CHAPTERS ARE CURRENTLY BEING EDITED!
FF MESSED WITH THE LINE BREAKS AND SUCH SO TRY TO GO ALONG WITH IT UNTILL I FIX EVERYTHING

THANKS


Allen lies down on the mattress, staring up at the ceiling. It's then he hears a bird's whistle at his window. Sitting up, Allen rushed to his window, placed opposite to the door. As he opens it, a small, bright yellow canary flies through, it's oddly long, feathered tail almost hitting Allen in the face.

"Tim!" Allen cries at the bird as it lands on his head to start pulling at his white hair.

"Ugh! No biting!" Allen swats at the bird, only for it to fly through his open door and into the corridor.

"Tim?" As Allen calls, he heads towards the door. Suddenly he hears a familiar voice coming from downstairs.
"Brat, you in here? Ugh, whatever." Allen's eyes widen as he sprints down the corridor and down the stairs. Cross has thrown himself onto the couch and is completely unaware to the canary flying above him.

"Kid, good, you're here." Cross turns to him.

"Uh yeah…" Allen tries not to stare at Timcanpy doing circle around his godfather's head.

"What's up with you kid? What are you looking at-" Cross looks up as he says the second part and stops to stare at the bird above him.

"What the-" Cross starts, lifting his hand towards the bird.

"Tim!" Allen cries at the bird. Finally taking the hint, Timcanpy flies over to Allen, sitting on his head.

"Really, kid, a bird?" Cross gets up off the couch and walks over to Allen, glaring suspiciously at Timcanpy.

"I found him hurt a few months ago, I couldn't just leave him…" Allen explains.

"Right… Ugh, whatever, just don't let it poop or whatever in the house." Cross says as he turns back to the couch.

"You're going to let me keep him? Just like that?" Allen says, now suspicious of Cross.

"Yeah well, you'll need the company." Cross doesn't look back at Allen as he sets himself back onto the couch.

"What do you mean?" Allen says as he walks to stand in front of Cross.

Cross doesn't look at him, instead he focuses on Timcanpy, who has now placed himself on Cross's lap.

"I've got another scouting mission or whatever. There's a group that arrived today from a town north from here who want an alliance or whatever."
"And they're sending you?" Allen says.

Cross laughs. "Yeah, I'm a poor choice for diplomacy, but yeah."
"How long will you be gone?" Allen asks.
"I can't say for sure, days, weeks, I just know it'll be a while." Cross leans back into the couch.

"Oh." Allen's voice is small and quiet and Timcanpy immediately flies back to him, nipping at his left ear.

"Tim!" Allen pushes him off with his hand, laughing as Tim starts pulling at his hair again.

Cross smiles at the sight of his godson, before standing.

"Well, how about some food? I'm starving!" Cross says before making his way over to the small kitchen adjacent to them. Cross opens a cupboard and pulls out an unopened can of pumpkin soup.
"It's nearing the end of October huh? I guess it's time to get festive."

After dinner, Cross announced that he needed to pack to leave early tomorrow and sends Allen to bed, bidding him one last goodbye before heading out to the town hall. Allen goes upstairs and quickly changes into another t-shirt and pants before getting into bed. Allen knows it's pointless to wait for Cross to return, since he comes home so late, so he rolls over and slowly falls asleep.

Lavi was not happy with this turn of events. Regardless, he continues reloading his shotgun. He's currently in the armoury, preparing to meet the people from Wellsborough that they had contacted this morning. Sadly, a new influx of the undead at their walls meant that he had to be extra prepared, even for the one or two hour journey south. Kanda and Lenalee had gone back to their homes to pack supplies, which left Lavi to reload all the firearms. Lavi checked his watch: 10:12pm. He hoped that this wouldn't take much longer, he needed his beauty sleep, dammit!

Then, he heard it: shots were going off and they were close. Lavi stood and shoved the last bullets into the shotgun. He grabbed his hammer, an iron, one, weighted so to destroy skulls more effectively. Running out of the warehouse-turned-armoury, he immediately headed to the source of the sound, only to met met halfway by a groaning, stumbling undead. Lavi stared, he recognised the women, or ex-women, she lived next-door to him. She grunted as she started forward towards him. Lavi lifted his hammer, waiting for the zombie to come within range. As it did, he brought the hammer down, splitting the skull and splattering the brains within. It almost looked fresh, with bright red blood and pink chunks pooling beside the fallen body. As more shots went off, Lavi pulled his eyes away from the zombie and pressed on to the north gate.

Lenalee panted heavily as she ran towards the armoury where Lavi was. She'd just gone to the food storage near the north side, when she saw the gates wide open and the undead pouring in. Now running, she held her knife in her right hand and had a pack full of cans on her back which sadly weighed her down. As the turned down the final street she almost collided with Lavi, who had blood splattered on his hammer and his shoes.

"Lavi!" She cried.

"Lenalee, are you okay?" Lavi asks.

It's then that Lenalee realises she's crying, warm tears run down her cheeks.

"The north gate is wide open! The zombies are just walking in!" She explains.

"What!? How did this happen?" Lavi asks, clearly distressed.

"Who knows?" Another voice sounds from behind them.

A dark figure emerges from a nearby alleyway, holding a thing, long, Japanese style sword.

"Yuu?" Lavi asks.

"Don't call me that!" Kanda snaps back. He jogs up the street to the two of them.

"Are you okay?" Lenalee asks, checking Kanda for any wounds.

"Yeah, this blood isn't mine." Kanda gestures to himself and his sword which are splattered with blood.

"Do you know what happened?" Lavi asks.

"No. But I do know that this town had gone to shit." Kanda almost growls his response.

"What do you mean?" Lenalee look around them at the buildings nearby, checking for any signs of the undead.

"The stores are up in flames and everyone's panicked." Kanda explains.

"Panicked?" Lavi asks, confused.

"Grabbed almost everything from the armoury." Kanda gestured back to the warehouse, where a crowd of people have gathered.

"So we're defenceless!?" Lenalee exclaims.

"Not quite." Lavi raised his shotgun for emphasis.

"Great haul, stupid rabbit." Kanda spits

"What?"

"Just one, you only got one. And I bet you only got the bullets inside too."
"Hey! I didn't know it was this bad!"
"Stop it!" Lenalee cries, effectively shutting up the two boys.

"Right. So what do we do?" Lavi queries.

"How about Wellsborough? They're meant to be well stocked, and we can warn them of the hoard coming." Lenalee proposes.

"Sounds good to me. Kanda?" Lavi agrees.

"Mm."

"Good enough for me! Let's go!" Lavi starts skipping towards the warehouse and in the direction of the south gate. Kanda grouchily follows with Lenalee close behind.

As it turns out, Wellsborough hadn't done to well either. By the time the trio had arrived, the town was in ruins. with stray fires burning themselves out. It was almost midnight when they arrived but the town still shone bright, even under it's grisly ornaments.

"This is weird." Lavi says, staring at the wreckage of the town.
"What do you mean?" Kanda asks.

"There's no undead here." Lavi says.
"And?"
"Where did they go? They usually hang around for ages before they get lured away." Lavi crouches down to look at a fresh splatter of blood, seemingly void of a source.
"Maybe the attack wasn't recent." Lenalee says.
"The fires are still burning, and the hall got a radio communication just before our town got hit, which was just over an hour ago. Besides…" Lavi touches the blood with this fingers."…This blood is still fresh."
"So what!?" Kanda exclaims.
"Huh?" Lavi replies.
"If there's no zombies then stop complaining. Let's just check for supplies or whatever." Kanda says. He then storms off down a street without looking back.

"Then, let's check these houses, maybe there're some survivors." Lenalee suggests.

"Yeah, sounds good." Lavi grins at Lenalee before starting towards the nearest house, a two storey, next to a bunch of ones looking exactly the same.

As Lavi and Lenalee reached the fifth house on the street, they'd long since realised something was wrong. There had been bodies in every house. No zombies, just bodies. The strange this was, is that they'd been covered in bites, some with chunks of flesh gone. Their head were still intact though, and there were no other fatal wounds, as far as either of them could see.

The fifth house was painted purple and cream and had a half destroyed rocking chair on it's side by the door.

"Do you think an older person lived here? With the rocking chair and all…" Lenalee says, glancing sideways at the chair.

"I guess we'll find out." Lavi says.

'I don't think I could handle seeing an older guy in there, especially after Gramps…' Lavi thinks.

Lavi shakes his head and pushes past the half-open door, splattered in blood. The hallway behind it was equally so, with blood sprayed on the walls. Lavi moved into the room at the end of the hall, expecting another body or two.

But there was nothing. The area was surprisingly clean, with not even a drop of red on the floor or walls.
"Lavi?" Lenalee calls from the other room.

"Coming!" Lavi calls back, heading down the corridor as he follows the sound of Lenalee's voice.

Lenalee come out of a side room near the entrance.

"This place is stocked! There's enough food in here for months even for all three of us!" She exclaims as she grins widely.

"No way." Lavi says.

Lenalee steps aside to let Lavi take a look. He takes one look inside the room and starts to laugh.
"This is great! The room at the back's pretty clean too, so should set up a temporary base until help arrives or until the food becomes enough to carry without leaving any behind."

Lenalee smiles and looks around the small house. She then notices a tiny stairwell opposite the store-room.

"Lavi." She says and points at the stairs.

"Yeah?" Lavi turns and follows the path of Lenalee's hand.

"Oh." Lavi says. He then moves towards it, his hammer held ready in his right hand.
The stairs are slick with blood, thick and warm. Lavi grabs the handrail with his left hand as he makes his way up the stairs.

There's two doorways on the second floor. The one on the left is open, with the door fallen off it's hinges and into the room. The one on the right, however, is splattered with blood and unidentifiable red chunks lie on the floor in front of it. A small table has been pulled in front of the door, blocking the door handle. Lavi grabs the table and pushes it to one side, but not without noticing the scratches on both it and the door, most likely from the hands of the undead.

Luckily, it seemed that nothing had gotten inside.

Lavi grabbed the door handle and turned it, but it didn't budge. Either the door was locked or there was something blocking it.

Deciding to try the first option, Lavi raises his hammer and then smashes it down onto the door handle. A crunch and metallic ring soon prove that the lock has been undone. Lavi pushes the door, and with some difficulty, it opens.

To say Allen was scared would be an understatement. As the undead slowly shuffled towards him, he had no choice but to run. The shots that had been fired just before had lured Allen into going outside into the street to see what was going on. Unfortunately, he'd been met with a hoard of zombies. Allen threw the door closed before rushing up to his room. As he took the first steps up the stairs, he felt something grab his leg, causing him to fall forward. A sharp pain ricocheted through his skull as he slid down the stairs. Looking up, Allen was met with three undead zombies bearing down on him.
No no no no no!

The zombies reached out their grisly hands to grab him. Instinctively, Allen raised his arms over his face, only for the nearest undead to grab his left arm and pull it towards them.

Not like this! Cross! Please!

Allen's eyes began to water as he started crying for his life.

Please…

The zombie ahold of his arms lunged forward and sunk it's teeth into Allen's hand.

No!

The second joined the first, biting down on his arm and tearing at the flesh.

NO!

The third thrust it's arms forward, pulling Allen closer.

The zombies' teeth tore at him, pulling his skin away. Allen couldn't bear to look as he flailed his inured arm wildly, slapping and swatting the zombies away. The undead let go as Allen made a final pull away from them, but the damage was done. Allen stumbled to his feet and ran up the stairs into his room, pulling the hallway table in front of the door. He slammed the door shut and locked it. The moans of the undead grew louder once again, and Allen could hear the banging and scratching against his door. Allen collapsed onto his bed, pulling his knees into this chest as he cried.

It's all over.

Lavi didn't know what to expect when he opened the door, but this definitely wasn't it. A young boy sitting on the ground, with shocking white hair, with a silver handgun pointed at him. The boy could be no older than 14, yet he had an animalistic light in his eyes. His left arm lay limply at his side, covered in a mix of dried and fresh blood.

"W-Who are you?" the boy asked.
Lavi tries a smile as he puts his hammer down under the boy's watchful eyes.

"Name's Lavi. May I ask yours?" Lavi sits on the floor cross-legged.

The boy looks at him warily before lowering the gun.

"Allen." he says.

"Great. Hey Allen." Lavi says, smiling.

Allen is openly surprised at Lavi's reaction, his eyes's widening.

"Can you tell me what happened here?" Lavi pries, hoping for some answers.

Allen swallows before answering.

"The zombie's came."

"Zombies, huh?" Lavi say's, trying not to grin.

"What!?" Allen raises his voice indignantly.

"Not many call them 'zombies' anymore, Al. People don't like it." Lavi explains.

"Why not?" Allen asks, confused.

"Well, it's childish, tacky, I dunno. People use terms like 'the undead' or 'walkers'."

Allen pouts as he replies. "Can't call 'em walkers."
"Why not?" Lavi asks.
"My…my last name is Walker." Allen explains.
Lavi stares at the boy for a second before his mouth splits into a wide grin. "No way." he says, starting to laugh.

"What? Yeah! I'm Allen Walker." Allen leans forward, putting his hand on the floor in front of him.

Big mistake.
The moment Allen's left hand hit the ground, he hisses, wincing in pain.

Lavi almost jumps forward.

"Al?" He asks, concerned.

"Ow…" Allen nurses his left hand.

"What happened to you, Allen?" Lavi asks as he sits back, watching Allen carefully.

"You wouldn't believe me." Allen says, looking down.

"Try me."

"It was-"

"Lavi!" A female voice calls from downstairs.

"Who's that!?" Allen almost shouts, moving backwards onto his bed in the corner.

"Wait! Al, that's my friend the Lena-lady: Lenalee." Lavi explains before called back.

"Come on up Lenalee, found someone!"

Allen and Lavi stay silent as Lenalee loudly climbs the creaky stairs.

"In here!" Lavi stands and sticks his head out of the door, towards the stairs.

"Oh!" Lenalee walks into the room with Lavi and immediately sees Allen in the corner.
"Hello there, what's your name?" Lenalee sits down where Lavi was, leaving Lavi to sit to her left.

"Allen." Allen replies, lifting his head a little, just to get a better look at Lenalee.

"Are you hurt? What happened?" Lenalee asks, calmly.

"Al here was just about to tell me, said I wouldn't believe it." Lavi turns to smile at Allen.

"You still up for it?" Lavi asks.

Allen stares down for a few seconds before looking back up at Lavi and Lenalee.

"I…" He starts.
"Go on, you can tell us anything." Lenalee says, smiling at him.

"I was…bitten." Allen finishes, looking back down as he pulls his knees into his chest, his left arm now hidden.

"What?" Lenalee says, confused.

"You…Al…" Lavi, who had been leaning forward, now fell backwards.

"How long does it take?" Allen asks, his head still down.

"How long does what take?" Lenalee asks.

"You know… to turn into one of them." Allen says.

"Oh, just a few minutes I'd think." Lenalee says, turning to Lavi.

"It's ten seconds for symptoms, thirty for death and forty to forty-five for reanimation." Lavi says.
He then sits up, like he'd been electrocuted.

"That makes no sense." Lavi says, looking over to Allen. "We've been talking for a few minutes now."

Allen just nodded. "It's…been an hour or so since it happened."
"That's impossible." Lenalee said, staring at Allen.

"Are you sure you were bit?" She says.

Allen raises his arm, to show the two. The entire limb is a deep red, dark veins and pale remnants of skin or muscle are still visible. Clear teeth indents are visible on the hand and shoulder, as well as a clear missing pocket of flesh in the upper arm. The limb is rough and misshapen, the wound goes all the way up to Allen's shoulder where odd dark stretch marks are visible on the skin by the injury.

Lenalee reaches into here bag a pulls out a couple wraps of gauze.
"We should…see if we can stop infection. Or at least try to help it heal." She moves towards Allen, who let her grab his arm and start wrapping it.

Lavi just stared, wide-eyed, at Allen and his arm. He couldn't move, it was like he was frozen in fear, but he wasn't scared, just overwhelmed.

Lenalee silently wrapped Allen's arm, slowly making her way up from his fingertips to his shoulder.

"If we find some disinfectant, then we should clean and redress your arm." Lenalee said, just as she finished covering Allen's arm.

"Thanks." Allen murmured.

Lenalee smiled before turning to Lavi, who was still looking stunned.

"We should-" She started.

"Oi! You in there!?" A loud voice sounded from outside, causing Allen to jump slightly.

"Who-" Allen glances towards Lavi and then at Lenalee.

Lavi, seemingly shaken out of his daze, jumps up.

"I got it." He said, quickly heading downstairs.

Kanda was not happy. The streets are filled with bodies, there's blood everywhere and there are no unfortunate undead to take out his frustration on. It seemed that the people here had annoyingly similar thought processes to those back home, the armoury was destroyed and the food scattered in individual packs. Most of the food he'd found had been crushed, spilt or had a little too much flesh in it, in his opinion. Heading back to the front gate, Kanda hoped to regroup with the others, who hopefully hadn't gotten themselves killed while he was gone. As he neared the gate, Kanda grew even more annoyed as his teammates are nowhere to be seen.

It was then Kanda saw a row of houses nearby, all with clear, unobstructed doorways. Walking over to them, Kanda stared up at the houses, the fronts splattered with blood. Crinkling his nose in disgust, Kanda moved to stand squarely in front of the houses before shouting.

"Oi! You in there!?"

After a few seconds of silence, Kanda was ready to try else where. Then, he heard a familiar voice.

"Yuu!" Lavi practically skipped out of one of the houses.

"Idiot!" Kanda growled at him, raiding his sword.

Lavi laughed and raised his hands in defence. Kanda narrowed his eyes at Lavi, he had a bad feeling about how Lavi was acting. Lavi's smile seemed forced and he hadn't tackled him, not that he was complaining.

"What happened?" Kanda asked, as he sheathes his sword.

Lavi's smile dropped immediately, he glanced up at the house he'd come out of before turning back to Kanda.

"We found a survivor."
"Great." Kanda replied. "And…?"
"He's been bitten." Lavi said, seriously.

"And you just decided to, what, strike up a conversation!? Is Lenalee alone with them right now!?" Kanda raised his voice, almost shouting at Lavi.

"He's just a kid."
"Huh?" Kanda said.

I don't get it, so what? He's a brat, I doesn't matter once he turns.

"He won't turn." Lavi said, almost unsure of himself.

"What do you mean?" Kanda said, angrily.

Lavi better spit out whatever the fuck is up right now or so help me

"We don't know why, but the kid was bit over an hour ago and he's fine!" Lavi seemed almost frantic.

"Show me." Kanda immediately powered inside the house Lavi had come from.

"It's great that you still have electricity, Allen." Lenalee pointed up towards the flickering light above them.

"There's a bunch of solar panels in the town centre. I also heard some people talking about a generator underground a few months ago…" Allen said.

The two had become more comfortable in the few minutes Lavi had been gone. Lenalee had now joined Allen on his bed. Allen had pulled his blanket over his shoulders.

"Wow, it's really late." Lenalee remarked. Just as she said this, she yawned loudly.

Allen grinned before he too yawned. Seeing this, Lenalee giggled.
"After we talk to Kanda, let's get some sleep, okay? It's been a long day."
"Mmm." Allen hummed in agreement.

"Lena-lady! We're coming up!" Lavi called from downstairs as loud footsteps could be heard on the stairs.

Lenalee stood up to meet whoever it was. She soon returned with a grumpy looking teen.

"Allen, this is our friend, Kanda." Lenalee gestured to Kanda.

"Kanda, this is Allen."

Kanda glared pointedly at Allen, who was retreated further into his blanket.

"You're the kid who got bit."
Allen visibly flinched at Kanda's tone, looking down as he once again curled into a ball.

"Kanda…" Lenalee said, disapprovingly.

"Hmph." Kanda turned away from Allen and looked at Lenalee.

"Find anything useful?"

Lenalee gave Allen a pitiful look before replying.

"Yeah, this house is stocked with plenty of food, just downstairs." Lenalee then looked at Allen

"It's okay if we take this stuff, right Allen?"

"Mmhmm." Allen nodded for emphasis.

"Good. Kanda I'll show you where it is." Lenalee was about to leave when Allen spoke up.

"Cross kept loads of stuff here. He always thought something like this would happen."
"Oh yeah?" Lenalee said, turning back to him.
"There's also, uh…" Allen glanced at Kanda."Cross had a huge stash of weapons in his room too, it's the one down the hall."

Kanda raised his eyebrows, even though it wasn't by much.

"Really? Can you show us?" Lenalee asked.

"Yeah." Allen said, standing. He moved past Kanda and Lenalee out into the hallway. The three of them then made their way to Cross's room, where Allen immediately went to the large bed in the middle. Reaching underneath, Allen pulled a lever, pushing the mattress and sheets back to reveal a large compartment.

"Woah." Lenalee said, staring at the contents.

The compartment had around a dozen firearms, all of different style and size. There was also an abundant supply of various bullets as well as a set of what appeared to be hand grenades. Included is a variety of melee weapons, including a range of knives, a baseball bat and crowbar.

"Wow, Allen, your godfather really knew how to stock up." Lenalee commented as she picked up a rifle out of the compartment.

"Hey, guys. Miss me yet?" Lavi called from the stairwell as he made his way up.

"Lavi! In here!" Lenalee shouted back to him.

Lavi's jaw fell open the moment he saw what was in the room.
"Won't you look at that…" Lavi said as he grinned widely. Just as he reached into the compartment, he was interrupted by a loud yawn.

Lavi turned to the source and almost laughed at the embarrassed look on Allen's face.

"Sorry." He said.

"Nah, it's late. Let's check the stash out in the morning." Lavi said, smiling at Allen.

"You guys okay with crashing downstairs?" Lavi asked, turning to Kanda and Lenalee.

"You could stay in my room." The trio turned back to Allen, who'd spoken up.
"There's a bunch of mattresses and blankets in here too." Allen said, gesturing to the rest of Cross's room.

"That sounds good." Lavi said. "It's safer to stay together."

A few minutes of unpacking later, Lavi and Kanda had successfully set up two mattresses in Cross's room for the two of them. Lenalee had also laid out one in Allen's room, so neither of them would have to sleep alone.

"I'll take first watch." Kanda volunteered.

"If you really want to." Lavi said, collapsing onto his bed.
"Good night, Yuu!" He said as he rolls over.

"Don't call me that!" Kanda whispered loudly, hoping not to wake the already sleeping Lenalee and Allen next door.

"Sure, sure!" Lavi laughed. "Goodnight."
"I'll be back in five hours." Kanda said as he heads to the door.

Lavi grins and closes his eyes, just as he hears the door slam shut.

It was around 10 am when Allen finally stirs. He wakes to an empty room, with Lenalee's bedding thrown into the far corner. Allen rubs his eyes and stands up to look out the window. Looking outside, Allen spots Lavi and Kanda checking the houses behind his. Kanda's looking grumpy as both teens are empty handed.
"Good morning, Allen." A voice says behind Allen, making him turn.

Lenalee is standing in the doorway, smiling at him. She's changed her shirt, probably with one she found next door or nearby.

"Morning." Allen replies, smiling back.

"Lavi and Kanda went out looking for supplies." She said, as she takes the first steps down the stairs.

"I know, I can see them." Allen says, gesturing towards his window.
"Really?" Lenalee walks back up the stairs, into Allen's room and to the window.

"Does this window open?" She asks.

"Yeah, here." Allen leans over and grabs a small latch at the bottom of the window. He then pushes the glass, forcing the window upwards and open.

"Hey! Lavi, Kanda!" Lenalee calls down into the yard opposite where Lavi and Kanda are digging through a shed.
The two look up at the sound of Lenalee's voice. Lavi waves, smiling widely. Kanda just glances up before going back to searching.

As Allen watches the three interact, he realises how little he knows about them, if little means nothing at all. Allen decides to start asking questions.

"Hey Lenalee?"

"Yes, Allen?" Lenalee turns back to him, closing the window.

"Um… How old are you guys?" Allen asks.

It's better to start simple, I suppose.

Lenalee smiles as she answers.

"Oh, I'm sixteen. Lavi's eighteen and so's Kanda, but his birthday's coming up soon."
"How soon?" Allen asks, hoping to forward the conversation.
"In a month or so, I think." Lenalee says thoughtfully. She then looks at Allen.

"How about you?" She asks him.

"Huh, Oh, I'm fourteen." He answers.

Lenalee smiles. "I guess that explains a lot."

"Huh?" Allen says, confused.

"It's just…I don't know, you don't act like a lot of people these days. You were born here in Wellsborough, yeah?"
"Yeah."
"Well, apparently this was one of the first towns or settlements that are still standing. Most people, including me, Lavi and Kanda, have had to survive out there at some point." Lenalee explains, gesturing outwards.

"What's it like?" Allen asks.

"It's…Chaotic." Lenalee says, she looks almost sad. "You can never relax and there's always the threat of them out there, no matter what you do."
"How long were you out there?"
"Just over a year. Kanda and I were living in a smaller settlement, but the people there weren't very…stable, I guess. So a group of us left. We eventually ran into Lavi and some others…but we were the only ones to reach the settlement up north from here." Lenalee says, pausing before continuing.

"Did you know, the people there called it Hopetown. It's sounds pretty tacky huh? I guess now it's more ironic." Lenalee chuckled.

Allen didn't dare interrupt, silently listening to Lenalee's story.

"I'm sorry." He finally said after a short silence.

"Oh, it's okay." Lenalee said, grinning. She stood up, smiling at Allen.
"Okay, let's get busy! We can't let Lavi and Kanda do all the work or Lavi'll never let us hear the end of it."

After two hours of sorting food, packing bags and counting bullets, it was time for lunch.

Lavi and Kanda had finally returned with a selection of first-aid supplies, clothes and a few batteries. Lenalee had brought out some canned beans and soup for everyone. Luckily the oven still worked, but they weren't sure for how long, so the food that needed heating was to be eaten first. Luckily Allen and Lenalee had efficiently sorted and organised all the available food, with some in bags to take, and some ready to be eaten as soon as possible. Everyone ate in an almost-silence with Lavi making jokes or comments whenever he wasn't eating. Allen almost spilt his food once when Lavi started baiting Kanda with words that Lenalee had made him promise never to say aloud.

After eating, Allen and Lavi helped clean up. Since Kanda and Lavi had secured the gate they'd come through, what they needed to do now was to secure the inside. Lenalee had quickly wiped down the stairs that morning, but they were still a 'health-hazard' as said by Lavi. It took a few hours to use towels and such to get the house to a liveable standard. The walls were still tinted a dark red, but no amount of scrubbing seemed to do the trick. As they finished up, Lavi started using the towels to collect the wayward pieces of flesh that were laying at the bottom of the stairs. Seeing Allen's confused expression, Lavi explained.

"Yuu wants to burn up any bodies before they start to rot, so we're making a bonfire tonight." Lavi grinned.

"Okay." Allen said.
"Don't worry we won't burn anything down!" Lavi says, grinning. "Actually, do you know where we can find some wood? We'll need quite a bit."
"Yeah, I think I know where I can find some." Allen replies.

"Great! We're setting up in the square near the gate, bring what you can find down in an hour or so." Lavi checked his watch. "It's four now… so we'll get started at around five. Don't be late!" As Lavi finished speaking, he started heading towards the the door and into the street.

Allen watched Lavi go before heading upstairs. Allen quickly grabs Crown Clown from his room, his handgun already at his side. He also grabs a flashlight, so he wouldn't have to come back later.

Allen then starts making his way to the west side of the town, where the park is.

I hope no one moved those building supplies from before…

Luckily, the park appear's to be untouched, the building supplies he saw yesterday are still laying haphazardly around the to-be construction site. Allen smiled as he went over and collected what wood he could carry into his arms, his smile almost dropped at the painful ache in his left arm at the pressure. Shrugging it off, Allen decided to get the wood back to the others as soon as possible. But, just as Allen turns to leave, a familiar groan sounds from behind him.

Allen drop the wood in shock as the spins around to the source of the sound.

Three oddly familiar zombies stand on the hill above him. Staring at the undead, Allen get a wave of nausea as he recognises them as the same zombies who had attacked him before. Allen stands frozen in their gazes, almost not registering that the undead haven't moved and are, instead, standing completely still. Allen takes a few steps back, only to collide with something.

Turning, Allen stares at the thing…no, person he ran into.

It's a girl, around his age, casually leaning on a bright pink umbrella and staring at him curiously.

"So… look's like there was someone left." She smirked as she spoke, spinning her umbrella.

"Uh…" Allen stares and glances at the zombies behind him, who still haven't moved.

"Oh, don't worry about them, they're harmless." The girl said smiling. "Well, they are for now, anyways."
She pokes Allen in the chest with the tip of the umbrella.
"So, who are you supposed to be?"

Lavi was not happy. Unsurprisingly, collecting and moving corpses is not a fun way to spend one's evening. The bodies were coated in dried blood and are covered in wounds. Lenalee had salvaged as many clothes and supplies off them as she could before they were ready for burning, which of course led to some awkwardly naked bodies being thrown into the pile. Lavi did his best to cover them in the bloodied towels from before, but there are a lot of bodies, compared to the limited towels.

"I wonder how Allen's doing? Maybe he needs help…" Lenalee, who had just been throwing extra firewood into the bonfire-to-be.

"Maybe…" Lavi glanced around the square and at the nearby streets.

"I'll go have a look." Lenalee volunteered, dropping a last plank onto the pile.

"Yeah, we'll keep working here." Lavi gestured around the square.

"Okay, I'll be back soon." Lenalee said, jogging down a random street.

It took a little while, but eventually Lenalee came across a large park, covered in fresh grass and bright flowers. There's also a large section of planks and disassembled furniture lying at the park's edge. Strangely, there is also a pile of wood lying noticeably far from the rest of them. Lenalee heads over to it, perplexed. As she takes a closer look, she notices a few drops of blood on the wood and the grass at her feet. Lenalee looks around, scanning the park for the source.
Allen was supposed to be collecting wood, it would make sense if this is his…

Lenalee shakes her head.

No, I've got to think positive.

Lenalee walks up a small hill and goes further into the park. She keeps walking until she see's the fence. She heads over, only to notice a giant hole in the barrier. The grass nearby looks completely crushed, most likely by the feet of the undead. Lenalee's eyes widen as she spots more blood just beyond the fence.

I have to go tell the others.

Lenalee turns and sprints back the way she came, through the park and past the construction site, and past all the houses and buildings to the square.

When Lavi saw Lenalee running back, clearly out of breath, he knew something was very wrong.

She slowed to a stop right in front of him, almost running him over.

"Lavi!" she said, out of breath.

"Lenalee! What's wrong? Did something happen?!" Lavi grabbed Lenalee to steady her.

"I…I think Allen's left the town!" Lenalee said.
"What?" Lavi asked. Kanda started making his way over.

"There's a hole in the fence! It's by a park to the west side of town, where I think Allen was collecting wood." Lenalee explained.

"Can you show me?" Lavi asked.

"Yeah." Lenalee said, turning back the way she came.

"Kanda, can you keep an eye on the bonfire?" Lavi shouted behind him to Kanda, who had already made his way halfway across the square.

"Che, fine. Just don't take too long." Kanda replied, turning around to head back down the square.

"Come on." Lenalee said as she started running back down the street with Lavi close behind.

The sun was sinking lower and lower in the sky and a chilly breeze had come in. The park was getting darker by the minute as Lavi and Lenalee tried to rediscover the break in the fence.

"I hope he's okay." Lenalee murmured, anxiously looking around.

"He'll be fine." Lavi reassured her, yet he looked equally anxious.

"Here!" Lenalee exclaimed, pointing to the large gap in the fence she'd seen before.

"Great." Lavi said, pulling his flashlight off his belt. He turned it on and shines it into the darkness beyond the fence.

"See anything?" Lenalee asks, moving closer.

"No." Lavi heads to the fence, hesitating for a moment before stepping outside.

By what seems like sheer luck, Allen had managed to disable one of the zombies. The other two are scattered somewhere in the forest around him. Allen runs wildly, trying to find his way out of the darkness and back into the town. After that strange girl had ordered the zombies to attack him, they'd come at him at an unnatural speed, forcing him through the fence. Now that he thought about it, that strange girl must be in this forest with him too. Allen only hoped that the others would find him before she did.

A low groan sounded behind Allen, causing him to turn around, only to end up face to face with one of the undead. It's wearing it's jacket on it's shoulders, like a cloak, and it's arms are coated red with dried blood. It stares at Allen, unmoving.

"Found you!" the strange girl from before steps in the view from behind the zombie.

"Who are you!? What are you!? You…you're not a… an undead are you?" Allen asks, slowly stepping backwards.

"One of these things?" the girl taps the zombie with her umbrella. "No, no. I'm human, see?" She leans towards Allen and embraces him, her arms around his neck.

Allen doesn't dare move, but as she holds him, he can feel the warmth of her skin and can feel her heart beating against his chest.

"Feel's pretty alive, huh?" She says, pulling away from him.

"You…" Allen can't think of how to finish, only to stare incredulously at the girl.
"Oh please, call me Road." She says, a wide grin on her face.

"Why are you chasing me?" Allen asks, taking a few more steps backwards.

"Well, funny thing, actually, see, these friends of mine, well, not friends, more like minions, were just running down this town to add to our forces. And I'd hate to leave a job unfinished." Road explained, still smiling.
"But… everyone in town, they didn't turn!" Allen said.
"I guess you're right. But they are dead, yes? And you know what happens when they die."
"But, I thought they turn straight away…"
"Heh, it's delayed gratification silly! Or something like that. The longer we wait, the better they'll be."
"Huh?"

"It's a matter of science, really. I don't understand it, but it's worked so far!" Road smirked at Allen.
"Anyways, where were we? Oh right!" Road closes the distance between them, so that her face is inches from Allen's.
"I was going to do this!" Road lifts a short, strangely shaped knife, almost round and thicker at the base. The thrusts the knife forward, catching under Allen's left eye.

Allen shuts his eyes instinctively, only for a sharp pain to burst across his eye lid. He opens his right eye and sees Road holding her knife against his face, smiling and laughing wildly.

"Now hold still, I need to so this right."

The pain returned, now above his eye. His vision is blinded as his blood trickles down into his face.

"Just a little more…" He hears Road speak again as another wave of pain shocks his left cheek.

"There! Beautiful! This really is my favourite part!"
Allen opens his right eye again, his left stinging too much to move.

"Well, I think that's a lie, this part is my favourite!" Road says as she pulls out a small handgun, just like Allen's except it's a bright gold.

"Bye bye!" She points the gun at him, preparing to fire.

Allen closes his eyes. He's fallen to the ground, dirt and wood chippings sticking to his clothes and irritating his hands. It's a familiar feeling, it feels just like the hill he always used to sit at, which was the one by the hole in the wall. Allen doesn't move, waiting to hear the gun go off.

"Allen!" A voice calls from his left. Allen's eyes snap open, only for him to close his left immediately.

Allen looks up to see Lenalee standing in front of him, facing Road.

"Hey! Another one!" Road says. She then leans over to look at Allen.
"So you're Allen? How many more of you are hiding around here?" Road asks, turning back to Lenalee.

"Lenalee…" Allen says, looking up at the teen.
"You'll be fine Allen, just stay behind me." She reassures, not taking her eyes off Road.
"Lenalee, then? I'm Road, very nice to meet you. You're very pretty." Road says, stepping closer.

Lenalee draws her shotgun from her back and points it at Road.
"That's not very nice." Road says, staring past the gun and at Lenalee.

"Leave. Please, just go away. Or I'll shoot." Lenalee readjusts the gun to point at Road's forehead. Lenalee glances over at the undead at the edge of the clearing.
"What…" She trails off, her attention diverted.

Road takes her chance, knocking the shotgun out of Lenalee's hands and onto the ground. She then picks it up and empties the bullets onto the ground at their feet.

"Not so dangerous now, huh?" Roads says, throwing the gun to the side.
Lenalee grimaced, her attention now fully on the girl in front of her. She then pulls out a pair of slightly curved knives from her waist and points them at Road.

"I can still fight." She says.
"Can you?" Road points her handgun at Lenalee.

"Shouldn't have brought a knife to a gun fight."
"I don't really think that applies." Lavi, who had snuck up on Road, now had his handgun on the back of her head and a small knife at her throat.

"Really? This is hardly fair." Road complains.

"You haven't been playing fair yourself." Lavi retorts. "Drop the gun."
Road rolls her eyes as he drops her gun onto the ground and raises her hands.

"Careful…" Allen tries to say. Unfortunately, neither Lenalee nor Lavi heard, meaning neither were prepared when the zombie behind Lavi grabbed his arm.
In the same instance, Road moved to grab her gun. Lenalee moved to intercept her, only to be grabbed from behind by the other zombie.
"Now, this is better." Road straightens up, her gun back in her hand. She takes a few steps back, so to get a clear view of the three. The zombies held the Lavi and Lenalee still, looking up at Road.

"Oh, go ahead. It's almost dinner time."

The zombies moved to bite Lavi and Lenalee, who's struggles seemed to go unnoticed. Then, the zombie holding Lavi groaned loudly as a long sword cut downwards into it's skull. As the zombie feel, the form of Kanda was revealed, looking grumpy and holding his sword, which was covered in blood.

Allen was shaken out of his shock as he grabbed his gun, which was lying a meter away and easily shoots the zombie holding Lenalee in the head. Allen scampers out of the way of the newly dead undead's corpse and Lenalee recovers from the zombie's grip.

Road stares distastefully at the four, glaring pointedly at the two bodies of the former undead.

"What a pain…" She says before smiling at the group.
"Well, I'd hate to leave it like this, but… I really should go." Road says, turning to leave.
"Who said you could leave?" Kanda speaks up, raising his sword to point at the girl.
"They did." Road says, gesturing to her right.
Allen then heard an ominous number of moans in that direction.

"If it were me, I'd want to patch up that fence before the hoard arrives." And with that, she was gone.

Kanda started after her, only to be stopped by Lavi, who grabbed his arm.

"She's right, we need to fix that fence. And we can't leave the town for too long."
"Fine." Kanda agrees.

"Allen!" Lenalee cries out, rushing over to the boy.

"Oh, Allen, don't worry, you're going to be okay…" Lenalee said, staring at the wound on Allen's face. The blood had started drying, but the wound was still clearly visible: a reversed five point star connected to a crooked line going over his eye and down his cheek. Lenalee tore a strip from her shirt and placed it over the wound.

"Come on, let's head back."

Lenalee helped Allen stand, with Allen's right arm over her shoulders. As the group prepared to head back, Allen remembered something Road had said.

"Wait…" Allen said, stopping Lenalee from moving.

"Allen?" She said, looking at him with a concerned expression.

"Road…She said something weird." Allen tried to explain.

"What?" Lavi said, as he and Kanda turned back to Allen and Lenalee.

"She said, the people, the ones who got bit and…died, are going to reanimate soon." Allen said, looking up at the others.

"What?" Kanda said, glancing in the direction of Wellsborough.

"That can't be right, those people…" Lenalee trailed off.

"Well, let's have another look at them. We were planning to burn them anyway." Lavi said.
"Alright. Let's head back." Lenalee said, trying not to look disturbed.

Lavi tried to look brave, smiling at the group. "Let's go."

Luckily, it seemed that the bodies hadn't reanimated in their absence, most of them still lying on a pile in the square.

Allen had been left to rest in his room, while the others finished collecting the bodies and firewood. The sun had gone down while they'd been gone, so the streetlights were the only illumination, lighting only limited areas of the main streets.

"Jeez, I'm already sick of these bloodied clothes." Lavi complained as they finished setting the bonfire up.

"Stop complaining, stupid rabbit." Kanda growled at Lavi.
"Jeez, sorry." Lavi said, wiping his hands on his shirt.

"Guys, let's let light the bonfire already." Lenalee said, rubbing her eyes.

"Gotcha'." Lavi said, reaching into his pockets. He pulls out a box of matches and opens it to remove a match.
"Yuu, pass me that sheet of paper." Lavi said, gesturing to a newspaper at the bottom of the bonfire pile.

"Don't call me that." Kanda said angrily, throwing the newspaper at Lavi.
The newspaper hit Lavi in the head, causing him to drop his box of matches.

"Ouch." Lavi said, still smiling at Kanda. "That was mean Yuu!"

Kanda started walking towards Lavi menacingly, his hand resting on his sword.

"Kanda…" Lenalee said almost crossly.

"Tch." Kanda said turning away from Lavi.

"Let's do this!" Lavi said enthusiastically as he lights the newspaper on fire.

"Just light the damn thing, idiot." Kanda says, glaring at Lavi.
"Yeah, yeah." Lavi said, grinning. He then throws the burning newspaper onto the bonfire.

The bonfire takes a few minutes to fully light, the fire slowly spreading through the bodies and firewood.

The three decided to alternate watches, with Lavi going first. The other two then split off to get some rest before the morning.

Allen woke to a familiar chirping above him. Sitting up, Allen smiles at the sight of Timcanpy flying circles around his head. Lenalee's bed is empty, so Timcanpy is free to fly around the room as he pleases.

"Hey Tim." Allen says, standing to watch Timcanpy fly around.

Timcanpy chirps at Allen, landing on his chest of drawers. Tim looks at Allen almost curiously, causing Allen confusion.
"What's wrong?" Allen says, raising his hand to his face. Allen's fingers come into contact with a rough fabric that's covering his left eye.

Oh, right.
Allen is shocked with the memories of the previous evening, his hand not leaving his face.
Tim chirps, causing Allen to look back at him.
"I'm okay, Tim, really. Just lost a bit of depth perception."
Timcanpy jumps of the drawers and flies towards Allen, flying around in front of him, almost provocatively.

Allen laughs, trying to grab Timcanpy with his hands and failing miserably.

"Allen?" A feminine voice calls from the corridor outside. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah! I'm fine." Allen calls back, Timcanpy flying over to land on his head.

"I'm coming in." Lenalee opens the door, revealing Allen in the middle of the room with Timcanpy perched in his hair.

"Allen? What's that?" Lenalee says, pointing at Timcanpy.

"Oh, this is Timcanpy, my bird." Allen explains, looking upwards.

"I see." Lenalee says, smiling. "What kind of bird is he?"

"Tim's a canary, but he's special." Allen says.
"I can see that."

Tim starts flying around the room in response, chirping loudly. He then lands on Lenalee's right shoulder, leaning against her neck.

"He's very sweet." She says, petting him with her finger.

"Mmhmm" Allen murmured in agreement.

Then, something very bad happened. The darkness outside quickly became bright, a flickering light illuminating the night.

"What?" Lenalee quickly moves to the window.
"What's happening?" Allen asks, walking over to her.
"I'm not sure." Lenalee paused for a moment before turning to the door.

"Stay here." She said before running out into the corridor. Allen heard her go down the stairs and the door slam behind her.

Lavi was starting to really hate being on watch. Last time, his town had fallen, this time, well, this had happened. Lavi could only watch in shock as the previously inanimate, burning bodies had decided to take a walk down the street. The moment they'd started moving, Lavi had moved far from the fire to avoid the fiery hands of the undead. He ran to the nearest house, which had a large balcony, connected a nearby alley by a fire escape. As Lavi pulled himself up the ladder, he could hear the growing moans of the undead. Reaching the balcony, Lavi readied his rifle, aiming at the wandering undead. Then, he fired. The zombies were almost confused at first, the gunshot echoing loudly through the streets, disguising his location. As Lavi took the next few shots, however, the undead began to determine the source of the sound.

Hoping the others had heard the commotion, Lavi continued taking out any zombie that got too close to his hiding spot. He watched many undead, still burning bright, wander down the other streets, almost intentionally, towards the other side of town.

The burning assailants unnerved Lavi, they seemed almost unaffected by the fire. Lavi would have been convinced that the fire wasn't affecting them at all, except for the eventual slowing of those burning the brightest. The undead's muscles and brains were almost definitely being abused by the flame, meaning it was only a matter of time before they fell to it. Unluckily, most of the houses in Wellsborough are wooden, meaning there could be some real problems soon, if the zombies decided to get to close.

Allen and Lenalee are in a wooden house.

Lavi felt a sickening feeling rise in his throat as he saw one undead brush past one of the houses by the fence. The wall became tinted black with ash, as the zombie continued, walking too close for comfort to the wooden wall. As it closed in on the house's door, the walls started smoking, only a little at first, and then a lot.

"Lavi!" Lavi heard Kanda shout up at him. He'd just run up one of the streets opposite him.

Lavi waved at him, and then pointed at the smoking house. Kanda recognised the threat immediately, running towards the zombie, his sword drawn.
The door burst into flames, just as Kanda closed in on the undead, tearing it's head from it's body.

Kanda then pulled off his jacket, one he'd found earlier that evening, and used it to smoother the growing flames. Luckily, it seemed he'd gotten there in time, the flaming slowly subsiding into nothing.
Lavi breathed a sigh of relief as he watched Kanda proceed to take out any burning zombies getting too far off the streets. The effects of the fire were now clearly prominent, the undead barely shuffling along the concrete. Deeming it was safe to descend, Lavi climbed down from the balcony, needing only to disable one zombie with his hammer as he headed towards Kanda and the square.

The bonfire was still burning, surprisingly, coloured ember still visible. Many of the bodies hadn't emerged from the fire, their blackened forms visible within the flames.

"Looks like that fire did some good after all." Lavi said, just as Kanda made his way over.

"Are you nuts?" Kanda said, almost angry.

"See?" Lavi said, pointing. "There's at least half of the bodies we found still here, they must've burnt themselves out." Lavi said, silently laughing at his pun.

"Tch, come on, stupid rabbit, there's still plenty of them out there." Kanda said, starting down one of the streets.

"I'll tell the others, okay?" Lavi called down at Kanda.
Kanda waved behind him, not even stopping.

Of course, Allen and Lenalee were very aware of the situation. They'd decided to leave the house to inspect the strange situation in the streets below. The two had dispatched most of the undead that they'd seen, leaving only a few that had wandered off before they could kill them. They soon heard shots coming from the square, which was incidentally where most of the zombies where coming from.

They immediately headed to the square, where the bonfire was, but they'd been stopped by a huge hoard of burning undead. It didn't take long to take care of the hoard, seeing as they were clearly visible in the darkness. The only problem was trying to extinguish the fires afterwards.

Allen and Lenalee methodically went around, using retrieved clothing to smother the fires. Just as they finished up, they heard shouting nearby.

"Lenalee! Allen!" Lavi shouted at the two as he ran towards them from the square, he'd only just spotted them on his way to Allen's house.

"Lavi!" Lenalee cried, waving.

"You guys okay?" Lavi said, coming to a stop in front of them.

"Yeah, we're okay." Lenalee says.
"What happened?" Allen asks.

"Around half of the bodies just up and walked out of the fire! I think we got most of them though."
"They were all heading that way." Allen says, gesturing behind him. "I think we missed a few."
"Yeah, me too. Yuu and I were just going to seep the town for any we missed." Lave explains.

"That's good." Lenalee says, smiling.

"Did you put out the fires?" Allen asks.
"Huh? Oh, um, no, not yet." Lavi says, grinning sheepishly.

"Then we can do that, right?" Allen says, looking at Lenalee.
"Yeah." Lenalee agrees.

"Well, I'd better get going, I'll see you back at the square." Lavi says, as he starts walking past Allen and Lenalee, down the street.

"Okay." Allen says, moving towards the last of the burning bodies. Just as he does this, Allen feels something moving under his shirt. Timcanpy emerges, chirping loudly as he flies directly upwards and then at Lavi.

"Tim!" Allen cries, reaching out towards the bird.
"Huh?" Lavi says, hearing Allen's cry.
Timcanpy lands on Lavi's shoulder, and bites his ear.

"Ouch!" Lavi says, swatting at Timcanpy.
"Tim! Stop it!" Allen runs over, trying to grab Timcanpy who manoeuvres out of his reach, flying circles around the trio.

"What is that?" Lavi asks, staring incredulously at Timcanpy.

"He's my pet Timcanpy." Allen explains, Tim still flying around.

"That thing is yours?" Lavi says.
"Uh, yeah." Allen says, smiling at Lavi, who's rubbing his ear.

"You're pet's nuts."
"I know."

Lavi shakes his head, his ear now a bright red.

"I'm out." Lavi says almost running down the street, leaving Allen and Lenalee laughing behind him.

As Kanda beheaded another smouldering undead, he realised he'd made his way to the park with the breach in the fence.

Is this where they were all headed?

These conscious zombies were really becoming too much to handle. But if they were leaving town, Kanda could only wonder where they were going.

When the group had reentered the town, they'd used the construction materials nearby to create a makeshift barrier along the hole in the fence. But now that Kanda saw it again, it was clear that the undead had been here. The wooden planks were now black with ash and were covered in smears of red and had deep scratches all over.

The undead had clearly moved on, Kanda hoped there wasn't another breach in the fence somewhere else.

As Kanda walked, his left side next to the fence, a sense of foreboding started growing in his gut. His surroundings were deadly quiet and still. There are a few more hours until dawn, so most of the town is still pitch black. Kanda was forced to use his flashlight to check all the dark alleys and other places the undead could be hiding. As Kanda approaches the south gate, he spotted lights in the distance. The lights are dim and were moving around erratically, but after a few seconds of watching, Kanda realised that they were heading his way, towards the south gate. Kanda started sprinting, ducking into an alleyway and into the main street which directly connected to the south gate. Kanda walked up to the gate, which was still closed.

The large doors were a rusted iron, the thick metal bars entwining into an odd floral pattern, emblazoned with spikes or thorns and thick, detailed flowers. The gate had an array of planks supporting it, with a set of locks and chains keeping it shut.

The bright streetlights illuminated a few meters of the road past the gate, where a crashed car could be seen, rusting, at the edge of his vision. Kanda could count the five lights in the distance, almost definitely heading down the road towards them. One light, is much closer than the others and is moving significantly faster than the others.

Deciding to not leave the gate unguarded, Kanda stands his ground, trading his sword for his handgun, seeing that a gun would be more threatening at a distance.

As the light comes even closer, Kanda hears gunshots in the distance, as well as shouting. A scream sounds and Kanda sees one of the lights go out. A round of shots immediately follow, echoing loudly as they grow closer. After a few more seconds, a man comes into view, holding a bright flashlight. The man seems surprised to see Kanda standing there, his gun drawn. The man is holding a pistol at his side.

"Hello there!" The man cries, his shocked expression melting into a smile.

"What do you want?" Kanda says, levelling his gun to point at the mans chest.

"We don't need any violence, do we?" The man glances nervously at the gun, but he keeps his friendly expression.

Kanda, however, isn't fooled. No man would be this trusting to a stranger, especially not now.

The man smiles, but he raises his gun at Kanda.

"I don't want to this this, but I will resort to violence if I have to."
"You think you're a better shot?" Kanda says, glaring at the man.

The man laughs, " I have a group, you know, back down the road. I bet you can't outshoot all of them."
"That's if your group doesn't die before that." Kanda says.
"Hmph." The man glares at Kanda, clearly unhappy at his lack of cooperation,

"Just open the gate, kid."
"Che."

The two stare off, neither choosing to submit to the other.

"Yuu!" Suddenly, Kanda hears Lavi behind him.

"Yuu! I found-" Lavi stops at the sight of the other man and instinctively grabs his rifle.

"Who are you?" Lavi says, moving slowly towards the fence.

The man keeps his gun pointed at Kanda, but he turns his head towards Lavi.

"I'm here to ask for help. My group need supplies."
"Why should we believe you?" Lavi says, his hand moving to rest on his hammer.

Kanda is silently glad Lavi is here, he was always better at dealing with people.

"I saw lights down the road. There's definitely more of them out there." Kanda says, glancing at Lavi.

"They're with you?"

"Yeah." The man says, his gaze softening. "One of them's injured."
"How?" Lavi asks.

"Nasty fall on the way here." the man explains.
"You meant to come here?" Lavi asks, suspicious.

"We're from a campsite south from here, this town's traded with us before. If there's more of you, they'd probably know me." The man says. "You two, aren't from this town are you?"

"What makes you say that?" Lavi says, slowly drawing his hammer.

"You're in your late teens, I'd suppose, the town leaders told me only one person in Wellsborough was under 20." the man explains.

"You're right. We're from Hopetown, north of here." Lavi says, ignoring a glare from Kanda.

"Well, I know this town, I can help you. I know where the town leaders kept their personal stocks, I know-"

"Save it." Kanda interrupts. "We don't need you."

"Do you want me to beg? For all the food that you can't eat? For all the supplies you won't use?"
"How many of you are there?" Lavi asks.

"Five, including me." the man says.

"Lavi." Kanda says.

"What?"
"They're almost here."
"Huh?" Lavi looks past the man and spots four flashlight beams close by.

"You can talk to them, they'll convince you."
"Are you the leader?" Lavi asks, his eyes still on the nearby lights.

"I'd say that."

"Good." Lavi says.

The three wait a few moments as the rest of the mans group come closer.

"You never answered my question." Lavi says, causing the man to turn towards him.

"Which one?" The man asks, confused.
"Who are you?" Lavi says.

The man stays silent for a moment before answering.

"My name Chaozii Han."

It took another minute or so, but the rest of Chaozii's group eventually made their way to the gate. Also in that time, Lenalee had made her way down to them, only asking a few questions before silently waiting with Lavi and Kanda.

The last two members of Chaozii's group slowly made their way to the gate, one of them leaning heavily on the other. The injured one was a woman, in her mid twenties, with dark circles around her yes and her dark hair in a tight bun. She is leaning on a man around the same age, if not a few years older, who is lean with very sharp facial features and short black hair with a long white streak which falls in front of his face.

As they fell into place by the rest of the group, Chaozii turning away from them and back to the three behind the gate.

"So, I don't think we've been introduced." Chaozii finally says.

"I guess not." Lavi says. "I'm Lavi. This…" Lavi gestured to Kanda. "Is Yu- ah, Kanda."
"My name's Lenalee." Lenalee says.

"Please to meet you all." Chaozii says. "Now…" He turns to his group.

A man in a black hoodie steps forward, taking off his hood. his face is revealed to have violet, triangular tattoos under his eyes and his forehead is wrapped in pristine, white bandages.

"Name's Daisya, nice to meet cha', I guess." Daisya smiles at Lavi and Lenalee, but avoids looking at Kanda. "It's nice to see you again, Kanda."

Kanda growls at Daisya, but doesn't speak.

"You know him, Kanda?" Lavi asks.

"Knew him." Kanda spits.

Lavi decides to leave it, Kanda is just one big mystery he'd rather not investigate.

Another man steps forward, wearing a large tan sweatshirt, his brown hair cut short, reaching his ears.

"I'm Michael." Michael waves, a small smile on his face.

The injured women looks up at Chaozii and then at Lavi.
"My name's Miranda…N-Nice to meet you…" Miranda says, looking at Kanda nervously.

The man supporting Miranda speaks next.
"I am Arystar Krory the third. It's a pleasure to meet you." Krory lowers his head slightly as he speaks.

"Now that we're aquatinted, will you let us in?" Chaozii says.

"Lavi?" Lenalee turns to him, "What should we do?"
Lavi looks at Chaozii and his group suspiciously. "We'll need to settle some terms first."
"Fine by me." Chaozii quickly says.

"You'll only take what you need and what we don't."
"Done." Chaozii agrees.
"You're only staying today. No longer."
Chaozii looks unimpressed, but agrees all the same.

"And we're not required to answer any of your questions. This is just like it would have been before. Just a quick stop for supplies." Lavi says, glancing at Kanda.

"Alright." Chaozii says, "Will you let us in now?"
"Is that okay? Lenalee, Kanda?" Lavi turns to the two.

"Yeah." Lenalee says, smiling.

"Che. Fine." Kanda says. "But you're forgetting something, stupid rabbit."
"What's that?" Lavi says confused.

"You can't open the gate. It's locked." Kanda explains, pointing to the chain and lock on the gate.

"You don't have the key?!" Chaozii exclaims, "What was this about anyway? You have no power to dictate what happens-"

As Chaozii started ranting at Lavi, Lenalee went up to him.

"Allen might know." She whispers into his ear.

"Can you go find him?" He says.

"Yeah."
"Go." He says. Lenalee immediately runs off, towards Allen's house.

"Where's she going?" Chaozii asks, glaring at Lavi.

"To get the key." Lavi says. "Just wait a few minutes."

Allen hadn't realised that he'd be left alone. Ten minutes Lavi and Kanda had gone off, Lenalee had gone to check on them, leaving Allen to put out fires alone in the square. Once finished, Allen sat on his porch and played with Timcanpy.

That had been ten minutes ago. Allen is getting worried now, Wellsborough isn't that big, and the undead should have been easy to take out, with them moving together and being on fire.

Tim sat on Allen's head, chirping every now and then.

Allen wonders what time it is, hoping dawn isn't too far away, the darkness is a little unnerving.

Just as Allen stands to find Lenalee, he spots her running towards him.

"Allen!" She calls.

"Lenalee?" Allen jumps off the porch and onto the street.

"Allen! Do you know how to open the south gate? I mean, do you know where the keys are?"

"The south gate?" Allen asks, confused.
"There's a group from south of here trying to get in, Lavi negotiated with them. We're giving them some supplies, since one of them is injured." Lenalee explains.
"Oh. Yeah, I think I know where the key is." Allen says, walking towards the square.

The two of them, following Allen's lead, make their way to a large, stone building. A large banner labels the building as the town hall.
"This is where all the leaders kept their things. The keys should be in here, since the leaders don't keep them on them." Allen explains, pushing open the wooden doors.
"I see." Lenalee says, following Allen into the building.
Allen flicks a light switch, and the lights flicker on, revealing a large open office space. Allen walks over to the main desk, pulling open the drawers.

Lenalee starts looking through some other desks, filled only with papers and pens.
"Found it!" Allen cries, holding up a set of keys.

"Great! Let's get it to the gate."

Waiting for Lenalee at the gate was one of the most tense situations Lavi had ever experienced. Chaozii's group had gone to talk among themselves in hushed whispers. Kanda had refused to lower his gun, leaving it pointed at the group.
"Lavi!" Lavi turned to see Lenalee waving at him.

"You got the keys?" Lavi asks.

"Yeah, Allen's got them." Lenalee says turning back as Allen runs into view the keys jingling loudly in his hand.

"Lavi!" Allen shouts.

"Al! Glad you could make it." Lavi says, smiling at the younger boy. "This is Chaozii and his group: Daisya, Michael, Miranda and Krorykins." Lavi grinned widely, gesturing to the group.

"Krorykins…" Krory mutters.

"Yes, well, now that you have the keys, how about letting us in?" Chaozii says, smiling again.
"Gotcha'." Lavi says.

Allen hands him the keys, "Here you go."
"Thanks Al." Lavi smilies at him, before turning to the gate.

Lavi grabs the lock and looks down at the keys. He picks through the keys, finding one labeled 'South'. He puts the key into the lock, turning it. When he feels the lock loosen, Lavi pulls it open and off the chains. Allen grabs the chain and pulls it off the gate so Lavi can pull the gates open.
Once open, Lavi steps aside, letting Chaozii's group get inside, before he locks the gate.

"Let's go to the town hall, it's by the square." Lenalee says to Lavi.

"Yeah, come on." Lavi starts down the street, everyone else following close behind.

Allen went to the front, so to stand next to Lavi, showing him the way.

When they reached the town hall, Lenalee pulled up a bunch of chairs so everyone could sit together.

At some point on the way, Allen had grabbed hold of Lavi's hand. Lavi hadn't said anything, only to smile down at Allen and continue walking.

The two of them sat down in front of the main desk, watching as everyone else sat down around them.

"Well, this is lovely, but where are our supplies?" Chaozii says, leaning forward in his seat.

"You'll get them once we all figure out exactly what you need, and how much." Lavi says.

The group talked for an hour or so, long enough for the sun to rise, staining the sky a pale pink. During the negotiations, Allen had slipped out to wander the streets.

Allen found a park bench on the side of a road to sit on to watch the sunrise. Timcanpy sat on his head, arranging his hair into a comfortable seat.

Once the sun had risen, and Lavi and the others still hadn't left the town hall, Allen decided to go home and change his clothes.

The walk back didn't take long, but the town seemed eerily silent. Allen had been so used to having people around him all the time, that being alone like this, even in these familiar streets, gave Allen an otherworldly feeling of separation. As strange as it was, Allen really missed Cross. Allen just wished he knew where Cross is.

Allen knows Cross must be alive somewhere, he just hopes he'll be back soon.

"Then we've come to an agreement, yes?" Chaozii says, standing up.

"Yeah, good talk." Lavi says, standing. The two shake hands, before turning to their respective groups. Lenalee and Kanda walk over to Lavi.

"Hey where's Allen?" Lavi asks.

"He slipped out a little while ago, not that I can blame him." Lenalee says.

"Oh, well, let's get the medical supplies for Miranda, then I'll go look for him." Lavi says, glancing back at Chaozii and Miranda.
"Right." Lenalee says, smiling. She starts over to Miranda, most likely to explain where they're going.

"Yuu, you'll help out right?" Lavi says to Kanda, grinning.

"Don't call me that!" Kanda harshly whispers. "…I'll help, but I'm not directly dealing with these…people." Kanda spits out the last word.

"Right, well, can you sort out some food packs for each of them. The faster we get this done, the faster they'll leave." Lavi tries, looking at Kanda hopefully.

"…Fine." Kanda says. He then turns and walks out the doors, into the street, leaving Lavi behind him.

"Well, I guess medical supplies it is."

Most of the supplies they'd collected had been deposited into the town's existing storage areas, with the rest taken to Allen's house. The building used was an old office building, only a few stories high, but with mostly open spaces on each floor. The medical supplies were all on the third floor, the first and second being used for food storage.

Lavi grabs what the think's Miranda needs, including bandages, painkillers, a splint and disinfectant. He also grabs some miscellaneous supplies for the group to take with them when they leave. Lavi also grabs some extra bandages and things for Allen, seeing as they were already running low on supplies back at the house.

As he made his way out of the building, Lavi spots Michael loitering near the entrance. The moment Michael sees Lavi, however, he nearly sprints away, back towards the town hall. Lavi quickly dismisses it and makes his own way back.

When he got there, he immediately looks around for Miranda, who he spots in the corner of the room talking to Lenalee and Krory.

"Lenalee!" Lavi calls over to her, waving the bag of supplies for her to see. When she sees him she smiles, quickly saying something to Miranda before walking over.

"Lavi, did you find everything?" She asks.

"Yeah, I think so." Lavi says, handing her the bag.
"Thanks." She says, heading back over to Miranda, with Lavi close behind.
"You doing okay?" Lavi asks Miranda.
"Hm? Oh…Y-Yeah I'm doing fine, thank you." She splutters nervously.

"It's okay Miranda." Lenalee says reassuringly. "Here, we got everything we need to fix up your leg."
"Thank you." Miranda says, looking first and Lenalee and then Lavi.

"No problem." Lavi says, smiling.

"Well, let's get started." Lenalee says.
As Lenalee starts fixing up Miranda's leg, Lavi decides to make conversation elsewhere.

"Krorykins, ol' buddy, ol' pal, how are ya'?" Lavi turns to the older man, who's looking around nervously.

"I'm fine, I suppose." He replies, focusing on Lavi.
"That's good. So Krorykins, how's life in the pack?" Lavi asks, gesturing to Chaozii and Daisya, who are quietly talking on the other side of the room.

"Oh, it's fine, I guess." Krory says, glancing over at the two.

"You guess?" Lavi pries.

"Well, we've only just met. Chaozii's very on edge, but I cannot blame him. This whole situation is very…on edge." Krory explains.

"Oh, I see." Lavi says thoughtfully.

"And you? You're group seems very…" Krory tries, trailing off.

"Oh yeah, I've known Lenalee and Kanda for ages, we're the best of buds." Lavi says, smiling brightly.

"And the other one?" Krory asks.

"Al? Well, we met him pretty recently. He's a good kid and we get along well enough." Lavi says.

"He's injured." Krory says.

"Yeah, we ran into some trouble just yesterday, actually. Some psycho kid running around with zombies."
"Huh?" Krory suddenly looked very concerned.

"But it's all good now! She's gone, well, we think so anyway. I wouldn't worry about it Krorykins!" Lavi says, grinning and laughing.

"Ah, alright." Krory says, regaining his composure.

"Lavi! Could you lend me a hand?" Lenalee calls over, still working on Miranda's leg.

"Ah, I'll be right there." Lavi says. He swivels around to face Lenalee, who's just finished wrapping Miranda's leg in gauze.

"We need to fix the splint to her leg. I need you to hold it still while I wrap it." Lenalee explains, handing the piece of wood to him.
"Gotcha." Lavi says, applying the splint as best he can to Miranda's leg.

"Great." Lenalee says as she starts wrapping around it with another roll of gauze.

A minute or so of silent wrapping later, Chaozii and Daisya walk over.

"Do you need our help?" Chaozii asks.

"Huh? Oh, no we're fine. We'll be done in a bit." Lenalee says, smiling at Chaozii.

"Well if there's no need for us, we'd like to take a look around to town, if that's okay with you." Chaozii says, looking around at the four.

"Oh, I think that's okay." Lenalee says, looking at Lavi.
"Yeah, uh, maybe stay out of Allen's house though…" Lavi says thoughtfully.

"The kid's?" Daisya asks.
"Yeah, it's one near the square, painted purple and cream, I think, with a rocking chair out front." Lenalee says.
"Oh, we'll try not to disturb him, then." Chaozii smiles at Lenalee before waving to Krory and Miranda. He then leaves with Daisya by his side, quickly pushing through the hall's double doors.

Once Allen had left his house, he now wears a slightly too big, red t-shirt, emblazoned with star-like patterns. Allen'd also found a green hoodie with a large turquoise stripe across the middle and a similar coloured cap with the name of a long forgotten sporting team. He's changed into new jeans, seeing that his previous ones had been stained with blood and ripped in more than a few places. He kept his shoes, black sneakers with frayed laces, mostly because there weren't that many pairs in his size. With Crown Clown on his belt, as well as his handgun, Allen had a small pack thrown over his shoulder, holding two cans of food, a flashlight, some matches and some medical supplies. Allen didn't want to be caught off guard again.

The street outside is still silent, it seems that everyone is still at the hall. Allen spots the rocking chair he and Cross had left out lying on it's side, a few meters from the door. Dropping his bag, Allen moves towards it, dragging it back near the front of the house. He then pushes it upright, dusting the dirt and leaves off the seat. Allen smiles at his handiwork, remembering when Cross had almost smashed it, just by tripping into it. He'd broken the left arm rest, which was still obviously crooked. Allen stares at the chair for a moment before grabbing his bag and walking off. He immediately heads to the town hall, seeing that Lavi and the others should still be hanging around there.

Just as Allen reached the doors, however, Chaozii and Daisya pushed them open. They seemed slightly shocked to see Allen there, watching them curiously.

"Oh, hey kid." Daisya says, a permanent smirk on his face.

"Oh, hi. Are Lavi and the others still in there?" Allen asks, looking up at the two.

"Lavi? Yeah he's in there. The girl too. Kanda went off to grab supplies I think." Daisya replies.

"Thanks." Allen says, immediately moving towards the doors.

"Hey, wait." Allen hears Chaozii say. Allen turns towards him.

"Can I ask you something?" Chaozii asks.

You just did.

"You're from this town, am I right?" Chaozii queries.

"Yes." Allen replies.

"Did you, perhaps, know someone called Cross Marian?" Chaozii says, a faint smile on his lips.

Allen's eyes widen slightly as he stares at Chaozii.

"I…Yeah, yeah, I knew him. Why?" Allen answers, narrowing his eyes.

"No reason, just…wondering. I'll see you around." Chaozii says, quickly walking off as he finishes talking.
"Hey!" Allen calls after him, only for Chaozii and Daisya to turn a corner, out of sight.

Deciding to go see Lavi instead of pursuing the two, Allen makes his way inside.

"Allen!" Lenalee called out to him as he came through the door.

He immediately looks up and smiles at Lenalee after quickly looking around the room.
"You just missed Chaozii and Daisya. Also, Kanda went to get some supplies for them." Lenalee explained.

"Oh, yeah." Allen says, dropping into a seat next to her.

"Al, you good?" Lavi calls over to him, currently reclining in his seat next to Krory.
"Yeah, it's just…" Allen replied, glancing towards Krory.

"What's up?" Lavi questions, sitting up a little straighter.

"I think Chaozii knows something about Cross." Allen tries to explain.
"Your godfather Cross?" Lavi asks.
"Yeah." Allen says, looking up at him. "Just outside, he asked me if I knew him. He wouldn't say why, though."
Lavi leans back, looking thoughtful. "Maybe Chaozii knew him, or knows someone who did."
"Mmm" Allen hums, looking away.
"Lenalee! How's Miranda?" Lavi exclaims, diverting the conversation.

"Oh, it's great! It shouldn't take too long to heal, and we're just about done patching it up." Lenalee says, smiling up at him.

"How are you feeling, Miranda?" Lavi asks.
"Better, a lot better." Miranda says, smiling softly.

"Great." Lavi smiles at her before standing and turning to Allen. "How about we go track down Kanda? We can grab some packs for the supplies on the way."
"Okay!" Allen agrees, standing.

"Lenalee, we'll be back in a bit." Lavi says to Lenalee.
"Okay, we'll be here." Lenalee says, glancing over at Miranda.

"Come on, Allen. To the supply house!" Lavi says, pointing dramatically into the distance.

"Supply house?" Allen says, a wide grin on his face.

"Shut up, I try hard you know!" Lavi exclaims. "Let's just go." Lavi sighs, shuffling over to the doors.

"Go on Allen, I'll see you later." Lenalee calls behind him, waving goodbye.

"Yeah, see ya." Allen replies before following after Lavi.

"Yuu?!" Lavi calls into the dark building, looking around for Kanda.
"Where do you think he went?" Allen asks Lavi.
"Dunno." Lavi says, walking further into the room.

"He went to get food yeah? Then maybe he's up a floor." Allen says, flicking a light switch. The room is immediately illuminated in a white, flickering light, revealing stacks of boxes scattered all across the floor, some with cans inside though most, however, are empty.

"Let's check upstairs then." Lavi says, heading towards a set of stairs on the back wall.

As they walk up the stairs, they can see that the lights upstairs aren't on.
"Doesn't that light switch control the whole building?" Lavi asks, turning back towards Allen.

"I think so…" Allen replies, looking up at the darkness with a worried expression.

"Wait here, Al. I'll go have a look." Lavi says before walking further up the stairs.

"Ok…" Allen says, turning back towards the storage boxes. Allen sits on the stairs, his back to the wall. He looks down at the packs in his hands. He and Lavi had gone to get the spare bags from what they had scavenged from the bodies for the bonfire.
Allen hears some rustling above him, the sounds of boxes and metal cans banging against each other.

"Lavi?" He calls above him.
"I'm fine Al, but I don't see Yuu anywhere…" Lavi calls back down.

"Maybe he already left." Allen supplies.

"Maybe…" Lavi replies.
Allen hears more movement above him, before heavy footsteps come closer.
"I'm coming down." He hears Lavi say, just as he comes into view above him.
Allen stands, smiling up at Lavi.
"C'mon, let's head back the way we came. We probably just missed him." Lavi says, smiling back.
"Okay." Allen says, heading down the stairs in front of Lavi.

The two head outside and onto the street beyond. Luckily, the storage place is only a few minutes walk from the town hall. As Allen and Lavi make their way back, Lavi starts recounting some funny stories about him and Kanda.
"And then he woke up and he was so mad!" Lavi starts laughing hysterically. "And then…then…"
Lavi struggles to finish the story, he has to stop walking just to regain his bearings.

Allen starts laughing, watching Lavi holding his sDougch from laughing so hard.

"Then-" Lavi tries to continue, only to be cut of.
"Oi! Stupid rabbit!" Allen and Lavi look up the street to see Kanda looking grouchily at them.
"Beansprout! Get over here!" He calls.
"Beansprout?" Allen murmurs, looking irritated.

"Ha! He's warming up to you, Al." Lavi says. "We're coming Yuu!" He calls back, waving at Kanda.

Kanda just turns away and walks up the street, away from Lavi and Allen.
"Wait up Yuu!" Lavi calls after him, starting to jog up the street.
"Hey, wait for me!" Allen cries indigently, running after Lavi.

The two follow Kanda all the way to the square, only for him to turn away from the town hall and down a side street.
"Hey, where're you going Yuu?" Lavi tries to ask, only to be ignored.

"Jeez…" Lavi says, yet he still follows after him.
As the three make their way through the street, Allen notices large smears of blood across the front of the buildings. Looking up at Lavi, he sees that he is also looking around at the buildings with a worried expression. Allen looks forward at Kanda, who is staring straight ahead at the street, avoiding the stained buildings around them.

"This is the way to the east gate." Allen says.
Lavi doesn't reply, but his worried expression turns to one more wary.
The three eventually reach the gate, Kanda immediately heads over to an odd figure on the ground.

"Kanda?" Allen says, stepping forward.
"He's dead." Kanda says, facing away from them.
"Oi, who is that?" Lavi says, walking over to where Kanda is standing.

"I knew him from before. Before we were in a group." Kanda explains, staring down at the figure.
"Oh." Lavi says.

Allen just stares at the two, unable to hear their conversation. He takes a few steps forward, only to be stopped by Lavi.
"Allen. Go back to the town hall." Lavi says, still staring at the body.
Allen tries to get a good look at it, only seeing a large red stain across the floor.

"Lavi?" He tries.
"Just, go to Lenalee. We'll be down in a few minutes, okay?" Lavi says, turning back towards Allen.
Kanda is just staring at the body, Allen can't see his face, but his hands are clenched into fists.

"Okay…" Allen says, looking worriedly at the them.

He runs back to the the town hall, his thoughts fixed on the body by the gate. Allen almost rams himself face first into the door, only slowing at the last minute to pull them open.

"Lenalee!" He cries.

"Allen?" His eyes are drawn to the source of the voice. Lenalee stands from her seat next to Michael against the right wall. She walks over to him, still standing in front of the doors.

"What's wrong? Did something happen?" She asks.

"Kanda found…found a body by the east gate." He explains.
"A body? Wait, where's Lavi?" Lenalee asks, panic evident on her face.
"He and Kanda said they'd be over in a minute, I think they were taking a better look at the body." Allen says.

"Oh, well, let's sit down wand wait for them." Lenalee says, sitting on the closest chair to the door. Allen grabs the one on the door's other side, leaning against the wall.

As the two wait, Allen catches Lenalee glancing at the door every few seconds, choosing not to continue her conversation with Michael who is still sitting to their right.

After a minute or so of tense waiting, the doors swing open, revealing Lavi and Kanda and the body. The figure's arms are over Lavi and Kanda's shoulder, so to evenly distribute the weight.

"Where should we put him?" Lavi asks, shouldering the weight.
"Ah, over here." Lenalee says, standing. She moves the nearby seats together to form a makeshift bed of some sorts. Lavi and Kanda drop the body onto the seats before stepping back.
Allen finally gets a good look at the body. It's male, with a long, white beard and moustache. He has wrinkles across his face and some faint, pale scars along his cheeks. He's wearing a long, dark grey trench coat over a white collared shirt and black pants. He has a small pistol on his belt, safety fastened into a holster on his left. His white sneakers are covered on dirt and patches of dried blood.

"Who-?" Lenalee asks, looking at Kanda and Lavi.

"Whoa." Daisya's voice interrupts. He pushes past Lenalee to lean down, looking at the old man.
"No way." He continues, looking up to grin at Kanda.
"Who is he?" Lenalee tries again, now looking pointedly at Kanda.

"Old man Yeeger, I though he'd died years ago." Daisya answers.

"You know him?" Lenalee asks.
"He was in their group, before they got split up." Lavi replies, gesturing to Daisya and Kanda.

"So he told you." Daisya says to Lavi. "How much did he say though?"

"Enough." Lavi replies, his usually cheerful face trapped in a grimace.

"Whatever." Daisya turns away from everyone and the body and walks away, towards the door.
"Where are you going?" Lavi asks him.
"Chaozii." Daisya replies, stopped at the door. After speaking, he pushed both doors open, walking straight through the middle, waving into the room for a moment, just before the doors close behind him.
"What happened to him?" Krory says. He and Michael had made their way over to the group around the body.

"We're not sure, but…" Lavi leans in, pushing aside the trench coat over his chest. "We think this killed him."

A wooden stake is clearly visible, almost completely embedded into the man's chest, directly over his heart.

"He's been dead for a day or so, as far as I can tell." Lavi says, recovering the wound.

"Do you know who left him there?" Krory asks.
"He wasn't there yesterday or the day before, so someone must've left him there purposefully." Lavi replies. "We couldn't find any footprints around where we found him, so we've got no leads."
"Did you search his pockets? Maybe he had something on him that can help us." Lenalee says, crouching down in front of the body.

"He didn't turn, right? So, it wasn't a zombie or anything…" Allen says, looking up at Lavi.
"Hmm? Yeah, I guess so." Lavi says. He pauses and his eyes widen, like in shock. " But we don't know that, do we?" He says, crouching down next to Lenalee.
"What?" She says, looking over at him.
"The undead are changing, the ones from last night were immobile for a day before they came back. We can't be sure this one is properly dead, or just waiting to reanimate." Lavi explains.

Lenalee almost jumps up, taking a step back.

"So he could come back?" She says, alarmed.

"It's possible." Lavi says, eyes wide.

Allen eyes the body tentatively, watching for any movement.

"What should we do?" Lenalee asks.
"The safest thing would be to shoot him in the head, so that he can't come back." Lavi says thoughtfully.

"But, we still can't say for sure that he's infected. There don't seem to be any bite marks…"

"Right…" Lenalee says.

"Should we still check his pockets? We can double check for bites as well." Allen says, stepping closer to the body.

"Alright." Lavi says, leaning in next to Allen. He pulls off the trench coat and hands it to Allen.
"Check this, would ya, Al?" Lavi says. His grin is starting to return.

"Okay." Allen replies, grabbing the coat.

There are two large pockets on the outside which Allen check first. When both are deemed empty, Allen tries a smaller pocket inside the coat, sealed with a button. Inside, Allen finds a folded piece of paper.

"What's this?" Allen questions aloud, drawing Lenalee's attention.
"Find something?" She asks him.
"Yeah." He replies, unfolding the paper. The sheet unfolds into a hand-written note. Allen quickly scans it, eyes widening.
"Lavi!" He says, lifting the note for Lavi to see.
"What's that?" Lavi says, grabbing the piece of paper.

"What does it say?" Michael asks, leaning over to get a good look.

"He won't be the last. Guess who's next?" Lavi reads.
"What?" Kanda says, grabbing the paper out of Lavi's hands.
"What does it mean?" Allen asks.

"Who knows…" Lenalee answers, watching Kanda stare at the note.

"This is bad. Whoever did this is probably…" Michael sits in one of the nearby chairs with a thoughtful expression.

"Michael?" Lavi asks, turning to the man. "Can you go get Chaozii and Daisya back here. This could be dangerous."
Michael looks thoughtful for a second before answering. "Yeah. Uh, sure. I'll see if I can find them." He gets up and heads to and out the door.

As then group sits to ponder the message, Allen goes over to Kanda.
"Kanda?" He asks, taking a seat next to him. Kanda had sat right next to the body, his eyes never leaving it.

"What do you want?" Kanda turns to Allen.
"Aren't you tired?" Allen asks.
"Huh?" Kanda says, confused.
"You were on watch almost all night, right?" Allen explains.
"All night." Kanda says, looking forward.
"I couldn't stay up that long without getting tired." Allen says, looking out into the room.

"I'm tougher than you, weak beansprout." Kanda says.
"I guess so." Allen hums, leaning back into his chair.
The two sit in silence for a few minutes, watching the others talk or sit in silence. After a bit, Lenalee walks over.
"Hey, either of you feel like some late breakfast?" She asks, smiling at them.
"Breakfast? Wait, what time is it?" Allen says, sitting up.
"It's a bit past ten." She says.

"No wonder I was hungry…" Allen says, his hands on his sDougch.
"What about you, Kanda?" She asks him.
"Sure." He replies, glancing over to her.

"Okay then. I already talked to the others. I'll bring some cold food so we can eat here. I'll bring some for Chaozii and Daisya too." She says.
"Do you need any help?" Allen volunteers, getting out of his seat.
"Help sounds great." Lenalee says. "We'll be back in a bit then." She says to Kanda.
Kanda doesn't reply, only nodding his head before turning back to the body beside him.

"C'mon Allen." Lenalee says, heading to the door.
"Okay!" Allen says, following after her.

Lavi almost volunteered to go with Lenalee and Allen, anything to escape the situation.

With Kanda pouting in a corner and the others whispering among themselves, Lavi was starting to hate the almost-silence. Lavi was starting to get hungry too, not that the increasing fatigue was any help. Lavi needs sleep.

Sadly, it seems the problems keep piling up, and problems need to be dealt with.

Since no one had found any bites on the body, it was left lying on the row of chairs. Lavi couldn't help glancing over at it every now and then, almost scared to see it move. Daisya had called him 'Old man Yeeger', Yeeger most likely being his last name. Lavi didn't want to ask him or Kanda anything more about the man. Kanda seemed distressed, and, as much fun as it was to irritate him, maybe this isn't the best time to start asking questions.

Daisya seemed to be less willing to give up information to anyone outside of his group. While his exterior demeanour seemed far more positive than Kanda's, he isn't any more approachable.

Sighing in defeat, Lavi walks towards the doors, hoping for some fresh air. As he passes Kanda, he spares the teen a glance. Kanda has his head down, avoiding any potential eye-contact. Lavi just moves on.

Once outside, Lavi takes the time to inspect the street. The road and sidewalks are splattered red with blood and smeared black with ash. There are clear bullet holes in the pavement, a metallic gleam visible in some of them. Lavi crouches down to look at one at his feet. He can see the crushed bullet lodged in the concrete. Lavi tries to pull it out, with no luck. From his now lower view point, Lavi looks up at the surrounding buildings, dropping into a seated position with his legs sprawled out in front of him.

Lavi tilts his head upwards to the sky which is a bright blue, marred only by a few distant clouds to his right and the sun above him.
Pushing his head further back, Lavi looks at the doors to the town hall, now upside down.

"Lavi?" Lavi tilts his head back upright to look at Michael.
"Hmm?" Lavi says, looking up at him.
"What are you doing on the ground?" Michael asks.
"Just thinking." Lavi replies, looking away.

"What happened here?" Michael asks, taking a seat next to Lavi.
"We tried to burn the bodies we found here, but it didn't turn out so well." Lavi explains. "They reanimated before we could dispose of them all and decided to start a few fires."

"When was this?" Michael asks.
"Last night." Lavi answers.

"So it was before-"

"Yeah, right before you guys turned up. We were sweeping the area when we found you, actually."
"There aren't…any left right?" Michael asks, worried.
"Nah. There shouldn't be anyway. If there were, we would have seen them by now, especially since it's light out." Lavi reassures, giving Michael a small smile.
"Thanks goodness." Michael lets out a breath.
"Weren't you supposed to get Chaozii and Daisya?" Lavi asks him.

"Oh, yeah. They're coming." Michael says.
"Hm, okay." Lavi says, narrowing his eyes slightly at Michael.

A few seconds later, Michael silently stands and heads back into the town hall, leaving Lavi on the sidewalk.

A few minutes after that, Lavi spots Chaozii and Daisya coming up the street. Daisya waves at Lavi and Chaozii just stares silently. The two head past Lavi and go inside the hall behind him.

After another minute of waiting, Allen and Lenalee appear to Lavi's right.
"Lavi!" Allen yells and waves to him. Both Allen and Lenalee are carrying large backpacks, likely full of food cans.

Lavi stands up off the pavement, wiping gravel off the back of his pants.
"Hey! You get everything alright?" Lavi asks as the two stop in front of him.

"Yeah!" Allen replies, smiling up at him.
"Are Chaozii and Daisya back yet?" Lenalee asks.
"Yeah, they came back a minute or so ago." Lavi says. "So, where's the grub?" Lavi leans forward, one hand sneaking over to her pack. Lenalee notices his movement and takes a few quick steps back, frowning at Lavi.
"You'll get your food when everyone else does, Lavi." She says, turning away from him to walk inside.
"Jeez." Lavi says, grinning and rubbing his head.
"C'mon Lavi, let's eat!" Allen says, pulling Lavi's arm as he heads after Lenalee.

"It's about time." Lavi says, letting himself get pulled along by Allen into the town hall.

Lenalee rallies everyone in the hall, moving a few tables together to the centre of the room. As everyone starts pulling up chairs, Lenalee spots Lavi and Allen coming through the door.

"Hey!" Lavi waves towards her as the two come in.
Allen drops his bag by the table and pulls out the cans inside, lining them up on the table.
The cans they'd grabbed didn't need to be heated so they could be eaten straight away.

Kanda didn't move from his spot by the door, not even looking up at the commotion. Lenalee finishes up unpacking her bag and heads over to him.
"Kanda, it's time for breakfast." She says warily, hoping to not aggravate him.
"Che." Kanda doesn't look up at her, but he raises his head a bit and starts over to the table. He grabs the chair closest, next to Michael and an empty seat. Lenalee grabs the seat next to Kanda, opposite Lavi.

"Soups up." Lavi happily says, grabbing a can of soup.
Everyone else slowly takes a can each, passing around the two can openers available and taking a spoon from the pile Lenalee had brought.

No one talks as they eat, even Lavi, who's glancing around at everyone at the table.
The first to finish is Kanda, who drops the empty can and spoon on the table and heads back over to the body against the wall.

Eventually almost everyone else finishes, stacking the empty cans in the middle of the table. Allen and Lavi were the last ones at the table so they could help clean up after everyone.

Lavi grabs all the empty cans as Allen packs the spoons into his pack.

"You ready?" Lavi asks, once he has all the cans in his arms.

"Yeah," Allen replies, slinging his pack over the shoulder.

The two leave the town hall and head towards a small warehouse near the town centre. The town used to deposit all their trash there, burning what could be burnt at the end of every week.

Allen waits outside as Lavi throws the empty cans into the 'can corner', where dozens of stacks of cans lay behind a partially walled off area. Lavi emerges empty handed, wiping the food's remains onto his jeans.
"Where next?" Lavi asks.

"Food storage, it's where all the cutlery and other stuff is kept." Allen replies, shouldering his pack.
The two then head down a few streets to the food-building where Allen diverts to a large shed. He pushes open the rusted, corroded doors to reveal boxes of forks, knives, spoons, plates and bowls stacked along the sides of the shed. Metal pans and pots sit in plastic bags on the floor, hints of rust visible on the outermost metal. Allen dumps the cutlery out of his bag and into an unmarked, empty, cardboard box, which was the one Lenalee and Allen had first taken the spoons from.
"Did you really need all these forks?" Lavi asks, gesturing to the plentiful boxes full of them.
"You never know, forks can be very useful for other things than eating." Allen explained, walking over to the box-pile.
"Oh yeah? Give me one example." Lavi challenges, crossing his arms.

"Like…this!" Allen spins around at the last word, jabbing Lavi in the gut with an intricately designed silver fork. Lavi doubles over, tripping over himself.

"Very funny Al." Lavi says, once he'd regained his composure.
"I wonder if you could kill a zombie with a fork…" Allen wonders, looking at his fork curiously.

"If you had enough of them, I bet you could." Lavi comments, grabbing a slightly larger, rusted fork from a box.

"If you got close enough…" Lavi makes a stabbing gesture into the air. "I'm sure you could get it's eye and reach it's brains, it wouldn't be easy though." Lavi drops the fork back into the box.
"I much prefer my gun." Allen agrees, dropping his fork next to Lavi's.

"Come on, let's get back to the others." Lavi heads out of the shed and closes the doors behind Allen.
"Will Chaozii and the others leave today?" Allen asks.

"Probably." Lavi replies as the two start towards the town hall.

"I hope Miranda get's better soon." Allen confesses, a worried expression of his face.
"She'll be fine. Lenalee even gave her and Krory extra supplies for her leg." Lavi reassures.

"Yeah." Allen agrees and quickens his pace.

The two continue walking in silence after that.

Lenalee couldn't help not looking at the body by Kanda. The figure disturbed her, she silently hoped they'd burn it soon. She had just finished talking to Krory when a loud thud sounded from the door.

They all turn to see the previously immobile corpse laying on the floor by the chairs. Kanda has his sword drawn and pointed at the body, waiting for it to move again.

"He's one of them?" Michael cries out, drawing his pistol.
"Wait!" Kanda growls, taking a few steps closer.

"Be careful!" Lenalee calls, her hands clenched into fists by her side.

The whole room tenses as everyone silently watches the figure.

"Is it.." Miranda tries, warily glancing around the room.
"Che." Kanda lowers his sword and moves closer.

Suddenly, the figure jumps out at Kanda, who swears profusely as he pushes the zombie off him.

"Kanda!" Lenalee shouts, running over to him.

The doors swing open to reveal Lavi and Allen who both have their guns drawn.
"Look out!" Lenalee points to Kanda wrestling the undead, who's viciously attempting to bite down on Kanda's face. Lavi jumps into action, drawing his hammer in his right hand to swing at the zombie's head.
Allen aims his gun, waiting for his chance. Lavi is then tipped by his momentum, causing him and the undead to clumsily roll to the side, off of Kanda. Lavi jumps back as Kanda scrambles to his feet.
"Move!" Allen calls, causing Kanda and Lavi to take one look at Allen before practically diving aside.

Allen takes a second to re-aim his shot before he pulls the trigger.

The loud bang echoes across the room, the recoil causing Allen to stumble slightly. He looks up to catch the zombie hit the ground, sprays of blood receding as a red puddle forms beneath him.

"Good shot." Allen turns to see Kanda mutter at him before moving to the body.

"Are you alright?" Lenalee moves over to Kanda before checking Allen and Lavi for injuries.

"Fine." Kanda dismissed her to check over the body.

"We're fine, Lena-lady, swear." Lavi makes a crossing motion over his heart.

"Good." Lenalee says, obvious relief on her face.

"Good shot." Daisya and Chaozii walk over from their corner of the room.
"You could've helped, you know." Lavi says offhandedly, barely glancing at the two.

"You had it covered." Chaozii replies. "It came back. How?"
"I wouldn't know." Lavi says, turning back to the body.

"I'll throw it on the pile." Kanda declares, swinging the corpse over his shoulder before walking outside.

"So…who's cleaning this up?" Lavi tries, looking hopefully at Lenalee.
"We all will. Come on." Lenalee walks over to the janitor's closet on the far wall, producing two mops, a bucket and some cleaning liquid. She hands one mop to Lavi, who gives her a pitiful expression before taking it reluctantly.
"Allen, get me some water, would you?" Lenalee hands the bucket to Allen.
"Sure!" Allen replies, taking the steel bucket.
Allen heads outside and around to the side of the building. In the clearing, a well-like hole is visible, with a tap protruding from the ground nearby. The water system relied on part of the sewers which had been drained, cleaned and cut off from the rest of the system, leaving only three points of access to the water. The taps had been taken off various appliances and applies to the mismatched pipes controlling the water flow which is sourced from a far off river.

Allen used to be convinced that he would get zombie-bits in his water until Cross had taken him to see the filters in the pipes at the the river.
As Allen filled the bucket, he glances into the large hole, covered only by a green plastic mesh held to the ground with tent pegs. He can hear the water flowing through the pipes below as well as a distinct dripping sound echoing through the sewage tunnels. Allen doesn't get much time to ponder the sound as the bucket almost overflows next to him.
Once he turned off the tap and returned some of the excess water through the mesh, he heads back, the thought of the dripping far from his mind.

An artificial lemon smell filled the room in a matter of seconds. Once Lenalee had added the liquid to the water Allen had brought, the smell seemed to intensify as the water turned a sickly yellow-green.

"Ew." Allen pulls a face, taking a step back from the concoction. "I'll wait over there." Allen powers over to the far corner of the room, using the sleeve of his hoodie to cover his nose.

After a few minutes of cleaning, Lavi made his way over to Allen, who hadn't moves from his seat in the corner.
"We're done now, Lenalee's tipping the stuff in the sink." Lavi gestures to Lenalee who's standing over a small sink, pouring the now orangey solution in.

Allen removes his hand only to re-cover his nose.

"You smell." Allen says, looking warily at Lavi.

"What? I do not." Lavi insists, leaning closer to Allen. "I'm not smelly, am I?"
Allen glares at him, pointing at the blood stains on Lavi's jeans and yellow splatters on his shirt.

"Okay, I'm a bit dirty. Got anything I can change into?" Lavi concedes.

"Yeah." Allen gets up, his left hand still over his nose.

The two make their way to a building Lavi is unfamiliar with, concrete and painted an uncomfortable shade of orange.
"There're clothes kept in here. Clean ones." Allen explains.
"Cool." Lavi opens the white door, revealing rows of white, plastic tables. Each table has a certain colour and type of clothes folded or thrown on top.

"I'll wait outside." Allen says as Lavi grabs an atrociously bright orange scarf.

The street outside is small and cramped, the one-way road dotted with loose beads of asphalt and rubber.

All of a sudden, Allen hears loud footsteps from down the street.
"That won't work! They won't just give in to us!"
"It will work, trust me. These kids-"

"It doesn't matter that they're kids, they're survivors, just like us, and they won't stand for you bossing them around."
Allen hears the voices get closer, causing him to panic. He looks around frantically for a place to hide. Spotting an alley nearby, Allen throws himself into it, crouching behind a dumpster.

"Whatever you're planning, I want no part of it." Daisya?

The voices become more coherent as they grow closer.
"You'll regret that." Chaozii.

"I won't. This isn't the right way to go about things."
"There's no other way."
"Bullshit."
Allen tries to regulate his breathing as the footsteps pass his hiding place. Allen tries to get a look at the two, leaning around the bin.

"Don't you-"
Allen stops abruptly and hold his breath.
"What?"
"Shut up." Chaozii whispers loudly.

"What?" Daisya says louder.

"Shut up!" Chaozii says again.

Allen wishes he could see the two, he has no idea what they're-

"Come out!" Chaozii shouts. "I know you're here somewhere."
"Chaozii…" Daisya tries.

"Someone's here."
"Are you sure?" Daisya asks, now on high alert.
"I heard something move." Chaozii explains, his footsteps starting again.
Allen glances around him, seeing if he's bumped anything. He then notices a rat, across the alley, standing atop a ring of keys.
Allen's eye's widen as Chaozii's foot steps grow louder and slower, definitely by Allen's hiding place.

"You leave me no choice." Chaozii steps into the alley, only having to glance around for a second before he spots Allen on the floor.

"Gotcha!" Chaozii exclaims, grabbing Allen by his right arm and pulling him up.
"Kid…" Allen looks over to Daisya, who's looking back and forth between the two with a conflicted expression.
"Didn't your parent tell you that it's rude to eavesdrop?" Chaozii asks, pulling Allen into the street.

"Let me go!" Allen shouts, flailing around, hoping to loosen Chaozii's grip.
"I don't think so." Chaozii says. "Huh?"
Chaozii grabs Allen's left arm, still covered in bandages.
"Ow!" Allen cries and Chaozii handles his injured arm.
"What?" Chaozii stares at the now bloodied bandages, the wound reopening from being grabbed do roughly. Chaozii starts pulling off the bandages, a determined expression on his face.

"Stop it!" Allen cries, trying to push off the man.
"Chaozii, what are you doing!?" Daisya cries, yet he makes no movement to intervene.

As Chaozii pulls away the last strip of fabric, he looks triumphant.
"As I suspected." Chaozii holds his free hand out to Daisya.

"Daisya, I need your gun." Chaozii demands.
"What!?" Daisya protests, taking a step back.

"Don't you see? This one's been bit." Chaozii explains, shifting his position to face Daisya, who got a clear view of the healing bites on Allen's arm.
"What the-" Daisya stares at Allen, who's still trying to attack Chaozii.

"Your gun, Daisya, NOW."

Allen hadn't had any idea it was so hard to fight with one eye. With his left injured and healing, Allen only has his right eye to view the world, unsurprisingly, having only one eye does horrors to one's depth perception. Allen decided that he'd have to ask Lavi for tips later.

"Your gun, Daisya, NOW."
Allen, who'd tuned out of the conversation so far, was shocked back in at Chaozii's demand.
"Don't!" Allen cries, fighting harder against Chaozii's grip.
"Quickly." Chaozii shouts at Daisya, who's frozen in place.

"Fine." Chaozii says impatiently. He drops Allen in front of him, who immediately tries to get up.

Chaozii quickly pulls out his own gun and points it at Allen.
"We need to eliminate the threat."

"Al! What do you think?"
The three turn to see Lavi emerge from the nearby building, newly dressed in a brown hoodie, dark blue jeans and white sneakers. He's thrown the orange scarf over hid shoulders and has tied and emerald green bandana over his head, keeping his hair out of his eye.

"Al?" Lavi glances around before focusing of Chaozii and Daisya, more specifically on Chaozii's gun.
"Lavi!" Allen calls out, pushing himself up off the floor.

"Don't you-" Chaozii starts, only to be cut off by Lavi's hammer smashing into the back of his head, rendering him unconscious.
Lavi then turns to Daisya, his eyes narrowed.

"Shit, I didn't do anything, I swear." Daisya says frantically, raising his hands in surrender.
Lavi looks over to Allen for confirmation. Allen nods slightly.
"Fine." Lavi lowers his weapon, glancing distastefully at Chaozii.

"What happened anyway?" Lavi asks.

"Chaozii was planning to take over and steal all the supplies here." Daisya explained. "Then he, uh, found your friends listening in on us." He gestured to Allen, who'd finally stood.

"Let's get back to the town hall." Lavi says. "You think you can carry him?" Lavi asks Daisya, gesturing to Chaozii.

"Yeah, I'll get him."
Lavi turns back to Allen, who'd trying to cover his arm with his sleeve.

"You alright Al?" Lavi asks.
"Kinda hurts." Allen replies, holding his arm gingerly.
"We'll redress it at the hall, okay?" Lavi reassures, giving Allen a wide grin.
"Okay."
"Lavi! Allen!" Lavi, Daisya and Allen turn to see Lenalee, Kanda and Michael running towards them.

"Hey!" Lavi calls, waving at the group.

Daisya awkwardly shoulders Chaozii, who's slipping out of his grip.

"What happened?" Michael asks, looking worriedly at Chaozii.

"I knocked him out." Lavi confesses, sending a sharp glare at Chaozii's unconscious form.

"Why?" Lenalee asks, looking concerned.

"He pulled a gun on Allen and Daisya says he was planning to take our supplies." Lavi explains.

"What!?" Lenalee exclaims, looking worriedly at Allen, who waves dismissively.

"We were just going to head back." Lavi admits.

"Well, let's do that." Lenalee replies before turning and heading back the way she came, with everyone else following close behind.

Lenalee carefully rewraps Allen's arm, reapplying disinfectant as she goes. Lavi sits on Allen's other side, occasionally cracking jokes. Allen can feel the stares of everyone in the room, specifically on the obvious bite marks in his arm. Chaozii has been laid on the floor, in the corner further from the door. Daisya is currently hovering over him, waiting for him to stir.

"How long until he wakes up?" Allen hears Miranda, who's conversing worriedly with Lenalee.

"Soon, I think, he wasn't hit that hard." Lenalee answers, sending a glance at Lavi.

"Yeah, he's just being a baby about it." Lavi confirms, smirking.

"O-Oh, okay." Miranda sits back down, next to Krory.

Just as Lenalee finished wrapping Allen's arm, a loud groan sounds.

"Ugh." Chaozii stirs, his hand on his head.

"Good morning sunshine." Lavi calls over, standing.
"Wha-" Chaozii starts, only to be cut off. Kanda's sword's pressed against his throat, barely cutting the skin.

"One reason." Kanda growls, leaning into the blade.

"Che." Chaozii glares at Kanda, not saying a word.

"I'm going to do it." Kanda announces.

"Kanda, don't!" Lenalee cries, running over to him.

"Why?" Kanda asks, not removing his blade.

"We're not killers." Lenalee answers, not looking at Chaozii.

"Oh, I'm sure." Chaozii says, smirking up at Kanda and Lenalee.

"Let's let him go. Ditch him outside the town, if he comes back…" Lavi proposes. "…the you can kill him."
"Lavi…" Lenalee trails off.

"Fine." Kanda agrees.

"Fine." Lenalee agrees, sighing.
"We'll go too." Krory interrupts. "Not…Not with him, but we should leave." Krory barely glances at Chaozii, who's still on the floor.
"You don't have to-" Lenalee tries.

"No, no. It was the deal, anyway. It's getting a bit crowded." Michael says, looking at Krory and Miranda for confirmation.

"Y-Yeah." Miranda replies.
"When do you want to go?" Lavi asks, looking around at Daisya, who's moved to stand with Krory.

"Midday, I'd think." Michael answers.
"Alright, you have everything you need, right?" Lenalee asks.
"Yeah, we think so." Krory replies, smiling. "You've all been a great help."

"No problem." Lenalee says, smiling widely.

"What time is it now?" Lavi asks.
"11:30" Allen answers, still in his seat.
"Well, you should get your supplies together." Lavi says. "Kanda, wanna help throw out the trash?"
Lavi gestures to Chaozii, smiling widely.

"Che." Kanda replies.

"I'll take that as a yes."