Oh boy! The gang made it all the way to Haruhi's house and found there wasn't a Ranka in sight... However, it seems they might not have to wait long!

Thank you so much to all of you who have been reading this and following the story so far :D let me know your thoughts in the review section!

Chapter 12

"Ranka?!"

"Dad!"

"Nanako! And my little Haruhiiii!" Ranka squealed before his eyes fell on the other people around the table. "Ohh and a group of gorgeous men! And that annoying insect!"

If Tamaki could have turned to dust, it would be that comment that would have done it. It was no secret that Ranka had an issue of some kind with Tamaki and it was most likely because he felt that Tamaki was moving in on his precious Haruhi, which may or may not be the truth.

Regardless, the group had been so preoccupied with their teasing of Ritsu that none of them had heard the front door unlock and open, so when Ranka appeared like that, the whole group had fallen silent.

"Ranka!" Nanako cheered again, scrambling to her feet to hug him.

"Ah! Nanako! I am so glad to see you survived!" he beamed, hugging her tightly before yanking poor Haruhi up for a hug too "both my girls! Safe and sound!"

"Ok Ranka… need… air" Nanako gasped until he finally let go "we were holed up in the school and well, we decided we had to come find out if our loved ones were okay and you were our first stop"

"Me? Little old me?" Ranka giggled "you kids are too sweet!"

"Where were you dad?" Haruhi asked "we got here and nobody was home"

"Oh me? Well I was out trying to get in some food supplies but you know… it's kind of hard on your own in the current climate" Ranka pointed to the bags at the door "I managed to get a few things though! And it's a good thing I did now that I see we have guests!"

"We did bring some supplies of our own too" Kyoya spoke up

"Ohh I bet that was your idea hmmm Kyoya? You are the brains of the outfit" Ranka beamed another smile. "Oh! And I see you are eating, did my Haruhi cook that?"

"Haruhi and Nanako cooked it" Kyoya smiled softly.

"Oooh! I bet it's amazing!" Ranka gushed, clasping his hands together.

"There's plenty left if you'd like some Ranka?" Nanako offered, moving to grab another bowl.

"Oh yes please! Gosh I haven't eaten anything much for the last couple of days! I have been so worried about my girls!" Ranka nudged Tamaki down the table a little so he could sit next to Haruhi.

Nanako returned after a few moments to set a bowl of ramen down in front of Ranka, complete with some chopsticks.

"So Ranka, how did you survive the initial thing?" Nanako asked, taking her seat between Haruhi and Ritsu.

"Oh well… nothing major happened until I was at work that evening" he mumbled through a mouthful of ramen.

"Really?" Kyoya raised a brow "it hit Ouran Academy around lunch time, did you not wonder where Haruhi was before you went to work?"

"Well no, you see I leave for work at around four thirty and Haruhi doesn't get home from that little club of yours until after six" Ranka paused for a moment "Anyway… so I got to work and things were slow… really slow for the bar… because we usually have a bunch of regulars that are there when I turn up for my shift"

The group nodded in unison as they waited for Ranka to continue.

"This ramen is delicious girls!" Ranka gushed before continuing his tale "um... so, as I was saying… I got to work just after five and I headed to the back to change when someone stumbles into the bar, shouting something about a riot outside… so in full drag, me and a couple of the other queens went to investigate and my goodness! It was madness on the streets!"

Nanako's POV

Ranka's story made sense… after all, things had kicked off at the school around 1pm and by the time the screams had stopped it had easily been close to three, so for some of the zombies that had ambled out of the school grounds, it's reasonable to assume they took time to get into the main part of the city. Of course then there was the laboratory on the outskirts so yeah, for the chaos to reach the bar district at around 5 made sense.

"Well anyway" Ranka continued "picture this! Five queens standing outside the bar, completely dumbstruck by what they saw! People fighting people, people getting bitten and then… and then we realised what was happening… they were zombies!" he gasped, waving his arms and almost knocking his bowl off the table.

"It's crazy right?" I interjected.

"Crazy isn't the word I used, trust me" Ranka giggled "So… we barricaded ourselves in the bar for the night, listening to the madness outside… the screams… oh the screams"

Ranka was tearing up a little so I dug in my pocket and offered him a tissue.

"Thank you…" he sniffled, dabbing his eyes "the screams stopped after a couple of hours but by then it was dark out… all I could think about was my poor little Haruhi… was she safe? Was she with friends? And then I thought of Nanako and I hoped you were both together"

The group remained in silence as Ranka talked, nobody dared say a word.

"I hardly slept that night… I tried calling Haruhi and Nanako… anyone who'd know where they were… I even called the insect" he shot Tamaki a look "but all I got was the busy tone… and well, when morning came, I packed up my stuff, said goodbye to those at the bar and headed home"

"Geez dad why didn't you stay put? You could have gotten hurt" Haruhi chastised him in an almost motherly fashion.

"I almost did!" he wailed a little "lil old me, walking home alone and I get chased by a couple of those things! What is a girl to do? I hitched up my skirt and ran for the hills!"

"The hills?" Haruhi's tone was flat and I could tell she was unimpressed.

"Well not the literal hills Haruhi" he sighed "but I did run for it and managed to lose them… I made it home safe to find you weren't here!"

"I was at the school dad" Haruhi sighed

"I didn't know that! I was so worried!" he clung to her "and so I vowed to stay here as long as it took for you to come home!"

"You went out for supplies dad, I can't see which part of that is you staying here til I came home" Haruhi's tone was still a little flat and I couldn't help but giggle behind my hand.

"Well you know what I mean! Besides, supplies looked like they wouldn't last many more days so I got out while I could to get some… you wouldn't believe the amount of zombies ambling around near the supermarket" he shuddered a little "I managed to sneak in and grab a few things and sneak out… somehow I got back here without being followed"

"I wouldn't be so sure…" Ritsu had gotten up to look out between the boards on the window around the time Ranka mentioned running for the hills.

"What do you mean?" Ranka tilted his head, eyeing Ritsu.

Kyoya got up to go see what Ritsu was talking about and sighed lightly.

"Well… it looks like you bought some friends home with you Ranka..." Kyoya kept his voice down.

"Well then, it looks like we are going to have to be extra quiet doesn't it?" Ranka whispered and I couldn't help but see the irony there.

The loudest queen I know having to be quiet? This was going to be a task.

Quietly as I could, I collected up all the empty bowls and took them to the kitchen, being extra careful to tiptoe my way there. I did not want to have to fight zombies, not today.

"How many are out there?" I whispered, sliding up beside Ritsu to peek out.

I thought maybe it was only one or two but holy shit… I didn't expect to see as many as I did. They weren't in one big group but there was still a rough count of twenty or so zombies ambling around outside. When we'd turned up there had been none and Ranka hadn't seen any when he arrived so these had turned up in the last few minutes.

"Ranka… are you sure you didn't see any zombies when you got here?" I whispered, gingerly taking my seat next to Haruhi.

"I'm sure" he whispered back "the street was deserted"

"Okay well I don't mean to alarm anyone but there are twenty or so of them ambling around out there" Ritsu hissed from his position by the window.

"Look… Ranka is right" I whispered "if we stay really quiet, they'll probably leave"

"Kind of like at the school Nana-chan?" Honey whispered

"Exactly like the school Honey-senpai" I smiled.

We sat in silence all afternoon, the only sound was the television, which we'd turned down as low as we could so that we could still hear it for updates. Ritsu traded out with Mori after a couple of hours so he could use the bathroom and I was starting to find the silence was almost deafening.

Creeping over to where Mori was on watch, I peeked through the boards and rubbed my face. Was it me or were there more zombies out there now? It didn't matter… what mattered, was all of us making it out of this crisis alive and all the time we could keep quiet, we would be okay. The zombies had made no effort to storm the barricades we'd set up, so I could only assume they were loitering around until something better caught their attention.

I reached and gave Mori's hand a soft squeeze and stepped away, biting my lip to hold back a giggle as I saw Tamaki sulking in the corner while Ranka held onto Haruhi in a protective manner… Honestly, I could see the similarities between them… maybe that's how Haruhi was able to deal with Tamaki so well? I'd never make the comparison out loud with Ranka in earshot… you ever want to see scary Ranka? Tell him he, and the guy that likes his daughter are similar… I did it once… never again! Nevertheless, I was feeling a little antsy. We were pretty much all on top of each other here, this apartment was not designed to have ten people in it all at once.

I understood Haruhi's need to make sure her father was alive but at the same time it dawned on me we'd need something bigger before we all started falling out over stupid stuff. Our group had already shrunk from fifteen to just nine and then with Ranka it was back to a ten but still… it didn't need to shrink any further… these people were my friends and I'd be damned if we all went our separate ways because of some stupid argument. While daylight was still our friend, I helped Kyoya set up some lanterns so we'd have some form of light once it got dark… I think we were all a little petrified that light would attract those things… well not just those things but maybe unwanted guests in general.

The afternoon gave way to the evening and the sun had long since slipped beneath the horizon, leaving us all sitting in lamplight. Last time I checked, there was still a reasonable amount of zombies out there, ambling around pointlessly. I was about to get up and go check in with Ritsu who was back on watch, when he spoke up first.

"This doesn't look good"

Getting up, I moved to the window, followed by the others to peer out onto the street where more zombies were announcing their arrival with guttural howls and screams. What in the actual fuck was I seeing right now? The zombies that had just been pottering around suddenly got some kind of pep in their step and began charging with the others and it looked like they were heading for the city centre.

All of us waited, almost holding our breath as we watched this… migration happen. They weren't interested in the apartment building or any other building around them they were like a hive mind, all having the same idea at the same time, charging towards what was likely the most populated area in the city.

Once they'd passed and the street was empty again, we all let out that breath we'd been holding, our shoulders relaxing.

"Thank god for that" Ranka sighed behind me and I couldn't agree more.

"Amen to that" I moved away from the window, peering at the clock on the wall "is it really nearly nine already?"

Kyoya nodded "pretty much. Time seems to fly when you're living in fear… or something like that"

We ate left over ramen for dinner and Ranka volunteered himself for night watch… something about not trusting the insect while his precious girls were sleeping… or something along those lines… I'm not sure; all I know is Tamaki took his futon to the corner of the room and sulked.

I settled down on my futon in Haruhi's room in some pyjama's that Haruhi very kindly leant me, a t-shirt and shorts combination… very comfy I must say.

"Hey Haruhi?" I asked, rolling over to face her "we need to think about finding somewhere else to set up camp"

Her brows furrowed lightly, our faces only illuminated by desk lamp she kept by her bed.

"Why?" she asked "this place is safe, we have access to supplies that's easy to get to… why would we need to think of somewhere else to go?"

"I don't know if you have noticed… but we are a group of ten now and space isn't favouring us" I paused "there's only so long ten people can live in close quarters before they start falling out… besides, I want to see if my family is okay and I am sure the others do too"

There was silence between us for a good few minutes until Haruhi spoke up.

"I suppose you have a point… we can't expect ten people to share one bathroom and not have their own space when things get too intense" Haruhi shifted the stare at the ceiling.

I could tell she had been happy when we'd arrived here and then when her father returned and the prospect of leaving her home behind was pulling at her emotions. I mean in all fairness, we'd only arrived that morning so it made sense that she would be a little down about it… coming home after three days only to be told she'd have to leave it again.

"We can talk about it tomorrow… no rush" I wasn't about to push her for a decision on this, she needed time to think it over before we got everyone else's input on it.

"Okay… night Nanako…"

"Night Haruhi…"