Hello hello! Guess what today is~? Update day! :D We proudly present chapter 4!

Warnings: Hostile confrontations and nervous men.

In his lifetime, Arthur had dealt with many situations that he would consider high stress, but facing down the barrel of a gun as a crimson eyed man scowled at him was something completely out of the norm. Shuddering violently, Arthur wasn't sure if this was already the end of the line for both himself and Antonio, or if they were going to be able to weasel their way out of the situation like they had back in the city.

Arthur was frozen, he didn't know what to do. Antonio had gone ridged beside him with worry, and was glaring back at the woman at his window while also trying to keep track of the man with the gun leveled off at Arthur's head. The thoughts that were screaming in Arthur's head were telling him to protect Antonio. His mind was blatantly saying that even if he died, he needed to make sure that Antonio made it out. Flinching when the man tapped at the glass impatiently with the flashlight he was using to peer inside the car, Arthur felt his heart fluttering rapidly in his chest.

"Get out of the car with your hands up! If I so much as see you reach for your weapons so help me I will blow your brains out." The man at his window snarled furiously in a rough German accent when he saw Arthur's eyes flicker towards the gun on the dash. When Arthur seemed reluctant to move out of the car, the man's eyes flashed impatiently and for a second Arthur thought he might shoot him right then and there. "I said…out of the car."

"It's ok amor…just listen to what he says." Antonio murmured softly, squeezing the Brit's hand he opened his own door and stepped out onto the street with his hands on top of his head. "Vale vale, see? I'm not armed." He announced, nodding his head when the woman gestured for him to move in front of the car.

"Now you Blondie, get out of the car and no one will get hurt." The German barked, stepping back when Arthur shakily reached to the door and stepped out of the car his hands moving behind his head. Shooting a glance at Antonio he locked gazes with a forcefully calm pair of verdant eyes trying to silently convince Arthur that everything would be ok.

Arthur flinched slightly when the albino holding him at gun point scanned him over for weapons other than the one resting in the truck. Finding none that were noticeable he gestured at Arthur again.

"If you have any weapons…I suggest you tell me right now, because if I find any I'm going to kill you right here." He ordered his eyes narrowed as he scanned Arthur over.

"I…I don't have any." Arthur rasped, his hands shuddering as they rested on the back of his head. When the man looked unconvinced he went to empty his pockets for him only to flinch when the man shook his head.

"Why don't you just keep your hands right where I can see them for now? Go ahead and step over there by your friend." The demon eyed man ordered, waiting until Arthur timidly moved over to Antonio his entire body trembling with fear.

Stepping around so that he was standing in front of them, the man scanned them both over curiously and frowned when his gaze fell onto the bandages wrapped around the Spaniard's shoulder.

"What happened there? Are you bit?" The man demanded his eyes suddenly dramatically more cautious than they had been before. Flinching, Arthur inched closer to Antonio, stepping in front of him slightly when he saw the German's finger twitch on the trigger of his gun.

"Bit? What are you talking about?" Antonio demanded his eyes flashing worriedly as Arthur stepped in front of him. Keeping an eye on the German and the brunette woman beside him, Antonio could feel his heart thundering in his chest as the man raised an eyebrow.

"I'm asking if those bandages are there because you've been bit. It's a fairly simple question I think, and you'd better tell me the truth, because I guarantee I will not give you a second chance." Arthur flinched at the albino's harsh statement and moved his hand to grab nervously onto Antonio's wanting to know that the Spaniard was close. Feeling the Spaniard squeeze his hand, Arthur felt a surge of desire to protect the man fill up his chest. Glancing up at the glaring red eyed man he sighed.

"We don't understand what you're asking…but if you want to know how we were injured, it wasn't because of anything biting us. We were attacked yes…but not bit." He stated as calmly as he could his hand shuddering against Antonio's palm. Keeping a stern, but not aggressive look on his face, he glanced back at the young pair and narrowed his eyes. "Now…if you don't actually mean us any harm, please…would you put your weapons away and attempt to act like civilized human beings?" The German at first seemed to take offense to the Brit's comment, and stepped forward menacingly only to stop when a hand snagged onto his arm and pulled him back.

"Gil…please." The brunette woman who had been watching the whole exchange whispered as she squeezed the man's arm. "They obviously don't mean us any harm…and if they don't know about the biting then they must not be really aware of what's happening. You aren't like those men back in the city, so put the gun down and talk." She whispered shooting an apologetic look back at the two nervous looking men.

Antonio, who had been thinking of ways he could get the gun away from the German without managing to get both himself and Arthur shot, relaxed only when he saw the albino place the gun back into his holster his hand resting on the grip just to be safe. Sighing in relief, Antonio pulled Arthur back behind him and shot a worried glance at the man checking for injuries without taking his gaze off of the pair in front of them. Smiling shakily at Arthur when a pair of emerald eyes flickered up towards him, he squeezed his hand before returning his full attention back to the silent pair.

Sighing heavily at the woman's request, the German nodded and shot a glance at the two men. Nodding at the woman at his side, he stepped forward and extended a hand towards Antonio.

"I'm Gilbert…Gilbert Beilschmidt, and this is my wife Elizabeta He…well I guess it's Beilschmidt now." He laughed nervously glancing down at the cautious brunette man's hand when it seemed hesitant to reach up and shake his waiting hand. "Es tut mir leid…I'm sorry for scaring you like that." The man murmured as the Spaniard reached out and shook his hand slowly one hand remaining firmly connected to Arthur's. Stepping back once he had finished that, Gilbert ran his fingers through his tousled hair and looked exhaustedly up at the two men. "You'll have to excuse my rudeness, but when we were trying to escape town we ran into some pretty nasty characters…" He shook his head shooting a glance at Elizabeta. "They tried to take my wife away from me…I had to make sure you weren't a…well you weren't a threat, but I guess if you're already in a relationship…at least I don't have to worry about that one, right?" He pointed out, glancing down at the combined hands of the two men and glancing up at them with a shaky smile.

Arthur felt himself flush in realization when the man made the assumption that they were a couple. Then again…were they a couple? He supposed that they were a couple of sorts. Glancing up at Antonio, he waited for the man to respond to the question wanting to see how or if he would claim him.

"It's fine…after the day we had I suppose it's to be expected that someone would wave a gun in my face." Antonio laughed humorlessly, glancing down at Arthur when he caught the man looking up at him. "Si, you don't have much to worry about from us." Antonio chuckled, "I'm Antonio Fernandez Carriedo, and this is mi novio Arthur Kirkland." He pointed out, glancing down at Arthur to make sure that the man didn't seem upset with the title. When the man seemed rather pleased with the statement, his face tinted pink, Antonio turned his full attention to the rather relieved looking Gilbert.

"I can honestly say that I've never been happier to hear that…" Gilbert laughed shaking his head as he wrapped an arm around Elizabeta's waist and leaned against her with a tired, worn look on his face.

"Where are you boys headed? You must not be coming from any of the major cities if you don't know what Gilbert was talking about when he spoke about the bites, and if you're headed that way I'm guessing you don't know how bad that West side of Germany has gotten." Elizabeta pointed out, running a hand over her husband's back. Arthur shook his head at the comment, feeling his stomach drop when he heard what she had to say about the direction they were headed.

"No…we don't know what this whole bite thing is about, and…is there any place that doesn't have those…things?" The Englishman demanded as he shot a glance in the direction they were headed for. Gilbert sighed and shook his head.

"We're headed north, towards the border between us and Denmark. We're attempting to meet up with some family members that were headed up there." The German explained as he squeezed his wife's waist gently. "As for the bites." He sighed as he rubbed at the bridge of his nose. "Let's just say if one of those bastards sinks their disgusting teeth into you, you're dead in as little as five minutes. I've seen it take longer…It depends on the placement of the bite. If you do get bit, I suggest you off yourself right then and there because the next thing you know you'll be up and walking around trying to sink your teeth straight into the person closest to you." He pointed out gruffly, gesturing to Antonio as if to make a point.

Arthur felt his blood chill at the thought, his hands shuddering as he clung onto Antonio with a new sense of urgency. They could become one of those things? The thought was mortifying. He could very easily be the person who ended up killing Antonio because he had done something as simple as getting bit.

"That's…terrible." Arthur rasped his entire form quaking as he slumped a bit against Antonio. Gilbert and Elizabeta nodded their eyes somber as they exchanged glances.

"Ja, it is…now…where was it you said you were headed?" Gilbert demanded as he studied over the two men in front of them.

"Nowhere as of yet…we were just taking the back roads, hoping we ran into the military." Antonio muttered, grimacing when he realized how unprepared they sounded. For all they knew, they were headed towards some massive horde of those monsters they had seen back in the suburbs.

"I see…" Gilbert muttered, glancing down when his wife pulled at his sleeve. "What is it liebe?" He demanded, frowning slightly when he saw that she was already looking hopefully up at him.

"They should follow after us! Gilbert we can't just let them go wandering around until they run out of gas! They'll starve or get picked off by one of the infected." She pointed out, glancing apologetically over at the men at the bashing of their survival skills. "Please Gil? I know you don't want to trust strangers, but don't you think that traveling in a group of four would be so much safer than traveling in a pair like we have been?" She muttered softly, squeezing his hand and beaming when he groaned and nodded.

"Fine…if you two want to tag along, I won't mind. We could use the extra truck anyway just in case something happens to ours." He pointed out with a heavy sigh, rolling his eyes when Elizabeta pressed a kiss to his cheek and muttered a quiet thank you. He still didn't trust the men, but if his wife was so sure that they could trust them, at least enough to follow them without attempting to attack them, he supposed that he wouldn't mind having the extra hands around.

Antonio glanced at Arthur, not sure if the Brit would be ok following the couple to wherever it was they were headed, but found the man was nodding up at him when he looked down.

"We don't really have anywhere else to go, love…" Arthur reminded him softly worried that like Elizabeta had stated they would just keep on driving until they either ran out of supplies or got jumped by either infected or bandits. "We don't have to follow them forever, just until we have a plan of our own." He pointed out. Antonio nodded and glanced up at the German and his wife once again, with a sigh.

"Si…if you don't mind we would love to follow after you until we figure out what we want to do." The Spaniard explained, earning a nod from the couple who immediately headed back towards their car, not wanting to keep standing outside in the dark.

"Keep up then." The German called over his shoulder as he swung into the driver's seat of the massive truck. Antonio grimaced and glanced back at Arthur who was starting to move towards the driver's seat.

"Are you ok to drive?" Antonio demanded softly, earning a nod from Arthur.

"Of course, you didn't get to sleep very long. I'll drive and you can try and get some sleep." The Englishman pointed out with a small nervous smile as he moved behind the wheel.

Shuddering softly Arthur shot a glance at Antonio and reached out to take his hand once the man was situated inside the car. Running his thumb over the man's wrist as he pulled back onto the road close behind Gilbert he sighed shakily and attempted to pretend that he hadn't almost been killed in a roadside dispute.

"It'll be ok, amor." Antonio whispered, leaning across the center counsel to press a kiss to the man's cheek reassuringly. Arthur chuckled nervously and nodded.

"I certainly hope you're right." Arthur sighed, his eyes moving to focus on the road as they made their way back towards the way they came.

~X~

The neighborhood that Gilbert led them too was deserted. Just on the outskirts of Hannover, and far enough away from the major city that they could hear the chaos, but couldn't see it just yet. A bit unnerved to be so close to the city once again, Arthur felt his gaze darting from road to the houses around them expecting to see an infected or some man with a gun come leaping out of the alleyways.

"I don't like this…the whole city looks completely overrun, but here it's like a bloody ghost town." Arthur whispered, glancing over at Antonio as he spoke. The Spaniard glanced back at him after a moment of studying the streets and nodded, his verdant eyes concerned.

"I agree…I'd be a lot happier if we knew where they were leading us, and if we knew for sure if their family was here." Antonio sighed as he nervously played with the hand that Arthur had wrapped around his own. His frown only deepened though, when Gilbert pulled his car into the driveway of a rather good-sized house, that from the outside looked completely abandoned. "This must be the place then." He murmured, undoing his seatbelt and stepping out of the truck when Gilbert and Elizabeta did. Moving around to the backseat, Antonio lifted his ax from the back and slung it onto his shoulder before stepping to Arthur's side.

Gilbert glanced up when the two men came to stand beside him checking his gun to make sure it was load and ready in case something should happen. Eyeing the ax on Antonio's shoulder he smiled slightly, seeming to take the time to appreciate the beautifully crafted weapon.

"That's an awesome ax you got there." Gilbert grinned as he shot a glance at the seemingly abandoned house nervously.

"Gracias…it was my grandfather's." Antonio smiled shakily back leaning against Arthur slightly as he followed Gilbert's gaze to the house. "This is the place then?" He asked with an apprehensive look towards the surrounding areas. Gilbert nodded slowly and sighed pointing to the truck that was parked next to his own.

"That's mein vati's…I'm hoping that means he's here." He explained with a strained look on his face. Sighing when Elizabeta squeezed his hand gently he nodded and moved over to the door. Taking a deep breath, he gently tapped at the scratched and battered door, feeling a surge of anticipation for what could be on the other side.

When the house remained silent, Antonio and Arthur thought perhaps that the man's family had already left and exchanged glances wondering if they should be prepared to leave. They didn't want to be stuck standing out in the open.

That was when they heard the sound of the door unlocking.

Jumping slightly, not having expected there to actually be someone home, Antonio's hands tightened around his ax as he stepped protectively in front of Arthur. As the door swung open, and a young man, a teenager really, stepped into the light, the Spaniard jumped when he heard Gilbert laugh in relief and throw himself forward into the house.

Hearing a grunt and a startled laugh from the blonde who had opened the door, Antonio shot a glance at Elizabeta and found the woman was smiling in relief. Glancing at the men, the woman gestured for them to come inside, waiting for them to step behind the door before sealing and locking it.

Coming to rest just inside the doorway of the massive house, Arthur and Antonio moved closer together as Gilbert laughed and held the tall blonde teen to his shoulder.

"Ludwig! You're alive!"

Thanks to all the wonderful people who review the last chapter! As always, please let us know how you liked this new chapter! See you all next week!