A/N: My muse is screaming at me to write this. I hope that's a good thing. xD

To answer the question "does misdirection work on zombies?"; For clarification, Kuroko does have misdirection in this AU and it's sort of a 50/50 chance. But I'm not saying anything else. ;)

Chapter 2: Panic Panic Panic

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He had never ran so hard in his entire life. Then again, for a guy who frequents the library like it's a second home, more than a sports court or a gym when not prompted, he was doing pretty damn well good, if he could say so himself.

"Someone help!"

"No- Agh-"

"Please-"

At every corner, in broad daylight, there was carnage accompanied by cries and the smell of blood. No one did a thing to help another, not even one horrified look when they saw stranger get chewed up on the ground, because they were too busy trying to save themselves from the clutches of the probable undead. It wasn't unexpected, but in the corner of his mind, he couldn't help the sudden rush of disappointment that surged out from its hiding spot and let it register in his head that by the end of the day, absolutely no one cares if another dies, so as long as they get to live.

It would be hypocritical of him if he criticized them in his thoughts too, when he really knew how things might have gone done had he made a move to help them. He would either abandon them the second the danger looms too close to his private bubble or they would abandon him after being presented with a perfected opportunity to escape when they had a meat shield to distract the monsters' attentions. It was either him or them. There were no in-betweens, especially when he was as helpless as them. There was no point giving a hand to them, in a figurative and literal sense.

Kuroko was an honest kind of guy. He said whatever he really thought (as long as it wasn't too blatantly hurtful to the other party) and was blunt to a fault, as long as it was worded politely enough. It was also definitely true that he had a love for anything horror, be it literature or movies, especially thriller and survival types that made people piss in their pants and whimper pathetically, but he would never ever wish himself to face what the characters in that particular genre go through. If someone told him that the world would end one day on a Monday when he was attending a funeral of all things, he would've chuckled silently and made them feel like an utter idiot.

Besides, it wasn't like he was survivor material anyways. Look at all the milkshakes he drank on a daily basis and the hours he spent just staying in a secluded spot to read in peace.

But here it was, happening at this very moment. He wasn't going to pull a "we're all going to die" stunt and he accepted the very fact that the undead were popping out of nowhere, hunting the living as their next meal and turning some into one of them, with the probability of the world's end.

That didn't mean, however, that he wasn't scared at all.

He was downright terrified.

This was one of those fiction versus reality moments, comparing what's made up out of imagination or a half-assed general idea with what really happens. Gore in fiction and reality, as he can see right now, were two different things, not at all similar, except for the blood. The high school student often found amusement or was in awe when limbs tore and guts flew in a book or a movie, but he was sick to his very core when he saw the real deal.

When fictional characters, a "person" with a name, personality and history that a reader has gotten to know intimately in essence, dies in a horribly gruesome way, Kuroko would mourn for a bit and continue on with the next chapter. So, hey, a person in a book died. That didn't mean much to Kuroko at all. When seeing a character die, there would always be a deep down feeling of, "not real", thus there was never anything to feel guilty about, even if the reader wasn't the actual killer. In conclusion, that was that and they're just words, so they won't hurt you emotionally.

In real life, when someone dies, someone Kuroko didn't even know, not a shred of information and not even their name, dies just like that, in the same fashion, he can't help but feel awful and guilty. There's a possibility he could've done something, anything really, to help them. But no, he was too busy running and dare he say it, gawking at the change of scenery before him like a clueless buffoon.

The best thing you could do is something, and the worst thing you could do is nothing. He had never felt this particular sentence more right and relevant to the current situation at hand.

The least he could for himself is to focus on surviving and don't stop running until he reaches to the safety of his home, where he could barricade himself in and prepare for the worst, like a survivor's gear. He didn't know more than any of the surviving people hiding in the various parts of Tokyo right now, so it would be best if he went to his house, get a change of clothes since fighting in a suit would not help and switch on the television. Maybe there will be an emergency announcement about this situation and if the gigantic screen on one of the tall towers at the crossroads didn't show anything, he might as well wait at home for the hypothetical announcement. The others are humans like him, with perfectly working limbs and senses. They could help themselves more than he could for them. He wouldn't know what would become of them if he became too... desperate.

If he can't even save himself, he had no right to attempt to save others. Now wasn't exactly the time for a hero to appear and he didn't want to be a hero either because he couldn't even guarantee his own survival with a hundred percent positivity. Kuroko may know a thing or two about surviving zombies and an apocalypse combined thanks to movies, but he sure as hell didn't know what to-

As he ran, when he saw someone bash one of their heads with a baseball bat, Kuroko had an epiphany. He needed to survive and to survive was to kill a monster whenever one of them saw him as a meal. He couldn't get killed and turning into one of them was not in the list. If he needed to survive, wanted to survive, he needed protection and that wouldn't be a house which would eventually be overrun by them and cause him to be cornered.

Survival in an area where all the dead went after any fresh meat, meant a weapon. A weapon which he could carry to have a better chance of surviving this apocalypse, whatever this was. Now wasn't really the time to question it, though.

He grimaced when the person responsible for his epiphany didn't turn around fast enough and was rewarded gruesomely with a bite out of his shoulder. Kuroko watched as the person, who might or might not be around his age, scream in pain and was overpowered by a mass of zombies that crept and crawled close to him as they reacted to the noise accordingly that alerted them of their next meal. Once another person screamed, the zombies scattered from the mostly eaten body and moved towards the source of the noise.

Oh. So they responded to noise. No wonder the people that were shouting and screaming and generally making loud noises were being eaten first in his line of vision, other than the ones who were bleeding badly and trying to outrun the zombies. Which meant that zombies hearing and a sense of smell and most probably sight too, if what he witnessed at his classmate's father's funeral was right.

Well, at least they left, thought Kuroko grimly. That way, he could get the bat and was somewhat armed. It was better than being empty handed, scared and lost. Kuroko was definitely afraid, only armed with a wooden sports equipment, his wit and sarcasm, yes, but it was a slight improvement in chances of surviving and he was obviously doing better than the rest, never mind the previous owner of his current weapon.

While high school boy didn't believe in anything supernatural, he did give a silent prayer that went along the lines of, "rest in peace and thanks" in his head for the half-eaten dead person that might later turn into a zombie. This nameless fellow was doing pretty good too, but he was a little careless and was too focused on killing until he forgot his self-preservation that led to his inevitable end. But he did at least make Kuroko give some thought into it and had a free weapon, which was why Kuroko would be eternally grateful to him even if he did, unfortunately, died in the process for the second bit.

The teal haired male stopped a gasp from coming out of his mouth when the body... dare he say it, stirred.

Yeah, he didn't really want to be here when it actually got up and about.

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It was hard to tell what exactly was Kuroko doing. Maybe it was because of the fact that he was still wearing a formal suit and clutching a baseball bat tightly in his grasp, or maybe it was the current chaos that was confusing everyone. People screaming and dying left and right with zombies out of nowhere and now everywhere could do that to someone. Point is, he didn't know what he was doing either.

He was at the housing area due to having to attend a funeral and slowly made his way out, dodging zombies left and right and careful not to trip while not making a single sound. The area was quite big and at the start, he was, regrettably, near the end of the area that did not have a gate or any opening he could use to make his way out. What's also worse was that this was a private housing area, emphasis on the private, which meant that like most normal housing areas he knew and walked through, paths were closed off and there was no road that would lead to the outside except for the main gate, to ensure no robbers or any shady people entered.

But now? It only served as a huge disadvantage and a hindrance.

So, he had no choice but to go to the only gate that was available, which was how he entered in the first place. It isn't the hardest thing as it sounded simple enough but when you think about the fact that he could not do parkour and escape zombies via jumping roofs and also the fact that the wide paths was entirely infested with zombies... well, you can't help but think, "I'm screwed". Thankfully, in one way or another, Kuroko was somewhat an optimist and also had a sense of self-preservation. The odds for this plan to work was approximately 30/100 (mathematics applied in every situation), but the odds of him surviving in this area was even lower than that. In the end, the choice was obvious.

Kuroko knew what he had to do. It was either do or die.

Right now, Kuroko was resting in a house he broke into. Breaking into someone's house wasn't morally acceptable and something that Kuroko never thought he would do, but he had no choice in the matter and it wasn't like he could climb up trees and expected it to be safe either. He needed a place to take a break and find supplies to take and what better way to do so by breaking into someone's home?

He had even made sure that the house was currently uninhabited but was lived in. It was a little difficult in trying to enter from somewhere other than the available doors, but he made do by throwing his bat to smash the window and literally took a leap of fate into the house from the tree he was on that was near the window. Once he jumped and rolled in, he quickly went right back up to close the curtains. Kuroko did not want to bring any attention to himself, not especially after the loud smash he caused.

The good thing was that he didn't get any cuts from the broken glass pieces still attached to the wall. The closest thing he got to a cut was his blazer, which was ripped at the sleeve. Kuroko took his blazer off and discarded his tie as well, wondering why he was still wearing them. It didn't make sense, in any case, but he had better things to worry about.

First of all, he needed to pack things that were necessary for him to survive, like sustenance, clothes and of course, a survival knife which he left at home in his bedroom drawer. Which comes the problem of how he would go home now. He had everything there; his clothes, food and other useful stuff that he could take and he would at least be able to sort things out and be ready like how one would for a camping trip. It was true that he was doing good here for previously unprepared someone who was in a foreign area, but it didn't help because it was still making him nervous and slightly jittery.

But, he had hope and hope was a powerful thing. Kuroko got to work and rummaged through the drawers and cupboards, trying to find anything useful but to his dismay, there were only women's clothes and underwear in them, which he respectfully turned away for the latter and closed them before moving on to the next to open. It was depressing that he was like a creepy panty thief at the moment and he couldn't find anything, in that order. It also made him guilty that he broke into a woman's home, but he sucked it up and tried not to think about it.

After three drawers and a few cupboards, he moved on to the big closet, ignoring the dresses hung from the top, searching the bottom instead. There was also something very unsuitable for children's eyes, which he dutifully ignored to the best he could to prioritize his search, until he found a bag buried at the bottom of countless of expensive handbags and boxes of shoes.

It was a slightly dusty but new dull brown canvas school bag that was rectangular in shape. Its size was comparable to a school backpack and it made Kuroko question why this unknown female owner had it in this first place, who Kuroko had seen owned nothing but the finest and fanciest furniture and clothing, even the underwear ― no, he was not a pervert for accidentally seeing the underclothing of the opposite gender ― as he had since he broke into this particular house. It certainly was not elegant or feminine in any shape or form, but who was Kuroko to complain when he found a good bag to use?

Dusting off the bag and walking downstairs, bag worn and baseball bat in hand, he made a beeline to the refrigerator, hoping for some food he would be able to get.

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There was no god, for there was no food in the refrigerator.

Well, actually, there was, but they could no be used for their primary purpose; to be eaten. There was nothing in the refrigerator except for sauces, the bread was moldy, as its expiry date dated to a month ago (obviously enough time for the rot to set in) and wrapped up vegetables which were also rotting away and there were only cobwebs in the cupboards. Other than that? Empty containers lined up the kitchen counter, along with empty glass bottles strewn all over, no doubt once a home for alcohol, which were all of no use to him. Thankfully, there was a small, cylindrical container of pain killers on the table, the kind you could get at the local pharmacy, which he took since pain killers sounded useful and he didn't know when he would need it.

But he should have expected that this place didn't have any food. After all, he did deduce that the owner was already gone temporarily, but he did not go further and wonder how long.

It's just his luck that this place had gone to hell, huh? On a funeral day, of all things and he somewhat rudely ditched his classmate because her dead dad came back to life and bit her brother. It made him wish that he had declined the invitation instead, so he would be at school and have better chances surviving instead of being stuck in a foreign neighborhood. Unfortunately, wishes weren't common like pebbles and magic wasn't real. Otherwise, he wouldn't have broken into a stranger's house and he would've teleported back home.

Kuroko sighed and slid down from where he was leaning to sit on the cold, marble floor.

He hoped the rest of Tokyo wasn't making it's way to hell, too, but if it was...

Once could only hope it was a slow descent, however painful it may be.

A/N: A rather abrupt ending for the second chapter, but I kinda liked it. See you next chapter and please leave a review on your way out! :)