Chapter Eleven

MEDICAL KITS

There were so many stairs, Feliciano could almost feel his feet trying to fall off from all of the walking, but he refused to pause so that he could keep up with Bee. She was walking swiftly up the stairs, Charm immediately falling behind and taking up the middle of the group flanked by Ivan, Storm and Lovino. He wasn't used to going so quickly after all of this time, he had been placed in the long range weapons long enough were he hadn't needed to run and now he was regretting it.

…the thoughts of that thing weren't helping either…it's face and roar kept popping back into his mind, making him flinch and cling tighter to Bee's side. He couldn't help the fear that skittered across his spine or the cold sweat going down his back and Bee was so much like Germany…no, no, he had to remember to call him Ludwig.

He sigh in content at the thought, briefly considering running back to his friends side and clinging to him but he knew that he would be gently pushed away. Now that he thought about it, that was something Bee would normally do too, but for some reason she seemed to be a lot more…welcoming to him touching her right now! Maybe she was getting used to it! Maybe he could do it more! Maybe he would even get to cuddle with her tonight!

"Mmmm, cuddles from a pretty lady would be very nice," Feliciano cooed burying his face into Bee's shoulder, nuzzling her arm.

"I hope you are not talking about me," Bee's voice broke into his happy images of cuddling against her wrapped under a blanket, maybe with the other girls surrounding him…how nice.

"Are you in there?" Bee chuckled, tugging at her arm lightly, trying to release herself from his hold.

"But bella, why can't I cuddle with you," he whined, looking up at her with teary eyes.

"Personal space? Introvertness?" Bee answered his question with two of her own, tugging at her arm again.

"But bella," Feliciano whimpered, pulling a puppy face that both Charm and Bee had told him didn't work for Storm and wouldn't for him either, "what if that thing comes back? What if there's another one!"

Bee stopped suddenly, planting her feet firmly on the ground in front of the final floor platform and turning on him sharply. Feliciano stared at her blankly, after almost tripping over her feet from the sudden stop, watching as her eyes grew hard. She yanked her arm out of his hold only to grab his shoulders firmly, "They aren't coming back," she said firmly, "they will never come back and they will not touch you. Do you understand?"

Feliciano nodded meekly, the firm sound of her voice and the assuredness there made him undoubtedly trust her. "So you'll protect us bella?'' he asked with a slight smile.

"We won't need to," she answered, her voice sure, "You'll be able to protect yourself from those things before you run into them again."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive," she agreed, tightening her hands lightly before pulling away and turning to the door, "Now this is our floor."

"Finally!" Storm groaned loudly from the last platform, drawing everyone's attention back down to the lower floor.

Feliciano felt his mouth drop open and Bee slapped a hand over her mouth to stop the giggling from escaping her lips at the scene in front of her. Ivan stood on the last platform, both Charm and Storm on either side of his back, each clinging to a shoulder. Romano was still holding onto Storm's sleeve as he flowed closely behind the group and Ivan seemed completely unaware of the extra weight as he stood staring up at the others in front of him.

"We were about to go in, da?" Ivan asked, tilting his head with a smile, "What is so funny?"

"You seem to have grown a few more heads," Gilbert said, motioning towards he girls.

"They are very pretty heads though," Francis chuckled, blowing kisses in their direction, making the girls grimace.

"No one wants your kisses you pervert!" Lovino hissed, stepping in front of the girls and Ivan with a scowl.

"I believe that the little Italian is correct," Ivan smiled, his aura going evil and creepy, "I also believe that the lady was walking us into the floor to stock up on the medicine."

"I was," Bee agreed, still laughing despite the shivers that seemed to be affecting the other countries, "Feli and Al…and I would say Ivan but he's carrying people, I need help opening this door."

"Got it," Alfred shouted, jumping up the steps and making his way through all of the countries on the small stair case.

''Thanks for the ride Ivan," Charm grinned, watching as the countries were yanking at the door in attempt to open it.

"It helped a lot…then again I'm just lazy and would've ended up crawling," Storm smiled.

"That would've taken forever! We would've been done by then," Bee grunted, yanking at the door again and making a loud squeal from un-greased hinges it finally gave and inched open.

"Then there would've been no reason for me to climb stairs," Storm countered.

"And then we would've had no blankets because I'm pretty sure you are carrying a lot of those," Charm disagreed, attempting to smack her from the other side of Ivan's broad shoulders.

"Warmth is important," Feliciano called back, "It's very cold here at night, nothing like Italy."

"I want to go there," Bee groaned, "At least then the weather won't change as much."

"Doors open!" Feli exclaimed, watching as Alfred finally opened the door fully, revealing a gray dusty hallway.

"Let's go then," Bee ordered, entering the hall way without hesitation or looking back.

"Okay!" Storm cheered, attempting to jump down off of Ivan's shoulders and onto the ground in time with Charm.

"Ivan!" Charm suddenly turned back, waving him down to their level as he bent at the waist. "Thanks."

"Yeah, thanks," Storm agreed, both of them sharing a look before they bent forward both planting a kiss on his cheeks, "Now let's go loot stuff!"

The countries stared after the girls, all of them still being turned enough to watch the scene of affection between the two and Ivan of all people, mouths agape in shock. Ivan hadn't moved, shocked into place and a slight blush on his cheeks. "Did that just happen?" Kiku asked his voice flat but his eyes wide in shock.

"I am pretty sure it just did," Arthur agreed, blinking slowly.

"And they would not take my amore from the country of love?" Francis shouted dramatically, "The pain of rejection is strong within my heart!"

"It's okay, mi amigo," Antonio chuckled as some of the countries trickled away into the hallway to escape the ranting of Francis, his hands rubbing Francis's shoulders comfortingly, "they'll come around."

"I doubt it," Gilbert chuckled, offering Francis his hand to pull him off the floor, which he eventually took, "but I'll keep my fingers crossed for ya."

"Let's go before the others forget about us!" Antonio announced running into the hall the others following him quickly.

Finally Ivan was the only one standing in the hallway, still bent at the waist and blush still in place. He reached up slowly; rubbing both of his cheeks with his hands as his smile grew wider…he guessed that the girls really did like him…how strange, he thinks that he likes it. Finally he moved, walking slowly up the steps and into the hallway behind the group, the warm feeling in his stomach coming back in full force.

Lovino trudged down the hallway in the middle of the group, this was so stupid and the hall was so crowded with clutter and trash and people and…his toe slammed into a cement block. His yelp echoed through the hall as he jumped up and down on one foot, clutching the foot in his hands. This was hot, crowded, and painful…he stood slightly corrected and on one foot.

"We all told you that you needed to find a steel toed paired of boots," Charm said, appearing behind him silently…like magic. He cursed again, he hated when she did that and she was always so good at moving silently.

"Those things are the most tacky and ugly things that ever came out of the United States and that's saying something," he hissed, glaring at her as he continued to jump on his single foot.

"Well me and my friends came from the United States so it evens out right?" Charm chuckled, hands on her hips, "Also you are holding up the group by standing in the middle of the hall."

"I guess that is true bella," Lovino smiled, attempting to seem flirtatious but everything came out sounding pained.

"Flirting doesn't work on me," Charm smirked back at him, cocking a hip, "half the time I never noticed before anyway and now I just don't care."

"Everyone cares when an Italian flirts with them," Lovino shouted, completely outraged. How could this girl be so obtuse about men? Not caring about flirting! An Italian flirting with them, that was something American girls dreamt about for years!

…until this happened, he supposed that zombies were much more important then men…but she should still care! Lovino slowly put his second foot down; testing to make sure that his foot was fine before looking over at Charm with a raised brow. "You still need those shoes," Charm continued, looking down at his Italian leather shoes and back up at his face, "especially, if you are going to keep those shoes so nice. Considering that you and your brother's shoes are probably the last ones on Earth…at least worn by living people anyway."

Lovi swallowed thickly, looking down at his shoes, he had never thought about that. He never thought about his shoes, everything he had from his home, everything was the end of his home country as he knew it before. "Hey?" Charm's voice was closer to him this time; he hadn't even noticed her moving, "Are you alright?"

"'m fine," he mumbled, looking to the floor determined to ignore that his eyes were shining with tears.

"You are such a bad lair, you would be better off doing what Bee does and just avoiding those," Charm sighed, poking his side firmly, "now tell me what's up with you."

"No, it's fine bella," Lovi shook his head firmly, ignoring the tears and attempting to focus on the mission that was at hand. He was working with normal humans now, hell he might be a normal human now too, and they needed medicine. "Come one let's get some medicine before some of those things show up."

"You know that we'll pull through right?" Charm called out to him as he walked away, allowing both her and him to notice that the others had somehow moved around them and onto the adjoining hall.

"Of course we are bella," Lovi answered, throwing a casual hand movement in for emphasis, "pretty sure the three of you don't want all the supplies you've given us to go to waste by us being killed by something other then you."

"Well that's true," Charm agreed, laughter in her voice as she finally realized why they had all took to the more mildly grumpy Italian so quickly (besides the fact that he was adorable), "but I meant the human race, not just us."

"And why do you think that?" Lovi asked quickly, facing her and her optimistic view that he had cast away when they had ditched him in the middle of nowhere, "Everyone is dying, why do you think humans will pull through?"

"Because we humans, we are a little more then stubborn, how can you not think that we'll pull through," Charm shrugged, rolling her eyes at Lovino's pessimism.

"And why do you sound so positive?" Lovino asked harshly, he felt his hands shaking.

How can she be positive? She was alone, sure she had her friends and a place to stay but…His eyes were full of those damned tears again! All of these girls were like this, all of them acting like life was completely normal and joking when they were inside of the armory and then even when they were fighting…when they were fighting sometimes even then they were joking and goofing off. This woman was so sure, so sure that everything would turn out alright…how could she…

"Because we have to be," she told him starkly, her eyes suddenly lowered to the ground too, "I mean, what's the point of forcing ourselves to survive all of this nonsense if we don't think something good will come of it?"

Lovino felt himself jerk in shock; suddenly he was staring at her dumbly, feeling absolutely nothing. That made sense, everything now, he understood. They were positive, she was positive; they were so happy and normal because that was the only thing holding them in sanity, hope.

"We should go follow the others, I mean, they can't make the kits without the person that usually makes them," Charm said dryly, nodding forward to the new hall.

He nodded, still staring with wide eyes and making no move to turn back around. So Charm moved instead, past him, before turning back around to grab his arm, "Going to stand there until something comes to get you?" Charm asked.

"Okay," Lovino turned, both of them finally following the others down the last hallway and into the infirmary.

"Finally," Bee chided, glancing up from one of the several metal cabinets that she and the others were digging through that were lining the walls. "You guys were gone forever!"

"Bright side we found the stuff!" Storm cheered, grabbing another drawer full of sterilized needles and tossing it onto a ratty table.

"We could…" Ludwig broke in, suddenly blushing in embarrassment as everyone turned their eyes to him, "help you with the kits."

"We have awesome medical experience!" Gilbert shouted his addition, as he grabbed another armful of medicine and tossing it onto the table with the needles and several other items that the guys were digging through.

"We brought the boxes, might as well all fix them," Charm agreed, grabbing her pack and digging through it to yank out some of the plastic boxes that they were using for kits.

She spread them out on the floor before sitting in front of them, glancing up at the guys still staring at her, "What are you guys doing?" she raised her eyebrows, "There are more in your packs too. Get those out and put the stuff on the floor so I can reach it."

"Everyone is helping," Bee continued, starting to move the items to the floor, Storm helping, "well…except us…we aren't good at this stuff. We are more shooting and breaking things."

"So you have no medical experience at all?" Antonio questioned, turning to stare at the pair instead of the girl sitting on the floor.

"None at all," Storm agreed, placing the needles on the floor in front of Charm as well.

"And you've let them not have any?" Arthur asked in shock, "Seriously, you do all the medical stuff and they have no idea?"

"Sissy has issues with blood and Bee doesn't have the interest," Charm shrugged, opening the boxes and starting to move the needles into the cases, "and you all still haven't moved to help…"

"Oh right," Antonio agreed as the counties went into a flurry of motion and drug out their own boxes and settled on the ground, "but we have to fix the lack of healthcare understanding."

"Good luck with that," Charm muttered, turning back to the supplies, "So do I need to tell you what goes where or do you already know?"

"Explain your system," Ludwig answered immediately, lining up his boxes equal length apart before looking back up at her.

"Okay…so three needles to each box and then three doses of penicillin and then two bottles of…."