Allen waved his last goodbyes as Michael, Krory, Miranda and Daisya made their way out of the hall. Lavi and Kanda has taken Chaozii as few minutes ago, leaving Lenalee and Allen in the hall alone.

"You want to go see them off?" Lenalee asks him.
"Yeah."
The two start after the group to the door, only to hear an unmistakable shriek coming from the street beyond.

"Miranda!" Lenalee cries, pushing the doors open. She and Allen rush through, drawing their weapons.
The street beyond is empty, leading Lenalee and Allen to head to the North gate. As they round the corner, they almost collide with Miranda, who's stumbling away from the gate.
"Miranda! Are you okay?" Lenalee asks, steadying the woman.
"There's…There…" Miranda trails off, sobbing uncontrollably.

As Lenalee comforts Miranda, Allen powers ahead, running around the corner.

The pavement around the gate is unrecognisable, splattered with bright and dark blood.

"Lavi! Kanda!" Allen shouts, running through the gate.
"Beansprout!" Allen turns to see Kanda running towards him, his clothes sprayed with dark blood.

"Get back inside!" Kanda shouts, glancing around him anxiously.

"What? What's happening?" Allen asks.
"What do you think?" Kanda growls.
"Allen!" Lavi runs over, his hammer stained with blood.

"There's a hoard of zombies up ahead." Lavi explains before turning to Kanda. "The others are trapped on the other side, they won't hold out much longer."
"You mean…" Allen interrupts, eyes wide.
"Sorry, Al." Lavi says, looking genuinely upset.
"No…" Allen feels his stomach drop.
Michael, Krory, Daisya.

"We need to get back into town." Lavi says, putting his hand on Allen's shoulder.
"No." Allen whispers.
"Al?" Lavi asks, concerned.
"No." Allen says louder.

"Beansprout." Kanda starts.
"NO!" Allen shouts, pushing past Lavi to head down the path.

"Allen!"
Allen can hear Lavi call after him, but he keeps running. As he goes over a small hill, Allen get's his first view of the hoard.

There's at least a hundred, all moaning and in a tight circle, surrounding three people.
Allen rushes forward, screaming again.

"NO!"

It's not like Allen had expected something to happen, maybe an adrenaline boost at the most. What he didn't expect was for the entire hoard to turn towards him, silencing their moans and stopping any movement sans the slight swaying of their bodies.

"Huh?" Allen mutters, staring at the frozen hoard.
Hoping for the best, Allen starts forward, eyes locked with the hoard's. As Allen reaches the wall of undead, they zombies part to let him pass.

"What's happening?" Allen hears Krory's voice.
"Wouldn't know." Daisya's voice sound weak, barely sounding even in the silence.

"Daisya? Krory?" Allen asks, trying to see over the undead.
"Kid?" Daisya's soft voice sounds again.
"Wait there! I'm coming!" Allen calls out, speeding up, pushing past the docile zombies around him.

As Allen reaches the centre of the hoard, He can see Daisya on the ground, with Krory standing over him.
"Allen!" Krory says, looking around at the zombies. "What's going on?"
"I… I don't know." Allen replies, moving into the small clearing.

"Is he…?" Allen asks, looking down at Daisya.
"I'm not dead yet, kid." Daisya says, smirking up at him. "And…yeah, got me in the leg, wanna see?" Daisya raises his left leg slightly, revealing a large tear in his pants, dripping thick blood.

"I-"

"Allen!"
"Beansprout!"
Allen turns to see Lavi and Kanda running at him, Lavi pushing though the undead while Kanda skilfully avoids contact. The zombies' eyes follow them as they pass.

"What the fuck?" Kanda says, poking a zombie with the tip of his sword.
"IT just happened." Allen tries to explain, looking at Krory and Daisya helplessly.

"Where's Michael?" Lavi asks, after glancing around them.
He tried to get back to you. I hoped he'd made it." Krory explains, now looking even sadder.

"Daisya." Kanda says, looking down at him.
"Yo." Daisya raised his hand in greeting. "You gonna shoot me now, or later?"

"We're-" Lavi starts.
"Now." Kanda interrupts, pointing his sword at Kanda.
"Good." Daisya relaxes a bit, lying almost flat on the floor. "By the way, if you ever see him, tell the old man goodbye for me."
"Che."
"Thanks." Daisya closes his eyes, as Kanda brings his sword up above him.
Lavi grabs Allen's uninjured hand, pulling him a step away from Daisya.
Allen looks back at him curiously, only to hear a sickening wet noise behind him.

"I wouldn't look." Lavi mutters, loud enough for Allen to hear.
Allen maintains eye contact with Lavi as he heard a heavy thus behind him.
"Done."
Allen turns to see Kanda wiping his hands on his already bloodies pants, Daisya's body now out of sight.

"Where?" Allen asks, looking around.

Kanda only gestures behind him, to the wall of undead.
"Oh." Allen replies in understanding before turning to Krory.

"Is Miranda okay?" Krory asks him.
"We ran into her at the town, she's okay." Allen reassures, giving Krory a small smile.

"Thank god." Krory replies, earning a quiet huff from Kanda.

"Let's get back, before these things get back into action." Lavi says, prodding an undead with his hammer.
"Alright." Krory agrees.

_

Lenalee had a hard time comforting Miranda, who'd collapsed once Allen left. As the two sit on the side walk, Lenalee tries to clam her.
"Miranda, they'll be back soon, I promise." Lenalee reassures, rubbing the woman's back.

"Michael… Daisya…" She sobs, her head in her hands.

"Miranda…" Lenalee starts.
Suddenly, a loud groan sounds, causing Lenalee to look up.
A stockily familiar corpse stumbles towards the two across the street.
"Michael?" Miranda's soft voice calls, one hand raised at the undead.

"Oh, god." Lenalee whispers before drawing her knife.

"Lenalee…" Miranda sniffles.
"I got this." Lenalee says, taking a step towards Michael's body.

It lunges towards her as she speaks, it's arms flailing wildly. Lenalee thrusts her knife forward, though Michael's right eye socket.

"Ugh." Miranda moans behind Lenalee, sobs echoing through the empty street.

The zombie collapses as Lenalee removes her knife, spraying thick blood across the asphalt.

"It's okay. We're okay." Lenalee says, turning back to Miranda with a smile. "See? Everything's okay."
"Okay, we're okay." Miranda mutters to herself before shouting. "Lenalee!"
Lenalee turns to be face to face with an undead, tech bared.

She shrieked a little before swinging her knife at the corpse, slicing into it's soft skull.

"Let's go!" Once the zombie fell, Lenalee grabs Miranda's hand and runs towards down the street to Allen's house.

"In here!" Lenalee pushes the door open and rushes up the stairs, with Miranda limping behind her.

"Lenalee!" Miranda calls up to her.

Once at the top of the stairs, Miranda joins Lenalee in Allen's room. Lenalee throws her bag on her back and wraps a hoodie around her waist.

"Let's go." Lenalee starts to the stairs.
"Lenalee?" Allen's voice calls up the stairs, echoing through the house.
"Allen?" Lenalee calls back. "Miranda, stay here." Lenalee instructs before running down the stairs.

"Lavi and Kanda are getting their things from the hall." Allen explains once Lenalee joins him in the living room.

Allen regretted separating from Lavi and Kanda almost immediately, after being jumped by three separate zombies as he heads to his house.
As he entered, he heard Lenalee talking to Miranda upstairs.
"Lenalee?" Allen calls up, moving towards the living room where he'd left his pack.

"Allen?" Allen hears Lenalee come down the stairs and waits until she comes into the room.

"Lavi and Kanda are getting their things from the hall." He explains, turning to Lenalee.

"So we're really leaving." Lenalee says.
"Yeah." Allen replies, looking sadly at the house around him.

"I'll get the weapons." He says. "Go find Lavi and Kanda." Allen steps past her before heading upstairs.
"Allen!" Allen smiles at Miranda, who'd been looking down the stairs.
"Krory's waiting at the hall, it's not safe here anymore." Allen explains.

"Oh." Miranda replies.

"Here." Allen says, moving into Cross' room. "You don't have a weapon, do you?"
"No…" Miranda moves after him.

"How about this?" Allen says, holding a medium-sized gun up.
"Oh, no, I couldn't…"
"We're abandoning this stuff anyway. Might as well get some use out of it." Allen hands her the gun, smiling.

"There's extra ammo, too." Allen leans back into the pile before handing Miranda a few packs of bullets.
"Thank you." Miranda says, smiling genuinely.
"No problem." Allen smiles back, waiting a moment before closing Cross' bed.
"We should get moving." Allen says as the two head towards the stairs.
It takes a minute to get Miranda down the stairs, once they reach the bottom, Miranda takes a moment to rest.

"Is you arm okay Allen?" She asks as they start to move again.
"I guess… It's healing." He replies, sending her a smile.
The two quickly head to the hall, encountering only one undead on the way.

"Allen!" Lavi's leaning out of the doors, gun drawn.

"Lavi!" Allen waves as the two approach.

As they run inside, Lavi slams the doors shut, pushing a few chairs in front of them.
"Everyone okay?" Lenalee asks, looking over Allen and Miranda worriedly.

"Yeah, we're fine." Allen replies, smiling at Lenalee.

"Good." She sighs.

"What now?" Krory asks, making Allen jump.
"Krory!" Miranda exclaims.

"You two should get going. We can hold the hoard off." Lavi says, smiling confidently.

"I wish the zombies were still frozen." Krory admits.
"Me too, but we can't count on that happening again." Lavi replies.

"Frozen?" Lenalee and Miranda ask simultaneously.
"We'll explain later." Krory replies as Lavi says: "Tell ya later."

"Let's go." Krory says, taking Miranda's hand.
"Good luck." Lavi says.
The two head to the door as Allen turns to Lavi.
"Where did they come from anyway?"
"Huh?" Lavi replies, a confused expression on his face.

"The ones in town, they're not from the hoard and all the gates are locked. So unless there's another hole in the fence…" Allen trails off, in deep thought.

"I wouldn't know, I just hope we don't run into another hoard." Lavi replies.

"Let's get going." Kanda powers past them and heads to the door.

"Ok, you all ready?" Lavi turns to Lenalee.

"Yeah. Let's go." She replies.

"Right." Lavi shoulders his pack before following Kanda out the door with Allen and Lenalee close behind.

_

Krory should have expected this. There was no way they'd be lucky enough to not run into more zombies. Luckily, they'd left the town through the north gate before the hoard had appeared behind them. Unluckily, the undead seemed to be catching up to them.

Miranda's sobs continued as the two struggled up the hill. Bodies are splattered across the ground, red blood disfiguring their faces and visible flesh. Krory kept his eyes off them, so not to accidentally recognise Daisya among them.

The road forks in front of them. Lavi had said they'd be taking the left to Hopetown, which was probably empty, so Krory and Miranda had decided to head left.

A loud bang sounds behind them, causing the two to turn. The undead all turn in unison and shuffle after the sound, back in the town.
"That must be the distraction." Krory decides. "Let's go."
"Y-Yeah." Miranda agrees as the two head further down the path, a large cloud of smoke rising behind them.

The explosion was much louder than Lavi would have liked. Even with his hands over his ears, the ringing kept going for a good minute afterwards. The sound had echoed a few times through the square and the burnt zombies that'd been underneath are in caked even more black and grey soot.
"Think that did it?" Lavi asks, turning to Kanda and Lenalee who seem to be having similar problems.

"What do you think. stupid rabbit!? The whole woods probably heard that!" Kanda growls, removing his hands.

"Yeah, maybe we used too much gunpowder…" Lavi trails off thoughtfully, looking over at the ex-powder they'd found in Cross' room.
"Come on, Allen's waiting at the gate." Lenalee says, picking up her bag.
The three run to the gate, only to not see Allen anywhere.

"Where'd he go?" Lavi wonders aloud.

"Allen!" Lenalee calls,looking around nervously.

"Lenalee!" The three turn to see Allen running towards them out of an alley nearby.

"Where'd you-" Lavi starts only for Allen to keep running towards the gate.
"We gotta hurry, they're coming!" Allen points to the alley way.
The shuffling footsteps of the undead grow louder as their moans echo against the high walls.

"Shit." Lavi says, turning to run after Allen.
"Che." Kanda and Lenalee follow through as Lavi pushes the gate closed behind them.
"Hurry!" Allen cries, taking a spot next to Lavi to push against the thick metal.

"Almost…" Lavi says, leaning heavily on the door. "Got it!"

The door slams shut and Lavi runs over to lock it. As he locks the pad lock, the scratches of the undead can be heard against the door.

"Cool." Lavi breathes, leaning against the door.

"Let's go." Lenalee says.
The four head up the path, avoiding stray corpses as they go.
"You okay?" Lavi asks Allen after a minute of silent walking.
"Yeah." Allen replies, looking up at Lavi beside him. "Do you really think we'll find Cross?"
"'Course we will." Lavi reassures, sending Allen a wide grin. "He's a survival expert, according to you, he must be along this path somewhere, if he was headed to Hopetown, or he's there already."
"Yeah." Allen agrees, picking up his pace. "How long until we get there?"

"An hour or so, It's not that far." Lenalee replies, still in the lead.

"I hate walking." Allen mutters, kicking stones in the path.

"Get used to it." Kanda barks, not looking back at him or Lavi.

"Hey Al." Lavi nudges Allen.
"What?" Allen asks, pushing Lavi back.
"I swiped these before." Lavi pulls a pair of black, gripped gloves out of his pocket.

"Gloves?" Allen asks.
"They'd be about your size, right?" Lavi says. "I wasn't too sure but…here."
Allen takes the gloves and experimentally slips on onto his right hand.
"Well?" Lavi asks expectantly.

"They're a little big." Allen notes.
"Aw, what?" Lavi groans.
"But they're okay, I guess." Allen smirks at Lavi.

"Thanks." Lavi says sarcastically. "All my hard work…"
Allen slips the other onto his left hand and lightly punches Lavi with it. "Thanks."

"Ha! My genus is unmatched!" Lavi exclaims happily.
"I don't know you." Allen turns away comically, crossing his arms.
"C'mon Al, how about we pass the time with…" Lavi looks around thoughtfully. "Hmm…"

Allen joins him, looking around them.
"Oh! Okay. I spy with my little eye…"

_

They'd only been walking for half an hour when they found their first signs of life, or death rather.

"That looks like it hurt." Lavi comments as the four approach the fallen body on the side of the road.
The corpse had a long, wooden stake through it's head, penetrating it's skull and passing through the head's chin. It's eye sockets are full of thick blood, and it's clothes are spattered with red. Allen couldn't tell if it was a boy or girl because it's face and body is so distorted with deep cuts and wounds.

"Ew." Allen murmurs, taking a step back.
"Let's keep going." Kanda says, continuing down the path as Lavi critiques the body.

"Yeah." Allen agrees, following after Kanda.
"C'mon Lavi." Lenalee says, walking after the two.

"Just a second." Lavi calls back, still looking at the body.

"Lavi-" Allen turns back, only to be cut off by Timcanpy ramming into the back of his head.
"Isn't that-" Lenalee says, heading over to Allen, who's holding his head in one hand and Timcanpy in the other.

"Tim! What are you doing!?" Allen cries at the bird, who chirps before flying over to Lavi. "Hey, wait!"

Lavi, turns back, hearing the commotion behind him, only for Tim to run into his face.
"What the-" Lavi almost trips backwards, trying to grab Tim.

"Stop that!" Allen calls, running over.

"What's he doing?" Lenalee says, heading back over.
"Che." Kanda stays where he is, a few meters along the path.

Timcanpy lands on the body, jumping on it's face.
"Tim, that's gross." Allen says, trying to grab him.
Timcanpy chirps before flying up and landing back on the body.
"What is it?" Allen asks, now concerned.
"What's he doing?" Lavi asks, squinting his eyes at the bird.

"I don't-" Allen trails off, watching Tim curiously.
The bird jumps up again and land on a small bag by the body, covered in grass and blood.

"Huh?" Allen heads over, carefully opening the bag, Tim now perched on his shoulder.
"Where'd that bird come from anyway?" Lavi asks Lenalee.
"No idea. Allen mentioned he comes and goes a lot."
"Woah." Allen says, pulling something out of the bag. "Lavi! Lenalee look!"

The two head over, leaning to look at the thing Allen's holding.
"It's a map." Lavi decides.

"There's the town! And Hopetown and…" Allen trails off.

"What's that?" Lenalee asks, pointing at a bloodied X on the map.
"It's close by. About an hour that way." Lavi points to the left of the path, the side with the body.

"This is from Wellsborough." Allen says, still staring at the map.
"How do you know?" Lenalee asks.
"What's the hold up?" Kanda calls down from the path, finally heading over.
"We found a map." Lavi explains. "Apparently this guy's from Wellsborough."
"Then that cross could be…" Lenalee trails off.

"Where the rest of the team is." Allen finishes. "Lavi! Cross could be there!"
"Cross is at the cross?" Lavi asks, a grin on his face.
"Be serious!" Lenalee reprimands.
"Right, right." Lavi says, taking another look at the map. "Want to go for it?"
"There's a large forest that way." Lenalee points out. "It'll be dangerous."
"We can go around, it'll take twice as long, though." Lavi decides.
"Let's just go." Kanda says.
"Alright. How about it Allen?" Lenalee says, looking at Allen.
"Yeah, let's go around."

Once off the beaten path, the four were forced to wade through waist high grass, and that was on Lavi. Allen grumbled the whole way as the grass almost reached his shoulders at some points.
Once they finally got to flat land, a spitting rain started, forcing them to the edge of the forest to stay dry. The rain quickly turned into a full-on down pour, leaving the group to search frantically for shelter.
"There!" Lavi calls, pointing to a large, rusted shed atop a hill.
"Let's go!" Lenalee calls, barely heard over the sound of the rain and wind.
The four sprint to the shed, almost slipping and colliding with the rusted wall.
Kanda pushes the door open and the four run inside, slamming the door behind them.
"Thank god." Lavi mutters, leaning against the closed door.
"I wouldn't thank god quite yet, kid."
The four look up to see a middle aged man point a large rifle at Lavi's chest, flanked by two younger men.
"Um…" Lavi tries, looking helplessly at Lenalee and Kanda.
"Please, we just wanted to get out of the rain, we'll leave once it stops." Lenalee pleads, stepping forward.
The man readjusts his gun to point at Lenalee as he mutters to the other men.
"Or you can leave now." The man on the left says, pulling out a pistol.
"We don't want trouble." Lavi reassures.
"When isn't there trouble." Kanda mutters, once hand on his sword hilt.
"Kanda, don't." Lenalee says, before turning to smile at the men. "We won't even move. We'll wait here, please, just for a little while."
"That sounds fine." A woman's voice speaks from behind the men, the darkness of the shed obscuring her from the group's view.

"Cynthia." The man in the middle lowers his gun to speak to the woman, who's stepped out of the shadows.

She's dressed in a long, brown dress, cut into pieces at the bottom, revealing a pair of jeans and sneakers underneath. Her brown and grey hair's braided and tied with dried flowers.

"Fine." The man lowers his gun after a stern look from Cynthia.

"You can stay as long as you like." She reassures them.

"Thank you." Lenalee says, smiling happily at the woman.
"I couldn't let you get shot, could I?" She replies, smiling back. " My name is Cynthia, by the way."
"Lenalee." Lenalee replies. "This is Lavi." She gestures at Lavi, who waves sheepishly. "Kanda." Kanda crosses his arms. "And Allen."
"Hi." Allen gives Cynthia a small wave.
"Good to meet you all." She says, smiling. "So, where'd you kids come from?"
"We're from Hopetown." Lenalee gestures to herself, Lavi and Kanda. "Allen's from Wellsborough."

"What's it like there?" A young man heads over.

"Uh…" Lenalee trails off, looking back at Lavi and Kanda.

"Shit." Kanda answers.
"Oh." The man looks disappointed.

"The zombies broke through, both Hopetown and Wellsborough." Lenalee explains. "We had to make a run for it."
"I'm sorry. There…" The man says sincerely. "Do you know if anyone else got out of Wellsborough?" The man looks at Allen pointedly.
"We-" Lenalee starts.
"Unless they were headed to Hopetown, no." Allen replies.
"Huh?" The man looks confused.

"A group headed to Hopetown just before the attack." Allen explains. "We think they're still out there." Allen gestures outwards.
"We're looking for them. Allen's godfather was part of the group." Lenalee explains.
"Oh, my…my brother lived in Wellsborough. We weren't on the best of terms when we split up but…" The man trails off, looking down.
"I'm Lenalee, by the way." Lenalee tries, hoping to divert the conversation.

"Yeah, I heard." The man looks up. "I'm Chris." He hold out his hand, which Lenalee shakes.

"Chris." The older man calls from the other side of the shed.
"Coming." Chris calls back before turning to Lenalee. "Sorry, I'll see what Steven wants."

As Chris joins the men, they start conversing quietly, occasionally glancing back at the group.

"So…" Lavi starts, turning back to the other three. "I spy…"

_

It took about an hour for the rain to stop, which meant an hour of awkwardly standing by the door as the other four talking quietly among themselves.

"The rain's about done." Lenalee decided, pushing the door open a little.

"Are you leaving?" Cynthia asks as she and Chris walk over.
"Wait." Steven comes over, his gun in his hand. "We're going too."

"What?" Lavi asks indignantly.

"Other survivors means supplies. Supplies that we need." Steven explains. "We're coming."
"No way." Lavi rebuts, standing his ground.
"Try and stop us." The other, unnamed man steps forward.
"Frank, Steven. Stop." Chris steps in front of Lavi.
"What?" Frank bites out, glaring at Chris.
"We can't just-"

"We can do whatever we want." Steven jabs Chris in the chest with his gun. "Kids need to learn to listen." Steven glares at Lavi.

"We can do this peacefully." Cynthia interrupts, stepping forward.

"Nothing is peaceful anymore. We're doing things my way, and that means…" Steven points his gun at Lavi. "Everyone does what I say. And I say we're coming to get those supplies."
"We don't even know if there will be supplies there, even if there are, there'll be people there too. Tough people." Lavi tries, staring down Steven.

"If there's nothing there, we'll help ourselves to your supplies." Steven smirks at Lavi. "Now, let's get going."

_

Lavi walks ahead, Steven's gun pressed firmly against his back. Frank has a pistol pointed at Kanda, who's sword has been confiscated by Frank.

Chris and Cynthia follow close behind with Allen and Lenalee, not daring to speak.

"How much further?" Steven asks Lavi, who's holding the map.

"Ten minutes, I'd say." Lavi replies, glancing back to Lenalee and Allen with a smile.
"Geez." Lenalee mutters, smiling back.
The group of eight trudge across the muddy field, dotted with patches of brown and green grasses.

"There." Lavi points ahead to a farmhouse adjacent to the field.
"Give it here." Steven roughly grabs the map with his free hand to verify the location. "Let's go."
He says, once he's satisfied.
It takes a few more minutes to reach the house. The house itself isn't very big, painted white with a large picket fence around it. The red-brick roof glistens with fresh rain and the wooden porch is slick and dark.
Steven walks up to the door and shoves the map back at Lavi. He knocks with his now free hand.

The group wait a minute before they hear footsteps beyond.
"Hello?" Steven calls in.
"Who is it?" A voice calls from within. Allen's eyes widen as he recognised the voice.

"Johnny?" Allen calls, startling Steven.
"Brat-"

"You're not Johnny, I'm Johnny." Johnny replies.

"No! Johnny, it's me-" Frank puts a hand over Allen's mouth, cutting him off.
"Me? Me who?" Johnny calls. "Hello?"
"Open up!" Steven says, more forcefully.

Quiet muttering is heard beyond the door before it clicks open.

A short man is revealed, with round glasses and brown, curly hair. He's wearing a long, grey coat and jeans underneath. Johnny looks curiously up at Steven, before shrieking as he points his gun at him.
"Get out of the way." Steven demands, pushing Lavi inside.