Highschool of the Dead: Us or Them

by HoTDFan

Three brothers from a military family are transferred to Fujimi Academy one day prior to the Z-Day outbreaks. Just when their lives seem to be getting back on track the world is completely unprepared for the living nightmare that opens up a new chapter in human history. The day humans were put back on the food chain. Rated-M. It is Highschool of the Dead afterall.

22. Chapter 22: Bad Blood

Z-Day+61

[The Walking Dead OST - Train Wreck]

Along the leaf-blanketed road, an armored bus carefully drove through. Inside, the hungry and worn down survivors sat in a deep contemplation. None of them could shake off how they'd just risked their lives, all for nothing. Even more so, they couldn't get past how their leader had gone into an utter frenzy and viciously took it all out on several of 'Them' they'd come across.

Whenever things like this happened, it was nigh impossible to speak to him afterwards. Save for his brothers, his empathy for the others seemed to have dwindled to nearly nothing over the past few weeks.

"Should we…should we talk to him about what just happened?" Kohta finally suggested once he was certain Frasier was out of earshot. "Oh, are you volunteering?" Rei asked sarcastically, as it sounded as if he was trying to convince one of them to do it. "Well... not if I don't have to. I'm not exactly the best when it comes to group conflict." Kohta replied with a nervous gulp; shuddering at the thought of having to confront Frasier, especially after yet another failed route and backtrack.

"What's even the use? No matter who talks to him, he always seems ready to snap…" Saya interjected cynically as the others just stared at her, before she slightly frowned upon a realization. "…And no, the irony of what I just said is not lost upon me."

"True, but letting it build up and fester can't be any better for him…" Johann advised; all of them peering over to see Frasier's shoulders were tense, making him look even more dominating and aggressive from behind. "…Or us for that matter."

"How long until we reach the last plotted route?" Frasier asked in a low grumbled, both hands on the front two seats as he and Shizuka both kept their eyes straight ahead on the darkening road.

"I...I don't know. Could be a day. We need more gas though, if we want any chance of going anywhere further." Shizuka said in a nervous mumble; trying her best not to give him any reason to lose his temper twice in one day.

"Unacceptable." Frasier grumbled in a worn out snarl; irritated to no end by the weight of the pressure he now faced to get them out of this newfound mess. "We can't afford another screw up. Do whatever you must, and let me know if anything comes up," he finished before walking down the aisle, leaving the nurse to focus on her driving with some peace of mind, without him looming over her shoulder constantly.

He kept his head up with both eyes forward. His fists instinctively clenched at his sides, as if constantly expecting a fight. The rest of the group didn't dare make eye contact with him, afraid to risk attracting his scorn. Soon, he stood before the abysmal amount of supplies they had left in the back; staring intently at the empty racks that should've been filled with their lost bounty from earlier. Frasier grimaced painfully at it, as if he were being openly mocked by it.

"Wasted, all of it! How could such a thing happen?" Frasier snarled to no one in particular. Even after being physically drained from his most recent episode with 'Them', he still managed to find the breath to raise his tone enough to leave all his companions notably tense under his shadow.

"We did our best." Noah suddenly blurted out; shocked at the fact he just talked back to his eldest brother at a time like this. "We tried," he continued as all the focus was now solely upon him. The young teen then just looked down at his feet, as if remorsefully aware of the scene he'd just made; cursing in the back of his mind as he mentally prepared for some form of retaliation from Frasier. His footsteps drew closer and closer, to the point the others were preparing to intervene if this got out of hand.

"I know...I'm sorry, Noah." Frasier's voice suddenly said out of painful remorse; thankfully showing a glimmer of self-awareness to his own actions before turning to the others. "Was anyone hurt?" He finished, as for the time being, their health was all he seemed to care about.

"Little late to be asking now; but no, everyone's alright. Well, physically at least." Kiriko replied, not sure how wary she should have been of him anymore, given how one second ago, he looked ready to pick a fight. Her answer seemed to give him some relief as he suddenly collapsed into one of the nearby seats with both forearms resting on his knees.

"Someone give me some good news, please," the young Brit said with an exhausted groan, but still sounding relatively more approachable, speaking without a trace of neither aggression nor annoyance. If anything, he just sounded sad.

"Well...we still have some bullets. So you can keep the monsters away with these." Alice immediately announced, knowing this was her time to finally be of aide. It didn't even seem to raise concerns among the others that she somehow knew how much munitions they were carrying.

"A lot of our shots were hitting their marks, so we're at least getting better with using guns." Saya added, unable to help but feel proud that she could actually hit a moving target these days. "We also have these blades Alice-chan found. They should prove very useful." Saeko chimed in, unraveling the black case to reveal numerous knives and axes. Frasier simply nodded, unable to withhold a trace of a smile.

"Hang on...is that…?" Miku suddenly muttered to herself as something amid the passing foliage caught her eyes; having to immediately sit up so she could get a better look.

"Shizuka-sensei, stop the bus," she suddenly called out to confirm she wasn't just seeing things. The bus' wheels let out a low screech before coming to a complete halt.

"W-What? Why are we stopped?" Marcus asked with a sluggish groan, having somehow managed to fall asleep moments earlier, only to be abruptly woken up with a heavy lurch.

"Good question." Frasier replied as he pulled himself back up and headed for the exit doors after Miku. "What's the meaning of this? You better have a good reason for—" Frasier began to call out to her, irritated she'd not only halt their progress, but also not say a word as to why. He was about to grab her by the shoulder, only to be stopped midway when she turned his head to face what she could clearly see now. "Oh…that's a good reason, all right," was he had to say for himself now, with both eyes staring off into the trees.

So well hidden that it would've been missed entirely had Miku not pointed it out, amongst the trees and bushes could be seen several holes resembling windows, revealing what appeared to be a small single-story building just across the way, with a slightly taller building built right up next to it.

"Is that a school?" Johann asked as he and the others walked out to see what all the commotion was about. "Most likely. It's hard to tell from here, but I'm willing to bet it was used as an evacuation center while the outbreak was still semi-manageable." Kiriko answered as she looked through a pair of binoculars.

"She's right; I can see security barriers and military vehicles out there!" Rei called out in utter relief as she walked closer to confirm her mother's guess. "But do you see any personnel? Any survivors?" Rika brought up, knowing it was vital they knew what to expect from this potential miracle they so desperately needed.

"Can't really say for certain. We should drive up to it and try to get a closer look." Rei replied as the branches and other bits of foliage obscured too much for her to make out any further details about the place. "No, we'll scout the area out first. I won't risk anyone for what might be another dead end." Frasier ordered, unwilling to risk getting too close to what could've easily been another facility lost to 'Them'.

"Aw, so you really do care." Shizuka said with a cheery smile, going as far as squeezing him from behind, which caused the youth to blush out of sheer embarrassment. "I'm just being cautious, as should all of you." Frasier retorted in an attempt to deny any further concerns or distractions.

"If you insist." Kiriko said as she rolled her eyes at yet another attempt to maintain his emotionless, masculine front.

[]

—

After taking a couple minutes to explain the situation to the group, Frasier took Marcus and Noah with him to scout ahead for any signs of danger. They wandered through the dense blockade until they had a perfect spot atop a slope to scope out the area; keeping at a safe distance while doing so, in case more of 'Them' were nearby.

"Well? It's been twenty minutes, and not a soul to be found outside. Think it's still worth checking out?" Noah eventually asked as he sat up from their prone position, wiping the pine needles and dirt from his shirt. "Even if there's no supplies left, it would certainly beat having to sleep another night crammed into that bus. Let's be honest, that thing smells like a barn at this point." Marcus brought up, as all three found themselves having long since grown weary of the stench that bus had accumulated.

"Agreed. With any luck, there might even be a shower, or maybe some new clothes. It would certainly beat having to wear these worn out things." Noah added on, as they all glanced at their current attire. The holes, wrinkles, frays, tears, rotted blood stains and scuffs felt almost overwhelming at the thought of being able to replace them. "Don't get too excited over just a meager possibility. This isn't the time to be lowering our guard." Frasier warned; half-convinced already this place was going to end up a failure like all the other so-called miracles they'd stumbled upon.

"Do you always have to— wait, I see movement inside. At least four…no, six figures by the window, east side." Marcus began to reprimand Frasier's pessimistic outlook, before noticing something in his binoculars; both green eyes fixated on what were undoubtedly the shadows of people down below. "Is it more of 'Them'?" Noah asked, as if it made a huge difference, considering there were none outside the building, which gave him hope they'd finally found more survivors.

"Gotta be; poor sods just left to wander those halls forever." Marcus sighed as the shadows' movements and limping practically spelled it out for them

"How did it happen? We didn't find any breaches on the way here, right?" Noah asked, certain no parts of the fence had been knocked down or torn open. "They might've taken someone in who was bitten. We know it takes just one after all." Frasier suggested, quick to remind them of the danger their foe possessed.

Without wanting to risk moving the group any closer to the school just yet, the three Lawson brothers crawled down towards the school's outer perimeter to confirm all was as it seemed back from their perch. It did seem unsettlingly quiet for a place that didn't seem to show any sign of life; save for those they saw in the windows.

"Let's see just how many we've got here." Frasier suggested as he grabbed the lid off a nearby garbage can before taking a stick up off the ground. Without much force, he began to tap against the lid to send out enough sound for anything nearby to pick up on it. At first, all seemed clear; but sure enough, more figures rose up and began to press up against the windows; each one with gray skin and a blank expression on 'Their' mauled faces, a disturbingly too familiar sight these days.

"Hmm, seems manageable enough. Signal Shizuka-sensei to pull up and park within the gates. Marcus, let's do one more sweep of the perimeter to be certain there's no breach." Frasier ordered his brothers after their momentary inspection revealed there weren't nearly as many undead inside as he'd predicted.

Noah eagerly took the walkie-talkie to inform the others of the good news while Marcus began marching onwards with his elder brother. Their patrol together was quiet at first, almost uncomfortably so, but Marcus soon saw by the determined look in his brother's eyes that he hadn't simply asked him to come by lack of choice.

"You know why I kicked the petrol over earlier, right?" Frasier suddenly asked, as Marcus immediately recalled how angry it made him when it happened. However, he just nodded, knowing he'd only regret what he'd say if he spoke up. "You were obsessed, caught up in the moment, Marcus. It was for your own good." Frasier attempted to explain.

"It was still a bloody waste. We needed that fuel and you know it." Marcus retorted with an irritated scowl. "We were seconds from being overwhelmed. There was no time left." Frasier argued.

"You still could've thrown it into the bus for later!" Marcus brought up on the verge of shouting, only for him to stop before it could draw in any attention from the dead inside. "What if we didn't find this place and just kept driving without anything to spare? We would most likely end up stranded, all because of your irrational decision," the middle Lawson hypothesized, leaving Frasier with an uneasy feeling in his gut at the thought. At this point, he was uncertain what was worse to him: being wrong, or the others suffering because of a decision he'd consciously made.

"You think I don't know that?" Frasier scorned, making it painfully clear he wasn't entirely unaware of the consequences of his actions. "Of course I know that! I just...I just couldn't risk the bus being compromised," he continued to lament as Marcus just stared forward; silently dreading the thought of losing even just one more of their friends to anything. But he still didn't want to give Frasier the satisfaction of knowing he'd gotten into his head once more

"Imagine if we tried opening the side door and one of those things got to Shizuka-sensei? Marcus, every decision I make affects everyone here. I shouldn't have put her above everyone else, but I did." Frasier confessed, admittedly confused why he even did so in the first place; but all the same angered at having to live with the consequence of his unwanted compassion.

"I know...and I'm sorry. I just didn't think it could get so bad for us. With all the preparation we'd done, I thought we'd be safe by now. I thought I wouldn't have to watch things get so much worse, and all while being near powerless to stop it." Marcus said with a weary sigh; hating that they were fighting once again like nothing had changed between them at all. "Powerless? Our family hardly knows the meaning of that word." Frasier scoffed in a more triumphant manner. Whether that was meant to inspire Marcus or himself, though, was anyone's guess.

"Yeah? Well these past few days alone say otherwise." Marcus rebutted, unwilling to even pretend that they had any control of their situation at this point. "Nothing great has ever come without struggle. We will endure, Marcus." Frasier replied with a most intense sense of certainty in his voice.

"I can only hope you're right…for their sake." Marcus advised as they both looked over to see the bus had finally caught up with them; slowly pulling into the front of the school. "Looks like things are secure from out here. Time to get to work." Frasier announced before they both marched back to regroup with the others.

—

"This school looks clear for the most part. We found some of 'Them' by the windows, so expect even more inside." Frasier reported, laying down some immediate exceptions for them to follow. Everyone stood equipped and looking ready for whatever would rear its head inside.

"How many do you think could actually be inside? Is this really worth the risk?" Kohta asked, knowing he might not be as much help when confined in close quarters; even now, the very thought of grappling with one of those creatures left him shaking at the knees. "Could be a few...could be a hundred, there's no way of really knowing until we get in there." Noah answered to the best of his ability. The only thing any of them knew for certain was that if there was one, there was bound to be a lot more.

"There's no lights, and the sun is just about down. Should we just wait until morning?" Rika finally asked the vital question; knowing that without much light, it would only make this all the more dangerous for their already weary crew.

"No, it's too cold to sleep out here. Plus, I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm sick of sleeping in such confined quarters." Frasier disregarded her concern, knowing there was no turning back from such a golden opportunity as this one. "The bus is also really stinky." Alice suddenly commented, once more saying what they were all thinking at this point.

"Quite. With any luck, we'll find enough supplies to cover what we left behind today," the young leader continued on, the thought of making up for their disastrous afternoon visibly inspiring the others. "Ammo is very limited, so we need anyone who can hold a melee weapon to help clear this place out." Marcus announced before unraveling the folded up black case Alice had discovered earlier; revealing the assorted blades and axes Saeko had gone though herself, all in pristine condition.

"I can help!" Alice offered, which caught them all off guard at how willing she sounded. "Alice-chan, it's sweet that you want to help, and we all certainly recognize what you're trying to do…" Kiriko began to say with the utmost gratitude in her voice. "…But this is simply too dangerous for you to come along," she finished, quick to remind her that this was no place for a child.

"I know how to fight though! Right?" Alice protested, her focus suddenly landing on Frasier.

"Alice-chan, you've never even held a gun before." Rei brought up, only for Alice to stubbornly shake her head. "Yes I have! Tell them!" Alice continued in defiance as she directed her attention to Frasier again.

"Frasier-san, why does she keep looking back to you?" Saya asked uneasily over what his answer was going to be. "Because it's true," the young Brit answered bluntly, leaving everyone in awe at the fact Alice wasn't lying.

"What...?" Kiriko barely muttered, completely floored at his decision to allow such a thing, and especially that she hadn't somehow found out about it beforehand. "Yeah! Onii-chan's been teaching me how to use one of the revolvers!" Alice announced proudly; pointing to the one Tadashi had holstered on his hip.

"You've seriously been letting her handle a gun?!" Saya exclaimed with infuriated disbelief; storming up to Frasier, only for him to meet her halfway and tower over her to dissuade any further unwise choice of words. "An unloaded one, but yes, I have," he answered with zero remorse to be heard or seen.

"Do you have any idea how dangerous that is?!" Rei reprimanded harshly, nearly having half a mind to get between the eldest Lawson and the impressionable little girl. "Of course I do! She's a child, though, not an idiot. Teach her right, and it won't be an issue." Frasier said with annoyance; certain Alice was as capable under the right circumstances as anyone else.

"She's still way too young." Saya mumbled her disapproval as she could somewhat see his point, not that she would ever admit it. "As important as this is, now is neither the time nor place to be discussing it. Right now, we need to focus on the matter at hand." Tadashi interjected, hoping they'd all see reason before someone would say something they'd really come to regret.

At first it seemed like they were just going to get into it again, but thankfully, Frasier turned away and headed for the front door with a pistol in one hand and combat knife in the other; motioning them to stack up behind him.

"Expect tight hallways and lots of contacts. Be ready to fall back out here if it looks like we could be overwhelmed. Call out ANYTHING that looks like trouble, understood? Now let's do this." Frasier thoroughly instructed, looking over his shoulder to see the others were clearly more than ready to get out of the cold.

Knowing there was no use in doing this quietly, the young leader grabbed the front door handles and shoved each one to their respective sides; waiting for them to click into place before storming into what looked like a visitor check-in area. Four doors covered the first of what could've been many hiding spots for 'Them', or possibly survivors by some strange miracle, while a fifth door led further into the halls of the main building.

Noticing no immediate disturbance or direct danger upon their unsubtle entrance, the group slowly split up to inspect every room at once. As if synchronized for a brief moment, Frasier, Marcus, Rika, and Tadashi all pulled a door open and instantly backed off, only to be met with an uneasy silence; save for the sound of the others practically breathing down their necks in anticipation, as if they were just waiting for god-knew-how-many of 'Them' to suddenly start shambling through.

However, while normally the absence of 'Them' should've been taken as a blessing, this only left them feeling more unnerved. They had been met only with strewn piles of paper work, basic office equipment that had long since been shut down after the EMP blast, and one sign of a bloody struggle that likely was the result of someone's courageous last stand: a single severed, chewed up arm adorned in tattered JGSDF fatigues, still clutching an empty handgun.

With every step taken not being intercepted by one of 'Them', the whole group's nervous anticipation was practically through the roof as to where 'They' could've been lurking Everyone kept their guard up and knew to not stand down until every last inch of the school had been thoroughly searched.

"They're all empty? Do you think it might've just been a few stragglers that you saw holed up through the window?" Johann eventually worked up the nerve to ask as he looked to Frasier for consideration; who only scowled at the empty pistol before tossing it and the hand that was still latched to it, aside.

"We need to search every single room before we can even think about stopping," the eldest Lawson insisted. "The plan is as follows: move as one unit, secure the rooms, and protect the VIPs; i.e. Alice-chan and Shizuka-sensei at all costs," he finished before motioning towards the only remaining door that could lead them further into the school.

After seeing they were all once again ready, Frasier pulled just one of the two entry doors open. With the sun finally down, there was no natural lighting left to illuminate what lay ahead. Their flashlights simultaneously switched on to reveal what must have been some of the volunteer staff blindly wandering the long corridor. Rika and Frasier were instantly ready to put them down with exactly five shots; but Saeko, however, motioned them to stand down as she now took the lead.

With a few solid taps against the wall with her knuckles, all five in sight immediately turned around to now face the group. Slowly but surely, 'They' began limping forward to investigate the source of the sound. The heavy wheezing and groaning grew progressively louder until it was all swiftly silenced by a series of swift cuts from Saeko's katana.

The group remained on standby as the purple-haired girl surveyed the area to make sure more weren't on the approach. For now, it seemed they were alone once more. Further into the hallway they all ventured, passing a few doors until ultimately reaching a sign above the one that led to the to the gymnasium. Before even considering opening it, Saeko placed an ear against the door to listen for whatever could have been dwelling within.

"Well? How many?" Frasier whispered, anxious for an answer. If any part of the school would have the most evacuees corralled into it, it would be here. "A lot. If we go through here, we'll be forced to run almost immediately. I advise we avoid it entirely if possible." Saeko calmly suggested as the eldest Lawson glared at the doors with contempt. Before he could make any rash decisions, her hand lightly grabbed his shoulder before motioning him to follow her back to regroup with the others.

"If we seal it somehow, perhaps we can use the rest of the building?" Saeko asked before falling silent in thought as to how they'd even do that. "Maybe...though there's no way we can stay here if there's going to be any of 'Them' within the perimeter. It's just too risky." Frasier sighed, needing very little reason to not deter from their original plan.

"So what? We're just going to use this place for the night and take off at first light?" Tadashi asked, unable to hide the sense of disappointment in his voice.

"As well as gather anything of use, but yes, that does just about sum it up." Frasier answered bluntly before looking back suspiciously at the doors to the gymnasium; forming a look of mistrust, as if expecting them to open up once they weren't looking. However, it thankfully remained shut, and would most likely stay that way so long as all was quiet on their part.

"I'd rather settle down somewhere than have to relocate the group constantly...but beggars can't be choosers neither." Kiriko added with a tired groan before they began to walk back into the check-in office. "So it's settled then; someone try to find a map of this place. We may have lights, but we may as well be blind without any idea of where to go." Frasier said with a little more energy in his voice; knowing this wasn't going to be as straightforward as he'd hoped. With that, everyone began looking over every inch of the school they'd already covered.

"Find anything yet?" Rei asked Saya, whom shook her head in dismay after poking her head into one of the classroom's broom closet. "No map, just cleaning supplies. Maybe try the check-in desk," she answered before pointing back down the hall where they came from.

Once there, figuring the area was already clear, Rei set her rifle down against the wall while searching through several cabinets with the hope she'd be able to find something that could help them navigate this place. She was so caught up in the moment; she didn't even notice a figure shifting into the entrance doorway.

A low, resonating groan sent chills down everyone's necks before turning to see a large shadow accentuated by the moonlight.

"REI!" Kiriko's voice called out in warning. The young teen accidentally stumbled back when one of her shoes got caught in a small personal trashcan resting by the check-in desk. Johann and Tadashi both wasted no time in trying to intervene.

Thwack!

A single swing sent the nearest of 'Them' reeling back with the lower jaw wedged into the upper half. Bits of teeth and blood stained the tiles as Marcus now stood between Rei and the undead.

"Jesus! These must've been the ones in the window we saw earlier." Noah remarked as Marcus was already in the process of taking the others out; managing to cleanly take down two with the sledgehammer he swung about. However, on the third swing, the hammer crushed the third one's skull with more than enough force to continue its arc.

Crack!

Everyone's eyes widened, and their hearts simultaneously sank at the sight of the hammer now imbued inside of the wall. The impact echoed deafeningly down the hall, followed by an eerie silence that left them frozen in place like statues.

"Oh, dear..." Shizuka murmured, as she could tell things were about to get a lot worse. "M-maybe the rest of 'Them' didn't hear it?" Rei brought up in a last ditch effort to keep up whatever hope they had left.

Without even taking a moment to reconsider his next move, Frasier immediately turned around and charged towards the gymnasium. His boots screeched against the surface, as he knew what was about to come next; all the while praying deep down that he'd reach those doors in time.

SLAM!

Both doors burst wide open before he could hope to even try and barricade it himself. The force was enough to send the young man reeling back across the hallway; tripping onto his rear as he was now looking up at the silhouettes of several undead JGSDF troopers. Each one looked to be covered head to toe in body armor, but once Frasier brought his flashlight up to 'Them', all he could see was a number of mangled and chewed up faces; most likely done by the very people they were here to protect.

"Shit! W-what do we do?" Kohta spouted nervously; neither him nor Saya even acknowledging the fact he'd just cursed in front of Alice. "Do we retreat or stand our ground?" Johann asked, never once taking his eyes off the approaching dead, both he and Tadashi helping Frasier up from the floor.

"There's no point in running anymore. We need this or we'll die out there!" Frasier announced, pulling himself up and making it clear he wanted no help when he violently pulled away from Tadashi and Johann. "If that's the case, then I've got one flash grenade left. It'll buy us some time to take out as many as possible. After that, it's up to fate." Rika added, holding what might have been their only hope in the palm of her hand.

"Do it," was all Frasier had to say. Everyone instinctively covered their ears and shut their eyes to avoid what was about to come.

PANG!

The moment it went off, all the undead within earshot of it limply stood there, completely stunned by the sudden burst of noise. 'They' showed no sign of resistance, but for how much longer was anyone's guess; an opportunity no one was going to pass up.

"Now's our chance!" Rika called out as they all looked back up to see it worked like a charm. Everyone already began firing several bursts to help soften up the bundled gathering; each one making sure to have a clear shot before pulling the trigger.

While Rika began firing down the middle of the hallway, most of the others moved in from the sides; taking aim with their sidearms and blowing away the nearest of 'Them' as fast as they could. Flashlights bounced from target to target as the bullet casings started to chime against and cover the floor. While ammo conservation was typically a priority for the group, they knew this wasn't the time to be holding back anything. Even Saeko was using her sidearm, an incredibly rare moment indeed when she preferred using it over her katana.

"I'm down to my last few bullets!" Tadashi stated as he dumped the last spent rounds out of his revolver. "Same here!" Kohta called out as he began to pull back in the hopes Rika would be willing to lend him some of her own. "Use them! We're pushing for that doorway to seal the main bulk off." Frasier authorized before emptying his final clip.

With what seemed like certain victory and an almost assured plan, the others began to follow him forward; mowing down numerous packs of 'Them' along the way. They were only several meters away from the gymnasium's door now. With so many bodies now lying sprawled across the floor, every step had to be taken with great care to not trip up on anything.

Just when it seemed like the desperate survivors had some sort of upper hand, the entrance doors burst open from behind, the entire thing breaking clean off from lack of reinforcement in their design. Several packs now poured out into the hallway at the group's backs.

"Push on! We'll take care of those ones next!" Frasier urged, his voice becoming increasingly desperate as he tried to keep up the pressure on the front. "We could use some help over here!" Rika called out, kicking one back as she handed Kohta her rifle and pulled out her sidearm.

With their flank unsecured, Frasier motioned those behind him to assist Rika and Kohta before trying to clear a way to the gymnasium on his own. He felt certain if he could seal it, they'd be able to maintain some sort of foothold on the school.

The remaining undead at the front suddenly reeled back; ready to continue the onslaught. Frasier was barely pulled back in time as another step would've led to him being pulled in by the nearest of 'Them'. He glanced back to see Saeko had returned to his side, her fingers grasping around his shirt before letting go once he was safe for the brief moment.

"There's still too many! We can't keep this up!" Kiriko warned as she could see Saeko and Frasier both weren't showing any signs of stopping. They were too far-gone in the heat of battle to stand down anymore.

"Make the call!" Marcus said, trying his best not to sound like he was giving the orders, especially when Frasier was there to do it himself. However, his older brother just stood there, glaring at the oncoming hordes as if ready to make a final stand. "Dammit, Frasier, make the call!" Kiriko suddenly reinforced; hoping to get through to him so Saeko might be more inclined to listen. "Sod this, we're pulling back! Let's get out of here!" Marcus shouted to the others, trying to pull Frasier back, only to have his hand batted away.

'No! If we go back out there, we'll starve! I...I cannot allow this.' Frasier groaned before pulling himself back up. He suddenly grabbed one of the broken off doors before holding it in front of himself horizontally.

Seeing where he was going with this, Noah grabbed the other door. Together, they formed a shield wall just large enough to block the hallway. At first the dead, given 'Their' significant numbers and heightened strength during the night, easily began to push the brothers back. However, Saya rushed over with a bottle in hand.

"Step back! I've got an idea," she shouted as they both gave one final shove to give each other some space to retreat.

Wasting no time, the pink-haired girl popped the bottle open and began to squirt the blue liquid content out onto the floor. She quickly backed off as the dead moved in to intercept the three survivors. The first of 'Them' stepped onto the glossy surface, quick to lose balance on the now slippery floor. Seeing what Saya intended, Frasier quickly slammed his door-shield into the horde, watching several of 'Them' stagger and tumble back, thanks to her quick thinking.

"This just might work." Noah said with a look of relief, as the others could see not all was lost just yet. Having barely managed to clear out the horde that had come through the entrance, everyone began taking up positions behind Frasier and Noah to engage with any of 'Them' that could stay balanced long enough to close the distance.

With carefully placed shots and well-timed physical strikes, they withstood several waves before the once reanimated bodies began to pile up, almost like a walkway of re-slain corpses for the next of 'Them' in line to use. Luckily, the group was able to pull back several paces at a time before holding the line again. Despite being at their physical and emotional limits, the survivors fought side by side with an unbreakable zeal. When one would begin to weaken or tire, another would switch positions to give each other some much needed respite before returning to the ongoing cycle.

At the rate they were going with this crude yet surprisingly effective tactic, the group didn't even need to push 'Them' back into the gymnasium. What could've taken well over an hour of constant fighting only took ten minutes. Once the last of 'Them' in the hall was slain, they all looked around to confirm it; watching for even the subtlest movement amongst the slaughtered. Luckily, the fearful anxiety was dropped along with both doors, as Noah and Frasier quickly fell to their knees with their arms throbbing painfully from having to maintain the shield wall.

"That…was incredible." Kohta huffed as he handed Rika her rifle back; watching as she rubbed a rag on it upon realizing how sweaty his palms were. "That was quick thinking on all of your parts. Great job." Noah said with immense gratitude; his legs wobbling before he slumped against a wall with both arms practically going limp on him.

"We have to...keep moving and secure the rest of the school before we can rest." Frasier announced, his words straining as he had to fight just to stand. Just as his legs gave way, Rika's hand caught his collar, gently lowering him onto the ground before letting go.

"Yes, WE will do just that. However, you two are clearly spent for the night. Stay here and catch your breath while we explore the rest of this place. You've earned it." Rika suggested, gently planting a foot on the stubborn Brit's chest to keep him down. Both of them were fully aware he currently lacked the strength to do anything about it. The sniper gave the group's leader a sly wink before the rest of them moved on to search the school.

Noah, Frasier, Shizuka, Miku, and Alice were instructed to stay behind until it was safe for them to venture further in. Noah had to keep from laughing as his oldest brother could only grumble at the humiliation he'd just endured. Eventually, it was just the five of them, as well as Zeke, who was still shaking from all the gunshots just moments ago.

"Don't worry, Frasier-kun, Rika-chan's just being playful again. Try not to let it get to you." Shizuka advised with a warm smile before kneeling beside them to keep the two siblings company.

"Here, Alice-chan, eat this. You need to keep your strength up." Miku suddenly suggested before offering Alice a packet of almost entirely crumbled crackers from the pocket of her hoodie. Without hesitating, the little girl tore open the packet and began to practically stuff her mouth full of the stuff. Zeke's ears perked up at the mere smell of food; earning some light-hearted giggles from Miku, Shizuka and Noah while Frasier tried to get back up, only to slide back down again.

Alice could see the hungry stray was giving her the puppy dog eyes again, as he typically did whenever anyone had food out. Considering that Johann had been giving her extra portions lately, it only felt fair that she shared with Zeke as well. Her hand extended out with several decently sized chunks of crackers resting in her palm. Without needing or waiting for permission, the little dog's muzzle instantly began to chow down. Bits of crumbs went all over the floor. Alice and Shizuka both giggled at how Zeke then licked her hand clean, all while Miku looked particularly impressed by this.

"He must be very well trained for him to be so docile still." Miku commented as Alice looked up at her with slight confusion. "What do you mean?" was all the little girl could muster.

"It's just amazing that despite all this time without much food to go around that Zeke has yet to lash out at or bite anyone. Little dogs like him are especially territorial about that kind of thing." Miku explained, simply astonished by how gentle and affectionate Zeke still proved himself to be. As if on cue, the little pup proceeded to further break expectations by crawling onto the orange-haired girl's lap and snuggling up to her.

"I only bring it up because once when I was your age, I found this stray dog that liked to hang around my old neighborhood. I'd feed it every day, and it seemed about as friendly as could be. But one day, I wasn't able to feed it because I was on a field trip. I didn't see that dog for a couple days after that, so I just figured it moved on. However, it did eventually come back, and the moment I tried to pet it without any food to offer, you know what it did?"

"Um…it gave you a lot of licks because it missed you?" Alice answered with starry-eyed innocence. "Oh no, sweetie; the scrappy thing bit me like it never even knew who I was. It'd completely forgot all I'd done for it. Luckily the bite didn't leave a scar, and I never saw that dog again." Miku finished as Alice sadly looked at her own hand, remembering the cat that scratched her weeks ago. She then looked at Zeke with deep concern; hoping he'd never one day hurt her or anyone else.

"It just goes to show you how thin loyalties can be when they're built up on all the wrong foundations." Miku said softly before Frasier scoffed at her remark; earning a look of annoyance from her and Noah while he sat himself up to join in on the conversation. "That's because that dog was never loyal to you. Sure, you fed it and might've earned some degree of approval, but it only ever saw you as a source of food, nothing more." Frasier explained, sounding painfully matter-of-fact in the way he dashed away any sense of sentimentality her story had.

"Well, glad to see you still can't even pretend to be sympathetic." Noah sarcastically remarked as Frasier glanced back sharply to respond, the two brothers trying to stare each other down.

"She should've known better. It's just common sense." Frasier began to angrily defend himself, before realizing it didn't even matter if he was right, since they were clearly more annoyed by his uncalled-for attitude. "This is a bloody waste of my time anyway. I'm going to find the others and help clear this place out." Frasier grunted, sounding more arrogantly prideful than usual. To their surprise, he actually managed to stand up again and walk all the way down the hall without stumbling once. Now they could only hope he wouldn't run into any trouble along the way.

"Yeah, I should probably go do the same." Noah said out of a sudden desire to prove himself just as strong in front of Miku, trying to stand up only to barely get up a few inches before coming straight back down. "Okay, maybe not," he groaned as the three girls giggled at his attempted bravado.

"It's okay, I'd rather you stay here with us anyway. I wanted to give you this for being so strong and brave." Miku said with a warm grin before pulling him in closer to her and lovingly kissing him on the cheek. Noah's cheeks instantly turned deep red as Shizuka smiled at the genuine display of affection, not even noticing that Alice had snuck off to go after Frasier.

—

Minutes earlier…

Walking into the now-emptied gymnasium was no easy task. Without any moonlight illuminate the interior, anything could've been lurking within the shadows. Johann and Tadashi both held a flashlight alongside their sidearms, the two carefully scanning the room for any signs of stragglers. Fortunately, their paranoia quickly proved unnecessary as they quickly found there was nothing but military cots scattered across the floor. While most were covered in blood and the remains of the most unfortunate of the original occupants here, there a few that had been thankfully completely untouched.

Before moving in, Kiriko let out a long, piercing whistle, letting it echo across the large room and waiting for a response in complete silence. With nothing to be heard, they started to slowly move in to inspect the horrid site. While most of what was still here seemed to just be unclean clothing and random junk knocked over from what must've been yet another hasty retreat or massacre; eventually Tadashi and Kiriko stumbled upon a large crate, formerly used to hold balls and other sports gear most likely, which was bolted to the floor. After popping it open, their apprehensive expressions turned to those of relief as they reached inside.

"Looks like Ebisu has decided to smile upon us tonight. There's enough food for everyone for two, maybe three days tops. I know it's not exactly something to celebrate, but at least we won't starve." Tadashi sighed with contentment as he began to rummage around the foil-wrapped packages. Rika picked one up and momentarily inspected it before tossing it back in.

"MRE's? So this really was a military operation at some point. That means there should be munitions around here as well." Kohta noted aloud, hoping this wouldn't be what the Tokyo quarantine would be like, assuming they would ever make it there.

"We'll go see if they stashed anything further in the main building. Seems like a reasonable spot to do so, away from the main area for civilians." Rika advised, gently tugging on Kohta's ear as he nodded in acknowledgement. Saya looked at the otherwise minor touch with a notable scowl of annoyance. "I'll go with you guys." Saya announced, practically inviting herself to tag along, but facing no opposition to it either; almost tripping over several cots on her not-so-subtle exit, cursing under her breath as it was clear she wasn't thinking straight.

"Think we can make a decent meal out of this?" Tadashi suddenly asked as he looked over to Kiriko with a hopeful look in his eyes. Her brow wrinkled slightly as she inspected what was inside the small foil packets. "I'm no miracle worker. This stuff was made so you can survive, not to dine. I'll try to make due, though." Kiriko sighed, seeing little point in trying to go all out with such limited options on hand. Nonetheless, she couldn't deny her husband all of her enthusiasm. "I have the utmost faith in you, dear," the former detective said with a slight grin.

—

As Kiriko and the others began to set up the gymnasium as a place to rest and recoup from the stresses of this day alone; Saya, Kohta and Rika discovered what had to be a makeshift armory. While there were no fully assembled weapons, there was an adequate supply of munitions and parts they could be able to salvage.

"This is seriously all that's left? Surely they had more than just a few clips and magazines." Rika asked herself, perhaps louder than she'd intended when she was surprised Kohta's head perked up in response. "You'd think that, but no, this is it," he confirmed before sliding a fresh magazine into his rifle. A look of personal relief overtook him just knowing he could properly fight back again.

"What's wrong with this? It looks like plenty of ammo to me." Saya observed, confused why the other two didn't seem to share her optimism. "For now, maybe. Those of you new to shooting may be getting better with your shots, but we're still eating through our reserves too quickly. Also, these calibers only match our long rifles, not the sidearms you're more accustomed to." Rika explained in depth, watching the look of slight optimism fade from the pink-haired teen's face.

"Speaking of which, do you think I could use one of these bigger rifles yet?" Saya suddenly asked as she began to pick up Rika's rifle, only for it to be snatched away. "Probably not a good idea, kid. You have weak shoulders, and I doubt you'd like the heavier recoil. Trust me, you'd be sore for days trying to fire one of these" the sniper declined without a hint of sarcasm. Saya meanwhile wasn't sure if she was more annoyed at being told she was weak, or by the fact Rika had just referred to her as just a kid.

However, she was fully aware she was no expert on the matter and had no hope of being able to argue. She bowed her head, as if a conflicting thought just interrupted her usual mental process. She soon over to Kohta as he was busy loading individual bullets into their emptied magazines.

"Hey, Hirano? I need to ask you about something from earlier," the bespectacled teen brought up with a not so confident demeanor. "Do...do you honestly think it's okay for Alice-chan to be carrying a gun of her own?" she finally asked, sounding genuinely uncertain what to think. She was hoping that if anybody could help give her some clarity on the matter, it would be him.

"Don't tell me you're jealous of a little girl getting special treatment." Rika suddenly taunted; Saya slightly grinding her teeth at the mere suggestion Frasier would start picking favorites to train above the others. It was almost like she felt unworthy if that were to somehow be true. "I'm not jealous, I'm just concerned that she's way too young to be using such things," she grumbled, uncertain how to even make a decent comeback when her mind was so addled by other worries.

"Okay then, just how old should she be before she's allowed to defend herself properly?" Rika then asked in a far more serious tone. "That's why it's important that we do it for her; so she doesn't have to fight." Saya attempted to argue before Rika simply sneered at that answer. "And what if something happens that's beyond our control; like if she gets separated from us again?" the sniper then suggested, bringing up that horrible memory that made both Saya and Kohta alike shrink into themselves, remembering that utterly hopeless feeling when Alice had been all by herself.

"I...well..." Saya began to mumble, for once having no immediate answer to give; remembering how it was the Lawson trio that discovered and rescued Alice so long ago, all while she and her group had no idea where to even start looking.

"Or worse: what if we all somehow died, and only she remained to fend for herself?" Rika continued in a sharper tone, inducing such horrible thoughts that felt so painfully real. Saya bowed her head in complete silence when recalling how it felt like the end back when they were stranded at the wire barricade, saved only at the last second by her own mother.

"Saya-san, ask yourself if you'd rather be right? Would you rather she just remain innocent and unprepared forever?" Kohta unexpectedly asked, his voice far softer and caring than Rika's, which seemed to bring Saya some comfort at least.

"I…I-I just want what's best for her," was all she could express before finding herself fighting against tears forming in the corners of her eyes; letting out a gentle sniffle when he suddenly walked up and pulled her in close to him. "This is what's best for her, even if you can't exactly see it right now," the chubby gun otaku expressed with a deep sympathy that seemed to hint that it was hard for him to accept Alice was growing up faster than either of them could've anticipated, too.

"Besides, we let you hold a gun, don't we? It's not that much different." Rika suddenly interjected, which earned an irked glance from Saya as she backed away from Kohta's warm embrace. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Saya asked, crossing both arms as she could just feel in her gut that she'd been insulted.

"Well, aside from the fact you're temperamental and break easily under stress, there's the matter of you trying to prove yourself beyond your limits; or did you already forget how you nearly blew up Hirano-kun?" Rika said without any tact whatsoever. Saya's lips quivered, glancing back at Kohta as that painful memory instantly resurfaced once again. An overwhelming amount of guilt and regret proved to be too much for Saya as she stormed out the room in tears.

"Was that really necessary, Minami-san?" Kohta said with a disapproving stare, dashing to catch up to Saya, only for Rika's hand to hold him back by the shoulder. "Probably not, but it's good to keep her grounded in reality. That ego of hers shouldn't be left unchecked," the cold markswoman answered wholeheartedly. Kohta took a moment to think it over before realizing she had a point, despite lacking any subtlety behind it.

"Yeah, I guess so. I just hope she doesn't take it too personally," he hesitantly agreed, feeling a longing urge to go make sure Saya didn't do anything irrational in her emotionally fragile state.

—

As Saya continued fuming as she made her way back to the gymnasium, she ended up colliding with Rei around the corner; the brown-haired girl almost bringing her rifle up on reflex before realizing whom it was.

"Saya-san, what's the rush? You know we shouldn't be running around until we know this whole place is cleared out," she nearly reprimanded the twintailed girl once she'd managed to slow her racing heart from the shock. "Y-yeah, sorry. Minami-san and Hirano are inspecting the armory back that way, so they said I should just join the others in the gym. What're you doing out here anyway?" Saya explained, hiding her previous emotional anguish like second nature.

"Oh, well there's only one more hall in the school we haven't checked, so I'm getting it over with while everyone else rests up. We haven't run into any more of 'Them' yet, so I'm honestly feeling pretty good about this." Rei explained with a sigh of relief. Saya followed the spear fighter's gaze down the last hallway, which thankfully was better illuminated by the moonlight than the rest of the building. "Oh, what the hell. If he knew, Frasier-san would just chew you out for doing it alone, so I'll back you up." Saya offered as she drew her sidearm, to which Rei gave an appreciative nod.

The two girls carefully made their way down the hall, the sound of their shoes squeaking against the tiled floor being the only sound to break the grave silence. Every time either of them looked through the windows looking into the classrooms, their hearts caught in their throats just waiting for something to try and lunge at them from the other side, but each class was thankfully empty. Before too long, they'd finally come to the last door before the hallway ended.

"If there is anything in there, just get behind me. We don't want to waste any more bullets, so just let me and my bayonet do the rest." Rei instructed as she and Saya got ready to try and open the door, since the window to this classroom looked to have been barricaded from the inside. Just as they began to move forward, the silence was broken by the faint sound of something scratching at the classroom door from the other side, quickly followed by the ghastly wheezing and groaning of what sounded like multiple undead.

Before either of the girls could react, the rice paper sliding door to the classroom was practically torn apart as the creatures inside clawed 'Their' way out. Neither Rei or Saya could get a good look at what was coming out thanks to the shadows, but as they backed away, they could hear the dragging footsteps of their pursuers approaching the moonlight. Rei got herself into her traditional fighting stance, taking a deep breath in preparation for the first monster to show its face.

But once it did, Rei felt her blood go cold, and her rigid stance go limp at what she saw.

"T-these are..." she began to mutter, unable to even finish as her eyes widened in horror. "They're just kids...?" Saya finished when she too saw several small, reanimated children moving in towards them. Each one looked no older than Alice, yet 'They' all shared the same gruesome fate as everyone else that had died here: one little girl wearing her hair in tiny pigtails was dragging her intestines along the floor behind her, one little boy in a soccer jersey had one of his arms completely torn off at the shoulder, and another little girl with a ponytail was missing one of her eyes and half her face. The only thing 'They' all had now was that same inhuman hunger as 'They' stared absentmindedly at the two teenagers before 'Them'. Like deer caught in headlights, Rei and Saya couldn't bring themselves to kill such creatures, despite knowing deep down 'Their' intentions were no different from the rest.

"What are you two doing? Move it!" Saeko's voice suddenly shouted before she rushed to their position out of nowhere. With a series of lightning-quick swings, the zombified children lay motionless before all three of them, and the hallway was nearly repainted in 'Their' blood.

As the blade cut through the flesh and bone like it wasn't even there, both girls witnessed a deeply unsettling sight: despite now being covered in the blood of what used to be children, Saeko was reveling in this moment clear as day. A genuine look of enthrallment adorned her face. Was it even humanly possible that she was enjoying herself in this moment?

Saya and Rei were both speechless yet astonished at how quickly Saeko had stepped in to solve the problem, not even hesitating for an instant. In their dumbfounded state, the two girls only nodded in thanks once Saeko was finished, before snapping back to reality. The danger they were constantly in had became apparent once more. While Saeko would've normally been quick to reprimand them for lowering their guard, she couldn't blame the two for reacting the way they did. She'd been no different the first time she was in their place.

"Seems there were a few more here than initially expected. You three alright?" Frasier's voice suddenly called out as he slowly walked over to respond to the sound of the struggle. "We're fine now. Why aren't you back with the others?" Saeko answered calmly on their behalf, only to immediately put the questions on him; folding her arms as if expecting him to go back and recover like a reprimanded child.

"I'm more than strong enough to keep going. I just needed to catch my breath is all." Frasier explained with confidence in himself. Saya and Rei rolled their eyes at his apparent delusion, while Saeko simply smiled at him with a doubtful look in her eyes as well. "If you insist. Just be careful, okay?" the blade expert requested in a soft tone of concern before licking her thumb and rubbing some dirt off his cheek.

"Did you guys find more monsters?" Alice suddenly asked, as her appearance proving even more concerning as none of them could say if this place was fully secured yet. Of course, the recent incident with undead children; made seeing Alice give Rei and Saya emotional chills.

"I'm so sorry, she snuck away when I wasn't looking! Are we safe yet?" Shizuka apologized as she came rushing down the hallway after the little girl and pulled her close to her side, trying her best not to let the mischievous redhead out of her sight again. The nurse couldn't even attempt to hide her embarrassment at the fact she couldn't even baby-sit one small child properly.

"From the looks of the rest of the school up to here, it's safe for the time being. Let's do one more proper sweep of this place before making anything official. If any of these corpses so much as twitch, put a round in 'Them'." Frasier said out of instinct, considering they didn't even have enough ammunition to put down another small pack if they had to.

Just as he was turning, he suddenly lurched forward, losing his balance as one leg was yanked straight back. Before he could curse at whatever caused this, he looked back down to see one of the undead children Saeko supposedly took down still had some fight left in it. The young disemboweled girl, whose face was now nearly split in two, but not enough to scramble the brain evidently.

At first he reached for the revolver in one of his holsters; however, before he could simply draw the sidearm and blow the creature away, the one-armed boy crawled towards him, cut in half across the torso. Its teeth bared as rancid saliva dripped onto the floor. Both Frasier's hands had to be used to hold the small fiend back. While normally he would've been able to handle this all on his own without any struggle, he was still worn out from the fight earlier. Both his arms trembled as the creature's enhanced strength sapped his endurance.

"Frasier-kun, get its head up! I can take it from there!" Saeko exclaimed as she, Rei and Saya came sprinting back to help.

BLAM!

BLAM!

Before anyone could react, Alice stood there with her eyes wide open. Tears were streaming down her cheeks as the barrel of the revolver she held gently fumed in devastating silence. Her hands shook, as she didn't know what to do now, staring at the two fresh holes burrowed into the faces of the dead kids that managed to overpower her friend. The eldest Lawson meanwhile looked back and forth at what just happened before laying his head back with a great big sigh of relief.

"I'm sorry! I-I just saw you were in trouble and I—" Alice frantically began to apologize as she let go of the revolver as soon as Frasier gently took it back. The small girl fell silent as he put a finger over her lips. "Enough; you acted upon instinct and did as I told you to in these situations. I think this should belong to you from now on." Frasier said in a reassuring tone, unable to deny the pride he felt in her before gently placing the revolver back into her little hands. He detached one of his own holsters and adjusted it as tight as possible before having to sling it along Alice's shoulder instead of her waist.

At first Saya wanted to step in and take the gun away, but found herself staying silent when she saw the little girl check how many bullets were left in the cylinder before popping it back into place, clicking the safety on and holstering the firearm at her side. The way she moved and how confident she looked while doing it made it all too apparent that she knew exactly what she was doing.

"It may not be an easy thing to accept, but take solace in knowing she's not entirely helpless anymore." Rei suggested as she could see the conflicted look in her friend's eyes. She too was hesitant to agree with Frasier on something this huge, but they were both unable to deny what was clear as day anymore.

Thirty minutes later…

After having checked every hall and classroom in the school, the group could finally stand down. Their constant state of alert had been utterly draining, so to know they could finally spend the rest of the night being able to relax was nothing less than a godsend.

While some had gotten to work picking their cots and gathering as many steel drums to use as makeshift fireplaces, others got to work chopping up or breaking as much flimsy wooden furniture as possible to use as kindling. All the while, Noah and Marcus had gotten to work siphoning whatever gas they could from the abandoned SDF vehicles scattered around the school grounds.

By the time all work had been done, Kiriko had managed to follow her word and make as much of an equivalent to a feast as she could out of the MRE's they could spare. Everyone's incessant hunger had driven away any need to be picky as those who had bothered to relax for the night accepted the policewoman's cooking with gratitude.

While they all began to get comfortable around their respective drumfires, Rei and Saya quickly realized Saeko was nowhere to be seen. While Frasier's absence had been understandable since he offered to look after the bus, their sword expert didn't have any reason not to join the others that they knew of. Spurred on by their concern, as well as their lingering emotions from her violent display before, the two girls soon departed from the gym to go looking for her.

Thankfully it didn't take long, as the sound of someone rummaging behind one of the first doors before the check-in area got their attention. Looking past the doorway into what looked to be the nurse's office, Saeko's familiar flowing purple hair was the first thing they saw. However, neither of the girls could think of what to even say, their thoughts still dwelling on before. Ultimately, Saeko's sharpened senses helped her realize she was no longer alone, but her momentary apprehension turned to relief when she saw whom it was.

"Oh, hey. How are you two holding up? That was way too close back there," Saeko greeted them before returning her attention to clearing the shelves of all the medicine she could find. "Yeah, it was. Hey, Saeko-san...we actually wanted to talk to you about what happened back there." Rei hesitantly skipped the formalities.

"You see, while we're definitely grateful for you helping us..." Saya began to explain, only to fall silent when Saeko froze and glanced back at them over her shoulder "Yes?" was all the swordswoman could say, her tone showing more than a little anticipation for them to get to their point.

"Well…you see, it's…it's just how you reacted to those ones specifically. They were children." Rei finally got the words out, and the silence to follow now that their concern was in the open was palpable. "But they weren't children. Not anymore, anyway. Please don't tell me you're worried about me over that." Saeko stated with an almost painful bluntness, but the look in their eyes as their heads bowed to the floor pretty much answered her question for her.

"Look, I know it's unsettling at first, but you two need to get a grip on this. There will be plenty more fights along the way, and we'll most likely face more horrors that will push us to the edge. If either of you want to survive, I suggest you don't let your emotions cloud your better judgment," she proceeded to lecture the two of them while dragging the rest of the meds into the duffle bag she had resting at her feet.

"Saeko-san, it's not that you killed 'Them'. It's the fact that you were so efficient about it. The way you moved so decisively…and without an ounce of hesitation, even knowing they were once kids." Rei tried to clarify. It was then that Saeko suddenly frozen with her back to them. When the purple-haired girl turned back to face them, the look in her eyes was no longer one of judgment…but a deep pain.

"You think I've never hesitated in battle before? Believe me, the first time I came across children like those…I reacted no different from either of you," the young swordswoman spoke up, the usual confidence and bravado she typically carried nowhere to be found. It was almost like she'd become a completely different person than the girl they knew.

"I'd never hesitated in combat before, but when I came across those children…I froze. I was horrified. Had Komuro-kun not been there, I wouldn't even be here right now. Thankfully, he was strong enough for both of us that night." To hear Saeko admit to being so vulnerable made it all feel so unreal for Rei and Saya. They'd begun to doubt the former kendo club captain was even capable of such a thing as vulnerability.

"This must've happened after you two got separated from us after my house fell…didn't it?" Saya hesitated to ask; the subject immediately making Rei look away from the both of them as she really didn't want that awful memory coming back. All the same, Saeko nodded. "You never really told us what happened to you two during that time. Do you…do you perhaps want to talk about it?" the pink-haired genius reluctantly offered, secretly hoping Saeko would decline for both hers and Rei's sake. But when the swordswoman took a deep breath, Saya knew the answer was coming regardless.

"After he led me to safety in this small shrine, he sat down with me. He made it clear I couldn't allow myself to be distracted in the heat of the moment like I did with those children. It was then that I finally lost it; that I realized I couldn't hide the ugly truth I'd been able to contain for so long anymore." Saeko proceeded to explain, and the looks of confusion on her captive audience's faces made her take another deep breath, knowing it was time to reveal the awful truth yet again.

"Several years ago, back when I was still in middle school, I was assaulted one night just after finishing kendo practice. Out of sheer reflex, and thanks to my extensive training, I had the upper hand the entire time. That filthy pervert was no match for me. But when he gave up…I couldn't stop hitting him. I just kept hitting him with everything I had over and over, no matter how much he begged me to stop. The police ultimately chalked it up to self-defense, and everyone that heard about it accepted it. But even I knew I'd gone way beyond what was necessary.

"I didn't realize it at first, but there was a sadistic side inside me that was enthralled by inflicting pain on others, and it had awakened for the first time that night. Ever since then, it felt so good whenever I won, to know I was in control over every aspect of my opponent. Thankfully, I was able to use kendo and meditation as outlets for this horrible aggression I had. But once 'They' arrived, any hope of containing it was practically lost.

"For so long, I've been all alone, letting these dark thoughts fester in my head, and being unable to go to anyone about it. How could I possibly tell my father? He was always so proud of me. Hearing that his daughter was a psychotic mess would've devastated him and tarnished the Busujima family name. I never even got to have a boyfriend because of this; I felt certain in my gut they'd be afraid of me otherwise. Every single day, I keep worrying that I'm going to let the carnage consume me, lose control and hurt someone I care about, or worse!"

Saeko gasped for air as she finally reached the pinnacle of her self-debasing rant, painful tears freely running down her face as she bowed her head, as if bracing herself for the storm of ridicule and scorn she was about to receive now that they knew her darkest secret. Frasier only understood because he had the same demons. Takashi only understood because they needed each other to survive. There was no telling how Rei or Saya could possibly react to this.

"I…I don't even know where to begin. I mean, this definitely explains…well, a lot actually. You always seemed to be a different person whenever we had to fight, and now we know why. What I don't understand is why you didn't think to share this with all of us." Rei finally spoke up, struggling to find the right words as Saeko slowly lifted her head; her blue eyes partially obscured under her bangs, leaving her expression unreadable.

"You can stop if you like, Saeko-san. I completely understand if you don't want to talk about Takashi," she suddenly continued, this time catching the young samurai off guard. Saeko would've sworn that out of anyone, Rei would've been the one to finally lay into her all the resentment she must've had for her involving Takashi, and it would've all been justified now that she knew the truth. But to hear her former rival for their old leader's affections being so compassionate left the swordswoman at a loss of what to say or expect anymore.

"That night when we were alone, Komuro-kun vowed to do whatever it took to keep me from slipping away into another frenzy like he'd seen. He never showed any fear; despite knowing how easily I could've turned against him if things got too chaotic. He gave me exactly what I needed that night: Hope." Saeko's voice was trembling as she continued to speak, overwhelmed by the memories, the nostalgic sense of affection she'd developed that night, and the knowledge that out of anyone else, Rei was actually accepting her for everything she was.

"He gave us all hope; it was one of the things that made Takashi so special for as long as I knew him. When we…when we lost him, I thought that might've been it for us. I could've sworn we all would've just given in to despair. God knows I wanted to for a while…and yet we all just kept going on." Rei chimed in, her eyes beginning to well up with tears of her own as memories from so long ago started coming back en masse, and she could feel her heart breaking all over again, as if Takashi's death had been just yesterday.

"Well, with great guys at our side and our wits about us, how can we possibly fail?" Saya finally chimed in, but her forced attempt at optimism didn't seem to visibly brighten either of their spirits. Instead, Rei's expression seemed distant, as if she was in the midst of a great realization or an epiphany.

"Even if that weren't the case, we have to survive this. So many people we loved and cared for gave their lives to help us survive. And continuing to do so is the only way we can honor their memory and protect those we hold most dear to us." Rei pronounced, as though reciting a solemn vow to herself as she seemed to now stand tall with a sense of purpose. All the while, Saeko kept her eyes to the floor, almost as though she felt unworthy of such regard in the eyes of any of the others.

That was when Rei and Saya both stepped forward and pulled the morose young woman in for a warm group hug. Saeko was at first understandably shocked at their continuous showing of affection in spite of everything, but her silence quickly gave way to tears of raw emotion as she slowly brought her arms around the two girls and held them tight in return.

"Saeko-san, you may think differently, but I don't think this secret of yours makes you a monster. We've all had to accept the terrible things we might have to do in order to survive; but it's our loyalty to each other in the thick of it all that makes us still human, and that includes you. No matter how bad it gets out there, no matter how strained things between us might have started off, I will always defend you like I would anyone else here, until my dying breath. We might have been very different people at the start of all this, but now I think it's safe to say we're sisters-in-arms." Rei admitted, looking Saeko in the eye as she spoke with astounding conviction

"That's right, and as such, we'll both do our part in trying to help you through this dilemma whichever way you see fit. No one should have to go through this alone, least of all you." Saya readily agreed, and through her tears, Saeko's lips slowly formed into the genuinely warmest smile the two had ever seen her give.

"I...t-thank you both. You really don't know how much it means to me to hear you say these things." Saeko said in gratitude, trying to not get overly emotional again as she hugged them once more. As utterly alone as she'd resigned herself to feeling after her falling out with Frasier, to know she had these two standing by her side in light of knowing her worst trait made Saeko Busujima feel a sense of real hope for the first time in over a month.

"Why don't you come eat with the rest of us while the fires are still going? After today, you can't tell us you're not just as hungry." Saya finally offered, remembering the whole reason they'd come looking for her in the first place. As if to emphasize the pink-haired girl's point, Saeko's stomach suddenly let out a notable growl at the mention of food, causing the three girls to nearly burst out giggling.

"Quite hard to say no to that. I'll be there shortly. Don't wait up for me," she admitted, giving Rei and Saya a reassuring smile as she slung the duffle bag of meds over her shoulder, ready to finally call it a night and let her body relax.

Shortly after…

As everyone else continued to enjoy the first solace they'd had in weeks and the simple blessing of a hot meal to eat, many simply looked into the almost hypnotic light of their respective barrel fires. So many nights they'd had to spend in the cold darkness crammed together into that tiny bus, so an opportunity like this to actually feel comfortable and warm for once was too great to pass up.

But while many were simply content to bask in the fire's warmth and eat their fill, Alice was more preoccupied watching Zeke as he slept soundly in a bundle of abandoned clothes she'd made into a makeshift bed for him near the barrel she, Shizuka and Miku were gathered around. But the look in her eyes was less amused and more…contemplative.

"Do you really think he'll bite me one day if I don't have food for him?" Alice suddenly asked, never taking her eyes off the small pup while Shizuka and Miku were snapped from their silent reverie. "I really have no idea, Alice-chan. It can all happen so quickly, and you'd never see it coming until it's too late." Miku answered honestly, to which Alice's expression became that much more concerned. None of them had ever thought of the possibility before, and now that Miku had brought it up, the poor child couldn't stop.

"Miku-chan, you're really worried about everyone here, aren't you? Why else would you bring that possibility up when nobody else did?" Shizuka suddenly asked, earning a look of confusion from the orange-haired girl, as if she didn't think the nurse even needed to ask. "I thought that would've been obvious by this point. Of course I'm worried about everyone. What kind of group would this be, if nobody worried about anyone else? Our lives are constantly on the line these days, to the point I keep thinking any one of us could turn on the others if things got desperate enough." Miku was nearly on the verge of rambling all of their frustrations, but quickly got herself back on track, lest anyone else overheard her.

"I know just what you mean; it's scary out there, and times have consistently been hard on us, but I think it's safe to say that if this group was going to have any betrayal or infighting, it would've already happened. I think everyone here understands that working as a team is the only way we can hope to survive anymore." Shizuka spoke understandingly, but with just a trace of optimism that couldn't help but make Miku smile.

"I hope you're right about that, Shizuka-sensei. While Frasier-san may be less team-oriented than the others, everyone else seems to feel the way you described. It's just so hard to see them all endure so much, yet act like it's not eating away at us every day." Miku lamented, dreading the thought of when it would finally become too much and their group would come apart at the seams.

All the while, Alice's gaze gradually shifted from Zeke asleep in his bed to Marcus, sitting by himself across the gym from her, absentmindedly picking away at his own MRE while never taking his eyes off of his own fire. In the glow, she couldn't see any of the enthusiastic light in his eyes anymore. Instead, his green eyes just looked empty, and his expression sullen. It was like he wasn't even the same person who used to always make her laugh anymore.

"Do either of you know why Marcus-niichan doesn't tell jokes anymore? He just looks so sad all the time." Alice suddenly asked, to which Miku and Shizuka exchanged remorseful glances with each other. "Well, that's because he really misses Hitomi-san." Miku tried to explain, not wanting to bring up any more painful details than she had to for Alice's sake.

"I miss her too. She was always really nice to me," the little girl muttered to herself sadly, looking down at the half-empty MRE in her hands. As Miku and Shizuka watched Alice bow her head until her bangs covered her eyes, her shoulders began to tremble as they could soon hear her sniffling in an attempt to keep from crying. "I also really miss Kenji and his grandpa…and Takashi-niichan...my mommy and daddy..." And just like that, Alice finally broke down into mournful sobs as she dropped her food to the floor and pulled her knees to her chest, crying into them.

"Shh, just let it out. It's okay to cry, sweetie. We miss them all too." Shizuka whispered comfortingly as she pulled Alice into her lap, holding the weeping child close. Miku soon followed suit, and both women were soon holding Alice in their arms as she finally let out a month's worth of tears of anguish.

Meanwhile…

Across the gym, Rei was once again enjoying the overall peaceful silence and pleasant warmth of the fire alongside her parents. Johann was keeping something of a distance from the three while still being able to keep warm himself. In all honesty, he felt like it wasn't his place to just insert himself into their little family circle, as it had started to feel like since this journey had started. While Kiriko was in the middle of polishing off her own MRE, Tadashi was wistfully gazing up through the skylight to the night sky.

"Would you look at that; the stars are really shining tonight. You'd never see this back in the city with all its light pollution." Tadashi pointed out, spurring his wife and daughter to follow his gaze. Just as he said, the sky above was filled with a myriad of glittering stars, to the point it could've illuminated the sky just as well as any full moon.

"Wow, I almost forgot how beautiful they were." Rei mused, as she couldn't take her eyes away from it. She couldn't help but find it amazing how something so simple could be so captivating in a world without things like cell phones, TV or the Internet. "I don't think we've seen them this bright since our last camping trip. You were barely up to my waist back then, remember, Rei-chan?" Kiriko reminisced, bringing Rei into a one-armed hug as she remembered how adorable her daughter was those days.

"Ah, Mom..." the young teen mumbled, her face turning pink with embarrassment once she noticed Johann was looking at her with what looked like a smirk of amusement. "Oh, let your mother have this, Rei. You have no idea how much she misses those days." Tadashi tried to reason with Rei, finding the nostalgic smile on his wife's face too precious to squander.

"I know, I know... I just wish she wasn't so embarrassing about it." Rei mumbled to herself, cheeks puffed out like a pouting child as she looked down at her feet in embarrassment, all while Kiriko looked to have completely tuned out into full nostalgia.

"Sounds like it must've been pretty nice. I wish I could've done something like that when I was younger." Johann suddenly piped in, grabbing the whole Miyamoto family's attention. "Oh, never been camping before, have you? That's a real shame, Johann-kun. No child should ever have to miss out on something so important." Tadashi expressed with visible surprise. It seemed so…wrong to him that a kid could ever go without engaging with nature in its entire splendor at least once.

"Honestly, I always wanted to give it a try back when I was living with my parents in Hamburg. But with dad constantly spending what money we could actually spare on booze, it was pretty much a pipe dream on my part." Johann shared, taking on a reminiscent air of his own. Rei remembered everything he'd told her about his turbulent family life back in Germany, so this bit of sad news didn't surprise her as visibly as it did her parents, as they both looked regretfully at each other.

"I'm really sorry to hear that, Johann-kun. I've personally seen far too many cases to know how those households can usually turn out. No child should ever have to miss out on something so gratifying as living amid nature. It was always a lot of fun whenever we took our family trips for it." Tadashi expressed his sympathy while Kiriko and Rei both nodded in agreement. But soon the former detective's remorseful frown turned into yet another reminiscent grin as he began to think back on any uplifting memories he could.

"Except that one time you ate those awful berries and spent the entire weekend—" Kiriko began to add, only to be swiftly cut off by Rei waving her arms in a panic "Oh, gross! No, unacceptable! Mom, you are not telling Johann that story," she nearly screamed, just barely managing to compose herself.

"Oh, come on, Rei-chan; it's the perfect example of something you can laugh about looking back. Tadashi was trying to act like he knew everything there was to know about camping in the woods outside of town. Shortly after we'd set up the tent, we all decided to go hiking to the lake, and he decided to pick some berries growing in some bushes off the trail. Unfortunately, he'd gotten them confused with a different kind that grew in the same local area, and the poor man ended up spending the entire weekend either bedridden in the tent or huddled behind the bushes far from either of us."

Johann was trying to stifle a laugh as Kiriko continued with her story; both of them either not noticing or ignoring how Rei and Tadashi were both resting their faces in the palms of their hands in embarrassment.

"Of course it was concerning at the time, but I can't help but find the whole thing funny now that it's over. At one point, Rei-chan actually volunteered to eat one of those same berries, just so Tadashi wouldn't have to spend all day in the tent by himse—" Kiriko continued on before Rei suddenly brought her hands over her mother's mouth to keep her from finishing; her face practically glowing red. "Oh my God! Johann, do not listen to a word from this crazy woman!" Rei practically begged while her mother tried to pry her daughter's hands away. Finally, the whole awkward mess was broken as Johann let out the first legitimate laugh any of them had heard in the last two months, rendering the three silent as he collected himself.

"That all sounds great. I'm actually a little envious now," the young German said between his gasps for air. At first Rei continued to look mortified at the thought he was laughing at that awful story, but she soon couldn't help but find herself giggling along with him, with Kiriko following suit. Tadashi on the other hand remained silent, not feeling like laughing since he knew he was ultimately the butt of the joke.

"Well, maybe once things settle down and it's safe enough, we could all go again. You're more than welcome to come along of course, Johann-kun." Kiriko threw the idea out, no hesitation to be heard as she practically roped Johann into the decision. "Yes; we absolutely insist you come along. Besides, it would be nice to actually have someone to fish with. Kiriko always had to hold Rei still, since she was always disgusted by the fish." Tadashi agreed heartily, neither he nor his wife noticing the confused look on Johann's face, as he had to do a double take.

"Disgusted by the fish? We live on what's ultimately a giant island, and you're grossed out by fish?" Johann couldn't help but ask while Rei's whole body was practically trembling with chills at the memories. "When they're fresh out of the water, yes. Their scales feel so gross and slimy and...Ugh; I'm never holding one of those things again." Rei shuddered, practically feeling her stomach turn as she could already imagine the sickening texture in her hands.

"She also used to have the cutest little fisherman hat. It was Tadashi's, but knowing Rei-chan, she wanted to be just like him. Half the time, it would just cover her entire head." Kiriko reminisced, ruffling Rei's golden-brown hair, earning an embarrassed smile from her daughter as she didn't bother trying to make her mother stop.

"So…let's say we do get that chance; would we be fishing from the shore? Or...?" Johann suddenly asked, some notable hesitation in his voice as he tried to work up the courage to keep speaking; only to be cut off when Tadashi proudly slapped his hand across his knee. "Nope! Right in the middle of a lake is the best spot. You have to get up awful early though if you don't want to get a sunburn," the former detective stated proudly, as if it were the pinnacle of real manhood he was speaking of, rather than just sitting in a boat on still water for hours on end. It was almost worthy of another laugh from his family to see how easily he'd missed the look of reluctance on Johann' face.

"I don't know, his complexion is so fair, even for a foreigner, I think he could probably use a slight tan. Right, Rei?" Kiriko chimed in her opinion, giving her daughter a knowing nudge to the arm, but surprisingly Rei wasn't blushing with embarrassment, but instead looked mildly confused. "Why do you ask, Johann? You seemed kind of hesitant for a second," the teenage girl asked, to which Johann slightly retreated into himself with an embarrassed blush of his own.

"Oh...well, this might sound crazy, but I…I-I don't actually know how to swim. I know; I know I just gave you crap for being grossed out by fish while living on an island, but what's my excuse? It's kind of funny, I actually planned on taking lessons this summer, but I can forget about that now," the young man explained with great hesitation, as if he was practically inviting Rei to laugh at him in return. She practically earned the right.

"You're right, that is crazy; but fortunately it's not nearly as impossible as you might think at first. I'm sure one of us can teach you to keep from drowning at the very least." Tadashi offered after barely choking down the beginnings of a chuckle at the teenage boys' expense. Thankfully this seemed to disarm Johann's apprehensions as a grin of gratitude soon formed.

"Well in that case I'd love to go camping with you guys. I mean, you know, if that's alright of course." Johann declared, quickly backtracking once he realized how forward he was already being. "We already said we insist you come with us next time, Johann-kun. We wouldn't have offered if we didn't mean it. After all of what you did for our daughter, you and everyone else are pretty much part of the family at this point. The more the merrier!" Kiriko assured him before reaching over and practically dragging him by the collar until he was officially in their family circle. As Johann tried to process it all, he and Rei exchanged glances through the dancing flames; the boy feeling his whole body grow warmer as he looked at the joyous smile on her lips accompanied by her reddish brown eyes sparkling in the light.

Shortly after…

As everyone's fireside reveries continued, Frasier was perched at a windowsill in a classroom that had a clear view of the bus. Were anyone to come near it, he'd be able to react before they could have any hopes of stealing it or anything else inside. While setting himself up here to keep watch so the others could relax and eat in peace, the isolation was a greatly welcome change of pace for him; leaving him deep in thought with no distractions or complaints.

All was going well so far, until he heard the door starting to slide open. Knowing it couldn't be more of 'Them', he casually looked back to see Miku walk in with a steaming bowl in hand. "Oh, it's just you. What do you want?" Frasier asked in a surprised manner, as if he was expecting someone else to be seeking him out.

"Noah-kun said you were keeping an eye on the bus and that this was the best spot to do it from." Miku began to answer, as his vacant expression didn't change, still waiting for an answer from her before she finally held the bowl out to him. "I brought you some dinner."

"I see. Well, thank you," the eldest Lawson began to say as he glanced at it, his stomach letting out a light rumble as he took it with both hands, instantly feeling the pleasant warmth through the plastic. "Aren't you going to come down and join us; at least once you're done eating?" Miku then asked as he began to gently blow on his meal before eating. "What's the point of that now?" he immediately countered dismissively as she could only shrug her shoulders and lean against a nearby desk.

"I don't know; I just figured you'd want to enjoy the peace and quiet with the rest of us," she explained, sounding almost as if she was hoping he'd just take the blunt answer and accept the invitation. For as much of an ass as he'd been to her before, she still felt he deserved to relax as much as the rest of them.

"You guys don't need me for that; I'd just get in the way. Besides, someone has to keep an eye on our only way out of here." Frasier denied, despite both of them knowing there wasn't really much left to steal, and anyone trying to hotwire the bus would not get very far with what little gas was left in it. "Suit yourself; just know you're always welcome to join." Miku sighed before making her way out of the classroom, only stopping when he suddenly stood upright.

"Wait. Before you go...there's something I've been meaning to ask you," his voice called out. Her eyes glanced back to him, only to find a look of uncertainty painted on his face. "Why did you stay with us? You had the perfect opportunity to betray us back at the mall…so why didn't you?" was all he asked, which left Miku looking reasonably insulted.

"You're seriously asking me this now? We've been on the road together for well over a month, and you choose now to ask me that?" the young teen shot back with one hand on her hip. Despite the offense she took from his questions, she couldn't help but wonder what managed to spur this seemingly dormant curiosity. "Well, we've rarely had the opportunity to discuss much of anything outside of what to do about our dwindling supplies. Privacy has also been something of an issue between us, so only now can I finally ask without interruption from the others," the brash leader explained before Miku marched back to look him square in the eyes.

"Is that so? You really must know then? It's because, and this may surprise you, but I actually meant it when I said I care about this group. Yes, even despite all the constant lies Shido had been feeding me from the start, once I actually got to know you all, I could tell you were all really good people," she answered wholeheartedly. Frasier was noticeably surprised to hear her sound so convicted in this belief and dedication toward the rest of their compatriots. The intensity in her eyes and tone proved she was meaning every last word of it too, even though she'd decided against bringing up her very close relationship with Noah. It was quiet at first after that, however, she could tell Frasier had no response planned, which only seemed to anger her further.

"I figured someone as cunning and vigilant as yourself would've put that together on your own, but I guess that's what I get for assuming things." Miku scoffed as Frasier looked taken aback by how intense she'd unexpectedly become. "My apologies, Yuuki-san. You can go back to the others. I've wasted enough of your time." Frasier suddenly apologized, causing Miku to practically freeze mid-step. "Wait…y-you actually didn't know?" she asked on reflex, surprised that he now seemed to actually regret what he'd asked her.

"There's plenty I don't know. I just...I thought for the longest time you were simply waiting for an opportunity. The signs were all there, to the point I'd convinced myself you'd inevitably betray us; but when it didn't happen, it left me…uncertain about other things as well." Frasier began to confess, almost ready to open up his innermost thoughts. "Like what?" Miku began to press, all too curious now. "Nothing that should concern you or the others. Please, thank whoever made this. They have my regards," the young Brit swiftly denied, quick to change the subject.

"Look, Frasier-san, I know you're still not entirely comfortable around me, but if you need someone to talk to, Shizuka-sensei is still willing to talk to anyone in private. It really helps to have someone to confide in for things like this." Miku advised, noticing a look of contemplation on his face; soon turning away and leaving him to debate on whether or not he should do just that.

A Short While Later…

As everyone's individual conversations grew and grabbed the attention of ore and more of their friends, the entirety of the group had soon migrated until they were all part of one large bustling circle around the gathered fire barrels in the center of the gymnasium, exchanging stories, jokes, and overall idle chatter of days long since past. The food provided to them for the night had long since gone by, but everyone was in far too celebratory of a mood to care. They had begun to doubt they'd ever have an opportunity to relax and simply live like this again, and by God, they were going to enjoy it for as long as they could before having to hi the road again.

As everyone carried on like it was a long-awaited family reunion, nobody seemed to notice Frasier had actually stepped in, his otherwise thundering footsteps as quiet as the night as he hesitantly approached. It wasn't until he too was illuminated in the glow of the gathered fires that everyone noticed his presence. The lively conversations had all gone deathly silent, as though they were just waiting for him to reprimand them all for making any noise at all. The silence he greeted them with, accompanied by his once again stoic expression, didn't help. But then, when everyone had finally lost all ideas of what to expect, the eldest Lawson suddenly broke into a rather nervous, non-threatening smile.

"I hope it's not too late to join for supper," the young leader finally spoke up, and while at first everyone's faces showed utter confusion, as if they actually didn't recognize the towering young man standing over them; their expressions quickly softened and their smiles returned. "Not at all. Come sit over here with us." Kiriko warmly offered.

As he walked over to her with a now grateful look in his eyes, he quickly noticed all the clean cots and chairs were occupied. Before he could try to find one that would've been suitable enough, Rika suddenly grabbed at his belt loop and pulled down with enough force to seat him beside her. Before the young Brit could react, Saeko quickly joined by sitting on his other side. Both women shot a quick glare to one another, as Frasier adjusted so there was enough leg space for all three of them. Both Tadashi and Kiriko couldn't help but laugh at the amusing sight laid out before them.

For the first time in what felt like ages, the whole group was able to pass the night in joyous comfort and peace.

Early Morning

Z-Day+62

While being able to eat a full meal and taking an extra few hours of sleep helped bolster the group's morale significantly, the fact remained that sunrise meant they had to keep moving. The morning was almost ominously quiet, for they all knew too well this was their last plotted route that could even possibly guarantee a reasonably quick passage to Tokyo. No matter how much their morale had been raised with the previous night, they couldn't forget that this was their last chance, and if anything else were to go wrong, there was no telling what would happen to them; Frasier's potential reaction notwithstanding.

It was a surprisingly nice day, given how nice the weather was: a warm temperate sky with the occasional breeze of gentle winds. Hardly any of 'Them' were seen since this latest leg of the journey started, which either meant relative safety, or danger was laying just around the next corner. Despite the lack of fuel, the hope of a way out seemed to put such concerns aside for the first time in weeks.

However, an overwhelming sense of dread washed over the group as the bus rounded a turn and came to a sudden halt. Everyone flocked to the front; reluctant as Shizuka's horrified expression could be seen in the rear view mirror. Frasier immediately stormed off the bus, and the others quickly followed after him, only to come face to face with the remains of a Boeing 747 scattered all over the road and surrounding scorched mountainside.

"God help us…God help us all..." was all the eldest Lawson brother could muster to himself as he absentmindedly approached the wreck and looked around, hoping there would be a gap they could go through; only to be met with nothing but the twisted fuselage, charred corpses of the passengers, and countless massive hunks of debris littered all around the crash site.

"They must've had a bitten passenger on board. Poor bastards didn't have a chance." Marcus commented; certain no civilian planes would've been airborne after the country was put on lockdown. "M-maybe if we go back, we can find another road? A route that we've just been overlooking?" Rei began to suggest, trying not to let this setback crush their spirits any further than it already had.

"What good would that do? It's just gonna turn out like everywhere else we've tried." Saya began to argue, awash in a sense of hopelessness after seeing the aftermath of yet another tragedy among countless others. "Saya-san, she was just trying to help. There's no need to be attacking a mere suggestion." Kohta brought up in Rei's defense; hoping Saya would see her anger wasn't going to solve anything. "Oh just whose side are you on, anyway?" Saya grumbled, still immensely bitter that Kohta didn't openly stick up for her back at the elementary school last night.

"Dear, what are we going to do now?" Kiriko asked, barely above a whimper as she could see her husband was desperately trying to think of a way out of this mess. However, it appeared that the optimism he usually had for such situations had finally run out. "I don't know, darling. I…I truly don't know," was all Tadashi could answer with before running both hands through his hair in exasperation.

"We're wasting valuable time right now. We need a better solution than standing around aimlessly." Saeko suddenly advised as a few of them looked to see where the sun currently was. While it was good to be aware of their surroundings, it didn't exactly help ease the already grim mood.

"Oh, this is just bloody typical. Once more, progress is held back! But at least I now know one thing for certain..." Frasier's voice began to ramble from above as he tossed aside a scrap of wreckage out of frustration. He slowly turned back to face his group before announcing in a softened voice: "I finally know who's to blame for all of this."

What he could've meant by that was anyone's guess. The way he spoke, however, gave everyone an uneasy twisting sensation in their gut. They were all now visibly concerned with how he was going to handle their last plotted route ending in utter failure, just like all the others.

"IT'S ALL OF YOU!" he proclaimed with such zealous accusation in his throat as a single finger extended out to emphasize it even further. Their attention was all fixated on him now as he stormed down a crumpled wing to their level. "You all kept talking about hope, like it's something you can just hold onto with your bare hands. You all kept praising things like teamwork and unity, like it's our only salvation through all of this shit; but this month alone proved that all means absolutely bloody NOTHING out here," the burnt out leader shouted with such heated contempt, no doubt in his mind that they were all to blame for his mission's failure.

"Hell... had it just been the Lawson's on the road, with none of you to slow us down, we could've easily just walked to Tokyo by now. But NO, they just had to do the stupidest thing imaginable, and become attached to a bunch of feeble weaklings," he continued to ramble, not giving a single damn how any of them would feel about the myriad of things he had to say about them all. "All this time, I thought it was I that failed here; that every setback was a shortcoming of my own, but it's not! Want to know why?!" he then asked rhetorically, without even giving them a moment to remotely consider responding before he stomped one boot to the ground. "It's because you're all so fucking useless! Every last fucking one of you!

"Useless! Useless! Useless! Useless! Useless! Useless! Useless! Useless! Useless! Useless! Useless! USELESS!" his voice bellowed out, rapidly growing more and more intense by the second as he pointed to every last one of his comrades; forming a tight fist at the end as they were all left utterly speechless in the wake of such a volatile outburst. At this point, Frasier's face was colored deep red with a vein pulsating along the side of his temple.

How could they even hope to stand up to him when he was so far over the edge? It was as if they were almost entirely swallowed and consumed by his sheer rage alone. Just as they'd all feared, the crushing defeat of their last route proved to be too much for Frasier. A mix of venom, scorn, and complete utter hatred from his words burned deep into their hearts as they tried to hold back any response, despite the quickly growing urge to tell him off.

"You especially, Marcus! I expected far more from you above all else." Frasier suddenly announced; stopping in his tracks when he noticed Marcus wasn't even listening to him anymore at this point. Instead, he was looking at Hitomi's badge in his hand to tune his brother's rant out.

"Frasier, don't!" Noah shouted back in desperation, only to watch as his eldest sibling completely ignored his warning, swiping the badge from Marcus before dropping it at his feet, only to immediately bring his boot down on it.

CRUNCH!

With no hesitation, Frasier viciously grounded his boot into the ground. Bits and pieces of the badge crunched and cracked underneath his weight. Marcus' empty eyes just watched without any visible response to be seen. There were no words or anything of the like to express himself. There was just a grim silence that left everyone else in awe. Not even watching Frasier walk away with absolutely zero remorse on his face, the broken middle Lawson fell to his knees and crawled over to the fractured remains; trying desperately to piece it all back together, only for a gust of wind to blow some of the smaller bits away, leaving him no chance at even attempting to put it back together again.

"You knew her for what, a few weeks at most, Marcus? Whatever you think you felt for her has only brought you misery, pain, and unnecessary distractions. Now we're practically tethered to a bunch of useless meat shields that just continue to hinder all of our efforts, all because you and Noah had to be a bunch of fucking sentimental SODS! I've been more than patient with you; I gave you plenty of time to grieve even. Well crying time is over, Marcus. So please do us all a favor and get the fuck over it already," was all Frasier had to say, practically spitting with judgmental venom as he looked down at his kneeling brother with no sympathy, but rather distaste, almost as if the sight of Marcus disgusted him.

"Have you completely lost your goddamn mind?! What are you trying to prove by going off on everyone like this?" Rei finally called out, trying to be brave despite both her legs trembling when she watched his eyes shift in her direction; staring with an overwhelming intensity that made her almost regret speaking out. "Ohh, I'm more sane than I've ever been, Rei. I can see now that what I did that night was truly a mistake, though. Tell me, had you known what would've happened in the following month, would you have tried to stop me?" Frasier began to speak with the utmost contempt in his voice, before his tone become more curious than anything else.

"What…what is he talking about?" Tadashi asked with an uneasy feeling creeping up his spine. Rei's deathly silence only made the tension far worse for her parents. "Rei? Honey, please answer me; what is he talking about?" Kiriko requested in a calmer approach, trying not to tear up as her daughter couldn't seem to speak at this point.

"Yes, 'honey', please answer your dear old mum. Do you want to tell them about that night, or shall I go ahead myself?" Frasier began to openly taunt, practically offering to make what was undoubtedly a grievous error in judgment. "What the hell did you do?!" Tadashi snarled as his hands began to twitch, half ready to reach into his holster for his weapon.

"I kidnapped her one night, and under the cover of darkness, I carried her unconscious body out to be delivered to Shido's group for our real deal: her life in exchange for the safe passage of myself, my brothers and Alice out of the city. I knew Shido wasn't going to really go through with it, but I was willing to at least see him in person with his guard down. While he did whatever he wanted to Rei, I could've killed him right then and there!" Frasier began to confess. The group was so astonished to hear of such unspeakable treachery, they could only look over at Rei to confirm it was indeed true.

"Of course the plan didn't go right, though. While his followers who picked up Rei for him waited about in one of their outposts, they started to get frisky with her. Just moments away from doing whatever they wanted to her supple body..." "THAT'S ENOUGH! Dear God, we trusted you! How the hell could you do this to us?!" Kiriko finally interjected, utterly horrified by such terrible thoughts of what almost happened to her precious Rei, and what she did go through. The betrayal of the eldest Lawson brother, the damn leader of their ragtag group, only added insult to injury at this point.

"Her life, possibly mine too, in order to save everyone else? Those are pretty good odds, given how many we DID lose the next morning because I didn't go through with my plan," was all Frasier could answer with, no hatred nor anger to be found that time, though. Instead, he just spoke in a frigid tone that showed no regret for what he'd attempted.

"Don't move a goddamn muscle! I don't know what your angle is, but until we do, you're not coming anywhere near my family!" Tadashi suddenly warned the moment Frasier began to walk back for the bus. The young Brit raised an eyebrow to the ex-detective's sudden draw of his gun. "Or what, you'll shoot me? If that were true, you would've shot me already. If the moment I said Rei was almost raped because of me wasn't what pushed you over the limit, then nothing will," Frasier deduced, slightly grinning as he called out what felt like a desperate bluff.

Before either side could make the next move, Marcus' fist suddenly slammed straight into Frasier's jaw line, to everyone's surprise. Such unexpected force sent Frasier tumbling before he quickly adjusted to see his enraged brother closing in for another strike.

"YOU MOTHERFUCKER!" Marcus screamed; swinging with such intensity his older sibling barely had time to react. Frasier was immediately forced to go on the defensive as Marcus' punches felt even stronger than he could've possibly anticipated. "All this time I've been mourning, you never fucking cared! You just keep putting me down every chance you fucking GET! NO MORE!" Marcus continued to shriek in near hysterics as his flurry of fists and occasional kicks began to pry at Frasier's defenses; managing to actually land a few decent hits while easily avoiding the few quick retaliatory jabs Frasier barely managed to throw.

"I'm so fucking sick of this world, and every goddamn thing in it! I'm sick of feeling so useless all the fucking time…but most of all, I'm sick of you, trying to control me like you were DAD," he continued to furiously rant before finally shoulder tackling Frasier to the ground. He immediately started scrambling to pin his brother down and start pounding away at his face with all his rage-induced strength. The rest of the group could only watch, conflicted on whether or not they should bother intervening.

"Oh, so now you decide to do something about it?! By all means, you ungrateful little shit, TRY! I would've smashed that sentimental rubbish a long time ago, had I known it'd make you stop feeling so fucking sorry for yourself!" Frasier shouted back as he was practically goading Marcus on at this point. Despite taking some painful hits, he wasn't able to block. He instead seemed eager to instigate this even further.

"This world is shit; a nightmare we'll never live long enough to see the end of! But I do know one thing: if a fucking piece of shit like you died, it would be much more tolerable!" Marcus growled from the deepest pit of his heart, suddenly unable to land another blow as Noah tried to pull him off; having seen enough bloodshed between the two before having to step in himself.

"Stay the fuck out of this, Noah! This evil cunt has had it coming for way too long!" Marcus snarled, going as far as backhanding his little brother aside, only to barely catch a glimpse of Frasier once again standing before him.

WRAM!

Without warning, Frasier slugged Marcus with an extraordinary force that sent him off his feet; slamming against the bus as his whole body began to ache at once. Marcus fell to his knees as the eldest of the Lawson trio towered over him, grimacing like he intended to end this fight permanently. That familiar, eerie stare he always had before killing someone was fixated solely on Marcus now.

'Christ... I forgot how hard he could actually hit. Feels like my head is spinning. My guts are gonna burst if he does that again.' Marcus thought as he grit his teeth, his mouth filled with the sickening taste of copper as he spat some blood out. He could swear he felt one of his teeth barely hanging on by the root near the back of his mouth; but if anything, this pain only made Marcus' blood boil much hotter.

'Well…at least I know he isn't messing around anymore.' He thought with a smirk as he suddenly launched himself forward off his feet, ramming his head hard into Frasier's solar plexus and knocking the wind right out of him. Frasier doubled over onto his knees, but Marcus didn't pause. Instead, he quickly pulled his knife from it's sheathe and swung for Frasier's face.

Frasier barely swung his head back in time, able to feel the blade cut through the air. He quickly rolled backward onto his feet and had his own knife drawn out as he rose to meet his brother head-on. The two were quick on their toes, circling each other like vicious animals while everyone else instantly backed away the instant they saw knives were involved.

With cobra-like swiftness, Marcus lunged, but with every swing and jab, the two Lawson's swerved and ducked right by each other. The look in their eyes practically spelled it out: they were both looking to go for the kill. If nobody stepped in, one of them was going to die here. That realization was what drove Noah to once again grab Marcus' wrist before he could attack again. But that didn't stop Frasier from charging once he found his opening, looking to drive his knife straight into Marcus' heart.

That was when Saeko finally stepped in and hooked her arms around Frasier's right, trying to steer him away from making the worst mistake of his life. But all the eldest Lawson could see was red, and pure motorized instinct drove him to momentarily drop his knife, only to quickly wrestle his arm free, grab his weapon mid-drop in his left hand and swing for whoever dared to get in his way.

"AAAAAH!" Saeko cried out as the steel tore through her black tank top and cut into her skin like wet paper. She nearly collapsed as she could feel the warm wet sensation of her blood spilling out and already soaking her clothes as several others rushed to catch her mid-fall. Her breathing was ragged, sending a bolt of pain through her body with each breath as she looked at the deep tear across her left side. She was in such shock, she couldn't even hear the panicked murmurings of her friends as they all tried to stop the bleeding with what little they had.

The sound of Saeko's cries of pain was the one thing to finally pierce through the veil of Frasier's psychotic rage and bring him back to Earth. Once his vision cleared and he saw Saeko surrounded by everyone else, half her body stained with her own blood, and then saw the blood on the edge of his own knife, Frasier felt his burning blood go ice cold with horror. He couldn't even get his head on straight or muster up the words to say how sorry he was. This was the very last thing he ever wanted to have happen, and now his worst fear was unfolding before his eyes.

But none of this mattered to Marcus as he viciously reared his head back, nailing Noah right in the nose and sending him reeling from the shock, freeing his grip on his brother. With Frasier distracted, Marcus dashed for him like a leopard dashing for its prey. Putting all his body weight and momentum into tackling his elder brother once more, Marcus was like a man possessed as he didn't waste a second to even scream or cry out, and instead brought his knife straight down into Frasier's shoulder; the fine steel cutting deep through his muscle like it was nothing.

The blood spurted out almost instantly, splashing both Frasier and Marcus' faces as the eldest Lawson nearly roared with anguish as he could feel his brother's knife dig into his shoulder until it was nearly up to the hilt. But the look in Marcus' eyes showed no remorse, no regret. There was only the mindless desire to kill. With that, the middle Lawson quickly ripped his knife out of Frasier's gushing shoulder, bringing the blade up over his head for the killing blow.

BLAM!

The blade of Marcus' knife shattered mid-stab, the steel flying everywhere in chunks as Marcus' froze, looking at his destroyed weapon with confusion. When both brothers looked to see Noah with his pistol smoking in his hand, his normally compassionate blue eyes showed only an icy coldness, exacerbated by the fact his mouth was covered in his own blood flowing from his heavily bruised nose from Marcus' head butt.

"That's enough, from both of you! Now you two back off from each other, way off! Next one tries to make a move, so help me God, I'll put you down myself, you hear me?" he hissed angrily as he kept his barrel trained one Marcus, Frasier and back again. The intensity of his voice and the white-knuckle grip he had on his gun showed them both he wasn't screwing around this time. With both their hearts still pounding madly with adrenaline, Marcus was the one to eventually back away from Frasier's prone body, his long hair covering his eyes as he bowed his head and took a few steps back before finally turning away. But for Frasier, the agony of his bleeding shoulder wouldn't let him simply take that as the end.

"Where the hell was this side of you all along, Marcus? Why didn't you fight like this back at the mall?" he suddenly called out, causing Marcus to freeze in his tracks while the eldest Lawson struggled to get up off his back and ignore the searing pain of his stab wound. "Had you been anywhere near this intense then, Hitomi and the others would still be alive! Oh, you can hate me all you want for saying it, but we both know it's true." Frasier continued to cruelly taunt, watching as Marcus shoulders began to shake, his continuing sobs gradually turning into an almost animalistic growling of rage, as if he was struggling to keep from straight up exploding from the sheer hatred burning inside his gut.

"FRASIER, I SAID THAT'S ENOUGH, GOD DAMMIT!" Noah screamed furiously; Miku having to restrain him from storming over and kicking Frasier into unconsciousness so he would finally stop. "Shut up, Noah! We could've had all the supplies we needed for this trip! Out of everyone here, your failure was the greatest, Marcus! Every moment we go hungry, all the sleepless nights, everyone we've lost was because of your weakness! Not mine!" Frasier finally shouted at the top of his lungs, not with anger but with sheer contempt. It was as if he was actually trying to kill his own brother with a broken heart.

But the resulting bloodthirsty rampage he was expecting from Marcus never came. Instead, all he got was an over-the-shoulder glance reflecting nothing but incomprehensible hatred. Marcus' eyes were the eyes of a long-dead shell of a man who wanted nothing more than to rip the boy he once called his brother apart with his bare hands, just in the hopes of feeling just a little bit alive again. But without another word, Marcus turned his back on Frasier and took off running into the thick of the woods, quickly vanishing out of everyone's sight.

"Of all the fucking bullheaded...Frasier, if you think this is helping, then you are DEAD. FUCKING. WRONG! You're tearing this group apart with every goddamn word that comes out of your mouth! I mean, fucking hell, are you trying to throw away everyone you care about?! Every part of me as your family wants to sympathize with what's been going on, but Jesus Christ, you are making it impossible right now!"

Noah's face was nearly red with anger, as he couldn't even look at his own brother without feeling disgust. After all the time he'd spent standing up for him when everybody else went on about how dangerous he was, he'd finally gotten to see the kind of person Frasier really was when the family façade came apart. It was everything the youngest Lawson had feared, and for the first time in ages, he truly felt like there was no hope in trying to redeem him. Without another word, Noah began to run into the woods after Marcus, only for Frasier to call his name out in protest.

"Noah! Don't even bother. You're wasting your time chasing after a lost cause like him. If Marcus wants to go die, then I say just fucking let him. He and his precious little police girl can go rot in Hell together if he wants to do it so badly," he spat pure venom as he struggled back to his feet. But when he had himself up against the bus and raising his head to address his brother further, he was met with Noah slamming his massive frame harder against the vehicle, his blue eyes burning with fire.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP, FRASIER! Every fucking time I think you're finally making progress and acting like a goddamn human being, you keep pulling shit like THIS! It's constantly one step forward and ten steps back with you! Do you even stop to THINK about the affects the things you say have on anyone?! Just stop and look at what you've done, for Christ's sakes! Saeko's injured, by your hand no less! The group is coming apart at the seams, and Marcus is marching off to do God-knows-what! I can barely even look at you anymore.

"You may think Marcus is a lost cause, but frankly you don't have the right to call ANYONE that with the way you treat the people around you. You may be willing to give up on him, but I refuse to do that. I refuse to be just like YOU. Now I'm going after him, and if you want to try and stop me, then you'll just have to fucking KILL ME." With that, Noah gave Frasier one last slam against the bus before taking off into a sprint into the woods. He didn't even want to give his brother the courtesy of a parting glance, lest it somehow break away his resolve to act on his own.

And all the while, Frasier couldn't pin down a single emotion to feel: disgust at Noah's sentimentality, anger at Marcus and the world around him, and horrible crushing guilt at the pain he'd just dealt Saeko in his blind rage.

Minutes Later…

Noah stumbled and staggered as he tried to keep up with Marcus through the overwhelming brush. After a short while, he found himself in a clearing amongst the trees, catching a glimpse of his brother marching down towards another bundle of bushes.

"Marcus! Oi, where do you think you're going?!" he called out. His sudden voice caused Marcus to stop dead in his tracks before glancing over his shoulder to see Noah running downhill to catch up to him. "Get the fuck out of here, Noah. Go back to the others. This doesn't concern you." Marcus warned as he motioned his younger brother to abandon any plan to stop him from leaving.

"Doesn't concern me? Are you KIDDING me right now?! My brother going AWOL is something I should be very concerned with. Where are you even going?" Noah protested, shaking his head in disbelief at what Marcus was saying. "As far away as I can from that fucking monster for starters. I don't care anymore, don't you get that?! Not about you, the group, or even myself. NOTHING MATTERS ANYMORE," the middle Lawson lamented, his spark of hatred growing again at the mere thought of Frasier; before finally saying something that practically tore Noah's heart from his chest and stomped it to the floor. "Hell, I'd rather be torn apart by 'Them' than spend another minute with that piece of shit."

"Are you even hearing yourself right now? Do you really think this is what Hitomi would want for you, to be so hopeless and empty inside? To just give up on life?" Noah began to argue, slowly approaching his brother, as he knew he had to do something, anything to stop this from continuing.

"Oh, don't give me that shit, Noah. What she wanted was to be alive, but she isn't anymore. What she'd want for me doesn't matter. I said it before and I'll say it a thousand times if I have to if it'll get it through your thick skull: none of this truly matters." Marcus grumbled, all while Noah's face twisted with pain in his chest. He couldn't stand listening to this dreariness come out of Marcus' mouth for another second. "Yeah? If it doesn't matter, then why is it getting to you still? Why are you all the way out here when you should be with the rest of us?" Noah argued, only for Marcus to silence him with an infuriated slamming of his fist against a nearby tree.

"Because I just want to fucking die, you daft little knob head, don't you get it?! I just want it all to be over! This life, this world, everything has gone to shit, and it'll only get worse! There is nowhere safe, there is no rescue, and there is no hope! Not for ANY of us! We don't deserve it! I can't take it anymore, and I can't take him anymore! I want out!" Marcus confessed, neither anger nor contempt in his voice anymore. There was only broken words emanating from an empty husk of his former self.

"You goddamn coward..." was all Noah could mutter weakly, gritting his teeth as tears began running down his face. Marcus was caught off guard by the tearful, yet equally furious, expression on Noah's face.

"So what, that's it? You're just going to run away because things are tougher now? Fine; then just fucking do it. You're not even the same person I thought you were if that's how it's going to be, because the Marcus I admired and looked up to back then would never do that! He'd fight back like he always had before; regardless of what came of it!" Noah bellowed out; both fists tightening up as if preparing himself to fight to make his point.

Marcus watched as Noah suddenly ran towards him, immediately throwing a right hook that would've easily knocked his little brother out if it connected. However, the broken young man wasn't the only one used to fighting people bigger than himself, as Noah ducked in time to avoid his fist.

So much force and momentum was put into his punch that Marcus now had no means of adjusting to defend himself. Noah could get away with anything now. Marcus braced himself for the inevitable following uppercut; shutting his eyes in anticipation for more pain.

However, instead of yet another sensation of force pounding into his face, he only felt Noah's head pressing into his chest, with both arms tightly clinging around his back. The middle Lawson stood there completely frozen as he realized Noah didn't even have him in a hold, but merely a hug.

The back of his younger brother's head shook as he began gently sobbing and sniffling. Whatever anger Marcus still held onto quickly faded into confusion and an immense sense of regret; regret at the fact Noah refused to fight him, but even more so at the fact he prepared to strike him down just like he wanted to with Frasier.

"Bullshit...why would someone like you look up to me? In case you haven't noticed, failures aren't exactly the best role models." Marcus muttered as he held Noah tight, clenching his teeth as well before tears welled up in his burning green eyes. "I don't think you're a failure at all. There're things you've taught me that I never would've learned from anyone else, including Frasier." Noah confessed with such sincerity in his voice, there was no room left in Marcus' heart for doubt. The very notion that the smartest of their family could learn something from him was what finally diffused any flickering ember of the young Brit's hatred of life and the world around him.

"I...I'm so sorry, Noah. I don't know what to do anymore. There's nothing and nobody left to believe in." Marcus began to apologize, unable to completely free himself of the lingering feeling of hopelessness that made his stomach turn. "So just believe in yourself like I do! You owe yourself at least that much." Noah pointed out as everything else fell eerily silent afterwards. The two just stood there, unable to say anything else that could've made anything remotely better.

"Please...please come back, Marcus. Don't do it for our brother, but do it for everyone else…for me. We won't leave without you." Noah pleaded, Marcus pulling away momentarily with his back turned to him. He then looked up, gazing deeper into the forest before letting out a low sigh. The temptation to give up was all around him, but he then finally turned back to face his little brother.

"God dammit…you really have learned something from me if you can convince me to come back after all that. Just know this, Noah: I'm only coming back for you; understand? I am NOT coming back for HIS sake." Marcus finally accepted with a defeated sigh.

"I understand. I just hate watching you two go at each other's throats like that. I'm not defending what he did in the slightest; I hope you realize that. But at the end of the day, Frasier is still some of the only family we have left." Noah said with an air of desperation, only to receive a cynical rolling of the eyes from his brother. "No, he's some of the only family you have left. As far as I'm concerned, Arthur Lawson only had TWO sons, and an insufferable bulldog of a boy he stupidly decided to bring home. Fitting analogy too, because if he goes off like that to me or anyone else again, I WILL put him down like the dog he is, and you won't be able to stop me." Marcus stated firmly, showing no willingness to budge on this opinion as he coldly rejected Noah's sense of sentimentality. As much as the youngest Lawson wanted to argue that Marcus was being too harsh, his sympathy for his brother couldn't allow it. He agreed that Frasier had crossed the most severe line when he destroyed the one thing Marcus had to remember Hitomi by. But that didn't make hearing his threats to kill Frasier any easier.

A Short While Later…

A suffocating atmosphere of dread hung heavy over the heads of everyone after the brutal sibling conflict they'd just witnessed. Shizuka and Saya had gotten right to work patching up Saeko's laceration and Frasier's stab wound; the latter being conducted with great reluctance on their part after the pure vitriol there once respected leader had thrown their way. But in the end, their medical responsibility had been met, and the whole group was left in an unbearable silence of contemplation. Rei, all the while, was practically being shielded by her parents and Johann alike, as if they were all expecting more trouble if the younger Lawson's ever returned.

"Unbelievable; absolutely unbelievable. To think we actually trusted him." Kiriko mumbled, practically glaring daggers into Frasier's back, wishing she could just somehow set him on fire with her mind and remove him from the equation forever. It was taking every last ounce of restraint she had not to grab her gun and put a round in the back of his head even now. The constant thought of what Frasier described almost happened to her only child only made resisting that much harder. "No matter what happens, we can't drop our guard around him anymore. He's far too dangerous to not be monitored at all times." Tadashi added before she nodded in acknowledgment. They both then noticed how shaken up Rei still was by it all.

At the same time, Johann remained stone-faced, eyes distant, his gaze going through Frasier and staring off into some unknown, unthinkable place as his fingers tapped incessantly at the handle of his pistol by sheer muscle memory alone.

"He was there…he saw it all with his own eyes…listened to her screams as I did. He…he had to listen to it, and witness it alongside me…he saw what those animals did to her," he mumbled to no one in particular, but that didn't mean Rei and her parents couldn't hear him and look at him with grave concern on their faces. It didn't take a genius among the three to realize what he was referring to that could leave him in such a disturbed state as he was now. "He saw exactly what they did…saw what people were capable of…saw what it nearly did to me. He had it all engraved in his heart and mind just like I did…and he still made the conscious…the conscious decision…to take you in the night and feed you to a bunch of fucking savages that would've done to you exactly what those monsters did to Toshimi. Knowing how special you are to everyone here, he made the choice to put you through the same kind of suffering she did.

"Why the hell did Noah have to stop Marcus from putting that rabid dog down? Why the hell didn't I just go in there and kill him myself? It's the least that fucker deserves. Sentenced us all to die here for his own goddamn ego." By this point, he was on the verge of grinding his teeth, not taking his fingers off his gun anymore. His hands were both shaking as Rei could tell he was one muscle twitch away from doing exactly what her mother wanted to do herself. Every instinct in Rei's body was telling her to speak up and talk him out of whatever he was thinking of doing, but all their experiences this morning alone were stopping her from simply opening her mouth.

"Rei, why the hell didn't you tell us about this? I can't understand why you'd hide something like this from us." Kiriko asked, visibly hurt that her own daughter was still keeping secrets from her. She couldn't help but wonder now if there was anything else they didn't know about, and Rei's incessant avoidance of eye contact was only making Kiriko's anxiety that much worse. "It doesn't matter, now that we know what to expect of him. Deception is only possible when someone trusts you." Tadashi suddenly brought up, as he knew they weren't going to get anything from Rei by barraging her with questions like it was an interrogation.

"Should we perhaps put restraints on him? Just to be safe?" Saya suddenly suggested as she walked over to see how they were all holding up; all while making sure to keep Alice in her line of sight the entire time. Seeing how quickly Frasier had flipped left the pink-haired girl unwilling to take even the tiniest chances with him and Alice anymore. "Not yet, he's probably expecting it now. If we use our cuffs on him, it needs to be when his guard is down. Just be ready though, in case things get out of hand again." Kiriko explained quietly, knowing that if they directly confronted him and things went south, then none of them would be able to go toe to toe with him.

The knowledge that someone as tough as Frasier was now someone they were considering a threat was honestly scarier than the dead could ever have hoped to be. It was just another reason to be stressed that none of them ever needed.

Shizuka, meanwhile, was finishing the final touches on patching up Saeko. The young swordswoman winced in pain, biting down on a rag between her teeth, trying to remain as still as possible, and breathing hard every time she felt the suturing needle pierce her skin.

"This should do the job. If you feel it bleeding at all, you let me know immediately." Shizuka instructed as she wrapped gauze around her torso. Saeko faintly nodded in understanding before the nurse finally returned to stitch up Frasier's shoulder, pulling away the tourniquet she'd wrapped around his arm. The young Brit looked like hell, a number of bruises from the earlier Marcus-provided beating already starting to form across his face.

Thankfully, he'd managed to calm down considerably for treatment after being forcibly disarmed by Kiriko and Rika. As much as the inhuman hate and anger that burned in his eyes and tone before had terrified poor Shizuka, she was still bound by her oath as a practitioner of medicine to see to his injuries, all personal opinions and emotions be damned.

"Hey, they're back!" Alice suddenly announced with some much needed optimism as she pointed out Marcus and Noah walking out of the woods. While it was a genuine relief for everyone to see they were alright and that Marcus wasn't taking off to do God-knew-what, the tension between the eldest Lawson siblings was still so fresh and palpable, and only became much more so once the two got closer. Their eyes locked instantly on each other, but Frasier eventually turned away to focus on Shizuka's medical instructions. It was clearly for the best, as just the sight of Frasier had left Marcus looking like he was already on the verge of losing his shit again, before Noah pulled him away.

"Welcome back. You going to be alright, kid?" Rika greeted before noticing the damage Marcus sustained as well, sporting a number of colorful bruises of his own. She was somewhat impressed he could keep moving in spite the pain from post-shock he must've been feeling right about now. "I'll manage," was all Marcus could say in a harsh grunt before hoisting himself up onto the bus; nearly collapsing if it wasn't for Noah bracing his side.

"So…have we decided what our next move is?" Noah finally asked in exasperation as he walked back to see how Frasier was holding up. "Not yet, but it's pretty clear what everyone wants to do at this point." Frasier replied, as he didn't look nearly as bothered by his own injuries as he was by the cut he'd given Saeko. Every time he even glanced in her direction, his face grimaced with pain, as if he had that wound in her place.

"Do you really think it's wise to backtrack when we're so close?" the eldest Lawson hesitantly asked before Noah just stared down at him with a look of grim resignation, making it doubtless that what he was about to say would cement where the two now stood with each other. "Well, if you don't like it, I doubt anyone's gonna stop you from walking there yourself. I'm not."

There was only a momentary pause from Frasier before he just grunted and set the back of his head against the bus. The adrenaline that coursed through his veins had long since worn off as the pain and damage Marcus inflicted upon him began to take hold. He reluctantly gazed upon the rest of his fellow survivors as they passed by to board the bus. Not one of them bothered to even look their leader in the eye until it was just he and Shizuka left.

She just kept silent, staring at him with a look somewhere between concern and grave disappointment. The normally compassionate nurse stayed silent as she got up and walked up the stairs to the bus. The engine fired up seconds later before Frasier finally stood back up. At first, it looked like he intended to stay behind and just let them go. However, that train of thought was swiftly ended when he walked up the steps and took a seat behind Shizuka to redirect their course.

Hours later...

Several pairs of boots calmly marched through the numerous wrecks between them and a long stretch of open road. Despite the darkness of night, their helmets came with built in night vision, allowing the users to see all before them. One of the nine men suddenly raised a closed fist, causing the rest to pause on command. Just ahead was the mangled, burnt out wreckage of a Boeing 747 that denied any vehicles passage beyond this point.

"Hmm, most interesting," a young-sounding voice gently murmured when kneeling down to pick up a shard of what appeared to be part of a police badge at some point; not even remotely moved by the destruction just meters ahead of him. "Blood has been spilt here. It's quite fresh too, relatively speaking," another strong voiced announced with a notable ease in his tone, knowing that the creatures they'd heard so much about back home were quite sensitive to sound. The splotches and bloody stains on the road seemed far too red to be the blood of the undead, however.

"They were here just a few hours ago. Take your stims and keep moving. We'll move ahead and try to intercept their new route. With everywhere else we've checked and the map, there's only one viable route left they could try," the leader of this mysterious and very well equipped group announced. The others nodded in compliance before they continued moving on into the night. Whatever their intent was, it didn't seem to bode well for anyone else.