The crows cawed as the five continued on foot, having ditched the car a few miles back. They hadn't made it far from the safe house when they realized that the outbreak had spread further than North Torrance. They watched as people everywhere began to drop to the ground and convulse, the change taking mere minutes. For a rare strain of the rabies virus, it sure was spreading faster than anyone could count.

"This isn't looking good," Cat murmured as they cautiously made their way up an abandoned apartment complex to the roof. Down below, infected scrambled along the streets, oblivious to the immune people above. "It's spreading fast."

She had drawn her SR9 and was proceeding cautiously, listening intently to each and every sound. Liv was next to her, her 34 drawn and ready. They were going from building top to building top as they made their way to a nearby hospital. They were proceeding quickly, until they reached an apartment building that was far taller than the one they were on.

"Verge," Dante said. "Do you want to or should I?"

Vergil stepped forward and four of his Summoned Swords appeared and flew forward, effectively shattering a window across the way.

Nero, being the headstrong youth he was, charged forward without waiting. Only to be ambushed by about a dozen Infected. They heard him yelp in surprise before drawing Blue Rose and shooting them, or crushing them in his Devil Bringer.

"So," Cat raised her eyebrows at the sons of Sparda. "I understand how you guys can get across to there. But what are Liv and I supposed to do? I'm pretty sure the Infected down there won't be chill with us walking through."

Dante's forget-me-not blue eyes glittered as he threw Cat over his shoulder and jumped across the street into the window. Cat let out a small scream as the air whistled past her. "Sweet Jesus!"

"Jesus has nothing to do with this, babe." Dante winked at her. Cat resisted the urge to put a bullet through his head. So she put it through his leg. "Oh Christ! What the fuck was that for?"
"Christ had nothing to do with that," Cat said sweetly. She watched at the window as Vergil more politely took Liv into his arms and jumped. But Liv expected it, so she didn't scream.

As soon as the five were together and ready, they approached the door at the end of the hallway. Vergil motioned for them to stop before any of them opened it. "Listen," he whispered.

From the other side of the door came the grunts, groans, and scuffles of what sounded like a horde of Infected. It would be their first real fight. Their first test of survival.

"Hey Cat," Liv said quietly. "Do you remember what Justin's brother said?"

They grinned at each other. "Don't question it. Don't reason with it. Just dominate it." They said together, then they kicked in the doors, which flew off their hinges and into some unsuspecting Infected. They ran into the room, guns blazing.

The three males stared after them for a moment. Then Dante grinned at Nero and Vergil. "Those are ladies after my own heart." He followed in suit, Ebony and Ivory firing rapidly and he whooped and hollered. Nero was next, Red Queen drawn and ready to start hacking things apart. Vergil sighed, knowing this would be repeated many times as they made it across the country. He unsheathed Yamato and sliced a particularly vicious Infected in half and re-sheathed the blade again in one fluid motion. Finally, he entered the room, where the gunfire had dwindled to nothing.

They cautiously made their way downstairs through different apartments. The Infected had torn holes in them already, most were fresh with the plaster still letting dust fall on the survivors as they passed through. Cat jumped when she opened a door and two Infected clawed at her. Bullets whizzed past her head, taking out each Infected with a clean headshot. She turned around to see Dante spinning Ebony and Ivory before holstering them. "Show off."

"Anytime." He grinned cockily, irritating Vergil, who clubbed him across the back of the head with the hilt of Yamato.

"Brother, find another time to show off. Right now we need to focus on survival and you're not helping."

Dante put his hands in the air in mock surrender. "Sometimes I think you're crazy. You side with devils, but zombies scare the hell out of you."

"I'm not the one who proposed to a mop." Vergil ran his hand through his hair, slicking it back. "So I'm not the crazy one." Dante moved forward as if to strangle his twin.

"Enough!" Liv stomped her foot, causing unnoticed cracks to shoot across the floor. "You two aren't taking this seriously. We will leave you behind if you don't shut up and get your asses in gear."

The twin sons of Sparda shut their mouths and glared at each other. The five began to head across the room when the floor crumbled beneath them. Dante and Vergil pulled the women out of the way, but Nero had no one to help him. And it didn't occur to him to use Air Hike to jump out of the way. So he fell right into the middle of a horde. "Aah! What the hell?!" He quickly began swinging Red Queen around, hacking the Infected in half. Vergil looked down at the youth, smirking.

"Hey, Verge," Dante said innocently. "He looks like he needs help. So go help him." He gave his brother a quick shove and darted out of his reach.

"Dante!" Vergil's shout caused some of the Infected to stop and cower. The only response he got was a lit Molotov cocktail being thrown down. He quickly helped Nero dispatch the rest of the horde and jumped out of the hole, his clothing smoking.

Nero pulled himself up, his jacket still on fire and his oceanic eyes blazing angrily. "What the hell, old man?"

"Whoops, thought you both knew to get out of the way of a lit Molotov."

"Let's go," Cat growled. "The noise you three have made might attract more than just a horde."

About half an hour later, they finally cleared the apartment complex and made it out onto the street. As they looked around, Cat noticed things. "People were really planning for this. There are weapons and ammo sporadically. I mean, like the Molotov that Dante wasted. People were really preparing for this. Just for them to end up dead. So hopefully some people made safe rooms around here. Or we'll just have to find them ourselves."

"There better be some fucking safe rooms," Liv said. "This outbreak started a month ago."

The five survivors carefully made their way through the streets, quietly annihilating any Infected they came across. Vergil, Dante, and Nero had to give it to the women—they were prepared and quite effective. Even though they denied that they were even serious about the zombie apocalypse, they sure knew a lot and how to handle the situation.

They were heading down into a parking structure when they heard an odd gurgling noise. Cat and Liv stopped dead in their tracks and began to look around frantically. The three males watched them for a moment before taking them seriously.

"What's got you two spooked?" Dante asked quietly. "And what is that noise?"

"I have no idea." Cat spun around. Just in time to spot an obese Infected that was covered in boils come out from behind a car.

"There's a safe room down here!" Nero called from below in the parking structure. "It's got medical kits and guns and ammunition. Come on, guys!"

"Uh, kid," Dante said as the four still up top backed away from the obese Infected slowly. "I think we've got more pressing troubles up here." The special Infected moved more quickly than they anticipated and vomited all over them. It then covered them with more bile as it exploded when they unleashed their guns upon it.

"Shit! What the hell is this?!" Liv shrieked. "I can't see." A hand reached out and wiped the bile off of her face. Vergil pulled his hand back and shook it off. "Oh, thanks."

The sound of a horde roaring not too far away caused the group to bolt downstairs as fast as they could. They saw Nero standing in the doorway of the safe room, a confused look on his face. "Move it!" Dante roared as they barreled into the room and Vergil closed the door behind them, severing the arm of an unlucky Infected who got a little too close.

"I think…that thing…should be called…a Boomer…" Cat panted. "And it was absolutely disgusting."

"Indeed." Vergil had produced a handkerchief from the inside of his coat only to grimace and throw it outside the room as it was covered in bile.

They barricaded the door and sighed in relief. They were safe. For the time being at least.