Alice

Shun and some of the younger staff members had gone up into the locked off area of the building to start taking out the trapped zombies. I was worried. They were probably largely outnumbered up there. I looked down at my hand, and saw little pink marks from where the zombie bit my hand last night. Why was I the only one immune? Kato placed a plate of food in front of me and I thanked him. He smiled and took somebody else their plate. Dan wasn't with Shun and the rest of the zombie killing team.

Shun had told him that he didn't want him coming with them. Dan had protested and said he had just as much right to go up there with them and kill them, but Shun still refused. When Dan had asked him why, Shun told him it was because Dan had no experience and would only bring them down.

I saw in his eyes that it was a lie. I knew why Shun didn't want his best friend to go into the battle zone; he didn't want anything to happen to him. Dan took the bait, hook line and sinker though, and walked around for a few hours ranting about what Shun had told him. I wanted to tell him the truth, but knew that he would do something stupid like run up there with them and get bitten by one of the zombies they may of missed.

Murucho's parents didn't touch the food that Kato placed in front of them. In fact, they hadn't eaten anything since we told them about their only son being eaten alive. I would eat after hearing that either. I heard Kato tell them, "You need to try and eat to keep your strength up." The wife, didn't face him but said almost inaudibly, "What do I have to stay strong for?"

We saw this everywhere now; people were giving up on all of their hope. The last thing we had, and we were giving up on it as well. I was wondering how Shun and his team were doing upstairs. We're they taking them out easily? Or were they being run into a corner and fighting them off as we were speaking? I needed to stop thinking about what was happening above our heads, and focus on the here and now. Dan was leaning back in his chair and propping his feet up on the table.

I narrowed my eyes at him and said, "Get your feet off the table, Dan. We eat here." He looked over at me and reluctantly did as I asked him. I heard him mummer, "Why do we have to have table manners when the world has gone to hell?"

I sighed. Seemed like everyone around us was starting to develop a negative attitude and outlook on everything around us. There wasn't much to stay positive about, but we had to try. It would make things a little bit easier. We all turned to the hallway at the sound of footsteps. Shun and the people he had brought with them to clean out the upper floors, walked in.

They were splattered with blood, and Shun had a gash on his arm. "Oh my god! What happened?" Shun narrowed his eyes and looked at the youngest of the staff members and said, "Somebody thought I was a fucking zombie and almost took off my god damn arm!"

He flinched at every word Shun yelled at him, almost like they were hurting him. Blood was still pouring from the gash, and told Kato, "Go and find us some towels or something to wrap around his arm. And some antiseptics if possible." He nodded and ran off into another room to look for what I requested. I held Shun's arm and assessed the damage. "It doesn't seem too deep. It should heal on its own." Shun glared back at the person that had caused the wound and said, "Lucky me he didn't swing too hard."

The young man looked guilty and apologized again. Kato came back and handed me a white towel and a bottle of iodine. "This'll have to do for now. Shun, this is going to sting a little." I poured the iodine onto the towel and made sure not to waste any of the precious fluid. "Ha! It cant hurt as bad as having a fucking blade slice through your-dammit that fucking hurts!" He tried to pull away, but I held the towel on his arm tightly. He was clenching his teeth and had squeezed his eyes shut as tight as they could. "I told you this would sting." He shook his head back and forth and said harshly, "You said it would hurt a little! Dammit!"

Kato had brought some duct tape, and I had Dan tear off a piece, and I used it to keep the towel in place. I knew it would hurt when he removed it. "Oh quit being dramatic, Shun." I let go of his arm now that everything was taped down. He glared at me, and I knew he wanted to say a few words about my comment, but he was biting his tongue and keeping his words to himself.

He got back up from the chair he was sitting in and said, "Ok. Lets go back up there." I grabbed his shoulder and brought him back into the chair. I told him sternly, "You're not going anywhere. Not until your arm is a little better. The others should be able to handle a floor or two. Right?" The seven people looked at each other and didn't say anything. Shun laughed. "You actually think they can hold their own? Hell, one cut my arm open cause he was so scared he thought I was after his damn brains!"

The one he was talking about slowly disappeared behind the others in the group, and held his head low. I glared down at the raven hair ninja, and he held my gaze and returned it to me. Dan then popped up between us and said, "I can lead them!" Shun nearly passed out cause he was laughing so hard. "Dan, you couldn't even lead a heard of goldfish."

Dan glared down at his friend and said, "How do you know if I'm capable of killing zombies if you're the only one doing it? Some of us need to start gaining experience." Just admit you don't want him to get bitten, Shun. Shun lifted up his hand and waved it. "I'm not saying it's because you don't have any experience. What I'm getting at is that you wanted to let one of them things live. Remember? You were willing to give your life for that thing." Dan's face grew red and his eyes seemed furious.

Only the three of us knew who we were talking about. The rest of the people in the room just looked shocked to hear Dan would give his life for something that was trying to take his. Dan said harshly, "Last time I did a reality check, you were the same way when you though Alice was going to turn into something you'd have to kill." The two locked eyes, then lunged for each other. The younger staff that went with Shun upstairs dove for the two fighting friends and pulled them apart. It took three to hold Dan back, and four to just remotely restrain Shun.

Dan had quit struggling, and so had Shun. The brunette was standing up, but still had hands holding him in case he tried to go at Shun again. I turned and saw Shun was bent over, the four people seemed to be holding him up by holding his elbows. His black hair was drooping over his face, but you could still see it.

I then noticed that he had blood on his face from when they went upstairs. There was something feral about seeing Shun like that' eyes glowing, blood splattered on his face, and people restraining him. The two boys were still holding each others narrowed gaze, and Shun then jerked himself free of the four people that were keeping him back.

He was standing straight and said, "Come on. Whether I'm hurt or not, we're going back up there. The sooner we get done, the quicker we get away from this god-forsaken place. Let's go! Don't just stand there like idiots!" The other three let go of Dan, and they followed behind Shun and grabbed the weapons they took with them on their first trip. Dan rubbed his neck, and I saw red marks there. I hadn't even noticed that Shun had a grip on his own friend's neck.

Shun

We had cleared two floors before we had to leave to get my cut open arm treated. Now we were resuming where we stopped. I was fuming with anger, and the best idea I had in the world was to take off the heads of flesh eating monsters before I took the head off my friend. I knew anger messed with your focus, but I didn't care. Cause I knew it also gave you an incredible edge.

We cleared yet another floor. And like we usually did when we cleared a floor, we looked in all the rooms for something we could take back; food, weapons, medicine, and so forth. I found one room, and flipped the light on. Luck us, the electricity hadn't gone out in the city yet. Wouldn't be much longer before I did though. There was a foul stench from the room, one that almost made me sick to my stomach. I looked around, and found the smell was stronger around the closet. I opened the door, and saw a body hanging by its neck with a short rope tied off somewhere.

Poor bastard much of gotten caught up here when they locked off the rest of the floors. I looked at his blue hands and saw there was a hand pistol held loosely in it. I reached for it, and pried the gun from the dead body's hand. I clicked open the chamber, and saw it had all of its bullets. I couldn't help but smile. "Excellent." I closed the closet door, unable to stomach the smell anymore.

I investigated more of the room, and found a small cooler next to the bed. They had one in every room, but they were all empty. But this one, had something in it. I opened it up and saw it filled with bottles and bottles of different kinds of wine and other alcoholic drinks. He wanted to die happily drunk off his ass. I found several empty bottles around the cooler and under the bed. How many drinks did this guy have? The little cooler had kept the drinks cool and fresh since the electricity was still working.

I took one of the bottles and read the label. It was an imported wine from France. Guy had it good his last few minutes. I couldn't help but open the bottle and smell the liquid contents. There was something relaxing in the aroma. Next thing I knew, I had the bottle pressed to my lips and took several gulps. When I stopped, the liquid was burning my mouth and throat, and I felt as though I'd might be sick.

It was honestly the only time this much alcohol had touched my lips. I enjoyed the warming feeling of it though. I put the bottle to my mouth again and drank. I needed this. I had killed the bottle in a few minutes, and felt as if I didn't have a worry in the world. I pulled the pistol out of my back pocket and looked at it. I smiled and started laughing like a complete idiot. Why am I laughing? Is it the wine?

I used the wall to help myself up, and staggered out of the room. When I walked back into the hallway, I saw the seven people that had come with me. But they were fuzzy and blurred. One of them stepped towards me and said, "Are you ok?" I felt a sly grin cross my face, and I said in a voice that didn't seem like mine, "Never better."

I tightly gripped the handle of the pistol, and brought it up in front of me. I saw the guy hold up his hands, but before he could say anything, I had pulled the trigger. It was then that my eyes and mind came back into focus, and I saw what I had just done.

Alice

A shot was fired. A gun shot. We all had stopped whatever we were doing, and looked upstairs. None of us had guns. So why was there a shot? I began to grow worried. What was going on up there? Who had a gun? I was tempted to go up there, but didn't know how safe it was.

We all stared at the hallway that they had left to go upstairs. Nobody said anything; we only waited for them to come back down and reveal to us the answer. We heard the frantic footsteps, and then saw the staff that had gone with Shun ran into the room carrying somebody's body, and blood was trickling out and leaving a thin trail.

The rest of us were murmuring. We didn't know what had happened. Was he bitten? Was there another accident? They laid the body down on a couch that was in the dining room, and worked quickly to clean up the blood. I saw it was the young staff member who had cut Shun's arm on accident.

I looked around and saw Shun then walk in from the hallway. His eyes looked glazed over, and he went over to the wall and slid down it and sat at the base. I ran over to him and asked, "Shun, what the hell happened?" I saw a hand pistol hanging in his hand, and thought I smelled alcohol on him. "Have you been drinking?" He lifted his head from his knees and had tears rolling down his cheeks. "What have I done?" He buried his face back in his knees, and kept asking the same question to nobody.

chapter title based of the song Crashed by Daughtry. i shall point out that there will not be an upload thursday, last football game. (thank goodness) as soon as i am done with this story, i will resume You're Still The One. It will only be a few more days. so bare with me. reas, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~