A/N: I hope that this chapter isn't too long for you to read. Then again, some people are able to come up with chapters over 10,000 words…meh, enjoy anyway.

With the sun halfway covered by the shadowy horizon, poor Mio was being pressed for time on thinking of an escape plan. That big ball of extraterrestrial flame was her only source of light since the power was out, and fighting zombies in the dark was definitely not something Mio desired to do that night. At the very least, she wanted to get out of the clubroom so she could just run away from everything if push came to shove. Being stuck inside made her feel like Ton-chan, swimming (or in her case, walking) about the very limited space given to her. Unlike the soft-shelled turtle, however, she was able to escape her prison. The only thing stopping her was those foolish zombies who couldn't turn a doorknob, but could bite through six inches of pure flesh and bone without difficulty.

There has to be some other door I can use to get out of here or something! she thought, while wandering about the clubroom aimlessly. It was futile though; the most effective way of getting out of the clubroom were those double doors she passed by daily.

I guess…there's no other choice…she stared straight at those wooden boards of entrance (for zombies) and exit (for Mio's) granting. There's no avoiding it. If I want to get out of here, I'm going to need to exit through there and just run for it…

Despite the near mental breakdown, and then recovery, that she went through earlier, she still couldn't help but shudder at the thought of those zombies' lifeless eyes staring at her again, demanding her body's limbs with no please or thank you.

I've got to stay strong though! If I keep acting scared like this, it'll already be nighttime and…ugh, I wouldn't want to even think of how to deal with the situation then…hearing their groans in the dark…seeing the blood dropping from their teeth…! Repulsive images began to fill up her mind, so instead of panicking like she would have normally done, she did the smart thing and attempted to calm down.

Deep breaths Mio…just breathe in slowly…and breathe out slowly…She headed toward the window, hoping to open it for some fresh air. However, she was met with images that she would rather have kept out of her mind.

"Oh my God…" she said almost mutely as she observed the surroundings of the school. Dead bodies littered the campus in nearly every space she could spot, and the areas that were devoid of lifeless corpses were full of infected humans or zombies. Red became a dominant color as it was smeared across the gates, buildings, and grass, giving off an extreme miasma.

"Is that…a tank…?" Surely enough, in the distance, she was able to spot the heavy man-slaughtering vehicle overturned on its side. "It must be…the JSDF…" she was somehow able to determine from the very miniscule insignia on the side.

"Things can't be this serious already…can they…?" Mio said in disbelief. "…If the zombies were able to turn that tank on its side..." These weren't anything like the actual meaning of a zombie that she was aware of.

In fact, she was beginning to confuse citizens who were infected by a zombie to an actual zombie. Perhaps the true zombies infected humans through a bite…? How the infection was spread didn't really matter to her at the moment though; what did matter was how strong and dangerous these guys were, and how in hell's name she was going to get through them.

These zombies proved how powerful they were by the amount of carnage and chaos Mio could see just from the window. Just the regular infected seemed scary enough, but coming across mutated variations of them was almost unthinkable to deal with.

"I've got to get out of here!"

The bassist quickly ran away from the window, not able to handle the grotesque view. Not looking where she was going, she bumped her head into the whiteboard and fell down, along with Elizabeth.

"Oww," she cried to herself. After a quick head shake, she turned her gaze toward the doors. Those simple devices were her key out of her once peaceful prison, the gateway to her freedom. However, to reach freedom, she would need to face those obstacles that have been haunting her ever since they were mentioned by that one hair-banded girl however many hours ago.

"I can do this…I just need to believe I can…"

She continued to whisper more words of encouragement to herself to distract her from her own fear.

Reaching for the lock on the door, Ritsu's text echoed in her mind for the final time.

If you're in the clubroom, STAY INSIDE THE CLUBROOM.

Her free right hand grasped the lock.

"I'm sorry but…"

Click.

"I can't let you an idiot like you…"

Her hand grasped the door knob.

"An idiot…like you…out there loose…"

She began to turn it.

"…in Zombie land…not without me at least."

With a newfound burst of adrenaline, she threw the door open behind her to find her first zombie standing right in front of it, seemingly still dumbfounded by the lock. The sound of the slam was enough to alert the zombies on the same floor and on the stairs.

However, it was too late for the first one, as Mio took this small window of opportunity to smash Elizabeth into it.

The sound of such a beautiful wooden instrument banging against the skull of a once-human infected made Mio cringe her head violently, as she imagined how much internal brain damage had been done to her victim. One of the strings vibrated across the neck and all the way to every single bone in her body.

As well as the actual sound and feel of its death, the sight of the dent mark left in its head, along with the river of scarlet blood gushing from it, drove her to want to vomit the rest of Tsumugi's cakes out onto the tile floor. It was as if she had broken a dam and now it was unleashing a tsunami of red liquid upon her shoes. Such a vision would be one she would need to grow accustomed to quickly though, seeing as how the next infected student took no hesitation in sprinting toward the temporarily stunned bassist.

Fortunately, she was able to snap herself to her senses quick enough and swing Elizabeth in the direction of the wide-mouthed monstrosity.

Her body shook, but only slightly. Her fear and hesitation from earlier were slowly being overtaken by pure adrenaline and perhaps even the thrill of the fight.

She ran down the stairs, taking advantage of the sloped ground to push the zombies down in a small pile. After she had them all gathered together, she brought her bass guitar's great, slim body upward to the sky at an exact ninety degree angle. In the next instant, she was thrashing them repeatedly as fast as her arms could allow her to do so.

Unfortunately, her boost of adrenaline had gotten the best of her, as she heard the neck of her first bass begin to crack. Hearing the sound, she quickly ceased her beating to check on its condition.

"Oh no, Elizabeth…!" she stated in disbelief after observing the amount of damage she had inflicted upon it.

That smooth and mahogany body of hers was now dented in almost every place imaginable and smeared with blood across any visible part. The neck was blood-infested as well, and most of the strings had snapped off without Mio even noticing.

She sure was lucky none of the strings had snapped right in her face. That would have hurt.

The most worrisome part though, was the split in the neck.

"She'll probably break after the next few hits…" Hearing the cry of a zombie, she instinctively swung the Fender straight at the source of the noise, earning her a now broken Elizabeth.

"Make that after one hit…" she sighed. The body fell with a great thud on the floor, unable to endure any more torture. In a normal situation, she'd probably mourn this loss for the next few weeks but this was obviously a special circumstance.

Looking down the hallway, she saw a group of about five infected humans heading her way. She turned toward the stairs, only to find another group of similar size right at the foot of the steps, examining their lost fellow brethren.

There's too many to push past! Having no other way to go, she ran toward the other side of the hallway. Unfortunately, the sun's glare was in the perfect position to blind her while she was running, which led to a terrifying discovery.

"It's a dead end…" Indeed it was, as only a door lay at the end of the hall. She desperately tried to pull any nearby doors open but it was useless; they were all locked. Is this how it's going to end for me…? She thought despairingly. I couldn't even make it out of the school?

Now in a large group of ten or more, they marched toward Mio in typical classic-zombie style with their arms outstretched in front of them, hands dangling uselessly.

…That other half of me from earlier was right, I shouldn't have left the clubroom! I shouldn't have risked myself so recklessly like that!

Instantly, Mio began to regret every decision in her whole life that led to a bad outcome, including the time she cussed for the very first time, the time she stole Yui's strawberry off the top of her cake (she learned never to do that again the hard way), and all of the times her fist made contact with Ritsu's forehead.

But now…it's too late…I'm dead…heh, I'm sorry Ritsu. Sorry for being so reckless and selfish…like you.

She closed her eyes so she wouldn't have the displeasure of seeing her own limbs having mutated teeth driven in them.

Bye…

"THREE!"

A foreign voice sounded from somewhere, and suddenly, Mio heard a loud bang.

Opening her eyes, she was met face to face with a person she had never seen before in her life. Rubbing her gray orbs to see if she was hallucinating, she noticed dark blue hair. Because of where the sun was shining, it made the girl's hair seem like a brown color.

"Yui…?" Mio called out.

"Yui? Who the hell is Yui?" the girl responded.

"Um, Kyo-chan? You might want to focus on more important matters…" another girl said barely above a whisper while meekly pointing her index finger toward the zombies.

"Oh, right. Let us save you, helpless student!" Kyo yelled, probably louder than she had intended. Immediately, she began to get down to business, along with her nameless partner, while Mio was currently stunned in her position on the floor.

Who are these girls? She could only wonder because at the moment, her body wasn't obeying the commands her brain was sending to them.

Blood gushing, skulls being caved in, arms being completely shattered, and other various savage noises were all Mio's senses could register. Even her eyes were having trouble functioning at the moment because of her near-death experience. Then again, every moment of this damned apocalypse was a near-death experience.

Somehow, the pair was able to take down all of the zombies.

"Haha, all in a day's work, you sons of zombie bitches! Right, Suki-chan?"

"Um, yes. I guess so…oh, don't forget that girl in the corner!"

"Huh? Oh yeah, her!"

Mio heard footsteps headed in her directions, as her five senses began to function properly.

"Hey there fellow survivor!" Kyo called while extending her hand toward her. "My name is Kyo Amasaki, and that other girl right there is Suki Ayame. We're part of the Occult Club and we think that we know how to stop this zombie mess! So, you gonna join us or what?"

"Kyo-chan, be more gentle!" Suki scolded. "If we haven't opened the door, she would have been done for. She just went through a traumatic experience, so please don't be so straightforward!"

"Suki-chan…" Wow, the navy blue-haired girl thought. Suki-chan hasn't scolded at me like that for a while now…

"There there," Suki said soothingly. "Why don't you start off by telling us your name?"

"So, Akiyama-san," said Suki, "you said your friends are headed on their way here now?"

"Yes," Mio replied. She explained her whole situation to them, although only in the time span of five minutes since Kyo wanted to be well on her way out of the infected-infested school. "I wanted to wait for them here but…I didn't want them to risk their lives just for me. I wanted to put my life on the line too!"

"Akiyama-san, you're so brave…" Suki said in awe.

"Please call me by my first name: Mio."

"O-of course, Mio-san…"

"Yeah yeah yeah, you're worried about your friends and family and whatnot," Kyo interrupted. "So are a lot of other families but stuff like that only holds them back from surviving."

"What did you just say?" Mio asked, rage present in her voice.

"It's whatever, let's just get out of here."

"It's whatever…?" Mio repeated with disgust. Nevertheless, the trio proceeded forward, but not before the bassist had to equip herself with a leftover shovel in the Occult Club closet. The dirt on it seemed pretty fresh, which only served to make Mio think of what kind of sick ritual they could have been performing with this very shovel.

They ran into some strong resistance from the zombies, even discovering a few different types with special abilities. One case was the Hunter, which they had uncovered after reaching the first floor. It was hiding in a dark corner and lunged at Kyo with inhuman speed from the other side of the corridor. Luckily, Suki and Mio were able to smack its chest in midair before it got a good chunk of meat from her.

Along with that came the Spitter, which spat skin-burning acid onto the ground. Alone, it only would serve to be a nuisance since they'd have to take another route around the burning ground.

It wasn't exactly as Ritsu described earlier from her video game but they were pretty similar. Haha, didn't think your stupid explanations would ever come in handy…

Other than those special types though, it was nothing that they couldn't deal with. Mio, now feeling more confident since she had company, wasn't feeling so scared of the zombies anymore. Or at least, not as scared as she was earlier.

Misery definitely did love having some fucking company.

Especially when said company had to face off against a zombie apocalypse spawned from rebirth ritual performed by some random Occult Club female member who actually thought she could tame such creatures to dominate the world.

Eventually the girls were able to make it out of the school and finally onto the streets. However, by that time, the sun had finally set, casting an even darker atmosphere around the suburban area than before. Being in the darkness revamped Mio's fear factor, as she began turn at every branch snapping, gate creaking, and leaf passing by her eyes. Although such instances were only for staying alert and careful, instead of scared and frightful.

"Aww… Are you scared already, you big-chested scaredy-cat?~"

"Ergh…" Throughout their small amount of time together, Mio was already beginning to get really pissed off at Kyo, since she was insulting her with almost every opportunity given. In fact, she had had enough of it…

"That's it! Kyo, why do you always feel the urge to irritate me all the time even though we just met?"

"Why? WHY? Because of you keep talking about your friends! There's no point in waiting for them, they'll only drag you down and become a really big fucking burden! The only thing we should be focusing on is getting the fuck out of this place!"

"What about you and Suki-chan, huh?" Mio pointed at her for emphasis. The long-haired brunette was looking troubled at the argument that arose between the two. "Why didn't you leave her behind if she would be such a 'burden'?"

"You have to ask? Then you really are an idiot! I'm not stupid enough to try and survive this damn apocalypse alone! I know I'll need SOME fucking help, like, one or two more people. Any unnecessary weight will just slow us down!"

"Um…hey girls?" Suki tried to intervene, but to no avail.

"So that's the only reason you took me? Just because you'd take any help you could get as long as your group doesn't get too big? You're supposed to help others because they're going through such a traumatic experience such as this, and you want to help them!"

"Why would I want to help them? What have they done for me?"

"We should probably get moving girls…!"

"Shut up Suki-chan, you're not involved in this!" Kyo said. At this, Suki snapped.

"THAT'S IT, you two stop arguing right NOW!" Her voice was exceptionally loud, loud enough to probably signal zombies to come their way, but she didn't care at the moment. "Kyo-chan, she's right. We shouldn't be so selfish and skip out on helping others because it's a burden! Being abandoned like that would only make this experience worse for them! You should be ashamed for even thinking like that!"

"Suki-chan…" was all Kyo was able to utter.

"I'm sorry but Mio-chan is right. If we come across other survivors, we need to listen to them, because they're suffering too."

"But Suki-chan, we need to stop this-"

"I'm going wherever Mio-chan is going to help find her friends…whether you're coming…or not!" Suki was barely able to get that last phrase out as she moved beside Mio.

"Suki," Mio started. "Thanks…but as much as I hate to say this...I'm also to blame here. I shouldn't be arguing inside our group. Fighting in a group will only lead to our…end, so-"

"Yeah, stop arguing Mio-chan," said Kyo belligerently, a rather cruel smirk on her face.

Mio turned round, eyes narrowed. "What did you just say?"

"Aww, c'mon, I was kidding! Just kidding. Jeez…" Kyo sighed. "Okay, I'm sorry, I was being a total selfish bitch alright…? This is a nightmare for all of us, and I just want to stop it," her voice took a more mature tone. "Knowing that we have a chance against these zombies…it makes me want to stop this crazy shit as quick as possible…"

Silence formed between the three girls. But it was suddenly broken by an energetic Kyo.

"But of course we'll go help find your friends…like that Yui girl, right? You're absolutely right; we can't just leave them alone in this world! Us survivors gotta stick together!" Kyo then flashed a shiny smile at her.

Weird, Mio thought. She sort of reminds me of Ritsu…"Yeah…thank you."

Thank goodness they're on good terms now…Suki couldn't help but sigh in relief.

"Ritsu said they were at Yui's house, which is this way, so let's head in that direction," she said while pointing.

"So let's get crackin' and tear up the hood!"

"Tear up the hood…?" Mio and Suki questioned simultaneously. Nonetheless, they continued in the direction of Yui's house. While they were walking, however, they didn't notice the black shadow that was watching their every move carefully from the rooftops above.

"Ricchan," Mugi called out.

"Oh, hey there Mugi! Whatsup?"

"Um, I don't know how else to put this…" she began twiddling her fingers in thought.

"What is it?"

"…Well, um…"

"Mugi, come on; I'm not gonna snap like earlier. I wouldn't be a good president if I did! You can tell me anything!"

"I would just appreciate it if you…if you could cease beating that zombie with its own arm…I am quite certain it is dead."

"Huh? Oh, yeah, my bad…" And thus, Ritsu finally quit hitting its neck, which was near the point of snapping and breaking off from the rest of its battered and bloodied-up body. She threw the severed arm toward the side.

"I apologize, we still need some time to grow accustomed to...um…actually killing people, despite their zombified status."

Looking behind the blonde, Ritsu could see each of the girls shivering from their previous confrontation, yet still trying to look brave. Smiling at their efforts, she then said, "Yeah, I'll tone it down a bit. I mean, I know this situation is scary and all, but I've always wanted to actually kill a zombie ever since I played Left 4 Dead, ya know?"

"Yes, I completely understand Ricchan."

"It's like, some kid wanting to join the army after playing a shooting game every day. Actually joining the army would probably kill your heart and soul on the inside, but games make it seem fun."

"That's because video games aren't real and you don't run any risk of getting hurt," said Azusa. "Nobody plays video games hoping they'll actually get shot or stabbed at."

"Or eaten by zombies," said Yui helpfully.

Azusa nodded. "Or eaten."

"That seems to have become a reality now, though…" said Mugi, her voice worried.

"Haha…" Ritsu gave a short laugh. "…um…anyway, yeah. I'll be a little less violent, haha…Let's keep moving…"

"It's okay Ui…don't pay any attention to the overturned cars, burning buildings, dead bodies lying around-" Yui spoke somehow in a positive manner.

"Yui-senpai, I think she gets the point."

"Oh, hehe, sorry Ui! My point is, just look at me and only me, okay?" It was as if Yui was intentionally trying to get Azusa to face-palm at her actions. Either that, or she was completely oblivious to her airheaded state. After debating about it for a few minutes, Azusa couldn't decide which one she preferred. Yet despite her shortcomings, the younger guitarist couldn't help but admire her senpai for trying to comfort Ui amidst the chaos.

"O-okay Onee-chan…I'll try," Ui was able to utter while clinging to her sister.

"Yui-senpai is right though; this place is completely fucked up right now…"

Everybody gasped.

"…what did I say?" Azusa looked around at everybody quizzically.

"Azu-nyan! Watch your words!"

"Well, since Ritsu-senpai was cussing earlier, I just wanted to try it, that's all…"

"Don't remind me of that Azusa," Ritsu stated with a stern look on her face.

"We're sorry; it just sounds very different and odd when you curse, Azusa-chan," Mugi replied.

"She's right," Ritsu agreed. "Hehe…someone's trying to act like a big girl now, huh?"

"Shut it, Ritsu-senpai!"

"I think we're getting off topic here," Ui interrupted. "Anyway, it hasn't even been one day yet, but they've caused so much destruction…" Staring in all directions, everything just looked plain dead. It was as if all of the abandoned cars and buildings and such were drained of color.

"I agree with Ui-chan," Tsumugi said. "Seeing all of this chaos makes me feel like our attempt at surviving will be in vain…" An awkward silence formed in the group. "I'm sorry everybody! I couldn't hold that in any longer, it's just really hard to feel hopeful…there are probably other people who are much more adapted for this situation than us, and even they might not survive."

"Well, if it's adapting you're worried about, look no further!" Ritsu suddenly exclaimed. "There's a tank over there at the end of the street! Let's go see if it works!"

"Yay, tanks!" Yui yelled in random happiness whilst running toward the flipped vehicle of mass destruction. Tsumugi followed the pair, leaving Azusa and Ui standing there.

"I doubt it still works," Azusa disapproved. "Plus, who knows how dangerous that tank is too? With Yui-senpai and Ritsu-senpai messing around it, I'm kind of scared for their well-being, along with their bodies."

"W-well, Azusa-chan, perhaps there may be some supplies or medical kits in there?" Ui suggested.

"Hm, good point. Well, let's join then, shall we?" With that, the two juniors joined the rest of the group.

The tank's main cannon had been forcibly ripped off and tossed to the side. The whole vehicle was on its back, with debris from the cement street barely holding it up to reveal an opened latch. Off to the side was a small insignia indicating this belonged to the JSDF.

In front of the tank there was a big line of tossed about cars and debris, turning it into a one-way street. The destruction itself didn't frighten Azusa; not as much as the sort of creatures that could cause such destruction. Ritsu-senpai said there was a really strong zombie, a big "Tank" zombie that would throw cars at you in the game. This looks way worse than the way she described it though…how would we be able to deal with that kind of infected…? While she pondered more and more about this sort of zombie type, Ritsu and Yui seemed pretty intrigued by its interior.

"Ricchan, it's so high-tech in here!" Yui exclaimed from the inside.

"Hold on, let me see!" Ritsu called out as she entered through the hatch.

"Be careful!" Tsumugi and Ui reminded them.

"Yeah yeah!" It was almost as if the brunettes were sisters by their similar personalities and responses.

After some exploring of the tanks broken interior, the girls managed to find a few useful tools inside that could help aid them in their journey toward Sakuragaoka. There was an assault rifle, which Ritsu claimed to be called a "SCAR" or something similar, with a few magazine rounds attached to a blet, as well as two handguns with full clips. Much to Ritsu's displeasure, however, there were no grenades.

"I would have a lot of fun with those too…" she whined. "Explosions always make things better…"

"Only Michael Bay thinks that, Ritsu-senpai."

"Ugh, don't ever speak that name Azusa."

"The JSDF respond quickly, don't they?" Tsumugi found how often their conversations went off-track.

"It's a zombie outbreak, of course they would!"

"B-but if the zombies were able to kill even them, how on earth can we sur-" Ui started, but was interrupted.

"Stop worrying so much Ui!" Yui said happily. "If you keep that sort of attitude then we really won't make it to Mio-chan…Anyway, remember! A positive attitude will get us through anything!" Although it was typical of Yui to say something like this no matter what the situation, something about her happy-go-lucky expression seemed off at the moment.

Nonetheless, Ritsu was glad that she didn't have to spend the next ten minutes raising the group's morale again so she raised her fist along with Yui.

"I agree with Yui-chan! Being negative is not going to help us. I know we'll be able to save Mio, and somehow get out of here!"

"Don't give up Ui-chan! Keep your hopes up!" Azusa and Tsumugi soon joined one after the other. The next second, Ui already had a smile on her face.

"Thank you, everyone. I'm so glad to have such helpful friends like you…" Ui began to tear up, at least until she heard that same roar from earlier. Only this time, it sounded closer.

Closer.

Louder.

And much more threatening.

"Oh no…" Everybody was thinking the same thought, but Ritsu was the only person able to verbally express it. "It can't be… That's not fair! We're not even halfway through this level! Uh…I mean, to the school!"

"Commander Ricchan, I don't think this is the time for jokes." The rest of the group nodded along with the Yui.

"Good point Private…"

The roar became louder and louder, heading in the direction of the girls from the other side of the blocked off road. They could literally feel the ground shake from every step taken by the great beast.

"Well senpai, I hope all of that shooting in Left 4 Dead wasn't a complete waste of time…"

"Well, it's point and shoot, right? That's all it takes!" If she wasn't so frightened right now, Azusa would so raise an eyebrow at Ritsu. "But with Tanks…usually I just ran for the nearest safe house."

Looking around, Ritsu desperately tried searching for an escape route. Unfortunately, it was now a one way street with all of the wreckage blocking one side. She couldn't spot any alleys to run at first glance since they were all blocked by cars. Oh son of a Keith Moon, really though? She thought. Looking closer though, she found that there were two alleyways that they'd be able to go through if they vaulted over the cars fast enough. Doing a quick game of eenie-meanie-minie-mo, she chose the path on the right.

"EVERYBODY, head to the alleyway to the right!" Ritsu yelled.

The group didn't hesitate at all; they immediately sprinted for it at fast as they could, completely scared while doing so.

Too bad for them, the Tank barged through the broken debris, blocking the path toward the dark and narrow alley.

"HEAD FOR THE ONE TO THE LEFT!" Ritsu shouted while changing direction. While doing so, she got a pretty up-close-and-personal view of the Tank.

Giving off a powerful roar, the whole beast of what was once a human looked threatening as fuck. First off, the body was noticeably more colossal than any man or woman on this planet, at about eight feet high. Its arm and leg muscles looked similar to that of those people in fake commercials that promised a six pack in a week, but they were even bigger- if such a thing were even possible. The Tank's head was miniscule in comparison to the rest of its body, its hands were covered with the flesh of unfortunate people that fell to this great beast, and blood was splattered all over its chest. Seriously; it still seemed fresh in how it was dripping from its everywhere. Another unnerving detail that wasn't in the video game was how there were several bones protruding from one elbow, its knees, and even its back.

And the girls had thought it reasonable to be scared of a couple of normal zombies…this Tank proved to be beyond any nightmare that their minds would be able to produce.

Staring at the group fleeing from it, the Tank immediately stampeded at them like a locomotive train running late after their conductor spent the morning getting drunk on gallons of beer wondering how their life came to this. Only this train would not only smash into them, breaking possibly every single bone in their body, along with their organs, but would most likely feast on their remains for dinner as well.

Ritsu was partly right though. Point and shoot were basically the only things you needed to know for operating a gun. Operating a gun efficiently, however, was a much different story. Nevertheless, Ritsu held her assault tightly in her arms, imitated the soldiers and survivors she saw in her video games, and pulled the trigger.

The amount of recoil was much more than she had anticipated. Add the fact that she was sprinting while spraying only made her accuracy worse. Fortunately, it wasn't very hard to miss a behemoth such as the Tank due to its large size.

"HAH, YOU LIKE THAT BITCH?" she yelled as the monster's pace was beginning to slow at the amount of bullets being shot into its body.

"Ritsu-senpai, please stop cussing!" Azusa scolded despite running away for her dear life.

"Oh come on, I'm just having fun!"

"I agree with Azusa-chan; we're not used to it and it sounds odd."

"Agreed!" Yui and Ui said together.

"Jeez, what's wrong with a little fun when we're in a zombie apoca-"

She wasn't able to finish her sentence.

Only one of the bullets she had fired, just one, had managed to wedge its way into the Tank's tiny left eye. Temporarily blinded, the Tank went on a rampage, its mere footsteps causing huge cracks and crevices to appear on the cement street. Because of its confused state, it did one of the only things it could do well: throw shit.

It picked up a light post and, just ever so conveniently, threw it right at the group.

However, fortunately, the girls were spaced out perfectly for the object to not crush any of their brittle spines. But…

"Ricchan!" Yui called out from one side. "Ricchan, help! It's too tall to climb!"

"Yui-senpai, just run!" Azusa called from the opposite side of the pole. It had separated the girls with Azusa, Ritsu, and Tsumugi on one side, and the Hirasawa sisters on the other. "The Tank's confused right now; use this as an opportunity to get away!"

"B-b-b-but! Azu-nyan! Ricchan! Mugi-chan! Will I ever see you again?"

"Yui, just get the heck out of there!"

"Ricchan…"

"ONEE-CHAN!" Turning around, she saw a stern look on her younger sister's face, one which she had never seen before. Plus, the demanding tone of her voice was completely foreign to her. "I'm sorry for the outburst, but we have to listen to them!"

"B-but…they…"

"We have to go now Onee-chan!"

"Listen to Ui-chan, Yui-chan!" she heard Tsumugi call out. "We'll all regroup at the school!"

Taking a moment to recollect her thoughts, Yui agreed. Ritsu's group rushed through the dark and very uninviting alleyway while Yui and Ui ran back the way they came. Anything to get away from that monster.

While the pair was scampering away, nearly tripping on the abundance of debris, they could hear the Tank cry out in severe pain, echoing across the entire city.

The girls didn't care where they were going at this point; they ran in any direction that seemed to get them farther away from the Tank.

Eventually, they ended up resting beside the mall that they visited frequently. Sitting down on the benches, they felt exhausted after running such a long distance.

"U-Ui…this…is even worse…than the marathon…" Yui was barely able to speak from lack of breath.

"O-Onee-chan…we did it…though…! We got away…from the monster…" Ui said, her voice strained from all the running she'd done.

"B-but…Ricchan…Mugi-chan…"

"And Azusa-chan…"

"We're all separated…" At this point, something in Yui cracked and shattered like glass. She got down on her knees and bawled her feelings out, which was difficult considering how hard it was to breathe. She retreated when she noticed the amount of green bile next to her, not even wanting to know whether it came from a human or zombie. "Ui! I can't…we can't do this!"

"Onee-chan…just listen…to Tsumugi-san. She said were going to meet at the school, so we will."

"But how're we supposed to get through THAT thing! And those other zombies?"

"Weren't you the one who told me that a positive attitude can get us through anything?"

"…Yeah…but-"

"Then no buts!" Ui stated with confidence. "We're still able to run, so we still have a chance of surviving AND saving Mio-san." She reached her hand over to Yui's pocket. "We still even have Ritsu-san's handgun…we can do this, Onee-chan."

Ui…It was this moment that Yui realized how much Ui had sacrificed her entire life just for her sister. Cooking for her, washing clothes for her, comforting her, and even bathing her when they were little. She did all of these things for Yui and asked nothing in return. She finally realized how much Ui was acting like the older sister all the time, and how she would be classified as the clumsy little sister.

You've always been a good sister to me…

"Onee-chan…?"

And now…I must return the favor.

"Ui," Yui called.

"Yes?" she asked, caught off by her sudden speaking.

"We're…in a mall now, so maybe there are some supplies that we can find…you know, like food. I didn't really get a chance to try your hotpot."

"Hehe, how about I try to find you some cotton candy then, eh?"

"Hehe, thanks Ui, but…we can't waste our time on small things like that," Yui said in a surprisingly serious tone. "We should just try to find anything that might help us, like a baseball bat, club, or even a gun. And head to Sakuragaoka, pronto."

"…Yeah, you're right."

Ui…I'm not going to let us die…not yet.

A/N: So this chapter ended up being longer than I anticipated, but I guess that's good for you readers since you get to read more. Anyway, thanks for the reviews. They've really been keeping me going, so if it's not too much trouble, just go ahead and click the review button and…well, review.