"Wait! Yukoto, look!" Hanako broke her brother out of his focus only to have him slam the brakes. The car had stopped in front of the elementary school, which like the high school was in a state of chaos and disarray. Law enforcement crowded by their cars, shooting rounds into the bodies of undead that slumped towards them. Through the buildings doors parents and adults ran outside with their children, some of them bitten, not knowing their predetermined fate. Looking around the building, he could finally see the reason that Hanako wanted him to stop: a young girl, stranded alone atop the roof with the dead closing in. The child was Sato Hotaru, the little girl who lived next door to the Yukiko family, and Hanako's best friend. She kept waving for help from below, but it looked as if nobody could see her. "Yukoto she's in trouble!"
'The things I do for you, Hanako...' "Otome, the javelin. I can't solely rely on the guns, they bring too much attention."
"Let me go with you! I can help!"
"You'll just slow me down. Trust me I'll be fine." the girl handed him her bloody spear, before he jumped out of the car and ran towards his next mission.
The insides of the school held less death than his own, but it seemed worse here. That was brought on by the stressed fact that the corpses of young, innocent children littered the floors, being feasted on by their former teachers and loved ones. The opposite was also present, the bodies of adults the source of food for children whom had turned. Blazing through the ones who once made up the faculty and students, Yukoto ended their suffering with pleasure, while making mental excuses to justify it all.
Each floor contained more of 'them' than the last, his use of combat dwindling after each flight of stairs. Going from a tank on the battlefield to a scared child in his own right. By the time he reached the fourth and final floor, the number of walking corpses had deflated to a surprising low. He didn't find anyone alive on the lower three floors, but that wouldn't stop him from searching the classrooms on the fourth. Speed walking through the blood-stained hall he would open a classroom door, closing it slowly and without noise to see if all the room contained was the dead. Sifting through the last room makes him vomit, seeing nothing but a pre-teen girl, hanging by her neck from a rope tied to an overhead light. Her eyes were still open, and maintained their original color. She had never become one of them. She had done this to herself...
Abandoning the hope-draining sight he left the room, and headed straight for a black metal door that granted access to the rooftop. The first thing he saw was his target: young Hotaru. She had climbed atop one of the large air conditioning units, with a mob of hungry admirers amassed around the entirety of its diameter. Approaching the vicinity quietly, Hotaru beamed once she recognized the boy, shouting and laughing with utter joy and relief. "Mr. Yukoto! Mr. Yukoto! You came to save me!"
Thinking silently to himself he pondered on how to safely extract the girl from her perch. Too many of 'them' to fight off alone, he couldn't think of any possible way to do it properly. She could jump to him, but that was too great of a risk at the moment. What he needed was a distraction. Running back inside he gags when his new plan forms in his head. Walking back into the room with the dead girl, he quickly uses the javelin to cut her down and stabs her in the eye for added precautionary measures. Lugging the body back onto the roof, he bangs on the metal door behind him to attract attention.
"C'mon! Over here!" successfully attracting the full attention of the crowd the mob inches themselves after him as he drags the corpse to another corner of the roof. Throwing the girls body into the crowd, he brakes away to rush towards Hotaru. "Jump!"
"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" the kid coils her arms around his neck like a snake the second he catches her. Running back into the building he slams the door behind him, letting it lock automatically.
"Are you okay? One of those nasty meanies didn't bite you, did they?"
"Nope! I was too fast! Ano...but they got my mommy and daddy though, they were locked inside with me...is that why they..." he didn't let her finish, pulling her closer to him to hug her tightly as she started sobbing into his chest. Her cries were becoming louder and louder, but he let them be heard. When she finally simmered down to a sniffle, she pulled herself away, hiding her eyes behind her light brown hair, before she revealed her smiling face. "But they would've wanted me to be okay... Right?"
"That's the spirit. Come now, you can stay with me. I've got some friends waiting for us outside, and Hanako's there too."
"You mean it!? I can stay with you?"
"Of course. And don't worry. I'll protect you."
"Hey! Did you see anyone else inside!?" a police officer waved down Yuktoto as he ran out of the buiding, Hotaru riding on his back. He quickly shouted out his 'no', making some adults behind him begin to cry, realizing that they had lost someone precious to them.
"That kid's a saint, isn't he?" Youko laughed in disbelief when she saw Yukoto approaching the car with his new friend.
"Hey everybody, this is Hotaru. She'll be staying with us." Hotaru climbed into the front seat, her subpple body letting her fit between Yukoto and Hanako. Otome quickly tried to ask her about her parents, stopping when she saw the little girls tear soaked face. After abandoning that she moved to praise the white haired boy, but stopped again , seeing that his arms were shaking as he maneuvered the car down the roads. His body rattled like it was thirty degrees outside, his stomach expanding and deflating quickly with each fear filled breath.
"Yukoto-Kun...are you okay?" Otome asked him, not getting back any sort of response that would give her an answer. He only remained silent, body shaking as his heavy breathing was the only sound within the walls of the vehicle. A few miles away from the school the car just stopped, being blocked off by a few of the monsters that stood in the middle of the street. Putting the car in park he let his head fall back, openly sobbing while he kept his eyes closed. The two teenage girls sat there not having any sense of how to comfort the boy. He started thrashing in his seat, banging his head on the steering wheel only to stay that way, hunched in his seat.
"There were...so many...so many..." he croaked again, sobbing loudly as everyone could see the tears dripping down his chin. He looked down at his torso and legs, croaking louder to see deep stains of red all over him. Pulling himself up in the seat once again he looked down at his hands, spots of blood covering the front and back of his palms. A shiver ran down his back, his body hunching over again. "So many...I can't. I can't...Rah! You fuckers!"
Yukoto switched the gears of the car, slamming the gas pedal to shoot forward, mowing down every one of them in his path. Through all the bumps, the car's tires splattered blood all over it's frame. Hotaru and Hanako held onto one another, trying to keep from bumping all over the place, while Otome and Youko pressed their bodies against the doors to keep themselves steady. A pile of mulch now behind them Yukoto sped off only to stop again a few blocks away.
"What's wrong with you!"
"I've killed today! Children! Six year olds! Motherfucking kidnergarteners!"
"They weren't themselves anymore! And you did it only to save someone just as innocent as they were!"
Yukoto ceases his yelling, only to focus on running down more of the undead. With the car going silent, he genuinely started to weigh in on the past few hours. As he delved upon his actions on this day he winced when Hotaru hitched her arm around his, letting her head rest against his bicep. Within all of his anger, he had recalled something from earlier.
'...but they got my mommy and daddy though...'
'Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!'
'You mean it!? I can go with you?'
'They would've wanted me to be okay, right?'
'I'll protect you.'
'Can I do that? Can a eighteen year old take care of two young little girls in a world like this?"
"We're almost there. You two, Otome and Youko, we need to talk about something important. Now, before the little ones wake up again."
"What is it?"
"When will you two be leaving." the two girls jumped in their seats when he turned to them. His tone showed no hints of a joking mood, nor did his initial question. "You have families to get back to, don't you."
"My family! But they, my family is...overseas. My father got a job in the UK, so my mother went with him. I tried calling in the high school, but I couldn't get ahold of either of them..." Otome hung her head down in silence, Yukoto wringing back from his question like a fool, trying to withdraw the formerly important notion.
"Nice going, red. You made her sad." Youko intervened, smacking him upside his head before pinching his ear tightly.
"Quit making fun of me, MEINU. And what about your parents?"
"My mother worked at the school! And I never knew my father! So there...there's two points for you now..."
"You still need to answer my-...Just forget it." Yukoto hung his own head over the steering wheel, peering out just enough to drive properly.
*Smack* Yukoto woke the children while also snapping the teenage girls out of their silent daydreaming. The car door had shut, with the driver now outside of the vehicle. Scrambling to follow him the girls wiped the lines of saliva from their chins. The car had finally stop in the driveway of an upper-class looking house a few miles away from the school. Hanako and Hotaru seemed ecstatic to be in front of the home, but it seemed more odd to Yukoto to see Hotaru in such a happy mood. Her innocence clouded the sadness of her parents sudden death, but going through what she just did, most kids would be heartbroken.
"This is where you live? Someone must have rich parents." Youko nudged the boys side, only getting back a dirty look as his response. The house was tall, with large windows on it's midsection that showcased a large chandelier hanging in the main room. The outside and inside of the home was painted a bright white, with a bright red paint used to provide trimming to the door and windows. Pulling out a small ring of keys Yukoto swiftly opens the lock and invites the women in before entering the home himself. The inside of the home was empty, gone of any decorations and un-needed furnishings. "There's not much in here, did you get robbed or something?"
"I sold everything that was of no use or necessity."
"But why would you do that?" Otome cut in next, speaking quietly so as not to give off an offending tone. Yukoto drifted away from her question, noticing a black purse lying on a chair in the room. It wasn't his mothers, and it couldn't be anyone elses. It must've belonged to a nurse from the hospital, but that seemed impossible as well. "Hey, did you hear me? I said-"
"Wait." he raised a hand before walking over to the purse, picking up a cell phone that was lying next to it. Flipping it open he immediately started going through the devices contents.
"What are you doing! Don't you know better than to go through a woman's things?"
"Because whoever this woman is...I don't know her." he continued to fiddle with the device, opening a text message conversation that would make anything clear.
'So are we still on for tonight?'
'Maybe. I think I might be catching something.'
'Isn't a nurse supposed to be at top health?'
'I felt fine this morning, but then, while I was walking into a patients house, some crazy homeless guy bit my wrist-"
He stopped at that point in the message, with his hand shaking in fear. That had explained it so clearly to him. It was at one o'clock in the afternoon, and the nurses usually showed up at seven in the morning. There was no way the nurse would still be there, unless...
"Mom!" Yukoto screamed before dropping the phone down and gunning it upstairs. Everyone followed him, stopping in the middle of the staircase as he did so. Looking upwards the door of his mothers room was hanging open slightly. The lights were on, and shuffling noises echoed off of the cold time flooring. Tiptoeing up the last few steps Yukoto snatched away Otome's bloody spear, crouched over as he silently approached the door. "Mamma? Stai bene lì dentro?"
'The hell? What language is that? It clearly wasn't Japanese. ' Youko tilted her head at the boys sudden change in accent and dialect. He said the phrase again, using the tip of the spear to nudge the door to fully open.
"Ciao? E 'tuo figlio, Yukoto. Riesci a sentirmi?" at the sound of his next phrase a loud thud sounded in the room. Squishy footsteps followed the noise, which grew louder with every silent second. When the footsteps came to a halt, Yukoto tapped the metal spear against the ground. In response to the noise, one of 'them' appeared in the doors frame. It was a blonde woman in a white tee and shorts, snarling and moaning as she gnawed on a severed human arm with pieces of hospital scrubs dangling at the shoulder. Rather than rushing to end its newly regained life, Yukoto fell backwards in shock, disbelief, and utter dismay as he looked at the sight before him. "No...it can't be...this isn't...this can't be happening!"
His sudden shout brought the creatures attention onto him, still leaving the boy unable to move. As it crept towards its next target Yukoto couldn't help but let a whimper escape his voice as he crawled backwards. Dropping the spear, it rolled back down the stairs, stopping in front of the girls who tried to silence the now weeping Hanako. Crawling further and further back, Yukoto's body met a wall. Falling onto him the creature hollers as it grabs his arms, pinning him as he places his hands on its shoulders to fight back. With all his might he struggled, but his opponent's grip was unbelievably tight. As its body moves closer to his, he shuts his eyes to give up as his hands slip and fall to his sides.
*Tch!*
The sound of splitting flesh echoed slowly through Yukoto's ears. A warm sensation filled the cloth of his school jacket, but surprisingly, there was no pain. No numbness, no aches, no burning sensation at all. It must've bitten him, everyone else to pre-occupied and distant to stop it, right. He didn't want to open his eyes, however. Open his eyes to see that his mothers bite would be the end of him. But it turned out, that he couldn't help it. Parting his eyelids he started shaking when he saw the undead creature, stopped with its mouth open inches away from his collarbone. It's mouth hung open, now a fountain of blood that poured onto Yukoto's torso. Looking to the left he could see the metal javelin penetrating it's skull, the entry point above its ear. Looking further in the same direction he could see the person who had saved his life.
"Yu-...Yukoto...I'm sorry...I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
"H-Hanako..." a tragedy indeed. A family torn apart by a plague from the underworld. A daughter forced to end her mothers suffering for the sake of someone she loves just as much. Crying in unison the siblings hold eachother, a rain of tears influenced by something that indeed should be scientifically impossible. But why them? Why must the world turn on on a couple who had hard enough lives as it is? The answer was a simple one: The world had turned its back on everyone.
"C'mon. Let's...get away from this..." Yukoto picked himself up with Hanko in his arms, moving past the other three girls as he tried to ease her sadness. Following him the others threw out random words of condolences as anyone normally would, but it wasn't enough.
"Yukoto I'm sorry...I'm sorry..."
"Stop it. None of this is you're fault. You couldn't...help what was happening. You did only what anyone else would have done. Just don't forget. Promise me that you won't forget."
"F-Forget what?"
"That she was our mother. And that she loved us both, very, very much..."
'On the day the world came to an end, Hanako had to kill her only mother. And I...had barely remembered something. I had remembered that tomorrow is little Hanako's birthday...'