Whew! Many profuse apologies, readers and writers. This spring term has been a death march! And thank you for the people who have favorited this fanfic after this ridiculous hiatus. Spring break is coming up so I should have a lot more time to write. Stay tuned!

Warning: I own nothing in both HOTD and the Resident Evil series except this story. Please support the official release

Everyone remained silent until they reached the gas station, except for Ryuji who was in a good mood.

"Why? Why'd they shoot at us? We're not…..we're not dead. We're not those….those things." Saya cradled her head in her arms after carefully sweeping the shards of glass off the seats. The fear of being shot at was still lingering in her mind. Saeko patted her on the back in an attempt to calm her down.

"Not everyone can acclimate themselves to this world, Takagi. Anyone would want to believe that this is all a bad joke, a bad dream. Their actions are just their way of escaping reality." Kota stole several glances at Ryuji via the side mirror. He had killed more than two dozen infected to escape the school grounds. At this point, he knew that he could do the same to regular human beings should it come down to that.

Guns and other projectile weapons are simply pointed towards the target and shot at, but what Ryuji did, he could never hope to do. Kota knew not where he learned those deadly techniques, but in those few minutes of carnage, every fiber of Ryuji's being was oozing deadly accuracy that not even a handful of the best soldiers could hope to acquire. "What the hell am I supposed to do?" He muttered quietly to himself.

During a summer he spent in America, he took lessons at a PMC known as Blackwater from an ex-sergeant major who served in the Delta Force on how to use weapons, driving, and operating explosives, and told his war stories during the war in Afghanistan.

The trigger of a gun is lighter than anyone anticipates. Killing from afar does not weigh in on the heart as much. There was even a joke about what snipers feel after a successful shot with the answer being 'recoil'. But CQC is a whole another story. The instructor's tone of voice dropped an octave when he said that. His first kill in combat was when he was fresh out of training when his knife blade somehow found its way to his attacker's brain via below the jaw.

That was when the waves of the cold truth hit fast and hard: the enemy—-whomever they may be—was now dead. The shock from the blade travels throughout the entire body as if the knife were a part of the hand, feeling numbingly cold but scorchingly hot at the same time. After checking that the man was indeed dead, he immediately threw up, unable to ingest even a sip of water.

Yet Ryuji took their lives with knives and his bare hands with consummate ease as if it were as easy as breathing or blinking. Kota understood the logic of saving bullets and could relate to it, but seeing someone tear people apart with glee gave him the illusion that the temperature suddenly plummeted around them. And Ryuji mentioned that it had been a while, meaning he is experienced. In murder. Not just infected, but normal, healthy human beings. The twinge of doubt in his mind grew, questioning whether he should continue following him. Could he, a rookie who had just acquired the taste of killing, catch up to this super soldier who has been trained specifically to end lives?

"Right here, Doc. Right here." Shizuka said nothing as she pulled over near the pump. She kept her head down as instructed for the whole time, but from the screams and Ryuji returning with his body and face stained in blood, it was not difficult to imagine what happened.

He claimed to know her teachers that had taught her everything she knows to become a doctor. They did meet every now and then, coming in with bloody knuckles asking for bandages and some rubbing alcohol or doing heavy lifting for her. They did not talk much.

The mystery surrounding him in school as well as his private life was a popular subject amongst the girls, although Ryuji himself seemed uninterested. But so were her teachers. In fact, both of them were visiting lecturers whose private lives remained a mystery.

"Now then, I'm going to be filling the car up so you three in the back, go to that Seven-Eleven right over yonder and get some food and other supplies that we could use. Once you come back, I'll go." Ryuji pulled a wad of bills out from his wallet and jammed them into the self service stand and began refueling, all the while keeping his right hand on his USP and looking around at least every half a minute.

"Hey," Shizuka poked her head through the driver seat's window, "How'd professor Schneider and Professor Yamata meet each other?" Now that the three were gone, she thought it was the perfect time to ask.

"BFFs of my foster parents. They tutored me for free." It wasn't a lie. All six of them had been teaching him throughout his youth. Vladimir taught mathematics, Russian, and computer programming; Hector taught Spanish, chemistry and engineering; Michaela and Christine taught German and biology; Vector taught Japanese and psychology; Karena taught him French and history, but was also in charge of making sure Ryuji didn't slack off. While she was a loving, caring woman, she had high standards, and he was more than happy to please her and surpass her expectations.

"Then….how did you get your guns and stuff?"

"That's a secret." Damn. Not even a chink to poke for. "Doc, I like your enthusiasm for learning, but don't pry into my family matters. The world may have began it's grand descent towards an apocalyptic shit-storm, but I need you to respect privacy. And you know curiosity doesn't just kill the proverbial cat, right?"

The word 'kill' was enough to make Shizuka clamp her mouth shut and pull her head back inside the car. Putting the pump back, he opened the door, motioning with a tilt of his head to switch seats. She scrambled over to the other side of the car, tripping over herself on the way. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna kill you. As long as you don't jeopardize my safety —-which is easier said than done— or try to kill me. Try either one and your head'll roll." He tapped his neck with the side of his finger, mocking a beheading. "I will answer all your questions, okay? Just not know. Not everyone is eligible to listen. If you don't ask me anything about those two until we reach the safe house, I will answer all your questions."

Shizuka was hesitant. While he did save her and three other students' lives albeit incidentally, she was not sure how far she could trust someone who has (what she assumed to be) fake credentials pushed through the system. Noticing that, Ryuji snickered a bit. "Not surprising if you don't see me as trustworthy. I won't beg you to. But you will have to swallow it once you hear from them."

Once he saw the trio emerge from the convenience store with baskets full of supplies he ended the conversation and began browsing through his playlist for the next song to play on the road.

While the two were talking outside, Kota, Saya and Saeko were raiding the convenience store of food, drinks and anything else they could use.

The air was heavy like a damp and musty cellar as nobody spoke a word. Kota sighed his umpteenth sigh as he tossed packs of gum and dried food into the basket. Eventually, the sigh sparked Saya's irritation into a wildfire of anger, causing her to throw a bag of chips at his head. "Will you knock it off, you fatass otaku!" But Kota said nothing and kept going.

"Takagi, keep your voice down," Saeko hissed, placing a hand on her shoulder. "We may have company. Besides, regardless of it being for self defense, he saw men die up close. It's only natural to feel depressed."

"That's….that's not it, actually. I've taken out many of those infected before we left the school. I could probably kill regular people if I was given the opportunity. But I can only do that with projectile weapons. But Mikage…." The basket in Kota's hands rattled as it shook violently as the image of that face resurfaced. The face of certain victory knowing his prey is powerless, and those eyes of death staring through the eyes and into the heart… "He was enjoying killing them. I've never been so scared of anything in my life. And my head is spinning with what I should do next after we reach his safe house." He wiped the tears welling up behind his glasses with a sleeve.

"Not to worry. He told you to take your time, did he not? Then there's no reason to rush your answer."

Kota nodded and started towards the automatic door.

Saeko, on the other hand, was beyond infatuated with him now. She had secretly been watching him from the shattered rear window after the gunfire ceased. Every instant blades sank into vital spots made her heart skip several beats. Every instance of blood gushing forth from wounds made her swallow hard. She could see on his bloodstained face that he had just enjoyed heaven on earth. Seeing an overwhelmingly strong man bring down hell upon his enemies excited her, nay aroused her. In truth, she immediately headed for the restroom to take care of her hot, sopping wet nether regions.

"You're going to follow him, right?"

"That is my intention, yes." Ryuji was the embodiment of what Saeko defines as a "man". Nigh-limitless stamina, courage as a warrior, and nerves that would put steel to shame. But what stimulated her as a woman was bloodlust. Pure, undiluted bloodlust so thick and strong, she could feel it, smell it, and taste it in the air. To not fall in love with someone like that was inconceivable to her. There was only one answer. "Why do you ask?"

"What do you mean why?! This is fucking ridiculous! He killed a man without even blinking! What the fuck is this virus?! What the fuck is Ryuji Mikage?! I don't know about any of this!" That is not the childhood friend she knew. It just could not be. He was Takashi Komuro, the easygoing high school kid she admitted to be his equal, not Ryuji Mikage the psycho killer playing soldier.

"True, yes, he has been lying to us. To you, to me; everyone. But even then, I still intend to forgive him. Say he met you without an alias, without hiding who he truly is. Would you have accepted him for who he was?"

Saya already knew the answer to that. Ryuji's nature was too bizarre and twisted that no standards within the bounds of normality could ever measure it up. Only someone as twisted as him or with an abnormally large heart could pull it off. And she was neither.

"People change. And we must accept them along with those changes. Either that or become strong enough to possess the constitution to do so. Let's go back. The others are waiting."

Saya stood up holding her basket of food, drinks and batteries. Saeko was not wrong. Her points made sense. She had a massive ego to begin with, and because of that she neither possessed the courage nor the mental capacity to accept Ryuji for who he is. Not even trying to hide her gloomy countenance, she took a bottle of green tea and stared at it long and hard. The boy she knew said this was his favorite. What does the real him like now? Pepsi? Orange juice? Mineral water? Perhaps vodka, or even scotch?

Several more minutes passed, and Saya made her choice. They were incompatible as people. She possesses the intellect, but without combat proficiency, she would be brushed aside. Her childhood friend—-or so she thought—-just happened to be no more than an acquaintance. Ryuji probably thinks so as well. And he would not hesitate in sacrificing her life if the need arises.

"Are you unwell?"

"No, I'm fine. Let's get going." She'd rather take her chances with her family