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.

6. Emotion

Chapter Six

Emotion

Makoto let out a gasp of air as his eyes quickly opened – seconds after that his hands felt around quickly, his heartbeat going fast as he tried to find his sword. His hand suddenly touched the cold sheath, and he quickly pulled it over, wrapping his hand around the grip of the blade, breathing heavily as his eyes scanned the room. After blinking more of the sleep out of his eyes, he realized that he wasn't in any danger, and he left out a relieved sigh, setting his sword down.

He was in the living room of a house close to where he used to live. All the entrances were barricaded, and he was safe for the moment. He was on the floor sleeping on a mat, with Yasuhiro still sound asleep beside him on a mat of his own. He looked around the room, and saw Aoi sleeping on a couch, while Kyoko was sound asleep on an old reading chair. He knew Toko was safe in her own room, and the only one unaccounted for was Byakuya.

He shakily lifted himself up, his nightmare replaying over in his mind. Though it was fading quickly, he still remembered as he was running from the undead, and then at the end he was surrounded, holding his trusty sword as they slowly advanced towards him, ready to eat him alive…

"It was just a dream…" He mumbled, forcing himself back to reality. Instead, he looked back at Kyoko, and couldn't help but smile as he saw how peaceful her sleeping face was. Gone was her façade or the frowns that she typically adorn, instead, she just looked serene, an expression that outside of sleep, he feared none of them would be able to make anymore. Her eyes slowly fluttered open, and he blushed red, quickly turning away before she noticed that he was staring at her.

Kyoko looked out the window of the room they were sleeping in, and saw a few rays of sunlight coming in, so she slowly stood up from the chair, her back a tad sore due to sleeping upright the entire night. She rubbed her eyes, and looked back towards Makoto, "Good morning," She greeted, walking over to her backpack and pulling out the rations, though a frown immediately crossed her face as she did so.

"What's wrong?" Makoto asked, walking over and kneeling down by her side, "Don't like the food?" He joked, trying to ease the mood.

"We're running low on food," She replied, opening up her bag so he could see, "We have perhaps three days of food left before we're out."

Makoto's face turned a bit pale, "Oh… That's not good."

"No, it's not." She quietly agreed, "We haven't been finding much food lately either, so we might have to start simply eating just once a day to conserve what we have."

"Ah, should I hold off on eating then until you talk to Byakuya about that?" He asked, watching her zip her bag back up.

"That may be for the best," She nodded, looking around the room, "Do you know where Byakuya is exactly?"

"No," Makoto shook his head, "I know he was with Toko last night, but I saw him leave the room." He frowned, "He might have gone back in maybe, I don't know."

"I'll go investigate," Kyoko replied looking thoughtfully down the hall, "I need to make sure her wound isn't any worse. Though I have a feeling that she'll be in a lot of pain today. With that wound, she won't be nearly as effective as she was before."

"As long as we avoid the zombies, that shouldn't be a problem," Makoto waved off her concern easily, "If you treated her, I'm sure she'll recover in no time."

Kyoko smiled slightly at that, glad that Makoto trusted her abilities so much, and she gave a slight nod, "Then I'll go check on her to make sure she'll recover in that 'no time'." She stood up, and went down the hall where Toko was currently resting, and she opened the door to her room, letting out a soft sigh of relief when she spotted Byakuya asleep in the chair beside the girl's bed, his arms crossed.

Toko was already up, and she glanced away from Byakuya over to Kyoko, her glasses back on her face and she gave a short wave, "Hello."

"Ah, you're awake, good." Kyoko said, walking into the room and sitting beside the girl's bed, doing her best not to disturb Byakuya, "How badly does your shoulder hurt?"

"It doesn't feel too bad," Toko answered, "It feels really sore though, and if I move around too much it's pretty painful."

Kyoko nodded along to what Toko was saying, "Can you sit up for a moment please? I'm going to change the dressing on your bandage." Toko did as she was asked, and Kyoko went to work, removing the bandages and then putting fresh cleaner ones on. "Have you taken the pills Makoto brought yesterday?"

"Yeah, but I don't think they'll help very much." Toko replied, shaking the bottle of pills.

"Even if it's only a little bit it helps," Kyoko muttered, pressing her gloved fingers against the wound, "Does this hurt?"

Toko winced slightly at the contact, and nodded, "When you press there it's a little painful," She admitted, "I – Is that bad?"

"Not necessarily," Kyoko mumbled, her eyes intently on the shoulder, "But you won't be doing much with that arm for a few months at the very least," She finally leaned back, "You can lay down again if you'd like."

"When are we leaving?" Toko asked, doing as Kyoko suggested and she laid her head back down on the pillow.

"I don't know quite yet, but I need to talk to Byakuya about some things." She eyed the boy in the chair, "Was he here all night?"

"I don't know," Toko mumbled, "He left when I went to sleep, but when I woke up again he was in here…" She blushed, and she immediately felt threatened, "Y – You not taking him are you? Y – You don't deserve him!"

Kyoko gave her a long stare, which made Toko a little uncomfortable, and finally she sighed. "I have no intentions of 'taking' him in the sense you mean. Do you always have this little self-esteem?" She questioned, sounding genuinely curious. "I've noticed that you always seem to think the worst of people and what they're thinking."

Toko looked at Kyoko in surprise – that wasn't the typical reaction she got. Most people would act confused by her outburst, or get angry with her. Kyoko was neither of those, and she was just waiting patiently for an answer. "U – Um…" Toko blushed, feeling a bit foolish for lashing out at the girl who just helped her, "I – I'm sorry…" She muttered after a few silent seconds.

"You should know that everyone here considers you a friend," She saw the disbelief in Toko's eyes, so she elaborated, "I think a common word for our group is 'family'." She smiled briefly, "Everyone here relies on one another, so you shouldn't think we're thinking ill about you at all."

Toko gritted her teeth and looked at the blanket covering her, and she again felt the need to lash out, but she held it in check. Instead, she ground out, "T – This is how I – I've always been…"

"I wonder why…" Kyoko mumbled, "What happened to you to give you almost no self-confidence?" She saw Toko's cheeks burning red again in anger, and she shook her head, "You're doing it again. I'm not saying it to be rude."

"H – How am I supposed to interpret it then? Telling me t – that I lack self-confidence to my face? That's very rude!" Toko exclaimed, glaring at Kyoko, "You don't think so?"

"I suppose it is," Kyoko admitted, "But you don't seem to acknowledge it at all."

"W – Why would I want to?" Toko asked, "I – I don't lack self-confidence at all!"

Again Kyoko gave her a long stare, and simply stayed silent and looked away from Toko. Honestly, that was worse than anything else she could have done. At least Toko could continue to argue with her if she said something, but silence… She couldn't do much against that. Her face burned red, and she again felt the need to lash out at her – she was ignoring her now! She was about to open her mouth, when suddenly Kyoko's stare looked at her again.

"I – I was about to do it again?" She guessed, and Kyoko nodded.

"At least you seem to understand somewhat." Kyoko replied, "You should try to control your impulses." Kyoko paused, and suddenly looked at her thoughtfully, "Your lack of self-confidence, does it possibly have to do with your split personality?"

Toko's eyes widened, and she looked away, "W – Why would you think that?"

Kyoko nodded, "Yes, I suppose that would explain it. I wonder, can you pin point exactly when your other personality appeared?"

"I – I don't want to talk about it!" She shook her head, and Kyoko noticed that the girl started shaking – a bad memory perhaps? Well, to create something like Genocide Jack, something horrible must have happened to her at some point.

"Very well, we don't need to discuss it." Kyoko allowed her to get off the hook, not wanting to distress the girl anymore.

"G – Good…" Toko sighed, and Kyoko watched her relax entirely, "T – Then can you go?"

"Like I said, I need to talk to Byakuya." Kyoko pointed back at the person in question, and Toko again felt the need to lash out.

She was about to give in, but she noticed an almost… expectant look on Kyoko's face. So with a bit of willpower, she swallowed down her outburst, and instead decided to make a deal. "G – Give him a little longer, ok? O – Once he wakes up, I – I'll tell him you came to talk with him."

Kyoko nodded, "Very well. I'll give him another hour, but if he's not up by then, then I'll have to wake him up. I hope you understand." Toko nodded stiffly, and Kyoko turned to leave the room, "Then I'll take my leave."

Toko watched the girl leave with a sneer on her face, but then the expression dropped, and she gripped the sheets with her hands making sure not to put any strain on her shoulder as she did so. "Why do I always do that...?" She mumbled to herself. She knew that Kyoko was right, but she just couldn't help but yell at people, or assume the worst, it was just how she grew up. She didn't want to lose these people as friends, she cared about them, but she feared that maybe she would make them go away due to how she acted.

She bit her bottom lip, doing her best to make sure she didn't cry, and she turned her eyes to Byakuya's sleeping form. Despite how he acted, he did care for her, and that thought alone was enough to cheer her up a little. She smiled at him, glad that he was so willing to help her… If only she didn't have her other personality… Maybe she would be able to have real friends if she was gone.

And so an hour passed, at the end of which everyone gathered up once more. There were a few cautious glances aimed towards Toko and her injured shoulder, but it was in a sling, and everyone trusted Kyoko's word when she said that it was good to go.

"Before we leave there's something that needs to be addressed," Byakuya spoke up, looking at all of the people surrounding him, "We're running very low on food, so we're going to enforce a rule to eat only once a day. Restrain yourself on the water as well until we come to a stream to refill out water bottles. Any questions?" The group was silent, and he nodded his head, "Good."

And so they left the house, back on the road for their destination, with the hope inside for it to be an evacuation zone like the months old papers said it was. The plan was to leave the town they were currently in, and make their way back to the highway.

"Though we're going to have to resort to looting now," Kyoko muttered, not sounding too happy, "We'll be passing by a few convenience stores and shopping centers," She had the map open as they walked along the road. Aoi and Yasuhiro were guiding the group as Makoto, Byakuya, and Toko all looked at the map with Kyoko, "Like before, if you see any people, alert the group."

"Oh, the nearest store is just a few minutes away," Makoto noted as he pointed it out on the map.

"Excellent," Byakuya replied, "Then hopefully by the end of today we'll restock our food supply to an acceptable level."

It was odd that Byakuya of all people was trying to be optimistic, but no one wanted to dispute his claim. The outbreak happened a year ago, and apparently a few months ago society went down the drain, so no one wanted to point out that the chances of there being canned food there was close to none. Still, if Makoto was good at one thing, it was being hopeful, so he marched with them towards the store, trying to keep an optimistic outlook.

"The store's just ahead," Aoi called out, shooting an arrow at an undead in the way.

The store was a large grocery store, and if there was any chance of finding food, this was definitely their best shot. The store itself looked like it was in ruins – the electric sliding door had been torn down, and shopping carts were lying all over the scene, though Byakuya eyed one that was in fairly good condition with a keen eye, if there were enough supplies, then he could perhaps make use of it. The parking lot was mostly empty except for a few vehicles.

"Hey," Yasuhiro called out, "Shouldn't we check these cars out? Maybe some of them have gas!"

"Even if they have gas, the chances of them being operational are close to zero," Byakuya replied, "Though… Hm…"

"It wouldn't hurt, would it?" Makoto asked, "There has to be a car dealership or a motor store around here. If we can't find a car that works, then maybe we can fix one of these wrecked ones!"

Byakuya paused, and considered the thought, "That's all well and good, but if we spend another day or two here and don't get a car working, then we would have wasted our time."

"But with a car we could get to our destination within a day," Kyoko pointed out, "Surely it's worth investigating due to that benefit alone?"

Byakuya nodded, "That is true…" He thought a little longer, the group stopped to hear what he had to say, and he finally sighed, "Very well. Once we loot this place for food, we'll go to a car dealership to try and find a working vehicle."

Though it wasn't a sure fire thing, the group's morale went up just a tad bit with just the thought of getting a working car, and they entered the grocery store with more spirit than they otherwise would have. However, the inside of the store was even more wrecked than it appeared on the outside. Columns of shelves were knocked over all over the place, the smell of rotten meat was heavy in the air, and there were a lot of the undead just wandering around inside.

Makoto led the group inside, kneeling behind the checkout counter, noting that the cash register was on the ground, and it was completely destroyed, probably by a looter before the world went completely bad, back when money had value. He shook the thought away, and looked up over the counter to count the amount of zombies.

"Damn," He mumbled, "There's a lot of them in here. We might be better off just leaving."

"No," Byakuya shook his head, and pointed to some of the zombies wandering around, "Notice some of them are carrying bags? I think it's safe to assume that they were like us, coming in here to get some supplies, and were overwhelmed by the amount in here."

"We've been killing them just to get by until now, if we start killing them for what they have on them, are we really any better?" Aoi questioned, sounding hesitant, "I think we should just leave."

"If we don't get food soon we will starve to death," Byakuya countered, glancing back at the girl, "If you must justify it in your mind, use that justification. If we don't do this, there's a very real chance we will die."

Though she didn't look very happy about it, Aoi nodded her head, "I – I guess…" She mumbled, "It just doesn't feel right."

"I'm with you Hina," Yasuhiro gave her shoulder a pat, "But Byakuya's right. We need the food."

"With that settled," Kyoko spoke up, "Let's make a choke point at the front. That way we won't accidentally get surrounded, and we can control the flow a bit."

"Alright," Makoto agreed, "You guys go out, and I'll lure them to us."

"Very well," Kyoko nodded, and as the group was leaving to head outside, she paused, and then said, "Please be careful, Makoto."

He gave her a quick smile and a thumbs up, "I'll be fine."

Feeling slightly better herself, Kyoko exited the dimly lit building, and stood back, allowing the three with weapons to deal with the oncoming tide. Aoi got her arrows ready, and looked to Yasuhiro, "So how many of them do you think there were?"

"I'd say twenty or so," Yasuhiro replied, "Nothing the three of us can't handle."

Just as Aoi was about to ask another question they heard Makoto shouting, "Hey! Over here! Come on!" Then they heard him smashing something to the ground, before he rushed out of the building, "They're coming!" Unsheathing his sword, he turned back around to the destroyed sliding door, and waited for the oncoming horde – their moans were enough to let them know that they were getting closer.

As the first one peeked its head out, Aoi shot it with an arrow, causing it to collapse to the ground. The next one Makoto took care of, cutting it down at the door. Yasuhiro took care of the third one, and now with the three corpses blocking the entrance, the fourth zombie tripped over its kin, and Makoto was able to kill it with ease as it tried to climb over its dead comrades.

Though it took a few minutes, the choke point proved to be very effective, and in no time at all, the group was busy shifting through the dead bodies, grabbing the supplies off of the corpses that would suit their needs. The only one opting not to do it was Aoi, who was standing off to the side looking a bit conflicted.

"Hina?" Makoto walked over to her, and placed a hand on her shoulder, "Are you alright?"

If anything her frown deepened, and she looked at Makoto, "This doesn't feel right… They used to be people and we're just taking things off of their dead bodies. I understand killing them when we have to, but this feels wrong…"

"I know what you mean," Makoto admitted, glancing back at the corpses again, as their companions looked through pockets and the bags that the undead beings were carrying, "It does feel wrong…"

"But you're going to say that we have to, aren't you." She mumbled, her eyes downcast, "And I know we have to, Byakuya was right, but…" She sighed, "I'll get over it, just give me a minute."

Makoto shook his head, "We won't force you to do it, Hina," He said lightly, "You helped take them out, so the least Byakuya can do is make you not have to check the corpses, and if he makes an issue out of it, I'll try to talk him down, ok?"

Her lips curved upward a little bit and she gave a small nod, "Thank you Makoto."

"No problem." With that, he walked back over to the bodies, and went next to Kyoko, doing as she asked her. Thankfully, no one ever forced Aoi to help them with the gruesome task, and soon they had a small pile of their spoils.

Byakuya looked immensely pleased, "This is the first significant haul we've had ever since we got out of the Academy." He told them, "Some of these people were holding a lot of canned foods."

"So how much food did we get?" Makoto asked, kneeling next to the several bags on the ground.

"Assuming we still eat twice a day, w – we got about two or three extra days' worth of food." Toko announced, not looking quite as happy with the haul as Byakuya did.

"Wait, that's it?" Yasuhiro asked, his face falling, "But you made it sound like we hit the jackpot!"

"Given the size of our group," Kyoko replied, "This is about as good as we can ask for."

"Oh…" Yasuhiro looked around, and realized that while they were safer in a group, that also meant that their stockpiled food would run out a lot quicker. "I guess that makes sense… Still, at least we got something."

"Indeed." Byakuya spoke up, "Everyone grab a few cans and put them into your bags." After everyone did that, he stood up, and dusted off his worn pants before pulling out a map from his backpack – he noted his two remaining bombs, and made sure they wouldn't activate – and he opened the map up, "Now we ought to go shopping for a car, assuming we can find one."

Everyone crowded around him and started to look at the map, seeing if they could possibly find any car dealerships nearby, and like before, it was Makoto who found it first. "There!" He pointed, "It's just a few miles away!" He exclaimed, "We can get there well before night time!"

"Then let's not waste any more time." Kyoko replied, memorizing the directions in her head. She crossed her arms and waited for everyone else to get ready. Once Byakuya put the map back, she led the group, occasionally letting either Aoi or Makoto take out a stray zombie here or there.

Over the next hour they exited the residential district and entered a commercial district, and all sorts of stores and shops lined the streets. It was a very depressing sight however, since all of the stores were in disarray, a lot of them with smash windows and the goods that were prominently displayed in the windows knocked down and destroyed as well. It seemed that the outbreak brought out the worst in humanity.

Aoi suddenly stopped, and Makoto bumped into her, "Hey, Hina?" He asked, rubbing his nose that hit the back of her head, "What's the big deal?"

"There…" she mumbled, her eyes glued onto a specific shop. The rest of the group stopped, and they all looked at a rundown bakery, the sign was still up, though it was dirty and was partly torn, a donut was on prominent display.

"Oh yeah," Yasuhiro mumbled, "You did say something about wanting to go to a donut shop when you got out."

"Do you want to stop here for a little bit?" Makoto asked softly, and she just quickly nodded.

"We don't have time for this!" Byakuya started, but his protests fell on deaf ears as Aoi rushed inside the building, Makoto a half step behind her. He let out a growl, and crossed his arms, "How juvenile."

Inside the shop, Aoi looked around – there was the counter, where all the pastries and breads would be put on display, with the glass shattered and nothing remaining. There were a few seats all around the room, most of them knocked over and broken, but one small booth was undamaged, and she slowly her way over to it and sat down.

"Hina?" Makoto muttered, going over to sit on the opposite side of her, "Are you ok?" Makoto didn't expect tears to suddenly start falling down her face, and he jumped a little upon noticing. "Hina?" He repeated yet again.

She reached up and wiped her eyes, "I – I'm sorry…" She sniffed, "It's just… seeing this… It just made me realize that life is never going to go back to normal…" Her lips trembled, "I remember coming to places like this with my friends after school, and we'd just talk about nothing in particular." And despite her crying, she started to laugh, "I – Is it kind of funny that I'm sad that I – I might never get to taste a donut again?"

"No, it's not really that funny…" Makoto muttered, especially not when she was crying like this. He looked down at the counter, again that feeling of loss returning to him. It was just like the night when she was thinking about running away – should he hug her? Would that make her feel better?

Unfortunately, he never got to act on his thoughts, since she wiped her eyes, and tried to smile, "I'll be fine… Just give me a little bit…" She pleaded, and he nodded, just sitting there and keeping her company.

It was ten minutes later when the two left the store, Aoi walking out first, and Makoto behind her. Byakuya looked absolutely furious with the delay, but when Makoto looked at Kyoko, she gave a very slight nod, and he knew who he had to thank for not letting Byakuya barging in to force them out. He wasted absolutely no time in getting the group back on track, and he seemed to be walking even quicker to try and make up for lost time.

Makoto tried to avoid looking at any of the shops, because what Aoi said really did hit home… He could remember all the times he stopped at stores like these after middle school to hang out with his friends, or when he stopped at one of the food shops after shopping for a while with his mom… All things that he would never get to experience again. He held back his tears, though he could see that everyone else also seemed to be a bit out of it as they walked through, the only exceptions were Byakuya and Kyoko, who Makoto knew was hiding her true emotions behind her usual façade.

Not even an hour later they fortunately arrived at the car dealership, and their hearts dropped when they saw most of the vehicles were either destroyed, or looked like they had parts missing that none of them really knew how to replace.

"There has to be something here," Makoto muttered, his eyes looking over everything for a third time. The car beside looked like it was in good condition, but when he lifted the hood up, they saw that the engine was in pieces, "Maybe there's something inside the shop that can tell us how to fix these things?"

"You're asking us to learn how to repair a vehicle within a day?" Byakuya asked, looking at him sharply, "We simply don't have time to do that."

"Well what do you suggest?" Makoto asked, "Do you just want to leave here without even looking?"

"Hey," Yasuhiro spoke up, getting between the two of them, "We haven't looked everywhere yet. Let's try not to argue right now, okay?"

Byakuya rolled his eyes, "I'm not arguing, idiot." He crossed his arms and stalked off to the other side of the lot, where some other vehicles they had yet to examine were.

In the meantime, Aoi and Kyoko were walking side by side, examining all the vehicles in the lot, and like the rest, they weren't having much luck in finding anything worthwhile. "Why don't we go check the building to see if there's any paperwork on a new car or something." Aoi muttered, her hope getting lowered with each car she walked by.

"Unfortunately, I doubt that will bring up much," Kyoko replied.

"Why not?" Aoi asked, "Isn't it worth checking?"

"There two issues with it: first, it's assuming they weren't fully digital prior to the tragedy, and secondly, even if there were any paperwork on it, this place seems to have been completely ransacked." She pointed her gloved hand at the nearest car, "It looks like someone took parts out of this one, for instance."

Aoi let out a soft sigh, "Why do you always have to dash my hopes like that?"

"I'm sorry," Kyoko murmured, averting her eyes, "It wasn't my intention to do that."

"I know." Aoi sighed, and her eyes spotted a garage, "Do ya suppose there's anything in there?"

"Maybe." Kyoko replied, "I doubt we'll find much out here, so we might as well check."

The two girls approached the garage of the car dealership, and upon approaching they heard the moans of the undead, causing both of them to duck down immediately, Aoi getting her bow and arrow ready to shoot. They snuck towards the garage, which fortunately had the shudder fully open, and upon looking inside, they gasped – there was a vehicle in there, and it looked like it wasn't in terrible condition. It was a pickup truck, and while the engine was on full display, from what they could see, it looked like it was in good condition.

"Don't go," Kyoko grabbed Aoi's shoulder just as she was about to run towards the car. She pointed towards the undead in the room near the knocked over tool bench, "There's quite a few of them… It wouldn't surprise me to learn that these people came here to try and fix their car and were caught in a fatal attack."

Aoi shuddered at the thought, but focused her mind regardless. There were only around six of them in the room, and she knew she could take them easily. From what she could see, there were two cars in the garage, the truck as mentioned before, and another one that was in horrid condition. The zombies were fortunately wandering around the wrecked car, so she took aim, and shot her arrow at the first zombie she could, hitting it right in the head.

The zombie tipped over, and slammed into the car right beside it, and suddenly the car started to screech loudly – the car alarm must have somehow activated due to the force of the zombie that hit it. "Shit!" Aoi cried, "I didn't know that would happen!"

"Just kill the rest!" Kyoko yelled, knowing that the car alarm would cover her voice. Fortunately, the zombies were all pushing and shoving themselves into the destroyed car, scratching it and attempting to bite it as if it were a person. It would have been fairly humorous, Aoi thought to herself, but she knew that the car alarm was going to attract the entire town at this rate, so she got to work at finishing off the others.

"What in the world did you do?!" Byakuya ran towards her just as she picked off the zombies, and Aoi pointed towards Kyoko, directing them to her so she could go collect her arrows quickly. Kyoko was currently looking at the engine of the car, and she noticed on major thing – the battery was missing.

"There's no time to explain!" Kyoko yelled, "In a few minutes this place is going to be covered with the undead! We need to find a battery NOW!"

Makoto and Yasuhiro arrived just seconds later, and they were filled in by Kyoko just as quickly. All at once, the six of them dashed around the car lot, looking for any vehicle that still had a battery left inside of it.

"Nothing here," Makoto called out to Yasuhiro, who was inside the car and pressing the buttons required to pop the hood. He slammed down the hood, and that was when he noticed the zombies starting to come. There were at least two dozen that he could count, and even more were coming out of the destroyed buildings and under cars that he didn't even realize were there. If they didn't find a battery soon, the road would be so crowded that the chances of escaping in a car, much less without one, would be very slim.

Byakuya meanwhile was looking in another car, and his eyes widened as he saw what they needed, "Toko! It's here!" He pointed it out, and then he cursed, "We don't have the tools necessary! Damn, they must be in the garage, come on!" He left the vehicle and ran to the garage, spotting the knocked over tool bench as soon as he entered. There he noticed Kyoko and Aoi were inspecting their potential car, and he couldn't help but ask, "Is it working properly?"

"I think so," Kyoko yelled over to him, since the car alarm was still very loud, "Like I said, it needs a new battery. Furthermore, we're replacing the oil right now, and it looks like the gas is low too."

Byakuya growled – there were too many issues, but the battery was the most pressing one. They could get gas later, and the girls should be able to handle the oil quick enough. The car alarm suddenly turned off, and he paused, the blissful silence he was expecting was interrupted by a low moaning.

"They're that close?" Aoi asked, her face paling considerably, "Hurry!"

Byakuya didn't even hear her as he and Toko rushed over to the tool bench and tried to find the proper tools. "We need a wrench!" he told Toko, who nodded, shifting through the tools on the ground with her good arm.

"H – Here!" She grabbed it and immediately handed it over to him, "Let's go!" She cried, and Byakuya was actually pleased with how serious she was, any semblance of the love-struck idiotic girl she usually acted like was gone, replaced with an actually competent girl in her place.

They ran back to the car, and with the wrench in hand, Byakuya started to get the nut off of the negative terminal. It would have gone a lot quicker if the moaning would stop distracting him.

"You got it, now the other one!" Toko cried, her voice quivering, and Byakuya was more than aware of why. The horde was coming closer, and he too started to shake slightly as adrenaline began to pump through his veins. He gritted his teeth, and got the nut off of the positive terminal, and he reached in and took the positive and negative cables off of the battery.

"Shit," He mumbled, "It's screwed in, we need a screwdriver!" He looked at Toko, "Toko! Go get me one, NOW!"

She was off before he could even finish his sentence, and he turned back to look at the engine. Unfortunately, he couldn't examine it much longer, since a zombie was coming near him. Figuring that the car alarm already made enough noise as it was, he found no reason not to use his gun, so he drew it out and aimed towards its head and pulled the trigger.

He watched the thing fall down, and noticed that there were even more of the monsters coming at him. Briefly he wondered if he should use one of his remaining bombs, but he decided against it. Again he aimed his gun, and fired two more shots, each bullet hitting right on its mark, killing another two zombies.

"Byakuya!" Toko's shout momentarily distracted him, and he looked over to see she had the screwdriver, "I've got it."

"Use it to get the battery out, I'll hold them off!" He shouted, "Do it now!" That knocked her out of her daze, and with her good hand, she began to unscrew the battery from the engine. She jumped each time Byakuya fired his gun though, and there was even a time when she nearly dropped the screwdriver, but soon she got it out. She tried to lift it with one hand, but it was no use.

"Byakuya!" She shouted, "I can't get it out!"

He let out a soft curse, and handed her the gun, "Hold them off!" He told her, and he went to the engine and with both hands he lifted the battery, though he looked mildly surprised at the weight of the damn thing.

Toko meanwhile pointed the gun at the nearest one, but her hand was shaking so much that when she fired, the bullet was far off its mark, and she missed completely. "B – Byakuya!" She cried, looking back to him.

"Forget it, come on!" He ran towards the garage, and Toko was not far behind. He then went to the pick-up truck, and placed the battery inside, silently praying in his head that the battery was compatible with the car. "This must work…" He mumbled under his breath, and he wasn't able to hide his sigh as it fit just fine. Wasting no time, he put the cables on it, and then with the wrench, he made sure they were both securely in place.

"Is it in properly?" Kyoko asked, just as Byakuya slammed the hood shut.

"I suppose we'll find out, won't we?" He asked. Before he went into the vehicle though, he turned around to shoot the zombies coming, his first shot again hitting one right in the head, though a loud CLICK sounded as he tried to shoot again. "Shit." He mumbled, and he did the only thing he could think of, he threw the now useless gun at the oncoming zombies, hitting it in the head, knocking it down momentarily.

"Do any of you guys know how to drive?" Aoi asked, looking at the other three there, and as the silence went on, her face paled, "W – Well, there's a first time for everything?"

"I can do it!" Yasuhiro yelled, running into the garage with Makoto at his side, "Is it working now?"

"You can drive?" Byakuya asked, disbelief clearly on his face.

"Why would I lie about this?" Yasuhiro asked, and shook his head, "look, you just gotta trust me!" He pointed to the zombies coming, a few of which Makoto cut down since they were getting so close, "We don't have time!"

"Fine, drive! Kyoko, please tell me it's working and we just didn't waste our time here!" Byakuya called out to her.

Kyoko was in the driver's seat now, and she reached to the ignition, wrapping her fingers around the key and slowly turned it. There wasn't a single sound at first, so she tried again, and suddenly the car started to hum, "It works!"

"Ok, move aside!" Yasuhiro jumped into the seat, forcing Kyoko aside. She didn't look too happy, but didn't say much, and made her way to the backseat. Toko also got in, getting into one of the back seats, while Byakuya jumped into the passenger seat. "Makoto! Hina!" Yasuhiro yelled, "Jump in the back!"

Aoi refrained from shooting her arrows, since she knew that she wouldn't be able to get them back if she did, so she quickly jumped into the back bed of the pickup truck, Makoto following right behind her. "GO!" Aoi shouted once they were all in, and Yasuhiro didn't waste a second, slamming his foot on the pedal. The car let out a loud screeching as it burst out of the garage, running over several of the undead immediately, though Aoi and Makoto stumbled in the back, "Drive a bit safer!"

"Um, yeah, that's not happening!" Yasuhiro cried, "It's gonna be a bit bumpy! Strap in your seat beats!" He slammed into another couple zombies, and then some more after that. Fortunately the car wasn't that small, and was able to withstand the hits, though it was not really able to build up much speed since it kept colliding with the undead on the road. "Come on, MOVE!" He spun the wheel, avoiding a group in front and went around them, building up a bit of speed now.

"I – I think we did it!" Makoto cried, a smile appearing on his face, "We actually did it!"

"Yeah!" Aoi smiled back at him, but the car suddenly bumped as it hit another zombie, and they both again fell flat on their butts. "Ow…" She mumbled, rubbing her behind.

The car drove down the road, and all six of them watched as the horde still chased them, but they were no match against the speed of their car, and they got smaller and smaller as the car went on. Makoto couldn't help but smile as he watched, and Aoi also looked thrilled. Inside the car, everyone was happy, though they were a lot more subdued about it. Byakuya couldn't help but have a smug grin on his face, Yasuhiro chuckled as he leaned back and drove with only one hand, Kyoko had on a light smile, and Toko was leaning back in her seat, relief completely evident on her face.

With the danger behind, Byakuya reached into his bag and looked at the map, and let out a pleased hum, "Well, with the car now in our possession, we can go much farther. If we just drive along the back roads, we'll reach our destination within I'd guess… Maybe six to eight hours."

"No can do," Yasuhiro replied, pointing at the gas gauge, "This baby has enough juice to take us a little bit out, but unless if we find some gas soon, we aren't going that far."

"We'll just have to make sure we stop somewhere with a lot of cars around," Kyoko replied, "Then we can siphon the gas and head out the next morning."

"I suppose that's all we can really do," Byakuya grumbled, though he wasn't too upset, since they did have a working car at least.

"A – A little rest might be good," Toko muttered, "My s – shoulder is killing me…"

Kyoko frowned, looking over at the girl, "Hopefully the next place we visit will have some fresh bandages to replace the ones you have. You haven't been moving that arm too much have you?"

"N – Not a whole lot," Toko mumbled, "I'll b – be fine for a little while."

"Still," Kyoko replied, "You'll need a lot of rest tonight too, since we have a car, we can take sleeping a little longer into consideration." She saw Byakuya stiffen at that, "Right, Byakuya?" She asked, pushing him into the spotlight.

He sighed, and looked back at Toko. He wanted to reject it, but she really did look worn out, and after everything she did for him, he bit back his objection, and nodded, "Fine. I suppose an extra hour or two won't hurt us."

"Hey, Hiro," Toko looked at him now, trying to get her blushing under control over Byakuya's concern for her, "I was wondering, how in the w – world does an I – idiot like you know how to drive a car?" She was smacked lightly on her arm by Kyoko, and she stuttered out, "U – Uhm… Sorry, I – I didn't mean to call y – you an idiot…"

Yasuhiro looked at her through the rearview mirror and grinned, "Well, I guess I haven't really driven a real car."

"What." Byakuya, Kyoko, and Toko all asked at the same time, disbelief in all of their gazes.

"T – Then you decided to drive the car and risk our lives?!" Byakuya yelled, and Kyoko could have sworn she saw a vein popping on his forehead.

"No way man, I drove a remote control car when I was a kid, that's basically the same thing, right?"

Utter silence met him.

"W – What?" He asked, "Come on, that was a joke guys, sheesh…"

About an hour later the car slowed down as it pulled into a parking lot of another hotel, where there were fortunately several cars still around. While they could siphon now, with the darkness coming, they decided to wait until morning, and they did their usual ritual as they entered the hotel – they barricaded the entrances, they blocked off the stairs to the second floor, and everyone picked their own rooms.

Makoto sat on the bed in his own room, glad to see that relative to the other hotels they've stayed at over their journey, this one was actually in pretty good condition. Perhaps it was due to the distance from the city, but the bed in his room was hardly torn at all. There were a few zombies around that they had to kill, but otherwise, Makoto wouldn't have minded too much if they stayed there a little longer than usual.

The sun was still out though, and he wasn't all that tired, not yet. Every time he closed his eyes, all he saw were the monsters, so he finally sat up and went to the door, figuring that maybe a little walk would help clear his head.

He walked through the halls for a little bit, and returned to the entry of the hotel, looking outside the most undamaged windows. They had a few cracks here and there, but none of them were smashed open. His attention was briefly on the few zombies in the parking lot before his attention turn to Kyoko, who was leaning against the window sill and looking off into the distance.

"Kyoko?" He muttered, going closer to her. She jumped and looked towards his direction, but she immediately calmed down upon seeing who it was.

"Makoto." She stated, "Next time please try not to sneak up on me."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," He apologized, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

She looked back towards the window yet again, "Good."

He walked closer, his eyes trying to see what she was looking at. After a few seconds of trying, he finally decided to give up on his futile search and ask her, "What are you looking at?"

"Nothing, really." She replied, "I'm just thinking."

"Oh… What are you thinking about?"

"A lot of things… Whether we'll be saved at the evacuation zone, about escaping the Academy, and… other things." She blushed lightly, and she looked at him briefly, though he didn't catch it.

"Ah, I see…" He mumbled, "Are you worried that we won't be rescued or something?"

"Things haven't necessarily been working out for us that often," Kyoko answered, "And the outbreak happened months ago. Honestly, I don't think we'll find anything worthwhile there."

Makoto's frown deepened, "You have to have hope at least."

"That's your job," A bitter smile appeared on her face, "I don't really think I'm capable of it anymore."

"What?" He gasped, "Sure you are! We all are!"

"You might not notice it," She muttered, "But Byakuya has all of his hopes on this evacuation center. He knows the chances are slim that there'll be anything worthwhile there, but he's putting everything he's got into getting there."

"That's… good, isn't it?" He asked, "At least he has something driving him forward!"

"From that point of view, yes, it is good." She agreed, "But look at it in this way: when we get there and there's nothing there, his hope will shatter, and he'll be left in despair."

"But… This is Byakuya we're talking about, he wouldn't do that…" Makoto disagreed, shaking his head, "That wouldn't happen!"

"On the contrary, it will." She looked away from the window to him, "Think of it like this, Makoto. The world has ended, we've been out here long enough to deduce that, correct? We've seen people willing to k – kill you." She stuttered and Makoto caught her gaze narrowing, "We've seen people willing to rape others… We've seen the desperate hope from a doomed family, and all the corpses we've seen, and the locations we've been to, all of them are destroyed! We see stories every time we stay at a hotel like this one: last stands, starvation, suicides - whether with a gun or by any other means…"

"How does that all tie back to Byakuya?" He asked.

"Simply put, Byakuya has hope that maybe he can return to some sort of normality, I think all of us do, but his wish for it is far stronger than ours. Think about it, he's the Ultimate Affluent Progeny – he's a Togami, one of the most influential families in the world. He was worth more money than you and I could expect to see – let alone cumulatively earn in a life time."

"So what exactly are you saying?"

"Byakuya will self-destruct soon." She replied evenly, "If there's nothing in the coastal town, no evacuation zone or any signs of any sort of nearby civilization, he will simply give up."

"But… We can't give up…" Makoto mumbled, "A – And how do you know this is true?"

"Isn't it the case for all of us?" Kyoko asked him instead, "What do you plan to do if we don't find any hope there? Our supplies are limited, and we can't keep relying on canned foods forever. Would you give into despair in that sort of situation?"

"I…" He wanted so badly to say no, that he would move on, but over the past few days, his willpower had slowly been fading. "Th – There has to be someone there…" He stated instead, "I've got to believe in that."

She looked incredibly disappointed, "And so you too will be just like Byakuya." She sighed, "I predict that within a week, if we don't find an evacuation zone, we'll all be dead, either due to despair, and if not that, then we'll die a slow death of starvation."

"Kyoko…" He mumbled, "W – Why are you saying this?"

"Because I'm the only one who is thinking about these things!" She stated, her voice cracking, taking on a hard edge, "After everything that has happened to us so far, after seeing all those dead people, what makes you think that we'll be the lucky ones?"

He grimaced, looking down, "What have you been thinking?"

"I – I hoped that you would feel differently than Byakuya, that maybe you had a plan… But no… None of us do. We're all just lost, none of us are able to make use of our skills anymore… What's the point of being a detective, the child of a multi-national corporation, or an author if life is like this now? I – I've been forced to m – murder people… Makoto… I don't know if I can keep this up…"

For the first time Makoto could ever recall, he watched in near horror as Kyoko began to just break down, tears pouring from her eyes as she kneeled to the ground hiding her eyes from view. "K – Kyoko…" He stuttered.

Now that he thought about it, slowly he realized that this entire time, Kyoko had been hiding everything behind her façade… He felt a pang of hurt that she wasn't willing to talk to anyone about it, but at the same time, he realized why… She was thinking of the cold hard reality, something that he nor the others were ready to face yet. She was thinking of the likely future, while the rest of them were living in a fantasy, hoping that once they were rescued, they wouldn't have to worry about their own survival anymore.

He felt at a loss for words as he just watched her crying, and he so wished she would have kept up yelling at him. Anything was better than watching the one he relied on the most become like this. She was so close to despair, so close to just giving up, and he realized how tempting of an option it was. Why bother continuing on this journey if the inevitable result was starvation or a bullet in the head?

"Don't give up hope, Kyoko." He wondered who was talking, when he realized that it came from his own lips.

She stilled, but didn't look up.

"I know it's easy to give up right now," He muttered, "But… but… We have to keep going. If we don't find anything in the evacuation zone, then… Then we'll just have to try living without help!"

She looked up, tears still in her eyes, but she just watched him passively. Finally her lips moved, and a small voice asked, "H – How do you intend to do that?"

"It's a coastal town, right? Then we'll find a boat and some fishing poles, and live on the ocean for a while!" As he was talking, even he was starting to feel better by his words, "Hell, even if we can just find fishing poles! That will help a lot with our food problem!"

"That… is one possibility." She acknowledged, her voice gaining a bit more strength.

"We have to take the possibility of not finding a boat into account though, right?" He replied, thinking of the future, just like she would, "Or the possibility of not finding any fishing poles either. If that's the case, then we can just make our own – a stick, a string, and a hook, all of those are really easy to find!"

She nodded, "What about the winter? What will we do then? We'll need warm clothes and shelter."

"Not a problem." He declared, "There's plenty of clothing all over the place, we'll just go to a store and take some from it, even if they're looted, there's no way everything is taken, right?" He then turned a bit pale, "A – And if we have to, some of the zombies will surely be clothed. As for shelter, there's bound to be more hotels or homes we can stay in, some of them even must have fire places. It might be difficult, but we can use furniture and other things to keep it going." He explained.

"We could do that." She smiled slightly, "It seemed you only needed a little push after all…" She let out a sigh, "When you said that you didn't have any idea what to do, I feared the worse, but you've pulled through as our hope – my hope."

He blushed, just what in the world did she mean by that? Still, he was glad her mood was slowly improving. He knelt down at her level, and looked her directly in the eyes, "Kyoko, I know you like to hide everything, but if you're ever feeling like this again, please talk to me, ok?"

She looked ashamed, and a faint red hue rose on her cheeks, but she nodded, "Yes… I suppose it was foolish of me to hold it all in."

He then sighed, "And… Are you ok about what you did the other day – to save me and Hina?" She saw Kyoko face contort into a pained look, and he frowned, "I suppose that's a no then?"

She wished she was prepared for that question so she could have just hidden it behind her emotionless wall, but for some reason it caught her off guard, and her full emotions were on display. "It… It disturbs me…" She whispered.

"Why?" He asked, reaching over to her, both of them still kneeling.

"I… I wasn't aware that I was capable of something like that…" She mumbled, her lips thinning, and she blinked a few times to try and hide her tears, "Something just came over me, and before I knew it… I murdered them… Their deaths are on my hand." She looked at him fearfully, "I – If you weren't there, that one man would have been left to suffer because of me…"

She was shaking, so Makoto pushed back his hesitations, and leaned forward, wrapping his arms around her, "It's ok Kyoko… What they were doing was bad – they killed so many others, they even admitted to it."

"B – But…" She gasped, tears again streaming from her eyes, "Does that really justify what I did? I killed them in cold blood…" She took in a deep shaky breath, and a sob escaped her lips, "I never wanted to kill people, Makoto…"

He held her tight, hiss own eyes getting cloudy, "I'm so sorry," He mumbled, trying not to let his own emotions overflow. If only he had listened to her…

"You were such an idiot Makoto!" She gasped, her raw emotion now fully out, "We were watching the whole time! We wouldn't have let them touch Hina! You shouldn't have tried to risk your own life to stop that! You're an idiot! You know there's a huge difference between being brave and being stupid – what you did was absolutely, without question, very, very stupid!"

"I'm sorry…" He again mumbled, "I wasn't thinking at the time…"

"But… It didn't matter." She replied, "Hina is a friend. If they did inevitably touch her, the end results would have still been the same. Those men would still have died by my hands."

Was she saying that to make him feel better, or was it the truth? In a way, he didn't want to really know. He still held her tightly, and muttered, "Kyoko, I don't think you're a bad person. No, I know you're not a bad person."

"Do you mean that Makoto?" She asked in a small voice, "You don't think less of me for murdering them?"

"You were protecting us," He replied, "If our positions were reversed, I would have done the exact same thing."

"Thank you…" She mumbled as tears continued to flow, "Thank you so much." She repeated again, holding him tightly.

As she looked up, their faces were just mere inches apart, and Makoto got déjà vu, the difference being the girl was Kyoko now instead of Aoi. Again he could go through with it, he wasn't entirely sure if it was the right call. However, even as he thought about kissing Kyoko, Aoi appeared in his head, and he turned his head away, allowing the moment to pass. If Kyoko noticed, he hoped she wouldn't question him about it.

After that, they just stayed quiet and kept each other company, before they finally parted, going to their own rooms for the night.

Makoto paused at his room door to watch Kyoko walk to her room, and as she reached her door, she just happened to look over as well. Their eyes locked, and despite his blush, Makoto gave a small wave, which she returned.

Entering his own room, Makoto went to lie down on his own bed, and all he could think about was one thing – why he felt so conflicted regarding both Kyoko and Aoi…