Aaaaaaaaand here's the second part of that double update. Turns out "shortly" means "hours later". Have to bump up the rating, too, because I'm a paranoid turtle about the cursing and gorey/bloody parts.
Also! If you want to see more stuff I write or just want to talk about Survival in general, I will be discussing it on my tumblr under the tag "fanfic: Survival".
And with that I bid you a happy reading (*laughs evilly*)
ONE HOUR EARLIER
"You're sure you need to leave right now?" Lisle asked, glancing between the group nervously. They were all gathering their weapons, making sure they were prepared to go out, while Mei armed herself with explosives. No one had dared ask her how she'd found them, believing the excuse that they'd just been lying around. All that mattered was that there was a ton of them, and she was damn ready to put them to good use.
"Positive," Aria said. She secured her sword on a belt loop, then checked her dagger tucked behind her. "We need to make sure everyone's alright, and hopefully bring them back here."
Behind the group, Mei muttered loudly about kicking someone in the face. At least they weren't the only ones who thought it was a deliberate fire.
"You think Iza and the others are okay?" Sora asked worriedly. "That they got out safely?"
"'Course," Alec said. He sounded sure as he fixed his jacket, inspecting his AKM shortly after. "After all, we made it this far. Why not longer?"
"Why not longer?" Mei mimicked, temper rising. "Why not longer? I'll tell you why not, Takahashi: Because not everyone in our group can take care of their fuckin' selves'. I mean come the fuck on, we're travelling around with a fuckin' schizo, three kids, and a trio of fuckin' weirdos who joined us by fucking chance! And now look where the fuck we are - the one person I actually like in this fucked up little family you seem intent on running is possibly in fucking danger!"
As she paused, waiting for her short rant to sink in so far, Alec raised a finger to tap the tip of his nose. "Dibs not being the dad," he announced. "I vote Aria as mom."
"Fuck you, I'm not claiming responsibility for six children."
"Too late; the family has voted."
"Will you two shut the fuck up!?" Mei snapped. "We need to focus so we can find Iza!"
Silence settled to the group again. Everyone glanced nervously at each other, unsure if they should correct her and remind her that it wasn't just Iza they had to find.
Lisle and Kohta glanced at each other, crossing their arms in front of each other. A silent argument over who should break the silence passed between them, which ended with Lisle nodding to the group with a frown. Kohta sighed, earning everyone else's attention within seconds.
"Obviously you guys have different ideas when it comes to finding you group, so I can't really say how this'll end for the whole group. What I can say is that you guys need to come to some kind of agreement and watch your backs when you get out there." He reached into his pocket, pulling out his phone, and switched it on. "We haven't had a reason to keep our phones on, but for now we'll keep them at the ready in case you need us."
Roberto and Aria pulled their phones from their pockets, punching in Lisle and Kohta's numbers, and in return gave them theirs. They prepared to leave for another five minutes, and then finally tested the phone numbers before heading out. Aria paused, stopping before she left with the other five, and hurried back to Lisle's side with her phone out again.
"My brother's due to land in the area in two days - here's his number if you don't hear from us as a check-in or something. Tell him to land on the roof of this place and take you to where they're hanging out, and I'm positive you guys will be fine."
Despite arguing that they'd manage on what they had, Lisle put the number in her phone and sent a test message to Daniel before telling Aria to be safe. She nodded, joining her group again, and set off to head to the house. The chances they didn't find anyone there were high, but all of them pushed that thought to the back of their minds as they focused on making sure they weren't turned into zombies on the way.
After about half an hour of walking, Mei began to grow restless. "This is bullshit," she growled. Aria sighed loudly, moving closer to Sora in hopes of escaping Mei's rage wrath. "The amount of time it'll take to get the fuck back... We should be running."
It was Alec's turn to sigh, already fed up with her attitude. "We can't run because running makes too much noise, and right now we need to get there in one piece so we can help them." Mei went to argue, but he stopped her before she could continue her rant. "Look, Mei, we're all worried as fuck right now, but we don't need to hear it out loud and make us all antsy or something. Right now we need to be level-headed and to put our heads before our hearts. If you want to find Iza and keep her safe, you need to let go of the fact that she's the only one out of all of us that you like and get the fuck over insulting everyone. You're not the only one who's formed an attachment in the group, you know?"
By this point they'd all stopped walking, instead standing a little away from Mei and Alec as he lectured her with a leaderly authority. Mei stared at him for a moment, face blank as she breathed in and out for a few seconds. Finally, just as Alec began to turn on his heel, she growled, "Shut the fuck up - like you've formed an attachment to anyone."
He paused, turning to her with a sarcastic smile. "Oh, let me think," he said venomously. "I'm pretty sure I've got an attachment with Aria, Wendy, and Freddy by now. Mostly the girls, when you consider we found each other first, and got by just fine for a few hours before we ran into you and Iza."
"Guys, now's not the time to-" Sora was cut off by Mei scoffing loudly, taking a hands-on-hips position.
"Yeah, right," she laughed, a cruel tone to her voice ."You'd drop them in a fucking second if it meant you'd survive, Mr Survival-Instincts."
"To be fair," Aria cut in loudly, "we all would. We don't know each other that well and we haven't exactly had quality bonding time - whatever the fuck you want to call it. Iza said so herself; we're not exactly open books right now." She let out a breath nodding to the path they were taking, and added, "Now can we please just keep going so we can find these guys?"
It was obvious Mei was getting ready to throw another argument her way, coupled with the schizo nickname, but she was quickly cut off by her own realisation. She reached into her pocket, pulling out a phone (when the fuck was that there?) and immediately dialing a number.
"What are you doing?" Alec demanded.
"Calling Iza." The answer sounded simple; like they should've expected it. "We've had phones all along - we just didn't want to say anything about them. We've had our numbers saved since we met, so obviously I'm gonna fucking call her to see if she's okay."
No one dared argue with her at that moment, suddenly anxious to see if Iza would pick up. The thirty seconds that passed were filled with complete and utter silence; Aria could've sworn she'd heard the dial tone through the phone. Soon enough, someone picked up.
"Iza?" Mei demanded. She paused, listening for a second, and muttered loudly, "The fuck is all that noise- Where's Iza? Who the fuck is this?"
Another pause. "I'm not sayin' shit - who the fuck are you? What do you mean 'with them'?"
A third and final pause, and then a confused, "House with the bodies?"
Aria and Alec glanced at each other, unsure of what Mei had meant. More seconds passed, until finally it hit them like a firetruck racing to the fire: The house they passed on their way to Kit's.
"Mei," Aria said hurriedly. "We've been there - the house with the regular dead people; no zombies."
Instantly, Mei snarled into the phone, "You fucking fuck! Wait till I get my fucking hands on you, you bitch-faced fuck nugget!"
She hung up at that, turning to the group, and demanded to know which way the house was. Alec pointed in the direction of the house on the hill, and then silently began to jog along the path. Everyone followed without a word, intent on finding their comrades before something bad happened.
Wendy held her arm carefully, ready to relocate it. She'd never done this before, but Kozan had shown her how to when one of his friend's had done the same. "Ready?" she asked nervously.
With a nervous breath, Iza nodded. She squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for Wendy to put it back in place, and tightened her grip on the tie Wendy had given her. There was a loud snap, followed by intense pain, and Iza tried her best to hold back her scream. The men guarding Kit and Jun cringed at the sound, however the two sitting on the ground didn't seem bothered. They expected it, it seemed, and Kit let out a relieved breath when Iza moved her arm slightly to test it out.
"We'll have to get it bandaged up soon," Wendy said, watching her curiously. She began to shrug off her school jacket, holding it out for Iza to take with her good hand. Once Iza had it, Wendy set to work wrapping the tie around her arm. The jacket soon followed, making a small, makeshift sling to keep the arm in. "This should last for a while - until we can get help."
Another boom sounded from above, this time followed by screams of pain muffled through the ceiling.
"The fuck is going on up there?" one of the men asked himself. He glanced at the door leading out, then nodded to the other man, and began to walk over. Kit shuffled in her spot, concentrating on something Iza couldn't see from where she was, and froze suddenly when another scream tore through the house. The man at the door peeked out, then slowly crept outside and readied his rifle to shoot.
Not even a moment later, he let out a strangled scream - soon followed by the sound of a body falling to the floor.
"Holy shit," the second man breathed, panicking slightly. He held tightly onto his rifle, waiting for someone to walk through, and soon began to forget the teenagers he was supposed to be guarding. A bad move on his end.
Kit began to stand, her arms somehow free of the duct tape securing them, and held in her hand was a combat knife - probably about nine inches. Iza and Wendy stared in shock, wondering where the hell she got it from, and flinched when she let out a battle cry and sank the blade into the man's throat. He gasped for air, falling to his knees instantly, but Kit wasn't done. She removed the knife, repeatedly targeting his back, and didn't stop until he was just another dead body on the ground.
Even Jun had the right mind to stare at her general direction in shock. "What was that?" he asked quietly. Kit shrugged, cleaning the blade with the man's jacket before placing it inside her boot. Ah, that's where she'd gotten it from; Iza grinned at the thought of the men being too lazy to search their shoes.
"Self defense," Kit said lightly. "My family wanted me to know how to defend myself, and I've had those knives since before you guys found me." She turned and produced a knife from her other boot, roughly the same size and appearance. She began to cut apart the tape around Jun's wrists. "We need to get out quickly, though - I don't know if the noise is from people who will help us."
"Amen to that," Iza agreed, beginning to stand. She grabbed Wendy's hand, holding it reassuringly, and walked over to the door. She glanced at the small lock on it, frowning at the fact that they'd need a key to get out. "Hey, Kit, do you think you might be able to destroy the padlock? Please?"
Kit stood, giving Jun some space, and nodded; she approached the door, readying her knife, and swung it down against the padlock a few times. The first two didn't do much damage, but on the third she gave it a little more strength. By the fifth go, the lock was ready to be pulled off without struggle.
She opened the door, let them out, and made sure to give Wendy a big hug. Kit then went over to Jun's side, offering her hand for him to take. With great reluctance, he took her hand and let her guide him out of the room. Iza and Wendy followed, stepping over the body as they did so.
They didn't have to walk far, especially not when Mei Todashi herself came bounding toward them and into the room, a grenade held tightly in one hand. She dropped it in shock (thankfully with the ring still attached) and immediately latched on to Iza and hugged her tightly. Soon entering the room behind her were the rest of the group, all looking relieved as they spotted their missing four members.
Freddy and Sora made their ways over to Kit, checking her for injuries; Roberto made sure to pat Jun on the shoulder reassuringly before asking if he was okay; Iza awkwardly hugged Mei back, trying not to ruin the moment by complaining about her arm; and Wendy immediately ran for Alec and gave him a tight hug. He patted her on the head, telling her she was brave, and all Aria could think was how much of a beautiful Kodak moment it was. Well, if a Kodak moment counted as a moment where everyone covered in blood and looked like they'd seen better days, that is.
Nevertheless, she took out her phone and snapped a picture. She sent it to Lisle, along with a message saying they were okay, and then let out a relieved breath as she sat down and enjoyed their reunion.