4. Negative Population Growth

"_Where's Torako?!_"

Everyone was woken up by Tomo's scream. As the others all got to their feet, ready for action (or at least as ready as a bunch of teenage girls could be), she was bouncing around the living room like a shrieking pinball, screaming her sister's name through every doorway se could find, up to and including the broom closet in the kitchen. She only noticed anyone else was awake when Chiyo and Sakaki both saw the trails of blood leading out the front door and screamed.

"Torako's gone!" Tomo wailed, apparently forgetting about Oikawa entirely.

"Oikawa's missing too," Yomi pointed out, staring at the larger pool of blood on the floor. She was pretty sure she'd last seen her sitting in that chair . . .

"The blood leads out the door . . . " Kagura observed, pointing with her spear. Then Tomo had thrown the door open and charged outside, following the trail of crimson and the drag marks across the gravel of the driveway and into the grass.

"Tomo you idiot, wait!" Yomi ran after her, followed by the others.

The trail was soon lost in the overgrown grass. "Chiyo, why can't your family ever mow the damn lawn out here?" Kagura asked.

"We don't come out here much," Chiyo said. She and Sakaki were both hanging back while the others searched through the waist-deep grass for any sign of Torako or Oikawa.

"You two mind helping us out here?" Yomi asked angrily over her shoulder. As they reluctantly came forward she turned to Tomo. She tried to think of some way to reassure her friend, but one look at her tear-streaked face and she knew telling her the truth wouldn't help and she couldn't bring herself to lie. She was saved from saying something awkward by Sakaki tripping over something and then screaming for the second time that day.

As they all reached her Chiyo and Osaka both screamed too. Sakaki had found Oikawa. As Sakaki scrambled backwards away from the body Chiyo turned and ran back to the house.

"Chiyo, wait!" Yomi shouted and took off after her. She had nearly caught up to her when Chiyo reached the front door and threw it open, dislodging the rock propped above the doorway in their absence. Chiyo was still screaming when the watermelon-sized stone came crashing down on her head, caving in her skull and bringing her crashing to the floor. As Yomi came to a terrified halt Chiyo's body twitched spasmically as her destroyed brain sent out frenzied nerve impulses before going still. "CHIYO-CHAAAAN!"

Yomi looked from Chiyo's blanket-covered body to the others. "We need to leave," she said. "None of you can possibly believe Kaorin is still alive now." She glanced at Tomo and hesitated, then added: "Or Torako."

Tomo shook her head vehemently. "If she's dead then where's the body?"

"They're never dead until you see a body," Osaka agreed. "That's how it works in movies."

"This isn't a movie, you addle-brained doorstop!" Kagura snapped. "Kaorin and Torako are just as dead as the others."

"She's not dead!" Tomo insisted. "She can't be dead! She . . . she . . ." She broke down crying again as a red-eyed Sakaki put an arm around her.

"Geez," Kagura said. "I didn't cry that much when Nyamo died, and I cry at _everything._"

"She just lost her _twin sister,_ you idiot," Yomi said, getting to her feet and taking a step towards her.

"Fighting won't help us," Sakaki said.

Kagura's face softened and she nodded. "I know, I'm just . . . scared. I'm sorry, Tomo."

Yomi nodded at Sakaki. "Sakaki's right, we need to calm down. We all need to be . . . where's Osaka?"

"That space cadet's gonna get us all killed," Kagura muttered as she looked around the living room and grabbed her spear.

"Hey guys!" They all breathed a sigh of relief when Osaka appeared from one of the bedrooms. Then they noticed the red stains spreading across her shirt. "I found us a knife" she said before pitching forward onto the railing, flipping over it, and landing in the kitchen. Sure enough, there was a butcher knife buried in her back up to the hilt.

**-Author Notes-**

I promise I don't have any sort of grudge against these characters. Honest.

Will I bump off two people in each chapter? Who knows? Who cares?