A/N:

nicolft: Ya know…..I've just realized how sucky I am at updating :3 AND I HAZ A FUN GAME THING FOR YOU (but it's somewhat difficult)! I want you to try distinguishing between our (DarkCalloftheRaven's and I's) writing, and name who wrote what sections and whatnot :D 'Tis a terribly annoying game, ja? And it doesn't help that sometimes we revise each other's lines, and at times we take turns writing a paragraph. :33

DCotR: I concur. LET THE GAMES BEGIN! You get an imaginary cookie if you can pick them all out.

nicolft: COOKIIIEEESSSS~!

nicolft: BY THE WAY, WE'RE BOTH SINCERELY SORRY FOR OUR TWO-ISH MONTH HIATUS ewell

DCotR: YES APOLOGIES

Feet pounded against tiled floor, a symphony of disarrayed steps, accompanied by heavy breathing. At the same moment, Kiku and Vash risked sidelong glances at each other, one a glare, with all the built up anger poured into a smoldering look of pure rage, seemingly burning holes into the poor Japanese teen, and the other a timid, nervous, and then absolutely terrified look that begged for forgiveness.

"You know I hate it when you do that." Vash hissed dangerously, his fist clenching even tighter.

A cough escaped from the other's mouth before he replied; Kiku never really ran that much, "Go—Apologies." He finally choked out, opting to use the English word instead of Japanese, as he used with his closer friends.

With an exasperated sigh, Vash turned his head back, and suddenly jerking himself to the right to avoid a bystander zombie. They continued in heavy silence, with an occasional directional order from Alfred and the hungry moans of zombies pursuing them.

Slowly, Vash's disheveled thoughts rearranged, straightening up as he digested his situation. He was almost tempted to fling himself at the zombie so that as a hand came down to claw him, the damn dream would be over, but somehow, everything seemed too surreal. He noticed every detail. His thoughts were clear, and if it really was a dream, then it was much too lucid.

They soon reached a clearing that Alfred deemed safe for the time being. Vash cast his eyes about the room. Hardwood flooring adorned with multicolored lines and a large cartoon ram head painted in the center, the walls covered in burgundy paint were draped with banners to commemorate the victories of the schools sports teams. Vash knew this place: the gym. He decided to test this dream now. He reached through his golden hair and pushed on the pressure point behind his ear. It created a small, sharp pain but, no change in scenery. He pushed harder on the nerve. The only difference was the amount of pain given. Vash's eyes grew wide. "This isn't a dream." He thought, "It's all real. That means…"

After sputtering incoherently for a short while, Vash finally muttered something he felt could possibly sum up his realization, "Mein Gott." -The only phrase that floated through his blank and panicked mind. The teenage Swiss scanned the room wildly before he turned to Kiku, "Have you seen Lili?" He demanded a bit aggressively.

"No, I-I haven't." The latter replied meekly. Vash went over to the rest of the group he demanded the same of Alfred and Matthew. Alfred was a little confused as to who Lili was and shrugged, "Nah, man I haven't."

"I'm going to go look for her." Vash declared as he slung the shotgun that he was carrying around on his shoulders.

Matthew held out his hand in an effort to stop him and said quietly, "I don't think that's a good idea Vash…" Vash simply ignored him, marching towards the exit. As Vash approached the doors, Alfred dashed in front of him and shoved the smaller student down with a bit too much force, knocking him to the ground, "Nobody's leaving this damn gym unless I say so. Much less alone!"

His words somewhat shocked Vash. He did not expect Alfred to adopt the group so rapidly. None of these people truly knew each other well other than seeing them in the halls...at least, that was Vash's position. Alfred and Kiku had been friends since the middle of last year, and Matthew was Alfred's brother.

After a short glaring contest round, Vash finally backed down, readjusting his position so that he was sitting with his arms wrapped around his legs, face buried into his knees. Millions of bloodcurdling scenarios phased through his mind, each one darker and bloodier than the previous, each revolving around Lili. Vash murmured to himself disheartenedly, "What kind of a brother…." He trailed off.

"Hey, dude…" Alfred kneeled beside him guiltily, setting a comforting hand on Vash's shoulder. "...sorry."

Almost immediately, Vash's fist pounded against the hardwood floor. No one spoke for a moment, until he pointed out coldly, "Sorry doesn't change a thing."

"Look, we have to figure out a way to get out of here alive, first. You can't help your sister if you're the one dragging after her and trying to bite her head off-" Vash flinched at the thought of it, "-so just calm down, 'kay?"

"If we don't hurry up, then I won't have to be the one to 'bite her head off'." Vash hissed.

Silence descended on the gym, both Kiku and Matthew watching as Alfred attempted to calm down—and failed.

"Look, I'm trying to help us, here!" Vash's head jerked up, glaring. "I don't want or need anyone of us dy-"

"-Lili's out there, probably unprotected, and what are we accomplishing by sitting here?!" Vash roared, cutting him off.

"We can go save her l-"

"-It'll be too late!"

"We have to stick toge-"

"We're not doing anything right now!"

"WILL YOU STOP BEING SO DAMN ANTISOCIAL AND UNCOOPERATIVE?!" Alfred finally bellowed, his whole figure trembling with unveiled rage.

Vash blinked, murmuring with quiet triumph, "Exactly. I'm antisocial and uncooperative. I care for no one but Lili, and no one cares for me but Lili."

With a heavy sigh, Alfred admitted defeat; but before he could figure anything out, the doors slammed open yet again, revealing two girls. The one dragging the other along was obviously Natalya, whose reputation gave her the title of the creepiest girl on Earth, and the other, who resembled Vash very much; Lili. Of course, they felt relief at first, but they soon spotted the mob trailing after them. Vash's first instinct was to run up to Lili and yank her away from Natalya's grasp, which earned him a death glare that labeled him as "idiot".

"Can't you see the undead piling into the gym, you dolt?!" Natalya had snatched both of them by the wrists and had taken off, closely followed by the rest of the group who had finally regained their senses.

They escaped through the fire-alarm door. The undead mass was going mad with the overly pitched white noise, and lost track of the fleeing humans for a split second. However, the emergency door had closed with a loud enough thud to alert the empty minded flesh. They charged after the group with great strength.

Meanwhile, our group has found themselves in another large clearing outdoors. Grand oak trees and flower beds arranged with precision decorated the soft earth beneath their feet. A wall of hedges led to a large iron gate, shrouded in ivy. Alfred motioned for the rest to follow into the hedge tunnel. He peered through a small gap in the leaves, and slowly opened the gate. Thankfully, someone had taken good care of the gate so that the hinges did not creak. Everyone filed in and the gate was carefully shut behind them.

As they looked around, they found perfectly trimmed grass sparkling with small droplets of water, swaths of Prussian blue and black flowers filling the air with the scent of nectar, flat stepping stones engraved with the names of all the students attending the academy, willows casting their large branches to the earth as if weeping for the lost souls.

Two of the undead rounded the corner and were about to charge the group when two shadowy figures dropped from the trees, wielding shovels. They each took one zombie, decapitated it with their tools, and smashed the heads, scattering blood onto the delicate flowers. They both stood up straight and three other figures descended from the branches.

One of the initial figures had natural bleach blonde hair and deep blue eyes. The other was darker skinned, with emerald eyes, and chocolate hair. One had a sullen, empty look about him whilst the latter forced a smile to the fact that there were other survivors. As for the other three who landed slightly behind them, two were pale of face with soft blonde hair, while the other had olive eyes and hair the color of the earth beneath their feet.

The bleach blonde spoke first, "N-Natalya?" He had a strong Russian accent.

"Starshi brat?" She replied in disbelief. After giving him a second look over, she rushed over and embraced him.

"Now can we get the fuck out of here?" The olive-eyed one demanded, arms crossed and foot tapping in anxiety. "You got your happy reunion, so can we hurry up and get our asses out of here before they get ripped into shreds?"

"Lovi..." The chocolate haired boy put his hand on the other's shoulder.

The other boy's demeanor turned solemn as he turned around to face him. In a hushed tone, the boy choked out a response, voice cracking occasionally. "Antonio, we just watched Emma get ripped by those, by those... things. I heard her scream Antonio." He added in a softer tone, as if he were about to cry, "I heard her scream." He burrowed his face into the other's shoulder, fighting the cold tears that threatened his eyes.

"We all heard her Lovino..." One of the paler blondes said. He was fighting tears too however, it was not nearly as hard of a fight for him than it was for Lovino. Lovino had started to cry softly into Antonio's shoulder. He sniffled out, "What's worse is... I don't know where my dumbass fratellino is! He could be dead for all I know. And it's all my fault! I'm his older brother it's my job to protect him. But I failed."

Antonio was now battling tears as well, at the memory of Lovino's younger brother: Feliciano. He rubbed Lovino's back with one hand, with a lump growing in his throat. He choked out, "Don't worry Lovi. We'll find Feli. He's alright, I'm sure of it. Remember? He's probably got Ludwig with him. Ludwig wouldn't let anything bad happen to him."

Lovino looked up at him, "What if Feli isn't with him? What if he got killed before he could get to that potato bastard? What if..." Lovino shuddered, "What if he got turned into one of...one of them?"

Antonio grabbed Lovino's face gently with both hands. He said firmly, "Your brother is okay. Remember what I said? Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end."

While everyone else was watching Antonio console Lovino, the taller of the two lemon haired boys was watching something else. He walked over and put his massive hand on Antonio's shoulder. He explained, "We sh'ld l've. Th'y're c'm'ng s''n." The shorter lemon haired boy nodded, "Berwald's right. The gate won't hold forever." He thought for a moment, "We should all get to know each other then. I'm Tino." He gestured to the taller lemon haired boy, "Berwald." He said. "Antonio." "Lovino." They all went around, exchanging names. Alfred glared at Ivan at his turn to introduce himself.

Vash asserted himself, "Alright let's get out of here. So far we've been through the main hallways, the cafeteria, the gym, and now the garden. Even if there is a chance to go back there and the infected have left those areas it would be stupid to go there."

Alfred cut in, "Who died and made you leader?"

"Now is not the time to say that..." Kiku replied sullenly.

"Cocky Americans." Ivan muttered as he peeled Natalya off of him, "Always having to be in charge, can't shut their damn mouths."

Alfred whirled on him, "I didn't hear you, commie."

"The fuck did you just call me?"

"I said I didn't he-" Vash cut him off by stepping in between them and shoving them apart. He lectured them sternly, "This is not the time for bickering about who's the leader or calling people racist slurs. If you two would rather fight about who should be the leader or which race is better, then you two can climb that fence and go get eaten while you do so!"

Everyone fell silent. Lovino broke it, "It doesn't matter who the goddamn leader is. Let's just get the fuck out of here." Tino added, "Before we go, what sorts of weapons do you guys have?"

Alfred turned around and checked what everyone had. When he turned back around he reported, "Three guns, a sword and a knife."

Berwald pointed out, "L'li 'sn't 'rm'd." Antonio nodded in agreement, "We should get her something to fight with." Ivan sighed and rounded the corner of sunflowers. He returned with a pair of garden shears. "Here, they're lightweight and silent." Lili nodded in thanks.

"There's a way out of here besides the front gate, it's a ways off and there might be zombies there." Ivan stated. He then, indicated for everyone to follow him and checked the gate. No sign of the unliving. He opened the small gate and motioned for everyone to go through. Once everyone had passed the threshold, he slowly shut the gate, gazing at the golden field of flowers as he locked it, "Proshchay, moy yedinstvennyy schast'ye."

Eyes widening, Feliks just couldn't rip his eyes away from the carnage around him. The scent of blood flooded his senses, that overwhelming metallic smell forever seared into his memory, causing bile to raise up at the back of his throat. But he didn't think to swallow; he couldn't. Corpses were littered around, and every few minutes, one of their eyes would snap open, jerking around unnaturally until it finally came to rest. Then, their thirst for flesh and blood would emerge, and they would tear into victims, ripping flesh off without another thought as bloodcurdling screams rose into the air. Soon, another body, white and lifeless, would fall to the ground, strings of flesh strewn around the floor and mouth ajar, sometimes too disfigured to distinguish from the pools of blood and limbs piling up all around. It made his stomach churn, and he found himself opening his mouth ever so slightly in preparation for the impending vomit. His whole figure trembled as he subconsciously leaned forward, muscles slowly draining of power.

"Feliks?" A soft, deep voice asked from behind him, "Is that you?"

Said student slowly pivoted around, still lightheaded, and gazed at what could only be described as a walking clot of blood, thin strands of sticky blood dripping down from the figure as it studied Feliks warily from less than five feet away. Almost methodically, Feliks bent over, hands on knees, and puked. All the contents of his breakfast and lunch flowed right out from it's original spot at what felt like the bottom of his throat, the acrid stench almost as strong as the blood.

"A-Are you okay?!" The other asked, jumping back and almost dropping some large object from his arms.

The act of puking relieved Feliks, his head clearing with each round of vomit.

"I'm, like...fine." Feliks finally managed to whisper weakly, wiping at his mouth. "But...like, who are you?...You're totes...drenched in...blood..." His voice had lost that usual enthusiasm for the time being, and instead of standing with his chin high and eyes bright, shamelessly displaying his flamboyant crossdress outfit, his head was dipped towards the ground, eyes staring solemnly at the bloodied tiles.

"A-Ah...Francis. Desole..." Francis looked down at himself, then back up at Feliks, "We should probably go now..."

"Totally," Feliks sighed, finally taking a step, "But I need to like, find Liet."

"I too, am worried for Matthieu and-...ah, nevermind."

Feliks raised a brow and looked Francis over, but did nothing more in response to his stumble, deciding to change the topic to something that had been causing him curiosity for a while. "Why are you totally covered in, like, blood...? And...what—I mean, like...who..." Feliks was unsure of what the figure in Francis's arms was, although it did look humanoid. "...is that?"

Francis did not answer. "...Let's keep moving."

With a weak, reassuring smile, Feliks nodded understandingly.

"Should we, like, go upstairs, or-" There was no time to decide, as their careless talking had finally taken it's toll. Francis had quickly backed away, already sprinting down the hallways, whereas Feliks immediately ran towards the stairs. The zombies had also split into two groups, though, and with a pang of dread, Feliks realized that he'd received the larger portion. Panic overtook him as he thought, "What do I do, what do I do? They're like going to follow me and I can't freaking fight them myself!" One pale, slowly decaying, hand brushed his clothing, causing him to accelerate and jump three steps at a time. Fear drove him to the summit of the concrete steps, and the adrenaline running through his veins granted him the ability to do so. He turned to the right where a door stood. He tried to enter but, the door would only open a crack. Someone inside had created a barricade.

Discarding the hope that he could escape the zombies unnoticed, Feliks shouted desperately, pounding until his hand couldn't take anymore, "Hey! Whoever you are, like, let me in!" A quick look back told him that he would become zombie fodder if he couldn't get in soon. "Please!" He abandoned the door and continued to run, for the undead horde was nearing him. Soon, after a few more hallways, he would also abandon the hope of getting away with his life.

A short boy with shoulder length brown hair, looked up from his knees that were hugged close to his body. He thought that he had heard something banging on the door.

He was not the only one. Another boy with blonde hair with framed blue eyes turned sharply towards him, "T-Toris, did you hear something? I could have sworn tha-" The banging started again.

The noise of shuffling papers came from the other side of the room. Out from underneath a grand piano, darted a smaller boy, younger than the other two, with blonde hair as well. He tugged on the taller blonde's sleeve with a pleading look.

"It's alright Raivis. We made that barricade really strong. It will hold." The tall blonde reassured him.

Raivis was not convinced and shook his head. "What makes you think that?" Toris asked in concern. Raivis started to make hand motions for a few moments but, he then gave up, remembering that his friends could not read sign language. Toris turned to the other boy, "Eduard could you grab a pencil for him? I'll grab some papers." Eduard nodded, "Sure."

They both retrieved said items and handed it all to Raivis, who began scribbling furiously on the paper, before handing it to Eduard.

"At door - alive." Eduard read aloud. "What do you mean? Can you rewrite it, not shorthanded?"

Raivis gestured frantically to the door, and snatched the paper back, doing as told.

"Someone's at the door, they're alive."

The banging stopped.

"Oh," Squeaked Toris, a little too late. "I-I see now."

"Aiyouuuuu..." Yao muttered, closing the door behind him as silently as he could manage. He looked to his wok with a sigh, thinking something along the lines of, "This thing is too damn loud to fight with."

He looked around the room. Colorful ram paintings streaked across the walls, leaving trails of vibrant school colors everywhere. Easels stood abandoned after the school scattered, leaving only paints and brushes for their company. Yao tip-toed around the supplies, staring at the unfinished works. One of his siblings was in art class, so he knew that they were working on a pop art project that had to be in the style of Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, or Roy Lichtenstein. His little brother, Yong Soo. The playful Korean boy always loved to express himself. Yao felt a lump in his throat and his eyes began to sting with tears.

So many family members were left unaccounted for. He knew that Leo was most likely dead but as for, Kiku, Mei, Yong Soo, Lien, Kasem, and Chao, he had no clue. They could be alive somewhere. They could be dead. Or worse, ripping apart other humans. The very thought of his siblings being those… those… those monsters, brought tears to his eyes and the same lump once again caught in his throat. Yao felt that he was to blame. He was the oldest after all, it was his job to protect the younger ones. He found one of Yong Soo's paintings and sunk to the floor in front of it. It was Keith Haring style. People were singing and dancing. Being happy. Tears were threatening his eyes. He loved all of his brothers and sisters. They all had a special place in his life. Now he did not know where a single one was. He hoped that at least Kiku was still alive. Kiku was good at fighting and protecting people. If he was still alive then he could find and protect the younger ones too. If he was still alive.

"Why can't I do anything? Why can't I go back out there and keep looking? What is keeping me in here? How come I'm not strong enough to protect everyone. Mother and Father would be devastated if I didn't at least try. But I am trying. No, no I'm not. I'm not trying hard enough. They're all forsaken and it's all my fault." Yao sobbed softly to himself.

He then remembered his somewhat friendly acquaintance Ivan. He knew that Ivan always thought that they were friends even though they really were not. Would Ivan find his siblings and protect them? Probably not. He has his own family to take care of. But, what if Ivan's family was dead?

Yao shook his head vigorously. Now isn't the time to think about other people's families. "Right now, I have to focus on my own. And how to get out of here." His eyes scanned the room. His wok that he salvaged from the kitchen was very loud and only stunned the undead. His eyes fell upon a metal rod that was half way spray painted. It looked like a curtain rod considering it had two knobs at each end. He slowly picked it up so as not to make any noise, and stood it up in front of him. It looked to be
around six feet, about six inches taller than him. It was mildly heavy but, that makes it a better weapon. Yao left the wok behind and creeped towards the door with his newfound weapon. There was a small rectangular window just above the lever handle. He peered into the hallway from the corner. Nothing there. He took a deep breath and opened the door, setting out to find his family.

A/N:

Proshchay, moy yedinstvennyy schast'ye - Goodbye, my only happiness.

nicolft: Aaaaand, I'm still coming up with ideas as to what you can "buy" with cookies :33 Maybe lil' oneshots. Hmm, what do you think? (I'm talking to both DarkCalloftheRaven and you, my good reader~ :33)

DCotR: how do we "buy" oneshots :? Like, if you get a certain amount of cookies then we write a oneshot for you or something :?

nicolft: Two cookies = One chapter. So basically, if you have four cookies, you can buy two one-chapter stories, or one two-chapter story. x3

DCotR: OKAY~. You heard nicolft, go find which parts are who's and get those cookies! (although your oneshots/twoshots will most likely take a while)

nicolft: (Especially if you ask me because I am the Procrastination Queen and an airheaded dolt that gets sidetracked much too easily x3)

DCotR: (yeah and I have a ton of plot bunnies lined up to be written, and a tumblr blog so yeah, don't expect an immediate story)

nicolft: I have so many plot bunnies, but my plot bunnies are either spazzing out and farting rainbows (crack plotbunnies), or black with dark blue eyes and ice-cold to touch (angst plotbunnies). =w=

DCotR: yeeeeeaaaaaahh don't expect us to be speedy

nicolft: On a different note, never search up images of "necrosis". o-e NEVER.

DCotR: Unless of course, you have a strong stomach and/or want to become a doctor. But, don't say we didn't warn you…