Author Note: Yo, hello this is my newest story! This one is something I've had the idea for a long while now but I am going to put it onto paper. First off, thank you everyone that has taken the time to read it. There will be canonical divergences, new characters and a new ending. Thank you all for reading. Please remember to follow, favorite, and review it greatly helps with my motivation with getting the next chapters up. Have a wonderful and awesome day!

Chapter 1

"Oi, wake up…Yankee."

The young man stirred as he pushed himself from the bed roll. His olive skin reflected from the lamplight. Sweat dripped from his frame as his orange eyes gazed at his wrist. "Jesus Christ…it's six o clock. Why am I up, Chin?"

Chin gazed at his comrade. He was a lanky man that wore loose blue jeans with a heavy brown coat, it was quite warm underground, but his Japanese friend liked the extra layer of protection. If you peered close enough you could see the faint bite lines that clung along the fabric.

He wore a plan blue baseball cap, his brown eyes peering at his friend. He smirked as he parted his lips. "You know how it is, Yankee. We all got a part to play…especially you, Ajay."

Ajay sighed as he pushed himself off his bedroll. He had to move around in the darkness as he lightly tapped around his surroundings. The faint lights from outside of the tent giving him enough room to grab his jacket and his boots.

He pushed through the blinds as he had to put an arm out to stop the glare of the subway lights. Ajay was seventeen years old, a tall man with short curls. He had light olive skin and a muscular athletic frame.

He threw the shirt onto himself as Chin followed to his side. "Chin, what's for breakfast today?" He spoke as he turned to his friend; the green sweatshirt finally pulled over his head. "Please don't tell me none of that canned shit."

"Bingo, Yankee…" Chin heard Ajay erupt into a steady sigh as his fingers combed through his hair. "What else would you expect at the end of the world!"

His voice trailed through the tunnel as Ajay took another heavy breath. His gaze fixated ahead at the mess hall. It had been two months ever since the outbreak, the infected now ran the streets of the city…or for all they knew, the world. Ajay, Chin and the rest of the survivors had zero to no clue of what happened.

Chin was merely a student in his final year of high school, while Ajay was from an American military school. Sent to a Japan military base for further enrollment into the military arts. "Fucking bullshit, my grandfather was the one that put me through all that crap…let me tell ya, Chin. I had zero desire to do any of that stuff."

That was their conversation on the manner. It was divine luck that Ajay had the survival and military training, and Chin came into contact with him. They were a pair that shouldered the apocalypse together.

Ajay was also one of the only few soldiers to fight to the very end…to give it his all to help evacuate civilians. Even being merely seventeen, he took his gun and kept on firing. In the end he failed, but Chin and the rest all met up and their group made it into the subway.

Ajay's gaze peered around. They used grenades to blow up the subway stairs, rudimentary barricades of rubble that would stop human and infected from coming through. He turned to his sides. One large train was stuck in the middle of the track, around the edges held a fence made from anything they could find.

Whether it be of steel or wood, they had created a functioning gate. There were tents, lights powered from a generator and even a kitchen. The tent that Ben came from was a tent used by the other males of the refugee camp, there were at least twenty to thirty people around here.

Men, woman, and children. All from different backgrounds and professions arranged here in this very camp. Though, it was the train itself that peeked all their interest. "Ajay, do you really think we can take that train and get out of here?" Chin asked, the lanky boy giving Ajay a plate with food on it.

"Gee, Cram and corn." He muttered underneath his breath. Both boys walking towards their usual table, in actuality it was two boxes that you would see used for storing bottles in a supermarket. It was quite uncomfortable to sit on. Ajay and Chin took their seat as they peered at the train. "I don't see why not. I got a couple of the guys working on repairing it. Won't that be great, I know you call me a Yankee but I'm kind of excited to see the Japanese countryside."

"Oh, really then…I will say your Japanese has gotten better. Though, I don't think you're ready to go all rural."

Ajay dug his fork into the cram. Trying to pierce through the cold slab of meat. "Damn, I can't believe that this thing is so cold. I got to tell ya, I think people are out to get me. Like its corn and a couple slices of spam how can someone get it wrong?"

Chin chuckled at his friend's predicament. Seeing the lumbering boy trying to use his fork against the plastic plate to eat spam was kind of humoring him. "Ajay, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, Chin…ask whatever!" He grunted as he was finally getting leeway into the pound of meat. He smirked as he began to cut into it like a knife, his fork glistening in the yellow subway lights overhead. Chin didn't really have much hope, his friend was more occupied with his food.

"Who's Lana?"

Ajay stopped cutting. His movements ceasing as he stared into his plate. His gaze contorting into one of a cold grimace as he turned towards Chin. "How do you know that name?"

Chin felt the anger rising within Ajay, rather he could even see it. The veins on his arms bulged, the anger in his voice obvious as Ajay didn't hold no reason to hide it. "You were saying it while you were asleep…sounded like a nightmare, who is she?"

Ajay put the food down by his feet. Swiping the tendrils of dark hair from his eyes as he let out a gust of hot air. "My sister…"

"You have a sister?" Chin spoke up. Nudging his friend by the leg. "Where is she?"

"Yeah, my twin…" The dark gleam of ben's eyes returned. Straining from Chin's gaze as he stared at the tents and the other survivors that were coming in and out of the tents. People were starting there day and the chores had to be done. "She died a couple of years ago."

"Ah…im sorry. I didn't…"

"It's fine, buddy." Ben waved off; his eyes fixated back onto his food. "I was the one that failed her…"

Memories of a car, memories of blood and dark hair…the first time he ever held a body. The first time he ever held someone as they slowly died. 'Never again…no one dies for me; I will never run away again!' His thoughts pounded as he got up from his chair. "Come on. We got watch, right?"

Chin nodded his head. Getting up as well as both boys began to walk to the fence. "Ah, wait. The doctor wants to speak to you before we start. Said that there was something that he needed to talk to you about."

Ajay groaned as he pushed himself away. Pacing to the doctor tent. 'He really couldn't have told me sooner.'

Ajay turned away from his buddy. He didn't bother to wave or say goodbye due to the very fact they would be reunited in less than twenty minutes. Even then, he didn't want to keep the doctor waiting. He moved around the subway station, dodging tents and the groggy people as they began to get ready for the day.

He was now beginning to regret the fact that he skipped breakfast, his stomach grumbling in response as he stopped right in front of the doctor's tent. It was a standard green army tent, him and the other scavengers helped strip it down so they could transport it back into the subway station.

It was a long haul…even then it was worth it. One of the greatest bits of wisdoms his grandfather instilled into him was the fact that everyone needed a doctor. So, he made sure that the doc had all that he needed to function as a proper one.

He pushed through the tent flaps. "Yo, doc…" His eyes widened. His hand trailing towards his thigh as his fingers graced the handgun. The doctor had not let anyone in the medical tent for one or two days, saying he had something to do. Making either explosives or medicine, both things Ajay had no real clue on what to do. Though, he didn't want to get blown to smithereens or high, so he steered clear from the tent.

Though, the last thing he expected. A dead corpse…he could see the pale skin and the hollow eyes. He scanned the body seeing two bite marks etched into the things right arm. He knew it had to be infected, even then. He drew his pistol, a sturdy revolver that he picked up from one of the infected soldiers.

This infected was different…something he had never seen before. The tent had a large plastic encodement, even then there were these strange spores. The body was slouched, it's bone density nearly crumbling as its skin was eroded.

Pink flesh like skin grew along the wall and jumbled together like a mushroom. Strange yellowish gases came from the very corpse. Nearly filling the whole plastic interior. The doctor was in the middle of it, wearing a heavy hazmat suit as he drew blood vials from the corpse.

Ajay, now he was pissed. The doctor didn't tell him or anyone that he would bring an infected into the camp. Especially one that was strange and leaked spores. The doctor got the message, the man pushing through the envelopment as he stripped off his hazmat suit and exited from the encodement.

"Ajay, I suppose Chin sent you, my message."

"Yeah, he did." Ajay answered, pointing right behind the doctor at the very infected polluting the enclosed area. "Why the fuck is there an infected corpse back there…what the hell is wrong with it."

He purposefully whispered, there were children in the station and families as well. He didn't want them to get worried about this thing, he took another peak. The fungal growth that spread along the walls were disgusting, it made him want to throw up.

He merely grimaced as the doctor led him to the table. They each took a seat as the doc himself took out two cups, parting a flask from behind some documents as he poured two glasses of cheap gin for each.

"You know, son. I've been a doctor for many years…been to many countries, met many people and helped contain many outbreaks." The doc spoke.

He was a large man, not fat but large. He held strong shoulders, had two massive glasses that were indented into his nose with greying hair that didn't fall out. He took a seat, parting his lips once again to continue speaking. "I've seen some insane stuff, but what I have saw in these last couple of months…these last couple of days is something else entirely."

"What are you talking about, doc?"

The doctor sighed. Ajay taking a gulp from his cup as the doctor took sips from it. "You should take your time, son. Alcohol like this won't be around for quite some time…"

"Quite some time, what the hell are you on about?" he mockingly uttered, he wrapped his arms around himself as he plopped one of his shoes on the table. "My country is going to show up here soon. With tanks, planes, and soldiers. We're going to wipe out these bastards and restore order. This city will be…"

"Christ, Ajay…do you even hear yourself." The doctor interrupted, wiping a strand of grey hair as his fingers rested against his forehead. Ajay was starting to see the crease lines that had grown along his face. "The last shipment from the Americans was nearly three weeks ago. You've said it before that during the evacuation you know for a fact that a good chunk of soldiers were either infected or got bit. Hell, the infection already spread to Europe, all of Asia is nearly gone…Canada and the rest…"

Ajay's fingers squeezed along his cup; he refused the doctors words. Rather…he needed to. He could'ent accept the fact. "You can't be like that, Doc."

"No, I can be…Ajay. I've never seen something like this in my forty years of being a scientist, in being a doctor. This thing is so out of control that I hardly know what this is. Humanity, I think is doomed."

"Don't give me that crap. We've made it through worse shit…I refuse to believe that. I refuse to believe that all we did was for nothing, that in the end we're going to lose to a bunch of corpses." Ajay growled.

There was a relative silence that stirred between the two men. The only sounds were the footsteps that were outside of the medical tent. "Alright, fine then…but please, Ajay. Don't forget what you have here, the world may very well end but there are people like you who are good…those that can…"

Ajay chuckled, the act slowly shocking the doctor as the old man began to stir. "You don't know me, Doc. I'm a bad man…"

"Says the guy that stayed behind in Japan while he could of gotten evacuated with the rest of the soldiers. The same one that rounded up all the civilians and led us down here into this cave. Without you, we all would've died…you're a natural born leader."

"More like a coward." He muttered in response, he gripped along the cup as he drowned more of the harsh bile down his gullet. "What the heck are you even working on…the infected, are you running any experiments on it or something?"

"There is no real point in running experiments on it. There isn't a cure or anything like that, the only thing I've been recording is the virus in my notes. Ajay, when was the last time you've went scavenging?" He asked.

"I don't really know. A couple of days ago, why?"

The doctor began to arrange his notes in front of him, speaking to Ajay as the boy simply stared. "The infected are acting different. The virus, I believe it is mutating?"

"What do you mean by that? Is that why the infected is like that?" Ajay spoke, pointing once again to the eroding infected.

"Yes, I believe that the virus has mutated. It's weird, in dark and enclosed areas the virus after not eating for a long-time latch onto a wall. Then it goes into a state of hibernation, in this process the host fully dies but the infected projects spores."

"Spores…"

"This, Ajay…" He pointed right behind him, at the infected. "This is another vector of infection. I believe that if someone healthy walked in there without a proper gas mask then they would turn into one of them."

"Jesus christ…now I got this crap to worry about." Ajay added on, staring into the bottom of his finished cup of gin. "Wait…dark and enclosed spaces?"

"Yes, that is another reason why I believe we must leave this subway. If this is true than the infection will thrive down here, it's better for us to leave now and have a contingency."

"Good, then… The train is nearly ready. We leave in a couple of days; we just need one person to flick the switch of the power than we're all good and ready."

The doctor groaned in response towards the boy's words, taking off his thick glasses as he began to clean them on a set of fabric. "You know how I feel about this, Ajay. I believe, that going to the countryside is not a good plan. We should find a different place to stay, a warehouse or maybe head to some suburban neighborhood."

"Doc, we need animals and other stuff. Actual and proper food…this is what we need."

"Yes, the flat plains of rural Japan will offer so much cover against the roaming hordes of infected." The doctor's spoke, his sarcasm rippling through the air. Don't you realize that everyone else might have that exact same plan as you? To get away from the infected and trying to live off the land?"

"Yeah, sure…maybe." Ajay sighed as he glossed down at his watch, seeing how long he had spent here was going to be too much, he had chores and his duties to do. "Listen, I've got watch. I want that infected disposed of in a manner that no one will see. I don't want to break the news to everyone about the mutation yet. We're leaving soon, I don't need people to get freaked out and do something rash."

Ben pushed open the flap of the tent. Closing it behind him as he combed through his hair. That whole interaction was something he did not need this early in the morning. Yet, the words stirred something within him. "Leader…" He murmured to himself as he climbed up the steps to the fence, going to the side as he and Chin greeted the other.

"Yo…What was that all about with the doctor?" Chin asked

Ajay was tempted to talk to Chin about it, he was his best bud in the complex. Even then, bright flashes of the mutated infected fell in front of his eyes. He would rather discuss the new information at a time where they weren't on watch, it would be better not to be distracted. "Don't worry about it. We're going to be out of this city in a couple days so it doesn't matter. When we're in the countryside, what are you going to do first?"

"I want some actual meat, some fresh eggs or something like that." Chin spoke. "It's been a real long time before I made some actual ramen?"

"Ramen?" Ajay aimlessly muttered. "Is it really that good?"

"…wait, you've never had ramen? How could you never had had ramen?"

"Dude, I lived in the South for a good chunk of my life. It was just bland food that taste like cardboard."

"Really, alright then…when we're in the countryside I'm going to get into those fields and make you some honest to god ramen."

"Alright then, brother. I can't wait."

The pair chuckled at the final parting words. Ajay's gaze following the ends of the tunnel. There were not that many infected around, the lure of the sun and the light helped illuminate the path. He instinctively gazed along the walls. There were no corpses that lined them, even then…

"Ajay, you see that?"

Ajay's gaze fixated on what Chin was pointing at. The end of the tunnel…there was something. A lone figure, an infected. Though, it was different. It's muscles spasmed as its hulking frame inched closer to the gate.

"Oh crap, it saw us…get the hunting rifle and blast the bastard." Ajay said.

Chin nodded his head. Grabbing the rifle next to his feet, a hunting rifle with a decent scope. As well with a homemade suppressor. Chin aimed, the gun firing as he pulled back the bolt. The spark of fire engulfing the barrel as it hit the infected head on.

Ajay was about to congratulate Chin for the shot. Even then, it didn't fall. "The fuck…" He murmured under his breath as he turned towards the infected once again. He knew for a fact that it was shot in the head, it wasn't…

He grabbed onto one of the flare guns to the side. Corking the barrel and slamming a flare into it. Taking aim as he pulled the trigger, the barrel erupted into reddish fire as it brightened up and impacted the lone infected.

"Holt shit!" Chin screamed; the boy not able to contain himself as he saw the infected. It had to be what the doctor was talking about, a mutated variant. The fungus spread over its body, acting like a sort of armor. Any sense of humanity within it was gone, the clothes were either ripped off or consumed under the fungal like flesh.

Ajay pulled out his revolver. As the large infected started to run, rather…it began to charge.