CHAPTER FIVE

SAFETY

The ride was completed in silence, all of the girls too tired from the day's actual activities to care about talking and the countries trying to understand what their homes had been turned into. Armies were killing citizens, citizens were so infected that they were turning into creatures of madness. Alfred felt his heart tighten and his eyes become wet with tears and for once he didn't feel ashamed, knowing that the others were feeling much more of the same.

After the group finally came back to the armory unpacked all the loot that they had stolen and wrapped Italy in a soft blue blanket that Bee tossed in their general direction, they felt their energy disappear. All of the men collapsed onto the cold metal floor, wrapping themselves up with their own limbs attempting to stave off the chill that was setting into their bones that had nothing to do with the cold. This couldn't even be possible, they couldn't have been falling apart this thoroughly without them noticing something, right?

Charm sighed, shooting Bee and Storm a look over from behind their backs. Bee shrugged back, not knowing nor frankly wanting to know what was wrong with them; she had been the one that had killed something today and she was the one that had an excuse to be this tired. She moved to her cot, sitting down on it with a sound plop and unsheathing her sword and drawing a rag from on of her piles and beginning to wipe it, pointedly ignoring the group.

Storm looked over to her sissy again, raising a brow in question, when her sister immediately put her finger to her nose and quickly disappearing into one of the multitude of doors. She glanced over at the group, desperately at Bee who was ignoring her as well (knowing that she would be attempting to get her help which she refused to give). Groaning loudly, she shook her head and moved quickly over to the group, plopping down next to the small Italian boy.

She could hear him sniffling, his form shaking slightly, she sighed again before suddenly wrapping her arm around him and pulling him to her chest. "Stop crying, it's going to be fine," Storm sighed, scratching him slightly on the arm as the man stiffened.

"This is horrible," Feliciano sobbed, suddenly turning into the warm chest of the woman. He clung to her desperately, knowing that the others had tired of his crying by now…he had done nothing but cry the first few nights and he had never seen a zombie. Now he tried to hold it in but that thing had tried to eat him and it was so disgusting and it was supposed to be a person! One of…

"I know," Storm whispered soothing him, rocking slightly, "I know…it'll get better…"

Feliciano paused for a moment, sure that the woman was a mind reader…until he realized he had been whimpering the words out loud. Not only out loud he realized, but in the comforting arms of a girl that swore along with her group that this was a non-personal relationship with he and his friends. "Why are you comforting me…I was loud and broke the rules," Feliciano cried, clinging to the girl tighter.

"Yeah, we all did in the beginning," Storm sighed, leaning her cheek against his hair, "We aren't completely heartless."

"You guys don't seem to have any problems anymore," Lovino replied, his voice sounding spiteful.

"Anymore, no," she replied, her voice calm even as she heard Bee loudly clench her fist around her sword, "When we first started…I would cry a lot…it gets easier just give it some time."

Feliciano nodded obediently, sniffing slightly and refusing to move away from the comfort that the girl was holding him. "Thank you, bella," he mumbled, pushing closer to Storm.

"You guys really didn't know anything did you?" Bee asked from her cot, suddenly placing the now clean blade on the ground and grabbing a lighter to light the dirtied cloth aflame.

"About what?" Arthur questioned, looking over at the girl sharply.

Arthur knew he should have guessed that the girls would mistrust him, he was a gentlemen completely aware of the females attitudes at all times but he hadn't expected it to be this extreme. Did they really think they were playing dumb? Had they had this happen before? What was this poppy cock that they were spilling now? Was it just a trick to…he almost laughed at the hypocrisy of his statement now that he thought about it. He didn't trust people…and from recent events they shouldn't trust him either…him as a person or him as a country.

"About the government or the zombies…nothing really," Bee looked up at him with a sigh, putting out the flames with an extra shoe nearby.

Ivan opened his mouth to deny the accusation, he knew everything about his government down to the last detail…except he apparently didn't. He finally realized that he had spent so much time arguing with Alfred before all of this that his government was better, that's Alfred's was hiding so much from him, that his government wouldn't never do such a thing; except his government had. At least Alfred had known there were secrets, he however had been living in this dreamland where he had known all things and it was just a lie. They had sent him here and then deserted him, killing his people, hiding themselves away while others starved and fought for their lives.

"Nyet," Ivan said finally, shaking his head and averting his eyes, "we did not know anything…we have been hiding for a very long time."

"Well now you know," Bee sighed, looking up with tired eyes that should have never been on the face of a girl as young as she was, "The government is trying to kill us, the people are trying to kill everyone, and then the zombies…at least we know what to expect of them."

"They aren't zombies," Frances disagreed, looking up sharply, "they are just infected. There can be a cure."

"There is no cure," Bee said sternly, glaring at the man, "They aren't sick, they are dead. They eat people. This isn't a cold."

"You don't know that!" Arthur shouted at her suddenly, standing up with his hands fisted at his sides. They didn't understand. They couldn't understand the idea that the people, people that were a part of them, made them who they were, were dying every second. There had to be a cure, because if there wasn't they might as well all die right now.

"I do," she shouted back, standing herself, not missing a beat as she glared at him without blinking, "Like I said, this isn't a sickness! This is something that takes you out of your body and makes you into a creature that kills everything in your path. When you are bit you aren't there anymore, you aren't a person! You are a zombie!"

"Does saying that help you sleep at night when you kill them?" Frances asked coldly, watching as her eyes grew vacant.

"Every single one, because I know it's true," Bee agreed, "I would never be able to fight…I would never be able to kill if it wasn't true."

"Dude," Alfred broke in, placing his hands on both Arthur and Frances's shoulders making them jump slightly, none of them had even seen them stand, "Enough."

"He is right, that is enough fighting," Ludwig hissed, placing a hand on Feliciano's back, "They are being nice enough to take us in. They saved us, we owe them respect."

"Technically," Gilbert broke in a teasing voice, grinning over at Bee's still stressed face, "if it was back in the old days we would owe them our lives and be forced into slavery!" Gilbert moved quickly wrapping himself around Bee's shoulders, "Tell me mistress would you have me warm your bed tonight?" he asked in a mock, high-pitched voice.

Bee tried, Storm could see on her face that she had tried along with every country, to keep her angry, straight face. She knew that it almost worked, until suddenly the albino man swooned on her shoulders making her have to catch him…or an attempt would be a better description, considering that in the next moment she had landed on Gilbert's chest on the floor. A grin broke across her unwilling face and laughter erupted from her lips that was loud enough to echo in throughout the entire room.

Storm felt herself smile, chuckling under her breath in a way that made Feliciano look up at her curiously, tears still in his lashes. She smiled at him, hugging him gently before loosening her grip on him. She hadn't heard Bee laugh in a long time…well six weeks…but considering they all used to laugh together so often it was a long time. She supposed being to 'endure' these men for a while to get a few laughs, it was worth it if enduring is what she would even call it in the first place.

Charm chose that time to exit the kitchen, a smile on her face as she caught sight of the pair of laughing people on the floor and Storm cradling the crying Italian. "Dinners done, better get it while it's there!" she smiled, leaning her hip against the door jab.

"What's for dinner?" Storm shouted in excitement, attempting to ignore the fact that suddenly all the stomachs around her were growling.

"Noodles of course," Charm chuckled at the groans and the loan cheer from her sister.

"NOODLES!"