"We are going to need plastic surgery to remove that smile off your face, bro", chuckled Morita at seeing Takashi the next morning. Takashi blushed and scratched the back of his head, accepting the teasing that came his way.

"Can you blame me?", smiled Takashi back.

"Not at all, I am bloody jealous", huffed Morita without malice in his voice.

The caravan of the attacked Takagi Manor was already on the move, with the few vehicles that have survived the IMP, and the fix that the manor mechanics was able to make to the few modes of transport that they have. The pack had decided to join the effort, but due to the presence of the police officer that Takashi rescued the last night, the pack will take a truck and bring the survivor at the mall to the rendezvous point at the survivor camp.

There will be where the pack will take a different routine. Maybe guided by the subconscious desire of Takashi to face his past, but the pack, and as many survivors as they wanted, will make a move to the forests, and the mountains that surrounded the city. There was a very interesting castle in there, a remnant of the wars that shocked Japan in the past, but that was still pretty useful for what the survivors had in mind, and it will serve as a base to defend from any attack of Them, not to mention a refugee from any possible survivors that could be on the mountains or did not make to the camp.

Among the pack, they thought about the possibility of moving into one of the many islands around the coastal borders of the city, but to be completely honest, the only one with an idea about how to pilot a ship was Magnus, and the presence of the man was not a certainty unless Shizuka-sensei was around. That led to another discussion about the nurse. They all liked the nurse, she was an integral part of the group, but, as Magnus has let abundantly clear, she was part of another pack, even if she was not conscious of it. Curiously enough, the nurse, who was possibly the best-protected individual on this planet right now, considered Takashi and his pack, his children, youngsters that she could not abandon, even if she was the more childish and naive of all of them.

On the other hand, the pack had people that knew how to move, and thrive, in the mountain environment. Sure enough, they are hardly survivalists, but Takashi, Kohta, and Saeko, had enough experience camping outdoors to make a start, and with a castle to took refugees, it was just a matter of whip the place into something worthy of calling home. It was practically an inside joke of the pack that the castle will be baptized as the Wolf's Den, no matter what was its name before. With a bit of luck, the place's plumbing and lights could be fixed and rigged to some batteries of something. But that was a project for another time.

"You have everything you need?", asked Takashi, seeing the truck that Kohta, Morita, and the police officer are going to take to seek out the survivors on the Mall.

"Don't worry bro", smiled Morita, shoving a new shell onto his shotgun. "We have everything covered, though, the police lady is not all that keen in seeing us, teenagers, carrying weapons around".

"No one is until shit hits the fan", huffed Takashi. "Anyhow, what do you plan to do?. I do not know what you have planned, as I was not at the planning meeting".

"Saya drew the entire thing for us", shrugged Morita. "We are going to follow her plan to the letter. We will go to the mall, pick up survivors, drop them at the survivor camp on the floating airport, reunite with the pack, take the tank of Rika-san, and the truck that you are seeing, fill it to the brim with whoever wants to come with us, and supplies for the mall and make a beeline to the Notoyama Castle".

"Oh, it had a name", blinked Takashi, who did not remember such a castle from when he was a kid, and his family usually went for the forest around the city.

"I made a poll, and we are changing it to Wolf's den", seriously nodded Morita. "It is going to be the pack's new home after all".

"And Hayashi-sensei?", the other adult woman that accompanied the pack received a nasty hit to the head during the shenanigans of Shido's group in the manor. One of the reasons why Takashi hunted them down and tore them apart was because of that.

"She will be fine, the meds that you brought were just what Shizuka-sensei needed to save her", smiled Morita widely. "She will wake up today, perhaps in the afternoon, with the mother of all the migraines, but other than that, she will be fine".

"That's a relief", Takashi let go of a very sigh of relief. The redhead woman was part of the pack, and all of them liked her.

Takashi smiled and shook his head, leaving Kohta and Morita to their preparations. They are going to travel with the police officer that Takashi rescued yesterday. In the meantime, the rest of the pack was going to temporarily accompany the survivors of Takagi manor, until they are at the refugee camp at the floating airport. Once the survivors are settled, the pack, though Saya, more likely, will speak with whoever is in charge, and explain their plans of taking control of the Notoyama Castle. To use the castle as a residence, fortress, safe place, and spot from were move in and out of the city for supplies or more survivors.

Now that most of the infrastructure of Japan has gone to hell, the IMP frying most of the computers and tech all over the city, trying to set up any big enough settlement is going to be a nightmare, forcing the survivors to practically rebuilding everything from the scratch. Only due to the militaristic mindset of Soijiro, Saya's father, has part of the vehicle park and resources of the Takagi manor survived, but they are screwed and they know it.

Originally, the Takagi's wanted to fix up the electric factory of the city, reinforce it, and try to recover the city, and the order in the country, as soon as possible. But with the EMP has fried all tech in the city, trying to fix the factory would be impossible now, they will have to fix all the computers in the factory, and they lack the methods to built new chips to substitute the one that the pulse has fried. If the pulse would have been of lower potency, then maybe, but the boom came from a low orbit low potent nuke. Takashi was hardly an expert on the matter, so he had not much of an idea about the how of the explosion, but a nuke is a nuke, nay?.

Such an explosion is going to have some serious consequences for all of them.

The caravan did not need much to get in motion. Most of the survivors from the attack that Takashi and Magnus have repelled were eager to get the fuck out of there. Back into the good graces of the government, that should keep them safe and sound, just by the grace of being a civilian, not doing shit, and just demanding protection and nourishment because that what the government should do.

It was a pity that the government is, more likely, destroyed. If the infection of Tokonosu city is just a sample of what's going on in the rest of the world, then any government must be fucked beyond belief, and barely achieving a semblance of order in their surroundings, with the help of whatever forces of their military they have managed to scrunch up. There was the impromptu camp at the floating airport, but now that the EMP has screwed communications, Takashi doubted that the place is going to be a heaven of peace and order.

From what Takashi remembered, the place was shipping people to cleared islands all over the coasts of Japan, places where Them had not yet arrived, or, the isles are fortified enough to defend themselves pretty well against any incursion from Them. Judging from what Takashi knew, those assholes are more than capable to walk underwater for miles if it's needed, surging from the water without rime or reason beyond the bad luck of being in the way.

Without a strong chain of command, Takashi suspected that the floating airport is not going to endure much. That the people at the airport are going to realize that they are fucked, and that means that someone, pushed beyond its limits due to the situation, is going to do something pretty stupid. Or they will start to have their ideas about how things should be, and Takashi will have to protect their pack from whatever lord wannabees that could appear at the airport. Make it double if the military on the airport decided to make themselves the new rulers of the place until someone higher in the chain of command appears, or new orders came.

Paranoid much?. Yes, Takashi will admit that he was being paranoid, but with a pack to protect, Takashi preferred to be on the side of caution, instead of being caught with its pants down, and be forced to fight humans, and Them, at the same time. Leaving apart what Magnus said, and Takashi's personal experience with bullet wounds, Takashi was not all that eager to test his regeneration against high-caliber bullets again anytime soon. Not to mention that professional soldiers are not the same as a bunch of scared teenagers or a bunch of lazy mercs.

The pack was occupying one of the trucks of the caravan. Near the end of it, only with a truck filled with supplies behind them. The Takagi's understood that even if the airport was, technically, a place where they could take refugees now that the entire country has gone to hell in a handbasket, It was always better to have some extra supplies around, for those rainy days. Add to that, that now the state of the floating airport was an unknown. Without the previous communications available, the only way that they had to see if the airport was a safe place, was to go there and see for themselves.

Saya argued that Takashi can go and see for himself what's up on the airport, and Takashi would have done it without much problem; but Soichiro, Saya's father, who still was pretty miffed about the fact that his daughter was now part of a pack, had another idea. Takashi was not a military man, powerful as he is; no one denies that; Takashi is still very, very, out of his deep in all this mess, and Soichiro knew that Takashi was not prepared for a mission of that caliber. That the soldiers around the airport will see him coming from a mile away and shot him, out of ignorance, if nothing else.

The knowledge of the existence of the Therianthropes is very scarce, much like the Therionthropes themselves. Takashi's pack was the only one in Tokonusu. A relatively very populated town in Japan. Supposedly, there was a pack on Tokyo called the Hakken, and, maybe, one pack in the major cities of Japan. The soldiers at the airport are now in a very tense situation, with panicked civilians, lacking communication with higher command, and surrounded by hostiles. Takashi's wolf form will grant him a bullet from a kilometer of distance from any of the sniper on watch, the moment a spotter picks him up in the distance.

Even if Takashi walked all the way there in human form, Soichiro feared that the soldiers will not trust on the word of a teenager that has just waltzed right in, without a single mark, in perfect physical shape, as if the hell that surrounded him was nothing out of the ordinary. Not to mention that if the worst come to pass, some of the soldiers may decide to be rough with Takashi to seek out the truth, and such a situation can only downgrade into a terrible and bloody mess. No one messes with a Therianthrope without paying a steep price. Soichiro knew better than anyone.

Being a very famous member of the army and the political scene of the country, Soichiro had it easy to walk into the airport, and with a bit of luck, practically become the new head honcho of the place, courtesy of his resume as military leader; but that was just wishful thinking. What is more than probable, is that the soldiers will trust more easily the word of Soichiro, that the word of an unknown teenager that has come out of nowhere, looking fine and dandy after the last three days of the nightmare that the world was living.

On the other hand, Takashi was perfect to spearhead the caravan for a bit, cleaning up any big concentration of Them before the trucks could be trapped under waves of Them.

After the slaughter that Takashi and Magnus had done at the entrance of the Takagi Manor, every spotter under the command of Soichiro has assured the man, that there are not many of Them sniffing around the manor. Hardly a surprise, considering how the Therianthrope had butchered hundreds of Them, and whatever stragglers left, were dealt by the people that protected the manor.

However, the caravan was a noisy and long juicy morsel for Them. In enough numbers, they will overrun the trucks and feast on the people, to prevent that, all available capable fighters under Soichiro's command will protect the caravan, but if a Therianthrope like Takashi could deal with any big group of Them, then everything will run even smoother. Saya protested at first, leaving crystal clear that the pack is NOT under the command of Soichiro, and if Takashi flipped the bird to the man, the entire pack will follow him without missing a beat.

Takashi cringed at that, even if he felt incredibly happy of the loyalty of his pack, Saya's temper was only surpassed by her intellect, and sometimes, her hot blood makes her say or do, things that she will repent for later. In this case, Saya has dissed her father, and that was hurt Soichiro, even if the man seems made of stone. On the other hand, Saya's mother, Yuriko, saw the entire thing, as an amusing morning of father-daughter discussions, something quite common on the Takagi's home, long before the apocalypses screw it all, all the ways to Sunday.

Of course, once Saya calmed down, she admitted that she may be overstepping a little, and through her mother, who was more than accustom to being the middleman when the father and the daughter had their spats, she mended the bridges with her father. The pack, those of the pack that saw the entire thing, observed the screaming match with something akin to fascination and confusion, it was quite the spectacle, and thanks to the pack thing; name still pending according to Morita; they were able to see how the screams did not carry real malice behind them, and it was just two stubborn people tossing ideas at each other.

Among the pack, leaving apart Takashi, most of the pack had their issues with their parents. Kohta did not see them as much as he could, Morita was a ward of the state, Yuuki preferred not to talk about it, Saeko only had her very strict dad, Rei had some kind of grudge with her dad, and Igou and her mother are not precisely on the best terms. No one doubted that Saya's parents love her very much, but they were flabbergasted at the constant shouting match that seems to be their method of expressing their emotions.

Considering Saya's temper, they opted for the best part of valor, and just let Saya be. They have quickly caught up the explosive temper of the pink-haired genius, as much intelligence as she has, she surely was prone to an emotional outburst, although the pack thing has allowed her to be way more focused than usual.

It must be noted that both parents know full well what being on the pack entails. Soichiro married Yuriko when she was part of Magnus pack in the USA. Magnus was acting as a temporary Alpha of a pack, before the children of the Alpha had matured enough to claim back the pack, and during that time, Soichiro fell head over heels for Yuriko, marrying her a day after knowing her and taking her with him back to Japan. The presence of Magnus in Japan was something that surprised them, but the ancient Therianthrope was just watching over one of the most powerful Therianthropes that Magnus has ever seen, and had zero intentions of claiming Yuriko back to his pack.

Magnus pack was made of three persons, Magnus, Rika, and even if she did not know it consciously, Shizuka. However, that also has provoked quite an interesting conundrum. Shizuka considered the pack of Takashi her children, she had taken quite a liking to the bunch of children, acting as a surrogate mother to the poor Alice, that has lost her parents to Them. The problem is that a person can not be part of two packs, loyalties problems ensued, so it is more than probable that, sometime in the future, Shizuka's loyalty to the children will conflict with Magnus, and Takashi was dreading that moment.

Magnus was a monster, and even if Takashi knew that he could fight the man, the truth is that Magnus is leagues above him, by the sheer virtue of experience and centuries of life experience as Therianthrope. That being said, Takashi wanted to learn from the older bastard, one does not live for millennia without being a smart little bastard, and even if Magnus has helped Takashi with his problems, in his odd kind of way, Takashi would have preferred a more straight forward method of teaching about his Therianthrope powers.

It was a constant curveball with his Therianthrope powers, more often than not, they react to his subconscious commands, reactive more than proactive, learning something and then flexing that muscle that Takashi did not realize he had until that moment.

For example, when he transformed into a massive wolf, then back to human, the war-form of sorts, then wolf again, then human. Transformations were natural, they flow one into the other, but so far, wolf and human were the only two that he had managed to achieve. Magnus was able to transform into a dog; wolfish, but dog; the humanoid bear thing that fought alongside Takashi on the Takagi manor, and the word of the man that, in time, more options will be available to Takashi.

To be honest, Takashi understood that he has been a Therianthrope for about three days and that he has been winging things back and forth, reacting to the mess that has landed on humanity's lap, when Them made their appearance. Three very long, long days so far, and it does not look as if they are going to get better anytime soon, much less after the EMP explosion over their heads. It was already hard enough to survive, imagine, instead of gradually, suddenly, losing all electric appliances, heat, plumbing, etc. The entire civilization was brought back to the stone age, with a horde of Them eager to chew anything at the reach of their teeth. For the moment, with the relatively benign temperature and weather, they were fine, but when the winter comes, the absence of heat and electricity is going to be a nightmare.

Takashi was grateful that part of his pack is versed in survivalist techniques, because otherwise, in these circumstances, they are pretty much fucked.

Speaking of circumstances, Saeko was adamant about going with him. The Alpha-female of the pack rides the massive wolf form of Takashi like a Valkyrie of old, and she was not going to let him experiment again what happened with the Shido group without her being there to prevent anymore mental burden on her beloved. That, and the fact that Saeko was a devil with a blade, and after Soichiro has gifted her a new katana; something to do with the father of Saya being a disciple of Saeko's father; she was now armed with two very sharp, and deadly blades.

Saeko's style was not suited to double wielding, but having a secondary weapon to rely upon when the primary one is busted or lost, its always a good policy. It must be noted that Saeko's style was pretty effective against Them, the strong swings and strikes of the Busujima style was practically tailor-made to decapitate or cleave Them in two, destroying one of the inhumanely resilient pests in one single stroke.

Together, the Alphas of the pack were spearheading the caravan route, clearing any big enough group of Them that could pose a threat to the caravan. Now that they look at the caravan from a vantage point, they are a big caravan, almost ten vehicles, fixed as best as the mechanic of the Takagi's could, filled to the brim with supplies and people. The pack, who was made almost entirely of teenagers, did not hide his distaste about the bunch of civilians that had protested, vehemently, about Takashi and Magnus, but considering how the two monsters have saved their lives, most of the Takagi personnel has, politely, told them to shut the fuck up and be grateful that the two monsters are way more civil than them and do not serve them to the hordes of chewing zombies out there.

Standing over the roof of a building, Takashi was observing the caravan advance through the road, the few of Them left were easily dispatched by the guards of the caravan, with Kohta demonstrating that he was a freaking sharpshooter, taking down any of Them that came closer to a hundred meters of the truck that carried the pack.

Hugging Saeko from behind, the Alpha couple just enjoyed the silence and a minute for themselves.

Like Magnus advised Takashi a couple of days ago, once the Alphas found each other, they can not enough of each other. No matter time, no matter distance, the Alphas desired each other with raw, animal-like passion. Sure enough, a Therianthrope can have more than one mate; due to their inhumane stamina, it is a logical consequence that the Alpha, be it male, or female, that is irrelevant, will have several lovers. In a dark bout of humor, Takashi thought that may be the reason why the Therianthropes had not gone extinct. If all Therianthropes are as horny as he was whenever he was with Saeko, then they will have children by the spades, multiply it by several mates, and entire families could be formed by one single Therianthrope.

A thought about the monster on the riverside slipped inside the mind of Takashi. Was that monster a Therianthrope like him?. One that was infected by whatever created Them?. Was it the monster that scarred his back?. Such thoughts did not escape the attention of Saeko, who was comfortably leaning on the naked muscular chest of Takashi. Due to his transformations, Takashi was starting to get accustomed to being naked most of the time, even if he did not like it at all.

"My love?". Whispered Saeko, rubbing the arms that surrounded her in a protective embrace.

"Pondering about what we killed at the riverside", answered Takashi in a second. The Alphas are practically mind-linked, trying to hide something from the other was hard as hell. "Could I end up like that if I take too many bites?. It was the same thing that scarred my back?. Things like that".

"You fear that you will face something like that on the lands that surround the castle", that was not a question.

"Aye", copied Takashi, Magnus expressions. "I fear that whatever hunted me on the past with try its pawn again, the moment we step on its domains in the mountains".

"But the castle is nowhere near the place where you were attacked", moved Saeko into a more comfortable position in the arms of her beloved. "And even if that thing is still around, you are no longer a small child. If that coward attacked you is because it feared your power". The conviction on Saeko's words was undeniable, and it moved Takashi. "Not to mention that I severely doubted that such a coward will do anything if Shizuka-sensei is around".

"Oh?", raised an eyebrow Takashi, with a mixture of amusement and pride on his Alpha female.

"Well", Saeko blushed a bit, "as long as Shizuka-sensei is with us, Magnus will do anything to protect her, and well, us, by extension".

"Agree", nodded Takashi. "Speaking of that, I have noticed that Rei and Igou are tip-toeing around the pack a lot, anything I should know?".

"They are at the bottom of the pack", replied Saeko without missing a beat, "and they have done nothing to climb out of there".

"Oh", simply said Takashi. "I see".

"You still love her", giggled Saeko after a second, without an ounce of jealousy on her voice, she was amused more than anything else.

Once the Alpha bond was former, not sure how, when, why or any sane question that it could be made to explain it, Saeko knew, beyond any doubt, that Takashi was hers, body, mind, and soul. Saeko found the entire thing amusing and adorable more than anything else, showing how truly kind and loving her beloved was. Now that she was alpha bitch, wrong as it could sound, Saeko understood Takashi to a level that she never would have thought possible.

That was one of the main reasons why she did not care much about the advances of Yuuki, the gorgeous orange-haired lass was very passionate, and she made her intentions about Takashi crystal clear. Thanks to the pack thing, everybody on the pack knew that Yuuki was not trying to make a power play of sorts, there were no ill intentions behind her actions. She liked Takashi and wanted to be her lover. Yuuki had zero problems with bedding Saeko and Takashi at the same time. Yuuki had more experience in the amatory arts than the entire pack put together; an experience that has earned her quite the infamy on the academy, but that has come quite handy to help satisfy the libido of the young Therianthrope.

"She was my first love", sighed Takashi. "And it hurts me to see how they almost fear me".

"And that's the reason why they are not all that welcomed in the pack", sighed Saeko as well. "That being said, we are not trying to shun them away, they are pack after all, but they need to get their minds straight. The pack needs valuable members, especially in this botched up situation, and before we go for the castle and the mountains".

Part of Takashi mind was quite taken aback with how the pack thing was unifying them, how it was a glue that kept them together even neck-deep in this nightmare, but at the same time, in the dark corners of his mind, a nudge of fear tingled, making Takashi realize that such devotion was something very dangerous, that he, as Alpha, had way the last word in the pack. Takashi wanted his pack as free-spirited and willed as it was possible, part of the pack, aye, strong of mind and body, aye, but not slaves of his will, or fanatically devout to him.

Takashi has seen the worst of such scenario in the corpses of the unlucky sods that followed Shido-sensei to their deaths, and Takashi bowed to never become such a man. Shido would be his moral compass of sorts, never do as the man did, never become an asshole cult leader that only cared about his pleasure and ego.

"They are reaching the main road", pointed Saeko to the caravan, that was now en route to the floating airport.

The road that leads to the airport was a long one, but it was constructed in a way that the people of the airport will saw them coming from miles away, and they could see the banner of the Soichiro's party on the leading vehicle, with any luck, preventing them to shot first. With the sudden loss of communications, it was more than possible that the soldiers at the floating airport will be delighted to have an officer like Soichiro around.

The caravan did not take much to reach the floating airport, thanks to the efforts of Magnus the night after the attack on the Takagi's, the vast majority of Them were already dispatched, but something must have gone wrong, or Magnus would have already rendezvous with Takashi and his pack, eager as they were to be with Shizuka. But that was something that Takashi and his pack could not know, and that only Saeko has deducted, that something happened with Rika and that Magnus went in her search.

Takashi and Saeko continued with their patrol around the edge of the airport, waiting for the moment when his pack will move to the Mall, to help the survivors that the police officer that Takashi rescued, Matsushima, informed them about. Both the Takagi's and the pack had zero problems in helping the people at the Mall, but after the EMP, a small group will be moving to the Mall and see if someone has made out alive.

After the shouting match that morning between Saya and her father, although they have called it a planning meeting, the original plans that Saya has drawn for the pack had to be changed a little. They went to the airport first, to double-check the safety of Hayashi-sensei. Even if Shizuka was very good, Saya preferred to be on the side of caution, and the airport, supposedly, had a better, well-equipped, infirmary than the Takagi manor.

Kohta, Morita, and Matsushima will take a truck and go to the Mall to pick up the survivors, and as many supplies, as they could, and they will return to the airport. By that time, Saya, along with the rest of their pack, will have already inform, whoever was in charge, of their plans to fortify the Notoyama castle and bunker themselves there. Once the pack, and whoever wanted to go with them, was reunited again, they will pick Rika's tank-like car, along a truck, made a quick run to the Mall again to pick as many extra supplies as possible, and drive to the Notoyama Castle.

It was a source of relief for Saya, and her parents; that the soldiers at the airport have managed to endure the EMP better than most, and that the evacuation effort was still on-going, but slower. Without the airplanes, the civilians and the non-essential personnel had to evacuate by ships, and that slow, and with entire baggage of new problems. Chief among them, the lack of navigational systems, and the fuel of the small number of vessels that they have at hand.

Soichiro was able to get into the planning of the evacuation, the last order that the soldiers had, was to collect as many survivors as possible out of the infected mainland, and into the empty islands around; previously declared clean of Them; where they could start rebuilding and setting up places for the retake of the mainland. Of course, the EMP has fucked it all, but the effort was on their way, and the military was professional enough to recover as well as they could from the unexpected setup and continue with their jobs.

Yuriko, on the other hand, was not all that convinced. She was a shrewd enough businesswoman and could smell a bad business when she saw one. The strategy of the government was sound, salvage as much as they could, rebuilt, and retake, she can get behind that, but at the same time, that was a strategy against an ordinary enemy, and the hordes of shambling zombies that she had witnessed were anything like that. Not the mention, the small little fact, that a Therianthrope has already fallen under the sway of the plague, and had become the nightmare that has attacked Takashi and Saeko at the riverside.

The mother of Saya was an adult woman that has lived under the shadow of Magnus, who runs the strongest pack in the USA for a century, and during that time, she has seen how dark the packs can go, but the thing that attacked the teenagers was the stuff of nightmares. The only blessing was that she suspected that the infected Therianthrope had lost its intelligence and was something akin to a rabid animal. A rabid animal capable of tearing concrete as it was confetti.

The civilians that the Takagi saved were delighted to get on board of the next ship out of the hellhole that was now Tokonusu city, but among them, there were a bunch of dissatisfied assholes; always one in all group; that babbled their mouths to the soldiers about the monsters; that has saved their lives; how the Takagis were housing monsters, how they had threatened them to be silent, etc. The soldiers, all of them professionals, raised a collective eyebrow at the ridiculous tale, but they did not forget about it.

In other circumstances, they would have filed it under "PTSD", or hallucinations out of trauma, the situation was already screwed enough. But the problem was different. Unfortunately for the pack, and the Takagi's, the soldiers had already received reports of similar events taking place deep within the city, and on the outskirts of the spots where the military had sent up patrols. They had not spread much out of the safety perimeter, but yes far enough to be on the receiving end of all kinds of shenanigans. Be it demented civilians, unexpected hordes, and the oddest of the reports, the final audios of a patrol that spoke about a twisted beast that has cut them down. Without enough people to be sent to see what the heck was going on, and before the report could be sent to higher authorities, the EMP fucked up everything.

It did not take much from the pack to realize that something was very wrong. Sure, the soldiers are polite enough, but only the word and weight of Soichiro, has prevented the soldiers to take the pack weapons, and the humvee, however, the few police elite that were around did remember the vehicle and recognized Shizuka as the roommate of their fellow officer. They lamented that Rika had gone looking precisely for Shizuka the night before, and when the communications down, the police officer could only expect that Rika would return at some point.

Shizuka was not worried at all, in her words, Rika was a big girl, and could take care of herself, not to mention that she was sure that Plushy was with her, the dog only abandoned her to go with Rika. That sent the pack into a fit of giggles, as the usually airheaded, but the lovable nurse has hit the nail on the head. As Yuuki said, Magnus, most likely, went looking for Rika, and right now they must be doing something important in the city.

Saya, Yuuki, Shizuka-sensei, Alice, Rei, and Igou, along with Zeke, were left at the airport, preparing everything for their travel to the Notoyama castle, waiting patiently for the awakening of Hayashi-sensei, who was out of danger, and leaving apart a nasty migraine once she was up, and waiting for the return of the rest of the pack, to pack again and get out of the airport before someone did something stupid and forced the pack to do something drastic.

With Soichiro and his guards added to the soldiers of the airport, the possibility of someone doing something stupid was very low, but the Takagi's, all three of them, knew better and were firm believers in the theory that human stupidity was limitless. With that in mind, the remaining pack scooted away from the majority of the civilians being evacuated and kept themselves around the guards of the Takagi's, that knew the truth and were loyal to the Takagi's to a fault.

The remaining members of the pack, along with officer Matsushima, were driving to the Mall, where the fellow police officer of Matsushima was keeping a bunch of survivors safe. Around a dozen, if nothing has gone wrong or Them had managed to enter the Mall and force them to abandon the place. Matsushima has promised her younger partner in the police that she will go looking for help, what she did not expect, was to found an eight feet tall werewolf, and a bunch of heavily armed teenagers that seemed to be right at home in the middle of the apocalypse.

The blue-haired police officer was confused, well, and scared to the bone, but leaving apart the impression that Takashi has left on her, she was happy to have found help, and not being chewed by those zombies that are everywhere. The Takagi's was quite the surprise, but to be honest, the massive werewolf was the thing that almost fried her brain. Nonetheless, Matsushima had a mission to accomplish, and she had promised her partner that she will arrive with help.

Speaking of which, the two teenagers that accompanied her were resting on the back of the truck, observing the road, and in alert, for any possible ambush of Them, or, a nasty surprise, like a cretin with a shotgun trying to carve his demented kingdom in the middle of hell. Once society went down in flames, the worst of humanity started to rise, and things like humans turning against humans even with the teeth of the zombies at their throats became a way too common spectacle.

Matsushima would have preferred to be accompanied by soldiers or fellow police officers, but the airport was already overworked and even if they had; miraculously; earned a respite when hundreds of them suddenly disappeared overnight, they had their hands more than full with the evacuation. The teenagers had offered to help, and even if the police officer was not very convinced, several of the guards of the Takagi spoke well of the capabilities of the kids. They have survived for three days, fought like lions in the defense of the Takagi home, and save a lot of lives. Leaving apart the fact that they are teenagers, the kids are quite something.

Teenagers with weapons, that went against everything Matsuhima believed, but at the same time, in these horrible circumstances is not as if she could complain much. At last, the teenagers offered to help, and they knew what they were doing. The daughter of Takagi-san has taken the two of them apart, spoke with them, although Matsushima was half-convinced that it was akin to when the Captain spoke with the two detectives on the worst cases of the city, and then the two lads accompanied her in her travel.

Of course, they were openly admitting that they were scouting the place. Their group is not going to join the evacuation they pretended to reform a castle in the mountains and make a living there. That sounds stupid and demented for Matsushima, but to be honest, at least they are determined. They had a plan, a route, a bunch of people that seemed to trust each other completely. The police officer would have loved to have a police precinct like that, the bunch of kids was more united than a bloody military unit.

The truck was making a good time to the Mall, and that was something that surprised Matsushima a little, the road was clear, and she knew that several cars were blocking the path the first time that she passed around. However, it was no longer the case, and the road was mostly clear. In the beginning, that made the police officer a bit wary of ambushes of any sort, but she saw by the mirror how the two lads at the back of the truck were way more relaxed than they should and how the mohawk teenager even saluted to the buildings at the sides.

Matsushima quickly deducted that the massive wolf-boy, a werewolf, as utterly ridiculous as it sounds, was following them, and was the one taking care of the multiple obstacles in the road, along with any possible undesired surprises along the way. Matsushima has not seen the wolf, so he must be jumping from building to building or way ahead of them to clear the space and wait for them to arrive.

Matsushima was grateful for the presence of the werewolf, even if the blue-haired lass was seriously out of her depth here. She was a police officer through and through, and the entire thing with zombies and what's not was way over her pay-grade. She had managed to scout a bunch of civilians to safety in the Taipei Mall, but that was it. The situation was desperate, there was not a word from her superiors, for what she knew the police station could be overrun by those things and she was the last police officer in the entire city.

Fortunately, when she reached the Takagi house, which was a fortress more than a home, now that she thought about it, she felt relieved that she was not the only remnant of law and order in the city. However, the situation was dire, and when the EMP hit the city, all communications become even more fucked. Without any method to get in contact with her superiors, she was forced to move on foot, and try to reach any place that could help them. Then the werewolf scares the shit out of her, but the lad saved her life and brought her to a safe place.

If anything else, Matsushima was grateful for the wolf thing, on the other hand, her entire world view was already shattered enough to have to deal with teenagers with lethal weapons that were more coordinated than some riot squads that she has seen in action, and that seemed to be bloody at home in the middle of the apocalypse.

Said teenagers were enjoying the voyage of the back of the truck. Kohta was making some adjustments to the scope of his rifle, and Morita was leaning on the back of the cabin of the truck, watching the road or the sides of the road, for any unpleasant surprises.

"Ey, bro", said Morita to Kohta, calling the attention of the gun-nut member of his pack.

"Aye?", replied Kohta back, clicking the safety of his rifle and turning his gaze to Morita.

"Don't take me wrong, Saya an IQ that is twice ours, but you don't have the nagging sensation that we are completely overlooking something?". Suddenly confessed his doubts, Morita. "I mean, I will follow Takashi to the deeps of hell for a cold one, but the idea of setting up shop at that castle seemed a bit, I don't know, rushed?".

"Ah, yeah, it could seem like that", nodded Kohta. "But there is a couple of good reasons for that place".

"First of all, is a natural fortress", explained Kohta. "The place can be easily defended, even without Takashi ripping anything that came close to shreds, and in the future, the living will be more dangerous than the death", reminded Kohta to Morita the few demented assholes that Takashi had to put down when he rescued Rei of her latest stupidity. "The place has a nearby source of clean water, its generator, that we hope we can fix, there is a lot of farms and agricultural lands around, and it will serve as a perfect foothold to conduct raids into the city".

"Ah", simply said Morita. "Okay, sounds legit, but who is going to rebuild the thing?. I mean, the pack is the greatest thing ever, but we are hardly an army, and I am sure that as strong as Takashi is, you and I are going to be neck-deep in hard labor for the foreseeable future".

Kohta was about to answer that when he suddenly raised an eyebrow.

"And Igou?. Do you not count him as part of the pack?". Questioned Kohta, curious about why Morita seems to have forgotten about the other guy in the pack, not counting Magnus, that comes and goes whenever the hell he pleases.

"Are they?". Questioned back Morita with all the intentions of the world behind that question. "Sure, Igou can fight, but so far, the dude has been nothing but dead weight, and he fears Takashi, and do not make me start on Rei". Grumbled Morita. "The thing is that they do not act as if they are part of the pack, they just...eh..what's the word when a rock circles a planet?".

"Orbits?". Smiled Kohta the antics of his friend.

"Yeah, that", snapped his fingers, Morita. "They just do that, orbit around the pack, not out of it, but not part of it either. It is very frustrating, and I do not like it at all. Oh, and do not look at me like that, I may be a bad student, but I am an idiot either".

Kohta shook his head, apologizing with his hands up in a surrendering motion. Like the man himself has said, Morita was a ward of the state, it was a freaking miracle that he was at Fujimi Academy with such background.

"Never said you were, bro". Chuckled Kohta using the same language as his friend. "But I agree with you, partially".

"Takashi is our Alpha, along Saeko", said Kohta without an ounce of cringe at such words, the pack thing was awesome like that sometimes, "but you know Takashi, he would tear his arm, and I am not being metaphorical here, before harming anyone that he had an attachment to".

"Yeah, wonderful loyal bastard that he is". Laughed Morita who has known Takashi for quite some time.

"What happened with Rei was a dick move of epic proportions", nodded Kohta, "not to mention the problems that Takashi had to dealt with at that moment, but even after all of that, Takashi still holds a candle for Rei".

"That chick is Not worth it", solemnly declared Morita.

"Agreed", replied Kohta in the same solemn tone. "Alas...oh fuck".

Both teenagers felt the sudden increase in the speed of the vehicle, and when they focus on the road, they saw that the Mall that was their objective was surrounded by a lot of zombies and that the barricades that the survivors inside had set up were not going to last very long. The situation was pretty screwed up.

At the distance, they could see the petite police officer that Matsushima has told them about, beating one of Them in the head with her police stick, as others were using improvised weapons to stab any of Them that came too close, but it was clear that they were way over their heads, and that sooner or later they will be overrun.

The wolf form of Takashi joined them at the road, easily keeping the pace of the speeding truck, with Saeko riding the wolf, and with her katana ready to rip and tear any of Them that came close to them. No words were exchanged between the pack, with a glance, they understood what they have to do, and they prepared for it.

With a loud crash, the truck and the massive wolf smashed against the small horde of Them that had the Mall under siege, and proceed to cull the undead meat like the grim reaper. This was hardly part of the plan, but in the apocalypse, no plan survives the contact with zombies.

The thing was, how easily they have adapted to the apocalypse, and how easily they have charged at a Horde of them, only because his Alphas were there, and they were sharing the exhilarating sensation of going for the head.

Should they be worried?.

Nah, the pack thing (Morita Tm) was awesome like that sometimes, but such thoughts will have to wait.

Bullet, sword, nail bat, claws, joined together into a beautiful melody of carnage, and that was the important thing at the moment.