"Follow me out," Ludwig said, "and stick close to me."

Feliciano nodded his head, having finally woken up after Lovino gave him a few rough shakes. Lovino himself didn't respond to Ludwig, but the burning glare he was giving him told Ludwig that Lovino wasn't missing a word he was saying.

"I'll carry Gilbert," Antonio said, jostling the man lightly in an attempt to wake him up. "You need to lead the group."

"Are you sure?" Ludwig asked.

"I'm sure," Antonio answered with a lopsided smile, head tilted toward Lovino. "I carried Lovi all over the place without too many problems, so I doubt Gilbert will be much of one."

Ludwig stepped out of the car quickly, throwing a duffel bag over his shoulder and holding a semi-automatic rifle close to his chest. Feliciano followed out second, skipping over an arm lying adjacent on the ground like it was nothing more than a stone. Lovino was the third to step out; however, he didn't leave without turning back, frown present on his face. "Call me Lovi one more fucking time, Spaniard, I dare you."

Antonio chuckled quietly as he watched Lovino's retreating form; Lovino's shoulders were rucked up to his jaw in anger as he walked away from the van, leaving Antonio chuckling quietly. Lovino never had the desired effect on Antonio, it seemed.

"So irritable," Antonio said with a sigh and a small smile as he lifted Gilbert's arm over his shoulder, "and you're heavy."

"We stick as close as possible," Ludwig said, eyebrows deeply creased. "This mall is huge, and we could get lost anywhere in there, we can't risk that."

"What happens if someone gets separated from the group?" Feliciano asked, "we wouldn't just leave them, would we?"

"I do-"

"Of course we would," Roderich said with a scoff, "if someone gets separated from the group, than it was probably their fault. And, chances are, they would probably already be dead by the time we got to them. It would be pointless to turn back and risk our own lives."

Feliciano frowned, "that's awful, Roderich."

Roderich rolled his eyes.

"That really is awful," Ludwig said, all the while glaring at Roderich. "We don't leave anyone behind. Wouldn't you want to be looked for, Roderich?"

Roderich smiled, a cold, bitter thing, "I'm not stupid enough to get separated from the group."

Ludwig was slowly coming to realize why his brother hated everything about Roderich. The man was a true blue uptight bastard. Ludwig was disturbed by Roderich's words, but he chose not to continue arguing with the difficult man. If anything, he would just end up stressing himself out more, he wouldn't be able to get through Roderich's thick head even if he wanted to. He needed to focus on the group, not on his anger with Roderich. He gritted his teeth, "there's always a map at the entrance of a big mall, we'll break the glass, take the map out, and follow the course to the places that hold what we need the most."

"Wouldn't it be easier to split up and have everyone look for a different thing?" Francis asked, left eyebrow quirked.

"No," Ludwig said, "we don't split up under any circumstance, that's dangerous."

The group nodded their heads, but Ludwig was still concerned about how much he said was getting through to them. They had just gone through a traumatic experience, surely they couldn't be thinking clearly. He was worried that they would get the wrong idea, try to become heroes, and split up thinking they were doing something right.

"But there are some convenient things about splitting up," Matthew said, surprising everyone yet again by speaking up. The man who had a knack for fading into the background was starting to shine even brighter than the best of them. "We move faster in smaller groups, we draw less attention to ourselves, and we spend as little time in the mall as possible."

Ludwig didn't bark at him or tell him he was wrong when he piped in, he didn't because Matthew had a point.

"You and Gilbert both said that one person wouldn't make a difference in fighting the infected, and that if a large mob pinned us all down, we would all die. If only one group gets taken out – god forbid – there will still be others left."

"The little Canadian is right," groaned a voice, shocking Antonio and almost causing him to fall over.

"Brother," Ludwig said, nodding toward his older brother, "I'm glad you're up, I need your opinion on this."

Gilbert looked up from where his head was bowed, but he didn't take his arm off of Antonio's shoulder as he still needed the support. "A big group would just attract too much unwanted attention, and all of us walking together would make too much noise, Matthew's right about this one."

"But, I don't think they respond to sound," Antonio said.

"We don't know that for sure," Ludwig said. "We know from watching your experience that they respond to scent, but they only weren't paying attention to you because you didn't smell like a human; and we can't even be sure about that…"

"What do you mean?" Lovino asked, "didn't you see, we got out of there and they didn't even notice us, isn't that proof enough?"

"Well, Lovi, it's just that," Antonio scratched the back of his head. "We can't be sure about how they're… Evolving, I guess you could say." Antonio lifted his hand toward Ludwig in an open gesture, "at least that's what I think you were getting at."

Ludwig nodded.

"You see," Antonio said, "I already talked to Gilbert and Ludwig about this, and we agree that this is most likely a biological mutation. These things are brain dead, per se; they have no pulse, but they still breathe, bleed, and from what we've been seeing, they still sleep as well. They're still human, in a way."

"You mean, like," Arthur eyes widened, "you think this is biological warfare?"

"We think so," Ludwig said with a shrug, "it wouldn't be a surprise with all the tensions between countries lately."

"It didn't seem that bad…" Alfred said, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "I mean, yeah, we're not really on good terms with Asia, but who the hell isn't?"

"America should have gotten their noses out of there…" Matthew said quietly, rolling his eyes at his patriotic step-brother. No one heard him this time.

"It doesn't really matter who, or what, it was," Ludwig said. "The only thing that matters right now is living, then we can worry about getting to the bottom of all this."

"Yes," Gilbert said, "so do we all agree that smaller groups would be better than larger groups?"

They all nodded, however Lovino still looked unsure.

"But who goes with who?" Kiku asked, eyeing the brothers tentatively.

"Well," Gilbert started, "it would be best that those with more knowledge, and general strength, lead each individual group…"

"So who leads who, do we draw straws or…"

"No," Feliciano cried, quickly followed by him covering his mouth with his hands, surprised at the strength of his own voice. "I mean, no, I don't want to be split up from Lovi…"

Gilbert sighed, then staggered over to Feliciano to grasp his face in his hands, "how could anyone say no to this cute little face?"

Feliciano laughed, spirits brightening.

"Brother," Ludwig said, eyebrows creased deeply, "that's not really appropriate right now." However, Ludwig was grateful for Gilbert temporarily lifting Feliciano's damaged spirits.

"Yeah, it's really-" Lovino said, ripping Gilbert's hands away from his brother's face, "-not appropriate."

Gilbert laughed, ruffling Lovino's hair, "don't be upset, you're pretty cute too, Lovino."

"You fucker," Lovino spat, all the while reaching out for Gilbert's quickly retreating back.

Ludwig sighed at his brother's antics, but otherwise ignored him and continued addressing the group. "I guess it would work better if we were familiar with the people we're grouped with, so let's start with Feliciano."

Feliciano stiffened, not liking being put on the spot, but happy that he had a say in whom he would be following. "I want to be with Lovino, Kiku, Antonio and Luddy…"

"Luddy," Gilbert wheezed under his breath, poking his younger brother in the ribs.

Ludwig glared at him but ignored him. "Is everyone all right with that?"

Kiku shuffled his feet, "well, I would like for Heracles to be grouped with us as well."

"Are you alright with that?" Ludwig asked, addressing Heracles who seemed to be too busy with his radios to notice what was currently going on around him.

"I'm fine with that," Heracles said, apparently having heard the whole conversation despite how focused he looked on his radios.

"So that group is settled, it will be: I, Lovino, Antonio, Feliciano, Kiku and Heracles." Ludwig gripped his chin between thumb and forefinger, "that's a pretty big group, but I think it's alright." Ludwig sighed and looked at his older brother who was demanding to be given the next choice. "I'm not letting you choose."

"Hey, what the fuck, why not?" Gilbert asked incredulously, managing to look disappointed and angry at the same time.

"Because, we need to go based on strengths, not based on who likes who…" Ludwig said with a dangerous stare.

Gilbert bit back what he was about to say, latching onto his bottom lip with his teeth to keep the words from spilling out. His brother was right, but that didn't mean he liked hearing it from his younger brother. He was supposed to be the older, wiser one. That didn't seem to be the case any more.

Ludwig regarded the group carefully, sizing them all up until he seemed satisfied with the decisions he had made. "Matthew, Francis, and you will be in a group together, is that alright? You were friendly enough with them back in the hotel."

Gilbert looked back at the man who had dressed his wounds and talked to him all night, and felt better. He was alright with the choice, in fact, he was more than alright with the group he had been put into. He didn't know Francis all that well, but according to Matthew he was the most bearable of his friends. "Yes, I'm fine with that."

Ludwig nodded then went back to scanning the remaining parts of the group carefully. "So we have Elizaveta, Roderich, Tino, Berwald, Arthur, Alfred, and the child left..."

"Berwald is a powerhouse," Gilbert said, "that I can clearly see." Gilbert twined a piece of his own white-blonde hair around his index finger as he tried to help his brother decide on who should go with who. "Alfred is also quick on his feet, and he's strong as well…"

"So Berwald and Alfred will be leading two other groups, is that alright with the both of you?"

Berwald nodded his head silently and Alfred gave Ludwig an enthusiastic thumbs up.

"Alfred, Arthur, Elizaveta and Roderich," Gilbert said with a shrug, "that seems to be an alright combo."

"I'm not working with that," Arthur said, pointing at Roderich who stood with his one good arm crossed defiantly in front of his chest. "That creature will end up getting us all killed with his mouth."

Roderich scoffed, "and that barbarian, Alfred, will probably use us all as bait. Mind your mouth you uppity Englishman."

"I'm uppity?" Arthur started, however was cut short when, surprisingly, Gilbert started shouting. The man who usually stood as comic relief compared to his harsh younger brother.

"Enough of that shit," Gilbert shouted, "you put up, and you shut up!" Gilbert pointed at Roderich, directly in the face, "you know better than to start problems, right?"

Roderich rolled his eyes, "I'm not an idiot, Gilbert."

"You could cost lives, Roderich, I'm being serious," Gilbert gave him a snide grin, "would you really risk putting Liza in danger?"

"Of course not," Roderich replied without hesitation.

"Good, then don't pick fights with the others, because if you fuck things up I will personally hand you over to one of those fucking infected things, and that's a promise, not a threat."

Roderich didn't respond, he only returned Gilbert's heated glare with a sneer.

Everyone got silent, surprised by Gilbert's violent words. However, they were even more surprised by the violence and venom each word was laced with. They spoke of true and absolute hatred.

"Is everyone alright with the grouping now?" Gilbert asked, staring down the rest of the group.

"Fine," Alfred said, "but we'll hold you to those words if he fucks up."

"I won't disappoint," Gilbert said with a small, cocky grin.

"So the rest would be Tino, Berwald and Peter," Ludwig said. He held his hand up as Arthur tried to speak. "I know what your question is going to be, but no, I know that Peter is your brother but from what I've seen Berwald is the only one that can adequately calm him down. Having a baby in this place is very unsafe, so if he started crying and no one could calm him down, a lot of bad things could happen."

Arthur closed his mouth and shrunk back, nodding his head at what Ludwig had said. He was right, Berwald could calm the child down better and quicker, and Arthur really didn't want something bad to happen to him on his account. He still felt like Roderich might do something stupid, and attract the wrong kind of attention when they got into the mall. He didn't want Peter to be a subject to the violence that could possibly follow.

"OK," Arthur said with a quick nod, "I understand."

Ludwig nodded his head, then regarded Tino and Berwald with a careful stare, "are you two alright with this, it's quite a heavy burden, I know."

"I'm OK with it," Tino said as he hugged Peter close to him. "As a smaller group, if something bad happens, it will be easier to get away from danger." Tino looked up and smiled, "plus, I would protect Peter with my life."

"As would I," Berwald said, voice surprising everyone. He didn't often speak, and when he did, everyone looked. This was a cause for discomfort to begin with, but Berwald was starting to get used to it, as was the group.

"Good," Ludwig said with a nod, before looking over at Heracles who seemed to be finishing up his work on the radios. "Are you ready, Heracles?"

"Ready as I'll ever be, I guess."

The survivors walked into the mall carefully, looking around themselves and sticking close as they made their way through the broken front windows of the mega mall. They stepped over broken glass, cringing as it tinkled and snapped beneath their heavy boots.

And, lo and behold, as soon as they stepped through the first set of shattered revolving doors, they found the map to the mall.

It was even bigger than it looked from the outside, apparently.

Six floors.

"For fuck sakes," Lovino groaned as he scanned the map. Not only were there six different floors, the floors were massive and covered a large area. "We need to find another god damn mall, I'm done with this multiple floors shit. It spells trouble."

"We can't," Ludwig said. "We can't keep running around hoping to find something better, because we won't. This is perfect for us; we can find everything we need and more in here. We're not going to keep running around in circles; we'll end up having to stop one way or another. Not to mention we'll eventually run out of gas."

Gilbert began sorting through the duffel bag slung over Ludwig's shoulder, and with a pleased 'aha' he pulled a semi-automatic rifle out of the bag, holding it barrel first.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Alfred asked, grabbing Gilbert's shoulder in a tight grip. He still didn't trust the second German brother, he seemed more likely to fly off the handle than the other.

Gilbert, however, didn't even notice him doing so; he just shrugged his shoulder absently like he had an annoying bee flying around him. He brought the gun up to forehead level, then without a second of hesitation drove the butt of the gun into the glass casing over the map of the mall.

It was so loud that most of the group covered their ears with the palms of their hands.

"You're a fucking mental case," Lovino said to Gilbert, who was too busy pulling the map out of the broken glass to even pay the comment any notice.

"That wasn't necessary," Ludwig said with a sigh, "there's a bundle of them hung up on the wall, Gilbert; you know that."

"I know," Gilbert said with a smile and a shrug, "dramatic effect."

Ludwig sighed at his brother for the hundredth time.

"Lovino, Antonio, Kiku, Heracles, Feliciano and I will take the sixth floor. There's a dairy up there, and a weapons depot."

"Matthew, Francis, and Gilbert," the third floor, it's pretty much scaled with fast food joints and food stores. Grab as much as you three can carry, and try to stick to the non-perishable items.

"Tino, Berwald and Peter, you will be taking the second floor, there's a gun depot there, but the only thing we really need from there is the ammo."

"Elizaveta, Roderich, Alfred, and Arthur, you four will be collecting as much water as you can find, and clothing. Size doesn't matter, just get as much as you can carry and we'll make do with that. You will all be on the fourth floor."

The entire group nodded their heads collectively.

"Does everyone have their maps?"

They nodded.

"Weapons?"

They nodded again.

"Good," Gilbert said, opening his own map in front of he and Ludwig's face. They whispered to each other for a few moments before Gilbert folded the map back up and put it into his back pocket. "We'll all try to meet here, at the front entrance, when we've all gotten what we needed, capiche?"

Everyone seemed more or less in agreement, except for Feliciano, who was looking at Gilbert quizzically.

"Is there something wrong, Feli?"

"When do we meet here? None of us have watches, and it's hard to judge the time until it starts getting light or dark outside."

"We can't really set a time, Feliciano," Ludwig said, "it would be impossible to judge how long each of us will take. Anything could happen, and anything could hold us back."

"So how are we going to do this?" Feliciano asked.

"We have to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, and hope that we could all be back in under two days. If anyone takes longer than that… Well…"

"You haven't even thought it all out yet, have you?" Lovino asked, "you stupid German bastards."

"We'll have to leave whoever doesn't make it back in time behind." Ludwig finished.

Lovino got quiet at this, however his mouth still hung slightly agape like he had something else to say.

"We'll leave a car behind in the hopes that they will come back or make it out somehow, and we will leave directions on a note inside the car. That's the most we can do. I know I said we wouldn't leave anyone behind, but we really need to think about the safety of the group. Going back wouldn't be safe by any means."

"We can't just-" Lovino started, voice raising. However, before he could finish the thought, his voice started lowering to nothing but a whisper. He knew just as much as everyone else that Ludwig had the best idea. They couldn't wait around forever, because they would only be putting themselves in danger and making themselves easy targets. "You're right," Lovino bit out, hating that he had to admit so much to the German he had a sworn hatred for.

"Does everyone understand?" Ludwig asked one final time.

Everyone nodded.

"Be as quiet as possible," Ludwig reminded the group as they made their way up the sixth set of halted escalators. The entire mall was impossibly quiet; it was like time itself had stopped around the world.

And in a way, it had.

"Do you really think one of us is going to break down and start dancing and singing right now, retard?" Lovino asked, regarding the burly German with a heated glare.

Antonio chuckled.

"And you shut up too, asshole," Lovino spat.

"Relax, Lovi," Feliciano said, patting his older brother's back soothingly. Lovino's shoulders visibly slumped and deflated, and his hardened expression smoothed out slowly. It seemed like Feliciano was the only one capable of calming the fiery tempered Italian down. They were lucky for Feliciano's presence.

They came to a halt at the top of the escalator, waiting impatiently for Ludwig to pull out his map to check off where they needed to go.

"Shouldn't you have done that before we got to the top floor?" Lovino asked.

"It doesn't hurt to check again," Ludwig said, "would you like for me to lead you all in the wrong direction?" He asked this question sarcastically, and without missing a beat.

"Oh, fuck you," Lovino said, eyes indignant as he looked at the German's hulking back. He didn't like having his own brand of sarcasm thrown back in his face, but he couldn't react in the way he wanted to either. He wouldn't jeopardize the group, he knew better than to do that.

Ludwig unfolded the map in front of himself, and everyone crowded around to catch a glimpse of where they would have to go to get the weapons depot and the dairy mart.

Heracles was the first to comment on the ground they needed to cover, "that's really inconvenient," he said.

"Why is that?" Ludwig asked, "it looks like a pretty simple route."

"Look to your left."

They all turned their heads slowly to the left, making it look almost as if they were being controlled by a hive mind. What their eyes met made hopelessness and fear rise up from their bellies and into their throats.

Pitch darkness.

"I don't know why – or how – but it looks like the generators aren't functioning on this floor. The only light we're getting right now is from the skylight, and the windows."

"Do you think it's like this for everyone else?" Feliciano asked him.

"It has to be, it wouldn't be like this for just one floor," Heracles looked around, hoping to find something that indicated it was just a burnt fuse.

"Is there any way we can fix it?" Kiku asked, looking up from his hands and into Heracles' milky brown eyes.

"If there was an electrical circuit room, then yes; I believe I could fix it pretty easily." Heracles said. It doesn't look like a burnt fuse, so that's good for our case.

"There's one right there," Feliciano said, pointing at a small cube on the map. He was right, and it was conveniently located on the fifth floor, directly under them. The only problem was that it would require them to split up even more. Heracles, however, was willing to take that chance. He knew that, come night time, things would become hellish for everyone if they didn't have light to guide them around the mall. They would all die.

"Kiku," Heracles said, looking up from the map, "will you come with me?"

Kiku nodded his head immediately, almost as if he had been sensing the question lingering on Heracles' mind. "Of course, you can't go alone."

Ludwig cocked his head to the right and asked, "are you sure you're alright doing this? We could all go if you wanted, we have the time."

"I have to go," Heracles said. "I'm the only one who knows how to work circuits, and I'm the only one here who can fix them. Plus, without light, we'll never make it out of here alive. It would be impossible. And we don't have ample time, you know that, Ludwig."

"If you're sure," Ludwig said, "then go."

After the sound of Heracles' and Kiku's boots hitting the steps receded, the remaining part of the group took off toward the gun depot without another thought, hoping to get there before night fell and darkness along with it. If they were lucky Kiku and Heracles would have the generator fixed by that time, but if they didn't, they would need to find a safe place to hide out for the rest of the night when the infected started coming out.

Ludwig hoped the rest of the groups chose to do the same thing when they realized that the lights weren't working.

"Where are we going first?" Antonio asked Ludwig, keeping an even pace with him as he scanned the map again.

"The dairy would be our best bet first, but we need to move as fast as we possibly can. We need to make it to the gun depot before night falls."

"Shouldn't we just go to the weapons depot first, collect some guns, and then go to the dairy?" Lovino asked with a cocked brow.

"No," Ludwig said. "We need to go to the dairy first and collect everything we need while there's still light outside to guide us. Then, we can go to the weapons depot and hide for the night. Almost all weapon depots have bullet proof glass, so that should keep them out for the night.

"I've been in the same damn position before, bullet proof glass and all," Lovino said, "that barely even stopped them for a minute."

Ludwig turned around and sighed, regarding the Italian with an almost pitying expression, "Lovino, they were pounding away at that glass for a long time, it only makes sense that it broke after all that force and time being put into it. They're mindless, and things eventually break."

"Exactly," Lovino said, "they all attacked it at the same time, and it broke. Bulletproof glass, built to withstand an explosion, broke."

"It's safer than nothing," Ludwig said nonchalantly, realizing that the only way to get Lovino off of his back was to either ignore him, or disregard him completely. He would curse, and complain, but eventually he would shut up.

Learn to deal with the mean Italian brother, check.

Lovino cussed, like Ludwig knew he was going to, but otherwise kept his mouth shut. He also knew, just as much as everyone else, that yelling and going off about nothing wasn't going to get him anywhere and that it would probably just put them all in danger in the end.

"Are we close to it yet?" Feliciano asked quietly as they advanced into the darkness.

"Just around the next corner," Ludwig said, looking down to realize that Feliciano's hands were wrapped into his shirt. He was going to wrestle Feliciano's fingers out of the shirt, however, he was stopped before he could even completely process the situation.

"Stop," Antonio said, grabbing his shoulder and yanking him back into the rest of the group.

"What is it?" Feliciano asked, voice beginning to quiver.

"There are a few of them around this corner," Antonio said, "I can hear them."

"I don't hear anything," Lovino said.

"Listen closely," Antonio said to them.

All of them got deathly quiet, eyebrows knitting together as they focused intensely, trying to make out a sound in the otherwise completely silent mall. Lovino was about to open his mouth to tell him he couldn't hear anything when he finally heard it, as did the rest of them. It was a light chewing noise, like the sound of someone chewing meat with their mouth closed. If one didn't think about what the creature on the other side of the wall was likely chewing, it didn't sound as gruesome and morbid as it truly was.

Lovino, Antonio and Feliciano all looked at Ludwig questioningly, as if he had the answer to all of their questions.

"If we should be looking at anyone, it's you, Antonio. You have more experience in this area than I do, you proved that to everyone when you were in the hospital." Ludwig said.

Antonio chuckled, "I didn't work well because I'm intelligent, I worked well because the adrenaline was forcing me to." Antonio shrugged his shoulders and bit his bottom lip, "I know just about as much as you do about those things, plus, you're stronger than me. That's a given."

"I don't think strength has anything to do with it," Ludwig said, "but I'll go ahead of the three of you, keep an eye on my back and if it jumps me, don't hesitate to go after it. Only use your gun in the worst case scenario, alright?"

"Alright," Lovino huffed, "just fucking go before I run in there myself; we're running out of fucking light."

Ludwig nodded, internally smiling at how the other Italian brother's crankiness remained – became even stronger – even in the most dangerous and nerve-wracking situations. It was almost like his personal security blanket.

Ludwig backed himself up against the wall with a knife held close to his chest.

He took two deep breaths before throwing himself out in front of the infected.

"Something doesn't feel right here," Matthew said quietly, resisting the urge to stand close to Gilbert.

"I know," Gilbert said, eyes reduced to slits as he regarded the open lobby area they were approaching. It was too spacious, too empty, and too quiet. That always spelled trouble; at least in their past experiences it did.

The infected were smart enough to be quiet when they needed and only started churning out the odd noises when they were in direct sight of their targets.

Matthew could hear Francis shuffling around from behind him, and he turned around only to realize that Francis was unsheathing the knife he had strategically hidden in his pants leg. He felt that there was something wrong too.

Matthew swallowed hard around the lump forming in his throat.

The lump in question grew even larger when he realized Gilbert was also readying himself for an attack. At this Matthew took the initiative and drew a large blade out of a makeshift holster Gilbert had made for him before they left for the third floor.

"It's awfully dark up here," Francis said absently, "I have a funny feeling that the generators aren't working in here any more."

Gilbert turned around only momentarily, "If that's the case, Heracles is probably already working on it, I don't think he would endanger everyone like this. If they couldn't fix it, someone is bound to come and get us at some point." Gilbert turned back to the open lobby, remaining eye and ears sharp, listening in for the faintest noise and looking for the faintest glimpse of something moving.

They approached the lobby, and entered, only to find nothing waiting for them. It was still barren, it was still lifeless, and it was still too quiet. Even though they couldn't see anything, and everything looked clear for the rest of the way to the food court, something still felt off about the place. Neither of them could quite put their fingers on it, but it was something, and that something didn't mean anything good for the three of them.

Matthew could only explain it as the feeling of death approaching. He could feel its long fingers wrapping tight around his very soul, and its cloak shrouding him in complete darkness.

He shivered despite the growing warmth of the area.

"Let's keep moving," Gilbert said with a concerned look back at Matthew, "lolly-gagging will only put us in danger."

Francis nodded his head and slowly sheathed his knife, deeming things safe enough to hold back on the weapons for the time being.

For that, Matthew let out a sigh of relief; however his little momentary relief was cut short when Gilbert let out a sharp hiss, grabbing the wounded side of his head.

Matthew cursed internally; he knew the head pain would pick the worst possible time to re-surface. They seemed to be occurring more and more frequently, and they seemed to cause more pain for Gilbert each time.

Matthew hoped it meant that it was healing itself, but he had his doubts; he wasn't a doctor after all.

He walked up behind Gilbert and put a steadying hand on his shoulder, trying to keep him relaxed. He could see by the intensely focused expression on his face that Gilbert was trying his hardest to not seem like he was in any kind of pain. Matthew, however, knew the truth, everyone did now. Gilbert was in a tremendous amount of pain, so much so that he was almost rendered completely incapable of moving or thinking straight. "Are you alright, Gilbert?" Matthew asked him, even though he knew what his answer would be. Gilbert's face, and the noises he was making, were indicative enough of how much pain the man was truly in.

Gilbert tried to let out a quick 'fine' but it didn't make it out before he doubled over on the ground with his hands held to his temples.

"Oh god," Francis said, looking around the room cautiously, "could he have picked a worse time to do this, we're right out in the open!"

"I know," Matthew said sharply, "just give him a minute, we can't make him move too much or we could do more damage."

"We're easy targets, Matthew, we need to go – now!"

"Francis," Matthew started, ready to go off on a tangent. Before he continued, he finally turned around from where he was watching Gilbert's pain wracked form to face his long-time friend.

Whatever Matthew was about to say next completely died on his lips at what he saw looming behind Francis.

Berwald and Tino rounded each corner cautiously with their knives held close to their chests. Tino himself was handling Peter, keeping him close to his body so that if something happened, the child wouldn't be easily pried away from him.

They were arguably the luckiest of the groups, they had been given the easiest route and they all knew that. No one would argue, however, because Peter was with them. Tino and Berwald needed the easier route. There was no argument to be had about that.

Peter cooed and Tino held a hand over the child's mouth to stifle the noises that were beginning to erupt from him. The baby wanted to play, completely unaware of the severity of the situation they were in. No matter how many times Tino shushed him, and told him that he needed to be quiet, Peter continued on gurgling and trying to get Berwald and Tino to pay attention to him.

He was getting their attention, alright, they just hopes that Peter wasn't claiming anyone else's attention as well.

Just as Berwald and Tino were about to take another corner, the sound of glass shattering and crunching under heavy footfalls stopped them just in the nick of time. Berwald threw his arm out and held Tino close to the wall behind them as they listened in, praying that Peter would be quiet enough to keep the attention off of them. Tino kept his hand firmly positioned over Peter's mouth.

Tino and Berwald were both expecting the familiar sound of moaning, and the sound of flesh rending and teeth gnashing. What they both weren't expecting was voices, voices that belonged to completely healthy human beings.

"Did you find any?" The voice asked, loud and exuberant. It made Tino want to cringe; being so loud under such circumstances was just asking for death.

"Shh," the next voice came, silencing the loud man, "and yes, there was a surprising amount of ammo in there."

"Hah, that's great. These Americans really love their guns, don't they?"

"I guess so," the quieter man said, "I've never seen a country that carried guns in malls like they were some sort of… Accessory." The man sounded disgusted, so much so that Tino could almost picture the look on his face as he talked to the other man.

The voice sounded familiar to Tino, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. He figured he was just getting excited because they found other people that were still very much alive. That was only to be expected of him.

"It's lucky for us," the louder man said, "if guns weren't an accessory here – as you just called it – we probably wouldn't be alive right now."

Tino tried to push himself off of the wall, becoming over-eager at the thought of talking to other living human beings. If they could increase their numbers, things would start getting better for them. Eventually they could establish a community, or even-

Berwald kept his arm positioned firmly in front of Tino's chest, keeping him for leaving the wall.

"Berwald," Tino whispered harshly, "there's other people over there, we need to talk to them, they could help us. Help the group."

"No," Berwald said in a stern whisper, "we can't be sure that they're safe."

"Berwald, this is no time to be worrying about ourselves," Tino started, but was distracted from his thoughts when Berwald looked down at Peter, who was still wriggling around in his arms restlessly, wanting to play.

"You're right," Berwald said, "this is no time to be worrying about ourselves."

Tino's eyebrows knit together in frustration, but he kept his mouth shut. He agreed with Berwald, they couldn't risk Peter. Even if the people collecting weapons sounded friendly enough, they couldn't be sure.

"We'll wait for them to leave," Berwald whispered.

Tino nodded his head even though Berwald wasn't looking in his direction.

As if on cue, the man with the loud voice began speaking again, "we should probably get out of here before those things come back."

The other man responded with a soft 'yes', followed by the sound of rough fabric being rustled and moved around. It sounded like they were carrying around duffel bags like their own group and hoarding weapons for themselves. It was the only way to survive, really. Without weapons, there was no chance of survival outside or inside.

"Let's just take as much as we c-"

Tino, having completely forgotten about Peter's restless state, made the mistake of letting his hand drop away from the child's mouth. In the middle of the loud man's sentence, Peter let out a booming giggle. It was so loud that Tino could feel it in his bones; there was no way the other two men hadn't heard it.

Everything got silent for what felt like hours, the air and silence stagnating like a cold pool of mud. Their hearts raced and their stomachs churned with adrenaline and fear.

Footsteps started approaching.

Shit.

Berwald moved away from the wall before Tino could even open his mouth, throwing himself out into direct view.

The footsteps stopped.

Tino held close to the wall, he understood what Berwald was doing. He wanted him to be able to get away if things when awry.

"Jesus Christ," the voice boomed, "there's still other surivivors!" The man sounded like his throat was thick with tears, and instantly Tino felt his heart slowing its uneasy pace. Of course other survivors wouldn't be bad, they just wanted to find humanity like the rest of them. They just wanted to be safe. This world was turning everyone into hyper-paranoid creatures.

Tino listened as more footsteps approached, presumably belonging to the quieter man.

"Can you believe this, Lukas?"

Tino's eyes widened and his heart began picking up its dangerously quick pace again. It couldn't be. It couldn't.

He had known that the rest of his extended family were coming down to America for a visit, but they weren't due for another month. But they had shown up early on more than one occasion.

Tino pushed himself off of the wall, and in an act of complete trust in himself, he walked out into view. Berwald looked at him like he had lost his mind, but he didn't act on anything he was thinking or feeling. He just kept his eyes on the two men in front of him, ready to attack if they even so much as made the wrong move.

"Tino," the louder man cried, "oh my God, Tino."

Berwald looked confused, but his fear visibly started deflating at the man's easy use of the name. If he knew Tino, then there was nothing to fear. He did, however, choose not to sheath his knife quite yet.

"Mathias," Tino said, tears that were stagnating in his eyes for so long started to surface, dripping down his cheeks and going completely unnoticed by him. He was so overwhelmed, so unbelieving, that he was melded to the spot. It seemed that was the case with Mathias as well, as he only stood there looking at Tino unblinkingly like he was a mirage that would disappear as soon as he blinked his eyes. It was Lukas who finally acted on what he saw.

Lukas dropped the duffel bag that he had been holding over his shoulder and ran to Tino, grabbing him close but being careful not to grab too hard because of Peter. He ran so fast and grabbed Tino up so quickly that Berwald didn't even have time to react to what had happened. It didn't matter though, because the two men were no danger to them or the group.

If anything, the group was more of a danger to them.

"Tino," Lukas said, his breath brushing through Tino's soft blonde hair, "we thought that you had all been killed."

Tino didn't answer; he only continued to cling onto Lukas's shoulders.

"We went to your house, Tino," Mathias said, clearly trying to skirt around everything he had seen. "From what we saw, we assumed that you had either been killed or turned like everyone else. We didn't even have time to look for everyone because the neighbourhood was completely overrun. We would have died if we had stayed any longer"

Tino swallowed, "I was late coming back from work, I avoided everything."

"Did you," Lukas started, his breath coming short, "did you see…"

"I saw mother and father eating Emil," Tino said, "so yes, I saw."

Mathias cast his eyes toward the ground, "I'm so sorry, Tino. If only we'd come sooner…"

"You couldn't have changed anything," Tino said with a forced smiled. "I'm not even blaming myself, I know this couldn't have been prevented. In fact, I look at this as a God send. If I hadn't decided to come home late, I probably would have been attacked and turned into one of those things. I never would have been able to save Peter from those things - his parents turned."

The baby laughed when Tino pressed a finger to the tip of his nose.

Mathias finally walked forward, clapping a hand on Tino's shoulder when he finally got to him. He smiled at his younger cousin, then quickly looked up at Berwald who was still on edge. "Who's this?" Mathias asked bluntly, "is he another survivor?"

"Yes," Tino said without hesitation; he knew he was safe telling his cousins about the remaining survivors. They wouldn't use their own plan against them. "This is Berwald, and the baby I have in my arms is Peter Kirkland, the one I used to babysit all the time, remember?"

"Oh, I remember that," Mathias laughed, "the stuck up Kirkland's, how could I forget? I remember going to pick you up once and they almost took my head off at the gate." Mathias reminisced for a moment before looking back over – up – at Berwald. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Berwald," Mathias held out his hand, "thank you for taking care of my little cousin for me, I owe you one."

Berwald took the offered hand and gave a sharp nod in response to Mathias's thank you.

"There's more," Tino said.

"There's more what?" Lukas asked, finally pulling away from Tino so he could look him in the eyes.

"There's more survivors," Tino said.

Both of their ears visibly perked up at Tino's words.

"There's more people?" Mathias asked, "living, breathing people?"

"Yes, a lot of them, actually," Tino rocked Peter absently when the baby began to fuss, probably becoming hungry again. "We were actually hidden out in a hotel for two weeks, but we were eventually run out by the infected. We came here to stock up on supplies, and we have no clue what we're going to do from here on out."

"How many survivors?"

"I think about sixteen, including Berwald, Peter, and I."

"That's amazing," Lukas said, "I'm so happy, we were certain that we were the only ones left."

"I think we all felt like that," Tino said. "Berwald and I actually just need to stock up on ammo, then we can head back. The others will be probably be there by morning, or by the end of the day today. Come with us."

Mathias eyebrows knit together, "do you think they would mind."

"No," Tino said, "in fact they took us in without any questions and made us one of their own. They wouldn't be opposed to other survivors joining in, if anything, they would be happy about it; you would probably be regarded with less caution too because I know the both of you."

"Thank you," they both said, letting out long sighs of content.

It was so strange, in their new world things like finding water or finding another living person was a source of pleasure. Gone were the days of swimming at the beach, tanning on the lawn, or drinking a smoothie in the middle of a sunny park. Those were no longer available pleasures, they were just hopeless dreams.

"We have plenty of ammo in here," Lukas said, "we'll add that to the rest of your groups stock."

"Thank you," Tino said, watching Berwald's back as he walked toward the ammo depot.

"He's frightening," Lukas said quietly when Berwald's back finally disappeared inside the ammo depot.

"He looks frightening but he's actually a very gentle man," Tino said with a smile, "if it weren't for him, I would probably be dead right now."

"Then that's all that matters," Mathias said with a smile, "if he risked himself to protect you, or anyone else for that matter, then he's a good man."

Tino smiled, "of course."

Just as they were finishing discussing Peter, his habits, his age, his character traits, Berwald came back out of the ammo depot. He had a duffel bag stuffed with ammo, and he had a rifle strapped over his back. He truly was a scary looking man, if Tino had seen him before the ordeal he probably would have done his best to avoid ever even coming into contact with him. It was funny, because the only thing he could do now was cling to Berwald and follow him around like a puppy.

The term 'gentle giant' couldn't possibly fit anyone better.

Berwald took he rifle off of his back and slung it over Tino's shoulder, positioning it carefully under his arm so that if he needed to act fast he could do it without fumbling about.

"The safety is off," Berwald said, "be careful with it."

Tino nodded his head then looked at his two cousins, "are you guys ready to go?"

"We're ready."

"Straight down there," Elizaveta said, "we can get everything we need in one go, it's perfect. We could be out of here by night time and we can spend it hiding out in the cars."

"Oh boy, that sounds safe," Arthur snapped.

Elizaveta turned around to face him completely, "It's better than being stuck in here where those things will be roaming around everywhere, at least outside we have the benefit of the doubt. If something really bad happens, and they start going after us, we can run. In here we're trapped like mice. Does that sound 'safe' to you?"

Arthur rolled his eyes but otherwise chose not to continue his argument with the blonde woman. She had the better of him, he could see that clearly. He also didn't want to give Roderich another reason to open his mouth.

"I still don't think splitting up was a good idea," Alfred said with a frown. "We're only getting water, ammo, clothes and food. All of these things could have been grabbed in under an hour with the entire group together."

Roderich scoffed.

"What now?" Alfred asked sharply, whipping his head toward Roderich.

"I just don't think that you know what you're talking about," Roderich said with a snide grin. "This was plotted out with most of the groups agreement, it's not like you didn't have a say. And didn't you agree with this idea to begin with? The only one I recall hearing disagreeing with the idea was Heracles and Lovino, and they both eventually got put in their respective places"

"Shut up," Alfred said, "I'm just starting to feel like this wasn't a good idea after all."

"Look," Elizaveta said. "Let's just get what we need and go, I don't want to hear any more arguments from any of you three."

Alfred went the way of Arthur and became quiet; he didn't want to stir up trouble. The last thing they needed was to fight and then have a horde on their tail. That wouldn't end well for any of them.

Roderich, however, didn't seem to be thinking like they were.

Roderich turned around to face Alfred as soon as they entered the store, stopping him in his tracks. "You know, I would have been a lot safer if you hadn't broken my arm."

"It's in the past," Elizaveta said, tone serious as she regarded the two men standing off at the front of the darkened store. "Let's go and get everything, it's getting dark and we have no light source. This will end bad. Do you understand me?"

"Yeah, Roderich, let's fucking go," Alfred said, pushing Roderich's shoulder roughly and shoving his way past him into the store. He was the first to go in, and the first to come out.

"Don't you touch me," Roderich said, "and don't turn your back on me when you provoke a fight, stupid ignorant American." Roderich grabbed Alfred by the shoulder and hauled him back toward him, bringing their foreheads together.

The room was getting darker.

Elizaveta ran into the store and grabbed as many water jugs as she could, deciding to disregard the two men fighting and the clothes that hung on the racks. They wouldn't stop, no matter what she did, so she wanted to be prepared for the worst. They could live without clothes.

She wasn't prepared for what happened next.

Alfred ripped Roderich's hands off of his shoulder and pushed him back into the many shelves scaled with water and various other liquids. Roderich flew back and hit the shelves, the impact causing the first set to tip over and crash loudly into the ground.

Everything shook.

"You idiot," Arthur said to Alfred, "I know he's making you angry, but fucking think before you do stuff like this. This isn't about your anger, it's about getting what we need and getting out, now we're going to have the whole fucking mall aft-"

Roderich shouted.

"Roderich," Elizaveta shouted, trying to adjust her eyes to the darkness so she could find her best friend. He was nowhere in sight, but it was clear from the sounds that he was having a struggle with someone – or something.

"God damn," Arthur said, pawing through the duffel bag slung over his shoulder for something that would give off light. Anything.

"It's no use," Elizaveta said, running blindly into the dark toward Roderich's voice. She couldn't - wouldn't - wait for Arthur to find something to show her the way.

That was her downfall.

The struggle ensued, except this time Elizaveta's voice joined the symphony of shouts and screams.

She was screaming, and so was Roderich.

"There," Arthur said triumphantly, looking over his shoulder before he brought out a lighter; the only thing he had on him that could help them see through the darkness.

The store filled with light.

A/N: Welcome, Mathias and Lukas!

This is probably my longest chapter! I was working on it during the week I took off, even though I promised myself I would take a break for once. I just can't help myself anymore, writing this has become an addiction for me.

So, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I know it's not necessarily "Action-Packed," but it will be next chapter. Oh boy, just you wait. I was just setting the scene for what's about to come. I've already started working on it and I think it's safe to say that some of the developments will shock you right out of your pants.

Thanks for reading, get ready for next week's chapter!