Hello. At it again with another chapter. Happy early Halloween! Heh. Okay, that's all I got for now, enjoy.

Chapter Six

Ooarai tank sheds – 1847

Miho had just closed the hatch to her cupola just in time, right as one of the creatures had reached her tank.

"Yukari-san! Quickly, make sure all the hatches are secured!", she ordered.

Yukari nodded and quickly moved to make sure all hatches were properly locked. Meanwhile Miho reached for her throat microphone laying nearby. Clicking it on, she began asking if anyone could hear her. Silence at first, she peered through the small slits in her cupola, the infected had swarmed the sheds now. Some of the teams had managed to fit a few of the sparse civilians that followed them into their own tanks, however not many as there was no time. As far as she could tell, the teams had managed to safely button up in their armored vehicles. As if on cue, a reply came over the radio.

"This is Hippo team. We're safe in our tank, all hatches secured, Commander."

"…Leopon team reporting in."

"Rabbit team here, we managed to get in ours as well, working on securing the hatches now!"

"We're fine over here.", Anzu answered for Turtle team.

Miho mentally checked off the teams in her head, Rabbit, Hippo, and Turtle team were accounted for. She'd not heard from Duck team nor Anteater team. She remembered that Mallard team had been caught in the swarm of people back in the auditorium, she silently prayed they were safe, along with the other members of Anglerfish…

"Anteater team, Duck team? Are you there? Please respond…"

Silence.

"This is Duck team. We're just now getting situated. We can see Anteater's Chi-nu through one of our viewports…It doesn't look good, Commander…", came the voice of Noriko Isobe.

Miho clenched her eyes shut, not able to reply. She hoped that Noriko was wrong, she hoped that Anteater was okay. She couldn't break down right now, she thought.

"A-Attention all teams, please remain buttoned up in your tanks. We will have to wait them out, it is dark out and not safe to leave.", Miho commanded. Voices over the radio agreed, and there they sat. Miho tried to ignore the near constant sound of flesh against metal as the infected bashed themselves on the tank, knowing something not infected lay within.

"Nishizumi-dono?", Yukari asked.

"Huh? Wha-?", Miho asked, snapping out of her train of thought.

"Do you think the others are okay?", Yukari asked, worried.

Miho smiled sadly, "They are, they have to be…" She, internally, said that to comfort herself, but the answer suited her crewmate as well. There, swamped by a sea of infected, they sat.

Ooarai tank sheds - 0200

Hours seemed to pass in the Panzer IV, Miho kept her headset on, praying she'd hear a report from Anteater. Yukari had curled up in her spot, her back pressed against the cool metal breech and her head resting on one of the few pillows the team kept in there for comfort. It was silent, there had been conversations between the teams earlier in the night, mostly just what their plans were, questions concerning the fate of Anteater team, but the talk had long since died, and Miho found herself starting to drowse off, the soft radio static a soothing lullaby to her ears.

She awoke sometime later, she wasn't sure what time it was, it was still night however, peeking through the slits in her cupola, she could make out no light coming from the high up windows. She pulled out her cellphone, flipping it up and cringing at the bright light being shined in a dark place, she noted it was now 0450, the sun would be rising shortly, and from there, they would have to plan their next move. From what she could see, the infected had mostly backed off, having lost interest and now idly wandering, moving away, or leaning against walls, this bothered her. Though she was not a fan of scary movies and got frightened easy by them, she was aware of the concept of a zombie, they were supposedly mindless, slow, moving as if they were being held up by strings. These were different, although their movements were quite uncoordinated, a typical zombie wouldn't lean on a wall like a sick human. Another interesting, yet morbid thought crossed her mind, she thought back to when she…She could still hardly accept the thought of it, when she killed Shinzaburo, or at least the thing that possessed his body, she did strike him in the head, but the shovel didn't destroy the brain, though she did hear the telltale sign of crunching bones under the rusted shovel blade…What were these things? Were they just some different form of undead zombie? She didn't know, and frankly she didn't care to. She'd felt horrible killing Shinzaburo but a new emotion took control, anger. Hearing about the things taking down Momo-Chan, watching them attack those innocent civilians so viciously, she held nothing but contempt for the creatures, and vowed to herself that from this point on, she would do whatever she had to, to guarantee the safety of her friends. She had to get them out of here…Miho began to mentally take stock of the situation again, now updated with the fact that the creatures seem to lose interest after no visual sighting of any human. She considered their physiology, what made them tick; They hated people, that was for sure, every infected they'd encountered wore a mask of rage upon spotting them. They didn't seem too worried about eating people, she silently thanked whatever god there was for that, she wondered how the infection spread, how it must have been for the poor people in the United states…She wondered if anyone was even alive over there now. Finally, one thought that she had subdued as long as she could, denying it, pushing it to the back burner, replaced by more worrying matters…

Is her family okay…?

Kuromorimine Girls Academy school ship – 1400, the previous day

Maho Nishizumi stood tall on the turret of her Panzer Ausf E Tiger, having their practice match suddenly halted due to the crew of their Jagdpanther had reported a sick crewmate. She stared in the direction of tank's position through her binoculars, no sign of them yet. Stepping back down into the cupola, she looked down towards the driver.

"Forwards.", she ordered. The driver complied, and the tank's well-maintained Maybach V-12 engine purred as it lurched forward. Five minutes had gone by, she grasped her throat mic once more, asking for a status report from the Jagdpanther crew, nothing. Next, she tried contacting her Sub-commander.

"Erika.", she said.

A voice quickly replied, "Yes Commander?"

"Has your crew or anyone else seen the Jagdpanther yet?

"No Ma'am, but we're combing over the two-kilometer-wide area where they last reported earlier, and we sho- ", she paused, before changing her report, "Commander, we have located the Jagdpanther, it appears one or more of the crew is ailing, we'll report our location immediately and go investigate."

"Very good, Erika.", Maho retorted, sighing, she waited on Erika, staring blankly ahead.

Within three minutes, the calm of the serene field and idling of her tank's engine were broken by a crackle of radio static, "Commander. Coordinates as follows,"

After receiving the coordinates, Maho marked them down on her map, scanning the location and the route there. She looked down to the driver,

"They're about one kilometer and a half west, let's get moving immediately."

"Yes ma'am.", the driver replied, before the tank once again surged forward.

Thirteen minutes of anticipating the situation passed by before they arrived. After ordering the tank to halt, she climbed form her cupola and dismounted the tank, her boots thudding in the dirt, she began walking calmly over to the crew. Koume was stooped down next to the crewmember, who was slumped against the roadwheels of the Jagdpanther. Maho was silently attempting to make sense of the situation. She looked awful, it didn't look like a common head cold, the girl's skin was sickly looking, a drastic change from this morning, she looked fine, it had only been a couple of hours…Seconds passed before Maho spoke,

"Alright.", she began, turning to the Jagdpanther commander.

"Get her loaded up onto the tank, and head on back to the sheds, she's done for today."

"Ah, yes, Commander Nishizumi.", her subordinate quickly replied, turning, she and the rest of her crew supported the sick member back onto the tank hull, and back into the hatch. Minutes later, the Jagdpanther roared to life once more, with a nod between Maho and the Jagdpanther commander, the tank surged forward, headed off for the sheds.

Erika who had said nothing the entire time, spoke up,

"Commander. Shall we continue practice?", she asked. Maho took a minute before answering, lost in thoughts about the crewmate, something didn't feel right about it, but she couldn't for the life of her, put her finger on it.

"...Yes, Erika.", Maho finally answered.

"Back in your tanks!", Erika barked, the other teams listening, Erika herself mounting the hull of her Tiger 2. Maho herself turned to climb onto her own Tiger. Looking back in the direction of the sheds once more, she disappeared into her tank, practice began once more…

Half an hour passed, practice concluded, and the teams eventually headed back. One of the massive doors was ajar slightly. Maho dismounted her Tiger, glancing down at her pad, jotting down notes on what needed to be worked on the following day. Koume had exited her tank as well, headed towards the doors to open them up for their tanks to get through. For a moment, there was silence, what followed was an earsplitting cry from Koume, the likes of which Maho, renown for keeping a level head, dropped what she was doing and moved over quickly. The other teams had begun arriving and began approaching curiously, Maho barked at them to stay back, they obliged. Rushing over, Maho walked into a charnel house…She stumbled, and nearly vomited. Blood was splattered against the Jagdpanther, the floor, and the nearby walls. Two of the team from the Jagdpanther lay motionless on the ground, having been eviscerated, numerous deep slashes across their bodies, one had a deep three fingered gouge mark taken out of her back, as if she had turned to run, only to be slashed at by whatever malevolence had done this. Koume had long since run out, crying. Maho covered her mouth and stumbled backwards, nearly slipping in some of the blood, blood caking on her hands, she managed to catch herself from falling. She tumbled out of the door, Erika's expression turning to one of horror upon seeing her.

"Commander?!", she rushed over. Maho met her eyes then, the look in Maho's eyes looked dead, there was absolutely no life to them, she simply said.

"Erika…Get help immediately…", her voice shaken and opposite from her usual dignified persona. Maho lost it then, retching, Koume wouldn't stop crying, being comforted by her own crew. A few people slowly began moving towards the door, each immediately regretting the decision, minutes passed before one of those who'd gone near the door spoke up,

"C-Commander Nishizumi…I…I hear someone in there!"

Silence fell over the group, all except for the sound of faint crying coming from deeper in the sheds…

Ooarai tank sheds – Present – 0600

Miho woke slowly to Yukari shaking her gently.

"Nishizumi-dono. Please forgive me for waking you, but it is light out!"

Miho quickly collected herself, rubbing her neck, groaning. Sleeping upright like that had done a number on her posture. She then attempted to stretch in the cramped space. Sighing, she turned to Yukari.

"No need to apologize, Yukari-san, I appreciate it!", she smiled, although the smile was hollow, she felt unsure of what was going to happen today, and frankly, she wasn't sure if she cared to…

Miho clicked on her throat microphone she still wore around her neck and spoke,

"Hello? Guys we must get up. It is light out, and we must plan our next move."

Gradually, she began to hear stirring over the comms, sleepy voices acknowledging her command. Within five minutes, everyone was awake and waiting.

"Okay. First, we need to get the big door shut. I need two volunteers who are quick. One to shut the door, the other to cover them from any encroaching infected. Are there any volunteers? I know this is a lot to ask.", Miho asked.

Noriko and Yukari had volunteered for the task, and within five minutes, awaited Miho's further orders. Noriko had one hand on the handles of one of the side hatches on her Type 89 medium, ready to spring out. Yukari stooped at the ready at the hatch beside her loader position. There weren't many infected left at all, but Miho did not want to run the risk, even one was a problem. From what she could see, there were two left in the shed, the rest had wandered outside. With that, Miho, with a look of determination, inhaled,

"Now!", she commanded. Both members in sync moved out of their tanks, in the same second, Noriko reached for an axe that was latched to their tank. Yukari made a beeline for the door, one of the infected began to pursue her. She turned, and instead of letting herself get cornered, she ran in its direction, quickly sliding at the last moment, being mere inches from its grasp. In its aggressive state, it hadn't accounted for this and simply stumbled past, realizing the feint, it then tried to course correct, badly, slamming into the nearby wall. It quickly recovered and continued advancing. What the infected hadn't noted was Noriko, who was now perched on one of the tanks. She leapt down on it, she pulled the axe back, and swung. The blade found its mark, and the infected quickly bled out. Noriko had no time to ponder on what she had just done, the adrenaline coursing through her system, usually brought on by volleyball matches, kept her moving. The other infected had stirred, having heard the earlier commotion, and was now trying to move in their direction, stumbling somewhat due to the clutter in the shed. Thinking quickly, Noriko wrenched the axe out of the now corpse's neck, and with precision and aim well maintained by years of volleyball practice, she flung the axe out, it spun, wedging itself in the remaining creature's chest. It stumbled, having seemingly not noticing the axe now lodged in its chest, lunged for the pair. Thankfully, the other teams had already been exiting their tanks seeing the door closed. What the crazed beast hadn't noticed were Nakajima and Tsuchiya quickly advancing towards it, brandishing tools so often used to repair tanks. They both shared faces mixed with determination and anger. Tsuchiya attacked first, smashing her boot hard into the thing's back, it hurled forward onto its face. Before the once human thing could rise again, Nakajima raised her wrench and with a shout of anger, brought it down, again, again, and again. The creature's skull was caved in, Nakajima's strikes grew fewer and fewer, panting heavily, she choked out, "Th... That was for Hoshino and Suzuki…", she dropped the wrench, and went to leaning against their Porsche Tiger, exhausted, Tsuchiya softly rubbing her back.

The others were silent at the horrid display, albeit not as shocked as before, being somewhat desensitized, especially the members of Anglerfish team. Miho closed her eyes momentarily, opening them, she turned to her team.

"Okay. Head count, we need to know who's here…",

she counted the solemn faces looking back at her. Everyone was accounted for, minus Mallard team and Anteater. She remembered seeing Anteater team running with them towards the sheds. She turned to their tank and swallowed hard, she'd hoped the reason they hadn't responded earlier was due to not being able to reach the radio, but their tank was the one that was seemingly swarmed the most according to Duck team. She was the first to approach, dread building in her chest with each step she took, she wasn't sure what to truly expect, what she got was simply horrifying.

She covered her mouth having first noticed the body hanging halfway out of one of the Type 3 Chi-nu's top hatches, she recognized the lanky form of Nekota. She was wedged, seemingly having been caught in the hatch while trying to get in quickly. What wasn't in the tank had been ravaged by the infected. She wouldn't approach, couldn't approach. She stood there, trembling, she knew now was not the time to lock up, the other members had not been accounted for. She weakly called out, no reply. She walked around to the front of the Chi-nu, making sure to make a wide detour around it, keeping her distance. She arrived at the driver's hatch. She pulled on it, she hadn't expected it to be unlocked, but it was, and it caused her to almost stumble. She looked inside, dreading the possibilities.

The shell-shocked faces of Anteater's Driver and Gunner looked back at her, Miho looked back, pitying them for having to go through such an event. She closed her eyes once more, and calmly stated, although her voice was shaken,

"Pl-Please exit the tank…We…We have to move."

She wanted to apologize for their loss, she wanted to comfort them, but their future was uncertain. She felt the best time to grieve would be once they were safe, away from the sea of sick, violent, and inhuman things. She slowly coaxed the two shaken team members from their tank, shutting the hatches, she maneuvered them away from the sight, towards the others. Relief spread across the other teams' faces, until they'd each mentally noted the team was short one member. Relief turned to sadness and pity. Miho sighed, she had to get everyone to safety, she had to find the rest of Anglerfish and Mallard…She had to find Maho and her mother. The thought then sent a new sense of dread throughout her entire being, she tried suppressing the question, she tried to deny its existence, stop it from rising to the surface of her conscious, but it bled through anyway…

What if the infection had also reached Kuromorimine…?

And that's that. This actually marks the first sets of chapters that will contain more words. Now if you're an avid Left 4 Dead fan, you'd know that the infection would only last mere weeks, so, kind of a short apocalypse, which is why I'm sort of dragging it out, I hope to make this a long story, only time will tell though. Definitely eradicating the 1000 word limit though, that's not nearly enough! Alright, well, I'm done. Until next time, see ya.