Author's Notes –

Wow, I know it's been a while, but hey, life happens.

Chaos filled the streets of Tokyo, making it all the harder for the survivors of Jindai Municipal High School as they scurried through the charred remains of the once bustling city. Overturned cars, some crushed, others aflame, littered the roads as mangled corpses shambled along in search of the living.

"Left!" Rei shouted as she directed the normally happy-go-lucky school nurse. The sound of flesh hitting metal caused the inhabitants of the backseat to shudder even as they were pushed together by the force of the sudden turn.

"Where are we going?" Kohta asked from the front seat as Miss Shizuka guided the car back onto the road.

"We need to find shelter," the pinkette pointed out. "Unfortunately none of us lives nearby."

For a moment all six inhabitants glanced west at the setting sun as it began to hide behind the buildings on the horizon.

"Saya's right," Takashi agreed. "There's only so long that we can run on adrenaline."

"It looks like there are more cars ahead," the only adult in the vehicle stated. "Not the overturned ones either. Traffic looks to be at a deadlock."

"We need to cross the river," Takashi protested. "Just take the next left – hopefully we can get to the next bridge."

With no other options on the table Miss Shizuka did as he suggested. The road was littered with debris and a few dozen people rushing here and there, but no one seemed to pay them any heed.

"I may not live around here, but I know where we can stop for the night," the pudgy otaku stated. "My father has a second floor office around here and there's a studio apartment on the third floor that my mother uses to store some of her work. Just take a right at the next street and go a kilometer or so down the road. The place is usually locked up so I doubt anyone would be there since my parents are both out of the country."

Takashi nodded at Miss Shizuka as she peered back at him in the mirror. Wrapping his arm around Saya as the car approached the intersection he could feel her firm rear grinding against him nearly soliciting a response. It didn't help that her skirt was very short, though from the look of things both Rei and Saeko's skirts were equally short. Not that he was looking, but he couldn't help but notice that fact as the girls had run through the school and parking lot. At least now they were seated, though that act seemed to hike the already short skirts further up their thighs.

"It's a store?" Rei remarked as they approached the building.

"It used to be a store," Kohta corrected. "The owner died and didn't have any children, his closest relatives are his cousins who are both trying to claim the business but that's in court still. There are two offices upstairs, one for my dad and one for the store, and then there's a studio apartment on the third floor. The former owner is a friend of my dad's and none of his family has come by since their claims are still tied up in court."

Takashi was glad to have Saya off of his lap as Rei and Saeko made sure that the area was secure. The tiny parking area by the rear entrance to the building was untouched, showing no signs of Them or of the chaos that had engulfed the streets of the city. Only the bits of smoke in the air and the sound of distant alarms remained to remind them of the dangers that they faced.

Once the doors had been unlocked Takashi lead the way up the stairs while Saeko covered Kohta as he locked the doors and set the alarms. Despite the other boy's vehement claims that the area was secure the others insisted on being cautious. The offices were empty of people just as the gun otaku had claimed, though the small refrigerators in the Kohta office yielded several cartons of flavored milk and iced teas and coffees. There was also an opened package of bottled water, instant ramen, a microwave, hotpot, and several bowls and plates. The other office contained a desk, computer, modem, printer, fax machine, and copier though there was another door leading to the back of the building.

"This door leads to the storeroom," Kohta explained once they secured the vacant store office. "If we need more food we can check the store, but I doubt that they have anything since the store focused on office supplies. This door leads to open stairs that go down into the storeroom, there's a locked door between the store and the storeroom, but there's also a loading dock that faces the alley."

It was a simple, efficient layout. The offices were not meant for heavy traffic but neither where they made for maximum security as there was nothing between the exterior door and the office doors or the stairs up to the apartment.

"Did they sell book bags?" Saya asked. "Or laptops? Phones?"

The younger boy took a moment to think, "They do, but why don't we check the store room in back first?"

"Takashi can come with me," the pinkette stated as she grabbed the taller boy's arm.

"Why don't we go down there after we secure the apartment?" Saeko suggested. "That way we all can go down to the storeroom and store to see if there are any supplies that we might need."

The trek back to his apartment was proving to be far too slow and deadly for the rapidly dwindling group of Jindai survivors. There had been ten Jindai High school survivors when they had left the amusement park but slowly the number had dwindled down to six. Shinji's surprising ability to snipe had proven to be the deciding factor but Sagara knew deep down that the boy was perhaps the most troubled by their fallen comrades. The mop and broom handles had proven useful, but ultimately the wooden shafts could only dish out so much punishment before they broke. The first to break had resulted in them losing two classmates, and only Issei's martial arts prowess had prevented anyone else from dying in that encounter with the infected. The blue-haired Aoi managed to sprain her ankle, prompting her friend Hina to push her around in a shopping cart, unfortunately for them Hina had lost control of the cart and rather than leaving her friend alone Hina had chased after Aoi. Shinji's skill as a sniper allowed the girls to die with dignity even as their bodies drew the horde of undead away from the remaining survivors.

With only two clips for the Berettas and just under two for the rifle the odds of them reaching his apartment were shrinking with each minute. The closest station to Jindai High was half a kilometer away and there were four stops between the closest stop to his apartment which was another quarter kilometer away from the station. By himself he could cover the distance in an hour under normal circumstances, but these were far from normal circumstances.

In eight hours they had gone perhaps twenty kilometers as the party had sought to circumvent the hordes of infected that wandered the streets. Add to that the various fires and rioting plus closed off streets and bridges and it was clear that they would not reach the apartment by nightfall. While the train did not run straight from the school to the apartment, it did cross the river twice as it shifted from running south, to east, to south, to west, and back to south. The gathered crowds at the bridges and along the roads closest to the bridges made him wiry, despite the objections of the others. Beyond the crowds had been the looters and rioters who were allowing their base emotions and instincts to take over as they revealed in the chaos and destruction. They were just as dangerous as the infected and needed to be avoided as well.

Eying the street signs Sagara fought the urge to smile. He knew where they were. "We won't make it back to my apartment," he stated as he turned to look at the others. "But there is a place that we might be able to hole up to for tonight. We should be able to get some weapons as well."

It was a sign of the times that Chidori did not slug him or even attempt to yell at him when he mentioned weapons. He knew that the others were all broken, though they were not yet as far gone as the crazed groups that had ravaged the streets. Several infected shambled along the streets, fortunately they were headed away from them apparently drawn towards the ruckus at the other end of the street as other survivors made the most of the end of civilization.

"Fine," the class representative turned student body president sighed. There was more than physical exhaustion weighing her down, but now was not the time to address it. "Lead the way."

The alley behind the shopping district was surprisingly clean compared to the war-torn streets. No overturned cars, bloody remains, or fires touched the backs of the buildings. With the sun setting behind the buildings to the west and no proper lighting in the alley they cautiously made their way in the growing darkness.

"Here it is," Sagara finally said as he led them past a beat up car and up to a loading dock.

"How are we getting in?" Chidori asked as she noted the locks that adorned the door to the loading dock. "Sure, we could camp out here since there are no stairs up to the loading dock, but if you shoot the locks off I'm sure some of the infected will hear. It's also likely that you'll attract the attention of looters and rioters."

Leaping atop the cement dock he squatted before extending his hand to Chidori. "Help them up," he ordered her.

Without even a glance Shinji lifted his rifle and began scanning the alley for any possible threats. They'd been careful to avoid the infected but in the rioting that had erupted they had learned that the dead weren't the only ones that posed a threat to them.

Facing the wall in the darkness, Sagara felt the brick façade until he found the lone lose brick. Prying it out, he was rewarded with the faint green light of an electronic display for a security panel. The space was just enough for him to slip his hand into it to enter his security code. He knew it was risky – the arms dealer had died a month or so ago from natural causes and since then Mithril had been too busy to confiscate the remaining weapons. Most of it was actually his as he had paid for the bulk of the dealer's weapons, but he'd had little opportunity to claim the weapons as he'd been recalled soon after.

The click of the locks being undone told him that the building hadn't lost power or been compromised as many of the other businesses had. Good. He signaled for the others to follow him in. Though dark, he could tell from the stale air that no one had entered the storeroom in a while. Once the last of them was inside he closed the door, waited for the bars in the door to slide into their respective locks, and then closed his eyes as he waited for the lights to turn on.

With the lights on it took little time for him to find his shipment. The wooden crate was perhaps 1.5 meters tall and long but only a meter high. Though the packages appeared to be little more than bundles of office paper the paramilitary operative knew better. The packages of white paper contained boxes of ammo, blue held unassembled handguns, red pieces of an unassembled riffle, yellow the parts of a machine gun, green contained grenades, purple was flash grenades, and orange contained smoke grenades.

He had just completed assembling the first Beretta when he heard voices from the second floor door. Instinctively he brought up his gun and aimed at the door, startling the others as he did so.

Before Kaname could even respond the door opened, revealing a heavy-set boy and several others behind him. The boy froze at the sight of a gun aimed at him, but his companions failed to realized the danger they were in as they walked into him and pushed him against the railing.

There were six of them, none willing to leave while there was a gun pointed at them.

"Who are you?" Sagara demanded the newcomers finally noticed him and the remaining Jindai survivors.

"Knock it off," Chidori demanded as she put her hand on his arm, "they're survivors like we are. From the look of them they're from Fujimi High, they can't be much older or younger than we are. Well, maybe she is, but she's probably a teacher or nurse from the way she dresses."

The buxom woman standing behind the five youths nodded vigorously, "I am Shizuka Marikawa, school nurse at Fujimi High School."

"Takashi Kumoro," the taller of the two Fujimi boys stated as he stood protectively before the three girls. "This is Rei Miyamoto" the brunette "Saya Takagi" the pinkette "and Saeko Busujima" the purple haired girl. That just left

"Kohta Hirano," the smaller of the two boys said. "Is that a Beretta 92FS?"

"I don't think that's relevant right now," Saya groaned.

"Actually it is," Saeko countered. "Kohta, that's a real gun?"

Kohta nodded, "The extended handle suggests that he has a clip of twenty."

"You know your guns," Sagara stated.

"This is Sagara Sousuke," Chidori introduced. "I am Kaname Chidori, this is my friend Kyoko Tokiwa, Mizuki Inaba, and our classmate Shinji Kazama, and our schoolmate Issei Tsubaki – we're from Jindai High."

"The crazy school with all the explosions?" Rei asked as she kept her eyes locked on the gun in Sagara's hand.

Kaname sighed, "Yeah… Put the gun away Sagara. I doubt that they're a treat to us."

"There's blood on their uniforms," he replied as he lowered his gun slightly.

"It's from Them," Rei sighed.

"'Them'?" Chidori repeated.

"That's what we call, you know, those things," Takashi answered.

"The infected," Sagara nodded. "How many are you?"

"Just the six of us," the taller boy replied. Clearly he was their leader, or at least their spokesperson. "What are you doing here?"

"I had dealings with the former owner of the store," Sagara stated. "The store is merely a front for his smuggling operation."

"Say what?" the pinkette exclaimed.

"I regularly dealt with him when ordering my weapons, though I was away when my last shipment came in and when I returned I was informed of his passing. This crate is my last shipment."

"He was hiding guns in an order of paper?" Kohta remarked. "Wow, I… I don't know what to say."

"Why are you here?" Shinji asked.

"Is that a Bushmaster AR-15 with an extended clip?" the gun fanatic asked excitedly.

Shinji shrugged, unsure of the gun himself.

"Yes," Sagara replied finally. "You seem to know your guns as much as Shinji knows his Arm-Slaves."

"I spent some time with a member of Delta Force when I was in America," the other boy replied. "He took me to the firing range to shoot some guns and showed me how to care for them."

"Not that this isn't fascinating and all," the pinkette interjected, her tone dripping with sarcasm "but what the hell is going on here?"

"Aside from the obvious that some paramilitary extremists unleashed a biological agent that turns those infected with it into literal flesh craving zombies," Kyoko said as she looked up thoughtfully. "We're here because our military fanatic managed to get us out of school but not back to his apartment. He apparently had his illegal guns and ammo shipped to him through this store and wanted to have weapons on hand since this is, you know, a zombie apocalypse. You're not here because you discovered his hidden weapons and wanted them for yourself, are you?"

Takashi shook his head, "No, we're not. We're here because his parents rent out the second office and the apartment overhead."

"If your contact was a smuggler, what else might we have here?" Mizuki pondered aloud.

"I never asked," Sagara replied. "He was just a middleman, not the seller or distributer. He's essentially like DHS for the underworld."

"Anyways," Chidori interjected, "we're looking for a safe place to stay tonight. If there's an apartment on the third floor I'm sure that we could find some arrangement that's beneficial to all of us."

"We want some of the guns," Kohta stated excitedly only to have the pinkette smack the back of his head.

"If we find any other weapons in here we'd be willing to split them with you in exchange for some food and a safe place to sleep," Takashi offered. "We're just staying here the night as well, so we'll need weapons when we leave here."

Chidori glanced at the Jindai survivors. Seeing no objections she nodded. "Fine with us – the boys can stay down here to inventory things and the girls can check out the apartment and ready some food."

Putting his gun away, Sagara turned back to the second unassembled Beretta. "Shinji, why don't you try to fund us some backpacks? We'll need them to carry the ammo and other supplies. Issei start prying open the other boxes. I'll join you when I've got these assembled."

In the short time it took him to assemble the other weapons the martial artist was able to crack open two other boxes. The first was full of what looked to be cocaine; the second was filled with vases. By the time they had finished inventorying the boxes they had found a dozen tasers, extendable truncheons, weighted baseball bats, two shotguns with five hundred rounds, a dozen handguns with over two thousand rounds of ammunition, and silencers and scopes for the guns. Another crate contained several kilos of C4, equipment to created detonators and housing units for various bombs. There were also burn phones, knives, Leathermans, Swiss army knives, brass knuckles, pepper spray, Kevlar bests, walkie talkies, and an assortment of actual office supplies.

"The silencers should keep us from drawing too much attention," Kohta exclaimed as he attached on to the rifle that Sagara had given him. "We should only use the shotguns in an extreme emergency. The kick back is brutal, so aim for the chest, that should let you hit their head. Anything within five meters of you is going to get shredded by the shotgun."

"Are you sure you don't need the rifle?" Takashi asked as he eyed the martial artist.

Issei shook his head, "My visions so bad that without my glasses I might mistake any of you for one of Them." Like the Fujimi survivors, he had not been able to accept that the infected had become zombies despite being willing to bash their skulls in.

In the bit of time that the boys had spent breaking open the various crates and shipping packages they had talked of their experiences during the day. Even Shinji had, though he had nearly broken down when he had shared Ono's tragic death as well as when he'd mentioned the girls that he'd put down so that they would not have to endure being eaten alive.

"What's your story?" Kohta asked as he finished re-assembling his rifle. "You're no older than we are, but you've been dealing with smugglers and ordering firearms and ammo. You've got Middle-Eastern blood in you, but I doubt that you're a terrorist."

"I've grown up with war," the scarred boy stated. "And while peace is nice, it never lasts long. That's why I choose to enjoy every moment I can but prepare for the worst."

"So you prepared for something like this?" Takashi asked, skeptical of the mercenary.

Sagara shook his head, "I've prepared to see humanity at its worst. I'm sure you saw the rioters, looters, and hooligans that are destroying everything and anything they can. That's humanity when the laws no longer apply. These will help us keep our humanity as we enforce our rules within our own closed society."

The others eyed him wirily.

"If we are to protect the others, we have to be willing to use these, not just against Them, but against those who do not care about the laws and who would seek to exploit any perceived weaknesses we might have," he said as he handed one of the handguns to Takashi. Though he took the weapon the look in his eyes spoke of his reluctance to use it.

Of the five of them only Issei did not claim a firearm, though Shinji made up for it by carrying two rifles and Sagara had three handguns and several clips of ammo for each. Kohta had a rifle and handgun, while Takashi claimed a shotgun and a handgun. The remaining half-dozen weapons would be given to the girls with one of the Fujimi girls would get the other shotgun.

"We should stick together," Takashi finally said as he examined the weapon. "We're trying to see if our parents are alright."

Kohta shook his head, "My parents are abroad – I can't check up on them with the phones down."

"Rei and I want to check on our parents," Takashi amended. "We're not too far from the police station where her father works, and the elementary school my mother works at isn't too far away either."

Reaching into his pack Sagara pulled out a map and spread it out. "We're here," quickly circled the shopping district that they were in, "here's Fujimi High, and here's Jindai. This is where we're headed."

Takashi eyed the map and quickly located his mother's school. "Here," he pointed to the school "there," the police station "and this is where we live. It's a slightly out of your way, but if the roads are as bad as you say they are it's likely that you won't be able to take the straight route to your place."

Issei and Shinji shrugged as Sagara glanced at them. Shinji's father was stationed at a military base and the martial artist's family lived outside of Tokyo as well. In fact none of the Jindai survivors' parents lived nearby. Jindai was one of those selective schools that did not house their students and instead relied on them to find their own housing in exchange for lower tuition costs. Few in their student body had strong familial bonds as most had grown independent while attending Jindai.

Finally, "We should be able to accompany you part of the way, but we'll have to check with the girls. There's another storehouse here" he circled the point on the map not too far from the police station "but that's controlled by the yakuza. We can stop there if necessary, but I'd rather not deal with them if we can avoid it. There's a convenience store here, here, and here, and a gas station here that sells food – we might want to check those places out as we make our way to your houses.

"Everyone should take a walkie talkie," he added. "I'll scan the frequencies to see if there are any other survivors using those channels, but before we set out I'll let you know what channels are clear. Make sure the girls now how to use the tasers and give them each two batons."

"I'll take first watch," Shinji volunteered once they were done packing the bags for the girls.

"I'll join you," Takashi said quickly only for Kohta to object.

"I'll go," the younger boy stated. "Sagara would be better at instructing you and the girls how to use the guns and batons since he's had military training, and the girls trust you more than they do me. They're likely to bite my head off if I tell them anything."

"Have Issei bring us up some of the food once it's ready," Shinji added once he was sure he had everything.

Checking to ensure that the loading bay door was locked and secured, Sagara nodded before picking up several half-loaded backpacks.

The smell of freshly cooked ramen of assorted flavors filled the studio apartment despite the makeshift walls of clothes that the girls had put up to created "rooms".

"Where's Kohta?" Saya demanded as she eyed the three boys.

"He's taking first watch," Takashi replied as he walked past the first set of clothes racks.

"We packed each bag with some essentials," Sagara stated as he set several backpacks down, "tasers, Swiss army knife, extendable batons, small first aid kit, batteries, flashlights, and a walkie talkie. You can pick out a knife or two if you're comfortable using it. There are also several small handguns if you're comfortable using them, if not then we'll split the knives and guns between the boys."

It came as no surprise that Mizuki and Kyoko had opted to forgo having any weapons, though they reluctantly accept the non-lethal taser and baton. Kaname had taken extra ammo to go along with her Glock and survival knife. Of the Fujimi girls only Saya had chosen to take a small hand gun and knife. The other girls had taken several knives and the former school nurse had taken an extra taser, two Swiss army knives, and a Leatherman. In the end Sagara filled a small back pack with the extra Leathermans and Swiss army knives. Though they would add weight to what he had to carry, he knew that it was better to be prepared than run into a situation where he needed one and didn't have them on hand.

"I thought you said this was supposed to be an apartment," he finally said as he finished packing his pack. The now soggy noodles remained untouched as the mercenary set a higher priority on putting his supplies away.

"It is," Rei replied in Takashi's place as the later had several long, curly noodles hanging from his mouth. "Kohta's mom uses this place as storage. She's a clothes designer and the racks of clothes are projects she's working on or finished, I'm not sure which. We figured that it would be best to give the girls some privacy so we set up these makeshift walls. We're going to pick through some things to wear, probably alter some since there's a sewing machine here."

"You should cover the windows," Sagara offered. "We don't want to advertise that someone is here. If some of the rioters are out in the street they might be tempted to force their way in just to see what's up here."

"But we've got guns," Saya interjected.

"They don't know that," Sagara replied. "Besides, who's to say that they don't as well?"

"He's right," Saeko seconded. "A light in the darkness is as likely to attract a moth as a mosquito. While we have thus far been fortunate to find kindhearted survivors, who is to say that the next group will be as honorable? Besides, we know that They are capable of hearing as well as seeing, seeing a lone light might attract them as well."

"Shinji and Kohta are on watch right now, right?" Kaname interjected. "Or are they just surveying the street?"

"The later," Sagara answered.

"The girls will take turns watching the windows facing the alley and the boys can handle the front and the stairs," the former class representative offered. "We'll also check the TV for any news reports while you check the frequencies on the Walkies."