Oh hey look I'm updating again! So I'm officially putting all of my progress and previews for chapters of Survival (and also Instinct, because why not) on my tumblr, and any and all questions will be answered as well. The link to the tag will be on my profile, so yeah.

Also! I decided to make a list of songs that fit each story Arc, which I'll list on my profile page for each chapter. Big thank you to BLEEHH for helping me with some of the songs, and for testing a few out to see if they fit right. *Bows*

Anyways! Big things happening! Oh gosh! Hope you guys enjoy~!

It took some thirty or so minutes to get far enough from the house to be safe from undead ears, and the moment the group had found a place to rest they sought out food and beds. Mei was sure to stay by Iza's side, refusing to let anyone near her, and everyone respected it enough to keep to themselves. They were mostly glad that the others were okay, and a little disappointed over missing a potential ride out of the area - to be taken somewhere safe.

They'd all situated themselves in separate rooms to gather their bearings. Mei had taken Iza to one of the bedrooms to let her rest, only to end up sitting outside in front of the door as though guarding her; Wendy and Kit had set themselves up in the living room with Freddy to watch over them, eating a small snack between them; Sora was walking around all over the place, peeking in rooms and checking to see if everyone was okay before finally settling in the kitchen with Jun - mostly just to talk at him while he did his best to focus on the food he was cooking; and finally, Aria, Alec, and Roberto all sat up in the master bedroom, peeking out the window and surveying the number of undead outside.

Mei's barrage of explosions had attracted a pretty hefty crowd, in Aria's opinion. She wasn't sure how they were going to get past them.

No one had said a word since arriving, aside from Sora. It was expected of her to want to talk, to be comforted by the sound of words, but no one else seemed to want to join in. They were all pretty shocked from the day's events.

A few hours passed, the crowd barely smaller than when they'd first counted them, and the trio was beginning to lose hope. What if the crowd never left? What if they were stuck inside the house until the zombies broke in?

Alec released a small sigh, leaning back from the window and breaking the silence. "You guys got any ideas?" he asked the others. Aria shrugged, glancing to Roberto, who also shrugged in response. "Same here," Alec said, agreeing with them. "We're pretty much screwed right now."

With a frown, Aria stood and began to pace. "Daniel was meant to arrive at some point tonight or tomorrow morning, I think," she told them. She hastily added, "I can't exactly remember - days are getting jumbled up for me right now - but when he arrives, hopefully he'll be able to stop by and pick us up."

"With that horde outside?" Alec raised a brow at her. "That's kind of a suicide mission, right there."

"Hey, I don't see you putting out any ideas."

He put his hands up in surrender, sighed, and flopped onto the floor. As he did, Roberto tore his gaze from the window and suggested, "What if we wait until morning before leaving via the backyard?"

"What do you mean?" Aria tilted her head in confusion, trying to see where he was going with his plan. "We just jump the fence and then skedaddle?"

He nodded. "Sort of," he said. "More like we go out in pairs, travel quietly to a more wide-open area, and then plan what we're going to do from there."

The duo looked to each other as they considered the plan, weighing their options. It seemed like a good idea - the gate in the backyard didn't make much sound, and the area beyond the fence was less filled with zombies. Maybe they had a chance with this plan. The big problem, though, was going to lie in their group. Sora was prone to talking to fill the silence. They were going to have to find a way to make sure she stayed silent just long enough to get away.

"It's a good plan," Alec finally said. He stood up, cracked his neck, and began to make his way to the door. "We're going to have to figure out how to keep everyone quiet, though."

"Already thinking of a plan," Aria told him, following him out and telling Roberto to join them. The older boy followed without a word, but appeared pleased that his idea would help them.

The circle of chairs was completed as Alec dragged his own to join the group, all of them gathered in the living room and keeping themselves busy with anything they could find. About ten minutes earlier, Aria had announced what she'd referred to as a "feelings circle". Virtually no one agreed to it when she'd suggested it, to which she'd pulled rank as the "Group Mother". Half of the group had laughed while the other looked around in slight confusion.

"So," Alec said, letting out a breath and leaning forward in his seat. His purple eyes scanned the circle, pausing on Iza and her slung arm, before he finally stopped to look at his hands. They were hanging loosely over his knees, all of his weight on his elbows. "We're going to need to stop with this whole 'closed book' thing. No more keeping things from each other - we introduce ourselves and we learn about each other. We can't just keep going on with our own priorities and making our own goals everyone else's." He cast a pointed look to Mei as he said it. She sneered at him, leaned back in her seat as though challenging him.

Aria chose that moment to step in, smiling nervously as she did so. Despite being the one to suggest the whole letting it out shebang, she wasn't quite up to the challenge of divulging her goals and secrets to the group just yet. Hopefully they'd believe whatever bullshit she spouted and let her be, considering she'd seemed to be the craziest at the moment. "What we're doing is just giving ourselves an intervention-"

"Oh fuck no," Mei started. Aria turned to her rapidly, eyes blown wide and brows raised high on her forehead. Mei immediately cut herself off, intimidated by the expression.

Oh yeah. Aria was totally the mum of the group.

"Pretty much what we're going to do," she explained, "is say some stuff about ourselves that none of us knew before. All this keeping secrets and having our own goals is making the group crumble, so we need to just be open. Plus, I'm pretty sure all of us - even poor, sweet, innocent Wendy - are sick of each other's shit."

"Amen to that," Alec muttered. He received yet another glare from Mei, but ignored it in favour of looking around th circle. "Who wants to go first?"

Almost immediately, Sora raised her hand. "I'll go first!"

A round of relieved breaths and sighs were released, and Aria was pretty sure she knew why. Sora fidgeted in her seat, smiling wide and showing off her slight overbite. "I'm Misora Ishida, although I like it when people call me Sora, and I'm sixteen years old! I had a very normal upbringing, and my dad - who was a history professor - taught me fencing on the weekends. I had a brother and a mother, and that's it." She let out a small giggle at the end, excited to have told her piece.

Fair enough; now who was going to go next?

Turned out that Freddy wanted to go next, raising his hand and glancing around the circle before he began, "I'm Freddy Cruellar - Native American name's Wolf - and I'm fourteen years old. I'm from California, I wanted to be a Green Beret before all this went down, and I have a dog named Rambo and a hen named Crystal."

He shrugged at the end of his, and Aria was quick to say, "God damn it, I always wanted a pet chicken."

After Aria's remark, a moment of silence passed. Everyone glanced at each other, waiting for someone to volunteer to go next, but no one seemed willing. Letting out a small sigh, Aria rocked back and forth in her chair as she mulled over how to break the silence.

"My name's Aria Lambert, although very close friends of mine called me Carrot." She gestured to her hair as she said this, displaying the reason for her nickname. "I'm from England, although I don't want to say where, and I'm from a family of five - including myself. I'm the doomed middle child, and I'm claustrophobic."

She ended it with a shrug, much like Freddy had, and hung her arms by the chair's sides. She waited for someone else to go on, but no one seemed to want to partake just yet. She sighed, frowned, and stood. "That's enough for tonight," she told them. She grabbed her chair and began to pull it away, cracking her neck as she did so. "Everyone get some sleep. We've got a plan and we're putting it into action tomorrow."

No one argued. Majority of the group began to put away their chairs, going back to what they were previously doing, while the rest just sat still and contemplated what to do. No one said anything again, aside from Sora, but at least now they knew basic things about three members. That had to count for something.

The first pair to sneak out the back was Roberto and Jun. Their job was to get out, film their path, and send the safest route to the rest of the group.

They stood in silence, the remainder of the group still inside, as they listened to the groans beyond the gate. A good half of the horde from the night had wandered off, leaving them with more room to get out. It still wasn't enough for a high chance of safe passage, though.

Jun held on tightly to Roberto's jacket as the older boy began to guide him to the gate, opening it as slowly as he could and peeking out to survey the area. There were a few clear areas, but not enough to completely keep them out of danger. Roberto guided Jun out, closing the gate as quietly as he could behind him. He then began to sneak along the small path, Jun close behind, and avoided as many undead as possible. They turned left, the group watching in anticipation, and when the duo disappeared behind the next building's gates, they let out collective breaths.

"Now we wait," Iza breathed. They remained at the door for a good five minutes, waiting for one of their phones to go off with the video instructions, but when nothing came they began to disperse. It wasn't until twenty minutes had passed that they received their first message - a video attachment from Roberto. The second message came seconds after: Be very careful.

The second pair to sneak out was Mei and Iza, using Mei's phone to review the video, and Iza's phone was left behind for Sora and Wendy to use. Alec gave his phone to Freddy for him and Kit to use, and soon they were reviewing the videos as they waited for confirmation from Mei and Iza.

After twenty or so minutes, it was Sora and Wendy's turn. They'd had some slight troubles when they'd left - a zombie had come a little too close to Wendy, who'd frozen up on the spot in terror - but they managed to follow the first two pairs' examples. The moment they arrived, a message was sent to Kit and Freddy. They then took their exit, theirs going a little smoother than the others', and then Alec and Aria were waiting patiently for their text.

It took about five minutes of sitting by the sliding doors before Alec said, "She's right."

Aria was confused at first, stared at him for a good three seconds before asking, "Who's right?"

"Mei." He shrugged, glancing to her with a sigh, and then stared out the glass door again. "The minute a better group comes along, I'll be leaving with them - whether or not any of you guys come as well."

"What makes you say that?"

He twirled his cigarette between his thumb and forefinger, absently flipping it over and over. "I want to survive, and frankly I don't think staying with a group that won't get along will help with my chances of getting out alive. I don't exactly have a family to find or go back to, but I'm still dedicated to living my life, y'know?"

Oh, you know alright. Oh, hey, the voice was back. "Yeah."

More silence passed, the duo shifting in their seats as they watched the number of undead outside dwindle. It looked as though their trip was going to be easy. They managed to sit around for another five minutes, nothing but glances outside and in the kitchen, and one run for drinks, before they began to grow bored. There wasn't as many people there anymore, meaning they couldn't start conversations - or arguments - with members they were more familiar with. It dawned on Aria after the sixth minute that this was the first time she and Alec had been in a one-on-one situation since Freddy had joined the group.

"So."

Aria looked up from her glass of water, brow raised as Alec stuck his cigarette back in his mouth. "So?"

"Were you one of the people who got the test drug thing in England?"

She almost choked on her drink at the question. "Um, yes? My whole family was, aside from Holly - my little sister. She was too young."

"Didn't they have that big scare with the mental health side effects or something? Only affected one blood type, and even then there was a, what, one in twelve chance?"

"One in twenty," she corrected. "And yes, it did affect one blood type."

Another bout of silence, only this time it lasted for thirty seconds. "What's your blood type?"

"Is it really important?"

"You're the one who volunteered to share in the feelings circle."

"Yes, but not this particular topic. Plus, the feelings circle is on hiatus until we get to our next location. So shush up."

He grinned, finished his drink, and set the glass down on the ground. Aria checked her phone, letting out a breath of relief that Alec was dropping the subject, and reported the time. "Two minutes left," she said. Alec nodded, excused himself to go to the bathroom. Aria was left to stare out the glass doors in contemplation, doing everything she could to bring her heartbeat down to a regular pace. She hadn't even noticed that she was panicking slightly. Was it the zombies outside? No, she'd be put into larger crowds. Was it Alec's sudden interrogation? Probably. She couldn't even believe he knew about the drug scare in England. It'd been over and done with years ago, back when it had first been released and - almost immediately - taken back for retesting. She was one of the unlucky blood groups that received the side effect, but she sure as hell wasn't that one out of twenty who actually had it. As far as she knew, she was always like, well, this.

Alec returned not even a minute later, drying his hands on his jacket before checking his weapons for the fifth time in the twenty minutes. The received their message a few seconds later, and they immediately walked outside as Aria opened the video file. The lack of undead outside made it easier for them to get out, although they made sure to close the gate behind them in order to keep zombies out. Freddy and Jun had brought up the idea of other survivors stumbling across the house; Kit had even written a detailed note of safe places the group knew of, which was then left stuck on the fridge. The chances of someone managing to stumble into the house and settling down for a while were pretty low, but it was best to keep their hopes up and do it anyway.

The walk to the rest of the group was surprisingly quick. The combined hour or so it took to get the whole group to a bigger area gave them more time to wait out the zombies, and Aria and Alec barely encountered any.

It took around fifteen minutes to get to their location, quicker than the others, and they were relieved to be out of the small walking space. So many twists and turns were littered in the path, and seeing the whole area in front of them was comforting. It didn't take long to spot the rest of the group, finding them waving at the duo from what appeared to be a supermarket parking lot. A lot of cars were still there, but one seemed to have caught everyone's attention: The canary yellow minivan that had been left unlocked.

Neither teen was too sure about the colour, more so the fact that it just so happened to have been left there without any kind of security in place.

They all clamoured inside and sat in silence for a few minutes, listening for anything following them or walking around in search of a snack. Once they were satisfied, Jun asked quietly, "Who can drive?"

Barely glancing at his seat on the driver's side, closer to the back, the older teens raised their hands and considered their options. "Closest I've come is hotwiring my dad's car," Aria admitted. "Pretty sure I might be able to drive a minivan."

Mei scoffed at her, obviously displeased by her answer. "I've got a fuckton more experience than you, then," she grumbled.

"You want to drive?" Aria stood and gestured to the driver's seat, waiting for Mei to come and sit herself down. "Go right the fuck ahead."

Aria didn't get a reply - just a grunt, shove aside, and an order to "sit the fuck down and shut the fuck up". Alec ordered Mei to drive for the nearest road out of Tokonosu, telling her that getting out of town might help them, and then sat down in the passenger seat to navigate for her. Everyone sank into their own seats, relaxing for a moment, before keeping a careful eye open for any zombies. Once the minivan was hotwired and Mei was reversing dangerously out, they were on high alert.

Hopefully Daniel would get them today.

And that's a chapter. Apologies for anything that doesn't make sense or was spelt horribly.

Hope you guys are ready to prepare yourselves for the Big Finale. So big it's got an uppercase letter at the beginning of each word... (We're getting close to the Finale Arc~ Just this one and the next left before we do~)

Yeah we aren't getting to the Finale Arc for at least five chapters. But still.

On a side note, if it gets enough demand, I might publish a sequel based a year later. Might. It depends entirely on whether you guys are happy with leaving the ending at that and if I have time with school (haha it's 2am right now I should be sleeping), or if you need to know with a burning passion what the hell happens next.

So yeah, that's all I'll say for now, and I hope you enjoyed the chapter :) Till next time!