"Wink wonk oH SHIT"

That is the only hint for this chapter

It hadn't taken long for everyone to demand that Mei stop driving, to pull over and give them time to recover from their panic. Mei had said they were all weak. Aria had made the offhand comment of Mei being an "Asian driver". No one seemed to want to jump in and correct either of them.

They'd parked the van outside an apartment complex, just a few hours away from the city exit. They were hungry, scared, and needed more of a rest. Cans of food was given out to each of them, but it wasn't satisfying in the least. They had grown accustomed to Jun's meals and a few times whined about wanting to find a house so they could cook the tinned beans, but Alec and Aria were persistent in making sure they stayed in the minivan until they were somewhere completely safe.

After what felt like hours, the group began to discuss who would start driving next.

"I vote Mei to never drive again," Aria said. She was currently seated on the driver's side, just behind Iza and Wendy. "Like, ever."

"Seconded," Jun added, clutching is seat a little tighter. He'd has the worst of it, unable to see how many times Mei almost totalled the van. All he had to go by was the shouts and half-screams that everyone was directing at the sixteen-year-old, which wasn't particularly going to be a good feeling, now that Aria thought about it. Especially when they all knew how unpredictable Mei could be at this point.

Mei only offered a groan as she inspected her empty can. "Weak-ass bitches," she muttered. "Who the fuck wants to take over, then?"

The group was silent as soon as she asked it, unsure of whose name to respond with. Aria was certain she wouldn't fare too well with her driving skills, and as far as she knew Iza wasn't able to take the wheel any time soon. Sora hadn't spoken up once about knowing how to drive, so she was a no-go. Actually, none of them had specified that they knew how to drive. Crap.

"Maybe Roberto or Alec?" Aria suggested. Alec shook his head, saying he didn't want to get behind the wheel with this shit going on, while Roberto remained silent and stared out his window. Freddy turned in his seat, about to ask him a question, when Kit made a small sound of discomfort.

"Um..." she started. Her eyes were looking in the same direction as the oldest boy's, wide and slowly filling with fear. "I know the things we're running from can't see," she began again, "but why does it feel like this one is looking right at us?"

Confused, but somewhat curious, Aria left her seat and moved to the passenger side, settling behind Kit's seat and leaning on it with one hand. She brushed her hair out of her eyes with her free hand, squinting out the window to see what Kit and Roberto was staring at. It only took a few seconds, but soon enough she was looking one of the zombies straight in the eye.

It was sitting on the ground, leaning on the wall of a building, and its jaw was already peeled almost clean off its face. Bite marks all along its arms and legs, giving Aria the thought that maybe it wasn't able to move and give chase. Its eyes, unlike the others' weren't clouded over.

"Creepy," she commented. Roberto didn't take his eyes away as he replied.

"It's been looking at us since we stopped," he said. "Specifically inside the minivan."

"Shit..." Alec leaned closer to his window, glaring at the zombie. It wasn't moving, just staring. No one wanted to let it out of their sights. "Are there any oth-"

Before he could even begin to finish his sentence, he was abruptly cut off by movement outside. The zombie's arm had twitched, inching toward the minivan as its head slowly tilted to the side. Its eyes were still trained on the teens inside.

"Mei," Aria breathed quietly. "How fast do you think you can drive without killing us or letting that thing catch up?"

Mei's response was immediate, no sign of picking a fight. She was just as concerned as everyone else. "Fast enough," she said, glancing over Alec to get a good look. A few more seconds passed, everyone staring down the zombie as its other arm twitched, and then holding their breaths as it began to lean forward and move its legs.

BAM!

Sora's window cracked under the pressure of a sudden weight thrown at it. She shrieked at the sight of a new zombie smashing its shoulder against the glass, falling from her seat just as the window cracked again. Everyone had looked away from the zombie on the passenger side, which was now crawling as fast as it could to the minivan. Kit's eyes landed on it as the other zombie smashed the window, reached inside, and immediately she dove for Sora. She pulled the taller girl as far as she could before another body was colliding with the minivan. The crawling zombie had made it over, and in such short time.

A gunshot rang out in the air, the zombie through the window going limp as it laid stuck in its position. Freddy let out a breath of relief, lowering his pistol and turning his attention to the zombie banging against his own window. Before it had even a chance to smash through, Aria was screaming at Mei to hit the accelerator and get them out of the open. Mei happily obliged, hitting the gas pedal and speeding them away from the zombie's path with an almighty squeal of all four tyres. The zombie half-in the minivan swayed with each turn, but ultimately stayed connected to the shards as Sora hurriedly sat in Kit's seat with the younger girl sitting curled up on her lap. Both were trying to keep their distances from the zombie, paled faces slowly turning green.

It hadn't taken long for them to get away. Mei's erratic turns and shortcuts managed to bring them closer to the edge of Tokonosu - and, in extension, closer to help. From where they'd parked the minivan (more like ran out of gas), they could just see the line of cars trying to get out. Beyond that, the police barricade.

They all clambered out of the van one by one, gathering around the body dangling from Sora's window. Moments passed, the group unsure of what they should do with the body, until finally Jun raised the one question everyone was thinking: "Is it just me, or did that one seem a little more vicious than what we're used to?"

"You're not the only one seeing it," Iza said, eyes wide as she stared at the corpse. She then recounted what she'd just said, frowning to herself. "Sorry."

Jun waved her off, although waved in the wrong direction.

"So," Freddy said, letting out a small breath. "Do we just pull it off or...?"

"Yeah." Alec nodded, signalling for Roberto and Aria to help him lift the corpse off of its perch. "Let's take a look see at our wannabe hijacker."

It took a while, lifting the corpse without accidentally inhaling some of its scent. They'd managed to pull it off after about fifteen or so minutes (ripping off more glass as they did so), and finally had it laid out in front of the minivan. One whiff of it made half of the group recoil and pale considerably, and Sora was quick to stumble away before dropping to her knees and throwing up her food.

This zombie looked a little more human than the others - its skin wasn't completely rotten, rather grey and stiff. Some of it was torn, revealing sagging muscles, and dark blood oozed from every opening. Even the wound to its head hadn't stopped, which made the group wonder if it was merely bleeding out or not.

Once Sora was done throwing up her food, she joined the group again and stuck by Kit, thanking the girl for grabbing her in time. Kit nodded back, smiling at her, and said it was no problem.

Now left with a new obstacle, the eldest of the group gathered around the zombie to inspect it.

Rolling the body down the hill, the trio let out small groans before dropping onto their behinds in order to rest. Alec flopped onto his back, tired out from doing the majority of the lifting, and waited as Aria and Mei regained their breaths. They'd had to carry the body some distance in order to get it to the rather steep hill, just beyond the small houses the minivan had stopped at. They watched as the zombie's limbs flailed about, then simultaneously let out relieved sighs when it hit the small stream of water. It sank, as expected, and finally they were done with it.

Alec was the first to stand up, stretching his arms and grunting as he cracked his neck. "Good job, guys," he said, giving them both a thumbs up. Mei ignored him, glancing over toward the group they'd left to find a house, while Aria thanked him and pulled herself up off the ground. The trio practically ran back to the rest, hurrying in hopes that maybe there'd be a house they could stay in. They were hoping for a few things, actually; in particular, a shower.

There were two houses that had been unlocked and free of zombies, surprisingly. The group had settled for the larger, relatively cleaner one (which also happened to have a small area to gather inside in case any undead found them), and almost immediately Mei threw her hands up and announced, "Fuck you all, I'm having a fucking shower."

That was how they spent the next couple of hours. Jun started up dinner, Mei taking Iza with her to run and bath and start up the shower, and then letting the other girls have a shower while Iza relaxed and tended to her arm. After a good two or so hours, it was the boys' turn. Iza was brought out with Aria, who'd been last to shower, and then the girls waited patiently in the clothes they could find as the boys cleaned themselves up. Jun, who was adamant to stay with the food until it was cooked, served up dinner when Alec had finally finished. To the older boy's delight, it was a mostly meat-based dinner. Just in time before it expired, Jun had said. By the time Jun himself had finished cleaning up, dinner was done and everyone was ready to rest for a while.

It wasn't exactly the perfect place to stay, it turned out. There weren't enough beds or couches, and Mei had volunteered to sleep in the bathtub for the night. Wendy and Kit took the single bed in the spare room, Aria curling up on the floor with a blanket of her own. Sora had steered Iza over to the couch, making sure she was comfortable before falling asleep nearby, while Freddy, Roberto and Jun took the master bedroom (however, in the end two of them ended up sleeping on the floor).

Just as everyone was calling it an early night, Alec patrolled the house and kept watch through the windows. He wasn't ready to sleep any time soon, nor was he ready to admit that they weren't going to encounter any more fast-moving zombies for the rest of the night. He was tired, yes, but he wanted to make sure none of them were bitten any time soon.

With a reluctant sigh, Alec flopped onto a nearby chair after his seventh round of the house. Virtually everyone was asleep, eager to rest for the journey in the morning, but Alec was restless. They currently had no transport, no ammo to speak of aside from what was currently loaded in their firearms, and no sense of where they were going.

They were fucked.

A small groan came from the couch, Iza slowly sitting and cradling her newly-bandaged arm with a small frown. She hadn't noticed Alec, sitting a mere room way from her and directly in sight, and he figured he would see how long it took her to notice. It wasn't long until she saw him, but that still gave him plenty of time to wonder what she was doing up.

Iza crawled off of the couch with a bit of a grunt, trying to keep herself steady as she used her good hand to prop herself up, and then stumbled around the living room in an attempt to find something. Once she'd found her sword, as well as her pistols, she pocketed the pistols and walked to the kitchen with her sword firmly in her grasp. Alec listened to the sounds of her walking about and finding a snack, then held back his grin when she jumped at the sight of him in the dining room. He leaned back into his seat, pushed out another with his foot, and invited her over.

"Can't sleep?" she asked some time after, her snack half-finished. Alec shook his head.

"Can't sleep either?" he countered. She returned the gesture, offering a sad smile.

"Arm's killing me," she told him. "I was hoping there'd be pain killers, but they're most likely going to be near Mei."

That earned her a confused look from the older boy. "I thought you and Mei were pals?"

"We are." She offered a shrug, sighing. "I just don't want to bother her - she needs her sleep after all this."

"So do you."

More silence passed over them, this time filled in with Iza finishing her snack. Alec watched her patiently, getting the feeling that more conversation was going to begin, and waited as she folded the small bag the snack had been taken from. A few more seconds of silence, until finally Iza spoke up again.

"Do you think we would've met each other? Like, if none of this had happened?" she asked him.

That took a moment to think about. "Probably not all of us," he said. "I can imagine Mei and Aria meeting, picking a fight, and then being sent to holding while they waited for someone to bail them out. Probably would've put their numbers in their phones and started trolling each other at all hours of the day." He threw his hands up in the air and said dramatically, "A match made in Heaven, I say!"

Iza giggled, covering her mouth with her hand. "And Wendy might've met Freddy - if they went to the same school at the right time, of course."

"Definitely." He considered it further, puffing out his cheeks in thought. His cigarette nearly flew out of his mouth. "And then Sora probably would've met half of us, regardless of what situation. That busy little chatterbox, always wanting to be buddy-buddy with everyone."

"It's a good attitude to have, even now. And what about the others?"

"Kit... She probably wouldn't have met anyone with the way she was living already. Poor thing would've probably only known people in higher-class living, and even then she wouldn't have made many friends who genuinely cared."

"That's a bit of a biased opinion of rich people." Iza lightly kicked his shin at that.

Alec retaliated, poking her knee with his foot. "Hey, I'm entitled to my opinion on social classes," he reasoned. "'Sides, you know for a fact that I'm at least half-right about her being isolated."

"Whatever." She huffed and waited for him to go on.

"As for everyone else... I tink Jun would've made it a lot farther in his cooking career. I mean, the media would eat that up and sponsors would be lining up to give him money. Brilliant young chef who's blind? Holy shit, what a fucking success story!

"Roberto... Not sure about him. Guy's one of those mysterious lone wolves who works well in a group. Wait, did that make sense?"

"Not much, but go on."

He paused, thinking his next answer over. "I probably would've drifted around a bit - continued to go to school and not learn, shit like that."

There was another silence. The duo stared at each other, expressions unreadable as the seconds ticked by. Iza was the first to let out a small sigh, standing up to put away her weapons. The moment she did, she returned and sat down across from Alec again. "Pretty freaky, what happened this morning," she said quietly. "Almost thought we were goners, to be honest."

"Same," he agreed. "Then again, you and Wendy fought off a whole group of the suckers - and you had a dislocated arm to put up with."

"I appreciate the kudos to my abilities," she laughed, "but in all honesty, I don't think I'll be able to do much now that the adrenalin is gone and the pain's kicked in."

"I'm sure you'll be fine. You've got us to back you up."

Iza was quiet as he said it, processing his words and gauging her own, before finally she told him, "I don't think I'm gonna make it to safety, at this rate. Pretty sure I'll hold everyone back. And if we do find survivors, chances are that we're gonna have trouble - they'll see the sling, think I was bitten, and demand to put me down."

Alec gave her an easy shrug. "Not if I can help it," he said. That earned a small laugh from Iza, but otherwise she didn't say anything else. Taking in a deep breath, Alec reached for her good hand and gave it a small squeeze. "Just do us a favour and stay strong for as long as you can, okay? We're in this - all of us - together, despite our differences. So don't go saying anything yet."

She let out a small breath, letting his words sink in, and finally gave him a smile. "Alright," she said. "I'll keep looking to the bright side for a while longer."

And that's the chapter. I hope you guys are ready - it's the Conflict Arc, Finale Arc, and then the epilogue from here on out. There's also two more songs added to the epilogue playlist, so you'll get an idea of what kind of vibe we'll be getting from the ending.