Sorry for the wait. Here's the next chapter! Enjoy and review!

Welcome Home

Mayuri Kurotsuchi hovered over the keyboard, his fingers stabbing hyperactively at the keys, his wide, unblinking eyes darting to and fro, taking in the scrambled codes rolling across the screen. He resumed his strange ritual, unaware of his guest who stood behind him, watching in silent awe.

"Not even a knock? How rude." Mayuri rasped.

Ukitake frowned. "I'm sorry, but I was in a hurry. In my haste I forgot such a simple courtesy."

"You mustn't be in much of a hurry if you had the time to spy on me like a hawk. What is it you really want...Captain Commander?"

"Ah, yes. Well it has been brought to my attention that you are still working on a cure for the virus. I was hoping to receive a progress report."

"It is still early days. I have not made any breakthroughs yet." Mayuri responded coldly, not looking away from the screen for even the briefest second.

Ukitake coughed. He took a deep breath and then resumed speaking. "The situation seems to be taking a turn for the worse. Although we have the situation within Sereitei under control Rukongai is still very much a battleground. We have sentry units on patrol night and day to ensure we don't have any more break-in's but still..."

"What of the World of the Living?" Mayuri inquired, a sinister smile spreading across his painted face.

"From what Byakuya told me it is worse than any of us could have imagined. The death toll has become unimaginably large and whole continents have been wiped out. Kurosaki Ichigo, Rukia Kuchiki and the entire relief team have fallen in battle. Karakura town has been utterly destroyed. The surrounding towns are facing similar situations and the virus has spread throughout the entire country of Japan. It is feared that the few survivors will not last more than a week."

"Terrible." Mayuri muttered forcibly. His smile did not falter, even at the grim news. "If only someone could take care of those bothersome ghouls..."

Ukitake's eyes narrowed. "Are you...Do you have a way to combat them?"

Mayuri chuckled insanely. "Of course not! I am trying to find a cure, not a method of execution!" He laughed some more before letting out a long sigh. "You are a funny man Ukitake."

"Uh...Sure. Well, remember to inform me of any progress."

"Certainly Captain Commander. Is that all?" When Mayuri finally pried his eyes away from the screen his guest was gone. He glanced around cautiously before pressing a button on the far wall. A small section of the floor opened up and revealed a set of stairs. He stumbled down them and entered his secret lab.

The room was almost bare aside from the two large canisters that rested against the wall. Beside them was a bucket of meat scraps and a table littered with equipment.

Mayuri approached one of the large tanks and placed a hand against the chilled glass. A decaying, pale hand pressed up against the inside of the glass in imitation of him. A mangled face stared at him with blank white eyes, tiny pin-prick pupils lazily rolling about. The monstrous creature opened its mouth in a silent groan and began clawing sluggishly at the glass.

Mayuri pressed another button and the tanks were drained of their fluid before the seals were broken with a loud hiss. The glass chamber walls descended into the floor and the two occupants of the tanks tripped on their own feet and landed in a heap on the floor.

They had been suspended in the fluid for so long they had forgotten how to stand. Soon they would remember but in their current state they were still quite slow. Nonetheless, Mayuri was proud of his 'pets'. They were more advanced than the wretched zombies that plagued Earth.

"Good morning Adam. Good morning Eve."

The two ghouls waved, their arms moving slowly and awkwardly.

"Your new world awaits you...Do you wish to see it?"

Karakura lay just beyond the empty stretch of highway. Karin and Alice could both shuddered. They were returning to what had become the mass grave for all of their friends and family, a desolate hell inhabited by nothing more than rotting corpses, not all of them resting...

"So...This is home..." Karin whispered under her breath, stunned. The town she had grown up in was no longer recognisable. This was a wasteland, not a bustling little town. The life and spirit she had grown to love were now like distant dreams, overshadowed by the apocalypse.

"It's changed so much..." In just one week the ruins had begun to settle. The endless hordes of zombies which choked the streets were on longer present. The fires that burned as far as the eye could see were beginning to die out, now merely trails of smoke drifting up to the clouds. Ruined buildings had rotted away, their skeletal frames left to rot in the moist breeze carried over from the river.

As they entered the town they noticed the numbers of the undead rise. Although there were considerably less of them since their last visit, the shambling armies of the recently undead were still a threat.

A detour around the scenic route turned out to be a dreadful mistake. Mutilated bodies littered the gutters, their fetid rivers of blood overflowing the drains. Clouds of flies and vultures hovered over the piles of bodies.

The Onose River was no longer the sparkling stream it once was. The thick smoke had settled on the surface giving it a dull grey coating and what little shine was emitted was overpowered by the darkness and shadows.

Further along they found a small hut hastily built out of recycled rubble. A door made of fence palings was kicked open and a burly man who shouted at the other members of the house. Four more people scurried out, dirty, dust covered survivors, their tattered clothes stained in blood and other messes.

"There are survivors? I thought this place was sweeped clean?" Alice veered over to the side of the road and stopped the car. She stepped out and waved to the survivors who ran to her and began making excited greetings.

"Welcome! Welcome! You are the first humans we've seen for the past three days! Please keep us company for a while." The large man was almost begging.

Karin rolled her eyes and shrugged. "We're not doing anything important. I guess we could stay for a while."

A young girl, coated in grime skipped up beside her new friend and gave a beaming smile. "Hi! I'm Eliza. I came here from America."

"I'm Karin. I used to live here..."

"Do you want to be friends?" Eliza asked abruptly.

"Huh?" Karin was taken aback. She was hesitant to make a new friend, knowing full well that the chaos could very well shatter their weak bond in no time. The young girl wore a betrayed expression and the corners of her eyes welled up with tears but Karin quickly put her fears to rest. "Alright, alright! Don't cry!"

"Thanks. I haven't had a friend for a while now...They were all left behind in America." Eliza averted her gaze and trailed off, bringing up her past had broken past scars and made them bleed again.

Meanwhile, Alice was speaking with the four adults. The large man called himself Kirk. His wife was Betty. Their oldest son's name was Jake. Their neighbour introduced himself Tim. They were all from America, just like her. Escaping the original outbreak, only to find the same horrors had followed them to their safe haven.

"We've been creating strongholds all around the city." Kirk explained. "We move every two days to prevent being found. We have others staying in our other strongholds and eventually we cycle around. If you're planning on staying here you should stay with us."

Alice smiled politely but shook her head. "It is kind of you to offer, but we came here for a reason. We shall face our destiny and let nature decide our fate. We are tired of running. We will hold up within one last place and fight until the nightmare ends...Or we are sent to the afterlife to join our friends..."

Betty wiped a tear from her eyes. It created a clean trail through her dusty cheeks. She was middle aged, a plain woman with short brown hair. She wore what used to be a blue dress but was now a hideous shade of reddish brown. Her arms and legs were covered in nasty cuts and grazes and bruises, no doubt battle scars from their vicious struggle for survival.

"You have a good plan...If only I wasn't so afraid of death I would have done so as well. Unfortunately, our life shall remain like this, running and fighting endlessly..." She stared at the ground and did not look up again for some time.

"Well, we should get back to our feast. You are welcome to have some; you must be starving from your trip." Kirk led them inside and sat the two guests at one end of their flimsy wooden table. One leg was merely a golf club jammed into the broken socket and taped up with a whole roll of duct tape. "It's not a palace, but make yourselves comfy."

Alice giggled as she settled into one of the padded chairs. Half of the stuffing was removed but it was still a welcome relief for her aching back.

"So, how was the refuge camp? I hear they are lovely."

"Yes, but...the camp was over-run. We had to flee." Alice replied mournfully.

"Oh." Kirk looked down at his meal, a small roast dinner made sparingly with rations.

"We're all doomed." Jake snarled. "Each and every one of us is just prolonging the inevitable. We'll all be just food for those things soon enough!"

"Now son, don't be like that. We can make it through this-"

"You're deluding yourself! You saw it with your own eyes. Those monsters killed everyone! They've forced us to live like rats! The world is over and soon our lives will be too!"

"Jake! We have company!"

"Who cares? She's just as doomed as us!" Jake roared.

Alice and Karin both glanced at each other, uneasy glances abound.

Kirk rose from his seat and smiled. "I'm sorry for this. Why don't you go have some rest? We'll sort him out."

Both girls rushed out of the room and found beds already prepared for them. They laid down and stared at the ceiling while listening to the muffled argument between the survivors.

"This is crazy. Let's just slip out while they are yelling." Karin suggested.

"No." Alice raised a finger to her lips. "We can ask them to show us their strongholds. If we know the safe zones we can use it to our advantage."

"What? I thought we were just going to make a final stand and die with pride?"

"Well, I'd rather put up the greatest fight of my life before submitting to those ghouls. I know you want to meet your family on the other side, but we have to think rationally about this. Would Ichigo want you just laying down and surrendering to these mindless creatures?"

Karin frowned. "No..."

"Exactly. Ichigo might want you to go down in a blaze of glory...But I think he'd rather see you survive this ordeal instead. So how about we beat these stupid zombies and avenge the fallen! We'll get even with them and make sure they don't put anymore people through the nightmare we've faced. We'll end it all! Together!"

Karin hesitated but eventually took Alice's hand. "Together."

Their moment was ruined when Jake burst into the room with a butcher knife. He roared insanely and lunged at them, foam spilling down his chin, his eyes wide.

"Watch out!" Alice cried as she pushed her younger companion out of harms way. She then thrust her leg into the crazed boy's gut. He doubled over and dropped the knife. Alice then axe kicked the top of his skull and knocked him to the floor.

Kirk and Betty ran in and restrained their son. While Kirk hauled their psychopathic son out of the room Betty apologised to them.

"I'm so sorry. This disaster has affected him severely. You see, Jake has ADHD. It's always been a problem but with these recent events his condition has begun to decline. It's a terrible thing to watch your own flesh and blood turn into a monster...My son will soon be no better than those mindless, rotting corpses outside..."

"How awful." Karin whispered.

Betty sighed. "Anyway, I hope his little episode hasn't put you off staying here. The streets are not safe at this hour, so why don't you get some sleep."

Karin and Alice shared uneasy glances. "It's only one night. We'll be fine, I promise."

Karin crossed her arms. "I doubt I'll last another ten minutes here."

"Look, I know it seems bad, but trust me on this one. We are safe in the hands of other survivors. They might be a little odd, but they are just human beings. They mean us no harm. They want to protect others as much as we do."

Karin mumbled a curse under her breath. "Fine! But as soon as we wake up tomorrow we're getting out of this hole!"

Alice stifled a scream and Karin whirled around to see Betty standing in the doorway with a serving tray. She smiled and chuckled. "Oh, don't worry. I know this place is not the best of homes. A young girl like you just isn't used to living in such conditions. I think the kids must suffer the most in times like this. Their world is changed far more than we could possibly imagine."

Karin shuddered. There was something off-putting about this whole place but she couldn't put her finger on it.

"Here." Betty laid down the tray. There were two glasses of water. "You need to keep hydrated, especially if you're going to be travelling in the morning." Betty stepped back and watched the two of them gulp down the water.

The both of them were dying of thirst and the drink was a godsend for them, but the water had a strange after-taste to it...

"Sweet dreams angels." Betty said in an awkwardly aggressive tone. Her smile looked downright disgusting, so vicious and out of place that it should have been laughable, but neither girls could laugh...Or move...Or breathe.

Alice's eyes widened as she realised what was going on.

We've been drugged? But why? I thought we were allies? Dammit...So tired...Must...Sleep...

It seems that the kind family have a darker side...Will Alice and Karin survive to avenge their friends? Find out in the next chapter!

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