"And why exactly are we going to the mall?" A confused Asuna asked, her head craned at a slight angle. The person she was asking this to was across from her, stretching his legs, arms, and virtually any other body part that felt stiff. "And why are you stretching?"

"I'd bet my life we'll be running at some point after we step out this house, might as well take the proper precautions. And besides," He brought his arm across his chest. "I know of a good place to get weapons over there."

Kirito started making his way towards the front door. Asuna followed but was still confused. From what she was aware of, the only kind of weapon they would have at the mall would be the nerf guns they'd contain in any and every toy section, although something kept telling her that wouldn't be an effective way of taking out hoards of creatures dead-set on mauling you to pieces.

Her thoughts were cut off by the click of the door unlocking, sending a chilling vibe down to the tips of her fingers. Her eyes adverted to Kirito, who's black eyes were already sternly focused on her.

"Asuna, listen. The moment we step out there, there can't be any talking higher than a whisper. Don't trip, fall, or step on anything that can potentially attract the attention of others. If we die happen to mess up, then run. Got that?" Asuna nodded, showing her understanding. Kirito's face relaxed a bit as he let out a smile, "And finally; don't die."

The air was filled with a foul odor, a stench only rotten flesh could give off. The air wasn't overly humid, but the slight breeze and sunshine gave Asuna a nice warmth that she would've enjoyed on any other day.

Currently, there wasn't a soul in sight. Instead, there were abandoned homes and cars, have opened gates, and the occasional fly. This didn't surprise Asuna at all; a majority of the zombies would be more likely to still be lingering around the highway leading to the nearest city, where most of the residents in the city went in attempt to evacuate the area. Fortunately, the mall was a fair distance away from the highway, and wasn't too far from Kazuto's home, so the 'zombies' weren't as likely to harm the two in anyway, if they played their cards right.

... Kazuto.?

Asuna halted for a split second. Who is Kazuto? The name was awfully familiar to her, and she felt a strange yet unexplainable correlation between the name and Kirito.

Kirito seemingly took notice of Asuna's change in demeanor, and decided to bring it up. "Something bothering you?" He asked, turning to face her.

She blinked, snapping out of her trance. "W-What? Oh yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking is all." She frantically waved. Then something caught her attention. "Wait, why aren't you whispering?"

"There doesn't seem to be a thing in sight, I'm sure most of them are still in the city anyway." He replied. He was so nonchalant about everything, it amazed Asuna how one could be put in a dire situation like this and still seem to be enjoying themselves. She swore she could see excitement in his eyes from time to time.

They kept walking as the minutes passed by, a bit of small talk here and there to keep ease the situation. Soon enough, the mall came into view.

"Hey Kirito, would going in from the front be a good idea?" Asuna asked as they approached the parking lot, coming to a stop on a small hill. Assuming that the virus had reached the mall beforehand, the exits would be backed up from the number of people attempting to leave. If the virus was inside the mall, then the people rushing to get out would be infected before a fourth of them could even evacuate the building. That being said, not just the main entrance but every other major entry point would be filled with the things, meaning they'd have to find another way in.

The things.

It had only been a few days, and already she didn't think of them as people, but as beings that differed from her.

That's because they are, she told herself. They're not human; they didn't feel the love or compassion, neither did they have the slightest bit of knowledge. They were filled with something else, something a human wasn't.

A killing intent.

A shudder went down her spine at the thought. She shook her head, not wanting to continue the thoughts that had accumulated in her head.

"No, we'll probably have to find another way to get in. We don't have the keys to the mall, so we can't get into through the small doors on the side. Breaking a window to get in would attract too much attention, so that's a no show as well." Kirito expressed his ideas, furrowing his brows as he realized that none would be effective. Asuna looked at her surroundings. Beside the mall was a parking lot, with abandoned cars and trucks filling a few spots. She looked down, and saw a few stones that were big enough to look like they were chipped off a boulder.

"What if we were to distract them?" Asuna asked. Kirito, who was still trying to think of a way in, pipped his up.

"How would we do that?"

"There's way more cares around here than I can count; what if we were to set off the alarm inside one of the vehicles? We could use the stones to do so from a distance; They'd get distracted by the noise, and we could take advantage and sneak in." Asuna explained, a sense of pride building up inside of her. However, Kirito didn't look too sure.

"Activating the alarm would cause too much noise, it'd probably attract the zombies inside too. Then we'd have a hoard of zombies to get around rather than just a group." He responded, shooting down her idea. "But you're on the right track."

Asuna narrowed her eyes and looked away. "Well I guess you won't be getting any sandwiches anytime soon."

Kirito nearly lost his footing, despite the fact that he was sitting down. "Wait what?! That's not fair!" He frantically exclaimed.

"Should've tried being a bit more considerate now, shouldn't you?" She folded her arms across her chest, letting out a slight giggle. She stayed quiet and waited for a reply, but it never arrived. She peeped opened an eye to see Kirito's face completely blank, expressionless. "Asuna.." He said, his tone considerable lower than before.

"Hu.? What's that matter?"

"You've never made me sandwiches before, not once."

Asuna's face went pale. He was right, he's never had any of Asuna's sandwiches, nor have they ever even spoken to each other till the day before. So why was it that she said such a thing with no hesitation?

"Then why did I..?" Asuna uttered, completely speechless. "And you too.. It's like you knew exactly what I was talking about."

"Because I do," Kirito responded. "It's weird; these last few days, I've felt like some parts of my memory are foggy, as if I had a whole other set of memories from a whole other life, waiting to be uncovered. When you brought up the sandwich, I could feel the taste of the sandwich materializing in my mouth, but I've never had the sandwich before."

Asuna knew what he meant. "Yeah, same here. When I first met you, I felt like I've known before, but I couldn't remember where."

Kirito looked off to the side, seemingly not wanting to dwell on the subject, when something caught his attention. "Hey Asuna, check it out." He called, and pointed off to the distance.

Asuna looked over in the direction in which Kirito had pointed to, and squinted her eyes. Protruding out a door labeled Management Only was a hand, motioning for them to come.

"I think we should go over there." Kirito proposed.

"What?! Are you out of your mind?! We don't even know what's in there! It could be a trap!" Asuna scolded, but to avail as Kirito was already halfway down. She let out a frustrated groan as she unwillingly followed him along.

She stayed behind Kirito, making sure he didn't distance himself too much from her. They maneuvered around the parking lot, steering away from the creatures that lurked around. Kirito suddenly came to a stop between two cars, causing Asuna to slightly bump into him.

"Why'd you sto-" Asuna started to whisper before Kirito put his hand over her mouth. She looked around him and saw the hand in the doorway frozen in place, it's palm facing them with its fingers pointed upwards. No less than a second after, a zombie shuffled over, pausing in front of Kirito. A deep fear penetrated Asuna as she trembled. Kirito didn't show his fear, but surely he too was petrified of the current situation.

The infected turned and faced Kirito, it's nauseating breath leaking out from the gaps in its teeth. Asuna could feel the nuts start to rise, and was sure she'd let it out if she had to endure one more second of it. A noise suddenly went off in the distance, and Asuna could see through the car windows that one of the infected had stumbled and fallen onto the ground. The creature turned its head, his attention now set on the disrupting noise as it shuffled away.

"That was way too close," Kirito sighed, sitting on the floor.

Asuna took a deep breath. "Yeah, I thought for sure we were gone." She let out an exasperated sigh, her heart still beating at an increased rate.

"I'm just happy you guys made it out alive, that could've gotten really ugly." A third voice chimed in. Asuna and Kirito looked up.

A man in his mid twenties stood over them, leaning on the counter. He wore baggy white pants and a red robe with black armor, a bandana holding holding his spiky brown hair in place. He gave Asuna the impression of a friendly samurai of some sort, similar to the kind you'd see in a kids show.

"Oh, the name's Klein." He smiled, point his thumb at himself. He noticed the uneasy look on the two sitting down. "Hey, you guys can trust me, promise." He blinked. "I mean, I did just save your asses."

Kirito got up and dusted himself off. "I'm Kirito," he introduced himself, and gestured over to Asuna after helping her up. "And this is Asuna."

For some reason, Asuna didn't feel threatened in any way, but instead received a sense of relief. The familiar knowing feeling came back to her, and she was sure that Kirito felt it too and was entrusting in it as a sign to be friendly to this Klein character.

"You two alright? You guys are just kids-" Klein asked as he faced downward, bringing his fist up and clenching it. "He's gonna regret doing this to us.."

"He?" Kirito replied, registering the man's last phrase. "You mean you know the man that did this to us?"

"No, his voice was distorted and appearance covered, it'd probably be impossible to know who it was without knowing the guy personally." He answered, a frown plastered on his face.

"So you got the announcement too." Kirito stated, bringing his hand to his chin.

"Not just me," Klein added on, "But it seems like the entire city did too, it was probably broadcasted nationally."

Asuna stiffened up. A national broadcast? There weren't many companies with that much control, as an act like that would probably cost tons of cash. She eased up, and looked at her surroundings for the first time since she set foot in there. To her surprise, they were inside the shop Kirito had mentioned earlier, the place he originally intended to get to. Surrounding them were what he believed were the best weapons one could use in a situation like there's. Using a gun against the infected would effective if it came down to taking them out in sheer numbers, but loud blast released from the chemical reaction taking place would simply capture the attention of the infected around them, in which a hoard would ensue. Therefore, avoiding a loud weapon would be a must against the oversensitive creatures. The fact that Asuna had never even come in contact with a gun would further convince her to stay away from them as a use of self defense.

So naturally, if silence was the option you were shooting for, then a a blade would be the ideal weapon. More specifically, a sword.