"Watch over her. Please."

"And where are you going?"

"I'm just going upstairs."

An hour had passed since the Yukiko sibling's great tragedy. And like anyone else would have, Yukoto couldn't help but cry inside and out. Entrusting his sister to Youko the brother walks back up the stairs to confront the corpse once more. "Spero sia stato indolore per te, mamma."

"What language is that?" Yukoto fliched to hear Otome's voice from behind him. She walked up the stairs quietly, stopping just a few steps behind him. Looking away from the body on the floor she waited for the answer to her simple question.

"It's Italian." he walked over the body and into his mothers bedroom, exiting with a white bed sheet. Draping it over the dead body he joins his closed palms together to bow his head in silent prayer.

"You can speak Italian. How hard was it to learn?"

"Well, most boys born in Italy can speak Italian. Learning to speak Japanese was the hard part. " he broke away from the girls pace to return downstairs, walking through the halls of the house that echoed with his sisters continuous weeping. Peering out of the front windows he could see the neighborhood streets slowly filling with the dead. A dark thought fills his head, only to be broken by the next sound of his sisters cry. Further walking through another hall, all the framed photos of his family pierced his heart, making himself start to weep. Sinking to his knees, he covers his face with his palms, the tears seeping through and running down his arms.

"Hey? Are you alright?" Otome appeared behind him again, kneeling beside him. She put her hands on his shoulder, but he just shrugged her off. Touching him again, he growled, making her jump back startled.

"She's all I have left...our mother is gone...we're alone...Go and get the others. We have to leave soon." Yukoto stood up to wipe the tears off of his face. Walking further down the hall he enters his room, only to continue mourning for a few seconds before rejoining the girls in the kitchen. Barging in he sees the four girls standing around a small television on the counter, a flimsy antenna pointing upwards to create a less than adequate signal. On the small screen a reporter was giving details that people should stay inside unless necessary, until meeting an untimely death by the hands of one of the monsters. Turning off the television to prevent loss of morale, he throws his backback onto a table before moving to the pantry. Taking a few room temperature bottles of water and throwing them into his backpack Yukoto rushes off and out of the room. During the short time that he is gone, he returns with a small box of ammunition and a sheathed katana. Slinging the katana over his back he tosses the ammunition to Youko and grabbing the backpack from table before moving to leave.

"We gotta go. Everyone outside." walking towards the main room Yukoto opens the door to see a pair of dead already walking towards him. Dropping the backpack to his feet he grasps the handle of the blade behind him. Pulling the weapon from its case he raises it upward as he lets its continued momentum direct it down upon the head of one of his attackers. As is spews blood onto the green lawn Yukoto swings the blade horizontally to behead and halt the other one. Swinging the blade towards the floor a large amount of blood splashes off of it before he hides it in it's sheathe once again. Grabbing the backpack from the ground he moves to car, waiting before everyone else is inside the car before entering himself. Throwing the bag under his legs he starts the car almost immediately before peeling out like a drag-racer. "So, any ideas on where we should be headed?"

"Can I ask why we left in the first place?" Youko questioned his decision, calling him on it quickly.

"If those things turn everyone it that large, suburban maze of a neighborhood, then we would be overrun, and doomed to die like rats. And I don't plan on dying for another seventy or eighty years."

"Since when are you the expert on these 'things'?"

"You wouldn't have to be an expert. You saw the school, didn't you? They turned almost everyone in a matter of minutes. Yukoto is right, and I'll follow any decision he makes." Otome uses the facts to silence the other girl, staring out the window to observe the walking dead that they passed. She had decided to rest, until she heard a rather unsettling noise, the sound of the engine turning off. "Please, tell me that did not just happen."

"I'm afraid it did. Outta gas. And looking at our new friends, I don't think they'd let us push the car in peace."

"Great, so what now you fucking genius?"

"Language. Please. We need to strategize. How can we go about walking the streets safely."

"Youko and I can each take a pistol, while the girls follow behind us, and you watch the back with your sword there." Otome quickly spoke her mind, describing a well thought out formation. Everyone agreed with the plan, but were also hesitant in leaving the car.

"Do we need to go outside, Nii-San? I'm scared..." Hanako grabbed her brothers arm with her shaky arms, rubbing her face against her sleeve.

"Aww c'mon you big baby! Your big brother is awesome! As long as he's around, everything'll be just fine!" Hotaru shakes her friend while shouting in an exhuberant tone of voice, while also bringing a bright light to a dark situation. With his sister somewhat settled, Yukoto stepped out of the car, with the others following and forming into Otome's described formation.

"So how about now? Can you think of anywhere we can go yet?"

"We have to find other survivors. Just...follow the screams."

"There's so many of them..."

"Just, keep quiet. We're okay as long as we're quiet." taking refuge in a dead end alley-way, the five survivors watched chaos ensue in the streets mere inches away from them. People fought back recklessly, with others scattering like roaches only to end up getting themselves eaten or turned by the beasts. However, those who fought back against the undead never really lasted that long, not knowing the one weakness of their opponent. "The sun sets in a few minutes. We need somewhere to camp out for the night."

"I don't promote violence, but I think the best idea would be to commit a home invasion." Youko was the first to make a suggestion, and it wasn't a bad one at that.

"Right now, the streets are too crowded with people, moving cars, and 'them'. From the looks of it the cars are heading to Onbetsu Bridge, more than likely trying to escape the city. So it might be best to stay where we are."

"Yukiko, thank you for proving once again, that you are INSANE. This alley is a dead end. Emphasis on DEAD, especially if we try and hide here." Youko showed her malice for the boys decision, making him guiltfully regret saving her in the first place.

"There are two dumpsters here. All we have to do is rotate them, and we can form a two section blockade. Like you said, it's a dead end, so we can settle all the way back there. We be quiet, and safely make it through the night." Youko choked up as Yukoto and Otome had already begun arranging the blockade. The dumpsters were wide enough to scrape against the walls when turned, so the idea was perfect. Placing the first receptacle at the opening of the alley, Yukoto wedged it in perfectly as Otome did the same with the second about two meters behind him. Climbing over the second bin Yukoto turns around to admire his simple and brilliant idea.

"Koto-Kun! Lookit that, there's a couch back there!" tugging at his sleeve Hanako quietly yells to her brother about her discovery. Walking back with the others he sees the object that caught her eye, a black, surprisingly clean sofa underneath a makeshift awning, along with a few foldaway chairs and a small table.

"Who would have this kind of setup?" Otome let herself fall back onto the sofa, sinking into it's comfortable fabric.

"This is probably some sort of break area for the businesses that's buildings connect into this alley. Either that, or there's a bum in the city who's good at furniture restoration." as Yukoto tried to settle in himself he immediately flinches when a loud series of screams and cries for help force him to stay alert. As he watches the carnage from afar, he questions his decision to keep everyone out in the open. As the screams and shouts carry on, a door within the alley had started to shake. From the other side something or someone was pounding on it with all their strength, the door finally flying open. A boy with blood splattered clothes had busted through the door, knocking it off it's hinges and onto the floor. The boy was about as tall as Yukoto, about six feet tall, and had raggedy dirty blonde hair. In his hand he held up a bloody kitchen knife, and in his other hand he held a smaller knife.

"...!" he shouted at the group, slapping himself when he realized that they didn't speak his language: English. "Uhh...Japanese, I keep forgetting. Eh! I forgot, c'mon! Those things, they're coming this way! I have a car out front, follow me!"

Looking at the boy as he runs towards their barricade, the group ponders on the idea before the moans of the dead become closer and closer.

"Great, just when we thought we were safe." sweeping Hanako from the ground and into his arms Yukoto crouches down for Hotaru to climb onto his back. Running after the other girls and the strange boy he barely darts past a few of 'them', picking up enough speed after that to jump on top of the first dumpster and then onto and off of the next one. An army of the dead now in the street he barley gets a glimpse of the girls waving him down from a car across the street. Taking a deep breath, he slowly crosses the road, maintaining his silence in order to remain undetected. Reaching the car, he lets the youngsters down to enter the vehicle, remaining outside to protect them before he quickly throws his body into the passenger seat, the car speeding away shortly after.

A/N

Terribly sorry that this took so long to update! But alas, I have a good reason. I broke my leg a week ago, and was in a hospital until today. So, due to being reduced to a wheelchair for five more weeks until I can take this cast off, I can update this story more frequently. The updates will most likely be every other day rather than the usual once a week, so I'll see you then!