Danganronpa: Outbreak

by Shawn45

Makoto survived the killing school game with his friends, both hopeful and fearful of what the world would be like once he escaped. Unfortunately, it was far worse than he could ever have imagined. Now with only each other to rely on, Makoto and the survivors of Hope's Peak Academy must make their way through this new world of horror, trying to survive in any way they can.

2. City Escape

Chapter Two

City Escape

Makoto opened his eyes, and he let out a soft groan as he sat up, but he gritted his teeth when he suddenly felt a throb of pain shoot through him. He took a deep breath, and blinked a few times as he looked around the room, trying to figure out where in the world he was. This most definitely wasn't his room, and where was everyone? He closed his eyes, trying to recall, and then the previous day came back to him, and his eyes slowly widened as the memories came back. No… Please don't let it be true. It was all just a horrid nightmare, right? They escaped and the world was fine…

He got out of bed, and noticed his sweatshirt on the floor beside the bed right next to his sword, so he picked both of them up, but he refrained from putting them on quite yet, since he had no need to. He walked out into the hall, being sure to avoid the door he knew the bodies were in, and walked into the main room. There was a kitchen off to the side, and a couch in front of a TV on the opposite side of the room. The windows had light shining through, and he smiled at that at least – he still wasn't quite used to natural sunlight, and it felt so nice to be warmed by it.

"Good morning, Makoto." His head turned quickly towards the voice, and he noticed that Yasuhiro was sitting at the counter, his backpack open, and he was eating some canned food and some water from a water bottle. "Kyoko says to eat something, though keep in mind that we need to ration the food."

"Alright," He replied, he was actually starving, since he didn't eat much of anything the previous day, and what he did eat he ended up throwing up right after. He noticed his backpack was also on the counter, so he opened it up to get some food. As he was looking through the contents of the bag for the first time he asked, "Where's everyone else, and…" He didn't know how to ask it without him sounding insane, so he finally let it out, "And… Is everything real?"

Yasuhiro didn't seem to think the question was dumb, and he nodded, "Yeah… It's all real. The zombies are still out there in the streets, you can look if you want." He pointed to the windows by the couch, "And right now the rest are looking through the rest of the apartments on this floor, trying to find supplies for today."

"Oh," He mumbled, feeling numb. "I – I can't believe this is the world…"

"Trust me, man, I know how you feel." He shook his head, looking down at his food, "I was hoping everything Junko was saying was wrong, you know? Now though? I wish it was exactly as she said… This is so much worse than the picture she created. I thought we would be facing like… riots or something, you know? But not the freaking end of the world… Not zombies!"

"Yeah, I know. I never thought this could be possible either." He took a long drink from his water bottle, not realizing how incredibly thirsty he was until just then, and he let out a sigh as he finished.

"So… What do you think we're gonna do?" Yasuhiro asked, finishing up his meal and putting everything back into his backpack, "The streets are crawling with those monsters, so we'll have a hard time going through unnoticed…"

"Hopefully Kyoko or Byakuya can come up with something, I don't think I can do what I did yesterday, I still feel a little sick." Makoto revealed, "I wonder if we'll just stay here for another day or something… It seems safe."

"No." Yasuhiro shook his head, "I heard Kyoko and Byakuya discussing it earlier this morning, and I'm positive that we're moving out today. Byakuya seemed really intent on doing that, and he actually got Kyoko to agree with him."

"Really?" Makoto asked, "What did he say?"

"It makes sense, he explained it all to us and said that staying here is pointless. We'd just be wasting supplies, and the chance of rescue here are close to none." His eyes widened, "Oh yeah! He had a paper showing all of the evacuation centers, and he wanted us to go to one of them!"

"Seriously?!" Makoto asked, a smile working its way onto his face, "So there's still people out there?"

"Of course. What's even better is that the papers are dated only a few months ago!" Yasuhiro exclaimed, "So until recently, this city apparently wasn't taken over!"

"But wait… Didn't Toko say that she was fighting them before she woke up in the 'game'?" He asked, his brows furrowing together in confusion, "So how is that possible?"

"I don't know," Yasuhiro muttered, "Maybe the outbreak occurred back then, but only now became an epidemic?" He shrugged, "You'll have to ask the others about that, I didn't really ask for the details."

"I might do that," Makoto muttered, "Do you think that maybe we'll be able to make a detour to my home?" He noticed Yasuhiro stilled beside him, "Hiro? What's up?"

"Huh?" He snapped out of it, "Nothing… I was just thinking of my family." He grimaced, "I just didn't really think of em, you know? Not with what's been going on lately…"

"I'm sorry," Makoto replied, feeling a bit of shame for reminding him of it, "Pretend I didn't say anything."

"Nah man, it's alright. I know you didn't mean anything by it." He sighed, and shrugged, "You'll have to ask Byakuya about it, but I think I know what he'll say…"

"It's a waste of time?" Makoto guessed. He saw Yasuhiro nod, and he let out a soft sigh, setting aside his food as he thought about it, "I know that they're probably dead now, but… I just have to see for myself. I still have this hope inside of me that they might be ok… I'd feel a lot better if I could confirm it for myself."

Yasuhiro nodded, "I see what you mean, yeah…" He stood up abruptly, "Anyway, I'm going to go check with the rest of them, you finish eating. We don't want you crapping out on us today!" He chuckled at his words, "And remember, ration your food! We don't wanna run out!"

Makoto waved to him as he left, and went back to eating his food afterwards. He felt the same way about Yasuhiro when it came to talking about their families, he just wanted to avoid the topic altogether, but… he just felt like he had to know. It would be best if all of them could get some kind of closure.

"But I don't even know if we're going to be going the right way." He grumbled dejectedly, forcing himself to eat the rest of his food, before he packed up his backpack, and put on his sweatshirt. He picked up his sword shortly after, and lifted it a few times to test the weight, and nodded approvingly. He then strapped it on his back, and made his way out of the room to find the rest of his friends.

The hallway wasn't entirely well lit, but that was to be expected since the power was out, though at least the sunlight lit it up somewhat. Still, he felt his senses heightening as he looked around and he crouched, ready to pull out his sword in an instant if he so much as heard a creak.

"What are you doing?"

Makoto wished he didn't jump so high, but the voice had come from practically nowhere, and he couldn't prevent the short scream he let out as he jumped at least a foot in the air. He whirled around to see who said that, and saw Aoi struggling not to laugh. "Don't sneak up on people like that!" He exclaimed, still feeling a little jittery as he straightened up, trying to look at least a little dignified.

"That was hilarious!" She continued to laugh, "I just came out here to get you, since Kyoko wanted to brief us all on what the plan is for today, but…" She couldn't stop laughing, and tears were beginning to form in her eyes, "You… Haha!"

He sighed, "Laugh it up…" He could practically feel his masculinity being crushed in the face of Aoi's laughter. "But seriously, I'm just really jumpy right now!" He snapped when she wouldn't stop laughing.

She nodded, her smile disappearing quickly, "Yeah… I know…" Suddenly she looked ashamed, "You're talking about the zombies, right?" She let out a sigh, "I'm sorry, you're right, I shouldn't have scared you like that."

He blinked at her apology, and fumbled a bit, "Um, well, uh…" He didn't expect her to genuinely look so guilty, "It's not a big deal, right? No one's hurt? Plus it got you to laugh, so that's a good thing!" he was trying desperately to make her smile again, since seeing her look so down was worse than how he was feeling before.

She did smile slightly, though she still looked a little dejected, "Heh, thanks…"

"Come on, I'm sorry for making you feel guilty." He finally broke down, screw his masculinity at this point – he couldn't bear to see her so down like this. "I shouldn't have snapped at you like that."

Finally her smile returned in full bloom, much to his immense relief, "Do you really mean it?"

"Yes!" He exclaimed, glad to see her smiling again, "You can make fun of me all you want, I don't really care!"

"That's a weird thing for a boy to say, don't you think?" She asked, and then she chuckled at his confused look, "I mean telling me that I can make fun of you. Shouldn't you not want me to make fun of you?"

"Well, I don't want to see you sad," He explained, suddenly feeling very self-conscious, "A – And… you helped me a lot yesterday, carrying me around that building… S – So I figured I might as well allow you to say what you want, right?" His face felt warm, at the admittance, and he looked down.

"Oh, uh…" Her face was now bright red as well, and she too looked to the ground, "I – I see. Well thanks… No, I mean… Not thank you, but uh…"

"If you two are quite done flirting with one another, we need to get this meeting underway." Byakuya's voice cut across the tension around them, and it was the first time Makoto felt thankful for his interruption, but he also wanted to strangle him oddly enough. Pushing his conflicting emotions aside, Makoto nodded, watching Byakuya go back into the room the rest of the party was probably in.

"Well, we have go to, right?" He asked, and she quickly nodded, following him towards the room.

"Makoto, thank you." She whispered to him right as they entered the room, causing him to glance towards her. However, she was looking away, and he forced himself to focus on where he saw everyone gathered. In the middle of the room, everyone was gathered at a table, and on the table a newspaper was spread out, with certain spots X'ed out.

"Finally," Byakuya drawled out, "You two have quite the gall to make us wait this long."

"Well don't delay it anymore and just tell us what's up!" Aoi shot back, causing his face contort into a scowl, but he didn't retort.

He finally looked down at the newspaper, and pointed to a spot, "This is where we are, and according to this newspaper, this city is an evacuation zone."

"But… It's not a very good one, is it?" Yasuhiro muttered, "I mean, the dead are all over the place!"

"That's why we can safely assume that this city's evacuation zone is no longer operational," Kyoko spoke up, "If that's the case here, then we can also assume that any nearby cities are similarly infested. It's in our best interests to head somewhere that's not so densely populated."

"So where do you intend to go then?" Makoto asked, looking at the map, "That would make the nearest evacuation zone…"

"Here." Byakuya pointed to a town that was quite a long distance away, "it's safely out of the city, and it's nowhere near as populated. This is our best bet for getting evacuated." He then pulled out a separate map – a large paper map of the city, and set it down on the table, "Now, here is where we are right now." He pointed to a spot somewhere near the middle of the city.

"We're seriously only that far away from the Academy?" Aoi asked in shock, "It felt like we ran for miles!" According to the map, they were roughly half a mile away from the Academy they managed to escape from.

"With all of the cars in our way, along with the zombie horde that was pursuing us, we actually made a significantly good distance." Kyoko replied, "Today things will go more smoothly, assuming we don't attract the attention of so many of the monsters like we did yesterday."

"S – So what's our route out of the city?" Toko asked, looking down at the map curiously, "J – Just looking outside, Y – you can see all of them out there… walking around… wanting t – to kill us…"

"We plan to follow the main road," Byakuya pointed to a road that cut cleanly through the city, and it was also an easily identifiable way out. "If we follow this, we should be able to get out of the city in a day or two, assuming we don't run into too much… trouble."

"Is that really a good idea?" Makoto asked, "If it's the main road, it's bound to be the path that many people took to get into the city, and probably also the main path that they took to escape once they realized what was going on..."

"I raised the same objection as well, but…" She pulled out another sheet of paper, "Byakuya found this yesterday, and it tells us all about the monsters." It looked like a pamphlet, and it was almost laughable to Makoto that they would make something like that, but he nodded. "What I've learned from this is that the monsters seem to be unable to see us with their eyes."

"What?" Aoi asked in shock, "You mean they're blind?"

"That's exactly what she means." Byakuya answered for Kyoko, "Their main method of tracking is by hearing. That is why so many of them were chasing us yesterday, it was probably due all of the noise we were making. The explosives, your idiotic screaming, it makes sense that they would come from all around to attack us."

"Does that pamphlet have any information on whether you can be saved if you're bitten or not?" Makoto asked curiously.

"It states that any bitten individuals should be brought to the nearest evacuation center as soon as possible, where they will be 'processed'." Kyoko replied, "If I had to guess, 'processed' probably means killed." She saw all of their faces turn to ones of horror, "The newspaper claims that it's an infection with no possible cure. If there's no cure to what those monsters are, wouldn't the best method to contain it be to kill everyone infected so it doesn't spread?"

"Not to mention that it spreads in many different ways. After reading this paper, I have a more clear view as to how society fell to this infection. A simple scratch is enough to infect you. These monsters may be slow, they may be stupid, but they don't have to do much before you also join their ranks." He allowed that to sink in before he continued on to the next part, "Which is why if any of you get infected, I want you to tell me so I can shoot you." He pulled the pistol out from his pocket and set it on the table.

"Wh – What?!" Yasuhiro cried, "You just expect us to die? What about you?! What if you get infected?"

"I would expect no different treatment." He told him, "If I do get infected, I don't want to wander around aimlessly for the rest of my life. I want to die properly, and not be degraded in such a way!"

"And the same for me." Kyoko muttered quietly, "I don't want to die, but similar to Byakuya, I have no desire to be one of those monsters. If I'm infected, I expect you to kill me."

"But… I can't!" Makoto cried, "You're both my friends, we went through so much! There's no way I could kill you guys!"

"If you're truly our friend, as you say, then you'll do this for us." Byakuya dismissed his woes, "Furthermore, none of us are infected, so don't you dare worry about something as inconsequential as this right now. I have no intention of letting one of those things touch me!"

"O – On a different note, Byakuya asked me to estimate how many days supplies we have, and I've determined with the amount of food we have, assuming we ration it and only eat twice a day, will last just about two weeks." Toko spoke up, not stuttering and she proudly stated what she discovered.

"Two weeks?" Aoi repeated, "That means even if we do get out of the city as fast as we can, there's no way we can make the food last until we make it to our destination! We'll starve before then!"

"A – Are you doubting my calculations?!" Toko gasped, glaring at the girl, "Y – You!"

"What? I'm not doubting your calculations, I'm just saying that we don't have enough food to last us the entire way!" Aoi exclaimed, looking at the girl in annoyance.

"Stop it, both of you." Byakuya broke the argument before it truly got anywhere, "I have no desire to hear your bickering!" Aoi glared at him while Toko blushed as she looked at him dreamily, "Do you not think we took that into account? We'll of course have to attempt to find food on the way. In this apartment alone we found several cans of food that we intend to bring with us for instance."

"Yasuhiro nodded, "That's good, now all we need is a shower, badly." No one could really deny that. None of them have showered for the past two days, and after yesterday's physical activities, they all smelled awful.

"Essentials first," Kyoko decided, "Once we're out of the city, we'll see about stopping somewhere to clean up."

"Out of the city?" Aoi gasped, "But… That will take another few days!"

"Deal with it," Byakuya growled, "I don't have time to worry about cleanliness as of now. Right now we all need to focus on our survival, and we need to escape this hell hole." He started to pack up the maps and newspaper, and put them into his backpack, "If you're all done eating, then may I suggest we leave now?"

"Actually, I have a question," Makoto muttered, "I noticed that the direction we're going to is really close to my house… I was wondering if we could make a small detour to go there." He finally let it out, he only hoped Byakuya would be ok with it.

"A detour for us is absolutely unacceptable! You do realize this, don't you?" He asked, "We have limited food, and we have to walk on foot. We're incapable of making up any lost time, so do you think it's worth it to go to your parent's house?" He crossed his arms, "I'm sure you're as aware as all of us that our families are probably dead, right?"

A pained expression crossed the faces of almost everyone present, with the exception of Byakuya and Kyoko. "I – I know that, but they're outside of the city, maybe…" Makoto listed off a feeble excuse – even he was aware of how weak it was.

"If your family followed instructions, they probably evacuated to the city, since it was the closest possible location, and then while here, they either died, or managed to be evacuated. We can't really be sure, but given this infection – given the state of this city, do you honestly think that they are still at your home?"

"N – No, I can't say for sure, but maybe they left a message or something?" Makoto muttered, "Plus, don't you want to go to your home? How about the rest of you?" He turned to the group.

"My family is in a completely different city," Aoi muttered sadly.

"Yeah, m – mine are g – gone too." Toko muttered, "I came here from really far away…"

Yasuhiro nodded, "I'm in the same boat as Aoi. I transferred her to attend Hope's Peak Academy." He crossed his arms, and let out a sigh, a resigned expression on his face from remembering his family.

"As for me, I don't know if my family is alive, but right now, I'm more concerned about our wellbeing to worry about that." He glared at Makoto, "So do you really want to be selfish and go to your home in a fruitless search, especially when none of us will be given the chance to do that?"

"Shut up Byakuya, who says you speak for me?" Aoi asked, glaring at the boy yet again, "I want to help Makoto. If he has the chance to go home, especially if it's close to our path, then why not?"

Yasuhiro suddenly nodded, "I agree with her! If I was in his position, I would want the same exact thing too!"

Kyoko smiled slightly, "And I'm with them. Byakuya, it appears that we'll have to make a slight detour after all."

Byakuya looked pissed, but he nodded, "Fine. We'll make a detour for Makoto's sake." He replied, giving into their demands, "But we'd better find something. If I find out you wasted out time, I won't be happy." He looked at the group assembled, and then said, "Now, let's move out. We've already wasted enough time talking." He started to lead the group towards the stairs without any delay.

In the back, Makoto smiled appreciatively at his friends who stood up for him, "I'm really thankful guys, seriously!" He exclaimed, but he sighed, "And… I'm really sorry about being so selfish. I know Byakuya is probably right, but… I've gotta see it!"

"If seeing your family is being selfish, then perhaps selfishness isn't all bad," Kyoko replied, "Now we ought to move, before Byakuya gets truly upset with us."

Aoi nodded, "Yeah, like Hiro said, if I was in your shoes, I'd want the same thing!"

Yasuhiro gave him a thumbs up, "Hey, you saved my ass a lot when I was accused of murder twice in that school, I think letting you do this is a good step towards paying you back!"

Makoto grinned at his friends, knowing that this would probably be the last time he'd smile all day, given what he was about to be subject to. "Thanks, guys. It means a lot to me to have you with me!"

After that, the group of six went up the stairs to the roof, where Byakuya led them over to a fire escape. "This is how we're getting out of here," He explained, "Once we're down on the ground, do not make a single noise." He emphasized it, hoping they'd get it. "The quieter we are, the smoother this will go." He looked down and cursed, "There's a few of them on the fire escape…"

"Here, let me." Aoi whispered, looking down. She got her bow pulled the string back, putting the titanium arrow in. She took a deep breath, and stilled herself. Seconds later, she released her hold on the string, and the arrow shot downward towards one of the zombies, and it piercing right through the head. The now dead zombie stopped all movement, and crumbled where it stood.

"A completely silent weapon." Kyoko mumbled, "If we can retrieve the arrows afterwards, Aoi's skills in archery will prove absolutely essential to us."

"I'll kill the other three, just give me a few minutes," Aoi replied, getting onto the fire escape and climbing down so she had a better shot on the other three. Within five minutes, she had dealt with them all, and they were all slowly making their way down the fire escape, trying not to make a single sound. Along the way, Aoi made sure to get her arrows out of the skulls of the zombies she shot, and she put them back into her collection.

"Toko, don't look at the bodies," Byakuya whispered urgently, "I don't want your split personality screaming and causing the horde to start chasing us today!" Though she was shaking, Toko nodded, and kept her eyes covered, which forced Makoto and Kyoko to guide her down safely, so she wouldn't injure herself.

On the ground, the group gathered together, Makoto unsheathing his sword and gripping it hard in his hand, shaking a bit as he heard the moaning from all around them. The reality of their situation hit him again – they were in danger now, and they had to be quiet. Forcing his breathing to relax, he watched as Byakuya looked out of the alley way they were in, and beckoned Aoi forward.

Readying another arrow, Aoi went up to him, and he pointed at several undead in the street that he wanted her to take down quietly. The street itself was, like the others, a complete mess. Cars were strewn about, some even flipped over, and at the intersection a little ways up, it looked like some sort of makeshift barricade, with a tank settled in the middle. Aoi's eyes widened in surprise at the tank, but she was forced back to the task at hand, and took a deep breath once more.

There were three undead on the path they needed to go along, and killing them silently with the bow would assure a safer passage. The first arrow went out, and it hit the zombie directly in the head. While crouching, Aoi started to move out slowly, getting another arrow ready in the bow as she eyed her next target. Seconds later, it too was down, and then not even another twenty seconds passed before she killed the next one.

"Follow me, and stay quiet." Byakuya told the group in a small voice, "Kyoko, since you only have a gun, I want you to guide Toko through here. Toko, I order you not to open your eyes." Everyone nodded, and looking a bit pleased, Byakuya began to lead the group, walking pass a green-faced Aoi who was busy retrieving her arrows from the corpses.

They were slowly making their way to the intersection where the tank was, and as they got closer, they could see hundreds of corpses lying around, and within the barricade were about a dozen dead soldiers or so. They may have been taken out, but they certainly didn't go out without a fight. Walking pass the grisly scene, they passed the intersection, going down another street where Byakuya had to pause yet again.

Byakuya reached into his backpack and pulled out the city map from earlier, where he tried to assess their current location and make sure they were on their way to the main road. While he did this, the rest of the party just stared intently at the undead wandering around the road, stumbling over the debris and other trash lying around. They were all huddled along the sidewalk, practically pressing themselves against the building, and fortunately none of the monsters came close to them.

Byakuya nodded to himself, and put the map back, and then gestured for them to continue following him. Aoi was right behind him now, her bow ready to be used when needed, while Yasuhiro was behind her. Following up was Kyoko guiding Toko, and at the back was Makoto, making sure no harm would come to the two girls in front of him. They came to another intersection, again barricaded, so they made their way around it like the one before, since climbing over it would create too much noise.

For another hour this went on, Byakuya would take frequent breaks to make sure they were going the right way, and the rest would stay quiet. Occasionally Aoi would take one out with her bow and arrows, but for the most part, they just stayed silent, knowing that it wouldn't attract any of the zombies to them as long as they didn't make any noise. Finally, after walking for so long, they came up to an elevated road, which Makoto could only assume was the main road – a highway – that Byakuya and Kyoko were talking about earlier.

"There should be a ramp to get up somewhere around here…" Byakuya mumbled, looking up and down the road. He shook his head, "We'll take a short break, so go there." He pointed to underside of the highway, where Makoto could see some graffiti. If it weren't the apocalypse, he would be hesitant to go there, since he got the feeling that is where the 'rough' crowd would hang out. Now however, it looked like a good shelter, since there were relatively few undead wandering the area.

They had to climb over a small iron fence that was there to prevent cars from going to the area, and then they cross some train tracks. Makoto looked up and down the tracks, wondering how long it was since a train had actually come across. Shaking his head, he continued to follow the group, and they finally stopped under the road. As expected, there was some graffiti there, and there were also a few of the undead there, which Aoi made quick work of.

"Ok," Byakuya spoke up, looking around at the group, "We should be safe to talk at a reasonable level right now," He told the group, "But I'd prefer if you stayed silent, honestly."

"Where to next?" Makoto asked, "You said something about a ramp, right?"

"Correct." Byakuya nodded, "we're currently below the main road of the city, and we need to find either an exit or entrance ramp and get up there." He looked upward, "Once there, I think we'll be better off." Byakuya almost never said 'I think' so hearing that from him did little to ease Makoto's nerves. Still, he leaned against the concrete stand holding the road up, and slid down into a sitting position. He set his sword aside, and closed his eyes.

Kyoko meanwhile set Toko aside, and was scouting the perimeter, making sure they were safe. Byakuya took the time to sit down as far away as he could possibly get from the others, and he was again looking at his map. Yasuhiro, along with Toko and Aoi all sat down with Makoto.

"Y – You're pretty good with that bow," Toko started up some conversation between them, "I – It figures a – a barbarian like you would be."

"Wh – What?!" Aoi cried, looking at her with a heated glare, "You know, you could at least try to compliment me without tying it in with an insult!"

Yasuhiro and Makoto, who were sitting together, just watched the two girls begin to argue with mild interest. In a way it was comforting to see, since it meant some things were still the same. Though it definitely did get a bit grating after a while.

"Look, Hina," Makoto finally spoke up after the girls had been bickering for a few minutes, "Toko is just a little socially awkward, she was trying to be nice with her comment, right?" He looked to Toko pleadingly, hoping the girl would argue back.

"S – Socially awkward?" She grumbled, biting her nail, "Y – You think I'm socially awkward?! W – Well you're not so s – special yourself." Toko trembled as she said that.

"W – Well…" Makoto looked to Yasuhiro or Aoi for help, but both of them shook their heads. They were both traitors, leaving him to fend her off on his own! Argh, he focused his mind back on the task at hand, "What I meant to say was that you were just complimenting her and that she shouldn't have taken it personally, right?"

"But she called me a barbarian!" Aoi exclaimed, "How am I supposed to take that as a compliment?"

Makoto couldn't really argue with that, so he decided to focus on the other point, "Well… Yeah, she did say that, but she also said you were good with the bow, right? That has to count for something. I can't recall if Toko ever complimented me."

"Or me!" Yasuhiro finally piped in.

"I wouldn't have anything to say to you, idiot…" Toko replied the moment Yasuhiro spoke up, causing the boy to look down to the ground dejectedly, "A – And Makoto, you are t – talking like I'm not even here!"

Makoto sighed, there was just no way to win with this girl, was there? "Yeah, I was, sorry about that." He said, trying to defuse the situation before it could get out of control, and before Toko went into one of her long rants.

"Break time's over," Byakuya stood up, and took one more glance at his map, before placing it into his bag, "I've had enough of listening to you all prattle on about nothing." Aoi gave him another glare, and she got up, holding her bow, while Yasuhiro just looked pleased that the argument ended. Toko, as usual, went over to Byakuya like a lost puppy.

Makoto sat there and frowned, worried about their group dynamics. He, Aoi, Yasuhiro, and Kyoko all got along well enough, but Byakuya and Toko were both a real issue. He didn't really mind them, but he could tell that Aoi disliked both of them a lot, and most of the group outside of himself and Kyoko didn't really value Yasuhiro's opinions… It was even apparent that there was a tension between Byakuya and Kyoko, at least one sided, as far as Makoto noticed, since he knew Byakuya wanted to lead the group, but everyone respected Kyoko more…

He ran a hand through his hair, wishing that they were all just best friends and could be fine with one another. He was just glad that everyone understood that in order to survive, they needed everyone in the group, since they all carried their weight. He and Yasuhiro were both surprisingly good with the blades they carried, while Aoi was invaluable with her bow and arrows. While Toko wasn't too effective, her alternate personality was also an invaluable tool when dealing with the undead. Furthermore, while Byakuya might not like it, he had to know that Kyoko's insights and guidance were often useful to follow.

"Hey, Makoto, you're gonna be left behind if you stay there any longer!" He snapped out of his thoughts, and looked up to see Yasuhiro holding out his hand, which Makoto smiled and grabbed, allowing him to pull him to his feet. He gripped his sword, and quickly made his way back to the group with Yasuhiro at his side.

Byakuya looked a little disgruntled, but he didn't say anything as the group finally formed together again, and they just began to follow the main road until they could find a ramp to climb up. Along the way, Aoi made use of her bow and arrows again, while Makoto again protected Kyoko and Toko. Within a half hour, they finally came upon the first ramp, and… it was a disaster.

Cars were piled up on one another, and it even looked like some cars were tipped over the ramp and smashed into the ground. They could smell the horrible stench of rot and decay stronger than usual here, and they knew that a lot of people must have died trying to escape the city. Makoto did his best not to gag as he followed Byakuya's lead towards the ramp entrance, and slowly they made their way up.

They had to climb over a lot of vehicles and there was twisted metal all over the place. One wrong step, or a simple slip would be very damaging, so they went slow, and helped each other out when needed. Kyoko was the last one up, after forcing Toko to go ahead of her. The climb was hazardous, but they finally made it up after ten minutes. Makoto held out his hand for Kyoko to grab onto, and he helped her jump down from the car she was atop of.

"Holy shit…" Yasuhiro's voice echoed across the wind as Makoto finally looked up, and he felt his jaw dropping as he took in the site before him. There were thousands of cars on the road – the highway had six lanes gone each way, and all twelve of them were completely full to the brim with cars, there was hardly any space in between them. It looked like the worst traffic he had ever seen, but he knew that these cars wouldn't ever be going anywhere again.

"Once the city started to get infected, these people were trying to flee," Kyoko spoke up from beside Makoto, surveying the roads, "However, it appears that they tried leaving too late. Notice how some cars contain the undead within them?" She pointed to a red sports car that they were sitting right next to, and indeed, buckled into the driver's seat was one of the undead monsters. "It's clear that people knew that the evacuation centers must have killed the infected, so in their denial they tried to flee, and in doing so they blocked the way out for others thinking the same."

"Can we really follow this road?" Aoi asked, "There's hardly anywhere for us to walk, we're going to have to walk on top of cars more often than not…"

"It could potentially be dangerous as well," Kyoko mumbled thoughtfully to herself, her gloved hand rubbing her chin, "With so many cars it will be very difficult to see the undead before they hear us, and we'll be making a lot of noise climbing over all of this." She turned to Byakuya, "What do you think?"

He didn't look pleased at all about the state of the road, but he glared down at the ground, biting back his first instinctive reply, and slowly said, "Is this any better than walking down there?" He motioned towards the city roads below, "The detour we'd have to take to get to the same spot this road exits is massive, and would delay us by a few days."

"But climbing over these cars is going to delay us too, right?" Makoto asked, pointing out the obvious.

"Yes, obviously," Byakuya drawled out, "But I think it would still be faster to go this way. We have to take our food supplies into account. We can't afford to waste time with pointless detours." He said that, giving Makoto a pointed look, but saying nothing on the matter of Makoto's family, "Unless if you have a better idea, this is still our best option."

"B – But… there's those monsters in the cars, and… they might be under…" Toko pointed out weakly, not really wanting to go against Byakuya, but feeling the need to point it out.

"We're smarter than them, if they're coming for you, climb atop a vehicle, they won't be able to get to you there." He told her, "If you guys are against this plan, then go your own way, but this is where I'm heading."

"W – We can't split up!" Makoto cried, a bit louder than he really wanted to, "We need each other to survive!"

"Precisely," Byakuya replied, adjusting his glasses, and a smug look crossed his face, "If you want to live, you'll follow me, because we're not going any other route through the city."

"Why are you such a jerk?" Aoi asked, grinding her teeth together as she looked at him, "Why can't you accept that other people have different opinions than you?!"

"Because those other people will wind up dead. Kyoko, surely you agree with my assessment?" He turned to look at the pink haired girl, who gave him a long stare.

Finally Kyoko sighed, "It probably will be safest to travel along this road as Byakuya stated. We'll just have to be careful, if we're doing this, I want Hiro on point, since he can stab the monsters in close range with his knives, and I want Aoi behind him, being sure to pick off any of the monsters that are far enough away but in our path."

"Fair enough," Byakuya agreed, "Then that's why we're doing this, any other objections?"

No one raised anymore objections, though Aoi looked a little put off that Kyoko sided with Byakuya. Regardless, she got in her position near the front, and the group slowly moved through the colossal mess of cars in their path. Yasuhiro killing a few every now and then, though Aoi did most of the work, stopping the group frequently so she could kill a zombie further ahead of the group.

The rest of the day passed much like this, and Makoto knew that he was going to be sunburned by staying out for so long. After a while he put his sword back in its sheath, since he really hadn't used it at all that day, and both Aoi and Yasuhiro were doing a good job of clearing a path. They took a few breaks every now and then, hiding in the shade of the vehicles from the overbearing sun, but other than that, they never stopped.

It was finally when the sky was beginning to turn a shade of orange that Byakuya called for them to exit at the next ramp and hide out in a building. Like the previous ramp, this one was jammed full of cars, though it was a lot easier to go down than it was to go up. Upon reaching the lower road, they went to the nearest building, which just so happened to be an office building.

"Makoto, Hiro, you two go barricade the entrance," Byakuya immediately got to work ordering them around, "Kyoko, Hina, scout the building to make sure it's safe. Toko, just stay out of the way. I'm going to look around for a little bit." Immediately everyone got to their assigned tasks, though Toko looked a little lost.

"Hey, Toko," Makoto called, "Help out Hiro and I, will you?" She looked upset, but Makoto was sure that inside she was happy that someone needed her help and she could do something. Ten minutes later, the three of them were finished shoving up all the furniture in the welcoming room against the door.

The building was just a typical office building. Directly ahead of the entry was a receptionist desk, where Makoto assumed people would make appointments or something. Immediately to the left was where visitors would wait, with all the chairs and tables there used to barricade the door. To the right there were some bathrooms, and on the far wall near the receptionist desk, Makoto could see elevators, which he was certain weren't operational anymore, and on the other side of the receptionist desk were a few doors, one of which must have been the stairs.

There wasn't a single sound, and it put Makoto on edge, he didn't want to draw his sword, since that would alarm his companions, but he wished someone would talk to break the silence. The only noise was the soft sound of Byakuya shifting through papers behind the receptionist desk, probably trying to figure out what the building was prior, or trying to find ways to access offices and the like.

Makoto let out a sigh of relief when he saw both Aoi and Kyoko come back through one of the doors. He had been worried about them being alone. The two girls walked over to Byakuya, and since he, Toko, and Yasuhiro were all sitting at the visitors spot, they couldn't hear a single word of the conversation. Fortunately, Aoi made her way over, jogging a little bit and looking somewhat happy.

"There's a lot of offices upstairs," She started, "There were a few of 'them' around, but they're gone now. Good news though – some of the offices have cots in them that we can use. They were probably left here by some employees who slept at work occasionally." She let out a sigh, "We only cleared the second floor though, and Kyoko told me that we ought to barricade the door leading to the higher floors, which I agreed to. That's what took us so long, plus Kyoko wanted to do another quick sweep of the floor before coming down."

"You can always rely on Kyoko to be thorough." Makoto replied, feeling much safer after knowing all of that, "So there's enough room for each of us to have an office of our own?"

"Yep!" She nodded, "Some of the windows are broken and there's a lot of glass on the floor by them, so stay away from that, but otherwise, it's safe as far as we can tell."

Makoto felt himself relaxing, glad to know that they were done dealing with the undead for the day. Even though he didn't use his sword once that day, he still felt tired, "Then should we go up and eat dinner before heading to bed?" He asked, glancing out the front windows of the office to the streets, where he could see the monsters wandering around, oblivious to their presence.

Aoi looked out too, and frowned, "Yeah… We can. We should do it soon too, Kyoko says we have an hour of daylight left before it gets too dark to see."

None of them had any argument to that, and the four of them walked over to Byakuya and Kyoko, who were silently discussing something with one another. "What's the plan?" Makoto asked upon reaching them.

"We'll rest here for the night." Byakuya replied, "Do not under any circumstances try to go to a higher floor than the one that Kyoko and Aoi cleared, is that understood? Furthermore, everyone be sure to lock your office doors at night, that way one of those monsters won't be able to get in."

"I disagree with that!" Makoto replied quickly, "They're too dumb to open doors, if they were smart enough then that barricade at the front door couldn't possibly be enough."

"I agree with Makoto on this." Kyoko replied, nodding approvingly at him, "We've already observed their behavior, and know their limitations, locking the doors will do nothing but inhibit us, not them."

Byakuya nodded slowly, 'Very well, I suppose leaving them unlocked is acceptable." He then pointed to the bathrooms, "If you need to use the restrooms, make sure to come down and use those ones, plumbing doesn't work, and I don't want the smell reaching anywhere near where we're sleeping, got it?"

Everyone nodded to that, and soon they were all going upstairs. The room was just a generic office, there were many cubicles, or what used to be cubicles anyway, since a lot of the walls separating them were torn down. They could see all sorts of office supplies on the desks, and many computers which would probably never be activated again. Off to one corner of the room were a bunch of corpses, probably due to Aoi and Kyoko moving them there. He only hoped that the smell wouldn't be so strong he couldn't sleep.

The group all got some chairs, and gathered around a table, and everyone began to eat their rationed food. Most of them ate silently, though Byakuya opened up his map and studied it as he ate. Makoto was sure that he knew where they were going, but Byakuya, the perfectionist that he was, just had to check his work over and over again. Makoto meanwhile started to let his eyes wander around the office.

Seeing everything in such disarray, seeing the blood splattered on the floor, the windows smashed out, the computers cracked and unused, and tables flipped and knocked over just made him feel sad. Once upon a time this was where people would work and meet up. Their computers worked reliably, they had friends to talk to here, and it was a place of order… Now it was nothing more than a chaotic mess.

"It's sad, isn't it?" Kyoko's soft voice broke him out of his thoughts, "To see everything in ruin…" She frowned – the first visible emotion he'd seen on her face in a while, "We have yet to meet a single living human being, it makes you wonder if we're the only ones left."

"We can't be!" Aoi exclaimed, "There has to be others out there! Like, isn't it mathematically impossible for us to be the only ones left? Also, didn't Junko say something about airing what was happening to us to the world? Whatever happened to that?"

"Junko may have been in a similar position as we were," Kyoko replied, though she looked thoughtfully towards the ceiling as she stated that.

"Huh? You mean that she didn't have access to the outside world?" Yasuhiro asked, entering into the conversation as well.

"Yes, that's what I'm saying." Kyoko answered, "Once we agreed to be locked up in there, I believe everyone, including Junko, lost all contact with the outside world."

"If we go by what Genocide Jill told us, she was dealing with the zombies before we lost our memories, right?" Makoto asked, "So I think it's safe to assume that whatever the Tragedy was a year ago, it involved this outbreak."

"I – If that's the case, then why would Junko bother broadcasting it to the world? Wouldn't she know that it was pointless?" Toko asked, looking between them all.

"I don't think so," Makoto mumbled, looking down at his food, "I think back then it must have not been as bad as it is now. Maybe it was being contained at the time, and all order wasn't lost yet. Plus, like Kyoko said, if she was locked in with us, she really couldn't know the state of the world either before she started that broadcast."

"It would also explain why we would all agree to stay at the school forever," Aoi pointed out, "Maybe we all knew it was the inevitable result of the outbreak."

"Perhaps," Kyoko nodded, acknowledging the possibility, "Though it's difficult to say without our memories."

"Do you think we'll ever recall those two years we lost?" Makoto asked, his eyes looking at all of them, "No matter how hard I try, I just can't recall it at all…"

"Well… Does it even matter anymore?" Yasuhiro asked, "I mean, I know I hate forgetting so much of my life, but given what Junko told us…"

"Y – You mean the fact that we were all friends b – before the game, right?" Toko asked. "I've been wondering the s – same thing myself."

Makoto felt the same blood chilling feeling he had when Junko revealed that bit of information to him, and he found himself unable to stop thinking about it… What awful person would force friends to murder each other? How could Junko do that? Why?

Aoi must have noticed the depressed look on his face, because she reached over and pat him on the back, "Hey, it's not all bad, right? We're all alive, and we're all friends!"

"Well, mostly," Yasuhiro eyed Byakuya who was still ignoring them off to the side. "Yeah, just try not to think about it Makoto… It might be best that we just don't remember at all." He spoke seriously, which caused Aoi and Toko to look at him in surprise, "Wh – what?"

"I – I don't think I've e – ever heard you say something s – serious before." Toko mumbled.

"What? I've said plenty of things seriously!" Yasuhiro exclaimed, crossing his arms defiantly as he looked at the girls.

"I think she meant something serious that wasn't stupid." Aoi replied. She saw he was about to protest, and she quickly pointed to Kyoko, "Remember when you thought she was a ghost? How in the world could you think something like that when she was right there?!"

"I'm curious to know as well," Kyoko replied, a gleeful glint in her eyes, "I've never been accused of being a ghost before. It was honestly quite… refreshing, to be honest."

"Oh come on!" Yasuhiro exclaimed, "Ghosts totally exist!"

"No they d – don't," Toko replied, "O – only an idiot would think so!"

"Oh yeah? Then what about those zombies, huh? No one thought they were real, but look out there now!" He pointed out the destroyed windows, and then crossed his arms in a triumphant gesture.

Aoi opened and closed her mouth, and traded a look with Toko. "Huh, I guess you've got a point there."

"Y – You're still an idiot t – though." Toko added quickly, right before Yasuhiro was about to get a big head about things.

Makoto chuckled at seeing his friends talk among each other, and he found it quite interesting how Aoi and Toko seemed to unite only when it came to making fun of Yasuhiro. Even Kyoko looked a little less tense than she did earlier, a small but pleasant smile was gracing her face. He was just glad that he could be with his friends, and just for a moment forget about the horrors of the real world.

Byakuya abruptly stood from his chair, "I'm going to my room. Do not disturb me, please." He stalked off to one of the many doors leading to offices, and closed it behind him. Leaving the five of them alone.

"Well, I guess that's our cue to go to bed as well," Aoi grumbled, getting up and zipping his backpack up, "I'm going to turn in too."

Makoto waved good bye to the rest of his friends as they too started to go off to bed, leaving only him and Kyoko left. He turned to look at her, and he grinned, "They're fun to be around when we don't have to worry about anything."

"Yes, they are." She replied, "I wonder if this is what it was like when we were in school together." She looked out the window wistfully, "If the ultimate despair hadn't have ruined things, I wonder if our lives together would have been this happy all the time."

The last rays of sunlight were beaming through the window as it slowly set, and Makoto looked out as well, "I think we were like this in school, it just feels natural, right?" He said after a little time had passed, "And it's no use wondering that, right? Of course it would have been happy, we were all friends."

"Yes, I suppose so." She got up, dusting off her lap, "I'm going to bed as well. Please be careful out here, though please go to bed soon. We all need to be at fighting strength tomorrow morning."

"I'll do that," He replied, smiling at her as he waved, "Good night!"

She gave a short wave to him, before also walking off. He watched her until she was out of sight, and then he sighed, looking out the window yet again as the sunlight slowly disappeared. Perhaps Yasuhiro was right, maybe it was best that they never remembered, it would do them no good, and would only cause them to grieve. Plus, they had other things to worry about now…

"It's best to leave the past in the past," He decided, "We have to look forward." He didn't need to remember, because he had his friends with him now, and they were going to go forward together.