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.

24. Chapter 24: Last Haven

Z-Day+64

Somewhere around Narusawa, Yamanashi Prefecture

Just as Frasier had predicted, the horde of 'Them' had passed the group's temporary refuge harmlessly by morning, and with no time left to waste, they set out on the road at the first sign of light. Knowing they'd managed to avoid such a monumental fight left many of them in good spirits. However, that could only do so much to alleviate the dreaded feeling of exhaustion, just knowing how much more of a journey they still had to go. The constant painful reminder of no longer having a vehicle, only made that feeling so much worse.

The hours seemed to pass by at an unbearable slog, the coolness of the early morning slowly replaced with the steadily building heat of the springtime high noon. The weight of their weapons, reserves of canned food and water only made their progress that much slower as the road continuously rose and dipped as they went. The water had to be spared to such an extent that some couldn't even afford to pause to take a single swig, which the heat waves only made more unbearable.

What little enthusiasm they'd started out with had by now nearly completely diminished as they couldn't expend any energy to fighting, so on the three occasions they even came across one of 'Them' aimlessly wandering the street or stumbling out of the brush, all anyone did was almost instinctively sidestep the wandering creatures, on the off-chance it even noticed them enough to try and lunge for one.

Even Frasier's usual heightened sense of awareness and caution had given way to a lethargic auto-pilot in these cases, as his usually insatiable need to kill every single one of 'Them' he could find, never came out in those rare circumstances. It was as if his incessant desire to get to Tokyo was the only thing dictating anything he said or did anymore.

The sun hung high, beating down on their heads relentlessly as they slowly inched down the seemingly endless road inch by inch. The continuous sound of their footsteps accompanied by the all-encompassing chirping of cicadas all around was nearly hypnotizing. Everyone had long since ceased to think of their surroundings, only continuing in Frasier's footsteps like a pack of lemmings.

"Frasier…do you even know where we are anymore?" Noah moaned out in exhaustion as they began ascending yet another rise in the road, thankfully accompanied with some overhanging foliage that provided some much needed shade. "We're likely in Yamanashi right now…probably just entering it now…I don't know. We can't…we can't have too much longer to go," was all Frasier could absentmindedly answer with, none of the others even having the energy to roll their eyes at his pathetic estimate of a distance anymore.

When they rounded another turn going up the hill, they were greeted with the sight of a street sign, thankfully reading off the distances to the nearest prefectures and cities, and much to their unspoken relief, Tokyo was at the middle.

"Tokyo…or Tokyo Prefecture…barely over 100 kilometers away…goddammit, I thought we'd be closer." Miku muttered with a heavy sigh of exasperation, visibly shared by the others judging by their faces. But as was to be expected, just seeing the written proof of how far their destination now was, had sparked a burst of adrenaline in Frasier as he already began hoofing it further up the hill.

"It doesn't matter if it's a hundred kilometers away or a thousand; it's still there, and we're going to get there. Now all of you keep…" he bellowed down to them as they begrudgingly kept following him upwards; his bravado reaching its peak just as he reached the top, only to go deathly silent like the flip of a switch. Everyone exchanged worrisome glances that whatever was up ahead was enough to render the likes of Frasier mute, so they began to pick up the pace until they were all beside him, and felt any words die in their own throats as well.

Down below at the dip in the road, yet another mass grave of abandoned vehicles lay before them, but half of it was submerged in a veritable lake of collected rainwater and the leftovers of yet another landslide, practically cutting the road off entirely.

"No…" was all Shizuka could whisper as everyone began mumbling to themselves and each other likewise, confusion and despair hanging so thick in the air among them, it was nearly palpable. "What are we supposed to do now? Is this it? Where do we go?" were just some of what was being tossed about as Frasier silently fell to his knees, unable to summon even a spark of the anger he once had before. All he could feel as he looked at the mocking sight of his failure was…the numbness of utter defeat.

"Saya-chan, what are we gonna do now?" Alice asked softly, tugging at the hem of the twintailed girl's shirt as her orange eyes gazed off into nothingness, as though she'd already tried to find a solution, but found nothing in its place. Only when the little girl started tugging harder did Saya finally snap back to reality and look down at her despairingly. "I…I-I don't know, munchkin. I just don't know…" she answered before trailing off, beginning to hyperventilate as Kohta hurried to her side in an attempt to calm her down.

Alice bowed her head sadly as she saw the looks of despair on everyone's faces. She might not have fully understood why they were all sad, but she'd heard Frasier talk about Tokyo enough to know that had to be a big part of it. She began making her way through the gathered crowd, trying to think of something, anything she could say or do to cheer them up even a little; all with Zeke loyally following at her side and whining softly, as though everyone's defeat had somehow become his own as well.

That was when the little girl's purple eyes fell upon two black marks going along the road before turning off into the bushes. Curious, Alice approached to get a better look, and upon doing so, she recognized these marks; having seen far too many of them back in the city so long ago. But there were always wrecked cars with those ones. So where was the car for these?

"Alice-chan, don't go near the bushes, who knows what could be hiding in there?" Kiriko suddenly called out, hurrying to the small child's side, as if ready to pull her away if one of 'Them' were to suddenly pop out. "But there's tire tracks here, and no car!" Alice tried to explain herself, only grabbing a few of the others' attention as they began to approach to get a look themselves.

"Hey, yeah, there's nothing here. The tracks just veer off the road and disappear. There's no wreck, the vegetation hasn't even been flattened. What the-?" Noah realized, reaching into the vast wall of vegetation lining the road, only to be met with surprising resistance. After reaching into the brush again, Noah's eyes widened with surprise. "Everyone, reach into the foliage and push when I say!"

Not sure what the youngest Brit was thinking, everyone did as they were told, and on the count of three, all pushed with all their strength, and the entire wall of greenery seemed to move as one away from them, sending Johann, Kohta and Marcus to their knees as the green gave way with a surprising metallic groan. Before them now lay a trail, with the same tire prints now leading further into the woods.

"A gate concealed with vegetation. Not a half bad form of preliminary defense from intruders. Makes you wonder why there aren't any lookouts to keep an eye on it, though." Rika pointed out; but everyone's expressions contrarily displayed relief that this wasn't the case. "Well, it's not like we have anywhere else we can go at this point. We might as well see where the tracks lead, right?" Shizuka suggested; everyone but Frasier eagerly nodding in agreement as they began to march down the dirt road.

It wasn't long before Frasier silently resigned himself to following after them, not offering a word of argument, or anything else for that matter.

The dirt road seemed to continue on and on, winding this way and that deeper and deeper into the woods, to the point the canopy overhead nearly blocked the sunlight from coming down. The resulting darkness left everyone feeling exceptionally wary, still remembering Rika's offhanded comment of lookouts. For all they knew, they could've been walking into a wholly fortified camp, the kind not willing to take in newcomers. Or for all they knew, the road ahead could've been lined with booby traps.

Yet despite all these apprehensions, they didn't stop. Perhaps their lack of any other option was what drove them to see what lay ahead, or perhaps it was resignation to whatever fate the future had in store for them now that Tokyo seemed forever out of their reach. Either way, their anticipation only grew the further they went into the woods.

After a short while, a light could be seen up ahead, at the crest of a hill through the trees. Spurred on, everyone began to hustle up to see what was over the horizon. Upon stepping through the trees, it was as if daylight had bloomed anew before them, and what they saw was nothing short of miraculous.

What stood before them was a little self-contained valley, surrounded on all sides by the dense coverage of the forest, but that wasn't the best part. Standing right at the heart of the valley was an expansive, two-story house, or rather an estate would've been much more appropriate for its size and splendor. Its architecture was far from Japanese, but nothing like the typical Victorian style most Western mansions in the country had gone for. If anything, it looked downright modernist, made up entirely of square and rectangular shapes built connecting to or on top of each other. If it had to be compared to anything, it looked very similar to Frank Lloyd Wright's architecture for that legendary Fallingwater house, just without the river.

Scattered all across the empty fields of the valley were an assortment of solar panels, and flanking both sides of the estate was an equally impressive-looking and sized greenhouse, and a long rectangular enclosed building lining the circular gravel driveway that the dirt road turned into. The only logical conclusion was that it had to be the garage. And on top of that, the driveway itself was lined with an assortment of stationary cars, many quite extravagant looking, nearly like sports cars.

But on top of all these other things, the one thing nobody could believe was that even from where they stood, they could tell the estate looked virtually untouched, not a single broken window to be seen. The only disconcerting thing they could see was around two dozen of 'Them' shambling aimlessly about all across the valley, nicely spread out for melee combat.

"My God, who would've thought a place like this would be hidden all the way out here? It's almost like whoever had this house built was expecting this to happen." Tadashi mused in astonishment while Rika had already gotten to work scanning the place end to end with her scope. "Place looks solid as a rock from what I can see. Bet those windows are shatterproof. Probably some CEO's second home, huh?" Noah chimed in.

"Who cares why it's here? The fact it's here at all is amazing enough. I'll bet there's tons of stockpiled food in there, nevermind what could be in that greenhouse." Kiriko exclaimed, clearly not wanting to look this veritable gift horse in the mouth. "Yeah, assuming nobody's actually still living there. A place like this being completely intact after all this time doesn't just happen by coincidence." Miku stated, understandably apprehensive when she nudged her head to the various abandoned cars sitting out front.

"But if there's that many cars down there, and therefore that many people, you'd think we would've seen some movement in the windows by now; not to mention a lot more tire tracks if they had to come and go from here." Kohta countered, joining Rika in checking it out through his scope as well, especially keeping an eye on the numerous small windows.

"Do you think those solar panels might still work? I don't know that much about the specifics of electronics, but it's different from regular electricity, right?" Shizuka asked curiously; trying her best to work around her lack of knowledge on the subject while also bringing up the ever-lingering scourge of the EMP's aftereffects. "It's a good question. I'm pretty sure solar power runs quite differently from battery-operated power, so those panels might not have been affected. We won't be able to tell until we get down there and check." Saya theorized; a good number of the group already getting their melee weapons out at the suggestion of getting inside.

"Now hold on. I agree, we shouldn't just pass this place up, but need I remind you just how many of our rotting friends are down there? Yeah, they're good and scattered right now, but once 'They' hear fresh food is here, we'll be getting swarmed before you know it. And that's not even counting how many could possibly be inside. Just because we haven't seen any through the windows doesn't mean 'They' aren't there. It could be infested in the rooms we can't see for all we know." Rika's grim reality check certainly served to dim everyone's quickly building expectations, but it didn't damper their resolve to at least make sure.

"Then we'll have to tackle this carefully. Rika-san; you, Kohta-san, and Frasier can keep watch with the rifles from up here while Shizuka-sensei and Alice-chan stay with you. The rest of us can stick to melee or our sidearms if we have no other choice. We'll clear out the dead in the valley, and then we'll sweep the interior of the house. Depending what we find, we can decide whether to bypass this place, stock up what we can from it, or…maybe something more permanent." Noah's confidence as he laid out his plan couldn't help but brighten everyone's spirits as Rei and Saeko took a deep breath to get themselves prepared while Marcus and Johann got their hands on the handles of their own weapons in preparation. Kiriko and Tadashi simply looked like they just wanted to get it all over with and call it a day.

"Sounds like a good plan." Frasier's voice suddenly spoke up; spurring everyone to do a double take as the eldest Lawson simply leaned against a tree with his arms crossed. Only there was no condescending sneer or iciness in his eyes to be seen. He simply looked…resigned to what was about to happen. To see and hear him being so…agreeable seemed too good to be true.

"Really? You sure you don't have some superior strategy, or some kind of condescending insult you want to beat us down with first?" Noah asked with some notable bitterness. It didn't take a genius to see the aftershock from the Lawson's family implosion hadn't started to fade between them yet. But again, Frasier could only offer a solemn shake of his head. "You're putting your best shooters where they need to be and working to keep the enemy from grouping up. It's one of the first things father taught me, as I'm sure he taught you two as well. You have the right idea, so now just go and execute it."

"Well then, take a moment to setup. The rest of us will gather down below. I know I shouldn't have to say this, but please don't fire unless you absolutely must. No doubt we'll need those for later." Noah said authoritatively. Frasier simply nodded in acknowledgement, while Rika and Kohta made a quick ammo check to see just how much help they actually could be.

"Can I help?" Alice's voice suddenly asked, as she was looking up at Frasier excitedly. Initially, the young man would've gladly allowed her to practice trying out one of the rifles, if just to help her acquire a feel for it.

However, given the harsh recoil and how limited their munitions were, he knew it was better that her impromptu training wait. Then there was of course the fact Kiriko and Saya were glaring at him to see what he'd say next. Their mutual lingering distrust for him for the last couple days was unmistakable.

"Not today, Alice. If you want to help, just keep watch. Let us know if anything comes out from behind that clearing," was all the young Brit could offer. Naturally, Alice looked disappointed that she couldn't fight with everyone else, but she knew he wouldn't keep her back unless he felt she wasn't ready.

As the little girl wandered back with Shizuka and Zeke to keep out of harms way, Saya and Kiriko turned away to regroup with the others down the grassy slope that led into the main valley. While neither of them liked the fact Alice was anywhere near Frasier after his meltdown, they knew she would at least be far from the upcoming battle; not to mention the fact Rika was there as well. If anyone could rein him back in line, it would undoubtedly be her.

"So how do you guys want to do this? Draw a few of 'Them' in and pick those ones off?" Rei suggested, watching as everyone seemed to nod in agreement. "Seems like a good idea, considering how many there are, along with the fact we'll want to keep the corpses close together when we have to dispose of the remains." Marcus added, clearly thinking far more ahead than anyone else.

"Well, unless anyone has something to add, I say we get this out of the way. It's already noon, given the position of the sun, and these things will be near impossible to deal with after nightfall." Saeko advised, quick to remind everyone just how much more dangerous 'They' were after sunset.

One Drawn Out but Simple Skirmish Later…

With all the immediate undead across the valley having easily been pacified, the group took several minutes to ensure every last one would stay down permanently; going from corpse to corpse and impaling the skulls for good measure, before gathering by the front of the house. While they were all visibly eager to make use of what felt like the perfect refuge after their long and arduous journey, a look of concern painted Frasier's face when he grabbed one of the two levers to the front door.

"How many do you expect we'll find inside?" Noah began to ask as the eldest Lawson paused for a moment, as if to dwell on it. "Not a clue. Do…do you think we should press the advantage, or give everyone more time to recover?" was all he could answer with, leaving the others stunned at the fact he was actually asking for advice, instead of kicking the door down and leading them into battle with his usual bravado they'd come to expect.

"Wait...you're asking me?" Noah tried to confirm as Frasier stepped away from the door without a word; instead walking away towards a nearby tree and planting an arm against the bark as he rested his head against it.

"Er...how much daylight do you think we have left?" Noah suddenly asked as he found himself uncertain of what to do next. The others seemed to share his sentiment from this new sense of doubt now filling the air. "With how much time it took to clear out the ones in the valley and the stragglers that came out of the woods? I'd say a couple hours, at best. If we move quickly, we can clear out the inside of this place just like the school." Rika suggested with much needed confidence.

However, nobody else seemed to share her spirit to keep up the fight. The stress and strain from the walking alone was enough to tire them all out, let alone the battle they'd just endured. After a few moments to contemplate their next move, it seemed pretty much unanimous that they should wait before heading inside the estate.

"We should start clearing the bodies and set up a spot to hunker down if we aren't going anywhere else today." Tadashi instructed as everyone began to walk about the estate grounds to find an ideal spot to settle for the night.

While the others spread out to unload whatever they had into one of the patches of grass not tainted by the gory remains of the dead they'd just slain, Saeko walked over to Frasier as he was still postured up against the tree.

"Frasier-kun, what's wrong? Is everything alright?" was all her soft voice could ask, as he slowly stood upright upon realizing he was no longer alone. "Hmm? Of course I am. I just don't see the use in rushing in without the energy to fight for what could easily go beyond just several minutes," was all Frasier could answer with as he wiped the sweat off his brow. "Normally, I would be taken aback by your lack of will to fight, but it's probably for the best. Everyone is pretty much exhausted after the time we had to take clearing this place out." Saeko conceded as she looked back over her shoulder to see the others setting up the few tents they had in a circle.

"Believe me...I'm more than tempted to go in there so we can have somewhere warm and spacious to sleep, without having to keep one eye open all night. It's just no use if we don't have the energy to do so," Frasier admitted, sounding like he couldn't decide whether to be disappointed in the others for already being so tired, or himself for not simply clearing the house out himself.

"Its good that you're thinking things through, though. Had we rushed in, we could easily have been overwhelmed." Saeko tried to reassure him. But despite her supportive words, Frasier gave a solemn shake of the head, as if he could tell she was trying to talk him back into the leadership position again.

"I may not be a leader to them anymore, but they still need my tactical advice whenever I can provide it. We have to play things smart if we want to survive, right?" he reminded the violet-haired swordswoman as he sat back down against the tree, as if that were his way of saying the discussion was over.

"Agreed. I'll be gathering firewood over there, near the driveway entrance to the woods. Feel free to join me when and if you can." Saeko relented, making a beeline for said spot while Frasier silently watched her take her leave. Once he was sure she couldn't hear him, the young Brit let out a weary sigh, resigning himself to where he now stood with everyone else.

The sun was on the verge of setting a few hours after; the soft blue skies now a faded orange. Several flocks of birds could be heard flying overhead; Zeke occasionally barking at them, only to stop when Saya gave him the most disapproving look for it. The slain bodies that once covered the meadow had finally been dragged off to the edge where the forest continued. Out of sight and out of mind seemed to be the best course of action until the group could find a way to properly dispose of them later on.

As the first flame of their campfire was sparked, the others gathered around Tadashi to watch it engulf the sticks and hunks of bark Saeko had gathered. Alice in particular seemed to be enjoying herself whenever she was allowed to add to it. The warmth it provided was all too welcome as they sat in a circle around the pile of rocks. It provided a much-needed feeling of comfort that left the survivors at ease after such a tiring, bloody morning, followed by an exhausting afternoon foraging whatever they could for food.

Just when things seemed they were going to remain relatively quiet, Kohta suddenly unloaded his backpack. The sound of several pots and other metal utensils clashing together caused a momentary jump in everyone's hearts. Once the noise settled, they all just slowly turned their eyes on him, watching him reel back out of embarrassment at the realization of what he just did.

"Oops...sorry about that. Didn't think it was going to be that loud," was all he could mumble apologetically. Everyone else was so tired to the point that there was no energy left to scold him. "Ah, so that's what you were hauling around this morning. I should've known." Saya muttered tiredly as she helped him assemble the scattered cooking essentials into a more orderly pile.

"I hope we found enough food today. Not much use for these otherwise." Noah brought up as he helped Marcus sit down, his older brother clenching his sides, no doubt still sore after his scuffle with Frasier.

"Well, there were some berries growing around here. Would've been nice if we had the key to that greenhouse, though. Imagine what we could find in there..." Rei began to explain, turning her head to look at that all-too inviting treasure trove of what had to have been freshly grown fruits and/or vegetables tightly sealed away. "I still think we should've just busted a window in, or kicked the door down." Rika proposed as Rei and Kiriko looked at her disapprovingly.

"We'd potentially be compromising the produce if we did that. If insects found their way inside, all that food would be ruined." Kiriko warned as Rika looked content with such reasoning to drop the idea altogether. "Not to mention we'd be creating unnecessary noise. Who knows how many of those things might be in the house?" Miku added; as that same question prompted everyone to look at the main house just twenty meters away.

"Hopefully it's nothing we can't handle. We definitely don't need a repeat of what happened at that elementary school." Johann said with some noticeably forced optimism; hoping deep down that this supposed miracle for once wouldn't have any fatal drawbacks.

"Assuming there's any of 'Them' holed up in there at all. For all we know, other survivors could be residing here too, and are just keeping their heads down so we don't notice." Saeko mentioned, leaving another chilling thought that they might not be alone out here after all. Even though they had agreed to search the inside come morning, throughout the day they'd occasionally peered into the windows out of curiosity. So far, zero sightings mixed with past encounters only seemed to encourage the idea that there was any number of 'Them' dwelling within.

"What do we do if someone already is here?" Shizuka asked, feeling nervous when nobody brought themselves to answer her right away. It was almost like they'd given up on ever seeing anyone else out here in these now lawless lands. "We do whatever it takes to ensure we don't end up back on the road." Marcus suddenly announced humorlessly, serving as a grim reminder of how Frasier would've most likely handled dealing with strangers as well. The idea of what he was implying made Shizuka's blood go cold with worry.

"Marcus-kun, don't talk like that. Don't even think like that..." she whispered as she placed a hand over his. A growing concern filled her golden eyes before he brushed it off and just stared off into the flames before them.

"Well, I found some mushrooms earlier. Can we use these?" Alice suddenly offered as she held both hands out with clumps of dirt between them; only a handful of bright white mushrooms could be seen amongst it. The look on her face showed she was clearly hoping that this distraction would make the grown ups stop talking like everything was falling apart again.

"Mushrooms? Better let me take a look first. Last thing we need is someone getting sick off of these." Kiriko offered as she already began to inspect them to make sure they were indeed edible. The next few minutes were dreadfully silent, interrupted again only by the incessant chirping of cicadas amid the trees, and the sound of the twigs snapping within the fire.

"So…do you think Sho-san's group is still out there?" Rei suddenly asked with noted reluctance. None of them had been able to shake the thought of what might've become of their temporary compatriots after all this time. A month naturally shouldn't have felt like much, but in these deadly times, it might as well been a whole year. "Probably...but there's also a good chance they didn't fair any better than us." Rika said with great doubt, considering their so-called luck. "We shouldn't have let them go on their own. They aren't fighters like most of us; going out there on their own is practically a death sentence," was all Johann could say before things fell quiet again. Only remorse and doubt could unanimously be seen amongst the survivors' faces.

Suddenly, another fire ignited nearby, spurring their immediate attention. Alice was the first to step forward to inspect it, but Saya instinctively kept her back.

"Is that Frasier-san?" Kiriko whispered to Tadashi as he narrowed his eyes to focus on the silhouette of the only figure standing before the second fire. "Has to be. At least he won't be making dinner any more awkward than it needs to be." Tadashi confirmed before expressing relief that the group pariah wouldn't be joining them.

"We should probably talk to him about tomorrow morning, though." Kiriko advised, as she knew he would be taking charge of that. At first, Tadashi seemed reluctant in approaching Frasier when things seemed relatively peaceful from a distance; still trying to keep his own anger in check towards the young man that almost cost them their daughter.

"Alright, you all take care of things here. This won't take long." Tadashi finally instructed to the others as Kiriko gave Alice an approving thumbs up to use the mushrooms she'd found. Both parents cautiously wandered over to see Frasier had already set up an area to sleep on, while his gear was within arms reach. At first, he didn't even seem to acknowledge their approach until they stood before him from across the fire.

"Come to talk about tomorrow's plan to secure the estate, have you?" was all he could ask, both of them surprised at how quick he was to figure them out before they'd even gotten a word in.

"How did you know?" Kiriko instinctively asked out of curiosity, before Frasier turned away again to mess with whatever his hands were fiddling with. "Why else would you come? It's certainly not to make sure I'm doing alright, or to see if I'm interested in joining the others for supper," was all he could retort, thankfully showing some self-awareness for once as both adults seated themselves at the other side of the fire.

"Well, can you blame us for not wanting anything to do with you after what you did? And to show no remorse for it too..." Tadashi said in reminder, as Frasier just remained silent. His was just a sullen glare lost in the flames, before he looked up to face them for the first time.

"I don't have to justify myself to any of you. It worked out, and that's all that should matter." Frasier suddenly grumbled as Kiriko gripped at the grass behind her, trying to remain calm while Frasier and Tadashi just stared down one another.

"Don't push your luck, boy. It's bad enough we're having to scrap as it is. We don't need your disrespectful attitude making things worse." Tadashi warned, pointing at Frasier disapprovingly. "As opposed to you two constantly looking like you're going to shoot me in the back? I'm sure that's really doing wonders for morale," the young Brit scoffed, sounding immensely weary of being seen as a traitor by everyone around him. "That's enough, you two. We have more important things to worry about." Kiriko interceded before it could get any more heated. Both men let out a rough sigh before calming themselves.

"Once the sun rises, we will be scouting out the interior. As much as I hate having to split up in such confined quarters, we don't have time to spare. If there's anything in that house, anything at all that we can use, we need it." Frasier proceeded to explain, taking a stick to draw an outline of the house before showing several points of entry that could be made should the front doors fail in any way. "If we do encounter 'Them', we pull back and try to funnel them again. So long as we don't end up surrounded this time, it should be quite simple."

"Knowing our track record, nothing stays simple for very long." Kiriko sighed. At this point, it seemed they couldn't walk ten feet without the dead being around.

"Agreed; that's why we have to know where to fall back if things get out of hand." Frasier acknowledged as he drew several arrows and circles for potential spots they could rally at. It went on like this for several minutes until it looked like they now had a sound strategy planned out.

"Our ammo is gravely limited, morale wanes with every setback, and our bodies grow weaker the longer we can't eat and sleep right. I know that you'll most likely want to hit the road the moment we recover, but do try to consider how safe Marcus-kun and Noah-kun would be if they were to stay here." Tadashi began to express, leaving Frasier momentarily taken aback as he glanced past them to look at his siblings sitting amongst the rest of their group.

"You're asking for a lot...but...I'll sleep on it." Frasier grumbled before actually showing some consideration. "You really should. This place seems completely sustainable if we approach it right," the former detective advised as a sudden roar of laughter could be heard echoing from the other fire.

"Looks like the others are ready to eat. We should get going before it's all gone," he informed Kiriko, motioning to her that this was a good a time as ever to finish making plans for the morning. "I already regret asking…but will you be joining us?" Kiriko suddenly asked Frasier out of maternal instinct. While she still held great contempt for his past actions, in her gut, she still considered him a kid, and couldn't help but try to make sure he'd ultimately be all right.

"It's tempting, really it is...but I think it's best that I keep my distance. A lot of what I said and did at that plane wreckage can't be taken back or forgiven," was all the young Brit could answer with. The look in his blue eyes showed he was clearly torn on the decision, despite how fast he came up with an answer.

"You aren't starving?" Tadashi asked, genuinely curious, considering Frasier was clearly just as hungry as the rest of them were when trying to move out on foot earlier that morning. "I feel hunger, but I'm disciplined and can go without eating tonight; especially when it's so limited. The others need it far more than I do." Frasier earnestly explained as he knelt down to open his rucksack. "Take these. They're probably very thirsty at this point," With that, he suddenly held out several water bottles to them in offering.

"You…you've had water this entire time?! Kiriko said in disbelief as she recalled how parched the group had been after their battle with the dead in the meadows. The memory of having to tell her own daughter they'd probably have to drink river water to stay alive only fueled her reawakened anger.

"Had to have an emergency supply, just in case things managed to somehow get even worse. I always plan for such occasions, but this house is truly our last hope, so may as well try while we can." Frasier answered before they took the water begrudgingly. Tadashi kept to himself while Kiriko continued staring at him; finding herself perplexed by his mixed motivations regarding them, before she simply accepted it would be easier to just stop analyzing him every step of the way. As she was halfway back to their little setup, her body froze in place again.

"Goodnight, Frasier-san. I hope you'll be ready for whatever we face tomorrow." Kiriko whispered to herself as she looked over her shoulder to see him with his back turned to everyone else; left alone to his own thoughts as the fire before him began to weaken.

Z-Day+65

Early Morning…

Once the sun had risen, everyone was on their feet, ready to begin clearing out the house if needed. Not wanting to get any unpleasant surprises after the fact, they'd made quick work of checking for any stragglers that may have been stuck in the greenhouse. Much to everyone's relief, the place was clear, and according to Shizuka once she'd taken a quick peek inside for herself, it had an abundance of numerous vegetables and even some familiar medicinal herbs she'd learned about back in medical school she'd be able to work with.

Motivated by the good news, everyone took a deep breath and stacked up at the front doors as they did yesterday, waiting for either Frasier or Noah to give the go-ahead.

"Alright, this place is plenty big from the outside, but there's no telling how many rooms we could be looking at, not to mention how many basement levels a place like this might have. Therefore, we'll split up into groups of no less than three and cover the different wings. If anyone runs into any trouble, fall back to the main entrance, and we'll all come running to help. Don't anyone try to be a hero in there, understood?" Noah instructed in as soft a whisper as he could with everyone else hearing him, lest there were some kind of undead congregation just behind the door.

Everyone gave a solemn nod of understanding, and with a silent mouthing count to three, Noah and Marcus swiftly tackled the doors open and everyone was swiftly moving in with their weapon at the ready, with machine-like precision that would've made Frasier admittedly proud were he still calling the shots.

As everyone's hearts began to slow down from the anticipation, they were all silently relieved to find nothing was attacking them. In fact, to their surprise, the entire entrance hall of the estate was practically spotless, untouched even. It was plenty spacious; open enough to see any kind of oncoming attack in plenty of time. Yet the place was completely uninhabited, almost eerily quiet instead. In a way, everyone was glad, but at the same time feeling more apprehensive of what lay in wait further inside as a result. Needing to bring everyone back to reality, Noah gave a pronounced clearing of his throat.

"Alright; Marcus, Miku and I will check the second floor of the west wing. Frasier, Rika-san and Saeko-san can check the central area and east wing of the ground floor. Saya-san, Kohta-san and Tadashi-san check the west wing ground floor, and Johann, Rei-san and Kiriko-san check the second floor of the east wing. Shizuka-sensei and Alice-chan, you pick whichever group you want to stick with and follow them. If all goes smoothly, let's all meet up here in a half hour. Everyone okay with that?"

Everyone gradually came to give an affirming nod, and with no time to waste, they slowly spread into their respective groups and spread out across their parts of the estate.

Saya's group slowly but steadily made their way down every hall they came across, giving quick checks of every room behind every door to eliminate any potential surprises. By the time they'd finally reached the end, which led out into a rather splendid looking kitchen, they hadn't come across one lingering undead inhabitant. In fact, they hadn't come across so much as a spilt drop of blood on the carpet. For even this much of the house to have remained completely untouched after everything else they'd seen on the way felt downright unnatural.

"Would you look at this place? This seems like a kitchen more suited for a grand hotel than someone's personal home." Tadashi mused in astonishment at the array of stainless steel cutlery and facilities lining the kitchen walls. "Unless this was home to more than just a single multi-millionaire bachelor and his assortment of live-in servants. Either way, if there isn't more food here than just the vegetables in the greenhouse, the kitchen won't even make a difference." Saya was quick to remind him, just as Kohta nodded his head towards the only other door across from them.

All three taking a deep breath to steel their nerves, they stacked up on the door, and to their grief, the doorknob turned with no effort, meaning it wasn't locked. Slowly pushing it open, they were greeted by a narrow staircase descending down into pitch blackness. With no other option, Kohta wrapped his knuckles against the wall several times, each one resounding louder than the last. By the time he finished, all three felt themselves go rigid, straining to listen for the telltale groaning of approaching undead from within the shadows.

Yet, after a couple lingering minutes, all they were answered with was that same bottomless silence. Taking that as the best possible sign, they began slowly descending single file, Saya quick to turn on her flashlight so nothing would catch her off guard.

When they finally reached the bottom and Saya brought her light up to illuminate their path, the three felt their eyes go wide and their jaws go slack. Before them was numerous rows of metal shelves, all stocked to the brim with countless numbers of different canned and bagged preservatives and other dried foods, and more rice than they cared to count. On top of that were numerous rows of bottled water and powdered drinks. This basement was so spacious; Saya's flashlight couldn't even reach the opposite wall, meaning there was even more food down here than they'd already seen.

West Wing, Second Floor

"God, I hope this place works out." Miku admitted with an exasperated sigh as she, Noah and Marcus methodically searched each room they came across as they made their way down the winding halls of the second floor. "Well, we haven't run into any trouble so far. Why would you risk jinxing us by saying that?" Marcus asked as he finished inspecting yet another of the guest rooms.

"Chalk it up to all the run-ins with 'Them' we've been dealing with since we started this trip. I'm not saying we should've stayed in Tokonosu; that place was a giant graveyard by the time we'd left. I'm just so tired of being on the road and sleeping out in the open. I just want to be able to sleep comfortably again, and not have to worry about going back out there the next morning. I want us to be able to really call this place a home."

The utter exhaustion in Miku's voice was crystal clear. Neither of the younger Lawson's could blame her, either. They too had only grown more and more tired of this draining daily routine they'd been forced into, and nothing sounded better than to just forget getting to Tokyo and just making this place as safe and secure as could be, and just focus on living.

"Well, we haven't had any problems so far. All we have to do is just hope the others prove just as lucky once we regroup. Besides, we're already at the last room. As far as we're concerned, if this room is clear, then I think we've got it made." Noah tried to cheer his girlfriend up, earning an appreciative smile as they once again stacked up at the final door at the end of the hall. Noah pressed his ear to the wood, listening hard for any wheezing or shuffling footsteps. Like all the other rooms, there was only silence. But experience had proven 'They' could be as silent as death itself, until someone made the mistake of making a sound.

Eager to just get this last room done, Noah and Marcus didn't waste time with a count and instead simultaneously kicked the door open. As soon as they did, they were hit with full force by an ungodly stench that made the three of them reel back in disgust; gasping for air and heaving, trying not to straight up vomit in Miku's case. The collective stink of a horde of 'Them' was bad enough, but this somehow managed to be even worse.

"Ugh, Jesus H…Christ…" Marcus groaned as he pulled the collar of his shirt over his mouth and nose, his words dying in his throat once he made his way inside and found the source of the stench. Noah and Miku quickly did likewise and followed after him, feeling their feet turn to lead once they saw it for themselves.

In the middle of the room was one single body, hanging by its neck from a rope tied to the ceiling fan, and a chair lying on its side beneath the dangling feet. As Marcus slowly approached, he saw the body was that of a young woman, dressed in modest, now haggard clothes, and with a head of short, now withering, black hair. With a disgusted grimace, Marcus could tell from the state of decay that whoever this woman was, she'd been hanging here for quite a while.

The middle Lawson had gotten so used to seeing how 'They' looked, that to see a legitimately dead body that had never turned and left to rot like this left him genuinely unsettled, so much so that he motioned for Noah and Miku to stay where they were when he realized they were about to come in after him.

"There's something at your feet." Noah pointed out, and as Marcus looked down, he noticed a scrolling single piece of crumpled up paper. Figuring Noah wanted him to see what it was, he picked it up and unfurled it as best he could. The handwriting was messy, no doubt smeared from what were probably teardrops. On top of that, Marcus' grasp on Japanese writing left just a little too much to be desired; hence why he quickly handed it to his brother to read.

" 'I can't do this anymore. I don't even know why I'm writing this; it's not like anyone will ever come here to save me. No one will ever even know I was here, if there even is anyone left. I shouldn't have come back here. I should've just left the car and gone the rest of the way to Tokyo on foot, instead of just turning back when I saw all that traffic. Day and night, I can always hear them, wandering around aimlessly, clawing and gnawing aimlessly at the walls. Every single time I feel the need to check the atrium doors are still locked, and every single time they are. But still, every time I hear them, I can't rest until I check. At least, that's how it was up until now. Now…now I hope I can finally find peace. I wish I could've found my family, made sure they were safe. But I guess God always intended for me to stay here. But I can't anymore, not when I keep hearing their groans, and knowing I'm the reason they're trapped in there. I just hope whoever finds this place doesn't think to look in there. I can't handle the idea of more people dying because of my actions. Goodbye. God forgive me.'"

As Noah read the note aloud, all three of them felt their stomachs twist and their blood go cold as their gazes drifted to the lonely corpse hanging before them. Noah absentmindedly pocketed the suicide note as they began to back away out into the hall.

"We'll…we'll tend to her once the others are all done. L-let's go." Marcus ushered them to move, hurrying down the halls and leaving the room once again as silent as the grave it had now become.

The Entrance Hall

Just as they'd planned, everyone slowly reunited in the entrance hall once they'd made sure their sections of the estate were clear of any undead. Once Noah's party had returned, everyone was quick to relay what they'd discovered.

"Well, the second floor of the east wing is entirely clear, thank god. Not a single thing out of place as far as we could tell." Kiriko gave the short and sweet of her group's search, not even bothering to hide her relief it had gone so unremarkably.

"The first floor of the west wing was all clear too, including the basement. Speaking of, we've got a ton of preserved food, rice and water down there. Once we have this place completely cleaned out, I want to get a full inventory of it all written up ASAP." Saya explained with a sharp smirk of pride in her group's discovery, especially when she saw how much it brightened up everyone else's faces.

"The second floor of the west wing was all clear, except the room at the end. There was a…a-a woman in there who'd hung herself. She left a note too, saying there were apparently a lot of 'Them' in—"The atrium, right?" Noah's solemn recounting of his group's find nearly made him miss Frasier's sudden interruption; before he slowly lifted his head to look at his eldest brother for clarification. Frasier gave an affirming nod upon seeing his brother's confusion.

"The first floor of the east wing is clear, and the rest of the central area is clear…except the atrium. Follow me," he confirmed before motioning everyone to follow him and see for themselves.

Just Outside the Atrium

"Well? What can you hear?" Saya asked in an impatient whisper, one foot nervously tapping the wooden floor, which only served to make things all the more tense for Noah, who had an ear placed up against the door, haphazardly blockaded by several pieces of furniture.

"Shuffling...soft groans...rough breathing...yeah, no doubt about it, 'They're' inside, and there's plenty of 'Them' by the sound of it," the youngest Brit answered, stepping away as Tadashi and Saya pressed their ears to confirm his findings.

"The smell was a dead give away, but this seems... different." Saya suddenly pointed out. The others looked understandably puzzled as to what that could've meant. "They're walking corpses; flesh that's been decaying for over two months now. What exactly did you expect to smell here?" Marcus retorted upon realizing nobody else was going to speak up. "I know that, you smartass. What I mean is that this smells even worse than usual." Saya replied with a scornful hiss, having to make a conscious effort not to raise her voice.

"You worried? Scared?" Marcus suddenly teased, leaving the pink-haired genius red in the face, outright embarrassed from his childish remarks. "Of course I'm scared. Fear is what keeps humans and animals alive out in the wild. But more than that, I hate having to fight these things everywhere we go. Just for once, I'd like to just have a place not be packed full of 'Them'; to be able to actually relax for once," was all she could answer with before Saeko's hand gently rested on her shoulder for reassurance. "It's okay to be afraid, Takagi-san. You're right, fear is the emotion that's driven our species to survive since the dawn of history, and sometimes fear is all we have left to keep us moving forward," the young sword maiden said in agreement, attempting to give Saya some sense of relief, before Frasier marched past them, staring intently at the door. The sharpness in his gaze almost looked as though he could see the threat just on the other side.

"I know it's been hard on everyone, but this is a controllable situation. We just let out a couple at a time, and seal the rest in. It might be tedious and take quite some time, but that's undoubtedly our safest option here." Frasier began to explain; hoping that despite their mistrust of him, it wouldn't cloud their judgment of the situation at hand. "If 'They' are able to spread out through the house, there's a good chance we'll be unable to contain it." Kiriko softly warned as the worn-down survivors shuddered at the thought of being overwhelmed, driven back and forced to travel the open road once more. "We cannot afford to go back out there. We'd hardly last a day with the state we're in." Marcus mumbled, pretty much expressing what everyone was thinking at this point.

Rika was the first to step up, with Saeko close behind. After pulling the furniture barricade aside, the tanned woman carefully inserted the key the hanged woman had on her remains, before gently rotating the cylinder. The latch carefully slid back before the door slowly creaked open an inch. There was nothing but absolute darkness inside, combined with an overwhelming stench that quickly hit everyone else behind Rika like a physical wall.

It was almost unbearable at first; Saya almost vomiting from the rotten odors that billowed out before Khota hurriedly brought a hand over her mouth. At first she shot him an immensely irritated glare at being touched without permission, but quickly realized his train of thought and gave an assuring nod that she'd be all right.

"Lure some over," Tadashi whispered as Rika pursed her lips, letting out a low whistle. At first, it seemed like there was no response from within the dark void. However, just when Rika was about to whistle even louder, two horrifically savaged figures came lurching out from the shadows. 'Their' snarls and grunts seemed more passive, curious even. Rika and Saeko carefully stepped to the side to let the duo through.

Frasier and Johann stood at the ready, weapons drawn in anticipation for the first of many undead to come. Once it was clear, Rika hurriedly closed the doors, alerting the two shambling corpses to their position. Just as the monsters turned to face her, both immediately were stricken down from behind. 'Their' former faces were split in two, one by an axe and the other a machete, the bodies crumpling to the floor, only for Tadashi and Marcus to quickly drag 'Them' away to clear the area for the next batch.

"Again," Frasier mouthed as Saeko and Rika nodded in acknowledgement. A single door opened up, only for Rika to recoil back when another one of 'Them' lunged at her, as if it was waiting for someone to open the door again.

Luckily, Saeko was prepared for such a surprise and swiftly thrust the blade straight up through the roof of its mouth and out the top of the skull. Withdrawing the katana, the young sword maiden glanced to see several more figures stepping out from the shadows.

Over the next thirty minutes, everyone was careful with drawing out the seemingly endless amounts of 'Them' from the atrium, as according to plan. However, the rest eventually began to catch on to what was going on. Rika was forced to slam the doors shut, the lock only buying them what felt like seconds before it would burst open again. The overwhelming force of a mass of the undead was something the group all knew far too well by now, as Frasier, Marcus, Johann, Tadashi and Kiriko joined Rika's side, quickly rushing to brace the door while the rest began to relocate some of the furniture for a second line of defense.

"There's too many piling up from the other side! Fall back...we can't hold 'Them' like this!" Frasier ordered through gritted teeth as the sound of numerous fingers clawing at the door was nearly deafening at this point. He could even feel his heart rate jump once he heard the telltale groaning of the hinges beginning to give against the pressure. Exchanging glances with the others, they all understood they would have to move as one, or else one or more of them was bound to get crushed under the doors upon giving way.

"One…two…three," the eldest Brit finally shouted as they all jumped back as far as their built up momentum could allow.

SLAM!

Not even a second passed before the hinges gave way to the oncoming horde. Just as the six door holders vaulted over the flipped furniture, the rest of the group wasted no time before opening fire on the horde right behind on their tail. Every shot rang louder than usual; they all knew this was the last of their ammunition, but at the same time also knew this was not the time to be conservative.

After nearly a minute of constant firing, the group was all left with nothing but a cloud of gun smoke as the last of the shell casings rolled by their feet. Only a handful of the relentless horde had been slain by the desperate hail of gunfire, while the rest merely stumbled over the fallen as if the bodies weren't even there. The loud echo and reverberation from the gunshots was now replaced by the collective hungered groans. Such sickening noises left everyone visibly stunned by the relentless horrors before them. To be faced with such an inhuman force that used to be their neighbors, friends and loved ones hadn't gotten any easier, even after all this time. To look into the ghastly maimed faces and lifeless eyes of these flesh-eating monstrosities, reminded all of them that no amount of combat experience made them any less susceptible to becoming another one of 'Them'.

Saya, Tadashi, Kohta, Johann, Miku, and Noah tried to hold the makeshift furniture barricade from breaking apart, while Marcus, Saeko, Rei, Kiriko, and Rika gave everything they had to ensure 'They' could not break through. All it took was just one of these things to slip past their defenses to make everything fall apart.

"Everyone get down!" Frasier suddenly called out amid the tidal wave of ravenous growls. Unable to even look back to see what he was doing, the others just did as he suggested out of sheer instinct, ducking beneath the dozens of bloodied gray hands still clawing the air for them.

WHAM!

Suddenly, one of the chairs went flying overhead, crashing into the undead pack. The mangled bodies squirmed in an attempt to get back up, only for a second chair to topple and pin more down. The desperate survivors looked back at their contentious leader in awe as he stood there, breathing heavily before falling to his knees. Despite the exhaustion of it all, it didn't keep them from taking advantage of this turning point.

Without anyone needing to shout an order or give a signal, they all vaulted over the barricade. One by one, they tore through the incapacitated undead. A series of slashes, swings and blows left the surrounding walls painted in the thick, brownish blood and brain matter of their foes. Every last ounce of energy between the fighters was spent slaying and pushing the rest of 'Them' back to the entrance of the atrium. By the time they'd reached that dark void, they all silently assumed only more would come creeping out.

However, the hall was suddenly dead silent; save for their heavy breathing that now permeated the air. The group looked all around, as if certain the battle was far from over. Eventually, however, the adrenaline wore off; their guard slipping the longer they dwelled upon the eerie absence of noise.

"Is everyone alright?" Shizuka suddenly asked, effectively breaking the unnerving silence. Collectively, they all looked themselves over, relieved to see nobody had been bitten or scratched amid all the chaos less than a minute ago. "Yeah...I guess we are." Noah muttered between breaths, practically speaking for everyone as they all nodded in confirmation when he glanced their way. Shizuka's face was virtually glowing with relief as she smiled; the good fortune of their group making it through these awful battles unscathed being one of the best things she could ask for anymore.

With the immediate (and potentially only) threats dealt with, Saeko quickly made her way to Frasier's side as he'd yet to get back on his feet; ignoring the sharp pains of straining herself with the still-fresh knife wound on her midsection.

Confident that the area was finally clear of all hostiles, Saeko was the first to traverse into the darkness. The ground was sickeningly slippery and sticky at the same time, squelching every time her boot lifted up to take another step. As if the stench itself wasn't enough, the sound of countless flies could now be heard filling the room. It wasn't nearly as dark as they initially thought, either. A dim vibrancy of light hung overhead, prompting the young woman to look up as the others began to follow her inside.

"See anything?" Frasier asked, still breathing heavily from exhaustion. She didn't even look at him, simply pointing upwards before saying: "That glass up there. Shatter it and we'll have more light in here."

Not needing to be told twice, he gripped the hatchet in hand, flinging it in an arc towards the overhead glass. Both of them braced themselves for the inevitable massive shatter of glass raining from above.

Tink!

Before their eyes, the hatchet completely deflected harmlessly off the ceiling window's glass before landing in the shadows of the horrid-smelling room. A momentary silence lingered before Noah could be heard approaching from behind.

"You know we could've just opened those up, right?" was all he asked before Frasier bowed his head in embarrassment, mumbling: "I do now." Saeko slightly smirked at this sight of humility before Noah tried to focus his eyes to confirm something he could just vaguely make out. "I think I can see a latch. I'll be right back."

Moments later, Noah was hard at work, using the length of Rika's sniper rifle to try and reach the window's latch. Amid the nerve-wracking silence, the only sounds were that of the latch being fussed with, the countless flies now furiously buzzing, as if fully aware of the group's presence, and everyone's nervous breathing to what they were about to see. A sudden click echoed before the window panel flew wide-open, piles of leaves that had collected over it gently flying down, as the sunlight was free to beam in, revealing everything the atrium had to offer.

"Oh my god..." was all Tadashi could mouth silently at what now lay before them. Despite all the terrible things he'd witnessed as a detective, none of them remotely compared to what he was now saw.

While the overhead skylight had mostly been dim due to the fallen leaves piling over it, the windows on the ground floor were…something else. They were covered in so much muck and blood, that even the sunlight was completely blocked out. A few old handprints and minor scuffs smeared across it indicated a few people had tried to break their way out, but clearly all for nothing.

Dismembered limbs picked down to the bones littered the room, and organs were strewn about the floor like some kind of twisted decor gone too far. Any blood that hadn't been smeared on the walls or windows had long since coagulated to the floor. It was all so thick and collected, to the point one could've easily presumed it was once raining with the stuff. Miku instinctively picked up Zeke so none of it would get on his paws; the small hound softly whimpering uncomfortably as he could easily read off of everyone's intense emotions.

If one were to learn about human anatomy, this room would've had no shortage of examples, albeit all parts had been completely torn apart, gnawed on, or mindlessly stepped on for two months. Maggots could be seen festering within the long since putrid meaty chunks, with flies swarming over every single pile of remains left, forming buzzing black clouds around the worst areas of the massacre.

Any one of these sights would've been enough to leave irreparable mental scars on anyone for years on end, but to see it all at once left the entire group in unspeakable horror, their blood all collectively frozen. To imagine what it was like at the peak of this madness left them paralyzed in thought. All their willpower was being used to keep from breaking under the overwhelming pressure, unable to look away as each sight only proved to be excessively worse than the last. Even those among their ranks that were usually nonchalant toward these gory sights couldn't feign this like it was nothing. Not this time.

It was abundantly clear now why the woman upstairs had killed herself. The guilt she must have felt for her part in this was clearly too much to bear. However, that still did not explain how this all started, but the survivors weren't terribly concerned over details at the moment. They were all too busy trying to keep what little food they had down, all while trying to figure out how they could possibly put the sight of this slaughterhouse behind themselves.

"Don't look, kid." Rika muttered absently, snapping out of her trance long enough to think of Alice, only to glance back and see the small child was completely exposed to this sight of absolute horror. The normally stoic sniper's eyes went wide in shock. "Son of a-get her out of here!" Rika exclaimed, motioning Shizuka to take her away. Alice didn't even flinch or blink when the nurse started to pull her away.

"This isn't a house...it's a tomb." Johann commented, his voice shaking as every part of him wanted to run from this house. Deep in his gut, he knew no good could come from remaining in such a place. "It's just like what happened back at Fujimi Academy. The dead had gathered the bodies of 'Their' victims into the cafeteria...before..." Marcus recalled, barely managing to stop himself in time to try and regain his composure.

"I don't know about you guys...but hitting the road sounds like a really good idea right about now." Kohta suggested, starting to step back, only bump into a nearby table. His racing mind, combined with the overwhelming fear, nearly caused him to jump and scream. Even Saya, who normally would've been right in his face and reprimanding him for such carelessness, was feeling far too nauseous to even pay attention to him.

"Should we just pack up our stuff and keep looking for another place?" Rei reluctantly brought up as she inched closer to her parents for comfort, considerably hesitant to move when any one of these torn up bodies could potentially jump out at her. Some of the others looked similarly ready to leave, or at the very least consider it once somebody finally suggested it.

"No." Rika suddenly interjected, standing up after observing whatever she was trying to rummage though and tossing a blood-crusted glove aside. "It might've been their tomb, but that doesn't mean we can't make use of this place for ourselves now."

"Are you serious? Just look at this place! This is a slaughterhouse; how can any of us hope to live with this nightmare under the same roof?" Kohta argued, sounding more vulnerable than usual; no doubt due to their having literally no bullets left to make him feel safe. "It does beat sleeping in a cramped bus...which doesn't even exist anymore. We were dying out there, slowly but surely. At least here we have a chance. Especially now that we've cleared it all out." Kiriko chimed in to remind everyone of the alternative.

"As horrible as this all is...if we clean this mess up and remove all the bodies, there's nothing to really complain about otherwise. We all saw how stable the rest of the house was." Saeko announced with her arms crossed, certain that this was a boon they couldn't afford to pass up. The thought of having to touch anything in this room made everyone's skin crawl, but they couldn't deny that the end result would no doubt be worthwhile. "She's right. This place seems to have everything we could possibly need to survive. It would be daft to not try and make use of it; at least until we have our bearings straight again." Frasier unexpectedly agreed, catching the whole group off guard to hear him actually turn down hitting the road for Tokyo again. It didn't even take a minute afterward before everyone else seemed to be onboard with staying.

"What about the bodies? Should we burn them, or bury them?" Saya suddenly brought up, as it was going to be an important detail they'd have to deal with down the line. "Burn- "Bury," Frasier and Rei suggested at once, both glaring at each other for a moment, but neither of them could not even muster up the energy to argue how to handle the corpse disposal.

"We'll handle the details on that later. Let's just start by getting any of the bodies and the pieces out of the house." Saeko suggested, as everyone seemed to be on common ground for that, at the very least. The last thing they needed was to become sick from the contaminated remains. If this estate was to become even remotely livable, that was clearly the first step. "I'll look for cleaning supplies." Saya suggested after trying to pull one of the bodies on her own, only for the feet to suddenly break off at the ankles due to the decay. Barely holding in what little food she had in her system, she hurriedly stormed out of the atrium to put some much-needed distance between this place and herself, even if it was just temporary.

"Alright, I want to make one more sweep of the upstairs, see if there's any immediate supplies we can use somehow. Rika-san and Saya-san, I want you both with me in case I overlook anything. The rest of you…you know what to do." Frasier gave one last order as he began to follow after Saya with Rika at his side. With nothing else needing to be said, and with more than a few reluctant groans, everyone else got to work grabbing what cleaning supplies they could from the kitchen for the colossal job ahead of them.

"God, what a day." Rei muttered as she looked around. While the room was still somewhat dim, she could at least see where she was going now. She was able to see everyone's disgusted expression every time they had to handle one of the corpses. With nothing else needing to be done, she let out a heavy sigh before walking over to help her parents clear a path to the exit. This day was far from over.

Upstairs

After the horror show they'd witnessed downstairs, the sound of the floor creaking with almost every step left Frasier and his compatriots, namely Saya, on edge. They couldn't think of anything to say to break the silence that wouldn't seem redundant or somehow disrespectful towards the catastrophic loss of life that had evidently taken place within these walls. But they also knew that if someone didn't think of something to say soon, the silence would be too much to take.

"Alright, if nobody else is going to ask, then I will. Do you really have some kind of miracle backup plan up your sleeve?" Rika finally asked as soon as Saya had decided to venture forward and check the rooms, leaving her and Frasier to themselves. The young Brit simply glanced back at her with a hint of confusion. "Oh, don't look at me like that. Ever since I joined you guys, you've always had at least the makings of a plan at the ready when things didn't go as you hoped. Right now, I think it's safe to say our chances of reaching Tokyo now are nil. We've lost pretty much all our supplies with the bus, and we only found this place by total accident. I'm not sure how many more lucky breaks we're due for if we decide to hit the road again. But at the same time, you've proven to be one of the more stubborn assholes I've had the pleasure of knowing, so with that in mind, I'll ask again: what's the backup plan you've got on standby this time?"

Frasier's resulting silence did little to satisfy Rika's curiosity, but she could see the frustration in his eyes as he looked to be struggling for an answer. When he finally let out a defeated sigh and looked her in the eyes, that usual confident, if not stubborn, bravado was nowhere to be seen.

"There is no backup plan, Rika-san. Not this time. Everyone's right about how badly we were doing out there. Nothing I could come up with right now would be able to work with as many of us as there are," he finally admitted, and while Rika was genuinely surprised to actually hear him admit his own personal defeat, something about where his train of thought was now going left her a little uneasy. "So what exactly are you saying? Cause that sounds an awful lot like what you were yelling at everybody back at that plane wreck a couple days ago. You complained about how many of us there were that you had to take command over then, too. So now let me ask you this: Do you still think you should just take Noah-kun and Marcus-kun by the hair, leave the rest of us in the dust, and try hoofing it to Tokyo on your own, even if you have to do it by foot? Everyone here is pretty much at the end of their rope, and I need to know right now just what exactly you think might be the best course of action, for yourself and for all of us."

There was no room for leniency in Rika's question. She wanted the cold facts out of him, and the sharpness in her eyes showed him she wasn't going to just let this go. And she had every right to hold onto that, too. He'd made no secret of how much he resented the position he was in and who he considered to be his real priorities. And even then, they were still here at his side, simply cause they knew there was no better alternative. But now, even he couldn't say for sure if splitting away from the others would be best for him and his brothers; not only because they'd become so attached to everyone, but simply because of how unforgiving and sparse the road had become. Food was becoming more and more scarce, the numbers of 'Them' never seemed to let up, the weather was only getting hotter now that they were well into summer, and their weapon situation was downright pitiful.

The truth now was that Frasier couldn't think of what answer was right, for himself and for everyone else. Yes, that stubborn old flame of soldier's pride was still there in his gut, telling him that he and his brothers would be better off on their own, but that damned infectious sentimentality from Noah and Marcus left his heart strained with doubt.

But as he processed all of this in painful silence, that seemed to be all the answer Rika needed, for better or for worse, as she gave a sigh of what could only be called disappointment to see him actually considering abandoning them after all the struggling they'd gone through just to get this far.

All the while this was happening, Saya ducked away into the nearest door she could find: what looked to be a small personal office with an assortment of bookshelves lining the walls. With only an oak drawer and a quaint old desk to rummage through, the pink-haired girl quickly got to work.

The drawer was filled with a bunch of musty old papers she didn't bother looking through. However, tucked into the corner was a tiny little plastic bag carrying a handful of regular batteries. Saya quickly pocketed them, figuring they'd at least be good for the flashlights if nothing else.

Turning her attention to the drawers of the desk, she was dismayed to find they were all locked. Fortunately, spying a stray paperclip on the tabletop, she quickly got to work unfolding it and meticulously picking at each of the locks until they were all finally opened and she could peruse to her heart's content. While many contained nothing of note, she eventually came across a small book that by the cover looked to be some kind of manual for fixing electronics. Figuring there was no harm in being prepared, Saya set it aside for later while scouring the rest of the drawers.

Before long, she'd searched every nook and cranny and found herself with the bag of batteries, the electronics manual and a neatly folded up map. Since losing their much larger scale one in the bus, she couldn't help but feel a little proud of herself she'd found her friends a new set of eyes on the road. The triumphant smirk on her lips instantly caught Frasier and Rika's attention once she finally stepped out.

"Obviously those must be pretty important knick-knacks you've got if they're actually making you of all people smile." Rika commented, but even her usual biting wit wasn't enough to dampen Saya's spirits. "Honestly, I think we really lucked out with these, even more so than with the food. It may not cover as wide of an area, but this map could potentially give us a clearer idea how far we are from the Tokyo city limits, as well as give us a better idea of any notable locations we can scavenge. And this book could really help me out with figuring out how to get those solar panels working, just in case."

"I have to admit, you really came through for us with finding these, Takagi-san. In fact, Minami-san and I decided to check one of the other rooms while we were waiting for you, and we actually came across a pretty heavy duty-looking radio. It's nothing military-grade, but it's better than a crappy ham radio or a CB. Unfortunately it must've gotten shorted by the EMP, cause it wasn't turning on, no matter what switches we tried to flip." Frasier admitted, watching Saya's eyes practically ignite behind her glasses at the mention of a radio. He and Rika could practically see the gears already turning in her head over what she could be able to do.

Downstairs

Everyone was hard at work dragging one body after another away from the atrium, out the front door, and onto the disgusting pile they'd already started making near the circular driveway. Whoever decided to volunteer for cleaning out the atrium itself had to go and weed out any dismembered limbs or spilled organs they could find first; a task which had already forced Kohta and Kiriko to rush outside and vomit in disgust, while everyone else forced themselves to keep what little they still had in their stomachs down. The typical god-awful stench of decay had practically been absorbed into the walls, driving everyone to either bring their collars over their noses or to tie whatever rags they could find in the kitchen around their heads.

They pretty much emptied the kitchen and two broom closets of all the cleaning supplies they had, getting down on their hands and knees to try and scrub away two months worth of collected filth, blood, gore and bile that had all but adhered to the wooden floors and the walls. It would be a miracle if they'd not only be able to get any of this shit off, but be able to do it without completely stripping away the floor and walls themselves. They could only be grateful that the glass wall was proving exceptionally easier; soon providing them with daylight to work by.

"Holy shit, how is it these things keep managing to get even heavier? I swear; it's like each one somehow weighs more than the last. I'm in danger of breaking a seventh sweat any moment." Marcus groaned through his gritted teeth as he struggled to drag his tenth body out the door; already able to feel his clothes were literally soaked in his sweat from the strain and the relentless beating of the sun.

"Just be grateful none of them were overweight. With two months worth of stagnating guts weighing down inside, I don't even want to think what would happen if one of those were to rip in half while we're trying to drag it out." Noah quickly reminded his brother, unable to help but shudder himself at the thought.

"And you both should be grateful you're not on guts detail. All the gloves in the world wouldn't be enough, having to handle squished intestines like these, getting stomped all over for all this time. I don't know if I'll ever be able to eat again after this." Saeko surprisingly piped in, no effort being given to hide her immense disgust as she worked. The two Lawson's honestly couldn't help but be surprised to hear their most fearsome and head-on fighter actually sounding legitimately disgusted for once.

"We should just do something about getting rid of those bodies as soon as this place is emptied. I think we can all agree we'd prefer not having to work with a bunch of putrid rotting bodies first thing in the morning." Johann suggested, earning numerous nods of agreement from everyone. "Well, this valley is huge. Even with that greenhouse, I'm sure there might be some gardening tools either there or in the basement. Maybe we could pick a spot to dig a mass grave to dump them all into and bury them." Miku chimed in, only for her expression to sink when she saw nobody was thinking likewise.

"If it weren't for the potential of us making a second garden with whatever we find in the greenhouse, I'd agree. But I don't think we should risk growing fruits, vegetables and herbs in soil that could potentially be contaminated by 'Their' rot." Shizuka reluctantly pointed out, to which everyone pretty much looked to be in agreement. "Maybe there are some fuel canisters in that garage, or maybe some in the basement. We could use those to just burn them. We could even dig a hole, throw the bodies in, and burn them there so we don't risk it spreading through the grass." Tadashi chimed in, and all at once did the entire room go silent and everyone froze. When it came to disposal of slain numbers of 'Them', they rarely had to even worry about disposal at all, let alone specifics.

It still wasn't easy, even after all this time, to stop thinking of the humans 'They' used to be. And now, with the idea of erasing their physical existence entirely with fire…that disturbing reminder came back even harder, and it left an immensely uneasy feeling in most of their stomachs. There was no denying 'They' had to be removed somehow…but nobody could answer for themselves if they actually could bring themselves to so callously do something so…disrespectful to the bodies of somebody else's former loved ones.

"Hey, guys, I think I found something!" Kohta suddenly exclaimed; rushing out with what looked to be a small blood-covered video camera in his hand.

"What's he going on about now?" Saya called out from the nearby stairs as she, Frasier and Rika descended to reunite with their fellow survivors. Yet somehow, even despite the still macabre scene they stood just outside of, and Saya's typical condescending tone, Kohta's surprise enthusiasm didn't fade as he held his newest find out for them to see. "I found this video camera just lying in one of the corners of the atrium. We're lucky one of 'Them' didn't accidentally step on it," he explained excitedly. While nobody said anything, Noah, Frasier and Tadashi couldn't deny they were somewhat curious what could be on it.

"How can you be sure it didn't get fried by the EMP like everything else?" Frasier asked, not even bothering to hide his skepticism. Showing no sign of discouragement, Kohta pressed the first button on the camera's control pad he could find, and much to his surprise, the tiny video screen momentarily illuminated before displaying a symbol for an empty battery; all before the screen returned to the empty black it had been before.

"Well, good news is that it technically still works. I guess it must've just been left running in there and the battery ran out before the EMP hit. If we just had a couple fresh ones, we could actually see what's on it." Kohta proclaimed excitedly, before realizing nobody had what he was looking for. At least not until Saya pulled out the small plastic bag of batteries she'd found and held it up to his face; a proud smirk adorning her lips.

Kohta's eyes practically flared behind his glasses as he rummaged around inside before grabbing two AA's and swiftly slipping them in the old ones' place. After slapping the protective lid over, he hurriedly pressed the 'Play' button again, and as everyone else instinctively crowded around to see for themselves what the camera had in store, the screen illuminated once more, and the video began to play before their eyes.

…..

The first thing they were greeted with was a young Caucasian man with long, messy blonde hair, looking to be somewhere in his twenties, looking directly into the camera. From what little could be seen below his neck, he looked to be wearing a tuxedo.

"Est-ce que cette chose enregistre même? Oh, merde, ça l'est. Bonjour à tous, vous qui êtes de retour à la maison et qui n'a pas pu être ici ce soir, parce que, honnêtement, quelle personne qui n'a pas de jet privé peut se permettre des billets d'avion ces jours-ci? C'est votre fidèle hôte, Theo Dubois, qui vous fait vivre l'expérience presque VIP de la plus grande journée de Marie. (Is this thing even recording? Oh, shit, it is. Hello, all you beautiful people back home that couldn't be here tonight, because, honestly, what person who doesn't have a private jet can afford airplane tickets these days? This is your trusty host, Theo Dubois, bringing you the almost VIP experience of dear Marie's biggest day.)"

With that, the young man, Theo, turned the camera from himself to the front yard of the estate, where a veritable convoy of sports cars were pulling up, with numerous people in pristine matching suits and beautiful dresses were stepping out and mingling with one another as they made their way inside. From a distance it was hard to tell, but they all seemed to be a pretty even mix between Europeans and Japanese.

"Est-ce que ça ne fait rien? Elle demande à son père une cérémonie subtile, et pour lui, cela se traduit par l'invitation à peu près de tous les beaux-parents et amis de la famille qui peuvent se payer une Lamborghini ou dix. Pour l'amour de Dieu, le marié vient juste de quitter l'université et peut à peine se permettre son propre appartement. Vous pensez que le vieil homme essaie en fait de le faire fuir à l'autel. (Doesn't it just figure? She asks father for a subtle ceremony, and to him, that translates to inviting pretty much every in-law and family friend we've got that can afford a Lamborghini or ten. For god's sake, the groom is just out of college and can barely afford his own apartment. You'd think the old man's actually trying to scare him away right at the altar.)"

Suddenly, the video feed cut from wherever he was recording through the window, and now he seemed to be making his way through the crowds of guests, who by now had gathered in the atrium. Through the mass of people, there was a barely visible altar set up just in front of the window wall.

"Et nous voilà arrivés à vous en direct du rassemblement social du siècle, ou du moins c'est là que vous pensez que nous regardons certaines de ces robes de femmes. Merde, la moitié d'entre eux valent plus que le salaire annuel d'un employé de papa. Hé, tu penses que tu aurais pu choisir quelque chose de moins ostentatoire pour aujourd'hui? Ce n'est pas comme si vous vous mariez. (And here we are, coming to you live from the social gathering of the century, or at least that's where you'd think we are looking at some of these ladies' dresses. Shit, half of these are worth more than one of dad's employees' annual salary. Hey, do you think you could've picked something a little less ostentatious for today? It's not like you're the ones getting married.)"

As he made his way through the crowds, Theo was clearly muttering all of these comments to himself, as nobody seemed to notice or care as they kept mindlessly chattering among themselves. Every now and then, he would almost get plowed into by one of the servants bringing along drinks, each time eliciting numerous apologies before he'd continue on his way. At one point, the camera found its way into an open spot on the floor, where the focus then shifted towards a small gathering of people, a Japanese family from the looks of it: a father, a mother, and two boys, one of whom in a more expensive-looking suit than the others. The parents looked to be noticeably uncomfortable among the rest of the blue bloods gathered here.

"Et les voici, la famille du marié, la bientôt la belle-famille, la famille Ishida. Comme une bande de cerfs dans les phares, pauvres bâtards. L'exemple parfait d'une famille de la classe ouvrière, maintenant entouré par la foule qui passe la moitié de l'année en vacances en Suisse et l'autre moitié en vacances partout ailleurs. A tous ceux qui regardent ça à la maison, à quel point voulez-vous que mon vieux père offre à mon autre beau-frère un emploi dans cette nouvelle usine qu'il vient d'ouvrir à Hokkaido? Il n'aura pas besoin de la main-d'œuvre, mais je parie que de l'argent il essaie de le vendre comme une sorte de faveur à la famille. (And here they are, the family of the groom, the soon to be in-laws, the Ishida family. Like a bunch of deer in the headlights, poor bastards. The picture-perfect example of a working class family, now surrounded by the crowd that spends half the year on vacation in Switzerland, and the other half on vacation everywhere else. To all the folks watching this at home, how much do you want to bet dear old dad offers my other brother-in-law there a job at that new factory he just opened in Hokkaido? He won't shut up about needing the manpower, but I'll bet money he tries to sell it like some messed up kind of favor to family.)"

Just as he began to further approach said family, the camera was suddenly jerked away, and was now looking into the stern face of an older European man with a short head of graying hair. The glare in his blue eyes and the way he stood practically screamed this man was not to be taken lightly, and his clearly tailor-made suit managed to say it even louder.

"Theo, qu'est-ce que tu penses faire dans l'enfer? (Theo, just what in the hell do you think you're doing?)" the older man hissed, barely managing to refrain from shouting at the top of his lungs while the camera seemed to take a step back. "Que voulez-vous dire? J'enregistre le mariage de ma soeur comme vous et ma mère me l'avez demandé. (What do you mean? I'm recording my sister's wedding like you and mother asked me to.)" Theo shot back, surprisingly not sounding remotely intimidated by who was clearly his aforementioned father, or his disapproving demeanor.

"Non, vous montrez cette caméra sur les visages de notre invité et vous vous faites un cul complet. Vous pensez que je ne peux pas entendre ce que vous avez marmonné toute la journée depuis que nos invités sont arrivés ici? C'est un jour très important pour votre soeur et vous humiliez cette famille. (No, you're pointing that camera in our guest's faces and making a complete ass of yourself. You think I can't hear what you've been mumbling all day since our guests got here? This is a very important day for your sister, and you're humiliating this family.)" By this point, the camera swooped down to stare at the floor and Theo's feet, but the built-in microphone was still able to capture everything being said with crystal clarity.

"Oh, ne commencez même pas à me donner des conneries sur la famille. Nous étions tous là; Marie a dit qu'elle voulait quelque chose de simple pour le mariage, rien de trop grand ni de plus glamour. Nous pouvions facilement ramener Yuuto et ses parents en France et organiser le mariage dans la cabine d'été; mais non, vous avez insisté non seulement pour que cela se produise, mais aussi pour inviter tous ces gens. Je veux dire, qui sont même la moitié de ces invités? Je n'ai jamais rencontré aucun d'entre eux auparavant. (Oh, don't even start giving me shit about family. We were all there; Marie said she wanted something simple for the wedding, nothing too big or glamorous. We could've easily just flown Yuuto and his folks back to France and held the wedding at the summer cabin; but no, you insisted on not only having it in this getaway eyesore of yours, but also inviting all these people. I mean, who are even half of these guests? I've never met any of them before.)"

"Surveillez votre ton! Ce sont des amis très importants de mes associés qui ont des liens vitaux avec plusieurs des plus grandes entreprises du pays. Je devais tirer beaucoup de ficelles pour faire construire la nouvelle usine ici, et c'est la meilleure opportunité que j'ai de créer mes propres connexions, afin d'éviter que cet investissement ne tombe à l'eau. Maintenant, si vous voulez me reprocher de prendre toutes les chances que je peux pour garder notre famille hors de la rue, allez-y. Mais le moins que vous puissiez faire est de ne pas attirer autant d'attention sur vous-même et de vous comporter… du moins pour Marie. (Watch your tone! These are very important friends of my associates with vital ties to many of the biggest corporations in this country. I had to pull a lot of strings to get the new factory built here, and this is the best opportunity I have to make connections of my own, in order to keep that investment from falling through. Now if you want to resent me for taking every chance I can to keep our family off the streets, go ahead. But the least you can do is not draw so much attention to yourself and behave…at least for Marie's sake.)" By this point, the father seemed to at least be trying to reel back his frustration. For a few seconds, it sounded as if he was muttering something further, albeit more quietly, to his son, but the buzz of the surrounding guests kept the camera from capturing whatever it was. Afterward, the camera finally returned to filming the father's face, and his expression had softened considerably, as if whatever he and Theo had whispered had established some kind of understanding.

"Marcel, Theo, vous faites quoi deux? (Marcel, Theo, what are you two doing?)" The peace was swiftly interrupted by an approaching older woman with short light brown hair in strictly formal attire, uniformly coming to the father Marcel's side. "Rien de grave, mon cher. Je m'assure que Theo n'oublie pas d'interviewer tous nos invités pour le forfait commémoratif une fois que Marie et Yuuto partiront en voyage de noces. (Nothing serious, dear. I'm just making sure Theo doesn't forget to interview all of our guests for the commemoration package once Marie and Yuuto leave for their honeymoon.)"

"Eh bien, vous ne devriez pas attendre vos invités; ils ont très hâte de vous parler de l'usine. Et Théo, ma chérie, voudriez-vous, s'il vous plait, parler à Yuuto et à sa famille, les aider à être un peu plus à l'aise? (Well you shouldn't keep your guests waiting; they're very anxious to talk to you about the factory. And Theo, dear, would you please go and talk to Yuuto and his family, help them get a little more comfortable?)" The woman, clearly the wife and mother among the three, instructed in a hushed whisper, and with an affirming nod in said family's direction from Marcel, the camera swung back to the right and made a beeline towards the groom and his family, who only seemed to notice his presence when he was practically towering over them.

"Hello. Are…are you…er, liking—no, I mean…enjoying the party?" Theo attempted to ask in immensely awkward Japanese, prompting the parents to nervously nod lest they appeared to be rude or ungrateful. The look on what was clearly the groom Yuuto, however, showed he wasn't buying the attempt at small talk as he got up from his seat and approached the camera. "Theo, first of all, maybe just speak English with me and not put any extra pressure on my parents? They're uncomfortable enough here as it is," he requested in surprisingly good English, and in a hushed whisper as he ushered the camera away from his family and towards a nearby corner away from the crowd.

"Right, sorry about that. Mother wanted me to try and make you all a little more comfortable. Believe me, I realize these kinds of people can be really off-putting for your…er, your class. But just think, after today, you hopefully won't have to deal with crowds like this again. Be grateful my sister's marrying you for the potential quiet life and you're not marrying her for the shot at wealth. This kind of elbow-rubbing, with these kinds of people, isn't worth it if you ask me." Despite the attempt at good humor, the groom didn't look remotely amused.

"Yes, duly noted. Look, Theo, do you think maybe you could go bother somebody else right now? Things with my family are already tense enough." Yuuto stated hurriedly, as though eager to just return to his family as soon as possible. "Whoa, okay; Yuuto, what's going on? I realize this isn't exactly your scene, but—"It's not the damn party, alright? My parents have just been listening to the news all day today, and it's got them really worried." By this point, Yuuto's aggressive demeanor had reduced to that of a raw kind of fear, and the camera stepped in a little closer, as though Theo were trying to keep anyone from eavesdropping on them. "Sorry, mate, but I've been busy helping with the party to really take the time for that. What's going on?" Before answering, Yuuto checked all around, as though looking for anyone listening who shouldn't have been.

"Don't tell this to anyone right now; we don't want rumors to spread and people to panic; but apparently, the news is talking about these massive riots just spontaneously erupting all over the country, not just in the major cities but even in the smaller metropolitan areas as well. But what my parents told me, it's not like anything you'd expect from a riot. There's no kind of organization or anything of the sort. It's like people just started killing each other in the streets…but not just that. Apparently, witnesses have been talking about seeing these aggressive people…literally eating the people they kill, and the authorities can't stop them."

There was a heavy, oppressive silence between the two men as Theo was clearly trying to process everything he was being told. "My God. A-are you sure this isn't some kind of elaborate hoax or something? I mean, riots aren't anything new, but…but cannibalism? That's just too extreme to be real, Yuuto." Yuuto just gave an exasperated shake of his head as his eyes kept scanning across the atrium among the guests.

"Believe me, that's what I thought at first, but my dad even showed me some of the news feeds from his phone. Whatever's going on…it's real. And that's not all. Apparently, it's not just happening in Japan. There have been similar stories coming out from China, Russia, Italy, England, France, and even America. This thing is happening everywhere as we speak." By now, the camera started swaying, as though Theo was feeling nauseous the more he heard. However, before he could muster the strength to speak, the camera was suddenly jerked away, looking into the face of his mother again.

"So sorry to interrupt, Yuuto, but the minister is finally ready, and I've just confirmed Marie is as well. Marcel is about to make the announcement, so would you please come up to the podium, you and your best man?" Before either Yuuto or Theo could speak up, she'd already gotten an arm over the groom's shoulders and was leading him past the crowd and towards the altar. The camera already began hurriedly following after them into the crowd as the air was suddenly filled with the sound of microphone feedback as Marcel now stood at the altar himself.

Suddenly, the camera feed quickly cut to what must've been just a minute later, as Theo was now face to face with his mother and father as a rendition of The Wedding March dominated the background.

"De quoi parle-t-il? (What the devil is he going on about?)" Marcel hissed; his wife looking equally agitated. "Apparemment, notre fils est convaincu que les gens dans les villes, en fait, partout dans le monde, se tuent et se mangent en masse en ce moment même. Il dit que Yuuto lui a dit, et que ses parents lui ont dit, et c'est pourquoi ils avaient l'air si nerveux toute la journée. (Apparently, our son is convinced that people out in the cities; in fact, all over the world, are killing and eating each other en masse as we speak. He says that Yuuto told him, and that his parents told him, and that's why they've been looking so nervous all day.)" Hearing this, Marcel's eyes focused squarely on his son, and for a moment he looked like he wanted to tear his head off with his bare hands.

"Donc, il ne suffit pas que vous deviez agir de manière perturbatrice et impitoyable devant nos invités, mais vous devez aussi commencer à répandre des mensonges odieux? Et au mariage de votre soeur, pour l'amour du Christ! Garçon, il vaut mieux être ivre pour dire des choses aussi ridicules, ou alors aidez-moi! (So, it's not enough that you have to act disruptive and rude in front of our guests, but you have to start spreading such heinous lies, too? And at your sister's wedding, for Christ's sake! Boy, you had better be drunk in order to be saying such ridiculous things, or so help me!)" Before he could make a move, the camera started stepping way back while the mother tried to get in between them.

"Allez-y et demandez aux parents de Yuuto si vous ne me croyez pas. J'ai vu les regards sur leurs visages; ce n'est pas l'apparence de quelqu'un qui raconte une blague élaborée. Nous sommes sortis dans les bâtons depuis des jours; ce n'est pas étonnant que nous n'en ayons pas encore entendu parler. Je vous le dis, si cela est vrai, nous ne pouvons laisser personne partir. (Go ahead and ask Yuuto's parents if you don't believe me. I saw the looks on their faces; that's not the look of someone telling an elaborate joke. We've been out here in the sticks for days; it's no wonder we haven't heard about it yet. I'm telling you, if this is true, we can't let anyone leave.)" Without another word, Marcel hurriedly turned away from his son, barely audible yet infuriated grumbling barely able to be heard as he retreated back into the crowd. All the while, the mother looked back to her son disapprovingly. "Faire des histoires est bien beau, Theo, mais pour faire une scène lors du grand jour de Marie… Je pensais que nous vous avions élevé mieux que cela. Maintenant, vous restez juste ici et continuez à enregistrer la cérémonie, mais sachez que cette discussion n'est pas terminée par un long coup. Je vais juste pour… essayer de calmer votre père. (Making up stories is all well and good, Theo, but to make a scene on Marie's big day…I thought we raised you better than that. Now, you just stay here and keep recording the ceremony, but know that this discussion isn't over by a long shot. I'm just going to…to try and calm your father down some.)" With that, the older woman disappeared into the crowd after her husband, and with nothing but the sound of the music to fill the empty air, Theo begrudgingly shifted the camera towards the altar, where Yuuto now stood opposite a beautiful young woman with short blonde hair and sky blue eyes, wearing an elegant white dress.

Suddenly, the camera's feed cut again, and once it picked back up, it was several minutes later, the ceremony having already past, and was now recording Marie and Marcel dancing together in the middle of an empty dance floor while many of the guests surrounded it, all watching with almost reverent silence. Theo and the camera slowly made their way behind the crowd, trying not to break away from the scene, until the faint buzz of some of the guests talking in what sounded like English caught his attention, as evidenced by the camera suddenly moving hurriedly away towards the small gathering.

"Hey, sorry to interrupt, but what were you talking about?" he asked as quietly as he could so the music wouldn't drown him or anyone else out. The small gathering of younger men and women exchanged unreadable glances with each other before one of the men pulled out his phone while one of the women scoffed. "Andy here was just telling me about some bullshit he heard on the internet this morning; something about people cannibalizing each other in cities all over the world—"I'm telling you, it's not bullshit. You want proof? This just got sent to me from my search recommendations. This was recorded just last night in Toronto." As he the man called Andy spoke, he pulled up a video on his phone and held it out for the rest to see. Unable to resist his morbid curiosity, Theo brought the camera in as close as he could to capture what was going on.

Playing out on the small screen was what looked to be a police helicopter recording of a car accident just off a major highway. From where it hovered, there looked to be a team of police officers directing traffic around it, while a team of paramedics and firefighters were wheeling a man covered in blood away on a stretcher, and using the jaws of life on a totaled car to get the front passenger out respectively.

Suddenly, the medics at the stretcher came to a stop, and as the helicopter camera zoomed in, the man on the stretcher looked to be struggling to get out of his restraints. One of the medics leaned in, most likely to try and calm the man down; but in an instant, the man snapped out of his restraints, grabbed the paramedic and pulled her in close, and her body started writhing and convulsing as the other medics suddenly crowded in to try and separate them. One she was able to get out of the man's grip, it was visible for all to see that he'd torn a chunk of her face clear away, leaving her looking like she'd been mauled by a savage animal.

Suddenly, the camera swept up towards the wreck, and just as before, the woman in the passenger seat had come crawling out and pinned one of the firefighters to the ground, gorging on his throat as blood splattered all over the asphalt while everyone else backed away in a panic. As she got to her feet, a small squadron of police officers came rushing in, lined up shoulder to shoulder and aimed their pistols at her as she began slowly limping towards them.

"What in the fuck?" One of the women watching muttered as everyone else was too shocked for words. They couldn't even gasp when the police suddenly opened fire, clearly nailing the woman several times in the torso and sending her to her knees; only for her to slowly get back on her feet again and keep coming towards them.

Theo could be clearly heard trying not to gag when the video ended with the police opening fire again, this time with a single bullet nailing the woman through the head and putting her down for good. The handheld camera stepped away from the gathering as he tried to compose himself. By now, the skeptics among the small crowd had been fully convinced.

"The news feeds online are full of shit just like this, coming from Europe, North and South America, Australia, China. Whatever this shit is; it's for real." Andy could be heard muttering in a panic to his friends while Theo had stumbled away to elsewhere in the crowd, trying to compose himself. Amid the music and the ambient mumblings of the guests, a pronounced series of painful-sounding coughs could suddenly be heard echoing across the atrium.

Before he could start to sprint through the crowd, he nearly collided with his mother, who'd just been starting to step out of the converged onlookers. At first she looked positively livid at her son's recklessness, but her expression immediately fell once she saw how undoubtedly horrified Theo looked. The camera was practically trembling as she stepped in.

"Theo, mon dieu, tu as l'air d'avoir vu un fantôme. Qu'est-ce qui ne va pas? (Theo, my god, you look as though you've seen a ghost. What's wrong?)" she could be heard asking as the coughing in the background nearly seemed to reach the same volume as the music, earning some scattered mumblings from the crowd. By now, the camera was staring at Theo's feet.

"Mère… nous devons verrouiller toutes les portes et fenêtres. Nous ne pouvons laisser aucun des invités ou des domestiques partir. (Mother…we have to lock all the doors and windows. We can't let any of the guests or the servants leave.)" The resultant sound of his mother scoffing came almost before he could finish, but when he suddenly stepped up close to get as close as possible, she went deathly silent. "Pour l'amour de Dieu, je ne invente pas ça. Demandez simplement à l'un des invités de vérifier leurs téléphones. Ce truc cannibale explose partout dans les nouvelles. Je viens d'en voir une vidéo moi-même; C'est réel! (For God's sake, I'm not making this up. Just ask any of the guests to check their phones; this cannibal stuff is blowing up all over the news. I just saw a video of it myself; this is real!)"

Before his mother could respond, the coughing was nearly overpowering now, and was suddenly cut off by a distressed scream that seemed to render the entire atrium silent as everyone, like a pack of curious animals, seemed to flock en masse towards a scene near the back of the room, with the camera quickly following suit.

Once he pushed his way through, he was met with the sight of a middle-aged woman kneeling by who was presumably her husband, sprawled out on the floor and looking pale as death, as if he'd just collapsed from heat stroke. As the camera panned around to observe everyone's looks of panic, Marcel forced his way through, looking both incensed at the disruption, and distressed when he saw someone was potentially hurt.

"What on earth is happening here?" he asked, assuming his concerned guests were some of the English-speaking guests. The woman on the floor could barely compose herself as she tried to speak up. "It's my husband; he just went into this violent coughing fit that just wouldn't let up, and before I could even think, he just collapsed."

When nobody else volunteered to step forward, Marie was the one to suddenly step in, tossing her bridal veil aside as she knelt at the fallen man's side. "It's okay, I've studied emergency first-aid. Do you know if your husband ate anything he might've been allergic to? Was there anything that happened earlier, like some kind of warning sign?" she asked with the utmost seriousness as she put her finger to his wrist to check for a pulse.

"N-no, my husband's never had allergies to anything for as long as I've known him. The only noteworthy thing was this morning when we left to come here. When we were leaving the inn back at Narusawa, some crazy old man bit him on the hand. The police were quick to take him away, and the bite didn't look that serious, only slightly punctured the skin, so we disinfected it, bandaged it and thought that was all."

As the woman explained, Theo leaned in to get a closer look, and sure enough, the man's right hand had a bandage wrapped around it. But then, some concerned-sounding mumbling drew his attention back to the crowd, where some other female guests were abuzz among themselves about something. With a fire burning in him, Theo rushed over to them, barely able to hold the camera steady, letting it hang at his waist once he reached them.

"Hey, I'm sorry, but I thought I heard you all saying something;" he hurriedly excused his intrusion before bringing the camera back up to look at their faces. They exchanged worried glances among themselves before speaking up once more. "That woman's story sounded just like mine. I met up with my brother and father in the driveway here, and they both mentioned getting attacked by a crazy person this morning, too; and they both mentioned getting bitten only slightly too. Father was complaining about feeling sore earlier, so I had him sit back in the corner to rest, and my brother offered to keep an eye on him."

As soon as the last word left her mouth, in an instant, everything exploded like a megaton of dynamite.

The silence was shattered by the most piercing scream the camera could manage to record, and it quickly swung wide to the left to find an older man with a similarly bandaged hand clutching one of the bridesmaids for dear life, only he was sinking his teeth into her exposed shoulder, tearing a huge chunk of flesh out of it as blood practically sprayed all over himself and his victim, turning her snow white gown red in seconds as she collapsed to the floor.

The entire atrium was filled with horrified screams, just as a younger man in a matching suit suddenly lunged out from the mass of people, his eyes clouded over. Theo barely managed to sidestep out of the way as the younger man grabbed the guest right behind him and tackled him to the floor. The unfortunate guest couldn't even start to fight back as his attacked dove in and sank his teeth directly into his neck, tearing out his voice box and his Adam's apple, sending a veritable geyser of blood flying into the air.

By now, the shellshock had finally worn off as the rest of the guests began to flee. Theo was barely able to figure out his bearings as he focused on his sister, who was still kneeling by the collapsed man, frozen like a statue, her eyes showing nothing but horrified disbelief. Neither of their parents could even react, as though they were outside of their own bodies, witnessing the carnage. Theo was the only one with the capability of moving as he tried to reach Marie, his steps dizzy and uncoordinated. He only seemed to go still when the camera noticed the collapsed man's hand was suddenly twitching.

Even on the camera recording, what followed seemed to go by in the most painful slow-motion. Without Marie even noticing, the man she'd been kneeling over seemed to rise up from the floor like a lifeless robot, and with almost cobra-like precision, as if all he could hear was her shaky breathing, he reached out, latched onto the bride, and bit deep into the side of her face, eliciting a banshee-like scream as he tore her right cheek from her face, sending her writhing to the floor, covered in blood, as her teeth could now be seen through the gaping hole in the side of her face.

With that, the camera fell heavily to the floor, before being swiftly kicked this way and that across the room as people hurried for the exits. Theo and his parents couldn't be seen anywhere amid the panicked masses as the camera finally seemed to come to a stop somewhere in the corner, watching the guests futilely pound at the door, numerous claims of it being locked from the outside barely able to be heard.

The throngs of people couldn't even dare to look back as they kept pounding and kicking at the door, all as the now three ravenous attackers were now shuffling towards them from behind, until they started grabbing the first of the guests or servants they could get their hands on, and digging their teeth into the first body part they could reach.

The blood was practically flying as some of it splattered against the camera lens, obscuring its view as the screams only continued to grow louder and louder. And as the carnage only continued to grow, barely visible through the thickness of the blood; shadows began to rise up from the floor in the background, where those that had already gotten attacked had fallen, as though they were now getting right back up to join the fray.

Just then, the bodies of one of the guests suddenly collapsed on top of the camera, and that was what finally stopped the recording once and for all.

…..

Nobody could bring themselves to speak once the video had finally ended. It felt like they'd all just witnessed the most horrible of massacres firsthand, instead of through a little video screen. What little optimism, what little life had permeated throughout the air among the onlookers had instantly been blown away, and everyone felt the most unsettling cold creep up their spines. It had been bad enough to know a feeding frenzy had occurred in what was to be their new home. But to have now witnessed pretty much all of it with their own eyes…it made their previous discomfort nigh unbearable.

Suddenly, Rei took off into a dash up the stairs, the unmistakable sound of barely stifled tears following. Not even missing a beat, Kiriko, Tadashi and Johann followed after her, while the others could only watch on in despair. What they'd just seen would've been nearly impossible for anyone to watch, there was no telling what must've been going through every one of their heads now that they knew what had really happened here.

"Come on, everyone. We need to finish cleaning this room out, so let's…" Frasier had started to try and take command again, only to fall silent when Saeko suddenly took off in the direction the others had without a word. Realizing he was now a handful of people short on getting this place cleaned out, but more importantly knowing there was nothing he could say to those that had just left that would make anything better, Frasier made his way inside, motioning the others to get busy too.

Upstairs

Saeko quickly caught up with Johann and Rei's parents. They'd been hot on her heels from the start, but they'd ultimately driven her into one of the small offices or studies, where they could hear her crying miserably to herself through the door. They all knew she still managed to be one of the more emotional among them in spite of all their trials, and there was no way they were going to just leave her on her own after the tragedy they'd just seen.

Slowly opening the door, they found Rei sitting in the one chair, knees pulled to her chest and her face bowed down, her sobs all that could be heard as her shoulders shook with her throes of emotional despair.

"Rei…honey, please, what's wrong?" Kiriko asked softly as she began to approach, only for Rei to instantly turn her head to face her mother; the sheer depths of her sorrow clear in her eyes, already turning red from all the tears shed. "Are you seriously asking me that right now? We all just watched the same damn video, you all know just what the hell is wrong!"

Kiriko quickly backed away in surprise that she was actually being yelled at by her own child, Tadashi and Johann reluctantly staying where they were. If they were going to get close, it was only going to be if Rei would allow them to.

"What's even the point? What's even the point in trying anymore?" she began muttering repeatedly to herself; her tone somewhere between despair and bitterness. Kiriko and Tadashi exchanged deeply worried glances before she began to open her mouth to try and talk some sense into her daughter. But Rei lifting her head to look out the window was all it took to rob her mother of words. "All this…all this suffering; it all happened on what was supposed to be the happiest day of someone's life. It was supposed to be a day their lives changed for the better, and instead they had to watch every last person they love get torn apart, and then go on to tear each other apart themselves. What kind of world where that happens is worth even living in? We struggle every single day just to get through it, but what's it even for when fate can be so cruel to everyone?"

Johann could feel his heart wrenching as he listened to her. That ever-present sense of hope, of gratitude for being alive Rei always had, was nowhere to be seen. It was like that one video was all it took to steal away what little hope for any kind of future she had left. Even her always-vibrant eyes had somehow gone dim, like a literal representation of the fire of life being extinguished. Such a grim sight made the young man want to say something, anything to try and bring that spark back.

"It's Takashi, isn't it? That's where this is coming from." Kiriko suddenly said in quiet realization, spurring Johann to look in confusion while Rei slowly turned to acknowledge her mother's words. Struggling to find words to express her sentiment, she instead gave a defeated affirming nod. "Okay, I'm confused. How does Takashi factor into that video? I mean, I know he and Rei were together before all this, but—" Johann couldn't hold in his confusion, only for Tadashi to silence him with a firm hand on his shoulder while Rei slowly rose from her seat, once again looking out at the trees.

"Yes, that is what I said, but…I didn't tell you the full extent of our…relationship, and for that, I'm sorry. Takashi and I knew each other pretty much our whole lives; we were practically best friends right from the start. In fact, we liked each other so much, that we even made a pinkie promise to…to get married when we grew up. Of course, I was just a dumb kid who didn't know any better back then, but as we got older, I did fall in love with him for real, and our future together looked pretty much set in stone. Of course, once the difficulties of high school and life started weighing down on us, that feeling…it faded, hence why we broke up.

"But even when I tried to move past my old feelings for him, he never forgot our promise, and honestly, neither did I. Maybe that, in addition to everything he did to protect me and everyone else, was what made my love for him return with such force once everything fell apart. The fact it came back so hard was what made me so jealous of you, Saeko." Rei went on to explain gravely, finally acknowledging the swordswoman's presence as she turned to face them all.

"Ever since then, I found myself thinking back on the promise we made, and how happy we would've been if it could've come true…and so seeing it come true for somebody else, only for it all to be destroyed like what we saw down there…it just reminded me, like every single morning, that Takashi is gone, and we're still stuck living in this goddamn nightmare, and nothing ever changes, and we're all just delaying the inevi—"

All at once, just as Rei's voice began to rise as her eyes welled up with painful tears, Saeko suddenly weaved her way through the little crowd barring the doorway, and pulled her into a strong, supportive embrace; leaving Rei stunned as her eyes slowly shifted towards the purple-haired young woman holding her tight.

"That's enough now. You don't have to say anymore, Rei. I miss him too," she whispered in the brown-haired girl's ear; eyes shut tight as she tried to choke back tears of her own. "There are still some times, when things are too quiet, I keep looking back over my shoulder, expecting Takashi to be there so I can ask him something, or just talk to him. And every time I look and he's not there, I'm reminded of what happened, like it was only yesterday, and every time, the pain never fades."

Saeko's shoulders began to tremble as her voice became strained with emotion, all as Rei began to bring her arms around her in return. Soon, the both of them were letting all their sadness out in unrestrained tears as they cried into each other's shoulders over their mutual loss. What had once kept them so divided had now somehow brought them together like nothing else could.

All the while, Johann could only watch, at a loss of what he could possibly say to try and make Rei feel better. It wasn't like he was any better. There were still times even these days where a tiny part of him kept thinking Toshimi would somehow be there when he'd look, and that painful reality check still hit as hard as Saeko had just described.

With all that emotional baggage in mind, Johann couldn't decide for himself if he even had the right to even try and bring Rei out of this rut she was in. Even for as long as he'd known Toshimi, she and Takashi had known each other even longer; practically a constant in each other's lives. Of course she'd still be struggling this badly with his death, how could anyone possibly think different? At the end of the day, Johann and Rei had only been a part of each other's lives for just over two months, practically nothing compared to nearly eighteen years.

Johann was suddenly snapped out of the reverie he'd unknowingly let himself fall into when he felt Kiriko slightly nudging him forward. When he returned to reality, he saw Rei had lifted her head from Saeko's shoulder and was beckoning him to come join them. Wasting not even a moment, Johann hurried to her side and joined their embrace, engulfed in both young women's warmth, and the sheer weight of all their emotional pain. As such, he soon found himself shedding his own tears with them. All three of them had lost so much, and yet their constant drive to help each other survive had kept them together through so much, and they could only hope would continue to do so.

But as they held each other for their silent support and comfort, Johann couldn't help but think back to the night after the bridge attack; that magical kiss he and Rei had shared. He was not fool enough to think he was any kind of expert on emotions or individual tells, but the sheer affection he felt through her lips felt like so much more than just a physical cry for attention out of loneliness. If his memories of the kisses he and Toshimi shared were anything to go by, then the kiss he got from Rei that night felt as close to one born from true love as could be, without those three special words needing to be said.

But to now hear that Takashi was still so fresh in her mind and still weighing so heavily on her shoulders, even after something like that; it left Johann utterly confused deep down. Was it possible his interpretation of her intentions that night was wrong? If so…then what did it all really mean?

And if his understanding of her feelings was wrong…then how well could he really understand his own emotions in that moment? Were the feelings he'd slowly been developing for her any more real? How could he possibly express such horrible doubts in himself with paltry things like words?

As the three adolescents held each other in mournful silence, Johann couldn't stop thinking these things over and over in contemplative silence.

Later, Early Evening…

As strenuous and time consuming a task as it was, everyone was able to get the atrium cleared out and scrubbed as close to clean as it was possibly going to get. Not wanting to dwell on the matter of the bodies any longer than they had to, Marcus and Noah resigned themselves to taking a bottle of lighter fluid that had been lying in the kitchen and setting the pile they'd amassed alight. Thankfully, it didn't take too long before the entire thing was reduced down to a pile of cinders.

Afterwards, upon the return of Rei, Saeko and the others, the whole group got to work breaking down what furniture they could afford to, proceeding to nail pretty much anything that wasn't attached to the floorboards over every window and back door they found, save for the front, which Frasier and Johann were able to block off with two massive dressers from upstairs; a useful and moveable option for when they'd need to go out or retreat inside at a moment's notice.

Before long, every window in the estate had been barricaded, and to see the fruits of their labors with their own eyes, everyone almost simultaneously let out a sigh of immense relief. For the first time in what felt like years, they could actually say they could feel safe here.

"Alright everyone, we've done some damn good work here today, but we've still got daylight left for a couple hours, and I think we'd all like to know exactly what we're looking at in terms of how much food and water we have. Saya-san and I are going to do a supply count of the basement." Noah proposed once he could see everyone had finally loosened up in terms of general mood. "Oh, in that case, I want to get a more thorough look at the greenhouse, see exactly what kind of grown vegetables and seeds we have to work with." Shizuka likewise proposed, even raising her hand like an overeager student, to which Rei instinctively joined her side, as one of the ex-nurse's two chosen students.

"Those both sound like good ideas, but don't everybody let your guards down completely. If anyone's going near the windows or outside, just be sure to keep your wits about you. I think we can all agree that being this deep in the woods, it's not just 'Them' we have to worry about. Take from what I'm about to say whatever you will, but since we never found a body where our mystery sniper was attacking us from back at the bridge, I can't help but worry whoever they are might still be out there."

The sense of foreboding in Frasier's voice as he expressed his concern did earn some understandably worried glances from the others, but Noah was fortunately quick to step in with as optimistic a spark in his eye as he could muster.

"It's a valid point, Frasier, but I honestly don't think we need to worry ourselves over that. We all pretty much know what a death trap the woods can be if you're not careful, nevermind if you're all alone. The chance whoever was attacking us back there would actually be deliberately trying to track us even now is a million to one. I really don't think we have to worry about them anymore."

Outside

Hidden within the thick foliage of the forest canopy, a single set of eyes was intently watching the moving forms of his prey through the few open slits in their recently constructed window barricades. He could get a good enough look at whoever was on the other side with his handy detachable riflescope, and his eyes were focused mostly on Frasier, as he was able to find his unmistakable blue eyes through one of the openings. The stranger anxiously chewed the inside of his cheek as he watched the eldest Lawson's every move with the utmost attention; up until a single click from the walkie-talkie strapped to his waist got his attention.

"Alpha Wolf here. I've got the target in my sights. Looks like he and his friends have holed up in some fancy yet solid estate hidden deep in the woods. So far it doesn't look like they're making any preparations to hit the road this time. As of right now, they're pretty much stationary. They haven't picked up on my position yet, and I don't want to risk putting them on the defensive just yet. Let's hang back for now and see what their next moves will be. When the time is right, we'll push the target to come to us."