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Previously: "Welcome scientists and doctors. Your mission is simple. Stay within the outer boundaries and return to the door by January 30th. If you do not return by then, you are left outside." A speaker sounded. A clicking sound was made and the door started to open. Alfred held Matthews hand tight and nodded reassuringly at Matthew. Matthew nodded back and watched as the door opened completely. Dust flew around for several minutes, before it cleared. Alfred blinked.

The outside was dark. Everything was dirty and in ruin, and there was no sign of life anywhere from what Alfred could see. The team took their first step into the outer world and the door behind them closed with a lock. Alfred let go of Matthews hand and pressed another button on his mask. A beam of light came from his mask and allowed him to see more clearly. The others did the same.

"All right." Ludwig said through his mask. Everyone looked at him and gathered in a circle.

"Here's the plan."

OOOO

A couple days had passed since Alfred had last seen his brother or anyone else from his team. The plan was easy to follow, but so far everything seemed to fail. Alfred and Ludwig would go out on their own to scout around the area and find any buildings that could serve as a temporary base/home. Gilbert, Francis, Antonio, and Matthew would stay behind to do tests on the land and air. Alfred seemed fine with the idea at first until he started scouting. What he had thought the outside world would be like, was nothing compared to what he saw. Buildings were not buildings, but simple piles of brick or wood. Streets were cracked in all places and potholes were everywhere. Alfred sighed to himself and sat down on what he assumed was an old seat from a car.

He looked around and tried to remember anything that seemed familiar.

"The playground." Alfred whispered to himself as he looked at a torn up area of dirt with metal pieces of a swing set scattered about. Alfred closed his eyes.

"Mama, Mama! Come push me on the swings!" Alfred yelled as he hopped up and down in excitement. With his mother busy holding Matthew and reading to him, Alfred's father came over instead. He picked the small child up and sat Alfred on the swing. Alfred giggled and started to kick his legs in a back and forth motion while his father pushed him carefully.

"Daddy, are you okay?" Alfred asked every once and a while when his father would cough quietly. His father would smile and nod till Alfred paid attention on swinging again.

Alfred smiled to himself and looked around once again after opening his eyes. He noticed the way the land looked completely different from before, but everything was recognizable to him. He remembered the curb he would wait on everyday with his mother to get to the preschool he attended, and he remembered the candy shop Matthew and him would beg to go to after every trip to the park.

"Everything seemed too perfect back then." Alfred said out loud. His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a loud crashing noise. He quickly grabbed his gun and looked around. He didn't see anything but made his way around a large stone slab from what he assumed used to be a building.

"Come on… Come out." Alfred whispered to himself as he inspected the area. No more noise was heard and he stood back up after several minutes of spying around. Putting his gun back, he decided to walk around a bit more before any real work came up. He took his time in taking in the scenery of everything and the changes that took place. Making his way down the street, he was faced with something he hadn't seen in a long while. The infected and the dying.

OOOO

"Hey guys!" Alfred called as he ran up to his team, panting. Ludwig had made it back before Alfred and was currently doing ground scans.

"Si?" Antonio answered as he looked up. Alfred held up a finger in order to say he needed a moment and caught his breath. He sighed.

"I found people. They aren't healthy, of course, but they are alive. That means there has to be some sources near them. There were too many of them to just be some random coincidence." Alfred explained as he gathered some of his equipment.

"People? What was the ratio?" Ludwig asked. Alfred thought for a moment.

"More infected than dying. They were much more active than what we were told we would find." Alfred replied. Ludwig nodded and thought.

"We will have to head that way then." Ludwig said as he turned to the rest of the team whom were already getting their equipment ready. Alfred nodded and waited for everyone to finish up. Everyone got their things and started to walk at a quick pace, following Alfred. Matthew walked quicker and caught up to his brother.

"Are we going where I think we are going?" Matthew asked in a quiet manner. Alfred nodded.

"Our old town. I haven't seen the neighborhood yet, but that side of town looked better than the side I came in on." Alfred looked at Matthew. Matthew hugged himself and sighed.

"Hey, Mattie, it will be okay." Alfred stated as they continued to walk.

After a while of walking, Alfred had finally managed to find his way back to the town. The team made their way around and took notes and samples of different things. Alfred looked around the corner he had previously been at and saw the same people before, but this time much worse. More people were dead and dying than there were infected. Alfred raised a brow and rubbed his eyes for a couple minutes. Then it happened again, there were hardly any people roaming around. Most were on the ground groaning or dead.

"It's worse than we thought." Antonio said from behind Alfred. Alfred looked behind him and nodded.

"Gather up the ones you can and try to get some research material. I'll scout ahead in the neighborhoods. "Alfred said as he made his way through the remaining people. No one came to him or bothered to speak with him. All the living knew where he was from and what he was doing. This was a yearly routine that the outside had grown accustomed to. Alfred watched several people sit and lay back only to close their eyes and never open them. He watched others throw up or scratch away at infected looking cuts and scrapes that were too far to be helped. Others simply stood still waiting to take their final breath. It hurt Alfred to know he could do nothing about it. Then something caught his eyes.

This something was short and skinny. He looked pale and dirty from where Alfred stood, but at the same time the paleness suited him. He had dirty blonde or blonde hair that was covered in dirt and emerald like eyes. He moved through a crowd of infected only to secretly steal things from them that would mean no help to anyone of the outside. He stole watches, buttons and threads from clothing, scarves and many other things. He stopped several times to catch his breath or hunch over in case of vomit, but would always continue with his game of stealing.

Alfred continued to watch the male before he turned and started to walk away from all the people he had stolen from. Deciding to go after the male, Alfred looked back at his team once more before disappearing into the small crowds of infected. It took sometime before the blonde male made a turn into some bushes and walked off the street. Alfred waited for a couple seconds before turning into the bushes and finding himself in a neighborhood. He looked around and found the male sneaking through a couple abandoned houses, gathering things again.

"Aren't you a sneaky one?" Alfred asked quietly, not expecting an answer. Finally the male came out of a house and sat all the things he had gathered in an old trash bag he had managed to find.

"What are you, cleanup crew?" Alfred shook his head and remained hidden. The blonde looked up and looked around before going back to putting things in the bag. He nodded to himself and picked up the bag as he started to walk away again. Alfred followed behind him at a good distance. The blonde made his way to another house and walked in, but did not come out. Alfred raised a brow and made his way to a window. He peeked in and noticed another human. This male was a red head with sea green eyes. He was skinny but slightly taller than the blonde. The two started to talk.

(Allistor is my name for Scotland who is England's older brother!)

"Allistor, are you okay?" Arthur asked. Allistor nodded and coughed a couple times before leaning on his brother as Arthur laid him down. Arthur took his time in covering his brother up and petting his head while humming.

That is the crappy end to chapter 4!

Reviews are appreciated.