, grinning with foam in it's smile. Behind it, Sakura groaned, dragging herself with one arm towards the bear, pain enveloping like a phantom. She was dead, damn it! She needed to do something! She needed to stop thatーbut what could she do? Sakura already had lost an arm to that bear and would have probably lost her insides as well had that bear's swipe being a little deeper.

But she was dead. Her brother and Renoir were not. If that bear got to them now it would all be over.

Sakura stood up, breathing hard, and tried jumping at the bear's back again, only for the bear to quickly turn around and hit her with it's large paw. It got her on the leg, she felt something (her leg) becoming slightly loose as she fell, the bear looking over her and glaring with red eyes.

Get out of the way, the bear's uneven eyes seemed to be telling her. They're dying tonight.

The bear turned towards the petrified figures of the living and growled, on all forus again, and ranー

SLAMMM!

A van, all too-familiar, crashed into the bear, sending it flying towards the darkness of the forest, far away from the zombie and the two humans.

A door opened, revealing a disheveled Yugiri and a growling Tae, who panicked upon the sight of their mangled friend.

"Sakura!"

"Gahrusa!"

The courtesan quickly jumped off the van, and ran towards her fallen friend, Tae at her heels. Sakura was all too happy to see the two of them, despite her missing arm and the strange pain.

"Yugiri...ah…"

"Do not move, Sakura...it will be alright," Yugiri told her, holding her close. The older woman noticed Genji and Renoir running towards them. Both looked rattled but otherwise better than Saura herself. Nearby, Tae had already found Sakura's twitching arm, and was whining with worry. Genji fell to one knee next to the courtesan and said, "Come on, we gotta get out of here!" Yugiri nodded, and whispering a small apology to Sakura, lifted her upih wt Genji's help, who held onto Sakura's legs as he stood alongside Yugiri. The courtesan tried not to flinch as Sakura let out a pained groan, the woman trying to avoid looking at the damage the bear had caused on Sakura's body; her torn clothes, the claw marks on her stomach, a new scar forming near her right leg as it dangled uselessly to the side, as if it wanted to fall off like the arm had.

"GET IN, YOU IDIOTS!" Kotaro's panicked voice came from the front of the van, Romero barking furiously at whatever seemed to be nearby.

Genji and Yugiri moved quickly, while Renoir opened the back door to let them in, while tae, still with Sakura's twitching arm, followed after them. Once Genji and Yugiri placed Sakura in the best comfortable position they could on the back, Renoir quickly closed the van's back door, and got inside on the backseats along with Tae. As soon as Renoir closed the sliding doors, the van began to go in reverse, before making a turn, a little slowly, before it began moving towards the house.

But there was growling nearby.

The bear.

"Oh no…" Yugiri whispered, holding Sakura as Genji turned to their driver.

"Hit the gas!"

"Hold on!"

Kotaro quickly put the van in reverse again, and it ran, making everything shake inside. Genji and Yugiri crashed against each other, causing Sakura to cry out. Renoir held onto his seat, Tae slammed against the window, still holding Sakura's arm. Sakura flinched as the van hit something. Metal whined, the van stopped and it was moving forward again. There, from the window, they saw it, growling and spitting foam, barely standing, face falling apart, it was that grotesque bear.

But they were already too far away for the bear to give chase. The van moved, faster, faster than ever.

Sakura tried not to moan in pain as Yugiri finished bandaging her arm back in place. The pink haired zombie was lying on her futon, breathing a little too hard despite already being dead.

Sakura's mangled school clothes lay on the side, the girl sporting her pink shirt and sleeping shorts.

Tae stood nearby, biting into her hand as she watched the two zombies while Romero stood guard by the door.

"...that should do it," Yugiri whispered, smoothing over Sakura's messy hair. The girl tried to smile but flinched.

"T-thank you...ow..."

Yugiri tried to smile too, despite the worry in her heart and the unshed tears shining in her eyes. She had been so worried when she heard the screaming, and now, Sakura was here, still dead (pretending to be alive) and almost in pieces. "Please, do not strain yourself, rest."

Sakura chuckled despite herself. "I...huff...I don't think I...I could manage it…" She sighed. "It hurts."

"I know…"

It was odd, the way their bodies worked. Pain was odd. Hunger was noticeable. Exhaustion was terrifying. Everything about their dead bodies worked differently. Was it because they were dead? Death was supposed to be the end of the pain but lo and behold, here it was again, pain and suffering.

Yugiri had felt little pain when that woman cut her head off. The pain had been so insignificant to death.

But Sakura was quite dead and in pain.

It certainly made no sense.

Sakura was dead and that's all Yugiri knew.

The courtesan wouldn't let it show. She was concerned, more than she wanted to let herself be. Sakura was dead and yet she was in terrible pain. Pain that did not match with her death. Pain that seemed to come and go. Pain that made no sense.

(but they were dead, so what made sense?)

There's a knock on the door, and before Yugiri can call out to them, it's already opening. It's Kotaro and Genji and Renoir. There's an extra red mark on Kotaro's other cheek, and Yugiri already guesses it's origins to the sour look on Genji's face. Kotaro's holding a glass with what appears to be milk inside. He offers the glass to Yugiri and tells Sakura to, "Drink it."

Sakura blinks and turns to stare at her brother, who shrugs. "Says it's medicine for the pain." He doesn't bother telling his sister just how much painkillers Kotaro added to that concoction of his but if it calms her down and lets her sleep, all the better. She's dead, after all.

Yugiri helps Sakura to a sitting position and helps her drink the whole thing up. Sakura makes a sour face, almost identical to Genji's, as she finishes the drink. "It's terrible."

"It's medicine," Kotaro counters, as Yugiri returns the empty glass and helps Sakura lie down. "Now...about that bear…"

Genji shook his head. "It found us, not the other way around, moron."

Kotaro doesn't turn to look at Genji. His face is facing Sakura, and his glasses hide his eyes. "...I will stitch you up tomorrow...just rest."

Sakura nods.

There's no point in talking about the bear.

But Kotaro obviously wants to talk about it and…

...there's a crash from somewhere inside the mansion. Broken glass, most likely.

Everyone's frozen but Romero and Tae are barking up a storm. Renoir is shaking, "Oh god...what now!?"

Kotaro and Genji disappear quickly from the room, closing the door behind them, all the while the zombies, the zombie dog, and the still-living boy stay there, silent and dreading of what is to come.

But they don't have to wait long for soon enough, Kotaro and Genji have returned, and both look somber. "Wh-what happened?"

Genji just shows them a piece of paper, in big bold letters, written with black in, it reads, "I can help you with your bear problem…" And for the first time in quite a while, Yugiri dreads what the future might bring.

A/N: The title will make sense in the upcoming chapter.