The Hetalia Global Warming Crisis; Get Out Alive

28— The Undead

~Canada~

"What do you want with us?" Matthew breathed in horror.

Rocky's wolf ear flicked but she pretended not to have heard.

"Fifty years ago, this place was a business centre. The locals would hosts parties in the grand ball room on the main floor: what you now call the world conference room. That hall could hold a good two or three hundred guests or so: just enough people for my experiments," the young woman licked her thin, sickly grey lips. Matthew noticed France visibly pale at the sight of her. "Little did they know I had constructed a research facility underground. Over time, my minions have accumulated stories and keepsakes from wars and events all over the world. I stayed within, biding my time. I gradually started to piece together the existence of such immortals like you; people who could heal themselves and lived through many wars to fight again, only to never grow old. I became interested. It was just my luck that you nations walked right into my paws."

"Fifty years?" Francis gasped after the knowledge had sunk in. "Mon dieu! You look no more than twenty years old!"

Ivan elbowed the Frenchman hard in the gut.

Rocky, to their surprise, howled with uncontrollable laughter.

"It's unbelievable how you can say such a thing!" she gasped when she could use her voice again. "Just look at yourselves! You've lived far longer than I have and you look no older than me."

"That's because we're nations," Matthew pointed out.

Rocky scowled. "You think you're the only ones that don't age as quickly as mortals do?" She bared her canines, tipped reddish-brown with dried blood from countless kills. "Look at me. I am a monster. No mortal would be able to live like I have. True I was once mortal myself, and I do still remember what it was like. But this life is just too sweet. I can end my freakishness now, but I choose not to. I'd rather watch others suffer and die when I am free to live." She howled in ecstasy. "I defied the laws of nature! I no longer exist in the world! Scientists can only dream of such things!"

Matthew gulped. She was drunk on immortality.

"How did you do it?" Ivan and Matthew said as one, although Ivan sounded genuinely curious, while Matthew was frightened out of his wits.

"How I did it, eh?" a very faint Canadian accent crept into her voice, but she bit it back with a lupine growl. "I'm an alchemist. I was born to bend nature."

She snapped her fingers.

"And my specialty is twisting life."

The RedWolf leapt forward, transforming into a complete red wolf in mid-air. This wasn't just any ordinary wolf, though. Time seemed to slow down and for a moment, Matthew could see the demonic figure in all its twisted glory, illuminated in the dim light. The wolf was huge, standing almost as tall as he was, with blood red fur and jet black stripes. Its eyes were a deep blood red, with flecks of gold deep within. It had an over-sized ruff that bristled into piercing spines, and tough black plates that covered its chest and underbelly. Its paws held two sets of claws: one set was long and straight, like razor blades built for ripping and tearing; the other set was hidden beneath, small and hooked and made for grappling, making it impossible for the victim to escape. Both sets were stained a terrible reddish-brown.

Stunned by the sight, Matthew couldn't let go of his arrow, which was trembling in his hand. Ivan quickly stepped to his side and clashed his pipe with the monster's claws. There was a brief ear-wrenching moment of steel against bone, then the RedWolf broke away, retreating with a snarl and pawing at its ears.

Matthew and Ivan glanced at the wolf's exposed side and lower un-plated abdomen and exchanged a glance. As equipped as the beast was at the front, its sides were terribly exposed. Head-on attacks could kill, but if they managed to avoid it…

Francis, who was leaning on the wall behind them, let out a shrill shriek, startling Ivan and Matthew. The two wintry nations whipped around, but the Frenchman was gone, his cries cut off abruptly.

"FRANCE!" Matthew howled. There was an echo of mad laughter and then silence, save for the clicking of claws on the hard floor.

The two remaining nations stiffened. Howls of hunger and suffering started to rise to a deafening crescendo around them. Russia and Canada stood back-to-back, forcing down panic. The shadows suddenly seemed alive with creatures.

The wolf tilted its massive head back and keened out, long and low.

"Arise my brethren!" the voice of their adversary echoed from the beast. "It is I, hunter of ghosts, leader of the dead. Arise and join in this feast!"

Like a scene from one of America's stupid sci-fi thrillers, skeletons and half-rotting bodies alike slowly tumbled over to Ivan and Matthew from all sides, drenching them in the stench of carrion and death. The two nations started to breathe through their mouths to block the scent, but it seemed like it was clogging the back of their throats. As their flashlights started to flicker out, they managed to glimpse most of their assailants and recognized them as the assassins that had attacked them at the start. The assassins they had killed.

Matthew and Ivan started slipping on the floor as they inched back towards the wall, and they looked down to see the floor running with blackish-red blood and sickly yellow-green pus and bile. Matthew paled and threw up, much to the delight of the Undead, who became increasingly excited. Ivan grabbed the small man and shoved him into a corner, blocking Canada with his body.

"Stay there and do not move da?" growled the Russian. "I will take care of this."

Only one flashlight was on now, and it was so dim neither nation could see a thing. Matthew peered up long enough to see the last rays of light shine on a wolf's blood-drenched head, saliva trailing in thick, transparent strands from its hungry jaws, uttering one, reverberating word:

"Checkmate."

Then the light flickered out and all hell broke loose.

Hetalia belongs to Hidekaz Himaruya

RedWolf Rocky and WhiteTiger William belong to me~

PLEASE REVIEW!

This is my parting gift before I dive into the second semester. *takes a deep breath* CANNON BALL! ALSKGNASKJLGN! XD