A note from ME! Oh god… I have no excuse for how late this is… Just take this chapter along with my apologies, and try to find it in your hearts not to kill me!
Chapter 9
They Gather
Francis slowly opened his eyes. In his pocket, his phone continued to tinkle away. The surrounding zombies raised their heads, but other than that, they didn't react. Francis slowly reached for his phone, swallowing. He checked it, and frowned, before flipping it open and answering the call.
"…Bonjour?" He asked. Next to him, a zombie started to make small little grunting noises as it wandered past. On the other end, Monique Bonnefoy gave a small gasp.
"Francis!" She cried happily, and begun to babble in French. "I can't believe… Thank god, you're okay!" Francis listened mutely as his younger sister continued, before clearing his throat.
"S- So the zombies didn't get to England?" He asked, a little relieved. Monique hummed.
"No, they haven't gotten overseas at all. When they announced the zombies on the news, we didn't really believe it…"
Francis frowned when he heard a bang in the background, and the angry raised voices of Arthur's brothers over a short shriek from Francis' youngest sister Angelique. Francis frowned.
"… Monique, what's happening?" He asked.
"Hm?" Monique replied. "Oh, I'm sorry, Ian just drove straight into a zombie."
Francis pulled the phone away from his ear, and stared at it. Slowly he brought it back to his ear.
"I… thought the Zombies hadn't spread over the Atlantic?" He asked.
"No, they haven't."
Francis chewed his bottom lip, fearing the worst.
"Then… what do you mean, 'Ian just drove straight into a zombie'?"
Monique cleared her throat.
"Well it may have been a living person, it was hard to tell, we drove past so quickly-"
"Monique…" Francis growled, continuing to edge his way through the zombie horde. "Where are you…"
"In America looking for you, of course!" Monique exclaimed. Francis almost dropped his phone. "Didn't Arthur tell you? Ian left a message on his phone saying we were coming…"
"N- No, he didn't tell me…" Francis said quietly, and he stopped walking, staring at the ground. His sisters were currently in America, with the four most irresponsible people he knew and, presumably, Ian's seven year old son Peter. Arthur was somewhere on his own, probably fuming at the thought of being told what to do. Francis himself was currently suffering from a zombie fight, and was starting to regret leaving Feli and the others behind. He couldn't imagine a worse situation than this.
"Francis? Are you still there?" Monique asked. Francis hummed to reassure her, but was interrupted by Arthur's twin Aled on the other line.
"I've found him!" Aled called excitedly. "I've found Arthur's magic!"
"I'll see you soon, Francis!" Monique cried, and Francis could almost see her smile.
"Monique, wait-"
Francis was interrupted by the clunk of the phone being hung up. He swallowed and bit his lip, slowly closing his phone and stowing it away in his pocket.
"Merde…" He whispered quietly. A zombie stumbled into his shoulder, and continued walking past him, completely ignoring the human.
"Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit, holy shit…" Alfred muttered, burying his face into Ivan's scarf. Ivan himself looked faintly sick. Matthew clung to the seat in front of him, occasionally dry retching; he'd already expelled the contents of his stomach thirty-eight run-downed zombies ago. In the back seats, Yao and Kiku clung to each other, Yao wailing loudly every time the car screeched around a corner, leaning dangerously to the side. In the front, Ludwig had placed his head between his knees, making small noises whenever the car lurched.
Gilbert whooped as he ran over his fifty-sixth zombie, cackling as he spun the wheel. Next to Ivan, Feliciano chattered away in quick Italian on his phone with someone called Lovino. Alfred detached himself from Ivan's scarf long enough to stare at the Italian with horror.
"How can he stand it? Is he a monster?" He asked. Feliciano, hearing the American, pulled away from his phone and smiled.
"Ve~ I always used to drive like this back home." He replied, before returning to his phone conversation. Alfred and Mathew exchanged a look, then Gilbert sped over a speed bump, and Alfred returned to Ivan's scarf, moaning.
"Ve, Gilbert, there!" Feliciano called, standing and pointing.. Ludwig looked around.
"Seatbelt!" He snapped, before letting his gaze follow the direction Feliciano was pointing. Down the road a horde of the undead had gathered, stumbling around with almost comical movements. Amidst these zombies, he spotted a familiar blonde head and grinned.
Gilbert spotted Francis at the same time and spun the wheel, sliding through several zombies.
"Chickie, open the door!" He called. Matthew did so, pushing Alfred across so the American was sitting on the lap of a surprised Ivan, who wrapped his arms around Alfred's waist automatically to keep him from falling off. Matthew had to hold the car door open as Gilbert manoeuvred through the zombies.
"He's not moving!" Yao called, staring through the back window at the shell-shocked Francis. "He hasn't moved at all!"
"Damnit…" Matthew growled and, as Gilbert spun the car around again, threw his upper body out of the car, reaching out and grabbing Francis by the arm. He pulled Francis in, helped by Alfred, who'd grabbed his twin's upper arms, slamming the car door and leaning back, panting. Francis stared at the group in wonder.
"Mon dieu…" He whispered. "You… I thought you were going to-"
"Well you thought wrong." Gilbert snapped. "Never leave a man behind, ja?"
"Da, you're our friend." Ivan chipped in, smiling a rare, honestly happy smile.
Feliciano, who had returned to his conversation on the phone after the others had spotted Francis, hung up.
"Ve~ Fratello is going to come help us." He informed the others. His friends exchanged looks. Surely a relative of Feliciano would just be trouble…
"Um… Feli…" Alfred started slowly, still perched on Ivan's lap. "Aren't you worried about your brother coming here?"
"Ve?" Feliciano tilted his head at the question. "Of course not; big brother Antonio will be with him! And his lackeys." Alfred snorted.
"You make it sound like he's a big mafia boss or something!" He exclaimed, laughing. Riding high on the adrenalin created from Gilbert's driving and barrelling through a horde of zombies, the others slowly started to laugh with him. Feliciano just smiled as his friends broke into hysterical laughter.
"Of course not." He said when they'd eventually calmed down, before adding, with complete sincerity, "My grandfather is."
No-one laughed this time.
Francis took his phone away from his ear, sighing. His phone was suddenly out of signal again… Kiku leant forward from the boot, noting the Frenchman's distress.
"It said on the internet that they're trying to get a phone signal across America again. They probably had a brief moment of success. We'll get signal soon, don't worry."
This didn't cheer Francis up.
"Then how are we meant to find Arthur?" He asked. Ludwig cleared his throat.
"The same way we found you." He replied. "We drive through every single street on our way to Texas; it may take us a while, but he can't be too far ahead of us. He's travelling by foot after all."
Francis frowned, but didn't comment; it was more then he'd had when he set out to find Arthur in the first place. He swivelled in his seat, looking around at the rest of the group.
"What's the matter with you lot?" He asked, noting the pale faces that stared back at him.
Half an hour later, he understood. He understood perfectly.
"Mon dieu, slow down!" He yelled as Gilbert spun the corner, the tyres screeching. Alfred moaned, burying his face into Ivan's chest this time.
"We're all going to die!" Yao screeched.
The group's screams were cut off when Gilbert's foot slammed onto the brake and they were all sent lurching forwards, Kiku and Yao thudding into the back of the seats in the boot with grunts.
"What?" Ludwig asked his brother, looking around the street for anything that would stop his reckless older brother. "What's wrong?"
Gilbert frowned out of the window.
"… Look!" He squawked, pointing. "That bastard has a better car then us!" Ivan looked over Gilbert's shoulder at the glossy black SUV.
"It looks the same as ours, da?" He pointed out. "How can you tell?"
Gilbert rolled his eyes.
"You want me to prove it?" He asked, undoing his seatbelt. Matthew looked out of the window.
"Where're all the Zombies? There's none out there, eh…"
He was right; the street was completely empty of the undead. Gilbert shrugged.
"Who cares?" He asked, opening his door. Alfred followed his lead, scrambling over Ivan and Feliciano and falling to his knees to kiss the ground underneath him.
"Oh thank god!" He cried. "We're alive!"
The others followed, stepping carefully over Alfred as Gilbert strode to the SUV.
"Look." He stated. "We've got a Mid-Size SUV; this is a full size; a Mercedes-Benz GL-Class… Second Generation as well, these aren't meant to be released until next year. How did this bastard get his hands on one…" He trailed off, muttering in quiet, excited german. Ludwig rolled his eyes.
"Bruder is a car fanatic." He explained. "It's why we set up a garage when we came here."
Gilbert ignored him, patting the bonnet with awe. "Come on, let's see what makes this baby tick…"
He darted to the driver's side, intending to pop the hood. However, the moment his had was on the door, the alarm went off, blaring through the streets.
Immediately the others were alert; Ludwig and Ivan slid their guns out, cocking them and shooting glances down the street.
"Gilbert…" Ludwig growled, looking over his shoulder at the other end. Gilbert back-pedaled from the car, his hands held up.
"It wasn't me!" He protested. "I'm too awesome to set off an alarm!"
"Why aren't they attacking?" Alfred wondered, retrieving his own gun. "This place is completely empty…"
"My brothers are very… thorough." A familiar voice called. Weapons were slowly lowered as the men turned to face the speaker.
Arthur Kirkland grinned.
"I thought I heard a group of idiots trying to get themselves killed." He teased, his eyes sparkling.