Hi. It's been a while since I updated, let's fix that shall we? Sorry, been rather busy! Enough of that though, onward.

Chapter 4

Ooarai streets - 1800

The walk to the Isuzu household was silent, the previous hours events had left Anglerfish team a little lost for words, it was Miho who broke the silence.

"I hope Leopon team got home safely…", she thought aloud, looking towards the setting sun. Yukari was about to reply before being cut off by the sight in front of them. A man who appeared to be injured or sick, his movements were uncoordinated and he stumbled often, like a marionette on strings.

"Uhm, mister? Are you alright?", it was Saori who spoke up, and that's when it happened. The man, immediately snapped his head around in their direction. He was pale, and look crazed. Before the girls could react further, the man, once appearing drunk and uncoordinated, began to sprint for them, the expression on his bloodstained face full of seething hatred.

"Run!", Miho screamed, and that they did. They'd been running a block now, the man showed no signs of fatigue, still frothing with anger, he sprinted on towards them. Running out of breath, the team knew this couldn't go on. They stopped, the man advanced, he was close now.

Thinking quickly and having no other options, Yukari hauled off her olive drab backpack, which, having a full mess kit and other items, added some considerable weight to it. She pulled it back by the straps, and right as the crazed person got close enough, she swung as hard she could, the creature stumbled backwards. The hit wasn't very hard but it'd seemed to do the trick, as the thing struggled for a moment to get back up, deciding to take advantage of the man being temporarily on the ground, they ran once more, stopping in front of a house, much to everyone's relief, it was the Isuzu family home, wasting no time, they quickly ran into the yard, slamming the entrance gate behind them, the creature reaching frantically through the bars at them.

"What the hell is that thing?", Mako spoke up, still wheezing from the exertion, the adrenaline that'd kept her going wearing off.

"I…Don't…Know.", Yukari said between breaths, examining her bag, disgusted by the little amount of blood on her bag.

"We need to get inside and call the police, this man might be sick.", Miho added.

"Sick?! Miporin! He's crazy. He'll probably attack the police too, I think he has rabies…", Saori retorted. The trio went up to the door, trading glances towards the metal gate where the crazed man still reaching for them to no avail, knocking, no answer. They knocked again, still nothing. 'Did they leave town I wonder?', Miho pondered, putting the thought on hold as they all heard a thump from inside. "Hello?", Miho called. More thumps, and then a pounding on the door. Everyone jumped back as the front door was being slammed against by something. They panicked as they began to notice small cracks forming near the hinges on the old door, it obviously was not going to hold. Miho was seemingly the first one to act. She scanned the property quickly, spotting a rusted shovel. With purpose, she strode over to it, picking up the tool, she quickly made her way back, thankfully just in time, as the door partially collapsed, hanging by one hinge now, the empty eyes and the contorted face of Shinzaburo, the house servant, greeted them. He too was like the man, frothing, pale, and consumed by seething hatred. He growled mindlessly as he continued reaching for them, all the while trying to pick himself up after having fallen with the door.

Miho stood her ground, though still somewhat hesitant.

"P-Please Shinzaburo, stay back.", she warned, the shovel trembling. He pushed on, and with a cry of animal rage, leaped up with an arm outstretched towards her. Miho too screamed, out of anger and fear as she swung the shovel as hard as she could, the shovel spade finding it's mark, right into the side of the servant's head, the sound of Miho screaming, a shovel clang, and the cracking of bone was all that emitted from the yard. Shinzaburo slumped.

Dropping the shovel and falling on her knees, her cheek lightly spattered with blood, she began to bawl like a child, feeling immense guilt and fear for what she had just done, her friends quickly rushing to her aid.

Silence dominated the group, there was nothing they could say, huddled together, staring at the now lifeless of body of the Isuzu family servant. Rising on unsteady legs, Miho cautiously moved forward, her friends at her side, they made sure to cautiously step over the corpse, one by one, they had to find Hana. The house was dark, things were strewn here and there, Hana nor her mother were nowhere to be found. Eventually, they stumbled upon a closed door, the exterior coated with deep gouges, left by someone…or something that wanted to get in desperately. The door was locked.

"Hana-san?! Are you in there?", Saori was the first to speak. At first there was nothing, but they all gradually began to hear whimpers.

"Hana-san! Open the door please.", Miho begged, again trying the handle in an attempt to force the door, no luck. Looking around the home, she finally spotted a coat rack beside the door, picking it up, she made her way to the door.

"Hana-san, we're coming in, okay?!", Miho called. Raising the coat rack, she forced it down hard against the knob. Nothing, she hit it again, hearing a cracking sound, she hit it again, now the knob was starting to buckle, one final time, with all of her strength, and the knob broke off, the door now lay slightly ajar. Throwing the coat rack to the side, pushing the door open, they were all greeted to a horrific sight.

Hana appeared okay, however the same could not be said for her mother. Hana lay curled up into a ball in the closet, the fresh corpse of her mother near the door, a pair of gardening scissors embedded in her left eye socket. Hana was in a near catatonic state, seemingly having not noticed the door being forcibly opened, she simply stared ahead, tears streaming down her face, shaking like a whipped dog.

"H-Hana-san.", Miho squeaked out. Yukari was struck dumbfounded by the sight, same with Mako, Saori was stifling a cry as best she could, fearing that if she was too loud, more of those things would show up.

Miho tried to avoid looking at the body near the closet, and instead went for her friend, kneeling beside her, she ever so gently laid a hand on Hana's shoulder. At that instant, Hana panicked, and pushed herself back further into the closet, shaking violently now.

"Hana-san, it's me, Miho. Please, we have to leave.", Miho said, looking at her friend. Hana simply stared at her, unable to move. Yukari and Saori moved forward as well, kneeling by Hana. Mako remained near the door, seemingly lost in thought, expressions of realization and horror playing across her face.

"Hana-san, it's us, you're okay.", Saori soothed. Despite her calm facade, it was easy to see how opposite of calm Saori really was, she herself, wasn't 'okay', but now she needed to focus on Hana. In a swift motion, Hana lunged forward into Saori's grasp, crying into her shoulder loudly. Saori tightly squeezed, patting her head.

"S-Sh-She attacked me.", Hana stammered, her usually strong and vibrant tone replaced with that of a pathetic whimper. "I-I-I", Hana tried to speak, but Saori shushed her. Rubbing her back with her hand.

"Hana-san, something has happened. We need to leave…", Saori stated, still holding her friend. She looked up towards Miho, looking for guidance.

"Miporin…Where do we go…?", Saori asked, lost.

Miho, looked towards her friends longingly, for the first time, she didn't know. She was about to voice this until she was cut off by a loudspeaker.

ATTENTION, ATTENTION, ALL RESIDENTS OF OOARAI, PLEASE SEEK SAFE SHELTER IMMEDIATELY. REMAINING OUTDOORS IS STRICTLY ADVISED AGAINST, IF YOU DO NOT HAVE SAFE HARBOR, PLEASE MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE OOARAI GIRLS HIGH SCHOOL IMMEDIATELY.

The message on the loudspeaker repeated twice, before being replaced by a ship-wide siren, the sound was panic inducing and loud, forcing the girls to shout to communicate.

"HANA-SAN, WE HAVE TO GO!", Saori pleaded. Finally, realizing the gravity of the situation, Hana attempted to stand, having to be supported by Yukari and Saori. Everyone turned to Miho.

"WE HAVE TO GET TO THE SCHOOL!", Miho ordered. The group left the room, gathering outside of the house, again, trying not to look at the corpse of Shinzaburo, which was a near impossibility for Hana, nearly breaking down again, but Saori covered her eyes and ordered her to keep walking. They all gathered in the front yard, staring at the crazed man who still reached for them through the wrought iron bars…

And there is four. What will happen next? I'm kinda in conflict with myself here, I want to make the story dramatic here, but goddamn was it hard to decide the fates of the people in this chapter. I mean, poor Shinzaburo, amirite? Heh. Well, yeah, anyways, I'll finish up Five and probably revise it several times over. Until next time, See ya.