Okay, this is the second to last chapter of the story. Who will live? Who will die? Well, find out by the end of the chapter and please review to let me know how you liked it (if you did).

Dark Sanctuary

Campaign 2: Death Toll- Part 5

Chapter 17: The Boathouse Finale

After a few hours of rest, the Survivors reluctantly gathered up their supplies to head back out once again. Takuya and Zoe exchanged a few flirtatious glances about their secretive rendevous, though no one else seemed to notice. Once everyone had put their clothes back on and ate a quick snack, Takuya cautiously unlocked the door to the safe room. Since it was the only exit in the building, they had no choice but to leave the same way that they had come in through.

"Alright, I'll pull the door open, so you guys need to cover me in case any of the infected are waiting for us outside," Takuya told the others.

He grabbed hold of the handle and yanked it as fast as he could to get out of the line of the gunfire. However, as soon as the door was open, the outside of the building was completely clear.

"Oh, that's convenient," Kouji remarked. "So on that note, let's get our asses moving before we're ambushed."

With that, the five of them took off running down the street, the sky still dark with the night life. Ever since the pandemic had taken such a grisly toll on humanity, the days seemed shorter as the nights grew longer.

"I feel like we're never going to see the sun again," Zoe said with a sigh. "It was dark when I met you guys, and it's still pitch black out..."

"If you really think about it, we've only been together for less than eight hours," Tommy speculated. "We've just been moving around so much that it seems to have dragged. Hell, even the helicoptor ride only lasted twenty minutes."

Takuya snorted. "Still feels ridiculously long..."

"Yeah, but dawn should be approaching soon," the younger brunette told him. "Hopefully by then we should either find a safe room or a mode of transportation to get us the hell out of here."

"We're never getting out of here," Kouji grumbled. "I'm not optimistic about it..."

Although no one replied, they were all feeling the same at that point. Escaping seemed useless no matter how hard they tried.

They soon came up to a house with a burning barrel in the front yard, and Takuya gestured the house with his rifle. "Come on, let's check to see if there are any supplies in there. We still need as many bullets as we can get."

He led everyone inside, but saw a few of the infected ambling down the street from the corner of his eye. The others noticed as well and muttered curses. Hurrying through the rooms, they quickly gathered up a bit of ammunition and two first aid kits. Seconds later, a half dozen of infected people stumbled into the house, only to be immediately gunned down.

"Gee, that didn't last long," Kouji mumbled dryly. "They just can't resist pissing us off. I hate zombies..."

"It would probably be best if we left through the back door if there is one," Takuya remarked. "Since those bastards came in through the front, there might be more waiting for us there."

Everyone walked into the kitchen, discovering there to be a back door awaiting them. They dashed outside into the backyard, which was surrounded by a gated wooden fence. Yet before they could get very far, several infected humans ambled in through the open gate.

"Ah, goddammit." Takuya fired a few rounds at them, most of them hitting his targets in the head. "Knew that there'd be a catch."

"Eh, either way we were probably screwed," Zoe told him as she shot at the group with her machine gun.

The swarm continued to grow, and a Boomer waddled in to join them as well. Kouji groaned and fired at the Boomer to keep it from shooting its green bile everywhere, succeeding in doing so. Kouichi had found a pipe in the yard and was using it to impale many of the infected. He shoved it through eye sockets and pierced their brains, only to yank it back out and repeat the cycle as many times as he could.

A few minutes later, the horde had been wiped out, leaving behind only mutilated corpses filled with bullets. Blood had splattered in every direction, staining the grass crimson.

"Alright, let's keep moving," Takuya said. "I don't want to stick around and wait for the next fucking horde."

While Kouichi wiped the bloodied pipe on the jacket of a dead infected man, the other four hastily reloaded their guns. They then hurried out of the yard through the gate, making their way down the road as fast as possible. After about a minute, the Survivors saw a small building with three cars parked outside of it. They searched the tiny building and were fortunate enough to find more ammunition, two pipe bombs, and a molotiv cocktail. Not wanting to stay in the area for very long, they took off once again, soon coming up to a wooded area. A sign off to the side read 'Riverside Park'. In the distance, they could see a boathouse, as well as the first rays of light of the approaching dawn.

"A boathouse," Takuya said, his chocolate-colored eyes wide. "Maybe we'll be lucky enough to find a boat."

"God, I hope so." Tommy gazed at the boathouse wistfully. "But if we do find a boat, we better pray that it has gas."

Zoe smirked. "Only one way to find out."

The five of them took off sprinting, now feeling a glimmer of hope in their escape. However, as they ran, they could hear the sounds of the infected approaching them, coming dangerously close.

"Oh, fuck." Takuya groaned in irritation. "We've got company...again..."

No sooner were the words out of his mouth when a horde of the infected ambled out of the shadows. They attempted to slash and bite at the Survivors, the number of them almost overwhelming. Bullets flew in every direction, many of them hitting their intended targets. However, since there were so many of them, Takuya and the others found it harder to keep them at bay.

"Dammit! There's too many of them!" he exclaimed, hitting a man in the face with the butt of his gun. "We gotta get out of here!"

"How?" Kouji shot a woman through her eye, watching at the bullet flew out the back of her head. "We're fucking surrounded."

Takuya frantically looked around. "Follow that path right there! It should lead us out of the woods! Only shoot if they get too close!"

With that, he shot one last man and took off down the trail, leading the others out of the woods. Every few seconds he would turn around to shoot an infected person who had grown too close to them. About a minute later, they finally emerged from the wooded area, having outrun most of their pursuers.

"I see a house over there," Tommy said breathlessly. "Should we go inside?"

"It's our best bet," Takuya replied as he reloaded. "We might be able to find some supplies inside anyway."

He and the others took off towards the house, aware that they would soon be joined with yet another group of the infected. They ran inside and quickly scanned the rooms for ammuntion and other useful items. Once they had found a bit of ammo, a first-aid kit, and a molotive cocktail, the sounds of pounding were heard outside the front door.

"Well, they decided to pay us another visit," Zoe muttered dully.

"Maybe we should go upstairs and fend them off from there," Kouji suggested. "That way we'll have more distance between them and us by the time we shoot them."

"Then we better get our asses up there now." Takuya began to make his way to the stairs. "Especially since they're starting to break in through the windows."

Mumbling more curses, the five of them headed up the stairs as they anticipated the oncoming horde. Upon reaching the next floor, everyone stood ready to attack and shoot. With an audible crash, they knew that the infected had finally broken in. Just as the first few of them reached the landing, relentless gunfire rang through everyone's ears. Kouichi, who was still holding the pipe, suddenly threw it as hard as he could. The pipe completely ripped its way right through one infected man's head, then impaled itself in a woman's forehead. Both fell down the stairs, dead from their wounds. Takuya and the other four continued to shoot at the swarm, aware of the great number they were faced with.

"Dammit," the soldier muttered, hurriedly reloading.

"Oh, maybe this will help." Zoe pulled a molotiv cocktail off Takuya's belt and threw it at the approaching horde. "Move!"

She and the others jumped back just as the explosive detonated, killing most of the infected in that one blast. Only a few of them remained, and they were quicky finished off in about a dozen shots.

"There's a balcony that leads to a deck out here," Tommy noticed, gesturing out one of the large windows.

"Good, we can get outside that way in case there are more of those bastards coming in through the front door," Takuya said. "Let's go."

The Survivors went out onto the deck, then hurried down the adjacent stairs. There didn't seem to be any more of the infected outside the house for the time being, yet the five of them saw a hulking figure on the roof.

"What the fuck is that?" Kouji squinted to get a better look.

"Dammit, it's a Tank!" Takuya began to shoot at him furiously, accompanied by the others in doing so. "I wanna kill that fucker before he jumps down and knocks us around."

Blood sprayed in every direction as the Tank was bombarded with an endless stream of bullets. He attempted to jump down onto the ground, but a final blast to the temple caused him to fall instead. With a heavy thud, he landed on the front lawn, soon surrounded by a pool of blood.

"Guys, there's a dock over there!" Zoe exclaimed. "And I'm not completely sure, but I think I see a boat approaching from the distance!"

"Shit, let's go! This might be our only chance to get away from here!" Takuya led the others towards the dock, that glimmer of hoping increasing slightly. "We have to alert the driver of the boat!"

"Hey! Get us out of here!" Kouji shouted as they ran. "Now!"

Zoe sweatdropped, then fired a few rounds upwards towards the sky. "They probably won't hear if we shout, so we should alert them by shooting a few bullets."

"Yeah, but we gotta make sure we don't use up all of our ammunition," Takuya told her.

"True, but if we don't alert the boat, then we're screwed," the blond retorted.

He thought for a moment, then fired his sniper rifle twice. "Hey! Can you hear us?"

After a moment, a light flickered in the boat, indicating that the driver had heard them. The boat was steered closer to the dock, though it still had a bit of a way to go before it reached them.

"We're almost there," Tommy said with excitement in his voice. "We're gonna get out of here."

Even Kouichi seemed to be displaying a bit of relief, though his eyes abruptly darkened with suspicion. Kouji caught his twin's ominious expression and frowned in worry.

"Something wrong, Kouichi?" he asked.

Just then, yet another horde seemed to come out of nowhere, surrounding them completely. Amongst the swarm was a Hunter, though this particular one was larger than the others. Everyone's hearts sank a bit, but they began to fire at the horde nonetheless.

The Hunter quickly climbed up a tree, avoiding the gunfire that took down the other infected humans. He then pounced back down with a thud and slammed right into Tommy. Tommy cursed, sprawled on the ground from the blow. He attempted to shoot at the Hunter, only for him to dodge every single bullet. While the others frantically shot at the rest of the horde, Kouichi distracted the Hunter long enough to allow Tommy to get away from him. He leapt onto the Hunter's shoulders, trying to slash at his neck. However, Kouichi's ankle was grabbed and a moment later, he had been swung full-force into a tree. The tree snapped in half, collapsing in top of him.

"Kouichi! You fucking bastard!" Kouji angrily fired his shotgun at the enemy Hunter, his face filled with fury.

The Hunter easily jumped out of the bullets' way, proving to be much faster than the other special infected of his type. While Kouji continued to shoot at him relentlessly, Takuya, Zoe, and Tommy were doing what they could to annihilate the swarm.

"Dammit," Zoe muttered as she reloaded her machine gun. "They keep coming..."

"Hey, come get the pretty flashing light, you stupid fucks!" Takuya hurled a pipe bomb off to the side, attracting many of the infected.

The bomb beeped and flashed its lights, causing the infected to huddle around it mindlessly. It detonated seconds later, sending fiery limbs to be dispersed in every direction. A Smoker suddenly wrapped its tongue around Takuya's neck, attempting to drag him away. The soldier managed to free his knife from his belt, though, and simply swiped it across the tongue to slice it in half. He heard a pained squeal and shot at the direction where he had heard the sound. Upon seeing a puff of black smoke emerging from behind a tree, he knew that he had hit his target.

Zoe feverishly fired at the oncoming infected humans, trying to stave them off as long as possible. The boat seemed to be miles away from her perspective, when in all reality, it was only minutes away from approaching the dock. Tommy tried to assist Kouji in the shooting of the Hunter, while Kouichi was trying to heave the tree off himself.

The Hunter growled and pounced, slashing Kouji right across the chest. His stitched-up wound was reopened, and blood began to course down his clothes, staining them further. Wincing in pain, he tried to shoot the Hunter in the head, but missed yet again as the special infected human jumped away. Then Hunter then attempted to lunge at him.

"Hey, leave him alone, you fucker!" Tommy exclaimed, firing his shotgun at the Hunter.

The bullet grazed the hooded man's shoulder, but did not do much damage. With a bloodthirsty snarl, he leapt over to Tommy and snatched his gun away, throwing it off to the side. He then crouched down and grabbed hold of his ankle, knocking the boy off balance. Before Tommy knew it, he had been swung directly into a thick tree. He felt the bone in his right leg snapping from the impact and let out an agonized scream. Smirking sadistically, the Hunter let the injured brunette writhe in pain while he made his way back over to Kouji.

"Tommy!" Zoe cried out, noticing their fallen friend. "Takuya, we gotta help him!"

"I know, but we're surrounded!" the soldier shouted above the gunfire. "Until we kill enough of these bastards, we're stuck here!"

The blond groaned in frustration. "Dammit! Tommy, hold on!"

Tommy nodded weakly, then painfully attempted to crawl over to his gun. "Ahh, fuck...this hurts..."

The Hunter grabbed Kouji around the throat, then lifted him up into the air. Kouichi finally managed to heave the tree off himself and lunged forward. He jumped onto the other Hunter's back and began to repeatedly slash at him, leaving bloody scratches. However, he was grabbed seconds later and slammed onto the ground, only to feel himself being kicked in the face. Blood squirted everywhere and he was rammed into yet another tree from the sheer force of the blow. That tree did not collapse, but it had cracked nonetheless.

"Come on..."

Tommy reached his shotgun just as one of the infected ambled at him, having only a split-second to shoot the man's face off. Sitting with his back against a tree, he fired as many rounds as he could, feeling that his chances of making it to the boat alive were slim to none. He let out pained grunts, feeling the broken bone almost poking through his skin.

"Shit, we really gotta help Kouji and Tommy, and soon," Takuya growled angrily as he and Zoe continued to shoot at the endless horde. "I wish that boat would hurry the fuck up and maybe someone on it could help us!"

"It'll be at least another few minutes before they even get to the dock," Zoe replied miserably.

The brunette slammed the butt of his rifle into several of the infected, as they had grown too close for him to get a safe shot. Zoe had resorted to the same method, her emerald eyes wide in terror. She felt a scraggily fingernail drag across her cheek and let out a surprised cry, only to smack the infected woman who had done it.

"Takuya, I don't know if we'll be able to hold them off for much longer!" she shouted above the hissing and growling.

Meanwhile, the Hunter still had his grip locked on Kouji's throat, cutting off the raven-haired man's oxygen supply. His nails dug in, leaving trails of blood on his neck. Kouji tried to shoot him, but accidentally dropped his shotgun a moment later. He then felt himself being pinned up against a tree and saw the Hunter draw his fist back. The Hunter smirked at him sadistically, his eyeless sockets just barely visible under his hood. He got ready to pound his fist into Kouji's face, who had closed his eyes in dreaded anticipation.

"Kouji!"

Kouji's eyes snapped open just in time to see the Hunter being tackled by his brother. He was dropped to the ground, where he watched Kouichi struggle with the enemy Hunter. The two of them pounced and slashed at each other, sending ribbons of blood cascading over the grass. Tommy was still shooting at the infected who had stumbled over to him, barely keeping them at bay. Yet the horde that Takuya and Zoe had been dealing with seemed to be overcoming the duo. They had completely resorted to bashing the infected with their guns, as they no longer had any chance of shooting without being at risk of getting attacked.

Zoe was suddenly tackled to the ground, feeling a few of the infected pouncing on her. She screamed as their nails clawed at her mercilessly, trying her best to curl into a ball.

"Zoe!" Takuya yelled. "You fucking assholes!"

He frantically beat them away from her, all the while getting clawed at as well. Remembering that he had one last pipe bomb, he snatched if off his belt and threw it. Most of the infected ran after it, but one or two remained on top of the blond. Takuya quickly shot them in their heads, letting their brains splatter in every direction.

"Zoe! Are you okay?" he asked just as the pipe bomb detonated.

Zoe was trembling and Takuya could see her body covered in bloody slash marks. Cursing under his breath, the soldier heaved her up and helped her into a standing position.

"It's okay," he said softly as he kissed her forehead.

Luckily, the pipe bomb had killed most of the horde, though Kouichi was still struggling with the other Hunter. Kouji had run over to assist Tommy, all the while watching in horror as his twin fought with the Hunter. He took hold of Tommy's gun since he had dropped his own and fired at the hooded man. A single bullet hit the Hunter, though he seemed not to notice.

"Guys! We gotta get to the dock and wait for the boat!" Takuya yelled.

"I can't leave Kouichi!" Kouji shouted back.

However, Kouichi took the opportunity to slash the other Hunter across the face, then looked his brother dead in the eye. "Kouji, go!"

More of the infected were approaching from the distance, a horde that had been bigger than the last. Time was rapidly running out for the Survivors and by now the boat was only a minute or so away from the dock.

"Come on, Kouji! If we stay here, we'll be killed!" Takuya exclaimed.

"No!" Kouji shot at the Hunter again, only to miss. "Kouichi! Come with us!"

Kouichi pounced onto the Hunter again and attempted to rip his throat out. "Kouji, just go already! Now!"

Groaning in frustration, the long-haired twin fired the remaining bullets at the infected man, each one of them missing only by mere centimeters.

"I'll hold him off! Get on the fucking boat, you idiot!" Kouichi yelled to his brother. "NOW!"

Kouji nodded solemnly, feeling the tears running down his face as he grabbed hold of Tommy. He helped him hobble over to the dock, where Takuya was running over with Zoe. The boat pulled up to the dock and a man who looked to be about twenty-five gestured to them with his shotgun.

"Hurry! Get on!" he yelled, then threw a molotiv cocktail at the end of the dock.

Doing such a thing caused it to catch fire, which would not allow the approaching infected to pass. Takuya and Kouji heaved Tommy on board, seeing three more people on the boat as well. Once Zoe had climbed on, the two of them joined her.

"We gotta wait for my brother!" Kouji said firmly, then called over to his twin. "Kouichi!"

To his horror, the Hunter was holding Kouichi above his head, ready to snap his body in half. A moment later, Kouichi's arm swung out just as the infected man ruthelessly bent his body in the opposite direction that it should've gone. Kouichi's back had been broken in half, yet his last swipe had proved successful as he severed the Hunter's jugular vein. Blood spurted in every direction, spraying the horde that had gathered nearby. Dropping Kouichi's broken body to the ground, the Hunter crumped into a bloody heap, unmoving.

"Kouichi!" Kouji screamed, falling to his knees. "Kouichi!"

Wincing in pain, Tommy pulled Kouji into a hug and patted his back, trying to comfort him. The raven-haired man broke down, his body shaking with sobs as he cried for his lost brother. Takuya and Zoe tried to comfort him as well, though Zoe seemed to be in a slight daze.

"Oh, god..." Kouji buried his face in his hands. "We were so close...so fucking close! I didn't want to leave him... I shouldn't have!"

"I'm really sorry about your brother," the man driving the boat said to Kouji as he pulled away from the dock. "But by the looks of it, he died making sure that you got to safety. He would've rather you left than stayed there to die with him. And you would've most likely if you hadn't gotten onto the boat."

Kouji seemed not to hear him as he continued to weep, his tears falling onto the deck of the boat. Takuya glanced over and saw the vacant look on Zoe's face.

"Zoe? Are you okay?" he asked.

She had grown pale and suddenly toppled over onto her back. Takuya swore under his breath and crouched by her side, lifting her head up.

"What's wrong?" His eyes were wide with fear and he scanned over her body to see if she had any serious wounds.

Zoe slowly made eye contact with him, a terrified look on her face. "Takuya..."

"What's wrong? Did you get slashed somewhere? Did you-" At the same moment, the soldier's voice caught in his throat as he discovered what the problem was.

"Takuya...I've been bitten..."

And that wraps up the seventeenth chapter. So Tommy broke a leg, Kouichi died, and Zoe was bitten. Only one chapter left to see how the story ends! Please review to let me know what you thought. I know, you guys are probably mad at me for killing Kouichi. But you should expect character deaths from me since I am evil. But I made him die for a good cause and he went out with a bang ^_^ The final chapter should be out by Friday night. Or at least, that's when I plan on having it finished by.