After Allen got into the back of the car with Lenalee, Lavi started driving. Allen and Lenalee wave back at the four back in the garage as the car heads down the dirt road.

"Lenalee, pass the map." Lavi calls back

"Here." Lenalee produces a large map from under her seat and passes it to Lavi.

"Thanks." Lavi silently looks over the map as they continue up the straight road.

Suddenly, Kanda tenses up. "Stop!" He shouts, unlocking his door.
"What?" Lavi exclaims, slamming his foot down on the breaks.

"What happened?" Allen asks, leaning forward once the car had come to a stop.
"Kanda, what the hell?" Lavi says, turning to look at him, only to see his door open and his seat empty.
"Dammit." Lavi mutters. He opens the door and gets out of the car.

"Let's go." Lenalee says, opening her door and following after Lavi and Kanda.
"Coming!" Allen opens his door and carefully steps around the car.

"Is it alive?" Lenalee stares down at the body in the middle of the road.

"Isn't that the one from before?" Lavi asks, bending down to get a better look.

"You mean the one you didn't kill?" Kanda says, glaring town at the legless body.

"Ew." Allen says, once he'd gotten a better look.

"Ew is right." Lavi says, poking the body with his hammer.
"You didn't get it's chest right? So, it's still alive…" Allen trails off as Lavi pokes the body again.
"Yup." Lavi replies. "Think it's taking a nap?"
"It can't sleep, idiot." Kanda growls.
"Then why isn't it moving?" Lenalee asks, taking a step back.
"Doesn't matter. Let's just throw it off the road so we can keep going." Kanda says, leaning down to grab it.

"Wait." Allen says.
"What?" Kanda bites, glaring at Allen.
"It moved." Allen answers, staring at the body's outstretched arm.

"Huh?" Lavi says, following Allen's gaze.

A moment later, the arm twitched, two of the fingers grabbing at the road beneath it.

"Let's just kill it." Kanda says, drawing his sword.

"Wait. I-I want to try something." Allen says, crunching down next to it.
"What is it, Al?" Lavi asks,

"Do you think, it'll work like before? You know." Allen asks Lavi, looking up at him.

"Before? Oh." Lavi says thoughtfully. "I guess we'll find out."

"Before what? What happened?" Lenalee asks.
"Oh yeah, we forgot to tell you." Lavi says, giving her a sheepish grin. "When we were off looking for Johnny, we ran into a pack of zombies. When we tried to get their attention they went straight for me, even with Allen shouting at them."
"I didn't shout at them." Allen mutters

"Meh, close enough." Lavi shrugs. "One of them, also, might've done what Allen said."
"So, it listened to you?" Kanda asks.

"Kinda, we're not sure." Lavi answers.
"How can you be not sure?" Kanda growls.
"Maybe if you'd come to help, you could've figured it out for us, seeing that you're so smart." Allen retorts.

"Oi-"

"Let's just get this over with, we need to get moving." Lenalee steps between Kanda and Allen.

"Okay." Allen looks back at the twitching zombie.
"Uh, move your arm." Allen says, focusing on the zombie.
"It's not moving." Kanda says, leaning on the car.

"Shut up." Allen glares at Kanda before turning back to the motionless corpse. "Um, move forward."

The zombie remains motionless. head face down on the ground.

"Impressive beansprout, it didn't do anything."

"Shut it. I got this." Allen turns back to the zombie. Come on, do something!" Allen growls in frustration.
The zombie lifts his head to look at Allen before opening it's mouth to groan.
"Urg, shut it up!" Kanda complains, glaring at the zombie.

"You shut up!" Allen turns to glare at Kanda. Just as he speaks, the zombie's jaw snaps shut loudly, causing the four assembled to stare at it.

"Wait a second." Allen turns back to it. "Turn around."
The undead looks at Allen for a second, before shifting it's weight to face Lavi and Lenalee on it's other side.

"Cool." Lavi says, grinning down at it.

"Great, you got a pet freak. Let's go." Kanda open's his door and gets back into the car.

"We should try again with a more mobile zombie." Lavi says, eyes still fixed on the zombie staring up at him.

"Okay." Allen gets up of the ground, dusting off his pants. As he move to turn away, the zombie moves again.

"Look out!" Lavi cries, causing Allen to turn around.
The undead had leaped at Lenalee, who was trying to kick it away.
"Shit." Lavi takes a step forwards and draws his gun, shooting the zombie through it's back and into it's chest.
"Are you okay?" Allen asks, heading over to Lenalee.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Just started me." Lenalee gives Allen a weak smile.

"We need to get going, incase any undead nearby heard that shot." Lavi prompts, heading back to the car.

"Yeah. We should get this off the road first." Allen agrees, glancing at the fallen corpse.
"Ugh, fine." Lavi grimaces, inching closer to the rotting body. He grabs it's outstretched hand and tugs it forward, propelling it off the road and into a splatter of bushes.
"That was pleasant." Lavi says, wiping his hands on his pants. "Well? Let's roll out!"

Another hour into the car ride and Timcanpy decided to spice things up. He'd landed in Kanda's hair after freeing himself from Allen's pocket.

"Tim!" Allen loudly whispers, trying not to disturb the older teen. "Get out of there!"
"What are you doing sprout?" Kanda growls at Allen, turning to look at him.

"Uh, nothing." Allen leans back in his seat, carefully watching Timcanpy waddle across Kanda's head.

Lenalee, who was staring out the window seemed oblivious to the problem at hand.

Kanda turns back, grumbling something about idiots and bean sprouts.
"Tim!" Allen gestures to Tim to return, only for the bird to turn away.
"Whatcha up to, Al?" Lavi, who'd noticed Allen's whispering, looked at him through the rearview mirror.

"Uh." Allen subtly nods towards Kanda and Tim on his head.

Lavi's eyes widen and he had to hold back a snort.
"What's your problem?" Kanda growls, not moving his gaze from the window.

"Uh, nothing, Yuu." Lavi answers, flashing him a grin.

Kanda scowls but says nothing.

"Lavi!" Allen whispers.

"Leave him, it'll be funny." Lavi whispers back.

"It won't be when Kanda decided to kill him!" Allen whispers urgently.
"Uh, fine." Lavi leans over to try and grab Timcanpy, who skilfully dodges.
"Jeez." Lavi leans over a little more, only to bump into Kanda.
"What the hell-" Kanda spins to face Lavi, causing Tim to loose his balance and start chirping loudly.
"What the fuck!?" Kanda bats at Tim as Lavi tries to grab the stray bird.

As all hell breaks loose in the car, Lenalee is roused to the peculiar view.

Allen is grabbing frantically at the bird as Kanda tries to bat it. Lavi is trying to steer the car while simultaneously watching the action from afar.
"What is going on?" Lenalee exclaims, drawing the attention of everyone present.

"Uh…" Allen stares at Lenalee before slowly turning to the mid-air Timcanpy, flapping just out of Kanda's grasp.

"This thing was-" Kanda starts.

"His name is Timcanpy! And he was just bored. You should be nicer BaKanda." Allen grabs Timcanpy holding the bird close to his chest.

"Your damn bird needs to learn some manners." Kanda growls back.

"Chill out kids, don't make me pull over." Lavi calls back, sending a sideways grin at Kanda.
"Shut it, rabbit. You weren't any help." Kanda barks, before turning back to Allen.
"And you-" Kanda starts.

"Oh, stop it." Lenalee commands. "Just at least try to get along." She turns to look at Allen. "You should keep a closer eye on Tim, okay?" She then turns to Kanda. "And you need to stop getting so riled up. Now both of you sit quietly and Lavi, just keep driving." Lenalee huffs and leans back in her seat, staring out the window.

Kanda looks like he wants to speak, but he simply scowls and sends a glare at Allen.

Allen glares back, sticking his tongue out at Kanda before turning back out the window.

Lavi tries to hold back his laughter as he speeds up a little, continuing down the dirt road.

"What's that?" Lavi's voice rouses a sleepy Allen who'd been leaning against the window.

"What?" Allen sits up to lean over to look past Lavi's chair.
"That." Kanda answers, pointing to the road ahead.

"It's red?" Lenalee asks, meaning forward to get a better look.

"I don't like this." Lavi mutters, slowing the car down as they approach.

As the car comes to a stop, the three passengers prepare to exit. Once stopped, Kanda springs out first, slamming the door behind him before Allen or Lenalee even got their doors open.
"Wait up, Yuu!" Lavi calls after him, getting out of the car with Allen and Lenalee close behind.

The road is a dark, deep red and had an indistinctive texture to it. There are odd lumps across the ground, both large and small. The stains stretch farther than they could see, stopping abruptly at their feet at an almost perfectly straight line, sans a few stray lumps.

"What is it?" Allen asks, heading over to the edge.
"Ugh, I hope it's not what I think it is…" Lavi trails off, crouching down to the stains.

"It probably is." Kanda says, eyes narrowed as he stares down the path.

"How did this happen?" Allen asks quietly, eyes fixed on the likely entrails of dozens to hundreds of zombies or humans.

"There's bullets here." Lavi comments, picking up a red stained bullet among the other remains.

"So these were zombies?" Lenalee asks.

"I'm not so sure." Lavi answers, still focused on the bullet in his hand.

"There aren't any of those black things, like the ones we found before." Allen muses, remembering the recently re-deceased undead.

"Yeah. And these are only a few days old, so they should be there." Lavi continues.

"Why do you say that?" Lenalee asks.
"I mean, if the zombies had those 'black things' before, then someone would have noticed them, like Reever and the others. So they must've only appeared recently." Lavi explains.
"And since this happened fairly recently, you think these were all live people?" Lenalee asks, horrified.
"I'm not sure…unless…" Lavi trails off with a thoughtful expression.

"The people who did this took them." Allen finishes. "Do you think so?" Allen asks Lavi.
"Maybe, but if someone did do this, then they might have the answers we need." Lavi answers, standing upright.
"What should we do now?" Lenalee asks. "Do we just drive over it?"
"I guess that's out only option if we want to move forward." Lavi glances over to the thick line of trees along the road.

"Okay, then, let's get moving already." Lenalee, looking extremely uncomfortable heads back to the car.

"Yeah, come on." Lavi motions for then all to get in. "We still got a long way to go."

_

The drive over the red road had been less than pleasant. The four had remained quiet the entire time, with eyes focused either ahead at the sky and hills or to the sides at the bright trees.

"We're done." Lavi's voice breaks the silence as he passes over the last stretch onto an asphalt road.

"Good." Lenalee lets out a deep breath.

"It's getting late, we need to find somewhere to set up camp." Lavi proclaims. "Speak up if you spot a nice spot."

_

About half an hour later, they pull into an abandoned rest stop and trailer park just as the sun hits the horizon.

"Okay, let's set up the tents." Lavi takes charge so he and Lenalee unpack the tent and lanterns while Allen and Kanda explore the site.

Allen heads up a nearby hill that looks over the park. As he reaches the peak of the hill, Allen spots the sun lowering past nearby hills, dying the sky and clouds a million shades of red, orange, and yellow as blue and purple clouds rise behind him.
As he moves to ear down the hill, a faint shouting sounds from the convenience store by the trailer park.
Allen runs down the hill as Lavi heads towards the sounds below him.
"Lenalee!" Allen cries as he reaches her.
"Allen!" She smiles at Allen but has a concerned expression.

"What happened?" Allen asks.

"Kanda went into the store but someone started shouting… Lavi just went in to check with him." Lenalee explains.

"Oh." Allen starts over to the store after Lavi only for him to emerge a few seconds later.

"Lavi!" Allen waves to him and speeds up to meet him.

"Yo." Lavi waves back as Kanda emerges from the store with a figure in front of him at sword point.

"Who's that?" Allen asks once the two meet a few meters in front of Kanda.

"Kanda found him hiding in the back of the store." Lavi explains as Kanda makes his way over.
"Okay. So who are you?" Lavi demands once they'd come to a stop a fair distance from the store.

The figure has a large black hood over his head, obscuring his face. His jeans are stained black and red.

"I can't." The man speaks in a vice neither hight nor low. .

"I think you should give us some answers, seeing that you tried to attack us a moment ago." Lavi answers, crossing his arms.

The man doesn't speak, so Kanda jabs him with his sword. "You still haven't answered the question."

The man huffs but doesn't speak.
"Hey!" Kanda, who'd grown tired of the man pulls back his hood to see his face.

The man looks middle aged, but his head is balding, with only a few stray wisps of dark hair. His skin is pale and his veins pulse blue and black along side his deep bruises across this cheeks and forehead.

"What is your name?" Kanda growls, pressing his sword harder into the man's back.

"My name?" The man's voice cracks. "I can't remember anymore."

"You can't remember?" Lavi asks.
"No." The man looks down, taking deep breaths.
"Okay, why were you in the shop? Why'd you try to attack us?" Lavi tries again.

"I-I was with others before, I think, but I had to get away." The man explains.

"And the attacking part?" Lavi prompts.

"I just want to be left alone." The man shuffles a little, fidgeting under Kanda's stern glare.

"Why did you have to get away?" Kanda asks after a short silence.
"Huh? Oh, well…" He trails off, not meeting Kanda or Lavi's eyes.

"Do you think he's armed?" Kanda ignores the man, speaking straight to Lavi.

"We should check, just in case." Lavi answers before kneeling down next to the man.
"W-Wait!" The man tries to back up as Lavi reaches over to grab his arm.

As the man tries to stand Lavi pulls himself up, pulling a little too hard on the jacket sleeve.

As the jacket pulls back, the man's shoulder comes into view. Even in the darkness, the clear, deep wound is clearly distinguishable against his pale flesh.

"Shit!" Kanda, who'd spotted the bite, jumps back a little, pointing his sword at the man's chest.

"S-Sorry!" The man almost shrieks as he pulls away from Kanda.

"He's bit!" Kanda growls at Lavi. "We need to-"

"Yeah, yeah, okay." Lavi replies calmly, trying to stop the man from panicking.
"I-I'm sorry, I should have said. I-" The man starts rambling, frantically looking around at Lavi and Kanda.

"It's fine, just chill out." Lavi tries again, gesturing to Kanda to lower his sword.
Allen, who'd been standing back up to this point, steps forward to look closer at the man.
"How long ago did this happen?" Lavi asks, trying to sound as calm as possible.

"Uh, a few hours ago, when the sun was still up." The man looks to the sky near the horizon, lost in thought.

"Okay. Good." Lavi says. "Were you with other people? Where are they now?"
"Not here, far away. I left, ran up the road, away from them." The man answers, talking far more slowly.

"Is he going to turn?" Allen asks quietly.
"Seems like it." Lavi answers as the man looks around slowly.

"What should we do?" Allen wonders, watching the man.
"We'll have to put him out of his misery. Dealing with a zombie isn't my preference and I doubt he'd be a fan of making the switch." Lavi give Allen a small smile before stepping forward.
"We're going to help, okay?" Lavi speaks up, drawing the man's attention to him.
"Help? Okay~." The man almost trips as he speaks.
"He looks drunk." Comments Lenalee, who'd made her way over.

"Is that what usually happens?" Allen asks her.
"Yeah, they're made less paranoid, so they're less likely to see the problem of being bit. It become a problem if people don't report it. But the symptoms show soon enough." Lenalee explains.
"Oh, okay." Allen turns back to the man, who's fallen to his knees.

"Don't want to. Don't want to. They're monsters. Monsters…"
"How much longer?" Allen wonders aloud, watching the man mutter incomprehensible words.
"Half an hour? Maybe less." Lavi answers, still beside the man.
"We should get on with it." Kanda grumbles, crossing his arms.
"But-" Allen starts.
"It'll only get worse, you realise." Kanda spits back, glaring at the bitten man.
"Monster. Monster. Monster." The man keeps muttering, rocking back and forth.
"Stop it." Allen mutters, eyes fixed on the man.
"Allen? What's wrong?" Lenalee, who'd heard him, puts her hand on his shoulder.
"Stop it."
"Allen-"

"Stop!" Allen speaks far more loudly than he'd intended.

The man suddenly freezes, his rambling stopping abruptly.
"Uh…" Lavi stares at the man.
"Are you going to kill me now? So I don't become a monster?" The man asks far too calmly.

"Um…" Lavi looks up at Kanda.
"I'll do it." Kanda steps in front of the man.
"Oh, okay. Thank you, I guess." He closes his eyes as Kanda readies his sword.
"Hey, Allen?" Lenalee speaks quietly. "Do you want to start setting up camp for the night?"
"Yeah."

_

A few minutes later, Kanda and Lavi head back over to the car, Kanda wiping his sword clean as Lavi wipes his hands on his jeans.

"Where is he?" Lenalee asks, once they came close enough.

"Under the trees out back." Lavi answers. "We also grabbed this." Lavi pulls something out of his pocket and shows it to Lenalee.

In Lavi's hand is a small black bead, much smaller than the one they'd seen in the older undead, but it has an uncanny likeness.

"What is it?" Lenalee asks, fearing she already knew the answer.

"We found it in the chest of the man, where we shout him." Lavi explains.
"Lavi!" Allen, who'd just closed the car's back door, heads over.
"Al, everything okay?" Lavi asks, slipping the bead into his pocket.

"Yeah, I just need some help with the tent poles." Allen answers.

"Awesome, I'm dead tired." Lavi shoots Kanda a grin at the pun.

At the glare he receives in response he turns back to Allen with a sheepish grin.

"Anyway, let's get those tents!"

The rest of the night went by without incident. Once the sun was above the horizon, they'd began to pack up.

"Good morning." Lavi stretches loudly with a big yawn. "How did you sleep?"
"Fine." Allen replies, also stretching his arms.
"Come on, let's pack up." Lenalee commands, pushing Lavi slightly towards the tents.
"Gotcha'." Lavi starts pulling the tent apart as Kanda stalks past.

They'd decided to set the tents up in the abandoned store, felling far more comfortable with the solid walls around them. Kanda and Lavi had swapped out shifts to watch the door, so both were handling that in there own ways.

"Al, lend me a hand, could you?" Lavi cheerily calls Allen over to pack away the tent poles and fold up the covers.

"Coming!"
The tents took far less time to dismantle than to set up. They ended up just pulling it apart randomly in the hopes of speeding up the process. Luckily, Lavi pulled out the main pole early on, causing the tent to collapse in on itself.

After the tents and sleeping bags were packed back into the car, the four bid farewell to the rest stop to restart their drive.

A few hours of sleepily eating muesli bars and staring at flat fields and hills, they took a rest by a deep valley.

"Ow, my legs are all stiff." Lenalee complains, stretching her legs as her knees crack from disuse.

"Hey, nice view." Lavi heads over to a railing by the drop into the valley. A large forest stretches out beneath them, the leaves a mix of golden browns and bright reds.
"It's almost Halloween, isn't it?" Lenalee wonders, staring into the forest.

"Three more days." Allen informs. "Cross has a calendar to keep track."
"We should celebrate!" Lavi declares. "We can dress up and eat candy!"
"What candy?" Lenalee interjects. "We don't have any, unless you've been holding out on us…"
"No, no." Lavi assures. "But we can look for some. They don't really go off, so they'll be good no matter what."
"I'm not so sure about that." Lenalee laughs.

"If we find another store or town, we could have a look." Allen offers.

"Yeah, it'll be fun!" Lavi agrees.
"Hurry up!" Kanda calls from the car, on which he's leaning.
"Yeah, yeah." Lavi says, heading over.

"What's that?" Allen points to the hill across the road, where an odd figure is perched.
"Is it a zombie?" Lenalee asks.
"Let's go see." Lavi draws his weapon and nods at Kanda to do the same.
"Oi!" Once at the road, Lavi calls to the figure, who'd facing the other way.

"Huh?" The figure speaks faintly before noticing the four below him. "Oh."
He makes his way down the hill, raising his hands in surrender.

"I mean you no harm." He stops in front of them, allowing the group to take a closer look.

He's wearing a beige hoodie and black pants. He's got a large backpack on which is almost overflowing with unknown contents.

"Who are you?" Lavi asks, slightly lowering his hammer.
"I am Doug." Doug answers, nodding his had slightly.

"Are there any more of you?" Kanda asks, not lowering his blade.

"Not here. My group has a base not far from here. I am simply observing the surrounding areas." Doug explains.
"Has anyone joined your group in the last few days?" Lavi inquires.

"I believe so. One or two. We're a very large group so it's hard to keep track." Doug answers.

"Large? How many of you are there?" Lenalee asks him.
"I couldn't say. We are only a section of a much larger organisation of hundreds of people."
"Woah. Neat" Lavi praises.
"We have plenty of supplies, and we're always open to new members." Doug informs.
Realising what Doug was implying, Lavi shakes his head.
"We've got to be somewhere. We're looking for someone."
"Oh, well, I wish you the best of luck." Doug turns to head back up the hill.

"Uh, yeah. Bye." Lavi turns back to the car.
"C'mon, let's get going." As the four prepare to leave, they hear a wail from across the hills.

"What?" Lavi springs back out of the car and runs for the hills with Kanda close behind. Allen and Lenalee bring up their flank as they investigate the sound.

Lavi stops dead once he spots Doug with a zombie at this throat.
"Hey!" Lavi calls out and runs to the injured man.
"Y-You…" Doug calls out weakly as Lavi smashes the undead off him.
"It-it didn't work." Doug raises his gun for effect.
Lavi looks back at the zombie with an obvious bullet hole right between it's eyes.

"You don't know?" Lavi asks, propping the man up.
"Know what?" Doug asks.
"Lavi!" Lenalee's cries cause Lavi to turn to the slowly recovering undead.
"Oh, right." Lavi moves in and slams it in the chest, shattering it's sternum and hopefully crushing the weak point.
"It's dead…" Doug stares at the fallen corpse with wide eyes.
"Yeah, it's dead." Lavi reassures.
"What happened?" Kanda walks over after checking the body.
"Came outta nowhere. Sorry, it got me." Doug tilts his head upwards to reveal a bite mark in his neck.

"Yeah, we know. It's okay." Lavi gives the man a grin.
"Make sure I don't come back. Do whatever you did to that." Doug gestures to the fallen undead. "And make sure I don't come back. Quickly." Doug gives a weak grin as Lavi nods.
"Gotcha'."

_

"What should we do with him?" Lenalee asks as Lavi steps away from Doug's body.

"Dunno. His group would want to know, but we don't know where they are." Lavi replies, ribbing his head. "Geez, two in a row…" Lavi stares back at Kanda behind him.
"Well, we'll just leave him there then." Kanda says heading past the three.

"We could leave a note or something." Allen proposes.
"Yeah, let's do that. We don't want to spend too much time here." Lavi agrees.
"We have some loose paper in the car I think…" Lenalee wanders back to the car after Kanda with Lavi and Allen close behind.

As they go over the hill, they spot Kanda with his sword drawn.
"Another one?" Lavi asks, as he reaches the top of the hill.

Kanda has his sword positioned on a man's chest who'd dressed in a black trench coat and has his face obscured by a wide brim hat.

"What's going-" Allen, who'd come up behind Lavi looks over at Kanda before stopping short.
"I just hope it isn't another bit guy. I'm can't deal with-"

"Cross." Allen mutters.
"Huh?" Lavi looks down at the wide-eyed boy next to him.
"Cross!" Allen sprints down the hill to Kanda and the man, who seem locked in an odd staring match.

"Who are you, old man?" Kanda growls, poking his sword into the man's chest.

"Why don't you answer your own question?" The man smirks at Kanda, riling him up further.
"You-"

"Look, I'm a little short on time here." The man prompts.
"You won't have any time in a second." Kanda retorts.

"Oh, that's what you think, eh?"
"Don't try me."
"Aren't I already? You really should work on your scare tactics."
"Answer the question."
"There's nothing wrong with admitting your weaknesses you know."
"I'm not-"

"Cross!" Allen's voice draws the attentions of the two.
"Wait, Cross!?" Kanda spurts, taking a step back.
"Allen, you ruined my fun." Cross notes calmly as Allen comes to a stop between them.
"Fun? You don't make any sense."
"According to you I never do."
"True enough." Allen gives Cross a small smile.
"Al!" Lavi and Lenalee land next to Allen while looking curiously at Cross.
"So, uh, you're Cross, I presume?" Lavi asks.
"Cross Marian." Cross answers with a barely noticeable nod.

It's at that moment Timcanpy decided to make an appearance. The bird, who'd been in the car, lies out of the open door and onto Cross' hat.
"Huh? Oh, hello Timcanpy." Cross barely glances up as the bird makes itself comfortable.

"What happened to you?" Allen asks.

"I'd give you the whole story but I'm short on time." Cross answers, glancing over at the hills.

"You'll have company very soon and I won't be mixed up in it." Cross sighs.
"Company?" Allen prompts.

"Yes, don't worry they're friendly. For the most part anyway. It'd be best if you went with them."
"Why?" Lavi interjects.

"Some of them you'll know quite well. All three of you." Cross explains, looking around at Lavi, Lenalee and Kanda.
"Really?" Lenalee asks.
"Yes." Cross takes a step back as Timcanpy rejoins Allen. "I'd best be going now. If you screw this up, come find me."
"Wait! Cross!" Allen steps forward as Cross smirks and runs off.
"Hey!" Lavi calls after the two.
Cross spins around to face Allen, now a fair distance from the other three.

"Where are you going?" Allen asks, slightly out of breath.
"Places. If you need, go to my address." Cross answers, smirking again.
"Places? That's-"

"Hey!" A faint cry sounds to Allen's left, towards the hills.

"What the-" Allen starts as he turns back to Cross, only to be faces with an empty street ahead.

"Hey! Cross!" Allen takes a step forward as Lavi calls to him.
"Al! Get back here! I think they're coming!" Lavi waves Allen over.

After taking one last look at the empty street, Allen turns to rejoin Lavi and the others.

_

A few seconds later, half a dozen men and women appear atop the hill.

"Freeze!" The leading man points his gun at the four. "Don't move."
He heads down the hill, motioning for his companions to remain behind.
As he stops in front of Lavi, he aims his weapon again. "Who are you?"

"Depends who you are." Lavi retorts, hand resting on his hammer.

"You are not in a position to make demands." The man takes another step forward.

"I'm not answering anything until I know who you are." Lavi says.
"Fine. You're coming with us." The man gestures for them to move past him.

"What about our things?" Lenalee asks, gesturing to the car behind them.

"They'll be brought along." The man answers, just as a man and a woman come down the hill and head to the car.

"Come on." Lavi says, heading past the man.
"O-Okay." Lenalee agrees, prompting Kanda and Allen to follow.

"Doug!" A distressed woman falls to her knees next to Doug's body.
"What happened here?" The leading man turns back to the four. "Did you do this?"
"He was bit. We had no choice." Lavi explains, gesturing to the fallen zombie next to Doug.
"Oh Doug…"
"Lillian, we should get going." The man behind the four steps forward.
"Buzz, we can't just leave him!" Lillian cries out, taking Doug's hand.
"We have a job to do." Buzz turns back to the group be hid him. "Let's go."
"Uh, sure." Lavi agrees, stepping past the crying woman.

"Doug…"